Preparation at the Armory

19 PAX at The Armory

Workout is pretty clear from the outline I think.

We ran a bit in between the reps for the Thang…..at an allegedly fast pace….pretty sure it was slow on the Fish Sticks scale. Also we did 60 SSH….a real crowd pleaser. Alternating between Mtn Climbers and a Yoga sequence over and over and over was also “well” received.

I did use my handy cheat codes on my forearms to keep myself on task. It’s cheaper than buying one of those quarterback play-caller wrist bands like OldBay has, but decidedly less cool. Forgot what DD (Downdog) stood….But on a Mosey Shady reminded me; at which point, I was glad for his assistance and that we’d already done that sequence in the warmup.

Mary to close out:
– Windshield Wipers
– Flutters
– restarted the Thang from 5 reps and built up (crowd pleaser) got to 10
– Pigeon Lunge

COT

NMM:
Advent is about Preparation. How are we preparing ourselves daily to handle our Jester(s) beyond just fitness?

Thanks to JWOWW for the invitation to Q. Great to have such a group of HIM present.

Band Camp Dismissed

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Moving to keep warm on a windy day

Cyclops and YHC(Bass-o-Matic)  were blessed with the opportunity to have the Q at the Fort.  As we discussed that we had nothing really planned, nobody would have believed it as it came together nicely.

A brief intro, disclaimer and welcome Slim Jim from the New Bern PAX we started right into the warmup as we waited for stragglers to roll in.  We did the typical SSH, Windmills, merkins, imperial walkers, peter parkers and plank jacks.  A brief challenge to the group on how do you plan for the unexpected and how do you respond to those situations?  Now that everyone was ready we split off with Milkshake and moseyed to one of my favorite walls across from the memorial park.

Since the PAX looked a little tired we started of with some wall sits.  This is where it started getting a little saucy.  Round 1 each PAX did a 10 count with an arm variation until we go to the end.  Short 20 second break.  Round 2 Each PAX did 10 bombjacks till we made it down the line.  Saw some great form from the pax.

Changed it up and went to the plan position.  Each PAX held the plan until we went down the line with plank jacks.  20 second recovery and then repeated with mtn. climbers.

Rinse and repeat.  Went back to wall sits with squats for round 1 and SSH for round two.  Funny how quick 30 minutes went and then it was time to hand it over to Cyclops.

We moseyed from the Springs lot to Footloose – a good sojourn.  Once all PAX came in, we circled up for a 10-20-30 pyramid:

10 burpees OYO, 20 squats in cadence (because Bass-o-Matic did no leg work in his half of the Q ; – ) and 15 double count merkins in cadence.  After merkin completion, PAX stretched out from the plank with salutations to the left and right then holding 6 inches off the ground while Tesh gave an efficient 10 count.

We moseyed from Footloose to the front of the Fort Mill Police Department, held a belated veterans day Pledge of Allegiance to honor all who serve, and then moseyed on to Main street for more “fun”.

On the main street benches, PAX did 20 dips and 20 derkins OYO and then we moseyed to the Founders Bank lot for the “main act”

7’s –  6 Kracken Burpees on the horizontal parking space line, lunge walk to the opposite side (because we needed more leg work), 1 Carolina Dry Dock, mosey back to the line, 5 kracken burpees, lunge walk, 2 CDD’s, mosey back……etc. etc. etc. all the way down too 1 KB and 6 CDD’s to finish. PAX finished at this lot before moseying by holding a squat position and did 10 Moroccan night clubs in cadence.  A quick recovery via a 10-count and we moseyed back to the East side of WEP.

At the .1 mile drill bit – Pax bunched up for some more work:  15 double count flutters in cadence, 10 burpees OYO (just because) and 10 double count diamond merkins.  A little mumble chatter came about…but just a little – likely due to the love of burpees and diamond merkins.

A quick mosey back to COT brought us to a few minutes of Mary – which included 15 box cutters in cadence and 45 (ish) seconds worth of protractor work – PAX seemed to enjoy holding legs 6 inches off the ground after completing box cutters making the transition to the protractor more “fun”.  For some reason, pre-mature a count off started at this point – I don’t know why.

We wrapped up at 0730 per custom and moved to name-o-rama, announcements. praises and prayers.

Praise for the health care providers who are caring for many sick friends and family, who are in our thoughts, including Tesla’s Mom and Cyclops’ Dad who are battling forms of cancer.  And for Assassin who is working through an infection and awaiting biopsy results. Slim Jims grandson who is recovering from illness. Kenyan’s loss of his M; prayers for comfort and peace.

Read your newsletter.

 

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Video Bootcamp

11 men showed up for the workout at WEP.  After a quick disclaimer, we began with some light stretching before we jogged up the path leading to the soccer field.  Once we reached the top, we jogged back down for some additional warm-up exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, and plank stretches).

Next, we moseyed to the playground for a modified Dora.  Once we arrived, there were two men doing pull-ups.  We asked if they would like to join..they declined and disappeared into the gloom.  It kind of felt like a scene from the movie The Outsiders.  Anyway..we began with 100 pull-ups.  Partner 1 – pull-ups;  Partner 2 – run across the field and back to switch out with Partner 1.

Once all teams were done, we ran a lap around the park and stopped near the statue.  Next exercise 200 merkins.  Partner 1 – merkins;  Partner 2 – run up to the top of the hill and back down for switch out.  The area was dark and unfortunately Offset found one of the holes and hurt his leg. Everyone did a great job making sure he was ok.  After a few minutes, he was up and back exercising with the group.

Next, we headed to the parking lot for the last part of Dora.

Exercise: 300 squats

Partner 1 – squats;  Partner 2 – run to the third lit lamppost, 5 burpees, and run back down the hill.

We finished with a shoulder shuffle around the parking circle, clockwise and counter clockwise.

Great job by all.

Thanks for the patience with the video!

 

 

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Chutes and Ladders (not really…)

8 posted at The Armory and may wish they hadn’t.  I joked that I had done Demented Uno too recently (Friday at The Hive) so I had to come up with a new game.  Chutes and Ladders is what I threw out on Twitter.  Sadly, I couldn’t come up with a way for that to happen.  This was the best I could do.  More of a Pyramid of Pain.

Warmup – Mosey, Moroccan Nightclub, Hillbilly and Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, Plank, Honeymooner, Plank, Downdog, alternate calves in Downdog

Next started the pain

10 ManMakers

20 LBCs with Bell

30 Skullcrushers

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Curls (or 20 each arm)

50 Tricep Extensions

Mosey w/ Bell

60 Overhead Press

50 Flutters with Bell

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Goblet Squats into calf raises

30 Rows (15 each side)

Mosey w/ Bell

20 American Hammers

10 Turkish Getups with a butterfly or lat raise on your back to start (5 each side)

Still had 16 minutes, so PAX called exercises (Manmakers, Uhauls, etc, even rotate one bell and did rows and BBS)

 

 

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Launching the Snake Pit

YHC was honored to be asked by 3D to Q out East and, based on the calendar, an inaugural Q for the Fort’s newest kettle bell AO.  It required a separate trip to get familiar with the grounds, but a quick scan of the A/O left YHC with lots of options and, fortunately, a great group of HIMs gathered to launch the Snake Pit.  After disclaimers were put forth and JWOW came in hot, we moseyed off around the parking lot, without the bells.

COP – Corner #1 – low slow squats x15

Corner #2 – Side Straddle Hops x 20

Corner #3 – Imperial Walker x 15, People’s Chair hold with Moroccan night clubs x 15 and a                                     10-count hold

Stadium entrance – Merkins x 10, salutations right and left, 6-inch hold with a 10-count

PAX grabbed their bells and moseyed into the stadium, down to the field for a partner pyramid.

In any adversity or challenge we face in life, going through it with others helps ensure we come out stronger on the other side.  In the spirit of working through a challenge (and because partner work was notably present), we did, well, partner work.

While partner 1 began the exercises at the goal line, partner 2 ran to the 50 yard line and back and picked up the exercises where partner 1 left off.  Exercises built on one another a la pearls on a string, to the mid point anyway.

10 goblet squats

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls, 30 tricep extensions

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls, 30 tricep extensions, 40 American hammers (w/bell)

10 goblet squats, 20 hammer curls, 30 tricep extensions, 40 American hammers (w/bell), 50 swings

50 swings, 40 American hammers (w/bell), 30 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

40 American hammers (w/bell), 30 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

30 tricep extensions, 20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

20 hammer curls, 10 goblet squats

10 goblet squats

Once all were finished (PAX planked or did LBC’s if they finished before the 6), we moseyed with bells to the flag for a pledge of allegiance and did 30 flutters with the KB press

Mosey out of the stadium back to the lot for the start of a partner DORA – 50 swings and 100 hammer curls.  Partner 1 started the exercises while partner 2 ran to specified landmarks and back, and vice versa.

With no time left to get to 150 and 200 on the DORA, we moseyed back to COT for:  20 flutters with the KB press and 15 LBC’s with the bell.  At that point, it was 0600 and work was complete.

Announcements were made, prayers and praises were offered and YHC led us out.

Special thoughts are with Alright Alright Alright as his ankle heals.

Thanks to 3D for the opportunity to lead the inaugural workout and launch of the Snake Pit and to have the privilege of getting better in the presence of many HIMs.

Honored,

Cyclops

 

 

 

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Minnow Pond Back Blast

BB- Perfect conditions if you like 90% humidity and August like conditions.  Straight Up was a beast on the up and down hills.  Funhouse had perfect burpee form and the rest of us did our best to keep up.  

From Launch:

Take off down White, Right on Massey, Right on Harris. At intersection of Harris and Yorktown, Plank it up and wait for #6.

The Thang:

  • Harris/Yorktown is center of tripod.  10 burpees at center
  • Head down Harris. At end: 20 squat #asstograss
  • Run to Center
  • Head down Yorktown.  At end: 20 LBC
  • Run to Center
  • Head down Harris (opp direction).  At Riverwood: 20 CDD
  • Run Center

Rinse/Repeat, #AMRAP until time called.  Be at Center at 0555 for run back to COT. 2 rounds will get you 4.5 +pain.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Bring your smokeboots and a zest for pain.

Jekyll

 

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Block Party Steps and Bits

8 PAX took the DRP and made their way to WEP for some fun!  During the course of the workout YHC dropped some F3 hacks. Ranged from having a towel and extra shirt in your car for after posting, to being prepared with a Wienke to make writing BackBlasts easier, to giving this thing called F3 away. Disclaimer and we were on our way.

The Thang

Mosey to side parking lot for COP

SSH X 30, Merkins X 10, Squats X 20, Windmills X 10, Mountain Climbers X 20, Peter Parker X 20, SSH X 30

Mosey to courtyard and get some ledge

Right leg step ups X 20, Decline Merkins X 10, Dips X 10.

Left leg step ups X 20, Decline Merkins X 10, Dips X 10.

Rinse and Repeat but cut in half.

Rinse and repeat but cut that one in half (round up).

Mosey back to WEP for Drill Bits

At first drill bit: 1 Burpee, 2 Merkins, 3 Squat Jumps, 4 Plank Jacks, 5 Squats

At second drill bit: 2 Burpees, 4 Merkins, 6 Squat Jumps, 8 Plank Jacks, 10 Squats

At third drill bit: 3 Burpees, 6 Merkins, 9 Squat Jumps, 12 Plank Jacks, 15 Squats

At fourth drill bit: 4 Burpees, 8 Merkins, 12 Squat Jumps, 16 Plank Jacks, 20 Squats

At fifth drill bit: 54 Burpees, 10 Merkins, 15 Squat Jumps, 20 Plank Jacks, 25 Squats

Then a mosey to eat up about 3 minutes an try to get to 2 miles…. didn’t make it…

COT

FunHouse

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Open to All Men

8 PAX gathered in the gloom. Grateful to Q on 9/11.

Warm up:
– Lap
– SSH in cadence
– Shoulder Taps in cadence
– Mountain Climbers in cadence
– Peter Parkers in cadence
– Downdog –> Honeymooner
– Hip stretch (Lizard Pose)

Thang:
– I don’t usually lead much with music, but asked Uhaul to bring his speaker. We setup for an 8 min round of Tabata set to music that had been altered in tempo to fit evenly with the 20 seconds on and 10 seconds of rest.
– First 8 min
20 seconds Swings
20 seconds Squat with single arm overhead press

Mosey
– Al Gore, while we went around and mentioned where we were 9/11/2001
– Little John was in his mom’s womb. It’s important to remember that every student in public school right now has no memory of 9/11. And very few University students do.

Back the the Thang:
– 20 second Swings
– 20 second Snatch
– modified to 20 second curls in the last 4 min

COT
Remember that F3 is open to ALL men. No matter how you feel about everything that has happened after 9/11, we can be united in 5 core principles on a daily basis in the gloom.

Honored to lead
– Band Camp dismissed

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7th Year Convergence for The Fort

The 7th Year Convergence for The Fort followed an exhilarating Invergence from the night before.  Hoping to continue that acceleration, the 4 Q’s had a plan to talk about the 4 Skills needed for Virtuous Leadership: Vision, Articulation, Persuasion, Exhortation.

CakeBoss to start us out with Vision: Recognizing advantage and the movement required to achieve it.

Disclaimer and welcome
“Go Hard or Go Home!”

Take off for 100 yard mosey up path, Get in 3 lines – Indian Run across WEP

Break into 4 lines, 2 groups of seal teams -20 seal team sit ups in cadence

Back into 2 lines , Everyone plank – Tunnel of Love (25 guys per line) – Plank series while guys army crawling under

Crowd pleaser for sure!

7 Burpees for 7 Years!

Vision is what I spoke about and the men that saw the advantage of F3 and planted it (moved towards it) in Charlotte, the The Fort and we continued to give it away in Rock Hill & Lake Wylie.

Hand off to Maximus

Articulation: Describing vision to others in a clear manner. Being able to tell others where we’re going and being able to describe that vision to others.

So, with that said, we’re going over to the top of the big hill to start with drill bits:

½ the group goes one direction while the other goes the opposite way

At each white post (drill bit), 10 Jumping Lunges (10 each leg)

10 Jump Squats

Mosey to the base of the other hill, the one with the statue on it:

NUR (backwards run) up the hill

3 Burpees at the top

Bear Crawl down

5 Burpees at the bottom

Hand off to Fun House for the “P”.

Persuasion – The initiation of first Movement.  Convincing people to move in the direction of advantage, abandoning their Status Quo,

YHC gave an awesome yet forgettable speech about Persuasion.  Then the Thang:

Circle Up – Duck, Duck, Goose – One guy runs around the circle the rest of us plank, the next guy goes when the running guy finishes.  Planking excercises were called out: High Plank, Low plank, Mountain Climbers….. Audible called to get the next guy running after 1/2 a lap around the circle of Pax….. Peter Parker, Parker Peters….. Audible called to get the next guy running after 1/3 lap around….. Mak-Tar-Jai, Left Hand High, Right hand high…..Done.  That took 10 minutes!  60 guys is a lot of guys to be running around in circles.

Stay in circle, 5 minutes left, Jack Webb: 1 Merkin to 4 Overhead hand claps.  We got to 8!

Hand off to Pusher for Exhortation!

Exhortation – Incentivizing The Breach Of Obstacles.

Burpees x 10 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
Mosey to a corner of WEP
Burpees x 9 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 8 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Rosalita IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 7 OYO
Flutters IC x 10
LBCs IC x 10
Rosalitas IC x 10
Hello Dollies IC x 10
Mosey to another corner
Burpees x 6 OYO
LBCs IC x 10
Flutters IC x 10
COT
Naked Moleskin – The name-o-rama took forever.  That is a good thing. When 60+ PAX post to celebrate something that has obviously changed their lives, then change is happening!  Thanks to Maximus who put this awesome weekend celebration together!  His leadership is not only Effective (Using VAPE) but he is a Virtuous Leader! (Check out the Q Source for the 5 C’s Virtues of Virtuous Leadership) Can’t wait to see what year 8 brings to The Fort!  More importantly, who it brings!  Time to go EH someone.  See you in the gloom.
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