Full body pain dished out at Alcatraz

Begin with disclaimer and went around the roadway circle for a “quick slow” mosey.

Circle up for warmup
-10x windmills
-10x low slow squats
– 15x peter parker
-15x parker peter
-downward dog / honeymooner
-10x plank jacks, recover
-10x cherry pickers

Mosey to other side of parking lot where the real pain began early:
-Merkin ladder: drop for 20 merkins, run 10 yards and drop for 19 merkins, run back 18 merkins, run back 17 merkins…. rinse and repeat until 10 merkins for a quick 165 merkin beatdown.  WOW

Mosey to baseball field where we completed the field of dreams: count off by 4’s, each base had 3 PAX. The 4’s started at home plate for 15 burpees – they are the timekeepers. When done, each base moved onto the next base until the cycle was completed by all.  1st base was AMRAP squats, 2nd base was SSH’s, and 3rd base was LBC’s.

Circle up around the pitcher’s mound so we can finish off our arms with Jack Webb’s.

It is now 0700 and time for Senator Tressel to take over with:

Mosey from the ball  field and head down to Tara Tea Dr (steep hill).  Form two groups and face the hill:
1.  Round 1:  run to the top off the hill and back, plank at the bottom until everyone is back, recover.   Slow squats on Q’s count with a few holds mixed in.
2.  Round 2:  run backwards to the  top and back, plank at the bottom, recover..  Slow, alternating  lunges on the Q’s count with a few holds mixed in.
3.  Round 3:  run to the top and back, plank at the bottom, recover.  Slow monkey humpers on the Q’s count with a few holds mixed in.
4.  Round 4:  run backwards to the top and back, plank at the bottom, recover.   Calf raises for an unspecified time while the Pax cacthes their breath.
5.  Round 5:  run to the top, run back down, then run back to the top, do 5 burpees at the top, plank until the 6 is finished.
Mosey back to the baseball field for tunnel of love.  The Pax attempted 2 rounds, but it was a bit of a cluster.    Lutefisk’s merkin fest was too taxing on the upper body, and sustaining a tunnel for 16 to pass through was ill advised at that point.
Circle up for 6 MOM (all in cadence)
Freddie Merc x 20, Hello Dolly x 15, American Hammer x 20.  Superman hold x 2.  End with the Body Destroyer (one of YHC’s personal favorites).
COT – prayers for sicknesses to be healed among PAX and their families and mother’s day with special shoutout to Mr Clean’s children and all children who have lost their mothers.
It is now 38 hours since the completion of this, and I still hurt. Everywhere.  Which is awesome. Thanks for the opportunity to lead!  -Lutefisk
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Truck full of concrete at Colosseum

If you’ve posted at the Colosseum, you know Jekyll guarantees it’ll be worth your time. So for all the future Q’s of this AO, the nation looks forward to you keeping the streak alive. Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to post with our brothers in Huntersville/Lake Norman and got absolutely smoked on a Wednesday morning as we spent much of the 45mins pushing cinder blocks around while bear-crawling the parking lot. It was way too painful to keep to myself. After all, we’re supposed to give it away, right?

With a little pre-hype on the machine yesterday, 21 brave souls joined me at The Colosseum and after a donation from Bonsai, I was able to ensure we had enough coupons. Little did I know that you can’t give some of these guys nice things because their way out of doing the workout is to break my blocks.

Once all were accounted for, we moseyed to the bus parking lot for an abbreviated wind mill and stretch session. This was purely at Santini’s request but wasn’t frowned upon by anyone. After all, when you get a request from the guy that EH’d you into F3, do you really have a choice? After that 2mins, we took off for the back entrance road which just so happened to be the launch point of Jekyll’s horribles last week. Some assurance was necessary as people got a little anxious while we stood there. I guess the memory was still fresh from the previous week.

At each light post, 10 SSH and 10 Freddy Mercury’s. Once you hit every light post, bring it back to the start where you get your form called out by none other than CSPAN…hmmm, seems ironic!! We love him anyways.

Now that we got that out of the way, mosey back to my truck where we begin the next chapter. Like a jewelry dealer opening their trench coat to show his watches, I opened the tail gate to reveal 25 cinder blocks. Oh, it’s on now. Grab a block and line up in a straight line with the basketball hoop. I also learned that for those speedy folks out there (that’s you, Tesh), I need to be very specific with my instructions.

Round 1:

10 Burpees

20 Carolina Dry Docks

30 Squats holding the block

Bear Crawl pushing the cinder block to the line at the other basketball hoop.

Round 2:

10 Bomb Jacks

20 Flutter Kicks with a Press

30 Bicep Curls

Bear Crawl pushing the block back to the start

Round 3:

10 Diamond Merkins

20: Deadlifts

30: LBC’s (with or without the block but seriously, is there really an option?)

Bear Crawl pushing the block to the other hoop.

Round 4:

10 Toe Touches (with or without the block)

20 Lunges (20 each leg)

30 Shoulder Press

Bear Crawl pushing it the block back to the start

Circle Up:

Staggered Merkins (6ea side)

Flutter Kicks w/ the press again

Ended with more bicep curls

As a Q, it is great to hear all the chatter but to then have that followed by the moaning and then…silence as the PAX are trying to stay focused, that’s affirmation. Great job to the guys and special T-claps to the next level’ers (Dark Helmet, Trucker and Bonsai) for throwing the ruck on during this. The original workout had a ruck or weight vest involved so I respect you for going that rout. I will join you with the ruck next time. The bear crawls pushing that block while wearing a ruck…that’s memorable.

Prayers:

Upcoming graduations, appreciation to the PAX for checking in on us and holding us accountable, Badger.

Jekyll…I thank you.

Until next time.

Maximus

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Beyond – how selfish are you

The message for Beyond was around being selfish

 

Humans we are naturally selfish people.  As a child you grow up thinking everything should be centered around

you.  Even as I moved into adulthood I still didn’t completely understand what it meant to put others first. 

Because I never had anyone who was dependent upon me.  When I got married I was quickly called out that it is now “we”

and not “I” which was initially hard for me to understand at first.  Then several years later reality smacked me in the face

when we had our first child.  Now there was someone in my life that was 100% reliant upon me.  I quickly had to figure

out as all parents do how to adjust and make things happen.

 

In my life I am the most selfish with my time.  I don’t like to spend “my” time on things that “I” feel are not as important

as other things. 

 

There are 24 hours in a day

1440 minutes

 

Average person sleeps 7 hours

                       works 9 hours

                       spends 2 hours in a car

 

This leaves 8 hours for everything else (Wife, kids, Quite time, F3, Whetstone, etc)

 

How do you manage your time?  Is is the smartest way?

 

As I was preparing for this Q I kept going back to how do I manage my time and how I think I should be.  I will be

the first to say I am nowhere near the model, but I desire to be able to say that I will one day get there.

 

Time Priority:

1. God

2. Wife

3. Family

4. Friends

 

One of the most important things that I hope the Pax take from the workout is Kids spell LOVE – TIME.  The more time you

spend with them the more love they feel.  Think about that next time when one of your kids ask you to do something and you

would rather be doing something else.  They won’t always be around so enjoy the time you have with them now.

 

 

 

 

Warmup:

SSH 20 IC

Hand release merkins 10 IC

LBC 20 IC

–With being a beyond workout figured since it just rained we needed to embrace the suck and get on the ground

 

 

 

The thang:

 

Partner up

P1 – runs to end of parking lot and back

P2 – works on burpee / sandbag thruster (1 burpee / 1 thruster, 2 burpees, 2 thrusters, etc until 10)

 

Each partner does their own until they reach 10 of each

 

Next

P1 – runs to end of parking lot

P2 – pick up sandbag on shoulder and toss backward until P1 returns

 

rinse and repeat x 3

 

Exercises done holding either ruck, sandbag or cinderblock:

Squats 20 IC

Squat pulses 10 IC

Flutters 20 IC

 Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

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WHETSTONE…Relaunches at THE FORT

Several weeks ago, it was announced that our region, THE FORT, would be closing all Saturday AO’s and holding a convergence at FMHS to get the PAX together as we thank Rebel for his leadership of Whetstone and relaunch it under Repeat and World Wide Leader (WWL). I was excited to hear we’d be getting many of the region together but I wasn’t expecting what came next. It was a text asking if I’d Q the workout.

Q, like part of it, half of it or …? The response was, THE WHOLE THING. I love to Q every chance I get but to do so on a day like this, well, I better make sure it includes a little something for everyone. Or, almost everyone.

————————————————————————————————————–

And this is where I let life get the better of me. I try to follow the 48hr rule on posting a BACKBLAST, especially when they’re significant but I let life and travel get in the way. It is now Saturday, one week later, and I’m just finishing this BB. Life can get challenging, it can get stressful, it can get you riding the highs or down in the lows. And this past week, our family has experienced some of each. Maybe this was the week where I really came to realize how valuable having a Whetstone partner can be. Someone that I can share the highs with and someone to help get me out of the lows; or to keep me honest when it’s my own doing that has me on the outside looking in on the joys of life.

That said, I’ll take you back to last Saturday, April 21 where we had a a few pre-ruckers and a total of 58 PAX converge to re-kick off this critical program.

We got ourselves into an odd-shaped kidney-like shape for the disclaimer, the announcement of why we were there this beautiful morning and to acknowledge our 2 FNG’s in the PAX. We counted off in 4’s then took off toward the big parking lot for a warm up jog in 4 lines. This jog included some karaoke’s and 4 lines doing an indian run which was way harder than it appeared on paper.

In these last 2 years, Whetstone has brought together some extremely HIM. One of those men has gone through a tough 18mos and he was gracious enough to share some of his story to include the impact Whetstone had on his life as we circled up to hear his words. I know he wouldn’t endorse this comment but anytime Mr. Clean wants to share experience or wisdom, the PAX listens. And listen we did.

After backing the group back out to a circle-like shape, I was giddy to honor Santini in the only way I knew how…with a deck of cards. However, on this day we utilized 1/2 the deck and considered it our warm up:

Hearts = Side Straddle Hops

Diamonds = Carolina Dry Docks

Spades = Squats

Clubs = Merkins

Then a little action from the Burp-Merk: Standing, we then dropped to a plank, did 5 merkins then jumped up. That equals 1 and we did 5 total.

This was when we got to listen to our very own Nantaan, Cake Boss, as he shared the impact Whetstone has had on him. Yet again, another powerful testimony.

Then off to do 4 corners in the lot with:

Corner 1 = Dancing Crabs x 15ea and Dips x 20

Corner 2 = Dying Cockroach x 15ea and Flutters x 20ea

Corner 3 = Burpees x 10 and Jump Squats x 10

Corner 4 = American Hammers x 25 and Freddie Mercury x 20ea

Mosey over to the wall for B2W while doing 5 “push ups” followed by 15 calf raises. We did this 3 times.

To close out our testimonies, my man Chicken Hawk laid it down for us. He shared the impact Whetstone has had on him, his marriage, his family…his life. Life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. Well said brother.

6ct Burpee which I needed a little help from the Helmet of Darkness to remind me the steps. Remember the line, “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it?” Yeah, me too but I obviously didn’t follow that too closely here.

This is where the cat-herding became evident. The PAX exhibited patience with me as we attempted a modified DORA series consisting of:

50 Flying Squirrels, 50 Diamond Merkins and 50+ Flutters

We then took off for the main entrance to the football stadium and lined up in 4 lines facing down the hill. Once everyone readjusted, it was 15 American Hammers, 15 Flutters and 15 Hello Dollies. This was done several more times.

Well, that put a bow on the workout portion of this convergence and after the COT, FNG naming of RBG and Whiskers, we then handed it off to World Wide Leader and Repeat to lead the Whetstone discussion.

Announcements: The relaunch of Whetstone. Thanks to Rebel for getting this off the ground 2 years ago and to Repeat / World Wide Leader for taking the reigns.

Prayer Requests: Badger. Camp Care 5K. Jennings Palmer’s transplant. Olive’s 8K in memory of Sweet Tooth. Elmer.

Honored and appreciative of your patience.

Maximus

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Moderately Crabby

Thanks to Smithers for allowing me to lead this morning.  23 HIMs started with the disclaimer and then took a little twist on the mosey down the hill to the back side of Lowes for the warm-up and beat down. Two lines formed up at the shovel flag and proceeded to Blacksnake all the way to the warm-up.  It was noted that surprisingly no one was injured bobbing and weaving while running in a line.

The Warm-Up was short and sweet to get the muscles ready and not tired.

  • Brisk 25 SSH
  • 25 Moroccan Night Club
  • 20 Imperial Walkers

The familiar Burpees that are often limited or lost at Slow Burn were tweaked slightly to provide a little 4×4 action!

Immediately following the 4x4s, we jumped right into a round Batwings.  All to a 4-count cadence:

  • 20 Forward Arm Circles
  • 20 Reverse Arm Circles
  • 20 Seal Claps
  • 20 Overhead Claps

After the shoulders were smoked, we met up along the wall of Lowes facing the side parking lot.  Everyone partnered up for some 123’s with a rotating exercise for the traveling partner. The partners completed their 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s and 300 Squats while crossing the parking lot performing either Bear Crawls, Crab Walks, Lunge Walks, or Toe-Walks.  The parking lot had 3 distinct rows of spaces along each PAX to determine the length of their crawls or walks.

Following the 123’s we circled up for a bit of core work; Abs and Back.  I thought it was important to incorporate the most often forgotten part of the core.  This is where the real “crabbing” started among the PAX.  All exercises done in cadence:

  • 20 Crab Cake
  • 20 Crunchy Frog
  • 20 Crab Humpers
  • 20 American Hammers
  • 20 Crab Jacks
  • 20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • 15 Merkins done with several pauses at 6″

The PAX moseyed its way back up to the top at their own pace in preparation for COT

At COT, the origin stories for  a couple of PAX were shared so that we can all get to know one another a little better.

Great work from all the HIMs who pushed through some serious shoulder exercises and goofy crab work.

 

MOAB…out

 

 

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Unrealistic Expectations at BEYOND

We’ve all ages and abilities come to BEYOND since launching in January and while there have been some struggles along the way, I think the feeling is unanimous; we’re getting pushed physically and being challenged mentally, emotionally and spiritually. For those that are upcoming Q’s, the hardest part seems to be how to deliver a meaningful message and a good down inside of 45mins.

Well, it was now my time to pick the topic for the latest rendition. The launch was set for Varsity (NaFO) and the topic was one I’ve dealt with for years but didn’t know it was a problem until the last few weeks. You see, it wasn’t until some adversity and personal challenges that I realized my trends or perhaps more importantly, my tendencies. So what happens? I have these expectations of what I need to be and who I need to be which are of course, often times unrealistically high. When I fall short, which happens more often than not; I feel like I don’t measure up and reside on the line boarding failure. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to me being a less-than-desirable person to be around.

After the welcoming of a zealous FNG (Abscess) who was EH’d by Mr. FNG himself, Ginsu, I took a minute to walk through the disclaimer, what BEYOND is all about followed by the F3 CREDO: Leave no man behind and leave no man where we found him. This was done for me years ago and it is my promise to make every effort to pass it on. We then took off for a short mosey through the lot and circled up:

Plank Jacks x 10

Ski Abs x 10

Carolina Dry Docks x 10

Squat Calf Raises x 10

Forward Arm Circles x 10

Reverse Arm Circles x 10

Mak Tar Jahs x 10

This is where I let the PAX rest for a few minutes as I walked through my above challenges and what it turns into. It was also a good time to talk about how this life is not meant to be walked alone; queue the WHETSTONE relaunch coming up this Saturday 4/21. The feeling this leads to is what Scripture explains in Luke 22:31 where Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” These last few years have been a test, almost a sifting process that I have now begun to realize.

What we also realized was the neatly placed cones 50 yards apart in the parking lot. With all 20 of us lined up on one side, we sprinted to the other end and back at the following levels of effort:

50%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 25%

Mosey to the pull-up bars where 1/2 the PAX did 20 pull-ups (1 for each man that posted) while the other 1/2 did ankle grabs with their legs straight up against the wall. Each man cycled through 2 sets of each exercise and we made our way out to the adjacent roadway for:

4×4’s: Drop to a plank, 4 merkins, 4 full mountain climbers, jump up = 1 set. We did 10 sets.

With PAX on opposite sides of the road, we dropped to a plank with our hands in the road and our feet on the curb. We plank-walked down the hill about 25 yards to the cone then bear crawled back to the start. We switched sides and did it again, this time about 20yds down and bear crawled up.

It was now time for the ATM’s:

(10) 4ct Alternating shoulder taps

(10) Tempo Merkins: 3ct down and 1ct up

(10) Fast Merkins

We did 3 sets of this.

We then moseyed back to the cones for another sprint series that looked like this:

100%, 100%, 50%, 100%, 25%.

COT for a reminder of Whetstone and our FNG naming.

Loved every minute of it and thanks for the platform to share a piece of my story. I hope you learned a little tidbit and that I fulfilled my promise to not leave you where we found you.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

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CSPAN Returns to The Coop for flutter kick freenzy

Perfect weather and 52 degrees

disclaimer in detail because we had 2 FNGs (T-claps Paul Bunyon and Sasquatch)

and we were off

mosey around until I got tired…

Warmup-O-Rama

Mosey around until I got tired…

Some abs and some core

Mosey around until I got tired…

partner up – 3 rounds of flutter, squats, and LBC while your partner ran the parking loop

Mosey until I got tired…

Same partner 4 rounds flutter kicks and pull-ups

Mosey until I got tired…

10 flying squirrel countdown with sets of 10 flutter kicks…

and I ran out of time…

COT/prayer or praise/BOM

welcome Llama and Puppy…weird that they were both animal names today…?

read your newsletter, and make a difference today, and my abs still don’t look Tesh…

AYE!

CSPAN

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Laces: Super 21 on Maundy Thursday

Laces In:

Slight Mosey to student parking lot

Warm Up – COP
SSH x20
Imperial Walker x10
Hillbilly Walker x10
Windmill x10
Cherry Picker x10

Mosey to Band Practice lot

Super 21s (variation) – Inspired by JWOWW’s VQ at the Hive which used a deck of cards and got me thinking about 21. Then I found Super 21s listed in the F3 Exercises………I wondered why I hadn’t done these before in a workout. Turns out doing Super 21s makes it difficult to raise your arms later…..like days later.

1 merkin to 1 low slow squat
repeat to 10 reps of each
Flutters x21
11-13 reps of merkin/LSS
Hello Dollys x21
14-15 reps of merkin/LSS
Freddie Mercuries x21
16-17 reps of merkin/LSS
Lap around the Painted Lot
18-19 reps of merkin/LSS
Box Cutters x21
20-21 reps of merkin/LSS
Rosalitas x21
(Total of 231 merkins and squats)

Slight mosey to side of Ceramics Studio

Found some curb – stretch calves
Calf raises x21
Wall Sits (slight discussion of the brass technique of multiple tonguing: generated a good deal of mumble chatter)

PAX mentioned (sarcastically?) that if we just did 19 more merkins, we would reach 250. With the challenge laid down, PAX completed 19 merkins and 19 low slow squats. (Total of 250 merkins and squats: except for Trucker who complete 280 and added that to the Name-o-rama so YHC wouldn’t forget.)

Plank up – Because Abiding (see note below) requires flexibility:
Honeymooner to Down dog variations
Stretch out the legs
Leg raises in down dog
One leg plank
Knee taps to elbow x5
Knee taps to opposite elbow x5
Repeat with opposite leg
Pigeon Lunges
Butterfly stretches
Seated forward bends (i.e., touch your toes sitting down)

Mosey back to COT
American Hammers x21

The word for the month is abide. Abiding in God is active alignment of our will to the Lord’s. This is opposed to “the dude” passively abiding in the Big Lebowski. I gave a brief message about how we can abide in what is happening around us or we can strive to abide in God. The word is not a passive acceptance our circumstances, at least not in a scriptural sense.

We also discussed, while sitting against a wall, how I approach my (music) studio teaching at Winthrop. There’s practice dedicated to maintenance/growth at technical elements and the physical skills required to play the instrument (this is how triple tonguing came up), and then there’s practice learning assigned repertoire. Practicing only repertoire means the physical skills needed for new piece/work must be learned from scratch…..every time. Having a set routine for maintenance and growth means the fundamentals on the instrument are already in place, i.e., you’re in shape. At this point, learning repertoire is simply a matter of applying skills you already possess.

My short (5 months) time with F3 reminds me of this model. A routine to develop ourselves (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) so that when we encounter challenges (repertoire) it is only a matter of applying skills we either already posses or are honing. One of the hardest parts of each workout for YHC is leaving the comfort of the bed for the gloom. Yet we are all on this planet (its own form of gloom) called to seek God’s purpose for us and abide in that. I’m grateful to have shared this morning with PAX doing just that . . . . even if that means YHC can barley raise his arms to type a backblast.

Not sure what happened at Laces Out. . . . I’m assuming they ran and can currently lift their arms.

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The SWAMP – RUCK WOD

Well I’ve royally sucked @$$ at posting BB lately, so figured I better get this one up before I forget.  There are some workouts were  you just leave feeling motivated and this was one of them.  I saw everyone come together, great 2nd F, and a killer work out.  It’s days like this when you have a hard time remembering what life before F3 was like.  Anyways onto the workout….

Warm Up 

Rucks Overhead – 10 O/H presses

Rucks Overhead – Mosey 100 yards

10 O/H presses

Rucks Overhead – Walking Lunge 100 yards

10 O/H presses

Rucks carried by waste strap  – Mosey 100 Yards

10 O/H presses

Rucks Overhead – Mosey 150 Yards

RUCK HEAVY WOD 

We get to my truck to see the bed of fun, 6 sandbags, 2 cement pipes and a bunch of carabiners.

We quickly and efficiently build a snake out of the sandbags (each sandbag is connected by a 8″ clip, making a giant snake) and grab the cement pipes and make our way out.

RUCK UP and grab weight

We embrace the suck and ruck to the HD parking lot.  Here one group carries all rucks and runs the parking lot while the other performs some exercises:

10 Merkins

10 Squats

Cement pipe on chest – Team big boy sit ups with O/H press (I think Truckers hand slipped a time a or two and about crushed WWL)

Switch

RUCK UP and grab weight 

Carry for a good bit and embrace the suck once again.  We make our way to a grassy area.

Partner drags – 40yards and switch then repeat

RUCK UP and grab weight 

Make our way to the fountain (FOUNTAIN OF DOOM)

We do laps around the fountain, always staying as a group and completing it together

Gorilla Walks

Walking Lunges

Side Planks (Hands on Fountain)

Bear Crawls

RUCK UP and grab weight

Make our way back for COT and wait for BC to return.  Oh yah and while we wait, RUCKS O/H.

Met up with Bones and the BC for a great COT and ending prayer.

Great workout, Great MC, and Just amazing teamwork.  Everyone gave it all they had the entire time and really pushed through.

Thanks for coming out and supporting me and RUCKING!!!

 

 

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Laces In/Out 2018.11

This is the 3rd of 3 Qs where I’m catching up on backblasts…  I’m pretty sure I owe someone a thousand burpees by now.  I apologize.

Mosey to band practice lot for some leg work.

I did an extended warmup that us much out of my typical, because I planned sprints, and everyone pulls something during sprints so lack of warmup was not going to be anyones excuse.
SSHs, Windmill, Jimmy Carters, Wide leg stretch left/right, squat stretch groin, downdogs and honeymooners… Next toy soldiers 30 yards, mosey 70.  Buttkickers 30 mosey 70, did this 3 times…

Now for sprints, split into two teams of 6.  Split into groups of 3, 40 yards apart.  Relay race, 1 man per team running at a time per team.  (This took until the 3rd round to get right…  I’m pretty sure some would be clinically prescribed Aderol if sent to take a standardized test.)  When the last man comes in I yell out a random exercise and then we do it all over again.  We did this 7 times.

Mosey back to the parking lot for 6MOM from the Fort’s own JWoww.

 

I don’t know what the runners did… ask them.

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