F3 Knoxville

Tag: Jumbo

Grainger County Christmas Story

THE SCENE: Clear skies, temps in high 20’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Run around the parking lot to get warm; 20 Side-Straddle Hops; 10 Burpees; 10 Cherry Pickers; 10 Rockettes; 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to start of the Dragon Tail.  We will run up dragon tail stopping at every other light to do 10 of the following exercises (one exercise for each run up).  After reaching the top, run on trail to road, back down to lower parking lot, and back to the start of the Dragon Tail to do the next exercise.  Here are the exercises:

  • Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Jump Squats
  • Merkins

Mosey to stop sign that is on the northeastern corner of the admin bldg.  We will be moving in a route with signs giving the directions for exercises along the way and where we go next.  The signs will be numbered and by cones.

  • Cone 1:  Do 10 Burpees.  Then bear crawl on sidewalk heading south to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  Do 15 Dive Bombers.  Then lunge on sidewalk south to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  Do 10 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1).  Then run to Cone 4 at porch of Admin Bldg.
  • Cone 4:  Do 20 Calf Raises on stairs and 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct.) on porch. Then run south on trail and back north on trail to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  Run down steps to parking lot below Coliseum.  Then run south up parking lot, around to southern end of Coliseum and north to Cone 6 which is by marble bench area of Coliseum.
  • Cone 6:  Do 20 Bench Dips.  Then run to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7:  Do 40 Baby Crunches.  Then run to Cone 8 which is on street near to the admin stop sign where we started.
  • Cone 8:  Do 20 Carolina Dry Docks.
  • Rinse and Repeat.

As a group we will take a 30 second gander at Beautiful Eastern TN below us.  Then we will mosey to parking lot with CMUs.

Each man grabs a CMU and teams up with a brother.  We will do Doras. While one man runs to pavilion and does 10 Picnic Table Pull-ups, the other does the exercises with the CMU.  Then partners switch. Each team will do the following exercises:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Squats

Put CMUs back and mosey to start of mini-cardiac.  Bernie up mini-cardiac to park sign, then sprint the rest of the way to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
28 men with one FNG:  John Case.  He is now named Lamont.  He is the father of member Mickey.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In my work as a therapist I heard a mighty fine Christmas story from one of my patients and decided to share it to you here in February.  My patient lives in a mountainous area in Grainger County, Tennessee.  Some of you may have heard of Grainger County tomatoes.  Most are grown in the valley of the county but some areas of the county can be pretty rugged.  Here’s a little demographic news for you in regards to Grainger County.  It is 94% white, 3.3% Hispanic, and probably less than 1% Black.  If you are a black man, you may not want to get stuck alone in Grainger County.  The patient I am talking about is a middle-aged white woman and she would tell you that.

She also told me about an African-American truck driver who was driving on a winding highway through the area she lived in on Christmas Eve.  As you may recall, Christmas Eve is the day we got that snow that gave us all a White Christmas.  The highway the man was driving on was curvy and slick.  Unfortunately, his 18 wheeler went off the side of the road and landed in a deep ditch.  There was no way to get that truck out easily.  It was going to take more than one large wrecker truck to get the truck out.  It being Christmas, that would take well over 24 hours.

The truck had valuable cargo and the driver was required to stay with his truck until it could be towed.  So this African-American truck driver was stuck on Christmas Eve miles from his home – in one of the most rugged areas of “redneck country”.  In Grainger County, if you aren’t driving a pickup truck with a gun rack inside your back window, “you probably ain’t from around these parts.”  The necessary clothing for a man is a pair of jeans with a can of snuff in your back pocket.

News can spread pretty fast in a rural county and the news of the sidelined truck came to my patient quickly.  She was frankly worried about this African-American truckdriver stuck in her neck of the woods.  She was concerned someone might try to start some trouble with him.  She wanted to go out to his truck to check on him but was worried about doing so until her husband got home.  He did later that day and they went out to the area where the truck was located.

What they found was a number of “neighbors” already congregated by the truck.  They also found these same “redneck” neighbors had brought the African-American truckdriver some hot dinner, hot coffee, and baked goods to snack on through the evening.  People from all over were coming to make the driver feel as comfortable as he could.  They even brought blankets but he had those in his cabin which he was able to keep warm through keeping the engine on.  They offered for him to come to their homes but he had to stay with his truck.  By the next morning the driver had hot breakfast and gifts of goodies and Christmas cards.  When the truck was finally pulled out of the ditch, the driver went home with more hot food and goodies that were brought to him at lunch and dinner time on Christmas Day.

My patient went to sleep on Christmas night feeling wonderful about the residents of Grainger County.  Whatever their beliefs and prejudices’, they had made an African-American stranger feel blessed and welcome.  It was a Christmas that I am sure he will never forget.  And, my patient, who has had a difficult year, sang “Joy to the World” a little louder on Christmas day.  The air smelled mighty fresh in Grainger County and the stars shone brighter for the rest of 2020.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the disenfranchised; for caregivers who are taking care of others and that they would have patience in that difficult task; for Ribbed and his wife, Sarah, after the surgery to remove the tumor by her spine; for Abacus’ mother who will need surgery on her leg; for those in F3 who have lost loved ones this year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Reward at Coffeeteria!

CMSaturday

[ The Scene ]

  • High 20s
  • Sunny
  • Ruckers and PAX unite

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’m stoked to be your Q this morning
  • FNGs?
  • Couple of things before we begin:
    • Not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • You know your body better than anyone so if you need to modify anything we do this morning feel free to do so
      • BUT push yourself and the men around you
      • They deserve it and so do you
  • COVID precautions

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • Shoulder-tap: 15×4 IC
  • Baby Arm Circles: 15×4 IC (back)
    • Little bit of this: R arm over
    • Little bit of that: L arm over
  • Cherry-Picker: 10×4 IC
  • Windmill: 10×4 IC
    • Little bit of this: R arm back
    • Little bit of that: L arm back
  • Merkin: 5×4 IC
  • Squat: 5×4 IC
    • Little bit of this: Michael Phelps
    • Little bit of that: torso twist

[ The Thang ]

(1) Quarter Pounder

(Mosey to CMU pile via the Dragon — all the way to the street/past the morning AO lot)

  • Every light: 25 reps (1count) broken into these ingredients
    • 5 Merkins
    • 5 Squats
    • 5 BBS getups
    • 5 SSHs
    • 5 mountain climbers
  • All together
    • 6 was recovered an all PAX completed 2 rounds together before heading to the CMU pile

(2) CMU Pile

  • Everyone get a CMU
  • Toe the line facing the play ground — CMUs in front
  • Bear Craw CMU drags
  • Every 5 drags = 10 BBS with CMU on feet
  • All the way to the other side of the parking lot

(Mosey with CMUs to The Island — parking lot below Pav)

(3) 100s

  • Bottom of The Island:
    • 25 curls (1 count)
    • 25 deadlifts (1 count)

(Mosey around to the top of Island with CMU on 1 shoulder)

  • Top of The Island:
    • 25 CMU chest presses (1 count)
    • 25 CMU lunges (knee to CMU) (1 count)

(Mosey with CMUs to the big tree outside the middle of the parking lot close to the river)

(3) CMU OffRoading

  • PAX walked with CMUs and circled up in field below baseball fields
  • Core Xs + one handed CMU merkins

(Carry CMUs to Picnic Table 1)

  • Flutter kicks: 10×4 w/CMU overhead

(Carry CMUs to picnic table 2)

  • American Hammers: 10×4

(Carry CMUs to picnic table 3)

  • LBCs: 10×4

PAX carry CMUs back to CMU pile

The Final Push

  • Pax get into lines of 4 facing up the hill to the AO/top of Cardiac
  • Teams of 4 sprint up to the AO and knock out ATMs as a team

Once all teams are done with ATMs — Core 4 (4 core Xs for the final 4 minutes – 60 seconds each

    • Flutter Kicks
    • BBSs
    • LBCs
    • American Hammers

[ COT ]

  • # off — 24
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs — GooGoo joined us from F3 Chattanooga
  • BOM

Michael Jordan Quotes — January 23rd

(1) – “You can practice shooting 8 hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

    • Pursue excellence in the basics, fundamentals

(2) – “I want to be the bridge to the next generation.”

  • High Impact Men and Women build bridges
    • We were created to build and strengthen things
    • Plant. Grow. Serve.
      • Plant something, grow it into something bigger than yourself, and serve it well.
  • High Impact Men and Women leave their legacy for the next generation
    • This is not contingent on if you have kids
  • High Impact Men and Women connect and help others get from point A to point B
    • This is not always a physical locationn

(3) – “Winning isn’t always championships.”

  • Learn how to discern a win this year.
  • Quit mis-labeling victories and wins because they don’t look what you thought they would/what you’re told they should look like

It all started with a BLIMP… Part deux

THE SCENE: Couldn’t ask for better winter weather…
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

4 sure


WARM-O-RAMA:

20 SSH 4ct

2 Burpees

20 Imperial Walkers 4ct

4 Burpees

20 Tempo Squats 4ct

6 Burpees

THA-THANG:

B – Moseyed over to the Dragon and knocked out 10 Burpees

L – Moseyed over to Death Valley or Super Bowl and broke up into team 1 & team 2.  Team 1 sprinted to the other side of the bowl and touched a tree then sprinted back while team 2 lunged in place.  Then team 2 did the sprint while Team 1 lunged in place. We did 2 rounds.  Already started to hear some groaning!  Lol

I – The Bowl was such a hit we stayed and around to do Imperial Walkers & Sprints. (2 Rounds)  More Groaning!  Lol

M – Continued in the Bowl since no one had spilled Merlot yet…  This time with Merkins and Sprints(2 Rounds)

P – The Bowl was getting too easy so we shipped out to the base of Everest.  We knocked out 20 Plank Jacks 4ct.  Then Team 1 lined up for an All You Got(AYG) up Everest,  Team 2 gave them a 10 second head start and was challenged to catch Team 1!  As if Everest didn’t suck without someone chasing you…

We knocked out some exercises at the top of Everest then proceeded back to the AO.

MARY:
Team 1 LBC’s while Team 2 ran up Baby Cardiac then swapped

Team 1 kept feet and head 6 inches while laying on their 6 while Team 2 ran up Baby Cardiac then swapped

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE
MOLESKIN:
Welcome FNG Stucco!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Blood Drive & CSAUP

Revealing Our Brokenness

THE SCENE: Cloudy, temp about 32 degrees
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Windmills, 15 Second Squat, 10 Rockettes, 30 Second Squat, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, 60 Second Squat

THA-THANG:
Mosey to CMU parking lot.  Instead of CMUs, each man grabs a pair of bricks which will be along east curb of parking lot.  We will Dora.  While partner one does exercises listed below with the bricks, the other man runs to other curb, does 10 Rocky Balboa, and runs back to replace partner with the exercises.  Here are the exercises with the bricks:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows (brick at each side)
  • 100 Triceps (brick on either side of head)
  • 100 Punches (both hands = 1)
  • 100 Wings Up
  • 100 Wings Down
  • 100 Wings Out

Put bricks down.  Mosey to Mini Cardiac.  We will Bernie to Park Sign then sprint to crosswalk.

Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  We will stop to do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to small parking lot below the Coliseum.  We will do Doras again.  This time, while one partner does exercises, the other runs up stairs, left on Coliseum sidewalk, and down to the driveway to small parking lot to reunite with partner who will then make the same run.  These are the exercises the partners will work on:

  • 100 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
  • 100 Squat Jumps
  • 100 Merkins (4 ct)
  • 100 Iron Mikes (both feet = 1)
  • 100 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)

Mosey to parking drive by apartments and soccer fields. We will do 20 Bicycle Kicks.

Mosey to parking lot that is south of playground.  20 Squats.

Mosey to Mini Cardiac.  We will, once again Bernie to Park Sign then sprint to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
26 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The Lord is close to all who call on Him, yes, to all who call on Him in truth.  Psalm 145:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

And it’s no, nay, never
No, nay never no more
Will I play the wild rover
No never no more.     —  Old Irish Folk Song

I used to belong to a Sunday School class in a church that I formerly went to that had nice, intelligent, and friendly people in it.  I found myself missing something in the class, however.  What it took me some time to realize was that people weren’t opening up in the class.  They freely talked about worshipping God, about helping others, about walking the right kind of life – but they weren’t revealing themselves in the process.  They talked about how “people” needed to apply the Bible’s lessons to their lives but not about how those lessons should be applied to their own lives. They weren’t talking about the true challenges they faced in their Christian journey. They weren’t talking about their BROKENNESS.  I remember wishing people would talk from their hearts.  I remember one woman in the class being more likely to do so.  I followed her example one time but no one else in the class did.  And, after a time, I figured, “heck, I’m not going to talk about my problems if no one else does.”  And so, I withdrew and finally just left the class.  Maybe I should have confronted the class.  Instead, I found a church where people do freely reveal themselves.

Men, it is important to REVEAL ourselves to God and to others we can trust.  We are broken creatures in so many ways.  As humans, we mess up!  We find ourselves making the same mistakes, sinning in the same ways, despite our promises to ourselves that we will not do the same thing again.  I certainly find myself making the same mistakes over and over.  It as if sin is inherent in my nature.  And, if we believe the Bible, SIN TRULY IS IN OUR INHERENT NATURE.  In the Old Irish Folk Song above, the singer proclaims “never no more will I play the wild rover” (i.e. drinking so much that one gets snockered).  Yet, the song is one that is sung with the comic knowledge that one absolutely will play the wild rover again, when the hangover is gone and the temptation arises. Despite our best claims to stop the sin within us, we sin again and again.  This could be in regards to many different things:  pornography, greed, animosity, overuse of power, coveting, prejudice, infidelity, or just plain worrying too much.  If we truly look at ourselves, consider every sinful part of ourselves – we are likely to feel great shame and may want to give up on ourselves.

But, we have a great and glorious God.  We have a God that actually wants us to reveal that sinful part of ourselves to Him.  He wants to know us fully.  And what happens to us when we truly reveal ourselves to Him?  LOVE happens.  Think about what happens here in F3 when a brother reveals his brokenness to the group. Do his brothers turn their backs on Him and run away?  Do they smite him?  Do they ignore him?  I think not.  They embrace him.  They let him know that they understand.  And, as his brother, they see themselves in him.  They know that they too have messed up, have been broken.  When God sees us revealing ourselves to one another, He Smiles from Above.  He celebrates.  He say, “Now that is what I want my children to do!”  Because through that revealing, we heal.  We get the feedback of love from our fellow man and from God.  And, it when we are strengthened by love, that is when we can experience True Change.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers to end racism and for our country to be more united.  Prayers for wife of Ribbed, praise for healing of Choir Boy’s wife, praise for Cap’n Crunch’s 25 wedding anniversary, prayers for Cheatsheet in the care of his mother and daughter, prayers for Veggie’s safe return back to college in the state of Michigan.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP from 6:30 am to 9 am at Asylum on Saturday, January 30.

Cooperation

THE SCENE: Cloudy and Chilly, low 40s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check.
WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 SSH, (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers, 4-ct, IC

– Little of this and that/ Michael Phelps/ Arm Circles

– Bolt 45s

THA-THANG:

MOSEY up Serpentine sidewalk and back down Baby Cardiac to CMU parking lot.  For a warmup.  Battle Buddy up, and each pair gets a piece of chalk.

COLLECTIVE EFFORT

We will work together to accomplish a difficult task in the CMU parking lot/Pavilion area, which will be completing a high number of reps of various exercises, all together, as a PAX.  As we complete the reps, we will cross off the markers to track progress.  If we do not complete all reps with 5 minutes left, we end with 20 Burpees, otherwise, we will do Stargazers.

The Tasks will be broken out as follows:

CMU Pile:

– 500 Curls (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 500/20 = 25 markers)

–  500 Overhead Presses (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 500/20 = 25 markers)

– 500 Squats (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 500/20 = 25 markers)

BABY CARDIAC:

  • 50 Sprints up Baby Cardiac (Marker indicators 2 trips each, 50/5 = 25 markers)

SUICIDES:

  • 50 Suicides (Marker indicators 2 suicides each, 50/5 = 25 markers)

CORE WORK:

– 500 LBCs (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 500/20 = 25 markers)

–  200 Big Boy Situps (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 200/20 = 10 markers)

– 200 American Hammers (2-ct) (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 200/20 = 10 markers)

PAVILION:

– 500 Jump or Step Ups (2-ct) (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 500/20 = 25 markers)

–  200 Decline Merkins (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 200/20 = 10 markers)

– 200 Bench Pullups (Marker indicators 20 reps each, 200/20 = 10 markers)

We ended up with more guys than expected, so we easily finished all the reps, and rinsed and repeated quite a few of them.  Ended with a final sprint up Baby Cardiac.

MARY:
Flutter Hammers, E2Ks, Box Cutters (all 20 reps, 4-ct IC)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
20 strong. Jetlag not tagged.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Quite frankly, I considered dropping my Q today, after witnessing the disgusting, inexcusable acts against our Capital building, the house of the people yesterday.  I was so disheartened, so sad, so ANGRY that I thought it beyond me to lead a Q after that.  But then I reconsidered.  If I just dropped the Q, that would be an abrogation of my responsibility. I would be putting the burden on someone else.  I would be turning away instead of being out front during a conflict.  Part of F3 is to foster leadership.  I don’t consider myself the world’s greatest leader, to be honest.  I’ve always been more of a Doer than a Leader.  But I’m trying to improve myself in that regard, and turning away is not what leaders do.

So, I Q’d today, but I scrapped my original workout and my BOM.  I’ll save it for next time.  I wanted to focus on doing something together.  Something collaborative, where we work towards a common goal.  We need more of that as a nation, because right now, guys, we are a broken and lost community.

One of the things I really appreciate about F3 is that it is apolitical. It has some pretty clearly stated goals, is very inclusive, and refrains from taking political stances.  I loved the National F3 response in the wake of the racial protests this past summer.  Their response was, “We have no response.  Our ethos speaks for itself, and we will continue on that mission.”  So I will honor that approach, and won’t go down a rabbit hole today voicing my opinions about what happened yesterday. With one exception…

One of the things that angered me the most of what I saw yesterday was the carrying of flags that invoked the name of Jesus, our lord and savior.  I’m not a biblical scholar, and I don’t pretend to be able to channel what Jesus would do or say in witnessing the ugliness of the mob yesterday, but I feel pretty confident that He would be sad, disgusted, even angry.

In the Sermon on the Mount (found in the Book of Matthew) Jesus Christ laid out the central facets of the way of life He taught His followers. One of the central themes of the Sermon on the Mount is Christ’s expectation that His followers be characterized by peace—not violence or war.  Jesus taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Christ’s followers should be characterized by living a way that leads to peace, not by violence and strife.  The apostle Paul wrote that Christians are to do whatever possible to “live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18), and many scriptures support the basic truth that Christians are to “pursue peace with all people” (Hebrews 12:14; see also 2 Corinthians 13:11; Galatians 5:22; James 3:17).  And with regards to hatred of fellow human beings, Jesus likens hating another man with breaking the 6th Commandment (Thou Shalt Not Kill) and says, “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” (Matthew 5:21-22).

I saw a lot of hatred in the faces of the mob yesterday.  I felt more than a little of it creeping into my own heart.  Hatred for our fellow humans, especially for our fellow Americans, is not the path of a Christian.

In closing, just some humble words of advice… I’ve heard it said recently that the biggest threat to our democracy and to peace between us isn’t Russia, Iran, the Corona virus, Republicans, Democrats, etc.  It’s the spread of disinformation on the internet and social media.  I tend to agree with this statement.  Please… before you form a definitive opinion on something, before you pass judgment on someone or something, and before you forward something on, share, post, like, whatever… just do a little research on it.  Take a look at multiple sources of information that are neutral, that are reliable, that can be substantiated, that don’t have an agenda.  Falsehoods, exaggerations, and us-vs-them mob mentality largely fueled what happened yesterday.  We need to start respecting and working cohesively with each other, like we did in the workout today, or we are lost.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for friends and families of the PAX that are healing from injuries, or dealing with deaths and sickness from COVID.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Asylum CSAUP Jan 30, 6:30-9:00 am. Asylum shirts are now available on Mudgear!