Chutes and Ladders (not really…)

8 posted at The Armory and may wish they hadn’t.  I joked that I had done Demented Uno too recently (Friday at The Hive) so I had to come up with a new game.  Chutes and Ladders is what I threw out on Twitter.  Sadly, I couldn’t come up with a way for that to happen.  This was the best I could do.  More of a Pyramid of Pain.

Warmup – Mosey, Moroccan Nightclub, Hillbilly and Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, Plank, Honeymooner, Plank, Downdog, alternate calves in Downdog

Next started the pain

10 ManMakers

20 LBCs with Bell

30 Skullcrushers

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Curls (or 20 each arm)

50 Tricep Extensions

Mosey w/ Bell

60 Overhead Press

50 Flutters with Bell

Mosey w/ Bell

40 Goblet Squats into calf raises

30 Rows (15 each side)

Mosey w/ Bell

20 American Hammers

10 Turkish Getups with a butterfly or lat raise on your back to start (5 each side)

Still had 16 minutes, so PAX called exercises (Manmakers, Uhauls, etc, even rotate one bell and did rows and BBS)

 

 

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Let’s Make a Deal at The Armory

10 PAX decided to take the challenge and show up on a balmy morning. NO FNG’s, disclaimer disclosed and off we went. Mosey went probably further than some PAX would have wished but wanted to switch up a little bit. Heading off FH campus and down across the street. Let the PAX know that once Trucker stopped complaining, we would head back.

Circle up

  • SSH x30
  • LS Squats x10
  • Windmill x10
  • Cherry Picker x10
  • MNC x25
  • Arm Circles x10 forward/back
  • Peter Parker- x10
  • Parker Peter- x10
  • Down Dog
  • Honey Mooner

Grab your bell and head to the far right parking lot of the Church. I had set it up for a game of Let’s Make a Deal after experiencing it the previous week at a Knoxville workout at the Abyss with Cinderblocks.

Each corner of the parking lot (under light posts) had 3 cards. One has a number of reps on each side. One has an exercise on each side. One has a traveling exercise on each side.
Only one side of the card is visible… Content of the other side is unknown.
PAX take turns choosing for each card to take what’s face up, or make a deal and switch to the unknown side…

Station 1:
single arm Tricep Extensions/(Goblet squats), 30/(50), Crawl Bear/(over-head mosey)

Station 2:
KB flutters/(KB Merkins), 30/(50), Lunge walk/(KB-icide)

Station 3:
KB Swings/(one-hand OHP), 30/(20), backwards overhead/(KB Broad Jump)

Station 4:
Single arm curls/single arm rows, 30/(50), KB-icide/(Bunny Hop)

The PAX decided on Round 1 they liked everything facing up, except the MOT for some. The Bunny Hop with the KB was a crowd pleaser. I added in the KB-icide, having had the privilege of these in Knoxville.

We completed all stations twice and did all the counts/exercises listed. Great work!

 

Mosey to the next parking lot closer to COT and partner up. With about 10 min to go, a mini DORA was the perfect way to close it out.

 

50- snatches

75- LBC

100- two-handed triceps extensions

 

Partner 1 runs to the bottom of the parking lot and back, while Partner 2 does the exercise. Switch and repeat until completed.

 

Everyone got it done. Always pick up the 6. It was great to see PAX stepping up to make sure our fellow brothers finished strong and with support.

 

Back to COT

 

Announcements: Read your newsletter

 

Prayers:

 

Cyclops Dad facing Pancreatic Cancer fight. Our prayers are with you and your family Brother.

 

Prayers for families, kids (teenagers), and Mental Health

 

I shared a quick topic from the sermon Sunday at Church on storytelling. Too often our kids are getting their information from social media, instead of the stories in the Bible. By no means am I an expert on this, but I challenged the PAX who are walking their Faith, or trying to get better, to share some of the great teachings in the Bible with their 2.0’s.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Frat Boy

 

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Moving about frequently and getting better

A little of this and a little of that took place on an early “coolish” September morning at #lacesin and #lacesout.   YHC had to call his own number to fill in for an injured PAX.  So a weinke was constructed and a total of 10 gathered to get better – 3 to run and 7 for boot camp.  After the disclaimers were announced and the assumption of risk was delegated, PAX took a Pledge of Allegiance to honor those who serve us and day in and day out and then we were off for a mosey to……

COP – 4 corners (and without side straddle hops no less!) – various exercises at each lightpole – 12 was the double count per exercise

  1. Low Slow Squats & Imperial Walkers
  2. Merkins & Mountain Climbers
  3. Windmills (for Trucker) & People’s chair held while doing Moroccan Night Clubs
  4. 12 Burpees – just because

Mosey to the wall by the high school entrance for:

  1. BTTW while each PAX bear crawled to the end of the line
  2. People’s Chair Held while each PAX did 5 burpees (the FNG did not splash merlot)

Mosey to the high school entrance for Partner Dora 1-2-3: One runs the bus loop and the other does:

  1. Burpees (100) – Some modified to Merkins
  2. Squats (200)
  3. LBC’s (300)

On the benches, PAX did 12 D/C dips I/C and D/C step ups I/C

Mosey to the band lot for 100 yards of Lunge Walks and Bear Crawls – Lunge 20, Bear Crawl 20, Lunge 20, Bear Crawl 20, Lunge 20.  Mumble chatter was encouraged down the field.

Mosey to the Hive lot for F & F – Freddy’s x 12 I/C and Flutters x 12 I/C

Mosey through the Hive lot to the opposite corner for Hello Dolly’s x 12 I/C and Rosalitas X 12 I/C

Hustle to COT for last little bit of ab work (PAX watches were conveniently ahead of YHC’s) so we wrapped up with 13 D/C American Hammers I/C – just to do something more than 12 times.  Then it was 0600.

COT was held and we welcomed FNG Bottlebot to the PAX.

Announcements were made – read your newsletter

Prayers were lifted up for those recovering from a fall, going in for testing, dealing with sickness and dealing with a recent cancer diagnosis.  Praise was offered for those giving care to all those in need and those who will help restore their healing and paths forward.

Honored to serve,

Cyclops

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Pastor of Pain

YHC was asked to Q at the Hive by a HIM named Band Camp and I jumped at the request. I am use to Kettlebells and love Qing them. Today I brought with me a WO that was recently Q’d at my home AO #Cannonball by Survey Says! and I named it the Pastor of Pain after him.

We started with a basic Traveling COP with some SSH, MNC’s, Low Slow Squats and some basic Arm stretches. We eventually made our way to where I had a few cones set up about 10 parking space’s apart from each other and began:

The Thang was basically a ladder:
Begin at Cone 1 with 10 Man Makers then Broad Jump with the Bell in hand to the second Cone and do 10 Snatches then Broad Jump to the third cone and do 10 Turkish Getups then overhead bell mosey all the way back to the first cone.
Start at Cone 1 again with 20 Wood Choppers Lunge to the second cone and do 20 overhead bell Presses Lunge to the third cone and do 20 Bell Swings then overhead bell mosey all the way back to the first cone.
Start at Cone 1 again with 30 Goblet Squats Bear Crawl to the second cone and do 30 Curls then Bear Crawl to the third cone and do 30 Bell Merkins then overhead bell carry mosey all the way back to the first cone.

Repeat the Thang again in Backwards order starting with the 30 reps segment.

Last thing to finish the time I Beta tested a part of our First Lake Wylie CSAUP “Nessie”. Basically a kettlebell high plank shoulder to shoulder bell pass/Indian run style if that makes sense then same thing kinda but head to toe bell pass. Beta test worked because everyone hated it.

Got to meet a few new PAX and that is why I always like Qing and different AO’s.

Finished up with a COT (announcements, a few prayers and praises and all thankful for another day).

Thanks for the opportunity to lead Band Camp

I am enjoying this ride I am on and am not sure where it is taking me but all we can do is prepare and train.

TWO FERNS!

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ImpromptQ at The Coop

The Coop has had quite a month, and with a VQ on the schedule I was excited to see that momentum continue to grow. Sadly, our Q was a no show. As the Site Q, I led the PAX this morning in an impromptu Q.

Mosey to Bus Loop for COP
SSH x 30
Tappy Taps x 10
Low Slow Squat x 20
Hold Al Gore 45 Seconds
Pulsing Al Gore x 16
Merkins x 10
Yoga Flow w/Runner’s Stretch

While trying to figure out the weinke during the COP, we were holding Al Gores. At that time, I asked the PAX to enlighten me if their least favorite workouts. Cleverly, Cheddah answered “This one!” So we pulsed. A nice little burn to start us off. While moseying around prior to COP I decided upon our first endeavor.

Weinke

Partner Up
DORA 1-2-3 at Traffic Circle/Staff Parking Lot
100 Big Boy Sit Ups
200 Squats
300 SSH

Mosey around back of school to Lunch Tables

Derkins in Cadence x 10
Step Ups in Cadence x 20

Note to self: NEVER do derkins next to Haggis unless you have perfect form. That man is an animal.

Mosey to Pull Up Bars (Much to Trucker’s delight)

Wall sits while outer two PAX do 5 pull ups and work their way toward the center.
Rinse and Repeat but change up grip on your pull ups.

Mosey back to Shovel Flag

Hip work Courtesy of Airborne, one minute each side.

In all, we had a solid morning of varied movements. There’s some freedom in being able to make up the weinke on the fly, though I can say I was a more distracted than usual. The PAX who showed are true HIM, though. Lastly, we ran 2.5 miles.

A Burpee penalty was discussed for Mighty Mouse. If we can get him to show, we may have to proctor said penalty… though we all know we’ll help him out. That’s how we roll. Let’s just hope everything is ok for him.

Announcements

Hardwood on Q at Varsity this week!
QvQ coming at you on October.
Christmas Party coming up… get your ugly sweater on.
Read your newsletter.

Prayers/Praises

Kaiser – praise for God’s promises. There are over 700 promises in the Bible.
Chicken Hawk – pray for marriages. Pray that we as apathetic men can step up love our wives the way they need it.

Hope everybody enjoys their day, and holds their loved ones tight.

Punch List out.

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Playing Cards at The Colosseum

A return to the arena we call The Colosseum; a homecoming if you will. That’s all that was at stake. With the increased Tuesday attendance and the added AO here in September for the Iron PAX Challenge presenting another posting opportunity, 11 other men decided to join me and a deck of cards at the Colosseum this beautiful morning. Fresh off a Labor Day beach trip, I was happy to ensure Jekyll & Hardwood wouldn’t be disappointed. We had a few rookies for the deck of cards but I hope they’ll incorporate this into their Q’s at a future date. While the first 15-20 cards can be manageable, don’t let that fool you. Depending on your choice of exercises, this gem will bite you. And today, I think most of us felt the effects of that bite.

With a request to focus on our time over the next 45mins and a disclaimer, we were off to the basketball hoops. Our warm-up consisted of:

Squats, Moroccan Night Clubs, Wide-Arm Merkins, Flutters, Freddy Mercuries

Run to the 6th light post up the back road followed by:

5 Burpees, 15 Diamond Merkins, 25 LBC’s

Run back to the hoops for the deck of cards.

If you’re one of the 3 people reading this and you’re unfamiliar with how this works, each card value represents a rep count. 2-10 is that number of reps while Jack =11, Queen=12, King=13 and Ace=14.

Diamonds = Burpees

Hearts = Jumping Lunges

Clubs = Merkins

Spades = Dips

I added 3 Jokers for good measure which meant each was worth 15 American Hammers

In total, we completed:

104 Burpees

104 Jumping Lunges

104 Merkins

104 Dips

45 American Hammers

We followed it up with some flutters in varying speed.

And that was it. See, not too bad.

Be present and I look forward to the next time.

Maximus

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Burning Down The Colosseum

Gladly accepted the Q request from Jekyll a month ago for an AO i had never posted to.  He told me the Qs really bring the pain. Visited the week prior to get the lay of the land and he was not joking. With that I couldn’t slack off. 26 PAX 3 FNG got after it in the Gloom this morning. Really dig these MONSTER number  Workouts.

Here’s how it went down.

Mosey up to second Left turn to Parking spaces.

Bone the Fish.

3 Shuffle Right 3 Shuffle Left 3 Karaoke 1-1-1–Really crazy to do this with these numbers.

Warmup

SSHx15 MNCx15  Hillbilly Walkers x 15

Imperial Walkersx15 Dips x 15

The Thang

9 exercise stations 20 reps per. Except #1. Thanks Pothole! Mode of travel listed at each station for return to middle. All returns to middle do 5 burpees- Mosey to next station

Station 1- Abs 30 American Hammers Ct 1 side- Sprint to light pole/cone 5 Low Slow Sprint to next station

Station 2- Legs 20 Block Squats – Bear Crawl to Center

Station 3- Arms 20 Wide Arm Merkins– Bear Crawl to Center

Station 4- Abs 20 10 Peter Parkers/ 10 Parker Peters- Bear Crawl to Center

Station 5-Combo Al Gore w/bricks  10 Lateral Raise 10 Lateral Row = 20 reps Sprint to cone – 5 merkins Sprint to next station

Station 6- Arms 20 GTOs Ground to Overhead- Crawl Bear to center—–Really how does a Pax break a cinderblock in half????

Station 7-Abs 20 War Hammers combo WWII sit-up 1x American hammer- Crawl Bear to Center

Station 8- Legs 20 Monkey Humpers  Wheel Barrow to center and switch after burpees to station 9

Station 9- Pass the Ruck- Stand Back to back and pass back and forth in circular motion 20x  Mosey to center.

Rinse and Repeat

All PAX completed roughly 1.5 rounds. From the mumble chatter throughout the #Beatdown it appeared to be successful.

Return to COT to name the FNGs and hand off the Shovel flag.

Thanks Again for the Opportunity to lead.

Good Luck Hardwood and Great work Jekyll. Will see me more regularly at the Colosseum.

Duck Out!

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Don’t poke the Q

Cars pulling in right up to the starting time.
Disclaimer and intro.
Mosey with dynamic stretching along the way.
Circle up for some warmup and a small sample of Broga.
Back to kettle bells
Did the following exercises 3 sets of each 10-15 reps each set followed by an ab exercise.
Every three exercises we would mosey and do 10 burpees ( this quieted down most poking of the Q.)
Goblet squats, figure 8s, KB Swings, single arm rows, shoulder presses, single arm curls, clean and jerk, and reverse lunges.
COT
announcements- invergence and convergence
Prayers- Airborne son leaving for US Army boot camp. God Love the USA.
Trucker- learning everyday lessons on raising kids and being a good father.
All the kids going back to school today.

Also had a good reminder and to just love your kids and not worry about always if their the top or best at something. Just show them you love them.

Backdraft out.

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19 That Didn’t Mail In Their Saturday

So there was this Saturday in Ft. Mill, SC that 17 men joined 2 Q’s to have a little fun in the city park, talk about the impact F3 & others have had on us and the community, and do some crazy exercises that would make others shake their head. That Saturday was yesterday and I must say that Router and I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity granted us by Slash.

3 years ago, Router began his journey with F3 and as he said, the life change has been great and there’s no looking back. As we all know, it’s much more about the 2nd & 3rd F’s but the magnet of the 1st F is what attracts us and propels us to that life change F3 is know for.

That said, Router lit the torch with a disclaimer and a brisk mosey around the WEP path stopping along the way for 20 SSH, 20 Moroccan Night Clubs, 10 Merkins and 10 Peter Parkers; a great opportunity to stretch the PAX out and bring them back together.

Router brought us to the middle of the grass field for the start of the Worlds Longest Lasting, Most Disputed, Loudly Criticized, Not At All Controversial, exercise in The Fort. Sorry, the Pullman got the best of me (which has nothing to do with what we did). This is where he introduced us to a modified Catch Me If You Can. However, there were no rucks, no running, no monkey humpers, just a lot of Tesh-chasing which, for me as Tesh’s partner, made for a quick rendition of this terrible idea. Partner 1 is doing inch-worm merkins while Partner 2 does 20 Flutters, 10 Merkins, 20 American Hammers and 10 Carolina Dry Docks then bear crawls to his inch-worming partner. We did this for what seemed like the entire Saturday morning but in all reality, it was about 100yds (go ahead and try it…I dare you).

Oh, that wasn’t bad enough? How about Router bringing us back to the starting point for a round of Jack friggin’ Webbs. Yup, you just read that. And yes, we went to the 10:40 mark with merkins & overhead claps.. Say hello to your Jell-O arms. Good thing none of our resident hair models were in attendance because hair-washing would’ve been a challenge later that morning.

Then Router topped it off with an explanation of his growth over the last 3yrs since joining F3. Thanks to the fellas like DD (in attendance), Santini, Senator Tressel, Assassin and others, there are hundreds of men who share a similar story to Router, each one unique and powerful in their own right.

Hand off to Maximus.

Mosey to “The Hill” and line up at the base. Identify the tree at the top, about face and reverse lunge walk all the way up the hill to the tree. At the top, drop to your six and crab walk back down.

Mosey back to the field and in true Jack friggin’ Webb fashion, take that to the legs for Lieutenant Dan’s. Just like before, we went to the 10:40 mark with squats & jumping lunges.

Lined up the cones about 30yds apart, PAX line up at one end then the explanation. WWII situps into a burpee broad jump. Repeat until you get to the other cone.

2 lines facing each other for Knee Tar Jah’s or Prisoner Lunges or whatever we’ve decided to call these things.

SSH x 21

Back to the cones. Run from cone 1 to cone 2, 20 Plank Jacks, NUR back to cone 1, 15 WWII situps, back to cone 2, 10 Plank Jacks, then NUR back to cone 1, 5 WWII situps.

PAX back together for:

SLOW Peter Parkers x 21

Flutters x 21

Squats x 21

Jail break to COT for a short set of LBCs.

So that was it. Great time I hope for all. Didn’t get a lot of miles but my body 24hrs later tells me that wasn’t needed. Remember what’s been done for you as you have the opportunity to do something positive and impactful for others.

**ONE REMINDER**: September 6 is our Annual Invergence followed by our regional Convergence September 7 back at WEP.

Until Next Time,

Router & Maximus

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Mountain trip to Dupont State Forest on August 3rd with Trail Running, Rucking and Biking options – there will be a 2nd F afterwords

3rd F

Alright we are 2 years ago we did a mountain trip to Roan Mtn. it was one of the best trips I have made with my fellow F3 brothers. After 10-16 miles we went to Daniel Boone Inn to refuel.

With this in mind I wanted to continue to do this hopefully every year. So on August 3rd we are going to do another mountain trip. This time it will be Trail Running, Biking and Rucking options.

Our destination will be DuPont State Forest. We will leave from the Newport Walmart at 6 am it is a 2 1/2 hr trip. we will either go to the Hooker Falls Access or the Lake Imaging Access. For runners we will try and get 12-18 miles in for Mountain bikers Vuvuzela has about 20-30 mile rout lined up.

 

2nd F

Afterwords will will go to Daddy D’s and refuel.

 

Make sure you bring water and something for energy do not come unprepared you will regret it. I did exactly that last time. This will be an unforgettable trip that we will try and do every year. we need to clown car to get there since there are no rental vans available.

Reach out to me if you have any questions.  I have attached links below.

Dupont State Forest Trail Map-1

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g49206-d2069003-Reviews-Daddy_D_s_Suber_Soulfood-Hendersonville_North_Carolina.html

www.Dupontforest.com

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