300s at the Ranch

I’m a little late getting this posted so I don’t recall all the finer conversation points and stimulating discussion points we went shared. But I’m still within the 7 day back-blast window!

Mosey to back of school for pretty standard warm-up. SSHs, Hillbilly Walkers, Windmills, Mtn Climbers, Peter Parkers, Squats.

Mosey to larger lot for warm-up ladder. On one end Merkins, the other Donkey Kicks. Start with 5 on one end and 20 on the other. Go up and down by 5 each time: 5/20, 10/15, 15/10, 20/5. Each time you pass thru the middle 3 burpees.

Mosey to behind school for walkin BTW. Walk on hands all the way down the wall then Lt Dan walk (lunge, lunge, squat) back to start. Only called this once so we had plenty of time for the 300.

Mosey to front of middle school. It’s a semi-scientific fact that 30 reps of anything is right about the point you want to hurl things or insults at the Q. So based on hard science and a plan for not letting Straight-up lap all of us, we started the 300. Pretty simple, 30 reps of 10 exercises. After each exercise run 1/2 lap and wait for PAX. Exercises:

  1. Single Leg Lunges using bench – 15 each leg
  2. Scorpion CDDs – 15 each leg up
  3. Dips using bench
  4. Jump squats
  5. Derkins using bench
  6. Seal Jacks
  7. Calf raises (30 regular, 30 in, 30 out)
  8. Flutters
  9. 10 Box Jumps, 10 Step-ups each leg
  10. Plank Jacks

Great work by all the PAX. We were able to get through the complete 300 with about 1 minute to spare. All the PAX stayed together and encouraged each other to finish strong. Thanks again Backdraft for the opportunity.

Logging off,
Mainframe

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Build-a-burp Workshop

19 pax made it out to the golden corral for some bootcamp, ruck, and run.  Big showing from lake wylie thanks to Jedi.

A disclaimer was made and the bootcampers mosied around HT for cop.
COP
Morracan Night Clubs x 20
Imperial Walkers x 19
Windmills x 13
Low slow squats x 16
Merkins x 11
LBCs x 15
Parker Peters x 15
(Reps are guestimates… no rhyme or reason to #s)
Bodybuilder burpees x 10 OYO (multiple demos requested, still no consensus on order of plank jack/merkin)
The thang
Mosied over to the fountain for some deconstructed bodybuilder burpees in pairs.
1st pax bear crawled to cone, ran to the hill to circle, and then crab walked back to the start from cone.
2nd pax did x16 of the following followed by LBCs until relieved by 1st pax:
Squats
Leg thrusts
Merkins
Plank Jacks
Leg thrusts
Squats
Bodybuilder burpees
(mumblechattter included complaints of lack of visible cones)
Finished just in time and booked it over to HT for COT with a push from Davinci.
Announcements
Christmas party
Probably missing something…. read your newsletter
Prayers and praises
Sick, injured, and traveling family.
Thanks Decibel for the opportunity
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You don’t have Control

Friday mornings are my favorite.  Back at the place this whole F3 thang all began for me.  The men started gathering, and by 5:14 it was a large group…but no one that wanted to ruck…so NASA got to join the bootcampers.  I’m sure he was ready for his Q, but lots of guys were probably holding back for the Capital Ruck Tour on Saturday night.  20 PAX with me, so a quick disclaimer and we’re off.

A little dynamic warmup on our run with high knees, butt kickers, side shuffle.  Made our way to the back parking of  the old River Bleu.

COP: 15 IWs – 25 MNCs – 25 SSHs – 10 LS Squats – 10 Merkins – some yoga stuff – 15 planks jacks – 10 Parker Peters

Mosey over to the Fountain to put in some work

3 rounds of following:

10 Step Ups each leg

20 Durkins

30 Dips

quick 10 count time to mosey.

Move to the red balls for Burpicides

Shared a quick word around Control. See Moleskin.

run to each ball – 3 burpees – run back all the way down to the other side

Read to write, hard to do. After a FEW 10 counts time to mosey again.

Made our way closer to the COT, stopped at a nice patch of grass.

I saw someone had pulled out the Jack Webbs this week, it had been too long…

Jack Webbs to 10

Back to COT:

Ab Lab with American Hammers – Freddie Mercuries – LBCs

Announcements – Praises – Prayers

Moleskin:

I had something to share planed for the PAX.  But on the way to the workout I was listening to the radio.  Not something I normally do. A song came on by Logic.  It’s posted here.  Popular song about depression and suicide.  My nephew had previously shown me the video. That morning it almost brought me to tears.  I modified my message about control.  The trials of life and heartache of loss or depression show us many ways that we are not in control.  That even when things are good we can feel like there are bad.  Give that control to God and ask him for guidance.

Too many kids I’ve been hearing about locally that have lost that control and found no other way out than suicide.  We should be those men making a difference in kids lives so they know there is another way.  Start with your own kids.  Talk to them about life, and pain and failure.  Let them know that everything’s not perfect like social media makes it out to be.  Tell them about your failures and how you overcame them.  Just talk…

An honor to lead,

Royale

 

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The Ranch

Disclaimer

Mosey around parking lot doing various dynamic stretches/warm ups.

Circle up for warm ups- 20 SSHs, 10 merkins, 10 peter parkers, 10 Morakin night clubs.

Mosey to picnic benches 10 step ups, 10 dips, 10 single leg squats (each Leg), 10 derkins, hold plank for the 6 to finish. Drop to 9 the next set until we get to 1.

Mosey to playground- 5 strict pull ups 10 in and out ab crunches on the swings. drop 1 rep on each pull up until you get to 1.

Mosey to middle school parking lot partner up. run 1 lap opposite direction from partner half way do 10 alternating push up and clap. Run other half 1 partner chair sit while partner does 10 air squats. repeat 2 sets.

Mosey to middle school wall. 15 Balls to wall peter parkers 20 second wall sit. 10 balls to wall peter parkers 10 second wall sit.

Mosey to front of school same partners wheel barrow 1 partner to end switch and go back.

Mosey to COT.

Announcements- fast 5, family ruck

Prayers and praises- Our country ( the people and the natural disasters going on), PAX looking for work, families.

 

 

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Made it Matter – Quagmire 10/9/2017

What a day a Quagmire this morning. Drizzling and humid.  Perfect for what I had in store. I told the Pax before we started that I was going to step out of my comfort zone and try to work a message into my workout. Normally I stick to sweat and pain but felt a calling for something more.

When 5:15 arrived there were 11 Pax ready to get started. Got the legal stuff out of the way and we were off.

We started with a slow mosey along with:

  • Toy Soldiers
  • Butt Kickers
  • Knee Pulls
  • High Knees

We circled up in front of Pet Smart for some stretching.  A whole lot of moans and groans from the Ragnar folks, so we spent some extra time getting loose. COP was:

  • Wind Mills x10
  • Weed Pullers x10
  • SSH x25
  • MCs x 30
  • Imperial Walkers x15
  • Merkins x10
  • Down Dog/Honeymooner
  • Mountain Climbers x15
  • Down Dog/Honeymooner

Recover and time for The Thang:

I told the Pax we were only doing 4 exercises today: Merkins, V-Up Twists, Jump Squats and Burpees. Simple and Easy (wink, wink). We would be moving between four corners (Front of Pet Smart, Front of Zoes, Front of Mattress Store and Front of Best Buy) performing the aforementioned exercises a set amount of reps.   (Unannounced to the Pax it was the total amount of reps performed in each cycle which would be significant.)

The plan was to perform all the exercises at each corner for the below reps:

  • 1st Cycle – Total of 28 reps for each exercise. 7 at each corner. Example:
    • 1st Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
    • 2nd Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
    • 3rd Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
    • 4th Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
  • 2nd Cycle – Total of 33 reps for each exercise. 8 at the first 3 stations then 9 at the last.
  • 3rd Cycle – Total of 49 reps for each exercise.  12 at the first 3 stations then 13 at the last.
  • 4th Cycle – Total of 58 reps for each exercise. 14 at the first 2 stations then 15 at the final 2 stations.

Unfortunately we ran low of time and were only able to finish cycle 1,2 and half of cycle 4. We skipped cycle 3 completely.  Then we all moseyed back to COT for an explanation of the reps:

  • On December 14, 2012, a young man walked into an elementary school in Newtown, CT and 28 lives were taken. Young Boys. Young Girls. Teachers. Mothers. Sons. Daughters.
  • On December 16, 2007, a young man walked around the campus of Virginia Tech and 33 lives we taken that day. Innocent students. Daughters. Sons. Brothers. Sisters.
  • On June 12, 2016, another young man walked into a nightclub in Orlando and 49 lives were taken. Friends. Co-Workers.
  • On October 1st, 2017, a man knocked out the window of his Las Vegas Hotel, opened fire and 58 lives were taken that day. Dads. Husbands. Mothers. Wives. Friends.

168 people lost their lives in these horrible events.

I designed a simple workout around the 4 deadliest shooting in modern American history and 45 minutes wasn’t enough time to complete the workout. 

These victims deserve your attention and emotion. There is no right way to react to such evil and madness. However SILENCE IS ACCEPTANCE. If we begin to accept these actions as normal then the madness starts to win.  We are better and these victims deserve better.

This is a call to make a positive impact on our world and F3 is a perfect vehicle to start this change. Use it and share it. Start headlocking in your community and build strong relationships with the current Pax. Change can happen one person at a time.

If not F3, then something. Anything. Dont wait for the madness to hit your doorstep. Be a positive light to the world now.

Dont wait for the next bad thing to happen to make these victims lives matter. THEY DESERVE TO MATTER.

Today we honored those that lost there lives. Today and forever, you matter.

Newtown, CT

Virgina Tech

Orlando

Las Vegas

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5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

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

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

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

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

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

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

Run (led by Birdcage)

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

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

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

Ruck (led by Trucker)

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

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

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

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

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

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

Wrap Up

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

Ginsu

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Trucker Strong

Its been awhile since I had an opportunity to Q the Ranch, so dug into my bucket of go-byes to find something that I haven’t done or other Q’s haven’t done in a while. Sometimes it is just as fun to bypass pull-ups and just focus on merkins. So as the PAX arrived, mumble chatter revolved around the assumption of doing 1,000 pull-ups….ha!

COP consisted of 15 to 20 reps of: good mornings, windmills, Russian twists, Moroccan nightclubs, squats, LBCs, and Hip-leg thrusters. Mossy to Middle School drop off circle for 4 corners.

A cone was placed at each end of the circle and in the middle. Start at first cone and do 15 right leg scorpion merkins, run to second cone for 15 regular merkins, run to third cone for 15 left leg scorpion merkins, run to fourth cone for 15 wide arm merkins, run back to first cone. Rinse and repeat two more times.

Plank and LBCs until 6 is in.

Bear crawl up hill and do 10 squats, run down: rinse and repeat by dropping 2 squats each time

Mossy to benchs for:

15 dips/15 step ups per leg; 15/dips/15 squat sits; 15 merkins/15 LBCs; 15 derkins/15 Russian twists; 15 merkins/ 15 step ups; 15 irkins

Mossy to COT

Great work by all, 240 merkins during an AO is Trucker Strong!!

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22 PAX braved the Clydesdale pace, some went their own way rather than face the excruciating hills of the Pineapple Loop, some, faced their fear.

The thang:

I run along the avenue
I never thought I’d meet a PAX as slow as you
Meet a PAX like you

With messy hair and sleepy eyes
The least you could do is keep up with the 6
Keep up with the 6

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran from 515 to 600ish
I couldn’t get away

A street lamp above your head
A beam of light comes shining down on you
Shining down on you

The street lamp is moving nearer still
A hole in the sidewalk comes in view
Hole comes in view

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran from 515 to 600ish
I couldn’t get away

 

Looks like we made it,

Barry Manilow

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Partner work at The Ranch

6 HIM showed up to the gloom this morning to The Ranch.  It’s been awhile since I’ve been to this AO.  After a couple of wrong turns and a really questionable parking job, YHC made it with a couple of minutes to spare.

The Warmup:

Quick mosey around the parking lot and to the soccer field.

SSH x 30

50% run to the opposite goal line

WM x 10

50% run to the opposite goal line

IW x 15

75% run to the opposite goal line

Merkins x 10

75% run to the opposite goal line

Plank Jacks x 15

100% run to the opposite goal line

CDD x 10

100% run to the opposite goal line

Thang I:

Partner up (size matters).

Wheel Barrow – 10 steps and 5 derkins to the opposite goal line.  Switch as needed.

Partner Carries – 10 steps and 5 squats to the opposite goal line.  Switch as needed.

Mosey to the elementary school loop.

Thang II:

More partner work…

Set 1:

50 Box Jumps

100 Jumping Lunges

200 Squats

One partner running the loop.

Set 2:

50 Wide Arm Merkins

100 Dips

150 CDDs

One partner running the loop.

Mary:

Heels to The Heavens x 10

Corkscrews x 10

Hello Dollies x 10

Box Cutters x 10

Dying Cockroach x 10

COT:

Read your newsletter

Praises for health.

Prayers for PAX loss of a close friend, family relationships and others unspoken.

Moleskin:

This was a great group this morning and I was just trying to keep up.  I’m learning the art of leading from behind.

The field was pretty wet and I think I heard a few comments about soggy shoes…

Leadership is our duty as men.  To always be leading and always present our best selves.  The majority of our leadership opportunities are given to us at times when we’re unaware we are even leading.  Be a positive light today and everyday…

Thanks Backdraft for the opportunity.

Peace,

Seacrest

 

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Clydesdales – Value Run

Not much to add.  We had 3 options Value loop to Walmart, a trail run through Baxter and a pineapple run through Baxter.  All were safe and returned without any skid marks. Peace out!

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