2 Year Anniversary of The Abyss

Today we celebrated 2 years of the Abyss.  When the shovel flag was planted 6/29/20016 by Dark Helmet the Abyss was merely an idea that “if we build it….they will post.”  And post the PAX did!  Over the past year and half it has been an honor to be the Site Q of this versatile AO and I appreciate all the PAX who have come out and led a workout.

Q got to the AO with seconds to spare due to an emergency bathroom visit at a 24 hr Harris Teeter in route.

Once disclaimers were given and the 5 F3 Principles given (due to FNG) we were off.

Quick mosey around the front half of the AO to allow all stragallers to exit their vehichles (ehem…Wildthing) and then to a warm-up circle.

Warm-up

  • Windmill
  • Weed Pickers
  • Moroccan Night Club
  • Slow Low Squat
  • Plank (a few Broga moves)
  • Merkins
  • Stretch with knees to chest

The Thang

I told the PAX that I wanted to highlight a few of the “features” of the AO during the workout so we started with the Flag pole.

  • Bear Crawl around circle in front of school

Mosey to very back hill of the AO for a series of hill exercises

  • Lunge walk–Sprint to top
  • Broad Jump–Sprint to top
  • Basketball shuffle Flip half way

Mosey to the Basketball court for some Suicides

First Suicide–

all four goals and back

Second–

  • Start with 10 Squats
  • 2nd Goal–10 Merkins
  • 4th Goal–5 Burpees

Mosey into “wet and muddy” field

  • Elbow Plank position with Peter Parker’s
  • Jack Webs (everyone’s favorites)

Mosey to “the hill”

  • Finished strong with 5 sprints up the hill

Mosey to COT.

Everyone pushed themselves and got better for it…includding FNG who was off to the side threatening to Merlot.

Once Namorama was finished we welcomed FNG Oompa Loompa!

Announcements and Prayers

Thanks again for all the PAX who came out today to celebrate this AO.  We had 24 there and we have set the goal for 30 next year!

-Bones

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Shovelflag handoff @ The Coop

Thank you for the 24 guys that came out to The Coop this morning for the shovel flag handoff to YHC from Sugarbug. I decided to give the FBI PFT test as the workout.

We moseyed to the field and did a chicken wing approved warmup. We warmed up until he gave the clearance to proceed.

FBI PFT is as follows:

Max situps in 1 minute

300m sprint

Max pushups

1.5 mile run

Pull-ups (optional) we didn’t have enough time for these.

Out of the 25 PAX that posted only 7 passed unofficially.

Dark Helmet

Subprime

Sasquatch

Skate or Die

Harry Carry

Caddy Shack

Bonsai

Some guys were close, but the sprint and run is where most guys got caught . Welcome FNG Easy Button!

My first order of business as new Site Q is to move the congregation point to the good asphalt so when we do Mary, we don’t feel like we are laying on broken glass.

Thanks to sugarbug for the peaceful transition and thank you for all your leadership!

 

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The Coop: Mixed Meters

24 PAX gathered in the gloom. The summer numbers bump is upon us. Can we stick with it when it is 10° again??

The Thang: Lots of mixed (non-4) counts

Mosey around the main parking lot covering as much ground there as possible in a zigzag pattern. Alternating High Knees, Butt Kickers, and Karaoke.

Mosey to the band practice lot
SSH x30
1 Burpee
Windmill x10
2 Burpees
Imperial Walker x15
3 Burpees
Hillbilly Walker x15
4 Burpees
LSS x15
5 Burpees
(It took until the Hillbilly Walkers for Longshanks to realize I was copying one of his warmups. Imitation is the highest form of flattery…..why fix it if it ain’t broken?)

Mosey to traffic circle COP
Alternating:
Down Dog and Honeymooner
Plank
Shoulder Taps x10
Yogi Squats

Mosey to Pull Up Bars at ROTC Building
Split into groups of 3s (CSPAN made a French joke and the PAX did 9 Burpees in cadence)
Rotate partners through Derkins, Pull ups, and Wall Sits. Called up and down for each exercises. Did about 6 slow pull ups per PAC.

Mosey to Elementary School parking lot
Partner up for alternating Mike Tysons and Bear Crawls from island to island through the parking lot.

Mosey back towards COT with a lap around the basketball court.

At COT:
Around the Worlds (12 count lunges) x6
Flutters x15
LBC x15
Catalina Wine Mixer x2 (hit 6 o’clock)

NMM:

As PAX, we regularly challenge ourselves physically in the gloom. Leaving the comfort of the fart sack to push ourselves and get better. But how often do we challenge ourselves mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Often with these challenges we don’t have to wake up and head to the gloom; they come our way without us seeking.

How do we respond to emotional challenges presented in the form of a four-year-old trying to situate their sock perfectly when it is time to go? Or mentally when there’s a civic challenge that needs to be addressed? Or spiritually when were faced with our own demons?

Addressing and improving physically is a wonderful thing, but we as PAX must strive to better ourselves emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well. Otherwise we are always out of balance.

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Unrealistic Expectations at BEYOND

We’ve all ages and abilities come to BEYOND since launching in January and while there have been some struggles along the way, I think the feeling is unanimous; we’re getting pushed physically and being challenged mentally, emotionally and spiritually. For those that are upcoming Q’s, the hardest part seems to be how to deliver a meaningful message and a good down inside of 45mins.

Well, it was now my time to pick the topic for the latest rendition. The launch was set for Varsity (NaFO) and the topic was one I’ve dealt with for years but didn’t know it was a problem until the last few weeks. You see, it wasn’t until some adversity and personal challenges that I realized my trends or perhaps more importantly, my tendencies. So what happens? I have these expectations of what I need to be and who I need to be which are of course, often times unrealistically high. When I fall short, which happens more often than not; I feel like I don’t measure up and reside on the line boarding failure. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to me being a less-than-desirable person to be around.

After the welcoming of a zealous FNG (Abscess) who was EH’d by Mr. FNG himself, Ginsu, I took a minute to walk through the disclaimer, what BEYOND is all about followed by the F3 CREDO: Leave no man behind and leave no man where we found him. This was done for me years ago and it is my promise to make every effort to pass it on. We then took off for a short mosey through the lot and circled up:

Plank Jacks x 10

Ski Abs x 10

Carolina Dry Docks x 10

Squat Calf Raises x 10

Forward Arm Circles x 10

Reverse Arm Circles x 10

Mak Tar Jahs x 10

This is where I let the PAX rest for a few minutes as I walked through my above challenges and what it turns into. It was also a good time to talk about how this life is not meant to be walked alone; queue the WHETSTONE relaunch coming up this Saturday 4/21. The feeling this leads to is what Scripture explains in Luke 22:31 where Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” These last few years have been a test, almost a sifting process that I have now begun to realize.

What we also realized was the neatly placed cones 50 yards apart in the parking lot. With all 20 of us lined up on one side, we sprinted to the other end and back at the following levels of effort:

50%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 25%

Mosey to the pull-up bars where 1/2 the PAX did 20 pull-ups (1 for each man that posted) while the other 1/2 did ankle grabs with their legs straight up against the wall. Each man cycled through 2 sets of each exercise and we made our way out to the adjacent roadway for:

4×4’s: Drop to a plank, 4 merkins, 4 full mountain climbers, jump up = 1 set. We did 10 sets.

With PAX on opposite sides of the road, we dropped to a plank with our hands in the road and our feet on the curb. We plank-walked down the hill about 25 yards to the cone then bear crawled back to the start. We switched sides and did it again, this time about 20yds down and bear crawled up.

It was now time for the ATM’s:

(10) 4ct Alternating shoulder taps

(10) Tempo Merkins: 3ct down and 1ct up

(10) Fast Merkins

We did 3 sets of this.

We then moseyed back to the cones for another sprint series that looked like this:

100%, 100%, 50%, 100%, 25%.

COT for a reminder of Whetstone and our FNG naming.

Loved every minute of it and thanks for the platform to share a piece of my story. I hope you learned a little tidbit and that I fulfilled my promise to not leave you where we found you.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

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CSPAN Returns to The Coop for flutter kick freenzy

Perfect weather and 52 degrees

disclaimer in detail because we had 2 FNGs (T-claps Paul Bunyon and Sasquatch)

and we were off

mosey around until I got tired…

Warmup-O-Rama

Mosey around until I got tired…

Some abs and some core

Mosey around until I got tired…

partner up – 3 rounds of flutter, squats, and LBC while your partner ran the parking loop

Mosey until I got tired…

Same partner 4 rounds flutter kicks and pull-ups

Mosey until I got tired…

10 flying squirrel countdown with sets of 10 flutter kicks…

and I ran out of time…

COT/prayer or praise/BOM

welcome Llama and Puppy…weird that they were both animal names today…?

read your newsletter, and make a difference today, and my abs still don’t look Tesh…

AYE!

CSPAN

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The Coop – Sweetness all around!

5 min till launch and the cars started rolling in. The PAX of The Coop are like the John Dally of F3…..they just show up and go!

Sugar Daddy took the lead for the warm up. The football stadium was open and so we utilizied the comfortable turf for COP. Dark Helmet was coming in hot, so we made sure we counted loud enough for him to locate the PAX.

Sugar Daddy did a great tradition warm up and then added a plank series to work our shoulders with some multiple taps. I felt like pre-school all over with Head, shoulders, knees and toes….. Was a great move and added to the coming meat of workout and not being able to use our arms the rest of the day.

YHC took over and did a little dynamic warm up back down the football field.  Mosie  to the pull up bars for a mini Murph written on the ground. Since being asked to Q, got to go to a quality no thought but painful plan.

  • Take lap down to Sugar Creek Playground and back
  • 50 Pullups
  • 100 Merkins
  • 150 Squats
  • 30 Calf Raises
  • Take lap down to Sugar Creek Playground and back
  • Airborne’s Hip Exercises
    • 7 exercise moves with each leg…..real crowd pleaser!

COT

Prayers for all the PAX and many things going on in life

Crawdaddy mention the Reading opportunities at Paradise…..make an impact Mondays and Wednesdays

YHC talked about Worry and Anxiety and how we are working ourselves to reach retirement and accumulation of stuff. With these goals they can cause stress when they don’t meet our expectations. We need to find contentment and joy in the work we do and see we work for a higher purpose than leisure…..which will lead to joy……less stress. Phil 4:19 Sky Q provides!

Thanks Sugar Bug for lead!

Cake Boss out!

 

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Five for Six at the Varsity

Typical Varsity style the number of Pax was low but the pain was high on a beautiful morning to post.
The year is short so far but there are already two major learnings through my word of the year and the short time on the Journey
  • My lack of emotional presence is a huge factor in my relationship challenges with my wife and kids… my word is NOW and much of that is learning to be more present
  • If bearing fruit is the yard stick by which you measure your abiding in Christ then I have a long way to travel on my journey because as I look at the fruit I bear it is a little under ripe and the yield is not high.
Rule of the day – 3 Burpees on every transition between exercises.
All Hands Mosey to band parking lot with a single rule (the hands must touch the ground with every step) – bear crawl, crab walk forward, lunge Walk with hands touching the ground, inch worms, crab walk backwards
Warm up at the band parking lot – Exercise run (50 out followed by 3 burpees)
– SSH, Imperial Walker, CCD, Mountain Climbers
Six man fail 100 yard run on regular exercises, 200 yard run on ab exercises
– Merkins
– Dips
– CCD
– LBC
– Plank
and a few others thrown in their by the pax
Wall work
– Balls to the wall
Mosey to COT… regular style.
It is always an honor to lead this group.  AYE!
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You’re making the easy exercises suck

5 PAX showed up on a picture perfect morning. We grabbed our bells and strolled up to the top of the pick up lane.

Circled up and immediately dropped to a plank. Peter Parker

Honeymooner/Downward Dog

Parker Peter

Imperial walkers

Sugarbug told me these next exercises I was ruining because they were the easy ones.

Held Al Gore and did morracan nightclubs and overhead claps

The Main Event:

20 KB Swings and 10 Merkins, then run a lap

20 Swings and 9 Merkins., lap. You can probably sense a pattern here. I quickly shortened the lap since the full drop off lane was a tad ambitious.

After 200 Swings and 55 Merkins, I wanted to try something that would make anyone watching the security footage question our sanity. We bunny hopped through the parking space posts like a slalom course.

Next, we lunge walked along the pillars of the drop off lane and did 20 squats at the halfway point. Continued our lunges and squats for a total of 3X. Then we bearcrawled the last half of the pillars stopping at each one for 3 CDD.

Circled up for a PAX called exercise for 5 minutes.

COT

I want to thank Polaroid for the opportunity to lead these HIM on a beat down. I feel somewhat guilty that I was able to take a nap after while the others had to go to work. One verse that has been in my head all morning is from Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.”

-Wegmans

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Tomahawk-0 to 60 in 45 mins

12 PAX and YHC came in da Gloom of Doby’s Bridge Elementary to take our daily Red Pill. As I thought about what type of beat down I’d apply I realized simple is sometimes enough. We over complicate many things and our lives and we can’t do any one thing well. So I kept it simple and effective!

The Thang:

Warm Up around the parking lot with mini COP

Grab the bells and get after it. 20 exercises for 60 secs or 1 min each and after 4 we run a lap.  Fun times had by all!!

Flutter kick
Russian twist
V up
Hello dolly
Leg raises
Lunge
Squat
Right leg
Squat figure 8
Left leg
KB Swing
Shoulder press
Upright row
Bent row
Lat raises
R/L Curl
Concentration curl
Tri extension
Skull crushers
Calf Raises
YHC spoke about restoring old cars and how people can see the beauty in things that some of us don’t. I mentioned the research center in NC where body parts are being grown with people’s actual cells, so they can be interchanged if something goes bad….like car parts.
As much as we can exercise and change parts there is only one way to be restored…..through the Grace of Sky Q. He takes our old away and makes us New. He sees beauty in us that we don’t even see in ourselves. Find time to realize how Sky Q plans to make you restored and living a brand new life today!!
2/17-Breakfast at Philly UMC
2/20-1stF and 3rdF convergence at Forest Hill Parking lot
2/24-YETI…..just do it!
Thanks for Lead Polaroid!
Cake Boss
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First taste of The Tomahawk

Got my first taste of the many options that Tomahawk has to offer. Perhaps agreeing to Q the day after the Super Bowl wasn’t the smartest thing YHC has ever done, but no one wants to disappoint the Pax. After taking a recon drive past the school on Saturday, a plan was formed. Being nervous as to how long it would take to get to this AO that is nowhere near my home base, I, of course, arrived way early. But, as i was searching for the perfect spot for my cones, the lights miraculously came on at 5 sharp. That lifted my spirits tremendously.

Pax rolled in starting with He who loves the Thrill of the Drops. Tried to introduce myself to the arriving pax to introduce myself to those I had not met and to set a tone that we were in this together.

Disclaimer offered at 5:15 sharp and off we went. Mosey around the drop off circle with some high knees, buttkickers and karaoke. Circle up.

COP:

  • SSH * 20
  • Windmill * 15
  • Merkins * 10
  • Squats * 15
  • Wide Arm Merkins * 10
  • MOROCCAN NIGHTCLUBS * 20

MOSEY behind the School to an array of cones

THE THANG: LADDER

  • 10 KB SWINGS-RUN TO 3 RD LIGHTPOST AND BACK
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 15 SKULL CRUSHERS-RUN
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 15 SKULL CRUSHERS, 20 SQUATS-RUN
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 15 SKULL CRUSHERS, 20 SQUATSS, 30 Upright ROWS-RUN
  • RINSE AND REPEAT (SORT OF)
  • 10 KB SWINGS-RUN TO 3 RD LIGHTPOST AND BACK
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 20 FIGURE 8S-RUN
  • 10 KB SWINGS, 20 FIGURE 8’S-RUN, 20 BENT OVER ROWS-RUN

THOUGHT ON ANXIETY/WORRY: EACH OF US SPENDS SO MUCH TIME&ENERGY WORRYING ABOUT MATTERS OUT OF OUR CONTROL. DO YOU SEE JESUS WALKING WITH YOU WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE WORRIES? (SHARED A PASSAGE FROM THE BOOK “THE SHACK”)

To the Wall- Peoples Chair with KB held out front while each Pax jumps out of line and does 5 Bombjacks. Repeato, but this time with 5 merkins

MOSEY TO COT

Prayers for Polaroids’s daughter having trouble sleeping, prayers for my family after my brother’s recent death, other unspoken prayers.

Really enjoyed my morning with the Pax of the southern reaches of The Fort. I’ll be back sometime, but not so early next time. Thanks Polaroid for the opportunity to serve this growing region.

Short Sale Out.

 

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