F3 Knoxville

Tag: Borg

The Ocho UNO Q

THE SCENE: A crisp, but beautiful gloom set the backdrop for what was destined to be a great day!

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Every HIM was welcomed and disclaimed.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • 20 SSH
  • 20 LBAC
  • 15 Tempo Squats
  • 15 Merkins
  • 15 Mt Climbers
  • a few Up & Down Dogs
  • 3 perfectly executed Knoxville Cherry Pickers (because ground cherries are the only cherries)
  • A warm-up lap around the lot

THA-THANG:
HIMs were welcomed to the “table” on the porch to play OCHO UNO.

The OCHO UNO Q

One Uno Deck (1-3 cards thoughtfully removed)

Green – CORE
Red – LOWER
Yellow – UPPER
Blue – BURPEES

Process: Draw a card, identify the exercise, place card in discard pile, flip the exercise card over, announce your exercise. Number on card = number of reps (0=10). Pick one of the exercises that hasn’t been done yet. When all are picked, all are available again. ALL 8’s are OCHOs (ANY COLOR) = Yell Ocho and take a lap

Multipliers:
+2 means double the next card. Pick one more card, use color of second card, pick an exercise, and x2 the reps
+4 means quadruple the next card. Pick one more card, use color of second card, pick an exercise, and x4 the reps

All special cards are all 8’s. Color doesn’t matter:
Skip = 8 Single-leg squat (4 each leg)
Reverse = 8 Groiners (2 count = 1)
Wild = 8 Mt Climber (4 count = 1)

Announce your number and exercise loud enough for everyone to hear the call. After the HIM to your right announces the number and the exercise, you don’t do that exercise. You sit out one round and draw yours and get ready to announce so that we have constant work.

CORE (Green)
Basilisks
Prone Rows
LBCs
Freddy Mercurys (4 count)
Big Boys

LOWER (Red)
Squats
Monkey Humpers
Jump Squats
Lunges (2 count)

UPPER (Yellow)
Merkins
Hand-Release Merkins
Carolina Dry Dock (pike push-up)
Shoulder Taps
Triceps Dips (in reverse plank or on wall/bench)

MARY:
We had time to lay down and pull off some Hello Dollys and Side Crunches.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
We made it!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I want to tell you about the Ocho Unos of the Bible.

You know that left to ourselves, we’re a wreck. Genesis draws a bleak picture of humanity. The hearts of humanity are always evil everywhere. So, God brought judgment on that evil through the flood. But in His great mercy, He didn’t wipe out everyone, God graciously rescued a family to continue His plan. God remembered us.

Genesis Ocho:Uno (ESV) — 1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

And yet human beings still continued to do what was right in our own eyes instead of living by God’s good ways. So instead of just telling us about the way, God Himself became the way. That’s what we celebrate at Advent and Christmas.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke 8:1 all show us Jesus teaching about how to be made right with God and many people turned from their sins and followed him.

Matthew Ocho:Uno (ESV) — 1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

Mark Ocho:Uno (ESV) — 1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,

Luke Ocho:Uno (ESV) — 1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him,

God came to us. The baby in the manger made a way for us by coming as God and as man to live the life we should have lived and then by paying our price for the sinful lives we have actually lived. He made the way. So that the best Ocho Uno in Scripture is…

Romans Ocho:Uno (ESV) — 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And then one day soon, the one who came as a baby to live life for us is coming again as the Lamb of God who is also the Judge and King.

Revelation Ocho:Uno (ESV) — 1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

So, men, my simple encouragement to you today is if you want your marriage to change, if you want your parenting to change, if you want your life to change it starts with this. Are you still living under the right condemnation for the wrong you’ve done, like a slave chained to your sin? Put your hope in Christ, because he has paid the price, there’s no more condemnation for a man in Christ. And then, live like men who God has remembered and pronounced free of condemnation. Live for Christ in your marriage, with your kids, and at your work today. If you’re in Christ, you’re a free man. So step up and stop living like a slave to sin.

MOLESKIN:
Prayed for Cosmo’s mom, for healing and endurance. Prayed for Mathlete’s M, who’s getting close to bambino siete arriving. Prayed for all the brothers who are travelling this time of year.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Project Christmas fellowship upcoming.
2.0 workout on Christmas Eve. 12 pains for the chilluns.
And Kick & Mathlete mentioned something about a billion burpee challenge in January. Sounds just crazy enough to make men of all of us.

Cadence

THE SCENE: 39 and raining, a Beautiful Morning to be outside!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Free, open to all men, held outdoors, led by men who participate in the workout with no training or certification necessary, end with Circle of Trust.  I have no knowledge of your injuries, so modify as necessary to prevent injury.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • 20 SSH
  • 10 Moroccan nightclub
  • 20 Imperial Walkers
  • 10 Arm circles front/back
  • 10 Knoxville Cherry pickers
  • Mosey one lap around the parking lot

THA-THANG:
Setup: 4 stations.  Separate the F3 waterproof cards into cardio, legs, abs, upper and place one group of cards at each station.  Don’t include the sprint cards.

Team up into 3+ PAX, one team per station.

  • Each team flips a card and does the exercise x10 the face value (royalty value =10).  When done, discard and mosey/sprint to next station, rinse, repeat.
  • Each team does cumulative reps.  When each PAX completes 10 reps, he adds his 10 to the last count shouted and shouts the new total and keeps on doing reps until the team reaches the target.
  • If an ace is drawn by any group, they yell “Ace! 100 (name the exercise) 2 count! Starting Position…” and the one who yelled “Ace” leads everyone in 100 reps, 2 count.  (Everyone stops and does the 100 in cadence together, 2 count.  When the 100 are completed, discard the Ace, flip a new card, work that card.  The other Teams resume where they were in their station exercises.)
  • Bear crawl and crab walks are to the next station.
  • Scalability:  If your team finishes their reps and moves to the next station where a team is still accumulating reps, then work with them to finish their reps, when done they move to next station, but you remain at that station, flip a card and work that card.

MARY:
LBC’s and Pistol Crunches
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA: Done
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Get a cadence:  Traverse your limits and remember lessons learned.  Have men you trust to talk through decisions to help you not dig a hole too deep and to throw you a rope at times.  But that takes time.

Can you think of a time when a decision that was bad in hind sight may have gone better with input from men who you had taken time to get to know and trust?

F3 cadence – Fitness, Fellowship, Faith – workout have fun get better, talk with and watch each other, take a few minutes to listen to someone’s story once in a while.  Watch their fruit. Remember that every man is human with struggles.  Keep your guard up wisely, but look through it for legit HIM’s to connect with.  Team up with men who you trust by interacting with them over time.

F3Shieldlock –  Consider some non-workout focused interaction = Shieldlock is just a name, the connection of the men in the group is the substance.  I don’t think Shieldlock has to be in the gloom.

F3 Credo – “Leave no man behind and leave no man where you find him.”

Thanks for the discussion after the Word, you men always give me more to think about.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Outfitting the Christmas Float for the 3 Christmas parades will occur in the next several days.  Mathlete will coordinate the build.

Christmas parade dates:
Kingston – Nov 28
Oak Ridge – Dec 10
Rocky Hill – dec 3

Family workout – First sat in Dec at 9am

Look for a Q101 in the gloom soon at the Project.  Below is a link to a backblast by Steam that covers a Q101 for your reading pleasure.
Q101 + GrowSchool – F3 Knoxville.

Dora B.L.I.M.P.S – Strength Under Control

THE SCENE: 55 and clear skies. The gloomiest of glooms.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Dutifully and “unprofessionally” administered.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH x15
  • Knoxville Cherry Pickers x10
  • Abe Vigoda x10 
  • Willy Mays Haze x9
  • Tempo Merks x10
  • Tempo Squats x10
  • FLBAC x10
  • RLBAC x10
  • Grady Corn x10
  • Moroccan Night Clubs x10 (This is where the wincing *read growth* began.)
  • Chattanooga Cherry Pickers x10
  • SSH x10

THA-THANG:

Mosey for 11s on the “Little Baby Hill”. Hurleys at the bottom. Big Boys at the top.

Mosey to the fountain.

Grab a battle buddy for Dora. Pax one performs exercises below. Pax two bear crawls to the fountain and mosey back.

  • 50 Burpees
  • 100 Lunges (double single count)
  • 150 Imperial Walkers (double count)
  • 200 Merkins
  • 250 Plank Jacks
  • 300 Squats

RTB

MARY:
Flutter Kicks (IC – 15)
Basilisk (IC – 10)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Often when a word is translated, we get the meaning but lose the all the underlying intent. The Greek word for “meek” is praus. We usually interpret that as gentle or humble, which it does mean that. But the background to the word Praus is actually loaded with something like,  “strength under control”.  It’s original use comes from something close to meaning a powerful horse that is tamed.

Matthew 21:5 says, “Look, your king is coming to you, humble (same word – praus) and mounted on a donkey.” This doesn’t mean weak. When we think about it, Jesus was the epitome of “strength under control”

Today, if we’re honest, guys typically struggle with taming their behaviors/habits, appetite (Hello, Halloween candy), thinking (negative self talk), bodies, temper, ego, sexual desires, worldly desires (spend money), etc.

How does one bring strength under control? Discipline.

3 Types of Discipline

  1. Reactive Discipline – when you’re tempted or drawn into something
    (eh hem…Halloween candy last night?). It’s important to know when you’re weakest and what to avoid.
  2. Structural Discipline – routines and habits that make you better.
    The best way to create a habit is to link it to something else.
  3. Expansive Discipline – opportunities for growth, “doing it anyway”
    In the face of fear, hesitation, difficulty, etc.
    Almost always thankful I did what I was most afraid of
    The more dread, the more reward.

Exercise meekness (praus) in your life.
Cultivate and strengthen the 3 types of discipline in your life – Reactive, Structural, Expansive. Know you have the strength to do what needs to be done. Know you have the discipline to control it.

MOLESKIN:
Welcome FNG – Blindspot! Prayers for Ocho finishing up doctoral work deadlines and for Mathlete traveling for work.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Brolympics – Nov 5! Get signed up! See Slack for details!
Christmas Parade is happening! We’re signed up! Watch Slack for details!

What needs to go?

THE SCENE: Crisp, clear autumn morning. Couldn’t hope for better.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Slow windmills
  • Imperial walkers
  • Cheer leaders
  • Cherry pickers
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Up dog/Down dog
  • Right plank/left plank

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to pool wall for 10 Wall-pees
  • 4 rounds:
    • 20 jungle boi squats
    • 5 pull ups
    • 20 merkins
    • 5 wall-ups
  • Mosey to amphitheater and do 3 rounds
    • 20 LBCs
    • 20 flutter kicks
    • 20 Freddies
    • 20 awkward turtles
    • Bear crawl up the hill
    • 5 burpees
  • Mosey to fountain and do 2ish rounds until time
    • 20 dips
    • 20 step ups
    • 20 dry docks (or Der-docks for +)
    • 20 BBS
    • 20 Iron Mikes
  • RTF

MARY:
Pulled in Erector for Heels to Heaven and Skewer for some Hammers
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

In my pre-blast, I mentioned the need to make hard choices over the next couple months, and I wanted to expand on this just a bit.

I, personally, have been buried with too much stuff. After the relative low of the past couple years, my self-regulation was totally out of whack, and I have said yes to WAY too many things. All good things that bring value when done right, but doing it right requires time to think and plan, which is impossible when there isn’t even enough time to drive between them.

While this is partly a result of a desire to be generous, that isn’t the whole story. When I really scrutinize my inner most thoughts, there are also elements of self-importance, image, and arrogance.

Self-importance in the sense that it is affirming to feel responsible, to have others look to me.

Image in the sense that I want people to see me as the guy who “does it all”. To say things like “I don’t know how you do it”

Arrogance in the sense that I have rather too high an opinion of my own ability and how it compares to others.

In short, it’s ME focused. In F3 we are peer led, not just to make it easier, but because when I give someone else the lead, it gives them an opportunity to develop their skills. It also diffuses the tendency of groups to orbit around strong personalities.

The image that I should be most focused on is the one I project to my 2.0s. I sought involvement because I saw my father as being uninvolved, but now I see that I can be just as disconnected from them when I’m too involved. My attention for them is sacrificed when I must attend to the group.

So now, I find myself working through the new problem, what needs to go.
MOLESKIN:
Just great to be back with the pack.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Halloween event Thursday, 6-8 (setup at 4). Brolympics Nov 5. Christmas parade December 10.

Now THAT’S Impressive

THE SCENE:  High 40s and clear.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

OYO

THA THANG:

IPC Week 4!

  1. 100 Gas Pumpers
  2. 50 Jump Rope
  3. 1 mile run
  4. 25 Hello Dollies
  5. 25 Burpees
  6. 50 Jump Rope
  7. 400-meter run
  8. 25 Hand Release Merkins
  9. 25 V-Ups
  10. 50 Jump Rope
  11. 400-meter run
  12. 25 Leg Raises
  13. 25 Jungle Boi Squats
  14. 50 Jump Rope
  15. 400-meter run
  16. 25 4-count flutter kicks
  17. 25 Bonnie Blairs (hard way)
  18. 50 Jump Rope
  19. 400-meter run
  20. 100 Big Boy Sit-ups
  21. 50 Jump Rope
  22. 1 mile run

MARY:

Fagettabowtit.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 13 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

You finished Week 4 of the Iron PAX Challenge!  Impressive!  You ran 3 miles and completed 700 reps of exercises!  Very impressive!

You know what I find MORE impressive?

  • All 14 of you set an alarm to go off this morning. You got yourself out of bed and came out here knowing what we were planning to do.  Your determination is impressive. 
  • At one time, each one of you came out here in the dark, without knowing another man, and decided to give it a go. If you were like me, your first day kicked your butt – but you came back.  Your resolve is impressive.
  • Many of you have done this for months or years on end. Continually subjecting yourself to these trials to become an increasingly better version of yourself – and to challenge your brothers out here to do the same.  Your consistency is impressive. 
  • Many of you lead Qs. You lead five to ten other men in exercises, a thought, and a prayer.  It might be uncomfortable and intimidating, but you do it because you know that you get better at leading by practicing leading.  Your leadership is impressive.
  • When you lead, several of you have shared from the heart – your struggles, your challenges, your setbacks – you’ve been transparent in this ball of man. That takes real courage.  We may impress each other with our strengths, but we relate to each other through our weaknesses.  Your transparency is so impressive. 

Iron sharpens iron and that’s what we are doing out here.  Each and every one of you made a commitment to be here.  I watch you getting stronger and faster, building your endurance, building your toughness, growing your faith, growing as leaders, and challenging the rest of us to do the same.  That is so impressive and I’m grateful for you men.

Throughout scripture, Jesus was impressed by people on several occasions.  What was it that impressed Him?  Not material things…  Not power…

Jesus is impressed by humility.

  • He said, “Whoever humbles himself like child…is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mathew 18:4).
  • The Canaanite woman who said “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” impressed Jesus (Matthew 15:27).
  • About the sinful tax collector who beat his chest and prayed, “God, be merciful to me a sinner”, Jesus said he left justified (Luke 18:14).

Jesus is impressed by faith.

  • The centurion in Capernaum who pleaded, “just say the word, and my servant will be healed…” – impressed Jesus (Matthew 8:10)
  • About the blind beggar near Jericho, Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 18:42).
  • All over Scripture we read about Jesus in heaven sitting at the right hand of God. In Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, Hebrews, Colossians, Revelation… And then there is a description in Acts 7.  Stephen, just before he is killed for his faith, looks to heaven and sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  You know what literally gets Jesus on His feet?  Persistent faith.

Maybe we could train ourselves to be impressed by the same – faith and humility. 

MOLESKIN:

I wish I could say it as elegantly as he did… Ocho mentioned after the BOM that faith and humility are hand-in-hand with each other.

I’m impressed by Ocho for coming out these last couple of months and showing real progress in his fitness.  You’ve showed grit, brother!

Likewise, I’m impressed by Papa Lock for making time in his crazy schedule to post several times a week – he too is making steady progress.  Stick with it – and you’ll be unrecognizable in a year!

I’m impressed by Skewer for leading Qs – each one better than the last – and for courageously sharing his struggles during some of his BOMs.

I’m impressed by Slappy for posting today – despite his injuries – and gutting it out through the entire IPC.  GRIT.

I’m impressed by Borg for being able to run circles around me at 59 years old – and for continuing to demonstrate that age is just a number.

I’m impressed by Rocket for his long-term steadiness and tenacity to work through obstacles and keep getting stronger

I’m impressed by Boy George for nearly completing his insane race last weekend

I’m impressed by Erector for conceiving this merry band of misfits – and for being a machine out there today.

I’m impressed by Bobbitt, who has been with us for a little over a year and has totally transformed his fitness level – and emerged as one of the region’s best AOQs.

I’m impressed by Tuba for the steadfastness he demonstrates in his life and his parenting – and for wearing shorts even in the dead of winter

I’m impressed by 3-Peat for his resolve to show up over and over again – not listening to the devil on his shoulder telling him to sleep in today

I’m impressed by Oh Brother for posting with us just days after moving to town – and coming back out two days in a row now

I’m impressed by Mathlete for leading this group well and challenging us all to accelerate our fitness, fellowship, and faith.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Today – Shovel flag handoff at the Asylum PM
  • Oct 8 – 2.0 Workout
  • Oct 27: Halloween event in Oak Ridge
  • Nov 5: Brolympics at the Asylum
  • Dec 10: Oak Ridge Christmas parade