F3 Knoxville

Tag: Abacus

Suicide Hill

THE SCENE: Sunny, warm evening around 75 F. Especially warm for February.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Slow Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Rockettes, Baby Arm circles, & Cherry Pickers.

THA-THANG:

5 stations were evenly (or not so evenly) placed along the hill at Lakeshore. Each station contained a sheet with 2 exercises on it, one for going over the hill and the other for coming back. Starting at the bottom by the stop sign, the PAX was instructed to run up 2 stations and back one and perform the “Going” exercise 10 times. Then run 2 more stations and back one, perform the Going exercise 10 times. At the 5th station, perform both exercises (Going & Back) and then do the same thing (up 2, back 1) on the way back, except perform the “Back” exercises. Once the PAX reaches the 1st station, rinse and repeat but perform 15 of each exercise, 3rd round 20 of each. Exercises were as follows:

  1. Going – Merkins, Back – American Hammers
  2. Going – Monkey Humpers, Back – TIE Fighters
  3. Going – Box Cutters, Back – Shoulder Taps
  4. Going – Carolina Dry Docks, Back – Hello Dollys
  5. Going – Big Boy Situps, Back – Squats

(After 1st Round, I called an audible and just had us run to the next station instead of up 2 and back 1)

MARY: 

Circled up and finished with LBCs, Ring of Fire, and 5 Burpees

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA – 17 HIMs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
God is Love. Love conquers hate. I know that because I know in myself that love feels better than hate. Where there is love, there is hope and peace. Finished BOM with playing of Amazing Grace on trombone.

Facing Your Fears

THE SCENE: Gorgeous! Mild (almost warm) 78 degrees, outstanding sunset
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check
WARM-O-RAMA:

-25 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Imperial Walkers (4-ct), in Cadence

– 10 LBACs backwards and forwards (4-ct)  (in cadence)

-10 plank jacks (4-ct)  (in cadence)

  • Misc. stretching

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to bottom of Pickett’s Charge:

  • 5/10/15s up 3 of the small hills
    • PARTNER 1 moseys up to the top of the hill, does 5x of both exercises, then hands off to PARTNER 2, who is slow moseying in the bullpen (flat part). R&R with 10x, then 15x. If you finish early, start over until 6 is done.
      • ROUND 1: MERKINS AND PLANK JACKS (2-ct) /BEAR CRAWL
      • ROUND 2: BBS AND AMERICAN HAMMERS (2-ct) / BERNIE
      • ROUND 3: SSH AND IRON MIKES (both 2-ct) / RUN

MOSEY to Small Parking Lot next to Coliseum:

  • 25’s:
    • Run around loop. At bottom and midpoint do 5/20, 10/15, 15/10, 20/5 reps of:
      • Shoulder taps (2-ct) / Flutter Kicks (2 ct)

MOSEY to Haslem’s rock, 20 American Hammers (4-ct, IC)

MOSEY To AO

MARY:
We did a Welsh Dragon contest to see who could go farthest without stopping.  Of course it was Doubtfire…
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Today I want to talk a little bit about the pilot Neal V. Loving. 

  • Loving was born in 1916
  • Was passionate about being a military pilot from a young age but had to switch his focus to aeronautical engineering upon discovering that the Army Air Corps did not accept Black aviators (the US AIR FORCE wasn’t established until 1947- TRIVIA QUESTION!).
  • He helped found an all-black squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer training program for young pilots. This led to a horrific crash while flying for the patrol and left him a double amputee. When the doctors removed his second leg, they estimated a 50-50 chance of survival. He did survive, and was fit for protheses.  He recalled being asked by the prosthesis fitter what size shoe he would like to have with his new legs.  What a question!

 He was made an offer to visit a local municipal airport.  He was hesitant, but ultimately agreed, and when he got there he felt his passion for flying returning, and was given the opportunity to climb into the cockpit again.  While on his first flight back, as he says, “I entered a 180-degree turn followed by a stall entry and spin, the same sequence of events that led to my accident. The ground rushed toward me, spinning in a familiar blur of green and brown. I recovered quickly and returned to level flight. My co-pilot leaned forward and patted me on the back. I smiled in return, happy in the realization that the fears or emotional scars that might destroy my love of flying had not materialized.”

 

After returning to the cockpit, Loving continued his love of aviation by:

– launching his own flight school

– building experimental rading planes. One of Loving’s airplane designs is on display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

– Earning a degree in aeronautical engineering  

– Conducting research for the Air Force, retiring in 1982 and

– publishing his memoir in 1994. He died in 1998 at age 83.

 What fears do you have that are keeping you from pursuing your goals?

MOLESKIN:
Perfect weather, and a big welcome to FNG Z-Bone!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Saturday AM triple Q this Saturday!

When Does Your Name Come Up

THE SCENE: Cloudy with a chance of character building
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER done
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, cherry pickers, rockettes, this and thats, twisties, and more SSH
THA-THANG:
Insert information about the workout.

  • Paula Aboul with imperial walkers
  • Ring of Fire merkins and squats
  • Joe Louis / Iron Mikes / Rocky Balboas
  • Obamas and Bernies
  • Lt Dans
  • William Wallace (relay style)
  • Bill Murray
  • Jerry Rice

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
18
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
My wife was selected by KCS to go back to grad school (again!) for more education on literacy.  She’s in her final course, which focuses on mentoring other teachers to become more proficient and effective reading teachers.  Her school had more than one teacher selected for the program, which brings this story to life.  As the professor was describing their final project, and the type of person to look for for this project, she turned to her colleagues, and they all simultaneously said, “Ms. Cooper”.

Then I asked myself the question, “When there is a topic of conversation, when does the room simultaneously say, “David”?  What characteristics and behaviors do I demonstrate that people will immediately associate with me?  I challenge you to consider this question for yourself.  When does your name come up in conversation?

The PM Crew Tackles Accelerate Metric Workout #1

F3 Q: 1/17/2023

Asylum PM

5:45pm – 6:30pm

[ The Scene ] 

  • 50s
  • Cloudy with a chance of IRON SHARPENING YEAHHHHHHHHHH

[ 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 volition
    • 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 ] 

(5:45pm – 5:50pm)

These warm up Xs will be catered towards the Xs we’re going to do in Accelerate Metric Workout #1 

  • SSH: 15×4 
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • Cherry Picker: 10×4
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • Twisty: 10×4
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • Rockette: 10×4
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • High Knees: 10×4 
    • 25 yards and back 

Dynamic SWS (5:50 – 5:55)

4 corners – The Movements 

  • 1st Corner: Cobra stretch (30 seconds)
    • Run 
  • 2nd: 20 BAC (Front and Back)
    • Karaoke
  • 3rd: 10 Lunge Twists 
    • Deep Lunge
  • 4th: 10 wind mills
    • Side shuffle back to the light pole 

[ The Thang ] 

(Give instructions at 5:55pm)

(Start the workout at 6pm on the dot)

Accelerate Metric Workout #1

Introducing Accelerate 2023 — In an effort to ensure that the PAX of F3 Knoxville are continuing to accelerate their King (Q-source speak for always getting better in their workouts), we are going to be promoting 6 workouts this year done 6 months apart and to Track PAX progress. So the January and July workouts will be the same, Feb/August, etc. Instead of making it a competition, a la Iron Pax, this is an individual competition. Overall results will not be posted or tracked, just participants. AOQs will be the ones to share with PAX members their overall scores. 

This a YOU vs. YOU acceleration and not an Iron Pax-like competition. It will be about competing with yourself, not other PAX members. Please DM me any feedback you have for this year-long Accelerate challenge!

Here is January + July’s Accelerate workout:

Metric Workout #1 (Every man will need 1 CMU)

Set a timer for 30 minutes.

Complete as many cumulative reps as you can in that time.

The following list of exercises are performed in sets of 25 reps. 

After completing a set of 25 reps, put down your CMU, run 25 yards, do 2 burpees, return to your CMU, and continue. 

Here are the exercises:

  • 150 curls
  • 125 heavy squats
  • 100 OHP
  • 75 CMU swings
  • 50 Thrusters
  • 25 Blockees

When you finish the Blockees, start back at the top with curls.

It will look like this:

25 curls → 25 yard run → 2 burpees → 25 yard run → 25 curls…repeat until 150 curls are finished, then switch to squats (the next exercise)…etc.  

Once through the entire circuit is 525 reps (burpees do not count toward total).

[ COT ]

  • # off —> 13
  • Name o Rama 
    • Pele, Swimmies, Pusher, Sparkler, Rooney, Drum Major, F6, Abacus, Lillydipper, Brick, High-Heels, OnStar,  Steam
  • FNGs — 0
  • BOM

Reflections from the past week: 

  • Cardinal died on Wednesday 
  • My grandfather died yesterday
  • Megan (my wife) is going through a really tough time with her job and searching for a new one

It would be really easy to look at the past week and think “What in the world is going on.” But in light of everything that has happened over the past week, here are three things I need to remember, and maybe we all do heading into a new week. 

(1) We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. – Hebrews 5:3

    • Something about the really hard things we go through in life develop endurance for us to press on, to keep going, and to stay in the fight. 

(2) Memento Mori = Remember that you must die

    • This is just a fact of life. 
    • It’s not an “if” it’s a “when”
    • That being said – how are you you stewarding the days you’ve been given? We each have a certain number of days we’re going to be on this earth, no more, no less. 
    • I’m 28 years old, which is roughly in the neighborhood of 10,000 days —> Have I taken advantage of these days or have they taken advantage of me (Ephesians 5:16 — making the best use of the time, because the days are evil)

(3) Keep showing up

    • High Heels has said “How do you get better at burpees? Do more burpees.” And in the past when I’ve heard that I probably laughed or thought “But why?”
    • But the point is not the success or failure, but to keep showing up. You wanna get better at burpees? Keep showing up and do the work. 
    • To quote Samwise Gamgee —> Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something. That there’s some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for. 
    • Last week we all saw how powerful and impactful it is when men decide to show up. 

You Are More Than Your Job

THE SCENE: Windy, temps in low 60s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Cherry Pickers, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Windmills, Sitting knee stretches 10 count right, forward and left.
THA-THANG:
Mosey up Dragon Tail to Haslam Rock.  Stop on roadway to do 20 Box Cutters.

Mosey to Coliseum Courtyard Area.  We will run counterclockwise around the sidewalk loop.  We will do the following exercises around the circle:

  • First loop:  20 Bench Dips at Coliseum and Admin Bldg steps and 20 Merkins at the two sides of loop.
  • Second loop:  20 Box Jumps on Steps and 20 Carolina Dry Cocks at sides of loop.
  • Third loop:  20 Calf Raises on Steps and 20 Diamond Merkins at side of loop.
  • Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to roadway area close to Haslam Rock.  We will do 20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey on Perimeter Trail to area at bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will split into teams of two and do Doras.  One partner runs to the construction fence going south on the perimeter trail, touches the fence and runs back.  The other partner works on the listed exercises and then partners switch.  As a team, the partners will do the following exercises:

  • 150 Freddie Mercuries (4 ct)
  • 150 Jump Squats
  • 150 Baby Crunches
  • 150 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
Abdominals
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21 men with one FNG:  Robert Kelly whom we dubbed Kung Blue.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I know that some men in our brotherhood and some M’s of our brothers have struggled with the jobs they are in and the vocational decisions they are attempting to make. It is difficult to have a job that just doesn’t seem right for you.  It can be bewildering to wonder what direction your professional life should take. It can feel oppressive to go to a job you just don’t like and wonder when the right job will come along.  I look back to my own vocational struggles when I was in my 20’s and early 30’s. I can say that during some of those struggles I was clinically depressed.

As a 66-year-old who has been in the job market for quite some time, let me offer some words to you that may help be of benefit to those of you who have struggled vocationally or who have loved ones who have struggled:

  1. You are more than your job.  I know of people who feel they have never found the “right job.”  But some of them are amongst the finest people I know.  Yes, at parties we may introduce ourselves to others and answer the questions about what we do for a living.  But that isn’t our identity.  There is so much more:  our worship, our families, our friends, our activities outside of work, how we listen to others, how we treat others, how we lead others.
  2. If you are dissatisfied with your job, keep looking.  That doesn’t mean quit your current job.  But network with others, talk to your brothers, let them know you are looking for something new.  Also, when you interview for jobs, that in itself can be a learning process.  I am proud of my son, Bennett, for his growth through networking and interviewing in the past year.  He had a good job but wanted something different.  He thought he wanted to get into the banking industry but he wasn’t sure in what area or what direction to take.  He gradually found out a job that is fitting his desires by networking and interviewing for jobs that weren’t quite the fit.
  3. As our brother High-Heels said in a recent Q, even if you aren’t thrilled with your job, it’s a blessing to have it.  You are getting paid.  Your job is putting food on the table.  There are many people who are jobless and hungry.  Don’t forget that.
  4. You have an opportunity to serve others, no matter what your job.  You can smile at your customers, try to make their lives better, and enhance the lives of your fellow employees with a kind and eager spirit.  And, no matter what your job, whether physician or trash collector, that work is probably contributing to what makes our world spin.

I will sum up the last point with some of the words from a song we sometimes sing at my church called “Day by Day.”

Server, you remind us of our Savior's bowl and towel.
Teacher, you are raising up a child to be kind.
Lawyer, give us hope that justice one day will surround us.
May God's kingdom come, on earth His will be done.

Farmer, you are working for a table full of bounty.
Painter, with each color you are teaching us to see.
Nurse, yours are the healing hands that touch the poor and broken.
May God's kingdom come, on earth His will be done.

Lord, be close to us.  Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, please put Your hand on us day by day.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jinxy and his family after the death of Jinxy’s father.  The funeral was today.  Prayers of praise for Operation as his wife is over six weeks pregnant after she and Operation went through such a lengthy time with issues of infertility.  Operation is going to be a great father!!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hot Toddy Triple Q at the Asylum on Saturday morning, January 28 at the Asylum!  Pusher will have his Birthday Q with Lumpia likely in February!