First I want to apologize in the delay to get this out. With the move and settling into my new role it has been busy, but that is no excuse for not getting it out sooner!
This Q started back on 1/1/2017. T-Square had the heart and the vision to approach me, one sad clown, and invited me to this thing called F3! I’ve been wanting to exercise more and be part of a community of men that pursued God and fitness and this seemed to be the perfect fit. I knew my track record though and figured I wouldn’t commit and follow through and gave myself at most 3 weeks before having some excuse not to continue with F3.
I decided to go and it took me a couple days of saying I would go before finally defeating that darned fart sack! It was chilly morning and I came out in work out pants, two layers of shirts, a coat, and a stocking cap. I soon realized I was way over dressed and couldn’t shed the layers fast enough. Unfortunately it was one Gastone’s Hill workouts and I had no clue where we were going next so I just continued to sweat to death instead of littering the homeowners yards with my displaced clothes while Gastone tried to kill me. Here is the link to my first exercise…
Thank you Gastone for making it so remember able that I came back for more. I couldn’t keep up at all and think I may have done 5 flutters and 5 merkins before collapsing it was all I could do to just try to keep up by doing maybe a 1/3 of the exercises. It all finally ended and it was then I got the name Bulldog, to Hell with Georgia!
I started to come Monday through Saturday, with a few appearances at Goat Island but ended up between Martha’s House, Folsom, Downtown and the Scheil. I started to go everyday not for the fitness but because I was so soar from the previous day I realized that working out the next day it helped the soarness go away. The fitness may have been the first thing that brought me to F3 but it was this group of men that kept me coming. I knew that this group of men really was special, and not just that Whoopee kind of special. This group was on mission and on purpose to build up men through true community and through Christ’s power and prayer.
I got the privilege to lead this group multiple times but was never so honored in my life to lead my last Q with this group (38 men from my count). I knew Folsom’s Saturdays were getting larger and was expecting to have about 15-18 men there but you all kept it a great secret of a convergence. I was in awe, honored, and humbled that you all would come out to support me on my last Q. It was again a shinning example of the brotherhood formed in this group. I’ve served and lead in a church and a fire department for years and never experienced this type of strength and bond. I tried to make a short speech expressing my thoughts and appreciation but I knew if I was going to keep it together I better get started so SLAUGHTER STARTER!
So warm up was the slaughter starter. Then a mosey to the bottom of the large park lot, it was the largest area I could think of to give us enough room for the next exercise. Dora Hill Climb. Partner 1 does exercises at bottom of the parking lot while Partner 2 runs up to the top of the parking lot (75 yards?) does 5 burpees, and then runs back down and switches with Partner 1. Exercise were
- 200 LCB’s
- 200 Mountain Climbers
- 200 Michael Phelps
- 100 – 200 Mike Tysons (had to Omaha these)
- 200 American Hammers
After Dora, we mosey’d around till we got the the tennis courts. Here again because of the group size split in half. Half of the men lined up on one side of the tennis courts and the other half on the other.
- Crab Walk to net, 25 diamonds
- Lunges walk to to fence, 25 sumo squats
- Bear crawl to net, 25 CDD
- Duck Walk back to fence, 25 monkey humpers
Rinse and repeat. At this time we tried a new exercise. We met in the middle of the courts at the net, half on one side and half on the other. Group 1 got shoulder to shoulder, at this time a few men lost their shirts and it was quite nasty at the amount of sweat and stink that was coming out of us…anyways shoulder to shoulder in a sit up position, arms locked together and feet under the net with Group 2 standing on our feet. 15 sit ups in cadence. This was an awesome exercise because as one man starts to struggle in completing the sit up the two on either side is arm locked and helps his struggling brother get up to stay with the team. We switched and it was Group 2’s turn. We then rinsed (in each other’s sweat I think) and repeated but at 30 sit ups this time. I think I might call this one, shield lock sit ups!
We had about 5 minutes left in our hour so we did some tennis court suicides with some burpees at the starting line. It was a great finish to an awesome beat down that I myself wanted to kick myself for coming up with. We meandered back to the parking lot. Sparky shared some water with everyone, had prayer requests and announcements and then I was presented with an F3 shirt signed by you all. This shirt and the surprise of the convergence was amazing, I will always treasure this day and the gift of the shirt, the gift of being part of this group.
We finished with the pledge, pictures and pancakes that probably needed a large flat shovel to flip! It has been great men and I look forward to working out with you all again if God allows!