Tag: Mainframe

Celebrities, Cinder Blocks, Disney…a perfect morning at BAOPS

Leave a comment

The threat of snow did not intimidate as a total of 14 PAX converged on the Rock, er BAOPS, er Alcatraz. In addition to the Nation representation, we were graced with the dulcet(er) tones of Funny Bonz, er…Hello Kitty. Man, if only we had CSPAN, Repeato, Tommy Boy and Bones in attendance, we would’ve had all the Podcasting staff present. Next time.
Right from the jump, the chatter was strong, exactly how it should be. We had snow jokes, road jokes, hugs, rookie jokes, Q-Source jokes, age jokes and a whole bunch of things not made for print. A morning that will live in infamy, or, maybe not.

With the first half of this morning’s installment brought to you by Maximus (3rd person), I (1st person) did give the disclaimer. You could imagine how that went. Something to note, I did advise the PAX who got there early, they should stretch and warm up as necessary ‘cuz ain’t no side straddle hops, imperial walkers or windmills were to be had.

So, we made our way to the top of the park to the pull up bars. Every member of the PAX had to complete 10 pull ups and while you weren’t pulling yourself up, you were completing your best rendition of the American Hammer. Go until completion.
Next, run to the bottom of “the hill”; don’t worry, I scouted for slick roads ahead of time.
At the bottom of the hill, 10 Burpees and 10 Carolina Dry Docks
Run up for 5 more pull ups
Run back to the bottom for 10 Burpees and 20 Merkins.
NUR back to the top for flutter kicks until the 6 rolled in.

To the parking lot and grab a cindy out of my truck bed (or a KB)
10 Overhead Press
20 Staggered Merkins (10ea side)
30 Curls
40sec count while holding legs out at 6″ and cindy overhead

40 Overhead Press
30 Merkins (15ea side)
20 Curls
10sec count as done above

50 Bent over rows
10 Thrusters

My job is done…time for Italian Job

Short mosey to the field for:
11’s from foul pole to foul pole with the exercises consisting of
Mickey Mouse Merkins (Walt Disney World Merkins) at one end and squats at the other.
No doubt at this point, the PAX had a severely confused puppy dog look on their face because IJ was all like, “Ya know, Disney…WDW, Wide-Arm, Diamond, Wide Arm.”
And all of us were like, “Oh yeah…of course”…eye roll.
This my friends, is a sure-fire way to make a statement. It became very clear that unless your name is Italian Job, Senator Tressel, Trucker, Olaf and perhaps Mainframe, your form was garbage come about Disney Merkin #6.

Carry on

Now, run around the entire field then 25 Calf Raises.
Next up, run another lap then 25 Freddy Mercury’s.
Finally, another lap.

NMM (In the words of Italian Job):
“Always a pleasure to share the gloom with you men. A question for you, What’s holding you back? Is it time, energy, money, expertise – all of these? Excuses only sound good to the person making them. Whatever you desire is on the other side of effort. If it was easy, everyone would do it. If you want it, go get it. Dominate the day!”

And like that, we’re out. Until next time…
Italian Job & Maximus

TClap |
6

2112

Leave a comment

Eleven of Ft. Mill’s finest met at the corner of route 160 and Gold Hill Road for another edition of the Golden Corral.    Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Before the workout began, there was some discussion about the exact time of day and apparently, my watch was about 2 mins slow.  So the Pax were disclaimed at 5:17 rather than the designated start time of 5:15. Today, though, that worked out for the best as we found one straggler rolling into the parking lot as I was finishing the disclaimer,  and that guy turned out to be an FNG!  After some minor ribbing for being tardy, we moseyed over to the ‘alley’ between Harris Teeter an O’Reilly Auto Parts for COP.

COP (all in cadence):

SSH x 40, windmill x 15, IW x 40, merkin x 10, LBC x 20, Mountain climber x 35, low, slow squat x 20, Morrocan night club x 40 while walking to the front of Harris Teeter.

Split into two groups for suicides using the 3 light posts as the stopping points.  We did 4 rounds and it was a crowd pleaser:

Round 1:  Group 1 run, while group 2 does merkins

Round 2:  Group 2 run, while group 2 does LBC’s

Round 3:  Group 3 run, while group 2 does monkey humpers

Round 4:  Group 4 run, while group does dips

Mosey back to the alley between Harris Teeter and O’Reilly.  All Pax in people’s chair and one by one bear crawl from one end to the other until we cycle through all the pax.  Shake ‘em out.  Now all pax in balls to the wall and then one by one, jog from one end to the other.

Mosey back to the main lot for a true 6 minutes of Mary:

Freddie Mercury x 20, Pretzel crunch x 10L/10R, Hello Dolly x 20, Superman hold x 3

COT

I was a last-minute sub for Decibel last night so just pulled an old Q from the archives.  This one was from September 29, 2014 and we had 20 guys back then.  Here is a little bit of F3 The Fort history:  Golden Corral was THE Tuesday workout in Fort Mill and we used to get 15 plus pax week after week so it wasn’t long before we needed to add the other Tuesday workouts (Colosseum, Ballroom).  Funhouses was the original site Q.

Big fun from the group today and plenty of mumble chatter.  Leading the charge (no surprise) was Jekyll and Twister.  At one point during COP, I could hear my own cadence count, but could not make out the count from the Pax because only 1/3 of the group was counting the other 2/3 were discussing how the beverage industry is changing (among other topics).    Everyone seemed to have a comment about something.  My favorite came from Airwolf who recognized that with our latest FNG Tailwind, F3 The Fort has met our EEOC requirement for 2022 – hahahaha.  All in jest of, course!

This morning exemplified what we all know and love about F3.  And that is, despite all that is going wrong in our communities (the death of a son, a local teacher robbed and shot, a worsening pandemic, and the huge political divide in our country), getting together to break a good sweat and have some laughs can keep all the bad stuff from getting to us.  Our bodies are stronger, we feel better physically and emotionally, and we know we have guys to lean on when we need them.

It was truly a pleasure to lead the group today and I look forward to next time. And BTW, the title of the backblast is a continuation of my effort to work Rush song titles into this website (RIP Neil Peart).

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

  1. Dam to Dam 10K bar (check your newsletter)
  2. Prayers for Aquaman’s family, Covid victims, cancer victims, local teacher in hospital.
  3. I neglected to get Tailwind’s contact info this morning. If anyone reads this (which will be a very small number I think), please reach out to him if you happen to see him or hear that name at a workout.

 

TClap |
5

QSource_Infused_Ruck_Beatdown

Leave a comment

Below is the description of the proposed zero dark thirty WOD created for satisfying Week2Assignment for Class001 Cadre Academy.
Start off with an introduction of myself and a disclaimer to the PAX. Move right into instruct PAX to the forward listening position. (High Plank Hold)

I am not a professional and there is an assumption of risk. Please modify as necessary.

This workout is meant to actively reinforce the leadership lessons and principles discussed during Grow School. The foundation of this workout reflects the 5 foundations of the Q source. Since most things are worthless without a solid foundation we will revisit these 5 foundational points each round.

Question to the PAX: Does anyone know any of the five foundational q points listed in the Qsource? Once the PAX are done giving wrong answers call for them to Recover on their feet and listen to the answer.

Disruption
Language
Group
LDP
Preparedness
Ask for a demonstration of a six-count burpee performed slowly in cadence:

Explain how we will use the six-count burpee to remember the 5 foundational points by replacing the words in the cadence count with the words of the foundational points.

“One” replaced with “Disruption”

“Two” replaced with “Language”

“Three” replaced with “Group”

“Four” replaced with “LDP”

“Five” replaced with “Preparedness”

Pax will still call out the rep count as the final return to starting position movement.

So to test how well the PAX listens to the explanation we will start off with 5 Foundation Burpees together in cadence.

Starting positions…..Move

In Foundation Cadance;

Exercise

Disruption, Language, Group, LDP, Preparedness, PAX responds with “ONE”

Disruption, Language, Group, LDP, Preparedness, TWO

Disruption, Language, Group, LDP, Preparedness, THREE

Disruption, Language, Group, LDP, Preparedness, FOUR

Disruption, Language, Group, LDP, Preparedness, HALT

Now does everyone understand the buy-in for this WOD? There will be four corners each representing a quadrant in the Qsource where you will be performing exercises. We will all be starting at the foundation here in the center of the field and we will be moving to the first quadrant by transportation method just like baby boys grow into men. From Foundation Circle, we will be crawling to the first quadrant corner. Luckily babies don’t wear rucksacks so you can leave them here in the center and we will come back to it after quadrant 1 is complete.

Quadrant 1 has 12 q points so we will be performing a 12 step suicide. Everyone gets on the line. Cones are listed alongside the field to mark off the rally points.

Once finished crawl bear (bear crawl backward) to Foundation Circle to perform 5 six-count burpees in Foundation Cadance. Still Slick

Now ruck up. and ruck over to the second quadrant corner which is the “Live Right”.

There are 7 q points in the 2nd quadrant so we will be performing 7’s with 1 ruck press followed by 6 ruck swings. All the way to 6 ruck presses paired with 1 ruck swing.

Klaw (walk spelled backward) back to the Foundation Circle to get 5 burpees called in Foundation cadence by the PAX while the Q calls out the rep count. Rucked up.

Quadrant 3 “Lead Right” is next. PAX shuffles over to the third corner and performs a 12 step suicide but now starts with the furthest distance cone working way back to the closest cone. Doing the Hard Easy rather than the Easy Hard.

Shuffle back to the Foundation Circle for burpees again called by the PAX while Q calls out the rep count.

Grand finally is to crawl from center to corner 4 which is the “Leave Right” quadrant. Now there are 10 q points in the fourth Quadrant so the Q will delegate his leadership to the PAX by asking them to take turns leading an exercise for 10 reps then passing the Q stick to the next man until 10 reps of 10 exercises have been completed.

Depending on what was called during the Q4 quadrant you can decide if the PAX deserves to do the final foundation Circle burpees slick or while rucked up.

Explain that the method of transportation represents the physical abilities that change as we progress through life. Challenge the men to reflect on their lives for any remaining time to think about what it is in their lives that they need to still teach before their time runs out and to make sure they are not holding onto the torch until it burns out rather passing the flame to a younger man who can carry the light for the group into the future.

Stay frosty my friends,

Olaf

TClap |
3

Currahee Shoulder Smoke

Leave a comment

Three rolled in to the parking lot ready and were ready by 0458 for the 0500 start.  At 0459:52 we saw a grey Subaru coming in on two wheels.  MainFrame  emerged, took the disclaimer as it was yelled to him from across the parking lot and it was on with a total of FOUR in attendance.

Warm-up:

  • SSH x30 in cadence
  • Merkin x10 in cadence

Still not warm it was time to warm up.  The PAX moved down to the elementary school drop off line.  Partner up, time to warm up with some Catch Me If You Can.  One partner runs with two rucks (45lbs in the ruck) while the other partner completes five burpees and then chases down their partner.  We did this around the big loop in front of the school.

Rucked around the drop off line, back to the cars, collected the sandbags and headed to the field.  We have two 60lb bags and two 40lb bags.

From the long end of the field and with your ruck on, throw the sand bag as far as you can, move to the bag, complete an 8ct body builder, pick it up, throw it again, and continue until you reach the other side of the field.

After completing a length of the field, we rucked to the end and back.  Then if you had 60lb bag last time, switch for a 40lb and vice versa.  Complete the throws and 8ct body builders again.

Ruck to the end of the field and back again.  Collect the sandbag, move to the gate and face the short length of the field.

Two lines of cones in the distance. for the Dora.

Dora:

  1. 100 Merkins
  2. 200 Curls
  3. 300 pull thrus (only completed one movement per PAX due to time)

Movement:

  1. Bear crawl while dragging the 60lb sandbag to the first cone line.  Pick up the bag, run to the second cone, turn around and head back to your partner.
  2. Sandbag throw with the 40lb bag to the the end then run back to your partner
  3. Overhead Carry

It was a smoker and another example of things we do when surrounded by strong men that we likely would not complete if we were on our own.

Prayers:

  • Grassy Knoll’s brother as he goes into surgery
  • Divac and his wife as they continue to seek ways to help their son

Thank you Divac for the opportunity to lead.  Currahee is one of my favorite AOs!!!!

TClap |
0

Loopy Loop

Leave a comment

Total of eleven pax for the third installment of Q-swap Thursdays in October.
Today, the Ranch swapped for Laces In. Bootcamp for Bootcamp.
Since Ruby Slippers’ shoulder is on the mend (TAPs), I covered for him today at Laces In.

Disclaimer given and began with some simple stretches.
Warmup: Motivators from 7 (thanks to Tesh for reminding me of a movement I forgot in these Motivators).

Run

Thang: Four corners loop
The routine is explained as: Four corners, cone in each corner, exercises noted on the cone. Will go through these four corners twice to cover a total of eight different exercises.
We do the exercise AMRAP-style for 1 minute
Pax then record the rep count w/ chalk
Pax run to the next cone together as a group
The eight exercises, in order, are:
Burpees
Squats
Leg lifts
SSH
Hand release merkins
Shoulder taps
Monkey humpers
Big boy sit ups
Then for variety, there is a ninth cone, which is:
Bear crawl forward five parking spots, then do 5 merkins, proceed to another five parking spots, then do 5 merkins…continue until time is called. Record distance traveled.

After the nine cones, had a slight break, talked about “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth measuring”
And read the two verses below. Point was: we are out here in the gloom working our butts off, we should be measuring it.

Then proceeded back to the cones for a last round of AMRAPs, with the goal of beating your prior number.

Time called, ran back to COT.

No Mary, got some in the thang.
Fini

1 Timothy 4:15
Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

Proverbs 13:4
Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.

NMM: could have removed the ninth cone…would have permitted more time to complete the second loop.
This parking lot has a total perimeter of about 400 meters; so running a loop gets you a ¼ mile.

 

TClap |
5

Good Morning at the Ranch

Leave a comment

Five Fort Millians converged at Springfield Elementary for another day at the Ranch.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

After introductions and a disclaimer, we recognized Sean Kelly (Shop Vac) with a moment of silence.  We then moseyed to the middle school and circled up at the pickup line in front of the new retaining wall.

COP, All in cadence:

SSH x 30, IW x 20, Merkin x 10, Windmill x 15, Squat x 20, LBC x 25, Jumping lunge x 20, Carolina Dry Dock x 20, Cherry Picker x 15, Mountain climber x 25

Form a line at the back of the road facing the new retaining wall and complete the following circuit five times:

10 merkins, run to the wall, climb over and run to the upper road, turn left and run back to the start.  Plank up when finished.

Mosey to the back of the elementary school and meet up on the cement basketball court. Split into two groups and complete the following:

Group 1 runs to the pullup bars and does 7 burpee pullups, while group 2 does squats (flapjack)

Repeat with group 2 doing Freddie Mercurury’s (flapjack)

Repeat with group 2 doing calf raises (flapjack)

Mosey back to our starting point at the elementary school for mini-ablab (all in cadence)

V-up x 10, Hello Dolly x 20, Superman hold x 30.  End with the Body Destroyer

COT

NMM

Thursdays have always been a running day for me with F3, but since I’ve scaled back the last couple of years, The Ranch has been my regular stop on Thursday mornings as of late.  I have not Q’d here in a long, long time and it was good to get back at it.  The group was pretty quiet at the start and I didn’t hear much of anything even during COP (I think Tesh was the only one counting with me).  Later on in the workout, he and Uhaul engaged in their usual chatter   (one of the topics today was Brittany Spears of all people -hahahaha).   It was a pleasure to lead the group today and I look forward to next Thursday.

Prayers/Praises:

Shop Vac’s family

ST’s friend Joe with cancer

Those recovering from Covid-19

 

 

 

 

TClap |
2

Fast 5 friendly, except…

Leave a comment

Remember, the Fast 5 was kicking off 2 hours post-COT so we need to make this one leg friendly. I got the memo but apparently, Bonsai did not. While the complaining in the second half ramped up, we knew we’d all be better for it.
With Maximus up for the first 30mins, here’s what happened:

We moseyed around lap around the park with Toy Soldiers and Butt Kickers thrown in for good measure.
Back in the parking lot, we did some slow squatting, 3-way calf raises and wide-arm Merkins

At the playground:
Group 1: 15 Pull-Ups & 30 Merkins
Group 2: American Hammers until Group 1 is done
Due to some questionable form, we did that one again with 10 Pull Ups and 20 Merkins.

Group 1: 15 Pull-Ups & 30 Carolina Dry Docks
Group 2: Freddy Mercury’s until Group 1 is done

Back to the lot for 10 Burpees, Boats & Canoes, Grave Diggers and Super Mans

Hand off to Bonsai:

We moseyed to the area at Fire Dept wall:
Level 1 Drill – 10 each
Merkins / Mountain Climbers, Hip Thrusters (questionable call)
25 LBCs
30sec Wall Sit
Repeat then run to the basketball court and back

25 Dirty Myrtle
15 Mike Tysons
25 American Hammers
25 Squats
Repeat then run to the basketball court and back

30sec BTTW
20 Plank Jack
10 Lunges each leg
15 Leg raises
Repeat then run to the basketball court and back

Bear crawl some, mosey, 30sec 6″ Merkin hold, mosey

COT

Maximus & Bonsai

TClap |
3

Lakeside Park

Leave a comment

Six of the Fort’s finest met at Runde park and answered the call for Alcatraz on the Lake.  Here is what they did.

The Thang:

Full disclaimer with the usual verbiage of ‘I am not a professional, it’s a voluntary workout, modify as needed, can’t sue the Q or F3,  etc..’.   Since we were going into Lake Wylie today, YHC added that if you drown or contract an illness from a waterborne parasite, you also cannot sue the Q or F3.  Off we went…..

The mosey to Pitcarin Park is about 0.6 miles and we had the usual chatter en route.  Cyclops carried the flag as we cruised along and he planted it on a  hill near the lake side.

Senator Tressel on Q

Everybody up on the floating dock for COP  (All in cadence)

IW x 20, merkin x 10, Squat x 20, MC x 20, Freddie Merc x 20, wide arm merkin x 10, Morrocan Nightclub x 40 and start walking toward the stairs at the lower parking lot.

Partner up and wheelbarrow up the stairs to the upper parking lot, across the lot, and up the cement stairs to the picnic benches.  Flapjack with your partner about 1/2 way through.  When you reach the picnic bench, do 20 bomb jacks, run back to the start.

Repeat the wheelbarrow, but with 20 burpees at the picnic benches, run back.

Repeat the wheelbarrow, but do 40 dips at the picnic benches.

Change Order on Q

Mosey down to the upper lot and do a series of ab exercises (Flutters, LBC’s, Protractor, other).

Mosey to the dock, remove your shoes and shirt and jump in the lake.  Tread water for about 5 minutes.

Back on the dock, do some merkins, squats, abs, and then jump back in the lake.  Tread water for about 3 minutes.

Naken Man Moleskin

Lake Day is always fun and it’s a good opportunity to do something a little different with the bootcamp.  I said at the beginning that this workout is more fun than intense, and that was mostly true today (there were some complaints, though about the 20 burpees following the long wheelbarrow sequence).

Cyclops, Bonsai, and Fishsticks all showed some great form today with cannon balls, can openers, and a flying frog dive off of the dock – well done men!   Treading water is not really hard, but doing it for just 5 minutes can tire you out, and I think we were all feeling it after the 2nd go round.

It was another great day at Alcatraz and it’s always a  blast to be with my F3 buddies on Saturday mornings.    I attached the picture we took after the workout.  It took me a few tries to get the pic, and I was called out for my less than deft ability at using an Iphone camera.      I’ll have to work on that for next time.    Oh, and the title of the backblast is a Rush reference (huge fan here, RIP Neal Peart).

TClap |
2

Burpee Bizarre

Leave a comment

We had 11 men show up on Wednesday at Pantheon.  After the disclaimer, we ran around the parking lot to get the blood flowing.  Next, we circled up for some warm-up exercises (SSH, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Plank Stretches).

We began the difficult part of the workout.  For the next 10 minutes, we would do 10 burpees each minute with a five second rest in between each set.  After completion, we ran around the big loop to the front of the school.  We did a series of exercises in cadence (Squats, LBCs, Lunges, Flutters) running between the cross walks after each one.

Next, we returned to the top of the parking lot and repeated the 10 minute burpee exercise.  It was difficult, but most completed the burpees, a total of 200.

Great job by everyone.  Today we showed how much we can do when you are surrounded by others who want to improve themselves.

TClap |
3

One mile “Casualty” carrying

Leave a comment

Last week of heavy training before Dirty Myrtle and I have 3 Q’s lined up back to back starting with this one.

7 Pax showed up for some Tinsel Utensils WOD; two multi-position ladders were used as stretchers with two sandbags each, main goal was to complete 1 mile “casualty” carrying around the school, ladders were loaded with sandbags and each PAX had a ruck on so off we went.

At minute 2 an alarm went off on my phone , drop the ladders and it was time for 5 merkins with rucks on, complete the task, pickup the casualties and keep moving towards our one mile goal, at minute 4 alarm went off again, drop the ladders and time for 5 more merkins, so we went tabata style and every 2 minutes we had to drop the load and do 5 merkins (about 145-150 merkins total) lots of mumble chatter.

Once we reached our one mile goal around minute 35 and we changed our transportation mode; we switched the ladders to the A frame position and two PAX will carry them while the rest will carry the sandbags.. and yes, Tabata was still present so every two minutes we dropped the loads, did 5 merkins and rotate weights.

Went around the field and the back of the school and reached COT with les than 5 minutes to spare, time for AB LAB, we did some flutters with ruck press and noneless we heard the alarm one more time so 5 more merkins (slick) it felt really good to not have the ruck on for these 5 last merkins, one more minute for more flutters and we hot 0600.

Thank you to all the PAX that showed up to do the harder thing, we had a visit from Royale and WIld Thing from Lake Wylie and I’m sure they “enjoyed” the beatdown.

Thanks to Divac for the opportunity to lead!!

Tinsel out… until the next day…

TClap |
3