F3 Knoxville

College Graduation 2 – The Pukeless Sequel

THE SCENE: Mid 40’s, light/limited rain
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

In honor of my nearly four year anniversary, I decided to take on the second bootcamp I attended, which had me puking my brains out at during the BOM. I wanted to see where I stood in You vs. You fashion. Trolley’s words and workout are cut and pasted below:

WARM-O-RAMA:

  •  SSH x 20 (4 -count)
  • Cherry Pickers x 5 (4 -count)
  • Merkins x 10 (4 -count)
  • Squats x 10 (4 -count)

THA-THANG:

  • At the CMU (aka Freshman) wall,  harken back to when you were a freshman.  Just doing a pushup or finding a class was a challenge.  So for freshman we keep it simple.

    25 Merkins and run around wall.

    Recollect that when certain people would for the first time, spend a full year at the dorms, eating potatoes and carbs for three meals a day, their thighs ended up being a bit large..  So we did a larger (from bottom to top) hill and

    50 Squats + Sophomore Hill

    Then, as a junior you were more refined, you were getting the hang of classes, and getting through the “CORE” classes as well as some of your major classes.. so:

    Run the Junior Hill Stairs and do 75 (four count) Freddy Mercuries

    Then, in preparation for the real world your major courses were kicking your tail, it was and is a long grind, you did what you had to, to reach the graduation finish line.. so

    Run the Senior Stadium hill and follow it up with 100 Burpees.   Break-em up into sets of 15, then 10, and find a battle buddy to do whatever you can to graduate.

MARY:
In the spirit a of leave no man behind, we helped the 6 push through the last 25 burpees and made sure that everyone graduated. We still had some time so we did Imperial Walkers x 20 (4 count) and Tempo Squats x 10 (4 Count)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Just shy of 4 years ago (29 March 2019), I attended my first boot camp after seeing Erector’s post about The Project. Having not seriously worked out in nearly 10 years, Booster’s birthday Q was tough but manageable and had me wanting to come back for more after taking a week’s rest. My second boot camp was led by Trolley and he absolutely murdered me with the above. I remember thinking when he said that we were to do 100 burpees that my goal was to get to 30. I ended up getting to 60 and feeling so proud of myself. Back then, on that day at least, modify as necessary was not a thing. Trolley went down the line confirming each HIM reached his 100. I announced my 60 and he told me to keep going and had everyone else go too. I made it to 80 before we headed back to the flag, feeling spent but prouder still. For the Mary, Trolley asked me what number I got to…so it was more burpees for all. I know we were well past 6:15 but 5K, BOOSTER, ERECTOR, GUANO, KENJO, ROCKET, SNAGGLETOOTH, SPOTTER, TROLLEY, and WAXJOB racked up 100+ burpees to bring me up as the 6. I have no idea what Trolley said because my head was spinning and when he called us in to prayer, I stumbled over to the median and merlot’d the water in my belly. I am pretty sure everyone was thinking, “Well, he’s not coming back!”

Today was a different story. Four years later, I knocked out 100 burpees at the Stadium and another 21 bringing up the 6 and we still had time to do two Mary’s. We have seen a lot of HIMs come and go, including Trolley, but the men of F3, their talent, their character, their effort to be better continues to encourage me and it is the point I emphasize when I share what we do with sad clowns. You gentlemen make this quote easy to live out – “Every man I meet is my superior in some way, in that I learn from him.”

Today, I graduated college!

Piston’s Derriere Destroyer

THE SCENE: 45 degrees and drizzling rain (about to rain hard). Wonderful day to start with a gloom sess.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
10x of the following:  SSH; Tempo Merkins; Tempo Squats; WMH; Chattanooga Pickers; Moroccan Night Clubs; Knoxville Pickers; finish with Undertakers.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to pavilion.

  • 1 burpee; 2 “Nancy Kerrigan” (Crossover back lunge – think skating); 3 Pickle Pointers
  • 2 burpees; 4 “NK”; 6 PP
  • 3 burpees; 8 “NK”; 12 PP

Continue this model until round 5 modify to 20 NK and 50 PP each round while continuing to add burpees.

At round 9, hold a glute bridge for 3-4 minutes, if you don’t break, you can skip round 10 of burpees.

Continue until round 12 of burpees.  For rounds 11 and 12, change PP to Fire Hydrants (25 per side).

MARY:
Hold Al Gore for 1 minute.  30 second glute stretch each side; 30 second adductor stretch each side; 30 second forward stretch for hamstrings.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

14 HIMs in the gloom today.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Leadership many times means having to think on the fly and be able to articulate things off the top of your head.  Abraham Lincoln was one of the best at extemporaneous speaking.  But Lincoln’s secret was that he actually practiced speaking extemporaneously – whether verbal or non-verbal in his preparation.

And while there may be times when we are completely taken off guard by something, as leaders we need to be ready to lead – with verbal and non-verbal leadership.  So care must be given in our preparation even if we never have the opportunity to demonstrate our preparedness.

1 Peter 3:15 states, “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”

Working through scenarios of preparedness is something we should do in several areas of life, whether for work, home, F3, and our Christian walk.  Be ready to lead.

MOLESKIN:
Praises for new babies; prayers for Ride Along (sick) and Binks (House Hunting).
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Binks to update Slack about 2nd F opportunity for rock climbing gym in Knoxville, discussed Ruck prep, and discussed purchase of AED during coffee.  Reviewed who was on Q over the next couple of glooms.

Sunk!

THE SCENE:   Mid 40s and drizzly.  Perfect for a beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

RFTS/LIH

KCP

Grady corns

Projectivator

Tempo Merkins

Down/Up dog

Mosey to the back lot

THA THANG:

Separate into two teams.  Each team has half the parking lot and cones grouped into one group of 2, one group of 3, one group of 4, and one group of 5.  At “go” PAX grab a tennis ball, run to touch the far curb, then run to one of seven battle stations.  Perform the exercise at that station, then throw the ball at the enemy’s ships.  Work at each battle station before you repeat one.  Continue until one team’s ships are sunk.

Exercises were;

  • 25 Merkins
  • Lunges 10 each leg
  • 20 star jacks
  • 25 Mountain Climbers
  • 25 hello dolly
  • 20 flutter kicks
  • 15 carolina dry docks

Team 2 won the battle!

 

Rehabilitate your fleet (set the cones back up – this time a little further away).  Play another round.  Flip the cards over for new exercises – these were;

  • 20 diamond merkins
  • 15 Bobby Hurleys
  • 20 shoulder taps
  • 15 smurf jacks
  • 25 plank jacks
  • 15 BBS
  • 10 box cutters

Team 1 won this time!

 

Line up at one end of the parking lot.  10 parking lot lines.  Bear crawl 1 line, do 10 merkins mosey back.  Bear crawl 2 lines, 9 merkins, mosey back.  Repeat until 10 lines, 1 merkin.

 

PAX huddle for exercises led by YHC.  2 men at a time take turns hurling the 60# sandbag toward the shovelflag.  After 10 throws each, PAX rally on the bag and start again with a different 2 men throwing the bag.  Repeat until we reach the shovelflag.

 

MARY:

Just in time for a massive Guantanamo and 1 minute of plank.

 

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 12 of the best men I know.

 

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
On Monday, Anchorman talked about a line from the Lord’s Prayer that jumped out at him, “Your kingdom come…”.  I followed his lead and also talked about a line from the Lord’s Prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, a but deliver us from the evil one.”

After He finishes teaching this prayer, the very next thing that Jesus says to his disciples – as if this is the point that He needs to hammer home – “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Our forgiveness for the people who have done us wrong is critical to our relationship to the Heavenly Father and a prerequisite to our forgiveness.  What’s more…if you harbor unforgiveness for a wrong done to you long ago – or a perceived wrong – who do you hurt most?  You are harming yourself.  Unforgiveness is poison in your heart.

In the original Greek, the word rendered “forgive” in this text is aphiemi.  It does not mean to sweep it under the rug or pretend like you were not hurt.  In the Greek, aphiemi can literally mean, “to hurl”.  Like we did to the sandbag this morning.  Hurl away the offense, and in doing so heave that poisonous resentment as far from your heart as you can.  Aphiemi – hurl it!  That is how our Father forgives our trespasses – and it’s how we are to forgive those who trespass against us.

Here’s the hardest thing you’ll do yet today.  Search your heart for forgiveness that you’ve been withholding and that resentment is staining your soul.  Now…HURL IT AWAY!

 

MOLESKIN:

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. – Francis of Assisi

Nice to meet “Fire” and “8 Seconds” today!

T-Claps to the men who cleaned up our battlefield for me this morning!

Dirty Kraken McDeuce for a Dirty Dozen

THE SCENE: A frosty 29 with a westerly wind at 2mph can only mean one thing: HAPPY SPRING EVERYBODY!

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Check!

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivator – Counting down from 1? (just…ok?!)
  • THE (Knoxville) Cherry Picker x5 (Much noise was made. Missing 3-Peat right about now!)
  • Willy Mays Hayes x6
  • Tempo Merks x10
  • Tempo Squats x10
  • Tennessee Rocking Chair x10
  • Shoulder Burn
    • FLBAC x12
    • RLBAC x12
    • Grady Corn x12
    • Chattanooga Cherry Pickers x12
  • SSH x15

Mosey to the Tennis Courts.

THA-THANG:

Agility Drill – Run the boundary lines of the 3 tennis courts – sprint/karaoke on one side, burnie/karaoke on the other. Split into 4 teams.

Team Sprints – Each team has a sprinter, man in plank, man doing squats, and a man doing flutters. Sprinter is to run, touch the fence, do 1 burpee, and sprint back. The plank man sprints, squat man planks, flutter man squats, and sprinter moves to the back and starts flutters. Winning Team – 3 burpees. Losing Team – 5 burpees.

Dirty McDuece – 4 circuits of 3 exercises done to 12 4-count reps (or 24 reps). Each set has one chest exercise, one leg exercise and one core exercise. Lap around the tennis courts after each station.

Station 1 – HR Merkin, Lunges, Undertakers

Station 2 – Diamond Merkins, Bonnie Blairs, Hello Dollies

Station 3 – Merkins, Apollo Onos, Heels to Heaven

Station 4 – Wide Merkins, Monkey Humper, Box Cutters

Rinse and repeat.

RTB for Mary.

MARY:
LBCs – x15
Side Crunches – x10 each side

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

There have been 3 significant leadership roles in the last few years that YHC has had to hand off. A 15 year youth ministry, 2 years as a pastor, and a year as AOQ. YHC has discovered in that time that there is a natural leadership arc. There is a beginning or “honeymoon phase”. This phase is really exciting, you get to be the star or the new hero. You get to carry the hopes for the future for the people you are leading. Then comes the end of the honeymoon phase. Suddenly, you’re no longer special. You get a sense of the dirty laundry and they get to smell yours. This develops into a place of deeper connection and cooperation. Finally, there’s the period of time when the end is in sight or or the “lame duck” phase. This is when someone else’s leadership matters more than yours. Suddenly, you don’t pull the amount of weight you once did.

These phases are also true in many aspects of life; fathers who release their young into adulthood experience a change in the role the play, work related relationships leading all the way to retirement, the phases of life from being a young man to earning your double or triple “respect”.

In his book, The Second Mountain, David Brooks tells us…

“The first mountain is about building up the ego and defining the self, the second mountain is about shedding the ego and losing the self. If the first mountain is about acquisition, the second mountain is about contribution. If the first mountain is elitist–moving up–the second mountain is egalitarian–planting yourself amid those in need, and walking arm in arm with them.”

I read a great analogy for this: the racecar driver (RCD) vs the right-front-tire guy (RFTG). When you’re the RCD, you get all the glory. It’s all about you. You’re the star of the show and it’s a glorious rush. For the RFTG on the other hand, it’s all about OTHERS. He’s willing to take the position that supports others.

The RFTG actually has a lot more influence than you think. He can use his encouragement and skill to build up and create MORE leaders while the RCD is busy DOING everything he can to stay on the road. The fact is, when you consider how often we get to be the RCD and how short lived the “honey moon” phase is, we’re very rarely in the driver’s seat. We are more often than not the RFTG.

Moses handed off leadership to Joshua. He saw into the Promise Land but pushed Joshua forward. Paul was imprisoned and saw his ministry and life dwindling. He got in the coaching seat and pushed Timothy forward. Jesus’ tone began to change with the disciples in the Gospels.

John 14:12 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Jesus gave His life, was glorified, took his seat next to the Father, and sent His Spirit to empower YOU to do even greater things!

  1. Are you in a seat of influence as the RFTG and don’t know it because you’re wishing you were the RCD?
  2. Are you experiencing a “lame duck” phase in some place in your life and need to consider how to be a better RFTG?

Who in your life can you be a better Right Front Tire Guy?

MOLESKIN:

  • See further discussion on “Legacy” in Q4 “Leave Right” in the F3 QSource!
  • Welcome FNG – Gas-X!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • You v You Fitness Metric on this Thursday’s Workout!
  • New Shieldlock forming on Wednesday morning at 0500.
  • Haw Ridge – April 14 (Get signed up! See Slack for details!)
  • Hardship Hill (May 29) is fast approaching. Get your team and get your team registered.

Frozen Four

THE SCENE: Pretty Chilly, 22 degrees and clear at the start, got colder…

WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
Tempo Squats
Diamond Merkins
Freddy Mercuries
Iron Mikes
Hairy Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Mosey to large parking lot
25 Merkins
25 Squats
Run to the other side and repeat x4
Mosey to Prestige Cleaners for Core (45 count of Heels to Heaven, Flutter Kicks, etc)
Mosey to Tome Poke for upper body (Dips, Dirkins, Irkins)
Mosey up the hill about 400 feet for Burpees
Mosey to the bank for Hello Dolly (40)
Mosey to Maple St parking lot
Lunge to each parking line and do some core
Mosey back to flag for Mary

MARY:
Rocky Balboas, LBCs, Pickle Pointers, etc

MOLESKIN:
Make the most of every opportunity – witness to that loved one — our time is short