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.

TClap |
0

Big B, little b, what begins with B?

Buddies, Burpees, Bearcrawls, Bodybuilders, Booyah! Merkins and B.O.M.B.S. all start with that letter B, that’s what.

18 attended the Swamp today, half rucked, the other have joined YHC for a little schooling on the letter B.

I decided a couple weeks ago that I was going to work my way through the Exicon one letter at a time.  This was my 2nd Q since making that decision so the 8 unlucky PAX that got stuck with me and B today were thoroughly beat-down.

I gave the quick usual disclaimer an off we went.  I immediately heard grumbling about the speed so I slowed it down a bit and we did some karaoke’s and toy soldiers before circling up for a quick warm-up, which consisted of 9 Windmills and 15 Merkins (IC) followed by a couple 10 counts holding a 6″ plank.  A quick stretch and off to the 1st routine.

Routine 1:

Burpee, Bearcrawl, Booyah! Merkin…Chase

Buddy up and partner 1 does 5 burpees and then chases down his partner who is bearcrawling around the 2 roundabouts (about .25 miles).  Tags his partner and then they each do 5 Booyah! Merkins and switch/repeat until getting back to the starting point.  A real shoulder burner!

Routine 2:

For routine 2 we moseyed to the parking lot next to the fountain and did some B.O.M.B.S.  This is basically a DORA with more exercises and the suggestion to pick an exercise that matches each letter in BOMBS.

  • 50 Bodybuilders
  • 100 Overhead presses (with cinderblocks)
  • 150 Monkey Humpers
  • 200 Big-Boy sit-ups
  • 250 Smurf Jacks (suuuuuucked)

In typical DORA fashion, 1 partner does the exercise while the other (in this case) sprints to the 2nd island, bear crawls around the island, and then sprints back and picks up where his partner left off while his partner does the sprinting.

I think only  Cha-Ching, Duck Dynasty, and I finished, but that was probably because we were the odd group and we took the higher of the 2 reps.  I’m not sure if we would have made it otherwise since it came down to the last few seconds before heading back to CoP.

Everyone did awesome and pushed for the entire 45 minutes.

We made it back to CoP at exactly 6:00AM with the Ruckers about a minute behind.

Maximus announced a couple of new AO’s coming to Fort Mill, including a “Bruisers” workout for injured PAX, what a great idea.  As well as a bootcamp AO with a mandatory pre-run, sounds harsh!  In any case, not a lot of PAX spoke up with Prayers except for Maximus again so we prayed for family and everything that was on our hearts.

Thank you for the Q Cha-Ching it was a pleasure to lead these men today.  Nice work everyone!

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

TClap |
0

Honoring SEALS with a Watering Can

We completed on of the GORUCK workouts of the month honoring the Navy SEALS.  Not sure that grown men pouring water over each other at 5:00AM is what the SEALS have in mind when thinking of honors they would like to receive, but it certainly will catch the eye of any administration at the school if they are reviewing security footage.

-Step 1: Pour uncomfortably tepid water over each other to try to make it a little more suck-filled…

-Step 2: 1 mile ruck (AFAP)

Step 3: 100 Ruck Squats, 70 Ruck Merkins, 33 Ruck Swings

Step 4: 1 mile ruck (AFAP)

Step 5: Killed the last few minutes with a combination of Flutters, Toes to Ruck, and me trying to figure out how my new watch works

 

As always it was an honor to lead. Thank you for the opportunity

TClap |
0

A Return To The Corral Which Is Golden

Man, it’s been a long time. It’s been a long time since coming to the Golden Corral, or as it was often referred, the Buffet of Pain but it’s also been too long since my last post. No better way to knock the rust off than by saying yes to Lutefisk’s (just rolls off the tongue) invite and Qing Golden Corral yesterday. Trying not to lower the bar that has been established, I had to ensure the Weinke was full of all your favorite buffet options. After all, we’re not mailing this one in.

24 (23 really since Fish Sticks joined us at the end after getting his brisk miles) other hard-chargers, including feisty “Shin-Guard” joined me at 0515 to review the disclaimer and conduct a little warm up jog around the parking lot, ending up at the top, furthest from HT.

Warm-up:

Wind Mills, Jump Squats, Merkins, Diamond Merkins, Side-Straddle Hops, Carolina Dry Docks

Line up facing the Teeter. Run down to the store and Nur back to our starting point. REPEAT.

2 PAX at a time, run 1/2 way to Teeter then run back. We’d get through all 24 of us but the catch is that while you’re not running, you’re doing your best Flying Squirrels. See CSPAN, we still love you.

Reminder of 2 points (which is hard to stay accountable to when you don’t post for a while):

  1. C.O.T. Integrity – Don’t be a hypocrite. Be the same man outside the C.O.T. as you are inside it.
  2. Kotters – Bring ’em back. They’ll fight you but they want to be back AND we want them back.

More details were shared but you had to be there.

The Entree: 10 reps of 10 exercises and we’re cycling through 10 times (lofty desire). After each round, we’d run 1 set of 2-tiered suicides.

10 exercises were:

Burpees, Wide-Arm Merkins, Jump Squats, Mak Tar Jai’s, Knee Tar Jai’s (modified at the sight of bloodied knees to just doubling the yet to-be mentioned Jumping Lunges), Dips, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, Jumping Lunges, Carolina Dry Docks.

We made it through 4 rounds.

HEY, welcome to Fish Sticks.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

TClap |
4

Can I get a taxi, Uber, or Lyft?

17 men and 1 2.0 came prepared for the workout. Lots of smiling faces, not knowing what was in store for the next hour. After the disclaimer, we jogged down to the fire station and back to the parking lot.

COP
SSHs x 20
Imperial Walkers x 15
Wind Mills x 10
Plank Stretches
Merkins x 5
Plank Jacks x 10
Peter Parker x 10
Parker Peter x 10

Next, we moseyed to the field for partner exercises called Hora(Dora’s evil cousin) 2-3-4. Similar to Dora 1-2-3 except the count for each exercise was 200, 300, 400 and the movements would be a bit more complicated that simply running back and forth.

Exercise 1: 200 Merkins
Movement: Lunges to the lightpole and run back
Exercise 2: 300 Squats
Movement: Burpee broad jumps to lightpole and back
Exercise 3: 400 LBCs
Movement: Inch worm merkins to lightpole and back

Lots of grumbling and mumble chatter. The first half was complete. The baton was passed to Maximus. Good luck everyone.

In the outfield, we circled up for two sets of exercises:

10 J-Lo’s (A generational reference was made by substituting J-Lo with Barbara Streisand. I had to google her…No compare to Jenny from the block)
10 very slow flutters

Next, we partnered up with like speed for 7’s on “the Hill”. We began with Jumping Lunges (6) at the top and Caroline Dry Docks (1) at the bottom. NUR (backwards run) back up the hill and jogged to the outfield. We lined up on the chalk line for the following exercises:

5 Staggered Merkins on each side followed by a sprint to the other end of the field.
10 Jump Squats and sprint back.
10 J-Lo’s and sprint back

End of workout, mosey to COT.

Great job by all. Uber brought his 2.0 to the workout. Likes to ski, dad is Uber. We named him Lyft. He was full of energy and smiled the whole time.

TClap |
3

Badger 1 year Convergence

Thank you to our QICs of the Badger Convergence.  For those that were close with Badger and his family who was in attendance it was a blessing to see 78 strong come out in his honor.

Cyclop’s Portion of Badger Convergence

The W/O: The sets follow the dates of every March madness trip I took with badger and the 71-64 significance is the final score of the Kentucky-Wisconsin game in 2015 (our first trip) when badger’s badgers knocked off unbeaten Kentucky in the final 4.  I heard a bit about that. 😎

3 – burpees
19 – merkins
20 – squats
15 – LBCs

64 second – wall sit (people’s chair):  reflect in silence on how we leave no doubt as badger did.

3 – burpees
17 – LBC’s
20 – flutters
16 – burpees

DORA partner up – 71 burpees.  Partner 1 runs to semi trailer and back while partner 2 does burpees then switch off and repeat until 71 is reached

3 – burpees
16 – squats
20 – lunges
17 – flutters

71 seconds – balls to the wall

Reflect on leaving no doubt and what that means for each of us – then mosey to COT.

 

Change Order’s Portion of Badger Convergence

18 merkins
48 Lbc
4 burpees
9 merkins
11 side startle hops
20 freely mercury
07 merkins
39 Lbc
Run a lap in between each

Jiffy’s Portion of Badger Convergence

Headed over to the side of Parking Lot…

 

I shared the Pax my background with Badger – I joined F3 because of him.  F3 has had a meaningful impact on my life and I owe that to Badger.  I shared with the Pax how quickly things turned for Badger and encouraged them (and myself) to make sure we are using our time and resources very intentionally.

 

The workout

 

I had cones setup and the Pax did the following sequences:

  • Lunge Walk to each cone and stop and do 10 jump squats, run back
  • Bear crawl to each cone and stop and 10 merkins
  • 20 LBC’s in cadence
  • Sequence of 10 merkins, 10 plan jacks, 10 merkins, 10 plank jacks, 10 merkins, 10 plank jacks

 

  • Lunge Walk to each cone and stop and do 5 bomb jacks, run back
  • Bear crawl to each cone and stop and 10 carolina dry docks
  • 20 American Hammers in cadence
  • Sequence of 10 merkins, 10 shoulder taps, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder taps, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder taps

 

  • Lunge Walk to each cone and stop and do 10 monkey humpers bomb jacks, run back
  • Bear crawl to each cone and stop and 10 dips
  • 20 flutters in cadence
  • Sequence of 10 merkins, 10 side shoulder punches, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder punches, 10 merkins, 10 shoulder punches

 

  • Straight suicide

 

 

We then ran to the side and between a couple of islands did a Jacobs Ladder with Bomb Jacks on one side and Burpees on the other with a total of 6.

 

Great job by the Pax pushing each other and picking up the 6 at the end.

 

We headed back to the group at the end for COT.  It was an honor to serve especially in honor of Badger.

 

Trucker’s portion of Badger Convergence

Ran behind 9 rounds. Badger would have been 40 this year. So honored him with 40/4 workout. Each PAX had to do 4 rounds of 4 exercises of 40 reps with a run from 9 rounds to end of parking lot.
Merkins
Squats
LBCs
CCD

Then over to Red Bowl wall for 40 leg raises. Wall sits with 2 burpees each down the line. Repeat with 4 scorpion merkins.

Missy to oil change store. 4 PAX lined up 20 yards away while the other took 4 car tires and flipped tires to partner, return back to start. Each PAX then grabbed a tire nd did 40 shoulder presses.

Mossy to COT

 

Senator Tressels Portion of Badger Convergence

After COP, mosey to the inclined driveway by the apartment complex on Tega Cay Drive.  I gathered the group and told them that Matt was my neighbor and friend.  Our families spent time together and that Matt was active in an adult men’s soccer league.  Matt’s fight with cancer was very short and that he was gone way too soon.

 

On to the workout:

 

Jacob’s ladder, 1-7, with burpees at the top of the hill.  Plank when you are finished.

 

Walk to the grass area in front of the apartment gym and circle up for  Jack Webb’s (10/40).

 

Freddie Mercs x 20, and Hello Dolly x 20, all in cadence.

 

End with 90 seconds of the body destroyer.  As the Pax laid still and quiet,  I told them to think about how much they have, how lucky they are, and that every day is a gift.

 

Mosey  back to the Harris Teeter lot for COT

 

End.

 

Decibels Portion of Badger Convergence

 

MERKINS X25

ALTERNATING LUNGES X25

TOE TAPS X25

TONY HAWK BURPEE X15

Heals to Heaven x25

GORILLA HUMPER X20

IMPERIAL WALKER X20

EMPTY WHEELBARROW

SQUATS X20

LBCs  X39

E2K X20 EACH SIDE

ROSALITA X25

During the workout we keep 3 soccer balls moving at all time to honor Badger’s love for soccer. 

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Badger went to be in heaven.  I was blessed to spend time with him prior to his passing.  We talked about him being saved and how important that was to him.  He let me know that his M was a big reason he was saved but also seeing my families reaction to losing our daughter and son and our dependence on God at that time.  I am saying this to let you know as Christians people watch our actions and want to make sure our actions match our words.  I encourage every Christian brother in F3 to live out your faith and in times of need lean on God just like Badger did in his time. 

My M and I received a letter from Badger.  In that letter he mentioned F3 and the support he and his family received after the diagnosis.  I remember him just being in awe of all the people that were praying for him.  He was so touched by this community that he asked that I make sure that his boys get involved in F3.  It was such a blessing to have Jeter and all the his relatives experience the convergence.  To have 78 men in our community support Badger was an emotional journey for all of us that knew him.  I had several members of his family let me know how much they appreciated the convergence and the support for Badger.  Thank you to each man that showed up!

Badger was a man I respected to the utmost.  He was not a guy that sought attention or glory, but he was always there when you needed him.  He loved his family and was a loyal friend.  I am still in awe of how he bravely prepared to walk into heaven.  It was so comforting to know he was going to see Jesus.  He told me many times that he would take care of our babies (Elizabeth Grace and Garrett) until we met up with him.  Badger was a great Father and I know he is having a blast with my kids in heaven. 

Let us all take this time to pour into, support, love on and encourage our F3 brothers. Then take that momentum and turn it to our families.  Then take that momentum and pour it out on the least and the lost in our community.  Badger knew that God had a purpose for him and that purpose was to spread the word of God’s Grace and Love.  Let’s make that happen for him.

 

 

TClap |
6

Thrive at the Hive

We had 14 at the Hive for a fun filled workout with the KB this morning.  Did a short intro and disclaimer with a slight stall tactic to wait on PAX to catch up from coming in hot.

Off we went on a slow mosey around the lot and circled up for the warm-up

30– SSH’s (slight mumble chatter prompted YHC to stop)
10– Merkins
20 – Moroccan Nightclubs

The Thing

Grabbed the bells and a slight mosey over to the featured portion of the Pain.  Strategically taped to the back of the trashcan was our Paper o Pain with 15 Exercises on it.  The plan was to do 30 of each exercise with a run across the parking lot in between.

 

Curls
Goblet Squats
Overhead Claps

LBC’s

Triceps

Short Switzer to talk about Mentorship and impacting others.  Think about who you are mentoring ie Home, Work, F3, etc.

Chest Press

American Hammer

Deadlift

KB Swings

Calf Raises

Another short switzer to see if anyone had any stories to share about mentoring. YHC talked about the 3rd F event last week and the impact it had on me and how I’m using it to challenge others.

Last round:

Flutters

Lawnmower Pulls

Dips

Skull Crushers

Step Ups

Wrapped up with a nice lunge walk and bell pass through before circling up for COT.

Appreciate the invite BandCamp!

Bass-O-Matic

 

 

 

TClap |
4

Alcatraz HIIT & Strength beatdown

Cobains on the delay. #Life

We had a hearty crew Saturday morning.  Lots of chatter in the Twittersvere for Tesh?Jekyll Q drawing Pax from across the river and inspiring Fishsticks to bring a #kotter and an #FNG.  Well done!

HIIT:

Disclaimer then we took off for a lap ’round Runde stopping for a brief painstation to let Dolly Dogwalker go by.  Must be crazy to have 14 men run up on you so we gave some space.  Pouring into the field at the open gate we started with a circle of pain and the usual suspects of exercises in cadence.  Feeling the need to keep up my portion of the HIIT on the line we went for sprint run and and nur (backward run).  70%, 80%, 90%,100%.

Moved to the next field and put partner 1 on the line and partner 2 on the wall.

  • P1: Bearcrawl to second base run to baseball fence, hop the fence then run up hill to finish with 5 bombjacks.  Down the hill, hop the fence, AYG back to line.
  • P2: Round the world squat jumps.

Repeat 3 times with P2 doing Carolina Dry Docks then Wall sits.

Hand off to Tesh for Strength.

First exercise was to max out our push pull muscles.

Pulling is first.  Circle up shoulder to shoulder.  Every other man does an about face and puts his 6 on the ground so that his shoulders are between two PAXs feet.  The standing PAX now reach down as if they are going to help a brother up, but instead, we are going to use this as a no-equipment upright row.

All PAX lift up on the Q’s command and let down on command.  Q does this until he sees around half the PAX struggling to lift.  Swap positions and repeat.  (This may sound like a rest for the guys laying down being lifted, but you still have to keep most everything engaged so it’s not.  It’s more of an isometric hold)
Pushing is next.  You can’t do much better than the merkin.  But i wanted low rep, higher volume.  So to achieve this, the sprinkler head merkin puts more load on one arm.  (It’s a typewriter merkin without swaping sides.)  So one are goes out wide and stays straight wile the other does all the pushing (4 count to 3 both sides). Then regular merkins (4 count to 10).
Do this superset 3 times.  (I modified the pushups for some other challenges, but you’ll have to ask someone that was there… blame Walker.)
Next were some grip strength, because I think almost every man lacks in this department (it’s hard to train and doesn’t give you anything sexy to show off).  Mosey to the playground for deadhangs.  Split into two groups, one does peoples chair / Al Gore while the other group deadhangs.  Four rounds of 1 min.
Mosey to parking lot for Lt Dan.  I always associate this exercise with Jekyll for some reason, and he didn’t do it so I felt obligated.  And it’s a great exercise.  Dry dock/merkin breaks after rounds 5, 7 and 9.
And finally American Hammers till time.
NMM-
Great to have Bon Jovi who is back after a couple of years and hinted at a name change.  During the course of the workout his options became clear and ultimately stayed with Bon Jovi.  smart move.
Welcome Paper Jam from Rochester New York home of Xerox.  Today is but your first day!
TClap |
3

Blown tire = Bullpen

Lets just put this out there.  I was HURTIN.  The Murph did me in like no one’s business.  Shoulders, arms, no extension.  The bed was calling.  Obligation as a PAX and as a site Q made my decision for me.  Have to do the hard thing.  Reborn has been on schedule for months and I got a call at 4:30 saying his tire had blown.  No problem.

Pulling into The Coloseeum there were already a large group of men gathering waiting.  With nothing prepared, I decided shared leadership was the key today.

Maximus: COP

Jekyll: 16s on the track.  Carolina Dry Docks and Jumping Lunges at each corner of track.  15/1, 14/2, 13/3….1/15.

Dungaree: Wall Muscle ups, BTTW

MacGuyver: Wall sits into merkins back into Wall sits (#crowdpleaser)

Gekko: Street lights.  AYG to next to pole 2, mosey to pole 3, AYG to pole 4. repeato until 10th pole

Walker: Cant remember but probably Merkins

Jekyll: Mary

all were completely smoked.  Always great to have the high energy and expectation from Walker.  He really drives me to be better and do better.  Unwavering principled man.

We finished up and met up with Ruckers and Pathfinders.

Aye!

TClap |
1

Challenged to “Bring It”

A few months ago, Dark Helmet and I were challenged to “bring it” to The Deep. I’m not sure how I got roped into the conversation as I no longer provide the top-tier workouts I used to. You see, it’s not because I’ve gotten soft (well, maybe a little), it’s more due to the physical acceleration of the PAX, which is evident when I cross the water and see the brothers in Lake Wylie. My workouts aren’t as hard as they used to be for some.

That said, I’ve become known for 2 things: the deck of cards and cinder blocks. I couldn’t disappoint the fellas. Dark Helmet on the other hand, is known for many things (not including many leather-bound books, rich mahogany, a perfect quaff or starbuck-y hands). And, with these many things, he brought his level of creative, pain-inducing exercises to the first half of the morning’s Q.

Once DH signed a few autographs, gave a very clear disclaimer, he took off for the warm up mosey. Then did a few warm-up-type exercises which included all the regulars and plenty of chatter.

Grab a partner and since when does size not matter…in Wheelbarrow racing?

You and your partner will alternate wheelbarrow’ing around the circle which I swear, grew as we were encircling it.

Next, grab the cinder blocks from Maximus’ truck for a little DORA activity.

Partner 1 (P1) would run around the main lot while Partner 2 (P2) would do the exercise then flapjack for:

200 Bicep Curls

300 Overhead Press

400 Bent-Over Rows (modified the count for timing and inserted chest press)

Hand off to Maximus for more partner work

P1: Ski Abs

P2: Toe Taps on the block (25ea side)

Flapjack

P1: Burpee Broad Jump ~50yds & NUR back

P2: Mountain Climbers with your hands on the block

Flapjack

P1: Beep Beep I’m a Jeep for 25yds & Lunge Walk back

P2: Bomb Jacks

Flapjack

Now with both partners at one end and the block at the other:

P1: Sprint to the block, 10 Man Makers with the block, Sprint Back

P2: Flutters from the V-up position

Next up, partner big-boy sit-ups while passing the block back and forth

I can’t fully recall if we did a few 8ct burpees to finish it off but it’d be a lot cooler if we did…so let’s assume we did.

Hey PAX, wherever you call home, go somewhere different. Organize a clown car with a few other locals and go see a different AO on a Saturday and attend their Q-Source. You never know what you’ll learn. Dark Helmet and I appreciate the opportunity to put ourselves through misery in the spirit of Qing for a great group of F3’s finest PAX.

Until Next Time.

DH & MAX

TClap |
2