THE SCENE: Wet on ground, windy, but the rained stopped right as we were beginning the workout. Temperature about 60 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Bernie Sanders around the parking lot, 20 Plank Jacks, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Rockettes, 10 Twisties, 10 Dive Bombers, 10 Cherry Pickers.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the pavilion to do 20 Bench Dips. Then divide up into teams of two. Mosey to the trailer behind my car in the parking lot across the street from the AO parking lot. Each team grabs two bricks out of my trailer. Mosey back to the west end of the AO parking lot. We will will be doing Doras. While one partner on a team of two runs to the other end of the parking lot and does 10 Rocky Balboas (both legs = 1) and runs back, the other partner works on the exercises listed below. Then partners switch off. Here are the exercises:
- 100 Overhead Presses
- 100 Triceps
- 100 Curls
- 100 Rows
- 100 Punches (where both hands = 1)
- 100 Wings Up
- 100 Wings Down
- 100 Wings Out
Mosey back to the trailer to put the bricks away. Bernie Sanders one time around the parking lot.
Mosey to the AO parking lot again. We will be doing a Kraken. We will be doing the exercises at each of the six cones set up in the parking lot. When finished with the exercise at one cone, each man should do a full circle of all cones before going to the next cone. Here are the exercises:
- Cone 1: 20 Big Boy Sit Ups
- Cone 2: 10 Burpees
- Cone 3: 20 Box Cutters
- Cone 4: 20 Diamond Merkins
- Cone 5: 20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
- Cone 6: 15 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1)
- Those finishing first rinse and repeat until the six has finished all six sets of exercises.
Mosey back to the parking lot across the street with the trailer. We will be running up the Dragon, stopping at every other light post to do 10 Merkins. When men reach the parking lot at the end of the Dragon they will run to the street and then go down Mini-Cardiac to the parking lot with the trailer. They will then Bernie Sanders around the parking lot.
Mosey to the parking lot near the nice restroom. We will go from one curb to the others in the following manner: Hop 15 times, Bear Crawl for 30 paces, then Bernie Sanders to the curb. We will then go back to the other curb in the following manner: Do 25 El Capitan’s, Bear Crawl for 25 paces, then Bernie Sanders to the curb.
Mosey to the Playground. We will do 20 American Hammers.
Mosey to the AO.
MARY:
25 Hello Dollies (4 count), 25 Flutter Kicks (4 Count). Then we will do a minute of stretching.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 Men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I am not a University of Miami Hurricanes fan. But, I do like their basketball team’s coach, 73-year-old Jim Larranaga. It wasn’t until recently that I knew his name. When I watched Miami win games in last year’s March Madness and this year’s March Madness, I just called him the “Old Man.” I have since learned that he is an amazing coach who has won all kinds of awards coaching for different colleges. He was the coach of that 11th seeded George Mason team who got to the Final Four in 2006.
Now he has the Miami Hurricanes in the Final Four and his team will be playing against Connecticut today. I saw the Old Man interviewed on the basketball court amidst the hoopla after Miami beat number 1 seeded Houston to get to the Elite 8 this year. One of his players, Nijel Pack, was asked to be interviewed after the coach. What did the Old Man do before he went off to the locker room? He leaned over and kissed Nijel on the side of his head. I love seeing that kind of affection between coach and player. Later, in the locker room, the Old Man was seen dancing with his team, all of the players laughing and hooting at their 73-year-old coach with obvious love as he was doing the old man shimmy. It was a funny and heart-warming thing to observe.
A major reason I love F3 so much is that we also have that heart-warming affection amongst us. One of our new members, Voltage, joined our brotherhood less than two weeks ago. I talked to him after the workout. He has lived in Knoxville a number of years and, being from another country, has been a bit lonely. He has been looking for a group of friends that he can be a part of. I told him he has found it with F3.
Gents, I don’t want to embarrass you, but a reason why we come to F3 here in Knoxville is to get the kind of affection from other men that is similar to that kiss the the Old Man laid upon the head of Nijel Pack. How does that affection reach us? In all kinds of ways. It’s as simple as bros yelling out “Hey Pusher” or “Hey Drum Major” when they show up for the morning workout. It’s Crawdad teasing me about having dope in my veins and you guys persistently mentioning I must have my stimulator with me when I am somehow able to keep up with you on the mosey. It’s the ribbing Swimmies gets every time he shows up late for a workout. It’s us getting on High-Heels for getting through 25 rounds of whatever exercise in ten seconds. It’s whoever is on Q making sure we do Dive Bombers when Choir Boy is around or doing Cherry Pickers because we know that Crawdad hates them. It’s us groaning at Pluto’s puns. It’s us knowing that Waffle House is going to wear those crazy yellow mittens in the winter or that Pele is going to leave his circular sweat of integrity around his feet at the end of a summer workout. It’s giving Jinxy hell when the employees at Panera Bread screw up another one of his orders. It laughing at Lebowski with his crazy robe and Matlock leaving those hilarious posts on Slack. We are a team, a band of brothers, dropping those idiotic displays of affection on one another. I thank God for it. Now, where did I leave that stimulator.?
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the people of Nashville and those impacted by the shooting at the school. Prayers to those in Arkansas impacted by the tornadoes last night. Prayers for safety Pusher’s youngest son who just got his drivers license. Also, prayers for Pusher and his wife as it can be stressful to see one’s child go off driving alone for the first time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Shovel Flag making at I-Beam’s house today. Haw Ridge coming in two weeks. We need to start working on making obstacles for Hardship Hill which will be on Memorial Day.