Pain posting at BAOPS

Alcatraz eventually became a prison on an island in the cold waters off the Northern California coast. It was known to be difficult to escape for the inmates that called Alcatraz home. The waters surrounding it were cold and rough, much like its residents.

When Trucker took over Alcatraz, he had a vision for our own little AO on the island, well, it’s really a peninsula but just go with me here. He wanted those that posted at Alcatraz to experience their hardest (or close to their hardest) workout of the week. The idea of coasting into the weekend wasn’t exactly his cup of tea. That said, for those of us that Q Alcatraz now, we have the Trucker-created acronym, BAOPS, in our minds when planning our pain. BAOPS stands for the Best AO for Pain on Saturday. You get the idea now?

For Ruby Slippers and I on this brisk morning, we knew we had to answer the call. The planning began earlier in the week when Ruby said he was incorporating cinder blocks. That’s when I knew this would be top-shelf. Ya see, when a man named after fancy footwear says he’s bringing pain like that, it’s time for the rest of us to bring our big-boy shoes. He shared his plan with me on Friday night and I had to chuckle; it was all I could do to keep from splashing at the thought.

To kick off this adventure, Fish Sticks, Trucker, Geronimo and I decided we needed to get to the AO early for a few rounds of pull-ups which has become quite the nice addition. At 0630, we had 17 of us gathered in the parking lot to embark on this journey.  While not swimming cold, choppy waters, we did see all the cinder blocks lined up and knew we were in for something special.

Ruby took control, disclaimed us and warmed us up with Wind Mills, Tappy Taps, Burpees, SSH, Merkins, Burpees and a few other things. Who does burpees in a warm up? We then all grabbed a cinder block, made our way to the field and counted off in 4’s for the 4-corner beat down. He had set up 4 stations in the corners about 15yds apart from each other.
Station 1: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Overhead Presses
Walk to station 2 with the cinder block in the rifle carry position, overhead.
Station 2: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Bent Over Rows.
Lunge walk to station 3 while holding the cinder block.
Station 3: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Derkins w/ your feet up on the block.
Walk to station 4 with the cinder block in the rifle carry position, overhead.
Station 4: 10 Man Makers, 20 Cinder Block Swings, 30 Curls
Lunge walk back to station 1 while holding the cinder block.

We continued on this circuit until our never-ending 30mins had expired. It felt like 30 days and holy smokes, the collective groan from the PAX almost woke the neighbors. We were all on the struggle bus after this and guess what, we were only 1/2 way through this wonderful nonsense.

Gee, THANKS TRUCKER!!! Now we’ll hand off to Maximus for what was intended to be the tour de hills of our lovely AO. Once I told the PAX about the 3 hills we were to be visiting, you could hear it again. That collective groan, yeah, it voiced itself again. Anywho….

Mosey to Hill 1 at the front of the neighborhood by the Fire Station:
Run down without busting your tail for 5 burpees and 10 Flutters I/C
Run up the hill for 2 squat burpees and 10 Flutters I/C
Complete this 4 times

Mosey to the next hill, Hill 2 down by the circle:
Run down the hill for (5) 8ct burpees and 10 Freddy Mercury’s
Run up the hill for (2) 8ct burpees and 10 Freddy Mercury’s
Complete this 3 times

C’MON MAN!!!! REALLY???? Did our time really expire before we can complete Hill 3? Yes, yes indeed. Fortunately, we got back to the AO in time do complete a few rounds of Mary.

Aaaannnndddd, there you have it. BAOPS lives on!!!

Announcements: FM Study Hall volunteers needed. D2DB reminder. Do yourself and your concentrica a favor by engaging in everything F3 has to offer. Spiderman cemented this by a call to action for the PAX to GET IN A SHIELDLOCK. There were more announcements but I apologize, my stenographer failed to show.

Prayers/Praises: Some serious things on the hearts of our PAX and if you want to know what they are, you should’ve posted. Praise for our boy, Skipper, now 1wk into this new chapter of his life with us in F3. Welcome.

Until we SYITG,
Ruby Slippers & Maximus

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Looked Better on Paper

I arrived a bit earlier this morning to scope out some areas of the campus that I have yet to explore.  Eight men showed up on this brisk morning.  We began with a slow mosey around the elementary school parking lot and stopped at the playground for the typical warm-up exercises (SSHs, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Plank Stretches, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, and Parker Peters.

Next, we moseyed back to the parking lot.  The first series of exercises was a combination bear crawl/squat across the length of the parking lot.  At every other parking space line, we did 10 squats.  Once finished, we did the same routine except we rolled to each line and did 5 merkins.  Lots of complains about dizziness after the first couple spins but we made it through the craziness.

Once the world stopped spinning, we ventured over to the pull up bars (Trucker approved).  We did 10 reps of jump and grab the bar, pull chin over the bar, and hold position for five seconds.  We took a lap around the bus loop to shake out are arms.  Next round was a jump and grab the bar, raise legs up 90 degrees, and hold for five seconds.  Again, another lap.  Last round was a jump up, rotate grip back and forth, and pull chin up over bar.  One last lap around the bus loop and back to COT for a few minutes of Mary.

Great job everyone!  Thanks for trying something new.

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Laces IN 12.03.20

It was a cold morning, a bit warmer than yesterday but not much.  Ten men braved the cold weather most bundled up in their winter gear.  After the disclaimer, we made our way over to the band parking lot.

We began warm-ups with a different twist.  Cadence exercises (SSHs, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Plank Stretches) in the end zone, jog to the other end zone for the next exercise.  Next, we did a series of exercises at each 10 yard mark between the end zones.

Movement                                            Exercise

Lunge walk                                         Squat (10)

Bear Crawl                                          Merkin (5)

             Crab Walk                                           LBCs (10)

NUR (Run Backwards)                   Flutters (10)

Backwards Bear Crawl                  Carolina Dry Docks (5)

 

After we completed the main event, I had a little fun with the Pax asking a few of them to guess a number between 1 – 10.  A wrong guess, required burpees.  Similar to the Casino that Clark and Cousin Eddie went to in Vegas Vacation, there was no right answer.  We ended up with 20 burpees.

We headed back to COT, sprinting between the light poles in the main parking lot.

Great job..I appreciate the crowd on a cold morning.

 

 

 

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Stealing from Metro

11 PAX on a crisp November morning

YHC got some influence one from one of the few backblasts written at F3-Metro’s Combine (Kettlebell and Sprinting) AO.

Warm-up
Run a big lap with unnecessary looping
Plank
– shoulder tap
– yoga
– mountain climber
– yoga
– peter parker
– yoga
– parker peter
Imperial Walker
Hillbilly Walker

Move with bells to parking lot
Line up from one island facing another

Ladder:

  • 5 manmakers
    -bear crawl to the next island and back
    KB Swings for the six
  • 5 manmakers
    5 goblet squats in cadence
    -bear crawl to the next island and back
    KB Swings for the six
  • 5 manmakers
    5 goblet squats in cadence
    10 upright rows in cadence
    -crawl bear to the next island and back
    KB Swings for the six
  • 5 manmakers
    5 goblet squats in cadence
    10 upright rows in cadence
    10 overhead presses in cadence

Move with bells to the farthest parking lot
Line up between one set of lights facing the other
We did an exercise with the bells and then sprinted to the other set of lights. At the other end, we did a descending count of merkins and sprinted back to our bells. So:

10 Merkins/Sprint/10 Alternating Lunges in cadence/Sprint back
9 Merkins / 5R & 5L Single Legged Dead-lifts
8 Merkins / 10 Sumo Squats
7 Merkins / 5 Manmakers, then 5 more
6 Merkins / 5R & 5L Snatches
5 Merkins / 5R & 5L Single arm overhead press
4 Merkins / 5 Lawnmower pulls each side, then 5 more, then 5 more
3 Merkins / 5 Goblet Squats in cadence
2 Merkins / 10 Swings
1 Merkin / 10 Overhead Presses

Move with bell back to COT

Flutters with press
Seated Yoga until 0600

Prayers:
Fathers that have passed recently
Those battling illness (COVID, Cancer)

NMM:
I sat on this backblast a bit and have lost my steam on a message. I remember an idea of checking in with your word of the year and how much of a struggle this year has been.

My word was Input. And I’ve been letting the world decide what my mental input is more often than deciding myself. There’s still days in the year left to get better…so let’s go work on it.


Band Camp dismissed

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Know before you show…

Tuesday’s are a treat here in The Fort so why should Tuesday, November 24 be any different? In an effort to ensure the PAX got their money’s worth, I decided to post the Weinke on Slack ahead of time. This gave them the choice of whether or not they wanted to make a run at it. That said, 14 PAX joined me at the Colosseum to give it a run.

Warm-up run around the drop off lanes for both schools, taking us back to the basketball hoops.
50ea I/C: SSH, Merkins (harder to actually do this than write this), Flutters

Line it up for sprints down/back: 50%, 75%, AYG

Mosey to the 1/2 wall: 25 Muscle Ups, 25 Mike Tysons, 15 get over the wall

Mosey to the back bus road. Nur up the road to the top. Run down but stop at each light pole for 10 Hand-Release Merkins, 20 Jump Squats, 30 Freddy Mercury’s (count how you wish since I tend to change my mind)

More was on the Weinke so it’ll have to wait for another day.

Loads of prayer requests and praises to be grateful for. Safe travels and for those not traveling, see you at the Convergence, Thursday at the Ranch.

Maximus

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Laced Up Tight

31 degrees at Laces In? Sure, I’ll take it. I gave the PAX a heads-up, shown below…

At the risk of potential “over-hyping,” here are a number of things to consider for Laces In:

  1. Minow Pond will be converging with us.
  2. AKA will be converging with us.
  3. Looks to be the coldest morning of the week.
  4. Gloves highly recommended.
  5. If you want to stretch or warm up, show up early.
  6. Wheels up 0515 and it’ll be GO-TIME.
  7. You’ll be warm by 0525.
  8. If you’re prone to FOMO, then you should post.

The 12 of us arrived, commented about the cool temps and all the men in tights, were disclaimed and we took off for a lap around part of the gym lot.

Circle Up:
20 x Fast-Paced SSH
10 Burpees
Another lap but this time, just a bit shorter
Line up at one end of the parking lot and bear crawl to the other end of the lot.
Sprint 1/2 way back, 10 Burpees, Sprint the rest of the way

Mosey over to the circle by the stadium:
20 Bomb Jacks
30 Flutter Kicks I/C
Run up the hill to the stop sign and back down
40 Jump Squats
40 Merkins I/C
Run up the hill and back down
10 Burpees

Mosey back to the gym parking lot.

Line up on the line for 2-Tier Grounded Suicides:
Bear crawl out 20 yards, crawl bear back. Bear crawl out 40yds, crawl bear back
10 Wide-Arm Merkins
Crab walk out 20yds, walk crab back. Crab walk out 40yds, walk crab back.
10 Wide-Arm Merkins
10 Burpees

30 American Hammers I/C
20 Flutter Kicks I/C

COT: There are very heavy prayers on the hearts & minds of our PAX. Remember, do not walk alone.

Thank You, Slapshot

Maximus

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From the ground to the hills of Alcatraz

BAOPS: Best AO For Pain on Saturday

That’s what has been established in recent months at Alcatraz as Trucker has pushed the Q’s to bring it just a little bit harder when their number is called. So, for Lil E and I, we worked to ensure consistency this beautiful Fall morning. Between, the story of hitting a deer on the way to the AO and the lingering hamstring soreness and name-calling, we had the makings of a good time in store.

With Lil E up first, he disclaimed and proceeded to Q us through an extended warm up consisting of:
Warm up lap around Runde Park
SSH x 30
Imperial Walkers x 20
Windmills x 10
Merkins x 10
Squats x 15
Mountain Climbers x 10
Monkey Humpers x 10
Morrocan Night Clubs x 20
Overhead Claps x 20
Peter Parkers x 10
Parker Peters x 10

And this is where our tough-guy computer hands got some focus:
Bear crawl the length of the parking lot on the most hand-friendly blacktop this side of a gravel road. Fortunately for our hands, we got a break at four stops along the way to encourage the mitts even more with 10 merkins at each stop.

Oh, you want more attention paid to your baby soft skin? Great. Line it back up at the start but now, you’ll crab walk the length of the parking lot with 15 LBCs at each of the four stops.

But wait, there’s more. Next, we got to (get to, not have to) lunge walk the length of the parking lot with 15 squats at each of the four stops.

Lastly, a reminder of how lonely our hands got during the lunge/squat round, we then did the ol’ Burpee Broad Jump down the parking lot…no stops, just straight on through. Oh, joy!!

Hand off to Maximus who had a bit of an axe to grind.

You see, I take the Q responsibilities as a unique obligation/opportunity to ensure the PAX feel the workout was worth their time. After all, if we’re waking up early to be with our brothers, it needs to be worth it. I never want to give the PAX the feeling of leaving a post and not getting a good workout in. If you feel that you weren’t completely challenged, at least physically, then I didn’t fulfill my role that morning. I know we can all modify as needed, to achieve more, but it helps when the Q brings it.

So what does that have to do with today. I feel I failed the PAX at my most recent Q, earlier this week. It looked like a challenge on paper but at the conclusion, I had a feeling like the PAX didn’t get their “money’s worth.” So today, I was committed to right the ship and the 7 of us at Alcatraz  enjoyed it after Lil E’s first half shenanigans.

Take to the hill on the backside of the park and do 1 lap down then back up to get familiar with our track.

Run down to the bottom of the hill, 20 V-Ups & 10 Burpees (while dodging Bambi(s).
Run back to the top of the hill, 20 Box Cutters & 10 Hand-Release Merkins into a Jump Squat. This is like a Burpee broken into 2 parts.
Repeat this 3 more times for a total of 4 rounds.

Mosey over to the pull-up bar and each PAX completed 5 pull-ups. While you were waiting, you rested by doing Merkins.

Hopefully I made up for my past transgressions. Thanks for sharing your morning with Lil E and I.

Major Announcements:

  1. Thanksgiving convergence with the details in the Newsletter or right here: 0630 at the Ranch on Thanksgiving morning. That’s it!!
  2. Bonsai is coordinating an Advent Calendar Food Drive and the collections will be taken at our Christmas Eve Convergence!!
  3. Christmas Party

SYITG,
Lil E & Maximus

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Pavement Of Pain

Was asked by Shield to Q Honey Badger so i said why not. This was my first Q here and i know a beatdown is required so i found a great ass kicker in the famed “book”.

The workout I choose was in honor of a local young soldier Specialist Javian “JAY” Sullivan. He was from the Fort Mill area and is survived by his wife and his 3 year old daughter at that time. He  died in a non-combat accident on 01/8/2018 at 24 years of age. Jay was a communications support specialist.

Heres the appetizer before the main course was served

18 Minute AMRAP

24 reps represents his age and 3 burpees represents his daughters age

24 pullups/3 burpees

24 inchworm merkins/3 burpees

24 squats/3 burpees

Main Course- Pavement of Pain

Life expectancy of men is 76 years of age. Jay passed away at 24 so he lost 52 years of his life. So 52 reps is the count for each exercise below.

52 Hand Release Merkins/run down hill then nur back up

52 Jump Squats/run down nur back

52 Knees To Elbows On Pullup Bar/run down nur back

52 Alternate Lunges/run down nur back

52 Burpees/run down nur back

52 Leg Lifts/run down nur back

Thanks Shield for the opportunity to Q,

Stang Does More Than Run Trails

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The Face Kicking Five

It was a foggy cool morning as 5 HIM decided to make the hard choice and accelerate their Thursday. Quick disclaimer and went right to warmups.
Warmup:
20 High Octane Side Straddle Hops (Fishsticks enjoyed them)
20 Truckers (Windmills)
10 Cherry Pickers
20 Hillbilly Walkers
Everyone was feeling warm, so we moseyed over to the hill entrance where things got saucy.
We did a little thing called 11’s. 10 Big Boy Situps at the bottom of the hill. 1 Merkin at the top of the hill. We ran up and down the hill until we got to 1 Big Boy Situp and 10 Merkins.
A quick Mary recovery was done at the top of the hill.
20 LBC’s
20 Hello Dolly’s
20 Dying Cockroach’s
We moseyed over to St. Phillips church were the fun began. Someone named Dora came out to play.
Partner 1:
100 Burpees
200 Squats
300 American Hammers – The Q learned to what the difference is between single and double count.
Partner 2:
Run a lap under the covered church gauntlet.
After getting through pain station number 2, we did 25 American Hammers together and moseyed back to COT for another 25 before announcements, prayer, & praises.
– JWOW
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Hero Workout for PFC Jacob Hancher “Hightower”

Monday we sadly added a new Hero to our workout.  PFC Jacob Hancher was known to F3 Grand Strand as “Hightower”

Jacob William Hancher, 23, passed away October 03, 2020 in Myrtle Beach, SC while serving in the line of duty with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.  He was born July 24, 1997 in Silver Spring, MD.

Jacob graduated from Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf, MD in 2015 and attended Horry Georgetown Technical College in Conway, SC.  He began his career with the Myrtle Beach Police Department in 2015 as a Community Service Officer and became a Myrtle Beach Police Officer in January 2020.  Prior to moving to Myrtle Beach, he was a member of the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department, Fire Station 3 from 2014 to 2015.  After moving to Myrtle Beach, he became a member of the Horry County Fire Rescue, Station 45.  He was also an Eagle Scout, Troop 417 in Waldorf, MD

Shield and I created this workout in honor of Hightower.  We wanted to incorporate his age, End of Watch date, and his badge number (374).

We did 9 rounds of 10/3/20 run 400 meters. 10 merkins, 3 burpees, 20 big boys.  Checkout with 77 squats and 100-meter sprint.  This gets you 2.3 miles, 10/3/20 EOW, and 374 reps.

Most of us got to the last round and then the heavens let go and we got POURED on.  After 1/2 of us had finished, we ran for shelter up to the front of NaFo to get out of the rain.  From here, those who didn’t finish completed it under the awning and the rest of us took turns calling out exercises for the rest of the hour.

My phone and speaker were out in the rain too long and malfunctioned during Name-O-Rama.  So no video evidence exists.  RIP Hightower.  Thank you for your service!

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