WARMUP: frowned upon at this AO
THE THANG: head down Market until it changes names, keep going, turn right on Gardenia, turn right on Morris Hunt, hit the cul-du-sac and come back
MARY: did a little yoga up till 0600 once we got back
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Newsletter
COT: was held
Warm-Up:
SSH – 20 IC
Imperial Walkers – 15 IC
Hillbilly Walkers – 15 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 10 IC
Windmills – 10 IC
Strawberry Pickers- 10 IC
Cheese Shredder
Mosey to first wooden swing
The Thang:
1. Swinging Great Time:
At each swing perform the following exercises:
10 Merkins
20 Squats
30 Big Boys
Mosey between the Swings
2. Lucky 7s:
Burpees and Seal Jacks
Bear Crawl Up and mosey down hill
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read your newsletter
COT: Prayers and Praises
WARMUP:
Light jog
Side straddle hops
Cherry pickers
Hillbilly walkers
Groin lunges
THE THANG:
Band Tabata (20s work, 10s rest). 2 exercises per round, as many reps as possible each round. Ideally 4 rounds of each exercise.
Single long loop band required. Swing set used for anchor point of band.
PAX 1 completes 1 round of each exercise, then runs up the hill to get the next round. Remainder of PAX continue working until PAX returns with new round.
Paired exercises: (“Pole” indicates band anchored on pole, “no pole” indicates band off pole.)
R1 – Pole
Squat to Row
Tantrums
R2 – No Pole
Deadlifts
Pull aparts
R3 – Pole
Single arm Rows (R/L)
R4- No Pole
Front Squats
Bent over tow
R5 – Pole
Hip thrusts
Press to rotations
R6 – No Pole
Reverse lunges (R/L)
R7 – Pole
Core Rotations (R/L)
R8 – No Pole
Bent Over Rows
Front Squat lateral stepping
R9 – pole
Single Arm Press (R/L)
LAST EXERCISE
Partner Pallof holds
Return to parking lot: Bailout lunges
Everyone lunge walks back, one PAX can bail out group: 10 burpees earn a 30 second mosey. Cannot be passed by lungers!
Finish:
Plank / lateral plank series
Squat hold series
MARY: n/a
ANNOUNCEMENTS: n/a
COT: team work! We sometimes have to do things we don’t want to for the betterment of our community. Let’s build on it
Started with a mosey run from WEP to the Church on Harris street.
Thang 1: Elevens: Merkins then run up steps of church and do Bobby Hurleys at top.
Run down Harris, down Massey to Pike parking lot.
Thang 2: Bear crawl until “break” run to other side. Did squats there. Repeat.
Run up main street and right on Tom Hall St, down past the pumpkin patch to the municipal parking lot.
Thang 3: Simion says: Pax shuffle right or left and stop/so exercise when called. We did mountain climbers, smurf jacks and some others.
Run up Monroe White’s hill, did some abs here. Ran to Print Shop’s pull up bars.
Thang 4: 5 pullups, 5 knees 2 chest, 5 toes 2 bar. Repeat.
Run down to White st to the millstone. Did some step ups here.
Run along White towards WEP. Stop at small parking lot between City Hall and Ardrey st.
Thang 5: Pax plank on curb. Curb walk left, right. Stopped and did: dry docks, shoulder taps.
Run back to WEP’s parking lot. Circle up for Mary: Sally routine: leg raises.
Fini.
WARMUP: 14 Burpees
THE THANG: Mosey to center of WEP
Pax rotated into center based on year of 1st post (ie Class of 2026, 2025, 2024, etc). Varied exercises were performed by all including Burpees, Partner Derkins, Squats, Sumo Squats, SSH, Mtn Climbers, Mahktar N'Dyiae, Flutters, Freddys, Monkey Humpers, etc
Pax sprinted home for the finish.
MARY: She participated during the Thang
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bethel Shelters service
COT: Yes, of course, 5th Core Principle
The pax came early and stayed late to celebrate this Community of Brothers we call The Fort. For 14 years, men have posted in the Gloom of WEP and other wonderful sites throughout FM/TC (and in Rock Hill, Clover/LKW and now Chester) to sharpen each other, to hone leadership skills, and to prepare themselves and each other to tackle the ups and downs Life will regularly throw their way.
The number of men who've stood at COT in The Fort over these years exceeds 2,000. And roughly 200 pax keep the flame burning in 2026. Their continued participation is an individual choice, one they can't not keep making because, as they shared, they've found brotherhood, community, belonging and accountability in The Fort.
Who will be standing in COT in 2036 or 2046? Anybody? Nobody? You? Your son or son-in-law or grandson?
As Band Camp shared, we Get To make this choice. Each man stands apart from the general crowd in our culture in making this choice. And yet, each man of The Fort is no better than any other man who lives among us. All men are made of the same fiber in the same image of our Creator. As Dark Helmet said, every man is needed in the leadership mission required to bring to fruition the world our Creator intended. So stay in the game. Find the next man and bring him into the fold. Because 14 years of history only matters if we continue to bring Impact to men and our broader community today, tomorrow, next week and next year. #KeepPosting
The last of the hot days this week although we got a bit of a breeze which was nice. DD ran, the rest of us boot camped.
WARMUP: run the circuit. At every bench: 10 SSH, 5 Bombjacks. At completion, we did the standard warm up routine.
THE THANG: Thang 1: bearcrawl the old lightpole hill which doesn’t have light poles anymore. Every 20 steps, do 5 Carolina dry docks. Rinse/repeat but do the 5 dry docks at every 10 steps. Thang 2: Jack Webb: 1:4 ratio of push-ups to overhead claps. Go to 10:40. Crowd pleaser. Thang 3: Mary and finish with 3 burpees.
MARY: yep.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bethel Men’s shelter
COT: Cash Prayer
Search me Lord. Lead me to you. Help me to be a good man, a good father, a good husband and a good employee. Help me to forgive and release from resentment those that I feel have offended me. Let me see the good in others and draw that goodness out of them.
WARMUP: Large circle of warmup, while a pax runs twice around the circle
THE THANG: The Thang went from warmup to partner sprint/chase, to the dreaded hill for Indian Bear Crawls uphill a few time (ask someone) – then to playground for more activity that all enjoyed.
MARY: Yes, a few
ANNOUNCEMENTS: CRI Training, T and Hare, Bourbon Tasting
COT: We had a debrief on: CRI local workday and BRR
WARMUP: SSH, cherry pickers, side lunge, tempo merkin into broga
THE THANG:
AMRAP – 15 min
Rev snow angels x5
Merkins x10
Squats x15
2 big laps with 2 burpees in between
DORA with Cindy
50 thrusters
100 swings
100 rows
Overhead Cindy walking lunge back to SBR’s truck.
MARY: 15 LBCs to eat up time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergence at EOM, step challenge at NaFo this week.
COT: Prayers for safe travels, dealing with illness, etc.
WARMUP: The usual warmups with some clapping
THE THANG: We moseyed around Kingsley and found three buckets that all had orders inside. Ran between each of them. All enjoyed immensely.
MARY: There was Mary but I had to run to my car to get my phone.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Yes
COT: Yea. Adult kids making decisions.
Thx Old Bay
WARMUP: windmill, imperials, short mosey, toy soldiers, lunges
THE THANG:
Station 1 – crosswalk – bombjacks
Station 2 – entrance – burpees
Station 3 – amphitheater – core – PAX choice – cadence
Station 4 – grass hill – PAX choice – reps at bottom and top
This interface is limited in formatting so I can't post my nice chart detailing the exercises. We basically moseyed to each station and did a prime number of reps (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13), with the last station being double.
MARY: Station 3
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bethel, CSAUPs (and their impact)
COT: families, social harmony