F3 Knoxville

Tag: Blindside

Rounding the Bases @ The Equalizer 11-10-21

THE SCENE: A few degrees warmer today, and beautiful starry skies
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: completed successfully, and without question or hesitation


WARM-O-RAMA:
Side Straddle Hop IC (10); Tennessee Rocking Chair IC (10); LBAC IC (7-front 7-back); 3 burpees
THA-THANG:
PAX Counted Off in 1’s and 2’s and moseyed to the Flag Pole for Ghost Man Baseball.  1’s started on the bases first while 2’s completed the exercise in parentheses until the 1’s returned.

“Ghost Man Baseball” – break a quarter mile track into fourths and designate home, first, second and third.  Run from home to first, complete the designated exercise, and then return home.  Next run from home to first and complete that exercise, then on to second to complete that exercise, and then return home.  Next to third and back.  Lastly from home to home, and then back all the way around.  While one team is on the base path the other team is completing a group exercise while waiting for the other team to return.

1st Base – 15 Merkins (High Plank + Alt Leg Raises)

2nd Base – 10 Iron Mike + Squat Jumps (Reverse Crunch)

3rd Base – 15 Derkins (Dead Bugs)

Home – 10 Burpees (Flutter Kicks)

MARY:
Light Jog from Flagpole to Stonehenge, and then on to the Splash Pad for step-ups while the 6 finished up, then back to the AO.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 – Ribbed, Blindside, Choir Boy, School Zone, Aladdin, Snitch, Trunk, and FNG “Submarine”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Psalm 36
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Coats For The Cold are due this Friday.  Blindside will collect.

Fake Gloom Ruckers Unite

THE SCENE: Getting dark around 5:45pm. We love this.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

(1) Welcome to F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

(2) My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q tonight

(3) 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 tonight feel free to do it

WARM-O-RAMA:

Q laid out the plan for the evening ruck before stepping off.

THA-THANG:

Ruck a mile.

  • 25 merkins
  • 25 squats
  • 25×4 flutter kicks
  • 25 ruck curls

Knocked out a round of 25s, then completed 3 miles, for a total of 4 rounds of PT. Ended back at the GoodStuff AO.

MARY:

Dark. Felt like 10pm.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Total: 3

Q: Steam

PAX: Blindside, Swimmies

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

From the QSOURCE: “King” — The Daily Discipline of Physically Training the Body

I was going over this this week and jotted down some really great insights and TPQs, or Thought Provoking Questions.

Page 37 of the QSOURCE: “F3 added the Jester because we realized that the wrong temptation will topple even the strongest man’s fitness kingdom if not held at bay through disciplined application of the DRP (Daily Red Pill). After all, what will it matter if a man is in great physical condition if he is continually tripped up by festering distraction?”

TPQ #1 — What is continually tripping me up in my daily pursuit of HIManhood?

Page 37 of the QSOURCE: “He is building a kingdom of Preparedness within which he intends other people to safely dwell……How can a man be much of a Leader if he gets smoked pulling his family’s luggage off the baggage carousel and carrying it to the minivan? What will a son learn from a father who can’t play catch with him in the backyard for more than 5 minutes without having to sit down?……This is the power of the Shield Lock, which is the horizontal relationship between men. Together, we sharpen each other — as iron sharpens iron.”

TPQ #2 — What does your Kingdom of preparedness look like?

TPQ #3 — Are you prepared to offer yourself as a safe place for others (your 2.0s, your M, etc) to dwell?

TPQ #4 — Are you leading yourself well enough to lead others?

MOLESKIN:

The Q shared this: My S.O. (Significant Other/girlfriend) gave me some tough but loving feedback this past weekend. Granted, I asked. But I had asked her if she had any input on my goals for the rest of the year and going into 2022, anything that she thought I should work on to improve myself. Her response rocked me: “I think you could lose some weight.” I had never heard that from any S.O. I’ve been in relationship with. I had heard “No, I love you for exactly as you are” or “You’re just fine the way you are, I wouldn’t change a thing.” These are comfortable and affirming things to hear. Key word comfortable. I was being told what I wanted to hear maybe, but not what I needed to hear. Now my S.O. Is a God-fearing, High Impact Woman. So when she gave me this feedback, it was from a place of love, not just offering up positive sounds waves of affirmation instead of diving into a potentially hard truth. And guess what, she was right. And all the married men reading this said “AMEN, way to learn your lesson Steam.”

But seriously. She was right. She didn’t just tell me what I wanted to hear to make me feel good, she gave me truth, and also helped remind me why I do F3. She wanted me to not just stay comfortable and complacent, she wanted to encourage my growth and development. By giving me that feedback, she was loving me better than anyone ever had. And I needed to listen. Now to all you wondering, yes, she did say I was just fine the way I was, BUT it meant a lot to me that she gave me that honest feedback.

Why do I say all this? This experience with my S.O. Was very eye opening. She wasn’t being harsh or rude, she was caring for me well and helping promote my growth and goals as a HIM. So why do I do F3? So I can prepare myself to love others to the best of my ability outside of F3. That starts with that 1st F. I have to prepare myself physically, so I can be where I need to be and serve with the caliber and excellence I need to serve with.

Cap’n Crunch said this at one of his Qs years ago and it has always stuck with me: “It’s not about you.”

So what does this mean to me? It’s not JUST about me getting physically better when I come workout with F3. It’s not about me. It’s about me preparing myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to be  HIM outside of F3. The more we think F3 workouts are just for us to get healthier and in better shape physically, the farther we get from the core of why F3 exists in the first place. Getting healthier and in better shape are just byproducts of the mission of F3. It’s just an added bonus. That’s why the 1st F is the magnet, or what originally attracts men to F3 — it’s a good workout. But it’s so much more than just a good workout. Why? Because it’s not about you.

#ISI

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Get those coats in for the coat drive! Bring them to in numbers to your AO this week.

Broken Escalator

THE SCENE: 37 and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x25; Tempo Squats x10; Imperial Walkers x10; Grady Corns x15; Rockettes x10; High Knees

THA-THANG:
Mosey to base camp.

Pax started at base camp doing 5 HR merkins, 10 Squats, and 15 mountain climbers. Then they went to station 1 and then back to base camp. Then, they went to station 1, 2, and back to base camp. Then station 1, 2, 3, back to base camp, etc…. until they completed all 6 stations. Then they worked their way back down.

  • Station 1 = 10 merkins
  • Station 2 = 20 carolina dry docks
  • Station 3 = 30 monkey humpers
  • Station 4 = 40 side crunches (20 each side)
  • Station 5 = 50 pickle pounders
  • Station 6 = 60 SSH

So, if my math is right, PAX completed:

  • 110 squats, 165 merkins, 165 mountain climbers, 180 dry docks, 210 monkey humpers, 200 side crunches, 150 pickle pounders, 60 SSH.

MARY:
no time.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 HIM starting the week off right.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

  1. There are fake friends, and you can be a fake friend.
    • Proverbs 19:6 — Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.
    • We can be friends with people purely from what we get from them.
  1. There are difficult friends and you can be a difficult friend.
  • Self-serving. Hyper negative and critical. Rude all the time. 
  1. There are faithful friends and you can be a faithful friend. 
  • Proverbs 17:17 — “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
  • Proverbs 18:24 — “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Lock Shields with Minivan Centurions

THE SCENE: Warmer than anticipated. Less Wind. Wonderful pre-ruck.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Done. Q took about 15 mins for questions. 

WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH IC x15; LBAC each way IC x10; Little of This, Little of that; Tempo Squats IC x10; Cherry Pickers IC x5 … Grab a CMU and mosey to Thunderdome

THA-THANG:

Tabata+ workout: eight 25-second rounds of an exercise with a 10-second rest between rounds. Field Trip in between rounds.

Exercises:

  • OH Press
    • Field Trip to SkateTown, up & over the wall and back
  • Goblet Squats
    • Field Trip to the entrance to track Burpees x5  
  • Curls
    • Field Trip to SkateTown, up & over the wall and back 
  • Up & Over Merkins
    • Field Trip to the entrance to track Imperial Squat Walkers x5
  • Flutters x2; Hello Dolly x2; Freddie Mercury x2; Georgia Cheerleaders x2
    • Field Trip to SkateTown, up & over the wall and back

MARY:

Mosey back to AO and put up CMUs 

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

11 HIMs; 0 FNGs; Welcome Backfire from F3 Chattanooga!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

When making my Birthday/Christmas list recently for my family, I was browsing the F3 Gear site and noticed a patch with a minivan that said “Minivan Centurion” on it. I thought this was a funny thing that connected that a lot of F3 guys are dads who have to haul their kids around and added it to my list. I also have been getting into the F3 Nation podcasts recently (start listening if you can!). One of the shows mentioned the “Minivan Centurions” and I actually understood where it came from and what it actually means. 

Excerpt from “The Locked Shields of the Minivan Centurions” on the F3Nation website

“I have had the opportunity to workout at a lot of great parks and schools in F3Nation, but I have to admit to being partial to Freedom Park in Charlotte because that is where it all started. Not only is it a great workout location, but it serves the community in a thousand different ways. I probably spend an average of 7 hours a week there in one capacity or another. Go there on a Saturday morning in the Spring or Fall and you will see the parking lots stuffed full of minivans and the fields overrun with kids playing soccer and baseball.

There is so much sweet America there it will make your teeth hurt. When the World is running particularly amuck, a day in Freedom is all I need to keep focused on what we have here, what is worth protecting. The World may be afire, but we have Freedom Brothers. We have Freedom. Is it likewise in every park that is part of F3Nation? I imagine so. That is really why we do this, isn’t it?

One day after soccer, I walked towards the minivan with my daughters when the youngest one asked me why there were never any police officers at Freedom Park. I had never thought about it until that moment, but she was right. I had never seen a police officer patrolling the park. So I answered, “they are probably at other places in Charlotte where they are needed.”

Which prompted her older sister to say, “yeah Sarah, we don’t need them here because we have the daddies.”

Little Sister: “rigggght, we have the daddies to keep us safe at Freedom. The police are at the parks without the daddies.” At that, I kind of looked away so my daughters wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes, and I noticed that I could see about five other F3 guys within nine-iron distance, coaching soccer or cheering their kids on. And I knew there were another 20 F3 men that I couldn’t see from where I was standing. But they were there. It occurred to me that if the bad guys came to Freedom they might have thought it easy pickings because they would see no police on duty. But they would be mistaken. If Evil comes to Freedom it will have the daddies to contend with, and it will not stand a chance. While we might be outnumbered Brothers, we have locked our shields and will keep them locked in the heat of battle.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Coats for the Cold, donate to AOs now through Nov. 13th

Brovember Challenge. Link to track your progress in the #brovember2021 Slack channel. 

Some Reps and Some Running

THE SCENE: Low 40s with strong wind, so chilly.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
307th day of the year, 58 remaining

SSHs (4 ct) x 30

Little baby arm circles forward (4 ct) x 15

Little baby arm circles backward (4 ct) x 15

Some Michael Phelps and little of this and a little of that

School Zone showed up late, so 5 burpees.

School Zone said that he intentionally missed the SSHs because he figured that we would do 50 of them.  He was probably joking about all or some of that.  Still . . .

SSHs (4 ct) x 70

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the flag pole

100 merkins followed by one lap around the track

100 merkins and 200 LBCs followed by two laps around the track

100 merkins, 200 LBCs, and 300 squats followed by three laps around the track

That was as far as the rabbits made it before time ran out, so no one made it to 100 merkins, 200 LBCs, 300 squats, and 400 CDDs followed by four laps.  Maybe next time or perhaps an hour-long Saturday workout.

Mosey back to the AO

MARY:
We held plank for the minute or so that we had left.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 HIMs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I read the lyrics to the song “Fearless” by the Goo Goo Dolls (I did not sing).  I won’t repeat them here, but listen to the song or read the lyrics if you are not familiar.  John Rzeznik has said that the song was inspired by the anxious state of 21st-century America and the fear-mongering media.  It was released in 2019.  The lyrics resonate even more now.  As the song says, we are living in an unfair and scared world, so we need to be fearless and let our light shine.  See 2 Timothy 1:7 (“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”).

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Ribbed’s wife, Blindside’s family with the loss of his uncle and his grandmother’s cancer diagnosis, the Q’s daughter, and the strength to be fearless in the world.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Judge Judy’s Christmas Party

Coats for the Cold

Probably something else that I forgot