Tour De Lowe’s

26 Men showed up on a glorious Friday morning for a Slow Burn.

Began with a Mosey to the Empire Pizza parking lot for some warm ups.  Line up. High Knee across parking lot, mosey back.  Butt kickers across, mosey back.  Karaoke across, Karaoke back.  Toy Soldiers across, mosey back.

Circle up. SSH x20, Windmill x15, Moroccan Night Club x20, Low Slow Squat x15, Merkins x10.

Short mosey to being the “Tour De Lowe’s”.   Found guardrail behind Lowe’s for stop #1: Dips on guardrail, Calf Raises, Freddy Mercurys, Rinse & Repeat

Continue the Tour De Lowe’s with a mosey to The Wall for stop #2:  Peoples Chair (5x 10 counts), 25 LBCs, Peoples Chair (5x 10 counts), 25 LBCs, Balls to the Wall (3x 10 count, felt much longer thanks to some non-standardized counting), 25 LBCs

Time Out for Zimmern’s first attempt at preaching.  Talked about Control and what things in life we have control over (thoughts, words, actions, reactions, etc) and what things we don’t have control over (spouse, kids, others, job, etc).  Things outside of our control often have a huge impact on our lives.  How do we learn how to control our response towards things outside of our control?  Drop Thrill quotes Proverbs 3:5-6: “ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  We need to turn control over to The Lord and trust in Him.  Ask Him for help controlling things that are within our control and help in guiding us with things outside of our control.

Complete the Tour De Lowe’s with a mosey to the front parking lot.  Pax pair up. One Pax starts squats.  Other Pax runs across parking lot.  switch.  Continue to 150 cumulative squats.  Repeat, but with Carolina Dry Docks.

Mosey over for a lightning rounds of 4 corners around Empire Pizza.  Pax counted off by 4’s.  #1 40x Merkins. Mosey to #2. 30x Flutter Kicks.  Bear Crawl to #3. 20x Bomb Jacks. Mosey to #4. 10 Burpees.

Return to COT. Name-o-Rama.  Welcome FNG Bowtie. Announcements. Prayers & Praises. Big Ball of Men.

-Zimmern

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Mary Go Round at the Colosseum

Warm up:

20 x -SSH

20 x MNC

15 x Windmill

10 x Merkins

Plank

Honeymooner

Downward Dog

15 x Mountain Climber

15 x Squats

The Thang:

So after some short sprints and side shuffles through the parking lot, we partnered off.  Then a word on leadership.

Leadership doesnt have to happen alone!  Just like your partner during the workout a partner in life can help you be the leader you are meant to be.

And the Mary-go-round begins…..

Each round consists of doing one exercise followed by a lap around the parking lot.  Since one round of each set of exercises wasnt enough, we decided to rinse and repeat each round.  Between rounds as we waited for the six (usually me) we did wall sits for round 1 followed by planks for round 2.

Round 1:

10 x Freddy Mercury

10 x Rosalita

10 x Protractors

Round 2:

10 x Crab Humpers

10 x Carolina Dry Docks

10 x Flutters

Meet back at COT for announcements, prayers and praises.

Thanks for all the support PAX for my VQ!

A great time was had by all!

Announcements:

-Invergence Friday

-Convergence Saturday

Prayers of PAX:

-Family who lost father due to fire ants

-Missionary family resolving paperwork stateside to return to Asia.

 

 

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Footloose or don’t Footloose… you pick

Footloose brings the numbers for sure… No sense in getting philosophical at the front…

The Thang:
Warm up:
– Lot lap with dynamic stretching
– Windmills x 10
– IW x 10
– Arm Circles x 20 (10 forward, 10 backward)
– Squats x 10
– SSH x 15

Mosey to back of Baptist Church

]The cones will tell you what to do from here. Each cone has two choices of an exercise to perform. At each cone, make a choice. Neither exercise is “harder” or “easier” per se, but you may look and think, I hate that one, or I’m ok with that one, or I love that one… The point is, you choose. You are faced with choices every day, and different things are needed at different times, and you have to navigate that. There is NO JUDGMENT for what you do or do not choose, only if you do not push yourself a little past what your natural man desires. Pick one or the other, or if you are feeling plucky… do both.

Cone 1:

  • 20 Jump Squats OR 20 regular squats

Cone 2:

  • 20 diamond merkins OR 20 regular merkins

Cone 3:

  • 20 Burpees OR 20 Bombjacks

Cone 4:

  • 40 flutters OR 40 LBCs

Cone 5:

  • 20 dips OR 20 overhead claps

Cone 6:

  • Bear crawl to next cone OR lunge to next cone

Cone 7:

  • 30 shoulder taps or 30 second plank

AMRAP FOR TIME

Ended with a little cadence merkins, squats, and Jack Webb (to 5, it’s moderate after all)…

All things considered, it was a good time.

NMM:
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it is getting. If you don’t like your results, change your system.

Helmet, out.

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JEEVE’S GROWN MAN GAME OF THREE SQUARE

Warm Up Mosey to the Warm-up circle, exercises in cadence

  • Side Straddle Hop (20, four count)
  • Imperial Walker (20, four count)
  • Low Slow Squat (20, four count)
  • Wind Mill (20, four count)
  • Hillbillie (20, four count)
  • Merkin (10, four count)
  • Peter Parker (20, four count)

Mosey around the parking lot

We counted off into three groups and split up to each off the three squares.

Square 1

  • Merkin – OYO 15
  • Hello Dolly – OYO 30
  • Carolina Dry Dock – OYO 25
  • Star Jack – OYO 20

Once each square was completed we went into 15 yards of frog jumps, then 15 yards of bear crawl and lunges back to the starting line.

After the first station, we did Moroccan Nightclub until the six was in.

After a 10 count, each group rotated to the next square

Square 2

  • Big Boy Sit-Ups – OYO 25
  • Shoulder Taps – OYO 40
  • Diamond Merkins – OYO 15
  • Squats – OYO 25

More frog jumps, bear crawls and lunges.

After the second station, we did overhead claps until the six was in

Discussed the October 3rd F theme of Control and its definition

Square 3

  • Flutter Kicks – OYO 50
  • American Hammer – OYO 50
  • Mountain Climber – OYO 50
  • Side Straddle Hop – OYO 50

More frog jumps, bear crawls and lunges.

After the third station, we did curb step-ups until the six was in

Discussed control and Jeremiah 29:11

Mosey over the a nice little hill and got into partners. We did 200 LBCs with rotating partners running the hill.

Mosey back to the squares. Due to one Pax being late he picked his favorite square and we all completed Square 2 together. More frog jumps, bear crawl and lunges.

Mosey back for COT

Discussed Control and Matthew 6:34

Jeeves’s full VQ is in the books! Glad to have that over!!!

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5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

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

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Laces Out Runner, sleeps in, still gets to Q Laces In

YHC normally posts at #LacesOut on Thursdays and enjoys the banter with the #LacesIn crew, as they get to sleep-in for the 0515 start (LO launches 0500). Thanks to Lil E for the chance to Q with our FMHS AO-mates.

YHC didn’t want to venture too far from my Thursday roots, so we headed for FMHS football stadium and track for our morning DownPainment.

Mosey around practice field x1
COP in center of football field
  • SSH
  • Windmill
  • Merkins
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Squats
  • Peter Parker
  • Parker Peter
  • 10 Count Honeymooner
Mosey to stairs at field level of football stadium
Everest x2
  • (up stairs) – lunge L, squat, lunge R, squat
    • 5 burpees OYO, Plank until the Six
  • (Down stairs) – recovery down
    • Reverse PAX order, Rinse Repeat
Mosey to goal-line of football field
Paula Abdul with Mary —> think 2 steps forward, 1 step back! YHC had placed Blinky running lights to give the PAX visibility in the darkness of FMHS football. PAX commented on how they loved the field of ground rubber pellets between their fingers in the morning.
  • 20 yard forward Crabwalk, exercise
  • 10 yard back Bearcrawl, exercise
  • Going to we hit 50 yard line
  • wait for six to do exercise
  • Crabwalk 20yards (20)
    • 20 LBCs
  • Bearcrawl 10yards (10)
    • 20 Flutter
  • Crabwalk 20yards (30)
    • 20 American Hammers
  • Bearcrawl 10 yards (20)
    • 20 Box Cutters
  • Crabwalk 20 yards (40)
    • 20 Freddie Mercury
  • Bearcrawl 10 yards (30)
    • 10 Captain Thor’s —> thanks to Dark Helmet for the cadence count!
  • Crabwalk 20 yards (50)
Dark Helmet commented “what’s next? Sprints?” So we Omaha’d and did sprints
  • Run 50 to 10
  • Backwards run to 50 (repeat until 20-10)
    • 10 Burpees OYO
Ring of Fire – to check if the PAX abs were still working, we got in circle head-in, feet-out at 45-degree to see if PAX could manage getting lefts pushed down. Maybe this is called Duck Duck Goose
PAX collected all the Blinky lights and moseyed to the stairs again
Box jumps on wall x21
Mosey back to back stadium wall
  • Wall Sits for 1.5min with hand claps on 2-count
  • Balls to Wall for 1min
Back to COT
Boeheim lead the COT
Prays to World Wild Leader and pregnancy, Cake Boss sister, Country, Families

 

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What? What was that?

Intro:

A lot of fun today. Excellent hard work from the PAX. My hats off to them. They even got to experience a surprise visit from “Gunther” in the beginning.

Disclaimer mentioned. No FNGs today. Mosey 15 feet to circle up for:

“Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one lifestyle influencing another.” – John C. Maxwell

Warm-up:

12 SSHs

8 Windmills

Around the circle hamstring raises (I can’t ever remember the F3 name of these)

Dynamic Stretching Warm-up:

3 inch worms continuing to straighten legs further on each one

Ninety Squared Stretch – 3X each side

Rolling Crucifix – 3X each side

Table Twists – 3X each side

2 Way Lunge and Reach (yoga style) – 3X each side

Hamstring Reaches – 5X 

Can Openers – 10X each side

10 Chopper Throws (throw down across body) – 10X each side

Frankenstein Shoulder Circles – 10X each side and each way

Imaginary Jump rope for 30 secs

Ran 2 gradual increase of pace warm-up laps (shorter lap)

Mixture of exercises throught the laps: high knees, karoke, shuffles, bunny hops

The Thang:

“A leader is great, not because of his power, but because of his ability to empower others.”  – John C. Maxwell

Between exercises:

  1. Round 1: One person shares a Praise/blessing/gratefulness topic for 15 seconds break before going to next exercise
  2. Round 2: Prayer request: Same as round 1 concept. The focus is on:
    1. You
    2. Family
    3. Close friend

Exercises: 16 Stations + a Surprise Station (We were aiming to get through all of them but were not in a rush. We accomplished about 13.)

We broke up into 2 groups and then rotated the grouping of stations after the 8th station.

Station #1: Surprise Exercise: Donkey Kicks into a High Knee Jump – 18

Station #9: Single Leg Burpees – 6 each side

Station #2: Superman but with arms to the side and rotate shoulders up to ski; legs go up to – 2 sets of 12

Station #10: Back Widow (use elbows) – MAX OYO

Station #3: Under the hedge (Divebombers) – MAX OYO

Station #11: Pancake Pushup, then Dive Bomber to Diamond Pushup – MAX OYO

Station #4: Jumping Lunges – 50 each leg X 2 sets

Station #12: Ninja Tuck Jumps – 12 X 2 sets

Station #5: Deep Carolina Drydocks – 30 head touching ground

Station #13: Reverse Iron Cross Pushup (Rear Delts) – MAX OYO

Station #6: V-ups with a completely straight leg – 15; break 20 seconds, then 5

Station #14: Flutters – 40 

Station #7: Dips – Set 1: 25; Set 2: 15-20 max

Station #15: Body weight tricep extensions pushups – 9 

Station #8: Full body movement: Sprint to stop sign/Run backwards back

Station #16: Sprint ladder with cones (catch the person that goes before you; 3 second delay) – 1 round for each person chased

If waiting for the other group and your group finished first, then you get to pick randomly from a SURPRISE list. The one picked today by Group 1 was:

Surprise Exercise: Squat thrust jacks (burpee then a plank jack) – 10

COT:

Announcements: Invergence, Convergence.

Challenge to take 1 prayer request /week; Can you be an everyday prayer warrior?

Final Prayer/Send off

Thanks for the opportunity today to lead these fine min, Fish Stix!

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Lead, follow or move that Kettle Bell out of the way

A beautiful morning gloom dawned on The Armory where the Pax came to pick up heavy things and put them back down again. Cars kept coming and the numbers kept growing as YHC barked out the 2 minute warning. Just as the fun was about to commence, what do our eyes spy, but an FNG! And he basically EH’ed himself after a buddy from the ATL told him about F3. Impresssive indeed. Thus, a full disclaimer (well as close as YHC could get) was offered. And away we go-mosey around the parking lot with some Butt Kickers, High Knees and Soccer Hips thrown in.

COP: (all IC): Windmills * 10, SSH*15, IW*15, MNC*20, Merkins *10, Plank-O-Rama

The Thang:

Mosey with KB to the seat wall in front of the church.

  • 20 Upright Rows & 20 Skull Crushers. Then Take a lap around the lot- Rinse & Repeat 3 times
  • 20 Figure 8’s & 20 Around The Worlds. Then Take a lap around the lot- Rinse & Repeat 2 times
  • 20 KB Swings & 20 Goblet Squats. Then Take a lap around the lot- Rinse & Repeat 2 times

Partner Up (size does NOT matter) for some modified DORA:

  • 100 step ups- P1 starts exercise while Partner 2 bear crawls to top of church stairs and runs back, flapjack
  • 100 dips- P1 starts exercise while Partner 2 bear crawls to top of church stairs and runs back, flapjack
  • Never got to 200 LBCs with this large group.
  • Had to leave time for the TESH favorite- PASS THE DUTCHIE, 1 round to the right, 1 to the left.  Note to self-if you are in the circle with Tesh, switch circles. That 40 lb KB will make you want to cry.

Mosey to COT. Prayers for marriages, our leaders and our community. BE THE LEADER YOU WERE CALLED TO BE. Event if that means you have to get out of your comfort zone. F3 can be a High Challenge proposition but will bring High Rewards.

Thanks Assassin for the opportunity. Great effort by all this morning and great “picking up” of the six. It was a pleasure.

Short Sale out.

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The Colosseum 2017.31

This was an impromptu Q that I had forgotten I committed to while Seacrest was in charge, but I love to Q, so being reminded the night before made me a little happy (in my pants).  When training I like to focus on “tactical” strength or “functional” strength.  This means that you may be able to use the strength and endurance you cultivate during one of my workouts.  Today I covered picking up a lifeless body.

Mosey to basketball lot for warmup (simply for space reasons):  SSH, hillbilly walkers, windmills

Mosey to the bottom of the entrance hill and partner up for the main event:
10x Superman Squats (aka, squat picking up your partner from sitting to standing)
20x Jump squats
30ish Lunge walk holds then sprint to top of hill
Rinse and Repeat

Mosey to wall by the flag for 4 minutes of holds
6 in & B2W (you and partner alternate when one fails)

Mosey to half wall around back for quick dora, 100 Merkins, 200 LBCs, 300 squats
Start at edge of lot then run to wall do one muscle up and run back.

Last,  4 minutes of hold
Protractor 10deg & Support position on wall (alternate on failure)

And that’s all she wrote.  This was  a lot of fun.  Prayers and announcements.  Prayers for the guys at VC Summer that were told to go home (which suddenly got a lot more personal).  Prayers for the #Give2Give campaign and the hope that we may reach more guys and improve the quality of life for the Sadclowns that know no better.

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