Clear & Crisp P200 Tune Up

What a great morning to get out in The Fort for a little jog around Wally World. Attendance is strong lately with all of the P200 training and the handful of (almost) only running PAX. There’s a pace and a buddy for everyone when the crowd is this size for a running workout.

The Thang:

Wally World – A Flight Plan original wrapping around a shopping mecca and the back road for two of Fort Mills finest learning institutions. All kinds of opportunities to modify distance and incline. So if you were well rested, take that Dave Gibson Hill. If you had too much for St. Patty’s day, easy out and back to WW entrance. It was a glorious morning to be reminded how lucky we are to have our brotherhood and inhale that late winter frosty air.

COT/Announcements

Jekyll took the lead at COT. Reminding us to support our brother Olive and The Christina Latini Memorial 8K on March 30th. Sign ups right now are lower than last year. Let’s get the word out not just to the PAX but to everyone we know. Olive has taken the worst of situations and grown it into a lasting tribute. Something that he has made easy for us to be a part of. He’s done all the heavy lifting and we can claim a little bit of pride simply by doing something we already do, run a little bit. If you can’t make the actual run in Huntersville or the virtual one set up by Change Order at Alcatraz, then still donate. You will be smiling all day after you do (Christina Latini Memorial 8K) Thanks for the reminder Jekyll

Paryers:

Lift up Funhouse’s brother Scott . He’s going through major life changes today; new home for himself as he starts the painful process of a divorce. He will need the strength of Sky Q so be sure to add Scott to your prayers.

Help Hootie as he travels this week. He asks that we lift his M & kids in prayer as they work through the week while he’s gone. The life work balance is hard on everyone. Supporting each PAX with fellowship and prayer will get us through.

 

NMM:

A COT this large can be tough for me. I don’t hear well (Funhouse & Pusher excepted) and can’t wear my hearing aids while running. The sweat makes them shut down. I miss a lot of the jokes and camaraderie that goes on. But the energy that comes from the circle is real. Just like the workout, it doesn’t matter if you’re wide awake or struggled just to make it back, there’s something in there for everyone. Take these jokes, causes, praises and prayers to heart. Think about them as you go through your day. Give them the extra prayer they need or the smile/laugh to yourself they bring to your soul.  And know there’s more waiting for you tomorrow when you need it all over again.

Boeheim

Aye!

 

 

 

 

 

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Burpee Bonanza at the Swamp

Tuesday morning at Golden Corral, Cable Guy (in typical Cable Guy fashion) looks over at YHC (who is conveniently located across the parking lot, because, well, Cable Guy in the morning…) and says, “So, you’ll Q Friday at the Swamp.” It wasn’t really a question; it was more a statement of fact.

“I’ll what now?”

“Yeah, you’ll Q.”

Before I could raise any objections to protect my fellow PAX from what would become my fifth bootcamp Q in just over 2 weeks, word started to spread, and my fate was sealed.

No Twitter announcement was made to prepare the PAX for today, so when 0515 rolled over on my watch, I stepped into the circle to make the disclaimer. It was a C-Span-approved disclaimer, so I’m getting better there. Disclaimer disclaimed, the 7 ruckers walked off one way and the 8 bootcampers moseyed the other.

COP, Part 1

Short mosey to the parking lot behind Cold Stone for

20 SSH IC

10 hillbilly walkers IC

Moving on…

COP, Part 2

Following a mosey with a few side shuffles thrown in, we circled up outside Books A Million for

10 windmills IC

10 low slow squats IC

20 Moroccan night clubs IC

That’s it for the warm up; I wanted to leave plenty of time for the main event. So we moseyed over to the Sun Trust Bank parking lot for the fun to start.

The Thang

The bank is a good size to run around, and it conveniently has 11 parking spaces in a nice, flat, straight row, making it perfect for a lineup of stations. For today’s fun, we had ten burpee stations and a “rest” station of 100 LBCs. Exercises were all OYO, with a lap around the bank after each station, resulting in 11 laps. The burpee stations, in no particular order:

20 Burpees (plain old burpees)

10 Prison cell burpees

10 Kraken burpees

15 Walmart burpees (“Walmart” because you roll back; these were the focus of much mumblechatter)

15 Bodybuilder burpees

15 Inverted burpees

20 One-arm burpees (10 per arm)

20 One-leg burpees (10 per leg)

15 Tuck jump burpees (jump knees to chest)

20 Jump ½ turn burpees (ideally 10 per direction)

For those counting, that makes for 160 wonderfully fun burpees. I think we ended up running over two miles, too, but I’m not sure on that one.

T-claps to all the bootcampers, as everybody completed the entire circuit, and nobody really got far ahead of anybody else. LBCs were completed by some as we waited for the six. With five minutes to spare, we moseyed back to Chick-Fil-A for a couple minutes of stretching our now very tight shoulders and hips.

Announcements

  • GoRuck Light tomorrow. Good luck and have fun to those guys going. Make sure you’re prepared, as the list on the website is not suggestions.
  • Post somewhere tomorrow if you’re not rucking.
  • Yeti in two weeks.
  • Read your newsletter.

Prayers and Praises

  • Wild Thing’s sister-in-law is being induced today to deliver their still-born child. Please pray for this entire family as they deal with this.
  • C-Span’s son (and the whole family really) eagerly anticipating the birth of their baby. (I think I understood that right.)
  • World Wide Leader had to return to work after six weeks of paternity leave, and now their son is starting into daycare, so tons of transitions for all of that family.
  • Rad’s daughter is still in the hospital after a high fever and numerous seizures. The fever is down, but other tests are being done, so pray for her and the whole family.
  • YHC is dealing with some difficult situations at work, including a family returning from overseas early, which may lead to marital issues. Pray for them, and for those who are caring for them.
  • DaVinci’s business has gained some new clients with potentially more on the way, which is great and also daunting.

Even with limited notice (which seems to be the only way I end up Qing), it’s an honor to get to lead and serve these men. Thanks to Cable Guy for the Q-portunity. Kotters to Photobomb.

Ask the ruckers what they did. I only ever saw them walking.

-Jedi

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Rocks and Hoops at TheYard

10 of Fort Mill’s finest gathered at TheYard in hopes of some sweat and fellowship without rain.  Temps were in the lower 50’s with an overcast sky.  Still doesn’t feel like winter, and not even late fall, really.  Guess it’s the fact that Christmas Season is supposed to be “full on” that makes us feel it should be colder and snowyer.

YHC ended up flying in hot because I had arrived early, but then returned home to get a forgotten piece of the workout gear that was required, as per the loosely outlined weinke.  Spoiler alert: it was a basketball.

Warm-up:

  • Take a few steps back and do SSH until Wapner scrambled over from his car. (about 20 SSH’s)
  • Mosey to a parking lot around back
  • Imperial Walkers x10
  • Low Slow Squats x10
  • Wind Mills x10
  • Seal Jacks x10
  • Mountain Climber x10
  • Right arm high, then flip over to dip position for Dips (x10)
  • Left arm high, then flip over to plank for merkins (x10)

We then moseyed to the bottom of the hill entrance to the school and each pax was instructed to find a quarry rock.

The Thang:

  • 10 squats with coupon, set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • hold 6 inches for 5 seconds
    • run back to rock and wait for the 6
  • 10 squats, 10 curls, set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • hold 6 inches for 5 seconds
    • run back to rock and wait for the 6
  • 10 squats, 10 curls, 10 overhead presses, set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • 10 merkins
    • run back to rock (must select a different rock – because Beacon had become too comfortable with the size of his rock) and wait for the 6
  • 10 squats, 10 curls, 10 overhead presses, 10 tricep extensions , set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • 10 peter parkers
    • run back to rock (must select a different rock) and wait for the 6
  • 10 curls, 10 overhead presses, 10 tricep extensions , set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • 10 parker peters
    • run back to rock (must select a different rock) and wait for the 6
  • 10 overhead presses, 10 tricep extensions , set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • 10 of some other plank exercise I can’t remember
    • run back to rock (must select a different rock) and wait for the 6
  • 10 tricep extensions , set rock down, then
    • run to the top of the hill and plank for the 6
    • 10 of some other plank exercise I can’t remember
    • run back to rock (must select a different rock) and wait for the 6

Rocks returned to the rock pile, and pax moseyed back to the main parking lot for BLIMPS accumulator.

Station 1: 2 Bombjacks
Station 2: 2 Lunges
Station 3: 2 Imperial Walkers
Station 4: 2 Merkins
Station 5: 2 Plank Jacks
Station 6: 2 Scorpion Dry Docks

At end of first round, plank up for the 6, then repeat all stations doing 4 reps at each (then 6, then 8 reps).

Mosey over to the basketball goal and count off by 2’s.  1’s form a line on left side of paint, 2’s on the right side of the paint.  Each person took a turn (alternating back and forth between the teams) blindly selecting an exercise card from the buck-o-pain, then attempting a foul shot.  If they made the shot, the other team had to do the exercise.  If they missed, the shooters team had to do the exercise.

We made it almost twice through everyone before we ran out of time.

It was great getting back to TheYard.  Very much appreciate the opportunity to Q for the loyal group of guys that post there.

 

 

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PreBlast: Thanksgiving Day Convergence at The Ranch…The Tradition Continues

It’s that time of year again! Time to give thanks for the blessings we have been given and show appreciation to those around us. Time to remember the progress that we’ve made in various areas of our lives and the intentionality with which we wake up each day that drives this progress. Time to be grateful for the fact that we are better today than yesterday, this month than last month, and this year than last year…all because we were given the ability and opportunity to improve ourselves.

Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for, and at F3TheFort, we’ll show our appreciation the only way we know how…commit ourselves to a ridiculously difficult workout at a time when everyone else is still snuggly tucked in their beds. But hey, at least we’ll all do it together. That’s right, it’s TIME FOR THE 5th ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DAY CONVERGENCE!

We’ll gather at The Ranch at 0600 on Thanksgiving Day morning (Nov the 23rd), where we’ll find 3 workout options led by 3 HIMs and 1st time convergence Qs:

  • Moderate Bootcamp – led by Wapner 
  • Regular Bootcamp – led by Lil E
  • Black Diamond – led by WitchHunt

The workouts will be bookended by special messages from a couple HIMs who always know exactly what sweet nothings to whisper in our ears to get us in the Thanksgiving Day mood, Pusher and Santini.

CakeBoss & McGruff will be providing the pot of golden fried fowl at the end of the rainbow of pain.

Make plans to join us on T-giving morning and bring Cousin Eddie and the random nephew sleeping on your couch.

Aye!

– Ginsu

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WhatDid brought Sally to the Ranch

The Ranch, a staple go to AO here in the Fort had 10 HIM show up to get better.  That’s as simple as we kept it.

YHC gave a disclaimer as we had an FNG present. All moves are suggestions, you’re here on your own will, modify as needed and off we went.

My chicken scratch weinke is attached to this post. The highlight – 3 minutes of Sally Up, Sally down merkin fest. Great idea until about minute 2 for most of us. Those merkin beast out there today – great job men.

Welcome to FNG Octane. Who of which, is of Respectable status. He was in my driveway ready to go at 4:45.  It’s never to late for us to get out there and crush it- as proven by Octane. Pax -go out there and EH even our older brothers.  They’ll teach us a few things along the way.

Announcements:

  • Fast5 – Get on a team and ask Anchorman and Zika for details
  • Christmas party on 12/1.
  • Get involved with G-Fit. Which moved to Saturdays at Steele Street park at 3 PM.

Prayers/Praises

  • Praises for all the great Fort AO’s
  • Family, Wives/Children

Until Next time…WhatDid out

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Ciabatta/Tabata whatever at the Yard

It was a balmy Saturday Morning heading to the Yard as I saw many headlamps off in the woods running the Ragnar.  We were getting ready to dial in our own pain for the gloom.  Hopeful thoughts that one of the PAX would bring an FNG or a Kotter to help keep the promise of a quasi moderate workout.  Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

9 PAX took off for a quick mosey around the parking lot before diving into what would be a painful experience.  We started out with some stretching moves across the parking lot to limber up with knees to chest, toy soldiers, butt kickers, high knees.

Circled up for some warmup moves:  Moroccan nightclubs, cherry pickers, merkins, windmills etc.

The Thang:

Thanks to Anchorman a couple of weeks ago I borrowed his idea of a tabata workout.  30 seconds of exercise 15 seconds of rest. Two sets of each exercise.

Flutters, Low Slow Squats and Side straddle hops.

2nd round was pretty painful

Plank, Shoulder Taps and Peter Parkers

Didn’t realize that those were all in the plank position till it was to late.  Some serious grumbling during this one.

We finished up with a couple of rounds of wall sits and lunge walks to through the parking lot.

Had a brief discussion about the theme of the month Control and how as men we try to control things around us.  We should rely on God and give Him control of our lives so our outcome would be more inline with his will.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve!

Bass-O-Matic

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5 Year Convergence + FNG Challenge PreBlast

On September 26th, The Fort celebrates 5 years of invigorating male leadership in the Fort Mill community. To commemorate this occasion, we are pulling together the PAX of Fort Mill to a 1st F Convergence on Saturday, September 30th at 0700 at Nations Ford HS.

Join us on September 30th as we come together to celebrate this HUGE milestone. There will be 5 different workout options to accommodate PAX and every level. You have no excuses.

Also, with the time of year (weather + vacations are over), weekend date, late start time, workout options, and away Clemson & USC games, this is the PERFECT STORM for EH’ing FNGs. Add in the general excitement that a convergence generates and the conditions could not be more perfect. That said, we’re setting a goal of 20 FNGs. That’s roughly 1 FNG for every 20 PAX…we can do this…easily.

Here’s the Plan:

WHAT: Ruck

  • Q: Trucker
  • Time: 0700

WHAT: Bootcamp

  • Q: Royale
  • Time: 0700

WHAT: Run

  • Q: Birdcage
  • Time: 0700

WHAT: Black Diamond Bootcamp

  • Q: Backdraft
  • Time: 0700

WHAT: Moderate Bootcamp

  • Q: Short Sale
  • Time: 0700

Let’s celebrate the last 5 years of impacting this community and many more years to come!

Ginsu

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Getting G-Fit in Paradise

What a fun evening in Paradise!  If you have not gotten the opportunity to come see what G-Fit on Friday night is like, I highly recommend it.  Our brothers Deacon and Bolt and others have taken ownership of this AO and really are making it into something special.  This was my first time back to Steele Street Park since our Easter Egg Hunt outreach and it is a great little park.  Full court basketball, a field for football, a pavilion, swing set, spray park?  Awesome.  And like it says in the bible, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  We need more Q’s to step up and lead.  DO IT!  You will be blessed and encouraged, I guarantee it.  Here’s what we did on my VQ:

YHC gathered his 2.0, Captain Snooze, and his FNG friend from the neighboorhood and we arrived a the park around 18:40.  Kids and teens were on the court shouting around so we joined them.  I quizzed the crowd about F3 and who had attended a workout.  About half had.  We quickly head locked the other half and it was announced we’d start at the top of the hour.  As 19:00 approached, more and more of The Fort PAX started showing up.  It was great seeing so many familiar faces!  Longer shout-out to you all below but back to the blast.  We circled up at half court for disclaimer and a few words about what to expect for the next 45 minutes and we were off.

THE THANG

Mosey around the park, past the pavilion, around the bathrooms, loop around the spray park then high knees and butt kickers as we head to the parking lot.  Once on the lot, karaoke right for half, then left until the end.  Up the grass hill to the field area for COP

Reps were kept to around 10 for the following exercises, all in cadence:

SSH, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, Squats, Merkins, LBC, Flutters

Water break while we talked about the word of the month, discipline.  What is discipline?  We discussed that discipline is doing what is necessary even when it’s not what you want to do.  We need discipline in our lives to reach our athletic goals.  Kevin Durant did not develop his jump shot by shear luck or talent.  It has taken years of hard work and discipline to get his game to where it’s at.  We need discipline in our lives to reach our academic goals.  Good grades and success don’t just happen, they take discipline.  AYE!

The group was then split between younger kids and teens / adult and each group headed to a basketball hoop.  We lined up from tallest to shortest on the free throw line for a game of knock-out.  Classic game that is always fun.  Bolt quickly emerged as the man to beat but nobody actually could!  Fortunately he sat out after one victory and let some others win.  I think a total of 3 games were played.  Maybe 4?  Anyway, we grabbed a quick sip of water and then headed to the field for some flag football.

Deacon picked 2 younger lads as team captains and all the younger PAX were picked for teams.  Deacon and YHC served as coach / referee while the adult PAX resumed their battle on the basketball court.  The football game was a blast to watch and it was great to see the younger PAX work together as teams.  A bunch of touchdown were scored and a bunch of smiling faces greeted us as we call time and headed for COT.

At COT we named to 4 FNG’s and it was sweet to see how pumped the kids were at their names.  I think we did pretty good with 88 (Cowboys fan), Clutch (the star of the football and basketball games), Man of Steel (Steelers fan who was wearing a team jersey), and Philmont (Boy Scout working towards Eagle).

Announcement was made about a special Labor Day workout on 9/1.  Did somebody say PIZZA?  Expect record breaking numbers for that one.  No prayer requests but YHC took us our with a prayer asking God for help in developing margin and discipline in our lives.

Moleskin

As this was my VQ, I really appreciated seeing some familiar faces.  Thanks to Barry Manilow, Bolt, Deacon, Polaroid, Fish Sticks, and Wapner for posting.  Most brought a 2.0 with them and that is a great part of this AO.  Sharing the vision of F3 and the mission of this particular workout with your kid and having them join you is truly a blessing.  I have to say my heart was warmed when I saw a young kid from the neighborhood jump on my 2.0’s back.  Everybody got along great together, supported each other, and had a blast on a beautiful Friday night.  The sunset was unreal BTW.  Deacon said it’s like that after every workout.  Thanks to you, Deacon, for the opportunity to Q.  After all the unrest and hate on display in our country, it was a breath of fresh air to laugh and play and pray with men and young men of different nationalities.  It’s really not that hard when you just love one another.  Everybody loves love.

Flat Tire

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The Fort F3 Dads…week 2

As my F3 Dads VQ, I had to solicit some help. This time, it was FishSticks himself and he brought his super-human 2.0, Sharkbait to make us all feel bad. We had 47 total post up at WEP for this week’s version of F3 Dads, The Fort style.

After a necessary disclaimer focusing on uneven ground, listening to your body and to please modify as the heat will sneak up on you, I dropped the bomb all the kids were waiting on…WE HAVE ICE POPS at the end. Boom, they’re all ours now.

Mosey to the center of the field for a warmup including:

SSH, Merkins, Squats, Mountain Climbers and more Squats.

FishSticks took the older kids and their dads off to do the following:

Lined up for some additional warm-ups: toy soldiers, inch worms, lunges, shuffle left, shuffle right. Break for water Dora 1-2-3. 100 Merkin, 200 squats, 300 sit-ups. One partner ran up the hill while the other performed the exercise. Break for water Back to the shady hill for abs lab. Flutters, American hammers, six inch plank hold, plank jacks, and super man. FNG 2.0 Rocky showed off his one armed merkin abilities. Back for some more water. Finish off with a Native American run around the field.

For the younger kids, we started with a bear crawl tunnel with dads in the plank followed by a over under drill with dads STILL IN THE PLANK.

We then took it to the hill without all the ant hills and as individual families, introduced a little Jacob’s Ladder. We went to 7 with Merkins at the top and Bomb Jacks at the bottom. So I could catch my breath and slow the head spin, we talked about why the dads find themselves doing this F3 thing and what we get out of it and why that’s important.

Then it got a little more interesting with 2.0 Carry races. The dads had to carry their kids from one cone to another (about 15yds) then bear crawl-carry them back. Those of us with multiple kids thoroughly enjoyed that last part.

Then the games were played: The wolf lunch time game for a very long time, sharks and minnows then the fence game.

We closed it out with COT and a great message from Bear Grylls and family about the importance of good decisions in life.

Great job 2.0’s and thanks to the dads for involving their kids in something that is so important to us.

As you were.

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