SHAKING OFF THE RUST

Sixteen strong hit the Golden Corral this morning and worked together under a full moon and a perfect 54 degrees.  Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Mosey to the back of the Harris Teeter plaza for COP:

All in Cadence:  SSH x 40, Windmill x 15, Merkin x 10, Squat x 20, Mountain Climber x 25, LBC x 25, Wide Arm Merkin x 15, Jumping Lunge x 20

Mosey behind the Express Oil Building and head down hill entering the Evolve Apt complex.   Break into two groups for a modified Jacob’s Ladder – Up/Down the hill and build to 7 burpees at the top.

Mosey back to the drive between the HT building and O-Reilly Auto Parts.

Peoples chair against the HT building for 90 secs, lungewalk to auto parts building and do BTTW for 45 sec.    Rinse and repeat two more times.

Mosey back to COT for 2 minutes of Mary;  Freddie Mercury x 20, Flutter x 20.

Naked Man Moleskin:

This was my first Q in about 16 months after a self-imposed ‘exile’ from F3 due to Covid-19.  About 3 weeks ago, I started posting again and was happy to see the Q request pop up from Lutefisk last week (‘time to get back on the horse, ‘ I told him).  The last Q  in 2019 was , coincidentally,  at the Golden Corral.  My intention was to come up with workout from scratch, but my schedule didn’t allow that so I disclosed to the Pax that this workout was a repeat of one from 2014, (I think). To prepare for today, I went to the The Fort’s F3 website and there they were:  all my masterpieces from 8 plus years in F3. All my backblasts since 2013 were neatly stored and easily accessible.    There were over 100 total and about 15 from the Golden Corral which has always been one of my favorite AO’s.  I found one that looked good and bam – weinke complete.

I am typically hard on myself when I plan a workout and either part of it doesn’t go well, or the whole thing comes off a ‘flat’ to me.  Today, was one of those days.   I love a good Jacob’s Ladder and today, I screwed mine up by not adjusting for the size of the group and modifying how we did it.  It took too long and we didn’t complete all the hill repeats continuously (that makes it such a good exercise).   We also had a lot of law enforcement traffic coming up that hill and had to keep clearing the way which was annoying.  (Back in 2014 that hill was dirt road lined with trees – no traffic).  But, I didn’t feel bad about that for too long.  I was back Qing a morning workout with a group that I love, and with friends who I appreciate so much.   It doesn’t get much better than that!

Announcements, Prayers and Praises:

Short Sale and his wife celebrating 19 years together  – yes!

Praise/prayers for my daughter Claire who is graduating from college in 2 weeks.  Happy to be done, but what is next?

Prayers for Trucker’s wife and  those struggling with anxiety and depression, and for one with cancer

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Pain posting at BAOPS

Alcatraz eventually became a prison on an island in the cold waters off the Northern California coast. It was known to be difficult to escape for the inmates that called Alcatraz home. The waters surrounding it were cold and rough, much like its residents.

When Trucker took over Alcatraz, he had a vision for our own little AO on the island, well, it’s really a peninsula but just go with me here. He wanted those that posted at Alcatraz to experience their hardest (or close to their hardest) workout of the week. The idea of coasting into the weekend wasn’t exactly his cup of tea. That said, for those of us that Q Alcatraz now, we have the Trucker-created acronym, BAOPS, in our minds when planning our pain. BAOPS stands for the Best AO for Pain on Saturday. You get the idea now?

For Ruby Slippers and I on this brisk morning, we knew we had to answer the call. The planning began earlier in the week when Ruby said he was incorporating cinder blocks. That’s when I knew this would be top-shelf. Ya see, when a man named after fancy footwear says he’s bringing pain like that, it’s time for the rest of us to bring our big-boy shoes. He shared his plan with me on Friday night and I had to chuckle; it was all I could do to keep from splashing at the thought.

To kick off this adventure, Fish Sticks, Trucker, Geronimo and I decided we needed to get to the AO early for a few rounds of pull-ups which has become quite the nice addition. At 0630, we had 17 of us gathered in the parking lot to embark on this journey.  While not swimming cold, choppy waters, we did see all the cinder blocks lined up and knew we were in for something special.

Ruby took control, disclaimed us and warmed us up with Wind Mills, Tappy Taps, Burpees, SSH, Merkins, Burpees and a few other things. Who does burpees in a warm up? We then all grabbed a cinder block, made our way to the field and counted off in 4’s for the 4-corner beat down. He had set up 4 stations in the corners about 15yds apart from each other.
Station 1: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Overhead Presses
Walk to station 2 with the cinder block in the rifle carry position, overhead.
Station 2: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Bent Over Rows.
Lunge walk to station 3 while holding the cinder block.
Station 3: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Derkins w/ your feet up on the block.
Walk to station 4 with the cinder block in the rifle carry position, overhead.
Station 4: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Curls
Lunge walk back to station 1 while holding the cinder block.

We continued on this circuit until our never-ending 30mins had expired. It felt like 30 days and holy smokes, the collective groan from the PAX almost woke the neighbors. We were all on the struggle bus after this and guess what, we were only 1/2 way through this wonderful nonsense.

Gee, THANKS TRUCKER!!! Now we’ll hand off to Maximus for what was intended to be the tour de hills of our lovely AO. Once I told the PAX about the 3 hills we were to be visiting, you could hear it again. That collective groan, yeah, it voiced itself again. Anywho….

Mosey to Hill 1 at the front of the neighborhood by the Fire Station:
Run down without busting your tail for 5 burpees and 10 Flutters I/C
Run up the hill for 2 squat burpees and 10 Flutters I/C
Complete this 4 times

Mosey to the next hill, Hill 2 down by the circle:
Run down the hill for (5) 8ct burpees and 10 Freddy Mercury’s
Run up the hill for (2) 8ct burpees and 10 Freddy Mercury’s
Complete this 3 times

C’MON MAN!!!! REALLY???? Did our time really expire before we can complete Hill 3? Yes, yes indeed. Fortunately, we got back to the AO in time do complete a few rounds of Mary.

Aaaannnndddd, there you have it. BAOPS lives on!!!

Announcements: FM Study Hall volunteers needed. D2DB reminder. Do yourself and your concentrica a favor by engaging in everything F3 has to offer. Spiderman cemented this by a call to action for the PAX to GET IN A SHIELDLOCK. There were more announcements but I apologize, my stenographer failed to show.

Prayers/Praises: Some serious things on the hearts of our PAX and if you want to know what they are, you should’ve posted. Praise for our boy, Skipper, now 1wk into this new chapter of his life with us in F3. Welcome.

Until we SYITG,
Ruby Slippers & Maximus

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Christmas Trivia and Choices

Eight men showed up at Alcatraz this morning.  Two carried their heavy backpacks around the Cay for the hour.  Geronimo was still putting together his painful Q at 0630 so I began the workout with some warm-up exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Plank Stretches).

I decided to borrow this idea from a workout Double D and Old Bay Q’d back in 2017. Christmas Trivia with exercises sprinkled in between each question.  Penalty for missing a question was 5 burpees.  Oh, by the way, the burpee penalty was cumulative until the next correct answer.

Exercises:

10 Bomb Jacks

20 LBCs

15 Plank Jacks

10 Donkey Kicks

20 Monkey Humpers

15 Moroccan Night Clubs

20 Calf Raises

10 Plank Jacks

15 Mountain Climbers

15 Merkins

10 Lunges

15 Carolina Dry Docks

20 Squats

Luckily Skate or Die knows his Christmas Movie Trivia or we would have done alot more burpees.

Next, hand off to Geronimo.  He quickly told us to partner up and headed to the “Hill”.  As we ran down the hill, there were several signs with exercises lined up along the side of the street.  At the bottom of the hill, he instructed us to run up the hill and choose an exercise at each sign.  Sounds simple enough..what was the catch?

The exercises:

  1.  50 SSHs or 50 Merkins
  2. 50 Merkins or 50 Hello Dollies
  3. 20 Air Lunges or 50 Mountain Climbers
  4. 20 Squat Jumps or 20 Diamond Merkins
  5. Bear Crawl or Nur to Next sign
  6. 50 Squats or 100 LBCs
  7. 50 Flutters or 20 Flying Squirrels
  8. Crawl Bear or Broad Jump
  9. 20 Tuck Jumps or 50 Overhead Claps
  10. Run down the hill and back or run to the fire station
  11. 30 Big Boys or 60 Calf Raises
  12. 20 Burpees or 40 Burpees

When the teams got to the top of the hill, Geronimo instructed us to go down the hill and repeat the process, but do the exercise that you did not choose the first time.

Great work this morning..mind, body, and holiday trivia 🙂

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Footloose 8/20/20

When BossHogg calls your number you either show or he sends the law after ya. With drivebys by 3 of Fort MIlls Finest i do believe he put them on notice to take YHC away if i didnt bring the pain to this fine PAX. Well we got started right at 0515 with a quick disclaimer that was to Drop Thrills satisfaction. We took off for a quick warmup that consisted of the good ole regulars. After warmup we moseyed to the four way intersection. we were going to be moving from this point to three differant directions when you get back to the intersection you do the exercises. Do first set of 100 combined reps merkins/ squats.run. second 100 combined shoulder taps/ american hammers. run. 100 reps third set CDDs/ lunges. run. Try and get in three sets of each. Move. We got 2 full sets and 1 set of 50 combined of the exercises. The PAX worked and agreed we work hard if we getting up at 0430. Thanks BossHogg for the call out. Backdraft out.

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Death by Nur and a visit by Dora, Jack Webb & Dan Taylor

Thank you to the 16 other PAX who showed up to Alcatraz on this beautiful gloom to share in some great fellowship and a little fitness. It was an awesome time and if you miss it, well, you missed out. Thank you to Trucker for allowing Longshanks and YHC to lead this morning.

WARMUP

We began the morning led by Longshanks with the 10-Bombjacks because Dark Helmet said something that was on the verge of crossing the line, although it was before the workout. Then we took a short mosey down to Anchorage Lane.

THE THANG

Once we arrived at the bottom of the hill of Anchorage Lane Longshanks told us the plan. We were going to Partner up. Partner 1 was to Nur up the hill and run back down while Partner 2 performed exercises in a modified Dora. Then flapjack. The exercises at the bottom of the hill were: 100-Dbl. Count Lunges, 200-Squats, 250=-Calf Raises, 200-Monkey Humpers, and 100-Burpees.

This took us to a little after 0700 and Longshanks handed it off to YHC.

Since Longshanks had mentioned to YHC he was going heavy on legs and burpees, I figured I would add in a little upper body and . . . legs & Burpees. We took a short mosey to the baseball field. YHC asked the PAX to line up in 4 columns and we commenced to begin a combination of Jack Webbs and Dan Taylors (alternating between the two) from a ratio of 1:4 to 10:40.

Then we lined up at the edge of the field. We then did 7’s with Burpees and Bombjacks to finish off the 30 minutes.

Once we arrived at the COT Gears led in a quick session of Dying Cockroaches to complete the hour. This morning was full of mumblechatter and fun. What you want to have at any F3 Workout.

NMM

Our Nation and world have been rocked recently with multiple crises. Coronavirus took over in late March and we are still dealing with the effects. We have seen cities, towns and communities torn apart as racial tensions have risen. Our public figures are constantly attacking each other for their ‘inabilities’ just to either gain or keep power. It seems as if we are coming apart at the seams. All of these and many more can cause stress in everyone’s lives and we are all affected.

The question and challenge I have for you today is who or where do you turn to for peace. Not a peace like the end of war peace or happiness. This term is thrown around way too much to where people just don’t understand the true meaning of it. This peace can be easily lost.

I am talking about the inner belief that you are truly at peace with yourself, the world around you, and SkyQ. For me this is a peace that you can only achieve through the blood of Jesus Christ. With this peace you are able to face the world that seems to be crumbling around us and not be shaken. Because this peace is given to us by God through his son and strengthened each day through the Holy Spirit. Seek this peace and if you don’t have it, feel free to discuss it with YHC and I will share with you.

I challenge all PAX to seek that peace, whatever it may mean to you so when tribulation comes, as it has, you will not be shaken. Seek a peach that can overcome the evil of this world and keep your keel straight.

John 16:33 ‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’

Aye!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Reach out to a Site Q to Q a Workout.

Sign up to serve at Bethel Men’s Shelter. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0444adaa23a2fa7-bethel

The Sweati – Sat., Aug. 15 at 0600 – Start at Colosseum

Meals on Wheels – Contact Change Order

FM Care Center Lawn Care

Read your Newsletter.

PRAYERS/PRAISES

The PAX shared their prayers and praises and Longshanks lifted them up.

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Six Pack of Q’s

Six posted to Alcatraz for a Q-less workout.
Due to YHC’s failure to schedule in advance, all PAX we’re voluntold and cooperated FULLY.

Gears led off with a mosey lap, broken up with a variety of burpees, merkins, and other such miserable-ness.

YHC took the second 10 minute block to hit the pull up bars, and the hill. One trip down, a few burpees, and a bear crawl and mosey up.

Decibel stepped up to lead a second round of loops on the hill with stops at the bottom and top for squats and ab work.

Maximus led a core burner with a lot of flip flopping between  ab and core work. And yes there were burpees.

Trucker then took is on at least a half mile of squat shuffles, and then… PULL- UPS with dips and step ups.

Fish Sticks closed out the last 10 minutes with a series of mixed motion exercises across the basketball courts with bear crawls, merkins, crab walks, LBC’s, crawl bears, and Carolina dry docks.  And yes, there were burpees in the form of burpee broad jumps.

Announcements: Children’s Attention Home this afternoon, Cupid Run and Yeti coming up.

Prayers for marriages and remembering our role of service in our concentrica.

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Late Night Q Takeover

A quick Friday night Slack-scrolling showed me who was Qing at Milkshake & The Fort but I didn’t see any name or listing for Alcatraz. So, this led me to ask the region the question of, “Yo, who’s at Alcatraz?” After some cricket banter and off-channel comz with last week’s co-Q, Bonsai, we decided it’ll be us to Q at the sometimes forgotten AO.

With Bonsai on the front half of the 60mins, we were welcomed and disclaimed. Next, we moseyed around the path at the park and did a little warming up with 50xSSH (angry fella), Stretching, Cherry Pickers (even a little left to right action) and Hillbilly Walkers.

As plagiarism is the most sincere form of flattery, Bonsai took a page out of Pusher’s playbook for a series of 1min AMRAP with a mosey to each station. Remember, 1min of each:

Merkins then run to the Fire Station boat for LBC’s then run to Fire Station parking lot for Carolina Dry Docks then run back just past the Fire Station boat for Monkey Humpers then to the basketball court for Flutters. We then repeated it for a second round but added at least 1 rep to each of your previous numbers at each station.

Then the hand off to Maximus.

Mosey off campus to the bottom of the hill at the front end of the neighborhood. Run up the hill, wait for the 6, jog down and get ~5-10sec to catch your breath. Repeat 4 more times for a total of 5 trips up the hill. Once the heart rates were peaked, we went back on campus to the parking lot which we wouldn’t leave again.

Round 1: Captain Thor (evidently this was popular yesterday) with 1 Big Boy situp & 4 American Hammers. Continue in that sequence to 10:40.

Round 2: Jack Webb (also popular) with 1 Push Up & 4 Overhead Claps. Continue in that sequence to 10:40.

Round 3: Lt. Dans (definitely not a crowd pleaser) with 1 Squat (which was the breather) and 4 Jumping Lunges. Continue in that sequence to 10:40.

That was it. For the 8 of us that posted at Alcatraz yesterday, we’re better for it. Sore yes…but better.

Make it count.

Bonsai & Maximus

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Hills and More Hills

Nine men showed up this chilly morning to get better.  It was nice to see Walker venture up from Rock Hill to show us how things are done.  After the disclaimer, Senator Tressell kicked us off.

Mosey out of the parking lot, take the path to the back of the park, down the big hill, hang a left and go up to the cul-de-sac on Mariner’s Court for COP. All in cadence:

SSH x 30, Merkin x 10, Squat x 20, IW x 20, Freddie Mercury x 20, Carolina Dry Dock x 20, Mountain Climber x 25, Jumping lunge x 15, Moroccan Night Club x 40 and begin walking toward the bottom of the hill.

Mosey back up the hill to the pull-up bars along the path park. Split into 4 groups:

Group 1: 5 burpee pull-ups
Group 2: Big Boy Sit-ups
Group 3: Merkins
Group 4: Step-ups

Rinse/repeat until time runs out

Hand off to Fish Sticks

Mosey to the bottom of short hill, backwards run up the hill to the top.  Back down to the bottom, lunge walk up to the top and back down to the bottom.

Ran down the side street and up the hill to the corner.  One set of dips (15) on the landscape timbers.

Mosey back to the park for some boulder exercises:  Overhead press (15) and curls (15).

Ran to the baseball field, split up into two groups.  The first group ran to the outfield fence, jumped over the fence, and did 5 bomb jacks (no jump over the fence, 15 bomb jacks). The second group planked until the first group returned.

Round two:  5 burpees at the top of the hill (no jump over the fence, 20 burpees).  Olaf chose to take the 20 burpees option (great example of choosing to do difficult things to make you better).

Round three:  bomb jack option.

Mosey back to the basketball court for six minutes of Mary.

COT

Prays for all who are battling cancer along with their families supporting them.

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NYE at the “Ant”- BB 2wks late

Link to the Pre-Blast: https://f3thefort.com/2019/12/18/the-force-to-bring-us-back-in/

The script changed but we discussed burnout and the challenges associated with getting burned out. Nevertheless, we did some work with heavy sand bags and rucks. The legs were put to the test and teamwork was present.

A lot remains on the written weinke which should see the light of day or the darkness of the gloom…some day.

Until next time.

Maximus

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Be A Helper

Had a total of 7 men show up to end the year. I originally thought I wanted to do a partner workout till I reflected on the sermon of this past Sunday. It was set around looking for “The Helpers.” With that in mind I decided to do a workout that made everyone better together and focused on a no OYO.

So we all set out to four stations around Golden Corral and conducted a warm up at these 4 locations for a visual. We did one round of warm ups at each location with Side Straddle hops, Wind mills, Mericans, Cherry Pickers, Imperial/Hillbilly Walkers, and stuff.

So once the guys knew of the locations there was an exercise written at each Station. Between each station the mode of transportation was a brisk mosey. Station 1 exercise was a 50 double count of Flutter Kicks. Station 2 was a double count of Dying Cockroaches. Station 3 was a 50 count of LBC’s. Station 4 was a 25 count of The Claw (BRUTAL!!!).

We hit each station twice and then I gave the men a message/challenge for the new year. With all the challenges that we face we a lot of times only look at the bad things in life and push aside the positives. I opened up a little about my past of abuse, running away, and other struggles I faced growing up and informed them of “The Helpers” I had on my side to assist me in becoming a better person. To guide me away from the hardships of life to lift me up rather than leaving me in the gutter. I explained to them I don’t look at my past as something bad but something good, because of “The Helpers”. There was a lot more verbiage but the challenge I left the guys with was look out there and rather than bypassing it be That Helper. Be someone that gets into that Shield Lock. Or lifts someone up from the gutter.

After that we hit the Stations one more time. We were able to put in about 2.2 miles and about 500 reps of nothing but ab workout. These guys killed it and we did it together.

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