Tag: Gleek

No SSH at GC

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Twelve at Golden Corral for a substi-Q on the hottest morning of the young spring!  74 degrees at post time but when Corn Hole ran in from his home dripping wet, all the sudden I felt a lot cooler.

This morning we focused on the theme of Accountability as it relates to our word of the year.  The question is do you have a word? How are you engaging with that word? How are you holding yourself accountable?  By this time of the year you should have your word engrained were you are thinking about it constantly and understanding how it intersects with your life.  You own it.  Tell someone what you want to change and ask them to ask you about it when they see you.

The Thang:

Start with a bit of stretching to loosen up a bit… it was no Broga but Senator appreciated it and I think others by the end of the post were hoping we would have spent more time there.

Mosey to the field at the church with some curb hops and such along the way.

Circle up with a COP (sort of) which included 20 Maq-tar-jai, 10 Knee-tar-jai and some 4 (1×4)Jack Webbs.

Mosey to parking lot for a partner exercise of 2 rounds each of merkins while the partner runs then squats while the partner runs.

Mosey to parking lot behind HT for some plate pushes with partner while pax goes through a series of exercises until we push through the full rotation.   Including dips, CCDs, lunges, and a bunch of other fun.

Another round of overhead plate carries with another series of exercises

Headed to the wall for some fun with passing the plates and pushing it back down to the other end. Then some wall stand walks and Australian wall walks… fun, fun and more fun!  Just ask Corn Hole

Headed back to COT with a bit of Mary before counting off!

It was an honor to lead the Pax through the morning and I’m better because of it.   Aye!

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WHETSTONE…Relaunches at THE FORT

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Several weeks ago, it was announced that our region, THE FORT, would be closing all Saturday AO’s and holding a convergence at FMHS to get the PAX together as we thank Rebel for his leadership of Whetstone and relaunch it under Repeat and World Wide Leader (WWL). I was excited to hear we’d be getting many of the region together but I wasn’t expecting what came next. It was a text asking if I’d Q the workout.

Q, like part of it, half of it or …? The response was, THE WHOLE THING. I love to Q every chance I get but to do so on a day like this, well, I better make sure it includes a little something for everyone. Or, almost everyone.

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And this is where I let life get the better of me. I try to follow the 48hr rule on posting a BACKBLAST, especially when they’re significant but I let life and travel get in the way. It is now Saturday, one week later, and I’m just finishing this BB. Life can get challenging, it can get stressful, it can get you riding the highs or down in the lows. And this past week, our family has experienced some of each. Maybe this was the week where I really came to realize how valuable having a Whetstone partner can be. Someone that I can share the highs with and someone to help get me out of the lows; or to keep me honest when it’s my own doing that has me on the outside looking in on the joys of life.

That said, I’ll take you back to last Saturday, April 21 where we had a a few pre-ruckers and a total of 58 PAX converge to re-kick off this critical program.

We got ourselves into an odd-shaped kidney-like shape for the disclaimer, the announcement of why we were there this beautiful morning and to acknowledge our 2 FNG’s in the PAX. We counted off in 4’s then took off toward the big parking lot for a warm up jog in 4 lines. This jog included some karaoke’s and 4 lines doing an indian run which was way harder than it appeared on paper.

In these last 2 years, Whetstone has brought together some extremely HIM. One of those men has gone through a tough 18mos and he was gracious enough to share some of his story to include the impact Whetstone had on his life as we circled up to hear his words. I know he wouldn’t endorse this comment but anytime Mr. Clean wants to share experience or wisdom, the PAX listens. And listen we did.

After backing the group back out to a circle-like shape, I was giddy to honor Santini in the only way I knew how…with a deck of cards. However, on this day we utilized 1/2 the deck and considered it our warm up:

Hearts = Side Straddle Hops

Diamonds = Carolina Dry Docks

Spades = Squats

Clubs = Merkins

Then a little action from the Burp-Merk: Standing, we then dropped to a plank, did 5 merkins then jumped up. That equals 1 and we did 5 total.

This was when we got to listen to our very own Nantaan, Cake Boss, as he shared the impact Whetstone has had on him. Yet again, another powerful testimony.

Then off to do 4 corners in the lot with:

Corner 1 = Dancing Crabs x 15ea and Dips x 20

Corner 2 = Dying Cockroach x 15ea and Flutters x 20ea

Corner 3 = Burpees x 10 and Jump Squats x 10

Corner 4 = American Hammers x 25 and Freddie Mercury x 20ea

Mosey over to the wall for B2W while doing 5 “push ups” followed by 15 calf raises. We did this 3 times.

To close out our testimonies, my man Chicken Hawk laid it down for us. He shared the impact Whetstone has had on him, his marriage, his family…his life. Life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. Well said brother.

6ct Burpee which I needed a little help from the Helmet of Darkness to remind me the steps. Remember the line, “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it?” Yeah, me too but I obviously didn’t follow that too closely here.

This is where the cat-herding became evident. The PAX exhibited patience with me as we attempted a modified DORA series consisting of:

50 Flying Squirrels, 50 Diamond Merkins and 50+ Flutters

We then took off for the main entrance to the football stadium and lined up in 4 lines facing down the hill. Once everyone readjusted, it was 15 American Hammers, 15 Flutters and 15 Hello Dollies. This was done several more times.

Well, that put a bow on the workout portion of this convergence and after the COT, FNG naming of RBG and Whiskers, we then handed it off to World Wide Leader and Repeat to lead the Whetstone discussion.

Announcements: The relaunch of Whetstone. Thanks to Rebel for getting this off the ground 2 years ago and to Repeat / World Wide Leader for taking the reigns.

Prayer Requests: Badger. Camp Care 5K. Jennings Palmer’s transplant. Olive’s 8K in memory of Sweet Tooth. Elmer.

Honored and appreciative of your patience.

Maximus

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Unrealistic Expectations at BEYOND

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We’ve all ages and abilities come to BEYOND since launching in January and while there have been some struggles along the way, I think the feeling is unanimous; we’re getting pushed physically and being challenged mentally, emotionally and spiritually. For those that are upcoming Q’s, the hardest part seems to be how to deliver a meaningful message and a good down inside of 45mins.

Well, it was now my time to pick the topic for the latest rendition. The launch was set for Varsity (NaFO) and the topic was one I’ve dealt with for years but didn’t know it was a problem until the last few weeks. You see, it wasn’t until some adversity and personal challenges that I realized my trends or perhaps more importantly, my tendencies. So what happens? I have these expectations of what I need to be and who I need to be which are of course, often times unrealistically high. When I fall short, which happens more often than not; I feel like I don’t measure up and reside on the line boarding failure. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to me being a less-than-desirable person to be around.

After the welcoming of a zealous FNG (Abscess) who was EH’d by Mr. FNG himself, Ginsu, I took a minute to walk through the disclaimer, what BEYOND is all about followed by the F3 CREDO: Leave no man behind and leave no man where we found him. This was done for me years ago and it is my promise to make every effort to pass it on. We then took off for a short mosey through the lot and circled up:

Plank Jacks x 10

Ski Abs x 10

Carolina Dry Docks x 10

Squat Calf Raises x 10

Forward Arm Circles x 10

Reverse Arm Circles x 10

Mak Tar Jahs x 10

This is where I let the PAX rest for a few minutes as I walked through my above challenges and what it turns into. It was also a good time to talk about how this life is not meant to be walked alone; queue the WHETSTONE relaunch coming up this Saturday 4/21. The feeling this leads to is what Scripture explains in Luke 22:31 where Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” These last few years have been a test, almost a sifting process that I have now begun to realize.

What we also realized was the neatly placed cones 50 yards apart in the parking lot. With all 20 of us lined up on one side, we sprinted to the other end and back at the following levels of effort:

50%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 25%

Mosey to the pull-up bars where 1/2 the PAX did 20 pull-ups (1 for each man that posted) while the other 1/2 did ankle grabs with their legs straight up against the wall. Each man cycled through 2 sets of each exercise and we made our way out to the adjacent roadway for:

4×4’s: Drop to a plank, 4 merkins, 4 full mountain climbers, jump up = 1 set. We did 10 sets.

With PAX on opposite sides of the road, we dropped to a plank with our hands in the road and our feet on the curb. We plank-walked down the hill about 25 yards to the cone then bear crawled back to the start. We switched sides and did it again, this time about 20yds down and bear crawled up.

It was now time for the ATM’s:

(10) 4ct Alternating shoulder taps

(10) Tempo Merkins: 3ct down and 1ct up

(10) Fast Merkins

We did 3 sets of this.

We then moseyed back to the cones for another sprint series that looked like this:

100%, 100%, 50%, 100%, 25%.

COT for a reminder of Whetstone and our FNG naming.

Loved every minute of it and thanks for the platform to share a piece of my story. I hope you learned a little tidbit and that I fulfilled my promise to not leave you where we found you.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

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Ruck W/O: Playing with Large Sacks at Golden Corral

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After focusing on running and boot camps for so long for the P200, my ruck was getting dusty. I knew I had a ruck Q coming up. When Rad reached out to me to see if I still wanted it, I was not sure. We have some heavy duty seasoned ruckers in The Fort and I did not want to Q below their level. Plus, I wanted to keep the weinke simple enough for those who put alot into their running training for the sake of the ruck. Hopefully I found a middle ground.

8 Ruckers were ready. The boot campers tore off with Sir Topham Hat at the Q….wasn’t going to be any easier for them. We rucked up a little heavy with 4 qty 60lb sandbags, one per every 2 PAX. Rucked over to the Grace Presbyterian church parking lot for a quick COP:

Rucks off, 20 ea, in cadence
* SSH
* WM
* IW
* MNC
* PJ

Then we started

The “play area” was between two parking lot lights, approx 25-30 yards or so apart. Starting at one end we would each complete a series of ruck exercises, then with a partner take turns getting a 60lb sandbag from the start to the other end of the area. Once we get to the other end, complete the series of ruck exercises again. Then partner work again getting the sandbags back to the start. Out and back with the sandbags is one round. We did 3 rounds. No stopping, just keep getting after it until time is up.

Ruck Exercises, 10 ea:
* Squat
* Curl
* Swing
* Upright row
* OH Press

Sandbag Rounds:
1. Forward/upward press toss
2. Reverse scoop overhead toss / deadlift overhead toss: back is facing direction of bag travel. Bend down, grab sandbag, swing/deadlift up and toss overhead.
3. Sideways toss or shovel toss – right to left at first, then left to right on the return trip

Gleek joined us halfway through round 2. He wanted to try rucking, so Rad let him use his ruck while he went off with the bootcampers who were exercising in the same lot. Great job Gleek! Welcome to rucking!

The PAX did GREAT! ALOT of mumblechatter…..epic stuff with this ruck group! What is said during the ruck WO stays with the ruck WO. Made the workout fly by. Great stuff. We almost went for a for a fourth round, but opted to do 20ea of the ruck exercises then rucked back to the COT.

COT: In short, read your newsletter. Get out there, get involved. Alot of prayers said, and I am sure there were many more not said.

Pray for Zoe Deen, her family, and the driver of the car that hit her right around the time of COT.

I did not talk much during my Q. That is happening more and more. Less talking, more working. I briefly spoke while we were in listening position (rucks overhead) about how we all have some aspect in our lives that we need to get better. That we are out here trying to get better, to help others get better. We should be trying to get better in some way every day. I know I have alot of room for improvement in alot of ways. Today was one step towards that.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
-NASA

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The Coop 2018.10

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Happy PI day! (As in 3.14, 3/14, March 14… ok, nevermind)

I keep all my Q’s simple these days.  I came in on two wheels, because anything outside of 1.5 miles of Baxter is downrange for me these days and I did not compensate for a commute.

Warmup
Taken care of by CSPAN.

Mosey to pullup bars and partner up.
1 man deadhang while other balls2wall.  Either man may call mercy and swap at any point.  5 rounds for my which was close to 10 minutes.

Mosey to bottom of the hill for some slow Moroccan night clubs while I encourage everyone to stretch their full range of motion.  Only one way to get better….
Next is a Dora. 100 bombjacks, 200 merkins, 300 jump squats (yeah this was all quads, the merkins are there for rest)

Mosey to the side to avoid traffic for abs.  snapcracklepops, freddy mercuries, dying cockroach, superman with Moroccan night clubs… sprint up hill to COT.

Next up, go eat some PI.

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Shieldlock at Quagmire

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The few Mondays I have not been DR lately most could find me logging a few miles for the impending P200 destruction.  Pushups have been in shortsupply and even few posts to Quagmire or being a Q.  GLOOM: The murky pre-dawn in which the PAX gather around the Shovel Flag in preparation for a Workout.  Add 45 degrees and wet rain- you’ve got yourself a double dose.  7 men were disclaimed and here is what they did:

Opened with #pearlsonastring- a roving COP throughout the AO.  Ran to Target lot for 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies.  Run to Buff Wild Wing for 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies, 14 Mountain Climbers.  Run some more: 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies, 14 Mountain Climbers. 16 Monkey Humpers.  Always good for cars to drive by during MH routine…

Run to City Tavern, err… Bluewater, err…abandoned skeleton of a restaurant .  Grab a partner, run up stairs, down stairs and do 8 partner plank derkins, 8 partner plank dips.  Flapjack.  Rinse/Repeat x3.  Davinci led Mary until #six came in

Mosey to Home Depot Wall.  3 sets each of Wall sits and Balls to Wall.  Tony Horton P90X interlude with Sneaky Toe Lunges down and back, Groucho squat walk down and back, Bear Crawl.

Mosey to Wine Shop back lot for 6 minutes of mary: Boxcutters, Rosalita, Dying Cockroach, LBC, Freddie Mercury, Peter Parker

Great work by MOAB and Bones to lead from the front.  Name of the day goes to Gleek.  I remember Gleek being the spit you could fire between the teeth to an unsuspecting kid at school (disgusting, confirmed), not the #wondermut of superhero power twins.  Our PAX’s collective recall of random pop culture references knows no bounds.  Anywho- Gleek is also a smiley nice guy even though he lives in a van down by the river…if only temporarily.  True story.  Also only guy who may out “southern drawl” Mr. Clean.  Ok, I may be exaggerating.  but only a little.

Got a great opportunity to partner with relative newcomer Primer.  Bones responsible for this EH(nice- #218in2018).  Get to know this guy.  Keep working Primer- keep up with the guy in front of you.  You’ll be mid pack then front pack before you know.  U vs U. #leavenomanbehind

Then there’s Davinci and Mr. Clean.  Never seen Davinci in pain.  Always smiling. Will need to insert more burpees apparently.  Mr. Clean work the ethic today and the Tahoe Chariot to pick me up.

Naked Man Moleskin

Shieldlock- the horizontal relationship between Men.  Each man discussed why they escaped the fartsack on a day like today.  Accountability, to support YHC on Q (T-Claps here, #humbled), clean out emotional poison, get better, meet new people and forge male relationships.  All of these no more important than the other and each with their own merit.  We discussed #Shieldlock as Dredd has been writing about this week but also many men in F3 have tweeted about relationships with men who challenge them and make them better.  Robber in Columbia, SC talked of many years ago having a man looking him square in the eye and say, “you’re getting sideways”.  You’re drinking too much and its affecting your life.  Sober since.  YHC’s whetstone partner keeps me in the guardrails of Lust (THX CSPAN), Pornography, drinking, but also self acceptance.  Being good enough.  These deep conversations from the men in the gloom help to sharpen our blades and make us better.

Prayers for Ella Maude Beard, MOAB Mammon search, Gleek’s family (M, shorties) during this temporary time of living apart for work.

Thanks for Q today.

Jekyll

 

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Just a perfect Old School Saturday @F3TheFort

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6 for the preruck

2 for the prerun

conditions perfect overcast and 46 degrees

disclaimer

Longshanks on warm-up and he ran us to Double D Hill and we started working hard, more running around WEP with timely stops for a variety of PT, mosey to Springs Building for a peoples chair sequence followed by a mosey to Little Ceaser Park

Handoff to CSPAN

partner up with a man you don’t know

station workouts:

  1. 10 Burpees
  2. 45 Mountain Climbers
  3. 40 Squats
  4. 30 Tri-cep dips
  5. 55 LBC
  6. 20 Peter Parker and 20 Parker Peters
  7. 30 Flutters and 30 Hello Dolly
  8. 20 KB Curls and Hairburners
  9. Bear & Crab
  10. 25 Seal Jacks and 25 SSH
  11. 25 Imperial Walkers and 25 Hillbilly Walkers
  12. Tug-a-war and 10 Burpees

Finished up with a tug-a-war tournament

Mosey to COT

Prayer or Praise / BOM

Excellent Coffeerteria at Peach Stand

AYE!

CSPAN

 

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