F3 Knoxville

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.

The Stubborn Ounces Of My Weight

THE SCENE: REAL gloom in the Fake Gloom.  Misty, steamy, not too cold, not too warm.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Performed adequately.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

  • 10 Temp Merkins (4-ct IC)

– 10 Tempo Squats (4-ct), in Cadence

– 10 Moroccan Nightclub (4-Ct) in cadence

– 10 Overhead claps (4-Ct) in cadence

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Caribbean

CANDY CANE ESCALATORS (addressed questions from Swimmies)

  • Run to first cone. Do exercise then run to second cone, do exercise, run back, etc.  Go to 8 Cones. Exercises are:
    • Cone 1: 5 Burpees
    • Cone 2: 10 Bobby Hurleys
    • Cone 3: 15 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Cone 4: 20 BBSs
    • Cone 5: 25 LBCs
    • Cone 6: 30 iron mikes (single count)
    • Cone 7: 35 Hello dollies (single count)
    • Cone 8 : 40 Imperial Walkers (single count).

MOSEY to bottom of Cardiac (addressed more questions from Swimmies), stopping at Intersection to do some maintenance exercises.  Where’s Switchgrass??

Steam goes back to check, he had a ruck so will meet us later… but where? The plot thickens…

  • CARDIAC WORKOUT PYRAMID (addressed more questions from Swimmies):
    • Do the following exercises at the bottom then Bernie up to first turn and back. Do 5x reps the first time, then 10x, then 15x.
      • Star Jumps
      • Mountain Climbers (2-ct)
      • Froggie Jumps
    • Run back up the entire hill, doing 15 merkins at each turn

Where’s Switchgrass??

  • Mosey to Parking Lot  THERE’S Switchgrass!!!!
    • PARTNER UP. Partner 1 does exercise, Partner 2 goes to far end of parking lot by method indicated, does 5 SSH, and returns the same way.  Partners switch. The exercises and traveling method are as follows ((addressed more questions from Swimmies):
      • CURLS / KARAOKE LEFT
      • AROUND THE WORLDS / KARAOKE RIGHT
      • What did we do here??? / SPRINT

MARY:
About 20 seconds of STS (Stretching with Steam) before time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 Studs!!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The holiday season can be awfully exciting… but there can be a weariness that sets in too.  Weariness of parties, shopping, commercials, food/clothing/toy drives, parades and then you can add to that non-holiday related stuff… election cycles, home repairs, what have you.  And there’s also a more general sense of weariness, that despite all of our efforts to do good, sometimes it seems like we’re not making a difference.

Take a deep breath, the long view, and the celebrate the small wins.  We don’t have to save the world.  Small wins sometimes add up to God’s miracles. St. Augustine lived in N. African town of Hyppa.  (Algeria) “Architect of the church”.  Wrote incredible works and classics that have defined Christian faith for generations in a time when the Roman empire was collapsing around him. At the end of his life he was watching barbarians storming his town, knew it would burn to the ground.  Went up to the battlements, and prayed.  One of his prayers, one of his last, was this one: “Lord, my one hope, hear me that weariness may not lesson my will to seek you.” He passed away never giving up to despair.

Ted Loder was a retired Methodist minister who was known for his artistic political activism and passion for social justice.  He was named at one time One of America’s Outstanding Creative Preachers

He wrote about an older woman in one of his congregations. She was nearly blind, bad arthritis, home bound.  Lived on a small teacher’s pension that she mostly gave away to causes she believed in.  She gave to Loder a poem.  “You say the little efforts that I make will do no good. They will never prevail to tip the hovering scale where justice hangs in the balance.  I never thought they would.  But I am prejudiced beyond debate in favor of my right to choose which side shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight.”  Even on days when it doesn’t seem to matter, where will you put the stubborn ounces of your weight?  Let us not be weary of doing good.

As Paul wrote in Galations 6:9-10 “And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith”.  Don’t give in to weariness this holiday season.  Learn to Rest, Not Quit.

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Four Corner Journey

THE SCENE:

Partly Cloudy Temperature Feels Like Humidity Wind Speed Wind Direction
57 ℉ 57 ℉ 95% 4.2 mi/h SW

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER.
Delivered as desired. I am not a professional.

WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 26IC
Grady Corns – 20IC
Rockettes – 12IC
Cherry Pickers/Willie Mays Hays

THA-THANG:

Mosey to covered area by the church. Using the four corners of the sidewalk around the square.

Elevens in corners 1 and 3. Merkins and Squats
Four corners. Movement between corners always facing west. So karaoke both ways, mosey, and bernie.
1st – 15 4ct Mountain Climbers
2nd – 20 Squats
3rd – 10 T-Merkins
4th – 25 single count SSH.
R&R three times.

Tiny Decisions Workout Wheel – App on phone to randomly pick count and exercise.
Moving between corner 1 and 3. Wheel was spun by PAX and exercises where determined.
Ab stuff and variations of merkins and others.

50 Dips

4 – 40/50 yard sprints in parking lot. Increasing in effort level.

Head back to flag.

MARY:
2 minutes of Mary determined by PAX
5 burpees to finish.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 Good Men.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

A great many journeys are taken by choice. On the way towards the goal, remember that the path probably won’t be the one you originally expected to take. Enjoy the journey and all that getting to your goal entails. “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” — Douglas Adams

MOLESKIN:
For Uncle-n-law and his family as they battle illness. For families of teen suicide. For friends suffering through potential divorce. Praises for co-workers and cancer free biopsy.  For my aunt who, on consecutive days, lost both her sister and husband over this past weekend. For men and women who are serving and have served in armed forces. And their families. For all the sick and suffering.  And for the unsaid prayers in our hearts.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Rainy Q at JUCO

THE SCENE:   60?!?!?  How?  Light rain.  Perfect for a beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Skipped for you bunch of veterans.
WARM-O-RAMA:

Phelps

KCP

Seal squats

Tempo Merkins

THA THANG:

Mosey to the new building.

6 Rounds

Each Round perform these exercises then run.

  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 LBCs
  • 30 Merkins
  • 30 SSH
  • 20 Hello Dolly
  • 10 Bobby Hurley

Round 1 – 1 LAP

Round 2 – 2 LAPS

Round 3 – 3 LAPS

Round 4 – 3 LAPS

Round 5 – 2 LAPS

Round 6 – 1 LAP

MARY:

Play the song “Turn it Up” by Oh the Larceny.  Hello Dolly in rhythm with the music.  Every time the lyrics say “Turn it Up” do one Heals to Heaven.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

5 for bootcamp, 4 for Rush


COT:

Esse Quam Videri (EQV) – To be, rather than to seem.

Strive for authenticity.  Strive to be a HIM and do the things we talk about during the BOM, don’t just listen and let no application take root in your life.

James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word and not hearers only…the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does.”


MOLESKIN:

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Dec 10 – Oak Ridge Christmas Parade – bring your kiddos and come be on the F3 float!

Dec 21 – Sunrise hike at Clingham’s Dome – see newsletter for details

Dec 24 – Christmas Eve Family Workout.  Bissell Park at 9:00AM

Jan 7 – Convergence at Bomb Shelter

Frosty The Swoleman

THE SCENE: Gloomy and Cold 31 Degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER YUUUUUUUUUP
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 SSH, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Mtn. Climbers, 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Toe Merkins, 10 LBAC Foreward, 10 Hallelujah, 10 Morrocan Nightclubs, 10 Chatt. Cherry Pickers, 10 LBAC Backwards

THA-THANG:

PAX Divided into 3 groups of 2. Pax then completed a chosen exercise off the provided table that corrresponded with a Snowman part, then One Pax ran to their paper and drew that part of the snowman, until Snowmen were complete.

MARY:
Snowmen took up all our time.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
6 Frosty Pax
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Reflecting to the story of Mary, and Joseph. Focusing on the fear they mustve had, when they were met by the angel to discuss the plan that God had for them. Sometimes, we think that God is supposed to take our fear away, when sometimes he could be using that fear to call you. Faith is like a bridge. Sometimes it can be windy when your walking across, but the reward on the other side is so worth it.
MOLESKIN:
TAPS for Feeny’s cousin in Law, Spielbergs Wife and all our DL, DR, and Boiz we aint seen in a while.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Project’s Christmas Party this Saturday in Oak Ridge