F3 Knoxville

Pain is Gain

THE SCENE: Beautiful day, temps in high 70’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-straddle-hops, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Windmills, Plank stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on southeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to Area 51.  We will run up hill stopping three times to do decline merkins.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to bat house above Roadshow Run.  We will do the Pinto Grinder.  We will start with 20 Star Jumps by bat house.  Then run down stairs and do 20 Diamond Merkins.  Run to grove of trees just below peak of Mt. Everest.  Do 10 Burpees.  Run up to peak of Mt. Everest and do 20 Big Boys.  Rinse and repeat.

Do 20 American Hammers in Shade.

Mosey to stop sign at northeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.  We will head back on road toward AO but stop at each cone along the way.  The cones will instruct us what to do next.  The instructions at each cone are as follows:

  • Cone 1:  10 Shoulder Taps (both arms = 1).  Bear Crawl to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  25 Baby Crunches.  Lunge to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  20 Flutter Kicks (four count).  Bernie Sanders to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Buzz saws (four count).  Grapevine with face away from Admin Bldg to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Carolina Dry Docks.  Grapevine with face toward Admin Bldg to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6.  Go back to Cone 1 to rinse and repeat.

MARY:

10 Bottle Caps, 20 Box Cutters, Stretches.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNGs.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 That’s why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day. This light, temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison, because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

It can be human nature to desire the easy way out.  But the fact is that truly good things generally involve toil, effort and pain.  I often times witness people wanting to move forward but unwilling to accept anxiety, stress or pain in order to get there.  As a psychologist I see people wanting to take narcotics or avoid challenges to that they don’t have to experience anxiety.  I am not belittling the anxiety that those with Anxiety Disorders must battle.  But some people actually think humans aren’t supposed to experience anxiety.  They want to avoid anxiety at all costs.  The fact is that anytime we take on new challenges, we are going to experience anxiety.

I see some people wanting to improve physically without experiencing pain.  I know that doctors and physical therapists see this all the time.  Someone gets total knee replacement and then is sent to see a physical therapist.  They stop going saying the physical therapy only made them feel worse.  Of course it made them feel worse – it is supposed to make them feel worse – so that through work, pain and effort they will improve and eventually feel much, much better.

We in F3 get up early mornings to face the gloom and experience the pain and thrashing of an F3 workout.  It is supposed to be painful.  Without the pain we don’t receive the gang.  We could wimp out and make it easy for everyone.  But as Cheatsheet proclaims, “Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself!”

We often think relationships are supposed to be free from pain and turmoil.  Nothing goes wrong in our relationships in the Honey Moon stage.  Your lover can do no wrong.  It is later that we wake up to the reality that this lover is a real person – with her own strange idiosyncrasies and opinions that don’t,God forbid, always coincide with ours.  We begin to think, what’s wrong with this person – maybe she isn’t right for me.  But maybe, just maybe, that person is right for you.  To find true love is to work through differences with another that can sometimes be painful.  But in working through these differences we see we can learn and live with them.  We find something richer and greater – not a person who will agree with us about everything – but someone who will love us, no matter how hard that task can be (look at yourself, that can be pretty doggone difficult) and will help us to grow stronger and better for it in the process.

Finally, with God it is not always rosy and wonderful.  We sometimes want to turn from Him when things aren’t wonderful and going our way.  We may blame Him for it, say “Where the hell are you God?”  Or, we may not want to follow Him when He wants us to do something we don’t like to do.”  But God’s way is the best way, not the easy, rosy way.  We don’t just follow God when it feels good.  We follow God when it is difficult, when it is not all fun and games, when we doubt, when we hurt, when we are ready to give up, when we are angry and pissed at Him.  In so doing, we find faith, we find hope, and we have a true relationship with a God who desires relationship and desires to make us better men.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for five of Abscess’ friends who have had heart attacks.  Continuing prayers for Pinto who is recovering from his heart attack and heart surgery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill!

Cogs in the Wheel

THE SCENE: Misty, in 40’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops, 15 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot near entry to northern ball fields.  We will split into partners of two men each to do Doras.  One partner will Bernie Sanders to cone, then sprint to end of parking lot.  At end of parking lot he does two burpees.  He then does Bernie Sanders to cone and sprints back.  Meanwhile, the other partner is working on exercises with CMU’s.  The exercises are the following

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Squats with CMU at chest area

Mosey to beginning of Serpentine Sidewalk located between north ball fields and outdoor chapel.  We will do 14’s (do listed exercise for one light then run for four lights) to where sidewalk hits perimeter trail or from perimeter trail back to roadway if it is next exercise on list).  We will do three exercises and, therefore, will end at perimeter trail.  All men who finish first on any exercise and run will do baby crunches until last man arrives.  Here are the exercises:

  • Bear Crawl
  • Hops
  • Lunges

When we are through with above we will do 20 Hello Dollies (four count) as a group.

Mosey on perimeter trail to cardiac hill.  At cardiac hill we will run up hill doing the following exercises at each turn:

  • Turn 1:  20 American Hammer
  • Turn 2:  20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • Turn 3:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Turn 4:  20 Bench Raises

Rinse and Repeat

Mosey to bottom of mini-cardiac.

We will do 20 Merkins at bottom of mini-cardiac, then run up and do 20 Carolina Dry Docks by gate.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (four count); 15 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1); stretch of each leg and slow toe touches, slow back bends.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
12 Men, no FNG’s.  Finger Paint was with us but has yet to be tagged for the post.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM

God had created each one of us as special, unique individuals.  As the apostle Paul claims, we each have individual gifts.  But he also remarks that these individual gifts we have serve the whole community.  In this way, we are all part of the body of Christ.

From 1 Corinthians 12:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[d] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[e] yet one body.

There is a song by the group Fleet Foxes that I particularly enjoy.  It is called Helplessness Blues.  Here are the lyrics in the beginning of the song:

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.

We are each of us unique.  Each one of us is different – in body size, strength and endurance levels; in age; in the backgrounds we come from; in the types of jobs we have; in our politics; in our dreams for the future.  But as the great poet John Donne proclaimed, “No man is an island unto himself.”  We have a need for our fellow man.  And when united together, we give service to something that is greater than ourselves.  I often feel that with the men of F3.  It is sometimes difficult to put into words.  But by getting up in the morning to be here with my friends, my brothers, I am not only serving myself but something beyond myself – something that brings me, brings each of us, closer to what God created us for – and, therefore, closer to God.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill in May!

Asylum Q = 1 : Elevation Patch = 0

THE SCENE: 46 and Clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 30, Baby Arm circles forward and back x 10

THA-THANG:
Grab a partner and a CMU

Round 1  – Mosey to the top to the Pathway just past Everest, One partner goes down one side of the hill with the other goes down the opposite side.  When at the bottom run back to the top and do 2 partner mericans, repeat until you reach 8 partner mericans

Round 2, Same as round one except one partner carries CMU up the hill(Everest site)  4 trips up the hill with 5, 10, 15 and 20 4 cnt LBC,  if your partner is not up the hill when you are done with LBC’s burpees while you wait.

Return back to AO the quick way(up Everest), trade of CMU with partner half way up.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
24 PAX
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Do the right thing, Love your neighbor like yourself and don’t ignore Bunny on group me(or we will take CMU’s to Everest)

 

Ultimate Redemption

THE SCENE: Cool and around 40 degrees.  Won’t be many more like this for a while.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Started out with 20SSH on 4ct, Cherry Pickers x10, Tempo Squats x10 head to baseline 20 Rocky Balboa’s jog down and back, 20 more Rocky Balboa’s…
THA-THANG:
Mosey to lower parking lot, regroup and perform 20 4ct Hello Dolly

Mosey to Pier, Reps performed on pier 25 merkin, 25 squat, 25 calf raise, 25 LBC’s then run .25 mile loop…rinse and repeat 4x’s.

Mosey to Cardiac

Run up Cardiac with stops at every bend for 10 jump squats at each spot repeat 2x’s

Mosey back to AO

 

MARY:
Back at AO perform American thor’s, 25 hello dolly, 10 side crunch each side, Monkey humpers x10, and cash out with ATM’S.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
7 beat the Tuesday gloom
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Talked about preparation for Easter and the ultimate redemption story.  We are to celebrate the great gift that Christ has given us by dying for us.  As everyone was celebrating and captivated by the redemptive story of Tiger Woods winning the Masters, it pales in comparison to the thing we are to celebrate on Easter Sunday.  The Ultimate Redemption story.

Wednesday Grind

 

THE SCENE
54 and clear

Welcome & Disclaimer

 

THE THANG
COP
SSH x30 (IC)
Tempo Squats x15 (IC)
Windmill Merkins x12 (IC)
4ct Diagonal Lunges x12(IC)

Line up on curb
Rocky Balboa x20 (IC)
Run toward far curb, stop half way and do 2 merkins, run back
BAC Fwd x15 (IC)
BAC Bkwd x15 (IC)
4ct Overhead Claps x15 (IC)
Rocky Balboa x20 (IC)
Run toward far curb, stop half way and do 2 merkins, run back

Mosey to pavilion

 

Picnic Table 11’s
11’s on picnic tables: Derkins and Under-the-Table Rows (fast with no rest)

Mosey to far parking lot.

 

Grinders
Partner up with Battle Buddy.  Battle Buddy lunges to the first cone, then sprints (full speed, not a mosey) to 2 second cone, does 10 reps of the exercise and then runs back (80% speed).  While Buddy 1 does the exercises, Battle Buddy 2 alternates between 4ct Flutter Kicks and Superman Swims, x15 of each.  Switch.

After each set increase the number of reps by 2 until each man does a total of 20 reps on the final run.  The exercises for the two rounds are as follows:

  • Rd 1 = Diamond Merkins
  • Rd 2 = Squat Jumps

Mosey to pavilion

 

Picnic Table 11’s – The Sequel
11’s on picnic tables: Bench Squats and Dips (fast with no rest)

Mosey back to hill near the SP.

 

MARY
American Hammers x20 (IC)
Freddie Mercury x20 (IC)
Side Crunches Lf. x15 (IC)
Side Crunches Rt. x15 (IC)

 

COT
Number off and Name-O-Rama
13 PAX

 

BOM
BBC Video – Lion Attacked by Pack of Hyenas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V6gdu5ih80)

Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

Often it’s not the big things in life that take us down, it’s an overwhelming presence of small things.  Temptation comes like a pack of hyenas, nipping at our backside staying just out of reach.  If it was just one or two things we could probably handle it, but it’s never that few.  Pretty soon we are surrounded, exhausted and in danger of being eaten alive.  That’s when having a battle buddy is more than just a cliche, it’s a life line.

We aren’t meant to fight our battles alone.  God has given us His Spirit and surrounded us with His people.  Open your eyes and look around…who are the men you would want next to you when the hyenas come?  More importantly, are you the type of man others would want to call on?

 

Submitted by Cap’n Crunch