F3 Knoxville

Category: Asylum AM

Founding AO

In His Mansion

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Plank Jacks, 5 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:

Each man picks up a pair of bricks from my truck.  We then run to parking lot by entrance to Northern Ball Fields.  There will be exercises posted at each corner of the parking lot.  Do the exercise listed, run around the parking lot, then do the next exercise listed.  Always have bricks when running.  Once exercises at one cone are complete, go to the next cone and do those.  When a man is done he will have done 12 exercises (3 from each cone and run around the parking lot 12 times).  Here are the exercises from each cone:

  • Cone 1:  1. 50 Overhead Presses with Bricks  2. 20 Big Boys  3. 50 Curls with Bricks
  • Cone 2:  1. 50 Rows with Bricks  2. 20 Big Boys  3.  50 Wings Up with Bricks
  • Cone 3:  1. 50 Wings Out with Bricks  2. 10 Mini Man-makers 3. 50 Wings Down with Bricks
  • Cone 4.  1. 50 Punches with Bricks.  2. 10 Mini Man-makers  3. 50 Triceps with Bricks

Mosey with bricks back to the truck and replace them there.

Mosey to stop sign at Northeastern corner of admin bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey down steps to small alleyway.  Pick teammate. We will do Doras.  Teammate runs up stairs, around to beginning of alleyway and back to teammate while teammate does exercises.  Teammates the switch off.  Here are the exercises:

  • 150 Squats
  • 150 Big Boy Situps
  • 100 Merkins

Mosey to Parking Lot that semi-circles by soccer fields.  We will Bernie for 20 fence stakes then lunge for 10 tent stakes and repeat that pattern to the end of the parking lot.

Mosey to beginning of mini-cardiac.  Bernie to park sign, then sprint the rest of the way back to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 Men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Thomas Merton:  “Creation isn’t something that just happened in the beginning and then God walked off and left us to our own devices.”

Imagine if that were true.  God created this universe and everything in it and then said, “Good luck everybody, I’m going to sleep.”  Would the creator do that?  I don’t think so.

Thomas Merton:  “Creation is going on all the time.  That creation is absolute and perpetual.”

That creation is a gift and a miracle.  It surrounds us and is within us.  Yet, we so often fail to see it.  Some of the great church hymns have God saying to us (or use to Him), “Abide in Me”, knowing that we so often fall short in doing so.

James Finley describes this failure to see God’s gift to us in this way:

What if all along you’ve been living in this incredible mansion all your life but through a tragic mental condition you think you’re living in a little tent behind the garage?  And every week your psychotherapist comes over for your weekly session, and your therapist says, “Look, I wouldn’t, honestly, I wouldn’t lie to you on this one.  You’re in a mansion.  You’ve been living in it all along.”  You say, No.  No.  I . . . as a matter of fact, I don’t even think I deserve to even try to get in there, actually.”  In God, we live and move and have our being.  We’re living our life in the vast interiority of God pouring Himself out and giving himself away as every breath and heartbeat, as every passing moment of our life.  This is confusion.  Jesus called it blindness.  Buddha called it ignorance.  We don’t see the God-given, Godly nature, the boundary-less generosity of every blessed moment in our life.”

To abide in God is to accept his gift, to recognize His beauty, to breath it in what John Eldredge calls “The Sacred Romance.”  Other spiritual writers call it the “Sacred Dance.”  To abide in God is to ask him to abide with us.

I will close with some lines from the song “Abide With Me”:

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers of praise for Lillydipper’s wife (done with double masectomy surgery) and Choir Boys’ wife (does not have lymphoma and is getting rehab for the pain she is experiencing); prayers for wife of Mr. Jinxy who will have surgery on September 17; prayers for Lulu and Doubtfire who both have lost their mothers this past month.

Just, Kind, and Right

THE SCENE: Not too hot, cloudy, low 80s, but soooo dang humid.  Not a stirring of a breeze to be found…
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!  Some additional COVID-19 considerations: keep your distance between you and other members of the PAX and any other folks that we pass during moseys, etc. to 6-10 feet.  We will be splitting up into groups smaller than 50 if necessary.  We need to set good examples and be good neighbors out here at this public park, especially with so many folks out and about.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-25 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Abe Vigodas (4-ct), in cadence

– 25 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

– 25 Tempo Squats (4-ct), in cadence

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Area 51 parking lot.

  • 25s! 5x/20x, 10x/15x, 15x/10x, 20x/5x Reps of exercises
    • EXERCISES: Bobby Hurleys (far side) and Carolina Dry Docks (near side)
    • Do first exercise, run down to opposite side of the lot, do other exercise, BERNIE back.

MOSEY to top of sidewalk hill, going towards Everest.  20 American Hammers. 20 count.

Continue to Base of Everest. 10 American Hammers/10 Hello Dollies/10 Bicycle Kicks (4-ct), run to base of summit. Hold Plank until 6 catches up.

GRINDERS! Count off by 4s to do a staggered start.  1’s start immediately, 2’s = 5 Imperial Walkers, 3’s = 10 Imperial Walkers, 4’s = 15 Imperial Walkers then start.  When finished do Imperial Walkers until 6 catches up

  • BASE OF SUMMIT: 25 1/2 Burpees (no pushup), run up to top of summit
  • TOP OF SUMMIT: 25 LBCs, run to bat house
  • BAT HOUSE: 25 Smurf Jacks, run down stairs
  • BOTTOM OF STAIRS: 25 BBS, run back to summit

RINSE AND REPEAT (we really only did this once, but ran the summit hill twice)

.11s W/ PARTNER in grassy area with wall at top of Evereset: Exercises are DIPS and INCLINE MERKINS.  One partner does the 11, while the other partner does LBCs, then switch.  Progress through the 11s sequence until we run out of time. (most pairs got to 6/5 or 5/6).

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
25 Hello Dollies, courtesy of Lillydipper, (who was complaining about getting on our 6 in the newly cut grass, so I “volunteered” him to lead so he’d quit his yappin’ 😉 ), 10 star jacks, courtesy of Brick, who after his VQ on Tuesday is almost a professional .  All 4-ct, IC.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 HIMs, including one FNG!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

THE STORY OF JOSEPH.  The story of Joseph has been on my mind lately.  Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, and Jacob’s favorite.  He was a Daddy’s boy.  Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat (coat of many colors), and Joseph had dreams showing him as superior to his brothers, which he tells them about for some reason.  Maybe not the best idea.  To no one’s surprise, all of this causes the brothers to become jealous, throw him in a pit, and sell him into slavery in Egypt.  Although they left him essentially for dead, Joseph thrives in Egypt and becomes vizier to the Pharaoh.  The brothers return to him during a famine, starving, asking for help, but they don’t recognize him.  He is in the position of evening the score.  REVENGE!! (cue Braveheart music…) Does he let bitterness take over his heart?  No.  He ultimately brings his whole family over to Egypt, saving them from the famine.

Who else has thought to themselves when they’re in a difficult situation, struggling in life, or at their wit’s end, “NOTHING GOOD CAN COME OF THIS”? But looking back, how often do you see that something good HAS come of it?  God is always there, bending our history and lives to justice and love.  As Joseph tells his brothers when they are reunited, what they had meant for evil, God had meant for good.

Even in the greatest darkness there can be something beautiful and good.  A literal example of this can be seen in some of the great paintings of the world.  There are brushstrokes of darkness and light.  The most beautiful pieces of art contain both sadness and joy.  Without those dark areas, the art would not be as beautiful.  So it is with life.  There is always a source of comfort in difficult times for those who love God.  In the story of Joseph, God was there with him, in the pit, as a slave, in prison, and in Egypt.

Instead of revenge, Jacob focuses on what is JUST, KIND, and RIGHT. He helps his brothers and brings his family to Egypt to avoid the famine.  He does not take the dangerous position of standing in for God.

I saw another example of this in Abscess’s Facebook post from Dredd who was discussing a sign that said NO BIGOTS, RACISTS OR MISOGYNISTS. His point was essentially that this is the wrong approach.  While the sentiment may be admirable, you could argue that this type of judgmental exclusion is taking the position of standing in for God.  We should actually invite factionalists to our table and sit down with them, so we can have discussions.  Who are we to judge?  The Pharisees mocked Jesus for the low company he kept and brought an adulterer to him demanding justice.  The penalty was death by stoning.  That’s when Jesus said “Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone”.  They all dropped their stones and went home.  It does us little good to judge, especially when none of us are exempt from flaws and sin.

We don’t always have to even the score.  Let go of the anger, the frustration, the desire for vengeance, like Jinxy talked about in his Word at the workout on Saturday.  Get rid of it. There is another path.  Today’s world has complex problems, and one of the difficulties I have is that I often see some value in everyone’s perspective (LIBRAs, amiright??…).  Therefore, I have trouble coming to a definitive conclusion about what the best solution is, and become frustrated that there are so many problems, and so few solutions.  The world is very confusing, and the problems we face are numerous, nuanced, and intertwined.  It can be overwhelming to try to make sense of it, try to figure out exactly how to act and fix it.  I think that if we all focused on what is JUST, what is KIND, and what is RIGHT, we can make a bit of difference in the world for the better.

MOLESKIN:
Praise for Jenner for positive developments in his pursuit of a medical degree.  Prayers for Guppy’s grandmother and for Jan, Lillydipper’s wife.

Welcome to FNG Spanky! (Raphael… sorry, I forgot his last name.  He is friends with Puddle)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None

Chunked Topped Diced

THE SCENE: QVC emerged from a yearlong fartsack! Welcome back.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER 
WARM-O-RAMA:
I heard Preacher himself shouting all the way from the Arizonian desert that “burpees are not a warmup”

“Studies indicate” that none of us is likely to keel over dead in the next 10 years.

THA-THANG:
They took the caution tape off the Cloud, which I appreciate. Jack Webb never showed up today, which everybody appreciates! Box-Baby-Boxes x3. Some Merkins. Table row/squat 11s. Balls to the Wall.

A Merkin or two on the way to Cardiac, and Cardiac beat us like we owed it money.

MARY:
Normally I don’t like Mary, but Hands’ Evil Plank made an appearance. And Hands wasn’t even there to enjoy it!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor. A favorite of mine.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
IronPax tomorrow. Much misery ahead.

Brickyard 500

THE SCENE: Cloudy with some rain. Rain stopped during the workout and the sun came out.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH fast and slow

Cherry pickers

5 burpees

Imperial squat walkers

Star fighters 

5 burpees

Side straddle dollys

Michael Phelps, little bit of this, leg stretches

5 burpees

THA-THANG:.

  • Brickyard 500

    Battle buddy up

    1 man at the cmu, 1 running laps w instructions in each corner, stay in the pits until the entire next group is at start, Group 1 ran the lap while group 2 did cmus.

    In cadence

    25 CMU merkins

    25 Bbs

    25 curls

    25 Rows .  .     

    Diamond wide stagger merkin x2 in corner 1

    Sprint to corner 3

    10 plank jack single count in corner 3, run to the pit stop and hold plank on the curb

  • Mosey to pickets charge – flutter kicks

    Pickets charge – run up and switch to Bernie up each incline

  • Bear crawl 360
  • AYG back to the AO!!!!!
  • Hello dollys, ATM cash it out!!!!

MARY:
Insert information about any additional post-THANG work (if applicable).
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
@crispr @abscess @high heels @steam @musiccity @goober @abacus @lilydipper @pele @guppy @utah @puddle @redcard @flashback @manilow @squirtle @thunderstruck @iceman
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Close your eyes for just a minute. Satan wants you to think that every other man besides yourself has it all together while you don’t. He wants you to think you’re alone and you don’t matter. Satans worst attacks are when your isolated mentally, physically, spiritually, and sexually.

We’ve all experienced tragic events in our lives. Whether it’s Suicide, divorce, addiction, pride, greed, disease, and death.

None of us here have it all together, but what we do have here is each other. Now open your eyes. Look around this circle. Each of you have been a blessing in my life. My story?  The past 2 years have unquestionable been the hardest and most intense of my life. I went through the heartbreak of divorce early last year. Loneliness, shame, denial, regret, frustration, fear, and anxiety. But God was there. And also F3 was there. I can tell you that each one of you have touched my life in so many ways and I want to say thank you. We are a brotherhood, we have each other’s six, we leave no man behind, we leave no man left the same, we carry the fight to the enemy, we pick each other up when we’re down, we pray for one another, we hear each other out when we disagree, walls have been tore down between us because we all believe in something bigger than ourselves.

Why do I believe that love and brotherhood exists?

Love is what separates us from the rest of the world.

Verse

1 John 4:19, NIV: “We love because he first loved us.”

This is the Great Commandment which involves loving God fully and loving neighbor as yourself.

So I challenge each of you to rise above the chaos of the culture and rest in the unwavering love of the Lord. And no matter what you’re going through, look around, you have a band of brothers that are in the fight alongside you. I know I am. If you ever need to talk I’m always available. You’re never alone.

MOLESKIN:
It was an honor and a privilege to lead my first Q.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Hill full of 20 somethings

One comment

THE SCENE: 70deg, dense fog, beautiful dark gloom
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

5 HIMs on Rush Speed work, 16 HIMs on the beatdown below.

WARM-O-RAMA:
Hill Billy Squats, Reach for the sky, Butt kicks, Cherry Pickers, Newton’s Craddle with Merkin, Bonnie Blair, Mountain Climbers, Freddy Mercury
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the closest guardrail (some not surprised by this).

  • 20 Derkins
  • 20 Tricep dips
  • 20 Small Rock Overhead claps

Cross the street to our favorite little hill: Jucomajaro

Every 100 feet a new Exercise chalked out.  HIMs had to choose one time to crawl bear, bear crawl, crab walk and bernie, rest were mosey between.

20 of each:

  • Newton Cradle with Merkin
  • Burpees
  • Mountain climbers
  • Bonnie Blair
  • BBS
  • V ups
  • LBC
  • Side crunch L
  • Side crunch R
  • Downhill Merkin
  • Uphill Merkin
  • Diamond Merkin

Mosey to the summit and hit the stations again on the way back down.  6 swept with the group finishing in time to mosey to the flag.

MARY:
Dealers choice: Flutter kicks, mountain climbers, American Hammers, planks
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
You all are impressive.  You do the hard things out here really well.
The verse I want to look at today: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  James 5:16
An area of the Christian life we don’t spend much time talking about is confession of our sins. Out here it is deep and hard and uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because of that or maybe it’s the complicated dynamics of southern hell fire and damnation preaching style or a catholic image of telling some sins to a priest in an ornate wooden box.
But we are called to do it. It’s in the Lord’s prayer and all throughout the Psalms

I see 4 types of confession and all are important to all the time:

  1. High School level confession: coming clean on blatant sin; probably having to do with actions – Maybe outbursts of anger, or the way you drive or sexual sin.
    God is faithful to forgive. Jesus conquered sin and death. Rest in that!  Praise God for that!
  2. College level confession: gets to the pride and heart and emotion and ways we have broken His Law privately and in our thoughts and desires
  3. Masters level confession: searching your heart for sins of omission and small ways we have turned our back to God and hurt Him and others
  4. Doctorate level confession:  is seeing that even in our good deeds with less than 100% pure motives are filthily rags to God.   God hates hypocrisy and says in Isaiah 64:6
    We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

Even if I’m doing the right thing for my wife and kids but my heart is doing it so my life is easier or people think higher of me or whatever the reason, that can be sinful and we need to confess that.
Or take leading a Q. I encourage you all to sign up for a Q soon. But if it is so you think more of me or I get to boss you all around for 45 min, That’s sin I need to confess.  This week I checked my motives and confess they were not 100% pure but God rooted much of that out.
Are our motives ever perfectly pure – not this side of heaven, but are they increasingly motivated by the Holy Spirit and from a place of love? Be growing in that.  Do the hard work of examining your heart.  Pray God will show you the truth.
Don’t take this college level analogy too far – it falls way short – we must practice all levels of confession no matter how long we have been walking with Christ.   We must all get double doctorates in rooting out the sin in our hearts
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
James 5:16 (ESV)

It is a call to holiness, It isn’t some magic word; but it is a part of the walk of a follower of Jesus
Spend some time with the Lord confessing your sin. If you want to knock the power of sin out – confess your sins to a brother.
As HIMs we need to be willing to humbly confess sin.
MOLESKIN:
Prayer for Wander’s son’s upcoming surgery and pain – praise for Pool Boy’s friend Sam who continues to recover
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
IornPax Challenge Week 0 on Friday.  Sign up here