Hairy Starfish? What’s with the title? Eh, nothing more than a reference to the typical “hair or the dog” (i.e. a revisit to some of yesterday’s March Merkin Madness with Ruxpin’s first respect! Q ) through YHC’s Starfish workout for today. Here’s how it went down…
First, PAX began with a lot of mumble chatter reflecting on yesterday’s brutality. But hey, they posted so YHC knows they’re up for more!
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
Windmill – 18 IC
IW – 18 IC
OH Squat Press – 18 IC
Shoulder Tap Merkins – 10 IC (kinda hairy…)
Cherry Pickers – 18 IC (nice and slow, all the way up and clap)
Mosey to Arena’s parking lot…
THE THANG:
The Starfish: 5 cones set up around the parking lot like 5 legs of a starfish, with 1 in the middle. PAX will do specific exercise at each cone, returning to the center cone after each one to do 10 Burpees or 10 Burpjacks. Check it out:
Cone #1: 100 Merkins (Kinda hairy, do sets of 10, 20, 25 or whatever, til you get ’em done)
To center cone: 10 Burpees
Cone #2: 100 LBC’s
Center Cone: 10 Burpjacks
Cone #3: 100 Squats
Center Cone: 10 Burpees
Inserted 3rdF here (see write up below)
Cone #4: 100 Drydocks
Center Cone: 10 Burpjacks
Cone #5: 100 Dips
Center Cone: 10 Burpees
Mosey back to the AO, hitting a Prison Break from the corner…
Among other things, from warm-up to workout that’s a total of 220 Merkins & 50 Burpees
NUMBER-RAMA
COT:
Announcements: ShamRuck family ruck coming Fri. March 18 @ 6:17 pm (likely Georgetown, details TBA)
Prayers: For Bill Sammons and family, especially daughter Ira, fleeing Ukraine to Poland; for Blockbuster in Army Basic Training
Here’s your daily 3rdF:
I’ve been reminiscing a lot since Blockbuster left on Sunday to head to Basic Training at Ft. Jackson. Having served as well of course, I have lots of memories to reminisce about—1 in particular came to my mind as I thought of Blockbuster facing the unknowns and the fears that go along with them.
It had to do with the Lord’s Prayer: After lights-out on the very first night of Basic Training, the DS’s exited the barracks and we all laid there in the dark in total silence in our bunks, not sure what to do or whether to talk or not, etc. After a few minutes of a dark eternity I debated within my own head whether to say the Lord’s Prayer [out loud]. I feared whether anyone would join me. I feared forgetting the words and messing it up. Certainly this first day and night carried its own sort of fears too. Like, what the heck did I get myself into? Finally I just went for it:
Matthew 6:9-13
There in the dark barracks everyone else joined in the beautiful chorus of reciting the Lord’s Prayer together. It’s the Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples when they asked, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Mt.6).
He taught them a model of the structure of prayer which was never meant to be a repetitive recitation (used over and over). But that night I think we recited it as a way of not only acknowledging and confessing our fears [corporately], but also of crying out to God with one voice to say that we needed Him in that hour, in the weeks ahead, and in the season to come. And there was an Esprit de corps in that room! It was one of those moments that brought with it the peace and confidence which only God could provide.
We all seemed to know after that that God would carry us through BECAUSE we called out to Him. As men we tend to be self-made and self-reliant (but oftentimes as a result, self-destructive too). In times when we fear the unknown or we’re uncertain of what we’ve gotten ourselves into, or especially in times when God has led us in a specific direction, it is time to call out to Him, maybe even cry out to Him—depending on the circumstances.
God always answers. Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” The disciples wanted to learn how to pray, how to call on God, so they asked. Many men think that it’s less than manly to cry out to Jesus, but from what I read it’s one of the manliest things we can do. I don’t know about you, but I’ve discovered over the years that I can’t make it on my own. That’s why I’m grateful we have each other in this circle, but we also need to call on God. Lean one each other, yes! but more than that we must lean on the Lord. So man up and call on God; it’s what HIM do. He always answers.
Always grateful to bring the grit to the Grit Mill. Appreciate the PAX who posted for 2-in-a-row and downed a little hair of the dog–starfish style!
14 PAX hit THE button to win that first battle and posted for something Postal. Here’s how QIC Chappie broke it down…
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
IW – 18 IC
Windmill – 18 IC
Crab Flippers – 18 IC (a local favorite)
Low Slow Squat – 18 IC
MOSEY/WOSEY TO POST OFFICE: Litter-Carry the Sandbags – 1 40lb & 1 20lb (60lbs total per littler). PAX have to work together…tiny synchronized steps fellas, tiny synchronized [double-time] steps.
Stations
THE THANG: (Count off by 4’s = 4 teams, 3 PAX each, with 2 remaining PAX to start in the middle)
2 PAX at a time will rotate into middle: 10 Sandbag Burpees
Other PAX located around the circle at 4 STATIONS:
Curb-side Shoulder Tap Merkins 5/5 (Rinse & Repeat, AMRAP)
20lb Jump Squats (feet in/feet out) AMRAP Word on the street: This one was an unexpected killer!
Each time 2 PAX IN MIDDLE COMPLETED SANDBAG BURPEES, TEAMS ROTATED WITH FULL LAP TO NEXT STATION (New PAX goes to middle)
GOAL: Get all PAX thru SB Burpees at least once. (goal accomplished)
Mosey/Wosey back to AO, litter-carrying the sandbags (free-loaders!)
Good Problems: More Q’s equal less QIC opportunities, so YHC was glad to get back in the saddle at the CHOP AO. Always eager, Aye!
COT:
Announcements: Watch the horizon for a leadership pow-wow. Planting locations to be discussed. Planning for Memorial Day mini CSAUP, etc.
Prayers: YHC lifted up several requests: Fireplex’s dad; Nugget’s aunt’s family; employee and friend of Woodstock, Rob, recovery and healing from brain surgery. Most of all that God would allow us and empower to be HIM, superior to our younger self, in our homes, workplaces and the communities in which we serve. (For more details check out the 3rdF below – conspicuously shared after our 3rd round.)
Chappie, out!
3rdF Shared After the 3rd Round:
Earnest Hemingway said, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
For anyone who’s got a competitive nature, which is just about every man I know, that might sound bit counter-intuitive (my favorite words this week for some reason). I mean, who doesn’t strive to run farther and faster than the other guy? Who doesn’t want to have their hand raised in the center of the ring/mat as victor after a hard-fought battle for superiority? Who doesn’t want to blow their competition out of the proverbial water? Yet Hemingway says, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
I think we might understand better what Hemingway was getting at if we rephrase his statement using F3 terminology: “It’s you against you!”
Now if we tend to think about that only in terms of physical superiority, eventually we’re going to come up short. I’d like to think at age 54, I can still kick the tail of the younger version of myself–shoot, that’s part of what motivates me to workout with you guys and why I’m thankful for F3! But truth be told, eventually I’m going to age-out of being able to do that physically. I don’t know where that line is or when I’ll cross it, but eventually I know I will.
The same is true whether we’re talking about superiority over others or ourselves. And, again, just in terms of physicality there will always be some other competitor who is superior. Yes, we can (and should) engage in healthy competition, it sharpens us. But in terms of being superior to your former self, and, it being “you against you,” the superiority must also (and even more so) include your character and your nature. It must include superiority over yourself in terms of mind, will, emotions AND SPIRITUALITY!
Are you stronger than your former self?
Are you better at handling your finances than your former self?
…better at raising your kids than your former self?
…better at loving others than your former self?
…a better husband than your former self?
…a better employee or employer than your former self?
Are you better at handling your anger or other emotions than your former self?
Are you wiser than your former self?
…more patient than your former self?
…more faithful/faith-filled than your former self?
…more enduring than your former self?
Are you a better leader than your former self?
And the list goes on…
You see, the comparison between you and others is more often than not out-of-place, and it’s utterly misguided and misguiding! The real competition is within. We CANNOT compare ourselves with others. The comparison is actually more personal. “True nobility is being superior to your former self.”
Galatians 6:4 says “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.”
Today, in your home, in your workplace, and in the community in which you serve, work on being superior to your former self. It’s you against you!
The last day of November brought a nice chill that needed to be worked off with some heat. 18 PAX won that first battle and posted. including FNG Fudd. (There were some “no questions asked” nicknames being thrown around so we settled on the more innocent “Fudd” instead.) Welcome to F3 brother!
We started the day with an excellent VQ Warm-O-Rama by Sherlock. It went something like this:
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 20 IC
Squats – 20 IC
Spidey Reaches – 10 each side OYO
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
At this point YHC took over the Q, and here’s how it went down…
THE THANG:
First, some more warm-up:
Partner Leg Throws – 18 each PAX
Partner Ruck Pass – 10 each PAX (partners interlock heals in Sit-Up position, pass ruck, do American Hammer w/ruck, then all the way back w/ruck overhead, then Sit-Up passing ruck to partner. Rinse & repeat til each PAX completes 10 reps)
Now…the Thang: Everyone grab a ruck (for those without, grab cindy)
2 Sets:
10 Walking Ruck Lunges (Ruck OH)
10 Plank Pull Throughs
10 OH Press
(Rinse & Repeat 2x)
Mosey the short block: Prison Break to Willow St., Mosey to Union St., Prison Break back to the AO. Gassed! 10-count by TRex and another followed by Semi. Whew!
F3 3rdF shared at the break (See below)
2 Sets:
10 Ruck Squats
10 Ruck Merkins
10 Ruck high Pulls
(Rinse & Repeat 2x)
Ruck SuitcaseCarry around the short block, switching as necessary, back to the AO.
Time expired, time for the COT. Good work by everybody. TRex committed to posting at every workout this week, have at it brother. Who else is in?
COT:
Number-Rama: 18 very cool PAX
Name-O-Rama
Naming of FNG: Welcome again to Fudd! (Still, your Hospital Name, Blayze, has to be one of the coolest out there!)
Announcements: YHC invited PAX to consider joining the protest Saturday at Beebe Hospital, protesting the vax mandate being forced upon all healthcare workers by Dec 24th (or they will be terminated. Those we were gathering to pray for and calling heroes for sacrificially fulfilling their duties in 2020, now need our support as they are being made into villains. Let’s show up Saturday at Beebe, from 9-11am, and demonstrate our support for them.
Prayers: Safe travels for Sherlock on his hog hunt; for Woodstock helping to clean out a perished friend’s home, etc.; for Quattro, facing some business/family decisions this week; for YHC traveling to Frederick for an executive committee meeting (self-retracted as of this writing) and for YHC’s sister, Tonia, facing devastating, life-altering surgery. Others…the Lord knows and never forgets. Finally, prayers that all PAX would be mindful this Christmas that the birth of Jesus Christ tells us that God desires that we have a relationship with Him–it’s NOT about religion, but relationship. We know this because He came to common man, not kings. (Again, see 3rdF below.)
Humbled and excited to Q, aye!
Chappie, out!
SHEPHERDS & FISHERMEN
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent—I love this season because in it we recall and celebrate the Birth of Christ (Coming/Advent). It was foretold by the OT prophets 900, 700, 500 years before it happened. I love this time of year also because it reminds me of the only 2 times a year we went to church when I was a kid (Easter & Christmas). I remember the ambiance of the Christmas Eve candle light service at First Moravian Church in my hometown like it was yesterday.
In the four verses of great Christmas hymn Angels We Have Heard On High, we sing of the angels visiting lowly shepherds and the shepherds’ response.
Here’s what I think is one of the most incredible things about God: He wants us to know Him through relationship, not religion. This is evident in the song, but it was evident first in the Scriptures.
“The angels coming to men who worked menial [lowly] jobs in the fields and informing THEM of the birth of the Son of God symbolizes that Christ came for all people, rich or poor, humble or powerful. The angels’ words as recorded in Luke 2, “Fear not: For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people,” paired with Jesus’ own parables concerning shepherds and their flocks, symbolizes that it would be the common man and not kings or religious leaders who would first carry the story of Jesus’ life to the masses.”
It has been the Called man, not the Cleric, and really always has been, who has spread the message of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. Think of who it was to whom Jesus first said “follow Me“: Was it not to Fishermen? Common men? As you hear and sing this song for Christmas, keep this one thing in mind: It is the common man, not kings who carry the story of Jesus’ life. For you and I to be HIM, the story of Jesus in our own lives, OUR own transformation by trusting in Jesus Christ, must not only be heard but it must be seen, especially by our children (not to mention those around us). When mom tells the story, the kids will be more prone to go to church and become followers of Christ. But when we as dads—common men, not kings—tell the story of Jesus Christ, the statistics make a significant leap, they actually go through the roof! I.e. When you and I share this story of the incredible, special relationship available between God and man with our own children, we—common men—are acting/behaving like HIM.
18 PAX won round #1 with a KO over the Fartsack to post for a highly touted “New Toys” workout in today’s Gloom. It was supposed to be raining but not a single PAX complained that the weather seemed to go right around us. We’ll start with a big welcome to FNG Mowdaboat (he got after it). Admittedly YHC was a little giddy to get out his new toys for the beatdown. It’s been an advertised mystery which drew some wrong guesses. What were the new toys? (Keep reading). That’s where we began, but wait YHC is getting ahead of himself…
WARM-O-RAMA: (with a twist)
The twist: All repetitions must be double-digit (i.e. One-zero! Two-zero…). If PAX mess up and count regular, the punishment would be prison…Prison Cell Merkins (10), that is. We only did 2 prison sets.
SSH – 18 IC
Seal Jacks – 10 IC
Swartzjacks – 10 IC
Windmill – 15 IC
Hairy Chiggers – 15 IC
THE THANG:
Intro of new toys: Two 8-person hand-carry litters. (Tried to insert pic here but site would not allow it.)
Team Carry: PAX counted off to pair up into teams of 1’s and 2’s: Team Carry from cone-to-cone (3 cones) across the field and back, switching PAX being carried at each cone, until everyone gets a ride. (Safety brief: Carry PAX feet first). Losing team: 50 Squats with Coupon of choice (from the stack of coupons). Winners: Team #1! Wait just a second! We had 18 PAX…how in the world did we end up with uneven teams?
Took a 3rdF/Faith breather here:
1 Corinthians 16:13 says, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, ACT LIKE MEN, be strong.” My emphasis today is on the phrase ACT LIKE MEN. Why does the Bible exhort us to act like men, and what does this mean?
Ray “Cash” writes, “Our society is full of hypocritical men. Men who talk a big game but don’t show up.” (No, I’m not necessarily referring to this to talk about Fartsackers, though it may apply. More critically the reference is to showing up for life.)
In Navy Seal training when I guy wants to quit he just walks up, sets his helmet on the ground and rings the bell; he’s done. Maybe that’s a tough moment to deal with, but you can quit seal training without a whole lot of fallout. However, you can’t just quit on your spouse or your family, you can’t quit on those you love, you can’t quit on yourself, and you cannot quit on life. There is no bell to ring because we weren’t designed to quit!
Instead, we’re exhorted in 1 Cor. 16:13 to be alert, to be courageous, to be manly, firm, to be mature, steady, resolved, and to have sound judgment, rather than being swept aside, corrupted, seduced, weak, and terrified like infants or confused like adolescents or teenagers.
Cash continues: “The man who keeps his word has become an endangered species. Now more than ever before our society needs men who can show up, step up, and follow through.”
ACT LIKE MEN: We need masculine men, men who are physically, mentally, AND spiritually strong. “We need battle ready men. We need men with character and core values. We need men who are definitive in their purpose! And men who say what they mean and mean what they say.”
ACT LIKE MEN: There’s a lot we could say, but imagine a world where men keep their word to themselves and to others. A world where men make eye contact. A world where men stand up to shake your hand. A world where men hold the door for others. A world where men are feared by politicians. A world where communities feel safe and protected knowing that capable men stand at the ready to keep their promise to take out anyone who endangers their family, friends, or way of life. These are all things HIM do!
ACT LIKE MEN: Step up! Get in the fight! Stay in the fight! Be men of strength, courage, integrity! Don’t even think about ringing the bell; it’s not an option!
Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage.”
Psalm 31:24 “Be strong and let your heart take courage, ALL you who hope in the Lord.”
“Be onthe alert, stand firm in the faith, ACTLIKE MEN, be strong.”
Back to work…
3-2-1 Sandbag Burpees: (Compliments of GORUCK)
PAX planked in line (for a loooong time!), then in-turn each moved to the sandbags and did the following Sandbag Burpees:
20lb Sandbag – 3 Sandbag Burpees
40lb Sandbag – 2 Sandbag Burpees (Thanks to F3 Gump for the borrow)
80lb Sandbag – 1 Sandbag Burpee (Thanks to F3 OBiwon for the borrow)
Hmm…looks like we need a 60lb’er
As PAX finished 3-2-1 Sandbag Burpees they planked on the other side of the sandbags.
FINAL CHALLENGE:
Chest Bump Merkins – Sets of 10, 20, 30, 40…until last man is standing. The standard: Full extension up, chest to brick down.
Chest Bump Merkins: Done to improve form, PAX do Merkins over a brick lying flat, bumping their chest on the down. No bump = no rep (Merkin doesn’t count). Honor system but as PAX are eliminated or VW (Voluntary Withdraw) they become judges and/or shenanigaters (i.e. Fireplex)
The Gist:
Each PAX does round of 10 Chest Bump Merkins – All men still standing
Each PAX does round of 20 Chest Bump Merkins – All men still standing
Each PAX does round of 30 Chest Bump Merkins – Number PAX cut to 5 men standing (Chattahoochee, Doubtfire, Semi, Whirlybird & FNG)
Final PAX do round of 40 Chest Bump Merkins – The last man standing: Whirlybird w/32 Chest Bump Merkins (Though there was some controversy…)
With that, it was time to circle up; time flies when you’re having fun. Fartsackers…you got lapped! See you next time.
COT:
NUMBER-RAMA
NAME-O-RAMA – Named FNG, welcome Mowdaboat!
Announcements: Shirt link is up and will be posted again today. In fact, here it is:
Prayers: Ruxpin’s M, Shawna (procedure tomorrow); Randy in hospital with COVID; Chappie’s niece-in-law’s father, Gene still inn hospital with COVID, after stint in ICU is making good progress; Zeke who’s boat is still upside down; and other requests forgotten by YHC but never unforgotten by the living God who can handle everything we entrust to Him.
Always honored to lead, especially since we have so many Q’s and opportunities are more sparse. Shout out to all those who won THAT FIRST BATTLE over the Fartsack and posted, even though rain was a significant threat. You showed anyway; that’s discipline! Thanks men!
5 PAX won THAT FIRST BATTLE to post for a Chappie recovery workout +1. Meaning that it was a post Labor Day Beachday Beatdown +1 day, designed to get us moving but not to crush the soul. There’s something about working out in a group of 30, and there’s something about working out with a group of 5…bene’s on both ends of the scale. So here’s how things went down today:
QIC: Chappie
DATE: 9/8/21
WARM-O-RAMA
SSH – 18 IC
Mt. Man Pooper – 10 IC
Swartzjack – 15 IC
Moroccan Nightclubs – 30 IC
Imperial Walkers – 18 IC
Low Slow Squats – 18 IC
THE THANG
Mosey to wall at East end of Gigante parking lot (while sharing 20lb sandbags)
On the wall:
Round #1:
10 Chest Bump Irkins/Bearcrawl 70’/15 MJB’s OYO, back to the wall
Round #2:
10 Derkins/Crawlbear 70’/20 Bombjacks OYO, back to the wall
People’s Chair with OHC’s, 1 round of 10 Counts per each PAX/Dragon Crawl 70’/35 Flutter Kicks IC
YHC shared the following apropos 3rdF, directly from Q Source:
(Excerpt taken from QSOURCE by David “DREDD” Redding, Q1.5, 50-52)
Accelerating the M requires both skill and love
Marriage is not easy–it is not supposed to be. But because he never quits working at it, the HIM ultimately develops the skills he needs to enjoy life with his wife. To avoid committing relationship malpractice with his wife, the HIM focuses on five points of marital Preparedness:
1. Maintenance = Deceleration
The M will not prosper if the HIM thinks in terms of maintaining its vitality rather than Accelerating it.
For the HIM:
Movement is action taken in furtherance of purpose.
Momentum is the sustained Movement that results from Acceleration
To Decelerate is to decrease the pace of Movement
With this in mind, the HIM knows that he is either Accelerating or Decelerating in all his endeavors and relationships, particularly with his wife. There is no in-between state of nature such as “maintenance.” If you think you are maintaining, you are actually Decelerating because there is no Status quo. That is the myth of the plateau. Thus, the HIM never thinks of maintaining his marriage. He always focuses on Accelerating it.
2. The Culture is a Jester
While the culture purports to embrace marriage, it is actually a hinderance to Acceleration. It breathes truthy-sounding lies like “my wife is my best friend,” and “we try every day to meet each other halfway,” and “we’re pregnant!” Why does our culture resort to Oprah Bombs like these when it comes to marriage? Probably because it doesn’t believe that anything so difficult can possibly be so good. The HIM knows the inverse to be true. Virtue takes work—it is the un-Virtuous act that comes easily and “naturally.”
3. There is no Fifty Yard Line
Halfway is not good enough when it comes to the M. It is not a football game where husband and wife meet at the fifty-yard line for the coin flip. The HIM must drive the ball the full length of the field and stay in his wife’s red zone, regardless of whether she even breaks the huddle. To the Sad Clown focused on balance and fairness, this seems unfair and out-of-balance. Perhaps, but that’s what Acceleration requires when it comes to the M.
4. Your Wife is not Your Best Friend
She is made for a much higher purpose. There is a pedestal in the life of the HIM that is set out for his wife and there is no room on it for his best buddy (that relationship is actually two more rings out on the HIM’s Concentrica). Nor is marriage a joint-venture within which man and wife have equal and identical roles. Husband and wife may both become parents, but it is only the mother who is pregnant. The lives of both husband and wife are changed by parenthood, but it is only the mother whose body is rearranged form the inside out, and only she who spends nine months in a state of complete vulnerability—during which the HIM is to be her stalwart and constant protector. The HIM does not let the culture confuse him. He knows his role, and it is nowhere nearly as important as hers.
5. Joy Trumps Happiness
The culture often confuses joy and happiness interchangeably, but they are actually very different things. Happiness is a transitory positive feeling governed by mere external circumstances. Happiness is a full belly—it goes away when you get hungry again. In contrast, Joy is not so ephemeral. It is a permanent state of hopeful satisfaction that is unaffected by external happenstance. Joy cares not whether a man’s belly is full or empty. It requires a long view, well past the toils and triumphs of any given day. The HIM is a joyful man under any and all circumstances because his vision is cast at a point well beyond the day before him. His focus is on the end and beyond. What do joy and happiness have to do with marriage? Simple. A healthy and vital M is a lifetime pursuit. Anything designed to last a lifetime needs the pure fuel of Joy to grow and prosper. The short term warm and fuzzies of Happiness won’t do the trick. Happy-focused men give up on their marriages when the going is rocky because they are un-Happy. But the Joy-focused HIM views those same rough spots as the precise time to double-down on his Commitment to his bride. Anybody can stay married on a full belly. But it is within the crucible of hunger where the true bond between man and wife is formed.
Marriage is a Team, not a Community. It requires Proximity and purpose to succeed. It transforms a man from a selfish Happiness-junkie into a selfless Joy-seeker. The HIM knows if he fails at his M, nothing else he does will matter.
THE WHOLE CHAPTER IS WORTH A READ, check it out men!
Scripture Reference: (Ephesians 5:25-33)
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himselfup for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church [q]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are parts of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, as for you individually, each husband is to love his own wife the same as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. (YHC’s emphasis added)
Mosey back to the AO
As our pool of Q’s grow here at @f3firststate it’s amazing to see newer PAX get into the rotation, first with a Warm-up VQ, then with a full VQ. The Q list grows long so it’s even more a privilege to Q when the opportunities come. Grateful to lead these 5 HIM at the Grit Mill. Glad to be in the rotation.
COT:
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
Announcements: Looks like our Hero’s Journey Gauntlet Ruck will be stepping off on Fri 9/10 at 2200 hrs. Plan: Ruck from the Grit Mill to CHOP and ending at the Aegis (hitting all our AO’s, i.e. The Gauntlet) for a 20 mile ruck, before partaking of the Saturday morning beatdown Q’d by the one and only Quattro. 20 miles = 20 years since 9/11. Looking forward to the challenge. Also: Fallen Angel: Call Sign – Extortion 17 showing tonight at 7 at Chauffer’s, all PAX welcome.
Prayers: Praise for YHC’s buddy Jeff being able to get up on his feet and walk across his hospital room yesterday; prayers for marriages of the PAX of @f3firststate; prayers for YHC’s oldest son, Zeke (a.k.a. Nature Boy)
Week #2 of the August Burp to SchoolChallenge began with, well, Burpees. Simple: Bring school supplies, do Burpees that correlate to the Burpee values in school supplies, and withdraw that number from your Burpee account (everyone’s account contained 500 Burpees at the start of the month). Bring school supplies to contribute to the Delaware State Police “We Got Your Backpack” community fundraiser AND get stronger by doing Burpees = PAX supporting our community AND getting stronger. That’s a win, win! Caveat: FNG’s are worth 100 (free) and Unicorns/Kotter’s are valued at 50 (free).
14 PAX won THAT FIRST BATTLE and posted, regardless of the high potential for Burpees. Shout out to 2 PAX who joined us from downrange: Dora from F3 Philly and Drop Kick from F3 Cape Fear, and a special welcome back, welcome back, welcome back…to Beeker (50 Burpee Bounty secured by YHC).
And, now, for the highly anticipated workout:
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
Italian Night Clubs – 52 IC (had to go til we could feel ’em)
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
Windmill – 15 IC
Mosey to entrance of H.O.B. Elementary
PAX paired up to do “Burp Back Mountain” – PAX #1 runs to bottom of hill, then Nurs back to top, while PAX #2 does Burpees. Swap, rinse and repeat until 100 Burpees are completed (cumulative = 100 Burpees per group).
Q called for a break for the 3rdF at mid-point (see below)
Burp Back Mountain was completed and followed by a brief round of Mary:
????
Flutter Kicks
Dying Cockroaches
Scissor Kicks
Four-Count Freddies
Mosey back to AO, with a JailBreak from beginning of drive to AO
10 Burpees just for fun (60 Burpees in all). If PAX brought school supplies, they could withdraw the earned amount from their accounts; otherwise they’re just plain old Burpees.
Still time: PAX tackled a 1/4 round of Jack Webb. 1 Merkin/4 Overhead claps. 2 Merkins/8 Overhead claps…all the way up to 10 Merkins/40 Overhead Claps. Call 911, there’s a massive shoulder fire at the CHOP AO at @f3firststate !
COT/BOM:
Announcements: Keep bringing school supplies; welcome to the guys from downrange; F3 First State Family picnic at Doubtfire’s, Sep 5 @ 4pm; F3 Nation 10 Year Anniversary celebration at Cape Fear, Oct 8-10…HC today!
Prayers: Prayers for kids and teachers getting back to school, that they’d be able to get back to some sense of normalcy; prayers for Beeker and “unmentioned” request concerning his unmentionables; prayers for Streudel…tests and answers.
Always a privilege to Q, even when bringing MORE Burpees. Well done to all those who posted knowing full well that Burpees would be expected.
Aye,
Chappie, out!
Review of the #rdF shared earlier at the 50 Burpee mark:
The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:23-24 that Jesus “…while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while he suffered, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him [God] who judges righteously; and He bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
Many years ago I saw this Christ-like character trait—of being reviled and accused and NOT responding—lived out by a friend of mine. One of the hardest things we will ever do is take to the hits for someone else and say nothing! It happened while we were in Basic Training at Ft. Sill, OK, and it humbled me! In basic training we learned ALOT: Basic infantry skills, teamwork, self-discipline, marksmanship, bayonet fighting, hand-to-hand combat, physical fitness, and many other things. One of my favorites was Drill & Ceremony. This is when troops align and march in various formations and carry out commands with uniform precision. In practicality it is meant for moving large numbers of troops, quickly from Point A to Point B. Drill & Ceremony is still taught and used in Army ceremonies to instill honor, promote camaraderie and preserve tradition.
In Basic Training we practiced and practiced and practiced until it was time for an elaborate demonstration before a handful of Army evaluators. We became a well-oiled machine! We’d be evaluated based on Army standards AND in comparison to other platoons. After doing our entire Drill & Ceremony routine our platoon retreated to our laundry room to await the results, when all of a sudden DS McCutchen burst through the door looking for Pvt. Bean!!! (YHC) You see, for a small portion of our routine, Pvt. Bean was half-stepping where he shouldn’t have been half-stepping. So DS McCutchen came cussing and carrying-on through the door to tear Bean a new “Bombjacks”! Problem was my buddy Pvt. Grove and I, along with Pvt. Beals looked identical. DS McCutchen went right up to Grove and let him have it. Right there in front of the whole platoon, and right there in front if me (Pvt. Bean), thinking the whole time he had the right guy. Grove never said a word. He never said, “But DS, I’m not Pvt. Bean, I’m Pvt. Grove.” HE stood there and took it. And he took it for me, in my place, and covered over my half-stepping bafoonery.
My buddy didn’t know it then, but that instance was a small, albeit grand, in-person picture of what it looked like when Christ was arrested and whipped and beaten and reviled; He never said a word. And He took our punishment! Peter goes on to say Jesus went even further: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24)
The main role of the Old Testament high priest was to offer sacrifices for his own sins and the sins of the people. The problem was that those sacrifices were only temporary. The Jewish people would have to offer sacrifices again and again for their continued sins. The priests, being no less human, were prone to the same sins such as pride, selfishness, anger, and disobedience. Because they were merely men, they eventually died, and the next priest continued the sacrifices.
Yet Hebrews 7:24-27 says, “But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 25 Therefore He is able, once and forever to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. 26 He is the kind of high priest we need because He is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest honor in heaven. 27 Unlike those other high priests He does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when He offered himself as a sacrifice for the people’s sins.” (emphasis added…because Jesus is Risen!)
Jesus is the ultimate High Priest! The final High Priest! He really understands us and He knows what we go through in our flesh. He was God, but He came down to the world as a human being. He faced many of the same challenges we do, yet He did not sin. Even when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. He did not fight back–even when He was accused!
One if the hardest things we will ever do as HIM is take the hit(s) for someone else and never say a word! There is certainly a time and a place for it.
—————————-
Side-note: Btw, our Drill & Ceremony demonstration was nearly flawless that day. Nearly, except for that dude who was half-stepping. And we won the competition and hung the banner on our guide-on flag for the rest of Basic Training.
No, that title is not a shout out to Britney Spears; rather, it’s actually a shout out to Roger Sparks. His book, Warrior’s Creed is where YHC got the idea of running with water in your mouth. The PAX who won THAT FIRST BATTLE and posted at the Aegis in Georgetown, DE for a Chappie-led workout were treated once again to this practice–a total mental exercise! We did it before. Last time 4 of 12 PAX (33.3%) made the 0.5 distance. The other 8 were peeved with themselves and YHC could sense they wanted another shot at it, so, Oops! We did it again. This time we raised the percentage of finishers (71.4%). That is 15 of 21 PAX were able to Mosey 0.5 miles without spitting out or swallowing the water they swigged at the starting point. This is a difficult challenge. It forces runners to breath through their nose, and it actually has some incredible physiological benefits to the heart-rate (a worthwhile study to do on your own, but a good place to start is Warrior’s Creed); the Apaches used the practice to identify whether young men were ready to be trained as warriors—however, they would run an entire day, up to 50 or 60 miles. A half-mile has been quite the test, we’re going to have to up our game. Oops! We’re going to have to do it again. In the meantime, here’s how it fit into today’s workout:
WARM-O-RAMA
SSH – 17 IC
High Knees – 76 (single count IC)
Swartzjack – 17 IC
Calf Raises – 76 (single count OYO)
Smurfjack – 17 IC
Windmill – 17 IC
Wosey to the darkside of he shrubbery planter. Lo and behold…bottles of water! Instructions to the PAX: Take a swig of water and keep it in your mouth without swallowing or spitting it out for the duration of 0.5 mile run. Nice easy mosey down W. Market Street, right onto Robinson Street, then to the end at the corner of Robinson St. and Edward St. Job well-done to the 15 PAX who completed this [mental] challenge and were rewarded with 17 Burpees. Shout out to Sink-O and Fireplex: Word on the street is that Sink-O repeated the challenge on the return to the AO and Fireplex is said to have made his first successful attempt.
After the water challenge PAX were treated to a public reading of The Declaration of Independence. (Read it, or if your familiar with it, scroll down to the Thang below) :
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should DECLARE the causes which impel them to separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinced a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their Former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be attained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent upon his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out of their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders, which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and DECLARE, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this DECLARATION, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. (ALL CAPS: Emphasis added. Names of signers listed as well.)
Oh, look! A rather conspicuously placed stack of sandbags! WITH a Workout Deck secretly lurking within. Here’s how it went from there…
THE THANG
17’s – Merkins & Gas Pumpers (Plus, draw 3 cards from the workout deck in middle of the field along the way.) AND never pass a sandbag (unless you just placed it in the middle or at the end). Started with 16 Merkins at one end and 1 Gas Pumper at the other…all the way down to 1 Merkin and 16 Gas Pumpers. lots of 17’s and 76’s on this fine July 3rd, but we ran out of time before being able to pair up for cumulative 76 Burpees.
Mosey back to the AO:
COT:
Name-O-Rama – special shout out welcome to Breakfast Club from downrange Lexington, SC!
Announcements: Cabana will post Spartan workout on Groupme for a Sunday morning up-for-grabs workout in Milton.
Prayers: Semi’s M, traveling; prayers for the Winske family who lost 59-yr-old father to pancreatic cancer; prayers for Streudel; prayers for Bean family and YHC’s son, Zeke; etc. (Whatever YHC has forgotten, God hasn’t. He’s got it!
Coffeeteria followed at Dunkin. Good crowd of PAX! YHC was on vacation over the last week and so it was not only good to be back in the Q saddle, but it was good to be back around the coffeeteria table. Ribbing and all, the fellowship is always glue!
Cinco de mayo + 6 PAX (not pack) + Dice = A Dicey Cinco de Mayo. There’s no better way to start any day than with the men of F3nation. Six men won THAT FIRST BATTLE–over the fartsack–made a decision against themselves, and called up some grit to post in Milford for a Chappie-led dicey beatdown. Here’s how it went down:
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
5Merkins – IC, Happy Cinco de mayo!
Swartzjacks – 18 IC
5 Diamond Merkins – IC, Happy Cinco de mayo!
Hairy Chiggers – 18 IC
5 Prison Cell Merkins – IC, Happy Cinco de mayo!
Imperial Walker – 18 IC
5 Peter Parker – OYO, Happy Cinco de mayo!
Mosey down S E Front Street to parking lot behind Calvary Church. Lo and behold! YHC discovered some dice in the shadows…
THE THANG (explained): Roll Dice, Bear Crawl/Crawl Bear to dice, do the work on the dice (3 dice)
Equation: Cinco de mayo = 5 sets of Number on Dice (see list below) x Number on Dice.
YHC went back and marked the above list. Stars indicate our rolls of the dice and the exercise executed. 6 PAX, 6 rolls got us to the opposite end of the parking lot, where YHC shared the 3rdF. PAX mosey’d back to the AO taking turns carrying 1 of the 3 di overhead–not heavy, but a test nonetheless. The final roll (15 = 75 Wide-Arm Merkins) took place upon arriving at the AO.
3rdF shared this Gloom:
In Sacred Romance, John Eldredge writes: “As a young boy, around the time my heart began to suspect that the world was a fearful place and I was on my own to fund my way through it, I read the story of a Scottish disc thrower from the nineteenth century. He lived in the days before professional trainers and developed his skills alone in the highlands of his native village. He even made his own discus from the description he read in a book. What he didn’t know was the discus used in competition was made of wood with an outer rim of iron. His was solid metal and weighed three or four times as much as those being used by would-be challengers. This committed Scotsman marked out in his field the distance of the current record throw and trained day and night to be able to match it. For nearly a year, he labored under the self-imposed burden of the extra weight, becoming very, very good. He reached the point at which he could throw his iron discus the record distance, maybe further. He was ready.
The highlander traveled south to England for his first competition. When he arrived at the games, he was handed the official wooden discus—which he promptly threw like a tea saucer. He set a new record, a distance so far beyond those of his competitors that no one could touch him. For many years he remained the uncontested champion.”
Something in our hearts ought to connect with this story. That’s how you do it: Train under great burden.
That’s why we workout the way we do, day after day. It’s a great burden. Maybe the burden is simply getting up at O-Gawd-Thirty, but it is a burden nonetheless. That’s why we ruck with greater weight than the usual rucking events, we carry heavier burdens in training so that when we face the test of an event the burden is, well, not so burdensome. That’s why we train ourselves to do hard things, to embrace doing hard things. F3 workouts are essentially designed by the Q’s to be somewhat burdensome for the sole purpose that they makes us stronger, train us to endure, so that we will be better able to translate facing those burdens to walking through and enduring the heavy things we face in life: Maybe its your marriage, a wayward teenager, something in the workplace; whatever it is we are training not only physically to face them, but more so we are training spiritually, mentally, and emotional to be able to endure and come our victorious and better for having faced whatever we faced in that season.
Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
These verses tell us we know there is produce to behold in our suffering: Endurance. Character. Hope. That is why we’re able to rejoice in carrying the heavier burdens; there is an outcome which transforms and makes is better men. Being better men thereby transforms our homes. And having better homes thereby transforms our workplaces and communities. And having better workplaces and communities thereby transforms our world. And God knows we need that!
Here are a few others verses to reference in your own studies. Check ’em out: 1 Cor. 9:24-27; James 1:2-4
COT:
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
Announcements: Keep poking potential sponsors for Roving RuckF3st for Gavin (Sun. May 16). All PAX should plan to ruck if they’re available
Prayers:Prayers for the family of Delmar police officer Cpl. Keith Heacook, killed in the line duty, Sunday, April 25. Cpl. Heacook leaves behind his wife and 12-yr-old son. Prayers for all those donning a badge everyday to protect and serve our communities. Prayers for the PAX who posted this morning, that God would help us to gain a new perspective toward our daily workouts AND toward facing the challenges we face and how they can make us stronger, more enduring men and leaders—that that would translate into each of us living today as HIM in our homes, workplaces, and in the communities in which we serve.
Grateful for the PAX who posted. And YHC always counts it a privilege to…roll the dice. 😉
A dirty dozen (12 PAX) jumped their Fartsacks in the back alley of the Gloom and won THAT FIRST BATTLE. They’re a step ahead of most, all because of the highly anticipated Warm-O-Rama VQ by Looney Tunes. Great job on your first go ’round brother! All PAX would agree that’s not all folks–now it’s time to get rolled into the regular Q rotation. Stay tuned, there’s a new month right around the corner!
WARM-O-RAMA:
Disclaimer given
SSH – 21 IC
Windmill – 20 IC
Cherry Pickers – 21 IC
Imperial Walkers – 20 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 21 IC
Turned it over to Q, Chappie…
THE THANGITY THANG: (A few comments were suggestive of “not showing had they known what we were in for.” He! He! He! He! He….)
PAX lined up for an Indian Run as YHC gave the following Pre-Instructions:
The plan: Indian Run to hill at the base of the tower. Nice easy pace, stick together, man in back goes to front. Rinse and repeat til we reach destination TOGETHER (an Indian run is just like the Patriot Run but without the shovel-flag).
Our route: Left on Bay, Right on Behringer and take it all the way to the end. (Half-mile to destination)
THE CATCH: It’s going to be a quiet Indian Run. Everyone grab a bottle of water and will fill their mouth with water and keep it there. This is about DISCIPLINE. You have to FOCUS. Those who spit out their water or swallow it on the way, will have to watch the others do 18 Burpees once we reach the hill. If no one swallows or spits the water = no Burpees. Focus and think of your team! DO NOT spit it out or swallow it until you receive permission at the bottom of the hill. (i.e. breath through your nose) Ready…Fill ‘er up!
Only 4 of 12 PAX were able to make the half-mile mosey while keeping the water in their mouths. Those who completed the run as planned were rewarded with 18 Burpees, those who spat out or swallowed their mouthful of water along the way had to watch. A few tried to participate in the Burpees but were stopped by the Q – no reward! Like Seinfeld’s soup Nazi, only instead the Burpee Nazi…none for you! It was an interesting activity to say the least. OBSERVATION: Those who didn’t keep the water in their mouth the entire run appeared to be a bit upset with themselves, while those who succeeded and were rewarded with Burpees seemed to do them with a sense of renewed vigor. PREDICTION: The number of PAX who successfully complete this exercise WILL BE HIGHER the next time (if there is a next time). Kudos and T-Claps to the finishers: Drago, Toy Soldier, Quattro & Chappie…18 Burpees never felt so good!
At this point YHC shared the following 3rdF Message:
In his book Warriors Creed Roger Sparks tells of being a Marine Recon instructor. He said, “I was always peeling the onion with the guys. An old story I recalled spoke about the Apache spirit runners. Apache boys learned early that running went hand in hand with becoming a warrior. The young boys would have to fill their mouths with water and go for a long run, in the scorching Summer heat of what is now New Mexico, and when they got back, they would spit out the water. Only the ones who spat out the water could be trusted and trained. Those who swallowed or spit it out during the run couldn’t be trained because they didn’t have discipline. Holding water in the mouth forced rhythmic breathing through the nose, and kept the young future warriors from panting and drying out their mouths and throats. Carrying the water also required deep focus.”
Sparks wrote: “I really liked that particular approach to training, so I used it religiously. If guys spat the water out or swallowed it, then I would have them fill their mouths with gravel. Not fine, clean gravel; I’m talking the dirt on the side of the road. I’d point and say, “Fill your mouth with that gravel. You have no discipline. Those around you will suffer because of your lack of character. If you fall out of the run, I’m going to condition everyone while you watch. You’re going to keep your boots on, and your team will finish the run barefoot.”
“We’d go on a ten-mile run with the water in our mouths. I really got behind the water in the mouth, especially after I read John Douillard’s Body, Mind and Sport. That book was about principles of human performance. If you breath through your nose when you exercise, you generally will not go beyond 50% of your max threshold for your heart rate. When I read that there was no benefit from training endurance that went past 50% of the maximum heart rate, I thought, those Apache had it all figured out. The idea that the Apache could run sixty miles a day like that only added to the allure.” (Roger Sparks, Warrior’s Creed 91-92)
I love some of the phrases Sparks uses in reference to suffering and how it trains us to be disciplined and focused; and, by the way, he wrote in terms of life, not just training in Marine Recon, the French Foreign Legion, or as a Pararescueman:
It inoculates against sensitivities/feelings of misery. YHC’s addition: Even Jesus taught that suffering pays dividends. We’re talking about chosen suffering or suffering for doing what is right (as opposed to suffering for doing stupid things –though that has the reward of learning in the school of hard knocks, if we learn from it). James teaches in James 1:2-4, that we are to, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete [mature], lacking in nothing.” Suffering always pays dividends!
Suffering produces strength of mind
Suffering brings you to a place of functioning out of virtue
Suffering teaches you to constantly embracing risk
Suffering trains you to pay attention to details
Suffering reminds you that you’re more often only an agent of something bigger
Suffering brings us to our humanity
And…that life without struggle is meaningless
Roger Sparks went on to quote a fitting samurai mantra: “If you have to choose between suffering and not suffering, always suffer.”
THE THANG, PART DEUX:11’s on aptly named Merlot Hill (Yes, there’s a story behind that. The hill may or may not have been at one time a catalyst for a previous “Splash”)
LBC’s at the bottom – Starting with 1 up to 10
Merkins at the top – Starting with 10 down to 1
Transitions up and down the hill included variations of: LT. Dans, Mosey, Nur
All PAX completed a full set of 11’s
Once completed, PAX lined up again for an Indian Run back to the AO (no water in the mouth). Round trip run = 1 mile.
COT:
Announcements:
Paintball shenanigans this Saturday @ 3 in Georgetown. Still room for more. Sign up online. Don’t forget to complete your waiver online if you haven’t done so already. Come, get “inoculated” (shot) by other PAX!
Sponsors. Keep hitting up your friends and family to sponsor you for the Roving RuckF3st for Gavin fundraiser. Let’s see how much we can raise for this great cause! Ruck will take place on Sunday, May 16th. Stepping off at NLT 12 from CHOP and Rucking to the community Gather and Give for Gavin event at Hudson Fields.
Prayers:
For the Morris family as they continue to work through the grief of losing little Beau.
For Semi as he travels
For Gavin as he prepares to return home then continue rehab and for God to do a miracle in this young man’s spine and body
For all the PAX of F3 First State to embrace suffering to learn to endure well in order to reap its dividends. To be examples of those who endure and mature so that we are more effective leaders in our homes, workplaces, and in the communities in which we serve.
Disclaimer: As the PAX circled up YHC reiterated that this exercise (success of keeping the water or lack thereof) was not the same as what Roger Sparks was teaching his Marine Recon candidates–this was an entirely different context and situation. And its results were not a statement concerning PAX’s character, per se, but merely a challenge to discipline and mental toughness in our context. We embraced the suck. And suck it did! YHC was honored to lead and bring such a challenge, but he is also ever grateful to the other HIM who bring challenges that push us all beyond our self-imposed limits. This one was definitely new…and cerebral!
Honor to lead, challenge, and suffer along side the men of F3 First State,
With Turkey Season coming in and training events causing some PAX to absent themselves from today’s beatdown, YHC wasn’t sure anyone was going to show. Not to worry, 10 PAX won THAT FIRST BATTLE and posted for an ABSolute Saturday morning. I.e. we focused on the abs…a little bit. It went a lil’ something like this:
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
Swartzjacks – 18 IC
Imperial Squat Walker – 18 IC (Squat didn’t work in public as well as it worked at home. Next time)
Cherry Picker – 17 IC
Windmill – 10 IC
Wheel of Merkin – 10 OYO Merkins each PAX, around the ring
Sealjacks – 40 IC (In honor of Hideous)
THE THANG:
Mosey around the circle, between the courthouse and the admin building, and around to the double steps on the S. Bedford St. side of admin building:
Abs Station #1: Admin Building steps
Gas Pumpers – All PAX do Gas Pumpers continuously until each PAX has run steps
Merkins – 2 mins., AMRAP
Mosey to armory…
Abs Station #2: National Guard Armory steps
LBC’s – 5 sets of 100, run to top step & back (500 total)
Big Boys – 2 mins., AMRAP …because Biddie requested them 😉
Mosey to School (side lot)…
Brief breather for the 3rdF:
Back on March 20th Spencer Lee won his 3rd individual National Championship as an NCAA wrestler for Iowa. Then in his after-match interview he dropped some crazy news on the college wrestling world. He’d been wrestling with a torn ACL! This was not the first time. He finished his high school career with the same injury sat out a portion of his first season at Iowa, before taking off his red-shirt and winning his first National title.
When questioned further after his March 20 win about why he would continue with such an injury, he said “Excuses are for F’n wussies!“
Fact is, there are times in sports and there are times in life when we might actually have a legitimate excuse to step away from competition, off the battlefield, or from something else. Spencer Lee had a legit excuse to withdraw from competition. Everybody would’ve understood if he had. And many would’ve said he should step aside. But he didn’t. Why? Well, yes, he wanted to win his 3rd NCAA individual title, but he also had an even greater goal in mind, a goal beyond himself: He wanted stay in the battle for his team to win the National Championship title. And they did!
A disclaimer: I’m not suggesting you and I continue with an injury that we may further aggravate or only cause worse injury if we keep going (like my foot). You know your own body, so be your own advocate. Just don’t make excuses. Not in competition. Not in family. Not in work. Not in battle. And to add the double negative… “Not nowhere!”
Of course, this mindset goes way beyond our workouts (a “mindset microcosm” of real life and facing hard things). So what I am suggesting is that you NOT take the easy road; that you not take the “out” even when everyone else expects it or okays it or even offers it. What I am suggesting is that you be stronger than your excuses. What I am suggesting, as Navy Seal, Marcus Luttrell put it, is that you, “Find an excuse to win.”
When we find an excuse to win, it will almost always be in direct proportion to the prize pursued (whatever that may be). But with that, we’ve got to stop thinking of ourselves alone. We’ve got to stop making excuses, and stop doing so for the betterment of our family, of those in our workplaces (on our teams), and for those in the communities in which we serve. Excuses serve YOU well (not really), but they almost never serve well those around you who may be part of some of the bigger picture stuff. We make excuses in daily life because we can. We make excuses because we’re able to get away with it with no accountability…we make excuses because we lose sight of our goals or THE [bigger picture] goal(s).
A few statements to be adopted by those who want to develop the mindset of being a HIM:
EXCUSES ARE FOR WUSSIES!
BE STRONGER THAN YOUR EXCUSES!
FIND AN EXCUSE TO WIN!
Whatever you commit to, make sure you carry that commitment to completion, to the end goal. Don’t make excuses and DFQ! Be it a workout, or a war; be it a wakeup or walk, a wrestling match on a mat or with a foe unseen–be a no-excuse warrior for your family, your friends, your team, your co-workers, yourself! Whatever it is, “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.” (Jesus in Matthew 5:37) Excuses are for wussies!
Abs Station #3: Parking lot, the looooong lot…
Freddie Mercury – 5 sets of 50, run length of lot and back between sets (250 total)
LAST TRANSITION: Bearcrawl/Crawlbear back to start from far end of lot (canceled due to time)
Mosey back to AO to call it a day.
COT:
Number-Rama – 10 PAX
Name-O-Rama – a Happy Birthday to Woodstock, hit the big “4-2”
Announcements – Today is the day: Commit to the F3 Paintball outing (Sat. April 24 @ 3 pm). Commit today by getting your deposit of $25 to Jay Baxter (Quattro). Did YHC mention to do it today? Today it is then!
Prayers – Prayers lifted for PAX and families traveling home following Spring Break. Prayers for the Brown family and Cape students grieving the tragic loss of Maggie Brown and for other girls involved in the gator accident this past week.
ABSolutely honored to Q at the Aegis, it’s been awhile.
