F3 Knoxville

Tag: Abscess

These Are Crazy Days, But They Make Me Shine

THE SCENE: Upper 40s or so, wet, but no rain
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 21 (4 ct)

Little baby arm circles forward x 21

Little baby arm circles backward x 21

Little bit of this and a little bit of that x 2

Michael Phelps

21 merkins

21 squats

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Rocky Mountain High

21s – Incline merkins at the top, squats at the bottom

Mosey to Everest

20 burpees at the bottom, run to the summit, 21 burpees at the top

Mosey to the Colosseum

21 derkins at the bottom of the loop, 21 calf raises at the top on the steps of the admin building

Rinse and repeat

Mosey to the Cloud

21 box jumps, 21 dips (no running in between)

Rinse and repeat

Mosey to the Pavilon

21 bench pull ups, 21 CDDs

Rinse and repeat for 4 total rounds

Mosey to Little Cardiac

Sprint to the AO

MARY:

21 flutter kicks (4 ct)

20 hokey pokeys (10 each leg)

1 merkin w/ a clap

Plank until time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
24 HIMs, including FNG Flo and Jetlag and Chugger (who are not tagged)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I Q’ed at the Equalizer on Wednesday, the last Equalizer Q for 2020.  I reflected back on my Q from 1/4/20, almost a year ago today, which was the first Saturday workout in 2020 at the Asylum.  I wrote this in my back-blast for the 1/4/20 workout:

It is a new year and a new decade and no one knows what it holds.  It could be the year that someone is added to your life, or it could be the year that someone is taken away.  It could be the year of the promotion, or it could be the year of the demotion.  It could be the year of kindergarten, or it could be the year of graduation.  It could be the year of the big win, or it could be the year of the big loss.  Regardless, you don’t need a resolution, you need a constitution, a foundation.  On a big scale, it should be God, your family, your friends, etc.  But, it can be anything that grounds you.  It can even be as simple as the F3 workouts.  The asphalt, concrete, and grass do not change, and they are always there waiting for you whether you have a good day/week or a bad day/week.  They are checkpoints after good times or bad and before whatever lies ahead.  If nothing else, start there and build.  Have a good new year but not just for what good fortunes may come your way during the year but based on what you keep your eye on and focus on while the year goes by.

I wrote this for my back-blast on 12/30/20:

I certainly did not know (nor could I have imagined) how 2020 was going to play out.  It has been a year of a whole lot of something and a whole lot of nothing at the same time.  It’s been a long year and one that has hardly existed.  I’m usually reflective at New Year’s, but this year is different.  The usual events are not there to reflect on.  But, it has been a good year to get back to those basic foundations that I mentioned in January.  I’ve spent more time at home and with my family.  I’ve attended more F3 workouts thanks to my telework schedule.  I’ve prayed a lot.  A lot people are happy to end 2020 in favor of 2021.  Those people need to be careful.  We should not wish our lives away in hopes of better days to come.  Find the joy now.  If you can’t find any, then look harder.  If you still can’t find any, then make some.  We have to live the days we are given as there is no guarantee of tomorrow.  Also, things are not going to change just because the year changes from 2020 to 2021.  Things will change with positive attitudes and actions.  When you look back on 2020, look for the good and don’t dwell on the bad.  As you look forward to 2021, look with hope and with the intention of doing something positive with it.

Wednesday night, Noel Gallagher released a song that summed up what I was trying to say about the struggle to be positive with all of the endless negativity being thrown at us.  Before I talk about his song, I wanted to provide some context.

Noel Gallagher was the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and secondary vocalist for my favorite band – Oasis.  As I have said before, I was born in the 70s, I am a child of the 80s, but I am a product of the 90s.  Few bands captured the essence of the 90s – its brash positivity, its depressing angst, and its impenetrable rebel spirit – better than Oasis.  The band’s music, as with most music of the 90s, was about being yourself, challenging authority, pressing the boundaries, and pushing the envelope.  It was dreaming and aspiring for greatness while being burdened with existential philosophical and theological questions of right and wrong and simply “why.”  Noel wrote some of the great songs that defined that era.  Those songs also contained gems such as:

I’m free to be whatever I/Whatever I choose/And I’ll sing the blues if I want/I’m free to say whatever I/Whatever I like/If it’s wrong or right it’s alright/Always seems to me/You only see what people want you to see/How long’s it gonna be/Before we get on the bus/And cause no fuss/Get a grip on yourself/It don’t cost much – Whatever

Listen up, what’s the time/Said today, I’m gonna speak my mind/Take me up to the top of the world I wanna see my crime/Day by day there’s a man in a suit who’s gonna make you pay/For the thoughts that you think and the words they won’t let you say – Listen Up

Some might say they don’t believe in heaven/Go and tell that to the man who lives in hell – Some Might Say

Look into the wall of my mind’s eye/I think I know, but I don’t know why/The questions are the answers you might need/Coming in a mess, going out in style/I ain’t good-looking, but I’m someone’s child/No one can give me the air that’s mine to breathe/I met my maker/I made him cry/And on my shoulder he asked me why/His people won’t fly through the storm/I said listen up man, they don’t even know you’re born – D’You Know What I Mean?

Take the time to make some sense of what you want to say/And cast your words away upon the waves/Sail them home with acquiesce on a ship of hope today/And as they land upon the shore/Tell them not to fear no more/Say it loud and sing it proud today – The Masterplan

I need to be myself/I can’t be no one else – Supersonic

(The title of this back-blast is also a line from one of Noel’s songs – All Around the World.)

I could go on.  Those are just a few and are not even from some of the more widely known songs.  But, I am not trying to sell anyone on Oasis.

My point is that music today has changed.  It is not only missing actual instruments, it is missing its revolution.  Ever since Buddy Holly challenged the status quo and the comfort of the established class in the 50s – through and including Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and, of course, the Beatles, music has reflected a “we are not going to take it,” “we are who we are and we are proud of it,” and a “we are going to live our lives and no one is going to tell us otherwise” mentality.  Music is the mirror that the youth hold up to everyone else to keep them in check and to improve things.  In a way, music is society’s conscious.  Not today.  Today’s music does not even have a Madonna, let alone a true revolutionary.  Everyone falls in line and sings the same tune.

Want proof?  Old-school British rockers have been rising up a lot lately against COVID masks, protocols, and things of that nature.  The list includes Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and Ian Brown from the Stone Roses.  Noel has also chimed in.  He did not say that the virus wasn’t real.  He did not say that people weren’t dying of the virus.  He simply pointed out that a lot of liberties had eroded and questioned why he has to wear a mask in public unless he is eating – will the virus recognize that he is eating and skip over him, he asked.  He was attacked for his comments by some.  I say that not to raise the usual debates about COVID, but to get to this. 

Noel has a 20-year-old daughter.  She was asked to respond to Noel’s comments.  Her response is the point, and it demonstrates a larger problem that was revealed in 2020.  She said: “I get where he’s coming from but I’m less full-on than him.  I’m generally less revolutionary than my dad.  I’ve never not worn a mask.  I think my generation is quite lenient and that’s not necessarily a good thing.  We do what we’re told a bit too much, we come from an era of fake news and Facebook telling us what the news is.  We are also hugely afraid of being cancelled.  It’s very dangerous to stand up and be your own person in my generation.  If you are going against the grain, you can be totally cut out.”

That’s scary.  In one generation, the Gallagher line has gone from striving for greatness and revolutionizing the world with such great lyrics as those mentioned before and countless others to being afraid to speak out and being afraid of being cancelled.  If the children of rock-n-roll rebels are falling in line, then where does that leave the rest of us?  If the youth movement is not there to keep the older generation in line and on its toes, then where does that leave the rest of us, not just now but with whatever lies ahead in 2021 and beyond?

Luckily, Noel is still around and still willing to comment.  So, back to the song that I mentioned earlier.  I don’t think it is controversial.  I think it is hopeful and positive.  Here are the lyrics:

Remember the dream that you’re keeping alive/Remember your love for the loved outside/Don’t fight the feeling/Don’t stop believing in what you know/‘Cause you can’t let go, my friend/We’re gonna get there in the end/Tonight!  Tonight!/Gonna let that dream take flight/And when the morning comes/Will you wake up by my side?/Love, real love/Is all I’m thinking of/Give it half a chance/And the world might find a way/Don’t be afraid when you’re rolling the dice/Life is a trip that you don’t take twice/If you think that your faith is enough/The weight that you carry is love/We’ve spent too long inside/Take a walk outside/It’s a sad, sad song that the world keeps singing/Well let love try to sing along/Don’t fight the feeling/Don’t stop believing in what you know/‘Cause you can’t let go, my friend/We’re gonna get there in the end

The video with the song shows what appears to be drone footage of a locked down city in England.  It ends with a shot of a crowd of people filling the streets as they walk across an intersection on both sides.  I’m not sure when that footage was taken, but let’s hope that it becomes more common in 2021.  Who would have thought that such a simple and mundane daily task like walking across the street in a crowd would be the focus of so many hopes and goals of a new year.  But, here we are.  And, I hope that Noel is right and that we’re gonna get there in the end.  And, while we are trying to get back to better days, I hope that we also get back to a point where we are all free to be and say whatever we want, especially our youth.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jordan, Ribbed’s wife and family, and for a great 2021

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Asylum CSAUP on 1/30

Birthday Boys Triple Q

THE SCENE:  Frigid and sunny.  Temp about 14 degrees. This was the birthday of Charmin, High-Heels and Lilydipper.  The three of us Q’d together.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Plenty of Side-Straddle Hops while Charmin gave the F3 Welcome and Disclaimer.  7 Cherry Pickers.  20 High Knees.  Squats.
THA-THANG:
We did the workouts below with Charmin starting us off at the Coliseum.  Before we got started with his exercises, good ol Charmin got us to have a snow fight with the last man hit being the first one to get a Hot Toddy after the workout.  The last man standing was Gibbler.  Here are the workouts:

Saturday, December 26, 2020
Lily’s Birthday Boy Triple Q 15 Minute Workout
To be performed at the Caribbean aka Circus Maximus.
We will go counterclockwise around the parking lot five times, using different
methods of movement which will be listed below. At each end of the parking lot
we will be doing reps of exercises which are also listed below. I will have
instructions posted on both ends of the parking lot so that people won’t have to
remember all of this.
West End
1. 20 Squat Jumps. Sprint to East End.
2. 20 Big Boy Sit-ups. High Knees to East End.
3. 15 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1). Skip to East End.
4. 20 Carolina Dry Docks. Karaoke Right to East End.
5. 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct). Bernie to East End.
East End
1. 20 Merkins. Bernie to West End.
2. 20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1). Butt Kick to West End.
3. 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct). Half-speed Sprint to West End.
4. 10 Burpees. Karaoke left to West End.
5. 20 Plank Jacks. Sprint to West End.
I don’t know how long the above will take but it may be more than 15 minutes. If
so, end early and go to next post. If it take less than 15 minutes, have guys rinse
and repeat.

Charmin at the Colosseum
25s x 5 (That’s fifty reps of each exercise cause I’m 50) and 5 rounds of 25s for
each decade of my 50 years. In between each round, we run laps around the
Colosseum, with descending number of laps because each decade seems to go
that much faster.
So, 25s of merkins and big boys, run 4 laps
25s of Smurf jacks and mountain climbers, run 3 laps
25s of American Hammers and plank jacks, run 2 laps
25s of pickle pounders and monkey humpers, run 1 lap
25s of Bobby Hurleys and dips. The end. Mosey to the next station.
I haven’t actually run through this yet, so I don’ know if it can be done in 15
minutes or not. If not, I’ll shorten it, but the idea will be the same.

High Heels Kick’n it at the Ball Fields
I plan to do my Ab End / PT End workout.
Ab End
Exercise 1 – LBC – 15 4 count
Exercise 2 – Flutter Kick – 15 4 count
Exercise 3 – Box Cutter – 15
Exercise 4 – Holly Dolly – 15
Exercise 5 – Big Boys Sit ups – 15
PT End
Exercise 1 – SSH – 15 4 count
Exercise 2 – Hand release Merkin – 15
Exercise 3 – The Squat – 30
Exercise 4 – Carolina Dry Docks – 20
Exercise 5 – Burpee – 10
On one side of the parking lot you start the Ab exercise and do the stated reps.
After completing the reps you run to far side of parking lot and do the same Ab
exercise just completed until the six arrives. Once the six is in then you start the
next exercise from PT side and do the stated reps. Then run to other side of
parking lot and do the same PT exercise until six arrives. Do all five exercises.

MARY:
Some 25s at the Pavilion with Picnic Table Pull-ups and Bench Dips.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Charmin, High-Heels and I now equal up to 169 years of living and I, Lilydipper, am the oldest of the “Respect”able crew.  It is nice to know that, no matter how old we get, we still have room for growth.  At 64 I hope to continue working out with F3 for quite some time to come.  And, no matter who leads the F3 workouts and no matter what their age, I feel I grow with each message I hear.  Yet, even when I can no longer run about, perhaps even walk about, there will be room for me to grow as an individual.  God wants us keep growing in Him throughout our lives.  Isn’t it nice to know that we always have more to learn?  I was listening to a radio station about a man who had injured his back and for quite some time was in pain, unable to walk about.  He decided to get on the internet and learn as much as he could about different subjects.  For example, he found spiders to be fascinating and found he could spend day after day learning more and more about them.  One subject, tons to learn.

Much of what we learn we must learn more than once.  Growth comes through hearing the same thing again and again until it finally plants itself within us.  Also, we must live with what we learned and apply it again and again.  I have found sermon lessons at church to be that way.  I will hear a sermon and think, “Wow, I need to hang on to this, use it in my life.”  Yet, I some how lose it, it drifts away.  Then, another sermon comes along with a similar message.  Some of it sticks with me.  After 10 to 15 similar sermons, maybe I finally get it.  Maybe by then I start applying it.  I grow for goodness sake!  That is how growth occurs.  What we learn comes through inculcation, a repeating of the lesson, until we get it through our thick skulls.

Lord, help me to keep growing no longer how old I get!!!
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for those impacting by Covid and for this pandemic to end; for an end to racism; for Ribbed and his wife, Sarah, who is recovering from the removal of a tumor near her spine; and, for all those who have family or friends who are suffering.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hot Toddys and sausage biscuits immediately after the workout; CSAUP the last Saturday in January at the Asylum.

The Dark Night Rises

THE SCENE: Blustery, 40s and dark as a closet. Perfect night for a beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:

I informed the PAX that we would be having fun tonight, completing the five F’s (Fitness, Faith, Fellowship, Free-99, and Fun). Disclaimer, no lawsuit required from the mothership for branding infringements.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSHs x 25 (4-count)
  • Imperial Walkers x 10 (4-count)
  • Tempo Squats
  • Tempo Merkins x 10

THA-THANG:

Pickett’s Charge

  • Run to the Asylum, touch the building and back to the Coliseum for box cutters.
  • Mosey down to the stop sign for Tempo Squats and Air Squats x 10.

Everest / Space Station in The Pitch Dark

  • 2 Trips down Everest: Merkins x 20, LBCs x 20, and Jump Squats x 20 during each trip to the bottom. First trip to the top of the Space Station and the second rendezvous at the top of Everest for Transition box cutters/star gazers.

Stop Sign Non-sense 

  • If my memory serves me correctly, we focused on form and did additional merkins and LBCs.

Parking Lot Suicides

  • Self-explanatory, but at the end we sprinted up Baby Everest.

MARY:
Hello Dollies x 100. Kudos to Brick who never slowed up for a second.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Yeah, so…
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
That was four days ago, but I bet it was compelling.
MOLESKIN:
Head lamp was helpful for the hills in the dark. I should have posted earlier in the day for other people to bring a few.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Bell Lap

THE SCENE: Perfect, upper 50s, light breeze
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Done, with emphasis on CORONA guidelines.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 SSH, (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Windmills (4-ct), in cadence

– Back stretches. Stay in down position, reach one arm up, hold for 10 s, reverse arms

– 32 Grady Corns, (4-ct), in cadence

– Go to curb, do calf stretches.

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Serpentine Sidewalk.

2-4-6s.  Run two light poles, do 2×5 (10) of the exercise and run back to starting point.  Run 4 light poles and do 4×5 (20) of the exercise and run back.  Run 6 light poles and do 6×5 (30) of the exercise, then hold a plank. DON’T run back.  Rinse and repeat using a different exercise, continuing down path and to base of Cardiac.  Exercises:

  • Froggy Jumps
  • CDDs
  • American Flutters (Flutter kicks in the American Hammer “V” formation) (2-CT)

MOSEY to Bottom of Cardiac.  Same idea.  Run up to first turn, do 10 reps of ALL THREE EXERCISES, (FROGGY JUMPS, CDDs, AMERICAN FLUTTERS) return to start.  Run to SECOND turn and do 20 Reps of the three exercises and return to first curve.  Run to Top and do 30 reps of the three exercises and stop there.  RESPECT and DOUBLE RESPECT guys can opt out of running one return leg. (to my knowledge, no one took me up on that.  HIMs… *shoulder shrug*)

MOSEY to parking lot across from AO.  Do YULE LOG LAPS (cones laid out in a rectangular log shape):

  • Short-side 1: Bear Crawl
  • Long-side 1: 50/75/100/75/50 (% effort) sprint
  • Short-Side 2: El Capitan
  • Long-side 2: Bernie Sanders
  • 5 Merkins at each corner.
  • Rinse and Repeat until Q uses a special signal (Ringing of a bell) to indicate one more lap from where you are, AYG.  This is the Bell Lap!
  • 15 Burpees in the middle when last lap is finished. (15 days until Christmas)

MOSEY to AO.

MARY:
Static leg raises (on 6, back off ground, one leg bent, other leg held up with ankle above knee) 30 s one leg, 30 s other leg; Captain Thors; Homer/Marge

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Fourteen men and a dog. (Speed Flash, Asher, Crawdad’s 2.0, not tagged)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

In track, any race that has multiple laps has a “Bell Lap”, that alerts the runners that they are on the last lap and they need to give it all they’ve got to finish the race strong. It’s a signal to the runner to get his or her head right, bear down, and give it everything they have.  As we approach the middle of December, I feel like we are in the Bell Lap of probably the most challenging year any of us has experienced.  But there is Hope!  There is a finish line in sight! Vaccines are on the way.  Our knowledge as to how to keep ourselves safe, and treatment options are evolving and improving all the time.  But just as the last lap in a race is the most difficult, because you are exhausted physically and mentally, so too is this last push of isolation, remote schooling, unemployment, food insecurity, loneliness, etc. the most challenging to bear.

In the Christian faith, this time of year is also the Bell Lap as we anticipate the arrival of Christ.  We are in the Advent season, and “Advent” means Coming, or Arrival.  In just a few short weeks we celebrate the coming of the Lord, the birth of Jesus, who taught us, walked with us, and ultimately paid for our sins with his life.  So my message today is a simple one.  Both with the virus situation and with our Faith, We are in the Bell Lap.  Don’t give up.  Finish strong. Have Hope.  God is Coming. Hallelujah, God is Coming.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the wives of Curveball and Ribbed as they go through surgeries and recoveries, prayers for Abacus and his family, prayers for a friend of Crawdad’s who’s relatives have had serious COVID scares.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None

No Measure

THE SCENE: Clear sky with temp at about 33 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Run around parking lot, 25 Side-Straddle Hops, 20 Plank Jacks, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Rockettes, 7 Twists, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to start of Serpentine Sidewalk.  We will do 14’s on the sidewalk until it hits the perimeter trail.  We will Bear Crawl for one light, then run for four and continue this pattern until the perimeter trail.

Next, we will do 20 American Hammers.

Then we will head south on the Perimeter Tail doing nickel, dime, quarters with the following exercises until we get to the southern ball field pavilion:

  • Jump Squats
  • Merkins
  • Smurf Jacks

Mosey to large parking lot by the southern ball fields.  We will Bernie from one end of the parking lot to the other stopping at each large lamppost to do 20 Big Boys Sit-ups.  We will Skip back stopping at each light to do 10 Hand Release Merkins

Mosey to roadway that heads back to A0.  Stop to do 20 Squats.

Mosey to Caribbean.  We will alternate between Karaoke Right and Karaoke Left stopping at every fourth island to do 10 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
25 Baby Crunches (4 ct)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21 Men with no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I was listening to a sermon by Shawn Slate, the pastor at my church, and he quoted a line from a book called When God Interrupts by M. Craig James.  The line, which really struck me, is: “There is no better way to lose your life than to constantly measure it.”

We get into trouble when we start measuring our life against the successes of others or against the “shoulds” that we create for ourselves.  I do not mean that goals are unimportant.  Goals give us something to strive for.  But, they can lead to the loss of a relationship with God.  They can keep us from truly seeing the virtue, the struggle, and the stories in other people.  If we are continually measuring our own lives we are probably ignoring the lives of others.  Our lives become one more item to mark off our checklist in our path to greatness.  And we end up playing the game the world wants us to play:  to have the nicest car, to get the best job, to move into the richest neighborhood.  We climb up the latter to success and ignore God’s world around us.

In God’s kingdom, our worldly measures of success don’t matter.  Jesus said, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.”  And what did Jesus, the messiah, the king, do before his death?  What did he do to show the disciples what it is to be great in heaven?  He got on his knees and washed the feet of each one of them.  He served them.

In the same service that my pastor preached, our congregation sang a communion hymn called Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.  One of the lines in the song is “With thy favor, loss is gain.”

Perhaps part of being a High Impact Man is giving up the ways I measure myself as successful and giving up the ways I compare myself to others.  Rather, I should focus more on serving others, on washing the feet of fellow sinners, be willing to sit at the end of the row versus the front of it.  It is there that I am apparently much more likely to find God’s favor.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Corona Weight’s brother, Jared, whose parole hearing was extended from November to March.  He remains in prison.  After having an amputated thumb replaced he must have it removed again and, hopefully, replaced later.  Prayers for Curve Ball’s wife who is having surgery in Florida; for Goober’s step-grandmother who was recently diagnosed with Covid-19; and for Ribbed’s wife who will have surgery to remove a tumor at her spine on December 14.  Prayers for the vaccines for the coronavirus, that they may be effective and that they reach the world’s population quickly.