Let’s do Pull-Ups at Crow’s Nest

Today was a great chilly morning for my first post of the year!

Disclaimer at 0515 and straight into a mosey which included high knees, toy soldiers, and broad jumps (mumblechatter already? this should be good)

Ran around to the far back parking lot and did some warmup
Windmill
Imperial Walker
Carolina Dry Dock
Hillbilly Walker

The first routine would be a rough 100m sprint, then 10 pull ups, 100m sprint back and 10 burpees
We repeated this a few times changing the transportation mode
NUR 100m
bear crawl 50m

Then came the main Thang
Partner DORA 1-2-3-4 using a timing mechanic of 3 pull-ups
100 hand release merkins
200 Big boy sit ups
300 Monkey Humpers
400 Squat Jumps

Squat Jumps were somewhere higher than 100 for all groups before we Omaha’d and ran back to CoT…. almost

A good long Balls to the Wall was in order and then 5 burpees to cap it off

CoT
IceBreaker at the Dragon in York on Saturday!!! 0530 StartEx (5k obstacle course, you can do it 1-4 times with a partner or by yourself, however you want to tackle it)
QSource Week 0 convergence recap with Week 1 kicking off this week at Bagel Boat after The Deep
Lake Wylie is looking to fill some P200 relay race spots, ask around
IceT is on a flight to Florida for a family funeral
Two Ferns has some family medical operations coming up next week
QBert is beginning home schooling for IronMan

Aye!

TClap |
0

The 2018 Fort Clave Boss 5k & Christmas Convergence

0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.

Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.

YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.

0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.

  1. MacGyver flew in at 20:47 6:60/mi and then went back to encourage other runners – True #HIM
  2. Sharkbait came in at 24:43 7.88/mi
  3. Islander rolled in at 27:10 8.74/mi
  4. Twister with a 31:25 10.08/mi
  5. Smuggler wrapped it up with a solid 34:11 11:00/mi

Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!

0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes

The Thang:

Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs

Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it

  1. Merkins
    1. Bearcrawl
  2. Leg Lifts
    1. Lunge walk
  3. Wide Arm Merkins
    1. Run
  4. Donkey Kicks
    1. Bearcrawl
  5. Spider-man Merkins
    1. Lunge walk
  6. Sumo Squats
    1. Run

3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps

The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable

Handoff to Maximus

Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon

  1. Santini led squat routine that is always a crowd pleaser
    1. Burpees
  2. Pusher led Lunges
    1. Burpees
  3. Double D led Mc-tar-Ny ??
    1. Burpees
  4. Bubba Gump led SSHs
    1. Burpees
  5. 4 lines – turn to face one another – then Seal Team Sit ups–always a big crowd pleaser

Mosey to front of school for COT:

Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!

  • 93 was the count with 4 FNGs
    • Bo Knows
    • Ferris
    • Gaylord
    • Doubtfire

 

  • We Switzered to gather around and listing to Mr. Clean give a message and challenge to the PAX
    • I’m honored to speak with you today;
      Tomorrow (Christmas night) is the 1 year anniversary of me and the kids finding Cindy (my wife) unconscious. She was immediately put on life support
      Cindy died 3 days later from complications of MS and an addiction to alcohol
      I thought our life was on cruise control. I was being non -purposeful and non intentional. Being a single parent and grieving thru the tragic death of a spouse has been unreal.A few things I have learned from this that I would like to share.

      1. I have a much deeper awareness of emotional health. I have been humbled. Being humble creates avenue for change and growth. My question to you is…are you vulnerable and humble enough to let brothers in to help you?? Are you humble enough to ask for him if you are escaping reality w addictions? Alcohol, porn, etc
      2. I have a more real relationship w Christ.At a time when I doubted Christ care for me and my children and his desire to help our family Christ stepped in and answered a very exact prayer request. If you have doubts about Christ, speak to me please. I would love to share with you what He alone has done.
      3. I am thankful for the suffering. It has brought our family closer together. Even though I and the kids are miss Cindy everyday, we have so much to be thankful. I am thankful for the life that we had w Cindy. I am thankful that she is suffering no more. I am thankful that Cindy is made as new. Most importantly, am thankful for the birth of Christ. He gives us HOPE for a better day.
    • My Challenge to you is Love Deeper and Speak Sweeter. — too often people speak disrespectfully of their spouses and children and parents. Words matter and we all need to choose them wisely. We need to hold each other accountable and “get our heads out of our asses” as you never know when that person will be taken from you.

YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.

If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX

********ALERT***********ALERT**********ALERT*********ALERT***********ALERT****************

It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.

It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.

MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!

I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.

  • Weasel Shaker = Funhouse
  • 1stFQ = Royale
  • 2ndFQ = Wegmans
  • 3rdFQ = Gecko

I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.

Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!

BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.

Cake Boss

TClap |
95

Cannon Ball Birthday Special

Today was YHC’s 45th Birthday so it was gonna be a good day!!

Warm up:

We started with a brief Mosey around the parking lot carrying our kettle bells and stopped for some SSH’s,  Moroccan Night Clubs, Sun gods, Cotton pickers and some basic arm stretches.

 

The Thang:

We then moseyed over for 12-18-73 (my birth date) with Kettle Bells in hand

  • 12 Burpee’s
  • 18 Kettle Jacks
  • 73 Flutter Kicks Single Count.

Then we moved onto my age – 45 of each (utilizing the kettle bell) and a small lap carrying the Kettle Bell as well

  • High Plank with upright rows
  • Figure 8’s
  • Big Boy’s
  • Tea Kettle Squats
  • Overhead Presses
  • American Hammers (SC)
  • Overhead Tricep Exten.
  • KB Swings
  • Curls 15 (lowers, 15 uppers and 15 fulls)
  • Clean and Presses
  • Lunges (SC)
  • Upright Rows
  • Around the Worlds
  • one more rep of Curls to finish out the time

Basic announcements, Christmas Convergence……

Praises and Prayers and finished with Prayer where as usual, God humbles me and chokes me up, thanks to all that came out and spent the morning with me and celebrated another day that I don’t deserve serving My Lord!

 

Two Ferns

 

 

 

 

 

TClap |
4

KettleBell Temple Of Doom

The temperature was below freezing, the AO is in the recon stage, but 8 brave souls came out of their fart sacks at an un-Godly hour to go to Church.  Special thanks to New River Church for allowing us to workout at their parking lot. 

After a disclaimer in which I repeated several times during the workout to modify if necessary since we would be working with weights, we moseyed around the parking lot with our kettlebells and did some toy soldiers which are much more difficult with the kettlebell in hand as the grumbling already began.  We then circled up…

COP

SSHx30

Hot Potatoes x10

Halo’s x5 each direction

Kettlebell Windmill’s x 5 each arm

5 Turkish Get-ups x5 each arm

The Thang

In my second ever Q I whipped out the Burpee Temple Of Doom, so in my first KettleBell Q I figured I would do a repeat concept but with KettleBells.  I placed 10 cones in the shape of a pyramid with exercises pasted on each cone.  Each level had progressively more difficult exercises with the pinnacle being the most difficult. 

Level 1

Cone 1- 1 Kettle-burpee/10x right hand merkins with the left hand on the kettlebell

Cone 2- 2 Kettle-burpee/10x left hand merkins with the right hand on kettlebell

Cone 3- 3 Kettle-burpee/10x right hand Kettle-thrusters(squat turning into over head press)

Cone 4- 4 Kettle-burpee/10x left hand Kettle-thrusters

Level 2

Cone 5- 5 Kettle-burpee/20x right hand kettle-swings

Cone 6– 6 Kettle-burpee/20x left hand kettle-swings

Cone 7- 7 Kettle-burpee/20x press jacks(SSH but instead of swinging arms you press the kettlebell over your head)

Level 3

Cone 8- 8 Kettle-burpee/30x right hand Kettle Snatch

Cone 9- 9 Kettle-burpee/30x left hand Kettle Snatch

Pinnacle- 10 Kettle-burpee/20x Clean and Press Right and Left Hand

We then did Lieutenant Dan’s over from the parking lot to the Church wall where we sat down to rest by doing People’s Chair while holding our KettleBells.  The outer 2 Pax(going into the middle) did…

Monkey Humpers x10

Sky Humpers(Back Bridge while pressing the Kettlebell) x10

Figure 8’s(Passing the Kettlebell between your legs in a figure 8 pattern) x10

2 minutes of Mary

10x Kettle Big Boy sit ups

12x Box cutters holding Kettlebell over head(Nemo)

20x Flutter Kicks holding Kettlebell over head(Two-Ferns)

COT

Travel Prayers for Royale and prayers for HomeBrew’s Father-In-Law whose Shell Plant is closing down.  Thanks to Two-Ferns for setting up the Church for us.

 

TClap |
3

Like clockwork at the Deep

Beautiful morning after a good night’s DEEP sleep. No rain, no snow, dry ground (mostly). But had heard rumors of a double secret Lake Wylie major party being held Friday night, so was worried about DEEP attendance.

Two cars arrived and 4 PAX emerged including Nemo’s 2 2.0’s.  Captain Jack reminded me that we had played together on St. Philip Neri’s softball team a few (many) years back. Also was told the party extended DEEP into the night. Quick disclaimer especially directed at the 2.0’s, but they appeared ready to go at the DEEP. Had arrived early and set out sand bags at the stations station.

Did some stretching exercises then hit the parking lot loop. First warmup jog with butt kickers, high knees, side shuffle.  Then jogged about 10 yards apart then Indian lined it with each PAX digging DEEP and sprinting to the front. Once the PAX reached the front, he yelled STOP and we did 3 burpees.  All done with 3, we did it again with just 1 burpee.

Followed with an exercise circle and many of the standards in DEEP cadence. I wish I had gotten the 2.0’s involved at this time.

Moved on to some clockwork starting with merkins at 12:00, 11, down to,  but stopping at 6:00. Followed with DEEP squats…? And…maybe another…can’t quite recall.

To a 5 station setup in the field included: 30# sandbags with handles in place lunges, 15# sandball American hammers, burpees, 140# worm pull, squat thrusters with 30# held up. We alternated and did some improvising for the 2.0’s.

Moved over to the DEEP famous hill and did bear crawls up/jog down each time with 5,4,3,2,1 bombjacks at the top, followed by squat thrusters?, then monkey humpers by request for display to the main road.

Walked then jogged back to finish our clockwork. PAX helped clean up. Let the 2.0’s try the 140# worm on a slider on the macadem, much easier then the grass.

COT, prayers and praises, thank you to Nemo for taking us out. The 2.0’s did very well. Very good kids, Nemo!

Thanks for the opportunity, Shakespeare!

 

 

TClap |
2

Keeping Warm At The Triangle

With the threat of the big bad snow storm(we might get 1/2 an inch) hovering over the Charlotte metro area, 8 men got out of their warm comfy beds and braved the 36 degree weather to get their fitness and fellowship on.  As pointed out by a few grumbling members, this was a bit of a lazy Q by YHC.  I did not plan much as I just wanted to stay warm, and what better way to stay warm on a cold morning than running laps and burpees…spoiler alert, there is no better way!

I did a short disclaimer and then we moseyed around the school parking lot(still cold).

COP

SSHx30(getting warmer)

Windmill x10

Cherrypickers(or weed pullers or cotton pickers, whatever)x10

LSSx10

The Thang

The Pax then moseyed on over to the pull up bars where I mentioned that it was Pearl Harbor Day.  The day of remembrance is important in our nations history as WW2 is where the USA became the de facto leader of the world…also my grandfather was a seabee in the Navy during WW2.  Then the bad news…we partnered up and while one of the Pax ran a lap lap the other did…

100 Pull Ups (combined total, now officially warm)

200 Burpees (combined total, much grumbling by the Pax)

300 Single Count Lunges (combined total)

It turns out that the burpee portion took a gigantic chunk of time and we unfortunately did not have enough time for my planned grand finally(fortunately for the Pax) which would have been a Wave of Merkins.  We finished up with two minutes of Mary.  Nemo had us do 12 box cutters in cadence and Homebrew had us do 15 Freddie Mercuries at a hilariously fast cadence and then mercifully for the Pax, the workout was over.

COT

Mission accomplished in the keeping us warm department, as I left a sweat angel on the pavement and nobody complained of being cold(though they did complain about the burpees).  Prayers for Respectable Olaf’s mother-in-law who is battling stage 4 lung cancer and also for a family in Homebrew’s church group who is having trouble with their son who has Muscular Dystrophy.  Yogi mentioned a York CSAUP obstacle course race which sounds interesting and there is the Lake Wylie Christmas Party to look forward too.  Thanks to Homebrew for the opportunity to lead, peace.

 

 

TClap |
3

12 Days of Misery (Christmas Workout)

6 posted today at the Crows Nest for a Christmas Themed Workout.

The work out started with brief disclaimer then a mosey towards the poorly sensored street lights were we did some Low Slow Squats sprinkled in with some high knees and butt kickers until Nemo caught up.

Warm Up: A circle up was formed with some poorly Cadenced Peter Parkers, SSH’s Moroccan Night Clubs, Mtn Climbers and Cotton Pickers.

Main Course: We made our way around the back of the school where we saw that Santa had delivered some Christmas Presents. Each HIM selected a present where within it they found pretty much coal in each Gift Bag (25 SSH’s, 15 Box Cutters, 30 Flutters, 25 Freddie Mercury’s, an assortment of Merkin’s, 10 Bomb Jacks and 8 Burpee’s)

We then were lead to a little blue light that Flux had previously been curious about little did he know it was leading him to a Painful version or Jingle Bell Rock and I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. We held plank during Jingle Bell Rock and everytime the song said Jingle Bell or just Jingle we did a pushup. Similar idea for Hippo song but held six inches and did leg raises everytime the song said Hippo…..

The last part of the Christmas themed workout was the 12 Days of Christmas (did one lap and added a day/exercise each time around)

On the First day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
1 Bomb Jack
2 Diamond Merks
3 Big Boys
4 American Hammers
5 Burpee’s
6 Imper Walkers
7 Mtn Climbers
8 Merkins
9 Moroccan Night Clubs
10 Squats
11 Dying Cockroaches
12 SSH’s

I was up against Dark Helmet who was Q’ing over at the Quagmire so I looked at his Name-o-rama only to find out that the normal HIM’s from the Crows Nest did not go there……….they Fart Sacked!

I mentioned also in today’s Q that I didn’t want to have more friends at first when I started this F3 thang and darn it I now have more friends. Well it was a little more heart felt than that.

Announcements: Peg’s Christmas party. Prayers For Radar’s Grandmother, Olaf’s Mother in law. Praise for Olaf’s daughter coming home to spend some time from school. As always we are grateful for our health, lives and for F3.

TClap |
8

Bricks for Kicks at Bermuda Triangle

Today’s warming coincided nicely with the early start, as usual, at the Bermuda Triangle this morning.  Six early risers joined YHC for a brick-tacular beat down at Bethel Elementary.  This is how it went down:

Warm-o-Rama

We began with an easy mosey around the “track” (aka a dirt trail) guided by the Q’s headlamp.  As we rounded turn three, Homebrew noted that is has been christened “Copyright Corner” commemorating the namesake’s recent faceplant at that very spot (hence YHC’s headlamp).  Following the mosey, we executed the following:

  • 10 Windmills
  • 20 SSH
  • 15 Imperial Walkers IC
  • 15 Hillbilly Walkers
  • 10 Merkins IC
  • Downward D Oh Double G
  • Honeymooner

The Thang Part I

11s – Derkins and Squats with a Nur around a traffic circle.  (Quads were nice and warm after that)

The Thang Part Deux

Dora with a paver brick in each hand, 100 meter mosey when not exercising; 100 reps each:

  • Two arm curls
  • Lunges – single count
  • Shoulder presses
  • LBCs
  • Squats
  • Flock of Seagulls
  • Flutter  Kicks

The Thang Part III – we had 10 minutes left, here is how we burned it:

  • 50 triceps hammers with paver bricks – OYO
  • 50 forward shoulder raises with bricks – OYO
  • 50 check flys, lying on the ground, with bricks – OYO
  • 50 chest presses, lying on the ground, with bricks – OYO
  • 15 Freddie Mercuries IC
  • 15 Crunchy Frogs IC
  • 15 American Hammers with bricks, IC

 

Announcements: Christmas party.  Praise for family on Thanksgiving; Prayers for healing, peace, acceptance and protection.  As always we are grateful for our health, lives and for F3.  Aye!

Wolverine out.

TClap |
2

Overhead Blocks

5 pax made it out to the gloom.

Cop x 15 of SSH, MNC, LSS, Merkins, Peter Parker’s

On to SSH suicides with cone 1 SSH x 10 cone 2 adding Seal jacks and cone 3 adding bomb jacks, then back down the pyramid subtracting out the first and second excercises.

Thang

Pax grabbed a cinder block.  We carried overhead until failure, at which point pax dropped the block, ran back to the start for 20 Merkins, ran back to the block for 5 burpees, and continued around the track until the finish line.

Finished with some Dora (curls, tricep ext, and squat thrusters) x100, 150,200 while partners did 2 laps around the circle.

 

Continue reading

TClap |
2

Working Hard @ Crow’s Nest

Of course this is way late and will be abridged but it is my duty to put together a backblast and I’m not going to slouch.  #LeadByExample

We started off with a disclaimer (had an FNG) and some light stretching… don’t want anyone to get hurt out there!

Took a nice mosey around the left side of the building (facing the front) and circled up for some Warm O Rama.  SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers were completed in quick succession.  It started to get cold again, so we went to work.

Partner up… partner A runs front start point around the loop and back while partner B completes an exercise until they return.  No keeping up with numbers, we just kept going until they came back and switched up the exercise each time.  1st- SSH   2nd- Squats  3rd- CDDs

Mosey back around the front to the opposite side of the building. Circle up and completed the following together.

Seal Jacks, 5 burpees, Merkins, 5 burpees, Freddy Mercury’s, 5 burpees

Mosey back to the back parking lot and back around to the Green Monster.

Partner exercise again.  A runs down the hill and back while B completes an exercise with weight (we had 50lb sandbags and 15-20lb kettlebells/dumbbells).  Exercises were: 2 rounds of overhead press, 2 rounds of curls, 2 rounds of tricep extensions, and 1 round of bent over row.

Mosey back around the front parking lot for a quick 3 rounds of Mary.

Numbered off, Name O Rama, and naming of a new FNG!  Welcome to Cousin Eddie!  T-Claps to Two Ferns for bringing him out!

 

Thanks for the opp. to lead Flux!  I look forward to the next time!

TClap |
1