Goruck Welcome Party prep at Golden Corral

14 HIM’s showed up at GC for a crash course on the welcome party portion of a Goruck challenge, or to remind themselves how much the welcome party sucks.

We started with 12 HIM’s but stole Royale and Copyright from their planned boot camp workout.

Welcome party training consisted of a very simple combination of merkins, mountain climbers, SSH, flutters, overhead squats, curls, presses and Ruck swings at a 30 count of each – followed by a 100 yard bear crawl. This was a time hack with 15 minutes to complete the task.

The PAX made the time hack – but forgot that Rucking is a team activity. All 14 finished the hack at different intervals. The punishment for non-compliance was man makers x10.

After a quick breather and reminder the Goruck is about teamwork, new leaders stepping to the forefront, and that Welcome Party’s suck. We tried the task again.

This time the PAX worked perfectly as a team – but the time hack was missed. The punishment was manmakers x10.

At this point we had completed 500 ruck reps and still had seven minutes to spare. We finished up with 100 yard ruck tosses broken up into 50 yards tossing a 40 pound sandbag and 50 yards tossing a 60 pound sand bag

COT

TClap |
2

GC – RUCK – Teamwork – DFQ – Embrace the Suck

Man I hope you guys read the whole way through this, because I left truly inspired by the PAX that Embraced the Suck with me today.

8 Ruckers joined up on a “warm” morning at GC.  It was 31 or something which felt like summer compared to the 9 we have been seeing.  We split into two groups as some guys are recovering and test driving their rucks.  So 4 went on their way rucking through Tega Cay and 4 stayed with me to continue with the workout.

The Thang:

Skip the pleasantries and do a quick double time run around the parking lot of Harris Teeter to get the blood flowing.

Get into Listening Position (LP) (for those of you that haven’t embraced it yet, its rucks overhead anytime we are getting directions or discussions are occurring).

In LP we talked about the plan for today and that the goal will be teamwork, that as Q my goal is to inspire leaders among everyone, not to micro manage every part of the workout.  I told them before we loaded up that we are a team and will compete as a team.

If you know me you also know I Ruck Heavy, so we loaded up.

120 lbs of Sandbags – Two 2×3’s running through the handles to make a makeshift litter

93lb Sandbag – (My personal Favorite)

Big Tire – 35″ tire off my truck

The directions stated to try and do a low carry of the litter but if it got to be too much discuss it and switch to shoulder carry.  I also told them I won’t be calling out switches so its up to the team.

We made our way to the YMCA field

Big issue! – We didn’t stay as a team and Mainframe and I made it there about a minute ahead of the other two.  So punishment was instituted – 10 Ruck Burpees

I set up a relay course of sorts

4 Stations

Station 1 – Drag that big tire to the fence and back, sprint to tag the next guy (He is the clock)

Station 2 – Deadlift the 90lb

Station 3  – Toss the 60lb

Station 4 – Users Choice – I saw fireman flips, rows, curls, squats it was cool

The first rotation took 3:02 so we got in LP and discussed why we Ruck – Looks Badass, Wanted to Push Ourselves – Variety – 2nd F – A challenge.  So with that I asked the TEAM how can we improve on the time.  Everyone through up some ideas and then Shakespeare threw down an ambitious goal of getting the time down to 2:15 we weren’t sure but we embraced it.  We decided on a punishment of 1 Burpee for every second over 2:15.  Well guess what we got it in 2:02!  We came back and got in LP and talked about the power of teamwork and coming together and what we were able to accomplish.

We took a lap around the Y field doing alternate carrys of our Rucks – Farmer Carry – Switch Hands – Bear Hug – Over Head – Again we came together as a TEAM where I started to get ahead of some people and Mainframe gave me a quick shout to slow it down a bit and we finished as a TEAM!!!!

Tired and hurting we came back to do one more rotation on my relay race.  We got in LP and discussed all those reasons we Ruck again and even though were tired we are here to better each other and if we got 2:02 the last time why would we ever go slower again.  So we set the same goal of beating 2:02.  I felt slower, I hurt worse, but as a TEAM we embraced the suck worked together and when we sprinted back to the tire we couldn’t believe we were faster and got 1:58!!!!

We were hurting but got back in LP and discussed that it took 8ish minutes to walk there and that we need to speed that up and how can we do it.  Deacon came through with some ideas and the team called out switches like clockwork.  We got back to my truck in 5 minutes!!!!

Joined up with Boot Campers and the other Ruckers to finish off the morning.

MY TAKEAWAYS!!!!

Man I left so inspired by this Ruck today.  When we started we were a group of guys doing a workout.  When we returned we were a team that came together and really pushed through the pain to embrace the suck and lift up our fellow man.  Shakespeare and Mainframe who are new to Rucking were rockstars and the leadership everyone offered was amazing.  I mean where else other than F3 can you walk away with all this.  Big props to all those guys that got out today and I truly enjoyed myself and had a uplifting and encouraging morning to help me carry those same themes to the rest of my day.

Thanks Guys,

Rad

TClap |
11

What’s that Smell, C’MON Man

6 Ruckers
5 Bootcampers
1 Runner

Moving Dynamic Warm-up

COP – The Usual exercises

Partner Up

Ab/Arm Combo’s thrown in throughout the beatdown

Partner Up

P1 – Exercise, P2 – Run around Chick-Fil-A, Flapjack

Dips

Squats

Mt. climbers

Ab arm Combo

Evacuation movement #1 Short mosey Mattress firm to compounding 4 corners

Wind Up

1st Corner 20 – SSH

2nd Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats

3rd Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins

Merkins were performed at a faster than normal pace in order to evade the crisp morning air.

4th Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

Unwind

1st Corner 20 – SSH, 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

2nd Corner 15 – Squats, 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

3rd Corner 10 – Merkins, 5 – Burpees

4th Corner 5 – Burpees

Mosey to Best Buy wall

Wall Sit

Run to Middle Island

AB/Arm combos

Evacuate to a new wall section, you guessed it, Cable Guy!

Repeat wall sit further down the wall

Mosey to COT

Another evacuation order was given and COT was moved about 40 feet from the usually designated area.

Many Prayers this morning both spoken and not.

Always an honor to lead and appreciate the opportunity Cable Guy.

Cornhole
Out

TClap |
3

BB – Swamp Ruck – Miles and Smiles

Here we go, new year, new workout.

Miles and Smiles

The six of us showed up with our Rucks ready to move it.  Grabbed a cement pipe, and a couple sand bags and got in a little under 3 miles.

Great times and great practice for all of our events coming up.

Glad to have Shakespeare joining us with his new shiny Ruck (yeah I’ll take care of that on Tuesday).  Nasa talked about old man farts coming from ahead of us, I’ll let you guess who the supplier was.  And good times.

If you are new to rucking and want an intro come on out.  Post up and let us know and we can source a ruck for you to borrow.  If you are a expert Rucker come out and log some miles and have a great time with us.

COME OUT TUESDAY TO GC

Rad

TClap |
1

#14DaysTillChristmas Quagmire Style

12 Men showed up in sub-freezing temperatures at Quagmire just to prove that cold weather means absolutely nothing.  Especially when you get moving.  5:15 came and we took a nice mosey over to the Home Depot parking lot while doing some side steps, high knees, and butt kickers.

Warm Up-

Windmill x 10

Imperial Walker x 10

Hillbilly Walker x 10

SSH x 20

Seal Jack x 20

Plank/Honeymooner/Downward Dog

 

The Thang-

A Dirty McDeuce (or as DaVinci said, McFourteens?) of sorts.  3 excercises, constant movement, supersets, in all its glory to keep us warm.

Home Depot- Squats x 14, Merkins x 14, LBCs x 14… x 2

Run to Target parking lot through back delivery entrance

Target – Jump Lunges x 14, Carolina Dry Docks x 14, Freddie Mercury x 14…. x 2

Run to around Target parking lot to BAM

BAM- Jump Squats x 14, Wide Arm Merkins x 14, American Hammers x 14…. x 2

Run to Just Fresh parking lot

Just Fresh- People’s Chair (hold for… a long time?), into Donkey Kicks x 14, into BTTW (hold for… a long time… again?)…. x 2.  On last BTTW, PAX held through all 12 taking turns at 5 Merkins.

Mosey around the corner to the Fountain

Fountain- Find a bench… Box Jumps/Step Ups x 14, Tricep Dips x 14, Derkins x 14… x 3 (added an extra set for fun)

Indian Run Back to COT for many (10 minutes) of Mary (Q altered schedule thinking that time would run short… too much overthinking).  Completed 3 Mary exercises, into Diamond Merkins, 3 more Mary exercises, into Diver Bombers, and 3 more Mary exercises with time running out.

Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers

Significance of 14….

All exercises were completed with 14 reps.  Monday, December 11.  14 Days until Christmas.  14 Days until the greatest gift the world has received.  With the focus on Gifts this month, I used the exercise to countdown to my favorite day of the year.  Christmas has meant a lot to me, not just through the greatest gift of all time, but through the significance to my family.  I am excited to continue my family’s Christmas traditions with my children as they start to understand the significance of this time of year.

 

Until next time,

Shakespeare. Out.

TClap |
3

Modify “only” if Necessary

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.

TClap |
2

The under appreciated ruck & boot camp combo pack

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

TClap |
2

Twisted Twister at Abyss

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.

TClap |
8

Q school 101 & 201

16 Pax for Q School

YHC arrived early and Dark Helmet Q101) rolled in let’s just say a little later than that

The first rule of Q school is arrive early!!!

Dark Helmet took the 101 beginner class and YHC took the advanced class (or at least we think we are advanced) split off and began to teach some good stuff

201 started out with 10 perfect Burpees and we mosied to the back of the school to the COP

Everyone lead 10 SSH each making sure we could all count

We then did merkins 2 ea all the way around the circle

We continued our warm up and talked through some things we all felt were important

Another rule to follow is don’t do stupid things….In other words don’t do partner carries on a wet hill in the dark, don’t cross a major highway with 30 PAX in the dark….Be smart about what you’re doing and try not to get anyone hurt, we are out here to get in better shape after all!

Although they say not to make the workout too hard I don’t believe that. Everyone will work at their own pace and make sure they know that’s ok! Modify as needed is not just something we say it’s also true

The 201 school did some bear crawls, then partner hand slap merkins.

Ran around the circle and did hand clap sit ups

Ran around the circle and did hand slap burpees

Ran around the circle and did hand slap squats

Finished with 15 Burpees then mosied to COP where Dark Helmet had us do an additional 10 Burpees

Not too hard of a workout but we did stay warm and learned at least a couple of things!

Not sure what Dark Helmet talked about during his schooling but I am certain the PAX learned at least one thing from him today……

TClap |
5

Q School at Abyss – 10-11-17

Welcome to Q school from Senator Tressel and Ginsu! 19 PAX posted to sharpen their leadership skills.

Senator Tressel started off with guidelines on safety:

  • Always start with a disclaimer as a reminder, especially to new guys, that this is a voluntary workout led by non-professional fitness leaders. F3, nor the Q for the day assume any reliability if you get sick or hurt.   Be aware of your physical limitations and modify the workout if you need to.
  • Workouts are rain or shine, but should be cancelled if the conditions are unsafe. Usually this will be due to lightning or ice, but can be for other reasons.  The Q should use good judgement and make the call to cancel if he feels the conditions are not safe.  It’s OK to cancel a workout.  There will be another one tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that.  BE SMART.    Spring’s Maltz Challenge at NAFO was sighted as an example of what not to do.  The Q should also determine what exercises are safe to do (i.e. – no partner carries up a wet hill)
  • Always start with a warm up. ‘Surprising’ the Pax with 30 burpees to get things start might be fun, but is ill-advised.    Today, we did the Tressel  standard warm up which includes lunge walks, knee and ankle pulls, toy soldiers, arm circles and pulls.  Jogging and stretching are always good to start off a workout.

After the warm up, we moseyed to the back of the school for COP. ST led off with 25 side straddle hops and 10 merkins and then invited some of the newer Pax to lead exercises and practice counting. Things we stressed today:

  • The proper way, official, F3 way to start exercises in cadence is:  THE NEXT EXERCISE IS……, STARTING POSITION…MOVE….IN CADENCE… . EXERCISE!  (this is commonly done incorrectly)
  • COUNT MORE SLOWLY. ST is of the opinion that guys, in general, count too fast.  Slower counting is more effective for conditioning and leads to better form.  Your count should match your body movement when counting.
  • PROJECT YOUR VOICE so everyone can hear.
  • If your AO has pull up bars use them as much as possible.  The Abyss does have pull up bars so we split into three groups and did pull ups, step ups, and one lap around the track (3 reps were planned, but we only had time for one).

After each group got through a round of pull ups, we all assumed the plank position in a a tight circle for today’s message. Working the monthly theme or other message into the workout is not required, but can be an effective addition to the workout.    This is something unique to the Fort region.

Senator Tressel normally does not do a message, but felt compelled after reading an article about the reasons that people commit acts like the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas.  The writer opined that loneliness, frustration, unhappiness, and lack of purpose can lead people to commit heinous crimes.  The mission of F3 addresses these issues.  ST shared that the greatest thing that F3 has done for him is make him a much happier,  ‘at peace’ man.

ST handed off to Ginsu for the 2nd half.

Mosey to the front parking lot.

For the second half of the workout, we focused on the following:

  • Simplicity – Keep the workouts simple! Creativity is encouraged, but not at the expense of a solid, well organized workout. Keeping your workout simple makes organization easy and is less confusing for the PAX. Repetition (e.g. DORA, Jacob’s Ladder, etc.) is a good way to keep workouts simple.
  • Simple does not mean EASY! Burpees, pull-ups, merkins, bear crawls, etc. are all SIMPLE exercise options. But they are not EASY. Challenge the PAX with good workouts, keep it simple, but not EASY.
  • If you can’t do it, don’t Q it! – Challenge your PAX, but don’t turn a 45 minute workout into a CSAUP event. Use good judgment and don’t ask your PAX to do something that you can’t do yourself.
  • Pick up the SIX! – F3 is not like other workout groups. Here, it is you vs you and we pick each other up. We also EH new PAX weekly that are often as out of shape as the rest of us were when we began. Pick them up, encourage them. Appoint one of the PAX to hang back with them, if necessary.
  • Write your BackBlasts! This is part of the responsibility of being a Q. The simpler your workout, the easier the BBs are to write. It takes 5-10 minutes to do this. Just get it done.

With all this talk, you would think we didn’t actually do any work…we did. We kept it simple.

  • 4 cones in the shape of a square 50 yds apart. Do the following exercises at each cone, run to the next:
    • 5 burpees
    • 10 merkins
    • 10 big boy sit ups
    • Vinnie’s choice – 10 Freddie Mercury’s (4 count)

COT 

  • Announcements
    • Fast 5 – November 4th
    • CAH – Saturday, October 14th
    • BBQ Competition in Waxhaw
    • October 21st – run in Tega Cay to benefit Community Cafe
  • Prayer Requests
    • Marriages
    • Vegas
    • ST’s sister
    • CakeBoss’s sister

Thanks for the invitation Lake Dub!

 

TClap |
3