We talk a lot about integrity, courage, fortitude and other such personal values at F3. Accountability. Leadership. Even that special substance that is all the rage in the self-help books: Grit.
Let me recommend to you, my fellow travelers and men of F3, another personal value that you should make a daily effort to internalize:
Laziness.
Who, we ask, speaks for the Lazy? And here, in this space, comes the answer: I will.
Did I lead today”s Q? Yes I did. Did I arrive with a detailed plan, tested, improved and honed with quiet preparation and attention to detail? Absolutely not. Did I even bother to check the Q list Sunday night? Again, I raise my voice in answer: heck no.
And here is a truth – perhaps The Truth – that only the Lazy can ever fully know: if you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.
Today, that minute came at 5:44 am. With the air full of humidity and panic. YHC stepped into the F3 circle in front of 23 PAX both unprepared and, serendipitously, in full, unflinching view of his eldest child, who joined us in the morning”s workout.
Zero to 100 in ”whadya got for us Stick?” Let”s see how it went:
WARM-UP (all IC)
20X SSH (and here a personal note: YHC HATES SSH – knees – and routinely jogs or just waves arms through them during normal workouts. But, floating on a surge of adrenaline which only the Lazy can ever know, YHC *flew* through this set, a testament to the power of ill-preparation)
Willie Mays Hayes X 20
Merkin position-
- Left and right leg stretch with MerkinX5 between each
- Back stretch (cobra)
- Mtn Climbers X 10
Squats X10
Arm Circles, both ways X10
THE THANG
(2-line Indian Run between each event)
Run to GAZEBO
Line 1 Dips, Line 2 Merkins, IC – 4 count (1 dip, 2 merkins per 4-count)
– X 15, switch and repeat
- X10 switch and repeat
Run to INTERSECTION W BBALL PARK, Pair off
Partner 1 – Run to top of hill X2
Partner 2 – Burpees OYO while waiting
Switch, repeat sequence X4 (ie 8 trips up the hill for each partner)
Run to POLLARD MIDDLE, Green benches
Box jumps x 20 (alternate: step ups, both legs = 1)
Step-ups x20 – each leg 10 in a row before switching
Run to POLLARD STAIRS, Pair up
Dora 1-2 (as a pair, complete in total):
- 100 LBC, 200 Squats
- Partner 1 exercises while Partner 2 does lap up and down stairs
Return To THICKET for…
MARY
- LBC IC X 20
- Flutter kick (4 count) IC X 10
Time.
So, bad job by YHC on preparation, but, now that I”m through it, I actually am glad to have done it that way. Some of you F3 vets may have noticed that all of today”s workout was something taken directly from a Q led by someone else. Our Gazebo iteration, though used by many, is one I think of as a specialty of Boy-R-Dee. The up-down hill repeats/burpees at the park were straight from a Yanni playbook that I”ve read on many painful mornings. And the Dora workout at Pollard was my best attempt to recreate a brutal session from last winter that I think Link put us through, though maybe it was someone else. Feel free to correct YHC.
I was happy today to be able to fall back on the first principle of good leadership, which is that there are no leaders without followers and, more precisely, no leadership without followership. Never believe you”re too smart, too good or too old to learn from your leaders or your peers. This was my 3rd Q, but looking back, I think today”s – where I simply echoed the better examples of others – was probably my best.
Maybe I”m being trite mentioning my early morning screw-up in the same breath, but the world gave us a far better, far more desperate example over the weekend of on-the-fly leadership. In COT, I mentioned the USS Fitzgerald, the Navy destroyer that suffered a catastrophic collision at sea this weekend. The collision nearly sunk the ship and rendered the captain a casualty, evacuated from the ship. That left the No. 2 on board, the Executive Officer, to step in, instantly and totally, to lead his crew in a literal battle to stay afloat. Obviously, there was no joking matter of “laziness” at hand, but a mortal need for leadership. I am sure that what kept that boat afloat was the years the XO spent watching, learning and practicing under leaders better than him. Whoever he was, he learned to follow first, so when the moment came where he had to lead, he was ready.
As for me, I”m just a dad who forgot I had the Q, in front my own kid, no less. But the lessons of the F3 guys ahead of me got me through it. So thanks to them.
Welcome back to a lapsed-F3er, Beanbag, and to Everest, who – unlike the rest of you slobs – had swim team practice at 8. I”m very proud of her.
Until next time when somebody else takes charge – and who knows, maybe it”ll be me again! – have a great week.
Stick