THE SCENE: Cloudy and cool, temps in low 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, Plank Stretches, Cherry Pickers, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot directly across the street from Northern Ball Fields parking lot. We will break into four groups, one in each corner of the parking lot. We will perform each exercise listed, first doing 20 of each exercise, then follow directions to go to next corner of the parking lot. We will rinse and repeat after going around the parking lot once. Here are the exercises for each corner:
- Corner 1: 20 Star Jumps. Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
- Corner 2: 20 Diamond Merkins. Bear Crawl to Corner 3.
- Corner 3: 20 Plank Jumps. Sprint to Corner 4.
- Corner 4: 20 Big Boy Sit-ups. Lunge to Corner 1.
Mosey to Alleyway that goes to northeast corner of the Admin Bldg.
We will break into teams of two and do Doras. One teammate does exercise while the other runs to end of parking lot, does ten merkins and runs back. Each team will do 100 of each of the following exercises with bricks that will be placed by a curb along the alleyway.
- Overhead presses
- Curls
- Rows (with bricks at sides)
- Tricepts
- Wings forward
- Wings up
- Wings down
- Wings in
Mosey to roadway in front of admin bldg. Cones will be set up for suicide runs. We will do suicides to each of five cones laid out ahead. Afterwards do Baby Crunches until all men finish. Do suicides again but this time do 15 Squats after returning to start from each cone. Get bricks that were set up for Doras.
Mosey back to AO to drop off bricks.
Mosey to Playground. We will do five sets of Bench Jumps with 20 second rests in between.
Mosey to AO.
MARY:
20 Hello Dollies, 20 American Hammers, 20 Pickle Pounders, ATM’s.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Fourteen men with one FNG, his hospital name is Roman Marshall and his F3 name is “Fozzie.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Psalm 46: 1. God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in time of need.
Our F3 workouts increase our physical strength and stamina. But in F3 we also focus on spiritual strength. In fact, it is the Fellowship and Faith parts of F3 that give credence to the importance of increasing our spiritual strength.
Looking into the subject of “spiritual strength” I found some good advice in an article from a website called PowerofPositivity.com. It listed seven exercises for spiritual strength. I am listing these below, making my own comments about them, and adding one more exercise at the end of the list.
1. Spend more time with loving/encouraging family and friends. I agree that being with family and friends is important but I also want to put emphasis on the word “encouraging.” We need to surround ourselves with those who encourage us. We get enough pessimism from watching the news and listening to people complain, gossip or argue. We need to get near the type of people who are going to push us forwards, not backwards. One of the things I love about F3 is being surrounded by men who encourage me to get better.
2. Go outside as much as possible. I like this one. What do we do in F3? We get outside to workout, whether rain or shine, no matter what the temperature is. There is something about being outdoors that makes us healthier. We connect to nature, to God’s creation. We are in His space, free yet a part of Him.
3. Reduce distractions (TV, Radio, Internet, Newspaper). I agree that we tend to spend too much time absorbed with media. In my church, on youth group trips such as church camps, we have required that students give us their cell phones for the time spent on the trip. They get them back on the bus ride back home. We ourselves only use our cell phones for emergency purposes on these trips. We have found the students (and us adults) are less distracted, more connected to one another and God, and happier when we implement this policy. We are more free to think about truly important things and to use our minds to imagine and create.
4. Observe your thoughts about the people around you. The website article talked about putting away judgemental thoughts and trying to have positive thoughts about others you know or encounter. Focusing on gossip and judgement does not serve others. I would rename this 4th exercise “praying for the people around you”. It is amazing what happens if you start praying about your coworkers, your neighbors, even strangers you happen to meet. You don’t have to tell them your praying. Just do it. You will find yourself having a better connection to those you pray for and even find your prayers coming true.
5. Step out in faith. This means getting bold in your faith, being willing to take on challenges and even threats from others in your faith. You may get sneered at or criticized but push on in the face of adversity. The website arrticle has some words that I think are powerful in regards to this exercise: “There may be forces that have an investment in keeping you from receiving your best life, but when you decide to stand up or speak out, knowing that your faith is bigger than your fear, the illusion of fear that’s trying to hold you down will diminish and eventually disappear.” The other words from the website I want to quote are “Know that the Divine has got your back.”
6. Be of service to others. Is a true HIM one that is focused on serving himself. No, a true HIM is focused on serving others. Do we grow spiritually strong by focusing on ourselves? No. We grow spiritually strong by serving others.
7. Make prayer/meditation a habit. Our awesome PAX leader, Cap’n Crunch, talks about making the HC, the Hard Commit to show up in the gloom for workouts in order to make ourselves better as men. In the same way, to be spiritually strong, to get truly closer to God, to the Higher Power, to the Divine, we need to make the Hard Commit to pray. It is through this commitment to communicate with God that we make it a habit. And it is though this habit, this connection to God each day and at least several times a day, that we grow in spiritual strength. And when you do it, don’t only listen to what you have to say to God. . . listen to what God has to say to you.
8. Be grateful. This is not an exercise that was listed in the website article but one that I have added. We need to recognize, to truly see, and be grateful for what God has given us. The people that I know who are spiritually strong have this strength of being grateful. That gratefulness can get people through some mighty tough times. Gratefulness keeps us positive, gives us hope, helps us focus on the road ahead, and leads us to glorify God.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Olympics next Saturday at Asylum. Register online or get to Asylum at 6:30 am to register. November 17 is launch for Cleveland, TN AO. Let Abscess know if you can go with us to the launch.