In memory of 24 / 8

After hearing the news yesterday of the passing via helicopter crash of one of the GOAT’s Kobe Bryant, YHC felt the need to honor him AND the lives of the other 8 individuals with a beatdown full of 8 and 24, his jersey #s.

Standard disclaimer preceded by the following message: Friends, let us not become fearful when confronted with life’s impending expiration. Rather, let us live with a fullness and an intentionality that recognizes the value of each breath given.

Mosey for warm-o-rama:
– At each crosswalk, burpee jump shot (just a regular burpee, but instead of both hands up on the jump, it’s one hand up to drain the 3).  Accumulator burpees at each crosswalk (we did 5 crosswalks to total 21) then circle up for the last 3 = 24 burpee jump shots.
– 24 SSH in cadence
– 12 imperial walkers + 12 hillbilly walkers, in cadence = 24
– 24 single count merkins
– 24 toe touches on the curb

Mosey to distant parking lot and partner up with someone similar in speed. Not your partner, your opponent.  2 cones are 24 parking paces apart.  Partners will start at opposite ends and complete 8’s (similar to 11’s, but #Kobe).  One end is squats, the other end is merkins.  After you complete the first exercise, bear crawl to the other end. Complete that exercise then mosey back. Repeat until you flapjack and complete the 8’s.  That’s right, that’s 7x bear crawl 24 parking spaces.  Doesn’t seem like much?  #try it.  To encourage PAX, YHC reminded them that I’d rather be doing this than losing family members.  Our pain is nothing compared to their pain.

Mosey back to Best Buy wall for 24 seconds BTTW, 24 dips (ouch), and 8 jump shot burpees.  Repeato.  YHC then reminds PAX of a famous quote: we’re not guaranteed tomorrow.  While true, we’re also not guaranteed the rest of today.  So what are we going to do about that?  Hop into plank to go around the circle and mention something they’re grateful for and/or something they’re going to do different TODAY to make an impact.  Unfortunately, 38 felt the need to grace us with his inner smells.  Fairly certain he ate something that was not real food the night before… I digress.

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Jack of all Kinds and The ShovelFlag Switch

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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8 Cinderblocks of Christmas

Always glad to take on a Q at the Abyss! Great AO.  6 Beasts + YHC came out for the Iron Pax inspired “8 Blocks of Christmas” Having Q’d 3 beat downs recently with no Cindys I felt it was time to call that number. Thank Goodness Copyright keeps an emergency Cindy in the van at all times. Otherwise someone would have been carrying a 25lb weight or a 45lb paver.

0515- All veteran Pax so quick disclaimer and a short mosey around the front parking lot.. Circle up for COP

Windmills x 10 Imperial Walkers x 20, Hillbilly Walkers x 20, MNCs x 15, Front and back Arm Circles x 15 each.

End COP with 21s- 21 SSH IC only counting the first 5 out loud, with all Pax stopping at 21 together. Burpee penalty if we get it wrong.  IT was real early cause there was still some audible counting after 5.  Needless to say we missed on the 1st go round. 3 Burpee penalty. Got it right on the 2nd round. Mosey to the truck and everyone grab a Cindy.

I have been nursing a hamstring the last couple weeks and decided to forego alot of running in this workout. So instead of running we did an OH Cinderblock Carry(OHCC) from front parking lot to rear track area. Mumble chatter started quickly on how long a walk that was.

The Thang -8 Blocks of Christmas                                                                                                                                 8 total exercises, 4 per side  with the mode of transport being the OHCC of ~80- 85 meters.               Exercises

  1. 50 x OH Presses  OHCC to other side 1a. 50 x Curls for the Girls OHCC back to other side ( you should get the picture)
  2.  50 x Block Squats OHCC —>2a. 50 x Block Big Boy Sit ups- No it was holding the block not setting it our your feet.
  3.  50 x Ground to OH –> 3a. 50 x Squat Thrusts
  4.  50 x  Block Swings —> 4a. 50 X Switch Arm Block Merkins- 1 hand on the the block 1 a hand on the ground and do a merkin- Switch and repeat. Thanks for that great Idea Survey Says.

We completed then Whole Thang and OHCC back to COT.

All in all the Pax did in the ballpark of 1100 meters of OHCCs and 400 cinder block reps across 8 exercises this morning. Key takeaways- Cinderblocks get really cold when sitting the the back of the truck all night. Get thicker gloves.  The feeling comes back in your fingers around GTOs and Squat Thrusts. Copyright can always be counted on to have at least 1 “emergency” Cinderblock in the van at all times.

Prayers for CAH and Decibel’s mentoree.  Pax/ family of Pax dealing with Cancer/ family loss, marriages.

PreHype for Jan 3rd Shovel Flag hand off at he Swamp.  Beatdown will be kicking off at 0500. Co-Q event with a fast and burpeeish 30 mins and a hard and heavy 30 mins. Spread the word. Plan accordingly.

Thanks Copyright for the Opportunity to Lead these #HIMs this morning.

Duck Out.

 

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Rust Removal

8 HIM decided to shake off some Thanksgiving Holiday Rust at Quagmire.  After observing a missing flag due to a notably absent site Q (cough cough, Mile High, cough cough), disclaimers were given, 5 core principles of the workout were spoken by the PAX in proper order.  Off we moseyed.  Here’s what happened:

COP – 1)  SSH x 20, 5 burpees  2) Imperial Walkers x 15, 5 burpees  3) low slow squat x 15, 5 burpees, 4) merkins x 10, 5 burpees  5) hillbilly walkers x 15, 5 burpees

Moseyed to Target for Partner DORA – 1,2,3,4.  Having 8 led to even numbers and pairing off evenly.

100 – Jumping lunges (crowd favorite)

200 – Squats

300 – LBC’s

400 – Clave Raises

A 10 count was given, 5 more burpees were done (just because) and off we moseyed to the fountain for some 30 on 30 on 30

At the fountain – 30 dips, 30 derkins, 30 step ups.  Time to mosey to the Marshalls lot

Partners were found again for a quick DORA 1 – 100 merkins while partners ran 40(ish) yard sprints – 20 down and 20 back.   5 burpees were done (to be consistent) and we moved on.

Mosey again to COT for a few minutes of Mary:  American Hammers x 21, Box Cutters x 20 and some protractor work to keep people sharp on their geometry.  COT brought things to a close.

Announcements – Read your newsletter, XMas Party this Friday at Baxter Mushroom Pool Clubhouse, Convergence and Clave Boos 5K/10K on Christmas Eve at Colosseum.

Prayers and Praises were offered.

YHC is admittedly not a regular at Quagmire.  Monday was a great experience and my thanks goes out to Mile High (despite his absence) for the opportunity to Q and to get better around some very high impact men.  It was a honor to post this morning and start December off right.  The message to us all was to remember why we are here – for others first, ourselves last.   For it is true that when we are right, we can be right for others to make the impact we are called to bring as leaders.

Honored,

Cyclops

 

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Shoulder Work at Quagmire

13 men arrived at Quagmire Monday morning.  After a quick disclaimer and some leg stretches, we ran over to Kohls.

COP

SSH x 25

Imperial Walker x 15

Windmill x 10

Plank Stretches

Next, we began the meat of the workout.  We partnered up for burpee broad jumps.  Partner 1 started with the burpees while Partner 2 ran to the end of the parking lot near Ulta and back to Partner 1 to switch out. The total distance was around 320 yards (20 less than the Bills had in total offense).

I took a few minutes to talk about my grandfather who served in the Navy. He was someone I greatly admired growing up.  He had a strong work ethic and never let his age define him.  When he was in his eighties, he asked my brother and I to come to his house to help him dig a trench.  When we arrived, he was already actively digging the hole himself.  He was a loving and caring husband, father and friend. He passed away at the age of 99, less than six month from the century mark.

Back to the workout, we began a shoulder shuffle from Ulta back to Kohls.  I issued a challenge to push go as far as the pain would allow.  Once exhausted, get up, run to the next store front, and return to the back of the shuffle line.  Cha Ching and Slapshot killed it, they shuffled the full distance 320 yards without a break!

Once complete, we ran back to COT.

 

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Not really a merkinfest…more a don’t stop movingfest

20 PAX gathered for a Jedi inspired chilly morning at the Swamp.  This Friday AO is a great place to run around, see lots of parking lots, check out stairs and look at the water feature fountain…hard to pass up and a good place to be if you’ve never been.  Quick disclaimer and YHC was shot out of a cannon.  With the first mosey stop at Petsmart, the PAX followed the leader for some parking lot shuffles, karaokes, high knees, and butt kickers before progressing to the previously mentioned fountain.

Prior to getting to the fountain, we stopped in the back parking lot for some warm-ups which included: low slow squats, slow windmills, merkins (all counts of 10).  Given this is a Cha Ching AO, what better way to get the PAX warmed up than a Cha Ching inspired 60 seconds of blood pumping 33 SSH and 7 burpee – rinse and repeat for a 2nd min.  This was followed by some up/down dog stretching and then on to The Thang!

Mosey over to the fountain where it was time to get our merkin on…(not that kind of merkin so calm down).

  • 20 regular merkins
  • 20 wide arm
  • 20 diamond
  • 20 decline
  • 20 ranger
  • 20 incline
  • 20 hand release

After every round of merkins, PAX were instructed to run to the stairs – up, down, back up, then back down and back to the fountain…for the next set of merkins.

Since this was not enough fun, we partnered up and did some Dora with our new partner.

  • 100 bombjacks
  • 200 CDD
  • 300 American Hammers (double count…well, because)

As partner 1 did exercise in the “warm-up” parking lot by the stairs, partner 2 took off to the fountain and did 20 dips before returning and relieving their partner.  This took a good amount of time but the PAX finished American Hammer’s with the 6.

PAX took off towards COT but with 5 or so minutes remaining, MARY was calling our name so we answered the call.  PAX went around clockwise with ab exercises until the bell was rung.

Normal mix at COT, but the highlight of the morning was welcoming FNG, now Chicken Noodle, to the party to join the lineage of other “chicken” inspired PAX.  Thoughts and prayers to all prayers and praises raised.  Thanks as always to Cha Ching for the call…enjoyed every minute of it!

Shady

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Hurpee Outbreak at the Quagmire

F3 grows through “addition by division”, this is a true statement and it’s a great thing to be a part of.  The downside is you simply don’t get a chance to get out to some of your original stomping grounds as often as you would like since there are so many choices closer to your home. Long story short, it was great to be out here and lead the other 11 men that showed for the Quagmire this morning.  I love the opportunities I get that brings me to these places (hint hint).

I’ve been working through the Exicon for most of my Q’s lately, it has been a nice change of pace to experience some of the craziness that our PAX have come up with across the nation.  So for better or worse, I give it a shot and see how it goes.  Today was the letter “H”.

We started with a mosey around the back of Best Buy which I guess isn’t normal because I heard some grumblings, but we did some shuffles and toy soldiers along the way and then quickly circled up for a round of Windmills in cadence.

1st routine was a timed “HIIT” exercise.  We only had what ever time we had left after we finished the below exercises to recover.

  • 5 “Hurpees” (Hand-Release Burpee)
  • 10 Hillbilly Squats (IC)
  • 15 Hello Dolly’s (IC)
  • 1 Minute timed x 6 Rounds

We then mosey’d to the parking lot behind the fountain (near the stairs).

2nd routine, which admittedly took longer than I wanted, was “Hindenburg Blimps”, though I ended up cutting the S off the Blimps so we did a “Hindenburg Blimp”.

Hindenburg Blimps are like 4 corners combined with Blimps so I took the parking lot islands and divided them up into 4 corners and we would run/sprint the long sides and bear crawl around the short sides of the islands.

  • Round 1 – 10 Bombjacks x4
  • Round 2 – 20 Lunges x4
  • Round 3 – 30 Incline Merkins x4
  • Round 4 – 40 Monkey Humpers x4
  • Round 5 – 50 Plank Jacks x4

3rd routine, we stayed in the same area and did some “Heartbreak Dora’s”.  Normally we would do this on a hill, but I thought the stairs would substitute nicely.  So we partnered up and did the following while the other PAX would run a normal lap around the parking lot islands and then up and down the stairs before tagging his partner and swapping.

  • 100 Hurpees
  • 200 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • 300 Squats

Nobody was able to get through the final routine, but that was more on me for having too much planned. I think about half of us were working on Squats by the time we finished up and mosey’d back to CoT.

CoT

  • Nessie on 10/26!
  • Prayers for Lutefisk and his father battling cancer and Duck Dynasty’s sister who is having complications with her pregnancy.

Thanks for getting me out here Mile High!  I always enjoy it.

Until next time,

Flux

 

 

 

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Steadfast

Observations:  13 Pax posted for a hideous workout at Quagmire. Today’s workout looked better on paper but still successfully completed the Board Of Pain. FNG Zoolander fit right in with the mumble chatter. #EPIC

The Thang:

Mosey to Home Depot’s Parking Lot:

SSHs (20x), IWs (20x), Parker Peters (15x), Slow Sumo Squats (15x), WMs (15x), Box Cutters (20x), Windshield Wipers (15x)

Mosey to Kohl’s Parking Lot.

The Buffet Of Pain included the following  exercises. 

  • 100 Yard Dash
  • Jumping Lunges (Double) 
  • Big Boy Sit Ups
  • Wide Arm Merkins
  • Jumping Squats 
  • Burpees
  • American Hammers (Double) 
  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Donkey Kicks 
  • Flutter Kicks (Double)
  • Dips
  • Diamond Merkins 

COT

Moleskin: We are constantly feeling good and bad pressures during our journey of life. Life has valleys and peaks with both bad and good experiences. Life is also like a train on parallel tracks, we continually find ourselves between the good track and the bad track. When things go well in life, we are soon challenged with a tragedy or a loss. Remain steadfast. Be aware of when you become unbalanced toward the bad track where evil one awaits. Choose God and move forward.

 

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Captain Clutch @ the Abyss

We had 7 HIM post at the Abyss today and here’s what went down

Traveling Warm up:

Stop 1:

Side Straddle Hops 

Windmills

Stop 2:

Hillbilly Walkers

Produce Pickers

Stop 3:

Mountain Climbers 

Peter Parkers

Stop 4: 

Moroccan NIght Clubs

Imperial Walkers

Thing 1:

Dora 1, 2, 3 

100 Bulgarian Split Squats (double count)

200 Dips

300 Incline Merkins

Thing 2:

11’s

Jump squats 

Jump Lunges

Mosey back to COT

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Tour De AO

9 Boot Campers braved their Friday for a Lutefisk Q at the Swamp. 3 ruckers and a runner joined up for COT.  Brief disclaimer given with no FNG’s and we were off.  Took a stop in a random parking lot for some COP warm-up activities.  Mosey to the famous Target balls.  Informed PAX that a fellow PAX’s brother was just diagnosed with MS as he was having leg pains.  They feel they caught it early and can do a lot for him to live an active life, so YHC dedicates this workout to Dennis The Menace’s brother!  Having no winkie, YHC decides to have these HIM check out the places at this AO that I have come do despise.  Hence, Target balls.  We did the balls three times over with partners going every other ball with burpees, lunge jumps, squats…. great times. Bad times on your legs.  Mosey to the only hill near the bank.  11’s, burpees up top, dips down below.  Mosey to the fountain for some partner catch me if you can.  Did a few laps ( first one didn’t look so good, poor planning) and got back to COT on time.  Simple, but effective.

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