#LacesIn. 0515. It Pays To Be A Winner.

We played a little bit of “It pays to be a winner” this AM at Laces In in honor of GoRuck Team Selection which starts today.
If you aren’t familiar, this is a common phrase spoken in Selection, and it’s a great tool they use to get into guys heads to make guys feel pressure and push themselves.

Here’s what it looked like… The Thang:

We moseyed to the back parking lot behind the baseball field (the Band Practice Lot) for a little warm up. Some Mountain Climbers, Windmills, SSH… the usual fare.

Then we moseyed to the front of the school for some CDDs, lunges, and flutters. Spiderman made a comment at one point about losing guys because of the pace. I thought about that… With a crowd as large as we had this am, I wanted to get a sense of where their heads were. Who’s pushing, who’s trailing, who’s struggling…? Am I struggling? Am I trailing? Can anyone even really know these things…?

Anyhow, then we moseyed back the lot from whence we had just come, where we began every Pax’s favorite game show: “It Pays to Be a Winner” (at this point, the Pax didn’t know we were playing). We lined up at one end of the lot and got underway.

Round 1: Bear Crawl to the other end. Alchemy won this round. Because he’s 17. And quite fit. Since he won, he got to choose the method by which we traveled back to the other end. He chose Bear Crawl. He was disqualified from choosing anymore. Because he’s 17. And quite fit.

Round 2. Bear Crawl to the other end. Alchemy won again. Shock. So his prize was that he got to pick who chose the next method. He chose Moab. I don’t remember what he chose, but it was no fun.

We continued to play a few more rounds with Pax choosing sprints, Bernie Sanders (Nur, Backwards Run, whatever you want to call it), Power Skips, and finally Broad Jumps. J-WOW won that round and so he got to set the pace back to the bottom of the hill by the stadium (the driveway in). We made a stop at one point to let everyone catch up and did an exercise there… No recollection what it was… anyway, we finished our mosey to the bottom of the hill and partnered up. SIZE ALWAYS MATTERS. #TWSS

Bonsai won the sprint to the bottom of the hill, despite my best efforts to cheat, and so he picked the partner method of travel to the top of the hill. He chose wheelbarrow. Because he hates happiness. Funhouse and Jekyll tried to cheat to get ahead and despite my best efforts to pull them back and make it “fair” (which meant making them go back to the start so I could cheat instead), they still won. So we moseyed back to the bottom of the hill and since they were the winners, they chose the method of travel to the top of the hill. They chose Partner Carries. Because they hate Bonsai.

The winners this time were the come from behind, dark horse team of Zima and Dirty Harry. Turns out Harry runs faster under weight. Which confirms our suspicion that he’s not actually from this planet. One more trip up running backwards and that was pretty much it for us…

The party bus came, saw, and spread the love…

-DH

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Just a Mere Tune-Up

How in the world did I get the honor of Qing one of the most popular ruck workouts of the year? I don’t know but I didn’t want to disappoint. Usually, that last comment means it’s time to absolutely BRING IT. But the trick this AM was to find that balance of bringing it but not killing it since we’re dangerously close to being short on GRH/GRT/GRL PAX.

Alright, I’ve got my head right, Weinke written and little sleep. Yup, par for the course so let’s roll. 24 brothers joined me at the Fire Ant this morning which for those who’ve not attended, is building quite the strong brotherhood. Again, here’s my plug to try rucking for a month and see if you set the ruck down.

After we disclaimed and talked about the upcoming event this weekend, we made our way to the sidewalk to get in two lines with rucks opened on the ground for a mock inspection. Once complete, zip up, ruck up and fall into 2 lines for a ruck lap around the loop.

Once the lap was complete, stay in 2 lines and lay the rucks on the ground on the outside of the lines. In formation, Side-Straddle Hops, Imperial Walkers, Sumo Squats & Moroccan Night Clubs. Now for a little BEEP BEEP, I’M A JEEP!!

In formation, drop to a squat, hold the ruck out front and duck walk for a bit. Then some ruck curls. Then, drop to a squat, hold the ruck out front and reverse duck walk for a bit back to the starting point. Guess what? More ruck curls.

Now, rotate 90deg so you’re facing the outside, away from the other line for shoulder presses, upright rows and bent over rows. Then a nice set of flutters WITH the needed presses.

Line up on the left side of the 2 long straight-aways for an exercise with the ruck, leave your ruck and run to the far end, do an exercise then run back to your ruck. Here’s the set list:

10 Ruck Thrusters, leave the ruck and run to the other end

5 8ct Burpees then run back

20 Ruck Curls (great on paper), leave the ruck and run to the other end

10 8ct Burpees then run back

Back in our 2 lines of formation for:

12ct Merkins…sans Ruck

Flutters w/ the Press

LBC’s w/ the Rucks up

Box Cutters w/ the Rucks up

More Beep Beep, I’m a Jeep stuff

THAT’S IT!!!

See, not so bad. Just another Tuesday in The Fort.

HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE

SYITG

Maximus

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License to Ill at Quagmire

I love the opportunity to Q at Quagmire. Starting off the week, you need to make sure you wake everyone up with a good shake of the weinke. I wanted this one to be different, and boy was it. It looked REALLY good on paper…..

Met up at COT. No FNGs. Disclaimer was made and off we went.

Short short mosey around the parking lot in front of Best Buy/Marshalls to get the heart rate up and muscles warmed up. Then it was right into the main event.

I am an 80s kid. I graduated high school in 1988. I feel to this day that the 80s had the BEST music ever. I was a music junkie – I loved metal, rap, country, R&P, hip-hop, and so on, and went to several concerts of those musical genres. Probably why I am tone deaf. In 1986 a cutting edge cassette came out that I loved, and still do. I thought I would incorporate it into the workout.

License to Ill (by the Beastie Boys)

Form a circle with the PAX about 20-25yds diameter. Then we got right into it. The idea was a tabata style workout. You pick an exercise and do it AMRAP for the prescribed time. In this case, we would be doing an exercise AMRAP for the duration of the song played. No rest between exercises other than the transition between two songs (a few seconds). PAX would get rewarded with breaks if they answered trivia correctly. So here it is

Number / Song Title / Duration / Exercise (Note if Applicable):

  1. Ryhmin & Stealin / 4:08 / Warmup = WM / SSH / Arm Circles
  2. The New Style / 4:36 / Merkins
  3. She’s Crafty / 3:35 / Lunges w Jump Lunges
  4. Posse In Effect / 2:27 / Hello Dolly w Reverse Crunch / BBS (1)
  5. Slow Ride / 2:56 / Bear Crawl circle w CDD every 5 strides
  6. Girls / 3:14 / LSS w Bomb Jack or Jump Squat
  7. Fight For Your Right / 3:28 / Peter Parker to Parker Peter
  8. No Sleep Till Brooklyn / 4:07 / Bent Knee Alt Leg Lower (2)
  9. Paul Revere / 3:41 / Bear Crawl circle w CDD every 5 strides >> PAX earned 1 min rest here
  10. Hold It Now, Hit It / 3:26 / IW-HW combo
  11. Brass Monkey / 2:37 / Monkey Humpers (expect anything else w this song??)
  12. Slow and Low / 3:38 / Elbow Plank w Knee Touches to Ground
  13. Time to Get Ill / 3:37 / Merkins

NOTES:
(1) Reverse crunch / BBS = Start big boy situp position but instead of lifting upper body and lower back up and off the ground, you bring feet off the ground, knees almost to chest (goal is knees 90deg bend at least), then return feet to ground for 1 rep
(2) Bent knee alt leg lower = Start on 6, both legs off the ground, knees at 90deg bend with lower leg/calf parallel to ground, then extend one leg outwards to where it is min 6″ off the ground while holding the other leg up at start position. Return extended leg back to start, then repeat with other leg. That is one rep. Harder version is starting w both legs 6″ off the ground.

I brought an OLD boom box and the original CD I bought back in the day and we cranked it out (not too loud). It was a real burner, and it was definitely different. Brought back some fond memories listening to that CD…..complete with a few skips here and there for old times sake.

There was no time for talking. Just doing the work while jamming to some old school hip.-hop/rap. All the PAX did great cranking out the reps, with very little rest, and although there was not much mublechatter it was still a good time. Next time I’ll incorporate some hair band metal/hard rock.

Back to the COT for Announcements, P&P….a little late.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

-NASA

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Diplomacy at Quagmire

It was a long drive from BFE to Lake Wylie, but I’ve wanted to make it to this AO for a while… so I answered Jedi’s call. By the way, I received my request to Q back in January! That is some hardcore planning by this HIM. I’m lucky if I get a month in advance at The Coop.

Also, due to the friendly banter back and forth between Jedi and the Badger… I had to bring the pain today to satisfy these Lake Wylie boys. The last thing I wanted to be was a terrible Ambassador of the Honey Badger Nation.

Here’s what we did.

400m run

COP

Tempo Merkins – 11
Mountain Climbers – 13
SSH – 17
LSS – 19
Al Gore Night Clubs – 11
Yoga Flow

400m run

Wheelbarrow/Squerkins

Wheelbarrow 25 yards.
Out, swap w/partner, back.
Squerkins – 1 Derkin in wheelbarrow position alternating while partner holds and does 1 Squat – Ascending to 5 (so 15 in total).

At this point Jedi told me to tighten my core, which I realized made wheelbarrows much easier. #ProTip

400m run

Wheelbarrow 25 yards.
Out, swap w/partner, back.
Squerkins – to 6 this time (so 21 in total).

400m run

Squatzilla
Lunge 10 yards, do 10 squats, mosey back.
Add 10 yards each time until you get to 50 (so 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 – in total 150 squats and 150 yards of lunge walks)

400m run

Punch Webbs 1:4 – 10:40
Dive bomber Pushups + Burps/Ski Abs/Thrusts (whatever you want to call them!)
1-5
400m run
6-7
200m run
8-9
200m run
10

As we left and returned to our circle for the Webbs, the sweat puddles kept growing. It looked like an aftermath post from Jocko. We were all pleased. The run breaks were much needed, as my shoulders were pretty smoked. Cable Guy said his triceps were smoked. His form was better than mine!

Last Minute Mary
10xWWI Sit Ups

Side note – we also ran 2+ miles in the midst of all of that fun.

Announcements
GORUCK DSM Custom event this weekend! Pray for us!
Monday’s at Sabor there is a bible study. I missed the full details so follow up with Cornhole for more information.

COT
Pray for Duck Dynasty – had some shady business going on in his neighborhood and it was unsettling. Pray for the authorities to handle it the right way and DD to remain composed for both he and his family’s sake.
Pray for Jedi – big decisions to be made here and it could change what he currently calls his life.
Pray for me – I constantly lack patience with my daughters and I need to realize the impact this could be having on them and their understanding on love and leadership.

In all, it was a great morning to join up with my brothers that I don’t often see. Jedi, thank you for your leadership, your friendly banter on twitter, and for making us all want to accelerate. Finally, thanks for asking me to lead.

Punch List out.

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Q2 2019 PFT @ The Coop!

2019 quarterly PFT at the Coop was on schedule for day 21 of Ass Kickin’ April!  17 PAX came out to see progress that has been made since Q1 of 2019.  We had 8 repeats and 9 new comers.

The Thang

Warm up – Lap, COP with SSH, Squats, IW, Moroccan Night Clubs,  6 count burpees. Mosey to Pull Up bars.

PFT – 1 minute: Pull Up, Big Boy Sit Ups, Merkins.  The 1 mile run.  We did this.  Here is the output.

2019-Q1 2019-Q2
Name Pull Ups Sit Ups Push Ups 1 Mile Run Pull Ups Sit Ups Push Ups 1 Mile Run
FunHouse 5 45 37 6:40 6 41 45 6:04
Sk8orDie 5 39 37 DNP
DarkHelmet 22 42 64 7:21 26 44 63 7:10
Kaiser 15 22 61 7:38
SugarBug 3 29 36 8:41
Esso 12 38 43 8:25 14 42 53 7:28
Sasquatch 24 54 64 DNP
ChickenHawk 25 43 60 7:37
Wegmans 1 26 24 8:54
Husky 13 45 52 7:34
PunchList 12 39 33 6:48 17 46 48 6:33
DirtyHarry 5 50 50 7:28 12 53 61 DNP
Youts 18 44 51 8:49 26 48 64 8:34
Slash 8 26 31 8:45 9 27 44 7:42
Xray 3 12 25 9:15
Chunck 2 32 20 8:32
Tinsel 22 38 36 8:43 25 43 45 DNP
DD 18 25 54 6:35
Nasa 14 42 41 7:12
Harry Carey 12 32 37 5:58
Geronimo 23 43 40 6:45
Shady 37 44 44 7:03
Hardwood 19 26 51 9:17
FishSticks 11 56 52 6:22
Barry Manilow Present

FunHouseNaked Moleskin:  Looking at the 8 repeat PAX, all got BETTER!  Imagine that.  Continue to take the DRP, you get better.  Either if is all running, Bootcamping, Rucking, etc.  Keep posting and you get better! I have data and a spreadsheet to prove it! #WesaelShakerDolphin?

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US Army Staff Sgt / NYPD Police Officer James McNaughton

We had 23 PAX show up for my VQ this morning….the support was much appreciated.

The morning started with a quick jog around the NAFO parking lot and ended with a standard warm-up of  Imperial Walkers, Morrocan Nighclubs  and Hillbilly Walkers.

Today we Honored a Fallen Soldier and NYPD Police Officer and our workout consisted of :

10 Burpees and a 100 yard run

27 Merkins and a 100 yard run

10 Donkey Kicks and a 100 yard run

27 Big Boy situps and you guessed it a 100 yard run

10 Lunges and a 100 yard run

27 Squats and who would have thought another 100 yard run

We Rinsed and Repeated ….. Some rinsed and repeated more than others.

Thanks to Dirty Harry and Punchlist for pushing me to lead this great group of men and getting my VQ under my belt.

Shield

 

 

 

 

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The Ranch -pre spring break

Pulling into the parking lot I was thinking man we are going to have a solid crowd today. Then I remembered how many guys are prepping for the custom ruck in May. There ARE SOME OPEN SPOTS IF ANYONE WANTS ONE!!!!
We started with a solid six, 1 FNG from Pittsburg. Welcome.
Disclaimer was given and off we went.
Mosey with some karaoke, high knees, butt kickers etc.
Circle up SSHs, Mtn. Climbers, Moroccan night clubs, little arm circles forward/back.

Mosey around school to playground. 5 pullups/ 20 feet to fence, 4 pullups/ 20 knee to fence go down to 1.

go to swings feet on swings knees to chest/ 10 derkins.

Mosey to car loop bear crawl 15 feet 5 merkins keep going for about 7 times.

Wall sits while Pax bunny hops by. X 3

partner up 100 bomb jacks while partner runs loop get to 100 you done. Mosey to picnic benches 3 sets of 10 dips, derkins, step ups.
Mary for 4 minutes.

COT- prayers and praises, announcements.
Welcome Chicken Catchatore- thanks for bringing FNG out Pappy

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Philly Inspired Psy-Ops CSPAN at the Coop

34 was the count at the coop and it was a great morning at the Coop with the temperatures near perfect and a special guest visit by Grand-Tan, CSPAN himself.  It was great to catch up with a #HIM and for his presence in the PAX.  But you can’t have  Grand-Tan return without a little engagement in the routine.  CSPAN honored us with his slightly angry, Philly version of a warm up.  The good news is that the PAX was angry at him and not me.
Prayers for Shady and his spill on the sprint back to COT and subsequent trip to the MD.  Grateful for Dirty Harry and his field ops specialty and coolness under pressure.  The highlight of the morning was watching guys step ups and do their part when another brother was in need.  That my friends is F3!
Message: Be Still
  • Where does your mind go in the stillness?
  • Regrets for the past, fears of the future, how many of us were thankful for the moment, how often do we use stillness in the moment to experience God’s voice and direction … I don’t do being still well because my mind constantly has chatter.
  • Be Still- observe the mind – become conscious to what is going on in your mind – results in your ability to be present and to own the thoughts in your mind
Warm up/ COP – CSPAN  maybe I will just summarize it at as a Nascar like (right turns though) sprints with up/downs with flutters, and more flutters and a few more flutters and then some flutters.  I think that covers it.
Mosey to band parking lot:
Suicide Sprints: 10/20/30
  • 50% sprint
  • Karaoke
  • Side shuffle
  • Full length full speed
  • Power Skips back
Rugby Sprints to the 50 and walk it back
  • SSH
  • Merkins
  • Mule Kicks
  • Flying Squirrels
Every 5 to the 50
  • Bear crawl 5 yards then 5 CCD increments sprint to the end
  • Burpee Broad jumps 5 yards then 5 merkins
Wall sits with burpees
2 minutes of MARY
Prayers for Shady’s recovery and quick return. Prayers for Bailey (CSPAN’s daughter) and the birth of their son today at 12:30. Many unspoken prayers known and unknown are put at the foot of the cross and we ask that the Lord tends to them according to his Will.
Aye!
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#HillWork at the Abyss

I gave the Pax a warning the night before on twitter about the workout. We were going to celebrate 3 crazy years of F3 with some old school #HillWork. And Hill work we did, a lot of it.

5:15 hit and it was time to go. We had 20 Pax ready to get going.

We took a short mosey around the property and circled up in the back of the school for the warm-up:

  • SSH x25
  • 5 Burpees
  • Moroccan NC x30
  • 4 Burpees
  • Imperial Walkers X15
  • 3 Burpees
  • Low Slow Squat x10
  • 2 Burpees
  • Hillbilly Walkers x15
  • 1 Burpee
  • Mountain Climbers
  • 2 Burpees
  • Plank Jacks x10
  • 3 Burpees
  • Wind Mills
  • 4 Burpees
  • Potato Pickers
  • 5 Burpees

From there we moseyed to the bottom of the hill across from the school for the #HillWork:

2 Squat Jumps
2 Plank w\ Hip Touch
2 Merkins
2 Froggers
2 Squat Jumps

Run Hill 4 times.

4 Squat Jumps
4 Plank w\ Hip Touch
4 Merkins
4 Froggers
4 Squat jumps

Run Hill 3 times.

6 Squat Jumps
6 Plank w\ Hip Touch
6 Merkins
6 Froggers
6 Squat jumps

Run Hill 2 times.

8 Squat Jumps
8 Plank w\ Hip Touch
8 Merkins
8 Froggers
8 Squat jumps

Run Hill 1 time.

10 Squat Jumps
10 Plank w\ Hip Touch
10 Merkins
10 Froggers
10 Squat jumps

Quick 10 count and then:

  • 5 Burpees
  • 4 Backwards Hill Runs (THIS WAS PAINFUL)
  • 7 Burpees
  • 2 Backwards Hill Runs
  • 9 Burpees
  • 1 Backwards Hill Runs
  • 11 Burpees

2 Quick 10 counts and I gave the Pax the choice of more hills or something else. They picked hills (Choose the harder thing) and we did:

  • 10 push-ups, 10 squat jumps, 4 Bear Crawl up Hill/Run Down
  • 14 push-ups, 14 squat jumps, 2 Backwards Run up Hill/Run Down
  • 18 push-ups, 18 squat jumps, 1 Backwards Run up Hill/Run Down
  • 10 CCDs, 10 Bomb Jacks, 4 Run up Hill/Run Down
  • 14 CCDs, 14 Bomb Jacks, 2 Run up Hill/Run Down
  • 18 CCDS, 18 Bomb Jacks, 3 Run up Hill/Run Down

We ended with a fairly brisk Indian Run back to COT.

Thanks to all the Pax for showing up despite the warning of #HIllWork. I appreciate all the support and look forward to another 3 years.

Now back to the hunt…

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2019 Cannoli Run Supporting the Children’s Attention Home

The 2019 Cannoli 5k Run and 1 Mile Family Walk is pleased to announce that 100% of this year’s Cannoli proceeds go to the Children’s Attention Home!!!

Support the race and your fellow PAX who are making outstanding efforts at CAH! Post early and you still have time to get the family to the family walk (8:30 am) or 5k run (9:00 am), then the St. Philip Neri Italian Festival after.

Bolt is race director (803-415-1946), Twister Exec. Asst. and NASA and ChickenHawk are your on-point PAX.

Saturday May 18….8:30 am 1 Mile Family ….9:00 am Cannoli 5k Run…ruck info TBA ASAP.

Cannoli Run and Family Walk.  www.SPNCannoliRun.com   

Children’s Attention Home  http://attentionhome.org/ 

Direct Donation to CAH (enter Cannoli under “organization gift.”) Donate Here.

Update 4-2-19. Our registration #’s are running a little behind. Get signed up!

Aye! Bolt

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