Backblasts

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Running Through the Wet Grass

AO: the-knoll
Q: Sooie
PAX: Ex-Pat, G-string, Malibu, Pebbles, The Merchant, Sooie, Lunch Lady, Josh Stevenson (Sparrow)
FNGs: 1 Josh Stevenson (Sparrow)
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: Perfect temperature. A bit damp.

WARMUP:
Motivators from 5
Imperial Walkers
“Keep em Up!”:
Shoulder taps
Side shoulder taps
Front shoulder taps
Scissor chops
Horizontal scissors
BAC
BBAC
Don Quixotes
OYO stretch/shakeout

Might as well knock out today’s 2 minute plank

THE THANG:
5 cones between the road and the tree line across the knoll. Began at the road. Exercise and MOT to each cone was different.
Sprint to cone 1: 20 burpees
Crab crawl to cone 2: 20 Lt. Dans
Crawl crab to cone 3: 10 breakdancer merkins
Mosey to cone 4: 30 Spicolli’s
Bear crawl to cone 5: 10 plank rotations
Mosey to tree line: 2 minute active recovery.

COMPETE FOR CONES:
first PAX to pick up the cone got a point. Sprint to cone 1 then tree line, cone 2 then tree line, cone 3 then tree line…you get the idea.

Mosey to the playground. Split into 2 groups. Group 1 dead hangs. Group 2 lunges to the road and mosey’s back. Swap.

Close out with some recovery breath work. Pebbles contributed to the air quality during this phase. :dash:

MOLESKINE:
Proverbs 24:5-6
A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

These verses have meant a lot to me and have grown more as I have spent more time in F3. Thank you men for the encouragement, support, and camaraderie!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Plankril continues
G-string will be conductor at pain-train tomorrow. Be sure to punch your ticket!
The knolliversary is coming up 5/2. More on that later

COT:
The Merchant was the 6 and shared what F3 meant to him.
Prayers requested and lifted.

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OTB Run

AO: the-castle
Q: Chunks
PAX: Splitter
FNGs: None
COUNT: 2
CONDITIONS: Dry. The rain held off.

WARMUP:

THE THANG: 3.4 mile run along the greenway. Discussed hiking trips, marathons and ultras.

Coffee followed at Just Love Coffee.

Coffee shop doesn’t open till 6:30, so discussing either extending the distance or starting at 6:00. More info to follow.

MOLESKINE:
While at coffee, we discussed how so many men are suffering in silence and choose to take their own life. As someone who struggled with depression in my past, this is all to real. Never miss an opportunity to reach out to someone, just to say your thinking about them. That can be life giving for anyone struggling. See y’all Saturday morning.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

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Tortoise & Hare

AO: thestronghold
Q: Red Skull
PAX: bluemule, Hacker (Franklin), Skeet, Longhorn, Decaf, Judy, Chunks, Buritto (Franklin), Yak, Frozen, Westside, Pacer, Trajectory, C#, Triple 7s, Blitz, Sgt Meatball
FNGs: None
COUNT: 18
CONDITIONS: perfect running weather – 63 and no rain!

WARMUP: Yak took us through a warm up which included SSH, IW, and a little stretching.

THE THANG: RUN!!! 3 miles around the campus. No train, no rain, a little pain. We have multiple PRs this morning – 5 from the 4:13 Strong guys and a couple from the F3 crowd. Overall, a great morning at The Stronghold.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The 4:13 Strong annual fundraiser is this Thursday. Several of our men will be on the stage sharing a testimony or performing some original music. It is going to be a great night!

COT: Yak closed us with a prayer.

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Total Eclipse of the Heart

AO: iiipillars
Q: Grape
PAX: Matthew Gillmor, Pep, Go Fish, Pencil Pusher, Harbaugh, wardas1, Haggis, Zelenskyy, grisham, princessaurora, t-cell, DintyMoore, TiVo, Howitzer, Full Monty
FNGs: None
COUNT: 16
CONDITIONS: it always rains on Tuesdays now I guess

WARMUP: 10 SSH
10 Imperial Walkers
10 Hillbillies
10 LBAC F
10 LBAC R
Mosey to the field

THE THANG: partner up, one partner runs a lap, other partner completes these exercises, then switch (completed three rounds, changes Ab Thrusters to Atomic Merkins and Knees to elbows to Knerkins (knuckle merkins) in round 3)

Burpees
Lunges
Ab Thrusters
Carolina Dry Docks
Knees to elbows (Peter Parker’s)

Squats
Ukrainian hammers
Newton’s cradle

MOLESKINE: so fun to lead this crew

ANNOUNCEMENTS: brewsday tonight, keep going strong with plankpril

COT: prayers for Pep and PA

:grapes:

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Your story matters

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning star
PAX: Wolfpack, Siri, The Merchant, Ex-Pat, El Capitan, morning star, Malibu, Pebbles, Bumble bee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: delightful and the rain held off

5:30am – welcome and disclaimer

WARMUP:
YHC loves motivators so much that I asked a PAX to lead a round since I couldn’t die to my Achilles recovery. El Capitan stepped up.

Motivators followed by lazy imperial walkers, little baby arm circles, and something else I can’t remember.

THE THANG:
Part 1
30 rounds of 10 seconds of work / 20 seconds of active recovery:
1. hinge from knees / neck mobility
2. hard style plank + super slow push up / rocking
3. super slow Freddy mercuries / egg rolls

YHC demoed the excerccises and then had to pre-evac Bumble bee home.

Part 2:
Wolfpack stepped in and led the pax in:
Alternating between Low Slow Squat and Low Slow Merkin.

– 20 reps, 10 second rest of both
– 15 reps, 15 second rest of both
– 10 reps, 20 second rest of both
– 5 reps with 5 second hold, 25 second rest of both

Part 3:
YHC returned and led PAX through originally planned thang 1. Swapped recovery and work time for last round (20 seconds work / 10 seconds active recovery)

Mary:
– Max plank for those doing plankpril.
– Flow core work along with low slow squats and slow merkins, ground movement (cat crawl, baby crawl), lots of rocking

MOLESKINE:
– I find that when I do “inner work” it cones in rounds … work that is slow and methodical, then a rest, then another round of work that may vary in intensity, then rest. If I don’t take time to actively recover I sputter and burn out. This applies to all areas of life.
– I like being able to play with the creativity of these workouts to reinforced things I’m learning and practicing in my day to day. Appreciate the PAX for engaging in these mini experiment and / learning labs.
– I’ll be coming back to this topic of our stories when I Q at pain-train in a couple weeks.
– Thank you to Wolfpack and the PAX for continuing the BD while I had to leave. Am continuously encouraged by how powerful shared leadership is. Let’s keep practicing it and demonstrating it in our day to day outside the gloom.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– plankpril continues, get out in public and take some photos
– Good meat and fellowship at Chunks place, check 2ndf for details
– Drop into pain-train this Friday, Wolfpack is leading growth phase ramp up to official launch on 5/10
– Keep inviting men you know, grab a business card if it helps to leave them with something tangible

COT:
YHC reflected on the peaks and valleys of his life, shared some. Encouraged the PAX to reflect on their story and find ways to celebrate and honor it, even the touch painful scenes.

Here are some things to consider:
– What are the most beautiful moments of my life?
– What are the most broken moments of my life?
– What are the highs and what are the lows?
– Who are the people that have had the impact impact on who I am today (even those that hurt or abused me)?

Here is the why behind this (quote from the Intentional Father by Jon Tyson):

“The goal here is to begin to get a sense of your own story, have awareness of the moments that have defined you,and remember the people who have shaped you. “”It’s important to come to terms with your own story. “”[Victor] Frankl said there’s something powerful about stepping back, gaining an objective distance from your own story, and observing the things that have made you who you are.”
YHC used to avoid his story, even despise it. It’s only recently that he’s come to explore it and honor it. That work (and it’s hard work) has led to much acceleration.

We ended with a ball of man with “honor” on 3.

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Total Eclipse

AO: toratoratora
Q: 40 Minutes
PAX: Ultratecht, Giving Tree, The Bobs, Culture Shock, Front Loader – Jeff City F3, Daylight, Invictus, Long Cut, (Other Friend from Jeff City)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Perfect

WARMUP: Little mosey, little stretching

THE THANG: Murph Prep

10 rounds of
– 5 pull ups
– 10 pushups
– 15 squats
– Run

Front to back run

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Beers by the river

COT: Thankful for friendship! Grab a beer or coffee with one of the guys from the group :slightly_smiling_face:

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Another Dora

AO: the-castle
Q: Pep
PAX: Chunks, Sunshine, Dilbert, hambone
FNGs: None
COUNT: 5
CONDITIONS: cold for April

WARMUP:
– little baby arm circles
– seal claps
– Good mornings
– Willie mays hayes

THE THANG:
Dorra:
– run: around two of the tennis courts
– Exercises:
– burpees: 100
– American hammers: 200
– fire hydrants: 300
– big boy sit ups: 200
– dips: 100

MOLESKINE:
Hambone said…
oops. I don’t it’s safe to repeat what he said.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Next Saturday at Chunk’s house is ufc + brisket

COT:

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Track n’ Field Day

AO: cruelhall
Q: EZ-Go
PAX: Accounts Receivable, blackwidow, Deep State, Donkey Hammer, Matador, Pedialyte, Pound Puppies
FNGs: None
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: Unreasonably cold

WARMUP: Hammy stretch, Willy Mayes, high knees, butt kickers, karaoke

THE THANG: Track and field-themed beatdown:
*Rotate field events and track events
*Field is parking lot
*Track is sidewalk loop around parking lot
Grab coupon, head to field
100 meters x 4
Long jump – Broad jump across field
400 meters – 1 loop
Shotput training – 50 squat thrusters
800 relay – partner 1 1 loop, partner 2 burpees, then switch
Discus training – 50 block passes with partner/50 merkins
Open 800 – 2 loops all
High jump training – 50 tuck jumps
1600 relay – partner 1 1 lap, partner 2 burpees, then switch x2
Pole vault training – 4 sprints at pavilion/5 bubkas (or hanging knee raises)

MOLESKINE: I’ve been so sore for 2 days, how bout you? Especially the bubkas (look em up) those are here to stay!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Plankpril!

COT: Prayers for Matador and his transition to Nashville from NY and for @poundpuppies Father in law Mike who is in the hospital.

Always thankful to lead. Much love. :heart:
-EZ

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Freed (for all) to Lead

AO: bomber
Q: hambone , Chunks, CubCadet, Vector, Sherlock, Pep, Firefox, Tim the Toolman, Papa Bear, Puzzlah
PAX: Chunks, CubCadet, Vector, Sherlock, Pep, Firefox, Tim the Toolman, Papa Bear, Puzzlah
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Lonely

WARMUP: Concerned about the AOQ, the pax decided to head out towards casa de Scouten at 5:30. The slight mosey is just what everyone needed to get the blood flowing. Upon arrival, the pax noticed that 1) the houses was dark and 2) it was quiet. Fearing death / an angry M, Chunks opted not to ring the doorbell and instead we moseyed back to the startex.

THE THANG: Ever the positive influence, hambone decided to get the men moving around and routed everyone to the front of the community center with a circle up and chat.

F3 is about leadership, and with all of the accomplished men in the pax, leadership was not hard to find. With a (roughly) 5 minutes per mini-Q, each man was to take his turn leading the crew. Y’know how people would make up stories at camp with a few sentences and pass to the next man? It was gonna be like that except with less maturity.

hambone decided that the men needed to head away from the AO and took his 5(ish) minutes to move a quiet side street. The men proceeded to do “threes” with burpees at each end.

Chunks took the men back to BBQ and proceed to honor DintyMoore with BOMBS. YHC then fired Chunks.

Firefox took us back to the community center and proceeded to lead us in some bench work. Ever jealous of FF’s athleticism, YHC fired FF.

Puzzlah allowed some stretching, but then immediately took us to the hill and threatened to run. Thanks fully it was limited to bear crawls and squats. Since YHC wasn’t wearing gloves, YHC fired Puzzlah.

Understanding that hambone was being biased towards the younger crowd, the reins were turned over to Tim the Toolman who ran us back to the playground for a round of 30, 25, 15, 10 on squats, dips, burpees, pull ups. Thanks, TM–you’re now fired.

Vector, taking early offense at being snubbed because of his advanced age, opted to make the pax run again and honor t-cell with some DIDS except with ridiculous rep counts. DIDS without t-cell? You’re fired, Vector.

CubCadet, Papa Bear, Pep, and Sherlock took us out with some Mary. Truth be told, YHC was a little bit afraid of handing the reigns over to CubCadet because of his propensity for difficult ab work. YHC was confirmed with the 50 IC flutterkicks (wtf). I also want it noted that we didn’t get to Sherlock who is younger and better looking than some of the guys that went first.

MOLESKINE: The mission of F3 is to plant, grow, and service small men’s workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership. When unfavorable circumstances hit, we will always be prepared to lead. We are not perfect and no man is an island. When circumstances hit a brother, we will always step in and push forward.

5 * 9 is 45, so theoretically 9 men should have gotten their shot. With a late start, a quick trip through the neighborhood, and YHC hogging 5 minutes and 45 seconds, not every man got his full shot. That said, it should be acknowledged that I helped us avoid the 100+ burpee buy in from Pep

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Go enjoy Chunks’ meat next weekend.

COT: Prayers and celebration for the birth of a granddaughter for Papa Bear, and prayers for the health of our brothers.

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70 Times 7

AO: mistymountain
Q: McAfee
PAX: Linus, Transporter, Sanders, Rockies, Right Said, Mt Man x3
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: Chilly 38

WARMUP: OYO Stretches

THE THANG: Half Mile First Nations Run with 7 pushups required every time the last PAX reaches the front of the line.

Then, goal of hitting 70 reps in 7 minutes for:
Burpees
Lunges (2 count)
Pull Ups

Props to Sanders for hitting 120 Australian Pullups!

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Plankpril is ongoing, today is 90 seconds if you want to join in! (add 6 seconds of plank time each day for the rest of April)

COT: Great news for our friend Backrow’s wife, the chemo was successful and she is now in remission. Continuing to pray for the health of those who are suffering and ongoing strength for us all as we face the challenges of this life.