Tag: Mr T

No Arrival

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40-some pax posted to the region’s Ground Zero at WEP for a smorgasbord of pain, from 6@6 to Millkshake to a tried and true BC beatdown.  A very explicit and thorough Disclaimer was pronounced by Dark Helmet for the benefit of our FNG, and then the pax blasted off.

The Thang

The recitation of the 5 Core Principles quickly failed to meet DOAH’s standard, leading to some burpees.

Mosey around the parking lot with some toy soldiers and knee lifts mixed in, with the pax following onto the bandshell stage.

COP proceeded including more core principles along with some Merkins and DOAH’s proclamation that maybe the FNG’s fitness surpassed that of many of the pax present.  {Yes, he’s good at stirring the pot whether he’s poking at the Q or Qing himself.}

More mosey and more warm up exercises until the pax reach the far side of the WEP.

Enter stage left — the BAOPS boys via Clown Car — Trucker, Smuggler, Change Order & Longshanks, who just couldn’t stand the thought  of missing out on the best 1st, 2nd & 3rd F in The Fort on this given Saturday.  {Pro move by whoever made that call!}

Partner up for wheel barrow…to the playground…Yes…to the playground!…where the fun really starts.  {Fishsticks promptly cruised 85% of the way there to prove to his FNG that no matter what DOAH says, the FNG’s fitness had room for improvement.}

At the playground, each partner does 50 (yes, Five-O!) pull ups.  {Jiffy cranked out 30 in rapid fire.}

Some core work followed including LBCs and Rosalitas among others.

Handoff to Double D

Run to the bottom of the hill

Jacob’s Ladder with Donkey Kicks at the bottom and Sumo Squats at the top.  Traverse to the top via Bear Crawl and run to the bottom.

Mosey back to the parking lot with some Mary led by Jekyll

Climb the Stairway to Heaven via lunge walks, pausing for Carolina Dry Docks at each lamp post, starting with 5 reps and adding 5 more at each successive post.

Mosey down to the monuments with some Mary led by Longshanks

Circle up for an FNG introduction to Jack Webb by Change Order

Run home for final 2 mins of Mary by Longshanks

COT

NMM

A spirited pax at The Fort on this pleasant late winter morning!   Back to back weeks with a convergence at The Fort — thanks to the Alcatraz boys for adding their zeal to the day!

Maximus delivered the tailgate coffeeteria in the parking lot afterward and our FNG (EHed by Fishsticks) hung around long enough to learn the backstory of his name (Roy Kent) and to fill his rolodex with roofing customer prospects.

Welcome to Roy Kent!  Barry Manilow was quite vocal about the quality of the name and the importance of RK living up to it.  Well, if he doesn’t meet the mark, we can always default to what RK thought we named him — Rockette!

It was great to have Car Bomb among the pax today, fresh off his return trip from New Zealand, prior to his resettlement in another adventure.

The theme for the day was geared around the notion of life being an endless series of mountain climbs, peak after peak, with no arrival to the top in sight — ever.  Depressing, huh?  No, not for the HIMs of F3 and The Fort.  Give us the hard stuff.  We’re playing the long game and we know you can’t play it alone.  So keep posting, stay engaged with your brothers.  Together we’ll keep accelerating.

It was a treat to Q with DOAH for the first time.  We all look at him as just another member of The Fort, which of course he is.  At the same time, he also invests a huge amount of his life leading the 43 feet for the Nation.  Not only is it not easy being Frank {imagine how hard it must be for Traci his wife}, it’s also lonely at the top of any organization {how about leading one with 50,000 type A men?}, and it’s incredibly challenging to serve as the successor to any founder {would you want to try one Dredd’s shoes}.  Despite the small jabs, I say this with all seriousness — DOAH has taken on an extremely difficult challenge, one that he executes well with tremendous energy and virtue and that we all benefit from.  We’re fortunate that he calls The Fort “home” and that we get to take his crap on a regular cadence.  Thank you, DOAH!

Thanks to Grinder for the opportunity!  Always an honor to lead the men of this brotherhood!

SYITG

 

 

 

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4

The Pantheon Claw

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It was another fine morning at the Pantheon. 70F and 90% humidity. Just the kind of morning that makes the fart sack look even better than normal.  But 12 HIM valiantly defeated the FS this morning in order to gather in the gloom.  2 of them launched a ruck about 5 minutes before the official start time, and YHC will dedicate very little more time to their cause.  They can write up their own backblast if they want to advertise just how awesome their morning was.

WARM UP

We started with a brief disclaimer.  Then ran clockwise around the school to the south lot for 20 SSH, 10 windmills, and 20 Moroccan Night Club.

That dora

Another mosey to the BB court for a quick bit of Dora.  The PAX paired up and shared. 100 pushups, 200 squats, and 300 LBC.  The runner would trot on down to the other side of the court, perform 2 burpees, then run back to tag their partner.

t stance walking

When that was done YHC showed the T Stance Walk to the PAX, which was to be performed the 25′ or so from the end line to the end of that free throw circle thingy.  I will describe below.  However, during my extremely eloquent demo and explanation, a TWSS was released in response to “It should feel weird, but won’t be too hard”.  As we all know, the only prescription for a TWSS is 5 burpees…  I thought it was Tardy who was responsible for our added betterment, but we found out that Lutefisk was the sponsor of our delight.

Open T Stance Walk:

  1. Start with R Foot at a 45º angle to the right
  2. Step L foot so that it is in line with the R toes, L foot is at a 90º angle to the left
  3. Dip down until knee is on the ground, 90% weight on L foot
  4. At this point your R knee should brush your left ankle, and your R ankle off the ground
  5. Stand up and repeat, zig zagging just a bit as you follow a straight path

On the way back, Closed T stance walk.  This time instead of pointing the feet 45º out/away, point them 45º in/across the body

This was done twice. There was some mumblecomplainchatter.

When finished we moseyed over to the amphitheater for the main event.

THE CLAW

The map produced of this particular exercise:

PAX started from the bottom (the thumb) and ran along each of the concrete paths.  Stopping at the end of each to perform a quick set before going to the next finger.  When returning to the thumb, they did LBCs.

Round 1
5 merkins
5 squats
5 monkey humpers
bear crawl there and back for the final finger
40 LBCs at the thumb

Round 2
10 merkins
10 squats
10 monkey humpers
bear crawl there and back for the final finger
60 LBCs at the thumb

There was JUST enough time to do one more round!

Round 3
15 merkins
15 squats
15 monkey humpers
bear crawl there and back for the final finger
And immediately mosey back to COT!

COT

Back at COT YHC stopped to get his phone for name-o-rama.  And to take a breath…  There were some announcements, praises and prayers.  A few minutes after disbanding, the ruckers showed up and more fist bumps were administered.

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4

Fields of Gory at The Ranch – And The Importance of Sharing Your Burdens

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Jiffy gave me a holler this weekend to Q here. I was in the lower spectrum of the Flux lately and Q-ing a mostly black diamond AO was just what I needed to get out of it. Thank you Jiffy for the opportunity!!

As I rolled in a little after 5, I saw Straight Up getting in a prerun. That’s always nice to see and also be a part of. Get after it my man!!

Quite a few PAX showed up. I was surprised since I was “competing” with the launch of Shady’s new Minnow Pond HIgh-Intensity-Run AO. Regardless of numbers, the fact that PAX show up to get better is always good to see. Word the night before was that there would be an FNG. Sure enough, the FNG held their word and posted. Awesome!! We briefly explained what F3 is, then went through the 5 core principles of F3 and also a full disclaimer. Then off we went.

Yogging pace mosey around the front parking lot of the school for a quick warm up to get the muscles warm and blood flowing. Some great conversations along the way. Then back near where we started for the COP:

20 or so of the following:
* Sidestraddle hops (SSH)
* Windmills (WM)
* Imperial Walker (IW)
* Hillbilly walker (HW)
* Moroccan night clubs (MNC)

Then off to the field out front for the main event. Once we were staged I shared some intro words of my message (see below), then we got into it.

Fields of Gory:

Two LED candles placed at either end of the field for marking and romantic ambiance, roughly 100yds apart. No roses or chocolates though, sorry. PAX lined up along one end. Start at one end with an exercise, do a transition to the other side, do another exercise, another transition back, etc. A total of 4 rounds were done, so we transitioned 400 yds total. Here’s what we did:

Round / Exercise / Transition:

  1. 75 merkins then Lt Dan (100 yds) to next
  2. 100 hillbilly squat* then bear crawl (100 yds) to next (which was where we started)
  3. 125 flutters (2 ct) then broad jump (100 yds) to next
  4. 150 elbow plank peter parkers (SC) then sprint to start/finish area
  • Hillbilly Squat = Do a sumo squat, then after you come up you lift one knee up and side crunch the same side elbow down to where they both almost or lightly touch. Then place foot back down and straighten up from the side crunch. That’s one rep. Repeat, alternating L-R sides as you go.

There was a lot of good mublechatter the whole time, and the FNG had plenty of help understanding the terms as well as plenty of encouragement and motivation to complete the work at hand. You know, because that’s how we F3 HIMs roll!! That’s the way to get FNGs to come back.  Everyone did GREAT!!

We still had some time, so we circled up on the field for a people’s choice Ablab / Mary

  • Jiffy – Russian twists
  • Mr T – Boxcutter
  • Mainframe – ?? Something that made Mr T really rip a few good, loud, long ones that made us all laugh good. That’s all I can remember from his turn. He and Cable Guy need to get together.
  • Harry Carry – Freddy mercury

After that we were done and toasted. On to COT.

FNG Naming / Announcements / P&P

  •  FNG was EH’d by Straight Up. They work together and have done some OCR events together. Got ‘Scooter’ because he loves to bike ride and motorcycle ride.
  • Read your newsletter – Journey group starting up, Q Source convergence, Invergence in September, Ragnar, etc
  • Prayers for Jiffy’s mom who was very recently diagnosed with lymphoma.
  • Prayers for my M. See below.

It was a great morning! The FNG really hung in there well. Great mumblechatter. A lot of hard work put in. It was a much needed blast!

NMM – Sharing Your Burdens

The past year or so I have not really been talking much at my Qs. Just setting the work expectations and getting things done. If I did talk it was brief, not much expansion, much of a message for others to marinate on and get better from, or input from the PAX at all. Even at my Q at The Fire Ant two days prior to this I was pretty quiet. Today was different. I felt I had to. Not expectation from site Q or anything, rather I needed to do it. I needed to share for myself and others.

I briefly mentioned some of what’s below to the PAX during the workout to frame my message, but I am going to expand upon this here. Get something to drink and get comfortable if you want to read on. I ask that you please do.

To be 100% honest, since the completion of the Custom DSM event and Star Course 26 after, I have nearly completely lost all motivation to post. The DSM was May, star course was June. In the past month or so I may have posted a handful of times. I’ve been just burned out in every way. In the few months prior to the DSM I completed a GRT, then 1/2 marathon, full marathon, P200, a GRT-L combo, Pathfinder Advanced training, a Mile-High mountain ruck (thanks Dirty Harry), and have also completed every GORUCK monthly themed challenge. I was posting a minimum 5 days a week as well, with pre-runs or pre-rucks 2-3 times a week mixed in for good measure. My body was getting hammered, so the physical burnout was obvious. But I was also quite mentally and emotionally burned out. Stick a fork in me I’m done burnout. Alot of stressers in my life. There was a lot on my mind, a lot of distractions. Job stresses; worrying about my 86 year old mom; family worries; the highs of completing the physical challenges and subsequent lows of pain, recovery, healing, and slowly getting back in a groove for the next things; my older brother getting divorced and selling his house that we all made a TON of great memories in over the years; worries about my older son who has ADHD and was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of Autism); I had a coworker who recently committed suicide – and nobody at work knew he was suffering; I am OCD so there’s always something around the house that I feel has to be made better.  And there was more. They started overwhelming me mentally and emotionally. Between the physical, emotional, and mental burdens, they felt 100x heavier than my ruck at the DSM Heavy. The Jester was pulling his strings on me. I was feeling I was in downward spiral. I’ve never been diagnosed as depressed, but I started wondering if I was. I was in the low range of The Flux for sure. It’s part of life. It happens.

But the big hitter came recently. My wife of 14 years, Stephanie, had been having headaches off and on over the past few months, like since the beginning of the year. Sometimes debilitating ones where she would have to leave work quite early and go home, crawl in bed, and rest. Some days she’d have them, some days not. Totally random. She has a stressful job but on days she had a rough day at work, she may not have one. No BP issues causing them. No sickness present. Blood work showed no causes. Docs thought it was migraines. Migraine meds did not help. Got an MRI. Later we got the results – docs found something on the right side of her brain, it appeared old,  was small,  and did not appear to be a tumor. We were told to go see a neurologist.  As you could imagine, that caused ALOT of stress between us two as well as our families.

But I kept all of that in. Did not really talk about that much to anyone. I stayed home, did not work out, did not talk to others, kept mostly off social media. Even when others pinged me I kept away from discussing things. I felt nobody really cared about my problems. This is pretty much how I can be, and have been so most of my life.

I felt I was directly headed to a breaking point. I could feel my BP rise – and my home checks of it confirmed it. The pressure cooker was piping hot, packed full and expanding, and about to burst. This was no way to live. I had to snap out of it but had no motivation to muster up the momentum to move forward.

Sometimes the momentum for movement comes from outside yourself. Last week I got invited to a birthday party for a fellow PAX Olaf (the younger one). I of course accepted. That was a lift, a positive impact, initiator event #1 in itself.  As I was getting ready to leave with my family in tow, I got a message from Jiffy. He wanted me to get out and Q at The Ranch. I could’ve made an excuse but I accepted.  That was a lift, initiator event #2. Then I went to the party and had some great 2nd F with the PAX there. Even then, I still did not mentioned some of this to the other PAX that were there – I did not want to be the grey cloud in the party. So I put on that façade of all is well when it really was not. As the party drew to a close (at least for me), another event that initiated my movement happened. Router asked if I wanted to Q at The Fire Ant. I could’ve made an excuse but I accepted. That was a lift, initiator event #3. Finally seeing the PAX at the party, just being around them even if I did not talk much – that was another lift, initiator event #4. I went home feeling MUCH better. Those commitments gave me  purpose and responsibility.  It was quite a lift out of the doldrums for me. I don’t think those PAX know how much that made a difference but they do now. They are VERY MUCH appreciated!

I mentioned some of this to the PAX just before we started the main event. I let them know I was very thankful to be back in the gloom after some time off. That getting back out helped me re-discover how valuable the people in my life are to me. Who are my real positive impactors are in my life. I then challenged the PAX to think about who the impactors are in their life, who they can talk with to share their burdens. You should always be able to talk to your M, the Sky Q is ALWAYS there for you if you let Him in your life, and sometimes your friends in your life are more of a ‘shield lock’ than you may know. You don’t have to be in F3 to be considered one in my opinion.

We cranked out the first two rounds of exercises, then I took a few minutes to discuss more.

I  mentioned how getting back out in the gloom this week and talking, sharing, sweating with others was quite cathartic and a great form of therapy for me. I did not slam everyone with all my burdens, nor have deep mumblechatter discussions about any of them during workouts, but just the act of bringing out my wife’s health issue in the COTs where I posted this week let out a lot of the pressure I had built up.  We PAX are hesitant to bring things out in the COT, no matter how big or small a burden. That’s all I needed to get my boat straightened out from its list to port and get my mind to where I can feel better about things, which I do. I also mentioned that we men are “wired” for the need to fix things we see ‘broken’. So when someone comes to us with an issue, we see it as a “problem” that needs fixing, so we start going into offering solutions. Sometimes that’s not what people need. Sometimes they know the solutions, may not have mentioned them, and know they are hard roads to travel. Sometimes folks just need a set of sympathetic and empathetic ears. Sometimes we men just need to listen, let the conversation flow in the direction the other person takes it, which sometimes will self-lead to solutions that THEY can find, not that WE provide. But most importantly, we need to get our burdens out in the open with others that impact our lives.

Then I challenged the PAX to think about a current burden in their life, big or small. Then I went and asked each one of them to say aloud to the other PAX one or two words that could best describe that burden. We all heard things like “job security”, “family health”, “struggles with my son”, “M’s health”, “job stress”, “financial issues”, “my mom”, “marriage”, and more. So there is proof we all have burdens. It was great to hear, and I thanked them all for their openness, vulnerability, and honesty.

Then we got back after it to complete rounds 3 and 4.

When it was over we discussed the fact that during this workout we 1) thought about who are impactors are, who are shield locks are, who we can talk to. and 2) a burden in your life. In a nutshell we know an issue, we know we have to talk about it (if we have not), and we know who we feel we can talk to about it. So now I challenged the PAX to DO IT. Get it out to someone. Get outside the comfort zone (or relieve the pressure). Talk. I’ve heard and also mentioned to the PAX that sometimes folks are afraid to bring things up in the COT for a slew of potential reasons. That discussing burdens are what Shield Lock relationships are for. Understood, BUT that’s what the COT is for. Sometimes all it takes is getting it out. Sometimes they don’t want deep discussions that morning. If folks approach you later after COT, or sometime after that workout, to further discuss then there it is, your concentrica is forming on its own. But folks will never know unless you air it out.

OR – be the one with the ears to listen to someone. If you know someone who appears to be a pressure cooker…….ask them if they are OK? If they want to talk. Sometimes that’s all it takes to be the impactor to cause positive movement towards a direction of improvement. Pusher did just that with me after COT at Clydesdales the day before my Q at the Ranch, and it was amazing how it made me feel, how it uplifted me. Thank you my friend.

TO THOSE READING WHO WERE NOT THERE:
Scan the list of who was at this workout. How many of you knew someone on the list of attendees have one of these issues mentioned above? Do you know other PAX out there that may have one as well? Can you identify or know of someone who is a “pressure cooker” ? How often do you hear something from them in the COT? Don’t be afraid to ask someone “how are you doing?” after the COT and we are chitter chattering before we leave. Be the impactor. Start the momentum shift. Sometimes that’s what others need.

While we worked out on that field at The Ranch, every one of us gave it our all, let it all out on that field. We were all exhausted when we got to COT – not to mention wet, dirty, and grassy. Yes!! Mission accomplished!!. But as we discussed, sometimes when it comes to our burdens we carry, that’s what we have to do – let them out and leave them out for all, especially those close to us. OR help someone do that. Even if it’s just a mention of them in the COT. That one small step can be the impactor towards positive movement for improvement.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead. God bless.

-NASA

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5

Reminisce about the “Pain”theon

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I haven’t been to one of my old favorite AOs in WAY to long.  We start to get spoiled with so many great  F3 options that it gets easy to stay close to home. I love Funhouse’s idea of Ass Kickin’ April and getting out to 30 different AOs during the month.  I challenge each of you to answer the call and post to a different AO and meet some new PAX once every few weeks!

So when I was asked to Q again at the Pantheon I answered the call.  I started DMing some of the Lake Wylie guys to see if they wanted to come with me and we had several show up this morning too!  I was quite surprised to see 24 PAX there at 5:15…. two were FNGs EH’d by Bones and two were 2.0s that Uber brought with him.  The FNGs were named “Grout” and “Safe Word”, respectively.  ALL of them did great on a challenging workout today.  Sorry to the 6 men that were cut out of the video Namorama.  I recalled 3 from my terrible memory, but 3 have been left off the tags…comment below and I’ll add you.

The Thang

Long disclaimer with new FNGs

Dynamic Warmup Lap

COP with SSHs – Imperial Walkers – CDDs – LS Squats – Merkins – Windmills – Mountain Climbers

I pulled some of my old favorite Weinkes from the Pantheon and put them together.

Evolution #1

Took two lanterns with me and we moseyed to the graded hill on the NE corner. Love that hill area and we did “8s” (because 7s is too hard of math for me it seems..)

Bottom of Hill 1 Bomb Jack

Top 7 Merkins

up and down the hill switching until you hit 7 Bomb jacks and 1 merkin

Evolution #2

I celebrated my one year anniversary back in 2016 at the Pantheon as Q.  I pulled out this terrible idea and we did it again.

Burpee Celebration

I counted in year 1 that I went to 147 workouts that year.  We would do the following.

17 burpees to start

Complete a lap in the parking lot

10 burpees at the start until we completed 13 laps. (10 x 13 = 130) + 17 = 147 burpees

With only 25 minutes of time that was a little ambitious.  Many finished 9 laps.  Some +/- 1 lap…

6am back to COT

Got to name our FNGs, Todd and Jason…both did great today.  Todd went first, said something about having a safe word after a pineapples reference that came from living in Hawaii…that was it for him…

Jason does sales somehow related to tile splash or tiles…Grout stuck!

Announcements – Prayers and time to go!

Thanks Bear Grylls and Fish Sticks for having me come out and share.  I really enjoyed being a part of the Pillars of Pantheon series as well!  Great idea and addition.

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

 

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3

Pantheon of Pain – The “Gam Guillotine” – Redux

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This BB is going to be easy, at least for the workout part for in honor the Q of my first workout – Jekyll – I decided to recreate his Q nearly verbatim. With the help of Gears I was able to find his original back blast. This is yet ANOTHER reason to do these things!! (You’re welcome Funhouse)

Pantheon of Pain- the “Gam Guillotine”

COP:
15-20 of the following
SSH, Squat, Calf Raise, lunge, Apolo Oh- No, Good Mornings, IW, and some other leg stuff.

The Thang:

Mosey to the grass field park near Trailhead park, to the trail that leads up to the dreaded power lines and Heart Attack Hill.

Run the Camelback.  5 squat on southend , 5 jump squat on Northend.  1 round is up and back. 5 rounds total.

Lungewalked 1/2 way, crabwalk 1/2 way.  backward  walk up hill.

Run Camelback: 5 air squat, 5 Mary Catherines, 5 rounds (includes extra hill)

To Memorial Gardens. Bearcrawls and lungewalks around the flag

Pledge of Allegiance

Back for COT.

>> It was just as horrible today as it was 3 years ago, even though I am in much better shape now. As we were progressing through it, myself, Mr T, and Fishsticks started to remember some of the details of that day. It was just as humid, but slightly hotter. Mumblechatter was epic. And it hurt ALOT back then. I remember almost passing out on round 8 of the hill.

Wednesday June 29, 2016

That was the day my F3 journey all began. That’s the day I started transforming into a better person, in many ways, than what I was before.

My good friends Mr T and Qwerty were working on me for a few months to come out to try this thing they called F3. I just got over a major surgery where I was out of action for a while, which really put me in a bad place mentally and physically. They knew I was down and out. They were there for me. It’s awesome they said. You are very active, and it’s a great FREE workout they said. You’ll meet some great people they said, maybe even develop more friendships they said. And it will help you become a better man they said. Seriously? All this I thought was just another phony sales pitch from another Ponzi scheme, another get ripped quick scheme or something. for usually if it sounds too good to be true then usually it is.  I kept making excuse after excuse, but they were consistent in trying to motivate me to try it. Just once they said, and we will stop.

After a lot of constant yet polite and respectful nagging from them, I decided to throw caution to the wind and say WTF. One super hot and muggy summer morning Mr T came by and picked me up in that awful-WTF-early time, and off we went. (btw – I committed to do this a week or so earlier but had trouble waking that dang early). I met up with a bunch of fellas I had no idea who they were, what kind of people they were. Then one of them asked us to do all kinds of weirdly painful exercises. Running up a stupidly steep hill in the dark, no lights. Walking on my hands and feet (??!!). Introducing me to this God-awful exercise called a Good Morning (burpee). After a while I was expecting some frat house hazing to be honest, so I was a little on guard. But I kept going along, for the conversations during this was pretty dang good. Rather I was just listening, I could not talk – no breath to do so. Then we circle around an American flag in a park and say the Pledge of Allegiance. That was flat out inspiring. Next thing I knew it was over and I was on a rush. Then we sealed it with some open conversation and then a prayer. Wow.

The rest is now prologue to a wonderful set of chapters added to the ongoing book of my life that everyone I’ve met through F3 has helped write, the solid foundation that my future can build upon.  Looking back now, boy were they right. I cannot thank Mr T, as well as Qwerty who was assistant EH, ever enough. I can only keep trying to do for them what they have done for me.

Thanks to everyone I’ve met along the way. Your push, pull, inspiration, support, wisdom, accountability, leadership, motivation, and more has been truly transformational for me.

Love y’all. God bless.
-NASA

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4

Tour Around the Ballroom

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Advised we are taking the Tour of the Ballroom AO #2 and AO #3

Warm up

We moseyed to the front of the School and circled up

In cadence

Imperial walkers 20

Wind Mills 15

Moroccan Night clubs 30

Imperial Walkers 20

Moroccan Night Clubs 30

LBC’S 40

 

Mosey to the front Elementary School

Found a hill and Stairs

3 times we bear crawled up the hill and ran down the steps

3 times we ran up the steps and crawl bear down

The significance some times it feels like we are doing everything we can to get ahead in life even crawling forward then things get better and it easy to move forward in life like going down the steps.

Some times we move forward with ease like climbing the steps then we hit a bump in the road and we find ourselves going 3-4-5 steps backwards hence the crawl bear down the hill.

 

YHC discussed April Theme – Be Still

This day and age it a go-go life style we do not take time to just be still and enjoy the small things in life the woods around us, the breeze, the rain or just spending time with God.

 

We moved across from the hill to driveway and to the grassy area

Done in cadence

Plank shoulder taps 15 count

Plank Jack’s 15 count

Mahktar N’ Diayes, 10 count

Plank 20 count

We did find out cars come flying through the parking lot so make sure you are always aware of your surroundings.

 

Moseyed to the back of the school where the basketball court is.

Done in cadence

Lt. Get ups 10

Squats 30

Calf Raises 20 regular, then toes out and finally toes in

Monkey Humpers 25

 

Mosey to the side of the middle school

Imperial walker

 

Mosey to the middle school football field under the covered shelter

 

Done in cadence

Merkins 20

Carolina dry Docks 15

Had Release Merkins 15

 

Mosey to the side parking lot next to the football field

Done in cadence

Lbc 50

Dying coach 20

Captain thor’s 10

big boy sit-ups 15

had to cut it short due to the time. Mosey to COT

 

Great Push from the PAX. As always I appreciate the opportunity.

 

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1

Stairway to Heaven.

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Drove the site to make sure I located all the stair that I saw on google earth. We are fortunate to have several churches near the AO. There are 5 set of steps.

Showed up to find at least 7 Pax waiting in the parking lot. Soon as 5:15 hit gave disclaimer and we started to mosey to high Knees, to regular, to butt kickers, to regular. Circle up to warm up with
Imperial Walkers, Moroccan nightclubs, slow Moroccan Nightclubs, Windmills slow and fast.

Mosey near First Baptist to utilize that beautiful stair case leading to there

All exercise are done in cadence
Squats
Run to steps bear crawl up steps and crawl bear down
Over head claps
Run to steps bear crawl up steps and crawl bear down
LBC’s
Run to steps bear crawl up steps and crawl bear down

Mosey to another set of steps

Lunges
Run up one side of the steps and back down
Plank step up on curb
Run up one side of the steps and back down
Big boy sit ups
Run up one side of the steps and back down

Took a min to rest and talk about Growth. We are constantly growing in our spiritual life, home life, work life

Run to Fort Mill church of GOD

Calf raises
Cross the street to lunge walk the steps up and reverse lunge walk down
Plank shoulder taps
Cross the street to lunge walk the steps up and reverse lunge walk down
Freddy mercury’s
Cross the street to lunge walk the steps up and reverse lunge walk down

We had to watch the last rail it was not attached well

Same parking lot

Foot taps on the curb
Run up another set of steps and back down.
Carolina dry docks
Run up another set of steps and back down.
American Hammers
Run up another set of steps and back down.

Took a min to rest and ask about Growth in the lives, where they need growth.

As we ran up and down the steps I noticed some nice new picnic tables that where perfect for dips so we did a round of dips

With time still looking good and thanks to a Barry Manilow- Anchor man Q that I attend at this AO in the past, we did a snake run up and down steps on Fort Mill church of GOD.  10 times.

Time to mosey back to COT up another set of steps with a pit stop at First Baptist as asked              Barry Manilow to lead us in makhtar n’diayes.

Circled up for announcement and prayers.
What a great way to start your morning with 20 other Pax. Always grateful to be able to lead.

 

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1st Quarter Check-in at Footloose – Are You Accelerating or Going Backwards?

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When a glorious morning of 51 degrees dawned on The Fort, I figured that there may be a decent size crowd at Footloose. The Pax did not disappoint. Put out some hype in the Twitterverse along with my man, Beacon, and, lo & behold -19 pax showed up hungry for some action!

Disclaimer in full was recited (although I forgot to ask if there were any new guys) and off we went.

Dynamic warm-up-we Butt-kicked and High Kneed our way to the back of FM 1st Baptist.

COP (all IC):

  • Seal Jacks
  • SSH
  • HILLBILLY WALKER
  • Merkins
  • Plank Stretch – Right Arm High
  • Windmills
  • Crab Cakes – real Crowd Pleaser, drew lots of moans
  • MOROCCAN NIGHTCLUBS

MOSEY down the stairs & across to the Family Life Center. Time for:

1st QUARTER CHECK-UP- How is your word of the year going? Family Goals? Personal goals? I shared that my word for 2019 is Resiliency. And my resiliency has been tested many times in this 1st Quarter. Be it personal health struggles, family health struggles, career challenges and just staying healthy enough to do my first P200. Need to give credit to our man CSpan who is always good at reminding us to take stock of the Man In The Mirror and get on track.

Line up along one end of the parking lot- Bear Crawl to 5th parking space, run to the other side. Lunge walk to 5th spot, run to the other side. Next, 75% to 5th spot, 100 % rest of the way. Repeat

Partner up: 10 Partner Giddy-ups each arm, 10 partner derkins, 10 partner-assisted sit ups

Stay with Partner for B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Bobby Hurleys, 100 Overhead claps, 150 Mercuries (Freddy), 200 Bombjacks, 250 Squats – other partner runs over stairs & back. Now, with legs smoked, time for another 1st QUARTER CHECK-UP – We are all leaders in some way – Who has gone to a Q Source meeting? If we aren’t accelerating as leaders, we are going backwards. Left the Pax with one of my favorite sayings around F3 – “Day One OR One Day? It’s up to you. Are you committing to forming a positive habit or leaving that to another day?

Mosey back to the grassy circle in front of FM 1st Baptist for Jack Webb & American Hammers.

Time for COT. Prayers for Spark Plug’s neighbor, Charlie, reminders of Finding Kotters in 2019, FM Care Center Lawn Mowing, Prayers for health for my family.

What an awesome mixture of veteran and newer Pax. Shout out to Admiral who had his first Post just on Monday and he has posted every day since. And Happy Birthday to the master DJ, Flatty Flats. You can Q 10 times or 100 times, but it is always an honor and a humbling experience to lead such a fine group of men. Thanks Beacon for the opportunity.

Short Sale signing off.

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No Pity on the Fools at Quagmire

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Jedi here, stepping in for Mr. T to get his backblast from April 1 posted…

Vinny was the scheduled Q, and even mentioned this to Mr. T Sunday morning. Much to Mr. T’s surprise, Vinny called him up late Sunday night requesting a substi-Q. This late change of plans caused for some confusion in the wee hours of Monday morning, but at 0515 Mr. T took control, gave a disclaimer (with some assistance), and off we went.

Mosey around to Sport Clips parking lot with some high knees, butt kickers, and shuffles along the way. That was the warm up. For the rest of the workout, Mr. T rolled out the dice, of which there were four. Simple rules: roll the dice, he’d announce and lead the exercise to some pre-determined number that may or may not be a multiple of 10, rinse and repeat.

Exercises:

4 – low slow squats

5 – mountain climber

6 – Freddie mercury

7 – LBC

8 – You Call It

9 – Rosalita

10 – American Hammer

11 – Peters on the wall (Peter Parkers in BTTW position, not the other possible definition)

12 – People’s Chair

13 – You Call It

14 – Crab walk/bear walk the circle

15 – Run (to a new location; we did this a few times, ending up in front of Home Depot, outside Just Fresh, in front of Tuesday Morning, and outside Casual Pint)

16 – High Knee Skip

17 – Plank hip dips (on your elbows)

18 – Side plank, arm (and leg) high, both sides

19 – You Call It

20 – Plank hands to elbows

21 – Peter Parker/Parker Peter

22 – Hello Dolly

23 – You Call It

24 – Burpees

With four dice, you can assume most of our rolls ended up in the middle numbers.

Return to COT for number-o-rama, name-o-rama, announcements-o-rama (not actually a thing), and praises and prayers.

Welcome (no longer an) FNG, The Admiral.

Mr. T would like to thank Vinny for the opportunity. It’s difficult to tell if there was sarcasm in his text saying as much.

I would like to thank Mr. T for stepping up. I know it’s been hard for him to get out and post consistently lately, but it’s always good to see him. It’s probably especially difficult to come back and Q after not Qing for a long time. I think it was safe to say he was a bit nervous, but he still took control and led the PAX through a solid beatdown for a Monday morning. It was also great to see the PAX gather together and encourage him throughout the workout.

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Light Pole Circuits & POW POW @ The Ballroom

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***Cobains now for the 2 PAX that I missed.   You weren’t in the video and my memory “ain’t what is used to be”.

Weather was near perfect for a “Pearls on a String”- inspired workout.  Dropped the disclaimer, checked for FNGs and we were off.

Circle Up for 10 of each :

SSH

Squats

Windmill

Stretches:

Downward Dog  to Honeymooner  x 3

Runner’s Pose

Warrior Pose

Grass Grabber/Cherry Picker (neither of which are in the F3 exercises, so I am sure this is officially called something else)

Imperial Walker

Mosey to side of the school.

Rotate 20 dips / Wall Sit  – Rinse & Repeat

Run out to end of bridge and back

Stretching with :

Cat Pose (which cracked Spitz up, Big Time! Nice of him and Lug Nut to join us ! )

Hip Stretches

Mosey to light pole closest to Pleasant Rd. , Start exercises there and run to next light. As a PAX, 20 reps each, various PAX leading the count

Merkins

Slow Squat (although I think it was led at a fast pace)

American Hammer

Shoulder Tap

Lunge

Grave Diggers

Wide Arm Merkins

Calf Raises (Kenyan nearly counted us to 50 on this one!)

Flutters

Monkey Humpers

Overhead Claps

Moroccan Night Clubs

Turn around and head back down the string of lights

OH Claps

Monkey Humpers

Flutters

Calf Raises (Seriously, we had to call off Kenyan on this one. I think he was going to 100!!!   Pretty cool that we had a semi-BOM group on this one)

Wide Arm Merkins

Grave Diggers

Several exercises for 5 minutes of Mary and we ended with Airborne’s brutal hip circuit, led and strongly advocated for by Change Order!

 

I asked the PAX to take a look at themselves and determine where they could GROW (theme of the month), relative to one of the three F’s.  Also cautioned them (& myself) against tending to one of the F’s too much, this neglecting the other 2.

Ended in COT, with multiple praise & prayers. Thank you, Short Sale for the opportunity. Always humbled to lead such a group of strong leaders. Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t forget, GIVE IT AWAY. Someone else needs it as much – or WORSE – than you did!

 

SYITG –

Beacon

 

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