Tag: Pinup

On the second clock at Tomahawk

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Polaroid sent out a request a few weeks back for Q’s.  Replying affirmatively meant I was going to be put out of my comfort zone as I had only attended a weight AO twice over the years. I was then able to get in a visit to Tomahawk last week to scout the layout.

I will add at this point that everyone should consider attending more weight AO’s. It’s a good test for new muscles and your core.

Arrived early to lay out cones and coupons and got help from an early arriving FNG, Josh Bolden.  I was immediately giving him some disclaimer info as this workout was going to be a bit of a challenge and it was going to keep PAX moving the whole time, and made sure he understood this was not a standard bootcamp workout.

Full disclaimer especially with an FNG. A little bit of a warmup and proper cadence, an explanation of each exercise in the clock and then broke into 2  groups. 2 PAX did the clock while 3 moved over the runway, then alternated.

At the runway, each end was core exercises . We ran to points in the middle alternating doing the following exercises, in cadence if possible: Curls, One Arm Rows, Squats, Overhead Press, KB Swings, Front LIfts…approximately 10 reps each time.

The PAX on the clock did the following with their kettlebell/weight going with them as much as possible. When returning to the middle, 2 burpees. Each ‘time’ was a x5 factor:

  • 12:00 – overhead weight run
  • 1:00      – 5 burpees
  • 2:00      –  10 One leg squats each leg
  • 3:00      – 120# worm coupon pull on slider
  • 4:00      – 20 kb swings
  • 5:00      – 25 squat thrusters
  • 6:00      – bear crawl using dumbells
  • 7:00      – 35 alternating calf raises
  • 8:00      – 40 finger tippers, using 2 hand finger tip strengtheners
  • 9:00       – Lunge walk
  • 10:00     – 50 Hand Squeezers
  • 11:00     – 50 Moroccan Night…Discs. 5# weight in each hand

This was a workout designed to keep moving. There were not many opportunities to rest but I think it worked out well. The clock obstacle course needs some tweeking so that it takes less time. I meant for it to be completed a little quicker, next time we’ll shoot for 10 minutes or less.

Thanks to PAX again for helping with cleanup. We ended up at 29 burpees.

Big reminder here that we did not do. Especially with an FNG, have gloves available!  Generally I believe this is a site Q responsibility, but I always have a bag of gloves and I forgot to offer them to our FNG.

Welcome FNG J-Cruz, or J-Cruise, or J-Crews! EH’d by Jekyl and Decibel. Josh’s whole family’s names begin with a J, plus he was once the President of a Land Cruiser organization (hope I got that right).  Name-O-Rama here.

Thanks to Polaroid for the opportunity and for the PAX who gave the clock set up a go.

Invergence Sept 21, G-Fit Sat’s 3:00 pm, Prayers to PAX with marital issues. Thanks to Punchlist for taking us out.

Aye! Bolt

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3

Parking lots, Stairs, 4 Corners & a Couple of Thoughts

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19 Showed up to take the DRP.  After a quick disclaimer and Q check for FNGs, we were off on a slow mosey.

Warm-Up 

Slow mosey to upper portion of back parking lot of FBFM.

Windmill x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Low Slow Squat x 10

Imp Walker x 10

SSH x 15

Cherry Pickers x 10

Merkins x 10

The Thang

Mosey down to lower part of parking lot

Overhead Claps x 10

Lunge x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 15

Squat x 10

Flutters x 10

Moroccan Night Clubs x 10

Overhead Claps x 25

Wall Sit , Arms High, Several 10 counts

Mosey across street, down stairs to lower lot.

4 corners with a stair climb and descent after each round

Round 1 x 10

Round 2 x 15

Round 3 x 20

Merkin

Flutter

CDD

American Hammers

Mosey to COT for Mary

Mary was Dealer’s Choice (5 minutes)

Windshield Wipers

Weezy Jeffersons

Freddy Mercurys

Flutters

Hello Dollys

NMM 

YHC asked everyone to consider whether they have a relationship with their Lord and Savior….or just their Savior. A lot of us (YHC included!!) forget the Lord part of the relationship. For Him to truly be your Lord, you must surrender all to Him and be willing to have your life disrupted for His purpose. Easier said than done. Based on the response from the PAX, this is a topic that should be discussed often.   Also, touching on the monthly theme of Presence, are we really present with our M and 2.0s?   Are we just “there” or do they really feel our “presence”?

Honored and humbled, as always, to lead such a great group of leaders.

SYITG

Beacon

 

 

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BEYOND the JOY

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I’m sitting down to write this BB and literally can’t do what I challenged the PAX with at this morning’s BEYOND workout. Eliminate the distractions. Oh, what’s this text say, how about this tweet mention (can’t miss that), work email really needs my immediate response, man those kids left their cereal bowls on the counter, what time are we leaving today, etc, etc, etc. At times it can be funny but others, it can be really frustrating. I allow myself to continuously chase progress and other tasks rather than finding joy in where I am. It then leads to what you’ll read about later…burnout.

So there you have it, this BEYOND post will be focused on a struggle many of us face and that is running from joy, not finding joy where we are or honestly, not being a joy to spend time with. That latter one has been my challenge over these last several years because of those first two.

On to it. Car after car after car rolled into the Hive parking lot and you know the feeling, the feeling of way more cars than you were expecting. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it gives you that kick in the pants, that extra motivation, that reminder of why you put your feet on the floor in the 4 o’clock hour. That’s what I was blessed to experience this beautiful morning as 33 other men, men that have pushed me over the years, men I’ve looked up to over the years, men who are about to bust it right along side me as we embark on something that typically looks better on paper. But that’s the idea, to push ourselves BEYOND our sense of normalcy both physically and mentally.

Funhouse escorted a group of 5 PAX for his killer initiative of RYAOA (T-claps on keeping that going) and the rest of us, 29 to be exact, circled up. After a quick explanation of BEYOND for the rookies and the search for any FNG’s, we discussed the plan with the weight, either Kettle Bell or Ruck…your choice. What I just realized, and to which nobody held be accountable, was that I forgot the all-important disclaimer. Men, never do that again. DO NOT START A WORKOUT WITHOUT A DISCLAIMER. You don’t have to be an attorney but verbalize the basics.

Starting on the curb nearest the tennis courts, run to the other side of the parking lot at 50% then 25% back. 10 Squats, 5 Burpee Broad Jumps then run to the other side at 75% then 25% back. 15 Diamond Merkins, 5 Burpee Broad Jumps then 100% to the other side followed by 100% back.

Switzer up for the first part of the discussion. I read the following definition: “Feeling of great pleasure & happiness.” After a few likely words were tossed out when I asked what word that defines, we got to the word of the day, JOY. I’m sure guys were wondering why in the world we’re talking about joy at an F3 workout, what kind of soft, starbucky-hands nonsense is this? That exact reason is the reason we’re discussing this word. It’s a word and feeling we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy often enough. There are people I enjoy being around and things I like doing but do I truly find joy in those situations? Said differently, do I enjoy being around those people or being in those moments and perhaps more importantly, do people find joy in being around me? Over these last few years, I’ve been operating like a hard-ass, focusing on task completion and moving from one thing to another. I can tell you, I’ve not been a joy to be around. While I was in it, I didn’t even realize it. How did I get here? Really, how do I get out of it?

That said, we split up into 4 groups, 1 for each corner of the large parking lot. In each corner, we did 10 Man Makers with your weight of choice. What varies is your mode of transportation between the corners.

  1. Lunge walks with the weight overhead.
  2. Bear crawl and transport the weight by any means necessary.
  3. Reverse lunge walks with weight overhead or held out front. (This was definitely better on paper as many of us had to modify to a bear hugging of the weight.)
  4. 4 Kettle Bell swings or Ruck swings followed by 4 walking steps.

After 3 of these 4, time got away from me and I had to audible and bring the group back to the center of the lot. As mentioned before, us task-completers run from one half-baked focus to another and we rob ourselves of contentment and joy in the moment. After weeks, months or years of doing this, we inevitably get burned out. Very rarely does something positive come after this stage. However, here in the gloom of our Hive AO here, burn out means something different. I was hoping to have 15mins left at this point but as it was, we had 6 and only got part of the way (you see, I tried to fill the schedule with too much and didn’t complete what I intended). See the irony?

  1. 21 Curls in cadence (3ct down, 1 up)
  2. 21 Flutter Presses in cadence
  3. 21 LBC in cadence
  4. 15 Overhead presses in cadence (b/c I didn’t have what it took to get to 21)

Closeout: We have a hard time refocusing once something bad happens or if it’s not bad, just something that temporarily knocks us off our trajectory. Oddly enough, our kids do a better job of getting back on track than we do. If something negative happens to you during the course of the day, how quickly are you able to course-correct? Are you able to move on from a less-than-positive comment made about you and not let it affect the rest of your day? Watch your kids and take note. Watch them get in a disagreement with a sibling, maybe pout, then start playing or hanging out with them 1-2hrs later. Could you imagine what it’d be like if we dusted ourselves off and went back at it? There’s joy in overcoming.

Listening to a podcast yesterday where Rob O’Neill was being interviewed, he briefly touched on this by saying something that hit me like a 50lb Kettle Bell across the bridge of the nose. A little background, Mr. O’Neill is the Operator on Seal Team 6 who fired the shot that killed the most wanted terrorist of all time, OBL. I’ve been fascinated by our military and specifically, SF, for years and imagine how quickly they need to pivot on a decision and adjust to chart a new course. His comment was this when discussing attitudes, “Are you having a bad day or did you have a bad moment that you’re milking into a bad day.” Don’t shake that off, marinate on that for a while and it might just change how you respond in that next bad moment.

Tesh, I appreciate your willingness to let me run BEYOND at the Hive.

Men of F3, I’m humbled by your company this morning and every morning you allow me to state my hospital name, age and F3 name.

No man left behind but leave no man where you found him.

Maximus

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10

Not a lot of Running, He Says…

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YHC started off a muggy morning disclaimer proclaiming that we would not be doing a lot of distance-running, which was interpreted by the PAX as we would not be doing a lot of distance, running or for some of those more hopeful, that we would not be running at all. False, although strength was the focus some running (1.7miles) was built in.

Warm-Up

  • Quick mosey around the lot
  • Circle up w/ Bells for:
    • 10 Swings
    • 20sec Around the World, reverse direction for 20sec
    • 20sec Figure  8’s, 20sec reverse direction

The KB Thang

  • KB Strength Movement/Suicide Combo – PAX would perform reps of called KB movement followed by a suicide in the parking lot. After each round of KB/Suicides, PAX advance forward 1 parking lot line, decreasing the distance of suicides. Called KB movements in order to the best of my memory:
    1. KB Swings x20
    2. Goblet Squats x10
    3. American (Overhead) Swings x10
    4. Shoulder Press (Right) x10
    5. Shoulder Press (Left) x10
    6. Bent-over Rows x20 (10x each side)
    7. Clean and Press x10 (5x each side)
  • Tabata Round
    • 20sec on, 10 sec off for 8 sets, alternating KB Swings and Bombjacks
  • Gauntlet
    • Perform all  exercises and reps from the KB Strength Movement/Suicide Combo  in succession. No suicide in between, but rather the 6inch Plank
  • The Closer
    • 10 KB Swings, 10 Burpees
    • 8 KB Swings, 8 Burpees
    • 6, 4, 2,

SWOLEskin

Nice work by a steeerong  and sweaty group this  beautiful muggy morning. Thanks to Polaroid for providing the tunes for this morning’s shred session, your speaker game is on point.  A lot of guys pushing hard this morning, from Skate or Die showing the speed on the suicides to Pinup finishing his final burpee set during COT. Way to get up and make your morning count.

Annoucements

  • Bolt takes the Tomahawk reigns next week
  • Check out Skate or Die on Twitter for an opportunity to win either a Ford Mustang or Jeep. Fundraiser by the Nation Ford HS Baseball team working to leave a legacy with new facilities for future classes.
  • Reach out to Assassin in regards to mowing the Life Center (if I’m wrong correct me in the comments section)  Weekly sign-up. Polaroid working to knock it out this week

Over & Out

-General

 

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8

Moderate? Is that french for ‘burpee’?

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With no inspiration hitting me at home, YHC decided to show up and see what the AO would speak to me today.  It was angry and made us do stupid things.

Mosey, warm up with burpee countdown between exercises.

Mosey down the hill to the playground at the elementary school where we counted off into groups and did round robins of swing crunches, LBC’s and mountain climbers twice.

Then over to the wall for some relaxing wall sits and a couple bttw.

Who doesn’t love running in circles?  Partnered up and while partner ran lap, 2nd Pax did LBC’s, WAM’s and CDD’s – flap jack at each lap.

Back over to the middle school hill for 10 bomb jacks, run up the long windy hill and 10 more at the top.

Fairly gassed at this point I heard the words ‘Jack Webb’ in the wind so we did that too.

Mosey for a close of Mary and COT.

As always, an honor to lead the men of F3.  Thanks for being there.

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Shaolin inspired gear at The Tomahawk

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Last Tuesday YHC’s phone made a strange noise, which I found was created by Polaroid, who wrote, “Are you ready and willing to Q The Tomahawk this Wednesday?”  Well, I’d been wondering for a while when I’d step up for my VQ, and that certainly made it easy to decide.

We started off with a quick mosey about the parking lot, followed by SSH, windmills, and a delightful exercise that I’ve been doing for over a decade which is called open tee position.  Everyone steps their right leg over their left so that the legs are crossed and your feet are about should width apart.  Then you sink down until your six is a few inches above the right ankle.  About 90% of your weight is now on your right leg which is bent at < 90º.  The left knee is hovering about an inch above the ground, and the left foot is out to the right, resting on the ball of the foot, ankle up.

So you hold that for 5-10 seconds, work up some shaking legs, then slap your hips as you straighten up, turn around and sink so your weight is on the left.  5-10 seconds   Do this 3-5 times each leg.

After the warmup we hit the six stations.  We got through three rounds of masculine singing (grunts and growls).  Below are the stations with the odd gear’s exercise explained as best I can.

  1. BYO Kettlebell Woodchoppers x10/ea
  2. Box jumps x10 (box dimensions: 20″x24″x30″)
  3. Black Iron Staff (6′ long ~ 15lbs)
    1. One hand rotations x10/ea – Holding the staff horizontally with arm extended to the front, gripping the middle, fully rotate to the left and right, using your wrist to break and overcome the momentum
    2. Drop and lift x10/ea – Holding the staff vertically with arm to the front,  allow the top of the staff to drop to be parallel with the ground and use wrist strength to bring it back to fully vertical
    3. Drop and lift x10/ea – Holding the staff parallel to the ground, arm straight up (above the head), the long end of the staff extended behind the body, allow it to drop to vertical behind you and use wrist strength to pull it back to parallel with the ground
  4. Bean bag o’ pain – (~9″x9″ canvas bag with ~25lbs of steel BBs)
    1. The same for all three rounds, hold the bag with one arm as far away as you can from your body, gripping it by its side (so you’re looking at a square). Toss it up a bit and catch it with your opposite hand, using only the fingertips, letting the tossing hand drop.  This gets awkward because the BBs get out of the way and you have nothing to grip after a second.  Repeat this x10/ea arm before dropping it to the ground and growling in victory.
  5. Training Mace (10lb head)
    1. I like to call them Conan swings x10/ea- Holding the mace upright with right hand on top, do a full rotation above the head and strike out to the left.  Left elbow up, right is down.  Rotate back over the head and strike right, now the right elbow is up and the left elbow is down.  Switch hands and form for the other ten.
    2. Barbarian Squats – Holding the mace with hands together, resting behind your head like chopping wood with a maul, swing it over your head into a good squat, stopping with the mace upright and balance.  I like to switch my grip and do 10 with each hand on top
    3. Spears 10/ea – Or “Bayonet!”, standing with the mace, stab out like it’s a big old spear, holding it out for a two count.  Put your body into it
  6. Kettlebell Swings – Geronimo offered to leave his 50 at station six, we all got a taste

After the first two rotations we stopped to sing the chorus, which like any good song, changes slightly every time.

  1. On the six
    1. Gas Pumps x10
    2. LBCs with one leg crossed over the other x15/ea
  2. On the six
    1. Windshield Wipers x15 – Bell in your hands, rotating opposite
    2. Windshield Wipers x15 – Bell in your hands, rotating opposite
  3. On the feet
    1. Imperial Walker
    2. (blanking.. Hillbilly walker?)

With a few minutes left and the third rotation complete, we headed back to COT for some forearm stretching, announcements, and prayer.

Thanks again Polaroid for the opportunity to VQ on your turf.

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A Strong House is Built with HEAVY METAL

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7 Gathered for Giant Sets in a body builder type workout focused on each muscle group followed by a circle of power with two burnout exercises as PAX alternated.  Rep counts to the right on the grid.

Warmup:  Side Straddle hops, low slow burpess, front straddle seal hops, wide, normal, diamond merkins.

Shoulders Bi’s Legs
5 Front Raise 1KneeCurl Front Lunge
10 Press Reg Curl Sissy Squat
15 Upright Row 1Hammer Squat
5 Front Raise 1KneeCurl Back Lunge
Circle of Power Bus Driver Lucky7Curl Calf Raise
Dynamic10 Bear Crawl Gorilla WalkL Sprint
Chest Core Back Tri
5 Side Fly Am Hammer Pullover Kickback L/R
10 1-2-3 Dolly Lawnmower Overhead Press
15 Press Crunch Plank Row Skullcrusher
5 Side Fly Am Hammer Pullover Kickback L/R
Circle of Power 1/2Merk Hold Boat Back Merk Dips
Dynamic10 Superman Pump Goofballs Gorilla WalkR Crab Walk

Announcements:  Sweti, New Tomakawk, Bermuda Triagle,

Prayers:  Gratitude for a great new day and the pax that attended, healing for the sick, wisdom to start the week.

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The Tomahawk: 25th Monday in 2018

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8 PAX seeking to a better version of themselves posted in the steamy gloom this morning.

WarmUp:

Started out with a mosey around the parking lot.

COP:

  • SSH x30
  • Merkin x10
  • Mountain Climber x10
  • Honeymooner à Downdog à Honeymooner
  • Imperial Walker x10
  • Hillbilly Walker x10

Mosey back to the grab our bells.

The Thang: COP with kettlebells

  • Kettlebell Swings x10
  • Merkins x10 (single count) (80 total)
  • Kettlebell Swings x10
  • Big Boy Situps x10
  • Set the weight down and rotate to the right
  • Rinse and repeated until we were back at our own gear (8 times)

Mosey to the parking lot curb and setup with the 4 rows of spaces in front of us.

  • Lunge-walk with pass through to the other side
  • Stop at each set of parking spaces for 10 merkins (40)
  • Leave bells & run the length of the lot and back to the bell
  • Lunge-walk with pass through back to where we started
  • Stop at each set of parking spaces for 10 squats

Back to COT for some Mary. SkateorDie mentioned that we were at 120 merkins….so:

  • Merkins x10 in cadence (20 total)
  • Hand-release merkins x10 to reach 150 total merkins for the day. 170 if you count the warmup in-cadence merkins.
  • Flutter w/ press x10
  • American Hammers x10
  • Finished with a leg stretch sequence:
    • Seated Forward Bend, Pigeon Lunge, Butterfly

NMM:

I usually do a kettlebell workout on Fridays at the Hive. About ¾ of the way through the workout when most of us had sweated more than seemed humanly possible for 5:45am, Polaroid quipped, “They trained you well at the Hive.” I love this thought of being in training.

2 Corinthians 5:4-6 (taken a bit out of context, don’t tell my Christian studies professor friends)

“These tents [bodies] we now live in are like a heavy burden, and we groan…As long as we are in these bodies, we are away from the Lord.”

We are put here for a purpose, and being in these bodies is part of that purpose. It is good and right that we should push ourselves physically and train to be better. Everything is connected. If we can be better physically, we can be better emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well. As PAX, we must focus on our growth as a whole person. Training for this life starts in the gloom.

My first time out at The Tomahawk. Great AO! Props to Polaroid for asking me to Q and motivating me to get out of my comfort zone of AOs.

Prayers:

A PAX dealing with some medical issues both with family members and himself. Prayers for healing and strength on this HIM and his family.

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5

16 @ The Ballroom 5/15

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  1. It’s always exciting to see cars come in hot around the curves of Pleasant Knoll Middle School to get to the workout on-time.  Everybody was in the circle when my phone alarm signaled it was 0515.  No FNG’s, but I disclaimed because a Q should always disclaim.
  2. We took off for a mosey towards the super far back parking lot with butt-kickers and high-knees.  Halfway to the lot we stopped for some warmup moves that included:
    1. SSH
    2. Seal Jacks (Jack Seals? Apparently I do them in reverse.)
    3. Weed Pullers
  3. At the back lot we did more SSH before grabbing a Cindy for some Walking Lunges ending with an All You Got back to the start line. We did that 2 times across the parking lot before we cleaned up the lot of random bigger Cindy’s.
  4. I broke out the Jumbo Cards for a round of Deck of Pain. As we went around the circle, I asked pax what Accountability means to them.
    1. Spades = Merkins
    2. Clubs = Crunches
    3. Hearts = SSH
    4. Diamonds = Monkey Humpers
    5. Face Cards = 10
    6. Aces could be 1 or 15, Dealer’s Choice.
    7. Jokers = 5 Burpees (no Jokers were pulled, hallelujah!)
  5. We had plenty of time left so we counted off by 2’s and did an Indian Run to the track where we completed 1 lap.
  6. We took a 20 count as we walked to the bleachers.  At the bleachers we ran up and down each stairway (4 rows) and then kept on running all the way back to the school.
  7. I gave the pax 2 options: Continue running around the paved path to COT or take the “shortcut” and Bear Crawl up the hill to COT.  It was about 50/50.

We did the Big Ball of Man thing.
Continue to pray for Badger and also our brothers who can’t seem to beat the fartsack. Prayers and Praises went out and up for Cornerstone’s MIL. Signup to cut the grass at Fort Mill Care Center, see Assassin for more info. READ THE NEWSLETTER!

I consider it an honor and privilege to Q a workout.  A big THANKS to Short Sale for the invite.

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Yahtzee Culture Club Style

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So, Culture Club came out completely prepared as usual.  Always love attending one of his workouts!  This Friday morning we played Yahtzee in a way I personally never have before.

The basics were one PAX called out an exercise from the bottom list seen above, and the remaining PAX did that exercise while the first PAX took his three rolls for Yahtzee.  Once the points were written on the tape, then the blue tape was removed to reveal which exercise would be performed, and the reps would be the amount of the score written in.  If the exercise under the blue tape was highlighted in green it meant that for the next round, instead of choosing an exercise from the bottom list, the PAX would run a lap around the parking lot.

If you have not been out to participate in a Culture Club workout, I highly suggest you plan for it.  He has certainly set a high bar of excellence, at least in my book 😉.

Smithers – Out

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