The first workout for March arrived and so did 14 PAX for YHC’s March Merkin Tour de Force. It’s March so there’s got to be Merkins; lots of Merkins! Plenty today but no doubt there’s more to come.
Disclaimer:
Welcome to F3!
F3 is a non-profit men’s workout group. We don’t own anything and, therefore, make no claims on rights or permissions from the church. The church therefore assumes no liability, nor does F3 (i.e. you can’t sue us).
You are here of your own accord
I’m not a professional, so anything I instruct you to do is only a suggestion, but give your maximum effort. It’s you against you!
If there is an exercise you shouldn’t do, modify. 6. We will not leave you behind, but we won’t leave you where we found you either!
F3 has 5 Core Principles we adhere to:
We are: Open to all men
We are: Always free
We are: Always outdoors…rain or shine, hot or cold
We are: Always peer-led in rotating fashion
We: Always end with a COT
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 10 IC
Swartzjacks – 10 IC
Stop & Go Merkins (Down, hold 2, 3 up, rep) – 10 IC
American Hammers – 18 IC
Single Arm Flying Squirrels (5 each arm) – 10 OYO
Imperial Squat Walker – 10 IC
Cherry Picker – 10 IC
*Walk-thru explanation of Starfish Stations (group up – groups of 3 to 4 PAX)
THE THANG:
STARFISH/MARCH MERKIN TOUR DE FORCE: Groups picked a station and began working toward completing each one. Not all stations were completed by all PAX, but March definitely came in like a lion (i.e. Plenty-O-Merkins = Plenty-O-Roarin’…and man, those Swerkins!). Here’s each station:
100 Merkins
100 Plankjacks (5 Brick Merkins @ quarters, brick under PAX and down all the way to touch with chest)
100 Drydirks (Drydocks w/feet on boardwalk benches)
100 Swerkins (10 reps/10 sets, lap to platform and back after each set, resume)
100 Tilted Kilts (Gas Pumpers tilted on side, feet over top of parking block, 50 reps each side)
AFTER first station PAX returned to center platform to complete 10 Burpee Step-ups. Subsequent rounds: 5 Burpee Step-ups
Overtime Grand Finale Crowd Pleaser:JACK WEBB! (Ratio: 1 Merkin, 4 OHC… to 10 Merkins, 40 OHC’s)
Arms. What arms? You didn’t need them today, did you?
YHC shared the following 3rdF somewhere around mid-workout:
IF – By RUDYARD KIPLING
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
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YHC heard this poem a few weeks ago and immediately looked it up, then sent it to my oldest son in California. The poem is embedded throughout with biblical wisdom. While not all of it is found in 1 Cor. 16:13-14, much of it is captured in the phrase “act like men.” That phrase ought to echo in our hearts in minds throughout each day. When we’re making decisions or responding to situations and opportunities we ought to be asking ourselves how would a man act in this moment. Responding is such a manner will inevitably lead to being HIM; it will lead us to becoming better husbands, fathers, neighbors, co-workers, etc.
Here (1 Cor. 16:13-14) the Bible says, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (emphasis added)
Here are 5 quick commands for you today which, if you do them, will help you to be a HIM…a better husband, father, man:
Be on the alert
Stand firm in the faith
Act like men
Be strong
Let all that you do be done in love
As mentioned, everyone got in their fair share of Merkins–it’s March!
COT:
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
Announcements: ShamRuck Family Ruck coming up on Mar. 13 +@ 3:17 p.m. Meeting at Georgetown Circle (Aegis AO) and rucking to McDonalds for a Shamrock Shake. Also, we’re planning to strengthen our 2nd & 3rdF’s by starting a study of the book Chosen Suffering by Tom Ryan, Head Coach of the Ohio State wrestling team. Up for discussion: Do study at Saturday Coffeeteria or on Mondays from 0500-0600hrs? Starting end of March or early April. Watch for the poll on our F3 First State Groupme. GREAT BOOK! Recommended reading by Toy Soldier.
Prayer: We lifted up baby Beau, his body is rejecting the new heart and he’s back on the transplant list; continue prayers for Gavin – praying for a miracle for this young man to walk again after being paralyzed from a snowboarding accident in January
Honored to Q up the first March Merkin Madness beatdown with a Tour de Force. Welcome to March gentlemen!
1. a cooking appliance with a rotating spit for roasting and barbecuing meat.
2. F3 Definition of Rotisserie – You #$% is in for a Beatdown !!
PAX moseyed @.63 miles to the first pain station at MFD and completed 30 American Hammers in a four count cadence.
Moseyed from the FD @.49 miles to 514 Chestnut St. where we completed a toy soldier set of 100 LBC’s, 50 E2K’s each side and 25 Big Boys.
Moseyed .22 miles from 514 Chestnut to WBOC (OTS) where all PAX Bear Crawled for @8 parking spaces (@80 ft.) and completed ATM’s – 15 alternating shoulder taps (4 count), 10 tempo Merkins (4 count), and 10 fast merkins OYO. PAX Bear Crawled back (@80 ft.) and completed another evolution of said ATM’s.
Moseyed .21 miles from WBOC to 611 Federal Street where we completed a descending round of Super 21 without any recovery exercises between the rounds. 21 merkins, 21 LBC’s. 20 merkins, 20 LBC’s, etc. descending through the round of 15. Time was a factor and Q challenged each HIM to complete the descending rounds to 1 merkin, 1 LBC OYO at home.
Moseyed 1.16 miles from 611 Federal Street back to CHOP. Total – 2.71 miles overall mosey, not counting any mileage accrued for those that circled back to bring up our 6.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Chappie hosted coffeteria for all HIM in the Church Fellowship Hall. Thanks to Quattro for donuts and extra coffee.
Maybe it was the dumb voices I did. But the kids used to love it when I read “Winnie the Pooh” to them. Tigger with his irrepressible “hoo-hoo!,” bouncing everywhere. And Eeyore with his head down and his ever-present gloom.
I’d rather be Tigger than Eeyore. Maybe without the bouncing. I want to be the one who leaves sunshine in the room, not storm clouds.
That’s not so easy. There’s plenty to make us Eeyores. Overheated schedules. Grumpy folks. Medical battles. Family tension. Too little sleep. Long delays. Aggravating pain. Aggravating people.
Then there’s the antidote. Thanksgiving. Well, actually, giving thanks. That may be the difference between being the joy-bringer or the joy-killer.
The “inventors” of our Thanksgiving exemplify that difference. According to H. U. Westermayer, “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than those who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”
There’s Thanksgiving the holiday. Then there’s thanks-living, the lifestyle. It’s the difference between the dirty window and the blessing glasses.
When I look out a dirty window, the whole world looks yucky. Even the really good stuff is dimmed by all the caked-on dirt that’s coloring my view.
If you’ve decided your role in life is “victim,” it will be hard to see much that’s positive through that window. Abused … neglected … abandoned … misunderstood … passed over … wounded – that’s real hurt.
But to let those who hurt you define you is a self-imposed sentence of despair. Denying the many good things because they don’t fit the victim narrative. Living as a prisoner of your past.
Unthankfulness, for whatever reason, breeds some ugly offspring. In Romans 1, God describes how humans end up doing unthinkably depraved things – and where that downward slide starts. “They wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks … their minds became dark and confused” (Romans 1:21 NLT).
Unthankful heart -> dark mind. Bitterness … resentment … depression … anger … rebellion against God. They come from an ungrateful heart.
Yes, you can choose to go through life looking out your dirty window, seeing all that’s wrong. Or, you can choose to put on your blessing glasses. That enables you to live – not in denial of the bad stuff – but celebrating the goodness of God all around you. If you have eyes to see it.
Henry Ward Beecher, said: “The unthankful heart … discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as a magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!”
And those blessings are always there. The ever-changing masterpieces of the Ultimate Artist all over the sky, the yard, the horizon. The smile of a friend, the laughter of a child, the roof over your head. The food in the fridge, the song of that bird, the car that runs, the job you have, the person who cares. We call them “God-sightings.”
Actually, thanks-living isn’t just an option for a follower of Jesus. It’s a command. “Always be joyful” – how am I going to do that, for heaven’s sake? “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, 18).
When you look at life through blessing glasses, all kinds of good things blossom. Joy that’s from what’s happening in your spirit, not your situation. Peace that banishes anxiety. Faith that sees a God who’s bigger than whatever is bigger than you are.
Thanksgiving’s a great time to become intentional about collecting blessings, not burdens. Living “with gratitude in your hearts to God.” To “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:16-17).
For me, that thanks begins, not at a turkey-filled table. But at an old rugged cross. Where I once again allow myself to be leveled by the love of my Jesus. Who took my hell. So I can spend forever in His heaven.
Thanksgiving – and thanks-living – begin with the love that will never let me go.
Did a warm up on the circle and headed to the soccer field at St. Michael. Teamed up to do 100 dry docks, 200 squats, and 300 LBCs. One PAX did the exercises while the other ran across the field and back. Then we went to the parking lot at Georgetown Presbyterian. PAX planked up and took turns running to the other side and doing 10 burpees.
The PAX special requested that I put my message up for you all.
Message Title: But I Found None!
Ezekial 22:29-31
“The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the immigrant without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath.”
The Context: This was a message of judgement from the Lord to the Jewish people in Jerusalem. Murder, extortion and incest had become a prevalent and accepted part of their culture. God would judge them for the prevailing evil in their society.
The Wall: The wall here is not referring to the physical wall around Jerusalem. The physical wall would protect them against foreign forces but not against God’s judgment. The wall that need repaired and defended in this verse is a spiritual and moral wall protecting their society and culture from the judgment of God. Without a man to fix and defend it, the Jewish people were defenseless against God’s wrath.
The Search: God was looking for a man, not a woman or child. This is because God needed a strong leader to repair the wall. In this case, He was looking for a man to stand up and say NO to the prevailing evil in the culture of Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul may have had Ezekiel 22 in mind when he wrote “Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong.”
One Man: Notice that God did not need an army or a committee. He only needed a single man strong enough to stand up to the evil in the culture and spare the city from God’s wrath. The great and shocking tragedy is that God couldn’t find a single man strong enough to do that. EVEN WHEN YOU STAND ALONE, GOD CAN USE YOU! It only takes one man with the strength to say NO!!! to the popular evil in whatever culture he happens to find himself in. Will you be that man?
The Contrast: Notice the difference between how God through the prophet Ezekial describes a strong and courageous man compared to how our popular culture does. The popular singer Harry Styles recently posed in Vogue magazine wearing various feminine dresses. Newspaper headlines around the western world were quick to give their approval. Harry Styles was declared to be revolutionary and courageous. God sees a strong and courageous man as one willing to oppose the popular injustice in the culture, even when it means standing alone. Our newspapers see a strong and courageous man as one willing to wear a dress. We all live in a culture. All of our cultures have various evils of some kind that are popular and accepted. What kind of man will we choose to be?
Six HIM got better today by winning THAT FIRST BATTLE and leaving the fartsack behind, demonstrating their grit at the Grit Mill for a Dicey Chappie Burpee beatdown. It went a lil’ something like this…
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
Prison Merkins – 10 IC
Swartz Jacks – 18 IC
Shoulder Tap Merkins – 10 OYO
Seal Jacks – 18 IC
Carolina Drydocks (AMRAP, to last man ‘standing’) *Ruxpin outlasted all, won the last man standing award: Kudos for the push!
Mosey to lot behind Calvary United Methodist.
THE THANG: (Partner up: 6 PAX, 3 Teams)
Routine: Roll THE BIG DICE (3) down parking lot, Bearcrawl/Crawlbear (at the whims of the Q) to the dice, do # of Burpees rolled. Roll again (Next team). Rinse and repeat to opposite end of lot. Covering the distance, each team got 2 rolls.
Remember team totals. Highest total wins, and winning team dictates what losing teams must do (Ab work)
Team 2 dictated the losers had to do 73 LBC’s, of course, all PAX joined the fun.
YHC shared the following 3rdF here:
“Out of every hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the ONE, the ONE is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” ~ Heraclitus
Are you one of “the real fighters”? Are you “the ONE” who is the warrior? To some degree this is why we train ourselves under the burdens we do…to prepare ourselves to be THE ONE who “will bring the others back.” You see here what Heraclitus said was that THE ONE was not only about the fight, he was about the others.
“‘I believed therefore, I spoke,’ we also believe, Therefore, also we speak.” 2 Corinthians 4:13
Jeff Schreve shared: “The life of the Apostle Paul is a story of grace, glory, and suffering. God worked miracles in and through Paul as He used him to speak the truth in love and lead multitudes to faith in Christ. As Paul presented the truth of man’s utter sinfulness and the Savior’s sacrifice and victory over sin, death, hell, and the grave, many people had their feathers ruffled. In fact, both Jews and Gentiles often reacted to the gospel message with violence. Paul was beaten, whipped, and imprisoned numerous times for preaching the truth and obeying the Lord. His unwavering commitment to Christ and His Word resulted in his beheading under the persecution of Emperor Nero.
Could Paul have avoided all the suffering? Yes! He could have easily quit preaching the unadulterated truth. He could have dialed down his message to tickle the ears and fit in with the sinful culture. He could have bowed to the demands of Rome and played ball with the corrupt Jewish religious leaders. He could have turned his back on his Lord and his calling and saved himself a ton of grief and pain. He could have wilted under the pressure, but he did not! He truly believed that Jesus died and rose again, therefore he spoke the truth without stutter, stammer, apology, or equivocation. He was faithful to Jesus Christ all the way to the finish line, regardless of the circumstances and the backlash.” The Apostle Paul was THE ONE who was a warrior for Christ.
I believe we are living in the last of the last days. The signs of Christ’s return are all around us. One of the telltale signs is the hatred we’ll receive for standing up for the Lord and His Word, especially without compromise or apology. America used to value Christianity and uphold the authority of the Word of God—but those days are gone. Today, faithful followers who hold to the clear teachings of Scripture are vilified, mocked, scorned, marginalized, and attacked. Can physical violence be far behind? I think not.
What’s the answer? Should we water down the message to make it more palatable to a sin-sick world? Never! If we really believe, we will speak up and speak out, just as 2 Cor. 4:13 states. And if we grow silent in the face of persecution, moral decay, and social lunacy, did we really ever believe at all?”
So, this is about being THE ONE, or at the very least being a real fighter…for the sake of others. Don’t merely be a target. Fighting “to bring the others back” [to Christ], HIM train themselves physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally and morally to be real fighters, even if it means standing alone for the sake of their family, their church, and the communities in which they serve.
————————————
PAX mosey’d back to the beginning point at other end of parking lot, did about 4 mins of Plank Pulls with the sandbag mini’s (PAX planked side-by-side and pulled sandbags bag and forth between them).
Return mosey to AO, alternating with sandbags overhead between PAX.
COT/BOM:
Announcements: Headless Horseman RuckWOD, Roving RuckF3st Friday, Oct. 30 at CHOP in Milton. Sign up to earn the patch at rucksonparade.com DONUT RUCK, (Family Ruck) Saturday morning Oct. 31 following the workout in Georgetown. Plan is to meet at Del Tech and Ruck around campus to Dunkin…because America runs on Dunkin! Patches will be earned by all! Great opportunity for some family 2ndF among the PAX
Prayers: Prayers for Allen Chorman (Woodstock’s dad, recovering from open heart surgery); for Dietrich (Waterfall’s 2.0, starting school today); for Carol (Chappie’s M, having elbow surgery tomorrow morning); for Eugene (a personal struggle over last few days); for Peddles and all the BMX competing this weekend in Milford.
Another workout, another Q. Privileged and honored to lead. Shout out to all who posted!
YHC decided to take the route of building the confidence and competence of the Grit Mill PAX today with a Q’ing For Dummies style of workout. It was not quite a Q School but PAX simply kept moving and did some work by the numbers. Great morning for it as we added FNG Mr. Eugene H. Krabs to the crew to make it a Wednesday 6 PAX…we’ll call him Eugene for short. Here’s how it went down today:
Disclaimer given.
Announcement – We’re going to move around a bit today, workout, and practice a bit by the numbers (in cadence!).
Warm-O-Rama:
SSH – 18 IC
Squat – Woodstock
Moroccan Nightclub – 50 IC
Windmill – 18 IC
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
The Thang:
(Mosey to parking lot at old bank)
BANK (Legs)
Al Gore (hold for 3 count, up for rep) – 18 IC
Split Jacks – 18 IC
Tempo Squats – Woodstock – 18 IC
Mountain Climbers – Waterfall – 20 IC
Sumo Squats – Ruxpin – 18 IC
(Mosey out rear to NW 2nd St. Left to parking lot behind Berry Short Funeral – ended up across the street at Christ Episcopal Church…watch our for that car!…and that car!)
BERRY SHORT (Abs)
4-Count Freddies – 25 IC
Gas Pumpers – Woodstock – 15 IC
Hello Dolly – Gump – 18 IC
Flutter Kicks – 20 IC
3rdF Breather Taken here:
I picked up a thread on IG awhile back that applies to why we do the [hard] things we do. It was an exchange between two brothers who were talking about the limits of your body.
“Do you remember the marathon talk?” One of them asked. “I was complaining about doing a marathon on three weeks notice and you gave me the ‘what’s stopping you’ speech.” I asked him to elaborate, so he gave me a rough summary:
KW (brother): Whine, whine marathon wine.
CW (me): What’s the problem?
KW: It’s going to suck. I probably won’t even finish.
CW: Why? Are you going to quit?
KW: Well no. But I didn’t train for this.
CW: So you think you will reach a point at which you cannot physically take one more step?
KW: Well probably not. But I’ll be so slow!
CW: True. But that has nothing to do with whether or not you will finish. You make that decision yourself. And you’ll make it before the race starts. Kyle’s team started and finished 26.2 miles together in the Men’s Military — Heavy division of the race, which means they did the course in full uniform with boots and rucks weighing at least 30lbs each.
Kyle could barely walk for two days afterward, but as he put it, “that’s beside the point.”
It’s incredibly difficult to metabolically break the body of a healthy person. Yes, you can Kipping Pull-up your way to a torn shoulder, but if you’re moving in a way that doesn’t endanger you mechanically, your body can keep going through almost anything. The difficult part of learning this is when you realize that it’s your mind that doesn’t want to come along for the ride.
When you stop short (whether its a marathon, a 5k, a ruck, a marriage, or whatever manifestation of challenge life throws at you) it’s not that your body *can’t* keep going. It’s that on some level you’re making a decision not to.
Throughout life you will hear quitters come up with all kinds of excuses, as if everyone else isn’t going through the same kinds of excuses.
HIGH IMPACT MEN are not men of excuses, but of perseverance, endurance, and problem solving…overcoming any obstacles and adapting to any inconveniences.
SOME VERSES:
Galatians 6:9 ESV And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Romans 5:3-5 ESV More than that, 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.
Hebrews 10:36 ESV For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
(Mosey down N. Church, Left onto Front St. to parking lot at Social services — because of time PAX had to head for AO)
SOCIAL SERVICES (PAX choice, must be IC)
Clock ran out…never stopped here
(Mosey return to AO with several Prison Breaks along the way)
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
COT:
Naming of FNG: Again, welcome to Eugene! (Thin Spongebob SquarePants and Meding Seafood
Announcements: Donut Ruck info TBA in near future. Woo! Hoo!
Prayers: Woodstock’s dad, Allen Chorman, and family; YHC’s nephew, Aaron deployed; for social media “warriors” and our nation as we head toward elections, etc.
We started this morning off with a Patirot Run to church. PAX lined up behind 2 shovel flags and we took off in a friendly manner to the back field at the church. We posted flag in the middle of the church field and completed bear crawl ring of fire
Bear Crawl Ring of Fire
Combines exercises we have all come to love/hate. Circle up around shovel flag. Begin by bear crawling around in circle until Q says stop. Upon stopping, first Pax completes 10 merkins while other Pax plank, then next pax in line completes 10 merkins while other pax plank. Keep going around until all pax have completed the 10 merkins. The suck factor greatly increases the more pax you have (longer planks). PAX circled up and we bear crawled in a cirlcle until Q shouted HALT. We then planked it up while each HIM (19 of us uggg) completed the merkins. in between sets we recovered to our 6 to complete an ab exercise.
1st round _10 merkins, DR W AB exercise- Dr. W is a sufferable 8-count ab exercise that combines Dolly, Rosalita, and the W; often within the 6MOM. Always a #CrowdPleaser. 1 is legs apart like a Low Dolly, 2 is legs together, 3 is raise the legs to Rosalita position (45-60 degrees-ish), 4 is spread ‘em, 5 is The W (hands together and stretching forward between your legs), 6 is the return to your back (legs still up), 7 is legs together, 8 is legs down. 5-8 Dr. W’s is a good start to get the pax coordinated with the counting. 10 is a magic # that most build up to 15 is just dumb and torture #FetalPositionMaker Qtip – We always emphasize that the W is on the 5 count. Kinda breaks down the motions and gives a 2nd starting point.
2nd round 10 diamond merkins, 10 IC Seated Flutter Kicks with hands raised in Hallelujahs. Move immediately to hands behind you. 10 IC slightly reclined flutterkicks. Move immediately 10 IC normal flutter kicks.
3rd round 10 werkins, Toy soldier set, 60 LBC, 30 E2K each leg, and 15 BBSU
F3 message was inserted here, it will be at the end of the backblast
FInal Round- 10 ranger merkins. We recovered to our feet once we finished the Bear crawl ring of fire, and lined back up to head back to the AO.
once we got back to AO the real final round was 15 burpees to wrap things up.
Number o rama- 19 HIM beat the fartsack and faced the Gloom.
Name o rama- we welcomed 2 FNGs to the group and named them Waterboy, and Cowbell
Circle of trust- we ended like we always do in strength we circled up and offered prayers to JESUS.
Third F message
A few weeks ago it was RovingRuckfest and it was at broadkill Beach. Just so happens Chappie was on vacation so naturally I was alone for this trip. I kept thinking, im going to go home and go back to sleep, but I didn’t. I decided to pray ruck. I hit the beach with 20 lbs in my ruck and a 40 lb sandbag, and I’m praying, and rucking. It was fabulous. The moon lit the sky and the tide had recently passed for the night leaving the beach entirely deserted.. There wasn’t a single foot indentation on the whole beach. I reminisced as if in a daydream about a poem. I’m sure we have all heard the poem, footprints in the sand”. I chuckled to myself as I turned around to my surprise, there was but 1 set of footprints in the sand. I said “Lord I see 1 set of footprints here and this Ruck is getting heavy. His reply to me was, how do you think I feel, these footprints you see behind you are my footprints. You see we tend to carry on our shoulders, to much weight. We cary stress, worries, failures, disappointments, and it weighs us down and restrains us from doing what God has truly called us to do. When we carry these things, just like the Ruck it slows us down, it holds us back, it weighs on us heavily and God already paid the price. I reluctantly carried on, with a new appreciation about my day. We are not alone, Life may seem hard at times but with faith in Jesus we will endure the race that has been set before us. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
YHC had the privilege to stand in the gap for Chattahoochee while he’s following quarantine protocol after he kissed a girl and he liked it. Got you covered brother…”I got this” if you know what I mean Quattro.
Today’s workout called for pulling out the stack of pavers in YHC’s shed–they haven’t been out since WBOC posted and did a Delmarva Life story on F3 First State, so YHC dusted them off, chalked them up with some new motivational messages, and put ’em to work again in the hands of 11 strong PAX.
Remember when…
WARM-O-RAMA: • SSH – 18 IC • Swartzjacks – 18 IC • IW – 10 IC • Prisoner Squats – 15 IC • Shoulder Tap Merkins – 10 OYO
Patriot Run (around short block)
THE THANG:
(Partner Up) Paver Pass • American Hammers/Plank & switch (til each team does sandbag transfer – 2 sandbags opposite ends of parking lot, partners run and switch bags to other ends all while everyone else is doing AH’s or in Plank)
Shout-out to Fireplex (who bowed out to respond to the fire call, but gave us a good piece from the Night Train as they were going by). Monkey Humpers…next time! To all the men and women of Milton Fire 85, thank you for all that you do to keep our community safe.
Paver Overhead Squat Press • 1 PAX POSP, partner runs to Cone 3 ☆ 8, 6, 4, 2 Burpees per round …great push on the extra credit Burpees Waterfall!
Paver Sunday Drive – Done as bonus (not punishment) by teams who finished early — it pays to win! • PAX Wosey “Drive” w/paver
3rd F shared mid-workout – First, PAX took the time to read the motivational message on each paver, then…
Thomas Edison said, “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”
Back in May YHC watched an episode of one of the ESPN E60’s. It was titled Cliff Diving, but it wasn’t about cliff-diving at all. Instead it was about a man named Cliff Devries, diving.
Cliff is the diving coach at Rochester Institute of Technology. He says in the documentary, “You might see me walking down the road and think ‘Man, he’s got it rough,’ but there’s more…which is a little beyond what you think right now.”
In high school Cliff was the Empire State Games diving champion and selected as an All-American in his junior and senior years. That led to a scholarship to dive for the University of Kentucky with Olympic dreams.
As a diver he was always pushing himself to get better and to do harder, more complicated, dives. He was a competitor! But then he noticed his movements were getting worse. I’ve seen some of the videos of this highly skilled diver, flopping on his back. Something was going wrong.
An MRI revealed that a 6″ tumor in his spinal column was the cause of the loss of movement in his shoulder and arm. At 21-yrs-of-age, complications during surgery to remove the tumor, left him with severe trauma to his spinal chord. Totally paralyzed on his right side, he was told he’d be in a wheelchair the rest of his life.
Cliff grew tired of hearing that and determined he’d walk again.
His walk would leave you with some impressions, but he does walk. He has been coaching at RIT since 1999 and has always longed to get back on the diving board. A few years ago Cliff Devries did just that, and it has now became his annual tradition to dive on his birthday. He slowly climbs the 10M ladder, shuffles to the end of the spring board and dives in to the applause of his family, his team, and the crowd watching.
Such an inspiration, as he’s telling his story he states: • “There’s always more to you; there’s always more to what YOU CAN do.” He reiterates, “You might see me walking down the road and think, ‘he’s got it rough,’ but when you look beyond what’s on the surface, there’s always more!”
Hw says, “You’re not gonna find alot of beauty in what I do; it’s alot of hard work, alot of emotion, all balled up into a half-second fall into the water.
But then he asks a series of inspiring questions: “When you see my dive, what else can YOU do? What can you find in yourself? And this question is even more key: What can you find in others? When you look in the mirror, what else is there? What more can you bring out–which is a little beyond what you think right now?
All of this brings to mind the familiar verse from Philippians 4:13, which says, “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” That verse is meant to inspire us in a variety of life’s situations where we cannot seem to find strength to go on, or to do what we need to do; it’s meant to carry us through in stating that we can, in fact, find whatever strength is necessary, both in highs and lows, by trusting in Jesus Christ.
I think as leaders, as High Impact Men (HIM), husbands, fathers, and brothers we ought to be asking ourselves (and those around us) the same questions: When we look in the mirror we have to be inspired to ask: What else is there? What else do you have? What more can you bring out…which is a little beyond what you think right now?
COT:
Announcements:
All PAX invited to join YHC & Gump this evening in Georgetown for RuckingChallenges “Scav Ruck”. Friday Gloom will be the “Suns Out Guns Out” ruck, all PAX also invited to join the fun: Step off @ 2 a.m. for first 7 miles at Primis in Lewes, final 3 miles will be part of Roving RuckF3st Friday.
YHC reiterated that the COT is just that, a Circle Of Trust and that the GroupMe is an extension of that. Just a maintenance issue to continue to build our trust with one-another and to lock shields.
Prayers: YHC prayed for PAX to be able to live out the inspiration heard from Cliff Devries. Prayed for Chattahoochee. Prayed for Semi’s family traveling to and from GA. And Praised for Fireplex and others who serve as VF in our communities.
Special thanks to Chattahoochee for the opportunity to stand in the gap. Honored to Q. Humbled to lead. Always grateful for those who won that first battle (over the fartsack) and posted to get better and get stronger and there’s never any regrets for doing that! Well..almost never. You lapped those who slept.
