F3 Knoxville

Tag: High-Heels

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.

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!

With One Eye Squinted…

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy, very pretty clouds, low 70s, quite breezy.  Good kite-flying weather.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-Motivators (7-ct)

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

– Hamstring stretches, sky reaches

– 20 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

– Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to stop sign at northeast corner of circle drive.

  • ARM STATION: MUCHO CHESTO
    • 10x Merkin
    • 10x Wide Merkin
    • 10x Stagger Left Merkin
    • 10x Stagger Right Merkin
    • RINSE AND REPEAT

MOSEY to Center of Coliseum.

  • LEG STATION: AIKEN LEGS
    • 20 squats
    • 20 Box Jumps (on wall)
    • 20 Lunges (10 each leg… but we did 20 each leg for extra credit)
    • 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward… but we did 20 each leg forward for extra credit)
    • RINSE AND REPEAT

MOSEY to lower parking lot under Coliseum

  • 5/10/15s. Get a Battle Buddy.  Partner 1 runs up to stop sign and does 5x reps of two exercises, then comes down and switches with Partner 2, who is running in place or doing SSH.  R&R with 10x, then 15x exercises.  The exercises are:
    • Round 1: Mountain Climbers and Peter Parkers (both 2-ct)
    • Round 2: Smurf Jacks and Froggy Jumps

Mosey to stop sign at southern corner of circle drive.  20 American hammers (4-ct, IC), 10 BBS.

Bernie Sanders to no parking sign.  20 American hammers (4-ct, IC), 10 BBS.

MOSEY TO AO.

CMU Catch Me If You Can!

  • Partner 1 Lunges away, Partner 2 does 20x of an exercise, then runs with CMU (overhead carry) to catch Partner 1.   Keep going, changing the exercises.  Partners must agree on exercise.
    • OPTIONS: Overhead Press, Curls, CMU Press, Situps, Rows, Triceps, Squats

MARY:
LBCs until 6 caught up.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 strong!  Plus one doggy.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Those of us in the Christian faith have just emerged from a special part of year, the Easter season.  Part of what makes Easter so extraordinary is that it is about moving on, emerging from the darkness, and having faith that God will make all things new again.  As the seasons change, winter turns to spring, and the Easter season arrives, we move ahead slowly, deliberately, with great love, and great hope.  But the true meaning of Easter is not without some darker elements as well.  Before we reach the time of great renewal and hope there can be much fear, hesitation, and confusion, similar to what Mary Magdalene felt initially when she saw the empty tomb.

(Mary) Flannery O’Connor is a well-known southern author who wrote strange and often violent short stories.  She was diagnosed with Lupus at a relatively young age.  Her stories were often influenced by her struggles with her disease, and were often sardonic and dark, but she was a devout Christian that also incorporated messages of faith in her writings.  Her faith-based outlook on life are on full display in a book called THE HABIT OF BEING, which is a collection of letters she wrote in the latter half of her life. And she writes that being a person of faith is not all sunshine and rainbows….

She writes, “All Human Nature rigorously resists grace. Grace changes us, and change is painful.  We don’t run towards Grace, sometimes we are dragged fighting it all the way.”  Faith calls us out of complacency, and into places of uncertainty. It’s risky. Uncomfortable.  It’s transformative.  She writes, “What people don’t realize is how much religion costs…” “It seems to be a fact that you have to suffer as much from the Church as for it, but if you believe in the divinity of Christ, you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.”  Fear. Uncertainty. Transformation. And only then, Exultation! That’s Easter in a nutshell.

Flannery O’Connor died of her illness at age 39.  Despite the struggles and challenges, she wrote of her life, “I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing.”  As we move through the darkness of the past year, hopefully we can acknowledge our blessings and faith in the journey, and, with one eye squinted, find some grace, some miracles in the year behind us, and recognize and act on the ways we were all called to be changed.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the return home of Corona Weight’s brother, prayers for Ribbed, Jinxy, La-Z-Boy and Lillydipper, as they recover from injury and illness, prayers for Steam’s friend Shawn.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
April service challenge! Details TBA.

Faithful to Us

THE SCENE: Sunny, temp in 30’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Windmills, 7 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Run to CMU pile.  Each man grabs CMU.  We will do the following exercises.  Between the listed exercises each man runs to the benches at the playground to do 10 bench jumps, then runs back.

  • 25 Overhead Presses
  • 25 Curls
  • 25 Rows

We then put CMUs back.

Mosey up cardiac and on trail to stop sign at intersection of park road and road to admin bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers and 20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will do 10 Tempo Squats, 20 Bicycle Kicks and 30 Baby Crunches.  We then run up Everest to roadway by Admin Bldg.  We will do 20 Flutter Kicks.

Mosey to parking lot below stairs at Coliseum.  We will do Doras.  While one man does exercises the other runs upstairs, heads south at Coliseum, the comes back down the parking lot driveway.  Partners then switch.  Here are the exercises that each two man team performs:

  • 100 Plank Jacks
  • 100 Merkins
  • 100 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • 100 Squat Jumps
  • 100 Imperial Walkers

Mosey down Picket’s Charge and back to Playground.  More Flutter Kicks until everyone arrives.

Mosey to outfield by baseball field closest to CMU parking lot.  We will split into two teams.  We will play soccer/ball shoot.  In this game there will be two large boxes at each end of the field.  Teams will kick soccer ball toward opponents end.  The shot at the box, however, must be made by man throwing ball to go inside the box.  The man cannot move when he picks the ball up.  If a team scores, that team will run to second base at the ballfield and back while the team that is scored on must run all the way to home plate and back.  Then game resumes.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
22 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
God is Faithful

The phrase “you gotta have faith” is one you have probably heard before.  I think that phrase often applies to having faith in ourselves, or having faith that things will work out, versus having faith in God.  Still, most of us have certainly heard of our need to have faith in God to get by in this world.  And, we do need to have faith in God.  Yet, we often fall short of being faithful:  in our trust of God, in our commitment to his desire for obedience, in living the loving and virtuous lifestyle that God expects from us.  Fortunately, we have a God who is faithful to us.  So much so that he was willing to, from the Christian standpoint, send his only Son to die for us on the cross.  It is nice to know that we have a God who is faithful to us, who is there for us.

That knowledge of his faithfulness keeps us strong.  I may have told some of you this story of my childhood.  I was about age 5 or 6 and I had acted rather poorly toward my mother earlier that day. It was getting towards evening and I came home to find the door locked.  No big deal, it was a policy to lock the door.  I rang the door bell.  No answer.  I knocked on the door.  No answer.  I ran around to the back of the house.  Door locked and no answer when I knocked.  I ran back up front and after ringing and knocking, I went to our large front window and peered in.  My mother was sitting on a chair in the living room.  How could she not come to me when I was ringing the doorbell and knocking so loud?  Had my mom stopped loving me because I had acted poorly that day?  I called out and she didn’t come.  I ran into the backyard and threw myself to the ground in tears.  Imagine Little Lilydipper, crying until the snot was draining in fissures from his nose.  I later heard my mom calling.  I took a while to get up.  She came to the backyard and found me in tears.  She asked me what was wrong and I told her the story of my persistent knocking and her failure to come to me.  She had been sitting at a chair sound asleep and had not heard me.  She thought she heard a child crying and that was what woke her up.

My mother took pity on me as I was obviously distraught.  So she sat with me, assured me that she would never leave me, would always have faith in me, that I would always be her special child, that I could count on her loving me forever.  She and I went to get a hamburger and ice cream at Goff’s Burgers that evening.  I loved that place because they had the best chili hamburgers in the world and amazing ice cream cones.  I sat there at Goff’s with a special feeling in my heart.  My mother would always be faithful to me.

Gents, we aren’t kids but it sure is good to know that God will always be faithful to us.  We can count on Him.  We may act poorly sometimes, we may upset him with our behavior. . . but we will always be His, we will always be special to Him.   You are His precious child.  Let that truth sink into you and give you that special feeling in your heart like I had that evening at good old Goff’s Hamburgers.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for those of Asian decent in our country because of the hatred that some have showed toward them; for the disenfranchised and folks who are not well and having to stay home; for Mr. Jinxy, Sarah, the wife of Ribbed, and Jan, the wife of Lillydipper; for Dung-Beetle who, as a minister, is working with so many in need, for those with Covid including the father of one of Mickey’s schoolmates, for those struggling with addiction, and that we may have discernment when watching the news as the news can be biased.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Beer ruck tonight at 6:00 pm!