5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

2017-10-032 Comments

QIC: Ginsu
When: 09/30/2017
Pax: Airborne, Anchorman, antivirus, Atari, Baby Conan, Backdraft, Band Camp, Beacon, Bear Grylls, Bird Cage, Blue Grass, Bolt, Bones, Bonsai, Cable Guy, Cash, Cha Ching, Change Order, Copperfield, Cotton Eye, Crawdaddy, CSPAN, Dark Helmet, DaVinci, Double D, Drop Thrill, Falcon Crest, Frat boy, Freon, Geronimo, Ginsu, Half Shell, Handy Manny, Harry Carry, Hat Trick, Hauschka, Homebrew, Javert, Jekyll, Jughead, Little John, Longshanks, Lulu, Lutefisk, Magnum, Mainframe, MASH, Maximus, McGillis, Menthol, Nasa, Nomad, Old Bay, Omaha, Peabody, Pinup, Pitts, Pusher, Quickbooks, Reborn, Rooney, Royale, Saul, Schaefer, Senator Tressel, Short Sale, Smithers, Solid State, Spitz, Spud, Straight Up, Sugar Daddy, T Square, Tater, Tesh, The Fridge, The Matador, Tinsel, Trucker, Tubs, Twister, Walker, Weezer, Whopper, Wolverine, Zildjian, Zima
Posted In: Convergence

Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

Mosey to the football field
30 Side Straddle Hops
10, 4-count windmills
30 Moroccan night clubs
10, 4-count merkins
10, 4-count Peter Parkers
10, 4-count Parker Peters
10, 4-count LBCs
20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

800 meter indian run
1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
400 meter sprint corners recover straights
1600 meter cool down
5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

Mosey over to the concrete football field
10 merkins
Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
Next phase we broke into 4 groups
At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board. We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
- Corner 1
  - 20 Merkins
  - 30 Lunges
  - 30 Dying Cockroaches
  - 30 Ski Abs
  - 3 Kraken Burpees
- Corner 2
  - 20 Ranger Merkins
  - 30 Squats
  - 40 Freddy Mercurys
  - 40 Shoulder Taps
  - 10 burpees
- Corner 3
  - 20 Durkins
  - 20 Jump Squats
  - 50 American Hammers
  - 30 Monkey Humpers
  - 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
- Corner 4
  - 20 Wide Arm Merkins
  - 20 Sumo Squats
  - 20 V-Up Twists
  - 20 Bombjacks
  - 10 Squat Burpees

We talked about the word of the month – Leadership. I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes. I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time. As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.

Mosey over to the round about
Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
Finally we would bear crawl.
Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
10 derkins
10 dips
Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

MOSEY to Elementary School
Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
- Number 1’s go to station #1
- 2’s start at Station3, etc.
Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
- 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
- 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
- 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
- 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
- 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
- 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
- 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
- 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
- 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
- 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

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Bullpen

2017-09-192017-09-19Leave a comment

QIC: Jekyll
When: 09/19/2017
Pax: Bob the Builder, Dark Helmet, DixieChicken, Frat boy, Javert, Jekyll, McGuyver, Nutshell, Peabody, Shady, Tesh
Posted In: The Colosseum

Perfect morning in the Gloom. Dog Pound was scheduled but YHC didnt do a good job reaching out- although he’s been a little MIA from The Colosseum. APB for DP. ‘mon back. Total of 11 men were properly disclaimed and off we went.

1/2 mile warm up and head to blacktop.

kinetic warm up- 50 yard warm up run in between pain: SSH, Merkin, Squat, Seal Jack, Mountain Climber

The Thang:

Column post- a dozen I think.

lunge walk in between and 3 merkins at each Column
Bobby Hurly in between and 5 Carolina Dry Docks at each column. #sneakygood

Mosey to small parking lot by football field. Sidebar- I doublechecked and gates are locked. Lots of pain available behind the gate. need to get a hold of @Rooney to see what we can do.

4 corners with a point in the middle. Pax divided into 4 groups. Do exercise, do burpees in middle out to next corner. Rinse repeat circuit 3x

Corner 1: LBC= 20
Corner 2: Dying Cockroach= 20
Corner 3: Freddie Mercury=20
Corner 4: American Hammer=20
Middle: Burpee= 5

Sprints- 50 yard dash x8

First several: 70%-80%
Next group 50%
Final 4: Max Effort

COT

Naked Man Moleskin:

Great effort today. Discussed leadership in form of Volunteering. Also discussed Max effort. Digging deep, finding your grit and giving max effort.

Prayers for Bob the Builder and his M as they weather a tough time, Peabody for the right words as he has to deliver bad news at work today. Continued prayers for Hurricane recovery. Also one that I forgot at COT- a family friend undergoing a masectomy today. Bob the Builder with a great takeout.

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Snap Hook kept it Straight

2017-09-052017-09-05Leave a comment

QIC: Snap Hook
When: 08/29/2017
Pax: Bob the Builder, Cooter, dixie chicken, Fratboy, Greenwave, Jekyll, Nomad, Shady, Sparkle, spash
Posted In: The Colosseum

Moseyed around the driveway loop to the courtyard

Warm up:

20 Side straddle up

20 wind mill

20 Moroccan nightclub

20 mountain climber

20 Peter Parker

Zigzag through the parking lot area with :

Side shuffle along the line and lunge in the between the line

Side shuffle along the line and bear crawl

Round 1:

10 merkins, run and climb the wall, 10 squat on the other side

8 merkins, run and climb the wall, 8 squat on the other side

6 and 6, 4 and 4 , 2 and 2

Abs work in the playground area:

20 3 count LBC

20 Flotters

Round 2:

10 Burpees, run and climb the wall, 10 monkey humpers on the other side

8 and 8, 6 and 6, 4 and 4, 2 and 2.

Abs work in the playground area:

boat and canoe in cadence

20 Freddie mercury

Round 3; partner up and get a bench

Partner 1: run to the end of the parking lot and back

Partner 2: dip on the bench

Partner 1 :run to the end of the parking lot and back

Partner 2: Step up

Partner 1: run

Partner 2: derkins

Partner 1: run

Partner 2: Calves raise

Partner 1 : run

Partner 2: box cutter

Moseyed back around the parking lot loop to COT

I enjoyed being Q at the Colosseum. I appreciate everybody enthusiasm, energy and counting

in cadence with me. Good times and fairly painful.

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Prisoners over the Wall

2017-08-29Leave a comment

QIC: Fishsticks & Jekyll
When: 08/26/2017
Pax: Baywatch, Bolt, Bonsai, Change Order, Copperfield, Falcon Crest, Fishsticks, Half Shell, Jekyll, Router, Shady, Spark Plug
Posted In: Alcatraz

11 men arrived at the park, with 1 FNG in tow. Change Order and Copperfield had an alternate plan to run the Tega Cay hills.

Fishsticks began the workout with a warm-up jog around the neighborhood.

Circled up for COP

Plank Stretches

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x 20

Windmill x10

Hello Dolly x 10

Moroccan Night Club x 20

Mosey to the field for some partner exercises at each corner of the field

Elevated push-ups x10 – feet on partner’s back
Single arm lifts x10 – Lift partner up from ground with one hand
Dips x 10 – Partner 1 in plank position while partner 2 dips
Merkin claps x 20

Rinse and repeat two more times OYO

Jekyll takes the Q-

Mosey around backside of Alcatraz with a head fake to “the hill”. Stopped for some seal jacks and plank jacks before having Sparkplug lead the pax to the coupons.

Taking our brick we pick it up and put it down several times in the form of curls, squats, lunges, shoulder press, tricep extensions. Bonsai looked like he was lifting cobble stone. That dude big.

Split off to team 1 and 2. Team 1 on wall for sits and team 2 race across field, scale the outfield fence, run up the mulch hill and do 5 bombjacks- race back to wall. Flapjack. 2 more rounds throwing in BTTWs and Wall sits. Sparkplug continues to be a no quit leader. #inspiration. Falcon Crest almost had nonscheduled reassignment surgery getting up and over the fence.

Putting coupons back at home base we moseyed to the field for Jack Webbs and Lt. Dan’s. Crowd favorite here- especially the LT. Dans.

Great effort by all. Triple Hate- FNG Baywatch was a welcome surprise. Nice job Router. If you are still wondering- Shady has firm backside that provided a great bench for YHC.

Excellent work men!

Announcements:

F3 Chicago – Launching soon

The Fort Invergence – Sept 29

Paradise workout – Friday night at 7:00pm

Prayers:

Shaddy’s M interview

Change Order’s M turns 40

Jekyll’s 2.0 away on camping trip

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Set those goals and discipline will take you there

2017-08-252019-10-22Leave a comment

QIC: Short Sale, Jekyll
When: 08/19/2017
Pax: Change Order, Fish Sticks, Half Shell, Hootie, Jekyll, macgyver, Mainframe, Old Bay, Prophet, Senator Tressel, Short Sale
Posted In: Alcatraz

11 hearty Pax posted to Alcatraz looking for that perfect mixture of pain and fellowship. I was stoked to be able to lead alongside a well-known Master of the Beatdown, our own Jekyll. We agreed ahead of time that YHC would take the 1st half and this is how we started:

Full Disclaimer was given for our FNG (my wife’s cousin Joe) who I had been EH’ing for some time along with Old Bay and Destiny. Old Bay gets the assist as he agreed to drive Joe to Alcatraz. Luckily, my legal training has prepared me for denying and disclaiming all liability.

Mosey along Windward with some Butt Kickers, High Knees and karaoke mixed in.

COP, all IC: SSH * 20, Imperial Walkers * 15, Merkins * 10, Windmills * 15, Diamond Merkins * 10, Squats * 15, Plank Series, MNC*15, Wide Arm Merkins * 10

The Thang:

Grab cinder blocks from Jekyll’s car and mosey to the near baseball diamond. Partner up and prepare for a modified Dora-Milwaukee Baseball Trivia style. With the monthly theme of Discipline swirling in my head and heart all week, my thoughts turned to the sport of baseball as it requires so much mental and physical discipline to reach the highest level. So, our exercises would be informed by some trivia about my hometown of Milwaukee and its’ teams. To Wit:

1954-1st National League city to pass 2 million in attendance- not New York or Chicago, but Milwaukee-do 54 chest presses total
1979 1^st time there were Co-Rookies of the Year in the AL- 79 block swings– The co-rookies were Alfredo Griffin, Toronto and John Castino, Minnesota. John happens to be my cousin and his discipline and determination at baseball made a large impression on me and grew my love of the game immeasurably.
1982- 1^st and only World Series appearance for the Brewers- 82 overhead presses
2008- Brewers end 26-year playoff drought- 108 LBCs w/block

Closed out my portion with 20 leg throws/partner and 20 partner hand-clap Merkins.

Cue Jekyll:

With Short Sale testing the cerebral and the chesticles, I thought wise to focus on the ol back and stumps. We moseyed the loop around the park stopping for a few upper, middle, lowers- ala: pearls on a string.

Keeping with the baseball theme- we ran bases as such:

Bear Crawl to 1^st, do 5 Burpees, crab walk to 2^nd, More Burpees, Bear Crawl to 3^rd, You guessed it-5 Burpees and Crab walk home
Squat walk to 1^st, tip toe lunge to 2^nd, squat walk to 3^rd, tip toe lunge to home
Partner carries swapping as needed for everyone to get 2 full laps
Wheel barrow with partner swapping at each base

We probably did some more but I (Jekyll) had sweat in my eyes the entire time.

Short Sale had great words of wisdom RE: theme of the month Discipline. YHC offered his two cents:

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord
Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

NMM (from Short Sale):

After COP, I mentioned our first thoughts on Discipline. I often blur the line between Discipline and punishment towards my kids. Discipline should be a way to moderate their behavior and show them the “guardrails” in life. YHC can be heavy handed at times and I need to be less of a taskmaster. Also, be more disciplined and do a better job of treating our 2.0s equally and not showing favoritism. Discipline is also the bridge that takes us from our current accomplishments towards the goals we have set for ourselves. Personally, the gap between my accomplishments and my goals can be very wide sometimes. Need to focus more on serving my M and less on selfish pursuits. Jekyll’s bible verses above were spot on. All the advice I need is right there in Scripture, just need to take the time and give my faith walk greater attention.

I was honored to lead with Jekyll and humbled at the opportunity. Thanks Senator Tressel for the nod. To me, Alcatraz is one of the finest AOs, and that is a testament to the Senator’s leadership.

Short Sale and Jekyll out.

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Pantheon Sweat fest

2017-08-24Leave a comment

QIC: Gekko
When: 08/23/2017
Pax: Bear Grylls, Bob the Builder, Falcons Crest, Fish Sticks, Frat boy, FreeBird, Jekyll, Kaiser, Mayflower, Mr Clean, On The Rocks, Shady, Splash, Sputnik, Straight Up
Posted In: Pantheon

Always a pleasure to be invited to Q at Pantheon, especially since it’s basically in my backyard. The Pax gathered and it was great to see some guys I haven’t seen in a while, and always great to have Jekyll show up because I know that there will be great mumble chatter. No FNGs the disclaimer was given and we were off for a little warm up lap and then circled up for COP.

The Thang – SSH, Imperial Walkers, Abe Vagoda, Mountain Climbers, Plankorama, Moroccan Night Club, Freddie. Mosey to the front of school where cones were neatly set up along the walk. Very simple, do the exercise on the cone and then a lap around the parking lot, come back do the exercise again and add the next one in line, and on and on until all 8 cones are done alternating large and small laps. Start with 10 Merkins, 15 Squats, 10 Hello Dolly, 10 CDD, 20 LBC, 10 Burpees, 10 Monkey Humpers. I called at 6:00, everyone did awesome and a few even finished them all! Head to COT

Announcements- Invergence 9/29, read your newsletter

Prayers – Bob the Builders M going in for test, Sputnik job interview. A quick discussion on the Discipline of the Lord and how we are not supposed to hate it, we are called to rejoice in our suffering because our suffering leads to perseverance, which leads to character which leads to Hope, and Hope will never let us down.

A great morning and always a joy to lead the Pax

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Eclipse at the Colosseum…Rock Hill Rip-off

2017-08-22Leave a comment

QIC: Maximus
When: 08/22/2017
Pax: Atticus, Bonsai, Greenwave, Ham, Javert, Jekyll, macgyver, Maximus, Mr Clean, Nomad, Nutshell, Rebar, Shady, Sir Topham Hat, Snap Hook, Sparkle, Spoonman, TSquare
Posted In: The Colosseum

Leading up to this fine Tuesday at THE COLOSSEUM, there were a few challenges and statements made about who would be willing to come out. Of all the conversations, I’ll give credit to those who showed after being personally invited: Jekyll, Bonsai, Snap Hook, Shady, Sir Topham Hat. The others that didn’t show…well, you’re probably better off not trying to erase a few bad songs from your memory. But for those that did, you’re welcome and I’m sorry (actually, not really).

I wanted to do something a little different from my usual, like pullups at the playground or the deck of cards. So, in search of something creative, I didn’t have to go far. So much can be found if we travel across the river; whether virtually or physically. In this case, Italian Job gave me beat down rights with a slight modification to his Eclipse-Day post and I brought it to the Colosseum.

Once I get to the parking lot, I am immediately met by two better-than-punctual FNG’s that Nomad EH’d. Welcome Rebar and Ham. And oh by the way, we quickly realized these are two of the most fit FNG’s to post at 0515. Side note on Ham, it’s comical when an FNG receives a call sign to which he is clueless on its reference. That’s why we all help to contribute to Wikipedia.

So after a disclaimer that turned into mumbling, we were off to the back parking lot where we circled up for a warm up of:

SSH x 20

Butt Kickers x 35

Merkins x 10

American Hammers x 25

Merkins x 10

Freddy Mercury’s x 20

Merkins x 10

LBC’s x 25

Calf Raises x 50 OYO

This is where the plagiarism came in. We used the same 5 songs Italian Job used which for those who didn’t read that yesterday, went a little something like this:

Song 1: Ain’t No Sunshine: Hold squat position then do a tuck jump when you hear, “Ain’t No Sunshine.”