Shovelflag handoff @ The Coop

Thank you for the 24 guys that came out to The Coop this morning for the shovel flag handoff to YHC from Sugarbug. I decided to give the FBI PFT test as the workout.

We moseyed to the field and did a chicken wing approved warmup. We warmed up until he gave the clearance to proceed.

FBI PFT is as follows:

Max situps in 1 minute

300m sprint

Max pushups

1.5 mile run

Pull-ups (optional) we didn’t have enough time for these.

Out of the 25 PAX that posted only 7 passed unofficially.

Dark Helmet

Subprime

Sasquatch

Skate or Die

Harry Carry

Caddy Shack

Bonsai

Some guys were close, but the sprint and run is where most guys got caught . Welcome FNG Easy Button!

My first order of business as new Site Q is to move the congregation point to the good asphalt so when we do Mary, we don’t feel like we are laying on broken glass.

Thanks to sugarbug for the peaceful transition and thank you for all your leadership!

 

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Worthy Crew @ Block Party

18 PAX showed up strong on a beautiful spring morning. After the disclaimer, we shuffled out for a brief mosey replete with a Longshanks-style warmup: Butt kickers to Carioca around the Springs corporate center parking lot.

COP in front of the Springs corporate center (more on location later)

SSH x30
Imperial Walkers x10
Hillbilly Walkers x10
Windmill x10

Plank up ATM Variation:

Shoulder Taps x15
Tempo Merkins x10
Single-count Merkins x10

Head over to 8ft(ish) wall for some Muscle Ups x10 (oyo)

Plank up ATM Variation:

Shoulder Taps x15
Hand release Merkins x5

Mosey to UC Synergetic upper parking lot

Brief Thang:

Line Drill w/ Partner (Dora-sides): After both partners complete the line drill running, switch to bear crawl until exercises are completed. Partners strive for 20 Burpees, 100 LBCs, 200 Squats collectively. Mercifully, few had to bear crawl more than two line segments.

No Block Party is truly complete if the police don’t make an appearance. One of Fort Mill’s finest made a round through our parking lot. It appears, in YHC’s zeal to move from Springs Global to UC Synergetic, a stealth mosey of 18 PAX ignited a fire in the hounds of the mill hills. Despite our best efforts a local resident was not pleased with their dogs barking and asked for an officer to investigate. Once we’d been deemed nonthreatening, we completed the modified Dora/Line Drill.

To honor the dogs:

Plank up
Honeymooner to Down Dog
Hold Down Dog
Raise right leg high – bend the knee (open the hip)
Swing right leg forward between hands (knee to nose) into one-legged plank
Tap right knee to right elbow x5
Tap right knee to left elbow x5
Return to Down Dog
Repeat with Left Leg

Mosey down Massey hill to lower UC parking lot

Wall sit (till PAX began grumbling)
Monkey Humpers x20
10-count
Monkey Humpers x20
10-count
Derkins w/ feet on wall x10
Monkey Humpers x20
Derkins w/ feet on wall x10
Rest facing wall – 10-count
Calf raises facing the wall x20

Jump the wall and mosey up the hill

Word of the month is “Worthy.” This word has been on my mind for quite some time. Matthew 22 and Luke 14 give a parable about a great banquet or wedding feast where the invited guest (those “worthy”) don’t show up or actively refuse to attend. As a Christian, Jesus’s death has made my unworthiness worthy. But do I respond when he calls? How can I live in a way that is worthy of the blessings I’ve received and the gifts God has bestowed upon me?

Mosey back to COT (not past the dogs)

Mary: Flutters x20, Seating forward bends (right leg, left leg, both)

One last thought on worthiness. In Jedi’s BackBlast from his Beyond Q (https://f3thefort.com/2018/03/12/identity-and-purpose-digging-deeper-and-going-beyond/), he mentions the idea of our motivation. Is my motivation for being worthy for my own benefit/vanity, or is it to glorify God. It may be that my current struggle with the concept stems from a selfish or myopic motivation. Can I be more worthy of God in order to glorify God rather than myself? This is my goal.

As an aside (if anyone has made it this far in the BackBlast reading), the actual act of writing his BackBlasts served to solidify the message I tried to deliver during our workout. I’ve been working out at F3 AOs for 6 months now, and I’m beginning to see what Old Bay, who EHed me to my first workout, mention about how much more than a workout F3 is.

Grateful for the opportunity to lead and appreciate of all the PAX that showed up to work and grow this morning!

 

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Lucky Friday the 13th

The thang

Disclaimer given

Mosie dow and around the back of Empire Pizza

COP in front of Empire Pizza

13 of each exercise to keep with the Friday the 13th theme

Seal Jacks

Diamond Merkins

Moroccan night club

Mountain Climbers

Wind Mill

Peter Parker

Parker Peter

SSH

Plank Jacks

Mosie over to the sidewalk for 3 rounds of Dips and box/curb jumps 13 ea.

Mosie over to the cones and partner up

Partner 1 stays in and does LBC while partner 2 runs to first cone and does 1 Burpee, run back do 6 handslap merkins with your partner. Partner 1 runs to 1st cone does 1 berpee returns to home and does 7 more handslap merkins, both partners run to next cone together. Increase by one burpee each round till we get to 4 burpees

Round 2 we replaced hand slap merkins with hand slap squats

Mosie over toward COT and do some AB Lab led by each PAX and continue with the 13 theme

COT

A fairly moderate workout but not too moderate!!!

This was my VQ at Slowburn and I’d be happy to go back any time! Not sure the regulars feel the same!!!  🙂

 

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Yahtzee Culture Club Style

So, Culture Club came out completely prepared as usual.  Always love attending one of his workouts!  This Friday morning we played Yahtzee in a way I personally never have before.

The basics were one PAX called out an exercise from the bottom list seen above, and the remaining PAX did that exercise while the first PAX took his three rolls for Yahtzee.  Once the points were written on the tape, then the blue tape was removed to reveal which exercise would be performed, and the reps would be the amount of the score written in.  If the exercise under the blue tape was highlighted in green it meant that for the next round, instead of choosing an exercise from the bottom list, the PAX would run a lap around the parking lot.

If you have not been out to participate in a Culture Club workout, I highly suggest you plan for it.  He has certainly set a high bar of excellence, at least in my book 😉.

Smithers – Out

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No 4Play at Block Party

7 at Block Party on a beautiful 50+ degree morning, fortunately the rain came through before the work out so although the pavement was wet we stayed dry because Chickens don’t like laying on the wet pavements and neither do Chicken Hawks.  Welcome back to Training Wheels after several months off after a mountain bike accident and welcome back to Fire Marshall Bill after a minor surgery that included frozen peas in the post op recovery.

This morning we talked about abiding specifically as we apply it to our trails and failures.  How much do we look to and rely on God to show up during these times?  how much do we recognize God in our trials and what he is doing in and through us.

The Thang!

No 4play today.  COP was not… straight into the post.

Mosey to the high wall for 10 muscle ups, plank, 5 hand stands the hang on the wall for as long as possible or unit Q says mosey

Power Skip to the end of the parking lot to the next set of walls in the courtyard.  15 box jumps, 10 box jumps, 25 dips, 5 derkins, 5 box jumps.

Mosey to the next wall in the parking lot for wall sits then indian style bear crawl to the end of the line, wall sit, etc as everyone bear crawls until we get to the end of the wall, finish with some Australian mountain climbers

Mosey to the flag pole for the pledge of the allegiance at the memorials

slide over to the parking lot and do timed (i.e. not in cadence) … Squats, lunges, jump squats

Mosey to the stairs

  • Bear Crawl up and back down and merkins at the top and bottom
  • Crab walk up and back down and SSH at the top and bottom

Mosey to the hill run backwards up and 5 burps at the top 2x

Mosey to parking lot and do two sets of suicides

Mosey to covering for 3 min. of Mary

Run to COT

It was an honor to lead

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Lucky 13 at Footloose For a Re-do of My 1st F3 Workout

I’ve  been buggin’ Beacon to let me Q Footloose again, just because it’s always a lot of fun.  He finally caved and let me do it.  My original gameplan included 100 SSH and a jog around the big block to warm us up and a bear crawl up that massive hill but I didn’t want to make any enemies so made it a little closer to the expected moderate workout.  Not totally moderate though.  My new gameplan became a redo of my first ever F3 workout.  It happened at Slowburn on June 16th.  Dark Helmet made me want to vomit.  I’m sure a few of us have felt that way during or after his workouts.  It went a little something like this:

Warmup:

  • Windmills x 10
  • Imperial Walkers x 10
  • Merkins x 10
  • Weed Puller x 10
  • Squats x 15
  • SSH x 15

The Thang: Stolen right from DH’s backblast

“Start with 5 of an exercise at one end, run to other and do 10 of that exercise;
Run back do 15, then run and do 20, back and 25, one more time down do 30 of that exercise, run back to start. We’ll do this as many rounds as we can, as time permits. Yes. It’s as confusing and stupid as it sounds.

Here are the exercises:
Round 1: Merkins
Round 2: LBCs
Round 3: Squats”

On Day 1, I was the 6.  The pax waited for me to finish and join them before they started the next set.  I was convinced everybody was a beast, how the heck were they still jogging to the next spot?! On Day 245 (yes, I counted), I felt like the beast!  We finished all 315 reps in a little over 15 minutes so we had some extra time. I circled us up for:

Moroccan Night Clubs x 25
Overhead Claps x25
Seal Jacks x25
Dying Cockroach x15

We celebrated Smither’s 41st Valentine Bday by doing an exercise of his choice:
Flutters x41

I think we did a couple more x15 sets, but I can’t remember them.  I couldn’t believe we still had 10 minutes left in our workout… I set us off towards our starting point for a round of AbLab in reps of 10.  We made it through a few guys and then I called it.

Announcements:
The Yeti – Don’t second guess yourself, dude, you can do it.  Even if you just want to do the last leg back to the BBQ joint, you should do it.
S2S – Get your butts to an S2S AO, you won’t be disappointed.

Prayers and Praises:
Prayers for Zima’s family
Prayer for Anchorman’s extended family
As I looked around the group, I could feel the call for the Unspoken requests – I hope we are all lifting the group on a daily basis.  We are a brotherhood and have each others back.  Thank you Anchorman for praying us out.

Thank you Beacon, for caving and letting me Q again. 🙂

NMM:
Worrying sucks.  When we worry, we are tearing ourselves apart.  It’s human nature to worry though, so how do we overcome it?  We need to find peace.  The Prince of Peace.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Much Love,
Polaroid

 

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Just Say Yes

9 strong men gathered for the latest edition of Block Party.

The Thang

Here is how it went down-

No FNGs today, so standard disclaimer was given and off we went into the gloom.

Mosey the long way to FFCU parking lot via Ardrey to McCammon. YHC has been to this AO many times to post and is very familiar with the homeowner with the small, but LOUD dog and her adoration for us at 5:15 AM. No desire to talk to the police today, so we went the LONG way. Plank up for the 6 to arrive.

Warm Up-all IC

Windmill x 19, Imperial Walker x 7, Merkin x 7, Low Slow Squat x 7

The PAX seemed eager to get to work, so we did.

Line up at the end of the parking lot for The Escalator. Jump Squats and Merkins. Run across parking lot for 1 Jump Squat, then back across for 2 Merkins. then across for  3 Jump Squats and back for 4 Merkins. Originally planned to do this to 20, but audibled to 10 so as not to miss the other fun stuff planned. Plank up till everyone finishes. Recover. CSPAN excelled at this!

Mosey towards the flags downtown by way of the big field by FFCU. Pit stop there and PAX line up in  plank side by side with enough space between that we can all take a turn doing box jumps over each PAX legs all the way down the line. Once everyone completes this,  all transition to  high plank while everyone crawls through for the tunnel of  love. Recover.

Mosey to the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance in unison. Thank CSPAN and Hee Haw for their service. YHC is thankful for freedom and feels every day should be Veteran’s Day.

Mosey across street to brick steps at the millstone downtown. All together for the first circuit. 7 Hand Release burpees, Run up steps, run sidewalk to swings and do 19 calf raises. Run to short brick wall by playground for 19 dips, 19 derkins and 7 step ups per leg. Run to playground parking lot and bear crawl across the lot. Run down sidewalk back around to the brick steps.

Round 2 is U vs. U. All you got and then plank up to wait for the 6 when finished.

Running low on time, so let’s do 7 more hand release burpees and mosey back.

Gather up for some Mary at the parking lot near 160 and Audrey.

LBCs x 20 IC, Flutters IC x 20, Hello Dolly x 20

Mosey back and bell rang as we pulled in.

COT and a great take out by Chicken Hawk.

Moleskin

It was a great morning and YHC was honored to get the call up from DD. Everyone was getting after it and that is what we post for, to get stronger and better. We covered  2.25 miles.

Most exercises today were in sets of 7 or 19. During the warm up, YHC explained the reason for this. Recently, I posted a pre-blast for The Joe Davis Run for Recovery and I wanted to explain why YHC and my family feel passionately about this cause. 1 in 7 American will face Addiction. We had 9 in the circle. It could affect one of us. Also, 1 American dies of an opioid related overdose every 19 minutes. That is at least 2 lives lost while we worked out. Think about that. Addiction is a big issue and this is why we run the Joe Davis Run for Recovery.

Later on, YHC also took a moment to explain in COT that, as leaders, we need to understand that what we say and do influences others. Ideally, in a positive way. YHC doesn’t get to spend as much time with Double D as I would like, but a couple of years ago, at a Coop workout, he really impacted me by encouraging the PAX to “just say yes.” We all have a lot of responsibility in our lives, but are we missing the good stuff because our default answer is “no?” Since that day, it has stuck in my head and impacted my thought  process.  Whether it is our kids asking us to read to them after a long day at work or our wife asking us to watch a “chick flick,” let’s try to find a way to “say yes” and live 3rd. I gave a personal example of me being out of work  2 years ago for a short period and my wife asking if we should go ahead and take our kids to Disney World with the money we saved versus waiting. Timing and finances didn’t not seem optimal, but I “just said Yes.” It was one of the funnest trips we have ever taken and won’t ever be forgotten. What a blessing that came from what was a suboptimal situation. Be warned though, “saying yes” will take you out of your comfort zone! Not a bad thing.

Announcements-

Bags for Beds

Bags for Beds

Turkey Drive

Paradise Turkey Giveaway

 

Christmas Party

Pre-Blast: 2017 F3 The Fort Christmas Party

Joe Davis Run for Recovery

2018 Joe Davis Run for Recovery

 

CSPAN noted hat this is all in the newsletter and we should read it!

Thanks for the opportunity to Q, DD!

Honor to lead,

RT

 

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The Big Spoon

With the temp hovering right at about 40 degrees, the PAX were reluctant to leave the warmth of the vehicles. One by one they emerged, ready to get better together.

Warmup
  • Windmill – slow – 10 I.C.
  • Sitting Squat stretch 10 count
  • shoulder stretches
  • Mountain Climbers – 20 I.C.
  • Little Baby Arm Circles – 30 I.C.
  • SSH – 25 I.C.

Mosey to the parking lot with the football field painted on it

The Thang
  • Bear crawl to the 25 yard line. Stopping every 5 yards to do merkins, increasing by 5. (5, 10, 15, 20,25)
  • Crab walk back, stopping to do LBC’s every 5 with an increment of 10. (10,20,30,40,50)
  • 10 count
  • Suicides to the 50 yard line, every 10 yards. (10,20,30,40,50yds)
  • Circle up and asked several PAX to name everyone present. We had success so 10 burpees were done OYO in celebration.

Mosey to the bottom of the hill near the football stadium

  • Partner up for DORA. Partner runs to 4th light pole up  hill while other partner does exercise.
    • 100 Dips
    • 200 Monkey Humpers
    • 300 Flutters
  • 10 count and a brief word about “control”. Seceding our control to the one who is really in control.
  • Run to the top of the hill
  • 20 Calf raises
  • 20 Calf raises toes in
  • 20 Calf raises toes out

Mosey to COT for some Mary

  • Dying cockroaches – 20 I.C.
  • Superman + announcements
  • Honeymoon/Downward dog stretch
  • Boats and Canoes until time

Great work today gentleman. It’s an honor to lead.

-River Rat

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Field work at The Coop

15 HIM showed up to The Coop ready to put in work on this muggy October morning.  YHC hadn’t been to this AO in quite some time and I was excited to be back.  Off we went to the practice field.  Circle up at the 50.

COP:

WM x 10

SSH x 30

Merkins x 10

Peter Parkers x 15

Parker Peters x 15

Mosey to the goal line…

The Thang:

Round 1:

Lunge walk to the 50 stopping at every 10 for 10 squats.

Reverse lunge the last 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 monkey humpers

Suicides 20, 40, 40, 20

Round 2:

Bear crawl to the 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 merkins.

Crab walk the last 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 dips

Round 3:

Reverse bear crawl to the 50 and stop at every 10 for 5 merkins.

Reverse crab walk to the 50 and stop at every 10 for 10 dips.

Round 4:

Partner up…size matters

Partner 1 carry partner 2 to the 50 with 5 squats at every 10.  Switch and finish to the goal line.

Suicides 20,40,40,20,Goal

Mosey back to COT for 5 min of mary.

COT:

Prayers for baby’s on the way, world peace and those recovering from natural disasters.

Great to be back at a great AO with a great group of HIM.

Thanks for the opportunity Sugar Bug.

Until next time…

Seacrest, OUT!

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Summer in Oct.

Since Oct at Block Party has been dedicated to Respect Qs, I decided I would push the envelope a little.  It didn’t help that the weather was consistent with a summer morning, 72 degrees and high humidity!!!

After a short disclaimer we started our mosey around the path stopping at each drill bit for 2 warm up exercises ( crossover leg stretch, WM, Hillbilly Walker, merkin, SSH,  squat). Mosey to the parking lot next to the soccer field above WEP.  Side note, we appreciated the Town leaving the lights on the soccer field lit for our workout.  At the bottom of the lot, partner up and we would have 3 exercises for 2 rounds.  Partner 1 runs the length of the lot and back and Partner 2 does the exercise and then flip flop.  Exercise count was 150,150,100.

Round 1 – Upper body (all need the work except our male model, BC)

  • Merkins
  • Dips
  • Wide Arm Merkins

Round 2 – Lower body

  • Squats
  • Calf Raises
  • Monkey Humpers

By now we were all dripping with sweat and a lot of complaining.  Circled up for 2 exercises (Moroccan night club IC 51x, O/H Clap IC 51x) since this is respect month, I decided to go with my age as the count.

Mosey down the hill a few minutes of Mary (Hello Dolly, Freddie Mercury, American Hammer)

With the word of the month being Control, my first thought of control is being in charge and leading in family, marriage, work or community.  I shared that with my adult(ish) kids it is more difficult to give up control as they are out of college or in college and allow them to accept the control and decisions of their life.  Giving up control is allowing others to make decisions, mentor and allow them to accept the consequences for their decisions.  As a parent we have a natural instinct to step in a be a solver and as our kids age we need to be able to allow them the ability to take some control of their decisions.

We ended with announcements and prayers.  Special prayers for Asphalt for  continued healing, Cake Boss’ sister, marriages, family and Pax looking for work.

Special thanks to Double D for providing the opportunity to Q and the hard work put in by the Pax.  Hope the Respect morning didn’t disappoint.

Rebel

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