Sparkplug’s 4 Corners + Coupons

The morning was actually pleasant.  Upper 60’s, a slight breeze, and no active rain…to start.   Sparkplug was on Q and had Twister bring a trunk load of coupons!  Started out with a partner carrying a coupon in a mosey down to the corner of the restaurant row, Then off to the parking lot for some warm-up.

Mosey around to the far side of Lowes for some wall sits, bear crawls, and a few other things.

Then Mosey back up to the restaurant row where there were 4 exercises listed for each corner.  We counted off in 4’s and each started at our own corner, going clockwise around the building.  It was a great full body workout!  Rain started somewhere during the first cycle, but it was pleasant, not a hindrance. Plus, we got wet on the parking lot when Sparkplug called for LBC’s and Freddy Mercury’s during the initial warm-up!

We even had one of Fort Mill’s finest from the police department stop to check us out.  Spitz did his best to EH him…he seemed interested, but Spitz said he would stalk him to make sure he came out ;-).

Finished up, and partnered up to carry the coupons back up to COT.

Great job to Sparkplug for the Q today!  I have to be honest…I really just wanted to hear him talk for the full 45 minutes ;-).

Smithers, out

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Leprechaun Hunt at The Yard

It was a dark start to the St. Patrick’s Day, and upon arrival to the school there appeared to be some sort of overnight activity going on, so I needed to call an audible to work around the unanticipated changes, but it worked.

Disclaimer, and then we started out with a mosey around to the lot in the back of the school where we circled up for warm-ups:

  • 15 SSH’s
  • 15 Imperial Walkers
  • 15 Moroccan Nightclubs
  • 10 Windmills

Mosey down the bus entrance road towards Springfield Parkway until we got to the long straight hill section.  Time to partner up, and one partner will run up the hill and back (three light poles) while the other partner performs the following exercises until they get back.  Each partner does one round of each exercise alternating with a run:

  • Shoulder Taps
  • Squats
  • Monkey Humpers
  • Wide Arm Merkins

Mosey back to the back elementary loop area for a little rinse and repeat, only with a run around the loop and the following exercises:

  • LBC’s
  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Hand Release Merkins
  • Overhead Hand Claps

Then we talked a little about what it meant to abide, specifically in Christ.  It’s not something that is easily done, at least not for me.  It requires literally giving up all control, of everything, then placing that trust in Jesus to carry me through to where He wants me to be.  There were several head nods from the PAX, and then we moseyed back up to my slightly less secret spot up in the woods for some cadence exercises all together.  We were all blessed with an amazing view of the sunrise while up on that hill!  God is good!

We rotated around the circle with each PAX counting off cadence for an exercise (or two).  There were three rounds that looked like this:

  • 15 dips with hands facing forward (double count)
  • 15 Inclined Merkins (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises regular (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes Out (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes In (double count)
  • 20 dips with hands facing backwards (double count)
  • 20 Inclined Merkins (single count)
  • 20 Calf Raises regular (double count)
  • 20 Calf Raises Toes Out (double count)
  • 20 Calf Raises Toes In (double count)
  • 15 dips with hands facing forward or sideways (double count)
  • 15 Inclined Merkins (single count)
  • 15 Calf Raises regular (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes Out (double count)
  • 15 Calf Raises Toes In (double count)

Head back to the playground fence to stretch out our calves then off to COT

It was not an easy workout, but I was really proud of all the PAX and how hard they pushed.  I thank Hasselhoff for the opportunity to Q again, and I really appreciate all you brothers!  You have all changed my life for the better!

 

 

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The Big Event – Shovel Flag Handoff

So the hype has been great, and the STRONG showing this morning proved it has value!  26 HIM’s all came out on what was a pretty cold 48 degree March morning (that WIND).

This was not an ordinary workout.  Barry Manilow was handing over the shovel flag to YHC, as I was stepping into the role of Site Q for Slow Burn.  Barry started the workout for the first half, and then we handed off the Q to me for the last half.

I’ll do my best to get Barry’s portion right:

Mosey all the way down to the far side of Lowes and circle up for the following:

  • OH Hand Claps 10x
  • Moroccan Nightclubs 10x
  • LBC 10x
  • Imperial Walker 10x
  • Travolta 10x
  • Dying Cockroach 10x
  • Hillbilly Walker 10x
  • HR Merkins 15x

Mosey to the Triangle Lot

  • Moroccan Nightclubs 10x
  • OH Hand Claps 10x
  • Grave Digger 7×2
  • Squat 10x
  • Mak Tai Jai 10x
  • Knee Tai Jai 10x
  • Calf Raise Regular 10x
  • Calf Raise Toes Out 10x
  • Calf Raise Toes In 10x

Mosey back to the side of Lowes

  • Wall Sit with Pop Out Burpees
  • Bear Crawl/Toy Soldier to the second island and back
  • Wall Sit with Pop Out Burpees

The official Q Handoff….Barry Manilow Done, Smithers is up…

Mosey back to the Triangle Lot for 4 corners, circle up and count off in 4’s

Three different rounds at each corner station.  Finish one round and rotate to the next corner.  Once returning to where you started, perform the next round’s exercises.  The Rounds looked like this:

Round 1:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 30 LBC’s in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 20 Carolina Dry Docks in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 30 SSH’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 20 Low Slow Squats in Cadence

Round 2:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 15 Flutters in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 15 Shoulder Taps in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 15 Peter Parker’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 15 Calf Raises in Cadence

Round 3:

  • Corner 1 (CORE) – 15 Wheezy Jefferson’s in Cadence
  • Corner 2 (UPPER) – 30 OH Hand Claps in Cadence
  • Corner 3 (CARDIO) – 15 Imperial Walker’s in Cadence
  • Corner 4 (LOWER) – 15 Jump Squats OYO

Mosey back to COT

Countoff (26), Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers, and the Shovel Flag Handoff!

I’m really looking forward to this opportunity as Site Q for Slow Burn.  I will do my best to keep the Q schedule full and diverse, remember it’s a moderate site, but challenge us to push it just a bit more than comfortable (and beyond).

Smithers…Out

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Lucky 13 at Footloose For a Re-do of My 1st F3 Workout

I’ve  been buggin’ Beacon to let me Q Footloose again, just because it’s always a lot of fun.  He finally caved and let me do it.  My original gameplan included 100 SSH and a jog around the big block to warm us up and a bear crawl up that massive hill but I didn’t want to make any enemies so made it a little closer to the expected moderate workout.  Not totally moderate though.  My new gameplan became a redo of my first ever F3 workout.  It happened at Slowburn on June 16th.  Dark Helmet made me want to vomit.  I’m sure a few of us have felt that way during or after his workouts.  It went a little something like this:

Warmup:

  • Windmills x 10
  • Imperial Walkers x 10
  • Merkins x 10
  • Weed Puller x 10
  • Squats x 15
  • SSH x 15

The Thang: Stolen right from DH’s backblast

“Start with 5 of an exercise at one end, run to other and do 10 of that exercise;
Run back do 15, then run and do 20, back and 25, one more time down do 30 of that exercise, run back to start. We’ll do this as many rounds as we can, as time permits. Yes. It’s as confusing and stupid as it sounds.

Here are the exercises:
Round 1: Merkins
Round 2: LBCs
Round 3: Squats”

On Day 1, I was the 6.  The pax waited for me to finish and join them before they started the next set.  I was convinced everybody was a beast, how the heck were they still jogging to the next spot?! On Day 245 (yes, I counted), I felt like the beast!  We finished all 315 reps in a little over 15 minutes so we had some extra time. I circled us up for:

Moroccan Night Clubs x 25
Overhead Claps x25
Seal Jacks x25
Dying Cockroach x15

We celebrated Smither’s 41st Valentine Bday by doing an exercise of his choice:
Flutters x41

I think we did a couple more x15 sets, but I can’t remember them.  I couldn’t believe we still had 10 minutes left in our workout… I set us off towards our starting point for a round of AbLab in reps of 10.  We made it through a few guys and then I called it.

Announcements:
The Yeti – Don’t second guess yourself, dude, you can do it.  Even if you just want to do the last leg back to the BBQ joint, you should do it.
S2S – Get your butts to an S2S AO, you won’t be disappointed.

Prayers and Praises:
Prayers for Zima’s family
Prayer for Anchorman’s extended family
As I looked around the group, I could feel the call for the Unspoken requests – I hope we are all lifting the group on a daily basis.  We are a brotherhood and have each others back.  Thank you Anchorman for praying us out.

Thank you Beacon, for caving and letting me Q again. 🙂

NMM:
Worrying sucks.  When we worry, we are tearing ourselves apart.  It’s human nature to worry though, so how do we overcome it?  We need to find peace.  The Prince of Peace.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Much Love,
Polaroid

 

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Chasing Blue Zones

Nine of the fine regulars of The Ballroom posted for YHC’s first time Q’ing at the AO’s new locale of PKMS.  The temp was mid-40s, but the breeze seemed to bring a chill that made a few spend just a half second wondering if they’d be better off hopping back in the car.  But the thought evaporated as the disclaimer was given, and then we were off…

We took a warm-up mosey around the parking lot, then to the very front of the school for warm-up COP.

  • Seal jacks x20 (IC)
  • Mountain Climbers x15 (IC)
  • Tunnel Touches x10 (IC)
  • Wind Mills x10 (IC)
  • Plank jacks x15 (IC)
  • Speed Skaters x10 (OYO)

The Thang

We then moseyed to the parking lot on the south side of the school where 4 cones were set up in a rectangle (about 15yards by 40 yards.  Pax were told to partner up, size not mattering.  We then engaged in 8 rounds “Catch Me If You Can”, which worked like this: Partner 1 did the stationary exercises, while partner 2 did the moving exercise on a path toward the next cone.  Once Partner 1 was done, he ran to catch Partner 2.  Once caught, they flapjacked.  The round was complete when both partners got all the way around all 4 cones.  In between each round, we talked about what Blue Zones are, and what people can learn from them.  See further down for more details.

Catch me if you can  rounds:

  1. 20 SSH and toy soldiers
  2. 20 LBCs and lunges
  3. 10 squats and power skips
  4. 10 merkins and butt kickers
  5. 10 crab cakes and high knees
  6. 3 burpees and karaoke (alternate left/right)
  7. 10 Imperial Walkers and bear crawls
  8. 10 Monkey Hummers and backwards jogs

To the wall for People’s Chair – one round of Jack Reachers, and a follow-up round of arms up, arms out.

Moseyed back near the shovel flag for some Mary

  • Flutters x15 (IC)
  • Hello Dollys x10 (IC)
  • Russian Twists x15 (IC)
  • LBCs x10 (IC)

6am – Time’s up.  Take a few steps to gather at COT.

Blue Zones
During the main part of the workout, I shared some information I had originally heard about a few years ago.  The cover of National Geographic, November 2005, highlighted their feature article on Blue Zones.  These Zones are 5 areas in the world where people statistically live the longest.  Researchers identified 9 lifestyle “principles” in these areas that, they claim, contributes to their long lifespans.  Small spoiler alert: all 3 F’s of F3 are in the list.

Before covering the principles, it’s important to remember that from the Christian perspective, God is in control of everything.  If we pursue any fountains of youth for the sake of trying to be in control and god-like, I believe that would be a case of doing good things for the wrong reasons.  My personal perspective is that God has blessed us with these bodies (healthy or not), and we should be good stewards of them, treating them like temples.  Most PAX probably already feel this way, but I deemed it worth mentioning, given how this topic has a very “self-help” feel to it.  Now, for the 9 principles (my comments follow the [ob] tag).  These items were taken from a QCTimes article.

  1. Move naturally – Get more physically active by walking in the community, do manual labor around the house and yard, and grow gardens. [ob] This is our 1st F in F3.  Many might say there is nothing natural about burpees. But I’d argue the calisthenic-style bootcamp workouts actually mimic natural movements, at least more-so than you’d see in a weight room.
  2. Know your purpose – People who know why they get up in the morning live up to seven years longer than those who don’t. [ob] For those of use that follow Jesus, our purpose should be a little easier to identify.  But not always. If you don’t know your purpose, it’s important you start looking!
  3. Down shift – To reverse inflammation related to every major age-related disease, find time each day to meditate, nap, pray or enjoy a happy hour. [ob] This even includes making efforts to reduce worry!
  4. 80 percent rule – It takes the stomach 20 minutes to tell the brain it is full, causing most people to accidentally overeat. Stop eating when 80 percent full. [ob] Not much more to say here, except that I can think of other areas of my life where 80% is all I really need.
  5. Plant Foods – Eat a mostly plant-based diet heavy on beans, nuts and green plants. This is consistent with U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations. [ob] This one sounds really good to me, as long as BBQ is consider a plant food.  Seriously though, this is exactly what my doctor recommend to me after my last blood test results.
  6. Wine at 5 – For those who have a healthy relationship with alcohol, 1-2 glasses of wine daily can add years to a life, especially when combined with a healthy diet.
  7. Family first – Living in a thriving family is worth six extra years of life expectancy. [ob] Early morning F3 workouts can sometimes result in taking time away from family the evening before.  Workouts are important, but quality family time is critical.
  8. Belong – Recommit, reconnect or explore a faith-based community. No matter which faith, studies show that people who show up to their faith community four times a month live an extra four to 14 years. [ob] This is our 3rd F in F3.
  9. Right tribe – Friends have a long-term impact on well-being. Expand a social circle to include healthy-minded, supportive people. This could be the most powerful way to add years to a life. [ob] This is our 2nd F in F3. And I’m not at all surprised at their claim that this could be the most powerful way to extend life.  Just remember, you get out of it what you put into it.

 

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Ballroom with Fogerty VQ in the Fort!

Had a little co Q action going on at the Ballroom.  YHC did the disclaimer and a brief intro on the words of the month Worry/Anxiety.

Off for a short mosey around the parking lot.  Didn’t take long for the complaining to start about the mosey.  Circled up for a quick warm-up:

SSH, Merkins, Mtn. Climbers, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan night clubs, Yoga stretching etc.

Turned it over to Fogerty for the good stuff.

The ThanG :

Word of the Year for Fogerty :  “ Grateful” – my goal is to be reminded daily – to be grateful for what I have each and every day and never take it for granted!

Here we Go!!  (Trying to Keep  “ Moderate” in mind….. )

Extension Ladder  : (football field locked : modified to parking lot  – made the Mosey between “rungs”  a little bit longer……but the lack of Chatter during the sets showed the Pax were focused!

First Rung :   Sets of 3:   Squats : consisting of  5 count   / 10 count / 15 count –– mosey to –  Second Rung :  Merkins : 5 /10 /15 – Mosey back to first Rung

Extend Ladder

Add a Rung  :  Sets of 3 :   Squats : consisting of 3 count / 6 count / 9 count – Mosey to Second Rung  : Merkins 3 / 6 / 9 – Mosey to Third Rung :  Bomb Jacks 3 /6 / 9 – Mosey back to First Rung

Extend Ladder

Add a Rung : Set of 2 : Squats : consisting of 5 count / 10 count  – Mosey to Second Rung : Merkins 5 / 10  – Mosey to Third Rung : Bomb Jacks 5 / 10  : Mosey to 4th Rung : Burpees 5 / 10 – Mosey back to Bottom of ladder – recover

Mosey back up to the Parking lot – front of School – : Partner up

100 Derkins

100 Dips

100 Step ups

One partner took a lap while other Pax knocked out as many reps……till they reached the goal :

Turned it back over to Bass for the last five minutes….  Did some Mary and CakeBoss finished us up with some Mac-tar-jis.

Thanks for the Opportunity!

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Slowburn – Pain Stations +

25 PAX gathered at slowburn for a saucy workout.  We gave a quick disclaimer and welcomed 2 FNG’s.  It wasn’t long and we headed out for a short mosey.  We circled up and I turned over the warm up to Fogarty for his V Q.

Fogarty started us off with some of the usual:

SSH
Imperial Walkers
Speedy Windmills
Peter Parkers
Mtn. Climbers
Merkins
Moroccan night clubs
2 double merkin burpees (where’d that come from?)

Fogarty turned it back over to YHC for another Mosey. I gave a shout out to Quickbooks for his intro that he did a couple of weeks back and I tried to do the same giving a little background on YHC. I’ll spare you all the details. Dark Helmet was observant to realize that my years of marriage did match up to how old my son is. That dude’s sharp! I closed out the intro with Romans 5:4. Look it up, it’s a solid verse on building character.

On that note we moseyed to the back of Lowes for some chalk scribble that was planned for the PAX.

We broke into two groups with 3 stations. Each group started on either far end would do an exercise and sprint to the middle station do an exercise and then return back to their starting point for the next exercise. Instructions seems easier that the PAX wrestled with, but they quickly got the hang of it. Here are the pain stations:

Station 1:
Merkins
Shoulder Taps
CDD’s
Mtn. Climbers

Middle Station:
Calf Raises
Squats
Lunges
Donkey Kicks

Station 3:
Leg Raises
LBC’s
Hello Dollies
Flutters

Round 1 15 of exercise run to the middle and then back for the next exercise until all 4 exercises are complete then run to the opposite Station. Do the same thing 15 of each run to the middle. When finisished with 1 and 3 then rinse and repeat with 10 of each exercise. This took us right up to time.

Jailbreak back to COT. Welcome to the fold Moab and Jake Brake FNG’s.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

Bass-o Out. <><

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Footloose – Balmy weather

What a difference a week makes.  Who would have thought we would be out in tee-shirts and shorts after a week of the teen temperatures.  Fortunately the rain finished up a few hours before we kicked things off at 5:15.  17 PAX were ready for a saucy challenge.  We started out with a mosey around the FBC parking lot Indian run style.  Towards the end it became quite comical with more mumble chatter going on than running.  So Ihad to circle up quickly to get back control.  We did a few rounds of SSH, Moroccan night clubs, merkins and imperial walkers.  Then off for another mosey down to the Church of God parking lots.  We circled up again for a few additional paleo exercises while the six rolled in.

The Thang:

We started out with 4 corners, but made it crisscross style to keep the cardio going.  Do 1 exercise and go to then run to the next corner.  Once you finished the round plank it up in the center for a dealers choice exercise.  Then on to the next round.

Round 1 (15 reps) : Flutters, Calf Raises, Peter Parker, Shoulder Taps

Round 2(15 reps) :: LBC’s, Lunges, S.S.H, CDD’s

Round 3(15 reps) : Hello Dolly’s, Squats, Mtn. Climbers, Merkins

Rinse & repeat increasing the reps to 20.  That was a big hit with the PAX.

Round 1 (20 reps) : Flutters, Calf Raises, Peter Parker, Shoulder Taps

Round 2(20 reps) :: LBC’s, Lunges, S.S.H, CDD’s

Round 3(20 reps) : Hello Dolly’s, Squats, Mtn. Climbers, Merkins

Jailbreak back to COT for some mary to wrap things up.

Appreciate the opportunity to lead such a fine group of men!

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Just in Time

YHC peeled into the parking with 1 minute to spare before the 515 start to see 12 eager PAX waiting to warm up in the cold.  It would have been a bad look for the Site Q to be late to his own Q.

The Thang

Mosey to the Band Parking lot for COP

Usual suspects – SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Squats.

Mosey over the parking lot loop at the front of the school for Dirty MacDuece.  4 sets of 3 exercises done to 12.  All in cadence.  Lap of the parking lot in between each set.

Set 1 – Merkins, Squats, LBCs

Set 2 – CDDs, Alternating Leg Lunges, Freddy Mercury

Set 3 – Diamond Merkins, Monkey Humpers, Rosalitas

Set 4 – Wide Arm Merkins, Sumo Squats, Hello Dollies

Mosey back to stadium parking lot for Mary.  Went around the circle with Pax calling out exercises – Freddy Mercury, LBCs, Toe Touches, American Hammers, Peter Parkers, Makhtar N’Diayes

COT – Announcements, Prayers and Praises.

Thanks to all that came out on a cold morning.  Your support is appreciated.

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