Tag: Senator Tressel

Twitter Burpee Challenge

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There is something about twitter and Slack (your welcome Crab Cakes) where you get to poke the bear and start a rash of replies about which AO is better, which one will have more PAX post, and who’s WO will SUCK more. Your YHC tried to create an unofficial convergence by calling out multiple PAX, and then Punch List took it to another level and would do burpees if additional PAX would post….Stang where were you???? Your Vols are bowl eligible, you should be posting now that you can be seen without getting grief. Actually where were all those PAX who were called out??? Disappointing, we all wanted to see Punch List do 100 burpees 🙁

The 12 PAX who did post were not disappointed.

The Thang:

Warm up with toy soldiers along roadway for 2 light pole lengths (longer than I thought), return with knee ups and lunges.  Circle up for COP – some windmills (Dirty Harry loves these!), Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Slow Squats, and merkings. Mossy past the pull up bars….PAX were shocked we didn’t stop there….they just didn’t know what as in store for them…to the bottom of the hill for round 2 of COP. Moroccan nightclubs, overhead claps, and toe touches.

Mossy up the hill to the pull up bars. Time for the real thing. Dora 400! Partner up. As a duo, 60 pull-ups with a challenge that each PAX does 20 true pull-ups (not using the foot rests). 100 merkins, 150 squats, and 200 LBCs. I know, this does not total 400….The other partner runs to the bottom of the hill and back.

Each PAX was then required to do 10 true pull-ups and 10 toe touches, while resting wall sits. Once completed, 5 more pull-ups. Can’t get better without doing them and they are the best exercise out there!!

Mossy to crosswalk and sprint to next crosswalk. Finish with 3 minutes of Marry.

Appreciate the opportunity to lead and push PAX on pull-ups, thanks Punch List.

Read the newsletter!

Prayers for Cash and Karrie who are fighting cancer….you can do it!

Trucker out

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Site vs Site

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Well the Site vs Site was CRAZY good thanks to some excellent leadership on both sides of the workout. 0500 launch, 6 Q’s (3 from fire ant, 3 from golden corral) took 10 minutes each. Lutefisk forgot how to flip a coin but managed to have it land in favor of fire ant going first.  The first fire ant Q was Router who took us through a ruck run/pain station. Next up was golden corral’s first Q Mile High who took us on a sprint-fest in the back of HT with some wall work on the legs. Fire ant Q #2 was Cha Ching who put us through some nasty ruck reps.  Golden corral put Bones in charge of some repeating leg work by the green olive – some funky squat jumps that didn’t feel good.  Spiderman finished the fire ant lineup with a terrible idea of bear crawl/crawl bear for what seemed like eternity while the partner did reps with the ruck.  Lutefisk finished it up with the final golden corral Q by starting, and staying, in the plank position for the duration of his 10 minutes.  Dark Helmet notable threw in the towel and to make himself feel better he poked the Q.  I will not forget.  Welcome FNG Thigh Master (not Jane Fonda) but he’s from New York so evidently it’s OK to drop F-bombs whenever and wherever.  All in all 30 PAX came out for a nasty beatdown that was surely a crowd pleaser.  It was an honor to be a part of it and special thank you to the Q’s for stepping up and all of you ruckers for bringing us some extra gear to use.

Final tally of the votes: Fire Ant 15, Golden Corral 11, Tie 3, Bonsai = disqualified for his answer

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12 Days of Christmas

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Today at the Ranch I had the pleasure of leading nine men in a 12 days of Christmas Beatdown. I know its a week before Thanksgiving but like everyone else we will skip to Christmas.

We started with a warm up of Windmills, Tappy Taps, SSH and Moroccan NC and then we moseyed to the back playground for some real fun.

Our 12 Days of Christmas :

1 BURPEE

2 MERKINS

3 SQUATS

4 MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS

5 BIG BOY’S

6 FLUTTERS

7 DIAMOND MERKINS

8 LBC’S

9 BOX CUTTERS

10 CDD

11 AMERICAN HAMMERS

12 WIDE ARM MERKINS

OH!!  I forgot there was a lap around the loop after every day. There was some singing and some complaining as well.

We ended with some Mary and Two Ruckers joined us for  COT!!

Thanks Jiffy for letting me lead these fine men.

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8 Extra Pounds

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Twelve of Fort Mill’s finest met at the Harris Teeter on a perfect late fall morning.  While two set off for a ruck workout, the other 10 joined YHC and here is what they did:

Take a big loop around the HT parking lot and meet up at the white VW near the back of the lot.  Everyone pick up two bricks and mosey to the Green Olive Grille for COP:

Circle up and drop your bricks for SSH x 25 and 10 windmills.  Pick up your bricks and everyone in cadence for:  merkin x 10, squat x 15, imperial walker x 20, jump squat x 10, LBC x 20, hello dolly x 20, American hammer x 20 , diamond merkin x 10, Morrocan nightclub x 20.

Mosey to the back of the main parking lot, put your bricks into a pile, and then mosey to the front of Harris Teeter (about 50 yds).   Form two groups of 5.   The first group runs to the pile, picks up a brick, and runs back to the start point.  The second group does the same.  Rinse and repeat and until all the bricks are moved.   Once all the bricks are moved, repeat with two bricks per person and move the bricks to the start point (full disclosure – this was not how this was supposed to go!)

Mosey back to Green Olive grille and circle up for Jack Webb  (1:4).   We got to 7 merkins and 28 overheads with bricks before YHC’s form started to fail.

ABLAB with bricks:

Flying flutter x 20, V-up x 10, Superman hold x 3, X’s and O’s x 10.  Close with the body destroyer.

COT

I’ve been away from this AO for a while and it was good to see many new faces this morning.  What perfect weather for a boot camp!  Dark Helmut and Olaf provided the usual chatter  – thank you, gentlemen.    It was a pleasure to lead the Pax today and I hope you enjoyed the workout.

Announcements, Prayers, Praises:

Read your newsletter:   Saturday convergence at The Fort, Thanksgiving convergence, Xmas party all coming up.

Prayers for:  Kenyan and his family, a family member with recurring cancer, Olaf on his Spartan race.

 

 

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A cool, Shady, 38 degree Special morning

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11 PAX woke up on a cool Saturday morning in November of 2019. Little did any of them know that immediately after the disclaimer they would be headed for the much maligned Tega Cay Drive hill of pain.

The mosey immediately headed that way as YHC (38 Special) led the PAX down the hill. Everyone circled up for 25 SSH, 15 Low Slow Squats, and 15 mountain climbers.  Some good Saturday morning mumblechatter including some compliments about the length of certain PAX’s shorts and the decade in which they might have been procured.  That was plenty “warm up”.

The Thang: Part 1

PAX counted off by 2’s. 2’s were instructed to run the 150M hill backwards. Team 1 to lag behind so eyes were going forward and backward. YHC was pleased to hear Team 1 offer quality mumblechatter on the way up in the way of encouragement.

At the top of the hill, everyone ran back down and Team 1 took their turn to run backwards while Team 2 pulled mumblechatter duty.  Now that every quad was suitably inflamed it was time for phase two of part one.

Until YHC’s time was out, we would run 11’s.  Starting behind the western baseball diamond, double count stepups. Run the roughly 100m to to the benches just before the pullup bars and do burpees.  If, somehow, anyone were to finish, it would have added 2k to their bragging rights. Some got to 4 step ups left, others 6.

YHC used the last minute of his time to speak briefly about pushing oneself in order for the group. The above was selected not because I could kill it, but because I knew I could do it with commitment, and without killing myself, and sorta, maybe tried to encourage others to do the same.

The Thang: Part 2

Shady took over and wasted no time running the PAX over the baseball field and into the parking lot, stopping near the playground.  Everyone paired up for what Shady said would be your ‘basic’ Dora. There was a brief lament about the lack of bricks when one of the PAX brought to everyone’s attention that there were some large rocks at the bottom of the trail.

If YHC were a geologist, he’d have called these rocks “boulders” (any rock with a diameter of > 25.6cm)…

Run back up the trail and into the playground.  Round one of the Dora was
100 – Hand Release Merkins
200 – Shoulder (boulder) Press
300 – Flutter

YHC wants to point out that the first two parts of that set were brutal.

When the set was over, Shady spoke to the PAX about his word of the year and encouraged everyone to think about theirs again. Some of the PAX talked briefly about their words as well. After this 10 count was concluded it was time to move onto round two.
100 – Incline rows
200 – Boulder curls
300 – LBC

YHC would also like to point out that the incline rows, while being sufficiently difficult, made some of the PAX look utterly ridiculous, and as most of us know, PAX would allow any of their brothers to look that ridiculous without drawing a great deal of attention to the fact.  It’s just good manners.

Time ran out during the LBCs and there was one more run down into the woods to return their boulders to their homes.  Joined up at COT.

Announcements: Thanksgiving convergence on 11/28 @The Ranch, HTL convergence on 11/23 @WEP and the Christmas Party 12/6 ~Baxter area. Everyone who knows Kenyan is invited to join the celebration of Life for his departed wife that morning.

There were also some prayers and praises lifted up to Sky Q’s consideration.

The PAX dispersed…

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Footloose in Fort Mill

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Five men met in downtown Ft. Mill for a boot camp workout on a brisk South Carolina morning.  Here is what they did:

Warm up with some walking stretches:  knee to chest, ankle to waist, lunge twists, toy soldiers, and arm circles.  Mosey along Monroe White Street to Tom Hall and head towards Maint Street.

Circle up in the Kimbrell’s parking lot.  All in cadence:

SSH x 20,  windmill x 10, merkin x 7, squat x 20, mountain climber x 15/hold plank/right and left arm and leg high/hold/6″/regular/6″/regular 5 merkins, LBC x 15, IW x 15, Morrocan night club x 25 while walking along Main St.

Mosey on Main Street, take a left onto Confederate,  and assume people’s chair along the building across from the Improper Pig (take in the smell of smoked meat…)

Hold People’s chair with overhead arm claps.  Recover and then BTTW and hold until all pax did a 10 count.  Repeat this two more times.

Mosey to the side walk along Millstone Park, find a partner.

R1:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 merkins, while partner 2 does SSH’s

R2:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 bombjacks while partner 2 does squats

R3:  Partner 1 runs up the hill and does 10 burpees while partner 2 does calf raises.

R4:  Everyone together, bear crawl up the hill and do 10 merkins in cadence.

R5:  Repeat R4

Mosey to the Ft. Mill Police parking lot for ABLAB:

Freddie Merc x 15, flutter x 15, American hammer x 15, Superman x 3.

End with the body destroyer

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

It was pretty cold this morning.  When I arrived at the church, there were a handful of cars in the lot and no one was outside.   I started stretching outside and thought the guys would come out and join me, but no takers.  No one left their car until about 5:14 and I actually had to coax Uhaul out of his car so we could start the workout.

Once we got moving,  though, everyone warmed up pretty well.  We moved through town and took advantage of the buildings, lots, and green spaces available in the area.  This was my first Q at Footloose and it was fun to explore this great AO.   Welcome back, Kotter:  I had not seen Lil’E in a long time and it turns out he’s been on an extended fartsack leave.  Good to have you back, brother and let’s keep it going.  It was a pleasure to lead the group today.  T-claps to Boss Hogg who went for a solo walk this morning, but re-joined us at precisely 6:00 on the dot.   That’s impressive timing my friend.  Anchorman and Barry Manilow finished their run and met us for COT.

Announcements, prayers, and praises:

Read  your newsletter.

Prayers for Kenyan and his family.

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Disco inferno with DJ Twister

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Twister was up to getting the group awake this am with some 70s TV trivia which is good for the respect crowd but very challenging for those of us born in the late 70s…and even an 80s in there.  Since YHC controlled the weinke but not the jams, all was good.  Disclaimer was given as the sweet melodies of 80s rock played in the background, and a brisk mosey ensued to the track.

Warmup of SSH, windmills, imperial and hillbilly walkers, merkins, low slow squats for counts ranging from 10-25 got the blood flowing.

Boss Hogg took off for loops on the track given the nursing on the shoulder while the rest of us counted off in 2 splitting into groups.  Here’s the game: name the 70s TV show tune played by DJ Twister and avoid the 5 burpee penalty.  While you’re thinking of the song, do the name of the exercise called off by Shady below with a minimum and maximum number associated (this was adjusted very quickly b/c some people watched a lot of TV growing up!)

  • 10 hand release merkins
  • 20 squats (10 min)
  • 25 CDD (10 min)
  • 30 lunges (10 min)
  • 50 plank shoulder taps (20 min)
  • 40 ski jumps (20 min)
  • 60 calve raises (30 min) – out/reg/in
  • 20 diamonds (10 min)
  • 50 SSH (25 min)
  • 25 merkins (10 min)
  • 40 mountain climbers (20 min)
  • 30 American hammers (20 min)
  • 30 plank jacks (15 min)
  • 50 LBC (25 min)

We rinse and repeated through most of the list but the minimums were removed a second time through.  With about 15 min left, we ran around the track stopping at each 100 yard corner where we did some core (for the most part).  1st corner was 50 LBC, 2nd corner was 20 big boy (and some monkey humpers for our our track walkers passing by), 3rd corner was 30 American hammers, and 4th and final was 30 flutters.

With about 5-10 min remaining, we took our last bit of time to the football field.  Lining up on the goal line, we ran back and forth from the goal line to the 10 yard, back to goal then to 20…all the way to 40 yard line.  At each 10-40 yard line, we did 1 burpee for 10 yard up to 4 burpee at 40 (so a total of 10 burpees + the running for those of you who struggle with quick math!).  Once back on the line, there was time for a 10 count along with a message about being intentional.  Be intentional with the exercise, be intentional with your kids at home and at their activities, be intentional with your wife – pay attention to them!

Once everyone caught their breath, we rinse and repeated the lines and burpees – crowd favorite!  Once said and done, we did a mosey back to COT for closing ceremonies.  All in all, great morning and great push from the PAX.  Enjoyed it as usual and thanks to Manziel for the opportunity!!

Shady

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Downpour with Roxanne at Laces In

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This morning was supposed to be very wet, and again the Weather professionals got it wrong. Knowing the anticipated challenges, I prepared a weinke that would allow for a covered area. And….not a drop of rain. Had to make some audibles on the fly to make sure the PAX got a good sweat in. To my surprise, 9 HIM showed up for the morning’s beat down. Only vets were present so I delivered a quick disclaimer and off we went.

 

Mosey to the main parking lot taking a left turn immediately because it was too windy for Trucker…mumble chatter champion. Completed the mosey and circled up in front of the drop off area near the front of the gym.

 

IW x 20

SSH x 25

Windmill x10

Overhead claps- x20

Happy Jacks- 5 rounds

MNC x10

Seal Jacks- x15

 

PAX headed over to the curb, lined up across and turned and faced the parking lot.

I spent a little time here sharing with the PAX about a recent pledge brother that took his own life last week. With that came a challenge, to think about Men that you can be impacting that need your support. Whether you think it is annoying or not, there are men out there that are desperately seeking another man to pick them up. All it takes is an additional call or text, anything to let them know you are thinking of them.

 

Ok, with that in mind, the PAX were instructed to do suicides to the fourth line with a numbered space. When you reach the 4th number perform the exercise listed and then run back. Hold a plank for the 6.

 

Round 1- Merkins x10

Round 2- CDD x10

Round 3- Burpees x10

 

Continued with the message to the PAX to make sure it stayed in the front of their mind during the workout. Reminding them that if it’s them that is struggling to not go through it alone.

 

Next Mosey was to the breezeway area at the football stadium.

 

Circle up. I had prepared a little Roxanne workout in anticipation of the downpour that didn’t happen. After some brief fumbling with the technology, off we went.

 

Roxanne, you don’t have to…- flying squirrels

 

In between- The Pax were doing Seal Jacks.

 

This got the blood going! Of course I am a sweater, but there some extra puddles around me during this. It looked like the PAX were enjoying it as well.

 

Immediately after the song, we jumped into the Deck of Death.

 

Spades- CDD

Hearts- Monkey humpers

Clubs- Plank Jacks

Diamonds- wide arm Merkins

Joker- 5 burpees

 

We made it through about ¾ of the deck and the runners joined us for the last few.

 

Back to COT

 

Announcements– Newsletter

 

Praises– for the PAX who showed up. I was reminded this morning that being in the gloom makes a positive impact on our daily lives. This does mean you necessarily have to participate in the workout if you are on the IR. I encourage PAX on the IR to show up with a partner and walk and enjoy some fellowship.

 

Prayers-

 

Bonsai’s Wife’s grandmother

Cyclops Dad

The family of my brother whose life ended too soon

My wife’s student who passed away

Injured PAX

Marriages

Any I missed

 

Additional thoughts on challenging us as men and fathers to enjoy the moment and practice patience as best as you can.

 

Mental Health- I will repeat this over and over, you are not alone. Engage, ask, and reach out. If not, this is just a workout.

 

 

Thanks for the opportunity and for showing up on this rainy day.

 

 

Frat Boy

 

 

 

 

 

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Millstone Maximized

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Wow!  For the last Millstone appearance at Veteran’s Park, home of the Minnow Pond, eight (8) injured or supportive PAX showed up for leisurely stroll and discussion.

NOTE:  Millstone moves to WEP at 6:30 AM next week.  It will run concurrently with The Yard and The Fort.

Fortunately, YHC has stayed in a Holiday Inn Express within the past year and though not a medical professional,  was successfully able to ascertain the PAX injuries before moving out.

Disclaimer:  YHC shamelessly and completely stole Senator Tressel’s Q from the prior week.  100%.

After a brief stretch, punctuated with the correct yoga terms provided by CC, the PAX moved out for a walk up a hill and over to the church on Harris Street. Four PAX donned rucks for extra credit.

On the way there we discussed each PAX’s “thing” in high school – what did they do?   This being an effort to build on the Senator’s plan of getting to know each other better.  There is no way this Q was going to recall all of the details. However two standouts are easily recalled:

  1. Senator was a band geek who play the sax, first chair BTW.  And, for variety and extra coolness also played the tuba – go figure.
  2. Secondly, and perhaps most important, Harry Carry wrestled and weighed in at – wait for it – 215 lbs.    WHAT??  That is as much as the current Twister!

After 50 calf raises the PAX continued their journey to WEP and the playground contained therein.

Whist executing the following exercises:  20 pullups, 15 Squats, 10 pullups, 15 flutters and 15 LBCs, the PAX, in turn, addressed their favorite vacation, highlighted by Drop Thrills 5 amusement parks in 3 days, or maybe it was 2, but either way that’s hard and Boss Hogs’s journey to Belize with his father.

The PAX then turned their attention to the return trip to COT, pausing at the Springs Building to discuss the architecture of the windows (patterned after the Hindenburg), more calf raises and a brief history of rigid airships in the US Navy.

Upon return and in the Name 0 Rama, each pax also noted their favorite or most unusual concert experience.  To know what that was, you need to head to the Twitter Machine and check out the video post there.

Moleskin

There’s a lot more to know about each other than what we can get from a workout and COT.  Each of our histories is amazing and there is so much to learn about each of us.  Let’s take the time to ask and listen – you’ll be amazed.

If you are injured or just not feeling all there on a Saturday AM, come join the Millstone for a bit of a workout and a whole lot of the 2nd F.

SYITG

 

 

 

 

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A Morning Walk Through Town

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Five men gathered at Veteran’s Park and spent an hour together.  Here is what they did:

After the Pax were disclaimed,  I took a few minutes to ask each person what their ailment was so I had an idea of what we could do today.   For the record:  Maximus (foot), Twister (detached retina healing), Flat Tire (bruised abdomen/ribs -thanks for showing us too), Crab Cakes (groin pull) and Senator Tressel (knee pain and torn calf muscle).    With that, we were ready to get started and since we were standing next to the Veteran’s Memorial, it seemed fitting to recite the pledge of allegiance.  Then the walk began:

Head west on North White Street.  Along the way, we passed the morning crowd at The Fort who were running circuits and doing something that looked kind of painful. ( Yeah, we weren’t going to do much to that today).

Stop at the small lot next to the Springs building and stretch from head to toe.   Continue on to the playground at WEP.

At the playground do 3 sets of pullups (10 reps/set)  Leave the playground and walk to the entrance in front of the Springs Building.

Plank hold/6″ hold for a bit.  Find the grass and do some abwork (pretzel crunch and something else)  Follow the path to the side parking lot of Springs.

On the low roofline of the building, do wall pull-ups (10 reps).  From there we bear crawled across the lot and held a dip position on the curb.  Bear crawl back to the building and do a wall sit (I think).

Walk back to Veteran’s Park.

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

That doesn’t look like much.    Was that all we did?  Oh no!  What isn’t shown is all the conversation that happened during the walk and in between the exercises.  I have known these fine gentlemen for several years and decided that today would be a great opportunity to get to know them better.  We shared a lot of things from when we were growing up, through college and our first jobs, how we met our wives and proposed to them, and how we all ended up in Fort Mill.  Here are just a few of the findings from our hour together:

  1.  Charlie comes from a family of engineers and his dad taught at Lousiana Tech
  2. Andrew has known his wife since middle school and lived in Portland for a couple of years.
  3. Dave turned down Notre Dame University for Villanova and Salomon Bros for Pepsi (or another company).
  4. Tyson was a semi-professional rugby player and proposed to his wife in Ireland (in less than ideal conditions).
  5.  Frank became a Naval officer after college, but left after only 18 months on active duty.

Today was all about the 2nd F, and it was one of those times when people together and there is a certain chemistry within the group.    From the start of the hour to the end,  everyone got into the spirit of sharing, and all the guys were more than willing to talk about their lives.  We learned a lot about each other, poked fun at the things we did when we were younger, and enjoyed a walk together on a beautiful autumn morning.  I have Q’d many, many times over the years and can honestly say that today’s Q was one of my favorites.  Thank you, Charlie, Andrew, Dave, and Tyson for making today’s F3 workout memorable, and one that I will remember for a long time.

Announcements/Prayers and Praises

  1.  Funhouse’s son (Offspring) in Alaska with an infection and low O2 level.  Funhouse traveled to Alaska.
  2. Injured Pax and friends with illnesses

 

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