F3 Knoxville

Plunging Into the New Year

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Lilydipper , High Heels (Henry Ritchie), Charmin (John Willis)
PAX: OnStar, Rainbow, F6, High Heels, Veggie (Rylen Huddy), Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), Matlock (Bill Maddox), Choir Boy, Dung Beetle, Gibbler, Charmin (John Willis), Jumbo(Carter Dickens), Pusher, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Drum Major, lebowski, Tropicana, P3, Scully, Honeydew, Tenderfoot, Lilydipper
FNGs: None
COUNT: 22
WARMUP: Charmin had us doing all kinds of things that unnerved us before even getting to The Thang.
THE THANG: Charmin took us to three different pavilions where we were crushed with his mesmerizing and crushing exercises. We took CMU size boulders to the first pavilion and he made us raise and swing those things around until are arms could no longer take it.
High-Heels took over after the third pavilion of exercises by Charmin. High-Heels took us to the Caribbean parking lot where we ran from 6 o’clock counter clockwise to 9 o’clock stopping at 3, 12 and 9 o’clock to do various exercises. We did this about a million times until we were barely breathing. Lilydipper took us from there back to the 1st Pavilion to grab those doggone boulders that Charmin wore us out with. We had to go to the AO parking lot and team up for Doras. Partners did exercises with the dagnab boulders while the other ran around the parking lot, a heaving and a bursting with air until partners traded places. We weren’t done after we put the boulders back. Lily made us run various sprints (Bernie, High Knees, etc.) until we had stumble to the pavilion for the BOM.
MARY: We were so beat down what we didn’t have the time nor ability to do the Mary.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergence at Big Ball on January 20!!
COT: Message: Plunging Into The New Year
Why do we this F3 Thing for another doggone year
1. It is completely stupid
2. It involves community.
3. It is a line of demarcation.
4. It is acceptance of pain.
5. It is release.
6. It is invigoration.
7. It is celebration.
Also, prayers for F6 on vocational search, prayers for those heading back to school or college, and praise for the health of Matlock’s nephew, John.

VPMQ

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Waxjob
PAX: CRISPR, Glamper, Rooney (Carl Whipple), Jeevan Kypa (Scrubs), Steam, Tenderfoot, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Drum Major, Brick, Down Under, Crash Dummy, Guppy, Abacus, Lilydipper, Waxjob, Whitey Tighty, Cheetah Boy
FNGs: None
COUNT: 17
A lovely, clear, and crisp winter afternoon. About 40°
WARMUP:
20 SSH
24 LBAC each way
5 Knoxville Cherry Pickers
10 Hindurkins
15 Tennessee Rocking Chairs
10 Failure to Launch
5 Burpees OYO
2 Burpees OYO
THE THANG:
Head to the top of Cardiac, make good use of the benches for 24 dips.
Next up is Traveling 11s with Merkins and BBS. Reps are as normal, but instead of just moving between two places, advance one light pole after each set. Mosey after the even number sets, and bear crawl the odd.
This took us all the way to the next intersection, so we cut cross country up to the Pavalon:
10 Table Rows
10 Step Ups each leg
10 Table Rows
24 Calf Raise (Straight)
24 Calf Raise (Toes-in)
24 Calf Raise (Toes-out)
10 Table Rows
1-Minute Balls to the Wall
10 Table Rows
Head back up to the parking lot for Mary!
MARY:
24 Flutter Kicks IC
24 LBCs IC
12 Side Crunch each side
A little bit of planking
Finish it off with some leg stretches
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
COT:
Ps 119:8-16
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.

The Empty Stocking

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Pele (Jon Lindberg)
PAX: Lilydipper, Brick, Pusher, MD Hammer, Drum Major, Kung Blue, Tenderfoot, Switchhitter (Tony), Crash Dummy, Ghost Flag (F3Knoxville), Pele (Jon Lindberg), Birdie
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: – 17 Grady Corns (4-ct, IC)
– Motivators (5 count, decreasing)
– Bolt 45s
– 10 LBCs forward/backward , (4-ct, IC)
– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

THE THANG: • Mosey to First hill on Pickett’s Charge
o 25s on the hill: STAR JUMPS and IRON MIKES (2-ct)

• Mosey to Serpentine Sidewalk.
o Run down sidewalk, suicide style, stopping to do the following exercises:
 2 lights: 5 Merkins/ 4 lights: 10 merkins/ 6 lights 15 merkins/ 8 lights 20 merkins.
 Rinse and repeat for only SIX LIGHTS with FROGGY JUMPS
 Rinse and repeat for only SIX LIGHTS with SHOULDER TAPS (2-ct)

• Mosey to Playground:
o 30 Seconds AMRAP:
 LBCS
 BENCH DIPS on wall
 FLUTTER KICKS
 INCLINE MERKINS
o Rinse and repeat

• Mosey to Flag Pole by Pavillion. SEVENS from Flag Pole to Parking Lot: LOWER ½ BURPEES (flag pole) UPPER ½ BURPEES (Parking Lot)

• Mosey to AO

MARY: SSHs until time
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hot Toddy 3x Bday Q Jan 6, 2x BDay Q the following week, Big Ball Convergence Jan 20
COT: We talked about the 3rd week of Advent and how to bring Joy to yourself, others, and your Sky Q. The last one is particularly challenging. How do we give Joy to God? Probably the most obvious way is to follow the Greatest Commandment, as written in the Scriptures: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”. OK… But that can seem a bit abstract. How does one really express their love for the Lord in a meaningful way?
I was struggling with this question last night. So I put down my Q that I was planning and watched The Bishop’s Wife, an old move from the 1940s starring Cary Grant as an angel who comes to Earth to give guidance to a Bishop who is trying to raise funds for a cathedral. He accomplishes his goal, and in the end, the Bishop reads a Christmas sermon that the angel actually wrote (but the Bishop doesn’t know this), and he says in that sermon, “During the Christmas season, we give gifts to each other. You give me a book, I give you a scarf. You give her a necklace, she gives you a tie. And on and on. But one stocking hangs empty. The stocking of the little boy who’s birthday we’re celebrating. We always forget to fill that empty stocking for the Child. But what would the Child want? What can we give Him? If we all—ALL of us– pour into that stocking some Loving Kindness, Warm Hearts, and the Stretched Out Hand of Tolerance, there would be Peace on Earth.” So… If you’re looking for that last minute gift that gives Joy to your Sky Q… well, I think that’s an awfully good way to start. Loving Kindness, Warm Hearts, and the Stretched Out Hand of Tolerance. May there be Peace on Earth and Good Will to all Women and Men this holiday season.
Merry Christmas everyone.

Leaning Into the Ache of Advent

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: MD Hammer, Switchhitter (Tony), Lizzy, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Steam, Drum Major, Duggar, Crash Dummy, Glamper, Abacus, Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Brick, Pusher, Lilydipper, Gridiron, Birdie (Clyteroll Cabual)
FNGs: 1 Birdie (Clyteroll Cabual)
COUNT: 16
WARMUP: Stretches to left toe and stretches to right toe, 20 High Knees, 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Twistees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 7 Pterodactyls Forward and 7 Pterodactyls Backward
THE THANG: Mosey to the Caribbean Parking Lot. We will do Candy Canes, starting at the first island and running counterclockwise around the parking lot until we reach the last cone at the end of the candy cane. There will be a cone on every other island. At each cone we will do the exercises listed below. When we reach the end of the candy cane the first person to finish the exercise sweeps everyone back to the starting island. We then do another candy cane with the next exercise. Here are the exercises:
• 10 Shoulder Taps
• 15 Squats
• 20 Merkins
• 10 Lunges
Mosey to the start of the Serpentine Sidewalk where it touches the road. We will do 14’s on the Serpentine Sidewalk until it merges with the Perimeter Trail. We will bear crawl ahead for one light, then run for four lights, then bear crawl for one light and run for four etc. until we reach the perimeter trail.
Next we will get on our sixes and do 20 American Hammers and 10 Gas Pumps.
Mosey to the start of Cardiac. We will run up Cardiac, stopping at each curve in the sidewalk and finally stopping at the benches. Here are the exercise we will do on the way up:
• Curve 1: 20 Carolina Dry Docks
• Curve 2: 20 Hello Dollies
• Curve 3: 20 Decline Merkins
• Benches: 20 Bench Dips
Mosey to baseball field entryway parking lot.
We will go to the center of the parking lot where Doubtfire parked his truck and trailer. Each man will get a CMU out of the trailer. We will do the following exercise in cadence.
• 20 Overhead Presses
• 20 Curls
• 20 Rows
Place the CMUs back in the trailer.
Mosey to the AO.

MARY: 30 Seconds of High Knees
ANNOUNCEMENTS: RoCo Starfish Convergence at Rampart at 7 am this Saturday. Hot Toddy Triple Birthday Q at Asylum Daybreak on Saturday, January 6 at 7 am. F3 Knoxville Winter Convergence at Big Ball, 7 am on Saturday, January 20.
COT: Our brothers Ocho and Kick Flip have been talking about Advent on Slack, urging us to discuss it with our families. What is Advent? For Christians it is the four weeks before Christmas and it represents the waiting for the coming of Christ. But it is more complex and significant than that. It isn’t all about Christmas lights and getting gifts for others while we wait, although those are certainly nice things. Advent represents a yearning for change in the recognition that all is not right with the world. The American Writer and Anglican Priest, Tish Warren, states we need to lean into the ache of Advent, recognizing that the world, racked with conflict, violence, suffering and darkness, needs change. We need a savior. And Christmas represents the coming of that Savior.

Tour de Lights

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Steam
PAX: High Heels, Drum Major, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Duggar, Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Rooney (Carl Whipple), Title IX (Christian Prescott), Brick, Pusher, CRISPR, Lilydipper, Sparkler, Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Abacus, Tenderfoot, Whitey Titey, Gridiron, Cheetah Boy
FNGs: None
COUNT: 19
WARMUP:
– Mountain Climbers: 10×4
– Imperial Walker: 10×4
– Rockette: 10×4
– BAC: F + B — 10×4
– TN Rocking Chair: 10×4

THE THANG:
Mosey to the big lit up tree by the bathrooms
(1) Ring of Lights – Core 4
– Get in a circle around the tree
– Christmas Lights Fun Fact #1 — Prior to the 1880s, Christmas trees were lit by candles.
– American Hammer: 25×4
– Run to the sidewalk: 10×4 CDDs
– Back around the tree
– Christmas Lights Fun Fact #2 — After Edison patented the light bulb in 1880, Edward Johnson hand-wired 80 red, white and blue bulbs and strung them together around a tree in New York City, and then placed the trunk on a revolving pedestal. Then he called a reporter. A new fashion was born.
– LBCs: 25×4
– Run to the sidewalk: 10×4 CDDs
– Back around the tree
– Christmas Lights Fun Fact #3 — A string of 16 vaguely flame-shaped bulbs sitting in brass sockets the size of shot glasses sold for a pricey $12 (about $350 in today’s money) in 1900. But in 1894 President Cleveland put electric lights on the White House tree, and by 1914, a 16-foot string cost just $1.75.
– Flutter Kicks: 25×4
– Run to the sidewalk: 10×4 CDDs
– Back around the tree
– Christmas Lights Fun Fact #4 — There are an estimated 150 million light sets sold in America each year
– Gas Pedals: 25×4
– Run to the sidewalk: 10×4 CDDs
– Christmas Lights Fun Fact #5 — About 5,800 people are hospitalized annually for injuries involving falls while decorating their houses for the holidays.
– 25 SSH
Mosey across the street to the LAKESHORE lit up sign and/or trees
(2) The LAKESHORE Lit Workout
– All Xs are 25 reps on a 1 count
– L = LBCs
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– A: Alternating Shoulder Taps
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– K: Knerkin (merkin, but on your knuckles)
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– E: E2K (oblique crunch)
– Right ankle on left knee / switch after 14 reps or so
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– S: Squats
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– H: Hallelujahs
– 15 SSH at the small chapelq
– Run back
– O: Overhead Claps
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– R: Rockette Hillbillies
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
– E: El Capitans to the chapel
– 15 SSH at the small chapel
– Run back
Mosey back to the big lit up tree
– Knock out Onstar’s 1st F Challenge today: 90 BBS
Mosey to the flag

MARY:
No time

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Starfish convergence at the Rampart AO this Saturday at 7am

COT:
Talked about my Spotify Wrapped overview from 2023 (see below for what it looks like). If you looked back at this past year:
– Who did you listen to this year?
– Where did you listen this year?
– What were you tuned into this year?
– Did you pay attention to what you were paying attention to?
The word “listen” occurs 195 times in 188 verses in the Bible (ESV)