Tag: Ex-Pat

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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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It takes movement … so, move!

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning star
PAX: Sooie, Wolfpack, Siri, morning star, Right Said, El Capitan, Merchant, Malibu, Ex-Pat, Pebbles, Big Red (2.0), Bumble Bee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: low 40s and not too bad

5:30 – welcome to the knoll, where 2.”a are always welcome. Took a moment to appreciate the birds.

Mosey to the flood monument bench

WARMUP:
Circle up for Lazy imperial walkers, all arm movements balanced on one leg (alternate to other leg when you lose balance): LBCs, reverse LBCs, put your glasses on, take your glasses off, jimmy goes to Egypt, slow merkins, low slow squats

THE THANG:
30 rounds of 5 seconds of work, 25 seconds of active recovery, alternating between merkins and jump squats (or modification).
– roll after merkins, before getting up
– lots of variations of active recovery and silly interactions after squats

Mosey to the playground, find a bar and do a max habg, mosey back and plank to wait for six.

YHC remembered the disclaimer…

Repeat 30 rounds.

Mary:
– Alternate crab walk and cat/baby crawl back to playground.
– Baby rocking to wrap up

MOLESKINE: I’m a leadership and personal development geek. I love thinking about it and practicing it. I enjoyed sharing some thoughts on it today. Remember that to bless simply means to find good and call it out. Don’t forget to bless yourself as you practice blessing. It’s a skill. I also enjoyed all the laughter and horse play during our active recovery. Joy is also worth practicing.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– plankril today is 1min 16 seconds
– 5 mile Saturday run to support Richland creek, meets at Richland park, see Right Said for details

COT:
– Counts, names and announcements
– The founders of F3 thought they men functioned best when they were aware of and connected to something bigger than themselves
– Took a moment of silent reflection to connect with personal SkyQ … consider someone you’re close to, picture their face, what might be one thing you could do to deepen your connection? Commit to doing that today
– YHC blessed the PAX to go forth and practice bless today
– Poured ginger tea as YHC shared on leadership (see below)

Here is a framework for personal acceleration:
– draw a y and x axis … the y axis represents your motivation: who are you serving? Bottom is you, top is others … the x axis represents type of action. The left is responding (following or participating) the right is initiating (leading)
– bottom left quadrant is participating to serve yourself
– top left is participating to serve others
– Top right is leading to serve others
– bottom right is leading to serve yourself
– growth is recognizing what quadrant you tend to be comfortable in and then considering moving to another quadrant to practice something you may not be as comfortable in
– The key to maturity is to keep moving through the quadrants to be well practiced in all, there’s no “bad” expression here

Wolfpack encouraged the PAX to make their comfort spot with an x.

YHC encouraged the PAX to consider a growth edge: challenge yourself to do something you don’t normally do. That may be initiating or participating. That maybe to shift your focus to yourself or to others. Honor to each man in his unique journey. We all bring a contribution that is valuable.

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Games with Dad – Bring your kids to workout, part 2

AO: the-knoll
Q: Wolfpack , Sooie, Ex-Pat, Pebbles
PAX: Aflac, El Capitan, Siri, Sooie, Ex-Pat, Wolfpack, morning star, Merchant, Firefox, Bumble bee (2.0), Awesome Axolotl (2.0), Link (2.0), Birdman (2.0), White Pony (2.0), Rubiks (2.0)
FNGs: 2 White Pony (2.0), Rubiks (2.0)
COUNT: 16
CONDITIONS: warm, overcast and delightful

WARMUP: (Wolfpack and Link)
I Spy With My Little Eye – Various stretches while Link called out different parts of the playground he spies (Top of a slide, a pole, a ladder). PAX has to run and touch that spot on the playground.

THE THANG:
Part 1 – baseball practice (Pebbles)
Pax team up with a 2.0 for infield practice. 1 Pax does exercise while the other runs the bases. Switch between exercise and running for 2:30.
– First Base – Lunges
– Second Base – Carolina Dry Docks
– Short Stop – Burpees
– Third Base – Merkins
– Catcher – Squats

Part 2 (Ex-pat and Birdman)
2 min each circuit, 30 sec rest/explain and mosie to other area
1. London bridge – dad goes into bridge and kid army crawls under then dad comes down or not and kid continues to make circles
2. Leap Frog to next exercise
3. Slow hold tandem crunch – face each other feet together and hold hands, one moves to a low hold for 10 seconds and then switch. Keep going for all time
4. High skip to next exercise
5. Hold squat jumping jacks – dad holds a squat and kid does 15 jumping jacks and then switch
6. Bear crawl to next exercise
7. Stacked push ups – dad on ground, kids hands on back, dad does merkin then kid does one – go till fatigue
8. Ladder – take turns following each other through the ladder making up steps as you go

Mary (Sooie) – PAX choice

MOLESKINE: this was round 2 and we’ll continue this each month. Was great to see 2 new 2.0s!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– pre-hab continues at 5:15 before the workout
– Plankril is on!

COT: (Pebbles)
We have many roles as fathers. One of the most important is to teach our kids what’s right and wrong. However our delivery (tone, body language, etc) is just as important as our message. Sometimes we need to be firm and enforce consiwuiendes and other times our kids need complete mercy. May we consider this and have discernment.

Requests shared and prayers said.

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#the-knoll’s 1st Annual (B)easter Egg Hunt!

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: Aflac, Wolfpack, morning star, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, Sooie, Link (2.0), Bumblebee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: frosty & starlit

TUNES: Americana / Alt-country

WARMUP:

1. downward dog
2. Viper
3. 3x power push-ups (both sides)
4. Deep Calf stretch
5. Back twist
6. BACs & BackBACs 15x each
7. Motivators to 5

THE THANG:

All PAX circle up in grass beside picnic table.

One PAX will don headlamp & bring back one (B)easter egg – eggs are hidden around playground, underneath trees, etc.

Waiting PAX will perform a plank until seeker returns.

All PAX will perform whatever exercise is written on the slip of paper in the (B)easter eggs.

Rotate until all eggs have been opened (25 eggs total – we did 24!)

MOLESKINE:

I encouraged the PAX to find ways to include joy in the hum-drum and routine moments of life.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

– Plankril starts Monday!

– BYO2.0 workout on Tuesday, April 2nd.

COT:

– Countorama
– Nameorama
– Sooie on the 6
– Prayer requests shared & lifted up to the Lord
– Sooie Brewie

So thankful for y’all!

:mountain:

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Put your back into it!

AO: the-knoll
Q: G-string (Eli Kresta)
PAX: morning star, Pebbles, Siri, The Banker, Sooie, El Capitan, Wolfpack, Ex-Pat, @Link, @Bumblebee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS:
Warmer than Tuesday but still brisk.

WARMUP:
– windmills, imperial walkers, wmh, gm
– Indigenous People’s run with football around the field
– Shoulder warmup

THE THANG:
Two people per station. Three rounds.
– Station 1: sandbag swings
– Station 2: pull-ups jump up and 3-count down
– Station 3: log floor to ceilings
– Station 4: lunges to the street and back
– Station 5: plank hold

MOLESKINE:
On Tuesday we talked about the GK Chesterton quote. Today I wanted to talk about our specific role as fathers. Whenever God the Father called someone in the OT, it led to an adventure. Moses brought his people out of Egypt, Abraham left his country and his family, David went up against Goliath, etc.
Part of our role as fathers is to provide our children with adventure in the context of safety. Even if you don’t believe in God or the bible, this is a biological fact. The role of fathers in hormonal development of their children is different than that of mothers and cannot be easily replaced. Fathers who engage in rough and tumble play in a adventurous (but controlled) manner have children who are better able to stand up to challenges and face adversity. Fathers are more influential on early language development because we often use higher level language with our children. Fathers even have an epigenetic effect on protein synthesis and gene expression. What we do matters.
In light of that, I am looking for ways to provide adventure and new challenges for my family. Introducing my daughter to the world one experience at a time.

If you want to read a little more on the science behind the unique role of fathers, this is a good article to start with and its references.
www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-091908-164334

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– That mile is coming next week at Green Machine. The knoll will continue as regularly scheduled
– Plankril is coming. One minute plank on the first and add 6 seconds every day.

COT:
Intentions were offered and prayers were said.

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Creating a 4F AO

AO: the-knoll
Q: Hair Band
PAX: Sooie, morning star, Wolfpack, Siri, Malibu, Ex-Pat, Pebbles, Merchant, Bumblebee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: hummid

WARMUP:
50 SSHs
Arm circles
Air press
Michael phelps

THE THANG:
Spread out into Teams & stations

Push station
Skull crushers 20
Carolina dry docks 20
Elbow tap push ups 10
Rotate

Pull station
Pullups 10
Rows 15
Rotate

Core station
Supermans 20
V-ups 20
Ukrainian hanmers 20
Rotate

Burpee freeze tag

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Plankpril coming up soon, check 1st F channel
– Murder mile coming, check green machine

COT:
– everyone shared a prayer request, work, families, deaths, travels

Thanks y’all! So happy to have lead this morning, it was an honor and privilege!

Rock on,

Hair Band

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Bring Your Own Kid Workout at The Knoll

AO: the-knoll
Q: Wolfpack , morning star, Sooie
PAX: Ex-Pat, El Capitan, AAA, Three Stooges, Merchant, DB, Pebbles, Firefox, 2.0’s:  Big Red, Link, Bumblebee, Tonks, FishBiscuit, AwesomeAxolotl, Birdman (2.0), Wildflower (2.0)
FNGs: 2 Birdman (2.0), Wildflower (2.0)
COUNT: 19
CONDITIONS: Warm with a sprinkle

WARMUP: stretching and motivators led by Bumblebee and Morningstar

THE THANG:
Thang1: 11’s
Burpees on one side, Big boy sit-ups on the other
Bunny hops one direction, Bear crawl the other

Thang 2: Old school movie time
Split up in pairs (Dads and 2.0)
One pax is the VCR
One pax is the Remote
Start opposite of one another. The VCR is doing the exercise while the Remote controls the speed. If the remote is running forward, VCR goes fast. If remote is running backwards, VCR goes slow. If remote pauses, the VCR holds the current position. Switch places for 60 seconds on/60 seconds rest.

Movies watched:
– Merkins
– Squats
– Big boy sit-ups

Thang 3: Infection!
2.0s were the infected and ran around tagging PAX to infect them. Three rounds with alternating movement types each round.
R1: Pax has to run backwards
R2: Pax has to run sideways
R3: Pax has to skip

Thang 3: Bear Tag Royal
All pax in Bear crawl. If you get your hand slapped your out and have to stand on the side and do your exercise of choice until the end (didn’t see any burpees?)

I believe FishBiscuit and AwesomeAxolotl were our champions!

MOLESKINE: Criss-cross-applesauce!

Thank you Morningstar for sharing a delightful message. A reminder to all 2.0s to encourage and share delight in every action. And a reminder to us dads to seek out and nourish that delight in our 2.0s.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT: 1-2-3 Delight!

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Partner Tabata

AO: the-knoll
Q: AAA
PAX: AAA, Timber, G-string (Eli Kresta), DB, morning star, Pebbles, Wolfpack, Ex-Pat, Sooie, El Capitan, Bumble Bee, Big Red
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: mid 30s, foggy

WARMUP: mosey to tree line and back, 15 -4 count jumping jacks, 15 – 4 count lungs, 15 – BACs, 15- back BACs, 10 – slow squat, stretch out on your own.

THE THANG: 6 rounds of 2 sets of exercises with each set consisting of a tabata minute (20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest for a full minute). Partners alternated between a work set and a rest set. Exercises performed were:
-one legged step ups
-merkins
-one legged split squats
-dips
-jump squats
-swing rows

Finished with 4 minutes of alternating hill sprints between partners.

MARY: 20 American hammers, 20 4-count flutter kicks, 20 leg raises

ANNOUNCEMENTS: New Year’s Day convergence and ruck coming up

COT: Gratitude. Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone. The challenge is to keep the sentiment of gratitude through out the holiday season. Holidays bring up many different emotions, and sometimes this season makes can get stressful and consumeristic. It is easy to take people, events, and needs for granted, but try to always remember to be grateful for the things around you, especially in difficult or stressful times.

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Joy Sustains Power

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning star
PAX: Sooie, Wolfpack, Timber, AAA, G-string (Eli Kresta), Pebbles, Ex-Pat, Malibu, Bumble Bee (2.0), Smoltz (2.0). Big Red (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS:
Pleasantly chilly.

WARMUP:
Split into two teams to mosey around field, playing catch with football. Once everyone touched the ball once do a 10 count ground movement.

Circle up for little baby arm circles (balancing on one leg), soviet sprinter shakes, imperial walkers, plank jacks, shoulder taps.

THE THANG: Power + Joy
Round 1:
Two power exercises in 5, 3, 1 descending ladder: squat jumps and elevating merkins. One partner does reps, the other does soviet sprinter shakes. Mosey to the backstop after each ladder and do 3 star jumps together in celebration of something.

Plank / bridge to finish round 1 while sharing what we celebrated.

Round 2: game of infection.

Round 3: human knot.

MARY: follow the leader back through the playground.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Thanksgiving run next Thursday
– Cold plunge at the knoll next week
– New year convergence, more details to come
– Keep up with #no-noise-november

COT: YHC shared about healthy power and the practice of joy. Many times in my life I’ve burned out and wasn’t able to sustain pursuits. I’m now learning about submitted power and how joy brings endurance. Encouraged everyone to consider a need and a desire they have and how they might apply their power to it + how they might connect with joy around it.

Appreciate this space and you PAX … it’s been a great place for me to practice submitted power and joy.

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Mighty Ducks/Flying V

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: Sooie, Malibu, morning star, Ex-Pat, Wolfpack, Siri, El Capitan, G-string (Eli Kresta), AAA, Timber, Smoltz 2.0, Bumble Bee 2.0, Big Red 2.0
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
CONDITIONS:
No complaints

WARMUP:
1. Mosey to stop sign and back
2. Arm Circles
3. Don Quixotes
4. Slow Merkins
5. Slow Pushups

THE THANG:
Triple Deke!
Partner up to complete 100 Merkins, 200 big boys, 300 squats. 1 partner runs to backstop and back while the other is doing reps.

Triple Deke (Part Deux)
Partner up to complete 25 Pull Ups, 50 American Hammers, 75 step ups. 1 partner “Apollo Ono’s” around the playground (ice skating)

Blowout:
3 reps of run down the hill, politician back up

MARY:
15 Supermans with 3 count hold called out by @malibu

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
No Noise November
Hoblin Gobbler Run on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Cold Plunge with @Morning_star

COT:
Prayers for those men who could not make it this morning and those on the fence about coming.

My college coach ended every workout by saying, “Take care of yourself, then if you can, take care of someone else.” For a long time I thought this was selfish. Aren’t we called to be men for others?

As I age, I realize it is impossible to take care of others unless I’m fundamentally fit – mentally, physically, and spiritually. Thankful to this group of men who are helping me in all three areas.