Man in the Arena

Perfect gloom conditions.  15 studs out for a beatdown.  Opened with Teddy Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Warm up:

  • warm up 70%  sprints between each exercise
    • SSH, Squat, SSH, Merkin

The Thang:

  • 4 corners- run in between- (abt 30 yards) Rinse/Repeat x 5
    • 3 burpee
    • 4 bombjacks
    • 5 merkin
    • 6 squat
  • Ark Loader Series- 30 yards, Rinse/Repeat x 3
    • Bear Crawl down, 10 merkins
    • Lunge walk back, 10 squat
    • crab walk down, 10 LBC
    • Backward Bear Crawl back, 10 CDD
  • 6 minutes of Mary
    • flutter
    • rosalita
    • protractor
  • Sprint Series
    • 2 x 70%
    • 1 X 85%
    • 5  X 100%

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Jedi and Straight Up were out front today, all morning.  No surpise here.  Lots of great mumblechatter as the men answered the call for a beatdown and were all in.

 

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Hills, more hills, and some remembrance

With spring break starting and Longshanks having part of the Q I didn’t know what type of crowd would show up. With Easter being the next day and this week being very reflective for me personally, we tweeted out about some Easter trivia and before I knew it we had several of our more scholarly PAX HCing so I went back and tuned up the questions. It was great to a solid collection of PAX ready to go when start time rolled around.

Longshanks led us thru some SSHs and Wind-mills while Sasquatch finished getting dressed. Once he was ready Longshanks took us behind the park to the bottom of the big hill for a Longshanks style warm-up. Partner up for a Dora 1-2-3. 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, & 300 LBCs, other partner is running about 3/4 way up the hill and back.

After everyone was ‘warmed up’, we moseyed back up the hill to playground. Again with Easter being the next day I worked up some questions about the events leading up to Easter. 4 questions per station, 3 stations, and exercises accumulated at each station.

  1. At the last Supper, who did Jesus say would deny him 3 times before the cock crowed twice? Peter – 5 Pull-ups
  2. After dinner they walk to the Garden of Gethsemane , when Jesus goes off to pray what does he ask Peter, James & John to do? Not go to sleep – 5 Pull-Ups, 10 Dips
  3. In the Garden, how to Judas identify Jesus to the guards? Kisses him – 5 Pull-Ups, 10 Dips, 10 Derkins
  4. What was the name of the Jewish group that initially condemns Jesus? Sanhedrin – 5 Pull-Ups, 10 Dips, 10 Derkins, 5 Burpees

Mosey over to small hill

  1. When Jesus is initially brought to Pilate, who does Pilate then send Jesus to? Herod – 10 Monkey humpers, run up hill and back
  2. Pilate nor Herod can find anything to convict Jesus of so Pilate asks the crowd if they want to free Jesus or a criminal. What was the criminal names? Barabbos – 10 Monkey humpers, 10 squats, run up hill and back
  3. What is the name of the location where Jesus was crucified? Golgotha or Calvary – 10 Monkey humpers, 10 squats, 10 lunges, run up hill and back
  4. Who was voluntold to carry the cross when Jesus was unable? Simon of Cyrene – 10 Monkey humpers, 10 squats, 10 lungers, 10 calf raises, run up hill

Mosey over to parking lot

  1. When Jesus was crucified, at noon what natural event occurred? Sky went dark for 3 hours – 3 line suicide
  2. Who took Jesus’ body down, wrapped it, and place it in the tomb? Joseph of Arimathea – 3 line suicide with 10 Plank Jacks at each end line
  3. Who was the 1st human to see Jesus after he rose from the dead? Mary Magdalene – 3 line suicide with 10 Plank Jacks at each end line and 3 Burpees at each start line
  4. How many days did Jesus stay on Earth before ascending to heaven? 40 – 3 line suicide with 10 Plank Jacks at each end line and 3 Burpees at each start line: waited on all PAX and we did 40 SSHs

Longshanks finished us up with about 3 minutes of Mary.

PAX went 100% on the questions. There really wasn’t going to be more exercises if they didn’t answer a question correctly but I was impressed nevertheless. Hopefully everyone got a good quick recap of the events that occurred but also got a solid work-out. Always an honor to lead this group. Thanks Smuggler for the opportunity!

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Abs/Arms/Shoulder Work at Varsity – 3/30/18

8 Good Men joined YHC at the Varsity on this Good Friday.

Mosey around the parking lot to the black top.

Warmup

  • 20 side straddle hops
  • 10 count count Moroccan night clubs
  • 10 4 count windmills
  • 15 4 count merkins
  • 20 mountain climbers
  • 10 4 count pickle pounders (not sure if that is the actual name…but it is now…thanks Jekyll)
  • 10 4 count high steps

The Thang

  • line up on the black top goal line
  • 10 Carolina dry docs every 10 yards
  • sprint back to start
  • 20 4 count flutter
  • 5 pickle pounders every 10 yards
  • sprint back to start
  • 20 4 count flutters w/ holds

Mosey across the parking lot, down the hill to the wall

  • 10 4 count wall sit toe touches
  • 5 4 count hand stand merkins
  • rinse repeat x3

Mosey to the pull up bars

  • 10 pull up/toes to bar combos (1 pull up, 1 toes to bar, x 10)
  • Captain Thors 5×20
  • 10 pull up/toes to bar combos (1 pull up, 1 toes to bar, x 10)
  • 10 Xs and Os
  • 10 chin up/knees to chest combos (1 chin up, 1 knees to chest, x10)
  • 10 4 count heels to heaven
  • 10 chin up/knees to chest combos (1 chin up, 1 knees to chest, x10)
  • 10 4 count freddie mercury
  • 5 combo ups (1 hand in pull up position, 1 hand in chin up position)
  • switch hands, 5 more

Mosey to COT

– Ginsu

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Shieldlock at Quagmire

The few Mondays I have not been DR lately most could find me logging a few miles for the impending P200 destruction.  Pushups have been in shortsupply and even few posts to Quagmire or being a Q.  GLOOM: The murky pre-dawn in which the PAX gather around the Shovel Flag in preparation for a Workout.  Add 45 degrees and wet rain- you’ve got yourself a double dose.  7 men were disclaimed and here is what they did:

Opened with #pearlsonastring- a roving COP throughout the AO.  Ran to Target lot for 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies.  Run to Buff Wild Wing for 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies, 14 Mountain Climbers.  Run some more: 20 SSH, 10 Merkins, 12 hello dollies, 14 Mountain Climbers. 16 Monkey Humpers.  Always good for cars to drive by during MH routine…

Run to City Tavern, err… Bluewater, err…abandoned skeleton of a restaurant .  Grab a partner, run up stairs, down stairs and do 8 partner plank derkins, 8 partner plank dips.  Flapjack.  Rinse/Repeat x3.  Davinci led Mary until #six came in

Mosey to Home Depot Wall.  3 sets each of Wall sits and Balls to Wall.  Tony Horton P90X interlude with Sneaky Toe Lunges down and back, Groucho squat walk down and back, Bear Crawl.

Mosey to Wine Shop back lot for 6 minutes of mary: Boxcutters, Rosalita, Dying Cockroach, LBC, Freddie Mercury, Peter Parker

Great work by MOAB and Bones to lead from the front.  Name of the day goes to Gleek.  I remember Gleek being the spit you could fire between the teeth to an unsuspecting kid at school (disgusting, confirmed), not the #wondermut of superhero power twins.  Our PAX’s collective recall of random pop culture references knows no bounds.  Anywho- Gleek is also a smiley nice guy even though he lives in a van down by the river…if only temporarily.  True story.  Also only guy who may out “southern drawl” Mr. Clean.  Ok, I may be exaggerating.  but only a little.

Got a great opportunity to partner with relative newcomer Primer.  Bones responsible for this EH(nice- #218in2018).  Get to know this guy.  Keep working Primer- keep up with the guy in front of you.  You’ll be mid pack then front pack before you know.  U vs U. #leavenomanbehind

Then there’s Davinci and Mr. Clean.  Never seen Davinci in pain.  Always smiling. Will need to insert more burpees apparently.  Mr. Clean work the ethic today and the Tahoe Chariot to pick me up.

Naked Man Moleskin

Shieldlock- the horizontal relationship between Men.  Each man discussed why they escaped the fartsack on a day like today.  Accountability, to support YHC on Q (T-Claps here, #humbled), clean out emotional poison, get better, meet new people and forge male relationships.  All of these no more important than the other and each with their own merit.  We discussed #Shieldlock as Dredd has been writing about this week but also many men in F3 have tweeted about relationships with men who challenge them and make them better.  Robber in Columbia, SC talked of many years ago having a man looking him square in the eye and say, “you’re getting sideways”.  You’re drinking too much and its affecting your life.  Sober since.  YHC’s whetstone partner keeps me in the guardrails of Lust (THX CSPAN), Pornography, drinking, but also self acceptance.  Being good enough.  These deep conversations from the men in the gloom help to sharpen our blades and make us better.

Prayers for Ella Maude Beard, MOAB Mammon search, Gleek’s family (M, shorties) during this temporary time of living apart for work.

Thanks for Q today.

Jekyll

 

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We got our 28+ at The Colosseum

We had a total of 28 guys in The Fort region post yesterday (Monday, Feb 26) amidst the rain so I threw out the challenge of getting 28 men out to the Colosseum this AM. With some help from Jeckyll, Pusher, Ginsu, Cha Ching and a few others, we got that done. The PAX made it even better when that was just the boot camp number as we totaled 31 with our 3 runners included.

I can not even begin to tell you how humbled I was to see headlight after headlight roll in and to have 27 other guys run around this AO at 0515 with me. As Assassin mentioned in COT, we do in fact know how special it is to be blessed with the opportunity to be out with the PAX on just another Tuesday morning. To see some faces out there that I haven’t seen in quite a while was great. With the chatter that ensued, I knew I had better bring it.

So after our disclaimer and the departure of the Pathfinder runners, us boot campers jogged to end of the back parking lot. We counted off to our number of 27  at the time and dropped down for a 2min plank followed by a 2min reverse plank. Well 90 seconds into that latter plank, we had a masked ninja run up to join us for our lucky number 28. That ninja also goes by the name STRAIGHT UP  and man, it was good to have him join us.

1/2 of 28 equals 14 Burpees so that is what we did followed by 28reps of the following:

Dying Cockroach, Boats & Canoes, Jumping Lunges, Jump Squats, X&O’s, American Hammers, Monkey Humpers and Squat Calf-Raises

We partnered up for:

Partner 1: Run to the 1st speed bump and back
Partner 2: Diamond Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1. Run to the 3rd speed bump and back

Partner 2: Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1: Run to the gate that was no longer in existence

Partner 2: Carolina Dry Docks or some ab work then flap jack

Bring it back to the GHMS side of the bus parking lot and circle up for some coupon work.

Begin with the 30lb Ruck and 35lb Kettle Bell on opposite sides of the circle. When the coupon came to you, 10 bicep curls of your choosing while the rest of the PAX cycled through Freddy Mercury, Rosalitas and Flutter Kicks.

COT

Announcements: Read that Sunday email containing your F3 Newsletter. New AO launching from Regent Park. Includes (br)yoga, run and coffeeteria  (contact Cake Boss or Sasquatch) every Friday. Don’t forget about the drive for 218 FNG’s. Reading center opportunity (service).

Prayers/Praises: Flat Tire’s new promotion, Straight Up’s wife is feeling better and S.U. is back with us. Cornerstone’s daughter Emma had her last chemo pill last night and will be ringing the bell soon. Ginsu’s daughter took her first steps yesterday. Jeckyll’s son is now a Boy Scout and Jeckyll has now handed over the leadership. Prayers for Mr. Clean and his desire to be out in the gloom. Prayers for Squeaky for what he is facing right now. Praises for reconnecting with my daughter.

Thank you again for coming out in the gloom.

Maximus

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Winter Olympic games

Mosey over behind the school to the hill with the light poles. Worked our way up the hill stopping at each light pole doing a different exercise at each.

 

SSH

Hill Billy Walker

Carolina Dry Docks

Low Slow Squats

LBCs

 

Move back down to the bottom of the hill for arm circles (forward/backward)

 

The Thang:

When I accepted the opportunity to Q I decided I would try to do something that would incorporate the upcoming winter olympics.  I also want to try and use some coupons (cinder blocks and 2 logs) that I had acquired over the past year.  With that I came up with the following “events”

 

1. Speed Skating – Apolo Ohnos

2. Cross Country Skiing – Carry logs down to cones (switch with partner) and back

3. Moguls – jump over cinder block and back

4. Bobsled – with resistance bands partner 1 would do high knees while partner 2 provides resistance
  – round 2 broad jump

5. Ski Jumping – 180 and 360 jumps

6. Biathlon –

7. Nordic Combined – Big Boy sit-up with partner passing cinder block

8. Curling – With cinder block – chest press and overhead press (rotate once team on the log gets to the cones)

 

 

All teams would continue with their exercise until team on event 2 completes their event (down and back)

After looking back on the Q I would have slightly changed the directions for the pax and everyone would perform the same exercise while one team took turns on the log carry working their way down the list.  I have found as I continue to gain more experience q’ing a workout I find myself trying different things.  Some of those things I feel go really well and others I use as a lesson learned.  I take this as a lesson learned to ensure I provide more directions to the pax for better organization.  As in life if you are comfortable with the status quo are you truly making yourself better?  Don’t be afraid to fail and if you do fail and you are able to learn from it is it really a failure?

 

 

 

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Different Q to prevent 0-59. Turns out it was just a #GDTBATH

Temps of 20F, 15 PAX were early and ready to go. Mumblechatter of running vs standing around was way better.
Mosey through Pickup Lanes x2
  • Regular
  • High knees
  • Butt Kickers
  • Toy Soldiers
COP at Basketball Court
  • SSH
  • Windmill
  • Moroccan Nightclub
  • Peter Parker –> Jekyll was quick to call YHC’s exercise as Mountain Climbers, so Jekyll gave a demo of a real Peter Parker (legs wide) and everyone was enlightened
  • Parker Peter
YHC is a Clemson fan, and the goal was to do something different today so that Clemson did not go 0-59 (Spoiler Alert) when playing basketball at UNC. So we did some basketball themed work
Basketball
  • Baseline
    • Side shuffles “Defense” (reverse, back up)
  • Circle up
    • Wojo – slap ground, clap – 4count x15
    • Plank + Merkin Wave 2count – x2
    • Squat – basketball ball hot potato in circle
  • Curb
    • Toe-taps – 4count x30
    • Dips x30 OYO –> The name “Herb Sendek” was mentioned to Maximus by YHC during this exercise. We kept that between us.
  • Baseline
    • Ball roll backwards (pretend 1 hand on ball, 1 hand in air) in a defensive position – 4-counts to switch position
    • Suicide
  • Knock-out
    • PAX wearing gloves shooting on 10ft goals wasn’t awesome. But we Played knock-out for about 5min and PAX did SSH-like exercises while they waited, or if they were knocked out
  • 4-Corners – showing respect to Dean Smith, totally 58
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Merkins
    • 20 Mountain Climbers
    • 18 LBCs
Over the wall
  • Burpee from 1 up to 5 count
    • Over-the-Wall
  • Donkey Kicks, 1 each time
Mary – people’s choice
  • Nomad – American Hammers
  • Flattire, Jekyll, MacGyver, Maximus – I forgot what they called 🙁
  • Cooter – LBCs
  • Router – Boxcutters
  • Fishsticks – Superman + Parachute
COT
  • Prayers
    • Nomad – Father’s, to be better ones, for youth group that doesn’t have them, and to make sure we are following our heavenly one
    • Maximus – Fathering daughter’s
    • Router – teaching son how to be a man, and girls for the type of man they should find
    • Maxims – In Memory, Gremlin in Mint Hill
    • Jekyll – for us to be able to receive love.
It was a fun Q. It didn’t end Clemson basketball streak of losing at UNC, but it still has me sore as I finish this backlist within 48hr of completing the Q, so thats good?
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Beyond #2…Honoring our officers

Round 2 at Beyond, this time at The Coop. The original plan was to talk about “Fear” but 36hrs ago, 4 of our local law enforcement officers in York County were involved in an incident that has our community praying for their healing and their families. I found it only appropriate to bring our attention as a PAX, for a mere 45mins, to these men and what they’re fighting for at this moment. We should also be praying for the rest of the law enforcement community as well as our first responders, nurses and doctors who are doing everything they can for them and our community. I am given the opportunity to roll my eyes at a radar trap because of what community servants like these 4 men do on a daily basis and the families that send them out the door every single day. That said, I’ll try to cease my misguided eye-rolling.

This is not the place to put the officers names but we all know who they are. I read the names of the men this morning and asked everyone to keep one of those names in their mind as they’re going through our workout this morning. I will however, include their years of service to York County in their current capacity: 34yrs, 13yrs, 12yrs, 3 yrs. So there you have our topic for round 2 of Beyond; 4 officers with a combined 62yrs of service SO FAR in their current roles.

Warm up jog leading us around the lot and over to the intersection with the ROTC building.

When you see 31, know that it was in cadence for a total of 62

SSH x 31 in cadence

Carolina Dry Docks x 31

Squats x 62

Merkins x 20 which was followed by a 4-tier sprint then followed by the remaining 11 Merkins

Make our way to the pull-up bars for some partner work:

Partner 1: 62 Pull-Ups (use assistance as needed)   Partner 2: Elbow Plank

Partner 1: V-ups (toe-touches) x 31    Partner 2: Mak Tar Jah’s x 31

Bear crawl 62 paces and grab some curb for 62 calf raises

62 Jump Squats and 31 Jumping Lunges (crowd pleaser)

Bear crawl 62 paces

American Hammers x 31

Dying Cockroach x 31 (might’ve included a breather in there)

The pull-ups were definitely the highlight but it was awesome to see guys of all conditions pushing through those, not matter if they had a busted paw or not (Bolt). It is extremely humbling and honoring to have another 8 guys join me as we push ourselves and work out some of these new-AO wrinkles. Please, above all, pray for those 4 men and thank our servants when you see them.

If you’re still reading, thank you. You’ll now learn that Cha Ching will be bringing his A-game to his Beyond Q next Thursday, 1/25 at the Poopdeck in Lake Wyle. If his Q today was any indication, bring your big-boy pants.

As you were.

Maximus

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Pantheon Tribute to Mr. Clean and His Bride

Warmup:  Indian Run with High Knees, Lunges, Karaoke, Side Shuffle

The Thang:

Split Soccer Field – one side = plyometric exercises and other side weight exercises for 9 reps each side to celebrate 2018:

Station 1:  Side Straddle hops to summersault to Station 2:  Pullups on Fence,

Station 3:  Bombjacks to Lunge to Station 4:  30lb kettlebell swing,

Station 5:  Burpees to Crabwalk to Station 6:  50lb Ruck Press,

Station 7:  High Knees to Bear Crawl to Station 8:  20 lb Sandbag American Hammer,

Station 9:  Squat Jumps to 1/2 Suicide to Station 10:  40lb Sandbag Slam,

Station 11:  Goofballs to Bear Crawl to Station 12:  20lb Ruck Upright Rows,

Station 13:  Roll Merkin to Gorilla Walkers to Station 14:  10lb KettleBell Mace

Men rotated to parking lot run when done to circle of power for superman pumps to merkins in Jack Webb Fashion.

Rinse and repeat.

Prayers:  For Mr. Cleans Family and his Bride Cindy for strenght and wisdom as they celebrate her life.  For Lutefisks mother to be cured of cancer.

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#218in18 Kick-off Convergence BackBlast

76 PAX (including 4 FNGs) met in the gloom at Harris Teeter this morning to kick the year off the right way.

Group 1 – Jedi

Start with 60 seconds of plank tutorial, then a fairly lame attempt to explain the exercise “routine” for the upper body station. The routine, to be done in increasing AMRAP style:
· Incline Merkins
· Low Country Crab Boil (One leg, one hand dips)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Left hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Left hand on curb)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Pseudo Planche Merkins
· Donkey Kicks
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Right hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Right hand on curb)
· 90° Turn to starting position

Start with 10 reps for each exercise, then add 2 reps each round after that (10, 12, 14, 16, …). Only the elite few made it past the round of 12.

Group 2 – Peabody

An absolute honor to lead a convergence and had so much fun working with all the guys. Here’s the fun of the cardio Q.

SPRINT Relays!!!  

3 team

60 Yard sprint

Team members are doing Seal Jacks, side straddle hops, or flutters while teammate runs.

Winning team selects penalty exercise for 2 losing teams. (Unknown is losing team has to do the penalty exercise too but only half the reps).

Rinse and repeat the sprint relay races once teams are mixed up.

Mary to follow:

  • 50 LBCs
  • 25 Flutters
  • 10 Freddie Mercury’s

Lists of fun to hear the encouragement of other Pax and see the competition bring out the most in guys.  Saw lots of guys really push hard to win for their team.

Group 3 – Jekyll

Motley Crue and 80’s hairband soundtrack

  • COP: SSH, IW, Squat
  • 5 Burpee OYO, 4 OYO, 3 OYO
  • Lt Dan: squat and jumping , 1:4 ration
    • 1 squat: 4 jumping lunge, 2 squat: 8 Jumping lunge…10 squat: 40 jumping lunge
  • 5 burpee OYO
  • Calf Raises 25 each: Straight, Toes Out, Toes In
  • Donkey Kicks

COT

Welcome FNGs Iron City, Humps, Hillary, and Juliet

Prayers by CakeBoss for leadership.

– Ginsu

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