F3 Knoxville

Lighting the Arsenal’s Cannons

THE SCENE: Low/Mid 30’s with some sunshine
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
This is F3, Stands for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith
It is a FREE workout
I am not a professional
You are here on your own volition
I have no knowledge of any injuries or your fitness considerations
It is your individual responsibility to be safe and to modify exercises if you need to, we all do it
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH – 15 (IC)
  • LBAC – F/B – 10 (IC)
  • Air Squat – 10 (IC)
  • Merkin – 10 (IC)
  • BBS – 10 (IC)

Active Warm-O-Rama – Ring of Fire:

  • While Pax are still in circle have everyone alternating between plank and Al-Gore. 1 Pax will run to the center of the circle and burnie back. Once they return to the plank position the next Pax member goes. Rinse and repeat until all Pax have run to the center and back.

** Have Pax number off by 1s and 2s. 1s will go with Drifter to the Baseball Field and 2s will go with Moses to the Football Field.

THA-THANG:

Baseball Field: Bleacher Work
5 Minute AMRAP:

  • Step-ups – 10 each leg
  • Incline Merkins – 10 (4ct)
  • Dips – 10 (4ct)
  • Step-ups – 10 each leg
  • Decline Merkins – 10 (4ct)
  • Dips – 10 (4ct)

Mosey to Outfield:

  • Suicides – 30 seconds
  • LBC – 20 (4ct)
  • Suicides – 30 Seconds
  • BBS – 10 (4ct)

Rinse & repeat until other group is done

Football Field Work

Place cones at 10, 20, 30, and 40 yards. Pax will run to first cone, complete the exercise and run back. Then run to the 2nd cone complete the exercise, run back. 3rd cone exercise, run back. 4th cone exercise, run back. Rinse and repeat.
5 Minute AMRAP

Circuit 1: Legs

  • 1st cone 10 lunges in place
  • 2nd cone 5 burpees
  • 3rd cone 10 squats
  • 4th cone 5 burpees

Circuit 2: Abs

  • 1st cone 10 BBS
  • 2nd cone 10 American Hammers (count only one side)
  • 3rd cone 10 Hello Dolly (single count)
  • 4th cone 30 LBC

Suicides on cones 1-4 until 15 minutes is up.

Q2 and Q1 Groups flap jack and repeat circuits.

Merge Groups and mosey to Shovel Flag and present the flag

The shovel flag is one of the classic symbols of F3. No matter where you are within F3 Nation, the Shovel Flag is the one true physical link that connects us all. Just like we leave no man where we find them, the Shovel Flag is portable so that it can be carried forward and shared with others.

This shovel flag represents Respect: respect for country, respect for those who hae served and currently serve to protect our freedoms, and respect for the other AO’s across F3 Nation where similar flags are planted ever week

It represents Hard Work: it bears witness to the blood, sweat, and tears of the men of F3 who gather together at some obscene early hour to get better physically while finding new mental limits. Men getting stronger, fit, and conditioned to handle life’s challenges – most of which are not physical at all – Hard Work

This flag also represents the lives of men being changed. Men are moving from being passive participants in life, to being present. Present in our families, present in our places of work and worship, and present in our communities.

Mosey to SP (Smuggler leading the way carrying the flag)

MARY:

We returned with a little extra time to spare so we decided to push through a few more variations of Merkins!

  • Regular Merkin 10(IC)
  • Wide Merkin 10(IC)
  • Dimond Merkin 5(IC)
  • 6” Crunch 10(IC)
  • Gas Pumps 15(OYO)
  • Ankle Touches 20(IC)
  • LBC for time!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
48 Pax! Included (2) 2.0s and (1) FNG – Welcome ‘That Guy’
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

F3 has always been and will always be more than a workout.  We definitely want to push ourselves and each other physically, but we also want to grow relationally and spiritually.  The PAX is unique in many ways, But the one that is most important to remember is that we are not out here to compete against each other, but collaborate together to grow as husbands, fathers, sons, employees, employers, friends, and neighbors.  We are bound together under a high power for a greater purpose. And I pray that this group of men will continue to lead they way in setting the example for others.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

TRIP TO COLOMBIA

THE SCENE: 40s and damp
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER👌
WARM-O-RAMA:

OHC, LBAC(f), LBAC(b), Cherry Pickers, Windmills, Temp Merkins, Mountain Climbers, Tempo Squats, SSH
THA-THANG:
Mosey to small Hill on the East side of the Park:

  • COLOMBIAN NECK-TIE: PAX do varying distance runs and back with increasing colombian neck-ties upon each return to start. Each did about 13 rounds on avg.
  • Mosey to Playground for Aiken Legs: 20 Box Jumps, 20 Lunges, 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Squats
  • Mosey to CMU Parking Lot.  4 Corners: sets of 10,15,20,25 of the following exercises with CMU:
    • Merkin Overs
    • Curls
  • Line up on curb and Battle Buddy Up for DORA: 50 Burpees, 100 Flutters (4ct)

MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
26 Strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Proverbs 1: The beginning of wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord.  Do you fear the Lord, or man?
MOLESKIN:
N/A
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Arsenal Launch.

Back On Top

[ The Scene ]

HOT – 60s and feeling good, PAX met up top (top of Asylum) because apparently people like to frequent public parks when the weather is nice outside.

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3! Fitness-Fellowship-Faith
  • Name is Steam and I’ll be your Q tonight
  • Few things before we begin:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • If you need to modify anything feel free to do so but push yourself and the men around you – they deserve it and so do you!
  • FNGs? — 1 (with Snag – well done!)

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • SSH: 25×4 IC
  • Rockette: 10×4 IC
  • Cherry Picker: 10×4 IC
  • Baby Arm Circles: 20×4 (10 F and 10 B)
  • Apollo Onos: 10×4 IC

[ The Thang ]

(Mosey over to the right of the asylum building)

(1) The Hill and Back — 10s

  • The Tree on top of the hill (Imperial Walkers)
  • Curb on the other side of the street (Rocky Balboas)
  • Everything on a 4 count
  • 9 and 1
  • 8 and 2

Recover with flutter kicks in the grass

(Mosey to log pile – lower parking lot)

(2) Core 4 + Push

  • 4 corners of the lower parking lot (10 – 1 ct)
    • C1: LBCs
    • C2: BBS
    • C3: Cockroaches
    • C4: Boat/Canoes
  • Run to the top of the drive (Street)
  • 10 merkins
  • Rinse & Repeat — once

__________________________

*Q Teaching Moment*

Pick up the 6 and Wagon Wheel mean Pick up the 6 and wagon wheel. Gridiron, who’s 12, led the charge on this. So I called all PAX back up to the street where the merkins were being done and specifically called out Gridiron for doing this — leading from the front. i put Gridiron in a place of leadership – instructing him to lead all PAX in 30 down/up merkins, which he did exceptionally.

QTip: You’re never too young/old/seasoned to never leave a man behind, and never leave a man the same.

We could all learn a lot from Gridiron and the way he consistently picks up the 6, wagon wheels, and lives out “No Man Left Behind, No Man Left The Same.”

This goes into my BOM a little bit too – but on the mosey to Everest pre-Mary, I had told Gridiron I was proud of him for leading from the front and setting the example and standard. His response was the following:

”Well I have 2 of the best role models that teach me that, my dad and mom. Basically Mr F3 and Mrs FIA”

Doubtfire (and your M) — well done. That’s HIM stuff right there.

___________________________________________

(PAX mosey to the base of Everest and form battle buddy teams)

PAX take Everest by force, going all the way to the top and over the highest point back to the AO

[ Mary ]

Core 4

  • Flutter Kicks: 25×4
  • American Hammers: 25×4
  • Little LBCs: 25×4
  • Penguins: 25×4

[ COT ]

  • # off — 23
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs — 1
  • BOM

From the movie “Courageous”

“As a law enforcement officer, I’ve seen firsthand the deep hurt and devastation that fatherless brings in a child’s life. Our prisons are full of men and women who have lived recklessly after being abandoned by their fathers, wounded by the men who should have loved them the most. Many of these children now follow the same pattern of irresponsibility that their fathers did. While so many mothers have sacrificed much so that their children could survive, they were never intended to carry the weight alone. We thank God for them.

But research is proving that a child also desperately needs a daddy. There’s no way around this fact. I now believe that God desires for every father to courageously step up and do whatever it takes to be involved in the lives of his children. But more than just being there and providing for them, he’s to walk with them through their lives and be a visual representation of the character of God, their father in Heaven. A father should love his children and seek to win their hearts. He should protect them, discipline them, and teach the, about God. He should model how to walk with integrity and how to treat others with respect. He should call out his children to become responsible men and women, who live their lives for what matters in eternity.

Some men will hear this and mock it, or ignore it. But I tell you that as a father you are accountable to God for the position of influence He has given you. You can’t fall asleep at the wheel only to wake up one day and realize that your job or your hobbies have no eternal value. But the should of your children do.

Some men will hear this and agree with it, but have no resolve to live it out. Instead they will live for themselves and waste an opportunity to lease a Godly legacy for the next generation.

But there are some men, who, regardless of the mistakes we’ve made in the past, regardless of what our fathers did not do for us, will give the strength of our arms and the rest of our days to loving God with all that we are, and to teach our children to do the same, and whenever possible, to love and mentor others who have no fathers in their lives, but who desperately need help and direction.

We are inviting any man who’s heart is willing and courageous to join us in this revolution. In my home the decision has already been made: you don’t have to ask who will guide my family, because by God’s grace, I will. You don’t have to ask who will teach my son to follow Christ, because I will. Who will accept the responsibility for providing and protecting my family? I will. Who will ask God to break the chain of dysfunctional patterns in my family’s history? I will. Who will pray for, and bless my children to boldly pursue whatever God calls them to do? I am their farther. I will. I accept this responsibility and it is my privilege to embrace it. I want the favor of God and His blessing on my home. Any good man does.

So where are you men’s of courage? Where are you fathers who fear the Lord? It’s time to rise up and answer the call that God has given you. And to say I will, I will, I will.”

Grainger County Christmas Story

THE SCENE: Clear skies, temps in high 20’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Run around the parking lot to get warm; 20 Side-Straddle Hops; 10 Burpees; 10 Cherry Pickers; 10 Rockettes; 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to start of the Dragon Tail.  We will run up dragon tail stopping at every other light to do 10 of the following exercises (one exercise for each run up).  After reaching the top, run on trail to road, back down to lower parking lot, and back to the start of the Dragon Tail to do the next exercise.  Here are the exercises:

  • Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Jump Squats
  • Merkins

Mosey to stop sign that is on the northeastern corner of the admin bldg.  We will be moving in a route with signs giving the directions for exercises along the way and where we go next.  The signs will be numbered and by cones.

  • Cone 1:  Do 10 Burpees.  Then bear crawl on sidewalk heading south to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  Do 15 Dive Bombers.  Then lunge on sidewalk south to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  Do 10 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1).  Then run to Cone 4 at porch of Admin Bldg.
  • Cone 4:  Do 20 Calf Raises on stairs and 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct.) on porch. Then run south on trail and back north on trail to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  Run down steps to parking lot below Coliseum.  Then run south up parking lot, around to southern end of Coliseum and north to Cone 6 which is by marble bench area of Coliseum.
  • Cone 6:  Do 20 Bench Dips.  Then run to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7:  Do 40 Baby Crunches.  Then run to Cone 8 which is on street near to the admin stop sign where we started.
  • Cone 8:  Do 20 Carolina Dry Docks.
  • Rinse and Repeat.

As a group we will take a 30 second gander at Beautiful Eastern TN below us.  Then we will mosey to parking lot with CMUs.

Each man grabs a CMU and teams up with a brother.  We will do Doras. While one man runs to pavilion and does 10 Picnic Table Pull-ups, the other does the exercises with the CMU.  Then partners switch. Each team will do the following exercises:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Squats

Put CMUs back and mosey to start of mini-cardiac.  Bernie up mini-cardiac to park sign, then sprint the rest of the way to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
28 men with one FNG:  John Case.  He is now named Lamont.  He is the father of member Mickey.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In my work as a therapist I heard a mighty fine Christmas story from one of my patients and decided to share it to you here in February.  My patient lives in a mountainous area in Grainger County, Tennessee.  Some of you may have heard of Grainger County tomatoes.  Most are grown in the valley of the county but some areas of the county can be pretty rugged.  Here’s a little demographic news for you in regards to Grainger County.  It is 94% white, 3.3% Hispanic, and probably less than 1% Black.  If you are a black man, you may not want to get stuck alone in Grainger County.  The patient I am talking about is a middle-aged white woman and she would tell you that.

She also told me about an African-American truck driver who was driving on a winding highway through the area she lived in on Christmas Eve.  As you may recall, Christmas Eve is the day we got that snow that gave us all a White Christmas.  The highway the man was driving on was curvy and slick.  Unfortunately, his 18 wheeler went off the side of the road and landed in a deep ditch.  There was no way to get that truck out easily.  It was going to take more than one large wrecker truck to get the truck out.  It being Christmas, that would take well over 24 hours.

The truck had valuable cargo and the driver was required to stay with his truck until it could be towed.  So this African-American truck driver was stuck on Christmas Eve miles from his home – in one of the most rugged areas of “redneck country”.  In Grainger County, if you aren’t driving a pickup truck with a gun rack inside your back window, “you probably ain’t from around these parts.”  The necessary clothing for a man is a pair of jeans with a can of snuff in your back pocket.

News can spread pretty fast in a rural county and the news of the sidelined truck came to my patient quickly.  She was frankly worried about this African-American truckdriver stuck in her neck of the woods.  She was concerned someone might try to start some trouble with him.  She wanted to go out to his truck to check on him but was worried about doing so until her husband got home.  He did later that day and they went out to the area where the truck was located.

What they found was a number of “neighbors” already congregated by the truck.  They also found these same “redneck” neighbors had brought the African-American truckdriver some hot dinner, hot coffee, and baked goods to snack on through the evening.  People from all over were coming to make the driver feel as comfortable as he could.  They even brought blankets but he had those in his cabin which he was able to keep warm through keeping the engine on.  They offered for him to come to their homes but he had to stay with his truck.  By the next morning the driver had hot breakfast and gifts of goodies and Christmas cards.  When the truck was finally pulled out of the ditch, the driver went home with more hot food and goodies that were brought to him at lunch and dinner time on Christmas Day.

My patient went to sleep on Christmas night feeling wonderful about the residents of Grainger County.  Whatever their beliefs and prejudices’, they had made an African-American stranger feel blessed and welcome.  It was a Christmas that I am sure he will never forget.  And, my patient, who has had a difficult year, sang “Joy to the World” a little louder on Christmas day.  The air smelled mighty fresh in Grainger County and the stars shone brighter for the rest of 2020.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the disenfranchised; for caregivers who are taking care of others and that they would have patience in that difficult task; for Ribbed and his wife, Sarah, after the surgery to remove the tumor by her spine; for Abacus’ mother who will need surgery on her leg; for those in F3 who have lost loved ones this year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Reward at Coffeeteria!

Punxsutawney Skunk

THE SCENE: Chilly with a touch of ice.  Around 30 degrees at circle up
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:

20 SSH on 4ct, 10 Plank Jacks on 4ct, 10 Tempo Merkins, A little this and that, Jog the lot, Rocky B’s x20, Mosey back and Grab a CMU

THA-THANG:
Mosey with CMU to pavilion for 20 table rows and 20 dips.  Pick up the CMU and mosey to Circus Maximus.  There perform 5 rounds of 2 sets of exercises (50 reps each) then take a lap.

Round 1: 50 OH PRESS, 50 LBC, 1 LAP

Round 2: 50 CURLS, 50 JUMP SQUATS, 1 LAP

Round 3: 50 MERKINS, 50 SQUATS, 1 LAP

Round 4: 50 ROWS (25 EACH ARM), 50 HEEL TOUCH, 1 LAP

Round 5: 50 DRY DOCKS, 50 SKATERS, 1 LAP

With time left just pick a round or mix and match

Mosey back to pavilion for 20 table rows and 20 dips

Put back the CMU’s and mosey to Little Everest for 2 rounds of 20 4ct Flutter kicks then run to top (Rinse and Repeat)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
My bom was interrupted by two skunks doing what two skunks do when they are married and love each other very much.  Basically, the BOM was that we all have a purpose that God has laid out for us.  So live with purpose and pursue your creator.