F3 Knoxville

Tag: Curveball

Hope to CMU Later

THE SCENE:

72-ish; Wet but comfortable drizzle

WARM-O-RAMA:
De-motivators IC x 7 (started at 1 and went up… keeping the suspense); 5 burpees OYO; Mosey up to covered porch to limit the drizzle impact – stopped for Shoulder Taps x 13; Tie Fighters IC x 11 (left/right); 5 burpees OYO; 4ct Mountain Climbers OYO x 10; Mosey to the CMU pile – stopped for Plank Jacks x 11 along the way

THA-THANG:

Cozied up to our CMU for the day with some simple block merkins x 6; Mosey toward the covered area near the church bldg. – stopped for 25 CMU curls OYO (Cusak waiting for 6); went a bit further and stopped for 25 CMU kettle swings OYO (Cusak waiting for 6); Arrived at covered area already wet – unsure if by rain or by sweat

Setup for Greta 1-2-3 (similar to her cousin Dora); Picked battle buddies but kept COVID safe and didn’t share coupons; HIM1 started on 100 CMU alternating merkins while HIM2 ran to a location 40yds or so away and back (minus his CMU); Flapjack until combined total met target count; HIM1 moved to 200 CMU American hammers while HIM2 ran; Flapjack until combined total met; HIM1 moved to 300 CMU squat thrusters while HIM2 ran; Flapjack working toward total; groaning abounded but time ran out to finish (though many were close)

Headed back toward CMU pile; stopped for some CMU tricep extensions waiting on the 6; mosey a bit further and stopped for some CMU planks waiting for 6; mosey on to CMU pile with some @Waxjob led Cherry Pickers (shoulder exercise) waiting for 6; Mosey back to AO

MARY:
Shoulder Taps led by @Pom-Pom; Hello Dollies OYO AMRAP; Boat/Canoes IC (or something close)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
@GI Jane in attendance but not on F3 website yet

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Read James 1:22-25 – Emphasis on being doers of the Word not hearers only; In light of chaos and angst going on in our world – and close to home… used words from Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror” to encourage stepping up and looking deep into what we are about; The only hope we have is Jesus and his gracious movement in our lives.  Finished with Micah 6:8 and encouraged the PAX to “Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”

Praises: Successful surgeries and care for @Baby Boomer’s daughters; @Curveball and @Baby Boomer celebrating 26y and 22y anniversaries respectively

Prayer Requests: @Cheatsheet’s daughter Willow; Dubois Family – death in family (good friend of @Cheatsheet); Kenny (connected to @Curry) had blood clot, docs still working through managing

MOLESKIN:
Welcome to FNG @Compass (Hank H) – need to add to Slack and F3 website

Spring to Action

THE SCENE: Perfect 67 degree morning, clear and dry
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
High Knees, Mtn Climbers, Shoulder Tap Merkins, Moroccan Night club, Side straddle hops
THA-THANG:
Fun-dian run through courtyard. – A chaotic scramble of two lines running through the courtyard.  Each leader gave up the lead by introducing an obstacle.  (Jumping over benches, bear crawling, snaking through trees).  Then planking till the back of the line made it through his obstacle.

Took a nice mosey of tour of 6 stations

  • Tricep Dips in courtyard
  • Burpee in parking lot (one we seem to never use)
  • Merkins at the stop sign
  • Squat Thrusters by CMU pile
  • Pull Ups at the pull up bars
  • Leg raises on the loading doc

Got into team of 4.  Each team could earn points (Springs) at each station.  The more of an exercise cumulative points, the more springs the team brought back.  Teams would then do core exercises till “released” by the next team to arrive. (this only sort of worked)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Welcome 2 FNGs!    5K’s 2.0 Sunrise

Welcome Buttons – glad you made it out to clown around with us.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
You all inspire me. I push way harder out here than when I work out on my own.
There is a risk we only push on the physical things and we have to have the humility to express that we don’t see our own blind spots in other areas of our lives.
In prepping for this morning I discovered I was treating the spiritual discipline of reading as a chore. I’m not much of a reader. I was afraid of the length of Psalm 119. But just as you may dread 100 burpees, doing it is live giving, full of awesome verses like:

Give me a helping hand, for I have chosen to follow your commandments.  Psalms 119:173

Jesus faithful provided his promised helper.

John 16:8 Nevertheless, I tel you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

The Holy Spirit is that helper and will talk to you through His word (and other ways)
If you don’t know that Helper talk to me about it in person, online -anywhere.
Challenge to you is to Read Psalm 119; it is life giving.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for 2 Moms with major medical needs (Heart Surgery coming Friday and broken hip from a fall last week)  Prayer for our nation and the protection of those keeping peace

Slow Burn Tempo Workout

THE SCENE:

Clear Temperature Humidity Feels like Wind Speed Wind Direction
54 ℉ 82% 54 ℉ 5.5 mi/h NNE

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Baby Arm Circles – 10 forward and 10 backward.
  • 6 Tempo Cherry Pickers
  • Michael Phelps
  • 25 SSH

THA-THANG:
For entire workout, the exercises are tempo exercises in cadence.  Unless noted, each rep is done at a 6 count.  So, basically doubling the time to do the rep.  For example, typically one Merkin would be 1(start down), 2(low point), 3(finish).  Here, it is 1(start),2,3 (low point), 4(begin up), 5, 6(finish).  To increase focus, slow down the counting.  If you want, stop counting completely until complaints are heard.

  • 3 rounds of the following.  After each round, mosey (~30-40 seconds) a bit to recover and/or head to CMUs.
    • 8 Split Squats (Round 1 Right foot forward, Round 2 Left foot forward, Round 3 regular squat increase count to 10 or 12.)
    • 8 Merkin (Round 1 Diamond, Round 2 Regular, Round 3 wide)
    • 8 Handcuffs (Supermans but with hands behind back)
    • Round 1 – Side Plank with 5 leg raise each leg. Round 2 & 3 regular plank 30-60seconds
  • 3 rounds of each with CMU.  Again 30-40 second mosey out and back without CMU.
    • 8 Bicep Curls
    • 8 Triceps (either on six or standing)
    • 8 Shoulder Press
  • 1 round (or more as time allows) all with CMU.
    • 5 Declined Merkin
    • 5 Merkin Right hand on CMU
    • 5 Merkin Left hand on CMU
    • 5 Inclined Merkin

MARY:
25 Flutter kicks 4ct.
30-60 seconds on six heels off the ground

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 HIMs including 1 FNG: J-Bird
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
People are awesome!  God has made us in his likeness.  Even those who might exhibit flaws have something to give.  Look for the good in all you encounter.
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FYI, the track at the school is closed until July 1st.

Treebiscuit – Shamrock

✔ THE SCENE: It’s early

✔ F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Covid-19 as well as welcome

✔ WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH
  • Mtn Climbers
  • Tennessee Rockin Chairs
  • Windmills
  • Cherry Pickers

Tree Biscuit – Shamrock:

As a group, Run to an un-slapped tree, slap it, everyone call out the running burpee total,  do A single burpee, repeat.

Minutiae (aka Rules):

  • A tree only gets tagged once.
  •  Scaling/Modification:
    • We travel as a pack, if you find yourself falling behind, skip a tree and burpee and keep moseying to catch up.  It’s more fun and less confusing to have the group stay together, especially when we alternate taggers.
    • Scaling is NOT cheating, it’s just scaling, no judgment here. You made it here and that’s enough.
    • We’re going to be zig-zagging all over campus so the better we can stay together the more we’ll be able to keep an accurate count and not leave people behind.  Plus it feels bad to tag a tree without everyone there doing it together.
  • Taggers + Number cadence
    • The tagger is the person closest to the nearest tree. They slap the tree and call out what the burpee running total is about to be. Similar to our cadence exercise routines, the whole group calls out the number and does a burpee.
    • The tagger is typically in the front of the pack, however since we are traveling in a mob fashion that’s not always true.
    • Similar to an indian run, each person should take turns being in front and tagging a tree. This makes the workout much more fun.  If you have already tagged several trees then just slowly fade back and let someone else tag the next one.
  • What’s a Tree:
    • We don’t do burpees for any old shrub. They have to be worthy. Trees should be about 6 inches around and 10 feet tall.
  • No Poison Ivy:
    • In an attempt to not to get too dirty and get poison ivy, we’ll pass trees that are surrounded by shrubs and tall grass. Luckily we are in a very well manicured park where most of the trees have nicely mowed grass leading up to them.
  • Terrain
    • We are going off road for sure.  The ground is very un-even around many of the trees. Be careful when running not to twist and ankle.  And don’t hit your face on a rock or root when doing a burpee in the dirt.
  • Volume
    • The louder you call out the number, the more you inspire your fellow brothers!
  • Milestones
    • At 50, 100, 150, 200 make sure the group catches up and circles around the tree, wait a few seconds. Do the burpee.  Celebrating these milestones adds to the encouragement factor.

It’s not about the numbers but in the spirit of healthy competition here they are:

Previous Tree biscuits from other AO’s

And Todays total

  • Shamrock – 216 – May 27, 2020

MARY

We burped until the clock ran out.

Circle of Men

1 corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Announcements

Sign up for Q’s!.  Mandolin on Friday.  Link to Q Cal List

The Fighting Irish Get Steamy

THE SCENE: Look good – feel good – play good. The scene looked good, the weather felt good, and the HIM played good for 45 minutes.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning!
  • Couple of things before we begin:
    • (1) I’m not a professional
    • (2) You’re here on your own volition
    • (3) I don’t know any injuries you may have – so if you need to modify anything we do today, do it, but push yourself and the men around you! You desere it and so do they.
  • FNGs?
    • Brad
    • Cameron


WARM-O-RAMA:

 

  • SSHs: 15×4 IC
  • Rockette: 10×4 IC
  • Cherry-Picker: 5×4 IC
    • 1 burpee on your own
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4 IC
    • 2 burpee on your own
  • Baby Arm Circles: 10×4 forward
    • 3 burpee on your own

THA-THANG:

(More than 10 split up – keep in mind distance guidelines)

[ A Tale of 2 Parking Lots ]

(15 total PAX – split into 2 groups to start)

  • 2 Points of Contact
    • AO parking lot
    • Parking lot to the right by the track
  • 6 exercises total (3 in each lot)
  • 15 reps each exercise
  • Ping-Pong maneuvering
    • Execute 1st exercise in 1 of the 2 lots –> run to the other lot and execute the 1st exercise in that lot
    • Rinse & repeat until all 6 exercises are complete: 90 total reps
  • Once all 6 exercises are complete – gather back in the AO lot
    • PAX executed 10 8-count body builders/man-makers

(PAX mosey toward the front of the school)

[ The Big C ]

(split up into 3 groups of 5)

  • The Big C = the roundabout/dropoff at the front of Catholic High school
  • 4 points of contact in the big C
    • Top
      • Plank Jacks: 15 (1 count)
    • Middle
      • SSHs: 15 (1 count)
    • Bottom
      • Decline Merkins: 15 (1 count)
    • Opening
      • Merkins (1 count)
  • Rinse & Repeat 2x

(When done – PAX gather in front of the school and FNG Cameron is called on to lead the men around to the left to the next point)

[ 15s ]

  • Dips
  • Box Jumps/Step-Ups

(Post 15s – FNG Bradley is called to lead the men around to the left to the next area)

[ The Fighting Irish ]

(New exercise Q made up – it’s a WIP: Work in Progress)

  • Look at the mascot for the fighting irish – basically it
  • 4-count exercise
    • (1) Lunge with 1 leg and punch forward with the opposite hand
    • (2) Back to standing position
    • (3) Repeat #1 with opposite leg/arm
  • Mermaid takes about half of the PAX 1 way down the side of the parking lot – Steam takes the others in the opposite direction
  • Both teams execute 5 Fighting Irish and run back to the start

(PAX mosey around the school until they’re facing the AO parking lot)

[ Nickel – Dime – Quarter ]

(PAX separates into groups of 5 –> at 3 different points of contact about 25 yards away)

  • Nickel: Burpees (5)
  • Dime: Squats (10)
  • Quarter: Merkins (25)

(PAX mosey back into AO and circle up)

MARY:
[ Cash Out – modified for the last 60 seconds ]

  • 10×4 shoulder taps
    • 10 slow merkins
      • 10 quick merkins on your own

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

13 PAX + 2 FNGs = 15 total

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

“I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it” – Kylo Ren

MOLESKIN:

This was an incredibly tough BOM to deliver and type out. But I’m excited to share this with you men. It’s a little long, but I don’t know how else to share this part of my life any other way. I hope you enjoy and get as much out of it as I did.

That quote above under “COT/BOM” is from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. GREAT movie if you haven’t seen it. The character in question is Kylo Ren – “the bad guy” that turns good in the movie. Spoiler alerts, sorry.

Before you read any further, this will make way more sense if you watch this scene from the movie that my BOM was centered around: https://youtu.be/F0rvLs–9UY

I didn’t know I would get so much out of this small movie clip than I did, but I think this was immensely intentional for me to watch – God knew what he was up to. Let’s walk through the scene in the movie clip above – the message below is one that was so powerfully given to me by the Lord that it hit home in a way I didn’t know home could get hit.

-The Scene-

  • Kylo Ren turns around and looks into his father’s eyes (Han Solo)

“I miss you son” – Han

“Your son is dead” – Kylo Ren

“No, Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive.”

  • This was so powerful to me. The father’s compassion and heart for the son is calling what the son thought was dead back to life – sonship. Kylo Ren = the identity that Ben Solo has chased after and pursued hardcore for a long time. The father is trying to remind the son that he is more than this identity of Kylo Ren.

“You’re just a memory” – Kylo Ren

“Your memory. Come home.” – Han Solo

  • This is an invitation from the father (Han) – inviting the son (Kylo) to come back home. With tenderness he speaks this.

“It’s too late. She’s gone.” – Kylo Ren (referring to Leah)

“Your mother’s gone. But what she stood for, what she fought for, that’s not gone.” – Han

(^^^Still processing what this part means^^^)

“Ben” – Han

  • The father calls the son by his true name, Ben. This might have been the first time the son has heard his true name in a while.

“I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” – Ben Solo

  • With visible trembling and fear, Ben Solo utters these words, shaking, because he’s heard his true name from the father.
  • The father reaches out places his hand on the son’s shaking face tenderly, and seeing the doubt and questioning, and heartbreak in his son’s eyes he says:

“You do.” – Han

  • At this moment, Kylo Ren is no more. Ben Solo has been called by name by the father and is alive – reborn and returned to rightful sonship by the father.
  •  Ben Solo lifts up his light-saber – the very thing Kylo Ren’s identity was tied to, and the object that caused him to forget WHO he was and WHOSE he was – by the hand of the enemy.

“Dad…” – Ben Solo

  • This is the first time this character in Star Wars utters this word. Ben Solo, now whimpering and trembling and shaking – calls his father “dad” for the first time.
  • The father (Han Solo) sees his son’s agony and heartbreak, but also sees the light in his son. He smiles and says:

“I know.” – Han Solo

  • With great understanding and compassion for his son, Han says this reassuringly. The father’s love for the son shows clearly. This is what the father always wanted – his son to return to sonship and recognize who he really was and whose he really was.
  • At this moment – Ben Solo turns and hurls his light-saber off in the distance, watching it disappear in the clouds and storm. Ben Solo knows this is what he had to do – knew this is what the father was calling him to do, yet he doubted his strength to do it.
  • As Ben Solo turns back around – Han Solo is gone. Ben Solo is alive and has re-purposed identity and mission critical compassion and grace from the father.

-End of Scene-

The first time I watched this movie – didn’t think a thing about it. Just thought it was a great film (it is). The Lord has done a lot, A LOT in my life since the first time I watched this movie. I was faced with the extremely tough realization last week that I am Kylo Ren and I am also Ben Solo. And the father figure (Han Solo) in the movie has always been God. Let me explain.

Since 2013 I’ve fleshed out, worked on, put countless hours in, dedicated time and blood/sweat/tears into pursuing a potential career in the military. I’ve trained my ass off. I’ve suffered. I’ve worked hard towards this goal. This is what I felt like the father was calling me to do. I prayed about it. I consulted wise council for it. I went through the process multiple times over the past 7 years. It became an identity for me – and a good one! This is such a worthy pursuit, a good endeavor. I felt like this is where the Lord was leading me over a period of years. And the things that God has showed me along the way has been life-changing/game-changing. Things such as F3, things such as leading men, things such as leading small groups and adventures for college men and so much more. I worked so hard and chased after and pursued “Rachel” – that I almost lost sight of the implication that God’s will might be in Leah (Genesis 29:15-25).

God’s been doing some hardcore wrestling with me…let me re-phrase that. I’ve been doing some hardcore wrestling with God (more specifically in the past year) about how all this plays out and where I feel like He’s calling me to be. So I know I didn’t stumble on this seemingly insignificant Star Wars clip on accident. It was an intentional heavenly interference so I could better understand and hear the Lord’s voice instead of fighting it. I’m so tired of fighting. It’s been a long/drawn out wrestle and fight. 

So watching this scene from the movie – it hit me so hard, that I am Kylo and Ben. And I feel like God gave me the above notes from the scene to really speak to me in a compassionate and loving way. Like I said, I’ve been fighting for so long, because THIS is what I wanted, THIS is what I’ve worked so hard for and THIS is what I thought you wanted with my life God. And there came a point of realization when the father’s voice can no longer be fought with or wrestled with – to the point where I understood what I needed to do, but didn’t know if I had the strength to do it – to lay something I had worked so hard on down at the father’s feet and let it die. It feels like God is asking a lot of me, to lay this desire of my heart down for him. I’ve heard him calling me to lay this (pursuing a military career) down and I’ve dismissed it before.

But sometimes God calls us to let things die so He can allow other things to live. I’m still working through this – it’s hard. All of this, and you’re asking me to give up now? No. I hear him calling me to give it up and lay it down at his feet, not give up my sonship or identity in him. And with tears and pain and heartbreak I come to the Father and say “God I know what you’re asking me to do but don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” And God so lovingly and compassionately reminded me that “You do.”

So tomorrow morning I am expected to provide communications to a Sgt. that I’ve had the pleasure of working with throughout this process – and not with a heavy-heart, but with one of gratitude I will symbolically let go of my light-saber that I’ve slung so tightly to, as I know the Father has called me to do. 

Thank you for the encouragement you men provide to me and have provided me for the past 4 years. Iron truly sharpens iron.

-Steam

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.