Tag: Half Shell

Sandbags and a few tests at Currahee

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Currahee (April 13, 2021)

The term Currahee, as suggested by Site Q, Divac, references a Cherokee word meaning “Stand alone together.” This is the motto of the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division made known to most of us civilians through the HBO series, Band of Brothers. Over the last few months, Currahee has become synonymous with more difficult and become an AO where you come to be tested. With that understanding, it was now my responsibility as the Q for this morning to bring it.

Earlier in the week, I put the call out for this rendition to be a “heavy” version meaning, if you had a sandbag, bring it. Whether it was a 40lb, 120lb or a log, bring it. The PAX didn’t disappoint. This picture is before Site Q Divac dropped his 2 onto the pile.

Disclaimer for the 13 PAX: Check

Move ourselves and the coupons over to the turn in the drop-off lane.

Slick: SSH, Mountain Climbers, Windmills, 8ct Burpees, ½ the PAX sprint one way and back while the other ½ sprint the other way and back.

Explanation that during events, the Cadre’s will be yelling at you, testing you and giving you difficult time hacks to test the team. Utilizing a common test, the PAX had 10 seconds to empty their ruck of its contents. Penalty, 5 burpees. PAX then had 20 seconds to fill it back up…pass.
Do it again. 10 seconds to empty = fail, penalty. 15 seconds to fill = fail, penalty.

Ruck up and move all sandbags to the back of the school, drop in the center of the group.

10 Merkins / 20 Peter Parkers / 30 Slow Squats

Sandbags to the front of the school

10 Merkins / 20 Curls / 30 Flutters w/ Press

10 seconds to empty the ruck / 15 seconds to fill the ruck…penalty

Sandbags to the back of the school

10 Merkins / 20 OH Press / 30 High Pulls

Sandbags to the front of the school

Heels to Heaven

Man Makers

American Hammers

Groups of 3 run 30yds, slick while rest of the PAX plank. Complete till everyone goes through.

COT

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Introducing Q-Source at Quagmire

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YHC took the reins at Quagmire for a science experiment after listening to the roundtable podcast last week with Short Circuit and Stinger talking Q-Source. I really enjoyed the substantive portion of the 43 feet where Doah and Dredd would discuss the Q point of the week last year and have been looking to fold that into my routine while also needing to improve my rucking performance in preparation for the Growruck22 coming at the end of the month. Unfortunately lately I have been pretty busy so have missed out on the Q source discussions that Tesh and Anchorman have been leading here around the Fort so with the attendance numbers already suffering at Quagmire I felt the need to switch some things up to hopefully draw out a consistent group of PAX by offering a high-level intro/discussion to the Q-source. So YHC brought out the whiteboard and like Collin Powel says if you are 60% ready just go ahead and start. I had a desire and the Q schedule was open so I took the leap into trying to give an introductory to Qsource which will be henceforth referred to as Q-Source @ Quagmire.
This week we started off with the high-level intro to the four quadrants of the q-source by performing four corners at the perimeter of the Quagmire AO. The whiteboard had the four quadrants listed and at each corner of the AO we were going to learn about the respective quadrant. Giving the initial PAX that showed up and their experience in rucking YHC made the call that we were all going to ruck up and head to the first corner of Quagmire, which is Home Depot parking lot, to learn about the first quadrant of the G3L which is the Get Right. Normal exercises were performed and while everyone held a plank YHC read the introduction to the first quadrant of the G3L from the pocket-sized Q-Source. Mosey shuffle to the second corner of Quagmire which is the Ulta Beauty where we did some exercise and learned about the Live Right. Mosey to the corner of Steel Creek and Tryon where we learned about the Lead Right and exercises were performed and finally mosey back to ChickFilA/Bestbuy to learn about the Leave Right. A few minutes left so we continued over towards the PetsMart for some bear crawls and some lunges until it was 6:00.
COunt-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, Announcements/ Prayers/Praises and finally YHC asked Flunder to close out the COT as only he can.
Thanks guys for letting me try this and for the feedback.

NMM:
Man, what a privilege it is to have the triple respect Flounder join us in the gloom every week and while his skills at calling cadence are still being refined his ability to close out a COT is second to none. His drive and desire to push himself to try and keep up with fellow PAX half his age is awe-inspiring and reminds me to challenge myself to push harder and get better.
Thanks to the PAX for allowing me to try this out and for the candid feedback on how we can improve in the near future.

Next week I look forward to my man HalfShell covering Q point 1.10 which is Prayer if you happen to be following along with the idiotic numbering system….
We will only cover the Socratic and the Spurs during the ruck workout and hope to have some discussion about how we as men today are trying to hone our skills and fulfill our “Get Right” responsibility to become HIM.

As always feel free to hit me up to discuss further any suggestions or roadblocks that you see might hinder our progress. Thanks again in advance for allowing me to attempt to fill a void I have been having.

Stay frosty my friends,
Build your guardrails out of bricks!
Olaf

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Take that, treats!

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IIRC, the last and only time YHC has Qed at Golden Corral was partnering with Slapshot over a year ago, so when Lutefisk said there was an opening, it was time to step up. I had quite a few devious plans built up for Q-vengence over the years of getting my arse handed to me by HIM left and right and had a hard time settling on just one, but then, it came to me in a vision… The PAX were forewarned to bring lights.

the gloom

I pulled into the Corral just in time and saw Skipper, Half Shell, Lutefisk, Geronimo, Fire Marshall Bill, and Nasa waiting to see what awful nastiness would ensue. The disclaimer was disclaimed after I verified Skipper’s identity, because I’m bad with names.

Warm up

LOL, wut?

The thang

Run to the light (okay, no traffic, let’s cross at Burn) and head to Dunkin. Circle up for 15 SSH and 15 Monkey Humpers (faces facing away from Dunkin). This is where Olaf caught up with us.

The next leg was supposed to stop at Brewsters, but a couple of female runners were stretching in front of the building, and I don’t like looking like a creeper, so we just kept going until we got to Abbot’s (YHC was reminded a few times that we were doing a Bootcamp during this leg). 10x merkins and 10x monkey humpers.

Last leg, run to the Model A parking lot and look for any PAX from Colosseum (I talked to Slapshot and he said they’d make their way there if possible).

Quick DORA to wait and see if Colo shows up, only got past the first round but this is what was called:
100 BBSU, 100 Leg Lift, 200 LBC
Partners would run around the parking lot islands or bear crawl to the middle island and back (an option that was picked only twice!)

YHC kept a close watch on the time to ensure we’d get back in time, and with 20 min left, we retraced our steps. The first leg ended in the Gamestonks parking lot (at the top of the hill) for 10x Peter Parker and 10x Parker Peter.

The next leg, YHC began slowing down, but the PAX waited for me at Brewsters and were doing some very nice looking flutters. When YHC arrived we added 10x Low Slow Squat and 10x Imperial Walkers.

Next leg back to Dunkin, where I was smoked by the rest of the PAX, who were doing overhead clap when I arrived, and we busted out more monkey humpers before using the crosswalk.

Finally we converged on the S wall of HT for people’s chair with bear crawl chain. Then BTTW chain with a run (PAX really ran fast here). About 90 seconds left, we took our one and only ten count before a 45s BTTW (countdown by YHC) and back to COT.

COT

Hyped the Yeti and prayed for a Geronimo’s new job and some PAX who were hoping to find something new to do.  Wives were also mentioned (context omitted).

nmm

I generally try to find some kind of message for my Qs, but today was all about stupid fun. My original plan was a bit more ambitious than my body is prepared to pull off, and far more running than a BC should be (this idea will be a thing in the future, though).

Seriously, though. Fun is what I needed.  Fun has been in short supply over the last 11 months.  The kind of fun where you’re laughing, gasping and wheezing because you choose to do something a bit too ambitious and everyone smoked you, but it doesn’t matter because you’re all part of one big stupid group of fun.  And my Garmin says I burned 731 calories during this fun.

Monkey Humpers facing away from Dunkin and the ice cream shops were part of that fun. I hope security personnel get a hearty laugh or a “WTH” look on their faces if we were on camera, too.

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Doing Time at Laces In

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Nine men turned themselves in to the Federal prison of Fort Mill (at Laces In).

Mosey Run (Toy soldiers, Butt Kickers, High Knees)
Warm up:
SSH (IC 12x)
Windmill (IC 12x)
Imperial Walker (IC 12x)
Moroccan Nightclub (IC 12x)
Low Slow Squats (IC12x)
Peter Parker (IC 12x)
Plank stretches
Downward dogs
Honeymooners

Thang 1 Prison Yard Burpees
Playlist (below) begins.  Four cones in a square pattern, each about 45 feet apart (this is your prison yard). The convicts do: Ten burpees at cone 1, then bear crawl to cone 2. Nine burpees at cone 2, bear crawl to cone 3. Eight burpees at cone 3, bear crawl to cone 4. Seven burpees at cone 4, bear crawl to cone 1. Keep bearcrawling around and continue in similar manner 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, ending with 1 burpee. Sum is 55 burpees this round.
When done: flutter kicks for the six

Short mosey run

Thang 2 Bench work
Convicts get a parole hearing and approach the bench(es) at the school entrance.
20 incline merkins
20 Dips
20 step ups, 10 ea leg
20 decline merkins
20 butt touch squats
20 calf raises

Parole was denied, all pax go to back to prison
Short mosey run

Thang 3 More Prison Yard Burpees
Start at the first cone again but begin with 6 burpees and transportation is lunge walk between the cones. Thus doing 6,5,4,3,2,1 burpees. Sum of 21 this round, and 76 burpees total.

Short mosey run

Thang 3 Global Warming (A.K.A. “Chain Gang”)
Did: bobby hurleys,, LBC, Freddie mercuries, gas pumpers, amer hammers, merkins

Thang 4 Sally routine 
Moby’s “Flower”, we did leg lifts: bring Sally up= legs up; bring Sally down= 6 inch leg hold.
Song is about 3:30, I think about 23 ups/downs.  No prison reference here, unless you don’t care for the song.

Fini
COT

Playlist
Hendrix “All Along the Watchtower”
Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Blues”
The Clash “I fought the Law”
Inner Circle “Bad Boys”
Thin Lizzy, “Jailbreak”
Elvis Presley, “Jailhouse Rock”
Green Day “Longview” (prison/jail themed songs kinda ran out)
Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song”
Foo Fighters “Everlong”

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Live in the PRESENT

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Matthew 6:34, MSG translation, “Give your attention to what God is doing today, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come when the time comes.”

If you’re like me, living in the present moment is unfortunately a rarity. On the homefront I may be PHYSICALLY present but my mind is somewhere else negatively impacting my engagement with my family. At work I find myself focusing on deadlines and things in the future which negatively impact my communication with my team members and clients. My general concerns I have about this election, the future of our nation, what will happen next, etc. just wears me out. What I have learned is that having my head in the future (or even thinking about the past) robs me of joy and leaves me feeling anxious. We miss out on real living with this mindset. Matthew 6:34 reminds us that we need to give God our tomorrow in order to find peace and real living today.

Warm Up –

Light yog around the parking lot
Karaoke
Butt Kickers
Toy Soldiers
Side Straddle Hops
Tappy Taps
Windmills
Arm Circles
Downward Dog
Honeymooner

Main Event –

Bench Workout which includes multiple sets of derkins, dips, and incline merkins

Parking Lot bear crawl together as a group, multiple stops during the crawl for merkins, burpees, squats, mountain climbers, planks. Run back to starting line

Mode of transportation changed to Broad Jumps repeating the workouts in between.

Mode of tansportation changed to Crawl Bear repeating the workouts in between.

Cool Down –

Ran to bottom of the entrance drive. 20 flutter kickers each leg, run to the top of the hill, 20 LBCs. Rince and repeat X4.

End at COT

Thanks Slapshot for the opportunity and the big orange jug of agua…..

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The Hammer

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Seven strong Pax showed up for a little rain and a little pain. Stumbled across a ruck WOD that was simple (no weinke needed) and brought the right amount of pain.

Here is how it went……

Rucked over to the YMCA yard and partnered up to accomplish the following

300 Ruck Swings

300 Big Boy Sit Ups (with ruck)

300 Squats

300 Curls

Partner 1 got reps while partner two performed an overhead ruck carry the length of the field and ran back for flapjack.

 

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Honoring Schmalstieg at The Fire Ant

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Taking a page out of the Honey Badger book by using a page out of the Hero Workout book. This day at the Fire Ant, we’d honor Gunnery Sergeant Justin Schmalstieg (December 15, 2010).

First, disclaimer.
Second, minor warmup.
Third, drop to the plank and listen:

Justin grew up in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and graduated high school in 2000. He spent a semester at Penn State before enlisting in the Marine Corps, where he initially trained as a bulk fuel specialist. After serving overseas in Kuwait, Justin was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and was accepted into the Explosive Ordnance Disposal program. He finished the demanding training required to become an EOD technician and completed two deployments in the Middle East.

In 2008, Justin received orders to Camp Pendleton in California to serve with the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group. He deployed twice more, first to Iraq in February 2009 and then to the Helmand province of Afghanistan in September 2010. During a night mission, Justin’s unit was in danger of being ambushed – it was his job to clear the way back to base. Staff Sergeant Justin Schmalstieg, 28, gave his life on December 15 while working to render safe an improvised explosive device. He is survived by his widow, Ann Schneider; his parents, John and Deborah Gilkey; and his brother, John Gilkey Jr. For his service and sacrifice, Justin was posthumously decorated with the Purple Heart and promoted to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.

The EOD WArrior Foundation is dedicated to supporting EOD service members and their families through a number of assistance programs. Please consider making a donation in Justin’s name at www.EODWarriorFoundation.org/Memorial/Warrior/Justin-E-Schmalstieg.

So, the WOD would be slightly modified for our Ruck AO to the following:

For Time:
Run 800M Slick (without Ruck)

2 rounds of the following:
50 Burpees (slick)
40 Pull-Ups would be substituted with 80 Upright Rows
30 One-Legged Pistol Squats
20 Ruck Swings
10 Hand Stand Push Ups would be substituted with 10 Carolina Dry Docks & 10 Merkins

Run another 800M Slick (without Ruck)

Once we completed this, we did a few core exercises.

Until next time, SYITG.
Maximus

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Mash-up

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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.

 

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Lead, Then Get Out of the Way

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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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