3-Speed Repeats at Laces Out

6 was the number at LacesOut, and the goal of this routine was to maximize heart-rate variance while also working on speed (of course, maybe that’s the goal of every LO workout?).  Here’s how it went down:

Warm up mile (8:10 pace, I believe)

Dynamic warm up stretch-like exercises, including toy soldiers, butt kickers, high knees, pigeon toed and duck walks.  Pax then repeated the following patterned, AMRAP:

  • 400m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery speed
  • 800m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery speed
  • 1200m at 10k pace, 200m at 5k pace, 200m recovery speed

We then did about 700m cool-down.

Most pax got close to 6 miles (including 1 mile warm-up).

Thanks to Nomad for scheduling YHC to Q!

 

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Remembering Pearl Harbor

As a son/grandson of military servicemen and a cousin in active duty as a graduate of the USNA, it is a privilege and honor to show respect to our  men who are and have served our country for the right to be living here. My grandfather served in WWII as an air force bomber mechanic and hearing stories of his time serving during the war made a early impression on my. If it wasn’t for my birth defect, I too would have been serving this country with my dream of attending the USNA. That didn’t happen, of course. So I always jump on an opportunity to Q on a historical day in military history. Seeing that it is the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, I dusted off my off my college history books and incorporate some statistics into the WO.

COP consisted of good mornings, windmills, mumble chatter as Twister drove off to lead a RGH/Cary PAX to the WO site – welcome Pet Sounds – squats, jumping jacks, and merkins.

Mossy to bottom of hill. Run the hill 3 times. top of hill do 20 merkins each round and 20 LBCs at bottom for first two rounds, then only 10 LBCs at bottom on third round. Reason is that this totals 110 – Japan attacked Pearl Harbor or 110 minutes on Dec 7.

45 V sit-ups, Japan attacked in 2 waves, 45 minutes apart from each other. Mossy to entrance of FMHS football stadium.

PAX did 2 burpees, 3 merkins, 3 burpees, 5 squats. This is 2,335, which represents the number of US soldiers killed on Pearl Harbor (I knew we couldn’t do 2,335 burpees, so modified).

Mossy into FMHS football stadium and line up on the sideline. Army crawl to first hash and tighten up for some Navy Seal sit ups!! Army crawl back to sideline. Mossy to bleachers and run the stairs (since the midshipmen had to run up stairs -ladder per twister – in the battleships to man the guns) three rounds with 10 squats at the top each round. Mossy to fence. Lay on the 6, hands outstretched grabbing the fence. Feet 6 inches off ground and raise feet to fence for 20 OYO.

Mossy to parking lot, partner up. Partner 1 runs to end of parking lot, Partner 2 does exercise.

Round one was 353 LBCs – Japan used 353 airplanes to attack Pearl Harbor.

Round two was 230 squats – Japanese Navy was 230 miles west of Hawaii staging the attack

Round three, which we didn’t finish was  188 arm claps. 188 US airplanes were destroyed that day

Finished with 8 burpees – 8 battleships were destroyed, 2 sunk after the fact, Arizona being the most notably.

COT

One more thing about Pearl Harbor day, Japan attacked on a Sunday morning assuming that we wouldn’t be on alert, we would be relaxed and at church. We shouldn’t have to honor or remember our fallin’ and active brothers on historic days, we should always honor and thank them everyday. If you ever get a chance to visit Honolulu, you MUST visit the Pearl Harbor memorial. Of all the places i have traveled, it will not only take your breath away, it will take your breath away for eternity.

Read your newletter

Prayers to marriages, injured, travels for holidays and those hurting during the holidays

Trucker

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Slow Burn – Solid to the Core

So, it was a fairly nice morning, especially when you consider it is December 1st!  I was able to workout in shorts and a t-shirt, so really…who can complain about that?

After reading Popeye’s back blast from down in The Rock region from a couple of days ago, it really got me off my six.  I saw that Trucker was scheduled to Q this week, but he posted that he needed a last minute Q change since he was DR last minute for work.  So I set out to plan a good ole’ core workout.  It went a little something like this…

Disclaimer (one FNG), then mosey down to the parking lot below for warmup.

Warmups:

  • Side Straddle Hop – 25
  • Low Slow Squats – 10
  • Windmill – 10
  • Moroccan Nightclubs – 25
  • Cherry Pickers – 10

Mosey to the other end of the strip and circle up.

Gifts – that is the word of the month for December.  We discussed how, especially this time of year when we hear the work gift we think of things…things we get, things we give, things we buy for ourselves…just stuff.  I challenged the PAX to think of the Spiritual Gifts that we all have.  We talked about how God has given us ALL various gifts, and literally everyone has them!

Another gift, is the gift of this F3 Brotherhood, and the unconditional support we all give to each other!  And lastly, my gift to the PAX was a good solid to the core workout 😉

The Thang:

  • LBC’s in cadence – 15
  • Flutter Kicks in cadence – 25
  • Boat/Canoe in cadence – 10

Recover with 10 count

  • LBC’s in cadence – 15
  • Flutter Kicks in cadence – 25
  • Boat/Canoe in cadence – 7

Mosey to the side of Lowes

  • Line up in 4 lines and have a relay race (all out) for half the length of the parking lot.  Boy can these HIMs move!

Two walking 10 counts to the back of Lowes, with a mosey the rest of the way.

  • Hello Dolly in cadence – 25
  • Freddy Mercury in cadence – 25
  • Big Boy Sit-Ups OYO – 10
  • American Hammer in cadence – 15

Mosey over to the wall.

  • People’s Chair with a 10 count (or more) from each of the 29 PAX

Time for a break.

  • Merkins in cadence – 10
  • Diamond Merkins in cadence – 10

Heard from Gilmore a bit about how he got his name, and what F3 has meant to him.  Great story and inspiration!

Back to the core.

  • Hello Dolly in cadence – 25
  • Freddy Mercury in cadence – 25
  • Big Boy Sit-Ups OYO – 10
  • American Hammer in cadence – 15

Mosey to the other side of lowes (working our way back in the direction of COT) for a couple minutes of Mary.

  • Box Cutters
  • Protractor

Mosey back to COT for name-o-rama.  We had one FNG, who was named Elvis (which is a STRONG name)

So, I wore myself out, and am super proud of all the PAX who pushed through this morning and stood together.  It is an honor and a GIFT to be able to Q!  Stay strong, get better, be willing to drop to your knees and accept help…Have a Blessed Week!

 

 

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Spork and Knife

19 at Laces In, 6 passed on the fun and went Laces Out.

It was nice to break out of the norm and Q at Laces In, thanks Rebel for telling us where it was.

The Thang:

Anchorman Lead:

Mosey around the student parking lot and circle up. SSH x 20, Slow Merkin x 10, Imperial Walker x 20, other misc warm up exercises x 15(ish).

Burpee See-Saw, partner up, one burpee, other burpee, and back and forth x 10 each.

SPORK, one partner runs, the other exercises, combine count.
Squat x100
Peter Parker Peter x 100
Overhead claps x 100
Rosalie x 100
donkey Kicks x 100

Message about Awareness …

Hand off to Barry Manilow:

Jonah Hill (3 broad jump, 3 merkins x 7 times)
Mosey back near the start and find some soft grass
HR Merkins x 15
Low SS x 20
Kneetar Jai x 10
OH Claps x 50
Mahktar Jai x 12
Pause Squats x 10 (hold down for 2 extra seconds each time)
Alt Lunge x 10
Dying Cockroach x 20
JACK WEBB to 10/40
Moroccan NC x 50
Shoulder taps x 15
LBC x 15
Scorpion DD x 10 x 2

Great time, thanks for the opportunity.

Looks like we made it,

Anchorman, Barry Manilow

 

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F3 The Fort Thanksgiving Convergence 2017

70 Men came today to burn calories so they can eat whatever they want the rest of the day. Ok, maybe that was my reasoning, but most came because the know in order to get better, even in being Gratful, it is best when being challenged by your brothers. We all came to get better and realize this great thing we have called F3 and give thanks!
Santini Opening with warm up both physically and mentally with some leadership principles
Split off into the various groups!
4 went for for a Run
  • Drile (F3-Wapner)
    Mozy to the front of SFES, high knees, toy soldiers, Butt kickers, and Knees to chest.
    Mozy to front of SFMS, circled up…Side straddle hop, Merkins, Cherry Pickers, and Moroccan Nightclub
    Mozy to SFMS bus loop …high knees, toy soldiers, Butt kickers, and Knees to chest.
    Circled up.. Flutter Kicks and Low Slow Squats, America Hammer and Low Slow Squats, Merkins and Windmills, mountain climbers and windmills
    Mozy to back of SFES, circled up…Peter Parker’s and Side Straddle Hop, Plank and windmill, shoulder taps and Low Slow Squats, LBCs and Moroccan Nightclub
    Then rinse and repeated the above sequence…before joining the other groups at COT
    Lil E—Bootcamp Q
    Mosey to the parking lot in the rear of school and circle up. SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Squats
  • The thang
    • 10 cones set up in a line spaced about 10 paces apart. Each cone had an exercise and rep count on them. Do exercises on the first cone and run a lap of the parking lot. Once you complete the lap do the first cone and the second cone and then run a lap. Repeat this adding the next cone until all 10 are complete. Here were the exercises in order from first to last:
    • Burpees x 10
    • Bombjacks x 10
    • LBCs x 25
    • Merkins x 20
    • Jump Squats x 10
    • Flutter kicks x 40
    • CDDs x 20
    • Lunges x 20
    • Mtn Climbers x 20
    • Monkey Humpers x 20

Majority of the pax finished in the Lunges lap with a few speedsters out in front on the mtn climbers. Mosey back to the front of the school for some Freddy Mercury’s and Rosalitas.

After that met up with the Moderate and Black diamond groups for COT.

Everyone put out great effort today and really pushed themselves.

 

Witch Hunt—Black Diamond Q

Not even a trip to the hospital the night before with a pregnant wife could keep me away from this Thanksgiving workout. Shout out to Royale and Cha Ching for stepping up to help me out. Luckily I made it and we put in work.
We stared by counting off by 4 creating 4 teams.
Each team will compete to complete as many burpees as possible in 2-minutes with a catch. You can only do 10 at a time before you most complete 20 reps of ab exercise. 2 rounds:
1.) Burpees with LBCs (Somehow Bounce House was able to do 50 burpees. That dude is not human.)
2.) Burpees with Knee Tuck with crunchy frogs
Winners plank while losers perform 10 Kraken Burpees.
Blood was flowing so we moseyed to the hill by the middle school for some broken down burpees. Catch was that we had 20 minutes for everyone to complete. If everyone doesnt finish within the time then group does 25 Burpees.
Here was the setup:
Run Hill 10 times. (1 Hill Run = Up & Down)

5 Squat Jumps
5  Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
5 Merkins
5 Froggers
5 Squat Jumps

Run Hill 8 times.

10 Squat Jumps
10 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
10 Merkins
10 Froggers
10 Squat jumps

Run Hill 6 times.

15 Squat Jumps
15 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
15 Merkins
15 Froggers
15 Squat jumps

Run Hill 4 time.

20 Squat Jumps
20 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
20 Merkins
20 Froggers
20 Squat jumps

Run Hill 2 time

25 Squat Jumps
25 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
25 Merkins
25 Froggers
25 Squat jumps

With some great teamwork by the Pax everyone completed within the 20 minutes so no penalty was given.

I attempted to have Backdraft give us a 10-count however  he responded “There are no 10 counts during the Black Diamond.” So no 10 count and a quick mosey back to the parking lot for the 10 Minute 100 Burpee Challenge:

Complete 10 1-minute rounds of burpees in the following set scheme. Any time left over in the round is yours for rest. (typically PAX finish the set between 25 and 40 seconds)

Rd1- 8

Rd2- 9

Rd3- 10

Rd4- 11

Rd5-12

Rd6-12

Rd7-11

Rd8-10

Rd9- 9

Rd10- 8

Total – 100

Amazing work by all the Pax. I didn’t pull any punches with this setup for the Black Diamond and the Pax took it on without hesitation. We all survived and are better for it.

Thanks to Ginsu and Cake Boss for the opportunity to lead.

Pusher with closing remarks and finding #Victory 

Prayers & Praises

Thank you F3 The Fort

Cake Boss

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PreBlast: Thanksgiving Day Convergence at The Ranch…The Tradition Continues

It’s that time of year again! Time to give thanks for the blessings we have been given and show appreciation to those around us. Time to remember the progress that we’ve made in various areas of our lives and the intentionality with which we wake up each day that drives this progress. Time to be grateful for the fact that we are better today than yesterday, this month than last month, and this year than last year…all because we were given the ability and opportunity to improve ourselves.

Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for, and at F3TheFort, we’ll show our appreciation the only way we know how…commit ourselves to a ridiculously difficult workout at a time when everyone else is still snuggly tucked in their beds. But hey, at least we’ll all do it together. That’s right, it’s TIME FOR THE 5th ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DAY CONVERGENCE!

We’ll gather at The Ranch at 0600 on Thanksgiving Day morning (Nov the 23rd), where we’ll find 3 workout options led by 3 HIMs and 1st time convergence Qs:

  • Moderate Bootcamp – led by Wapner 
  • Regular Bootcamp – led by Lil E
  • Black Diamond – led by WitchHunt

The workouts will be bookended by special messages from a couple HIMs who always know exactly what sweet nothings to whisper in our ears to get us in the Thanksgiving Day mood, Pusher and Santini.

CakeBoss & McGruff will be providing the pot of golden fried fowl at the end of the rainbow of pain.

Make plans to join us on T-giving morning and bring Cousin Eddie and the random nephew sleeping on your couch.

Aye!

– Ginsu

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Coliseum- Mumble Chatter- Not on my watch

After seeing twitter post about possible mumble chatter at my Q from some legendary yackers YHC decided to bring one of his old school simple but effective workouts to these guys. a nice 46 degrees to start the day had a few arriving in there sweatshirts, a few were mumbling about not knowing where their cold weather gear was. Little did they know the ones that showed up with it on would be wishing they hadn’t in a few.

Quick disclaimer and were off.

Mosey to basketball court, dynamic stretching toy soldiers, knees to chest.

Circle up SSHs, mtn. climbers, flutter kicks, Windmills, peter parkers, chopsticks.

Mosey to light poles. at each light pole perform 15 Carolina dry docks, 10 alternating jumping lunges, 5 burpees. 10 light poles. Flutter kicks until 6 arrives.

Return down the line except 15Air Squats, 10 merkins, 5 burpees. LBCs until 6 arrives.

Mosey to parking lot and pair up for DORA. 50 merkins, 100 squats, 150 LBCs while partner runs to wall and does 1 muscle up.

Back to COT with 25 yard bear crawl on the way.

COT.

Announcements- Fast 5, Family Ruck, Community Café 5k, The Fort Christmas Party.

Prayers- Passing of Cake Boss sister. PAX looking for work.

Praises.

 

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Smithers VQ at Footloose – Stairway to Heaven

Smithers VQ

The weather was wonderful this fine fall October Morning…it felt just about as thick as ever and I was sweating even before I got out of bed!  Perfect day for my VQ!

As we were standing around talking before everything got kicked off I was amazed by the show of support of all the PAX rolling in one after another, 29 in all.  If only they had known what was coming ;-).

Started off with my first ever disclaimer…then a mosey to the back parking lot at First Baptist for the warmup:

  • Side Straddle Hops
  • Low Slow Squats
  • Windmills
  • Walking Calf Raises (aka how Cakeboss walked to school) to the wall
  • Wall sits for each PAX 10 count

Mosey across the street, down the steps, and across the next street to the parking lot next to Fort Mill Church of God…and wait, what was that in the humid glow of the streetlight?  Was that a board of pain?  Oh yes…

The Thang:

Partner up.  One partner starts the exercise while the other runs across the street and runs the snake on the set of steps…then back to take over the exercises for the partner.

  • 50 Bombjacks
  • 150 LBC’s
  • 200 Monkey Humpers
  • 150 Squats
  • 50 Merkins
  • 200 Calf Raises
  • 200 Side Straddle Hops

CONTROL is the word of the month.  We are all men….it’s in our DNA to want to be in control.  What do we need to find control?  In a car you need good tires…in a house you need a solid foundation.  You need a STRONG BASE…so…we worked on ours today.  Our legs (and a little bit of our core) were the focus…to give us a strong base to improve our control!

That said, we have all experienced things that didn’t go according to plan, and in many cases you could not regain that control no matter how hard you tried.  It is not easy to let go…it is not easy to adapt quickly…at least not all the time.  So, even when we ARE feeling in control we know that it is the Sky Q who has allowed that and trusted our leadership, Aye!  You see, the Sky Q uses us daily…sometimes to help others who are down, and pick them up…sometimes we are there to help those looking to help a brother up and we are the ones who are down.  Then there are the days where things just move right along without much resistance.  Those are the days where we should be letting the Sky Q know how much we appreciate His trust in us, and asking for continued strength to make Him proud!

Mosey back to COT for a quick round of Mary (just one set of flutter kicks) to close out our time.

My biggest fear was getting done WAY too early or not coming anywhere CLOSE to finishing the workout.  Sky Q steered me right in all the decisions, and I think for my first Q to finish with less than 2 minutes to spare…well, I’ll take that any day!

So, in closing…

My legs hurt, how about yours?

Smithers Out

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JEEVE’S GROWN MAN GAME OF THREE SQUARE

Warm Up Mosey to the Warm-up circle, exercises in cadence

  • Side Straddle Hop (20, four count)
  • Imperial Walker (20, four count)
  • Low Slow Squat (20, four count)
  • Wind Mill (20, four count)
  • Hillbillie (20, four count)
  • Merkin (10, four count)
  • Peter Parker (20, four count)

Mosey around the parking lot

We counted off into three groups and split up to each off the three squares.

Square 1

  • Merkin – OYO 15
  • Hello Dolly – OYO 30
  • Carolina Dry Dock – OYO 25
  • Star Jack – OYO 20

Once each square was completed we went into 15 yards of frog jumps, then 15 yards of bear crawl and lunges back to the starting line.

After the first station, we did Moroccan Nightclub until the six was in.

After a 10 count, each group rotated to the next square

Square 2

  • Big Boy Sit-Ups – OYO 25
  • Shoulder Taps – OYO 40
  • Diamond Merkins – OYO 15
  • Squats – OYO 25

More frog jumps, bear crawls and lunges.

After the second station, we did overhead claps until the six was in

Discussed the October 3rd F theme of Control and its definition

Square 3

  • Flutter Kicks – OYO 50
  • American Hammer – OYO 50
  • Mountain Climber – OYO 50
  • Side Straddle Hop – OYO 50

More frog jumps, bear crawls and lunges.

After the third station, we did curb step-ups until the six was in

Discussed control and Jeremiah 29:11

Mosey over the a nice little hill and got into partners. We did 200 LBCs with rotating partners running the hill.

Mosey back to the squares. Due to one Pax being late he picked his favorite square and we all completed Square 2 together. More frog jumps, bear crawl and lunges.

Mosey back for COT

Discussed Control and Matthew 6:34

Jeeves’s full VQ is in the books! Glad to have that over!!!

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