Tag: Pusher

Beyond Adversity

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Adversity: A state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune  through showing COURAGE in the face of adversity. 

The Beyond workouts have been influential in pushing us all beyond our normal tendencies. As each of the Q’s created hard, meaningful, powerful workouts, the messages have been even more impactful. I dug deep into why F3 has been so impactful to me for the past 5 ½ years and realized that if I wasn’t Headlocked by Sen Tressel and Decible, I would never have found the reason why I am who I am, nor stepped outside of my comfort zone. As many know, I am not one to speak messages or bring attention to my birth defect. Yes I love to rattle the Q’s and bring sarcasm – but that is to hide my anxiety and self-awareness. Growing up with a birth defect being extremely skinny and frail had a huge negative impact on me: from being prohibited from playing organized sports, to ridicule, to hash words, to being left out. Growing up I became extremely self-aware of  how I was different, how I looked, and how people looked at me. Up until college, I had no self-esteem. I was shy and timid. A college roommate encouraged me to hit the gym with him and from that point on, I became a gym rat for the sole reason to make my body look normal. That never happened, and I knew it wouldn’t. But I had to find a reason – COURAGE – to face Adversity. When Sen Tressel approached me about F3, he knew that I worked out religiously, but I bet he knew I was missing something. That was the fellowship and faith aspect of my life. Don’t get me wrong, my wife is my treasure, and she see’s through all my fallacies and understands the importance of my working out. Adversity has smacked me right in the face more often than not, and without the courage of my F3 brothers, pushing me, encouraging me, accepting me, I would not be a better man, husband, nor father. If you asked me 20 or 25 years ago to participate in a GoRuck Tough, a Mudrun, a 5k, a CSUAP, I would have said something that is not print worthy. We all deal with Adversity, we deal with it differently, but courage is the root of the means to fight adversity. I will never be normal, I will never be as strong as Maximus or as fast as Sen Tressel or courageous as Dark Helmet, or a leader like CSPAN, but without F3 and our brothers locking shields together, adversity would overrule our lives and we would not find the courage to push each of us through the hard time.

So the Thang represents one of the hardest WO’s F3 experiences. I thank Jekyll for introducing the board of pain many years ago. But I wanted to put a twist on it – different exercises and a little more running. I wanted each of us at Beyond to encourage each other to push through the adversity that the box of pain presented.

Ran ½ mile to the FMHS ROTC pull up bars. Conduct each exercise listed on box of pain, then run around the parking lot (approximately 0.3 miles). Complete as many as you can until Q halts WO.

100 LBCs

50 Burpees

25 Pull Ups

100 Big Boy Sit Ups

150 Squats

100 Merkins

100 Mountain Climbers

Wrap up with round of 10 count Abs:

A = American Hammers

D = Dying Cockroaches

V = V-ups

E = E2K (oblique crunch with RL on L knee then switch

R = Rosalitia

S = Sit ups

I = Imperial Walker on your back (bicycle)

T = Tummy Tuck (LBC)

Y = Yo Rosalitia this is Dolly (Start in Hello Dolly brings legs together then bring legs up)

Run back to COT

Thank you Maximus for allowing me to Q Beyond and for us all to find Courage to fight through Adversity everyday. F3 is a conduit to each PAX finding the courage and accountability to get through whatever Adversity your are dealing with, and F3 brothers are the foundation to help each of us through adversity.

Trucker

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Kicking Off ’18 Nantan Summer Tour at Block Party

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On an unseasonably cool June morning, 41 #HIMs met to get an attitude adjustment and start the day out right.

Mosey to the big parking lot on 160.

WARMUP:

  • 20 4-count side straddle hops
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 10 4-count Windmills
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 20 Low slow squats
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 15 4-count Merkens
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 20 Mountain climbers
  • Five Burpees OYO
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs
  • Five Burpees OYO

The THANG

Four corners in the big parking lot. Count off into groups of 4s and rotate through the stations.

  • Corner 1: Mosey to the bottom of the hill (160) and sprint back to the top, rinse and repeat. LBCs when done.
  • Corner 2: 30 Hand release Merkens. LBCs when done.
  • Corner 3:  40 Monkey Humpers. LBCs when done.
  • Corner 4: 20 Burpees. LBCs when done.
  • Rinse & Repeat

Mosey to the wall for 20 4-count wall mountain climbers.

Mosey back to COT….NOT DONE YET!

Captain Thors in cadence to 8 x 32.

COT

1 Corinthians 9:24 reads “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” Give everything you do your best effort. Sometimes, however, this requires an attitude adjustment. Be grateful for how God has blessed you and honor HIM by giving it your all. After all, the only difference between a chAmp and a chUmp is YOU!

Announcements: Hog & Coyote, Nantan Summer Tour, #218in18, Read your newsletter

Thanks for the opportunity, Shady!

– Ginsu

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If you build it, they will come..

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The weather forecasts leading up to Slow Burn showed what could have been a soggy outing. In preparation, I made sure I had not one, but two Weinke’s prepared for the PAX. One bringing back a popular game from College past to keep us dry, “Roxanne,” with a slightly different spin, and the other a friendly mosey around the parking lots with a few exercises mixed in. Surprisingly, it ended up being a perfect day and with it, an impressive 30 PAX showed for the party.

Warm-up

Mosey to the parking lot in front of Empire Pizza

Along the way, did some butt kicks, high knees and side shuffles, left and right and circled up for some warm-up

SSH- x25

LSS- x10

Windmill-x10

Moroccan- x25

Overhead Claps- x20

Happy Jacks- 4 rounds- 5 SSH/ 2 jump squats- a nice new surprise for the PAX

Mountain Climbers- x 10

Annie- 1-2 (1) Total of 10-

The Thang

Mumble Chatter was in full force and hard to avoid with such a great number.

First Round-Same parking lot, PAX lined up close to the center back parking line and faced towards the curb heading at a slight decline. Kicked off the fun with a round of 7’s. PAX started with 1- CDD and sprint to the other side- 6 squats. Continue this pattern until the the flip-flop happens, and you are ending with 6-CDD and 1-squat. Great work out of everyone. Plank until the Six was in.

Second round-Mosey over to the parking lot next to the new restaurant Persia (not sure if that’s the name). PAX lined up along the parking space middle line facing the curb. Seemed to be a theme for the day. Next up- Modified ascending bear crawl until 13. 1-CDD then Bear Crawl to other side- 2 Derkins. Bear Crawl back to starting position, complete 3-CDD. Continue this pattern until you end on 13- CDD. Once complete, a couple of ten counts and off to the next destination. Amazingly, the mumble chatter had decreased significantly!

Third round– Mosey over to the right side of Lowes and all the PAX grabbed some space on the wall. I had originally planned for some chicken peckers, look it up. Instead we started a 10 count at one of the PAX line and continued with all PAX in a chair position. PAX joined in with instructions to push everyone to that great feeling of displeasure. Thanks for chipping in! As it got to the halfway point, I could hear the mumble chatter wondering what happened to the moderate workout, so I gave a quick leg shake break. Quick it was, and then back on the wall. We didn’t quite complete the entire line but I commend the PAX on the effort.

Next up Individual suicides- showed the PAX the lines to hit and off they went. 5 Merkins after first set and 5 flying squirrels after the second.  Took a break in between to highlight for the group the mission and 5 principles of F3. Hopefully the FNG’s heard it!

Headed back to the warm-up spot for some Mary work

Dolly-20

Reverse Crunch- 20

American Hammer- 15

Flutter kicks- 15

Mountain Climbers/Peter Parkers/Parker Peters

Back to COT

It wasn’t quite Six O’ Clock so we needed one more exercise to get us there, and Trucker happily offered up toe touches to get us home. Thanks!

Announcements– read your newsletter

Prayers/Praises– Badger, Glenn, Children, Teachers, Parents, Smithers, CSPAN, if I missed one I apologize

Thanks for the support PAX and for Shady and FMB for bringing FNG’s- Wide Right and Wilson

And Smithers for the opportunity to lead!

Frat BoySlowburn

 

 

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Hopping, crawling, sneaking, and pushing at Laces In

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Truth be told, YHC did not consult his work calendar when Lil E asked him to Q Laces In, and he probably would have turned it down had he thought about it. Once committed, there was no excuse to pass it off. Plus, it’s nice to get over to that side of the Fort from time to time.

We had nine total, with Tesh not posting despite requesting a welcome celebration and a couple others bailing last minute because of “sore shoulders.” Nevertheless, the nine faithful and strong pressed onward into the gauntlet.

Warm Up

Long mosey around to the far side of the school, which is really actually pretty close but takes a long time to get to it. There was some butt kicking and high kneeing thrown in before we made a small circle in the square parking lot with the special spots for teacher of the year and whatnot. We did some windmills and Moroccan night clubs, and that was it for the warmup. On to

The Thang

Not having a ton of time to plan, the gauntlet approach seemed best. Set up the course, then let the PAX work through it at their pace. The basic layout was:

  • Start with two-foot hops onto the curb
  • Bear crawl to next curb
  • Incline merkins (hands on curb)
  • V-sits on path on island
  • Derkins at next curb
  • Sneaky gorilla across middle section to next curb
  • Incline merkins
  • V-sits on path
  • Derkins
  • Bear crawl to last curb
  • Run one lap around the inside of the square

Start with 20 hops and sets of 10 incline merkins/10 derkins, then work down the ladder with each pass (18 hops and 9 incline/derkins; 16 and 8, etc.). Always with 5 v-sits per island. If you got through the whole thing, that works out to 110 hops, 110 derkins, and 110 incline merkins, with 100 v-sits and a lot of crawling and sneaking.

I appreciated the symmetry of this workout.

Time was not sufficient for all PAX to complete the workout, especially since Greenwave and Crab Cakes got confused and never climbed down the ladder, doing sets of 10 the entire time. Crazy.

Funhouse handled COT as part of the A$$ Kicking April tour, so YHC checked out.

Thanks to Lil E for the opportunity to lead.

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Slow Burn Deck of Pain

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The morning started out cooler than yesterday…and everyone noticed that right away. That’s okay, because what I had in store would keep everyone warm enough without question.

Started out with the standard disclaimer, then moseyed down the hill for the warm-up.

  • Butt Kickers
  • High Knees
  • Circle up
  • SSH’s
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Windmills
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Hillbilly Walkers

Mosey over to the side lot for the Thang.  Now, when we got over there the PAX saw the deck of cards and immediately knew what was coming.  I set the ground rules:

Aces are 1, Face cards are 10, we will use the value of the card and do that many sets of 10 of a given exercise, and each suite for that card will determine what exercise would be done.

We did 4 rounds in total, with a lap around the building in between rounds.

Round 1 – CORE; Round 2 – UPPER BODY; Round 3 – LOWER BODY; Round 4 – CARDIO with the ultimate goal to provide a solid and challenging total body workout!

So, we started out with a face card that meant we had to get after it right out of the gate with 100 box cutters.  And the mumble chatter turned at that very first exercise of round 1 ;-).

Overall, we did hundreds of exercises, some more than others, but the exercises completed for each round were as follows:

  • LBC’s (Hearts) – We did about 60
  • Flutter Kicks (Clubs) – We did 100
  • Box Cutters (Spades) – We did 100
  • American Hammers (Diamonds) – We did 80

Run a lap around the building

  • Merkins (Hearts) – We did 80 or 90
  • Carolina Dry Docks (Clubs) – I think we did 70
  • Moroccan Night Clubs (Spades) – I think we did 40
  • Overhead Hand Claps (Diamonds) – I think we did 50

Run a lap around the building

  • Squats (Hearts) – I can’t remember how many we did
  • Monkey Humpers (Clubs) – We did 100
  • Apollo Ohno’s (Spades) – I think we did 40 or 50
  • Lunges (Diamonds) – We did 10 each leg

Run a lap around the parking lot to save time and get the last round in

  • Peter Parkers (Hearts) – I think we did 40 or 50
  • Mountain Climbers (Clubs) – I think we were in the 30 or 40 range
  • SSH’s (Spades) – We did 80
  • Parker Peters (Diamonds) – I think we did 20

Mosey back up to COT

There was a lot of complaining, but I was really proud of all the PAX as they pushed through the pain and discomfort and came out their comfort zone.  Moderate is a state of mind, and I will admit that a lot of times I tell myself I can’t do something, but then when pushed by the PAX I find out, hey, it hurt like crazy, but yes, I can do that!  Today it was my turn to lead the PAX and push them.  I’m feeling it for sure now, and I know they all are too…but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Smithers…Out!

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Chilly Mid-April Morning at Colosseum

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9 men joined YHC for a cold beatdown.

Mosey around the parking lot.

WARMUP

  • 35 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10 4 count merkins
  • 20 4 count mountain climbers
  • 10 4 count windmills
  • 20 4 count heels to heaven
  • 20 4 count pickle pounders
  • Honeymooner to stretch out the abs

The THANG

Line up at the first line of a series of 19 arrows the run down the back road at Gold Hill Middle

  • 1 burpee per arrow (19 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • Xs and Os in cadence
  • 3 jump squats per arrow (57 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • Captain Thors to 5×20
  • 3 merkins per arrow (57 total)
  • run back to start and LBC for six
  • boats and canoes

Mosey to the benches under the awning

  • 10 burpee box jumps
  • protractor
  • rinse & repeat x 3

Mosey to COT

Xs and Os

COT

Announcements for Convergence, Sweettooth Run, Strawberry Festival

Praise for good cancer diagnosis, safety through weather, other health progress. Prayers for Badger, back injury, and safe travel.

– Ginsu

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Laces: Super 21 on Maundy Thursday

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Laces In:

Slight Mosey to student parking lot

Warm Up – COP
SSH x20
Imperial Walker x10
Hillbilly Walker x10
Windmill x10
Cherry Picker x10

Mosey to Band Practice lot

Super 21s (variation) – Inspired by JWOWW’s VQ at the Hive which used a deck of cards and got me thinking about 21. Then I found Super 21s listed in the F3 Exercises………I wondered why I hadn’t done these before in a workout. Turns out doing Super 21s makes it difficult to raise your arms later…..like days later.

1 merkin to 1 low slow squat
repeat to 10 reps of each
Flutters x21
11-13 reps of merkin/LSS
Hello Dollys x21
14-15 reps of merkin/LSS
Freddie Mercuries x21
16-17 reps of merkin/LSS
Lap around the Painted Lot
18-19 reps of merkin/LSS
Box Cutters x21
20-21 reps of merkin/LSS
Rosalitas x21
(Total of 231 merkins and squats)

Slight mosey to side of Ceramics Studio

Found some curb – stretch calves
Calf raises x21
Wall Sits (slight discussion of the brass technique of multiple tonguing: generated a good deal of mumble chatter)

PAX mentioned (sarcastically?) that if we just did 19 more merkins, we would reach 250. With the challenge laid down, PAX completed 19 merkins and 19 low slow squats. (Total of 250 merkins and squats: except for Trucker who complete 280 and added that to the Name-o-rama so YHC wouldn’t forget.)

Plank up – Because Abiding (see note below) requires flexibility:
Honeymooner to Down dog variations
Stretch out the legs
Leg raises in down dog
One leg plank
Knee taps to elbow x5
Knee taps to opposite elbow x5
Repeat with opposite leg
Pigeon Lunges
Butterfly stretches
Seated forward bends (i.e., touch your toes sitting down)

Mosey back to COT
American Hammers x21

The word for the month is abide. Abiding in God is active alignment of our will to the Lord’s. This is opposed to “the dude” passively abiding in the Big Lebowski. I gave a brief message about how we can abide in what is happening around us or we can strive to abide in God. The word is not a passive acceptance our circumstances, at least not in a scriptural sense.

We also discussed, while sitting against a wall, how I approach my (music) studio teaching at Winthrop. There’s practice dedicated to maintenance/growth at technical elements and the physical skills required to play the instrument (this is how triple tonguing came up), and then there’s practice learning assigned repertoire. Practicing only repertoire means the physical skills needed for new piece/work must be learned from scratch…..every time. Having a set routine for maintenance and growth means the fundamentals on the instrument are already in place, i.e., you’re in shape. At this point, learning repertoire is simply a matter of applying skills you already possess.

My short (5 months) time with F3 reminds me of this model. A routine to develop ourselves (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) so that when we encounter challenges (repertoire) it is only a matter of applying skills we either already posses or are honing. One of the hardest parts of each workout for YHC is leaving the comfort of the bed for the gloom. Yet we are all on this planet (its own form of gloom) called to seek God’s purpose for us and abide in that. I’m grateful to have shared this morning with PAX doing just that . . . . even if that means YHC can barley raise his arms to type a backblast.

Not sure what happened at Laces Out. . . . I’m assuming they ran and can currently lift their arms.

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Laces In/Out 2018.11

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This is the 3rd of 3 Qs where I’m catching up on backblasts…  I’m pretty sure I owe someone a thousand burpees by now.  I apologize.

Mosey to band practice lot for some leg work.

I did an extended warmup that us much out of my typical, because I planned sprints, and everyone pulls something during sprints so lack of warmup was not going to be anyones excuse.
SSHs, Windmill, Jimmy Carters, Wide leg stretch left/right, squat stretch groin, downdogs and honeymooners… Next toy soldiers 30 yards, mosey 70.  Buttkickers 30 mosey 70, did this 3 times…

Now for sprints, split into two teams of 6.  Split into groups of 3, 40 yards apart.  Relay race, 1 man per team running at a time per team.  (This took until the 3rd round to get right…  I’m pretty sure some would be clinically prescribed Aderol if sent to take a standardized test.)  When the last man comes in I yell out a random exercise and then we do it all over again.  We did this 7 times.

Mosey back to the parking lot for 6MOM from the Fort’s own JWoww.

 

I don’t know what the runners did… ask them.

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We got our 28+ at The Colosseum

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We had a total of 28 guys in The Fort region post yesterday (Monday, Feb 26) amidst the rain so I threw out the challenge of getting 28 men out to the Colosseum this AM. With some help from Jeckyll, Pusher, Ginsu, Cha Ching and a few others, we got that done. The PAX made it even better when that was just the boot camp number as we totaled 31 with our 3 runners included.

I can not even begin to tell you how humbled I was to see headlight after headlight roll in and to have 27 other guys run around this AO at 0515 with me. As Assassin mentioned in COT, we do in fact know how special it is to be blessed with the opportunity to be out with the PAX on just another Tuesday morning. To see some faces out there that I haven’t seen in quite a while was great. With the chatter that ensued, I knew I had better bring it.

So after our disclaimer and the departure of the Pathfinder runners, us boot campers jogged to end of the back parking lot. We counted off to our number of 27  at the time and dropped down for a 2min plank followed by a 2min reverse plank. Well 90 seconds into that latter plank, we had a masked ninja run up to join us for our lucky number 28. That ninja also goes by the name STRAIGHT UP  and man, it was good to have him join us.

1/2 of 28 equals 14 Burpees so that is what we did followed by 28reps of the following:

Dying Cockroach, Boats & Canoes, Jumping Lunges, Jump Squats, X&O’s, American Hammers, Monkey Humpers and Squat Calf-Raises

We partnered up for:

Partner 1: Run to the 1st speed bump and back
Partner 2: Diamond Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1. Run to the 3rd speed bump and back

Partner 2: Merkins then flap jack

Partner 1: Run to the gate that was no longer in existence

Partner 2: Carolina Dry Docks or some ab work then flap jack

Bring it back to the GHMS side of the bus parking lot and circle up for some coupon work.

Begin with the 30lb Ruck and 35lb Kettle Bell on opposite sides of the circle. When the coupon came to you, 10 bicep curls of your choosing while the rest of the PAX cycled through Freddy Mercury, Rosalitas and Flutter Kicks.

COT

Announcements: Read that Sunday email containing your F3 Newsletter. New AO launching from Regent Park. Includes (br)yoga, run and coffeeteria  (contact Cake Boss or Sasquatch) every Friday. Don’t forget about the drive for 218 FNG’s. Reading center opportunity (service).

Prayers/Praises: Flat Tire’s new promotion, Straight Up’s wife is feeling better and S.U. is back with us. Cornerstone’s daughter Emma had her last chemo pill last night and will be ringing the bell soon. Ginsu’s daughter took her first steps yesterday. Jeckyll’s son is now a Boy Scout and Jeckyll has now handed over the leadership. Prayers for Mr. Clean and his desire to be out in the gloom. Prayers for Squeaky for what he is facing right now. Praises for reconnecting with my daughter.

Thank you again for coming out in the gloom.

Maximus

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