Tag: Dark Helmet

Slowburn – Pain Stations +

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25 PAX gathered at slowburn for a saucy workout.  We gave a quick disclaimer and welcomed 2 FNG’s.  It wasn’t long and we headed out for a short mosey.  We circled up and I turned over the warm up to Fogarty for his V Q.

Fogarty started us off with some of the usual:

SSH
Imperial Walkers
Speedy Windmills
Peter Parkers
Mtn. Climbers
Merkins
Moroccan night clubs
2 double merkin burpees (where’d that come from?)

Fogarty turned it back over to YHC for another Mosey. I gave a shout out to Quickbooks for his intro that he did a couple of weeks back and I tried to do the same giving a little background on YHC. I’ll spare you all the details. Dark Helmet was observant to realize that my years of marriage did match up to how old my son is. That dude’s sharp! I closed out the intro with Romans 5:4. Look it up, it’s a solid verse on building character.

On that note we moseyed to the back of Lowes for some chalk scribble that was planned for the PAX.

We broke into two groups with 3 stations. Each group started on either far end would do an exercise and sprint to the middle station do an exercise and then return back to their starting point for the next exercise. Instructions seems easier that the PAX wrestled with, but they quickly got the hang of it. Here are the pain stations:

Station 1:
Merkins
Shoulder Taps
CDD’s
Mtn. Climbers

Middle Station:
Calf Raises
Squats
Lunges
Donkey Kicks

Station 3:
Leg Raises
LBC’s
Hello Dollies
Flutters

Round 1 15 of exercise run to the middle and then back for the next exercise until all 4 exercises are complete then run to the opposite Station. Do the same thing 15 of each run to the middle. When finisished with 1 and 3 then rinse and repeat with 10 of each exercise. This took us right up to time.

Jailbreak back to COT. Welcome to the fold Moab and Jake Brake FNG’s.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

Bass-o Out. <><

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#218in18 Kick-off Convergence BackBlast

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76 PAX (including 4 FNGs) met in the gloom at Harris Teeter this morning to kick the year off the right way.

Group 1 – Jedi

Start with 60 seconds of plank tutorial, then a fairly lame attempt to explain the exercise “routine” for the upper body station. The routine, to be done in increasing AMRAP style:
· Incline Merkins
· Low Country Crab Boil (One leg, one hand dips)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Left hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Left hand on curb)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Pseudo Planche Merkins
· Donkey Kicks
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Right hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Right hand on curb)
· 90° Turn to starting position

Start with 10 reps for each exercise, then add 2 reps each round after that (10, 12, 14, 16, …). Only the elite few made it past the round of 12.

Group 2 – Peabody

An absolute honor to lead a convergence and had so much fun working with all the guys. Here’s the fun of the cardio Q.

SPRINT Relays!!!  

3 team

60 Yard sprint

Team members are doing Seal Jacks, side straddle hops, or flutters while teammate runs.

Winning team selects penalty exercise for 2 losing teams. (Unknown is losing team has to do the penalty exercise too but only half the reps).

Rinse and repeat the sprint relay races once teams are mixed up.

Mary to follow:

  • 50 LBCs
  • 25 Flutters
  • 10 Freddie Mercury’s

Lists of fun to hear the encouragement of other Pax and see the competition bring out the most in guys.  Saw lots of guys really push hard to win for their team.

Group 3 – Jekyll

Motley Crue and 80’s hairband soundtrack

  • COP: SSH, IW, Squat
  • 5 Burpee OYO, 4 OYO, 3 OYO
  • Lt Dan: squat and jumping , 1:4 ration
    • 1 squat: 4 jumping lunge, 2 squat: 8 Jumping lunge…10 squat: 40 jumping lunge
  • 5 burpee OYO
  • Calf Raises 25 each: Straight, Toes Out, Toes In
  • Donkey Kicks

COT

Welcome FNGs Iron City, Humps, Hillary, and Juliet

Prayers by CakeBoss for leadership.

– Ginsu

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A Real Ball Buster at Quagmire

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I was going to name this “Playing with NASA’s Balls at Quagmire”, but I won’t go there….

GREAT morning! Chilly, crisp, with clear skies. NASA-Q loves starry mornings. Quite a few PAX showed up ready to give Monday the boot in the booty. The night before a few PAX were Twitter-chatting about a post run after the workout, since they were fortunate to have the day off of work.  I did not intentionally plan on ruining that, but hey, stuff happens. It was a complement when they said I did. Thank you and you’re welcome.

5:15 hit the mark. No FNGs unfortunately. Disclaimer was disclaimed. Off we went……

Short mosey from Chick Fil A lot to the lot near the fountains. Good mumblechatter about the playoff games the day before. No funky stretchy stuff while running, just running. Circle up for the COP:

  • SSH x 20
  • WM x 20
  • IW x 20
  • MNC x 20

Just enough to loosen and warm up a little. I wanted to save our energy for the real deal. Short mosey over to Target.

All along the store front there are the large red concrete balls (bollards) Target is known for. At each ball, there was an exercise. Complete it, transition to next ball to the next exercise (anywhere between 10-25 yds apart). When all the balls are completed, run a lap around the outer perimeter roads enclosing the parking lot (about .25 – .33 mile). This is done HIIT style, non-stop start to finish, you rest while you run back to the start. Each PAX was on their own, you vs you, to see how many circuits you can get through.

Exercises (each is 30 reps) and transitions:
1. Merkins
> bear crawl (BC) transition
2. Jump squats
> crab walk (CW) transition
3. LBC
> BC
4. CDD
> CW
5. Jump Lunges
> BC
6. Freddie Mercury
> CW
7. Wide-arm Merkins
> BC
8. Monkey humpers
> CW
9. American hammers
> Run lap back to start #1
>> Rinse and repeat

That was a real ball bustin burner! The entire group cranked out 3 complete circuits. Some over-achievers completed another 2/3 circuit on top. Warning – next time each exercise will be 40-50 reps. Some PAX – Jedi, Cha-Ching, and Bones – are not human, rather they are complete beasts! And they are motivation for others. But I tell you what, the rest of the PAX were not far behind. Witch Hunt, Royale, BtB, Whopper, Homebrew, and Copyright ALL did GREAT. And special Kudos to Dark Helmet for performing all this while rucking heavy with 40lbs on his back. DAMN!! There was alot of encouraging push/pull from the group. No chatter or NMM ramblings from the Q (believe it). We just ground it out, finishing just in time to get back to the COT.

Announcements, Prayers, and Praises:

  • READ YOUR NEWSLETTER, GET OUT THERE AND MAKE AN IMPACT!!
  • The Rooster is this weekend!! WOO HOO!!
  • Yeti not far behind. JUST DO IT!!! JUST SIGN UP!! It will be awesome, I promise
  • P200 in March. If you’re interested, let folks know. Injury bugs bite and sometimes teams need replacements.
  • Prayers for Short Sale and his family in the loss of his brother
  • Prayers for the family and friends of Mint Hill’s Gremlin
  • Prayers for injured / sick PAX
  • Prayers for PAX going through marriage/relationship/family issues

Get out there and make a difference, make a positive impact. On the day honoring the great Martin Luther King Jr, take his intentions and run with them. We have alot of work to do as a country regarding racial relations and equality. We can – and should – do better. Be the change we all want to see in this world. Conquer the hate and ignorance with your love and intentionality. All it takes is the decision to do so and follow through.

God Bless and Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
– NASA

 

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Good In-vest-ment of time at the Coop

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13 PAX with 2-3 pre-runners, 1 Ruck from Dark Helmet, and 1 bright green vest from YHC joined in this suddenly balmy 45F temps, after deep freeze past several days. Several PAX mentioned YHC’s vest (runner jokes), and was removed quickly for being too warm
Mosey in a big Loop around parking lot
COP in big parking lot
  • SSH
  • Windmill
  • Moroccan Night Club
  • 4-count Merkins
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Squats
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • 10 Count Honeymooner
Mosey to Concrete football field
Partner up
B.O.M.B (no S – that comes later)
Partner 1 – Exercise
Partner 2 – Run to 50 and Back
  • 50- Burpees
  • 100- Overhead Claps
  • 150- Merkins
  • 200- Big Boy Sit-ups
PAX griped and also encouraged each other through this. We made it through and got better
Mosey to Wall for the “S” (Wall “S”its)
  • PAX Wall-sit while 1 PAX down line in Wave:
    • Burpree
    • 2 Merkins
  • 30 Dips on Curb OYO
  • 30 Calf raises on Curb OYO
Mosey in a big Loop around parking lot
Mary
  • American Hammers
  • Flutter Kicks
  • Freddie Mercury
  • Dark Helmet’s Body Destroyer (aka just laid there for 10-count)
  • Protractor
  • LBCs
Birdcage needed .09miles on his Garmin, so we Mosey another lap back to COT
COT
  • Nomad – be thankful. We’re always thankful at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Lets be thankful for 2017, but also be thankful for 2018, and expectant for what is to come.
  • Praise / Prayer – Dark Helmet’s sister has come out, so hopeful for progress
  • Prayer – Squeaky’s daughter has mono and has to be home for 1month

Great AO, Great Pax. Great in-vest-ment of YNC’s time!

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Ruck Tuesday at Golden Corral

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We rucked. It was a real hoot. Here’s what we did:

We loaded up “The Worm” on our shoulders, which for the uninitiated is a 4-section (in this case 3 since there were only 3 of us) beast with 4 short logs connected by chains. It’s no fun after the first mile or so.

Speed rucked down 160 to The DOggy Depot, or whatever that thing is called near Bruster’s, and then we did the following:

100 curls
50 squats
25 OH Press
0 Burpees
25 Triceps Extensions
50 Flutter Press
100 Upright Rows

Speed Ruck back under weight.

We had a few minutes when we got back, so Rad says, “Wanna do some sandbag tosses?” If Rad ever says this to you, the answer is “no”. You’re welcome for that little tidbit. He pulled out a 40, 60, and 80 (more like 90) and we proceeded to rotate through pressing them and throwing them as far as we could. ChaChing absolutely MANHANDLED those things. It was stupid. My arms still hurt two days later.

After that, we joined the BootCampers for COT.

It was a good time. That’s all I have to say about that.

Helmet, out.

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More Running, Less Bootcamp

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#HypeTrain rolled into the #LacesIn Station once again.  This time it was a family affair with #SPEEDFORNEED coming south to join forces as well as #LacesOut (#F3RunClub) (#Yogging (soft J)) converging with the Bootcampers for 45 minutes of …..well lots of running.  The irony was not lost on YHC (the artist formerly known as Mountain Buffalo) as he gave up the ‘running for an extended period of time’ thing years ago.  Vowing never to return.  Yet his own Q hijacked by nothing more than simple running.  At the very least YHC squeezed in a couple of merkins (only for #Rooney’s sake) and taught everyone what an “updown” was – seriously?  Who doesn’t know what an updown entails?!?  It’s even in the gawl-dang name.  YHC digresses.  Here is what happened:

Little Baby Jog to the football field (so cushy – so soft).

Dynamic Warmup

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Side Shuffles, Toy Soldiers, Toe Touches, Long Strides, Power Skips (Trademark: WWLs).

Then merkins (Rooney!!!)  and windmills to straighten everyone out.

Time to Bootcamp:

Partner up and size kinda matters for very confusing sequence.

UpDown – Partner Push – Run to Opposite Side of Field – UpDown – Partner Push

Repeat this every 20 yards as you move down the field to the endzone and then go back down to the other endzone.

(This was a rugby (shocker – I know) simulation – expend energy – sprint – get on the ground – get back up – expend more energy – sprint again – then repeat.  While it was unorthodox and confusing to some – it was a smoker.)

Rinse and Repeat with 2 updowns before each partner push.  Another smoker.

Give me a ten count.

Hey – let’s breakout the running chairs and do some sprints!!!  Tolkien was nice enough to give us all a quick tutorial about how they work.  We split into teams and relayed around the track with weights.  Then we got on the field and chased the chairs for 100 yards – over and over and over and over and over again.  Then some (small) pax jumped in the chairs and they got pushed and the rest of us chased for 100 meters over and over and over and over again.  Okay – enough running!!!  Back to the field.

YHC went back to one of his favorites – the extra long bear crawl.  This time – 100 yards.  Crowd pleaser!

We worked our way back with some rugby sprints (could not resist).

Ended with a little bit o mary then ran the chairs back to COT.

 

Great time out there among so major #HIMs and it’s always an honor to lead.  YHC saw a tweet asking for more “SERVICE” to our community from F3Nation.  No better example of pure SERVICE then Tolkien.  The amount of time/energy/passion/service this man brings to #SPEEDFORNEED is incredible.  Follow his lead in 2018 – get out there – get uncomfortable – and serve others!  Aye!

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New Year’s at #SwampMire

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First off, I’ll let you in on a little secret that you may already know:
If I’m promoting something on Twitter (especially my Q), you should only believe about 60% of the content of the tweet. Problem is, you just don’t know which 60%, so my hope is you’ll show up to find out… That said, the Sodium Borohydride (NaBH4) tweet was ridiculous. If you didn’t see it, trust me, you didn’t miss anything much. In that same tweet, though, I mistakenly referred to Quagmire as The Swamp. Both workouts launch from the same parking lot, so I’d love to blame it on that, but it was IN THE TWEET I REPLIED TO. Meh…Details…

I did make a vague attempt to tie the chemistry to the “One Word” convergence coming up on the 12th. NaBH4 is used as a reducing agent for aldehydes and ketones, and one of the words I’m trying on right now for 2018 is “Reduce” or “Simplify”… I know… a long stretch and an obscure reference… you’ll live.
I was a Chemistry minor in Undergraduate… Despite Crash’s Dad failing me in Chem 102 my Sophomore year. But, that’s a long story, best shared on the road in a white van whilst running a 200 mile relay or something… What were we talking about…? Oh yeah… the workout…

We’ve all heard of Dora 1-2-3… No good to start a New Year, so, I modified it to a Dora “Oh-Why-Me?” Here’s how it went:

Warm up:
Mosey to larger traffic circle
Windmills x 10
IW x 10
Mosey to next traffic circle:
Weed Pullers x 10
Moroccan Nightclubs x 10
MC x 15
Mosey to front of Books-A-Million:
Parker Peters x 10
SSH x 15

Then on to the “Dora, oh why me?” – A Pyramid of hate

You and your partner:
Partner 1 runs (roughly 75 yards down, then back)
Partner 2 does the exercises:
100 Burpees
200 Jump Squats
300 Merkins
400 Flutters
300 CDD
200 Squats
100 Makthar N’Diayes
Mosey back to the flag for some Mary
COT
——————
NMM:
We didn’t make it all the way through the exercises. It was cold… Also, that was a lot of freaking exercises. QBert and Geronimo were the Kings of the day and they managed to get through most (actually, I think all?) of the squats. The rest of us petered out in Carolina Dry Dock Land… which is a lovely place… I think Jedi has a Summer home there…

Helmet, Out.

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2017 Clave Boss 5k/10k & Christmas Convergence

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Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more——Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

The largest turn out by far for the Clave Boss 5k/10k was a success. We started on time and as far as I know nobody died. Thank you to all the PAX that ran and had a fun time and fellowship.

For the 5k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. MacGyver
  2. Harry Carry

For the 10k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Sir Topham Hat
  2. mix of PAX coming from all directions—no idea

For the Ruck, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Dark Helmet for 11min pace 5k ruck…..nice work!

Honorable Mention for Anchorman completing the 5k and Barry Manilow being his wingman!

The Convergence kicked off on time and we had Gecko open us up in prayer. We split the groups up and away we went with COT at 0750. Click on links to see the pain that was delivered…..Merry Christmas!

Black Diamond – Longshanks Q – https://t.co/odVJHWCBPS

Bootcamp – Cha Ching Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/christmas-convergence-boot-camp-mixed-w-some-bd/

Noderate – Barry Manilow Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/your-moderate-option-at-the-convergence/

COT came together and we had 83 men attend this year.

Welcome FNG – Lake Effect, who is 41 not the 50 that he just shouted out. Classic!

Many announcements:

  • Thank you Site Qs for all your work, dedication and leadership!
  • Serve Saturdays ….reach out to Deacon, Bolt, NASA for info…..HIMs!!
  • Joe Davis Run Jan 6
  • Friday Convergence with 3rdF post beat down Jan 12
  • Rooster CSAUP Jan 20
  • Yeti – February
  • P200 – March

More than a workout!!

Prayers/Praises

  • Dark Helmet shared his sister is in need of prayer. Please remember DH and his family each day in prayer
  • Family visiting is fun and sometimes no so fun. BE HIMs!!
  • Prayers for all the PAX traveling and for peace this week!

Challenge:

I spoke to the PAX about how 2000 years ago Sky Q sent his son into the world in the form of a baby. When looking for a place to come in from the cold there WAS NO ROOM AT THE INN. I believe we all fall into this trap and put so much busy into our lives that we don’t have ROOM AT THE INN for Sky Q in our lives. We fill our hearts and minds with so much and when it come to his word and being in relationship, we DON”T HAVE ROOM AT THE INN (in our hearts).

I challenge myself and the PAX to make room for SKY Q and see how it changes your life in 2018 and beyond.

Honored to lead this PAX. I am blessed and grateful for each of you!

Cake Boss

 

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Final Shopping Days at the Swamp

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After setting up some fun cones I made it to the AO to see the large group of PAX ready for the day. We had a special guest return of Jerry Lewis back on leave from his military training. Great to have him out! We also got an FNG that several men EH’d from our monthly 2nd F beer social.  He received the name “Wingman”for the old barhopping days with your boys…

With an FNG I gave a long disclaimer and the ruckers started on their way out…the campers followed me.

Mosey down the streets with a run and dynamic warmup.

Made it to COP where we completed to following:

24 SSHs

24 MNCs

19 Squats

11 Windmills (by now the mumble chatter has  started on my sporadic stops)

12 Merkins

11 Ski Abs (I was just being lazy, no other  rhyme to my counts)

Mosey over to the Rivergate Fountain for some speed shopping!

I set up 8 cones in front of eight different stores around the area, or goal was to split into groups of four  and make our speedy stops at the shop and do the two exercises listed at that stop.  Once you completed the two exercises your group ran around the large circle and moved to the next store in front of your previous cone.

The  exercises at each cone consisted of :

#1 25 Carolina Dry docks

#1 20 burpees

#2 40 LBCs

#2 40 Squats

#3 20 bombjacks

#3 30  moroccan night clubs

#4 20 merkins

#4 25  squat jumps

#5 30  Freddie mercury’s

#5 20  wide arm Merkins

#6 40  Side straddle hops

#6 30 Ski Abs

#7 20  dying cockroaches (my fav)

#7 20 diamond Merkins

#8 25  Imperial walkers

#8 40  calf raises

Most of these exercises were in double counts – and in cadence.  The laps were long and the reps were high!  Everyone broke a good sweat and we ran out of time for our last 4 extra shop stops of the day…  so we  trucked it back to COT two minutes late.  Each group completed all eight stops!

At COT I got to share the story of my recent experience with my nine-year-old son. Seems the kids at school have been telling him that Santa is not real so he came home and ask my wife the truth about Santa Claus. Luckily for me she was prepared and had a wonderful two page note that she shared with him about the spirit of Santa and giving and God during Christmas.  I shared that note with the PAX.

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Island Vacation at Footloose

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My Qotter (thanks Anchorman) after many months.  I’ll keep it short:

The Thang:

Mosey to back lot

COP
SSH
IW
Windmills
Merkins
Mountain Climbers
Double Applesauce around the lot

Stretch-o-Rama

Forest to the Sea
Island Dips
Forest to the Sea
Island Dips
Double Applesauce around the lot

Side Shuffle Bear Crawl on long lot

Double Applesauce around the lot

Side Shuffle Lunge Walk on long lot

Double Applesauce around the lot

PAX Plank Hurdles

Mosey to Flag
6 MOM

 

Announcements:

Joe Davis, Convergence, Read Your Newsletter

Prayers/Praises shared by all in COT

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