F3 Knoxville

Philippine Independence Day

THE SCENE: Gloomy with a temp of high 70s. Anticipating the rain but fortunately did not drop. Instead of the usual meetup place, gents met up in the Lakeshore Shelter which is on top of the south parking lot near the Chapel.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3, Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. F3 is a free workout program designed to improve fitness, share some camaraderie, and foster male leadership in the community.  I’m Jetlag and I will be your Q today.  I am not a professional, and I do not know your fitness level or injury history.  Please push yourself, but modify the workout as necessary to avoid making any existing injuries worse.  The goal is to get better together!

WARM-O-RAMA:

Warmup: 12reps on a 4ct

  1. Windmill
  2. Side straddle hops
  3. Baby arm circles
  4. Reverse baby arm circles
  5. Plank jacks
  6. Plank front reaches

THA-THANG:
Workout 1: 2 rounds 12s in cadence at the Lakeshore Shelter

  1. 12 pullups
  2. 12 merkins
  3. 12 rows
  4. 12 shoulder press
  5. 12 biceps curls
  6. 12 triceps extensions/dips
  7. 12 step ups

Workout 2: Basic suicides in the parking lot
4 stations: 4 burpees each x 12 squats at the baseline
Finish with 12 burpees at the other end of the parking lot

Workout 3: 4 rounds in cadence at the driveway going out the parking lot

1. Start: merkins 4ct
2. Stop sign: mountain climbers 4ct

Workout 4: Around the Chapel 12s 4ct

  1. 12 Side straddle hops
  2. 12 squat jumps
  3. 12 butt kicks
  4. 12 frog jumps
  5. 12 high knees
  6. 12 lbcs

Workout 5: Back to Lakeshore Shelter

  1. Merkin Jacks 12x
  2. Kick Squat Jumps 12x
  3. Flutter hammer pumps 12x 4ct

MARY:N/A

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
27 HIMs. No FNGs. Mickey not tagged.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a viral video performance of Jane Marczweski, professionally known as “Nightbirde” from America’s Got Talent (video link here: https://youtu.be/bTJ3eeYrHI4). During the audition, however, Nightbirde shared some tough personal news — she had “some cancer” in her lungs, spine and liver. Nightbirde also later revealed that she was given a 2% chance of survival.

While singing her original song, “It’s Okay”, Nightbirde’s authenticity and ethereal vocals took center stage. The song is about getting lost, losing, or being down and it’s okay. Focusing on small wins in our daily lives makes us successful. Things may not turn out the way we want it to be, and it’s probably because God has better plans for us.

She ended her performance with a quote: “you can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy”. So gents, I hope you keep focusing on those small wins in your daily lives, keep your chin up and know that the man above has better plans for us when you’re feeling down and lost sometimes. Waking up and being there in an F3 beatdown,  smashing thru the workout is already a win for each and everyone of us and it means a lot just you being out there for your brothers.

“If you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright. It’s okay.” – Nightbirde

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jinxy and Lilydipper as they continue to heal. Praise for Dung Beetle who’s leading his first worship next week in their church.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Wesley House volunteers needed; CSAUP at Dog Pound end of July.

Pyramid Laps

THE SCENE: Cloudy and humid, but SOOO thankful for relatively cool temps (80 degrees) and a nice, gentle, whispering breeze…

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3, Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. F3 is a free workout program designed to improve fitness, share some camaraderie, and foster male leadership in the community.  I’m Pele and I will be your Q today.  I am not a professional, and I do not know your fitness level or injury history.  Please push yourself, but modify the workout as necessary to avoid making any existing injuries worse.  The goal is to get better together!


WARM-O-RAMA:

– Motivators (5-ct, descending)

– 10 Windmills (4-ct), in cadence

– Michael Phelps

– 10 Tempo Seal Claps (4-ct), in Cadence

– 10 Tempo Overhead Claps (4-ct), in Cadence

– OYO leg stretching

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to parking lot below Coliseum.

  • Pyramid laps! Partner up with like speed. Run opposite directions, Every time you meet (half way and back at start), do the following exercises in REPS of 20
    • LAP 1 Merkins
    • LAP 2 Merkins, LBCs
    • LAP 3 Merkins, LBCs, Mtn Climbers (2-ct)
    • LAP 4 Merkins, LBCs, Mtn Climbers (2-ct), Bobby Hurleys
    • LAP 5 LBCs, Mtn Climbers (2-ct), Bobby Hurleys
    • LAP 6 Mtn Climbers (2-ct), Bobby Hurley s
    • LAP 7 Bobby Hurleys

MOSEY to Amphitheater

  • Goal is to do each group of exercises, going up to top of hill after each group is completed, for a total of 5 times up the hill. Can be done in any order.  Exercise groups are:
  1. AB BLASTER:
    • 20x: LBCs, BBSs, American Hammers (4-ct), Bicycle Kicks (4-ct)
  2. ARM BLASTER:
    • 20x: Merkins, Carolina Dry Docks, Bottle Taps (4-ct), Diamond Merkins
  3. LEG BLASTER:
    • 20x: Bobby Hurleys, Iron Mikes (2-ct), Froggie Jumps, Squats.
  4. CARDIO BLASTER:
    • 20x: SSH (2-ct), High Knees (2-ct), Butt Kickers (2-ct), Mountain Climbers (2-ct), Smurf Jacks
  5. STRETCH BLASTER:
    • 10 x: Cherry Pickers (4-ct), Windmills (4-ct), Grady Corns (4-ct)

* we only got about 1/2 way through this before we ran out of time.

AYG Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
LBCs until 6 caught up.

Q called time prematurely, so we did tempo squats (10, 4-ct, IC) and 5 burpees just to make sure those guys keeping REEEAAALLL close track of time got their money’s worth! >:)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 HIMs, no FNGs.  Grid Iron not tagged.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Awhile ago, I heard the story of college basketball player, the starting center, who made a vow when he was young to never play basketball on Sundays.  His team made it to the Final Four, and then the championship game, which, unfortunately, was to be played on Sunday.  He explained his predicament to his coach and teammates, and they tried to convince him that just this one time, couldn’t he break his commitment and play?  Here it was, the biggest game of his life… why couldn’t he just make an exception?

In the end, he sat out the game.  As he explained it later, the nature of the promise wasn’t as important as the keeping of the commitment.  He said in the end it was an easy decision.  It’s much easier to hold on to your convictions 100 percent of the time than it is 98% of the time, because then you have to make decisions constantly instead of simply sticking to your guns.

It comes down to a choice about marginal benefits in measuring the value of your life.  Is it ok to do something wrong or unethical just this ONE TIME, for a benefit? Or is your life filled with greater meaning to forego that temporary benefit so that you can assure yourself you have fulfilled your promise to try not to sin, even though we understand and accept that we are all, in the end, sinners.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Biscuit and Wax Job and their families as their loved ones struggle with serious health issues.  Prayers for Jinxy and Lilydipper as they continue to heal.  Praise for Thunderstruck, who is getting married Saturday, and praise that Jinxy has been able to get out and attend workouts, modifying as needed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Wesley House volunteers needed; CSAUP at Dog Pound end of July.

Don’t Widen the Plate!

THE SCENE: Soooo beautiful! Upper 60s, popcorn clouds, nice amount of sunshine.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check


WARM-O-RAMA:

-30 Split Jacks (4-ct), 15 each leg, in cadence

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

– 10 Rockettes (4-ct), in cadence

– 5 PCMBs, OYO

– 10 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

THA-THANG:

PE EXAM (Hat tip, Erector)

MOSEY to STOP SIGN SOUTH OF ADMIN BUILDING, in a nice shady spot in the grass.

P – 10 Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees aka PCMBs.  Basically, a burpee with 3 merkins and pulling each knee to your chest between the merkins (see F3 Exicon).

Near same tree, up to nearest hill and back…

E – Elevens – squats at the bottom and BBS at the top.

MOSEY across street to curved road that leads to gravel parking lot.

E – Escalator – BEAR CRAWLING! Fives cones: 1) 10 Burpees, 2) 20 Squat Jumps 3) 30 Imperial Walkers, 4) 40 SSH, 50 lunge-walks back to start.

MOSEY to field below Coliseum

**WE INTERRUPT THE PE EXAM DUE TO THE INVASION OF A KRAKEN!**

KRAKEN:` 6 cones in a circle, with Ab exercises in blue, and upper body exercises in red.  Do the blue exercise, then run around clockwise plus one cone and do the next exercise.  Rinse and repeat until back and starting point.  Then do the same thing, in the opposite direction, doing the red exercises.  * Didn’t have enough time, so we just did one circuit, alternating between blue and red exercises at each cone.

  • Blue exercises:
  1. 20 BBS
  2. 20 Gas Pumps
  3. 20 Box Cutters
  4. 20 LBCs
  5. 20 Bicycle kicks (4-ct)
  6. 20 American Hammers (4-ct)
  • Red exercises:
  1. 20 Merkins
  2. 20 Carolina Dry Docks
  3. 20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders =1)
  4. 20 Diamond Merkins
  5. 20 Bottle Openers
  6. 20 Wide Merkins

MOSEY to small parking lot below Coliseum

X –Xs and Os , on Q’s call

MOSEY to Coliseum (… which had food trucks on it, and was being used by some people, so we went to the roundabout and did “A” there, substituting Bobby Hurleys for Bench Jumps)

A – Aiken legs – Done in succession with no rest — 20 Squats, 20 Box Jumps, 20 Lunges (10 each leg), 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward).

RINSE AND REPEAT

JAIL BREAK back to AO for the last letter.

M – Mary

MARY:
Captain Thors
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 dudes
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

An old coach named John Scolinos, who had begun coaching in the 1940s, once spoke at a Baseball coaching conference in Nashville, Tennesse in the 1960s. His talk was called, 17 INCHES.

He walked in with a home plate hung around his neck.

He said, “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck.

“Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?”

After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”

“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day?”

Another long pause. “Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.

He repeated the same question for high school coaches.  Minor league coaches.  And those who had any experience in the big leagues.  The answer was always the same.  17 inches.  “That’s right,” he said.  “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?” Pause. “The press calls him a bum and they send him down to the minors!”

“What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.’”

Pause. “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him? Do we widen home plate? ”

“What do we do when our kids misbehave, break the rules, and tell lies?  Do we widen home plate?”

“What do we do when our politicians lie to us, fail to live up to the moral standards that we expect out of our elected leaders, and stop doing what’s best for us and the country?  Do we widen home plate and say, “Well, that’s ok, the other side does it too”.  Or do we hold them to their actions, even if we consider ourselves in the same party as them?

We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!”

“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: “If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; We have dark days ahead!.”

Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches.  Don’t widen the plate.”

MOLESKIN:
Jinxy and Lilydipper joined us for the Board Meeting!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Kickball tournament this weekend.

Two Announcers

  • Welcome: Brrr.  37 degrees..  ready for summer
  • Warm Up:
    • A Taste of things to come, Flutters, SSH, Scissors, Sprints, Burpees, Hello Dollys.
    • Then a little humility tour
      • Pickle Pounders at High School Entrance
      • Monkey Humpers at Church Entrance
      • Smurf Jacks at Park Main Sign
      • SSH at All Saints Entrance
  • Work Out:
    • AMRAP until the end.
      • Run between the two Announcer Boxes (Football and Baseball) – with some exercises in between each Announcer Box.   Starting from the Football Announcer Box at top of bleachers
        • 10 Hello Dollys (4ct) – on bleachers
        • 10 Flutter Kicks (4ct) – on bleachers
        • 10 Scissor Kicks
        • 10 Dips
        • 10 Dirkens
        • 10 Burpees at 20 yard line
        • Sprint Across field
        • Lunge Up to Baseball Announcer Box
        • 10 Imperial Squat Walkers
        • 10 Rocky Balboas at first stair tier
        • 10 Rocky Balboas at second stair tier
        • 10 Burpees
        • Sprint Across Field  (That Completes One round)
    • With about a 20 minute time span I think we all had around four rounds completed.
  • Wrap Up & Warm Down:
    • With all the usual focus being on strength training and toughening each other up – I contrasted that with an encouragement towards gentleness and softness.  Handed out Lyrics to David Crowders new song “He Is”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvvKa9vyixw .   We stretched out during the playing of the song as we read the lyrics.  Do not forsake or forget Jesus’ gentleness and kindness.  As High Impact Men we are often encouraged to be tough – and though that is important – I believe it is our gentleness and softness that is the most attractive and alluring and inviting to others.
    • If you’re troubled
      Heavy hearted
      Come to Jesus and find your peace
      If you’re run down
      Empty handed
      Come to Jesus and find your strength
      He is Hope for the hopeless
      Rest for the weary
      Help for the hurting
      He is, He is
      Mending the broken
      Bearing the burdens
      All that you’re needing
      He is
      If you’re wandering
      In the darkness
      Come to Jesus and find your way
      If you want freedom
      Need forgiveness
      Just come to Jesus and find His grace
      He is Hope for the hopeless
      Rest for the weary
      Help for the hurting
      He is, He is
      Mending the broken
      Bearing the burdens
      All that you’re needing
      He is
      Comforter, Counselor, Prince of Peace
      Author and Maker of everything
      Defender, Deliverer, King of Kings
      He is, He is
      Helper and Healer forevermore
      Savior and Shelter through every storm
      My Refuge, Redeemer and Lord of Lords
      He is, He is
      Child of Heaven and Son of Man
      Provider, Protector, the Great I AM
      Alpha Omega, Beginning and End
      He is, He is
      Hope for the hopeless
      Rest for the weary
      Help for the hurting
      He is, He is
      Mending the broken
      Bearing the burdens
      All that you’re needing
      He is
      All that you’re needing
      He is”

All Hail the GOATS!

THE SCENE: Perfect! Sunny, mid 60s, slight breeze… we will miss this when it’s 95 and humid.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check.


WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 SSH (4-ct, IC)

– 10 Windmills (4-ct, IC)

– 10 Plank Jacks (4-ct, IC)

– 20 Moroccan Nightclubs (4-ct, IC)

– Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Amphitheater.

  • JINXY’S FOUR AND A QUARTER. Start at bottom of hill, run to top of slope and do 25 reps of an exercise, return to starting position.  R&R 4 times, totaling 100 of the exercise.
    • Round 1: Carolina Dry Docks
    • Round 2: Imperial Walkers (single count)
    • Round 3: Lunges (single count)

MOSEY to field across from Area 51.

  • LILYDIPPER’S FOUR CORNERS. Cones will be laid out in a square.  Move around the square 3 times, doing the exercises listed, in order.  Move to the next corner by the method indicated.
    • CORNER 1: 20 Merkins/ 20 Shoulder Taps (4-ct) / 20 Bottle Openers (4-ct). Sprint to Corner 2.
    • CORNER 2: 20 Box Cutters / 20 BBS / 20 Gas Pumps. Bernie to Corner 3.
    • CORNER 3: 20 Star Jumps / 20 Bobby Hurleys / 20 Tempo Squats. Bear Crawl to Corner 4.
    • CORNER 4: 20 Mountain Climbers (4-ct) / 20 Hurpees (Burpee without the Merkin) / 20 Plank Jacks. Skip to Corner 1.

MOSEY to Area 51

– 20 American Hammers, Run up slope to tree stump…

– 20 Pinto Twists, Run up to Street…

– 20 Rocky Balboas

MOSEY TO TOP OF SUMMIT

PINTO’S GRINDERS! 4 STATIONS:

  1. BAT HOUSE: 25 SMURF JACKS
  2. BOTTOM OF STAIRS: 25 BBS
  3. BOTTOM OF SUMMIT: 10 Burpees
  4. TOP OF SUMMIT: 25 LBCs.

We didn’t have time to do the whole Grinder, so we did the top exercises (Smurf Jacks and LBCs) at the top of the summit, ran down, did the Burpees and BBS, then charged back up.

MARY:
No time for the old gal…

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 strong!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
This workout honored some of the Goats, which is the name we gave ourselves sitting around at the Board Meeting a few years ago when we were by far the oldest AO.  In particular, I wanted to pay tribute to some of the guys in the DOUBLE RESPECT categories who were not able to join us this afternoon because of various ailments and injuries, namely PINTO, JINXY, and LILLYDIPPER.  There are several reasons we use the term DOUBLE RESPECT title, and sometimes we tend to gloss over it, or simply yell it out automatically in the BOM.  But these workouts are damn hard, and age makes them even more challenging, as I’ll be the first to tell you.  So there’s respect for the fact that the older guys are getting out there and busting their rear ends side by side with the younger crowd.  But also, these are the elders of our F3 community, and these three have been with the program longer than almost everyone else out here.  They set the example of how it should be done, and they may not be able to keep up with the rabbits in the group in terms of pure speed, but after being in F3 for 3 years I can tell you that no one does it better.  Their dedication to the tenets of F3 and in encouraging the next generation never flags.  It’s important to them to pass that torch on to the younger guys.  I remember Pinto getting on me for resting instead of keeping moving when I was standing in line to go down the stairs on the Grinder Circuit (“There’s no standing around! Keep moving!”).  I remember Lillydipper telling me how great I was doing and encouraging me when we I was absolutely dying going up Cardiac for the first time.  (And by the way… just watch Lilly when he moseys… he keeps running all the way to the stopping point, when 99% of the rest of us pull up 20 feet short and walk. ) And I remember Jinxy refusing to quit after pulling a leg muscle mid-way through his second lap on Hardship Hill a few years ago when I was running with him as a partner.  Dude had one leg, but he kept on going.  So thank you to our Double Respect warriors.   Their age may be pretty high, but you know what?  So is the dang bar that they set for the rest of us as F3 brothers. LONG LIVE THE GOATS!

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Lilly, Pinto, and Jinxy.  Prayers for the Austin East Community as they try to heal following the shootings and violence they’ve experienced the past year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Don’t forget to pick up something for the Safe Haven and World United Ministries charity drive!