Tag: Royale

Modify “only” if Necessary

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11 men converged on the Abyss to experience an opportunity to push their limits (and legs).  After the initial “surprise” that there was a Q change due to sickness the mumble chatter began on why staying bed that morning may have been a better option.

A short disclaimer and “sermon” was given about why we get up at 4:30 to exercise and how it is our choice how we leave the workout.  Better than when we arrived…. or the same.  I reminded the men that they always had the choice to modify but that to use it “only” when necessary not just because it is an option.

Warm up (typical stretches and shenanigans)

Pavement Hill Work

  • Lunges to top (mosey down)
  • Basketball shuffle
  • One direction halfway- Switch other half
  • High knees and butt kickers on way down
  • Reverse lunges halfway- sprint second half
  • High knees and Butt Kickers on way down
  • Sprint to top and do 3 Burpees
  • Mosey down

Move over to Parking lot

Bear Crawls to each goal (4)

  • 1st goal- 20 squats
  • 2nd goal- 20 LBCs
  • 3rd goal- 5 Burpees

Broad Jump to each goal (3)

  • 1st goal- 10 merkins
  • 2nd goal- 10 wide merkins
  • 3rd goal- 10 diamond merkins

Over to benches

  • 30 dips
  • 10 steps ups each leg

Grassy Hill

11’s

  • Jump lunges/merkins
  • Go up hill (backwards)
  • Finish with 50 Merkins and final accent up hill to COT.

Every man pushed themselves and  finished strong.  May struggle with stairs and sitting on the throne for a couple of days but left stronger than they arrived.

Shared announcements and Prayers.

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2

Chasing Victory, Monopoly Lessons

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As I was thinking about my Q. I was struggling to bring something personal to this workout. I then realized it was the last day for the month and with the months theme of victory. I knew exactly what I was going to do. There are several life lessons learned from one of my favorite board games.

Short Warmup around the Bounce and Bowl parking lot.
High Knees, Butt Kickers, Side Shuffle, 5 good form Merkins
Disclaimer given. Missed it at the beginning as was talking about Victory.

COP – 51 SSH (you know why), IW, LBCs, MT Climbers

Mosey to Marina Parking Lot
Partner up
Partner 1 runs to middle rolls dice
Partner 2 planks until Partner 1’s return. Move forward number of stations as rolled on dice. Perform exercise.  Flapjack.

Stations
1-(GO)-20 SSH
2-20 CDD
3-20 Hello Dollies
4-10 Inch Worm Merkins
5-20 Mountain Climbers
6-60 Calf raises – 20 each position
7-(Jail) 10 Burpees – (Just Visiting)-10 Windmills
8-10 Wide Arm Merkins
9-20 LBC’s
10-20 Monkey Humpers
11-20 Peter Parkers
12-20 Mac Tar Jai
13-(Free Parking)-10 Bomb Jacks
14-10 Diamond Merkins
15-20 Russian Twists
16-20 Seal Jacks
17-20 Ski Abs
18-20 Sumo Squats
19-(Go To Jail)
20-20 Merkins
21-20 Freddy Mercury’s
22-20 Lunges 10 per leg
23-20 Parker Peters
24-20-Plank Punches
Back to Go, Take a Lap of Parking Lot
Interruptions: Short discussions about life lessons learned from the Game (not in order and not all covered)
https://gutsisthekey.com/2013/01/21/18-life-lessons-from-monopoly/
1. The game must be played with others. It is no fun to play alone.
2. You choose a game piece that represents you to other’s playing the game. It is like a public persona. You get to choose this image.
3. Baltic Ave or Boardwalk; You could end up on either one. It’s all the roll of the dice.
4. You only get paid as you keep on going around the board.
5. You can make a lot or lose a lot, just by where you happen to land in life.
6. Chance can be a good thing or bad but sometimes you hope for it cause it seems the only way to change your circumstance.
7. Nobody likes to go to jail, unless they are in worse trouble playing the game.
8. If you build on what you get, it can help you get more and win the game.
9. You can profit a lot, when others visit your places; especially if you have them developed.
10. There are costs with everywhere you go and everything you do.
11. You can not stay still for very long. Sometimes you can skip a turn but this may be good or it may be bad.
12. Sometimes you can move extra spaces and this may be good or it may be bad.
13. A cheater can ruin the game for everybody.
14. Sometimes you have to give some away, so people you like can stay in the game.
15. You never know what to expect in the game.
16. A good game takes a long time.
17. It’s only a game and the point of it is to have fun.
18. The only thing you get to keep when you quit the game is the relationship with the person you played with.

What does Victory look like for you? Are you chasing the right things?

Announcements
Christmas Party – Things to bringC
Children’s Attention Home – 36″ or larger Duffel Bag, Alarm Clock, Umbrella
Operation Sweet Tooth – Toy any age – Unwrapped
Regal Manor clubhouse
BYOB
Deep AO – Change of Time to 7AM – Pusher and Double D on Q
Berwick area – Looking to develop AO on that area (Udder, Wild Thing, Flipper, One Shot, Cerrano, Axl, Vinny)
Children’s Attention Home – Friday Dec 8th. Needs Head count locked down by this weekend.

Prayers/Praises
Missionary Family lost 20 bags of belongings (entire life in those bags). People stepped up and donated bags and stuff.
Suicide of a friend. Tough time of year.
Brother in laws father stage four cancer.
Opening up your home for Thanksgiving. Need to keep that up for Christmas.

Always humbled by the eagerness and willingness of the PAX. Lots of mumble chatter within the group and between the teams. Appreciate the opportunity to Q.

Cornhole
Out.

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10

F3 The Fort Thanksgiving Convergence 2017

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

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

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

Everyone put out great effort today and really pushed themselves.

 

Witch Hunt—Black Diamond Q

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

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

Run Hill 8 times.

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

Run Hill 6 times.

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

Run Hill 4 time.

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

Run Hill 2 time

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

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

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

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

Rd1- 8

Rd2- 9

Rd3- 10

Rd4- 11

Rd5-12

Rd6-12

Rd7-11

Rd8-10

Rd9- 9

Rd10- 8

Total – 100

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

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

Pusher with closing remarks and finding #Victory 

Prayers & Praises

Thank you F3 The Fort

Cake Boss

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Black Friday BOGO & Coupon Specials

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10 Pax (plus CSPAN for COT) posted to The Swamp to work off their Thanksgiving feast and take a trial run for Black Friday activities.   All veterans this AM, including Alright Alright from F3/Dallas who was visiting local family.  No ruckers (except potentially Royale, who quickly ditched the sack when he saw he would be solo).  So the Disclaimer was pronounced in Cliff Note form and then we launched to get blood pumping on a chilly 30-degree morning.

The Thang

Warm up run past Best Buy, Office Max, PetSmart, etc with some karaokes thrown in.

Circle up in Home Depot parking lot

COP — Mtn climbers, plank sequence, Peter Parkers, Hillbilly Walker, Low Slow Squats, Merkins

Mosey to garden center entrance of HD for first of Black Friday Specials  — Buy suicides and get free burpees.  At each turnaround point do 1 burpee.  Four out and backs (4 burpees).

Mosey to Target entrance and partner up for next BF Special — buy one wheelbarrow and get 2 burpees.  Start with 2 burpees at first red ball.  Then, Wheelbarrow from one red ball to the next, 2 burpees for each partner, then flapjack.  (18 burpees, 22 total)

Mosey to Kay Jewelers (every kiss begins with Kay; Bath & Bodyworks close by for those on skinnier budget) and circle up for BOGOx5 series.
5 Bombjacks + 5 burpees
5 Monkey humpers + 5 burpees
5 Wide arm merkins + 5 burpees
5 Sumo squats + 5 burpees
5 Jumping lunges + 5 burpees
(25 burpees, 47 total)

Mosey back to launch point and collect one Black Friday coupon for each partner pair.  Mosey to side of Best Buy and line up   shoulder to shoulder for People’s Chair w/blocks.  Pass each block to left. Rise and do 1 burpee.  Back to People’s Chair and pass blocks right to other end. Rise and do 2 burpees.  Continue progression to 10 burpees.
(55 burpees, 102 total burpees)

Mosey home

COT

NMM

T-claps to all pax for persevering through a burpee-laden morning.  No Merlot this am, though it would not have been surprising to see some given the indulgences of Thanksgiving.

Thanks to Jedi for the burpee inspiration during the warm up run.  Burpees were already part of the Weinke , but the mumble chatter about doing 300-some burpees at Black Diamond Thanksgiving convergence only invited a heavier dose.  Thus, they instantly became the “freebie” for every Black Friday deal.

Speaking of Black Friday, the crazy shopper scene at Rivergate was a snooze fest.  Four desperate souls slept in their cars with the engine running for heat until we made the moves toward Best Buy, which quickly stirred them from the vehicles and into the camp chairs waiting at the front door behind the barricades.  It was probably the same four people who were in line at Best Buy the morning the new Nintendo game was released earlier this year.  Hope they made the haul they were seeking.  Pretty sure the pax collected all the pain they were after this AM.

Shout out to Alright Alright from Dallas who posted while on holiday family travel.  He’s got F3Nation rolling in DFW so be sure to post there when Dallas shows up on your itinerary.

Prayers for CSPAN who posted for CnW2 with a  boot on his right foot.  Thanksgiving Family Football League took its toll on him and now he’s on the IR.  He needs to try the Respect Division next Thanksgiving.  Hang in there, brother!  Will be in touch to keep you connected while you heel up.

Thanks to Cable Guy for the invite.  The Swamp continues to be a first class AO and it’s always an honor to lead the pax there.

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The under appreciated ruck & boot camp combo pack

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Conditions clear and very cold…around 33 degrees at kickoff

Disclaimer

Quick discussion on the combo workout and modify as needed

and walk off…about half had rucks…make large pile of rucks…near Office depot

Warmup-O-Rama

Partner up

Partner 1 run .33 mile, partner 2 does exercises…and then flapjack

Round one ruck curls, ruck upright rows, ruck curls, ruck upright rows…each partner got 4 turns at running…mumblechatter stalled…it started to suck…so as a good Q, I made bad into worse…

Partner 1 run .33 with ruck (crowd pleaser) while other partner exercises…and then flapjack

Round two squats, LBC, squats, LBC

Mumblechatter quickly turned into “bitching”…

Same partner, smaller lap, flying squirrels for each

Mosey to COT area

60 seconds of flying squirrels

COT/ Prayer or praise/ BOM

14 #HIM went inside for Romans 13

AYE!

CSPAN

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Tour de Poopdeck

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12 PAX posted on a chilly morning.

YHC started everyone off jogging then realized the disclaimer had been forgotten. Jogging stopped. Disclaimer made. Off moseying again + butt kickers, high knees, and karaokes.

Warm-o-Rama:

  • SSH, Windmills, MNCs, Finkle Swings (leg stretch – think Ray Finkle… or is it Einhorn?)

The Thang:

Jacob’s Ladder

  • We moseyed to a hill behind the bounce and bowl. Start at the bottom. Do 9 LBCs. Run up the hill and do 1 burpee. Run down, do 8 LBCs. Run up, 2 burpees. Buprees increase, LBCs decrease until you do 9 burpees and 1 LBC. Mosey to the front corner of the shopping center.

Lt. Dans for the length of the shopping center

  • Lunge, lunge, squat. rinse and repeat until you get to the last pillar. There was a good amount of mumble chatter for this one.

Modified Bataan Death March to the flagpole

  • Indian run where the last man stops to do 3 merkins before running to the front of the line. He taps the 6 while passing him, and the 6 then drops to do 3 merkins. Rinse and repeat until destination reached.

Shared some quick thoughts on victory (see below).

Bear Crawl ROF around the flagpole

  • PAX circle the flag and bear crawl around it 1 Lap. Everyone planks while each man takes turns doing 3 merkins. Repeat 3 times.

Butkus

  • 60 seconds of rapid step-ups onto the curb, followed by 30 secs of rest. Repeat 3 times.

Modified Bataan Death March to the shovel flag

Royale came to pick up turkeys for the Paradise community, and joined in for Freddy Mercuries to bring us to 6:00am.

 

Moleskin:

We talked about a little-known monument at the Poopdeck that honors Col. Thomas Neel and his family. Col. Neel was a veteran of the Revolutionary war, who fought in NC, SC, FL, and GA. He defended Charleston against the British in the siege of 1779. He was also a statesman, in the SC Provincial Congress and the NC Assembly. While Col. Neel is memorialized as a man of victory on multiple fronts, there is also a somber inscription on the monument that his wife, Jean Spratt Neel, was captured by Shawnees, murdered, and scalped.

We are a group of focused men who strive to make each other better. Victory is something that is not foreign to many of us. But are we being victorious in the right things? Are we building monuments to ourselves (careers, projects, egos) while at the same time our relationships with God, and our family suffer? Being victorious in the right things is just as important as being victorious. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul?

 

Thanks to Wild Thing of the opportunity to lead.

 

-Homebrew

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3×3

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In the better late than never category was able to get out to lead my VQ.  Joined in the rainy gloom by 15 PAX.  After a quick disclaimer we moseyed over to the basketball court area for warmup (Squats, Cherry Pickers, Merkin, Windmill, SSH, and Moroccan Nightclub)

Prepping for this had the #3 stuck in my head for some reason so wanting to not overthink things and keep it simple for my VQ I had exercises written down at 3 stations w/3 exercises at each around the track.

  • Station 1 – 30 Squats, 50 SSH, 20 Lunges
  • Station 2 – 20 Big Boy Sit Ups, 50 LBC, 30 American Hammer
  • Station 3 – 20 CDD, 30 Dips, 15 Burpees

I never really have a great concept of time out in the gloom so planned on 2x through each and see where we’re at (thank you Royale & Bones for helping me keep time!)  Had some extra time after that so decided to mosey to the top of the track for partner up exercise of wind sprints and burpees (note to self, don’t ask for suggestions on partner exercises)

Recovered and had a few minutes left so wall chair was recommended.  Ran the wall chair with the pax at each end doing a bear crawl to the curb + 2 burpees.  Mosey back to COT for LBC, Flutters, and Freddie Mercuries.

Thank you for the opportunity to lead.  I found it to be a good and enjoyable challenge.  Was great to have encouragement from the group!  Till next time

Baywatch

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You Still Have 40%

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17 brave men gave it their all this morning in the gloom of Quagmire.  After a disclaimer and a quick reminder of the theme of the month (VICTORY) it was off to better ourselves.

Quick Mosey complete with:

  • High knees
  • Butt Kickers
  • Karaoke
  • Toy Soldiers
  • Knees to Chest

Standard circle with warm up exercises

Series of exercises that “simply” came to mind:

Using the parking lot in front of Old Navy (slight incline) and Mosey up and down several times between exercises:

  • Lunge walks (up)
  • 10 Squat Jumps
  • Bear Crawl (down)
  • Reverse Lunge Walk (up)
  • 50 Squats
  • High Knees (up)
  • Butt Kickers (down)
  • 50 Merkins
  • 50 LBC’s in cadence
  • Plank challenge for 170 sec
  • 50 Burpee’s (10/min)
  • 3 Wind Sprints

It was repeated several times about pushing to the limits of what you are capable of.  As I have “famously” said once (and will obviously never live down), “When you think that you can’t go any further you have about 40% left in the tank.”  Many times we quit too early when pushing ourselves and it is not because we can’t “physically” do it but because our mind tells us to quit.  It is only when we push through those barriers on a consistent bases can be experience growth and grit to make us stronger men.  Super proud of every man who posted this morning and proved to themselves that they are willing to leave it all at COT.

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The real gloom at WEP

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What a great Saturday morning. I got out to the AO a little early cause I hadn’t been out to WEP in a very long time. The air was thick with fog, it was dark, it was downright scary  – the perfect type type of gloom that we love to work with.

Men  start showing up about eight minutes before launch, by the time we were ready to go we had a total of 19 PAX ready to get after it . Nomad  brought 3 FNG’s from his youth group and they were excited to figure out what was in store for them this morning.  I bet they felt differently after words.

Maximus were starting us off today so he gave the long disclaimer for new friends and off we went .

It was a nice quick jog and then circle up to do several exercises that I can’t recall individually – but Maximus pushed us to get nice and warmed up.

the Thang

Partner up

partner 1 pull ups AMRAP while partner 2 runs around the playground  perimeter.

Repeat three times

After that we will circle up in the playground dirt and did several of the exercises which included toe touches, LBCs, flutter kicks and chopsticks. Maybe an elbow plank in there as well.

Maximus then turned it over to Royale

Mosey into the grass circled up and picked new partners

Lazy Dora

No running, consists  of the following exercises that are rotated between the two partners until you get to the combined number .

100 merkins

10 each while other partner planks

200 Squats

25 each while other partner holds low squat

300  American hammers single count

30 each  while partner holds 6 inches

This evolution was terrible so I gave the guys a break after it was done and read from Discipline Equals Freedom, a section called “application of discipline ”  from Jocko Willink’s most recent book. I shared his video about the book above.  It’s one of my favorite short motivational videos on YouTube!

The next evolution involved a nice little hill for 11’s

Run up the top the hill- do 10 bomb jacks – run back down – one plank jack until you reverse the cycle down to one Bomb Jack and 10 plank jacks.

Next we moseyed halfway around the park on the running track until we came close to the front road and entrance to the park.

We formed two lines and partnered up with the person right across from you in line- sat down and did two minutes each of big boy sit ups many as you can.

finally spent the last two minutes doing as many as you can burpees – real crowd pleaser

COT with FNG naming, Gomer, Ghost Rider and Chop Block.

Announcements prayers and praises

It was an honor to lead,

Royale & Maximus

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2

Twisted Twister at Abyss

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14 PAX (10 regulars + 3 runners + 1 FNG) assembled in the cold gloom of the Abyss for a mid-week jump start. A severely jumbled attempt at a disclaimer was made (followed by much mumble chatter regarding additional items that were left out), then the fun began.

Mosey around the parking lot with some toy soldiers, tip-toe walks, and heel walks before gathering for COP, which proved to be a time to both warm up and look ridiculous.

All in cadence:

  • 10 windmills
  • 12 thriller lunges (wish we’d had video of this; made mental note for next time)
  • 15 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10 merkins
  • 8 hydrant circles (forward and backward) per leg (these hurt a bit)

Recover, shake the legs out, then mosey around to back of school near the grassy hill to find the Twister Board of Pain.

Laid out the ground rules:

  • Spin the spinner
  • Exercises done OYO
  • After completing assigned reps, run down the hill, 5 bomb jacks, then back up the hill
  • Ab work until the six is in
  • Rinse and repeat

Exercises on the board:

  • Two arms
    • Merkins x20
    • Burpees x10
    • Downward Dog to Plank x20
    • Donkey Kicks x20
  • One arm
    • Merkins x20 (10 per arm)
    • Burpees x10 (5 per arm)
    • Downward Dog to Plank x20 (10 per arm)
    • Donkey Kicks x20 (10 per arm)
  • Two legs
    • Burpees x10
    • Bear Crawl 40 yards total
    • Bunny Hops 40 yards total
    • Squat Jumps x20
  • One leg
    • Burpees x10 (5 per leg)
    • Bear Crawl, aka Boo Boo Bears 40 yards total (20 yards per leg)
    • Bunny Hops 40 yards total (20 yards per leg)
    • Squat Jumps x20 (10 per leg)

PAX started fast and furious, as no exercise had tons of reps. But moving quickly leads to more work, and it didn’t take long before requests for 10 counts began. Lost track of the number of times down and up the hill, and there may or may not have been human intervention in the stopping of the spinner (three spins in a row landing on Squat Jumps got vetoed) at various times. Never did it land on one-arm Burpees, Donkey Kicks, or Merkins, yet we did Squat Jumps at least 3 times. Statistically this is unlikely, but obviously not unheard of. There’s always next time.

Ended with a long, 2-minute mosey back to COT to meet up with runners.

Announcements:

  • CAH on Saturday. Should be a good group, with a special guest appearance mentioned.
  • 2.0-friendly Halloween workout at The Deep on Saturday, 28.October. Starts at 0800. Lots of candy. See Pre-blast.
  • Fast 5 coming up November 4. Lots of fun. Lots of bacon.
  • Royale waxed eloquent about the (every-inch-of-) twenty mile ruck on Saturday as part of the Capital Ruck Tour (see http://capitaltour2017.com/, or follow @capitaltour2017 on the twitter). Amazing experience, with awesome and inspiring stories of those involved.

Praises and Prayers:

  • FNG Head Case, who EH’ed himself after “years” of thinking about it.
  • Prayers for marriages, and families in general. Many of us know someone going through divorce or other difficult family issues, so prayers for them.
  • Prayers for patience. We all need it.
  • Prayers for our country and its leaders. Tensions and divisions are high.
  • Praise for good report on Witch Hunt’s M’s pregnancy. Everything looks good, and less than a month left!

NMM

In prepping for this workout, I was consistently reminded of what we read in Proverbs 16:33:

“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

It’s a small and seemingly random thing to flick the spinner on a Twister board and see where it lands, just like casting lots or throwing die or flipping a coin to make a decision seems to provide a random result. And even the result may be of little importance in the grand scheme of things (will it matter if we do 10 burpees or 20 squat jumps?). Yet God is sovereign, and nothing is spontaneous or random to Him, nor is anything of little importance. He was and is in control of the outcomes.

But that does not mean we have no role to play. The spinner didn’t spin itself. The emails don’t write themselves. The diapers don’t change themselves. God has chosen to accomplish His purposes through fallen, broken humans, and we get to be a part of that. It’s not always easy, and at times it may not look good to us. Yet the same God who created all things and keeps everything in order knows us each intimately and has a specific purpose for each one of us. We are not here in the Charlotte area in 2017 by random accident, but by specific and intentional design.  So I encourage you as you go about your days, acknowledge God’s hand in every moment, in every conversation, and rejoice in the opportunity to get to be a part of His plan.

Definitely didn’t think a Twister board would make me think so hard.

Until next time.

Jedi out.

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