F3 Knoxville

BARBIE AND BARNEY BACKLASH DAY

THE SCENE:

Rainy Temperature Humidity Feels like Wind Speed Wind Direction
38 ℉ 833% 38 ℉ 2.8 mi/h NNE

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER.
I am not a professional.

WARM-O-RAMA:

Nose Circles 5 each direction.
25 SSHs .
5 Cherry Pickers.
20 Rockettes.

THA-THANG:
Mosey towards the CMUs.  On the way, everyone line up along curb/sidewalk at one end. Karaoke two steps onto sidewalk two feet down.  All the way down sidewalk.  Then reverse and head back.  So, both directions.

Everyone grab a CMU.  Head to the first of 12 cones.  Each cone represents is a station.  Taking cue from 12 days of Christmas, the PAX works through the cones as through the 12 days.  So, day 1 first.  Then day 2 and then back to day one.  Then day 3, then 2, then 1, and so on all the way to day 12.  The number of reps indicated by the day.  Exercises are:

1 – Blockee
2 – Man Makers (Merkin then pull block another Merkin pull
block back = 1)
3 – Overhead Press
4 – Squats
5 – Flutter Kicks Four Count
6 – Bodyweight Merkins
7 – Lion Kings (Vertical CMU squat and press like Simba)
8 – Front Hold Lunges (Both legs = 1)
9 – Big Boy Situps
10 – Curls
11 – Mountain Climbers
12 – Monkey Humpers

Then Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
No time for Mary
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 Brothers.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
As many of you know, my wife recently had surgery.  An elective surgery to help with a condition called Interstitial Cystitis.  This is a bladder condition that is considerably annoying but not life threatening.  So, she’s struggled for 10 or more years dealing with this.  After getting the help recently, I wondered why we waited.  Ironically, today is BARBIE AND BARNEY BACKLASH DAY.  On December 16th, Barbie and Barney Backlash Day allows parents to take a vacation from all the repetitive sing-a-longs and storytelling.  The day permits parents to turn off the annoying cartoons and songs. Parents may insist on a different book to read at bedtime. Or put away the noisy toys.  I’ve never heard of this ‘day’ but it describes a bit about what my wife did.  Basically, giving up everything in support of her family.  Mostly our kids.

And as an exercise take these 9 major categories of life and sort them in an order of importance that represents what would be the most ideal for you:  kids, spouse, work, exercise, friendships, hobbies, house-upkeep, travel and experiences, and appearance.  So, 1 through 9 most ideally. 1 being what you’d ideally like to have as the most important thing to you.  Then take the same list and look at what it is realistically.  Compare them.

So, basically an offering of advice to be careful of how you devote your time.  Obviously, we have to work and take care of things around the house.  We also love our kids and want to spend time with them.  But don’t forget about yourself.  As quoted below:  ‘When you take time for yourself, you’re being a GREAT parent: you are teaching your children to grow up and find balance between caring for others and caring for themselves!’

Some professional thoughts:

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, PhD Psychology Specialist

Parents need their own downtime and personal lives. If you are spending all of your free time running your children to their commitments, you’re not taking good care of yourself. Your marriage needs time for you and your spouse to have adult conversation. If you are single, your romantic life needs you to have energy to spend in connecting with other people. Don’t feel guilty for taking time away from your children to focus on your love life. Parents who are happily in love will find it easier to be better parents. Taking care of children, takes an enormous amount of energy, and the energy generated by a fulfilling connection to a romantic partner can be an important resource for you as a parent. If you spend all of your time taking care of your child, you will soon find yourself depleted, and you, your child, and your partner will suffer.

 

Dr. Deborah R. Gilboa, MD Family Practitioner

There are three great reasons why parents need to take some time for their own interests and pleasure!

  1. Lower your stress—be a better parent!
    When adults take time for ourselves we relax. Blood pressure is lowered (unless “time for yourself” means smoking or eating a whole lot of junk food!), we smile more, sleep better and have a more positive outlook. All of these factors combine to help us be more positive in the rest of our lives – at work, at home, and with those we love.
  2. Strengthen your family.
    Many parents avoid their own hobbies or taking time for themselves because they believe that there is no time, or their family needs them too much. Help your family value you more by valuing yourself. Your children will learn to show you respect when you show yourself that same respect, by pursuing an interest, hobby or activity that brings you pleasure.
  3. Raise your kids to be adults who take care of themselves.
    Our children will repeat our patterns. So create a healthy pattern in your home, where adults value their own passions and make a little time for those interests.  Do you want your kids to grow up and value themselves and their abilities? They will learn from you, by example!

When you take time for yourself, you’re being a GREAT parent: you are teaching your children to grow up and find balance between caring for others and caring for themselves!

 

 

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Hardship

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

20 Side-Straddle-Hops.  5 Burpees.  10 Windmills.  4 Burpees.  10 Rockettes.  3 Burpees.  10 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward.  2 Burpees.  10 Little Baby Arm Circles Backwards.  1 Burpee.  Little of This and That.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Caribbean.  We will run around Caribbean stopping at cones to do the exercises listed.  We will then Bernie around and do the same exercises.  Next we will Butt Kick around with the exercises.  Next, we will High Knees around with the exercises.  Finally we will run around again with the exercises.  Here are the exercises:

  • 20 Merkins
  • 20 Jump Squats
  • 20 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • 20 Star Jumps
  • 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct).

Pickets Charge to Coliseum.

We will stop to do 20 American Hammers and 20 Flutter Kicks.  Next, we will do two loops around sidewalk that goes by admin bldg.  At Coliseum area we do 20 Bench Dips.  At steps of Admin Bldg we do 20 Calve Raises.

Gander from the Coliseum at Beautiful Water and Mountains in the distance.

Mosey to parking lot with CMUs.  Each man grabs a CMU.  We will do the following exercises:

  • 30 Overhead Presses
  • 30 Curls
  • 30 Rows

Next we will split into two teams.  There will be two CMUs set up at western end of parking lot.  Team members line up.  The first member of Team One and Team Two throw frisbees at their particular CMU on the other side of the parking lot.  Whoever has the frisbee farthest from their CMU must run with their team to end of parking lot and back, grabbing both frisbees.  Then the next team members do the same thing.  If Team One always wins they will always be watching while Team 2 is running and vice versa.  Hopefully, it will be a fairly even split.

Replace CMUs.  Sprint back to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Seeing the Opportunity in Hardship

James 1:2-4

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We read in Self-Help Books, learn from experts, and hear from the wise among us that hardships help us to grow.  And, if we look back on difficulties we have faced in our own lives when we were younger, we can see how life challenges have helped us to grow stronger.  If we can remember this principle, “that hardship helps us grow”, we may be able to face our current challenges in a more optimistic way and forego much of the anxiety and angst that can sometimes bewilder us.

So often in the midst of challenges, anxiety can get the best of us.  We face fear and may think things like:  Why is this happening to me?  I don’t have what it takes to do this.  I am not strong enough.  I wish this would just go away.

I have a patient who is a female in her senior year of high school.  She copes with social anxiety, a condition where she gets very anxious in public situations.  Yet, she got a job as a hostess at an Aubrey Restaurant.  She has liked the job and has found that she has been able to interact well with the customers who come in to eat at the restaurant.  I have been so proud of her.  Here is a young person who has social anxiety, yet is working in a very public setting where she is seeing new people constantly.

Although she likes the job, she is facing hardships there.  The job can be very stressful when the restaurant gets crowded and busy.  The waiters and waitresses, who are friendly to my client, can still get harried when too many customers are seated in their area.  Also, my patient must face the ire and wrath of customers who have been waiting for a table and get impatient.  Who is the frontline person that these impatient customers see?  The hostess.  So it is my patient who receives their angry comments and complaints.  That is difficult for a young teenager to take, especially when she has an anxiety disorder.

But think about what my patient is learning in the face of these challenges.  If she can handle these hardships now, think about how much better she will be prepared for challenges she will face in college and as an adult in a profession.  Life isn’t always going to be cozy.  If she can handle these early challenges then she will be better able to handle the disappointment of customers she serves at future jobs whatever jobs those might be. She will be able to tolerate negative comments of bosses or supervisors and handle the mistakes she will inevitably make as an employee or young professional in the future.  The hardship she is facing now, with the corresponding discomfort in the pit of her stomach, is actually building strength in her, making her a higher impact woman.  It certainly helped my patient to be able to see this – to think that what is leading to anxiety within her is also helping her to grow.

In the face of hardship, the lesson that the hardship is helping us to grow can be difficult to remember.  But, if we can remember that principal, it will help us to face the challenge better.  The next time you experience anxiety, think about that.  Maybe anxiety isn’t a totally bad thing.  Maybe it is a natural response to a challenge that we can learn from.  And maybe that anxiety in hardship that we are feeling now will be replaced by the growth we experience from it.  As our brother, Tank, would say:  Hardship Hill is a mighty fine thing!!

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for those coping with coronavirus; for those dealing with solitude or illness where they don’t have the opportunity to gather with friends like we do in F3; for our country do end racism; praise for Curveball’s wife doing well with her surgery; prayers for Ribbed and his wife as she has surgery this Monday to remove a tumor by her spine – we pray the surgery goes well and that the tumor is benign.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Birthday Triple Q on Saturday, December 26 where the three Q leaders will provide Hot Toddy drinks after the workout!

Giving in Thanks

THE SCENE: Beautiful and sunny day, temps in low 60s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Plank Jacks, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Windmills, Gobble Trot around the parking lot, 7 Baby Arm Circles forward and backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles forward and backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey on trail toward Mt. Everest but stop halfway for 20 American Hammers.

Continue mosey to base of Mt. Everest.  We will do 10 Tempo Merkins and 10 Tempo Squats.  We will then run to top of Everest.  At top we will do 30 Baby Crunches, 20 Hello Dollies and 10 Shoulder Taps.

Mosey to Shaded Parking Lot across street from Northern Ball Park Entrance Parking Lot.  We will do 20 Flutter Kicks.

Mosey to Caribbean Parking Lot.  We will run a U shape around parking lot stopping at every 3 islands to do exercises.  Those getting to end of U first will sweep men back.  Here are the exercises:

  • 20 Smurf Jacks
  • 10 Hand Release Merkins
  • 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)

Mosey go grassy area by first ballpark off of Northern Ball Fields entrance.  We will play a game of 10 second huddle football (no more than a ten second huddle between plays).  The game will be touch with one blitz allowed per four down and only mid field being a first down mark.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
29 men/boys with one FNG, 5-year-old Jack, son of Lunch Money.  Jack now has the F3 name of Turkey Gobbler!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I had the opportunity to look at some quotes from Presidents that each made on Thanksgiving Day.  I was struck by how many, in giving gratitude for the way our nation has prospered, also gave attention to the need to give to others, particularly the less fortunate.  I will quote from two of those presidents:

Calvin Coolidge 1925:

 “As we have grown and prospered in material things, so also should we progress in moral and spiritual things. We are a God-fearing people who should set ourselves against evil and strive for righteousness in living, and observing the Golden Rule we should from our abundance help and serve those less fortunately placed. We should bow in gratitude to God for His many favors.”

Ronald Reagan 1981:

“In this spirit, Thanksgiving has become a day when Americans extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. Long before there was a government welfare program, this spirit of voluntary giving was ingrained in the American character. Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive. This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks.”

To give to others is an American call and certainly a call for F3.  I am proud of F3 for the principal we attempt to follow of giving to the community and those in need.  I have been struck by the way are N’antans, currently Judge Judy and formerly Abscess and Cap’n Crunch have made that a mission of F3 Knoxville.  Let us keep the spirit of giving in our hearts as we give thanks for our blessings.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pinto, for Ribbed’s wife as she goes through surgery for removal of tumor by spine on Dec 14, for Curveball and his wife as they head to Florida on Saturday for surgery she will have there early next week, for the wonderful woman that F3 helped clean shelves in her garage last week, and for the lonely and isolated in our country on this Thanksgiving Day.

Jack’s 90th Celebration

THE SCENE:

Partly Cloudy Temperature Humidity Feels like Wind Speed Wind Direction
43 ℉ 77% 41 ℉ 4.0 mi/h S

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER.
I am not a professional.

WARM-O-RAMA:
25 SSHs hopping backwards forming a larger ring.
4 Cherry Pickers.
Count off into 1s and 2s. While 1s circle the ring, 2s do Bobby Hurleys. Then 2s circle while 1s BH.
While 1s circle 2s Grady Corn. Then reverse.

THA-THANG:
Mosey to large parking lot where a ring of cones is set up. With 4 cones distanced equally away about 30-40 yards from the ring. N, S, E, and West type thing.

About 10 seconds to run around ring. PAX starts running around ring at individuals own pace. Four ‘volunteers’ start and run to cones and do 20 reps of one of the exercises listed at the cone. Then run back to PAX and pick another to run out to a cone. You can run to any cone. Come back and pick someone else.  And so on. The running/circling PAX changed direction every so often and also Bernied both ways. PAX moved for about 10-12 minutes, no stopping.
Cone Exercises where:

  • Merkins
  • Squats or Monkey Humpers
  • LBCs or Box Cutters
  • Dips or Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey to a corner of parking lot.  Move to opposite corner stopping four times for exercise. Then at opposite corner perform exercise while waiting for the six. So four stops of # of first exercise. Then do second exercise at corner while waiting for six. After six arrives, everyone start second exercise in cadence to count listed. (So, rabbits do more.)

  • 20 Merkins and then 20 Flutter Kicks
  • 10 Jump Squats and then 15 Pickle Pointers
  • 10 Shoulder Taps and then 10 Fairy(Star) Jacks
  • 5 Burpees and then 15 Freddy Mercurys
  • 10 Plank Jacks and then 10 Squats

Then Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
No time for Mary
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 Brothers.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Yesterday was my father’s 90th birthday. His name is John Joesph Purcell but his family calls him Jack. No doubt a HIM.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Still a wee bit of time to turn in coats.

Dora Go Round

THE SCENE: Chilly mid 30’s

WARM-O-RAMA:
4ct SSH x 20 (IC); 4ct Tai Fighters x 10 (IC); Tempo Squat Jumps x 5 (IC)

THA-THANG:
Mosey toward practice field; stopped along the way for extra warm up; 10 merkins/10 SSHs/10 Rocky Balboas OYO; Rinse and Repeat for a couple rounds

Round 1: 8 cones form a circle roughly 25 yards across; Each cone has an exercise assigned to it; Pick battle buddies and a starting  cone; HIM 1 takes a lap as fast as possible while HIM 2 does AMRAP of the exercise at that cone; HIM 1 swaps and does the exercise while HIM 2 takes a lap; the two then move to the next cone and rinse and repeat until all 8 cones completed; (Exercises: Merkins, Lunges, Hello Dollies, SSH, Carolina Dry Docks, Squat Jumps, Flutter Kicks, and Burpees).

Round 2: Flip carboard with exercises at each cone for a new set of exercises; Complete the Dora-Go-Round in same fashion as Round 1; (Exercises: Pickle Pounders, Side Squats, V-Ups, Snow Angels, Plank Jacks, Twinkle Toes, Superman, and Monkey Humpers).

Round 3: Same exercises from Round 2; Complete the Dora-Go-Round in solo style; At each cone do 25 single count reps and then run a lap; Move through all 8 cones.

Mosey back to AO

MARY:
@Hurl had 39yo Birthday so we got in 39 Monkey Humpers (IC); Performed 6 De-motivators (start at 1 and work up); In honor of @Betty, we completed a few reps of Square Bears; Finished up with deep groin and hip flexor stretches, some Cherry Pickers, Downward Dogs, and Cobras.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Reflecting on the battle of Thermopylae and brave Spartans that stood in the gap to fend off the fierce Persian army.  Encouraged the PAX to consider their battles and importance of being prepared for the spiritual warfare going on around them.  Whether it is the battle for integrity when alone in front of a computer or the need for battle on our knees for our families and community, God’s Word and Prayer are our best weapons.  The battle is coming, so we must be ready to fight.

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron”… F3 is a great training ground to prepare for the frontline battles we will definitely face.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bring coats!