Back to the bells

I had the date on my calendar, but when I got a reminder over the weekend from 3D, I couldn’t help but be excited!

While I’ve Q’d my fair share at the old digs (The Tomahawk), this was my first official Q at the Snake Pit!  As I’ve thrown down some memorable Qs (there was the time…nobody was allowed to put down their bell for the entire workout, or the time we did the catch me if you can and we ran all the way out to Dobys Bridge Road, or the Ring of Fire (had to be there))…so what to do….what. to. do.

So there we were, the morning of…the PAX rolled in, a disclaimer was disclaimed, and off we went…the PAX lined up for an Indian run, man in the back performed 3 KB burpees before running to the front of the line as went meandered our way all the way around the perimeter of the school grounds.

The PAX rallied up at the bottom of a hill where they were divided into 2 groups of 4.  Stations (cones) were set up instructing the PAX on what exercise to complete.  There were 4 stations about 15 yards apart with exercises as follows:

1. KB swings, 2. Alternating Lunges w/ overhead KB triceps extension, 3. KB squat, curl, and press, 4. swap the bell for a 35lb brick and run to a cone about 25 yards away and back (this PAX was the timer).  Exercises at each station were completed while the PAX were running.  To rotate, the PAX that completed the run made their way back to station 1, while all other PAX bear crawled with their bell to the next station.  After 4-5 rotations through the stations, the PAX returned to the starting location for PAX-led Mary and COT.

Always an honor to lead!

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Wegmans at Snakepit

When asked to Q here I assumed it was too far. It was only 8 minutes from YHC house. The Coop is about 3, so hard to argue passing that one up.

Disclaimer was disclaimed and off we went. Took the bells over near one part of the parking lot. I had a box with exercises written down on them.

normal warmup. Nothing fancy. Nothing out of the ordinary.

partnered up. Partner 1 performs exercises while partner 2 runs the lap. The goal was to not let your partner beat your rep count, otherwise there was a man-maker penalty that was not enforced.

The exercises, in no particular order, were:

Squats,

Curls,

KB Swings.

Merkins.

Kid Launcher 45 degree angle shoulder raise.

Overhead press

some others?? Bobber destroyed the box with the exercises.

we also lunge walked and squatted some more

finished it up with some Mary

Thanks for the opportunity 3D!

Wegmans

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AR-7 at Varsity

Well YHC watched Aquaman the night before and as customary, I looked up the workout Jason Momoa did to get in shape for this role. Low and behold, it could work with body weight exercises.

All familiar faces were present so the disclaimer was brief. A brief mosey followed by some warmup exercises. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The Thang:

AR-7. Accelerated Results. First was dips. Followed by jump squats and finally Merkins.
Format was as follows:

7 sets of 7 reps with 7 seconds of rest between sets. We did all 7 sets and did a short mosey as our rest.

Next was 6 sets of 6 reps with 6 seconds of rest. Short mosey.
Last up was 5 sets of 5 reps

After we finished up the dips, we moseyed to a grassy area to preserve the old joints. Same format just Jump Squats this time. Since the legs were jello-like, no mosey, just recovery.

Finally we moseyed near the pull up bars for the Merkins portion. Same format.

And then… we headed back for some Mary and COT.

thanks to Harry Carry for the opportunity!

 

Wegmans

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LE TOUR DE WEP Dora Style

Great morning for a Q, my third one of the week, I was super pumped since my sidekick Sonic (2.1- 8 years old) accepted to take the lead roll and co Q with me.

This time I brought my battle rope and chatters started early, we welcomed all PAX. Drop Thrill was in charge of the milkshakers so off they went.

With the Bootcampers we grabbed the rope and moseyed/walked across the wet and cold grass to the playground for the warm up, many PAX whined about getting  their toesies wet but the idea is to get out of your comfort zone and accelerate, this is why you leave your fartsack every morning. We explained that we will move as a team and our team will be as fast as the slower PAX so we all encouraged each other to get better (this is what F3 is all about)

Warm up led mostly by Sonic:

Side straddle hops
Windmill
Weed picker
Low slow squat
Moroccan night clubs
Low slow merkin
Mountain climber

I mapped the park on my phone for 15 stops and we run in between stops (picture attached), we used the walking trail to run around the park. The idea was to complete the following Dora:

100 merkins (4 stops x 25)
200 carolina dry docks (5 stops x 40)
300 overhead claps (6 stops x 50)

We went back to our starting position at the playground for some fun with the battle rope.

Our team was split into two groups for some Tug of war competition, PAX enjoyed this part as adrenaline kicked in while pulling the rope in a friendly competition. I’m definitely repeating this in my Q’s

.

We had abut 11 minutes left so it was time for our superhero visit and the crowd started cheering:

Captain Thor
1 big boy situp,  4 american hammers
2 big boy situps,  8 american hammers
3 big boy situps,  12 american hammers
Progressive to 10 big boy situp,  40 american hammers

3 rounds of Superman to stretch the abs, honey mooners, downward dogs and tunnel of man for Sonic back and forth to finish our beatdown,

we finished our day running back to COT carrying the rope as a group.

We met with the milkshakers for namearama, announcements, prayers and praises.

Thanks to Slash for the opportunity to lead this great group of PAX, some of them I had only seen once or twice but it’s all about the camaraderie.

My 2.1 Sonic really enjoyed this as he does everytime he comes to F3 with me, all PAX welcomed him as one more of us encouraging him every minute, he’s only 8 but not afraid of the gloom.

TINSEL and SONIC are out!!

 

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Too Much Mania For Fort Mill

Today seemed like a good day to shake up things and try to get arrested.  But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

We headed out from WEP and took a nice slow stroll towards downtown.  Along the way stopping for a few reps and exercises now and then.

I should’ve known something would happen because when Wegmania and Thrillmania both occur at the same point on the globe, then surely Fort Mill’s Finest will show up and they did.

We were hanging out doing 11’s at First Baptist when not one, not two but three policy officers showed up asking us questions, apparently being tipped off that we were supposedly spray painting the fair church grounds.  Of course we weren’t, but I figured I’d just play it safe and we moved on from there.

After we made a full loop and made it back to WEP, we did a bit of stretching, and some reps and then waited around for Tinsel and his followers to make to back to COT.

Needless to say, the cops showing up wasn’t on my Q plans, but like life, you never know what might come at you.  #GetRight #LiveRight

We missed site Q Shady out today, but you guys did awesome and there was much fellowship had.

Anyone that knows of anyone out for IR or any FNG’s, please send them this way.  Milkshake is a great workout to either help with injuries, or to get your feet wet with F3.

Thanks Shady for the chance to lead.

Thrill out.

 

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Round 2 at Laces In

Lack of creativity? Potentially. Simple yet effective? Undoubtedly. That could be how I describe several stages of my life.

Yesterday at the JOC, we did round 1 of the Deck of Cards. Whenever you have a round 1, you have to have a round 2. Taking yesterday’s learnings on clock management, I modified the warm-up, flapped the gums a little less and up’d the tempo. That would ensure we get through the deck this time.

We had a total of 20 at Laces, with 2 of those being Road Runners. The other 17 joined me as we circled up.

River Rat got to hear this twice but I shared what Billy Bob said on the Roundtable podcast recently about modifications. You can always modify as needed BUT do not use that as an excuse to not push yourself. It’s appropriate in so many areas of life and it was appropriate for the PAX & I this morning.

So, we jogged over to the start line for our abbreviated warm up consisting of (2) 50yd runs at 50% pace and 75% pace. We followed that up with windmills in cadence and butt kickers in place, also in cadence. And that was it for our warm up.

For the 1st-timers, the deck goes like this, your rep count is the number on the card, 2-10 are obvious, Jacks=11, Queens=12, Kings=13, Aces=14. Suits represent the following exercises:

Hearts: 8ct Burpee (It’s a burpee with a plank jack & the push up)
Diamonds: 4ct Mountain Climbers
Clubs: Jump Squats
Spades: Diamond Merkins
Jokers: (25) 4ct Flutters

In total, we did:
(104) 8ct Burpees
(104) 4ct Mountain Climbers
(104) Jump Squats
(104) Diamond Merkins
We had 3 Jokers in the deck so that is (75) Flutters, of the 4ct variety

We finished the deck at 0551 so we had 9mins left on the clock which was filled with:
(30) Flutters
(12) Hand-Release Merkins
(15) American Hammers

4 more 50yd runs at 50%, 75%, 100%, 75%

Moseyed back to COT for:
Heels to Heavens
Freddy Mercury

COT today was pretty powerful for me. We had men that brought some real stuff today that they are walking through life with. As we say, you are not meant to carry this on your own; that would crumble any man. You have been called and designed to lead but the best leaders have a group they work with. In F3, we call that group a Shield Lock.
Remember, sometimes you need to modify the game plan. However, DO NOT use that modification as an excuse to not give it your all.

It’s been my honor.
Maximus

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NYE at the “Ant”- BB 2wks late

Link to the Pre-Blast: https://f3thefort.com/2019/12/18/the-force-to-bring-us-back-in/

The script changed but we discussed burnout and the challenges associated with getting burned out. Nevertheless, we did some work with heavy sand bags and rucks. The legs were put to the test and teamwork was present.

A lot remains on the written weinke which should see the light of day or the darkness of the gloom…some day.

Until next time.

Maximus

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Milkshake Gifts and Cars

Four men posted for Milkshake: two infirmed and two rucking. Weather was pleasant at 45 degrees (or so) and dry.

1st F Notes: Plan was for a walk with a couple of interruptions for exercises.
Walked around the park and headed to Main Street.
On the way, stopped at the veteran’s memorial and did squats, peter parkers, and incline merkins.
Walked up Main Street, then headed east. Circled back down via Williamson and Confederate Streets.
Headed up the hill Massey Street, stopped and did more squats and merkins. Avoided the barking dog and lady with the penchant to call the police on F3 guys by walking down Massey to Harris and Ardrey back to WEP.
We covered approximately 2.5 miles.  Map with critical events is included.

2nd F Notes:
With Christmas just a few days before, we discussed the favorite gifts we received this year: Wegman’s Yeti camping mug (not just for cocoa), Peabody got a picture of his dog in impressionist style.
We also discussed our first cars, which was a topic on my mind since my daughter just turned 16 and got het license.
Also was my first time doing a ruck walk-about (thanks to Shady lending me his ruck).

Milkshake is a great way to know your fellow pax better and have fun.

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Twitter Burpee Challenge

There is something about twitter and Slack (your welcome Crab Cakes) where you get to poke the bear and start a rash of replies about which AO is better, which one will have more PAX post, and who’s WO will SUCK more. Your YHC tried to create an unofficial convergence by calling out multiple PAX, and then Punch List took it to another level and would do burpees if additional PAX would post….Stang where were you???? Your Vols are bowl eligible, you should be posting now that you can be seen without getting grief. Actually where were all those PAX who were called out??? Disappointing, we all wanted to see Punch List do 100 burpees 🙁

The 12 PAX who did post were not disappointed.

The Thang:

Warm up with toy soldiers along roadway for 2 light pole lengths (longer than I thought), return with knee ups and lunges.  Circle up for COP – some windmills (Dirty Harry loves these!), Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Slow Squats, and merkings. Mossy past the pull up bars….PAX were shocked we didn’t stop there….they just didn’t know what as in store for them…to the bottom of the hill for round 2 of COP. Moroccan nightclubs, overhead claps, and toe touches.

Mossy up the hill to the pull up bars. Time for the real thing. Dora 400! Partner up. As a duo, 60 pull-ups with a challenge that each PAX does 20 true pull-ups (not using the foot rests). 100 merkins, 150 squats, and 200 LBCs. I know, this does not total 400….The other partner runs to the bottom of the hill and back.

Each PAX was then required to do 10 true pull-ups and 10 toe touches, while resting wall sits. Once completed, 5 more pull-ups. Can’t get better without doing them and they are the best exercise out there!!

Mossy to crosswalk and sprint to next crosswalk. Finish with 3 minutes of Marry.

Appreciate the opportunity to lead and push PAX on pull-ups, thanks Punch List.

Read the newsletter!

Prayers for Cash and Karrie who are fighting cancer….you can do it!

Trucker out

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Wegmans and Repeat at the Coop

Since this was Repeat’s 2nd VQ, YHC led the warmup. Nothing fancy. Nothing special.

Partnered up near JROTC building. P1 runs to the top of the loop, 25 Merkins whiles P2 is doing LBCs. Switch once P1 returns. Next is 25 bomb jacks and flutters. Last is 25 monkey humpers and Rosalitas. Hand off to Repeat.

Repeat ran us up near the band field. There is a covered walkway with lights. At the first light we did 5 Merkins and 5 LBCs. At the next light we added 5 to each exercise so 10 and so on and so forth. Repeat estimates we did roughly 280 reps of each exercise.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead Punchlist.

Wegmans

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