F3 Knoxville

Grateful

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Motivators starting with seven, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Rockettes, 10 Windmills, 5 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the South Ball Fields Parking Lot.  We will be running from one end of the parking lot to the other.  There will be four cones set up along the run.  At each cone, stop to do ten of the first exercise listed.  Keep going in order from each end of the parking lot.  Here are the exercises:

Running south to north:

  1. Squat Jumps
  2. Merkins
  3. Big Boy Sit-ups
  4. Hello Dollies (4 ct.)

Running north to south:

  1. Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  2. Plank Jacks
  3. Carolina Dry Docks
  4. Shoulder Taps (each shoulder)

Once done with all exercises, jog around the parking lot.

Next, starting from Cone 1 we will do a five parking lane bear crawl to 5 lane lunge all the way to Cone 4.

Next, we will mosey to soccer field.  We will do suicides on field going to first, second, and third cone and back.  Each time coming back men will do 20 Baby Crunches.  We will do a different type of run on each suicide.  They will be as follows:

  • Bernie Sanders.
  • Grapevine Left
  • Grapevine Right
  • Skip
  • High knees

Mosey to perimeter trail at the end of the parking lot.  We will head east and north on the trail doing Nickel Dime Quarters.  Here are the exercises for each stop.

  • Bobby Hurleys
  • Diamond Merkins
  • Bicycle Kicks
  • Iron Mikes (each leg = 1)
  • Dive Bombers
  • Box Cutters
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Squats

We will turn west at the Serpentine Sidewalk and continue to the Island Parking Lot.  At the parking lot we will have the Relay Race Around the Island.  Men divide up into teams with each team stationing men at an island.  The race starts with the first man running to second man, second to third, etc. until last man meets first man again (no touching, keep social distance).  The first man starts again.  The race isn’t over until the last man gets back to where he started.

Mosey to base of Mini Cardiac.  Do 20 Buzz Saws.  Next we will Bernie Sanders up Mini Cardiac to Park Sign, then sprint the rest of the way to the AO.

MARY:
Boat Canoe and ATMS
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

From John 15: 12-15.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 
During this coronavirus epidemic I had to lay out from F3 as did you.  When F3 started meeting again, it hurt me not to be able to join with you brothers.  I was concerned about working out with you because, as you know, my wife, Jan, was diagnosed with breast cancer at about the same time the coronavirus epidemic was beginning to spread in the United States.  We hear that we can carry the coronavirus without even knowing it. I didn’t want to catch the virus by getting close to others, then unknowingly spread it to my wife.
I realized during the months away from you guys how much strength I get from just meeting with you.  I did work out alone and with my son, Bennett (aka Puddle in F3).  So, I kept in ok shape.  What I missed was the strength of the fellowship, of the encouragement we get from one another as men, of the message shared at the end of each workout, of the commitment to lock shields through the struggle, of the way we push each other forward not only in workouts but as HIMs, of the way we pray for each other, reach out to each other, hold each other in our hearts.  Man, I missed you guys.
On Thursday, May 21, Jan and I had a serious talk with her oncologist.  Jan has an aggressive breast cancer.  The chemotherapy weakens her immune system.  She can’t fight off Covid-19 the way you and I might be able to.  She was understandably scared about having me go to F3 workouts.  She doesn’t want to die and the odds would be significantly higher of that happening to her than to most if she did get Covid-19.  But, God bless her, she also saw how much as was missing F3.  On the way to chemotherapy, she said that we should talk to the oncologist about the safety of my working out with you guys.  The oncologist told me that she felt pretty good about the low risks of outdoor workouts, particularly if a social distance is kept from others.  She gave me the green light to come to F3 and so did Jan.  Sweat release!!  I can’t tell you how that felt to me.  I couldn’t believe it. With the news about the coronavirus sticking around all year long, I was wondering if I would ever to get to see you again.  And now, if I keep a distance from you, forgive me, it isn’t that I don’t want to be near you.  Heck, I want to give each of you a big ol bear hug.
Anyway, what I am saying is thank you.  Thank you for praying for me and for Jan.  Thank you for the encouraging words you have sent me. Thank you for praying for Jan and me.  And, thank you for being a greater source of strength than I even realized.

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Tune That Name

THE SCENE: Spring
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Are we allowed to call it F3 again?
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Cherry Pickers, Rockets. I read somewhere that if you can do 40 Merkins, your chances of dying in the next 5 years are really low. So statistically, whoever didn’t skip reps is doing OK.

10 Burpees OYO in honor of Crawdad and Jumbo’s standard on-time arrival.

THA-THANG:
Moseytown USA.

Every 5th light pole we pyramided up to 5 burps, 10 merks, 15 squats, 20 LBCs. Then back down.

Up towards the Asylum, where various spectators had come with tickets to the gun show. We Bearcrawl 360d our way over to the center of the Colosseum, and it turns out all they really wanted was to see Mr Jinxy in action. Take a number, ladies.

We played Tune That Name, winner moseys while loser holds position. Gore, plank, arm circles, lunges for everyone, and we provided melodic entertainment for a couple at the cafe table. I think it’s safe to assume we saved their marriage.

Native American run down the dragon, and Q forgot how fast US State’s Attorneys run, so Choirboy got in some extra mileage after a late directional call from Q.

The Cloud is as closed as Amazon is to a Robertson Dickens thriller that mentions COVID, so we made use of the Pavilon for some Box Baby Box Rows, followed by a wall sit that severely tested our ability to endure Convoy’s deep concentration.

Over to the stairs in honor of Crablegs who is doing calf raises somewhere in the fine state of Florida today.

Then to the Meadow for some Jack Webb, just in case anybody had anything left.

PAX choice whether to sprint or Bernie up mini cardiac (finally paved! What the what?!?).

Q made the unwise decision to sprint and it almost cost him last night’s Dead End barbecue.
MARY:
Mary is a High Heels kind of a thing, and High Heels was fartsacking.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
This thing is dragging on and it’s time for me to recommit to loving my family well, not being a jerk, and being kind. But the way for me to do that is not to decide and just make it happen – that doesn’t really work, not for me anyway. I have to recognize my need for Christ (pretty easy to do if I take the time) and then out of gratitude for the life he’s given me, I more or less naturally find myself wanting to love people better.
MOLESKIN:
Great to have Beavis back in town! Praying for Choirgirl, Swimmies’ friend, and of course Mrs. Lilly.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Go download The Other Virus by Roberston Dickens! One of these days he’s going to sew up that legendary pectoral, and when he does, we’re all in for a really bad beatdown.

Attached

THE SCENE: Cloudy, about 50 degrees
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

25 Side-Straddle-Hops, 15 Second Squat, 10 Burpees, 30 Second Squat, 10 Imperial Walkers, 45 Second Squat, 10 Cherry Pickers, 60 Second Squat
THA-THANG:

Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeastern Corner of Administration Bldg.  Men will dive into teams of two.  We will do Doras.  While one partner runs to end of sidewalk, does 10 merkins, and runs back, the other partner will be working on exercises with a set of bricks.  The partners then switch positions.  Here are the exercises to do with the bricks:

  • 100 overhead presses
  • 100 curls
  • 100 triceps
  • 100 punches where both hands = 1
  • 100 rows with hands at each side
  • 100 wings up
  • 100 wings down
  • 100 winds out

Mosey to perimeter trail.  We will do 20 American Hammers at grassy area by the trail.

Mosey to foot of Mt. Everest.  We will do 20 Big Boy Sit-ups, 20 Hello Dollies, and 40 Baby Crunches in cadence.  Then we run up Mt. Everest.  At the top, men alternate between Squats and Baby Crunches until all men finish.

Mosey back to pile of bricks at the Northeastern Corner of Admin. Bldg.  We will do 20 Box Cutters.  Then, men grab bricks to take to my car at the AO.

Mosey to the parking lot with islands that is located south of the northern ball fields.  We will alternate between Bernie Sanders and Sprints between each cone of the parking lot.  There will be four cones places around the parking lot.  At each cone we will stop to do 15 Merkins.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to start of mini-cardiac.  We will Bernie to the Green Park Sign then sprint to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Fourteen men, no FNGs but we did have Gus visiting from Memphis to honor the birthday of four years of him being in F3 at the place where he got started.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

— Albert Schweitzer

Infants and toddlers form an attachment to loving parents.  Studies have been conducted showing that young toddlers will show confidence when near their parents but be wary and even cry when a stranger approaches if the toddler is alone.  With secure attachment, the feeling of comfort that the toddler has with a loving parent allows the toddler to feel safe enough to then move from the parent and explore the outside world.  Have you ever watched a young toddler explore?  The toddler will move away from the parent, viewing objects and people with curiosity – but the toddler will also look back to the parent to make sure they are there – and, finally, the toddler will hurry back to the parent, just to be acknowledged, to get the parent’s affection, to be touched.  After that, the toddler will move away again to explore the world.  This pattern will occur again and again over the course of minutes.  Studies have indicated that toddlers who have this type of attachment, which shows their need for the parent in order to continue to explore, are more likely to be confident adolescents and adults.

Certainly, as adults we have gained autonomy and independence.  But, I feel that adults also have that same need for some type of attachment – just at a different level.  We need some type of human base.  As Bruce Springsteen says in his song called “Human Touch”:

You might need somethin’ to hold on to
When all the answers, they don’t amount to much
Somebody that you could just to talk to
And a little of that Human Touch.

As men, most of us have found or are looking for some kind of mate.  The marriage of two people not only provides us with love but it gives us a sense of security – a stronghold.  As men it is also important to have a group of others to connect to.  The 2nd F of F3, fellowship, is a strong influence for us.  For me, I find that having the socialization with you brothers in F3 actually helps me to get out and explore my world.  And it gives me comfort to also know that I can come back a few days each week to reconnect.  Just as a toddler reconnects with the parent, adults need to reconnect with caring adults.  That connection not only gives us energy, it gives us courage.  In F3, we talk of locking shields together.  But because we lock shields in workouts and fellowship, each of us are better equipped to carry on with the challenges we must face in other settings.  As Albert Schweitzer indicates, the connection with our fellow men ignites the spark within us that keeps are own flame going.

The Faith aspect of F3 is also important here.  Because the Faith aspect connects us to an even higher power, a sustaining light, a light that will not fail us.  It gives us purpose, direction and strength.  And there is something about knowing that our brothers are also uniting in this connection that makes it the more powerful.  Indeed, “each of us have cause to think with great gratitude” of what has “lighted the flame within us.”

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the health of Choir Boy’s mother-in-law and Lillydipper’s wife with their thyroid surgery.  Prayers for Choir Boy’s mother who also has a problem thyroid or hypothyroid.  Prayer’s for Hooker’s daughter, Emerson Grace Gentry, who was born five weeks premature and is still in the hospital at this time.  Prayers for our nation and world at this time of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence and 3rd F at JUCO on March 28.