The Darkest of ALLL Convergences

80ish of the Fort’s, Lake Wylie’s, and Rock Hill’s finest converged this fine Monday to celebrate and show our support for the Darkest of All Helmet’s becoming the new Nantan of F3 Nation.

After my usual disclaimer and a giving of thanks for those who all showed , Dark Helmet led the warmup. As any true leader would do he quickly refreshed (and reinforced via burpees) the core mission of F3 and our core principles. After a rough start we did eventually nail it. After some side straddle hops and merkins the Pax were released into their own unique workout groups.

HERO WOD(Honey Badger)

This was my Q and I’m always humbled to lead Hero style workouts. They should be hard but also purposeful. For me I have created two unique workouts to honor different men of my family who have served. They would be the last people to ever consider themselves heroes. But that’s why I honor them. They sacrificed more than I ever could and I will always be inspired by them. I hope that in this very simple way their stories help inspire others.

For the purpose of today’s workout I truncated both them in the interest of time.

The “Uncle Paul”

I encourage anyone to Google the USS Pueblo Incident to get the full details but the long and short of it is that my wife’s Uncle Paul was a member of the USS Pueblo crew when it was captured by North Korea in 1968. For 11 months he was help captive as POW. Tortured, sleep deprived, and subject to all sorts of propaganda he along with 81 of his ship mates were eventually returned to the US. As a result of his PTSD he hasn’t been able to sleep for almost 50 years.

The Workout:

82 SSH (IC)

11 Burrpees OYO.

1 LAP around the Earth Fare Complex.

As we returned to our starting position I began the Second Hero Workout of the day. The “Sgt. Major”. This one is a WOD I’ve done before for the Honey Badger and is about my father who was a Command Sgt. Major in the 28th ID. Again for the sake of time I limited the usual 3 miles I try and incorporate into this workout for 3 laps instead. The exercises are as Follows.

28 Burpees

1 Lap

28 Burpees

56 Squats

1 Lap

28 Burpees

56 Squats

112 HR MErkins

1 LAP.

(Pick up the 6 if you can)

This pretty much took us up to the bell after a brief visit by the ruckers. Thanks to all who broke off to me to indulge me and these workouts. They are supposed to be hard and challenging and I hope we all got our money’s worth.

 

Running Boot camp: Sweep the Leg – FishTix

Group was split into teams of 4. Relay race around the parking lot two stops with exercises. Two runners traveled to stop 1 and stop 2 respectively while the other team members did the exercises at the stops. Once the runners arrived the running duties were handed off. Process was continued until the closing bell.

Stop 1 Exercises: HR Merkins, Dips, Burpees, CDD, Mike Tyson Merkins

Stop 2: Jump Squats, Flutters, Mnt Climbers, Lunges, Box Cutters

Rucking – VA – Olaf

4 corners with low slow squats, merkins, Lunges, and shoulder taps. After round 1 got a 40 and a 60 pound sand bag to spice it up. The bags were rotated around by the Pax.

Kettlebell – Armory – BandCamp

4 Rounds:

16 clusters (clean, squat, press

16 single arm swings (alternating)

16 lateral lunge with a row (8 a side)

Short Mosey

Some overhead lunges and suitcase deadlifts when the heart rates got too high.

Running – Flight Plan – Bass-O-Matic

Ran a bunch 🙂

At 6:00 I blew a whistle and we all reconvened for the longest Namearama I ever conducted a brief reminder of the Rooster, to read the newsletter and to have our Nantan of the Fort Esso lead us out.

Best of luck to Dark Helmet in his new role! Let’s all continue the mission!

AYE!

 

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Pre-Convergence Convergence

There were Ruckers and runners.

Barry Manilow led the runners for 5+ miles around The Fort.

The bootcampers were led first by Maximus with a SSH x Merkin combo x2 to warm up.
After a quick warm up, the weinke was
10 merkins, 10 mountain climbers (double count) at each of the 9 swings around the park. When done and waiting on the 6 to fill in, hold an Al Gore. To wrap up, starting at the bottom of the grassy hill from the parking lot, flutter kicks, then burpees at the top of the hill.

Cake Boss took second shift with playtime at the playground.
Partnering up, one partner does squats, while the other runs around the playground. Then flapjack. Next was pull ups/merkins following the same format. To wrap up, keeping the same partner, one bear crawled across the field and run back, while the other did flutters. Flap jack until 3 rounds were done.

Fogerty took us home with some 11’s and hill repeats.
At the bottom of the hill with the statue, started with 10 merkins and bombjacks. Half way up the hill, 5 burpees, then 1 squat and big boy sit-up. No burpee on the way back down the hill. Repeat until 11’s are done cutting out the burpees when you hit 5 & 6.

This was a fun 60 min bootcamp.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Clave Boss & convergence in 12/23. Happy Birthday Walker. Tallawah is officially closed for good.

COT:

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The Star Gazers

WARMUP: SSH, Squats, MNC, Stretching
THE THANG: Warm up with 11’s with merkins and squats. Followed by Star Fish routine with merkins, squats, pike presses, IC flutter kicks, with burpees in the center after every rotation (40 burpees). Finished with merkin gauntlet with 3 merkins at every Pax (who were in plank position). During the rest periods, we admired God’s creation by viewing some of the planets and the Cassiopeia constellation.
MARY: 61 IC flutter kicks
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read the Newsletter
COT: Prayers for various concerns.

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Walker Delivers

WARMUP: Yes
THE THANG: Started with some 11s as the pax found the cones that were set up for the Starfish workout.
11s :Merks and squats
Starfish with 10 Burps in the middle with the 4 corners set up for 50 reps at each before making way back to middle between each cone.

MARY: Yes – 3 mins of Mary that consisted of 61 flutters called out in cadence by the Q!
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Yes
COT: Well done. Encouragement by Walker educating the Pax on embracing the pain during your sets by redirecting your thoughts and focus away from the pain. When you focus on positive thoughts your body and brain relax and allows for greater acceleration. Nice work by all.

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Shovel Flag Handoff

WARMUP:
– was done!
THE THANG:
– first 30 min by Grinder with focus on legs and abs
– last 30 min by Portal with focus on arms
MARY:
– was done as well!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– read your newsletter
COT:
– was held

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Welcome Back Mr. Clean

Five strong met at Runde Park for a beatdown in swampy mid-July SC conditions. Here is what they did:

THE THANG:
Senator Tressel on Q:
Mosey from the parking lot to the 1st field, take a lap, and continue to the 2nd fiield, take a lap and circle up for COP:

SSH x 25, windmill x 10, squat x 25, merkin x 10/hold/left arm/leg high/flip/dip x 10/flip, right arm/leg high/6″ hold repeat twice and recover, alternate lung x 20, mountain climbler x 25, hellow dolly x 25, pretzel crunch x 25, box cutter x 20, diamond merkin x 10

Tunnel of love x 3 cycles.

Mosey to concessions stand wall for extended peoples chair (90 sec) followed by BTTW. Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to the playground and split into two groups. Group 1 does 10 pull-ups while group 2 does reverse step-ups. Rinse and repeat two more times.

Handoff to M. Clean:
Everyone pick up a cinder block and head to the end of the parking lot. Do 20 reps of the following exercises with a run to the opposite end of the lot and back between each exercise.

Exercises with cinder blocks: squats, bench press, burpees, shoulder press, elevated CDD, right arm and left arm push up, upright row w/squat, curls, core heel touches, flutters, ground to shelf and block pass around (no time for this one).

MARY: See above

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Read your newsletter

COT: Prayers for ST’s mom and friends with cancer, Fish Sticks’ family going through transition, and Walker’s son looking for a new job opportunity.

I got the call yesterday to assist Mr. Clean with his Q and I was happy to help him out. He’s been away from F3 for a while and it was good to have him back. There was a lot of chatter and jokes today about getting older, and the things you have to do at the doctor when you approach 50 (Backdraft was the ‘warbaby’ at 47). Today, I turned 59, and Alcatraz has been my home on Saturday mornings for the past 10 years. I’ve always been injury prone and as I get older, the injuries seem to get more frequent and take longer to get over. But, somehow, my body recovers and I can still do these hard F3 workouts during the week and on Saturdays. It’s truly a blessing and something I never take for granted.

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Konvergence for Kenya

We converged on 6/10 to with a special weinke designed by the PAX of F3 Nairobi (but “may” have been augmented by Poppins…)
Weinke

Warm up
Various, but highlight was 150 SSH in sets of 50. #CrowdPleaser

Groups of 5
Indian Run
5 burpees by the guys at the back

Dora on the football practice field
50 burpees – bear crawl
200 merkins – bear crawl
200 squats – lunge walk
300 4-count mountain climbers – frog leap a partner

Lots of bat flipping on the 4-count of the mountain climbers and the frog leaping

The guys in Kenya average a 5 mile transit to and from the AO, so a group of PAX dutifully pre-ran and post-ran 5 miles after the beatdown. YHC took a bit of flack, because it was me that spitballed that idea and then did not pre or post run. I did bring my 2.0 to the workout to try to cover the fact that I wouldn’t be running extra, but to no avail. Badlands 100% called me out.

Welcome FNGs
– Dungeon Master
– V-neck

Pre-runners:
– Badlands, Poppins, Rolloff, Maximus, Funhouse, Sasquatch, Cyclops, Beaker
– rucking: Sprocket, NakedandAfraid
Post-run:
– Badlands, Poppins, Rolloff, Maximus, Funhouse
All running
– Gears

The plan was to raise $$ to purchase a vehicle for transportation of Nairobi PAX to workouts, supporting efforts to assist in community and coordinating donations etc. The need is tremendous and our financial support is magnified in Kenya.

As of this backblast, we raised $2620. I have no idea when you’re reading this, but you could possibly still contribute and Poppins may still have T-Shirts in the back of his vehicle: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-kenyan-f3-brothers?member=26869695&sharetype=teams

Announcements:
Q-School Wednesday 6/14 at Bushwood
The Fort Retreat 8/11-8/13 (Register now!)
https://criout.regfox.com/f3-him-camp

Safari (F3 Nairobi Nantan) facetimed in at the end to offer up a prayer closing out COT.

This backblast respectfully submitted by Band Camp

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OG, Old School Smoker at WEP

WARMUP:
Run around WEP path with stops for warm-up exercises:
SSH
Windmills
Mountain Climbers
Hillbilly Walkers
Peter Parkers
Freddy Mercurys

THE THANG:
OldBay on Q:
Ladder on far-side hill
– Imperial Walkers (1 at bottom) : Burpees (7 at top)

Run down to amphitheater stage
Partner Up for Dora – One partner run from amphitheater up path, then back and climb front of stage.
– 100 Merkins
– 200 LBCs
– 300 Squats

Handoff to ChickenHawk for 2nd half
Mosey to wall on far side of Springs building and partner.
– one partner does chin-ups on wall while other runs. Flapjack until 50 chin-ups done between partners.
– repeat with balls-to-the-wall (up, down, merkin)

Mosey to another wall. Pass coupon while pax take turns doing bear crawls.

Mosey back to COT for a bit of Mary.

MARY:
Pax choice:
– American hammers
– Rosaledas
– Flutters (100, called by Walker)
– may have been more exercise, but I blacked out during the Flutters.

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Wrapping up AKA#4

WARMUP: SSH X 30, Imperial Walker X 15, Squat X 15, Merkin X 10, Lunge X 15, Mountain Climer X 15, Dry Docks X 10, Burpees X 10, Monkey Humpers X 15, SSH X 30
THE THANG: Mosey to band lot, HIIT workout. 45 seconds work, 15 seconds rest. 4 rounds of each. Merkins, Squats, Burpees, Mountain Climbers. Mosey to Pull up bars. Try to get 4 sets of: Pull Ups – 5, Dry Docks – 20, Big Boys – 20, Diamonds – 10. Mosey to front parking lot for Mary.
MARY: All X25 – Flutters, Hello Dolly, Freddy Mercury, Rosalittas, Box Cutter. Mosey back to COT for cool down stretch.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Cannoli run, blood drive
COT: Prayers for FNG StageLeft for his upcoming move, Luka and Vuvazella. Thanks to all the PAX that supported AKA#4.

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