13 High Impact Men (HIM’s) started the morning pushing the rock. Some rucked 5 miles, some ran 5 miles. Roadie was there to encourage even with an injured ankle! Aye! Pizza Man rucked so it was unusual to see him for more than just a few seconds. Mayor was talking which is always a treat. I saw Hacksaw running with a ruck. Broke and Gold Digger ran up front and also a little EC over 6 miles total. Breaker Breaker pulled me the distance with some nice conversation as we chased Blart, Gumby, Roundup, Moses and Barrel Racer. Thanks Breaker! Most stayed for coffee. Sister Act started Roadie on the iced coffee a while back and I think he is addicted. Mayor took his wife some coffee. Ain’t he sweet? That Mayor is always politicking! Short talk about accelerating, not just in fitness but every part of our life and relationships. We need to not be satisfied with where we’ve been but push to be better! Prayers for Gumby’s father in law, Hacksaw’s daughter and family traveling, Slaw’s travels.
Author: Def Leppard (Page 13 of 17)
06/30/2018 Folsom
Warm Up led by Pizza Man as Q as Q failed to finish prep work on time. Q returned by pledge.
The Thang:
Mosey to the tennis courts. Pair off across nets. Start up one Booyah Burpee, paint the lines (run along the court lines), meet back at the net and do another Booyah Burpee, perform the exercise x 20. Each half court had a different exercise: Air press, Burpees, CDD’s, Monkey Humpers, American Hammers, SSH, Overhead Claps, Mountain Climbers, Freddie Mercuries, LBC’s, Flutter Kicks and Merkins until everyone had completed all exercises.
Circle Up for Oompas Birthday presents. Pax select their exercise to share. Slaw gave Walmart Burpees (he got from Monk Friday) and it went downhill from there.
Mosey to the flag and COT.
Thanks to all who were there and who wanted to be but couldn’t.
Oompa Loompa
06/28/2018
Not being the creative type, Weinke creation never comes easy for me. I spend too much time thinking about the distance of the runs, the distribution of the exercises to the muscle groups, what parts of the AO may or may not be available, who may or may not be posting. So I always try to remember routines I think I could Q and Short Sale is so good at the Weinke why not “borrow” from the master. This was mostly “borrowed” from Short Sale’s Q at Downtown a few weeks ago. 7 for the boot camp while Swimmer and Two Stroke rode mountain bikes, and if you have ever ridden with those two, and I have, them boys are fast!
Pledge
25 second timer with no rest in between.
(Another thing I realized when “borrowing” from Short Sale is I don’t know what half of his exercises are even though I just did them at his Q so I have to use the ones I can remember and also perform, so here we go).
Seal Jacks
Mountain Climbers
Imperial Walkers (Yes, Freight I did the first one wrong)
High Knees (Wojo liked these)
Merkins (Butt was down)
LBC’s (Where’s my boy Huck)
American Hammers (If Ash Pond were here, he would have taken off his shirt)
Flutter Kicks (Always Stroganoff’s fault)
WWI Sit Ups (I am not good at these so we have to keep doing them)
Mosey to the small Soccer Field
Short Sale Death Lap
The plan was to stay together on the first lap and then let the hard chargers (Slaw and Shocker) complete as many laps as possible but unlike Short Sale I had my lap distance a little too long so we all stayed together which worked just fine.
Dips x 10, mosey to the back parking lot near Turd Shack 2
Burpees x 10, mosey around the parking lot to the sidewalk near the big soccer fields
SSH x 10, mosey to the corner of the back large soccer field
Merkins x 10, mosey to the bottom of Dog Park Hill
Monkey Humpers x 10, mosey up Dog Park Hill touch the fence and return
Plank Jacks x 10, mosey to the bleachers of the front large soccer field
Box Jumps x 10, mosey back to the small soccer field bleachers.
Everyone was gassed so I told everyone to be sure to read Billy Madison’s back blast where he shared his story about how F3 helped pull him through a tough time (and I mean about as tough a time as anyone will ever have). This is a reminder to be there for all of the guys around you to help them. That said, REPEAT the Short Sale Death Lap. After the second lap, Short Sale was not a popular guy. I tried to defend him the best I could.
We set up the field for Frisbee Football. This time actually using a Frisbee instead of a football. We had uneven numbers yet, despite the disadvantage my team won again and this continues an unprecedented undefeated streak that my teams have in Frisbee football. It appears that I have never lost a game in which I write the back blast! Good fortune! After the game, I reminded everyone of the reason we played Frisbee was for fun. Like our friend Billy Madison, always look for a chance to have fun. Mosey back to the flag.
Announcements: Sign up for Whetstone if interested (F3 mentor program).
Prayer Requests and COT
*Nice push from everyone today. Wojo ran an EC 7:05 minute mile and finished at 5:29 pm just in time to start the workout. Blart shows late and misses the entire Tabata 25 second exercises warmup. He was offered the chance to make these up but he declined. Hipaa wore the weight vest and this was after he posted in the morning. Shocker shared about his children making decisions at church this past weekend which is always great news. Sparrow can sling a Frisbee an entire soccer field and straight and watch out Moses, Sparrow might be gaining on you in the running. Slaw always pushes hard and gets there first and then picks up the six, which was often me today.
06/27/2018
I knew several of our regulars were vacationing but three showed for a quick word about Jonah. Recently at the Forge we have been studying different men in the Bible and I selected Jonah as I haven’t studied much about him in years and thought it would be interesting. I wasn’t really interested in the historical part of Jonah but more about what life lessons we could get from studying his story. We quickly covered the familiar story about how Jonah ran from God but was eventually used to achieve God’s purpose even though he didn’t want to. He even hated the people who would benefit from his actions. One author I read, said Jonah was a lot like the Grinch in that his heart was two sizes too small. A few points we can learn from Jonah’s story:
1) We tend to notice others’ sins much more than our own.
2) Do not take God’s grace and love for granted.
3) Believers should always remember that we were once non-believers.
4) God can use a reluctant, even defiant person for His purpose.
5) God’s plan is always for good.
I think Jonah and many of us could use this verse. In Ezekiel 36:26 God promises “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
Ask yourself these questions:
Have you ever felt like God was pushing you to do something helpful that you really didn’t want to do?
Do you dislike anyone enough not to minister to them if they needed you?
Have you ever looked back and saw where you missed a chance to something God wanted you to do?
We had a great discussion about this and several other topics. Thanks for the chance to talk with these fine gentlemen!
06/19/2018
Billy Madison had to get out of town without a backblast, so I will write one for him. Sorry if I missed anyone’s name who was there. I don’t remember a lot about the workout. It was very hot. We ran back and forth across a soccer field and did exercises. We played dodgeball. It was fun. Billy Madison is always fun.
Billy Madison and his family came here from Missouri. He showed up at F3 Gastonia workouts quietly at first and then joined right in as one of the guys. He shared his story about how his M was going through a devastating diagnosis. She miraculously survived this and it really changed how they viewed their life. They home schooled their 2 children for a year and just travelled around the country, seeing sights they may have never seen. They eventually settled in Gastonia and he said he was looking for some guys to connect with. F3 is his group of guys and he is our friend. Billy Madison always had fun and always brought a smile. I remember seeing Billy on the side of the road in the Palmetto 200, laying on a towel with a freshly cut Mohawk and an American Flag tank top reading a book. Billy Madison is always fun. Billy liked to sprint to the front of the Pax as long as he could and push the pace. We wish him the best in Florida and some F3 guys down there have already reached out to him so that is great. When I think of Billy Madison I will think of the truth he told us that life can be short so enjoy it and cherish it while you can!
15 strong men at Midoriyama for a Canteen beatdown. Swimmer and Floppy Disk went mountain bike riding. I’ll try to remember what we did.
Warmup SSH x 10
Mosey to the first soccer field. Awaiting were 2 tractor tires and some cinder blocks and we carried (2) 30 lb. Slam balls. We split into 2 teams. First guy on each team lifts the ball over his head and slams it on the ground 5 times, then flips the tire 5 times, runs to the end of the field while the next guy slams the ball until each team is finished. Rinse and repeat except this time adding 5 push ups and carrying 2 cinder blocks to the tire flips and slam balls. Ouch!
Next up was 4 corners with 15 merkins, 15 squats, 15 Xmen crunches, 15 American hammers with karaoke on the longer field lengths and nur (run backwards) the shorter lengths. Rinse and repeat. Some decided to also sing karaoke as they ran it. The guy singing Randy Travis was pretty good! Reba McIntyre and Meatloaf needed some work. Throughout the workout Slaw kept trying to distract the Q requesting burpees but the Q stated firmly, NO Burpees!
Mosey to a hill with the slam balls and split back into 2 teams. Bear Crawl up the hill pushing the Slam Ball and when you got to the top, let the Slam Ball roll back down to the next guy. Rinse and repeat. Several of the Pax had their bear crawl form questioned.
Mosey back to the flag stopping at each light pole for 15 merkins. Back at the flag for 6 MOM. Freddie Mercuries, Flutter Kicks, Crunchy Frogs and some kind of cross over merkins.
Announcements
Convergence at Midoriyama this Saturday June 9th at 7 a.m.
Forge Bible Study Wednesday nights at Grits N Greens at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 16th at Folsom is the 2.0 workout at 7:00 a.m. followed by breakfast.
COT
Sidecar requested prayer for the Self family. Tiger requested prayer for a family who lost a child to a sudden illness. Def Leppard’s son and there may have been others missed. Lift up each other.
Great to have some newer guys to Midoriyama, Mario and Step Down. They are pushing hard.
5 men rolled into Grits N Greens for a meal and a short study on self-control. Proverbs 25:28 says Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” I asked each man what would they do if someone came into the restaurant and slapped them across the face. How would you handle that when you were 20? How would you handle that if your family was sitting there? How would you handle that if you were sitting in a church service? Would you have any self-control to “turn the other cheek” as the scriptures ask us to do. I am sure most of us aren’t where we need to be as far as 100% self-control but we should be striving to get better each day. Self-Control is a very broad subject but a very personal one. We each are faced daily with decisions that test our self-control. A Focus on The Family article said this, Self-Control is the discipline of saying “no” for the sake of a bigger and better “yes”. We discussed a few of the areas that require self-control. Overeating, greed, gossip, lust, anger, materialistic and pride. We discussed what we gain when we have self-control, not what we lose for each item on this list
How do we improve our self-control? The end of Galatians 5:25 says “let us keep in step with the Spirit”. I believe attending church regularly is one of the best ways to “keep in step with the Spirit” as I have seen this work many times in my own life when I was straying away from areas of self-control. We can improve self-control also by keeping company with people who exhibit it. I remember what Moses (our F3 Moses, not the Old Testament one) said when he began coming to Forge. He said he thought he needed some better friends. That is an excellent recognition of someone striving to be better. Do you need better friends? Are you improving your friends or are they influencing you in a negative way? I told of a friend of mine who I have seen in several situations keep his mouth shut and his anger inside when I would’ve not been so inclined. He knew to “keep in step with the Spirit” in a way that amazed me. We should all be striving to have that kind of self-control in all situations. You don’t want to be known for the one time in your life when you lost control. Our F3 brothers can help inspire us and help us keep in step with our self-control if we stay plugged in to the group and keep posting.
Thanks to the men who came out and if you don’t have a place to be each Wednesday at 6:30 pm, give Forge a try. We will begin next week studying different men from the Bible. Our F3 Moses will discuss Gideon. Freight wanted me to tell everyone (especially Roscoe) that Sparky had strawberry cobbler with ice cream.
Disclaimer, warm up with MNC while FNG joins circle, 10 SSH.
Forgot to pledge. Communist Q.
Simple game of chance, roll two dice, perform what the chart says based on die rolls.
Midoriyama (being mathematically challenged) could not have made worse rolls against the odds.
We rolled Elevens three times. First was Squats, run to turd shack, more Squats, run to woods. At least it took up time.
Then we rolled Elevens again.
Squats and WW ones.
Then SSH four times, Flutters twice, Hammers twice, Mountain Climbers,
Donkey Kicks, Hillbillies, then Elevens again.
Flutters and Hillbillies.
Closed with Burpees.
Welcome to the Two FNG’s Hooch (Adam Wilson) and Shocker (Omer Shedd). Way to push guys!
Prayers requests: Def’s travel, Sidecar’s uncle, each other.
YHC took us out.
Sparky asked for a Folsom Saturday Q and I agreed. The Folsom guys have been really pushing the rock lately so you can’t bring a substandard weinke or the mumblechatter could turn ugly. I arrive around 6:25 and see a big group which is always what you want to see. 18 HIM’s ready to get after it. I like to keep it moving so let’s get started!
Warm Up SSH x 10 IC, Hillbillies x 10 IC, Mosey to the Flag near the road, Pledge, Low Slow Squats x 10 IC, Penguins x 10 IC
Mosey to the pond with the new Pier, can’t because there are fishermen already there, so keep moseying to the large parking lot near the softball field. This was going to be Wilt Chamberlains (100) but YHC “Omaha”ed (is that a word) to 53 (some old guy’s age) but IC so ’twas not easy. LBC’s x 53 IC run back to parking lot near pond and return. Squats IC x 53, run to end parking lot. Flutter Kicks x 53 IC, run to the end of the parking and return. Lunges back to the parking lot entrance. Somewhere in here, while I am trying to catch my breath, we discussed today’s topic, Discipline. I shared the story of my wife’s friend who is a doctor who told her one time that she was never the smartest in any of her schools but she was very disciplined to become a doctor. I read from Navy Seal Jocko Willink’s book, Discipline Equals Freedom. “Don’t worry about motivation. Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished – you will likely fall short. So, don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on discipline. You know what you have to do. So. Make yourself do it. You do that with Discipline.” Roscoe added “If you don’t feel like posting, go anyway and let the guys pull you through that day. Be disciplined to show up.” Aye!
Mosey back to the playground for a Def Leppard Six Pack. 5 pull ups, 1 CDD. 4 pull ups 2 CDD’s, 3 pull ups, 3 CDD’s, 2 pull ups, 4 CDD’s, 1 pullup, 5 CDD’s. If you must know I am infamous for my CDD form and 5 pull ups is about all I can do at a time. Sister Act had to leave to go to yet another Dance competition about this time. He is kinda group text famous for his outfits and makeup. Ask a Folsom guy, they can show you.
Mosey to the tennis courts for Red Barchetta. After consulting with several music experts (Roscoe, Short Sale and Whoopee) it was decided this is pronounced with a “sh”. I borrowed this from a (noted Rush fan Whoopee) Q a while back. Sprint the length of the tennis courts then 100 SSH (my calves), run back to start and wait on the six. Sprint 75 yards (4 courts) do 75 Mountain Climbers, run back to the start. Sprint 50 yards (3 Courts) 50 LBC’s and run back to the start. Sprint 25 yards (2 Courts) do 25 Merkins. Sprint 10 yards (1 court) 10 burpees, run back to the start.
Stay on the tennis courts and count off by 1’s and 2’s. 1’s on one side of the nets and 2’s on the other for Wojo’s Sprint Relay. We had 2 teams of 8, 4 stay on this end and 4 to the other end for each team. When I say go, the first guy for each team here sprints to the other end and then the next guy on his team goes to see which team finishes first. Now, when I say these guys got after it, I mean they got after it. Several of these guys (we checked on Strava) were in the 3 to 4 minute/mile pace range and the race was close and hopefully no one was hurt. Every Single Man was pushing with all they had and it was great to see! Gumby’s legs looked like a cartoon they were going so fast!
Like I said, I like to include a lot in my Q’s so a few minutes left. Time for some Frisbee Rules Football on the tennis courts. This was supposed to be in our parking lot near the pier but no time today. Too many guys in a too small space but touchdowns were scored and touchdowns were dropped. Mosey back to the flag.
More on discipline from Jocko. “It happens in the darkness of the early morning. In solitude. Where I try. And I try. And I try again. With everything I have, to be the best that I can possibly be. Better than I was yesterday. Better than people thought I could be. Better than I thought I could be. Faster and Stronger and smarter. And claim one victory that no one can ever take away from me. Ever. A victory that is earned every single day. A victory achieved because: I will not stop.”
The Darkness
“The sun doesn’t shine every day. The storms will come. There are times when the nights will be long and dark and you will be alone. There will be times when the darkness seems to consume everything. But don’t let it consume you. Don’t let it consume you. Even in the darkest times. Even in the strongest storms. Even when the sun is blotted out and the world is falling apart. The Darkness cannot extinguish your light. You. Your WILL. Your determination. No matter what is happening – no matter how hard the fight is. As long as you keep fighting – you win. Only surrender is defeat. Only quitting is the end. Because the Darkness only wins if you let it. Do not let the Darkness win. Fight. Fight on. To fight against the Darkness is to win. Fight on.”
Announcements: Speed for Need has a race on May 28th in Charlotte. Folsom will be having a 2.0 friendly workout once per month during summer months on Saturday at 7:00 am. Roscoe announced the 40 day Challenge Part Deux. Whoopee asked us to help keep each other accountable.
Prayer Requests: Breaker Breaker’s friend battling cancer and his aunt, JK2’s dad, every guy has unspoken prayer concerns.
COT: Sparky with his 2.0’s joined us and took us out in prayer. Coffeeteria at Country Kitchen.
*Thanks to all the guys who posted today. It means so much to the Q to have a large group. Thanks to Pizza Man and Slaw and anyone else who picked up the six. That is an important part of our workouts. Thanks to Whoopee and Roscoe for their encouraging words. Thanks to Huckleberry for being so honest and an inspiration to me. Thanks to the Folsom regulars Roadie, Medicine Woman, Volt, Montross, Gumby and Sparky for showing me and us all how to keep pushing. To be honest, I didn’t feel great today. I was tired and sore from posting Thursday and Friday and had a late night but the group pulled me through today as they have many times!
16 strong at warming Midoriyama on a beautiful day in a crowded park. Great to see a big crowd so let’s get after it. Tool Time and Pizza Man were running so off they went at their super quick pace while the rest of us hit the warmup.
SSH x 10 IC, Cotton Pickers x 10 IC, Hillbillies x 10 IC, Pledge
Longish mosey around the softball fields to the middle parking lot where Sidewalk Chalk of Pain listed an exercise in 5 parking spots. Pick a parking spot to start and after the exercise run to the end of the parking lot around the trash can and back, then to the next spot. 10 Burpees, 20 Flutters, 30 CDD’s, 40 Squats, 50 Seal Jacks. I started in the CDD’s parking spot, of course. Everyone completed a full round, several completed a couple of extra spots. Mosey back to the flag, just because YHC forgot some needed items #QFail1. After a quick count off, mosey back to the small soccer field where a nice layout of various coupons await.
This is the No Soccer Arms portion of the workout. The larger armed guys (Defib, Slaw, Canteen and maybe one other) selected the larger blocks and many selected the half blocks and a few of us the smallest blocks. Curls x 30, On Your Six Chest Presses x 30, Tricep Curls x 30, Shrugs x 30 and Yes, Repeat.
With some time left, we set up for Frisbee Rules Football and count off by 2’s to split the teams that somehow we messed up #QFail2. Lots of scoring, no defensive penalties since Freight wasn’t here. Our play was throw it high to Easy Rider and it worked several times. I’m quite sure my team won, as usual when I write the backblast.
Mosey back to the flag.
Announcements: 3rd F Event at the Porch at Parkwood Friday at 7 pm, Speed for Need at the Community Foundation Run 5K this Saturday at 9 am.
COT remembering the ones mentioned. Remember Canteen as he is getting married in a few weeks. My son Logan is still having seizure problems.
*We ran over 2 miles and over 400 reps performed. Great to see Slaw back from work. Great to see Short Sale, Easy Rider, Roadie and Hipaa in the afternoon. Great to see Lil Sweet and Sidecar back with us. Gomer is back and feeling better but with a cracked rib. I forgot to share a word with the guys #QFail3 at the end about a 30 second video. The video shows a group of military guys easily going over a 10 foot wall working together. I meant to say how a man by himself could never get over that wall but together they not only did it, but did it in less than 30 seconds. That’s what having a group of your guys can do. They can pull you up and over walls you never could manage by yourself. This morning on the F3 Q Source tweet a guy named Bill Nye was talking about being the Q while still being injured. His question was how do I push these guys when most of them could leave me behind very quickly? I was struggling through the same question but my guys pulled me up and over that wall with them today. This is a reminder to keep asking guys to post. Keep checking on guys that need to come back. Keep posting yourself to help lift that guy that needs it.