The Warmup: 20 SSHs IC, 22 Smurf Jacks IC, 21 Seal Jacks IC, 21 Moroccan Night Clubs IC, 21 Cherry Pickers IC
The Thang: Mosey to Union St, Tobin Dr, Mulberry Street to grass field in front of Shipbuilders Village. All rounds add up to 21 reps starting with 1 American Hammer (side to side back to center = 1), 55 yd dash, 20 Merkins, 55 yd dash; 2 AHs 55 yds, 19 Merkins, 55 yds…until 20 AHs, 55 yds, 1 Merkin, 55 yds. In a display of teamwork, the 6 was picked up with all Pax joining for last 3 rounds.
Break for F3 message about character. Q discussed the need for character to do whats right whether be in your job or in general and how surrounding ourselves with other HIM is important. Bible references were Corinthians 15:33 Bad company corrupts good character. Phillipians: 4:8 Finally, brothers and sistets, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Proverbs 10:9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. Psalm 25:21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you. Titus 2:7-8 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
The Thang2: Mosey Mulberry St to Willow St back to AO. Super Toy soldier set 50 LBCs 25 E2Ks 20 Big Boys. Finish off with 21 Burpees with all Pax jumping in to finish off ladt 2 rounds with the 6.
Number -O-Rama & Name-O-Rama. Prayers for 2.0s going to college and Toy Soldiers friends Dad. My apologies if I am forgetting any of the prayers.
Location: North end of the boardwalk. Park in the public parking at the corner of Lake Ave. & Surfside Place (no fees that early in the Gloom).
Time: 7 a.m. sharp
What is it? A workout on a different day and at a different location. This year it will be more of a “convergence” (i.e. all Site-Q’s bring your AO Shovel-flag. We’ll plant ’em all in the sand). Commit now, men, maybe Labor Day will be the day we get to record numbers!
Each HIM come prepared with a few of your favorite exercises because we’ll be “passing the baton” from PAX to PAX. Don’t forget we’ll have some different elements that “add value” to the beatdown: Sand& Water. To some degree, you can think CSAUP. Plan on going home nasty!! Ohhhh, yeahhh!
(Being so close to the coast I’m not sure we use the beach enough–let’s not take it for granted!)
Guys, this is a great time to invite some FNG’s too, so hit up those guys you’ve been working on. This promises to be a great way to start your Labor Day. Last year we jumped into some waves after the COT/BOM and got a good cool down compliments of the Atlantic. Plan some time afterwards to hang out with your M and 2.0’s on the beach, or just plan to grab some Coffeeteriawith some of the other PAX for some of that 2ndF. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS!
6 HIM posted for a beatdown in perfect weather. It’s still August but several mentioned the temptation to wear long sleeves or turn on the heat in vehicles on the way in. It’s been cooler than normal, Chappie still wants Summer!
Let’s talk about staying power. YHC announced that today’s workout would tag-team with Vanilla’s 3rd F message from Wednesday (See “Finishing Strong” Backblast from 8/22). Vanilla’s message spoke of 3 ambushes which most men will face at one point or another (maybe even repeatedly) throughout their life:
the ambush of another woman
the ambush of money
the ambush of neglected family
These were written about in the book Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar. Great book and a recommended read for all men! Today’s workout (based on the book as well) was designed to complement what Vanilla shared on Wednesday, and revolved around how to avoid or overcome the aforementioned (that sounds sophisticated, ain’t?) ambushes—the workout itself will be offered as today’s 3rd F.
So here’s how it went down:
Chatter about the wet grass? OMAHA! To stay out of the wet grass, PAX moseyed to parking lot in front of Justice the Peace Court.
Disclaimer given. Made it official, even though no FNG’s were present. Practice makes perfect.
Warm-O-Rama:
SSH – 20 IC
Imperial Walker – 18 IC
Windmill – 18 IC
Shell Pickers – 15 IC
Calf Raises – 30 OYO (toes in)
Calf Raises – 30 OYO (toes out)
FULL Squats – 10 OYO (not that we don’t always do full squats)
GoFMerkins (Good Form Merkins) – 10 (single count cadence on YHC’s d/u – not that we don’t always use good form)
Mosey down Pine St. to ARNG Armory…
The Thang:
How do you avoid the 3 ambushes of another woman, money, & neglect of family?
By STAYING in the Scriptures (each exercise begins with S for Scriptures)
PAX were asked by YHC at each pain station to pick the number of rep counts prior to each exercised being announced. Fun! (generally we did 20 reps, but Chattahoochee did call out 22 to keep us mindful of the avg. number of veterans who take their own life every day)
Seal Jacks
Stagger Merkins
Squat Jacks w/cross
Sphinx Merkins (Do Not do these on asphalt! Lol. We switched to the grass at the half)
Mosey to side lot of Georgetown Middle School… Same question about the ambushes:
By STAYING close to a Friend – (someone you can share your challenges with and who will ask you the tough questions – F is for friend)
Fiddler Crab to cone, switch at the half
Finger-tip Merkins
Flying Squirrel
Flutter Kick
Mosey to Wall 2.0 on the opposite side of the school…
By STAYING away from other Women – (set up protective hedges to keep yourself from the ambush of another Woman)
Wall Plank (interesting, kinda)
Windmill
Wheel of Merkin (5 rotations)
Wall of Fire: PAX hold Air Chair, while in turn each does 10 Merkins, 10 LBCs, & 10 Burpees
Mosey back toward AO to lot behind building on the corner of W Market & N. Front Streets…
By STAYING Alert to the tactics of the enemy(A is for Alert – “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” 1 Peter 5:8)
Announcements: Labor Day Beach Day Beatdown. Rehoboth Beach, North end of the boardwalk near Henlopen Hotel. Start Time: 7 a.m.
Prayer:
Those taking 2.0’s to school
Waterfall/Felicia and newborn bay girl 2.0
Meg & Rachel (Vanilla & Stretch’s M’s) – both due to deliver 2.0’s in Nov
Prayers for all PAX to have STAYING POWER and avoid the ambushes of other women, money, and neglect of family by STAYING in the Scriptures, STAYING close to a Friend, STAYING away from other Women, and STAYING Alert to the tactics of the enemy. After all, it’s what HIM do!
Prayer for YHC, who has a sore throat and is preaching a funeral message later in the morning
Honored to lead the 6 HIM who posted at the Aegis on a beautiful (perfect weather for a workout) Saturday morning. Thanks for the push, men!
PAX Completed 20 Powerjacks OYO at the first corner, Nur to 2nd corner for 20 Lunge Jumps, Bear Crawl to 3rd Corner for 20 Star Jumps, Karaoke (Switch half way) to 4th Corner for 20 Skater Lunges, Crawl Bear back to first corner to complete.
Mosey to George HP Smith Park playground
The Thang 2: Colonel Trautman
PAX split into two groups. First Group ran 20 yards, completed 3 pull ups, ran back to relieve group 2. Group 2 completed 10 Merkins and then held plank until group 1 returned. Groups rotated for 5 rounds.
Break for Third F: Finishing Strong
QIC is currently reading “Finishing Strong” by Steve Farrar, a book for men on how to Finish this life well. Statistically, only 1 in 10 men will finish well in their lifetime, meaning 9 out of 10 will experience moral failure in some category. Farrar shares that this is predominately due to Men not being able to “Survive the Ambushes” of life when they come. There are three primary ambushes that men will face:
The Ambush of another woman
The Ambush of Money
The Ambush of neglected family
Farrar shares that in a study of nearly 250 Christian men who fell for the ambush of another woman, there were 4 key components that nearly all of them had in common. First, none of the men had regular accountability. Second, all had ceased to spend time daily in prayer & scripture. Third, 80% of them became sexually involved from counseling a woman other than their wife. Fourth, all 250 were convinced that moral failure would NEVER happen to them.
We can learn from these men who did not finish well and again we see that F3 can provide a barrier of protection to assure that all of us can finish well. F3 assures that a man is surrounded by other men who are glad to hold them accountable in all areas of life, not just fitness. F3’s COT provides a time of daily prayer and the Third F often provides biblical insight to speak life and truth into all PAX who post. F3 is for men only, so the nonsense relationships with women other than our wives that too often can come from “the gym” are never gonna happen with this group. F3 keeps us on our toes. Sure, it keeps us in shape physically. But I believe that the greater value of F3 is the shield of protection that we men provide for one another to assure that we all have the best shot to Finish Strong.
Mosey back to AO
Ended with the “Little Baby Flutter Crunch (LBFC)” – PAX are on their six doing flutter kicks while simultaneously completed crunches. Don’t count the flutter kicks, count only the crunches. Completed 20 OYO.
Waterfall Brings the Little Baby Beatdown (His 2.2 to be born soon)
August 18, 2018 at The Aegis
QIC: Waterfall
The warmup: 37 SSH IC (37 because we are at 37 weeks) Diaper pickers (formerly shell pickers, formerly cherry pickers) 21 little BABY crunches (because she will be born on the 21st) and windmills
The THANG: Mosey to a little field next to the little league fields. At this point Leatherman joined us because he was rolling in way past hot. LOL I am calling this the LITTLE BABY BEATDOWN. We started with three exercises: Little baby crunches, little baby arm circles, and little baby merkins.
OK, I made up the little baby merkins “LBMs”. You take the plank on your elbows position and do merkins on your elbows.
After the 3 exercises you push your partner across the field and they push you back. Because you have to push the baby out! This beatdown is descending. I think we got down to about 31 LBCs, LBACs, and LBMs.
We mosied back to the AO and used the ball of suck a couple of times along the way. More merkins and mexican jumping beans!
Countarama, Namarama, and COT
We had the ceremonial passing of the shovel flag to Summit. Way to step up Summit!!
7 PAX rolled in ready to get their sweat on this Gloom. A lot of chatter about two strong Qs back to back with Fireplex and Leatherman bringing the heat Tuesday and Wednesday. Pressure was on…
Warm-a-Rama
SSH- 15
Cherry pickers – 15
Moroccan Night Club- 15
Bolt 45s- IC
Standing to half way- 15 .
Half way to full squat- 15
Full squats -15
SSH- 15
Mosey to Ace parking lot.
Split into 2 groups.
1st group – 4x4s oyo
2nd group – Nur across lot. Lt Dan back.
Groups switch once all Pax return
Rinse and repeat for 2 rounds.
Mosey to Dr office lot.
Pair up
One partner stays and does exercise while other runs circle around dr office. Switch when partner gets around circle. Group Totals. PAX keep count.
Total of 150 dips on curb.
Once finished dips move on to total of 500 flutter kicks.
3rdF- I had a message typed out that was on my heart. About consistency in all areas of life and how true High Impact Men stay consistent to develop trust, always add value and lead from the front. But when I arrived to the AO this morning I opened up F3 nation and when I selected QSource a message popped up from nearly two ears ago written by ‘Dancing Idiot’ on ‘the Q’
Immediately when I read it I thought of our local leader , Chappie , who with out him I wouldn’t be here today at 5am preparing to start my day with other Men who likely have been influenced by him as well. We are grateful for you leading the way in your Chappie style. And excited to expand F3 throughout the state with your guidance. Maybe it was fitting he was on vacation today, but we all appreciate your vision and have grabbed ahold of it ourselves. Each of us are better because of it.
The Super 21 as it appears in the Exicon. 1 Merkin to 1 Big Boy Sit up. 2 Merkins to 2 Big Boy Sit-ups. 3 Merkins to 3 Big Boy Sit-ups, etc., etc., etc. But wait there is a twist….after each set completed of #1 though #5 complete 21 Imperial Walkers. After each set completed of #6 through #10 complete 21 Mountain Climbers. After each set completed of # 11 through #15 complete 21 Monkey Humpers. After each completed set of #16 through #20 complete 21 Prisoner Squats. After the final set of 21 Merkins & 21 Big Boys then finish strong with 21 Burpees.
Q received multiple reports of the loss of “Rump Skin” due to PAX choice of completing the set on the asphalt instead of the available wet grass that was just steps away. I think our FNG dodged the bullet on this one when he received his F3 name…:)…Welcome Ruxpin…..
F3 Message
Q spoke about several characteristics of leadership as gleaned from an article by Thomas A. Merrill as it appears on fireengineering.com. “Mr. Merill is a 35-year fire department veteran and a former chief of the Snyder Fire Department in Amherst, New York. He is a fire commissioner for the Snyder Fire District. He served 26 years as a department officer including 15 years in the chief officer ranks. Merrill recently completed five years as chief of department. He has conducted various fire service presentations throughout the Western New York area as well as at FDIC. He also is a fire dispatcher for the Amherst (NY) Fire Alarm Office.” Mr. Merrill stated that ” it is important for leaders to exercise good judgement and strive to lead their department in a positive manner; otherwise, so much of what I call wasted energy is invested in leadership quandaries that can truly bog down an organization and prevent good work from getting done. It can also cause good people to leave.” This observation can be applied to any business, group or organization. Mr. Merrill went on to identify 8 “must have” traits that all leaders should possess. The first is ownership and responsibility for any success or failure. The ability to admit mistakes, be accountable, and move forward. The second is consistency. “A good leader will do jobs for which he is responsible in a consistent and regular manner, all while maintaining a positive attitude. The third is being tired. “All leaders should expect to be tired. Simply, if you are doing your job as a leader, you will be tired.” You may need to put in the extra time and effort to accomplish tasks with excellence. The fourth is a positive example. “All great leaders have learned to lead by their own personal example. “Learn to lead by the power of your example, not by examples of your power.” The fifth trait is organization. “All leaders need to develop an organizational plan that works for them. Find a system that works for you and strive to be as organized as possible.” The sixth is Integrity. “People are watching you all the time; they pay attention to what you say and how you handle yourself. Once it’s lost you may never get it back. A leader without integrity is certainly not a professional in any organization.” The seventh identified trait of a great leader is honesty. “Coupled with integrity, honesty is equally as important. Don’t ever think your people won’t know if you lie to them. Similar to losing integrity, once you are branded a liar, it sticks to you forever and your people will lose all trust and confidence in you. It’s okay to not have an answer to a question. It’s okay to not know how to do something. It’s not okay to make up answers and pretend to be something you are not. Be upfront and honest with your membership at all times, and don’t ever lie to them.” The last trait identified by Mr. Merill is trust. “All good leaders are trustworthy. Your members must know that you have their backs at all times. They need to know that when you tell them you will do something or get an answer for them, you will follow through and do it. Learn to gain your members trust, and more importantly, work hard to maintain it.”
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, possessed all of the traits identified by Mr. Merill and so many more. As a leader and teacher he was judged and scrutinized mercilessly. He humbly served and provided the ultimate sacrifice in laying down his life so that we might have the opportunity to choose everlasting life. Is he your President, Chief, Chairman, CEO…..??
James 3:1 New King James Version (NKJV) 1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
James 4:10 New King James Version (NKJV)10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Matthew 20:26 New King James Version (NKJV)26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Welcome to FNG (Ruxpin). Prayers the Savini Family, Betts Family, and Sanders. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers as we go about the business of being HIM.
Warm-up. 20 ssh. 15 windmills. 15 cherry pickers. 15 maracon night clubs. High knee lap half way around circle. Switch and do other half as butt kicks. Mosey to middle school.
Leg station. 3 workouts, 33 times =99 sets and a problem at the end. 1. Single leg lunge. 2. High jump squat. 3. Scissor jacks. Problem was wall sit til Chatahoochee said stop. Mosey to microtel.
Arm station. Same 3×33+pain station. 1. 1,2,3 tempo merkins. 2. Elbow extensions. 3. Dips. Pain station. Balls to wall til vanilla says. Mosey to circle.
3rd F on Excuses. Proverbs 22:13. The lazy person says, “There’s a lion out there, if I go outside I might be killed!” F3 says, “Go chase that lion!”????
Mosey to fire hall. Ab station. Same style. 1. Reverse crunch. 2. Superman’s. 3. Big boys. Pain station 6” till 7:59:40 and 20 seconds of insane courage to finish with a sprint to the circle. Except for summit because he though he saw a sniper. ????????
What happens when you buy sidewalk chalk at Family Dollar (not a commercial) and pick up a prescription next door at Walgreen’s (not a commercial)? You discover a yet-to-be-minted F3 pain station. YHC couldn’t believe these two walls separated by about a 20′ alley-way had somehow been overlooked for the past 2+ years, even after working out in and around the parking lot so many times. How’d we miss this grand station of a beatdown location? Who knows! YHC noticed it a few weeks ago and could hardly wait to get his Q on and personally introduce it (like a new found friend) to the rest of the PAX from the Milton Mustard Seed CHOP AO – Semper anticus! Well, this little “canyon” or “valley” IS ON THE MAP NOW! YHC will tell you all about it. In meantime, what say ye, men? Shall we call it The Valley of the Shadow of Death (even though there really was no “walk” through it) or Death Valley(because it was so doggone hot and there was no air)? The place will live up to its name either way. Here’s what it looked like after the Gloom — YHC had to go back and get a shot for this post:
Well, call it what you will…here’s how it all went down:
Warm-O-Rama:
SSH – 18 IC
MNC – 15 IC
Shell Picker, Crab Flipper, Cherry Picker – 10 IC
Hillbillies – 18 IC
Flying Squirrel – 10 OYO
Calf Raise (toes in) – 20 OYO
Calf Raises (toes out) – 20 OYO
The Thang:
Mosey to the new station (The Valley of the Shadow of Death or Death Valley): Steady Mosey interchanged with a Picked-Up Mosey, switching between power poles/light poles all the way to Food Lion parking lot, ending in front of Walgreens:
Between the Walls (in the valley) – all OYO
5 Mike Tysons on one wall
10 Bombjacks in middle of alley
5 Mike Tysons on other wall
15 Burpees in middle, and so on…
5 Mike Tysons
20 MJB’s
5 Mike Tysons
10 Count/Breather (PAX had to get out of the valley because it contained no air!)
Back between the walls…
BTTW – 10 Count
People’s Chair – 10 Count
BTTW – 10 Count
PC, Leg Up (L) – 10 Count
PC, Leg Up (R) – 10 Count
YHC forgot all who counted, but some counts were brutally slow. But, hey, it was in the valley of the shadow…
3rd F Message – a Brief Shared By YHC:
One leadership principle I’ve been pondering lately is this: “OUR REFERENCE POINT IS CRITICAL.”
Years ago I heard someone say that “if the whole world stinks, check your mustache.” The idea being that if there’s some old moldy cheese or other leftover food in your stache and that’s all that you’re able to smell, then from THAT reference point the whole world is going to stink. The metaphor is clear. It may not be the whole world at all; it might be your perspective, the reference point from which you “smell” [see] the world.
HOW WE SEE ANYTHING DEPENDS ON OUR REFERENCE POINT. I shared that thought in a recent sermon, but I think it’s just as applicable here, in F3. In fact, part of what we do here at O-GAWD-THIRTY (the Gloom) just about every day of the week, in some measure gives us a reference point for leadership. We get up very early; that’s the hard thing to do. We Q and prepare workouts and 3rd F messages hoping to inspire one another in spiritually, mentally, and physically in leadership; that’s the hard thing to do. We push ourselves and each other past self-imposed limits; that’s the hard thing to do! And we do all this and more, not just because of the fitness but because it does make us better leaders.
How does all this make us better leaders?
I believe one of the ways it makes us better leaders is that doing the hard stuff gives us a reference point. Let me explain, Mark Batterson mentions that psychologists refer to this as the contrast effect: If you lift a really heavy weight, then lift a lesser weight, it will seem lighter. We do this simply enough by doing really hard workouts. We do this with sandbags and cinderblocks. We do this with our rucks especially — we carry around 40lbs and then when we carry around 30lbs or less and everything else seems lighter. The reference point is the 40lbs or its the hard workout before anything else in the day comes along. Having that reference point is to help us to see things from a different perspective, one that is meant — in terms of leadership — to give us the reference point that just about everything else that follows throughout the day will not seem all that tough or difficult because we’ve already done something incredibly harder by comparison. This, again, is called the “contrast effect.”
The practice of Q’ing a workout also leads to the same outcome: We practice that leadership here regularly, and, in part, that practice carries over where it ought to most (it’s supposed to) — at home, in the workplace, and in the communities in which we serve.
In real life, it might bring about a different reference point after going through difficult circumstances. We are to see them differently after God carries us through them. (Point being that He is the One, then, who actually carried the weight…POINT BEING that Christ must be our reference point.) That’s why we cling to verses like Romans 8:28, “AND WE KNOW THAT GOD CAUSES ALL THINGS TO WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD…”
Those words of Scripture and the experience or fulfillment of them train us and give us perspective — and how you see anything depends on your reference point. When we’ve been through something, tough circumstances, and we can see how God turned them around for our good, it gives us a new critical reference point. Doing the hard thing here, carrying the extra weight here (in the Gloom) trains our bodies and our minds with the reality of these truths.
Back to work:
YHC’s failed attempt at the Hands of Time (one of his favorites, but its been awhile and he forgot how to do it. Oh well, still got in some ab-burn)
Steady mosey return to the AO.
Meanwhile, back at the AO…
GFerkins (Good Form Merkins) – 10 OYO
Mary, all 9 PAX got in a round but YHC can’t recall all that was chosen
Time’s up, only thing we missed on YHC’s Weinke was a round of Partner Push; next time. It’s all good, the Valley of the Shadow of Death (a.k.a. Death Valley) took a good bit out of us.
Great push by all the PAX.
COT:
Announcements:
Everyone is welcome to join Grace Church’s Warriors for Him men’s ministry for a hot dog cookout at The Home of the Brave this evening at 6. Home of the Brave is a homeless shelter for our veteran’s. Join us for some dogs and a few rounds of cornhole as we serve those who’ve served us.
Thursday Gloom we’ll have a guest Q – Nunchuk will be here serving up the beatdown and getting his F3 Passport stamped; let’s make a good showing in support of our brother from York, SC!
Prayers: Prayed for the substance abuse blanket to be lifted from Sussex County; prayer for others…
BOM
Welcome back Ying Ying, we’ve missed you brother! Good to see you. It was a privilege to lead all the fine HIM who broke the hold of the Fartsack and posted! Humbled and honored to lead the way.
Warm up. 20 SSH. 15 cherry pickers. 15 windmills. Start on baseline, high knees to half, butt kick to end. Start on opposite baseline, right shuffle to half, switch and left shuffle to start. Warm up basketball. First team to 5 wins. After every point, opposing team does 5 burpees. Losing team does suicide.
Run to ship carpenter square.
While going clockwise,complete 2 rotations of square. Starting at bottom left corner you run to first station and do 25 merkins. Right shuffle to second and do 25 big boys. Nur to 3rd and do 25 shoulder taps. Left shuffle to 4th and do 25 mountain climbers.
3rd F is on utterly obsessed vs uninterested.
Have the right priorities. Be more all in with things that matter like your relationships, especially with wife and kids & with God. Be utterly obsessed with things that matter in your life but also turn away from things that don’t move you and your family, and your relationship with God forward.
Run back to AO. Quick game of knock out as cool-down. End in COT. Excited for guest Q tomorrow! Continue to be HIM!
