F3 Knoxville

Tag: Crispr

Press On

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Wide Arm Circles forward and 10 Wide Arm Circles backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the stop sign at the Northeastern Corner of the Admin. Bldg.  We will be moving to different cones on a counterclockwise route past the admin bldg and back to where we start.  The cones will tell us the exercise and how to move to the next cone.

  • Cone 1:  20 Hello Dollies (4 ct).  Sprint to Cone 2
  • Cone 2:  20 Big Boy Sit-Ups.  Bear Crawl to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  20 Jump Squats.  Run to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  40 Shin Lifts on steps.  Run to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct).  Run to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6:  20 Dive Bombers.  Run to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7:  20 Merkins.  Hop to Cone 8.
  • Cone 8:  20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)  Bernie Sanders to Cone 9.
  • Cone 9:  20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct).  Run back to Cone 1 to rinse and repeat.

Mosey to plaza at Outdoor Colosseum area to gander at East Tennessee.

Mosey to semi-circle area close to soccer fields and housing area.  We will do following along each small fence pole along the semi-circle:  Bear Crawl for 3 poles and do 3 hand-release merkins, lunge for 3 poles and do 3 squats, run for 10 poles.  Then start again until semi-circle is finished.  When semi-circle is finished, complete a full circle by going to street and going back to starting spot to Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to Playground. We will do elevens at benches, starting with 1 Bench Jump and 10 Bench Dips.

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups, 20 Decline Merkins and 20 seconds of regular Pull-ups at the Baseball Dugouts.

Mosey to CMU pile.  Each man grabs CMU.  We will do 20 Overhead Presses, 20 Curls, 20 Squats, and 20 Rows with the CMUs.  Replace CMUs.

Mosey to start of Mini Cardiac.  Bernie to Park Sign, Sprint to top crosswalk, then walk to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
J.K. Rowling’s book, Harry Potter, was rejected by 12 different publishers before being accepted by Bloomsbury Publishing.  Can you imagine being one of the reviewers who rejected Harry Potter?  Talk about regretting a decision!  John Grisham’s first novel, a Time to Kill, was rejected 30 times before it was published.  Still, it wasn’t widely read.  After he published hits like The Firm and The Pelican Brief people finally read Grisham’s first book, A Time to Kill, and people ended up loving it.  Stephen King’s first published novel, Carrie, was also rejected 30 times.  Nobel Prize winning author William Faulkner was famously rejected by many publishers.  He kept every rejection he ever got.  Now he is considered one of the greatest authors of all time

The message we can learn from so many authors is this:  Don’t Give Up.  Keep pursuing your vision.  Our brother, Crawdad, has already received praise for what he has recently written.  I hope he keeps on writing.  For those of you who have important goals ahead, whatever the task, don’t let falling short get you down.  Maybe that is what it takes to finally get to your goal.  Myself, at age 62:  I have never mastered the pull-up!!  I am pretty good at push-ups but, perhaps because my arms are so darn long, I can’t do a pull-up.  I recently bought a pull-up bar that I have wedged between two slats in my basement.  I figure that doggone bar may reject me 100, 200, maybe 1000 times but one of these days I am going to do a pull-up!!

When times get tough we sometimes can lose faith in ourselves and faith in God.  As a Christian, I love these words from Paul in the bible.  From Philippians 3: 13-14:

Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Don’t lose faith.  Press on toward your goal men!

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Choir Boy’s wife and Lillydipper’s wife, prayers to end racism and dissension in our country, prayers for Mermaid’s friend who hurt his back.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Workday at 8:45 am, August 8 at Mooreland Heights Elementary School.

Hold Thy Tongue

THE SCENE: Rained heavy immediately before the workout and ended up with dry but humid conditions, temp in low 80s.  The AO was at northern ball field parking lot due to rainy conditions before we started.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot with islands on south side of northern ball fields.  Do 20 Hello Dollies.

Next we will do Christmas Candy Canes in July.  We start on one end of parking lot and go around and 1/3 of the way back down.  Thus, the diagram of the travel is in the form of a candy cane.  We will do the following runs with stops at each island to do the following exercises, running back to the start of the candy cane once the full route is complete:

  • Sprint, stopping to do 3 Burpees at each island.
  • Bernie Sanders, stopping to do 10 Squats at each island.
  • Sprint, stopping to do 10 Merkins at each island
  • Grapevine left or right stopping to do 10 Big Boy Sit-Ups at each island.

Mosey to Pavilion at northern ball fields.  Do 25 Picnic Table Pull-ups, 25 Bench Dips and 25 Decline Merkins.

Mosey to CMU Pile.  Each man grabs CMU.  We will do the following exercises.  We will Sprint to end of parking lot and Bernie Sanders back after each exercise.

  • 20 Overhead Presses
  • 20 Curls
  • 20 Rows
  • 20 Squats with CMU at chest

Replace CMUs and mosey to center of parking lot.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct) and 40 Baby Crunches.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Proverbs 10:14

Wise men store up knowledge,
But with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand.

Proverbs 13:3

The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;
The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Some of us are extroverts and some of us are introverts.  Some of us are talkers and some of us prefer to say little.  I tend to be on the talkative side and sometimes get in trouble because of it.  I haven’t experienced the ruin talked about in the verses above but I have sounded mighty foolish at times.

In groups settings, it helps me to listen closely to the words of those who generally keep silent.  I find that, if they do speak up, what they have to say is usually doggone important.  Back in my college days, I belonged to a fraternity.  We would have fraternity meetings weekly.  All members had the opportunity to speak.  I don’t mean to tell you that those who spoke often did not have good things to say. But, members who seldom spoke often gave us wonderful pearls of wisdom when they did.  I particularly think of two fraternity brothers:  Mark Williams and Blair Jones.  They were some of the shier guys in the fraternity.  When they did speak at our meetings you could sometimes her a pause in the air – that was because our guys were truly contemplating what they said.  What they said was on point and meaningful, frequently giving us perspectives we had not considered.  Mark Williams is one of my best friends today. I still can count on him for advice and council.

Why do I bring this up?  Partially for my own benefit.  Being a guy who sometimes speak too much, I need to remember to store up knowledge and guard my mouth, as the aforementioned Proverbs allude to.  But I also say it for the benefit of those of you who are not extroverts, who are not likely to speak before large groups.  Don’t be afraid to share what you have to say when we gather together at the end of our workouts.  Don’t be afraid to Q a workout and give a message at the end of it.  You are the wise men who have been holding your tongues and storing up knowledge.  Give us the benefit of your words of wisdom.  We will grow because of it.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pacman and his daughter.  Prayers for wives of Lilydipper and Choir Boy.  Prayers for the City of Portland and the peace that is needed there.  Prayers for Title 9 who is now in Eugene, Oregon.

Wanna Bet?

THE SCENE:

The epitome of fake gloom muggy, humid nastiness.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3. Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. I am CRISPR, your Q for today. This is a free workout and you’re here on your own volition. I am NOT a professional. I do not know your injuries or capabilities, so feel free to modify as necessary. Safety is the #1 priority. Remember we are under social distancing rules, so keep your distance from others.

WARM-O-RAMA:

15x Side Straddle Hops, 10x Windmills, 10x Imperial Walkers, 7x Cherry Pickers, A little bit of this, little bit of that, 10x Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Mosey to The Bowl. Black Jack (Round 1):  Do 1 Hill Run, then 20 Gas Pumps, then 2 Hill Runs, then 19 Gas Pumps, and so on.

Mosey to steps of Admin Building. Deck of Death (4x):  When a “Flipper” gets to a station, they flip to the next card, and do the exercise (2-Ace, where J=11, Q=12, K=13, A=14).  If you’re not a “Flipper”, just do the card facing up when you arrive. If a deck has been finished, keep going until all are finished.

Mosey to field by AO. Black Jack (Round 2):  Alternate between Jump Squats and Plank Jacks.  Do 1 Squat, then 20 Plank Jacks, then 2 Squats, then 19 Plank Jacks, and so on.

Black Jack (Round 3):  Alternate between American Hammers and LBCs.  Do 1 American Hammer, then 20 LBCs, then 2 American Hammers, then LBCs, and so on.

Finish up with some Catalina Wine Mixers and a Wave of Merkins.  Do an “Obama” (4 count bear crawl with 4 merkins) back to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

25 HIMs including one FNG – Furby

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Something that’s been on my heart lately Is whether or not to keep my kids home this fall or to send them back to school. I know this has been on a lot of people’s mind and we’re all wondering if we’re making the “right” decision.  As I’ve been wrestling with this decision I’m trying really hard to remember the lesson I learned from a book called “Thinking in Bets” by former World Series of Poker Champion Annie Dukes.

Essentially, we all confuse DECISIONS with OUTCOMES. For example, many of us know a guy who always buys his wife flowers remembers every birthday and anniversary shows up for all their kids’ events and provides financially and emotionally for his family, but ultimately winds up in a divorce.  Does the outcome of a divorce mean that his behaviors bad decisions just because they resulted in a bad outcome?

In her book, Annie Dukes describes the difference between, decisions and outcomes in a poker example. Imagine going all in because you’re holding 4 Kings, but then on the River card the guy across from you backs his way into a Straight Flush and wins the pot.  Was going all in with 4 Kings a bad decision just because it ended with a bad outcome?

I’ve used the phrase “make good decisions”, but how do you do that? Annie Dukes suggests one way to make better decisions is simply to ask, “Wanna bet?”

Consider this…  Every F3 workout ends in a “Name-o-Rama” where we give our birth name, age, and F3 name. At the end of every workout I say my birth name is “David”. But, if I said, right now, “Wanna bet $100 my birth name is David?”  How does that change what you previously knew to be absolutely true?  I guarantee you’ve already started questioning yourself. Maybe my name is Andrew David Smelser, III and I just go by David as not to be confused with other family members?

By just asking that simple question “Wanna bet?”  You’ve gone from knowing something with 100% certainty to something less than 100%. And, now that you’re less than 100% certain your brain can accept new information, options, and possibilities to come in which allows you to make better decisions.

I encourage us all to ask ourselves, “Wanna bet?” and to know things with less than 100% certainty so we can make better decisions for ourselves and for those around us.

Q101 in the Scorching Fake Gloom

THE SCENE: Hot enough to melt your face off… think of that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the bad guy sees the ark’s contents. 97 degrees at LEAST with probably a 110 degree heat index. It sucked.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Introduced myself as Q and Lilydipper as Co-Q for a Q101 beatdown that will include some commentary during the workout to reinforce the F3 standards of what we do and why we do it.

Done, with explanations as to what the components are and why we do it, including:

– Call out TIME WARNING (2 mins, 1 min) and START ON TIME.

– Carry a WATCH and PHONE!

–  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:

  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!  Ha Ha Ha.
  5. Additional COVID-related disclaimers. 1. Limit of 50 PAX, 2. No sharing of equipment; gloves recommended, 3. If you’ve been sick, or around someone who’s sick, please stay home. 4. Maintain social distancing.


WARM-O-RAMA:
Performed exercises that would demonstrate various counts and focused on 1.) getting the heart rate up, 2.) stretching the legs, and 3.) stretching the arms.

– 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 get the heart rate going and provide some stretching of the arms and legs. Call out:

  1. The NAME of the exercise
  2. Whether it’s single count or in cadence
  3. “Ready position”… “Exercise!”
  4. Change cadence on the final rep.

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

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

– 10 Steve Earls (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 calf raises, SINGLE COUNT

– Little of this and that

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.

– 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 the parking lot below the Coliseum.

DORAS: These are a common type of exercise used in F3 where you pick a battle buddy and work towards a cumulative goal, like reps of an exercise.  RABBITS, Help out with the reps of others!

One partner runs a loop up the stairs and around while the other starts the exercises.  Each pair shall complete the total number:

  • 100 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 100 Big Boy Situps
  • 100 Lunges (2-count; only count the left leg)

** Turned the beatdown over to the great and powerful Lilydipper!!**

Mosey to the shaded parking lot across the street from the Northern Ball Fields Entryway parking lot.

We will do four corners with the following exercises:

Corner 1:  20 Star Jumps.  Then Bear Crawl to Corner 2.

Corner 2:  20 Big Boy Sit-Ups.  Then Bernie Sanders to Corner 3.

Corner 3:  20 Merkins.  Then Lunge to Corner 4.

Corner 4:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct).  Then Sprint to Corner 1.

Rinse and Repeat.

Next we will take a short mosey to beginning of the Dragon Tail.  We will do Route 66 up the Dragon Tail with the following exercises. (Note:  Those finishing the last light of the Dragon Tail will sweep men back to start the Dragon Tail again with the next exercise.)

  • Squat Jumps
  • Dive Bombers
  • Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)

(We only finished the first one due to time). Mosey to Shady Tree area by stoplight at northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey to AO.
MARY:
20 Hello Dollies

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:

One thing that many of us worry about in regarding to Q’ing a workout is giving the message, the BOM, 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 need not know the bible well or deliver a message that must pass 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 almost guarantee that some 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, thing about Moses, the great leader of the Israelites that led them 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.  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.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GrowSchool to immediately follow the workout.  CSAUP this week-end at the Dog Pound, 6:30 am Saturday. Asylum PM is trying to break the attendance record on Tuesday to send Title IX out in style!

Leaders Eat Last

THE SCENE: 92 and full of sunshine
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
15x Side Straddle Hops, 10x Imperial Walkers, 5x Cherry Pickers, A little bit of this, little bit of that, 10x Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Four Corners

CORNER ONE:  Round 1: 25X CMU Curls, Round 2: 25X CMU Bench Press, Round 3: 20x of Both

CORNER TWO:  Round 1: 20X Freddy Mercury’s (4-count), Round 2: 20X Rocky Balboas, Round 3: 10x of Both

CORNER THREE:  Round 1: 25X CMU Good Mornings, Round 2: 25X CMU Rows, Round 3: 20x of Both

CORNER FOUR:  Round 1: 20X Box Cutters, Round 2: 20X LBCs, Round 3: 10x of Both

With COVID rules, we can’t share CMUs.  So…you get to take it with you.

Mosey to the winding hill. At light pole #1, 10x incline Big Boys, at light pole #2, 10x decline Merkins, alternate to the top, rinse and repeat

Mosey towards the AO. 10x bear crawl, 10x lunges, rise and repeat, empty the tank sprint to the bat box.

MARY:

Freddy Mercury’s,H ello Dollies, American Hammers, Plank

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Obviously the world has a lot of things going on these days.  A lot of bad things.  A lot of the things people want to see changed.  But, a lot of people want to just snap their fingers and have it all fixed. They want to go to bed one night in a world full of problems, then wake up the next morning with all those problems solved.

This got me thinking about leading during troubled times and one of my favorite books, “Leaders Eat Last”, by Simon Sinek.  In his book he writes:

“Good leadership is like exercise.  We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons.  In fact, if we only compare the way our bodies look on a given day to how it looked on the previous day we would think our efforts had been wasted.  It’s only when we compare pictures of ourselves over a period of weeks or months that we can see a stark difference.  The impact of leadership is best judged over time.”

This resonates with me right now.  Because right now the world needs SUSTAINED leadership.  Not quick fix leadership.  Not a few leaders focusing on the next news cycle.  Not a few leaders saying, “Look what I did”   Right now we need millions of leaders.  Leaders who are more concerned with making an impact than they are with making headlines.  Leaders who are focused on making a difference and improving the lives of our fellow human beings.

Sometimes we all want to see a more immediate impact from our efforts.  But, sometimes that’s just not the timeline the world is on.  More often than not we’re part of the timeline where we’re pushing a giant boulder up a mountain.  It’s actually rare to be the one who pushes it over the top.  With it being unlikely that we will get any recognition for our efforts it becomes imperative to remember why we are pushing that boulder up that mountain.

And, to remember that when results come slowly that we cannot give up.  That our efforts have not been wasted.  And, that our leadership is best judged over time.  We have to remember why we are serving as leaders.  We have to remember it’s all to make the world a better place for our fellow human beings.

“Leadership is not a license to do less.  It’s a responsibility to do more.  Leadership takes work.  It takes time and energy.  The effects are not always easily measured and they are not always immediate.  But, leadership is always a commitment to human beings.”  ~ Simon Sinek

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GROW School / Q101 at AsylumPM Thursday.  CSAUP on Saturday.  Title9’s last post before leaving to Oregon will be July 21st.  We plan to set an AsylumPM attendance record for him.