F3 Knoxville

Tag: Brick

Pre-Blast: Winning the War In Your Mind

Men,

Many people, men especially, have an internal battle that rages within their minds, hearts, bodies, and souls. Wins and losses, start in your mind. Whether you think you can, or you can’t, you’re probably right. As guys who have struggled with internal dialogue, and what can sometimes feel like an all-out assault/war on our minds, we figured there might be other men out there that have gone or are going through the same stuff. And we have a good feeling we’re right.

One particular night after an Asylum PM beatdown, we kind of just had this moment of “Man this week has really sucked. I’m getting beaten up mentally bro.” Brick could tell I was not in a great headspace, and vice versa. So we talked after the COT and this idea was given to us, of walking through Craig Groeschel’s “Winning the War In Your Mind” book together. That’s when the wheels really began to turn, because like I said before, we figured there are other men out there that would probably benefit by going through something like this with other men. So here we are. After some praying and thinking and meditating and planning together, we are pumped to announce that we will be leading ourselves and others through this book  over the next 12(ish) weeks or so. You can find all the details below! Here’s a quick PSA: we totally get this might not be for everyone. Hey, that’s cool.

But.

But in the off chance that you or someone you know even has an inkling that going through this with some other men might be helpful, insightful, or dare I say even powerful and transformational, hit us up on the F3 Knoxville Slack workspace. Or if you have any questions on anything in this pre-blast, how to get plugged in, etc, shoot me an email at [email protected].

We hope you’ll consider taking few minutes out of your day or week to just think if this is something you would benefit from. Here are a few questions we are going to be asking as we work our way up to the kickoff date of Wednesday, August 31st, 2022.

  • What might God want to do in and through your life by you intentionally going through this with other men?
  • Are your thoughts leading you to step further into the man you’re called to be, or further away?
  • What would it look like to just show up for an hour every week, and take back some high ground mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically?

We’re pumped to offer this as a resource for the men of F3 Knoxville, and we hope you’ll prayerfully consider joining us on this journey.

Iron Sharpens Iron!

-Brick + Steam

The Why

  • Always start with “the why.”
  • Because in order to be the High Impact Men God has called us to be, we must come to terms with there being a very real war in our minds, against a very real enemy, that seeks to kill, steal, and destroy all truth about who we are and whose we are.

The What 

  • We’ll be walking through Craig Groeschel’s book “Winning the War In Your Mind” together.
  • This is a book that is comprised of 4 major sections, with 3 chapters each. Every week, we’ll gather together and dive into what is being revealed to and through us as men.

The Who

  • Your Co-Qs: Brick + Steam
  • Who else? F3 Knoxville men, and really any man that you know could benefit from walking through something like this.
  • Let’s be honest – for some guys, the 5:30am or 5:45pm or 6/7am F3 sell could be intimidating. Maybe you or a guy you know haven’t posted in a while. Or maybe you do your own workouts outside of F3 now (whatever dude.). Okay, kidding, nothing wrong with that. But just like the F3 workouts we know and love, this is free and open to any man. Getting a buddy to come to an F3 workout might be a tough sell/on-ramp, but maybe, just maybe, getting a buddy or male co-worker to come get breakfast and coffee and just talk about what’s going on in his life amongst the company of other HIM would be a more comfortable and easy on-ramp into community. Give it some thought.

The When

  • Wednesdays | 6:15 AM – 7:15 AM
  • We’ll officially “launch” on Wednesday, August 31st. This first Wednesday will be more of an intro/indoc type of deal. From then on out, we’ll cover a chapter a week, for 3 weeks, with the 4th week serving as a conversational takeaways session on the past section of the book we’ve just covered.

The Where

  • Physical Location: Chick-fil-A, Homberg Drive. The kind folks at the Homberg Drive Chick-fil-A have generously agreed to partner with us and let us use their community meeting room/space for the entirety of this group.
  • Virtual location: Slack. We are going to be streamlining comms through a private Slack channel (intentionally for confidentiality purposes) in the F3 Knoxville workspace. If you would like to be added to this channel, or if you have any questions, please shoot Steam a DM on Slack or an email at dhenson1160@gmail. There are more details about this journey through Winning the War In Your Mind together in our Slack channel. This is where our virtual HQ will be for the duration of this study/group.

Q101 and Rainbows

THE SCENE: Threatening rain, but stayed dry.  Humid as heck, and kind of hot when the sun came out, mid 80s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

IMPORTANT POINTS:

– TIME! 1. Call out TIME WARNING (2 mins, 1 min), 2. START ON TIME, 3. END on time.

– Carry a WATCH and PHONE!

–  INTRO! WELCOME to F3! FITNESS, FELLOWSHIP, AND FAITH!!

INTRODUCE yourself! You will be leading these men for the next 45 minutes to an hour, establish yourself as their Q!

– IDENTIFY ANY FNGs

  1. Make sure they understand the disclaimer (get a nod of understanding)
  2. Make sure you demonstrate exercises that may be unfamiliar to them.
  3. Make them feel welcome! Pay special attention to their status during the workout.

–  Include LEGAL DISCLAIMERS (Legal significance, part of F3 standards, sets the tone):

  1. I am not a professional
  2. You are here on your own volition, and participating at your own risk
  3. F3 is a free program open to all men
  4. Know your limits, and modify if you need to, but do the best you can! ALWAYS GIVE 100%… UNLESS YOU’RE DONATING BLOOD! J


WARM-O-RAMA:

IMPORTANT POINTS:

– TAKE CHARGE!

  1. Make eye contact
  2. Use your “outside voice”
  3. Use GOOD FORM
  4. Bring great ENERGY and ENCOURAGE!

 

– The Warm up usually consists of 4 to 5 exercises designed to 1. get the heart rate going, 2. Stretch the legs, and 3. Stretch the Arms. Call out:

  1. The NAME of the exercise. PAX REPEATS.
  2. Whether it’s single count or in cadence. PAX REPEATS
  3. “Ready position”… “Exercise!”
  4. Change the tone or number of the cadence on the final rep. Call out Recover! This indicates a stop to the exercise.
  5. PRACTICE doing the CADENCE count at home. Different exercises have different cadences!

 

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

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

– 10 Steve Earls (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 LBCs forward and backward (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 calf raises, SINGLE COUNT

 

THA-THANG:

THA THANG is the main part of the workout, and usually consist of 3 to 5 “stations”, where you mosey to and then do an exercise (“String of Pearls”). Keeps the PAX together and provides some variation.

IMPORTANT POINTS:

– PLAN OUT the workout ahead of time!

– Keep an eye on your TIME

– EXPLAIN CLEARLY and ENCOURAGE

– If you can’t Q it, don’t do it!  Not a “clipboard” program where the Q sits out

– Be FLEXIBLE!

– Make sure everyone is always ACTIVE! Give the rabbits something to do if they finish first.

– Situational awareness! Pay attention to the PAX. Sweep back to get the 6. NO man left behind!!

 

MOSEY to DORA Parking Lot. Partners trade off carrying CMU.

Battle Buddy Up

ROUND 1:

Partner 1 does 20 PRESSES and 20 TRICEPS, alternating, Partner 2 runs the loop. Switch.

ROUND 2: Partner 1 does 20 ROWS  and 20 CURLS alternating, Partner 2 runs the loop. Switch.

ROUND 3: Partner 1 does 20 Off-set MERKINS, 20 ½ BURPEES, alternating, Partner 2 runs the loop. Switch.

ROUND 4: Partner 1 does 20 CMU BBSs, 20 CHEST PRESSES, alternating, Partner 2 runs the loop. Switch.

 

Leave CMUs.  Mosey to STOP SIGN at the southern point of the Loop Road.

QUARTER POUNDER:

  • Run to first cone, 25 merkins, run back.
  • Run to second cone, 50 Squats, run back
  • Run to third cone, 75 Mountain Climbers, run back
  • Run to Fourth cone, 100 SSH, run back

Mosey to AO. Partner 1 does 10 SSH, then catches Partner 2 who is RIFLE CARRYING the CMU.  Switch.  R&R until top.

 

MARY:

Random Ab exercises… The Mary is the “slush fund”.  Use it if you have extra time, but skip it if you’re at the end of the workout.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
12 strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Everyone takes part in the COT.

One thing that many of us worry about when Q’ing a workout for the first time is this part… giving the message in the COT, at the end of the workout. We might think “I can’t speak the way that some people can.”  “I don’t have anything wise or good to say.”  “I’m not religious enough.”  “I will screw it up.”

You don’t have to deliver a long speech for the BOM.  Also, you don’t need to know the bible front to back, or worry about whether your message passes some level of religious muster.  Just speak about something you have learned, something important to you, something that might help others.  Not everyone will respond the same way but I can guarantee that pretty much every one of your brothers will get something out of your message.  I personally love hearing what different brothers have to say, the little pearls of life wisdom they can share with me.  And, as for your ability to speak well, think about Moses, who lead the Israelites from Egypt to Isreal:

From Exodus 4: 10-12

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

As to worrying about screwing up, your brothers are on your side no matter what.  And, screwing up is what we do.  As an example of this think of Abraham Lincoln.  The following list is from an article by Ron Kurtus:

A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is:

  • 1831 – Lost his job
  • 1832 – Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
  • 1833 – Failed in business
  • 1834 – Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
  • 1835 – Sweetheart died
  • 1836 – Had nervous breakdown
  • 1838 – Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
  • 1843 – Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
  • 1846 – Elected to Congress (success)
  • 1848 – Lost re-nomination
  • 1849 – Rejected for land officer position
  • 1854 – Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
  • 1856 – Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
  • 1858 – Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
  • 1860 – Elected President (success)

The fact is that we are supposed to screw up as leaders.  That is how we learn and how we grow.  Don’t let fear of failure keep you from moving forward, whether it be in F3 or in life.  We’re here to support each other, and grow and develop as leaders.  If you haven’t Q’d yet, take that plunge.  I guarantee you will be better for it!

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bearden band fundraiser car wash this week-end.  Ask for Kaitlyn (Pusher’s daughter)!

Not Hidden

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy, hot but the wind began to cool things off as rainclouds moved by to the west of us.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Gas Pumps, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Tempo Merkins, 33 Grady Corns.
THA-THANG:
Mosey toward the stop sign located at the Northeastern Corner of the Admin Bldg.  We will stop to do 20 Hello Dollies.  Next we will run on shaded sidewalk toward the Admin Bldg loop.  We will stop in the grass be the shade.  We will split into teams to do Doras.  While one partner does listed exercise, the other partner runs to steps of Admin Bldg, does 15 Calf Raises, and runs back to take over on the exercises his partner was doing.  Here are the exercises that each team of partners will do as a team:

  • 100 Star Jumps
  • 200 Baby Crunches
  • 100 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • 200 Squats
  • 100 Merkins

Mosey to the shaded area south of the sidewalk loop at the Admin Bldg.  We will do 20 Box Cutters.  Mosey to the stop sign on the Southeastern Corner of the Admin Bldg. Then mosey to the shade of the first tree on the road that semicircles around the Admin Bldg.  We will do 10 Lunges, each leg = 1.

We will so a Bernie/Run combo to the next two shaded areas.  At the first shaded area we will do 20 American Hammers.  At the next shaded area we will do 25 bench dips off the ledge and 25 incline merkin.

Next will will do a combination Bernie and Sprint to the AO.  We will pause two minutes for a water break.

Mosey down Roadshow Run but veer right to the perimeter trail after the second set of steps.  Mosey up the perimeter trail to the shaded area by the large evergreen tree.  We will do 20 Merkins.

Mosey to shaded area near the stop sign at the Northeastern Corner of the Admin Bldg.  From there we will Bernie toward the large tree further up the semi-circle road but run the rest of the way to the tree once we get to the rail on the side of the road.  We will do 20 Diamond Merkins.  Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
Abdominal exercises.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

My wife, Jan, is a psychologist who works at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital here in Knoxville.  She has been meeting for about three weeks now with an 8-year-old boy who was in a severe car accident.  The boy suffered extensive damage to his body in the accident and currently cannot walk.  He also lost his mother in the accident.  Jan had to be the person to tell him his mother died.

The boy, initially, didn’t want to talk much about the accident.  But, he has been opening up more to Jan recently.  He told her that he doesn’t feel whole.  He misses his mother so much.  He also feels guilty toward her.  He told Jan that he feels horrible because there were times he lied to his mother or hid matters from her.  He told Jan he felt like he doesn’t deserve his mother’s love.  After saying that, He burst into uncontrollable sobs. Think of that boy, not only losing his mother but thinking he didn’t deserve her love.

Jan gave him time to cry.  Then, calling him by name, she said to him, “Look at me.”  Saying his name again, Jan said, “Your mother knew you lied to her and hid things from her.”  The boy looked shocked but doubtful and asked, “How can you know that?”  Jan said, “Because I am a mother.  All parents know that their children lie and hide things from them. That’s part of being a parent.  Rest assured your mother knew you hid things, but she loved you anyway.”

Those of us who are fathers know that our children sometimes have lied or hid things from us.  It may upset us, but we love them anyway.  That is a special love – the love of parent for child.  And is so good to know that God is our father.  As 1 John 1 proclaims, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.”  God knows we hide things from him.  And like we parents desire our children to be truthful to us, God wants us to be truthful to Him.  Go ahead and confess to him.  He knows what you have done anyway.  You can’t hide from God.  Like Jonah in the mouth of the whale, God sees us.  How good it is to know that He loves us anyway.  He wants what is best for us.  As the great song, “In Christ Alone” states, “For I am His and He is Mine.”  We have an amazing father who is all virtuous, all knowing, and all loving.  Take that in, and freely know that you are loved by your creator.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Steam’s fiancé, Megan, and for Brick’s friend, Jason.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Q101 workout this upcoming Thursday at Asylum PM, led by our AO captain, Pele.

JUCO UNO and Lazy Visionaries

THE SCENE: Hot and muggy as expected
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

properly administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Cherry Pickers
  • Harry Rockets
  • Tempo squat
  • Hand release Merkins
  • LBAC forward/back

THA-THANG:

Mosey to the parking lot by the Haslam science building to do some accelerating/decelerating sprints. After 2 round continue on to the benches by the entrance for some JUCO UNO.

Get in groups of 2 or 3 and pick a set of exercises. There are 6 stations with uno cards. Draw a card and perform the exercise per the rules below.

  • # Card * = Exercises x multiplier
  • Color on Card = Exercise
  • Reverse = Repeat any card you’ve already drawn
  • Skip = Save to pass on a future card of your choice. Draw again.
  • Draw 2 = Reps x 2. (max 12)
  • Wild = any color exercise. Reps x 10
  • Wild Draw 4 = All 4 colors. Reps x 3
    * 0 card = 10 Reps (nice try you know who you are)

After completing a set take a lap around the build.

Complete sheets for JUCO UNO: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YHD3so-aqxcXJgUAJ0gNEcP-mmsRtWqTaZzENAsw3z4/edit?usp=sharing

After 6 or 7 rounds, mosey to the courtyard for some 8/8/22’s.

Round 1:
8 Dips
8 Derkins
22 Lunges

Round 2:
8 Dips
8 Box Jumps
22 SSH

Round 3:
repeat round 1

Head to the flag

MARY:
Flutter kicks, plank with bird dog mixed in

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Continuing some little known facts about laziness.

Review: #1 They are good at risk assessment. https://f3knoxville.com/little-known-facts-about-laziness-1/
#2 They don’t know they’re lazy! https://f3knoxville.com/juco-lazy-morning-2/

Little known fact about laziness #3: They are visionaries!

Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Proverbs 21:25-26

The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.
All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

The lazy have desires and a vision for change or improvement. They crave and have ideas and plans but come up empty. A vision or idea by itself is good and important but ultimately means nothing. It usually takes hard work, dedication and persistence to bring about a vision.

Recently I was challenged with a study to work on for my marriage and family. I signed up for it but now realize how much work it is going to be. It’s going to be hard and challenging. It’s going to take some work and dedication.

My challenge and the challenge for all of you, is to not just have a vision. Follow through, take a look at yourself and see if you’re one of the lazy.

Thankful for Friends Like You

THE SCENE: Cloudy, muggy, low 80’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Twisties, 10 Rockettes, 7 Little Baby Arm Circles and 3 Pterodactyls forwards and backwards, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to shaded parking lot that is across the street from the parking lot to entry of ball fields.  We will go around the parking lot counterclockwise stopping at each corner to do exercise then move to next corner in the following fashion:

  • Corner 1:  20 Carolina Dry Docks, Bear Crawl to Corner 2
  • Corner 2:  20 Merkins, Bernie Sanders to Corner 3
  • Corner 3:  10 Gas Pumps, Lunge to Corner 4
  • Corner 4:  10 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1), Sprint to Corner 1
  • Rinse and Repeat

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do 20 step ups on benches of picnic tables where both legs = 1

Mosey to bottom of Cardiac.  We will run up cardiac stopping along the follow areas to do the listed exercises:

  • Curve 1:  20 American Hammers
  • Curve 2:  20 Hello Dollies
  • Curve 3:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Curve 4:  20 Bench Dips

Mosey to parking lot by entry of ball fields.  We will go around the parking lot counterclockwise stopping at each corner to do the following exercises and them moving to the next corner in the listed manner:

  • Corner 1:  20 Squat Jumps, Sprint to Corner 2
  • Corner 2:  20 Squats, Bernie to Corner 3
  • Corner 3:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups, Sprint to Corner 4
  • Corner 4:  20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1), Bernie to Corner 1
  • Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to bottom of Mini-Cardiac.  We will Bernie Sanders to park sign, then sprint to top.

Mosey on trail going along the roadway, then turn south toward the stop sign at the northeastern corner of the admin bldg.  We will do 20 Flutter Kicks.

Next, we will sprint to start of rail by road, lunge along rail, then sprint along road until it is close to the Bat House.

Next, we will run at own pace to big tree by road that is north of the bat house then run back and go down the steps by the bat house then run back up to AO.

MARY:
Stretches
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
20 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Thank You Friends

Thessalonians 5:11:  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Gents, I am so lucky to have brothers like you who encourage me.  When my wife went through treatment for breast cancer right when Covid-19 first hit, you guys were constantly giving my words of encouragement, offering to bring me food, and sending messages to me.  When I had my hip replacement surgery last year, you guys were encouraging me again.  Now, I will be having total shoulder replacement surgery this Thursday.  I know some of you guys have already been praying for me.  It is so good to have strong men, brothers, like you who are keeping my six.  I am going to miss the F3 workouts for the next three months.  Of course, I will be jabbering on Slack as soon as I am out of treatment.  I will be coming to Asylum PM “board meetings” as soon as I am able.  And, when I am able to walk or ride a bike, I will be meandering around the Asylum while you guys are working out.  Praise the Lord for brothers like you.  Thank you God, for the boost in my life that my F3 brothers continually give me.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Crispr’s friend, for Pop-a-Top’s friend’s mother, for Abacus’ mom, for Lilydipper’s surgery, and for the upcoming F6 Dad and Child campout.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Dad and Child Campout coming soon.