F3 Knoxville

The Amazing Race: Big Ball Edition (Soot Co-Q)

THE SCENE: Lower to Mid 60’s, partly cloudy. Couldn’t ask for better weather!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Arm Circles, Imperial Walkers, This and That, Tempo Squats
THA-THANG:
We divided everyone into two teams for an Amazing Race style workout. Each team was given a clue, then had to decide what landmark that clue was hinting at. If the team went to the right location, Soot or I would tell them the workout for that spot. The first team to hit each location and finish each workout won. A few bonus rules: bear crawl every bridge, 1 burpee at each landing or top of each staircase, and bernie up every hill. Each team went in opposite orders, I led one clockwise while Soot led the other counter-clockwise. Here are the clues, locations, and exercises:

  • “It rises in the morning, but never gets out of bed” – The Sunsphere – Here we did 7’s between the edge of the water and the base of the sunsphere with Smurf Jacks and Star Jacks
  • “Here you might enjoy a nice view of the river, but you won’t enjoy the dense new additions to your team” – The Rockpile – Here we did 30 reps of Thrusters, Tricep Extensions, Curls and Front Raises
  • “The crown jewel of UT’s campus. The hallowed high ground” – The Hill – Here we lined up at the flag pole and did flutterkicks while one at a time each of us bear crawled around the flag pole
  • “Floors of empty spaces” – 11th Street Garage – Here we did the following in all 4 corners of the garage: 15 reps of Merkins, Squats, LBCs, Mountain Climbers (2ct)
  • “It’s almost time for our show to end, so be sure to grab your seats” – The Amphitheater – Here we just did 50 inverted rows
  • “End our race with a world tour and a splash” – The AO – Here we did a kind of inverted Indian Run. While running in line around the fountain, the person in front would do burpees until the rest of the team caught up, then the next person would pick up where they left off and the first person would go to the end of the line. The first team to a total of 200 burpees won.

The race ended just before 8am with our team reaching 200 burpees while Soot’s team was only 3 burpees behind

MARY:
Abort led us in an ATM cash out
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Soot led the word talking about how he and I met his junior year of college when he went to visit a campus ministry that I work for called the Navigators. After meeting we got lunch a couple times and eventually started meeting on a weekly basis for discipleship. After graduating, Soot and I have maintained that relationship, although we no longer meet as often, and Soot has gone on to lead his own Bible study and invest in guys the same way I invested in him. Also, Soot was the guy who first got me to come out to F3. After a lot of tip toeing in the shallow end, I eventually became more involved with F3 here and have also brought a few other FNG’s in along the way.

We shared all this for a few reasons. One being the importance of relationships and community. Soot and I have maintained our relationship with one another even in busy seasons, when he was deployed in Kuwait, and now as he moves from CO to NC. The second being you never realize how far a simple invitation will go. I invited Soot to grab lunch, which led to a mentoring relationship, which led to Soot mentoring others as well. Soot invited me to a workout, which led to me being more involved here with Big Ball and the Quacken, which also led to me inviting others to workouts. These relationships we have and the invitations we extend to others are important, and we never know how far they’ll end up going.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill is coming up

Rain Plans

THE SCENE: Lower 70’s, started with a drizzle ended with a downpour
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Arm Circles, Shoulder Taps, Tempo Squats, Rockettes
THA-THANG:
Went to the coupon pile by L&N and got ourselves a brick. Moseyed with our bricks over to the 11th street garage. Here we had 4 cones spaced out on the opposite end of the garage. We did suicides, running to the 1st cone and back, then to the 2nd cone and 1st cone and back, and so on til we hit all 4. Each cone had an exercise assigned to it.

  • Round 1 (with our rocks): Cone 1= 15 curls, 2= 15 tricep extensions, 3= 15 shoulder presses, 4= 15 goblet squats
  • Round 2 (without our rocks): Cone 1= 15 LBCs, 2= 15 Merkins, 3= 15 American Hammers (4ct.), 4= 15 Hand Release Merkins
  • Intermission: Took a break from suicides with 1 minute wall sits, 5 reps of slow merkins, then another minute of wall sits and 5 more reps of slow merkins
  • Rinse and Repeat: We did all the above one more time through

MARY:
Ran back to under the bridge, did some flutterkicks and grasshoppers, ended with the word there and then took our rocks back
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Mr. Wedgie talked about being a bit of an overplanner at the Quacken yesterday. I had been reading Proverbs earlier and one of my favorite verses that Wedgie reminded me of is “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (Prov. 16:9) I think this can often sound like “My plans are useless because at the end of the day God decides what happens”, but the accurate way to hear this is “my plans succeed because the Lord allows them to”. My campus ministry has made all sorts of plans to accommodate for the restrictions on campus in order for us to continue to minister to UT students, but at any point in the future we could be told to limit our numbers even more, to no longer meet on or near campus, or that we aren’t even allowed to come to campus at all. So right now we’ve been spending a lot of time praying about and reminding ourselves that our plans are worth pursuing, but that should our plans change we should be content and remember that the Lord is still sovereign. So I encouraged all of us to continue to put effort and thought into our plans, but to hold onto them open handed and be willing to see them change

Practice Makes Permanent: Big Ball Edition

THE SCENE: Sunny, clear, mid 70’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Arm Circles, Michael Phelps, This and That, Tempo Squats, Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
For the workout we did one minute of each of the following exercises, with a short break after each exercise. I encouraged all of us to spend that minute focused on performing each exercise with as close to perfect form as possible, not worrying about how many reps we got done. Better to do 10 perfect push ups than 20 half hearted ones here.

  • Amphitheater: 1 minute of: Burpees, Incline Merkins, Decline Merkins, Inverted Rows
  • Bridge: 1 minute of: Bear Crawl Toe Taps across the bridge
  • Parking Lot Rock Pile: 1 minute of: Curls, Shoulder Press, Tricep Extensions, then all three combined. Then after a short break, 1 minute of: Curls, Shoulder Press, Tricep Extensions
  • Ramp Up to Park: Everyone grabbed a partner that would push them, someone about the same speed as them. Then in pairs we did 10 merkins, 10 big boys, followed by a near-sprint run up the ramp
  • Parking Lot Near Church: 1 minute of: Squats, American Hammers, Lunges, LBCs
  • Bridge1 minute of: Bear Crawl Toe Taps and Big Boys
  • Amphitheater: 1 minute of : inverted rows, Decline Merkins, and Incline Merkins
  • Road Next To Event Lawn: Got back with our partners for 10 merkins, 10 big boys and a near-sprint run back to the AO

MARY:
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Recycled my word from a workout at the Quacken

I was reminded not too long ago of a coach I had in high school who would always say to us “Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” If we spend every workout doing rushed, poor-formed exercises then we’re only training ourselves to continue to do rushed, poor-formed exercises. That mentality applies to the rest of our lives as well. If we approach our families, marriages, churches, jobs, etc. with rushed, poor-formed actions we’re only cultivating flawed families, marriages, churches, jobs, etc. So not only in our workouts, but also in our lives as well, lets all focus on going through the entire motion, digging deep, taking the time to do things right, and training ourselves to do the right thing, since we know that practice makes permanent, not perfect.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Workday next Saturday, Swanson’s got the details. Welcome to Boss Hog.

Q101 in the Scorching Fake Gloom

THE SCENE: Hot enough to melt your face off… think of that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the bad guy sees the ark’s contents. 97 degrees at LEAST with probably a 110 degree heat index. It sucked.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Introduced myself as Q and Lilydipper as Co-Q for a Q101 beatdown that will include some commentary during the workout to reinforce the F3 standards of what we do and why we do it.

Done, with explanations as to what the components are and why we do it, including:

– Call out TIME WARNING (2 mins, 1 min) and START ON TIME.

– Carry a WATCH and PHONE!

–  WELCOME to F3! FITNESS, FELLOWSHIP, AND FAITH!!

INTRODUCE yourself! You will be leading these men for the next 45 minutes to an hour, establish yourself as their Q!

– IDENTIFY ANY FNGs

  1. Make sure they understand the disclaimer (get a nod of understanding)
  2. Make sure you demonstrate exercises that may be unfamiliar to them.
  3. Make them feel welcome! Pay special attention to their status during the workout.

–  Include LEGAL DISCLAIMERS:

  1. I am not a professional
  2. You are here on your own volition, and participating at your own risk
  3. F3 is a free program open to all men
  4. Know your limits, and modify if you need to, but do the best you can! ALWAYS GIVE 100%… UNLESS YOU’RE DONATING BLOOD!  Ha Ha Ha.
  5. Additional COVID-related disclaimers. 1. Limit of 50 PAX, 2. No sharing of equipment; gloves recommended, 3. If you’ve been sick, or around someone who’s sick, please stay home. 4. Maintain social distancing.


WARM-O-RAMA:

Performed exercises that would demonstrate various counts and focused on 1.) getting the heart rate up, 2.) stretching the legs, and 3.) stretching the arms.

– TAKE CHARGE!

  1. Make eye contact
  2. Use your “outside voice”
  3. Use GOOD FORM
  4. Bring great ENERGY and ENCOURAGE!

– The Warm up usually consists of 4 to 5 exercises designed to get the heart rate going and provide some stretching of the arms and legs. Call out:

  1. The NAME of the exercise
  2. Whether it’s single count or in cadence
  3. “Ready position”… “Exercise!”
  4. Change cadence on the final rep.

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Steve Earls (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 calf raises, SINGLE COUNT

– Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

THA THANG is the main part of the workout, and usually consist of 3 to 5 “stations”, where you mosey to and then do an exercise (“String of Pearls”). Keeps the PAX together and provides some variation.

– PLAN OUT the workout ahead of time!

– Keep an eye on your TIME

– EXPLAIN CLEARLY and ENCOURAGE

– If you can’t Q it, don’t do it!  Not a “clipboard” program where the Q sits out

– Be FLEXIBLE!

– Make sure everyone is always ACTIVE! Give the rabbits something to do if they finish first.

– Situational awareness! Pay attention to the PAX. Sweep back to get the 6. NO man left behind!!

MOSEY to the parking lot below the Coliseum.

DORAS: These are a common type of exercise used in F3 where you pick a battle buddy and work towards a cumulative goal, like reps of an exercise.  RABBITS, Help out with the reps of others!

One partner runs a loop up the stairs and around while the other starts the exercises.  Each pair shall complete the total number:

  • 100 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 100 Big Boy Situps
  • 100 Lunges (2-count; only count the left leg)

** Turned the beatdown over to the great and powerful Lilydipper!!**

Mosey to the shaded parking lot across the street from the Northern Ball Fields Entryway parking lot.

We will do four corners with the following exercises:

Corner 1:  20 Star Jumps.  Then Bear Crawl to Corner 2.

Corner 2:  20 Big Boy Sit-Ups.  Then Bernie Sanders to Corner 3.

Corner 3:  20 Merkins.  Then Lunge to Corner 4.

Corner 4:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct).  Then Sprint to Corner 1.

Rinse and Repeat.

Next we will take a short mosey to beginning of the Dragon Tail.  We will do Route 66 up the Dragon Tail with the following exercises. (Note:  Those finishing the last light of the Dragon Tail will sweep men back to start the Dragon Tail again with the next exercise.)

  • Squat Jumps
  • Dive Bombers
  • Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)

(We only finished the first one due to time). Mosey to Shady Tree area by stoplight at northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey to AO.
MARY:
20 Hello Dollies

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

One thing that many of us worry about in regarding to Q’ing a workout is giving the message, the BOM, at the end of the workout. We might think “I can’t speak the way that some people can.”  “I don’t have anything wise or good to say.”  “I’m not religious enough.”  “I will screw it up.”

You don’t have to deliver a long speech for the BOM.  Also, you need not know the bible well or deliver a message that must pass religious muster.  Just speak about something you have learned, something important to you, something that might help others.  Not everyone will respond the same way but I can almost guarantee that some of your brothers will get something out of your message.  I personally love hearing what different brothers have to say, the little pearls of life wisdom they can share with me.  And, as for your ability to speak well, thing about Moses, the great leader of the Israelites that led them from Egypt to Isreal:

From Exodus 4: 10-12

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

As to worrying about screwing up, your brothers are on your side no matter what.  And, screwing up is what we do.  Think of Abraham Lincoln.  The following list is from an article by Ron Kurtus:

A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is:

  • 1831 – Lost his job
  • 1832 – Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
  • 1833 – Failed in business
  • 1834 – Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
  • 1835 – Sweetheart died
  • 1836 – Had nervous breakdown
  • 1838 – Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
  • 1843 – Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
  • 1846 – Elected to Congress (success)
  • 1848 – Lost re-nomination
  • 1849 – Rejected for land officer position
  • 1854 – Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
  • 1856 – Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
  • 1858 – Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
  • 1860 – Elected President (success)

The fact is that we are supposed to screw up as leaders.  That is how we learn and how we grow.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GrowSchool to immediately follow the workout.  CSAUP this week-end at the Dog Pound, 6:30 am Saturday. Asylum PM is trying to break the attendance record on Tuesday to send Title IX out in style!

Leaders Eat Last

THE SCENE: 92 and full of sunshine
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

15x Side Straddle Hops, 10x Imperial Walkers, 5x Cherry Pickers, A little bit of this, little bit of that, 10x Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Four Corners

CORNER ONE:  Round 1: 25X CMU Curls, Round 2: 25X CMU Bench Press, Round 3: 20x of Both

CORNER TWO:  Round 1: 20X Freddy Mercury’s (4-count), Round 2: 20X Rocky Balboas, Round 3: 10x of Both

CORNER THREE:  Round 1: 25X CMU Good Mornings, Round 2: 25X CMU Rows, Round 3: 20x of Both

CORNER FOUR:  Round 1: 20X Box Cutters, Round 2: 20X LBCs, Round 3: 10x of Both

With COVID rules, we can’t share CMUs.  So…you get to take it with you.

Mosey to the winding hill. At light pole #1, 10x incline Big Boys, at light pole #2, 10x decline Merkins, alternate to the top, rinse and repeat

Mosey towards the AO. 10x bear crawl, 10x lunges, rise and repeat, empty the tank sprint to the bat box.

MARY:

Freddy Mercury’s,H ello Dollies, American Hammers, Plank

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Obviously the world has a lot of things going on these days.  A lot of bad things.  A lot of the things people want to see changed.  But, a lot of people want to just snap their fingers and have it all fixed. They want to go to bed one night in a world full of problems, then wake up the next morning with all those problems solved.

This got me thinking about leading during troubled times and one of my favorite books, “Leaders Eat Last”, by Simon Sinek.  In his book he writes:

“Good leadership is like exercise.  We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons.  In fact, if we only compare the way our bodies look on a given day to how it looked on the previous day we would think our efforts had been wasted.  It’s only when we compare pictures of ourselves over a period of weeks or months that we can see a stark difference.  The impact of leadership is best judged over time.”

This resonates with me right now.  Because right now the world needs SUSTAINED leadership.  Not quick fix leadership.  Not a few leaders focusing on the next news cycle.  Not a few leaders saying, “Look what I did”   Right now we need millions of leaders.  Leaders who are more concerned with making an impact than they are with making headlines.  Leaders who are focused on making a difference and improving the lives of our fellow human beings.

Sometimes we all want to see a more immediate impact from our efforts.  But, sometimes that’s just not the timeline the world is on.  More often than not we’re part of the timeline where we’re pushing a giant boulder up a mountain.  It’s actually rare to be the one who pushes it over the top.  With it being unlikely that we will get any recognition for our efforts it becomes imperative to remember why we are pushing that boulder up that mountain.

And, to remember that when results come slowly that we cannot give up.  That our efforts have not been wasted.  And, that our leadership is best judged over time.  We have to remember why we are serving as leaders.  We have to remember it’s all to make the world a better place for our fellow human beings.

“Leadership is not a license to do less.  It’s a responsibility to do more.  Leadership takes work.  It takes time and energy.  The effects are not always easily measured and they are not always immediate.  But, leadership is always a commitment to human beings.”  ~ Simon Sinek

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GROW School / Q101 at AsylumPM Thursday.  CSAUP on Saturday.  Title9’s last post before leaving to Oregon will be July 21st.  We plan to set an AsylumPM attendance record for him.