F3 Knoxville

PM Asylum — Surprise Birthday Q

THE SCENE: Perfect for a beatdown.  50 Degrees

WARM-O-RAMA:

47 4cnt SSH,  Cherry Pickers, Arm Circles, Seal Claps

Baseline:  Apolo OhNo’s, Snowboarders, Rocky Balboa’s, Karaoke, Skips, Bear Crawls

THA-THANG:
Battle Buddy Up, Slingshot up Cardiac.  1 partner does 100 yard dash, while other does Blockees.  Then, slingshot back.

Mosey to the do Pyramid Scheme

Battle Buddy, run opposite laps, and do exercises when you meet :  Merkins, Squats, Burpees, LBC’s

MARY:
Freddie Mercury’s, Superman’s, Planks

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Surprise 47 Birthday Q.  Read a study last week that figured out statistically 47 was the most unhappy year of someone’s life in the developed world.  You are most happy at 18.  The good news is that it is a Bell Curve and when you hit 67 you are once again as happy as you were at 18 years old.  I for one am going to give a middle finger to this idea and encourage all to make right now the best year of your life.  Love your kids more, Love your spouse more, Find Someone without friends and Love on them.  I have never heard of someone on their deathbed saying I should have loved less or volunteered less.  We all know that makes our heart full so encourage you to start now.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pinto and his continued Fight.  Prayers for Tony Williams and his family who passed away last week.

Where Is Your Sting?

THE SCENE: Cloudy, mid thirties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

25 Side Straddle Hops.  10 Burpees. 10 Iron Mikes.  10 Windmills.  10 Cherry Pickers.  7 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward.  7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeastern Corner of Admin Bldg.  We will have cones posted along the road that semicircles around the Admin Bldg.  Each cone will give directions regarding exercises and how to get to the next cone.

  • Cone 1:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Bernie Sanders to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  20 Diamond Merkins.  Hop to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3.  20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1).  Gravevine with left foot in lead to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Star Jumps.  Grapevine with right foot in lead to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Squat Jumps.  Sprint to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6:  20 Flutter Kicks (four count).  Bear Crawl to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7.  20 Smurf Jacks.  Bernie Sanders to Cone 8
  • Cone 8.  20 Merkins, 40 Baby Crunches, 20 Hello Dollies (four count), 20 American Hammers (four count), 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count), 20 Bottle Openers (both hands = 1).

Mosey back to stop sign at Northeastern Corner of Admin Bldg., picking up cones and signs along the way.  We will squat for one minute to quietly contemplate the beauty of the scenery toward the lake.

Mosey to CMU pile.  Men will split into pairs.  One partner from each pair will grab a CMU.  We will do Doras with partner one sprinting to other end of parking lot, doing 10 shin lifts, and sprinting back while partner two starts working on the exercises.  Partners will then switch positions.  These are the exercises that each pair will accomplish:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Bell Ringers
  • 100 Merkins with feet on CMU

Mosey through entrance way gate to northern ball fields.  We will go the ball field that is closest to the entryway and congregate at one end of the marked soccer field in the outfield.  We will throw frisbee three times and race to the frisbee.  We will then race to end of the soccer field and back.  Those men who got the frisbee on the three prior throws will be competing to see who gets a free breakfast from the Q leader. Next, we will split into two teams.  Men will split up to play frisbee football.  Every time the frisbee hits the ground, not only does the possession of the frisbee change to the other team but all team members must do five burpees.  I must give my brother, Waffle House, credit for being the originator of this frisbee/burpee rule.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks, Boat Canoe.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seventeen men with one FNG, a friend of Toto’s named Marty Mason.  His F3 name is now Tinder.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

Edward Abbey was a park ranger and writer.  As a park ranger for the National Park Service he worked in scarcely populated desert areas of Utah, including the Arches National Park and Canyonlands of Southeastern Utah.  In his book Desert Solitaire, he speaks in one chapter about being alone in a very rocky canyon area in Utah.  Although an experienced ranger, he got lost and was stuck on a rock precipice.  He could make a jump across the precipice to a cliff similar in height but which was in the direction he knew would get him home.  He didn’t know how to get back the way he came even though he had tried to track it.  He was running out of water.  His choice was to either die of thirst where he was or make a huge leap from the precipice to the cliff.  The fall if he failed to reach the cliff would be hundreds of feet and would certainly bring him to his death.  He made the choice to jump and, for some good minutes, started thinking about his life before he made the jump.

What would you think about if you were faced with such a situation?  You are about to make the jump that will either continue or end your life?  What thoughts run through your mind.  Would you think about family?  About things that brought you joy?  Actions or lack of action that you regretted?  Would you wish you could say or do some things you had not yet done in life?  Would you have faith that God would follow you through death if death were to occur?  And, on the chance that you might make the jump, would you see life in a different way afterwards?  Would there be things that you would want to accomplish or do that you had yet to attempt?

Abbey gave a very poignant description of his fear and grief before making the jump.  As a man who loved nature, he thought with appreciation yet longing about the beauty of the world all around him before making the death jump.  Obviously, he made it to the other side as he later wrote the book.

As a man I would have been very scared, just as Abbey was.  As a Christian, I hope I would take comfort in verses like the one in Corinthians above.  I hope I would appreciate my mortality and the gift that God has given us in our short lives here on Earth.  But, I also hope I would realize that my perishable body has been clothed with the imperishable armor of God, that my mortality has become immortality through Him.  Then, even knowing I might fall to my death, I could say, “Death, where is your victory, where is your sting?”

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pele’s shoulder as he took a mean fall and hurt it during the frisbee football game.  Pusher, a physical therapist, said he didn’t dislocate.  Prayers for our brother, Pinto, who is suffering through treatment of multiple myeloma cancer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
New pull up bars that we raised money for will be going up.  We will have an AO launch in Morristown on April 4.

Motivators Doing Motivators is Motivating

THE SCENE: 50s, sun was setting, Lakeshore Park = empty

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

– Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith

– Name is Steam and I’ll be your QIC this evening

– Couple of things before we begin

– I’m not a professional

– You’re here on your own volition

– Modify as you need to but push yourself and those around you

WARM-O-RAMA:

THA-THANG:
[ Q has ruck with phone, med kit, and CPR kit. Too prepared? Who knows – better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it ]

(PAX mosey right outside Asylum PM parking lot)

[ Light It Up ]

  • PAX mosey towards Haslam rock overlooking Lakeshore park/river
    • Every light post (that was on) – 5 single leg merkins
      • One leg on top of the other
      • 5 reps/light together
      • switch legs each light
  • Sprint up the mini hill to Haslam rock
  • PAX executes 10 x 4 IC V-Ups
  • PAX Rinses & Repeats back down the way they came
    • Every light = 5 reps of a squat + merkin (basically a burpee but with no jump so……..basically a burpee.)
    • Last 2 lights = eeprub = 5 reps of a merkin + squat

(PAX moseys towards chapel(s))

[ Chapel 1 – Level 1 ]

  • 5 pillars in the outdoor pavilion (small chapel)
  • Each set of pillars = 5 Motivators together
  • After 5 motivators are executed:
    • Sprint to a tree 25m to the right = 1 fast burpee
  • Sprint back to outdoor pavilion (small chapel)
  • After 5 motivators are executed at 2nd set of pillars:
    • Sprint to small knoll to the left about 25m away = 1 slow burpee (form is key here)
  • Rinse & Repeat until PAX cleared the other side of the outdoor pavilion (small chapel)

(PAX mosey towards the big outdoor chapel —> occupied —> head to the parking lot to the left of it facing the soccer fields)

[Level 2 – Team on your back suicides]

  • PAX executing various exercises led by Q while 1 by 1, PAX sprint a zig-zagged course between lights the distance of the parking lot and back.
    • Exercises included but where not limited to:
      • SSHs
      • Merkins
      • Cherry-Pickers
      • Shoulder Taps
      • Flutter Kicks
      • Hello Dollys
      • Rockettes
      • LBCs
      • Line jumps
      • Motivators
      • + more but I forgot

(PAX moseys back towards AO parking lot)

Once PAX hits the street —> backwards American Indian Run until the playground next to morning AO —> sprint it out to the PM AO parking lot

[Finish How We Started]

  • 5 Motivators

MARY:
Heavy breathing, peeing behind dumpsters in the dark, normal F3 stuff.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 PAX – no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“You Have to Improve”
MOLESKIN:
From “Free to Lead: F3 and the Unshackling of the Modern Day Warrior” by Dredd and OBT (Founders of F3) —> If you haven’t read this, DO IT. Seriously. Worth the couple bucks on Amazon – lotta good stuff packed in here. Check it out here —> https://www.amazon.com/Freed-Lead-Unshackling-Modern-day-Warrior/dp/0991238109/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Free+to+LEad&qid=1579834505&sr=8-3

”The Practical Exercise (even if done well) will leave each student with only a working knowledge of the skill being taught. In other words, he will not be an expert but he will be able to get it done. That is how the Army transfers skills from the more experienced soldier to the inexperienced soldier. It provides formal training to get the basic skills across. After that, it’s up to each soldier to improve toward mastery as he performs the skill on the job, and as he seeks to meet the increasingly high standards set for him by his leaders. Thus, an Infantryman with some experience who is performing a task at minimal skill level might hear from his sergeant that he “isn’t in basic training anymore.” In other words, more is expected of you now. You have to improve. It’s an individual soldier’s responsibility to seek constant improvement. It’s the leader’s responsibility to demand that he do so.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • April 4th, 2020 – Morristown.
    • F3 Morristown is LAUNCHING and it’s going to be epic. We need all the HIM we can muster to go help support this new region because remember, that was once us. More info to come with this, but go ahead and put it on your cal for April. If you know any potential sad clowns and/or HIM that would benefit from F3 (just like you), E.H. MAN, E.H.

 

  • Saturday, February 29th: 1st ever Truebadours Q101/GrowSchool Convergence.
    • AO: Asylum
    • More info to come.
    • Hit up Abscess or Steam for more info

 

Keep the Faith & Fight the Good Fight!

A Q 47 Years in the Making

THE SCENE: The ambient temp matched the day of the month; a cold 22 degrees
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

4ct SSH (IC) x 17; 4ct Tie Fighters (IC) x 17; Slow squat jumps x 4; 7 Burpees (OYO)

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Pavilion to continue warm up; 7’s with Jack Webbs by Pavilion then run over to Cloud for Tricep Press; LBC’s while waiting for 6 to roll up.

Walls of Jericho (OYO):

  1. Merkins x 7 (then take a lap around the Pavilion)
  2. Jump Ups/Step Ups x 7 (lap around the Pavilion)
  3. Carolina Dry Docks x 7 (lap around the Pavilion)
  4. Burpees x 7 (lap around the Pavilion)
  5. Big Boy Situps x 7 (lap around the Pavilion)
  6. Table Rows x 7 (lap around the Pavilion)
  7. Squats x 7 (lap around the Pavilion)

SSH and wall sits (with some spontaneous overhead claps) while waiting for 6 to roll up; Mosey back up to the AO

4 Corners (starting with 7 reps at each corner and reducing by 1 each lap)

  1. First corner do 4ct Monkey Humpers
  2. Next corner do 4ct Flutter Kicks
  3. Next corner do 4ct SSH
  4. Next corner do 4ct Pickle Pounders

Group sprint up Baby Cardiac Hill with 7 Burpees as a group at the top; Mosey back to the AO and circle up for some Mary

MARY:
To celebrate my 47th birthday… PAX did 47 x 4ct SSH led by Cheatsheet; Then Cat Gut led us down the stream with some invigorating Boat-Canoes; Finished off with 7 Man Makers on our way to 48 (but ran out of time)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Welcomed and named 1 FNG (Synapse)

Story about FDR greeting people in the White House with frustration because no one seemed to listen.  He greeted many dignitaries with the phrase “I murdered my grandmother this morning” but no one noticed and gave rehearsed responses like “how lovely” and ” continue your great work”.  Finally one of the guests actually heard his comment and responded “I am sure she had it coming”.

There are tons of classes at universities and colleges to teach language, speech, debate, and how to argue.  But there is very little instruction and training on listening.  Yet each one of us as HIMs need to cultivate the gift of listening to better lead and serve those in our homes, at work, and in our communities.

James 1:19-20 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ”

Most importantly we need to learn to listen to the Creator and Lord speaking to us…. encouragement to cultivate and work on your listening skills.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Filling the void

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy skies, temp about 31 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Quick run around parking lot, 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Windmills, Little of This and That, Michael Phelps.
THA-THANG:

Mosey to parking lot across the street that is by the entrance way to the Northern Ball Fields.  We will going around the parking lot four times, doing one per lap, the exercises listed in each corner.  In moving around the parking lot we will go from one corner to the next as directed by the sign.

  • Corner 1:  20 Hello Dollies, 20 Flutter Kicks, 20 Bicycle Kicks, 20 Box Cutters (four count each exercise).  Sprint to Corner 2.
  • Corner 2:  20 Squat Jumps, 20 Star Jumps, 20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1), 20 Mountain Climbers (both legs = 1).  Lunge to Corner 3.
  • Corner 3:  With CMUs – 25 Overhead Presses, 25 Curls, 25 Rows, 25 Squats.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 4.
  • Corner 4:  20 Merkins, 20 Bottle Openers (both hands = 1), 20 Carolina Dry Docks, 20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1).  Hop to Corner 1.

Mosey to Flag Pole at Entrance Way to Northern Ball Fields.  We will run to following areas and do the following exercises:

  • Flag Pole:  20 American Hammers (4 count)
  • Benches at playground:  20 Bench Jumps
  • Dug out at ball field:  20 Seconds of Pull ups
  • Pavilion:  20 picnic table pull ups.
  • Rinse and repeat.

Mosey past batting cages to beginning of Cardiac.  We will go up Cardiac doing the following exercises at each of the following areas:

  • Curve 1:  10 Hand Release Merkins
  • Curve 2: 20 Dive Bombers
  • Curve 3:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  20 Bench Dips

Mosey back to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Twelve men, no FNGs.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
God created us in His image.  He also created us for relationship with Him.  If we are without God, there is a void within us.  We as humans try to fill that void with other things besides God:  riches, power, success, or finding that perfect person who can take care of our needs.  But those things don’t work.  Only God can fill the void.

I used a song by John Mellancamp in a former message I gave and I want to use it again.  It describes the narrator’s attempt to fill the “void in his heart” with things that just don’t work.  He claims, “I did everything like they said so that I could find happiness.”  The problem is that he “is running from eternity” and trying to fill the void with worldly versus Godly things.  Toward the end of the song, the narrator, frustrated and questioning why the void in his heart remains, exclaims “Hey, Lord, well you made me like I am.”  In other words, if you made me like I am why does this void remain?  The narrator is correct about the Lord making him like he is.  The Lord made each of us with a “void in our heart”.  And, He can heal the “restlessness” that the narrator suffers with.  We will all be unsatisfied until we fill the void with God.  We must look to God, fill our lives with what He gives us, to fill the void.  Listen to God.  What does God want for you?  What is He telling you.  What direction does He want you to go in with your life?  Focus on Him, read about Him, take His message in – there you will find the true stuff that fills the void in your heart.

John Cougar Mellencamp Lyrics
“Void In My Heart”
There’s a void in my heart
I can’t seem to fill.
Been a parent, had three children
And a big house on the hill.
Hundred dollar in my pocket
And it didn’t buy a thing.
Now there’s a void in my heart
And a hole in my dreams.
Well I poured miles of concrete
And strung wire for telephones,
Dug ditches when I was a young boy
When I first left my parents’ home.
Sang my songs for millions of people,
Sang good and bad news,
Now there’s a void in my heart
And a fire at my fuse.
Well I did everything just like they said
So I could find happiness.
Went to school and got a college degree
And at my job I did my best.
As I sit here alone tonight
I see a billion just like me
With a void in their hearts and running from eternity.
There’s a void in my heart I can’t seem to fill.
I do charity work when I believe in the cause
But in my soul it bothers me still.
Hey, Lord, well you made me like I am.
Can You heal this restlessness?
Will there be a void in my heart
When they carry me out to rest?

God, my prayer to you is that each of us will see the voids in our heart and turn to you to fill them.  If we seek you, we will find the strength, comfort and love that can fill the void.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for our brother, Pinto, who finished a recent bout of radiation treatment for cancer and will be also getting stem cell treatment along with chemotherapy.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We will be launching in Morristown on April 4.  We have received enough donations for the pull up bars and will be putting them up in the future.