Tag: THE GAUNTLET

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Meaning

AO: The Gauntlet

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Herbie, Danish, Free Lunch, Kiwi, Bob Evans

Conditions

48 and wet ground but no falling water. YHC was extremely pleased to see 5 pax in the gloom this morning! So pleasantly surprised it altered my workout and CoT.

Warm up

Mosy lap

Circle up and Mary Poopins x 10, Imperial Walkers x 10, Third Graders x 10, arm scissors x 10.

Mosy Lap

Pull up at the Shipping containers and grab a piece of wall – wall sits with Seal claps x 10, OHP x 12, Cherry Pickers x 12, Forward Arm Circles x 12, Reverse Arm Circles x 12. Mosy to the end zone.

The Thang

Line up on the end zone.

5 burpees, run to 10 yard line, 10 squats, run back.

5 burpees, run to 20 yard line, 20 squats.

Repeato to the 50.

Free lunch reminded us all that, to him, the fourth F is Fsquats.

Mosy to the bike rack stairs.

11’s – burpees at the bottom of stairs, merkins at the top. Start with 10 burpees, run up the stairs, 1 merkin, run down. 9 burpees, 2 merkins, repeato until 1 burpees and 10 merkins. YHC struggled mightily with the merkins! Danish found the dog poop (with his hand) right away, demonstrating great leadership by showing his team where the obstacles were and tackling them first. Great work Danish! Also – how ridiculous for someone to take their dog to the completely fake grass a few minute walk from real grass.

Bob Evans shared that the 3rd F is Faith, and for him it’s why he lives every day the way he does.

Mosied to the tennis courts and completed two sets of fish bones.

Kiwi shared that the second F is fellowship, and that anything in the world worth doing is worth doing with people. Real relationships are required for that to be the case.

Mosied to the starting point.

Penguins x 10, Frozen Freddies x 10, Side plank reaches L & R x 10, big bois x 10.

Danish shared that the first F is fitness, and that for him, fitness sets the stage for the rest of his day. It’s necessary for all the other things to go well.

COT

I had a different CoT planned for today, but when I showed up and saw 5 men were joining me I had to change course. I realized a frustrating internal perspective that I needed to put on the table and share with the group. I’d expected maybe 1 other guy, and as such was somewhat demotivated. Mind you, that’s only happened a few times, and each time it does, it’s great – the intimacy has value too. But the energy of more men is different. I felt I owed the group an apology for doubting them – for the negative expectation I had. How dare I lean into the negative expectation and doubt the value our time together has in the lives of each of you?

I was encouraged not to apologize and that none was necessary, and there’s some truth to that – we all do this for the value it brings to our lives. But there’s more than that. Herbie shared that he feels the same – it’s more motivating to see a larger group, and its also less motivating if you’re battling the fart sack and think it might just be you or only 1 or 2 guys. The importance of this probably varies person to person, but I enjoyed the conversation and appreciated everyones insight into that feeling and how we can think through it.

Thanks for the great start to the day!

Walkman

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10/05/2021 – ENDURANCE DAY

AO: THE GAUNTLET

QIC: HOUDINI

PAX: KIWI, LUMBERGH, POPS, BOB EVANS, HOUDINI

Conditions

LOW 50s AND CLEAR. ONE AGGRESIVE HEAD LAMP. STILL FLUSHING OUT THE LEGS FROM IRONPAX.

Warm up

SIDE STRADDLE HOP

WINDMILL

3RD GRADE EXERCISE

PULL KNEE TO CHEST

QUAD PULLS

The Thang

30 MINUTES OF ENDURANCE – 10 MINUTES OF CORE

RUN LAP

25 ‘MERICANS

RUN LAP

25 SQUATS

RUN LAP

25 BIG BOYS

RUN LAP

25 BURPEES

RINSE AND REPEAT FOR ENTIRE 3O MINS

BEAR CRAWLS, PLANKS, SIDE PLANKS, PLANK WALKS, X-FACTORS, GLUTE BRIDGE FOR FINAL 10 MINS

COT

YOU DON’T NEED TALENT TO WORK HARD

A MOMENT TO REFLECT ON EFFORT AND FINISHING STRONG. THE LAST REP, THE LAST CIRCUIT, THE LAST LAP. MOTIVATING OTHERS TO WORK EVEN HARDER IS LEADERSHIP.

MAGICALLY,
HOUDINI

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Make Time to Play

AO: The Gauntlet

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Herbie, HoeDown (Downrange from NC)

Conditions

46 and chilly! Fall is in the air.

Warm up

  • Started in the end zone with forward and backward arm circles x 10, mosied at about 70% to the other end zone, slow high knees x 10, mosied at 70% again, windmill x 10, third grade exercise x 10, mosied again, best stretch in the world for a 10 count on each side. Mosied to the basketball court with a basketball and some sidewalk chalk.

The Thang

Played a game of around the world! The Pax needed to make shots from the Layup, Free throw, Left Wing, Right Wing, and 3 pointer positions. We were aiming for 10 from each location, but ran out of time. We rotated shooters, and each shooter got to decide a movement and which position to shoot from. If they made it, we did (5) of that movement. If they missed, we added 1 rep and 1 ‘line’ for each miss on top of the (5). A ‘line’ was the equivalent of 1 of the lines on the court, like running a gasser. The more lines, the further you had to run. We took turns, and all shot terribly – poor lighting, hard rims, cold hands, herbies gloves, they were all to blame. 8 misses was the most we ever ‘earned’ I believe. We included Merkins, Burpees, Squats, HC Lunges, etc. Finished with only 3-5 shots made from each spot, mosied back to the endzone.

For Future, we’ll have the pax who aren’t shooting do merkins with each shot as the ‘cadence’ or something similar. Fun way to get a beatdown, but could have pushed us harder.

6MoM

American Hammers x 15

Sprint to opposite endzone

Pickle Pounders x 15

Sprint to opposite endzone

DryDocks (led by HoeDown) x 15

COT

Simple CoT – reminder to make time to play. YHC is headed into a two week vacation that’s badly needed, and as much as it’s important to be disciplined, focused, etc. It’s equally important to remember that we do it all for a reason, and sometimes that reason is just because it’s fun.

Great work Men

-Walkman

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(09.7.21) – No Bunnies were harmed in the making of this beatdown

AO: The Gauntlet

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Kiwi, Herbie(!), Free Lunch

Conditions

60ish and clear. Surprisingly brisk for the temp but fall is definitely in the air. The Pax trickled in and we kicked things off.

Warm up

Mosied a lap around the track and then to the tennis courts. Lined up and did Grady Corns x 10, line hops (hop forward and backward over the line) x 10, arm scissors x 10, line hops x 10, Imperial Walkers x 10, Line hops x 10, Windmill x 10, Line hops x 10, Mary Poopins x 10. Ran a set of fishbones down and back and mosied to the goal line.

The Thang

Lined up on the goal line and completed 3 rounds of exercises down the field.

Round 1: Sprint 20 yards, run 10 yards backwards, 5 shoulder touch merkins, repeato to the end zone (50 total Merkins). Mosied a 3/4 lap around the track back to the starting end zone.

Round 2: Lunge walk forward 20 yards, 10 burpee’s with a jump at the end, lunge walk 20 yards backwards, 10 burpees with a jump at the end, repeato alternating forward/backward lunges. YHC was not jumping very high by the 50 yard line! Mosied a 3/4 Lap around the track back to the starting end zone.

Round 3: Farmer carry the coupon 10 yards, 1x burpee thruster and one set of hop overs. Repeato to end zone. Mosied back to the starting area.

6MoM

  • Outlaws x 10 both ways
  • Penguins (heel touches) x 15
  • Dead bug pulses x 10
  • Finished a minute early to get Herbie in the count-o-rama/name-o-rama and out by 6:15

COT

I shared the landscape in my life for the next two weeks, and how thinking about it and putting a plan together gives me a lot of confidence and peace. We’re going into a two week sprint of new school for the kids and new schedules for us, and it’s critical that I’m present and patient through it. If I have anxiety about it, my kids certainly do (and they’ve shared some). I have a chance to earn a lot of trust and vulnerability from them here, if I’m present and patient. To do that, I need (4) F3 workouts a week, I need good sleep and no hangovers (no second bottles of wine Kiwi!) and I need to put my phone away in the afternoons and just embrace the time with them.

Kiwi shared his perspective is similar, sans kids. The lockdowns and Covid pressure are real on everyone, and he feels it in his life as well.

Free Lunch has some big auditions this week – you’ll crush them!

Great opportunity to help us all adapt back to a semblance of routine, and there are tons of men out there in the same position we can help! What’s your landscape look like and what do you need to do in order to Thrive through it?

Great work Men!

Walkman

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(08.28.21) – Jokers wild!

AO: Lavafield

QIC: 2Chainz

PAX: ….crickets. Most of the pax were involved in the hood to coast relay.

Conditions

55 and cool great conditions.

Warm up

  • One lap mosey
  • SSH x 25 IC
  • Windmills x 15 IC
  • Third Grade Exercises x 15
  • Scissor Arms x 15 IC

The Thang

Deck of cards (including jokers) 

Perform the number of reps shown on the card

Hearts – Merkins

Spades – Big Bois

Diamonds – squats

Clubs – lunges

Jokers – 100 yard sprint and mosey back to circle (luckily these were not drawn in succession) 

6MoM

LBC, Flutter kicks, planche pulses , side sit-ups

COT

Pax was out on Hood to coast so wish them all a safe race!

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(08.25.21) – Pinwheels!

AO: The Gaunlet

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Free Lunch, Samurai, (11) pax from F3Nola including Tinkles, swampcock, Reluctant Yankee. Roots, HogSickle, 86, Bones, Rudy, NipTuck, Peppa.

Conditions

58 and overcast made for a nice morning. The NOLA Hood to Coast crew was early and ready for a pdx beatdown! Learned that Samurai was kind enough to loan his car to the team for their race because rental cars are so hard to get right now.

Warm up

Split into two groups and did a full lap of Simon says 6 man. Last man did 3 merkins before running to the front while the front man called a movement the pax could do while mosying. Circled up in the end zone and did Windmill x 10, Mary Poopins (monkey humpers with arms up like holding an umbrella) x 10, Slow High Knees x 10, Third Grade Exercise x 10.

The Thang

Lined up on the goal line – just enough space for all 14 of us! We completed a series of Pinwheels: Run 20 yards, perform a movement on the ground from the plank position, ‘step’ to the right or left with your arms, do another movement, and continue until you’ve done a full circle on the ground, run another 20 yards, repeato until on the other endzone and then mosied back. Repeato with a new movement. Movements included:

Merkins

Mountain Climbers (HC)

Alternating Side Stars – side plank while lifting the leg

Core rockers – moving between high and low plank

Burpees (courtesy of Samurai’s creativity!)

We completed the Pinwheels way quicker than YHC expected, so we mosied to the stairs and bike racks in a bungled effort to make up some time. Split into two groups, first group stayed at the top and did chutes between the bike racks – sprint forward, slide left or right (2) racks, sprint forward, etc. The first group was then to run down and join the second group, who was doing firefeet in a line while the person at the end of the line ran forward and did a burpee box jump and then ran to the top to join the first group. Completely predictably, instructions broke down and we rallied back to the football field for easy instructions: Bear Crawl Broad jumps the length of the field, alternating every 20 yards. Mosied back to the starting position for some core work.

6MoM

Frozen Freddies x 25

Potty Breaks x 25

Side to Side heel touches (Penguins, apparently) x 25

Outlaws x 10 ea way

COT

I shared a quote a close friend shared with me recently that eloquently captured something I’ve been experiencing for a few years.

“Your value is your birthright.” It was worth repeating and saying in a few different ways.

“Your value is completely disconnected from your performance”

You matter. Regardless of how good you are at something.

What you want, what you feel, what you need, where you’re going. They don’t need justification or defense. They are real, and valid, as they are.

Yes, you can grow to understand them, but you are not deficient for not having fully done so.

It’s ok to be.

Your value is your birthright.

I shared that this is something I’ve been learning as I’ve decoupled my identity from my profession. I see it in a lot of men, particularly my age, who are struggling to resolve this inner conflict. Many men shared that they resonate with this, and that it can happen multiple times in your life, and that it may indeed be necessary to being able to lead and love as our full selves.

Great work today Men!

Walkman

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8/24/2021 – Mamba Day

AO: The Gauntlet

QIC: Houdini

PAX: Walkman, Free Lunch, Whitney, Kiwi, Lumbergh, Houdini

Conditions

54F and clear.

Warm up

SSH , Mary Poopins, Houdini shuffle part 1, Houdini shuffle part 2, 3rd grade exercise, windmill, slow high knees

The Thang

34 Minute Houdini WOD, plan was for 30 mins

34 min running clock, as many rounds as possible

  • 1 lap
  • 40 big boys
  • 30 squats
  • 20 ‘mericans
  • 10 burpees
  • rinse and repeat for 34 mins

Pax mosey on first lap, explain above on first lap to save time and increase efficiency

COT

Inner Mamba

As we all look forward to an uncertain fall season (delta variant etc.), what do you want to focus your inner mamba on in terms of focus and dedication?

-Magic by Houdini

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(08.13.21) – Ultimate Boot Camp

AO: Lightning Rod

VQIC: Ghost

PAX: Kiwi, Free Lunch, Stray Cat, Whitney

Conditions

Mid 70s before dawn!

Warm up

  • SSH x 15 IC
  • Imperial Walkers x 12 IC
  • Scissor Arms x 10 IC
  • Fast High Knees x 15 IC

The Thang

Mosey down to track. Gather at near side end zone. Hold plank while Free Lunch takes a leak. 🙂

Boot Camp Part 1: Meet your mini-coupon (175g disc for each PAX)

  • Mini-coupon slide burpees (90 seconds)
  • Mini-coupon side lunges (35 seconds each leg)
  • Mini-coupon back slide (20 yards down and back – then come back to pick up the 6)

Boot Camp Part 2: 50 minus merkins

  • Line up on the end zone line. Throw mini-coupon down the field
  • Bear crawl to your mini-coupon. Do merkins equal to remaining yardage to the fifty yard line. Broad jump back to endzone line. Repeat for 7.5 minutes.

Boot Camp Part 3: Throwing Practice

  • Partner up. One of you on end zone line. The other starts on the 10 yard line.
  • Throw the mini-coupon to your partner. If your partner must move to catch or retrieve the mini coupon you both do burpees for each step they have to take.
  • If you complete 4 passes in a row without having to move then the partner on the 10 yard line moves back five yards (to the 15, then to the 20, then to the 25, etc.)
  • Continue for 10 minutes.

Boot Camp Part 4: “Ultimate Freezebee”

  • Not enough PAX – Needed one more 🙁

Tuff Enuff Pull Ups

  • Alternating pullups and holding squat – switching between the two each time you hear the chorus

6MoM

  • 20 Plank Tick Tocks x IC EC
  • 20 LBCs x IC
  • 20 Merkins x IC
  • 15 Box Cutters x IC
  • 5 Big Bois x OYO

COT

Vulnerability

I love that F3 includes this as an integral part of the workout and I love that you in this region have clearly taken that to heart. I don’t have a lot of close male relationships at this time, but I know how valuable they are. The thing I value most about it is that it fosters vulnerability, which helps us connect with each other and is critical to true growth and true servant leadership.

“The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” There are things that all of us keep hidden about ourselves and even hidden from ourselves (self-deception is real!). These include addiction, weakness, fears, anger, pride, etc. Bringing them to the light by sharing them with other men helps to break down the facade of invulnerable competence that we generally keep up. These hidden things control and affect our whole lives so bringing them to light is often the first step in being set free, for a “man is slave to whatever has mastered him.”

PAX shared different struggles, addictions, and weaknesses they have had and were encouraged to share more honestly about these with each other or in other safe male relationships.

-Ghost

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(08.12.21) – Build a Burpee Workshop

AO: Gauntlet

QIC: Walkman

PAX: Stray Cat, Free Lunch

Conditions

72(!) and sunny. Lot’s of early activity on the track this morning, our two RESPECT Pax showed up ready for a killer beatdown.

Warm up

Lap and a half mosy around the track, 3 wide, with each pax calling out different movements we could do while mosying – high knees, jog backwards, side slides, ohp, buttkickers, arm circles. Triangled up for Windmill x 10, monkey humpers x 10, third grade exercise x 10.

The Thang

Build a Burpee workshop!

Used one of the small hills by the track. Pax lined up on the track and performed a movement while one member moved up the hill. When that member arrived, next guy went, and so on. Repeated at top of the hill and then back down.

Movements were all the pieces of a burpee: Ground touch squat, Frog’s, Merkin, Frog, Squat jump. Jogged backwards up the hill and lunge walked down it. Repeated each movement at both top and bottom before moving on to next movement. Once we’d built the burpee, we did the last round with full burpee’s at top and bottom.

Mosied to the amphitheater type stairs (need to name this space). Now that we had a burpee built, it was time to deconstruct it. Started at the bottom and box jump/broad jumped up the concrete seating. At the top, performed each piece of a burpee – Ground Touch Squat, Frog, Merkin, Squat Jump and then jogged back down the stairs. Repeato in a descending ladder – 10 reps, 9 reps, 8 reps, etc. Pax was TOUGH through this – YHC was close to spilling some Merlot on several occasions.

Finished with box jump burpees. One box jump, one burpee. Two Box jumps, two burpees…..until 7 of each. Nearly splashed merlot here as well.

Mosied back to the field.

6MoM

Rallied on the sideline for Frozen Freddies x 20, 6 inch hold x 20.

COT

Shared a collection of perspective and quotes that I’d been gathering over the last few months.

“Hard Times make Hard Men, Hard Men make Soft Times, Soft Times make Soft Men, Soft Men make hard Times.”

“Hard things are hard”

“Growing is hard”

“There is the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Choose one.”

Also shared from the F3 Nation Slack Q Source channel – Initiation is the first movement. Incrementally moving in the direction of advantage is the initial goal. Baby steps are good. Consistent baby steps leads to habit, growth, and discipline.

These have been bouncing around in my brain for the last few months. I’ve realized that if you’re not bumping into ‘hard’ regularly, then you’re probably not growing. For me, the last 2 months of Go30 have been great for this. The discipline required to consistently hit 1800 calories, to make decisions I don’t want to make, has been excellent. The actual thing (1800 calories, journaling) is less important (not unimportant!) to me than the discipline of doing something challenging and growing through it. I’ve found a lot of value in ‘leaning into my own reluctance’ as a good way for me to find meaningful ways to grow – whether it’s the 100 merkins a day, grow ruck, journaling, Iron Pax, etc. Pushing my own reluctance and engaging it directly has been very impactful.

Stray Cat shared his thoughts about the “hard times…” quote above. That he contrasts it to the men fighting in WW2 and fears that we’re much softer, but that F3 has helped him continue to grow Hard (hah). Free Lunch encourage him that if Stray Cat were alive then, he would have been one of those Hard Men too. We also discussed that “Discipline is Freedom” and how our perceptions of that have grown throughout our lives.

Free Lunch also shared that he’s identified some of the challenge with this around the language his daughters use – describing something that happened vs. the responsibility in what happened. His example was “the salsa spilled vs. I spilled the salsa.” I’ve seen the same in my girls. Taking responsibility continues to be a theme we all see as a critical to growth, discipline, and being the men we want to be.

Great work Men.

-Walkman

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(08.10.21) – Ask for Improv and you shall receive

AO: THE Gauntlet

QIC: Lumbergh

PAX: Slash, Danish, Kiwi, Free Lunch, Walkman, Samurai, Houdini

Conditions

60 degree start, monsoon season effect still dropping some humidity. PAX ready and able for sweaty beatdown.

Warm up

  • SSH x 10 IC
  • Seal Claps x 10 IC
  • Arm Circles x 10 IC (Fwd & Bkwd)
  • Scissor Kicks x 10 IC
  • Flutter Jacks x 10 IC
  • Windshield Wipers x 10 IC
  • World’s Greatest Stretch x 5 (alternate to other leg)
  • Fold Overs x 5 IC

The Thang

Mosey around the path around the track, make way to other end zone, where the block awaits the PAX.

ROUND 1

  • PAX holds plank in a line
  • Block starts on left end
  • Drag the block with right arm to the other end of the line
  • When it gets to the end, sprint the width of the field and back
  • Pass the block back to the left
  • When it gets to the end, sprint the width of the field and back
  • After the block passes each HIM, complete 3 Burpees

ROUND 2

  • PAX holds American Hammer position in a line
  • Block starts on left end
  • Pass the block to the right first
  • When it gets to the end, sprint the width of the field and back
  • Pass the block back to the left
  • When it gets to the end, sprint the width of the field and back
  • After the block passes each HIM, complete 5 Big Bois

ROUND 3

  • PAX holds Squat position in a line
  • Block starts on left end
  • Pass the block to the right first
  • When it gets to the end, sprint the width of the field and back
  • Pass the block back to the left
  • When it gets to the end, sprint the width of the field and back
  • After the block passes each HIM, complete 5 jump squats

ROUND 4

  • Bantaan Rifle Carry High Knees March to the bike racks
  • Hop overs all the way to one end
  • PAX squats while idle, till the six is in
  • On the way back, Bear crawl
  • PAX squats while idle, till the six is in
  • Hop overs again
  • PAX merkins while idle, till the six is in
  • On the way back, Bear crawl
  • PAX holds and alternates side planks, till the six is in

ROUND 4

  • Bantaan Curl March with PAX lunge walking behind, six runs to front to start curls
  • Meet at the end zone

6MoM

  • 25 Leg Raises x IC EC
  • 10 Glute Bridge x IC
  • 25 Dead Bugs x IC EC (each leg, total of 50)
  • 10 Glute Bridge x IC
  • 25 Big Bois x IC EC
  • 10 Glute Bridge x IC
  • 25 LBCs x IC

COT

Follow up and Recognition

A quick moment of recognition. Like any organization you pivot with growth, I’m proud of the men in this community stepping up to the challenge. Recently, you were challenged to rally around this new AO and each of you have given all that you can to ensure it’s success. Special thank you to Walkman for leading the charge.

Simple things like Slack etiquette and you all recognized and addressed the need/call. Go30 commitments were lacking authentic quality and commitment, with the right amount of accountability callouts and motivation driven by Danish and Kiwi, we’ve seen a nice about face and invigoration.

My next challenge is to have all of you join us and make our first year as a recognized region, a successful one in the IronPAX challenge. Who’s coming with me?

That’s a wrap

-Lumbergh