F3 – Doing something different changes a life

Sometimes in life, you need to try something different.  Sometimes it feels good, sometimes it’s horrible, sometimes, you don’t realize the impact of something you do for a long time.  On April 18, 2015, YHC tried something different.  Shrimp convinced me to “workout in the gloom, so we can be dad’s the rest of the day”. He got me interested. My life has drastically changed since that day, in a great way. Today was a day to go in a different direction.  It was a beautiful morning, not too hot, not too cold.  God was good and blessed the 18 men who came to sweat and “workout in the gloom, so we can be dad’s the rest of the day”. Then it went a little unexpected, and God is good.

Warm Up > SSH; Merkins/Plank Repeats (this was a mental and physical test, starting over each 5 count); Sun Goddess (making simple arm circles hurt); Open Gate; High Knees; Butt Kickers

The Thang > We started this morning with something different.  YHC remembers discussing the Burpee Ball with Gilligan from @F3 Carterico.  Funny thing is that he also Q’d a workout this morning and introduced the same exercise.  Sure our way is different from his.  Here’s how it works.  Pax lines up shoulder to shoulder.  Each man faces a different direction.  A medicine ball is passed from man to man with a burpee done after passing. The man at the end runs to the beginning and starts it over.  Here’s the way it worked.  1st round > 1 ball, 1 burpee; 2nd round > 2 balls (one starts at the middle), 1 burpee. 3rd round > 1 ball, 2 burpees (repeat until we got to 5 burpees. This got the heart rate moving.

Next YHC tried to figure out a way to include 2 exercises with different reps, hence Weighted 11s.  Use the counting for 11’s with these two sets of exercises: Round 1 > Single Arm Sling / Push Press; Round 2 > Goblet Squat / Triceps Extension.  There was some confusion b/c instead of taking the Single Arm Sling to the shoulder, YHC took it all the way up.  Tonka & Lachey thought YHC was describing a “snatch” and explained the proper form.  Honestly, the lesson was learned. Be very clear with form when modeling.

Tossing Balls Relay involved two teams split by height.  The goal was to throw the medicine ball as a team from one end of Paramore to the other.  Each man had to throw it before a man could throw a 2nd time.  The race was tight and the teams worked together.  Half time for Tossing Balls was a around of Weighted Mary. Started with Weighted Russian Twist IC; then Full ups; then we did another round of Tossing Balls to keep the heart rate up and the other team won the down and back battle.  We finished with a round of Mary, including WWIIs, Dolly’s, Slinky’s, Merkin/Plank variation.  This was obviously a MSU time, so with 4 min left it was time for one more round of Tossing Balls.  Things were good until, the Human Beast, aka Mr. Belding went down with a leg injury.  Luckily, Spinal Tap, Cold Cut, and Gang Starr had the tools and knowledge to know how to help him while Mr. Belding told us to carry on.  Shrimp gathered the pax at the flag and led a prayer. This my friend is what F3 is all about.  Men led when needed using the skills they brought to the team.

COT/BOM – Belding was walking around at the principal’s meeting later today like a bull, who swallowed his pain whole. Shrimp’s prayer worked. Prayers for his continued recovery. Prayers Papa Smurf and High Tide’s Father. Shrimp’s M is leaving for a mission trip to Guatemala, so prayers for Shrimp and his 2.0s survival without momma. Praise for Gang Starr’s church where 67 kids were rededicated or gave their life to Christ and his basketball team, Warrior’s Life Elite, won the 8th grade National Championship in Charlotte and they were on WITN 7, so check them out. Praise for Wimpie and his All-Star team.  It’s amazing the investment in the boys that the coaches, parents, and community made.  It’s awesome. Praise for ET who have his life to Christ and Steamy as he continues to recover from surgery.

Announcements – Cracked Corn has the Tuesday lunch Q, so pay attention to the Twitter machine.

Moleskin – F3 caused me to do something different 16 months ago.  YHC has friends who call him and who have his back.  Friends who gave him a coffee cup, invited him to coffee, and check to make sure YHC is OK. There are friends like Cracked Corn and Shrimp who had a real discussion that if YHC wasn’t smart enough to pull out of the Sasquatch with a blood sugar of 400+ then they would step on my pride and do it for me.  Luckily, the pride was swallowed.  There are very few times in my life where YHC felt embarrassed, depressed, failed.  Riding in a car with Stitches, as he cheered the guys on made me feel like a failure.  It took watching leaders like him and Hurricane and Charlie Brown and all the other support guys to realize that there is always a plan and way to serve our brothers.  That day was different. YHC learned a lot from my brothers and from Papa Smurf. It was a life changing experience.  As a side note, others brothers from across the Nation had life changing experiences suffering through the Sasquatch and then rallying with Papa at Boyd Lee park.  Hoff certainly said it was life changing.  OBT felt it. Tears flowed that day as we realized what this brotherhood is.  All because we dared to do something different.

F3ENC is on FIRE.  There were 32 Pax posting at 2 AOs on Wednesday.  18 today.  We are reaching the high side of problematic and only getting stronger.  Spread the word. Shake a hand. Save a mans life. Give him a F3 card, EH him again, and again, and again, and again. Do something different and share it with a friend.