Taint Kicks and Vulnerability

‘Twas a beautiful morn to get our sweat on in the gloom. A crisp 42 degrees with no moisture in site, and the clearest sky I’ve seen for a few weeks now. I pulled up to see that Smokey and Sugar Bug were keeping Pennywise alive and kicking for a long ruck. Makes me proud.

As we all arrived and settled in, I was looking forward to leading the PAX in a text book Exicon taint kick. The clock struck 5:15, the disclaimer was disclaimed, and we moseyed.

Mosey .10 miles

COP
Lil’ Baby Arm Circles x 10 each direction
SSH x 20
Tappy Tap x 10
Imperial Squat Walker x 10
Merkins x 10
Yoga Flow to warm up and stretch the back: Child’s Pose, Cat/Cow, etc.

Mosey To Middle School Benches – Round 1

Aiken Legs x 2
20 Squats
20 Box Jumps
20 Lunges (10 each leg)
20 Split Jacks
First round OYO, Second Round as a group.

Between rounds 1 and 2 I spoke to the PAX about F3 Mental Battle and our inability to share our vulnerabilities with other men. We fear we will look weak, when really it involves great strength and self awareness to open up and share where we are struggling. Plus, once we open up to each other it typically is received with open arms and responses that the other guy is struggling with the same thing.

To be honest, I feel like a failure of a husband and father almost daily. I don’t feel like I am able to give everything to them that they deserve, and I feel I spend too much time focused on things other than my family.

Mosey to Rear of Middle School – Round 2

Inch Worms from first door to second door
Bear Crawl to next door

I spoke again about vulnerability here, how I am coming out on the other side of something with my M right now. How her sharing of her struggle caused another PAX to open up to me about his struggle. This is important – because it shows there’s a chain reaction of people opening up. We are in this together.

Back to work.

Inch Worm to next door
Bear Crawl back two doors to round it out

Mosey Around Corner to Brick Wall – Round 3

People’s Chair Hold – 75 seconds

Raise each leg and pulse 10 times while holding one legged people’s chair – rinse and repeat for a total of 3 times each leg.

BTTW Hold – 60 seconds

Repeat People’s Chair with 3×10 leg pulses each side after 75 second hold

Bataan Death March Back to COT – Round 4

Indian Run with 5xSquats/Merkins in a CMIYC style, Tap Rear Pax as you pass and they stop to do their 5 exercises.

We arrived back to COT with a few seconds to spare so we held 6 inches and transitioned to boat to keep the abs warm. The ruckers arrived just after we finished to join COT.

NMM

Life is full of ups and downs, with highs and lows. Why do we stress to look like we have everything under control? I know I don’t have control, and if I fake it, I’ll suffocate. We all face that fate if we hide our struggles. Open up. To a friend, a family member, your M, to yourself, in a journal, or to God. James 4:6.

#NoOYO.

Announcements

Nessie this weekend. Sign up!

QvQ Championship next week.

Prayers/Praises

Shield’s wife is having shoulder surgery tomorrow. Pray that the surgery goes well and her recovery is quick.

Jiffy is going to see some multigenerational football in Nebraska with both his father and his son this weekend! What a great memory. Pray they enjoy their time together.

Pray for my M and I. By the grace of God we have our 2.3 on the way and we want the baby and my M to be healthy through the delivery and beyond.

Thanks for the tap, Jiffy.

Punch List out.

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QvQ 19.1 – Jiffy vs. Sasquatch

21 PAX showed up to the first round of QvQ 2019. This first round is the classic match up from last year, which was decided by ONE point! That’s right, the reigning champ versus his challenger.

Jiffy versus Sasquatch

Brief history: Sasquatch lost to Jiffy last year by one point. ONE point! It was necessary for the match up to be repeated given the level of intensity at which both of these #HIM operate.

The clock struck 0515 and I directed everyone’s attention to the championship prize. A custom F3 shovel flag curated by YHC.

The intent of this shovel flag is to be much like a championship belt. I hope that it passes hands over the years, and we write the name of each years’ reigning champ on the back of the handle. It shall be brought to CSAUPs as well at any time the champion posts and desires to gloat. See below for a glimpse of the trophy.

0515.

I had five minutes to lead a quick warm up to get the PAX ready for what was to come.
Once we got our Tappy Taps out of the way, it was time to get down to business.

The rule of order is the competitor who is earliest to arrive will get to decide who goes first. Jiffy arrived at about 0435, so he was the clear winner. He chose to receive and go on the offense first.

0520.

Coupon Roulette

We came upon a sinister circle with 20+ cinder blocks, 50/60lb dumbbells, and retaining wall blocks! He had us circle around the coupons and choose one.

With your selected coupon you will complete in cadence called by Jiffy:

Shoulder press x 10
Curls x 10
Squats x 10
4 Count Flutters x 10

Jiffy then rolls three dice. One determines the direction we rotate. Two determine how many coupons in that direction we shift.

Get to your next coupon, repeat. Roll again.

Next coupon, do equal amount of burpees to number of coupons we rotated. Repeat four movements.

Roll again. Next coupon, do equal amount of partner clap push ups to number of coupons rotated. Repeat movements.

We hit round four and I was praying for a miracle, because my arms were already smoked.

0530.

Sasquatch takes the reigns and moves us to the pull up bars for a very creative assembly line of face kicks.

Nine PAX line up at pull up bars. The rest at various nearby stations. Do one pull up, shift one bar to the left. Once you reach the end you then BTTW crawl back to the other side of the pull up bars. Then head out to the street.

The remaining PAX are either doing burpees at either curb on the street nearby or run/nur down and up the hill (AKA Quadzilla!). Once you finish your respective station, move to the next and tap somebody at that station to proceed.

That was super original, and also tclaps to Jedi for doing a full handstand walk with no wall support both times through.

0540.

Jiffy gets his second opportunity to remind us why he is the champ.

We remain at the pull up bars and count off by threes.

Group 1: four rounds of 5 burpees/10 squats and then end with 10 partner clap push ups.

Group 2: four rounds of 5 pull ups/10 Merkins and end with 10 partner clap push ups.

Group 3: run to bottom of hill a dm bearcrawl up. At each cone do 10 Carolina Dry Docks.

We made it through 2.5 stations before running out of time. A great use of the AO. I wondered how Sasquatch was going to answer this painful segment.

0550.

Sasquatch has us count off by fours. He then leads us on a brisk mosey to the turf field. As we approach, we see two sleds at the closest end zone, and two at the far end zone. He sets one group up at each sled and has us complete the following exercises as a group on repeat:

Seal Sit-Ups x 10
Jump Squats x 10

Meanwhile, one PAX from each group pushes the sled 100 yards across the field to the opposite end zone. Once they reach the end, swap with someone in that group and they then push the sled back to your original group. Continue that snake like move until time is called. Woof.

0600 couldn’t come soon enough. Those sled pushes were terrible.

We hit 0600 and head back to COT to vote. The votes were cast, the points were tallied, and a winner was decided upon.

The winner of week one of QvQ is:

Sasquatch

It was close, but this time it was decided by 7 points. Sasquatch was awarded a patch since he will be advancing to the championship on 10/30.

A great showing by both of our competing Q’s. I think I speak for everyone when I say that was one of the more difficult workouts as of late at The Coop. And we’ve had some tough ones!

I’m looking forward to week two. We’ve got the Airborne Bad Assery of Geronimo lined up to take on our very own 1st F Q – Shady!

Announcements

Broga at The Ranch tomorrow! A special recovery focused workout for those running Ragnar this weekend.
QvQ next week: Geronimo vs Shady!

Prayers/Praises

Wegmans’ father in law has prostate cancer. It’s slow moving, but it’s cancer. Pray that it can be eradicated without much detriment to his M’s father.
Pray for the multiple PAX with pregnant M’s. It’s a transitional time but it’s well worth it. Pray we can as husbands love our wives like Christ loves the church while they are going through so many changes.

Thanks for the great beatdown, men.

Punch List out.

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8

Ranch Style

As our boys are on the same soccer team, Jiffy took the opportunity to request my Q the week before. Been a little while since I’ve been to the ranch and more than likely, it was a Q, too.

Two Run and Gun Musketeers pledged support the evening before, so I was guaranteed a couple familiar PAX. Ultimately, there was at least 5 PAX that were new to me. 10 total.

Early arrival, set out some cones and got the worm out to the football field side. Last minute writing of weinke and taping to arm in the van, and off to the PAX minutes before.

Little mosey around all the fields with a few stops to warmup, WM, SSH, LSS, Tappity Taps….the new name?, 1 leg flutters, MTN C, LeanBacks and the always fun, do it as you’d like…Goofballs.

Around the front school loop, jog with stops at speed bumps: 5 bombjacks, 4 squats, 3 burpees, then 432, 321….or something similar as my count plan veered off course.

Jog to football field next to soccer field. Met up with the “worm” 140# sandbag. Partners carried the worm full length of field and back while the rest did 10 Monkey Humpers, brief 10 yard jog to other side for 10 CDD’s, then 9 and 9, 8 and 8 and so on. Took turns with worm carry. Then switched to calf raises/jump lunges combo….or so I think…Did not make it to Donkey Kicks/wide arm merkin combo.

To soccer field. Partnered up again. One partner led out a couple secs early to sprint back of opposite goal, then partner left to reach soccer ball and kick to goal. P1 brought ball back and both sprinted back to together. Meanwhile…rest of PAX alternated 5 merkins/big boi situps, wide squats then bear crawled about 5 yards and repeated. Kept going to all PAX done.

Finished up with some good Mary, if I recall properly. I heard one PAX say “Well, we did some diffferent things today” which I hope is a good thing….  Good job out there, PAX.

Talked of the IronPax challenge as a you vs. you individual test as IronPax has 4 very hard workouts weekly in September. But even more importantly, for the PAX to support each other and make sure everyone gets through the challenge.  See backblast “Sometimes you are the six”: https://f3thefort.com/2019/09/13/sometimes-you-are-the-six-ironpax-wk2/

Get out to our G-Fit workout with the kids on Saturdays at 3:00 pm to serve our community efforts in the Paradise community. Q’s always needed!

The Paradise Reading Center is held every Mon and Wed at the Greater Bethlehem Baptist Church at 601 Joe Louis Street in Fort Mill during school. We need volunteers to assist in tutoring and helping the kids with school work!

Get out to the Q-Source discussions held on various days during the week.

Thank you to Shield for his Q on 9/11.

Aye! Bolt

 

 

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Simon Says at the Ranch

Four men posted on a fantastically cool morning.

Start with a Mosey run

Circle up for Warm up
SSH (IC 12x)
Windmill (IC 12x)
Moroccan Nightclub (IC 12x)
Low Slow Squats (IC12x)
Merkin (IC 12x)
Peter Parker (IC 12x)
Plank stretches
Downward dog
Honeymooner

Thang 1: Bermuda Triangle
Three cones spaced 20-30 yards apart.
Start at cone 1, do one burpee, bear crawl to next cone
Cone 2, do two burpees, bear crawl to next cone
Cone 3, do three burpees, bear crawl back to cone 1, and pick up a clothes pin from the bucket
Repeat the circuit, picking up a clothes pin for each completed circuit.
Alternated the transitions with crab walks ad crawl bears.

Thang 2.1: Simon says
do call outs only if Simon Says
Shuffle left, shuffle right, shuffle backwards,
SSH
merkins
Mountain Climbers
OH claps
Smurf jacks
Arm Circles
CDD
Al Gores
Lose a pin for not following Simon

Thang 2.2: Simon says penalty payments
15 minus pins left = burpees to do OYO

Mary
Abs: LBC, freddie mercury,
Protractor, shoulder taps

Fini, COT

I asked the men to think of one burden you carry, one thing you want to get better at, or start doing or stop doing and tied to this passage in Matthew 11:28-29:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Prayers: Triple Lindy’s Mother in law not doing well in health.

Playlist:
The Man (Killers)
Got Nuffin (Spoon)
Higher Ground (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
These Boots were made for walking (Nancy Sinatra)
The Boys are back in town (Thin Lizzy)

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Q v Q 2019

 

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce: the second annual installment of Q v Q is coming this October.

It will be modified slightly to increase the number of HIM in competition. Face kicks will abound as we have eight great Q’s lined up to make YOU better.

Scoring Criteria:

Creativity

Best Use of the AO

Level of Face Kick (AKA Difficulty of Beatdown)

Each PAX attending the workout will score each Q based out of maximum score of 5 points per category (15 points max). The winner will be determined based off of the higher total between the two Q’s.

On the last Wednesday of the month, the four Q’s to advance each week will face off in a ‘menage a quatre of pain’ with each taking on one 10 minute session

Schedule

October 2nd – Jiffy vs Sasquatch (this match up was too good not to repeat)

October 9th – Geronimo vs Shady

October 16th – Cha Ching vs Dirty Harry

October 23rd – Harry Caray vs. Youts

October 31st – The four advancing Q’s from each week will have one 10 minute session each to prove their worth as Best Q.

Format 

YHC will lead the PAX in a standard, warmup lasting 5 minutes. The rest of the time will be split into 10 minute blocks and one of the Qs takes the first 10, the second taking the next 10, the 1st Q has to opportunity to respond, and finally the 2nd Q has their opportunity to respond.

The Q that arrives earliest that morning will get to choose if they go first or second.

After the 40 minutes are up, the PAX will quickly vote, we will carry the 1, and determine a winner.

The winner of each week will also have the pleasure of providing a backblast for Funhouse’s appeasement.

Trophy

These Qs will be competing for a prize that will be on display each week during Q v Q at The Coop.

Q’s are subject to change. Any changes will be communicated by YHC.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Punch List Out.

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Burpee Ranch Dressing

It was a not so humid, humid morning as 8 bootcampers and 2 ruckers decided to show up and accelerate their Thursday morning. I started off with a quick introduction and disclaimer, and then we were off. We did a Mosey around the side of the school followed by some warmups.

Warmup:

15 Side Straddle Hops
15 Squats
15 Windmills
10 Merkins
Down dog/Up dog

Not wasting any time, we ran over to the wall.

10 Peoples Chair with overhead claps
10 Wall Mountain Climbers
10 Peoples Chair with overhead claps
10 Wall Mountain Climbers

A quick discussion on our word of the year and where we are with our word.

Moseyed over to the soccer field for some cone work. I brought this workout out at The Colosseum a few months back. It was such a crowd please, I thought I would give the people more of that they want. Lots of burpees!

The Thang:

  • 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 90 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 70 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 50 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Plank Jacks. Run 30 yards. 10 Plank Jacks. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.
  • 10 Burpees. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Plank Jacks. Run 10 yards. 20 Big Boy situps.  Run 10 yards. 10 Plank Jacks. Run 10 yards. 10 Carolina Dry Docs. Run 10 yards. 10 Flutters. Run 10 yards. 10 Squats. Run 10 yards. 10 Burpees. Run 110 yards back.

We line up for suicides.
10 yards
20 yards
30 yards
40 yards
50 yards

Headed back to COT for some ab work, and some prayers and praises.

JWow

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19 That Didn’t Mail In Their Saturday

So there was this Saturday in Ft. Mill, SC that 17 men joined 2 Q’s to have a little fun in the city park, talk about the impact F3 & others have had on us and the community, and do some crazy exercises that would make others shake their head. That Saturday was yesterday and I must say that Router and I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity granted us by Slash.

3 years ago, Router began his journey with F3 and as he said, the life change has been great and there’s no looking back. As we all know, it’s much more about the 2nd & 3rd F’s but the magnet of the 1st F is what attracts us and propels us to that life change F3 is know for.

That said, Router lit the torch with a disclaimer and a brisk mosey around the WEP path stopping along the way for 20 SSH, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs, 10 Merkins and 10 Peter Parkers; a great opportunity to stretch the PAX out and bring them back together.

Router brought us to the middle of the grass field for the start of the Worlds Longest Lasting, Most Disputed, Loudly Criticized, Not At All Controversial, exercise in The Fort. Sorry, the Pullman got the best of me (which has nothing to do with what we did). This is where he introduced us to a modified Catch Me If You Can. However, there were no rucks, no running, no monkey humpers, just a lot of Tesh-chasing which, for me as Tesh’s partner, made for a quick rendition of this terrible idea. Partner 1 is doing inch-worm merkins while Partner 2 does 20 Flutters, 10 Merkins, 20 American Hammers and 10 Carolina Dry Docks then bear crawls to his inch-worming partner. We did this for what seemed like the entire Saturday morning but in all reality, it was about 100yds (go ahead and try it…I dare you).

Oh, that wasn’t bad enough? How about Router bringing us back to the starting point for a round of Jack friggin’ Webbs. Yup, you just read that. And yes, we went to the 10:40 mark with merkins & overhead claps.. Say hello to your Jell-O arms. Good thing none of our resident hair models were in attendance because hair-washing would’ve been a challenge later that morning.

Then Router topped it off with an explanation of his growth over the last 3yrs since joining F3. Thanks to the fellas like DD (in attendance), Santini, Senator Tressel, Assassin and others, there are hundreds of men who share a similar story to Router, each one unique and powerful in their own right.

Hand off to Maximus.

Mosey to “The Hill” and line up at the base. Identify the tree at the top, about face and reverse lunge walk all the way up the hill to the tree. At the top, drop to your six and crab walk back down.

Mosey back to the field and in true Jack friggin’ Webb fashion, take that to the legs for Lieutenant Dan’s. Just like before, we went to the 10:40 mark with squats & jumping lunges.

Lined up the cones about 30yds apart, PAX line up at one end then the explanation. WWII situps into a burpee broad jump. Repeat until you get to the other cone.

2 lines facing each other for Knee Tar Jah’s or Prisoner Lunges or whatever we’ve decided to call these things.

SSH x 21

Back to the cones. Run from cone 1 to cone 2, 20 Plank Jacks, NUR back to cone 1, 15 WWII situps, back to cone 2, 10 Plank Jacks, then NUR back to cone 1, 5 WWII situps.

PAX back together for:

SLOW Peter Parkers x 21

Flutters x 21

Squats x 21

Jail break to COT for a short set of LBCs.

So that was it. Great time I hope for all. Didn’t get a lot of miles but my body 24hrs later tells me that wasn’t needed. Remember what’s been done for you as you have the opportunity to do something positive and impactful for others.

**ONE REMINDER**: September 6 is our Annual Invergence followed by our regional Convergence September 7 back at WEP.

Until Next Time,

Router & Maximus

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Back on the Ranch

Its been a while since I’ve ventured across town to the Ranch for a workout.  Five men and a dog showed up for the workout this morning.  After chatting for a little while, we launched with a jog around the parking lot.  Next, we circled up for the following warm-up exercises:

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x 15

Windmill x15

Plank Stretches

Next, we moseyed to the school boulder to “Push the Rock”.  Each person had 10 seconds to see if he could push over the rock while the others planked.  No success in moving the rock.

Next, we ran over to the front of the school for a series of exercises:

  • Burpee broad jumps
  • Inch worm merkins
  • Bear crawl / merkins
  • Crabwalk / LBCs
  • Backwards bear crawl / Carolina dry docks

After each exercise, we took a lap around the parking lot.

We had seven minutes left for a series of AB exercises (LBCs, Freddie Mercury, Superman, Rosalita, Hello Dolly)

 

Back to COT

Prayers

Teachers/admin/students/parents preparing for school year

Family Travels

Family Illnesses

 

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Fields of Gory at The Ranch – And The Importance of Sharing Your Burdens

Jiffy gave me a holler this weekend to Q here. I was in the lower spectrum of the Flux lately and Q-ing a mostly black diamond AO was just what I needed to get out of it. Thank you Jiffy for the opportunity!!

As I rolled in a little after 5, I saw Straight Up getting in a prerun. That’s always nice to see and also be a part of. Get after it my man!!

Quite a few PAX showed up. I was surprised since I was “competing” with the launch of Shady’s new Minnow Pond HIgh-Intensity-Run AO. Regardless of numbers, the fact that PAX show up to get better is always good to see. Word the night before was that there would be an FNG. Sure enough, the FNG held their word and posted. Awesome!! We briefly explained what F3 is, then went through the 5 core principles of F3 and also a full disclaimer. Then off we went.

Yogging pace mosey around the front parking lot of the school for a quick warm up to get the muscles warm and blood flowing. Some great conversations along the way. Then back near where we started for the COP:

20 or so of the following:
* Sidestraddle hops (SSH)
* Windmills (WM)
* Imperial Walker (IW)
* Hillbilly walker (HW)
* Moroccan night clubs (MNC)

Then off to the field out front for the main event. Once we were staged I shared some intro words of my message (see below), then we got into it.

Fields of Gory:

Two LED candles placed at either end of the field for marking and romantic ambiance, roughly 100yds apart. No roses or chocolates though, sorry. PAX lined up along one end. Start at one end with an exercise, do a transition to the other side, do another exercise, another transition back, etc. A total of 4 rounds were done, so we transitioned 400 yds total. Here’s what we did:

Round / Exercise / Transition:

  1. 75 merkins then Lt Dan (100 yds) to next
  2. 100 hillbilly squat* then bear crawl (100 yds) to next (which was where we started)
  3. 125 flutters (2 ct) then broad jump (100 yds) to next
  4. 150 elbow plank peter parkers (SC) then sprint to start/finish area
  • Hillbilly Squat = Do a sumo squat, then after you come up you lift one knee up and side crunch the same side elbow down to where they both almost or lightly touch. Then place foot back down and straighten up from the side crunch. That’s one rep. Repeat, alternating L-R sides as you go.

There was a lot of good mublechatter the whole time, and the FNG had plenty of help understanding the terms as well as plenty of encouragement and motivation to complete the work at hand. You know, because that’s how we F3 HIMs roll!! That’s the way to get FNGs to come back.  Everyone did GREAT!!

We still had some time, so we circled up on the field for a people’s choice Ablab / Mary

  • Jiffy – Russian twists
  • Mr T – Boxcutter
  • Mainframe – ?? Something that made Mr T really rip a few good, loud, long ones that made us all laugh good. That’s all I can remember from his turn. He and Cable Guy need to get together.
  • Harry Carry – Freddy mercury

After that we were done and toasted. On to COT.

FNG Naming / Announcements / P&P

  •  FNG was EH’d by Straight Up. They work together and have done some OCR events together. Got ‘Scooter’ because he loves to bike ride and motorcycle ride.
  • Read your newsletter – Journey group starting up, Q Source convergence, Invergence in September, Ragnar, etc
  • Prayers for Jiffy’s mom who was very recently diagnosed with lymphoma.
  • Prayers for my M. See below.

It was a great morning! The FNG really hung in there well. Great mumblechatter. A lot of hard work put in. It was a much needed blast!

NMM – Sharing Your Burdens

The past year or so I have not really been talking much at my Qs. Just setting the work expectations and getting things done. If I did talk it was brief, not much expansion, much of a message for others to marinate on and get better from, or input from the PAX at all. Even at my Q at The Fire Ant two days prior to this I was pretty quiet. Today was different. I felt I had to. Not expectation from site Q or anything, rather I needed to do it. I needed to share for myself and others.

I briefly mentioned some of what’s below to the PAX during the workout to frame my message, but I am going to expand upon this here. Get something to drink and get comfortable if you want to read on. I ask that you please do.

To be 100% honest, since the completion of the Custom DSM event and Star Course 26 after, I have nearly completely lost all motivation to post. The DSM was May, star course was June. In the past month or so I may have posted a handful of times. I’ve been just burned out in every way. In the few months prior to the DSM I completed a GRT, then 1/2 marathon, full marathon, P200, a GRT-L combo, Pathfinder Advanced training, a Mile-High mountain ruck (thanks Dirty Harry), and have also completed every GORUCK monthly themed challenge. I was posting a minimum 5 days a week as well, with pre-runs or pre-rucks 2-3 times a week mixed in for good measure. My body was getting hammered, so the physical burnout was obvious. But I was also quite mentally and emotionally burned out. Stick a fork in me I’m done burnout. Alot of stressers in my life. There was a lot on my mind, a lot of distractions. Job stresses; worrying about my 86 year old mom; family worries; the highs of completing the physical challenges and subsequent lows of pain, recovery, healing, and slowly getting back in a groove for the next things; my older brother getting divorced and selling his house that we all made a TON of great memories in over the years; worries about my older son who has ADHD and was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of Autism); I had a coworker who recently committed suicide – and nobody at work knew he was suffering; I am OCD so there’s always something around the house that I feel has to be made better.  And there was more. They started overwhelming me mentally and emotionally. Between the physical, emotional, and mental burdens, they felt 100x heavier than my ruck at the DSM Heavy. The Jester was pulling his strings on me. I was feeling I was in downward spiral. I’ve never been diagnosed as depressed, but I started wondering if I was. I was in the low range of The Flux for sure. It’s part of life. It happens.

But the big hitter came recently. My wife of 14 years, Stephanie, had been having headaches off and on over the past few months, like since the beginning of the year. Sometimes debilitating ones where she would have to leave work quite early and go home, crawl in bed, and rest. Some days she’d have them, some days not. Totally random. She has a stressful job but on days she had a rough day at work, she may not have one. No BP issues causing them. No sickness present. Blood work showed no causes. Docs thought it was migraines. Migraine meds did not help. Got an MRI. Later we got the results – docs found something on the right side of her brain, it appeared old,  was small,  and did not appear to be a tumor. We were told to go see a neurologist.  As you could imagine, that caused ALOT of stress between us two as well as our families.

But I kept all of that in. Did not really talk about that much to anyone. I stayed home, did not work out, did not talk to others, kept mostly off social media. Even when others pinged me I kept away from discussing things. I felt nobody really cared about my problems. This is pretty much how I can be, and have been so most of my life.

I felt I was directly headed to a breaking point. I could feel my BP rise – and my home checks of it confirmed it. The pressure cooker was piping hot, packed full and expanding, and about to burst. This was no way to live. I had to snap out of it but had no motivation to muster up the momentum to move forward.

Sometimes the momentum for movement comes from outside yourself. Last week I got invited to a birthday party for a fellow PAX Olaf (the younger one). I of course accepted. That was a lift, a positive impact, initiator event #1 in itself.  As I was getting ready to leave with my family in tow, I got a message from Jiffy. He wanted me to get out and Q at The Ranch. I could’ve made an excuse but I accepted.  That was a lift, initiator event #2. Then I went to the party and had some great 2nd F with the PAX there. Even then, I still did not mentioned some of this to the other PAX that were there – I did not want to be the grey cloud in the party. So I put on that façade of all is well when it really was not. As the party drew to a close (at least for me), another event that initiated my movement happened. Router asked if I wanted to Q at The Fire Ant. I could’ve made an excuse but I accepted. That was a lift, initiator event #3. Finally seeing the PAX at the party, just being around them even if I did not talk much – that was another lift, initiator event #4. I went home feeling MUCH better. Those commitments gave me  purpose and responsibility.  It was quite a lift out of the doldrums for me. I don’t think those PAX know how much that made a difference but they do now. They are VERY MUCH appreciated!

I mentioned some of this to the PAX just before we started the main event. I let them know I was very thankful to be back in the gloom after some time off. That getting back out helped me re-discover how valuable the people in my life are to me. Who are my real positive impactors are in my life. I then challenged the PAX to think about who the impactors are in their life, who they can talk with to share their burdens. You should always be able to talk to your M, the Sky Q is ALWAYS there for you if you let Him in your life, and sometimes your friends in your life are more of a ‘shield lock’ than you may know. You don’t have to be in F3 to be considered one in my opinion.

We cranked out the first two rounds of exercises, then I took a few minutes to discuss more.

I  mentioned how getting back out in the gloom this week and talking, sharing, sweating with others was quite cathartic and a great form of therapy for me. I did not slam everyone with all my burdens, nor have deep mumblechatter discussions about any of them during workouts, but just the act of bringing out my wife’s health issue in the COTs where I posted this week let out a lot of the pressure I had built up.  We PAX are hesitant to bring things out in the COT, no matter how big or small a burden. That’s all I needed to get my boat straightened out from its list to port and get my mind to where I can feel better about things, which I do. I also mentioned that we men are “wired” for the need to fix things we see ‘broken’. So when someone comes to us with an issue, we see it as a “problem” that needs fixing, so we start going into offering solutions. Sometimes that’s not what people need. Sometimes they know the solutions, may not have mentioned them, and know they are hard roads to travel. Sometimes folks just need a set of sympathetic and empathetic ears. Sometimes we men just need to listen, let the conversation flow in the direction the other person takes it, which sometimes will self-lead to solutions that THEY can find, not that WE provide. But most importantly, we need to get our burdens out in the open with others that impact our lives.

Then I challenged the PAX to think about a current burden in their life, big or small. Then I went and asked each one of them to say aloud to the other PAX one or two words that could best describe that burden. We all heard things like “job security”, “family health”, “struggles with my son”, “M’s health”, “job stress”, “financial issues”, “my mom”, “marriage”, and more. So there is proof we all have burdens. It was great to hear, and I thanked them all for their openness, vulnerability, and honesty.

Then we got back after it to complete rounds 3 and 4.

When it was over we discussed the fact that during this workout we 1) thought about who are impactors are, who are shield locks are, who we can talk to. and 2) a burden in your life. In a nutshell we know an issue, we know we have to talk about it (if we have not), and we know who we feel we can talk to about it. So now I challenged the PAX to DO IT. Get it out to someone. Get outside the comfort zone (or relieve the pressure). Talk. I’ve heard and also mentioned to the PAX that sometimes folks are afraid to bring things up in the COT for a slew of potential reasons. That discussing burdens are what Shield Lock relationships are for. Understood, BUT that’s what the COT is for. Sometimes all it takes is getting it out. Sometimes they don’t want deep discussions that morning. If folks approach you later after COT, or sometime after that workout, to further discuss then there it is, your concentrica is forming on its own. But folks will never know unless you air it out.

OR – be the one with the ears to listen to someone. If you know someone who appears to be a pressure cooker…….ask them if they are OK? If they want to talk. Sometimes that’s all it takes to be the impactor to cause positive movement towards a direction of improvement. Pusher did just that with me after COT at Clydesdales the day before my Q at the Ranch, and it was amazing how it made me feel, how it uplifted me. Thank you my friend.

TO THOSE READING WHO WERE NOT THERE:
Scan the list of who was at this workout. How many of you knew someone on the list of attendees have one of these issues mentioned above? Do you know other PAX out there that may have one as well? Can you identify or know of someone who is a “pressure cooker” ? How often do you hear something from them in the COT? Don’t be afraid to ask someone “how are you doing?” after the COT and we are chitter chattering before we leave. Be the impactor. Start the momentum shift. Sometimes that’s what others need.

While we worked out on that field at The Ranch, every one of us gave it our all, let it all out on that field. We were all exhausted when we got to COT – not to mention wet, dirty, and grassy. Yes!! Mission accomplished!!. But as we discussed, sometimes when it comes to our burdens we carry, that’s what we have to do – let them out and leave them out for all, especially those close to us. OR help someone do that. Even if it’s just a mention of them in the COT. That one small step can be the impactor towards positive movement for improvement.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead. God bless.

-NASA

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The Never Ending Mile – Ranch

Workout was performed on the quarter mile loop in front of the Springfield Middle School drop off loop.  Many pax attempted to finish the mile, but no one was able to within the time allotted.

This is a very tough workout and will challenge to you push yourself.  If you plan to use this I suggest you plan for a full hour or no warm-up.

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