8 men came out to see where they stand on the 2019 Q3 PFT. YHC is on the IR for a tummy issue. Youts is the only 3 Peat Participant. And WOW has he made some awesome progress! Here are the numbers:
Here are ALL the numbers:
0515 on a crisp…wait! This is not the Yeti preview!
0515 on a gloom-filled morning, moisture in the air, 22 Pax rolled in to get a little preview of #TheSweati. A lot of familiar faces. Nantan, Lakeridge Clowncars, Dirty, WWL, Senator, Double D…even the Weginator was there. There were more. I’ll tag them in the BB. Several came to get a little peek of the Sweati. I gave some “details”. Some true. Some false. All will be revealed this Saturday. Get your head right. Hydrate! Be Safe! Don’t Die! We did some exercises that may or may not happen this Saturday. They probably will…over a 3 hour period, not 45 minutes. So here we go:
THANG
Mosey around the parking lot and circle up for an abbreviated COP
-SSH
-10 Burpees OYO
-Imperial Walkers
-10 Bombjacks
-Mountain Climbers
Head to the curb for a short circuit (Part 1)
-25 Dips / Run across parking lot and back
-50 Merkins / Run across parking lot and back
-75 Squats / Run across parking lot and back
Mosey to the freshly repaved and striped Hive Parking Lot (Part 2)
-Burpee Broad Jump the entire length of the parking lot*
-Run Back
-Lunge Walk the entire length of the parking lot
-Run Back
*This is starting to become a thing. It should be stopped!
Mosey Back to Laces In parking lot for Reverse Pyramid (Part 3)
(Run across the parking lot and back between sets)
-40 LBCs
-30 Mtn Climbers
-20 Peter Parkers
-10 Burpees
-20 Parker Peters
-30 4-Ct Flutter Kicks
-40 Side Straddle Hops**
**Tclaps to Maximus for leading the pax in some Mary while waiting for the 6
In the interest of time, we stayed put and completed the next series of exercises in the LI parking lot versus the Hive (about 1/2 the distance planned) #yourwelcome
Bear Time (Part 4)
-Bear Crawl Across the parking lot
-NUR back
-Crawl Bear across the parking lot
-RUN back
I blew off Part 5, which would have been a repeat of Part 1, for some Mary. Thanks to the PAX that lead the last few sets of core.
0600 Arrived and YHC was #smoked
Appreciate all the PAX that came out to one of my quarterly Qs. I hope you gained some insight on what is to come this Saturday morning at the #Sweati
No NMM means no more details for the PAX. See you Sat.
Announcements
-Sweati this Saturday at the Armory (Forest Hill Church): 0530 Ruckers/0600 Runners, Q-Source to follow at Forest Hill (Charis Room)
-Stuff the Bus at Tega Cay Walmart (Look for details from Wegmans)
-A couple of 2ndF options at Carolina Beer Temple and Amor Artis
-Read your Newsletter
Prayers & Praises
-Prayers for Rock Thrill’s Father-in-Law who is having several medical issues
-Prayers for a friend of the Pax who’s marriage is struggling
-Prayers for Nasa’s wife who is struggling with some severe headaches
-Prayers for Repeat’s mom who is fighting cancer
-Prayers for discipline in the 3 F’s and to continually make sure our Concentrica is in order (something I struggle with)
Gentlemen, it’s been a lot of fun and an honor to serve you. Hope to see you at the Sweati!
Aye!
Zima
So a bunch of 30 something fit guys show up to a Barry Manilow workout … I’m sure there is a punch line somewhere …
10 at The Fort for my best effort, both physically and mentally.
The Thang:
Mosey to the wall across from Founders for some warm-up +
20 x OH Claps
20 x MN Clubs
20 x forward arm circles
20 x backward arm circles
20 x Imp walker
15 x Low Slow S
20 x LBC
20 x Travolta
15 x Dying Cockroach
15 x T-Plank
Wall sit, 2 pop-out burpees from each end to middle
BALLS TO THE WALLS (Accept, 1983)
Wall sit, 2 pop-out burpees from each end to middle
BALLS TO THE WALLS (Accept, 1983)
To the big(ish) hill up to the gun shop
1-7 at the bottom – Burpees
7-1 at the top – Squats
To the lot across the street (sorry, it was gravel)
bear crawl from light to light, at each light:
2 x burpees, 2 x Low SS, 2 x merkins, 444,666,888,10-10-10
Circle up in Founders lot
15 x OH Claps
15 x MN Clubs
15 x forward arm circles
15 x backward arm circles
Looks like we made it,
Barry Manilow
What a great morning for a run. Low 50’s, no wind and 20 PAX for a post P200 Monday. Up in the rotation today was the newest member of the Flight Plan plans, “Loops of Choice.” They include a 2.5 mile loop that goes over the walking trail at the end of YMCA parking lot, out 6th Baxter, up Sutton and back to Starbucks. And a 1.5 mile loop that goes down market, comes up Sutton and back to Starbucks. Modify as necessary, find a running buddy, have some fellowship, attend COT, check the box.
Flight Plan is an AO that’s predictable. Because of safety, we stay on the north side of 77. We have 4 routes and run each one, once per month. Today’s route emphasizes, (maybe represents is a better word) those circles we find ourselves in. Don’t get me wrong, the workout is beneficial. And I love the sense of accomplishment of conquering the long climb up Sutton (twice) in the gloom. However, the round and round is indicative of what can become of us as men.
But F3 is there to break those patterns. In COT we were reminded of that by two very strong PAX. Pusher (along w/ Twister & Change Order) who has taken the monumental task of leading Q-source. The weekly study of how this group can shape lives, of not just ourselves, but our families and community. If you’re not involved, you’re missing out. If you’ve been going, you know what I’m talking about. The added support outside of fellowship of the gloom, is great.
The other PAX is Stang. What happens when something throws us off these loops we find so comfortable. Something devastating or tragic. Or what if we struggle just to stay upright on the loops but don’t feel like we can tell anyone so we use other outlets to hide the burden? Stang is going to lead the discussion on these topics Wednesday at The Tomahawk (Doby’s Bridge Elementary – Kettle Bell). The last 15 minutes of the workout will be a stretching session with discussion on these heavy topics. Things we need to be able to share and discuss if we are going to be the leaders we need to be.
It’s great to see these HIMs pushing us past the 1st F.
Annoucments:
Prayers and Praises
Welcome FNG – Seuss! (EH’d by Cake Boss)
See you in the gloom!
Boeheim
16 HIMs descended upon the Coop this AM for the DRP and a downpainment for the day. YHC volunteered to Q a few months ago when Punch List took over as Site Q. IMHO the Site Q sets the tone and culture for the AO and is the most important building block of leadership in the 1st F. Punch List has continued the momentum from the past Q and has added his style. Honestly, I wanted to be a part of that momentum.
The topic was Choosing to Cheat written by Andy Stanley. This book has served as the Q point for previous workouts led by YHC and resonates with me after the most recent Q Source on M and the Jester. Despite all of my attempts to create relational rhythm across my #Concentrica, I simply can’t keep all of the plates spinning at once. When I choose to spin the M plate, my Mammon slows. When I choose to spin the Mammon plate, I notice my M plate, 2.0 plate and #shieldlock plate slow down. In every instance, I am choosing to cheat when I spin one plate vs. another plate. Something or someone is being cheated.
YHC asked the Pax this AM to choose not to cheat on the workout and away we went…
Mosey down the hill
SSHs x 30 (30 is the minimum)
Its x 15
Windmills x 10
CDDs x 15
10 Burpees
Mosey to next spot
10 Burpees
Peoples Chair x 3 ten counts
Squats x 20
Monkey Hummers x 10
10 Burpees
Mosey to pull up bars
10 Burpees
Group 1 – 10 pull ups
Group 2 -LBCs while we wait
Flapjack and then do it again
10 Burpees (We are up to 50)
Mosey behind the school
10 Burpees
Step Ups x 10
Dips x 10
Rinse and repeat
10 Burpees
Mosey to breezeway
10 Burpees
Big Boy situps x 15
Flutters x 15
Rinse and Repeat
10 Burpees
Mosey to parking lot
10 Burpees
Mosey to COT
IWs x 8
3 Burpees
Windmills x 8
2 Burpees
Total of 105 Burpees
Moleskin
Thanks to Punch List for the opportunity.
Pusher out…
On this cold Wednesday morning in the gloom (sub 30 temp), YHC did a quick disclaimer after no FNGs were identified and took off for a quick mosey. Circled up for some stretching and warm-up to get the blood flowing with the following: SSH (varying speeds, but mostly double and triple speed), diamond merkins, handful of burpees, low slow squats, arm and shoulder stretches, cherry pickers, more SSH at various speeds, and mountain climbers.
Had the PAX head over to the pull up bars while YHC went back for speaker and weinke. YHC then laid out the plan for the remainder of the time – call it ~35 min….
The Thang
Needless to say, this looked really good on paper YHC admits, but only to the running! Note to future self is just 1 loop (maybe 2 max), but keep the rest of the exercises. While there were some groups that made it through the 2nd round (30s), there may have been a few that got partially into the 3rd round / 20s. Either way, the low temps became an afterthought and with 5 min remaining, we packed up gear and headed back to COT for a couple rounds of Mary called out by the PAX where mumberchatter ensued.
All things in COT were had and we all set off for our day. The push, partnership and accountability we had for 45 min was inspiring as YHC heard from some of you first hand how good it was to “feel the burn” from the workout. This didn’t necessarily come from YHC and the workout, but the push you gave each other. And looking back to the running portion, not such a terrible idea b/c YHC did give you a “cool down” period and a chance to do some 2nd F with your partner – so you’re welcome! HAHAHA…maybe the PAX just didn’t need so long of a cool down.
Always a pleasure to take the reigns to write the workout and look back in the backblast write-up, but always exciting to see how it shakes out once the 45 min bell rings! Until next time…
And as a last add, this workout was inspired from #DOAH and his Honey Badger service member “Clovis” from the HB hero book. While we didn’t get to do the Clovis workout on Monday, this workout, although modified slightly, was also a tribute to Clovis.
Shady
It was great to see so many PAX pulling into the Ranch on a cold morning. Even Dark Helmet arrived earlier than normal, he beat Bonsai, Fire Marshall Bill and Fratboy! T-Claps to my good ol’ pal Champagne for coming down from Area-51 and posting in The Fort region. We eventually ended up with 19 PAX (16 BC and 3 ruckers who met at COT).
We moseyed to the service road to the Elementary School/Middle School cafeteria side of the schools. From the soccer fields we did toy soldiers to the first street light. We then did soccer leg swings to the next street light, which during that time encountered a sweet smell of SH!T running through the storm drain (or from the horse ranch next door – but most likely a busted sewer pipe). I should have made the PAX bear crawl in order to enjoy that fresh morning smell, even though we can’t figure out why Dark Helmet didn’t smell anything….
We then duck walked to the parking lot next to the playground. We lunged walked along one side of the parking lot, reversed lunged to other side. Circled up for COP with a various count of Squats, hilly billy walkers, windmills, side straddle hops, and Moroccan nightclubs.
Split the PAX into 2 groups.
Group 1 went to the playground for a round of 11’s of pull-ups (YES!!) and merkins
Group 2 did round of 22’s of squats and CCD – somehow this group didn’t listen and did 22 reps of each and said they were done…no, its 20 squats, 2 CCD, 18 squats, 4 CCD, you get the idea.
Groups then flapjacked.
Final round was 22’s of leg lifts (holding onto the fence) and big boy sit ups. Mumble chatter definitely increased!
Time flew by too fast!!
Moseyed back to COT, on way back merged with the 4 ruckers.
Read newsletter for announcements. Key announcements are Q Source every Saturday and you don’t have to past at the AO to post at Q Source. Joe Davis Run and Yeti coming up soon.
Prayers: Wegmans and his mission trip to Peru (he’s looking for donations of lightly used workout gear), Bonsai’s friend who has got himself into trouble, and Trucker with some potential career and life decisions. Ever since F3 started the Word of the Year I was ignorant and selfish for not participating. I felt that it was corny and said to myself i didn’t; have time for this. and that it wouldn’t do me any good. Well, after seeing how 2018 impacted me I realized that finding your word for the year and living it out isn’t corny. Thanks to Bonsai for mentioning something he saw relating to a sign defining JOY as: Jesus, Others, Yourself; I realized that i have been stuck in the YOJ mode way too long. This year I need to be held accountable to reverse it and make JOY out of life, focus on JOY and change my habits. I would ask that everyone find a word for the year and begin to focus on being a better #HIM.
10-4 Trucker
Great Morning at The Ranch on Thursday. 12 men came to get stronger and better. Theme of the month at The Ranch AO is Get Better. Jiffy (AO Q) leading the way here on themes. Asking the PAX, when you think of getting better, what words come to mind? PAX answers with many great examples. Included in there were #Commitment and #Consistency. When we have talked about leadership and disruption, often times, my mind goes towards having an epiphany or that “movie moment”. But success can be found in getting base hit after base hit rather than going for the homerun.
Mosey toward the Elementary school to the newly discovered rock pile. Grab 2 rocks size/weight of a brick. Continue around backside of school. Stop for some pearls on a string- SSH, Squat, M’ Nightclubs, shoulder press. continue to back lot for pearls of the same.
More warm up so 5 burpees/take a lap x3. More pearls on a string.
Low Series
Rinse/Repeat X3
Grab Bricks and head to bus/road entrance
BLIMP Accumulator (with bricks)
Mosey back (long way) to rock pile, drop ’em and head to flag.
Great morning and outstanding chatter. Thanks for the opportunity Jiffy
0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.
Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.
YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.
0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.
Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!
0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes
The Thang:
Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs
Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it
3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps
The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable
Handoff to Maximus
Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon
Mosey to front of school for COT:
Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!
YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.
If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX
********ALERT***********ALERT**********ALERT*********ALERT***********ALERT****************
It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.
It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.
MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!
I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.
I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.
Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!
BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.
Cake Boss
Oh man would it have been awesome to stay nice and cozy and warm in the fartsack this ‘chilly’ morning. And to think that in a month or so we would look back and say this was warm. But myself and four others decided to shake off the Monday chill and get better. Jedi shows up in shorts and was shivering a bit, waiting to get going. He claims to own no mandex to keep his legs warm. Poor guy, we need a fundraiser to fix that.
Unfortunately no FNGs. The disclaimer was disclaimed and off we went for a warmup run…..but not too far.
COP at the parking lot at the water fountain by Just Fresh:
Then a very short mosey to the parking lot behind Just Fresh, near Home Depot, for the thang
Tabata Ring of Fire
YHC had placed 9 cones marked with fun stuff in a rather large diameter circle around a central light pole, with each cone about 10 yards or so apart. Each cone had an exercise and a transition movement. The idea is to perform the exercise AMRAP for 1min 45 sec nonstop, then you were given 20 seconds to transition to the next cone by the means noted. All of the transitions and cone spacing gave no rest time once you got to the next cone. I had everything timed down to exactly 45 minutes total, COP and all.
Cone # / Exercise / Transition Movement:
1. Merkin / bear crawl
2. LBC / crab walk
3. Jump lunges / bear crawl
4. CDD / crab walk
5. Flutter / crawl bear
6. Monkey humper / side crab
7. Plank jack / long jump
8. American hammer / bear crawl
9. Squat hillbilly walker / crab walk
Each PAX picked a cone to start off at and away we went. I used a tabata timer app on my phone combined with a bluetooth speaker to audible a whistle when to start an exercise, an air horn when to transition to the next cone, and clapping when we finished a set. We did a complete set nonstop until we got back to where we started, then we had a 2 minute break where I spoke on encouragement, then we got back at it for another nonstop second round. We did 2 rounds / sets total. With the timing given and abilities of the PAX there, it was safe to say that each PAX probably did at least 100 of each exercise both rounds combined. Everyone did quite well, hammering it all out to my Pandora workout station tunes – even through the commercials. I do not have time to download music and make playlists, sorry.
Then a quick AYG run back to COT for announcements, P&P:
NMM on Encouragement:
I did not have long to speak, I’ve been trying to cut back on my jibber-jabbering when I Q. I spoke a little on this month’s theme is on encouragement. As a leader, that is something you should be giving out all the time, but do we? I noted that we as men and leaders tend to give out encouragement to our kids, and other kids, rather easily, openly, and freely. If you don’t, then you should. But do we give out encouragement as easily, openly, and freely to our peers, coworkers, subordinates, friends, and/or to our M? Today’s society, especially in the workplace, is very results oriented, goal driven. It is VERY easy to completely focus on the results and goals and lose track of the most important resource that makes it happen – the people. It is very easy to hammer people on lack of results, how things can be better, how, in a nutshell, we are not achieving to our expectations. How often do folks in those situations go into a meeting where the person holding it just hammers on results, goals, and how they are not being met, then leave the meeting feeling unsatisfied? A little encouragement offsets alot of negativity if done in the right time and place. If you end a meeting pointing out inefficiencies, lack of achievement, or suggestions for improvements, that is not very motivating. Meeting agendas still have to cover those things, it is what it is. But if you end a meeting, or a personal conversation for that matter, on a positive note of encouragement and/or praise, that ends things on a totally different perspective. Always end an encounter on a high note of positivity. Rule #1 in my opinion for sustained positive interpersonal relationships. I challenge everyone out there to try it, and live by it, and you will see how people respond. Encouragement is a powerful thing simply because everyone wants to feel valued, respected, loved, needed, and that they belong. Those are simple human needs and desires. So no matter how bad things are, ALWAYS END ON A HIGH NOTE.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
– NASA