F3 Knoxville

St. Francis and the Birds

THE SCENE: Partly Cloudy Skies, about 92 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Plank Jacks, 10 Squat Jumps, 5 Burpees, 10 Twisties, 10 Windmill, 10 Tempo Merkins, Michael Phelps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the stop sign by the Northeastern Corner of the Admin. Bldg.  We will stop under the shade of the large tree to do 20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to the perimeter trail and take it as if going to the bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will stop, however, in the shade by Lyon’s Bend to do 20 American Hammers.

Next, we will run up Roadshow Run, stopping to do Ten Calf Raises at each set of the three sets of stairs and 3 Burpees above each set of stairs on up to the top.  At the top, we will do 20 Flutter Kicks and 25 Baby Crunches.

Mosey past the Space Needle to the steps at the Admin Bldg.  There will be a water cooler and cups to stop for one minute to have cold water.

Mosey to the sidewalk that goes underneath the shade to the stop sign at the Northeastern Corner of the Admin Bldg.  There will be 6 cones set up along the sidewalk and along the roadway that comes back to the Coliseum.  We will run in a clockwise motion down the sidewalk and back up the road, stopping at each cone to do 10 Merkins.

Rinse and Repeat with 10 Big-Boy Sit-ups at each cone.  Rinse and repeat with 5 Hand Release Merkins.  Rinse and repeat with 10 Star Jumps.

Mosey back to steps of the Admin Bldg for another one minute drink of water.

Next, we will run in a counterclockwise circle around the loop stopping at each of the following locations to do the following exercises:

  • 12 o’clock:  20 Bench Dips at the steps of the Admin Bldg.
  • 9 o’clock:  20 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 3 o’clock:  20 Box Cutters

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
Boat Canoe.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

God, Nature, St. Francis and the Birds

St Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic Friar, deacon and mystic.  He founded the Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, the Third Order of St. Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. He was canonized patron saint of Italy by Pope Gregory IX.  He is one of the most venerated religious figures in Christianity.  He was known to be a man of grace and a great lover of God’s creation.  He loved animals.  Legend has it that birds would fly up to him and alight on his shoulder.  On one journey he took with fellow monks, it was told that he stopped to preach to his sisters the birds.  Legend has it the birds became still and silent while he preached.

An Irish Poet, Michael Longley, wrote the following poem about St. Francis which is a beautiful depiction of the patron saint marveling on God’s creation and speaking to birds.  By the way, Michael Longley is not a Christian although he is obviously an admirer of St. Francis.

St. Francis to the Birds by Michael Longley

And, summing up, I think of when
With cloud and cloudburst you confer,
By God’s sheer genius lifted there,
Lighthearted starling, nervous wren.
It is perfection you rehearse –
God placed the limpet on a rock,
He dressed the primrose in its frock upside down with its leg showing
And closed the chestnut in its purse:
Creating one more precedent,
With no less forethought, no less care
He gave you feathers and the air
To migrate to his best intent.
To useful angles well aligned,
At proper heights compelled to tilt,
Across kind landscapes yearly spilt –
Birds, you are always on his mind.
Quick emblems of his long estate,
It’s good to have you overhead
Who understand when all is said,
When all is done, and it is late.
May my sermon, like your customs,
Reach suddenly beyond dispute –
Oh, birds entire and absolute,
Last birds above our broken homes.

Thank you God, for your creation.  Thank you for the birds in the sky that sing to us each day.  Help us to protect the blessings you have bestowed upon us.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Doubtfire who has an ailing back – prayers that he heals quickly; prayers for Dawg Paddle whose wife has told him that he wants to divorce him – prayers for her as well.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We will have a F3 Knoxville 2nd F gathering after our Asylum PM workout this Thursday.  We will meet at Union Jacks.

15 Strong at Asylum

THE SCENE: Hot, humid and overcast
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER 
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH IC – 21
Arm Circles up IC  10
Arm circles dow IC  10
Michael Phelps a/r
Cherry Pickers 11
Mosey to bottom of stairs and around the cones and back up
Grady Corn IC 20

THA-THANG:

Mosey to stop sign
11’s – Rocky Balboa – Squat – to cone
Pause
Mosey to wall
Peoples Chair against wall for 60 sec
Mosey to second wall
Peoples Chair against wall for 60 sec
Mosey to Admin Bldg
Get Partner
Heal dips – partner runs to tree on lawn,  does 1 squat
Step up, partner does 5 squats
Bench dips , 15 squats
pause, rinse and repeat
LUnges, 1 squat
Freddy Mercury, 5 squats
Imperial Walker ,15 squats
Ring of Fire – 3 rounds
Mosey back to AO with cooler
Down Stairs
Bear crawl around cones, then run back up stairs
20 2 count american hammers
LBC – 30 IC

MARY:
no
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Following up on the 5 things that Steam mentioned on Tuesday,  one of the 5 is habits with the T in habits = Time . The time factor is huge when you look at things you are doing. Simplifying your life will open up your available time and make room for high impact activities. Simplify

Personally, as an engineer I tend to over complicate things in order to make whatever I am doing the absolute best.  Often times that the effort ends up taking longer and really wasn’t worth the extra effort. Look for the simple solutions that are good enough.

I recently was notified by Google that my storage was at the max, so I needed to buy more space or reduce storage.  I had over 14,000 emails in my primary box.  Over the years I had subscribed (intentionally and unintentionaly) to various companies and they kept sending me email some sent something once every few days or more. I don’t even open 99% of them and took me forever to reduce these and I realized why in the heck did I subscribe since I did not read any of them.  I also don’t delete the uncritical ones after I read them, so I ended up where I am today- 14.5 Gb of  emails because I didn’t file them and delete them correctly to begin with.

Facebook – I don’t post but I check it once a day.  This is time that I can never get back

News feeds on my phone, 95% of what I read is pretty much worthless

TV- I watch the morning news while I have been doing my physical therapy exercises daily since Feb 10, pretty much every day.  I can get the essentials in less that 10 minutes and can use the rest with better input.

Paying someone to do the tedious tasks.  I change the oil and do most of the maintenance on my vehicles.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak (Hans Hofmann)

Point is, these things can suck your time and keep you from finding your higher level purpose, keep you away from those in your life that need your time and of course from doing Gods’ work. So take a close look at the things or habits that have made your life un necessarily complex and find a way to simplify.

MOLESKIN:
Pray for @Bluebird in his upcoming trip to Greece
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
August 6 – Work Day at Cerebral Palsy Center – need help!

FTWS

F3 Q: 7.5.22

Asylum PM

5:45-6:30

“FTWS” = Five Things With Steam

[ The Scene ]

  • 90s
  • Hot
  • Steamy

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • A few things before we begin:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own belief
    • You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you.
  • FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • SSH (10×4)
    • Run down to the tree and back
  • Merkins (10×4)
    • Run down to the tree and back
  • Lunges (10×4)
    • Run down to the tree and back
  • Gas Pedals (10×4)
    • Run down to the tree and back
  • Imperial Walkers (10×4)
    • Run down to the tree and back

[ The Thang ]

— 5 Things, 5 Places —

(Mosey to the top of theColiseum)

[1] 5 Things, Part 1

  • Do one of the 5 things (one at a time) and then run up the space needle and back
  • Rinse and repeat until you complete all 5
  • 5 reps, everything on a 4 count
  • Recover at the rope when done

(Mosey to the tree to the left (towards Haslam Rock)

[2] 5 Things, Part 2

  • Do one of the 5 things, (one at a time) then run to the wall and do another of the 5 things
  • Ping pong style
  • 10 reps, everything on a 4 count
  • Recover at the tree when done

(Mosey to the corner of the road across from Haslam Rock)

[3] 5 Things, Part 3

  • Do one of the 5 things (one at a time), then run down to the large tree down there and do the same thing #2ForTuesday
  • Run back up to this tree and rinse and repeat with the next exercise of the 5 things
  • 15 reps, everything on a 1 count
  • Recover at this tree

(Mosey back up to the top of the coliseum)

[4] 5 Things, Part 4

  • Do 10 reps of one the 5 things (one at a time), then run down to the stairs and do the other 10 reps
  • Run back up here and pick back up with the next exercise
  • 20 reps total, all on a 1 count
  • Recover up here when you’re done

(Mosey to the AO)

[5] 5 Things, Part 5

  • Execute one of the 5 things at each cone
  • 25 reps, all on a 1 count
  • When you finish the last cone, mosey back to the AO

[ Mary ]

SWS — Stretching With Steam

[ COT ]

  • # off — 15
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs — 0
  • BOM — 5 Things, 15 Minutes, 5 Months
  • 3 points
  • Last Tuesday I shared some of the things I’ve struggled with so far this year.
  • Today during the workout we did the same 5 things over and over, and just increased the intensity a little.

Here’s point #1 — pick 5 things you’ve done over and over so far this year, and re-evaluate.

Here’s Point #2 — These are 5 things that I am going to be focusing in on for the rest of the year and would like to invite you into as well. Maybe some of these will apply to you and maybe some won’t and that’s okay, you can modify as needed.

(1) Pray

  • Go there, faster

(2) Read a chapter a day

  • Doesn’t matter what it is

(3) Write down something you learned

  • Write it down, jot it down in your notes app or on your phone

(4) Intentional silence

  • This year’s been loud so far. Not in a negative way necessarily, but in a lot going on kind of way

(5) HABITs

  • Honesty (It requires honesty)
  • Availability (Are you available?)
  • Becoming (The Becoming process)
  • Intentional (Purposeful)
  • Time (Non-renewable resource)

Here’s Point #3 — 15 minutes is about 1% of your day

  • Out of the 5, what are your core 3 for the rest of the year, that you can dedicate 1% of your day to
  • Or choose your own (5 total —> 3 daily, 2 weekly)

Zone Improvement Plan

THE SCENE:

Partly Cloudy Temperature Humidity Feels like Wind Speed Wind Direction
90 ℉ 50% 95 ℉ 4.7 mi/h SSW

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER.
Delivered as desired. I am not a professional.

WARM-O-RAMA:

As PAX arrive give them each a golf ball and have them write an exercise on it (using Sharpie and be careful to let dry a bit).
25 SSHs,  10 Tie Fighters, 15 Grady Corns, 10 Rockettes.

THA-THANG:

Head down the stairs to flat area at bottom. Have each PAX put their golf ball into a cooler. Cooler is already half full with ice water, bottled water, and some golf balls that I have marked up before arriving.

Next to cooler: Clock Merkins – 5 Merkins at Noon, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock.

Mosey to hillside north of park entrance road.
On the hill and in the shade,
10 Incline Merkins (Head up the the hill)
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Merkins facing 3 o’clock. Right arm down hillside.
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Decline Merkins facing 6 o’clock.
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Merkins facing 9 o’clock. Left arm down hillside.

Reverse path and do same 4 stations as you make your way back to the cooler.

At the cooler, a PAX reaches into cooler (cooling his wrists) and picks a golf ball. Another PAX rolls dice to see home many of the drawn exercises will be done. Between 15 and 30 count. Repeat with different PAX until time is called. Some rules I implemented. After 4 exercises, we ran a lap around wooded area (.2 miles up steep grade back to and down staircase to cooler). I also included some golf balls with the ‘Lap’ as the exercise. So, you could end up running sooner than expected. Only 10 burpees and man-makers.

Mosey back up stairs to Flag.
MARY:
American Hammers/Big Boy Situps. 20/5.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
18 Brothers.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

 

MOLESKIN:
For the safety of all those traveling and staying home this coming week. For all the sick and suffering.  For the unsaid prayers in our hearts.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Convergence July 2nd at JUCO

2 For Tuesday w/Steam

F3 Q: 6.28.22

5:45pm – 6:30pm

Asylum PM

[ The Scene ]

  • High 80s
  • Sunny
  • Character-building weather

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • A few things before we begin:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own belief
    • You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you.
  • FNGs?
  • Happy 2 For Tuesday!

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • Merkin: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • Merkin: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back
  • Rockette: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • Rockette: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • SSH: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back
  • SSH: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back

[ The Thang ]

[1] Tower of Power

  • 4 levels
  • L1 (Top) — 20 reps on a 1 count
    • Merkins
  • L2 — 20 reps on a 1 count
    • Squats
  • L3 — 20 reps on a 4 count
    • Flutter Kicks
  • L4 (Bottom) — 20 reps on a 4 count
    • Imperial Walkers
  • After you get done with a level, run to the top, and then to your next level
    • Done with L1, run to the top and then back down to L2 instead of to the bottom
  • Once you finish L5: Hold up top and knock out LLBCs

[2] 2 For Tuesday — run it back, but this time, all together, and top down, rather than down to the top

(Mosey to the top of the Coliseum with the flag)

Plant Flag. 60 seconds of plank and starting out at the sunset, releasing stress and anger.

Run to the bottom of the coliseum and execute the core 4

  • LBCs
  • LLBCs
  • Cockroaches
  • American Hammers

Run to the top of the coliseum and execute the core 4 again.

Run back to the AO

[ Mary ]

SWS

[ COT ]

  • # off
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs
  • BOM

Week 26 of the 2022 — The Halfway Point

We’ve been through 26 weeks of 2022 now. And it’s to be expected that before a new year, there’s vision-casting, goal-planning, organizing timelines and objectives and KPIs and such. Some people might call these resolutions. But why wait for another 5 months or so to do that? You have 6 months left in this year. How are you going to steward them?

And so I was thinking about some of the big things in my life that have already happened this year, and what to look forward to for the rest of the year. Some of them you all have seen and some of them you have not.

Big things:

  • Updated, re-vamped and handed off Beyond the COT, the F3 Knoxville podcast to Blindside in January
  • Proposed and got engaged in February
  • Re-launched a men’s ministry called The Good FIght
  • Changed jobs in March to a far better role
  • Planned a wedding from March to May
  • Left our home church and re-located to Fellowship

These are very visible things, and if you’ve been coming to F3 or follow me on social media you’ve probably had a front row seat. But here are some things you probably haven’t had a front row seat to in my life for the past 26 weeks.

  • Crippling anxiety
  • Depression
  • Addiction (overeating, pornography)
  • We left a church back in March and it was the hardest thing I’ve done so far this year
  • Financial distress

Whatever you have done and experienced the first part of this year, don’t let it control your outlook on the last half of the year.

Stay strong, keep the faith, fight the good fight, and reach out if you need help.