Creative Misery at the Rock

When Smuggler organized this Q combo, he must’ve known a lot of PAX were looking for that Saturday morning push. After some banter back and forth between the WEP Q’s and us Alcatraz Q’s, we were pleasantly surprised to see car after car after car roll into Runde Park this Saturday morning. The weather was warm and the PAX were primed with the early mumble chatter. With the typical “don’t hurt yourself and don’t sue if you do hurt yourself” disclaimer, we took a very abbreviated (10yd) mosey to the right side of the parking lot (a slight teaser for what was coming).

Jog to the other end of the lot and back then repeat.

Walking lunges 1/2 way down then high knees to the end. Same thing on the way back to the start.

Windmills & deadlifts to warm up the legs a little more then mosey to the top of “THE HILL”

PAX squat for 20sec then jog to the base of the hill followed by an all-out sprint back to the top of the hill and squat for the six.

Repeat for a 40sec squat hold then the jog down/sprint up and squat for the six.

Repeat for a 60sec squat hold then the jog down/sprint up and squat for the six.

Find some curb and 50 calf raises each leg.

Mosey to the field for a circle up.

This was when I think they really lost my mind…Lt. Dan’s (1 squat and 4 jumping lunges (2ea side counts as 4)) and we went to 8:32 before handing it off Tesh!!

With Tesh on Q, you just had a feeling this was going to get bad.

With the PAX in a very long plank:

5 Merkins

10 Mountain Climbers

5 Merkins

10 Peter Parkers

5 Merkins

Various Tesh-approved CORE exercises

Mosey to the fence line:

Merkin-Turtle crawl (can’t explain…you had to be there)

10 Merkins

Bear Crawl 50yds

More Tesh-approved CORE exercises

10 Bombjacks x 3 rounds

Mosey to the playground and split into 4 groups

Rotate through 5 pull-ups & 10 dips. For those waiting, hold the Al Gore pose.

Yet more Tesh-approved CORE exercises

Repeat the above 2 lines

Closed it out with 6min of Mary which couldn’t end fast enough.

Announcements: Yeti (Newsletter), Reading in Paradise

Prayer Requests: Praise for Palmer family, Cornerstone’s family, continued prayers for the Family & Friends affected by the recent tragedy’s our community has experienced, our officers, job transitions, marriages.

I’m sure Smuggler will get a little verbal backlash on this but hey, it made us better and everyone crushed it.

Maximus & Tesh

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Laces In – Not for the weak minded or those that are hungry!

4 Runners came at 0500 to get some laps in at the track. Daytona is around the corner, but they are preparing for P200 and using their feet. Crawdaddy saw his course for P200 and decided it was time to get training…no messin around!

14+YHC took to the campus of Fort Mill High School. After required discaimer and no FNGs, away we went for a mosey

COP

DID a bunch of stuff….the usuals

  • SSHs
  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Imperials
  • Peter Parkers
  • Mtn Climbers
  • Flutters
  • Parker Peters
  • Inch Worm Merkins
  • Hillbilly walkers
  • Mosey to front of school for some people’s chair on the wall and 20 overhead presses
  • Mosey to benches for 20 dips 15 derkins 2 rounds

Warm Up over

YHC spoke to the men about the things we keep putting off and avoid doing as much as possible. Tough conversations, the house projects, the doctors visit and most importantly the relationships that need some work or simple phone call. 

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, -Romans 5:4

By pushing through the tough stuff and the hard things we get stronger and we become the men Sky Q built us to be. Avoiding and masking the pain and suffering we only become weak minded and have no character, as we are not who we should be in all areas of our lives. Continue to get better and build character!

Mosey to main driveway entrance

8 exercises – 15 reps each – run down hill and back up in between each exercise. Fun time had by all!

ski hops
lunge Hops
inch worm Merkins
leg lifts
wide arm Merkins
Merkins
sumo squats
donkey kicks
Mosey back to COT with a few ab stops along the way
YETI is 2.24
Sign up to participate as receiver of pain or giver of pain. See Anchorman!
Prayers for Karson Bailey Whitesell and her family as well as first responders and our community.
Thanks Lil E for lead
Cake Boss
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Going Primal at Pantheon

At 0514, Pusher learned that YHC had the Q for Pantheon this morning and acknowledged that he needs to check Twitter more often. But, he stayed, along with six other PAX who didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

At 0515, the disclaimer was given, and a promise was made that there would be no levitating, as apparently that was a concern to some.

Took a long, slow mosey around the back of the school with high knees, lunge walks, knees-to-chest, and toy soldiers thrown in before circling up in the side/hidden parking lot for COP.

COP

10 Slow windmills IC

15 Hillbilly walkers IC

20 Moroccan night clubs IC

Wrist and elbow mobility (wrist circles, elbow circles, wrist lock, wrist stretch)

10 Merkins IC

Quick downward dog to honeymooner combo for good measure

Mosey back around to the front of the school for the real fun.

The Thang, Part 1

I am a huge fan of exploring mobility and building flexibility and athleticism at the same time. This morning, we did a series of different animal “walks” or “crawls” in front of the pillars, as there’s a nice, straight, flat area to work with. We didn’t get through all of them, but this was the plan:

Bear crawl (2 lengths)

Crawl bear (1 length)

Anteater walk (1 length; Tesh complained about this a lot, so you know it burned)

Crab walk (forward 1 length, backward 1 length; Never Never is a king crab walker)

Fiddler crab (lateral crab walk, facing the school for 2 lengths; Shady modified with some sort of flipping breakdancer spin move, while Pusher, Sugar Daddy, and some others modified with what ultimately turned into a butt scoot)

Monkey/gorilla crawl (facing the school for 2 lengths; Lutefisk demonstrated good form with pointed toes and everything)

Sneaky gorilla (1 length, lots of knuckle dragging, i.e., glove destroying)

Low bunny hops (1 length)

We didn’t get to komodo dragon crawl, chameleon walk (this one would be a real crowd pleaser), frog jumps, and one or two equally horrible others. But, with time running short-ish, I wanted to make good on my promise to alleviate the pain and bring back the inverted burpee. So up we went to the soccer field for

The Thang, Part Deux

Burpee 11’s just sounds bad. Add in a bear crawl and LBCs and it’s even better. Cones were lined up 30 yards apart with a row at the halfway point. PAX started with 10 burpees, bear crawl to the middle cones for 20 10 LBCs, then bear crawl to the far cones for 1 inverted burpee. Bear crawl back to the middle, 20 10 more LBCs, and bear crawl to the start. Rinse and repeat, 11’s style (9 burpees, 2 inverted burpees, 8 burpees, 3 inverted burpees, etc., but always 10 LBCs).

We got maybe halfway through this last part before time ran out and we moseyed walked to COT to wrap up.

Announcements

  • Fish Sticks needs a Q for next week, but YHC is apparently not invited. Pusher and Shady both indicated they were possibilities.
  • Yeti is coming up February 24. Do it, or make a relay team, or pass out water, or something.
  • Read your newsletter.

Prayers and Praises

  • Pusher mentioned Cesspool (PAX in Columbia) is in a hard place, as his wife is having health issues that came to a head over the holidays. Prayers for her, and for him and their kids.
  • Shady has a friend at work dealing with infertility
  • Shady is also looking at pursuing another job within his organization
  • Praise that Tesh’s job is going well, even if it means he has to work to make money

Thanks to Fish Sticks for the opportunity to lead these men, and for the PAX who put up with this nonsense. You don’t get better if you don’t push yourself to do new things, and I think we did a few new things, and had some fun in the process.

-Jedi

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#218in18 Kick-off Convergence BackBlast

76 PAX (including 4 FNGs) met in the gloom at Harris Teeter this morning to kick the year off the right way.

Group 1 – Jedi

Start with 60 seconds of plank tutorial, then a fairly lame attempt to explain the exercise “routine” for the upper body station. The routine, to be done in increasing AMRAP style:
· Incline Merkins
· Low Country Crab Boil (One leg, one hand dips)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Left hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Left hand on curb)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Pseudo Planche Merkins
· Donkey Kicks
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Right hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Right hand on curb)
· 90° Turn to starting position

Start with 10 reps for each exercise, then add 2 reps each round after that (10, 12, 14, 16, …). Only the elite few made it past the round of 12.

Group 2 – Peabody

An absolute honor to lead a convergence and had so much fun working with all the guys. Here’s the fun of the cardio Q.

SPRINT Relays!!!  

3 team

60 Yard sprint

Team members are doing Seal Jacks, side straddle hops, or flutters while teammate runs.

Winning team selects penalty exercise for 2 losing teams. (Unknown is losing team has to do the penalty exercise too but only half the reps).

Rinse and repeat the sprint relay races once teams are mixed up.

Mary to follow:

  • 50 LBCs
  • 25 Flutters
  • 10 Freddie Mercury’s

Lists of fun to hear the encouragement of other Pax and see the competition bring out the most in guys.  Saw lots of guys really push hard to win for their team.

Group 3 – Jekyll

Motley Crue and 80’s hairband soundtrack

  • COP: SSH, IW, Squat
  • 5 Burpee OYO, 4 OYO, 3 OYO
  • Lt Dan: squat and jumping , 1:4 ration
    • 1 squat: 4 jumping lunge, 2 squat: 8 Jumping lunge…10 squat: 40 jumping lunge
  • 5 burpee OYO
  • Calf Raises 25 each: Straight, Toes Out, Toes In
  • Donkey Kicks

COT

Welcome FNGs Iron City, Humps, Hillary, and Juliet

Prayers by CakeBoss for leadership.

– Ginsu

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Let’s Get Physical!

11 Strong for a Jane Fonda inspired warm-up with Gecko to start things off along with a short mosey up the road and back we did some leg movements that may or may not be PG13!! We even had some karaoke and music provided by the PAX.

After a nice warm-up Gecko took us to the “Hill” for some hill repeats

1st round was plank at the bottom while  partner one runs to the top and back

Round 2 was Carolina drydocks while the other ran

Can’t remember if we made it to round 3 but I do remember being handed over the Q

So we mosied over to the wall to do some dips and derkins

1st round was 30 dips and 20 derkins

2nd round was 25 dips and 15 derkins

3rd round 20 dips and 10 derkins

10 count between rounds

mosied over to the field and kept our partners for a 4 corner burpee fest!

1st partner stays back and does LBC’s while partner one runs to the next corner and does 5 burpees (Flapjack) comeback and pick your partner up to go to the next corner

Partner staying back does SSH while the other partner runs to the next corner and does 10 burpees (Flapjack)

1st partner stays back and does LBC’s while partner one runs to the next corner and does 15 burpees (Flapjack) comeback and pick your partner up to go to the next corner

1st partner stays back and does Squats while partner one runs to the next corner and does 20 burpees (Flapjack) comeback and pick your partner up to go to the next corner

After the last round we mosied to the parking lot to do some flutters while the other partner runs across the parking lot and back (flapjack) Repeat 6 times

Finished up with a little AB Lab

Fun times!

Thanks Italian Job for coming across the river and enjoying Alcatraz for the first time! Glad to have you!

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2017 Clave Boss 5k/10k & Christmas Convergence

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more——Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

The largest turn out by far for the Clave Boss 5k/10k was a success. We started on time and as far as I know nobody died. Thank you to all the PAX that ran and had a fun time and fellowship.

For the 5k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. MacGyver
  2. Harry Carry

For the 10k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Sir Topham Hat
  2. mix of PAX coming from all directions—no idea

For the Ruck, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Dark Helmet for 11min pace 5k ruck…..nice work!

Honorable Mention for Anchorman completing the 5k and Barry Manilow being his wingman!

The Convergence kicked off on time and we had Gecko open us up in prayer. We split the groups up and away we went with COT at 0750. Click on links to see the pain that was delivered…..Merry Christmas!

Black Diamond – Longshanks Q – https://t.co/odVJHWCBPS

Bootcamp – Cha Ching Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/christmas-convergence-boot-camp-mixed-w-some-bd/

Noderate – Barry Manilow Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/your-moderate-option-at-the-convergence/

COT came together and we had 83 men attend this year.

Welcome FNG – Lake Effect, who is 41 not the 50 that he just shouted out. Classic!

Many announcements:

  • Thank you Site Qs for all your work, dedication and leadership!
  • Serve Saturdays ….reach out to Deacon, Bolt, NASA for info…..HIMs!!
  • Joe Davis Run Jan 6
  • Friday Convergence with 3rdF post beat down Jan 12
  • Rooster CSAUP Jan 20
  • Yeti – February
  • P200 – March

More than a workout!!

Prayers/Praises

  • Dark Helmet shared his sister is in need of prayer. Please remember DH and his family each day in prayer
  • Family visiting is fun and sometimes no so fun. BE HIMs!!
  • Prayers for all the PAX traveling and for peace this week!

Challenge:

I spoke to the PAX about how 2000 years ago Sky Q sent his son into the world in the form of a baby. When looking for a place to come in from the cold there WAS NO ROOM AT THE INN. I believe we all fall into this trap and put so much busy into our lives that we don’t have ROOM AT THE INN for Sky Q in our lives. We fill our hearts and minds with so much and when it come to his word and being in relationship, we DON”T HAVE ROOM AT THE INN (in our hearts).

I challenge myself and the PAX to make room for SKY Q and see how it changes your life in 2018 and beyond.

Honored to lead this PAX. I am blessed and grateful for each of you!

Cake Boss

 

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Island Vacation at Footloose

My Qotter (thanks Anchorman) after many months.  I’ll keep it short:

The Thang:

Mosey to back lot

COP
SSH
IW
Windmills
Merkins
Mountain Climbers
Double Applesauce around the lot

Stretch-o-Rama

Forest to the Sea
Island Dips
Forest to the Sea
Island Dips
Double Applesauce around the lot

Side Shuffle Bear Crawl on long lot

Double Applesauce around the lot

Side Shuffle Lunge Walk on long lot

Double Applesauce around the lot

PAX Plank Hurdles

Mosey to Flag
6 MOM

 

Announcements:

Joe Davis, Convergence, Read Your Newsletter

Prayers/Praises shared by all in COT

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The Fort pledge to help another Pax out

Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

 

 

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Christmas Movie Trivia Loop

When Pusher and YHC realized we were co-q’ing Alcatraz, and the weather was predicted to be quite winter-like, we decided a Christmas theme was in order.  But we wanted something a little unique.  So, we landed on Christmas Movie Trivia.

The wintry weather showed up on cue, though more cold and wet than snowy and Christmas-like.  “No matter” said the 12 pax that posted ready for the physical and mental challenges.

Pusher started us off with a jog intentionally avoiding the path around the ball fields.  We moseyed to a few different intersections near the park for various warm-up exercises, including SSHs, merkins, peter parkers, and a few others, while playing a little frogger.

We then moseyed to the bottom of a steep hill and partnered up (size no matter).  Partner 1 took the hill, while partner 2 held a squat.  Flapjack.  Repeat 2 additional times.

We then moseyed up the hill half way, and lunged the rest of the way.  Pusher then took us back to the parking lot where we started and turned it over to YHC.

We moseyed around the parking lot, then to the path that circles the park, where the first of about 30 cones was sitting (each about 10-20 yards apart, all along the path).  And so began the Christmas Movie trivia challenge.  Here’s how it worked:

  • On each cone was a trivia question.  Upon arrival to the cone, the question was read aloud.
  • While pax pondered and discussed the question, an exercise was performed, which was dependent on the movie.  Here were the exercises (some of which we didn’t get to):
    • A Christmas Carol – 10 high jumps
    • A Christmas Story – 10 Plank Jacks
    • Christmas Vacation – 10 Mountain Climbers
    • Christmas With The Kranks – 10 Bombjacks
    • Deck The Halls – 10 Plank Punches
    • Four Christmases – 10 Sumo Squats
    • Elf (My Favorite!) – 10 Squat Jacks
    • Ernest Saves Christmas – 15 Hillbilly Walkers
    • Holiday Inn – 10 Morning Wood
    • How The Grinch Stole Christmas – 10 Russian Twists
    • It’s A Wonderful Life – 10 Dry Docks
    • Jingle All The Way – 10 Run Stance Switch
    • Nightmare Before Xmas – 10 Crab Cakes
    • Miracle On 34th Street – 10 Merkins
    • The Polar Express – Bearcrawl to next cone
    • Scrooged – 10 Monkey Humpers
    • The Santa Clause – 10 Chop Sticks
    • Santa Claus: The Movie – 10 Speed Skaters
    • White Christmas – 10 Donkey Kicks
  • Once the exercise was done, pax had to agree on an answer.
    • If the answer was correct, pax moved on to the next cone
    • If the answer was not correct, pax had to do one or more penalty exercises.  Here’s how the penalties worked:
      • 1st incorrect answer – 10 burpees
      • 2nd consecutive incorrect answer (i.e. at next cone) – 10 burpees AND 100 yard run
      • 3rd (or more) consecutive incorrect answer (3 cones in a row)- 10 burpees AND 100 yard run AND 10 merkins
      • After the penalty was served, pax moved on to the next cone

We got through about 25 cones (with a score of about 50%) before running out of time.  The questions were tough, and thus we clocked in over 100 burpees.  I won’t post the questions/answers here in case any pax want to reuse this weinke, or a variant thereof (contact me on twitter if you’d like the questions and answers).

Moleskin

It was a privilege for Pusher and YHC to lead the workout at Alcatraz.  Pusher talked about how thankful we are for F3 and the amazing HIMs that make it so great, including and especially the pax posting to Alcatraz.  For me, what has made F3 so life changing isn’t the organization, or structure, or exercises or cool gear; it is the men of F3 that invested their time into “FNGs”, long after their first post.

If you are a man that a fellow F3 pax has invested time into, my encouragement to you (and to me) is to find a pax in F3 that could benefit from you pouring into them.

 

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