Tag: Grout

Nov 2020 GC APFT

Leave a comment

11/17/20 Golden Corral APFT results

NAME                             MERKINS               BBSU                 RUN                   TOT/AVE
Grassy Knoll               68 (100%)               35 (63%)          17:32 (70%)      233 / 77.67%
Lutefisk                        57 (82%)                 55 (75%)           16:05 (75%)     232 / 77.33%
Grout                            50 (82%)                 40 (68%)           16:58 (75%)      225 / 75%
Cat 5                              64 (91%)                 40 (62%)           21:28 (40%)      193 / 64.33%
Crop Duster (FNG)    31 (55)%                42 (60%)           16:59 (71%)      186 / 62%

TClap |
0

Honoring Those Who Impact Us

Leave a comment

This week, on Wednesday, we honor all veterans who have served and continue to serve our nation.  As part of that theme, YHC decided to get a little jump start by assigning a workout where PAX would honor a veteran of their choosing and, based on the name(s) of those veterans, complete as many rounds as possible of exercises associated with the letters of their name.

We gathered as 5 to start and, by the time we moseyed roughly 1/4 mile for some COP, Olaf and Flounder joined in.

COP – 11 windmills D/C I/C, 5 burpees, 11 Imperial Walkers D/C I/C, 5 burpees, 11 Hillbilly Walkers D/C I/C, 5 burpees, mosey further up the lot because YHC did not like the smell of trash, continuing with… 11 low slow squats D/C I/C, holding the last rep and remaining in the peoples chair for 9 Moroccan night clubs and 9 shoulder taps – both D/C and I/C.  Legs were warm and off we moseyed to the board of the alphabet.

The main event was designed to be between 2 & 5 rounds and all PAX worked hard, likely did more wall sits than they would in most workouts and it seemed a lot of leg work was done, but the beauty of these workouts was the simple fact that PAX were doing these to honor someone who impacted them – someone who made them better in their life.  May we be so fortunate to do the same for others as a matter of everyday practice.

YHC called time with 3 minutes to spare and we moseyed back to COT for geometry class with a few positions on the protractor before 0600 hit and time was called.

Announcements – Read your newsletter, XMas Party coming up and Thanksgiving convergence at the Ranch with a little football in Lake Wylie afterwards.  Travis Manion WOD on 11-20 at the Swamp.

Prayers – for families, for Olaf’s Mom as she relocates and his step dad struggling with an addiction.  For DaVinici and discernment on the path forward.

Praise for Jekyll’s Dad who served in Vietnam and is spending a weekend with his family coming up and for all veterans who have served us all selflessly and have sacrificed so that we might enjoy the freedoms and blessings of this nation.

NMM –  Q-ing is an honor.  Leading is a privilege and serving is our greatest form of impacting others.  YHC is grateful to the men of F3 who continue to serve as visible reminders each day of what impact and positive ripple effect can look like.  I am humbled to be in your company and thankful that all of you keep me on a better path with you than without.  My thanks to Olaf for the opportunity.

With Gratitude,

Cyclops

TClap |
1

Mash-up

Leave a comment

JWOWW (Ruck) and YHC (Boot Camp) had the Qs at Golden Corral on Tuesday.  After the disclaimer, the groups departed from the circle for their respective workouts.

I thought I would try something a little different by combining two exercises together, call it a Mash-up. Like peanut butter and jelly, or like a song with two great singers (No Garth Brooks please!).

The details..one minute of exercises 1, exercise 2, and the Mash-up exercise.  Fifteen second rest recovery between exercises.

Exercise 1                     Exercise 2                      Mash-Up

Round 1                       Merkin                         Peter Parker                    Spiderman Merkin

Round 2                       Squat                           Step-up                           Jump Squat

Round 3                        LBC                              Mountain Climber      Freddie Mercury

Round 4                       Moroccan NC           Flutter                              Moroccan Flutter

Round 5                        Caroline DD             Parker Peter                   Dry Peter

Round 6                        Plank                          SSH                                    Plank Jack

Round 7                        Lunge                         Overhead Clap             Lunge Clap

Round 8                        Shoulder Tap          Ski Ab                               Ski Tap Ab

Round 9                         Imperial Walker     Calf Raise                       Imperial Calf Walker

Round 10                     Burpee                        Broad Jump                 Burpee Broad Jump

 

Once complete, we had about a minute to roll back to COT.

 

TClap |
1

Quagmire Gut Punch

1 Comment

Pulled this one out of the archives from a couple years back w/ some subtle changes.  I informed the men that we may run a bit seeing that I was coming off a week of vacation and needed to detox a bit.  Here we go:

Nice 0.8 mile mosey to get things started, behind the Depot, Target, down to Kohl’s and back up Rivergate Pkwy to the Sun Trust Bank, with stops every quarter mile for some quick stretching / warm-up (1st quarter mile – wind mills x10, 2nd – mountain climbers / merkins x20, 3rd – squats x10 in cadence)

The real thang, taking up the remainder of the time:  pax will run the remaining length of Rivergate Pkwy, and stop 10 times along the way and do the exercise and rep count I tell them.  To be clear, they do the same exercise and rep count 10 times until they get to the very end, and then run back to the start.  I then change the exercise and rep count up.  Each set of 10 stops was a 0.30 mile run down, and then you had to run back so 0.60 miles were covered for each exercise.

  • 5 burpees per stop = 50 burpees + 0.6 miles
  • 10 big boy sit-ups = 100 big boys + 0.6 miles
  • 15 jump squats = 150 jump squats + 0.6 miles (this one was a d1ck move)
  • 10 merkins = 100 merkins + 0.6 miles

From there, we were out of time and headed back to CoT.  One of these days we’ll get the full weinke in with a 5 / 10 / 15 / 15 / 10 / 5 rep ladder, ending in burpees a second time.  For today, the 500 reps inclusive of the warm-up and 3.2 miles was enough.

I mentioned to the pax that when I was reading my old back blast from a couple years back, I had noted in the write-up that DaVinci was back in the gloom after 2-3 months on IR.  He had spoken to us back then about preparedness, and how we need to prepare for the unexpected, because his IR stint took its toll and he wasn’t ready for what it would do physically, emotionally, relationally, you name it.  It was fitting to read what he said 2 years ago because I had a gut punch myself a week and a half ago.  But honestly, because of this group, and the arsenal of resources we’ve built up supporting one another, I’m more prepared now than ever to pray, lean on others and power through this minor set back.

Prayers were said for Tsunami and his wife, Olaf and his 36 years, and my situation.  I really appreciate the pax who came out and gave it their all, even though some of the things I asked of you were pretty mean.  You guys all did and it and didn’t complain.  Just got to work and kept sharpening your body for when the time comes you’ll need that extra bit of gumption.  Go get it.

Cha Ching

TClap |
8

Start Fast, Grow Steady, Finish Strong

Leave a comment

17 HIM descended upon the Swamp for a strong finish to the month of July.  YHC got a call from Duck Dynasty this week asking to step up and take the Q.  Upon arrival, YHC was greeted by a few early arriving #HIM and the remainder wandered in between 0507 and 0515 – well all but Olaf who came in hot and eventually caught up to us quickly at COP.

Disclaimers were announced and it was confirmed that no FNG’s were present today.

The theme of the workout, fittingly, was 7’s, 31’s and focusing on how we are finishing.  YHC laid out the theme and off we moseyed to the Home Depot Parking Lot for COP and the warm up – all exercises in cadence:

15 D/C Imperial Walkers, 5 burpees OYO, 15 hillbilly walkers, 5 burpees OYO, 10 low slow squats, holding the people’s chair we did 10 D/C Moroccan night clubs in cadence, held the chair for a Duck Dynasty 10-count and finished in the chair with 10 D/C shoulder taps in cadence.  5 more burpees OYO and then moved to 10 D/C seal jacks in cadence followed by 5 burpees OYO before moseying off to Target for the main event.

Main event – 7-31 – Start fast, finish strong.

Fittingly, July 31 required 7’s and 31’s on this relatively breezy morning.  PAX lined up to complete kracken burpees on one end of the parking lot, run roughly 50 yards and did lunges at the rate of 6 kracken burpees & 1 lunge, 5 & 2, 4 & 3, 3 & 4, 2 & 5 and 1 & 6.  After the 6 was in a short plank was called, after which we moseyed to the fountains for 15 D/C dips in cadence and then took on the 31’s to finish July strong.

31’s were a combination of merkins and squats – merkins on one end of the parking lot, followed by a run to the opposite end – roughly 200 (ish) yards and squats.  The sequence went as follows:

27 merkins, 4 squats

23 merkins, 8 squats

19 merkins, 12 squats

15 merkins, 16 squats

11 merkins, 20 squats

7 merkins, 24 squats

3 merkins, 28 squats

As the six came in all PAX, fittingly, got on their respective 6’s for 31 D/C (of course) flutters in cadence. A recover on our feet and a mosey to COT was called where PAX had just enough time for a 60 second protractor at varying degrees and a 30 second body destroyer put us right on 0600 and COT.

Announcements:

Sweati on 8-15 – launching from Colosseum (0530 for ruckers, 0600 for runners): Questions?  Get w/Backdraft.

Operation Stuff the Bus is a week from tomorrow, 8-8, starting at 0800: Bonsai is your Q.  Sign ups for 2 hour time slots are available.

Read Your Newsletter.

Prayers & praises were offered up both out loud and in the silence of our hearts.

NMM – The purpose of today’s workout was missional and aptly was held at the end of a calendar month – to start fast and finish strong.  In fulfilling our personal missions, it is imperative to answer the question “Are we intentional about how we finish or do we go through the motions and check the box?”  What would our M’s, 2.0’s and inner concentrica say if they were asked these questions about us?  Do we take the necessary steps to be thorough?  Do we take the extra minute or two in a conversation with a loved one to let them know we are present and available and not let our minds wander to the next task that lies ahead?   If you could look back at July, how purposeful was your month?  How did you “finish”?

Between 0500 and 0515 (or earlier to get EC) every weekday morning, we as PAX have the benefit of starting a workout with intentionality and purpose – completing that mission by 0600.  Do we take the same level of intentionality to our relationships, our families, our work?  How intentional is our time allocated and used?  We all get the same amount every day.  It is in finishing strong with that time that we make impact for the better and leave no doubt to those around us.  Start fast, and with purpose.  Finish strong to maximize your reach and impact.

YHC is grateful to Duck Dynasty for the opportunity to Q and to the PAX for encouraging the acceleration brought about by F3.

Start fast, grow steady, finish strong!

With Gratitude,

Cyclops

TClap |
7

APFT at Golden Corral, version 1 of 6

Leave a comment

2nd Tuesdays of the month at GC will be the APFT and we’ll track progress.

Mosey to Lake Wylie Brewing for 10 windmills, 20 imperial walkers, 10 low slow squats.  2 mins AMRAP merkins for count, 2 mins AMRAP big boy sit ups for count, and timed 2 mile run.

Points are awarded for count/time bracketed by age group.

PAX, # of reps/time (scores), then total points/ave points
Maximus, 71 merkins (98), 66 bbsu (89), 13:04 (100) = 287/95.7
Gears, 59 merkins (92), 61 bbsu (89), 14:15 (99) = 280/93.3
Dark Helmet, 74 merkins (100), 62 bbsu (90), 15:17 (90) = 280/93.3
Long Duck, 75 merkins (100), 37 bbsu (69), 15:59 (91) = 260/86.7
Change Order, 61 merkins (94), 54 bbsu (86), 16:48 (77) = 257/85.7
BOT, 73 merkins (98), 54 bbsu (74), 15:17 (83) = 255/85
Olaf, 62 merkins (87), 50 bbsu (69), 14:17 (92) = 248/82.7
Body Wash, 67 merkins (94), 32 bbsu (54), 15:31 (84) = 232/77.3
Grout, 44 merkins (76), 38 bbsu (66), 16:41 (78) = 220/73.3
Lutefisk, 52 merkins (76), 50 bbsu (69), 17:29 (63) = 208/69.3

It’ll be interesting to see the progress, we’ll be doing this 5 more times so don’t be afraid to start in July!

TClap |
10

Blue Light Special

Leave a comment

Nine men showed up this chilly morning expecting a mosey around the Harris Teeter parking lot.  Little did they know that I coordinated with Bobber to converge with the Coliseum Pax at Walmart.  After a quick disclaimer, I gave the Pax a general idea of what was in store.  We would be running, 1.3 miles to be exact.  Halfway there, Senator Tressell guessed we were on our way to Walmart.

We ran at a good pace and arrived before the Coliseum Pax.  We had enough time to circle up for some exercises (in cadence):

SSHs

Imperial Walkers

Moraccan Night Clubs

Hillbilly Walkers

Merkins

The Coliseum Pax arrived and we exchanged high fives and fish pumps.  Tesh was in his usually 20 degree shirtless attire.  Bobber called out the next set of exercises, Will Chamberlians. 100 sets of each exercise, running between the light poles:

LBCs, Flutters, American Hammers, Freddie Mercury.

We finished up with inch worm merkins and broad jump burpees between the two parking rows.

Our group headed back to HT for COT.

Great work everyone!

TClap |
3

Jack of all Kinds and The ShovelFlag Switch

Leave a comment

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!

 

 

 

 

TClap |
1

4 big boy corners

Leave a comment

Upon arrival, Darkest of All was already in 2020 form with the newly coined “traveling pants” extra credit.  A handful of brave (stupid) souls joined him for a 3-4 warmup prior to 0515.  As 0515 quickly approached, 10 was the number that came to play for what was an extremely warm late December morning.  Quick disclaimer and a short mosey over to the neighboring parking lot for some warm ups.  Started out with SSH, windmills, merkins, low slow squat, parker peters, then some stretching…yes, stretching.  Quad stretches followed by some shoulder and arm stretching.  Now that warming up was out of the way, YHC quickly mapped out where the 4 corners were going to take place.

Corner 1 – Old Navy; Corner 2 – Ulta; Corner 3 – Home Depot; Corner 4 – Best Buy / COT…this made for a 1.5 mile loop around the grounds we call Quagmire.  At each corner, the following exercises we performed:

  • 10 bomb jacks
  • 20 diamonds
  • 30 CDD
  • 40 jump squats
  • 50 flutters

Oh ya, the goal was to get to the corners via bear crawl….j/k, that would just be insane (please don’t anyone do this or Jedi may complain a little bit).  We used our legs and ran, but the goal was to run quickly.  Jedi and Cha Ching were the pacesetters while the rest of us mortals made sure we could still see them.

Once all had completed the one loop and all the exercises, making it around again with exercises in 15 min was not going to be worth the price of admission.  So we moved the 4 corners into closer range and proximity.  In the bigger Best Buy parking lot, we did a mini-4 corners but with a center starfish idea.  In each corner we did the merkin exercises with the center being 5 burpees (go do the corner, come back to the middle, repeat until all corners complete).

  • 20 wide arm
  • 20 diamond
  • 20 ranger
  • 20 partner derkins

With 7 or so minutes remaining, we did the same concept / idea but in MARY style.  In the center was 5 LBC.

  • 10 flutters
  • 10 hello dolly
  • 10 rosalita
  • 10 American hammers

Wrapped it up at 0600 and headed over to COT for name-o-rama, announcements and prayers and praises.  YHC didn’t bring any words of wisdom (like I have any…lol) today as this was a non-talking, mimimal mumblechatter, no-10 count kind of morning.  Yes, there was the occasional Jedi rib shot and DH “encouragement”, but pretty calm given the constant go.  Prayers go out to Milehigh who is nursing a knee injury.  Thanks for the call to lead, always appreciate it!

Shady

TClap |
1

Be A Helper

Leave a comment

Had a total of 7 men show up to end the year. I originally thought I wanted to do a partner workout till I reflected on the sermon of this past Sunday. It was set around looking for “The Helpers.” With that in mind I decided to do a workout that made everyone better together and focused on a no OYO.

So we all set out to four stations around Golden Corral and conducted a warm up at these 4 locations for a visual. We did one round of warm ups at each location with Side Straddle hops, Wind mills, Mericans, Cherry Pickers, Imperial/Hillbilly Walkers, and stuff.

So once the guys knew of the locations there was an exercise written at each Station. Between each station the mode of transportation was a brisk mosey. Station 1 exercise was a 50 double count of Flutter Kicks. Station 2 was a double count of Dying Cockroaches. Station 3 was a 50 count of LBC’s. Station 4 was a 25 count of The Claw (BRUTAL!!!).

We hit each station twice and then I gave the men a message/challenge for the new year. With all the challenges that we face we a lot of times only look at the bad things in life and push aside the positives. I opened up a little about my past of abuse, running away, and other struggles I faced growing up and informed them of “The Helpers” I had on my side to assist me in becoming a better person. To guide me away from the hardships of life to lift me up rather than leaving me in the gutter. I explained to them I don’t look at my past as something bad but something good, because of “The Helpers”. There was a lot more verbiage but the challenge I left the guys with was look out there and rather than bypassing it be That Helper. Be someone that gets into that Shield Lock. Or lifts someone up from the gutter.

After that we hit the Stations one more time. We were able to put in about 2.2 miles and about 500 reps of nothing but ab workout. These guys killed it and we did it together.

TClap |
4