F3 Knoxville

Category: Asylum AM

Founding AO

A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall

THE SCENE:  Thunderstorms, plenty of rain and lightening.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
We had to make a mad dash to the northern ball fields pavilion as we were getting started, due to rain and lightening.  It was full of people so we made another dash to the outdoor chapel and worked out there.  We did plank stretches and then got to “Tha-thang”.
THA-THANG:
Totem poles doing each exercise for 30 seconds before going to the next one.  In round one we do the first exercise only.  In round 2 we do the first and second.  In round 3 we do the first, second and third.  We keep going until all five exercises are done.  Then we drop off the first exercise and do only exercises two through five.  Next we drop the second exercise and do only three through five.  We do this until only the fifth exercise is done.  The following are the exercises:

  • Burpees
  • American Hammers
  • Decline Merkins
  • Bench lifts
  • Squat Jacks

Next, we did four corners, performing 20 Little Baby Crunches at each corner.  We hopped from corner one to two, Bernie Sanders Sprinted from two to three, bear crawled from three to four, and sprinted from four to one.  Next we repeated the above routine except did 15 Big Boy Sit-Ups at each corner

Next we did another totem pole but this time with only four exercises.  They were:

  • Squat Jacks
  • Flutter Kicks
  • Hello Dollies
  • Mountain Climbers

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
We had ten men present including a Flying EH whom we named Nick.  We gave him the F3 name of Stormy.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 King James Version (KJV)

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

King James Version (KJV)

We tend to avoid thoughts of death.  We rather not think about it.  In many ways, we fear death.  And whether we fear death or not, we certainly don’t want to die and rarely think of our own deaths.  Yet, there can be advantages to thinking of our own mortality.

  1. We see how precious our time here on Earth is and it can motivate us to act more like HIM’s with the time we have here.  And we appreciate our mortality more.  As Bob Geldof says in one of his songs, Mortality is a cheap price we pay for existence.”
  2. We are forced to think of life beyond this existence.  We are forced to wonder about God, about His creation and whether God has plans for us beyond our lives here.
  3. We have a better understanding of our dependency on God.  We must trust in God, that God indeed does have plans for us.  As Henri Nouwen states, we come into this world as a dependent creature and leave life as a dependent creature.  And, if we can trust that God exists and that He has plans for us beyond our lives here, then . . .
  4. We fear death less.  We realize that, although Mortality is a cheap price we pay for existence” our existence is more than our lives here.  If we can trust in God, we need not fear death but welcome it.  Just as, when we were in the womb, we did not know what our lives outside of it would be like, we do not know what our lives beyond what we have on Earth will be.  But, with God, “Death, where is your sting?”  With God, as John Donne says, “Death, thou shalt die.”

 

Earn the Stargazers!

THE SCENE: Started out clear and bright, but clouds and fog moved in to keep us cool.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x25 IC
Cherry Pickers x8 IC
SSH x5 more just for Crawdad, who rolled up late…
Crabettes (Like Rockettes, but from crab position) x20 IC
Cossack Squats x20 IC
Mountain Climbers x10 IC
Walk toes forward as far as possible toward planche position for 10 more IC
Walk toes backward until abs are fully engaged, 10 more IC

THA-THANG:
Mosey toward the base of Everest, stopping about halfway for 15 Inchworm Merkins OYO

At the base of Everest, 10x Travoltas each side

Promised everyone 30s of Stargazers after an AYG charge up Everest. If you can breathe when you get there, you didn’t push hard enough…
30s count is OYO, then flutters until everyone has had their 30s.

Everyone grab a CMU-equivalent coupon (1 per person) and partner up.
Coupons go in a line about 10 yards away. Entire group goal is to move all coupons to a line about 70 yards away.
One partner runs to the nearest coupon, does 3 Burpee Broad Jumps with coupon to advance, then mosey back to switch with partner.
Stationary partner alternates between squats and crabettes after each trip.

Once all coupons are across the line, everyone grab one and mosey partway down Everest, line up across the hill for Tombstone Toss.
Everyone toss coupon as far up the hill as possible. Bunny hop to your coupon, pick it up, and continue hopping until you reach the furthest one. Once everyone has arrived at the furthest one, toss again.

When everyone has reached the top of the hill, put away coupons and 10 Hand Release Merkins OYO.

Mosey back toward the AO, stopping at the corner for a 30/30/30 of merkins, big boys, and squats.

Q noticed the big ol’ stone block monument thing just sitting there, so 10 Derkins on the block

MARY:
Mary started out with 10ct Stargazers, just because I’m nice…
30x flutter kicks IC (with a small rest as Crawdad attempted to avoid being run over…)
15x slutter kicks IC
15x side crunch IC (each side)
4x Row Your Boat (caused a bit of a scene since traffic is kinda picking up in the park by this point)
Everyone had to hop up and allow a vehicle to exit the parking lot. This presented a great opportunity for some Monkey Humpers (x15 4ct IC)
10x Shoulder Tap Merkins
About 30s of OYO SSH to finish out the hour.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 strong this morning, including one FNG – Snoopy (Terry Hill)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Ephesians tells us to love our wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her. The thing that first comes to mind when you hear this is how He died for us. As men, we like to think, “Yeah, I’d die for my wife.” However, Christ gave himself fully, not just on the cross, but daily as he lived on earth. He walked dusty, excrement filled roads, lived day and night with 12 of the most annoying, bad listening, etc. guys you can imagine. Did everything that sucks with no thought for himself, poured his life into them. Through each day, look for opportunities to give yourself in those kinds of ways.
MOLESKIN:
I forgot about the Saturday relocation to the upper parking lot… Much appreciation for Hawk running down and getting me before time to start the beatdown! I had a great time working out with the Asylum PAX this morning. F3 Knoxville is full of HIMs – I would encourage everyone to be promis-Q-ous and make your way around to as many AOs as you can. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do them all in a single week!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Sendoff this morning for Soot (Daniel Anders) at the Overlook. Heading off to be stationed in Colorado Springs.

The Gate

THE SCENE: Cloudy and hot
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 25 Squats, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to big tree by stop sign at northeast corner of admin bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to park perimeter trail where it intersects with roadway that heads to admin bldg.  We will do 25 Squats.

Run on perimeter trail as it heads west and north and curves toward the bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will stop at every fifth light to do 10 merkins, then continue.  At bottom of Mt. Everest we will do 25 Squats then run around big tree in middle of Mt. Everest, then come back to perimeter trail.  We will then do 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count).

Run to every fifth light and stop to do 10 Big Boy Situps.  Continue this until we get to roadway that comes in from Northshore gate.  Stop to do 20 Hello Dollies.

Run across roadway, staying on perimeter trail.  Run to every fifth light and stop to do 10 Shoulder taps (ten taps each shoulder).  We will run until we reach soccer fields.  Stop to do 20 Box Cutters.

We will next go across soccer field.  We will lunge to first line, run to next line, lunge to next, run to next in alternate fashion until we reach the end of the soccer field.  We will stop to do 25 Squats.

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  Stop to do 20 pickle pounders (four count).

Run to Boulder Pile.  Pick up appropriate size boulder.  We will do 25 overhead presses, 25 Curls, 25 Rows and 25 Triceps.

MARY:
Plank Stretches.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men present, one FNG, Josh, a good friend and coworker of Hooker.  We named Josh “Hotspur.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
This is a poem written by Marie Howe.  It is about her brother who died.  He was sick and knew he would die when the moments this poem describes takes place.  In this poem he points out to the poet the importance of life’s everyday moments – like eating a cheese and mustard sandwich.  Maybe it is these moments that we are really waiting for, not the big successes, the big job, the big whatever.  For what do the big successes gain us?  Only the opportunities to have special moments with others.

THE GATE BY MARIE HOWE

I had no idea that the gate I would step through
to finally enter this world
would be the space my brother’s body made. He was
a little taller than me: a young man
but grown, himself by then,
done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet,
rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold
and running water.
This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me.
And I’d say, What?
And he’d say, This—holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich.
And I’d say, What?
And he’d say, This, sort of looking around.
We spend much of our loves working towards something, trying to achieve whatever version of success we or others have implanted in our minds.  We often fail to take notice of the simple events of daily life, the simple things around us, such as the folding of sheets after laundry, the walls and pictures in the residences we live in, the simple conversations with loved ones and friends, the beauty around us, whether it be the mountains in the distance or a simple weed growing on the ground in front of us.  Marie Howe’s brother points out that these are the moments and things we are waiting for.
Let us savior these days, these things, these moments that God has given us.  Van Morrison speaks of this in his song, These Are The Days.  He says in the poem that we must savor these days as if there is no past, no future, only now.  He goes on to say:

These are the days by the sparkling river
And His timely grace and the treasured find
This is the love of the one great magician
Turned the water into wine

These are the days now that we must savor
And we must enjoy as we can
These are the days that will last forever
You’ve got to hold them in your heart.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Beer run to Union Jacks directly after this workout.

Monday’s Rock

THE SCENE: The gloom was in full effect – not too cold, not too hot, just right.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness, Fellowship, & Faith. My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • I am not a professional – you are here on your own volition – which means I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have. So if you need to modify any of the exercises we do this morning – do it.
  • That being said: you’re not here for you, you’re here for them. Push yourself and those around you. 


WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH: 12×4 (in cadence)

Cherry-Picker: 8×4 (in cadence)

Squat: 12×4 (in cadence)

Merkin: 12×4 (in cadence)

SSH: 12×4 (in cadence)

THA-THANG:
Mosey to rock pile at the top of the OG Asylum and execute good PT

  • Every stop sign passed = 15×4 squats
    • Q chose 1 PAX member to lead each time
  • Every parking lot passed = 10 1-count merkins
    • Q chose 1 PAX member to lead each time
  • Mosey from AO to Rock Pile at OG Asylum
  • Rock Pile
    • battle buddies
    • 3 Rounds
      • R1
        • BB1: 25 chest presses & hold above head until relieved
        • BB2: sprint down to tree on right (.25/mile) & execute 5 squats –> sprint back and recover BB1
        • After both BBs complete 50 chest presses each = hold plank @ rock pile
      • Between R1 & R2: 20 SSHs led by called upon PAX member by Q
      • R2
        • BB1: 20 curls & hold in bent over row position until relieved
        • BB2: sprint down to tree on right (.25/mile) & execute 4 merkins –> sprint back and recover BB1
        • After both BBs complete 50 curls each = hold plank @ rock pile
    • Drop rocks –> 2 lines mosey
    • Peel = 2 men out front peel around and to the back of the PAX and call out for the next men to peel when they get back in formation (think reverse American Indian Run)
  • Pause at rock overlooking the new fields/river/mountains
    • Covered by fog/gloom
    • Q said mini-BOM: You can’t see it now but there are beautiful mountains in view and the river and the park when it is clear. But the gloom is preventing you to see this right now. Take this metaphor into your life. Do you trust Him that they’ll still be there when the gloom clears in your life? Even though you can’t physically see it right now, it’s there, more importantly, HE is there, do you trust that this week?
  • Mosey down to curved path leading into the parking lot across from AO
    • 7 light poles
    • With your battle buddy, alternate between BBS (battle buddy situps) & flutter kicks every light pole
    • On flutter kick poles –> Q appointed a member of PAX to lead the cadence
    • 10 BBSs/pole & 20 flutter kicks/pole
  • Back Home @ the AO
    • Motto cadence call led by QIC
  • 12 Man-Makers (8-count Merkins)

MARY:
Heavy breathing
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
43 HIM came out and crushed the Monday gloom (2 FNGs included)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
1) Know that you are fully equipped and capable of whatever mission the Lord tasks you with this week. Know your mission and that where he sends you this week, there you’ll be.

2) Don’t be afraid to Wagon-Wheel this week. I’m not good at it. My pride gets in the way. A key component of wagon-wheeling is dying to yourself and your own ambitions or work so that you can go back and bring those falling behind out of the gloom. Don’ the afraid to wagon-wheel this week – to be that voice of encouragement that circles back around to speak life into those that may have/are falling behind or that you’ve noticed need to be encouraged. When people see the F3 logo – that means something. The commitment to pursuing the Lord as HIM, as well as to each other is vital to the nature of F3.
MOLESKIN:
G-6 gave me encouragement this morning before things got kicked off – I always get nervous about my BOM because I don’t want to word vomit or get in my own way of sharing what God’s put on my heart/letting my words be far and His words be here & clear. G-6 gave me encouragement that went something like: God will put on your heart what he wants you to say/communicate when the time comes. That is important. And meant a lot. Because that means that we don’t have to worry or stress about saying the right thing or focus on how we sound – God’s got it already taken care of and He will put on our hearts what he wants us to say. A prayer I’ve been working on (and off unfortunately) for some time has gone something like this and when I remember to say it – man it hits home.

Lord, give me eyes to see like you, ears to hear your truth, lips to speak life, hands and feet to go and serve where you call me, and a heart to love like you.

Kinda just puts it in perspective of how much we need God to come into our everyday being and let the Holy Spirit allow us to be purpose-driven High Impact Men in everything we say and do.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Prayer Request from G-6: Lunch $’s (Jay Cobble) father died last night – keep their family in your prayers please.

God is at Center

THE SCENE: Temps in 60’s, partly cloudy and humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Squats, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, Plank stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers, 6 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 6 Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and 5 Backward.

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Parking Lot by South Ball Fields.   There will be four cones in the parking lot that form a large rectangle.  Men should number off in fours so that there is a group at at each cone.  We will run in clockwise fashion and do the exercise at each cone.

  • Cone 1:  20 Star Jumps  Lunge to Cone 2
  • Cone 2:  20 Hello Dollies (four count)  Bernie Sanders to Cone 3
  • Cone 3:  25 Squats   Hop to Cone 4
  • Cone 4:  25 Big Boy Sit-ups  Run to Cone 1

Rinse and repeat.

Mosey back to roadway then go north back toward northern ball fields.  Stop in grassy area.  20 American Hammers.  Next we will do 25 Squats.

Mosey to Parking Lot fairly close to ball fields that has nice restrooms.  Go to southern end of parking lot where there will be sets of bricks.  Each man finds partner.  While one man does exercises with bricks the other journeys to various cones that are places along the parking lot.  The running partner will bear crawl to Cone 1, then run to Cone 2.  At Cone 2 he will do 10 Merkins.  He then switches with partner.  Six trips to Cone 1 and 2 will occur for each partner.  Six different exercises will be performed with bricks.  They are:

  • 1.  Wings up
  • 2.  Wings down
  • 3.  Wings forward
  • 4.  Side rows
  • 5.  Overhead presses
  • 6.  Curls

Mosey to Playground.  We will do “All My Benches”, jumping up 10 times with 20 second rests in between.  We will do this Five times.

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do “25’s” starting with 20 picnic table pull-ups and 5 bench lifts, going down by fives to 5 picnic table pull-ups and going up to 20 bench lifts.  Next, 60 second squat with back to wall.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:

20 Box Cutters.  20 Bicycle Kicks.  15 Dive Bombers.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Jim Branch in his “Daily Bible Readings Book” aka as “The Blue Book” has a week of bible verses dedicated to the concept of “Balance.”  He comments that most of us, when we think of balance, think of balancing various aspects of our life, so that our work, family, health, friendships, and leisure all get certain and maybe comparable amounts of attention.  He remarks that in the spiritual life, however, the word balance is defined differently.  Balance, he states, means being centered.  And, in the spiritual life, God is the center around which everything revolves.  God is the hub of the wheel, the focal point.  Thus, in being balanced, the question becomes, “Is God in the center of my life?  Is God what my life revolves around?”

To be a HIM, I believe we need to be asking ourselves this question.  And we can ask this question daily.  If we are balanced spiritually, we awake in the morning and talk to God, asking Him what he wants for us in this day.  We go to sleep reviewing our day with God, knowing He wants to hear us and that it is He whom we should direct our thoughts toward.  We ask Him for direction when we are making important decisions or dealing with confusing questions in our life.  We look to him for guidance when we are helping others who are difficult to help.  We thank Him when we see blessings occurring in our lives.  And, we even talk to Him when we are angry about life’s unfairness and blaming Him for awful things that have occurred.  We look to Him for strength to not only get through harrowing, difficult times, but for strength and encouragement to be the type of men, the type of HIM’s that we want to be, that we know He wants us to be.  We look to him when we are having difficulties with our marriages, with parenting, with our own parents, with are coworkers or friends.  And we see him as our Creator, the Creator, the Infinite, the great Healer, the Giver of life, the one who can redeem us from our sins and mistakes, the one whom we can worship and be glad for.

So, the next time we feel “unbalanced” we can ask ourselves,”Am I placing God at the center of my life right now?”  If we are feeling unbalanced, we will usually find that we are not placing God at the center.  And, the way to achieve more balance will be to place God at the center, asking Him for guidance in obtaining that balance we need.  For God is for us, not against us, knowing us and our individual gifts, there to help us be who He created us to be.
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Coffeeteria at Panera.  TTTP guys are running right now!