Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Most ran, some of us (me particularly) ran and walked. I almost always talk about the sovereignty of God. Today was no different.
There was a pledge said and announcements about 2nd F Lunch, The Gooney, and the Extinction Run.
We prayed for Wirenut’s family, Stogie’s M, and for each other and the week to come in general.
There were three runners and one fartleker who was voluntold to Q… Work was done for at least 30 minutes or more by most of those in attendance.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
We recently did the Ruck Squad shirt. The design was loosely based off the movie, “The Usual Suspects”. I won’t spoil the movie if you haven’t seen it… but it’s a good one if you haven’t seen it.
In the movie there is a character known as Keyser Soze. He says this iconic line: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”. A recent Gallup poll shows that only 59% of American adults believe in the devil. That’s a ten points drop since 2020. It’s crazy to think that anyone can look at all the misery happening in our world and NOT believe in the devil. But that’s the way Satan likes it.
So, how do we deal with the fact that Satan is alive and well in America and the world?
First, we need to read and believe in the Word.
Second, we need to apply the weapons we’ve been given. We put on the breastplate of righteousness, notch that belt of truth, put on the helmet of salvation, cinch up the shoes of peace, pick up the shield of faith, and wield the sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God). This is all covered in Ephesians 6:14–17.
You might have read about, or heard of this armor before, but have you ever noticed that the armor is all offensive? It’s all designed for a frontal assault. This means we take the fight to the enemy. We get angry and we get on our knees. We release the power of heaven in our homes, on our families, and against the hellaciouos barrage of arrows the enemy fires at us.
The spiritual armor of God does you no good if its simply gathering dust, or if you are running from the battle. By the way, running from the battle leaves your backside completely exposed. You can’t just sit tight and wait for the enemy to attack. You have to get in the Word; charge at the enemy through prayer; Commission the armies of heaven (the Holy Spirit and His angels)to fight for you.
Whether you want to believe it or not, the battle is real. We must stand and fight for our family, for our friends, and for ourselves.
Prayer Requests/Praise Reports:
– Pray for Broke’s co-worker’s son. He was in a car accident and is in the ICU on a vent. They suspect brain damage, but won’t know until then can remove him from the vent. Today is the day they are planning on this. Pray for that family and this situation.
– Pray for Wirenut’s M… something about a fracture
– Pray for Bubba Sparxxx and his recovery from surgery
Continue to pray for:
– Jackson Hall
– Huckleberry – though, sounds like he got a good resent report from Doctors.
– Stogie’s M is doing better from the spinal epidural for herniated discs and compressed neck.
– She’s supposed to go back to the doctor next week for further instructions, but the pain is coming back and she needs to start physical therapy asap.
I gave the Pax a choice of “the red pill or the blue pill”. In case you live in the Matrix and have no idea what this is, or simply haven’t seen the movie in forever and forget which color was what decision… the red pill unlocks the matrix and the blue pill is a placebo pill. All the Pax who voted, voted for the red pill (though, I did have a running WOD prepared for the blue pill option).
I was curious to see if anyone would pick up that this is the 3rd time in a row that I’ve Q’d this workout. I’ve modified it slightly for each AO I was at… but overall it’s the same movements and structure. No one noticed… shows how many people actually reach the back blasts I guess. Oh well… here’s how it went down.
Warm Up:
25 Side Straddle Shops – in cadence
10 Gravel Pickers – in cadence
15 mnt man poopers – in cadence
20 ‘Roccan Night Clubs – in cadence
20 Arm Cirles Front – in cadence
20 Arm Cirles Back – in cadence
Circle Up:
Iron Hulks (1:4 ratio of merkin to air presses) adding one with each person in the circle (times to rounds… waiting on Westside to get out of the crapper and from having to change his drawers)
Bear Crawl to the middle of the parking lot: 10 flying squirrels
Bear Crawl to my truck (middle of the parking lot): 10 flying squirrels
Pickup Yard Blocks…
Overhead clap with blocks to the tennis courts
Tha Thang:
20 – SSH – in cadence
20 – Superman to Iron Man with the blocks
20 – Plank Jacks
Run a lap…
20 – CDDs on the blocks
20 – Flutters
20 – Hand release merkins with a brick row
Run a lap…
20 – Arnold Presses with blocks
20 – American Hammers with blocks
20 – Overheard Extensions with blocks together
Run a lap…
10 – Bent Raise Rotation (Lat Raise – Forward Raise – Reverse)
20 – Freddy Mercurys
20 – Nolan Ryans with the blocks (10 each side)
Run a lap…
20 – Toy Soldiers with a brick/block
20 – Windshield Wipers while holding blocks
40 – Block curls
Run a lap…
20 – Clean and Press with the blocks
40 – Brick Fly crunches
20 – Tricep Extensions
Run a lap…
Vote for the best shoulder workout… ab work out… and I pick a final 3rd…
Carry the blocks back to my truck while doing overhead claps with the blocks
Circle up and finish with a round of Ab work…
Announcements:
Prayer Requests:
I said at the beginning of the workout that this was my first Q at The Yank… but now I am not so sure. It may have been my second one. Regardless, the disclaimer was to blame Flintstone for me being there and for the workout that was about to go down. We had some runners that took off from the beginning, not sure… but I will say that I scared them off with my flashing Bluetooth speaker and mumblechatter about blocks and shoulder work.
I had a few different ideas. Watts Up (aka Rhino) tried hijacking my Q (okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic… he was really just trying to be informative and helpful). Most of his suggestions I listened to. I’m not a tyrant. The workout MVP goes to Jane Fonda for modifying some of the movements to make them harder.
Warm Up:
10 Gravel Pickers – in cadence
10 mnt man poopers – in cadence
20 ‘Roccan Night Clubs
20 Arm Circles Front
20 Arm Circles Back
Reverse Bear Crawl down the steps of the park
20-25 Side Straddle Hops – in cadence
Bear Crawl to the end of the side walk: 10 burpees (or flying squirrels)
Mosey to my truck across the street and grab some yard blocks.
Overhead clap with the blocks to the covered pavilion area.
Circle Up:
Iron Hulk (1:4 ratio of merkin to air presses) adding one with each person in the circle
Tha Thang (though, the joke was it was still all part of the warm up):
20 – SSH – in cadence
20 – Plank Jacks – in cadence
20 – Seal Jacks – in cadence
20 – CDDs on the blocks
20 – Flutters
20 – Hand release merkins with a brick row
20 – Arnold Presses with blocks
20 – American Hammers with blocks
20 – Skull crushers with blocks together
10 – Bent Raise Rotation (Lat Raise – Forward Raise – Reverse)
20 – Freddy Mercurys
20 – Nolan Ryans with the blocks (10 each side)
20 – Toy Soldiers with a brick/block
20 – Windshield Wipers while holding blocks
40 – Brick Flies
40 – Block curls
20 – Clean and Press with the blocks
40 – Chest Press LBCs with the blocks
20 – Tricep Extensions with the blocks
Tortoise and Hare… pair up! – Lt. Dans (or Zombie Walk) with blocks around the track while partner does 10 clean and press (with blocks)
Run to catch partner… REPEAT until I say so.
Mosey the rest of the way around the track doing a rifle carry with the blocks
Put the blocks down for some core work to reign us all in…
Little Baby Oblique crunches… and Stogie-fied Gas Pumps
Fellowship Mosey to return the blocks to my truck
Announcements:
Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:
Thanks for letting me lead, Gavel. Don’t smoke ’em if you got them unless the cigars taste and smell good.
I’m Stogie, and I’m out!
Pax showed up… some ran, some rucked. Those who showed up beat the fartsack.
Moleskine:
Often times when asked to prepare a devotion, or something like this to talk about… I lean heavily into the thing that helps me most. And that’s the Sovereignty of God.
Basically there are no limits for God. He breathed the world into being. He said things and they happened. He’s done this for centuries even outside of creation. There’s not one single thing that goes on that was not known by Him. He’s never helpless, never frustrated, never at a loss for anything… so why should we ever be? When we’re in Christ it’s the most secure, peaceful, and free feeling we will probably have in this life before Christ comes back.
Proverbs 16:1 says, “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.” In that same chapter, verse 33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”. In the new testiment, after Judas committed suicide, Peter led 120 believers to cast lots to decide who should become an apostle in place of Judas. Barsabbas and Matthias became the two candidates. The remaining aposals prayed to God, asking who to choose… they cast lots again, and Matthias was chosen.
Now, if God is in control of everything… then that means every horrible and sinful thing is ultimately governed by God. That seems in correct… but if you think about it… the center of the solution is a choice to be made about the cross. God’s plan predestined everything into what took place to kill Jesus, some of the most horrible sins ever committed. But He planned it so that we might be saved from those sins… so that Jesus’ sacrifice would have weight to it.
This all might sound pretty heavy for a Monday morning, at around 6am… but just know… God knows you, and loves you… he’s got every part of your life in the palm of his hand. If you have any feelings of helplessness, frustration, or are at a loss… know that God is with you and will never leave you or forsake you.
Announcements:
We all know the announcements (though, you could call a Q fail because I didn’t meantion any… Q-fail and ComzQ-fail #hatetoseeit).
Prayer Requests:
Freight got called into work at the last minute. I haven’t Q’d in a while, so I picked it up. I combined 2-3 of my past weinkes into one. trying to dish out something as bad as “Fast Ricky” might have thrown down. The rain made it suck worse, but I dunno if I lived up to the ChatGPT photo Hunchback asked the AI to put together. The more I planned the workout, the more it became more about rehabbing Mayor’s shoulder (trying to follow a format of Shoulders or Back, Abs/Core, and Arms or more core. Mayor was out of town, so… it didn’t matter anyways.
We did a warm up with Short Sale and the Gashouse bootcampers. After some confusion about coupons (I brought enough for everyone, but folks wanted their own (despite not being able to use them for most of the movements)) we bear crawled or lunge walked a bit…
Bear Crawl to first station: 10 burpees (or flying squirrels)
Bear crawled some more to my truck for coupons… though we set the coupons down for some Iron Hulk (Iron Hulk (1:4 ratio of merkin to air presses) adding one with each person in the circle). Holy cow! It must have been too early, or folks didn’t have any coffee before the workout. The math and understanding of what this was… was BAD! Folks wanted a yoga mat for their knees… I was momentarily confused where I was and almost looking for Jane Fonda to show up from somewhere to relieve me.
We did two rounds of Iron Hulk before picking up coupons and moseying over to the museum.
We tried some additional warm up moves…
20 mnt man poopers – in cadence
20 ‘Roccan Night Clubs – in cadence
20 Arm Cirles Front – in cadence
20 Arm Cirles Back – in cadence
Tha Thang…
With 8 pound yard blocks in each hand we performed certain movements demonstrated and called out by the Q…
20 – SSH – in cadence with the blocks
20 – Plank Jacks – hands on the blocks
20 – Seal Jacks – without the blocks
20 – CDDs – hands on the blocks
20 – Flutters – without the block
20 – Hand release Merkins with a brick row
20 – Arnold Presses with blocks
20 – American Hammers with blocks
20 – Skull crushers with blocks together
10 – Bent Raise Rotation (Lat Raise – Forward Raise – Arm rotation up… Slow Reverse)
20 – Freddy Mercury’s – without the block
20 – Nolan Ryan’s with the blocks (10 each side)
20 – Toy Soldiers with the blocks
20 – Windshield Wipers while holding blocks
40 – Block curls with the blocks
20 – Clean and Press with the blocks
40 – Brick Fly LBCs with the blocks
20 – Tricep Extensions with the blocks
We repeated several of the above movements for at least 3 sets, mixing them up, but still trying to do a cluster of shoulder movement, ab movement, and an arm or back movement.
Once it was time, we did overhead claps with the blocks, or a military style press with the blocks… back to my truck.
We did a mary of core movements until the bootcampers returned (late).
Announcements:
Ever since Ozark and I ran a Savage Blitz last year I have been trying to think of ways to bring something like that to Folsom. I have had this ready since Fall/Winter of last year. It just kept getting postponed do to other events taking dates.
There were iterations where it was worse than it turned out to be. But between “don’t Q it if you can’t do it” and me being worried about the time length… It is what it is. I told the men in attendance (AND ONLY THOSE IN ATTENDANCE) that I welcomed any constructive criticism. If you liked it, great! Tell me why specifically. If you didn’t like it, fine! Tell me why specifically. Hopefully there will be some good ideas that will make this thing better next time we try it.
Other than having to plan all this out, and the coordination of things with other Pax… setting things up… and all the anxiety I have had since 4pm yesterday (no joke, I was worried I would forget things or the event wouldn’t be fun… or someone would get hurt… or…) this was probably the easiest Q I have ever done. I paired Pax up and asked they assign a navigator. The navigator was essentially the Q. So, if you did something wrong, or there was any Q Fails… blame them! Okay, maybe not… but it was a nice try. I did get feedback that better instructions on certain steps (or maybe a map of Folsom) would have helped those from other AOs (got it, noted!). But really, it was supposed to be guys working together for a common goal and seeing how well they read and understood written instructions. I could totally apply this to a lesson about reading (or only skimming) the Bible and only doing part of what is says, or misunderstanding things and not listening to the Sky Q… but this part of the Back Blast is already getting too long. You get what I’m saying.
Warm Up:
20 SSH
10 Mnt Man Poopers
40 Morracan Nightclubs
Grab a Partner
Pick a navigator and pay attention to their instructions!
***Note: If you can’t do an obstacle (one of the steps below) you must do 20 burpees (or flying squirrels) before continuing to the next step.
The Thang:
Mosey through the path around the lake to behind the dog park.
*** At the start, each Pax Grab a block.
Once you get to the bottom of the hill (behind the dog park) perform the following exercises:
Perform 20 Clean and Press with your block.
Mosey the path, with your block, to where the grass begins.
Rifle Carry your block, approximately, halfway up the hill
Perform 20 Clean and Press with your block.
Rifle Carry your block to the top of the hill.
With your block, mosey and jump over the drainage ditch and cross the road to the COT parking lot.
Holding your block, hopscotch through the parking lot – over to the soccer field.
Drop your blocks and take turns with your partner, flipping the power poles end over to the approximate middle of the soccer field.
Partner carry the power poles back to start.
Pick up your blocks and mosey through the soccer field, and over to the parking lot across the road – to the steps by the fitness shelter.
Do 10 calf raises down each step with your block.
*** Leave your block at the bottom of the steps.
Mosey counter clockwise halfway around the pond and up the hill to the horse stables.
Using the stables on the right, climb up and over one of the walls of one of the horse stalls.
*** Watch for nails and screws with your hand placement!!!***
Jog out of the stall and climb up and over the next one… do this with your partner for 3 stalls.
Running to your right, run counter-clockwise the rest of the way around the horse stable, cross in between and run clockwise around the 2nd set of stalls (the building on the left) and back to the concrete steps.
Do 10 calf raise each step up to the top.
Run to horse track and take 1.5 laps around to the gate on the other side.
Climb the stone bleachers to the top.
Run to the flag at the AG/Senior Center and say the pledge.
Cross over the road, to the parking lot across from the building, and Run-Nur-Run the main parking lots from right to left.
Mosey back down to the parking lot where you left your blocks (left at the triangle and down the hill).
Grab your blocks and mosey over to the block pile and put your block back on the pallet near the old animal shelter building.
Mosey to the amphitheater, near the bottom parking lot.
Each Pax, take turns pulling the rope to lift the sand bags until the flag reaches the top of the canopy’s girder.
Run back to the COT parking lot.
Take note of your time and then go find, and run with the six… (maybe head toward the horse stalls or AG Center to find Pax)
There were some who missed the warm up section. There were others who ran the wrong way around something, accidently going a shorter way. At the end of it all… we were all disqualified. But the closest team to winning was Gearwrench and Mary Poppins (Balljoint).
Bottom line, I wanted to do something different than the typical Bootcamp Q and I wanted folks to have fun. I think I was able to check both of those boxes off. Special t-claps go out to West Side and Wirenut (for providing two of the obstacles and helping me setup and tear down).
YHC took us out in a thankful prayer for all God has done for us. Thanks for allowing me to lead my first junior, jv, mini, non-sanctioned CSAUP – the rain and 40 degree temps made it worse than it really was.
Announcements:
2nd F Lunch at Pappa’s and Beer in Dallas – April 19th
Midoriyama Convergence – April 29th (I think)
Check out everything else in the latest Newsletter on Slack
Prayer Requests:
Huckleberry – still in the hospital from hernia surgery
Turtleman
Guy who died at the junkyard – Maybelline mentioned – pray for that guy’s family
Jackson Hall – brain cancer and treatment options in Atlanta
Praise Report from Pilgrims Progress about his friend.
Thanksgiving is my wife’s favorite holiday. Like myself, my wife is a realist. If you ask, “Is the glass half empty or half full?” She would ask, “Well, did you pour into the cup or out of it?”. Okay, so – she’s not this bad (though, actually, I am). But it is because of this that we may not always appear to be thankful. But we really are, thankful for a lot of things.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”. This makes me think of Psalm 118:24 which says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Pentecostals have a song about this we used to sing when I was a kid). I heard a guy just yesterday saying in a store how he didn’t have anything to be thankful for. A guy passing said, “You’re alive aren’t you?” – to which he replied, “Barely”. While the guy seemed to be joking, I kind of felt sorry, or bad, for him.
I recently saw where an actor from my childhood recently committed suicide. People thought he had a lot going for him and he was an inspiration to many. We don’t always know what people are going through, or what they truly are thinking. If you ever need to talk to someone about anything (ANYTHING) seriously don’t hesitate to reach out.
For the lives of Christians it goes beyond giving thanks even while suffering. Another Psalm says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Psalm 107:1. Another Pentecostal song is pulled from another Psalm that reads, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”, Psalm 103:2-5. There’s so much to be thankful for here in these passages/promises.
Really, if you ever wonder why God is good to us, as undeserving as we are (speaking for myself of course) it’s actually pretty simple. Corinthians 9:11 reads, “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”. God blesses us so we can bless others… one of those others is actually Him.
The true meaning of the word “Thanksgiving” is to glorify God as an act of worship, giving thanks for all the things God has provided (which is actually everything (including the air we’re breathing)). Even Webster’s definition of thanksgiving is, “a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness. : the act of giving thanks. “Divine goodness”, even the world’s chief definer of things can’t deny who we are to be thankful to.
So, while Friend, Food, and Football are all causes for celebration (or feeling thankful for), let’s try to remember the true reason we’re on this earth. That’s to glorify and worship God, giving Him thanks for all he’s done, does, and will continue to do.
Announcements:
Prayer Requests:
Today is the last day of Summer before kids go back to school. It’s also the last day I’ll be able to stay for a full workout during the week until next Summer (unless there’s a holiday or vacation). What better way to commemorate this than by running around a soccer field with a football (a semi-real one, not a soccer ball) and try to burn some calories in a different way.
The first time I played this game was with Swimmer. We ran around for 45 minutes and managed to somehow run the equivalent of a 5K. Now, I am fairly certain we did not do that this morning, but I think we still had some fun… and that was one of my two goals (1) Have Fun… 2) Burn as many calories doing it).
Warm Up:
20 Side Straddle Hops
15 Hillbillies
5 Burpees!
Tha Thang:
Mosey to the soccer field
Frisbee football with a small light up football… in the dark…
How hard could it be? Maybe I should have told them to tap the ball to light it up before throwing it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
On the way back to the COT we did:
– 20 Mountain Climbers in cadence
– 25 Merkins in cadence (or some semblance of arms out and lowering your body to the ground and back up if you were me, or one of the Pax that couldn’t stop laughing long enough to do some movement)
– 20 Flutter Kicks in cadence
Moseyed to the light at the entrance to the tennis court parking lot and repeated the same circuit.
Moseyed to the COT to finish up with some Mary.
Pledge
Announcements:
– F3 Dads this weekend (20th) at the Yank
– Wednesday is 2nd F Lunch at Viva Tequilas in Gastonia (near Down Town)
– Sept 1th is the 50 miler CSAUP – Get on Slack to sign up
– Hot Tub Installation Party at Bed Pan’s house… he’ll let us know if needed.
Prayer Requests:
– Big Pappy
– Huck
– Linda Parker – Hacksaw’s Mother
– Huck
– Turtle Man
– Striper’s Brother
– GearWrench’s Brother
– Sarlaac’s Daughter
– Medicine Woman’s Cousin’s Family and His
– Achey Breaky’s Uncle and the Ryan Family (loss of Achey’s mentor and friend at his last job)
Warm Up:
20 Side Straddle Hops
15 Hillbillies
20 Seal Jacks
15 Imperial Walkers
5 Burpees!
20 Forward and Backwards Claps…
5 Burpees!
The Thang:
Mosey to the brick steps… 20 calf raises each of the 5 steps.
Mosey to the Gazebo-looking bench
25 Merkins:
– Wide Arms
5 Burpees!
25 Merkins:
– Diamonds
5 Burpees!
25 Merkins:
– Planch
5 Burpees!
We did 20 dips mixed in there somewhere for a couple of rounds/sets.
REPEAT!
Mosey to track!
In and Outs on the track for 4 laps – Speed walk the straightaways and sprint the corners.
Mosey back to the Gazebo-looking bench for one more round of all of the merkins, some dips, and a few squats for good measure.
Hacksaw said he was at .98 of a mile after BP asked if we saw the sign that said 4 laps was a mile.
So, to get us all to a mile we moseyed over to the steps for 20 calf raises each of the 5 steps before moseying back to the COT for some Ab work with Mary.
The workout was pretty simple and the movements were easy, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t an effective workout. If you don’t believe me, just ask Mr. Jim Duggan and Mr. The Pan. While I consider them friends, and they may have just been being nice (saying it was a good workout), I think we all did good this morning and benefitted from the time running around a vacant park in the dark of the morning.
All I can say is, next time #showtoknow.
I’m Stogie, and I’m out!
Announcements:
– F3 Dads this weekend (20th) at the Yank
– Wednesday is 2nd F Lunch at Viva Tequilas in Gastonia (near Down Town)
– Sept 1th is the 50 miler CSAUP – Get on Slack to sign up
– Hot Tub Installation Party at Bed Pan’s house… he’ll let us know if needed.
Prayer Requests:
– Big Pappy
– Huck
– Linda Parker – Hacksaw’s Mother
– Bed Pan’s M and family (pray for his sanity this weekend with his 2.0’s birthday party)
© 2024 F3 Gastonia
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑