F3 Knoxville

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Forg3 2023 Registration is LIVE

 Forg3 2023

A weekend retreat created for F3 men, by F3 men. 

Men of F3 Knoxville! With a full heart I am pumped to announce that we are rolling out our first F3 Knoxville men’s retreat this fall – Forg3! Forg3 was created with F3 men in mind – to strengthen the bonds we have with each other and our Creator, over the course of a weekend retreat.

Please see below for all of the preliminary information about this year’s retreat, as registration goes LIVE today!

Forge (v.) – to shape and mold into a new condition, by heating in a fire / to move forward gradually and steadily.

Forg3 (n.) – an invigorating 40-hour weekend retreat to challenge and encourage F3 men in their pursuit of high impact manhood. You can expect to engage with other men in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd F sessions, to better understand who you are, whose you are, and the High Impact Man God has called you to be. You’ll have opportunities throughout the weekend to seek adventure, to rest, and to sharpen iron with other F3 men physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. 

If you love adventure of the heart, mind, body, and soul – Forg3 is for you. Forg3 was created for F3 men, by F3 men, as a way to engage together for a purposeful and relationally-driven weekend to step further into the men God has called us to be.
Here are the fast facts about Forg3 2023:
  • Dates: Friday, September 22nd (7pm) – Sunday, September 24th (11am)
  • Location: Doe River Gorge (Hampton, TN)
    • Situated in the F3 Northeast TN region up near Johnson City and Elizabethton, Doe River Gorge’s campus is tucked into the side of a mountain and offers incredible beauty, very clean and comfortable cabins by the river, and miles and miles of adventures to be had.
    • From Knoxville: only around 1.5 – 2 hour drive
  • Cost: $110 (Covers all of your lodging, meals, and retreat materials for the weekend)
    • Via Venmo or cash to Waxjob

How To Register/Get Connected

Our team has created a user-friendly and comprehensive registration process – all through Google Forms. Please see below for how to register, get connected, and where to send any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you at Forg3 2023 this year!

How To Get Involved

Want to get involved or be a part of Forg3 2023? If you have any interest in serving on our planning team, in any capacity, we’d love to connect! Shoot an email over to [email protected], or DM Steam (Dan Henson) on the F3 Knoxville Slack workspace.

Iron Sharpens Iron!

-Steam

April Metric Q – Asylum PM

Asylum PM Q — April Metric Workout

5:45pm – 6:30pm

  • Pre-ruck at 5pm

[ The Scene ] 

  • 72
  • Sunny 

[ 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 ] 

  • OYO as the April Metric Workout is introduced 

[ The Thang ] 

Scene

  • 4 evenly spaced cones or lines ~10 yards/30 feet apart

The Workout

Part 1: RUN

  • 10 minute timer
  • Start the timer, then…
  • Run from Line 1 to Line 2 (~10 yards) and back to Line 1
  • Run from Line 1 to Line 3 (~20 yards) and back to Line 1
  • Run from Line 1 to Line 4 (~30 yards) and back to Line 1
  • That is 1 rep
  • Rinse and repeat as many times as you can in the 10 minutes.

— 1 minute rest —

Part 2: AMRAP

  • 3×2 minutes timer
  • Count the total number of reps (cumulative, not individual)
  • Start the timer, then…
  • 2 minutes AMRAP SSH
    • (no rest)
  • 2 minutes AMRAP High Knees (count 1 leg)
    • (no rest)
  • 2 minutes AMRAP mountain climbers (count 1 leg)

— 3 MINUTES REST AND RECORD 1st ROUND # OF REPS —

— Now…REPEAT the full routine – starting over with your rep count —

— Submit four scores —

  • Round 1 run reps
  • Round 1 AMRAP reps
  • Round 2 run reps
  • Round 2 AMRAP reps

— Enter your times and reps on the Google form (link in the 1st F channel) —
— Total time to complete: 45 minutes (the full time: 5:45pm – 6:30pm)

  • 5 minutes of instruction/intro
  • 40 minutes to complete the workout

[ Mary ] 

OYO stretching

[ COT ]

  • # off – 14
  • Name o Rama 
  • FNGs
  • Word

Spoiler in Slack: You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it. — Paulo Coelho

  • Heard this in the movie Extraction on Netflix

An F3 mantra we use a lot: No man left behind, but no man left the same.

I’ve been submerged before — I’m willing to bet many of us have felt that same way before. 

The reality is this – at some point in time, we’re all going to “fall in the river.” It’s just part of life. We all have stuff that is in our lives. But God has more for you. 

It’s okay to fall into the river, but it’s not okay to stay submerged in it. 

And if we believe that God has more for us than our current circumstance in life, we should believe this about others as well, which brings me to “No man left behind, no man left the same.” That if we believe God has more for them – we must truly live out not leaving a man behind, and refusing to leave men in the condition in which we first found them. Or, the condition they are in when they show up to F3. 

This is what Jesus did – he didn’t want to leave anyone behind, and refused to leave someone in the same condition he found them in. Just look at all of his miracles in the gospels. And even in his final moments of life, when he finds one of the other criminals on a cross next to him, who rightfully should be there by the way, he refuses to leave him in the same condition. 

You Will Respect Each Other

THE SCENE: A break in the rain
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, rockettes, cherry pickers, this and that, tie fighters
THA-THANG:
Insert information about the workout.

  • Around the island with squats and merkins
  • Down the path with Imperial Walkers
  • Up Cardiac with squats and bench dips
  • Down the Dragon with increasing Bobby Hurleys
  • 7’s with step ups and incline merkins
  • Ring of Fire with pickle pounds and squats
  • Relay races

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
A recently watched Remember the Titans with my 10 y/o.  Note he’s a white male growing up in west Knoxville.  He kept asking me why the characters were behaving the way they were. So, we went down the road of how things “used to be”. But, then we talked about how this movie is about two groups who were different or had different opinions. Today we have more and more groups who are different than ourselves, and we must not let hatred and violence become our way of engaging these folks. They Gettysburg scene in the movie chokes me up every time.

“Anybody know what this place is? This is Gettysburg. This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fightin’ the same fight that we’re still fightin’ amongst ourselves today. This green field right here was painted red, bubblin’ with the blood of young boys, smoke and hot lead pourin’ right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men: ‘I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family.’ You listen. And you take a lesson from the dead. If we don’t come together, right now, on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed — just like they were.I don’t care if you like each other or not. But you will respect each other.” https://youtu.be/bFObqUd5uzA

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Haw Ridge 4/14. Sign up ASAP if you want to either come hang out or do the event. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ePWxUiNMlLmFiZUFXctg5eAMXoYcAkHlRfo2U3GoiGY/edit#gid=0 or contact Slappy for details.

A Kiss

THE SCENE: Wet on ground, windy, but the rained stopped right as we were beginning the workout.  Temperature about 60 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Bernie Sanders around the parking lot, 20 Plank Jacks, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Rockettes, 10 Twisties, 10 Dive Bombers, 10 Cherry Pickers.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the pavilion to do 20 Bench Dips.  Then divide up into teams of two.  Mosey to the trailer behind my car in the parking lot across the street from the AO parking lot.  Each team grabs two bricks out of my trailer.  Mosey back to the west end of the AO parking lot.  We will will be doing Doras. While one partner on a team of two runs to the other end of the parking lot and does 10 Rocky Balboas (both legs = 1) and runs back, the other partner works on the exercises listed below.  Then partners switch off.  Here are the exercises:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Triceps
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Punches (where both hands = 1)
  • 100 Wings Up
  • 100 Wings Down
  • 100 Wings Out

Mosey back to the trailer to put the bricks away. Bernie Sanders one time around the parking lot.

Mosey to the AO parking lot again.  We will be doing a Kraken.  We will be doing the exercises at each of the six cones set up in the parking lot.  When finished with the exercise at one cone, each man should do a full circle of all cones before going to the next cone.  Here are the exercises:

  • Cone 1:  20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • Cone 2:  10 Burpees
  • Cone 3:  20 Box Cutters
  • Cone 4:  20 Diamond Merkins
  • Cone 5:  20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • Cone 6:  15 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1)
  • Those finishing first rinse and repeat until the six has finished all six sets of exercises.

Mosey back to the parking lot across the street with the trailer.  We will be running up the Dragon, stopping at every other light post to do 10 Merkins.  When men reach the parking lot at the end of the Dragon they will run to the street and then go down Mini-Cardiac to the parking lot with the trailer.  They will then Bernie Sanders around the parking lot. 

Mosey to the parking lot near the nice restroom.  We will go from one curb to the others in the following manner:  Hop 15 times, Bear Crawl for 30 paces, then Bernie Sanders to the curb.  We will then go back to the other curb in the following manner:  Do 25 El Capitan’s, Bear Crawl for 25 paces, then Bernie Sanders to the curb.

Mosey to the Playground.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to the AO.

MARY:
25 Hello Dollies (4 count), 25 Flutter Kicks (4 Count).  Then we will do a minute of stretching.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 Men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I am not a University of Miami Hurricanes fan.  But, I do like their basketball team’s coach, 73-year-old Jim Larranaga.  It wasn’t until recently that I knew his name.  When I watched Miami win games in last year’s March Madness and this year’s March Madness, I just called him the “Old Man.”  I have since learned that he is an amazing coach who has won all kinds of awards coaching for different colleges.  He was the coach of that 11th seeded George Mason team who got to the Final Four in 2006.

Now he has the Miami Hurricanes in the Final Four and his team will be playing against Connecticut today.  I saw the Old Man interviewed on the basketball court amidst the hoopla after Miami beat number 1 seeded Houston to get to the Elite 8 this year.  One of his players, Nijel Pack, was asked to be interviewed after the coach.  What did the Old Man do before he went off to the locker room?  He leaned over and kissed Nijel on the side of his head.  I love seeing that kind of affection between coach and player.  Later, in the locker room, the Old Man was seen dancing with his team, all of the players laughing and hooting at their 73-year-old coach with obvious love as he was doing the old man shimmy. It was a funny and heart-warming thing to observe.

A major reason I love F3 so much is that we also have that heart-warming affection amongst us.  One of our new members, Voltage, joined our brotherhood less than two weeks ago.  I talked to him after the workout.  He has lived in Knoxville a number of years and, being from another country, has been a bit lonely.  He has been looking for a group of friends that he can be a part of.  I told him he has found it with F3.

Gents, I don’t want to embarrass you, but a reason why we come to F3 here in Knoxville is to get the kind of affection from other men that is similar to that kiss the the Old Man laid upon the head of Nijel Pack.  How does that affection reach us?  In all kinds of ways.  It’s as simple as bros yelling out “Hey Pusher” or “Hey Drum Major” when they show up for the morning workout.  It’s Crawdad teasing me about having dope in my veins and you guys persistently mentioning I must have my stimulator with me when I am somehow able to keep up with you on the mosey.  It’s the ribbing Swimmies gets every time he shows up late for a workout.  It’s us getting on High-Heels for getting through 25 rounds of whatever exercise in ten seconds.  It’s whoever is on Q making sure we do Dive Bombers when Choir Boy is around or doing Cherry Pickers because we know that Crawdad hates them.  It’s us groaning at Pluto’s puns.  It’s us knowing that Waffle House is going to wear those crazy yellow mittens in the winter or that Pele is going to leave his circular sweat of integrity around his feet at the end of a summer workout.  It’s giving Jinxy hell when the employees at Panera Bread screw up another one of his orders.  It laughing at Lebowski with his crazy robe and Matlock leaving those hilarious posts on Slack.  We are a team, a band of brothers, dropping those idiotic displays of affection on one another.  I thank God for it.  Now, where did I leave that stimulator.?

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the people of Nashville and those impacted by the shooting at the school.  Prayers to those in Arkansas impacted by the tornadoes last night.  Prayers for safety Pusher’s youngest son who just got his drivers license.  Also, prayers for Pusher and his wife as it can be stressful to see one’s child go off driving alone for the first time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Shovel Flag making at I-Beam’s house today.  Haw Ridge coming in two weeks.  We need to start working on making obstacles for Hardship Hill which will be on Memorial Day.

Jesus Wept

THE SCENE: Beautiful spring day, sunny, little breeze, low 70s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Done adequately
WARM-O-RAMA:
Bolt 45s, Tempo Squats, Motivators, El Capitans, LBAC forward and backward, Grady Corns
THA-THANG:

MOSEY to bottom of Pickett’s…

Run PICKETT’S CHARGE, Bernie-ing the slopes and running on the flat parts.

Mosey to center of colosseum.  Do Mucho Chesto, then Run to 12 o’clock position, do Aiken Legs. R&R.

Aiken Legs: 20 Squats, 20 Squat Jumps, 20 Lunges (10 each leg), 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward)

MUCHO CHESTO: 10 x Merkin / 10 x Wide Merkin / 10 x Diamonds / 10 Stagger Merkin Left / 10 Stagger Merkin Right

Mosey to field below Overlook.  Cones laid out in a rectangle pattern.

FIELD OF PAIN:

  • Long side 1: Suicides
  • Short Side 1: 10 merkins, Bear Crawl, 10 Merkins at opposite corner.
  • Long side 2: Bernie to ½ way cone, 20 Iron Mikes (2-ct), 20 Bobby Hurleys. Run to next corner
  • Short Side 2: El Capitan lunge , with 5 Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees at each cover.

Mosey about 1/2 way to road, then do 7s on small hill.  Flutter Kicks and Bobby Hurleys.

MARY:
Flutter kicks and Homer/Marge
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 strong.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Today’s Word is taken from John Chapter 11, which is a story that’s probably familiar to many of you, as it describes Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead.  It builds on Steam’s WORD about Expectations that he gave last week, which also referred to a passage that included the sisters Mary and Martha.  In John Chapter 11, Jesus travels to Bethany to visit Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus died.  THREE TIMES the sisters ask “Why? Why did my brother have to die? If you had been there, he would still be alive.”  Expectations.  That question of “If I had mattered to you, this wouldn’t have happened” is a question I think we’ve all asked ourselves, and certainly for those friends and family of those killed in yet the latest mass shooting event just down the road in Nashville, that has affected some of our F3 brothers.

But I want to focus on one specific part of the passage in John 11.  It contains the answer to a great Trivia Question  When confronted with the reality of the situation, what did Jesus do?  Jesus wept.  Our God is deeply moved and troubled when his Children suffer, and when we grieve.  We have a feeling and empathizing God.

Dr. William Sloane Coffin was a famous Presbyterian minister from Boston and Chaplain for Yale for a number of years, who lost his son in a car accident a few decades ago.  He gave a sermon just 10 days later.  (How does someone DO that??)  Dr. Coffin had the same questions about his son’s death that we all would have, that Mary and Martha had.  Where were you God?  But he said in that sermon,.

He said, “For some reason, nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent heads that God doesn’t go around this world with His finger on triggers, His fist around knives, His hands on steering wheels.  the one thing no one should say to someone dealing with tragedy is “I know it was the will of God”.  Never do we know enough to say it is the will of God.  When my son died, my own consolation is that it is NOT the will of God that he died, it is that God’s Heart was the first of all of our hearts to break.”  As he closed his sermon, he said “As the grief that once seemed unbearable now turns to bearable sorrow, The truths in Biblical passages are beginning to once again take hold.  ‘In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer.  I have overcome the world; My light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  Weeping may endure in the night, but joy cometh in the morning’.  When my son beat me to the grave, it was not because God WILLED it.  It was because for him, the Dawn had come.”

This is the key lesson of John.  What God wills is Life out of Death.  What did Jesus do in the presence of Mary and Martha when told the news about Lazarus?  Jesus wept.  This is the compassionate nature of God.  God doesn’t just see from far away our pains and sorrows.  He is WITH us in our sorrow.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for those who were affected by the Nashville school shooting earlier in the week. Prayers for Title 9 as he looks for other career opportunities.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FORGE! growth week-end, end of September.  Haw Ridge and Hardship Hill coming up!