Back to school

Warm-up:
Mosey from parking lot down the the drop-off circle in front of the elementary school. There we did the following:
SSH
Hillbilly Walker
Moroccan Night club

Continued to mosey around the loop and around the middle school drop off and then over to the basketball court. There we did a few more warm-up exercises which I don’t remember at this time.

Once the Pax were good and warm we kicked off the starfish. YHC was expecting heavy rain and potential thunderstorms so the plan was to stay under the breezeways connecting the elementary school and middle. At each end point Pax would have 2 exercises to do. Pax completed one of the two exercises listed at each spot each time through. Every time pax came through the main intersection they did 5 burpees. All pax completed 4 rounds for a total of 60 burpees each.

Exercises:
Station 1 – Mike Tysons and Diamond Merkins (10)
Station 2 – Big Boy Sit-ups and Leg Raises (20)
Station 3 – Back Rows and Dead-lifts (15)
Station 4 – Squats and Dirty Myrtles (20)

Burpees between stations – 60 Total

After 4 rounds complete we have a few minutes left for the following:
LBCs with feet on wall
2 rounds of 10 Mike Tyson Merkins and 20 Dirty Myrtles

Then we headed back for COT after covering about 2 miles, a bunch of exercises and a little rain.

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The Herd at Sweep The Leg

Week 3 of Sweep The Leg was not about to be a letdown. Apparently, 24 other PAX posted to hold me accountable in ensuring they got the return on their investment, too. Gears started this AO a few weeks ago to present the PAX with an opportunity to push themselves harder and faster than currently offered at another AO, at least on a Monday. It is so easy to come out of the gates hot but the hard work is in consistency. Hard work was what we did for 40 of the 45mins this morning which concluded with some up hills and a jail break to ensure we finished as strong as we started.

Lots and lots of headlights kept rolling into the lot and as we were about to start the disclaimer, 4 more cars rolled in. So…
Sweeper identified…check (Thank you Cake Boss)
Overview  of Sweep The Leg for the rookies…check
Count off…25, are you serious?
Disclaimer…check

Warm up mosey out of the lot, L/T Len Patterson, L/T 160, L/T Dave Gibson Blvd and circle up at intersection with Ben Casey Dr.

Warm Up
Wind Mills
Imperial Walkers
Moroccan Night Clubs
5 Burpees

Overview of the pace. When I say “Get It”, it’s your fast pace or All You Got to get to the next stop. If you’re in the first wave of runners to get to the destination, we’ll be starting the exercises and doing them until the 6 got in.

Get It: To parking lot in front of GHES
Box Cutters
Dying Cockroaches
10 Burpees

Get It: End of straight way in front of the schools to the lot for Colosseum
5 Merkins

Get it: Run the GHMS drop-off loop then 1/2 the GHES loop taking us to the benches near the basketball hoops
20 Derkins
20 Dips
10 Carolina Dry Docks

Get it: Run to the end of the bus parking lot, run back, run to the end of the lot again and stop

Get it: Run up the long, never-ending bus entrance hill to just before Dam Rd and back to the start.
Mountain Climbers (keep the merlot down)
Peter Parker
Parker Peter

Get it: Run the remaining loop in front of GHES to the bottom of the hill on Dave Gibson Blvd.
5 Burpees

Get it: Run to 160, back to Patricia Ln (almost all the way back to the bottom of the hill), then back up to Ben Casey and thanks to Vuvuzela, circle up in the bank parking lot.
Merkins
Diamonds
Wide-Arm
American Hammer

Now really get it: Run down the straightaway back to COT.

Gears, I appreciate what you’re doing here. Thank You.
If anyone is still reading this, please wear black on Wednesday but something reflective if you’re running.

SYITG,
Maximus

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Man In The Mirror…at the Minnow Pond

Differences between this version of Minnow Pond and the last time I Q’d the MP:
1. Societal tension coming from years of oppression and ignorance.
2. The disgusting humidity
3. PAX age range: 14-57

One of these, we discussed & analyzed.
One of these, we suffered through.
One of these, we appreciate.

For the first time in I don’t know how long, there were 0 PAX for extra credit BUT (anything before the but doesn’t matter) we had 11 of us post for the Pledge of Allegiance to our great Nation at 0514. A brief disclaimer followed by a very brief warm-up mosey followed by a very, very brief round of Windmills  led us into the substantive portion of the post.
With the Nation (and world) now (and always, really), we need to address our own personal sins and shortcomings before looking elsewhere. We have to own it rather than saying it is due to someone or something else. Specific to our present tensions onset by centuries of racial injustice, what have I turned a blind eye to, or what have I tolerated? In other words, we need to have a Michael Jackson moment by taking a look at the Man In The Mirror.

As he sings in that song,
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqe5NP86OCc

A key component to addressing these ignorance’s and learning is to put yourself into challenging 1:1 conversations. In the spirit of the 1:1, we’d be doing 1.1mi loops with 3 stops along each loop.

The loop had us run up Massey to the gas station for stop 1. R/T onto Harris then R/T McCammon then into the Founders bank lot for stop 2. R/T Clebourne then R/T Main St then back to the AO parking lot for stop 3.

At each stop:
10 Mak Tar Jai’s
10 Inch Worms
10 Toe Touches
10 Mountain Merkins (4ct Moutain Climber + 1 Merkin)

After completing the first lap, I realized the rep count was a bit too aggressive. So, we cut it from 10 to 5 and I think everyone was able to complete at least 2 laps.  Had I talked a bit less in the beginning, we might’ve even gotten to a full 3 laps.

Back at COT, we talked about the topic a bit more, shared some announcements and offered prayers & praises. Great start to the day with brothers to my left & right.

Maximus

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APFT at Golden Corral, version 1 of 6

2nd Tuesdays of the month at GC will be the APFT and we’ll track progress.

Mosey to Lake Wylie Brewing for 10 windmills, 20 imperial walkers, 10 low slow squats.  2 mins AMRAP merkins for count, 2 mins AMRAP big boy sit ups for count, and timed 2 mile run.

Points are awarded for count/time bracketed by age group.

PAX, # of reps/time (scores), then total points/ave points
Maximus, 71 merkins (98), 66 bbsu (89), 13:04 (100) = 287/95.7
Gears, 59 merkins (92), 61 bbsu (89), 14:15 (99) = 280/93.3
Dark Helmet, 74 merkins (100), 62 bbsu (90), 15:17 (90) = 280/93.3
Long Duck, 75 merkins (100), 37 bbsu (69), 15:59 (91) = 260/86.7
Change Order, 61 merkins (94), 54 bbsu (86), 16:48 (77) = 257/85.7
BOT, 73 merkins (98), 54 bbsu (74), 15:17 (83) = 255/85
Olaf, 62 merkins (87), 50 bbsu (69), 14:17 (92) = 248/82.7
Body Wash, 67 merkins (94), 32 bbsu (54), 15:31 (84) = 232/77.3
Grout, 44 merkins (76), 38 bbsu (66), 16:41 (78) = 220/73.3
Lutefisk, 52 merkins (76), 50 bbsu (69), 17:29 (63) = 208/69.3

It’ll be interesting to see the progress, we’ll be doing this 5 more times so don’t be afraid to start in July!

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Thin Blue Line:Retired St Louis PD Capt. David Dorn

Good Morning men of The Fort

Today was my first day as Honey Badger site Q and I wanted to get the week started like a Hero. We had 9 Pax show up for a Heroes Beatdown and I hope I didnt disappoint them.

We started with a quick mosey around the NaFo parking lot followed by SSH, Morrocan Nightclub, Windmills and Imperial Walkers.

Then we headed over the the football field for 2 rounds of :

38 Burpees  ,  Run 100 yards

77 Flutters   , Run 100 yards

38 Merkins. ,  Run 100 yards

77 Squats.    , Run 100 yards

38 American Hammers , Run 100 yards

77 LBC’s  , Run 100 yards

And Bevause we did it so fast I added a DORA

100 CD ,   200 Boxcutters and 300 Lunges

I wanted to Honor Retired St Louis Capt David Dorn who served 38 years for the St Louis PD and at 77 years old was helping a friend work security at his Pawn shop when riots broke out and he was shot and killed by rioters.

Ended with COT

 

 

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Uphill Times

19 Pax posted on a Yumid morning to salute Old Glory and dig deep to tackle the surrounding hills.  We were honored to welcome FNG/The Fonz (EH’d by Pusher) and a quasi-Kotter in Santini ( who has lost his excuses for not posting to any downtown FM AOs).  Longshanks led The Pledge and then the fun began.

The Thang

Hills, hills and more hills — that was the recipe for the day.

Brief warm-up in the parking lot to allow Body Wash to catch up with the pax on his late arrival — SSH, Mtn climber, Parker Peter, Merkins

Run to parking lot at WEP

Muster at bottom of hill leading to stop sign at entrance of parking lot

Run to top, do # Burpees of your choice, run back down; rinse & repeat adding # Burpees on each return to the top (UvU format — you pick initial # and increment); continue repeatedly

Muster at bottom of Stairway to Heaven

Run to light pole at top, do # Merkins (starting from last # Burpees, using same increment pattern), run back down; rinse & repeat adding # Merkins on each return to top; continue repeatedly

Run to large parking lot across from gun shop on Massey Street

Run to bottom of Massey Street; run back to top, do # Freddie Mercurys (starting from last # Merkins, using same increment pattern), run back down; rinse & repeat adding # Freddie Mercurys on each return to top; continue repeatedly

Mosey home

COT

Naked man moleskin

Thank you to Longshanks for the Q invite at Minnow Pond — great AO, great format, lively pax who all got after it today.  It was especially sweet since it was my first Q back in The Fort in 90 days.  (Apologies to a few pax I missed in the attendees — Gen X camera malfunction)

Welcome to The Fonz!  Yes, he set a new fashion standard to rival Slash’s collars.  Plus, he pushed toward the front of the pax throughout.  Great first time out….look forward to seeing you again.  And T-claps to Pusher on the EH.

Great to have Santini in The Gloom!  If you have any history with this #Redwood, then you know why it’s great to have him back.  If you don’t, then find the chance to saddle up next to him the next time you see him in the circle and ask him about origin of the Moroccan Night Club. or Stairway to Heaven or the Echochamber.

Theme for the day was hills, because they provide great training for runners.  AND, because we’re living in “uphill times” in my view (pandemic, unemployment, social distancing, racism, injustice, protests, rioting — pure chaos in the headlines).  These hills in life (short, long, steep or any combination) can be strong training ground as well.  Much has been said by many about the “silver linings” of lockdown life.  Certainly that’s been true for me and my family.  At same time,  the tough stuff, the difficulties, the adversity in life are also challenges that can build endurance, resilience, passion, vision for the road ahead.  Take some time to reflect where the tough parts of your current situation are sharpening you and your family for the journey ahead.  Don’t limit your review to just the fun, funny, joyful, positive experiences  — the darker more challenging moments can provide training benefits too.

Great to be back in The Fort!

Keep pushing!

 

 

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Negative Splits

23 was the number to launch The Fort’s newest AO: Sweep The Leg.  The goal of any AO should be acceleration of overall fitness of the Pax, and I believe we delivered this morning.

The workout was simple.  3 miles, half mile segments with pain stations.  The goal was negative splits with 3 minute pain stations between segments.  Something like the following:

  • .5 miles at 8:15 pace, 3 min pain station
  • .5 miles at 8:00 pace, 3 min pain station
  • .5 miles at 7:45 pace, 3 min pain station
  • .5 miles at 7:30 pace, 3 min pain station
  • .5 miles at 7:15 pace, 3 min pain station
  • .5 miles at 7:00 pace, 3 min pain station

Pain stations included crowd favorites such as:

  • Burpees
  • Bombjacks
  • Squats
  • Hillybilly Squats
  • Flutter
  • Freddy Mercury’s
  • Merkins
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Monkey Humpers

The leaders of the pack did the full pain station, those bringing up the six may or may not get to do the exercises at the pain station, but it kept the pax mostly together and pushed guys to keep up since the overall pace continued to speed up.

Hit this link for the route and some deets.

The #Kings this week were Pointer, Maximus, and Shady, who will be added to the Q list for an upcoming workout.

Ready your newsletter and pray for our country and the unrest going on right now due to racial injustice.

Honor to Serve.

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Dropkicked at The Rock

BAOPS. It’s an acronym  that Trucker has been pushing, almost devoting himself to, with regard to the AO, Alcatraz, he now oversees. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last several weeks, let me enlighten you on Tega Cay’s own “Rock.”

Rather than being on its own island, our version of Alcatraz is almost at the end of a peninsula. Rather than water with treacherous currents, our version has streets with treacherous hills.
Just as you have to plan some extra time to get to THAT Alcatraz, you also have to plan some extra drive time to get to our version of Alcatraz…it’s way down TC Drive.

When Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was in operation, it housed the hardest, most notorious criminals of its day. In Trucker’s verbiage, BAOPS stands for the “Baddest Area of Operations (AO) for Pain on Saturday.” Consistent with the last several weeks, some of the most hard-charging PAX from The Fort & Rock Hill (The Rock-how fitting) posted at Alcatraz this morning. Some even thought they rolled up on a convergence when they drove in with all the cars.

21 PAX (welcome Suplex) joined Router & YHC for a total of 23 to embark on a twist of a workout this morning. It’s been a minute since we’ve had Router post with us but consistent with our memory, he was prepared to bring it. After we were disclaimed and he shared with us his plan to put us through some conditioning (as part of the strength & conditioning workout), we took off for a warm-up mosey, ultimately leading us to the top of “the hill” on the back side of the park. This time however, we’d be going the other direction.
So here’s the deal, we’re running segments, of which there are 3. Segment 1, you’re running to your “pukey” limit. You know what that is; the place you get to where you’re about to splash. Yeah, get in that zone. Run it to the stop sign just past the Firehouse and do a recovery run back to the start. Then pukey-limit run to the stop sign and run to what amounts to the trail entrance just past the COT parking lot and recovery run the remaining trek back to the start. Now, pukey run that whole thing. Oh no, then….do a few more of those segments again but honestly, this is where the wheels started to come off as the PAX spread out and nobody was exactly sure what to do next . So, some ran more, some did some mary and some picked up the six. Yup, just as planned.
Then…oh dear Lord, this is where we take it to the next phase and you think your heart is going to pop out of your eye socket. Router takes us to the bottom of the hill, yes that hill. He explains his plan for 30/60/90. Fortunately, we never made it to 90 but nevertheless, when he says GO, we’re to take off up the hill, running for 30 seconds until he says stop. Yeah, that was tough but he made us go back down the hill to do the 60. Run up the hill and keep running for 60 seconds. Now that was B-RUTAL. Fortunately it was now 0701 and it was time to hand off to Maximus for the strength portion of the strength & conditioning.

With Max on Q, we would slow mosey (oh, thank you) back to the parking lot, pull a Switzer at one end and drop to a plank (ala Honey Badger). Next up, a nod to a USMC Serviceman named Cpl Albert (Bert) Gettings, 27, of New Castle, PA. Yup, we’re doing a modified BERT. If you’ve never done the real Bert, go give it a run and recap it to me afterward. Cpl. Albert Gettings was killed in action Jan 5, 2009 while conducting counter-sniper operations in Fallujah, Iraq. He was serving as a team leader with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, NC.

HERE WE GO!!!
25 Burpees
50m Bear Crawl to the other end of the parking lot
50 Hand-Release Merkins
50m Bear Crawl
80 Walking lunges
Bear Crawl back
50 Squats
50m Bear Crawl
80 Carolina Dry Docks
50m Bear Crawl
Mary til the six is in

In closing, please do yourself a favor, push yourself to do something more challenging than what you thought you were capable of. Not just in the 1st F although that is a great start, but in the 2nd & 3rd, too. This world needs it now and frankly, you’ve been built and called for this. Do not be a wallflower.

Announcements: Gears starting a new hard-hitting AO this Monday, 6/1. Classroom Ready partnership oppty coming soon from Bonsai, Q-Source is for everyone, AO’s opening back up week of 6/8, big ‘ol convergence 7/11 and several other announcements.

Prayer Request: PAX going through job/life transitions. Our country always but especially now with community tensions. Health of family/friends.

SYITG
Router & Maximus

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20 at The Snake Pit

OMG Becky, am I at the correct AO? That was my thought when I pulled up at 5:11am and saw 15+ dudes waiting in the parking lot. The power of location! The Snake Pit doesn’t get much love way out at CRHS. I was honored to lead 19 others in a kettlebell workout. Here’s what we did:
1 Curl (each side)
1 Tricep Extension
1 Chest Press
1 Big Boy w/ Press
1 Goblet Squat
1 KB Side Bend
1 Bentover Row (each side)
1 KB Swing

Longshanks came running through with a super bright headlamp.

Round 2 was the same set with an added rep, so 2 of each. 3 of each in Round 3. 4 of each in Round 4. 5 of each in Round 5….we did 12 Rounds and got swole! It wasn’t too shabby the first few rounds but after round 5 the groaning and complaining started. Music to a Q’s ears! After 12 Rounds we circled up for 20 Flutters in cadence and 10 Box Cutters in cadence. 6 o’clock happened.

We heard about Park and School AO’s opening soon.
We heard about an upcoming Convergence.
We prayed for Tinsel’s son.
We prayed for the end of the school year.
We praised Sky Q for life and the ability to workout in His presence.

Site Q’s…please schedule me.

The Thang

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Back 9- Fore

13 was the count for minnow pond.
0514 Pledge and disclaimer
0515 take off to the FM Golf Club. Circle up for instructions.
Back 9 @ tee boxes 10 merkins, 10 squats run cart path to green 10 burpees.
Make way around the back 9. (Dark Helmet complained a lot. reminded him of his and Essos race just a few weeks earlier)
( I love making Dark Helmet complain along with the rest of the PAX) about the 4th hole we made a small adjustment to the burpees 5 at the green. keep merkins and squats the same. once finished give good push to make it back to Veterans Park by 6.
It was a lot of fun. We got better.
Announcements- Fort convergence planned for 11 July location pending. look for coms on opening all sites early June.
prayers- Bandcamps family friends and the loss of a child, JWOWW and the loss of high school friend to Covid. Tinsels son on surgery for elbow injury.
Praise for being able to get out and workout.
Backdraft out.

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