The real gloom at WEP

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

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Inertia

4 boot campers and 6 runners posted at Laces In/Out this morning. The cool temperature was perfect for a hideous beat down. We did hill work because was today’s message was focused on overcoming inertia.

The Thang:

COP: SSH (30x), IW (20x), WM (15x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (20x), Peter Parkers (15x) and Freddie Mercuries(15x)

Mosey to the hill near the stadium to add inertia and do the following exercises.

  1. 100 Yard Dash
  2. Jumping Squats (2x)
  3. Big Boy Sit Ups (3x)
  4. Pepper Grinders (4x)
  5. Burpees (5x)
  6. LBCs (6x)
  7. Sumo Squats (7x)
  8. Heels to Heaven (8x)
  9. Dips (9x)
  10. Calf raises (10x)
  11. Merkins (11x)
  12. Penguins (12x)

Ruby runs with the following exercises: Flutters (15x), Rosalettas (15x), Swimmers (15x), Calf Raises (30x).

Moleskin:

Why do we sometimes struggle to answer God’s calling and purpose for our lives? Does our own inertia stop us?

Paul initially was filled with hesitation when he was called to God’s mission field. In the Acts of the Apostles 22, Jesus needed to encourage Paul to overcome his inertia. He kept telling Paul “Go,” “Get up,” “What are you waiting for?”

Paul eventually pushed through his inertia and fulfilled his mission. Paul’s story is a great illustration of how it’s sometimes tough to start your mission but you must finish strong. Answer when God calls on you to fulfill His mission.

Peace,

Deacon

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Creeping Death at Pantheaon

 

Warmup:  Slow mosey with high knees, bear crawls, lunges and merkins.

The Thang:  Moseyed to TCES baseball field for a ‘low to the ground’ beatdown.  Tour of bases 3x for 20 reps each with burnout after each rotation.

Creep                1st Base                  2nd Base                 3rd Base 

  • Tour 1 – Bear Crawl         Box Cutters               Merkins                  Donkey Kicks,

Home Base Beatdown – Metallica’s ‘Creeping’ Death Song,

( Sphynx Plank up and down for intrumentals to ground roll merkin for lyrics ),

Creep                1st Base                  2nd Base                 3rd Base 

  • Tour 2 –    Crabwalk          Flutter Kicks      Diamond Merks        Thrusts,

Home Base Beatdown – Metallica’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ song,

( Kneeling Standup Squats for instrumental to Carolina Dry Docks for Lyrics )

Creep                1st Base                  2nd Base                 3rd Base 

  • Tour 3 – Sphynx low crawl, Hello Dolly’s       Wide Merks             Side Thrusts

Home Base Beatdwon – Metallica’s ‘One’

( Honeymooners to Crab dips with Jack Webbs in between ).

Discussed the topic of the month “Control” and to release things we cannot control and drive hard for the things we can and are called to do.

Prayers for all those with ailments especially local cancer survivors, patience and guidance to honor equality for women, and for Routers family as he travels.

Announcements:  FishStix 5k fundraiser, the Green Beret foundation charity.

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Control

19 High Impact Men posted for a moderate workout in the misty gloom today. Smuggler made a strong come back, kotter style. Stang lead the second stretch-o-rama which made the Pax grunt like they were in a birthing center. Asphalt came to  COT and blessed us with his powerful testimony.

The Thang:

Strech-o-rama for warm-up

COP: SSH (10x), IW (10x), HBW (20x), Sumo Squats (15x), MC (20x), Jumping Lunges (10x), Swimmers (10x) Freddie Mercuries (15x),

Toy Soldiers, Shuffle Left, Shuffle Right, Back Pedals, Karaoke Left, Karaoke Right, Power Skips

Dips (15x), Extreme CCDs (10x) and LBCs (20x)

Decline Merkins (15x), Extreme CCDs (10x), and Flutters(20x)

Incline Merkins (15x), Extreme CCDs (10x), Heels to Heaven (20x)

Wall Merkins, People’s Chair (3x)

Partner Drills: One partner runs to the light post and back while the other does the following until the team does a total of 100 Merkins, 200 Monkey Humpers, 300 Flutters.

Strech-o-rama for cool down

Moleskin:

God is in control. Type A people, like myself, struggle to understand that reality. Reality became very clear when the Colombia Mission Team and I were stranded in Miami right before Irma hit.

I brainstormed solutions to “control” the situation like:

– Get another flight to escape the hurricane (reality check: the airport was closing).

– Take a train (reality check: the train station was closed).

– Find a hotel for shelter (reality check: all local hotels were closed).

We prayed and then escaped the storm by driving in what the media claimed would be 15 mile/hour traffic.

God was in control and His plan was far greater than ours. Instead of 12 men going to Colombia, he sent 17 of us to Florida to help hurricane survivors. Instead of serving 1 organization in Columbia, we served 5 organizations in Florida. Instead of engaging a few donors to raise money for the mission trip, He engaged over 1K people in our church/community to collect supplies for the hurricane survivors in Florida. Instead bringing a few supplies to Colombia (less than the 50 lbs limit), He had us bring over 10K lbs of supplies to  people who needed it in Florida.

I’m glad that God is in control. His plans are far greater than what we can imagine.

Peace,

Deacon

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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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