F3 Knoxville

Tag: Abacus

Life is an Adventure

THE SCENE: Perfect.  Low 60s and plenty o’ sun!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check
WARM-O-RAMA:

– 20 SSH (4ct, IC)

– 20 Moroccan Nightclubs (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Windmills (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Tempo squats

– 10 Grady Corns (4 ct, IC)

-Leg Stretches

THA-THANG:
We repeated some of the exercise stations from CSAUP so that the guys who missed could experience it a bit, and to recreate the nightmare for those that did attend. 🙂

MOSEY to Area 51

PRISON YARD (AREA 51)

OBJECTIVE: Your adventures have gotten off to an inauspicious beginning.  You have been charged with a crime! You must serve your punishment by doing hard labor.

  • Do 10 PRISONER GET UPS in the parking lot

 

  • BEAR CRAWL to Wall of building, do 10 PRISONER CELL MERKIN BURPEES (PCMBs).

 

  • EL CAPITAN back to parking lot. RINSE AND REPEAT.

 

MOSEY to Gravel Parking Lot

ENDURANCE TRAINING

OBJECTIVE: After that short little mosey, I can hear you panting like a She-Dragon in Labor! You are already out of breath, and you call yourself a HIM?? To achieve ultimate HIM-dom, you must train to IMPROVE YOUR ENDURANCE!

Do a SEABISCUIT! Run one lap around the parking lot (staying outside of the cones) and then do:

  • 10 Merkins
  • 20 Big Boy Situps
  • 30 Squats

Run TWO laps, Repeat the exercises

Run THREE laps, Repeat the exercises

Mosey to AO, stopping twice to do some American Hammers and LBCs.

PRINCESS’S TOWER (SPACE NEEDLE)

OBJECTIVE: You must rescue the princess trapped in the Tower, but first you must slay the dragon that guards her!

EXERCISES:

  • Do a WELSH DRAGON*

SAVE the Princess! RUN to top of tower (Space Needle), do 20 SQUATS at each turn of the stairs. Touch the picture of the princess and return to bottom.

MARY:
No time for good ol’ Mary.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 plus two dogs plus one 2.0, plus one ex Nan’taan
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Life is not a problem to be solved, but an adventure to be lived!

  • John Eldredge, Wild at Heart.

When I was young I read every Choose Your Own Adventure book I could get my hands on.  For a kid who had a very active imagination, but was also constrained by little things like school, chores, going to Grandma’s house every Sunday, “rules”, avoiding getting beat up by a big brother, and on and on…. I usually didn’t get to live out those wild dreams that were always in my head.  And being a scrawny little runt who was always the smallest kid in class and in our neighborhood gang, I was far from looking the part of the noble hero or the brave adventurer.  The books were a wonderful diversion.  You could pretend you were a swashbuckling pirate on the high seas, an astronaut on a far-away planet, a wizard infiltrating the castle of frost giants, or a treasure hunter looking for a lost artifact in a distant land. And the books made you feel like you had a little bit of control, but in the end, you usually died anyway. Kind of like what happened in CSAUP. 😉  But then as you grow up, you gradually start to lose a bit of that magic.  Life gets in the way.  Bills, jobs, responsibilities.  Like little Jackie Paper, painted wings and giants rings make way for other toys.  And one day it happens… and you stop frolicking with a magic dragon in a land called Honnalee.

But every once in awhile, it’s great to revisit those places of imagination and dreams.  And that’s why I loved helping to create the CSAUP story line.  Yeah, I got to torture all of you guys who participated… but it was fun to bring just a little bit of magic and adventure to a morning that was completely stupid and utterly pointless.  I hope you all enjoyed it too.  And if you missed it… Take a visit back to Honnalee.  pick up one of your old Choose Your Own Adventure books and go through it again.  But every time you slay the dragon of save the princess, or find the treasure… you owe me 20 burpees!

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Ukraine, CRISPR’s work environment, Pusher’s daughter’s band trip to Florida

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None

No Hard Feelings

THE SCENE: Cloudy, temp in 50s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Imperial Squat Walkers, 10 Gas Pumps, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Twisties.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Bat Cave.  We will do the following going counterclockwise:

  • Run down stairs and do 20 Carolina Dry Docks.
  • Run to grove of trees at climb of Mt. Everest and do 10 Burpees.
  • Run to summit of Mt. Everest and do 20 Hello Dollies.
  • Run to Bat Cave and do 20 Star Jumps.
  • Rinse and repeat two more times.

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Administration Bldg.  Do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to Area 51.  We will split into teams of two for Doras.  While one partner runs to the curb by the hill at Area 51, does 5 decline merkins, then runs back, the other partner works on the exercises listed below.  Teammates then switch.  Here are the exercises:

  • 200 Rocky Balboas, both feet = 1.
  • 200 Flutter Kicks, both feet = 1.
  • 200 Bicycle Kicks, both feet = 1
  • 200 Baby Crunches

Mosey to park entrance on Northshore, then take perimeter trail past the utility bldg.  We will stop to do 20 lunges, both legs = 1.

Mosey to bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will stop to do 50 Baby Crunches.  We will then run up Everest.  Those reaching the roadway first do more Baby Crunches until the six is there.

Run to top of the Space Needle and then mosey to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Ten men, no FNGs.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

NO HARD FEELIMGS

I gave a message about this topic and this song by the Avett Brothers a few years ago.  I think the topic is important enough and the song is amazing enough to cover again.  The topic is Forgiveness and the song by the Avett brothers is “No Hard Feelings.”

The Lord commands us to forgive.  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In Matthew 6:14 Jesus says, “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”  And, in discussing the idea of forgiveness, Jesus said to forgive one who has sinned against you not seven times but seventy times seven times.

These commandments are made not only for the benefit of those who have sinned against us but for us who must do the forgiving.  If we hang on to the anger, the bitterness, the hurt of being wronged, these “hard feelings” can eat us up inside.  In their song, “No Hard Feelings”, the Avett brothers recognize the destructiveness that unforgiving hard feelings can have despite the goodness that life offers us:

Lord knows they haven’t done
Much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold.

Yet in their song, the Avett brothers recognize the difficulty that we, as humans, have in forgiving.  It is difficult enough those people in that other political party or the neighbors who keep their front yard messy.  But how do we forgive someone who has truly hurt us or one of our family members?  The quality of “true forgiveness” is a Christ-like virtue that we must continually strive to attain.  The narrator hopes for that state by saying,

When the sun hangs low in the west
And the light in my chest
Won’t be kept held at bay any longer
When the jealousy fades away
And it’s ash and dust for cash and lust
And it’s just hallelujah
And love in thoughts and love in the words
Love in the songs they sing in the church
And no hard feelings.

The fact is that we humans, as sinners, find it so very hard to forgive.  Christ asks us to turn the other cheek.  That takes a bravery that is quite difficult for us to muster.  In the Avett Brothers song, the narrator looks at his own life and wonders if by his death he can accomplish the task.  The song uses a beautiful image of walking straight to the life after death and running into the savior.   The narrator of the song yearns for the final result of godlike forgiveness within himself by chanting the final line of the song four straight times:

Will I join with the ocean blue
Or run into the savior true
And shake hands laughing
And walk through the night
Straight to the light
Holding the love I’ve known in my life
And no hard feelings

Lord knows they haven’t done
Much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Under the curving sky
I’m finally learning why
It matters to me and you
To say it and mean it too
For life and its loveliness
And all of its ugliness
Good as it’s been to me
I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Down Under’s son, Hunter, age 17, who had hoped to go into military after high school where he is in ROTC.  He learned that due to a medical condition, he will not be qualified to go into the military.  Prayers of thanks for the mother of Steam’s future bride.  Steam’s future mother-in-law found out that her breast cancer is now in remission after chemotherapy and radiation.  Prayers for our brother, Sparkler, as he continues to recover from his rotator cuff surgery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board Meeting!

Drum Major 51

THE SCENE: A beautiful sunny evening at about 70 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

51 single count side straddle hops

10 windmills

5 merkins/1 burpee

10 baby arm circles each way

Little of this and that

10 rockettes

5 big boys/1 burpee

THA-THANG:

Mosey to hill by wall just up mini-cardiac

5/1’s

5 box jumps/step ups up top

1 big boy at bottom

Until get to 1 at top and 5 at bottom

 

Mosey to rock pile along path on park’s east side

15 curls

15 overhead press

21 rows

(2nd 51)

15 triceps

15 front lifts

21 squats

 

(rinse and repeat everything)

 

Mosey to the Bermuda Triangle

Battle buddy up

1 buddy runs to hill and back while other stays and knocks out

51 squats

51 imperial walkers

51 merkins

51 LBCs

 

Mosey to base of Everest

15 flutter kicks

5 burpees/1 big boys

5 burpees/1 merkin

Then released everyone to run the summit of Everest and then all the way to the AO. Have to do 51 hand release merkins split up as each sees fit by the time or at the AO meetup.

MARY:
15 box cutters and some post workout stretches to finish us off
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Discussed how leadership involves letting go and trusting those you lead to be be good leaders, people and citizens in your absence. I then read the following quotes on the subject:

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. —Andrew Carnegie

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. —Lao Tzu

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. —Theodore Roosevelt

A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. —John Maxwell

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Why Worry

THE SCENE: Clear skies, temp in 50s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Southern Parking Lot close to the soccer fields.  We will go counterclockwise around the parking lot, stopping at each corner.  The following shows the exercises we do at each corner and how we get to the next corner:

  • Corner 1:  20 Merkins.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
  • Corner 2:  20 Hello Dollies, 4 count.  Run to Corner 3
  • Corner 3:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 4
  • Corner 4:  20 Flutter Kicks, 4 count.  Run to Corner 1.
  • Rinse and Repeat but Skip instead of Bernie.

We will Mosey to the perimeter trail where it goes by the pavilion close to the Southern Parking Lot.  We will run for 10 lights.  Those rabbits getting there first will come back and meet the six.  Then we will do the first of the exercises listed below.  Next we will run another 10 lights.  Those rabbits getting there first will come back and meet the six again.  Then we will do the second of the listed exercises.  We will do this until we hit the serpentine sidewalk.  The exercises are:

  • 20 Dive Bombers
  • 20 Squat Jumps
  • 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)
  • 20 Iron Mikes (2 ct)

At the Serpentine Sidewalk we will hop forward for one light, then run for four lights.  We will repeat the pattern until we hit the end of the Serpentine Sidewalk.  Then we will return back on the Serpentine Sidewalk by lunging forward for one light and running for four lights until we hit the perimeter trail.

Mosey to the base of Cardiac.  We will Bernie for two lights and run for two lights, repeating this pattern until we reach the roadway.

Mosey to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

What If?

What if the stock market crashes before I turn 70 and all the savings I have been relying on to retire plummets?

What if I get sued for malpractice and my reputation as a therapist takes a nose dive?

What if there is so much fighting within our country that it reaches a point where it is no longer the pillar of strength and beacon of hope for so many people?

What if my legs start to give out so much that I can no longer work out with my brothers in F3?

What if that lady in charge of the Lakeshore Park Conservancy, who has told us to stop writing on sidewalks and keep out of the ballpark area when teams are playing, somehow forces F3 out of the Asylum?

What if my house falls apart due to some kind of reason that my home insurance policy doesn’t cover?

Here’s two sentences from Philippians 4: 6-7:


Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let me give you a few more “what if” questions.  Think about these questions, dwell on them a bit.

What if there truly is a God who watches over us and loves us?

What if God takes delight in us, not for the riches we make but for the good we do for others?

What if God will take care of us through the greatest of losses, even our possessions?

What if Jesus really did die for our sins and arose three days later?

What if God truly does hear us when we pray?

What if there is a heaven and God will be with us, even when we die?

I’ll end this message with some verses from the song, We Will Feast in the House of Zion by Sandra McCracken

We will not be burned by the fire
He is the Lord, our God
We are not consumed by the flood
Upheld, protected, gathered up

We will feast in the house of Zion
We will sing with our hearts restored
He has done great things, we will say together
We will feast and weep no more

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother, who has cancer and for Operation and his wife as they try for pregnancy.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP at the Asylum on February 26, 6:30 am to 9 am.  Chance for F3 men to serve for RAMUSA.org.  This is a clinic that provides medical and dental services for free to people in the community.  The clinic will be in Knoxville on June 24 to 26.  Our brother, Cat Gut, needs to know by March 1 if you can help.  Let him know if you can.

Keep Moving, Stay Warm

THE SCENE: Cold, cloudy, and windy.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Slow windmills (get that stretch in!), baby arm circles, burpees, & Imperial squats.

THA-THANG:

At the coliseum, 4 stations around the outside. Each station has 3 exercise options. Choose one to complete and then run to the 3rd station and pick an exercise. Rinse & repeat. Exercises were as follows:

  • Station 1 (Core)
    • HELLO DOLLYS (20, 4 CT)
    • PICKLE POUNDERS (20)
    • BIG BOYS (20)
  • Station 2 (Legs)
    • SQUATS (20, 4 CT)
    • MONKEY HUMPERS (20)
    • BOBBY HURLEYS (20)
  • Station 3 (Core)
    • BOX CUTTERS (20)
    • LBCS (20, 4 CT)
    • SCISSOR KICKS (20, 4 CT)
  • Station 4 (Arms)
    • MERKINS (20)
    • DIPS (20)
    • CAROLINA DRY DOCKS (20)

MARY:
Big Boys & American hammers.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Excerpt read from a Fresh Air interview of Laura Coates.

On what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. means to her

When I think of Dr. King, the first thing that comes to mind is going to his museum down in Atlanta and looking at the number of times he was arrested. Now that might seem an oddity to people. Mostly, we think about his speeches and the impactful words, and he was an eloquent orator, and he was obviously deserving of all the accolades as it relates to his speechwriting and his sermons. But for me, I think about the number of times he was a civil rights first responder, … the number of times he went into the battlefield, the number of times he pulled an entire race out of the wreckage, the number of times that he subjected himself to physical violence. It’s the notion that myself, as a mother, looking at my young children, when all I want to do is grow old and watch them grow even older, that he had to accept the inevitability that he would not do the very things every parent wants to do. And why? Because he was thinking not only of his own children, but my children and my children’s children. …

Every time I think about his death, I think to myself, God, was that how young he was? And every year that I live beyond that, I thank him, because the life I have is because of the choices he made, because of the discomfort he experienced. And I just love this man for making those choices and for aligning his moral compass with what he was willing to do.