The Spirit of the AO

WARMUP:
Merkins x 10
Donkey Kicks x 10 OYO
SSH x 34

THE THANG: Treehugger WOD – “Crossett Fit Games” honoring our fallen brother from F3 Lehigh Valley.

5 Rounds
10 Pull-ups
20 V-sits (ups)
30 Merkins
40 yd Broad Jump Burpees
50 yd Heart Chargers
1/2 Mile Run

MARY:
Finished out with a few flutters at the end

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Q Source Tuesdays – hit up Backdraft
Straight Up is tired of male apathy – and he’s doing something about it. Hit him up about raising strong sons and forming a strong male community around those sons.

COT:
Praise for Straight Up’s 2.0, Yoshi, going on his first mission trip
Praise for El Spaniard taking his family to visit extended family in Portugal for a month
Prayers for YHC (and all of us dads) for our abilities to connect with 2.0’s and lead right.

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Independence Day 1776 Challenge

Good morning America! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Soupy muggy morning. We had one FNG EH’d by Beaker, so the full disclaimer was disclaimed and off we went to the NaFo track.

WARMUP: None. Got right into it.

The Main Event: The 1776 Challenge
7 laps of 400m along with 1776 exercises as follows (everything single count unless otherwise noted):
* 50 burpees
* 100 calf raises (50 regular, 50 toes out)
* 100 ski abs (double count)
>> Run 400m
* 100 ‘merkins
* 100 LSS
* 100 LBC
>> Run 400m
* 100 CDD
* 100 jump squat
* 100 American hammer (DC)
>> Run 400m
* 100 OH clap
* 100 mountain climbers (DC)
* 100 hello dolly
>> Run 400m
* 100 wide-arm merkin
* 100 jump lunge (DC)
* 100 flutter kicks (DC)
>> Run 100m
* 100 plank shoulder taps (DC)
* 100 hillbilly walkers
** Badger Challenge (optional, level-up) – 100m crab walk
* 100 SSH
** Badger Challenge (optional, level-up) – 100m bear crawl
>> Run 400m
* 26 burpees
>> Run 400m
>>>ENDEX<<<

It was a total sweat fest this morning, but so worth it. Not much mumblechatter after a while, but A LOT of pain. The fellowship helped alot…..seeing your fellow PAX push through things makes you want to push as well. Thank you everyone for the push!

Capped it all off with a gorgeous sunrise and Pledge of Allegiance at COT, along with some announcements and P&Ps.

Special kudos for Clickbait for opening up his home for anyone who does not have anywhere or anyone to go celebrate the holiday with. #HIM

NMM:
7-4-1776 was a BIG day in the history of this world. Not only is it the birth of our great nation, but it was a loud exclamation to the world that freedom reigns and is worth fighting for. We exercise our freedoms every day whether we know it or not, from being able to wake up early and go work out with like-minded men, voice our opinions on whatever topic in however means, practice whatever religion or belief system we choose, or choose not to practice any type religion or belief system – all without fear of persecution. There are some people in this country who are challenging these various freedoms, not knowing that they themselves are exercising the constitutionally guaranteed right to challenge the status quo and advocate change. Many countries would severely persecute that type of vocality. Yet we as a nation allow and even foster it, for through adversity, change, and pain comes growth, wisdom, and strength.

During your various Independence Day celebrations please take time out to give thanks for the many things we have (i.e., blessings) as well as our many various freedoms, however you may define them, including – IMO most importantly – the freedom to speak up and make change happen, however large or small the magnitude, scope, and/or scale. That’s what happened on 7-4-1776, on a great scale and magnitude, and has continued since. The United States of America as a whole is never stagnant, it is always evolving. Hopefully for the better. It is by no means perfect either (what made of man is?), but it could most definitely be worse in many many ways. It is up to each one of us, exercising our various freedoms, to ensure we as a nation continue to move forward and get better in some way every day. Change happens through action, not just words. The mission behind F3 is to plant. serve, and grow small workout groups for the purpose of invigorating male community leadership. Keep at it, continue to BE the change you want to see in this world through not just your words but your actions. Give it away, for when you do YOU help facilitate positive change in others.

Have a happy and safe Independence Day. Happy Birthday America!

Thank you for the opportunity to lead. Blessed and thankful for every one of you F3 The Fort PAX that are in my life. SYITG.
– NASA

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Bear Sightings At The Fort

WARMUP: Started off with a loop around WEP stopping at every other swing set for Moraccan Night Clubs, Mountain Climbers, 5 Burpees OYO, Cherry Pickers, and 5 more burpees OYO
THE THANG: Ran pax over to the playground area where I had some American Flags set up in different yardages. This exercise is called Charles Bronson. Start off doing an exercise at first set of flags, then sprint for about 200 feet to next flag where you then bear crawl 100 feet to the final flag. Then mosey back to first set of flags. Here’s exercises.
1.) 50 SSH
2.) 50 Hand Release Merkins
3.) 50 LBC’
4.) 50 CDD
5.) Sumo Squat
Pax made it through this with too much ease should have made higher reps next time

Round 2
Stairway To Heaven
Start at bottom of parking lot and work your way up the grass hill stopping at every light pole. There where 6 total light poles. Do first exercise then run back to start and proceed to second light pole. You had to stop at every light pole to proceed to next one. Exercise where:
1.) Heel Touches x20
2.) Burpees x 5
3.) Wide Arm Merkins x 15
4.) Feet Close Together Squats x15
5.) Overhead Claps x 20
6.) Hello Dolly x 20
Finished with some Global Warming which sucked. Which is everyone is in circle Pax stay in Al Gore while in rotating fashion each pax does 20 Monkey Humpers.
MARY: Finished up with 10 minutes of stretching.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
COT:

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Hardest 24 minutes in all of The Fort…

WARMUP: Sasquatch ran the PAX to a lit area and instructed them to form 3 lines facing him (2 lines of 4 and 1 line of 3).  After some initial gloom-fogged math and logistics, he got to limbering up the PAX for the first 15 minutes.  Queue *SPONGEBOB VOICE* “21 minutes later” the handoff was completed to YHC (SkateOrDie)
THE THANG: Given that YHC was shorted 6 minutes, we had to forego the body destroyers and get after it… the PAX moseyed (alright, just short of dead sprint) around to the back of the school (NAFO) and found some picnic tables and benches.  The group performed step ups while 1 PAX ran around the outer sidewalk, serving as the timer.  Upon completion, the next PAX ran while the group did box jumps. Rinse and repeat 2 more times. The PAX then repositioned (again, just short of dead sprint) to the pull-up bars behind the JROTC building. Next up, the group completed 1 pull-up, 2 chin-ups, and 3 merkins, rinsing and repeating, while 1 PAX ran to the stop sign at the top of the hill as a timer. Repeato until the remaining PAX ran. The PAX again repositioned (yeah yeah dead sprint…blah blah) to the hill behind Sugar Creek Elementary School. After hearing some mumblechatter about the stupid things we do, YHC implored the PAX to realize that the “stupid things” we choose to do are preparing us for the “tough stuff” that we have to do at other points in our lives. Next up, Jacobs Ladder (1 big boy sit-up at the bottom, 10 burpees at the top). We made it through 4-5 rounds for each of the PAX before repositioning (“quickly”) 1 last time to the bottom of the hill back to NAFO. Once a 10-count was counted, jail break sprint back to the stop sign at the top of the hill and then back to COT for MARY!
MARY: Flutters and Hammers were on the menu, followed by… wait for it… THE BODY DESTROYER!!
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read your newsletter!
COT: 🙏🏻s for both spoken and unspoken items on our ♥️s. Thanks for the opportunity to lead gentlemen!!!

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Great Pyramid of Dirt and Grass

WARMUP: Mosey towards entrance – circle up and perform following in cadence: goofballs, low slow squat, shoulder taps, updog/downdog, MNCs then mosey back toward field next to CoT

THE THANG:
Pyramid of Pain- start around midfield where all gear was laid out

Tier 1:
50yd bear crawl then run back to midfield and perform 25 reps of the following: medicine ball slams, diamond merkins, upright rows with weight plates, Freddy Mercuries, imperial squat walkers

SSH for the 6

Tier 2:
40 yd bear crawl then run back to midfield and perform 30 reps of the following: merkins, alternating lunges (both legs is 1 rep), calf raises, bent over rows with weight plate

Plank for the 6

Tier 3:
30yd bear crawl then run back to midfield and perform 35 reps of the following: wide arm merkins, jump squats, curls with weight plate or Cindy

shoulder tap for the 6

Tier 4:
20 yard bear crawl then run back to midfield and perform 40 reps of the following: LBCs, overhead claps

flutters for the 6

Tier 5:
10 yard bear crawl then run back to midfield and perform 50 reps of the following: burpees

upon completion, PAX began working their way back down the Tiers with most getting back down to Tier 2 before it was time to head back to CoT.

MARY: Help carry my gear back to CoT and start trying to get all the grass and dirt off

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Final F3 Dads session this Saturday at WEP from 9-930, convergence Monday NaFo 0500, 1776 merkin challenge for July

COT: Show to know

Thanks for the chance to take over the Ranch for a day Poppins. Enjoy your vacation!

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Recess at Block Party

WARMUP: 10 Burpees OYO then grab bricks from DD’s truck and mosey to bank parking lot

THE THANG: Pax moseyed from bank to WEP and back to bank with a partner and two bricks for each pair of pax. One partner had the bricks and they were traded back and forth between partners after each exercise throughout the workout. We did all sorts of fun stuff, including:

Merkins
CDDs
Wide arm merkins
Burpees
SSHs
Seal jacks
Moroccan Nightclubs
Peter Parkers
Parker Peters
Bombjacks
Plank jacks
Flutters
Dollies
American Hammers
Man makers
Pull ups (for Trucker)
Wheelbarrows
Bear crawls
Crawl bears
Lap around the playground
Overhead presses
Boxer punches

MARY: Rebel finished off the pax with a bit of Mary in the lot

ANNOUNCEMENTS: QSource on Tue at Baxter Starbucks, Coffeeteria on Wed at Kingsley

COT: Great to have Cousin Eddie out for his 2nd post after FNG status last week. T-claps to Rebel for helping him launch well and to Cousin Eddie for giving Rebel some added purpose!

The workout today was inspired by Sprockets from F3Boone, who led a brick based workout 2 weeks ago. The intent today was to break out of our routine and to create an extra push and some accountability with a partner.

After 10yrs+ posting in The Gloom, I still find it tough to roll out of bed at 0430 most mornings. It’s easier than it once was but it’s NEVER easy! I know that I’ll get better if I post, but I’m also susceptible to the voice in my head saying “you need some sleep” or “you can still exercise on your own at 0600”. Either or both might be true on any given day, and when I’m focused on ME, then the odds of me giving into that voice are high. The key to rising early and posting with you, my brothers, is when I can focus outside of me and instead see YOU. I know how much I’ve needed you over the years, which reminds me that there are many mornings when you need someone else beside you in the Gloom. Making that choice to be that someone is always the extra push I need to get out the door. When I can surrender my self, my ego, my petty simple desires…that’s when I find that something extra — another gear, a purpose, inspiration, the Holy Spirit…whatever you call it for yourself. Surrender…give your morning for your brother…it’s a small sacrifice with a HUGE payoff.

Thanks to Kermit for the honor of leading the pax this morning!

Keep Posting!!!

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We got free wifi

WARMUP:
– brief mosey, some SSH, IW and WM
THE THANG:
– Dora: 100 pushup / 200 squats / 300 MonkeyHumpers (crowd pleaser) while partner runs around playground
– Jack Webb: Push-up and overhead claps, starting with 1-4 finish with 10-40
– 4-corners with mosey in-between
– corner 1: cindy’s: 10x overhead press + 10x swing
– corner 2: 60# sandbag squats + throw + low slow regular squats
– corner 3: 10x diamond merkin + 10x donkey kicks
– corner 4: 5x burpee + bearcrawl up the hill + 1 min horse riders hold (crowd pleaser as well)
MARY:
– finish up with a good 10 min of core workout of various styles
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– read your newsletter
COT:

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Burning at ROF

WARMUP:
Broga with Up/down dog
Scorpion
20 SSH in cadence
15 Moroccan night clubs IC
10 cherry pickers IC
THE THANG:
Moseyed over to The center of the parking lot and did Burpee suicides – adding a burpee at every other parking spot and at the beginning Kaiser said we got in 42 burpees
Then moseyed over to the back side of the school to get Cindy’s. Started with 10 curls OYO. Walked over to the grass area in front of the school and did Murder bunnies between 2 points (it was about 100 ft – felt like 100 yds)
Did 10 curls OYO then went back to the start, did 10 squat presses. Had a couple 10 counts and got back to it with murder bunnies again. 10 Curls OYO at when done, another couple 10 counts to catch our breath and then the final leg with 10 squat presses to finish.

Since we still had almost 15 minutes left we did a quick Dora with:
100 merkins
200 hello Dollies
300 squats
Ran to next light post/median and back

Headed back to COT and finished with some flutters.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: F3 Dads on Saturdays in June at 0900 and mens shelter/dinner on the first Thursday of the month
COT: prayers/praises lifted up

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Mr. Hugh Midity

I recently asked Badlands for a Q At Sweep The Leg. He gave me June 13th and I accepted the assignment forgetting that was the Monday after a week at the beach. Vacation is rough on the body. But all in all it turned out fairly well. Ran one of my fastest miles 7:42 pace that morning and it all went quickly  downhill from there. Noticed a fairly large gathering for my Q which was obvious since I’m a celebrity in F3. Noticeably missing was Bobber.

The Thang

Told everyone what the plan was at 5:14. Which was, run to Berkshire Heights meet at the stop sign. Go clockwise around Berkshire stopping at every stop sign and doing 5 Hand-release Merkins, 5 X and O, 5 Jump Squats. There are 6 stop signs all the way around and one big hill the last 1/4 mile. The next loop add 5 more reps to same exercises for 10 of each. Everyone got over 2 loops some pushed for 3. Finished with 3.35 miles the others got 4. Thanks Badlands for the Q I enjoyed hearing the complaining  from the Pax.
Last thing men. Let’s show the world what a real man looks like. Be kind to strangers even if they think differently than you. Hold the door for a lady as she exits the store. Open the car door for your wife. Go buy her womanly things without bitching about it. Say your kids prayers at night while tucking them in. Push the buggy back inside the grocery store. Love you guys more than you will ever know.

 

COT
Prayers for Decibel son Noah and his recovery

 

 

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