F3 Knoxville

Category: The Project

A.K.A.

THE SCENE:   Mid-50s.  Rainy, thundery, lightningy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:
Seal claps x 10 IC
Knee Tap Merkins x 10 IC
Tempo Squats x 10 IC
Lunge Runners x 10 each leg IC
Projectivator x 10 IC

THA THANG:
Dodge the lightning and head to cover under the senior center veranda.

Last week, Erector started a ridiculously hard pyramid workout.  We didn’t even get halfway through….  Time to pick-up where we left off…at lunges (i.e. Round 6 of the pyramid).  Instead of running a lap between Rounds (Erector’s plan), we’ll bear crawl the length of the veranda.

The pyramid was;
20 Merkins
20 Squats
20 Mountain Climbers
20 Flutter Kicks
20 Diamond Merkins
20 Lunge
20 Burpees
20 Freddy Mercury

We finished 7 more rounds – 800 reps and a bunch of bear crawls.  180 burpees between the three of us (Yeeeessss, Mermaid….we will log them….) 

MARY:
Hillbillies
Hello Dollies
BBS
Sleeping Hillbillies

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
3 HIMs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Early in the biblical story of Daniel, the nation of Babylon besieges Jerusalem – plundering the Temple of God and kidnapping some of the noble families.  Among the captives brought back to Babylon were Daniel and his three friends; Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  Once in captivity, they were given new names to conform to the culture; Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and placed into service of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar.

Two years later, Nebuchadnezzar had a nightmare and issued a threat to his sorcerers and counselors (whom Daniel/Belteshazzar was then among), “Tell me what my dream was and what it means – or you’ll be torn limb from limb and your houses destroyed…”  Picking up in Daniel 2:17-18, “Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.”  When he was in trouble and needed true friends to pray with him, Daniel found the three men whom he knew like none other.  He had a history with these men, and he called them by names that few others in Babylon knew them as; Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Some of our F3 culture is, admittedly, peculiar – like calling each other by nicknames.  But I love it.  That nickname marks you in a distinctive way, and those who identify you by your alias know you as few others do.  We know you as a man who is willing to time-and-again slide from his warm bed to better himself and his friends.  We don’t care about your career, your education, your stuff – or your mistakes, your history, your insecurities… Instead, we value your authenticity, your humility, and your determination to get better in all facets of life.  Your vulnerability during a Word impresses us more than your physical intensity during the Q.  We know you as few others do.  

In the gloom, the relationships are as exceptional as the names are unique.  I know that men named Erector and Snaggletooth will get out of bed and do burpees with me in the lightning and pouring rain.  Men named Mailbox and Rocket challenge me to be the best version of myself that I can be – physically, relationally, spiritually.  Men named Samaritan, Slappy, and Guardrail pray for my family and pray that I will be more like Christ each day.  Those men all know that KickFlip is praying for their vitality and he has their back during any trouble that may come their way.  If help is needed, I hope I’m at the top of their call lists.

Out here, you are known in a unique way – which is why you are known by a different name.

MOLESKIN:

Don’t blame me…blame Erector!

Prayers for Rocket and his mother, for Spotter/Gump and their mother, for the health of each other’s families, for each other’s patience

Hat tip to Brad Raby

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Everything’s Heavy after 150 CMU Thrusters

THE SCENE: 30* with some dusting of snow, beautiful morning for some heavy work
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Yeppers
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSHx10, Hairy Rockettesx10, Windmillsx10, LBAC fwd/bck x15, Tempo Squatsx10
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the recruiting center.

1st Thang: Knockout the February F3 Knoxville challenge. 150 CMU Thrusters for time.

2nd Thang: A tabata circuit with 20sec on/10 sec rest. Perform 4 sets of an exercise before moving to the next. Stations were:

  1. 20lbs slam ball: Side throw into the wall, switch sides after each set.
  2. 30lbs Ruck Push-ups
  3. 30lbs Weighted sit-ups inside the big tire allowing for more ROM on the sit-up
  4. 50lbs Ammo Can single-arm rows, switch arm each set.
  5. 20lbs sledgehammer swings on the smaller tire, switch sides each set
  6. Small brick lateral and front raises
  7. 30lbs Single-arm DB snatch, switch sides each set
  8. 60lbs Sandbag over the shoulder toss

We had time for everyone to get in one full circuit with 4 sets of each exercise.

Moseyed back to the shovel flag.

MARY:
Never heard of her.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
4 HIMs, almost 3 until Snaggletooth came in on two wheels at the last second.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I shamelessly bragged on my Mom. She was diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer in January 2020 after being cancer free for 10+ years. When she first felt a lump she had it biopsied to see if it was cancerous. One of her good friends from church also had a lump and was awaiting results of a biopsy. My mom told me that during that time she prayed to God asking that if one of them had to have cancer, she wanted it to be her. My Mom knew that she could handle it, as she had already been through it once and her friend is younger and still has kids living at home. My Mom has never failed to impress me with both her faith and her love for those around her, but that statement really touched me. I’m hopeful that I can reflect that type of love for others in my day to day life.
MOLESKIN:
The 150 CMU thruster buy-in this morning definitely made the weights feel heavier. I’m thankful that the Army recruiting center has allowed us to use their toolbox (2 big tires, weighted ammo can, pull-up bar, etc) and thankful that Kickflip had the initiative to ask. Looking forward to some more Heavy Thursdays in my future.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Snacks for Wesley House. Convergence at JUCO on 3/28.

Pyramid Scheme

THE SCENE: A little drizzle and mid 40s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
15 SSH, 10 Morrocan night club, 15 mountain climbers, 10 tempo squats, 10 slow windmill
THA-THANG:
Mosey the the playground for 11s- start with 1 burpee and 10 pull-ups

Mosey to amphitheatre for:

Pyramid- perform first exercise and make a lap around the creek. Each round add an exercise. The plan was to get to all 8 exercises and then start dropping the first exercise each round.

  • 20 Merkins
  • 20 squats
  • 20 mountain climbers (4-ct)
  • 20 flutter kicks (4-ct)
  • 20 diamond merkins
  • 20 lunges
  • 20 burpees
  • 20 Freddie Mercury (4-ct)

MARY:
10 burpees OYO, 20 Freddie Mercury IC
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Lucky 7 at the Project
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:3‭-‬8 NASB

I challenge you to always regard others as more important than yourselves and see what happens with your life. Even the simplest act of humility can have a major impact. Take a simple example of heavy traffic. When merging, if you provide a little more space between yourself and the car in front of you, someone can merge in without interruption. If everyone is bumper to bumper, someone eventually stops (a good Samaritan, if you will) to let another car in. Everyone else had to stop too…and so on. Find ways to be humble in all that you do.
MOLESKIN:
11s with pull-ups and burpees…not my best plan. The pyramid was highly ambitious too. We got through the diamond Merkins…not even half done! All still got a good workout.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Snacks for Wesley House.

X

THE SCENE:  Wet and warm
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:
Projectivator x 10 IC
Moroccan Nightclub x 10 IC
Overhead Claps x 10 IC
Squats x 10 IC
Merkins x 10 IC
Mountain Climbers x 10 IC
CMU Curls x 26 OYO

THA THANG:

Mosey to the amphitheater

“Seven X”:  Imagine a large X dissecting the amphitheater stage.  Starting at one corner of the X, perform the exercise then bear crawl to the center of the X, turn left and bear crawl to the next corner (clockwise).

Corner 1 – Curls
Corner 2 – Squats
Corner 3 – Overhead presses
Corner 4 – CMU Swings

Round 1, 7×1 = 7 reps of each
Round 2, 7×2 = 14 reps
Round 3, 21 reps…
Round 4, 28 reps…
I’d planned to do additional sets….but we’ve got more work to do.  Move along, you lucky guy!

 

NEXT….
Battle buddy up…
Round 1
P1 – heavy bear to the line and back
P2 – LBC
Cycle through 2x
Round 2
P1 – heavy lunge to the line and back
P2 – Clean and press CMU
Cycle through 2x
Round 3:
P1 – sprint to the rail and back
P2 – Plyometric merkins on CMUs
Cycle through 2x

 

NEXT….
Tabata – 20 seconds work + 10 seconds rest (goal is 20 reps each set)
Round 1:  Goblet squats (3 sets)
Round 2:  Tricep extensions (3 sets)
Round 3:  Weighted crunch w/ CMU (3 sets)
Round 4:  Curls (3 sets)

Mosey home…

MARY:

No time!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

9 Men

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

This Word of encouragement may be meaningless to you today… If so, I ask you to tuck these words into your heart, so that you will be reminded of them if you ever do need them – or that you will share them with someone in your life who needs them now.  These are words of encouragement for someone who is suffering after a profound loss.  These are words that you will need to know in one of life’s darkest moments – but that might seem insensitive, or certainly uncomfortable, for someone to tell you.  Listen for a minute and remind your future self of these words…

If you asked any historian, “Who are the Top 5 most remarkable U.S. presidents in history?”, odds are good that their list would include our 26th – Teddy Roosevelt.  He was a fascinating character and accomplished a tremendous amount in his life.  Assistant Secretary of the Navy…  Hero of the Spanish-American war…  Governor of New York…  Vice-president, then youngest person ever to become President… While in office, he was the first president to have a telephone installed in the white house… first president to ride in a submarine… first to leave the country while in office (to check on his little side-hustle, the Panama Canal…), first president to be awarded the Medal of Honor, first to be awarded the Noble Peace Prize, and on and on…. A remarkable life!

BUT – before he did any of those things – when he was just 25 years old – he endured a pain that is unimaginable to me.  On Valentine’s Day 1884, in the same house – both his mother and his wife died of unrelated diseases.  In his journal that day, young Roosevelt drew a large X and wrote only a single sentence, “the light has gone out of my life”.

Roosevelt was so deeply grieved that he left his newborn daughter with his sister and escaped by himself to the Dakota Territory.  It was there that he learned to ride and rope, he lived among hardened men, he developed into the man who would later be nicknamed “The Lion”, and he completely reoriented the trajectory of his life.  After three years, he returned home and assumed custody of his daughter.  It would be another decade more before those notable achievements in public life would start.

Here’s what I want you to remember from Teddy Roosevelt’s early life;

  1. If you ever have the misfortune of suffering a profound loss, you may feel like life cannot go on (“the light has gone out of my life”) – in those moments, take your refuge in the Lord our Comfort, and know this – life WILL go on for you.  Grieve in a healthy way but remember in those terrible moments that your grief will come to an end.  From the Psalms, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)  “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:19).  “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3).
  2. Difficult as it may be to consider in that moment, your grief may be transformative for you.  Like Roosevelt, your grief may be the catalyst for you to reorient your life.  Sometimes you’re in a dark place and you feel like you’ve been buried – but actually you’ve been planted and are getting ready to grow (hat tip, Christine Caine).  Grief can deepen your faith in God and your reliance on His strength over your own.  It can prepare you to have empathy for others who will suffer after you.  It can give you laser focus on what matters most in life.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:10).

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Curveball’s daughter, who is traveling to The Great White North

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Project: Sore Baby Chest

THE SCENE: 50s and raining… It was great. Coulda been much worse, right?
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Welcome to F3, Free Workout, Not a professional, You’re here of your own volition, Scale/modify as needed, I have a cell phone in the event of an emergency. Done and Done.
WARM-O-RAMA:
Due to rain, we warmed up under the covered drive of the Senior Center.
1. 15 SSH – 4ct, IC
2. 15 Squat – 4ct, IC
3. 15 Arm circles – 4ct, IC (both directions)
4. 15 Moroccan nightclub – 4ct, IC
5. 15 Overhead clap – 4ct, IC
6. 15 Merkins – 4ct, IC
7. 5 Burpees – OYO
8. 10 Cherry Pickers – 4 ct, IC
9. 8 Project Motivators (AKA The Project-ivators – IT’S A THING)

THA-THANG:

Mucho Chesto @ Amphitheater: My kids think it’s funny that I don’t have any hair on my chest. They call me “baby chest” because they think all men should have hairy chests. (What are we back in the 80’s when Tom Selleck was the measure of a man?) So, as punishment, I mean, for exercise, PAX did 10 of each type of merkin: Regular, Wide, Diamond, Stagger Right, Stagger Left for a total of 50 merkins. Rinse-Repeat for a total of 100. Lots of groaning and ugly form in the 2nd set. Mosey over to Library Parking Lot.

Barak Obama @ Library Parking Lot: Named after the 44TH POTUS, PAX begin at one parking lot island, bear crawl 4 parking lines then do 4 merkins. Rinse/repeat to the other parking lot island. It was only light rain at this point so there was little to no complaining. That started when we bear crawled back 4 parking lines + 4 merkins back to the starting point. Mosey over to the Senior Center Parking Lot.

Apple Turnover @ Senior Center Parking Lot – We needed to grab gloves because my tender hands were revolting against me for all that bear crawling – on the asphalt – in the rain. Just in time for MORE BEAR CRAWLING. Apple turnover included PAX bear crawling 3 parking lines, and then flipping over to crabwalk (forward) 3 parking lines. We began from one parking lot island to the far parking lot island. When we made it there – we crawl-beared (that’s right, backward bearcrawling…) 3 parking lines, flipped over to crabwalk (backward) returning to starting point.

BONUS: Since we burned through our workout so quickly, with the extra time, we did 5 burpees at one end of the parking lot and sprinted to the other side. Then, 5 burpees and sprint back to the start. Rinse and repeat until I was completely gassed – I mean, until time ran out.

MARY:
Mary @ Covered Drive of Senior Center: PAX Choice – LBCs, Rosalita, Freddy Mercury, Left Side Crunches, Right Side Crunches, Flutter kicks, and Big Boys with funky cadence, courtesy of Mailbox.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Lucky 7: Erector, Kickflip, Rocket, Samaritan, Mailbox, Slappy, Snaggletooth-Q

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

ALL WHO TRUST, LOVE, AND FOLLOW CHRIST ARE MINISTERS OF RECONCILIATION.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 – “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

MOLESKIN:
I have the privilege of visiting fellow followers of Jesus who are incarcerated at the Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX). I am writing a letter to the governor of Tennessee on behalf of a friend for clemency. I believe that his life in prison testifies that he has paid enough of his sentence, that he is a true follower of Jesus, and that his life is better spent outside of prison walls with his family and as a contributing member of society, not as a threat or a parasite. He now can live and serve as an ambassador for Jesus, calling and imploring others to be reconciled to God, as he himself has been through Jesus Christ our Lord. What’s striking is how we can view someone in one way, when God sees him another way completely. While his prison sentence is justified, he now has a greater calling (a minister of reconciliation) to live beyond his past into a new eternal purpose as a new man.

WE ARE MINISTERS OF RECONCILIATION.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The Project adding Thursdays so we’re all going to be Q’ing a couple times each month. Tuesdays will remain traditional bootcamp workouts, Thursdays will be heavy work: rucking, CMU, etc. Kickflip on Q – bring CMUs. Hardship Hill in May – JUCO has at least one team with another possibly in the works. Sign-up.