F3 Knoxville

Author: Frizzles

FIVES

THE SCENE: 30 degrees and clear. The calm before the storm to come!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Imperial Walkers, Daisy Pickers, Calf Raises, Hamstring Stretch, SSH
THA-THANG:
Turned on some tunes and started with an Indian run mosey. Once we were nice and warm we did a quick circle of pain with squats before jumping in to the main event:

FIVES. Find a partner to stick with the whole time and then follow the instructions:

Start with the first exercise. After each round, run a lap and then add an exercise:

  • 5 Burpees
  • 10 Merkins
  • 15 LBCs
  • 20 Bonnie Blairs
  • 25 Mt. Climbers
  • 30 second plank
  • 35 American Hammers
  • 40 SSH
  • 45 BBSU
  • 50 Squats

MARY:
Due to some overplanning, no one even managed to finish the main event so we didn’t have time for Mary today.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Frizzles, G-6, Postman, Huffy, Magic Mic, Fixer Upper, Air Gretzky, Secret Shower, Wedding Singer
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Just a reminder about the 5 core principles:

  • Free of charge
  • Open to all men
  • Always held outdoors
  • Peer led
  • Ends in a circle of trust

F3 is much more than just a morning workout. Take advantage of the ability to step up and lead!

Flathead’s Pulpit

THE SCENE: A clear and balmy post-Christmas 56 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Imperial walkers, Bear hug, Daisy pickers, leg stretches, Hillbillies, Merkins, Tempo squat
THA-THANG:
Began with a quick mosey to the Big Ball itself. Stop for a circle of pain merkin style. Mosey on over to the Performance Lawn for a quick circle of pain howling monkeys.

YHC located a conveniently placed whiteboard with what looked to be a decent enough workout titled Flathead’s Pulpit:

  • 40 squats
  • 30 lunges (single)
  • 20 BBSU
  • 10 2-pump burpees
  • Lap around the lawn
  • 10 burpees
  • 10 4-ct flutter kicks
  • 10 8-ct bodybuilder
  • 10 6-ct SSH
  • Lap around the lawn
  • REPEAT

This was not as much as it sounds.

MARY:
Back at the flag we knocked out some Freddy Mercury’s, LBCs and V-up rollups to finish off strong.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Frizzles, G-6 (respectx3), Buttercup, Stacks
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
About a year ago my good friend Flathead (John Lex Kenerly) finally broke me down with his EHing and I agreed to attend an F3 beatdown in Macon, GA. I had turned him down many many times and never imagined I would ever be the guy working out at 5am. But that first day in the gloom was incredible experience and my life has truly been profoundly changed because of F3. When I moved to Knoxville back in July, one of the first things I did was make sure to post at Big Ball and immediately found community.

What Flathead did for me, we should try to do for others. Whether that means dragging someone to F3, or something completely different- we should assess the people in our lives and look for ways to meet them where they are and then do what we can to help them out. The F3 credo is “Leave no man behind but leave no man where you found him.” As we show up in the gloom to continuing sharpening one another, let’s find ways to take that sharpness and help those around us.
MOLESKIN:
If you ever get the chance to meet Stacks- ask him where his name comes from.

Circles (and squares) of Pain

THE SCENE: A balmy 50 degrees. The ground was wet but no rain was spotted.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry pickers, calf stretches, baby arm circles, hillbillies, SSH
THA-THANG:
Mosey past the amphitheater down to the Cumberland ave. pedestrian bridge. Huddle up for a round of circle of pain merkins (10 each). Recover. Lung walk across the bridge. Huddle up again for a circle of pain squats. Groucho walk back across the bridge. Mosey to the amphitheater.

4 Corners (of pain):

Round 1 (complete 2x):

  • Corner 1: merkins x 20
  • Corner 2: BBSU x 20
  • Corner 3: Squats x 20
  • Corner 4: Flutter kicks x 20 (4 count)

Round 2 (complete 2x):

  • Corner 1: Burpees x 10
  • Corner 2: Single leg squat x 10 each leg
  • Corner 3: LBC x 20
  • Corner 4: Diamond merkins x 20

Round 3: complete round 1 again but stick together and exercises in cadence.

MARY:
Made it back to the flag in time for a quick Mary:

Freddie mercury, American Hammer, stargazer
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Frizzles (QIC), G-6 (respect, respect, respect), Postman (respect), Huffy (respect), FNG- Costanza
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Just a reminder to take some time to be moved by the truth of the gospel. If you are feeling heavy/shameful, open your hands and stop trying to do better. All your mistakes have already been forgiven and you are counted as a son of God!
MOLESKIN:
Lots of respect going around this morning. Outside of the QIC and FNG we had 5 respects across 3 Pax!

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO SCHOOL

THE SCENE: A very brisk, 46 degree morning with the fog rolling in heavy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
A quick stretch to loosen up in the cold followed by an Indian Run past the amphitheater, across the bridge and back down to the big ball.

Circle of pain: Monkey Humpers

Circle of pain: BBSU

Circle of pain: Merkins
THA-THANG:
We grabbed some of the classic Big Ball specialty coupons and made our way across the parking lot to a waiting whiteboard that laid out what was ahead of us: The Billy Madison. Pax were told that we were going back to school to try to prove once and for all that we are not so foolish. Each exercise represented the final exam to pass a specific grade- and each exam (much to our disappointment) was completely cumulative for all of the prior years. The final exams were as follows:

  • 1st grade: Merkins x 10
  • 2nd grade: Squats x 10
  • 3rd grade: LBC x 10
  • 4th grade: Coupon curls x 20
  • 5th grade: Plank jacks x 10 (4 ct)
  • 6th grade: Coupon squat press x 10
  • 7th grade: Iron Mike x 10 (2 ct)
  • 8th grade: Mountain climber x 10 (4 ct)
  • 9th grade: Coupon rows x 10
  • 10th grade: American hammer x 10 (4 ct)
  • 11th grade: Side straddle hop x 10
  • 12th grade: Burpee x 10

Though there were many valiant efforts made- least of which from YHC – none of the Big Ball participants had what it took to graduate and move on. Unfortunately in this reenactment of the story, O’Doyle continued to rule.

MARY:
Working as hard as we could to graduate on time left us no room for Mary today. She wil
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
G-6 (respect, respect, respect), Wedding Singer, Magic Mic, Frizzles

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Today was some encouragement towards EHing those around us. F3 is too good of a thing to keep to ourselves and we should continue to keep eachother accountable in inviting others in. A quick example of the way that F3 can be used in a man’s life was seen at the F3 10 year convergence a couple of weeks ago when F3 Nation leadership was naming FNGs on the beach:

“Our newest FNG was named ‘Rojas’ at the 10 year convergence. Olaf from F3 The Fort gave him an EH as we ran to the workout. He joined us for the full beatdown. After a couple of minutes of throwing out ideas in the Name-a-Rama, we settled on ‘Rojas’ after a character on the show ‘Ted Lasso’. We didn’t know until afterward, but he was honored to get the nickname. Unbeknownst to any of the 355 men there, Rojas was his mother’s maiden name. She passed away three months ago and on the morning we ran by him, he was thinking about her. If you do not believe in a higher power, perhaps this story will remind you that there are no coincidences. Leave space for the miraculous.”
MOLESKIN:
It is unfortunate that the exams were timed as I believe all Pax would have successfully graduated if they had been allowed all the time they needed. Perhaps next time we will move quicker in to the exam time and see what kind of performance is achieved. Maybe we can even see what some of these guy get up to after graduation! It was also a disappointment when everyone realized there would be no recess included in the studies. Perhaps including a quick recess in future attempts would improve morale and allow for some graduates to shine.

Stickin Together

THE SCENE: A nice cool 68 degree morning. Slightly foggy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry picker ic x20

Baby arm circles ic x20

Forward hamstring stretch

Downward dog calf stretch

SSH ic x30

THA-THANG:
We moseyed to the base of the Big Ball itself. YHC began by identifying what would be used as four corners: the current spot, just across the water at the amphitheater, further along the water at the West end of the bridge, and finally the East side of the bridge. Pax were to complete a set of exercises at each corner oyo and then wait until the 6 was in. Pax would mosey to the next corner together. Exercises at corners 1 and 3 would be the same, and exercises at corners 2 and 4 would be the same.

Corners 1 and 3:

  • Super skaters x10 each leg
  • Standing lunge x10 each leg
  • 1 leg deadlift squat x10 each leg
  • Monkey humper x20

Corners 2 and 4:

  • WW2 situps x20
  • V up rollups x10
  • 2 count American hammer x20
  • Crunchy frog x20

Once we returned to corner 1, we moseyed on over to a nearby cone. YHC pointed out that there were three additional cones just like this first one lined up approximately 30 yards apart. Begin at cone 1 and follow as instructed below. Sprint between each cone.

THE BEAST:

  • Sprint to cone 2 for 6 merkins
  • Sprint to cone 3 for 6 LBCs
  • Sprint to cone 4 for 6 squats
  • Sprint back to cone 3 for 6 burpees
  • Sprint to cone 2 for 6 werkins
  • Sprint to cone 1 for 6 American hammer
  • Complete a suicide as quickly as possible

Drive thru enjoyed this exercise so much he asked that we repeat it. We obliged him and did just that.

MARY:
Returned the flag just in time for some 6-minute abs:

Freddy Mercury ic x20

Heels to heaven ic x20

Flutter kicks ic x10

BBSU ic x20
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

MOLESKIN:

Giving Abort credit for the Q since I’m not in the QIC dropdown yet.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I am thankful for F3 and the ability to have a like-minded group of men that will support and encourage almost anywhere in the country (and even some other countries! Shoutout F3 Nairobi). Having only moved to Knoxville a month ago, I wanted to take some time to appreciate this group and make sure that we do not take for granted what a gift this group is