Tag: Nasa

Art for a Cause

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Art for a Cause!!

Invigoration of male community leadership…..F3 The Fort.

In light our beloved brother and ruck-master Divac’s incredible efforts towards something dear to his heart, AMRAP for Autism, two amazing pieces of artwork were commissioned to and completed by our very own artist extraordinaire and beloved brother DaVinci. Each realistically captures a ruck and F3 water bottle ready to go to work, and would be a great addition to anyone’s man cave, office, game room, all-things-ruck display case, or elsewhere. If you have a patch display – imagine one of these pictures above or next to it, or with patches around it!  But instead of keeping these for ourselves……and it is VERY tempting…..BOTH of these will be raffled off to TWO lucky PAX to benefit Autism Strong Foundation’s AMRAP for Autism.  The combo of DaVinci’s talents, Divac’s D2D, and NASA’s ruggedly good looks (and gift of admin) resulted in a match made in Heaven that YOU can be part of too!

The deets / rules / regs:

  • Each piece is 9in x 12in picture, matted in an 11in x 14in frame
    • Brown background is conte pencil media
    • Color background is watercolor paint media
    • Both signed by the artist
  • Raffle ticket purchase starts 05:00 EST Saturday 4/30/2022 and runs through midnight EST Saturday 5/21/2022
  • Drawing will be held on 18:00 EST Sunday 5/22/2022
  • Cost of raffle tickets:
    • $25 each
    • 5 for $100
    • 8 for $150
    • 12 for $200
    • 13 or more: $16 each
    • No in between ticket quantities
  • How to purchase raffle tickets:
    • Venmo: @Eric-Ransone, last 4 of cell is 1794
    • PayPal: @EricRansone
    • Be sure to include your full name, F3 name, cell phone number, quantity tickets, and a small love note to NASA in the notes of purchase/money transfer
    • Confirmation / notification of payment received will be sent via text
    • You can notify NASA via text at 407-902-1794 if you want to let me know it’s coming
  • Each raffle ticket purchase will be for an opportunity to win either picture, but not both
    • If a duplicate winner is picked after the first drawing, a new name will be drawn for the second picture
  • Winners do not get to choose which picture they want
    • First picture to be drawn for is the one with the brown background
  • Drawing will be held either via electronically (electronic raffle pick means) or via old school printout and hat drawing, pending number of entries received
  • Drawing will live streamed on Facebook, follow NASA (Eric Ransone) to get the feed
  • Delivery / pickup of pictures to / by the winners will be determined once winners contacted after drawing
    • If non-Fort Mill and immediate area resident, shipment will be arranged accordingly
  • ALL proceeds from raffle will be donated to Autism Strong’s AMRAP for Autism!!
    • Delivery method of funds to A4A is TBD and may be live streamed as well, or just a simple electronic donation on behalf of The HIM of F3 The Fort.

Please consider purchasing a raffle ticket. Each ticket matters! According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 44 children in the United States today. The Autism Strong Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization who provides local children with autism financial aid scholarships for therapy services, summer camp, and young adult weekend away experiences.

It is more than a workout.

YOU can be part of this worth cause! Thank you, good luck, and SYITG!!

–  NASA, DaVinci, and Divac

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Countdown at Soul to Sole

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THE THANG: Great morning! We 2.75 miles total around ALL of Kingsley – both sides of 160. Each half mile we stopped and did a “countdown workout”: 10 merkins, 9 mountain climbers 2ct, 8 plank jacks 2ct, 7 Peter parkers 2ct, 6 squats, 5 lunges 2ct, 4 calf raises, 3 burpees, 2 squats, 1 burpee. All with ruck on. 5 stops for pain total. Excellent convo all along the way.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: read your newsletter get involved
COT: much to lift up in prayer and praise

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3rd Manion WOD with the AKA crew

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WARMUP: mumblechatter

THE THANG:
Manion WOD
29 squats with ruck (with sandbags when available)
1/4 mile ruck (shared sandbags)
7 rounds

We did an extra rounds as time allowed for extra credit

MARY: mumblechatter
ANNOUNCEMENTS: sign up for blood donations🩸
COT: prayers for families, kids and teachers during the last stretch of the school year

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4 Corners of The Ballroom

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Welcome to Bonus Ass Kicking April

We had 19 at the Ballroom for a glorious 4 corners of pain!

Every morning we post, we go to one of the ‘corners’ of our region but in the end we are all one of The Fort PAX.

It was great to see so many PAX on this chilly March  morning. Special shout out to Beaker for posting for the second time in 2 days! Great job and keep posting, also great work 3D supporting him

The Thang:

We started off with a warm up:

15 SSH

15 Wind Mills

15 Imperial Walkers

Break out to groups at each corner.

Round 1 – mode of transportation- karaoke

Corner 1: 10 wide arm merkins, 20 mtn     climbers single count,

Corner 2: 10 big boys, 20 dying cockroaches do

Corner 3: 10 burpees, 20 grave diggers, single Ct

Corner 4 : 10 plank jacks , 20 Peter Parker’s

After all 4 corners were done we gathered at top of hill leading to bridge until the 6 was is in. Morrocacan Night clubs were done while we waited. We then moseyed down to the bridge and back as a recovery from the  4 corners.

Then it was onto Round 2!

Round 2 –  mode of transportation- nerr

C1:  15 jump squats, 15 low slow squats

C2:  15 box cutters, 15 American Hammers

C3: 15 monkey humpers, 15 Cherry Pickers

C4: 10 hand release Merkins, 20 SSH

After all 4 corners were done we gathered at top of hill leading to bridge until the 6 was is in. Morrocacan Night clubs were done while we waited. We then moseyed down to the bridge and back as a recovery from the  4 corners.

We completed a second set of rounds 1 and 2 substituting Moroccan Night clubs for flutters.

After the second set was completed, we did a

Batman Death March around the school with the 6 doing SSH

That brought us back to COT

Great work by all today

-Yard Sale

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Hair Club for HIMs & others Conquer the Rooster

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10+ pax of The Fort posted in The Gloom of Rock Hill amid heavy rain, high winds & falling temps to chase the rooster around the loop for 26+ miles.  Pax from Gashouse & Lake Wylie plus some FiA teams also joined the HIMs of The Rock for the CSAUP adventure, raising funds for Bethel Men’s Shelter in the process.

The Thang

Team relay consisting of 1 mile loops

25 loops completed in the following order:

JWOW
38 Special
NASA
Old Bay
Double D

Team completed 26th lap together for a total of 6 miles each, finishing in 3:35.

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

Congrats to HCHIMs on a great morning!  New milestones reached included:

  • First relay for JWOW and 38 Special
  • Return to The Gloom for Old Bay
  • Renewed lessons for NASA in tent set up in the midst of uncooperative weather
  • New glamour shots for YHC & JWOW in mullet wigs

Shout out to IJ, Longshanks, Cornerstone, Straight Up and Vuvuzela on their successful finishes with RH teams.

T-claps to Blueprint and Ponytail in Rock Hill for putting on a great event and to Catfish and Reborn for keeping The Rock solid!

These CSAUP events are as much about the fellowship with pax of The Fort and other regions as they are about pushing through the pain of the fitness elements (and the weather!).  A COT that includes a cold beer is a pretty good thing!

Six days until the Yeti!  Make it great!

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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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In Da Club

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Five men showed on a cold morning at Golden Corral.  After the disclaimer, we moseyed over to Bubbles and Bows for a few warm-up exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, and Plank Stretches).

Next, we were on the move around the HT building and down to the traffic circle for a round of merkins, lunges, and calf raises.  We then ventured to a little-known hill in the back of the apartment complex.  Three rounds of Nur up the hill, three burpees at the top, and ten Carolina Dry Docks at the bottom.  We made our way around the neighborhood with exercises (Merkins, Squats, and LBCs – 10 each) at each stop sign.

After traveling around the neighborhood, we ended up at a familiar fountain where we bear crawled around the circle and completed 20 dips on the guardrails.  We continued our run to the top of the hill and found a quiet parking lot for a few rounds of Mary (Flutters. LBCs, and Hello Dollies).

We returned to COT for a 2+ minute plank and finished our discussion on the Superbowl Halftime show.  50 cent was the most talked about artist.   I shared a story about a time when I was traveling to India for work.  One of the managers took me and a couple associates out to dinner.  He drove us to the restaurant in his car, playing “In Da Club”.  I remember closing my eyes thinking “I am driving around India, listening to 50 Cent”.  Wow.

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Convergence: Love & a passing of the flag

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Station 1 (Santini): Traditional Pain Platoon

Just your basic beat the hell out of your legs exercises of lunges, squats, and burpees intermixed with meditation and box breathing exercises. Sprint to the top of the hill, recover, and do more exercises including Moroccan night clubs and Carolina dry docks.

NMM: Anxiety and gratitude are not able to occupy the same space.

Station 2 (Shady / Maximus)

Warmup (Shady) – 21 SSH, 5 burpees, 18 SSH, 5 burpees, 12 SSH, someone whined about burpees so we did 10 diamonds merkins…then did 5 burpees
Group 1
  • partnered up and Dora style started out with 100 pull-ups.  Partner 1 on the pull-up bar, partner 2 did a lap around the playgroud
  • Stayed on playground, stayed with partner, Partner 1 AMRAP merkins while partner 2 ran the length of the playground and back to AMRAP merkins
  • Stayed on the AMRAP theme with flutters, then back to merkins, then back to flutters…then (I think) time was called

Group 2

  • Partnered up and Dora style, but this time 50 pull-ups with the run around the playground (Q modification given time and we aren’t cyborgs)
  • AMRAPs were just 1 round of merkins and flutters (again, I think…may need a lifeline here from Max)
  • We made our way to the hill with the statue where Maximus laid down the NUR up the hill and at the top 10 bomb jacks and ran to the bottom where we did 20 American hammers..we did this twice
  • W/ time to spare we ran to the top for 10 diamond merkins and ran to the bottom for 10 V-ups
  • In buzzer beater fashion, we ran to the top again for 10 ranger merkins and ran to the bottom for a partner 1 lay on the ground and grab partner 2s ankles where partner 2 would throw partner 1s feet down 10 times as you straight leg lifted them to his face

Group 3

  • Dora style 50 pull-ups with the run around the playground
  • We made our way to the hill with the statue where Maximus laid down the NUR up the hill and at the top 10 bomb jacks and ran to the bottom where we did 20 american hammers..we did this twice
  • Running low on time ran to the top for 10 diamond merkins and ran to the bottom for the ankle grabbing / feet throwing core exercise 10 times
NMM: After each of the groups had done their pull-ups, Maximus and Shady shared their thoughts and experiences on LOVE.
  • Shady – areas of focus were loving your brother and being your brothers keeper.  Sending a text or reaching out to someone to just say “hey, thinking of you” could change their day.  Realizing that the ones you love are watching you, emulating you, picking up on good and bad habits.  Realizing we don’t know it all, especially to the ones we love, is a sign of humility and a factor of growth and development.  For those of us with children, we have never been parents before so we honestly have no idea what we’re doing.  Love starts with servant leadership and personally for YHC, this usually progresses when the mouth is shut and ears are open.
  • Maximus – For my discussion on love, it begins with being intentional as love is a decision. We must make the decision to be intentional with our actions. Whether it be in our faith, marriage, parenting of our kids, with friends and yes, even with work relationships, we must be intentional. Think about how easy it is to get distracted, whether at dinner with your wife or even on a Zoom call for work. We often allow our minds to wander or even start doing something else while the other person is talking, looking for our engagement. Stop. Be the person who is present in the moment. Put the shoe on the other foot. Love that person as your relationship to them allows.

Station 3 (Pusher & Cakeboss): Love Edition

COP
  • SSHs
  • Windmills
  • Squats
  • Mtn Climbers
  • Merkins
  • IWs
Cake Boss spells love “B-U-R-P-E-E”
The Thang
  • Jacobs Ladder with Derkins and Monkey Humpers
  • Plank/Dip sequence
  • Bear crawl to top with burpees
NMM:
  • Cord of 3 strands cannot be broken. Having God in your marriage is the 3rd string. Adding communication to the marriage strengthens it. – CB
  • Gifts vs Gaps. Focus on the gifts that your wife or significant other bring vs what she is missing. Seeing her this way builds love. – Pusher
  • Much love was on display with all of the mumblechatter and fellowship. The relationships formed through F3 has increased our love internally and is reflected outward to our Ms, 2.0s, PAX and community… #morethanaworkout

Shovel Flag hand off for two leadership positions in the Fort:

Shady handed off the Nantan role to Double D
Esso handed off the Weasel Shaker role to YHC

Awesome work by the PAX today. Hard to put into words how much improved my disposition on life is since moving back to Fort Mill because of F3. Grateful for an opportunity to serve the PAX of The Fort.

NMM: Double D was the site-Q at Block Party when I started posting. If it wasn’t for his steady presence with a commitment to the integrating 2nd F and 3rd F elements into each workout, I doubt I’d have kept posting. Double D is a genuine human, I’m a better dude for knowing him, and I’m excited for his leadership.

—
Band Camp dismissed

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Chills, Thrills, and Hills at Sweep the Leg

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Chilly morning. Could be worse ….at least it wasn’t raining. No FNGs. Disclaimer disclaimed and off we went.

Quick run around the lot to find a dark road for COP warmups. 15-20 of each:
* SSH
* WM
* IW
*MNC

Then to the top of the hill at Dave Gibson Blvd. Noted this to the PAX as the top point of our journey. Then down the hill to where the cell phone access area is near the creek. This is the bottom point of our workout.

Hills of Thrills
* Start at the bottom of the hill. Do 5 reps each of merkins and plank jacks.
* Run to the top of the hill and then do 5 reps each of flying monkeys (jumping monkey humpers) and LBCs.
* Back to the bottom to repeat.
* Each round the reps of each exercise increased in increments of 5.
* So it was 5 reps of merkins and PJs. Run the hill. 5 reps of flying monkeys and LBCs. Run down the hill. Then 10-10, run up, 10-10, run down, 15-15, run up, and so on. Stopped at 25 reps of each at both points.
* In total we did approx 3 miles and 75 reps of each exercise.

Back to the parking lot for a loop around the lot. Short ends we did LT Dans. Long ends we sprinted.

Back to COT/endex.

Announcements, P&P:
* A LOT going on, read your newsletter
* Santa Boss, Christmas Eve convergence on 12/24. If you run AND do the convergence, an anonymous donor will give up to $75 for D2D causes.
* Prayers/praises for the coming of our Lord!
* Prayers/praises for Vuvu as he meets up with his boss after a long time apart
* Prayers for Yard Sale as he breaks away from a bad work situation and starts off on a newer more positive one
* Prayers for healing, patience, and support for those in need

Golden Nugget quote of the day…..heck the decade…..from Quack Attack:
Remember that every day we wake up is like Christmas, every evening is like Thanksgiving, and every night before bed is like New Year’s Eve. We are blessed to wake up every day and start over.

Man that one really puts things into perspective. Each day we are truly blessed to be here, each day is a blessed gift. As the day ends we should be thankful we were here for it, and as it ends we should celebrate being a part of it and look forward to the new beginning of tomorrow.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead. God bless.
– NASA

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Nas on a Nasty morning at Varsity?

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11 met on this misty/chilly morning at The Varsity. Band Camp led off with disclaimer that covered both he and I (fortunately). Then 3 PAX went on their own for a long run. The rest of us followed Band Camp the get started.

From Band Camp:
This morning I kept the yoga simple under the awning as rain was approaching:
We built up in segments to flow through Surya Namaskar A. Then had time for one sequence of Surya Namaskar B.
YHC passed the reins over to Kermit at exactly 0530. Always an honor to lead any workout, but leading Broga is an enjoyble chance to maintain focus through some excellent mumblechatter and groaning from the PAX.

From Kermit:
I thought we should wrap up the work week with some fun. And with the dry conditions and good lighting under the awning, I gave my “message” to the PAX: “Everything will eventually come to an end, So try to savor the moment, cuz time flies don’t it. The beauty of life, you gotta make it last for the better, cuz nothing lasts forever.” – Nas

Let’s get to work.

We left the dry comfort of the awning and moseyed through the rain to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill.

The Thang
ELEVENS – burpees at bottom of the hill and pull ups at the top of the hill.
We may have referenced the lyric “savor the moment” a couple of times.
Band Camp and Poppins led the way, and finished with a few minutes left in the gloom. A DORA of merkins, squats and more hill running was waiting for them.

Back to CoT, and joined back up with the runners.

NMM, Announcements, Prayers & Praises.

Thanks to Bodywash for the opportunity to lead.

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