Tag: Flounder

Introducing Q-Source at Quagmire

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YHC took the reins at Quagmire for a science experiment after listening to the roundtable podcast last week with Short Circuit and Stinger talking Q-Source. I really enjoyed the substantive portion of the 43 feet where Doah and Dredd would discuss the Q point of the week last year and have been looking to fold that into my routine while also needing to improve my rucking performance in preparation for the Growruck22 coming at the end of the month. Unfortunately lately I have been pretty busy so have missed out on the Q source discussions that Tesh and Anchorman have been leading here around the Fort so with the attendance numbers already suffering at Quagmire I felt the need to switch some things up to hopefully draw out a consistent group of PAX by offering a high-level intro/discussion to the Q-source. So YHC brought out the whiteboard and like Collin Powel says if you are 60% ready just go ahead and start. I had a desire and the Q schedule was open so I took the leap into trying to give an introductory to Qsource which will be henceforth referred to as Q-Source @ Quagmire.
This week we started off with the high-level intro to the four quadrants of the q-source by performing four corners at the perimeter of the Quagmire AO. The whiteboard had the four quadrants listed and at each corner of the AO we were going to learn about the respective quadrant. Giving the initial PAX that showed up and their experience in rucking YHC made the call that we were all going to ruck up and head to the first corner of Quagmire, which is Home Depot parking lot, to learn about the first quadrant of the G3L which is the Get Right. Normal exercises were performed and while everyone held a plank YHC read the introduction to the first quadrant of the G3L from the pocket-sized Q-Source. Mosey shuffle to the second corner of Quagmire which is the Ulta Beauty where we did some exercise and learned about the Live Right. Mosey to the corner of Steel Creek and Tryon where we learned about the Lead Right and exercises were performed and finally mosey back to ChickFilA/Bestbuy to learn about the Leave Right. A few minutes left so we continued over towards the PetsMart for some bear crawls and some lunges until it was 6:00.
COunt-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, Announcements/ Prayers/Praises and finally YHC asked Flunder to close out the COT as only he can.
Thanks guys for letting me try this and for the feedback.

NMM:
Man, what a privilege it is to have the triple respect Flounder join us in the gloom every week and while his skills at calling cadence are still being refined his ability to close out a COT is second to none. His drive and desire to push himself to try and keep up with fellow PAX half his age is awe-inspiring and reminds me to challenge myself to push harder and get better.
Thanks to the PAX for allowing me to try this out and for the candid feedback on how we can improve in the near future.

Next week I look forward to my man HalfShell covering Q point 1.10 which is Prayer if you happen to be following along with the idiotic numbering system….
We will only cover the Socratic and the Spurs during the ruck workout and hope to have some discussion about how we as men today are trying to hone our skills and fulfill our “Get Right” responsibility to become HIM.

As always feel free to hit me up to discuss further any suggestions or roadblocks that you see might hinder our progress. Thanks again in advance for allowing me to attempt to fill a void I have been having.

Stay frosty my friends,
Build your guardrails out of bricks!
Olaf

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Pantheon 3/31/21

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It was a beautiful morning with temps in the low 60’s and a light breeze.  Was ready to get in a great workout and was greeted by 38 Special and Flounder.  Thought it might be a light crowd with two Q v Q’s planned.  Was excited to lead these PAX though.

Started with the disclaimer and got to it!

Warmup with: 15 SSH, 10 arm circles, a few downward and upward dog positions to get stretched out, then finished out with a mosey around the field (via the driveway around the field).

Main Event: Planned an 2 minute AMRAP with 4 exercises.  Merkins, Squats, Dips and LBCs.  Started with 2 min. of merkins, had chalk to write down our numbers, moseyed about 50 yards, did 25 SSH, then back to do 2 min of squats, 50 yards, 25 SSH then went back to merkins and told the PAX to try to beat their previous number.  Continued on with Squats and then with a set of dips and LBCs and repeated trying to beat our numbers.

With the last few minutes, I was hoping to get in a set of 11’s.  YHC introduced a new exercise – a burpee with a donkey kick…called it the ass-kicking burpee (AKB).  Started with one AKB, did 10 flutters, 2 AKBs/9 flutters, then 3 AKBs to finish as we ran out of time and were all pretty gassed.

COT where praised were shared and closed out with a prayer.

 

Appreciated the opportunity to lead @38Special and looking forward to sharing some more AKBs at more AOs soon.

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Merkin Monday

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5 pax came out for 3 miles and 3 11s of merkins.

A rusty COP
Imperial walkers x 15 in bad cadence
Algerian disco dances x 15 (might have remembered that one wrong)
Windmills x 10
Mountain climbers x 15
Alternating toe taps x 10

1st 11 – Diamond merkins/squats w/run up grassy hill
PAX mosied around the target to the Tuesday morning
2nd 11 – Merkins/flutters w/run up Tuesday morning parking lot
PAX nosies back to target, then to the fountain
3rd 11 – Derkins/step-ups w/run around traffic circle
Cut the last one a little short, back in time for COT

Thanks Olaf for the opportunity to lead, and for the push to do the backblast.

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Blessings

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YHC was honored to be granted the Q Spot for Slow Burn on the mildest morning of the week.  The rising temperatures likely led to increased turnouts throughout the week so as YHC sidewalk chalked the finishing touches on the workout and pulled up to COT, it was great to see a big number of HIMs gathered to start of the morning.

All PAX were disclaimed and assured that YHC was absolutely not a professional.  Risk was assumed by all present and off we moseyed to the warm-up:

COP consisted of the following exercises in varying quantities:  Windmills (Trucker-approved), Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Side Straddle Hops, PAX remained in the plank position for the following: Merkins, Down dog, Up dog, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Shoulder taps, a 6-inch hold for a notably slow 10-count given by Trucker and the warm up was complete.  PAX moseyed to the Hampton Inn entrance were partner Dora was to commence:

50-100-150 – Merkins, LBC’s & Flutters

16 PAX made for even splits into groups of 4, which fit nicely with the 4 corner stations that were about to commence.  PAX counted off and miraculously all remembered their numbers as we moseyed to 4-corner land for 10-20-30’s.  Mode of transportation between stations varied and some PAX were displeased and modified.

PAX completed roughly 6 stations in total , did all exercises together in their assigned groups and rotated in clockwise fashion.

Station 1 – 10 bombjacks, 20 diamond merkins, 30 flutters and crawl bear to station 2

Station 2 – 10 burpees, 20 merkins, 30 Rosalitas and lunge walk to station 3

Station 3 – 10 bombjacks, 20 shoulder taps, 30 boxcutters and bear crawl to station 4

Station 4 – 10 burpees, 20 werkins, 30 Hello Dollys and NUR to station 1

YHC called time at 0556 and PAX moseyed to the Empire Pizza wall.  People’s Chair was held and each PAX spoke of a blessing for which they were thankful.  There were many.   After all sounded off we moseyed to COT for announcements, prayers and praises.

Announcements –

T-Claps to Curious George for taking the Q reins on Fort Mill Care Center and to Assassin for his leadership in this effort.  Sign up genius to post soon.

April 13 – Pancake breakfast celebrating 1-year anniversary of the Bubble.  T-Claps to Twister for spearheading this 2nd F event.

Prayers were offered for the schools beginning back full time Monday.  Praises to all the teachers, administrators and those who were part of this effort.

NMM – Blessings come in all forms.  As we slowly lift from the depths of this pandemic, YHC has found the simplicity of an ordinary day to be one of the greatest blessings there is.  Having the ability to get up, exercise and improve in all facets of our lives is something we all must embrace.  The effect that has on others around us is often greater than the effect on ourselves.

Thanks to Twister for the opportunity to lead.

With Gratitude,

Cyclops

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Fountain of Pain

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Chill morning, two days after the Yeti and eight men showed up for the workout.  Olaf and Tesla ran 2 miles before the workout.  After a quick disclaimer, we took a couple steps back and did the following warm up exercises:  SSH x 20, Imperial Walkers x 12, Windmills x 10.

Next, we moseyed 1/2 mile to the second traffic circle for a round of Dora.  The exercises:  100 Jump Squats, 200 Lunges, and 300 LBCs.  While Partner 1 did the exercises, Partner 2 ran to Old Navy and back, switched up  with partner when returned.

Once we finished with Dora, we moseyed over to the fountain. There were exercises (burpees, step ups, dips, hand release merkins)  written in chalk at each of the four entrances into the fountain area.  Two of the exercises were performed when passing through the fountain area.  There were also exercises written at each traffic circle (squats, bomb jacks), American Burger (Flutters), and Just Fresh (LBCs).  The goal was to complete as many exercises before 0600.

Back to COT.   I believe there was a call for burpees when I went to grab my phone.

 

Great job everyone!

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Painting the Parking Lot of Quagmire with Pain

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Well, a Worship Planning error on my part caused the scheduled Q to learn of his volentold appointment from the PreWorkout Hype blast on twitter. He quickly informed me that he was unable to Q the following morning which is very understandable being this all took place during the Superbowl halftime. So YHC knew that it would be very difficult to get anyone to post the morning after the Superbowl so finding a replacement Q was going to be impossible. No problem for this snowman. If I have breath in my lungs I can suggest terrible exercises and we can perform them together. Whats that they say, “misery loves company”.

I think that flounder thought I was going to take it easy on him since he was the only one to join me this morning.
He thought wrong. I figured he woke up before the sunrise to strengthen his mind and body so I wasn’t going to be the one to disappoint. Grabbed some cones from the truck and off we started towards HomeDepot.

First exercise is the side straddle hop. 30 in cadence.

next exercise is the windmill. 20 in cadence.

Then we moseyed towards the fountain before YHC challenged Flounder to a footrace to the front of Kohls. Don’t think I am a complete punk for challenging a man that is more than twice my age to a footrace. I gave him free rain on his choice of route where I had to go back around the entire HomeDepot and Target before crossing over into the Kohls parking lot. Ready, Set, GO.

I was a bit surprised when I managed to cross over into the bright side of the AO and Founder was nowhere to be seen. Que up the Travolta GIF from Pulp Fiction.
Lesson number one for the young grasshopper.
Always make sure to ask if there are any questions after giving directions.
Backtracked around target heading towards the fountain where I was able to locate the war daddy and called off the Silver Alert. So not everyone knows where Kohls is located. My bad, should have asked.

Once the dream team was reunited the cones were then divided between us and YHC attempted to explain how to paint the parking lot with pain works.

We will start to jog in a circle staying inside of the parking lot boundaries with plenty of fresh air space located between us to keep my MVP, most valuable PAX, healthy from whatever crazy sickness I could be potentially carrying. At random parking spots we start placing the cones down as we continue to jog around the cirlce until all of the cones have ben placed. Then we take turns joging around the parking lot alternating who says stop. Once someone yells stop you find the nearest cone and perform 10 of the exercises listed. Kind of like musical chairs but with burpees and mountain climbers. This went on for quite some time until we each had performed all of the exercises more than we would have liked.
For the grand finally we would race back to COT. This time making sure that Flounder knows the route, the shortest route, to get back to COT while I was going to take the longer path as the first time.
This time we were much closer to finishing the race together which was my intention. A few big boy situps before Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, Announcements, Prayers and Praises. Grateful for the skyQ giving me the nudge to let Flounder close out the COT because man does he have a way with words. Very inspiring for a young man like myself to be able to share time with a man of such strong faith. Put it this way if I am on Q and he is in the COT you better bet I am going to ask him to close us out and I would suggest you do the same.

NMM:
I was not feeling great after the punishment I had put my body through this weekend but once I saw Flounder roll up to the AO ready to go I knew there was no excuse for me to be slacking. He always brings a positive attitude to the workouts that he frequents on MWF and is accelerating in his fitness for sure. You might not catch him in the gloom if it’s cold and rainy but I believe he has earned the right to make that call with little heckling from me, and you know I am an equal opportunity heckler. I didn’t say he got a pass on the heckling; I said he gets less heckling than he deserves. Open to all men applies to keeping all PAX in check.
Very grateful for the discussion with him and to the PAX out there. Remember that you don’t post for yourself. You post for your fellow PAX.

Grateful for the opportunity to post with such a great dude.
Stay frosty my friends!
Olaf

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Pantheon Pain

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38 Special asked for a substiq and YHC answered the call

After a proper disclaimer, went into immediate COP then ran a mile to TC Baptist parking lot for vacuum cleaners until fail (flapjack for partner to do the same). An old fashion Dora with the running partner doing bear crawls up and jog back. head back to COT area but do burpee broad jumps the length of the school and reverse was a squat accumulator. pillar 1 was one squat and duck walk to the second pillar. then 2 squats duck walk to the third, etc, all the way up to 11. knocked out some ab exercises to finish it up.

PAX were beat down and satisfied, to my pleasure.  Thanks 38 for the opportunity!

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Christmas Dora

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Seven men + 1 late snowman (Olaf) showed up for the workout this morning.  We started off with a slow mosey to the back of Just Fresh.

Warm-ups

SSHs x10

Imperial Walkers x10

Windmills x 10

Gun Slingers x10

Next, we partnered up for a few rounds of stair climbs and exercises.  Partner 1 climbed the stairs across from Just Fresh while Partner 2 did the exercises (Carolina Dry Docks, Lunges).

We did two rounds of each exercise and modified the stair climb due to safety reasons.  Some of the steps were covered with water.

Next, we ran to Old Navy and back down the hill to the traffic circle.  The tree in the middle of the circle is decorated with Christmas lights so it was a fitting stop for our Dora exercise.  Partner 1 ran to the top of the parking lot near Old Navy while Partner 2 performed the exercises.  I asked the Pax to think about this week, the holiday, and what it means to each of them while they returned down the hill looking at the Christmas Tree.  Since we had some time, I adjusted the numbers a bit on the Dora.

150  Hand Release Merkins

250  Squats

350  LBCs

Next, we ran to the fountain for a set of step-ups and dips.  We had another time to bear crawl around the half traffic circle with some grumbling from the Pax.

Back to COT.

Great job Everyone!

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Just keep climbing…

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Sometimes it’s hard to find a Q in the winter months at Pantheon. Doubly so the day before Thanksgiving. So what do you do? You have fun!

The Gloom

YHC rolled up to an empty parking lot with a few minutes to go.  The temperature at Pantheon tends to be much colder than anywhere else, but this morning felt somehow warmer.

Divac pulled in as I was taking in the gloom, and Flounder soon after. Divac and YHC have been trading off terrible ideas every couple of months at Pantheon, and I didn’t want to disappoint.

The disclaimer was quickly disclaimed.

Warm up

There wasn’t one

The Thang

Everyone had an easy trot over to the small field just past Trailhead Park. You know the one. It’s across the street from the police station and at the start of the path with those terrible, awful, no good hills running through Tega Cay.

The plan is simple. Do a thing at the bottom of the hill, then go up to the top and do it again.
Rounds 1-5:  10x Big Boys
Rounds 6-10: 10x Merkins
Rounds 11-13: 10x thrusters (shoulders and feet on ground, hold for 2-3s)
Rounds 14-15: Alternating Superman (prone with arms straight past head, Raise and hole L arm and R leg, 2-3s hold, alternate for a two count)

I’ve done this routine a few times in the past, this is the first time it was self-inflicted. And, just like all those other times, nobody liked it at the time. But I know in my heart that everyone will be thankful.

After round 15 it was a slow trot back to…

CoT

Some good chatter at CoT. Announced some announcements. Lots of stuff coming up, even though it feels like things are ruined, they don’t have to be ruined.

Flounder asked to life up two of his friends, Denny who lost his wife over the summer, and another friend whose name escapes me who is going though a similarly difficult time.

Divac asked to lift up his great-aunt, who broke a hip at 90years old. And he’s got in-laws incoming.

NMM

Some day, I’m going to be thankful that the “pandemic” is a thing we talk about in the past tense. This year our family will have its second nuclear family thanksgiving, and it looks like we’re going to have a purely nuclear Christmas as well. While it’s a bit sad, it certainly removes a lot of stress on me.

But that’s not the case for everyone…

My prayer this morning is that those of us who call ourselves Christians would be better at not filtering the light we’re supposed to be reflecting in its pure form.  Help me not be the reason someone thinks God doesn’t love them.

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Spoon Feeding Instructions

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Learning to give clear instructions and the power of commanders intent.

Gekko was supposed to have the Q this morning but life called and he had to answer. Prayers for him.
5:15 struck and SlowJams brought out an FNG so the disclaimer was disclaimed and an overview of F3 was made.
YHC called his own number and grabbed some cones and headed towards the Home Depot for the warm-up.
Luckily I have been fortunate to get to spend some time with Tesla during the few times I show up for a PreRun at Quagmire so I learned that he had not led his VQ workout yet. So I gave him a heads up that today was his chance to practice leading a few exercises in cadence during the workout so we could all give some feedback before his big day.

YHC started the warm-up off with some SSH and some windmills then passed it over to Tesla to lead some SSH and some merkins. He did pretty well after a few corrections and will be ringing that second bell in no time.
Passed the baton over to Console to lead a few other exercises since he is fairly fresh to the game and I have missed his first couple of Q’s because of scheduling conflicts. As expected he shined like the stud he is. Way to live up to the hype and not be frightened by the thought of being compared to Tesla.

On to the Thang.
Mosey over behind Home Depot on the way to Target and get in a few seconds of peoples chair while waiting on the 6 to join.

Continue over to the Kohls parking lot for the meat and potatoes portion.
This part was supposed to be a lesson in preparation and the chaos that is unavoidable when a leader fails to convey the message clearly.
So YHC started out with no clear instructions to the PAX rather giving them just a single instruction meer moments before they needed it. The PAX were stumbling over each other because my instructions were not delivered in a clear and confident manner and there seemed to be no method to the madness. We started at one end of the parking lot and were moseying to the first street light pole performing the exercise then coming back to the starting line to perform some burpees before going to another light pole but sometimes we would come back to the starting line and other times we would just move on to the next light pole and exercise. The objective was to show how failing to communicate a plan, even a bad plan, was ineffective in achieving the mission (the current mission that I always try to achieve when leading a beatdown is to push every member of the PAX outside of their physical comfort zone while keeping everyone together as well as possible and allowing each member to not feel like a burden to the group or that they should have stayed in the fartsack).
When there is poor leadership the entire group is at the mercy of the commands of the Q. The Q is forced to either abandon the guys at the 6 or handicap the guys at the 12 in order to keep everyone on the same page. Just as in life each one of us men is at different places along our journey and therefore has different needs.

Once we finally got down to the end of the parking lot I let the PAX know my intended message for the workout and apologized for the intentional poor leadership.
Gave the PAX new clear instructions on how to proceed on the way back across the parking lot and turned them loose to go at their own pace. We spent the remainder of the time working through the exercise and encouraging each other to push ourselves to get better.

Finally, it was time to jailbreak back to the COT for Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, FNG naming (welcome GuyTai), announcements, and prayers& praises.

Thank you to the men that showed up and pushed yourselves to get better. Hopefully, I was able to challenge you to look at the people that you lead and reevaluate how well you are communicating instructions to your team. Are you spoon-feeding them one bite at a time or are you laying out the buffet and letting them get after it?

Remember that those you lead are faced with many decisions every day and you want them to have the knowledge and confidence that they can make the decision without having to go into a holding pattern while they run it up the chain of command and await a response.
Set clear expectations, communicate them often, and allow your people to react and overcome.

Garrett Purvis 36
Build your guardrails out of bricks!
Olaf

Stay frosty my friends

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