F3 Knoxville

Tour de 11s in the Fog

THE SCENE: Dark, gloomy, foggy, ruckers and their headlights popping in and out of the gloom coming to the AO.

FNG – Kyle shows up with Skeletor early

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’m ready to get steamy.
  • Couple of things before we begin:
    • Not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have – so with the PT we do today, modify as you need but push yourselves and the men around you when at all possible.
  • FREE.99


WARM-O-RAMA:

 

  • SSH: 11 x 4 IC
  • 4 Count Merkin: 11 x 4 IC
  • Mountain Climber: 11 x 4 IC
  • Rockette: 11 x 4 IC
  • Squat: 11 x 4 IC
  • Baby Arm Circles: 11 x 4 F & 11 x 4 B

THA-THANG:

PT (Tour de 11s)

 

(Mosey to Playground)

[ 11s X ]

  • 10 merkins + 1 pull-up
  • Rinse and Repeat 11x
  • When you’re done – flutter kicks

(11 count)

[ Classic 11s ]

  • @ playground: 10 squats
  • @ top of Bermuda Triangle: 1 lunge
  • Rinse and Repeat (9/2, 8,3, etc)
  • When you’re down hold the squat
  • ALL PAX: Execute 11 more squats <— push through it moment

 

11 count)

(Mosey to splash pad)

[ 11s Down ]

  • 11 box jumps/step ups 
    • Tap-Out literally made one of the benches tap-out. Tap-Out: 1 Bench: 0
  • 11 dips
  • THEN —> 10 box jumps/10 dips
  • So on and so forth
  • When you’re done hold merkin plank
  • When all PAX are done – execute 1 good merkin and recover

(11 count)

(Mosey back to Bermuda Triangle)

[ 11s Pyramid ]

  • Battle-Buddy Up
  • 11 merkins straight up (1 count)
  • 4 SSHs (1-count)
    • The Q messed this count up sorry – wrote down one thing but my mind was telling me another – it sucked either way. In a good way.
  • Take a lap around the Bermuda Triangle with your BB
  • Rinse & Repeat: 10 merkins straight up + 4 SSHs + take a lap

(Q realizes it’s 6:05 – instructs Battle Buddy teams to do one more round and then all PAX will complete 3 more rounds all-together) <— basically a smoke sesh.

MARY:

  • Flutter Kicks: 25 x 4 IC
  • LBCs: 25 x 4 IC
  • American Hammers: 10 x 4 quick // 10 x 4 slow // 5 x 4 slow
  • Recover

[ Stretching with Steam ]

  • Slow Cherry-Pickers
    • Try and raise up one vertebrae at a time

 

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

14 PAX + 1 FNG

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

 

[ Ebeneezers In Your Life ]

  • “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.””
    • 1 Samuel‬ ‭7:12‬ ‭ESV‬
  • “Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “Ebenezer” (Rock of Help), saying, “This marks the place where GOD helped us.””
    • 1 Samuel‬ ‭7:12‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Reading these two different verses because I like they way they both paint a picture of the Lord’s faithfulness – but with a little different wording.

A big part of my story is deliverance by the Lord – from a world where I was unconsciously in self-destruct mode. My first 2 years of college (and the previous 3 years or so) was all about me. Me. No one else. I did what I wanted, with little to no regard. The faith component was there, but as a backup….funny. When the Lord really gut punched me and stirred up my convictions (the Holy Spirit really went to town) I walked through some fire, some intense, really hard, annoying, “doesn’t make sense,” pissed-off fire. HOW IN THE WORLD could this turn to something good? The Lord delivered me from a crumbling and crippled world I had built for myself in my first couple years of college in Chattanooga and brought me back to Knoxville. An angry young man at the series of events I had just left, I found myself literally saying “God what are you doing.”

And yet I didn’t realize His faithfulness was more powerful than my faithlessness.

Looking back, that fire I walked through, I wasn’t walking through it alone. I would ask myself years after, “How in the world could God possibly use this screwed-up circumstance for good in my life?” What a laughable thought.

2 years later – I get to share the Lord’s faithfulness in the midst of a dark and confusing time with college men and women that were in that same arena I was in just the past couple years.

In the Message version of the passage above it says: “This marks the place where GOD helped us.”

Whether it is a physical/emotional/mental/spiritual testament of a time the Lord provided and came through, went to battle on my behalf, reached down and INTERVENED so that I could draw nearer to Him – that’s an Ebeneezer. And driving home from F3 this morning I thought – dang, if none of that had happened I might have never found F3. I might have never been brought to such a place of desolation where all I could muster was to look up and remember who He is. There are countless Ebeneezers in my life – and I’m sure you have yours too. If we serve a God of 2nd and 102nd chances – take a look back at the places that He’s come through and intervened on your behalf, for HIS glory. Even if you can’t see it yet. Mark those down, write them out, remember them, cherish them. The God that came through for you that time is the same God that will come through for you next time, and time again. How could He not?

So the questions was asked: What marks that place in your life? Share those in boldness! With your family, your friends, F3 brothers, co-workers. Afterall, we were all sad clowns once. And there was someone that spoke life into you just like you are expected to speak life into someone else.

I’ts a haunting thing for me as a young man – 4 years deep into F3 – I might have never found you guys if the Lord hadn’t found my heart first. F3 has changed the trajectory of my life as a young man. Literally. How can I do anything else but be thankful and remember the ebeneezers in my life.

I’m an open book – questions? Hit me up.

Iron. Sharpens. Iron.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Rats and Kings

THE SCENE: The rain gods couldn’t figure out what to do.  Intermittent sprinkles, damp, but pretty darn mild! (~60 degrees)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3, Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. F3 is a free workout program designed to improve fitness, share some camaraderie, and foster male leadership in the community.  I’m Pele and I will be your Q today.  I am not a professional, and I do not know your fitness level or injury history.  Please push yourself, but modify the workout as necessary to avoid making any existing injuries worse.  The goal is to get better together!

Welcome, FNG Shawn, who is a friend of Goober!


WARM-O-RAMA:

  • 20 SSH (4-ct), in cadence
  • 11 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence
  • High knees 30 sec, butt kickers 30 sec, in place.
  • 10 Steve Earls (4-ct), in cadence
  • 10 Windmills  (4-ct), in cadence
  • Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

MOSEY up Baby Cardiac and veer right towards Cardiac.  Going down Cardiac do Reverse Indian Run.  First in line Bernie Sanders’ back to end of line and yells GO, signaling next PAX to Bernie.  Continue to intersection with trail.

Do “47s” (made up exercise name based on my age.  I’m old… ) up the serpentine trail to the road.

    • Run 4 lights, then do 7 reps of the following 4 exercises: Big Boy Situps (the pavement was very wet… sorry/not sorry), Carolina Dry Docks, Mountain Climbers, and Bobby Hurleys

MOSEY to Pavillion by northern ball fields. More 47s.

    • 7 reps of bench pullups, dips, jump-ups, and decline merkins. RINSE AND REPEAT FOUR TIMES.  The first two sets of reps the Q called on the PAX to lead the cadence.  The second two reps were at your own pace.

MOSEY to parking lot where morning group meets.

CENTURY CLUB: Do 25 reps of four exercises consecutively, without stopping.  Every time you finish a corner, run up baby cardiac and move on to the next corner (counter clockwise) and do the next set of exercises.  One of the trips up the hill (PAX choice; most decided to get it out of the way first) must be a Bernie Sanders.

  • CORNER 1:
    • 25 x MERKINS/CAROLINA DRY DOCKS/DIVE BOMBERS/SHOULDER TAPS (4-ct)
  • CORNER 2:
    • 25 x BBS/AMERICAN HAMMER (4-ct)/LBCs/DEAD BUG (4-ct)
  • CORNER 3 (CMUs):
    • 25 x OVERHEAD PRESS/CURLS/ROWS/SQUATS
  • CORNER 4
    • 25 x ROCKY BALBOA (4-ct)/LUNGES/FROGGIE JUMPS/STAR JUMPS

When finished, run to center of parking lot and do 100 SSHs.

(Spoiler alert… we didn’t finish.  Most PAX got through 3 of the 4 corners.  Q called Recover, then we wrapped up the workout with a final run up baby cardiac together.)
MARY:
No time, and we were too out of breath to call out an exercise anyway.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 strong, including one FNG, Shawn, who we named Saguaro based on the fact that he hails from Arizona.  FUN FACT! “Saguaro” can be pronounced with a hard or silent/soft “g”! Who knew??  Goober.  Goober knew.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

As discussed in the book Wild at Heart by John Eldridge, Jesus gave us a simple test for taking the measure of something, when he says in MATTHEW Chapter 7 when he’s warning his disciples about false prophets.  He says, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them.  Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

I wanted to build on Lillydipper’s Word a few weeks ago about spreading seeds.  What fruit will you bear on this earth?  I’m not talking specifically about children, although they are included in this concept, but what will your legacy be?  Will it spread and multiply? Will it be good?

I’m a biologist and ecologist by training, so I started thinking about seeds.  What kind of seeds are we talking about here?  There are two reproductive strategies commonly found in nature that are known as R and K Strategists.

    • R Strategists (“Rodents”):  Organisms that are “R” strategists produce many seeds (plants) or offspring (animals).  They don’t invest much in their creation, they just fling them out in the world and hope that a few survive (e.g., milkweed, dandelion; rats). Good luck my weak little babies and seeds! Adios!  See you on the other side!
    • K Strategists (“Kings”): Organisms that are “K” strategists produce fewer seeds or offspring that are of higher quality, i.e., more resources are invested in a smaller number in the hopes of improving the survival rate to adulthood.  Plants that are K strategists have seeds with protective coatings and nutrients to help the seed establish and survive (e.g., oaks), while animals produce more complex and better developed offspring, and also spend energy and resources protecting them and nurturing them when they’re young and vulnerable (e.g., whales, humans).

I believe we can try to be BOTH when we “spread our seeds”.  We obviously can’t follow up and develop strong relationships with each and every person we give a smile to or hold the door for throughout the course of our lives.  But these acts of kindness can spread in the world.  And to ensure that the seeds closest to us grow and flourish, we CAN and SHOULD invest more into the seeds of kindness will that we sow with those we are close to, our friends, family, F3 brothers, etc.  The more we invest, the more likely those efforts will be to bear fruit.  Good fruit.  Not bad, ugly, prickly fruit.  Like those weird things you see in the grocery store with spikes on them.  Who eats that??

MOLESKIN:
Congrats to Hooker on the birth of his daughter! Very happy for the proud grandparents, Pinto and Mr. Jinxy.  Prayers that she remains healthy and gains strength (there is an interesting synergy here with the seed/fruit topic in the Word…). Prayers for some long-time employees that Sparkler had to lay off this week due to economic downturns. Appreciation to our FNG, Shawn “Saguaro”, who powered through a tough workout all the way to the end.  Merlot was disgorged. :-/

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board meeting to discuss Hardship Hill obstacle construction immediately after the workout (the fact that there will be beer there is purely coincidental).  Hardship Hill is May 2.  F3 Convergence at JUCO is March 28, with breakfast and third F to follow.  Wesley House food drive ends this Wednesday.

10 for 10 + Yoga

THE SCENE: 60s – orange tape everywhere. The Big Ball’s beloved AO meeting spot (World’s Fair Park fountains) was sectioned off by orange tape and construction cones for what I can only assume is the work of an overzealous TN Vols fan.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

 

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’m ready to get steamy.
  • Couple of things before we begin:
    • Not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have – so with the PT we do today, modify as you need but push yourselves and the men around you when at all possible.
  • Because check it out – most people in the world aren’t out here – I think that’s a pretty accurate statement. But you are – make it count


WARM-O-RAMA:

 

  • 4 Count Merkin: 10 x 4 IC
  • Mountain Climber: 10 x 4 IC
  • Rockette: 10 x 4 IC
  • Squat-Bender: 10 x 4
  • SSH: 10 x 4 IC

THA-THANG:

[ Theme of 10s for the day ]

(Mosey to Big Ball Stairs)

[ 10 for 10 ]

  • All 10 exercises will be done here at the bottom of the stairs
  • 1st 5 Xs: execute together – bear crawl up this first flight of stairs – and run around to the right until we’re back here.
  • 2nd 5 Xs: execute together – run to the right and around – bear crawl down the stairs right back here
    • (Modification after 1st round of 2nd 5 Xs –> rain comes down and makes the stairs slick so walk down the stairs and execute 5 squats instead)
  • The Xs
    • 1st 5:
      • 10 merkins (down/up)
      • 10 V-Ups (1 count)
      • 10 wide merkins (down/up)
      • 10 spider-mans (1 count)
      • 10 4 count merkins

( 20 Seconds in between the 1st 5 and 2nd 5 )

  • 2nd 5:
    • 10 squats (down/up)
    • 10 plank jacks (1 count)
    • 10 iron mikes (1 count)
    • 10 Oblique crunches (1 count)
    • 10 lunges (1 count)

( 20 counts of rest )

“Sometimes the only way you can go is up – so up we go)

(Mosey up the full flight of stairs to the top)

(Mosey to WFP entrance across bridge on the Left)

[ Level Up ]

  • In a circular fashion around the monument at the entrance to WFP
    • 5 incline merkins on lowest level
    • push-up hands to the second level — 5 incline merkins
    • push-up hands to the top level — 5 incline merkins

[ DimeLight ]

  • Alternating lights, execute 5 SSHs or 5 merkins (all 1 count) until you get to the other side of the bridge – Al Gore
  • Tired? Sore? Push a little longer – and pull one of these guys with you to push as well

(PAX is spent – but still rocking)

(Mosey under the bridge by the water)

  • Battle buddy up
  • Battle buddy teams against either side of the tunnel/bridge below the Big Ball

[ 1 more + 5 ]

  • BB1: handstand against wall
  • BB2: Bear crawl to the middle (ruck as a point of contact)
    • Execute 1 merkin
    • Bear crawl back to recover BB1
  • BB1 & BB2 switch roles
    • However – BB2 now does 2 merkins
    • Same thing next time, except BB3 does 3, so on and so on
  • When BB team finishes 5 merkins total – hold the wall-sit

(Rest  = 5 SSHs in cadence)

  • BB teams back on the wall
  • BB1: Wall Sit
  • BB2: Long jump to the middle (ruck)
    • Execute 1 burpee
    • Long jump back to recover BB1
  • BBs switch roles
    • Same deal as above

(10 SSHs all together)

  • Single file line going towards AO
  • American Indian run back to ShovelFlag

[ At ShovelFlag/Next to AO ]

MARY:

[ Quarter-Pounder ]

  • 25 flutter kicks (4 count)
  • 25 LBCs (4 count)
  • 25 American Hammers (4 count)
  • 25 Mountain Climbers (4 count)

^^^Holy crap that’s a core killer ^^^

[ Yoga with Steam – 5 Minutes ]

  • Why? Because I’m getting old and sore and don’t stretch at all pre or post F3. And apparently it’s good for you, idk. It was a worthy endeavor.
  • Worked through a variety of slow movements – exposing and manipulating muscle groups that were worked today

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

12 PAX – No FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

 

[ What do you do when you don’t get the results you want? ]

MOLESKIN:

  • Training for Army OCS, and yesterday I didn’t get the answer I wanted. I was off by 4 points on my testing. Missed it by that much. I was pretty pissed. 4 points are you kidding me? I racked my brain going through what I could have done better, playing out hundreds of scenarios in my head – of what I thought would be a very different turnout. 
  • So what now?

 

  • And yeah – it’s disappointing but I have 2 options – (1) take it as a crushing blow and count myself down and out or (2) absorb the blow – get back up on the horse and move forward – realizing the work I need to do to make it happen next time. 

 

  • Regroup. Get back up. Stay in it.

 

  • Question/Challenge to all of us is this: when you don’t get the news or results you want – what’s your initial instinct and how do you pick yourself up and move forward. 
    • Maybe a bigger question is not what your initial instinct is but who/where do you run to?

Motivational Statement from a timeless classic: https://youtu.be/umSlEYfYzK4

 

 

Spring Forward 20 Hills

THE SCENE: Bright and sunny.  The sky was clear and the air was brisk.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Arm Circles

Tempo Merkins

Shoulder Taps

High Knees and Skips around parking lot
THA-THANG:
Started on top of Butterfingers’ hill.  We did 20 merkins at the top and 20 squats at the bottom.  We reduced the merkin and squat rep each time we ran up the hill.  Total of 210 merkins and squats if completed.

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Butterfingers, Espy, Hammy, Fins, Drifter, Smoke, KY
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Colossians 1:9-13

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[a] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[b] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
MOLESKIN:
N/A
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
N/A

cat and mouse

THE SCENE: mid 30’s but not to bad once moving
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
1. I am not a professional
2. You are participating at your own risk
3. You are responsible for your own wellbeing
4. You are here voluntarily, and you are not paying to be here
5. Know your limits and do the best you can

WARM-O-RAMA:
20 squats
10 4ct merkins
10 Baby arm circles (front and back)

THA-THANG:
Sand bag cat and mouse. The mouse(1 pax w/60# sand bag) would mosey around the park until the cats (everyone else) completed 5 merkins and sprint to catch up. R and R until we circled the park and reached the base of the hill at the new performance lawn where PAX completed the following circut.

1 PAX will care the sandbag to the top of the hill and complete 5 dead lift

into curls with the sandbag

everyone else completes the following exercises. PAX complete 1st excerise as many times as they can while the 1st PAX runs the hill, 2nd PAX on the hill with sandbag, second exercise in list:
Burpee
Hurpee (one burpee with 3 monkey humpers at the bottom)
8 County Body Builder
4 Count Merkin
Wolverine (one burpee with a peter park (left and right))
Simpsons
Inchworms

one all PAX had an opportunity to run the hill with the sand bag we went for a mosey to the performance lawn. at the performance lawn we held plank should to should and using our right hand, dragging the sandbag under the plank to the PAX on our right. R & R across the field and then we came back using our left hand dragging to the PAX to our left.

Once complete we circled up. Each PAX performed a cling to their right should and tossed the sandbag to the PAX on their left. R & R same exercise but shoulder the sandbag on the left and pass to the right.

 

mosey back to AO for MARY

MARY:
We had time for 3 minute ABS. 10 each flutters, lbc’s, box cutters, lbc’s
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
lead well!
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS: