Tag: Tinsel

You don’t have Control

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Friday mornings are my favorite.  Back at the place this whole F3 thang all began for me.  The men started gathering, and by 5:14 it was a large group…but no one that wanted to ruck…so NASA got to join the bootcampers.  I’m sure he was ready for his Q, but lots of guys were probably holding back for the Capital Ruck Tour on Saturday night.  20 PAX with me, so a quick disclaimer and we’re off.

A little dynamic warmup on our run with high knees, butt kickers, side shuffle.  Made our way to the back parking of  the old River Bleu.

COP: 15 IWs – 25 MNCs – 25 SSHs – 10 LS Squats – 10 Merkins – some yoga stuff – 15 planks jacks – 10 Parker Peters

Mosey over to the Fountain to put in some work

3 rounds of following:

10 Step Ups each leg

20 Durkins

30 Dips

quick 10 count time to mosey.

Move to the red balls for Burpicides

Shared a quick word around Control. See Moleskin.

run to each ball – 3 burpees – run back all the way down to the other side

Read to write, hard to do. After a FEW 10 counts time to mosey again.

Made our way closer to the COT, stopped at a nice patch of grass.

I saw someone had pulled out the Jack Webbs this week, it had been too long…

Jack Webbs to 10

Back to COT:

Ab Lab with American Hammers – Freddie Mercuries – LBCs

Announcements – Praises – Prayers

Moleskin:

I had something to share planed for the PAX.  But on the way to the workout I was listening to the radio.  Not something I normally do. A song came on by Logic.  It’s posted here.  Popular song about depression and suicide.  My nephew had previously shown me the video. That morning it almost brought me to tears.  I modified my message about control.  The trials of life and heartache of loss or depression show us many ways that we are not in control.  That even when things are good we can feel like there are bad.  Give that control to God and ask him for guidance.

Too many kids I’ve been hearing about locally that have lost that control and found no other way out than suicide.  We should be those men making a difference in kids lives so they know there is another way.  Start with your own kids.  Talk to them about life, and pain and failure.  Let them know that everything’s not perfect like social media makes it out to be.  Tell them about your failures and how you overcame them.  Just talk…

An honor to lead,

Royale

 

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Stairs, Stairs and more Stairs – The Swamp 10/13/17

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A cool and drizzling day didnt keep the Pax away.  19 was the number with 5 ruckers and 13 bootcampers. Rad took the ruckers and I had the bootcamp.

We started with a short mosey to the parking lot behind Just Fresh where we circled up to stretch and loosen up. COP involved:

  • SSH x25
  • IW x10
  • Windmills x10
  • Weed Pullers x10
  • Merkins x10
  • Honeymooners/Downward Dogs

Pax were ready so we started The Thang:

I had the Pax split into groups of 3 with one group having 4.  Each Pax would be performing a different excercise using the Pax running the stairs as the timer. Each Pax would rotate the excercises until each Pax had run the stairs twice.  The cycles were:

  • Cycle 1
    • Pax 1 – Up and Down Stairs x5
    • Pax 2 – Broad Jump across parking lot (didn’t anticipate the rain which made this a little tricky)
    • Pax 3 – Flutter Kicks
  • a couple 10 counts
  • Cycle 2
    • Pax 1 – Up and Down Stairs x5
    • Pax 2 – Bear Crawl across parking lot (Tip: Parking lines are slick when wet)
    • Pax 3 – Peoples Chair
  • a couple 10 counts
  • Cycle 3
    • Pax 1 – Up and Down Stairs x5
    • Pax 2 – Recovery run across parking lot
    • Pax 3 – Burpees (CROWD PLEASER)

With that completed we were out of time so we lined up for an Indian Run back to COT where the Ruckers were waiting.

Thanks to Cable Guy for the opportunity to lead.

Until next time, back to the hunt…

 

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Q school 101 & 201

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16 Pax for Q School

YHC arrived early and Dark Helmet Q101) rolled in let’s just say a little later than that

The first rule of Q school is arrive early!!!

Dark Helmet took the 101 beginner class and YHC took the advanced class (or at least we think we are advanced) split off and began to teach some good stuff

201 started out with 10 perfect Burpees and we mosied to the back of the school to the COP

Everyone lead 10 SSH each making sure we could all count

We then did merkins 2 ea all the way around the circle

We continued our warm up and talked through some things we all felt were important

Another rule to follow is don’t do stupid things….In other words don’t do partner carries on a wet hill in the dark, don’t cross a major highway with 30 PAX in the dark….Be smart about what you’re doing and try not to get anyone hurt, we are out here to get in better shape after all!

Although they say not to make the workout too hard I don’t believe that. Everyone will work at their own pace and make sure they know that’s ok! Modify as needed is not just something we say it’s also true

The 201 school did some bear crawls, then partner hand slap merkins.

Ran around the circle and did hand clap sit ups

Ran around the circle and did hand slap burpees

Ran around the circle and did hand slap squats

Finished with 15 Burpees then mosied to COP where Dark Helmet had us do an additional 10 Burpees

Not too hard of a workout but we did stay warm and learned at least a couple of things!

Not sure what Dark Helmet talked about during his schooling but I am certain the PAX learned at least one thing from him today……

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Children’s Attention Home / Guidance New F3 Exercise Station – Thank You

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All Area PAX:

On Saturday Sept 30 a small group of F3 PAX set out that morning, a short time after the Convergence celebrating The Fort’s 5th Anniversary, to permanently change the landscape at the Children’s Attention Home / Guidance. The fruition of all the burpees and subsequent pledges from the 2017 CAH Burpee Challenge spearheaded by Chicken Wing would culminate in the installation of some permanent outdoor exercise equipment that day. This small group of men would be representing many from F3 Nation’s local regions – The Fort, Rock Hill, York, and Indian Land, among others – who participated in the challenge. Those who participated believed that there was a meaning, a purpose, a goal that is greater than themselves. The exercise equipment will be a permanent physical example to those at CAH Guidance, and others as well, of what F3 is all about. Not only of the importance of the 1st F, but power behind the 2nd and 3rd F’s as well – when you invigorate the leader within, and you have Faith, the possibilities are limitless.

After several hours of hard work, with help from the young leader residents at CAH Guidance, as well as a lot of GREAT 2nd F, the work was finally complete! It was not easy work at all, but by now we all know to choose to do the harder thing and get after it, which the team did with no complaints. We all pushed, pulled, and motivated each other to completion, a true Shield Lock effort. By no means was it a ‘professional’ installation, but the heart put into the work cannot be denied. It was obviously a labor of Love.

The equipment is quite rugged, well designed, well built, and installed in a manner to where it will last quite some time. T-Claps to Chicken Wing on the design, Iron Horse for his incredibly well done job fabricating the bars, and to all of those who participated in the installation efforts led by Chicken Wing and Iron Horse. It was a GREAT team effort.

Before we even left, it was making an impact:
* Richard, who is the Supervisor of Grounds / Equipment Maintenance there at CAH, was nearly in tears and overwhelming in thanks at the effort put forth and how the equipment will help the kids there
* Many of the staff where quite speechless and thankful when they came out to see the finished work
* The youth were already hanging all over the equipment (who needs the concrete to set??), laughing and having a good time

And the impact will be a lasting one. Attached is a letter sent by the Volunteer Programs Coordinator at CAH, Sharada Abraham:

“”Good Morning Gentlemen,

I hope you all are well! I wanted to thank you all for the phenomenal job that was done on last weekend with the installation of the Pull Up & Dip Station. It looks great (pics are attached) and everyone is asking about it from the children, staff, and even our volunteers. I had the pleasure of giving a tour yesterday to one of our community partners and they were in awe.
Thank you all so much for your continued support of the Home. The pull up and dip station is a great addition to our Campus and I do believe our teens will spend more time getting FIT!
Thanks for all you do and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Sharada Abraham
Volunteer Programs Coordinator

 

On behalf of F3 Nation and CAH, I am incredibly thankful for the efforts put forth by the area PAX to get this done. From the inception of the Burpeee Challenge fundraiser by Chicken Wing, to the PAX participating in the challenge (I still do not like burpees, but I’m better at them now), to the PAX designing, fabricating the equipment, procuring the materials, facilitating the approvals, leading the installation efforts, and finally participating in the installation. It was quite a project, and a good example of what happens when you step outside your comfort zone to lead and make things happen.

Keep up the great efforts F3 Nation! Remember that within each one of you there is a true leader waiting to be unleashed if it has not been already. Believe in yourself,  be the change you want to see in the world, and get out there and make a positive difference in the world. Be the vessel through which He works.

You are all HIMs, and I am honored and privileged to be part of this wonderful thing we all call F3.

Thank you and God Bless
– NASA

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Week 1 of Q School at the Abyss

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This Wednesday started a month long opportunity for the PAX of Lake Wylie the hear more about the important responsibilities of a Q from veteran leaders around the Fort Region.  We’ll have Wednesdays in the month of October dedicated to teaching these valuable lessons.

This Wednesday started with the 1st Nantan of the Fort region, Double D!  It was a real pleasure having him share the history and some knowledge about F3 and important aspects of the Q.

Here’s what we did.

Mosey around the parking lot with some High knees, butt kickers, side shuffles and toy soldiers until we circled up.

I started the warmup  with the reason we count in cadence.  Cadence helps validate your authority to lead.  If you do an exercise that would normally be done in cadence WITHOUT counting  you are giving that authority to lead the group.  We broke down the three parts of counting in cadence.

ANNOUNCE the next exercise

MOVE the men into position

START the movement in cadence

After this instruction we went around the circle and had the men pick and exercise and count it out for the PAX

I handed it over to Double D and he shared more great tidbits about counting in cadence.  He asked the men who has not yet been a Q or only one time.  We had just a few guys that have not done so.  Double D had them come out and lead for an exercise.

Next we moseyed to the hill.

We discussed preparing for your Q.  Idea #1: Keep it simple.  If it takes you too long to explain, you can lose the men. If it’s too complicated to remember, the PAX will do their own thing.

With that in mind, we did 11s

Top of Hill 10 Merkins

Run down do 1 Big Boy Sit-up

Up the hill, reduce merkins by 1

Down the Hill add 1 to sit-ups

Easy to write, hard to do.  After this we moseyed to the circle by the front of the school.

Last words of wisdom for the group.  If you are not going to be with the PAX (you split the group up) make sure you pick exercises everyone knows.  I shared my experience leading just the weekend before at the Convergence.  Of the 20 exercieses I had that day, I picked a few exercises that the men didn’t know. Some of my favorites, the V-Up Twist and Squat Burpees (Thanks Witch Hunt).  Be careful not to make my same mistake.

We then bear crawled around the large circle…painful!

ran back to COT

Announcements

Praises and Prayers

Double D led us out in prayer.  Great to be with all the men and to have him there!

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

 

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Poopdeck got TireD

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Great attendance for my VQ, 14 PAX decided to show up and play with some toys.

Quick disclaimer and welcomed one FNG. Discussed about control and the power to influence or direct certain behaviors, especially our kids behaviors while they are growing up.

We started the warm up with a run around the parking lot, circled up and started with the following in cadence:

20 Moroccan Night Clubs

20 Low Slow squats

10 Windmills

10 Merkins

Then we moseyed down to the boat parking lot for a 4 station/corner setup with two big tires in the middle forming an X in between stations. Quick explanation of “benefits” and we split into four groups and one group went to each corner:

  • First  Corner:

10 Sledgehammer swings (choose between 8, 10 or 12 lbs sledgehammer)

15 big boy sit ups

20 American hammers

  • Second Corner:

10 lunges

15 squat jumps

20 monkey humpers

  • Third Corner:

10 Sand Bag Toss (choose between 40 or 60 lbs sandbag)

15 shoulder press

20 side straddle hops

  • Fourth Corner:

10 diamond merkins

15 regular merkins

20 count battle rope wave

After finishing exercises on each corner we bear crawled to the big tires, flip them 3-4 times (choose between 280 or 350 lbs tires) and then duck walked to the next corner; every time we finished a corner we repeated the bear crawl, tire flip and duck walk to move on to the following one.

Rinsed and repeated 3 times each corner for a speedy workout.

With 40 minutes into the workout we moseyed back to COT and finished strong with slow merkins: 5 diamond merkins, 10 regular merkins and 15 wide arm merkins.

Namearama and welcomed FNG “buckshot”

Announcements:

Ragnar Race

Community Cafe Race in Tega Cay

Fast 5 Race

Joe Davis Memorial Run

Prayers and Requests:

Family, kids, ragnar racers

We wrapped it up with a prayer we do with my kids were we thank God for our family, life, health, love, happiness, work and the necessary resources and provisions we receive every day to keep going on with our lives; we also ask that every kid in the world has access to a decent meal every day.

It was a great way to start a super busy day!!

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Poopdeck Block Party

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6 pax showed up for my VQ, no FNGs so a brief disclaimer was given, followed by a mosey around the parking lot.

COP:

Moroccan Night Clubs x 20

Imperial Walkers x 15

Windmills x 15

Merkins x 15

Mountain Climbers x 15

Downward dog/honeymooners

Inverted Mountain Climbers x 15 (fan favorite, thanks Jedi)

The Thang:

Before the main event we moseyed to the store front for some side shuffles and squats.  Pax side shuffled to next column squat, 180 turn, squat, rinse repeat to end.

Pax paired up for block BOMBS and blockless BLIMP (Hindenbergs?).  First pax performed exercise while second ran length of parking lot and back, setting the pace, until team reached 50 for each.

B – Blockies/run

O – Overhead press/run

M – Merkins/Cusack with CB instead of run

B – Big boy situps/run

S – Squats/run

B – Burpees (audibled and skipped this one)

L – Lunges/run

I – Imperial walkers/run

M – Monkey humpers/run

P – Plank jacks/run

Got x 20 curls in before we moseyed back for a quick balls to the wall.

COT:

Announcements – Invergence/convergence (YHC conveniently had wedding in Indiana to attend)

Prayers – Careers, wives, 2.0s, soon to be 2.0s, leadership

Thanks Wild Thing for the opportunity and Royale for the tips.

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5 Year Anniversary Convergence BB

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Saturday, September 30th 2017 was a special Convergence for the PAX of The Fort. On that day we celebrated 5 years of using these small workout groups to invigorate male leadership in Fort Mill. To honor the occasion, 88 PAX gathered at one of our favorite AOs (Nations Ford HS) to celebrate the day and the leaders that made it all happen.

We also celebrated 6 Friendly New Guys that joined us that morning. Welcome Tubs, Band Camp, Jughead, Atari, Hat Trick, and Saul.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. Here’s how we got better:

Warmup (led by Ginsu)

  • Mosey to the football field
  • 30 Side Straddle Hops
  • 10, 4-count windmills
  • 30 Moroccan night clubs
  • 10, 4-count merkins
  • 10, 4-count Peter Parkers
  • 10, 4-count Parker Peters
  • 10, 4-count LBCs
  • 20 low slow squats

Split into groups (Run, Regular Bootcamp, Black Diamond, Ruck, Moderate Bootcamp)

Run (led by Birdcage)

  • 800 meter indian run
  • 1000 meter 10k pace with 1 minute rest x2
  • 200 meter 1 mile race pace 200 meter cool down x4
  • 400 meter sprint corners recover straights
  • 1600 meter cool down
  • 5 miles total

Bootcamp (led by Royale)

  • Mosey over to the concrete football field
  • 10 merkins
  • Lunge walk 10 yards then do 3 burpees
  • Next ten yards bear crawl then 3 more burpees
  • Rise and repeat until we hit the other goal line
  • 10 count – going over the Five Core Principals of an F3 workout
  • Next phase we broke into 4 groups
  • At each corner of the end zones there were 5 exercises written on a board.  We would complete in your group and then run to the next corner. Everyone would hit al 4 corners.
    • Corner 1
      • 20 Merkins
      • 30 Lunges
      • 30 Dying Cockroaches
      • 30 Ski Abs
      • 3 Kraken Burpees
    • Corner 2
      • 20 Ranger Merkins
      • 30 Squats
      • 40 Freddy Mercurys
      • 40 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 burpees
    • Corner 3
      • 20 Durkins
      • 20 Jump Squats
      • 50 American Hammers
      • 30 Monkey Humpers
      • 10 Mountain Climber Burpees
    • Corner 4
      • 20 Wide Arm Merkins
      • 20 Sumo Squats
      • 20 V-Up Twists
      • 20 Bombjacks
      • 10 Squat Burpees
We talked about the word of the month – Leadership.  I shared we all have an opportunity to lead through F3, just like we all have the responsibility to lead in our homes.  I know I struggle with the balance of work and family time.  As the leader of our households we need to support our Ms and be the examples to our children.
  • Mosey over to the round about
  • Each man would take a lap around 1st doing Lt Dans
  • Finally we would bear crawl.
  • Mosey to the football field for the last 30 seconds and some LBCs

Black Diamond (led by Backdraft)

  • Mosey from warm up top pull up bars
  • Pull ups/ Burpee challenge – 9 pull ups 1 burpee., 8-2 , 7-3 until finished.
  • Mosey to stadium run the bleachers
  • 10 derkins
  • 10 dips
  • Mosey to track run 1/4 mile as fast as you can. U vs. U
  • Mosey to end zone. Count off by 2s. split into groups first person flips tire 10 times than run end zone to end zone while next person flips tire everyone else continuously do 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 big boy sit ups. Keep going until all of group is finished.
  • 10 min 100 burpees. Do 10 burpees every minute on the minute. U vs. U
  • Mosey to 50 yard line 5 minute of Mary
  • Sideline sprints x 2 first set after you run 10 tuck jumps. 2nd set 5 hand release merkins

Ruck (led by Trucker)

2 20lb, 3 40lb, and 3 60lb sandbags were snagged from back of car as 8 PAX tucked down to the elementary school and dropped the sandbags next to the telephone poles. The 8 PAX carried the telephone pole around the parking lot. Left telephone pole where we found it and rucked backwards up the hill to the pull up bars. What’s a WO by Trucker without pull ups? YHC challenged the 8 PAX to do 2 sets of 5 pull ups with ruck on.

Rucked into stadium and lined up in 2 columns for sandbag throws from one end of football field to other and back. Then rucked up and down the football stand stairs from one end back. Rinse and repeat with sandbag throws and stadium stairs. Threw sandbags again down to other side of endzone and then formed 2 lines abs flipped tires from one end to other. Sandbag threw back to other endzone and climbed stadium stairs one more time. Finished with a 20 count flutters. Great work by seasoned and rookie ruckers.

Moderate (led by Short Sale)

  • MOSEY to Elementary School
  • Grab some Wall. Wall Sits while Pax at each end jumps out of line for 5 squats
  • Repeat with 5 Bombjacks.
  • Count off by 5’s and mosey to back of the parking lot
    • Number 1’s go to station #1
    • 2’s start at Station3, etc.
  • Stations: 3 minutes/station. Q calls stop & go
    • 1: 10 Merkins, 20 Calf raises
    • 2: 20 LBCs, 20 Monkey Humpers
    • 3: 10 SSHs, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs
    • 4: 10 Scorpion Dry Docks, 20 Squats
    • 5: 20 Imperial Walkers, 10 Apollo Ohnos
    • 6: 10 Broad Jumps, 20 Flutters
    • 7: 10 Bombjacks, 20 squat jabs
    • 8: 10 handclap merkins w/partner, 10 partner Derkins- Beloved by veteran Pax and FNGs alike
    • 9: 10 Jump Squats, 10 CDD’s
    • 10: 10 Dips, 5 jack Webbs
  • Mosey to Stop sign at bottom of hill for some Mary- Hello Dollies, Flutters, Protractor

MESSAGE ON LEADERSHIP- F3 gives us a great platform to grow our leadership skills and build confidence as a leader. The Pax will let you know if/when something has gone wrong but will also be there to lift you up. Also, the best leaders don’t focus on their ROLE, they focus on the GOAL. So, be the leader you were called to be.

Great group of men came to work. Veterans guided the FNGs and encouraged them at every step of the way. YHC kept reminding the group that it is UvsU out here. Some quality mumble chatter about what moderate means. Smiles all around when moved on from the stations.

Wrap Up

What we have at The Fort is special. It is a strong group of PAX led by men who live with intentionality. I am sure that each of us would agree that it has impacted our lives in ways that we will never be able to describe. At some point for each of us, we were gifted F3. We were headlocked by someone who recognized the impact that F3 had on them and how it could help us. With that in mind, let’s pay this gift forward. Be the leader you were called to be and use your influence to headlock the sad clowns around you, FNGs and Kotters, that are where you once were. Be a leader.

Ginsu

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Brickhouse VQ @Poopdeck

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Less rainy than what they called for.

Disclaimer

Off for a mosey

warmups

4 corners:

Corner 1: Brick webbs

Corner 2: Crab humpers

Corner 3: Cinder block burpee

Corner 4: Monkey humpers

Mosey to the wall

Balls to the wall w/2 burpees each

COT: Marriage maint, prayer etc

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“Maybe Just a Little” Bear Crawl’s at The Abyss

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Another great morning in Lake Wylie at the Abyss.  After my last Q, I promised another PAX little to-no Bear Crawl’s/Crawl Bear’s and tried to stay true to my word.  YHC wasn’t feeling spry on this fine morning after 2nd F the night before (1st annual Lake Wylie FFB draft), but we all hung in there and every PAX did a great job!

After a quick disclaimer we moseyed around the school and did some toy soldiers and karaoke’s along the way until reaching the basketball hoops where we circled up for some warm-up exercises.

15 SSH IC
15 Squats IC
15 Windmills IC
15 Cherry Pickers IC

Still at the hoops, DORA 1-2-3’s awaited us for the 1st excercise.  We partnered up and ran to the 4th hoop and back (maybe 50 yards each way?)  while splitting 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s, and 300 Squats between us.Once we were finished, I thought we needed some more running so we did some Spartan sprints to the 4th hoop all together as fast as we could.  Moseyed back to start and did 5 Merkins.  We repeated this 5x until we were all pretty winded.

Short mosey to the hill that leads up to the gate and then Bear Crawled up to the top and Crawl Bear to the bottom.  Everyone seemed to mutually hate this, including YHC, but none of us quit on each another and it’s always nice to see everyone pitch and finish the last few yards with the sixth together.  5 Burpees awaited us at the bottom.  We repeated the hill again, but this time went backwards-up and forwards-down and 5 more Burpees at the bottom.  Time was running short so we only made it about half-way up the 3rd time while doing some Lt. Danger’s before heading back to CoT.

Thanks Bones for giving me the opportunity to Q The Abyss, everyone did outstanding today as always. I have a feeling I’ll be back…

-Flux

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