Tag: Shady

Bite size tennis ball family

Leave a comment

A nice and cool morning turned into something a bit warmer about 3 min in.  9 PAX took the DRP and after a quick, and non-energetic into as called out by Jekyll, YHC jumped out to a quick mosey.  Stopping in front of the elementary school entrance, we circled up for a warm-up.

SSH x25, windmills x10, low slow squats x10, imperial and hillbilly walkers x10, merkins x10, and finished off with some stretching: lunge stretches including runners stretch and hamstrings as well as some downward dogs and honeymooners.  Enough with the stretching and off to The Thang!

Ran over to the parking lot in the back where the basketball hoops are located and grabbed a tennis ball out of the box.  Everyone was instructed to put their family’s initials on a ball (M and 2.0s) as this was going to be carried around by them for the morning for an extra reminder of why they’re trying to get better.  Family is always going to be with us and to get that extra push or to be mindful of what’s important, the tennis ball fam was going to tag along for the ride!  3 stations with written exercises were located throughout the parking lot.  Instructions were to run to the sheet of paper and do the exercise at the top and the run back to the center where the music was located for 1 burpee.  Then back to the sheet for the next exercise, back to the center and so on.  Once all the exercises were done from the 1 sheet, the PAX were told to run back to the center and finish with 5 burpees.  Then onto the next sheet until all 3 sheets had been completed.

Sheet 1:

  • 10 hand release merkins
  • 20 knee tuck jumps
  • 25 CDD
  • 30 lunges (total)
  • 50 plank shoulder taps

Sheet 2

  • 40 ski jumps (double count)
  • 30 squats
  • 60 calve raises (out/reg/in – 20 each)
  • 20 diamonds
  • 50 SSH

Sheet 3

  • 25 merkins
  • 40 mountain climbers (wrote single count, we did double)
  • 30 american hammers (double count)
  • 30 plank jacks (double count)
  • 50 LBC

Some exercises were done in cadence at sheet 3 to keep the PAX together.  There were a couple instances when we returned closer to the music where Pusher gave us some karaoke solos from the early 90s rap and beastie boys jamming….it was delightful.  Since we had a few min left, it was a race to sheet 1 where first place picked one exercise to do (Jekyll for the hand release), 4th place to sheet 2 with the selection (L Train I think with the squats) and second to last to sheet 3 (Hardwood maybe for the mountain climbers).  (and this is why you don’t wait until the weekend to write a back blast b/c I can’t remember Tuesday!)

We scooped up the sheets and headed for COT for a blinding name-o-rama, announcements, and TAPs.  Tennis ball families were retained by the PAX for their own usages.  Appreciate the call over to the Colosseum as YHC has been overdue for a Q.

Shady….AYE!

TClap |
1

Can I borrow a KB?

Leave a comment

YHC was pleased to be asked by J-Wow (there’s a guy who is accelerating) to come back to the Armory and Q. While not a true Redwood, I was there when the idea of a KB workout was launched at the Baxter pool with Package and Orange Crush (never posted). I immediately went out an purchased a 25lb’er via the internet (shipping costs!) and away we went.

Since that start, I have gravitated to running partly due to CSAUPs and given my bell to Anchorman. But there’s no question that YHC needed a beatdown after a long golf weekend. I started the Hype Train on Sunday with a request to borrow a bell and was met with some witty replies. The Fort represents!

Weather: Its F3 time! 63 with a light breeze

The Thang

Partner KB Workout

Round 1

Partner 1 – KB Swings x 12

Partner 2 – Rests until Partner 1 is finished

Partner 2 – 1 arm military press x 12

Partner 1 – rests until Partner 2 is finished – you get the idea

Partner 1 – Goblet Squats x 10

Partner 2 – Bob and Weave x 10

Partner 1 – Merkins x 12

Partner 2 – Bench Press x 12

Partner 1 – SSH x 20

Partner 2 – SSH x 20

Rinse and Repeat for 7 minutes

Take a lap around the parking lot

Round 2 – Flip the exercises for 7 minutes then take a lap

Round 3

Partner 1 – Curls x12

Partner 2 – Triceps x 12

Partner 1 – Bent Over Rows x 10

Partner 2 – CDD x 12

Partner 1 – Reverse Lunge w/ Hammer x 8

Partner 2 – Jump Squats x 10

Partner 1 – Bombjacks x 12

Partner 2 – Man Climbers x 16

Rinse and repeat for 7 minutes then a lap

Round 4 – Flip the exercises and head home

Mosey to COT

 

Moleskin:

  • 10/19 – Opportunity to serve at Childrens Attention Home – See Culture Club
  • October – opportunity to impact Young Lives – See newsletter
  • Prayers for marriages and kids

Pusher out!

TClap |
2

VQ at the Millstone with a Guillermo 1-2-3 Routine and the Presidential Wall of NoN-sEnSe

Leave a comment

The hype was huge, the turnout was moderate for Boss Hogg’s VQ at the Millstone. All 8 PAX in attendance got to enjoy the first day of cooler temperatures. 3 PAX went for a walk…2 with rucksacks and 1 with his arm in a sling. Huge T-Claps to Smithers for showing up while on the IR. The remaining 4 PAX followed the most Boss of all Hoggs on his VQ journey.

The Thang:

Mosey’d from Veteran’s Park to the parking lot across from Puckerbutt Pepper Company
• Stretched arms and legs
• 15 – Gas Pumpers (for my buddy Twister…Respect!)

Mosey’d to the St. John’s United Methodist Church parking lot
• Toy Soldiers across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• High Knees across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• Lunge Walks across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• Butt Kickers across the parking lot – jogged back to starting side
• Carioca across the parking lot and back in the opposite direction
• Shuffled across the parking lot and back in the opposite direction

Mosey’d to First Baptist Church of FM parking lot (home of Footloose!)
Circled up…
• 15 SSH
• 15 Windmills
• 15 Cherry Pickers
• 15 Imperial Walkers
• 15 Hillbilly Walkers

Mosey’d to FM Church of God parking lot
Next up was a Guillermo 1-2-3 routine. For those of you know don’t know (and I would be shocked if any of you didn’t already know this), Guillermo is Dora’s infant brother who does not fully grasp the concept of pairing PAX in 2’s and progressively moving from chest, to core, to legs. Guillermo likes to divide the entire population into two groups. The goal being that the exercising group works out together with focus on form, not speed. In concept, this was a great idea. Given that there were only 5 PAX participating in the Guillermo 1-2-3, one group included 3 PAX and the other included 2 PAX. The routine included:
• 100 Squats
• 200 LBCs
• 300 Overhead Claps
The group not performing exercises got to snake the stairs across the street.

Next up, was the Presidential Wall of Non-Sense! Don’t worry, there is nothing political behind this. The non-sense had to do with the exercise itself. PAX formed a line to begin the border wall. PAX were instructed to hold a tree via the Al Gore or by planking to form the wall. The HIM at beginning of the wall was instructed to run to the imaginary forest to gather more trees for the wall. Trees were knocked down via 1 burpee, 2 donkey kicks, or 3 Bobby Hurleys. Once the HIM obtained another tree from the imaginary forest, he returned to the end of the wall and held it in place via the Al Gore or by planking. The exercise continued until the wall crossed the parking lot.

Finally, with time running out, the PAX mall walked back to COT. The leader of the group dropped out of line to perform 1 burpee, 2 donkey kicks, or 3 Bobby Hurleys. Once completed, they rejoined the group at the back of the line. The process was repeated until COT was reached.

At the end of the workout, Boss Hogg was asked about his VQ experience.  He responded in the words of the great scholar Borat Sagdiyev, “Great Success!”.

TClap |
5

Office etiquette

Leave a comment

I kept asking “what is a kettle bell” as my frequency of attendance at KB workouts can be counted on two hands- maybe one.  Somehow I was tapped to lead and thankful that I did.  Getting outside of the comfort zone and breaking routines is refreshing.

Warm Ups: Moroccan Night Clubs, windmills, lap runs with shuffle

The Thang

  • Round 1 10 reps
  • Round 2 15 reps
  • Round 3 20 reps
  • Round 4 10 reps

 

  • Goblet Squat
  • Tricep Extention
  • Curl
  • Shoulder Press
  • Windmill (Crowd pleaser)
  • Lunge-Row
  • Swing
  • Lawn Mower Pull

Naked Man Moleskin

Great group this morning and truly appreciate being shown the way to better form and technique.  Good to end a tough cardio week on focused strength.  Highly recommend Hive attendance.

 

 

TClap |
8

Minnow Pond Back Blast

Leave a comment

BB- Perfect conditions if you like 90% humidity and August like conditions.  Straight Up was a beast on the up and down hills.  Funhouse had perfect burpee form and the rest of us did our best to keep up.  

From Launch:

Take off down White, Right on Massey, Right on Harris. At intersection of Harris and Yorktown, Plank it up and wait for #6.

The Thang:

  • Harris/Yorktown is center of tripod.  10 burpees at center
  • Head down Harris. At end: 20 squat #asstograss
  • Run to Center
  • Head down Yorktown.  At end: 20 LBC
  • Run to Center
  • Head down Harris (opp direction).  At Riverwood: 20 CDD
  • Run Center

Rinse/Repeat, #AMRAP until time called.  Be at Center at 0555 for run back to COT. 2 rounds will get you 4.5 +pain.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Bring your smokeboots and a zest for pain.

Jekyll

 

TClap |
5

Minnow Pond- fishing with lights

Leave a comment

It was a nice cool morning. All were given the oppoetunity to see what Backdraft had a feeling for.8 gathered for the unexpected. THis is minnow pond all knew know warmups no breaks and definitly no 10 counts. A few minutes before YHC gave a quick and to the point disclaimer (Wasnt really neccesary due to all in attendence being veterans of F3, but wanted to be in regs. Dont want the man to come down on me)
We took off to the old service station. Once there hit mountain climbers and SSHs until 6 appered.
Heres the route head down old Nations every .4 to .5 miles yu will find a glow stick with exercises on it do them and move to the next. pretty simple. (that is what minnow pond is, Work plain and simple)
4 stops.
the guys from laces out join for a bit of the fun. Thanks for stopping by.
1. 5 flying squirrels/ 15 flutter kicks
2. 5 flying squirrels, 10 hand release merkins/ 15 flutter kicks
3. 5 flying squirrels, 10 hand release merkins, 15 squat jacks/ 15 flutter kicks
4. 5 flying squirrels, 10 hand release merkins, 15 squat jacks, 20 burpees/ 15 flutter kicks.
repeat the cards on the way back.
Meet at service station until 6 comes in PAX there first continuous MARY.
Head to COT.
WE got in 4 miles
Remeber always start small and work your way into the bigger picture.
Pray for PAX having family issues. (remember you may be the only guy a fellow PAX can talk to. Always be open to listen. We all can use it.)

TClap |
4

Lead where you are – 2 years have flown by @ THE Ballroom

Leave a comment

What a beautiful, steamy fall morning as the gloom saw 19 of The Fort’s finest show for our Shovel flag Hand-off at THE Ballroom. Can’t believe that it was over 2 years ago when Cake Boss asked YHC to take over Site Q duties for this awesome AO. #Honored and Humbled. Numerous FNGs and VQs later, it is time to hand over the reins to my guy, Manziel. Tclaps my friend.

Mosey to other side of the school

COP:

  • Seal Jacks * 20
  • 5 Burpees
  • Merkins * 10
  • 4 Burpees
  • Squats * 15
  • 3 Burpees
  • Gas Pumpers * 15
  • 2 Burpees
  • SSH * 20
  • 1 Burpees
  • MOROCCAN NIGHTCLUBS * 20

MOSEY to ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STAIRS- LADDER 10s- 1st set-LBCs at bottom, SSHs at top, Bear Crawl up, Stairs down, 2nd Set-Merkins at bottom, squats at top

At this point, I shared some:

 Thoughts on Leadership – F3 has been called a “Leadership Machine”, this is a great environment to hone your leadership skills. As it says in Q Source – “Man is by nature a Group-forming animal. In My Experience – I grow as a leader when I am pushed OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE. AYE? As Maximus & Royale both related at the Invergence – people saw leadership potential in them before they realized it themselves. LOOK WHERE THEY ARE NOW. When Cake Boss asked me to be Site Q for THE Ballroom about 2 years ago – I was honored. And grateful for Manziel taking the reins now. STEP UP WHEN CALLED UPON-YOU WON”T REGRET IT.  

Mosey to Elem School Playground – 3 EXERCISES- Shoulder Taps (single count), SQUAT JUMPS, FLUTTERS- START WITH 5 OF EACH, RUN TO OTHER END OF CIRCLE, ADD 5 ON EACH LAP. Only made it to 15s. had to save time for one of my faves . . .

SO MOSEY TO Front of PK Middle School for– JACK WEBB

Name-o-Rama, Announcements: Fort Mill Care Ctr mowing, new Millstone AO, Crossroads. Prayers for marriages, families, injured Pax. Then YHC expressed my gratitude to Manziel for taking over and thanked all the Pax for being there that morning and over the last 2 years. Took us out in prayer.

So, get out there and lead gents. Push outside of your comfort zone-you won’t regret it.

Short Sale, out.

TClap |
0

Millstone pivots on a dime

Leave a comment

YHC waited patiently in the Veteran’s Parking lot thinking this may be a party of one and Omaha over to #TheFort to join the hype train down the street.  Needless to say, 3 min before the opening bell, Boss Hogg rolls up with 1 FNG (later to be named OTG – Oscar the Grouch) and 2nd time poster Osgood.  Also an interesting fact for those reading this, YHC knows this clown car on a personal level so let’s just say things got interesting in a good way (i.e. lots of mumble chatter throughout)!

A full disclaimer was given, with heavy emphasis on “modify as needed”.  We also spent a solid minute or so on the 5 core principals.  Given that this is Millstone, we did a quick inventory on ailments so YHC could modify and adjust…which we did!

Started with a short #Slowsey down and across the street where the parking lot with the wall, with nails sticking out of it, was located.  Circled up for some warmup which consisted of:

  • SSH x50 (yes, this is still a workout and YHC adjusted for the PAX who attended)
  • Low slow squats x15
  • Overhead claps x15
  • Imperial and hillbilly walkers x15 each
  • LBC x20
  • Flutters x20
  • Stretched, stretched and stretched!
  • Stretched arms, back, shoulders, quads, hamstrings
  • Superman and pulled the rip cord

Next we ran up the short path to where the smaller walls were at for the following:

  • 20 steps ups on the wall – each leg – with 1 squat after 1 step up set
  • 10 count
  • 20 derkins or 20 lunges (each leg) – when the 20 derkins were completed, we switched over to 10 lunges to stay moving and together
  • 10 count
  • 20 flutters
  • Rinse and repeat

On our journey over to WEP, yes, we went to WEP to hang out for a Bobber VQ b/c why not and supporting VQ brothers is what we should do, YHC decided that we’d #Slowsey over but that 1/2 way through, we’d do 20 lunges walks (YHC also knew that other #HIM would be there like Backdraft, co-Q, Slash, DOAH, Esso…not listing them all so go read that backblast if you’re interested, but they had a great group!).  After another 40 yards or so, we’d do 20 walking overhead claps.  As we approached The Fort crew, they were already knee deep doing a Dora 1-2-3 with cinderblocks in the wet gross Beacon burnt hotdog infested WEP grass (if you don’t know what this is, I’d recommend getting with Gears and getting yourself on the Slacklife, 2nd F channel #CrabCakesShoutOut) we felt it would be fun to join them…because what else would we do, just watch!

Rather than bother them and disrupt their mojo with their blocks, we joined the party and partnered up for what was already in progress, minus the blocks b/c we were sure they didn’t want to share.  We were in for about 10 min before we pulled the plug but this was a planned drive by.  Squats, overhead presses, running up and down the hill…about 10 min of that along with some words of encouragement, a few “hello, what are you guys doing here”, and some high fives.

Since the Millstone crew needed to get back in the direction of COT, YHC took them to the playground for some Dora Mary (yes, that’s a thing too).  We changed partners and did the following:

  • 100 American hammers
  • 200 flutters
  • 150 LBCs (we were running low on time)
  • Partner 1 did the exercise at one end of the playground, partner 2 ran to the other side of the playground and back and picked up the count where partner 1 stopped

Mosey back to COT with a few walking 10 counts on the way back.

Name-o-rama, FNG naming (OTG if you missed that in the beginning), announcements and prayer requests.  Boss Hogg took us out in prayer.

Note to anyone reading this, this AO is very much “play by ear” all dependent upon who shows up.  Today, YHC knew the PAX (even the FNG’s) abilities and ailments very well so we adjusted to the PAX as opposed to do what YHC wants.  While the weinke stayed pretty true to plan since there were multiple exercises depending on ailments, YHC still made some minor adjustments – up and down.  Knowing when to modify is important for the PAX, but when you have IR or even new’ish PAX, or even Cotter’s, modifying as the Q for them is equally important.  We know how important F3 is for all of us and getting them to come back out for 1st F and 2nd F is what the magnet and glue is all about.

A couple more lessons learned if you’re asked to Q, want to come support this AO from a 2nd F lens, or are interested to visit from a Cotter, IR or new’ish PAX perspective:

  1. Always modify if something doesn’t feel right
  2. Where a rucksack if you’re here to support and you want to push yourself
  3. Bring a FNG or a Cotter who keeps saying “I can’t do what you guys do” – this is a great place to start
  4. As a Q, plan to change, adjust, Omaha as needed by taking an inventory of ailments at the beginning of the workout and paying attention to the PAX during
  5. This is a 2nd F heavy AO so showing them that F3 is more than a workout, that’s part fun we all get to have!!
  6. YHC is always looking for feedback or ideas, so reach out to me (good or bad!)

Shady out!

TClap |
6

For a moderate, this was kinda rough

Leave a comment

I’m not sure when I have Q’d that I can recall being wiped out. Today was pretty rough. Good but rough. I think it was just rough enough for Shady and Pusher to keep them interested.

 

We left ChickFilA and went toward the library, gathered in the grass of the roundabout and knocked it out for a few minutes.. the usual warmups for SSH, Imp Walkers, Windmills, SSH’s again, Merkins, etc. We had a tight circle and each took a turn of bear crawling in the wet grass.

 

We moseyed to McAlisters deli and partnered up. While partner 1 did the exercise, the other conquered the stairs up one side, strolled across the upper deck and back down the other side. A pretty decent up and down. The exercises were: Flutters, LBC’s, SSH’s, Planks, CDDocks, Grave Diggers and Freddys…

 

I talked a little about my upcoming Q at Crossroads Tuesday. We are discussing marriage. I gave some testament to the fact that F3 has really helped me grow as a husband and father, and how I have learned to spend more time taking deep breaths with the M, listening more, and less time making suggestions because I am brilliant and have all the answers.

Headed back to Chick, and discovered we hadn’t hit 2 miles in total for the morning, so Pusher led us to get in another quarter mile, which was met with some ….. umm … well, it was great !

Prayers for Amelia today! (Update at 2:00 .. operation went well…)

Assassin

 

TClap |
23

September 11 Memorial Stair Climb

Leave a comment

Today I was honored to lead 39 men of the Fort in my version of a 9/11 Stair Climb…. I asked these gentlemen to bring rucks or sandbags and headlamps. This was to simulate the equipment worn by the first responder’s who entered the World Trade Center to do their jobs. We also had Charetta appear courtesy of Dirty Harry…she was our victim that needed to be  carried up and down the NaFo bleachers ….everyman carried their fare share of weight.

The workout was simple!!!!  There was no warmup….we didn’t need one….

The object was to climb the bleachers 27.5 times up and down carrying a ruck or sandbag….the goal 1980 steps or 110 stories….NaFo bleachers are 36 steps up and down…the men of the Fort  conquered this simple request but there was a catch…..when they came back down they had to do 9 inclined merkins and 11 squats… I think most did more than the required amount and for that I’m in awe…. I love being part of this great nation

Before the climb I shared a little about my experience that day 18 years ago as an NYPD officer and I asked each man to reflect between the hours of 8:46 am to 10:28 am these were the hours that changed my life and change the world as we knew it….I also wanted to remember my friends who gave their lives to save as many people as they could that morning :

NYPD PO MARK ELLIS TRANSIT DISTRICT 4

NYPD PO RAMON SUAREZ TRANSIT DISTRICT 4

PAPD PO ANTONIO RODRIGUES PORT AUTHORITY BUS DEPOT

I worked with these gentleman and they will never be forgotten…

Thank you Punchlist for letting me.lead these great men .

We had one FNG Lassie….welcome

TClap |
11