Gaming at the Swamp

When I arrived this morning to check the road conditions around the AO, Grass Knoll and Slapshot had already started their prework activities.  It’s always great to see guys pushing themselves to get better. Once 38 Special arrived, we began the workout with a jog to the far side of Home Depot.  Warm up exercises:  SSHs x20, Imperial Walkers x15, Windmills x10.

We continued our journey to the front of Kohls.  We started with a lunge walk to the next cross walk.  At the crosswalk, we did 15 merkins and 10 squats.  We continued forward with butt kickers and toy soldiers stopping at each crosswalk for merkins and squats.

Next, we moseyed to the fountain.  Two guys ran a half lap around the parking lot while the other two men did the below exercises.  The groups flip flopped after the lap.

Exercises:

Dips

Derkins

Step-ups

Burpees

On our way back to COT, we did the sidewalk shuffle (sideways bear crawl) along the store fronts. We arrived at COT a couple minutes early for some LBCs and burpees.

During the workout, I shared a story about my childhood.  I enjoyed going to the arcade and playing videos games.  Back in the day, the ongoing joke was “Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”  We may need to explain this joke to some of the younger guys.  I wanted to buy an Atari but my parents were not willing to spend the money to buy one.  I was able to find a few jobs like shoveling snow and coal around the neighborhood.  Each week I would accumulate a little more money until I finally had enough money to pay for the gaming system. I felt proud when I made my big purchase.

The story is similar to your physical health.  It takes time to become stronger, run faster and longer.  Consistently attending workouts each day and even adding pre-workout activities will help improve your physical health.  “Each day” was emphasized since I am a firm believer that you should train your body to recover from a workout within a 24 hour period.  There are obvious exceptions like running races and participating in ruck events.

If you are struggling to get on track, please reach out to me.  We’ll put a plan together.

Fishstix

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Currahee Shoulder Smoke

Three rolled in to the parking lot ready and were ready by 0458 for the 0500 start.  At 0459:52 we saw a grey Subaru coming in on two wheels.  MainFrame  emerged, took the disclaimer as it was yelled to him from across the parking lot and it was on with a total of FOUR in attendance.

Warm-up:

  • SSH x30 in cadence
  • Merkin x10 in cadence

Still not warm it was time to warm up.  The PAX moved down to the elementary school drop off line.  Partner up, time to warm up with some Catch Me If You Can.  One partner runs with two rucks (45lbs in the ruck) while the other partner completes five burpees and then chases down their partner.  We did this around the big loop in front of the school.

Rucked around the drop off line, back to the cars, collected the sandbags and headed to the field.  We have two 60lb bags and two 40lb bags.

From the long end of the field and with your ruck on, throw the sand bag as far as you can, move to the bag, complete an 8ct body builder, pick it up, throw it again, and continue until you reach the other side of the field.

After completing a length of the field, we rucked to the end and back.  Then if you had 60lb bag last time, switch for a 40lb and vice versa.  Complete the throws and 8ct body builders again.

Ruck to the end of the field and back again.  Collect the sandbag, move to the gate and face the short length of the field.

Two lines of cones in the distance. for the Dora.

Dora:

  1. 100 Merkins
  2. 200 Curls
  3. 300 pull thrus (only completed one movement per PAX due to time)

Movement:

  1. Bear crawl while dragging the 60lb sandbag to the first cone line.  Pick up the bag, run to the second cone, turn around and head back to your partner.
  2. Sandbag throw with the 40lb bag to the the end then run back to your partner
  3. Overhead Carry

It was a smoker and another example of things we do when surrounded by strong men that we likely would not complete if we were on our own.

Prayers:

  • Grassy Knoll’s brother as he goes into surgery
  • Divac and his wife as they continue to seek ways to help their son

Thank you Divac for the opportunity to lead.  Currahee is one of my favorite AOs!!!!

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Converge with Colosseum

12 men showed up this morning at Golden Corral (with their man cards) including Geek Squad who was in town from Tennessee.  We began the workout with a trek down 160 to Brewsters.  Unfortunately, no ice cream, just a couple scoops of merkins, squats, and LBCs until the six arrived.

Next, we headed to the garden center at Walmart, a little over a mile from our starting point. We had time to complete another round of merkins, squats, and LBCs before Shady arrived with the Colosseum Pax.

Shady called out the instruction for a Dora, 100 wide arm merkins, 200 squats, 300 flutters.  Partner 1 did the exercises while Partner 2 ran across the parking lot to the front of the garden center and back.

We had just enough time to complete all of the exercises before running back to COT.

Great job by everyone this morning.  We covered 3 miles which is alot for some of the men who showed up this morning.  This is how we get better, do the hard things, push ourselves, and keep coming back.

 

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Doracide at the Abyss

Gave the disclaimer then started with a much needed warm up.

3 sets of Downward dog and honey mooner

10 SSH

10 Moroccan night clubs

10 Low slow squats

After the warm up, led the group in a partial mosey around school 

For the main event I let the Pax know my MO for Qs is Dora.  To mix things up I planned a nice long Doracide for this beautiful morning.  It consisted of:

Partnering up (group of 2 and 3) and while the first partner ran suicides of 250’ with 1 burpe, 500’ with 2 burpees and 750’ with 3 burpees; the other partner worked to knock out the :

100 lunges (each leg)

200 Carolina dry docks

300 Bobby Hurlys

400 hello dollies

After we finished this terribleness we didn’t have much time left so I had the pax get in a line in plank position. 1 by 1 we crab walked about 100’, then the next pax went and stayed in plank until the 6 was in.  Finally we moseyed back to COT.

Announcements: reminder of upcoming events (dam to damn bar, Lake Wylie convergence)

Closed with a prayer and we were out!

Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

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Fresh off GR021, we’re now at the Fire Ant

If you were one of the 20 PAX that attended Fire Ant today, you heard me talk briefly about the impact of GR021 (GrowRuck 021) in Louisville this past weekend. Along with Olaf, Shady, Italian Job and Dark Helmet, I was blessed to participate in this extremely impactful weekend. Much like the rest of F3, the true benefits go way beyond the workout or in this case, the 14hr team ruck event spanning Saturday night into Sunday morning.

I tried to bring back just a taste of what we experienced and some of my learnings but unless you actually participate in these GrowRuck weekends, it’s hard to comprehend. However, I did want to bring a taste of the PT to our local PAX and so with 19 other Ruckers, we did the following.

Disclaimer

Warm Up
Jog, Knees to chest, Jog, Toy Soldiers, Butt Kickers, Jog back to our rucks

SSH x 5
Windmills x 5
SSH x 10
Windmills x 5

Ruck Up
Rucks overhead for a 30ct
Ruck Curls x 20 IC
Squat hold with rucks overhead for a 20ct
Ruck swings x 20
Tricep Extensions x 20 IC
Squat with ruck press x 10 IC

2 line ruck shuffle to back lot & ground the rucks
3-tier suicides then ruck up
Bear crawl to the far suicide line and plank
Bear crawl back to the half way point and circle up
Slick-dying cockroach x 30IC
BEAR ROACH for a while (I think we did a total of 20 to the left and 20 to the right). For this exercise, you get into a bear crawl position with your ruck on then upon command, roll over to the dying cockroach position. Upon command, get back to the bear crawl position.

2 line ruck shuffle back to the first starting spot and circle up
5 Merkins – 10 Carolina Dry Dock – 15 Bent Over Rows (all IC)
5 Squats – 5 lunges each leg
2 line ruck march back to COT

Announcements:
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SYITG
Maximus

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Lead, Then Get Out of the Way

A month ago Lutefisk reached out for me to Q today and I said yes.  Thinking to myself, that will give me plenty of time to get my sorry butt somewhat back in shape.  Well, that didn’t happen so had to figure out how to lead, without leading.   Thus U vs U was my only option.
Disclaimer
FNG Alex (Soft Tail)
Mosey to Domino’s
    Mtn Climbers (10), Carolina Dry Docks (10), Hello Dollies (10), Lunges (10)
Mosey to Dogtopia
    Side Straddle Hops (54 of course), Merkins (10), LBC’s (10), Squats (10)
Mosey to back of Dollar Tree
    Peter Parkers (10), Plank Punches (10), Freddie Mercuries (10), Monkey Humpers (10)
Mosey to Express Lube wall
    Parker Peters (10), Dips (10), Box Cutters (10), Step-Ups (10-each leg)
Mosey to Walgreen’s Drive Through – Now the U vs U part
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Merkins
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Merkins, 10- Carolina Dry Docks
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Merkins, 10- Carolina Dry Docks, 10 Wide Arm Merkins
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Merkins, 10- Carolina Dry Docks, 10 Wide Arm Merkins, 10 Diamond Merkins
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Merkins, 10- Carolina Dry Docks, 10 Wide Arm Merkins, 10 Diamond Merkins, 10 Hand Release Merkins
    Some folks did an extra lap (because they can)
Round Two
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Bomb Jacks
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Bomb Jacks, 10- Side Straddle Hops
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Bomb Jacks, 10- Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees
    Run Lap around Building(s) –  10 Bomb Jacks, 10- Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Mountain Climbers ( I think this is as far as anyone got)
    Was an option to substitute Ab exercises but in true F3 fashion peer pressure prevented any of that non-sense.
Always honored and humbled to Q.  Was great to see a lot of faces, haven’t seen in while.  Appreciate the Lake Wylie boys getting up soooo early to make the trek across the pond, but stop your moaning already (Witch Hunt).
Pax: Bones, Witch Hunt, O’Reilly, Royal, Wild Thing, Slap shot, Oscar the grouch, Tesla, Long Duck, Olaf, Shop Vac, Nature boy, Cha Ching, Change Order, Fish Sticks, Duck Dynasty, Stang, Grass Knoll, Lutefisk, White Lightening, Half Shell, Cyclopes, Trucker, Zoo-lander, FNG (Soft Tail), Cake Boss
Cornhole Out
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