Tag: Spitz

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

The real gloom at WEP

Leave a comment

What a great Saturday morning. I got out to the AO a little early cause I hadn’t been out to WEP in a very long time. The air was thick with fog, it was dark, it was downright scary  – the perfect type type of gloom that we love to work with.

Men  start showing up about eight minutes before launch, by the time we were ready to go we had a total of 19 PAX ready to get after it . Nomad  brought 3 FNG’s from his youth group and they were excited to figure out what was in store for them this morning.  I bet they felt differently after words.

Maximus were starting us off today so he gave the long disclaimer for new friends and off we went .

It was a nice quick jog and then circle up to do several exercises that I can’t recall individually – but Maximus pushed us to get nice and warmed up.

the Thang

Partner up

partner 1 pull ups AMRAP while partner 2 runs around the playground  perimeter.

Repeat three times

After that we will circle up in the playground dirt and did several of the exercises which included toe touches, LBCs, flutter kicks and chopsticks. Maybe an elbow plank in there as well.

Maximus then turned it over to Royale

Mosey into the grass circled up and picked new partners

Lazy Dora

No running, consists  of the following exercises that are rotated between the two partners until you get to the combined number .

100 merkins

10 each while other partner planks

200 Squats

25 each while other partner holds low squat

300  American hammers single count

30 each  while partner holds 6 inches

This evolution was terrible so I gave the guys a break after it was done and read from Discipline Equals Freedom, a section called “application of discipline ”  from Jocko Willink’s most recent book. I shared his video about the book above.  It’s one of my favorite short motivational videos on YouTube!

The next evolution involved a nice little hill for 11’s

Run up the top the hill- do 10 bomb jacks – run back down – one plank jack until you reverse the cycle down to one Bomb Jack and 10 plank jacks.

Next we moseyed halfway around the park on the running track until we came close to the front road and entrance to the park.

We formed two lines and partnered up with the person right across from you in line- sat down and did two minutes each of big boy sit ups many as you can.

finally spent the last two minutes doing as many as you can burpees – real crowd pleaser

COT with FNG naming, Gomer, Ghost Rider and Chop Block.

Announcements prayers and praises

It was an honor to lead,

Royale & Maximus

TClap |
2

Smithers VQ at Footloose – Stairway to Heaven

1 Comment

Smithers VQ

The weather was wonderful this fine fall October Morning…it felt just about as thick as ever and I was sweating even before I got out of bed!  Perfect day for my VQ!

As we were standing around talking before everything got kicked off I was amazed by the show of support of all the PAX rolling in one after another, 29 in all.  If only they had known what was coming ;-).

Started off with my first ever disclaimer…then a mosey to the back parking lot at First Baptist for the warmup:

  • Side Straddle Hops
  • Low Slow Squats
  • Windmills
  • Walking Calf Raises (aka how Cakeboss walked to school) to the wall
  • Wall sits for each PAX 10 count

Mosey across the street, down the steps, and across the next street to the parking lot next to Fort Mill Church of God…and wait, what was that in the humid glow of the streetlight?  Was that a board of pain?  Oh yes…

The Thang:

Partner up.  One partner starts the exercise while the other runs across the street and runs the snake on the set of steps…then back to take over the exercises for the partner.

  • 50 Bombjacks
  • 150 LBC’s
  • 200 Monkey Humpers
  • 150 Squats
  • 50 Merkins
  • 200 Calf Raises
  • 200 Side Straddle Hops

CONTROL is the word of the month.  We are all men….it’s in our DNA to want to be in control.  What do we need to find control?  In a car you need good tires…in a house you need a solid foundation.  You need a STRONG BASE…so…we worked on ours today.  Our legs (and a little bit of our core) were the focus…to give us a strong base to improve our control!

That said, we have all experienced things that didn’t go according to plan, and in many cases you could not regain that control no matter how hard you tried.  It is not easy to let go…it is not easy to adapt quickly…at least not all the time.  So, even when we ARE feeling in control we know that it is the Sky Q who has allowed that and trusted our leadership, Aye!  You see, the Sky Q uses us daily…sometimes to help others who are down, and pick them up…sometimes we are there to help those looking to help a brother up and we are the ones who are down.  Then there are the days where things just move right along without much resistance.  Those are the days where we should be letting the Sky Q know how much we appreciate His trust in us, and asking for continued strength to make Him proud!

Mosey back to COT for a quick round of Mary (just one set of flutter kicks) to close out our time.

My biggest fear was getting done WAY too early or not coming anywhere CLOSE to finishing the workout.  Sky Q steered me right in all the decisions, and I think for my first Q to finish with less than 2 minutes to spare…well, I’ll take that any day!

So, in closing…

My legs hurt, how about yours?

Smithers Out

TClap |
11

5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

2 Comments

Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

  • Mosey to the football field
  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10, 4-count windmills
  • 30 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10, 4-count merkins
  • 10, 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 10, 4-count Parker Peters
  • 10, 4-count LBCs
  • 20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

  • 800 meter indian run
  • 1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
  • 200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
  • 400 meter sprint corners recover straights
  • 1600 meter cool down
  • 5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

  • Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
  • Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
  • Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
  • Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
  • 10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
  • Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
  • Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

  • MOSEY to Elementary School
  • Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
  • Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
  • Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
    • Number 1’s go to station #1
    • 2’s start at Station3, etc.
  • Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
    • 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
    • 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
    • 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
    • 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
    • 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
    • 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
    • 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
    • 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
    • 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
    • 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
  • Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

TClap |
16

The Painful Ideas of Virgin Q’s

Leave a comment

Fourteen strong came out for the final week of VQ month, and our Q’s proved once again that the new Q’s have no trouble pushing the Pax to their limits.  Here is what they did.

Photobomb on Q

10 Yard mosey and right to COP

SSH x 30,, Imperial Walker x 20, Wind Mill x 20, M. Nightclub x 20,  Mtn Climbers x 20, Merkin x 10 PeterParker  x 15, Parker Peter x 15

Mosey to ball field for 50 yard reps
High knees
Butt kickers
Karaoke x2
Single leg hops x2
Pogo x2
Burpee broad jumps x2
Bear crawl x2
Partner up and Wheel barrel x 2
Backward sprints x 3
Lunge walks w Monkee Humpers x 4

Hand off to Copperfield

Six Cones spaced about 15 yards apart. Three exercises on each cone:  upper body, core, legs.  Bear crawl between cones.

Cone 1:
Wide Merkins x 10
Ski Abs x 30
Jump squats x 50

Cone 2:
Merkins x 10
Flutter kicks x 30
Air chair x 100 seconds

Cone 3:
Arm circles x 30
Shoulder taps x 30
Jump lung x 20

Cone 4:
Arm circles x 160
In and out abs x 25
Bomb jacks x 30

Cone 5:
Side to side Merkins x 20
Pretzel x 20
Apollo ono x 50

Cone 6:
Derkin x 15
Plank x 60
Goblet squat x 50

Once complete go in reverse and only do the core workout on each cone.

COT

This is posted on behalf of our Q’s:  Photobomb and Copperfield.  After what you put us through today, you can post your own damn backblast next time!  Aye, it was a long morning for the Pax between the 50 yard wheel barrows, single leg hops, 160 arm circles (really?), and backwards bear crawling at the tail end of the workout.    I was completed gassed,  and admittedly,  called you both some unflattering names under my breath as we walked to COT.    After coffeteria, a nice shower, and some reflection, though, I realized that you did what I expect you to do and we are all better for it.

Our friend, Aquaman, was in town this weekend and YHC put a shout out on Twitter for the some of the Alcatraz ‘original line up’ to post today.  Some were able to make it  (Zima, Minuteman, Mr. Clean, Spark Plug) and we were glad to have you with us.   Don’t be strangers, men.  Welcome back Kotter, Cyclops, who I hope will continue to post regularly at Alcatraz.

VQ month was a success at Alcatraz.  All of our new  guys brought something different each week to challenge us.   My thanks to all of our VQ’s and ‘new to Alcatraz’  Q’s this month:  Which Hunt, Jedi, Chicken Wing,  Olaf, Lutefisk, Photobomb, and Copperfield.  Well done, men and you know you are always welcome to Q again at Alcatraz.

Announcements, Prayers,and Praises!

Read your newsletter!  The Fort 5th Year Invergence this Friday, Sep 29.  Be there.

We prayed for healthy families, and those with cancer.   We praised God for his healing hand on a mom with pancreatic cancer.

 

TClap |
5

Wheezer’s VQ

Leave a comment

F3 9/16 @ WEP (Wheezer & CSPAN)

Disclaimer & no FNGS

Warm up Mosey to lower visitor parking lot on 160

15 IWalkers

10 WMills

15 LSSquats

20 MNClubs

15 MTn Climbers

10 single Ct merkins Mosey- Reverse power walk up the side hill:

Upper PLot: Partner up size doesn’t matter

Dora 100/200/300

100: monkey humpers

200: LBC

300: MNC

Mid: Toy Solider 2nd light pole, 50% Duck Walk 1/2, 75% Bear crawl 1st light pole, 100% Upper P lot: Partner up

Reverse Dora 300/200/100

300: LBC

200: Squats

100: CDD

Handoff to CSPAN

I Q’d some stuff…most ignored me…Wheezer “smoked” them…

COT/BOM

Read your newsletter

Get this Wheezer in the Q rotation…

File_000

TClap |
2

The Jock (week#2)

Leave a comment

Combo @F3TheFort & @F3RockHill bootcamp style workout at the BMX track

Disclaimer

warmup-o-rama

Board of pain style #AMRAP with lots of parking lot running and 10 of the following at every corner

Seal Jacks

Flutters

Merkins

Humpers

Flying Squirrels

SSH

Squat

CDD

LBC

Mountain Climbers

partnerup with someone you don’t know for 10 minutes, and followed up by 25 minutes of #UvsU

COT/Prayer or Praise/ BOM

TClap |
1

I call this one the rope a dope…

Leave a comment

Ok so right off the gate I have to say tagging 30 people is a chore, but I love all of you so I did it anyway. I dont get the opportunity to Q Slow Burn a lot so I am always grateful when the chance arises. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the amount of folks that go to the Burn. I wanted to bring some things to those folks they may not have been exposed to before. We started as any other day with the disclaimer and identifying the FNG in the crowd EHed by Smithers. Off we went…

The thang

Slow mosey down to the parking lot in front of the old Baxter Fun house. We kicked butts and high knees along the way. Dark Helmet got a little handsy. Circle up for some windmills, merkins, and Moroccan night clubs. The counts ranges from 15-3 depending on my vibe in the air. Mainly I just get tired of the same old 10 or 20 counts. Q tip #1- DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY once in a while

Mosey over to the road leading back towards Armory. Next we were going to work on pacing. The object is to run the same distance over the same time repeatedly. First was a 1 minute run toward Forest Hill church at whatever pace you need to hold to get to 1 mile. So if you are a 5 minute mile guy, then run fast. If you are a 20 minute mile guy, then basically walk. This was a true UVU. We ran for 1 minute out then had a 1 minute rest. Then 1 minute back. Most ended right were we started. Next series was 2 minutes out, 1 minute rest, 2 minutes back. Again, other than Long Shanks, everyone ended close to where they started. This is a great training exercise for anyone trying to figure or work on pacing.

Next we went over to the Lowes sitting wall (or we sit on Lowes, idk). Count off by 1 and 2. Team 1 inch wormed out to a line in the parking lot then mosey back. 2s keep sitting on the wall. Once back switch. We did 2 rotations of this. We then did 2 seriees of bear crawls in this same manor. To cap it off was a series of slow merkins. 3 count down… to 10 I think.

Next we meandered over to another area where to everyone’s surprise we found a kettle bell coarse laid out. Everyone had their opportunity for rows, presses, swings, hay bailers, and curls. Whilst others waiting we did squats and merkins.

For my final trick we moseyed over to the gravelish lot next to Empire pizza. Here we partook in some HIIT style training. 1 minutes ARMAP burpees , rest, then 1 minute AMRAP merkins. COT

Prayers for Spitz to be the sounding board for a youth. Prayers for that boys family. Invergence on the 29th and convergence on the 30th where YHC has part of the call so I hope to see you all there.

Moleskin

So here is where things twisted everyone’s mind. I explained that we had actually performed workouts from 5 different style AO’s in a single Q. The warm ups with low counts and less impact-full exercises is something that can be found at a moderate style workout( Slow Burn/ Footloose). The running where we worked on pace setting is something you can find at Laces out or Clydesdales. The wall sits, inch worm, bear crawl combo was a stereotypical boot camp like Laces in, The Coop, or The Ranch (Constance motion with an elevated degree of difficulty). The KB portion was exactly what you can expect at Armory or Tomahawk. Last but not least the HIIT ARMAP is your Varsity style.

Moderate is a steeping stone on your fitness journey. Be careful not to get complacent and stop challenging yourself. We proved today that 30 men can do 5 styles of workout. Go at your own pace. Just because you “aren’t a runner” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try a running AO. Just because you dont own a kettle bell doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try a KB AO (there are always extras). Just because you aren’t Pin Up doesn’t mean you should skip a HIIT workout. Push yourself men. The greatest growth comes from the most discomfort.

Challenge was issued of try a new AO this week. Who’s up for a change? I believe in you guys. Ill meet anyone anywhere if they want to try a new AO. Open invitation…

Thanks Barry,

Cage out

TClap |
12