Tag: Jiffy

Moseying through life searching for your Rock

Leave a comment

Eighteen men posted on a beautiful morning to make each other stronger in body and spirit.  I won’t try to capture all of the words of wisdom shared but get out there and post to engage…

The Message…  The bottom line of the messages given intermittently throughout the pain was around impact and finding your God given purpose and engaging in the Journey that will take you from where you are today to where God wants to to be, having an impact in the areas of the world he has called you.  Don’t just mosey through life smelling the flowers and then moving on to the next thing.

The Thang…

Mosey to the corporate parking lot where Shinguard started the morning with COP.

  • SSH x20
  • Squats x20
  • LBC x20
  • High Low Flutter x20
  • Worlds Worst Merkin x10 (Wide arm, Regular, diamond = 1 rep)  that was terrible

Mosey to the wall for some muscle up and donkey action.  2 sets (10 x 10 then 5 x 20)

Mosey to the top of the Hill for some hill repeats. x2  Run down hill and run backwards back up with 10 burps at the top.

Mosey to the grass hill with a forward bear crawl down the hill to the sidewalk

Mosey to the lower wall for some wall sits and baby dips while in sitting position

Mosey to the courtyard for wall jumps, derkins, irking, and dips with a few rounds.

Santina took over and rotated through a series of SSH, Carolina Dry Docks, Lunges, Moroccan Night Clubs, Seal Jacks and a repeated, slow, methodical rip your muscles out shoulder type of experience.

Moseyed back to COT for a couple of ab exercises then done.

It was an honor and privilege to Q and to Q with Santini.

CH

TClap |
0

Beyond with Tinsel’s Utensils at the Ranch

1 Comment

Today I had the opportunity to lead a Beyond Workout, I’ve been to many of them and decided to share some of my personal stories. I was welcomed by all the PAX that decided to get better and a new name for my toys/props, Tinsel’s Utensils, great name Mainframe!!

We started the warm up with a short run around the parking lot with high knees and butt kickers and then circled up for a few warm up exercises:  Windmills, Moroccan night clubs, low slow squats followed by story sharing while on different variations of planks (regular, elbows, right/left leg up while on elbows, right/left arm up while on regular, back to regular), downward dog-honeymooner; with 9 minutes into the WO we split in 4 groups and each group went to a different station.

Station 1:

-> 10 diamond merkins

-> 15 wide arm merkins

-> 20 regular merkins

-> 30 battle rope wave SC

-> 40 plank jacks

-> 50 Shoulder taps

Station 2:

-> 15 boat and canoe

-> 20 Rosalitas

-> 30 Sledgehammer swings (15 each side)

-> 40 Heel Touches SC

-> 40 Dying Roach

Station 3:

-> 15 overhead press

-> 15 biceps curls

-> 25 dumbbell swing

-> 30 SSH

-> 50 Carolina drydocks

Station 4:

-> 10  Tire flips

-> 20  Monkey Humpers

-> 30 reverse lunges

-> 30 squat pops

-> 50 calf raises

After each group completed a station we met at the center for a brake and to continue my story sharing, on first brake we had a visit from Captain Thor (1 big boy sit up and 4 american hammers, 2 BBSU and 8 AH, 3 BBSU and 12 AH and so on) the plan calls for 10 BBSU and 40 AH but it’s looks easier on paper so we stopped at 8 BBSU and 32 AH. Back to the next station.

Time for brake number 2 and more story sharing, we did one of my favorite exercises the famous Worst Merkin ever, start with wide arm, down to regular and finish with a diamond merkin, that counts as one, we did 10 total. Back to the next station.

Brake number 3 came up and more of the story of my life was shared and since we were running out of time we went back to finish our 4th station.

I guess I didn’t take all the talking that I was going to do into consideration and we stopped at about 49 minutes, circled back into COT for a final chatter about my personal story.

We finished up with prayers, praises and announcements.

Thank you Straight up for lifting us up for the final prayer.

I think the best part of the WO was at the end when some of the PAX decided to skip the fist bump and switched it for a hug!!

Big props to Maximus for this great idea to go Beyond!

TClap |
9

Creativity in Leadership/Beyond

Leave a comment

Beyond Workout & The Ranch joined up to discuss and experience Creativity in leadership through the lens of F3 – Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith.

As I spent time preparing for this Beyond workout, a lot of what I planned to cover resonated pretty heavily with me.

I asked 3 things of the PAX: (1) challenge yourself (2) encourage one another (3) engage in the workout/discussions and begin responding to the challenges in the days and weeks to come.

Started with dynamic warm-ups: a combination of mosey, toy soldiers, knees to chest, ankle toward chest, karaoke.

The Thang:

Mosey to first location at the end line  of soccer field in front of Springfield Elementary School. Talked about part 1 of 3 things that I believe is necessary to achieve creativity in leadership: Get out of your comfort zone, leading from the front and when more appropriate partnering, delegating and/or supporting.

There’s the adage “don’t Q it if you can’t do it”.  In every workout I Q I try to push myself and the PAX outside of the comfort zone, because the biggest gains come from being challenged.  There is a guy I’ll refer to as Geronimo, who once said “if you want to run faster, you have to practice running faster.”  This  can be applied to many facets of your life – whether talking about actually running faster or getting stronger or if you want to be a “better” husband, father, friend, employee, saver, giver, fill in the blank.  Get out in front of it (outside the comfort zone) and hallenge yourself.  All f that being said, there are enevitably things that are not my/your strengths or are the strengths of others – where it s doesn’t make sense to lead from the front.  In these situations, Partner, delegate and/or support those around us that have those strengths.  It could be the PAX to our left/right or our M, a Whetstone partner…again fill in the blank.  We are all HIM, but we can’t do everything ourselves. Remember that 1 grain of sand doesn’t make a beach.  Challenge: Think of the impact we can make when we both lead from the front and (when more appropriate) partner, delegate and/or support those around us.

exercise group 1: First, from the end line, lead from the front in a soccer field length sprint (if your not in the front or are the 6, make sure you challenge yourself).  Down and back 3 times.  Next, on the sideline, partner-up and support someone by carrying them across the field.  Alternate back and forth 3 times.

Mosey to second location at the bottom of the hill at the bus loop in front of Springfield Middle School.  Talked about part 2 of 3 in achieving creativity in leadership: always look for opportunities to set yourself apart.

When I took the reins at Varsity, we had plenty of bootcamps and I was reluctant to Q “another bootcamp” – it was winter, attendance was very low, and frankly there was talk of consolidating the AO.  I knew that for it to remain on its own, it needed to stand apart from other workouts, which resukted in choosing the HIIT workout format.  The AO went from many weeks of myself and maybe 1 or 2  others to consistently 10-15 PAX.  I believe that the uniqueness of the AO and the willingness to try something new outside of the comfort zone is what drew the PAX.  Challenge: Think about what it means to start ourselves apart in how we interact with those within our spheres of influence – out Ms, 2.0s, coworkers.  Light always frowns out darkness.

exercise group 2: The PAX we’re split into two groups with group 1 running the bus loop while group 2 performed a modified Jacobs ladder of 3 burpees at the top of the hill and 3 v-ups at the bottom until the first group returned.  Switcharoo.  Rinse and repeat until each group ran the bus loop 3 times.

Mosey to the third location at the back entrance to the middle school.  Talked about part 3 of 3 in how to achieve creativity in leadership: don’t be predictable.

I was a runner pre-F3.  In fact, that’s is what drove me to F3 (a story for another time).  When I was asked to Q my first kettlebell workout, my natural inclination was to run with the bell. There have been many iterations of that since – bells, blocks, rocks, flat ground, hills.  My goal is to alway challenge myself and the PAX in ways we may have not been challenged before.  There are reasons why there are different variations on the merkin or squat!  Not to mention I get bored doing he same thing over and over.  Challenge: think about he areas of your life where you are predictable – your relationship with you M or 2.0s or how you exercise your faith – what are some ways to break out of that comfort zone and be less predictable?

exercise group 3: 3 LEGIT reps of each – Merkins, Squats, Diamond Merkins, Sumo Squats, Wide Arm Merkins, Alternating Solit Squats, Hand Release Merkins, Pistol Squats.

Running out of time, bear crawl to the straight away and then mosey back to COT.

TClap |
3

‘Watch’ Your Trajectory

Leave a comment

The preview was we will do lots of dumb things together. YHC hopes the advance billing lived up to the hype! We had a good discussion on trajectory and how many missteps does it take to get you off course. Surround yourself my PAX that will keep any missteps in check…plug for Whetstone. We need an accountability partner. Seeing that I have lost a few friends over the years to addiction, as recently as this week, take a look around and see how you can make an impact on others trajectory.

With that, we did a nice warm up that got us sweaty in an already humid environment quickly.

Mosey around the bus loop twice with dynamic stretching.

Circle up.

SSH
LS Merkins
LSS
Peter Parker
Parker Peter
CDDs
Some downward and upward dogs and some other goodness.

Now that was behind us we were ready for the main course.

The bus loop has three light poles about 30 yerds apart.

Rd 1 – 10 burpees, bear crawl to the light, 15 jump squats, crab walk, 20 merkins
Rd 2 – 10 burpees, lunge walk, 15 jumping lunges per leg, bear crawl, 20 CDDs
Rd 3 – 10 burpees, sumo walk, 15 LSS, bunny hop, 20 dips
Rd 4 – 10 burpees, single r leg hop, 15 calf raises, single l leg hop, 20 arm circles

Mosey to front of SFMS

Rd 1 clock merkins on the curb at 12, 3, 6, and 9 10 merkins each position
4 corner box jumps going clockwise x 15
4 corner box jumps going counter clockwise x 15

Rd 2 clock merkins on the curb at 12, 3, 6, and 9 10 merkins each position
15 single r leg hops over the line
15 single l leg hops over the line

Mosey to the backside of SFMS
Wall sits while each pax counted to 10
15 wall tar jai

Indian run all the way back to COT.

5 MOM with Pax pick your poison.

COT.

TClap |
2

A Threefold Cord

Leave a comment

I was at The Fort a couple of months ago and mentioned to Bonsai that I would like to be put on the Q Schedule, as I had never had a Q at this great AO. Soon after, he contacted me to request that I give him a date. Well, that date has arrived.

I had originally had Ponytail as a CoQ, but do to his schedule change he couldn’t make it. I quickly asked Bonsai to find someone who could lead a short warmup as a VQ. Bonsai put it on Twitter about a week and advance and the HIM to step up was . . . well nobody. His only choice then was to tell everyone that Longshanks would be the CoQ if nobody stepped up. Well, again nobody stepped up, so YHC’s CoQ was Longshanks as determined by the PAX.

WARMUP

Well, this really wasn’t a warmup as it was Longshanks leading. It was more of a beginning to the madness that was about to continue. Longshanks led us in 15 SSH;  1 Burpee; 10 Windmills; 2 Burpees; 10 Imperial Walkers; 3 Burpees; 10 Hillbilly Walkers; 4 Burpees; 15 Low Slow Squats; 10 Burpees. We then took a mosey over to parking in front of US Synergetic for the following: High Knees; Butt Kickers; Toy Soldiers; & Soccer Moms.

We then moseyed over to Millstone Park for some Lucky 7’s. At the bottom of the stairs, 7 dips; at the  top of the stairs, 7 squats;  and at the short wall, 7 box jumps . . . X 7. As the PAX waited for the 6 they performed LBC’s. We then all performed 7 chin-ups on the bar, 7 pull ups on the bar, and 7 Bombjacks.

Then Longshanks passed it off to YHC.

THE THANG

Prior to moseying back to the following locations, we turned and faced the flag at Veteran’s Park for the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag led by Geronimo.

A few days  earlier in the week, I had done an afternoon ReCon of the area to know exactly where I wanted to go to be prepared for this workout I have been long awaiting for. Well after we did the Warmup, we took a mosey over to the small parking lot in front of US Synergetic for the following: BOMBS-Burpees; Overhead Claps; Merkins; Big Boy SitUps; and Squats.

I’m not a big fan of exercises where the PAX have to do a lot of counting because I believe it takes away from the fellowship of our time in the gloom. So I did these BOMBS a little different. I asked the PAX to pair up with someone they know fairly well. Then we began the BOMBS. Partner 1 performed the exercise as the bottom of the hill (Massey St. Hill) while Partner 2 ran to the top and back. Then they flip flopped. We did this for 1 round of BOMBS at a pace that each PAX could maintain.

Before starting I had asked the PAX to get to know the other PAX while either running the hill or performing the exercises. The objective of this whole series of exercises was to allow for good fellowship in between breaths.

During the workout we stopped at a statue located just across from Veteran’s Park of three people assisting each other up a wall. I then discussed what is below in the NMM.

We then moseyed back to the COT where Zildjian led us in some MoM.

NMM

When I am unable to post due to work or other commitments, it seems as if my day just aren’t the same. Even if I have to do a #fern Workout or Run at the house or Y it is not the same. I can get fit by myself. I cannot keep a relationship with that #fern for a long period of time. I just get tired of talking and never getting anything back. It is a one way street.

F3 is just the opposite. It is a two way street with a purpose. The PAX of F3 push me to get better physically, emotionally, spiritually with a purpose to live a better life. F3 allows me to humble myself to authority and be led and it allows me to lead, all to make me a better man.

During our workout I stopped at a statue the three people helping each other up a wall. I mentioned the person at the top. This was someone who had already made it to the top: but one thing to notice is that this person was not still looking up or over the wall finding a way to get to the other side. They were looking down at the others with his hand held to assist them get over as well. Then there was the one in the middle being pushed and pulled. Almost to the top, but not quiet there. Needing assistance from both of the other two men. Then there was the person at the bottom. This person did not appear to be down in spirit because he hadn’t started. This person was pushing the other person up to make them better.

The important thing in all of this is they were all working to make each other better. This is what F3 is about. We are all in this as a team, and if we see another struggling we need not look the other way. We as F3 brothers, as men, should help in whatever way possible to help or assist.

This is a call out to all of our brothers. Keep you ears open and your eyes wide. There is always another brother struggling and you, yes YOU might be the HIM God has called to help.

Eccl. 4:9-12 ‘Tow are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him-a threefold cord is not quickly broken.’

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Read Your Newsletter.

Start Time Change at The Fort starting June 2: 6:30-

Cannoli Run-May 19.

Memorial Day Convergence & SFN 5K-May 28.

Hog & Coyote. June 16. Read PreBlast.

PRAYERS/PRAISES

School Teachers & Students.

Zildjian: Daughter foot & ankle.

TClap |
1

Seis Rancheros

Leave a comment

A motivated group of 6 men met at The Ranch for another test of their strength and endurance.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Warm up with walking knee pulls, ankle pulls, toy soldiers, and lunge twists.  Take a short mosey and circle up for COP:

All in cadence:

SSH x 30, potato pickers x 10, merkin x 10, IW x 20, mountain climber x 30/hold/6”/regular/6”/low plank/regular.  LBC x 25

Take a short mosey and stop at the entrance to the drop off circle at the elementary school entrance.

ST400 – (5 rounds, 4 exercises/round, 20 reps/exercise, run a lap in between).  Today, we cut it to ST350

Round 1:  Merkins, Freddie Mercs, squats, burpees, run a lap

Round 2:  Diamonds, flutters, alternating lunges, burpees, run a lap

Round 3:  Wide arms, hello dolly’s, sumo squats, burpees, run a lap

Round 4:  Staggered merkins (L/R), Rosalita’s, monkey humpers, burpees, run a lap

Round 5:  Dips, pretzel crunch – stop here.  We ran out of time.

Take one last Indian run around the loop and head back to the starting point.

End with the body destroyer ( lay on your back, breathe deeply, stare at the sky, and don’t talk)

COT

This is a pretty tough workout and everyone got after it today.    The 20 burpees followed immediately by the run kept the heart rate up quite well.   Sasquatch ran at  a swift pace around the loop this morning.  I left a sweat stain on the asphalt during the warm-up and Change Order’s shirt came off after round one.  Yes, it was humid.   Not a lot of mumble chatter today, but Sasquatch did manage some slightly sarcastic encouragement to the group during round 3 or 4 of the burpees.   We were running a bit short on time so we avoided the 5th round of burpees.  We may or may have had time.  Or, perhaps the Q was gassed after round 4 and could not call out another round of 20 burpees (maybe).     In any event, it was a great day at the Ranch and a privilege as always to lead such a fine group of men.

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

Read your newsletter!  Need a Q for Guidance (CAH on May 26), also need Q’s for F3 Dads in June (Change Order)

Continued prayers for Badger and his family and for the Jennings family

Praises for Sasquatch’s sister graduating from college.  Safe travels for the Sasquatch and Wegmans to NY this weekend.

 

 

TClap |
2

Styrofoam

Leave a comment

Back at The Yard and it was a glorious morning, and time to bring back my Styrofoam coolers with tickets of pain inside.

Plenty of moderate running space between coolers, as the PAX were divided into two groups and we ran past each other as we pulled tickets of misery out of three different coolers, spread out down the back driveway of the school. This was moderate, so I kept that in mind as I printed out the pain tickets late into the night before, and contemplated whether to print the ticket with 50 CDD’s, or leave it at 20. 

For those who haven’t seen my Piggly Wiggly coolers filled with tickets, stay tuned for an appearance near you.

Maybe we got in a little over a mile of running, but I forgot to ask Barry.

Great COT, and a good dose for Jiffy’s EH, Snowman (Jerry Reed from Smokey and the Bandit)

Thanks to Hasselhoff for the opportunity!

TClap |
1

WHETSTONE…Relaunches at THE FORT

Leave a comment

Several weeks ago, it was announced that our region, THE FORT, would be closing all Saturday AO’s and holding a convergence at FMHS to get the PAX together as we thank Rebel for his leadership of Whetstone and relaunch it under Repeat and World Wide Leader (WWL). I was excited to hear we’d be getting many of the region together but I wasn’t expecting what came next. It was a text asking if I’d Q the workout.

Q, like part of it, half of it or …? The response was, THE WHOLE THING. I love to Q every chance I get but to do so on a day like this, well, I better make sure it includes a little something for everyone. Or, almost everyone.

————————————————————————————————————–

And this is where I let life get the better of me. I try to follow the 48hr rule on posting a BACKBLAST, especially when they’re significant but I let life and travel get in the way. It is now Saturday, one week later, and I’m just finishing this BB. Life can get challenging, it can get stressful, it can get you riding the highs or down in the lows. And this past week, our family has experienced some of each. Maybe this was the week where I really came to realize how valuable having a Whetstone partner can be. Someone that I can share the highs with and someone to help get me out of the lows; or to keep me honest when it’s my own doing that has me on the outside looking in on the joys of life.

That said, I’ll take you back to last Saturday, April 21 where we had a a few pre-ruckers and a total of 58 PAX converge to re-kick off this critical program.

We got ourselves into an odd-shaped kidney-like shape for the disclaimer, the announcement of why we were there this beautiful morning and to acknowledge our 2 FNG’s in the PAX. We counted off in 4’s then took off toward the big parking lot for a warm up jog in 4 lines. This jog included some karaoke’s and 4 lines doing an indian run which was way harder than it appeared on paper.

In these last 2 years, Whetstone has brought together some extremely HIM. One of those men has gone through a tough 18mos and he was gracious enough to share some of his story to include the impact Whetstone had on his life as we circled up to hear his words. I know he wouldn’t endorse this comment but anytime Mr. Clean wants to share experience or wisdom, the PAX listens. And listen we did.

After backing the group back out to a circle-like shape, I was giddy to honor Santini in the only way I knew how…with a deck of cards. However, on this day we utilized 1/2 the deck and considered it our warm up:

Hearts = Side Straddle Hops

Diamonds = Carolina Dry Docks

Spades = Squats

Clubs = Merkins

Then a little action from the Burp-Merk: Standing, we then dropped to a plank, did 5 merkins then jumped up. That equals 1 and we did 5 total.

This was when we got to listen to our very own Nantaan, Cake Boss, as he shared the impact Whetstone has had on him. Yet again, another powerful testimony.

Then off to do 4 corners in the lot with:

Corner 1 = Dancing Crabs x 15ea and Dips x 20

Corner 2 = Dying Cockroach x 15ea and Flutters x 20ea

Corner 3 = Burpees x 10 and Jump Squats x 10

Corner 4 = American Hammers x 25 and Freddie Mercury x 20ea

Mosey over to the wall for B2W while doing 5 “push ups” followed by 15 calf raises. We did this 3 times.

To close out our testimonies, my man Chicken Hawk laid it down for us. He shared the impact Whetstone has had on him, his marriage, his family…his life. Life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. Well said brother.

6ct Burpee which I needed a little help from the Helmet of Darkness to remind me the steps. Remember the line, “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it?” Yeah, me too but I obviously didn’t follow that too closely here.

This is where the cat-herding became evident. The PAX exhibited patience with me as we attempted a modified DORA series consisting of:

50 Flying Squirrels, 50 Diamond Merkins and 50+ Flutters

We then took off for the main entrance to the football stadium and lined up in 4 lines facing down the hill. Once everyone readjusted, it was 15 American Hammers, 15 Flutters and 15 Hello Dollies. This was done several more times.

Well, that put a bow on the workout portion of this convergence and after the COT, FNG naming of RBG and Whiskers, we then handed it off to World Wide Leader and Repeat to lead the Whetstone discussion.

Announcements: The relaunch of Whetstone. Thanks to Rebel for getting this off the ground 2 years ago and to Repeat / World Wide Leader for taking the reigns.

Prayer Requests: Badger. Camp Care 5K. Jennings Palmer’s transplant. Olive’s 8K in memory of Sweet Tooth. Elmer.

Honored and appreciative of your patience.

Maximus

TClap |
6

Cone heads

Leave a comment

First I want to thank Jiffy for the opportunity to lead the PAX today. 15 guys showed up and this was the biggest group that I had Q’ed for . I spent an hour or so the night before reading up on the exercise database found in the F3 website. The first exercise I introduced was the kimono dragon. It’s best described as a Peter Parker but you actually move forward. Note: very hard to execute backwards. This new move was implemented in the warmup.

Then we moseyed to soccer field for the main event. We started on the goal line and I had placed cones 10 yards out .First we did DMC. It’s a duck walk, merkins, and a bear crawl. Duck walk to the first cone, 5 merkins, and bear crawl back. Duck walk to the next cone(20 yards) and do 10 merkins and bear crawl back with increasing by 5 merkins every cone until we reached 50 yards.

The next thing we did was lunge walked to the first cone and did 10 squats and lunge walked back and progressed through each cone adding 10 squats each time. This was painful. A total of 150 squats and 300 yards of squats .

Next we paired up and partner 1 ran to the first cone, did 5 merkins and ran back. Meanwhile partner 2 is doing flutters . Each partner ran to each cone and did 5 pushups and ran back .

6 minutes of Mary and then the end .I looked up a new ab exercise called Dr . W .I still don’t fully understand what that is so you should go look it up .

Thanks agaun!

Wegmans

TClap |
2

Old School Beat Down at The Fort

Leave a comment

23 Pax joined YHC and Old Bay for Day 12 of 12 for Ass Kick’n April.  Lazy site Q saw The Fort on the calendar and volun-told YHC to Q.  Agreed and Old Bay made a plan to bring back the pain old school style.

The Thang:

Run around WEP, circle up for COP:

SSH X 50, Imperial Walker X 20, Hillbilly Walker X 20, Windmill X 10, Squat X 20, Plan Jacks X 20, Sumo Squat X 20, Merkins X 10, Lunges X 20, Mak tar Jai X 20

Mosey to the hill for a Jacob’s Ladder:  1-7 – Burpees up top, Squats at bottom

Quick Ab Lab with slow and fast Freddy Mercury X 20

Hand over to Old Bay

Run to parking lot and get a Coupon made of wood or a fire hose!

Drill bits with a deconstructed burpee – 10 Bomb Jacks, 10 Thrust Outs, 10 Merkins

Rinse and repeat for 6 drill bits – with the damn coupons

Head up the back hill to upper soccer fields – with the damn coupons

Wind sprints with partner – add an exercise to each sprint and with the damn coupon – 4 cones with a myriad of painful stuff to do with the damn coupon

Back to COT

Great to be back for a Saturday workout at WEP! What a spectacular place to have here in Fort Mill.

Funhouse

TClap |
9