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.
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.
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.
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.
if you weren’t aware of a CSAUP called the Sweati that was occurring this morning, then you choose to post at the Fort knowing that you will also sweat. YHC knew there was somethign brewing brewing prior to the WO as Liverpool tweeted out that he was visiting and Wegmans was joining; didn’t know that half the PAX were going to be Rock Hill PAX – great to see Italian Job, Pony Tail and Reborn standing there as YHC drove in. As the PAX were preparing for the WO, the mumble chatter began and never stopped.
PAX began running the loop and stopped for IW and Windmills, then continued running and stopped for mountain climbers, hillybilly walkers, then onto the playground. It isnt a Trucker WO without pullups, so 3 rounds of 5 pullups, 10 merkins, 15 squats. Within the first round a call for bomb jacks occured, though YHC decided to bank them for later.
Ran to Pikes parking lot for 4 rounds of 2 counts of 10 wall sits, then line up at end of parking lot, run and hop over the wall, up the hill for 5 squats, ran back down for 5 diamond merkins. Repat 3 times.
Run to hill. Run up hill with 25LBCs at top 3xs. Sprint up the hill then mosey down. NUR up hill and wait on six.
Rugby sprints in Pike upper hill parking lot – placed this on weinke thinking Crab Cakes would have posted 🙁 7 or 8 rounds, can’t remember since the mumble chatter was epic and had to stop halfway for bomb jacks.
Run to Springs old complex for wall sit, dead hang off wall, 10 merkins, bear crawl to curb and lunge walk back.
Run to short wall around corner for 2 rounds of muscle ups. Run to playground for final set of 5 pullups, 10 merkins, and 15 squats.
Run to COT
The humidity was ridiculous, it turned into a sweati v2 but the mumble chatter with Liverpool and the Rock Hill PAX was nothing we have seen at The Fort in a LONG time!! It was impossible to remember all the great one-liners from movies and songs stated…..Thanks for crossing the river and stateline to post. As always, it was a blast!
We had a hearty crew Saturday morning. Lots of chatter in the Twittersvere for Tesh?Jekyll Q drawing Pax from across the river and inspiring Fishsticks to bring a #kotter and an #FNG. Well done!
HIIT:
Disclaimer then we took off for a lap ’round Runde stopping for a brief painstation to let Dolly Dogwalker go by. Must be crazy to have 14 men run up on you so we gave some space. Pouring into the field at the open gate we started with a circle of pain and the usual suspects of exercises in cadence. Feeling the need to keep up my portion of the HIIT on the line we went for sprint run and and nur (backward run). 70%, 80%, 90%,100%.
Moved to the next field and put partner 1 on the line and partner 2 on the wall.
P1: Bearcrawl to second base run to baseball fence, hop the fence then run up hill to finish with 5 bombjacks. Down the hill, hop the fence, AYG back to line.
P2: Round the world squat jumps.
Repeat 3 times with P2 doing Carolina Dry Docks then Wall sits.
Hand off to Tesh for Strength.
First exercise was to max out our push pull muscles.
Pulling is first. Circle up shoulder to shoulder. Every other man does an about face and puts his 6 on the ground so that his shoulders are between two PAXs feet. The standing PAX now reach down as if they are going to help a brother up, but instead, we are going to use this as a no-equipment upright row.
All PAX lift up on the Q’s command and let down on command. Q does this until he sees around half the PAX struggling to lift. Swap positions and repeat. (This may sound like a rest for the guys laying down being lifted, but you still have to keep most everything engaged so it’s not. It’s more of an isometric hold)
Pushing is next. You can’t do much better than the merkin. But i wanted low rep, higher volume. So to achieve this, the sprinkler head merkin puts more load on one arm. (It’s a typewriter merkin without swaping sides.) So one are goes out wide and stays straight wile the other does all the pushing (4 count to 3 both sides). Then regular merkins (4 count to 10).
Do this superset 3 times. (I modified the pushups for some other challenges, but you’ll have to ask someone that was there… blame Walker.)
Next were some grip strength, because I think almost every man lacks in this department (it’s hard to train and doesn’t give you anything sexy to show off). Mosey to the playground for deadhangs. Split into two groups, one does peoples chair / Al Gore while the other group deadhangs. Four rounds of 1 min.
Mosey to parking lot for Lt Dan. I always associate this exercise with Jekyll for some reason, and he didn’t do it so I felt obligated. And it’s a great exercise. Dry dock/merkin breaks after rounds 5, 7 and 9.
And finally American Hammers till time.
NMM-
Great to have Bon Jovi who is back after a couple of years and hinted at a name change. During the course of the workout his options became clear and ultimately stayed with Bon Jovi. smart move.
Welcome Paper Jam from Rochester New York home of Xerox. Today is but your first day!
It was an honor to travel across the River on this cool Spring gloom with Italian Job and Canseco to join up with 9 of our Fort and Rock Region brothers on the day before Easter. Thank you Bonsai and the rest of our brothers for the opportunity to lead this morning.
As Italian Job, Canseco and YHC discussed this workout the previous week, we decided that it would definitely be split into three equal time periods with each of us focusing on different body groups. Italian Job began with the F3 Disclaimer and welcome to all:
WARMUP
There was no Warm-Up
THETHANG
Italian Job moved right into working the upper body. This is what was done:
10 Burpees (OYO); 5 Plank Destroyers (Plank, Makhtar D’Diaye, Merkin, Alternating Shoulder Tap, Plank Jack); 20 MNCs (IC); 10 Merkins (IC); 20 Little Baby Arm Circles (IC); 10 Wide Arm Merkins (IC); 20 Overhead Claps (IC); 60 Seconds Arm Circles in Plank; Mosey to Springs or Playground; 20 Irkins; 20 Dips; 20 Derkins; Mosey; 10 Wide-Diamond-Wide (OYO); Mosey; Merkin Ring of Fire (10 rounds).
After he finished, the Q Stick was handed off to YHC for the lower body portion performing each of the following exercises for 50-seconds and resting for 10:
Squat + Calf Raises; Squat Jacks; Mosey; Alternating Hamstring Reaches; Broad Jump w/Back Pedal; Mosey; Left Lateral Lung; Right Lateral Lung; Squat Tap-Outs; Mosey; Left Leg Lunge; Right Leg Lunge; Mosey; Step Ups; Squat & Squat Jumps.
Then YHC passed off the lead to Canseco for some Core & Cardio and an awesome work below in the NMM. This is what he led us in:
YHC planned to use the steep portion of the running path for sets of core exercises with a jailbreak between. We did 2 to 3 exercises for each set and started at the bottom of the hill.
We did the following with a jailbreak between sets.
All In Cadence:
30 Imperial Walkers; 50 Flutters; Jailbreak
20 Mtn Climbers; 20 Freddy Mercurys; Jailbreak
20 American Hammers; 30 Pretzel Crunches (15 each Side); 10 Makhtar N’Diayes; Jailbreak back to top
20 LBC’s ; 10 Delayed LBC’s; Plank w/6 Inches and Up x2
Mosey to COT where IJ led us in another 10-Burpees for fun
Great work was put in by all PaX in attendance. Thank you again for allowing us to lead.
NMM
Canseco shared his heart this morning. Below is what he discussed:
The sun came through the clouds and shined directly on us during Reborn’s leg workout. We were at the top of the Walter Elisha Park looking out and for a few moments everyone was quiet. I had something to share with the PAX and in that moment this capped it off.
I have been reading through the gospels the last couple weeks and wanted to share something that has been stirring in me. So, as we know its Saturday before Easter and Jesus has been crucified and placed in a tomb. On this day thousands of years ago there were all kinds of emotions for those who were near to Jesus.
Those near to him who followed and loved him were doubtful, confused, and didn’t know what would happen next. The Pharisees and scribes still saw Jesus as a threat to their own Kingdom and world and placed guards at the tomb. I find this interesting as he is dead yet they didn’t believe?
I shared Matthew chapter 21 with the PAX when Jesus curses the fig tree that didn’t have any fruit. Jesus disciples said how can it wither instantly? Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen.” 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Jesus was preparing them to believe and have faith during the darkest and most doubtful times to come.
We know what happened next. We have record and an account of the resurrection. But we still have to figure out what we are going to do with Jesus?
Is Jesus threatening your Kingdom, life, and world. Are you keeping him at distance and putting HIM away somewhere so as to hide?
Or, are you believing on His life, death, and resurrection as sufficient for your sins and eternity with HIM. You can’t hide from the light!!!
My prayer for the PAX was that just as the sun rose before our eyes this morning that the Son of Man would rise in each of our hearts this day, tomorrow, and forever.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
April 3rd F Theme-Be Still.
Summer Lawn Service at the Care Center-Sign up now.
Manion WOD-April 27-See Cobra Kai.
Date Night-April 27-Contact Wegmans.
PRAYERS/PRAISES
Prayers and praises were mentioned and Italian Job
Today at SlowBurn it was about Wegmans and his choice to say YES to a calling to serve. He heard this calling and it spoke to his heart and he accepted the opportunity to be vulnerable, uncomfortable and go into the world for his creator Sky Q. The cool thing about mission trips is we think its about serving others, but in reality its about Sky Q working on us.
38 PAX came to show Wegmans support. They were running, rucking, boot-camp and even Broga was represented. for 45 mins everyone got better in some fashion, but for YHC I felt led to honor Wegmans by pulling some of his work from previous workouts. I felt the best way to respect a man is to use his material. So away we went.
The Thang:
Warm Up mosey to lower lot
Typical COP stuff 5-7 exercise moves
Line up at end of lot for some others
High Knees
Butt Kickers
Karaoke
Shuffles
sprints
Mosey to far side of Indian Restaurant
DMB from Wegmans Ranch workout
Duckwalk – 20 yards
Merkins – 10
Bearcrawl back – 20 yards
3 rounds
Mosey to Far side of Lowes
From the Wegninator’s Coop workout
Partner up
#1 = Wall Sit
#2 =
10 Broadjump Burpees
10 Powerskips
10 Plankwalks (right and then left)
Flap jack
3 rounds
Mosey to opposite side of Lowes
From Wegmans’ Slow Burn workout – The Triple Check
Groups of 3
Al Gore
Plank
Run Lap around parking lot
3 rounds, with each person rotating position
Mosey back to COT
Wegmans’s shared his WHY during the workout and serving others and his willingness to be vulnerable in a strange place and open to see what Sky Q will do.
Many in the group have been on mission trips before and I believe that we all have intentions of serving and helping others, however these trips are about what Sky Q teaches us about ourselves. Gives us perspective and understanding that everyone around the globe are all children of HIS and we should love each other.
Best to you Wegmans and look forward to hearing the lesson’s learned.
Thanks Shady for the chance to VQ. We had 21 PAX at this Block Party. I felt the love and encouragement, made it fun and invigorating. A slight chill on this early 2019 morn also added some vigor.
The first Mosey took us to a lot too close to potential noise ordinance violation, so we audibled to Founders, where the warm-up Windmills, Little Baby Circles, Imperial Walkers, and Hillbilly Walkers ensued. I purposefully passed over the traditional warm-up SSHs, trying to save legs for what came later.
I then introduced a Dora, had two exercises planned for it but one PAX said, “Where’s the third?” So Doras typically involve three exercises I learned, VQ mistake, but then Bonsai chimed in, “Hey man, you tha Q.” So we partnered up and settled in for 100 LBCs and 200 Flutters.
Then a circuitous Mosey route around the bank across the street to the lot below the old Springs complex. Ab work: a Captain Thor 1:4 up to 10 big boys and then Rosalitas in cadence, in Spanish, like they should be shouted.
Then a Bear Crawl up the Hill to the upper lot where we circled up for a word on Accountability. In short, the point: accountability is about more than sharing our brokenness, about more than sharing our struggles, but sharing our dreams and desires and ambitions as we say to one another, “Go for it, brother!”
And then, the beat down. 22 was the operative number, Lunge Jumps and Merkens the mix. It went down like: 20 LJs, 2 Merks; 18 LJs, 4 Merks; 16 LJs, 6 Merks…and so on, down to 2 and 20.
A third and final Mosey then to the COT. Remember QSource. Remember Joe Davis. PAX hopeful for new job opportunities. Sugardaddy’s daughter Caroline going Legally Blonde this week:) Pray for her Elle Woods debut.
LAST WORD: About half way through with us all holding a Chillcut, I shared my one word: Deeper. Going Deeper for me means caring for my soul well this year. But how? I’m gonna pursue better and more beautiful inputs. Yes, I’m talking about reading better literature, listening to better stories, discovering beautiful art and landscapes that inspire me. But better and beautiful abounds when I’m engaged with my 2.0s, and M.
Oh, and this is the mountain if any of you want to “go for it” with me.
0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.
Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.
YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.
0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.
MacGyver flew in at 20:47 6:60/mi and then went back to encourage other runners – True #HIM
Sharkbait came in at 24:43 7.88/mi
Islander rolled in at 27:10 8.74/mi
Twister with a 31:25 10.08/mi
Smuggler wrapped it up with a solid 34:11 11:00/mi
Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!
0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes
The Thang:
Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs
Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it
Merkins
Bearcrawl
Leg Lifts
Lunge walk
Wide Arm Merkins
Run
Donkey Kicks
Bearcrawl
Spider-man Merkins
Lunge walk
Sumo Squats
Run
3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps
The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable
Handoff to Maximus
Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon
Santini led squat routine that is always a crowd pleaser
Burpees
Pusher led Lunges
Burpees
Double D led Mc-tar-Ny ??
Burpees
Bubba Gump led SSHs
Burpees
4 lines – turn to face one another – then Seal Team Sit ups–always a big crowd pleaser
Mosey to front of school for COT:
Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!
93 was the count with 4 FNGs
Bo Knows
Ferris
Gaylord
Doubtfire
We Switzered to gather around and listing to Mr. Clean give a message and challenge to the PAX
I’m honored to speak with you today; Tomorrow (Christmas night) is the 1 year anniversary of me and the kids finding Cindy (my wife) unconscious. She was immediately put on life support Cindy died 3 days later from complications of MS and an addiction to alcohol I thought our life was on cruise control. I was being non -purposeful and non intentional. Being a single parent and grieving thru the tragic death of a spouse has been unreal.A few things I have learned from this that I would like to share.
I have a much deeper awareness of emotional health. I have been humbled. Being humble creates avenue for change and growth. My question to you is…are you vulnerable and humble enough to let brothers in to help you?? Are you humble enough to ask for him if you are escaping reality w addictions? Alcohol, porn, etc
I have a more real relationship w Christ.At a time when I doubted Christ care for me and my children and his desire to help our family Christ stepped in and answered a very exact prayer request. If you have doubts about Christ, speak to me please. I would love to share with you what He alone has done.
I am thankful for the suffering. It has brought our family closer together. Even though I and the kids are miss Cindy everyday, we have so much to be thankful. I am thankful for the life that we had w Cindy. I am thankful that she is suffering no more. I am thankful that Cindy is made as new. Most importantly, am thankful for the birth of Christ. He gives us HOPE for a better day.
My Challenge to you is Love Deeper and Speak Sweeter. — too often people speak disrespectfully of their spouses and children and parents. Words matter and we all need to choose them wisely. We need to hold each other accountable and “get our heads out of our asses” as you never know when that person will be taken from you.
YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.
If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX
It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.
It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.
MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!
I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.
Weasel Shaker = Funhouse
1stFQ = Royale
2ndFQ = Wegmans
3rdFQ = Gecko
I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.
Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!
BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.
18 assembled this morning for some bells (6) and #Beyond (12). YHC decided to change things up slightly. We did the Name-a-Rama first. Read on to see why.
NMM
You’ll also note that I’m posting the Naked Man Moleskin before the workout. Sometimes the message is more important than the workout. Today was one of those days. #Beyond is designed to take you out of your comfort zone and push buttons we would rather leave untouched. Today’s discussion was on depression.
Some facts:
There are 123 suicides in America every day
The highest suicide rate is adult males between the ages of 40 and 54
White males accounted for 7 out of every 10 suicides in 2016
These sobering statistics spoke to me because our PAX fit right in the sweet spot of these ranges. The average age this morning was 44 – right in the thick of these numbers. Depression effects men in different ways. This group is sandwiched in between the traditional silent, strong fathers who went to work and provided for their families and the more progressive, open generations of their sons who share parenting duties and aren’t always the breadwinners of the household. Many men never mastered either of these roles and now feel lost. We’ve married capable women who take care of everything from the children to the social agenda, leaving men to feel a void of purpose. Around this age, men look around at their neighbors and ask, “why am I not as successful as my neighbor?” Outside of our homes, we are lonely. We’ve lost track of our college buddies and only connect with our co-workers on a water cooler level. We feel like we haven’t accomplished enough. For all intents and purposes, men in their mid-40s often feel neutered – unable to provide the ways their dads did and unwilling or unprepared to be Mr. Mom to their older children. To make matters worse, a job loss or divorce often leads these men into a downward spiral of addiction and despair. Chances are, you’ve felt this way or know someone who does. It becomes our responsibility to reach out to these men and invite them into a brotherhood of love. Medical professionals recommend a few steps to battle depression. I added number 5:
Seek social support
Support your health (get enough sleep, control stress, and go outside)
Exercise
Eat Healthy
Give your concerns to God
All of these are incorporated into what we do each morning at F3. Social support comes in the form of other men who are battling or have battled this demon themselves. To me, its finding blades and stones to sharpen each other. It’s the second F – Fellowship. Doctors recommend finding outlets to blow off steam, exercising and getting outside. How else better than exercising outside in the elements pushing past pain with your brothers in the Gloom? This is the first F – Fitness. Finally, acknowledging that there is a higher being that loves you and wants what is best for you. Rather than telling God how big your problems are, tell your problem how big your God is. This is the third F – Faith.
I realized that the reason F3 is growing is because it is the answer to the question we never knew we had. It is the antidote to society’s poison of depression. We all struggle, from project managers to pastors. We all battle life. Why not surround yourself with guys who can build the 3 Fs right beside you? Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says it best: “Two are better than one because they have good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, the other can help them up. But pity anyone who falls and has no other to help them up. Also if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
Interpret those three strands however you wish. I like to think of them as me, God, and my brothers. That dream team can win any fight. Grab your shield and suit up, we’ve got a battle to wage.
The Thang
Mosey to the front of the church
Hold the Plank for the duration of Disturbed “Sound of Silence”
Listen to the lyrics. Acknowledge that many men battle depression in silence. We weren’t made to fight alone.