Tag: Nasa

5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

2 Comments

Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

  • Mosey to the football field
  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10, 4-count windmills
  • 30 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10, 4-count merkins
  • 10, 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 10, 4-count Parker Peters
  • 10, 4-count LBCs
  • 20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

  • 800 meter indian run
  • 1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
  • 200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
  • 400 meter sprint corners recover straights
  • 1600 meter cool down
  • 5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

  • Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
  • Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
  • Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
  • Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
  • 10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
  • Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
  • Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

  • MOSEY to Elementary School
  • Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
  • Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
  • Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
    • Number 1’s go to station #1
    • 2’s start at Station3, etc.
  • Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
    • 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
    • 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
    • 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
    • 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
    • 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
    • 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
    • 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
    • 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
    • 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
    • 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
  • Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

TClap |
16

Children’s Attention Home Workday

1 Comment

PAX of Rock Hill, York, Gastonia, The Fort Regions and beyond,

The overwhelming success of the CAH Burpee Challenge that we worked our tails off in June is coming to fruition on 9/30 at 10:30AM at CAH. We will be getting rental gear for post hole diggers, concrete mixers, supplies are being worked on for lumber and hardware (hoping to get confirmation this week from Home Depot) and our very own Iron Horse is making the bars himself!! We have collected in cash, check, and through the website $2,508.24!!! That speaks to the HIMs that you all are.

We are going to install 6 pull up bars with step assists, 2 parallel bars, and 6 dip stations.

Iron Horse’s handy work. All bars are being sent off for powder coating as well!!

Date: 9/30/17 at 10:30AM

Who: All PAX, please sound off in comments if you are able to come. If we get 12 guys, I see this as a few hour project at most.

Location: CAH in Rock Hill

Duration: Until we are done

What to bring: Gloves, water, work boots, and dress is old work clothes.

If you have: Post hole diggers, cordless drill, large drill bits, bring them, I have some, but more is better. Let me know if comments what you plan to bring.

What is provided: Plans, materials, lunch (pizza will be delivered)

TClap |
10

Crawlin’ at the Deep

2 Comments

It was a beautiful Saturday morning at the Deep, cool with no humidity in sight (finally).  Since this was my first opportunity to Q I showed up early to scope the lay of the land and prep for the beatdown that was to follow, I wanted to make an impression after all.  The minutes leading up to the workout were suspenseful for me with most of the 9 PAX that posted rolling in at about 6:28.

@ 6:30 sharp we were all ready to begin.  No FNG’s in sight so I gave a quick disclaimer and we immediately circled up in the parking lot for some warm up exercises:

15 Windmills IC
15 Cherry Pickers IC
15 Moroccan Nightclubs IC
15 SSH IC
15 PJ’s IC
15 Alternating Shoulder Taps (Plank position) IC
15 Low Slow Squats IC

We then moseyed the long way around the parking lot with a few toy soldiers along the way until stopping at the top of a grassy hill for the first routine.  This consisted of running down to the bottom of the hill and backwards back up to the top where 5 CDD’s  awaited us before repeating 5x and adding 5 CDD’s each time.

Back to mosey across the street to the elementary school playground where the next routine awaited which consisted of 5 dips & 2 pull-ups and a lap around the perimeter of the playground.  Repeat 5x adding 5 dips & 2 pull-ups each time.  Grand total about a half mile of running, 30 pull-ups, and 75 dips.

Short mosey from the playground to the track & field where we spent the rest of our time.

First up was a little baseball, F3 style, as we attempted to hit for “The Cycle”.  I found this little gem on the Exicon, which I must admit, seemed a lot easier on paper.  After a little grumbling and a lot of crawling we all finished the exercise.  The Cycle consisted of bear crawling to 1st base (about 75ft to each base in our version), performing 3 burpees, and crawl-bear back to home (backwards bear crawl).  Then another bear crawl from home to 2nd base (rounding 1st), 6 burpees, and crawl bear back to home.  From home to 3rd base with another bear crawl, 9 burpees, and crawl bear back to home.  Finally, the last bear crawl all the way around the bases where 12 more burpees awaited…

…We called and audible and nixed the crawl bear back around the bases to the relief of all.

The last routine was another goodie I found on the Exicon named after Del Brown.  This consisted of performing 10 merkins, 25 yd. crab crawl, 10 diamond merkins, 25 yd. crab crawl back, and 10 more merkins.

Mosey back to the parking lot with a couple of minutes to spare.  I called on some PAX for ab exercises and we filled the last couple of minutes with Boxcutters and Hello Dolly’s before recovering to CoT.

Thanks Royale for the opportunity to lead, it was an honor and I’m already thinking about the next one.  All the PAX worked hard today and a few of us met up for Coffeteria after at the local Dunkin’ Donuts for a little 2nd F.

-Flux

TClap |
12

Windjammer Glory Run

Leave a comment

Record breaking 16 PAX at Tempo.  Dash to Windjammer and Back was The Thang.  Lots of 2ndF during the 1stF with a 3rdF pause in the middle to give thanks to Sky Q at the Windjammer Dock.

 

View post on imgur.com

Prayers:

Aging Parents, Marriages, Job Situations.

Much thanks given to Sky-Q at the dock this morning… Praise to the King.

 

Announcements:

G-Fit tomorrow at 1900

CAH Guidance Saturday Sept 2 at 1600

Invergence Sept 29th

Read Your Newsletter

TClap |
7

New Beginnings, Building Bridges at The Ballroom

Leave a comment

Preamble – New Beginnings

When The Ballroom moved from its founding location behind The Mirror Room on Gold Hill Rd to Pleasant Knoll Elementary School down the road, then to PKMS, it was both exciting and sad for many. A shiny new pair of shoes is always nice, but sometimes those old ones fit just right. The spirit of F3 was cultivated and spread in the grounds there. Many a PAX laid alot of sweat marks all around the old locale, some not as much as others but enough to leave a mark. Some merlot was donated to the groundwater supply as well. There were alot of painful and fun 1st F beatdowns, moderate or not, administered there. We celebrated there. We consoled there. We held each other up in times of need there. We supported and pushed each other there. We made each other better there. We converged there and sent a much loved young man away to serve his country abroad there. We welcomed many new faces there. There were alot of great 2nd and 3rd Fs forged there. Iron was sharpened there. Leaders were invigorated there.  Part of the fabric of F3 nation was woven there. The old locale will always have a special place for those who were there.

As is the same with Fort Mill itself, F3 is always expanding. Always improving. Always evolving. You will never reach new grounds until you commit to pushing off of the dock. Too much traffic and congestion, it was becoming dangerous for the PAX. It was time to find a new AO locale for The Ballroom. First it was Pleasant Knoll Elementary School (PKES). A few workouts were held there, led by some great Qs. But for anyone who has driven by the sparkling new Pleasant Knoll Middle School (PKMS) from its initial ground clearing through construction to completion, it was obvious this was going to be the crown jewel of middle schools (for now) in Fort Mill’s outstanding school system. Make no doubts about it, we were all hoping this would become an AO.  It was reconned one morning. The new site is incredible – HUGE, brand new still with that new construction smell, and FULL of options to challenge the PAX in many ways. The decision was made. This was it. PKMS was to be the new AO for The Ballroom – and it may get a new name as well. New site, new F3 memories to come. New Beginnings.

Time to Git ‘Er Dun

When Cake Boss asked me to Q a WO at The Ballroom, I could not say Aye quick enough. I showed up at a little after 5, and there were quite a few folks already there, ready to get after it. A great turnout of great PAX. Alot of good conversation building up to the start. It is a great group of PAX here. A few late stragglers came in right at the buzzer. Time to git ‘er dun!

No FNGs, disclaimer was made, and off we went….

Mosey from the main parking lot meandering around the long, curving driveway. Slow a bit for some toy soldiers, then gather at an intersection near the new football field. COP:

  • SSH x 20
  • WM x 20
  • Imperial-Hillbilly Walker – start w IW w one leg, plant leg back down then do HW w same leg – right leg up to left elbow, back down, right leg up to right elbow, back down counts as one rep. Did 10 or so reps .
  • MNC x 20
  • Peter Parker x 10
  • Parker Peter x 10

Quick discussion on on discipline (see NMM). Mosey over to the football field. Vernon’s playground. Blows my mind that this is a middle school field!! Incredible. Vernon made sure to keep us off the new track and not mess up the turf too bad. It was clear, dark, and the stars were out. It was amazing. This is part of the reason why many of us love the early morning routines.

Main Event

On the artificial turf football field. It sets goals and boundaries. Starting right at the 0 yd goal line at one corner post, do an exercise OYO, transition to another exercise. Total of 5 exercises at 20yds apart, moderate HIIT style. Aim is to get to the other goal line 100yds away. Exercises and transitions:

  1. 100 yds – Merkins
  2. Lunge walk transition
  3. 80 yds – LBCs
  4. Bear crawl transition
  5. 60 yds – LSS
  6. Crab walk transition
  7. 40 yds – CDDs
  8. Lunge walk
  9. 20 yds – AHs
  10. Sprint AYG to goal

> Start at 20 reps of each exercise OYO. No stopping until you get to the end. 10 second breather then mosey over in various ways to other side of field. Repeat cycle in decreasing reps 15, then 10, then 5. In the end the PAX did 50 of each exercise and transitioned 400 yds.

The PAX did great! Alot of mumblechatter, laughter, and pushing and encouraging each other on. This is what it is all about. Thank you all for starting each other’s day off right.

After we brushed off the little black rubber pellets that seemed to get all over us (which Old Bay did not seem too fond of),  we moseyed back towards the school. Up and around to the back of the school where there is a long, tall, well-lit wall that is just PERFECT for wall work.

  • People’s chair to slow 10 count, 3 reps
  • BTTW  to slow 10 count, 3 reps

Behind the school next to where we did the wall work is something quite unique for this school…..a long steel and concrete foot bridge from the school proper to the athletic fields that crosses a large, deep ravine. This is quite symbolic for the theme of the month in my opinion. We stopped in the middle of the bridge to drive home my point on discipline. See NMM. We then moseyed back in a two line slow Indian run back to the COT. After AP&P, Cake Boss led us out with an amazing prayer as is usual for him.

Announcements, Prayers, and Praises:.
* Read your newsletter!
* CAH Guidance back to Saturdays starting on 9/2 at 4pm
* CAH Burpee Challenge – almost $3K collected!! Still some outstanding commitments. Please pay what you’ve pledged.
* Nun Run coming up – if you are not aware of Speed for Need, please read up. An AMAZING initiative. Vuvuzela’s son, among others, will experience the pure joy it brings. An incredible thing. Consider participating, or at the least donating to this worthy cause.
* Prayers for Cornerstone’s Emma as well as his M.
* Prayers for other M’s going through various struggles
* Prayers for injured and struggling PAX
* Prayers for kids going back to school
* Praises for PAX pushing themselves to get better in whatever way

NMM – Building Bridges

The theme of this dwindling month is discipline. It’s a strong word that affects many aspects of our lives. There is discipline of guidance, teaching, or mentoring others in order to attain desired behavior or help foster positive growth in others. There is also the idea of having discipline or self-discipline and holding yourself accountable to an established standard, doctrine or expectation. To me, it is how you structure your mind, heart, and soul. Discipline gives you the boundaries in which you operate, much like the gridiron football field we were on for this workout. It provides the structure through which you build upon in order to achieve. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.

Keep in mind the ‘goals’ and ‘accomplishments’ are not just worldly pursuits such as winning a game, getting a degree, completing a marathon, making more money, or getting a promotion at work. Yes, greater applied discipline will definitely help in those pursuits. But they could be more inter/intra-personal, spiritual goals of:

  • Having a better relationship with God
  • Living the word of The Gospel more
  • Having a better relationship with your parents, M,  2.0’s, family, and/or friends
  • Becoming more reliable, accountable for others in your life
  • Having a better control over your ‘demons’ so to speak, however you may define that word
  • Overcoming personal obstacles towards improvement of your mind, body, heart, soul

As we stood on that bridge at the school, I again mentioned to the PAX that discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. I challenged the PAX to examine their lives, think of any goal(s) of where they want to be, and see what bridges they need to build, what structure do they need in order to get there. In the past I have been told I have good self discipline, but I know I have some bridges that people don’t see that need to be built. I have self confidence issues, I can be socially insecure, I do not have as good of a relationship with God as I would like, I am not as open and available to family and friends as I used to be, I could be a better husband to my M, I still have some anger issues that arise every now and then, and I could be a better disciplinarian to my own kids. The introduction of F3 in my life has helped me immensely in those areas, but there is still work to do. If you look deep and get past the wall of denial, we all have bridges to build or restore.

If you set a goal, no matter how lofty it may seem, it will be the bridge of discipline that will help get you there. Plus, those accomplishments are easier to attain when you have help, and you will never be alone if you have Sky Q in your heart and soul. Having the self-restraint, courage and perseverance which comes from the pursuit and strength provided by God is true, everlasting discipline. The bridges you will build will last forever.

Let’s build some bridges.

Thank you Cake Boss for the opportunity to lead.
God bless,
– NASA

TClap |
9

CSPAN visits Quagmire

Leave a comment

Conditions were pouring rain…and sort of raining like you might not want to get out of the car kind of rain…

Disclaimer

Spent the morning running and rotating the Q in reverse age order as it was miserable out (shared misery)

we got in about 3 miles, and plenty of exercises to 15 reps

Lots of laughs and #mumblechatter…exactly what I needed…thank you for the invite to Q

Sermon was on APE – A=Attitude, P=Performance, and E=Effort and how APE is our input into every situation. It is our responsability to maintain our APE and make a difference in our lives, our faith, our family life, our work, our church, etc…

COT/ prayer or praise/ BOM

 

 

TClap |
2

Ruck WO: Freedom of Choice….but not of Consequence

Leave a comment

Cobra Kai asked me to lead a ruck workout a while back. HC!! First time Q-ing a ruck workout……I was nervous. No better way to learn than to get thrown in the deep end. So here goes….

6 of us for the Ruck good livin this AM. Good, needed an even number.

Rucks on, very brief mosey to the parking lot in front of Marshall’s

COP. Rucks off, 15-20 ea:
* SSH
* WM
* IW
* MNC
* PJ

“Intermission” WO:
10 ea w ruck:
* Curls
* Upright Rows
* Swings
* Overhead Press

Then I wanted to try something different. Instead of transitioning w rucks on as usual. Partner up, 5 merkin catch-me-if-you-can to the stairs/patio next to Just Fresh. We each did about 20 merkins or so along the way.

> Intermission WO

Then it was time for some stair work at the patio of the vacant restaurant next to Just Fresh (that place must be cursed – great locale, cannot keep a tenant there).

Partner up. P1 > farmer carry both rucks up, across, down stairs. P2 > Exercise AMRAP. Each group did 2 rounds before moving to next exercise. Exercises were:
* LBC
* Merkins
* Flutter
* CDDs

Break between merkins and flutters to talk a little (see moleskin). The Boot campers moseyed on up and wanted to use the stairs, but we had squatters rights. Sorry. We left a nice sweat trail for them to find their way around. 🙂

After CDDs done, ruck overhead carry mosey to the corner walls behind Home Depot. >

> Intermission WO

Now time for some wall squatting.

Rucks on laps, shoulder to shoulder. Person on end passed their ruck down the line to the left, and bear crawled down the line to catch up with it, then the next person did the same until complete. >> 2 rounds. Wow. Quads hurt. My bird legs were feelin it! Rinse and repeat except to the right (need to stay balanced). >> 2 more rounds. By then we were ALL feeling the burn. Note to others: Bear’s ruck feels at least twice as heavy as the others. Quite impressive, but not fun for us.

Finally a normal ruck on mosey to the area in front of Zoes Kitchen >> Intermission WO.

Evidently my watch is running slow……boot campers were at the COT waiting on us. Double timed it back to COT.

GREAT job by all!! The ruck WOs I’ve been to are intense and challenging. I did not know if I could maintain those high standards on my ruck VQ. I hope I did. I thank those who have taught me along the way.

> See DaVinci’s BB for Announcements, Prayers, Praises.

NMM:

Theme of this dwindling month is Freedom. Something that is the very fabric of this nation. It also affects the paths of our lives. Sky Q has a plan for all of us. Sometimes he puts forth challenges to see if we can maintain our path. Our personal moral values, along with our Faith in Him, are our compass. It is our decisions that prints our evolving map.

I told the PAX a story about something that very recently happened to a friend of mine who now lives in Pittsburgh. In summary : my friend was involved in a road rage incident with an off-duty cop that had a bad attitude who had no issues with using his badge to his personal advantage (the cop’s badge and gun were the accessories he made sure my friend clearly saw). The cop was clearly the main aggressor who escalated it to near headline news violence. Nothing happened to my friend (thank God). Even though the cop pushed it, my friend did not back down but did not further escalate. The cop knew he was wrong, and there were witnesses in the cars all around realizing something is amiss.  The cop fled before anyone could follow or get a plate number.

It could have VERY easily ended differently, and I’d be up in PA for a funeral now. But what set that chain of event in motion? There was an initial disagreement between the two. My friend decided to further antagonize…..even though he knew the person behind him was getting more and more angry. He could have let it go, and most likely things would not have escalated. Yes, the cop was clearly the aggressor, but what was the first push? What set that chain of event along its irreversible path?

I myself had a scary road rage incident happen to me once. In my truck rolling down the road here in the Charlotte area, all is good. Someone behind me was not happy with my speed, tailgating me, honking his horn, waiving his hands as I see in my mirror. I pull over to the next lane. No big deal. He zips by, gives me a nasty look, the one finger salute, curses at me, then zips on. I got pissed. I sped up, got along side, and returned the gestures. He looks st me and pulls a gun up clearly visible at me. I nailed the brakes and he went on. I pulled over angry and shaken, but not at the other driver. At myself.
Why?

My two boys were in the back seat. My heart sank.

I could have let it go. I did not. I pushed it. Yes, the arsehole pushed too, and escalated it. But….

I can control myself. I could have let it go and diffused the situation early. I chose not to.
I cannot control others. I chose to ASSUME nothing bad could happen, that the other person I cannot control would react in a relatively civil manner. They did not.

We cannot totally control or influence how others may affect the path we are on, the actions that they take. But we can control what we do that could put forth a chain of events that we do not want. Freedom of choice is a very powerful thing, and one that cannot be taken lightly. We have freedom of choice, but we do not always have freedom of consequence.

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

TClap |
8

DaVinci Cones Redux

2 Comments

Full disclosure: 6 of the Pax listed above were ruckers and their workout was led by NASA.

Today was the first time I’ve Q’d in a long time. I was a bit nervous, but have worked out all over this AO and sort of know the lay of the land. My Q Lane is more of the Set-It-And-Forget-It variety, and today was no different. With no further ado, here is:

The Thang

Long Mosey to parking lot in front of Old Navy. Circle up for some COP:

SSH, windmills —SLOW (you’re welcome, CSPAN), low slow squats, merkins, downward dog stretches, honeymooner, mountain climbers, peter parkers, freddys, LBCs

Mosey to the Valvoline for some hill work. Sevens or Jacob’s Ladder: merkins at bottom, bombjacks at the top

Mosey to the raised patio the the old Riverbleu only to find the ruckers using the spot, so it was off to Plan B. I had cones set up on the drive, one on either side of the fountain. Each cone listed 5 exercises and the required reps. Do the exercise, run a half lap to the next cone, do the exercise. And so forth until everyone had finished the circuit. Exercise were as follows:

Cone One:

  1. Slow Squats (20)
  2. Curb Dips (20)
  3. Mtn. Climbers (20 d.c.)
  4. Curb Derkins (20)
  5. CDD’s (20)

Cone Two:

  1. Imperial Wlkrs (20 d.c.)
  2. Jump Lunges (10/leg)
  3. Freddy Mercurys (20 d.c.)
  4. Flying Squirrels (10)
  5. Peter Parkers (10 d.c.)

Then we made our way to the Rivebleu raised patio for the following:

Divide up into groups of 3. First man runs the stairs, does 5 burpees, runs down the back stairs and back to the group while 2nd and 3rd man do squats. Then repeat with 2nd and 3rd man.

By this point, it was time to mosey back to COT for a couple minutes of ab lab. Freddys, Crunchy Frogs (demo and cadence from WitchHunt), LBCs.

Announcements:

Children’s Attention Home: Q or post to support these great kids who are victims of circumstance and are in need of positive male role models.

Delta signups have begun! Reach out to Wild Thing if you’re interested in joining a LKW team.

Prayers for pregnant Ms, for family struggling with addiction and recovery.

Moleskin

At COT,  I shared that today, 7/28/17 would have been my late father’s 75th birthday. In 2001, he died  of a massive heart attack at the age of 59. My father was a good man. A loving man and unfailing provider for our family. But he had personal struggles. He was an alcoholic. A workaholic. Never exercised. Attended church sporadically, especially during my years at home.

My dad didn’t have what I would consider close friends or a strong social network. He had a family, a career, a mortgage, two kids who stayed out of trouble. But he always struck me as lonely. Isolated. I daresay alcohol use was his way of self medicating: his way of trying to fill a hole and mask his feelings of isolation.

I am grateful to write here that I am not an alcoholic, although there was a time in my late 20s that I was definitely auditioning for the part. No one will ever accuse me of being a workaholic (though I do work hard). Though I may not eat the healthiest diet, I do post at workout consistently between 4 and 6 days a week.

But, perhaps most importantly to me, I have gained a strong network of men who support and encourage each other to become better.

My life is on a completely different trajectory.

I am not alone. I am not isolated. I am a grateful part of this community, and I thank each of you for being a part of my life.

TClap |
12

DPQ – New F3 Acronym (Don’t Poke the Q) Rad Brad’s Fault

1 Comment

Rad decided it was a good idea the night before to start ragging on my Monday Q and that pre-runs should be required in order to get a decent workout.  Well, didn’t really need that motivation, but it definitely pushed me to add more weight to the flat bed relays.

Warm-up (or lack thereof):  2 songs played – one drove merkin count, one drove squat count
– The Police – Roxanne:  every time you hear Roxanne, drop it down to 6 inch hold, next Roxanne push up.  Do it for the whole song w/ plenty of instrumentals played at the 6 inch hold
– AC/DC – Thunderstruck (sorry DaVinci):  same as above, only squat and hold down on the word “Thunder” and then when you hear it again, come up but then immediately do calf raises until the next “Thunder”

  • Next up – flat bed relays.  Prior to the workout, Olaf, Lutefisk and myself hit Home Depot looking for some flat bed carts.  After being questioned by the manager on duty for some “shady-ness”, we convinced her it was cool and that we’d return all Home Depot assets post workout.
    We then proceeded to load up each flat bed w/ the following:  2 cinder blocks, an engine, a car battery, and about 3 bags of metal pellets (each weighing approx 15-30 lbs).   2 teams (one for each flat bed cart) – while one pax from each team pushed the cart the full length of the Home Depot parking lot and then back, the rest of the pax did as many they could of the following exercises (each exercise was done 3x, ie. 3 seperate team member flat bed pushes) – carolina dry docks, jump lunges, toe touches
  • 2nd station – wall sits between Target and Home Depot.  All pax held a wall sit until all of the following was complete:  each pax sprints to the opposite wall one by one, does 5 burpees and sprints back (then the next guy can go), each pax sprints to the opposite wall one by one, does 5 vertical jumps (touch the highest brick you can on the wall) and sprints back.  We then finished her off w/ single leg wall sits for 20 sec holds each.
  • 3rd station – moseyed on over to the fountain and did some new wave tabata (thx for the inspiration On the Rocks).  No timer w/ this tabata – our “timer” was 2 pax at a time doing suicides.  While they did suicides, the rest of us did the following exercises max rep – single arm row planks, diamond merkins, crab cakes, knee to elbow merkins.
  • Finished it off w/ all you got 50 yd sprints in front of Best Buy x 3 w/ a jailbreak to COT.

Thanks for allowing me to lead DaVinci.  Had a blast.  Left the pax w/ some words around making more time for what’s important.  I’ve been struggling w/ putting in way too many hours at the office, and have sacrificed time w/ my kids, wife and in the word.  I recently got my hands on a leadership book from a guy at work (Leading…for God’s Sake) and one of the passages states “If you are too busy for God, maybe you are busier than he intended you to be”.  Make the time.

ChaChing

TClap |
6

2017 Board of Pain at The Abyss – 7/19/2017

Leave a comment

17 brave souls showed up for everyone’s favorite summer tradition- the Board of Pain.   With the majority being first-timers I knew this was going to be fun.  There is not better representation of ‘You vs You’ than the #BoardOfPain.

The Thang: perform each exercise and the associated rep count.  You can not move on to next exercise until previous exercise is complete.  In between each exercise is a recovery run of 1/4 mile.  Below are the stats on the day.  Come back next week to compete against the others and yourself.

An amazing effort from all the Pax today, especially first timers.  The Board of Pain tests you both physically and mentally.  Below are resutls:

Prayers
Went around the circle and everyone Pax was asked to give a pray or praise. Too many to remember but they were heard.

TClap |
2