F3 Knoxville

The Fallen 13

[ The Scene ] 

Ruckers just getting in from a pre-ruck sesh. The quiet before the storm looked like light stretching and mumble chatter.

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
  • Name is Steam and I’m honored to be your Q this morning 
  • Few things before we begin: 
    • I’m not a professional 
    • You’re here on your own volition 
    • If you need to modify anything we do this morning, feel free to do so, but push yourself and the men around you, they deserve it and so do you! Hang in there with me and them for a solid 45 minutes.
  • FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ] 

  • SSH: 30 (1ct)
  • Mountain Climber: 30 (2ct)
  • Baby Arm Circles: 20 (F – 1ct)
  • Baby Arm Circles: 20 (B – 1ct) 
  • Rockette: 10 (4ct)
  • Windmill: 10 (4ct)

[ The Thang ] 

(Mosey to the track) 

  1. Honor the 13
    • 13 fallen heroes in Afghanistan
      • David L. Espinoza
      • Nicole L. Gee
      • Darin T. Hoover
      • Ryan C. Knauss
      • Hunter Lopez
      • Rylee J. McCollum
      • Kareem M. Nikoui
      • Johanny Rosariopichardo
      • Humberto A. Sanchez
      • Jared M. Schmitz
      • Maxton W. Soviak
      • Daegan W. Page
    • 13 laps with an exercise in between
    • Each lap will be dedicated to one of the slain heroes 
    • Laps will be ran in silence
    • Lap 1 — Marine Corps Lance Corporal David L. Espinoza
      • “David Espinoza, a Laredo native Marine killed in Afghanistan, embodied the values of America: grit, dedication, service, and valor,” Cuellar wrote. “When he joined the military after high school, he did so with the intention of protecting our nation and demonstrating his selfless acts of service. I mourn him and all the fallen heroes in Afghanistan.” We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: 13 merkins (up/down)
      • Run the lap
    • Lap 2 —  Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee
      • Just days before her death, Sgt. Nicole Gee posted a photo on Instagram of herself in uniform while holding a baby in Afghanistan with the caption, “I love my job.” We owe her our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: 13 big boy situps (up/down)
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 3 — Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover
      • “Staff Sgt. Hoover served valiantly as a Marine and died serving his fellow countrymen as well as America’s allies in Afghanistan,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. “We honor his tremendous bravery and commitment to his country, even as we condemn the senseless violence that resulted in his death.” We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: SSH: 13 (4ct)
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 4 — Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss
      • Ryan was a fellow Knoxvillian and Tennessean, and we own him our gratitude for his sacrifice. We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: The Bend and Reach: 13 (4ct)
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 5 — Marine Corps Corporal Hunter Lopez
      • Lopez is the son of two Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officers, Captain Herman Lopez and Deputy Alicia Lopez. The department announced Lopez’s death on Friday. Sheriff Chad Bianco said on Facebook that Lopez planned on following in his parents’ footsteps and joining the department as a deputy when he got home from his deployment. We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: Squat: 13 (4ct)
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 6 — Marine Corps Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum 
      • McCollum’s father, Jim, told The New York Times that McCollum was helping with evacuations and guarding a checkpoint when the attack at the airport happened. His father said this was McCollum’s first deployment and that he had gotten married recently. His wife is expecting with their first child. McCollum’s sister Cheyenne told East Idaho News that her brother was “going to be the best dad.” Cheyenne said her brother was the youngest of four siblings, her single father’s only son, and that he knew he wanted to be a Marine from a young age. We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: Imperial Walker: 13 (4ct) 
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 7 — Marine Corps Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola 
      • Cpl. Dylan Merola was a graduate of Los Osos High School, according to ABC 7 of Los Angeles. Students honored him at a football game on Friday night by wearing red, white and blue, the TV station reported. He was only 20 years old. We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: Mountain Climber: 13 (4ct)
      • Run the lap
    • Lap 8 — Marine Corps Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nikoui
      • “My understanding is that he rescued – per a sergeant that wrote the family – he rescued three families,” Bash told the TV station. “And he was in the process of saving children, translators that had worked for the U.S. government. He passed off a child and went back into the crowd and that’s when the bomb went off.” “He really loved that [Marine Corps] family,” Steve told The Daily Beast. “He was devoted—he was going to make a career out of this, and he wanted to go. No hesitation for him to be called to duty.” We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: LBC: 13 (4ct) 
    • Lap 9 — Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo
      • Johanny was 25 years old and from Lawrence, Massachusetts. We owe her our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice. 
      • The X: The cherry picker: 13 (4ct) 
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 10 — Marine Corps Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez
      • Humberto was only 22 years old and from Logansport, Indiana. We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice. 
      • The X: The Iron Mike: 13 (1ct) 
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 11 — Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz
      • His father told the St. Louis radio station KMOX that his son had always wanted to be a Marine and that he had “never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be.” We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice.
      • The X: Flutter Kick: 13 (4ct) 
      • Run the lap 
    • Lap 12 — Navy Hospitalman Maxton Sonika
      • His family says that Max was most proud of being a Navy Corpsman and “devil doc” for the Marines. The statement said Max leaves behind a big family of 12 brothers and sisters. “Our nation mourns the loss of Navy Corpsman Max Soviak, whose uncommon courage in the face of unfathomable danger ensured the safe passage of countless civilians,” Kaptur said in her statement. “We will never be able to repay the debt we owe him, but we will be forever grateful for his willingness to serve when America needed him most. Our hearts go out to his family during this time, and we lift them up in prayer that they may find comfort in his memory.” We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice. 
      • The X: Plank Jack: 13 (4ct) 
    • Lap 13 — Marine Corps Corporal Daegan W. Page
      • Daegan was 23 years old and from Omaha, Nebraska. We owe him our gratitude for paying the ultimate sacrifice. 
    • Run one more lap together in silence in honor of them all

(Mosey back to the AO)

[ Mary ]

Moment of silence for the fallen.

[ COT ]

  • # off — 12
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs? — No
  • BOM
    • Everything in life will fail you at some point in time. The tragic loss of life that was seen last week in Afghanistan was an incredibly visible failure of leadership and ownership. Your government will fail you, your president will fail you, your country will fail you, your friends will fail you, your family will fail you — at some point in time everything will fail you to some degree.
    • But God.
    • But God are probably two of the most powerful words in the world. But God will not fail you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6 — Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you).

Remember and Honor the fallen.

Frisbee on the Fly

THE SCENE: warm and humid, sunny, mid 70’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

I tossed the frisbee at random to someone in the circle who then was responsible for leading us in a warm up exercise
THA-THANG:
The majority of the workout was made up on the spot. I had a frisbee and whoever caught the frisbee outside of when we moseyed was then responsible for leading us in an exercise. If the disc hit the ground at anytime (which it definitely did) everyone owed 5 burpees. When moseying whoever had the disc ran to the front of the line and then throw it to the back, who then also ran to the front and through it back. We stopped in three locations around the park:

  • Sunsphere: Here whoever caught the disc in the circle led us in a leg exercise and then we ran to the top of the stairs and back down. We did 4-5 exercises here
  • Parking lot near campus: Here we did 4-5 upper body exercises
  • Amphitheater: Here we led each other through 4-5 ab exercises

After this we returned to the lawn, numbered off into two teams and play ultimate frisbee. The twist was that if the disc hit the ground everyone owed 10 Monkey Humpers (which changed to 5 squats) and if your team was scored on you owed 10 Jump Squats (which changed to 10 merkins)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Shared about an author who also used to be a part of the ministry I work for that advocated for the practice of “preaching the Gospel to yourself daily”. With the start of this school year I have also started trying to practice this. One of the ways in which he did this was by every morning as soon as he hit his alarm clock he would quote Lamentations 3:22-23 to himself. So I shared the verse also and encouraged us to not only preach the Gospel daily to ourselves but to also remember that God is faithful and never failing

Big Ball Lawn stuff

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Insert information about the warmup.
THA-THANG:
Building blocks on the lawn. Start at first cone. Do 1 of 1st exercise. Move to next cone, do 2, next cone 3 etc. Total of 10 cones across lawn. Run a lap around field after completing 10 cones and switch to second exercise.

exercises are:

  • Merkins with runs
  • Squat jumps with bear crawls (every other)
  • Dry docks with Bernie Sanders
  • Lunges with side shuffles

Afterwards we did some sprints on the lawn, 40yd, 50yd, 60yd, 80yd. Then, jog then sprint 60yd x2.

MARY:
Flutters x32, side crunches x20, LBCs x20
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Hardship Hill, OEW and Sacrifice.
MOLESKIN:
Thought we had some merlot spilled but it was just a bathroom break. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. So I fed Merle Haggard is really the Haggard Blackbird. His voice certainly sounds that way. Speaking of haggar, if you ever need a suit, I’ve been very happy with Haggar suits. Super comfortable and they are well made with those elastic type waists. Me likey when I eat too much. So Qing at the Big Ball was a great experience and I would suggest it to anyone looking to Q at a palace. Well it certainly seemed like one compared to the depressing darkness of the Dog Pound and Equilizer where you’re not sure if you are going to get sprayed by a skunk or break an ankle on some chewed up concrete. But I do still love my Dog Pound and Equilizer AOs. well enough for today. Remember, if you want to join the I read Tank’s BB club simply put a gorilla 🦍 emoji on the slack post. No comment, just the emoji and your decoder pin will be in the mail. Late.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

wesley house snacks

Stickin Together

THE SCENE: A nice cool 68 degree morning. Slightly foggy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry picker ic x20

Baby arm circles ic x20

Forward hamstring stretch

Downward dog calf stretch

SSH ic x30

THA-THANG:
We moseyed to the base of the Big Ball itself. YHC began by identifying what would be used as four corners: the current spot, just across the water at the amphitheater, further along the water at the West end of the bridge, and finally the East side of the bridge. Pax were to complete a set of exercises at each corner oyo and then wait until the 6 was in. Pax would mosey to the next corner together. Exercises at corners 1 and 3 would be the same, and exercises at corners 2 and 4 would be the same.

Corners 1 and 3:

  • Super skaters x10 each leg
  • Standing lunge x10 each leg
  • 1 leg deadlift squat x10 each leg
  • Monkey humper x20

Corners 2 and 4:

  • WW2 situps x20
  • V up rollups x10
  • 2 count American hammer x20
  • Crunchy frog x20

Once we returned to corner 1, we moseyed on over to a nearby cone. YHC pointed out that there were three additional cones just like this first one lined up approximately 30 yards apart. Begin at cone 1 and follow as instructed below. Sprint between each cone.

THE BEAST:

  • Sprint to cone 2 for 6 merkins
  • Sprint to cone 3 for 6 LBCs
  • Sprint to cone 4 for 6 squats
  • Sprint back to cone 3 for 6 burpees
  • Sprint to cone 2 for 6 werkins
  • Sprint to cone 1 for 6 American hammer
  • Complete a suicide as quickly as possible

Drive thru enjoyed this exercise so much he asked that we repeat it. We obliged him and did just that.

MARY:
Returned the flag just in time for some 6-minute abs:

Freddy Mercury ic x20

Heels to heaven ic x20

Flutter kicks ic x10

BBSU ic x20
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

MOLESKIN:

Giving Abort credit for the Q since I’m not in the QIC dropdown yet.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I am thankful for F3 and the ability to have a like-minded group of men that will support and encourage almost anywhere in the country (and even some other countries! Shoutout F3 Nairobi). Having only moved to Knoxville a month ago, I wanted to take some time to appreciate this group and make sure that we do not take for granted what a gift this group is

Big Ball Summer Olympics 2021

THE SCENE: partly cloudy, warm, mid 70’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Everyone was numbered off into 2 teams, each representing fictional nations competing for gold. Teams were Narnia and Rivendell.
THA-THANG:
5 events were held at this year’s Summer Olympics. With Olympic theme blasting in the background, Narnia and Rivendell gave their blood, sweat and tears to bring home gold and represent their fictional homelands. Here are the events:

  • Spikeball: Teams lined up in order, sending 2 representatives at a time to square off in a round of Spikeball against their opponents. After each point, whoever was in longest went to the back of the line and the next man subbed in. While 4 battled it out on the court, everyone else was doing typical warm up exercises (SSH, Hillbillies, Arm Circles, Tempo Squats, etc.) while waiting for their shot at glory. Narnia took gold in this event after a display of absolute dominance
  • Box Ultimate: Ultimate frisbee with an Olympic sized twist, instead of two end zones there is one box in the middle that serves as a universal end zone. Teams had to complete 3 passes before being able to toss to someone in the box for a point. Every time the frisbee hit the ground everyone had to do 5 merkins. First to 3 points took gold. Rivendell won a close game of 3-2
  • 100ish Meter Sandbag Relay: Sandbags were placed at one end of the field near the fountains, one for each nation. Teams got into order again. Whoever was in the front of the line ran to the bag, tossed it as far as possible, ran back and did 5x Jumping Knee Tucks, Carolina Dry Docks, and Big Boy Sit Ups each, and then returned to line. The next person ran as soon as the first person completed their toss. First team down and back again won. Narnia took gold in a hard fought battle
  • CMU Capture the Flag: Exactly what it sounds like, CTF with CMUs. The field was divided in half. You could be tagged on the other half but were safe on your own half. Anyone with the flag could be tagged at any time. Once tagged you had to run back to your own field’s far side and do 5x American Hammers on a 4ct. No one won, but Rivendell took gold due to being the only team to move the flag, a whopping 5 ft
  • Bear Crawl Ball: Soccer in a bear crawl where you can hit with your hands. Everyone had to stay in bear crawl in order to move of touch the ball. First to 3 would have won, but with a buzzer beating clutch shot from PDA we ended right at 8am with a tie at 2-2

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Shared the story of Robert McCherye, who was a 19th century minister who was just as well known for his faith as he was for being a workaholic. He died of cardiac arrest at 29 and on his death bed wrote “God gave me a message to deliver and a horse to ride on. Alas, I have killed the horse and now I cannot deliver the message.” I think we tend to acknowledge that rest is worthwhile but are still reluctant to take the time needed for it. Sometimes it makes us feel weak or like we’re wasting our time. When Jesus was confronted about working on the Sabbath He said that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man. It’s easy to walk away from that saying “OK, Jesus said its fine for me not to rest”, but rather we should hear that and acknowledge that if the Sabbath was made specifically for us then it must be worthwhile. So let’s seek out rest wherever we need it, whether that be physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually