Let Me Wobble

The Arsenal. Full Moon. 28°. Shorts.

Soft Pretzel and Atlas showed at 0500 for the pre run.

Looped around parking lot twice as the stragglers rolled in.

COP

Movements –
SSH x 25
Merkins x 11

Static Stretching –
Tappy Taps x 10
Groin Stretch
Runners Lunge L/R w/Arm Raise, Deep Squat stretch

Weinke

Main form of transportation: Bataan Death March (BDM). Indian run w/rear PAX doing 5 burpees.

BDM around back side of school to playground.

Aiken Legs
20 Squats
20 Box Jumps (Step Ups dude to icy conditions)
20 Bonnie Blair’s (Jump Lunges)
20 Bomb Jacks
Run a lap around playground

Jack Webbs
1:4 – 10:40

Pause. This is the first time I’ve ever successfully completed Jack Webbs from 1-10. Thanks to the community of F3 and the Qdrenaline for the continuing acceleration.

#morethanaworkout

Repeat Aiken Legs

BDM to new location up the hill from practice field

Aiken Arms
10 Merkins
10 Plank Jacks
10 CDD’s
10 Donkey Kicks

Ass Webbs
Squats + Al Gore Pulses 1:4 – 10:40

It was during the Ass Webbs that One Niner decided to beat box to the cadence of our squat pulses. It was well received by all, and we all decided we would wobble. Some twerked.

Head back to COT w/light mosey

Hamstring stretch because I thought I thought I would collapse during the mosey…

Mary
LBC x 30
Protractors
Heels to the Heavens

COT
Bounty Hunter’s friend – 6 month old passed away while sleeping (SIDS we believe).
PAX whose 5 year old had a small stroke (sadly I cannot remember his name)
Other PAX currently dealing with loss and health issues.

Thanks to Happy Meal and Brexit for the opportunity to lead.

Punch List out.

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Twitter Burpee Challenge

There is something about twitter and Slack (your welcome Crab Cakes) where you get to poke the bear and start a rash of replies about which AO is better, which one will have more PAX post, and who’s WO will SUCK more. Your YHC tried to create an unofficial convergence by calling out multiple PAX, and then Punch List took it to another level and would do burpees if additional PAX would post….Stang where were you???? Your Vols are bowl eligible, you should be posting now that you can be seen without getting grief. Actually where were all those PAX who were called out??? Disappointing, we all wanted to see Punch List do 100 burpees 🙁

The 12 PAX who did post were not disappointed.

The Thang:

Warm up with toy soldiers along roadway for 2 light pole lengths (longer than I thought), return with knee ups and lunges.  Circle up for COP – some windmills (Dirty Harry loves these!), Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Slow Squats, and merkings. Mossy past the pull up bars….PAX were shocked we didn’t stop there….they just didn’t know what as in store for them…to the bottom of the hill for round 2 of COP. Moroccan nightclubs, overhead claps, and toe touches.

Mossy up the hill to the pull up bars. Time for the real thing. Dora 400! Partner up. As a duo, 60 pull-ups with a challenge that each PAX does 20 true pull-ups (not using the foot rests). 100 merkins, 150 squats, and 200 LBCs. I know, this does not total 400….The other partner runs to the bottom of the hill and back.

Each PAX was then required to do 10 true pull-ups and 10 toe touches, while resting wall sits. Once completed, 5 more pull-ups. Can’t get better without doing them and they are the best exercise out there!!

Mossy to crosswalk and sprint to next crosswalk. Finish with 3 minutes of Marry.

Appreciate the opportunity to lead and push PAX on pull-ups, thanks Punch List.

Read the newsletter!

Prayers for Cash and Karrie who are fighting cancer….you can do it!

Trucker out

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3rd

It was blessing to post with 13 #HIMs today.  We were sweating like crazy 15 minutes into the workout.  YHC has not seen WWL in months. Stang surprised us by posting at today’s boot camp instead of running the trails.  It was great to see all of the Pax in the gloom.  

The Thang:

Mosey to the curved parking lot on 160 

COP: SSH (30x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (20x), MCs (15x), LBCs (15x) 

Mosey to the parking lot on top of the hill 

Pain Stations:

Circle up, count by 4, each group goes to a corner

Pyramid Drill: At each station/corner, do Flying Squirrels, Reverse Crunches and Donkey Kicks in increments of 5 until we hit 15 repetitions then countdown to 5 as a group. Jog to each station.

Mosey to the curved parking lot on 160

Partner up. Partner Big Boy Sit Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Ski Jumps (15x), Partner Leg Lifts (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Squats (15x for 2 rounds), Pepper Grinders (15x), Scorpions(15x)

Mosey to COT

Moleskin: 

In order to have significant impact on others you must put others first. Put God first, others second and yourself third. 

We say “I am third” and even wear that saying on our clothing. How do we put ourselves third?

There are daily opportunities to be third, like opening the door for someone. Be there when someone is struggling. Serve the poor. Listen to others perspective and value it.

Peace,

Deacon 

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Bataan Death March at Minnow Pond

12 Pax. 45 degrees. 1 EC’er (Longshanks).

Shanks is the only one who shows up 15 minutes early to a workout and runs hill repeats on Massey St. I’ll have to try that amount of crazy soon. Goodness!

The PAX arrived and 5:13 hit, we walked over to the Flag at Veteran’s Park to say the Pledge. I led the Pledge of Allegiance, and off we were.

Warm Up on Loop 1
Run up Main Street, right on 160, right on Monroe-White, right on Watson, right on Railroad Ave, back to Parking Lot

1 Mile Complete

COP –

Static Stretching –
Tappy Taps x 10
Groin Stretch
Runners Lunge L/R w/Arm Raise

Movements –
SSH x 10
Merkins x 5

Loop 2.

Bataan Death March – 5x Burpee CMIYC Indian Run
Up Massey St, Right on Harris St, Right on Ardrey, Right on White St, back to Parking lot. We had 12 Pax, so for the one mile loop, we all did one round of burpees. Needless to say I was thinking it felt easier than it looked on paper.

2 Miles Complete

Repeat Bataan Death March
Break into two groups to increase Burpee count – 6 & 6… and it’s a race!

This time on Loop 1. It pleased me to see some suck while PAX were doing burpees. It meant the workout was actually serving a purpose… making us better!

3 Miles Complete

Final Iteration
Partner Up
Run to base of Main Street.
Partner Carry up Main Street, switch at half way.
Jog Down to bottom.
Run to the bottom of Massey Street. Partner up with another PAX. Do the same thing.
Jog down.

Get back to the parking lot with a few minutes to spare.

Al Gore hold x 1.5 minutes
30 squat pulses after the 1.5 minutes.

Hold low lunge x 1 minute
10 pulses after the 1 minute.
Flapjack, other leg in front, same thing.

1 minute left! So we did a variation of the protractor.

Time up! 12 PAX for COT and some announcements. Shout out to Hardwood and Rex for fighting hard and earning those miles!

Read your newsletter.
Prayers for family traveling, friends/family who have recently been diagnosed with or are fighting cancer.
Prayers for a family member who was found passed away after falling in their home.
Prayers for families battling Hand, Foot, and Mouth. And flu, and all sorts of other virus floating around.
Praise for being able to use our bodies in the gloom every day.
Praise for the community that is F3.

Thanks for the opportunity, Longshanks. Sorry for the late BB!

Punch List out.

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Video Bootcamp

11 men showed up for the workout at WEP.  After a quick disclaimer, we began with some light stretching before we jogged up the path leading to the soccer field.  Once we reached the top, we jogged back down for some additional warm-up exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, and plank stretches).

Next, we moseyed to the playground for a modified Dora.  Once we arrived, there were two men doing pull-ups.  We asked if they would like to join..they declined and disappeared into the gloom.  It kind of felt like a scene from the movie The Outsiders.  Anyway..we began with 100 pull-ups.  Partner 1 – pull-ups;  Partner 2 – run across the field and back to switch out with Partner 1.

Once all teams were done, we ran a lap around the park and stopped near the statue.  Next exercise 200 merkins.  Partner 1 – merkins;  Partner 2 – run up to the top of the hill and back down for switch out.  The area was dark and unfortunately Offset found one of the holes and hurt his leg. Everyone did a great job making sure he was ok.  After a few minutes, he was up and back exercising with the group.

Next, we headed to the parking lot for the last part of Dora.

Exercise: 300 squats

Partner 1 – squats;  Partner 2 – run to the third lit lamppost, 5 burpees, and run back down the hill.

We finished with a shoulder shuffle around the parking circle, clockwise and counter clockwise.

Great job by all.

Thanks for the patience with the video!

 

 

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Taint Kicks and Vulnerability

‘Twas a beautiful morn to get our sweat on in the gloom. A crisp 42 degrees with no moisture in site, and the clearest sky I’ve seen for a few weeks now. I pulled up to see that Smokey and Sugar Bug were keeping Pennywise alive and kicking for a long ruck. Makes me proud.

As we all arrived and settled in, I was looking forward to leading the PAX in a text book Exicon taint kick. The clock struck 5:15, the disclaimer was disclaimed, and we moseyed.

Mosey .10 miles

COP
Lil’ Baby Arm Circles x 10 each direction
SSH x 20
Tappy Tap x 10
Imperial Squat Walker x 10
Merkins x 10
Yoga Flow to warm up and stretch the back: Child’s Pose, Cat/Cow, etc.

Mosey To Middle School Benches – Round 1

Aiken Legs x 2
20 Squats
20 Box Jumps
20 Lunges (10 each leg)
20 Split Jacks
First round OYO, Second Round as a group.

Between rounds 1 and 2 I spoke to the PAX about F3 Mental Battle and our inability to share our vulnerabilities with other men. We fear we will look weak, when really it involves great strength and self awareness to open up and share where we are struggling. Plus, once we open up to each other it typically is received with open arms and responses that the other guy is struggling with the same thing.

To be honest, I feel like a failure of a husband and father almost daily. I don’t feel like I am able to give everything to them that they deserve, and I feel I spend too much time focused on things other than my family.

Mosey to Rear of Middle School – Round 2

Inch Worms from first door to second door
Bear Crawl to next door

I spoke again about vulnerability here, how I am coming out on the other side of something with my M right now. How her sharing of her struggle caused another PAX to open up to me about his struggle. This is important – because it shows there’s a chain reaction of people opening up. We are in this together.

Back to work.

Inch Worm to next door
Bear Crawl back two doors to round it out

Mosey Around Corner to Brick Wall – Round 3

People’s Chair Hold – 75 seconds

Raise each leg and pulse 10 times while holding one legged people’s chair – rinse and repeat for a total of 3 times each leg.

BTTW Hold – 60 seconds

Repeat People’s Chair with 3×10 leg pulses each side after 75 second hold

Bataan Death March Back to COT – Round 4

Indian Run with 5xSquats/Merkins in a CMIYC style, Tap Rear Pax as you pass and they stop to do their 5 exercises.

We arrived back to COT with a few seconds to spare so we held 6 inches and transitioned to boat to keep the abs warm. The ruckers arrived just after we finished to join COT.

NMM

Life is full of ups and downs, with highs and lows. Why do we stress to look like we have everything under control? I know I don’t have control, and if I fake it, I’ll suffocate. We all face that fate if we hide our struggles. Open up. To a friend, a family member, your M, to yourself, in a journal, or to God. James 4:6.

#NoOYO.

Announcements

Nessie this weekend. Sign up!

QvQ Championship next week.

Prayers/Praises

Shield’s wife is having shoulder surgery tomorrow. Pray that the surgery goes well and her recovery is quick.

Jiffy is going to see some multigenerational football in Nebraska with both his father and his son this weekend! What a great memory. Pray they enjoy their time together.

Pray for my M and I. By the grace of God we have our 2.3 on the way and we want the baby and my M to be healthy through the delivery and beyond.

Thanks for the tap, Jiffy.

Punch List out.

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15 Runners at Honey Badger

Warmup: 28 SSH – I usually begin every workout this way; looking at each pax as we count off a couple rounds.
The Thang: A mosey to the track for some hard work.

800m Indian Run
100yd Indian Bear Crawl
600m Indian Run
100yd Domino Broad Jumps
600m Indian Run
100 Partner Plank Claps
Rinse & Repeat

We got through 1 full round and the 2nd round of Broad Jumps. Before leaving the track we stretched a bit and the mosey’d to C.O.T. 10 LBC’s and 10 Flutters got us to 6am.

We totaled 3.3 miles and we all got better. Except for DH, he may have injured his back trying to jump further than Punch List. I hope it’s not serious.

Prayers for pax on IR and Offspring’s health, praise for Straight Up’s family having a great weekend.

READ YOUR NEWSLETTER – changes to Saturday’s AO’s and be watching for a convergence preblast.

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QvQ 19.1 – Jiffy vs. Sasquatch

21 PAX showed up to the first round of QvQ 2019. This first round is the classic match up from last year, which was decided by ONE point! That’s right, the reigning champ versus his challenger.

Jiffy versus Sasquatch

Brief history: Sasquatch lost to Jiffy last year by one point. ONE point! It was necessary for the match up to be repeated given the level of intensity at which both of these #HIM operate.

The clock struck 0515 and I directed everyone’s attention to the championship prize. A custom F3 shovel flag curated by YHC.

The intent of this shovel flag is to be much like a championship belt. I hope that it passes hands over the years, and we write the name of each years’ reigning champ on the back of the handle. It shall be brought to CSAUPs as well at any time the champion posts and desires to gloat. See below for a glimpse of the trophy.

0515.

I had five minutes to lead a quick warm up to get the PAX ready for what was to come.
Once we got our Tappy Taps out of the way, it was time to get down to business.

The rule of order is the competitor who is earliest to arrive will get to decide who goes first. Jiffy arrived at about 0435, so he was the clear winner. He chose to receive and go on the offense first.

0520.

Coupon Roulette

We came upon a sinister circle with 20+ cinder blocks, 50/60lb dumbbells, and retaining wall blocks! He had us circle around the coupons and choose one.

With your selected coupon you will complete in cadence called by Jiffy:

Shoulder press x 10
Curls x 10
Squats x 10
4 Count Flutters x 10

Jiffy then rolls three dice. One determines the direction we rotate. Two determine how many coupons in that direction we shift.

Get to your next coupon, repeat. Roll again.

Next coupon, do equal amount of burpees to number of coupons we rotated. Repeat four movements.

Roll again. Next coupon, do equal amount of partner clap push ups to number of coupons rotated. Repeat movements.

We hit round four and I was praying for a miracle, because my arms were already smoked.

0530.

Sasquatch takes the reigns and moves us to the pull up bars for a very creative assembly line of face kicks.

Nine PAX line up at pull up bars. The rest at various nearby stations. Do one pull up, shift one bar to the left. Once you reach the end you then BTTW crawl back to the other side of the pull up bars. Then head out to the street.

The remaining PAX are either doing burpees at either curb on the street nearby or run/nur down and up the hill (AKA Quadzilla!). Once you finish your respective station, move to the next and tap somebody at that station to proceed.

That was super original, and also tclaps to Jedi for doing a full handstand walk with no wall support both times through.

0540.

Jiffy gets his second opportunity to remind us why he is the champ.

We remain at the pull up bars and count off by threes.

Group 1: four rounds of 5 burpees/10 squats and then end with 10 partner clap push ups.

Group 2: four rounds of 5 pull ups/10 Merkins and end with 10 partner clap push ups.

Group 3: run to bottom of hill a dm bearcrawl up. At each cone do 10 Carolina Dry Docks.

We made it through 2.5 stations before running out of time. A great use of the AO. I wondered how Sasquatch was going to answer this painful segment.

0550.

Sasquatch has us count off by fours. He then leads us on a brisk mosey to the turf field. As we approach, we see two sleds at the closest end zone, and two at the far end zone. He sets one group up at each sled and has us complete the following exercises as a group on repeat:

Seal Sit-Ups x 10
Jump Squats x 10

Meanwhile, one PAX from each group pushes the sled 100 yards across the field to the opposite end zone. Once they reach the end, swap with someone in that group and they then push the sled back to your original group. Continue that snake like move until time is called. Woof.

0600 couldn’t come soon enough. Those sled pushes were terrible.

We hit 0600 and head back to COT to vote. The votes were cast, the points were tallied, and a winner was decided upon.

The winner of week one of QvQ is:

Sasquatch

It was close, but this time it was decided by 7 points. Sasquatch was awarded a patch since he will be advancing to the championship on 10/30.

A great showing by both of our competing Q’s. I think I speak for everyone when I say that was one of the more difficult workouts as of late at The Coop. And we’ve had some tough ones!

I’m looking forward to week two. We’ve got the Airborne Bad Assery of Geronimo lined up to take on our very own 1st F Q – Shady!

Announcements

Broga at The Ranch tomorrow! A special recovery focused workout for those running Ragnar this weekend.
QvQ next week: Geronimo vs Shady!

Prayers/Praises

Wegmans’ father in law has prostate cancer. It’s slow moving, but it’s cancer. Pray that it can be eradicated without much detriment to his M’s father.
Pray for the multiple PAX with pregnant M’s. It’s a transitional time but it’s well worth it. Pray we can as husbands love our wives like Christ loves the church while they are going through so many changes.

Thanks for the great beatdown, men.

Punch List out.

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The Prodigal GRT

It was nice returning to Fire Ant after a loooong hiatus. By long I mean I haven’t been there since the week prior to the DSM. Thankfully, the commute to Huntersville is to blame – not the lack of desire to be at Fire Ant.

I showed up about fifteen minutes early and began to get my stretch on. River Rat showed and followed suit. Gotta be honest – I look up to that dude. He’s got a boatload of kids and he still finds time to make himself better in the gloom.

Bonsai and Router pulled up, and circled up with us. I whipped out my two 60 lb sandbags and disclaimed the disclaimer.

We picked up the sandbags and got to walking 2×2, each PAX holding one side of a bag.

COP

Ruck Around the loop to warm up w/60 lb sandbags
Walk onto soccer field, drop bags, circle up
Slick
SSH x 30
Tappy Taps x 10
Al Gore night club x 11
Low Squat pulses x 20
Yoga

Rucks on – time to put in the work.

Partner Up

Movement 1
P1 Beep beep I’m a Jeep, clank clank I’m a tank to goal posts
P2 does ruck curls
Flap Jack once P1 reaches goal posts

Movement 2
P1 bear crawl to end of field while P2 overhead hold ruck
Once P1 reaches the end, P2 bear crawls to the end while P1 holds ruck overhead

Movement 3
P1 duck walk half way across field
P2 bent over rows
Flap Jack

Movement 4
Grab the sandbags
P1 bear crawl sandbag drag to mid field
P2 Curls
Flapjack

Formation – ruck off of the field to the shovel flag with sandbags – changing side that PAX held. Walking 2×2

Movement 5
Catch Me If You Can
Each PAX keeps ruck on, running PAX carries sixty pound sandbag
Once around parking decks with 7 low squats

Movement 6
Rinse and repeat around parking decks with 7 ruck merkins each time

Mary
Lay in a circle formation – heads pointed in
Holding rucks up, legs at six inches
Press one at a time, clockwise
10 reps each while calling out your reap
Switch directions – flutter kicks with 10 presses
Switch again – dollies with 10 presses
Switch again – Rosalitas with 10 presses

BBS position, rucks on lower legs.
Sit ups in rotating order x 20
Reverse protractor – torso makes the angles instead of the legs – 10 degree hike for last 10 seconds.

And that’s time. Very Fair.

COT
Announcements –
Guidance is back in action – Monday and Wednesday from 4-5. Reach out to Deacon or Crabcakes for more info.
Q v Q is coming
Something special coming in November between Fire Ant and Golden Corral.

Prayers/Praises
Pray for River Rat and his parenting. He’s a HIM with many 2.0’s and wants to lead them well.
Pray for Bonsai’s wife – started a new position with her company and is still making the adjustments. Pray she can find peace through Jesus in the midst of the anxieties in this transition.
Pray for Router – family friends have a daughter of the same age and their daughters aren’t getting along like they used to.
Pray for my me as a father/husband and for my M who is raising three kids alone on most week days while bearing another beautiful baby.

Had I been on Q ten months ago and only four PAX show up, my pride would have been hurt and I would have been mad, honestly. My perspective has taken a 180, though, and I really enjoy the small group – as it creates a better atmosphere for what F3 is all about. That’s why I came to F3 in the first place.

It was a solid morning with good chatter between the few of us. Happy to have had the opportunity to Q Fire Ant. Another notch in my belt!

Punch List out.

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ImpromptQ at The Coop

The Coop has had quite a month, and with a VQ on the schedule I was excited to see that momentum continue to grow. Sadly, our Q was a no show. As the Site Q, I led the PAX this morning in an impromptu Q.

Mosey to Bus Loop for COP
SSH x 30
Tappy Taps x 10
Low Slow Squat x 20
Hold Al Gore 45 Seconds
Pulsing Al Gore x 16
Merkins x 10
Yoga Flow w/Runner’s Stretch

While trying to figure out the weinke during the COP, we were holding Al Gores. At that time, I asked the PAX to enlighten me if their least favorite workouts. Cleverly, Cheddah answered “This one!” So we pulsed. A nice little burn to start us off. While moseying around prior to COP I decided upon our first endeavor.

Weinke

Partner Up
DORA 1-2-3 at Traffic Circle/Staff Parking Lot
100 Big Boy Sit Ups
200 Squats
300 SSH

Mosey around back of school to Lunch Tables

Derkins in Cadence x 10
Step Ups in Cadence x 20

Note to self: NEVER do derkins next to Haggis unless you have perfect form. That man is an animal.

Mosey to Pull Up Bars (Much to Trucker’s delight)

Wall sits while outer two PAX do 5 pull ups and work their way toward the center.
Rinse and Repeat but change up grip on your pull ups.

Mosey back to Shovel Flag

Hip work Courtesy of Airborne, one minute each side.

In all, we had a solid morning of varied movements. There’s some freedom in being able to make up the weinke on the fly, though I can say I was a more distracted than usual. The PAX who showed are true HIM, though. Lastly, we ran 2.5 miles.

A Burpee penalty was discussed for Mighty Mouse. If we can get him to show, we may have to proctor said penalty… though we all know we’ll help him out. That’s how we roll. Let’s just hope everything is ok for him.

Announcements

Hardwood on Q at Varsity this week!
QvQ coming at you on October.
Christmas Party coming up… get your ugly sweater on.
Read your newsletter.

Prayers/Praises

Kaiser – praise for God’s promises. There are over 700 promises in the Bible.
Chicken Hawk – pray for marriages. Pray that we as apathetic men can step up love our wives the way they need it.

Hope everybody enjoys their day, and holds their loved ones tight.

Punch List out.

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