F3 Knoxville

Tag: Archie

Hills and Valleys

THE SCENE:  So nice.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry pickers
Al Gore
Squats
Michael Phelps
Down/up dog
Mountain climber
Projectivator

Mosey to the big lot.  Run across.  At each line, turn 90 degrees (i.e., sprint, side shuffle, bernie, side shuffle, etc.)

Dolly
Flutter kicks

THA THANG:

Mosey to the coupons.  Grab a block.  Walking 20 curls, 20 overhead presses, 20 tricep extensions

Line up at the cones in a low plank.  At “3-2-1, Go!”, get up and sprint to the top of the hill.  First person to touch leaves on a tree wins and gets to watch while everyone else does burpees at the top.

Back down the hill.  Winner starts 50’ further back.  Do one block exercise then hill sprint again.
Repeat the sequence – each time adding one more block exercise.

  • 5 plyo merkins
  • 10 block pullovers
  • 15 heavy LBCs
  • 20 lunges (10 each side)
  • 20 single arm thrusters (10 each side)
  • 10 CMU swings
  • 6 uneven merkin T planks (3 each side)

Murder bunny thrusters up the hill.

Walking 20 curls, 20 overhead presses, 20 tricep extensions

Twenty-ones on the steps.  CMU exercise (your choice) + pull ups.

Rack ‘em.

MARY:

Indian run in two lines.  PAX call out 3-2-1-Go!, last man in each line races up the middle of the lines.  Repeat until we are close to the flag.

Mountain climbers

Jailbreak!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

15 for bootcamp, 3 for rush

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

It was common in ancient pagan nations to perceive each god or goddess as having a particular domain or sphere of power on earth.  A goddess of fertility…  A god of the forests, or the river… Monotheism was unique and the idea that any god was supreme in all areas was unheard of.

In 1 Kings Chapter 20, we read about the Israelite city of Samaria under attack by the Syrians, a rival nation.  The Syrian king gathered 32 other kings – and brought a massive army to besiege the city.  Against all odds, and with their God’s intervention, the Israelites repel the attack.  The Syrians retreat and regroup to strategize.  Since the city of Samaria is in the hill country of Israel, they mistakenly think that the God of the Israelites must be a god of the hills.  So, they make a new plan, assemble another massive army, and attack Israel again – this time in the plains (where, presumably, the Israelite God does not dwell and has no authority).  Speaking on behalf of God, a prophet tells the Israelite king, “Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand…” – and He does.  The Israelites rout their enemy in the valley, just as they did in the hills.  The one true God is sovereign over all – He is a God of both the hills and the valleys. 

For me, May 20 is a date unlike any other.

Five years ago, May 20th, my son Caleb was born.  He is a beautiful kid – he is everything that you would want in a son; wicked smart, good natured, daring, funny, creative, kind, loving – he is a great kid.  The day he was born into this world was joyful and exciting and amazing – it was heaven!  May 20th is the anniversary of one of the best days of my life!

But…

One year ago, May 20th, I was heartbroken.  My wife was pregnant again, but this time the pregnancy was not going well.  Several days before, we had been told that the baby had no heartbeat, and we would very likely have a miscarriage in the coming weeks.  We prayed that God would reveal his strength in a miraculous way and the baby would live…But short of that, if we had to walk that terrible road in the next few weeks, we prayed that the miscarriage would not happen on Caleb’s fourth birthday.  But it did.  The day we lost that baby was devastating and painful and raw – it was hell. May 20th is the anniversary of one of the worst days of my life. 

Life’s hills and valleys – the one true God is sovereign over them all.  Life is full of both wonder and wounds.  How does our faith stand up to them?  The “hills” of life can draw us closer to Him in joy and with grateful hearts – or they can arouse in us an arrogance which causes us to forget His presence.  The “valleys” of life can drive us into His arms and onto our knees – or can drive us to curse and blame our Creator with misplaced resentment.

We need to keep working toward having a faith that thrives in both the hills and valleys of life.

Closed with a pair of Pslams.

For when you go through a valley –

Psalm 4: God, you are my righteousness, my Champion Defender. Answer me when I cry for help! Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me. I’m being squeezed again—I need your kindness right away! Grant me your grace, hear my prayer, and set me free!

For when you are on a hilltop –

Psalm 100: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

MOLESKIN:

This workout and word was inspired by Monday’s great workout and word – offered up by the true HIM, Mailbox.

PRAYERS / ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Prayers for our good friend, Spotter, and for his family

Prayers for Stitch’s family relationships

Prayers for Jordon

JUCO Parking Lot Pain

THE SCENE: Pleasant 63 degrees – very nice.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
1 Burpee
Tempo Squat
2 Burpees
Tempo Merkin
3 Burpees
Freddy Mecuries
4 Burpees
Imperial Walkers
5 Burpees

THA-THANG:

Mosey to the large parking lot
10 Thrust Merkins
9 Iron Mikes
8 Elbow Planks
7 Body Builders
6 Squat Jumps
5 Should Taps
4 Round the Clock Merkins
3 Monkey Humpers
2 Big Boy Situps
1 Diamond Merkin
Run to the other side of the Large Parking Lot
Knock off the last exercise
Repeat forever…or until about 6:10

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Job 38: 1-11

1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

MOLESKIN:

F3 = Unit Cohesion – Appreciate the fitness, but cherish the fellowship, encourage others to take up the mantle of leadership with the Q community

Trust in our sovereign Lord – He is in control of everything even we don’t see/feel it

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Booster mentioned going to the Quacken on Wed evenings to support the AO.

Choose Your Partner for War Wisely

THE SCENE: The rain held off for a 65° windy perfect morning
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Delivered
WARM-O-RAMA:
Tempo Squats, High Knees, Let it Hang, Reach for the Sky, Cherry pickers, inch worm merkins and 2 SSH.
THA-THANG:
Indian run to the big parking lot dropping for 5 merkins.

  • Slalom each median in the big parking lot with a burpee every time your cross the “road”
  • 11’s in the pit by the far entrance with squats at the bottom and merkins on the road.
  • Mosey to the outer loop behind lake
    • 10 floor tricep dips, and 10 inch worms
    • run the loop
    • 20 flutter kicks and 20 pickle powders
    • run the loop
    • 30 lunges and 30 squats
    • run the loop.
    • on each loop is 5 burpees, 10 4 count hello dollies, and 15 bobby hurley’s
  • found a rope laying on the ground, so we played tug o war, of course

MARY:
Flutter kicks, Pickle pointers, Mountain Climbers, Freddie Mercury 

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Psalm 27 verse 4, it says “Though an army May encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.” 

David saying he has lot things against him, an Army, and a War, but David says “my heart shall not fear and, in this I will be confident”  in response.

How does he do that?  FAITH. David has outstanding faith. When David was fighting Goliath, King Saul giving David his armor; but David did not want it because he had faith that God would protect him. How do we get that faith that David has? 

James chapter 1 verse 2 Says “Count it all to Joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

David no doubt has had trials that tested his faith, like fighting Goliath, ruling nation, running from king Saul when Saul was trying kill him. The trials grow your faith. I bet none of us are going to fight a giant, rule a nation, or run from king trying to kill you, but I bet most of us will or has had trials like temptations, relationships, or even COVID.

Thinking about going into battle, if you get to choose 1 guy you guys wouldn’t choose me; not yet at least.  I’m going choose you big guys.  You’re all a lot bigger than me and I look up to you and I know you’d protect me. God is infinitely bigger, infinitely stronger.  One way we show this in our prayer life is to get our knees, like we do here, and say with our posture that we are small. 

I challenge you pray to Jesus privately on your knees and ask Him to grow your faith so you could be confident in trials, and even pray for trials so you could test your faith. David knows that his God can do the impossible. God wants us to believe that he can do impossible. All the big problems in our life are tiny to him. Our God is bigger than our understanding. 

Repeatedly Building A Pyramid

THE SCENE: Mid-40’s & dry (for only like the 2nd time this year for a Pool Boy Q)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:
Moroccan Night Club x 15 IC
Tennessee Rocking Chair x 10 IC
Forward Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Side Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Tempo Merkin x 10 IC
Pickle Pointer x 10 IC
Rainbow Drop x 10 OYO (5 each side)

THA-THANG:
Stop at the Rocks Behind Sherwin Williams (going the long way around to avoid the sprinklers) – grab a rock in each hand. Do the following followed by a lap around the Sherwin Williams Paint Store:
1. 10 OHP
2. 10 Dips
3. 10 BBS
4. 10 Incline Merkins

Mosey to JUCOmanjaro
Today we’re building a Pyramid! That means that we’re going to be doing the following:
Run to Cone 1. Do Exercise at Cone 1. Run to Start.
Run to Cone 1. Do Exercise at Cone 1. Run to Cone 2. Do exercise at Cone 2. Run to Cone 1. Do exercise at Cone 1. Run back to start.
Go up and go then go back down.

Summary of full Pyramid:
1, 121, 12321, 1234321, 12321, 121, 1

Bottom Cone # Exercise
10 Lunges Start –
1 10 Tempo Squats
2 10 Pickle Pointers
3 10 BBS
4
10 Tempo Incline Merkins

Mosey back to the Rocks – grab a rock in each hand. Do the following followed by a lap around the Sherwin Williams Paint Store:

1. 10 OHP
2. 10 Dips
3. 10 BBS
4. 10 Incline Merkins

Fast mosey the long way back around to the Shovel Flag for a Warm Down.

MARY:
Warm Down:
Rainbow Drop x 10 OYO (5 each side)
Pickle Pointer x 10 IC
Tempo Merkin x 10 IC
Side Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Forward Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Tennessee Rocking Chair x 10 IC
Moroccan Night Club x 15 IC

Bonus / extra 3 minutes at the end – dealer’s choice (we avoided me having to modify since one PAX said we should do Voldemorts (the exercise that shall not be named!).

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 PAX. No FNGs (keep inviting Sad Clowns out!)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Some days it feels like we do the same thing twice. Today we did!
Pyramid schemes. Bernie Madoff. The news cycle. The grind. Daily trials. Family issues.

We have to do things over and over. But the repetition can be good. Per usual, we have 3 things to consider about repetition:
1. When you do something repetitive, know it’s God who has put you in the spot for your good

James 4:13-15 – 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

2. When you something repetitive, see God’s goodness in giving good works to do.
Ephesians 2:10 – 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

3. When you do something repetitive, your goal should be one step better with the end goal being mastery
Proverbs 22:29 – Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

Today we repeat. Let’s see God’s goodness to us in that.

MOLESKIN:
Prayed for Dart Gun’s coworker who up and out of the blue left his family (and prayed his coworker’s family).

Also enjoyed this one and seeing many PAX modify as needed. This means we’re growing together and still showing up through our injuries and even communicating when one of us fartsacks.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Let’s finish strong with our Safe Haven donations this month.

A Waxjob Classic

THE SCENE:  50 and a little drizzly.  Perfect!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry pickers
Michael Phelps
Knee Tap Merkins x 10 IC
Mountain climbers

Quick mosey – stop for flutter kicks

Quick mosey – stop for Hello Dolly

THA THANG:

(Hat tip to Waxjob – he led this Q two years ago)

Mosey to the Tomo courtyard with a couple of stops along the way.

Split into 2 teams. Each team has an list of exercises.

One die with numbers 1,2,3.

One team rolls the die. That’s the number of laps up the stairs and back around.

While that team runs the laps, other team works through the exercises until laps are completed.

When entire team returns from laps, other team rolls.

When list is complete, set up a cone as a counter and start again.

See how many times each team can work through the list.

Exercises:

  • 15 Merkins
  • 15 4-ct Monkey Humpers
  • 15 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 10 Iron Mikes (each leg)
  • 20 Flutter Kicks
  • 10 Squat Jumps
  • 20 BBS
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 4-ct Mtn Climbers

Mosey to the guardrail for 15 chest-tap merkins + 25 dips

Then to the big lot.  Sprint to 10 islands, stopping at each for a burpee

MARY:

Single file shuttle run back to the flag.  Every 10 seconds, front man falls off and does freddy mercury until the back of the line passes.  As you pass the man on the ground, shout out his F3 name.

Sleeping hillbillies L&R IC

Boat and canoe – Waxjob Classic

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

17 for the bootcamp + 2 rushers

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Almost 2 years ago, I came to my first JUCO F3 bootcamp and Waxjob led that awesome workout.  I was hooked – and JUCO has been a special part of my life ever since.  The Word this morning was about how unique and special this group is…

Early in the biblical story of Daniel, the nation of Babylon besieges Jerusalem – plundering the Temple of God and kidnapping some members of noble families.  Among the captives brought back to Babylon, where they would be taught to rule like Babylonians, were Daniel and his three friends; Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  Once in captivity, they were given Babylonian names in order to conform to the culture; Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and they were placed into service of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar.

Two years later, Nebuchadnezzar had a nightmare and issued a threat to his sorcerers and counselors (whom Daniel/Belteshazzar was then among), “Tell me what my dream was and what it means – or you’ll be torn limb from limb and your houses destroyed…”  Picking up in Daniel 2:17-18, “Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened.  He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.” .  Daniel urged his friends to pray with him in his time of need.  Did you catch what Daniel called his friends?  When he needed true friends, Daniel found the men whom he knew in a special way.  He had a history with these men, and he called them by the names that few others in Babylon knew them as; Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

At JUCO, we call you by another name and we know you as few others do.  The only people who call you by your F3 name are the men who come out in the gloom with you…and they know you as a man who pushes himself to be better each day.  Those men do burpees in the rain with you…they sweat with you… they challenge you…they pray with you….  It is such a unique and special thing, and I don’t know of a better group of men out there.  Nowhere else do you see men doing what we do out here.

My challenge this morning was simple: To get all the benefits of F3, be engaged with this unique tribe.  It’s not about showing up for workouts, but about really having a community of men to live your life with.  If you’re not now, then how?  Start by sticking around after the photo to talk with another HIM about something besides the workout – family, life, struggles, victories, vacation plans – whatever…  Text some of these men throughout the week.  Post something on Slack for all of us to see.  Share a meal with another HIM – preferably including your families.  Live life together.

F3 JUCO is a special community of special men.  I’m grateful to know you all and want to you feel like part of a unique team.

Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Booster’s father and mother-in-law.  Prayers for Sty’s employee.

Cosmo is the Trivia King.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Keep the donations for Safe Haven coming through the end of the month!