Pigskin in Paradise

I had the privilege to spend Friday evening with 22 other men and young men of the Paradise community. Conditions were, well, August in South Carolina – upper 90s with humidity. Here’s what we did…

The Thang

  • Mosey to the splash park
  • Circle up fo 10 SSH in cadence
  • 10 Merkins in cadence
  • 10 LBcs in cadence
  • Grab some wall for 10 Dips in cadence
  • 20 Calf Raises OYO
  • Mosey to the court for 10 Air Chair Claps in cadence
  • Full Court Suicides
  • Water and Powerade break
  • FOOTBALL TIME

NMM

The excitement Friday night was palpable. Bounty Hunter and I arrived 15 minutes early to set up the field. This prompted Scooter and Prescott to come running. When we started throwing the ball around the field, the park filled up fast. By the time 7:00 rolled around, there were kids EVERYWHERE. Thank you Deacon and Bolt for inviting me to lead. Thank you Fish Sticks, Barry Manilow, and Bounty Hunter for helping control the chaos. Final Score: 50 something to 40 something. For those who haven’t attended G-Fit, get out there and see what you’re missing.

I talked to the young men about community and brotherhood. We all need our friends and families when times get tough. Your brothers, regardless of skin color, religion or any other label that divides us, need you and you need them. There is nothing impossible when you are surrounded by people who will encourage and lift you up. What makes G-Fit special is it’s symbiotic relationship. We need each other. Those young men remind us to have fun. We can show them what love and brotherhood look like. Now, more than ever, we need to show love. God created us in His image and we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Where better to live that principle than Friday nights in Paradise?

With a heart filled,

Italian Job

TClap |
3

It Was Sooooo Humid Today…

23 men gathered in the sultry SC gloom for another round of F3 at  Golden Corral.  Some rucked while others boot camped, but we all got a good sweat on this morning.  Here is what we did:

The Thang:

YHC  took the boot campers aside and stated their obligations for the next 45 minutes (don’t get hurt and  if you do, it’s your own fault).  We then moseyed for a dynamic warm up of knee pulls, ankle pulls, toy soldiers, arm circles, and lunge twists.  After we woke up our bodies, we mosey around the lot and found a good spot in front of the Piedmont Family practice for COP:

All in cadence:

SSH x 40, merkin x 10, windmill x 15, crab tags x 20, squat x 20, Peter Parker Peter x 20, diamond merkin x 20, side lunges x 15, wide arm merkin x 15, LBC x 20

Mosey to the corner of the lot for suicide repeats.  Run out and back to the first, second and third concrete islands.  Plank up when finished and wait for the six.  We did five rounds today with the following exercises in cadence between each round:

Round 1:  Carolina dry dock x 20

Round 2:  Diamond merkins x 10

Round 3:  Morrocan night clubs x 30

Round 4:  Can’t remember?

Round 5:  Burpees (10 OYO)

Mosey back to the start point for 5 minutes of Mary:

Hello Dolly x 20, Freddie Merc  x 20, Pretzel crunch x 10L/10R, Superman hold x 2

COT

Big group today – more than I expected.   It’s been a while since I’ve been here,  and even longer since I had the Q so was happy to get the call last night from Decibel.   I think we had about 15 boot campers and 8 ruckers.  Don’t know what the ruckers did, but they looked pretty tired at COT so it must have been good.    There was a lot of chatter today from Decibel and Falcon Crest, as well as from the usual suspects (Pusher, Funhouse, Change Order).  The humidity was in full swing and the heavy air made everything harder today.     The pax did a great job, though, and no one complained, when YHC called for the next round of suicides.   Well done, men!

It was nice to have F3 The Fort’s official historian couple (Lugnut and Spitz) in attendance as well as many, many new pax.   My hope for the new guys is that they take full advantage of all that F3 has to offer and that they become stronger men and leaders.

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

Read your weekly newsletter.  If you are not receiving the newsletter, reach out to Old Bay.

Prayers for the death of a brother-in-law, brother-in-law with cancer, a member of our NC pax struggling with addiction,  children going back to school and heading off to college

Funhouse  made a call for our local F3 pax to be leaders and mentors for young boys in our community.   Deacon called out the Pax to be men of action and not those who stand and watch injustices.

 

TClap |
5

Stinky Morning at the Golden Corral

Cool morning at the Golden Corral with 20 men in attendance for ruck, running and boot camp activities.  The group split up evenly with two getting in some extra miles running.  After a brief disclaimer, we moseyed to the back parking lot for the following warm-up exercises:

SSH x20

Imperial Walker x20

Moroccan Night Club x20

Plank

Windmill x10

Next, we took a short jog to the top of the parking lot for some partner exercises.  First partner, ran up to the cell tower and performed 10 bomb jacks while the second partner performed the following exercises:

CCDs

Flutter Kicks

Burpees

Our workout was disrupted by the passing garbage truck carrying a potent mixture of foul smelling trash.   A few almost lost their breakfast.

Next, we ran to the church parking lot for a round of Doral 1-2-3.

100 – Squats

200 – LBCs

300 – Merkins

we finished with 50 Moroccan Night Clubs and two rounds of step-ups.

Announcements:

Convergence this Friday at Harris Teeter

Prayers:

Ginsu & M safe travels and new addition to family

Those unspoken

 

Always an honor to serve!

 

TClap |
1

Tour of the Front 9 @ Tempo

I let Gekko’s DM on twitter sit there all day. A call out to Tega Cay Pax that he needed a sub Q at Tempo for an injured Senator Tressel. Messages came in that several Pax were down range. You see, I had a scheduled fartsack for Thursday morning.  So I let it sit there. Silent. Crickets.

I’m not sure if it was the weight of the silence, or the guilt I would feel the next morning (something I call fartsacker’s guilt), or the fact that I just listened to Dredd and OBT talk about what a High Impact Men was on the Art of Manliness Podcast (Check it out HERE), but I started to put together a route that would be challenging.  Fishsticks chimed in and said he would put something together and I jumped in and said it’s already done.  Transition to Thursday morning.

THANG

0515 came and I outlined that we would run up Tega Cay Drive and then enter Tega Cay Golf Course at Number 9 Tee Box and then run the front 9 (Carolina Pines). We proceeded to hole #1 and ran the entire way through to #8 green and got back on the trail that led us back to COT.  Doesn’t sound exciting but there are so many quick elevation changes that your heart rate gets up quick and doesn’t come down until you’re back at Trailhead Park. It was a great morning and I am thankful for the guys who came out. As I mentioned to Falcon’s Crest, I wouldn’t be out here doing this without you guys.

MOLESKIN

As I mentioned above, before F3 there would have been no chance of me getting up and going for a run like that. I’m still a work in progress (I mean who schedules a fartsack?) but I’m trying to get better. The guys to my left and right are trying to get better and they encourage me. As I held back a little for some of the PAX (truth is I was having a hard time keeping up with Spud), they said they were fine and to go on ahead. I let them know that it ain’t about the workout for me anymore, so we’re cool. It was a great morning and I had the privilege in COT to hear praise after praise. Glad I showed up. Here are my notes:

  • Good work Decibel. You’re sick and you’re still coming out! Get well soon brother.
  • Falcon Crest, you just keep coming out. Keep it up and sorry/notsorry about the route. You’ll keep getting better
  • Spud is not human. I repeat! Not human! 🙂
  • Great to see you in the gloom Repeat!
  • Always a good time and chat with Fish Sticks
  • The Front 9 is hilly but I still think the Back 9 is worse (save for another Q)
  • Repeat mentioned that this route should be an official BRR training route. I think it is now.

Announcements (Check the newsletter as we went straight into praise reports)

Praise & Prayers

  • Repeat praise with the new baby
  • Decibel praise for his little girl’s light, energy and humor
  • Zima praise for family weekend in the mountains
  • Spud praise for a reprieve from work pressures

Always an Honor to Q, even if I avoid it at times.

Zima

 

TClap |
1

The British are coming, the British are coming…..

Alcatraz invited a British VQ to lead the PAX to try and escape the infamous AO. Very little word got out that the British were invading Alcatraz, but 7 PAX stood their ground awaiting for a beatdown by our very own brit – Sparkplug. After giving a good disclaimer, mossy through the baseball fields for COP. His weinke was written in british, but the best part of COP was the accent!! lots of mumble chatter relating to that. Mossy over the restroom wall.

PAX took a seat on the wall for various counts, then sprinted to outfield wall and back. BTW followed with another sprint. Mossy back to other baseball field entrance for 4 corners. Each corners involved 50 reps. first corner involved the blocks near the playground. Only got through 3 of the 4 rounds before passing the tea over to Trucker.

Mossy to playground for 3 rounds of 5 pull-ups and 15 LBCs.

Mossy to short steep hill for more rounds of pain.

Line up in a single line and one at a time run to the top and back. Once the PAX reaches the top, the next PAX takes off. Those not running are doing merkins. RInse and repeat two more times.

Mossy to COT

Great VQ by Sparkplug!!!

Prayers to Senator Tressel and injured.

TClap |
0

Theatre of Pain with Motley Crue

Met him in Vegas in 2008.

THEATRE OF PAIN WITH MOTLEY CRUE 

Warmup – jog around soccer field alternating high knees, butt kickers, side shuffle to l/r then gorrilla walks to left then right.  Circled up for chicken wing side straddle hops and seal cross straddle hops in cadence.

The Thang – 4 songs with a tour of 6 stations on  soccer field in between each song.

Song 1 – Dr. Feelgood – 4 mins of body quats during music/lyrics to squat jumps during chorus.  Knee tuck slaps during guitar solo.

Round 1 – in corners and middle of soccer field, 10 reps each at 6 stations for plank jacks, wide grip merkins, squat jumps, ab box cutters, L/R reverse lunges, and ab superman pumps.  Bear Crawl and Lunges alternating to each station.  Mosey to parking lot for song.

Song 2 – Wild Side – 4 mins of side straddle hops during music/lyrics to bombjacks during chorus and slow burpees during guitar solo.

Round 2 –  in corners and middle of soccer field, 10 reps each at 6 stations for plank thrusts, diamond merkins, double squat jump, ab flutters, plyo lunges, superman jacks.  Bear crawl and lunges alternating to each station.  Mosey to parking lot for song.

Song 3 – Girls, Girls, Girls – in tribute to all M’s.  American hammer during music/lyrics to hello Dolly’s ( Free Bird was thinking about my wife during this ) during chorus, to windshield washers during guitar solo.

Round 3 – in corners and middle of soccer field, 10 reps each of 123 plank hops and regular hold merkins.  Mosey to parking lot for song.

Song 4 – Home Sweet  Home – the closer, plank to sphynx pose during music/lyrics to honeymooners during chorus and downward dog during guitar solo.  Springled in a few childs pose and arm huggers at end.

Announcements – 8/4 convergence.

Prayers for all parents/children travelling during this time, freedom from daily restraints/expectations, freedom from addition for my brother Michael,  peace for the souls of my friends Ken, John and Micheal in their passing.

 

 

 

TClap |
3

BackBlast 7-25-17: That One Big Thing @ #Colosseum

Humidity was at an all time high in the swamp they call the Colosseum on Tuesday morning. 22 men showed up ready for some action and they got what they came for.

Mosey to the parking lot.

WARMUP:

  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 12 Windmills
  • 10 4-count Merkins
  • 10 4-count Mountain Climbers
  • 10 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 20 Moroccan Night Clubs

Mosey to the first light post (you know what’s coming next).

The Thang (Light Post Workout – $1 to Jekyll):

  • 10 LBCs/post
  • Mosey back to start
  • Plank for the six
  • 5 Burpees/post
  • 6 Inches for six at top
  • 20 LBCs in cadence
  • Mosey back to the bottom
  • Plank for the six
  • 10 Diamond Merkins/post
  • 6 Inches for the six
  • 20 4-count Flutter

Mosey back to COT

  • Captain Thors to 5×20

Announcements

  • New Thursday 3rd F led by ChickenHawk
  • Last QSchool next Tuesday the 1st led by Funhouse & Senator Tressel

Prayer Requests

  • Lutefisk’s Mom
  • Cornerstone’s Daughter
  • Ginsu’s Adoption

Maximus took us out in prayer.

Moleskin

For years, adoption has been something that I’ve thought of doing, but it seemed too big. I have a heart (as most people do) for the less fortunate, especially children, but didn’t think that we could handle bringing home another child to live with us. It was my one big thing that I new I was being called to do, but I couldn’t do it. It was too hard, too much, made me too uncomfortable. Fortunately for me, my M has a bigger heart and far more faith than I do and over a series of months, convinced me that this is what God was leading us to do and that we should trust the He would give us everything we need along the way. Also, fortunately for us, we had others around us (e.g. Maximus & his M) who been through it before and provided all the support and advice we could ever need.

That was my one, big thing. The thing that I knew that God was telling me to do, but I didn’t have the faith or courage to pursue it…until now. I’m still scared of what is around that corner, but I know that God will be with us every step of the way.

What is your one, big thing? That thing that has been tugging at your heart for weeks, months, years, or even decades? For us it was adoption, but for you it may be bigger, require more sacrifice, more faith, and more courage.

I encourage you to pray about it. Trust that God will take you through whatever He is calling you to do. Do that one big thing, whatever it is.

Ginsu

TClap |
4

Board of Pain Tabata style

As the Pax started to gather around this morning I gave a heads up that they needed to get loosened up because there wouldn’t be a warm-up this morning.  Some heeded my warning and some didn’t.  When it hit 5:14 I began to give the normal speech and tell the group we were about to take on the Board of Pain.  However there was one catch to it.  We would work our way through the Board of Pain, but we weren’t going to be counting.  We would do 7 rounds of Tabata each exercise.

For those who don’t know what Tabata is it is where you do a set of exercises for a predetermined amount of time by exercising for 20 sec and then take 10 sec off and keep rotating through.  For us we rotated exercises after 7 rounds of 20/10.  Needless to say I didn’t get to 100 burpees, but I was fine with that.

During the workout I failed as a Q because I had promised music and when I attempted to play the music the speaker wasn’t working.  I believe it had to do with the 150% humidity that morning, but its still a failure on my part.  Luckily fellow pax Change Order and Lutefisk saved me by performing for us several songs including Ice Ice Baby timed perfectly during one of our 10 second counts.

The Thang:

Burpees
Calf Raises
Ski Abs
Merkins
Squats
LBCs
CDC
Am Hammer
Mac Tar Jai

100 Maracain Night Club because I didn’t want to have to Jump Squats for the last 2 minutes

This workout was one of those workouts where you get all 3 Fs during the 45 minutes which was awesome to be apart of.

It was an honor to lead!  Thanks for the opportunity

TClap |
5

Tower of Babel

IMG_0271

Pantheon (Tega Cay Elementary)

Disclaimer: As I’m not a professional, no one even bothered to pay me for the free beat down this morning

Warm-a-rama I: Short mosey around the big loop, including high knees, butt kickers, side shuffles, toy soldiers

Warm-a-rama II: To ball field for some SSH, Merkin, Moroccan Night Clubs, Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers

Thang I: Indian Run: Last man drops, does 5 burpees, sprints to front of the line

Thang II: Line up on baseline, first guy runs a suicide while the rest do exercises listed below, then the suicider does a 10-count (Sputnik with the Russian 10-count and Straight Up with the Spanish 10-count, hence “Tower of Babel”)

  • 10 sets Jump Squats, 6 sets alternating one-foot Calf Raises, 4 sets Burpees, 5 sets Carolina Dry Docks, 5 sets Mountain Climbers

Thang III: People chairs for 10-counts from 10 PAX, balls-to-the-wall for 10-counts from 10 PAX (note: someone called out no hands balls-to-the-wall to no avail BUT Crash called out one-handed and did it, both hands – impressive)

Mary: we had 2 minutes for abs: protractor angles were quite specific this morning (27 degrees???)

COT: 10 PAX posted this morning, including Jedi in his first week, prayers for family health, travel, and for PAX to be a light in a dark world.

Skin: Nothing like your very own personal sweat splatter puddle along the court baseline. Smells like… victory.

 

TClap |
6

Two years and counting

Two years ago, Jekyll invited me to WEP for my first workout.  I thought I was in pretty good shape, but little did I know what was in store for me.   I remember halfway through the workout thinking, this was a bad idea and would anyone notice if I lost my breakfast.  Luckily, I kept my stomach in check, but spent the afternoon on the couch recovering.  Since this first day, F3 has greatly impacted my life both  physically and mentally.

Quagmire  workout – 7/17

After the disclaimer, we moseyed to the front of Best Buy for some dynamic stretches:

Butt Kickers

Knees to Chest

Lunges

Soccer stretches

Next, we took a short jog to COP for warm-ups:

SSH, Space Invaders, Imperial Walker, Mountain Climbers, Plank with 6″ hold

Next, we partnered up for a game of catch me if you can.  Partner 1 ran around the parking lot while partner 2 jogged around the same  route.  Once Partner 1 caught up with Partner 2, they each did 5 burpees.  Rinse and repeat.

Once complete, we moseyed to the front of Marshalls for wall sits and calf raises.

We finished up the final 15 minutes with some cadence strength training.

First round:  Bearcrawl/Merkin  10/5

Second round:  Lunge/Squat  10/5

Third round:  Backward Bearcrawl/Carolina Dry Docks 10/5

Forth round:  Crabwalk/LBC: 10/10

Jailbreak to COT

Announcements:

Children’s Attention Home – Friday 7pm

F3 Dads – 10am at WEP

Read Newsletter

 

Prayers/ Praises:

Tater – Healing (eye)

Jekyll – Quality time with his 2.0s

Royale – Daughter’s B-day

Witch Hunt – Son starts baseball camp

 

 

 

 

 

TClap |
8