Tag: Cyclops

Four Corner Beatdown

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Today at The Colosseum we had nine PAX for a four corner beatdown. We did my customary short mosey and warmed up with some Tappy Taps, Imperial Walkers, Windmills and Morrocan NC.

The Beatdown consisted of Three rounds of three exercises 25x , 20x, 15x at each designated corner with 5 burpees in the center on your return from a corner.

Corner 1: Merkins, Flutters, Squats

Corner 2:Wide Arm Merkins, LBC, Mountain Climbers

Corner 3: Diamond Merkins, BBS, Calf Raises

Corner 4: CDD, American Hammers, Box Cutters

Another quick mosey to COT and the beatdown was over

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Round 2 at Laces In

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Lack of creativity? Potentially. Simple yet effective? Undoubtedly. That could be how I describe several stages of my life.

Yesterday at the JOC, we did round 1 of the Deck of Cards. Whenever you have a round 1, you have to have a round 2. Taking yesterday’s learnings on clock management, I modified the warm-up, flapped the gums a little less and up’d the tempo. That would ensure we get through the deck this time.

We had a total of 20 at Laces, with 2 of those being Road Runners. The other 17 joined me as we circled up.

River Rat got to hear this twice but I shared what Billy Bob said on the Roundtable podcast recently about modifications. You can always modify as needed BUT do not use that as an excuse to not push yourself. It’s appropriate in so many areas of life and it was appropriate for the PAX & I this morning.

So, we jogged over to the start line for our abbreviated warm up consisting of (2) 50yd runs at 50% pace and 75% pace. We followed that up with windmills in cadence and butt kickers in place, also in cadence. And that was it for our warm up.

For the 1st-timers, the deck goes like this, your rep count is the number on the card, 2-10 are obvious, Jacks=11, Queens=12, Kings=13, Aces=14. Suits represent the following exercises:

Hearts: 8ct Burpee (It’s a burpee with a plank jack & the push up)
Diamonds: 4ct Mountain Climbers
Clubs: Jump Squats
Spades: Diamond Merkins
Jokers: (25) 4ct Flutters

In total, we did:
(104) 8ct Burpees
(104) 4ct Mountain Climbers
(104) Jump Squats
(104) Diamond Merkins
We had 3 Jokers in the deck so that is (75) Flutters, of the 4ct variety

We finished the deck at 0551 so we had 9mins left on the clock which was filled with:
(30) Flutters
(12) Hand-Release Merkins
(15) American Hammers

4 more 50yd runs at 50%, 75%, 100%, 75%

Moseyed back to COT for:
Heels to Heavens
Freddy Mercury

COT today was pretty powerful for me. We had men that brought some real stuff today that they are walking through life with. As we say, you are not meant to carry this on your own; that would crumble any man. You have been called and designed to lead but the best leaders have a group they work with. In F3, we call that group a Shield Lock.
Remember, sometimes you need to modify the game plan. However, DO NOT use that modification as an excuse to not give it your all.

It’s been my honor.
Maximus

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Trifecta Tuesday

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On Tuesday the 7th, 15 #HIM descended upon Golden Corral to continue making 2020 a year of acceleration.  10 PAX started early as YHC encountered Dark Helmet leading a group around the grounds.  Fortunately, they did not mess up the sidewalk chalk – that came in handy later to give PAX some not so subtle reminders about what to do…..many times.

After the 10 extra credit (BTP) PAX joined for the boot camp or ruck, here’s what the boot campers did:

Mosey to COP – 12 low slow squats (D/C), hold the people’s chair after the 12th squat while doing 12 double count Moroccan night clubs, Imperial Walkers X 12 (D/C), Hillbilly Walkers X 12 (D/C).  Mosey some more……COP (continued), 15 SSH’s (D/C), 10 Windmills (D/C), 15 Merkins (D/C), 15 Mountain Climbers (D/C), 10 Plank jacks, then mosey to the main event.

The sidewalk chalk served as the guide, the date was 1-7-20 – those numbers add up to 28.  Every sequence was an exercise followed by a bear crawl a set distance (25-ish yards) (no one went as fast as Tesh would have), another exercise, a mosey back to the start line and repeat.  The exercises of the day were……squats and merkins – always adding up to 28.

26 squats, bear crawl, 2 merkins, mosey back

24 squats, bear crawl, 4 merkins, mosey back

22,6  20,8  18,10 16,12 14,14 12,16 10,18 8,20 6,22 4,24 2,26

The squats got less, the merkins more and all PAX got better,

Over 2700 merkins and over 2700 squats were done in total.  YHC heard about it later.

After one fast and one not so fast 10 count, we moseyed around the building to do, of course, 7’s – it was January 7 after all.

The exercises were Kracken burpees and Carolina Dry Docks – 6 KB’s a 15-ish yard lunge walk, 1 CDD and a mosey back to the wall, 5 KB’s, lunge walk, 2 CDD’s and a mosey back 4, lunge walk 3, 3 lung walk 4, 2 lunge walk 5, 1 lunge walk 6.

After Pusher proclaimed how terrible all this was (YHC thought Carolina Dry Docks would make him feel better), we had just enough time to get to COT for 2 minutes of Mary before the Ruckers saved us from going past the 0600 bell.

Slow Flutter kicks (D/C) x 15

Protractor at varying angles, finishing at 0 degrees and 0600 for COT.

Announcements:

1-29 Grapevine fundraiser for Classroom Ready – Celebrity bar tenders.  Who will be there? (#showtoknow)

Let Me Run seeking coaches for teams in schools in both Fort Mill and Rock Hill – reach out to Cyclops or Double D with interest and/or questions.

Word of the Year – Focus on it and live it out.  Use your shield locks to hold you accountable. Together, we all get better than we ever would alone.

Praises and Prayers – Lutefisk’s Father-in-law, Cyclops’s Dad, Tinsel’s brother, Duck Dynasty and his niece and for continuing to be a hope and light to others in a world that is often darker than we like.

Just prior to COT, YHC shared the 3 elements of a high impact relationship – 1) it meets you where you are  2) it provides safety to allow you to grow and 3) it teaches you about yourself.

Thanks to F3 and the high impact relationships it provides its PAX.  We have the privilege and honor to be sharpened and honed by many high impact men within our community when in one another’s presence – through all 3 F’s – what a gift it is.

As we all seek to make 2020 a year of acceleration, YHC is grateful for 2 things today:  1) To Lutefisk for the opportunity to Q – it’s always an honor and 2) To the brothers of F3 for being a reason YHC chooses the harder thing far more often than I used to.

Stay after it.  Keep going.  Kamwe Kuacha (Never Stop).

Honored.

Cyclops

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Free laces tour

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For a chilly, post Christmas, workout – lucky 5 at the Hiv…Laces In gathered with Tesh missing the 10 second disclaimer quick mosey as he rolled in a quickly got “clothing uncomfortable”.  Warmup included: SSH, cherry pickers, imperial and hillbilly walkers, low slow squats, american hammers, flutters and LBCs.  I think there was a few other things, but now that I’m late posting this backblast (don’t do what I’m doing and wait 4 days) then I’ve already forgotten.

Next up was The Thang where we mosey’d from our meeting spot to the entrance of the football field from the main road.  Once to the top of the hill, we did 10 bombjacks, then followed up with a mosey down to the bottom of the hill in the circle for 10 burpees.  Next venture was over to the entrance by the school where we went all the way to the top of the entrance at the main road and did 25 merkins.  Back down the hill to the very front of the school and 25 diamond merkins.

Next run was to the marching band parking lot far corner for 40 squats (straight back, hands touch the ground…so real deal).  40 appeared to be the right number.  We followed this up to the school building entrance where we found some benches – 40 step ups, 20 each leg.  On our way to entrance #3 off of hwy 21, we found more benches calling our name.  25 dips and 25 derkins seemed to be the right mix.  As we found the hwy 21 school entrance, we ran all the way down for 10 burpees, then back up the hill for 10 bombjacks.

Then to the back of the school where the pull up bars are located…. Idea here was 7’s for pullups and diamonds (11 was the idea but time was not on our side being on the other side of campus). Started with 6 pullups, then 1 diamond; 5 pullups, then 2 diamonds….  You know the rest.

After pullups we took the short cut back but found our flat benches real quick so 25 dips and 25 derkins seemed like another good plan.  Then headed back to COT which was about .5-.75 miles back so we had that going for us.  All in all I believe we were right around 2.5 miles so we got some of those in along with a nice set of boot camp activities.  Thanks for the call to action Mr. Site Q!

Shady

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Site Q Siwtcharoo: Holiday Surprise

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7 PAX gathered despite having no knowledge of who the Q would be.  Disclaimers were given, a few moseyed off to run and because we were unable to recite the 5 core principles in order, all PAX did 5 burpees OYO before we moseyed to:

COP – Low Slow Squat x 15 working in Moroccan Night Clubs X 15 while in people’s chair, SSH x 31, Imperial Walkers x 15, Windmills x 10, Merkins x 10 with salutations right, left and holding at 6-inches while sparkplug gave us a 10-count.

The Main Event – 12 days of Christmas of course.  YHC took a page from Deacon’s book – the 12 step program.  A not so moderate workout consisted of the following:

100 yard shuttle run – 50 yards up the hill and 50 yards down
Jumping Squats (2x)
Big Boy Sit Ups (3x)
Pepper Grinders (4x)
Burpees (5x)
LBCs (6x)
Sumo Squats (7x)
Heels to Heaven (8x)
Dips (9x)
Calf Raises (10x) – (10 with toes outward, 10 with toes inward, 10 with toes straight out)
Diamond Merkins (11x)
Wide Arm Merkins(12x)

All PAX finished 12 rounds just in time to meet Uhaul and Boss Hog yogging in to COT.

Announcements were given, praises and prayers were offered.

Thanks to Crab Cakes for the opportunity to switch it up, post with some PAX YHC had yet to really get to know and, as always, for the chance to lead.

Cyclops

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12 Days of Christmas

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15 HIMs descended on Laces In/Out for a beat down today including (3) runners led by Rock Thrill and (12) for BC led by YHC.

YHC was honored to be invited by Cyclops to Q at this AO. There is so much to do that I decided to peruse the previous backblasts to see if I could borrow some ideas. Fortunately, I was directed to a backblast from 12/8/13 from Double D and Santini where the Fort was introduced to the 12 Days of Christmas. YHC was there and remember it fondly. It has become a staple of the Christmas season at the Fort. In honor of DD, I decided to borrow the pain and apply.

The Thang

Mosey toward front of FMHS

1st Stop – SSHs x 30 and 5 burpees

2nd Stop – Windmills x 10 and 4 burpees

3rd Stop – Mtn Climbers x 20 and 3 burpees

4th Stop – Merkins x 10 and 2 burpees

5th Stop – IWs x 15 and 1 burpee

 

12 Days of Christmas

The Pax completed each set of exercises consistent with the song and then took a lap around the parking lot. The exercises were done in order listed below:

1 Donkey Kick

2 WAM

3 Jumping Lunges

4 Merkins

5 Squats

6 Burpees

7 Bombjacks

8 Sumo Squats

9 CDD

10 Flutters IC

11 Monkey Humpers

12 Diamond Merkins

 

All total we completed 2.6 miles plus exercises above. No one remembered that it was cold outside! Slapshot led the way the entire time and thus carried us out with a prayer.

 

Moleskin

  • Christmas party tomorrow night
  • Dam to Dam relay for a cause
  • Bonsai looking for folks to help with shelving at Classroom Ready
  • Prayers for Cash, Cyclops Dad

 

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Rust Removal

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8 HIM decided to shake off some Thanksgiving Holiday Rust at Quagmire.  After observing a missing flag due to a notably absent site Q (cough cough, Mile High, cough cough), disclaimers were given, 5 core principles of the workout were spoken by the PAX in proper order.  Off we moseyed.  Here’s what happened:

COP – 1)  SSH x 20, 5 burpees  2) Imperial Walkers x 15, 5 burpees  3) low slow squat x 15, 5 burpees, 4) merkins x 10, 5 burpees  5) hillbilly walkers x 15, 5 burpees

Moseyed to Target for Partner DORA – 1,2,3,4.  Having 8 led to even numbers and pairing off evenly.

100 – Jumping lunges (crowd favorite)

200 – Squats

300 – LBC’s

400 – Clave Raises

A 10 count was given, 5 more burpees were done (just because) and off we moseyed to the fountain for some 30 on 30 on 30

At the fountain – 30 dips, 30 derkins, 30 step ups.  Time to mosey to the Marshalls lot

Partners were found again for a quick DORA 1 – 100 merkins while partners ran 40(ish) yard sprints – 20 down and 20 back.   5 burpees were done (to be consistent) and we moved on.

Mosey again to COT for a few minutes of Mary:  American Hammers x 21, Box Cutters x 20 and some protractor work to keep people sharp on their geometry.  COT brought things to a close.

Announcements – Read your newsletter, XMas Party this Friday at Baxter Mushroom Pool Clubhouse, Convergence and Clave Boos 5K/10K on Christmas Eve at Colosseum.

Prayers and Praises were offered.

YHC is admittedly not a regular at Quagmire.  Monday was a great experience and my thanks goes out to Mile High (despite his absence) for the opportunity to Q and to get better around some very high impact men.  It was a honor to post this morning and start December off right.  The message to us all was to remember why we are here – for others first, ourselves last.   For it is true that when we are right, we can be right for others to make the impact we are called to bring as leaders.

Honored,

Cyclops

 

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Snake Pit – Quarter Pounders w/ Cheese

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After rescheduling this too many times due to conflicts, able to finally Q at this fine establishment. Special guest Partnerwork who’s kind of a big deal showed up. Gave the obligatory disclosure and we were off.

To get the blood flowing, began with a kettle bell mosey down to the lower entrance of the football field.

Warm up IN cadence:

  • SSH
  • IWs – little extra practice nice before to avoid repeating the epic failure from my Block Party Q
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Mtn. Climbers
  • Low Country Crab – found this one in the Exicon
  • Freddie Mercury

Quick recovery and Partnerwork opened the gates with the keys to the castle. Questions about a random tire placed by gate arose but was ignored.

The Thang

Line up at the goal line to explain the objective. Carry your kettlebell every 10 yards and execute number of corresponding reps to the end zone. Cyclops pointed out this is a reverse pyramid.

  • 10 – Man Makers
  • 20 – KB Swings
  • 30 – Gobblet Squats
  • 40 – Curls
  • 50 – Tricep Extensions
  • Repeat past the 50 to end zone

Checking time, needed to call a few audibles.

  • Grabbed some wall and proceeded with dirty hookups in  cadence x 30.
  • Jack Webbs (1×4 to 5×20)
  • Shoulder Taps x 30

Lined up on goal line for next field round.

Quarter Pounder

  • 10 KB swings to start, run to following yard markers, execute corresponding reps and run back backwards to start w/ 10 KB swings before running to next marker.
    • 25 yards – Merkins
    • 50 yards – American Hammers
    • 75 yards – Mountain Climbers
    • 100 yards – Calf Raises

With time running out, decided to head back to COT but with a bonus. Inspired by Geronimo’s Q at Laces In,  decided we should Indian run with our kettle bells with leader also carrying tire. It was met with enthusiasm.

Reached COT with a few minutes to spare, MARY Ab workouts in cadence until time.

Announcements: Thanksgiving convergence, Christmas party

Prayers/Praises: health, unspokens, upcoming travel

Thanks to Partnerwork for the field access , 3D for the opportunity, and the wisdom of other PAX  for this junior Q.

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Overcome

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7 boot campers and 3 runners posted at Laces In/Out this morning.  The cool temperature was perfect for a hideous beat down. We did hill repeats because today’s message was focused on overcoming inertia.

The Thang:

COP: SSH (30x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (20x), and LBCs (15x)

Mosey to the hill near the stadium to add inertia and do the following exercises. 

  1. 100 Yard Dash
  2. Jumping Squats (2x) 
  3. Big Boy Sit Ups (3x)
  4. Pepper Grinders (4x)
  5. Burpees (5x)
  6. LBCs (6x)
  7. Sumo Squats (7x) 
  8. Heels to Heaven (8x)
  9. Dips (9x)
  10. Calf Raises (10x)
  11. Merkins (11x)
  12. Penguins (12x)

Moleskin:

Why do we sometimes struggle to answer God’s calling and purpose for our lives?  Does our own inertia stop us from making a breakthrough?

The bible shows us that Paul initially hesitated when he was called to God’s mission field.  In the Acts of the Apostles 22, Jesus needed to encourage Paul to overcome his inertia. He kept telling Paul “Go,” “Get up,” “What are you waiting for?”

Paul eventually pushed through his inertia and fulfilled his mission.  Paul’s story is a great illustration of how it’s sometimes tough to start your mission but you must finish strong.  

Peace,

Deacon

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Moving to keep warm on a windy day

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Cyclops and YHC(Bass-o-Matic)  were blessed with the opportunity to have the Q at the Fort.  As we discussed that we had nothing really planned, nobody would have believed it as it came together nicely.

A brief intro, disclaimer and welcome Slim Jim from the New Bern PAX we started right into the warmup as we waited for stragglers to roll in.  We did the typical SSH, Windmills, merkins, imperial walkers, peter parkers and plank jacks.  A brief challenge to the group on how do you plan for the unexpected and how do you respond to those situations?  Now that everyone was ready we split off with Milkshake and moseyed to one of my favorite walls across from the memorial park.

Since the PAX looked a little tired we started of with some wall sits.  This is where it started getting a little saucy.  Round 1 each PAX did a 10 count with an arm variation until we go to the end.  Short 20 second break.  Round 2 Each PAX did 10 bombjacks till we made it down the line.  Saw some great form from the pax.

Changed it up and went to the plan position.  Each PAX held the plan until we went down the line with plank jacks.  20 second recovery and then repeated with mtn. climbers.

Rinse and repeat.  Went back to wall sits with squats for round 1 and SSH for round two.  Funny how quick 30 minutes went and then it was time to hand it over to Cyclops.

We moseyed from the Springs lot to Footloose – a good sojourn.  Once all PAX came in, we circled up for a 10-20-30 pyramid:

10 burpees OYO, 20 squats in cadence (because Bass-o-Matic did no leg work in his half of the Q ; – ) and 15 double count merkins in cadence.  After merkin completion, PAX stretched out from the plank with salutations to the left and right then holding 6 inches off the ground while Tesh gave an efficient 10 count.

We moseyed from Footloose to the front of the Fort Mill Police Department, held a belated veterans day Pledge of Allegiance to honor all who serve, and then moseyed on to Main street for more “fun”.

On the main street benches, PAX did 20 dips and 20 derkins OYO and then we moseyed to the Founders Bank lot for the “main act”

7’s –  6 Kracken Burpees on the horizontal parking space line, lunge walk to the opposite side (because we needed more leg work), 1 Carolina Dry Dock, mosey back to the line, 5 kracken burpees, lunge walk, 2 CDD’s, mosey back……etc. etc. etc. all the way down too 1 KB and 6 CDD’s to finish. PAX finished at this lot before moseying by holding a squat position and did 10 Moroccan night clubs in cadence.  A quick recovery via a 10-count and we moseyed back to the East side of WEP.

At the .1 mile drill bit – Pax bunched up for some more work:  15 double count flutters in cadence, 10 burpees OYO (just because) and 10 double count diamond merkins.  A little mumble chatter came about…but just a little – likely due to the love of burpees and diamond merkins.

A quick mosey back to COT brought us to a few minutes of Mary – which included 15 box cutters in cadence and 45 (ish) seconds worth of protractor work – PAX seemed to enjoy holding legs 6 inches off the ground after completing box cutters making the transition to the protractor more “fun”.  For some reason, pre-mature a count off started at this point – I don’t know why.

We wrapped up at 0730 per custom and moved to name-o-rama, announcements. praises and prayers.

Praise for the health care providers who are caring for many sick friends and family, who are in our thoughts, including Tesla’s Mom and Cyclops’ Dad who are battling forms of cancer.  And for Assassin who is working through an infection and awaiting biopsy results. Slim Jims grandson who is recovering from illness. Kenyan’s loss of his M; prayers for comfort and peace.

Read your newsletter.

 

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