Tag: Spitz

The Fort pledge to help another Pax out

Leave a comment

Its Christmas time and the word of the month is giving so I am asking if you would take moments pray about giving to help a fellow pax. Last year Stang got the Fort and the Rock pax to donate gift cards, cash and presents for me and my family.  This was huge for me and my family, with that  being said I feel the need to help a fellow pax and give back. I have been in touch with our pax of the Fort looking for someone to help out. This morning in COT it was mentioned by Destiny that a fellow pax’s son has just been diagnosed with leukemia and his wife is pregnant with twins. Then again Ginsu and Rock thrill had a tweet about it and come to find out it is an Area51  pax named Bout time his sons name is Jennings. This hits close to home and just knew this is who we need to help this year. a few

If I have never had the pleasure of posting with you in the Gloom I would like to take a second and share my story, Dec 2015 on Christmas eve my 2.5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL Type B, on Christmas day she had surgery to have a port installed and her first 3 rounds of chemo. We spent Christmas in the hospital and I broke down never cried so hard in my life. I reached out to God prayed that everything will be okay and about 10 min later after the took my daughter back for surgery he answered my pray because a peace just came over me and heard the words its going to be okay.  The last 2 years have been a hard 2 years with ups and downs but also have enlightened me, allowed me to get closer to God.  It also allowed me to become apart of F3 with out the men of this group not sure where I would be mentally and physically today. I like to thank you for the push the words of encouragement.

 

I am asking pax to give what your heart tells you. Prayers gift cards, cash etc. I have seen what awesome pax you can be when challenged to give you all always go above and beyond.

See your site Q’s for collections and or Dark helmet , Stang, Witch hunt, Royale and Cornerstone

 

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way
and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

Thanks Again HIMS

Cornerstone

 

 

TClap |
4

Christmas Movie Trivia Loop

Leave a comment

When Pusher and YHC realized we were co-q’ing Alcatraz, and the weather was predicted to be quite winter-like, we decided a Christmas theme was in order.  But we wanted something a little unique.  So, we landed on Christmas Movie Trivia.

The wintry weather showed up on cue, though more cold and wet than snowy and Christmas-like.  “No matter” said the 12 pax that posted ready for the physical and mental challenges.

Pusher started us off with a jog intentionally avoiding the path around the ball fields.  We moseyed to a few different intersections near the park for various warm-up exercises, including SSHs, merkins, peter parkers, and a few others, while playing a little frogger.

We then moseyed to the bottom of a steep hill and partnered up (size no matter).  Partner 1 took the hill, while partner 2 held a squat.  Flapjack.  Repeat 2 additional times.

We then moseyed up the hill half way, and lunged the rest of the way.  Pusher then took us back to the parking lot where we started and turned it over to YHC.

We moseyed around the parking lot, then to the path that circles the park, where the first of about 30 cones was sitting (each about 10-20 yards apart, all along the path).  And so began the Christmas Movie trivia challenge.  Here’s how it worked:

  • On each cone was a trivia question.  Upon arrival to the cone, the question was read aloud.
  • While pax pondered and discussed the question, an exercise was performed, which was dependent on the movie.  Here were the exercises (some of which we didn’t get to):
    • A Christmas Carol – 10 high jumps
    • A Christmas Story – 10 Plank Jacks
    • Christmas Vacation – 10 Mountain Climbers
    • Christmas With The Kranks – 10 Bombjacks
    • Deck The Halls – 10 Plank Punches
    • Four Christmases – 10 Sumo Squats
    • Elf (My Favorite!) – 10 Squat Jacks
    • Ernest Saves Christmas – 15 Hillbilly Walkers
    • Holiday Inn – 10 Morning Wood
    • How The Grinch Stole Christmas – 10 Russian Twists
    • It’s A Wonderful Life – 10 Dry Docks
    • Jingle All The Way – 10 Run Stance Switch
    • Nightmare Before Xmas – 10 Crab Cakes
    • Miracle On 34th Street – 10 Merkins
    • The Polar Express – Bearcrawl to next cone
    • Scrooged – 10 Monkey Humpers
    • The Santa Clause – 10 Chop Sticks
    • Santa Claus: The Movie – 10 Speed Skaters
    • White Christmas – 10 Donkey Kicks
  • Once the exercise was done, pax had to agree on an answer.
    • If the answer was correct, pax moved on to the next cone
    • If the answer was not correct, pax had to do one or more penalty exercises.  Here’s how the penalties worked:
      • 1st incorrect answer – 10 burpees
      • 2nd consecutive incorrect answer (i.e. at next cone) – 10 burpees AND 100 yard run
      • 3rd (or more) consecutive incorrect answer (3 cones in a row)- 10 burpees AND 100 yard run AND 10 merkins
      • After the penalty was served, pax moved on to the next cone

We got through about 25 cones (with a score of about 50%) before running out of time.  The questions were tough, and thus we clocked in over 100 burpees.  I won’t post the questions/answers here in case any pax want to reuse this weinke, or a variant thereof (contact me on twitter if you’d like the questions and answers).

Moleskin

It was a privilege for Pusher and YHC to lead the workout at Alcatraz.  Pusher talked about how thankful we are for F3 and the amazing HIMs that make it so great, including and especially the pax posting to Alcatraz.  For me, what has made F3 so life changing isn’t the organization, or structure, or exercises or cool gear; it is the men of F3 that invested their time into “FNGs”, long after their first post.

If you are a man that a fellow F3 pax has invested time into, my encouragement to you (and to me) is to find a pax in F3 that could benefit from you pouring into them.

 

TClap |
3

8 @ Footloose For a Dangerfield Run

1 Comment

Don’t they say “better late than never”?  I hope so.  Sorry so late!

Dangerfield got his feet with with a great VQ Warmup.  I really think he’s ready to lead a full workout, now we just have to convince him of that.  We started the morning off with 8 merkins to celebrate 8 PAX coming out for Dangerfield’s VQ.  Gave the disclaimer and Dangerfield started running saying Follow Me!

We ran for what seemed like a mile one way, did 20 SSH’s , and then ran for what seemed like a mile back towards where we started from.  There we did some Cherry Pickers and Merkins.  Then Dangerfield took off again in true Gingerbread fashion saying Catch Me If You Can.  We didn’t catch him but thankfully he stopped at a curb to get us to do 20 calf raises.  He said we should be warmed up by now and we all called him some names and I gratefully took control of the workout.  Great job Dangerfield!  Anytime you can get the guys cussing at you, it means you’re doing something right!

After a walking 10 count, we moseyed to the back of the church, found a wall, did people’s chair, and passed a 30lb dumbbell down the line a couple times.  The 3rd time around we curled it left and right before passing.  Bear Crawl to the bottom of the hill for 20 SSH’s.

A short mosey down some stairs to the front of a different church.  I told the guys we’d be running some stairs in honor of Smithers giving a HC and then fart sacking on us.  @ his VQ, he had us running a whole bunch of those stairs.  It wasn’t too bad this time around.  We missed you Smithers!

Across the street I had some coupons waiting.  Each card had an exercise listed on it and each PAX picked 3 cards.  We found a parking space for each of us, laid the cards down, and got to work in cadence.  Choose 1 of the cards, do 20 count IC. We were each doing a different exercise but it didn’t confuse anybody.  Swap parking spots with somebody, choose a card, 20 count IC.  We did this for a full 2 rounds.  I tried to get us back to COT early but Uncle Sam insisted we had time for 1 more so we did 2 more. Cards pulled were:
Burpees, Gorilla Squats, Crab Humpers, Crab Jacks, Donkey Kicks, Flutters,  SSH, Lap around the lot, Merkins, Werkins, Diamond Merkins, LBC’s, Double Arm Curls (20 lb bells), Plank Hold, Forearm Plank Hold, Big Boy Situps, Tree Hugger Hold, Makhtar N’Diayes, Carolina Dry Docks, Scorpian Dry Docks,  and a few more crazy ones.

Finally headed back to COT for announcements, prayers, and praises.  Dont’ forget to read your newsletter!

Shoutout to Beacon for allowing me to Q.  It’s an honor I take way more seriously than writing backblasts.  I promise!

TClap |
1
Leave a comment

Apologies for no video name-o-rama, my  phone battery died as soon as it started recording. Zapped by the cold.

11 PAX showed up on a chilly Monday morning to get better while slinging some iron together.  I did my best to keep everything in cadence or single count to keep everyone together and unified.

Warm-up
  • Mosey Lap around the parking lot to warm up
  • SSH – 30 I.C.
  • Windmill – 10 I.C.
  • Little Baby Arm Circles – 30 I.C.
  • Arm stretches
  • deep hip stretch squat
  • Merkins on the bells – one hand on the bell at a time plus a diamond merkin in between. 5x of these
  • Mountain Climbers – 15 I.C.
  • Around the world with bell – 10 each direction
  • Lunge with bell passing under leg – 10 each leg
The Thang
  • Mosey to wall for a sit
    • while sitting on wall
      • 10 count with bell held out in front
      • 10 chest presses I.C.
  • Mosey to low wall
  • Curls – 10 each arm
  • Big Boy situps – 10
  • Squats – 10 I.C.
  • Run lap around islands
  • Tricep extensions – 10 I.C.
  • American Hammers – 10 I.C.
  • Calf Raises – 30 I.C.
  • Run lap around islands
  • Lawnmower Pulls – 10 each arm I.C.
  • V-Ups with Bells – 10
  • Step Ups – 10 each leg
  • Run lap around islands
  • Curls – 15 each arm
  • Big Boy situps – 15
  • Squats – 15 I.C.
  • Asked a PAX to share what’s going on in his life and a recent victory
  • Tricep extensions – 15 I.C.
  • American Hammers – 15 I.C.
  • Calf Raises – 30 I.C.
  • Asked Peabody to share where he got his name and what’s going on in his life
  • Lawnmower Pulls – 15 each arm I.C.
  • V-Ups with Bells – 15
  • Step Ups – 15 each leg
  • Asked Trucker where he got his name and what’s going on in his life
  • Mosey back to the COT
  • Shelf lifts – 10 each side I.C.
  • Hip flexor exercise – 10 repetitions of 5 movements

Great work and great mumblechatter today. It’s an honor and a privilege to lead. Thanks for the opportunity Assassin. See you brothers in the gloom soon!

TClap |
1

Slow Burn – Solid to the Core

Leave a comment

So, it was a fairly nice morning, especially when you consider it is December 1st!  I was able to workout in shorts and a t-shirt, so really…who can complain about that?

After reading Popeye’s back blast from down in The Rock region from a couple of days ago, it really got me off my six.  I saw that Trucker was scheduled to Q this week, but he posted that he needed a last minute Q change since he was DR last minute for work.  So I set out to plan a good ole’ core workout.  It went a little something like this…

Disclaimer (one FNG), then mosey down to the parking lot below for warmup.

Warmups:

  • Side Straddle Hop – 25
  • Low Slow Squats – 10
  • Windmill – 10
  • Moroccan Nightclubs – 25
  • Cherry Pickers – 10

Mosey to the other end of the strip and circle up.

Gifts – that is the word of the month for December.  We discussed how, especially this time of year when we hear the work gift we think of things…things we get, things we give, things we buy for ourselves…just stuff.  I challenged the PAX to think of the Spiritual Gifts that we all have.  We talked about how God has given us ALL various gifts, and literally everyone has them!

Another gift, is the gift of this F3 Brotherhood, and the unconditional support we all give to each other!  And lastly, my gift to the PAX was a good solid to the core workout 😉

The Thang:

  • LBC’s in cadence – 15
  • Flutter Kicks in cadence – 25
  • Boat/Canoe in cadence – 10

Recover with 10 count

  • LBC’s in cadence – 15
  • Flutter Kicks in cadence – 25
  • Boat/Canoe in cadence – 7

Mosey to the side of Lowes

  • Line up in 4 lines and have a relay race (all out) for half the length of the parking lot.  Boy can these HIMs move!

Two walking 10 counts to the back of Lowes, with a mosey the rest of the way.

  • Hello Dolly in cadence – 25
  • Freddy Mercury in cadence – 25
  • Big Boy Sit-Ups OYO – 10
  • American Hammer in cadence – 15

Mosey over to the wall.

  • People’s Chair with a 10 count (or more) from each of the 29 PAX

Time for a break.

  • Merkins in cadence – 10
  • Diamond Merkins in cadence – 10

Heard from Gilmore a bit about how he got his name, and what F3 has meant to him.  Great story and inspiration!

Back to the core.

  • Hello Dolly in cadence – 25
  • Freddy Mercury in cadence – 25
  • Big Boy Sit-Ups OYO – 10
  • American Hammer in cadence – 15

Mosey to the other side of lowes (working our way back in the direction of COT) for a couple minutes of Mary.

  • Box Cutters
  • Protractor

Mosey back to COT for name-o-rama.  We had one FNG, who was named Elvis (which is a STRONG name)

So, I wore myself out, and am super proud of all the PAX who pushed through this morning and stood together.  It is an honor and a GIFT to be able to Q!  Stay strong, get better, be willing to drop to your knees and accept help…Have a Blessed Week!

 

 

TClap |
17

F3 The Fort Thanksgiving Convergence 2017

Leave a comment
70 Men came today to burn calories so they can eat whatever they want the rest of the day. Ok, maybe that was my reasoning, but most came because the know in order to get better, even in being Gratful, it is best when being challenged by your brothers. We all came to get better and realize this great thing we have called F3 and give thanks!
Santini Opening with warm up both physically and mentally with some leadership principles
Split off into the various groups!
4 went for for a Run
F3-Wapner on the Moderate Q:
  • Drile (F3-Wapner)
    Mozy to the front of SFES, high knees, toy soldiers, Butt kickers, and Knees to chest.
    Mozy to front of SFMS, circled up…Side straddle hop, Merkins, Cherry Pickers, and Moroccan Nightclub
    Mozy to SFMS bus loop …high knees, toy soldiers, Butt kickers, and Knees to chest.
    Circled up.. Flutter Kicks and Low Slow Squats, America Hammer and Low Slow Squats, Merkins and Windmills, mountain climbers and windmills
    Mozy to back of SFES, circled up…Peter Parker’s and Side Straddle Hop, Plank and windmill, shoulder taps and Low Slow Squats, LBCs and Moroccan Nightclub
    Then rinse and repeated the above sequence…before joining the other groups at COT
    Lil E—Bootcamp Q
    Mosey to the parking lot in the rear of school and circle up. SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Squats
  • The thang
    • 10 cones set up in a line spaced about 10 paces apart. Each cone had an exercise and rep count on them. Do exercises on the first cone and run a lap of the parking lot. Once you complete the lap do the first cone and the second cone and then run a lap. Repeat this adding the next cone until all 10 are complete. Here were the exercises in order from first to last:
    • Burpees x 10
    • Bombjacks x 10
    • LBCs x 25
    • Merkins x 20
    • Jump Squats x 10
    • Flutter kicks x 40
    • CDDs x 20
    • Lunges x 20
    • Mtn Climbers x 20
    • Monkey Humpers x 20

Majority of the pax finished in the Lunges lap with a few speedsters out in front on the mtn climbers. Mosey back to the front of the school for some Freddy Mercury’s and Rosalitas.

After that met up with the Moderate and Black diamond groups for COT.

Everyone put out great effort today and really pushed themselves.

 

Witch Hunt—Black Diamond Q

Not even a trip to the hospital the night before with a pregnant wife could keep me away from this Thanksgiving workout. Shout out to Royale and Cha Ching for stepping up to help me out. Luckily I made it and we put in work.
We stared by counting off by 4 creating 4 teams.
Each team will compete to complete as many burpees as possible in 2-minutes with a catch. You can only do 10 at a time before you most complete 20 reps of ab exercise. 2 rounds:
1.) Burpees with LBCs (Somehow Bounce House was able to do 50 burpees. That dude is not human.)
2.) Burpees with Knee Tuck with crunchy frogs
Winners plank while losers perform 10 Kraken Burpees.
Blood was flowing so we moseyed to the hill by the middle school for some broken down burpees. Catch was that we had 20 minutes for everyone to complete. If everyone doesnt finish within the time then group does 25 Burpees.
Here was the setup:
Run Hill 10 times. (1 Hill Run = Up & Down)

5 Squat Jumps
5  Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
5 Merkins
5 Froggers
5 Squat Jumps

Run Hill 8 times.

10 Squat Jumps
10 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
10 Merkins
10 Froggers
10 Squat jumps

Run Hill 6 times.

15 Squat Jumps
15 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
15 Merkins
15 Froggers
15 Squat jumps

Run Hill 4 time.

20 Squat Jumps
20 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
20 Merkins
20 Froggers
20 Squat jumps

Run Hill 2 time

25 Squat Jumps
25 Plank w\ Shoulder Taps
25 Merkins
25 Froggers
25 Squat jumps

With some great teamwork by the Pax everyone completed within the 20 minutes so no penalty was given.

I attempted to have Backdraft give us a 10-count however  he responded “There are no 10 counts during the Black Diamond.” So no 10 count and a quick mosey back to the parking lot for the 10 Minute 100 Burpee Challenge:

Complete 10 1-minute rounds of burpees in the following set scheme. Any time left over in the round is yours for rest. (typically PAX finish the set between 25 and 40 seconds)

Rd1- 8

Rd2- 9

Rd3- 10

Rd4- 11

Rd5-12

Rd6-12

Rd7-11

Rd8-10

Rd9- 9

Rd10- 8

Total – 100

Amazing work by all the Pax. I didn’t pull any punches with this setup for the Black Diamond and the Pax took it on without hesitation. We all survived and are better for it.

Thanks to Ginsu and Cake Boss for the opportunity to lead.

Pusher with closing remarks and finding #Victory 

Prayers & Praises

Thank you F3 The Fort

Cake Boss

TClap |
4

No running

Leave a comment

We had fun this past Friday at The Varsity focusing on some burst training, different style pull-ups and burpees, a little mania, and talking about thoughts on Victory. After another day of illness, I hung in there and appreciated the grace from my fellow PAX who joined me. Everyone gave excellent effort for a different style F3 workout.

Disclosure mentioned, No FNGs.

Topic of the Month: Victory; Reminder to read and study the wonderful PDF from your newsletter!

Warmup:

A wee bit of running, bunny hops, figure 8s (can’t ever remember the F3 name for this), 1 sprint

20 each person’s name straddle hops 

12 Ab Vigodas

10 Merkins

15 Arm circles each way (large and small)

15 Parker Peters

15 Low slow squats

4 Rolling Crucifix

The Thang:

Burst Training:

60 secs each of:

High Knees

Crossover jumps

Targeted 15 sec rest

30 secs each of:

Single leg hops (left) over a small cone

Single leg hops (right) over a small cone

2 Side to side hop overs over a small cone then into a big X-cross

Targeted 15 sec rest

60 secs each of:

2 foot front to back hops

Fast! and “clean” SSHs

Jump high burpees

Targeted 30 sec rest

60 secs each of:

Suicides for all the cones on ground for each PAX

3 Turkish getups; on fourth one sprint to the last cone and do 7 Peter Parkers each side and jog back to first cone

Back to Front Hops (over a line)

Targeted 15 secs rest

30 secs of:

High Jump squats

Squat jacks

Shuffle Burpees

1 minute rest

Mosey to Pull-up Bar area:

Pullups and Burpees:

A few randomly picked PAX got to pick a number between 1-15 and then a number between 1-7.  So, yes, if you did not come to this workout, then you will experience some of the others in the future from me! Ones selected without knowing ahead of time were:

(All were Max OYO)

Round 1: L sit bicep holds (and pull-up if you can), then One-arm burped

Round 2: Switch grip pull-ups, then Squat thrust burpees

Round 3: Headbanger pull-ups, then Donkey kick burpees

Mosey to COT area:

5 Minutes of Straight Up’s version of “Hysteria”:

30 secs  of Mountain Climbers

20 secs of Side Kick-thru

10 seconds of Squats kicks

10 seconds of rest

20 secs of Mountain Climbers

30 secs Side Kick-thru

20 secs of Squats kicks

20 secs rest

10 secs of Mountain Climbers

10 secs Side Kick-thru

30 secs of Squat kicks

30 secs rest

Then 20 secs of each:

Mountain Climbers

Side Kick-thru

Squat Kicks

COT:

Victory comments

Praises

Prayers: especially for the young boys/girls in Ft Mill dealing with bullying, stereotypes, and other stressors.

Kielbasa: Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to lead these fine men!  Until next time!

– Straight Up out

TClap |
2

Block Party at Block Party

Leave a comment

The last day of October, Halloween and the last day of the month of  respectables at Block Party saw the delivery of blocks.  Concrete blocks.  30 lb blocks.

The Thang

A brief warm up:  Lunge Stretch, 25 SSH & Imperial Walkers

The crew then picked up their coupons as well as their complaints and proceeded around the the park stopping at each drill bit for:

  1. 20 curls and 20 LBCs
  2. 20 Prone Presses and 20 LBCs
  3. 20 Upright Rows and 20 LBCs
  4. 20 Squats and 20 LBCs
  5. 20 Lawnmower pulls each arm and 20 LBCs
  6. 20 Overhead Presses and 20 LBCs

Since this was clearly not enough fun, the crew moved to the hill next to COT.   With coupon half way up the hill for 20 curls and all the way up for 20 prone presses. Rinse and repeat about 3 times.

This is the moleskin, and it is important.  God is clearly in control.  At the same time we MUST do our part.  We cannot sit idly by, pray and hope for the best.  We must recognize God’s speaking and His words to us – and then we must act in accordance with His will.

I was honored to lead at this AO.  Thank you to all the PAX who were there.

 

TClap |
1

Speak Victory

Leave a comment

 

What an amazing morning in the gloom on this Fall day. Spitz posted early for a pre-run. We had a couple of young Pax present to push us. Twister was wide open and fueled with enough caffeine the town of Fort Mill. #LoveIt

 

The Thang

 

Leg Warm-Up: Toy Soldiers, Shuffle Left, Shuffle Right, Back Pedals, Karaoke Left, Karaoke Right, Power Skips

 

COP: SSH (10x), IW (10x), HBW (20x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (20x), Peter Parkers (10x), Parker Peters (10x), Pepper Grinders (10x), LBCs (15x)

 

Stretch-o-rama

 

3 on 3 basketball games for intense cardio.

 

Moleskin:

Many people wake up groggy and dreading the day. Starting your day with a negative mind set is a self-defeating choice. You lose the battle before it starts.

 

Start and end your day on a positive note. What you think and say become reality. Speak victory into the atmosphere to win the battle before it starts. When you are troubled, call on God and His angels to help ensure your victory.

 

Deuteronomy 20:4 NIV – “For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

 

Peace,

Deacon

TClap |
2