6 years, God only knows where I might have been….

6 years ago YHC rang the bell for the first time with a handful of rag tag HIM’s. There were 3 workouts, total, in The Fort. A lot has changed!  YHC was blessed enough to be able to come to Block Party and Q on a day that has changed my life.  32 other PAX joined YHC in the gloom for some fun for Day 20 for Ass Kickn’ April Y2!

The Thang:

Long loop around WEP

COP

SSH X 50, Squats X 25, IW X 20, Mountain Climbers X 25, Plank Jacks X 25, Slow Sumo Squats X 25, 6 count Burpees w/ hand clap X 10, SSH X 10 – Mosey to playground

DORA 1-2-3

Partner up, 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, 300 LBCs. Go.

Huddle Up

Got the PAX together to briefly talk about what F3 has done for me.  I had initially thought that F3 would always be a physical challenge, and it is, but I would never have guessed how much the 2nd and 3rd F’s would come into play.  Having 32 other men show up at 0515 to work out under my lead, shows exactly what F3 is all about.  Supporting your F3 brother celebrate a special, life changing day by doing burpees and dodging fire ants.  The 1st F is the magnet, always pulling you in.  The 2nd F is the glue, keeping you connected and active.  The 3rd F is the dynamite, serving others, putting yourself 3rd and sharing this crazy thing F3 to all men around you. Off to the hill for Jacob’s Ladder.

Jacob’s Ladder – 8’s – 1 Burpee at top and 7 Bomb Jacks at Bottom. Add, subtract, flippy flop, you know the drill.

Off to COT, but lets do some more while we count down to 0600.  30 seconds of Mountain Climbers, Plank, burpees….. Saved by the Bell. Done.

Great Tuesday morning.  So humbled and blessed with the HUGE turnout this morning.  I couldn’t be more excited about being a part of F3!

FunHouse

TClap |
7

Dynamic Duo Q at Alcatraz

It was a chillier than usual Spring morning at Alcatraz (43 degrees) and after setting up TinselUtensils with the help of Straight Up we were ready for an unusual co Q combo with plenty of coupons; at COP we welcomed Prosciutto, he grew up in Tega Cay but now he’s a big part of F3 Chattanooga. AKAY2 crew was there for day 18 of their journey.

The disclaimer was provided by YHC and Straight Up led the warm up with the following:

10 SSHs
Warrior 1
Runner’s Stretch
Deep Runner’s stretch
Sit-on-yer-leg stretch
16 U-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it stretches
4 back stretches
2 X-jumps
3 mins of 5 reps each:
Merkins
Air squat jumps
LBC Twists

after warm up it was time to play with TinselUtensils, PAX  were split into 4 groups and each group went to a station, after completing the station we bear crawled to the next one:

STATION 1:

-> 10 burpees (Fun House noticed that our visitor Prosciutto  clapped at the end of each burpee and we were told that they do that as a standard in F3 Chatt) 

-> 10  Tire flips

-> 20  Monkey Humpers

-> 20 lunges SC

-> 30 low squat (touch the ground with hand)

STATION 2:

USE WEIGHTS OR CINDY

-> 10 man makers

-> 20 biceps curls

-> 20 bent over row

-> 25 overhead press

-> 30 triceps extension

STATION 3:

-> 30 LBC’s

-> 30 Rosalitas

-> 30 Sledgehammer swings  (15 each side)

-> 40 Dying Roach SC

-> 20 slam ball to ground

STATION 4:

-> 10 diamond merkins

-> 20 wide arm merkins

-> 20 regular merkins

-> 30 battle rope wave SC

-> 40 Shoulder taps

-> 40 plank jacks

After all groups completed the full circuit of 4 stations we moved to the grassy area for some Captain Thor’s  Ab Lab: 1 Big boy sit up and 4 American Hammers, progressive to 10 BBSU and 40 AH, this is my favorite Ab Lab combination and even though there was lots of mumble chatter we all finished the exercises.

With about 25 minutes left on the clock it was time for Straight Up’s part of the Q:

Workout:
Grab a heavy item and run to pull-up bars.
We rotated through one round of 50 seconds on and 10 seconds of rest for each of the following stations:

First Round:
Jumping Pull-ups
KB Swings
Commando Pull-ups
Bear crawl up the hill, run down
72 lb sandbag run
Jumping Lunge into 2 SSHs
Mag-R-Tai
Low Slow Squat with 40 lb sandbag
Apollo Ohnos
Dips using a set of real dip bars
The “Worst Merkin Ever”

We then proceeded to run with the heavy items to the top of the hill.
We ran down the hill, broke up into partners and competed against Straight Up.

Second Round:
Goal: to beat Straight Up as a partner team to COT by doing the following:
Partner 1 runs the hill up and down while Partner 2 does slow kick-thru burpees as they wait to be tagged.
Then switch.
Then run up hill again to COT carrying a heavy item of choice (first come first serve).
Straight Up did 2 hill runs with 15 kick-thru burpees each side in between the runs, then ran hill again to COT.
Congratulations to all groups who beat him! Well done!

Unusual F3 event: 3 deer running across our running paths directly in front of us

COT:
Announcements (keep pushing FunHouse this month!), Praises, Prayer requests.
Army PT Test Wed at The Coop

Tinsel out…

TClap |
2

First Lieutenant Ashley White-Stumpf

YHC actually woke up for this Q!

10 Pax showed up at 0500 with 1 arriving a little late but joined after we finished the warm-up.

Warm-up:

Moseyed to lower parking lot

Standard warm-up consisting of Morrocan night clubs, Al Gore Nightclubs, Windmill, Hillbilly Walker and Imperial Walkers.

The Thang:

Congregrate at the pull-up bars to learn about First Lieutenant Ashley White-Stumpf.

5 Rounds:

20 Pull-ups

10 Toes to Bar

21 Walking Lunges

400m Run

Once the 6 finished, we did a little Walk like an Egyptian, Ranger Merkins and some abs.

 

Thank you to Dirty Harry for the opportunity to lead!

Wegmans

TClap |
4

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.

TClap |
3

Pull up bars and Tinsel Utensils

Great chilly morning after a snowmaggedon yesterday, PAX were in for a treat as we needed to stay warm.

We moseyed around the parking lot, about 1/3 of  a mile and started the warm up: Moroccan night clubs, low slow squats, al-gore night clubs, low slow merkin, mountain climbers.

we moseyed to the pull up bars area where we had some utensils to use and get better, a list of exercises was shown and off we went,

8 pull ups BAR

8 man makers w/cindy

8 toes to BAR

8 sledgehammer swing 4 each side

8 knee raises BAR

8 biceps curls w/cindy

8 chin ups BAR

8 overhead press w/cindy

4 tire flips

after one complete circuit we will run down the hill and NUR back up, rinse and repeat, after the second round we took a break to welcome Captain Thor and work on our abs. 1 Big Boy Sit Up-4 American Hammers progressive to 10 BBSU and 40 AH, lots of whining during this exercise as usual and even one PAX wondered why he was there if the Abyss was closer to his house. Then had a visit from superman to stretch out our lower back and we went back to our circuit:

8 pull ups BAR

8 man makers w/cindy

8 toes to BAR

8 sledgehammer swing 4 each side

8 knee raises BAR

8 biceps curls w/cindy

8 chin ups BAR

8 overhead press w/cindy

4 tire flips

on the last round of exercises some PAX where complaining about their arms being shuttered, so I decided to cut it short and end the beat down there, YOU ARE WELCOME!! with 3 minutes to spare we loaded the utensils back in the truck and went for some Mary, flutters, box cutters and rosalitas.

we circled up and went for head count and namearama, we had a few announcements and prayed for our families and kids.

Great morning and perfect weather for an out of the ordinary workout, thanks @PunchList for the opportunity to accelerate some happy campers’ day.

Tinsel out…

TClap |
2

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

TClap |
2

Bell In The Ring

On Friday, I had the opportunity to Q The Hive, a Kettle Bell workout that has developed the history of being a great, body-challenging, way to end your work week. Under no circumstances was I going to let that change on my watch. After all, Frat Boy was promising an FNG (welcome Mich Ultra) that he’s been working on for 2yrs. What does this tell you about Frat Boy? Leave it to say, Dog On A Bone.

Once we all circled up in the beginning and dropped our metal bells, the PAX were disclaimed. They were then reminded of the critical mission of F3 and if you’re a little hazy: Plant, Grow and Service small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. None of those words are there by accident.

And then, we’re off for a mosey to the other large parking lot then back (sans bells) for a little warming up all in counts of 16:

SSH

Mountain Climbers

Peter Parkers

Parker Peters

SSH

Moroccan Night Clubs

American Hamers

Merkins

Grab your bells (notice the “e”) and report back to our circle. Only now, much larger; roughly 40yds in diameter. I would call out an exercise, we’d do a count of 16 of said exercise, set the bell down, run to the center of the circle, perform 5 burpees, then return to your bell. The running back and forth eventually turned to a jog. Here’s the menu:

Kettle Bell Swings

Left Arm Bicep Curls

Right Arm Bicep Curls

Overhead Lunges (Lunges with KB held overhead – 8ea leg)

Upright Rows

Bent Over Rows – Right Side

Bent Over Rows – Left Side

Tricep Extensions

Overhead Squats (Squats with KB held overhead)

Flutters w/  Press

Big Boy Sit-Ups

Stretch it out with some KB-free SSH’s

Thrusters (with the KB)

Now it was time for a little more cardio training. Lining up on the side of the large parking lot, we did a set of 5-Tier suicides followed by a set of 2-Tier suicides.

Line up for Seal-Team Sit-ups

LBC’s

Hello Dolley’s

Rosalitas

A reminder of the F3 Credo: Never leave a man behind but leave no man where you found him.

A reminder of F3’s 5 core principles: Free of Charge, Open to ALL MEN, Held outdoors-rain or shine, Peer-Led (no professional training), Ends with a C.O.T.

Several announcements which included upcoming events, headlined by the OST 8K for our man, Olive in LKN which by the time you read this, will have already happened. Get involved, Stay involved, and LEAD.

Read YOUR Newsletter.

Until Next Time…It has been my honor to serve

Maximus.

TClap |
7

#F3MentalBattle at the Abyss

YHC came in hot, as I slept through my alarm and woke up at 5:13, but I wasn’t going to miss this one.   Thanks to Royale for taking over the warm-up run.
COP – IW x 15, MNC x 15, SSH x 25, Peter Parkers x 10, Merkins x 10
The Thang
Pax partnered up for Dora on the hill.   After Burpees were done, we each shared with our partner how mental health or suicide has affected us or someone we know.
Dora:
50 Burpees
100 Squats
22 CDD for the 22 vets that we lose a day
Run a lap

45 merkins for comparison, the amount of homicides per day
Run a lap

96 flutters for every man that we lose a day
Run a lap
125 lbcs (I think I called out 145, sorry) for every suicide per day
Run a lap
Finished up with sharing my own experiences with depression.  Appreciate the Shield Lock… and then half a round of Jack Webs before COT, where we opened the floor for anyone to share.
TClap |
5

Simulation Training for May Event

Seeing that many of the past Q’s at the Fire Ant have been ratcheting up the physical training, it was time for some simulation training since there are a few new newbies. 19 PAX chose to post this morning.

YHC acted as the cadre and asked for 1 rookie and seasoned PAX. Instructions were given – 5 minutes to get the PAX in formation, ruck up, sandbag ups, and move to the bus drop off. Off they went.  They were 30 seconds late, but Q decided not to penalize.

Next , 2 rookies were assigned team leader and assistant team lead. They were given – 10 minutes to get to big tree with 100 merkins and 100 LBCs. Off they went. As they headed towards the big tree, the TL/ATL stopped and had all PAX do 25 merkins and LBCs. The PAX stopped 2 more times, and then at the big tree finished the 4th set. They went 3 minutes over. I informed the PAX that it is critical to listen to detail. I didnt say all PAX had to do 100 of each, I said you had 10 minutes to get to tree with 100 of each. The PAX could have broken these out to each PAX.

Next, 2 new rookies were assigned TL and ATL. They were given 3 minutes to get to the basketball courts. They made this time – well 15 seconds late…. Each PAX had to do 20 manmakers due to previous penalty.

Lastly, 2 new rookies were assigned. They were given 5 minutes to get to flag poll with each PAX doing 100 flutters. The TL and ATL listened well since they informed PAX the full directions.

The key is to listen to the details by the Cadre in order to not get additional penalties.

Announcement and prayers conducted

 

 

TClap |
4

Ad-lib at the Chupacabra

My apologies for the tardiness; that happens when priorities are out of whack. I also apologize if I missed a tagging of another PAX member…also a side-effect of not doing things on time.

Lutefisk took the bootcampers off and I took the small contingent of us Ruckers for a very brief mosey to our warmup spot…sans rucks.

Moroccan Night Clubs

Windmills

Squats

Merkins

Side Straddle Hops (all part of one’s normal warmup fare)

We’ll call this portion the Merkin-wave: Starting in the plank, 1 man will do a Merkin and return to the plank, the man to his left will do it, and so on down the line. We did this twice.

Next up is to do this with 3 Merkins…same series.

Line up at the bottom of the parking lot w/ rucks on.

Lunge walk up the hill then crawl bear back down.

Reverse lunge up the hill then bear crawl back down.

In Router’s absence, it was time for an abbreviated version of the Robbie Miller WOD, AMRAP style for 18mins:

  1. (6) 30′ Shuttle Runs
  2. (6) Burpees
  3. (6) Mountain Climbers
  4. (6) Ruck Get-ups

Mosey back to COT where Lutefisk took over.

Maximus…delayed.

TClap |
5