Tag: Short Sale

Overflow of Pax at Slow Burn

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28 men battled the humidity this morning and welcomed FNG “Ace” to the Pax who was head locked by Wheels!  Nice job by all moderating up or down depending on your need.

Message:

Discipline:

  • We all have struggles with disciplining ourselves.  Maybe for you it is the harsh  words spoken, diet, gossip, eyes wandering, pornography, envy, serving in your marriage, serving and teaching your kids or serving the least of those in our community.  Whatever it is there  is Hope!
  • Bottom line – you can’t do it by yourself.  I find that my discipline gets better when I move closer to the Word and further from the world.  Find a guy to lock shields with to walk in life together
  • Warm up by Wheels – Wheels got his tires warmed up again after being a cotter for too many months.  In promptu Q by Wheels with some SSH, Squats, Merkins, Windmills… nice job stepping up to lead. 

 

  • Running warm up – Various running, side shuffle, karaoke and sprint varities
  • 3 minutes of Mary
  • Partner up/ Pair off – Joust (lunge walk, bear crawl) 3 rounds
  • Pentagon of Pain (split into five groups) – do each exercise on the cone (10x). Run to middle 5 merkins, clock wise go the next cone and back to the middle with 5 merkins.  Until each exercise is done 1x.  Rinse and Repeat

It is always and honor and privilege to lead the pax in a work out.  Thank you to Barry Manilo on having the opportunity to serve the men of The Fort Pax.

Peace!

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4 Corners of Body Destruction

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No, we did not do the Body Destroyer for 45 minutes, Birdcage! However, there was consistent feedback that this was a brutally different workout. Welcome to “ya never know what ur gonna get with Straight Up!”

A big shout out to all the men that joined me. I was very, very proud of them, and especially proud of Short Sale, Nomad and Sparky. Seriously, this was not an easy workout. A special thanks to Crawdaddy who helped with the group activities and leading his team. Here is what we did. If you decide to copy it for one of your Q’s, feel free to but you have to invite me because I want to do it again!

I. Beginning: Disclosure mentioned; No FNGs

Theme: First thought on Discipline today:  “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.” (Zig Zigler)

A head’s up that we will have teams. Divided into teams. Advised we will be competing against each other’s team.

2 running lines to warmup. During warmup, ask person you are running next to:

1, If you had unlimited time, what would you consider to be your favorite thing to do with your time?

2. If you had unlimited money, what would you do?

II. Running Warm-up: 2 line Groups 

Gradually moseying around The Ranch/school doing toy soldiers, butt kickers, high knees fast,  one leg hops, side straddles.  

Another thought: “Discipline, for the Christian, begins with the body. We have only one. It is this body that is the primary material given to us for sacrifice. We cannot give our hearts to God and keep our bodies for ourselves.” (Elisabeth Elliot)

III. 2 Circle up Warm-ups around school

First Circle in front of school: 8 merkins, 9 squats, 11 toe raises, 10 second Shoulder Stretch

Second Circle in back of school: 8 SSHs, 8 Ab Bigodas, 10 second Partner hamstring stretch

Meant to read this one to the guys: “The battle of prayer is against two things in the earthlies: wandering thoughts and lack of intimacy with God’s character as revealed in His word. Neither can be cured at once, but they can be cured by discipline.” (Oswald Chambers)

IV. Workout Segment: (Entire Soccer) Field challenges

Team Straight Up vs. Team Crawdaddy

**Reminder that if someone on your team is not finished with the exercise and you are, then join in and do it with them to help them succeed and be a teammate! Do all exercises together as a group; push your team; form is crucial; your captain will make you do it again if you do not do it correctly!

Start in the middle of the field and race to your corner

Corner #1:

7 bropees

20 Parnerkins (Partner Derkins) (each partner has their turn)

(Similar to parts of a 1 legged Hail Mary without the bench) 13 Single leg in the air dips each side; after you go down one, then give the other partner a high five, then go on the the next dip, then a high five, . . . so you want to sit next to each other but in opposite directions

8 Squerkins each

15 Deep Squat creating an X on the way up

Leap frog to the half field line

Plank position crawl (keep your back flat, abs tight) from half field line to the next corner to Corner #2.

Corner #2:

7 bropees

9 Dive bombers (“Under the hedge/fence” and clap one of your partners hand once “under the fence”)

14 Skull Crushers doing at same time with your partner/team

17 alternating lunges each side

Tunnel of Love with your entire Team (no coupon); 2 pass throughs per person

65 imaginary towel hops in unison as a team

Wheelbarrow with partner to next corner cone (switch half way); go to Corner #3 (or back to the mid-field cone if we are out of time)

Corner #3:

7 bropees

19 Canoe Crunches (like Boats to Canoe but no boat and rather row your canoe back “through the water”; doing both sides is one)

14 total Walking merkins – 2 left, then 2 right equals 4; face your partner, do not go the same way. Pass each other every time.

18 Boxing puncher planks (one PAX fist to another PAX’s fist; no pushup)

Plank (10 sec hold) to 6 inches (10 sec hold) – 2X each

Partner carry (Fireman’s carry) to half field line (Parter up on your team and whichever partner has enough in him to do it!). Then switch to . . .

Alternating Broad jumps with partner (pass the other partner on each jump) until corner cone #4

Corner #4:

7 bropees

13 Pattycake (single) Merkins

4 Burpee Squat next to your partner; do at same time

36 Squats

18 Frog crunches (on the ground in standard crunch position, legs bent at 90 degrees in air with insides to feet touching each other only; then with hands in prayer position, reach to the connection point of your feet)

Lunge and reach (10 each side pretending you are picking up a can from a shelf and putting it way up high)

Weekend at Bernie’s to middle of field; switch half way

WOWWY! There were a lot of exercises! Did we make it all the way through all 4 Corners of Body Destruction? Well, . . . almost. I would say both teams had about 2-3 exercises left. It was a close race to the end to see who would finish first. To hard to tell. Until next time, Team Crawdaddy!

V. Mosey back to COT

I encouraged the PAX to focus on being disciplined in all aspects of life, especially their time with God.

“God does not discipline us to subdue us, but to condition us for a life of usefulness and blessedness.” (Billy Graham)

Announcements

Whetstone – consider getting involved; see Rebel (newsletter) if you have questions about it

Praises

Prayer requests.

Sending out into Thursday’s work day and special prayers for the children starting school and for dad’s to be encouraging to their kids for the year.

Thanks for the opportunity, Backdraft! Aye!

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DaVinci Cones Redux

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Full disclosure: 6 of the Pax listed above were ruckers and their workout was led by NASA.

Today was the first time I’ve Q’d in a long time. I was a bit nervous, but have worked out all over this AO and sort of know the lay of the land. My Q Lane is more of the Set-It-And-Forget-It variety, and today was no different. With no further ado, here is:

The Thang

Long Mosey to parking lot in front of Old Navy. Circle up for some COP:

SSH, windmills —SLOW (you’re welcome, CSPAN), low slow squats, merkins, downward dog stretches, honeymooner, mountain climbers, peter parkers, freddys, LBCs

Mosey to the Valvoline for some hill work. Sevens or Jacob’s Ladder: merkins at bottom, bombjacks at the top

Mosey to the raised patio the the old Riverbleu only to find the ruckers using the spot, so it was off to Plan B. I had cones set up on the drive, one on either side of the fountain. Each cone listed 5 exercises and the required reps. Do the exercise, run a half lap to the next cone, do the exercise. And so forth until everyone had finished the circuit. Exercise were as follows:

Cone One:

  1. Slow Squats (20)
  2. Curb Dips (20)
  3. Mtn. Climbers (20 d.c.)
  4. Curb Derkins (20)
  5. CDD’s (20)

Cone Two:

  1. Imperial Wlkrs (20 d.c.)
  2. Jump Lunges (10/leg)
  3. Freddy Mercurys (20 d.c.)
  4. Flying Squirrels (10)
  5. Peter Parkers (10 d.c.)

Then we made our way to the Rivebleu raised patio for the following:

Divide up into groups of 3. First man runs the stairs, does 5 burpees, runs down the back stairs and back to the group while 2nd and 3rd man do squats. Then repeat with 2nd and 3rd man.

By this point, it was time to mosey back to COT for a couple minutes of ab lab. Freddys, Crunchy Frogs (demo and cadence from WitchHunt), LBCs.

Announcements:

Children’s Attention Home: Q or post to support these great kids who are victims of circumstance and are in need of positive male role models.

Delta signups have begun! Reach out to Wild Thing if you’re interested in joining a LKW team.

Prayers for pregnant Ms, for family struggling with addiction and recovery.

Moleskin

At COT,  I shared that today, 7/28/17 would have been my late father’s 75th birthday. In 2001, he died  of a massive heart attack at the age of 59. My father was a good man. A loving man and unfailing provider for our family. But he had personal struggles. He was an alcoholic. A workaholic. Never exercised. Attended church sporadically, especially during my years at home.

My dad didn’t have what I would consider close friends or a strong social network. He had a family, a career, a mortgage, two kids who stayed out of trouble. But he always struck me as lonely. Isolated. I daresay alcohol use was his way of self medicating: his way of trying to fill a hole and mask his feelings of isolation.

I am grateful to write here that I am not an alcoholic, although there was a time in my late 20s that I was definitely auditioning for the part. No one will ever accuse me of being a workaholic (though I do work hard). Though I may not eat the healthiest diet, I do post at workout consistently between 4 and 6 days a week.

But, perhaps most importantly to me, I have gained a strong network of men who support and encourage each other to become better.

My life is on a completely different trajectory.

I am not alone. I am not isolated. I am a grateful part of this community, and I thank each of you for being a part of my life.

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The British are coming, the British are coming…..

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Alcatraz invited a British VQ to lead the PAX to try and escape the infamous AO. Very little word got out that the British were invading Alcatraz, but 7 PAX stood their ground awaiting for a beatdown by our very own brit – Sparkplug. After giving a good disclaimer, mossy through the baseball fields for COP. His weinke was written in british, but the best part of COP was the accent!! lots of mumble chatter relating to that. Mossy over the restroom wall.

PAX took a seat on the wall for various counts, then sprinted to outfield wall and back. BTW followed with another sprint. Mossy back to other baseball field entrance for 4 corners. Each corners involved 50 reps. first corner involved the blocks near the playground. Only got through 3 of the 4 rounds before passing the tea over to Trucker.

Mossy to playground for 3 rounds of 5 pull-ups and 15 LBCs.

Mossy to short steep hill for more rounds of pain.

Line up in a single line and one at a time run to the top and back. Once the PAX reaches the top, the next PAX takes off. Those not running are doing merkins. RInse and repeat two more times.

Mossy to COT

Great VQ by Sparkplug!!!

Prayers to Senator Tressel and injured.

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Theatre of Pain with Motley Crue

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Met him in Vegas in 2008.

THEATRE OF PAIN WITH MOTLEY CRUE 

Warmup – jog around soccer field alternating high knees, butt kickers, side shuffle to l/r then gorrilla walks to left then right.  Circled up for chicken wing side straddle hops and seal cross straddle hops in cadence.

The Thang – 4 songs with a tour of 6 stations on  soccer field in between each song.

Song 1 – Dr. Feelgood – 4 mins of body quats during music/lyrics to squat jumps during chorus.  Knee tuck slaps during guitar solo.

Round 1 – in corners and middle of soccer field, 10 reps each at 6 stations for plank jacks, wide grip merkins, squat jumps, ab box cutters, L/R reverse lunges, and ab superman pumps.  Bear Crawl and Lunges alternating to each station.  Mosey to parking lot for song.

Song 2 – Wild Side – 4 mins of side straddle hops during music/lyrics to bombjacks during chorus and slow burpees during guitar solo.

Round 2 –  in corners and middle of soccer field, 10 reps each at 6 stations for plank thrusts, diamond merkins, double squat jump, ab flutters, plyo lunges, superman jacks.  Bear crawl and lunges alternating to each station.  Mosey to parking lot for song.

Song 3 – Girls, Girls, Girls – in tribute to all M’s.  American hammer during music/lyrics to hello Dolly’s ( Free Bird was thinking about my wife during this ) during chorus, to windshield washers during guitar solo.

Round 3 – in corners and middle of soccer field, 10 reps each of 123 plank hops and regular hold merkins.  Mosey to parking lot for song.

Song 4 – Home Sweet  Home – the closer, plank to sphynx pose during music/lyrics to honeymooners during chorus and downward dog during guitar solo.  Springled in a few childs pose and arm huggers at end.

Announcements – 8/4 convergence.

Prayers for all parents/children travelling during this time, freedom from daily restraints/expectations, freedom from addition for my brother Michael,  peace for the souls of my friends Ken, John and Micheal in their passing.

 

 

 

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Block Party – Q School With Double D and Cake Boss

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15 or so PAX came to the latest installment of Q school with YHC and Double D.

Double D gave the intros and we quickly realized some PAX might have come for a regular beat down, only to find out we were teaching how to give a beat down.

Double D took the 201 PAX and I took the 101 PAX and we instructed best we could. (See documents on website)

Again, it was hot a mofo out there and we were dripping even teaching the beat down, not just delivering it.

We regathered at about 0550 and answered some final questions from the PAX.

t-clap’s to all the PAX looking to lead. Its amazing what can happen from leading a group of guys in a boot camp. Things start to happen and confidence is grown…..no more sad clown!

Thanks to Ginsu for  the lead and we look forward to all these new Qs in the mix!

 

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More pass the dutchie

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10 at Armory this morning got better.

The thang:

Warmup
Windmills
Imperial Walkers
Sumo Squats
Good Morning Stretch

Lap, then back for:

Merkins
Carolina-dry docks

Mosey over to the low wall with bells for some pain circuits.

Circuit 1 (Lap between exercises)
10 Dips with bell
10 Skull crushers
10 Lawnmower pulls each arm
Circuit 2 (Lap between exercises)
10 Curls each arm
20 K-Bell swings
10 Deadlifts
Circuit 3 (Lap between exercises)
10 Figure 8’s
10 Round the world
10 Shoulder Press

Partner Up

Partner 1 runs large loop with Bell
Partner 2 runs opposite direction, meets him and takes bell
(This was fun)

Repeat

Then back to circuits

Circuit 1 (No laps!)
10 Dips with bell
10 Skull crushers
10 Lawnmower pulls each arm
Circuit 2
10 Curls each arm
20 K-Bell swings
10 Deadlifts
Circuit 3
10 Figure 8’s
10 Round the world
10 Shoulder Press

We circled up for a round of pass the dutchie, Tesh’s invention and always the growls from handling his and Peabody’s bells.

Lunge with bell to parking lot, take a lap, lunge back to wall for a quick round of LBC’s  and Protractors.

Big ending with big ups to Sasquatch on the news of a boy due in January (and soon to be Uncle Wegmans.) Continued prayers for Smithers F-I-L.

Always a pleasure —- Assassin ——-

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Board of Pain Tabata style

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As the Pax started to gather around this morning I gave a heads up that they needed to get loosened up because there wouldn’t be a warm-up this morning.  Some heeded my warning and some didn’t.  When it hit 5:14 I began to give the normal speech and tell the group we were about to take on the Board of Pain.  However there was one catch to it.  We would work our way through the Board of Pain, but we weren’t going to be counting.  We would do 7 rounds of Tabata each exercise.

For those who don’t know what Tabata is it is where you do a set of exercises for a predetermined amount of time by exercising for 20 sec and then take 10 sec off and keep rotating through.  For us we rotated exercises after 7 rounds of 20/10.  Needless to say I didn’t get to 100 burpees, but I was fine with that.

During the workout I failed as a Q because I had promised music and when I attempted to play the music the speaker wasn’t working.  I believe it had to do with the 150% humidity that morning, but its still a failure on my part.  Luckily fellow pax Change Order and Lutefisk saved me by performing for us several songs including Ice Ice Baby timed perfectly during one of our 10 second counts.

The Thang:

Burpees
Calf Raises
Ski Abs
Merkins
Squats
LBCs
CDC
Am Hammer
Mac Tar Jai

100 Maracain Night Club because I didn’t want to have to Jump Squats for the last 2 minutes

This workout was one of those workouts where you get all 3 Fs during the 45 minutes which was awesome to be apart of.

It was an honor to lead!  Thanks for the opportunity

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Oshi Shinobu

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What a great morning for a workout with 14 men at The Swamp.  We quickly split off as Ruckers, Runners and Bootcampers.  A short mosey led us to our 1st stop for the warmup:  15 SSH, 3-burpees, 10 Windmills, 3-burpees, 10 Moroccan Night Clubs, 3-burpees, 15 SSH, 3-burpees.

Good and warm we mosey’d to backside of Jush Fresh to the stairs.  Partner Up.  P1 Holds Plank, P2 runs stairs, Flip/Flop; P1 Flutter Kicks, P2 runs stairs, Flip/Flop; P1 Hello Dollies, P2 run stairs, Flip/Flop and finally P1 Wall Sits,  P2 runs stairs, Flip Flop.

Short stroll to the Fountain w/a round-a-bout version of 4-corners.  Working in Decending order w/4-stations;  8, 6, 4 and 2 reps at ea.  Starting at Fountain, Incline/Decline Merkins, run to top of lot, Squats, run around to fountain, step-ups (ea leg), run to bottom of lot, burpees and back to fountain.  Rinse and repeat to next descending count.

I wanted to do something a little different with the PAX this am and introduce a little Jiu Jitsu warmup so we mosey’d over by the Q’s truck and pick up some Martial Arts belts.  Partner up, P1 places belt around himself and sprints while P2 offers resistance by holding him back across the lane.  Rinse&Repeat x 2.  From there we demonstrated what each warmup is for and how to execute it in BJJ with:  seated shrimping, breakdance, alligator crawl, gorilla walks, leg drag drills and finished w/another bout of the belt resistance drills w/new partners and ab-work.

COT

Always a struggle getting moving in the am and putting our bodies through the workouts but love the results and who I get to do it with.  In Jiu Jitsu we always finish w/a bow and handshake to one other with the statement of “OSS!” also known as “ossu”, means Oshi Shinobu, which conveys the idea of “persevering when pushed”. In other words, never give up, have determination, grit and withstand the most arduous of training.

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Tower of Babel

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IMG_0271

Pantheon (Tega Cay Elementary)

Disclaimer: As I’m not a professional, no one even bothered to pay me for the free beat down this morning

Warm-a-rama I: Short mosey around the big loop, including high knees, butt kickers, side shuffles, toy soldiers

Warm-a-rama II: To ball field for some SSH, Merkin, Moroccan Night Clubs, Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers

Thang I: Indian Run: Last man drops, does 5 burpees, sprints to front of the line

Thang II: Line up on baseline, first guy runs a suicide while the rest do exercises listed below, then the suicider does a 10-count (Sputnik with the Russian 10-count and Straight Up with the Spanish 10-count, hence “Tower of Babel”)

  • 10 sets Jump Squats, 6 sets alternating one-foot Calf Raises, 4 sets Burpees, 5 sets Carolina Dry Docks, 5 sets Mountain Climbers

Thang III: People chairs for 10-counts from 10 PAX, balls-to-the-wall for 10-counts from 10 PAX (note: someone called out no hands balls-to-the-wall to no avail BUT Crash called out one-handed and did it, both hands – impressive)

Mary: we had 2 minutes for abs: protractor angles were quite specific this morning (27 degrees???)

COT: 10 PAX posted this morning, including Jedi in his first week, prayers for family health, travel, and for PAX to be a light in a dark world.

Skin: Nothing like your very own personal sweat splatter puddle along the court baseline. Smells like… victory.

 

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