Not Your Norm

WARMUP: Alternating side shuffles to the back lot. No regular jogging or any of that other nonsense!!
5 Jumps Squats. 10 Merkins I/C, 15 Should Taps I/C. 20 Peter Parkers I/C. 25 Calf Raises I/C.
THE THANG: Starting at the first light pole, NUR (backwards run) up the long hill stopping at every other light pole for 10 Carolina Dry Docks & 15 American Hammers.
Run back down to the 1/2 wall for 25 Muscle Ups on the wall.
Come back to the parking lot and line up on the cones.
Run to the second basketball goal and back to the starting line (est 70yds total) for 5 Burpees. Repeat this 9 more times for a total of 10 rounds.
MARY: Once completed, we executed a few slow cadence, form-focused exercises.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: There’s a newsletter, read it. FNG naming didn’t take long. These 2 men, now known as Yogi & White Hot were hustling this morning. T-claps to Shower Curtain with an assist from Long Duck on bringing them out.
COT: It stays there.

TClap |
6

Break Time at Golden Corral

We started the beautiful morning with a nice mosey around the dumpsters.  Thankfully, the one in the back had the aroma we were looking for.  Oh, the memories.

Circle Up:

10 Merkins, 20 Windmills,  15 CDD, 12 Cherry Perkins, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Parker Peters and 10 Peter Parkers.

Mosey to the front for some circle of Abs.

Low and behold her come the Ruckers and they needed some men to help them carry their coupons.  We joined them and did some Ruck Pushups, Coupon carries with shoulder press and squats and some Burpees.  We then carried the coupons to Napa where we parted ways.

We had an AMLAPs with 10 burpees, 20 CDD, 30 Squats, 40 LBC/Hello Dolly, 30 lunges, 20 Merkins and 10 Bomb Jacks then a lap.

Once finished we mosey to COT and ended with some boats and canoes, Cha Cha Planks, Windshield Wipers and X-O’s.

Good time was had by all.

Keep the Change Orders in your prayers.

TClap |
0

Stay Focused – Q-school edition

11 Pax this morning with more seasoned vets and less newer members than expected. A good thing for me as a newer F3 PAX, I knew I could delegate some of the portions of the Q school lessons for the day!

Fishstix brought two left shoes so decided he would just do this workout without any shoes…. I think we finally found a way to slow this HIM down!

WARMUP: Slapshot started us off with a brief intro for Q school, emphasizing how the workout Q is essential to the F3 mission. The importance of the disclaimer was discussed reminding PAX that an FNG likely doesn’t know what an FNG is, so good idea to ask if there are any new guys instead.

Slapshot finished his portion of the Q with an impeccable example of how to take control of the workout and lead the PAX by altering and dictating pace of SSH cadence calling.

YHC took over and led the PAX down to Dave Gibson to the IvyBrook Academy parking lot. There we planked and performed some shoulder taps while discussing warmups (or lack thereof at most running AOs)

Continued on down Dave Gibson to the entrance of the schools where we performed SSH and then Al Gored while discussing some important components of successful workout designs – Overpreparing, Writing down Weinke, Having quick hitters in your back pocket in case finish early (tabata, EMOM, etc)

THE THANG: Mickey Mouse Burpee Sandwiches

station 1 (near end of school drive): Wide-arm Merkins
station 2 (far end of school drive): Diamond Merkins
Mid-point: Burpees (always 5)

Progressive circuit – start with 3 reps of merkins on each end with 5 burpees in the middle. next round 6 merkins each side with 5 burpees in middle. continue adding 3 merkins to each side.

We SSH for the 6 at station 1 after each round and discussed various components of successful workout designs (pearls on a string, 3S2T, time-boxing, etc)

Made through 4 rounds and headed back to Earthfare lot.

With about 4 minutes to spare we did a little running around the parking lot with 5k pace on the shorter parking lot sides and jog pace on the longer sides.

Finished at 0600

COT: Announcements – Bourbon Tasting fundraiser Saturday – see Cyclops posts on Slack

……..oh yeah, if you haven’t heard….. I may have forgot the shovel flag this morning after the workout. This should be fun….

TClap |
2

Death by fest

WARMUP:

Mosey to back of AO to back parking lor to warmup

WINDMILLS

LOW AND SLOW SQUATS

PLANKS

PARKER  PETERS

PETER PARKERS

SHOULDER TAPS

5 BURPEES OYO

Run back to starting area, Karaoke both sides on way back.

THE THANG:

Death By

1 minute rounds, complete exercise and then rest until next round begins, it’s cumulative so gets impossible eventually and you will fail. When you do you complete penalty squats
We completed Death bys for three exercises, Burpees, Jump Squats and Merkins

BURPEES – 8 RDS. (108 total)

3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24

Only IJ completed 24

Bear crawl to cone halfway down lot

JUMP SQUATS – 9 RDS. (184 total)

3/6/10/15/20/25/30/35/40

Most of us failed in last rd.

Lunge walk to far end of lot

MERKINS- 8 RDS (108 total)

3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24

MARY: N/A
ANNOUNCEMENTS: (Rock, Hill) Coyote, Pull up bar install, (fort) Bethel, blood drive
COT: prayers for families

TClap |
1

Block Party at Block Party with Blocks

BLOCK PARTY Q – 03May2022
• Warm Up in the lot a minute or two with windmills, merkins, some stretching…
• Grab a partner and a block
• AMRAP – shooting for 4 or more
• 5 stops:
1. Parking lot Startex
2. Lot next to Hobo’s/Gazebo
3. Lot by Blue Ridge Financial Planning/MacAulay and Assoc
4. Lot just before corner at FM Dentistry
5. Lot after Bank

Round 1 – No Brick – at each stop:
– 15 burpees (each partner must do them all)
Round 2 – Take Brick – at each stop (each partner must do them all):
– 20 curls
– 20 Shoulder Press
– 20 Flutter with Press (double count – count the presses)

NMM:
– Olaf made coffee. At the AO. Plugged into a light pole. No one was surprised.
– Everyone likes running with Cinderblocks
– That is a lie.
– Fresh Prince came for his second post today. He did not break, so we presume he will be back.
– @peanutbutter was a no-show. I cried a little.
– Olaf and Johnny Utah almost kept up with Maximus and YHC, but we had a second block advantage. Basically it means they were CRUSHING it.
– Trucker only complained a little.
– That is a lie.

This is my report.

TClap |
0

Hard things make better men

6 faithful tackled the Tellier Hero WOD at Honey Badger this morning. After a quick warmup, we mosied to the field where we did the following:

The Thang

  • 10 Burpees
  • 200 yard run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 25 Push-Ups
  • 200 yard run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 25 Push-Ups
  • 50 Lunges
  • 200 yard run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 25 Push-Ups
  • 50 Lunges
  • 100 Sit-Ups
  • 200 yard run
  • 10 Burpees
  • 25 Push-Ups
  • 50 Lunges
  • 100 Sit-Ups
  • 150 Air Squats
  • 200 yard run
  • 1 lap

Totals:

  • 50 Burpees
  • 100 Merkins
  • 150 Lunges
  • 200 Sit-ups
  • 150 Squats
  • 1.6 Miles

NMM

Background: Dedicated to U.S. Sgt. Zachary D. Tellier, 31, of Charlotte, NC (USA) a combat infantryman with the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, at Fort Bragg. He died Sept. 29, 2007, of wounds sustained while on a ground patrol in Afghanistan.

The previous April, Tellier’s unit was conducting a mounted patrol when one of its vehicles drove over and detonated a bomb, which set the vehicle on fire, according to a statement from the 82nd Airborne. Tellier pulled two paratroopers out of the vehicle to safety, suffering severe burns to his hands. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with valor for his actions.

After he was burned, Tellier jumped up in the turret to return fire, said Sgt. Michael Layton, a member of Tellier’s unit. A lieutenant made Tellier get out of the vehicle because of his injuries, Layton said. “Zachary Tellier has to be the biggest hero I’ve ever known or heard of, not just because of what he did, but because of his personality,” Layton said. “He came in the Army because he wanted to be around soldiers and serve his country, and he paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

Tellier is survived by his wife, Sara Tellier of Atlanta, Ga.; his father, David W. Tellier of Groton, Mass.; and his mother, Pamela Rodriguez, of Falmouth, Mass.

A few of us just returned from a weekend as part of Sandlot JAX. The weekend included difficult rucking events, obstacle courses, strength training, and Fit talks by war heroes, world-renowned authors, and fitness experts. One speaker talked about mindset. The easiest mindset to take is the victim mindset. Next is the pessimist, followed by the optimist and realist. But the highest level we should strive to achieve is the curious competitor. The curious competitor actively seeks out difficulties and challenges. There are two rules: find something hard and don’t die doing it. We are made to do hard things. But, because of comfort, we avoid those challenges. But how are we to get better if we never step out of our comfort zone? I encourage you to do something hard every day. You will either succeed or learn what doesn’t work. The key point is to try. When you do the hard thing now, you are preparing yourself for the future hard thing. You have been gifted this life. Don’t waste it on Easy Street.

Aye!

Italian Job

TClap |
1

Hair Club for HIMs & others Conquer the Rooster

10+ pax of The Fort posted in The Gloom of Rock Hill amid heavy rain, high winds & falling temps to chase the rooster around the loop for 26+ miles.  Pax from Gashouse & Lake Wylie plus some FiA teams also joined the HIMs of The Rock for the CSAUP adventure, raising funds for Bethel Men’s Shelter in the process.

The Thang

Team relay consisting of 1 mile loops

25 loops completed in the following order:

JWOW
38 Special
NASA
Old Bay
Double D

Team completed 26th lap together for a total of 6 miles each, finishing in 3:35.

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Congrats to HCHIMs on a great morning!  New milestones reached included:

  • First relay for JWOW and 38 Special
  • Return to The Gloom for Old Bay
  • Renewed lessons for NASA in tent set up in the midst of uncooperative weather
  • New glamour shots for YHC & JWOW in mullet wigs

Shout out to IJ, Longshanks, Cornerstone, Straight Up and Vuvuzela on their successful finishes with RH teams.

T-claps to Blueprint and Ponytail in Rock Hill for putting on a great event and to Catfish and Reborn for keeping The Rock solid!

These CSAUP events are as much about the fellowship with pax of The Fort and other regions as they are about pushing through the pain of the fitness elements (and the weather!).  A COT that includes a cold beer is a pretty good thing!

Six days until the Yeti!  Make it great!

TClap |
2

Coast to Coast Qs

A mid-week substi-Q request left YHC a bit concerned on how to fill an hour of pain. Fortunately, the request was picked up by an old friend of The Fort that now resides on the other coast, 88.

88 and YHC met early to get a lay of the land. He volunteered to lead us off, but needed to know where a few things were. It was a dark and chilly morning, and the wind was cutting.

14 PAX gathered just before 0630hrs, and all got to meet the brother from the Gold Rush Territory. With one fresh face in the crowd, a strong disclaimer was given, along with the 5 core principles.

The Fort broke off from Milkshake for a little mosey to the back side of the Pike Engineering.

COP
10 Merkins IC
20 SSH IC
10 Squats IC

Then we moseyed to the entrance of Pike Engineering, and did a set of Minus 2 at the masonry knee walls. Starting with 20 incline merkins and rotating with dips, we did all the reps and eventually made it to 0. The high numbers and pain cause confusion for several PAX, but we won’t name names here, will we Italian Job?

88 led us on a mosey back to WEP, where cones were laid out in 4 corners.
• First lap included 10 merkins at each cone
• Second lap included 20 squats at each cone
• Third lap included 30 Mountain Climbers at each cone
• Fourth lap included all of the reps – 10 merkins, 20 squats and 30 mountain climbers at each cone

88 handed off to YHC and we started at the front of the amphitheater.

Typically, if I have prepared a message, it’s because I need to hear it. Several things have prevented me from posting consistently over the last month, and I can feel it when I do make it out. So, in a plank position, I went over Q3.10 Consistency – “The Consistent Leader is constant and regular in everything he does. His followers are drawn to him because his steadiness provides a safe harbor from the howling winds of Chaos and Flux that blow periodically through their own lives. He is their rock.”

Recover and run one lap around WEP, performing 5 burpees at each swing. Cyclops and Italian Job led the way, with Clickbait giving chase. “5 more” burpees were continued in front of the amphitheater while waiting for the 6, or Stang to return from the woods. Stang was incredibly uncomfortable in the open area of the park, constantly gazing towards the trees. I’m not sure if the sun rising early helped either.

“Strong Routines are the framework of Consistency.” We in F3 know what to do. Wake up and exercise, everyday, We shouldn’t have to think about it, just do it. Remove unnecessary decisions, and create routines.

Next up, Dan Taylors. All the way across the WEP field. A few PAX wanted to play on the playground, and I heard rumblings of other shenanigans, but feared turning around to see what they were doing. The field was longer than I thought, but we got 55 squats and 220 lunges in.

“The Virtuous Leader focuses on bandwidth not perfection.” Reminded the PAX that consistency will help minimize the flux in our life. This isn’t about perfection, but about limiting the lows in our life. The things that keep us away from a healthy lifestyle that enables us to lead.

We moseyed back to CoT, and with a minute to spare, got 5 Mike Tysons – Bear crawl and Crawl bear in to close it out.

We welcome FNG Spit Valve, had prayers and praises for those at D2D and to those in Ukraine and affected by the conflict in Ukraine. T-claps to Clickbait who is organizing some relief efforts to that part of the world.

Thanks again to 88 for answering the call to lead! We look forward to your return.

TClap |
2

Chest, Core, and Broga

8 total (3 runners and 5 broga booters) ascended on Varsity for a chest and core smokefest followed by flipping dogs broga at the hands of Sasquatch. Here’s what we did:

The Thang

  • 10 SSHs (IC)
  • 10 Seal Jacks (IC)
  • 10 Low Slow Squats (IC)

Mosey around the lot to the breezeway

  • 10 Merkins (IC)
  • 10 LBCs (IC)
  • 10 Wide Arm Merkins (IC)
  • 10 American Hammers (IC)
  • 10 Scorpion Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Freddies (IC)

Mosey around the lot and back to the breezeway

  • 10 Staggered Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Hello Dollies
  • 5 Diamond Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Rosalitas
  • 5 Windmills (IC)
  • 60 second plank

Mosey around the lot and back to the breezeway

  • 10 Carolina Dry Docks (IC)
  • 10 Boxcutters (IC)
  • 10 Dive Bombers
  • 10 Butterfly LBCs
  • 10 Burpees

Mosey around the lot and back to the breezeway

  • 12 Derkins
  • Transition to Sasquatch for Broga

NMM

Today’s workout was not easy, but I’m reminded that we “get to” do this. We are privileged to have the freedoms and abilities to assemble at our leisure to workout and talk about anything and everything on our minds. In the current state of affairs, today was a reminder of how blessed we are.

Yesterday I watched a video of a father saying goodbye to his 6-ish year-old daughter as she and her mom evacuated their town mere the hours before being attacked. I cried at the thought he may never see his family again as a foreign country invades his homeland. It really put things in perspective. These atrocities are happening while I continue to live life with minor inconveniences. I was able to wake up this morning, drive to a workout, spend time with friends, and come home to a warm shower, in my home, and have breakfast with my family. It breaks my heart that we live in a world where there is utter disregard for the wellbeing of others. In times like these, it’s imperative that we hug our families tighter, show grace and compassion to others, and be the steadfast beacon of light in a dark world. We must stand firm in our convictions and quell the fears of our families. Join me in praying for the people of Ukraine. Ask for protection of the innocent and vulnerable and give wisdom to global leaders. Pray for our service men and women as they prepare for potential deployment. Ask for humility for the proud and pray for peace in the face of fears and adversity.

Aye!

Italian Job

TClap |
5

Celebrities, Cinder Blocks, Disney…a perfect morning at BAOPS

The threat of snow did not intimidate as a total of 14 PAX converged on the Rock, er BAOPS, er Alcatraz. In addition to the Nation representation, we were graced with the dulcet(er) tones of Funny Bonz, er…Hello Kitty. Man, if only we had CSPAN, Repeato, Tommy Boy and Bones in attendance, we would’ve had all the Podcasting staff present. Next time.
Right from the jump, the chatter was strong, exactly how it should be. We had snow jokes, road jokes, hugs, rookie jokes, Q-Source jokes, age jokes and a whole bunch of things not made for print. A morning that will live in infamy, or, maybe not.

With the first half of this morning’s installment brought to you by Maximus (3rd person), I (1st person) did give the disclaimer. You could imagine how that went. Something to note, I did advise the PAX who got there early, they should stretch and warm up as necessary ‘cuz ain’t no side straddle hops, imperial walkers or windmills were to be had.

So, we made our way to the top of the park to the pull up bars. Every member of the PAX had to complete 10 pull ups and while you weren’t pulling yourself up, you were completing your best rendition of the American Hammer. Go until completion.
Next, run to the bottom of “the hill”; don’t worry, I scouted for slick roads ahead of time.
At the bottom of the hill, 10 Burpees and 10 Carolina Dry Docks
Run up for 5 more pull ups
Run back to the bottom for 10 Burpees and 20 Merkins.
NUR back to the top for flutter kicks until the 6 rolled in.

To the parking lot and grab a cindy out of my truck bed (or a KB)
10 Overhead Press
20 Staggered Merkins (10ea side)
30 Curls
40sec count while holding legs out at 6″ and cindy overhead

40 Overhead Press
30 Merkins (15ea side)
20 Curls
10sec count as done above

50 Bent over rows
10 Thrusters

My job is done…time for Italian Job

Short mosey to the field for:
11’s from foul pole to foul pole with the exercises consisting of
Mickey Mouse Merkins (Walt Disney World Merkins) at one end and squats at the other.
No doubt at this point, the PAX had a severely confused puppy dog look on their face because IJ was all like, “Ya know, Disney…WDW, Wide-Arm, Diamond, Wide Arm.”
And all of us were like, “Oh yeah…of course”…eye roll.
This my friends, is a sure-fire way to make a statement. It became very clear that unless your name is Italian Job, Senator Tressel, Trucker, Olaf and perhaps Mainframe, your form was garbage come about Disney Merkin #6.

Carry on

Now, run around the entire field then 25 Calf Raises.
Next up, run another lap then 25 Freddy Mercury’s.
Finally, another lap.

NMM (In the words of Italian Job):
“Always a pleasure to share the gloom with you men. A question for you, What’s holding you back? Is it time, energy, money, expertise – all of these? Excuses only sound good to the person making them. Whatever you desire is on the other side of effort. If it was easy, everyone would do it. If you want it, go get it. Dominate the day!”

And like that, we’re out. Until next time…
Italian Job & Maximus

TClap |
6