Choose Discipline and BRR

It was a steamy morning at WEP, but that didn’t discourage Last Call during his VQ nor did it scare off any pax from supporting him.   A lively and energetic group of 23 pax posted to honor and encourage him.

Santini had EH’d FNG/Wazowski (aka Ernie Bhend) so a full fledged disclaimer was pronounced and the baton was handed to Last Call to launch.

The Thang

Last Call took the pax on a warm up lap of WEP, then circled the pax up in the grass near the parking lot (YES, the grass!  What a bold move for a VQ!)

COP

SSH x25

Moroccan night clubs x20

Mash up of Hillbilly Walker + Imperial Walker x20

Merkins x10

Peter Parkers x20

Slow squat x20

LBCs x20

Hand off to DD

Mosey to playground & partner up
Partner 1: Run lap
Partner 2: Continuous pull ups (keeping cumulative count with partner)
Flap jack
Rinse & repeat
Tip of the cap to Senator Tressel for his emphasis on need for more pull ups

Plank sequence including Makhtar N’Dyae ( requeted by Santini)

Mosey to the grassy area near the statues at the bottom of the hill & plank it up for commentary about Blue Ridge Relay.  (Yes, it is a shame that The Fort has no teams competing this year in BRR.  Thus, the next 30 mins of the workout became BRR-lite)

Run to top of hill almost to gazebo + 5 Burpees + run back down
Rinse + repeat for 5 total rounds

Mosey to pathway heading out the back of the parking lot & regroup with partner
Partner 1: Run down hill, up other side to trail intersection and back
Partner 2: Continuous merkins (continuing cumulative count with partner from earlier point)
Flap jack
Rinse + repeat

Plank sequence, squats, bombjacks

Mosey to bottom of hill at COT & regroup with partner
Partner 1: Run up hill to 4th light post and run back down
Partner 2: Continuous donkey kicks (keeping cumulative count with partner from earlier point)
Flap jack
Rinse & repeat

Mosey back to grass where Last Call started and circle up

Flutter x10

Hello dolly x10

Freddy Mercury x10

Rosalita x10

Penguin x10

Superman x3

Run to tent in middle of park

Run home AYG

COT

Naked man moleskin

Solid VQ effort by Last Call today — well done, brother!  Welcome to the club and find a way back into the center of the circle somewhere ASAP so you can hone the skills and expand the experience.

Welcome to FNG/Wazowski (yes, he’s an eye doc)!  You had the privilege (and pain) of enduring a tough workout on a particularly swampy morning — great job making it through to the finish today!  A little merlot splash proves just how far you can push when challenged by other like-minded men.  You’ve found a home here in The Fort for sure.  Look forward to seeing you back in the gloom soon!

T-claps to all the pax for the support of Last Call and Wazowski today.  Special recognition to Santini for EH of Wazowski and Sir Topham Hat for EH of Last Call two months ago.  Also kudos to Peabody, Longshanks and others sweeping the six.

Welcome back home to Ginsu!  Great to have you back in the gloom with your brothers.  Look forward to hearing more about the China experience and your expanded family.

Did I mention the weather was warm and humid today?

That was a tough outing today – great work by everyone pushing through!

In the absence of any BRR activities in The Fort this year, I felt compelled to bring that experience home.  It is an incredible event, and I am disappointed we won’t have any teams to represent The Fort this year.  I know Rooney is running with Dredd & OBT on a 6-man team — way to represent us, brother!  The hills and the pain and the sweat today were all reflective of the reality of what it is to run the BRR – but only the smallest taste of the joy of that event was gained today.  Please consider BRR in 2018 – you won’t regret it.

The message throughout today’s workout revolved around the monthly theme of Discipline.  When I saw Chicken Hawk’s message at the start of the month, I was immediately disturbed.  The word brings about uncomfortable feelings for me related to punishment, reprimands and admonishment from parents, teachers and bosses.  Discipline is something I experience as being imposed on me by someone else, which I never receive well.  I quietly thought maybe I would check out on the theme for August.

Then, on a business trip this week I made some poor choices around web surfing in the lonely isolation of a hotel room.  My re-entry back home included a volatile interaction with the M around my indulgence in a personal vice.  BOOM!  Discipline (or my lack of it) suddenly hit me between the eyes.  It became very real very quickly…clearly this is the right theme for me this month.

I have much to learn still around Discipline.  Santini mentioned during the workout and in a long conversation afterward that the root of the word Discipline relates to “learning.”  The learning I’ve gained in the past few days has come through dwelling on my word for 2017 — CHOOSE —  in the context of Discipline.  In this frame of mind, I am beginning to see Discipline as part of my pathway from where I am currently to the future I CHOOSE to pursue.  In this way, Discipline becomes part of the learning process of how I move toward the fuller, holier life I long for…because I CHOOSE to seek that future point, NOT because someone else is imposing anything on me.

Thanks to Bonsai for putting me on the calendar and for looping in Last Call for the VQ.  We missed you today.

Thanks to all who posted and endured today’s workout.  Your presence, effort, resilience, encouragement and support inspire me!

 

 

 

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The Armory – Do kettle bells rust?

A slight delay in posting due to technical difficulties ie I forgot my password.  It was a little damp at the Armory on Monday, but that didn’t stop the 11 pax coming out for a wet beatdown.  We started off with the usual disclaimer and went into a brief warmup of SSH, WM, LSQ and Mtn Climbers.  At that point it started to rain so we moseyed over to the little porch are of the church.  There was talk about going down to the funeral home awning, but I didn’t want to.  No I’m not scared.

On to the Thang:

I tried to keep things simple so we did sets of 50.  Bad idea.  We did a 1/2 parking lot lap in between exercises.  Another bad idea.

Curls, triceps extensions, Goblet squats, overhead press, calf raises.  Did I mention that we did LBC after each lap.

The rain let up a little so we moseyed down to the short wall and did step ups, lawnmower pulls did some lunge walks and finished up with chest presses.

We had some discussion about discipline.  I shared about a video series I’ve been watching by Andy Stanley on Guardrails.  Guardrails are those things that might cause us to have a little damage but prevent us from going into serious danger.  These guardrails can keep us away from falling into some bad situations or help us stay on track to meet our goals.  Twister shared an example of a guardrail that he has been using in his life.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

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Welcome FNG Airwolf and welcome all PAX to the new AO at Pleasant Knoll Elementary. The Ballroom has a new AO and possibly a new name. That is still to be determined. In meantime, 20 PAX and YHC took a tour of the grounds and got disciplined.

Introduced the PAX and away we went.

Mosey around back of school in the pitch black. Lights in the front, party in the back…..I mean dark in the back. Still able to mosey.

  • Lunge walk
  • Shuffle L/R
  • Karoke L/R
  • Mosey to playground

COP:

Weezer came in and led first few excercises

  • Low slow squats
  • ???? can remember 2nd move
  • Moracan nIght Clubs

YHC back at Q

  • SSHs
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Peter Parkers
  • LBCs
  • Mtn Climbers

Count off in 4’s

Rotate stations after group doing swing crunches are done….2 rounds

1″s – Swing Crunches to 15

2’s – Carolina Dry Docks

3’s – LBCs

4’s – Squats

 

Mosey to Wall

Peoples Chair, while PAX bear crawl to end of line

Rinse and Repeat

Mosey to Front of school

  • Round of Dips

Back in groups – 1 group at time runs hill, to steps and back to PAX wile other groups alternate excercises

  • Dips x3
  • Derkinsx3
  • lungesx3
  • sumo squat x3

PAX mosey down main drive. YHC after asking many of the PAX to define discipline, explained that we work hard to train and gain knowledge so that when things get hard, we have the discipline to push through and accomplish what we could not if we were not disciplined. Like facing a long uphill run back to COT. Its not how fast or what others are doing, but what are we willing to push through and get better at??

  • PAX ran back to shovel flag with strong finish
  • Freddy Mercurys
  • Supermans
  • Rosalitas
  • Hello Dollys

COT: Great PAX and Great AO. I’m looking forward to the growth potential at the New AO and the many new Q that went through Q school to get some fresh blood in the mix.

Get disciplined men so that when the storms come in life, you are strong and ready to face them.

Cake Boss out!

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Fate Dealt our Pain at Armory

Warmup:  Jog with kettlebell to circle of power, then 3 exercises in cadence:  low slow squat jumps, morrocan nightclubs, low slow wide grip merkins.

The Thang:   Partner up.  Deck of cards present. Partners drew 2 cards with an exercise on each.  We multiplied the numbers on each card together and did reps for those two exercises.  Aces multiplied the reps by 2.  If a joker was drawn, partners had to do 100 burpees total.  TWISTER drew the Joker!!!

Breaks – 1st:   wall sits with kettelbell pass through legs while a person! did bear crawls to the end. 2nd:  Indian run with kettlebell in right hand, then another lap in left hand.  3rd:  catch me if you can with partners with LBC’s as the exchange exercise.

Announcements  – 8/4 convergence.  Bear Grylls seeking BRR team.

Prayers:  Bullwinkle family illness, Assassin travel, Murphy/Sheaffer sympathy, Patrick Caldwell Chemotherapy.  Good start to August.

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Get busy living at the Yard

12 #HIM responded to the call this warm and humid morning. We all said our normal grumbling hellos and soon the mumble chatter started. YHC gave the disclaimer, brief and to the point as there were no FNG’s, and the PAX began to mosey.

The Warm Up
The PAX circled the parking lot and proceeded to the front of the middle school where a little high knees, butt kickers and Karaoke were in the cards while running to the parking area near the top of the hill. Warm Up exercises were as follows:
SSH
Windmill
Moroccan Night Clubs
Cherry Pickers
Mountain Climbers
Imperial Walkers
Merkins

The Thang

The PAX proceeded to the bottom of the hill at the entrance to the schools, partnered up and began a little round of Dora 1,2,3. Partners traded off on running up and down the hill while the other performed the Dora, consisting of 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s and 300 Squats.

From there, the PAX moseyed back up the hill, grabbed some wall for multiple rounds of preachers chair complete with arm raises and overhead claps.

Sensing there was more living to do, the PAX moved to the back parking lot where cones awaited for a bit of 4 corners. PAX were broken into 4 groups and instructed to perform 3 laps around the cones, performing 10 reps of the identified exercise at each cone. The exercises:
Flying Squirrels (this is a moderate so no Burpees)
Flutter Kicks
Carolina Dry Docks
BOXCUTTERS
One more round was performed for giggles.

All ended with a round of Mary, with nearly half the PAX having the opportunity to lead an exercise. Back to COT.

With the word of the month being FREEDOM, the discussion turned to what that meant to each of us. The common theme iterated by the group centered on the freedoms we have as a country, as a people, to worship where and how we want and most frequently, the choices we have the freedom to make. Choices that have positive outcomes, such as the choice these HIM made to come out and get better, and choices that have consequences which everyone of us has experienced in this life.

We prayed for families, those traveling, those with job loss, and those struggling to live lives based on choices that the Sky Q would be proud of us making.

Thanks to Hasselhoff for allowing me to lead this group. I remain thankful and humbled.

V/R, M*A*S*H

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Farewell to Fred Astaire or Goodbye Ballroom

17 gathered to bid farewell to the Ballroom with visits to classic site areas and two games of frogger.  (Written on iPad at 23,000 feet)

 

The thang

 

warm up – no clear recall on what that was

Mosey to Founders parking lot. With partner do two sets of squats and crunches whilst partner runs around building

Mosey to Publix while engaging frogger   50 calf raises and 15 merkins

Mosey to coupon pile with stop for bear crawls and merkins on the very moist grass

With partner and coupon complete curls, presses, one armed rows, and triceps extensions while partner runs up and down hill

Mosey back to warehouse wall while playing frogger across Gold Hill road

With partner wall sits while partner scales two,retaining walls – 2x

Return to COT via retaining walls with finish of 25 SSH

Moleskin:

Freedom means being able to,choose but also requires the acceptance of consequences

 

 

 

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Is there any doubt?

20 Pax posted ’round the Shovel Flag to SlowBurn on a pleasant morning with a spectacular full moon.  Yes, Twister was howling.  The rest of the Pax were ruminating over whether YHC would actually deliver a Moderate workout.  The Disclaimer was offered, including an invitation to modify (upward is fine, too, though no Burpee Challenge pax in the crowd on this particular morning, so no real demand to go that direction).  And then we were off…

The Thang

Mosey to Empire Pizza parking lot

COP — SSHs, Mtn climbers, IWs, Sumo squats, Parker Peters, Moroccan Nightclubs

Mosey to side of former Baxter Playhouse site

People’s Chair for 3 ten-counts
10 Merkins OYO
(Rinse & repeat for 3 cycles total)

AYG sprint to Lowes storage box

Line up at shopping cart return

Crab walk to contractor entrance and bear crawl back

Karaoke to contractor entrance and back

Side shuffle to contractor entrance and back

Circle up for some Mary (request for all pax who have not Q’d to ID themselves and lead an exercise) — Flutter kick, Hello dolly, Box cutters, Freddie Mercury, Rosalita

AYG sprint to Garden Center entrance

COP — Jumping lunge, Peter Parkers, CDDs, Donkey kicks, Wide arm merkins

AYG sprint to contractor entrance

COP — Diamond merkins, Donkey kicks, SSHs

AYG sprint to Storage box

Mosey to Baxter Playhouse entrance

Slow mosey home

COT

Naked man moleskin

The theme for the month of June is #Faith, as in “Oh, yee pax of little faith!”  Yes, there were lots of doubts at the start regarding the intensity of the Weinke.  I have to defer to Site Q, Barry Manilow, for his report.  Low number of reps and many ten counts.  Plus, breaks for some commentary from YHC on Faith and Doubt.  You decide.  The pax were pushed and they pushed themselves — well done, men!

Speaking of Faith, the pax offered contributions throughout on the theme.  Change Order offered how having faith in himself wasn’t quite working out.  When we came to the Trump/Pence office, YHC spoke of likely doubts and probed about Faith.  Vernon responded — God’s in charge he said.  Finally, Twister offered a strong testimony of faith and doubt regarding his brothers in the GRC.  His doubts were met by the faith of his brothers, and he made it to the finish.

Along the way, we identified some new sprinters among the pax, including Destiny, Deep Dish and Change Order.  Strong push, boys!

We also uncovered the identities of several future Qs for Barry Manilow — Optimist, MASH, Vernon, Couples & McGillis.

Thanks to Barry Manilow for the invite.  It is always an honor to lead honorable men.

 

 

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