F3 Knoxville

Category: The Project

What do you think you’re doing?

THE SCENE: Perfect 47, crisp, waxing gibbous, still a bit damp from the snow
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

High Knees, stretch left, stretch right, Moroccan night clubs, tempo squats, tempo merkins

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to pool wall
    • Spurinna warns Julius of his doom coming by the Ides of March.
    • 7s, wall ups and dry docks
  • Mosey to amphitheater
    • Cassius is looking Pale, Caesar suspects something
    • 7s, box jumps and dips
  • Mosey to Friendship Bell
    • The last 3 straws
      • Caesar rejects the honors of the Senate
      • “I am not Rex, but Caesar” – Caesar removes the tribunes
      • Mark Antony crowning stunt
    • 3 sets of 25 decline merkins with a lap in between for each straw (1,2,3)
  • Gathering conspirators
    • 4 corners of the rectangle, sprint between them
    • 60 reps at each corner
      • Flutter kicks
      • LBCs
      • American hammers
      • Big boys
  • Back at the Friendship Bell
  • Julius’s wife, Calpurnia, receives a warning dream, tells him not to go to the Senate meeting
    • 5x (10 Bonnie Blair’s, then a burpee)
  • Conspirators come to his house and persuade him to ignore his wife
    • 3x (10 bobby hurleys, then 5 dry docks)
  • Mosey to pool wall – Passing Spurinna on the way to the Senate
    • 1 wall up, 1 dry dock
  • Mosey to amphitheater – Caesar is stabbed 23 times by his conspirators
    • 23 burpees

MARY:
23 heels-to-heaven and LBCs to time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Cassius and Brutus started down the path of conspiracy and murder because they feared that Julius would seize power, dissolve the Senate, and set himself up as king of Rome. They saw preservation of the Republic as being more important than the life of one man, even a man as great as Julius Caesar. Ironically, history shows that the assassination of Julius Caesar was the pivotal event that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Senate and the establishment of the first Emperor of Rome, Augustus Caesar, Julius Caesar’s heir.

John 11:45-50
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

Turns out the mistake of Cassius and Brutus wasn’t unique, as you would expect. We see the Jewish leadership make the same mistake in the Gospel. Jesus tells them that he is the one path that will free them from Roman oppression, but instead, thinking they are preserving their relationship with Rome, execute him. Less than 50 years later, Jerusalem is ransacked and the temple thrown to the ground. In attempting to save themselves from Rome, they brought about their own destruction. Fast forward 250 years, the Roman emperor converts to Christianity. Jesus accomplished a feat that the Jewish leaders would have thought impossible, bringing the power of Rome under the authority of the one true God.

What do you think you are doing? What are you ACTUALLY doing? When I seek to force the world to abide by my will, it usually blows up in my face. But when I surrender my will, the thing that I want often comes to me in unexpected ways or the error of my desire is revealed to me. Either way, the world is drawn together rather than being torn apart.

MOLESKIN:
Awesome to see Three-peat back out in the gloom!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Nothing new, see Slack for details on camping, hiking, family Q, shield lock, etc.

Good example

THE SCENE: a little windy, around 40 degrees at the Project
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
15 SSH, 15 Mountain climbers, 10 tempo merkins, 10 tempo squats, 15 Imperial walkers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the recruitment center and grab a block. Head to the theater stairs. Perform each exercise twice, running up the stairs after each set.

  • 25 merkins
  • 25 over head presses
  • 25 curls
  • 25 rows
  • 25 squats
  • 25 lunges
  • 25 heavy flutter kicks
  • 25 heavy LBCs

Bonus merkins at the end. Head back to the storage area and knock out 10 blockees. Head back to the flag.

MARY:
15 Freddie Mercury, 15 heels to Heaven, 15 flutter kicks, 15 prone rows
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 crushed that workout this morning!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.-John 13:12‭-‬16 NASB1995

Jesus’ example here shows us the importance of humility and serving others. Despite Jesus being God in the flesh, He still served others, showing us the true love we should have for our fellow man. We are to lead by serving just as Jesus did.

MOLESKIN:
Always a pleasure to lead at the Project. Nice prerunning this morning too!

Identidem Essentitas

THE SCENE:   39 and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
Seal squats
Phelps
Cherry pickers

THA THANG:

  • Mosey to the tennis courts.  Partner up.  P1 does split squats while P2 does a lap around the three courts, sprint, side shuffle, bernie, side shuffle.  Switchero.  Repeat, with P1 doing a decline plank.
  • Sprints across the parking lot.  First pole, second pole, all the way.
  • Mosey to the chamber of commerce.  Partner up.  100 hanging leg lifts between the pair. P2 runs to the sidewalk, 2 burpees, back.
  • North side of the COC – 3 jump squat 180s, crawl bear 2 parking spaces, 6 imperial walkers, repeat to the end of the parking lot.
  • Tricep extensions on the bridge, bob and weave, wall sit for time.
  • High school entrance.  25 LBCs, broad jump up the steps, 15 dips.  Repeat x 3
  • 10 No Chance, Bobbitts (NCBs)*
  • Mosey to the wall – 15 wall-ups
  • Race around 4 light poles – 15 squats at each.
  • 100 merkins scattered throughout

MARY:

100 seconds of plank
Dolly until time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 6 of the best men that I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Last Thursday, Mathlete talked about decision making and the concept of bricklaying.  “Find one thing at a time, make a decision, and then start living that decision out. This will train you to make that decision regularly.”  This morning, I tagged on to that and talked about habits.

The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identify associated with that behavior.  In fact, the word “identity” is derived from the Latin identidem, which means repeatedly, and essentitas, which means “being”.  Your identity is quite literally your “repeated beingness”.  William James said, “All our life…is but a mass of habits”.  You are what you repeatedly do.

It is, therefore, so important to establish and cultivate healthy habits, and to starve unhealthy habits.

How?  Author James Clear agrees with Mathlete – you do it by one little piece at a time.  He wrote in his book Atomic Habits, “it is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.”  We convince ourselves that success requires some massive dramatic action – but Clear says that small increments is the way to go.  If you established a tiny habit that improves you just 1% improvement per week – you would be 166% better in a year.  You’d be 276% better in 2 years.  There was a study performed in 2009 that determined on average it takes 66 days for a habit to form.  Tiny changes consistently applied over the course of 2 months – bam! – you’ve got a new habit.

One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior (welcome to F3!).  If you are working to remove an unhealthy habit – you need accountability (Shield Locks).  Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.

Why do we quit?

  • Boredom? “The greatest threat to success is not failure, but boredom” (Clear).
  • Short-term perspective?  “It is only when looking back two, five, or ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent” (Clear).  When we don’t see progress fast enough, we draw wrong conclusions.  We wrongly conclude that small wise decisions do not matter that much.  They DO.  We’re trying to stop something that is unhealthy – we don’t see results quickly – we wrongly conclude that small unwise decisions do not matter that much.  They DO.  (Hat tip, Craig Groeschel)

Identidem essentitas, your “repeated beingness”.  Every action you take is a vote for the type of man you want to become.  With that in mind…

  • What good habit do you need to start?
  • What unhealthy habit do you need to stop?

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

MOLESKIN:

Man…I LOVE running around in the dark with this band of crazies!

Prayers for Guardrail and his family

Prayers for Bambi’s daughter

* No Chance, Bobbitt (NCB) – An ab tuck while balancing your six on the edge of a bench.  Hold the bench right by your butt and it’ll be no problemo.  Apparently balancing on his rear is Bobbitt’s Achilles heel.  Who knew?

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Join a Shield Lock!  Two groups have formed at The Proj. – see Mathlete to jump into one or to start a third!

Agility training to unify the body

THE SCENE: Perfect spring weather, high 40s, clear, no moon
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators
  • Tempo Squats
  • Lunges
  • LBACs
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Mountain Climbers

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to recruiting center with agility warm up on the way
    • Borg-style lunge stretch
    • High knees
    • Butt kicks
    • Lateral
    • Karaoke
  • At the recruiting center, everybody get a block.
  • Remember, the goal is to feel soft and light. If it isn’t soft and light, slow down, ease up.
  • Dora – 300 heavy LBCs while your partner does toe taps, swap every 25 LBCs, at 150 swap to side taps
  • Dora – 200 heavy squats while your partner practices silent box jumps, swap every 25
  • Dora – 300 heavy freddies while partner does a cycle of ladder agility, swap each ladder cycle
    • High knees forward
    • One foot forward, each side
    • High knees lateral
    • One foot lateral, each side
  • Dora – 100 rows each arm while partner does a sprint from the belly, swap once he moseys back
  • One round of max pull ups
  • High tail it back

MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Speed is the lack of hesitation

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

Decision making is an enormous mental burden. Just watch someone who is doing it. They look into the distance or close their eyes. They can’t focus on other things, they seem distracted. Mentally evaluating possibilities and variations in outcomes occupies the entirety of cognitive processes.

Thus, if you want to be fast, if you want to be efficient, you need to eliminate all unnecessary decision making that you can. This is a major value of training, in general. It is the deliberate effort of pre-deciding on the details of action, then working to upload them into your routine memory so that you can respond quickly to a situation without the hesitation and burden of thought. This doesn’t mean you are thoughtless, on the contrary it effectively increases the volume of thought per time available to you by desynchronizing the process. By eliminating the need to think about the basics of your action, you can be freed to consider the situation from a tactical and strategic perspective. Our individual bodies are stunningly capable when executing a rehearsed action. What is more, our communal bodies are downright incomprehensible to watch when operating in coordination.

All this power rests essentially on layers of pre-decision. Today, when you are calm, thoughtful, patient, make some decisions. Decide what your priorities are, what you value, and what you would sacrifice for them. Take those values and start meticulously applying them to the real things that you do. Don’t do it in one day or one week. This is the process of bricklaying. Find one thing at a time, make a decision, and then start living that decision out. This will train you to make that decision regularly. Once that decision is trained, pick another. Don’t get high level, bring it down to discreet, actionable things.
MOLESKIN:
Steam punk candy canes
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Family workout Saturday at 9 am. Bobbit is working on planting an AO at Fort Southwest Point in Kingston. OTB workouts during April, join the slack channel #Rampart for info. Family camping trip April 1-3 at Cove Lake State Park, Family hike at 1pm April 2, meet at the Cove Lake parking lot. Contact Kickflip for details and to see if you can get one of his extra campsite reservations.

Joining Body and Spirit

THE SCENE: Wet, drippy, but not too cold for February
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • High knees
  • Projectivators
  • Tempo squats
  • Little baby arm circles
  • Tempo merkins
  • Fence steppers
  • Cherry pickers

THA-THANG:

  • Tabata with a Disney Princess Soundtrack
  • Tabata round 1 (45/15)
    • Curls
    • Heavy flutters
    • Heavy squats
    • CMU Swings
    • Row right
    • Row left
  • Mosey to play ground for max pull ups
  • Tabata round 2 (45/15)
    • Heavy LBCs
    • Block Jump overs
    • Gore Curls
    • Heavy freddy’s
    • Heavy heel raises
    • Walking CMU Merkins
  • Mosey to playground for max pull-ups
  • Tabata round 3 (45/15)
    • Heavy Lunges
    • Heel taps
    • Good mornings
    • Heavy Big Boys
    • Heavy Hammers
    • Blockees
  • Heavy squat ring of fire up to 5

MARY:
Enough time for a full round of dealer’s choice.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Matthew 6:16-18

16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,18so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

fasting, Schmemann argues, “rather than weakening us makes us light, concentrated, sober, joyful, pure.

true “Christian asceticism is a fight, not against but for the body.”

In Taft’s words, penance is “not a turning in on self, not a concentration on self-discipline as some sort of spiritual athletics, but an openness to new life, and through it openness to others, the end to which it is all supposed to lead.”

Schmemann counsels a fast to “control our speech”19 so that we can recover a measure of silence in our spiritual life without which we cannot hear the voice of the Lord.

fasting, like all forms of discipline, “is not a pitting of the spirit against the flesh, but rather body and soul united together against sin, body and soul converted together to the Lord.

The body is valuable and a precious gift of the Creator—who Himself of course took on human flesh—but its value is only recognizable paradoxically when it is not pampered but denied, as in fasting: “fasting in Christianity is only truly itself when it realizes the sacredness of the body.

fasting as a physical effort is totally meaningless, and potentially even dangerous, without its spiritual counterpart: ‘by fasting and prayer.

Prospective lent practices: Say the lord’s prayer twice a day, replace one meal a day with something nutritious but bland, Warm-up every morning

MOLESKIN:
This was a close approximation of a Q from last February, but the need for self discipline, both physical and spiritual, never stops.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Donations still ongoing to Wesley House – see Slack, CSAUP this Saturday, Family Q March 5 with Biohack and Chicken Lady co-Q.

I am trying to pull together a Shield Lock / Discipleship Band program for the AO. If you want to participate, let me know what times you could genuinely commit. I will try to line up groups of 3-4 based on common availability.