29 of Isotope's finest pax (Stripes also in the pax but not listed on website) rolled into #TheGeneral for another Friday edition of #QSchool and are now ready to step up and LEAD. Here is their story:
0500
The Geek, Callahan, Gnarley Goat, Outlaw, and others (sound of in comments with those I missed) set off for ~4.5 miles of solid BRR training while a pax of ~12 listened to Ramrod give the cliff notes version of F3 history and background (More on that in the moleskin below)
0530
WARM-A-RAMA:
Dynamic warmup
SSH x 20 IC (Don Ho)
Carrot Puller x 10 IC (Maxwell House)
IST x 10 IC (Samsonite)
Windmills x 15 IC (Vandelay)
Girl Fight x 20 IC (Jersey Boy)
THE THANG:
Modified Dora (Partner up and complete exercise alternating as a team where partner 1 does the exercise and partner 2 runs a set course until all reps are completed):
100 Merkins; Run to Westmoreland and back
200 LBCs; Run to Westmoreland and back
200 Squats; Run to Westmoreland and back (Audibled from 300 Squats as Q was smoked)
Mosey to the playground
Mountain Climbers x 10 IC (Fescue)
8 Count Body Builder x 10 IC (Implants)
Shoulder touch merkin x 10 IC (Stapler)
WWII Sit ups x 10 IC (Peg Leg)
Mosey to the wall
People's Chair
Air press x 20 IC (Don Ho)
Balls to the Wall (Ninja Turtle )
Jacob's Ladder (Hills are great for ladders to do an exercise at the top and one at the bottom or curbs in a parking lot work well too)
Start at 5 – Carolina dry docks at top counting down to 1
Start at 1 – WWII sit-ups at the bottom counting up to 5
MARY:
Pretzel crunch x 10 IC (Banana Peel)
Crunchy frog x 10 IC (Tiramisu)
X's and O's x 10 IC (Flo)
Recover recover
COT
NAKED MOLESKIN:
- Caboose had excellent form on Jersey Boy's Girl Fights
- Strong work by Implants to work in some burpees in disquise just for Outlaw and crushed the 8 count cadence
- Great work calling cadence this morning by all of the pax and TClaps to the vets for showing up to show support and pass along some much needed tips.
- As Turnpike stated, let's get out and support these VQs below and others as they pop up
- Upcoming VQ's: Magnum (The Sword – 7/31); Samsonite (Fission – 8/3); Banana Peel (The Foundry – 8/4); Fescue (Mighty Oak – 8/23); Poptart (Arnies Army – 9/11)
- When others are ready for your VQ, reach out to one of the Master Qs to get on the schedule or sign up on the calendar. Lot of MQs in attendance today (Outlaw is MQ at PAINinsula; Landline is MQ at The General; Turnpike is MQ at Excelsior; Caboose is MQ at The Sword; Metallica is MQ at Man Maker Monday)
- The Art of Manliness Podcast referenced in the F3 History portion of this morning can be found on f3nation.com under "Podcasts Highlighting F3"
- Thanks to Landline for the opportunity to Q at The General and to Ramrod for #OperationHeadlock and leading the F3 History portion of Q School this morning. As always, thanks to the pax for the constant encouragement and motivation. Remember that F3 is yours to lead so step up, you are FREED TO LEAD! 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 Q it 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 also want color for the backblast. During your first few Qs, it is hard enough just to make it through the workout. Ask your SiteQ or another experienced Q to 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.