F3 Oregon Territory Tools

Author: ric02002

  • (12.19.22) – Soft men cannot long walk with the Tao

    AO: Lightning Rod

    QIC: Walkman

    PAX: Goon, Red Curry, Stray Cat, Free Lunch, Leprechaun

    Conditions

    35 and dry, Pax showed up in a great mood and Leprechaun was kind enough to gift me the Q today!

    Warm up

    • Burpee/box jump/squat/merkin x 10
    • Neck Rolls x 10
    • Monkey Humpers x 10
    • Halo’s x 10
    • Daisy Pickers x 10
    • Imperial Walkers x 10
    • Third Grade x 10

    The Thang

    Mosey to the tiered hill by the track

    10 factorial (10, 9, 8….1) with Rowes up and run down the hill. On each tier completed Rowes, Bonnie Blairs (EC), Merkins, Mountain climbers, jump squats.

    Mosey to the Lightning Rod.

    Jane Fonda x10, Side Squat x 10.

    Bolt 45

    Squats (High, mid, low) x 15, Merkin x 15, Bonnie Blair (HC) x 15

    6MoM

    • 6 inch hold x 10
    • Frozen Freddies x 25
    • Plank w/ occasional sets of 5 merkins.

    COT

    I shared about a substack essay I thoroughly enjoyed and shared some quotes from it. The essay is here (behind a paywall), but the author’s substack in general is here (good free content too).

    Soft Men cannot Long walk with the Tao

    This is a core theme found across Lewis’ works. When in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, young Lucy travels to Narnia and first hears about Aslan the lion (and Christ-figure), and asks if, being a lion, he is “quite safe?” the sensibly baffled response she gets is “Safe?… Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

    Aslan is an embodiment of ultimate virtue. That includes love, but also righteous anger – of Aquinas’ anger in service of proper justice, or Aristotle’s anger “at the right things and towards the right people, and also in the right way, at the right time, and for the right length of time” – and he never hides his powerful capacity for it, or indeed for violence. That he nonetheless consistently chooses to act with mercy and kindness is then a choice made only greater, and truer, by this fact.

    Lacking the strength to ever display forcefulness, even when it is justified or, worse, necessary, is in no way inherent evidence of goodness. It only recalls Nietzsche’s amused quip: “Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.”

    -Walkman

  • It started and ended with the Hill

    QIC: Walkman

    PAX: Danish, Lumbergh, Kiwi, Free Lunch, Jelly Fish, Stray Cat, Leprechaun

    Conditions

    65 and sweaty! Everyone arrived on time and we. Got. After it with my last Q.

    Warm up

    Mosied to 52nd and then down the road to the parking lot by the baseball field. I encouraged everyone to think about the things they’ve learned from F3 as we circled up for Monkey Humpers x 10, Slow High knees x10, Windmill x10, Imperial Walkers x10, Arm Scissors x10, neck rolls x 12, Third Grade x 10, Daisy Pickers x10.

    The Thang

    Mosied to the hill. Bear Crawl up, 30 merkins, jog down. Bear crawl up, 25 merkins, jog down. Repeato, decreasing merkins x 5 until finished. The pax was encouraged to shout out/share what they’ve learned from F3 each time they were at the bottom of the hill. Lots of good things shared! Accountability, Fit and Friended men turn outward, F does not stand for fellatio, etc etc.

    Mosied to the blue bathroom building and grabbed some wall for wall sits + Cherry pickers x 15, Morrocan night clubs x 15, OHP x 15.

    Mosied to the tennis courts (so Free Lunch didn’t die from hay fever) and Nur’d (backwards Run) to the other side, squats x 30, nur back, squats x 25, repeato, decreasing squats x 5 until finished.

    Ran to the end of first court, Burpee’s x 5, ran back. Ran to end of second court, Burpee’s x 5., ran back. Ran to end of third court, Burpees x 10, Ran back. Ran to end of court, Burpees x 15, ran back.

    6MoM

    Frozen Freddies x 15

    CoT

    I Shared the most impactful things I’ve learned from F3 and we all shared the impacts they have had on our lives. Also shared that you don’t have to move to plant a new flag, I’m looking forward to coming back and finding many more around PDX!

    I’ve loved my opportunity to grow and lead all of you, thank you men!

    Walkman Out!

  • Isla

    AO: Lightning Rod

    QIC: Walkman

    PAX: Jellyfish, Artois, Free Lunch, Stray Cat, Bob Evans

    Conditions

    low 50’s and dry! Beautiful morning! Pax arrived on time (Q was a minute late!).

    Warm up

    Mosy to the Field with our Coupons, circled up in the middle for 10ea of neck Rolls, Arm Scissors, Imperial Walkers, Windmills, slow high knees, third grade exercise, Monkey humpers and Jane Fondas. s

    The Thang

    Team exercise just like a Dora but with a twist, making it an Isla.

    A few of you heard of my recent visit to a local school where my 3 year old had to poop and I had to run her home. Turns out she weighs about the same as a coupon.

    So each team had a certain amount of work to do, and one partner does the movement while the other runs across the field and back with their coupon.

    The work: 150 Merkins, 150 bonnie blairs, 150 freddie mercury’s.

    The twist: if you don’t go fast enough with the coupon, you get shit on. If your partner does more than 30 of the movement while you’re running, you were going too slow, and you get a punishment.

    For this first leg, two of the teams had 6 total punishments – which were explained at the end.

    Then we mosied to the stairs with our coupons and did a similar format, with 90 dips as the work. No punishments earned here.

    Mosied to the ‘rod.

    6MoM

    The punishment was 4 burpees for each ‘shit on’. 24 total burpess earned and we completed them as a Pax.

    CoT

    I shared that the trip I’m on now is about 1 year from the one I was on when I learned that my friend Tom took his own life. Later that year, I lost another male friend in the same way. My conviction on the importance of things like F3, of helping men become fit and friended, has grown tremendously because of these events. Men are struggling. And they don’t tell anyone. And often they don’t know that it doesn’t have to be that way. F3 isn’t the only path for a man to get right, live right, lead right, and leave right, but it’s the one I can share, and I find it incredibly important to do so.

    Great work Men.

    Walkman

  • 4/29/22 – Crab Walks and Bear Crawls and Coupon Swings Oh My

    AO: Lightning Rod

    QIC: Walkman

    PAX: Kiwi, Free Lunch, Kingpin, Herbie

    Conditions: 47 and dry with slightly damp ground. Sun keeps coming up earlier and earlier! Great to have Kingpin down range from Laramie, Wy.

    Warm up

    Windmill x 10, Halo’s x 10, Monkey Humpers x 10, Daisy Pickers x 14, Third Grade x 10, Mosy to landing above the field.

    Thang

    Start at the top of the landing, above Ben Franklin. Circuit of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25.

    Goblet Squats, Coupon Swings, Weighted Leg Raises. Between each set, crab walk down the ramp, sprint in front of Ben Franklin, Bear Crawl up the rap. Repeato.

    Mosy to the stairs. Complete 3 rounds of the (completely misnamed) Paula Abdul & Chest-hurt Cheeto’s. Line up at the bottom of the stairs, two guys sprint up the stairs going 3 steps up, 2 steps back (Paula’s). The rest of the line does Merkin’s (Chest Hurt’s). YHC shared a video on slack of the actual video, and it turns out I got nearly all of it wrong (not chester cheeto, not 3 steps forward 2 steps back). Oh well, those are fun/hard.

    Mosy to the ‘Rod.

    6MOM: Squats x 20, Plank x 15 (front, each side).

    COT

    YHC shared about how managing stress, being present, etc is tied directly to the actions we take before the stress hits – diet, sleep, emotional hygeine, etc etc. Shared a story of how this impacted me this week and had a good discussion about it with the pax.

    Great work Men!

    Walkman

  • (4/18/22) Asymmetry

    AO: LightningRod

    QIC: Walkman

    PAX: StrayCat, Lumbergh, JellyFish, Kiwi

    Conditions

    47 and clear. That sun is starting to come up earlier and we started the week on a great note!

    Warm up

    Side lunge x 10ea

    Slow high knees x 10

    Monkey humper x 10

    Jane Fonda x 10ea

    Third grade x 10

    Halo x 10

    Side lunge x 10ea
    Slow high knees x 10
    Monkey humper x 10
    Jane Fonda x 10ea
    Third grade x 10
    Halo x 10

    Mosy to the Track with coupons

    The Thang

    Right leg coupon GT squats x 25

    Right arm coupon merkins x 25

    Right leg lunges x 25

    Right arm row x 25

    Right leg split squats x 25

    400M run

    Right side Jane fonda’s x 30

    Right side stretch x 10

    Right arm shrug x 25

    Right leg coupon GT squats x 25

    Right arm coupon merkins x 25

    Right leg lunges x 25

    Right arm row x 25

    Right leg split squats x 25

    400M run

    Leg leg coupon GT squats x 25

    Left arm coupon merkins x 25

    Left leg lunges x 25

    Left arm row x 25

    Left leg split squats x 25

    400M run

    Left side Jane fonda’s x 30

    Left side stretch x 10

    Left arm shrug x 25

    Left arm coupon merkins x 25

    Left leg lunges x 25

    Left arm row x 25

    Left leg split squats x 25

    400M run

    6MOM

    Frozen Freddie x 10

    Plank (w/ ea side) x 10

    Bunny Hill

    COT

    Two CoT messages here today.

    Sometimes life gets asymmetrical. You over commit, over execute, under prioritize. When you do, things downstream suffer. Some actions require countering actions – yin and Yang.

    Your energy, focus, patience, presence, etc  are consumable. The older I get, the more valuable it is to say no and To find balance. To hunt the Yang. To under commit. Or to know what it takes to restore me and to be ok with it. In order to give 100% of my self to something.

    Bertrand Russell, A Free Man’s Worship (Very worth a long read)

    The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendour, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves. To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness of temporary desire, to burn with passion for eternal things–this is emancipation, and this is the free man’s worship.

    And this liberation is effected by a contemplation of Fate; for Fate itself is subdued by the mind which leaves nothing to be purged by the purifying fire of Time. United with his fellow-men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death.

    Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instill faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging scales their merits and demerits, but let us think only of their need–of the sorrows, the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy as ourselves.

    And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed, no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.

    Well done Men!

    Walkman

  • 3.28.22 Cave Dwellers!


    AO: >Lightning Rod

    QIC: > Walkman

    PAX: > Jelly Fish, Lumbergh, Kiwi, Stray Cat, Free Lunch



    CONDITIONS

    mid 40’s and dry! Pax showed up in good moods with sore legs from Saturday. YHC didn’t read the Saturday Backblast….so I punished their legs again.

    Warm up

    • Mosied to 62nd looking for good morning merkins, didn’t find any, mosied to the tennis courts
    • Circled up for SSH x 10, monkey humpers x 10, daisy pickers x 10

    The Thang

    Cave Dwellers! Start on the edge of the tennis courts

    Bear Crawl to other side of first court, 10 merkins, crawl bear back, 10 merkins

    Guerrilla walk to other side of second court, 10 merkins, reverse inch worm back, 10 merkins

    Bear Crawl to other side of 3rd court, 10 merkins, crawl bear back, 10 merkins

    Guerrilla walk to other side of fourth court, 10 merkins, reverse inch worm back, 10 merkins

    Pick up the six!

    6MoM

    • LBC x 25
    • Good morning merkins x10 (found some!)
    • Plank and side planks x 10 each
    • Merkins x 10

    COT

    I shared that preparation has been a common theme in my life in the last few months, so I shared some from the Q Source:

    Prepare for what you expect and the be prepared for the unexpected 

    The first disturbance the Disrupter makes in the life of the Mascot is to elicit Commitment . To Get Right, the Mascot has to Commit to actual Movement, not just its appearance. To obtain proper personal alignment, he must stop seeking to seem and determine to be. He must decide to turn Pro rather than continue life as an Amateur .

    The superficially-Committed Mascot is an Amateur. To him, what truly matters is only that he make periodic resolutions and look like he is trying to fulfill them. Then, when the circumstances of his life inevitably undo whatever small progress he might have made, he can repeat the process without being completely embarrassed. For that man it is all about the appearance of the process not the substance of the progress.

    The fully-Committed HIM is a Pro. He views his proper personal alignment as a skill that requires daily practice to first obtain and then continually sharpen. Determined to be rather than merely to seem, a HIM focuses on Preparedness absent any concern of how that appears to the world.

    Take golf as an illustration of the contrast between the Amateur and the Pro. A professional golfer goes to the driving range every day to get prepared for what he expects from his next match and to be prepared for what he doesn’t. He practices driving and putting because he plans on doing a lot of both–but he also practices his sand shots and getting out of the rough because he knows that his plan to stay in the fairway will not always succeed. What he’s wearing while he does all that is of very little concern to him.

    An amateur golfer spends more time trying to look like a golfer than he does practicing his swing. He might go to the range if he can fit it in, but he usually comes in hot on Saturday morning five minutes before his tee time hoping for good things to happen and reacting emotionally when inevitably they don’t. How could they? He is prepared for neither the fairway nor the rough. He is not actually a golfer–he only seems like one because he’s wearing the right shoes.

    A Mascot brings the same Amateur approach to his proper personal alignment. Instead of organizing his time around the daily grind required to work out his imperfections, he just shows up and reacts emotionally to his circumstances. For him Preparedness is something he never seems to be able to fit around his “real” life when in fact the Get Right is his real life.

    The HIM is the complete opposite. He is a man who has turned Pro. He knows that proper personal alignment requires the constant honing that can only be done through daily practice. Unlike the Mascot, the HIM’s focus is on Preparedness–not just for the next Event in his life, but for his life in general as well as what awaits him in the Super Unknown.

    Until the Mascot turns Pro he will be ruled by the emotional surges that result from his lack of Preparedness for the expected and unexpected Events of his life. He will make the same resolutions every December and break them in the same way every January. Because he is an Amateur he will start each day with the Blue Pill and live a life of seeming rather than being.

    Fortunately, no man is too far wrong to Get Right. No matter how long his boat has been capsized he can begin returning it to the normal upright position with one very small Movement–the decision to take the Red Pill instead of the Blue one. He need only determine to begin doing those things necessary today to become a HIM tomorrow

    True freedom is the predetermined ‘what’ that allows full focus on the ‘how’

    Good work Men

    -Walkman

  • Gwen and Isla


    AO: >Lightning Rod

    QIC: > Walkman

    PAX: > Stray Cat, Lumbergh, Free Lunch, Danish, Steamy Nix



    CONDITIONS

    51 and drizzly – balmy morning and everyone was in good spirits.

    Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

    Warm up

    Everyone snagged a bench and completed fire feet x 12, toe taps x 12, and step ups x 12 before mosying around the corner and down to the field. Circled up at the goal line for Halos x 10, Imperial Walkers x 12, Windmill x 12, Monkey Humpers x 12, Daisy Pickers x 12. Steamy Nix found us just before we circled up!

    The Thang

    Beatdown inspired by my Daughters Gwen and Isla:

    10 merkins, 11 big bois, 12 lunge walks (Easy Count), 13 Squats

    3 burpees

    14 merkins, 15 big bois, 16 lunge walks, 14 squats

    3 burpees

    repeato until time is up. Asked everyone to remember what # of reps they made it to. Danish and Free Lunch made it to 39! Mosied back to the rod.

    6MoM

    LBX x 39, Plank/Side Planks x 39 (total), Frozen Freddie x 39 (yikes)

    COT

    I loved this workout. I didn’t post on Monday, and my oldest stayed home for a bit with me and insisted we do a workout. She lead us through 10 merkins, 11 big bois, 12 lunges and 13 squats. Last week, my youngest wanted to work out randomly one evening, so we did a few burpees (a few of you saw the video). I was excited to share this workout, and while perusing the Q Source I came upon Positive Habit Transfer. I thought that was fitting – my daughters want to workout with me because it’s such a regular part of our lives.

    The Q source breaks it into 3 categories.

    Negative Habits – work to eliminate these

    Neutral Habits – work to reduce these

    Positive habits – work to reinforce and add more

    You cannot give away what you do not possess. Living right is being a HIM. Part of being a High Impact Man is understanding IMPACT, an acronym.

    Influence: igniting a powerful desire for Movement
    Missionality: Serving in the High Impact Zone
    Positive Habit Transfer: ingraining Advantageous tendencies in others
    Accountability: submitting to Standard through Enforcement and Consequence
    Correction: zealously advocating for shared virtue
    Targeting: initiating Missionality in others

    I asked the PAX to take a few minutes and think about the positive, negative, and neutral habits they are transferring in their lives, and some good sharing ensued.

    Great work Men!

    Walkman

  • (12.11.21) Round and Round, Up and Down the LavaField


    AO: >Lightning Rod

    QIC: > Walkman

    PAX: > Danish, Slash, Steamy Nix



    CONDITIONS

    43 and drizzling, slightly wet ground but pleasant.

    Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

    Warm up

    • Mosied to 60th and Back, circled up for Arm Scissors x 12, Third Grade x 12, Daisy Pickers x 12.

    The Thang

    Deck of Death!

    Diamonds – Real Peter Parkers

    Hearts – Dips (HC)

    Clubs – Slow Squats

    Spades – Jump Squats

    6MoM

    Frozen Freddies x 15

    COT

    I asked the PAX about how they’ve handled ‘headwinds’ in the past. I’m in a season of serious Headwinds, which is wildly inconvenient given the amount on my plate. My instinct and gut reaction is to fight harder when things get harder, but that has a breaking point and I don’t want to find it. Great advice given about journaling, gratitude, and acknowledging that it will pass. Additionally, when you have tail winds, acknowledging those moments and ‘storing them’ will help lessen the impact of the future headwinds.

    Thanks for the pick me up guys!

    -Walkman

  • (2.4.22) Kill the Jester


    AO: >Lightning Rod

    QIC: > Walkman

    PAX: > Free Lunch, Kiwi, Danish, Steak Juice, Steamy Nix, Herbie



    CONDITIONS

    38 and foggy but dry! Pax showed up on time and ready to rock!

    Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

    Warm up

    • Pax Held squat to begin and YHC asked them to take a minute to look inward and consider a distraction in their lives. Something that is holding them back, stealing their attention, focus, etc. When each person had theirs, they raised their hand, and once we all had one I asked them all to remember that distraction for later. When they got to a point of fatigue or exhaustion, to visualize that distraction and practice pushing past it through physical movement.

    Mosied to 52nd and back to the corner for a warmup of Neck Rolls x 10, Halo’s x 12, Windmill x 12, Slow High Knees x 12, Third Grade Exercise x 12, Monkey Humpers x 12, Daisy Pickers x 12, Jane Fonda’s x 21 on both sides.

    The Thang

    Moved around the corner to the low wall and completed a circuit.

    Round 1: ( Burpee, 5 squats, Box Jump, 5 squats) x 5

    Round 2: Wall Sits with Cherry Pickers x 15, Morrocan night club x 15, OHP x 15

    Round 3: Merkin x 20 (easy count)

    Repeato. On the third set we modified to 5 burpees. On the fourth set we modified to 2 burpees, but didn’t have time to complete rounds 2 and 3 for a fourth time.

    Encouraged the Pax to visualize that Distraction as our legs and shoulders turned to Jello.

    6MoM

    • Plank x 10, Side plank x 10ea
    • Six inch hold x 10
    • Frozen Freddies x 21

    COT

    We discussed the Jester, and how he fits into the royal court. I shared my experience of recently killing my jester (Video Games) and the immediate impact its having, and encouraged the Pax to realize they could take a similar step. Good sharing by the group of their personal distractions and successes/struggles in pushing through them.

    Great work Men!

    -Walkman

  • (1.15.22) I’ve Missed these Hills


    AO: > Lightning Rod

    QIC: > Walkman

    PAX: > Kiwi, Bob Evans, Steamy Nix, Free lunch



    CONDITIONS

    43 and mostly dry. A few PAX had to take off early but everyone gave a great effort to end their week the right way!

    Warm Up (Circle of Pain)

    Warm up

    • Neck Roll x 10, Scissor Arms x 10, Windmill x 10, Imperial Walker x 10, Third Grade Exercise x 10, monkey humpers x 10, hammy stretch x 10. Mosy to the tiered hill.

    The Thang

    3 Rounds. Each round with a different exercise on the tiers. Tier 1 – 5 reps, Tier 2 – 10 reps, Tier 3 – 15 reps, Tier 4 – 20 reps.

    Round starts with 5 pull ups on a bar, Run up the hill backwards to tier 1, complete the movement, come back down, 5 pull ups, run backwards up to tier 2, repeato.

    Round 1: Jump Squats

    Round 2: Merkins

    Round 3: Froggies (plank position, jump legs forward to tucked position, extend them back, repeato)

    Mosied to the bigger hill. Run up the hill, 10 burpees, run down, run up, 9 burpees, run down…repeato.

    6MoM

    • LBX x 25, American Hammer x 15, 6 inch lift x 20, Plank x 20, Side planks x 10.

    COT

    I shared a recent big perspective shift that has happened in the last two weeks for me. For years I’ve adapted to my right knee – it doesn’t handle lateral movement well and has knocked me out of beatdowns and basketball at different times. For the last 2 months I’ve been doing PT on it, and last week I played my first basketball game in about 4 months, and my knee was rock solid. I was moving on the court with so much more confidence and ease than I have in YEARS.

    I’d just assumed that this condition was my ‘new normal’. That I just had to settle for no more hoops, no more lateral movements. I’d done PT on it before, but my new guy had a totally different approach and it worked! I am so excited to be able to move like that again.

    Steamy Nix shared that this perspective was helpful and may apply to some sleep/inflammatory issues he’s dealing with.

    Well done Men!

    -Walkman