F3 Knoxville

Author: Mathlete

Justice Family

THE SCENE: Cool start at 30 F, but the sun shone and warmed it right up. Bright and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH
  • Windmills
  • LBACs
  • Grady Corn
  • Squats
  • merkins

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to the friendship bell
    • Pair up – Lazy Dora
    • Plank-merkins 50
    • Gore-Squats 50
  • Mosey to the back porch
    • Trench runs – 3 tie fighters (each side) then run up to the porch and run the trench
    • Repeat three times (Gold leader, Red leader, Red 5)
  • Mosey to the playground
    • Hang out on something for a while
    • 10 flutter kicks IC
    • Climb and slide
    • 10 LBCs IC
    • Creep and Crawl
    • 10 Big boys IC
  • Mosey to the ampitheater
    • Animal train – bear crawl, crab walk, bunny rabbit, frog hopper
    • Joke circle
  • Mosey to the fountain
    • Pair up – Lazy Dora
    • Gore-step ups – 60
    • Dips – 50
  • Mosey back to bell – swing on the porch posts along the way

One burpee then ring the bell

MARY:

  • Box cutters, Heels to heaven

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
2.0s – Nerf, Buttercup, Sunflower, Hotwheels, Mozart, Flo-nase, Mac, Bolt, and Gator
FNG – Speedy Gonzalez
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Justice is a word that gets used a lot these days, and it has many meanings. Today, I want to focus us on the way that is most effective in our everyday life. It has a lot to do with the way we treat others, and I think of it in two big ways: I do at least my fair share of the work and I don’t take more than my fair share of the good stuff.

When there is work to do, a person of justice works hard to carry an equal part of the load. Don’t hold back and see if maybe somebody else will do it for you. Don’t try to find the easy part to do while someone else does the hard part. Just step up, do your best, and work to help finish the job.

Likewise, when there is something good to be had, a person of justice is careful only to take what is right. Pay attention to how much others will get. No tricks to get extra. No excuses like “I’m hungrier”, “I didn’t get any last time”, “He got too much, so I should, too”.

Finally, I want to make clear that this is focused on how I behave. It’s not about making sure someone else does their fair share. It’s not about putting myself in charge of how much everyone gets. And it certainly isn’t about making everyone else do what I think is right. It’s just focused on making sure I am doing the right thing.

This is not to say that there is no place for you to seek justice for others, but before we do that we must first do the work of enforcing justice upon ourselves.
MOLESKIN:
This went pretty well, almost felt too organized for a family workout.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We will shoot for another one February 4th unless the weather stops us, then we will just move it to the next week until we get one.

The courage to lead

THE SCENE: Warm for January, low 50s and damp. Something like Ideal gloom with a waning gibbous overhead
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators
  • Tempo Squats
  • LBACs
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Fence Steppers
  • Grady corn

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to the parallel bars and have each man  handwalk the parallel bars
  • Mosey to the pool wall
    • Wall sit-ups – All PAX wall sit then do a wall-up upon command.
    • Repeat 5 times
  • Mosey to recruiting center
    • Relocate the entire block stack to the corner of the lot. TO move each block:
      • 20 plyo-merkins or thrusters to farmer carry each block
      • 20 4-ct heavy freddies or flutters to lunge the block
      • 20 swings or good mornings to rifle carry the block
    • Relocate the poles likewise in pairs
      • 20 golden arches then shoulder carry
    • Then move everything to the other corner of the parking lot
    • Then put it all back where we found it
  • RTF

MARY:
11 Heels to heaven, 11 American Hammers
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

On Saturday, I was fortunate to attend the convergence down at Bombshelter and, among several benefits, hear a message from Cap’n Crunch, one of the OG founders of F3 Knoxville. His message was framed with four points on how to improve personal leadership:

  • Resist Passivity
  • Expect Long-term Gains
  • Accept Responsibility
  • Lead Courageously

While any one of these points could serve as the jump-off point, today I am focusing on Lead Courageously. Unlike some other virtues, like temperance or fortitude, Courage is a word that still gets a fair bit of use in the modern cultural lexicon. Pretty much no matter who you are or how you view the world, everyone agrees that courage is virtuous, because everyone agrees that there are things which ought to be done that fear prevents us from doing. Now, Cap’n Crunch noted, and it bears repeating here, that courage is not the absence of fear. If you are not afraid, then you have no need of courage. Rather, courage is fortitude to endure fear which makes possible justice despite opposition, temperance in the face of temptation, and prudence which sees future peril but is not diverted. C.S. Lewis, in the voice of Screwtape, put it this way:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of all virtues at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity, or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” – Screwtape

Obviously, having courage is great, but how do I get it?

There is more than one way to answer this question, but today I want to focus on one that we moderns somehow often neglect: From the men at your side. Ever notice what lies at the center of this word: en-COURAGE-ment From time immemorial, men have been facing challenges in groups, even when it provides no pragmatic advantage. In fact, this reality lies at the very heart of F3. By facing our challenges together, with shields locked, we muster courage which we do not individually merit. Do not neglect to engage this resource, for:

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:36-39)

No one knows the future. If you desire to lead, you must either be naïve to this or courageous to face it.
MOLESKIN:
I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to lead you fine men this morning. Coming out of a bewildering day, you helped bring me back to center. Truly grateful for your fellowship today and always.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence at Rampart Saturday to finish his VQ and honor his memory. Receiving of friends is 3-5 at South Harriman Baptist Church, Funeral at 6. Burial will be Sunday at 2 pm at Bookwalter Cemetery in Knoxville.

Tour de Project

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Imperial Squawkers
  • Grady Corn
  • Sumo Squats
  • Spiderman Merkins
  • TN Rocking Chair
  • Pickel Pounders
  • Pickle pointers
  • Burpees

THA-THANG:

  • String of pearls – do the work, plus one burpee
  • The Bell – 10 box jumps
  • The Old Bell – A burpee
  • K-25 hill – 20 merkins and run it
  • The Pond – 20 flutter kicks and run it
  • North Pole – A burpee
  • Amphitheater – 20 Derkins
  • Playground – 5 pull ups
  • Pool wall – 10 wall-ups
  • Parallel bars – 20 inverse rows, 20 BBS
  • Back Porch – 20 TN Rocking Chairs
  • Fountain – 20 Dips
  • Tennis courts – 3 suicides
  • ORHS – 10 sumo squats (each side) and run it

MARY:
Box cutters, Awkward turtles, Heels to heaven
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

There is a moment that every single person desires. That is the moment is when the people around them suddenly realize that  they are serious. The real deal. Legit.

It’s a common scene in movies. The loud mouthed, trash talker gets put in his place by the unassuming professional, the master in disguise.

But in truth, most of us struggle to even take ourselves seriously. Imposter syndrome is one common name for it, though this moniker is typically invoked to tell someone that they are ok. In F3 we know that this is all too often not the case, so we use the term Mascot. Someone seeking to appear as something they are not. This is counterpoint to a core idea: Esse Quam Videri. To be rather than to seem.

As we enter into the new year, I want this idea to beat at the heart of our lives. In everything we do, we should ask whether we are concerned with the Appearance or the Reality. Do I want to look fit or be fit? Do I want to look like I have my life together or do I want to actually have it together? Do I desire for others to see me as pious or to truly have a heart for God?

Most New Years resolutions are more about appearance. Looking busy. Instead we are going to focus on making small changes, difficult to perceive but powerful because they are sustainable, granting them the advantage of time. Because we don’t want to just look the part. We want to Be the Man.

MOLESKIN:
Praying for Boy George and his family. Best of luck.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence Saturday, sign up. MABA has started (We decided you got 18 from the Q). Look for 2 minutes to spend on your cor(e).

Humble Glory

THE SCENE: 20s with a perfect powder of snow across the landscape
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Tempo squats
  • Imperial walkers
  • Windmills
  • LBAC
  • Tempo merkins
  • Up dog down dog
  • Cherry pickers

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to parallel bars
    1. 5 burpees, 10 dips, 20 BBS x2
  • Mosey to pool wall
    1. 5 wall ups
  • Mosey to animal walk
    1. Each exercise is performed at a station, 5reps first lap, 10 reps second lap, etc
    2. Maximum number of laps for time
  • Exercises
    1. Burpees
    2. Squats
    3. Merkins
    4. BBS
    5. Carolina dry docks
    6. Cheerleaders
    7. LBCs
    8. Hand release merkins
    9. Lunges (both legs)
    10. Flutter kicks (4-ct)
    11. Diamond merkins
    12. Bobby hurleys
    13. Heels to heaven
    14. Wide merkins
    15. Speed skaters (both legs)
    16. Stagger merkins (both ways)
    17. Box cutters
    18. Bear crawl back to station 1

 

MARY:
no time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The other day YouTube showed me a video proclaiming a message about Humility and I found it a little troubling. The apparent message was that humility consists essentially in not talking trash and beating someone who does. This got me thinking. What that video was really focused on was modesty. To be modest, one seeks to understate or minimize one’s own advantages, virtues, or other positive traits. And while humble people are often modest, modest people are not necessarily humble. In fact, I think we commonly see social influencers who deliberately put on airs of false modesty because they know it plays better, despite the fact that their operation as a whole functions only because in truth they seek self glorification. The word for this is vanity. Although that word is now often used primarily to refer to one’s own interest in appearance, the fundamental meaning is that one seeks the approval of others, typically by emphasizing one’s own virtues. So now the opposites of vanity and modesty can be seen. But these are really about what one projects to the outside world. By contrast, humility, and it’s counterpoint pride, are concerned with the state of one’s heart. It does a man no good to quietly bear the taunts of vainglory if in his heart he consoles himself with prideful assurances of his own superiority. A modest man can still revel and desire the glory for himself, and it can even motivate his modesty. Humility is giving up the glory because you see that it is not your own, but rather acknowledging the One to whom all glory is due.

MOLESKIN:
Didn’t plan for the snow, but I think it worked out well. Everybody made two laps with change.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence January 7th. MABA starts January 1.

By the bit and bridle

THE SCENE: Double helping of gloom with drippy foggy 55.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • High Knees
  • Liver Twists
  • Failure to Launch
  • Down dog/up dog
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Tempo merkins

THA-THANG:

  • Divide into crews of three or two
  • Stations (50/20 x3, 30s transition)
    • Cardio
      • Jump ropes – Singles or doubles
      • CMU for Rocky Balboas
      • Slamball – Slam
    • Arms
      • 40 lb dumbbells for chest press
      • 25 lb kettlebell for halos
      • 35 lb dumbbell for tricep extensions
    • Legs
      • Weighted vest plus CMU for squats
      • CMU for Split squats
      • CMU(s) for toe merkins
    • Back
      • Sand Kettlebell/35 lb kettlebell for Swings
      • CMU for good mornings
      • CMU/35 lb Dumbbell for rows
  • Core Break 20 4-ct of each, in cadence, rotate through PAX
    • LBCs
    • Freddies
    • Box cutters
    • Awkward Turtles
    • American Hammers
  • Round two of stations
    • Cardio
      • Jump ropes – Tricks (backwards, criss cross, alternate feet, etc.)
      • CMU for Rocky Balboas
      • Slamball – High throw
    • Arms
      • 25 lb dumbbells for butterflies
      • 25 lb kettlebell for one arm OHP
      • CMU/35 lb dumbbell for curls
    • Legs
      • CMU for Bulgarian split squats
      • Weighted vest for sumo squats
      • CMU(s) for toe merkins
    • Back
      • Sand Kettlebell/35 lb kettlebell for standing dead lifts
      • CMU for man-makers
      • 15 lb Dumbbells for wings
  • RTF

MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Word – Psalm 32 – Bit and Bridle

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly

offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;

surely in the rush of great waters,

they shall not reach him.

7 You are a hiding place for me;

you preserve me from trouble;

you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

This psalm has hit me from several angles over the past weeks. The message is fairly direct, but I want to focus on verse 8-11, especially 9, because they carry a hard message. God will instruct you in the way you should go, whether you like it or not. Your choice is only whether to listen and trust in the Lord (like a human) or to be curbed with bit and bridle, i.e., pain and force (like an animal). The wicked, who choose the bit and bridle, have many sorrows from this instruction, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Another way to say it is “Do you want the stick or the carrot?” But this undersells the challenge, because it isn’t a one time choice, it’s an all-the-time choice. And choosing the listen and trust the Lord requires constant attentiveness. It taxes our resources, demands of us to have our eyes and ears open. We have to engage in the work. By contrast, the bit and bridle require minimal effort on our part. Just plod along and move away from the pain. You aren’t engaged in the work, simply a tool in the hands of the driver. Personally, I often find myself slowly drifting into the “bit and bridle” zone. Distraction, busy-ness, anxiety, and over-commitment lure me out of good habits and rhythms, leading to fatigue, dropped balls, and self-punishing guilt, which then cycle back into the loop. It doesn’t take long before I feel like a boxer just covering up in the corner praying for the bell to ring. That’s the trouble with the bit and bridle, it saps your strength and leaves you exhausted. Or you might say “[your] strength [is] dried up as by the heat of summer.” By contrast, while being attentive to listen and trust is demanding and requires self-discipline, it makes your efforts efficient because you are working in cooperation. This is because, as the psalmist says, “you preserve me from trouble”. If you will listen and trust, you will be guided out of trouble that you could never foresee. “Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach [you]”. So, knowing which path pays off in the long run, can you stick to it? As CS Lewis says, this is the true function of faith, to keep to the truth which our reason has once showed us in spite of our changing moods.
MOLESKIN:
I hope everybody tried something new today. I said I would give a prize to anyone who hit the roof with the slam ball, and darned if Tuba didn’t do it. Gonna have to figure that one out…
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PARADE SATURDAY. Meet at 4 to decorate, 5 to walk, step off at 6, done by 8. Check Slack channel #christmas-parades for details.
Sign up for Papa Lock’s Christmas shindig on the 22nd.