Tag: Router

Playing Cards at The Colosseum

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A return to the arena we call The Colosseum; a homecoming if you will. That’s all that was at stake. With the increased Tuesday attendance and the added AO here in September for the Iron PAX Challenge presenting another posting opportunity, 11 other men decided to join me and a deck of cards at the Colosseum this beautiful morning. Fresh off a Labor Day beach trip, I was happy to ensure Jekyll & Hardwood wouldn’t be disappointed. We had a few rookies for the deck of cards but I hope they’ll incorporate this into their Q’s at a future date. While the first 15-20 cards can be manageable, don’t let that fool you. Depending on your choice of exercises, this gem will bite you. And today, I think most of us felt the effects of that bite.

With a request to focus on our time over the next 45mins and a disclaimer, we were off to the basketball hoops. Our warm-up consisted of:

Squats, Moroccan Night Clubs, Wide-Arm Merkins, Flutters, Freddy Mercuries

Run to the 6th light post up the back road followed by:

5 Burpees, 15 Diamond Merkins, 25 LBC’s

Run back to the hoops for the deck of cards.

If you’re one of the 3 people reading this and you’re unfamiliar with how this works, each card value represents a rep count. 2-10 is that number of reps while Jack =11, Queen=12, King=13 and Ace=14.

Diamonds = Burpees

Hearts = Jumping Lunges

Clubs = Merkins

Spades = Dips

I added 3 Jokers for good measure which meant each was worth 15 American Hammers

In total, we completed:

104 Burpees

104 Jumping Lunges

104 Merkins

104 Dips

45 American Hammers

We followed it up with some flutters in varying speed.

And that was it. See, not too bad.

Be present and I look forward to the next time.

Maximus

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Early Risers at the Swamp

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When I pulled into the parking lot near Best Buy, there were several cars already parked near the AO.  Based on the mumble chatter on social media, several of the PAX were getting in some early training for upcoming events.  There were 23 men at the work out, 13 for ruck, 8 for BC, and 2 runners.

After the disclaimer, we jogged to the front of Best Buy.  We started with a few warm up exercises (Butt Kickers, Toy Solders) before we moseyed over to the back of Just Fresh.

COP

SSH  x 20

Imperial Walker x 20

Windmill x 10

Plank Stretches

 

Next, we moseyed to the front of Home Depot for a round of Dora 1-2-3

100 Lat Pull-ups on the bicycle rack

200 Squats

300 LBCs

Next, we moseyed back to Just Fresh near the staircase for a round of Arod 3-2-1 (reverse Dora). Instead of running around the parking lot, we ran up and down the stairs.

300 Calf Raises

200 Lunges

100 Jump Squats

Next, we headed back to COT for one last exercise, the Merkin Gauntlet.  The Pax lined up in a plank position.  Each person performed 4 merkins in front of each person.

COT

Special prayers for Twister as he recovers from his eye surgery

 

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Minnow Pond Strikes Again

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17 Pax descended upon the Minnow Pond this AM. Many were new to the Pond and all were better for having posted.

In the 5 weeks since launch, Shady along with the other Qs have set the bar high for MP. The workouts have been difficult with more 1st F than 2nd or  3rd F. I have been reminded of a few trips to F3 Metro where YHC was gassed after each post. I loved it!

YHC was honored to be asked to Q early in the existence. Honestly, I was both excited and nervous much like the old days of F3 the Fort. I was excited to lead the group of HIMs and nervous to create a beatdown that matched the intensity from the first 4 weeks. Minnow Pond stretches you as a Q. Whether you are a thoroughbred or a clydesdale, all Pax must get equal pain. After reviewing some backblasts from the Shark Tank (the OG), YHC created a plan that included a few holes at Fort Mill Golf Club.

Weather: 64 and not humid (Football season is here!)

The Thang:

Warm up and disclaimer prior to 5:15

AYG to Fort Mill Church of God parking lot (burpees until the 6 arrives)

10 Merkins, 20 Squats, 30 LBCs

Run to end of lot and back

Repeat 4 times

AYG to FM Golf Course (burpees until the 6 arrives)

Holes 7, 8 and 9

Hole 7 – 50 paces followed by 7 burpees from tee to green

Hole 8 – 50 paces followed by 8 sit ups from tee to green

Hole 9 – 50 paces followed by 9 bombjacks

Burpees until the 6 arrives

AYG to Fort Mill Church of God parking lot (burpees until the 6 arrives)

10 merkins, 20 squats, 30 LBCs

AYG to Veterans Park

Based on loose calculations, we covered the following in 45 minutes:

3+ miles

60 merkins

120 squats

180 LBCs

35+ burpees

40+ sit ups

50+ bombjacks

 

Moleskin:

  • Invergence/Convergence coming up 9/6 – 9/7
  • Mainframe on Q for Q Source on 9/7 at Kingsley amphitheater
  • Minnow Pond t-shirt order
  • Prayers for child at Children’s Attention Home that Nasa is mentoring
  • Praise for successful start to school year
  • Marriages

Thanks to Shady for the opportunity!

Pusher

 

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6

I Love Cindy

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Borrowed part of this #beatdown from  Dirty Pipes down at F3JOCO. Visited those guys at the Mad Mule in Benson NC and this workout just called for testing in The FORT.   Little did I know it would end up taking 12 cinder blocks, 4 pavers, 1 sandbag, and 3 rucks to accomplish the workout.  Having prepped and arrived early to setup I could see the headlamps of the pre-runners making early morning laps. All Set to COT for bring some pain. HOLY COW!!! The cars just kept rolling in to the lot. Clown Car after Clown car.  Thank goodness Copyright brought more cinder blocks than requested.

Quick Disclaimer and we are off. Had to tote the extra supplies with us as we ran to warmup.  Much appreciate the support of guys that jumped on the extra weight.

Mosey to the Fountain

Circle up.

SSH x 20     MNC x 20    Hillbilly Walkers x 15

Imperial Walker x 15     Weed Pickers x 15

Fountain work

Derkins x 15 OYO

Dips x 20 OYO

Irkins x 20 OYO

Decline Diamonds x 20

It ain’t fun unless you do it twice.

The Thang I Love Cindy

Partner up–6 stations

Station 1  OH press Max reps

Station 2  Blocked BBS Max Reps

Station 3 Block Squats Max reps

Station 4 Curls 1 block or 2 pavers Max reps

Station 5 Tricep Press 1 block or 2 pavers Max Reps

Station 6 GTOs Max reps

Partner 1 does max reps while Partner 2 runs 4 cone suicide. Plank the 6 rotate upon completion of group.

Talk to Group about Doubt in their lives.

Read- Pray- Surround Yourself with those to talk it out with. Don’t go into seclusion.

Partner Carry back to COT only ~600yrds—-It was awesome and the PAX loved it!.

Not sure what Punchlist and Lutefisk were going for with the midrift shirts in the Name-O-Rama but hey, You do You Bros!

Thanks for the Tap to Lead Cha-Ching. Awesome experience to lead a literal HERD of PAX through the Swamp.

Duck Out!

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Mile High Special at Quagmire

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This was a Q I was looking forward to.  It marked my 1 year anniversary with F3 and it was at the A/O that I started at.  Not only was it my 1 year anniversary but some #HIM by the name of Jedi offered me to be the site Q.  This is an offer I could not turn down as this is one of the hardest A/O’s in the region and is in the middle of The Fort and Lake Wylie.

My F3 journey so far has been one of the best journey’s of my life.  I dropped a ton of weight (I am below 200 LBS for the first time in 20 years), I am in MUCH better shape than I was a year ago and I can kinda sorta hang with all the beasts in our region.  My life is far from perfect nor will it ever be but F3 has introduced me to a plethora of men that I am happy to call brothers and friends.

THE THANG

I pulled up into the parking lot with Lutefisk only to notice there were 20 men there ready to go! If you have Q’d a workout before you know all about the Qdrenaline and that kicked in right away for me.  After saying the disclaimer we were off.

Mosey from Chick Fil A to behind Home depot (0.4 – 0.5 miles).  Circle up.

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins in cadence
  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • 10 Merkins in Cadence

Mosey to the alley

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Balls to the wall 60 seconds

Mosey over to the parking lot by the stairs.  There I instructed the PAX to partner up.

The next set was inspired from a Cha Ching BB.  We were going to do 11’s but the one we usually do is both exercises have to add up to 11’s, in this case we did one rep of each exercise and climbed up to 11.

The exercises were Burpees & Merkins.  Method of transportation was bear crawls there and crab walk back. 

Round 1

  • Start with 1 Burpee
  • Bear Crawl to the end of the parking lot
  • 1 Merkin
  • Crab Walk back to starting point

Round 2

  • 2 Burpees
  • Bear Crawl to the end of the parking lot
  • 2 Merkins
  • Crab Walk back to starting point

You get the gist…. all the way up to 11.  Rounds 8, 9, 10 & 11 is where the partners came into play and the method of transportation changes from bear crawls and crab walks to wheelbarrows.  By about round 6 or 7 I never imagined 23 men could be that quiet in a workout.  The plan was working.  A few groups finished early so we did a few laps around the parking lot and then some squats.  With about 3 minutes left and all groups finishing the thang we moseyed back to COT.  

Router lead us of with a 40 or 50 count of American Hammers and I finished it off with a 20 count of Flutters all in cadence.

We named our FNG – Mighty Mouse.

Jedi handed off the shovel flag and I thanked him for the opportunity and his leadership at Quagmire for the last 14 months.

Went through announcements, prayers, praises and I asked Jedi to take us out with a prayer.

Needless to say, everyone got their money’s worth and went home better men.

 

 

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19 That Didn’t Mail In Their Saturday

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So there was this Saturday in Ft. Mill, SC that 17 men joined 2 Q’s to have a little fun in the city park, talk about the impact F3 & others have had on us and the community, and do some crazy exercises that would make others shake their head. That Saturday was yesterday and I must say that Router and I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity granted us by Slash.

3 years ago, Router began his journey with F3 and as he said, the life change has been great and there’s no looking back. As we all know, it’s much more about the 2nd & 3rd F’s but the magnet of the 1st F is what attracts us and propels us to that life change F3 is know for.

That said, Router lit the torch with a disclaimer and a brisk mosey around the WEP path stopping along the way for 20 SSH, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs, 10 Merkins and 10 Peter Parkers; a great opportunity to stretch the PAX out and bring them back together.

Router brought us to the middle of the grass field for the start of the Worlds Longest Lasting, Most Disputed, Loudly Criticized, Not At All Controversial, exercise in The Fort. Sorry, the Pullman got the best of me (which has nothing to do with what we did). This is where he introduced us to a modified Catch Me If You Can. However, there were no rucks, no running, no monkey humpers, just a lot of Tesh-chasing which, for me as Tesh’s partner, made for a quick rendition of this terrible idea. Partner 1 is doing inch-worm merkins while Partner 2 does 20 Flutters, 10 Merkins, 20 American Hammers and 10 Carolina Dry Docks then bear crawls to his inch-worming partner. We did this for what seemed like the entire Saturday morning but in all reality, it was about 100yds (go ahead and try it…I dare you).

Oh, that wasn’t bad enough? How about Router bringing us back to the starting point for a round of Jack friggin’ Webbs. Yup, you just read that. And yes, we went to the 10:40 mark with merkins & overhead claps.. Say hello to your Jell-O arms. Good thing none of our resident hair models were in attendance because hair-washing would’ve been a challenge later that morning.

Then Router topped it off with an explanation of his growth over the last 3yrs since joining F3. Thanks to the fellas like DD (in attendance), Santini, Senator Tressel, Assassin and others, there are hundreds of men who share a similar story to Router, each one unique and powerful in their own right.

Hand off to Maximus.

Mosey to “The Hill” and line up at the base. Identify the tree at the top, about face and reverse lunge walk all the way up the hill to the tree. At the top, drop to your six and crab walk back down.

Mosey back to the field and in true Jack friggin’ Webb fashion, take that to the legs for Lieutenant Dan’s. Just like before, we went to the 10:40 mark with squats & jumping lunges.

Lined up the cones about 30yds apart, PAX line up at one end then the explanation. WWII situps into a burpee broad jump. Repeat until you get to the other cone.

2 lines facing each other for Knee Tar Jah’s or Prisoner Lunges or whatever we’ve decided to call these things.

SSH x 21

Back to the cones. Run from cone 1 to cone 2, 20 Plank Jacks, NUR back to cone 1, 15 WWII situps, back to cone 2, 10 Plank Jacks, then NUR back to cone 1, 5 WWII situps.

PAX back together for:

SLOW Peter Parkers x 21

Flutters x 21

Squats x 21

Jail break to COT for a short set of LBCs.

So that was it. Great time I hope for all. Didn’t get a lot of miles but my body 24hrs later tells me that wasn’t needed. Remember what’s been done for you as you have the opportunity to do something positive and impactful for others.

**ONE REMINDER**: September 6 is our Annual Invergence followed by our regional Convergence September 7 back at WEP.

Until Next Time,

Router & Maximus

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Should I see stars in the daylight

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As new pain was looming in the air, there was a quiet murmur across the 15 PAX.  Shady jumped in to provide the quick disclaimer, was on point of the 1st half of fun, and began the mosey over to the path where a drill bit warm-up ensued.  Drill bit warm-up included: SSH, merkins, squats (ghost bit got some love), windmills (with some cherry pickers), then finally toy soldiers with stretching and skipped the last drill bit (I just realized this!!)

Ran over to the small wall parking lot where we lined up to attempt sets of 10, then 9, then 8…you get it.  At the bottom we did side squat into a 180 jump side squat = 1 rep (so we did this 10x), then ran and jumped over the small brick wall where we did 10 each leg jumping lunges.  Then back down over the wall for 9, back up for 9….  We made it to about 3 before time expired for round 2.  Shady ran the PAX back to the WEP parking lot, down the back path as if you were going to Harris Street park, then stopped in front of the dreaded monster grassy hill.

A short message from Shady consisted of: do the difficult thing, push the extra 1 degree or percent for the next 30 min.  Yes it will be hard, but…get….over….it.  Then turned it over to Gandalf!

Gandalf loved the hill so much we stayed there where at the top and bottom we did the following:

  • 5 burpees
  • 10 Russian Twists + the 5 burpees
  • 15 merkins + 10 + 5…
  • 20 flutters + 15 + 10 + 5
  • 25 (I think we made it this far but here’s where I’m drawing a blank from exhaustion)

Once Gandalf had enough fun here, he took us to the playground where we partnered up and 1 partner plank walked around the playground while the other partner did 5 pull ups.  Then swap until we made it around the playground.  THEN we lined up across the field for a quick 100-200 yard jailbreak where we were lucky enough to do 30 wide arm merkins.  Since the bell had sounded, we made our way back to COT.

COT took over for the normal counting, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayers and praises.  Enjoyed getting better with everyone and special thanks to Slash for the invite and special pairing of Shady / Gandalf!

Shady

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2

Four Corner Rooney

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A last-minute-at-a-social-gathering Q request from the site Q FINALLY got me out of my doldrums of fartsacking and moping around for the past 3-4 weeks. I put on almost 4 pounds from my DSM weight, not watching what I ate, not working out. I needed this. Thanks Router.

Funny thing. I showed up early, around 5am, to site. NOBODY there. No lights in the parking lot. Pretty dark. I see some dude with a flashlight walking around. No other cars, just a dude in a hoodie (not racial profiling – I saw the person was white). Did not have my glasses on so I had no idea who it was. Then it seemed the dude started walking towards where I parked. I locked my doors and wondered if I should leave. I’ve been in these situations before and had someone try to carjack me once when I lived in Norfolk VA, also when I lived in Los Angeles, and also when I was in Miami visiting friends. I’m done with that stuff. My spidey senses were tingling!! My heart rate was elevating so I started backing out, then I saw a familiar face. I asked and it was Pothole. WHEW!! Man that was messed up.

After my BP lowered I got out and PAX started rolling in. No new FNGs. Light but solid group of PAX, some of whom I’ve spent ALOT of quality battle buddy time with under a ruck. Awesome to see them. Since the custom GORUCK DSM event the numbers at ruck AOs have significantly dropped. Not surprised. Anyhoo, disclaimer was disclaimed and off we went.

Light jog w ruck on around the parking lot, about 1/3 mile or so. Then COP. 20 or so each of the following:

  • SSH
  • Windmills
  • Imperial Walker
  • Hillbilly Walker
  • Moroccan night club

Then off to the field. Electric candles marked the 4 corners of a rough football field size area. A typical 4 corners workout setup. Start at one, exercise, transition to next, exercise, transition, and so on. I used the GORUCK Rooney WOD s my guide. I’ve done it at 2 GORUCK events and it sucks. But time made me trim down the number of rounds, and I modified it (mod-up) a little. Google it if you want to know what the real one is. But here’s mine for today:

Cone / Exercise / Transition Mode (ALL with ruck):

  1. 75 Mountain climber (double count), then bear crawl to next
  2. 75 LSS then Lt Dan to next
  3. 75 Flutter (double count) w ruck overhead, then bear crawl to next
  4. Plank w 75 ruck drag side to side (double count), then Lt Dan back to start

Note to self: Make each one 100 instead of 75. This alone took about 25 minutes to complete. I had about 10 minutes left. 100 of each would have put me with a few minutes left to COT. I am not much into talking anymore so we grabbed a 60 out of Routers truck and put in about a mile rucking around the school, then to COT.

COT / Announcements / P&P
* Read the newsletter – QSource convergence, Invergence, etc
* Router’s M going into surgery. Prayers for safe surgery and quick recovery
* Kids, parents, teachers – school is LESS THAN 3 WEEKS AWAY!! What happened to summer??
* My M – she’s been having headaches off and on for several months now. Got an MRI last week, then recently found the MRI found something. Waiting to see a neurologist next.

I have not been talking much at my Qs lately. I may divulge why some other time. No change today. Just lay out the work and get it done. Everyone did great. We had some great conversations when we could. It was great to be back out with the homies. Get the hear rate up, sweat, feel some pain, chatter a little, goof off a little. See a GREAT sunrise with a waning crescent moon. God is GREAT. I needed that. We needed that. We are blessed more than we know sometimes. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

God bless,
– NASA

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2

The Armory Anniversary

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10 PAX showed up for my one year anniversary of F3.  I appreciate all of the PAX who have pushed me and motivated me over the past year!

We started out with some routine exercises:

  • SSH
  • LS Squats
  • Windmill
  • Cherry Picker
  • MNC
  • Arm Circles
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Down Dog
  • Honey Mooner

After the warm up we got into the first routine:

6 exercises, 10 reps, times 10 sets – Pretty sure this was 100 each

  • Kettle Bell Swings
  • Goblet Squats
  • Curls
  • Bear Crawl 10 yards
  • 10 Merkins
  • Crawl Bear back 10 yards

I realized we forgot to mosey so we did a quick lap when all PAX were finished

Second routine:

4 exercises, 8 reps, times 8 sets

  • Clean and press
  • Tricep Extension
  • Squat and Press
  • American Hammers
  • Run a figure 8 around two light poles

We and about two minutes left over for some Flutters and Protractors.

Pretty much some standard announcements.

Prayers for Routers M who is having surgery this week.  Prayers for Cyclops Dad who is having some back pain.  Prayers for parents and children as we wind down summer vacation.

Thank you to JWOW for inviting me to lead, timing was good for the missing the DH beat down at the Honey Badger!

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3

Big B, little b, what begins with B?

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Buddies, Burpees, Bearcrawls, Bodybuilders, Booyah! Merkins and B.O.M.B.S. all start with that letter B, that’s what.

18 attended the Swamp today, half rucked, the other have joined YHC for a little schooling on the letter B.

I decided a couple weeks ago that I was going to work my way through the Exicon one letter at a time.  This was my 2nd Q since making that decision so the 8 unlucky PAX that got stuck with me and B today were thoroughly beat-down.

I gave the quick usual disclaimer an off we went.  I immediately heard grumbling about the speed so I slowed it down a bit and we did some karaoke’s and toy soldiers before circling up for a quick warm-up, which consisted of 9 Windmills and 15 Merkins (IC) followed by a couple 10 counts holding a 6″ plank.  A quick stretch and off to the 1st routine.

Routine 1:

Burpee, Bearcrawl, Booyah! Merkin…Chase

Buddy up and partner 1 does 5 burpees and then chases down his partner who is bearcrawling around the 2 roundabouts (about .25 miles).  Tags his partner and then they each do 5 Booyah! Merkins and switch/repeat until getting back to the starting point.  A real shoulder burner!

Routine 2:

For routine 2 we moseyed to the parking lot next to the fountain and did some B.O.M.B.S.  This is basically a DORA with more exercises and the suggestion to pick an exercise that matches each letter in BOMBS.

  • 50 Bodybuilders
  • 100 Overhead presses (with cinderblocks)
  • 150 Monkey Humpers
  • 200 Big-Boy sit-ups
  • 250 Smurf Jacks (suuuuuucked)

In typical DORA fashion, 1 partner does the exercise while the other (in this case) sprints to the 2nd island, bear crawls around the island, and then sprints back and picks up where his partner left off while his partner does the sprinting.

I think only  Cha-Ching, Duck Dynasty, and I finished, but that was probably because we were the odd group and we took the higher of the 2 reps.  I’m not sure if we would have made it otherwise since it came down to the last few seconds before heading back to CoP.

Everyone did awesome and pushed for the entire 45 minutes.

We made it back to CoP at exactly 6:00AM with the Ruckers about a minute behind.

Maximus announced a couple of new AO’s coming to Fort Mill, including a “Bruisers” workout for injured PAX, what a great idea.  As well as a bootcamp AO with a mandatory pre-run, sounds harsh!  In any case, not a lot of PAX spoke up with Prayers except for Maximus again so we prayed for family and everything that was on our hearts.

Thank you for the Q Cha-Ching it was a pleasure to lead these men today.  Nice work everyone!

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

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