Day: March 10, 2024

The forecast called for rain. It didn’t say anything about a monsoon for this Saturday at Painlab. Some guys joked about changing the name to Rainlab for the day. That’s a little too cheesy, even for YHC. This is what happened…

We did the usual group warmup with the bootcamp guys, except today Shorty wanted to take most of our time for a monologue-length disclaimer and to workshop some of his new aerobics exercises. We indulged him until even he realized this was going nowhere fast, so we split up.

The Painlabbers counted off and 4 HIM would do the work. Apparently, its protocol to bring your own kettlebell but YHC switched it up by bringing a load of bricks for the fun of it. Grab a couple bricks and head down the nature trail behind the museum. We maneuvered down the inundated trail, forded the raging creek and arrived at the lone dry spot on the property. From now on, it will be called the Hut ‘O Tears!

The Thang –

Full disclosure, YHC didn’t know who, if anyone, would show up for a Sargento lead low impact, low cardio beatdown. The fact that we had 4 was perfect for the Hut ‘O Tears and, lucky for us, there was even a table to use for the Deck of Death. That’s right, the most no-brainer beatdown there is was just what the meteorologist ordered on this less-than fine morn.

We did the straightforward method, do the exercise stated on the card thing, except Tube tried to monopolize all the fun and just went to steady picking. YHC had to give him a lesson on DOD etiquette (pull one card at a time and that’s your turn then rotate clockwise). We’re all here to get better and learn, right?

Anyway, we modified some of the exercises for lack of space and the ever-present downpour that varied from steady to torrential. All in all, we got work done, lots of Merkins varieties were done today too.

We moseyed back toward the start, pausing at the even smaller oupost at the top of the hill that shielded some of the rain, where we waited for the bootcampers to show up. They never did, (you hate to see it) so we said our own Pledge of Allegiance and finished COT. Thanks for voluntelling me I had the Q today way back in December Hunchback. Keep Qing that site and Shaking that Weasel. Aye!

Twelve HIMS met at Members Only for Running and Rucking this fine morning and then retired to discuss The Queen, the complement of Fitness which is keeping control of your weight. Good coffee and conversation flowed from a brisk morning workout and the Q Source.

8:1 Ruckers to runners on a post-Mortimer Sunday at the Coconut Horse, with another 3 (Stroganoff, Defib, Short Sale) for QSource making for a strong showing on a day when I’m sure it’d been easier to just stay in the Fartsack.  FNG on Daylight Savings Sunday too made for a good time as we welcomed BetaMax to the group.

It’s Q’s Choice at the Coconut Horse QSource, so YHC stuck to an old favorite – Bricks & Guardrails.  No notes were taken, so here’s what I remember:

Our goal is to continue to accelerate, and at the same time, life throws us, and there’s inevitable wrenches in the plan.  We can’t spend all our time being careful though and just avoiding mistakes.  As we careen down life’s highway, it’s important to lay the bricks that make up our guardrails.

Bricks are positive habits that are advantageous to ourselves, others, or both.  Examples of bricks include:

• Posting
• Maintaining a healthy diet
• Journaling
• Prayer
• Reading
• 2nd F opportunities

There are times in life when stress rises and we’re tested.  At these times, will we be the men our beliefs tell us to be?  The strength comes from support, and will be based on the groundwork we laid prior.  As stress goes up, support needs to too.  We should resist the urge to retreat and try to handle it on our own.  It’s at these times that the Shieldlock is vital, and the relationships we’ve built give us a boost and keep us strong when we need it.  We also benefit from resisting the urge to be selfish and finding a way to give back, even during hard times.

How can we help be a support in someone else’s guardrails?  By knowing them well enough to hold them accountable to their standard.  From QSource: “Enforcement requires the intercession of another person to measure one’s actual performance or behavior against the standard he previously agreed to set for it…. Without Enforcement, a man’s Blind Spots will lead him to continually lower his own standards to meet his own declining performance until both meet at the bedrock of his life.”  And it’s important to get back on track as quickly as possible.  In F3, we have this agreed upon standard of just posting.  If you haven’t seen a guy out lately, at the very least, you can hold him to that standard.  Then the better you know him, the more accurate and impactful your enforcement can be.

Finally, if we find ourselves decelerating, what do we do?

• Reestablish fundamentals – In the course of accelerating, we take on a lot.  When we crest the peak and start down the other side, all those things that we juggled just fine before can get tough.  Make sure the basics are intact and build from there.  Keep an eye on your Concentrica.
• Show up – It’s simple.  Our actions can take over when our head’s not in it.  Show up anyways.
• Mistakes are inevitable.  Avoid the 2nd Mistake – If we mess something up – diet, Fartsacking, or anything else – it’s not a good thing, but it’s just a single mistake.  When we do it again, that’s the start of a bad habit.  Again, get back on track as quickly as possible.
• Train for Chaos – No excuses.  If your acceleration and principles only hold up in ideal circumstances, they’re not worth a whole lot.  As much as we don’t want to admit it, most of our growth comes from chaos.  Stay aware in the storm, learn from it, and be better prepared for the next one.

So grateful for the opportunity to lead and the opinions shared by the PAX at the Horse during QSource today.

Big volunteer opportunities on the horizon, with Rice & Beans (Anchorman) on Tuesday, Food Ruck (BOS) Saturday and Dream Center (JJ) workout coming up by the end of March.  Contact the PAX leading those efforts for more details.

Thanks again for being the HIM and examples that you are.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Disclaimer: I had to give a disclaimer that I was in fact, not a slender or trim individual in the event that anyone there was unaware and that we would be talking about daily discipline of eating as it was pointed out to me by a fellow F3er mechanic.

Lots of good discussion and we went five minutes over.  Here is the brief list of topics hit on outside of the socratics and an email link to a quick YouTube video.

Does it matter what you eat or how much of it?
What is healthy eating?
What is the best diet?
Hard to get in shape spiritually if you only workout on Sunday.  Same with food
Tim Kennedy Israel statement
Childhood obesity
Social media and comfort.  Eat out of shame or if bored?
Many calories and tracking and accuracy of tracking using fitness watches and heart rate monitors are usually still at best 93%
Best practices of weighing in and accountability

Announcements:  April 13 SFN > send Purple Haze a DM if you can run this, Rice & Beans send Anchorman a DM if you can attend Tuesday , Donations for mens clothing (Hei Hei) give to him anytime, BOS is leading a food ruck starting at 5:45 at the Yank on 3/16,  Austin 3:16 beatdown at Folsom, Extinction Run on 4/20 @ 10:00, 2nd F Lunch Bad Daddys on 3/20

TAP:  Stogie and the retina troubles , Purple Haze Family (travel mercies), EZ Rider (Family), Anchorman, Jason Hall (Jackson), Haiti, Slaw and Chili’s dad with COVID

Name-O-Rama

YHC took it out.