Tag: Italian Job

Are You Committed?

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YHC had the honor to share the Q with Dark Helmet in celebration of his six years in F3. The disclaimer was disclaimed and the group split between The Fort and Milkshake. Here’s what we did:

  • 10 Imperial Walkers (IC)
  • 10 Low Slow Squats (IC)
  • 10 MNCs, Overhead Claps, Raise the Roofs, Little Baby Arm Circles (IC)

Mosey to the back parking lot

  • 20 Burpees
  • Lap
  • 40 Merkins
  • Lap
  • 60 Squats
  • Lap
  • 80 Little Baby Arm Circles
  • Lap
  • 100 Calf Raises
  • Lap
  • 80 LBCs
  • Lap
  • 60 American Hammers
  • Lap
  • 20 Burpees

Transition to Dark Helmet

For DOAH’s half, we ran around downtown to various parking lots for mumblechatter, Burpees, Bear Crawls, Flutters, and a myriad of other “fun” things. At each stop, he spoke to the 5 Core Principles, the Credo, and various other lessons on becoming a better man through F3. He’s an example of how a man can change if he commits.

So, are you committed? Without commitment, nothing happens. Commitment is required for any gains; gains in your fitness, faith, marriage, work, and life. Commitment is not a feeling. It’s a requirement to get through the hard times. We post in the heat, cold, rain, or shine. Why? Because doing the hard thing at the hard times prepares you for the the future. Commitment isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary to get you prepared for the next hard thing. You can’t get out of something that you don’t put into.

Six years ago, DOAH made the first commitment to daily investment into his fitness. Because of his efforts, he’s down over 50 pounds and up hundreds of new friends. He’s a better husband, father, and leader. What’s his secret? Commitment to betterment – the daily red pill. You have to commit if you want to see gains. Get after it, fellas. Today’s your day. Take it!

Aye!

Italian Job

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7

Back at the Swamp

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We had 12 Pax for the Friday morning workout at Rivergate.  After the disclaimer, the boot and ruck groups split up.

The boot camp group moseyed to the front of Buffalo Wild Wing for the following warm-up exercises:  SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, and Plank Stretches.

Next, we ran over to Khol’s for a round of 11s between the curbs.  Carolina Dry Docks, Bear Crawl, LBCs, and Crab Walk back.  When we were finished, we headed back to the front of Target.  The message, “Go as fast as you want but when you arrive at the Target, burpees until the six arrives.”  The message was not a deterrent, a few of the guys ran ahead and completed about 10 burpees before  the rest of the group arrived.

We continued to the fountain for a round of Dora.  One partner ran around the parking lot while the other partner started on the leg heavy routine.

100 Jump Squats

200 Step ups

300 Lunges

Back to COT.

Great job everyone!

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Just. Keep. Posting.

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On a crisp 48 degree morning, a similar # of pax posted for a convergence at The Fort/Milkshake to commemorate 8 yrs of pain and impact in the Gloom of Fort Mill, SC and elsewhere in York County.   The occasion drew pax from Rock Hill, Metro and Raleigh.

The Thang

Double D led a warm up with yog to the Church of God parking lot plus some Carioca

COP — Mtn Climbers, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, Monkey Humpers, SSH, Seal Jacks, Merkins

Hand off to Jekyll

Yog up the hill to the rug factory lot and a re-introduction to, yes, you guessed it  — The Board Pain!!!

See photo for the Weinke from here….or check your soreness today (Sunday) for those who were present.  A Jekyll Classic!  Heard at F3 from Redwood @Santini “I’ve been avoiding this Board for years…100 Burpees!!”

Yog back home

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

8 years…Is that a long time?  Well, the average time of degree completion for US college students is 6 years.  Only 50% of startups make it to the 5th year mark.  So, I suppose 8 years qualifies as something of a landmark.  At the same time, I don’t personally remember much about being 8 years old.  What about the 8 years from 2-10 years old?  Or maybe 10-18 years old?  Yes, I remember more…and if I had my way I’d like to forget some of those moments!

Well, I can remember quite a bit of the past 8 years.  I quite clearly remember 9.29.12…a date etched in my memory like my wedding day, my daughters’ birth dates and my birthday.

As I reflect back on 8 years of #Impact delivered by the men of F3TheFort, what really matters is 10.06.12 and 10.13.12.  You see, those were the Saturdays when pax returned to WEP for week 2 and week 3.  And FNGs posted for their own personal version of #TheLaunch.  And then Saturdays became Tuesdays, too.  And then a short time later they also became Thursdays.   In the end, what matters the most is not what happened in the past, but what happens today.  Or what will happen tomorrow when pax post to one of 30+ workouts across Fort Mill/Tega Cay or 70+ workouts across York County.

Just. Keep. Posting.  The one true constant across life is #Change.  Since 2012, I’ve moved to a different house,  nurtured two chicks out of the nest, collected a paycheck from two additional employers and traversed through a lot of ups and downs.  One of my rocks during this period has been the community of #HIMs known as F3TheFort.  You’ve been steady in your acceptance of me each time I post.  And along the way, you’ve revealed to me more and more parts of myself as you’ve revealed parts of yourself.  I know I’m all the better for it, and so is my family.  I’m pretty certain you’re better too.  And in the process our town, county and country are also better.

So, yes, we should take heart in what’s transpired over the past 8 years.  It is remarkable.  It is a blessing.  Some might call it a miracle….or miracles.  And the only way to honor this fruit and express our gratitude to God and the men who’ve contributed (past and present) is to Just. Keep. Posting.  Because if a day ever comes when no one posts…well…let’s Just. Keep. Posting.

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8

The Equalizer

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9 got better this morning and 1 got lighter as we tackled a routine I call “The Equalizer.”  Conditions we’re perfect for a sweatastic Merkin Mile beatdown. Here’s what we did…

The Thang

  • 5 Burpees

Run to the 1st entrance of Brayden

  • 10 Wide Arm Merkins

Run to Dave Gibson Blvd

  • 20 Bobby Hurleys

Run to Dam Rd

  • 30 Ranger Merkins

Run to Tara Plantation

  • 40 Squats

Run to YHC’s House

  • 50 Merkins

Run to Tara Plantation

  • 40 Calf Raises

Run to Dam Rd

  • 30 Diamond Merkins

Run to Dave Gibson Blvd

  • 20 Lunges

Run to 1st Entrance of Brayden

  • 10 Tempo Merkins

Run back to Earth Fare

  • 10 Tempo
  • 20 Lunges
  • 30 Diamond
  • 40 Calf Raises
  • 50 Merkins

Circle the lot

  • 10 Wide
  • 20 Bobby Hurleys
  • 30 Ranger
  • 40 Squats
  • 50 Merkins

Mosey back to COT

  • 5 Burpees

NMM
This workout was designed to have the PAX finish together. How do you keep the non-gazelles with the sub-6 minute milers at a running AO? Add Merkins.
As expected, Scalp and Gears had the major lead in the running portion. But as we closed in on the final assault at Earth Fare, Dark Helmet took the lead and never looked back. Major kudos to Band Camp and his Merkin prowess for powering through to the top-5 after the run. As usual, Gekko, Quack Attack, and Fish Sticks finished towards the top. And though he doesn’t like to admit it, Sugar Daddy is starting to look like a runner. Spider-Man did bail early, but when nature calls, you know, you answer. I understand he looked three shades brighter and 2 pounds lighter after his…break.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead. I know this is more Merkins than normal for STL (as noted by the grunting and grumbling), but it’s the only way I could keep up with you fast guys. But as usual, you men persevered and powered through. You did the hard thing and you’re better for it.

One last word to start the week:

You can’t force someone to respect you but you can refuse to be disrespected.

Now go be a force to be reckoned with. Crush the day!

Aye!

Italian Job

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7

The Hypest Hype Train Workout Ever

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Welcome to the most advertised AO in all of The Fort region. Trucker has a good thing going here and i wanted a part of it as a Q sometime. So i thought long and hard about who i wanted as my co-Q for this beatdown. Well as an expert trash talking Pax there was but only one choice that I knew I wanted! Mr. site Q himself ,Trucker the one person who can almost talk as much trash as me! HaHa

Trucker had the first part of the morning and started us off with some dynamic stretching in parking lot. We then moseyed out the road to the path beside Tega Cay Drive to the first hole green where we did 10 Squats. More mosey to the tennis court steps where we did 15 Merkins. Still more mosey all the way up to Hole number 1 tee boxes. Do 5 burps OYO. we where then instructed to run down cart path to the green and do 10 merkins and 15 squats then run back to tee box  and do 5 Burpees. Along the way the sprinklers came on and soaked a few of us. The grounds crew didn’t like us on their course so they kicked us off. Plus Trucker was on the red tee and the rest of us where on the white tees.

So we moseyed down to Tega Cay Drive again and made a right to the retaining wall for 2 rounds of 10 Step-Ups per leg and 10 Derkins. Yet some more mosey back to tennis court steps for 5 Burpees and 10 CDD. Mosey from there to the Firehouse for 5 burpees. Mosey back to parking lot for you guessed it 5 more Burpees. Trucker managed somehow for not being a runner to get us at 1.75 miles.

Next I had the real part of the workout. I thought 30 minutes of Warmup was a bit excessive but thats how all of Truckers Q’s are!

Had Pax mosey to baseball field and had them get in 3 lines planked feet to feet.

While in plank position all Pax did Mak Tar Dyes while the six bear crawled up to the front of the line and yelled for next person to proceed to front. Total distance was 100 yards. This sucked!!!

Next up I had 4 cones lined up about 30 yards apart from each other. Pax did 10 reps of 4 exercises at each cone then after all exercises done they bear crawled to the next cone. Exercises where Hand Release Merkins, Scorpion Dry Docks, Big Boi Sit Ups, and Sumo Squats.

Next round was same as above except we did Lt. Dans in between cones and the exercises where  Flutter Kicks 20 total, Wide Arm merkins, Monkey Humpers,and V-ups.

Then all pax bear crawled back to gates of field about 100 yards and did 5 burpees.

I followed my Q like i do all of them with 5 minutes of stretching which i heard more moaning and groaning then both our Q’s together.

Trucker thanks for letting me Q with you! Love you like a brother!

To all my F3 brothers y’all are like family to me. Y’all make me a better man daily mentally spiritually and physically.

Cornerstone Happy 40th Birthday! Thank you for our friendship.

Hope to see y’all on the Trails soon love each of you men.

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3

True Americans

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It’s hot outside, guys. 74 and humid at 0615 as YHC rolled up.

 

I saw a few PAX conversing and heard there were pull ups being done. How did I know that Trucker would be there talking about how many pull ups he could do? Maybe just a hunch. It was good to see a few guys starting off with a little bit of acceleration prior to the Weinke. The clock struck 0630 and YHC took the reins for the first half of the morning.

NO warmup/COP.

Short Mosey down Windward, right at Anchorage Community

Quadzilla in Anchorage Neighborhood

Down the hill to the white brick mailbox and back to the entrance x 5

Mosey back to Runde

 

Squatzilla – Parking Lot

3 space lunge walk, 10 squats. Mosey back.

6 space lunge walk, 20 squats. Mosey back.

9 space lunge walk, 30 squats. Mosey back.

12 space lunge walk, 40 squats. Mosey back.

15 space lunge walk, 50 squats. Mosey back.

 

Ass Webbs

1:4 Squats/Squat Pulses, 2:8, 3:12 and so forth to 7:28 before YHC’s 30 minute portion was up. You guys got lucky. 

 

Italian Job Takes the Helm

Mosey over to baseball field – it was at this point IJ decided to do what YHC didn’t do – bring a message. Today we were honoring Sunshine – as it was his last post prior to reporting to Parris Island by way of the Four Seasons… we as Americans are able to choose what we want to do, we can choose to sit back and mail it in, or we can bring it and push hard for this workout. Likewise, in our life we are able to sit back and coast (typically leading to much deceleration), or move forward and push ourselves to better our families and communities. So the next iteration was to honor America and Sunshine’s call to serve.

 

All American Elevens – foul pole to foul pole

True Americans / American Hammers. This one took quite some time, and was rather difficult. Thanks for the push, IJ.

 

Mosey back to parking lot

Ab Lab – 

(15 IC) Boxcutters, Flutters, Pretzel Crunch

Last two minutes: 10 Eskimo Merkins to close it out

 

What a workout! It was great being able to talk to Kaiser during most of the second half. That dude is a #HIM and always has a great insight into the Word and the world. The mumble chatter was also very pleasing today.

 

Announcements: YHC can’t remember!

Prayers/Praises:

Cash – he is self sufficient right now but it could be soon that hospice care begins. Pray for the Lord to heal him.

Sunshine is reporting for duty to the USMC next week. Pray for him as he leads through bootcamp with the principles he has picked up at F3. Pray for Funhouse and his family as they part ways – that the void not be seen as a loss but as an opportunity for Funhouse’s arrow from his quiver go out into the world and change it.

Families – that our concentrica truly knows our heart is with them. We as dads tend to be a little hard shelled in that our kids may not know how we rely on the Lord and have faith. If we can soften our hearts and allow our children in to see how much we love the Lord, it will ultimately help them in their faith.

Pray for strength for YHC, for I am but a weak man.

Unspoken prayers.

 

Trucker, thanks for the privilege to lead such a fine group of men alongside the #HIM that is Italian Job.

 

Punch List out.

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11

Dropkicked at The Rock

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BAOPS. It’s an acronym  that Trucker has been pushing, almost devoting himself to, with regard to the AO, Alcatraz, he now oversees. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last several weeks, let me enlighten you on Tega Cay’s own “Rock.”

Rather than being on its own island, our version of Alcatraz is almost at the end of a peninsula. Rather than water with treacherous currents, our version has streets with treacherous hills.
Just as you have to plan some extra time to get to THAT Alcatraz, you also have to plan some extra drive time to get to our version of Alcatraz…it’s way down TC Drive.

When Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was in operation, it housed the hardest, most notorious criminals of its day. In Trucker’s verbiage, BAOPS stands for the “Baddest Area of Operations (AO) for Pain on Saturday.” Consistent with the last several weeks, some of the most hard-charging PAX from The Fort & Rock Hill (The Rock-how fitting) posted at Alcatraz this morning. Some even thought they rolled up on a convergence when they drove in with all the cars.

21 PAX (welcome Suplex) joined Router & YHC for a total of 23 to embark on a twist of a workout this morning. It’s been a minute since we’ve had Router post with us but consistent with our memory, he was prepared to bring it. After we were disclaimed and he shared with us his plan to put us through some conditioning (as part of the strength & conditioning workout), we took off for a warm-up mosey, ultimately leading us to the top of “the hill” on the back side of the park. This time however, we’d be going the other direction.
So here’s the deal, we’re running segments, of which there are 3. Segment 1, you’re running to your “pukey” limit. You know what that is; the place you get to where you’re about to splash. Yeah, get in that zone. Run it to the stop sign just past the Firehouse and do a recovery run back to the start. Then pukey-limit run to the stop sign and run to what amounts to the trail entrance just past the COT parking lot and recovery run the remaining trek back to the start. Now, pukey run that whole thing. Oh no, then….do a few more of those segments again but honestly, this is where the wheels started to come off as the PAX spread out and nobody was exactly sure what to do next . So, some ran more, some did some mary and some picked up the six. Yup, just as planned.
Then…oh dear Lord, this is where we take it to the next phase and you think your heart is going to pop out of your eye socket. Router takes us to the bottom of the hill, yes that hill. He explains his plan for 30/60/90. Fortunately, we never made it to 90 but nevertheless, when he says GO, we’re to take off up the hill, running for 30 seconds until he says stop. Yeah, that was tough but he made us go back down the hill to do the 60. Run up the hill and keep running for 60 seconds. Now that was B-RUTAL. Fortunately it was now 0701 and it was time to hand off to Maximus for the strength portion of the strength & conditioning.

With Max on Q, we would slow mosey (oh, thank you) back to the parking lot, pull a Switzer at one end and drop to a plank (ala Honey Badger). Next up, a nod to a USMC Serviceman named Cpl Albert (Bert) Gettings, 27, of New Castle, PA. Yup, we’re doing a modified BERT. If you’ve never done the real Bert, go give it a run and recap it to me afterward. Cpl. Albert Gettings was killed in action Jan 5, 2009 while conducting counter-sniper operations in Fallujah, Iraq. He was serving as a team leader with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, NC.

HERE WE GO!!!
25 Burpees
50m Bear Crawl to the other end of the parking lot
50 Hand-Release Merkins
50m Bear Crawl
80 Walking lunges
Bear Crawl back
50 Squats
50m Bear Crawl
80 Carolina Dry Docks
50m Bear Crawl
Mary til the six is in

In closing, please do yourself a favor, push yourself to do something more challenging than what you thought you were capable of. Not just in the 1st F although that is a great start, but in the 2nd & 3rd, too. This world needs it now and frankly, you’ve been built and called for this. Do not be a wallflower.

Announcements: Gears starting a new hard-hitting AO this Monday, 6/1. Classroom Ready partnership oppty coming soon from Bonsai, Q-Source is for everyone, AO’s opening back up week of 6/8, big ‘ol convergence 7/11 and several other announcements.

Prayer Request: PAX going through job/life transitions. Our country always but especially now with community tensions. Health of family/friends.

SYITG
Router & Maximus

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5

4 Corner Crusher

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YHC had the privilege to cross the river and Q for 11 at Minnow Pond. Conditions were stellar: 67 and dry. Here’s what we did:

The Thang

Run to First Baptist (.3 miles)

  • 4 Corners
    • 10 Burpees at each Corner                           (40 Burpees)
    • 20 Merkins at each Corner                           (80 Merkins)
    • 30 Shoulder Taps at each Corner              (120 Shoulder Taps)
    • 40 Squats at each Corner                           (160 Squats)
    • 50 SSHs at each Corner                               (200 SSHs)
    • 40 MNCs at each Corner                             (160 MNCs)
    • 30 LBCs at each Corner                               (120 LBCs)
    • 20 Seal Jacks at each Corner                      (80 Seal Jacks)
    • 10 Burpees at each Corner (2.2 miles)     (40 Burpees)
  • Return to Veterans Park (.3 miles)
  • Circle the lot twice (.2 miles)

Total Miles (3.0)

NMM

Thanks for the opportunity to Q today, Longshanks. I wanted to mix up the run this morning by adding the element of a full-body beatdown. As you can see above, we did some work. I also wanted to keep us in the parking lot as a reminder that we should always have eyes on our brothers. Though we have varying fitness levels and some guys got to the next station before others, its a reminder that we are all living life in different phases. Some guys have already been where you are now. Other guys are stepping into a phase where you are currently. Just the same as a workout, we should always look out for the guys ahead and behind us. Call the guy you haven’t seen in a while. Reach out to the guy that seems a little down. We are called to be our brother’s keeper. If he falls down, we are to help him up.

Let’s take care of each other. Let’s be intentional.

Aye!

Italian Job

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7th Year Convergence for The Fort

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The 7th Year Convergence for The Fort followed an exhilarating Invergence from the night before.  Hoping to continue that acceleration, the 4 Q’s had a plan to talk about the 4 Skills needed for Virtuous Leadership: Vision, Articulation, Persuasion, Exhortation.

CakeBoss to start us out with Vision: Recognizing advantage and the movement required to achieve it.

Disclaimer and welcome
“Go Hard or Go Home!”

Take off for 100 yard mosey up path, Get in 3 lines – Indian Run across WEP

Break into 4 lines, 2 groups of seal teams -20 seal team sit ups in cadence

Back into 2 lines , Everyone plank – Tunnel of Love (25 guys per line) – Plank series while guys army crawling under

Crowd pleaser for sure!

7 Burpees for 7 Years!

Vision is what I spoke about and the men that saw the advantage of F3 and planted it (moved towards it) in Charlotte, the The Fort and we continued to give it away in Rock Hill & Lake Wylie.

Hand off to Maximus

Articulation: Describing vision to others in a clear manner. Being able to tell others where we’re going and being able to describe that vision to others.

So, with that said, we’re going over to the top of the big hill to start with drill bits:

½ the group goes one direction while the other goes the opposite way

At each white post (drill bit), 10 Jumping Lunges (10 each leg)

10 Jump Squats

Mosey to the base of the other hill, the one with the statue on it:

NUR (backwards run) up the hill

3 Burpees at the top

Bear Crawl down

5 Burpees at the bottom

Hand off to Fun House for the “P”.

Persuasion – The initiation of first Movement.  Convincing people to move in the direction of advantage, abandoning their Status Quo,

YHC gave an awesome yet forgettable speech about Persuasion.  Then the Thang:

Circle Up – Duck, Duck, Goose – One guy runs around the circle the rest of us plank, the next guy goes when the running guy finishes.  Planking excercises were called out: High Plank, Low plank, Mountain Climbers….. Audible called to get the next guy running after 1/2 a lap around the circle of Pax….. Peter Parker, Parker Peters….. Audible called to get the next guy running after 1/3 lap around….. Mak-Tar-Jai, Left Hand High, Right hand high…..Done.  That took 10 minutes!  60 guys is a lot of guys to be running around in circles.

Stay in circle, 5 minutes left, Jack Webb: 1 Merkin to 4 Overhead hand claps.  We got to 8!

Hand off to Pusher for Exhortation!

Exhortation – Incentivizing The Breach Of Obstacles.

Burpees x 10 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
Mosey to a corner of WEP
Burpees x 9 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 8 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Rosalita IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 7 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Rosalitas IC x 10
Hello Dollies IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 6 OYO
LBCs IC x 10
Flutters IC x 10
COT
Naked Moleskin – The name-o-rama took forever.  That is a good thing. When 60+ PAX post to celebrate something that has obviously changed their lives, then change is happening!  Thanks to Maximus who put this awesome weekend celebration together!  His leadership is not only Effective (Using VAPE) but he is a Virtuous Leader! (Check out the Q Source for the 5 C’s Virtues of Virtuous Leadership) Can’t wait to see what year 8 brings to The Fort!  More importantly, who it brings!  Time to go EH someone.  See you in the gloom.
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Grace

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We had 15 Pax post at the Colosseum today for an intense workout. Italian Job crossed the river from Rock Hill to bless us with his presence. We had FNG L-Train post in full presentation of the Windy City. Two Pax did a pre-ruck and chose hard work over sleep. T-Claps to all for pushing themselves beyond their limits.

The Thang

Mosey to the back parking lot

COP: SSH (10x), IW (10x), HBW (20x), Sumo Squats (15x), Merkins (20x), MCs (15x), WMs (15x), LBCs (20x)

Mosey to the basketball courts and partner up.

Dora (100 Merkins, 200 LBCs, 300 Squats).

Mosey to the front of the school. 

Partner Wheel Barrels to each side of the parking lot (2x), Partner Big Boy Sit Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Ski Jumps (15x), Partners Push Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Leg Lifts (15x for 2 rounds)     

Mosey to the bus loop for catch me if you can for 2 laps and 2 burpees at each exchange.

Mosey to the next parking lot.

Moleskin:

We discussed God’s grace today. Each #HIM had a meaningful definition for grace. Long Shanks mentioned that grace is when we receive “God’s blessings, at Jesus’ expense.” 

Shame is the opposite of His grace. Forgive yourself for your mistakes and flaws. Don’t strive for perfection. Instead, commit to making a perfect effort. That’s all anyone can ask of you.

Forgive others. Giving grace to others gives ensure your freedom. Freedom comes from not holding on to grudges. Live free.

Peace,

Deacon

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