Tinsel’s Utensils at Poopdeck

It was a great way to start Valentine’s Day with a non moderate workout with lots of props.

Since the day before I had Q’ed at the Abyss and we focused on legs and abs this day we had to work our upper bodies and get our hearts pumping.

No FNG’s and a quick disclaimer was given followed by some mosey around the parking lot.

WARM UP

SSH

Windmill

Moroccan night clubs

Low Slow Squats

Hillbilly walk

Mountain Climbers

Low Slow Merkin

Cherry pickers

THE THANG:

I had setup 4 stations, we split into 4 groups and each group started with a station, transportation mode was bear crawls and crawl bears alternating after each station, goal was to complete one full circuit of the following:

-> 10 diamond merkins

-> 15 wide arm merkins

-> 20 regular merkins

-> 30 battle rope wave SC

-> 40 Shoulder taps

-> 40 plank jacks

bear crawl to…..

-> 15 big boy sit ups

-> 20 LBC’s

-> 25 slamball throws choose from 10 and 20#

-> 30 sledgehammer                                                                                                                                      swings (15 each side)

-> 40 Heel Touches SC

-> 40 American hammer with slam ball

crawl bear to…

-> 10  Tire flips

-> 15  burpees

-> 20 cindy push/drag

-> 50 shoulder shrug with cindy

-> 80 calf raises

crawl bear to…

-> 15 man makers with weight (choose from weights starting at 12# up to 40# for this one and all exercises below)

-> 20 bent over rows

-> 20 biceps curls

-> 25 overhead presses

-> 30 SSH Single count

-> 40 Carolina drydocks

everyone pushed hard to complete their routines and we finished one full circuit with about 15 minutes to spare; we found a wall for some BTTW while PAX from each end will perform 3 burpees finishing up with PAX in the middle of the pack, shoulders were on fire after the full circuit and BTTW so we needed a brake for our arms, someone mentioned Captain Thor and it was a go!! unfortunately there are no grassy areas in the Bowl N Bounce parking lot so we had to choose from rocks or pavement so we went for the second, lots of mumble chatter here about tail bones but no one backed out from the legendary Captain Thor (1 big boy sit up followed by 4 american hammers, all the way to 10 BBSU and 40 AH) we finished up with one minute to spare so we added 50 LBC’s to end the bootcamp (more mumble chatter here).

Great push by everyone, some of the newer PAX had never been to a Tinsel’s workout so they were in for a big surprise, we all left in one piece, tired but better than before and with our hearts pumping fast to start a great V-Day.

We finished up with  announcements, prayers and praises at COT.

Thank you Peg for the opportunity to lead!!

Tinsel out…

 

TClap |
0

Balls of Gloom, Inaugural Edition

With a new year, YHC wanted to try something new at Quagmire. I’ve been tossing around ideas, and having some sort of benchmark workout – like the Board of Pain – that is straightforward to work through but also a good workout seemed like a good idea. So, for the month of January, we are rolling out the Balls of Gloom using the red balls outside Target. Poorly advertised, but there will be more opportunities.

Ten PAX showed up for the inaugural running of the BOG (get it? Because it’s Quagmire?). Quick explanation, brief disclaimer, and off we went on a quick mosey to the lot in front of what used to be Books a Million (that’s closed now, apparently). Some side shuffles (sorry Shady, there’s a bump there), high knees, butt kickers, and toy soldiers thrown in for good measure.

Warm up with SSH, windmills, Moroccan night clubs, and maybe something else but I can’t remember.

Mosey to Target and get going…

Balls of Gloom

The idea is simple. Workout is AMRAP for 33ish minutes, you v. you. Exercise posted on each of 10 balls, run between balls, and then run a lap from the stop sign, out to the road between Target and Kohls, around behind Verizon, and back to the start. Rinse and repeat. Try to beat your best next time.

Exercises:

  • 10 burpees
  • 20 merkins
  • 20 squats
  • 40 LBCs
  • 20 CDDs
  • 20 jumping lunges per leg
  • 40 Hello Dolly
  • 20 werkins
  • 10 squat jumps
  • 10 burpees

ChaChing and Bones knocked out four complete rounds with the run at the end and got into the burpees for round five. Three more PAX completed the burpees at the end of round 4 but not the run. Remaining five were somewhere else in round 4. All pushed hard and did great.

Quick mosey back to COT, arriving at precisely 0600 (after being stalked through the parking lot but a vehicle that seemed lost).

Looking forward to doing better next week. You should join us, at least for one, and see what you can do.

TClap |
1

The Cornerstone – Challenge ( One Year Long )

To all the Pax of F3 Nation

Are you prepared to challenge your self for 2019? I am challenging all Pax’s to join me for 2019 we will take on one exercise for January (merkins single count) 100 reps every day. Then in February we will add another exercise which will be done every day on top of the 100 merkins and so on and so on. We will increase by adding one exercise each month.  These exercises will be above and beyond when you post. So by the end of the year there will be 12 exercises that need to be done everyday at the reps set.

Do you accept the challenge? Do you want to get better?

I will set the next month exercise and reps the week before to keep you on your toes

TClap |
20

Constantly Moving Through The Swamp

It is always a pleasure to get the “call” to the lead the PAX  and this opportunity didn’t disappoint.  The Swamp is my “home” Friday AO so I was well aware of all the nooks and crannies it had to offer.

After a separating ourselves from the droves of men with backpacks (12 of them) I gave the usual disclaimer explaining that these men were there at their own risk and that the only thing I could promise is that they would return “stronger” than they set out.  I also explained that we would be “moving” the entire time so ‘buckle up’ and enjoy the tour.

Quick 3/4 mile mosey around Home Depot to the Khol’s parking lot.  Along the way we did some active stretching including butt kickers and high knees.  Warm up included several exercises to warm the muscles up such as:

  • Windmill
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Potato Pickers
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Right/Left leg over opposite leg with body twist (on our 6)
  • Downward Dog
  • Honeymooner
  • Side Straddle Hops

Quick mosey 100 yards —- 50 Slow Low Squats

Bear Crawl 50 yards

25 yard mosey

Merkins:

  • 30 Regular
  • 20 Wide Arm
  • 15 Ranger
  • 10 Diamond

Crawl Bear 50 yards

Mosey to Verizon: 50 Moroccan Night Club (Jedi wasn’t amused)

Mosey to “alley” behind Home Depot:

Wall sits while one PAX goes out and does 10 Berpees

Lunge Walking (down alleyway)

  • Varying steps (3-10) then exercise:
  • Merkins
  • Squat Jumps
  • Burpees
  • 10 Squat Jumps (to cap it off)

Mosey toward COT

Halfway stop for 10 more Burpees

Almost there……but first one last Suicide to really gas ourselves.

We finished strong and as I promised every man came back to COT stronger than he had left.  We reconnected with our backpack brothers and lifted some prayers and praises up.  In total 19 men got better (12 Ruckers and 7 Bootcampers)

Bones

TClap |
1

#Badgemire

I thought it would be special for us to have a little taste of Badger in our DRP this morning, so I brought a Hero Workout to Quagmire (now, just to raise Jedi’s ire, we will call it Badgemire)…

We yogged a moment, circled up, and warmed up to the sounds of Wild Thing being late.

Windmills x 10
Cherry/Peanut/Grass/Microcherry Pickers x 10
Merkins x 10
Imperial Walkers x 10

We ran to the parking lot at Tarjay and Jedi read to us, after straining to do so like some kind of elderly person (didn’t know he wore glasses, sorry to hang you out to dangle like that), anyway, he read to us the brief synopsis of U.S. Marine Cpl. Albert Gettings’ life. In his honor, we performed the “Bert”. It went a little something like this…

  • 50 Burpees
  • 400 meter Run
  • 100 Push-Ups
  • 400 meter Run
  • 150 Walking Lunges
  • 400 meter Run
  • 200 Air Squats
  • 400 meter Run
  • 150 Walking Lunges
  • 400 meter Run
  • 100 Push-Ups
  • 400 meter Run
  • 50 burpees

It was a real treat. Cha-Ching, Jedi, and Bones were the kings today, and managed to start that last set of burpees before we ran out of time and Indian Ran the whole way back, minus the last 75 yards or so where we broke the jail…

As noted in the tweet, good times were had by several.

NMM:
U.S. Marine Cpl. Albert Gettings, 27, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, died on Jan. 5, 2009, while conducting counter-sniper operations in Fallujah, Iraq. Cpl. Gettings was serving as a team leader with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, at the time of his death.

Every quarter, Cpl. Gettings’ fellow Marines in Fox Company complete a special workout in his honor as part of the Cpl. Albert P. Gettings Award ceremony.

He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Palimino; parents, David and Juliet; and sister, Cori.

Helmet, out.

TClap |
7

Cold Blooded at the Swamp

So it was the coldest day of November (so far) but at least there was no rain.  A balmy 33 degrees to start the workout.  My goal was to keep the energy level high to keep the blood flowing!  Only 3 of the 15 men planned on rucking this morning, so I gave the disclaimer and the other 12 of us were off.

Mosey with a dynamic warmup to the Home Depot parking lot.

COP with IWs – Windmills – SSHs – MNCs – Mountain Climbers – CDDs – Plank Jacks – Merkins?

These days whatever keeps me moving is what I call.  I like to take Pushers guidance and change the count for each…which always gets the PAX talking! It’s almost impossible to get Jedi and Witch Hunt to stop chattering nowadays… which always adds a fun playful air to the warmup.

Enough of that stuff… moving on!  I like to find new routines in the Lexicon that we might not have done before.  I found these:

“The Dab”  (I was immediately asked why it’s called that…not idea just from the workout)

10 burpees in 1 minute

Run a quarter mile lap around the parking lot

Do this 4 times

It went pretty well…and it kept us warm unfortunately Half Shell “popped” his calf muscle… that’s not good for running! No man will be left behind so I tried to modify a little.  I’m sorry if it was not enough Half Shell…

Slow walk towards Target, but a bear crawl for good measure to keep everyone together for about 50 yards.

“Triple Check”

Teams of 3

1st PAX wall sit

2nd PAX Plank

3rd PAX run 50 yards and back.

Rotate through your team and complete this 3 times.

This took longer than expected so item #3 of the evolutions was left off and we moseyed back to COT.  With 2 minutes to spare more burpees were completed.

Namorama

Announcements & Prayers

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

TClap |
0

The Right Kind of Sacrifice

14 men awoke to not so bright/wet conditions and converged in the gloom of the hallowed ground at The Swamp for a Beyond message from YHC.  Here’s what went down

Warmup:      20 SSH IC, 20 Imperial Walkers, 15 windmills (wonderfully executed), 10 Mtn Climbers.    Let’s mosey

The Thang:      Mosey to the alley behind Home Depot for a perfect location to perform the BLIMPS workout and grab some wall for 1-min wall-sits in between each as their active rest, allowing YHC to convey the message for today.  At each 1-min sit, YHC shared what has been on his heart about sacrifice.   This is defined as something that is a loss or something  you give up for the sake of a better cause.    Approximately 1-year ago, my wife and I were celebrating her completion of treatment for Breast Cancer.  Surgery, radiation, DNA testing, doctors, etc…pronounced her as Cancer Free and we returned to our routine.  Our faith had been a anchor throughout and continued to grow thru prayer and my F3 brothers and Journey group, yet I had one main question.  How did this trial change us and by us I mean, me and my role as a husband, father and leader of my home.  I realized how consumed I was with my martial arts training, races, Goruck events, etc..that I was actually not IN my home very much.  That which I thought was making me healthier, stronger and better for my family had me gone for large amounts of time from them.

Time for a sacrifice! I am going on year of stepping away from all those things that took me away from her and the kids to activities to do together and that were important to her!  She never once asked for this and struggled with me giving it up after so long but it’s been the best decision of my life.  God has changed my path for the better by sacrificing what I thought was important to what is truly important.

Sacrifice will lead you to make significant choices. But being a husband and father is a significant experience!

B  5 Burpees OYO, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
10 Lunges each leg OYO, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
15 Imperial Walkers IC, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
20 Merkins OYO, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
25 Plank Jacks, followed by 10 SSH IC
1-min wall sit
30 Squats, followed by 10 SSH IC

Mosey to the large parking lot for some 4-corners of Blimps!  Total of 6 laps around the parking lot stopping at each corner to perform the exercise.  First (1) lap: 5 burpees @ ea corner (2) lunges (3) 15 IW (4) 20 merkins (5) 25 plank jacks (6) 30 squats (stop at end of each full lap to wait on the 6 with planks; modified the M, P, & S

Return for COT and some last words:  Identify that thing in your life that you may be placing your identity in that may be causing you to miss the mark of your Concentrica Bullseye!

Good work, men.  It was an honor to lead you this morning.

TClap |
12

Forties for 40

Well today was the day… turning 40…why not take the Q today?  I asked Bones for it months ago.  There’s nothing better than leading a group of men and friends at an F3 workout, especially on a birthday.  I was really happy to see 17 other men here, including a few faces that don’t usually travel to the Abyss.

We started up with a mosey around the parking lot.  Nemo and Flux were pulling in right at 5:15 so we did a lap and let them catch up.  Standard dynamic warmup stuff on the lap.

It was cold so the warmup had some more cardio items than usual.

-SSHs – Ab Vagota – Seal Jacks – Squats – IWs – Mountain Climbers

We ended with the Merkin Circle

6 rounds around the circle.  1 merkin each for the 18 guys while in plank.

We moved over to the Hill.  I found an exercise in the lexicon called “Forties”.  I figured if we added the hill we could call it the “Over the Hill Forties”.  That got some laughs, and some groans…

It’s a ladder with higher reps.  An Exercise at the Top of the Hill, one at the bottom.  Take 30 reps at the top 10 at the bottom, then subtract 5 and add 5 until you’ve flipped to 10-30.

1st round : Top = CDDs Bottom = Flutters

2nd Round : Top = American Hammers Bottom = Calf Raises

We took a break and I shared a little message about reflections.  How these men and F3 have helped change me to be a better person and on a better path in life.  I reflected on who I might have been at 40 with out these men… it wasn’t so pretty.

We moseyed next to the front of the school.  I split the group into 2 teams.

Team 1 would stay for wall sits while Team 2 bear crawled around the circle

Flipped it

Next round BTTW as long as you can, then wall sits while Team 2 Crab Walked the circle

Finally we head back to COT for a very special circle.  For my birthday we we’re going to play a game.  The group had to answer questions about me.  If correct 10 SSHs.  If wrong… 10 burpees!

The Questions were:

  1. How many siblings do I have? right
  2. What is my favorite professional sports team? right
  3. What High School did I attend?  Bonus, what was the mascot? right with bonus!
  4. What was my favorite children’s toy in 1985? wrong
  5. Where do I work? right
  6. Where did I go to college? right

To my surprise these men got 5 of 6 right…and to Iced-T’s credit he was saying He-Man for #4…but the group out voted him!

Announcements

Thanksgiving Convergence

Christmas Party

Fast 5 postponed

Prayers

For Soprano and the passing of his brother

Hurricane victims still in need

Grateful for all the people in our lives

If you’ve read this far the answers were

  1. 1 sister = Rachel
  2. Green Bay Packers
  3. South Meck = Sabres
  4. He-Man
  5. Merrill Lynch
  6. UNCC

An Honor to Lead!

-Royale

TClap |
1

A Few Words on Encouragement at The Deep

8 PAX assembled in the gloom at The Deep to push themselves and each other in the theme of the month encouragement.

A brief disclaimer was given while Royale and The Lorax came in hot. The PAX took a quick mosey from the Middle School over to Elementary School and on the way stretched out with some Toy Soldiers and Knees to the chest.

Circle up in the parking lot of Elementary School for a brief CoP including: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers, Morrocan Nightclubs, Windmills, and a little Broga to loosen us up.

The theme for the workout was set up to mirror the theme of the month, encouragement. YHC asked the PAX who knew the word of the month and who had read the accompanying 3rd F document. Few knew the word of the month and no one had read the 3rd F piece. If you haven’t read it at this point, STOP READING THIS and take a few moments to pull up your newsletter and read it.

The document was briefly summarized and the first evolution was laid out. The PAX were to move as a team and complete all the exercises before moving on, ENCOURAGING each other along the way. The evolution went like this:
2 laps around the school
25 Pull Ups
50 Dips
100 Squats (done together with each PAX taking a turn counting)
200 Flutter kicks (100 4 count in cadence)
1 Lap the school and back mosey to the back of the Middle School

The second evolution was a twist on an old favorite. Starting from the brick pillars on the practice field side of school each PAX would pick up Sandy (40lb sand bag) and run to the next brick pillars just past the first basketball goal (about 40ish yards). The remaining PAX would through the exercises below:
Kracken Burpees
Jump Squats
Merkins
LBC
Flutters
American Hammer
CDD
Bear Crawl/Crawl bear

Sufficiently smoked the PAX meandered back to COT. Thank you Shakespeare for the opportunity to lead this great group of men.

Moleskin:

This month’s 3rd F Theme really struck home with me. To think that a 35 year old wife, mother, and school teacher couldn’t find enough encouragement in her life that she thought nobody would miss her if she was gone seems almost impossible to imagine for most people. I unfortunately am not most people. As a teenager this was a recurring thought of mine as I would sit at home on Friday nights by myself wondering if any of my friends would call, or how I could invite myself to the party or hangout. I spent those nights wondering if I didn’t show up on Monday, or if I were gone would anyone miss me. Those thoughts can be irrational, but the feeling is real. Years later I found myself on the other end of a phone call informing me that one of my best friends had died of an overdose. He was in his early twenties and was the poster child for what someone would want in a US Marine. I would get two more similar phone calls from back home about other friends who didn’t think they would be missed when they were gone, so they took their own lives. Can this be prevented? Who knows. I know this though, a few words of encouragement can change someone’s life. Letting a person know that their presence in your life matters more than you can possibly know. Never assume. Encourage those in your life to live their lives to the fullest. Make sure that they know they would be missed if they weren’t around. Each of you reading this means something to me, even if we have never met. If you get to this point or have these thoughts I encourage you to reach out to me, or one of your brothers. I can tell you that you make an impact on someones life and would be missed if you were gone.

Wild Thing out!!

TClap |
2

Start and stop, repeat

Man it’s been too long. Cha Ching set me up with the opportunity to Q at the SWAMP and I must say, I do miss that place. But then again, I think I say that with every AO I have the opportunity to Q at. So for this one, I “solicited” a few ideas from my Ragnar team and even got to incorporate a few of them while only 2 of them graced us with their presence.

17 BC’ers and 2 Ruckers for a total of 19 was the count as we circled up to be disclaimed and get a brief unnecessary overview of what I thought would be necessary instructions. In short, this post would be about starting and stopping, that’s it. No deeper meaning, no Beyond discussion this time, just full on “get your work on and get it done.” We’ll be running between our COP’s at 2 different speeds and I’ll call it out before we take off: 1: All you’ve got and 2: As a PAX.

1: COP in THD’s parking lot: for a little warm up.

2: Lt. Dans

3: Merkins/Carolina Dry Docks

4: Kracken Burpee (Only 1 way to get better at these and when in the Lake Wylie area, these are a must).

5: Staggered Merkins & Jump Squats

6: 1 min of 6″ leg holds, 1min 45 degree crunch hold. Followed by Dips & Dry Docks again.

7: 2min Al Gore, 1 min 6″ Merkin hold and 1min Calf Raise hold. Bunny hop 30 yds and back.

8: Diamonds, Wide-Arm Merkins, Slow Sumo Squats & 1min Flutter Kicks with a press

9: 24 Dips & the fountain

COT: Prayers for Stang’s parents, Emma Holt, those in the path of Hurricane Florence. Be open to how you can help others in the wake of the storm.

Until next time…

Maximus

TClap |
3