F3 Knoxville

Reinvigorate and Replant

THE SCENE: Some of the most beautiful gloom I’ve ever seen.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Done
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • RFTS / LIH
  • Shoulder burn
  • WMH
  • Finkle swings

Partner up – grab one block per pair.  Partner 1 moseys with the block.  Partner 2 completes 20 merkins then runs to catch up and takes the block from his partner.  Keeping switching roles until we arrive at the King’s parking lot.

THA THANG:

Dora-style work

Partner 1 performs exercises

Partner 2 takes a lap around the island.

After each set is complete – both partners run up the hill and back

  • 50 SQUAT AND CURLS
  • 75 LUNGE PRESS
  • 100 CMU SWINGS
  • 125 CURLS
  • 150 HEAVY LBC
  • 125 TRI EXTENSIONS
  • 100 DERKINS
  • 75 HEAVY FREDDY
  • 50 BLOCKEES

MARY:

PAX choice for 3 minutes

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

16 men and 1 2.0

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Cardinal made his living as the pastor of a church in Harriman.  Years ago, he received two job offers on the same day.  One was a larger established church.  The other was a tiny country church that was actively disappearing.  He took his family to the smaller church.  He had a passion for “revitalizing” and “replanting” churches – that’s how he said it.

During the last week, I’ve heard this from many of you and from scores of men around the world who have reached out…I’ve also thought it myself – “That could have been me.”  It makes me reflect on how precious life is and on what my priorities are.  Sometimes my highest priorities do not always get the best of me and the most of me.

Psalm 39:4-5, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered how fleeting my life is.”

Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.”

Several PAX shared how they can reset on their highest priorities to make sure they are giving their best to what is most important.  Make sure you are taking your role and responsibilities seriously (e.g., make sure your M will be taken care of if you were to die suddenly).

I think our friend Cardinal would be thrilled to know that even his death caused so many men to be revitalized and replanted in their responsibilities and priorities.

MOLESKIN:

This workout was inspired by the beatdown I suffered at the hands of Feeny on Monday.  I was still sore when we started it all again!

PRAYERS / ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Prayers for Cardinal’s family, for the Rampart men, and for Cosmo’s family

Keep it Simple

THE SCENE: the Project, a few puddles, and cool
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

15 SSH, 15 Mountain climbers, 10 tempo merkins, 10 harry Rockettes, 15 Moroccan night club, 10 tempo squats, 5 cherry pickers

THA-THANG:
Mosey to toward the friendship bell stopping short at the corner of the gravel path. Do a burpee mile. 12 burpees followed by one lap. Repeat 4 times total.

Mosey to the amphitheater:

  • 25 merkins
  • 25 heels to heaven
  • Run to the pool wall
  • 10 wall ups
  • 25, 2-ct Imperial walkers
  • Run to the playground
  • 5 pull-ups
  • 25 squats

AMRAP

MARY:

Freddie Mercury, LBCs, 6″ LBCs, protractor, planks

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

10 kicked the morning in the teeth today!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36‭-‬40 NASB1995

Imagine what your life could be like if you just kept things as simple as those commands. No complicated relationships. No justification for rude behavior. Simply everything that we do, if we act out of love and kindness for others, we could make the world a different place.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The courage to lead

THE SCENE: Warm for January, low 50s and damp. Something like Ideal gloom with a waning gibbous overhead
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators
  • Tempo Squats
  • LBACs
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Fence Steppers
  • Grady corn

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to the parallel bars and have each man  handwalk the parallel bars
  • Mosey to the pool wall
    • Wall sit-ups – All PAX wall sit then do a wall-up upon command.
    • Repeat 5 times
  • Mosey to recruiting center
    • Relocate the entire block stack to the corner of the lot. TO move each block:
      • 20 plyo-merkins or thrusters to farmer carry each block
      • 20 4-ct heavy freddies or flutters to lunge the block
      • 20 swings or good mornings to rifle carry the block
    • Relocate the poles likewise in pairs
      • 20 golden arches then shoulder carry
    • Then move everything to the other corner of the parking lot
    • Then put it all back where we found it
  • RTF

MARY:
11 Heels to heaven, 11 American Hammers
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

On Saturday, I was fortunate to attend the convergence down at Bombshelter and, among several benefits, hear a message from Cap’n Crunch, one of the OG founders of F3 Knoxville. His message was framed with four points on how to improve personal leadership:

  • Resist Passivity
  • Expect Long-term Gains
  • Accept Responsibility
  • Lead Courageously

While any one of these points could serve as the jump-off point, today I am focusing on Lead Courageously. Unlike some other virtues, like temperance or fortitude, Courage is a word that still gets a fair bit of use in the modern cultural lexicon. Pretty much no matter who you are or how you view the world, everyone agrees that courage is virtuous, because everyone agrees that there are things which ought to be done that fear prevents us from doing. Now, Cap’n Crunch noted, and it bears repeating here, that courage is not the absence of fear. If you are not afraid, then you have no need of courage. Rather, courage is fortitude to endure fear which makes possible justice despite opposition, temperance in the face of temptation, and prudence which sees future peril but is not diverted. C.S. Lewis, in the voice of Screwtape, put it this way:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of all virtues at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity, or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” – Screwtape

Obviously, having courage is great, but how do I get it?

There is more than one way to answer this question, but today I want to focus on one that we moderns somehow often neglect: From the men at your side. Ever notice what lies at the center of this word: en-COURAGE-ment From time immemorial, men have been facing challenges in groups, even when it provides no pragmatic advantage. In fact, this reality lies at the very heart of F3. By facing our challenges together, with shields locked, we muster courage which we do not individually merit. Do not neglect to engage this resource, for:

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:36-39)

No one knows the future. If you desire to lead, you must either be naïve to this or courageous to face it.
MOLESKIN:
I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to lead you fine men this morning. Coming out of a bewildering day, you helped bring me back to center. Truly grateful for your fellowship today and always.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence at Rampart Saturday to finish his VQ and honor his memory. Receiving of friends is 3-5 at South Harriman Baptist Church, Funeral at 6. Burial will be Sunday at 2 pm at Bookwalter Cemetery in Knoxville.

Pocket Full of Kryptonite

THE SCENE: Cool, foggy, and 33. Perfect for gettin’ you gloom on!

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Chicky Check!

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH x15
  • Knox Cherry Pickers x5
  • Willy Mays Hayes x8
  • Tempo Squat x10
  • Tempo Merks x10
  • Down Dog + What’s up dog? x4
  • LBAC x10
  • RLBAC x10
  • Grady Corn x10
  • Hallelujah x10
  • Night Clubs x10
  • Chattanooga Cherry Pickers x10
  • Michael Phelps
  • SSH

Stretch OYO.

Let’s mosey!

THA-THANG:

11s on K25 Hill. Burpees at the bottom. American Hammers (2 count) at the top. First man calls recover.

Mosey to The Pond.

PAX partnered up for Dora. PAX 1 performs the following exercises. PAX 2 Dora’s around the loop.

  • 100 Shoulder Taps (double count)
  • 150 Merkins
  • 200 LBCs
  • 250 Monkey Humpers

RTB for Mary.

MARY:

Flutter Kicks – Bobbitt x15
Awkward Turtle – Ocho x10
Basilisk – Biohack x10

Time was called.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

YHC has a medical condition that require a strict diet. Generally, one does not notice how sick they are until they get healthy get healthy. Tons of very small day-to-day choices add up to gradually feeling worse and worse.

Which leads YHC to the following question:

What if Lex Luthor didn’t try to kill Superman with a large load of kryptonite? What if he just sprinkled a little bit in his cereal every morning? That hat would make Superman feel just a little bit off all the time. He’d eventually get used to that feeling after a while and accept it as a new normal. Without killing Superman, Lex Luthor could gradually and subtly reduce him to a mere man.

Where in your life are you compromising? Where in your life do you need more discipline? Where are you sprinkling just enough kryptonite in your life to keep you from being the man you’re meant to be?

Energy kryptonite – What zaps your energy during the day little by little?

Work/productivity kryptonite – What you wrote you for being a productive contributor?

Moral kryptonite – What are the erodes your moral principles?

Faith kryptonite – What erodes your connection with God?

Love kryptonite – What the roads your connections with other people?

We know the power of tiny habits in the positive sense. What are the tiny habits in your life that are slowly reducing you to less than you should be that need to go?

1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

MOLESKIN:
For those counting, if you finished the 11s at K25, you have completed 55 burpees.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
See Slack for details!

2023 January Metric

THE SCENE: Cool and pleasant
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivator
  • Cherry pickers
  • Windmill
  • Tempo squat
  • Big daddy arm circles
  • Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:

The following list of exercises are performed in sets of 25 reps. After completing a set of 25 reps, put down your CMU, run 25 yards, do 2 burpees, return to your CMU, and continue. 

Here are the exercises:

– 150 curls– 125 heavy squats– 100 OHP– 75 CMU swings– 50 Thrusters– 25 Blockees

When you finish the Blockees, start back at the top with curls.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Short weights and half measures were used to cheat people in commercial transactions.  In today’s metric workout, the only person to cheat is you.  Don’t take a half measure today to make it easier to show improvement in 6 months.  Take a real measurement and push yourself to get better.