Tag: Olaf respect

Soggy Bells

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7 PAX showed up for another soggy outing and I have to admit I was a little nervous to lead my 1st kettlebell workout.  Sure I’ve been to a few, but this was my first time leading one so it was difficult estimate the time and reps.  Not mention it was wet and raining so I was concerned someone might slip or let go of their kettlebell…which ended up giving me an idea that worked out really well in the end.

We started with the usual disclaimer, nothing fancy, and took a mosey around the parking lot.  Some karaokes and toy soldiers were mixed in before circling up.

CoP

  • 9 Windmills
  • 15 Low Slow Squats
  • 10 Tempo Merkins
  • 25 SSH

1st Routine

After the warmup it stopped raining completely for about 5 minutes or so so I checked the time and decided to bear crawl to the middle island of the parking lot, about 40-50 yards.

“Bear & Bell”, by getting in crawl position with the bell between our legs we would then reach back with one arm and bring the kettlebell up and past our head.  Crawl until the bell was between our legs again and reach with the other hand, once again bringing it above our head.  We repeated this until we reached the middle island.  Extra kudos to Chop Block and O’Reilly for hauling at the end as I counted down the seconds before coming up with some sort of penalty.  We then walked back to the front of the building with our kettlebells held high above our heads.

2nd Routine

As I mentioned earlier, I knew the weather report was going to be bad so I planned something that would keep us as dry and safe as possible.  I put together 30 minutes of a Tabata-style workout set to some fun music and with no running around in the rain.  All the cardio would come via stationary exercises so we all just huddled under the awning of the Church.  Luckily, it wasn’t raining too hard throughout the workout and we all appreciated that it warmed up a bit.

There were 10 “routines” and they all followed the same pattern. The 1st exercise would be 30 seconds of Kettlebell work (with a rep goal in mind) so whatever came 1st, 30 seconds or the rep count, followed by 15 seconds of a cardio/kettlebell-less exercise and then 10 seconds of rest before repeating 2 additional times and then moving on to 3 sets of the next routine.

Here is the list:

  • Kettlebell Swings (20 reps or 30 seconds)
    • SSH (15 seconds)
  • Kettlebell Curls (25 reps)
    • Merkins
  • Kettlebell Rows (25)
    • Mountain Climbers
  • American Hammers (40 single count)
    • Plank Jacks
  • 25 Tricep Extensions
    • Burpees
  • Goblet Squats (20)
    • Monkey Humpers
  • Single Arm Bench Press (15 each arm)
    • Crab Cakes
  • Single Arm Shoulder Press (10 each arm)
    • MNC
  • Dead Lift (25)
    • Bombjacks
  • American Hammers (40 single count)
    • Plank jacks

This brought us to 6:00AM on the dot so we circled up for CoT.

Yeti coming up as well as the Joe Davis run and Operation Sweet tooth at the end of March– read your newsletter.  Prayers for sick and injured PAX and family and for the ability to come out and be together every morning.

Speaking of every morning, LKW is getting strong and I love how consistent we are, rain or shine.  I feel a real brotherhood with these men and I’m honored to know each and every one of you.  A special shout out to some of our newer guys like Chop Block and O’Reilly who have been coming out consistently since their 1st posting during the toughest time of the year to post consistently.  Also, Wolverine, who is a seasoned vet, but getting better with age.  He posted every day last week and is back at it again this week!

It was a privilege to lead you all this morning.  Thank you for the opportunity to Q Two Ferns.

Until next time,

-FLUX-

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4 Cones and a Teabag

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10 Pax today including Chop Block, who rolled in 20 minutes late.  Better late than never I suppose.

I gave a somewhat sarcastic disclaimer and then made everyone do 5 fingertip merkins because Two Ferns gave me the finger last night in a Tweet.  Not very nice!

We took a mosey around the 1/4 mile dirt track and did some side shuffles and toy solders before circling up.

CoP

  • 10 Windmills
  • 20 SSH
  • 10 Merkins
  • 15 Low Slow Squats
  • 20 LBC’s

I then explained the routine for this morning, nothing fancy.  4 cones placed in the shape of a rectangle with an exercise written on each of them.  Pick a start cone and make your way around the cones as many times as you can, with a few small wrinkles.

  • Cone 1 – 5 Burpees
  • Cone 2 – 10 Merkins
  • Cone 3 – 15 Big Boy Situps
  • Cone 4 – 20 Squats

This was meant to hit some of the core muscle groups and is a great youvsyou routine.  The wrinkle was the ever changing method of travel between the cones.  Once Chop Block joined us, we took another lap around the track to let him warm up a bit and then got back to it.  That also gave us an even # of PAX so I threw in some partner work as well.

Transport methods included:

  • Bear Crawl long side
  • “Itchy Back Merkins” short side (plank position, down, roll over completely, push back up, down, roll over, etc., until we hit the next cone.
  • Crawl Bear long side
  • Crab Walk short side
  • Partner Assisted Bear Crawl Long side (this is what Chop Block affectionately named the “T-BAG”)
  • Partner Wheelbarrow long side

We finished up with a NUR around the track before banging out a set of flutters and then circled up for CoT.  I think most of us made it around 8-10 times which really starts to add up.  A good setup for some of the newer guys so they could pace themselves and it encouraged mumblechatter so it was a lot of fun this morning.

Announcements, Praises, Prayers

Yeti, Joe Davis run coming up.  Homebrew is changing jobs so prayers for that along with all the sick and injured PAX to get HEALTHY!  Also, some prayers for my sister-in-law who is in her mid-30’s and has to have all of her teeth pulled.

Thank you for the Q Homebrew!

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

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Omaha

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I had our 1st F Q Royale lined up for the Q this morning, but got the word late the night before that he wouldn’t be able to Q dueto a family emergency.  Life happens, but we’re all brothers here and this was a perfect opportunity to step in so YHC took the Q.

After a quick disclaimer we got moving for a FAST mosey towards the back of the school that included some toy soldiers and karaokes before circling up.

CoP

  • SSH x20
  • Windmill x10
  • MNC x20
  • Merkin x10
  • Downward Dog/Honeymooner
  • Peter Parker x15
  • Parker Peter x15

Quick backstory, as soon as I announced I was Q’ing instead of Royale a collective sigh was heard and then Iced-T made a quick run back to his car to get a pair of gloves… good call.  It’s like he knows me or something… which leads us right into…

Routine 1:

So I had each PAX get on a parking space line and we did ascending bear crawls.  Starting at the curb we did 1 derkin and then bear crawled to the opposite curb (maybe 10 yards?) and did 2 irkins, bear crawl back and do 3 derkins and so on until we hit 13.  Nice and painful routine to start with.

Routine 2:

Staying in the back of the school there are some landscaped islands at the top and bottom of the parking lot so  so we did something I like to call Crazy 8’s.  This is a homegrown routine created by YHC that includes your choice of 3 exercises followed by a figure 8 style lap around the parking lot planters and then repeated 8 times.

  • 8 Boxcutters
  • 8 “Big Boy” Sit-ups
  • 8 Burpees
  • Figure 8 lap
  • Repeat 8 times

Routine 3:

The first 2 routines were made up on the fly, the 3rd routine was the only one I planned after Royale messaged me so I stuck a couple of high powered flashlights high up on the fence in front of the “Green Monster”, a Crow’s Nest landmark, before the PAX arrived.  I didn’t actually plan what we would do, only that we would do something on this one-of-a-kind, incredibly nasty, and poorly lit hill.

Slow mosey to the bottom (because it is super steep and somehow still wet at the very bottom).  I made the PAX partner up and we did wheelbarrows up the mountain, err, monster and then 10 Wheelbarrow Merkins, swap and repeat.  Kudos to Iced-T, because I told him I would call him out in the backblast for being the only one to make it up in this way (along with, ahem, YHC).

To finish it up, I made everyone NUR UP the monster and then do 8 Burpees, x2.

Mosey back to CoT with about a minute to spare and our newer PAX gasping for air, so I called on them for a little Q lesson and had Chop Block call 20 LBC”s IC and O’Reilly followed with 10 Flutters IC.

Nice job to all!

CoT

Get ready for the Yeti and sign up! Joe Davis & P200 coming up as well.

Prayers for Royale and his family (father-in-law) and that he may recover fully.  Prayers for all PAX who may be injured or sick and that the may find health soon as well.  Also, continued prayers for F3 and what we have together and that we may never take for granted the ability and privilege to be able to do this.

Until next time (Friday),

-FLUX-

 

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Let’s do Pull-Ups at Crow’s Nest

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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!

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New Years Eve at the Crows Nest

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I had myself slotted to Q on Christmas Eve, which happens to be YHC’s birthday, but because of the convergence I wasn’t able to Q on that day so I settled for New Years Eve.

It was a light crowd on the rainy New Years Eve morning so I skipped the disclaimer and we moseyed around to the side lot while doing some toy soldiers and butt-kickers along the way before circling up.

CoP

  • Windmills
  • Squats
  • SSH
  • Merkins
  • Plank (30 count)

I then explained that I usually prepare a lot more for my Q’s, but I really wanted to try out the official deck of death I got from the F3 Store a while back.  I’ve been saving it for a “rainy day” which happened to really be a rainy day and I really wanted to try it out!  I added the usual Flux wrinkle by taking something I knew was going to be hard and tried to make it “just a little harder”.

I did this by calling on 2 of the PAX, I asked one to pick a number between 1-10 and the other to pick a suit (Hearts, Spades, Clubs, Diamonds).  The number 7 was chosen and Diamonds so I explained that in addition to whatever exercise was on the card, we would doing 7 Burpees every time a diamond card was flipped over, FUN!

Without going through all of the cards and listing what we did, I would just highly recommend getting this.  I can tell a lot of though was put into it.  We all had a great workout, it was hard, and a lot of good variety.  We sprinted, crawled, jumped, squated, and just about everything in-between.  I think we made it through about 35 cards or so.  Those 7 extra burpees took a toll because I think we drew diamonds 8-10 times.

We moseyed back to CoT for Namarama and Announcements, Praises, and Prayers.

  • New Years Convergence in Metro
  • Prayers for the New Year
  • Prayers for Olaf’s mother-in-law who recently passed away
  • Prayers for Two Ferns Father who is battling cancer

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

 

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Bricks for Kicks at Bermuda Triangle

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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.

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Working Hard @ Crow’s Nest

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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!

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Smackdown at the Crows Nest “Clover Middle School Wrestling Style”

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I had originally had a Weinke prepared for the workout but changed it up after spending some time at my son’s (F3 – Hound) Middle School Wrestling practices.  Today’s temps were in the 40’s so the brave ones wore shorts (Me and Homebrew).  7 showed up total, no FNG’s.  After a short F3 disclaimer we headed around back to the rear parking area to begin the Smackdown.

Warmup included some Moroccan Night Clubs, SSH’s, Cotton Pickers and some Peter Parkers with some plank stretching.

Smackdown Part 1:  Started with the punishment dealt to the wrestlers if they loos a match by points which gives the other team 3 team points.

 

So we did this 3 times

15 SSH’s

15 Para Troopers (Hands on head and basically Lunge Hops)

15 Mt. Climbers (counting right leg each time)

(we will revisit this later for more punishment)

 

Smackdown Part 2:  Up hill cones (4 cones)

Cone 1 was 1 Burpee, 2 SSH’s and 3 Merkins

Cone 2 was uphill a little ways and Pax had to run to it and do 2 Burpees, 4 SSH’s and 6 Merkins

Cone 3 was further uphill and Pax had to run to it and do 3 Burpees, 6 SSH’s and 9 Merkins

Cone 4 was the last cone at the top of the hill and the Pax had to run to it and do 4 Burpees, 8 SSH’s and 12 Merkins.  threw in a couple 10 counts.

 

We then talked briefly about being Thankfull (since we are close to Thanksgiving) and the Pax had a theme of Family with one Glorifying Jesus (Royale).

 

It was time to revisit Part 1:  When a wrestler looses by Pin they have to add 15 Burpees.  So we did…….

15 SSH’s

15 Para Troopers (Hnads on head and basically Lunge Hops)

15 Mt. Climbers (counting right leg each time)

15 Burpees

And then this is when the whining began………

 

We then took a trip and found some wall so the Pax could catch their a breathe.  We had a seat in the People Chair and did some runs outs with Monkey Humpers (Homebrew did a really good 1 handed Hump show) followed by some Derkins and Merkins.

 

We took a brief moment to talk some Tuesday morning Kettlebell chatter.  One name was already thrown out there from Homebrew “Canon Ball”.  Some liked and some said we can do better……..

 

Last part of the Smackdown and here is where the real whining began.  Basically we did some Duck Duck Goose Nascar Style and added some Burpees.  Pretty basic, not sure why the whining took place lol.  This may become a Two Ferns Staple.

 

We headed back top the COT where Wolverine clarified his correct age.

Announcements……Thanks Giving Convergence, Multiple Christmas Parties.

Praises and Prayers…..Olaf (Respectable) praising his son and daughter for showing great love and kindness to spend time with their ailing grandma.  Princess Penny and her health and FAMILY during the Holiday Season.

 

I closed with a prayer and as usual my voice cracks because I feel that a higher power really grabs me and humbles me when I pray.

 

Thanks Flux for the Q and the others for the SUPPORT.

 

 

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Bad Cousin

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4 PAX including YHC rolled in before the 5AM start time at Bermuda Triangle this morning.  It was wet, balmy, and almost felt like a summer morning.  At 5, I gave the quick disclaimer and we took a mosey around the 1/4 mile dirt track that circles the encompasses the playground.  Along the way we did some shuffles and toy soldiers before circling up.

Warm-a-rama

  • Windmills
  • SSH
  • Low Slow Squat
  • Merkins
  • Moroccan Night Clubs

I then announced that since I already went to the trouble of getting out a bunch of cinderblocks for “My Deep Q” this past Saturday, I wanted to get some more use out of them and that the rest of the workout would use them, everyone grumbled…

As a quick block warm-up, I had everyone circle up again after grabbing 1 block and hold the cinderblocks out in front of them.  One at a time I had 1 PAX drop out of the circle and run/walk around the circle holding the block high overhead while the other PAX continued to hold their blocks out in front.  We cycled through all 4 PAX before getting to the big routine and telling the PAX to grab a 2nd block, which they all did reluctantly.

I got the idea from the Exicon, Greta 1-2-3 was the name, Dora’s cousin, however, there wasn’t a lot of detail there other than it was basically a Dora with blocks.  This sounded like a great idea!

We would pair up and perform the following exercises in typical Dora 1-2-3…4 fashion:

  • 100 Blockees (crowd-pleaser)
  • 150 Abyss Merkins (between two Cindy’s)
  • 200 Sumo/Cindy Squats (Block had to touch the ground)
  • 250 American Hammers (holding the block)

Each PAX would do as many as possible while his partner carries two cinderblocks across the soccer field and back.  All in all, this worked out great, but there were a couple Omaha’s here.  1st, the Abyss Merkins were supposed to be “Mindy’s” which is a name I just came up with that consisted of a Merkin with a cinderblock on your back.  While this is a pretty cool idea, it didn’t work well in this format since you needed your partner to get the block on your back so I switched them quickly to Abyss Merkins.  The 2nd Omaha was carrying the additional cindy across the field & back.  It’s a BIG field and instead of shortening the distance, I chose to lessen the weight after everyone had a chance to do it at least once, which BURNED.

The Omaha’s were necessary in the end because even though I had A LOT more planned, this routine took about 30 minutes to work through and we finished up right on time.  I’m certain I’m going to feel the soreness from this one tomorrow.  Strong group of PAX today and we all finished.  Olaf was pretty chatty about the whole thing though…

Announcements, Praises, Prayers

  • Christmas Party
  • Deep 7AM start time
  • Character Band-Aids
  • Prayers for SAT testing tomorrow
  • Prayers for Olaf’s Mother-in-law who is losing a final battle with cancer
  • Prayers for Two Ferns wife, who has been battling digestive issues

Thanks for the privilege to Q Homebrew!

Until next time,

-Flux-

 

 

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Basically Beyond at Poopdeck

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Once again, I got to take a last minute opening in the Q schedule. I love this because of my wife’s work schedule being so erratic I haven’t been able to commit to some Q opportunities lately. I had a remarkably terrible idea to go to the Backblasts here at f3thefort.com and I filtered by ‘BEYOND’ which, for the uninitiated, is a weekly traveling Black Diamond ultra hard AO we have in The Fort.

I found a favorite of mind that I have wonderful memories of from Jedi’s 2 part series back in March.

Post-disclaimer mosey to begin so we could establish the lap we would be using for the rest of the workout. run forward, bear crawl, side shuffle, NUR, crawl bear, side shuffle so you are always facing the same direction.

Quick exercises IC and some stretching but we had to get going on the Thang in order to have time

The basic idea was to do 4 sets of an exercise with a ‘rest’ exercise in between sets. Then we would take a lap and change up the exercises for 4 rounds.
The sets were reps of 20-16-12-8
Round 1: Breakdancer merkins (each side…. so yea… 40, went back to single count after set 1) / Rockette’s chair
Round 2: Mike Tyson merkins / Balls to the Wall
Round 3: Inchworm Merkins / Crab Cakes
Round 4: Elbow to knee crunches (or horizontal imperial walker, or 6 inches Freddie Mercury) / LBCs

I love using the idea of a rest exercise to just mean resting the muscles we just destroyed, no need to stop working for only a 45 minute workout.

We had a few spare minutes left so we started out 10 SSH, 1 burpee -> 10 SSH, 2 Burpee, then I let the PAX go at their own pace as far as they could go increasing burpees by one each time.

1 minute left? 8- count bodybuilders to Endex 0600

CoT
Announcements
– Christmas Party sign up, available in newsletter and twitter
– F3 custom GoRuck event for 5/4/2019 ready for registration. there are Heavy, Tough and Light options. I can’t wait for the end on this one with so many F3 brothers getting their 2nd F on!
– read your email newsletter for more!
– Collecting character bandaids at AOs!

Prayers
– Continuing encouragement for taking risks in marriages, be more vulnerable, say whats in your heart, speak up about your struggles, work it out
– Jedi is working on more missionary training this week!!!!

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