F3 Knoxville

Get in the Wheelbarrow

THE SCENE: Cool and breezy, around 40 degrees moderate cloud coverage
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check, if you could hear it over the mumblechatter, which picked up significantly when Brick and Steam decided to go bare chested.  Glass cutters club!
WARM-O-RAMA:

-10 SSH (20x, (4-ct), in cadence) RUN 2 CIRCLE LAPS (TO THE LEFT) R&R 10 SSH RUN 2 CIRCLE LAPS TO THE RIGHT

– 10 STEVE EARLES (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Rockettes, (4-ct), in cadence

-LBCS Forward/backward  (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to Serpentine Sidewalk north of the AO.
    • “2-4-6-8 WHO DO WE APPRECIATE” Run down sidewalk, suicide style, stopping at EVEN # lights to do the following exercises:
      • 2 lights: 4 MERKINS/ 4 lights: 8 merkins/ 6 lights 12 merkins/ 8 lights, 16 merkins. ON LAST REP SWEEP FOWARD
      • Rinse and repeat with SQUATS
      • Rinse and repeat with BBS (2-ct)
    • Mosey east on path to intersection, stop to do 20 Imperial Walkers
    • Mosey to base of Cardiac
      • 5s from base to first curve, starting with 1 OFFSET RIGHT MERKIN, run up and do 4 OFFSET LEFT MERKINS 1 JUMP SQUAT
      • Fellowship Mosey to second curve
      • 5s from Second curve to Benches, Starting with 1 FROGGY JUMP, run up and do 4 SMURF JACKS.
    • Mosey to AO

 

MARY:
I wanted to give Mary her due, since we’ve been ignoring this fair lady for awhile, so we had a good 5-6 minutes of Mary…

  • MURDER PLANKS
    • Plank position, knee to opposite elbow x 10
    • Reverse, x10
    • Hold Elbow Plank x10 seconds
    • R&R until time called
  • Captain Thors
    • 1 BBS/1 4-ct American Hammer
    • 2/8
    • 3/12
    • 4/16

Stretching with Pele
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 Hims and 1 2.0, Cheetah Boy
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

THE TIGHTROPE WALKER

There’s a story I read recently about a tight rope walker in Europe who was very talented, could do all sorts of tricks.  One of these tricks was to walk on tightrope while pushing a wheel barrow.  A Big Time Promoter over here in the States heard about him, and invited him over to North America to walk over Niagara falls for a lot of money. A LOT of money.  But the Promoter wanted to make sure the guy really was all that and a bag of chips, so he asked him to come over for a demonstration.  The tightrope walker was a bit insulted that his talent was being questioned, but he flew over, they went to Niagara Falls, he walked back and forth over the falls, without the wheelbarrow, and then he did it with the wheelbarrow.

When he was finished, he returned to the Promoter and said, “There!  Now do you believe I can do it”?

The Promoter said, “Yes, I’m sorry I doubted you, I believe you can do it.”

“No No” said the tightrope walker, “I want to REALLY make sure you believe in my abilities! After all, I don’t want you to have any doubts”.

“Of Course I believe you! I just saw you do it!  Yes, yes, I believe you!”

The Tightrope walker said with an evil grin…  “If you really believe I can do it… Then get in the wheelbarrow.”

Living in Faith requires us to get in that wheelbarrow and have trust and faith. Must give control up to God.  It can be a little bit scary.  When I was about 10 I went on the American Eagle roller coaster at Great America in Gurnee, Illinois for the first time.  Wooden roller coaster that held several records when it was built in the 80s, including longest drop and fastest speed.  Here are some stats on that sucker:

  • built with approximately 1,360,000 feet (410,000 m) of lumber,
  • 129,720 bolts,
  • 30,600 pounds (13,900 kg) of nails (How many of those have come loose over the years?)
  • 55 degree max invert angle (Think of that!)

Rickety, wheels squealing on the rails, lots of motion.  I was petrified.  But you have to believe that the safety measures are in place and that you’ll be ok.  But you don’t really KNOW it until you take that ride.  There are ups and downs, twists and turns on your faith journey.  But in the end, you’ll be exhilarated, like that 10 year kid on a rollercoaster.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Get your dogtag order in!  Looking for new F3 Knoxville F1 and F3 leaders.  Hot Toddy Q this Saturday!

The PM Crew Tackles Accelerate Metric Workout #1

F3 Q: 1/17/2023

Asylum PM

5:45pm – 6:30pm

[ The Scene ] 

  • 50s
  • Cloudy with a chance of IRON SHARPENING YEAHHHHHHHHHH

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith 
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning 
  • A few things before we begin: 
    • I’m not a professional 
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you. 
  • FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ] 

(5:45pm – 5:50pm)

These warm up Xs will be catered towards the Xs we’re going to do in Accelerate Metric Workout #1 

  • SSH: 15×4 
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • Cherry Picker: 10×4
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • Twisty: 10×4
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • Rockette: 10×4
    • Run 25 yards and back 
  • High Knees: 10×4 
    • 25 yards and back 

Dynamic SWS (5:50 – 5:55)

4 corners – The Movements 

  • 1st Corner: Cobra stretch (30 seconds)
    • Run 
  • 2nd: 20 BAC (Front and Back)
    • Karaoke
  • 3rd: 10 Lunge Twists 
    • Deep Lunge
  • 4th: 10 wind mills
    • Side shuffle back to the light pole 

[ The Thang ] 

(Give instructions at 5:55pm)

(Start the workout at 6pm on the dot)

Accelerate Metric Workout #1

Introducing Accelerate 2023 — In an effort to ensure that the PAX of F3 Knoxville are continuing to accelerate their King (Q-source speak for always getting better in their workouts), we are going to be promoting 6 workouts this year done 6 months apart and to Track PAX progress. So the January and July workouts will be the same, Feb/August, etc. Instead of making it a competition, a la Iron Pax, this is an individual competition. Overall results will not be posted or tracked, just participants. AOQs will be the ones to share with PAX members their overall scores. 

This a YOU vs. YOU acceleration and not an Iron Pax-like competition. It will be about competing with yourself, not other PAX members. Please DM me any feedback you have for this year-long Accelerate challenge!

Here is January + July’s Accelerate workout:

Metric Workout #1 (Every man will need 1 CMU)

Set a timer for 30 minutes.

Complete as many cumulative reps as you can in that time.

The following list of exercises are performed in sets of 25 reps. 

After completing a set of 25 reps, put down your CMU, run 25 yards, do 2 burpees, return to your CMU, and continue. 

Here are the exercises:

  • 150 curls
  • 125 heavy squats
  • 100 OHP
  • 75 CMU swings
  • 50 Thrusters
  • 25 Blockees

When you finish the Blockees, start back at the top with curls.

It will look like this:

25 curls → 25 yard run → 2 burpees → 25 yard run → 25 curls…repeat until 150 curls are finished, then switch to squats (the next exercise)…etc.  

Once through the entire circuit is 525 reps (burpees do not count toward total).

[ COT ]

  • # off —> 13
  • Name o Rama 
    • Pele, Swimmies, Pusher, Sparkler, Rooney, Drum Major, F6, Abacus, Lillydipper, Brick, High-Heels, OnStar,  Steam
  • FNGs — 0
  • BOM

Reflections from the past week: 

  • Cardinal died on Wednesday 
  • My grandfather died yesterday
  • Megan (my wife) is going through a really tough time with her job and searching for a new one

It would be really easy to look at the past week and think “What in the world is going on.” But in light of everything that has happened over the past week, here are three things I need to remember, and maybe we all do heading into a new week. 

(1) We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. – Hebrews 5:3

    • Something about the really hard things we go through in life develop endurance for us to press on, to keep going, and to stay in the fight. 

(2) Memento Mori = Remember that you must die

    • This is just a fact of life. 
    • It’s not an “if” it’s a “when”
    • That being said – how are you you stewarding the days you’ve been given? We each have a certain number of days we’re going to be on this earth, no more, no less. 
    • I’m 28 years old, which is roughly in the neighborhood of 10,000 days —> Have I taken advantage of these days or have they taken advantage of me (Ephesians 5:16 — making the best use of the time, because the days are evil)

(3) Keep showing up

    • High Heels has said “How do you get better at burpees? Do more burpees.” And in the past when I’ve heard that I probably laughed or thought “But why?”
    • But the point is not the success or failure, but to keep showing up. You wanna get better at burpees? Keep showing up and do the work. 
    • To quote Samwise Gamgee —> Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something. That there’s some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for. 
    • Last week we all saw how powerful and impactful it is when men decide to show up. 

You Are More Than Your Job

THE SCENE: Windy, temps in low 60s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Plank Jacks, 10 Cherry Pickers, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Windmills, Sitting knee stretches 10 count right, forward and left.
THA-THANG:
Mosey up Dragon Tail to Haslam Rock.  Stop on roadway to do 20 Box Cutters.

Mosey to Coliseum Courtyard Area.  We will run counterclockwise around the sidewalk loop.  We will do the following exercises around the circle:

  • First loop:  20 Bench Dips at Coliseum and Admin Bldg steps and 20 Merkins at the two sides of loop.
  • Second loop:  20 Box Jumps on Steps and 20 Carolina Dry Cocks at sides of loop.
  • Third loop:  20 Calf Raises on Steps and 20 Diamond Merkins at side of loop.
  • Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to roadway area close to Haslam Rock.  We will do 20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey on Perimeter Trail to area at bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will split into teams of two and do Doras.  One partner runs to the construction fence going south on the perimeter trail, touches the fence and runs back.  The other partner works on the listed exercises and then partners switch.  As a team, the partners will do the following exercises:

  • 150 Freddie Mercuries (4 ct)
  • 150 Jump Squats
  • 150 Baby Crunches
  • 150 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
Abdominals
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21 men with one FNG:  Robert Kelly whom we dubbed Kung Blue.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I know that some men in our brotherhood and some M’s of our brothers have struggled with the jobs they are in and the vocational decisions they are attempting to make. It is difficult to have a job that just doesn’t seem right for you.  It can be bewildering to wonder what direction your professional life should take. It can feel oppressive to go to a job you just don’t like and wonder when the right job will come along.  I look back to my own vocational struggles when I was in my 20’s and early 30’s. I can say that during some of those struggles I was clinically depressed.

As a 66-year-old who has been in the job market for quite some time, let me offer some words to you that may help be of benefit to those of you who have struggled vocationally or who have loved ones who have struggled:

  1. You are more than your job.  I know of people who feel they have never found the “right job.”  But some of them are amongst the finest people I know.  Yes, at parties we may introduce ourselves to others and answer the questions about what we do for a living.  But that isn’t our identity.  There is so much more:  our worship, our families, our friends, our activities outside of work, how we listen to others, how we treat others, how we lead others.
  2. If you are dissatisfied with your job, keep looking.  That doesn’t mean quit your current job.  But network with others, talk to your brothers, let them know you are looking for something new.  Also, when you interview for jobs, that in itself can be a learning process.  I am proud of my son, Bennett, for his growth through networking and interviewing in the past year.  He had a good job but wanted something different.  He thought he wanted to get into the banking industry but he wasn’t sure in what area or what direction to take.  He gradually found out a job that is fitting his desires by networking and interviewing for jobs that weren’t quite the fit.
  3. As our brother High-Heels said in a recent Q, even if you aren’t thrilled with your job, it’s a blessing to have it.  You are getting paid.  Your job is putting food on the table.  There are many people who are jobless and hungry.  Don’t forget that.
  4. You have an opportunity to serve others, no matter what your job.  You can smile at your customers, try to make their lives better, and enhance the lives of your fellow employees with a kind and eager spirit.  And, no matter what your job, whether physician or trash collector, that work is probably contributing to what makes our world spin.

I will sum up the last point with some of the words from a song we sometimes sing at my church called “Day by Day.”

Server, you remind us of our Savior's bowl and towel.
Teacher, you are raising up a child to be kind.
Lawyer, give us hope that justice one day will surround us.
May God's kingdom come, on earth His will be done.

Farmer, you are working for a table full of bounty.
Painter, with each color you are teaching us to see.
Nurse, yours are the healing hands that touch the poor and broken.
May God's kingdom come, on earth His will be done.

Lord, be close to us.  Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, please put Your hand on us day by day.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jinxy and his family after the death of Jinxy’s father.  The funeral was today.  Prayers of praise for Operation as his wife is over six weeks pregnant after she and Operation went through such a lengthy time with issues of infertility.  Operation is going to be a great father!!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hot Toddy Triple Q at the Asylum on Saturday morning, January 28 at the Asylum!  Pusher will have his Birthday Q with Lumpia likely in February!

1st PM Q 2023: New + Improved Tour de Pavilion


1st Q of 2023

1.3.23 — Asylum PM

5:45pm – 6:30pm

[ The Scene ]

  • 1st Q of the year
  • Setting the tone for the year

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • A few things before we begin:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you.
  • FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • SSH: 23×4
  • Mountain Climber: 23×4
  • Squat: 23×4
  • Merkin: 23×4
  • Flutter Kick: 23×4

(You just completed all of the exercises we will do tonight)

[ The Thang ]

The New + Improved Tour de Pavilion!

(Mosey to Pavilion Sr.)

(1) Pavilion Sr.

  • Pyramid 5s
    • Xs: SSH, Mountain Climber, Squat, Merkin, Flutter Kick (all on a 4 count)
    • Run through all 5 Xs, starting at 5 reps
    • When you’re done with all 5, run out to the circle and do 1 merkin
    • Run back and rinse and repeat, but with 10 reps for each X
    • Rinse and repeat until you complete 25 reps of all Xs and complete your last burpee

(Mosey to the Pavilion Jr.)

(2) Pavilion Jr.

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”

  • Battle buddy up
  • 1 BB will be rocking 1 of the Xs here in the Pav. Jr. – while the other one runs out to the top of the island and executes 10 SSH (1-count)
  • You and your BB team will run through all 5 Xs here in the Pav. Jr.
    • No # to hit in the Pav. Jr.
    • Merkins can be incline or decline merkins

-All pax execute 25 final incline merkins together-

(Mosey back to the the flag)

[ COT ]

  • # off — 9
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs — 0
  • BOM

2023 – The Year of the Resolute Man

Resolute (adj.)

  • Admirably purposeful, determined, unwavering
  • Marked by firm determination, bold, steady

Resolutions have a very strong track record of failing and falling short by the wayside. Resolute men do not.

What do you want to be marked by this year? Picture yourself where you were just last week, but in 11 months from now. What story might you tell?

Infinite Games

THE SCENE: 43 and getting colder by the minute
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, rockettes, cherry pickers, runners lunge, Michael Phelps
THA-THANG:
Insert information about the workout.

  • Round 1:  25x cacoons, dips, SSH, calf raises
  • Round 2:  20x supermans, step ups, Rocky Balboas, squats
  • Round 3:  15x LBCs, incline merkins, Bobby Hurley, Apollo Ono
  • Round 4:  10x v-Up, decline merkins, plank jacks, lunges
  • Doras:  planks + calf raises, then shoulder taps + sprints

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
From The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek.  BLUF: play the long game of life.

We can’t choose the game.  We can’t choose the rules.  We can only choose how we play.  With finite games, like football or chess, the players are known, rules are fixed, and the endpoint is clear.  The winners and losers can easily be identified.

With infinite games, like business, politics, or life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined endpoint.  There are no winners or losers, there are only those ahead and those behind.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:Convergence at Bomb Shelter Jan 7, check out new way to sign up for Q in Slack