F3 Knoxville

Author: Mathlete

The Project IPC22 Week 0

THE SCENE: 70ish and a touch muggy. A pleasant dew on the grass.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH
  • Tempo Squats
  • Tempo Merkins

THA-THANG:
Iron Pax Challenge 2022:
2022 IronPAX Challenge Week 0
Simple but effective.

  • 20 thrusters, 20 merkins – repeat 5 times
  • Bear crawl 100 ft, (3 burpees/5 broad jumps) all the way back – repeat 3 times
  • 20 thrusters, 20 merkins – repeat 5 times

MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

IPC is fun but it comes with risks. One is the temptation to compare ourselves critically against our peers.

Modern psychology likes to talk about two paradigms of “growth” and “fixed” mindset. A fixed mindset is associated with the idea that my abilities are inherent and fixed. A growth mindset is associated with ability development.

A fixed mindset is promoted when we focus on how we compare with our peers.
A growth mindset is promoted when we focus on how we have changed over time.

It isn’t helpful to compare ourselves against peers because it leaves many more things outside our control. The other may be in a period of major growth or worse, we might trick ourselves into self-satisfaction because the man next to us in struggling.

It is better to compare ourselves against a standard and evaluate our growth over time. In fitness, challenges like IPC can be a great benchmark, or perhaps better yet are the benchmark fitness tests we have been repeating across time.
In our person and character, the best standard for comparison is Jesus. He is constant and everlasting, every aspect of his person is admirable and worthy of imitation, and our eyes will always be pointed up at the higher goal.
MOLESKIN:
Great beginning to the IPC season. Definitely need to start earlier for the next four rounds. There were 200 merkins plus your burpees (36 for me) if you are tracking the challenge.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Asylum flag handoff Friday, Family workout Saturday with OCHO on Q! 9/11 memorial stair climb next Saturday, F3 Knoxville picnic Next Sunday, details on Slack.

Heavy Pyramid Scheme

THE SCENE: Low 70s, but feeling cooler. Still gloomy as all get out.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • High knees
  • Projectivators
  • Tempo squats
  • LBACs
  • Michael Felps
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Newton’s cradle

THA-THANG:

  • Pool Wall – 10 Wallpees
  • Play ground – 10 pull ups
  • Mosey to recruiting center, Grab a block, two if available
  • 10 of each exercise, move two parking spots between each, return to start and repeat with 20, then 30 reps.
  • 1 minute plank
  • Lunging no cmu
    • Squats
    • Merkins
    • LBCs
  • 1 minute plank
  • Cusack with one cmu
    • Heavy squats
    • Curls
    • OHP
  • 1 minute plank
  • Farmer carry two cmus
    • Stacked squats
    • Elevated, deep Merkins
    • Double bent over rows
  • RTF

MARY:
One more minute of plank.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

On Tuesday, Skewer was playing music from Mega Man, and it reminded me of a cool story that I wanted to share. The first Mega Man game was released in 1987 and was universally considered a failure. It sold poorly, it reviewed with mild enthusiasm, and if you have ever played it, you know that this was because it was just not that good. Interesting elements, but nothing came together, generally poorly executed. Consequently, Capcom had not planned to make a sequel, but the director convinced the company to allow them to make the game as long as it didn’t interfere with their other work, i.e. on their own time. So a small team of passionate creators went to work, and one year later released Mega Man 2, which remains the highest selling game in the franchise. This quote sums it up: “So we, of our own accord, got together, spent our own time, we worked really, really hard, you know, just 20-hour days to complete this, because we were making something we wanted to make. Probably in all my years of actually being in a video game company, that was the best time of my working at Capcom, because we were actually working toward a goal, we were laying it all on the line, we were doing what we wanted to do. And it really showed in the game, because it’s a game, once again, that we put all our time and effort and love, so to speak, into it, designing it.”

To me, this is a great story that expresses the power of a small group of people working with passion and commitment on a project. The idea that you need a massive organization with massive funding to accomplish great things seems to be deeply engrained in our cultural psyche, in spite of the niche creator culture that thrives online. So I think it is a good reminder of the power that a Team can possess, unified in purpose, with members freed to lead in their areas of expertise. Big organizations with design teams and bureaucracy can only produce the milk-toast junk that occupies 95% of the modern market, relying on people’s addiction to novelty just to break even.

Real success, resulting from innovation, comes out of a Team. And as Mr. Inafune points out above, it’s the best environment to work in.

MOLESKIN:
Awesome to see Snaggletooth out again, even if he had to jet early.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Family workout Sept. 3rd. Flag handoff Aug 23rd. Iron Pax Challenge in September – Get Ready.

Crit Fishin’ – Give thought to your steps

THE SCENE: Stormy, low 70’s, fantastic lightning show with a drizzle
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators
  • Windmills
  • Hairy Rockettes
  • Tempo squats
  • Fence Steppers
  • Tempo merkins
  • Newton’s cradle

THA-THANG:
Went out back of the Senior Center for shelter from the lightning and got straight to work. Two teams, each with 12d20 and 5 cards of work.

Rules

  • Flip a card and complete it by performing the listed exercises. Each time a player completes a set, run a die to the cup. A card is complete when:
    • Every exercise has been performed
    • Every player has performed at least one set
    • All the dice are in the cup
  • Once the card is complete, grab the cup and roll all the dice into the box
    • For each 1, all players do five burpees
    • For each 20, bag the die – it is no longer required to complete a card.
    • Flip a new card and complete it as above.
  • A team wins when all their dice are bagged
  • When you finish all cards, go through them again, bottom to top with half the reps.

Every 4 minutes, when the horn sounds, stop what you are doing and hold a plank for 77 seconds.

Cards:

  • Heavy Squats (30)
  • OHP (25)
  • Good Mornings (25)
  • Lunges (10/side)
  • Curls (30)

 

  • Burpee Jumpovers (6)
  • One arm Rows (10/side)
  • Heavy Freddies (30 4-ct)
  • OHP (25)
  • Kettlebell Swings (25)

 

  • Crossover Merkins (8/side)
  • Blockees (6)
  • Kettlebell Swings (25)
  • Tricep Extensions (30)
  • Heavy LBCs (30)

 

  • Blockees (6)
  • OHP (25)
  • Curls (30)
  • Lunges (10/side)
  • Kettlebell swings (25)

 

  • Derkins (20)
  • Two arm rows (30)
  • OHP (25)
  • Kettle swings (25)
  • Good mornings (25)

MARY:
No time.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Proverbs 14:15 – The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.

This verse has been speaking to me all week, and I think it has a pointed message for our time and place. Is it safe to say that we all struggle to regulate our intake of information? Worse yet, how do we process that information and integrate it into the way we understand the world? The first part of this verse points to a problem we all face. Being simple, we simply believe things we hear or read or see. Now, it’s obviously impossible to challenge every single bit of information we take in, but we know that sources like media and hearsay demand our scrutiny. This faculty, however, is fatiguing, and when we fail to limit our intake, eventually we will fall into undiscerning consumption. I think the second part of this verse offers us a powerful tool to help in this predicament.

If you are prudent, where is your attention directed? To your steps. One of the toughest things to deal with is the expectation we feel placed upon us to have a rock solid position on seriously tough moral questions. For example, today, individuals are expected to take a side on the legal nuances of abortion and gun control, the scientific validity of potential anthropogenic effects on the earth’s temperature, and the morality and wisdom of foreign interventions by our nation. Any one of these topics could occupy a person’s attention for a lifetime without reaching a clear and decisive position, but we feel a social pressure to take a hard line based on the random assortment of personal opinions and online articles that we happen to have encountered. This is a trap, and our proverb gives us a better approach. Don’t give your attention to solving the divine mystery, instead focus on the places where your actual or figurative feet have to step. Take that wad of information and ask some simple questions. “How would this affect what I do? How does that action align with my integrated world view?”

In my experience, this simplifies many problems. I don’t need to understand climate science to see that it is better to be a careful steward of the resources under my control. I don’t need to be a doctor to know that I need to practice sexual integrity and care for the vulnerable around me. I don’t need to be a lawyer to know that handling firearms must be done with a serious mind for the risks. Now, from time to time, each of us may encounter a moment when a particular topic becomes more real, and a hard decision will need to be made. But solving a real problem with real people is a much different process than the esoteric hypothesizing that is required to try and solve the problem in advance. With prayer and discernment, you can do your best to make the decision and then lean on God’s grace to make up the difference. Unlike the hypothetical, it has a beginning and an end. By reducing the problem to the real, often people who may disagree about the hypothetical find themselves aligned on many points.
MOLESKIN:
I think we made it through 6 or 7 cards, to have a reasonable chance of getting all 12 dice, you probably need to complete 50…

Have to try this one again when we can run laps instead of planking.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Aug. 6 family workout @ 8am, also work day at cerebral palsy center in knoxville. Pool party at Borg’s to follow family workout. Equalizer is doing a family workout July 30th.

A square sixer

THE SCENE: Nice for June. Low 70s and not too muggy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators (from 6)
  • Tempo squats
  • Hairy Rockettes
  • Moroccan night clubs
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Mountain climbers

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to pool wall
  • 6 wall-ups, 6 Bobby Hurleys x3
  • Mosey to Recruiting Center
  • Circuit Work – 6 each
    • Tire Flips
    • Black Betty’s
    • Ball slam
    • Double unders
    • Thrusters
    • Burpee jump overs
  • Farmer carry a block to the theater steps
  • 6 reps, run the stairs, stack another til we do em all.
    • Curls
    • OHP
    • Rows
    • Tris
    • Good mornings
    • Squats
  • Farmer Carry to RC
  • Repeat the circuit
  • Mosey back to pool wall
  • 6 wall-ups, 6 Bobby Hurleys x3

Ring of Fire up to 6 and back down

MARY:
1 LBC OYO
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I have been married for 13 years, and after all that time, I am still struggling to learn to pray with my wife. This problem has several parts.

In the current moment of this age, the culture has a lot to say about how men should treat women as equals, peers. Mix into that some vague sense of chivalry and romanticism, and I found it easy during courtship to employ more of a friends with benefits model that faded into a more serious relationship, rather than a stronger assertion of myself as the one courting and she being courted.

The next factor is related to our family position. My wife is the oldest of six, while I am third of four with a sister as the oldest, and she was a year ahead of me in school until she took a co-op. So, there was a natural way that we fell into a familiar model for both of us. We were peers, by culture, and by habit, it was my tendency to defer to her and it was not her habit to submit to me.

Finally, there was our starting point. When we were first married, I was immature in my faith, above average in head knowledge but severely lacking in practice, having largely drifted away during my college years, while my wife had regularly participated with a church in Cookeville. During the 12 weeks leading up to my marriage during officer candidate school, I had come to realize, through adversity, my need for the support of my heavenly Father, but I had a lot of inertia to overcome. My wife played a key role in getting me back to church and involved with a church community, giving me those first few ounces of momentum that I am still building on today.

So, in my head, the idea that I would lead her, be an authority over her, especially in the area of faith, just wasn’t really even present outside of this purely intellectual version that I had picked up from things other than my experience.

But, as time marched on, and I grew in the practice of my faith, it became increasingly clear how our current model was failing. For a family to function well, to pull together, it needs a leader, not a parental council. And for all my wife’s virtues and talents, and she has many, she isn’t the one for the job. It has never been in her nature. I have spent a lot of time trying to skirt this problem, to share the responsibility and thus preserve our peer model. The results have been exhausting for us both. Even though in other aspects of my life, I have seen success as a leader, and I haven’t shied from the responsibility, in this most important area, I struggle. The admixture of cultural guilt, love and respect for my wife, and fear of conflict and failure has frequently held my tongue when I should have spoken or stayed my hand when I should have acted.

For a few years now, I have been aware that the absence of prayer in my married life is a problem. But for the first 12 years of my marriage, we didn’t pray together, so starting proved to be very challenging. It demands both of us to give our undivided attention. It feels unfamiliar and awkward. Neither of us has a reference to start from, an idea of what it should sound like or how long it should take. It is always easier not to do it, to go do the familiar and necessary things like cooking or dishes or whatever. And I had tried before to get us started with a grand plan that fell apart after two days.

But with a few nudges from this group and a dramatic shift in expectations from me, I think we are finally getting a little momentum, and it already feels like a game changer. The mood of the whole house is shifting in ways that I never would have expected or even thought possible. This single act of leadership, just between her and me, is already putting out shoots all over the place. So, I want to encourage you. Don’t underestimate the power and influence of one little habit, especially when you are dealing with prayer. And on the flip side, don’t be discouraged when it takes you time to figure it out, when you try and fail. Remember that God knows the right time and place, and he will open the door at just that moment. But if you don’t stand there, knocking, asking, seeking, the opportunity he gives you will pass you by.
MOLESKIN:
Kickflip solved the puzzle – my 36th birthday, so sixy.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence in two days, Family workout next weekend (biohack Q), ShieldLock campout Friday after that, Dad Camp August 15thish

Working it through with friends

THE SCENE: Stunningly Beautiful Saturday morning. Cannot think of any way to make it better.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH
  • Windmills
  • Squats
  • Merkins
  • Mountain climbers
  • Burpees

THA-THANG:

  • Short form Dora
    • 20 merkins at the parallel bars
    • 30 squats at the pool wall
    • 40 LBCs at the picnic tables
  • Playground
    • Climb and slide
    • Creep and crawl
    • Repeat
  • Amphitheater hill
    • Bear crawl up the hill
    • Bunny hop up the hill
    • Frog hop up the hill
  • Joke Circle
  • Follow the leader at the fountain
  • Playground repeat
  • Mosey to Friendship Bell
    • Everybody ring it.

 

MARY:
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
In addition to our PAX, we had Buttercup, Juggernaut, Peregrine Falcon, Golden Eagle, Backpack Leafblower, T-Rex, and Kitty-cat
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Have you ever known someone, or maybe had a friend, that got you into trouble? Not because they told on you, but because they have ideas to do things that get you in trouble. Or maybe a friend who is mean to other people for fun? Someone you would think of as a bully?

It’s important to choose the people you spend time with carefully. We tend to become like the people we are around. Even though you may not do the mean things your friend does at first, that can’t last. Some day, unless they stop doing mean things, either you will have to stop being their friend, or you will find yourself doing the same mean things. Jesus gives a really good way to try to work through this. I’m using Matthew Chapter 18 v 15-17 as the model.

If someone is being mean or hurtful, first tell them just between the two of you. Then, if they realize what they did was wrong, then you have helped your friend and made your friendship stronger.

But if they won’t listen to you, ask other friends who saw it, and together talk to your friend about it, so your friend will know that other people agree that what they did was wrong.

If your friend still won’t listen, talk to your parents or another adult you can trust about what your friend is doing so they can help you.

But if they still won’t listen, then you should probably stop being their friend until they change. However, remember that you need to be kind to them still, even though they aren’t your friend any more. If you become mean to them, then the whole point is lost.

MOLESKIN:
Always a pleasure to have Men from Juco come out!
ANNOUNCEMENTS: