A Day to Remember…Showing our respect at the Hive

December 7, 2018

 

41st President

2403 men lost

77 years ago

I had thought about what I wanted to accomplish here all week. Did I want to stay in the comfort zone? Just get through a workout on a cold morning.  I decided we needed to put in the work to honor the 2403 men, or boys, that were suddenly killed and show them the respect they deserved. Imagine yourself, lying in your bed (probably under 20) on a ship and it was suddenly bombed, and there was no way out. That is exactly how app. 1000 men died that day. I took the opportunity this week to refresh my memory on some of the facts I may have lost in last 20 or so years and look a little closer at the life of George HW Bush, our 41st President who ironically passed the same week of the Anniversary of the event that lead to his honorable service in War II.  With a lot on my mind, and the hopes of delivering the right message, now it was all up to the PAX to show up.

My goal was centered around the three numbers above- 41,2403, 77

10 PAX showed up on what turned out to be a crisp clear morning ready to work.

Disclaimer delivered- No FNG’s

Leave the KB

 

Warm-up

4 light posts were the center of this. At each light-post, we stopped for an exercise:

Post 1- SSH x 41

Mosey to next

Post 2- Moroccan NC x41

Mosey to next

Post 3- Imperials Walkers x41

Mosey to next

Post 4 (and starting spot)- Merkin x 41

10 Diamond

10 Military

10 regular

10 wide

1 Burpee

 

Recover and circle up

Low slow squat x10

Windmills x10-

Seal Jacks x10

Hillbilly walker x10

1 burpee

Total- 41

The Thang- 2403 reps was the goal as a group

Using the same light posts as the warm-up adding running in between. I liked the competitiveness for some . Nice effort men.

Round 1

First post- Tricep press x 30

Second- KB swing x30

Third – Goblet squat- x15

Fourth- two handed shoulder press x 30

Total Round 1= 1155

Round 2

First- two-hand curls x30

Second post- Snatch (15 each arm)

Third-post- KB Windmill- audible- Chest press- two hands- x50

Fourth post- lunges (15 each)

Total Round 2- 1,210 (snatch and lunges counting only as 15 each)

Total- 2,365

Round 3

First- single arm rows- x15 each arm

Second post- upright rows- x20

Third post- single arm chest- x20 each arm

 

Total round 3- 605

 

Total for post work- 2,970 reps together

 

Really nice work PAX- especially the guys lifting the heavy KB’s.

Skipped the Fourth and headed to the bleachers by the tennis courts. Each PAX grabbing a spot

Three rounds of step ups- starting with 15 each leg, then 10, then 5, followed by 10 seconds on the fence in a squat position holding the KB straight out.

Mosey to the Fourth post-

Partner up- size of the person didn’t matter, but the weight may have (Tesh)

Partner One- carrying both KB’s runs to the First original light post and back (app. 100 yds) . Switch with partner two until the exercises below are completed.

Partner Two- the number to reach of each set was 77. Significance being this was the 77th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Set One- LBC’s

Set two- American Hammers

Set Three- Flutters

Looked at my watch and it was 6:00 on the nose.

 

Everyone pushed it, and everyone got better. I appreciate all the PAX listening to me and working hard. My challenge to you is to take a look at the significance of the numbers used today and the individuals or events involved. And then imagine if you were called to this War, would you step up like George HW did and sacrifice? If you didn’t catch it this week, he lived a life that most of us can only aspire to, but will never attain. Live your best life and surround yourself with those that make it possible.

COT  

 Announcements

Xmas eve Convergence

G- Fit

Praises

Our Health

Prayers

Family, Patience during this Holiday season, for those in need.

And not to be overlooked, Band Camp’s special surgery a week from Monday. Sit on the bag of pees and don’t move for atleast 48hrs.

Thanks to Band Camp for the opportunity to lead and thanks again PAX for your effort.

 

Frat Boy

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VQ at the Hive

It was a cold and rainy morning at the Hive. Not an ideal morning for swinging metal around, but that did not stop seven men from battling the elements to workout. After a quick disclaimer, we took a jog around the parking lot.  Next, we did some light stretching to reduce the risk of injury.

After the warm-up was complete, we formed a circle around a light pole.  The workout was called the Kettlebell Clock (not very original, but it works).  Like the face of a clock, there were twelve exercises.  At twelve o’clock, the person performing the exercise would act as the second or  “sweep” hand of the clock.  Once complete, we would rotate to the next exercise by lunge walking to the next interval of the clock.  Below are the exercises we performed for each interval:

  1.  American Hammer
  2. Curl
  3. KB Swing
  4. Flutter
  5. Upright Row
  6. Shoulder Press
  7. Tri-cep Press
  8. Figure Eight
  9. Lawnmower
  10. LBC
  11. Chest Press
  12. Rounds 1 and 2 – Squat Thrusters (20 reps), Rounds 3 and 4 –  Burpees (5 reps) with a light jog to the end of the parking lot and back.

Great job by all.  We had some fun discussion ranging from how much a musical instrument costs to the Hamm brothers.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

Prayers:

Families traveling for the holiday

 

 

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Can we just get along?

Life is not always how we thought nor visioned it would be. There are a lot of personal experiences YHC could pull from, but as I reflect back to our COT, who would have thought that we would have another mass shooting at a concert – less than 2 weeks after Pittsburgh’s??

*jump ahead to COT* As we circled up and voiced our praises and prayers (which I will list at the end), I mentioned the need to continue to pray for Pittsburgh and the need for all people – no matter what color, race, or religion – to just get along when one of the PAX mentioned that there was another mass shooting the night before. My heart sank. How? Why?

It doesn’t make sense. As I sat in my  aunt & uncle’s house in Pittsburgh 2 Saturday’s ago watching the local coverage of the synagogue mass shooting, seeing my aunt’s face of shock, crying, confusion, I began to realize that we may never have it the way we vision. Forgive me for harping on this, but as some know, my extended family in Pittsburgh are Jewish. It was the most surreal experience knowing that my cousin and her husband live in Squirrel Hill, 3 blocks from the synagogue (luckily that was not their synagogue) and seeing the devastation. Unfortunately, for my cousin’s husband, unfortunate news arrived late Saturday night as 2 of the deceased were extended family members of his. Sunday, they televised a local memorial service where they had clergy from all religions speak. The message: we are all one community. This, this is the vision our GOD has for us all, not what we thought we needed, bought, nor material stuff we have, but to be true good stewards of our neighbors – Love one another. Forget color, race or religion, we are all one in this community and the vision for us all should be to make peace with everyone, live in a world without hate, terror, wrongful deaths….etc….

Now that I vented (my apologies), the morning started with a nice crisp cool morning. As PAX rolled in, all eyes turned to one of the last cars pulling in; a white Accord blasting hip-hop music, the driver head bobbing to the beat (thanks for the entertainment mixxmaster Flat Tire). This definitely got the PAX fired up. Plus 2 PAX were stupid or courageous (not sure which) to don rucks. After posting in Pittsburgh 2 weeks ago at the Point State Park AO, the Q that morning broke out a WO from one of our local AOs in Lake Norman – Sharknato. Ever since then, I thought, wow this would be a good one to lead next time I Q.

So after a mossy to the band field, we circled up and did COP. Yes YHC lead off with SSH’s, so I can now omit that from any future Qs. Each PAX would do 20 merkins & run a lap around the field, 20 squats & run the lap, 20 LBCs & run the lap, and 20 V ups & run the lap. Once that cycle was done, rinse and repeat until time for COT. Halfway through the AO, Pusher did a smart audible and relocated to the student parking lot since FMHS band members started to pull in to load up for their trip to Indy for the marching band nationals. We ended 5 mins early to do 5 minutes of mary.

COT prayers: Sir Topham Hat’s brother in-law who is a member of the Pittsburgh SWAT and was one of the first responder’s who had to witness the situation first hand, Frat Boy’s daughter in her upcoming cheer leading competition,  MOAB’s need for children’s clothing for their 2 foster kids, and all the rest that I seem to have forgotten – sorry.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead this awesome group of #HIM

Trucker

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ENCOURGAGEMENT

For my VQ, I wanted to incorporate our word of the month, Encouragement. Since starting F3 this year, I have been given a great deal of encouragement. Encouragement to come my first time, encouragement to keep coming, encouragement to keep going during the workouts, and encouragement to improve some areas of fitness that I needed to improve. My biggest area of opportunity is and probably will always been running, so I wanted to incorporate some running into our workout. I knew that one of the biggest issues with VQ workouts is running out of time, so I wanted to be sure we used all of our 45 minutes together. I decided to come up with an exercise for each letter of ENCOURAGEMENT and running between each exercise.

We first took a quick mosey down the road to get warmed up with SSH, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Moroccan Nightclubs, and a few others. We then took a mosey with a few moving stretches down to the location of the Weinkes. There are 13 letters in the word ENCOURAGEMENT, so we did 13 different exercises.

  • E- burpees
  • N- squats
  • C- big boy sit-ups
  • O- dips
  • U- calf raises
  • R- bear crawls
  • A- worst merkin ever
  • G- squat jumps
  • E- merkins
  • M- mountain climbers
  • E- Carolina dry-docks
  • N- imperial walkers
  • T- LBC’s

We followed this up with some mary before heading back to COT.

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Rule 12(b)(6)

Blame it on a second time Q.  The workout probably had more cardio than intended.

Warmup:

  1. Run a bit
  2. Circle up for some (a) side straddle hops, (b) windmills, (c) squat kicks, and (d) seal jacks
  3. Run a bit more and work in some (a) high knees, (b) butt kickers ,and (c) crossovers, left and right
  4. Run a bit more to “the arrows” (at this point, the pax grew suspicious and began murmuring about the running)

The Thing, Part 1:

  1. At each of 7 or 8 arrows, 5 mirkins, with running between arrows and running back to the beginning
  2. At each of 7 or 8 arrows, 10 squats, with running between arrows and running back to the beginning
  3. At each of 7 or 8 arrows, 5 Carolina dry docks, with running between arrows and running back to the beginning
  4. At each of 7 or 8 arrows, 10 jump knee tucks, with running between arrows and running back to the beginning

The Thing, Part 2:

  1. Run to the benches at the car line (at this point, a pax who shall not be named admitted he wished he had a hat like Q’s, with an “F” for Florida on it)
  2. 10 tricep dips on the benches
  3. Run a lap
  4. 10 steps ups on the benches, with each leg
  5. Run a lap
  6. Rinse and repeat once

Abs:

  1. Q’s chosen ab exercise
  2. Next pax’s chosen ab exercise (additional complaining happened here)
  3. 7 more of those

The Thing, Part 3 (unplanned but added due to more murmuring about “I want my full 45 minutes”)

  1. Bear crawl a little bit
  2. Shuffle/move your body sideways on your hands in a plank-like position using the curb for support to get back to where you started the bear crawl*

*this may not be the official name for this exercise

COT:

Q’s favorite part of the day, where we remembered who we are, whose we are, and what matters most.

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What rain???

As 7 PAX entered The Hive on a rainy and cold Friday morning in the gloom, there was positive vibes in the air.  After the disclaimer, we took off for a quick mosey and as we were running, we noticed that Quack Attack was nice enough to leave his headlights on for us.  We circled up to continue the warm-up:

  • 20 SSH (mumble chatter and laughter ensued as Quack Attack did most of these by his car while he turned his headlights off!)
  • 10 Imperial Walkers, followed by 10 Hillbilly Walkers
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10 Low slow squats
  • 10 windmills
  • (Maybe 1 more, but don’t recall right now)

Quick mosey to the school under some cover b/c it’s ’tis the season to get a cold and rainy / cold weather is not what the doctor ordered.

Music from 80s rock was our background noise as we prepared for the fun that was about to begin.  Wienkeless (not intentional) YHC asked the PAX to keep him honest as we all went through the lineup he had in store since this was going to turn into rinse and repeat with more reps each round.

Round 1:

  • 10 KB swings
  • 10 shoulder presses
  • 10 rows
  • 10 triceps press
  • 5 lunges each leg and passing the KB through your legs
  • 5 each arm lawnmower pull (in plank position)
  • 10 on your back bench press
  • 10 American hammers (not to be confused with russian twists)
  • 10 goblet squats
  • 10 shoulder shrugs
  • 5 each arm lawnmower pulls (not in plank position)
  • 5 each arm travolta’s / clean and jerks
  • 5 burpees with the upward jump swapped with pulling your KB above your head
  • 10 two arm curls

Quick “cool down” mosey in the rain and back at it for round 2.

Round 2 (more reps – and close to same order, but I’m going to copy and paste)

  • 20 KB swings
  • 20 shoulder presses
  • 20 rows
  • 20 triceps press
  • 10 lunges each leg and passing the KB through your legs
  • 10 each arm lawnmower pull (in plank position)
  • 20 on your back bench press
  • 20 American hammers
  • 20 goblet squats
  • 20 shoulder shrugs
  • 10 each arm lawnmower pulls (not in plank position)
  • 10 each arm travolta’s / clean and jerks (this was a burner I think given the full body beating)
  • 10 burpees with the upward jump swapped with pulling your KB above your head
  • 20 two arm curls

Another “cool down” mosey in the rain and ready for final round.

Round 3 (MORE REPS….)

  • 30 KB swings (this was a lot for future note to self…)
  • 30 shoulder presses (also a lot for future self and I gave myself the internal “careful here if you can’t do it, don’t Q it”)
  • 30 rows (this was borderline too many which caused YHC to tell the PAX to modify as needed and we’re going to drop the reps as called out)
  • 25 (not 30) triceps press
  • 15 lunges each leg and passing the KB through your legs
  • 15 each arm lawnmower pull (in plank position)
  • 30 on your back bench press
  • 25 (not 30) American hammers
  • 25 goblet squats
  • 25 shoulder shrugs
  • 15 each arm lawnmower pulls (not in plank position)
  • 10 each arm travolta’s / clean and jerks (had to drop to 10 again b/c I think my arms were going to fall off)
  • 15 burpees with the upward jump swapped with pulling your KB above your head (yes, 15 was a lot)
  • 30 two arm curls

Wrapped up at 6am on the button!   Did COT under our dry covering which was great!

Thanks to Band Camp for the opportunity and great work by all the PAX on the push they gave each other!  And for what it’s worth – we covered everything in the wienke that I had waiting for me when I got home!

-Shady

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The Thing.

YHC’s first ever KB Q!!

A brief warmup: 25 SSH, 20 Squats, A run, stretching and 10 Turkish Get Ups – mostly because YHC likes saying this

Extended Dora:

  • 100 snatches
  • 100 curls
  • 100 KB Swings
  • 300 Goblet Squats

Wrap Up – 20 flutters follwed by :05 of Jim Eubanks hip flexor work!

Moleskin:  are we really encouraging those that are different from us?  Or we only offering enouragement to those like ourselves?

 

It was an honor and privilege to lead!!!

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Double Booked? Nope, Double Beatdown.

Through no fault of anyone that I’m aware, the original Q for the Hive was double booked. Since I know that guy, the PAX probably got off easy with me filling in. Or maybe not.

Disclaimer was disclaimed (didn’t notice that Punch List had brought an FNG, so I guess my extra extended disclaimers are good for something. Also gave the disclaimer that since this is a gear workout, there would not be much running.

Warm-up
SSH
Merkins
Burpees
Some other things that have slipped my mind…

The Thang
Slow mosey to the bleachers by the tennis courts with KBs in hand. Everything today was in groups of 3 exercises repeated 3 times normally increasing each round separated by 10 KB swings and 10 Prone presses

10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses
Single-Leg DL each side 8-12-16
Curls each side 6-8-10 IC
Back extensions (heels on the bleachers, justifier to the sky) 8-12-16 IC
10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses
Tri-extensions 8-10-9-ish IC
Plank row each side 8-12-16
Squats 8-12-16
10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses
Derkins x 10 IC
American Hammers x 10 IC
Derkins x 10 IC
Flutter Press x 20 IC
10 KB swings, 10 Prone presses

Extra slow mosey 70 feet back.

COT

NMM
I may have gotten some of the listed exercises or a few of the counts wrong when I was writing this down finally, but it’s basically all correct. I’m pretty sure if you were to go through this routine, it would be a pretty good beat down even if I missed a few things.

So here’s my thoughts lately about doing gear workouts. If it’s a gear workout, I’m pretty much going to stick with that and not too much running around. I’m pretty simple like that. Find a thing that works and stick with it. My basic KB workouts will be variants of what we did in this one. I figured out this little routine and it works for me. It seems to be a pretty good workout for everyone else too, usually.

F3 is like that for me. When I found out what this thing was all about and started posting, it was something that really just worked for me. I’m not trying to make it into something complicated, I’m just looking for that physical and mental push before the sun even comes up. Every day that I’m out there in the gloom with a bunch of like minded guys focused on accomplishing a single thing at a time, I get energized. If I’m the guy leading, good, but if not, that’s good too.

I see that carried out into our community, getting a bunch of like minded guys focused on accomplishing a single thing at a time. Sometimes that’s reading to kids after school. Sometimes it’s handing out turkeys. Sometimes it’s just running all day and night with a bunch of smelly guys. Sometimes it’s surrounding someone who is suffering physically or emotionally. For me that all starts in the gloom, many days of the week, surrounded by my Brothers…

Geronimo!

 

 

 

 

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Laces In / Out : Garbage IN Garbage OUT! and The Class of……

 

13 men showed up at FMHS for some get better positive habits.

4 runners hit the track with Sir Double D doing some mile repeats…..ouch!!

9 others followed YHC off campus to the local Catholic Church for some ladder climbing

The Thang:

Mosey out of FMHS lot up hill to St Phillip Neri lot and COP

  • Plank
  • SSH
  • Merkins
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • Sumo Squats
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Toy Soldiers
  • Shuffle left
  • Shuffle right
  • Mosey to back of church building
  • Dips
  • Calf Raises

9 Stations building on each

1 – 5 burpees, run
2 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, bearcrawl
3 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, run
4 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, , 20 dry docks, bearcrawl
5 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, , 20 dry docks, 25 squats, run
6 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, , 20 dry docks, 25 squats, 1 minute plank, bearcrawl
7 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, , 20 dry docks, 25 squats, 1 minute plank, 30 American Hammers, run
8 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, , 20 dry docks, 25 squats, 1 minute plank, 30 American Hammers, 35 shoulder presses in peoples chair, run
9 – 5 burpees, 10 ‘merkins, 15 LBCs, , 20 dry docks, 25 squats, 1 minute plank, 30 American Hammers, 35 shoulder presses in peoples chair, 40 side straddle hops, run to COT

 

COT:

Circle up with runners and hit up the announcements

  • 10/27 – Fastest 5k & F3 Soccer
  • 12/1 – Fort Christmas Party

Prayers for Jwow travel and Double D nephew/family.

Spoke about all the hours in the day and if we are filling our heads with trash, trash will come out. It is in the form of negative outlook, pessimism, depression. Instead fill yourself with encouraging positive productive things and don’t feed off of the culture…..it only lies to us which leads to disappointment. Connect with Sky Q often and find out his plan for you and how to navigate this crazy life!!

Thanks Lil E for the Q!! Humbled and Honored!

Cake Boss out

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Arrows Are Never a Good Idea

12 #HIM decided to NOT take the Daily Blue Pill and posted to The Colosseum to be entertained by YHC on Q.  It was a very quiet crowd so #mumblechatter was at a low level but the #effort was at a high level as we pushed forward through what #life throws our way.  Side Note:  Jekyll decided to go yogging (soft J) which is apparently running for an extended period of time.

The Thang:

Dynamic Warm Up

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Toy Soldiers, Slide Left, Slide Right, Karaokes Left, Karaokes Right, Flamingos, World Wide Leaders (Power Skips #registered), Long Strides.

Warmup Complete!

Slow Mosey to the Arrows.

Now before YHC even explained my idea (which looked good on paper) a comment from the peanut gallery turned out to be true in the end “arrows are never a good idea”.  We decided to forge ahead anyway – because in the end – we don’t really have any other option (both at a post and in life – more to come on that in a bit).

So here was the different Phases of a Burpee Deconstructed:

Phase 1:     3 Squats at every arrow

Phase 2:     3 Froggers at every arrow

Phase 3:     3 Merkins at every arrow

Phase 4:     3 Bombjacks at every arrow

Now the Pax saw this next Phase coming up Broadway in a cab.  But #life is kinda like that in a way – you see something you do not want to do but have to tackle it anyway.

Phase 5:   Reconstructed Burpees at every arrow

Now the Pax may have not seen the next phase coming.  But #life is kinda like that in a way – sometimes you think it can’t get any worse and then something blindsides you at a low point.  We tackle it anyway because what is the alternative?!?!?

Phase 6:     Bearcrawl back to start (about 125 yards judging by Google Maps)

Crowd Pleaser!  All Pax dug deep to finish that one.

Next up?  Jacobs Ladder with MORE Reconstructed Burpees.

Then Mosey to start for 6MOM.

COT.

Great work by all Pax!  Appreciate humoring YHC on the arrows.  Appreciate the opportunity to lead.  Appreciate the #encouragement from the brother on  my left and the brother on my right.  Appreciate F3 The Fort for everything it has done to make me a better person.

YHC #encouraged the Pax to take that step forward into service.  It may feel uncomfortable, you may not think you are making an impact, you may be afraid to put yourself out there.  The answer is to take the step and keep taking that step forward.  You will eventually have an impact.  Otherwise we will be on the sideline and that is not where F3 is designed to keep us.  F3 wants us out in our community being a leader.  Aye!

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