Tag: Sugar Bug

Philly Inspired Psy-Ops CSPAN at the Coop

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34 was the count at the coop and it was a great morning at the Coop with the temperatures near perfect and a special guest visit by Grand-Tan, CSPAN himself.  It was great to catch up with a #HIM and for his presence in the PAX.  But you can’t have  Grand-Tan return without a little engagement in the routine.  CSPAN honored us with his slightly angry, Philly version of a warm up.  The good news is that the PAX was angry at him and not me.
Prayers for Shady and his spill on the sprint back to COT and subsequent trip to the MD.  Grateful for Dirty Harry and his field ops specialty and coolness under pressure.  The highlight of the morning was watching guys step ups and do their part when another brother was in need.  That my friends is F3!
Message: Be Still
  • Where does your mind go in the stillness?
  • Regrets for the past, fears of the future, how many of us were thankful for the moment, how often do we use stillness in the moment to experience God’s voice and direction … I don’t do being still well because my mind constantly has chatter.
  • Be Still- observe the mind – become conscious to what is going on in your mind – results in your ability to be present and to own the thoughts in your mind
Warm up/ COP – CSPAN  maybe I will just summarize it at as a Nascar like (right turns though) sprints with up/downs with flutters, and more flutters and a few more flutters and then some flutters.  I think that covers it.
Mosey to band parking lot:
Suicide Sprints: 10/20/30
  • 50% sprint
  • Karaoke
  • Side shuffle
  • Full length full speed
  • Power Skips back
Rugby Sprints to the 50 and walk it back
  • SSH
  • Merkins
  • Mule Kicks
  • Flying Squirrels
Every 5 to the 50
  • Bear crawl 5 yards then 5 CCD increments sprint to the end
  • Burpee Broad jumps 5 yards then 5 merkins
Wall sits with burpees
2 minutes of MARY
Prayers for Shady’s recovery and quick return. Prayers for Bailey (CSPAN’s daughter) and the birth of their son today at 12:30. Many unspoken prayers known and unknown are put at the foot of the cross and we ask that the Lord tends to them according to his Will.
Aye!
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13

No foolin’ at The Honey Badger today

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17 PAX attended (probably most of them by accident) Ass kickin’ April Year 2.  AKAY2 started at the Badger today with YHC on Q (to make sure I post for day 1).  AKAY2 is a different AO every day (excluding Sunday) for the month of April.  Get to know the region by posting somewhere else.  Here is the schedule (shameless plug):

Today we honored a fallen soldier and YHC modified his workout.  See below for the Thang (the run portion was .33 miles):

Rinse and Repeat – I think the leaders got to a second round of the Squats.  The doubling up on the Burpees was a crowd pleaser….

There was a Shovel Flag hand-off this morning from the scarcely-posting Cheddah to the ever-posting Dirty Harry! Proof (that Cheddah even posted) below:

Prayers for new job opportunities, surgeries, injured PAX and unspoken.

FunHouse

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Bell In The Ring

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On Friday, I had the opportunity to Q The Hive, a Kettle Bell workout that has developed the history of being a great, body-challenging, way to end your work week. Under no circumstances was I going to let that change on my watch. After all, Frat Boy was promising an FNG (welcome Mich Ultra) that he’s been working on for 2yrs. What does this tell you about Frat Boy? Leave it to say, Dog On A Bone.

Once we all circled up in the beginning and dropped our metal bells, the PAX were disclaimed. They were then reminded of the critical mission of F3 and if you’re a little hazy: Plant, Grow and Service small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. None of those words are there by accident.

And then, we’re off for a mosey to the other large parking lot then back (sans bells) for a little warming up all in counts of 16:

SSH

Mountain Climbers

Peter Parkers

Parker Peters

SSH

Moroccan Night Clubs

American Hamers

Merkins

Grab your bells (notice the “e”) and report back to our circle. Only now, much larger; roughly 40yds in diameter. I would call out an exercise, we’d do a count of 16 of said exercise, set the bell down, run to the center of the circle, perform 5 burpees, then return to your bell. The running back and forth eventually turned to a jog. Here’s the menu:

Kettle Bell Swings

Left Arm Bicep Curls

Right Arm Bicep Curls

Overhead Lunges (Lunges with KB held overhead – 8ea leg)

Upright Rows

Bent Over Rows – Right Side

Bent Over Rows – Left Side

Tricep Extensions

Overhead Squats (Squats with KB held overhead)

Flutters w/  Press

Big Boy Sit-Ups

Stretch it out with some KB-free SSH’s

Thrusters (with the KB)

Now it was time for a little more cardio training. Lining up on the side of the large parking lot, we did a set of 5-Tier suicides followed by a set of 2-Tier suicides.

Line up for Seal-Team Sit-ups

LBC’s

Hello Dolley’s

Rosalitas

A reminder of the F3 Credo: Never leave a man behind but leave no man where you found him.

A reminder of F3’s 5 core principles: Free of Charge, Open to ALL MEN, Held outdoors-rain or shine, Peer-Led (no professional training), Ends with a C.O.T.

Several announcements which included upcoming events, headlined by the OST 8K for our man, Olive in LKN which by the time you read this, will have already happened. Get involved, Stay involved, and LEAD.

Read YOUR Newsletter.

Until Next Time…It has been my honor to serve

Maximus.

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7

Shorties – Freedom and Lawnmower Parents

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With this weeks QSource focus on Shorties and the recent college scandals, I thought I would look at how parents are preventing their children from growing up.
Mosey to parking Lot
The usual variety of COP exercises
Q Source 1.6 Spur
    • A man gives everything he has for his children
    • The IMPACT (for good or bad) that a man has on his children cannot be underestimated
    • The HIM’s Commitment provides his children freedom
Mosey to Gun Shop
  • Kids aren’t growing up: Shocking new poll says parents are killing kids’ life skills
  • Parents are preventing their adult children from growing up by doing things for them, including making appointments and intervening where they work
  • Note: percentages are the numbers performed.
  • SSH – 76 % reminded their adult children of deadlines they need to meet, including for schoolwork
  • LBC’s – 14 % helped them get jobs or internships through professional network
  • Squats – 22 % helped them study for a college test
  • MNC – 74 % made appointments for them, including doctor’s appointments
Mosey to Parking Lot
  • Growing up means making mistakes
  • Parents never let their children grow up. Growing up means making your own decisions, and sometimes, mistakes.
  • “The point is to prepare the kid for the road, instead of preparing the road for the kid,”
  • Bomb Jacks – 15 % of parents with children in college had texted or called them to wake them up so they didn’t sleep through a class or test.
  • Hello Dollies – 16 % helped write all or part of a job or internship application
  • Monkey Humpers – 14 % told them which career to pursue
  • Merkins – 11 % helped write an essay or school assignment
Mosey – to another parking lot
  • “If you’re doing it in high school, you can’t stop at college,” she said. “If you’re doing it in college, you can’t stop when it comes to the workplace. You have manufactured a role for yourself of always being there to handle things for your child, so it gets worse because your young adult is ill-equipped to manage the basic tasks of life.”
  • Parents eventually have to take a back seat and let their kids drive their own lives. “You can’t just arrive them at the future you want for them. They have to do the work to build the skills,” she said.
  • Burbees- 11 % of parents with adult children will call their child’s employer if he or she had an issue at work
  • Freddie Mercuries -12 % gave more than $500 per month for rent or daily expenses
  • Lunges – 8 % of parents said they had contacted a college professor or administrator about their child’s grades or a problem they were having
  • Dips – 4 % wrote all or part of an essay or other school assignment
  • If need time – Head to power light hill
COT
  • When it comes to rushing things down to the school,   If there were no smartphones, would the child feel his or her request was enough of an emergency to use the school office phone to call the parent about? Then it might be a legitimate rescue scenario.
  • Scripture: Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.   Ephesians  6:4

Always an honor to lead.   Appreciate the opportunity.

Cornhole, Out

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Bracket buster round 1

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The day after the first round of March Madness had the PAX eager to see what was in front of them. This bracket buster followed the March Madness structure.

64 reps of squats, curls, skull crushers, LBCs, flutters, and one other (this is what happens when you write the backblast late(

run to end of parking lot and back. Rinse and repeat with 32 reps, 16 reps, 8 reps, 4 reps, and 2 reps. Mossy to picnic bench for 20 step ups, LBCs and squats.

COT

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Clovis-esq (Honey Badger cont., kind of, from Monday)

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On this cold Wednesday morning in the gloom (sub 30 temp), YHC did a quick disclaimer after no FNGs were identified and took off for a quick mosey.  Circled up for some stretching and warm-up to get the blood flowing with the following: SSH (varying speeds, but mostly double and triple speed), diamond merkins, handful of burpees, low slow squats, arm and shoulder stretches, cherry pickers, more SSH at various speeds, and mountain climbers.

Had the PAX head over to the pull up bars while YHC went back for speaker and weinke.  YHC then laid out the plan for the remainder of the time – call it ~35 min….

The Thang

  • Partner up, size did not matter but accountability and pushing ability did…so good thing we’re all able to push each other and hold each other accountable – funny how that worked out
  • Each partner would do the following so no sharing or adding but here’s where the push and accountability came into effect
  • Partners would stay together and not leave each other
  • Exercises could be broken up;  meaning, do some chin ups together, then do some burpees, then go back to chin ups, etc. until the number was met by each person
  • (Music was then cranked on, which of course started with some Slim Shady…)
  • 40 – chin ups
  • 40 – hanging from bar, knees to chest
  • 40 – burpees
  • 4 – laps together around the big loop (about 1/4 mile per loop)
  • Then 30 of the above (3 laps), then 20 (2 laps), then 10 (1 lap)

Needless to say, this looked really good on paper YHC admits, but only to the running!  Note to future self is just 1 loop (maybe 2 max), but keep the rest of the exercises.  While there were some groups that made it through the 2nd round (30s), there may have been a few that got partially  into the 3rd round / 20s.  Either way, the low temps became an afterthought and with 5 min remaining, we packed up gear and headed back to COT for a couple rounds of Mary called out by the PAX where mumberchatter ensued.

All things in COT were had and we all set off for our day.  The push, partnership and accountability we had for 45 min was inspiring as YHC heard from some of you first hand how good it was to “feel the burn” from the workout.  This didn’t necessarily come from YHC and the workout, but the push you gave each other.  And looking back to the running portion, not such a terrible idea b/c YHC did give you a “cool down” period and a chance to do some 2nd F with your partner – so you’re welcome!  HAHAHA…maybe the PAX just didn’t need so long of a cool down.

Always a pleasure to take the reigns to write the workout and look back in the backblast write-up, but always exciting to see how it shakes out once the 45 min bell rings!  Until next time…

And as a last add, this workout was inspired from #DOAH and his Honey Badger service member “Clovis” from the HB hero book.  While we didn’t get to do the Clovis workout on Monday, this workout, although modified slightly, was also a tribute to Clovis.

Shady

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Footloose: Fancy Free and Moderate

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23 PAX gathered in the foggy gloom (24 at COT with Polaroid joining in after he hit his miles)

Started out with a VERY clear and complete disclaimer. See the full version at: Disclaimer

Mosey towards the Church of God parking lot. Sugar Bug fell about 30 yards in…..good thing the disclaimer was so thorough. Also good thing he popped right up and continued on. Went serpentine on the COG stairs to get the PAX all back in one place after the mosey spread us out.

Warm up:
SSH x10
Merkin x10
Held Plank
forced Bomb Jacks (TWSS – Kielbasa)
Mountain Climber (slow count) x10
Held Plank
more forced Bomb Jacks (TWSS – Kielbasa)
SSH x10
IW x10
HW x10
Spiderman Merkins x10
Hip Flexer stretch (Lizard Pose)
Al Gore
Al Gore + Moroccan Night Club x10
Hooneymooner–>Downdog combination

Thang:
Partner up: Dora
100 merkins
200 squats
300 flutters

Mosey to giant wall
Wall Sit while PAX performed 5 burpees down the line

Message synopsis:
What is Moderate? What do you moderate?

Mosey back to FBC
Line up on a parking lot island:
Mike Tyson x10 –> bear crawl across to adjacent island
Rinse and Repeat

Lined up for called Lunges and Squats
Right Leg Lunge x5
Left Leg Lunge x5
Squats x5
Hold Squat w/ calf raise x5
Finished with Pigeon Lunge

NMM:

It’s an honor to lead. Lots of respectable PAX out there today. These men working on getting better in their 50s and beyond are an inspiration. They push YHC to want to be better.

Announcements:
Welcome FNG: Hardwood
Convergence: Baxter Harris Teeter 3/8
Joe Davis Run 3/9
Operation Sweet Tooth 3/30

Band Camp Dismissed

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Interval Flows and Fake Moon Landings

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It was a balmy 52 and rainy when I woke up, and the temperatures were dropping. I grabbed my rain jacket and hit the road. Dark, rainy driving is somewhat peaceful in a way. Just focus on the road and you should be good.

When Bandcamp asked me to Q, I was excited. Gear workouts are different, and tend to be a little more stationary. I accepted and told myself I would plan it weeks ago. I put the finishing touches on the weinke at about 9:30 last night… I’m sure nobody else has waited that long! With the rain coming and the Yeti tomorrow, I held off from including much running. Which was appreciated by the PAX.

Side note – while I was driving to The Hive – a car literally pulled into my lane coming from the opposite direction. Luckily I wasn’t distracted, but had been looking at my phone prior. I pulled off into the grass and the car kept going another 50 or so yards in the wrong land before quickly swerving back into his lane. Be careful on the roads, PAX. In a split second everything can change.

I pulled up and was the first to show. At about 5:09 I got the “no body is going to show” thought and immediately desired to go back to sleep. Luckily, I was wrong! Four PAX pulled in as soon as the thought came through my mind. Of course… I thought. Time to get right. Time to get to work!

Band Camp was feeling the shovel flag, even with the rain. He posted it as the last of us walked up.

We circled up, gave the disclaimer, and immediately ran for cover. We headed to the awning above the gym. It was just right with five.

We looked back at the shovel flag and the wind was whipping it up good. It was flying in what seemed like a perfect rectangle. Sugar Bug interjected saying “that’s how they did it for the fake moon landing as well!” That gave us a good laugh.

We got situated and went to work.

COP

Windmills x 17
SSH x 20
Tappy Taps x 7 (My Favorite)
Mountain Climbers x 15
Deep Stretch/Yoga Flow

Flow 1 – 10 Rounds – 10 Minutes
Each side 30 seconds on, 25 seconds rest
Push up x 2
Bent Over Row x 2
Hang Clean x 2
Shoulder Press x 2
Goblet Squat x 2

On paper, this flow seems pretty easy… but it builds and quickly gets tiresome! Our goal was to get through two rounds in the 30 seconds before the timer beeped.

AMRAP WORKOUT – 10 Minutes
15 4-Count Flutters w/Press
15 KB Swings
15 Push Ups
15 Goblet Squats

Jacob’s Ladder
8/1 to 1/8
Overhead Tricep Extensions
Curls

Flow 2 – 10 Rounds – 8 Minutes
Each side 30 seconds on, 25 seconds rest
Push up x 2
Bent Over Row x 2
Hang Clean x 2
Shoulder Press x 2
Goblet Squat x 2

Mary
American Hammers w/KB – 15
Hello Dolly w/KB press – 16
World War I Sit Ups no weight – 11

 

Prayers and Praises

Assassin – pray for his wife, himself, and daughter going through a break up from a 2.5 year relationship.
Sugar Bug – pray for his daughter’s gymnastics meet this weekend. Pray that she stays focused and doesn’t get into her own mind causing roadblocks.
Band Camp – pray for close family friend who lost her husband a few weeks ago. Now’s the time people stop coming around so pray her loneliness doesn’t abound.
Punch List – stay focused while on the roads – whether driving, biking, running, or rucking – especially tomorrow during the Yeti.

 

Moleskine

Pay attention to today. Smokey, Sugar Bug, and I discussed on the way back to the cars the ages of our 2.0’s and how each stage is better than the last. As much as I am excited to see my daughters grow into who they become (and help to shape them), I know that these days are numbered when the M and I are the most important thing to our 2.0’s. Let us enjoy every moment and pour into them what we can in order to make the next stage that much better. Stay focused on these days, brothers, you only get one chance at this.

I was reminded just how special this time with my 2.0’s is when my oldest came downstairs as I began writing this back blast. I asked her to go back to bed and she responded with a question: “Can you read me a book, please?”

My heart thumped a few extra times and I said absolutely. She excitedly ran upstairs and grabbed I Love You The Purplest, which is a book about a mother loving the wonderfully different things about her two sons. I read the book with her and held her tight. I then headed off to my shower to get ready for the day. It was a very special moment this morning that I know won’t replicate as many times as I would like.

 

Hold on to these moments. Lead well. Love your families with everything you have. 

 

Punch List out.

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11

Black Diamond #3 at the Ranch – Get Some

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Expected rain all morning, but instead we got a comfortable 40 degrees with wetness all around us.  Perfect for what we were about to get into.

Reminded the Pax that this was a Black Diamond workout and immediately had a reaction that made it clear that some were unaware lol.  Since I dislike warm-ups, I got right to our “warm-up”.

1 – I’ve done this before  w/ my speaker & the Seconds app on my phone (get it if you don’t have it – it’s an awesome timer / tabata app w/ the ability to add music).

  • First 5 minutes of warm-up:  each minute on the minute, we’re all going to do 35 really fast side straddle hops and 8 burpees.  Every minute.  End result is 175 ssh’s and 40 burpees in 5 minutes.
  • Next 5 minutes of warm-up:  no break, right into merkin mode.  11 merkins, 10 diamonds, 9 merkins, 8 diamonds, 7 merkins…down to 1 merkin.  I think we were warm.

2 – 1/4 mile burpee fun:  we moseyed over to the circle in front of the Middle School, which is a perfect 1/4 mile loop w/ some hills in it, which I failed to recognize when throwing this together.  We partnered up and I gave the Pax the bad news.  I set up my phone w/ it’s bright light stop watch timer to help.

  • Sprint with your partner the 1/4 mile loop as fast you can.  Why you might ask?  Because when you finish and see your time for that loop, you both have that many burpees to split halfsies on.  Back in High School, low to mid 50 seconds was acceptable for the 400m dash.  That’s not what we’re capable of anymore – ranged from 70 seconds to 85+ seconds, which meant each partner had 35 to 45 burpees to do apiece.
  • Round 2 – do it again.  Only this time, the challenge was that if you beat your prior lap time, you can cut the burpees in half.  Well no one beat their time, haha, so we still cut it in half anyway.  Most laps were in the 80-90 seconds range this time, which meant, 40-45 burpees to split w/ your partner, or 20-25 a piece.

3 – Pretty sure after this the Pax hated my guts.  From there we hit the longest straightaway I could find.  Same partners as before.  This time Partner 1 lines up 10-20 yards away from Partner 2.  Partner 1 starts back pedaling as fast as they can while Partner 2 has to sprint to catch them.  Wherever they are caught, you stop right there and do an exercise, then a mode of transportation back to the starting line.  We did 4 of these (each partner chased 2x and back pedaled 2x):

  • First round (once caught) – 15 bear crawl merkins, followed by broad jumps back to starting line
  • Second round – 25 lunge jumps (do each leg and that’s 1), followed by bear crawl back to starting line
  • Third round – 35 american hammers, followed by lunge walk back to starting line
  • Fourth round – 45 wide arm merkins, followed by bunny hop back to starting line

4 – We had 5 minutes, so had to make the most of it.  Quick DORA against the Elementary wall by CoT.  Partner 1 does Jump Squats and the timer was Partner 2 running to wall and doing 15 Mike Tyson merkins (those are honestly some of my least favorite merkins:  feet flat on wall at base of wall, merkin position, bring you six to the wall with feet staying put and then all the way forward so that your hands are almost at your ribs as you go down for merkin).  Once Partner 2 finished their 15 rep count, the partners switched.  Think most teams got to 100 or so jump squats before our time was up.

2 Ruckers, 1 Runner and 16 Black Diamond Boot Campers was the count.  Thanks to Jiffy for the chance to do whatever I want without having to worry about how terrible it sounds.  Appreciate everyone kicking a$$ and finishing it all.

Prayers:

  • Dark Helmet’s M is traveling this weekend – travel mercies
  • Dirty Harry’s M has last day of work / transitionary time for new opportunities / jobs
  • Olaf’s continued progress on limiting ADHDs adverse impact on his life
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13 HIM showed up on a blustery Tuesday to make the choice to get better.

Warm Up

  • SSH
  • Cherry Picker
  • Windmill
  • Hamstring stretch
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • Moroccan Night Clubs
  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Mosey to the playground

The Thang

“500”

100 reps of each exercise in sets of 20 with a run up the hill and back after each set.

  • 20 Merkins (x5)
  • 20 Pull-ups (x5)
  • 20 Big Boy sit-ups (x5)
  • 20 Dips (x5)
  • 20 Squats (x5)
  • Run up the hill (x5)

That took most of the time. We mosey-ed around the park as a cool down and it was time for the COT. Pull-ups suck. Must do more.

https://youtu.be/7w02YaC0j1k

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