Convergence – Shop Vac

65 PAX gathered to remember Shop Vac. Probably had closer to 70 at different points during the hour. Fishsticks took the Milkshakers

Lutefish warmup:
Sean Kelley, 56, Shop Vac

There are a couple of young men I was hoping would hear this this morning. While I’m talking to them, I’m also talking to myself and all of you.

We all know that or God, SkyQ, has written our books. He went before us, He knows us by name, and He alone knows when our earthly lives begin and end. God knew our brother Sean was to come home. And it doesn’t make sense to us.

But let me ask you this. What would it be like to know that when it is our time that we would also know that we accomplished the tasks that the Lord created us to do? God knows the great plans He has for each of you. You are here for a reason.

Wouldn’t it feel comforting to know that you full executed your purpose here on earth? Today we celebrate Sean, who I believe did just that. Sean loved his sons. It’s all he talked about when we worked out together. That, and his dream to have a home in Beaufort. He lived out and executed his purpose. We now have 2 of his sons as our brothers, and how great it is that the world is better because of him. Recover on your feet.

I read a quote recently:

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced; live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”

Sean is rejoicing and would want us to do the same. And he would want us to do 56 side straddle hops in cadence.

Split out to:

  • Kettlebells
    • Uhaul
  • Bootcamp: split PAX into two groups for 20min sessions
    • Ruby Slippers
    • Band Camp

Uhaul’s KB workout:
56 Squats
56 Curls
56 Skull Crushers
56 Calf Raises
56 Uhauls
56 Flutters w/ press (4 count)
56 Dead lifts
56 Lawn Mower Pulls R
56 Lawn Mower Pulls L
56 American Hammers
56 LBCs (4 count)

Band Camp’s portion:
EMOM
minute 1 – 20 burpees
minute 2 – 30 jumping lunges
minute 3 – 40 Freddie Mercuries
minute 4 – 50 Carolina Dry Docks
minute 5 – 60 SSH

7s w/ Mike Tysons and Squats
Mode of transportation: bear crawl/crawl bear

Some in cadence jump squats, core work,

I found a backblast from Shop Vac…It reads with a lot more significance to me now. https://f3thefort.com/2021/04/14/403656/
I may have said something asinine while holding a squat and quoting his backblast.
Something like:
Have understanding when I say 5 more squat jumps
Show tolerance when I say 6 more squat jumps
Practice patience when I call 7 more squat jumps
Take direction as we’re now hitting 8 more squat jumps

Did a little sprinting as well with the second group. (Shop Vac would not have approved, and neither did most of the PAX)

NMM: Shop Vac’s love for and pride in his sons was palpable. He made me want to be a better dad. I’m glad to be around men that make me want to be better. Shop Vac was one of those dudes.

Ruby Slippers’s portion:
I had the pleasure of working out a lot with Shop Vac. His attitude, smile, and laughter infected you immediately every time you met him.

YHC remembers a time during COT after a workout where frustrations from my work life came bubbling to the surface. After I vented to the PAX about the situation ( usual selfish rant where everyone else has a problem but me ) and the Q finished prayer, Shop Vac pulled me to the side and gently explained that it was my attitude that needed to be adjusted, not everyone else’s. He did it in a manner where I gladly and thankfully accepted his advice.

The Thang:
At every Shop Vac Q you could count on stations, simple exercises and/or routines, and minimal running. The six was never left behind at a Shop Vac workout so we are using the buddy system to make sure that does not happen at this workout.

Set-up 4 stations in the shape of a square in the middle parking lot at The Armory. 4 stations represented each member of the Kelly family, there were 4 exercises at each station, partner work to complete a cumulative total of 56 reps of each exercise:

Sean’s station:
– Merkins, Diamond Merkins, Wide Arm Merkins, CDD’s
Stacey’s station:
– Crunches in cadence, Flutters in cadence, Big Boy Sit-ups, Straight Lower Leg Lifts
Jack’s station:
– Squats, Jump Squats, Lunges, Jumping Lunges
Brian’s station
– Side Straddle Hops in cadence, Seal Jacks in cadence, Mountain Climbers in cadence, Plank Jacks in cadence.

PAX partner up – complete all 4 exercises at a station and then mosey to the center. YHC stood in the center of the square to represent Francis, Shop Vac’s faithful four-legged companion, where PAX would come to complete 56 monkey humpers.

Continued around the stations until time was called.

Video Evidence: https://twitter.com/jisenhour/status/1456967297453727750

Welcome FNGs: Bow Wow Wow, Bam!, Triple H, Dictator, Wax Off, and Pool Boy

Prayers for Sean’s family.

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9 Lovers of Triceps

Where are all of the BB’s for The Armory? C’mon boys!

Warm-up of a mosey and some SSHs.

The Thang was ascending reps along the parking spots of Forest Hill Church. Line 1 = 1 Rep; Line 2 = 2 Reps…14 lines = 105 reps of each exercise. We Bearcrawled to each line…yay!

1. Curls
2. Swings
3. Double Arm Overhead Tricep Extensions
4. Skull Crushers
5…Dealers Choice of anything left on the board as time was almost up
a. Goblet Squats
b. Upright Rows
c. Chest Presses
d. Lunge Pass Thrus
e. Halos
f. Manmakers

Apparently Skull Crushers should never follow Tricep Extensions…my bad.

It’s always an honor to Q. Thanks goes out to Shatner for the opportunity. We prayed for a successful surgery and a quick recovery for him. And many other things.

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Golden Corral 1.12.21

Nine men showed up on a cold, rainy morning at the old Corral.  After the disclaimer, I told the Pax we would be running most of the time in order to keep warm.

Here is what we did this am:

  • Mosey to the front of O’Reilly – 10 SSHs
  • Run to the back of Express Lube – 10 Step-ups, 10 derkins
  • Run to HT side wall – Wall sits w/calf raises
  • Run to back of HT – Lunge walk between light poles, 20 squats
  • Run to traffic circle near Apts –  Partner exercises (2 rounds)
        • Partner 1 ran up to the cell tower, 10 bomb jacks, and ran back to Partner 2
        • Partner 2 did 5 burpees, 10 hand release merkins, and 10 diamond merkins
  • Run to the water fountain on the opposite side of the Apt complex – 10 dips, 10 erkins (3 sets)
  • Nur up the hill to the first light pole, run up to the Fire station parking lot-  Cadence abs work: LBCs, Flutters, and Hello Dollies
  • Run to KrK parking lot – Plank taps in cadence
  • Back down the hill (run) to the fire station – 20 squats
  • Back to the water fountain – Bear crawl around the fountain
  • Mosey back to HT side wall –  Wall sits, Balls to the wall, Balls to the wall w/ shoulder tap, and Balls to the wall w/hip tap.
  • Back to COT

We cover two hilly miles with alot of shoulder work and great job everyone!

 

 

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Venice or Vienna

7 PAX on a perfect South Carolina morning in November.

Disclaimer was given

Mosey to Band Practice lot
Warmup in cadence
Side-straddle Hops
Imperial Walkers
Hillbilly Walkers
Shoulder Taps
Some Yoga
Squats
Split Squats (L, then R)
Some more Yoga

100 yard runs
1x @ 50% & some exercises for the six to rejoin
2x @ 75% & some exercises for the six to rejoin
1x @ 90% & some yoga for the six to rejoin
4x @ 100% & a walk back

Mosey to the Pull-up Bars for the HIIT portion:

20 seconds on, then 20 seconds rest

Pull ups
Mountain Climbers
Chin ups
Merkins
Burpees
3 rounds

Squats
Knee Ups
Split Squat Left
Split Squat Right
Monkey Humpers
2.25 rounds

Mosey to COT

NMM:
How hard would you push if it weren’t for the guys around you?
How important is it for you to show up so other guys are encouraged to push themselves merely by your presence?


Band Camp dismissed

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Cold Bells

9 men showed up for a cold kettlebell workout this morning at The Armory.  Good news, I planned to divide the group into teams of 3 so it worked out perfectly.  Since 9 / 3 = 3.  🙂

In order to get warm, we took a lap around the parking lot.  Next, we did a few exercises to get ready for the main event (SSHs, Windmills,  Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles, and Plank Stretches).

Next, we moseyed to the main parking lot where we formed teams of three.  Dora theme, exercises were written in chalk 25 yards apart (I didn’t measure it, but it looked close).  Two of the partners began the exercises while the third partner “traveled” to one of the partners.  Once he reached the other partner, they switched out and partner two headed back  to partner one. The mode of transportation was either a lunge walk, overhead bell carry, or the dreaded crab walk.  The exercises at each stop were as follows:

Stop 1

150 KB Swings

225 Curls

300 LBCs

300 Calf Raises

 

Stop 2

225 Squat Thrusters

300 Uptight Rows

300 Flutters

300 Chest Presses

 

The reps were high, but everyone was able to get through most of it.

Great job Everyone!

 

 

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October Hustle

9 Stallions greeted October at the Ranch for a Bootcamp and were joined by 2 Ruckers at COT.

The Thang:

Mosey to Square Field for Warm Up

  • SSH
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Hill Billy Walkers
  • Burpees

Mosey to Middle School Back Parking Lot

Bearpees – Jack Webb Burpee 1×4 Bear Crawl

Escalator. One exercise with prescribed count (IC), run the full lot and back

  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 Merkins
  • 30 CDD
  • 40 Low Slow Squats
  • 50 Lunges

Paula Abdul – 5 Burpees, Run Forward 3 Spots, Back 1 the length of the Parking Lot

Mosey around to back of School for Inchworm Merkins for length of the first building.

Mosey to Middle School Pickup Line for Merkin Gassers.  Set of 10 of each followed by Gassers to each speed bump and back.

  • Diamond Merkins
  • Werkins
  • Rangers
  • Merkins

Indian Run back to start for 6MOM and COT

Announcements: Read your Newsletter.

 

Honor to Serve.

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Shovel Flag Handoff and Legacy Beatdown

It was my honor to receive the Shovel Flag from Uhaul this morning. I’m looking forward to joining with all the great HIMs that frequent this AO to continue the legacy that was celebrated today.

But enough about YHC, we enjoyed a true legacy beatdown this morning that included the following; (forgive me if I missed something)

0515 came early this morning for some of us… very early for a few that came rolling into the parking lot hot just in time for the fun!

  1. Uhaul started the custom playlist for the morning and then led us in some warmup exercises at the shovel flag to get the blood moving. We did a metric ton of SSH’s, was anybody still counting when they finally ended? All I know is Uhaul was having too much fun with them! These were followed by Moroccan Nightclubs, Tappy-taps… And we were moving!
  2. Mosey with our bells over to the far end of the parking lot for JWOW’s Q; There we did 30 counts of a bunch of exercises including curls, goblet squats, flutters… Probably some more that I forget at the moment. Between each set we ran a “suicide” with cones previously laid out by JWOW.  – Side note- B.O.B. recommended an official name change for suicides in light of our focus on mental health. I believe I heard either Gears or Cake Boss say “Gassers” while in COT, and I would second that. I don’t see that name used in the Exicon, how do we get an official name change for mental health awareness?
  3. After JWOW, Assassin had us on our sixes playing hot potato in a circle, passing our bells around the circle from left to right, then back right to left. We also did a bunch of LBCs while partners ran a kettle bell relay around the parking lot.
  4. Dark Helmet on Q had us lifting our bells, a lot! Shoulders were definitely burning! We also ran again around the parking lot. Music choice was… interesting, I’m going to assume that not many guys have ever worked out to the peaceful and spiritual sounds of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Maybe in SLC? We all thanked Uhaul for that!
  5. My turn. 50 Shoulder presses/tricep extensions, farmer carry across the lot. 50 Front shrugs/upright rows, overhead carry back across the lot. 50 halos and 50 around the worlds, farmer carry across the lot. 50 chest presses/skull crushers, overhead carry across the lot. And finally, 50 bent over reverse flys.

0600 we moseyed back to COT for Nameorama, Shovel Flag Hand-Off, and prayers and praises.

Prayers for our concentricas, prayers for F3 Hightower who was killed in the line of duty this weekend in Myrtle Beach. Especially for those who are left here without him.

Thank you Uhaul for the opportunity, thank you everyone for your support!

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ISI DORA at The Armory

It has been 1 year and 5 days since YHC last Q’ed at The Armory. Quite a few fond memories of the AO… including almost splashing merlot under the leadership of Assassin. Always a privilege to be asked to lead such a fine establishment. The cars just kept rolling in this morning… and luck would have it that an even number of PAX showed up. A few newer faces appeared and YHC was happy to be introduced. 

0515

Disclaimer

Proverbs 27:17 –

Mosey to Concrete Benches w/bells.

COP in Cadence

10 x Diamond Merkins on Bells

10 x KB Swings

5 x Burpees

10 x OH Press

20 x SSH

Overhead Hold KB while YHC explains weinke. 

ISI DORA

Tell PAX to partner up with someone of equal “shape” or “fitness.” PAX 1 does exercise, PAX 2 moseys out and back to a determined point. Both PAX keep number of reps secret from one another. Once the specific movement is completed, disclose number of reps. PAX with lower number of reps does a penalty exercise to make up the difference. Other partner planks in the meantime. The goal of this is to push your partner to do more reps than you. To run faster than you. To push them to push you. To sharpen each other. 

Round 1 – Lower

Movement/Penalty

Goblet Squat/Bomb Jacks

KB Swings/Bomb Jacks

Alternating Lunges/Bomb Jacks

Step Ups w/Bell/Bomb Jacks

Round 2 – Upper

Straightaway Sprints Three Islands Out + Back

Movement/Penalty

Strict OH Press/Halos

ALPOs/Halos

Curls/Halos

Skull Crushers/Halos

Round 3 – Full Body/Hybrid Movements

Movement/Penalty

Turkish Get UPS/Man makers

Burpee Snatch/Man makers

1 Arm Clean and Press/Man makers

Z Press/Man makers (American Hammer body position with OH Press)

 

Five minutes left – head back to COT to knock out some Mary.

American Hammers w/KB x 20

Flutters w/press x 20

Hello Dolly w/extended hold x 20

KB 3 Count Sit Ups x 5 (as Dirty Harry put it – it’s like the Big Boy Sit up and the American Hammer got together and had a baby). 

0600

Announcements

The Fort has a birthday coming up! Look out for info on Slack.

Alcatraz will have the most mumble chatter ever as Stang and Trucker co-Q this Saturday.

Prayers/Praises

Truckers 2.0 – injured and cannot play football at the moment – pray for his spirits to remain high as he navigates a tough situation. 

Pray for our children – especially those who are most impressionable right now by every message being thrown at them. Nature Boy said it well that he’s at a point in his life where he and his peers are most susceptible to influence from outside sources. 

Prayers for we as fathers to lead our children on the right path while they navigate their daily challenges. Prayers that we can push them on toward Christ. 

Today was fun. It involved much sharpening and the group in attendance was quite encouraging. Props to Band Camp for keeping up with Tesh, to Dirty Harry for not splashing merlot, and to Singlet & Nature Boy for literally sprinting every time I saw them running. Oh to be young…

Thanks UHAUL for the privilege to lead.

Punch List out. 

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16 for minutes at The Ranch

15 PAX joined YHC this morning for minutes at the Ranch. I wanted to try something a little different which can be a challenge but thankfully, all were willing to test it out. It was touch and go with ShopVac and Nature Boy at the start but fortunately, they decided to stay with us.

Here’s the deal. One exercise for 1 minute followed by a 10 second rest. Then an exercise for 1 minute followed by a 10 second rest. We did that from 0515-0600. The exercises are listed below but know that there is a 10 second rest between each.

Side Straddle Hops
Windmills
Jog
Squats
Calf Raises
Run
Peter Parkers
Parker Peters
Run
Carolina Dry Dock
Air Press
Run
Left side lunge
Right side lunch
Run
Box Cutters
Freddie Mercury
Run
Wide-Arm Merkins
Overhead Claps
Run
Jump Squats
Squats while on the balls of your feets
Run
X’s & O’s
Flutters
Run
Diamond Merkins
Bent over rows
Run
Reverse Lunges
Run
Plank
Run
LBC’s

Back to COT

Simple yet hopefully the PAX found it effective.

Until next time.
SYITG

Maximus

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The Coop: A Pint Down

YHC gave blood last night…so today’s workout was highly modular. (In case I passed out)

We headed to the center of the football field and circled up for a warm up
SSH
IW
HW
Shoulder Taps
Did some light yoga

Moved toward the goal line doing butt kickers, inch worms, and/or toy soldiers
Moved back towards the opposite goal line Karaoke, side shuffle, and more toy soldiers
Bear Crawl toward the 50-yard line adding 10 merkins every 25 yards.

Did some heavy yoga

Ran the track with four burpees at every corner

Did some heavier yoga

Sprinted 100 yards a few times until Yoshi looked a bit tired.
Mosey back to COT

Did pigeon lunge at COT and was called out for not having any ab-specific exercises by Straight Up. Fair point.

NMM:

Kaiser asked YHC to think about a bible verse that speaks to me:
Exodus 4:2 [God talking to Moses]

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A stick,” he replied.

Moses only needed what God had already provided to accomplish the divine work laid out for him. What do you already have that God can use in your life?


Band Camp dismissed.
 

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