Tag: Royale

Working Hard @ Crow’s Nest

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Of course this is way late and will be abridged but it is my duty to put together a backblast and I’m not going to slouch.  #LeadByExample

We started off with a disclaimer (had an FNG) and some light stretching… don’t want anyone to get hurt out there!

Took a nice mosey around the left side of the building (facing the front) and circled up for some Warm O Rama.  SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers were completed in quick succession.  It started to get cold again, so we went to work.

Partner up… partner A runs front start point around the loop and back while partner B completes an exercise until they return.  No keeping up with numbers, we just kept going until they came back and switched up the exercise each time.  1st- SSH   2nd- Squats  3rd- CDDs

Mosey back around the front to the opposite side of the building. Circle up and completed the following together.

Seal Jacks, 5 burpees, Merkins, 5 burpees, Freddy Mercury’s, 5 burpees

Mosey back to the back parking lot and back around to the Green Monster.

Partner exercise again.  A runs down the hill and back while B completes an exercise with weight (we had 50lb sandbags and 15-20lb kettlebells/dumbbells).  Exercises were: 2 rounds of overhead press, 2 rounds of curls, 2 rounds of tricep extensions, and 1 round of bent over row.

Mosey back around the front parking lot for a quick 3 rounds of Mary.

Numbered off, Name O Rama, and naming of a new FNG!  Welcome to Cousin Eddie!  T-Claps to Two Ferns for bringing him out!

 

Thanks for the opp. to lead Flux!  I look forward to the next time!

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Hills, Hills, Hills

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We ran.

Mile and a half-ish warm up around the parking lot, up the back hill, around the front on 49, back into the parking lot, around towards the back of the school, around the track, and back out to the front entrance near the metal barrier.

Ran the hill from the barrier to the stop light on 49 x 5 at a 3-5K pace with a light jog back down and a 30 sec – 1 min rest between.  Note: some people’s 3-5K was more like a sprint.

Indian Run from the stop light to the back bus parking lot hill.

Hill sprints from the 2nd light pole to the gate x 6.

After final sprint, we took a run up 49 in front of the school again back down to the main parking lot .  With a few minutes to spare, we were able to get in one final Indian Run around the parking lot before COT.

Announcements: Turkey Day Convergence, Band Aids, F3 Christmas Party…

Prayers: Travels for Turkey Day and Royale for patience as he continues the journey of Fatherhood (which we all can use).

 

Thanks for the Q opp. Hauschka!  Put me back on more often to keep me accountable for getting out and keeping me honest in my runs!

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Cold Blooded at the Swamp

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So it was the coldest day of November (so far) but at least there was no rain.  A balmy 33 degrees to start the workout.  My goal was to keep the energy level high to keep the blood flowing!  Only 3 of the 15 men planned on rucking this morning, so I gave the disclaimer and the other 12 of us were off.

Mosey with a dynamic warmup to the Home Depot parking lot.

COP with IWs – Windmills – SSHs – MNCs – Mountain Climbers – CDDs – Plank Jacks – Merkins?

These days whatever keeps me moving is what I call.  I like to take Pushers guidance and change the count for each…which always gets the PAX talking! It’s almost impossible to get Jedi and Witch Hunt to stop chattering nowadays… which always adds a fun playful air to the warmup.

Enough of that stuff… moving on!  I like to find new routines in the Lexicon that we might not have done before.  I found these:

“The Dab”  (I was immediately asked why it’s called that…not idea just from the workout)

10 burpees in 1 minute

Run a quarter mile lap around the parking lot

Do this 4 times

It went pretty well…and it kept us warm unfortunately Half Shell “popped” his calf muscle… that’s not good for running! No man will be left behind so I tried to modify a little.  I’m sorry if it was not enough Half Shell…

Slow walk towards Target, but a bear crawl for good measure to keep everyone together for about 50 yards.

“Triple Check”

Teams of 3

1st PAX wall sit

2nd PAX Plank

3rd PAX run 50 yards and back.

Rotate through your team and complete this 3 times.

This took longer than expected so item #3 of the evolutions was left off and we moseyed back to COT.  With 2 minutes to spare more burpees were completed.

Namorama

Announcements & Prayers

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

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Smackdown at the Crows Nest “Clover Middle School Wrestling Style”

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I had originally had a Weinke prepared for the workout but changed it up after spending some time at my son’s (F3 – Hound) Middle School Wrestling practices.  Today’s temps were in the 40’s so the brave ones wore shorts (Me and Homebrew).  7 showed up total, no FNG’s.  After a short F3 disclaimer we headed around back to the rear parking area to begin the Smackdown.

Warmup included some Moroccan Night Clubs, SSH’s, Cotton Pickers and some Peter Parkers with some plank stretching.

Smackdown Part 1:  Started with the punishment dealt to the wrestlers if they loos a match by points which gives the other team 3 team points.

 

So we did this 3 times

15 SSH’s

15 Para Troopers (Hands on head and basically Lunge Hops)

15 Mt. Climbers (counting right leg each time)

(we will revisit this later for more punishment)

 

Smackdown Part 2:  Up hill cones (4 cones)

Cone 1 was 1 Burpee, 2 SSH’s and 3 Merkins

Cone 2 was uphill a little ways and Pax had to run to it and do 2 Burpees, 4 SSH’s and 6 Merkins

Cone 3 was further uphill and Pax had to run to it and do 3 Burpees, 6 SSH’s and 9 Merkins

Cone 4 was the last cone at the top of the hill and the Pax had to run to it and do 4 Burpees, 8 SSH’s and 12 Merkins.  threw in a couple 10 counts.

 

We then talked briefly about being Thankfull (since we are close to Thanksgiving) and the Pax had a theme of Family with one Glorifying Jesus (Royale).

 

It was time to revisit Part 1:  When a wrestler looses by Pin they have to add 15 Burpees.  So we did…….

15 SSH’s

15 Para Troopers (Hnads on head and basically Lunge Hops)

15 Mt. Climbers (counting right leg each time)

15 Burpees

And then this is when the whining began………

 

We then took a trip and found some wall so the Pax could catch their a breathe.  We had a seat in the People Chair and did some runs outs with Monkey Humpers (Homebrew did a really good 1 handed Hump show) followed by some Derkins and Merkins.

 

We took a brief moment to talk some Tuesday morning Kettlebell chatter.  One name was already thrown out there from Homebrew “Canon Ball”.  Some liked and some said we can do better……..

 

Last part of the Smackdown and here is where the real whining began.  Basically we did some Duck Duck Goose Nascar Style and added some Burpees.  Pretty basic, not sure why the whining took place lol.  This may become a Two Ferns Staple.

 

We headed back top the COT where Wolverine clarified his correct age.

Announcements……Thanks Giving Convergence, Multiple Christmas Parties.

Praises and Prayers…..Olaf (Respectable) praising his son and daughter for showing great love and kindness to spend time with their ailing grandma.  Princess Penny and her health and FAMILY during the Holiday Season.

 

I closed with a prayer and as usual my voice cracks because I feel that a higher power really grabs me and humbles me when I pray.

 

Thanks Flux for the Q and the others for the SUPPORT.

 

 

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The Right Kind of Sacrifice

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14 men awoke to not so bright/wet conditions and converged in the gloom of the hallowed ground at The Swamp for a Beyond message from YHC.  Here’s what went down

Warmup:      20 SSH IC, 20 Imperial Walkers, 15 windmills (wonderfully executed), 10 Mtn Climbers.    Let’s mosey

The Thang:      Mosey to the alley behind Home Depot for a perfect location to perform the BLIMPS workout and grab some wall for 1-min wall-sits in between each as their active rest, allowing YHC to convey the message for today.  At each 1-min sit, YHC shared what has been on his heart about sacrifice.   This is defined as something that is a loss or something  you give up for the sake of a better cause.    Approximately 1-year ago, my wife and I were celebrating her completion of treatment for Breast Cancer.  Surgery, radiation, DNA testing, doctors, etc…pronounced her as Cancer Free and we returned to our routine.  Our faith had been a anchor throughout and continued to grow thru prayer and my F3 brothers and Journey group, yet I had one main question.  How did this trial change us and by us I mean, me and my role as a husband, father and leader of my home.  I realized how consumed I was with my martial arts training, races, Goruck events, etc..that I was actually not IN my home very much.  That which I thought was making me healthier, stronger and better for my family had me gone for large amounts of time from them.

Time for a sacrifice! I am going on year of stepping away from all those things that took me away from her and the kids to activities to do together and that were important to her!  She never once asked for this and struggled with me giving it up after so long but it’s been the best decision of my life.  God has changed my path for the better by sacrificing what I thought was important to what is truly important.

Sacrifice will lead you to make significant choices. But being a husband and father is a significant experience!

B  5 Burpees OYO, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
L 10 Lunges each leg OYO, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
I 15 Imperial Walkers IC, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
M 20 Merkins OYO, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
P 25 Plank Jacks, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
S 30 Squats, followed by 10 SSH IC

Mosey to the large parking lot for some 4-corners of Blimps!  Total of 6 laps around the parking lot stopping at each corner to perform the exercise.  First (1) lap: 5 burpees @ ea corner (2) lunges (3) 15 IW (4) 20 merkins (5) 25 plank jacks (6) 30 squats (stop at end of each full lap to wait on the 6 with planks; modified the M, P, & S

Return for COT and some last words:  Identify that thing in your life that you may be placing your identity in that may be causing you to miss the mark of your Concentrica Bullseye!

Good work, men.  It was an honor to lead you this morning.

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VQ At the Abyss

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The Abyss has been around, what, 2 years or so?  YHC has never made it down there, and that’s a shame.  Not only is it a great, well-lit AO, but the pax there represent Lake Wylie very well! Sure wish Siri hadn’t been lying to me all this time on how long it takes to get there.  At 4:45am, it seems every AO in TheFort can be reached in 15 minutes or less.

This cool halloween morning, the count was 14 pax.  The mumblechatter level made it feel more like 25. Excellent! YHC knew most of the pax there, but the hats and my historically bad memory for names threw me off (cobains Wolverine for calling you “Moreen”).

Disclaimer was issued as Flux was coming in hot.  We moseyed the opposite direction from where he parked, but made a loop for him to catch up.  Stopped in the same front lot for some warm-up:

  • SSH (IC) x25
  • Imperial Walker (IC) x20
  • Mountain Climbers (IC) x20
  • Flutters (IC) x20
  • Windmills (IC) x20

Moseyed around to the back lot to find 4 cones set up, one in front of each basketball goal (along long side of track).  Time for some Webb-o-Rama.  The exercises at each cone were to be done in a Jack Webb style, (1:4 ratio).

Cone 1: Burpees and Side Straddle Hops, then Bear Crawl to cone 2

Cone 2: Big Boy Sit-ups and American Hammers, then wheelbarrow to cone 3

Cone 3: Knee Tar N’Diayes and Run-Stance Switches, then wheelbarrow to cone 4

Cone 4: Traditional Jack Webb (merkins and overhead claps), then run around track back to cone 1

We did a total of 3 loops of the circuit.

Round 1: 1-5

Round 2: 6-8

Round 3: 10 (didn’t have time for 9)

Moseyed back to COT.

NMMS

I took just a few minutes after round 1 to share how my kids are at an age that I’m really proud of them.  But as a father, it is very important we don’t give them the impression that our love and pride for them is based on winning or achieving a certain status.  It should be based on them showing a good work ethic, passion, and self-motivation to try and use the gifts God has given them.  And shifting the perspective a little, I am incredibly grateful that God’s love for me is not based on how much I “win” or am “successful”.  Thank God for His GRACE that keeps me from having to accomplish things in order to earn His love.

 

Excellent effort by LW’s finest this morning.  Thanks for making me feel so welcome.  And thanks to Bones for the opportunity to lead.

Keep it spicy.
-old bay

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My “Deep” Q

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With Friday’s rain finally behind us, 5 PAX got together at the Deep on a soggy, cool, Saturday morning.  I gave practically no disclaimer, since we’re all regulars, and decided to take a mosey  around the parking lot, which resembled a track, since some of the PAX were wondering if I was going to do a FAST FIVE inspired workout.  I wasn’t planning on it, but thought it might come in handy to check the distance.  Along the way, we did some shuffle steps and toy soldiers before returning to our start point which came out to be a hair over a 1/4 mile.

We circled up for a fast warmup that included:

  • Windmills x10
  • Cherry Pickers x10
  • Imperial Walkers x20
  • Low Slow Squats x 10

The first routine consisted of some Tabata’s set to some music.  It was a fun way to warm up and get the PAX chatty.  We did 4 cycles that each consisted of 4 sets, each cycle was the same.  Every interval (16 in all) was 40 seconds of activity and 20 seconds of rest.

  • 35 Squats (40 seconds)
    • 20 seconds of rest
  • 35 Merkins (40 Seconds)
    • 20 seconds of rest
  • 30 Groiners (40 seconds)
    • 20 seconds of rest
  • 45 SSH (40 seconds)
    • 20 seconds of rest

We repeated this 3 more times with the whole routine running about 16 minutes, deconstructed burpee tabatas, good times!

The next routine was to head to my truck to grab a cinderblock and mosey over to the hill…

The fun part of the exercise was everyone rolling their blocks down the hill (it was really steep) and seeing who could roll it the… shortest…

The awful part of the exercise was to carefully mosey (it was still wet and slippery) down the hill and then bear & block up the hill.  You start with the cindy between your feet and pull it up past your head, then bear crawl until the block is at your feet again, repeat until we get to the top of the hill.

We did this 6 times, and had a different exercise to do with the block each time we made it to the top.

  • 30 American Hammers
  • 40 Bench Press
  • 30 Overhead Press
  • 30 Curls
  • 30 Triceps Extension
  • 30 American Hammers (Because they loved it)

We moseyed back to the parking lot (track), put the cindys away, and lined up for the final routine, which was ad-hoc since the PAX wanted something like the FAST FIVE, be careful what you wish for…

We partnered up and did a 1/4 mile chase around the track.  PAX A does 5 Burpees and sprints “AYG”  to catch his partner who is running backwards, tags his partner and then switches/repeats until we run the full loop.

With about 10 minutes to spare our 2nd loop was one none of us will soon forget (and I’m still feeling the effects of on Monday).  Same theme, but this time PAX A does 40 Plank Jacks while his partner is Bear Crawling around the track, then sprints “AYG” to catch his partner, switch & repeat until we go the full 1/4 around the track.  This was the most bear crawling I’ve every done in one routine and we were all on fire at the end.  It was magnificently brutal.

We somehow all managed to finish right on time and thankfully circled up for CoT.

Announcements, Praises, Prayers

  • Christmas dinner, Dec. 1st
  • F3 Custom Go Ruck HTL May 4th
  • Prayers for SAT’s and teenagers
  • Prayers for Tracy, Two Ferns wife, who has been battling some stomach issues

We all joined up for another 30-45 minutes of brotherhood at Dunkin’ for coffeeteria.

Thanks for the Q Shakes, until next time…

-Flux-

 

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Forties for 40

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Well today was the day… turning 40…why not take the Q today?  I asked Bones for it months ago.  There’s nothing better than leading a group of men and friends at an F3 workout, especially on a birthday.  I was really happy to see 17 other men here, including a few faces that don’t usually travel to the Abyss.

We started up with a mosey around the parking lot.  Nemo and Flux were pulling in right at 5:15 so we did a lap and let them catch up.  Standard dynamic warmup stuff on the lap.

It was cold so the warmup had some more cardio items than usual.

-SSHs – Ab Vagota – Seal Jacks – Squats – IWs – Mountain Climbers

We ended with the Merkin Circle

6 rounds around the circle.  1 merkin each for the 18 guys while in plank.

We moved over to the Hill.  I found an exercise in the lexicon called “Forties”.  I figured if we added the hill we could call it the “Over the Hill Forties”.  That got some laughs, and some groans…

It’s a ladder with higher reps.  An Exercise at the Top of the Hill, one at the bottom.  Take 30 reps at the top 10 at the bottom, then subtract 5 and add 5 until you’ve flipped to 10-30.

1st round : Top = CDDs Bottom = Flutters

2nd Round : Top = American Hammers Bottom = Calf Raises

We took a break and I shared a little message about reflections.  How these men and F3 have helped change me to be a better person and on a better path in life.  I reflected on who I might have been at 40 with out these men… it wasn’t so pretty.

We moseyed next to the front of the school.  I split the group into 2 teams.

Team 1 would stay for wall sits while Team 2 bear crawled around the circle

Flipped it

Next round BTTW as long as you can, then wall sits while Team 2 Crab Walked the circle

Finally we head back to COT for a very special circle.  For my birthday we we’re going to play a game.  The group had to answer questions about me.  If correct 10 SSHs.  If wrong… 10 burpees!

The Questions were:

  1. How many siblings do I have? right
  2. What is my favorite professional sports team? right
  3. What High School did I attend?  Bonus, what was the mascot? right with bonus!
  4. What was my favorite children’s toy in 1985? wrong
  5. Where do I work? right
  6. Where did I go to college? right

To my surprise these men got 5 of 6 right…and to Iced-T’s credit he was saying He-Man for #4…but the group out voted him!

Announcements

Thanksgiving Convergence

Christmas Party

Fast 5 postponed

Prayers

For Soprano and the passing of his brother

Hurricane victims still in need

Grateful for all the people in our lives

If you’ve read this far the answers were

  1. 1 sister = Rachel
  2. Green Bay Packers
  3. South Meck = Sabres
  4. He-Man
  5. Merrill Lynch
  6. UNCC

An Honor to Lead!

-Royale

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Charter Band-aids for Little Warriors – PreBlast

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As most of the PAX in the Fort and Rock regions knows my 5 year old daughter (Emma) is a leukemia survivor. We still make a trip every 4 weeks to get blood drawn to check her counts at Levine Children’s Hospital. We also stepped up and raised money last year (Christmas time) for a fellow brother bout-time out of Area 51 son Jennings who has leukemia also.

It has come to my attention that the budgets have been cut in some of the pediatric departments and the first thing to go is usually the character band aids. You say how important is to have these band-aids? Well as far as the cancer kids go every time the have their PORT’s (Port is a small medical appliance that is installed beneath the skin. A catheter connects the port to a vein) which for some kids is traumatic they get a band-aid over it. For others that are done with treatment such as my daughter Emma has to go back for the next 21 years to get checked (mainly blood counts). This not always easy for instance this past Wednesday she was poked 3 times. Well at the end the band aid can put a smile on a child’s face. This also goes for those kiddos that have to constantly get blood work done not just cancer kids.

So what I am challenging you to do is every week you go grocery shopping buy at least one box or more of character band-aids girls or boys. Also Spread the word in every COT. I will tweet out what AO’s I will be at and if anyone wants to step up and help me collect that would be awesome.

I also challenge others in different regions to pull together and do the same thing. My goal is to gather as much as possible and split it between Levine Children’s Hospital and Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital (St. Jude Affiliate Clinic) before Christmas.

Let a simple act of kindness put a smile on a little fighters face.

AYE. Lets do this.

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The Green Monster @ Crow’s Nest

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Monday morning came quickly…always a great day to get started the right way!  It was going to be dark (like most F3 mornings).  I was happy to see the Nantan Cakeboss and our OG for the Fort Double D roll in for their first experience at Crow’s Nest.  9 started to mosey with me after the disclaimer.

Dynamic Warmup as we headed back to the rear of the school.

-High Knees – Butt Kickers – Side shuffles – Toy Soldiers

COP

This is where #10 found us, respectable Olaf joined in.  We started to give him grief until he told us he RAN from his house to the AO.  That was more than the other 9 of us so we gave him the credit due!

-SSHs – Ab Vagotas – MNCs – LS Squats – Merkins – Peter Parkers – Parker Peters – some broga here and there…

Evolution 1

6 Pack #1

We headed over to the playground to find some pull-up bars

6 pull-ups then 6 CDDs count your way down 6-5-4-3-2-1 in reps

6 pack #2

Merkins and American Hammers 6-5-4-3-2-1 reps

Evolution 2

The Green Monster – I’ve been to Crows Nest more Mondays than not, but for some reason I have always missed the Big Green Monster workouts.  No better time than now to give it a try.  I had arrived early to check out the condition on the hill.  It was VERY dark back here, so I set up 3 lantern lights to give us just enough light.  I have to say, this was one of those “I love being here” moments that was etched into my memory from the dim lighting, guys running up and down this long hill, and feeling great putting in the work!

We did 11s

10 Merkins at the Top

1 CDDs at the Bottom

we switched each time up the hill until 10 CDDs & 1 Merkin

It was long, we broke a huge sweat, but that’s why we get out of bed a Zero-Dark-30 for F3 mornings!

Evolution 3

Moseyed back to a lighted area in the wet grass.  Sat down and did a crowd favorite – Captain Thors!

Ab workout like Jack Webb but 1 big boy sit-up to 4 American Hammers

Work your way up from 1:4 to 10:40, it always sucks…

Moseyed back towards the front of the school, we still had 7 minutes left, so we did Lt Dans from one long light post to the next.

Made it back to COT with 1 minute to spare so we finished with 10 more Merkins in cadence.

Moleskin

I’ll keep it short here, but throughout the workout I shared about the King, the Queen and the Jester.  The King can’t outrun the Queen and the Jester lies to you to get you to stay with him!  Talked a little about intermittent fasting for the Queen and the CSPAN-Bones podcast.  Lots of ideas and ways for the men of F3 to get better everyday!

COT

Announcements and sharing from Cakeboss about the weekend’s Bourbon Chase.

Thanksgiving Convergence – Christmas Party – Read your newsletter

Praises & Prayers

for marriages, praise for the safety and return of the Bourbon Chase men.

An Honor to Lead!

-Royale

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