Two Ferns in a Swamp

YHC was asked to Q at the Swamp by a HIM named Cha Ching (whom was DR and on IR) and I jumped at the request.

We started with a basic Traveling COP with a few stops along the way some SSH, Diamond Merkins, Seal Jax, Ranger (Regular) Merkins, Smurf Jax and Werkin’s. Nobody liked the amount I decided to do but oh well. Those are the reps that I like and I was my Q. We eventually made our way to where I had a speaker and a BOP set up with some side walk chalk.

The Thang was basically 8 exercises each for 1 minute and write down your reps in your parking space. Pretty basic but I love this workout and 4-8 is murders row to the legs.

1. Scorpion Dry Docks
2. Big Boys
3. Ranger Merkins
4. Jump 180 Squats
5. Donkey Kicks
6. Jump Lunges
7. Plank knee tucks
8. Burpees

Then take a run (timed) to the far fire Hydrant by the Home Depot which was shown to the Pax during the COP.

Return winded and then rinse and repeat the 8 exercises but with more reps! Goal was we didn’t have to run the Last lap if 50% or more of the PAX beat their Burpee count. They were successful or lied to me. Most were glad not to run the last lap.

This is a basic bootcamp I know but it will test u and blow u up!

Got to meet a few new PAX and that is why I always like Qing and different AO’s.

Finished up with a COT (announcements, a few prayers and praises and all thankful for another day).

Thanks for the opportunity to lead Cha Ching

I am enjoying this ride I am on and am not sure where it is taking me but all we can do is prepare and train.

TWO FERNS!

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Your partners name is your workload

Finally a great temperature this morning! That didn’t stop Lutefisk from dishing out a nasty mid-week beatdown!!! Quick disclaimer and ran to the rear of the school the long way. A nic e little warm-o-rama with your typical windmills, mountain climbers, imperial walkers, lbc’s, merkins, and Superman Moroccan night club combos. Follow up with a quick lap to the location of the thang

The Thang: partner up, size matters but not physical size. After we partnered up,  informed the PAX that it was the size of their partner’s name that mattered. I whipped out a board of pain with all 26 letters of the alphabet with a corresponding rep count and exercise. You are to spell your partner’s F3 name. I put some rock music on and we went after it. It had a little bit of everything. I ended up knocking out 100 burpees. Some pax were up BTTW for a total of 8 minutes. Everyone did a ton of SSH. We all helped poor Uber finish his partners name (Dennis The Menace) then took a lap and a 10-count followed by a mosey back to the pillars. We knocked out one more name “pantheon” before COT.

PAX were smoked, it was a good day.

Prayers needed today for Dennis the Menace’s brother who gets test results today. Prayers for marriage. Prayers for other struggles.

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VQ-O-RAMA

September is VQ month at Golden Corral.  Except last minute VQ decided he wasn’t ready.  Push a brother, but not too much.  It’s ok, Lutefisk can ad-lib!  Normal disclaimer plus let PAX know we all would be on Q today.  Something they did from their VQ.  Started off with a mosey around the Teeter, circle up for a COP:
-10 windmills IC
-10 DC merkins IC
-15 imperial walkers IC
-10 tempo merkins IC
-15 morrocan NC’s IC
-10 diamond merkins IC
-line up for a modified indian run; hold plank, rear PAX bear crawl to front

Lutefisk’s Thang: SSH during the song “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba, every “I GET KNOCKED DOWN” = burpee

Mile High’s Thang: Wall sit and one at a time sprint about 50 yards and back, various arm work whilst wall sitting

Fish Stick’s Thang: tight circle arms on shoulders, one at a time 10 count heel raises (9 PAX = 90 heal raises!)

Corn Hole’s Thang: 12 count merkin (4 down, 4 hold 6″, 4 up) x 10

Uber’s Thang: wall work behind oil change place – 10 right leg step ups, 10 left leg step ups, 10 derkins, 20 dips

38 Special’s Thang: Some kung fu stuff that was awkward and used muscles I didn’t know existed.  noice

Deacon’s Thang: high knees in place, and whenever he felt like it, yelled “DOWN” for a burpee. over and over and over and over and over

Change Order’s Thang: 2 groups, one does pull-ups on the cart rack until the other gets back. flapjack

Crab Cake’s Thang: various ground work followed by a sprint up and back

Just enough time for 9 double count crunchy frogs to end it.  COT.

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Tour of Quagmire….9/16/19

9 PAX showed up this morning to push their limits and start their week off right.  After the disclaimer and verifying that no injuries would prevent “full” participation we started with a Mosey.

Mosey took us around Home Depot to the far corner of the Target Store.

Warm Up

Using the Red Balls of Target we worked our way down warming up our muscles.

  • High knees to 1st ball.  Windmill (10 count)
  • Butt Kickers to 2nd ball.  Weed Pickers (10 count)
  • Lunge Walk to 3rd ball.  Merkins (10 count)
  • Crab Walk to 4th ball.  LBC’s (10 count)
  • Side shuffle (facing Target) to 5th ball.  Mountain climbers (20 count)
  • Bear Crawl to 6th ball. Slow Low Squats (10 count)
  • Side shuffle (facing away from Target) to 7th ball. Moroccan Night Club (20 count)
  • NUR to 8th Ball.  Parker Peter’s (10 count)  Downward Dog
  • Broad Jump to 9th Ball.  Seal Jacks (25 count)

Mosey to Tuesday Morning’s parking lot.

PAX lined up across parking lot.

Using next two parking rows ran “suicides”. (80% effort)

  • 1st run…..followed by Wide Arm Merkins (10 count)
  • 2nd run….followed by Squats (20 count)
  • 3rd run….followed by Peter Parker’s (15 count)
  • Bear Crawl to 1st parking row…..Crab Walk back…..followed by Flutters (20 count)
  • 4th run…..followed by Jump Squats (10 count)
  • 5th run….finished

Mosey to Fountain

Using bench completed following exercises

  • 40 Step ups (20 per leg)
  • 15 Derkins
  • 25 Dips

10 Flying Squirrels

Mosey to grass outside Mattress Firm

Jack Webb’s……to 11.

Mosey to COT for 5 minutes of Mary.

Prayers included injured PAX and those struggling to be consistent with posting.  Encouraged to reach out to guys and encourage them to post.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead…..

Bones

 

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Jell-O Arms

Normally Pantheon is a Site for running and I thought that I would change it up so I came up with this coupon workout to change up the scenery.

The Thang

I had a short mosey to the back of the school to the location of the work out. I showed them a cone location to identify the stopping point for the running portion of this partner workout. There where 4 stations for this Modified Dora. I had the PAX partner up and count off to space out the PAX so they wouldn’t be on top of each other. The count for this Dora was everything was a rep of 200

Station 1 was curls. I had paver coupons and partner 1 would rep out curls while partner 2 ran to the cone and back. The fun part was I didn’t mention to the PAX that there where 3 different size coupons so there was a lot of chatter going on.

Station 2 was shoulder taps. Partner 1 would take said paver and tap one side of the shoulder then lift overhead to other shoulder. Counting only one side as a rep. Partner 2 would of course be running.

Station 3 was at the swings. This was a upside down Merican. While holding the chains of the swings with back on the ground and feet somewhat extended you would pull up making your chest hit the seat of the swing and lowering back down. Partner 2 ran.

Station 4 was curls to overhead press. Self explanatory. Partner 2 ran.

As I had about 10 minutes left I had the PAX circle up with a low squat and hold and delivered a message. My message focused on something that I saw on Twitter about 12th man ministry. It was about positive reinforcement. It just hit something in me and challenged the PAX to go back home and for the rest of the week use this positive reinforcement at least once a day on someone close. Your M, your 2.0’s, or even just yourself. We are in a world today that we don’t do this enough and when you hear it, it just means something. It may take someone out of a funk or hole their in and just give them something they needed to hear. So if you’re reading this I challenge YOU to do the same. Be a leader and this is a great way to build leadership and gain someones respect.

After the message we did a nice long mosey around the school and fields back to COT. With all above being done we managed to get roughly 2-2.5 miles in and totally roast our arms. Good luck today fellow PAX on recovery and see you next time.

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Fountain Or Drain

What a glorious morning! The weather was perfect. We were blessed with a few respectables and plenty of #HIMs. The fellowship was amazing and the mumble chatter was high-quality. 

The Thang:

Mosey to the next parking lot near 9 Rounds. 

COP: SSH (30x), Merkins (15x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), Box Cutters(15x), Dying Cockroaches(15x)

Mosey to the parking lot at Grace Presbyterian Church. 

Partner up for a round of Dora with Merkins (100x), Squats (200x) and LBCs (300x).

Mosey to the parking lot at O’Reilly’s

Two rounds of Irkins(15X), Dips (15X) and LBCs (15X)

Two rounds of Derkins(15X), Box Jumps (15X) and Heels To Heaven (15X)

Mosey to the next parking lot at Harris Teeter for suicides with burpees.

COP: LBCs (15x), Heels To Heaven (15x) and Dying Cockroaches (15x)

COT 

Moleskin: 

Given our country’s divisive climate, it is important that we remain positive. Too many people are talking and thinking negative. Negativity is a huge energy drain. Reject negativity. Be a fountain of positive energy, not a drain.

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Keep it Simple

This will probably be the easiest backblast I ever write and it just goes to show, sometimes SIMPLER equals HARDER.

Got the text Sunday following church that we needed a substi-Q for Quagmire and I felt like I really wanted to just run Monday, but miss when I don’t do the boot camps, so what better way than to combine the two.

Let’s get to it:

Dynamic warm-up consisted of a quick mosey to Best Buy where we then lined up and did:

  • power skips half way down the building and then jogged to the end of petsmart
  • side shuffle half way, flip, side shuffle rest of the way
  • karaoke half way, switch, the same
  • back pedaled half way down then jogged to the end end

Did a quick 20 merkins, 20 big boys, 20 peter parker planks (on elbows) and 20 diamond merkins and then we started the real thang.

The balance was something like this:

  • Run a 1/3 of a mile, then do 10 bomb jacks, 15 burpees and 20 pulsating jump squats (half squat, full squat into jump squat = 1), then run another 1/3 mile and do the same 3 exercises / reps and keep doing it until time lol.  We did 4 of those back to back and then took a break to do the following:
  • Partner up at the Verizon by Target – partner 1 runs to rack room shoes (about 1/4 of a mile down) and back while partner 2 does non stop x-crunches (thank you ab app).  The jog was longer than I thought.  1/2 a mile kind of sucked right there.  Sorry not sorry.  65 x-crunches later we switched and partner 2 jogs.
  • From there, we went back to the every 1/3 mile do the 10/15/20 bomb jacks/burpees/pulsating/jump squats until we got back closer to COT.

Ended w/ an all out sprint the length of pet smart / office depot / best buy back to COT.  Props to Pot Hole for saving some in the tank and blowing by everybody.

Final #’s – 3 miles ran, 60 bomb jacks, 90 burpees, 120 pulsating jump squats and about 50-70 x crunches per person.  Not a bad day for a Monday.  Heard heart rates were excessively high which is always a good sign.  Thanks for hanging in there fellas – had a great time leading the pax.  Until next time.

Cha Ching

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On the Fly Tour of The Swamp

12  Pax made it out to The Swamp and Chupacabra in the Gloom of the Morning. 7 bootcampers, 3 Ruckers, and 2 runners that started super early. Beautiful low humidity morning was a welcome surprise from the rest of the week. Big ups to the SkyQ for that blessing.

YHC was tapped by our friend Witch Hunt to cover his Q on short notice. Something about scoring and his M. At least that is what came over the Twitterverse. Few details might have been missed. But Glad to step up.

Short Notice so nothing Fancy this morning just grind it out and tour the Swamp.

Quick Disclaimer w/ no FNGs on hand and off we go.

Mosey to Old Navy parking lot for COP. Been testing out new COP areas. Home Depot is great and all but the Swamp is huge, so Why Not.

COP- After my Monday Q @ Quagmire and the mumble chatter about COP exercise and cadence calls  I added extra emphasis to ensure no confusion.

All IC

Moroccan Nite Clubs x 20    Windmills x 20   Weed Pickers x 20

SSH x 20   Box Cutters x 20   American Hammers x 20

Recover and Mosey over to Fountain  between American Burger and Just Fresh.

Shifted to other side of fountain to be somewhat respectful to the guy asleep on the bench.

Drop in 2 sets 30 reps per– Incline Merkins and dips. OYO

Dora 1-2-3  100 Merkins– 200 LBCs– 300 Squats partner not exercising made lap around parking lot fountain.  Plank to the 6 which was not a long plank. The PAX tore through this Dora.

Quick Time check since YHC left his watch at home and Mosey across to the long wall between Target and Great Clips.

Wall Work

Peoples chair. Hold 30-45 seconds. IC Arm Flutters x 20

Bear Crawl Down Line while holding peoples chair 2x.

10 sec recovery

Very quite #beatdown to this point- Next Exercise BTTW- That got the PAX talking.

Hit BTTW and add in 20 single count BTTW MTN CLIMBERS. More chatter.

10 Sec Recovery

Back to BTTW with 10x shoulder taps OYO More mumble chatter

10 sec recovery

Back to peoples chair w/ 20 more IC Arm Flutters

In PC 1st Pax hits the deck for 4 merkins and Crab Walks down the line.  Apparently NOONE likes the Crab Walk.

Time Check and walk to end of buildings to let the quads cool down and mosey back to COT for 6 mins of Mary.

Peoples Mary

Slow/Fast/Slow/Fast Freddy Mercuries IC- Nice one Bones!- Noone was ready for that.

20 OYO BBS–   20x IC Hello Dollies– 30some IC rapid leg flutters– 60 sec plank to end the work out.

I’m sure our rucking/running Friends had fun as they all rolled in as we completed the session.

Great Work this Morning Men! Honor to lead.

Duck out!

 

 

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Partner Work at Golden Corral – Tuesday, June 18th, 2019

14 HIM joined YHC for some partner work at Golden Corral. They were invited to bring some extra weight for extra credit…some took me up on this offer…probably a bad decision.

Mosey to top of the road next to apartment complex for Warmup.

Warmup:

  • 25 side straddle hops
  • 10 4-count windmills
  • 10 4-count peter parkers
  • 10 4-count parker peters
  • 10 4-count merkins
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs

Mosey to the bottom of the hill for the Workout.

Workout:

  • Partner Up
  • Complete the following total reps per partnership. One partner does reps, the other runs to the top of the hill, does 10 SSHs, runs back down and flip flops with partner.
  • Reps
    • 100 burpees
    • 200 merkins
    • 200 big boy situps
    • 300 air squats

Mosey back to COT.

Announcements: upcoming Sweaty.

Prayers/Praise: Prayers for Bates family in Columbia w/ loss of son. Praise for fighting complacency. Praise for one of the PAX’s health improvement.

Always fun to lead.

– Ginsu

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Badger 1 year Convergence

Thank you to our QICs of the Badger Convergence.  For those that were close with Badger and his family who was in attendance it was a blessing to see 78 strong come out in his honor.

Cyclop’s Portion of Badger Convergence

The W/O: The sets follow the dates of every March madness trip I took with badger and the 71-64 significance is the final score of the Kentucky-Wisconsin game in 2015 (our first trip) when badger’s badgers knocked off unbeaten Kentucky in the final 4.  I heard a bit about that. 😎

3 – burpees
19 – merkins
20 – squats
15 – LBCs

64 second – wall sit (people’s chair):  reflect in silence on how we leave no doubt as badger did.

3 – burpees
17 – LBC’s
20 – flutters
16 – burpees

DORA partner up – 71 burpees.  Partner 1 runs to semi trailer and back while partner 2 does burpees then switch off and repeat until 71 is reached

3 – burpees
16 – squats
20 – lunges
17 – flutters

71 seconds – balls to the wall

Reflect on leaving no doubt and what that means for each of us – then mosey to COT.

 

Change Order’s Portion of Badger Convergence

18 merkins
48 Lbc
4 burpees
9 merkins
11 side startle hops
20 freely mercury
07 merkins
39 Lbc
Run a lap in between each

Jiffy’s Portion of Badger Convergence

Headed over to the side of Parking Lot…

 

I shared the Pax my background with Badger – I joined F3 because of him.  F3 has had a meaningful impact on my life and I owe that to Badger.  I shared with the Pax how quickly things turned for Badger and encouraged them (and myself) to make sure we are using our time and resources very intentionally.

 

The workout

 

I had cones setup and the Pax did the following sequences:

  • Lunge Walk to each cone and stop and do 10 jump squats, run back
  • Bear crawl to each cone and stop and 10 merkins
  • 20 LBC’s in cadence
  • Sequence of 10 merkins, 10 plan jacks, 10 merkins, 10 plank jacks, 10 merkins, 10 plank jacks

 

  • Lunge Walk to each cone and stop and do 5 bomb jacks, run back
  • Bear crawl to each cone and stop and 10 carolina dry docks
  • 20 American Hammers in cadence
  • Sequence of 10 merkins, 10 shoulder taps, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder taps, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder taps

 

  • Lunge Walk to each cone and stop and do 10 monkey humpers bomb jacks, run back
  • Bear crawl to each cone and stop and 10 dips
  • 20 flutters in cadence
  • Sequence of 10 merkins, 10 side shoulder punches, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder punches, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder punches

 

  • Straight suicide

 

 

We then ran to the side and between a couple of islands did a Jacobs Ladder with Bomb Jacks on one side and Burpees on the other with a total of 6.

 

Great job by the Pax pushing each other and picking up the 6 at the end.

 

We headed back to the group at the end for COT.  It was an honor to serve especially in honor of Badger.

 

Trucker’s portion of Badger Convergence

Ran behind 9 rounds. Badger would have been 40 this year. So honored him with 40/4 workout. Each PAX had to do 4 rounds of 4 exercises of 40 reps with a run from 9 rounds to end of parking lot.
Merkins
Squats
LBCs
CCD

Then over to Red Bowl wall for 40 leg raises. Wall sits with 2 burpees each down the line. Repeat with 4 scorpion merkins.

Missy to oil change store. 4 PAX lined up 20 yards away while the other took 4 car tires and flipped tires to partner, return back to start. Each PAX then grabbed a tire nd did 40 shoulder presses.

Mossy to COT

 

Senator Tressels Portion of Badger Convergence

After COP, mosey to the inclined driveway by the apartment complex on Tega Cay Drive.  I gathered the group and told them that Matt was my neighbor and friend.  Our families spent time together and that Matt was active in an adult men’s soccer league.  Matt’s fight with cancer was very short and that he was gone way too soon.

 

On to the workout:

 

Jacob’s ladder, 1-7, with burpees at the top of the hill.  Plank when you are finished.

 

Walk to the grass area in front of the apartment gym and circle up for  Jack Webb’s (10/40).

 

Freddie Mercs x 20, and Hello Dolly x 20, all in cadence.

 

End with 90 seconds of the body destroyer.  As the Pax laid still and quiet,  I told them to think about how much they have, how lucky they are, and that every day is a gift.

 

Mosey  back to the Harris Teeter lot for COT

 

End.

 

Decibels Portion of Badger Convergence

 

MERKINS X25

ALTERNATING LUNGES X25

TOE TAPS X25

TONY HAWK BURPEE X15

Heals to Heaven x25

GORILLA HUMPER X20

IMPERIAL WALKER X20

EMPTY WHEELBARROW

SQUATS X20

LBCs  X39

E2K X20 EACH SIDE

ROSALITA X25

During the workout we keep 3 soccer balls moving at all time to honor Badger’s love for soccer. 

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Badger went to be in heaven.  I was blessed to spend time with him prior to his passing.  We talked about him being saved and how important that was to him.  He let me know that his M was a big reason he was saved but also seeing my families reaction to losing our daughter and son and our dependence on God at that time.  I am saying this to let you know as Christians people watch our actions and want to make sure our actions match our words.  I encourage every Christian brother in F3 to live out your faith and in times of need lean on God just like Badger did in his time. 

My M and I received a letter from Badger.  In that letter he mentioned F3 and the support he and his family received after the diagnosis.  I remember him just being in awe of all the people that were praying for him.  He was so touched by this community that he asked that I make sure that his boys get involved in F3.  It was such a blessing to have Jeter and all the his relatives experience the convergence.  To have 78 men in our community support Badger was an emotional journey for all of us that knew him.  I had several members of his family let me know how much they appreciated the convergence and the support for Badger.  Thank you to each man that showed up!

Badger was a man I respected to the utmost.  He was not a guy that sought attention or glory, but he was always there when you needed him.  He loved his family and was a loyal friend.  I am still in awe of how he bravely prepared to walk into heaven.  It was so comforting to know he was going to see Jesus.  He told me many times that he would take care of our babies (Elizabeth Grace and Garrett) until we met up with him.  Badger was a great Father and I know he is having a blast with my kids in heaven. 

Let us all take this time to pour into, support, love on and encourage our F3 brothers. Then take that momentum and turn it to our families.  Then take that momentum and pour it out on the least and the lost in our community.  Badger knew that God had a purpose for him and that purpose was to spread the word of God’s Grace and Love.  Let’s make that happen for him.

 

 

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