Black Friday BOGO & Coupon Specials

10 Pax (plus CSPAN for COT) posted to The Swamp to work off their Thanksgiving feast and take a trial run for Black Friday activities.   All veterans this AM, including Alright Alright from F3/Dallas who was visiting local family.  No ruckers (except potentially Royale, who quickly ditched the sack when he saw he would be solo).  So the Disclaimer was pronounced in Cliff Note form and then we launched to get blood pumping on a chilly 30-degree morning.

The Thang

Warm up run past Best Buy, Office Max, PetSmart, etc with some karaokes thrown in.

Circle up in Home Depot parking lot

COP — Mtn climbers, plank sequence, Peter Parkers, Hillbilly Walker, Low Slow Squats, Merkins

Mosey to garden center entrance of HD for first of Black Friday Specials  — Buy suicides and get free burpees.  At each turnaround point do 1 burpee.  Four out and backs (4 burpees).

Mosey to Target entrance and partner up for next BF Special — buy one wheelbarrow and get 2 burpees.  Start with 2 burpees at first red ball.  Then, Wheelbarrow from one red ball to the next, 2 burpees for each partner, then flapjack.  (18 burpees, 22 total)

Mosey to Kay Jewelers (every kiss begins with Kay; Bath & Bodyworks close by for those on skinnier budget) and circle up for BOGOx5 series.
5 Bombjacks + 5 burpees
5 Monkey humpers + 5 burpees
5 Wide arm merkins + 5 burpees
5 Sumo squats + 5 burpees
5 Jumping lunges + 5 burpees
(25 burpees, 47 total)

Mosey back to launch point and collect one Black Friday coupon for each partner pair.  Mosey to side of Best Buy and line up   shoulder to shoulder for People’s Chair w/blocks.  Pass each block to left. Rise and do 1 burpee.  Back to People’s Chair and pass blocks right to other end. Rise and do 2 burpees.  Continue progression to 10 burpees.
(55 burpees, 102 total burpees)

Mosey home

COT

NMM

T-claps to all pax for persevering through a burpee-laden morning.  No Merlot this am, though it would not have been surprising to see some given the indulgences of Thanksgiving.

Thanks to Jedi for the burpee inspiration during the warm up run.  Burpees were already part of the Weinke , but the mumble chatter about doing 300-some burpees at Black Diamond Thanksgiving convergence only invited a heavier dose.  Thus, they instantly became the “freebie” for every Black Friday deal.

Speaking of Black Friday, the crazy shopper scene at Rivergate was a snooze fest.  Four desperate souls slept in their cars with the engine running for heat until we made the moves toward Best Buy, which quickly stirred them from the vehicles and into the camp chairs waiting at the front door behind the barricades.  It was probably the same four people who were in line at Best Buy the morning the new Nintendo game was released earlier this year.  Hope they made the haul they were seeking.  Pretty sure the pax collected all the pain they were after this AM.

Shout out to Alright Alright from Dallas who posted while on holiday family travel.  He’s got F3Nation rolling in DFW so be sure to post there when Dallas shows up on your itinerary.

Prayers for CSPAN who posted for CnW2 with a  boot on his right foot.  Thanksgiving Family Football League took its toll on him and now he’s on the IR.  He needs to try the Respect Division next Thanksgiving.  Hang in there, brother!  Will be in touch to keep you connected while you heel up.

Thanks to Cable Guy for the invite.  The Swamp continues to be a first class AO and it’s always an honor to lead the pax there.

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Bags for Beds

The PAX of F3 the Fort are being called on to support a local effort to help the less fortunate. This particular campaign, however, requires no (real) time to contribute to and will cost you NOTHING. But the impact you will make is a powerful one.

The “Falcons Give Back” club at Nation Ford High School is collecting lots of supplies to help various organizations in need throughout the year. Right now, they are in desperate need of plastic grocery bags. These bags are “hand woven” together to create matting that is used for bedding by the homeless. That’s right. Bedding for the homeless. This is a simple act that can give less fortunate community members a little more comfort.

The Deal :   We will be collecting clean plastic bags (no spilled milk or hamburger juice, please) at each workout, beginning on Monday 11/13 and concluding at the Thanksgiving convergence. Site Q’s (or a designated PAX member) will collect at each workout. I will coordinate pick-up. We don’t need a few guys bringing a ton of bags.  We need a ton of guys bringing whatever they have. Clean out from under your kitchen sink! Aye!

11/13-11/23

Be “That Guy”!!

Beacon

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Election Day – Do you know about Pennies for Progress???

Knowing that today is Election Day and that there is an important referendum on the ballot to help continue to improve York County’s roadway infrastructure (since SCDOT has no $$$ to help), YHC figured it would be good to incorporate some very important statistics regarding the Pennies for Progress program into the WO. Further info to come on that….

COP consisted of windmills, good mornings, squats, alternate version of the Rocks up then mossy to….playground where the P4 trivia began.

288 – two pull ups, 8 LBCs, 8 Squats…why this number you ask??

434 – 4 pull ups, 3 LBCs, 4 squats…again why this number you ask?? YHC kept asking and there were a few bites but mostly discussions revolving around PSU football championships, statistics to the PSU-MSU game, but not even close. YHC kept giving hints relating to election day…..

We repeated those two again.

Mossy to first drill bit. Bonsai is celebrating the “originals” of the Fort the month of November at WEP and I would consider myself as one of them since I started 3 months after this greatest thing started in Fort Mill. The first WO Senator Tressel dragged me to at WEP involved the Drill Bit. So I figured we would all have some fun. At each drill but, PAX did 2 merkins, 8 LBC, and 8 squats….see a pattern yet? once the lap was completed, a new series of numbers: 97 (for 1997). YHC considered 97 merkins, but decided 9 merkins and 7 squats was adequate.

Mossy to playground for more history. 03 (for 2003) pull ups per PAX, then 11 (for 2011) pull ups. Bonsai then shouted our that the numbers and sequence related to the Pennies for Progress 4 referendum!! He wins, nothing of course, but is correct.

Mossy to small parking lot to do some Rugby Sprints in honor of Crab Cakes. Included 10 rounds with a few bear crawls thrown in there. Finished with some 5 minutes  of Mary.

Mossy to COT

Why the numbers?? in 1997, Pennies for Progress 1 was approved by York County voters to fund $99M of roadway improvements; in 2003 Pennies 2 was approved to fund $173M; and in 2011 Pennies 3 was approved to fund $161M – all totals $434M of roadway improvements. This program allowed York Co to widen I-77 to 8-lanes!! Without Pennies, York County roadways would be even worse in regards to congestion. This program is extremely essential for York County to TRY to keep up with growth. Its not the only answer, but without it, the roadways would be nothing but a crawl. You can debate that congestion hasn’t gotten better, but remember, York County has grown over 30% since 2000 and projected to grow another 40% by 2045. Since SCDOT is not flush with $$, this program helps mitigate as best of possible.

Today we vote on P4. $288M of roadway improvements, on a 1cent sales tax that York Co residents have been paying since 1997 – This is NOT an additional tax but a continuation. Many of us who moved into York County since then have been paying this tax and haven’t realized it. Without a dedicated tax towards roadway improvements, SC 160 would not have been widened at Zoar Rd, Gold Hill Interchange would not be scheduled to be upgraded, US 21 Bridge would not have been built….

Okay, enough of my soapbox, lots of F3 events, so read newsletter and sign up for Xmas Party, T-Giving convergence, and Joe Davis 5/10k.

Prayers to marriages – lots of struggles within the F3 community; raising our children; to the injured and loss of life; and to Texas tragedy.

Peace out – Trucker

 

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Summer in Oct.

Since Oct at Block Party has been dedicated to Respect Qs, I decided I would push the envelope a little.  It didn’t help that the weather was consistent with a summer morning, 72 degrees and high humidity!!!

After a short disclaimer we started our mosey around the path stopping at each drill bit for 2 warm up exercises ( crossover leg stretch, WM, Hillbilly Walker, merkin, SSH,  squat). Mosey to the parking lot next to the soccer field above WEP.  Side note, we appreciated the Town leaving the lights on the soccer field lit for our workout.  At the bottom of the lot, partner up and we would have 3 exercises for 2 rounds.  Partner 1 runs the length of the lot and back and Partner 2 does the exercise and then flip flop.  Exercise count was 150,150,100.

Round 1 – Upper body (all need the work except our male model, BC)

  • Merkins
  • Dips
  • Wide Arm Merkins

Round 2 – Lower body

  • Squats
  • Calf Raises
  • Monkey Humpers

By now we were all dripping with sweat and a lot of complaining.  Circled up for 2 exercises (Moroccan night club IC 51x, O/H Clap IC 51x) since this is respect month, I decided to go with my age as the count.

Mosey down the hill a few minutes of Mary (Hello Dolly, Freddie Mercury, American Hammer)

With the word of the month being Control, my first thought of control is being in charge and leading in family, marriage, work or community.  I shared that with my adult(ish) kids it is more difficult to give up control as they are out of college or in college and allow them to accept the control and decisions of their life.  Giving up control is allowing others to make decisions, mentor and allow them to accept the consequences for their decisions.  As a parent we have a natural instinct to step in a be a solver and as our kids age we need to be able to allow them the ability to take some control of their decisions.

We ended with announcements and prayers.  Special prayers for Asphalt for  continued healing, Cake Boss’ sister, marriages, family and Pax looking for work.

Special thanks to Double D for providing the opportunity to Q and the hard work put in by the Pax.  Hope the Respect morning didn’t disappoint.

Rebel

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Whitespace wins the day!

11 veteran Pax posted to #BlockParty for the start of October.  This month is #Respect month on the Q schedule at this AO.  Senator Tressel was on Q, but unfortunately he faced the daunting responsibility of picking up his sister early that morning and driving to OH for a family funeral.  Old Bay kindly agreed to step up in the late night hour to take the Q  YHC kicked off the warm up to check the #Respect box according to original plan.  With a brief disclaimer and a reference to the monthly theme of #Control, the morning was launched.

The Thang

Warm up run 1/2 around WEP

Stop at far corner for COP — SSH, Hillbilly walker, windmill, low slow squat, Peter Parker

Mosey to play ground with some karaoke along the way

Pull-ups x10 OYO (in honor of ST since he never passes them up at WEP)

Plank sequence

Hand-off to Old Bay

Mosey to parking lot on 160 in front of UC Synergetics & partner up

A mash up between Four Corners and a Modified Jack Web series ensued from this point until completion

In parking lot:
1 burpee to 4 run-stance switch
+ Repeat with 2 burpees, then 3 burpees
Bear crawl to brickwall courtyard area
1 box jump (or step up) to 4 dips
+ Repeat with 2, then 3 box jumps
Partner wheelbarrow to street
1 big boy sit up to 4 american hammers
+ Repeat with 2, then 3 big boy sit-ups
Mosey to corner at stop light on 160
Jack Webb – (1:4 ration) for 3 reps

Return to parking lot for sessions 4-5

At last stationg (Jack Webb), pax take it all the way to round 10

Mosey home

COT

NMM

Prayers for ST on his unfortunate journey.  We wish he were with us and we know he wishes they same instead of the duty he was called to.  We were together in spirit at WEP and in OH.

T-claps to Band Camp for posting at his second workout since his FNG day at the anniversary convergence.  Keep it up, brother!

T-claps to Old Bay for responding to the call in the wee hours to fill in for ST.  He shakes a weasel like nobody’s bidness!!!

Old Bay’s message for the day related to #Control.  He talked about the importance of #Downsizing in life (not just your house) and #Simplifying as a means to relinquish #Control.  These steps create #@Whitespace for reflection and discernment in order to move forward intentionally and/or respond to where you are needed.  He certainly demonstrated that in spades today!

Thanks to the pax for posting to hold me accountable!

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Week 1 of Q School at the Abyss

This Wednesday started a month long opportunity for the PAX of Lake Wylie the hear more about the important responsibilities of a Q from veteran leaders around the Fort Region.  We’ll have Wednesdays in the month of October dedicated to teaching these valuable lessons.

This Wednesday started with the 1st Nantan of the Fort region, Double D!  It was a real pleasure having him share the history and some knowledge about F3 and important aspects of the Q.

Here’s what we did.

Mosey around the parking lot with some High knees, butt kickers, side shuffles and toy soldiers until we circled up.

I started the warmup  with the reason we count in cadence.  Cadence helps validate your authority to lead.  If you do an exercise that would normally be done in cadence WITHOUT counting  you are giving that authority to lead the group.  We broke down the three parts of counting in cadence.

ANNOUNCE the next exercise

MOVE the men into position

START the movement in cadence

After this instruction we went around the circle and had the men pick and exercise and count it out for the PAX

I handed it over to Double D and he shared more great tidbits about counting in cadence.  He asked the men who has not yet been a Q or only one time.  We had just a few guys that have not done so.  Double D had them come out and lead for an exercise.

Next we moseyed to the hill.

We discussed preparing for your Q.  Idea #1: Keep it simple.  If it takes you too long to explain, you can lose the men. If it’s too complicated to remember, the PAX will do their own thing.

With that in mind, we did 11s

Top of Hill 10 Merkins

Run down do 1 Big Boy Sit-up

Up the hill, reduce merkins by 1

Down the Hill add 1 to sit-ups

Easy to write, hard to do.  After this we moseyed to the circle by the front of the school.

Last words of wisdom for the group.  If you are not going to be with the PAX (you split the group up) make sure you pick exercises everyone knows.  I shared my experience leading just the weekend before at the Convergence.  Of the 20 exercieses I had that day, I picked a few exercises that the men didn’t know. Some of my favorites, the V-Up Twist and Squat Burpees (Thanks Witch Hunt).  Be careful not to make my same mistake.

We then bear crawled around the large circle…painful!

ran back to COT

Announcements

Praises and Prayers

Double D led us out in prayer.  Great to be with all the men and to have him there!

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

 

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5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

  • Mosey to the football field
  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10, 4-count windmills
  • 30 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10, 4-count merkins
  • 10, 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 10, 4-count Parker Peters
  • 10, 4-count LBCs
  • 20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

  • 800 meter indian run
  • 1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
  • 200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
  • 400 meter sprint corners recover straights
  • 1600 meter cool down
  • 5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

  • Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
  • Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
  • Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
  • Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
  • 10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
  • Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
  • Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

  • MOSEY to Elementary School
  • Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
  • Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
  • Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
    • Number 1’s go to station #1
    • 2’s start at Station3, etc.
  • Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
    • 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
    • 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
    • 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
    • 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
    • 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
    • 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
    • 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
    • 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
    • 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
    • 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
  • Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

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PreBlast – Lake Dub (aka Lake Wylie) Q School

Men,

The Mission of F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership. In order to invigorate male leadership, we must strive to invigorate and encourage new males to step up and become leaders. One of the best ways we have to accomplish this is to help new PAX learn what it takes to Q.

To support this mission and the continued growth of the Lake Wylie area, we’ll be launching Q School at the Abyss during the first 3 weeks of October (4th, 11th, 18th). Q School will be led by a few of our veterans (who are also trying to get better at these opportunities to lead). Q School will feature both Q101 (perfect for new guys or those that want to get a handle on the basics) and Q201 (a more advanced session focused on some of the more detailed aspects of Q’ing).

Here is the schedule:

  • October 4th – Q101 – Double D + Royale
  • October 11th – Q101 – Senator Tressel + Ginsu
  • October 18th – Q101 & Q201 – Cake Boss + Dark Helmut

This is a great opportunity to work together to continue to develop leaders in the Lake Wylie area. Contact Royale, Bones, or Ginsu with any questions.

Ginsu

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Block Party – Leading through adversity

9 At Block Party for a Cake Boss word on leadership and some hill work…..I think this is the one time the PAX wished I talked more……we took the DRP today!

Mosey to Founders Bank

COP:

·         10 Plank Series

·         10 Plank Punches

·         10 SSHs

·         10 Squats

·         10 Imperial Walkers

·         10 Merkins

·         10 LBCs

·         10 Peter Parker

·         10 Hill Billy Walkers

·         10 Mountain Climbers

Mosey to Massey Street

·         Jacobs Ladder – Run up Massey Street

o   Bottom = Squats

o   Top = bombjacks

Slight Mosey along sidewalk

·         Jacobs Ladder – Bear crawl up grass hill

o   Bottom = Dips

o   Top = Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey to Small Springs Lot

·         People’s chair on Wall

o   Each man bear crawls across parking lot & Sprints back

Mosey to path at Springs Building

·         20 dips

·         10 derkins

·         20 dips

·         10 derkins

Mosey to COT

Be at the Invergence and hear from some HIM and have some fellowship.

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Wheezer’s VQ

F3 9/16 @ WEP (Wheezer & CSPAN)

Disclaimer & no FNGS

Warm up Mosey to lower visitor parking lot on 160

15 IWalkers

10 WMills

15 LSSquats

20 MNClubs

15 MTn Climbers

10 single Ct merkins Mosey- Reverse power walk up the side hill:

Upper PLot: Partner up size doesn’t matter

Dora 100/200/300

100: monkey humpers

200: LBC

300: MNC

Mid: Toy Solider 2nd light pole, 50% Duck Walk 1/2, 75% Bear crawl 1st light pole, 100% Upper P lot: Partner up

Reverse Dora 300/200/100

300: LBC

200: Squats

100: CDD

Handoff to CSPAN

I Q’d some stuff…most ignored me…Wheezer “smoked” them…

COT/BOM

Read your newsletter

Get this Wheezer in the Q rotation…

File_000

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