Sweep The Leg: Called in off the Bench to Close this one out!

Respect the Claves as started a few days early! Vuvu called me up to fill in and I happily accepted.

The Thang:

19 PAX emerged from the gloom at Sweep the Leg for a Monday morning kick in the teeth.

  • Mosey to the Baxter mushroom pool and do lunch walks until 6 arrives
    • Take a .5mi lap and then complete the reverse board of pain, dropping one exercise each round
    • 10 Dips x1
    • 10 Merkins x2
    • 10 Squats x3
    • 10 Big Boys x4
    • 10 Burpees x5
  • Back to COT with anywhere between 3-4mi and potentially 50 burpees

Cyclops got the Bundt cake prize

River Rat had the actual birthday

Shortstop prayed us out and it was surely a gift for sure!!

 

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Just keep movin and quit with the bad eating habits already…

Little did I know that when Drop Thrill asked me to Q at the Ballroom I’d be coming off of one of the more stressful weeks I’ve had in a while.

We drove down to Orlando (the middle of the scrotum of America…) about 10 days ago so the M could be with her dad through his hospital stay. This put me in charge of the 2.0’s. One of whom is doing virtual school, the other, who is 4, just needs someone to interact with. With the M gone most of the day, the all to familiar but also unfamiliar surroundings, and crappy bed, my energy sapped by the end of the day to the point where I couldn’t get out of bed early enough for even a light jog.

We returned on Saturday (after driving through some heavy storms and slowdowns) and it took a couple days to recover from the experience.

I was feeling absolutely dead this morning, but I got up and got my ass to the ballroom.

The gloom

Drop Thrill and a few other PAX were already waiting when I arrived with a couple other PAX on the winding road behind me.

YHC looked around and saw familiar faces (some of which I hadn’t met, but I knew them from name-o-rama’s posted to slack). I had to very loudly issue the disclaimer as the mumblechatter was quite strong with some of the PAX, *cough* Destiny *AHEM*.

The warmup

A quick mosey around the N side of the parking lot and up to the crosswalk in front of the school.

15x SSH
10x Low Slow Squat
Some deep leg stretches for 10 counts
10x Tappy taps
10x Imperial walker
10x Hillbilly walker

the thang

Two sets of 11’s starting with the 3 benches and running about halfway down the parking lot road (55m or so).

First set:
Dips x10 and BBSU

Second set:
Step ups x10 each leg and Squats

When the second set was complete everyone gathered at the crosswalk. We had about 10 minutes remaining. PAX would run a lap around the parking lot (not in the parking lot). At some point they would need to do one pushup per lightpost they passed, whether all at once or stopping at each was up to them. Most PAX chose to save them for the end.

With 6 minutes remaining we lined up in south side of the parking lot for the Doji. Start by standing straight up. Using your L hand reach behind the R shoulder and ‘scoop’ with your fingertips, as you come around the front of your body, step into a deep forward stance with your R knee at 90º, and your L leg straight out, both feet parallel and about 45º off the direction of travel. Shift your stance to L forward stance while scooping behind you with your R hand, when you come back around, step forward staying very low, into L forward stance and push ahead with your L hand open, fingertips just at the shoulder level. Scoop behind w/L going into R forward, then step forward with R and push with R.

PAX then made their way back to CoT but there was still a minute left so everyone got into the Al Gore position while YHC expounded upon how my father in law was a pretty active guy, but eating kielbasa for breakfast every day can still clog your arteries.

cot

A lot of announcements this morning.

For one, check out the “Rumor Mill” section of the newsletter. If you see something in there that piques your interest, reach out to the leadership and ask if you can get involved. There’s probably something you can do!

There’s a blood drive every 8 weeks (next one on 5/6) for… eternity.

Sign up for the FM Care Center!

And more!

Lots of prayers about jobs and health (physical and mental) this morning.

nmm

After last week I’ve naturally been reflecting on the Queen quite a bit lately. I didn’t say much about this during this morning’s Q, but everyone’s body is a bit different. Some people can eat Hostess snack cakes and never gain a pound, and other people can eat nothing and still look like YHC (I’m not in the latter group, trust me, I eat things).

We’ve all seen the stories of people who live into their 100’s. Some of them say drink a gallon of water every day. Others say have a bump or two of whiskey every day.

Really all we can do is be vigilant. As Destiny pointed out in CoT today, get your damned checkups. Go do the blood work. If the doctor tells you to lay off the bacon, lay off the bacon (you can still BE it, metaphorically). I think everyone’s body tends to handle the available food sources pretty well (God made us incredibly resilient creatures, “anti-fragile”), but even so, the wrong kind of stress for long enough is going to wear down the system and it’s going to break.

There’s going to be a higher vegetation to anything else ratio on a daily basis for everyone. I’ve said this in my household many a time before!  However, buy in from the M was difficult to achieve.  After a 4x bypass in the family history, the M is on board.

It’s always a pleasure to Q. Thanks, Drop Thrill, for inviting me back out.

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The day the corn dog was born

The day the Corn Dog was made:
Mark your calendars that today the 21st of April 2021, was the day the corn dog exercise was born. More on that later…

YHC arrived early to sling some cones and hide “Presents” within the cones for use later during the workout. Brought out the Qsource dry erase board from the pits of my truck for the PAX to view the key Socratic and Spurs for Q-point 1.10 Prayer. Been really digging the acceleration recently of all 3F’s, humblebrag I know, for YHC so I have been really looking to the HIM around me and really trying to encourage them to get better and to become even better HIM.

Disclaimer was disclaimed to the kettlebell studs and we started to walk towards the downhill portion going to the back of the school where the cones were placed. Yes, they were not in a perfect line and that had Birdcage all in a fuss. Started out just going from cone to cone performing the exercises. 10 of each because I like to keep it simple and to be honest, I can’t count out loud and think at the same time.
Exercises were:
SSH slick,
Flutters with a press,
Curls,
Bear crawls,
Squat thrusters,
Big boy burpees,
Overhead presses,
Then we played a quick game of Charge where the PAX move forward three cones the everyone performs the exercise at their own pace. Then we move back two cones and try to perform as many reps of that listed exercise before the time runs out. You know that the time runs out because the frst person to finish the 10 reps reaches inside the cone and finds a snap pop firework that is not your typical one your kids play with. They are legit.
Once the first person finishes the exercise and lights the fire it signals to everyone else no matter what rep count they were on to Charge up the hill to the destination 3 cones away. This went on for a little while until we made it all the way to the top. So what should we do besides make our way back to the bottom of the hill and rinse and repeat? During the second round, there was a lot of grumbling about the big boy burpees so for those that are unfamiliar: Its a burpee but once you hit the ground you roll over to your back and perform a big boy situp before rolling back over to your chest to perform the merkin then finishing the burpee. Clap is optional, sorry Memphis. All of the rolling around on the pavement made for some awesome birthing sounds until someone said that they felt like a corn dog getting rolled around in tasty cornbread flour and ready for the pan so what was once called the big boy burpee is and will forever be referred to as The CornDog thanks to one of my favorite PAX, the half man/half amazing stud himself…Kelly “CoPay” Fields.

After the second round we had a few minutes to spare so YHC showed the PAX how not to explain the starting position for the next exercise which was a little bit of sharpening of our “Prepardness” to overcome the unexpected situation of an active shooter situation or an attempted kidnapping snatch and grab. Two pax face each other in the plank position with a kettle bell or weight in between each other. YHC says go and the PAX not facing up the hill jumps up to his feet grabs the “shorty desquised as a heavy coupon, and tries to make it to the top of the hill before the other pax tries to chase him down but not before having to perform 3 hand release merkins. It was a great time and CoPay is still faster than you even with a kettle bell.

Hussle back to COT for Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, and prayers/praises.

Thank you for the opportunity 3D to lead these fine men and I hope it was worth unfartsacking yourself this morning.

Stay Frosty my friends!
Olaf

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Ballroom abs

YHC had the honor of leading some #HIM’s through a WO that allowed the PAX the ability to dial up or down their intensity. It’s important to recognize PAX levels of intensity when Q’ing so that you can ensure each PAX pushes one self to their acceptable level.

COP: SSH’s, IW, Windmills, LSS, big arm circles, and CDD (all in different cadence)

Mossy to bottom of hill at the backside of the PKMS gym.

At the bench 2 rounds of 10 reps each: Step ups each leg, dips, derkins, erkins.

Mossy to fire hydrant to where PAX chooses their intensity. Either NUR, Run, or walk for 11’s. Top of hill 10 Left Leg Scorpion merkins, run back to bottom for 1 Right Leg Scorpion merkin..rinse repeat till 11’s. If PAX finished early they went and picked up the 6.

Mossy back to benches for another 2 rounds of the same.

On the 6 for some marry – a crowd pleaser.

13 Hello Dollies right into 13 Rosaletta’s, right into 10 Hello Dollies and 10 Rosaletta’s, right into 5 of each without dropping feet to ground. Then box cutters, then flutters, then LBCs and finish with flutters.

Sprint to top of hill and come back for the six, mossy to COT for 15 more merkins.

COT

Prayers and praises where plentiful from Cake Boss 2.0 doctor news, to my co-worker and daughter Morvan and Mila, to Spark Plug’s daughter, to my 2.0 Evan.

Thanks all!!

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Even an IR Guy can Q Part 2

Answering the call of my Shieldlock brother needing a Q for The Ballroom, I figured I could dish out some pain.  PAX could modify up or down as needed.  Its YOUR acceleration. OWN it!

Warmup

Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, Big Arm Circles, Baby Arm Circles, Moroccan nightclubs, Arm Stretch, Down dog, Calves, Honeymooner, Down dog, Calves, Honeymooner, Down dog, Walk leg and hands together and stand slowly

The Deal – 3 Rounds, 9 exercises each focusing on Upper body, Core and Legs

Round 1 – 10 each exercise

Merkins, LBCs, Calf Raises, Diamond Merkins, Flutter Kicks, Squats, Wide Arm Merkins, Hello Dolly, Lunges

Take a lap or Bear Crawl until crew gets back

Round 2 – 10 each exercise, find a curb

Incline Merkins, Bridges, Step Ups, Switchboards on and off the curb, Rosalitas, Side Lunges, Dip, Freddie Mercuries, Back Lunges

Take a lap or Crawl Bear until crew returns

Round 3 – 10 each exercise, find a curb

Decline Merkins, Heel taps, Al Gore, Left Incline Merkins (left foot and hand on curb), BB Situp, Right Incline Merkins (Rt foot and hand on curb), WWI situp

Take a lap (fast guys were to take 2 laps)

Airborne Hip Flexors

Round of Mary

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Even an IR Guy can Q

While on recovery I have found ways to still participate and push my brothers.  I brought a Deck of Pain to The Hive.

Each Suit was a part of the body (Shoulders, Arms, Legs, Core).  Odds was one exercise for that part, Even was another.  8 total  exercise.  Suit, Odd/Even and Face value determined the Exercise and Reps.

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Double Trouble At The Hive

It was a dark and rainy morning… but that didn’t stop six Pax from getting up and after it at The Hive.

This workout is called Double Trouble and was named that before we lost our Metro brother of the same name, but this workout is done in his honor and memory.  Great high impact man who we just lost due to Covid.

The workout goes like this.  Each round of two exercises you complete 10 reps then 15 round two, 20 round three.

The exercises are:

Kettlebell swings
Shoulder shrugs

Goblet squats
Flutters

Curls
Merkins

Tricep extensions
Squats

Sumo squats (what more squats?!)
LBCs

Skull crushers
Rosalitas

Dead lift
Calf raise

Lawnmower
American hammer

Romanian dead lift
Dips

The mission of F3 is to plant, grown and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of mail community leadership.

I hope this one was a challenge and it was great to see Geronimo again, who we thought was leaving town already but has s reprieve.

Hope you have a great weekend and hopefully you enjoyed all the squats.

Thrill is gone!

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80s Rock Block at The Ballroom

5 men took a trip down memory lane at The Ballroom this morning for an 80s music-themed beatdown. Here’s what we did.

The Thang

  • 10 Low Slow Squats (IC)
  • 10 Imperial Walkers (IC)
  • 10 Seal Claps (IC)

Mosey to front of school

Perform the first exercise until you hear the keyword. At the keyword, you perform the second exercise, then back to the first.

Song 1 – “Who Can it Be Now” – Men at Work

  • Exercise 1 – Plank, exercise 2 – Plank Jack every time you hear “Who can it be” (13 Plank Jacks)
  • Mosey around the lot

Song 2 – “Your Love” – The Outfield

  • Moroccan Night Clubs, Overhead claps when you hear “Your Love” (21 Overhead Claps)
  • Mosey around the lot

Song 3 – “Jessie’s Girl” – Rick Springfield

  • American Hammers, Big Boy Situps when you hear “Jessie” (28 Big Boys)
  • Mosey around the lot

Song 4 – “867-5309/Jenny” – Tommy Tutone

  • SSHs, Burpees each time you hear “867-5309” (24 Burpees)
  • Mosey around the lot

Song 5 – “You Spin Me Right Round” – Dead or Alive

  • People’s Chair, Calf Raises on every “Spin me” (10 Calf Raises)
  • Mosey around the lot

Song 6 – “Take on Me” – A-Ha

  • Flutters, Freddies every “Take on Me” (16 Freddies)

Song 7 – “Down Under” – Men at Work

  • Dip position up, Dip position down on every “Down Under” (3 Dips)

Song 8 – “Another One Bites The Dust” – Queen

  • Hold People’s Chair, Knee Tar Jais on every “Bites the dust” (18 Knee Tar Jais)

Song 9 – “Roxanne” – The Police

  • Mountain Climbers, Merkins on every “Roxanne” (26 Merkins)

NMM

Thank you, Drop Thrill for the opportunity to lead this morning. Today’s workout was built to burn out one body part at a time. We didn’t cover much ground, but if you’re not sore later today, I’d be surprised.

As a reminder, F3 open to ALL men. We welcome men of all races, faiths, political views, income levels, sizes, ages, abilities, & sexual orientation. We respect differences even when we don’t understand them and cast no judgment. Our willingness to get better unites us. All means ALL!

Let’s continue to give away what was first given to us. All men need an outlet like this and friends like our brothers. F3 is a game changer. Let’s keep the ball rolling. I’m convinced we can change the world, one man at a time.

Aye!

Italian Job

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Sore legs, laps, and laughter

Due to scheduler difficulties, YHC didn’t know about this Q until a day or two before, which is fine, because there’s so darn much a guy can do in a Q at an AO that’s as diverse as the Ranch

Unfortunately, I was about 5 minutes late. I didn’t give myself enough margin this morning, my car was coated in ice and I’d not been over I77 on 160 in quite a while, and found out that those lights are awful now.  Thankfully Ruby Slippers was warming everyone up already, and I didn’t get much ridicule, and the Q reigns were handed over with a smile.

More warmup

Quick mosey around the parking lot followed by 10x SSH and 10x Low Slow Squat. Now I’m warm enough

The thang

Mosey north around to the traffic circle and take the long way to the school entrance. Everyone grabs a pillar for support.  Here we did some balance and strength exercises focusing on muscles that don’t get a lot of use for F3ers. This may sound a bit similar to my Ballroom Q earlier this week, and that’s because it is.  After a set of leg exercises, we took a full lap.

Each exercise was done on each leg for an OYO count of 30, except the last round in which we did 40 each leg. Each exercises is about keeping the leg up the entire time, and bouncing it as close to the maximum height achievable. The goal is to minimize the use of inertia gained from swinging your leg from vertical.

Round 1
  1. Knee at waist level, toes pointed down (knees at 90º angle), bounce knee up as high as possible
  2. Knee again at waist level, snap kick out, keep knee high
Round 2
  1. Knee bounces from above
  2. Kicks from above
  3. Leg straight out to the side, toe pulled up and turned inside (toward the ground), heel high. Raise as high as possible
Round 3
  1. Knee bounces from above
  2. Kicks from above
  3. Straight leg raises to the side from above
  4. Leg straight toes down, raising as high as possible directly behind
  5. Leg straight out front, turning out at the femur so the knee points as far away from center as possible, foot cocked out even farther outside and toe up. Raise up straight as high as possible
Round 4

Same as round 3, but with 40 count

After round 4 there was just enough time to mosey back to CoT

CoT

Announcements, Dam2Dam and teased the Yeti some more

Praises and prayers offered

NMM

During CoT I was pretty frank about what was going on with me yesterday and this morning. I was spiritually devastated by what happened at the capital… more so than when I saw the Trade Centers being hit with 747s 20 years ago. At a guess I’d have to say that I never considered myself to be all that safe in everyday life, but I always believed that our nation throughout all of the insanity and cult like worship of certain people over the years would be tempered and stronger for it.

But yesterday, seeing the injustice, the incitement to sedition, and then actual sedition, with no attempt to stop it… It hit harder than my worst break up. I was so affected that I wasn’t able to eat dinner last night (which, for a fellow of my size, is a pretty big deal).

I spent a lot of time trying to calm myself yesterday through prayer and meditation.  A few times I thought I had a handle on it and let God take the stress and concern. Lol, not so much…. I had to laugh, a lot, when I was laying in bed at 1950 last night as the M was trying to escape the 2.0’s room after bedtime, and my watch buzzed with this message:

I nearly called Ruby Slippers to tell him I couldn’t make it this morning. I knew I was going to be exhausted this morning. I’m sore in many muscle groups already. I didn’t think there was any way I could stand up and be a leader this morning.

But instead I prayed some more, and got a good night’s sleep. I showed up (late) and was able to enjoy some time with some great F3 brothers.

Fantastic mumble chatter this morning. The thing I remember most is being reminded  (3rd time this week) that I need to catch up on Cobra Kai.

I have to continue to remember that this world isn’t owned by me. My safety isn’t promised in any way. I’m blessed beyond measure.  My faith in God should be directing me to live as if nothing I have is mine. The evil one still owns this world and his corruption is everywhere.

Despite that, Jesus paid for my sins and I know where I’m headed when my time is up. My job is to remain well equipped for the fights that come my way.

My heart still hurts for this nation, and probably will continue to ache even if justice is ever served…

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Shaolin Moderate Workout and Cult Chat

This is the first full week of 2021 and YHC was glad to step in when a Q was needed at the Ballroom. IIRC, the last time I Qed there was back during Short Sale’s tenure, when Google Maps had no aerial photos.

8 PAX appeared in the gloom on a cool Tuesday morning. The weather said that there was some light rain in the area, but it wasn’t at the Ballroom.

The disclaimer was a disclaimed in a new way today, because YHC would be describing some very odd, new exercises and prescribing modifications as we went along. It may have sounded a bit professional, but I assured the PAX that I was not getting paid.

The warmup

A quick mosey around the parking lot followed by:
15x SSH
10x Low Slow Squat
10x Imperial Walker
10x Hillbilly Walker

Mosey around the back of the school for a stop by the bridge. Here we would do some stretching and exercises that were passed down from the Shaolin lineage, as well as from a cult known as Chung Moo Quan (more on that, later). This was part of the standard warmup from YHC’s studio in MN.

Legs about shoulder width for these, always both sides. Static stretches held 10s

1. Arms overhead, grab the R hand and stretch (pull) to the left without a twist. (lats)
2. Arms straight out, L hand toward L ankle, no twist (obliques and some lats)
3. L arm out, palm up. Grip L fingers with R hand using overhand grip (thumb to thumb) and pull down and back to armpit (inner forearms)
4. Elbows tucked into sides, L hand by chest, grab top of L palm with R overhand. Pull L arm up, push R hand down. Basically fold your hand back toward the elbow (wrist tendons)
5. Widen stance a bit. R in L hand fingertips up. From standing position, dip down to behind the ankles and come back up. (like cherry picker, but just once and up) 3 times.  Then both hands on lower back, chest and stomach out for the “old man getting out of bed” stretch three times. 5 rounds
6. Both hands make a diamond near the ground, legs straight as possible. Slowly orbit from ground, to the right, behind, to the left and back to the ground. Reaching as far as possible for entire movement. 3 orbits each direction
7. Legs out as far as they go, heels down and toes up. Fingertips on the ground (was pretty easy for the PAX to get the fingertips down). Fingertip pushups. Rock back on the way down, over the hands on the way back up. 10x

Mosey up the hill to the back of the school. Everyone on their six. Both sides if only one is listed, static stretches for 10s if not listed

  1. Legs straight out, separated as far as possible, toes up. Arms crossed in front fingertips up, sweep arms over toes 3 times, then grab and pull down for 5s hold.  4 times
  2. L hand to L foot, bending to L, R hand overhead reach to foot
  3. Feet together, pushing down knees (butterfly)
  4. Lay back, L hand grabs R foot and pulls to chest, L foot hovering
  5. Sit up, legs straight. Leaning back with straight back until feet start to hover, hands in fists, pound stomach 30times with fists, double count
  6. 10x 4count Flutter
  7. 10x 4count Hello Dolly
  8. Sit up, hands on ground behind. Both knees bent, kick both legs straight out, to right, and to left 10x. No break between R and L

Mosey around to the front of the building again and instructed PAX to find a pillar for support. Each exercise is right and left leg

  1. L knee at waist level, bounce knee up above waist and don’t let drop below waist. No touching the ground either  x40
  2. L knee again at waist level, snap kick out, no touching the ground  x40
  3. L foot to the side, toe forward. Raise as high as possible, no touching the ground x40

The Thang

Now that the warmup is complete, walk over to the high side of the parking lot and line up for the Doji. This is a balance and strength exercise that can be done by anyone.

Start by standing straight up. Using your L hand reach behind the R shoulder and ‘scoop’ with your fingertips, as you come around the front of your body, step into a deep forward stance with your R knee at 90º, and your L leg straight out, both feet parallel and about 45º off the direction of travel. Shift your stance to L forward stance while scooping behind you with your R hand, when you come back around, step forward staying very low, into L forward stance and push ahead with your L hand open, fingertips just at the shoulder level. Scoop behind w/L going into  R forward, then step forward with R and push with R.

It sounds like a complicated movement, but it wasn’t too difficult for the PAX. YHC called out each movement and we travelled about 15m with it (about 10 steps each foot), then turned around for another go.

After this movement we had about 12 minutes left. I had planned on getting more running into the workout, and skimmed over in my head the various workouts and exercises that would be good for a moderate workout without toasting the legs any more than I already had.

The best way to get some extra steps in? Dora

100 pushups, 200 squats, 300 LBCs!!!

We finished with about 90 seconds left, which was enough time for 20 flutters and a very quick saunter over to CoT

Cot

8 PAX counted off and name-o-ramad

Not a lot to announce right now, so Drop Thrill hyped the 2021 Christmas party.

Praises were voiced, prayers were requested.

nmm

Yeah, so the cult thing. My Shaolin teacher got caught up in a cult known as Chung Moo Quan in the early 90’s. I joked with the PAX about this commenting that they should hand over their wallets and sign some forms, to some good natured chuckling.  Obviously none of us are involved in anything like that, so we can laugh about it.

But have you ever tried to point out someone’s poisonous indoctrination? It’s usually not pretty. The cult indoctrinated don’t usually even know it’s happened because of how “normal” it seemed on the way in. They’ve received a lot of training and are well equipped to remain indoctrinated. Pride, ignorance, shame… all of these methods are veiled as normal and create an indoctrinated member.

I realize it’s super weird to expound on cult membership at a workout or in a backblast, but I assure you, dear reader, that it is relevant to every day lives.

Because while we may not be members of Chung Moo Quan, vandalize a building in the name of Tyler Durden, chant “the greater good” in a hooded robe,  or follow Jim Jones into death, we’re all subject to attempted indoctrination during almost all of our waking hours.

TV advertisements try to indoctrinate you into the cult of yourself.  Talk shows and news commentary try to indoctrinate you into the cult of bitterness, greed, or supremacy.  Our free country is, for the most part, monetizing our minds through indoctrination.  It’s incredibly difficult to tune it out.

This is why my word this year is “Discipline”.  I’m using two definitions. The first is the study of a subject, the second is to train.

Discipline as a study helps me to understand my beliefs and how they work in a world that wants me to change them all the time.  It applies to all 3 Fs as I intend to refocus on nearly 20 years of Shaolin training, be more intentional about being social (the pandemic has made life very cozy for a hardcore introvert like YHC), and actually focus on spiritual beliefs.

Discipline as a training regiment helps me to be strong enough to understand whether indoctrination is attempting to change my beliefs, or I’m just wrong.  As a physical training regiment, discipline can help me get the sleep I need and eat correctly. And as social training, I can tune out awful social static.

 

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