Drum Major – Page 2 – F3 Knoxville

Nothing but the Truth!…

January 29, 2026 BackBlasts

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Pele (Jon Lindberg)
PAX: Lilydipper, Drum Major, Pusher, Sparkler, Lizzy, Tenderfoot, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Franzia, MD Hammer, Curveball, Bacon (Ben)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: 10 SSH IC
line up on curb, slow mosey to far end. FIVE BURPEES!! Windmills, 4-ct in cadence.
– slow mosey back. 10 Windmills, 4-ct, IC
-light shuffle down, switching ½ way 10 Imperial Squat Walkers, 4-ct, IC.
– shuffle/run back 10 Grady Corns, 4-ct IC

THE THANG:
Mosey to Sidewalk just northeast of the nice bathrooms.
“2-4-6-8 WHO DO WE APPRECIATE” : Run south and then east on sidewalk stopping at second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lights to do the following exercises:
– 2 lights: 4 CDDS/ 4 lights: 8 CDDs/ 6 lights 12 CDDs/ SWEEP FORWARD 8 lights, 16 CDDs. Stop at 8th light. PUTS
– Rinse and repeat with SQUATS
–
Rinse and repeat with PETER PARKERS (2-ct)

Mosey to base of Cardiac

5s (like 7s…) from base to first curve, starting with 1 OFFSET RIGHT MERKIN, run up and do 4 OFFSET LEFT MERKINS

Fellowship Mosey to second curve

5s from Second curve to Benches, Starting with 1 FROGGY JUMP, run up and do 4 Bobby Hurleys

Alternate Dips and incline merkins until the 6 gets there.

Enough time to fellowship mosey to top of the dragon’s tail and do last set of 2-4-6-8s with Supermans (SuperMEN?)

Alternate Lunging and Bunny Hopping across parking lot by bathrooms, then AYG to flag.
Mosey to AO

MARY: Dead Bugs and Pain Planks (Plank position, move left knee to right elbow, switch, R&R).

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergence Saturday!

COT: I had a math teacher in middle school (Mr. Alexander) who, as punishment for students who talked in class, would make them write lines on the chalkboard of some of his favorite sayings. The only one I still remember to this day is, “Oh the tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”
Like most of us, I would imagine, I’ve told a lot of white lies in my past, and probably even a few lies that are not all that white. But I certainly try to be an honest person, especially as I’ve grown older, because I have learned how valuable the TRUTH IS. Trust is a haaaard thing to win back. And I’m not talking about your version of the truth, I’m talking about black-and-white truth. If something that’s not black-and-white truth comes out of my mouth, I always try to say “that’s my opinion, anyway”, or “that’s how I interpret it.”

When I was in grad school I was a teaching assistant. Taught classes, created and graded exams, etc. One time these two girls who were best friends were taking a test sitting next to each other and just obviously looking at each other’s papers. I cleared my throat, rustled some papers, and tried to get them to realize I was watching. They kept doing it. When I was grading their tests, they had the exact same answers, word for word, for about ½ the test. And they were wrong answers. If they had been accurate answers, you could almost believe they just came up with it on their own. I confronted them about it, individually, and they already had their stories aligned. They never made eye contact when we were talking, just said the same thing to me… they had studied together, practiced the answers to likely questions together, etc. And they said they never looked at each other’s test during the exam. Bullshit. If they had just admitted it I would have been very lenient, probably just said knock it off, don’t do it again, and I’m going to ask you not to sit to each other. But they flat out lied to me. Thought I was stupid. Thought that what I saw with my very own eyes wasn’t the truth. That is flat-out insulting.

And it got me mad. I gave them both zeros for the test, and brought the matter up to the honor council. One girl ended up dropping out of school. The other actually handled it well, worked hard the rest of the semester and brought her grade up to a C+ or so, as I recall.

In retrospect, I do sort of regret that I was so hard on them, and that my response caused one of the girls to drop out (according to her). I wish I had handled it a bit differently. But I have to say, for them to sit there and completely deny something that I personally witnessed really pissed me off. I didn’t like to be gaslit then. And I hate it even more now.

Proverbs 12:22: “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” That just doesn’t apply to the Lord. I would say it applies to just about everyone.

If we are to be HIMs, Truth matters. Facts matter. Accountability matters.

It’s Cold

January 27, 2026 BackBlasts

AO: asylum-pm
Q: High Heels
PAX: Pele (Jon Lindberg), Lizzy, Lilydipper, Rooney(Carl Whipple), Pusher, Tenderfoot, Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Drum Major, Bacon (Ben), Serpentine (Jason Pierce)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
WARMUP:20 SSH – 2 Burpees, 15 IW – 4 Burpees, 10 squats – 6 Burpees, 10 BACs -6 Burpees, 10 Merkins – 4 burpees, 5 Motivators – 2 Burpees

THE THANG:
0900 – 4 times
Dora at Church 100 dips 200 merkins, mosey to bathroom parking lot, 20 lunges, 6 burpees and 10 BBS

MARY: no time

ANNOUNCEMENTS: convergence this Saturday

COT: discipline is the bridge that connects goals to accomplishments

The Little Things

January 13, 2026 BackBlasts

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: Steam, Joshua Foster, Pusher, Crash Dummy, Rooney(Carl Whipple), Drum Major, Curveball, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Tenderfoot, Lizzy
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: 20 Side-Straddle-Hops, Run around the parking lot, 10 Mountain Climbers, Run around the parking lot, 7 Twistees, 7 Knoxville Cherry Pickers, 10 Tennessee Rocking Chairs, 30 Brady Corns, Little of This and That.

THE THANG: Mosey up Mini-Cardiac. We will stop at the top to do 20 Squats.
Mosey to the bottom of Cardiac.
Next we will run back up Cardiac, stopping at the following points to do the following exercises:
First Curve: 20 American Hammers 2 ct
–
Second Curve: 20 Hello Dollies
–
Third Curve: 20 Decline Merkins
–
Benches: 20 Bench Dips
–
Next, we will Mosey to the crosswalk of the roadway to do 20 more Squats.
Then we will run to the bottom of the Dragon Fly. We will then do a Route 66 up the Dragon Fly, doing Bobbie Hurleys at each light and adding one each time until we do 11 Bobbie Hurleys at the 11th light.
Next, we will run back down the Dragon Fly to the parking lot by the nice restrooms. We will Bear Crawl 20 paces, lunge 20 paces and continue that past the restrooms, then run to the end of the curb.
Next, we will Mosey to the Caribbean. We will do candy canes around the parking lot, stopping at every other island to do an exercise and ending with the second island we stop at on the other side. Those finishing first sweep all men back to the beginning. Here are the exercises we will do with each cane:

Cane 1: 10 Shoulder Taps (each shoulder = 1)
–
Cane 2: 10 Carolina Dry Docks
–
Mosey to the middle of the parking lot south of the playground. We will Bernie Sanders to the end of the parking lot, then mosey to the AO.

MARY: No time.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergence at Asylum on Saturday, January 31 at 7 am. At the AO we will split F3 Knoxville into an East and West region with new Na’ntans being appointed for each new region.

COT:

Message:

The Little Things
I see a 72-year-old woman in my psychotherapy practice that I think quite fondly of. Her name is Rhonda. She is a strong Christian woman and her faith in God had helped her greatly because last January, 2025, she lost her daughter to cancer. Rhonda is a good mother (she also has a son) who was quite close to her daughter who was survived by a husband and two of Rhonda’s grandchildren

There have been weeks of pain, weeks of wondering about God, weeks of anger at God, but also a strong reliance on God that has helped Rhonda to come to an acceptance of her daughter’s death.

Something that really hit me recently when Rhonda was talking about her daughter was Rhonda saying, “You know what I really miss, John? I miss those simple calls from Laura and just hearing, “hey mom”. Yes, Rhonda has so many memories of her daughter but she longs to hear that simple “hey mom” again.

It makes me think of how valuable the simple things are to us. In F3 it is often the simple things that I love about our brotherhood. The “hey, Pusher or hey, Tenderfoot” when guys come into the circle before the workout. The mumble chatter and High-Heels yelling out Walker! when we are running along the trails. The laughter at our board meetings. The honk to the guys and wave from the guys as someone takes off after the workout.

That simple ”hey Mom” was an automatic acknowledgement that you are comfortable and are loved. We should be thankful for those “heys”. And so guys, hey, I’m thankful for you.

Prayers: Prayers for Pele’s former high school friend who recently committed suicide, leaving behind a wife and two children. Prayers for his family and friends who grieve. Prayers of the 5-year-old student of Drum Major’s wife. The student was recently diagnosed with cancer. Prayers for organizations who raise money to fight cancer including a group who will be putting on a Fight Against Cancer Night. Anyone interested in going to the event can talk to Tenderfoot.

Hot Toddy Quadruple Birthday Q

January 10, 2026 BackBlasts

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Lilydipper , High Heels, Charmin (John Willis), Snitch (Cory Beilharz )
PAX: Veggie (Rylen Huddy), Natty, Wes Franks (Pony Tail), Drum Major, Curveball, Crash Dummy, Dain Bramage, Mr Jinxy, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Bail Bonds, flyball, MD Hammer, Pusher, Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), Honeydew, Lulu (Greg Huddy), Rainbow, Crop Top
FNGs: None
COUNT: 22
WARMUP: Lilydipper led us in 20 Side Straddle Hops, Curly Stomps, 7 Twistees, 10 Windmills, 7 Pterodactyls Forward, 7 Pterodactyls Backwards, and a Little of This and That

THE THANG: Snitch (Cory Beilharz ) then led us on sidewalks we could barely see due to lakes and puddles out to the Bros Bowl. He nearly killed us from there. We started with10 Merkins on the bottom and ran clockwise to do 53 (Snitch (Cory Beilharz ) turned 53 on December 23) Bench Dips then ran to the bottom to do 22 Hello Dollies in the lake there at the bottom of the Bros Bowl. Thank goodness there was no sewage from the Bowl. Next we ran clockwise up to the top again to do 53 Incline Merkins on the benches. We ran to the bottom only to do Tempo Squats in the lake. The man made us run clockwise on more top to the top of the Bros Bowl to do 23 Step-ups on the Benches. In an exhausted and drenches state, we got back to the bottom.
High Heels took over from there. We ran to the outdoor chapel and I thought God would have mercy on us there. But not with High Heels in command. We did Doras, each partner running around the chapel in the rain while the other partner did exercises. One would expect about 100 of each exercise but not with High Heels. He had us do 120 Merkins, 240 Bench Dips (our arms were in pain!) and 360 Side-Straddle Hops. Gassed and nearing death, we were looking forward to Charmin (John Willis) lightening things up as he took over the Q. But no!!! Charmin (John Willis) has us run, instead of sidewalks, through a grassy, muddy, trench-filled mess with rats and other varmints floating by us until we got back on the watery roadway to the AO. Ahh, the AO! No!! The man, saying he needs to work his quads for ski patrol, has us Bernie Sanders all the way to the top of Mini-Cardiac and do 5 Burpees in the river up top. Then we run back down past the AO to pick up doggone boulders and take then to the pavilion. He then has us do some kind of configuration of 11s that I never understood, saying we should quadruple each exercise of Curls and Gobble Squats. I finally plopped my boulder down on the picnic table and nearly broke the top. From there, Charmin (John Willis) takes us to steps that were so soaked and muddy that we couldn’t see our feet. He has us do a multitude of Calf Raises with toes out, inward, outward, and every which way but upward, which almost occurred if I hadn’t had the rail to hold onto and keep me from falling backwards. Charmin (John Willis) was kind enough to let us go back to the pavilion, pick up those doggone boulders, and put em back where we found em. Ahhhhh, Sweet Respite. But no, we had do the traditional Asylum Daybreak race up Mini-Cardiac after the COT.

MARY: We had no stinking time for a Mary

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The fact that we had Hot Toddys waiting for us was announcement enough!

COT:

Message: The four Q leaders each talked about something they were thankful for in 2025 and something they were looking forward to in 2026. High Heels was on target when he told us we have so much to be thankful for.

Prayers: Prayers of praise for Mr. Jinxy whose daughter, Carli, the wife of our very own Hooker (Grant Gentry) who now lives with Carlyi in North Carolina, just had a baby. This is the couple’s third child. Prayers of praise for all God blesses us with.

12 Beatdownz of Christmas

December 27, 2025 BackBlasts

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Kodak (Charlotte Metro (S) Weasel Shaker)
PAX: Brick, Crash Dummy, Kodak (Charlotte Metro (S) Weasel Shaker), Dain Bramage, UGA, CatGut, Jumbo, Crawdad, Waffle House, Drum Major
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
WARMUP: Like instant coffee, the Terrible Rotten Very Bad Workout started with a jolt- no hellos, none of that touchy-feely stuff. We ran. Not far, but kinda fast. Fortunately no one broke a hamstring. Loops around to the playground for some SSH, Walkers and others. Then we opened the mailbox and discovered Santa had left the PAX a love, letter detailing . . .

THE THANG: The 12 Beatdownz.

Here’s the list-

12 WWII Sit-ups
11 Squats (in cadence)
10 Ukrainian Hammers (in cadence)
9 Carolina Dry Docks
8 Imperial Walkers (in cadence)
7 LBCs (in cadence)
6 SSH (in cadence)
5 ‘Mericans
4 Jump Squats
3 Heels to Heaven (in cadence)
2 Burpees
1 Manmaker/Special

Here’s how it actually works-

Days 1 & 2 – mosey to COT Lot. For the 1 of Day 2, run a 3 level suicide (light, light and far side) with 5 squats at the base each time.

Days 3 & 4 – mosey to the Bowl. For the 1 of Day 4, run a Long Lap

Days 5 & 6 – short mosey to the playground. For the 1 of Day 6 – 1 minute hang (EC if you want to add in pull-ups. No one did).

Days 7 & 8 – short mosey to the other side of the soccer field. For the 1 of Day 8, run a 4 level suicide (18 yrd box, midfield, 18 yrd box, end line) with 10 of any exercise (dealer’s choice) at the base each time.

Note- possible that the Q messed up a bit and called the suicide early and so made everyone run the field backwards as punishment. That’s what happens when you are on the Naughty List.

Days 9 & 10 – mosey to the field (the Q sad that it’s not cold and muddy) For the 1 of Day 10, run up Pickett’s, bear crawl each of the hills and, just for fun, Crawl Bear the middle one. (FYI – that last part REALLY sucked, even the Q kinda regretted it).

Take a beat and look for sunrise

Day 11 – everyone faces out and looks at the pre-dawn beauty while exercising.

Day 12 – mosey back to COT area (high-fives to the family of 5 (kids looked to be ages 4 – 9 or so) out for a family workout). For the final beatdown, sprint up that hill!

Clock struck 7:59 am on the dot at the 6 got to the top of the hill. Mosey on down for COT.

MARY: None. She wasn’t invited. Don’t know what y’all got going on up here in Knoxville inviting women to your workouts …

ANNOUNCEMENTS: I think some idiots are going to go jump in really cold water outdoors in the middle of winter.

COT: Some of the greatest works of Christ on Earth involved healing the sick and the lame. YHC grew up seeing the sick, blind and lame as “others” in need of a good doctor. That’s not right. The lame aren’t “others”, they are us. We all are broken and we all need God’s help to be made whole. Some of us just keep our infirmities hidden on the inside.