Mile High at The Fort

First off- Cobains to Bonsai for this trady BB.  The beatdown was on point.

A hearty crew began strolling in around 6:20 with headlamps both running and car with much excitement and anticipation.  Plenty of jokes going around as I brought my 2.0 that now towers over me by about 5 inches.  Par for the course.  Dont know if this was Milehigh’s first Q at the Fort but he easily stepped up to the plate.  There were a handful of pre rucks and pre runs from PAX accelerating their #King.  Fishsticks ran all the way from Tom Brady’s back yard which was about 7 miles.

Milehigh took the reigns first and led the PAX on a mosey run around the park and then off campus for a circle of pain with standard issue but equally difficult warm ups.  DORA was the name of his game and MH extended to 4 rounds of 100 merkins, 200 Carolina Dry Docks, 300 Squats, 400 LBC aggregate between your partner.  P1 runs up the grassy cliff, bangs out 5 more merkins and tries not to be a rolling wheel of cheese on the way down.  Festifun (from Rock Hill) came in guns blazing and was big on the #pickupthesix encouragement that #teamHYDE had fallen to #DFL.

Handoff to YHC and with no words really planned have been struck and moved by the acceleration of Mile High in fitness, fellowship and his faith.  7 months in and he’s running the yeti, leading workouts, understanding accountability and seeing the virtues of shield lock.  AYE!

AYG up the hill for a partner series of wheelbarrow, carries then toe lunges and burpee broadjumps #crowdpleaser.

Finished out with 2 teams of tunnel of love and finally seal team situps.  Indian run back to home.

  • Geronimo is F3.  King is locked in, always welcoming and a magnet for anybody
  • No one knows exactly why DOAH wore his reflector vest during the workout.  but he stayed safe, so goal attained.
  • Kernel(14 yo 2.0) took it on the chin well and kept up with his old man despite YHC being able to fit in his pocket
  • Lutifisk is looking lean and mean- aye brother keep up the King/Queen
  • When did we start naming ppl after the bad roads in Fort Mill- Pothole and Asphalt?
  • Tesh kept his shirt on but he was conflicted
  • Finally- those who played in the grass the second half, truly get the original Fort. Skin fungi be damned.

AYE!

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AKA to Clydesdales for a River Run

Day 9 of AKAY2 did not disappoint.  13 PAX came out to run the hills of the River District.  Beautiful morning, no sweat shirts and lots of yellow running gear!

4 mile loop: down Market straight to River District cul-de-sac and come on back.

5 mile loop: 160 to Sutton, right on Market intersection, straight to River District cul-de-sac and come on back.

Everyone got back safely and finished with COT.

Prayers for Jessica, Rebel’s co-worker,  battling 2 forms of cancer.

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The Hive: Kettlebells, rain, tabata. What could go wrong?

0505 show up to the hive for prep. Layout cones and other various gear needed.
0510 see cars and trucks and more cars and trucks pulling into parking lot.
0514 Disclaimer and see another truck pull in (its Stang, we start to mosey for warm ups.)
0515 Warmups of various types.
0522 Start a Tabata that has to called out by Q due to speaker not working. ended up being great. I love mumble chatter and it was rolling good this moist morning.
8 stations- 2-3 PAX per station they went as follows.
Goblet Squats
Figure 8s
Shoulder presses with rucksack
Jump Rope
Alternating bicep curls
American Hammers
1 arm KB swings
Alternating hand on KB merkins
0600- Mosey with gear back to COT. The rain really started to pour down.
Prayers and Praises.
AkA- if you don’t know you better ask somebody.
Q Source
prayers for marriages and kids.

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The Pillars of Pain

The AKA Possie was in full effect at the Pantheon this morning.  The cold weather did not deter them from posting on the third consecutive day this month.  We began with a lap around the car pickup line and stopped on the side of the school for some warm-up exercises.

COP

SSH x 25

Imperial Walker x 15

Windmill x 15

Flutter x 15

Plank stretch (Honeymooner, Downward Dog)

Next, we moseyed to the front of the school near the crosswalk.  This portion of the workout was called “Pillars of Pain”. Not a lot of running, just a lot of pain.

First exercise:  Plank shuffle with 10 merkins at each pillar, jog back to the starting line

Second exercise:  Plank shuffle with 10 dips at each pillar, jog back to the starting line

Big lap around soccer field

Third exercise:  Lunge walk with 10 squats at every other pillar, jog back to the starting line

Fourth exercise:  Burpee broad jump to the end of the building, jog back to starting line

Fifth exercise:  Crab walk with 10 LBCs at each pillar, jog back to COT

 

Announcements:

S2S – Jekyll on Q

Q Source

 

Prayers:

Marriages

Injured Pax

 

 

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Return to the Gloom

15 PAX Strong posted to the Fort on Saturday. It seemed fitting that my return to the Gloom would be where it all started back in October of 2012. The Fort! I started that workout  an FNG and finished it almost spilling merlot! Got a “cool” name. I also found a brotherhood of guys who aren’t that much different than me. Found something I never knew I needed too. I went all in, with a small hiatus of a hernia repair surgery, brought on by all this new activity. Fast Forward several years and several CSAUPs later. Life happens. New job. Life challenges. Deceleration. I went full #kotter there for quite some time. Sure I went to an occasional workout here and there but in my heart I knew I was decelerating.

So I recently moved to a neighborhood that is populated with quite a few F3 brothers. They really laid into me strong and got me back out to the gloom. I can’t even remember why or when the deceleration started, but this is what makes F3 great! Your proximity to other men. They’ll get in the weeds with you and stay on you and won’t leave you behind. All this to say, if you haven’t seen a guy around in a while, reach out to them. Call them out on twitter. Chances are it’s what they need!

Now onto the 1 hour CSAUP that I crammed down their throats:

Prior to the beatdown Dirty Harry and Punchlist did the 12 Mile Time Hack #weirdos #rucking #330starttime. A couple of us pre-rucked, which was nice.

0630 Time to Roll, this was referenced as a ruck “friendly” workout. So some had rucks, others did not, it was difficult either way.

THANG
-Mosey around the park, stop for some SSH, Merkins and Windmills
-Mosey some more and stop for some Mtn Climbers and a few others I forgot
-Mosey to the…wait for it…

RING OF FIRE
Large Circle comprised of 8 cones. Each cone has an exercise and count. There’s also a cone in the middle.
-Start in the middle and do 5 burpees
-Walk to first cone, do the exercise
-Bear Crawl to the center cone, do 5 burpees
-Walk to the next cone, Repeat
-After completing the ring, run around the playground, return and start over…see how many times you can complete the ring

Here were the exercises and counts (memory is fuzzy):
1. 15 Merkins
2. 20 Lunges (10 each leg)
3. 30 Flutter Kicks (2-count)
4. 15 GTOs (Ground to Overhead) w/ 40# sandbags
5. 20 Squats (either w/ Ruck or Block)
6. 30 Big Boy Situps
7. 20 CDD
8. 30 Mtn Climbers

Half the PAX did it with Rucks on. It was equally difficult for all though. If you had a ruck on you probably got 2 rounds in. No ruck probably got 3 or close to it.

Some notable take-aways:
-Pax get punch-drunk when the workout gets rough
-Apparently noon is not the time to go to a certain type of club
-Tesh kept his shirt on
-Geronimo took his shirt off 😐
-Each round represented 40 burpees and 2-3 rounds were completed…do the math #ouch

I think we were all glad when this one was over.

COT
Announcements
Prayers and Praise
BOM

Thanks to Bonsai for the opportunity. And thanks to my brothers for encouraging me to get back after it. Glad to be back in the Gloom!

Aye!
Zima

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#F3MentalBattle at The Coop

It was a powerful day across F3 Nation as men from all over gathered at their AOs to workout and to raise awareness for Mental Health, specifically Depression and Suicide. It’s a thing that we as men tend to shy away from discussing, and our brothers Aerobie and Miyagi out of F3Louisville put out the call to post and to start eroding the stigma of mental health challenges among men (including our Pax).

So, we warmed up, I shared a bunch of statistics, and we went to work.

A modified Dirty MacDeuce was on the menu that morning.
3 exercises, 22 reps each (for the 22 Vets that commit suicide every day), then run a lap around the track. We did arms, legs, core each round; and we attempted to get in as many rounds as we could in the time we had.

I don’t remember all the exercises that we did, there were Merkins, and Squats, and Flutters, and Dry Docks, and lunges, and Makthar N’Diayes, and a bunch of other stuff. The point, though, wasn’t the workout. I’ll tell a couple of things I did remember…

  • Suicide is the 7th leading cause of death among men in the US
  • Every man in the circle raised his hand when asked if they or someone they know had experienced some sort of mental health issue
  • One of the main contributing factors to mental health issues is a feeling of isolation

You are not alone. You are NEVER alone. Reach out. Don’t suffer in silence.

Helmet, out.

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No foolin’ at The Honey Badger today

17 PAX attended (probably most of them by accident) Ass kickin’ April Year 2.  AKAY2 started at the Badger today with YHC on Q (to make sure I post for day 1).  AKAY2 is a different AO every day (excluding Sunday) for the month of April.  Get to know the region by posting somewhere else.  Here is the schedule (shameless plug):

Today we honored a fallen soldier and YHC modified his workout.  See below for the Thang (the run portion was .33 miles):

Rinse and Repeat – I think the leaders got to a second round of the Squats.  The doubling up on the Burpees was a crowd pleaser….

There was a Shovel Flag hand-off this morning from the scarcely-posting Cheddah to the ever-posting Dirty Harry! Proof (that Cheddah even posted) below:

Prayers for new job opportunities, surgeries, injured PAX and unspoken.

FunHouse

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Bracket buster round 1

The day after the first round of March Madness had the PAX eager to see what was in front of them. This bracket buster followed the March Madness structure.

64 reps of squats, curls, skull crushers, LBCs, flutters, and one other (this is what happens when you write the backblast late(

run to end of parking lot and back. Rinse and repeat with 32 reps, 16 reps, 8 reps, 4 reps, and 2 reps. Mossy to picnic bench for 20 step ups, LBCs and squats.

COT

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March Madness, with a hill

The PAX were blessed with a brisk, dry morning at The Fort.  Everyone was decked out in nice sweat shirts, hats and gloves and then Tesh showed up with his son’s short sleeve shirt on to show us all who was boss.  No one attempted to match his lack of clothing, so we were off.  YHC had the first half of the Q, Shady was soon to follow.

The Thang:

Lap around WEP into the COP:

SSH X I don’t know, the PAX sort of trailed off after 30 so we stopped regained composure…..

SSH attempt #2 X 25, Imperial Walkers X 20 (this was too meet with consternation as many PAX were grumbling that 20 was too many),  Mountain Climbers X 20, Windmill X 20 (finally the PAX stopped complaining understanding that it wasn’t helping their situation), Merkins X 10 (slow count, form matters), 6 count Burpees with overhead hand clap X 10 (crowd pleaser, reminder to do more of these in the future).

Jacob’s ladder at small hill – 1 burpee to 7 bomb jacks

Back to second COP: SSH X 25, and some other things that I can’t remember as my groove was thrown off by all the “mumblechatter” from the first COP.  (My planned weinke was 30 minutes but actually only 23…)

Hand it over to Shaddy – This turned out to be a bad idea….

Mosey to the playground for words of encouragement for the word of the month, Growth.  To be intentional and support Operation Sweet Tooth.  Then Shady went beast mode for some March Madness “fun”:

Round #1:

4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

8 diamond merkins, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

16 knee jumps, 8 diamond merkins, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

32 dips, 16 knee jumps, 8 diamond merkins, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

64 squats, 32 dips, 16 knee jumps, 8 diamond merkins, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

Round #2:

4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

8 leg lifts hanging from bar, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

16 jump lunges, 8 leg lifts hanging from bar, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

32 derkins, 16 jump lunges, 8 leg lifts hanging from bar, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

64 calf raises, 32 derkins, 16 jump lunges, 8 leg lifts hanging from bar, 4 pull ups, run up big hill and back

Done – COT

Prayers lifted for P200 runners, for those PAX injured and cannot post, for those PAX that have not come out.

FH

 

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The Fort: Flat Tire & Band Camp

8 PAX gathered in the gloom among many more vehicles than the represented by the posting. Clearly some P200 Runners were  training in our midst.

Flat Tire on Q

Disclaimer

Clockwise Mosey full-loop around jogging path.
COP IC
SSH
Imperial walkers
Windmill
Wide arm merkins
Low slow squats with calf raise
Bomb jacks
Overhead claps

Mosey down jogging path to mile marker for group work
At each marker, start with 1 exercise, 5 count.
At each subsequent marker do that again and add next exercise plus 5 more IC.

We did:
5 burpees
10 Scorpion Dry Docks
15 Freddy mercury
20 jumping lunges
25 mountain climbers

Mosey to the dreaded hill

Pick a partner around the same size
Wheelbarrow up hill
Walk back down and switch Back up

Handoff to Band Camp

Monkey Humpers x10
Howling Monkeys

Mosey down the hill towards set cones

Lateral Slalom through cones

Bearpees (OYO 1 Burpee followed up by 4 count bearcrawl forward) from cones to bottom of the hill

10 squats, 10 leg thrusts, 10 Merkins, 10 leg thrusts, then up (Deconstructed Burpee)

Bearpees back to cones (2 burpees, 8-count bear crawl). YHC had more of this planned but was smoked after two rounds…..If you can’t Q it, don’t do it….so I modified.

Plank–>Honeymooner–>Downdog–>High Lunge–>rinse repeat
Message during sequence

Lateral Slalom through cones x4

Plank–>yoga quad stretch (Crescent Lunge: Anjaneyasana)

Bear Crawl Slalom through cones x2

Slow mosey towards the hill (called out for walking by the returning-from-a-9-mile-run Gecko)
Crawl Bear up the hill

Mosey towards Calhoun St. field.

Bear crawl back to COT (this was a long way to bear crawl)

Plank
Shoulder Tap x10
J-Lo x6

Saved just enough time for some Pigeon Lunges

NMM

In my professional life as a music professor, I’ve been thinking about language and the way we talk to ourselves. After attempting something for the first time or a skill that is still developing, I often hear students say, “I can’t ______.” As if saying “I can’t” excuses them from needing the skill/competency/etc.

My response is often a little pithy at first. “Well you know what Abraham Lincoln said. If at first you don’t succeed. . . . . . just quit. You’re done.” This usually gets a little laughter. Then we redirect to more constructive language. E.g., I’m still developing that; I’m not there yet; (or if “can’t” must be in their vocabulary) I can’t do that yet. The yet makes all the difference; it allows for progress to happen in the future.

We would never talk to a friend the way we talk to ourselves. If a friend attempted something for the first time and failed, no one would seriously respond, “Oh well, guess you can’t do it.” But we tell ourselves that or something similar all the time. And what’s even worse: we believe it! By believing it, we make it true! Living out the definition of self-fulfilling prophecy.

In our inner monologue can we treat ourselves like a fellow PAX? Strive to create an internal language that leads to encouragement and acceleration. A language that allows for disruption rather than just perpetuates the status quo.

-Band Camp dismissed

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