Purpose

What an amazing day to be a part of The Fort Region! The weather was glorious. We kept the workout at a high level of intensity for 45 minutes. All of us pushed each other beyond our limits. Each HIM shared what was on their hearts in COT. I got emotional when Band Camp and 38 Special shared their fatherhood blessings and struggles. In fact, I’m still impacted by their testimonies. #RealTalk

The Thang:

SSHs (20x), IWs (20x), Parker Peters (15x), Slow Sumo Squats (15x), WMs (15x), Box Cutters (15x)

The Kettlebell Board of Pain:

  1. 100 Yard Dash
  2. Lunges (Double Count)
  3. Big Boy Sit Ups
  4. Goblet Squats
  5. Man Makers
  6. Merkins (Split Count)
  7. American Hammers (Double Count)
  8. Kettlebell  Swings
  9. Flutter Kicks (Double Count)
  10. Curls (Double Count)
  11. Tricep Extensions
  12. Upright Rows

COP: Leg lifts (15x), Skull Crushers (15x), Captain Thors (7x)  

Moleskin:

God has invested power in each of us. An example of God’s investment of power in man is when Peter healed the lame beggar in Acts 3. To make this miracle happen, Peter had to build a relationship with God, hear God’s calling and practice an act of obedience.

Do you know what power or spiritual gift God gave you? If so, what are you doing with your power?

We may not all be miracle makers. However, sometimes your obedience can help God’s victory.

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Do you need a bell? VQ at Armory

So I was nervous about my first Kettlebell Q.  Sure, I’ve been to The Hive and The Armory a few times but never Q’d.  Honestly, YHC had to pour over backblasts to get some exercises to call.  Then Youtube to see how to do them.  But hey, the theme of the month is Growth so let’s do this!

To make my Q a bit easier, I got to the AO early to literally chalk out the Main Event.  I start seeing the cars roll in as I’m finishing up then I head over to the gathered circle of men, excited to see some familiar and newer faces.  Good crowd I’m thinking.  I set my Kettlebell down and proceed to great the PAX.  I get to Peabody as he’s rolling up and he and asks me if I need a Kettlebell.  Man, I guess it’s obvious I don’t know what I’m doing!  A quick disclaimer was given, we left the bells, and took off.

The Thang

After a mosey around the back of the church, we circled up in the front parking lot for some warm-up exercises.  All IC in no particular order:

  • SSH
  • Imperial walker
  • Windmill
  • Merkins
  • Dips
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Moroccan Night Club
  • Low slow squats

Mosey backs to the start spot and grab your bell.  In cadence for a round of squat curls.

Mosey back to the front parking lot with kettlebell.  Partner up for some Dora.  One partner ran a lap around the lot while the other lifted.  As a group, complete  100 squats, 150 curls, 200 lbc’s.   Special shout out to Fish Sticks who would not let me take it easy on the run and ran me down each lap.  Well done Sir!

Main Event

Mosey over to the far lot where 5 parking spots at the top and 5 spots at the bottom had exercises posted.  With your partner, pick a parking space.  Both would do 10 reps of the exercises listed.  When complete, rotate over one spot to the right, leaving your kettlebell behind for the next group.  When you get done with the 5th station, rotate to other end of the lot.

Everyone got through one complete rotation, some made a few more before time was up.  Here’s what we did at each station:

  • goblin squat / calf raises
  • tricep extention / curl
  • shoulder press / single arm swing with pass through
  • figure 8’s / halos
  • LBC / merkins
  • lawn mower pulls, each arm
  • squats / lunge with pass through
  • skull crushers / big boy sit-ups
  • American hammers / merkins
  • swings / curls

Mosey to COT

Announcements – Sign up for Operation Sweet Tooth 8K, Huntersville, NC on 3/20.  Virtual Option available

Prayers – David Chadwick resigned as Sr. Pastor at Forest Hill Church after 39 years.  Prayers for church body and Elder leadership in this time of transition.  Peabody is on the Council of Elders so we prayed for him, our families, children, & injured PAX.

Thanks JWOW for the chance to Q!  Thanks also for the encouraging word from the PAX.  I encourage anyone out there to attend kettlebell workouts and Q!  If you need a bell, just ask Peabody.

Flat Tire

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Block Party of 11 no make that 13

Disclaimer while a couple of guys slid into parking lot. Must have been one of those mornings Guys either forgetting what time we start, or where we meet on certain days but all good cause they made it.
Warm up- Butt kickers, high knees, toy soldiers, and knees to chest.
Circle up- 15 SSH, 10 Cherry pickers, 10 windmills, 10 Moroccan nightclubs, 10 mtn. climbers, 10 CDDs.
Take off on sprint to track at each drill bit we perform 10 of the following merkins, squats, bomb jacks. Sprint to next drill bit until we hit 5 by the playground.
Go onto playground 5 pull-ups 5 CDDs work your way down to 1.
Mosey to low walls down the block when 6 is in we complete the following 10 box jumps, 10 Merkins work your way down to 1 of each.
Mosey to hill Lunge walk 4 steps then 1 burpee all the way up the hill until you reach the parking lot.
At parking lot count off by 2s for DORA 1,2,3
P1 10 merkins while P2 holds plank switch at every 10.
P1 20 squats while P2 holds leg lift at 6 inches switch every 20
P1 30 LBCs while P2 holds AL Gore switch at every 30.

Jail Break back to COT.

Announcements- Look out for preblast for Chicken Hawk doing 8 week study on you giving God your attention.
MAR 27- Cornerstone and Stang dividing and conquering 2 AOS to address mental Awareness.
40 day challenge get hooked up on Slack.

Prayers- Water bug on his passing be with his family

Praise on JAVA be back out after layoff.

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Clovis-esq (Honey Badger cont., kind of, from Monday)

On this cold Wednesday morning in the gloom (sub 30 temp), YHC did a quick disclaimer after no FNGs were identified and took off for a quick mosey.  Circled up for some stretching and warm-up to get the blood flowing with the following: SSH (varying speeds, but mostly double and triple speed), diamond merkins, handful of burpees, low slow squats, arm and shoulder stretches, cherry pickers, more SSH at various speeds, and mountain climbers.

Had the PAX head over to the pull up bars while YHC went back for speaker and weinke.  YHC then laid out the plan for the remainder of the time – call it ~35 min….

The Thang

  • Partner up, size did not matter but accountability and pushing ability did…so good thing we’re all able to push each other and hold each other accountable – funny how that worked out
  • Each partner would do the following so no sharing or adding but here’s where the push and accountability came into effect
  • Partners would stay together and not leave each other
  • Exercises could be broken up;  meaning, do some chin ups together, then do some burpees, then go back to chin ups, etc. until the number was met by each person
  • (Music was then cranked on, which of course started with some Slim Shady…)
  • 40 – chin ups
  • 40 – hanging from bar, knees to chest
  • 40 – burpees
  • 4 – laps together around the big loop (about 1/4 mile per loop)
  • Then 30 of the above (3 laps), then 20 (2 laps), then 10 (1 lap)

Needless to say, this looked really good on paper YHC admits, but only to the running!  Note to future self is just 1 loop (maybe 2 max), but keep the rest of the exercises.  While there were some groups that made it through the 2nd round (30s), there may have been a few that got partially  into the 3rd round / 20s.  Either way, the low temps became an afterthought and with 5 min remaining, we packed up gear and headed back to COT for a couple rounds of Mary called out by the PAX where mumberchatter ensued.

All things in COT were had and we all set off for our day.  The push, partnership and accountability we had for 45 min was inspiring as YHC heard from some of you first hand how good it was to “feel the burn” from the workout.  This didn’t necessarily come from YHC and the workout, but the push you gave each other.  And looking back to the running portion, not such a terrible idea b/c YHC did give you a “cool down” period and a chance to do some 2nd F with your partner – so you’re welcome!  HAHAHA…maybe the PAX just didn’t need so long of a cool down.

Always a pleasure to take the reigns to write the workout and look back in the backblast write-up, but always exciting to see how it shakes out once the 45 min bell rings!  Until next time…

And as a last add, this workout was inspired from #DOAH and his Honey Badger service member “Clovis” from the HB hero book.  While we didn’t get to do the Clovis workout on Monday, this workout, although modified slightly, was also a tribute to Clovis.

Shady

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Tinsel Utensils at the Fort

A great morning to Q at the Fort, great temperature to start the weekend right, rain held up but ground was soggy so I decided to stay on the path after the warm up. After a quick disclaimer, we moseyed for about 1/4 of a mile for a quick warm up:

Windmill

Moroccan night clubs

Low Slow Squats

Mountain Climbers

Low Slow Merkin

Arm circles

After the warm up we run the path up hill to the first tree and on the way back down we combined toy soldiers, butt kickers and high knees. Rinse and repeat. By the time we were coming up the hill the second time Bonsai glanced to the parking lot behind the top of the hill by the gazebo and saw the props so he knew what was coming.

The thang:

I had setup 4 stations with different props and exercises on each, the plan was to finish a full 4 station circuit within 22 minutes and we did, after completion of a station you had to run around the parking lot and continue to the next one. stations were setup as follow:

STATION 1

30 LBC’s

30 Rosalitas

30 Sledgehammer swings (15 each side)

40 Heel Touches SC

40 Dying Roach SC

20 slam ball to ground with 20# ball

STATION 2

10 burpees

10  Tire flips

20  Monkey Humpers

20 lunges SC

30 low squat (touch the ground with hand)

50 calf raises

STATION 3

10 diamond merkins

15 wide arm merkins

20 regular merkins

30 battle rope wave SC

40 Shoulder taps

40 plank jack

STATION 4

USE WEIGHTS OR CINDY FOR ALL EXERCISES

10 man makers

15 biceps curls

20 bent over row

25 overhead press

30 triceps extension

40 shoulder shrug

A full circuit was completed in 21:45, everyone pushed hard so we were able to stay in track.

Next we collected all cindys and went to the bottom of the parking lot, exercise consisted on pushing cindy bear crawl style to the middle of the parking lot, we did this last year at one of Maximus’ BC and there was a lot of mumble chatter about it so I thought it was a great idea to include it,  rinse and repeat now going back to the start line. we went back up the parking lot but this time pushing cindy hair burner style.

It was time for some mary so we invited Captain Thor and Superman again, superman was the resting exercise after the 5th captain Thor exercise (5 BBSU 20 AH) then we completed the full CT circuit to 10 BBSU and 40 AH, lots of mumble chatter again here.

with 8 minutes to spare we moseyed to the playground for some pullups and toes to bar, 2 rounds of 6 each.

With only a couple of minutes to spare we moseyed back to COT.

We finished up with announcements, prayers and praises; all injured PAX were included in our prayers.

Thank you Bonsai for the opportunity to lead and help some HIM get better.

Tinsel out..

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We’re going “Jack Webb” today…

Started out a bit chilly so YHC jumped in with the disclaimer and we took off for a mosey…that was about maybe 100 yards in change.  This workout had been predetermined to be “leg friendly and minimal running” and that bar was set immediately.

In the warmup, we did the “Shady” home warmup with incorporated getting the body stretched and blood pumping.  Warmup included: SSH, Mary Catherine of some sorts (no name for what looks like an elliptical movement), stretch of shoulders and arms, cherry pickers, windmill, squats, Moroccan night clubs, low slow squats, merkins, and finally some runner stretches.

After the warmup, we got into the Thang.  Immediate partnering up ensued, size didn’t matter, but picking someone you didn’t know very well did.  Incorporated into the Thang was going to be encouraged mumble chatter with your partner to get to know them – how’d they get their name, what’s their hospital name (not the name of the hospital), where they grew up, work, etc.  Kind of like a COT naming 101 session.  As my word of the year is “listen”, part of the message today was getting to know your fellow PAX.

Here’ the gauntlet that was laid down using “Jack Webb” as the theme:

  • Classic Jack Webb – 1 merkin, 4 overhead claps; 2 merkins, 8 overhead, etc. up to 10 merkins and 40 overhead
  • With your partner – 1 mak-tar-jai, 4 plank hand slaps; 2 MTJ, 8 hand slaps…all the way up to 10 and 40
  • Also together with your partner – 1 crab foot slap (don’t recall the actual name but get in crab position and lift left leg up and slap with right hand, alternate feet and hand = 1 rep), 4 LBCs…this up to 10 crabs and 40 LBC
  • Last together with your partner – 1 burpee, 4 squats.  This was get as many as you can b/c of time which I believe partners were in the 8 burpee, 32 squat range
  • In the last few min we did some MARY and called it a morning

As we wrapped up, getting to know the PAX 1 person at a time is important as that accountability and personal level of basic “I know where you’re from and I’m listening to who you are” helps develop and enrich your shieldlock.

It took zero movement to get to COT where we did name-o-rama, announcements and a quick roundtable of prayers and praises.  Enjoyed the push this am and especially the welcomed mumble chatter.  Looking forward to next time!

Shady

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4

Black Diamond #3 at the Ranch – Get Some

Expected rain all morning, but instead we got a comfortable 40 degrees with wetness all around us.  Perfect for what we were about to get into.

Reminded the Pax that this was a Black Diamond workout and immediately had a reaction that made it clear that some were unaware lol.  Since I dislike warm-ups, I got right to our “warm-up”.

1 – I’ve done this before  w/ my speaker & the Seconds app on my phone (get it if you don’t have it – it’s an awesome timer / tabata app w/ the ability to add music).

  • First 5 minutes of warm-up:  each minute on the minute, we’re all going to do 35 really fast side straddle hops and 8 burpees.  Every minute.  End result is 175 ssh’s and 40 burpees in 5 minutes.
  • Next 5 minutes of warm-up:  no break, right into merkin mode.  11 merkins, 10 diamonds, 9 merkins, 8 diamonds, 7 merkins…down to 1 merkin.  I think we were warm.

2 – 1/4 mile burpee fun:  we moseyed over to the circle in front of the Middle School, which is a perfect 1/4 mile loop w/ some hills in it, which I failed to recognize when throwing this together.  We partnered up and I gave the Pax the bad news.  I set up my phone w/ it’s bright light stop watch timer to help.

  • Sprint with your partner the 1/4 mile loop as fast you can.  Why you might ask?  Because when you finish and see your time for that loop, you both have that many burpees to split halfsies on.  Back in High School, low to mid 50 seconds was acceptable for the 400m dash.  That’s not what we’re capable of anymore – ranged from 70 seconds to 85+ seconds, which meant each partner had 35 to 45 burpees to do apiece.
  • Round 2 – do it again.  Only this time, the challenge was that if you beat your prior lap time, you can cut the burpees in half.  Well no one beat their time, haha, so we still cut it in half anyway.  Most laps were in the 80-90 seconds range this time, which meant, 40-45 burpees to split w/ your partner, or 20-25 a piece.

3 – Pretty sure after this the Pax hated my guts.  From there we hit the longest straightaway I could find.  Same partners as before.  This time Partner 1 lines up 10-20 yards away from Partner 2.  Partner 1 starts back pedaling as fast as they can while Partner 2 has to sprint to catch them.  Wherever they are caught, you stop right there and do an exercise, then a mode of transportation back to the starting line.  We did 4 of these (each partner chased 2x and back pedaled 2x):

  • First round (once caught) – 15 bear crawl merkins, followed by broad jumps back to starting line
  • Second round – 25 lunge jumps (do each leg and that’s 1), followed by bear crawl back to starting line
  • Third round – 35 american hammers, followed by lunge walk back to starting line
  • Fourth round – 45 wide arm merkins, followed by bunny hop back to starting line

4 – We had 5 minutes, so had to make the most of it.  Quick DORA against the Elementary wall by CoT.  Partner 1 does Jump Squats and the timer was Partner 2 running to wall and doing 15 Mike Tyson merkins (those are honestly some of my least favorite merkins:  feet flat on wall at base of wall, merkin position, bring you six to the wall with feet staying put and then all the way forward so that your hands are almost at your ribs as you go down for merkin).  Once Partner 2 finished their 15 rep count, the partners switched.  Think most teams got to 100 or so jump squats before our time was up.

2 Ruckers, 1 Runner and 16 Black Diamond Boot Campers was the count.  Thanks to Jiffy for the chance to do whatever I want without having to worry about how terrible it sounds.  Appreciate everyone kicking a$$ and finishing it all.

Prayers:

  • Dark Helmet’s M is traveling this weekend – travel mercies
  • Dirty Harry’s M has last day of work / transitionary time for new opportunities / jobs
  • Olaf’s continued progress on limiting ADHDs adverse impact on his life
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5

13 HIM showed up on a blustery Tuesday to make the choice to get better.

Warm Up

  • SSH
  • Cherry Picker
  • Windmill
  • Hamstring stretch
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Mosey to the playground

The Thang

“500”

100 reps of each exercise in sets of 20 with a run up the hill and back after each set.

  • 20 Merkins (x5)
  • 20 Pull-ups (x5)
  • 20 Big Boy sit-ups (x5)
  • 20 Dips (x5)
  • 20 Squats (x5)
  • Run up the hill (x5)

That took most of the time. We mosey-ed around the park as a cool down and it was time for the COT. Pull-ups suck. Must do more.

https://youtu.be/7w02YaC0j1k

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WEP for some 45’s and an almost Merlot

11 PAX showed up with no fear of what was supposed to be a wet morning. Lucky for us, after a quick sprinkle during the disclaimer, mother nature held out for us.

The DOHA and I were teaming up for this one and I knew ahead of time that he was very eager to include cinder blocks into the rotation.

Mosey up the hill to the end of the parking lot away from the” house.”

45 was my target rep number (Presidents) and the PAX were so excited to participate:

45 SSH- fluctuating cadence to fast

45 Imperial Walkers

45 Moroccan night clubs

45 Seal Jacks

At the great request by DH, over the to the curb for some calf raises (15 reg, 15 out, 15 in)

Mosey to bank drive through area. Partner up

A little round of Dora. Started out as 100, 200, 300 but had to modify because of time.

Partner One-

100 knee jump slaps

150 merkins

200 flutter kicks

LBC’s waiting on the Six

Partner Two- runs around the Bank

Mosey back to last parking lot to the wall for some wall sits. PAX were to remain in sit position, while each PAX steps out to sidewalk for 3 burpees.

Once completed, we headed back to COT area to pick up the cinder blocks.

Hand off to DH

Mosey with CB up the hill and to guess where, the same parking lot we were just at!

DH had us all line up right where the wall sit area was for COP with the CB’s. Before starting, DH shared a message about PAX asking for help when they need it, and emphasized there would be no judgement. Many PAX are out there struggling (maybe on IR) and continue to face their challenges alone.

The Thang

One PAX would bear crawl the entire hallway to the end where the entrance to the building was (est 100 yds).

Other PAX would complete instructed exercise until the PAX returned.

CURLS

SQUATS

CHEST PRESS

TRICEP EXENSIONs

AMERICAN HAMMERS

SWINGS

(I Probably forgot one or two here)

Rinse and repeat

It is worth noting that after DH returned from his bear crawl, the PAX noticed him standing in the corner as if in “timeout.”  In fact, he was taking his own timeout to avoid a potential Merlot splash. Nice recovery DH.

Back to COT for some Mary

Heels to heaven

LBC’s

Hello Dolly

COT

Announcements

Joe Davis

Yeti

Prayers and Praises

Family

Marriages

PAX on IR- reach out them

Thanks for the opportunity!

Frat Boy (and DH)

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2

Jammin’ at The Hive

You know how I roll…there will always be music! 17 guys came to The Hive to jam with me. 90’s Alternative all the way! I pulled up at 5:10 and saw 3 cars in the parking lot, told my co-pilot Dangerfield that we had at least 6 guys working out this morning and was excited about that number. By the time I finished setting up my circuit, 6 more cars had driven in to the Fort Mill High Schools parking lot. At 5:15, I was talking to 16 HIM about how important it is to modify if something I suggest/do sounds crazy. We moseyed with our bells over to my setup where we immediately got into some…

Warmup
25 SSH
15 Hillbilly Walkers
15 Merkins
1 Round of Name Shoutouts while we Planked (I always like to know who I’m working out with in the dark!)
1 Lap around the the parking lot ending back at the bells for…

The Thang
I had 10 parking spaces setup with cards calling out an exercise. We doubled up in most of these spaces and did AMRAP for 1 minute in each space. The exercises were:
Big Boy Swings (regular swings with a 40-50lb bell)
Plank Pull Thrus
Slam Ball (this seemed to be liked and most said they had never used a slam ball. Holler if you Q a gear workout and would like to borrow it.)
Half Kneeling Cleans
Half Kneeling Shoulder Presses
Man Makers
Lunge Pass Thrus
Tall Kneeling Curls
Big Boy Situps – Partner Bell Pass

After we each hit every space we took another lap around the lot. When we arrived back at the bells we flipped over the notecards to find a few new exercises on the backside and completed Round 2. Those exercises were:
Big Boy Swings
Slam Ball
Jump Rope
Turkish Getups
Calf Raises w/ Bell
Half Kneeling Halos
Box Cutters with Press
American Hammers
Goblet Squats
Big Boy Situps – Partner Bell Pass

After Round 2 we took another lap around the lot. Total running was about .75 miles. We finished with a set of SSH, 1 for each Pax, and then moseyed back to cars for COT.

Announcements:
Yeti
Joe Davis Run
Sweet Tooth Run

Prayers & Praises:
YHC is officially down 30lbs since joining F3 – Thank you Brothers!
An F3 brother helped his son enter rehab – praise for his son’s open heart and ears, prayers for strength to finish
Drug epidemic in York County
Health – Flu is still spreading like crazy
I always ask our Lord to open our eyes and hearts to help us see what he puts in front of us. We are given opportunities everyday to be HIS hands and feet. Do we see those opportunities?

Thank you to Band Camp for the opportunity to Q at The Hive. It will forever be my pleasure.

IF YOU Q A WORKOUT…GET YOUR BACKBLAST UP!

~Polaroid

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