4 Corners of The Ballroom

Welcome to Bonus Ass Kicking April

We had 19 at the Ballroom for a glorious 4 corners of pain!

Every morning we post, we go to one of the ‘corners’ of our region but in the end we are all one of The Fort PAX.

It was great to see so many PAX on this chilly March  morning. Special shout out to Beaker for posting for the second time in 2 days! Great job and keep posting, also great work 3D supporting him

The Thang:

We started off with a warm up:

15 SSH

15 Wind Mills

15 Imperial Walkers

Break out to groups at each corner.

Round 1 – mode of transportation- karaoke

Corner 1: 10 wide arm merkins, 20 mtn     climbers single count,

Corner 2: 10 big boys, 20 dying cockroaches do

Corner 3: 10 burpees, 20 grave diggers, single Ct

Corner 4 : 10 plank jacks , 20 Peter Parker’s

After all 4 corners were done we gathered at top of hill leading to bridge until the 6 was is in. Morrocacan Night clubs were done while we waited. We then moseyed down to the bridge and back as a recovery from the  4 corners.

Then it was onto Round 2!

Round 2 –  mode of transportation- nerr

C1:  15 jump squats, 15 low slow squats

C2:  15 box cutters, 15 American Hammers

C3: 15 monkey humpers, 15 Cherry Pickers

C4: 10 hand release Merkins, 20 SSH

After all 4 corners were done we gathered at top of hill leading to bridge until the 6 was is in. Morrocacan Night clubs were done while we waited. We then moseyed down to the bridge and back as a recovery from the  4 corners.

We completed a second set of rounds 1 and 2 substituting Moroccan Night clubs for flutters.

After the second set was completed, we did a

Batman Death March around the school with the 6 doing SSH

That brought us back to COT

Great work by all today

-Yard Sale

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3-1-22: 3 lessons, 3 stations

YHC took a call up on the schedule to kick off March.  20 decided to converge east of the peach stand.  Three lessons were shared from Seneca and a few exercises were called.

COP – After the pledge, a mosey to Kimbrell’s for COP – squats, people’s chairs, windmills, seal jacks, and burpees sprinkled in got everyone warmed up and on to station #1.

Lesson 1 – “Train your body rigorously so it is not disobedient to your mind”

Station 1 – 10 burpees upon arrival.  7’s to follow – kraken burpees at the top of the circle with squats at the entrance of the circle.  PAX returned to the top of the circle to confirm the lesson was learned.  It was. From there, we moseyed to…….

Lesson 2 – “He who is everywhere is nowhere”

Station 2 – PAX paired up completing a 4 corner, 2 round circuit 5-10-15-20 – burpees, merkins, squats and seal jacks.  Upon completion, 5 more burpees to ensure the lesson was learned.  It was.

Lesson 3 – “Happy is he who makes others better”

Station 3 – flutters in cadence, LBC’s in cadence and a mosey back to COT.  Early arrivers did a few burpees to finish out and a few abs – geometry class brought us to 0600 and COT.

Announcements were shared, prayers were offered and praises were given.

NMM – 3 takeaways to expand on the lessons learned:

1 – Rigorous training enables us to be durable as leaders in our homes and communities.  We are better equipped to handle life’s challenges and keep a calm and clear mind when our bodies are strong.  Our mind and spirit require the same training.

2 – The person who feels busy may find themselves living the life of a hamster on a wheel – in a sense, being everywhere, but nowhere.  Are we setting routines that allow for avoiding that trap? Our world is great at distracting us.  We are equipped to mitigate that through our disciplines, our training and how we apply it daily.

3 – Helping others improve in their journey expecting nothing in return is the ultimate gift of impact.  As leaders, we are called to give away what we know in the pursuit of helping others seek advantage.  The feeling of knowing your effort inspired or encouraged someone to go further, work harder, apply themselves more, etc. brings about a joy knowing your work as a servant manifested itself positively in others.

My thanks to Kermit for the call out and the opportunity to lead a fantastic group of HIMs.  I am grateful to start the day (and in this case) month off on an advantageous foot.

Keep going!!!

Cyclops

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Convergence: Love & a passing of the flag

Station 1 (Santini): Traditional Pain Platoon

Just your basic beat the hell out of your legs exercises of lunges, squats, and burpees intermixed with meditation and box breathing exercises. Sprint to the top of the hill, recover, and do more exercises including Moroccan night clubs and Carolina dry docks.

NMM: Anxiety and gratitude are not able to occupy the same space.

Station 2 (Shady / Maximus)

Warmup (Shady) – 21 SSH, 5 burpees, 18 SSH, 5 burpees, 12 SSH, someone whined about burpees so we did 10 diamonds merkins…then did 5 burpees
Group 1
  • partnered up and Dora style started out with 100 pull-ups.  Partner 1 on the pull-up bar, partner 2 did a lap around the playgroud
  • Stayed on playground, stayed with partner, Partner 1 AMRAP merkins while partner 2 ran the length of the playground and back to AMRAP merkins
  • Stayed on the AMRAP theme with flutters, then back to merkins, then back to flutters…then (I think) time was called

Group 2

  • Partnered up and Dora style, but this time 50 pull-ups with the run around the playground (Q modification given time and we aren’t cyborgs)
  • AMRAPs were just 1 round of merkins and flutters (again, I think…may need a lifeline here from Max)
  • We made our way to the hill with the statue where Maximus laid down the NUR up the hill and at the top 10 bomb jacks and ran to the bottom where we did 20 American hammers..we did this twice
  • W/ time to spare we ran to the top for 10 diamond merkins and ran to the bottom for 10 V-ups
  • In buzzer beater fashion, we ran to the top again for 10 ranger merkins and ran to the bottom for a partner 1 lay on the ground and grab partner 2s ankles where partner 2 would throw partner 1s feet down 10 times as you straight leg lifted them to his face

Group 3

  • Dora style 50 pull-ups with the run around the playground
  • We made our way to the hill with the statue where Maximus laid down the NUR up the hill and at the top 10 bomb jacks and ran to the bottom where we did 20 american hammers..we did this twice
  • Running low on time ran to the top for 10 diamond merkins and ran to the bottom for the ankle grabbing / feet throwing core exercise 10 times
NMM: After each of the groups had done their pull-ups, Maximus and Shady shared their thoughts and experiences on LOVE.
  • Shady – areas of focus were loving your brother and being your brothers keeper.  Sending a text or reaching out to someone to just say “hey, thinking of you” could change their day.  Realizing that the ones you love are watching you, emulating you, picking up on good and bad habits.  Realizing we don’t know it all, especially to the ones we love, is a sign of humility and a factor of growth and development.  For those of us with children, we have never been parents before so we honestly have no idea what we’re doing.  Love starts with servant leadership and personally for YHC, this usually progresses when the mouth is shut and ears are open.
  • Maximus – For my discussion on love, it begins with being intentional as love is a decision. We must make the decision to be intentional with our actions. Whether it be in our faith, marriage, parenting of our kids, with friends and yes, even with work relationships, we must be intentional. Think about how easy it is to get distracted, whether at dinner with your wife or even on a Zoom call for work. We often allow our minds to wander or even start doing something else while the other person is talking, looking for our engagement. Stop. Be the person who is present in the moment. Put the shoe on the other foot. Love that person as your relationship to them allows.

Station 3 (Pusher & Cakeboss): Love Edition

COP
  • SSHs
  • Windmills
  • Squats
  • Mtn Climbers
  • Merkins
  • IWs
Cake Boss spells love “B-U-R-P-E-E”
The Thang
  • Jacobs Ladder with Derkins and Monkey Humpers
  • Plank/Dip sequence
  • Bear crawl to top with burpees
NMM:
  • Cord of 3 strands cannot be broken. Having God in your marriage is the 3rd string. Adding communication to the marriage strengthens it. – CB
  • Gifts vs Gaps. Focus on the gifts that your wife or significant other bring vs what she is missing. Seeing her this way builds love. – Pusher
  • Much love was on display with all of the mumblechatter and fellowship. The relationships formed through F3 has increased our love internally and is reflected outward to our Ms, 2.0s, PAX and community… #morethanaworkout

Shovel Flag hand off for two leadership positions in the Fort:

Shady handed off the Nantan role to Double D
Esso handed off the Weasel Shaker role to YHC

Awesome work by the PAX today. Hard to put into words how much improved my disposition on life is since moving back to Fort Mill because of F3. Grateful for an opportunity to serve the PAX of The Fort.

NMM: Double D was the site-Q at Block Party when I started posting. If it wasn’t for his steady presence with a commitment to the integrating 2nd F and 3rd F elements into each workout, I doubt I’d have kept posting. Double D is a genuine human, I’m a better dude for knowing him, and I’m excited for his leadership.


Band Camp dismissed

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Sometimes you got it

…and sometimes you don’t.

Two guys pulled into WEP’s lot.  I checked the “find a workout” tab on f3thefort.com and saw WEP’s address (but I did not check the “schedule” tab, which said Veteran’s Park).  My mistake.

We launched, did a warm up lap and then: SSH (12x IC); Windmills (10x IC); Imperial Walkers (10x IC)

Then into the main event:
Seven of Diamonds:  Four cones making a loop with a total length of about 1200 feet.  At each cone you do the exercise/count noted then run to next cone and do same exercise/count, repeat until back at the first cone, then transition to the next exercise.

7 burpees
14 Merkins  <<at this point, the crew from Veteran’s Park came running into WEP.  We converged for a total of eleven pax and continued.
21 SSH
28 squats
21 Bobby Hurleys
14 Carolina Dry Docks
Began to run out of time, so whole group ran to Veteran’s Park for COT.

Got in just over 2.5 miles.

NMM:
So got the location wrong, got a cadence count wrong, said the D2DB10K was on a Friday, and forgot myself in Name-o-rama.  What a comedy of errors.  Oh well, even Babe Ruth struck out 1300 times.

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FORE!

Balmy 32 degrees, clear skies.

Great to start the year off with a proper #runningwithpushups beatdown.  Was a little nervous on the who would show as the emoji bucket for my preblast was near empty.  I need my dopamine hit of likes, hearts, and high fives.  14 (corrected to 13 via video) posted for a jaunt to Fort Mill Golf Club.

5:13: “one minute to pledge” and also “hurry up birdcage, lets go”

5:14: Pledge of Allegiance.  There was no Bandcamp to throw me off my 40  year vocal cadence.  We are all #proudtobeanamerican

5:15: concise layout of the plan and  half assed disclaimer.

The Thang:

AYG to parking lot of Fort Mill Golf Club,(1 mile) plank wait for #six and confirm plan.  Run Front 9 cart path.  At every Tee and every Green: 5 Merkins and 5 squats. Head back to COT 0550. Fishsticks and Badlands were super strong this morning, lead the way and got all 9 in.  Middle and back groups got 7-8 holes.  Full round gets 4 miles and 90 each of the #painmakers.

Naked Man Moleskin

Maximus and Shady tried to talk to me while I was running.  Hope they could hear my muttering over my heavy breathing.  Not sure what was going on in the other running packs but if anybody ran with Pusher- can you let me know what questions he asked today?   Always great to see men push themselves at this workout.

Want to give a praise to Olaf for including me a bible plan this week.  Havent done one of those in a while and realized how impactful they are to setting up my day and my heart for the day.  My challenge to you- If you are a “habitual first thing I do when I wake up is grab my phone and scroll Instagram, twitter, slack, Linked In, News Feed, texts, emails” guy- take a break from that for a day, 3 days, 5 days.  Grab your coffee or water and for 5 minutes: sit “in it”.  Silence.  be still.  Meditate, bible verse, Q source, thought for the day, reflection, journal.  Start the day without the noise that leads to anxiety, worry, comparison.  Would love for you to find me next week, let me know how it went.

Aye!

Jekyll

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Changing of the Guard

28 PAX joined in the gloom for a brisk morning at Block Party. Though the temps were in the high-40s, the wind cut and made it feel much colder. Most were ready to get started and warmed up.

Bobber led off with the disclaimer, then we moseyed to the bank parking lot and circled up for 25 SSH IC. Moseyed to the Hobo’s parking lot for:
15 IW IC
10 Windmills IC
10 Cherry Pickers IC
10 Merkins IC
10 LSS IC
Held low squat for 10 MNC IC

Bobber, fighting back tears, then let go of his beloved BlockParty and passed the shovel flag to YHC. It was quiet as a mouse, absolutely no chatter was mumbled. So we did 5 burpees OYO to get back into it. 

The Thang
I explained to the PAX that I started F3 on a Monday at STL, where Pusher (in attendance) led a great workout, and I was encouraged enough to return the next day. The next day happened to be BlockParty, with CakeBoss on Q. It was a brutal morning, full of pain, so I thought we would do it again. 

3 lanes of bear crawls
5 burpees to exit the low side of the parking lot onto Main Street
Run up Main Street, back to the parking lot entrance on Clebourne Street.
5 burpees to enter the parking lot.
Plank for the 6.
This circuit continued, but the lanes changed to:
3 lanes Burpee Broad Jumps (a whole lot of mumblechatter and requests for a suggestion box)
3 lanes Duck Walk
3 lanes Toy Soldiers

Jogged back to Cot for 3 minutes of Mary.

Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers & Praises. 

Thanks to Bobber for his leadership while Site Q, and providing the opportunity for YHC to continue the tradition at BlockParty. 

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Colosseum Backblast

Warmup: Shady

QIC: Zima

25 Pax showed to see if the rumors were true. Or Shady has a degree in short-term hype trains. Maybe a little of both. Humbled to see y’all out there for an out of shape Q workout.

Shady did a 5 min warmup

Station 1: Burpee Suicides 5-10-15 reps (no foreplay @Jekyll)

Merkin Suicides 5-10-15 repsMosey to another Station at entrance to school

Station 2: Quadzilla for 4 minutes (run downhill and nur back uphill). #lovelanguageOG Quadzilla (thanks @Pusher). Same as above but with 10 squats at top and 10 jumping lunges at bottom.

Mosey to Elementary School Car Loop

Station 3: Run 5 laps doing 10 hand release merkins at starting line and 10 hand release merkins at half point (5 laps=100 hand release merkins)

I had 3.0+ miles by COT. It felt good to Q again and be in the gloom with y’all. I felt the love.

Announcements: Read the Newsletter

Prayers/Praises:
-Zima praise for Let Me Run Coaching
-Prayers for those suffering from depression (when in doubt, reach out)
-Prayers for Blount daughter who has cancer
-Prayers for Cyclops M whose uncle passed away

Apologies for any errors or omissions. Thanks for the opportunity. I need a nap.

Zima Out!

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Veterans Month Kickoff- Ballroom

Lets start the month of November off right. It is an honor to get to represent the Marine Corps. Lets get after it.

Disclaimer
Mosey to Warm Up- Warm up 10 of each exercise in cadence- SSH, Mtn. Climbers, Hillbilly walkers, flutter kicks.

Move to end of parking lot. we will do an exercise than mosey(sprint) to other end and do another exercise. Back and forth, after 4 exercises slow mosey around parking lot.
wide arm merkins
air squats with hold at bottom
LBCs
Burpees
windmills
diamond merkins
Mtn. Climbers
flutter kicks
Burpees
cherry pickers
Reg merkins
Bomb Jacks
Supermans
Burpees
Morracan night clubs
hand release merkins
alternating lunges
hello dollies
burpees
american hammers
dips
We did 246 reps to celebrate the 246th Birthday of The United States Marine Corps

12 of each exercise were completed in cadence except for American hammers we did 15.
Finished with Mary. COT. Backdraft Out

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Birthdays within the Colosseum

Good morning. After the joy (not happiness) of yesterday’s 20yr 9/11 remembrance workout, I recognized the need to have a co-Q for my Q today at The Colosseum. After all, we’re celebrating two birthday’s, DaVinci’s & mine, I was sore and not sure what I had in the tank, but mostly because I want to share the opportunity with a brother. Fortunately, Punch List obliged my request.

Here’s what happened:

Mosey to the back lot (basketball courts).
51 + 1 SSH for DaVinci
41 Mountain Climbers
6 or so Wind Mills
41 LBC’s oyo

Mosey to the lot further in the back with the short wall and line up on the white line.
Run to the wall, 20 Muscle Ups then 10 Over & Backs which is quite literally, jumping over the wall and jumping back over. Do this 10 total times then plank at the white line for the 6.

41 American Hammers (of course) with a stop after 31 to catch a breather and ensure proper form for the final 10 reps.

Hand off to Punch List

Head back to the left side of the basketball court for multiple sets of Suicides.
5 Butterfly Sit-Ups
Run to the foul line and back
5 Butterfly Sit-Ups
Half court and back
5 Butterfly Sit-Ups
Opposing foul line and back
5 Butterfly Sit-Ups
Opposing base line and back

Repeat the same lines but now, perform 10 Prisoner Squats (w/ a jump).

Then, repeat it with 10 Hand-Release Merkins.

Then, repeat that with 5 Burpees (put the nail in the coffin on this one).

Lastly, for the finisher. Bear crawl suicide with a Merkin at each turn around.

Yeah, that was a great idea, enough of that nonsense…hand it back to Maximus.

For the final minutes, we made our way to the light post at the bottom of the hill going up the back road.
Run to the next light post, perform 4 Spiderman Merkins + 1 Burpee.
Run to the next light post, do the same.
Continue until 0555 then make our way back to COT.

Plank for the final 60 seconds with some intentional thinking for the last 30sec.

Thank you for the Happy Birthday wishes but more importantly, your presence.

DaVinci, I love sharing this day with you.

Punch List, thank you again.

Until next time,
Maximus

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Roll The Dice

 

I had the opportunity to be joined by 13 other men this morning at Minnow Pond. It was hot and humid, but we covered 3 miles with dicey pain along the way. Here’s what we did:

Warm Up

  • 10 Ranger Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Plank Jacks (IC)
  • 10 Gorilla Humpers (IC)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 5 Y-Rises (IC) – an almost Overhead Clap

The Thang

The workout was pretty simple in concept, but not easy. Run to Fort Mill Animal Hospital, Town Hall, First Baptist, and the Improper Pig, roll the dice (color indicated exercise and number x10 represented count) and repeat. We used a 10-sided die (2 of each color on the die) and a standard 6-sided number die. There was one caveat, when it was your turn to roll, you had the option to take a chance or call 20 Burpees. The choice was up to the roller. There was a 17% chance we would do Burpees, but that could have been anywhere from 10-60 Burpees. So the chances were just as good that we would have done 10 Y-Rises as there was to do 60 Burpees. Two men chose the 20 Burpees, and to be honest, I would probably done the same. After all, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. To my best recollection, we did:

  • 10 Ranger Merkins
  • 100ish Plank Jacks
  • 150ish Gorilla Humpers
  • 50 Burpees
  • 175ish Y-Rises

NMM

In life, sometimes you have to roll the dice. If you stay stagnant, you’ll never know what might have been. Rarely do opportunities fall in the lap of the sedentary person. You have to take the risk to find the rewards. You must be willing to try, fail, and learn. Today’s workout was designed to let each man take a chance and see what was in store for the PAX. Everyone got better today because they were willing to do something…anything. Take that lesson with you throughout the week. Take a chance and roll the dice.

Aye!

Italian Job

 

 

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