F3 Knoxville

Gunning it

THE SCENE: Sunny, 70’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Plank Reaches, Squats with increasing times of 10, 20, 30 and 60 seconds, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Baby Arm to Wide Arm Circles (front and back)
THA-THANG:

Mosey to Playground.  We will do the following at different stations:

20 Bench Jumps at Benches.  20 seconds of pull-ups at Dugouts.  20 Picnic Table Pull-ups at Pavilion.  20 Diamond Merkins at Flag.  Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to parking lot that is just of the northern baseball fields.  We will be running to various cones where exercises will be posted.  The following are the exercises:

  • Cone 1:  20 Merkins
  • Cone 2:  Bear Crawl to Cone 3
  • Cone 3:  20 Big Boy Situps
  • Cone 4:  20 Dive Bombers
  • Cone 5:  Bernie Sanders to Cone 6
  • Cone 6:  20 Shoulder Taps (two count)

Rinse and repeat two more times.

Mosey to beginning of Serpentine Sidewalk.  We will lunge to first light, run through next four lights, lunge to sixth light, run through next four, etc. until we reach perimeter trail by river.

At perimeter trail we will do 20 Hello Dollies as a group in cadence.

Mosey halfway to cardiac hill.  Stop to do 20 Box Cutters in cadence.

Mosey to cardiac hill.  We will run up hill doing the following exercises:

  • At first turn:  40 Baby Crunches
  • At second turn:  20 American Hammers
  • At third turn:  20 Decline Merkins
  • At benches:  20 Bench Lifts

Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to AO. 

MARY:
Table Saws, Boat Canoe.  ATM’s.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 Men.  No FNG’s. Coxin was visiting us from South Carolina.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I recently led a group at a Day Treatment Program.  The program is for people with mental health problems.  Some have experienced depression, some extreme anxiety, some Bipolar Disorder, and some even have been diagnosed with Schizophrenia.  These people have faced hard times.  Most can no longer work because of their disorders.  Most were on disability and living what we may call “marginal lives.”

I have led the group many times and we have a topic for each group meeting (e.g., coping with depression, the importance of exercise. budgeting, substance disorders).  The topics are wide and varied.

Because music and lyrics to songs are important to so many of us, I thought it would be fun to have a group where each group member shared lyrics to one of their favorite songs.  I asked the members to have their songs ready in advance.  When the members shared their songs, I was surprised to find that almost every one of them shared a religious song.  When the members talked, they talked about why God is important to them.  I knew that some members might share religious songs but I did not think that such an overwhelming majority would.  Some of these group members attend church but certainly not all of those who shared the religious songs attend very regularly.  Yet, here they were, sharing why these songs were so meaningful and helped them in their lives.  In my work as a therapist I have had quite a few people tell me that, despite coping with incredible depression, they believe in and need God.  They have told me that God is what gives them hope.

The fact is that God is for ALL of US.  He is not just for the happy, the people who “have it together”, or the folks who attend church regularly.  Who did Jesus tend to associate with?  Everyone, not just the elite, the religious, but the poor, the hookers, the bums.  This is a messy world full of people who don’t have everything together.  But we need God.  And it is good to know that God is for us.
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
May 19 is Hardship Hill!!

Getting warmer out there

THE SCENE: Sunny with temps close to 80.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-straddle hops, 10 Plank Reaches, 10 Pickle Pounders, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Windmills
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign at southeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers, 20 Squat Jumps

Mosey down hill by stop sign at road by south side of park.  We will do 30’s starting with 5 Diamond Merkins at bottom of hill and 25 Big Boys at top of hill.

Mosey to Outdoor Chapel.  We will do sevens starting with 1 x 2 Decline Merkin at stage and six Burpees at other end of chapel.  Merkins will be multiplied by two each time.

Mosey to start of Serpentine Sidewalk.  We will hop to first light, run next four lights, hop to next light, run next four, etc. until we hit perimeter trail by river.

20 Hello Dollies, 20 Shoulder Taps

Mosey to start of Cardiac Hill.  Run up hill doing the following exercises:

  • First turn:  20 Carolina Drydocks
  • Second Turn:  20 Squats
  • Third Turn:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  20 Bench Lifts

Mosey to Stop Sign at northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Ice Skaters, 20 Dive Bombers

Mosey to Rock Pile.  Grab boulder.  Do 20 Overhead Presses, 20 Curls, and 20 Rows on own.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men.  No FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We all suffer and when we suffer we sometimes think we are alone.  We question God.  We ask why God could allow such suffering to occur.  We need to remember that we have a God who suffered for us.  He died on the cross for us.  He was stripped of his clothing, he was beaten, he was spit upon, he was lashed.  He carried the cross he was to die on.  He was cursed, teased, taunted on the cross.  He wore a crown of thorns and had nails in his hands.  This God, the one that everyone was expecting to come as a strong, mighty king, was a bloody mess.  We need that we have a God who knows what suffering is.  He has done it for us.  He is not a distant statue like God who knows nothing of the human condition.  He hurt, cried, suffered, just like us.  And, he died for us.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill on May 19.

The cure for loneliness, 4/28/2018

THE SCENE: Sunny and cool but warming.  The dew twinkling on the new green grass.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 50, Tie-Fighters, Some plank streches.  Tempo merks…

3 man Dora with  CMU 150 curls/rows/press with the other two doing 5 burps at the opposite side of lot.
THA-THANG:

Pulling a log together around the Asylum. Volunteers pull the log, others mosey.  Starting an escalator (1; 1&2; 1&2&3 to 5 and then back down.  Pull log a little farther each stop.

  1. 5 burpees,
  2. 10 BBS
  3. Tempo squats
  4. CDD
  5. SSH
  • During the above we stopped at the foot of Everest and did some bear crawl up with reps of mountain climbers, plank jacks, CCDs, Flutter kicks and the back to the log.

MARY:
Hello dolly’s and captian Thors, ATM’s and stop..
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21 strong with one FNG, Alex (Retreat)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Talked about how endemic loneliness is in middle aged men and how a group like F3 can be the cure.

Quote from media report on health risk of low social relationships.

An analysis of nearly 150 studies has found that people with strong social relationships had about a 50 percent lower mortality risk than those with weaker ties. Julianne Holt-Lunstad and her co-authors concluded that those with weaker social relationships had a greater risk of death than people who were physically inactive or obese. Let me put that another way. Spending time building and nurturing your friendships might be just as important to your health as eating right and exercising.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. – John 10:10

 

Beautiful Day

THE SCENE: Perfect weather, upper 60’s and sunny.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Slow Tempo Squats, 10 Arm Swings, Ten Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:

Mosey to Playground.  All my benches:  Elevens starting with 10 Bench Jumps and 1 Decline Merkin.

Mosey to Outdoor Pavilion Close to Outdoor Chapel. Partner Up.  While one partner runs to light post in nearby parking lot, the other partner does exercises.  Then partners switch up.  Each team will do 100 Big Boys, 100 Decline Merkins and 100 Squats.

Mosey to Parking Lot by Soccer Fields.  There will be bricks piled by one cone.  Partner up again.  One partner will run with bricks to other cone, stop there and do 10 Mini Man Makers, then return.  The other partner will be exercising.  Then partners switch.  These are the exercises:  100 Bicycle Kicks, 100 Flutter Kicks, 100 Squats.

Mosey to grass across street from living quarters on southern side of park.  20 Hello Dollies in Cadence

Mosey to Stop Sign at Southeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers in Cadence

Mosey to Boulder Pile.  Each man grabs boulder.  We do the following in cadence:  25 Overhead Presses, 25 Curls, 25 Rows, 25 Squats.  Run up Space Station and back to boulder pile.  Rinse and repeat on the exercises with boulders.

Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Box Cutters.

Mosey to AO. 

MARY:
10 Table Saws in Cadence
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 with 2 FNG’s:  Hangover (Dhiren Zavere) and Contempt (Jonathan Edwards)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I exist.  That one is easy.  I know I exist when I am hurting after an F3 workout.  I know I exist when I have sexual urges, when I am aware of my feelings of happiness, anger, sadness, or love.  My own experiences feel me each day and I am continually aware of myself in them.  With my own inward focus, in my waking, daily routines and sleeping, I am aware that I exist.

God exists.  When I say that, it changes everything.  Henri Nouwen, a Catholic Priest and former teacher at the Notre Dame University, the Yale Divinity School and the Harvard Divinity School states that “as soon as I say ‘God exists’, my existence no longer can remain in the center, because the essence of the knowledge of God reveals my own existence as deriving its total being from his.  That is the true conversion experience.”

When I say God exists, my own life is not center stage.  God is center stage.  God is my creator.  When I say God exists, it behooves me to think of this Creator.  If I am but one creature in God’s creation, why did God create me?  What led to his desiring to create me?  Am I just some fleck that he makes and then throws aside.  Or does he want me to stay close, to listen to him, to talk to him.  If I say God exists it would behoove me to find out more about him, to read his words, to see what others think about this creator.

Henri Nouwen goes on about the implications of saying God exists:  “I suddenly or slowly find my own existence revealed to me and through the knowledge of God.  Then it becomes real for me that I can love myself and my neighbor only because God has loved me first.  . . . Once I ‘know’ God, that is, once I experience his love as the love in which all my human experiences are anchored, I can only desire one thing:  to be in that love.  “Being” anywhere else, then, is shown to be illusory and eventually lethal.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Coffeeteria at Panera!

Masters of the Blockee!

THE SCENE: 50s w a bit of chill in the air
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Bear crawl in line to the tennis court, Line up for jog across courts, high knee skips, crawl bear, and jog.

Mosey back to the AO for Monkey Humpers x20, SSh x20, Merkins x10 all IC. Rows for bros with the CMU x20 IC, Blockees x5, CMU curls x20 ic, 5 more Blockees OYO.
THA-THANG:

Mosey down to the base of the parking lot next to the pee rocks with CMU for DORACIDES

  • 75 blockees, 150 curls, 200 CMU goblet squats
  • P1 does said exercise while P2 does suicides. first cone 1 burp, 2nd cone 2 burps, and 3rd cone, 3 burps, run back to your partner and switch, keeping cumulative count of reps between partners
  • If you finish early, P1 Planks while P2 does 20 flutters IC, switch, rinse and repeat until all pax complete the Doracides
  • Blocklee dan back to the AO. 4 lunges w CMU, 2 Blockees. Continue this until half way. I cut it short to get in some mary

MARY:
5 more blockees, Dead head led us in Flutters IC, Hello dollys x10 ic, Slutters x10 IC, Supermans x10 IC, pickle pounders x10 IC, and J-LOs x10 IC
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
29 including 1 FNG, PINK EYE. Welcome!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Chase the Lion Manifesto!. Instead of me typing it up here, google it and it will come up. Capn Crunch read this to us at one of his Q’s for his BOM one morning. It has stuck with me and I try to read it every so often to get a life check. Its short and sweet but means so much to me. Thank you for sharing Capn! I love to share it with others.
MOLESKIN:
I miss seeing my bros at the Dog Pound. So many AOs and so many great HIMS out there that I look up to at all the different AOs. I encourage more Pax to go visit other AOs to meet others and grow our community. Not saying to stop going to the one closest to you, but one morning every once and while, wake up a little earlier and drive a little further to visit other AOs and meet the HIMs that make their particular AO special. Thanks to all the HIMS at all the AOs for being who you are, leaders!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.