I Love When A Plan Comes Together

“I love when a plan comes together”  Famous quote from ’80s TV series The A-Team.  Here’s a brief description of the show, for you youngsters:

“In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… the A-Team.”

Why the reference?  It was the first thought in my head when faced with finding a last minute Q and trying to coordinate the last week of the Iron Pax Challenge.  The Challenge was originally scheduled to take place at the Pantheon, but it required pull-up bars so the location was changes to Fort Mill High School.  No worries, Bolt and I worked it out. The plan came together.

Six men showed up for the workout.  After the disclaimer, we ran around the car loop to the front of the school.  Next, we performed the following dynamic leg exercises:

  • Butt Kickers
  • High Knees
  • Lunges
  • Soccer Circles

Next, we ran to the basketball court in the back of the school for COP.

  • SSH x 20
  • Imperial Walker x 20
  • Windmill x 10
  • Plank
    • Honeymooner
    • Parker Peter x 10
    • Downward Dog
    • Peter Parker x 10
    • Honeymooner
    • Mountain Climber x 10
    • Downward Dog
  • LBCs x 10
  • Flutter x 10

Next, we lined up on the baseline for several rounds of basketball sprints.  Partner 1 performed the below exercises while Partner 2 ran sprints:

Merkins (Rinse and repeat)

Squats (Rinse and repeat)  *Partner 2 – bear crawl to center court and back

Burpees (Rinse and repeat)

Plank hold (Rinse and repeat).

We finished up with a slow jog back to COT.

 

Announcements:

 

6th Annual Invergence – Sept 21st at 1730 Rush Pavillon

 

Prayers/Praises:

Schools back in session – prayers for students, teachers, administration, and parents

Injured Pax

Health of family members

 

 

 

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Did someone say party @ Laces In…

Woke up this morning to a cool breeze which helped me forget the stiffness I felt from my first post the day before at Clydesdale’s.  13 PAX showed up for the party and ready to work.

Disclaimer and off we went

Warm-ups

Mosey to large parking where we lined up at the closest curb. Facing the field, we started with Side-shuffles. Proceeded down to the light post and returned facing the opposite way. Then it was time for some carioca down, toy soldiers back, followed by some knee to chest walks.

Mosey to center of parking lot and circle up:

Windmill x15

Low-slow squat- x15

Shoulder claps- x30

Moroccan night club- x40

Happy Jacks (Bonsai’s favorite FYI)- 5 rounds – 5 SSH/2 squat jumps for each

Mountain Climbers- x15

Honeymooner into Downward Dog- repeat x1

Mosey to the parking lot towards the back near the football practice fields for some Light post work. Not exactly 4 -corners so I had to audible.

The Thang:

Partner-up- size did not matter. Each of the 4 light posts had 3 rounds of exercises on it. Between each exercise, PAX were to either sprint or bear crawl to the next light post, depending on distance. The 2 LP with the further distance carried a sprint, and the smaller ones the bear crawl. 2nd round of short distances carried a walk lunge, with the third alternating between bear crawls and walking lunges respectively.

Light Post 1

Merkins- x20

Burpees- x10

Wide-arm Merkins- x15

Light Post 2

Jump squats x10

Low slow x10

Calf raises x40

Light Post 3

Mountain Climbers x15

Plank Jacks x20

Ski Jumps x15

Light Post 4

LBC x30

Reverse Crunches x20

American Hammers x25 (cadence)

Once completed, PAX met in the middle for a short talk on “Presence.” I find this word to be one of the most relevant in our time as parents. Take the time each day, even if it is just 5 min. to talk to your M’s and your 2.0’s.  Recommended “Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters” again to the PAX as a great book for insight into your daughter’s development (Thanks again Pusher for the first Rec). PAX broke the circle and mosey to the next stop, small parking lot in the back.

Next up- a round of 7’s

PAX lined up on one of the lot and started with 1 dip. Bear crawl to the other side and complete 6 CDD. Run backwards to the starting spot and complete 2 dips. Continue this pattern until the PAX reach 6 dips and 1 CDD.

Unfortunately, I had to skip the pull-up work due to time. Next up was a mosey over to the wall at the school. Wall sits for a 10 second count for each of the 13 PAX. Recover for a ten count and then up for a little Ballz to the Walls. 20 count, recover for 10, and then up again. Recover.

Mosey back towards COT, stopping in the connection sidewalk between the two parking lots. Quick circle up for some SSH x 40. Mosey back towards COT to the curb where it all started at the far end of the lot. Line up and turn around facing the school. With 3 minutes to go, what better way to complete a strong finish then a round of suicides. Everyone pushed hard to the end. Mosey back to COT.

Quick round of Hello Dolly.

Announcements- read your newsletter

Prayers:

Teachers

M’s

Patience

Strength for our 2.0’s

 

Thanks Olaf for taking us out and Lil E for the opportunity!

 

Thanks PAX for the support and showing up for the party.

 

Frat Boy

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Hive: Super 21

14 PAX arrived to a beautifully crisp August gloom.

Mosey around the parking lot, alternating with carioca, butt kickers, & high knees.

COP:

The Thang: a modified Super 21 sequence. We skipped the 21 reps of tricep extensions, but got the 21 LBCs in just under the wire (despite what Chicken Hawk’s clock might have said).

Naked Man Moleskin: Imposter Syndrome

I work as an academic and a musician. By outward measurements, I am successful (especially relative to the job market for musicians in academia at the moment…….). Yet I struggle with a few corrosively persistent  thoughts:

  • “I just got lucky”
  • “I feel like a fake”
  • “I must not fail”

This is not unique in either of my fields (or perhaps any field?). In fact, I think some of these feelings continue to drive me to improve and grow. However, when our identity or self worth becomes intertwined so heavily with what we do (see also Mammon in the lexicon), life is out of sync/rhythm.

My desire to grow and develop as a professor and musician is a passion. Unfortunately I often become confused about my relationship with my work and who I am. My goal is to know that my identity is found in my Third F relationship with Christ. No……scratch that. This is something I already “know.” My goal is to consistently exhibit the presence of mind to remember where my identity is found. That if a performance or a class goes poorly, my relationship with my M, my 2.0s, or my prayer life doesn’t have to be affected in the slightest.

Announcements:

Double D is raising money for a great cause. Let’s support him! Either with Burpees or $$.

Thanks to Tesh for the opportunity to lead and the PAX of The Fort (plus Greenspan from Winston-Salem….this HIM is “Dash Strong”) for pushing me to be better.

Band Camp dismissed.

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CSPAN Send off Convergence

141 Men came to show the Respectable**CSPAN** some Respect!!

He leaves The Fort and heads north or as Dredd refers to Yankee land. Not gone forever but just up the road 600 miles to start a new chapter in life and in F3 as he will launch F3Philly.

I am not the most eloquent with my back-blasts and I am usually to the point with posting the workout, add some words and being done, however since I can’t get Italian Job to write this up and Double D challenged the PAX to think of one word to represent CSAPN, I think that is the best way to document this convergence.

Thank you CSPAN for being all of these things and more to you r brothers in the PAX. As posted on Twitter and many of these were repeated multiple times:

brother
camaraderie
commitment
confidence
connected
consistent
courageous
dedicated
empathetic
example
genuine
handsome
HIM
honorable
humble
humility
impact
influence
influencer
insightful
inspiration
integrity
investor
legend
magnanimous
model
respect
selfless
servant
shepherd
solid
squaredaway
steadfast
steady
wise

The Workout looked like this:

WWL at the Q:

  • Mosey around the lot
  • Line up; karaoke, side shuffle, high knees, butt kickers, toy solders, lungewalk, power skips
  • COP
    • SSH, squat, merkin, moroccan night club, 10 Flying squirrels
Double D at the Q:
  • Run to practice field
  • Plank sequence
  • Split into 2 groups on each sideline
  • Sprint to center and back to sideline
  • Monkey humpers x25
  • Rinse + repeat with Merkins x 25
  • CDDs x25
  • Burpees x25
Longshanks at the Q:
  • Burpees
  • Lunges
  • Inch worm Merkins
  • Maktar Ndiayes
  • Plank Jacks
  • Squats.

Dredd at the Q:

  • Prayer for CSPAN
  • Merkin/Ab Lab series
  • Truth Nuggets and Leadership development with Major Payne, Wegmans, & Drop Thrill
  • Mosey to hill behind Bob Jones Stadium
  • Prayer for CSPAN heading to F3Philly…..”CSPAN Coming”
  • More Merkin/Ab lab series

COT:

141 Count, Name O’rama, 2 FNGs (Bikini & Manzel), Skinny Jeans pray out over CSPAN and his IMPACT on men and for Sky Q’s kingdom.

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August 2018 – Impact Convergence

On the morning of Friday, August 3rd, 61 Men of High Impact joined Homebrew, Deacon, & Jiffy for some #Convergence work.

For this Round Robin of Pain, we separated the PAX into 3 groups and rotated to each station for 12 minutes.

Station 1 – Jiffy:

He had setup a row of 4 cones in the bank parking lot and ran the PAX through the following exercises.

  • 5 Burpees OYO
  • Straight suicides
  • Lunge walk, 10 squats at each cone
  • Bear crawl, 10 merkins at each cone
  • 15 American Hammers in cadence
  • Suicides with 3 Bomb Jacks at each cone
  • Broad jump to each cone, 5 lunges each leg
  • Crab walk, 5 diamond merkins at each cone
  • 15 LBC’s in cadence

Station 2 – Deacon:

Find a partner

One partner runs to Pizza Hut and back while the other does a series of exercises until the team does merkins (100x), Squats (200x), LBCs (300x).

  • Partner Drills (Round 1) – Partner Big Boy Sit Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partners Push Ups (15x for 2 rounds), Partner Leg Lifts (15x for 2 rounds)
  • Partner Drills (Round 2 if time permits) – Partner Wheel Barrels to each side of the parking lot (2x for 2 rounds), Partner Ski Jumps (15x for 2 rounds)

Station 3 – Homebrew:

4 Corners and Burpee Roll

PAX were divided into four groups, with one group being sent to each corner. Complete all exercises listed at your corner then bear crawl to the center. At the center was a large foam die. One PAX would roll the die for the group to determine how may burpees everyone would do. Amazingly, only one 6 was rolled all morning – I’m lookin at you IceT. Once the burpees were completed, crab walk from the center to the next corner going clockwise. Rinse and repeat until all corners are done or time runs out.

  • Corner 1
    • 40 SSH
    • 40 Plank Jacks
    • 40 Mountain Climbers
    • 20 Crab Cakes
  • Corner 2
    • 15 Merkins
    • 30 CDD
    • 15 Wide Arm Merkins
    • 5 Kraken Burpees
  • Corner 3
    • 10 Donkey Kicks
    • 50 Calf Raises
    • 40 Monkey Humpers
    • 20 Lunges
  • Corner 4
    • 10 Big Boy Situps
    • 20 Hello Dollys
    • 30 Dying Cockroaches (double count)
    • 10 Boxcutters

There were prayer requests for family, school returning and those with health needs.

Cakeboss took us out in prayer.

Great job, Homebrew, Deacon, & Jiffy!

– Ginsu

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Moseying through life searching for your Rock

Eighteen men posted on a beautiful morning to make each other stronger in body and spirit.  I won’t try to capture all of the words of wisdom shared but get out there and post to engage…

The Message…  The bottom line of the messages given intermittently throughout the pain was around impact and finding your God given purpose and engaging in the Journey that will take you from where you are today to where God wants to to be, having an impact in the areas of the world he has called you.  Don’t just mosey through life smelling the flowers and then moving on to the next thing.

The Thang…

Mosey to the corporate parking lot where Shinguard started the morning with COP.

  • SSH x20
  • Squats x20
  • LBC x20
  • High Low Flutter x20
  • Worlds Worst Merkin x10 (Wide arm, Regular, diamond = 1 rep)  that was terrible

Mosey to the wall for some muscle up and donkey action.  2 sets (10 x 10 then 5 x 20)

Mosey to the top of the Hill for some hill repeats. x2  Run down hill and run backwards back up with 10 burps at the top.

Mosey to the grass hill with a forward bear crawl down the hill to the sidewalk

Mosey to the lower wall for some wall sits and baby dips while in sitting position

Mosey to the courtyard for wall jumps, derkins, irking, and dips with a few rounds.

Santina took over and rotated through a series of SSH, Carolina Dry Docks, Lunges, Moroccan Night Clubs, Seal Jacks and a repeated, slow, methodical rip your muscles out shoulder type of experience.

Moseyed back to COT for a couple of ab exercises then done.

It was an honor and privilege to Q and to Q with Santini.

CH

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Burping Arrows at Colosseum

What do you do when you spend all of your mental energy preparing for a Q involving a hard workout and a solid message, you do that workout, and then get asked to Q the next day?

 

For YHC, you put little effort into preparing a message, think back to what others have done at that AO, and do something hateful.

 

Jekyll reached out late in the day Monday, asking me to take the Q at Colosseum on Tuesday morning, and it’s really hard to say “no” when the request is made. Announcement was made on the Twitter machine, which usually results in poor turnout, so I was quite surprised to see 17 PAX show up to join me in my admittedly bad idea workout. 0515 rolled around, disclaimer was made, and off we went on a comfortable mosey around one of the drop off circles, complete with side shuffles, knees-to-chest, toy soldiers, and other light stretching. We wrapped around to the small parking lot at the entrance for some additional warm-ups.

 

20 SSH in cadence

20 Moroccan night clubs in cadence

10 Hillbilly imperial hillbilly walkers in cadence (yep, you read that right, and it’s just like it sounds)

10 Windmills in cadence

10 Merkins in cadence

 

Tiny mosey to the start of the looooooong entry road with all the arrows for…

 

The Thang

 

Ginsu did an awful workout over the winter involving the arrows on the road, so today’s workout was modeled after that bad idea. But I couldn’t remember what we did that time, so we did burpees.

 

Round 1:

15 burpee buy in, then jog to the first arrow, one burpee, jog to the next arrow, one burpee, etc., all the way down to the stop sign past the Gold Hill Middle School sign (17 arrows in total). 

Jog back to starting point and wait for the 6. 

 

Truth be told, we only did all 17 arrows this time so I could gauge how long the road was and how long future rounds would take. Based on that information, we shortened it to the first 10 arrows for the remainder of the workout.

 

Round 2:

15 breakdancer burpee buy in, then bear crawl to an arrow, 10 LBCs, bear crawl, 10 LBCs, etc. Jog back.

 

Round 3:

15 Walmart burpee buy in, sneaky gorilla to arrow, 10 merkins, sneaky gorilla, 10 merkins, etc.

Jog back.

 

Round 4:

10 Jackass burpee buy in, crab walk to arrow, 10 squats, crab walk, 10 squats, etc.

Jog back to COT, because we ran out of time.

 

Rounds planned but not completed:

15 Bodybuilder burpee buy in, broad jump to arrow, 10 V sits, broad jump, V sit, etc.

20 One-leg burpee (10 per leg) buy in, monkey crawl left to arrow, 10 diamond merkins, monkey crawl left, 10 diamond merkins, etc.

10 One-arm burpee (5 per arm, aka, Apollo Creed) buy in, monkey crawl right to arrow, 10 jumping lunges (single count), monkey crawl, 10 jumping lunges, etc.

 

There were very few announcements. Read your newsletter.

 

Very few prayer requests. Some PAX admitted just needing oxygen.

 

This was my first Q at Colosseum. Jekyll said to make it hard. I tried. We only ended up doing 72 burpees in all, so it wasn’t that bad. I’ll branch out and assume I won’t be asked back, and if I am, it will be a poor turnout.

 

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to lead. Thank you, Jekyll, for the push.

 

Jedi

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Block Party/Colosseum Colombia Team Send off!

28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matt 20:28

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

61 PAX and YHC came to Block Party this day to show support to those that have felt a call to serve. As we are commanded to serve locally, nationally and globally this group of men are going global to get uncomfortable and grow closer to SkyQ. The support, prayers and encouragement from our brothers in the PAX is overwhelming and powerful. Anyone that has not realized it yet, F3 is more than a workout!

The Thang:

  • Ruckers when their separate way with Cobra Kai at the helm
  • Runners went looking for golf balls at FMGC with Pusher at the point
  • The rest of us followed YHC for a boot-camp with 40 or so of our brothers
    • Mosey down path, across the field out towards 160 for COP
      • All exercises were to 11 count for the 11 heading to Colombia
      • Plank
      • SSHs
      • Squat
      • Merkins
      • MOracan Night Clubs
      • Sumo Squat
      • Wide Arm Merkins
      • LBCs
      • Peter Parkers
      • Rosalitas
      • Imperial Walkers
    • Mosey to playground
      • Ladder work
      • Do exercise with designated reps, take a lap, add next exercise, take a lap…..
      • # of REPS Exercise COLOMBIA PAX MEMBER TOTAL REPS
        1 Merkin Bonsai 11
        2 LBC Bubba 20
        3 Squat Cake Boss 27
        Here from PAX on their WHY
        4 Burpee Crawdaddy 32
        5 Inch Worm Merkins Elvis 35
        6 Sumo Squat Fire Marshal Bill 36
        Here from PAX on their WHY
        7 Bombjacks Flat Tire 35
        8 Overhead Clap Italian Job 32
        9 Leg Raises Mr Bill 27
        Here from PAX on their WHY
        10 Lunge Hops Sir Topham Hat 20
        11 Donkey Kicks Trucker 11
    • Right up against time we finished
  • COT
    • We had 3 FNGs, Love Handles, Arrowhead and Homer
    • CSPAN prayed us out  an prayed over the whole team

YHC can thank you all for being a stable rock in my life. I can’t say enough about what F3 and each of my Brothers means to me and how it has changed my life. More importantly it has allowed me to reach men for SkyQ’s kingdom and that is the best achievement ever.

Peace Men

Cake Boss out!

 

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Beyond- Freedom has never been easy.

Always an Honor to Q. To be able to push men Beyond their comfort zone. To teach and be tought.  America has given me freedoms that most of the world can not even fathom. Freedom has been given to us all by the selfless acts of men and women willing to give themselves up so that we can live like other country.

We started with a disclaimer. Let all know who I was and checked to see if we had any FNGs. None present so made amentsl mental note to self that I need to work harder on bringingthis gift to other men in my reach. We took off with slow mosey that led into some dynamic movements Stopped for Pledge of Allegiance and then circled up. We warmed up to the acronym FREEDOM (Flutter kicks, Rosalita, empty wheelbarrow, Everests, donkey kicks, outlaws, and Mtn. Climbers) we than did 17 Merkins in cadence followed by 76 SSHs in cadence.
We moseydto drop off in front of school did the next 5 exercises followed by sprint Squat jumps, merkins, bomb jacks, CDDs, burppees 10 of each.
Mosey to small car circle. Get into discussion on true freedom and that is through Jesy=us CHrist. Q had found verses in bible that talked about freedom through him and matched it up with some good exercises. Fastest each round would get to read next verse. Here they are if you want to li=ook them up.Romans *:16- 10 jumpsquats. john 8:32 burpees- 1 peter 2:16-17- 10 grave diggers each side, 1 cort. 6:12 10 jumping lunges, 1 cort. 9:19 10 tony hawk burpees, Acts 13:39 10 bomb jacks, 2 cort. 3:17 15 squats, Psalm 119:45 20 CDDs, romans 6:6-7 20 merkins, gal. 5:1 10 hand release merkins, Gal. 5:13 20 Monkey Humpers, Psalm 118:5 20 flutter kicks. COT. Prayers, and Praises.
Thank You was an Honor.

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A tradition unlike any other- Board of Pain 2018 Week 1

10 Pax for Laces In (and a HAN SOLO runner) settled into what has become a summer tradition.  A pure suckfest of constant battering, no let up and U vs U.

The Thang:

Finish each exercise before moving on to the next.  In between, complete a recovery run.  Normally, distance is 1/4 mile.  today was shorter but will adjust next week.  Each week PAX (and returning PAX) work to better their accomplishments down the board.

F3 June week 1
The Challenge:
 Burpees – 100
 Calf Raises – 150 (50 regular, 50 toes pointed in, 50 toes pointed out)
 Ski Abs – 100
 Merkins – 100
 Deep Squats – 100
 LBCs – 200
 Carolina Dry Docks – 100 Cornhole(C)
 Russian Twists – 100 Atlas (C), Paul Bunyan(C)
 Mac Tar Jai– 100 Jekyll (75), Digiorno (60),CSPAN (39),Double D (30), Dark Helmet (1)
 Jump Squats – 100 Tesh (5)
 Mountain Climbers – 100 Fish Stix (37)
 Shoulder Raises – 200
 Mary Catherines – 100
 Hello Dolly – 200
 Wide Arm Merkins – 100
 Squat Jacks – 100
 Nippler– 100
 Burpees – 100

Got this work out from F3 Raleigh and brought to The Fort in summer of 2014.  At the time it was the toughest workout in the region and true #snotwoggler.  Since, our collective fitness level is up and PAX are constantly pushing themselves- there have been and are as hard or harder workouts but this badboy holds its own.  There was debate today as to the hardest part of the workout- getting through the physical and mental strain of opening with 100 straight burpees or everything else that follows once you have done them.  Either side of the fence you are on, there is no doubt you can pull huge accomplishment for your day as bit by bit you have completed a huge task by breaking into smaller ones.  Staying “in it” is the challenge.  “Trying” is the challenge.  “Stepping into the arena” is the challenge.  Embrace the suck and come out on the other side.  I hope I see the same guys there next week ready to push past week 1 results.  Additionally I want to see PAX join for week 2 that have both done it before and those that have never.  See you in the Gloom.

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