Taking it easy at the Golden Corral

After two Qs last week, YHC’s creativity was all but spent. Nevertheless, when Old Bay asked if I could fill in for Boeheim, I agreed to help. I still have that Twister spinner I made for a previous Q, so I already had something “prepared” in case I didn’t have time to come up with something new.

Not being satisfied with repeating something, I decided to at least update the board a bit (and tried cutting off a finger in the process, so ignore the blood stain if you see it). This will come in handy later, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

14 cold-ish PAX (well, 13, as Cake Boss came rolling in late) posted to Golden Corral before dividing up – six to ruck with Mainframe, Old Bay to run by himself, and seven for the bootcamp. Disclaimer was given (probably my best yet), and off we went. The first couple minutes of the mosey around to the back parking lot were spent explaining what we were not doing: no somersaults, no inverted burpees, no flips, etc. Apparently people get concerned when they find out it’s a Jedi Q. Incorporating knees to chest, butt kickers, and karaoke, we wove around until we found a good spot in the corner of the back parking lot to warm up a bit.

COP/Warm-up

My warmups are getting a bit repetitive, but it seems I feel the need to stretch the hamstrings and open the hips with:

10 windmills IC

10 low slow squats IC

10 hillbilly walkers IC

10 merkins IC

Downward dog with cross body ankle grabs (probably the weirdest move of the day)

Not feeling quite warm enough, we moved over to the curb for some dips and crab cakes, Jack Webb style: one dip and four crab cakes (single count, with hands on curb), all the way up to ten and forty. Our shoulders got nice and toasty, though there were many modifications including a fully-seated version of the crab cake, but since Cake Boss has 60 pound weights at the end of both legs, grace was extended.

Shake it off, then mosey around to the front of Harris Teeter for the remainder of our fun.

The Thang

As mentioned, the Twister spinner made a reappearance for today. Basically, spin the spinner, do the exercise as prescribed, then run across the parking lot to the stop sign and back. Rinse and repeat. The exercises:

Two Arms

Donkey Kick (x20)

Merkins (x20)

Burpees (x10)

Dips (x20)

One Arm

Donkey Kick (x20)

Merkins (x20)

Burpees (x10)

Dips (x20)

Two Legs

Donkey Kick (x20)

Burpees (x10)

Squat Jumps (x20)

Bear Crawl

One Leg

Donkey Kick (x20)

Burpees (x10)

Squat Jumps (x20)

Bear crawl

The first spin resulted in one-arm merkins, which was a real crowd pleaser following the Jack Webb dip/crab cake combo. That, and they’re one-arm merkins. Other exercises completed include burpees (normal, one arm, and one leg), donkey kicks (normal and one leg), dips (normal and one arm), bear crawl (just normal), squat jumps (normal), and merkins (normal). I can’t remember the order, but it was pretty balanced, and there was a lot of running involved, ending with a quick run to COT to meet the ruckers and runner.

Announcements

  • Read your newsletter
  • Yeti is coming up. Sign up and do it.
  • February second Tuesday lunch will be at Pasquel’s (with either a hard or soft q sound, depending on who you ask) rather than Fort Mill BBQ.
  • Maybe some others, but Decibel was in a hurry.

Praises and Prayers

  • ChaChing’s grandpa passed away over the weekend, so prayers for the family and ChaChing and his wife as they travel north today.
  • Cake Boss’s thirty-something plumber Jason had a stroke (and answered the phone in the hospital)
  • Decibel’s son’s classmate Violet has meningitis
  • Prayers for the community in light of recent events

As always, it was an honor to lead these men, and you can ask any of the bootcamp guys – it wasn’t bad. You need not be afraid of a Jedi Q. We don’t always do weird inverted stuff. Sometimes I need an easy day.

-Jedi

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Creative Misery at the Rock

When Smuggler organized this Q combo, he must’ve known a lot of PAX were looking for that Saturday morning push. After some banter back and forth between the WEP Q’s and us Alcatraz Q’s, we were pleasantly surprised to see car after car after car roll into Runde Park this Saturday morning. The weather was warm and the PAX were primed with the early mumble chatter. With the typical “don’t hurt yourself and don’t sue if you do hurt yourself” disclaimer, we took a very abbreviated (10yd) mosey to the right side of the parking lot (a slight teaser for what was coming).

Jog to the other end of the lot and back then repeat.

Walking lunges 1/2 way down then high knees to the end. Same thing on the way back to the start.

Windmills & deadlifts to warm up the legs a little more then mosey to the top of “THE HILL”

PAX squat for 20sec then jog to the base of the hill followed by an all-out sprint back to the top of the hill and squat for the six.

Repeat for a 40sec squat hold then the jog down/sprint up and squat for the six.

Repeat for a 60sec squat hold then the jog down/sprint up and squat for the six.

Find some curb and 50 calf raises each leg.

Mosey to the field for a circle up.

This was when I think they really lost my mind…Lt. Dan’s (1 squat and 4 jumping lunges (2ea side counts as 4)) and we went to 8:32 before handing it off Tesh!!

With Tesh on Q, you just had a feeling this was going to get bad.

With the PAX in a very long plank:

5 Merkins

10 Mountain Climbers

5 Merkins

10 Peter Parkers

5 Merkins

Various Tesh-approved CORE exercises

Mosey to the fence line:

Merkin-Turtle crawl (can’t explain…you had to be there)

10 Merkins

Bear Crawl 50yds

More Tesh-approved CORE exercises

10 Bombjacks x 3 rounds

Mosey to the playground and split into 4 groups

Rotate through 5 pull-ups & 10 dips. For those waiting, hold the Al Gore pose.

Yet more Tesh-approved CORE exercises

Repeat the above 2 lines

Closed it out with 6min of Mary which couldn’t end fast enough.

Announcements: Yeti (Newsletter), Reading in Paradise

Prayer Requests: Praise for Palmer family, Cornerstone’s family, continued prayers for the Family & Friends affected by the recent tragedy’s our community has experienced, our officers, job transitions, marriages.

I’m sure Smuggler will get a little verbal backlash on this but hey, it made us better and everyone crushed it.

Maximus & Tesh

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Slowburn – Pain Stations +

25 PAX gathered at slowburn for a saucy workout.  We gave a quick disclaimer and welcomed 2 FNG’s.  It wasn’t long and we headed out for a short mosey.  We circled up and I turned over the warm up to Fogarty for his V Q.

Fogarty started us off with some of the usual:

SSH
Imperial Walkers
Speedy Windmills
Peter Parkers
Mtn. Climbers
Merkins
Moroccan night clubs
2 double merkin burpees (where’d that come from?)

Fogarty turned it back over to YHC for another Mosey. I gave a shout out to Quickbooks for his intro that he did a couple of weeks back and I tried to do the same giving a little background on YHC. I’ll spare you all the details. Dark Helmet was observant to realize that my years of marriage did match up to how old my son is. That dude’s sharp! I closed out the intro with Romans 5:4. Look it up, it’s a solid verse on building character.

On that note we moseyed to the back of Lowes for some chalk scribble that was planned for the PAX.

We broke into two groups with 3 stations. Each group started on either far end would do an exercise and sprint to the middle station do an exercise and then return back to their starting point for the next exercise. Instructions seems easier that the PAX wrestled with, but they quickly got the hang of it. Here are the pain stations:

Station 1:
Merkins
Shoulder Taps
CDD’s
Mtn. Climbers

Middle Station:
Calf Raises
Squats
Lunges
Donkey Kicks

Station 3:
Leg Raises
LBC’s
Hello Dollies
Flutters

Round 1 15 of exercise run to the middle and then back for the next exercise until all 4 exercises are complete then run to the opposite Station. Do the same thing 15 of each run to the middle. When finisished with 1 and 3 then rinse and repeat with 10 of each exercise. This took us right up to time.

Jailbreak back to COT. Welcome to the fold Moab and Jake Brake FNG’s.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

Bass-o Out. <><

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Laces In – Not for the weak minded or those that are hungry!

4 Runners came at 0500 to get some laps in at the track. Daytona is around the corner, but they are preparing for P200 and using their feet. Crawdaddy saw his course for P200 and decided it was time to get training…no messin around!

14+YHC took to the campus of Fort Mill High School. After required discaimer and no FNGs, away we went for a mosey

COP

DID a bunch of stuff….the usuals

  • SSHs
  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Imperials
  • Peter Parkers
  • Mtn Climbers
  • Flutters
  • Parker Peters
  • Inch Worm Merkins
  • Hillbilly walkers
  • Mosey to front of school for some people’s chair on the wall and 20 overhead presses
  • Mosey to benches for 20 dips 15 derkins 2 rounds

Warm Up over

YHC spoke to the men about the things we keep putting off and avoid doing as much as possible. Tough conversations, the house projects, the doctors visit and most importantly the relationships that need some work or simple phone call. 

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, -Romans 5:4

By pushing through the tough stuff and the hard things we get stronger and we become the men Sky Q built us to be. Avoiding and masking the pain and suffering we only become weak minded and have no character, as we are not who we should be in all areas of our lives. Continue to get better and build character!

Mosey to main driveway entrance

8 exercises – 15 reps each – run down hill and back up in between each exercise. Fun time had by all!

ski hops
lunge Hops
inch worm Merkins
leg lifts
wide arm Merkins
Merkins
sumo squats
donkey kicks
Mosey back to COT with a few ab stops along the way
YETI is 2.24
Sign up to participate as receiver of pain or giver of pain. See Anchorman!
Prayers for Karson Bailey Whitesell and her family as well as first responders and our community.
Thanks Lil E for lead
Cake Boss
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Beyond #2…Honoring our officers

Round 2 at Beyond, this time at The Coop. The original plan was to talk about “Fear” but 36hrs ago, 4 of our local law enforcement officers in York County were involved in an incident that has our community praying for their healing and their families. I found it only appropriate to bring our attention as a PAX, for a mere 45mins, to these men and what they’re fighting for at this moment. We should also be praying for the rest of the law enforcement community as well as our first responders, nurses and doctors who are doing everything they can for them and our community. I am given the opportunity to roll my eyes at a radar trap because of what community servants like these 4 men do on a daily basis and the families that send them out the door every single day. That said, I’ll try to cease my misguided eye-rolling.

This is not the place to put the officers names but we all know who they are. I read the names of the men this morning and asked everyone to keep one of those names in their mind as they’re going through our workout this morning. I will however, include their years of service to York County in their current capacity: 34yrs, 13yrs, 12yrs, 3 yrs. So there you have our topic for round 2 of Beyond; 4 officers with a combined 62yrs of service SO FAR in their current roles.

Warm up jog leading us around the lot and over to the intersection with the ROTC building.

When you see 31, know that it was in cadence for a total of 62

SSH x 31 in cadence

Carolina Dry Docks x 31

Squats x 62

Merkins x 20 which was followed by a 4-tier sprint then followed by the remaining 11 Merkins

Make our way to the pull-up bars for some partner work:

Partner 1: 62 Pull-Ups (use assistance as needed)   Partner 2: Elbow Plank

Partner 1: V-ups (toe-touches) x 31    Partner 2: Mak Tar Jah’s x 31

Bear crawl 62 paces and grab some curb for 62 calf raises

62 Jump Squats and 31 Jumping Lunges (crowd pleaser)

Bear crawl 62 paces

American Hammers x 31

Dying Cockroach x 31 (might’ve included a breather in there)

The pull-ups were definitely the highlight but it was awesome to see guys of all conditions pushing through those, not matter if they had a busted paw or not (Bolt). It is extremely humbling and honoring to have another 8 guys join me as we push ourselves and work out some of these new-AO wrinkles. Please, above all, pray for those 4 men and thank our servants when you see them.

If you’re still reading, thank you. You’ll now learn that Cha Ching will be bringing his A-game to his Beyond Q next Thursday, 1/25 at the Poopdeck in Lake Wyle. If his Q today was any indication, bring your big-boy pants.

As you were.

Maximus

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Beyond #1…What’s at your CORE?

Beyond can be defined as “Outside the understanding, limits, or reach of.” That is what this thing is all about; recognizing that a push beyond, in all many aspects of life, can be a really good thing. If you’re a killer runner, come do a Merkin and a Pull Up with us. If you’re strength nut, come do a few sprints and bear crawls with us. The reasoning for this is well documented now, dating back a few months to when Jekyll let me share about this at a Colosseum Q I had.

And yes, I am 8 days late in getting this BB written which is rather ironic. I will work to get these posted both by the Q’s and YHC in a more timely manner.

We started last Tuesday with the 1st round of Beyond and the theme was CORE. Besides the obvious, physical reference to the word, Core can be defined as, “A central and often foundational part usually distinct from the enveloping part by a difference in nature.” In other words, when the world strips away your exterior, what are you left with to truly guide you. To take this a step further, I let the PAX know that Beyond will challenge them to push past the limits they’ve previously established for themselves. This is aided by listening to a Podcast, “Team Never Quit” in which you listen to stories of people who’ve endured unbelievable challenges and have pushed through to find the redemptive outcome on the other side. It seems impossible when you’re in the thick of “it”, whatever “it” might be in your life, but God has a plan. Bad and difficult things happen, yes, but we try to find a glimmer of hope and positivity on the other side.

Enough rambling…I need to figure out a better way to capture the names for Beyond but for now, we’ll have to rely on my fuzzy memory. I know we had 15  which I think included the following, Bob the Builder, Geronimo, Band Camp, Straight Up, Fire Marshall Bill, Frat Boy, Longshanks, Jedi, Cha Ching, Ginsu, Trucker, Lutefisk, Bonsai, MacGuyver, YHC. My sincere apologies if I got a few of these wrong.

Once we separated from the Block Party PAX, we jogged through the park and made our way to the playground, which still sounds strange every time I write that. We did a few warm up exercises like SSH, Arm Circles, Sumo Squats and more SSH which was then followed by a little stretching and lot more of my talking (rambling). What I was trying to get to was that you can’t quit and if you need a little motivation to keep from quitting, look to the man to your left and right and realize they won’t let you quit and you don’t want to let them down. If it were just you out there, we’d quit a lot sooner. Remember, YOU’RE NEVER ALONE OUT THERE…SO DON’T QUIT.

100 American Hammers (we all thought about quitting on that one unless you’re Jedi/Geronimo

25 LBC

100 Flutters

30 Peter Parkers

50 Mountain Climbers

Partner 1: 50 Carolina Dry Docks   Partner 2: Pull Ups until your partner is done and flapjack

Partner 1: 15 Burpees   Partner 2: Pull Ups until your partner is done

Mosey to the Big Hill where found some cones forming a 15yd x 20yd rectangle on the hill.

Backward run up the hill, 5 Burpees at the top then run down. Repeat this 5 times.

Next we bear-crawled around the rectangle for 3mins which was awesome…

Mosey to the wall at the Springs building

Nothing fancy, just a mere 3mins of muscle ups…yup, it was turrible.

We talked about not quitting and trying to answer the question of whether or not you can change what is at your CORE. What is left when the world takes what you see, away? So that was it. I learned a lot in these 45mins and I hope we continue to see a good contingent of guys willing to push themselves.

As you were…

Maximus

 

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Just in Time

YHC peeled into the parking with 1 minute to spare before the 515 start to see 12 eager PAX waiting to warm up in the cold.  It would have been a bad look for the Site Q to be late to his own Q.

The Thang

Mosey to the Band Parking lot for COP

Usual suspects – SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Squats.

Mosey over the parking lot loop at the front of the school for Dirty MacDuece.  4 sets of 3 exercises done to 12.  All in cadence.  Lap of the parking lot in between each set.

Set 1 – Merkins, Squats, LBCs

Set 2 – CDDs, Alternating Leg Lunges, Freddy Mercury

Set 3 – Diamond Merkins, Monkey Humpers, Rosalitas

Set 4 – Wide Arm Merkins, Sumo Squats, Hello Dollies

Mosey back to stadium parking lot for Mary.  Went around the circle with Pax calling out exercises – Freddy Mercury, LBCs, Toe Touches, American Hammers, Peter Parkers, Makhtar N’Diayes

COT – Announcements, Prayers and Praises.

Thanks to all that came out on a cold morning.  Your support is appreciated.

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If in Tega Cay you utilize hills and RUN

YHC took the message from Maxims at Tuesday’s Beyond WO to heart. We all find reasons to not push through difficult times; if thats a workout, raising kids, marriage, we tend to find a reason to give up or divert what really needs to be done. Your mind will convince you to stop or divert, but your body can go beyond what you think you can’t do. This resonated with me as I feel that I have been finding excuses for not being a better man, father and husband. What better way to start changing my mentality by locking shields with my F3 brothers and as the TV show Survivor states “expect the unexpected”. This starts with something that YHC needs to do more of to get better – RUNNING (and yes no Pull-ups today – shocker)

The Thang:

Nice mossy warm up run around the entire TCES

COP at front doors for 15 Windmills, squats, Moroccan nightclubs, IW, LBCs, merkins.

Line up at crosswalk for suicides:

Round 1: to first drop off sign then to second drop off sign (didn’t realize how long a run that was) then 5 merkins at end

Round 2: to end of sidewalk, to first drop off sign, to fire hydrant, then 10 merkins

Round 3 rinse and repeat round 2 but run backwards out and then forward back in, then 10 merkins

Round 4: rinse and repeat round 2 but run backwards both directions, then 10 merkins

Round 5: rinse and repeat round 1

Mossy to intersection near baseball field and circle up for:

Flutters, Bridge (raising each leg for 5 seconds each), LBCs

Mossy to intersection of Tega Cay Drive and Hubert Graham Way

Run to bottom of hill (about 0.25 miles down) and do 10 squats, run back up to intersection and 5 merkins – Rinse and Repeat for 3 times

Mossy back to school intersection at baseball field and circle up for another round of bridges and hammy stretches

Suicides for 2 rounds to fire hydrant and first drop off sign

3 minutes of Mary called out by each PAX

COT

Now, can we all fight through difficulties and go Beyond what we think we can’t do? I sure hope that I can embrace Maximus words everyday and push beyond my boundaries in all aspects of life. Funny, as I write this backblast I recall something I said when I co-hosted the the Fort invergence this past fall I challenged each PAX to do something new and different….here it is and what a great challenge! Go Beyond my mental abilities.

Prayers to our good pal Mr. Clean as he and his family go through the loss of a loved one and allow them to see love, faith, and the LORD. Prayers to YHC friend Sherry who is in ICU recovering from intestinal surgery. Always a honor to Q, thanks Fishsticks!

Trucker

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The few the proud on New Years Day @ Armory

The temperatures were low and the wind was whipping but three men sharpened each other through the adversity.  It was an honor to post with Assassin and Trucker to sharpen each other on our goals and perspective as we approach the new year.
The THANG
Warm up lap
– stop 1 – SSH, Mountain Climbers
– stop 2 – seal jacks, Imperial Walkers
Circuit (push plate down and back)
– Curls
– shoulder press
– tricep extensions
– squats
Wall work part 1
 – Wall sits with a variety of uses of the kettle bell
Wall work part two on the knee high wall (15, 10)
– step ups
– Derkins
– skull crushers
Circuit parking lot
– lunge pass through
– Halos
– Around the world
Mary
Great way to start the year!
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Forefeast of the Theophany

10 PAX posted in the arctic air this morning (the Ninth Day of Christmas) after emerging from their warm vehicles. There was some mild griping about the weather and a college football game from the night before. Before our feet froze to the ground, YHC directed a mosey to the WEP playground:

CoP

SSH 27
Windmill (Abe Vigoda style) 18
Imperial Walkers 9
Hillbilly Walkers 9
Mountain Cimbers 9
Plank to Down Dog to Honey Mooner back to Down Dog
Pull-ups (oyo) 9

Mosey to missing drill bit:

CoP

Brief quiz on Theophany that resulted in a lack of correct answers and lead to:
Merkins 9
Low Slow Squats 9
Burpees 9

Mosey to Calhoun St. parking lot

The Thang

Begin w/ 9 bomb jacks (modify to squats if needed)
Run to the center of the parking lot
5 burpees
Run to the end of the parking lot
9 merkins (reserve the right to call hand-release merkins if form is suspect)
Run to center of parking lot
4 burpees
Run back to start

Rinse and Repeat 9 times – (due to time constraints we completed 6-7)

Mosey to CoT for Mary (9 reps of 9 exercises)

1 Love – Flutter
2 Joy – Freddie Mercury
3 Peace – LBC
4 Patience – American Hammer
5 Kindness – Box Cutter
6 Generosity – Monkey Crunches
7 Faithfulness – Big Boy Situps
8 Gentleness – 9 count
9 Self-Control – Catalina Wine Mixer
*Bonus* Stubbornness – 9 Burpees

Naked man moleskin

January 2 is the Ninth Day of Christmas and/or the Forefeast of the Theophany of Jesus Christ. The Theophany, in the orthodox tradition, is the revealing of the divine in Jesus at his Baptism. This date in the more modern tradition coincides with Epiphany, which is the revealing of Jesus as coming to redeem the Gentiles as well as the Jews represented by the Magi.

Some Protestant traditions also celebrate Paul’s nine Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 as part of the Ninth Day of Christmas, hence the focus on repetitions of 9. I add a bonus fruit of the spirit, stubbornness. Stubbornness has been a real blessing to my life (and occasionally a source of frustration).

We welcomed FNG, Spay, to the ranks. It is a good sign for a FNG to post in 11ºF (which for the record is -12.2ºC). Welcome to Spay!

This was my VQ. It was an honor to have so many come out and post! Thank to Double D for the opportunity!

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