Tag: Tinsel

Shoulders and Sandbags at Currahee

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It’s February 1st, it’s cold(ish), GTE season is about to kick off and we’re at Currahee. I asked the PAX to bring a few sandbags so we had kettle bells and bags ranging from 20lbs – 80lbs which was perfect to welcome Badlands to his virgin ruck workout.

Disclaimer & ground your rucks

Jog around the parking lot
Grab your rucks and shuffle around the parking lot
Grab all the coupons and ruck around the parking lot

Good morning. I love you. Now do 20 Man Makers.

To the soccer fields:
Bear crawl (rucks only) 1/2 way across the field (shorter distance) then bear crawl ruck drag the remaining distance.
Go to one end of the field and set your eyes on the other end. Now we’re looking at the field via the long way.
Shuffle 1/2 way, 10 tricep extensions, shuffle the rest, 10 tricep extensions
NUR 1/2 way, 20 upright rows, NUR the rest, 20 upright rows
I promise I love you. Bear crawl 1/2 way (again, we’re talking about the long way), 10 merkins, bear crawl ruck drag the rest, 10 slick merkins.

Back to the coupons in the lot .
With rucks and all coupons, we’d ruck the big drop off loop with stops at each of the 4 corners for 3 exercises at each:
10 Ruck Thrusters
15 Overhead Press
20 Ruck Curls (this turned out to be the worst especially for Mainframe and his 45lb’er)

Rucks only and make our way to the flags
On your back, legs straight up and rucks overhead, LBC’s in cadence
Flutters in cadence
Rucks on your feet then modified LBC’s in cadence

On your feet.
PAX hold their ruck with arms bent at 90 degrees. Each PAX take their turn at performing 5 good ruck curls while the rest hold the 90.

Overhead ruck carry back to COT.

Hey Divac…GO PACK (Wolfpack, that is)
Maximus

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The Seven WOD at the Badger Den

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Today at Honey Badger we honored the seven.

“The Seven” is in memory of seven US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers and one Jordanian officer who were killed by a suicide bomber at a remote base in southeastern Afghanistan on December 30, 2009.

The bomber was posing as a potential informant reporting on Al Qaeda.

Killed in the attack were CIA officers Jennifer Lynne Matthews, 45; Scott Michael Roberson, 39; Harold E. Brown Jr., 37; Darren LaBonte, 35; Elizabeth Hanson, 30; and security contractors Jeremy Jason Wise, 35, and Dane Clark Paresi, 46.

7 Rounds

  • 7 pull ups
  • 7 man makers
  • 7 Knees-to-Elbows
  • 7 bicep curls
  • 7 merkins
  • 7 overhead press
  • 7 triceps extension
  • Run down the hill, NUR back up
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Casualties carry at Currahee

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Today’s non moderate ruck WOD brought some mumble chatter at the beginning but then most of us got gassed and out of breath so barely any words were being said.

buy in: 1/4 mile run, 50 BBSU.. main event: one mile carrying casualties (ladders loaded with sandbags for 240# and 230#) with Tabata every two minutes, stop, put casualty down, 10 push-ups with ruck on alternating with 10 squats with ruck on. Pick up casualty and keep moving. We finished the mile in 33 minutes :muscle:, buy out: 1/4 mile run and 50 BBSU, Tabata clock was still ticking so more push-ups every two minutes. Endex: 1/2 mile ruck with sandbags, switching bags with partner every time the alarm went off.  Totals: movement 2 miles, +- 200 merkins, +- 80 squats.
Great push everyone!!

 

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FieldDay at Paintheon

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My shorty was really excited about having a field day at school so I thought I would bring back some elementary school memories and lead the PAX in some old school field day activities.
I don’t usually put this much effort into a Q because there is a lot of stuff to figure out and prep beforehand. Luckily I have been riding the good vibes of June FNG Jamboree so I was willing to put in the extra effort in hopes the PAX have fun while still getting a workout in.

Started the PAX off with some standard exercises then moved right into the games.

The following games were played. If you want to know more then you need to show up next time. Thank you to Lutefisk for joining us while on IR and for capturing some incredible footage of the games.

Sharks and minnows and bears. The bear crawl is the only mode of transportation. then around with only being able to NUR which turned out to be way more dangerous than expected.

The next field day game was the egg toss.
Wanting to continue to have access to the facilities of the elementary school the eggs were swapped out for golfballs. Eggs smashed baking in the sun while the kids stand in the car rider pickup line would not be great for fulfilling the mission of F3.
Golf ball egg toss rules. If you drop the golf ball you and your partner must perform 3 burpees before moving back to the next cone. Note that golf balls were also dangerous. Especially with the limited photons present in the gloom.

On to the second to final field day game. The famous water relay. Everyone is split into two teams. Each team member will perform exercises while the first person in line will fill the holy cup,(it’s a cup with holes in it to let the water leak out thereby encouraging running) and run down around the farthest cone then back to a second cup that is to be filled. Exercises are merkins, squats, plank for the guys not running with the leaking water jug.
This was one of my favorite parts to watch as PAX had different theories and strategy was definitely a factor in the outcome. There were some cheaters so the rules had to be adjusted to only carrying the jug with one hand. Great job fellas pushing yourselves to win for your team. (IT especially was running fast)

Last but not least was the “nobody is watching my six” dodgeball.
Pax around the circle perform seal jacks while trying to hit the person in the middle. If you hit the person you then go into the middle and take a turn dodging while they take your spot around the circle. At first, it was only one person and one dodgeball which was pretty elementary so we had to add more excitement by adding a second person in the middle and a second dodgeball. So now there are two people in the middle and two dodgeballs in play. It became much more chaotic which I enjoyed and many more guys were getting into the dodging action. The game also added some chaos because with only two out of 4 dodgeballs in play at a single time everyone had to be aware of the sequence at which the dodgeballs were allowed to enter the game. To make it as easy to remember as possible we established that the order of balls that could be in play was green, yellow, red, and finally blue. So the game starts with the green and yellow balls in play and if one of the green or yellow balls ends up outside the circle then the next ball which is red becomes active.

Kudos to Uber for his world-class dodgeball skills.

Hope you guys enjoyed it and it was great to see Tinsel back out in the gloom after his rabdo scare.

Thanks for the opportunity 38 to lead. Stay frosty my friends,
Olaf

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Taming the Tongue (and the PAX)

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YHC led off with a quick Bible verse.

James 3:3-5

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

He do we talk to those around us? Our peers? Colleagues? M’s? 2.0’s? Do we treat those closest to us differently than say a total stranger?

Warm Up

Mosey/High Knees/Butt Kickers/Karaoke/Toy Soldiers

Al Gore hold while performing:

Moroccan Night Clubs

Lil Baby Arm Circles both directions

Squat Pulses to finish with a burn

 

The Thang

7 minutes of Chelsea to start

EMOM 5-10-15 Pull Ups – Merkins – Squats

 

Mosey to the track

Our thoughts ultimately come out via our tongue. If we think bitterly and assume the worst out of everybody in our lives, our tongue will be a strong

Burpee Chase – 

Sprint the straights, jog the curves. At each corner perform five burpees

Bear Crawl 100 yards in between each lap

Completed two laps

Back to the pull up bars

6 minutes of Chelsea

Jail Break to COT

Mary in Cadence

20 LBCs

15 American Hammers

10 Gas Pumpers

NMM

The tongue is something we cannot control – no matter how hard we try. The only true way to tame the tongue is by living in the Spirit. I have trouble with this myself. It is something that I just need to realize isn’t within my power to control. Once I relinquish said control to the Spirit, my speech ultimately improves.

How do we relinquish our tongues to the Holy Spirit? Well… there is no formula. But finding yourself in proximity to God more often tends to help. The more we approach the Lord via the Word, prayer, fellowship, and witnessing, the higher the odds are that our speech will be Spirit led.

Prayers/Praises

Kaiser’s 10 year anniversary

Splinter/Point Break Home Schooling

YHC – the Holy Spirit helped me to let go of bitterness I was keeping toward my M – big praise!

 

Thanks for the tap, Kaiser. Always happy to serve.

 

Punch List out.

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1 – 17 – 18 and Foundations at The Fort

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Today at WEP there was an event to honor York County Detective Mike Doty who died in the line of duty on January 17, 2018. 1 – 17 – 18.

When Grinder asked me to Q today, the same day as the event., I jumped at the chance. One – I needed to get out of my rut and Grinder knew that. Much appreciated G!! Second, I wanted to tie those numbers – 1 – 17 -18 – to my workout as well as deliver a good message to the PAX.

The deal was pretty simple. We ran a loop of about 1.2miles around the perimeter of WEP, with stops for fun. At each of these stops, 5 total including starting at the COT and finishing at the amphitheater, we did the following:

* 1 burpee
* 17 SSH
* 18 Merkin
* 2 min plank for discussion
* 1 burpee
* 17 Reverse LBC
* 18 CDD
* All were 4-count, in cadence (rather rapid). We changed the merkins and CDD to single count after my left shoulder popped after midway through the 3rd round. Getting old stinks!!

Everyone did great. The mublechatter was great, and the group did real well watching their form. I’m sure we are all going to get rashes from that wonderful WEP grass and all the goonie-goo-goos that are in it. GEE THANKS NASA!! HA HA!!!

That was right at 30min. I handed it over to Grinder who had a BoP set up for a quite effective and horrible ab lab of 7-8 exercises, 25-50 (4-count) reps each. Then he ended the fun with Thunderstruck Burpees – playing AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”, every time you heard “Thunder” or “Thunderstruck” you did a burpee. That’s 33 burpees in 4:52. Nice ending Grinder!!! Going to have to remember that one.

COT, P&P:
* READ YOUR NEWSLETTER. Get involved. Invigorate the leader in you.
* A lot going on in everyone’s lives. We lifted up quite a lot to our Lord!
* Many of us, including myself, doubled-down and did the Doty Memorial Run about 30min later. Awesome!!!

NMM – Foundations:
– DISCLOSURE – This is a repeat of my message at Golden Corral earlier this week. I thought it was important enough to repeat in order to reach as many PAX as possible.

At each stop I pieced together the following. All around us in Fort Mill, Charlotte, etc. we see development, improvement, building, “progress” and such. You can’t go anywhere without seeing it.  The first thing builders do is prep the ground to handle the foundation, then build the foundation solid and strong. That takes some time to do, then they continue from there. They know that without a solid, strong foundation that is securely connected to the structure, whatever it is they’re building will NOT last long, nor will it be able to withstand stresses, etc, from storms or whatever it is exposed to.

When we are drawn to F3, as well as throughout our F3 journey, we are set out to improve ourselves in many ways – physically, mentally, socially, spiritually, etc. We strive to become better, stronger, faster. We start slow then progress as we become better and better. Each day we move ahead in our progress, we lay a brick in our structure of becoming a better person.

My challenge to the PAX was for them to gauge their foundation. What are we building on, and what is the basis on why we are trying to get better? Your foundation should be your relationship with the Lord, and it needs to be as strong, solid, and connected as you can possibly get it. Most people reach out to the Lord when they are in need. There is nothing wrong with that at all, better then than never. But that does not always yield a solid foundation that can endure even the most strongest of storms.  The best way to build a strong relationship with the Lord is to abide in Him every day. Become a son to Him, and let Him be your Father. Let His word marinate in your mind, heart, and soul to where it becomes a guiding force in your life, helping steer you to good decisions, words, and actions. Trust in him completely, with personal abandonment. When you do that with dedication, discipline, and consistency, your foundation will be one which can handle anything life throws at you, at any given time.

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” – Psalm 119:105

Stay connected and trust that the Lord will guide you.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead. SYITG
-NASA

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Mini-training day

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(For the record since it’s been a while since I’ve posted a backblast, I actually wrote this the morning after the workout and sadly it took me another fully week and then a couple days to copy and paste it…at least I’m making some kind of backblast progress…)

Aren’t all days in a sense training days?

Today, 9 men gathered, 3 had miles on their minds so split off for laughs and miles but could have just been laughs and coffee as YHC wasn’t there to witness.  Regardless, 6 men set off for the unknown.  Before any setting off happened, we had ourselves a little warm-up.

Slick: 20 SSH, 10 man makers, 25 SSH, 5 man makers

With heart rates higher than 5 minutes ago, we rucked up, gathered our 3 sand bags, and headed towards the church parking lot.  Wait…we first had Mainframe and Maximus do a quick demo on how to transfer a sand bag the proper way since a majority of the crew is headed to GrowRuck Grandstrand next week.  Demo concluded and we trekked off.  At the arrival of the church, we did 2 group sand bag handoffs, somewhat successful, and started on the first pain station.

While 1 guy ran / shuffled, with ruck, around the church parking lot circle and acted as our timer, the remaining 5 did the following exercises:

  • Plank hold
  • Flutter
  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Overhead ruck press
  • Upward row with ruck

Next, we got in a ball of man of sorts, but YHC asked the guys to close their eyes and “mix around” while all the time keeping our eyes closed.  The goal of this exercise was to play with our minds and remove our site so communication became key since vision was impaired.  During an event, it’s going to be dark and disorienting and a guy, or guys, will need to find their voice BUT, also be ready to listen.

  • Objective 1: organize ourselves by height from tallest to shortest in a single file line
  • Objective 2: organize ourselves by age (days matter) in a single file line

Objective 1 – fail by ¼-1/2 inch.  Tinsel is working out too much and has stunted his growth.  10 burpee penalty

Objective 2 – pass

In summary, communication is key, but details matter.  How much is too much communication?  Depends on the situation and if penalties are involved.

Loaded up and moved to the fire station with sand bag transfer happening and Ruck event war stories filling the early morning air!

Arrived at fire house and unloaded gear.  Next up was “jacob’s ladder” modified version.  1 end was burpees and other end was squat presses with ruck (so this was done slick).  Counting was starting at 7 for both exercises and working our way down to 1.  Finished this by 0555 with not a lot of time (underestimated distance to COT) to get back.  We did see the space shuttle walking back which filled more questions about alien invasions and why is that plane’s lights facing the wrong way, etc.

Made it back to COT where we did the normal….aside from ball of man which we may have done for those that were ok to participate.  I will tell you that it felt pretty awesome.

Thanks to Tinsel for the opportunity!

Shady

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3/4 mile tractor tire flip with rucks on

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Ruck Q #2 on heavy training week for Dirty Myrtle.

The plan was simple, try to get one mile of tire flipping and sand bag toss rotating between PAX… there was 3 of us so it made things much more interesting.

While PAX #1 flips the tire 5 times, the other two will toss the sandbags, we had a 40# and a 60#; about 8 minutes (1/8 of a mile) into it, I realized that we will never move fast enough to complete the 1 mile tire flip if we kept tossing the sandbags so we abandoned them and started a new rotation, one tire flip per PAX and move to the side, we started moving much faster… did I mention we had our rucks on? yeah, that made it a bit more complicated.

The synergy between the 3 of us was great, we pushed ourselves completely out of our comfort zones and kept hustling to meet our goal,  we had to pick up our sandbags on the way back to COT and tossed them along the tire flipping (add 1/8 of a mile of sandbag tossing)  we are only human and couldn’t reach the mile but this morning the accomplishment was great,  we reached 3/4 of a mile with one minute to spare, we did some LBC’s and were done for the day… legs were shivering, forearms pulsating, but we walked (or barely walked) better than when we got there at 0515.  BIG PROPS to Divac and IT for not giving up!!!

Prayers for balance with our families and our jobs.

Tinsel out… until my third Q of the week

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One mile “Casualty” carrying

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Last week of heavy training before Dirty Myrtle and I have 3 Q’s lined up back to back starting with this one.

7 Pax showed up for some Tinsel Utensils WOD; two multi-position ladders were used as stretchers with two sandbags each, main goal was to complete 1 mile “casualty” carrying around the school, ladders were loaded with sandbags and each PAX had a ruck on so off we went.

At minute 2 an alarm went off on my phone , drop the ladders and it was time for 5 merkins with rucks on, complete the task, pickup the casualties and keep moving towards our one mile goal, at minute 4 alarm went off again, drop the ladders and time for 5 more merkins, so we went tabata style and every 2 minutes we had to drop the load and do 5 merkins (about 145-150 merkins total) lots of mumble chatter.

Once we reached our one mile goal around minute 35 and we changed our transportation mode; we switched the ladders to the A frame position and two PAX will carry them while the rest will carry the sandbags.. and yes, Tabata was still present so every two minutes we dropped the loads, did 5 merkins and rotate weights.

Went around the field and the back of the school and reached COT with les than 5 minutes to spare, time for AB LAB, we did some flutters with ruck press and noneless we heard the alarm one more time so 5 more merkins (slick) it felt really good to not have the ruck on for these 5 last merkins, one more minute for more flutters and we hot 0600.

Thank you to all the PAX that showed up to do the harder thing, we had a visit from Royale and WIld Thing from Lake Wylie and I’m sure they “enjoyed” the beatdown.

Thanks to Divac for the opportunity to lead!!

Tinsel out… until the next day…

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Sandbags and a few tests at Currahee

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Currahee (April 13, 2021)

The term Currahee, as suggested by Site Q, Divac, references a Cherokee word meaning “Stand alone together.” This is the motto of the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division made known to most of us civilians through the HBO series, Band of Brothers. Over the last few months, Currahee has become synonymous with more difficult and become an AO where you come to be tested. With that understanding, it was now my responsibility as the Q for this morning to bring it.

Earlier in the week, I put the call out for this rendition to be a “heavy” version meaning, if you had a sandbag, bring it. Whether it was a 40lb, 120lb or a log, bring it. The PAX didn’t disappoint. This picture is before Site Q Divac dropped his 2 onto the pile.

Disclaimer for the 13 PAX: Check

Move ourselves and the coupons over to the turn in the drop-off lane.

Slick: SSH, Mountain Climbers, Windmills, 8ct Burpees, ½ the PAX sprint one way and back while the other ½ sprint the other way and back.

Explanation that during events, the Cadre’s will be yelling at you, testing you and giving you difficult time hacks to test the team. Utilizing a common test, the PAX had 10 seconds to empty their ruck of its contents. Penalty, 5 burpees. PAX then had 20 seconds to fill it back up…pass.
Do it again. 10 seconds to empty = fail, penalty. 15 seconds to fill = fail, penalty.

Ruck up and move all sandbags to the back of the school, drop in the center of the group.

10 Merkins / 20 Peter Parkers / 30 Slow Squats

Sandbags to the front of the school

10 Merkins / 20 Curls / 30 Flutters w/ Press

10 seconds to empty the ruck / 15 seconds to fill the ruck…penalty

Sandbags to the back of the school

10 Merkins / 20 OH Press / 30 High Pulls

Sandbags to the front of the school

Heels to Heaven

Man Makers

American Hammers

Groups of 3 run 30yds, slick while rest of the PAX plank. Complete till everyone goes through.

COT

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