F3 Knoxville

Protect Your Critical Infrastructure

THE SCENE:  72 and clear.  Perfect for an IPC beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Skipped. 
WARM-O-RAMA:
 Warmup OYO while we talk through the workout.
THA THANG:  IPC Week 2
MARY:  None
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA:  23 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

We remembered this morning, the 2,977 lives which were taken 19 years ago in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.  That number incudes 343 firefighters and 60 police officers who worked desperately to evacuate 25,000 people from the World Trade Center buildings before they collapsed.  Those lost were not just our countrymen – citizens of 78 different nations died in those tragedies.  It was a solemn day for the world.

After we mourned our dead, our challenge was to learn and apply lessons from that tragic day.  The events of Sept 11 exposed vulnerabilities in the national systems which protect us.  The Department of Homeland Security was created and charged with preventing future terror attacks – and the FBI has cataloged at least 42 major domestic terrorist attacks which were prevented in the nineteen years since 9/11.  In February 2003, a year and a half after the Sept 11 attacks, the White House released a report titled, “The National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets”.  Airports, interstates, powerplants, bridges – can you imagine a nation without them?  No, they are critical infrastructure – and they are vulnerable.  After the crisis that we went through, federal leadership recognized that we must dramatically improve how we protect these important assets from disaster and sabotage.

Let’s talk an application to your life, a specific challenge to think about, and a plea…

  • The Application:  Think about your personal “critical infrastructure”.  I’m not talking about your house…  I’m talking about your mind, your heart, your eyes, and your mouth.  These are essential to your vitality.  Can you imagine your life without them?  No – and they are vulnerableWe must dramatically improve how we protect these important assets from disaster and sabotage.
  • The Challenge:  What do you need to do to better protect your critical infrastructure?  Which one of these resonates with you?  Maybe you’re like me and they ALL hit home…
    • Your Mind: 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”.  What are you filling your mind with?  What do you think about day in and day out?  How do you allow your thoughts to persist – constructive or destructive?  What changes are needed for you to better protect your mind?   
    • Your Heart:  Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”  What do you spend your energy, time, and treasure on?  What are you devoting yourself to?  Is that thing or cause worthy of your heart?    What changes are needed for you to better protect your heart?   
    • Your Eyes: Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light”.  Do you feel full of light? What do you watch for leisure? Murder, adultery, pride – these are things that our God hates.  Are you consuming them as entertainment?  Do you gulp through your eyes fake pictures of fake naked women and fill your body with that counterfeit romance?  What changes are needed for you to better protect your eyes?   
    • Your Mouth: Proverbs 13:3 “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin”.  Proverbs 15:4, “Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”  Do the words that come out of your mouth bring life and sweetness to a conversation?  Are you careful with your tongue – or do you wield that powerful weapon like a fool?  What changes are needed for you to better protect your mouth?   
  • The PleaDON’T WAIT UNTIL DISASTER HITS BEFORE YOU EVALUATE YOUR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND MAKE THE NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS.  Don’t wait until you’ve been gut punched before you protect your mind, heart, eyes, and mouth.  Don’t wait until your marriage is falling apart before you finally admit that consuming pornography is mental adultery – and it has a very real and terrible impact on your relationship with the most important woman in your life.  Don’t wait until your kids are grown, gone, and want nothing to do with you before you realize that you were foolish with your tongue and that the destructive words you spoke over them brought death to that relationship. Don’t wait until you are laying on a bed one day breathing your last, to look back with regret and realize that you spent your thoughts and gave your heart to things which have no significance in eternity.

Evaluate your critical infrastructure and make the needed changes.  Break habits and start habits today.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Valley Church is launching this Sunday – 5:00 pm at HVA.  See Booster for details.

Simple Workout, Simple Message, Simple Gospel

THE SCENE: All good.
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
Windmill
Tempo Merkins
Mt Climbers
Tempo Squats
Morrocan Night Clubs

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Brick Wall, Dora-up
– 100 Derkans
– 200 Dips
– 300 Irkins
Mosey to Freshmen Hill
– Run Up the Hill
– Freddy Mercury (25, IC)
– Run Down the Hill
– Flutter Kicks (25, IC)
Repeat 3x
Mosey back to AO (Squats, Lunges, Monkey Humpers along the way)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Simple Workout, Simple Message – That’s the Gospel
Isaiah 1: 16-17a
Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Eph 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Rom 10:9-10
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Don’t make the gospel so complicated, simply accept the gospel and live it out.

 

JUCO: Iron PAX Week 1

THE SCENE: 70ish and muggier than a dark alley in NYC
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

6x Cherry Pickers, Sample of challenge exercises: Hand Release Release Merkins, Leg Raises, Jungle Boi Squats, BBS, Lunges, and Burpees

THA-THANG:
Iron PAX Week 1 Challenge

EMOM (Every minute on the minute) do 3xburpees. After burpees are complete work through the following:

  • 50 x Hand Release Release Merkins
  • 100 x Leg Raises
  • 150 x Jungle Boi Squats (2 Scoopz Style)
  • 200 x Big Boy Situps
  • 250 x Lunges (Forward)

MARY:
Definitely not, some PAX sat on the curb
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
20 HIMS with one FNG. Welcome Skybox! You picked an awesome day to start F3!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Be accountable. Told the story of PGA player Brian Davis in a playoff against Jim Furyk at Harbour Town. Brian hit his approach shot onto the beach (a hazard area). In a hazard area, your club cannot move anything out of the way on the backswing. Brian hit a great recovery shot onto the green, but was 99% sure that he had brushed one single reed out of the way during his backwing. Without hesitation he called over a rules official and notified them that he would be taking the penalty. As a result he lost the tournament. Brian was the only person in the world that knew about the infraction, but he had no second thoughts about calling it on himself. We need to hold ourselves accountable even when no one else knows about our failures. Strive to be more accountable to yourself, seek God’s help and forgiveness in those times that you have failed in private.

MOLESKIN:
The Iron PAX is a great challenge to push ourselves as hard as we can physically, but I view it more as a test of personal standards. F3 Greenwood continuously pushes for every PAX to strive for perfect form, which is a tough test in and of itself. My goal during the Iron PAX is to hold myself accountable on my form, I’m not perfect, but I’m gonna do my best to be. Understandably, some PAX will need to modify the workouts due to injuries or time constraints, but if you are able to complete it with perfect form, then do it!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill is October 3rd, we’ll need to schedule a date to build the obstacles that JUCO is responsible for.

Median’s VQ

THE SCENE: 70° and breezy
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: VQ by @Median (guardrail’s 2.0)
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Cherry pickers & Reach for the stars
  • 10 High knees
  • 10 Side straddle hops 
  • 10 Jungle Boi squats 
  • Baby Arm Circles (forward and back) w Michael Phelps
  • 10 Donkey Kicks On your own
    THA-THANG:
    Black snake Mosey through the courtyard to the parking lot

10 of each of the following at the stations, looping, 12 for the second lap

  • Merkin –>Burpee –> Bernie
  • Ranger Merkin –>Burpee –> Bernie
  • Wide Merkin –> Burpee –> Bernie
  • Diamond Merkin –> Burpee – Coupon Pile (no grass)
  • CPR “Curl Press tRIcep”
  • Bent over row
  • Pull ups
  • Flutter Kicks
  • Leg Raises
  • Box cutters
  • Hello Dolly
  • Jungle Boi Squats
  • Calf Raises

MARY:
Dealers choice: plank, Merkins, American Hammers, box cutters
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. Colossians  1:15 

We need to keep God in the center of our life. That’s hard to do because God is an invisible God. The things we can see are much easier to put our attention on.  But if you always keep God in the center of your mind you will see God moving in so many ways. But how do you know that God is the center of your life?  If you think about a thing more than God you have that in the center of your life instead of God. 

I challenge you to look at how you are spending your free time, does it reflect God?  If your thoughts are always on

  • School (for some of us) 
  • work (most of you ) 
  • or a hobby, 
  • or worrying about COVID 
  • or even your next F3 workout 

–that may be a sign that Christ isn’t the center of your life.  

Instead if your thoughts are on Jesus and His Kingdom and loving others well, you have Christ as the center of your life.  Thank you for being men in my life who help me put Christ as the center.

MOLESKIN:
@Median, Luke Brown, at 12yrs old felt the call to lead and bring a tough word to a tough and awesome group of HIM’s.  Very proud to call him my 2.0.  – Guardrail
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome FNG “Jolly GG”

Iron Pax challenge week 1 Friday. Come early 5:15.

FLEXing at the Crossroads of Pain

THE SCENE: We were prepared for rain in the forecast but it never came so the weather was just about perfect
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER- Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

10 x Moroccan Night Club IC
7 x Imperial Squat Walker IC
10 x Overhead Clap IC
7 x Power T Merkins IC
5 x Burpees OYO

More brief warmup than what I normally do – but each PAX got to choose his path today… so I think it was still ok
Explained to the PAX that there are 4 paths they would get to choose today
THA-THANG: Choose your own adventure: Picture of Adventure Paths You Can Take
Note that only the “1’s” were done today – the “2’s” were in case it rained and no chalk was available and the PAX would all be together but we’d individually choose which of two exercises to do. All exercises are 10 single count reps unless otherwise noted.

Yellow 1 Yellow 2 Red 1 Red 2
Squat Jumps Squats 10 Pull-ups
10 CMU OHP+Tris ea
Bernie up hill Run up hill 15 Burpees
10 Squat Thrusters
Squat Walker Imperial Walker 15 Diamond Merkins 5 Blockees
Lunges back down High Knees/Butt Kickers Down Plank (30 seconds)
10 Kettle Bell Swings
Back to 4-way stop + 5 Burpees
15 second count off after each round (For rain it will be dealer’s choice for the 6 to finish the path)
Blue 1 Blue 2 Green 1 Green 2
Freddy Mercury LBC Suicides x 3 (lights) Jog + 5 Squats
Heels to Heaven Gas Pump Walk to next part Sprint + Side Plank to next part
Pickle Pounder Pickle Pointer Suicides x 3 (lights) Sprint to end
Flutter Kick Hello Dolly Walk to path Jog + 10 Merkins
(Blue two laps) Back to 4-way stop + 5 Burpees

After approx. 5 rounds, recover at the 4-way intersection and dealer’s choice CORE until all PAX have finished their current round. Fast mosey back to the AO + 1 wagon wheel. Small jail break with Sunrise pushing me hard to the end!

MARY:
Only at the Crossroads of Pain (aka the 4-way stop sign). If we had time or Waxjob had showed up I was going to end with “Row, row, row your boat” (boat / canoe) #easter-egg

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21 HIMs FLEXing in the GLOOM!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
This week Kick flip asked if my BOM would be a continuation of “Step Up!” from my Q Tuesday at #the-project
In some ways, this is true – we’ve been talking about FLEXing as you step things up. As you are making choices to Step Up, what is next? It’s FLEXing – but I’ll leave you wondering what this for another minute.

What do you think of when I say “FLEX”? Do you think of F3 workouts? “Bros” posing in a mirror for that IG pic? Do you think of “FLEX”ing on someone to show you’re the one in charge (your kids, your wife, your subordinates at work, or even coworkers who you feel [wrongly] are inferior in some way to you or are not as good as you are at something so you should get more respect) or even someone “FLEX”ing on you (your boss, a government official, etc.)? Jesus had a few words to say about the last kind of FLEXing:

Matthew 20:25-28 – 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[a] 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,[b] 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus said to FLEX in the kingdom you have to get low. We don’t fight or live for this world as the place where Christ is making His kingdom come by force (yet- He will return), so here’s an acronym I have for you about FLEXing to help you remember how Christ wants us to flex now while we wait for His return:
Faithfulness – this is a big part of the continuation from “Step Up!” The PAX who get out there day-in and day-out are the ones who are doing the first part of being faithful. Be faithful in your job. Be faithful to your family. Be faithful in your repentance (don’t wait until you have a list of sins a mile long- God is RICH in mercy! and He is waiting for you as He did for The Prodigal Son)

Leadership – Jesus says for us to lead by example with the towel & basin. This means daily denying ourselves, laying down our lives, and obeying the things right in front of us and then AS God gives us roles and ways to lead others we walk humbly with surrender to Him as we know that He is holding us accountable for how we lead, teach, and care for others whom He has set under us for us to love and serve.

Endurance – F3 is such an easy analogy to share this with. The men I see each morning share different struggles and are (as I was reminded this week by a brother) all encouraged in different ways. This is true of your wives, your children, your friends, your pastors, and everyone else you meet. A passage that is constant encouragement for me in this area in particular is Hebrews 12:1-2.

X-factor: The Sovereignty of God – The belief and knowledge that God works ALL things for good (especially the “bad ones” is a way that no matter what has happened, or even especially through what has happened in my life and your life, that God is in control and He will bring to pass what He wills. I’m reminded of a quote from a book I’ve read several times now that quotes one of the Puritans saying “it may be better that one condition is more suitable for another”, meaning that God works in ways we do not (and should not expect to always) understand. He is trustworthy. He will see you through and is drawing you to Himself right now in the trial of adversity or the trial (yes trial) of prosperity. He is using all things to bring Himself glory and that is for your good.

So, how can we FLEX? We can’t do it in our own power but in Christ’s and seeing His example should encourage you and me to FLEX more and more:

Philippians 2:3-8Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

MOLESKIN:
Made a special trip to Walmart, spent 20 minutes looking for chalk, had a lady help me find the chalk (got groceries too) then forgot the chalk at home… so I had to go back home. I showed up early this morning to see if it was going to rain and had a FLEXible plan if it did but it all worked out. And, as the F3 disclaimer says, I’d have modified as necessary if it hadn’t!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Sign up for the 2020 F3 Iron PAX challenge (Friday’s in September at JUCO as well as at Shamrock if you’re so-inclined too). Judge Judy returns next week (On Q next Friday). There are open Q’s so sign up for one (or ask me to co-q with you)!

Tuba’s family is moving tomorrow as well from Powell to Oak Ridge but he is out of town in the Reserves. Contact Booster to help him move (see Slack / GroupMe)