Author: Tesla (Page 3 of 17)

YHC has found a new to to play with at The Fighting Yank! Been getting ready for the Grand Canyon hike in 2 months and just discovered a new opportunity for a beatdown! Went like this on a great morning at The Yank. Went like this:

Warmup – COP

Up to the Field of Dreams for a little warm up.

Run across the field, SSH X 20

Run back across the field, IWs X 20

Run back across, Tesla Stretches.

Run back across, Mtn. Climbers X 20

Time to unveil The Super Pipe!

Here’s the deal:

Up on the top of the hill at the middle school, 5 plank jacks.

Run across the field and down to the park pavillion, 3 burpees

Up to the street, 5 ass to the street Monkey humpers.

Back up the pipe, repeat the 3 burpees in the pavillion.

Rinse and repeat 2X

Over to the Corner of Knowledge

10 dips

10 step ups each leg

10 dirkins

Mosey over to the stairs at the end of the building

7s:

Top of steps: HR merkins

Bottom: Big boys

Mosey to the road (3rd corner)

Squats X 20

Big Boys X 20

Mosey to the 4th corner:

CDDs X 25

Rocky Balboa X 25

Mosey to the Field of Dreams for bear Crawl Slalom!

Everyone for 3 runs here, I did get 4 myself.

SSH X 20 – Started to rain!

Mosey to the center, 5 chop-chops.

Mosey to the bottom of heartbreak.

3 runs of a triple nickel in the rain

Plank jacks at bottom

LBCs up top

Got this done and did a 3 minute plank to end and pledge!

NMM:

Really good push this morning! Super pipe worked out real well. Could not have been better. Driving up I saw a couple of lightning flashes that said “danger”. But not too bad.

Couple of items on the docket today as follows:

This was 3/25 but I want to talk about 3/24 because that’s a big day for me because on 3/24/1944 my uncle Roy Fortner (age 21 at the time) got into a P-38 cockpit as a pilot in the 15th Airforce in Italy and part of an elite squadron under direct command of the Operations Officer of the 15th (General Born) and led the 15th’s only mission over Berlin that day. Which meant he flew up over the Alps at @ 20,000 feet and flew around Berlin getting shot at. I want you guys to get your arms around that. He took off to 3 am and got over Berlin @ 6 am. And got back. Roy went on to have real high impact life and was a huge presence in Western Cabarrus and Northern Mecklenburg Counties for a long, long, time. We’ll talk more about the at some point.

Second, I had two F3 brothers lose kids this week. Apparent suicides. One in New York where he lived and one down at UGA. They were both really talented kids (27 and 22) where something went wrong. I tend to think it was isolation and was a result of the pandemic. One case was a child of divorce. Social Media gets a knee jerk reaction blame here but it’s just a very small part of it. We need to be available for our kids even when they leave the nest. The world is very different now and we need to understand it. This is probably a thing we really need to work on in our group.

Pleasure to lead, loved the Super Pipe! Let’s do it again boys!

Tesla

So YHC got up and found out we had a little rain going on today! Where did that come from? No worries, its not that bad so off we go to The Bobby! Went like this:

COP:

SSH-burpees X 5

IWs X 20

Tesla Stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Over to the track for a six shooter!

10 HR merkins – lap

20 American hammers (in cadence) – lap

30 Mike Tysons (in cadence) – lap

40 squats (OYO) – lap

50 CDDs – lap

60 LBCs – lap

Over to the benches for some work

dips

Step ups

dirkins

Broad jump halfway, lunge to the other side. 5 burpees, mosey back

1st run -10X

2nd run – 20X

Time for some bear crawl slalom across the field! Tesla got 3 turns, everyone else got 2.

Center for some other work.

Chop – Chop X 10

3 minute plank to end.

Pledge.

NMM:

Simple but effective. We got with it in some drizzle and frankly no one noticed it. Funny how that happened wasn’t it? Seems that when you get focused on a task that matters you don’t let outside forces get in your way do you? That’s why all F3 workouts are outside. It matters. it can suck. But we do it. And then we move on that day and do other hard things. It’s our purpose to fulfill missions under the most adverse conditions.  Right now as society we need that badly.

Tesla

YHC and the crew gathered at 6;15 am sharp for the ruck launch after a great Extinction Run the day before. Ruckers included Tesla, Eh Ya’ll, Anchorman, Watts Up, Pilgrim’s Progress, Gavel, and Orangeman. Off we went through the hills of Stowe Point and South Belmont. Great sunrise! Perfect weather, high 30s. Runners inlcuded Breaker Breaker, Tiger, Nutria, Freon, Fannie Mae, Jane Fonda.

Q source as on Queen. YHC expanded that from just food to what we ingest overall. It means a lot!

One of the top rules in F3 is this. Preparation > Control! In fact, it is a core life principle if you want to be intentional and get through the chaos that gets thrown our way about all the time. And the last three years we have been in a chaos inducing environment like no other. So how you react to it makes you or breaks you. More on that later but that is the theme here today.

YHC showed up damn near late today. 5:29. Two guys at the AO. WTF! A little rain? Or Ground Assault pulling guys out? No lights on the field so Centurion was absent. Orangeman and Sargento in the lot. Sarge gives me the deck of death, says he needs some miles so it’s me and Orangeman. About that time J2C rolls in. Dressed in a damn spacesuit! In 60 degree weather if a little wet! A spacesuit! And this is the guy in short sleeves in 28 degree weather at The Yank last Saturday. Then Stinky Bird rolls in. So we got a few players! This looks promising. But not a Deck of Death workout. YHC can come up with something better than that! Went like this:

Pledge, Sarge took off. YHC makes a veteran move and gets the pax under shelter as much to show competence and inspire confidence that this will not be a total S-show. As General Hal Moore says in his first principle of leadership in battle, a leader can either contaminate his unit with is attitude and actions or inspire confidence in the unit and be present in the battle with the unit and be in the fight with them.

COP:

Arm Stretches (YHC thinking about what to do here in the gloom)

SSH X 20 (the idea of an escalator appears in the mind of Tesla)

IW X 20 (The idea that this rain is not going to be very bad at all occurs)

Gravel pickers X 20 (Need to throw some moseys in and keep heart rates up is now present)

Grapevine Stretches (let’s increment by 5s, pretty standard stuff)

The Escalator:

YHC announces no deck of death. We’re going another direction.

5 burpees – run to the end of the parking lot and back. (good way to start and can think about what 10 looks like)

5 burpees + 10 big boy situps – Lunge walk back and forth to the end of the awning. (thinking here is we did upper body so let’s work on core next. All real time thinking, no preplanning)

5burpees + 10 big boys + 15 HR merkins – Do a skip back and forth (another upper body set).

5 burpees + 10 big boys +15 HR merkins + 20 Jump Squats – Nur down and back (back to core/lower body to let UB recover)

5 burpees + 10 big boys + 15 HR merkins + 20 jump squats + 25 CDDS – Karoke down and back (back to UB, seems like a good way to mosey at this point. Keep mixing it up. We’re staying in the fight! This is actually working)

5 burpees + 10 big boys + 15 HR merkins + 20 jump squats + 25 CDDS + 30 SSH (called cadence, YHC) – Bupree broad jump to the end of the awning. (Hybrid to finish off the escalator up. YHC is THE TOP burpee broad jump athlete in the entire F3 Nation! Easy Mosey back)

Repeat above again – Bear crawl same down, mosey back.

Escalator is done!

Light pole suicides- 5 merkins, run to each light, 5 merkins there and back. Keeps the heart rate up.

End with 2 minute plank.

COT.

NMM:As General Moore said, three strikes and you are NOT out! There is always one more thing you can do to gain an advantage. And after that another and after that another! We followed that rule to a tee and got a good result from it. There was never a question we would succeed here and YHC was determined to not give into any “flux” but instead display confidence and an obvious notion of “we have been here before and we can do this” as opposed to “what do you think we should do next attitude”. That is unacceptable leadership.  A couple of other items from General Moore that apply here as well. The biggest problem you can have is there is nothing wrong. Because when there’s nothing wrong the problem is there’s nothing wrong. Guess what boys? It’s coming! The las thing I thought of getting up and driving over to the AO is we wouldn’t have leadership and/or that YHC had to take it at that point. But it happened. So principle four comes up and that is that to get through something like this you fall back on your instincts, experience, and training to get through it. Preparation! A leader is always prepared to step up in a crisis and take the watch. Taking it on when the chips are down is where we find out what we’re made of. Not just as a leader but as a team. This team completed its mission in darkness and chaos. Should be the way we are as a movement and as a people. Let’s go make it so!

Honor to take this on today. Hope you understand the thinking process in real time above. Everyone in this group can do it. Not sure how many outside it can or even would take it on. That’s a problem. And we need to solve it boys. And not just at AOs and workouts.

Tesla

YHC had the lead at Member’s Only today and we had a very nice turnout! Had 4 runners and 8 ruckers and a walker. I do want ot mention this walking thing. It’s done at Lake Wylie and it really helps with numbers and getting guys out that might not otherwise show. Then they get in the game. We might want to consider that option for some of our guys.

Good Push. Qsource extremely well attended. We are going right back through the book this year. Let us know how it goes at other AOs where you are trying something a little different.

Tesla

So YHC stepped up Friday and took the Q at The Yank. Called in a little EC as well. So when Watts Up and Tesla finished a 3 mile plus ruck in the gloom it was on for a great boot camp as guys emerged from the woodwork. Went like this in the gloom:

Down into the park for a COP:

SSH X 20

IWs X 20

Gravel pickers X  20

Tesla Stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Up Heartbreak Hill for 2X Half pipes featuring 5 plank jacks, 2 burpees at the bottom and 5 ass to the road monkey humpers on Central Ave.

Over to the field of dreams for BLIMPS – partner up!

Burpees – P1 runs half way, drops and does 2. Runs to the end, drops and does 3.

Lunges – P1 1/2 – 5, 100% – 10

IWs – See above

Merkins (HR) – see above

Plank jacks – see above

Squats – see above.

Good work guys, off to the Corner of Knowledge

10 dips

10 step ups

10 dirkins

Over to the “line”, burpee broad jump to midway to the walkway. Mosey back to the COK.

4th quarter! You know that that means boys!

Since we had 17, we counted off and divided the force. Orangeman took 2s, Tesla 1s. And off we went on Bear Crawl Slaloms!

Took about 4 times through, maybe 5 to get to the end.

5 minutes left. Mosey to the yank and throw in some Mary along the way. End with 5 burpees.

NMM:

Quality group here today! Welcome Goose from Houston on a down range. Looks like we’ll be seeing more of him! Please make him feel welcome guys- high quality guy.

Sunrise today was epic. I think that’s the big thing we get to see this time of year.

Can’t say how much I appreciate the whole of F3 Nation this whole year. Been to hell and back. Not fun. But it’s not supposed to be. On a roll now!

Tesla enjoys leading these guys. Special group.

YHC was in Greenland a few years ago. February 2009 to be exact. Saw the first sunrise over Thule on 2/14 that trip. You don’t want to vacation there. Trust me on that one. It’s dark, it’s deadly cold, and they have signs with polar bears on them that say DANGER: THIS ANIMAL WILL HUNT YOU, KILL YOU, AND EAT YOU! First thing that happened to me when I got there in -26 degree wind chill was head to the base supply depot and be issued a parka. I needed it.

So Saturday was literally a blast from that past. YHC, Tiger, and Breaker headed out on a EC ruck just to see what the cold was like. It was ok until we got the wind going. My default was no matter what I was not going to get anyone hurt in those conditions. So YHC defaulted to some movement to get us the best workout we could and not be exposed to the wind. So when 7 am came YHC got Breaker to take the blocks down to the parking deck in East Berlin (the new F3 name for the apartment complex at the Chronicle Mill). Sargento had led us down there the week before on an EC ruck and we figured this was a good spot to escape extreme conditions. And 9 degrees with a stiff wind certainly qualifies as extreme. So we moseyed over from the Yank and here’s kind of what happened:

COP:

SSH X 20

IWs X 20

Gravel Pickers X 20

Grapevines

Mtn. Climbers X 20

DORA 1-2-3, Partner up guys!

100 Blockies – P2 runs over to the complex and back. watch the ice patches!

200 OH presses – same as above on P2-P1.

300 Swings (this one was the rough puppy!)

Time for some Bull in the Ring. The way we do this is take the sandbag and lift it up over your head if you’re in the ring and throw it over your head (if you can), rinse and repeat 5X.

Time for some weight and wall work. get a coupon, ruck, or KB (we had enough for the 10 of us) and put it over at the parking stop. Wall sit. Then we do 10 hip slappers, 10 donkey kicks, then bear crawl over to the stops and do 10 dead lifts. Burpee broad jump back to the wall. Rinse and repeat 3X.

Time to wrap it up. Ring formation, SSHs and burpee on the call. Went through this @ 12 times.

Cleaned up the blocks and weights. COT in the deck.

NMM:

Yeah as Tiger said at coffee “glad that S–t’s over”. Spoke for every damn one of us. But we showed up, we did it and we did it as much for each other as anything. And that’s the real lesson here. Staying in and not out as Big Ted would have said “getting it on you” would have been permissible. Except to us. We don’t, we can’t roll that way. You have to take things on and bust through them. The guys who showed up here today are the reliable ones. They’re going ot lead and be the example when the chips are down. Not just when it’s nice and easy. We’re not about easy, We’re about strong.  And that means it’s going to test you. And if it’s a real test it’s physical, mental, and spiritual in nature. And you will likely experience failure  along the way. Which if it’s a tough test is OK. BTW, you’re going to have a significant portion of the population think you’re crazy or demean you for trying. Well, that just means they’re envious of your effort. Especially after you get back up. With any luck whatsoever they may actually get in the fight themselves! That’s when we can begin to claim some measure of victory over Goo Nation. And God knows we need that right now!

Would we want to do this again. Hell no! Would we do it again. Hell yeah we would! Because it’s who we have become. A better version of ourselves. I know I have. And I know a lot of you have.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tesla

YHC prepared for the rain and part of that was knowing that there would be at least some getting wet! It just has to happen in this environment or we’re not working hard enough. So it went like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X 20

Gravel Pickers X 20

Tesla Stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Escalators as follows:

10 HR merkins – parking lot lap

10 HR merkins + 20 big boys – lap

10 HR merkins + 20 BB + 30 squats – lap

10 HR merkins  + 20 BB, 30 squats + 40 CDDs – lap

10 HR merkins + 20 BB +30 squats + 40 CDDs + 50 CDDs

Mosey over to the basketball courts and the benches for some bench work and some suicides:

Dips, step ups, dirkins, inclined Big boys

Round 1 – 10X each

Round 2 – 15X each

Round 3 – 20X each

After each round, BBall suicides, 5 jump squats each stop.

Back to COT:

NMM:

Didn’t get too wet today, thought it might. We managed in the drizzle pretty well. Effectively I would say. Shout out to Mainframe for showing up and doin the work! Proud of my brother here. A rock pusher. What I would like for all of us to be.

Prayers up for many pax right now. It’s been a difficult last several years and it’s wearing guys down.  I see it everywhere. Get out and post! Feet on the ground and move out early doing something hard. What follows won’t be easy. But we pray to be stronger men.

Tesla out!

YHC commandeered the Q at The Fighting Yank for a birthday beatdown for the pax to enjoy and have some REAL fun in! After a 3 mile or so EC Ruck with Tiger and Breaker Breaker we went on about our business about like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X 20

Gravel Pickers X 20

Grapevine Stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

Up to the Field of Dream for 6 shooters

10 burpees – Lap

20 big boys – lap

30 merkins – lap

40 squats – lap

50 CDDS – lap

60 SSH – lap

Move on over to the crest of the hill for some half pipes (2X)

Top – plank jacks X 5

bottom – 2 burpees

Street – butt to the street monkey humpers X 5

Mosey to the corner of knowledge

dips, stepups, dirkins X 10

Line up on the walkway and burpee broad jump to the middle walk way. Mosey back to start.

Repeat dips, stepups, dirkins X 15

Repeat burpee broad jumps as above

Mosey down to the field of dreams for what we all know is coming! it’s the 4th quarter boys! Time to get it on!

Bear Crawl Slalom – everyone got three turns crawling

Go to the end of the field.

SSH X 10

LBCs X 10

Mosey to the middle of the field.

Chop-chops X 5

Mosey to the end and down to the Yank for a pledge and COT!

NMM:

This is from Tesla’s heart. I got it thinking about the German General surrendering to E Company in Band of Brothers. It really grabs me every time I see it. Because it’s about struggle, brotherhood and love. So it goes like this for me as I said that morning:

Men its been a hard year but it it’s been a good year. We ‘ve all gone through struggles but we’ve been there for each other. You have been here for me and I try to be there for you. When I talk about the 4th quarter it’s all about giving it that last push it takes to finish. That last slalom turn or that last push up the hill on triple nickel is important. Because if you do that you’ll write that last email at work and get something done or make that last call to a customer or even a subordinate – and they’ll remember it. Or you’ll stop at the store for your M or your 2.0s. Or make that phone call to an old friend you’ve been thinking about – or go see him and you’ll find out he needed it- and so did you. But it’s that last act that gets it done. And you have it in you. Its what we’re about out here. And it frankly saved me this year. And we can save a lot of folks by being that example. Let’s do it!

Tesla

YHC got up this fine frosty morning with the idea of bringing a little something extra to The Goat this morning. And he did! Went a little like this:

COP:

SSH X 20

IW X20

Gravel pickers X 20

Grapevine stretches

Mtn. Climbers X 20

DORA 1-2-3 at top lot by the tracks.

100 HR merkins

200 Big Boys

300 Squats

P1 does work, P1 runs around the building and relieves P2. This takes awhile with 200 big boys!

Mosey to the Gondola

Dirkins, stepups, dirkins, inclined big boys X 10

Mosey to the corner by the Twisted Goat, rinse and repeat above 15X

Mosey to the corner by the memorial, rinse and repeat X 20

Down to the bottom of the hill by the old lodge for Triple nickel plank jacks nd burpees. We got through 4 rolls before time expired so over to COT.

NM: Great push today, Small 4 man crew to start with and expanded to the running crew of BOS, Orangemen, and Breaker Breaker that showed up also. Again, a great push and a great day to lead these fine men!

Tesla