F3 Knoxville

Think Again

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: CRISPR
PAX: Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), Pele (Jon Lindberg), Snitch (Cory Beilharz ), Drum Major, High Heels (Henry Ritchie), Choir Boy, Lilydipper, F3 Pluto ( Hugh Nystrom), CRISPR, Brick, Soot
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: Did it, with some Dynamic Pigeon poses.

THE THANG:

Run up the dragon doing reverse lunge jumps
Some Supine Bird Dogs
At the Colosseum, and Around the Clock with Tempo Merkins, Supermans, and LBCs.
Dora Time. Round 1) Single Leg RDL and OH Press. Round 2) T – Merkins and Cross Leg Crunch. Round 3) Single Leg Suitcase Crunch and Hello Flutters.
Around the Clock again with Lateral Lunges and Squats.
Run down the dragon doing reverse lunge jumps
William Wallace at the AO.
MARY:

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Escape from Haw Ridge 3/28, Hardship Hill 5/17

COT:
As a kid in the late 80s, I believed Shawon Dunston was the greatest shortstop in baseball. The only channel in my hometown showing baseball consistently was WGN, so when I formed my opinion on shortstops, Shawon Dunston was all I knew. I made the decision with all the data I had at the time.
Over the summer, when I started getting dropped off at the babysitter at like 6:30am, and I watched ESPN Sports Center on repeat for hours. With that, I gained new information, like Barry Larkin, Ozzie Smith, and Alan Trammel. New evidence challenged my opinion.

I remember thinking, even as a kid, that I couldn’t change my opinion. I had previously told everyone that Dunston was the best, so what would they think if I changed what I’d been saying? Also, I remember feeling that if I could be wrong about Dunston, what else could I have been wrong about?

When you form an opinion or make a decision, you do so with all the information you have at the time. But, we should recognize that we all do so with incomplete data. Over time, as you learn more information, you should use it and re-examine your opinion or decision. That can be hard, because there are social pressures that come changing what you’ve said, and personal stress of questioning what you’ve believed to be true.
Adam Grant write a book called “Think Again”, which gets into this concept at a deeper level than baseball players, so I encourage everyone to give it a read, or at least find a YouTube summary of the book. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/think-again-adam-grant/1137570667;jsessionid=9D0766EB363B1AD226CA5CB402E75340.prodny_store02-atgap16?ean=9780143138525

And FWIW – I was right about Greg Maddux. GOAT!

Seeing the Good in Others

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: Pusher, Lizzy, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Crash Dummy, High Heels (Henry Ritchie), Abacus, CRISPR, Brick, Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Curveball
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Backwards Lunges, 7 Twistees, 7 Pterodactyls forward and 7 backward.

THE THANG: Mosey to the parking lot with the nice restrooms. We will bear crawl 10 paces, then lunge 10 paces and repeat that pattern until we are 2/3 of the way across the parking lot. Then sprint to the curb.
Mosey to the Caribbean Parking Lot. We will sprint to one island, and Bernie to next, repeating the pattern until we reach the end of the parking lot.
Sprint to sidewalk that leads to Bros Bowl.
Mosey to the Bros Bowl. We will run counterclockwise up the inside sidewalk to the benches. Those arriving to the benches first do bench dips until the six arrives. Then, we all will do 20 Incline Merkins in cadence. Then mosey back down the Bros Bowl. Those reaching the bottom first do Calf Raises until the six arrives.
Mosey to the soccer field parking lot. We will be going clockwise around the parking lot, stopping at every crosswalk to do one of the listed exercises. Those reaching the second crosswalk on the other side first sweep everyone back to the starting point.
Here are the exercises:
Round 1: Sprint to each crosswalk and do 20 Merkins at each

Round 2: Bernie to each crosswalk and do 20 Baby Crunches

Mosey to the small courtyard area. We will do 10 step ups at each step to the top
Mosey to the entry of parking lot that goes past the Outdoor Chapel. We will do 20 Rocky Balboas on curb.
Mosey to parking lot with Nice Restroom. We will first do 10 Imperial Walkers. Next, we will Bernie half way across and sprint the rest of the way.
Mosey to AO parking lot.
Starting at the parking lot spaces on the West Side of the parking lot we will Bear Crawl six parking spaces, the spring to East Curb and back to West Curb. We will then repeat the pattern but go down to 5 parking spaces, then 4, etc, until we repeat the pattern bear crawling only 1 space.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: We appreciate those who stepped up to help Back Flow and his family after the new birth in the family.

COT:

Prayers:
Prayers for Back Flow and his family after the birth of new baby. Prayers for Jenner and praise for his recovery. Prayers for Sparkler as he faces surgery in April for his prostate cancer. Prayers for Lizzy’s father-in-law, Ralph, as his cancer is worse and he will go off treatment. Prayers for Lizzy’s mother and for Lizzy. Prayers for Dray, friend of Crash Dummy, who has injury to muscle in his leg. Prayers for all F3 brothers facing hardships at this time.

Message:
My mother-in-law, who I called Saint Ruby, passed away in early January. She has a very positive impact on the life of many people. During the visitation before her funeral it was wonderful for me to hear stories from so many people about how Ruby had impacted their lives.
My wife, Jan, was brave enough to speak at Ruby’s funeral. In her message, she talked about some important lessons learned from Ruby:
1. Start each day with Jesus and stay with Jesus each day
2. Lose the you and focus on God and others.
3. See the good in others.
I have spoken before about point #2 and want to talk about point #3 today.
Ruby thought most folks were doing their best most of the time. She truly saw the good in others. As an avid Kentucky Wildcats basketball fan, the only possible exceptions to this seeing good in others were Christian Laetner, Billy Packer, and assorted basketball referees).
She loved the song, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and she would keep the faith that God had you in His Hands, even when you couldn’t manage that kind of faith” I often asked Ruby to pray for me. It was as if she had some kind of connection to God that helped me to know that things were going to turn out ok.
If Ruby was in your orbit, she had confidence in you and was your cheerleader. If someone didn’t choose you . . . well, it was their loss, poor soul. If you were struggling she trusted that you, with God’s help, would do whatever hard thing you had to do.
Ruby also saw people as they “could be.” If you screwed up, well, that indeed was a problem . . . but she saw your potential. “Hey, you’re gonna get it right, I believe in you and so does our God. He will mold you. ” And Ruby molded you too, with her love, with her attention to you, with her belief in you. Just being around Ruby made you want to be better as well as believe that you could be better.
So, the message from my mother-in-law, Saint Ruby, to you is: you are fine as you are, you are special and you are loved. And, since you are loved and are special, why not see the good in others? Forgive them their sins. See their potential, not their failings. And remember, God has you and them in His hands.

Tour de Pavilion

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Steam
PAX: Brick, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Lulu (Greg Huddy), Veggie (Rylen Huddy), F3 Pluto ( Hugh Nystrom), Fruit of the Loom (F3 Tallahassee), CRISPR, Lilydipper, Mr Jinxy, Honeydew, lebowski
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
WARMUP
– SSH: 25×4
– Squat: 12×4
– Merkin: 12×4
– Rockette: 12×4
– BAC (F): 12×4
– BAC (B): 12×4

THE THANG
5 rounds of the following to start – 10 reps each
– Incline Merkins
– Dips
– Table Pull-Ups
– Step-Ups/Box Jumps
– Run to the gate and back

Begin the Tour de Pavilion

New(ish) Pavilion (NP)
– Xs: Incline Merkins, Decline Merkins, Table Pull-Ups
– 15 reps each / 1 count
Marble Pavilion (MP)
– Xs: American Hammers, Heels 2 Heaven, LBCs
– 15×4 reps each
Pitstop at the Bros Bowl
– Run up to the top
– 15 down/up merkins
– Run to the Muscle Beach pavilion
Muscle Beach Pavilion (MBP)
– Xs: Box Jumps/Step Ups, Diamond incline merkins, elevated claf-raises
– 15 reps each / 1 count
Tower Playground Pavilion (TPP)
– Xs: Squats, Imperial Walkers, Dips
– 15 reps each / 1 count

Mosey back to the Big Pavilion – but with an Asylum PM classic: the battle buddy mosey
– Share 1 thing that was good in your week
– Share 1 thing that was challenging/tough in your week

MARY
– 1 more round of the initial workout (10 reps of incline merkins, dips, table pull-ups, and box jumps/ste-ups)
– Core 4: 25×4 of the following core Xs
– Flutter Kicks
– American Hammers
– LBCs
– Freddie Mercuries
– ATMs
– 15×4 shoulder taps
– 10×4 slow merkins
– 10 merkins OYO
– SWS (Stretching With Steam)

ANNOUNCEMENTS
– Check the announcements channel for regional updates, the Send Me newsletter, and Beyond The COT podcast updates
– New formatting for Send Me – you’ll hear more about this over the coming weeks leading to March

COT
Say You’re About It – Be About It
Here are the highlights from the Word today. danhenson.substack.com/p/f3-word-11525.

– We’re here to challenge and encourage each other, work hard, and push each other to be better men for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our spheres of influence.
– My hope is that when you show up to an F3 workout (wherever that might be), you are challenged and encouraged in your Fitness Fellowship and Faith. Just as Paul encouraged Titus in leading by example in speech, conduct, and work – we should do the same thing with each other.
– Cut out the negativity, complaining, putting down others, inappropriate and over the line mumblechatter – we don’t have time for that garbage and it’s exhausting. We’re here to work hard together + maximize the time we have during a workout (45 minutes, 60 minutes, whatever).
– Our environment and surroundings should not dictate or character, conduct, and discipline, or the ability to work hard.
– The same methodology applies to the mission of F3: to plant grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. If we say that we’re about that mission – let’s be about that mission.
– If we say we’re about this life of High Impact Manhood – let’s be about it. Our wives, families, friends, and communities we are a part of need us to be.
– Be challenged and encouraged that you have it what it takes to be the HIM you were called to be – with the guidance of God and the help of each other. Get after it brother. Iron Sharpens Iron!

Lose Yourself

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: Pusher, Brick, Backflow (Wesley Hunt), High Heels, Steam, Honeydew, Choir Boy, Drum Major, lebowski, Pele (Jon Lindberg)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: 25 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Tempo Merkins, Curly Stomps, 10 Tennessee Rocking Chairs, 8 Twistees, More Curly Stomps, 10 Tempo Jumps Squats, 8 Windmills, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward, Little of This and That.

THE THANG: Mosey to the Pavilion. We will start with a totem pole where we will do five exercises. We start with the first for 30 seconds. We then add the second exercise and do 30 seconds each. We then do three exercises for 30 seconds each, etc. until we have done five exercises for 30 seconds each. We then cut off the first exercise in the totem pole so that we do only four exercises for 30 seconds each. We continue this process until we only have the last exercise to do for 30 seconds. By the time we are done we will have performed each exercise five times. Here are the exercises:
Mountain Climbers

Picnic Table Pull-Ups

Decline Merkins

Iron Mikes

Bench Dips

Mosey to the Caribbean Parking Lot. From the East End of the parking lot we will run around the parking lot stopping at every other island to do one of the following exercises. After doing the exercise at the eighth island, rabbits will sweep other men back to the start. We will then do the next listed exercise and repeat the process. Note: We will do each of the exercises at the beginning before starting the running. Here are the exercises:
– 20 Merkins
– 20 Imperial Walkers (2 Count)
– 5 Hand Release Merkins

Mosey to the entryway near the AO. We will each pick up a CMU size rock by the entryway and bring it back to the pavilion. We will do the following exercises in sequence but run around the pavilion twice before doing the next exercise.
20 Overhead Press

20 Overhead Bench Press

20 Curls

20 Rows

20 Tricepts

20 Squats with CMU at chest

Mosey to the AO.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Forg 3 will be next Saturday. The Hot Toddy Quadruple Birthday Q (Snitch has joined Charmin, High-Heels and Lilydipper will be the following Saturday on February 1

COT:
Message: Lose Yourself

Some of you know that my mother-in-law, Ruby Grimes, who had coped with significant dementia for the past year, died on Tuesday, January 14. The week I spent in Kentucky after her death and my involvement in her visitation, funeral, and burial, was powerful for me.

When, in preparation for the funeral, we met with Reverend Bill Fort, who had been Ruby’s minister and known her for 25 years, he commented that in the days when he was a young man in seminary, he and many of his fellow students dreamed and talked about what they would like to achieve as ministers. One of Bill’s favorite professors didn’t admonish the students for desiring “big things” as ministers but also told them this: in true ministry, we don’t grow larger in serving God but actually grow smaller.” Bill Fort then told our family that Ruby Grimes exemplified that statement. And, Bill was correct. At Ruby’s visitation before her funeral we met an incredible number of people who told us about how much Ruby had impacted their lives. She did that in ways that didn’t make newspaper headlines – rather, Ruby’s ministry was about loving others in small but consistent ways that grew on those she was around and made them better for it.

My wife, Jan, spoke at her mother’s funeral and, in her reflections, informed us that we can all learn lessons from Ruby Grimes. One lesson is that as a servant of God we should Lose Ourselves. You see, Ruby was not about taking the limelight. She shined the spotlight on you. If you visited her house she made sure you were comfortable, that you felt special, that you deserved the best. And you felt her love and interest as genuine.

Ruby Grimes didn’t have a college degree. She went to college for one year and then gave up the college dream after marrying her husband, Dorlan Grimes, when he was training to serve in the military. She was not some high ranking official in a company. She was not the president of a social club. She was a mother of two children who later worked as a kindergarten teacher, a phone operator, and in administration for local schools.

What Ruby did best was smile at others, truly get to know them, and love them truly. She was the adoptive grandmother for all kinds of kids on her block in her neighborhood. I remember spending Christmases at Ruby’s and Dorlan’s home when, on Christmas day, there would be neighborhood children coming by to give a card or gift to Ruby because they loved her so much. At the visitation before Ruby’s funeral we met children from four different families (some of these children were now middle age) that informed us how much Ruby had meant to them as children and impacted them in their lives. By the way, Ruby’s refrigerator was always lined with pictures those “adoptive grandchildren” would send her throughout their lives.

So, the message for today is Lose Yourself. Guys, it’s not about us if we are to be true HIMs. It’s about others. Where is your focus? When we over-focus on ourselves we get in trouble. Of course, all of us tend to do that and we all get in trouble. But if we do over-focus on ourselves, Ruby’s message to you would be, “Oh, that’s ok. You are a good person and I see that goodness in you. You are going to be just fine. You just go on being you. Now, can I get you another slice of pie?”

Prayer Requests

Prayers for the brothers going to Forg 3 in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and for Steam and Brick who have been so busy planning it. Prayers for Backflow with the upcoming birth of his fourth child. Prayers for his family as well. Prayers for three of our brothers coping with health issues: Sparkler, Jenner and Eliza. Prayers for Dorlan Grimes, husband of Ruby Grimes (discussed in message above).