Tag: Sparkplug

No Arrival

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40-some pax posted to the region’s Ground Zero at WEP for a smorgasbord of pain, from 6@6 to Millkshake to a tried and true BC beatdown.  A very explicit and thorough Disclaimer was pronounced by Dark Helmet for the benefit of our FNG, and then the pax blasted off.

The Thang

The recitation of the 5 Core Principles quickly failed to meet DOAH’s standard, leading to some burpees.

Mosey around the parking lot with some toy soldiers and knee lifts mixed in, with the pax following onto the bandshell stage.

COP proceeded including more core principles along with some Merkins and DOAH’s proclamation that maybe the FNG’s fitness surpassed that of many of the pax present.  {Yes, he’s good at stirring the pot whether he’s poking at the Q or Qing himself.}

More mosey and more warm up exercises until the pax reach the far side of the WEP.

Enter stage left — the BAOPS boys via Clown Car — Trucker, Smuggler, Change Order & Longshanks, who just couldn’t stand the thought  of missing out on the best 1st, 2nd & 3rd F in The Fort on this given Saturday.  {Pro move by whoever made that call!}

Partner up for wheel barrow…to the playground…Yes…to the playground!…where the fun really starts.  {Fishsticks promptly cruised 85% of the way there to prove to his FNG that no matter what DOAH says, the FNG’s fitness had room for improvement.}

At the playground, each partner does 50 (yes, Five-O!) pull ups.  {Jiffy cranked out 30 in rapid fire.}

Some core work followed including LBCs and Rosalitas among others.

Handoff to Double D

Run to the bottom of the hill

Jacob’s Ladder with Donkey Kicks at the bottom and Sumo Squats at the top.  Traverse to the top via Bear Crawl and run to the bottom.

Mosey back to the parking lot with some Mary led by Jekyll

Climb the Stairway to Heaven via lunge walks, pausing for Carolina Dry Docks at each lamp post, starting with 5 reps and adding 5 more at each successive post.

Mosey down to the monuments with some Mary led by Longshanks

Circle up for an FNG introduction to Jack Webb by Change Order

Run home for final 2 mins of Mary by Longshanks

COT

NMM

A spirited pax at The Fort on this pleasant late winter morning!   Back to back weeks with a convergence at The Fort — thanks to the Alcatraz boys for adding their zeal to the day!

Maximus delivered the tailgate coffeeteria in the parking lot afterward and our FNG (EHed by Fishsticks) hung around long enough to learn the backstory of his name (Roy Kent) and to fill his rolodex with roofing customer prospects.

Welcome to Roy Kent!  Barry Manilow was quite vocal about the quality of the name and the importance of RK living up to it.  Well, if he doesn’t meet the mark, we can always default to what RK thought we named him — Rockette!

It was great to have Car Bomb among the pax today, fresh off his return trip from New Zealand, prior to his resettlement in another adventure.

The theme for the day was geared around the notion of life being an endless series of mountain climbs, peak after peak, with no arrival to the top in sight — ever.  Depressing, huh?  No, not for the HIMs of F3 and The Fort.  Give us the hard stuff.  We’re playing the long game and we know you can’t play it alone.  So keep posting, stay engaged with your brothers.  Together we’ll keep accelerating.

It was a treat to Q with DOAH for the first time.  We all look at him as just another member of The Fort, which of course he is.  At the same time, he also invests a huge amount of his life leading the 43 feet for the Nation.  Not only is it not easy being Frank {imagine how hard it must be for Traci his wife}, it’s also lonely at the top of any organization {how about leading one with 50,000 type A men?}, and it’s incredibly challenging to serve as the successor to any founder {would you want to try one Dredd’s shoes}.  Despite the small jabs, I say this with all seriousness — DOAH has taken on an extremely difficult challenge, one that he executes well with tremendous energy and virtue and that we all benefit from.  We’re fortunate that he calls The Fort “home” and that we get to take his crap on a regular cadence.  Thank you, DOAH!

Thanks to Grinder for the opportunity!  Always an honor to lead the men of this brotherhood!

SYITG

 

 

 

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Thrill… Running!?

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So Boss Hogg the fastest man in Fort Mill invited me to Q Footloose.  I hate running, but i’m slowly getting to not hate it so much now that my back is much better.

For those that don’t know, in 2015 I fell doing a mud run and royally screwed up my back.  It took years to get where I could even walk without pain, much less run.

So today I pulled a very old Q out of the bag and modified it up a bit.

We started at the beginning, a very good place to start.

Warmed up at First Baptist, and launched into Round 1

Each round includes the same exercises, but we perform them in a ladder style going up and down the rep counts.  The exercises were:

Squats
Lunges
Calf raises
Moroccan Nightclubs
LBC
Reverse crunch
Hello Dolly
Superman
Flutters

Round 1 – 5 reach
Round 2 – 10 each
Round 3 – 15 each
Round 4 – 10 each
Round 5 – 5 each

After each round we ran, yes ran to the next stop.  We stopped at the corner across from Hardee’s, then the Methodist Church, then reversed back to the corner, then back to the start.

We finished off with a round of Mary and called it a day.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead, happy birthday to Bowser (UHaul’s 2.0) and Happy Birthday America on Saturday!

The Thrill is gone!

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Pain Board, Playing Cards and Stairs, lots of stairs…

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Thursday morning was another wonderful morning in the gloom.  The PAX assembled and then made their way down to the CoG parking lot where a board of pain and a deck of cards was waiting.

Long story short, we did the things on the below box and then did stairs, many many stairs…

 

Video evidence is below…

 

https://twitter.com/f3_uhaul/status/1235578901533011969?s=21

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Boss Hogg Issued a Challenge at the Ballroom and the PAX did not Disappoint!!!

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Boss Hogg threw out a challenge to see how many PAX would show up at the Ballroom.  As usual, the PAX did not disappoint.  39 was the count.

Boss Hogg arrived in his all white Q outfit.  Disclaimer was given.  A quick message was given about the power of being an influencer.  PAX were reminded to always pick up the 6 and to encourage the guys around them.

The Thang:

Mosey to the center of the football field for a quick warmup:

  • 15 SSHs
  • 10 Windmills
  • 15 Imperial Walkers
  • 15 Cherry Pickers
  • 15 Hillbilly Walkers
  • 15 Gas Pumpers (THE Twisters favorite exercise)

Next was a Guillermo 1-2-3 (Dora’s little brother).  Similar to a Dora but PAX break up into two groups instead of pairing off in partners.  All exercises are done in cadence with a focus on form, not speed.

Exercises were:

  • 100 Overhead Claps
  • 200 LBCs
  • 300 Low Slow Squats

The other group started at the goal line, bear crawled to the 20, ran to the 50, did 1 burpee, and returned to the goal line.  Teams switched back and forth until all exercises were complete.

With the remaining time, the PAX moved to the track for some large dice fun.  One die contained the name of an exercise on each side.  The other 4 were used to determine the count.  Dice were rolled, exercises were done, and the PAX moved 1/4 of the way around the track.  This was repeated until the group had moved all the way around the track.

Time was up and the group headed back to COT.  Announcements were made.  Prayer requests focused on physical healing and marriages.  Due to the overwhelming support from the PAX in attendance, $1,000 was donated to Classroom Ready.

A great reminder to all PAX, don’t just be influenced but go out and be influencers!

 

 

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Site Q Siwtcharoo: Holiday Surprise

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7 PAX gathered despite having no knowledge of who the Q would be.  Disclaimers were given, a few moseyed off to run and because we were unable to recite the 5 core principles in order, all PAX did 5 burpees OYO before we moseyed to:

COP – Low Slow Squat x 15 working in Moroccan Night Clubs X 15 while in people’s chair, SSH x 31, Imperial Walkers x 15, Windmills x 10, Merkins x 10 with salutations right, left and holding at 6-inches while sparkplug gave us a 10-count.

The Main Event – 12 days of Christmas of course.  YHC took a page from Deacon’s book – the 12 step program.  A not so moderate workout consisted of the following:

100 yard shuttle run – 50 yards up the hill and 50 yards down
Jumping Squats (2x)
Big Boy Sit Ups (3x)
Pepper Grinders (4x)
Burpees (5x)
LBCs (6x)
Sumo Squats (7x)
Heels to Heaven (8x)
Dips (9x)
Calf Raises (10x) – (10 with toes outward, 10 with toes inward, 10 with toes straight out)
Diamond Merkins (11x)
Wide Arm Merkins(12x)

All PAX finished 12 rounds just in time to meet Uhaul and Boss Hog yogging in to COT.

Announcements were given, praises and prayers were offered.

Thanks to Crab Cakes for the opportunity to switch it up, post with some PAX YHC had yet to really get to know and, as always, for the chance to lead.

Cyclops

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Inertia at The Ballroom

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19 PAX at The Ballroom

Above is the insight into my mind……

Here’s a more legible list of what we did:
Mosey in a circle to catch Renaissance
– SSH – used to count the PAX present….
– IW x a few
– HW x the same amount
– Peter Parker until dissent
– Down Dog – Up Dog
– Shoulder Tap until dissent

Mosey to basketball court
– Toy Solders a sufficient distance to garner griping about this being a “Moderate” workout
– Butt Kickers
– Side Shuffles

Mosey down the hill
Split into 3 groups to do a Leg-O-Rama (one PAX does the reps, other PAX hold the pose until all have completed the reps)
– Squats
– Calf Raises
– Monkey Humpers
– 5 reps
– Run up the hill do 10 reps of each
– Run down do 15 reps of each

Mosey to Basketball court
– some burpees in cadence
– a round of Howling Monkeys to 10

Mosey back
– did some step ups when YHC found a plethora of benches

COT

NMM:
How often do we let the inertia of what we are or have been prevent us from realizing our potential?

Thanks to Manziel for the opportunity to lead
Band Camp dismissed.
 

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Footloose – Lesson Learned

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It was good to get out to footloose and see some familiar faces and meet some new PAX.  Since Rebel was on his entertainment tour for the week  so Fogerty and YHC stepped up to try to fill his shoes.  Did a brief intro and disclaimer and headed out for a brief mosey down to the COG lot.

I did a quick circle back to pick up the six while Fogerty kicked off the warm-up.  We started out with some SSH, IW, a few other things and then into… yep you guessed it a little broga.  That’s becoming a nice little change up move for me.  Upward/Downward dogs, pigeon stretches, warrior 1,2 etc.

Moved into the meat and potatoes with some 4 corners. Counted off into 4’s then went to our corner with a lunge walk between corners.  They looked like this:

Round 1 10 Reps

Corner1 Squats, Calf Raises, Monkey Humpers; Corner 2 Merkins, Mtn. Climbers, Shoulder Taps Corner 3 LBCs, Flutters, American Hammers Corner 4 SSH, Imperial Walkers, Overhead Claps then back to the center for burpees

Rinse repeat with sets of 15 and toy soldiers between corners.  Fogerty took the last 15 minutes for a quick DORA up the hill with some LBC’s, Squats and whatever else he was thinking.  Quick mosey back to COT for 5 min of Mary.

Mole Skin – Not much was shared during the workout, but I did have some time to reflect on the way home.  As I was turning off of Confederate street onto main street my impatience got the best of me and I wiped out a cross-walk sign with my truck.  I pulled over like any honest PAX would have and had a brief conversation with the Fort Mill City guy who witnessed it all.  We move the sign out of the way and assessed the damage to my truck (not good btw) and went on with our day.

Nobody was hurt or anyone else involved which was good.  Several emotions could have come up during the ride home but the one I landed on was disappointment.  In years past I probably would have threw a fit and tried to blame the City for putting the sign there.  Yes, Rebel we talked about this on our run, but I sincerely am owning the fault.  Had I been more patient and waited could it have been avoided?  Hard to say.  I’m looking at it as an opportunity to exercise control and use it as a teachable moment.  As discussed in Q source sometimes a failure comes with consequences.  This one is going to be a little $$$.  Moving on and looking forward.

Thanks for the opportunity to Lead and share.

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Dance Naked

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14 Men took the F3 plunge this morning and posted at the Ballroom on a perfect South Carolina morning.  Here is what they did:

Mosey out of the parking lot to the cement pad at the back of the school for COP:

All in cadence:

SSHX20, Windmill x10, Merkin x 7, IW x 15, Little/big arm circles backwards/forwards x 20, Squat x 15, Mountain Climber x 15/hold 6″/down dog/honeymooner/6″/right arm and leg high/left arm and leg high/6″/regular, LBC x 20

Mosey to the adjacent parking lot and line up.  From a 20 yard distance, do the following:

  1.  Bearcrawl, then 10 merkins at the stopping point.  Walk back to starting point.
  2. Lungewalk, then 10 squats, walk back.
  3. Crabwalk, then 10 dips, walk back
  4. Inchworm, then 10 diamond merkins, walk back
  5. Frog jump, then 10 burpees, walk back
  6. Walk to the destination, pick someone you don’t know, introduce yourself and learn something about that person.

Mosey to the hill near the steel bridge for Jacob’s ladder.  Hill repeats starting with 1 burpee and continue to 5 burpees.  Plank at the bottom when finished.

Mosey to the side of the school for people’s chair.  60 sec hold x 3 times, one with overhead handclaps.  YHC encouraged the Pax to sit with knees at a 90-degree angle.  People’s chair should be strenuous!

Mosey to the front of the school and recite the pledge of allegiance at the flag.

Everyone on their 6 for 6 minutes of Mary (and it really was 6 minutes):  Freddie Merc x 15, Box cutter x 10, Flutter x 10, LBC x 20

End the workout with the Body Destroyer

COT

Naked Man Moleskin

After several months on/off/on IR, it was good to be back on Q at the Ballroom with a large group of Pax.  T-claps to Boogiedown for getting both of his sons out at 5:15am for a workout.   We were all in Cub Scouts together years ago when the kids were young and my, how everyone has up!  Sorry for not using your F3 names on this backblast, boys.  I didn’t get the video on Tuesday and couldn’t remember them.

There was constant chatter from Anchorman and some of the other Pax.  It started during the disclaimer and pretty much continued for the duration of the workout.  Nothing wrong with that of course, and maybe it’s expected from someone who makes their living talking a lot.

Short Sale asked me to please do a backblast for this workout because the Q’s here have not been doing them consistently.   I said something like, ‘I always do my backblasts ” and then I didn’t get this out until two days later.   Better late than never, but I always try to get them out the same day or next day at the latest.  The interest in the backblast decreases dramatically as each day passes.  Sorry, my friend!

As far as the title, Dance Naked, no one was (thankfully) naked on Tuesday.  This is a reference to an album by John Mellencamp, one of my favorite artists.  I’ve had music on the brain lately because someone on Twitter started tagging people to post 7 album covers of albums they love and to tag someone else to do the same.  I’ve been a rock music fan for as long as I can remember and have really enjoyed seeing what the Pax have posted for their favorite albums.

it was a pleasure to lead the Pax today and I look forward to my next visit to the Ballroom.  Thanks for the Q spot, Short Sale!

Announcements:  read your newsletter

Prayers/praises

  1.  Family of a husband and father who committed suicide.
  2. Young girl with a serious illness

 

 

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Uno – Drop Thrill Rules – At Footloose

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This morning rolled around yet another sweaty July day and twelve card sharks showed up to see what YHC had to deal out.

With a Uno-inspired beatdown, that started a few months back because of something 3D came up with Tomahawk for bells, I modified and brought my own version sans bells.

Unfortunately for Destiny, I don’t always follow the rules when it comes to games but I also take feedback from the pax, to the detriment  maybe of the pax.  *cough burpees*

So similar to a game of Uno, each pax gets seven cards to start, and you play your cards similar to Uno but the card determines your exercise.  So choose wisely.  Zero is the exception, being that a zero equals ten in this game of Uno. So that, a two card is two of that exercise.

Otherwise this was the thang:

Blue = Merkins
Green = LBCs
Yellow = Squats
Red = Lunges
Skip = Run a lap
+2 = Do two of each of the four exercises
+4 = Do four of each of the four exercises
Reverse – Repeat the last exercise, but continue going the same direction around the circle.
Wild =  Perform four of each of the four exercises and next pax changes the color.

The pax decided they wanted burpees, so if you didn’t have a matching card, then you had to draw a card from the deck, the pax had to perform five burpees, and perform whatever exercise was drawn from the deck.  That wasn’t my idea, but I like it. Also, Beacon shuffled the deck, so you can blame him for the order of cards.

Unlike a true Uno, there was no winner, we were all winners.

Like with the burpees, when one pax or member of society falls short (or doesn’t have the required card in this case) it affects us all.  Sin is the same way.  Sin may be performed in private, but it will eventually effect not only yourself, your family, your community and so on.  Live each day with purpose and strive to live third.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead this morning.  I hope you got  your money’s worth.

DT out.

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Stairway to Heaven – 2

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14 was the count this fine August morning at Footloose.  That was 13 HIMs that did not know what was planned.

No FNG’s – quick disclaimer – mosey around the back of First Baptist

Warmup:

  • SSH’s in cadence
  • Low Slow Squats in cadence
  • Windmills in cadence
  • Cherry Pickers in cadence
  • Wall sit with each PAX giving a slow 10 count

Head across the street and down the stairs to the other side of Church of God.

We talked about the word of the month…Presence.  Where have you seen God’s presence this week in your own life or the lives of those around you?

Then it was time for The Thang

Partner up – size does not matter.  Each partner will do two rounds of each exercise, with one partner “running the stairs” and the other doing the exercise, then switch.  The different exercises were as follows:

  • Lunges
  • Monkey Humpers
  • LBC’s
  • Squats

When I say you run the stairs, starting on the right and working to the left we went up one section and down the next all the way across this nasty staircase (see Google image below…all sections were open, but boy did this suck especially after 2-3 times…that’s when it started getting really nasty).

So, my goal is that each time we get up today from behind our desks, each of the 13 other PAX will be muttering “Smithers!” under their breath 😉

Thanks to Beacon for the opportunity to lead at Footloose!

Smithers…out!

 

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