Tag: Gears

“Backblasting” sans Trucker with a few Zimamiles

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10 gathered on a chilly morning.  YHC and JWOW were the first to arrive.  After JWOW got his passport stamped and was granted entry into Tega Cay, a pre-emptive stroll took place around the grounds before PAX began to trickle in.  At 1 minute before launch, a Zima sighting took place.  Once it was confirmed that no FNGs were present (there weren’t).  Disclaimers were given and off we moseyed around the ballfield to circle up.

COP – SSH x 10, Windmills x 10, Cherry Pickers x 10, Merkins x 10, Mountain Climbers x 10, Down Dog, Up Dog and a quick recovery followed by a short mosey to the First base line.

JWOW decided it would be a good idea to partner for a DORA 1-2-3 where partner #1 runs up a hill (aka Mt. Mulch) while partner #2 exercises.  The 100 was burpees (this was met with little to no approval), 200 squats (YHC’s form was subtly corrected by Geronimo – thank you, guardrail) and 300 flutters.  The climb was steep and the mulch made for fun later.

Following the DORA, PAX went to the base of Mt. Mulch where JWOW called for partner pushes – one pushing the other up the hill while the other leaned downhill against the other.  YHC was displeased when Gears decided to be especially difficult on this, but we persisted and reached the top along with all other PAX.  A lunge walk back down (carefully) Mt. Mulch and we switched positions.  After a successful round 2 of partner pushes and lunge walks, JWOW decided to call time and hand off to YHC for the second half.

We moseyed on the running path around Runde Park stopping at 4 spots along the way.

Stop #1 – Circle up for 5 burpees (because we had not done enough already), followed by a people’s chair with arms out.  While holding the people’s chair, we did 10 double count Moroccan night clubs and 10 shoulder taps in cadence. Mosey to:

Stop #2 – 4 burpees OYO

Stop #3 – 3 burpees OYO

Stops #4 & #5 – 2 burpees OYO and 1 burpee OYO

A quick 10 count was called and a mosey back to the ballfield to go “around the horn” for the main event of the second half.

YHC called for a change in partners so PAX switched up and we began a 4 corner beatdown that earned many not so subtle comments from PAX.

At each cone, PAX were to partner up and do the following:

Round 1 – 10 burpees, 20 hand slap merkins, 30 sumo squats (hands touch the ground) – rinse and repeat at cones 2, 3 & 4 for a sum total for 40 burpees, 80 hand slap merkins and 120 sumo squats.  PAX were pleased…..sort of.

Round 2 – 10 hand release hand slap merkins, 20 jumping lunges, 30 big boy sit ups – rinse and repeat at each of the 4 cones for a sum total of 40 hand release hand slap merkins, 80 jumping lunges and 120 big boy sit ups.

YHC and Cornhole strategically moved to a different cone from other PAX as “backblasting” had commenced prior to the workout ending.  Before round 2 was completed,  Zima eloquently observed that the exercises addressed opportunities for improvement: #truestory

Unfortunately, round 3 would have to be saved for another time as PAX completed round 2 at 0726.  We moseyed to the parking lot for 5 more burpess OYO and 2 minutes of Abs:

15 boxcutters in cadence

Protractor at different degrees (0 degrees was the crowd favorite)

In honor of Zima, a 30 second body destroyer was called.  0730 and COT was upon us.

Announcements – Read your newsletter – lots happening including the Yeti next weekend.

Prayers were offered for Fishstick’s Dad battling cancer, JWOW’s friend Anthony battling addictions and keeping his jesters at bay, for safe travels for Bonsai and his M this week and for families and our patience.

NMM – YHC (Q #2) was to lead a Q Source discussion following the workout and it reinforced the very thing that we must keep top of mind as to why we post.  We are, as PAX, one another’s guardrails.  We keep one another on the right path toward living 3rd and being better for those around us.  Regardless of where you are in your journey – 1st, 2nd or 3rd F’s.  Get out, post often, and plug into this great group of #HIMs.  Acceleration can not be achieved in isolation.  We go through nothing alone when we choose.

Thanks to JWOW for splitting this morning’s Q and to Smuggler for the opportunity.  YHC’s first post ever was at Alcatraz.  It was great to get back out with a fantastic group of #HIMs.

Honored,

Cyclops & JWOW

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Guinea Pigs in The Swamp

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What does that title even mean? Well, it means that I stole a workout plan from the boys in F3 Lexington as we put a twist on the customary deck of cards. And since I wasn’t sure how much time this would take or how difficult it would be, we’d test this, Round 1, on 10 of The Fort’s faithful this Friday morning at The Swamp.

After the disclaimer, we took a mosey over to the Depot lot for some SSH & Windmills & a few stretches. We then moseyed over to the water fountain to read through the exercises and attempt to explain how this would be different from previous versions. And this is what it looked like:

We made it through about 85% of the deck and I think there is room to modify these exercises next time, too. Soooo, until that next time…

Read ya d*mn Newsletter.

Maximus

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20% More

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Today was a day a long time coming, but more in the NMM.

10 Men showed for a soggy beat down at the Coop.  Here’s what we did:

The Thang:

Mosey, with some shuffle, to the practice field.

COP

  • SSH
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Windmills

Gassers, repeating 5 times with exercises below between

  • 20 yards
  • 50 yards
  • 100 yards

Squats till 6, then MNC till 6

  • 12 Merkins IC
  • 12 Burpees
  • 12 Monkey Squats IC
  • 12 Bombjacks
  • 12 CDD IC

Mosey to Rock Pile

  • Pick a rock, 12 Man Makers
  • Run a lap to sign and back
  • Repeat x3, upgrading rock after each

Mosey to covered area for some Boat and Canoe and American Hammer.

Mosey to Pull Up Bars

  • 6 Pack

Run to Bottom of Hill, Backwards Run Up the Hill then to COT

 

NMM

As we gathered for #BTP, I commented that my FNG workout was at the Coop 5 years ago and it was a VQ for One Niner (BB here) and how it would be neat for him to be there 5 years later.  As we finished the COP and were about to run the Gassers, a lone figure came trotting up in the gloom… none other than One Niner.

I charged the PAX with looking to push themselves 20% more throughout the workout today.  The idea was that we get complacent or comfortable in our routines, but imagine what impact you could make with just 20% more effort to break out of your plateau, regardless of the arena of life.  I saw lots of good effort today with guys really pushing it both on the gassers and the man makers.  This is how we get stronger… by pushing beyond where we’d normally stop.

 

Announcements:

Yeti, Doty Run, Q School – Check your newsletter.

 

Prayers up for Marriages, Punch List’s M with baby pending, and being willing to share with others when life is hard.

 

Honor to Serve.

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Slapshot vs 38 Special: Grudge Match

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This last weekend there was a call to head out to one of the local favorite breweries, Amor Artis, to drink beers in the name of helping kids get through school. No, we’re not drinking beer so that there’s less for the kids, that would be ridiculous. But it’s a great way to engage in some 2nd F and contribute some $’s to the Dam2Dam relay (which is shunting their proceeds to Classroom Ready).

And, as we all know, the best and worst ideas have their genesis in a few pints of meticulously processed hops.  This was the story for two young, handsome, ridiculously strong and vigorous PAX who saw the need for a substi-Q for Quagmire the next morning. Neither PAX could decide which would take the mantle, causing YHC to respond to the site Q with a cryptic message about taking the Q if Slapshot did not. Then, over another pint, we decided to just Co-Q it because, why the heck not?

Epic

Not long after the announcement of this team up, the site Q of the Golden Corral realized just how profound it would be and immediately beseeched these captains of men to repeat their as of yet untested plan. What brilliance on the part of Lutefisk the wise.

The gloom

Dark Helmet and his pants crew (I sincerely hope this is taken out of context in 10-15 years) were already galavanting about the Corral when YHC arrived. Senator Tressel was waiting at COT. The rain had let up enough to shed any reason for gear… for about 15 seconds.  After a moment the pantalones party arrived and 0515 was struck. At this time YHC revealed that it was to be yet another Co-Q to the PAX.

Nervous looks were shared by many.

Warm up

A quick mosey around the pharmacy and far enough past the overhang to say, “Why bother trying to keep dry? We’re all men here, right?”

Circle up for:
10x variable speed low-slow squat
10x four-count monkey squats (see the ‘exicon)
10x four-count merkins

The thang: Part 1

Preface: Sometimes a great idea is only great on paper. Sometimes a great ideas come from terrible ideas. And if you don’t try a terrible idea, you may be stuck with an okayish idea for a long time. Sometimes you need terrible ideas to illustrate that okayish ideas are actually great ideas. The point is that you tried, and that those you lead did what they could to make it happen. And if it fails, maybe  you’re a good enough leader to salvage the plan and make something from which everyone can still profit.

WITH THAT IN MIND…

Mosey to the corner of the lot by Lifeline. Break PAX into groups of 4 (and a 3). Modified DORA. One runner goes to each station and relieves the next guy. Stations were Squats (300), Merkins (200) and Big Boys (200). In thought it was a fun way to get everyone using their brain, perhaps a bit confused, but not frustrated. In practice it wasn’t really tenable because when you’re timing your BBSU’s at home they go a lot faster than when you’re in the middle of a Q.  In retrospect… just drop the counts and time it.

After most of the groups seemed to finish, called an audible and everyone did DORA to run out the timer in front of the ice cream place. Since it was an audible, YHC may not recall the exercises because they were thought up on the spot, but the runner was to bear crawl the length of the sidewalk past the dog grooming place. This was reduced after the first run to stop the bear crawl at the top of the small incline, and run the remaining distance of the sidewalk and back. I’m pretty sure we did Lunges, and LBCs were called but I don’t recall if anyone got to them.

The thang: part 2

Slapshot pulled out his phone and announced that we’d be doing HIIT.  Five minute sets and you could rest only if you finished prior to the next minute starting.  And he kept changing the counts.

Set 1 – LBC, Merkins, and Squats
1. 15, 10, 10
2. 20, 10, 10
3. 20, 12, 12
4. 20, 12, 12
5. 25, 15, 15

Set 2 – double count American Hammers, HR Merkins, Single count lunge (each round the same count)
1-5. 20, 10, 12

Set 3
1. 15 burpees
2. 15 burpees
3. 10 burpees
4. 10 burpees
5. 10 burpees

Slapshot then lead the crew back to COT while some of us ran back to pick up some of the discarded gear. When YHC arrived back at COT, Slapshot was running out the clock with Superman/Banana. It was very entertaining to see.

Cot

Name-o-rama while Senator Tressel had to high tail it and everyone wondered what happened to the ruckers (who showed up a moment later).  Announced the various forms of CSAUP torture available over the next few weeks, as well as mention tonight’s 2nd F.

One PAX asked to get things moving faster due to the rain, to which another responded with words along the lines of, “There are men standing in the rain. And there is Lutefisk”

Quickly rounded up prayer requests with a bit of special attention paid to the M relationships owing to the upcoming “holiday”. Lifted up Cha Ching and his M for their trip this weekend as well.

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Six Pack of Q’s

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Six posted to Alcatraz for a Q-less workout.
Due to YHC’s failure to schedule in advance, all PAX we’re voluntold and cooperated FULLY.

Gears led off with a mosey lap, broken up with a variety of burpees, merkins, and other such miserable-ness.

YHC took the second 10 minute block to hit the pull up bars, and the hill. One trip down, a few burpees, and a bear crawl and mosey up.

Decibel stepped up to lead a second round of loops on the hill with stops at the bottom and top for squats and ab work.

Maximus led a core burner with a lot of flip flopping between  ab and core work. And yes there were burpees.

Trucker then took is on at least a half mile of squat shuffles, and then… PULL- UPS with dips and step ups.

Fish Sticks closed out the last 10 minutes with a series of mixed motion exercises across the basketball courts with bear crawls, merkins, crab walks, LBC’s, crawl bears, and Carolina dry docks.  And yes, there were burpees in the form of burpee broad jumps.

Announcements: Children’s Attention Home this afternoon, Cupid Run and Yeti coming up.

Prayers for marriages and remembering our role of service in our concentrica.

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LE TOUR DE WEP Dora Style

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Great morning for a Q, my third one of the week, I was super pumped since my sidekick Sonic (2.1- 8 years old) accepted to take the lead roll and co Q with me.

This time I brought my battle rope and chatters started early, we welcomed all PAX. Drop Thrill was in charge of the milkshakers so off they went.

With the Bootcampers we grabbed the rope and moseyed/walked across the wet and cold grass to the playground for the warm up, many PAX whined about getting  their toesies wet but the idea is to get out of your comfort zone and accelerate, this is why you leave your fartsack every morning. We explained that we will move as a team and our team will be as fast as the slower PAX so we all encouraged each other to get better (this is what F3 is all about)

Warm up led mostly by Sonic:

Side straddle hops
Windmill
Weed picker
Low slow squat
Moroccan night clubs
Low slow merkin
Mountain climber

I mapped the park on my phone for 15 stops and we run in between stops (picture attached), we used the walking trail to run around the park. The idea was to complete the following Dora:

100 merkins (4 stops x 25)
200 carolina dry docks (5 stops x 40)
300 overhead claps (6 stops x 50)

We went back to our starting position at the playground for some fun with the battle rope.

Our team was split into two groups for some Tug of war competition, PAX enjoyed this part as adrenaline kicked in while pulling the rope in a friendly competition. I’m definitely repeating this in my Q’s

.

We had abut 11 minutes left so it was time for our superhero visit and the crowd started cheering:

Captain Thor
1 big boy situp,  4 american hammers
2 big boy situps,  8 american hammers
3 big boy situps,  12 american hammers
Progressive to 10 big boy situp,  40 american hammers

3 rounds of Superman to stretch the abs, honey mooners, downward dogs and tunnel of man for Sonic back and forth to finish our beatdown,

we finished our day running back to COT carrying the rope as a group.

We met with the milkshakers for namearama, announcements, prayers and praises.

Thanks to Slash for the opportunity to lead this great group of PAX, some of them I had only seen once or twice but it’s all about the camaraderie.

My 2.1 Sonic really enjoyed this as he does everytime he comes to F3 with me, all PAX welcomed him as one more of us encouraging him every minute, he’s only 8 but not afraid of the gloom.

TINSEL and SONIC are out!!

 

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Playing Games With The Gods At Pantheon

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38 Special threw out a request for a Q for this week on Slack, gotta stay off Slack but I obliged and here I am.

There were many runners running and pre running and pre pre running but none of them wanted to hand with the gods, so we just had three plus myself.

The Uno deck was in play and the thang went like this:

Uno rules mostly, and each card number 2-9 equals the rep or 0 equals 10.

Colors determine the exercise:

Blue – Merkins
Green – LBCs
Yellow – Squats
Red – Lunges

Special cards:

Skip – Run
+2 – Two exercise, two reps each
+4 – Found reps of each exercise
Reverse – Repeato the last exercise
Wild – Change color and exercise

Burpee Penalty if you don’t have a match card (same number of color, or wild).

Thanks for putting up with my fun and games Q that I stole from 3D many months ago.  Hopefully it was  good one.

Many thanks to all Pax of F3 as I approach three years in the Gloom this March.

Also the Rooster and Yeti are fast approaching.

March 27 is Mental Battle Day in F3, with a focus on men’s mental health.  More info to come.

Thanks 38 Special for the chance to lead.

Thrill Out.

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Blue Light Special

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Nine men showed up this chilly morning expecting a mosey around the Harris Teeter parking lot.  Little did they know that I coordinated with Bobber to converge with the Coliseum Pax at Walmart.  After a quick disclaimer, I gave the Pax a general idea of what was in store.  We would be running, 1.3 miles to be exact.  Halfway there, Senator Tressell guessed we were on our way to Walmart.

We ran at a good pace and arrived before the Coliseum Pax.  We had enough time to circle up for some exercises (in cadence):

SSHs

Imperial Walkers

Moraccan Night Clubs

Hillbilly Walkers

Merkins

The Coliseum Pax arrived and we exchanged high fives and fish pumps.  Tesh was in his usually 20 degree shirtless attire.  Bobber called out the next set of exercises, Will Chamberlians. 100 sets of each exercise, running between the light poles:

LBCs, Flutters, American Hammers, Freddie Mercury.

We finished up with inch worm merkins and broad jump burpees between the two parking rows.

Our group headed back to HT for COT.

Great work everyone!

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Trifecta Tuesday

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On Tuesday the 7th, 15 #HIM descended upon Golden Corral to continue making 2020 a year of acceleration.  10 PAX started early as YHC encountered Dark Helmet leading a group around the grounds.  Fortunately, they did not mess up the sidewalk chalk – that came in handy later to give PAX some not so subtle reminders about what to do…..many times.

After the 10 extra credit (BTP) PAX joined for the boot camp or ruck, here’s what the boot campers did:

Mosey to COP – 12 low slow squats (D/C), hold the people’s chair after the 12th squat while doing 12 double count Moroccan night clubs, Imperial Walkers X 12 (D/C), Hillbilly Walkers X 12 (D/C).  Mosey some more……COP (continued), 15 SSH’s (D/C), 10 Windmills (D/C), 15 Merkins (D/C), 15 Mountain Climbers (D/C), 10 Plank jacks, then mosey to the main event.

The sidewalk chalk served as the guide, the date was 1-7-20 – those numbers add up to 28.  Every sequence was an exercise followed by a bear crawl a set distance (25-ish yards) (no one went as fast as Tesh would have), another exercise, a mosey back to the start line and repeat.  The exercises of the day were……squats and merkins – always adding up to 28.

26 squats, bear crawl, 2 merkins, mosey back

24 squats, bear crawl, 4 merkins, mosey back

22,6  20,8  18,10 16,12 14,14 12,16 10,18 8,20 6,22 4,24 2,26

The squats got less, the merkins more and all PAX got better,

Over 2700 merkins and over 2700 squats were done in total.  YHC heard about it later.

After one fast and one not so fast 10 count, we moseyed around the building to do, of course, 7’s – it was January 7 after all.

The exercises were Kracken burpees and Carolina Dry Docks – 6 KB’s a 15-ish yard lunge walk, 1 CDD and a mosey back to the wall, 5 KB’s, lunge walk, 2 CDD’s and a mosey back 4, lunge walk 3, 3 lung walk 4, 2 lunge walk 5, 1 lunge walk 6.

After Pusher proclaimed how terrible all this was (YHC thought Carolina Dry Docks would make him feel better), we had just enough time to get to COT for 2 minutes of Mary before the Ruckers saved us from going past the 0600 bell.

Slow Flutter kicks (D/C) x 15

Protractor at varying angles, finishing at 0 degrees and 0600 for COT.

Announcements:

1-29 Grapevine fundraiser for Classroom Ready – Celebrity bar tenders.  Who will be there? (#showtoknow)

Let Me Run seeking coaches for teams in schools in both Fort Mill and Rock Hill – reach out to Cyclops or Double D with interest and/or questions.

Word of the Year – Focus on it and live it out.  Use your shield locks to hold you accountable. Together, we all get better than we ever would alone.

Praises and Prayers – Lutefisk’s Father-in-law, Cyclops’s Dad, Tinsel’s brother, Duck Dynasty and his niece and for continuing to be a hope and light to others in a world that is often darker than we like.

Just prior to COT, YHC shared the 3 elements of a high impact relationship – 1) it meets you where you are  2) it provides safety to allow you to grow and 3) it teaches you about yourself.

Thanks to F3 and the high impact relationships it provides its PAX.  We have the privilege and honor to be sharpened and honed by many high impact men within our community when in one another’s presence – through all 3 F’s – what a gift it is.

As we all seek to make 2020 a year of acceleration, YHC is grateful for 2 things today:  1) To Lutefisk for the opportunity to Q – it’s always an honor and 2) To the brothers of F3 for being a reason YHC chooses the harder thing far more often than I used to.

Stay after it.  Keep going.  Kamwe Kuacha (Never Stop).

Honored.

Cyclops

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Jack of all Kinds and The ShovelFlag Switch

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21 Pax showed up for the Slug-fest that was a Cha-Ching and YHC’s Co-Q.  All Pax arrived on time for the special 0500 kick off. I was taking the #ShovelFlag at the end of the Beatdown so we wanted to do something brutally special to mark the occasion.

Quick disclaimer and we where off and rolling. Cha-Ching had the 1st 30 minutes and didnt’t disappoint.

Mosey to the end of the BEst Buy /Pet Smart Parking lot.  30 SSH- Mosey on to the other side of Home Depot 15 bomb jacks, run back to spot by Petsmart 20 smurfjacks, run back to HD 30 seal jacks, run back to PS, 30 plank Jacks.

Mosey over to the wide parking lot in front of PS.  Break up into two groups for a new take on Bone the Fish.

Bear crawl up two parking spaces then side crawl down the line then up two more, rinse and repeat. Total parking lot length was about 15 spaces.  At the end do 30 squat jumps. Bear Crawl down and back again , do 20 donkey kicks. Then we bear crawled up two spaces and side shuffeled the width of the whole parking lot. Continue this down the length and did 10 burpees to complete the movement.

Mosey over to the fountain 3 types of burpees before time expired on the first 30 minutes.

5x Kracken Burpees, 5x knee slap burpees and 5x 1 leg burpees.

At this Point I took the Reins:

The Shovel Flag Switch

Split PAx into teams of 3.

MAX REPS TO FAILURE

P1s = Body weight in the lower level of stair alley

P2s= Run between groups: up/down the stairs

P3s= Cinder blocks

Basic rules: P1 Starts on the bottom level of the outdoor patio across from Just Fresh doing Max Rep Body weight exercises.  P3 moves to the dead end side of the parking load and does max reps of cinder block exercises. P2 starts with P3 and runs roughly 100 yrds up and down the stairs to P1. Upon arrival they switch. P2 does body weight and P1 runs up and down the stairs to P3 and they Switch as per the above.  Rinse and repeat through the various exercise combos.

Exercises:

Round 1- P1- MTN Climbers P3- Block Squats

Round 2-  P1- LBCs P3- Block Swings

Round 3- P1- Squats  P3- Block Curls

Round 4- P1- Bomb Jacks- P3- OH Presses

Round 5-P1- The Claw( Thnaks PotHole)   : P3- Block Hammers

Round 6 P1- Merkins  P3- Squat Thrusts

Round 7 P1-Peter Parkers P3- Alt Hand Block Merks

Round 8 P1- BBS  P3- Man Makers

We Made it Through 6 rounds finishing on Squat Thrusters and Merkins.

With 4-5 minutes left we picked up the cindys, beatdown boards and laundry pile( it was decidedly warmer than some of us expected)  shuffled back for COT.

I accepted the Shovel Flag and look forward to growing the reputation of the #Swamp as a smoker AO in The FORT.  Appreciate Cha-Ching thinking of me to take over for him. It’s an honor!

Duck Out!

 

 

 

 

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