F3 Knoxville

Always be Sober-Minded

THE SCENE: A cool, crisp morning, temp in low 30s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

7 Cherry Pickers, 20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Tempo Squats, 7 lunges each leg.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Coupon Pile and carry the coupons to Sophomore Hill. We started in the lower left hand corner, doing one workout at each corner before duck walking the coupon up and down the hill while Rifle Carrying the coupon between the corners at the top and bottom. We did three laps around Sophomore Hill. The first lap had

  • Curls (20)
  • Shoulder Raises (15)
  • Front Shoulder Raises (10)
  • Burpees (5)

The second lap had

  • Squats (20)
  • Calf Raises (15)
  • Monkey Humpers (10)
  • Lunges (5 each leg)

The third lap had

  • Hello Dolly’s (20)
  • Heals to Heaven (15)
  • Big Boys (10)
  • Heavy Mercury’s (5, 4 count)

The only workout done without holding the coupon was the burpees and monkey humpers.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 present, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In the book the Hobbit, there is a scene in which Bilbo Baggins is having a conversation with Smaug the Dragon. At first, Bilbo is thinking clearly and he is confident in his conversation with Smaug. But the more that Smaug talks, he begins to lure Bilbo into believing certain lies about why he is there and about the troop that brought him there. Bilbo slowly starts to believe the dragon and he comes to a point where he almost reveals himself to the dragon, he almost gives into the dragon and his lies. But he comes to his senses and runs from the dragon.

In 2 Timothy, Paul is talking to Timothy and reminding him of the people they know that have fallen away from the faith. They have seen the truth, but then they are slowly deceived and believe lies that they devil tells them and they fall away from the faith. Then, in 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul tells Timothy to “Always be sober-minded.” Paul reminds Timothy of his ministry, of his focus. He reminds Timothy of the truth.

So many times, the devil tempts us and lies to us about what is important, lies about ourselves, lies about God. As we go about our days today, let’s focus on the truth that we are loved by God, we are saved through grace by faith and we are His. Let’s be sober minded in all that we do and not fall into the trap of the devil to believe the lies that he tries to tell us.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for our country, peace and integrity. Prayers for Boosters friend JJ in the ICU. Prayers for Guardrails wife’s uncle who is having some issues in the hospital.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP at the Asylum on Saturday, January 30 from 6:30 am to 9 am.

Press On Toward The Goal

THE SCENE: 31 degrees
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

cherry picker, rocking chair, ‘merkins
THA-THANG:
Mohammed Ali, when asked how many reps he could do of an exercise, he said he had no idea – he doesn’t really count. He just goes until he is exhausted and then does an additional set. We didn’t do that…but we did a mini version!

  • Mosey to small rock pile.
  • Shoulder as many as possible your own for 1 min (front raises, lateral, overhead clap) followed by 5 reps together each time.
  • Mosey to coupon pile (with drop 2x burpee / 2 lines)
  • Coupon pile exercises (Each is max out for 1 minute and then do 5x together)
      • (merkins, coupon press, overhead and/or skull crushers)
      • Rows, bicep
      • Squats, calf raises
  • Between each major muscle group: Mosey to hill and Bear crawl up hill w/1 burpee @ top
  • Mosey to flag with 2x burpee drop off lines again

MARY: no time…finished @ 6:15

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 present: Guardrail, Erector, 5K, Booster, Wheelchair, Butter Knife, Dart Gun, Footsie, Wanderer, Sty, Gump, Commission, Pool Boy, sos, Mailbox, Spotter, hound dog
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Janus, the Roman God for which January was named, had two faces: one looked forward to the new year and one looked backward to the past year. This morning I related that I am not big on resolutions because most people give up on them by “ditch day,” January 17th. Nevertheless, I do believe in the power of goals. After all, if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time!

Personal confession: even though I lost about 45 pounds over the last couple years, I put back 10 -15 this year off of a sweet tooth and lazy habits. I hit F3 3x week, but as they say, “you can’t outrun your fork.” How does the weight come back on like that? Slowly…1 pound at a time!

So we have to be diligent. And like physical weight, we might be carrying a few extra spiritual pounds into 2021 too. Ghandi said that the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. Bad habits come on slowly, day by day. We might have a secret sin or a burden we aren’t willing to unload. How do we overcome? Do what we can, give ourselves over completely, and hand more of our lives over to God each day.

They say that elephants are trained by securing their leg against something strong enough when they are young so that when they are old they remember that they cannot break free. Then, a mere rope and tiny tent peg in the ground is enough to keep them in place. We must break free of the thought that we can do ONLY 20 or 30 or 50 reps. By maxing out in a minute and then “adding 5,” we learned we are capable of more than we thought…or at least I did!

Thanks for letting me lead again…and hope you’re sore tomorrow…’cause I already can’t lift my arms 🙂

A Hidden Present

THE SCENE: 30° calm and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry Pickers, Miracan Night club,  Mountain climbers, Newton’s Cradle, X Man crunch
THA-THANG:

10 HIM’s (2 2.0’s) +3 early runners, 2 Rushers, 1 Rucker
Drew some Strava/GPS art today: See the map https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z5iz5mzafyMn2om16

 

My Gift to you: 4 corners plus 2: 10 of each Merkin, Wide Merkin, Guardrail hand walk, Ranger Merkins, More Merkins, then Calf raises, then Squats, Ranger Merkin, Sprints.  Bear crawl over a burm, Ski jump around a tree

Indian Run to big lot where we drew “F3” and worked on abs: Flutter kick, Freddy Mercury, BBS, LBC, Hello Dolly and x Man crunch.  Impressive job sticking together.

Run back to Calf raises, long way to the long lot: Shuttle run with bear crawls, crawl bears and crab walks (the stump) Bernie to light pole where we drew a Plank Star with Plank dips, Plank Jacks, Shoulder Taps, Plank ups, Newtons Cradle.  Then close out the tree.

MARY:
Dealers choice of: heels to heaven, Snow Angels, pickle pounders, BBS, Lunges, diamond merkins, SSH
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Today we drew a big picture (see above) but many of us didn’t know how it would turn out or even that we were drawing.  Just like in life we don’t always know what our picture looks like till we zoom out a little.  But we are all painting a picture with how we live our lives.  And people are watching. This time of year as you think about gifts under the tree we probably all know of the disappointment of just getting gifts and have learned the joy of giving them, but even in that we can make it about our selves.  Instead we should look to Christ’s example of living for others.

A Christmas Verse from Philippians 2:3‭-‬7 (NLT, color and emphasis added) is our challenge for today:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Be like Christ in your servant leadership of the home.  Think of others.

One more challenge:  This Christmas speak of Jesus Christ.  The picture we paint with how we live is important but sometimes we need to spell it out so people see the reason for how we live the way we live.  This season is about Him and we can find ways to speak of Him and bring Him Glory!

MOLESKIN:
Merry Christmas!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Visit Big Ball on Thursday Morning; No Q planned for Christmas Day

THE LONG HILL TO HIGH STANDARDS

THE SCENE: Low 40s but nice
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER👌
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry Pickers, Windmills, Crabettes, Tempo Merkins, Tempo Squats – All IC in reps of 7.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to guardrails:  5 Rounds of (10 Dips at the Rail, Bear Crawl across the road, Burpee, Mosey Back).  Every round increase Burpees by 1.

Mosey to bottom of long grassy hill at front of campus.  At the bottom we did an assortment of exercises.  Each Round involved 50 reps of the called exercise/s and then a run up the hill and back down to start. We did Merkins, Squats, Monkey Humpers, CDD, Lunges, SSHs, Diamond Merkins, Burpees, Mountain Climbers, Flutter Kicks, and a few more. Got some mileage out of the hill as well.  Strava indicates at least 2 miles total. Nice work.

MARY:
Pickle Pointers, Box Cutters, Flutter Kicks.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 Strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Q shared his gratitude for the men of JUCO and their unwavering commitment to high standards and moral excellence.
MOLESKIN:
Hound Dog was right on time as always.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
N/A

Cold and Difficult Things

THE SCENE: Clear, calm 21°
WARM-O-RAMA:
Kept it quick to get moving.  Maracan Night club, Side Straddle Hops Imperial Squat Walkers
THA-THANG:
8 HIMs +  5 Rushers + 1 surprise Rucker

1st Cold thing: the Guardrail (obligatory with the name and all) 30Dips, Plank with feet on Guardrail

  • Black snake the long way to the big parking lot
  • Hard thing 1: 20 Merkins/20 BBS then 15/10/5.  Just like we did on Monday.  Did you feel stronger?
  • Bernie to the new parking lot for Guantanamo Line (Feet up while one guy runs the line and tries to throw feet to the ground)
  • Hard thing 2: Little Drummer Boy Lead by Median (Side straddle hops, high knees & Burpee with each “rum pum pum pum”  22 if you are counting.
  • Hard thing 3: Mosey to CMU pile & partner up for 2 cycles of each team collectively performing
    • 20 Pull Ups
    • 40 Tri curl with CMU
    • 60 Overhead Press
    • 80 Squats
    • 100 Curls
  • Long way home via courtyard with a some bear crawls down some stairs b/c why not

MARY:
Dealers choice of Freddie Mercury, Box Cutters, Pickle Pounders, Imperial Walkers, Heels to Heaven, LBC
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Last week was Thanksgiving and maybe you went around the table and shared something you were thankful for but this morning I’m going to challenge you each to think of something hard in 2020 that you are thankful for. Maybe it was a hard workout or maybe it’s something bigger than that.

Thankfulness is not sticking our heads in the sand and pretending like 2020 has been great in every regard. Biblical thinking on suffering is not taking that approach of being thankful in all circumstances (1 Thes 5:18) by simply thinking of the eternal hope that we hold onto and ignoring the pain of loss.

It is not mutually exclusive to be thankful and affirm that COVID has caused a lot of pain this year. There is the loss of life and health. There is the loss of normalcy. There is the loss of hugs at a Thanksgiving gathering or travel to see loved ones. The economic loss is real too.

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.  Psalms 119:71 NLT

Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
C.S. Lewis

If we really graduate from God’s school of Thankfulness, we are thankful not just in the trial, but for the trail. And not just because the pain brings us closer to God, though that would be worth it, but because God knows what He is doing and the pain, the loss, the trial are part of His will because he loves us.

Consider Christ who suffered and was not at all outside the will of God. It is in these sufferings we can be closest to God.

Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
1 Peter 4:13‭, ‬19 NLT

“The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust – not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.”
– Brennan Manning

Powerful time of sharing challenges from the year that we are thankful for.

MOLESKIN:
Thank you guys for sharing your hearts.  It was great to look in your eyes this morning as you shared some really hard things that this year brought.  God has carried through us all a lot.  God has given us hope and to see how we have drawn closer to him.  It’s an honor to see God at work in each of you and speak truth into our hurts: God is bigger than that challenge, God wants you to draw near to him in the hurt.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Based upon the amount of steam rising off all your shoulders and heads you worked really hard this morning, but @spotter takes the prize for looking most like he was on fire.