F3 Knoxville

Tag: Convoy

The Stubborn Ounces Of My Weight

THE SCENE: REAL gloom in the Fake Gloom.  Misty, steamy, not too cold, not too warm.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Performed adequately.

WARM-O-RAMA:

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

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

  • 10 Temp Merkins (4-ct IC)

– 10 Tempo Squats (4-ct), in Cadence

– 10 Moroccan Nightclub (4-Ct) in cadence

– 10 Overhead claps (4-Ct) in cadence

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Caribbean

CANDY CANE ESCALATORS (addressed questions from Swimmies)

  • Run to first cone. Do exercise then run to second cone, do exercise, run back, etc.  Go to 8 Cones. Exercises are:
    • Cone 1: 5 Burpees
    • Cone 2: 10 Bobby Hurleys
    • Cone 3: 15 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Cone 4: 20 BBSs
    • Cone 5: 25 LBCs
    • Cone 6: 30 iron mikes (single count)
    • Cone 7: 35 Hello dollies (single count)
    • Cone 8 : 40 Imperial Walkers (single count).

MOSEY to bottom of Cardiac (addressed more questions from Swimmies), stopping at Intersection to do some maintenance exercises.  Where’s Switchgrass??

Steam goes back to check, he had a ruck so will meet us later… but where? The plot thickens…

  • CARDIAC WORKOUT PYRAMID (addressed more questions from Swimmies):
    • Do the following exercises at the bottom then Bernie up to first turn and back. Do 5x reps the first time, then 10x, then 15x.
      • Star Jumps
      • Mountain Climbers (2-ct)
      • Froggie Jumps
    • Run back up the entire hill, doing 15 merkins at each turn

Where’s Switchgrass??

  • Mosey to Parking Lot  THERE’S Switchgrass!!!!
    • PARTNER UP. Partner 1 does exercise, Partner 2 goes to far end of parking lot by method indicated, does 5 SSH, and returns the same way.  Partners switch. The exercises and traveling method are as follows ((addressed more questions from Swimmies):
      • CURLS / KARAOKE LEFT
      • AROUND THE WORLDS / KARAOKE RIGHT
      • What did we do here??? / SPRINT

MARY:
About 20 seconds of STS (Stretching with Steam) before time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 Studs!!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The holiday season can be awfully exciting… but there can be a weariness that sets in too.  Weariness of parties, shopping, commercials, food/clothing/toy drives, parades and then you can add to that non-holiday related stuff… election cycles, home repairs, what have you.  And there’s also a more general sense of weariness, that despite all of our efforts to do good, sometimes it seems like we’re not making a difference.

Take a deep breath, the long view, and the celebrate the small wins.  We don’t have to save the world.  Small wins sometimes add up to God’s miracles. St. Augustine lived in N. African town of Hyppa.  (Algeria) “Architect of the church”.  Wrote incredible works and classics that have defined Christian faith for generations in a time when the Roman empire was collapsing around him. At the end of his life he was watching barbarians storming his town, knew it would burn to the ground.  Went up to the battlements, and prayed.  One of his prayers, one of his last, was this one: “Lord, my one hope, hear me that weariness may not lesson my will to seek you.” He passed away never giving up to despair.

Ted Loder was a retired Methodist minister who was known for his artistic political activism and passion for social justice.  He was named at one time One of America’s Outstanding Creative Preachers

He wrote about an older woman in one of his congregations. She was nearly blind, bad arthritis, home bound.  Lived on a small teacher’s pension that she mostly gave away to causes she believed in.  She gave to Loder a poem.  “You say the little efforts that I make will do no good. They will never prevail to tip the hovering scale where justice hangs in the balance.  I never thought they would.  But I am prejudiced beyond debate in favor of my right to choose which side shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight.”  Even on days when it doesn’t seem to matter, where will you put the stubborn ounces of your weight?  Let us not be weary of doing good.

As Paul wrote in Galations 6:9-10 “And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith”.  Don’t give in to weariness this holiday season.  Learn to Rest, Not Quit.

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

The Seinfeld Q (A Q About Nothing)

THE SCENE: Perfect morning.  Cool, crisp, BSRIA!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: The Pax was a bit rowdy, but it got done.
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, froggy squats, Iron Mikes, Rockettes, line hopping, tempo Merkins, some Yoga/stretching, karaoke, Super Mario
THA-THANG:

  • Suicide Route 66 with squats and Merkins. (much complaining)
  • 2X4’s – 1/2 the Pax did 2 pull ups followed by 4 step back lunges until 10 total pull ups were done. The other 1/2 did core work and then the Pax switched out.
  • Jack Webb – 1:2 ratio up to 10 Merkins and 20 air presses.
  • Catch Me If You Can – featuring 5 Burpees, 10 BBS, 15 Merkins, 20 Flutter kicks (a reasonable amount of air hunger and complaining)
  • Over to Cardiac for Cardiac in 3 ways – Bernie to first corner, bear crawl to second corner, AYG to the top.  Rinse and repeat.
  • Pax stumbled back to the AO

MARY:
In and outs, Big Wheels forward and back, Boat/Canoe
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 Pax.  Q-bert (no tag in the system yet) in addition to those listed.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
After a tough week, the QIC tried for about 2 hours to come up with a word but to no avail.  Sometimes you put in the effort but don’t succeed, and that’s ok.  There’s a lot to learn in failures.
MOLESKIN:
I really enjoyed this Q! Solid mumble chatter. Also, thanks for the comments on Slack about the Q.  That brought some positive closure to the week for me.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • 0700 workouts for Thanksgiving and the Friday after.
  • December 3rd – Christmas parade. More info and sign up/HC sheet coming soon.  2.0’s welcome. Goal is to increase membership.

3 Seconds of Courage

F3 Q: 10.29.22 

AO: Asylum 

7am – 8am 

[ The Scene ] 

[ 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 belief 
    • 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 ] 

— X + take a lap — 

1 — SSH: 20×4

(Take a lap)

2 — Merkin: 10 (1ct)

(Take a lap) 

3 — Windmill: 10×4

(Take a lap) 

4 — Mountain Climber: 10×4 

(Take a lap) 

5 — Baby Arm Circle: 10×4 F 

(Take a lap)

[ The Thang ] 

(Mosey to the top of Cardiac)

(1) The Elevator of Strength 

  • Nickel, Dime, Quarter
  • 5, 10, 25
  • 3 Points of Contact
  • Top: 5 Man Makers (8 count)
    • Run to Point 2
  • Middle Curve: 10 Squats (1 count)
    • Do Point 2
    • Run back to Point 1
    • Do Point 1 + Point 2
    • Run back to Point 1
    • Do Point 1, 2, and 3
  • Bottom: 25 Flutter Kicks (4 count)
    • Run back to Point 1
    • Hold the plank

(Mosey to the Dock)

(2) There And Back Again

  • 2 points of contact 
  • Dock + entry pathway to the right 
  • 5 rounds – together 
  • Each round after the first one increases the # of reps by 10 (1ct)
  • 1: Merkins (10)
  • 2: Squats (20)
  • 3: Dry Docks (30)
  • 4: SSH (40)
  • 5: Calf-Raises (50)

(Mosey to the Island)

(3) Battle Buddy Core 4 Laps 

  • Get a BB
  • 4 core Xs we’ll do
    • LBCs
    • Flutter Kicks 
    • American Hammers 
    • Cockroaches 
  • 1 BB will stay here and just crank out reps of 1 X while the other BB takes a lap. 
  • Rinse and repeat until both of you have completed all 4 Xs here
  • Done? Plank it up. 

(Mosey to the playground or AO depending on time)

[ Mary ] 

  • SWS (Stretching With Steam): The Married Edition

[ COT ]

  • # off – 11
  • Name o Rama 
    • Choir Boy, Crawdad, High-Heels, Matlock, Mr. Jinxy, Crispr, Drum Major, Convoy, Lebowski, Q-Bert, Steam
  • FNGs – 0
  • BOM

“3 Seconds of Courage”

A funny story from my honeymoon about 3 seconds of courage, and no, it’s not what you think. 

After dinner one night, my wife and I were walking around the property and there was this band playing in this outdoor amphitheater area. So we sat down and got a drink and listened to them for a bit. They were playing some pretty popular music that people could dance to, and some of the staff was dancing with guests towards the stage, and then some of the guests started getting up to dance. And as Megan and I were watching this, something really strange happened – I got super nervous. I could tell my wife wanted to dance, and I did too, but for some reason I was really nervous to ask her to dance. My new wife! I kind of danced around it a little bit, asking her “Hey do you want to dance?” And her replying “Yeah kind of but I’m nervous!” And guys it was the funniest thing looking back. I’m sitting there with my wife, and she wants to be asked to dance and I want to ask her to dance and whisk her away with boldness to do so, and I’m sitting there thinking “What the hell man, just ask her to dance, she’s your wife and she wants to dance with you, what are you doing!?” 

And I almost missed out on an opportunity to dance with my wife. Almost. I shared this with her when we were cliff jumping this summer, and she was nervous to jump off a 10 foot cliff into the lake: “All it takes is 3 seconds of courage.” And after about 10 minutes she eventually jumped and it ended up being fine. The same thing applied to me last week, when I almost missed an opportunity to ask my wife to dance, I had to take my own advice – 3 seconds of courage is all it takes. Looking back tt really was kind of funny, both of us sitting there, just having been married, and nervous to get up and dance together. 

So sometimes a deep breath and 3 seconds of courage is all it takes: 

  • To be intentional 
  • To be bold 
  • To be thoughtful 
  • To make an impact

And the scariest part of that is not the end goal, but the initial workup mentally. And so I want to pose this to us as we head into the weekend and a new week, where can you implement 3 seconds of courage? Someone in your life needs this from you! Maybe it is your wife or your family or your friends or your coworkers or a conversation you’ve been meaning to have for a while. All it takes is 3 seconds of courage. 

Circuit of Pain

THE SCENE: Beautiful! Mid 70s, slight breeze, awesome fall colrs
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Star Fighters, Air Squared, Tempo Squats, Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey down Roadshow Run and take a tour of the circuit.  Five stations, decreasing reps, most of us got in three laps (full disclosure, I signed up to Q a few hours before the workout and flat out stole this from a recent backblast.  Can’t remember whose it was, but thank you!):

Station 1

Carolina Dry Docks

Bottle Openers (2 count)

Pickle Pounders

Round 1 = 20

Round 2 = 15

Round 3 = 10

Station 2

Merkins,

Off-set Merkins LEFT (left hand forward)

Off-set Merkins RIGHT

 

Round 1 = 15

Round 2 = 12

Round 3 = 9

Station 3

Big Boy Situps

Flutter Kicks (2 Count),

American Hammers (2 Count)

Round 1 = 15

Round 2 = 12

Round 3 = 9

 

Station 4

Side Straddle Hops

High Knees

Butt Kickers (Reps = Seconds for these last two)

 

Round 1 = 20

Round 2 = 16

Round 3 = 12

 

Station 5

Froggy Jumps

Bobby Hurleys

Iron Mikes (2 Count)

Round 1 = 15

Round 2 = 12

Round 3 = 9

Mosey back to top of Summit.  Do a TOTEM POLE, running to the Road Closed barricade to do 10x SSH, and return to continue the pole.  We only got about 1/3 of the way through.

Totem Pole

(knock the top one off after each cycle)

10        Burpees

9          Mountain Climbers (4-ct)

8          Diamond Merkins

7          Box Cutters

6          American Hammers (4-ct)

5          Imperial Squat Walkers (4-ct)

4          Hand Release Merkins

3          Bobby Hurleys

2          Squats

1          Star Gazers (10 seconds).        Pause.  Look around.  Embrace the Suck.  Encourage the closest PAX. Let’s GO!!

MARY:
Leg lifts (Homer/Marge)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 and 2.0 Cheetah Boy
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Talked about the recent school shooting and how the shooter was depressed, isolated, etc.  Severe Sad Clown syndrome… reach out to anyone who know who seems withdrawn, lonely, etc.  A little kindness can go a long way.
MOLESKIN:
Congrats to Cheetah Boy on his Cross country successes!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Food drive, clothing drive, Brolympics Nov 5!

Swimming Is Back

F3 Q: 10.1.22

Asylum AO: 7am – 8am 

[ The Scene ] 

  • Chilly
  • Precipitation: 5%

[ 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 belief 
    • 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? — No

[ Warm o Rama ] 

  • SSH: 10×4 IC 
    • Run to the Pav + execute 1 pull-up + come back 
  • Hand Release Army Merkin: 10×4
    • Run to the Pav + execute 2 pull-up + come back 
  • Mountain Climber: 10×4
    • Run to the Pav + execute 3 pull-up + come back 
  • Squat: 10×4
    • Run to the Pav + execute 4 pull-up + come back 
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4 
    • Run to the Pav + execute 4 pull-up + come back 

[ The Thang ] 

(Mosey to The Island)

1 — Ping Pong Pyramid (Up)

  • The ends of the island are going to be our points of contact 
  • Start here with 5 reps of the X on the #1 cone
  • Run to the other end of the island and execute 10 reps of the X on the cone with #2 on it 
  • Same thing for the #3 cone here, #4 cone down there, and finishing up with the #5 cone down here. 
  • When you’re done, flutter kicks down here.

2 — Ping Pong Pyramid (Down)

  • Same thing, but we’ll start with 25 reps here and work our way back down to 5 reps, ending here. 
  • Look at the bottom of the cones for the next 5 Xs 
  • Done? Flutter kicks. 

(Mosey around to the roundabout on the left side of the Coliseum) 

3 — Stop at the 3-way stop sign 

  • 25 merkins (down/up)
  • 25 Carolina Dry Docks (down/up)
  • 25 mountain climbers

4 — American Indian Dips Movement 

  • Men lined up around the roundabout, holding the dip position
  • The 6 man executed 5 dips and then ran to the front
  • Go all the way around the roundabout

5 — Bear Crawl Karaoke

  • On both sides of the curb, men side bear-crawled all the way back up and around 

6 — In the middle of the Coliseum

  • Core 4
    • 25 Squats (1ct)
      • Run straight up to the top
    • 25 LBCs (1ct)
      • Run straight down to the lookout
    • 25 Imperial Walkers (1ct)
      • Run straight up to the top 
    • 25 Plank Jacks (1ct)
      • Run back to the center 

(Mosey back to the flag)

[ Mary ] 

  • SWS – Stretching With Steam (On the curb)
    • Karaoke down/back
    • Rockettes halfway down -> mosey // rinse and repeat back
    • High knees halfway down -> mosey // rinse and repeat back
    • Toe touches halfway down – mosey // rinse and repeat back
    • Circle up and fight stretching

[ COT ]

  • # off — 13
  • Name o Rama 
    • Pele
    • Mr. Jinxy
    • Convoy
    • Swimmies
    • Snitch
    • High Heels
    • Lebowski
    • Rainbow
    • Lillydipper
    • Choir Boy
    • Matlock
    • Qbert
  • FNGs
  • BOM

“The Ministry of Presence”

I saw a video on Instagram this week, of someone in Hollywood talking about the ministry of presence. I thought this was strange, because for this certain actor, Shia Lebouf (the movie Holes, Transformers), this seemed kind of out of character for him, to talk about the ministry of presence. He went on to share that during a particular difficult time in his life, as he was recovering from addiction and brokenness, there was an event where family members and friends could come on-site to this rehab facility to celebrate the progress Shia had been making. No one showed up. No one from his family showed up, none of his friends showed up, his manager didn’t show up, no one. I mean this is Shia Lebouf, a famous Hollywood actor! And yet no one showed up. Think of how alone he must have felt, on a day that is reserved for family, friends, and loved ones to show up and show support and encouragement, to have absolutely no one show up. Talk about a let down.

Except.

Except one of his actor colleagues, who was working on a movie of her own. Shia went on to say that this colleague of his was crazy busy with production for her own movie, and out of all the people in the world that could have showed up, she would be the last one to expect because of how slammed her schedule was. But she showed up anyway. Not family, sort of a friend, but more of an acting colleague. As Shia began to break down into tears sharing this story, he mentioned that he had nothing to offer her as a colleague, because he was going through his own stuff with recovery. “Just her presence. The ministry of presence. Sometimes that’s all you need to offer a person. Just to be present.” As Shia shared this in the video (which I won’t share here because of some of the strong language in the video, but it can be found online), you see tears just rolling down his face. To have one person just show up for a small increment of time, and just sit with him, in the middle of his stuff, made the world of difference.

Sometimes all that someone needs is your presence. Not a motivational/inspirational catch phrase or quote, not money, not judgement, but simply, your presence. In an article I read entitled “The Ministry of Presence: Meaning and Importance,” the author shares some of the story of Job, and his three friends who sought him out after hearing about the troubles that had come upon him. Job 2:11-13 really paints a great picture of what this looks like:

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their own heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights , and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

I wonder if I am or would be the kind of friend that Bil, Shu, and Zo were. Surely these were their nicknames as well. 7 days and 7 nights with no talking?! These are some friends who know how to sit and offer their presence fully. Here’s what I do far too often when Megan or someone close to me is going through something really tough or challenging: I am quick to reframe it into a positive somehow, or to see the positive side, offer up an encouraging/inspirational word or phrase, or even better, rack my brain for 3-4 Bible verses that would directly apply to this situation. Are these bad things? No, not necessarily. But just like Shia explained in the video, and like we read in Job, sometimes the best thing you can offer someone is your presence. The ministry of presence can far surpass any words you might be able to share, or comforting wisdom you might be able to rattle off.

Wanna take this further? Good, me too. Look at Matthew 18:20.

“For when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Or in the Message version: “And when two or three of you are gathered together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

When you offer someone your presence, as a Christ follower you’re not sitting with them alone! God is right there with you, as you sit with them in their stuff. It’s not you alone who comforts them with the ministry of presence, but Christ that lives in you that does this. Through you offering your presence to them, freely, and without attachment or terms and conditions (sound familiar?), it is Christ inside of you that’s right there in that moment. That’s what God did and does for us, and that’s an opportunity we have for others as well. You all have done this so well for and with me over the years. Your presence is powerful. For that, I will forever be grateful.

A little TPQ for you going into a new week: How can you offer someone the ministry of presence this week? Loved one, friend, co-worker? Pray and ask where God might lead you to offer your presence, because He’s right there with you.