F3 Knoxville

The Amazing Race: Big Ball Edition (Soot Co-Q)

THE SCENE: Lower to Mid 60’s, partly cloudy. Couldn’t ask for better weather!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Arm Circles, Imperial Walkers, This and That, Tempo Squats
THA-THANG:
We divided everyone into two teams for an Amazing Race style workout. Each team was given a clue, then had to decide what landmark that clue was hinting at. If the team went to the right location, Soot or I would tell them the workout for that spot. The first team to hit each location and finish each workout won. A few bonus rules: bear crawl every bridge, 1 burpee at each landing or top of each staircase, and bernie up every hill. Each team went in opposite orders, I led one clockwise while Soot led the other counter-clockwise. Here are the clues, locations, and exercises:

  • “It rises in the morning, but never gets out of bed” – The Sunsphere – Here we did 7’s between the edge of the water and the base of the sunsphere with Smurf Jacks and Star Jacks
  • “Here you might enjoy a nice view of the river, but you won’t enjoy the dense new additions to your team” – The Rockpile – Here we did 30 reps of Thrusters, Tricep Extensions, Curls and Front Raises
  • “The crown jewel of UT’s campus. The hallowed high ground” – The Hill – Here we lined up at the flag pole and did flutterkicks while one at a time each of us bear crawled around the flag pole
  • “Floors of empty spaces” – 11th Street Garage – Here we did the following in all 4 corners of the garage: 15 reps of Merkins, Squats, LBCs, Mountain Climbers (2ct)
  • “It’s almost time for our show to end, so be sure to grab your seats” – The Amphitheater – Here we just did 50 inverted rows
  • “End our race with a world tour and a splash” – The AO – Here we did a kind of inverted Indian Run. While running in line around the fountain, the person in front would do burpees until the rest of the team caught up, then the next person would pick up where they left off and the first person would go to the end of the line. The first team to a total of 200 burpees won.

The race ended just before 8am with our team reaching 200 burpees while Soot’s team was only 3 burpees behind

MARY:
Abort led us in an ATM cash out
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Soot led the word talking about how he and I met his junior year of college when he went to visit a campus ministry that I work for called the Navigators. After meeting we got lunch a couple times and eventually started meeting on a weekly basis for discipleship. After graduating, Soot and I have maintained that relationship, although we no longer meet as often, and Soot has gone on to lead his own Bible study and invest in guys the same way I invested in him. Also, Soot was the guy who first got me to come out to F3. After a lot of tip toeing in the shallow end, I eventually became more involved with F3 here and have also brought a few other FNG’s in along the way.

We shared all this for a few reasons. One being the importance of relationships and community. Soot and I have maintained our relationship with one another even in busy seasons, when he was deployed in Kuwait, and now as he moves from CO to NC. The second being you never realize how far a simple invitation will go. I invited Soot to grab lunch, which led to a mentoring relationship, which led to Soot mentoring others as well. Soot invited me to a workout, which led to me being more involved here with Big Ball and the Quacken, which also led to me inviting others to workouts. These relationships we have and the invitations we extend to others are important, and we never know how far they’ll end up going.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill is coming up

Soot Summer Special Part III

THE SCENE: Almost thunderstormed, but didn’t.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Little baby arm circles, 8-count push-ups, mosey to Peyton Manning Pass.
THA-THANG:

Mosey’d around 11th street garage. Bear crawled across the pedestrian bridge. Route 66’d the light polls on the north side of The Hill with a single burpee at each. Mosey’d to Peyton Manning Pass.

11s up and down Peyton Manning Pass, endzone to endzone. Merkins at the bottom and squats at the top.

Added some Colorado Springs flavor with a sprint up the Manitou Incline to Pikes Peak (sprint up the stairs to the top of The Hill). Bear crawled across the pedestrian bridge again. Did Indian Runs down three flights of the 11th Street Parking Garage and back to the AO. Finished with Taking the Field.

MARY:
Rotated through the PAX for Four-Minutes-o-Mary. Several PAX contributed with various core exercises 15-20 reps each.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 PAX (1 FNG). Soot, Steam, Duggar, Precious, Reverb, Butterfly, Magic Mic, Postman, PDA, Doubtfire, Swanson, Passport, Drive Thru, Backdraft, Stool (FNG)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:1-2

Don’t conform to the fear and despair in the world around us. Be true HIMs in our families and communities by renewing our mind and being transformed. Be the hope and the light and the strength the world needs.

MOLESKIN:
It was great being back in town and getting to Q with you all again!

Learning From Others

THE SCENE: Perfect: lower 60’s, started off a bit foggy then ended up clear and sunny
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 20, Arm Circles x 15 forwards and backwards, Tempo Squats x 5 slowly, Tempo Merkins x 5 slowly
THA-THANG:
Numbered off into two teams, each of the following exercises was treated as a team competition

  • Round 1: Each team raced across the event lawn, but our mode of transportation was Monkey Jumpers (3 Monkey Humpers followed by a Broad Jump). First team fully across would have won, but we got kicked off the grass so we called it a tie.
  • Round 2: moseyed over to the other event lawn with the new patio. This time we did 11’s as teams, but with a few twists. Between each exercise was 11 steps of Bear Crawl Toe Taps going forward or Crawl Bear Toe Taps going backward. The exercises were Burpees and Single Leg Merkins. So the first set was 1 Burpee, 11 steps of Bear Crawls with toe taps each step, 10 Single Leg Merkins, then 11 steps of Crawl Bears with toe taps each step. Team One won this one.
  • Round 3: Still at the other event field, we paired off within our teams for Doras, first team for all pairs to finish wins. Exercises were 100 x Single Leg Burpees, 200 x Star Jumps, and 300 x Big Boy Sit Ups while one partner runs up the pathway and touches the far light post and runs back. We had to call it for time, but Team One was the closest to finishing and won on a technicality.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I mentioned at the start of the workout that I didn’t come up with this, and that it was actually a workout I hopped in on with one of the AO’s in Nashville a few weeks ago while visiting family. Building off of Swanson’s encouragement to seek out and be willing to receive accountability, I encouraged us to couple that with seeking to also learn from others, both here and from outside sources or people outside of our normal circles. Like I had mentioned, I learned this workout from another AO and would never have thought of it on my own, and I tend to pay attention to others’ Q’s and take note of what I like and incorporate them into my own workouts. Supposedly Einstein is quoted saying that when we stop learning is when we start dying, so let’s go out of our way to learn from one another and not become complacent with what we know

Reverse Suicides (Stage Hand Co-Q)

THE SCENE: Lower 60’s and foggy, ended up sunny and warm by the end
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Arm Circles, Michael Phelps, This and That, Stagehand’s new groin stretch, Quad stretches
THA-THANG:
Moseyed around to the front of the conference center by passing the amphitheater and crossing the bridge. At the conference center we had 4 cones set up about 10 yards a part with a total of about 50-60 yards from start point to last cone. We did five rounds of reverse suicides, meaning 1st set we ran to the furthest cone and did an exercise and ran back, then 2nd set we ran to the furthest cone and then the second furthest cone and then ran back. We did this until each cone was hit, each of which had different exercises

  • 1st Round: Cone 1 – Merkins x 10, Cone 2 – Big Boys x 10, Cone 3 – Plank Shoulder Taps x 10 (4 count), Cone 4 – Lunges x 10 (each leg, 20 total)
  • 2nd Round: Cone 1 – American Hammers x 10 (2 count), Cone 2 – Carolina Dry Docks x 10, Cone 3 – Squats x 10, Cone 4 – Burpees x 10
  • 3rd Round: Cone 1 – Overhead Claps x 10 (4 count), Cone 2 – Flutterkicks x 10 (4 count), Cone 3 – Cobra Merkins x 10, Cone 4 – Little Baby Crunches x 10
  • 4th Round: Cone 1 – Edward Scissor Legs x 10 (4 count), Cone 2 – Hand Release Merkins x 10, Cone 3 – Freddie Mercury x 10 (4 count), Cone 4 – Walkout Merkins x 10
  • 5th Round: Asked each of the guys what their favorite exercise was and assigned each to a cone, we came up with: Cone 1 – Oblique Crunches x 10 (each side, 20 total), Cone 2 – Merkins x 10, Cone 3 – Broad Jumps x 10, Cone 4 – Squats x 10

Finished this quicker than expected, so we moseyed over to the amphitheater to do 11’s for the remainder of the time. Body Builders at the bottom, Pull Ups/Inverted Rows at the top

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Talked about how recently I’ve been reading a bit about the importance of how we use our time, but have been hearing about opposite ends of the spectrum. On one hand we have so much grabbing our attention and demanding our time that we need to relearn how to not be preoccupied, or even how to be content with boredom. While on the other hand, our time is valuable, it was bought with the blood of Christ and our days are numbered, there’s nothing we can do to earn or win back more time. So I encouraged us to be thinking through where in our lives should we dial back our usage of time and be more present to whats in front of us, rather than needing to constantly be working or distracted, and also where in our lives should we rethink how to make more of the time we give to things, acknowledging that our time is valuable

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Morristown official launch is two weeks from today I believe

Team Hoyt Mentality

THE SCENE: 45*, clear, and perfect
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Did that
WARM-O-RAMA:

Squat and reach
4-count merkins
Windmills
SSH
8-count bodybuilders
THA-THANG:
Quick mosey over to the long, straight sidewalk adjacent to the convention center. Six cones are set up down the length of the sidewalk, spaced 15-20 yards apart.  Each cone has an exercise and rep count, simply run between cones knocking out the exercises.  After completing the last exercise, lunge walk to first cone (fifth from start) and sprint the remainder.  First man back instructed to pick an exercise and knock it out until everyone returns.

  • Cone 1 – 10 burpees
  • Cone 2 – 15 tuck jumps
  • Cone 3 – 20 CDD
  • Cone 4 – 25 merkins
  • Cone 5 – 30 squats
  • Cone 6 – 35 leg lifts

Rinse and repeat, only this time grab a battle buddy.  You both still do all the reps, but you’re not alone.  Quick 10 count and mosey over to the base of the Big Ball stairs. Routine as follows:

  • 10 sit up ups at the bottom
  • Crawl bear up the stairs to the first big landing
  • 10 supermans
  • Wall sit until everyone completes

Assemble in front of the Big Ball, grab a different battle buddy from before.  One man knocks out pull ups on the Big Ball while their buddy does 25 squats.  Flapjack until both have done one round of each exercise.  Reassemble in front on the stairs, repeating the previous routine with another battle buddy.  Again, both doing all the reps, just not alone:

  • 10 sit up ups at the bottom
  • Crawl bear up the stairs to the first big landing
  • 10 supermans
  • Wall sit until everyone completes

Back to the Big Ball, doing pull ups until your partner relieves you.  Squats were substituted for Army quality 4-count merkins before relieving your partner.

Quick ring of fire with merkins, going around doing 1 rep, then 2, etc up to 5 reps.  Recover and mosey back to SP

MARY:
45* situps on each side
Freddy Mercury
BOAT/CANOEEEE!!!
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
12 Strong: Butterfly, G6, Hoops (FNG), Half Caff, Postman, 8 Seconds, Dovetail, Steam, Jenner, Backdraft, Swanson, Abort (QiC)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Use the Hoyt mentality.  Rick Hoyt was born with cerebral palsy, and despite doctors telling his parents he would be nothing but a vegetable his whole life, his family didn’t give up on him.  They continued working with him with a computer he gained the ability to communicate and eventually went on to graduate college.  Team Hoyt began in 1977 when Rick Hoyt asked his father if they could run in a race together to benefit a lacrosse player at his school who had become paralyzed.  He wanted to prove that life went on no matter your disability.  Dick Hoyt was 36 years old and not a runner.  After their first race, Rick said, “Dad when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.” This team has completed 257 triathlons, 6 of which are Ironman, 7 Half Ironman, and 72 marathons with over 30 being the Boston marathon.

We were in multiple two man teams this morning, and in that case you are either the fast man or the slow man.  Dick Hoyt would have never began his journey without his slow man.  They have went on to inspire countless people (YHC included) because the push from the slow man.  NEVER DOUBT YOUR IMPACT regardless of how you perceive your abilities.  Also, if you happen to be the fast man, you better be sure you’re bringing someone along.  Dick Hoyt carried his son between events, towed him while swimming, pushed him on the bike and in the wheelchair.  Without his son, he was just another competitor.  With him, a legend.