August 26th, 2021 By anvil

F’ng Block Party

11 men, 1 FNG, and Tombstone joined me for a little warm bath in the humidity 

WARM UP

Mosey to Bum Wash to wake up 9 hobos sleeping under the shelter 

SSHx20ic

IST x15ic

Loose Change x10ic

Arm Circles fwd/bck x10 

Windmill x5 OYO 

Mosey 11 steps across the street to New Deck to run around the block stopping at each corner to do an exercise  

1 – Merkins x10

2 – KGB’s x10ic

3 – Squats x10

4 – LBC’s x10 

Repeato until about 0555

Mosey to AO for a different kind of block party…

3 sets of each pair of exercises with a block, run lap around parking lot after each round to rest your weary shoulders 

 

Block Press x10

Low Flutter x10ic

Overhead Pull x10

Toe Touches x10 

Man Makers x10

KGB x10

MOLESKIN

One of the most important missions of F3 is to build your brothers up. Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you find him. I’ve been coping with the loss of my daughter for 3 and a half years now. I’ve always been the kind of guy that has believed it is important for a man to physically have a challenge and to compete for something. Shortly after we lost her I could recognize that I needed something to work towards to keep me focused and keep me from being pulled into a pit of despair, so I registered to run the Charlotte Marathon that year. About 3/4 of the way through my training I had pushed it too hard and gotten 2 stress fractures in my leg so I dropped down to the 13.1 and hobbled through it half assed. Something about that broke my already damaged spirit. It was the closest I had ever come to letting myself give up and quit.

I spent the next couple years in a funk, gaining weight and getting into the worst shape of my life. Depressed, but with a smile on my face so nobody could tell. By the time I showed up at F3 I was pretty deep in the backslide. I felt like I could hardly run to the stop sign on my street, which wasn’t a place I was used to being at physically. I was out there, but I wasn’t out there. I lost that extra drive in my lizard brain that made me go. Like 90% of my energy was spent on just keeping it together and pretending I was fine, and only 10% was left to do anything else. I remember running Skinner’s Hills with Anvil one morning and saying how far I had fallen and that I didn’t think I would ever get it back. He didn’t hesitate to say yeah I would. For over a year Firechicken, El Ab, Tombstone, Catfish, etc…even Backdraft…would constantly try and kickstart the beast within me and tell me it’s still in there. I didn’t have ears to hear it but none of you ever gave up pushing me. Until one day this past March I finally said fuck this let’s go. I started eating right again, got back in the water, signed up for a couple challenging long distance open water races, and stopped dragging my ass around at beatdowns. I’m not a 21 year old college athlete again, but I’ve turned my fat ass around and finally feel a little bit like myself again. 

That’s a wonderful feeling. I’m sure at some point I would have eventually stumbled into being motivated again somehow, but there’s no doubt in my mind it wouldn’t have happened when it happened without you boys. We all get something great from this group, it’s why we keep coming back. Being part of this group is a gift. Somebody gave each of us that gift and invited us for the first time, and somebody stayed after us to keep showing up. Turn around and give that gift to another man. 

Dudes don’t come out because on one or many levels they’re intimidated. It’s too early, it’s too hard, I’m in bad shape and would embarrass myself, I could never blah blah blah, etc. It is important that we remember to make sure FNG’s have a great experience and want to come back so they can get on the path to unlocking their potential. If you’re bringing one out, grab that Q and make it a good one that won’t smoke them and involves some of the things you love most about F3. If somebody already has the Q then give them a heads up. I would say to text Deertick the night before and make sure he’s there to sandbag with the FNG but he will catch on to what you’re trying to do, call you out for it, and then no-show you. 

You ain’t gotta go fast, you ain’t gotta go far, you just gotta GO. 

SYITG! 

PRAYERS

Hipbone and his MIL

Homeland

Luthor 

Haiti

---