Tag: Maximus

Getting Mobyfied at Alcatraz

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Maximus has given me free reign over this backblast as he handed me his actual weinke after the workout.  Unfortunately, creativity has subsided after a couple days. I really suck at expedient backblasts (no excuse).

I had legs. Maximus had arms and I believe the PAX might have preferred to have that reversed.

Arrived early, placed some cones on the double ballfield, tossed out a football and dragged out the worm. There was no weinke taped to the arm on this day. 8 PAX arrived w/ Geronimo and Dark Helmet arriving just on time after having stopped to help a lady with car issues. I do not have all the details as I missed that early mumblechatter getting us going.

Actually read the whole workout disclaimer from my phone to make sure I got it complete. Also, be sure to check out the ‘full’ disclaimer on the F3 website which is much more detailed and covers additional items.

To the field for some warmup and starting tossing around the football, each PAX threw and we moseyed to it followed by an exercise. Tosses varied in length but everyone got a turn.  Before we left the field, I told the PAX that I believe in 2 things at Alcatraz. 1) making use of the hill and 2) making use of the field…basically getting down and dirty in the morning dew. We were going to do both, so before leaving for the hill, we did some:

Panther Pound Burpees – Some have done this with me on Q on before but maybe no one from this group. This exercise is in the exicon as I got it approved around the time when the Panthers were in the Super Bowl. It is essentially a football cornerbacks drill combined with a burpee.  Q leads, start fast pumping the feet up and down. Q decides how long and yells drop (right or left), hit the ground do a pushup, roll right or left, get up to a jump hands over head. Repeat as necessary until very dirty. As I was doing them, too, I could not take notice to proper form, but I would have liked to see the feet of the PAX pumping a little faster….

To the hill. The downhill was a mosey each time. I think we did 3, 4? laps. On the uphills, we did various lunges, broad jumps, a sprint, etc and full 1/2 lap backwards.

Back to the field to incorporate some partner work lunge walking and carrying the worm, a 120# somewhat awkward coupon with handles on the end and in the middle.  While partners carried, the rest of the PAX did core work and sprinted to the carriers when they got done. Repeat to give everyone a chance with the worm. Somewhere in my 30 minutes we did a bunch of various calf raises, although I did miss Tesh’s squat calf raises.

We did one last minute of Panther Pound Burpees and Maximus took over.

Maximus’s truck bed popped open to a whole lot of cinder blocks, one with each of our name on it (not literally) along with a very large boombox. Ok, the box was not much bigger than my hand. But it did play what could be considered a very challenging workout song Moby’s “Flower” which mentions Sally a lot.

I did not know this song but apparently it is used by a lot of people for exercising, similarly to “Thunderstruck.”

We did bicep curls with our blocks, curling on every “up” in the song, holding, then down on every “down”, but not letting it touch your body.  The first time around was the long version, or so it seemed. A little bit nasty if you ask me.

Followed by: Slow flutters block press, American Hammer-position leg extensions.

Back to the song for Shoulder Presses, the short version, I think…Then

  • 10 burpees, 20 CDD, 30 Mtn Climbers followed by cinder block push of about 25 yards.
  • 10 bomb jacks, 20 LBC, 30 dying cockroaches (by this point, that was almost literally), and a block push back to the starting point.

Fortunately, time was done because what was left on Maximus’s weinke would not have allowed our arms to hold a steering wheel and drive home.

With suicides of recent celebrities, we talked about suicide and addressing it with our kids if they are old enough, and to be aware of family and friends who may be experiencing difficulties in their life. Apologies for not recalling more of our COT discussions. CSpan’s party weekend was in effect.

It was another great Saturday morning at Alcatraz. 6 hit coffeeteria at DD after.

Aye. Bolt

 

 

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Kicking Off ’18 Nantan Summer Tour at Block Party

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On an unseasonably cool June morning, 41 #HIMs met to get an attitude adjustment and start the day out right.

Mosey to the big parking lot on 160.

WARMUP:

  • 20 4-count side straddle hops
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 10 4-count Windmills
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 20 Low slow squats
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 15 4-count Merkens
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 20 Mountain climbers
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs
  • Five Burpees OYO

The THANG

Four corners in the big parking lot. Count off into groups of 4s and rotate through the stations.

  • Corner 1: Mosey to the bottom of the hill (160) and sprint back to the top, rinse and repeat. LBCs when done.
  • Corner 2: 30 Hand release Merkens. LBCs when done.
  • Corner 3:  40 Monkey Humpers. LBCs when done.
  • Corner 4: 20 Burpees. LBCs when done.
  • Rinse & Repeat

Mosey to the wall for 20 4-count wall mountain climbers.

Mosey back to COT….NOT DONE YET!

Captain Thors in cadence to 8 x 32.

COT

1 Corinthians 9:24 reads “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” Give everything you do your best effort. Sometimes, however, this requires an attitude adjustment. Be grateful for how God has blessed you and honor HIM by giving it your all. After all, the only difference between a chAmp and a chUmp is YOU!

Announcements: Hog & Coyote, Nantan Summer Tour, #218in18, Read your newsletter

Thanks for the opportunity, Shady!

– Ginsu

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The Varsity: Kielbasa and Cake….sweet and salty mix!

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9 Pax and YHC came ready to get after it at The Varsity.

Thanks to Kielbasa for the Q and opportunity to lead. Never pass on opportunity to lead as it provides a so many life skill and is so worth they little bit of effort for wealth of payoff.

High Intensity Interval Training is what Varsity is all about. I tried to keep the heart rate up during our 45 mins and we got a little sweat going as well.

The Thang:

Little warm up mosy

Some shuffles, karaoke, lunges, high knees, butt kickers couple of squats and moracan night clubs and away we went

1st Set

  • Pull ups = 30 seconds
  • Side Straddle Hops = 60 Seconds
  • Burpees = 90 seconds
  • 1min rest
  • repeat 4 times
  • Sprint up hill to 4th tree
  • Squatr jumps = 10
  • Lunges = 20 1st round each leg, then 15, 12, 10
  • Calf Raises = 30
  • 1min rest
  • repeat 4 times

Fun had by all!

Impact is theme of the next 2 months. Ready newsletter for 60 day challenge!

Cake Boss out!

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‘Watch’ Your Trajectory

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The preview was we will do lots of dumb things together. YHC hopes the advance billing lived up to the hype! We had a good discussion on trajectory and how many missteps does it take to get you off course. Surround yourself my PAX that will keep any missteps in check…plug for Whetstone. We need an accountability partner. Seeing that I have lost a few friends over the years to addiction, as recently as this week, take a look around and see how you can make an impact on others trajectory.

With that, we did a nice warm up that got us sweaty in an already humid environment quickly.

Mosey around the bus loop twice with dynamic stretching.

Circle up.

SSH
LS Merkins
LSS
Peter Parker
Parker Peter
CDDs
Some downward and upward dogs and some other goodness.

Now that was behind us we were ready for the main course.

The bus loop has three light poles about 30 yerds apart.

Rd 1 – 10 burpees, bear crawl to the light, 15 jump squats, crab walk, 20 merkins
Rd 2 – 10 burpees, lunge walk, 15 jumping lunges per leg, bear crawl, 20 CDDs
Rd 3 – 10 burpees, sumo walk, 15 LSS, bunny hop, 20 dips
Rd 4 – 10 burpees, single r leg hop, 15 calf raises, single l leg hop, 20 arm circles

Mosey to front of SFMS

Rd 1 clock merkins on the curb at 12, 3, 6, and 9 10 merkins each position
4 corner box jumps going clockwise x 15
4 corner box jumps going counter clockwise x 15

Rd 2 clock merkins on the curb at 12, 3, 6, and 9 10 merkins each position
15 single r leg hops over the line
15 single l leg hops over the line

Mosey to the backside of SFMS
Wall sits while each pax counted to 10
15 wall tar jai

Indian run all the way back to COT.

5 MOM with Pax pick your poison.

COT.

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Truck full of concrete at Colosseum

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If you’ve posted at the Colosseum, you know Jekyll guarantees it’ll be worth your time. So for all the future Q’s of this AO, the nation looks forward to you keeping the streak alive. Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to post with our brothers in Huntersville/Lake Norman and got absolutely smoked on a Wednesday morning as we spent much of the 45mins pushing cinder blocks around while bear-crawling the parking lot. It was way too painful to keep to myself. After all, we’re supposed to give it away, right?

With a little pre-hype on the machine yesterday, 21 brave souls joined me at The Colosseum and after a donation from Bonsai, I was able to ensure we had enough coupons. Little did I know that you can’t give some of these guys nice things because their way out of doing the workout is to break my blocks.

Once all were accounted for, we moseyed to the bus parking lot for an abbreviated wind mill and stretch session. This was purely at Santini’s request but wasn’t frowned upon by anyone. After all, when you get a request from the guy that EH’d you into F3, do you really have a choice? After that 2mins, we took off for the back entrance road which just so happened to be the launch point of Jekyll’s horribles last week. Some assurance was necessary as people got a little anxious while we stood there. I guess the memory was still fresh from the previous week.

At each light post, 10 SSH and 10 Freddy Mercury’s. Once you hit every light post, bring it back to the start where you get your form called out by none other than CSPAN…hmmm, seems ironic!! We love him anyways.

Now that we got that out of the way, mosey back to my truck where we begin the next chapter. Like a jewelry dealer opening their trench coat to show his watches, I opened the tail gate to reveal 25 cinder blocks. Oh, it’s on now. Grab a block and line up in a straight line with the basketball hoop. I also learned that for those speedy folks out there (that’s you, Tesh), I need to be very specific with my instructions.

Round 1:

10 Burpees

20 Carolina Dry Docks

30 Squats holding the block

Bear Crawl pushing the cinder block to the line at the other basketball hoop.

Round 2:

10 Bomb Jacks

20 Flutter Kicks with a Press

30 Bicep Curls

Bear Crawl pushing the block back to the start

Round 3:

10 Diamond Merkins

20: Deadlifts

30: LBC’s (with or without the block but seriously, is there really an option?)

Bear Crawl pushing the block to the other hoop.

Round 4:

10 Toe Touches (with or without the block)

20 Lunges (20 each leg)

30 Shoulder Press

Bear Crawl pushing it the block back to the start

Circle Up:

Staggered Merkins (6ea side)

Flutter Kicks w/ the press again

Ended with more bicep curls

As a Q, it is great to hear all the chatter but to then have that followed by the moaning and then…silence as the PAX are trying to stay focused, that’s affirmation. Great job to the guys and special T-claps to the next level’ers (Dark Helmet, Trucker and Bonsai) for throwing the ruck on during this. The original workout had a ruck or weight vest involved so I respect you for going that rout. I will join you with the ruck next time. The bear crawls pushing that block while wearing a ruck…that’s memorable.

Prayers:

Upcoming graduations, appreciation to the PAX for checking in on us and holding us accountable, Badger.

Jekyll…I thank you.

Until next time.

Maximus

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Gambling in the Abyss

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What happens when you’re granted the honor of Qing at an AO you’ve not been to much and therefore, not to familiar with? Why, you scout it on Sunday with your kids after Church of course. Completely normal, right? For this group, you’re expected to “bring it” so you’d better know the turf. For those Ft. Mill’ers who’ve not frequented The Abyss, put it on your short-term bucket list. I didn’t explore much of it due to our card playing but this place is a gem.

Once the 16 of us rolled in on this beautiful Wednesday morning, I quickly noticed the footwear NASA was sporting and got a little concerned…for him. He let me know that he and a few other PAX would be breaking off to do a busted-foot-friendly-workout so I felt a little better about what we were getting into. The people-pleasing side of me wanted to make sure I had a little something for everyone so after typical butchered disclaimer, we took off for the basketball courts for our warm up:

Windmills

Side Straddle Hops of course

Super mans

Hand-Release Merkins

Jump Squats

Mosey back to the main lot and I had to grab the deck of cards I slipped under the cone. As many but not all were familiar with, each suit is a different exercise and the number on the card represents how many reps. Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13 and the Ace = 14 (not 1).

Hearts = Wide Arm Merkins

Clubs = Carolina Dry Docks

Diamonds = Jumping Lunges

Spades = BURPEES (Yup, we did that)

After we recognized the deck must have been front-loaded with Wide-Arm Merkins and Jumping Lunges, it wasn’t long until we started getting smoked and a few 10-counts were necessary. In the end, we completed it all which totaled 104 of each, that’s right, 104 Burpees.

There was still a little left in the tank and on the clock so we had to round it out with Dying Cockroaches, descending 10ct leg lifts and the finisher…Lt. Dan’s. The latter was a lesson I would remember the rest of the week.

Bones, I appreciate the opportunity and I look forward to the next time.

Leave no man behind but leave no man where you found him.

Maximus

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Beyond – how selfish are you

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The message for Beyond was around being selfish

 

Humans we are naturally selfish people.  As a child you grow up thinking everything should be centered around

you.  Even as I moved into adulthood I still didn’t completely understand what it meant to put others first. 

Because I never had anyone who was dependent upon me.  When I got married I was quickly called out that it is now “we”

and not “I” which was initially hard for me to understand at first.  Then several years later reality smacked me in the face

when we had our first child.  Now there was someone in my life that was 100% reliant upon me.  I quickly had to figure

out as all parents do how to adjust and make things happen.

 

In my life I am the most selfish with my time.  I don’t like to spend “my” time on things that “I” feel are not as important

as other things. 

 

There are 24 hours in a day

1440 minutes

 

Average person sleeps 7 hours

                       works 9 hours

                       spends 2 hours in a car

 

This leaves 8 hours for everything else (Wife, kids, Quite time, F3, Whetstone, etc)

 

How do you manage your time?  Is is the smartest way?

 

As I was preparing for this Q I kept going back to how do I manage my time and how I think I should be.  I will be

the first to say I am nowhere near the model, but I desire to be able to say that I will one day get there.

 

Time Priority:

1. God

2. Wife

3. Family

4. Friends

 

One of the most important things that I hope the Pax take from the workout is Kids spell LOVE – TIME.  The more time you

spend with them the more love they feel.  Think about that next time when one of your kids ask you to do something and you

would rather be doing something else.  They won’t always be around so enjoy the time you have with them now.

 

 

 

 

Warmup:

SSH 20 IC

Hand release merkins 10 IC

LBC 20 IC

–With being a beyond workout figured since it just rained we needed to embrace the suck and get on the ground

 

 

 

The thang:

 

Partner up

P1 – runs to end of parking lot and back

P2 – works on burpee / sandbag thruster (1 burpee / 1 thruster, 2 burpees, 2 thrusters, etc until 10)

 

Each partner does their own until they reach 10 of each

 

Next

P1 – runs to end of parking lot

P2 – pick up sandbag on shoulder and toss backward until P1 returns

 

rinse and repeat x 3

 

Exercises done holding either ruck, sandbag or cinderblock:

Squats 20 IC

Squat pulses 10 IC

Flutters 20 IC

 Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

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WHETSTONE…Relaunches at THE FORT

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Several weeks ago, it was announced that our region, THE FORT, would be closing all Saturday AO’s and holding a convergence at FMHS to get the PAX together as we thank Rebel for his leadership of Whetstone and relaunch it under Repeat and World Wide Leader (WWL). I was excited to hear we’d be getting many of the region together but I wasn’t expecting what came next. It was a text asking if I’d Q the workout.

Q, like part of it, half of it or …? The response was, THE WHOLE THING. I love to Q every chance I get but to do so on a day like this, well, I better make sure it includes a little something for everyone. Or, almost everyone.

————————————————————————————————————–

And this is where I let life get the better of me. I try to follow the 48hr rule on posting a BACKBLAST, especially when they’re significant but I let life and travel get in the way. It is now Saturday, one week later, and I’m just finishing this BB. Life can get challenging, it can get stressful, it can get you riding the highs or down in the lows. And this past week, our family has experienced some of each. Maybe this was the week where I really came to realize how valuable having a Whetstone partner can be. Someone that I can share the highs with and someone to help get me out of the lows; or to keep me honest when it’s my own doing that has me on the outside looking in on the joys of life.

That said, I’ll take you back to last Saturday, April 21 where we had a a few pre-ruckers and a total of 58 PAX converge to re-kick off this critical program.

We got ourselves into an odd-shaped kidney-like shape for the disclaimer, the announcement of why we were there this beautiful morning and to acknowledge our 2 FNG’s in the PAX. We counted off in 4’s then took off toward the big parking lot for a warm up jog in 4 lines. This jog included some karaoke’s and 4 lines doing an indian run which was way harder than it appeared on paper.

In these last 2 years, Whetstone has brought together some extremely HIM. One of those men has gone through a tough 18mos and he was gracious enough to share some of his story to include the impact Whetstone had on his life as we circled up to hear his words. I know he wouldn’t endorse this comment but anytime Mr. Clean wants to share experience or wisdom, the PAX listens. And listen we did.

After backing the group back out to a circle-like shape, I was giddy to honor Santini in the only way I knew how…with a deck of cards. However, on this day we utilized 1/2 the deck and considered it our warm up:

Hearts = Side Straddle Hops

Diamonds = Carolina Dry Docks

Spades = Squats

Clubs = Merkins

Then a little action from the Burp-Merk: Standing, we then dropped to a plank, did 5 merkins then jumped up. That equals 1 and we did 5 total.

This was when we got to listen to our very own Nantaan, Cake Boss, as he shared the impact Whetstone has had on him. Yet again, another powerful testimony.

Then off to do 4 corners in the lot with:

Corner 1 = Dancing Crabs x 15ea and Dips x 20

Corner 2 = Dying Cockroach x 15ea and Flutters x 20ea

Corner 3 = Burpees x 10 and Jump Squats x 10

Corner 4 = American Hammers x 25 and Freddie Mercury x 20ea

Mosey over to the wall for B2W while doing 5 “push ups” followed by 15 calf raises. We did this 3 times.

To close out our testimonies, my man Chicken Hawk laid it down for us. He shared the impact Whetstone has had on him, his marriage, his family…his life. Life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. Well said brother.

6ct Burpee which I needed a little help from the Helmet of Darkness to remind me the steps. Remember the line, “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it?” Yeah, me too but I obviously didn’t follow that too closely here.

This is where the cat-herding became evident. The PAX exhibited patience with me as we attempted a modified DORA series consisting of:

50 Flying Squirrels, 50 Diamond Merkins and 50+ Flutters

We then took off for the main entrance to the football stadium and lined up in 4 lines facing down the hill. Once everyone readjusted, it was 15 American Hammers, 15 Flutters and 15 Hello Dollies. This was done several more times.

Well, that put a bow on the workout portion of this convergence and after the COT, FNG naming of RBG and Whiskers, we then handed it off to World Wide Leader and Repeat to lead the Whetstone discussion.

Announcements: The relaunch of Whetstone. Thanks to Rebel for getting this off the ground 2 years ago and to Repeat / World Wide Leader for taking the reigns.

Prayer Requests: Badger. Camp Care 5K. Jennings Palmer’s transplant. Olive’s 8K in memory of Sweet Tooth. Elmer.

Honored and appreciative of your patience.

Maximus

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