F3 Knoxville

Tag: High-Heels

Control the Controllables

THE SCENE: The fakest fake gloom possible
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER DONE
WARM-O-RAMA:
32 SSH to celebrate the Vols win, cherry pickers, this and that, rockettes, and stretch to get ready to run.
THA-THANG:

  • BB with crouching tiger merkins and inchworm-merkin-squat
  • BB with Apollo Onos and American Hammers / V-sit OH claps
  • Bear Crawl fun!
  • BB with Criss-Cross Squats and Lunges
  • BB with Butterfly Big Boys and Sprints
  • BB up with some Burpee action

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
A dozen HIMs getting better
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Things at work have gotten chippy.  My office works with 100+ units and we’re always the end of the line, so when others upstream don’t do their part, it’s our problem to fix.  When other’s don’t pull their weight, we have to make up the slack.  With that, resentment can build and things that shouldn’t be said get said.  It’s helpful to remember the wisdom to “control the controllables”.  Attitude.  Action.  Effort.  I can choose to let things upset me, or choose to keep a positive outlook.  I can choose to participate in the negativity, or choose more positive actions.  I can choose to lower my quality of work, or I can choose to perform at my highest level.

You can’t control much of anything that goes on around you.  But, you can control your Attitude, Action, and Effort.

The Equalizer De-Escalator

THE SCENE: Pretty chilly, most of the snow is now gone 

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Done and Done Well

WARM-O-RAMA:

Blindside’s Standard Warm-up: 

SSH IC x20 | LBAC x10 IC each way | Little of This, Little of That | Rockettes IC x10 | Tempo Squats IC x10 

THA-THANG:

Equalizer De-Escalator: 4 Stations; 3 Exercises per station; Do number of reps for all three; mosey to next station; Return to the first station and do the new amount of reps 

  • Dock (25, 20, 15, 10, 5 reps)
    • CDD 
    • BBS
    • Freddie Mercury
  • Rockpile (25, 20, 15, 10, 5 reps) 
    • Curls 
    • OH Press 
    • Rows 
  • BathHouse (10, 8, 6, 4, 2 reps)
    • Pull-ups 
    • Burpees 
    • Mountain Climbers 
  • Stonehenge (10, 8, 6, 4, 2 reps 
    • Box jumps 
    • Derkins
    • Imperial Squat Walkers 

MARY:

1 Session of Boat/Canoe

1 Session of Superman/Banana 

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

6 HIMs; 2 Pre-Ruckers 

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Peter the Tentmaker. On top of the mountain during the Transfiguration of Christ with Moses and Elijah, Peter is the only Apostle that speaks. He tells Jesus that they should build three tents for each of them there. He wants to keep this moment forever. Peter basically word-vomits. He suggests something that doesn’t make sense for the situation. Much like Michael Scott from The Office. Starts a sentence and has no idea where it is going. 

We should have the faith that as long as we are honest and good-hearted, God will be pleased with our speech. Jesus does not rebuke Peter.

Tears of Joy

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Motivators, starting with seven.  10 Tempo Merkins.  10 Cherry Pickers. 10 Windmills.  Ten Twisties.  Ten Baby Arm Circles forward and backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the stop sign by the main park road and the road that goes to Admin Bldg.  We will do 10 Imperial Walkers and 10 Lunges with each foot.

Mosey to the bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will do Ten Speed Skaters, then run up Mt. Everest.  Those reaching the top can do invisible skip ropes until everyone arrives.

Mosey to the steps at the front of the admin bldg.  We will go around the loop that goes from the Admin Bldg to the Coliseum.  We will stop at the following spots to do the following exercises:

  • On porch of Admin bldg:  20 Merkins
  • At south curve of loop:  20 Squat Jumps
  • At benches of Coliseum:  20 Bench Dips
  • At north curve of loop:  20 Squats
  • Rinse and repeat above two times.

Next, we will have a snowball fight in the grassy area in the middle of the loop.  Last man hit by a snowball gets a free breakfast from your Q.

Mosey to Pavilion that is close to AO.  We will do 20 Bench Dips then run to AO parking lot to do 20 Iron Mikes (one leg = 1).  Rinse and repeat but with 20 Decline Merkins at the Pavilion.  Rinse and repeat one more time but with 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups at the Pavilion.  (Note:  we will do 20 Iron Mikes in the parking lot with each rinse and repeat).

Mosey to the baseball field directly behind AO parking lot.  We will go to grassy area.  We will have a game of Ultimate Frisbee Football.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eleven men, no FNGs.  Great to have La-Z Boy visit our AO this Saturday morning.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Feeling The Tears of God Brings Joy

I heard in interesting story on NPR this past Monday.  It was about a man named Brandon Jackson who was recently released from prison after being convicted of armed robbery 25 years ago.  The conviction was based on a 10-2 split jury decision in the State of Louisiana.  Louisiana courts began to allow 10-2 decisions on such felony cases during the Jim Crow era.  The purpose was to be able to dismiss the votes of the occasional black juror that might make up a jury and vote someone innocent.  No one actually witnessed Brandon Jackson commit the alleged robbery.  His conviction was based on the testimony of a witness who had changed his story a number of times and got off on a lighter sentence based on his testimony.  The Louisiana Supreme Court in 2020 declared a split-jury conviction on such a felony case to be unconstitutional.  However, the ruling was not considered to be retroactive.

Brandon Jackson spent his time in Angola prison, a notoriously violent prison.  After an altercation with correctional officers, five of his years was spent in solitary confinement.  He got out on parole one month ago.  He has always maintained that he is innocent.  I don’t know whether he was innocent or guilty of the crime but I liked his interview.  Imagine your own reactions to our world today if you had spent 25 years behind bars.  He told the interviewer about how he waited at the counter of a grocery store for a long time waiting for someone to check him out.  Finally, an employee showed him how to scan his own items.  He was baffled and amazed.

I also liked some of the things that Brandon Jackson had to say about happiness and joy.  He said happiness is fleeting but that joy is something different.  He said that he doesn’t hold any grudges or regrets about what happened to him in the past.  Now that he is out of prison, he wants to help those in his community who may also have been in trouble.  He commented that, perhaps God had allowed his imprisonment to happen to prepare him for some purpose he needs to fulfill. As for joy, he finds it in small things.  He finds joy in sipping coffee with his mother each morning and reading the bible with her.  He finds joy in simply going outside.  This man, who had spent so much time behind bars, remarked, “We had a little rain one day, so I just went outside and stood in the middle of the backyard.  I wanted to feel God’s tears pour on me, so I just stayed there.”

The great Christian theologian, C.S. Lewis, also talked about the difference between happiness and joy.  He also said happiness is fleeting.  Joy is different.  It is a walk, a journey, a state of being.  C.S. Lewis indicated that people long for joy but do not find it in riches, fame, or power.  He said that when we finally discover joy, we find that joy itself is not what we are really seeking.  It is the Source of Joy that we seek.  That source, Lewis says, is God and Jesus Christ.

Brothers, may each of us find the source of Joy in our life journey.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Crawdad’s friends in the Ukraine.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Brolympics on November 5 this year!

Life is an Adventure

THE SCENE: Perfect.  Low 60s and plenty o’ sun!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check
WARM-O-RAMA:

– 20 SSH (4ct, IC)

– 20 Moroccan Nightclubs (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Windmills (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Tempo squats

– 10 Grady Corns (4 ct, IC)

-Leg Stretches

THA-THANG:
We repeated some of the exercise stations from CSAUP so that the guys who missed could experience it a bit, and to recreate the nightmare for those that did attend. 🙂

MOSEY to Area 51

PRISON YARD (AREA 51)

OBJECTIVE: Your adventures have gotten off to an inauspicious beginning.  You have been charged with a crime! You must serve your punishment by doing hard labor.

  • Do 10 PRISONER GET UPS in the parking lot

 

  • BEAR CRAWL to Wall of building, do 10 PRISONER CELL MERKIN BURPEES (PCMBs).

 

  • EL CAPITAN back to parking lot. RINSE AND REPEAT.

 

MOSEY to Gravel Parking Lot

ENDURANCE TRAINING

OBJECTIVE: After that short little mosey, I can hear you panting like a She-Dragon in Labor! You are already out of breath, and you call yourself a HIM?? To achieve ultimate HIM-dom, you must train to IMPROVE YOUR ENDURANCE!

Do a SEABISCUIT! Run one lap around the parking lot (staying outside of the cones) and then do:

  • 10 Merkins
  • 20 Big Boy Situps
  • 30 Squats

Run TWO laps, Repeat the exercises

Run THREE laps, Repeat the exercises

Mosey to AO, stopping twice to do some American Hammers and LBCs.

PRINCESS’S TOWER (SPACE NEEDLE)

OBJECTIVE: You must rescue the princess trapped in the Tower, but first you must slay the dragon that guards her!

EXERCISES:

  • Do a WELSH DRAGON*

SAVE the Princess! RUN to top of tower (Space Needle), do 20 SQUATS at each turn of the stairs. Touch the picture of the princess and return to bottom.

MARY:
No time for good ol’ Mary.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 plus two dogs plus one 2.0, plus one ex Nan’taan
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Life is not a problem to be solved, but an adventure to be lived!

  • John Eldredge, Wild at Heart.

When I was young I read every Choose Your Own Adventure book I could get my hands on.  For a kid who had a very active imagination, but was also constrained by little things like school, chores, going to Grandma’s house every Sunday, “rules”, avoiding getting beat up by a big brother, and on and on…. I usually didn’t get to live out those wild dreams that were always in my head.  And being a scrawny little runt who was always the smallest kid in class and in our neighborhood gang, I was far from looking the part of the noble hero or the brave adventurer.  The books were a wonderful diversion.  You could pretend you were a swashbuckling pirate on the high seas, an astronaut on a far-away planet, a wizard infiltrating the castle of frost giants, or a treasure hunter looking for a lost artifact in a distant land. And the books made you feel like you had a little bit of control, but in the end, you usually died anyway. Kind of like what happened in CSAUP. 😉  But then as you grow up, you gradually start to lose a bit of that magic.  Life gets in the way.  Bills, jobs, responsibilities.  Like little Jackie Paper, painted wings and giants rings make way for other toys.  And one day it happens… and you stop frolicking with a magic dragon in a land called Honnalee.

But every once in awhile, it’s great to revisit those places of imagination and dreams.  And that’s why I loved helping to create the CSAUP story line.  Yeah, I got to torture all of you guys who participated… but it was fun to bring just a little bit of magic and adventure to a morning that was completely stupid and utterly pointless.  I hope you all enjoyed it too.  And if you missed it… Take a visit back to Honnalee.  pick up one of your old Choose Your Own Adventure books and go through it again.  But every time you slay the dragon of save the princess, or find the treasure… you owe me 20 burpees!

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Ukraine, CRISPR’s work environment, Pusher’s daughter’s band trip to Florida

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None

Steam Can’t Count Because He’s Not A Professional, But It Was Still A Pretty Good Q

[ The Scene ]

TBSIA (The Best Sunrise In America) was slowly beginning to arrive on the scene.

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • A few things before we begin however:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • If you need to modify anything we do this morning feel free to do so. But in that moment of potential modification ask yourself this question: CAN I DO BETTER? Then ask the HIM on your left and right if they can as well.

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • Motivator: 5 (Steam can’t count to 5 for Motivators so he will need a Q101 soon)
  • Baby Arm Circles: 10×4 F / 10×4 B
  • Mountain Climber: 10×4
  • Merkin: 10×4

[ The Thang ]

(Mosey to the flagpole)

(1) Flagpole — 5s

  • 5 Xs: 25 reps on a 1 count
    • SSH
    • Merkin
    • Squat
    • LBC
    • American Hammers
  • 5 stations
    • Flagpole: 25 SSH
    • Corner 1 of parking lot: 25 merkins
    • Corner 2 of parking lot: 25 squats
    • Corner 3 of parking lot: 25 LBCs
    • Corner 4 of parking lot: 25 AHs
  • The movements
    • 5 rounds
    • Doing your SSHs here, running to corner 1 and doing that exercise, running back here, and rinse and repeat what you just did, but adding the next corner into the mix
    • For example: SSH, merkins, squats — back to the flagpole
    • Adding a corner each time until you’ve done all 4 corners in one round
  • Recover back here when you’re done

(Mosey to The 3 Strands)

(2) The 3 Strands

  • Strand 1 (Far Left) — run to the other side + execute 5 man-makers + run back on strand 1
  • Strand 2 (Middle) — run to the other side + execute 10 man-makers + run back to the other side
  • Strand 3 (Far Right) — run to turn other side + execute 15 man makers + run back to the other side
  • You’re always starting on this side, and running back to this side after the man-makers

(Mosey to The Dock)

(3) The Dock

  • Core 4 25×4
    • LBCs
    • Cockroaches
    • Flutter kicks
    • Reverse BBS

(Mosey back to the Pavilion)

  • 10 step ups
  • Run to the parking lot (AO)
  • Execute 50 SSH (1 count)
  • Rinse and Repeat

[ Mary ]

Down + Back sprints and squats and merkins across the parking lot

Cash-Out: ATMs

[ COT ]

  • # off
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs
  • BOM

[ The Zelensky Leadership Model ]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s response to a potential airlift from the U.S., in light of Russia invading Ukraine, has gotten a lot of attention and spotlight over the past week or so. Here was Zelensky’s response: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Take the politics, the names, positions, locations out of this and what do you have? You have an incredible leadership principle +  model. In this specific situation, you have a leader asking for the tools to stay in the fight, rather than taking the first chance to get out. And don’t we do the opposite of this in our lives sometimes?

If you subscribe to the Christian faith, here’s what this can sound like, at least for me sometimes:

“God if you would just airlift me out of this situation.”

“God please get me out of this.”

If you don’t, and more culturally speaking, the soundtrack of this goes something like this:

“That’s not my job/problem.”

“This is a sign that this isn’t what the universe has for me.”

—versus—

“God supply me what I need to stay in the fight.”

“God – you have me here for a reason. Please supply me with the tools to do your will.”

—Or—

“What tools do I have at my disposal to attempt to make this situation better?”

So what is the “ammunition” that helps us keep the faith + fight the good fight, even when the fight we’re in seems insurmountable? If you’re a follower of Jesus is the Bible or the word of God. So then we take this leadership principle from Zelensky and ask ourselves “Am I asking for ammunition to fight the enemy or simply looking and waiting for a way out?” 

Takeaway: The world needs more High Impact Men that are willing to stay in the fight and ask for the ammo/tools to battle, than jump ship after the first shot is fired. Because here’s what HIM do: 3 things

  • They don’t flee from the fight, they stay rooted in the darkest of night
  • They don’t look for an extraction point, they find and create rallying points
  • They don’t escape, they elevate

“Quit looking for rides out and start asking for ammunition to stay rooted where you are.”