Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

Month: February 2021 (Page 3 of 10)

No running

I have not been Q for a looooong time. Really long. Like……long. So when Flintstone asked me to Q a week or so ago, I knew there was only 1 answer.  I knew after Dam 2 Dam I would be a bit sore, but that, as we all know, is not a good enough excuse. Sure enough the legs were a bit sore. Tube committed to posting to my Q with the agreement that running would not be on the menu. Little did he know at the time that was actually going to be good for me….maybe.

There was a crowd of around 8 when I pulled up despite the rain and cooler weather. It felt good to be out there….who believes that??? It sucked. It was cold. It was raining. My bed was way more comfortable. However, it was great to be back out there with the guys. It has been too long. It’s easy to complain about the cold and wet mornings when you have an option. When you cannot be there for legit reasons….well, that’s when you really appreciate the gloom and your F3 Brothers.

I started with a quick disclaimer just after giving props to Folgers for both his name and for continuing to post-real big props to this guy. He is a big-time rock pusher. If you don’t know the origin of his name…..ask him. I know where you can find him most mornings at 0530. We hit the pledge then got to work. I started by ‘splaining we would not be running today which caused a groan from a few guys who knew this meant lunge city.

We started off lunging to the wall and did some dips. We then got back to lunging and I gave Clavin a choice: Money or Chicken? He chose money so we headed to the bank (instead of KFC). We only lunged part of the way then slow-moseyed the rest of the way. Once we got there I opened the weinke using my trusty Otter Bag from Apple (thanks Clavin) and we got to work. We started against the wall in a line for some “Squat the Line’ which goes like this: everyone Balls to the Wall then start on one end and first PAX drops for 10 squats while others remain in BTTW. He finishes squats then back into BTTW. Next PAX drops for 10 squats on down the line. The Q had mercy (and got tired) so we had others drop for the squats from other end then the middle. Once everyone got some squats, we all dropped and recovered. Note to self: this would be much better with like 2 PAX next time, maybe even solo. We lunged to the other side of the bank and realized the AC units were in the way for us to use the wall (thanks Stroganoff) so we lunged back to the first side of the bank. Next up were some Australian Mountain Climbers with sets of 10, 15, and 20. We had a short intermission then started with the big thang: 22’s: 22 reps on 1 side then drop by 2 reps every time across and back. The first sets were Merkins and LBCs. The second set were Hip Slappers and Big Boy situps. I have to say those Hip Slappers kicked my rump. They were tough-I guess I need to be doing more of them.  It was getting close to time so we started with our trip back home with Murder Lunges; 4 lunges for each leg then 1 Merkin. Repeat with 2 Merkins. Repeat with 3 Merkins. Keep going up with Merkins until you get back to home base. Some of us took a short cut (followed the rules, but still took a short cut). It was an un-named PAX whose name rhymes with Asstone. I believe we (and by “we” I mean all of us except Asstone) got up to 12 Merkins before we got home and about the time Asstone was offered a ride from some random dude in a wife beater who thought we were chasing him (in slow motion????). We had a few minutes at the end so we did 5 reps of any called exercise from each PAX then called it a day. We finished with COT then got outta there.

Today was a really good day. It was good to be back. Last night I took some pictures of Jocko’s book Discipline Equals Freedom to read to the PAX while we recovered between exercises. I didn’t add any commentary because…..well, Jocko wrote it. Anyone who reads Jocko probably understands what I mean. If you have the book, you can look these pages up: Begin, Weakness, Destroyer Mode, Fear of Failure, and Not Feeling It. Here are the cliff notes:

Begin-get out in the gloom and work your ass off

Weakness-everyone has weakness, work your butt off and fight every day to get better, don’t accept weakness as a final destination

Destroyer Mode-Q power, get some

Fear of Failure-fear of failure can and should motivate you however be most afraid of doing nothing

Not Feeling It-go anyway, get it done, the only thing you should procrastinate is procrastination.

Thanks for the invite to Q Flintstone. It was what I needed. I should have done this a long time ago. Glad I have been around HIMs to keep me somewhat involved even though I have not been very visible.

Whoopee

 

Hollywood 2/22/21

C’mon sweeties, a little rain won’t hurt you.  Only three started the week the right way.

Move to awning at school for warm up.  SSH and toy soldiers 20X, 15 cotton pickers.  Stay at shelter.  Start with three exercises, burpees squats and big boys.  10 times each, take lap around parking lot.  Do 9 and take a lap.  All the way to one.  Same thing again but new exercises, suspension merkins lunges each leg and american hammers.  Got to five and called time. Pledge.

Moleskin:  we are called to invigorate male leadership.  Saturday numbers running really good for most part.  Maybe time to look at new Saturday AO in a place of need?  Numbers seem strong enough to plant.  YHC willing to have the conversation and take some action.

Announcements: Strides of March coming up, need ruckers  to fill out team for Mortimer (contact Pilgrim).

Prayer requests:  People of Texas, Freon M with eye surgery, Red Ribbon brother and sister in law

YHC took us out

Always an honor

Tiger

Healthy body

Pappy asked me a couple weeks ago if I’d Q the Sword today, and I said yes, knowing I have been the king of the fartsack for a while, but hoping it would help! And it did, it got me out of the bed, and pushed me to get into the Word! When Pappy asked, he told me the theme right now at the Sword is the Body of Christ “ the church”! So I went with Ephesians 4:16- the ESV- “ From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The NLT- He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

If we have been saved, if we are followers of Christ? Then we are part of the body of Christ, the church!

Once we are part of this body, we are being equipped to do a job, each part has a special job! We need and depend each other, so that each part can function properly. Each part is different, but has one goal, to glorify God!!

When I was studying, I was thinking about a marathon runner, he is one body with many parts! Who’s goal is finishing the race, 26.2 miles!! If one part on this runner isn’t working properly, the whole body feels it! When a part is weak or hurt, it affects the runner, no matter how small or insignificant the part may be, it’s important! Sometimes a body part has to work harder to make up for the weaker part, and in turn can get hurt itself! God has placed a special calling on each of us, and it’s important that we walk in a manner worthy of that calling!

I am thankful for strong parts that carry the load when I am weak!

Announcement- several runs coming up, and a CSAUP

Prayer request- Big Pappy and family, SA and family, Montross mom, Wichita’s mom, each other

Pappy thank you for asking, and letting me lead this morning!

Cobra Kai’s new Dojo, not.

It’s below freezing and these Hims need a little warm up.  After a half a dozen core stretches, we commence to do a some Kihon techniques. In squat position, we do low punches and high defense then low side kicks. Enough with the kiai’s.. lets go hit the trails. We mosey down the nature trail and cross the bridge for some bear crawls up to the benches. We plank while waiting on the others. Next is steps up, incline push ups and triceps dips. We circle around for merkins and Don Quixotes and some thing else. . . I can’t remember. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Let’s head back to base early to meet up with Bootcamp to mix things up. Flintstone has plans for a WWF match up……let’s see where this takes us. You’ll have to catch his backblast to see where this went, lol.

A stylin, profilin, kiss-stealin, wheelin & dealin beatdown, and the NEW Tag Team Champions of the WORLD

5 of F3 Gastonia’s finest, and 1 from the Livermush Capital of the World took a little trip down memory lane and paired up with the PainLab to crown the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express as the undefeated tag-team champions.  Here’s what I remember:

Knowing Latte from F3 Shelby was coming in, YHC worked on Woody to try to get the band back together.  Woody’s been on the IR, but wanted to give it a go, so the stage was set.  Reached out to Tube with an idea, he was game, and with a late-night Weinke ready to roll, 7 o’clock came and it was time to go.

One problem.  No Woody.  Turns out Father Time catches up to all of us, and we just don’t heal like we used to.  To see if he was ready, he did some light work, and it wasn’t going to happen.  If you know Woody, he’s only got one speed, and that’s balls to the wall, so today wasn’t the day.

The Thang:

  • 10 x SSH (IC)
  • 10 x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
  • 10 x Cotton Pickers (IC)
  • Train (5 Burpees – OYO)

At this point, we heard from the man himself and followed it up with

  • 4 Wooooo! x Ric Flair Burpees

Pledged and split and bootcamp moseyed to Grier.

When YHC was just a young Flintstone, my family started going to Brookleigh Baptist Church off Robinson Rd. in Gastonia.  Latte’s dad was the preacher there and Woody’s family attended very regularly.  It was the kind of church where everyone attended regularly and everybody knew everybody really well.  As we grew older, the 3 of us spent a lot of time together, and as the youngest, YHC was always a passenger in Woody’s Ford Taurus SHO or Latte’s Chevy S10.

So that explanation took forever, but not as long as it took to call the exercise.  In Triple Nickel fashion (but definitely not a Triple Nickel), we did 5 rounds and 5 reps at these stations:

  • BBC (Brookleigh Baptist Church)
    • Bonnie Blairs
    • Big Boys
    • Chuck Norris Merkins
  • SHO (Woody’s Ford Taurus SHO)
    • Sandy Vs
    • Hand-release Merkins
    • One-legged calf raises (each leg)

stopping halfway between stations for

  • S10 (Latte’s Chevy S10)
    • 10 x SSH

Took a couple rounds to find the rhythm of it, but it eventually went down like a nice raw egg.  Work done, on to the next one.

We used to play 21 a lot, not Blackjack, but the basketball version of 21.  Nutria explained it well, calling it “basketball without the rules”.  So we partnered up and each partner went a separate direction to do the exercise at that station, ascending in reps from 1-10.  2 partners x 10 reps = 20, and then you take a free throw to make 21 and win the game.  Stations were

  • Apolo Onos
  • Dying Cockroaches

With time running short, YHC called a number of Omahas, took advantage of rule changes that allowed my teammate a clutch second free throw (nice work Watts Up), packed up my balls and headed back to the shovel flag to meet up with PainLab.

As a teenager, Monday nights were all about wrestling, WCW Monday Nitro and WWF Monday Night RAW were in a battle of their own, and we watched Flair, Hogan, Stone Cold, HBK, the Undertaker, the nWo, DDP, The Rock, Mean Gene, and the whole cast of characters put on a show every Monday night.

Together with the PAX of PainLab, we put on a show of our own, with a little tag-team tournament.  After a trip to the Footmobile for some bricks and a quick split into partners we were ready.

The idea:

  • 2 Teams of 2 PAX squared off in 3 minute matches
  • PAX #1 does reps of called exercise and keeps count while PAX #2 holds a position
  • When PAX #1 can’t do any more, he “tags” in his partner, and the 2 switch
  • Total score for each team for each match is the combined total number of reps of the 2 PAX
  • Team with the highest number of reps wins the match

The Teams:

  • Tube & Dirty White Boy
  • Les Nessman & Flintstone
  • Nutria & El Toro
  • Bandit & Latte
  • Linus, Handcuff & FNG (Ziptie)
  • Dirt, Clavin & Hermie
  • Voodoo & Watts Up

The Exercises:

  • Merkins / Plank
  • Michael Phelps (w/bricks) / 6 inches
  • Overhead Presses (w/bricks) / Hold bricks to the side
  • LBCs / Lateral Planks
  • Standing Shoulder Taps / Bricks overhead

4 rounds of intense staredowns, lots of hollerin, and questionable counting led to a championship match between Voodoo & Watts Up (Rock ‘n’ Roll Express) and Dirt & Hermie (who got the name “Bert & Ernie”).  Rock ‘n’ Roll Express finished the job, remaining undefeated for all 5 rounds and earning the first tag-team title that I’ve ever given out.  I guess we need to have championship belts made and challengers to the title to make it official.

Had a blast with the guys from PainLab, as the tournament was a good time.  I didn’t even catch too much crap for coming in at 8:02 (as I recall, the best Monday night’s ran over too, so it was an authentic experience).

Announcements:

  • Strides of March – March 6th – Sign Up
  • Rooster – March 13th
  • Mortimer Team raising money – Sargento to post info

Prayer Requests:

  • Dirty White Boy w/programming course
  • Latte’s sister-in-law recovering from surgery
  • Firemen & Law enforcement officers
  • Texas and the south
  • Bandit’s friend Rob is doing better
  • T-Square & family
  • Tube’s brother-in-law w/addiction

Moleskin:

Part of growing up and getting older is the regular rotation of people into and out of life’s orbit.  Changes in homes and hometowns and jobs and phases of life and kids and their friends and parents generally mean that at any given moment on any given day, the people you spend the most time with and those you trust could be very different than those from, say 5 years ago.  We go our separate ways, lose touch, and find it hard to recreate the same conditions that brought us together in the first place.

It’s an obvious part of why family is important.  Whether your family is your family in a literal sense, or a group of people that have stuck with you through thick and thin, they’ve been there through all the phases and really know you.  They’re genuinely irreplaceable.

Latte and Woody who have been there through it all and still keep coming back for more.  Sure, some times are more frequent than others, but we’ve always got each others’ support, and a strong foundation built by years of trust that we can always lean on.

By joining F3 and being a part of the PAX, we inherit a family that will know us and support us to the extent that we allow ourselves to be known and supported.  The fundamental principles of inclusion (for all men) and the COT make this possible.  As we go hard and bump fists in The Gloom, we forge the same kind of foundation with our F3 brothers as we do our friends and family.  We lock shields with those most like us, and celebrate and mourn with each other as life happens.  The national reach of F3 means that no matter where we go, we have brothers in the area who have likewise done more Merkins and Burpees than they can count.

It’s why reaching out and bringing back Kotters is just so important.  Each day that goes by makes it harder for them to come back.  Injuries, life, or just chronic fartsacking have a way of derailing things and making a SadClown of anyone.  We can’t make decisions for anyone else, but a strong EH game and constant support can go a long way.  There’s too much good in F3 for men who have been a part of it and needed it to feel like they can’t be a part anymore.

At the end of the day, family is all we got.  I’m thankful for mine.  I’m thankful for Latte and Woody.  And I’m thankful for the men of F3 Gastonia.  Grateful, as always, for the opportunity to lead.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Accelerate and Disrupt

19 HIMs on a cold, but sunny morning at Crossroads for a run or ruck. Great to see these guys accelerating individually and as part of the whole group!

I believe we had 16 stay for Q Source on DRP: Daily Red Pill. In short, continue to accelerate. You can’t stand still, for if you do, you are actually decelerating. As Disruptors, let’s make it a goal to seek out and reach out to Kotters and Sad Clowns.

Requests:

Broke’s Mom

SA Family

Big Pappy and family

Announcements:

Sign up for Strides of March CSAUP.

Saturday, March 6  6:30 am

 

Roundup took us out in prayer.

 

Great crowd! So thankful for you guys!

Seuss

 

We are all Clowns

Today was the last day of the book “The Four Agreeemnts”.   We discussed Freedom the Toltec’s Way of Life…..Master Awareness, The Mastery of Transformation, and the Mastery of Intent.  Intent is life itself.  Unconditional Love.  A Mastery of Intent=Mastery of Love.

Imagine if you lived:  giving yourself permission to be happy

-Without fear of expressing your dreams

-Without fear of being judged by others

-Without judging

-Without fear of loving or being loved

-Without fear of taking risks

-That you love yourself the way you are.

The Warrior has control over emotions and is not concerned with being judged.  They fight their negative emotions that hold them back.  The more you can do this, the more you will be free.

I will go ahead and call out Sargento for being a warrior.  He took lots of grief for his colorful running outfit today but there is respect because A. he was conspicious to traffic and B. he obviously doesn’t concern himself about what other people think.  We could all benefit form being a little more like Sargento.  #HIM

 

As for the workout, I really don’t know what happened.  Being on IR I do know there were ruckers and runners out there.  DDC was even back to the COT.  We usually just pass him somewhere along the way!  Props to JJ and Whoopee for completing the D2D relay yesterday and posting again today.  Strong work!

Good work men.  Next week Stroganoff will be covering the book “Freed to Lead” by Dredd and OBT.  If you have been in F3 for more than a month, get this book and read it and it will all make sense.

Keep being cheesy!

Roscoe

Finally, a DRY Crossroads! QSource: Get Right

It was a cold 32 but 10 PAX showed for a dry run finally!  I think Mayor was so overwhelmed he couldn’t remember his birth name!  Moved inside for QSource QPoint: Get Right w/ YHC.  Great discussion!

Announcements:  Strides of March (3/6/21) see preblast and signup / P200 & Mortimer coming up (3/19 weekend) / Rooster ???

Prayer Requests:  Guy family (little girl heart transplant recipient) / Sister Act and his family

Beatdown on the frozen muck.

Been a cold, wet, bone chilling couple of weeks for the pax of late. It’s February. Pretty much what February is all about. The longest four months of the year. No surprise to find out numbers are down.  Had three at The Goat Thursday. it was ugly. but often times winning ugly is what it is all about. So YHC poured the buttermilk. started with a 5;45 am pre ruck with several pax then we got down to the REAL biz of the day:

COP:

SS – Burpees X 5

IWs X 20

Cotton Pickers X 20

Grapevines

Nolan Ryans X 10 each side

Mosey to the top of Heartbreak Hill for some halfpipes in the muck.

Top – Plank jacks X 5

Bottom – Burpees X 5

top – Butt to the street MHs

Repeat 2X , stay on the street when you’re up there.

Mosey over Hawthorne Hill for some KILLER Blimps! (as in Blimps, not Blimp)

P1 – Run to the top of the hill @ 200 yards.

P2 – do the called work.

B – Burpees

L- Lunges

I – IWs

M – Merkins

P- Plank jacks

S – Squats

Hill was tough today! I wanted to call it at BLIMP. But we showed up for BLIMPS! So we did it. All of it.

Mosey back to the park and up the hill. Guess. What. That. Means? Why ELSE would we come here in the 4th quarter of a workout. If your guess is bear Crawl Slalom, you win the prize! So we did do this thing – in the frozen muck. it was pretty epic. Everyone got two turns. After this, mosey down to the Yank to wrap up with a pledge and COT.

NMM:

14 strong willed pax showed up today and did the work. Want to shout out to Liono who really put it out there today. Appreciate the positive feedback on the Q while we were doing BLIMPS. You got a Q who pushes you and you’re out there for that let him know! We ‘re not out here in freezing conditions (which YHC actually likes) to just go through the motions. We’re here to get better and that takes effort. Pax responded well. EC Ruck was good to. 5 pax on that jaunt.

Great prayers today and mostly for praises! Especially for Slim Shady. His health is good. I was a little concerned about that. Glad he’s OK. Obviously we have divided nation that needs some leadership on a day to day local basis. Boys, that’s us!

Enjoyed leading this group.

Tesla out.

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