17 (including 2 FNGs Wilson Wyatt & Henry Wyatt; Egyptian and Red Rider not yet signed up for the website) aced Q School at #The Foundry. Here is their story:
0500
See Moleskin for F3 History/Background and Q Basics
0530
WARM-A-RAMA:
Dynamic warmup
SSH x 20 IC (Swing State)
Carrot Pullers x 15 IC (Grape Ape)
Merkins x 10 IC (Bunyan)
THE THANG:
Modified Dora (Partner up and complete exercise alternating as a team where partner 1 does the exercise and partner 2 runs then flapjack until all reps are completed):
50 Pull-ups; Sprint down and back
100 Mericans; Sprint down and back
150 Squats; Sprint down and back
Mosey to the rock pit
Curls x 15 IC (Code Blue)
Skull Crusher x 12 IC (Mary Jane)
Chest press w/ low flutter x 13 IC (Chestnut)
Bent over row x 12 IC (Magnum)
Mosey to front curb
Burpee/WWI Sit-up Ladder in the form of 11's
Bear crawl to far curb and do 10 Burpees
Bear crawl back to starting curb and do 1 WWII Sit-up
Continue and decrease burpees by 2 at far curb and increase WWII Sit-ups by 2 at starting curb
10 Count as Q was smoked (Henry)
Mosey to firepit
Step ups x 10 OYO (Egyptian)
Rocky Balboa w/ Burpees (Bam Bam)
MARY:
J-Lo x 10 IC (Red Rider)
Homer to Marge (Scrappy)
Low Dolley x 10 IC (Ramrod)
Recover recover
COT
MOLESKIN:
- Awesome work by the pax this morning. Hopefully you all feel prepared to go out and sign up for your VQ or your next Q and complete your homework.
- Kotters to Magnum…welcome back brother…looked strong today
- Welcome Wilson and Hyatt…now come back next week and get your F3 name…nice work
- Chestnut and Code Blue calling cadence like wily vets…The Foundry is calling
- Strong work Red Rider and Egyptian getting out to Q School so early. You guys rocked it and looked like you had plenty in the tank.
- First time I have ever called on Bunyan and not gotten 20 burpees…behaving at school I guess…can't wait for his next Q at The Blender on July 11…on my calendar brother
- Takes Q School to get our Nantan to The Foundry
- TClaps Ramrod on #OperationHeadlock…it's working
- Grape Ape asked about Twitter:
- Pre-blast: Tweet out your pre-blast before 8 PM the night before your Q & Tag @f3lkn, the master Q, the AO name, and #pb
- F3 Counts: Tweet out before 8 AM after your Q and tag @f3lkn, the master Q, the AO name, and #F3Counts
- Backblast: Tweet out same day as your Q and tag @f3lkn, the master Q, the AO name, #bb, and copy/paste the link from your backblack
- It was truly an honor to lead such a fine group of men this morning. Thanks to the pax for the constant encouragement and motivation. This group is such a blessing in my life. Below are my notes from Q School. We didn't hit on everything but we got through a lot. If you have any questions or would like a co-Q, please don't hesitate to reach out. Until the next time…
Don Ho
Q SCHOOL NOTES:
F3 Mission Statement: To plant, grow and serve small men’s workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership (The Purpose of F3 is to Establish, Serve and Grow Male Workout Groups in order to Reinvigorate Male Community Leadership)
F3 Origins: How F3 started-broke off from Campos (Freedom Park group) who wanted to stay a small group and not expand. OBT/ Dredd with permission broke off to share with others because they discovered that men in their “3rd phase” of life needed this the most. They used the Starfish/Spider book to help establish an internal structure, and mobilize men to strengthen themselves in the community, fitness, and Christ. F3 started on Jan 1st of 2011 AG middle School with 35 men. They broke that group up at AG as it started to grow in August of 2011.
F3 NoCo/Isotope History:
Moses had been invited to the downtown charlotte area workouts and had done it for a few months when he decided that he didn’t want to drive to downtown Charlotte any longer and start the group here in Lake Norman (STARFISH). Isotope came from the nuclear power plant on Lake Norman
F3 Model: The Starfish vs Spider Model
Based on book written by Ori Brafman
- The Spider Model – Leadership concentrated in the center
- If you cut off the head, the whole spider dies
- Examples: Most large corporations and government
- The Starfish Model – Leadership pushed to the perimeter
- If you cut off arm, new one grows in its place AND severed arm becomes new starfish
F3 CORE PRINCIPLES:
F3 workouts …
- Are free of charge
- Are open to all men
- Are held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
- Are led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary
- End with a Circle of Trust
Q PHILOSOPHY:
Q- Pax Relationship: The unspoken social contract between the Pax and a Q: "We will follow until you give us a reason not to". The Pax are very forgiving toward a new Q. Most have been through it and understand the anxiety. ? A Q can help a guy start his day in a really great way… or a really crappy way. As a Q I always want to help men start their day great. As a Q when I look out over the pax before the workout, here are some things I try to keep in mind:
- There may be a guy out there who's been up all night with a sick family member, a crying baby, etc. This time at F3 may be the best part of the day. Make the day great for him.
- There may be a guy out there who's really stressed about his upcoming day at work. Make the time between 0530 and 615 a GREAT time for him.
- There may be an FNG out there in the pax. It took all his courage to come out. Make F3 a great experience for him.
No man should ever leave an F3 workout pissed off that he posted. That's a Q fail and an F3 fail. ? Qs can avoid this by great Q-manship: putting out a pre-blast, staying on time, calling a good cadence (yes, we all know this matters), planning a good workout, keeping the pax together, being enthusiastic, putting out a back blast, etc.
Q PREPARATION:
Considerations for Qs:
- KISS
- Keep the Weinke simple. The fewer moving parts the better. Many first-time Q Weinke's are too complicated.
- Keep it familiar. New exercises or sets that require more than the briefest of explanations usually lead to confusion.
- Don't be shy about stealing a Weinke from another more experienced Q.
- Read backblasts and plagiarize them
- Go with strengths:"Don't Qit if you can't do it." If leading an exercise in cadence, you want to focus on correct form.
- Why Cadence? CONSISTENCY in all things is the building block of leadership.
- Esprit de Corps – Counting together builds bonds, fuels morale
- Fatigue by Leader – Doesn’t require complex thought, designed for breathing
- Demonstrates Consistency, Competence & Attention to Detail: ALL very important leadership principles
- Voice inflection signals the end
- The Process
- “THE NEXT EXERCISE IS…..(PAUSE)….THE MERKIN!”
- Pax repeat exercise name to signal understanding. Q listens for unsure voices.
- “STARTING POSITION!…..(PAUSE)….MOVE!”
- STARTING POSITION is the information command.
- MOVE is the execution command.
- Pause between the two is critical to allow pax to understand where to go next.
- Look at pax during the pause to see if anyone is clueless. If so, the STOP. “I will demonstrate.” Then demonstrate the starting position and execute a rep or two WHILE COUNTING out loud. THEN START OVER. “THE NEXT EXERCISE IS…..”
- “IN CADENCE!” (PAUSE)
- Only if doing the exercise in cadence. If not then “This will be done on your own” or “We will do this for 30 seconds”
- “EXERCISE! 1, 2, 3 [ONE]. 1, 2, 3 [TWO]….
- Q’s eyes never leave the pax while counting. Look for form issues, fatigue, need for less or more reps than planned, morale issues AND think about what comes next.
- VOICE INFLECTION at last “1, 2, 3…” to signal END
- “THE NEXT EXERCISE IS…..(PAUSE)….THE MERKIN!”
- Tips for Calling Cadence
- SPEED of cadence is critical. THINK about this when planning your workout. If you have never called a particular exercise during a Q before, think about how to call it and the cadence pace. The Q owes it to the Pax. Too fast or too slow could cause undue fatigue, bad form, and/or injury.
- Your count should always match your body movement
- See Dredd's excellent tutorial on the how and why of cadence counting:
- http://f3nation.com/2012/02/22/f3-tv-how-to-count/
- Be flexible
- Too long, too short: It takes a few times go get a good feel for how long your Weinke will take to execute.
- Have a couple of back-up ideas if too short. Watch the clock and audible if running long.
- Think through transitions from one set to another. Minimize dead time, standing around.
- Also not a bad idea to review the plan with an experienced Q for feedback.
- Tap a vet- if you need time to get unsmoked or burned through Weinke in 30 minutes, there's no shame in asking a vet to lead Mary or the next section of the workout.
Q EXECUTION:
- Start on time. End on time.
- Take control – be the leader. Be assertive, don’t mumble. If something doesn’t work & you have to be audible, acknowledge it and move on to the next thing. Don’t apologize, just move on.
- Observation-Do your best to keep an eye on the Pax during the workout to see if you are losing people, either from it being too easy,too confusing,or too hard. You will alsowant color for the backblast. During your first few Qs,it is hard enough just to make it through the workout. Ask your SiteQor another experienced Qto keep an eye on things and give a heads up as needed.
- Cover your six-no man left behind.
- Start on time. End on time – then COT: Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, announcements, and take-out.
- Nickname FNGs (claim him as one of us).
Q FOLLOW UP:
- Twitter counts- check with SiteQ on whether he or the Q will tweet the count
- Backblast- part of the workout Qs responsibility to post the Backblast, not the Master Q unless he volunteers. Get backblast credentials from Comz Q. Keep it G or PG rated.
- If you have FNG's at the workout, make sure that either you, the Master Q, or the FNG's EHer gets their email address.
- Post Mortem- follow up with the Master Q about what went right, what could be improved, etc.