F3 Knoxville

Back in the Saddle

THE SCENE
28 and Clear

COP
Run to lower front parking lot
SSH x35 IC
Merkins (4ct) x10 IC
Imperial Squat Walkers x10 IC
Baby Arm Circles Fwd x12 IC
Baby Arm Circles Bkwd x12 IC
Run to HGTV Area

THA-THANG
Tree Trunks
– Squats x10
– Fwd & Bkwd lunges (same leg then switch) x10 each leg
– Side Lunges x10 each leg
– Jump Squats x10

Rinse and repeat

Run to parking area under the HGTV Area

Countdown
Partner up. One person performs the routine while the other jump ropes.

Routine:
One man runs to far cone perform x20 reps, run back to first cone perform x15 reps, run to the second farthest cone and perform x10 reps, run back to first cone perform x5 reps. Partners does jump rope while waiting.

Exercises:
1. Diamond Merkins
2. Dry Docks
3. BBS
4. Squats
5. Wide Merkins

Mosey to playground (The Cloud)
* Stop on the way at the parking lot, do 5 Wolverines

Bench 11’s
11’s on benches: Bench Squats and Dips

Run to end of parking lot, do 5 Wolverines, run back to the playground and do LBCs while waiting in the six.

Run to lower parking lot at far entrance to the trail. Take the trail to the SP, do Route 66 along the way.

Route 66
Run the trail stopping at each light pole to do merkins. Start with one rep and add step at each light pole until you get to the end.

At the SP, circle up for MARY

MARY
American Hammers (4ct) – x20 IC
Superman Swims (4ct) – x12 IC
Box Cutters (4ct) – x15IC
Superman Swims (4ct) – x12 IC
Flutter Kicks (4ct) – x15 IC

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
23 PAX

COT/BOM

“For this is the will of God,
that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
Live as people who are free,
not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil,
but living as servants of God.”

1 Peter‬ ‭2:15-16 ESV

Honor – Adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct

“Honorable men refuse to wallow in the small and the bitter.
Honorable men refuse to hate life because something once went wrong.
Honorable men don’t build monuments to their disappointments, nor do they let others brand them and curse them to their destruction.
Honorable men seek out the highest definition of their lives, the nobler meaning granted by heritage, by their ancestors’ dreams and their parents’ hopes.
Honorable men cry out to God until curses are broken and a grander purpose is achieved.
Honorable men don’t settle for lives of regret.”

Stephen Mansfield, Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men

As we push ourselves physically each week it is important to remember that we must also be pushing ourselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually…to grow as HIMs. Physical fitness is important, but character, virtue, integrity and leadership are paramount. Our world is starving for men with these characteristics. Men of honor who live beyond themselves. Men who are life-givers, not life-takers. I believe there is a direct correlation between strenuous physical exercise and the strenuous pursuit to live a life of honor, integrity and impact. Both take effort and focus. Both take intentionality, consistency and daily commitment. Both are met with resistance from the status quo and our own passivity. Both can’t be pursued alone and require me to surround myself with like-minded men who inspire, encourage and challenge me along the
journey.

Each morning in the gloom we have an opportunity to experience AND be these things for the men on our left and right. Iron sharpen iron. This is what it means to wear the “F3”.

 

They that wait upon their partner

THE SCENE: Clear, upper 30s, nice view of the moon. Not too many cool mornings like this left this season!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x25 IC
Cherry Pickers x5 IC
Cobra Burpees x5 OYO
Windmills x10 IC

THA-THANG:

Everyone grab 2 CMUs each and farmer carry to the Cloud

Today’s workout is Ruck-Friendly. We have 8 stations, each with a Workout and a Wait. Each Workout has a Ruck and Slick option.
Battle Buddy up, spread out, and attack the stations. While one partner does Workout, other partner holds the Wait. Then switch.
Once both partners have done the Workout, farmer carry to the next station.

Stations:
Knees to Chest (from plank position, feet in swing, pull knees to chest)
Ruck: x20 / Slick: x25
Wait: CMU Rifle Hold

Weighted Squats x15
Ruck: Ruck on, hold 1 block / Slick: Hold 2 blocks
Wait: Canoe

8-ct Body Builders
Ruck: x8 / Slick x10
Wait: Al Gore

Step-ups x10 each leg. Use one CMU on bench to add step height.
Ruck: Ruck on / Slick: Hold block
Wait: Plank

Curls x25
Ruck: Curl CMU or ruck / Slick: Curl CMU
Wait: Rifle Hold

Bench Lunge x5 each leg.
Ruck: Wear ruck / Slick: Hold block
Wait: Canoe

Merkins
Ruck: x15 / Slick x25
Wait: Al Gore

Swings
Ruck: Swing CMU or ruck / Slick: Swing CMU
Wait: Plank

After completing circuit, farmer carry out to the end of the parking lot and back, then repeat circuit.

After second circuit, time’s up! Return CMUs to the pile

MARY:
Out of time today.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 strong this morning!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The wait portion of this morning’s Thang reminded me of Isaiah 40:39:
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Obviously, we didn’t gain new strength waiting on our partner this morning, at least not in the short term. But “waiting” in this sense is not about sitting around and twiddling your thumbs until something happens. It’s trusting, hoping, listening, watching for Him to speak or move, and then obeying. In this, you will find you have the strength you need to do all things through Christ.

MOLESKIN:
Good luck to Lebowski on the GORUCK Basic in Asheville this weekend! Hopefully today was some prep for the welcome party…
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Thanks for supporting Street Hope TN this month!

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!

Meditation on Mortality

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

Wake up
THA-THANG:
Shuffled a big loop stopping at each mile for 20 HR Merks and 20 Thrusters times two rounds. Hit all the favorite hills in the hood. After we shuffled up Lover’s did 10 pull-ups. Snaked back down through the parking lot and took the little off road bridge path back to start.

MARY:
2 rounds of 20 4-ct flutters and 20 chest presses.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
6
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
MOLESKIN:
5.75 miles. Did the PT stops 4 times for 160 each of HR Merks and Thrusters. The second round of HR Merks each time were  rough.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Sidewinder is born

THE SCENE:  Rain, but hey, at least it’s warm.  Plus we have a Pav-a-lon, so who cares.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Everybody get a coupon from the CMU pile and head for cover.  Pax does SSHs while the Q goes to get his own coupon.  BAC forward and back, IC; A little of this here and that over there; Windmills, IC, slowing the last 5 down to Abe Vigoda speed.  Finish up with 20 or so Imperial Squat Walkers.
THA-THANG:
Brick joins a bit late into the Warm, so we all accompany him to the CMU pile for his coupon, and run a lap of the AO back to cover.  Then the real work begins

  • 3 sets of 11s: Table Rows/Box Jumps; Dips/Monkey Humpers; Merkins/BBS
  • CMU Curls, IC, x 25 on the 4 ct;
  • Introducing the Sidewinder:  Stand the CMU up; Side plank supported on one elbow with the upper foot resting on the top of the CMU.  Get your hips off the ground.  Move the knee of the lower leg up to touch the elbow of your upper arm.  That’s one rep.  Do 10 of these.  Then switch sides, so the other elbow is on the ground and other foot is on the CMU.  10 more reps.
  • Start a variation of 7 of Diamonds. Instead of reps at each corner, do a lap around the building in the dry and then do the reps.  Start by bear crawling down the length of the building on one side; mosey to the next length and lunge down that side, back to the pavilion.  After each lap, do an exercise:
  • For the first 4 laps, 7 burpees;
  • Next 4 laps, 14 flutters (4 ct);
  • Next 4, 21 Pickle Pounders
  • Next 4, 28 Squats

MARY:
Turns out that 7 of diamonds thing takes a long time, so we cut it short after the burpees and one round of flutters.  Mary was more flutters with a CMU held overhead, followed by 21 Pickle Pounders.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
About 4 years ago, I posted at an F3 workout for the first time.  Edit was the Q.  I weighed about 30-35 pounds heavier than I do now.  I barely survived.  His BOM was “Consistency.”  Though I’ve been much more consistent in a lot of aspects of my life (particularly posting at F3), I’ve learned that consistency in all phases – my walk with God, my role as a father, husband and friend, in my professional life – requires constant effort.  We’ll fail for sure, but keep at it.  The payoff for the effort is worth it.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Rainbow’s friend John as he struggles with liver problems and for Jinxy as he recovers from his hip injury.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Keep bringing in napkins, trash bags and copy paper!!!