Tag: Slap Shot

“Jump Program” and FNGs…what are you talking about?

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Go back to when you were told, “say your hospital name, age, FNG” at your first workout. We likely can all recall that exact moment. You were probably like most of us, “now what happens, AND, what just happened”…aside from likely knowing you were going to be sore the next day. Maybe someone was in your ear during the workout encouraging you, maybe asking you questions when you’re just trying your best not to merlot, or maybe no one really said much to you (or you zoned them out) because you were just trying to follow along with the exercises or the lingo. Whatever your experience was, how long was it until you started understanding the small things like: “oh, that’s what an AO is”, or “now I get why I shouldn’t look up merkin on the internet”, or “there’s someone that schedules people to lead a workout?”…or pick your question.

The bigger question is, when did you start to feel like one of the PAX and you belong.

As we continue to pick up FNGs weekly (good work here!), the question this group of 6 that developed the “Jump Program” asked each other is: “how can we get these guys plugged in to F3 faster, how do we answer some of these basic questions we all now take for granted, how do we make them feel welcome and that they belong, how do we not leave this man behind”.

Since none of had the one silver bullet answer to this question, this is where the “stuff worth trying” mindset really came into play and the Jump Program was willing to try, fail, try, fail…rinse and repeat, with a mission to be intentional about making FNGs feel included, drive relationships early, and provide an F3 overview within 1 month of 1st post.

We started with looking at day 1 for an FNG and came up with this acronym SINCK (sounds like sync) which we want to share and have you apply it as best you can. Yes take liberties of course as these aren’t rules or core principles; hence the “worth trying” application.

  • S – Selfless
  • I – Impression
  • N – Naming
  • C – Connection
  • K – Knowing (as in get to know)

Selfless: Todays workout isn’t about you (non-FNG Pax reading this now)

Inclusion: Give some space, but make sure FNG has a guy with him from beginning to end outside of the EH Pax and Site Q – give him a sense of inclusion

Naming: Be mindful of body language as he’s being named – we want him to come back out and his name shouldn’t take away from that (we know names don’t matter but he doesn’t)

Connection: Remember, you’re his first impression of F3 so try and connect with him, or listen for clues on who he may connect and relate to

Knowing: Get to know him and gather some background (who EH’d, how’d you hear about F3, where do you live?)

Once the FNG has been named, this is where the Jump Program kicks off. We have been gathering FNGs and their contact information and have a goal in offering monthly off-the-books (OTB) workouts. We’ve kept this OTB in an effort to remove the intimidation FNGs tend to feel in the beginning when working out with guys who have been working out a lot longer than them and/or they’re still trying to figure out what a Carolina dry dock is. The Jump Program team has been co-Q’ing a 30 minute workout, very Q-school 101’esq, along with a coffeeteria intro to F3 Q&A following the workout. Having co-Qs allows the newer PAX to ask questions, allows the co-Qs to answer questions and/or address basic “when I was new, this is what I remember having questions about, or not finding out about ‘x’ until I was a year into F3”. We all have these stories of course, but the idea is that the new PAX outnumber the co-Qs with the goal that they are surrounded by PAX on the same F3 knowledge base (i.e. they feel like one of the guys b/c the guy standing next to them knows just as much as they do!).

Certainly more to come as this evolves, and would love your help with FNGs encouraging them to attend the monthly OTB Jump Program workouts. If they miss one, they’re invited to come to the next one and more than once if they’d like. If you can help apply the SINCK, maybe this is something that makes the FNG think “I could see myself working out with this group”, which we all know is the first bite of the apple we all took when someone pulled us aside and said, “remember, you need to say your hospital name, age, FNG”.

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Well Lit Hills

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17 months since the last post at the AO: $0.00
52 minute round trip: $0.00

2 Jerry Cans and 1 60lb Sandbag: $$$$

7 PAX for the main event: $0.00

Running hills for 25 minutes to start… Priceless

 

YHC hasn’t been to Pantheon in quite some time. Not since 2020. It’s still the same West of the Peach Stand.

The PAX rolled up and the disclaimer was given. We repeated the five core principles and off we moseyed into the gloom.

Hill work on Hubert Graham

Run down the hill past 5 light poles, ascending movements at each pole to the stop light. Repeat.

Burpees 1-5

Merkins 5 per pole

Lunges 5 per pole

Skater Jumps 10 per pole

Mosey back to shovel flag

 

Partner DORA w/coupons

50 Burpees – Farmers Carry out and back

100 OH Press – Bear Crawl out and back

150 Squats – Run/Nur out and back

200 SSH – Farmers Carry out and back

250 Flutters – Farmers Carry out and back

 

We finished up in the middle of the flutters. YHC was sad to not put the stamp on the 250, but 0600 is 0600. Solid work given by all PAX.

 

NMM

In the middle of the hill repeats, we stopped for story time. Long/short, YHC played a part in helping someone stop choking to death last night. Michelle Schmidt is her name. She almost passed away right next to us. Her daughter in law was running late and could have showed up to learn terrible news. It could have been different. She could have passed away and everything changed for those in her life. God did not have that plan last night.

After the adrenaline subsided and the night moved on… I tossed the situation around in my head every which way. Reminder – life is precious. It could end in the wrong swallowing of a taco. What are we doing today in light of this fact that life could end at any moment?

Prayers/Praises

Cable Guy and family for the loss of his son.

Aquaman and the loss of his son.

Michelle Schmidt and her living another day.

 

38 Special – thanks for tapping YHC to lead today. It was a great time.

Punch List out.

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Valentine’s Day Massacre – STL Edition

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Vuvuzela reached out about Q’ing a few weeks back. Luckily a top three finish for YHC happened circa Summer 2020 so eligibility had not yet expired. It was a seemingly warm 27 degrees as the PAX rolled out of the vehicles this morning. Hadn’t seen Slap Shot or Skipper in quite some time – so the smiles were a plenty. 0515. Time to work.

Warm Up

Disclaimer disclaimed. Mentioned all the necessary stuffs that one would say before running off into the dark. That feeling of warmth that I mentioned around the cars? That quickly changed as we descended into the depths of Dave Gibson Blvd for our warm up lap. Maximus and YHC started in front and felt the temps drop at least five degrees as we reached the bottom of the hill. We hit the bottom and headed back up to our vehicles for a quick mile to get the blood pumping.

YHC then took the PAX across 160 and down to the bottom of Brayden Pkwy. Pointed out the median breaks on the way to familiarize the PAX with the area. Plank up at the bottom and wait for direction.

WEINKE

Hill suicides (gassers for Band Camps’ sake).

Run to Median Break One, 10 reps of prescribed exercise, run back to bottom.

Run to Median Break Two, 20 reps of prescribed exercise, run back to bottom.

Run to Median Break Three, 30 reps of prescribed exercise, run back to bottom.

Movements for rounds of suicides were:

Suicide 1: Merkins/Flutter Kicks

Suicide 2: Curb Dips/LBC’s

Suicide 3: CDD’s/Hello Dollies

After 3 suicides and 42 flights of stairs climbed later… it was 5 minutes to 0600. So we high tailed it back to Earth Fare and ran a lap around the lot, finishing our work with 10/20/30 Squats/American Hammers along the way.

4.3 miles and 400 feet of elevation gain in 45 minutes. Not bad for a Monday morning.

NMM

Maximus high tailed it out of the quickly after we numbered off and did the namearama. His reasoning: cooking breakfast for Valentine’s Day. He’s got four lovely ladies at home and the man knows how to prioritize. That’s something we the PAX tend to neglect in our F3 world from time to time. Along the way Slap Shot and I discussed future events/races and in the midst of the conversation it came up that it’s necessary to be aware that overextending ourselves in our fitness journey tends to leave our M’s feeling a bit neglected from time to time. Be aware of that. While F3 is a good thing – our marriages deserve much more focus.

 

Prayers/Praises – 

Pray for YHC’s family. A lot going on these past few weeks.

Pray for our minds and our abilities to keep from self isolating when going through hard things as men.

 

Thanks, Vuvu, for the tap. Enjoyed the lead today.

 

Punch List out.

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3 Stations on Repeat

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Ring of Fire welcomed 10 PAX with one having to modify due to injury.
It’s Groundhog Day for anyone attending to those matters so rather than just going through the motions, be focused and intentional with your actions, starting with today’s workout.

Head over to the band parking lot for a few warmup exercises.
Run to the 50, 2 burpees, run to the other end, 2 burpees
Nur to the 50, 2 burpees, nur back to the start, 2 burpees

Explanation of our 3 stations to be executed with a partner

Station 1 at the band lot
10 Jump Squats and 20 Calf Raises

Run to station 2 at the pull up bars
10 Pull Ups and 20 Diamond Merkins

Run to station 3 at the elementary school parking lot at the bottom of the hill
10 X’s & O’s and 20 American Hammers

When you finish with station 3, nur up the hill back to station 2, to complete station 2 then run back to station 1. Repeat until time expires.

Hey Kaiser, we missed you.
SYITG
Maximus

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Pantheon Party of 4

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YHC rolled into Pantheon about 10 till 5:15 to find Slapshot cooling down from doing what he does at ungodly hours of the morning. Shortly after 38 Special pulled up and there was some mumblechatter until 5:14 and we could see Flounder rolling up on a bicycle to make 4 PAX

We promptly began, YHC disclaimed the bunch and we started a warmup right there with the following:

Windmills

Cherry Pickers

Plank Position- Honeymooners and Downward Dogs, stretched out the dogs considerably

SSH

Low and Slow Squats

Moroccan Night Clubs

Cyclops

After warm up we moseyed over to the bike racks and I told the PAX the plan

DORA

We broke up into two teams, plan would have been to break up into two teams regardless of PAX showing. Point is to keep the group together in cadence to ensure proper form, picked that up from Boss Hog a couple weeks ago and loved the idea

Job was to complete the following:

100 Merkins

200 Dips

300 Squats

Team 1 PAX began on the Merkins and Team 2 went off to run a lap (Small lap around parking lot)

When Team 2 returned we picked up where team 1 left off and continued through the progression.

Once completed we Moseyed back to the front of the parking lot where a series of cones were set up for a series of exercises making our way across the parking lot.

At first cone 5 burpees OYO then we jogged to 2nd cone where we did 5 more burpees, then we lung walked to 3rd cone where we did 5 more burpees, next we bear crawled to the next cone did 5 more burpees and finally broad jump burpeed to the final cone where we finished with 5 more burpees

Last challenge was at the Ampitheatre, quick mosey over to the base and YHC explained the challenge.

Starting at bottom of hill we did 3 Worst Merkins Ever

Moving up to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels of Ampitheatre we did 10 big boys at each level and then finally did 30 monkey humpers

Mosey back to shovel flag for 2 minutes of Mary

Hello Dollies and the lowest hurdle ever (stretch)

Fishsticks joined us then, he was running the streets of TC for the fun of it and we think using Drones to spy on us 🙂 j/k

YHC shared a message I have picked up from David Goggins “Can’t Hurt Me” about hardening our bodies and minds to prepare for the next inevitable obstacle, challenge, trial etc. To do this we need Discipline not Motivation, which is fleeting.

Flounder shared a new year challenge to re-engage, re-commit to being the best men we can be and getting back into good habits like spending time in the Word.

Prayers, Praises and Announcements were said and then YHC worked in the namorama I had temporarily forgotten.

Great Morning, Aye

 

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Mind the Queen

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13 PAX met in the gloom on a cool Monday morning after the long Christmas weekend. YHC wasn’t sure how many would take the DRP, but was happy to see a strong turnout.

Disclaimer was given and then the plan for the morning was given so that the runners could get after it.

Warm up:
25 SSH IC
15 Tappy Taps IC
15 LSS IC

The Thang
Run to the west exit of the parking lot (Dave Gibson) and cross 160 into Brayden at the traffic light. Run down Emory Lane and turn left on Brayden Pkwy. Run to dead end and turn left on Afton Way. Afton Way will take you to the back of Brayden. Some mumblechatter on the longer route, but this route got us 1 mile out of the gate.

At the back of Brayden, there are two “loops.” Afton Way forms a 1/2 mile loop, and Lizzie Lane is a cut through for 1/4 mile loop. The plan was to alternate loops and do exercises between each loop. PAX were encouraged to run the 1/4 mile loop at a faster pace, and run the larger loop at their normal pace.

Between each loop we completed the following:
10 Merkins
10 Big Boys
10 Peter Parkers

At 0550hrs we began the run back to COT and got 3 minutes of Mary in. PAX got between 3.5 and 4.5 miles in for a solid morning in the gloom.

We discussed the importance of the Queen (Q1.3) and that even though we all took the DRP and were taking care of our fitness, we could not outwork our Queen. This time of year can be very challenging, and may take little more discipline and accountability.

Announcements, prayers and praises.

And the PAX eventually reminded me to do Name-O-Rama.

Thanks Vuvuzela for the opportunity to lead, and the new challenge of leading a group of runners.

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Bear Crawls, Core & more

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Nothing fancy…

Disclaimer then 2 more roll in

Big warm up run around the school including a jaunt out onto the sidewalk on 49 and back to the bus drop lane.

Warm Up stuff included Wind Mills, Mountain Climbers, Moroccan Night Clubs and Arm Circles

50 Flutters I/C = 100 Flutters
50 LBCs I/C = 100 LBCs

Bear Crawl the bus lot with Mountain Climbers & Peter Parkers at the end
Crawl Bear back to the start

NUR up the back hill to Langston then run down. Repeat

Grab a partner for a partner MURPH
One partner runs while the other partner works to complete:
100 Pull-Ups
200 Merkins
300 Squats (we called an audible here due to time and completed the final 25 squats together)

COT

Thanks for the hospitality Grassy Knoll
Maximus

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Changing of the Guard

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28 PAX joined in the gloom for a brisk morning at Block Party. Though the temps were in the high-40s, the wind cut and made it feel much colder. Most were ready to get started and warmed up.

Bobber led off with the disclaimer, then we moseyed to the bank parking lot and circled up for 25 SSH IC. Moseyed to the Hobo’s parking lot for:
15 IW IC
10 Windmills IC
10 Cherry Pickers IC
10 Merkins IC
10 LSS IC
Held low squat for 10 MNC IC

Bobber, fighting back tears, then let go of his beloved BlockParty and passed the shovel flag to YHC. It was quiet as a mouse, absolutely no chatter was mumbled. So we did 5 burpees OYO to get back into it. 

The Thang
I explained to the PAX that I started F3 on a Monday at STL, where Pusher (in attendance) led a great workout, and I was encouraged enough to return the next day. The next day happened to be BlockParty, with CakeBoss on Q. It was a brutal morning, full of pain, so I thought we would do it again. 

3 lanes of bear crawls
5 burpees to exit the low side of the parking lot onto Main Street
Run up Main Street, back to the parking lot entrance on Clebourne Street.
5 burpees to enter the parking lot.
Plank for the 6.
This circuit continued, but the lanes changed to:
3 lanes Burpee Broad Jumps (a whole lot of mumblechatter and requests for a suggestion box)
3 lanes Duck Walk
3 lanes Toy Soldiers

Jogged back to Cot for 3 minutes of Mary.

Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Prayers & Praises. 

Thanks to Bobber for his leadership while Site Q, and providing the opportunity for YHC to continue the tradition at BlockParty. 

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Way-Backblast – Pushing Through at Laces In

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It’s been a long time coming, but finally stepped into the ring at Laces In and handled my VQ. 14 other PAX joined in the gloom for a little of everything, including an FNG.

Disclaimer

With one fresh face in the crowd, we went over the disclaimer, the Five Core Principles of F3 and the Credo. There was absolutely no mumblechatter during this disclaimer and the message was clear and concise.

Warm Up

We moseyed over to the band practice lot for 15 Low Slow Squats IC and 15 Cherry Pickers IC. Then began to mosey back to the student parking lot, but mixed in some Toy Soldiers, High Knees and Butt Kickers. Once in the student lot, CoP for 21 SSH IC and 10 Merkins IC.

The Thang

Utilizing the very large student parking lot, we did a modified 4-corners. The modification was to return to the center for 5 burpees between each corner. The 4 corners consisted of:

  1. Jump Squats & Fredie Mercury
  2. Derkins & Flutter Kicks
  3. Alternating Side Squats & Mtn Climbers
  4. Diamonds & Hello Dollys

We began with 20 reps, and increased the rep count by 10 each time around (round 2 was 30 reps of each exercise and round 3 was 40 reps).

After 2.5 laps, we circled up for one last set of burpees and moseyed across the parking lot to the hill. Since coming off a nagging injury, I have noticed “plateaus” during workouts even more. I reminded the PAX that when we’re faced with difficulty or plateaus in life, whether it’s our health, our relationships with our M and/or our 2.0s, or even at work, that’s when we should focus more and “push harder.” Here at the at the end of the workout, push yourself to sprint up the hill and get better.

After 3 trips up the hill, we moseyed back to CoT (merlot may or may not have been splashed by yours truly) for Name-o-rama, welcomed Battle Bot, announcements, prayers & praises.

Thanks for the VQ support, gentlemen.

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Trifecta of Q’s

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So, I got asked to Q last minute for Wednesday at Ring of Fire (8/18) and was already scheduled to Q at Footloose for Thursday (8/19) and then NASA had to try and find a sub for Varsity on Friday (8/20), so I just said I’d do it all. I mean @HarryCarey just did it, so why couldn’t I? I’ve been chasing him for years and still have a long way to go to try and keep up/catch that HIM.

So, I planned it out. Arms Day at Ring of Fire, Legs Day at Footloose, and IronPax prep at Varsity. Here we go!

Arms day was an AMRAP with the pull-up bars, Cindy, and some core to break it up. 1 minute on 30 seconds off.
Pull-Ups
Squats with Block
Curls
Overhead Press
LBC’s
Merkins
Flutters
Burpees
Low plank
Side Straddle Hops
Repeat.

Music kept us going with mostly hard rock from the ’90s and 2000s. @Sheild thinks I’m the next Tony Robbins as I was trying to motivate and keep everyone going on our rest periods.

Thursday at Footloose we did 7’s. Launching from the AO, we went over to Minnow Pond to see if we can pick a fight, to which they just ignored us. So, we ran the hill. Monkey Humpers at the bottom near the main road, because you know, Monkey Humpers ;). Up the hill and then squats.

We then ran over to Fort Mill Chruch of God for a round of 7’s using the stairs and the parking lot. I didn’t exactly think this one all the way through before giving instructions. Run up and down the stairs, then do 6 calf raises, run back over the stairs and run a lap around the parking lot and back up over the stairs to do 1 Bobby Hurley. Complete the circuit until 7’s is completed. That ended up being 14 laps around the parking lot. We ended up with 3 miles on this day. Lots of good mumble chatter and fellowship on those laps.

Finally, @ Varsity, we did IronPax prep with the Week 0 2018 workout. 50 squats, 40 big boys, 30 merkins, 20 lunges (modified down from Bonnie Blairs as we’re old and our knees can’t take it), 10 burpees run a lap. Do this 4x for time.

@Slapshot killed it and completed the circuit in 24:39, while @HarryCarey finished in 28:10 and YHC in 30:30. The rest modified and got their own solid workout/ruck in.

Q-ing the trifecta was a great test as it made me get creative and stay engaged with the group. We’re called to be leaders and this was a good test of my abilities over a longer period, not just every once in a while. Thanks to all for the opportunity to lead. I enjoyed it!

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