“There’s a tenacity to persistence that’s easy to overlook. Day after day it just doesn’t let go regardless of obstacles. Dad (Truitt Cathy) was joyfully persistent; with his principles and his focus on excellence. The persistent leader is quietly tenacious and delightfully determined.” -Dan Cathy (CEO Chick-fil-A)
In my own life, I feel that I’ve always been persistent. However, to be joyfully persistent is a whole different story. I’ve spent most of my ambitious life “pissed-off persistent” if anything. I recently heard an Entrepreneur talk about the moment when he realized that he was committed to finishing what he started. He explained that if he was committed to finishing, than he might as well quit being angry through the process and choose to be joyful. Being “quietly tenacious and delightfully determined” takes an internal decision to choose “Joy” even in obstacles. So, with that, lets be joyfully persistent, quietly tenacious, and delightfully determined to finish this and every beatdown! Aye!
Mosey down to the Canal Public Parking we did 25 Merkins
Mosey a few stopped and did 25 Derkins
Mosey a few stopped and did 25 Erkins
Mosey did Wide Merkins
Mosey over to a Picnic Table near the Docks 25 dips some where in between these and the LBCs we had 3rd F message read below.
From there we mosey 25 LBCs
Mosey for some wall sits
Mosey to the water and did Some Carolina Dry Docks or as we called them the (Lewes Dry Docks ) stayed there for leg raises and E2Ks 25.
Finished with mosey back to the A/O .
We had COT and Name-O-Rama, welcomed FNG Wildwing
3rd F:
“ITS ALL IN YOUR MIND “
Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed , you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted , you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.
-Anonymous.
So get rid of your old neg thoughts challenge yourself everyday. Do something you would have not done the yesterday. Keep showing up in the Gloom and striving to be better hen you were the day before.
This Backblast is so titled because as YHC was preparing his Weinke, he discovered it had been nearly a month since he Q’d a workout. Whaaat! GRIEF? Yeah, maybe a little grief because Q’ing is awesome fun and we all look forward to bringing the heat. There’s nothing like bringing a well-appreciated (chatter-filled/good grief) beatdown, and so when you don’t get to pull out the Weinke for a while…well, you COULD get a case of butt hurt (grief). GOOD? You betcha! The reason YHC hasn’t Q’d for nearly a month is because we’ve got a good flow of Q’s in the pipeline and the Q Schedule is packed. That is awesome, good grief! Fact is, Ruxpinhas already gotten in his warmup VQ and tomorrow (Sat. 10/27) at the Aegis (potentially in a Nor’easter) he’ll be getting in a full VQ, thereby putting him in rotation on the Q list. Calling all PAX – if you can make it in the Gloom, POST!
In the meantime, here’s YHC’s catchup from Tuesday’s workout: YHC went back to what has become a bit of a standard of measure for workouts at CHOP: The 4×4 – we keep going back to this one because it does show a measure of advancement. PAX can look back and [hopefully] say, “This time it wasn’t as bad as last time!” You against you! It doesn’t get easier, you get stronger. This workout is made up of 4 COP’s on 4 corners around the block. Here’s an image of the block…
Warm-O-Rama:
Disclaimer claimed
SSH – 18 IC
Windmill (Windsock if you’re watching Chairman!) – 10 IC
Low/Slow Squat – 18 IC
Cherry Picker/Crab Flipper – 18 IC
Shoulder Tap – 10 OYO
4×4 Introduced – Mosey to corner #1
The Thang:
Merkins Corner — Tobin & Union Streets:
Wide-Arm – 5 OYO
Diamond – 10 OYO
Regular – 15 OYO
Erkins (chest to curb) – 20 OYO
*All Merkins done continuously
Transition to next corner: Lt. Dans to light post (approx. 40 yds.), mosey to next corner.
Abs Corner – Mulberry & Tobin Streets:
X & O’s – 20 OYO
E2K’s – 20 each leg OYO
Dying Cockroaches – 60 OYO
4-Count Freddies – 35 IC
Transition to next corner: Bearcrawl to 1st Pole, Dragoncrawl to 2nd Pole
10 Count. Wosey to hidden pile of sandbags – a special stash for Leatherman! Partner up and share coupon for rest of 4×4 workout. Mosey to next corner…
Legs Corner – Willow & Mulberry Streets:
Smurf Jacks – 18 IC
Calf Raises – 30, toes in w/ Sandbag; 30 toes out w/o Sandbag OYO
Coupon Squats – 15 w/ Sandbag; 15 w/o Sandbag OYO
MJB’s – 30 OYO
3rd F Message:
Recently YHC was sharing with someone about doing some of the longer distance rucks (not to mention the usual 5k Rucks on Fridays) and the times we start, and their response was, “WHY?”
YHC has gotten the same response to EH’ing during my few years of doing F3 workouts, and you have too, when you tell someone the time we meet. It’s all good, their interest is peaked, they express interest, and may even say, “It sounds like just what I need.” Then the inevitable happens: You tell them the time and often even their countenance changes, right before they ask the same question: “WHY?”
There are practical reasons for why. The most obvious being the fact that we all have busy lives with family, church, work, school, hobbies, etc. The time we meet, 05:15 (a.k.a. O-Gawd-Thirty), is about the only time any of us have available to break free to get in what we enjoy here: some Fitness, Fellowship, & Faith. That’s probably THE practical reason.
One of the other reasons we meet at this time is simply because it is tough. It is hard to get up and out of the fartsack. That’s the reason WHY we do this thing…WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR COMFORT!! Actually, we might be, but as I mentioned a while back, we make decisions against ourselves. Playing the part of King David in A Tale of Three Kings, Gene Edwards says nearly the same thing: “I judge my heart first and rule against its interests.” That’s because we’ve set our minds to do the hard thing, to “embrace the suck,” and it IS in fact the hard thing that most others simply will not do.
The whole concept translates easily to other areas of leadership in our lives, whether at home, the workplace, or where we’re serving in our communities. That’s why Paul compared self-discipline in ministry to the self-discipline an athlete must have to compete well and to win. In 1 Cor. 9:27 he said, “but I buffet (discipline) my body and make it my slave…” Also, what we do is comparable to the narrow gate Christ spoke of in Matt. 7:13, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.” Of course, He was talking about entering real life, eternal life. But it also applies in the sense that we’ve essentially decided against taking the broad or easy way.
YHC’ll wrap with a quote he recently wrote down because it aligns with all we do in F3: “If you want to build mental toughness you have to inconvenience yourself. …the early morning workouts; if you hate early morning, …the late night workouts; …the snowy, the cold (F3 principle: rain of shine, hot or cold)…the worst conditions you can get, put yourself in them, and make it really inconvenient. And then you start to get a genuine expectation of winning/overcoming in relation to the price you had to pay.” ~Chael Sonnen
(Btw, this is ALL long term stuff!) Think about one final thought when you face that daily battle, that first battle…and think about it every time you EH yet one more guy: “Do not regret the fight, pity those that never knew the privilege of it.” (The warrior Oath)
Aye?
Back to work. Transition to final corner: Mosey 50%, 75%, 100%
Full Body Corner – Union & Willow Streets:
Burpees – 10 OYO
Plank Jacks – 10 OYO
Flying Squirrel – 10 OYO
Mule Kicks – 10 OYO
*This last corner of the 4×4 always brings YHC near Splash mode
4×4 Complete, mosey back to the AO
COT:
Number-Rama: 11 PAX
Name-O-Rama
BOM: Announcements/Prayers
There you have it! Good chatter throughout and at the end. YHC will take that as a compliment. Thanks to Site Q, Chattahoochee for putting YHC on the Q Schedule! Yet, its never a problem to pass it on to the new guys to make sure they get regular experience. YHC loves that we keep building a strong list of Q’s — that’s leadership. Leaders leading leaders. Yet, YHC is always happy and humbled to Q an awesome group of HIM. Thanks for posting men!
The cold hit us hard for a chilly game of Captain Thor poker. We warmed up with a mosey around the block, some cherry pickers, and windmills.
Next was The Thang. Here are the rules. We divided into 4 teams. Each team started with 3 cards. The goal is to get the best poker hand. There were 2 decks of cards to draw from. We did a modified Captain Thor while working our hands in between. We started with 15 big boys and ran to the center of the parking lot. In order to draw a card, you have to roll the ball of suck (a dice with a bunch of exercises on it). After doing the exercise you rolled, you can draw a card for your hand. Next you run to the other end of the parking lot for 60 American hammers single count. You run back and forth doing the captain Thor descending while rolling the ball of suck and working our hands. Vanilla and summit won the game and the losers had to do 20 jump lunges. The fastest team got down to 4 big boys and 16 American hammers.
The F3 message was about parenting. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Patriot run to two pain stations. We didn’t make it to the Toy Soldier or the Captain Thor stations as time became a factor. Q will save the second two stations for a future beat-down.
Patriot Run .4 tenths of a mile to Food Lion. Bear Crawl across parking spaces (@82 ft.) and complete ATM’s – 15 alternating shoulder taps (4 count), 10 tempo Merkins, and 10 fast merkins. Crawl Bear back (@82 ft.) and complete another evolution of said ATM’s.
Patriot Run .4 tenths of a mile to Ace Hardware. Completed a round of Super 21 without any recovery exercises between the rounds. 1 merkin, 1 big boy. 2 merkins, two big boys, etc. ascending to 21. Brutal….a lot of grunting and wind breaking.
Patriot Run .3 tenths of a mile back to the AO
Total: 1.1 mile overall patriot run
F3 Message
Several excerpts below from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Courage for the Unknown #8180
“Our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Thessalonians 5:24. “The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” Your Heavenly Father says, “Look, I got you onto this road. Take hold of My hand because I’m going to lead you and I’m going to take care of you all the way.” Listen to Moses’ summary of what God does for us when He is leading us into the unknown. “Do not be terrified…the Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you. In the desert you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries His son…He went ahead of you on your journey…to show you the way you should go” (Deuteronomy 1:29-32). Well, there’s your guarantee. You can keep walking confidently into the unknown because your Father is committed to coach you as to where to step next, to carry you when you can’t go any farther, to cover you with His protection from harm, and to care for you, providing every need. He’s called you. He’ll do it! So no matter how dark the road ahead looks, no matter how many bears there are, no matter how scared you feel, would you just grab hold of your Father’s hand and just keep walking in the direction that He is leading. ”
Q also shared a favorite poem along the same lines that reminds us that our Lord never leaves us or forsakes us even when we think we are going about things on our own…very comforting !
Footprints
“One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
By Mary Stevenson
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Continue to lift up Chappie, Chairman’s Mom, and Chattahoochee as they face various medical issues and procedures. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers. Also, keep those in the path of Hurricane Michael lifted up.
4 HIM went for a mosey around Lewes stopping throughout for some fun exercises. We made our way to Bethel Church stopping along the way for 10 Derkins . Mosey to the Church Steps for 10 Erkins. Picked back up and Mosey across Savannah Rd. for a little Nur to Kings Highway found a little grass and did 15 Big Boys Mosey back towards BeBe and did 10 Monkey Humpers on Savannah Rd to give the hospital a show. Mosey to empty parking lot lunged across parking spaces and Lt. Dan back. Mosey over to the graveyard for some Mummy Walks arms extended out kicking legs straight out Left leg to Right Hand and so on alternating steps down the parking lot. then to the wall for Dips feet on the ground and Dips feet on parking block. Mosey back to Graves Uniform Parking Lot for some more Monkey Humpers. We picked back up and went down on the docks for some AB work Hanging off the docks we did Leg Lifts and Gas Pumpers. Bear Crawls from the dock up to Pilot Town Rd. Mosey back to the Compass by The Overfall Ship and did plank work. Wosey back to A/O.
Warm up. 20 each. SSH. Plank jack. Cherry picker. Windmill. Tempo merkins. Tempo squats. Tempo big boys. (Kinda).
Ultimate football! Like ultimate frisbee. Can only take two steps once caught. If team with possession drops they have to do 2 burpees while opposing team can move down field. When team scores they call out exercise all PAX do BUT the team that got scored on does double the reps! Play for 30 minutes! 3rd F. On the platform we have and I used the Eagles as an example for when they won the Super Bowl and glorified all the glory to God rather than beating their chest.
Once again a “dirty dozen” HIM posted in the Gloom, even with the threat of rain. That shouldn’t be surprising. After all we post rain or shine, hot or cold. That’s a great lesson for life in and of itself–i.e. circumstances and conditions should not be given a whole lot of power over us.
The Backblast title says “0.0”—this was as a result of a request by one of the PAX who injured an ankle and needed a low-run to no-run workout. Well, there you have it. But it was a workout nonetheless! Here’s how it went down:
Warm-O-Rama:
SSH – 18 IC
Parker Peter – 10 IC
Crazy SH (CSH) – 18 IC (Thanks Mr. Swartz, YHC’s elementary school gym teacher. He always taught is SSH’s this way! Addition to the Exicon? Who knows.)
Plank Jacks – 18 IC
Calf Raises – 30 OYO (toes in)
Calf Raises – 30 OYO (toes out)
The Thang:
PAX paired up after counting off by 2’s as instructed by YHC for some unknown reason. Duh, huh, huh! Anyway, after a brief intro to the workout stations around the AO parking lot, PAX commenced to the no “mike, mikes” (slang for miles) beatdown.
Here’s the list of stations:
*Timer: Box Jump Squat – 10, Curb Steps – 10, Flying Squirrel – 10, Side-to-Side Line Touch – 10 (*This station was used in lieu of a timer, upon completion, PAX rotated to next station–approximately 2 mins. per round)
Ruck – OH Presses/Ruck – Curls, AMRAP
Ruck – OH extended while woseying around lot
Bearcrawl/Crawlbear – Around parking space, AMRAP
Log Press/Log Upright Row – AMRAP
Sandbag Sit-ups – AMRAP
Parking Line Burpees – AMRAP
Single Leg Hip Thrusters – AMRAP (on park bench…this was punishing)
Paver Drive – AMRAP (Also punishing, they burn! PAX held pavers straight out and turned left/right, like driving, for the duration of the round. YHC hopes the messages motivated some push.) Here’s an image of the infamous pavers…
3rd F Message shared a couple of rounds in:
As much as those in the military experience that in training and in battle conditions, and as much as athletes experience it while training and more so in competition, and as much as we experience here in the Gloom, those thoughts are made real as we experience them day-in and day-out—they’re lived out by us all.
In fact, I would even add that it is those real-life experiences of suffering and hardship that are really training us to be faithful.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:3-9, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.”
I love that, Paul, here in Scripture, speaks in terms that we can understand. Here’s the takeaways on this one. Paul was talking about Kingdom values vs. World’s values. He said,
▪Suffering/hardship is normative, not just in training, but in everyday life (in ministry!). Can you imagine that? Well, it’s the rule rather than the exception! ▪ We endure it, however, because we understand there’s a greater purpose behind ALL suffering. So wherever it’s taken you, focus on the bigger purpose, the eternal—do your job in order to please the ONE who is carrying you through it. ▪It’s meant to sharpen and purify you. To strengthen you. It’s meant, in the context of this passage, to make you a greater witness to Jesus Christ. “No guts, no story!” Right? ▪After all, if you won’t quit and walk away when things get tough, others are gonna want exactly what you have. Add to that, no cheating! No short-cuts! ▪Pain IS only temporary—that’s a reality taught us EVERY TIME we show up in the gloom and workout. Here it’s only 45 mike, mikes. In life it may be a day, a week, a year, etc. Enduring it builds muscle, but in greater ways than just physically. It builds muscle emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and in return WE BECOME BETTER LEADERS AT HOME, AT CHURCH, IN THE WORKPLACE, AND IN THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH WE SERVE.
That’s why we use slogans like: ▪DFQ – “Don’t Freakin’ Quit!” ▪”Embrace the suck” (Embrace it because it is normative! Paul: “Suffer hardship with me”) ▪”Find an Excuse to Win!” ▪And, yes, “No guts, no story.”
That’s about it. The pain actually was temporary—it only lasted 45 mins! Well, actually, post-workout chatter implies that it’s lasting throughout the day. Yep! YHC will take that as a compliment! It was great to see everyone pushing hard today, even as we partnered up it was still a “you against you” kind of day.
COT/BOM:
~Announcements: Get your flyers for the Grace Church Father/Son Campout ~Prayers: Lifted up Chris and Lifted up Bethany, along with other young people trying to figure out life.
