Freedom to Choose

The Thang

Mosey to “big parking lot” of St. John’s United Methodist for stretching, focusing on back, hips and glutes.

Mosey to “front/side lot” of St. John’s United Methodist for warm-up

Windmills x 10
SSH x 10
Imperial Walkers x 10
Hillbilly Walkers x 10
Moroccan Nightclubs x 20

Back to FIrst Baptist Churches fort Mill lot for “The Serpentine”
3 stations laid out amongst the 4 islands in the lot. Jog, bear crawl, sprint, power skip or whatever to each cone, perform the exercise and move on to the next. We moved up one row and down the next. Hence, the “Serpentine”.

Mosey to front steps of FBCFM

Calf raises x 10 (maybe it was 20)

Mosey down Confederate St. to back entrance of Church of God
Used back wall for Dips / Derkins x 10 each (rinse & repeat)

Mosey into breezeway for People’s Chair
Mosey into Parking Lot for 4 corners x 2 rounds
Plank for the six

Serpentine & 4 corners consisted of:

Seal Jacks (4 count) x 10

LBC’s x 10 (4 count)

Hello Dolly’s x 10 (4 count)

Burpees x 5 (sorry, had to break Moderate code)

Mountain Climbers x 10 (4 count)

Merkins x 10 (single count)

Bombjacks x 10

Monkey Humpers x 10 (4 count)

Carolina Dry Docks x 10 (single count)

SSH x 20 (4 count)

Plank Jacks x 10 (4 count)

Box Cutters x 10 (4 count)

“Your Choice” x 10 (2 of those)

“Your Choice” x 20 (2 of those)

Mosey back toward COT for Mary
American Hammers x 10
Box Cutters x 10
Flutters (or “Aquaman thingy’s”) x 10
Travolta’s x 10
COT – Prayers for Smithers, Molder, Smithers’ M & family as her dad fights on. Prayers for Ponch, having wrist surgery. Prayers for Gopher and his M on biz decisions  I’m sure I’ve missed a few and I apologize for that.

Naked Moleskin

We have freedom to choose. We can’t control what “happens” to us. We CAN choose our response. We can choose how to live our lives. Every day is made of 100’s or 1000’s of choices. Which choices are you glad you made? I have a lot. Which choices would you change? I have a lot of those, too!

Achievement or accomplishment (personal, career, family, fitness, financial, faith, etc) is the culmination of our choices. We remember the magic moment that the achievement occurred. Too often, we dismiss the 100’s or 1000’s of choices we made to get us to that point. Choose your greatness. You are free to do so.

As always, I’m honored and humbled to be surrounded by such high impact men & grateful for the opportunity to lead.

See you in the gloom.

Beacon

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4

Only you can define Moderate and reflection from my 30’s

After a 2 1/2 year Slowburn Q ban, YHC was honored to lead 24 #HIMS on a “Create you own Adventure” workout in the 80 degree 150% humidity gloom. After a brief discussion on the moderate and an even shorter disclaimer, we left the CFA parking lot destined for glory.

The Thang

Mosey down to the Parking lot in front of empire pizza. Circle up for:
SSH x 10
Windmills x 10
IW x 10
Peter Parkers x 10

Mosey to the lot in front of Charandas and circle up again
Slow Squats x 10
Slow Merkins x 10
Slow Sumo Squats x 10
Slow WideArm Merkins x 10

Mosey to the Parking lot next to what used to have the bouncy stuff and grab a piece of chalk. Talk the chalk and write an exercise in a parking spot and then write x 40 after it. Partner up and go to a parking spot to start. Do the exercise in the parking spot then run a lap around the bushes (about .08 per lap) and then go to a different spot. You and your partner decide which spots to go to and whether you want to do 40 each or 40 total (20 each).

Spots (exercises included)
LBC’s
Merkins
Burpees
Flutter
Dips
Plank Roes
Scorpion Dry Docks
WideArm Merkins
Freddy Mercury
Box Cutters
and more ab exercise

with about 8 minutes left to go YHC called time

Mosey over to strip in front of the stores as I gave a short testimony about reflecting on my 30’s (don’t worry the longer version is in my moleskin at the bottom). As promised, since its my Birthday everyone got a cupcake (its what we called a suicide growing up, but with youth taking their lives at a younger age due to the pressures put on them, we decided at Basketball to call them cupcakes no instead of suicides).

After the cupcake we moseyed back to CFA for COT and BOM

Announcements – CAH workout next Friday still looking for a Q (contact NASA if interested), F3 Dads this Saturday

Prayers – Smithers in-law close to passing from Cancer, Dark Helmets friend also close to passing from Cancer, Marriages, Qbert’sDar 64 year old father who lost his job yesterday

Moleskin
1. Would like to thank Barry Manilow for allowing be back to Q at this wonderful AO and to all the PAX who came out (or posted elsewhere) that have wished me a happy birthday.

2. Moderate – what does it mean. Well it all means something different to all of us, what it doesn’t mean is easy. Think about moderate this way. If i’m someone who doesn’t drink alcohol very often, 1-2 drinks may be a moderate amount. If I drink a little more frequently 3-4 or a six pack might be moderate. Whereas an alcoholic may think moderate is 7-8 drinks. The point is this applies to your fitness level as well. What I think is moderate may be different than what someone else thinks is moderate. The key is to keep posting and keep getting better.

3. Life in my 30’s – Short Version -turned 30 in 2007, seperated from wife and started going to church again in 2011, divorced finalized in 2012, started going to F3 in October 2013, lost my father to cancer in June 2014, got remarried in August 2015, turn 40 today. Now you see, its more complicated than that. Long Version – In 2007 i thought I had it all was married had a couple of dogs, had a job teaching and coaching, everything was good (just not great). But something in me wanted more. I wanted a family. At this point in my life I was working a lot and my wife at the time worked a lot too. We weren’t going to church, had no relationship with God/Jesus, and really had no time for each other. Was even told my wife at the time that she didn’t want me and that we didn’t have time to be intimate. I turned to Porn. When that wasn’t enough I cheated on my wife. That lead down the path to separation and divorce. It also lead me back to going to church and listening to God’s word. My divorce went final in October 2012. In December 2012 I started dating Elizabeth. In September 2013 we broke up. While broken up I decided to give this F3 thing a try. Santini Q’ed and I already knew half the guys as I was teaching/or had taught many of their kids. On that first Saturday in October in 2013 I struggled through the workout and was given the name Longshanks (evil king in Braveheart). I would post sometimes, just not often. In March 2014 I asked Elizabeth to marry me before heading off to a Spartan Race in Charlotte. She said yes. 3 days later my dad called to tell me he had Pancreatic Cancer, 3 months later he was gone. Married my M in August 2015, and turned 40 today.

4. Back when I was in my early 30’s I thought I had a good amount of guy friends, which may be kind of hard when you teach elementary school PE and there’s only 3-5 guys in the entire school. When I went through my separation and divorce I realized that the almost all the guys I considered my friends were actually just husbands of my ex-wifes friends. I had almost nobody to turn to. Luckily a few guys pointed me back to the church. I got involved in volunteering and being part of a mens a group. Shortly after that I started coming to F3, although at first I didn’t make it a workout priority, I would go on Saturdays if I woke up on time (not always easy when coaching and getting home late Friday nights). If I didn’t wake up to go to F3, I would just go to the gym and do a fern workout. I realized something was still missing so I made it a point to start going to F3 more often. About the same time I started going more often I engaged and that was celebrated by the PAX and my dad learned he had cancer and eventually passed and the PAX where there for me during that too. The thing I’ve realized over the last almost 4 years of coming to F3 is that as long as you are willing to be part of the PAX by posting regularly, the PAX will be there for you when you need it. I know that from being a part of F3, my faith is stronger, my relationship with my M is better, and I feel like a better leader in my house and my community.

5. Keep Posting. Keep mentioning your prayers and praises. Keep getting better!! We are all in this together.

Shanks out (mic drop)

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34

Is there any doubt?

20 Pax posted ’round the Shovel Flag to SlowBurn on a pleasant morning with a spectacular full moon.  Yes, Twister was howling.  The rest of the Pax were ruminating over whether YHC would actually deliver a Moderate workout.  The Disclaimer was offered, including an invitation to modify (upward is fine, too, though no Burpee Challenge pax in the crowd on this particular morning, so no real demand to go that direction).  And then we were off…

The Thang

Mosey to Empire Pizza parking lot

COP — SSHs, Mtn climbers, IWs, Sumo squats, Parker Peters, Moroccan Nightclubs

Mosey to side of former Baxter Playhouse site

People’s Chair for 3 ten-counts
10 Merkins OYO
(Rinse & repeat for 3 cycles total)

AYG sprint to Lowes storage box

Line up at shopping cart return

Crab walk to contractor entrance and bear crawl back

Karaoke to contractor entrance and back

Side shuffle to contractor entrance and back

Circle up for some Mary (request for all pax who have not Q’d to ID themselves and lead an exercise) — Flutter kick, Hello dolly, Box cutters, Freddie Mercury, Rosalita

AYG sprint to Garden Center entrance

COP — Jumping lunge, Peter Parkers, CDDs, Donkey kicks, Wide arm merkins

AYG sprint to contractor entrance

COP — Diamond merkins, Donkey kicks, SSHs

AYG sprint to Storage box

Mosey to Baxter Playhouse entrance

Slow mosey home

COT

Naked man moleskin

The theme for the month of June is #Faith, as in “Oh, yee pax of little faith!”  Yes, there were lots of doubts at the start regarding the intensity of the Weinke.  I have to defer to Site Q, Barry Manilow, for his report.  Low number of reps and many ten counts.  Plus, breaks for some commentary from YHC on Faith and Doubt.  You decide.  The pax were pushed and they pushed themselves — well done, men!

Speaking of Faith, the pax offered contributions throughout on the theme.  Change Order offered how having faith in himself wasn’t quite working out.  When we came to the Trump/Pence office, YHC spoke of likely doubts and probed about Faith.  Vernon responded — God’s in charge he said.  Finally, Twister offered a strong testimony of faith and doubt regarding his brothers in the GRC.  His doubts were met by the faith of his brothers, and he made it to the finish.

Along the way, we identified some new sprinters among the pax, including Destiny, Deep Dish and Change Order.  Strong push, boys!

We also uncovered the identities of several future Qs for Barry Manilow — Optimist, MASH, Vernon, Couples & McGillis.

Thanks to Barry Manilow for the invite.  It is always an honor to lead honorable men.

 

 

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