Backblast: December 23rd, 2024
AO: The Foundry – Gateway Middle School – Maumee, OH
PAX:
Q – Photon
Capitol
Fat Amy
Huckleberry
Landslide
Meatloaf
Rudy
Sherbert
Viper
Workout: Silent Night
FNG’s: N/A
Mission and Principles:
F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Mission: To plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.
The core principles of F3 are that it is always:
1. Free of charge
2. Open to all men
3. Held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
4. Led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary. You versus you. Modify or stop an exercise if you need to. The most important thing is that nobody gets hurt.
5. Ends with a Circle of Trust
All of the above was communicated visually through pictures on a white board. No words were spoken from Q or PAX.
Warmup: In cadence
SSH: 12 (2 is 1)
Windmills: 12 (2 is 1)
Chain Breakers: 12
Entire warmup was communicated visually with no verbal cues. No words were spoken from Q or PAX.
The “Thang”:
PAX performed 12 rounds of the following:
a.) Perform 12 reps of a given exercise IN CADENCE.
b.) MOT out and back 23 yards on your own
c.) Pick up the six
d.) Move to next round and repeat.
Exercises and MOTs were the following:
Phase 1: Forward Murder Bunnies
1.) Thrusters – Forward Murder Bunny
2.) Kettle Bell Swings (2 is 1)
3.) American Hammers w/ Block (2 is 1)
4.) Man-Makers
Phase 2: Forward Bear Crawls
5.) Jump Squats (2 is 1)
6.) Hand Release Merkins (2 is 1)
7.) Lunges (2 is 1)
8.) Absolutions
Phase 3: Forward Crab Walks
9.) Crab Cakes (2 is 1)
10.) Pickle Pointers (2 is 1)
Entire thang was communicated visually with no verbal cues. No words were spoken from Q or PAX.
Ended with:
Count-O-Rama: 9
Name-O-Rama
The Six – Sherbert
LDP3
Ball of Man
Spreadsheets from the Gloom: 15F wind-chill, but dry. This was a risk with a high chance for failure, but the PAX really embraced the theme and worked with YHC to ensure its success. From the moment the PAX realized that it was a completely silent beatdown, they kept their voices quiet and their eyes attentive. Was the cadence work perfect? Absolutely not. But it wasn’t terrible, either. Given no vocal cues, the synchronicity was actually pretty good thanks to the PAX’s focus. There are definitely improvements to make on the cadence cues, though. Using fingers to 4-count prior to starting was ok, but was quite difficult with a block in hand or from plank position. A 4-count sweeping head nod a la a music conductor would work much better for most exercises. A colored light would also be useful for quick instruction.
Overall, the beatdown got the point across. It really is easy to take things for granted. We say we are open to all men… But how much more difficult would it be for someone who can’t hear? Or for someone to lead who can’t speak? This beatdown was a reminder that there are other ways to communicate on both ends of the conversation. A reminder that sometimes it’s only the non-verbal cues that we receive, and that we have to be able to (re)act on those alone.
This one was a pleasure for sure.
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