Back to Where it Began

Well wishes to Flat Tire to heal quickly from one on one with a Mountain Bike.  Heal up quickly- you’re influence is great and we look forward to seeing you back in the Gloom.

For 2 years I had no idea there were still other AOs outside of Colosseum.  But really, since Tuesday is our busiest day, getting 11 men to one spot is miracle and noteworthy.  The original AO: The Fort is proudly and strongly led by Esso.  Glad to be back.

Cars were rolling in when I arrived at 0500.  Several familiar faces and names and a few that i knew and have met but will improve on committing your names to memory.  (Sales trick: “Good to see is better than nice to meet you”)- #Cobains to Bobber and Offset.

You should have heard the whining from The Pax, (errr.. Rebel) when I muttered that there would be some grass today during the disclaimer.  It was glorious.  We took off like a bat outta hell running around WEP.

Thought for the day: “I am not who I think I am.  I am not what You think I am.  I am who I think you think I am.”

Warm ups- Dynamic/moving; no circles and watch the Q.  

  • SSH, IW, Squat; Run
  • seal jack, Hillbilly walker, Sumo squat, 3 burpee; run
  • plank jack, MC, PP, 3 burpee; run
  • Monkey Humper, nightclubs; 3 burpee

The Thang

Mosey to bottom of Stairway to heaven.

6 light poles, rotate through groups until all have done

RD 1

  • Group 1: 5 merkins at each light, run back
  • Group 2: Flutters
  • Group 3: LBC

RD 2

  • Group 1: 5 CDD at each light, run back
  • Group 2: Lunge
  • Group 3: Squat

Mosey to Hill for Jacobs Ladder (7).  Once again proves to be great equalizer of men.  loads of huffin and puffin

  • Bottom: Donkey Kicks
  • Top: Bombjacks

6 minutes of Mary

Jail break to Shovel Flag.

NMM

We talked about the Thought for day.  What does being a leader mean?  “People will follow you, so lead wisely”  growing up we often sought titles.  Heck, some of us do now.  Team captain, shift manager, Crew Leader, director, boss…  Are you putting in the work to fulfill that title or is it a name only?  Is that what you are seeking.  Conversely, what if your title went away?  what if your title that demanded respect went away? would you still take initiative, encourage, lead others?

Be the leader that regardless of status, operates like one.  Seek to serve instead of being served.

*update 8:57am

Had a meaningful conversation with my Whetstone “stone” recently.  I was going through all of the great things and areas where I was accelerating.  Detail after detail.  Family, M, kids, Parenting successes, work and leadership successes.  We celebrated that together.

<Pause>

“What are your struggles?”, he said.

Boom.  There had been one area that has been in my blind spot and I have not had a grip on so we discussed and laid out a plan of correction.  The point is, Its easy to feel good about your score card/record when you’re 6-1 on the season.  I’m winning, I’m having a good season.  But its the struggle that takes real candor to address.  Special shout to my Whetstone and Shieldlocks.

#Honored

 

TClap |
14

Never Forget

9/11 Tribute WOD – Focus on the Passenger

Imagine you’ve woken up on a seemingly normal day, getting ready for a work trip, and then heading to the airport. The traffic isn’t as heavy as you would think, in fact you think maybe today will be a good day based on that. You arrive at the airport, get your ticket, and go to the security line. Security wasn’t so bad, it only took 5 minutes. This could be a pretty nice business trip. You arrive at your gate and then the plane starts to board. You board, sit down in your seat and pull out a book you’ve just started and are excited to read it on this forced 5 hour break. The plane takes off and everything seems fine.

Then it isn’t.

A group of men some how gain control of the plane and it changes course. The next thing you know, you have no clue where you’re heading and there is an air of fear growing in the cabin. You look out of your window and you see a city that you should be very far from at that point in the flight and wonder what comes next.

That’s it. That’s how 246 passengers/crew on four planes lost their lives on 9/11/01. They weren’t warned, told, or able to make the last decisions about their lives. Some weren’t able to tell their loved ones that they loved them for the last time. Life ended for them on that fateful day.

Today we honored them.

Mosey around the entire church and then circled up for a warm up stretch.

COP

30 SSH

10 Tappy Taps

30 Moroccan Night Clubs

10 Little Baby Arm Circles – both directions

Al Gores w/4 count pulse

High Plank, Side Plank, Side Plank

Yoga Flow and Stretch

Mosey to the concrete bench area.

Four Flights – 246 Victims in the air.

Flight 11
87 Total
76 Passengers
11 Crew

Flight 77
59 Total
53 Passengers
6 Crew

Flight 93
40 Total
33 Passengers
7 Crew

Flight 175
60 Total
51 Passengers
9 Crew

Weinke

Flight 11 – North Tower
76 – Step Ups (Count Each Leg)
11 – Turkish Get Ups (11 Each Arm)
Run Lap

Flight 175 – South Tower
51 – KB Swings
9 – Curls (9 each arm)
Run Lap

Flight 77 – Pentagon
53 – Straight Leg Deadlifts (1 Leg at a time)
6 – Clean & Press (6 each arm)
Run Lap

Flight 93 – Field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
33 – Goblet Squats
7 – Halo’s (7 each way)
Run Lap

Mary – Total Per Flight
87 – LBC’s (2 Count)
60 – Pickle Pointers @ Bench Area (KB on Hips)
59 – Flutters w/Press (2 Count)
40 – American Hammers w/KB (count each side)

We ran short and had three minutes to spare. We took time to pass the Dutchie left and right one revolution.

JWOWW made a great point while we were running our fourth lap – you don’t come to realize how many people actually lost their lives until you start counting them out one by one, rep by rep, and the pain grows with each rep. Just remember this when you’re thinking about giving up when honoring those who lost their lives.

We had 12 PAX, each of which struggled through this unique weinke.

We headed back to COT and I gave one last word with regard to those who lost their lives:

NMM

In total, 2,996 people lost their lives on that fateful day of 9/11/2001. At this time 18 years ago, none of them knew their time would come to leave this earth. They had plans, families, loved ones, futures, goals, dreams. Don’t take what you have for granted. Live the life you have with those you’re surrounded in the best way possible. Give all of yourself to God and let Him use you. Don’t hold back. You never know when something might happen and put an end to all of it.

Prayers/Praises

Flat Tire’s son is going to take his on the road drivers test – prayer and praise!

Pray for marriages – and don’t take for granted the fact that you have an amazing M.

Pray for Winnie – my 2.3 – who is the last of our family to catch our little illness going around.

Praise for our newest Region, Lake Wylie! And for our new leadership in The Fort.

Announcements 

Christmas party coming up! Get your sweaters!

Punch List out.

TClap |
17

WEP- down and dirty with the VQ

Sometimes simple is the best course of action. Had a VQ that was ready to get his line wet and see if anybody might bite. Backdraft took what he said would be a warmup. It was for a few but others had a different perspective on what warmup really meant. Start off with simple disclaimer. Not sure what that is. If you get hurt don’t blame me.
Lap around the park with some dynamic stretching from time to time.
Circle up- 30 SSHs, 30 Mtn. Climbers, 15 slow merkins, 15 shoulder taps. Lets go.
Mosey to sidewalk that loops around field. Drill bits at each one add an exercise.
1. 5 burpees
2. 5 burpees, 10 merkins
3. 5 burpees, 10 merkins, 15 squats
4. 5 burpees, 10 merkins, 15 squats, 20 mtn. climbers
5. 5 burpees, 10 merkins, 15 squats, 20 mtn. climbers, 25 SSHs
sprint back to starting line hand off to Bobber.

pair up and pick up a coupon for the pair.(cinderblock)
Mosey across the park.
100squats, 200 overhead presses, 300 calf raises between the pair. while 1 guy exercising the other runs to the top of the hill and back.
once all completed we mosey back towards cot. stay with partner once back we have 4 exercises and 4 cones going up the side hill.
Partner 1 completes exercise while partner 2 carries block to complete suicides on the cones.
Once completed we circle up for around the world or something that sounded like that. 3, 2, 1 we done.
COT.
Prayers and praises. announcements.
Great job Bobber on your VQ. keep up the great work.

TClap |
2

Don’t poke the Q

Cars pulling in right up to the starting time.
Disclaimer and intro.
Mosey with dynamic stretching along the way.
Circle up for some warmup and a small sample of Broga.
Back to kettle bells
Did the following exercises 3 sets of each 10-15 reps each set followed by an ab exercise.
Every three exercises we would mosey and do 10 burpees ( this quieted down most poking of the Q.)
Goblet squats, figure 8s, KB Swings, single arm rows, shoulder presses, single arm curls, clean and jerk, and reverse lunges.
COT
announcements- invergence and convergence
Prayers- Airborne son leaving for US Army boot camp. God Love the USA.
Trucker- learning everyday lessons on raising kids and being a good father.
All the kids going back to school today.

Also had a good reminder and to just love your kids and not worry about always if their the top or best at something. Just show them you love them.

Backdraft out.

TClap |
3

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

 

TClap |
2

Conveyor Belt of Pain 2

YHC had just spent a stressful weekend in which we threw a birthday party for our eldest at Adventure Air (and the rest deep cleaning our house). They let me jump, and jump I did. So much so that my back was incredibly sore the day before my Q.  That just meant that everyone would need to do some more back stuff with me to help keep me in shape.  Thanks, everyone!

9 PAX gathered in the parking lot of the Armory.  Started out by dragging out the disclaimer while Tesh and River Rat pulled in.  Yet another PAX showed up at the last minute, but I don’t recall who it was..  Went for a quick mosey up the side lot and half way back to wait for… other guy… sigh… and got in a quick 20 SSH and some windmills to get us stretched out.

We then moseyed over to the bells and ran to the far end of the parking lot where some of the toys were arrayed, and chalk was drawn all over.  Stations were set up every 3rd parking space down the line, then at the end, over two rows, and back down the line forming almost three sides of a square.

The stations were as follows.

  1. KB Swings
  2. Upright Row
  3. 3/4″x72″ Black Iron Staff – Tip ups
    1. Holding the staff at least at half way, the more above your hand the harder it is
    2. Let the tip drop to parallel with the ground and use only fingertips and wrist strength to bring it to vertical.
  4. 3/4″x72″ Black Iron Staff – Rotations
    1. Holding the staff straight forward, rotate to the left and right
    2. Speed of rotation controls the work required to slow and reverse direction
  5. Box jumps (20, 24, and 30 inch sides)
  6. 10lb Training  Mace – barbarian swings
    1. Swing the mace to align it with the chest at shoulder height to the left and right, when the arm close to the ball crosses the body, it’s on the bottom.  When it’s on its own side, the top
  7. Kettlebell Pendulum Swings – R
  8. Pendulum Swings -L
  9. Deadlift
  10. Seated chest press
    1. Six on the ground, legs straight out, torso leaned slightly back
    2. Chest press while leaning back with legs not leaving the ground
  11. Standard Kettlebell Row

Timing:
There is always a traveling PAX. Two PAX started at station 11 (Chicken Hawk and Shin Guard).  Chicken Hawk spent about 10 seconds doing rows and ran with his bell down the parking lot, turned 90 degrees and ran to station one.  Each PAX was to bear crawl with the bell to the next station, however after one round it was apparent that the timer was going to kill our ability to hit all the stations multiple times.  Changed it to a quick walk.

After the first complete round, we met in the middle and did about a minute of broga to stretch out the back and went back to the conveyor.  We made it half way through the second round before time was up and it was a quick mosey back to COT for announcements and prayer.

Everyone worked hard.  Everyone got better.

TClap |
3

Gemini Birthday Bash

The Thang:

Mosey to the parking lot near the tennis courts

COP: Hillbilly Walkers(20x), Imperial Walkers (15x), 1 min of 7 burpees and 33 SSH, 3x

Mosey to the band’s practice parking lot

Jack Webb Style with Crackin Burpees for the 1 and Bobby Hurley for the 4 with 3-4 partners for encouragement

Bomb Jacks (100x), Overhead Claps (200x), Merkins (100x), Big Boy Sit Ups (100x), Squats (200x)

Moleskin:

On this glorious day, we followed our own advice of not “going it alone.” So we decided to lock shields to celebrate the 40th birthday of two Geminis that were born two days apart. We are humbled and honored by the love and support of our F3 brothers for our birthday bash. We can’t thank you enough.

As we turn 40 years old, we understand that we are progressing into the next season of life. Age 0 to 20 is the spring season where we identify who we are. Age 20 to 40 is the summer season where we learn and grow. Age 40 to 60 is the fall season where we influence others. Age 60+ is the winter season where we share wisdom with others.

What season of life are you in? Own it. Celebrate life and your season daily.

Peace,

Deacon & Shady

TClap |
6

Leg Day at The Hive – Friday, May 17th

12 men joined YHC at the Hive to make a baker’s dozen of PAX ready for a kettlebell beatdown.

Warmup

  • mosey around the parking lot
  • 25 side straddle hops
  • 5 burpees OYO
  • 11 windmills
  • 5 burpees OYO
  • 10 peter parkers
  • 10 parker peters
  • 10 4 count mountain climbers
  • mosey back to bells

The Thang

Pax lined up on one side of the parking lot. Will do a series of 4 exercises, run at 75% speed to the other side of the lot for another series of exercises, then sprint back to start to rinse and repeat.

First set 

  • Side 1
    • 10 single arm thrusters – each arm
    • 10 overhead lunges – each leg
    • 10 goblet squats
    • 10 kettlebell swings
  • Side 2
    • 10 big boy sit ups
    • 10 burpees

Rinse & repeat x 3

Second set

  • Side 1
    • 10 snatches – each arm
    • 10 sumo high pulls
    • 10 single arm rows – each arm
    • 10 overhead press
  • Side 2
    • 10 big boy sit ups
    • 10 burpees

Rinse & repeat x 3

Extra credit

  • 25 LBCs
  • Captain Thor to 3×12

Announcements

  • Convergence

Prayers

  • marriages
  • churches
  • personal issues
  • travel
TClap |
7

4×4 Fun

I haven’t been to Colosseum in a long time. I’ve been doing the ruck WOs on Tuesdays so it was good to shake up the routine. It was also great to see so many cars rolling in. I haven’t seen several guys in a while due to being under a ruck so it was great to be out in the gloom with them again.

Go time arrived and disclaimer was attempted. Mosey around loops in front of school with high knees, butt-kickers, karaokes both ways. Circle up for normal warm-ups: SSHs, windmills, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, and some Hillbilly Walkers.

Moseyed over to side lot. Today’s theme was simple, 4 exercises done 4 times. First off was Bear Crawl from top of parking line to curb, 4 Merkins, Crawl Bear back to top of parking line, 4 Donkey Kicks. Repeat 4 times.

Mosey over to lot behind school. 5-Worst Merkins (Wide, Normal, Diamond), 10-Big Boy Situps, 15-Plank Jacks, 20-Shoulder Taps then run to other side of lot. Repeat 4 times.

Mosey to loop in front of school. Starting at center of loop: 10-Burpees, 10-Mtn Climbers (4 ct), 10-Lunges (each leg), 10-Smurf Jacks, then run around loop to center spot of on other side. Repeat 4 times. Lots of good mumble-chatter during this segment, except for Tesh who almost lapped everyone.

Slow mosey over to front of middle school for some Wall Webbs. Start in People’s Chair, walk out on hands into Merkin, walk back up on hands into chair for overhead claps. Normal ratio of 1:4. I cut it short at 6:24 so we had time for some mary (and my legs were starting to burn). Back at cars to finish up with 10 tiny circles clockwise, 10 counter-clockwise, then 20 flutters. Time’s up. Hopefully the PAX got their money’s worth today.

Continued prayers for Stang’s family as they mourn the passing of his grandfather as well as all of the kids that Cornerstone is involved with in their treatment group.

Thanks to Jekyll for the opportunity!
-Mainframe

TClap |
2