F3 Knoxville

Dream Come True

THE SCENE:  67 and clear.  Perfect.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered.

WARM-O-RAMA: 

  • Reach for the sky!
  • Let it hang!
  • Abe Vigoda – IC x 8
  • Cherry pickers – IC x 8
  • Mountain climbers – IC x 8
  • E2K L/R – IC x 10

THA THANG:

Mosey to the recruitment center.  Grab some CMUs and head to the cinema.

Stairway to Seven:  Perform all exercises then carry the CMU to the next line.  First line is 3 reps of each – each line increases the number of reps by 3 (e.g. 2nd line is 6 reps, 3rd line is 9 reps…7th line is 21 reps – total of 84 reps).

Exercises are;

  • Curls
  • Goblet Squats
  • Overhead presses
  • Jumpovers

Carry to the next line – increase rep count by 3….

Early finishers do some ab work.

At line 7:  Turn around and go back down the stairway – starting with 21 reps (each line decreases by 3 reps).

Exercises are;

  • Tricep extension
  • CMU Lunge
  • Upright row
  • Calf raises

Finished early to move on…

Mosey to the cinema steps for Diego

Partner 1 runs to the top of the stairs while Partner 2 does exercises.  Switchero.

  • 100 – Split Merkins
  • 150 – Overhead press
  • 200 – Heavy LBC
  • 250 – Curls
  • 300 – Squats w/ CMU

MARY:

ABCs

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 5 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

“Dream come true”.  Have you ever said those words?  Maybe about a vacation? Or about working from home during the pandemic?  Or about fatherhood?  Or after a purchase that you’d anticipated for many years?

For my family, last Saturday was a day of dreams coming true.  For my sons’ entire young lives, they have desperately wanted a dog.  My reluctant wife finally relinquished, and we picked up our Bernese Mountain dog mix named “Rose”.  Romping through the house, chasing and being chased – for my sons, it is their dream come true.

My wife and I have a dream of one day traveling in an awesome RV – staying in national and state parks, seeing all the countryside that our beautiful nation has to offer, meeting people, exploring…that is a dream of ours.  On Saturday – the same day that we picked up our dog – we also made arrangements to buy a small travel trailer and a truck.  We took one small step toward our dream coming true.

In Genesis Chapter 28, we read about a strange dream.  Jacob, running from his homicidal brother and alone in the wilderness, laid down to sleep.  In his dream, he saw a stairway stretching from the earth to heaven and angels were ascending and descending on it.  At the top of the stairway stood God and He said to Jacob, (paraphrased) “I will give you this land.  Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth.”  When Jacob woke up, he did a couple of things.  First, he showed wonder, “What an awesome place this is!”  I can imagine him thinking – God, you’ve met me here in the wilderness when I thought I was abandoned and you showed me the blessing of my future – what a dream come true…  Then he took a stone and made a pillar to commemorate the dream.  Then he poured oil on the stone.  Finally, he made a vow to God.

I want to ask you to think about your dreams in two ways this morning.

First – what in your life is a dream come true?  What – if you didn’t have it – would be something that you’d say, “if only…that would be a dream come true”.  Maybe your health?  I know if I were terminally ill, I could hear myself saying, “If only I was healthy…that would be a dream come true”.  What is it for you?  Your marriage?  Your good job?  Whatever that thing, I’m challenging you to have fresh gratitude for it today.  Like Jacob after his dream, say “how awesome!” that you have this in your life.

Second – what is a dream that you have for the future?  What do you look out at and wish, “Dream, come true!”.  When Jacob woke from his dream, he set a stone.  Years later, he would return to that stone and build it into an altar – but that day, he set one stone.  What is one stone you can set – one thing you can do to advance toward your dream?  Jacob poured oil on the stone – a sacrifice, a financial investment.  What is one small thing you could do to invest in your dream?  Finally, he made a vow, a promise, he talked about his dream.  Maybe you can tell your dream to a trusted friend.  Words are powerful.  Speaking words out loud is powerful.  Telling a friend, speaking those words, seeking advice, making a plan – that is a step toward your dream.  Proverbs 15:22 “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”  What dream can you look at and say, “Dream, come true”?  Take a small step toward making it happen.

Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no VISION, the people perish

Proverbs 20:5, “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

“Vision without execution is delusion”.  Thomas Edison

MOLESKIN:

Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Step Up – Fulfill Your Responsibilities!

THE SCENE: Dry but about to produce some sweat.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER + COVID distancing: Administered + Cell Phone
WARM-O-RAMA:

IC 10 x Moroccan Night Club (Erector almost missed this one but quickly rose to his feet!)
IC 10 x Oompa Loompa IC (everyone in the warmup circle squat alternating with the person next to you)
IC 7 x Overhead Clap
IC 10 x Raise the roof (calf raise + air press)
OYO 10 x El Capitan
IC 7 x “Power T” Merkins (S/O to Mailbox for this one – it’s a hand release merkin but arms go straight out to each side)
OYO 5 x “Projectee” (burpee + donkey kick after the push-up part – it didn’t flow like I wanted but it was hard haha)

THA-THANG:Picture of the Workout path from 1 (Warmup) to 7, stop at 3 on the way back and finish at 1:
Mosey to 2: 7 runs total to the first light pole:
1 warmup
5@100% sprints
1 cool down

Mosey to 3 aka the International Friendship Bell
Do 10 each exercise for the duration of the “Friends” theme song (full length)

Freddy Mercury
Rocky Balboa (high steps)
Incline Merkins
El Capitan
Newton’s Cradle
Derkins
Step Ups

Mosey to 4 Descending Route 66:
11, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 burpees – 1 set per parking space + 1 Projectee (burpee + donkey kick) per set
Q-called this one with most PAX starting at 5 or 4.

Mosey to 5 Will the Circle Be Unbroken:
During the song:
Verse – Newton’s Cradle
Chorus – Lunge in alternating circular directions starting clockwise
Instrumental Break / Bridge – Q called several PAX to name a core exercise that we did until the next verse / chorus

Run to 6: Wagon Wheel as necessary while pushing the pace from mosey to faster
At 6 we did 10 of each of the following (out and back like a “wagon wheel):
Diamon Merkin (I think we did these – a car came and we had to break for that but then they turned away)
Crab walk
Lunge

Mosey to 7 for Mucho leg-o (okay so no song “directly” goes with this one but Bailamos was the best I could find)
1) Narrow squat (feet together),
2) regular-stance squat,
3) wide squat,
4) Bonnie Blair (jumping lunge) with left foot forward,
5) Bonnie Blair with right foot forward (then back to narrow stance).
Repeato until you look like a baby giraffe stumbling across the Savannah.
Q called it after ~10 sets so 40 squats but doing them slowly, 1 at a time was a new DOMS experience for sure!

Mosey back to 3 with a Wagon Wheel along the way that included an unexpected detour through the grass.
At 3 do 10 Step-Ups OYO (that’s all the time we had left!)

MARY:
No time for that.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 PAX Stepped It Up Today to be HIMs! (picture in link)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Initial Question: What are you responsible for? F3 (Q, follow, invest), wife/gf (if you have one), children, friends, family, church… Think about it- are you passive or active? Are you idle or do you take initiative?
2 Thessalonians 3:10-15
10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let
him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12
Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to
earn their own living. 13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not
obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be
ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

3 Questions we can ask from this passage
1. What are you being idle about?
For me? Very clearly: My PE Exam study. I’m getting my application in this week and will follow my study schedule that I’m going to make.
2. Who do you need to warn as a brother with regard to idleness, passivity?
You reading this is me warning you if you’re being idle. Of course I’m aware of people I need to warn (and am praying about when to say this warning to them), but we are called to go directly to our brother and not gossip (Matthew 18) so I’ll leave you with that thought to consider yourself. Also, I’d love to talk to any of you who wrestle with this (because it’s common to us all)
3. Last, how can you rely more on God to work in you and in others?
If we try to be busy working on our own but not relying on God, we can despair if we “fail” or become prideful if we “succeed.” Philippians 4:6-7 has served me well in many hard times – in the moment, take a moment and pray and rely on God’s strength as you act yourself and as you warn others who are busybodies but not busy working.

MOLESKIN:
Praise and continued prayer for Slappy’s father-in-law as the doctors/tests have found they’re unsure what to make of his health situation as they can’t find anything wrong with him in all the testing and markers.
Prayer for Erector’s pastor who was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer just this past week

Somewhere along the way I lost a glove. I took it off to use my phone to play the mp3s of all of the songs and then I forgot to put it back on. Always wear gloves! I had such a fun time Q’ing. But I’m still learning- and boy do I have a long way to go!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Announcements: Iron PAX Challenge coming up in September Friday’s at JUCO & Shamrock

PAUSE – and LISTEN (HEAVY PT @THE PROJECT)

THE SCENE: Beautiful morning to work out…
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: All the good stuff…
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • “Reach for the skies”/”Let it hang…” (from Survivor’s VQ yesterday!)
  • Projectivator (The Project Special Motivator) x7
  • LBAC (fwd/back) x10/Overhead clap x10
  • Tempo Merkins x7/Mtn Climbers x10
  • Tempo Squats X7
  • Cherry Pickers x7
  • Mosey to RC

THA-THANG: HEAVY PT THURSDAYS

CMU WORK:

  • 20 CMU Thrusters/CMU bearcrawl to next parking island
  • 20 CMU Squats/CMU lunge to next parking island
  • 20 CMU Curls/CMU lunge back to last parking island
  • 20 CMU Combo Overhead Press-Tricep Ext/CMU bearcrawl back to 1st parking island

PARTNER (groups of 2-3) PAIN STATIONS:

  • “Flippin’ Big Boys” Tire Flip (1 big/1 bigger): 10 flips/20 BBS (2 rounds)
  • “Squat/Carry” Telephone Pole or Big Wood Block: 20 squats/Mosey w/ pole/block to end of parking lot/20 squats/Mosey back w/pole/block
  • Pull-UP/Flutter Kick: 10 PU/20 FK (4-ct), 5 PU/10 FK, 3 PU/6 FK, 2 PU/4 FK, 1 PU/2 FK

MARY:
Just enough time for some Freddie Mercury

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
7STRONG: ERECTOR, MATHLETE, PI, SLAPPY, HOUND DOG, NUCLEAR NINJA, SNAGGLETOOTH

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Simple word – tough application: PAUSE AND LISTEN

It’s been my experience since the world went crazy with COVID that God has been trying to teach me to slow down to LISTEN TO HIM. All the world has been disrupted but there is more information and misinformation than ever before – the Twitterverse is all a-twitter, you could say twitterpated. But for all this disruption, for the information, news, constant changes – there is NO PEACE. We want peace, but won’t slow down and listen for the ONE WHO IS THE PRINCE OF PEACE. Our challenge today is to slow down for communion with God, quiet our busy hearts and minds (actually shut up and be quiet), and wait… for the still small voice of God’s Spirit.

“The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” (I Peter 3:12, NLT) God hears you. He is listening to you.

Will you PAUSE to hear Him?

MOLESKIN:

Today was an especially beautiful morning to be out with the guys – working hard, getting better. Special prayers lifted up for Slappy’s father-in-law for cancer diagnosis/treatments/healing, and peace/strengthened faith for him and the family.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Erector’s friend is putting on a benefit 5K run (that he doesn’t have to train for!) He’ll put more info in the F3 Slack channels.

PERSEVERANCE (Nuclear Ninja VQ!)

THE SCENE: PERFECT GLOOM
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Regular + Cell phone + COVID
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH x15
  • Tempo Squat x10
  • Moroccan Nightclub x15
  • Cherrypickers x10

THA-THANG:
Mosey around canal to back wall for Mucho Chesto:

  • Decline merkin x10
  • Regular merkin x10
  • Wide merkin x10
  • Diamond merkin x10
  • Stagger merkin x10
  • Stagger merkin x10 (other side for SYMMETRY!)
  • Incline merkin x10

Mosey into the gloom of Bissell Park for BURPEES:

  • 30 BURPEES
  • Lunge OUT (x10/leg)
  • Broadjump back to start
  • 25 BURPEES
  • Rinse/Repeat – working down to 5 BURPEES for time

MARY:
Mountain Climbers x20

LBC x20

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Nuclear Ninja, Pi, Erector, Kickflip, Chaco, Mailbox, Dart Gun, Pool Boy, Snaggletooth, FNG (yet to be named – didn’t make the COT/BOM)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
PERSEVERANCE – Pushing past the dark place in your mind that would want to give up, knowing that the prize will be worth the work. Great athletes pushed the boundaries of what could be done but pushing into their own perseverance is the greatest obstacle. F3 is an example: today we persevered to do over 100 burpees. Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame – Why? – for the joy set before him of bringing us into relationship with God. (Heb 12:2) He saw the prize of obedience to His Father’s plan greater than the suffering he bore on the cross for our sins. He persevered. And so can we.

MOLESKIN:
I (Snaggletooth) am so proud of this guy. Nuclear Ninja and his dad Pi have been coming to The Project since March or April. ORIGIN STORY: I saw these hardcore guys from my office window running laps and doing burpees (30 at a time!) at the Robertsville Middle School track. I thought, “Who are these guys and what are they training for?” These guys were making everyone else look like sad clowns. So I went out there with a card and invited them to F3. They showed up Thursday and (un)lucky for them Doubtfire came with a guest Q and we bearcrawled all over creation – I thought these guys are never coming back. But we named them Nuclear Ninja and Pi and they’ve been back EVERY TUESDAY AND THURSDAY since then (barring being out of town).

My own 2.0 (Isaiah, 9-years-old) came out this morning but didn’t make it to the COT/BOM so he remains an FNG. He’ll be back and we’ll get him a proper F3 name. One day, I know he’ll be like Nuclear Ninja – running us all ragged and bringing a good word to his fellow PAX. SYITG!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Bipolar Dora Bears Oh My!

THE SCENE: It’s Tuesday, It’s The Project, It’s Raining (Backblast forgotten in the draft status….whoops)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered: Welcome, F3, Fitness, Fellowship, Faith, not a professional, free, here on your own volition, don’t know your injuries, modify as necessary, have cell phone in case of emergency (remembered the last part as the fire truck passed by)

WARM-O-RAMA:

5 Cherry Pickers IC
20 Gradycorn IC
15 Imperial Squat Walkers – IC
High Knees with Burpee Breaks
10 – Projectovators – Nicely done gentlemen

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Ring around Rosey that looked like nested Russian dolls on Google map.   Had no idea where we were or what area is called but looked nice on Google Maps so figured I would try it.   There were 8 monument markers around the 1/10 mi loop.   PAX spread out around the loop at each marker and started by doing 2 – 4x4s then lunge walking to next monument, 2 – 4x4s then bear crawling, 2 – 4x4s / lunge walk, rotating back and forth between lunges/bear crawls until we made it all the way around and completed getting wet for the morning.

Battle buddy up and started what I called a bipolar lazy dora by the creek head waters.  PAX1 did 25 (1 or 2ct) Shoulder Taps, while PAX2 held plank, alternating every 25 reps until 100 reps were completed together.   At 100 reps battle buddy together completed ~1/4mi lap around the creek.  Next did 200 LBC in 25 increments while partner held 6″ leg hold and again stopped at 100/200 reps for more lap.  Then up Squats/Al Gore up to 300 in increments of 25 with laps at 100/200/300 reps.

Mosey over to the square planter benches by the fountains between the buildings.   Each PAX took a square and completed 10 dips on one side, 10 incline merkins on next, 10 decline merkins on 3rd side and finally 10 step-ups on 4th side.   Then completed one bear crawl loop around the square and rinse and repeat until time was up.  Majority completing 3 or 4 circuits.

MARY:
No Time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 PAX including 1 FNG – Trough – WELCOME!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’” Isaiah 43:1-2
Especially in this current moment in time with the never ending talk of the coronavirus, it seems like it is easy to quickly get consumed by fear.   The more time we spend with the TV on or surfing the internet those fears can only grow in intensity.   But there are so many verses like above in God’s word that tells us to not be afraid and that God will never leave us in the roughest of waters.  In God’s word is where we will always find our truth and our hope in the unknown.   Today, fear can be present in all areas of our life, from health and well being, to finanicial worries, relationships, work, family, stress, etc.  There is no doubt that coronavirus is serious and it is good to take precautions but when we allow fear to cripple us we are really selling God short.  We are telling God that we don’t fully trust him with this part of our lives.  Fear can cause us to try to reserve control of certain areas of our lives and keep them away from God’s influence.  When we fully allow ourselves to not be in control, to give him all things, it is such a beautiful and relaxing feeling.      But we can take faith that for those who Christ blood has redeemed have been set free from bondage and fear.  We can always take our worries and leave them at his feet, knowing that we will never be successful trying to overcoming them alone.  We are created in his image called by name like sons of God. We are His.  We are protected like any father would do to his Children. Despite the roaring waters and burning flames around us we will not be overcome. He is with us in all things.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Rocket’s mom who was back in the ER, Trolley’s wife’s ankle, wisdom for travel decisions for Snaggletooth’s wife.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Nothing new.