Tag: Short Sale

Today + You = History

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10 Pax posted to #THEBallroom for another chapter in Redwood Originals month.  This was YHC’s first Q (or even post) to the not-so-new site now at Pleasant Knoll Middle School.  Prior experience the past 18 months as Site Q at #BlockParty prevented earlier posting.  Great AO# — @Ginsu should give this one consideration for future Convergences.

Site Q request was for me to cover a bit of “history” of The Fort as part of the workout and message.  It’s a story that truly reflects God blessing men who step into the unknown with faith, which is what every FNG does the first time he posts.  The history of The Fort is really the history of every member of the pax, from 2012 all the way to April 2018 and beyond.

The Thang

Mosey around to back of school

COP — usual IC warm up routine, particularly important on a 30 degree morning in mid-April!

Mosey across bridge to breezeway leading to athletic fields

It’s not too impressive in a BB to talk about the fact we did “a whole lot of sitting around” but that’s what transpired.  Of course it was in the People’s Chair while each pax recounted the story of his initial post, which AO, who EHd him, who Qd, etc.  Each rendition was interspersed with some form of merkins, CDDs, balls-to-the-wall, monkey humpers, squats, bombjacks and/or burpees.  We covered stories of 9 pax and then moseyed to the football field.

Circle up for some Mary — a rundown of the familiar but effective Hello Dollies, Freddie Mercurys, Flutters, Superman and Penguin (including reference to Burgess Meredith for the #Respectables among the pax)

Line up for suicides across the football field

Plank sequence

Pause to recount YHC’s EH story and honor OBT for that gift.

Another suicide sequence

Another plank sequence, topped off (for Longshanks) with Mahktar N’Dyae

Run home

COT

Thanks to Short Sale for the invitation to Q at The Ballroom.  It was a great morning with a lively and dedicated collection of the pax.  Truly an honor to lead on this day.

Short Sale posted to S2S last week when I had the privilege of leading the discussion that day, and he heard me talk about the launch of The Fort as being one of many instances where God showed up in amazing ways during a period of life transition to bless those who move forward in faith.   Too often I try to seize CONTROL when facing transition periods either out of PRIDE or in response to ANXIETY.  Reflecting in prep for S2S on my experience amid life’s transition points proved to me that God has repeatedly come through every time (!) in ways I could never have imagined and on a scale I would never have asked for.  And yet, I tremble each time I see a transition on the horizon.  Oh ye of little faith!

Upon reflection, the story about the launch of The Fort is a powerful one for me and the pax who experienced those lean early days, but for the rest among us, it is just names, places and dates.  Kind of like my history classes back in high school.  I had a hard time connecting to them because they were foreign to my experience…I had no immediate way to connect so history classes became all about pure memorization for me.

But, in the recounting of the history of The Fort at The Ballroom, we heard it from the mouths of those who lived it.  We heard about pax who’ve moved onto other pastures (Howitzer, Bing, Red Eye) who had EHd one of those present, leaving behind a legacy of their contribution to The Fort’s history.  We heard about workouts where present-day pax swore to God they’d never return if he let them survive that first day (Anchorman).  We heard about pax who did not return for YEARS, waiting until scores of pounds were shed and cigarettes were sworn off (Culture Club), only to be remembered upon later return by CSPAN who disallowed a name change.  We heard about AOs that don’t even exist anymore (the sandbag workout — can’t recall the name).  This was history that each man connected to, because it was HIS STORY.

And that is true for each day.  God willing, we are given a new day each morning to make a choice, to lay another piece of our history in place.  A piece of The Fort’s history.  A piece of the history of God’s people.  No, I don’t feel worthy to receive this daily gift.  But God sees that I am worthy of it.  And he sees you’re worthy of it, too.  So, go ahead, take the DRP and go make some history.

 

 

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Our 2 Year Celebration for F3 in Lake Wylie @ the Deep!

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I was privileged to get the opportunity to lead (with Dark Helmet) the 1st workout at the Deep, and on this Celebration Day to get the opportunity to lead once again! We’ve seen a lot of new and consistent faces over that 2 years and I truly feel there is something special about the guys that come from the west side of Lake Wylie.  It was really great to show up 10 minutes before the 7am launch and see so many of the tenured Fort Mill PAX already there to support us at this celebration!

I used that opportunity to open with a little message.  3 of the PAX were FNGs, so I gave the long disclaimer, but then I asked for a show of hands for how many years each PAX had been posting at F3.  It was awesome to see guys like Cornhole, Sen Tressel, Maximus and Spitz who have been posting 4-5 YEARS now.  All of those guys have had a direct impact on my life so I was really honored that they came out to support our Lake Wylie PAX.

The Thang

Quick mosey around the parking lot for a dynamic warmup

Made it over to the soccer field for our COP

SSHs – Imperial Squat Walkers – Windmills – MNCs – Merkins – Mountain Climbers – Yoga – Plank Jacks

Before we got into the next evolution, I shared several messages about the foundation of F3.  Started with the Mission, T-Claps to NASA for knowing it by heart! Then I shared one of my favorite Q Source Posts, the Daily Red Pill.  (Link Below)

The Daily Red Pill Feb 2017

1st Exercise Evolution

4 corners – PAX counted off by 4s

There were 4 cones set up at the corners of the field.  1 in the center. What would a Lake Wylie celebration be without the original exercise FOUNDED AT THE 1ST WORKOUT? That’s right, 5 Kraken Burpees (check the lexicon if you do not know this favorite).  That was our center cone.  The groups would split up and run to their assigned number, complete the exercise, run back and do 5 Kraken Burpees

1st corner = 20  Worst Merkin Ever (Wide Arm Merkin, Regular Merkin then Diamond Merkin = 1 rep)

2nd corner = 40 Flutter Kicks double count

3rd corner = 30 Jump Squats

4th Corner = 30 Imperial Squat Walkers

Took a break and shared some more about Sad Clowns, and how F3 is the antidote to Sad Clown Syndrome from the DRP post.

2nd Evolution = Mosey over to the big hill

Partner Up

1 partner down and up the hill, 2nd partner says and does the exercise I call until I’m tired of it.

They were: CCDs – Burpees – SSHs : This lasted a lot longer than 2 sentences gives credit.

More discussion around DRP

3rd Evolution = Mosey to the back of the school

Lt Dangers to the 1st basketball goal That’s a lunge – lunge – squat – merkin (crowd pleaser)

Bear Crawl to the 2nd BB goal

Lt Dangers back to the end of the school

That’s like 200 yards, little Link (Bones 9 year old 2.0) crushed us all – including his Dad!

4th Evolution = Mosey to the front of the school

Time was running short, I had two boards with 5 exercises set up, audibled to just 1 board.  We did the five exercises in cadence.

5th Evolution = Saved 6 minutes for my last favorite – Captain Thors!

1 big boy sit up to 4 America Hammers, go to 10…we ran out of time at the 9 rotation.  It hurt anyways!

COT was great with 3 new FNGS, two were 2.0 of regular PAX and they held their own!

Cross Check (Peg’s 2.0 Logan) for his lacrosse skills

FIFA (Flux’s 2.0 Evan) for his soccer skills

Wesley our 29 year old previous college pole vaulter so his F3 name forever shall be Bubka!

It was really a great time with great friends and great mubblechatter.  I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.

(and we got 16 out to Coffeeteria, our best part of Saturdays)

An Honor to Lead

-Royale

 

 

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Hootie’s first Q

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I had plenty of time to prepare for my first Q. I had no idea how to gauge whether or not the workout would be considered moderate of more like a boot camp. I had hoped to push the edge. In the end, we all got a good sweat. But it probably wasn’t hard enough.

It had rained all night. It was cool and damp, but the rain had ended. We moseyed for a bit and then did 7 warm up exercises. Then we moseyed some more to the wall in the back of the building where we did wall squats while each of us took turns doing 2 burpees. We did another round of wall squats where everyone stepped out to do two bomb jacks.

Then we moseyed to the front parking lot where we did a 4 corners workout. Since we only had 8, we broke up into two groups of 4. We started at opposite corners. We did 5 rounds where we hit all body parts in each round of 4. After completing each set of 4 exercises, we would meet in the middle to do 5 bomb jacks.

We finished back at the Q with each of us leading an ab exercise.

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It’s All About Perspective

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It was awesome being back at Panteon.  Wednesday is typically a DOR for YHC (day or rest, or day or run). But when it comes to exercise, the human body likes variance and change of routine.  Definitely need to work on that!

Upon arriving a little early to ensure nothing would be obstructing the weinke plans, I saw Fishsticks’ truck and shovel flag, but no Fishsticks.  By 5:15, 4 other pax had gathered, and we figured the SiteQ was out for a run (P200 training, in fact).

Disclaimer was issued and we moseyed around the parking lot to get warmed up before stopping back at the shovel flag for COP.

Warm-up COP

  • SSH x20, IC
  • 1 burpee
  • Windmill x10, IC
  • 2 burpees
  • Imperial Squat Walkers x 20, IC
  • 3 burpees
  • Cherry pickers x 20, IC
  • 4 burpees
  • Mountain Climbers x20, IC
  • 5 burpees

The Thang
Mosey to back of school for ascending curb crawls (1-10)

  • bear crawl to opposite side then do 1 merkin
  • crab walk back and do 2 dips
  • bear crawl back then do 3 merkin
  • crab walk back and do 4 dips
  • repeat going back and forth until you reach 10 dips

Mosey to the Amphitheater – Partner up for some Dora 1, 2, 3

* 100 Bombjacks (partner bear crawls to first sidewalk – then runs back following sidewalk around
* 200 American Hammers (L+R = 1) – Partner bunny hops up to 2nd sidewalk – then runs back following sidewalk around
* 300 Sumo Squats – Partner runs to 3rd sidewalk – then runs back following sidewalk around
* Concluded the amphitheater work with a charge up to the 4th sidewalk, 5 burpees, and return to the stage

6MOM

  • Flutters x20 IC
  • Chop sticks x20 IC
  • LBCs x20 IC
  • Alphabet soup OYO
  • Hello Dolly x20 IC
  • Plank and 6-inches (a few rounds)

During the ab work, Fishsticks circled us to reach 8 miles (t-claps!), and offer some encouragement as we rounded out the 45 minutes.

NMMS

A couple times during the workout, we talked about the importance of perspective.  For most of my life, I’ve been involved with soccer as a player, coach, or fan.  Having recently begun officiating, my eyes have been opened wide to the perspective of the referee.  Suddenly, my ears hear criticisms never heard before.  And now I often feel bad for the ref taking the abuse from fellow fans.

Perspective is important for a society to survive.  But ultimately, it’s a Heavenly perspective that is important for our souls.  I’m guilty of only seeing things from the perspective of man, and not from the view of eternal salvation.  The way to better see that perspective is to look through the lens of the Bible by knowing what it says and means!  My biblical lens is small and cloudy, but it’s never too late to get into the Word and improve your view!

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The Baby Yeti

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It was a beautiful morning…not too warm, not too cold, a bit breezy, and a bit of a foggy gloom.  Perfect!

Attendance was light…but today was The Yeti CSAUP.  In honor of all those men running in the main attraction for the day, we did a Baby Yeti at The Yard

We started out with a mosey around the back of the school for the following warmup:

  • 15 SSH’s
  • 15 Imperial Walkers
  • 15 Moroccan Nightclubs
  • 10 Windmills

Off we went on another mosey, continuing around the property towards the bus entrance.  We stopped at the bottom of the hill and partnered up.  The first partner would run to the top of the hill, two light poles away, while the other performed a series of exercises.  Those exercises were as follows:

  • Wide Arm Merkins
  • Squats
  • Shoulder Taps
  • Monkey Humpers

We talked a bit about the word(s) of the month, worry/anxiety and how it makes us feel.  Then, after the talking portion of this program, In true Yeti style, off we went with another mosey to our next pain station for more of the same type of thang, just with the following exercises:

  • LBC’s
  • Carolina Dry Docks
  • Hand Release Merkins
  • Overhead Hand Claps

We had a little time for Short Sale to share ways he tries to fight the worry/anxiety of this world…Then we were back on the run again…to a super secret hideaway in the woods that my 2.2 (she attends Fort Mill Elementary) told me about.  At the top of a little known set of wooden stairs, up into a clearing in the woods you will find BENCHES!  They are perfect for dips, irkins, and derkins.  So we ran the following circuit:

  • 10 Dips, Double Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Irkins, Single Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Derkins, Single Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Count
  • 20 Dips, Double Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Irkins, Single Count, in Cadence (Was supposed to be 20, but these guys were spent)
  • 10 Derkins, Single Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Count
  • 10 Dips, Double Count, in Cadence
  • 10 Irkins, Single Count in Cadence

Then we headed back to COT for some stretching.  It was something that Stang did at the END of the workout the day before at Slow Burn, and it was very well received.  I’m thinking of incorporating that into my Q’s as I see real value in it.

Thanks to Short Sale, Spitz, and Lugnut for coming out this morning.  It was literally the first workout I have Q’d with only Respectible’s in attendance…and boy do I respect them!  As for me…#norespect

Smithers….OUT

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HIT at the Hive

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Following up my tremendously successful initial kettlebell Q at Tomahawk last week I was asked to Q the Hive this week… That or they just needed someone to do it… I chose to believe it was because I excelled at my previous attempt…

Being Friday I thought maybe I could combine the HIT philosophy of Varsity with the Kettlebell workout of the Hive.  Sitting in the living room the night before googling “high intensity kettlebell circuits” I was smart enough to realize that 50 seconds on and 10 seconds off for 4 minutes per excercise sounded a bit too “high intensity” so I decided to cut it to 30 on with 10 seconds for 2 minutes each.  I was worried that the 10 seconds would be too much but decided to leave it there (spoiler alert… 10 seconds or rest goes MUCH faster than the same 10 seconds working out… its an odd law of time…)

So following a brief lap around the lot with some high knees and butt kickers and a quick warm-up with some SSH, windmill, imperial walkers and hillbilly walkers we turned on the little app with our nice coach and some classic rock to motivate us.  Each exercise consisted of 4 sets of 30 seconds on and 10 second rest

-Dead Lift

-Goblet Squat

-Row

-Russian Twist

-Triceps

-Lunge

-Curl

-Calf Raises

-Wood Chop

-Shoulder Press

-LBC

-Kettle Bell Swing

 

Following these sets we had Airborne lead us in a round of his hip exercises to close out the morning.  The we formed into COT with announcements and prayer requests

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First taste of The Tomahawk

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Got my first taste of the many options that Tomahawk has to offer. Perhaps agreeing to Q the day after the Super Bowl wasn’t the smartest thing YHC has ever done, but no one wants to disappoint the Pax. After taking a recon drive past the school on Saturday, a plan was formed. Being nervous as to how long it would take to get to this AO that is nowhere near my home base, I, of course, arrived way early. But, as i was searching for the perfect spot for my cones, the lights miraculously came on at 5 sharp. That lifted my spirits tremendously.

Pax rolled in starting with He who loves the Thrill of the Drops. Tried to introduce myself to the arriving pax to introduce myself to those I had not met and to set a tone that we were in this together.

Disclaimer offered at 5:15 sharp and off we went. Mosey around the drop off circle with some high knees, buttkickers and karaoke. Circle up.

COP:

  • SSH * 20
  • Windmill * 15
  • Merkins * 10
  • Squats * 15
  • Wide Arm Merkins * 10
  • MOROCCAN NIGHTCLUBS * 20

MOSEY behind the School to an array of cones

THE THANG: LADDER

  • 10 KB SWINGS-RUN TO 3 RD LIGHTPOST AND BACK
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 15 SKULL CRUSHERS-RUN
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 15 SKULL CRUSHERS, 20 SQUATS-RUN
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 15 SKULL CRUSHERS, 20 SQUATSS, 30 Upright ROWS-RUN
  • RINSE AND REPEAT (SORT OF)
  • 10 KB SWINGS-RUN TO 3 RD LIGHTPOST AND BACK
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 20 FIGURE 8S-RUN
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 20 FIGURE 8’S-RUN, 20 BENT OVER ROWS-RUN

THOUGHT ON ANXIETY/WORRY: EACH OF US SPENDS SO MUCH TIME&ENERGY WORRYING ABOUT MATTERS OUT OF OUR CONTROL. DO YOU SEE JESUS WALKING WITH YOU WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE WORRIES? (SHARED A PASSAGE FROM THE BOOK “THE SHACK”)

To the Wall- Peoples Chair with KB held out front while each Pax jumps out of line and does 5 Bombjacks. Repeato, but this time with 5 merkins

MOSEY TO COT

Prayers for Polaroids’s daughter having trouble sleeping, prayers for my family after my brother’s recent death, other unspoken prayers.

Really enjoyed my morning with the Pax of the southern reaches of The Fort. I’ll be back sometime, but not so early next time. Thanks Polaroid for the opportunity to serve this growing region.

Short Sale Out.

 

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Ballroom with Fogerty VQ in the Fort!

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Had a little co Q action going on at the Ballroom.  YHC did the disclaimer and a brief intro on the words of the month Worry/Anxiety.

Off for a short mosey around the parking lot.  Didn’t take long for the complaining to start about the mosey.  Circled up for a quick warm-up:

SSH, Merkins, Mtn. Climbers, Imperial Walkers, Moroccan night clubs, Yoga stretching etc.

Turned it over to Fogerty for the good stuff.

The ThanG :

Word of the Year for Fogerty :  “ Grateful” – my goal is to be reminded daily – to be grateful for what I have each and every day and never take it for granted!

Here we Go!!  (Trying to Keep  “ Moderate” in mind….. )

Extension Ladder  : (football field locked : modified to parking lot  – made the Mosey between “rungs”  a little bit longer……but the lack of Chatter during the sets showed the Pax were focused!

First Rung :   Sets of 3:   Squats : consisting of  5 count   / 10 count / 15 count –– mosey to –  Second Rung :  Merkins : 5 /10 /15 – Mosey back to first Rung

Extend Ladder

Add a Rung  :  Sets of 3 :   Squats : consisting of 3 count / 6 count / 9 count – Mosey to Second Rung  : Merkins 3 / 6 / 9 – Mosey to Third Rung :  Bomb Jacks 3 /6 / 9 – Mosey back to First Rung

Extend Ladder

Add a Rung : Set of 2 : Squats : consisting of 5 count / 10 count  – Mosey to Second Rung : Merkins 5 / 10  – Mosey to Third Rung : Bomb Jacks 5 / 10  : Mosey to 4th Rung : Burpees 5 / 10 – Mosey back to Bottom of ladder – recover

Mosey back up to the Parking lot – front of School – : Partner up

100 Derkins

100 Dips

100 Step ups

One partner took a lap while other Pax knocked out as many reps……till they reached the goal :

Turned it back over to Bass for the last five minutes….  Did some Mary and CakeBoss finished us up with some Mac-tar-jis.

Thanks for the Opportunity!

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Slowburn – Pain Stations +

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25 PAX gathered at slowburn for a saucy workout.  We gave a quick disclaimer and welcomed 2 FNG’s.  It wasn’t long and we headed out for a short mosey.  We circled up and I turned over the warm up to Fogarty for his V Q.

Fogarty started us off with some of the usual:

SSH
Imperial Walkers
Speedy Windmills
Peter Parkers
Mtn. Climbers
Merkins
Moroccan night clubs
2 double merkin burpees (where’d that come from?)

Fogarty turned it back over to YHC for another Mosey. I gave a shout out to Quickbooks for his intro that he did a couple of weeks back and I tried to do the same giving a little background on YHC. I’ll spare you all the details. Dark Helmet was observant to realize that my years of marriage did match up to how old my son is. That dude’s sharp! I closed out the intro with Romans 5:4. Look it up, it’s a solid verse on building character.

On that note we moseyed to the back of Lowes for some chalk scribble that was planned for the PAX.

We broke into two groups with 3 stations. Each group started on either far end would do an exercise and sprint to the middle station do an exercise and then return back to their starting point for the next exercise. Instructions seems easier that the PAX wrestled with, but they quickly got the hang of it. Here are the pain stations:

Station 1:
Merkins
Shoulder Taps
CDD’s
Mtn. Climbers

Middle Station:
Calf Raises
Squats
Lunges
Donkey Kicks

Station 3:
Leg Raises
LBC’s
Hello Dollies
Flutters

Round 1 15 of exercise run to the middle and then back for the next exercise until all 4 exercises are complete then run to the opposite Station. Do the same thing 15 of each run to the middle. When finisished with 1 and 3 then rinse and repeat with 10 of each exercise. This took us right up to time.

Jailbreak back to COT. Welcome to the fold Moab and Jake Brake FNG’s.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

Bass-o Out. <><

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No Rain At The Ballroom

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I awoke to the sound of raindrops outside my window and mumbled a bit and got after it and I’m thankful eight other brothers decided to do the same.

This morning was pretty simple but it resulted in a bit of complaining, but I won’t talk about Destiny yet.

After your typical COP we ran a double circuit as follows:

Circuit 1 – 10 bombjacks in the middle, 10 merkins at one end and 10 squats at the other end of the parking lot.  Repeat until you’ve completed ten sets.

Circuit 2 – 10 SSH’s instead of bombjacks but otherwise the same thang.

We completed those two circuits and made our way to the wall for some people’s chair and arm raises.  There was much rejoicing.

We stretched a little, worked our core a bit and then it was time!

Thanks Short Sale for the opportunity to lead at The Ballroom for the first time.   I think the rain scared away people but it didn’t even rain at all the whole time we worked.

Destiny mentioned a 5k coming up and there were a few other announcements.  Shout out what I forgot.

Strong work brothers.  Have a great week.

DT out.

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