F3 The Fort Thanksgiving Convergence 2017

70 Men came today to burn calories so they can eat whatever they want the rest of the day. Ok, maybe that was my reasoning, but most came because the know in order to get better, even in being Gratful, it is best when being challenged by your brothers. We all came to get better and realize this great thing we have called F3 and give thanks!
Santini Opening with warm up both physically and mentally with some leadership principles
Split off into the various groups!
4 went for for a Run
  • Drile (F3-Wapner)
    Mozy to the front of SFES, high knees, toy soldiers, Butt kickers, and Knees to chest.
    Mozy to front of SFMS, circled up…Side straddle hop, Merkins, Cherry Pickers, and Moroccan Nightclub
    Mozy to SFMS bus loop …high knees, toy soldiers, Butt kickers, and Knees to chest.
    Circled up.. Flutter Kicks and Low Slow Squats, America Hammer and Low Slow Squats, Merkins and Windmills, mountain climbers and windmills
    Mozy to back of SFES, circled up…Peter Parker’s and Side Straddle Hop, Plank and windmill, shoulder taps and Low Slow Squats, LBCs and Moroccan Nightclub
    Then rinse and repeated the above sequence…before joining the other groups at COT
    Lil E—Bootcamp Q
    Mosey to the parking lot in the rear of school and circle up. SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Squats
  • The thang
    • 10 cones set up in a line spaced about 10 paces apart. Each cone had an exercise and rep count on them. Do exercises on the first cone and run a lap of the parking lot. Once you complete the lap do the first cone and the second cone and then run a lap. Repeat this adding the next cone until all 10 are complete. Here were the exercises in order from first to last:
    • Burpees x 10
    • Bombjacks x 10
    • LBCs x 25
    • Merkins x 20
    • Jump Squats x 10
    • Flutter kicks x 40
    • CDDs x 20
    • Lunges x 20
    • Mtn Climbers x 20
    • Monkey Humpers x 20

Majority of the pax finished in the Lunges lap with a few speedsters out in front on the mtn climbers. Mosey back to the front of the school for some Freddy Mercury’s and Rosalitas.

After that met up with the Moderate and Black diamond groups for COT.

Everyone put out great effort today and really pushed themselves.

 

Witch Hunt—Black Diamond Q

Not even a trip to the hospital the night before with a pregnant wife could keep me away from this Thanksgiving workout. Shout out to Royale and Cha Ching for stepping up to help me out. Luckily I made it and we put in work.
We stared by counting off by 4 creating 4 teams.
Each team will compete to complete as many burpees as possible in 2-minutes with a catch. You can only do 10 at a time before you most complete 20 reps of ab exercise. 2 rounds:
1.) Burpees with LBCs (Somehow Bounce House was able to do 50 burpees. That dude is not human.)
2.) Burpees with Knee Tuck with crunchy frogs
Winners plank while losers perform 10 Kraken Burpees.
Blood was flowing so we moseyed to the hill by the middle school for some broken down burpees. Catch was that we had 20 minutes for everyone to complete. If everyone doesnt finish within the time then group does 25 Burpees.
Here was the setup:
Run Hill 10 times. (1 Hill Run = Up & Down)

5 Squat Jumps
5  Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
5 Merkins
5 Froggers
5 Squat Jumps

Run Hill 8 times.

10 Squat Jumps
10 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
10 Merkins
10 Froggers
10 Squat jumps

Run Hill 6 times.

15 Squat Jumps
15 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
15 Merkins
15 Froggers
15 Squat jumps

Run Hill 4 time.

20 Squat Jumps
20 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
20 Merkins
20 Froggers
20 Squat jumps

Run Hill 2 time

25 Squat Jumps
25 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
25 Merkins
25 Froggers
25 Squat jumps

With some great teamwork by the Pax everyone completed within the 20 minutes so no penalty was given.

I attempted to have Backdraft give us a 10-count however  he responded “There are no 10 counts during the Black Diamond.” So no 10 count and a quick mosey back to the parking lot for the 10 Minute 100 Burpee Challenge:

Complete 10 1-minute rounds of burpees in the following set scheme. Any time left over in the round is yours for rest. (typically PAX finish the set between 25 and 40 seconds)

Rd1- 8

Rd2- 9

Rd3- 10

Rd4- 11

Rd5-12

Rd6-12

Rd7-11

Rd8-10

Rd9- 9

Rd10- 8

Total – 100

Amazing work by all the Pax. I didn’t pull any punches with this setup for the Black Diamond and the Pax took it on without hesitation. We all survived and are better for it.

Thanks to Ginsu and Cake Boss for the opportunity to lead.

Pusher with closing remarks and finding #Victory 

Prayers & Praises

Thank you F3 The Fort

Cake Boss

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Colombia Mission Trip Sendoff @ The Ranch 9-7-17

On a cool morning in early September, the men of The Fort gathered together to support the group of 12 men that answered the call to serve those in need in Colombia.

Mosey to the soccer field

The Warm-up (VQ led by Skinny Jeans)

  • 20 4-count side straddle hops 
  • 15 4-count windmills
  • 10 4-count Merkens
  • 15 4-count mountain climbers
  • 20 low slow squats
  • 8 burpees OYO

Mosey to the football field

The Thang

Markers set up every 25 yards on the football field from endzone to endzone. PAX will start from one endzone and run from marker to marker and do the following exercises (below) at each. They will then run on the track back to the starting point.

  • 10 merkins, 2 burpees
  • back to start – LBCs for six
  • 10 Carolina DD, 2 burpees
  • back to start – flutter for six
  • 10 squats, 2 burpees
  • back to start – American Hammer for six
  • 10 bomb jacks, 2 burpees
  • back to start – freddy mercury for six
  • 10 dips, 2 burpees
  • back to start – heels to heaven for six
  • 10 lunges (5 per leg), 2 burpees
  • back to start -diamond LBCs for six
  • 2 burpees per marker

Mosey to COT

Today we focused on the 12 men that are leaving tomorrow to serve in Colombia. We had the privilege of hearing the reasons why each of them have been called to serve during todays workout and then pray over them at the close. We are all lucky to have these men as our brothers and will continue to pray for them as they make their way abroad.

As mentioned in COT, each of us were blessed with passion for certain causes and influence to impact them. Find your passion and your calling and answer that call, whatever it may be.

Ginsu

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Windjammer Glory Run

Record breaking 16 PAX at Tempo.  Dash to Windjammer and Back was The Thang.  Lots of 2ndF during the 1stF with a 3rdF pause in the middle to give thanks to Sky Q at the Windjammer Dock.

 

View post on imgur.com

Prayers:

Aging Parents, Marriages, Job Situations.

Much thanks given to Sky-Q at the dock this morning… Praise to the King.

 

Announcements:

G-Fit tomorrow at 1900

CAH Guidance Saturday Sept 2 at 1600

Invergence Sept 29th

Read Your Newsletter

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8/11/17 Swamp Style

Conditions were sweaty and humid…it felt like August in South Carolina

Gekko was the running and nobody ran with #HIM

Cornhole had 10 for his Ruck Q

I had 11 for the bootcamp

13 stayed for Romans 4 that Gekko Q’d

All had fun, you should have been there…

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Well Rounded

11 Men, one of them a 2.0, descended on Pantheon with a Boot Camp gleam in their bleary eyes. YHC wanted to take them out of their comfort zone.

The Thang
Structured Running workout for first half:
6 Min Warm Up around the “track” with various warm up routines

  • Karaoke (both sides)
  • Butt Kickers
  • High Knees
  • Side Shuffle

5 Min build at ~ 9 min pace to prep for the main event
4x Repeats:

  • 1 minute slow run/walk
  • 30 seconds AYG

5 Min cooldown at ~ 9 min pace

After the run, which completed with a mosey to the back side of the AO, we hit COP for some dynamic stretching to loosen the muscles from the run:

  • Windmills
  • Potato Pickers
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Honeymooner/Downward Dog Combo

Line up on the sideline of the basketball court

  • Burpee Broad Jump Across the Court and Crabwalk Back
  • Inchworm across the Court and Bear Crawl Back

Mosey to swings, split into 2 groups for 3 rounds of:

  • 20 Swing Crunches
  • 10 Pull Ups

Mosey around AO, including some toy soldiers to 6MOM with:

  • Flutter
  • Freddy Mercuries
  • American Hammer

Close out with BOM

NMM
As I thought about the Weinke last night, I decided that I wanted to expose the PAX to some structured run workout training, as most likely haven’t done much of that. There is a funny story that Dredd will tell about an opportunity he had to train with the French Foreign Legion while he was in Special Forces. Basically he was extremely strong and, he assumed, fit when he went over. The French told him he’d never survive their training because he was too big. They commenced to show him that constant movement will show you real fitness, not just how much you can pick up. He barely made it through and many of his team didn’t actually make it through this training, despite being “big and strong”. This, among other things, created perspective for a well rounded fitness routine, e.g. the prototypical “Pearls on a String” workout you will hear about.

I’ve been running a ton lately and have really seen improvement since I’ve started to introduce this into my routine. Many PAX will sign up for an event and log a bunch of miles (unless you are Cornhole) in prep for a race, but it is just repeating the mileage. I believe that to get better, you need to have a well rounded routine, not just repeating the same old workout over an over. That’s the motivation behind today’s workout. In all things, getting out of your comfort zone is a way to grow… to get better.

Honor to Serve.

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Millstone 10.5 Trail Race

Enough PAX posted to the annual Millstone Loop 10.5 I felt a BB was in order. YHC posted a link to the FREE registration a few months back to those PAX I knew would be interested and willing.  After discovering that Sir Topham Hat was not running in the race I emailed the Race Director to see if there were any spots open.  The director emailed back and stated registration was open for just the next 3 hours. Text sent to STH and @channel blast to Slack that if you wanted to register, now was your chance.  So on Saturday morning 9 PAX showed up to run 10.5 miles of uneven terrain (more on that later) on the Anne Springs Close Greenway.

0800 Nothing Fancy, On your marks, get set, GO!!!

A number of things can happen over the course of a trail race. Thrills, spills, classic rock, dodging horse droppings, getting lost, more spills, quality 2ndF, etc.  Towards the end, this is how the numbers shook out.

Place Last Time
9 Spud 1:28:49
18 Rad 1:38:22
23 STH 1:44:32
25 Gekko 1:47:46
26 Photobomb 1:47:49
28 Zima 1:51:18
57 NASA 2:13:38
65 DaVinci 2:24:18
N/A Gears 1:18:51

NMM
Trail Races are a lot of fun and a lot can happen. Here are some insights and comments.

  • Gears went rogue and ran 8ish miles. That or he got lost.
  • Photobomb dropped another type of bomb not knowing a few female runners were nearby. We asked if they’d like to pass and they stated they were fine, just don’t do that again.
  • Rad stubbed his pinky toe that morning and it fell off during the race
  • Several PAX learned the importance of fueling and hydration
  • A female runner offered her children to NASA for adoption (in jest…we think)
  • Spud and Zima tied for most crashes (2 each)
  • Spud continues to prove that he is not human
  • Gekko and Photobomb were bosom buddies. I tried to keep up but when Photobomb took the lead around the 9 mile mark, I waved them goodbye.
  • Tclaps to NASA who just keeps pushing himself in all 3 Fs
  • Tclaps to DaVinci who just started running and said sure, why not run 10.5 trails

All in all it was a great race, great community of runners and Legal Remedy on tap at the finish. The Rock Hill Striders know how to throw a party. I try to keep an eye on these somewhat CSAUPy events and will continue to try to keep the PAX updated.

Aye!

Zima

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Squad Goals

20 Men (1 FNG) posted at the Swamp.  11 Ruckers went off to do Rucker things while 9 stayed with YHC for a little AMRAP.

 

We previewed the course and had a little COP including Windmills, Imperial Walkers, and Moroccan Night Clubs.

 

The Thang:

30 Minutes Partner AMRAP, Half a Mile Circuit with 7 stations:

  • 20 Merkins
  • 20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • 20 Peter Parkers
  • 20 Parker Peters
  • 20 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 20 Side Straddle Hops
  • 1 Burpee x Lap Count

Moseyed to COT for 5 MOM:

  • Too many Flutters
  • Just enough American Hammers
  • A touch of Freddy Mercury

 

Naked Man Moleskin:

I had a Cake Boss worthy Homily to share this morning, but maintaining order is more important than imparting wisdom during the 1st F Q.  So, you get the abbreviated (and likely better thought out) version here.

At the beginning of the AMRAP, I asked the guys to partner up with a guy who was comparable fitness-wise.  I asked them to share how many laps they thought they could get around the course.  I have no idea what each guy said, but the intent was to push each other to meet that goal.  I stayed with the FNG and visiting Java from Raleigh.

The purpose of this, and what I wanted to close out with, is that if we aren’t setting goals, we are just going through the motions.  There was some chatter on the twitter machine about moderate workouts being #problematic.  Someone put it best when they said “as long as the guys are working to get better, that’s not an issue”.  So my question to all PAX, regardless of fitness level, is “what are your goals”.  My 1stF goals this year are to a.) run 1500 miles and b.) finish my second marathon in 3:30 or better for a PR.  The reason I put it here is because goals only matter if someone keeps you accountable for them (thus the partner AMRAP).

Every PAX should have a goal for all three F’s, because all 3 F’s are important.  Beyond the F’s, this branches out into your personal and professional life.

Set Goals, Don’t just Coast.   You’ll be amazed at what you can do.

 

Honor to Serve.

 

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Fast 5 Training @ LO = Bad Idea

Pretty sure my favorite style of running is trails but for some reason, I love using the track. Schedule was being drawn up a few weeks back and I got pulled in early.  Thus it was my turn to Q Laces Out and like usual, I did a bad thing.

The Thang

  • Warmup Run 1 Mile
  • Partner Up for Fast 5 Training
    • Fast 5 Training is basically Catch Me if You Can on the track. Partner 1 starts walking/light jog while Partner 2 runs as fast as he can around the track. Once he catches Partner 1, they switch. It’s about 2 laps of sprinting, 1 recover
  • Cool Down 1/2 Mile
  • No Yoga or Stretching

NMM

  • Great group out there today
  • I earn the 6 award for just under 5 miles
  • I believe Trojan takes the cake for most miles (just over 6)
  • It’s Chippendales (muggy muggy muggy) season y’all
  • Gears did his typical anti-establishment run (if you want to get better, click HERE)
  • Fast group this AM, thanks for the push guys
  • Thanks for indulging my bad ideas
  • Planning Fast 5 for mid-late October

Prayer & Praises

  • Prayers for Gears work situation (He’s fine just dealing with a lot)
  • Prayers for families
  • Prayers for Injured Pax

Always an Honor. Aye!

Zima

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