F3 Knoxville

Death Star Remix

THE SCENE: Brisk, but sharp and cold
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry Pickers IC x 15                                 LBAC IC x 15 (reverse)                                 Chinook IC x 15                                             Tempo squats IC x 15                                    SSH IC x 15

THA THANG:

  • Mosey to the backlot.
  • 8 cones spread out (a good running distance) apart
  • 1st cone: 30 Burpees, 2nd: 30 Carolina Dry Docks, 3rd: 30 BB sit-ups, 4th: 30-2 ct. Mountain Climbers, 5th: 30 LBCs, 6th: 30 SSH, 7th: 30 Merkins, 8th: 30 Squats
  • Run to the 9th come in middle, complete Circle of Pain (5 merkins, 4 diamond merkins, 3 wide arm merkins, 2 ranger merkins, 1 Superman merkin) = Death Star destroyed
  • Since there were 2 Death Stars, complete the exercise again.
  • Mosey back to AO

MARY:
Flutter Kicks IC x 20                                    11s – 10 hop-ups to 1 dip                                One lap around parking lot                      World War II sit-ups                                       Captain Thor’s IC 1:4                               Boat/Canoe

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬
Spoke about anxiety during the week with work issues and family issues and importance of trusting God with all of our fears and stresses.

Spiritually Strong

THE SCENE: Cloudy and cool, temps in low 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, Plank Stretches, Cherry Pickers, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot directly across the street from Northern Ball Fields parking lot.  We will break into four groups, one in each corner of the parking lot.  We will perform each exercise listed, first doing 20 of each exercise, then follow directions to go to next corner of the parking lot.  We will rinse and repeat after going around the parking lot once.  Here are the exercises for each corner:

  • Corner 1:  20 Star Jumps.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
  • Corner 2:  20 Diamond Merkins.  Bear Crawl to Corner 3.
  • Corner 3:  20 Plank Jumps.  Sprint to Corner 4.
  • Corner 4:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Lunge to Corner 1.

Mosey to Alleyway that goes to northeast corner of the Admin Bldg.

We will break into teams of two and do Doras.  One teammate does exercise while the other runs to end of parking lot, does ten merkins and runs back.  Each team will do 100 of each of the following exercises with bricks that will be placed by a curb along the alleyway.

  • Overhead presses
  • Curls
  • Rows (with bricks at sides)
  • Tricepts
  • Wings forward
  • Wings up
  • Wings down
  • Wings in

Mosey to roadway in front of admin bldg.  Cones will be set up for suicide runs. We will do suicides to each of five cones laid out ahead.  Afterwards do Baby Crunches until all men finish.  Do suicides again but this time do 15 Squats after returning to start from each cone.  Get bricks that were set up for Doras.

Mosey back to AO to drop off bricks. 

Mosey to Playground.  We will do five sets of Bench Jumps with 20 second rests in between.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Hello Dollies, 20 American Hammers, 20 Pickle Pounders, ATM’s.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Fourteen men with one FNG, his hospital name is Roman Marshall and his F3 name is “Fozzie.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Psalm 46: 1.  God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in time of need.

Our F3 workouts increase our physical strength and stamina.  But in F3 we also focus on spiritual strength.  In fact, it is the Fellowship and Faith parts of F3 that give credence to the importance of increasing our spiritual strength.

Looking into the subject of “spiritual strength” I found some good advice in an article from a website called PowerofPositivity.com.  It listed seven exercises for spiritual strength.  I am listing these below, making my own comments about them, and adding one more exercise at the end of the list.

1.  Spend more time with loving/encouraging family and friends.  I agree that being with family and friends is  important but I also want to put emphasis on the word “encouraging.”  We need to surround ourselves with those who encourage us.  We get enough pessimism from watching the news and listening to people complain, gossip or argue.  We need to get near the type of people who are going to push us forwards, not backwards.  One of the things I love about F3 is being surrounded by men who encourage me to get better.

2.  Go outside as much as possible.  I like this one.  What do we do in F3?   We get outside to workout, whether rain or shine, no matter what the temperature is.  There is something about being outdoors that makes us healthier.  We connect to nature, to God’s creation.  We are in His space, free yet a part of Him.

3.  Reduce distractions (TV, Radio, Internet, Newspaper).  I agree that we tend to spend too much time absorbed with media.  In my church, on youth group trips such as church camps, we have required that students give us their cell phones for the time spent on the trip.  They get them back on the bus ride back home.  We ourselves only use our cell phones for emergency purposes on these trips.  We have found the students (and us adults) are less distracted, more connected to one another and God, and happier when we implement this policy.  We are more free to think about truly important things and to use our minds to imagine and create.

4.  Observe your thoughts about the people around you.  The website article talked about putting away judgemental thoughts and trying to have positive thoughts about others you know or encounter.  Focusing on gossip and judgement does not serve others.  I would rename this 4th exercise “praying for the people around you”.  It is amazing what happens if you start praying about your coworkers, your neighbors, even strangers you happen to meet.  You don’t have to tell them your praying.  Just do it.  You will find yourself having a better connection to those you pray for and even find your prayers coming true.

5.  Step out in faith.  This means getting bold in your faith, being willing to take on challenges and even threats from others in your faith.  You may get sneered at or criticized but push on in the face of adversity.  The website arrticle has some words that I think are powerful in regards to this exercise:  “There may be forces that have an investment in keeping you from receiving your best life, but when you decide to stand up or speak out, knowing that your faith is bigger than your fear, the illusion of fear that’s trying to hold you down will diminish and eventually disappear.”  The other words from the website I want to quote are “Know that the Divine has got your back.”

6.  Be of service to others.  Is a true HIM one that is focused on serving himself.  No, a true HIM is focused on serving others.  Do we grow spiritually strong by focusing on ourselves?  No.  We grow spiritually strong by serving others.

7.  Make prayer/meditation a habit.  Our awesome PAX leader, Cap’n Crunch, talks about making the HC, the Hard Commit to show up in the gloom for workouts in order to make ourselves better as men.  In the same way, to be spiritually strong, to get truly closer to God, to the Higher Power, to the Divine, we need to make the Hard Commit to pray.  It is through this commitment to communicate with God that we make it a habit.  And it is though this habit, this connection to God each day and at least several times a day, that we grow in spiritual strength.  And when you do it, don’t only listen to what you have to say to God. . . listen to what God has to say to you.

8.  Be grateful.  This is not an exercise that was listed in the website article but one that I have added.  We need to recognize, to truly see, and be grateful for what God has given us.  The people that I know who are spiritually strong have this strength of being grateful.  That gratefulness can get people through some mighty tough times.  Gratefulness keeps us positive, gives us hope, helps us focus on the road ahead, and leads us to glorify God.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Olympics next Saturday at Asylum.  Register online or get to Asylum at 6:30 am to register.  November 17 is launch for Cleveland, TN AO.  Let Abscess know if you can go with us to the launch.

Using God’s Perfect Word to Break Free

THE SCENE:  49 degrees, raining, and just plain nasty – A perfect training environment.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  This was indeed a voluntary, unprofessional workout delivered to 6 HIMs who knew their weaknesses and were ready to work while most of the universe was resting in their fart-sack.

WARM-O-RAMA: 

  1. Slow Windmill (IC) x 15
  2. Plank Knee Touches  x 20
  3. Fire Hydrants x 20 each leg
  4. Moroccan Night Clubs (IC) (JUCO Tradition) x 20
  5. This/That Senior Citizen Stretch

 THA-THANG: 

Mosey to Large, inviting Parking Lot.

X 15  100 yd Sprints with partner-applied resistance bands, rotating partners at 50 yds for total of 1500 yds (Bible was written over a span of 1500 years and remains one seamless story).

Exercises at each 100 yd mark:

SPRINT 1 – X 22  Core Mountain Climbers (# of letters in Hebrew Alphabet, Christ quoted from Psalm 22 while in agony on the cross)

SPRINT 2 – X 40 Sumo Squats (Biblical number symbolizing completion, usually of some trial or hardship)

SPRINT 3 – X 12 Monkey Squats (Tribes of Israel, Apostles)

SPRINT 4 – X 33 Plank Jacks (estimated age of Christ at time of Crucifixion)

SPRINT 5 – X 66 Merkins (# of Books in the Bible)

SPRINT 6 – X 10 4×4’s (One for each Commandment)

SPRINT 7 – X 400 (200 each band partner) Flutterkicks (How long Israel was in bondage in Egypt)

SPRINT 8 – X 144 Jump Squats (72 each band partner) (New Jerusalem wall thickness will be 144 cubits thick)

SPRINT 9 – X 40 Hello Dollies (20 each band partner) (40 authors of the Bible, led by God)

SPRINT 10 – X 7 Handclap Merkins (Number mentioned almost 500 times in the Bible)

SPRINT 11 – X 365 American Hammers (182/183 partners) (Number of times in His word the Lord tells us to not be afraid, one for each day of the year – Amazing!)

(OUT OF TIME)

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

God’s Word is absolutely perfect.  It was written by 40 different authors, on 3 different continents, over a span of 1500 years, and is one, seamless, flawless story – all pointing to Christ.  That is pretty amazing.  Although God demands perfection, we have fallen short and many of us suffer from the paralyzing guilt of past sin in our lives that plays like a movie in our heads.  Sometimes, like the resistance bands we used during the workout, guilt can hold us back from doing God’s work – feelings of inadequacy, unloved, unforgiven.  Brothers, know that God LOVES you and I so much that he sent his only son, the perfect sacrafice, to suffer the penalty due us.  To deny that is to deny the sufficiency of the cross.  You have been forgiven. He has covered your sin! Ditch the guilt, and break free! The objective for all of us is to become more like Him.  The only way to do that is to get to know Him better through reading the Bible.  Meditate on it, practice it, teach it to your children.

MOLESKIN:
The QIC was an absolute clown-show today – messing up a cadence, forgetting the photo at the end.  Please forgive his incompetence and know that he will get better. He is placing himself on Q-probation until improvement takes place.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 KX Anniversay Events – Sign up!

Rise & Grind: CMU Version

THE SCENE: Frickin’ gorgeous, clear fall morning
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
We did some brief OYO stretching and then lined up on the base line for a series of lunges, butt-kicks, and high knees.
THA-THANG:
I instructed the PAX to visit our stack of friendly CMUs. We carried the CMUs on a one mile run, stopping along the way at 8 evenly dispersed cones an exercise written on the cone. Exercises consisted of the following:

  • 4 ct. Flutter Kicks (w/ CMU) x 20 IC
  • 4 ct. Hello Dolly (w/ CMU) x 20 IC
  • Narrow Squat x 30 IC
  • Carolina Dry Docks x 30 IC
  • Reverse Lunges x 30 each leg OYO
  • Star Jacks x 30 OYO
  • Smurf Jacks x 30 IC
  • Blockees x 5 IC

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“No time like the present.” The PAX and I discussed the importance of living in the present and making the most of every day. We aren’t promised tomorrow and we don’t know what the future holds, so we need to do everything in our power to live to our fullest extent in ways we can control.
MOLESKIN:
Welcome FNG “Block-Buster”. I’m glad you made it, even though you tried to kill me.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Anniversary is coming up fast; make sure to sign up accordingly!

Trials and Wall Sits – One and the Same

THE SCENE: Extra gloomy – 40 degrees with dense fog

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH IC x 25
  • Tempo Squats IC x 10
  • Cherry Pickers IC x 10
  • Baby Arm Circles IC (forward & reverse) x 13
  • Merkins IC x 10

THA-THANG:

Mosey to the pavalon for a little bench work. Grab a battle buddy – one partner does wall sits while the other does the following 2 exercises on the bench:

  • Bench Rows (12 reps)
  • Tricep Dips (12 reps)

When the partner on the bench finishes his reps of both exercises, switch (partner 1 does the bench exercises and partner 2 does wall sits). Total of 5 sets each. After that, same thing but switch up the exercises on the bench:

  • Derkins (10 reps)
  • Box Jumps (10 reps)

Total of 5 sets each. Once completed, one more round with Bulgarian Squats – 10 reps each leg and 5 sets total again.

Mosey over to the parking lot next to the playground for a set of 11’s – Merkins at one end and Jump Squats at the other end.

MARY:

Just enough time for 20 Flutter Kicks IC, 12 Supermans IC, a little plank work, and Cap’n Crunch finishing it off with some ATM’s

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
22 strong – no FNG’s

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

James 1: 2 – 4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”