Christmas Convergence

WARMUP:
THE THANG:
Broke out into two groups. Half went with Soup to Nuts to the football field and half went with Sprocket to the grass field
Warmups were done at the workout sites
Soup2Nuts thang at the football field: Partner Dora
50 burpees
75 WWI Situps
75 Squats
75 Merkins
75 American Hammers
200 Clave Boss Clave Raises
75 Dips
Timer: bear crawl 20 yards; run 30 yards; run back 50 yards to workout area

Sprocket thang at the grass field: Wheel Spoke

Center Hub: 5 burpees

Spoke 1: Rd.1 25 merkins bear crawl to center hub; Rd.2 50 squats broad jump to center hub; Rd.3 40 lunges crawl bear to center hub

Spoke 2: Rd.1 25 Bomb jacks, bear crawl to the center hub; Rd.2 80 mountain climbers, broad jump to the center hub; Rd.3 50 shoulder taps, crawl bear to the center hub

Spoke 3: Rd.1 50 American hammers, bear crawl to the center hub; Rd.2 100 calf raises, broad jump to the center hub; Rd.3 100 Side straddle hops, crawl bear to the center hub

Spoke 4: Rd.1 100 Flutter Kicks, bear crawl to the center hub; Rd.2 80 mountain climbers, broad jump to the center hub; Rd.3 50 LBCs, crawl bear to the center hub

After 26 minutes Group 1 and Group2 swapped workout sites and did the workout.

MARY: None

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
COT: Cake Boss closed us out in prayer

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Sweaty at Minnow Pond by CH

On a toasty morning in the gloom @ MinnowPond everyone got in between 3-4 miles with three pain stations.  For most 4 rounds were completed with pain stations of…

  • 30 Merkins –  Corner of main and 160
  • 20 Jumping (Squats/lunges) – Church of God
  • 10 Pull-Ups – Printshop

It was a glorious morning!  1% better.

 

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A wee bit of everything at Pantheon

Unbelievable. Amazing. Has it REALLY been almost 4 years since YHC first posted to that fear-inducing AO known as Pantheon? What little I remember from that first WO was cursing the Q’s name (the evil Double D) and, more importantly, CSPAN coming alongside me and taking my mind off the merlot that was oh soo close to coming up. #The Full FNG Experience.  This is such an awesome AO that I wanted to include a little bit of everything.

The Pax seemed game for the plan. Mumblechatter was minimal but there was some grumbling and groaning. Mission accomplished.

WARM-UP: Mosey with Toy Soldiers, High Knees, Butt Kickers, Power Skips

COP around the flag (starting with The Pledge of Allegiance):

  • SSH * 25
  • HILLBILLY WALKER * 15
  • Merkins * 15
  • Squats * 15
  • Diamond Merkins * 15
  • Windmills * 15
  • Wide Arm Merkins * 15 (Initial grumbling & groaning ensued)
  • Mountain climbers * 20

MOSEY to AMPHITHEATER

JACOB’S LADDER- (7s) BEAR CRAWL UP, RUN DOWN-BURPEES  & SQUATS

Thoughts on FAITH: 3 f’S in F3 – 1st F is the Magnet, 2nd is the Glue, 3rd is the DYNAMITE. IT’S A BELIEF IN SOMETHING LARGER THAN YOURSELF. WHEN MEN OF FAITH COME TOGETHER FOR A COMMON CAUSE, THE RESULTS ARE AMAZING. DON’T GO IT ALONE

MOSEY to Basketball Court

Partner up:  opposite side of court, suicides on foul lines and meet in the middle for partner hand slap merkins.  15 reps, 3 rounds. Suicides, meet middle for partner Giddy Ups (crowd pleaser) . 5 reps per partner, 3 rounds, Suicides, meet middle for partner-assisted Sit-ups. 10 reps per partner

MOSEY to playground for a modified DORA – Partner Up- 50 Swing Lunges, 200 Bombjacks, 300 -LBCs Partner runs to end of the b-ball court & back

Mosey To wall- BTTW, then 5 Seal Jacks each Pax while the group does Peoples Chair.

COT: Olaf came running out of the gloom to join us at the very end. Must have been doing a brisk pace since he seemed to be on the verge of splashing last night’s dinner. But good of him to join.

NMM: Triple Claps are not sufficient to express my gratitude to Bing, Howitzer and Fish Sticks for staying on me to try out this thing we call F3. More like triple triple claps. I’ve tried to #give it away since that day and have told anyone who will listen what a game-changing moment that has been for me.

Thank the Good Lord that we ended up in this corner of the world known as The Fort. Home of many Highly Impactful Men. One awesome consequence – my 2.1 Pigeon is wanting to post more often. As a father, being exposed to this brotherhood is a great thing for my son. As we walked to the car to leave for the workout, he asked “Is this workout going to be hard”?   Well, yes, son, that’s part of what makes this F3 engine run. Sure seemed hard enough to me. What a great morning. Thanks to Bear Grylls for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale out.

 

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Dynamic Duo Q at Alcatraz

It was a chillier than usual Spring morning at Alcatraz (43 degrees) and after setting up TinselUtensils with the help of Straight Up we were ready for an unusual co Q combo with plenty of coupons; at COP we welcomed Prosciutto, he grew up in Tega Cay but now he’s a big part of F3 Chattanooga. AKAY2 crew was there for day 18 of their journey.

The disclaimer was provided by YHC and Straight Up led the warm up with the following:

10 SSHs
Warrior 1
Runner’s Stretch
Deep Runner’s stretch
Sit-on-yer-leg stretch
16 U-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it stretches
4 back stretches
2 X-jumps
3 mins of 5 reps each:
Merkins
Air squat jumps
LBC Twists

after warm up it was time to play with TinselUtensils, PAX  were split into 4 groups and each group went to a station, after completing the station we bear crawled to the next one:

STATION 1:

-> 10 burpees (Fun House noticed that our visitor Prosciutto  clapped at the end of each burpee and we were told that they do that as a standard in F3 Chatt) 

-> 10  Tire flips

-> 20  Monkey Humpers

-> 20 lunges SC

-> 30 low squat (touch the ground with hand)

STATION 2:

USE WEIGHTS OR CINDY

-> 10 man makers

-> 20 biceps curls

-> 20 bent over row

-> 25 overhead press

-> 30 triceps extension

STATION 3:

-> 30 LBC’s

-> 30 Rosalitas

-> 30 Sledgehammer swings  (15 each side)

-> 40 Dying Roach SC

-> 20 slam ball to ground

STATION 4:

-> 10 diamond merkins

-> 20 wide arm merkins

-> 20 regular merkins

-> 30 battle rope wave SC

-> 40 Shoulder taps

-> 40 plank jacks

After all groups completed the full circuit of 4 stations we moved to the grassy area for some Captain Thor’s  Ab Lab: 1 Big boy sit up and 4 American Hammers, progressive to 10 BBSU and 40 AH, this is my favorite Ab Lab combination and even though there was lots of mumble chatter we all finished the exercises.

With about 25 minutes left on the clock it was time for Straight Up’s part of the Q:

Workout:
Grab a heavy item and run to pull-up bars.
We rotated through one round of 50 seconds on and 10 seconds of rest for each of the following stations:

First Round:
Jumping Pull-ups
KB Swings
Commando Pull-ups
Bear crawl up the hill, run down
72 lb sandbag run
Jumping Lunge into 2 SSHs
Mag-R-Tai
Low Slow Squat with 40 lb sandbag
Apollo Ohnos
Dips using a set of real dip bars
The “Worst Merkin Ever”

We then proceeded to run with the heavy items to the top of the hill.
We ran down the hill, broke up into partners and competed against Straight Up.

Second Round:
Goal: to beat Straight Up as a partner team to COT by doing the following:
Partner 1 runs the hill up and down while Partner 2 does slow kick-thru burpees as they wait to be tagged.
Then switch.
Then run up hill again to COT carrying a heavy item of choice (first come first serve).
Straight Up did 2 hill runs with 15 kick-thru burpees each side in between the runs, then ran hill again to COT.
Congratulations to all groups who beat him! Well done!

Unusual F3 event: 3 deer running across our running paths directly in front of us

COT:
Announcements (keep pushing FunHouse this month!), Praises, Prayer requests.
Army PT Test Wed at The Coop

Tinsel out…

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The 2018 Fort Clave Boss 5k & Christmas Convergence

0545 – Arrive at Palisades Elementary School AKA The Abyss where Bear Grylis is tailgating like its the Summer Concert tour and he’s at FORT-A_PALOOZA.

Ruckers and Runners were gathering and getting ready for a full morning of all 3 F’s. The Pre-Ruck led by Bonsai (as Worldwide Leader was MIA) got together and away they went.

YHC gathered all of the Clave Boss 5k runners and gave the instructions for the course. Signs were posted however it was still difficult for some to follow (Royale, Funhouse and some others) and they got 3.5mi surprise.

0605 – The 4th Annual Clave Boss 5k launched and 32 runners hit the hills of Palisades. This year we awarded Bundt Cakes to the first runner at various paces.

  1. MacGyver flew in at 20:47 6:60/mi and then went back to encourage other runners – True #HIM
  2. Sharkbait came in at 24:43 7.88/mi
  3. Islander rolled in at 27:10 8.74/mi
  4. Twister with a 31:25 10.08/mi
  5. Smuggler wrapped it up with a solid 34:11 11:00/mi

Appreciate all the participants. Next Year’s 5th Annual will be a special event for sure!!

0700 – Preruck has returned, Clave Boss has wrapped up and now more cars have entered the parking lot with PAX gathering all around. It was time to launch the convergence. YHC ask if there were FNGs, and we had 4 in attendance, gave the disclaimer. YHC then gave RUCK crew green light to jet with a 0750 COT. The remaining 75 or so PAX had YHC and Maximus for the next 50minutes

The Thang:

Mosey parking lot….20 SSHs, Go to other end of lot, Merkins, go to other end of lot for squats, back to other end of parking lot for LBCs

Line up in 6 lines, each line goes to a cone and each cone has exercise on it

  1. Merkins
    1. Bearcrawl
  2. Leg Lifts
    1. Lunge walk
  3. Wide Arm Merkins
    1. Run
  4. Donkey Kicks
    1. Bearcrawl
  5. Spider-man Merkins
    1. Lunge walk
  6. Sumo Squats
    1. Run

3 rounds of above, 5 reps, then 10 reps, then 15 reps

The mumble chatter was classic and the fellowship as always enjoyable

Handoff to Maximus

Mosey to back of School and line up in 6 lines for Pain Platoon

  1. Santini led squat routine that is always a crowd pleaser
    1. Burpees
  2. Pusher led Lunges
    1. Burpees
  3. Double D led Mc-tar-Ny ??
    1. Burpees
  4. Bubba Gump led SSHs
    1. Burpees
  5. 4 lines – turn to face one another – then Seal Team Sit ups–always a big crowd pleaser

Mosey to front of school for COT:

Plank while waiting on RUCK crew and 6 inches with Walker…..always fun!!

  • 93 was the count with 4 FNGs
    • Bo Knows
    • Ferris
    • Gaylord
    • Doubtfire

 

  • We Switzered to gather around and listing to Mr. Clean give a message and challenge to the PAX
    • I’m honored to speak with you today;
      Tomorrow (Christmas night) is the 1 year anniversary of me and the kids finding Cindy (my wife) unconscious. She was immediately put on life support
      Cindy died 3 days later from complications of MS and an addiction to alcohol
      I thought our life was on cruise control. I was being non -purposeful and non intentional. Being a single parent and grieving thru the tragic death of a spouse has been unreal.A few things I have learned from this that I would like to share.

      1. I have a much deeper awareness of emotional health. I have been humbled. Being humble creates avenue for change and growth. My question to you is…are you vulnerable and humble enough to let brothers in to help you?? Are you humble enough to ask for him if you are escaping reality w addictions? Alcohol, porn, etc
      2. I have a more real relationship w Christ.At a time when I doubted Christ care for me and my children and his desire to help our family Christ stepped in and answered a very exact prayer request. If you have doubts about Christ, speak to me please. I would love to share with you what He alone has done.
      3. I am thankful for the suffering. It has brought our family closer together. Even though I and the kids are miss Cindy everyday, we have so much to be thankful. I am thankful for the life that we had w Cindy. I am thankful that she is suffering no more. I am thankful that Cindy is made as new. Most importantly, am thankful for the birth of Christ. He gives us HOPE for a better day.
    • My Challenge to you is Love Deeper and Speak Sweeter. — too often people speak disrespectfully of their spouses and children and parents. Words matter and we all need to choose them wisely. We need to hold each other accountable and “get our heads out of our asses” as you never know when that person will be taken from you.

YHC can’t thank Mr Clean enough for this message and his friendship. over the last 2 years we have grown together to be better Christ followers, better husbands and fathers. He is such a great leader and I’m blessed to have him in my life.

If you need someone like this in your life, reach out to me and we’ll get you set up as there are a boatload of HIMs in the PAX

********ALERT***********ALERT**********ALERT*********ALERT***********ALERT****************

It was time for some major announcements in leadership. YHC has led as NANTAN for The Fort region for about 15months. Prior to that I was Weasel Shaker and prior to that 3rdF Q and in-between Site Qs of Ranch, Ballroom, Crossroads,, ChicknWizdim, and led CSAUP teams at P200, Kiawah and others.

It was time to hand over the keys to this well oiled machine to a new leader. A man I’ve watched grow and lead in all 3 F’s and lead well. First got to know him well on the 2014 BRR 9 man team. I was asked to attend Colombia mission with with him in 2015 that he led. Have Qd many times with him and attended a retreat in Boone with him in 2017 and saw his heart for God, Family and the PAX of The Fort. In 2018 he led BEYOND and pushed men to not only dig deep physically but to stretch themselves emotionally and spiritually. This sealed it for me that this man understood leadership and that men needed to be Freed to Lead.

MAXIMUS is the new NANTAN of The Fort!

I personally am excited for this next chapter and look forward to more men being Freed to Lead by his example and inspiration. With this change, some other leaders have stepped up as well.

  • Weasel Shaker = Funhouse
  • 1stFQ = Royale
  • 2ndFQ = Wegmans
  • 3rdFQ = Gecko

I personally want to thank Old Bay for years of leadership and more importantly friendship. I true HIM who makes so much happen behind the scenes that there is no way The FORT would be where it is today without him.

Also, want to thank Anchorman for 2nd F Q during my time as Nantan, as well as all his leadership at Footloose, encouraging guys to push themselves and the many great ideas and ways to challenge the PAX. Appreciate you brother!

BOM – Gecko had great words to close out this convergence. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and all of the Holidays, I pray we find JOY in everything and not take anything for granted. I appreciate all the PAX and my brothers of THE GLOOM.

Cake Boss

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Bing- GQ in The Fort – Alcatraz AO

Reposting with Link to Bing’s BB from F3 Suncoast.

Bing- GQ in The Fort – Alcatraz AO

The PAX

Weather – upper 60s- with a chill in the air for this Floridian!

As the pax began to roll into the AO, including a number of them who chose to take a pre-run, YHC was giddy with excitement.  It felt like good old times with so many familiar faces!

As the clock struck 6:30, the disclaimer was shared along with the 5 core principles  and off we went for a mozi around the park.  Mozi included butt kickers, high knees, Carioca x2 and a quick pace to finish the run.  Without hesitation, it was time to hit the dewy fresh cut grass for COP.

COP was delivered in a speed round, where the Q calls out an exercise and is immediately followed by the first Pax member calling out SSH x10 IC.  The COP went as follows:

  • Merkins x10IC
  • SSH x10IC
  • Windmills x10IC
  • SSH x10IC
  • Imperial Walkers x10IC
  • SSH x10IC
  • Mountain Climbers x10IC
  • SSH x10IC
  • Peter Parkers x10IC
  • SSH x10IC

It was time to get to business.  The intent of the beatdown was to share some of the Pax favorites from my new  region, F3 Suncoast. First up was, FUN WITH ANIMALS.  Cones were set up roughly 15 feet from the starting point and the pax had to do the following mode of transportation x2:

  • Bear Crawl
  • Duck Walk
  • Crab Walk
  • Crawl Bear
  • Frog Hop
  • It was obvious that the pax was having such a great time, we rinsed and repeated, with only 1 time each the second round.

After we had enough fun with animals, a quick mozi was done and the pax ended up at the bottom of the hill on Tara Tea Drive for a round of Jacobs Ladder.  Run up to the top of the hill for 1 Burpee, run back down and immediately return to the top for 2 burpess.  Rinse and repeat until you have done 7 burpees.  Plank at the top until the entire pax is complete.  This was no easy feat for this Floridian flatlander, but clearly was a crowd favorite.

After the six was in, it was time for some Mike Tysons along the curb.  Due to the size of the Pax, half of the group ran laps until the first group was done doing Mike Tysons x10.  We did two rounds and it was back to the fields of Alcatraz for the grande finale…and grand it was.

Ripken Suicides

As done at any Ripken Q at F3 Suncoast, it was time for Ripken Suicides (or as Longshanks called them initially – Cupcakes because Suicides isn’t sensitive enough).  The pax had 1 minute to complete a full round of suicides, with the next round starting after the first minute.  The faster you get done, the most rest.  This is done for 10 rounds, as long as you are able to get the suicides done in 60 seconds.  There wasn’t a lot of love shown for Ripken after this finale!  Thanks Ripken!!

With 3 minutes remaining, it was time for a quick round of mary including LBCs, Protractor and one other.

Round of Mary

 

The MoleSkin:

YHC encouraged the pax to not hestitate to disrupt their status quo.  To make sure they are not remaining in their comfort zone.  Roughly 2 years ago today, the Kelly family entirely disrupted their status quo, having no idea why the chose to leave such a great community, pax and soccer family to head to a place where we knew NO ONE.  Not long after arriving in Florida, the status quo was disrupted AGAIN with YHC taking an entirely new job and quitting the one he moved to Florida for initially.  This opportunity has been a true blessing as YHC no longer travels for work and is home with the family and available to apply more time to launching a new region for F3.  The Pax of F3 The Fort and surrounding areas have been instrumental in disrupting the lives of over 225 men in the Sarasota area, as it was because of them YHC had the confidence to move and then start a new region.  I am honored and humbled to be a part of F3 The Fort and to give away all that I have gained to my new region in F3 Suncoast.

Prayers/Praises:

  • For Cable Guy and his family
  • James, friend of YHC battling cancer for the 3rd time at 9 years old
  • Many other prayer requests spoken

Announcements:

  • Coffeeteria at Panera Bread – Thanks for hanging out, I had a great time
  • CAH – Join us
  • Welcome to Skyline – You did a great job in a not so friendly FNG beatdown!
  • Wow, I am really bad at all of the announcements as I am not with this pax daily!

Thank you for this great opportunity and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday at Honey Badger.

Aye – Bing

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2017 Clave Boss 5k/10k & Christmas Convergence

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more——Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

The largest turn out by far for the Clave Boss 5k/10k was a success. We started on time and as far as I know nobody died. Thank you to all the PAX that ran and had a fun time and fellowship.

For the 5k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. MacGyver
  2. Harry Carry

For the 10k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Sir Topham Hat
  2. mix of PAX coming from all directions—no idea

For the Ruck, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Dark Helmet for 11min pace 5k ruck…..nice work!

Honorable Mention for Anchorman completing the 5k and Barry Manilow being his wingman!

The Convergence kicked off on time and we had Gecko open us up in prayer. We split the groups up and away we went with COT at 0750. Click on links to see the pain that was delivered…..Merry Christmas!

Black Diamond – Longshanks Q – https://t.co/odVJHWCBPS

Bootcamp – Cha Ching Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/christmas-convergence-boot-camp-mixed-w-some-bd/

Noderate – Barry Manilow Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/your-moderate-option-at-the-convergence/

COT came together and we had 83 men attend this year.

Welcome FNG – Lake Effect, who is 41 not the 50 that he just shouted out. Classic!

Many announcements:

  • Thank you Site Qs for all your work, dedication and leadership!
  • Serve Saturdays ….reach out to Deacon, Bolt, NASA for info…..HIMs!!
  • Joe Davis Run Jan 6
  • Friday Convergence with 3rdF post beat down Jan 12
  • Rooster CSAUP Jan 20
  • Yeti – February
  • P200 – March

More than a workout!!

Prayers/Praises

  • Dark Helmet shared his sister is in need of prayer. Please remember DH and his family each day in prayer
  • Family visiting is fun and sometimes no so fun. BE HIMs!!
  • Prayers for all the PAX traveling and for peace this week!

Challenge:

I spoke to the PAX about how 2000 years ago Sky Q sent his son into the world in the form of a baby. When looking for a place to come in from the cold there WAS NO ROOM AT THE INN. I believe we all fall into this trap and put so much busy into our lives that we don’t have ROOM AT THE INN for Sky Q in our lives. We fill our hearts and minds with so much and when it come to his word and being in relationship, we DON”T HAVE ROOM AT THE INN (in our hearts).

I challenge myself and the PAX to make room for SKY Q and see how it changes your life in 2018 and beyond.

Honored to lead this PAX. I am blessed and grateful for each of you!

Cake Boss

 

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Welcome to Alacatraz!

It has been a long time since YHC posted at Alcatraz and much less led a WO there. The AO is fabulous and thanks Senator for the invite. It is great seeing different faces going to different AOs and appreciate the opportunity to Q.

Warm Up

Mosey around the field with some dynamic stretching.  Circle up in the parking lot to avoid the wet grass. I know, we are soft!

SSH, Smurf Jack, Tuck Jumps, Monkey Humpers, and Bomb Jacks x 10 IC each, no rest in between

Squats x 20 IC

SSH, Smurf Jack, Tuck Jumps, Monkey Humpers, and Bomb Jacks x 10 IC each, no rest in between

Windmills x 20 IC

SSH, Smurf Jack, Tuck Jumps, Monkey Humpers, and Bomb Jacks x 10 each, no rest in between

Mosey around the hill for the main course stopping to grab some music along the way. This was a lot like the workout on Friday, so I knew we were in for it.

AMRAP 3 rounds of 9 minutes with 90 seconds rest in between.  Nirvana channel on Amazon was played….great songs once again. Channel does not dissappoint!

Round #1 – 10 Burpees at the bottom, bear crawl to the telephone pole, run up to the yellow sign 10 squats, 10 tuck jumps at the top

Round # 2 – 15 dips at the top, 15 CDDs at the middle, 15 bomb jacks at the bottom, crab walk to the pole

Round # 3 – 15 Merkins and the bottom, run backwards up, 15 jumping lunges at the middle, 15 tuck jumps at the top.

Mosey back to the parking lot for 90 seconds of boats and canoes.

COT – Prayers to those affected by the hurricane, families, addiction, and unspoken.

CAH work day on 9/30 at 10:30AM until complete.  Lunch will be provided
2nd at Dunkin
Invergence the 29th, Convergence the 30th

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Getting G-Fit in Paradise

What a fun evening in Paradise!  If you have not gotten the opportunity to come see what G-Fit on Friday night is like, I highly recommend it.  Our brothers Deacon and Bolt and others have taken ownership of this AO and really are making it into something special.  This was my first time back to Steele Street Park since our Easter Egg Hunt outreach and it is a great little park.  Full court basketball, a field for football, a pavilion, swing set, spray park?  Awesome.  And like it says in the bible, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  We need more Q’s to step up and lead.  DO IT!  You will be blessed and encouraged, I guarantee it.  Here’s what we did on my VQ:

YHC gathered his 2.0, Captain Snooze, and his FNG friend from the neighboorhood and we arrived a the park around 18:40.  Kids and teens were on the court shouting around so we joined them.  I quizzed the crowd about F3 and who had attended a workout.  About half had.  We quickly head locked the other half and it was announced we’d start at the top of the hour.  As 19:00 approached, more and more of The Fort PAX started showing up.  It was great seeing so many familiar faces!  Longer shout-out to you all below but back to the blast.  We circled up at half court for disclaimer and a few words about what to expect for the next 45 minutes and we were off.

THE THANG

Mosey around the park, past the pavilion, around the bathrooms, loop around the spray park then high knees and butt kickers as we head to the parking lot.  Once on the lot, karaoke right for half, then left until the end.  Up the grass hill to the field area for COP

Reps were kept to around 10 for the following exercises, all in cadence:

SSH, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Squats, Merkins, LBC, Flutters

Water break while we talked about the word of the month, discipline.  What is discipline?  We discussed that discipline is doing what is necessary even when it’s not what you want to do.  We need discipline in our lives to reach our athletic goals.  Kevin Durant did not develop his jump shot by shear luck or talent.  It has taken years of hard work and discipline to get his game to where it’s at.  We need discipline in our lives to reach our academic goals.  Good grades and success don’t just happen, they take discipline.  AYE!

The group was then split between younger kids and teens / adult and each group headed to a basketball hoop.  We lined up from tallest to shortest on the free throw line for a game of knock-out.  Classic game that is always fun.  Bolt quickly emerged as the man to beat but nobody actually could!  Fortunately he sat out after one victory and let some others win.  I think a total of 3 games were played.  Maybe 4?  Anyway, we grabbed a quick sip of water and then headed to the field for some flag football.

Deacon picked 2 younger lads as team captains and all the younger PAX were picked for teams.  Deacon and YHC served as coach / referee while the adult PAX resumed their battle on the basketball court.  The football game was a blast to watch and it was great to see the younger PAX work together as teams.  A bunch of touchdown were scored and a bunch of smiling faces greeted us as we call time and headed for COT.

At COT we named to 4 FNG’s and it was sweet to see how pumped the kids were at their names.  I think we did pretty good with 88 (Cowboys fan), Clutch (the star of the football and basketball games), Man of Steel (Steelers fan who was wearing a team jersey), and Philmont (Boy Scout working towards Eagle).

Announcement was made about a special Labor Day workout on 9/1.  Did somebody say PIZZA?  Expect record breaking numbers for that one.  No prayer requests but YHC took us our with a prayer asking God for help in developing margin and discipline in our lives.

Moleskin

As this was my VQ, I really appreciated seeing some familiar faces.  Thanks to Barry Manilow, Bolt, Deacon, Polaroid, Fish Sticks, and Wapner for posting.  Most brought a 2.0 with them and that is a great part of this AO.  Sharing the vision of F3 and the mission of this particular workout with your kid and having them join you is truly a blessing.  I have to say my heart was warmed when I saw a young kid from the neighborhood jump on my 2.0’s back.  Everybody got along great together, supported each other, and had a blast on a beautiful Friday night.  The sunset was unreal BTW.  Deacon said it’s like that after every workout.  Thanks to you, Deacon, for the opportunity to Q.  After all the unrest and hate on display in our country, it was a breath of fresh air to laugh and play and pray with men and young men of different nationalities.  It’s really not that hard when you just love one another.  Everybody loves love.

Flat Tire

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Pigskin in Paradise

I had the privilege to spend Friday evening with 22 other men and young men of the Paradise community. Conditions were, well, August in South Carolina – upper 90s with humidity. Here’s what we did…

The Thang

  • Mosey to the splash park
  • Circle up fo 10 SSH in cadence
  • 10 Merkins in cadence
  • 10 LBcs in cadence
  • Grab some wall for 10 Dips in cadence
  • 20 Calf Raises OYO
  • Mosey to the court for 10 Air Chair Claps in cadence
  • Full Court Suicides
  • Water and Powerade break
  • FOOTBALL TIME

NMM

The excitement Friday night was palpable. Bounty Hunter and I arrived 15 minutes early to set up the field. This prompted Scooter and Prescott to come running. When we started throwing the ball around the field, the park filled up fast. By the time 7:00 rolled around, there were kids EVERYWHERE. Thank you Deacon and Bolt for inviting me to lead. Thank you Fish Sticks, Barry Manilow, and Bounty Hunter for helping control the chaos. Final Score: 50 something to 40 something. For those who haven’t attended G-Fit, get out there and see what you’re missing.

I talked to the young men about community and brotherhood. We all need our friends and families when times get tough. Your brothers, regardless of skin color, religion or any other label that divides us, need you and you need them. There is nothing impossible when you are surrounded by people who will encourage and lift you up. What makes G-Fit special is it’s symbiotic relationship. We need each other. Those young men remind us to have fun. We can show them what love and brotherhood look like. Now, more than ever, we need to show love. God created us in His image and we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Where better to live that principle than Friday nights in Paradise?

With a heart filled,

Italian Job

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