Tag: Photobomb

3/16 at ROF

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There were 8 boot campers and 2 runners at ROF on this cool morning.  Started off with a disclaimer then got in some stretching with upward & downward dog and SSH.

Went into my version of 21s with 21 merkins (single count) and 21 Big Boys.  The next round was 18 & 18 going down by 3’s until we got to 3 and 3.  Little bit of mumble chatter, but the Q kept count so no extra reps were done.

From there we moseyed over to the pull up bars and each grabbed a Cindy.  We walked those to the bottom of the hill and the PAX awaited instructions.

Here we would do 11’s with 2 exercises at the bottom and top.  At the bottom of the hill we did curls with the Cindy and squats (holding the cindy overhead), then run to the top/pull up bars and do pull ups and knees to chest.

On the last rep I instructed the PAX to grab their Cindy (most got through the full set) and we headed back to COT.  I realized we still had a little time so we got in some Mary and the runners joined us for COT.

Thanks @kaiser for the opportunity to lead!

 

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No Arrival

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40-some pax posted to the region’s Ground Zero at WEP for a smorgasbord of pain, from 6@6 to Millkshake to a tried and true BC beatdown.  A very explicit and thorough Disclaimer was pronounced by Dark Helmet for the benefit of our FNG, and then the pax blasted off.

The Thang

The recitation of the 5 Core Principles quickly failed to meet DOAH’s standard, leading to some burpees.

Mosey around the parking lot with some toy soldiers and knee lifts mixed in, with the pax following onto the bandshell stage.

COP proceeded including more core principles along with some Merkins and DOAH’s proclamation that maybe the FNG’s fitness surpassed that of many of the pax present.  {Yes, he’s good at stirring the pot whether he’s poking at the Q or Qing himself.}

More mosey and more warm up exercises until the pax reach the far side of the WEP.

Enter stage left — the BAOPS boys via Clown Car — Trucker, Smuggler, Change Order & Longshanks, who just couldn’t stand the thought  of missing out on the best 1st, 2nd & 3rd F in The Fort on this given Saturday.  {Pro move by whoever made that call!}

Partner up for wheel barrow…to the playground…Yes…to the playground!…where the fun really starts.  {Fishsticks promptly cruised 85% of the way there to prove to his FNG that no matter what DOAH says, the FNG’s fitness had room for improvement.}

At the playground, each partner does 50 (yes, Five-O!) pull ups.  {Jiffy cranked out 30 in rapid fire.}

Some core work followed including LBCs and Rosalitas among others.

Handoff to Double D

Run to the bottom of the hill

Jacob’s Ladder with Donkey Kicks at the bottom and Sumo Squats at the top.  Traverse to the top via Bear Crawl and run to the bottom.

Mosey back to the parking lot with some Mary led by Jekyll

Climb the Stairway to Heaven via lunge walks, pausing for Carolina Dry Docks at each lamp post, starting with 5 reps and adding 5 more at each successive post.

Mosey down to the monuments with some Mary led by Longshanks

Circle up for an FNG introduction to Jack Webb by Change Order

Run home for final 2 mins of Mary by Longshanks

COT

NMM

A spirited pax at The Fort on this pleasant late winter morning!   Back to back weeks with a convergence at The Fort — thanks to the Alcatraz boys for adding their zeal to the day!

Maximus delivered the tailgate coffeeteria in the parking lot afterward and our FNG (EHed by Fishsticks) hung around long enough to learn the backstory of his name (Roy Kent) and to fill his rolodex with roofing customer prospects.

Welcome to Roy Kent!  Barry Manilow was quite vocal about the quality of the name and the importance of RK living up to it.  Well, if he doesn’t meet the mark, we can always default to what RK thought we named him — Rockette!

It was great to have Car Bomb among the pax today, fresh off his return trip from New Zealand, prior to his resettlement in another adventure.

The theme for the day was geared around the notion of life being an endless series of mountain climbs, peak after peak, with no arrival to the top in sight — ever.  Depressing, huh?  No, not for the HIMs of F3 and The Fort.  Give us the hard stuff.  We’re playing the long game and we know you can’t play it alone.  So keep posting, stay engaged with your brothers.  Together we’ll keep accelerating.

It was a treat to Q with DOAH for the first time.  We all look at him as just another member of The Fort, which of course he is.  At the same time, he also invests a huge amount of his life leading the 43 feet for the Nation.  Not only is it not easy being Frank {imagine how hard it must be for Traci his wife}, it’s also lonely at the top of any organization {how about leading one with 50,000 type A men?}, and it’s incredibly challenging to serve as the successor to any founder {would you want to try one Dredd’s shoes}.  Despite the small jabs, I say this with all seriousness — DOAH has taken on an extremely difficult challenge, one that he executes well with tremendous energy and virtue and that we all benefit from.  We’re fortunate that he calls The Fort “home” and that we get to take his crap on a regular cadence.  Thank you, DOAH!

Thanks to Grinder for the opportunity!  Always an honor to lead the men of this brotherhood!

SYITG

 

 

 

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Dog (Dawg) Years

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A band of 7 met at  Runde for the second Alcatraz workout of 2022.  After a fine disclaimer from Copay,  and a late, ‘comin’ in hot’ arrival by Divac, the workout commenced.  Here is what we did:

The Thang:

Copay on Q:

Form a quick circle for COP:

Do a standing stretch starting from the toes and reaching up to the sky with a calf raise (18 reps in cadence – cool!)  From there we went to side straddle hops at various speeds in cadence up to 80 (160 total)- crowd pleaser.

Mosey to the back of the parking lot near the basketball hoops.  Split into pairs and do the following:

Round 1:

Parter 1 does 42 squats while partner  2 lunge walks the length of the lot.  When the count is reached, partner 1 runs to catch partner 2 and flapjack.   Return to the start with more squats and lunge walks.

Round 2 – same as round 1?

Round 3

Partner 1 does 42 jump squats while partner 2 broad jumps along the parking lot.  When the count is reached, partner 1 runs to catch partner 2 and flapjack.

Circle back up and do 33  Superman back exercises (lie flat on stomach, raise legs and arms)

To finish his half of the workout, Copay gathered us for a Switzer (or maybe a Smart).   He talked more about this season’s Bulldogs and how they improved their fitness through ‘gassing’.  See reference below.  The Pax let out a collective sigh of relief.

Handoff to Senator Tressel

Form a line for an extended indian run along Windward drive.  Run about  2 laps between Tega Cay Drive and the circle at the end of Windward,  and then head back to the baseball fields of Runde.

Circle up for Tabata.  5 rounds:  20 sec work, 10 sec rest, rinse and repeat for 4 minutes per exercise, 20 minutes total.   Do the following exercises:

  1.  Merkins
  2. Freddie Mercury
  3. Carolina dry dock
  4. V-ups
  5. Burpees

End with the body destroyer for 60 sec

COT

NMM:

What a pleasure to share a Q with Copay!  I don’t see him very often, but he’s a good guy to be around – always smiling and positive.  Copay is a HUGE Georgia Bulldogs fan and he was still riding the high from Monday night’s championship win.   His portion of today’s workout was centered around Bulldog stats – years since last championship (42), the score (33-18), others I can’t recall.  Toward the end of his portion, he talked about how the Bulldogs improved their fitness through ‘gassing’.  I could sense the tension mounting with the Pax (YHC included), about what was going to happen next.  He never did tell us exactly what it was, but it didn’t sound pleasant.  Thankfully (or mercifully), Copy said that we were not going to do any gassing today and he handed the lead over to me (whew!)

My half of the workout included one of my favorites – the Tabata.  I learned this from F3 brother Chicken Wing several years ago at a workout.  It’s simple and requires very little planning, but it’s intense and always a tough one – the soreness in my upper body and abs are reminding me of that as I write this.

I was very pleased to see Photobomb and Smuggler out yesterday.  I saw Smuggler at Golden Corral on Tuesday and hope he and Photobomb continue to come back regularly.  We miss you, brothers!  It was a privilege to Q with Copay and lead the group today as always.  Copay’s tribute to the GA Bulldogs provided the perfect opportunity for me to use another Rush song title in my backblast ( huge fan – RIP Neil Peart).

Announcements,/prayers/praises

  1.  Dam to Dam Bar on Jan 29, Yeti coming soon, check your newsletter as always.
  2. Prayers for the Duffy family, Divac friend Sharon recovering from cancer and brain surgery, ST friend Joe with Cancer and co-worker on a ventilator (Covid).

 

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Mini-training day

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(For the record since it’s been a while since I’ve posted a backblast, I actually wrote this the morning after the workout and sadly it took me another fully week and then a couple days to copy and paste it…at least I’m making some kind of backblast progress…)

Aren’t all days in a sense training days?

Today, 9 men gathered, 3 had miles on their minds so split off for laughs and miles but could have just been laughs and coffee as YHC wasn’t there to witness.  Regardless, 6 men set off for the unknown.  Before any setting off happened, we had ourselves a little warm-up.

Slick: 20 SSH, 10 man makers, 25 SSH, 5 man makers

With heart rates higher than 5 minutes ago, we rucked up, gathered our 3 sand bags, and headed towards the church parking lot.  Wait…we first had Mainframe and Maximus do a quick demo on how to transfer a sand bag the proper way since a majority of the crew is headed to GrowRuck Grandstrand next week.  Demo concluded and we trekked off.  At the arrival of the church, we did 2 group sand bag handoffs, somewhat successful, and started on the first pain station.

While 1 guy ran / shuffled, with ruck, around the church parking lot circle and acted as our timer, the remaining 5 did the following exercises:

  • Plank hold
  • Flutter
  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Overhead ruck press
  • Upward row with ruck

Next, we got in a ball of man of sorts, but YHC asked the guys to close their eyes and “mix around” while all the time keeping our eyes closed.  The goal of this exercise was to play with our minds and remove our site so communication became key since vision was impaired.  During an event, it’s going to be dark and disorienting and a guy, or guys, will need to find their voice BUT, also be ready to listen.

  • Objective 1: organize ourselves by height from tallest to shortest in a single file line
  • Objective 2: organize ourselves by age (days matter) in a single file line

Objective 1 – fail by ¼-1/2 inch.  Tinsel is working out too much and has stunted his growth.  10 burpee penalty

Objective 2 – pass

In summary, communication is key, but details matter.  How much is too much communication?  Depends on the situation and if penalties are involved.

Loaded up and moved to the fire station with sand bag transfer happening and Ruck event war stories filling the early morning air!

Arrived at fire house and unloaded gear.  Next up was “jacob’s ladder” modified version.  1 end was burpees and other end was squat presses with ruck (so this was done slick).  Counting was starting at 7 for both exercises and working our way down to 1.  Finished this by 0555 with not a lot of time (underestimated distance to COT) to get back.  We did see the space shuttle walking back which filled more questions about alien invasions and why is that plane’s lights facing the wrong way, etc.

Made it back to COT where we did the normal….aside from ball of man which we may have done for those that were ok to participate.  I will tell you that it felt pretty awesome.

Thanks to Tinsel for the opportunity!

Shady

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DNA_Deconstruction at Mettle Forger

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Mixed Martial Arts with weights and alternating plyometric ( jump training ) exercises were served!

Warmup:

  • 10 each single count of Side Straddle Hops, Front Straddle Hops, and Goofballs.
  • 5 each in cadence of Merkins, Military Merkins, and Wide Merkins

The Thank:

  • Progressive Sets of 5 reps, 10 reps, and 7 reps of the flight below:
  • Front Lunge Jab DB-MMA
    Plyo Side Straddle UpperCuts
    Frog Pummlers DB-MMA
    Plyo Dynamic Lunge Elbow Strike
    Squat UpperCut DB-MMA
    Plyo Alt – One Leg Squat Side Kick Jab
    Back Lunge Angel Fly DB-MMA
    Plyo Table Front Straddle Kicks
    Calf Raise Grapplers DB-MMA
    Plyo Front Straddle Military Press
    Chair Squat Incline Jab
    Core Complex
    Mac Tar Jai Slow Spider Man L/R
    Side Plank Crunch L/R
    Plank Alt Foot Strike L/R

Announcements:  Read the newsletter, Cake Boss 50th, Manion workout on 5/7.

Various prayers and praises.

Aye!

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A Heavy Mettle Field Day

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Been a while since I’ve done one of these. Bear Grylls asked me to Q Mettle Forger earlier in the week. I’ve been in my comfy cocoon for quite some time, so I figured it is about time to get out of my rut. I greatly appreciate the offer.

I have not Q’d in a while so it was a challenge to come up with something. As 12:15 drew near the lot was empty with the exception of my vehicle. Right when I was about to start on my own, Photobomb showed up right at 1215. I am SO glad he did!! I doubt I would’ve done half of what I ended up doing if he wasn’t there pushing me. Thanks ‘Bomb!

No FNGs, just me and Photobomb. So no disclaimer, no jibber-jabber, no mosey, no warmup. Just get right into it.

FIELD DAY
5 Stations of partner work set up on the soccer field, each station has a set of cones with one cone on one sideline, another cone on the opposite sideline (across the field width approx 50yds). Team field work. One person does the ‘home’ work, while the other does the ‘away’ work moving across the width of the field and back, then swap and do the work before moving on to the next station.

  1. Home – KB swings AMRAP (45lbs); Away – sandbag thrust throw (40lbs)
  2. Home – Ruck plate upright row to OH press to OH tri-extension and back down AMRAP (30lbs); Away – “sled” pull (2-3 cindys in a snow disc)
  3. Home – Sandbag LSS AMRAP (50lbs); Away – Sandcake slams (40lbs)
  4. Home – The crane hold (see below); Away – 2 cindy farmer carry
  5. Home – Cindy curls AMRAP; Away – ruck run/shuffle/yog around field perimeter (45lbs in ruck)
  6. Rinse and repeat.

Crane hold – something I learned while going thru PT for my broken wrist. Using a contraption of a PVC pipe (~30in long x 2in dia), 20lbs (or more) of weight, a ~3ft length of rope securing the two together, you basically hold the pipe with both hands shoulder width apart, palms down, extend both arms directly outwards from your chest, elbows fully extended, and hold the weight off of the ground as long as you can while keeping your arms out 90deg from your body, with your back straight and upright, knees slightly bent, feet shoulder width apart. Adding difficulty is twisting the pipe in your hands so the weight raises all the way up and lowers all the way down – while you are holding as noted above. It really works your grip, wrist, forearms, shoulders, and core.

Had some wonderful 80s metal going in the background, and me and Walter had some great convo as usual. Totally dig that dude. Both of us got 2 entire rounds in with very minimal modification!! THANK YOU PHOTOBOMB FOR THE PUSH!! I would NOT have done that much on my own.

Pollen and dust were horrible!! My old man lungs were not liking it at all. Gonna be a rough night later.

Looking forward to getting out in the gloom more. I’m tired of being tired and unmotivated. Not to mention badly out of shape. Thanks Bear for the opportunity to lead!

SYITG
-NASA

 

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Breaking the Tie

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YHC was invited by the Site Q, Sugar Daddy, to Q the Bubble today and was honored for the opportunity. For those who don’t know or have forgotten, the Bubble is a result of the COVID lockdown coupled with the need for acceleration and fellowship. Started in April 2020, the Bubble sought to fill a gap caused by the lockdown and was one of the many blessings from the Fort during a tumultuous time in our world. It starts at 6 AM so you get the extra sleep time and Baxter offers lots of options for pain.  YHC was excited to Q for both of those reasons!

Weather – 43 and dare I say warmer than the last few weeks. No rain. Perfect F3 climate!

The Thang

Proper Disclaimer was reviewed

Mosey to YMCA pool parking lot

COP

Windmills x 10

SSH x 20

IW x 10

Man Climbers x 20

Merkins x 10

Mosey to top of the hill at Springmaid Street

4 Corners using Springmaid, Promenade, Shady Grove and Market Street

At each corner do the following

5 Burpees

10 Merkins

15 Squats

20 LBCs

Rinse and repeat 3 times

Mosey back to YMCA

6 minutes of Mary

YHC shared a concept on my heart which is “Breaking Ties” in your life. Whether its your spouse, significant others, co-workers, etc. there will be times where you don’t agree with someone. While I don’t have the answers, I do know a few things about failure in these circumstances. I have learned the following:

  • Know who you are and who you arent
  • Dont assume you are right…what if you are wrong?
  • Listen and learn about the other person
  • Pray about it
  • Show love to them

Moleskin

  • Prayers for Twisters daughter
  • Prayers for the Kerns
  • 3/6 is the Yeti…you should sign up
  • 3/13 is the beginning of Acceleration, a leadership journey.
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Christmas Trivia and Choices

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Eight men showed up at Alcatraz this morning.  Two carried their heavy backpacks around the Cay for the hour.  Geronimo was still putting together his painful Q at 0630 so I began the workout with some warm-up exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Plank Stretches).

I decided to borrow this idea from a workout Double D and Old Bay Q’d back in 2017. Christmas Trivia with exercises sprinkled in between each question.  Penalty for missing a question was 5 burpees.  Oh, by the way, the burpee penalty was cumulative until the next correct answer.

Exercises:

10 Bomb Jacks

20 LBCs

15 Plank Jacks

10 Donkey Kicks

20 Monkey Humpers

15 Moroccan Night Clubs

20 Calf Raises

10 Plank Jacks

15 Mountain Climbers

15 Merkins

10 Lunges

15 Carolina Dry Docks

20 Squats

Luckily Skate or Die knows his Christmas Movie Trivia or we would have done alot more burpees.

Next, hand off to Geronimo.  He quickly told us to partner up and headed to the “Hill”.  As we ran down the hill, there were several signs with exercises lined up along the side of the street.  At the bottom of the hill, he instructed us to run up the hill and choose an exercise at each sign.  Sounds simple enough..what was the catch?

The exercises:

  1.  50 SSHs or 50 Merkins
  2. 50 Merkins or 50 Hello Dollies
  3. 20 Air Lunges or 50 Mountain Climbers
  4. 20 Squat Jumps or 20 Diamond Merkins
  5. Bear Crawl or Nur to Next sign
  6. 50 Squats or 100 LBCs
  7. 50 Flutters or 20 Flying Squirrels
  8. Crawl Bear or Broad Jump
  9. 20 Tuck Jumps or 50 Overhead Claps
  10. Run down the hill and back or run to the fire station
  11. 30 Big Boys or 60 Calf Raises
  12. 20 Burpees or 40 Burpees

When the teams got to the top of the hill, Geronimo instructed us to go down the hill and repeat the process, but do the exercise that you did not choose the first time.

Great work this morning..mind, body, and holiday trivia 🙂

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The site formally known as The COOP.

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Let me start off by saying cancer sucks. It took one of our PAX last week and I am still mad about it. Jay Griggs known in the gloom as Cash, 51 battled this aweful disease on and off for about two years. He left behind his wife Christine and two kids Katie (14) and Will (12). We came together today to do a workout for him and also to rename this AO in his honor. We wanted to give a name that if someone who didnt know Cash would ask we could explain that the name was in his honor and keep Jays legacy in The Fort going. More on the name at the end.
We statrted with a disclaimer and quick dynamic warmup.
51 SSHs in cadence.
Mosey down the hill for some instructions.
3 cones at bottom of hill. do the first cone run up hill to nafo crosswalk do 10 bombjacks, run back to pull up bars do 5 pull ups, run down to bottom of hill for the next cone, keep repeating until YHC stops the group.
Cone 1- Merkins and Squats
Cone 2- CDDs and American Hammers
Cone 3- Alternating lunges and Alternating Shoulder taps
At each of the cones we did a total between the two exercises 51 reps.
Mosey back to Cot.
We took this time to let the Pax know the AO formally known as The Coop was now to be known as Ring of Fire. One of Jonny Cashs greatest hits. So when someone says how did this palce get the name we can explain.
Announcements and naming of FNG.
FNG- Sappin Patel- Spam
reach out to funhouse to help with at risk middle school kids on their off days from school_ takes palce at forest hill church.
8th annual anniversary party of the Fort. held Oct 2nd 630-930 at 3399 Pleasant Rd. Convergence the following morning at 0630 first baptist fort mill.
Prayers-
for the family of Cash.
marriages and keeping real with raising shorties.
Backdraft Out.

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We jumped the fence, but could not escape the Ring of Fire

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Thirteen men were present for the workout at Alcatraz.  Four pax arrived early for a 3-mile run with pull-ups (mini bootcamp).  Geronimo came early to set up his half hour of pain.  It looked like we were in for a difficult hour.  After a quick disclaimer, YHC began with the standard warm-up exercises:

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x 15

Windmill x 10

Plank stretch

Next, we ran across the baseball field near the pitcher’s warm-up cage to the top of the hill.  Once up the hill, we did 5 burpees…Trucker complained so we did 5 more.

Next, we ran back to the baseball field next to the restrooms.  We partnered up for a series of exercises.  Partner 1 performed an exercise on the field while Partner 2 ran across the field, jumped the fence, ran up the hill, and performed an exercise.  Flip flop once complete.

Exercises:

Round 1 – Merkins (1) , 5 bomb jacks (2)

Round 2 – LBCs (1), 10 bomb jacks (2)

Round 3 – Balls to the wall (1), Run to fence and back (2)

Round 4: Burpees (1);  5 bomb jacks (2)

Next, we jogged to the bottom of Hill. We ran up backwards to the street sign and forwards to the top.  Back down to the bottom and repeat.  Once we were at the top, we ran back out the parking lot for Geronimo’s Q.

We started at the field where there were three medicine ball.  We split into three groups behind each ball.  The first person threw the ball and did an exercise, the next person did the same. Essentially, an interval run with a heavy object.  We did three rounds of this exercise, switching the balls between the teams.  At the end of each round, the winning team got to decide the penalty exercise for the other two teams.

Next, we moseyed to the basketball court where there was a circle of cones laid out.  Each cone had an exercise written on it.  Complete the exercise, bear crawl to the middle, five burpees, and bear crawl backwards to the next cone.

Great work by everyone today!

 

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