F3 Knoxville

Tag: Lillydipper

Just, Kind, and Right

THE SCENE: Not too hot, cloudy, low 80s, but soooo dang humid.  Not a stirring of a breeze to be found…
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!  Some additional COVID-19 considerations: keep your distance between you and other members of the PAX and any other folks that we pass during moseys, etc. to 6-10 feet.  We will be splitting up into groups smaller than 50 if necessary.  We need to set good examples and be good neighbors out here at this public park, especially with so many folks out and about.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-25 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Abe Vigodas (4-ct), in cadence

– 25 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

– 25 Tempo Squats (4-ct), in cadence

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Area 51 parking lot.

  • 25s! 5x/20x, 10x/15x, 15x/10x, 20x/5x Reps of exercises
    • EXERCISES: Bobby Hurleys (far side) and Carolina Dry Docks (near side)
    • Do first exercise, run down to opposite side of the lot, do other exercise, BERNIE back.

MOSEY to top of sidewalk hill, going towards Everest.  20 American Hammers. 20 count.

Continue to Base of Everest. 10 American Hammers/10 Hello Dollies/10 Bicycle Kicks (4-ct), run to base of summit. Hold Plank until 6 catches up.

GRINDERS! Count off by 4s to do a staggered start.  1’s start immediately, 2’s = 5 Imperial Walkers, 3’s = 10 Imperial Walkers, 4’s = 15 Imperial Walkers then start.  When finished do Imperial Walkers until 6 catches up

  • BASE OF SUMMIT: 25 1/2 Burpees (no pushup), run up to top of summit
  • TOP OF SUMMIT: 25 LBCs, run to bat house
  • BAT HOUSE: 25 Smurf Jacks, run down stairs
  • BOTTOM OF STAIRS: 25 BBS, run back to summit

RINSE AND REPEAT (we really only did this once, but ran the summit hill twice)

.11s W/ PARTNER in grassy area with wall at top of Evereset: Exercises are DIPS and INCLINE MERKINS.  One partner does the 11, while the other partner does LBCs, then switch.  Progress through the 11s sequence until we run out of time. (most pairs got to 6/5 or 5/6).

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
25 Hello Dollies, courtesy of Lillydipper, (who was complaining about getting on our 6 in the newly cut grass, so I “volunteered” him to lead so he’d quit his yappin’ 😉 ), 10 star jacks, courtesy of Brick, who after his VQ on Tuesday is almost a professional .  All 4-ct, IC.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 HIMs, including one FNG!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

THE STORY OF JOSEPH.  The story of Joseph has been on my mind lately.  Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, and Jacob’s favorite.  He was a Daddy’s boy.  Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat (coat of many colors), and Joseph had dreams showing him as superior to his brothers, which he tells them about for some reason.  Maybe not the best idea.  To no one’s surprise, all of this causes the brothers to become jealous, throw him in a pit, and sell him into slavery in Egypt.  Although they left him essentially for dead, Joseph thrives in Egypt and becomes vizier to the Pharaoh.  The brothers return to him during a famine, starving, asking for help, but they don’t recognize him.  He is in the position of evening the score.  REVENGE!! (cue Braveheart music…) Does he let bitterness take over his heart?  No.  He ultimately brings his whole family over to Egypt, saving them from the famine.

Who else has thought to themselves when they’re in a difficult situation, struggling in life, or at their wit’s end, “NOTHING GOOD CAN COME OF THIS”? But looking back, how often do you see that something good HAS come of it?  God is always there, bending our history and lives to justice and love.  As Joseph tells his brothers when they are reunited, what they had meant for evil, God had meant for good.

Even in the greatest darkness there can be something beautiful and good.  A literal example of this can be seen in some of the great paintings of the world.  There are brushstrokes of darkness and light.  The most beautiful pieces of art contain both sadness and joy.  Without those dark areas, the art would not be as beautiful.  So it is with life.  There is always a source of comfort in difficult times for those who love God.  In the story of Joseph, God was there with him, in the pit, as a slave, in prison, and in Egypt.

Instead of revenge, Jacob focuses on what is JUST, KIND, and RIGHT. He helps his brothers and brings his family to Egypt to avoid the famine.  He does not take the dangerous position of standing in for God.

I saw another example of this in Abscess’s Facebook post from Dredd who was discussing a sign that said NO BIGOTS, RACISTS OR MISOGYNISTS. His point was essentially that this is the wrong approach.  While the sentiment may be admirable, you could argue that this type of judgmental exclusion is taking the position of standing in for God.  We should actually invite factionalists to our table and sit down with them, so we can have discussions.  Who are we to judge?  The Pharisees mocked Jesus for the low company he kept and brought an adulterer to him demanding justice.  The penalty was death by stoning.  That’s when Jesus said “Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone”.  They all dropped their stones and went home.  It does us little good to judge, especially when none of us are exempt from flaws and sin.

We don’t always have to even the score.  Let go of the anger, the frustration, the desire for vengeance, like Jinxy talked about in his Word at the workout on Saturday.  Get rid of it. There is another path.  Today’s world has complex problems, and one of the difficulties I have is that I often see some value in everyone’s perspective (LIBRAs, amiright??…).  Therefore, I have trouble coming to a definitive conclusion about what the best solution is, and become frustrated that there are so many problems, and so few solutions.  The world is very confusing, and the problems we face are numerous, nuanced, and intertwined.  It can be overwhelming to try to make sense of it, try to figure out exactly how to act and fix it.  I think that if we all focused on what is JUST, what is KIND, and what is RIGHT, we can make a bit of difference in the world for the better.

MOLESKIN:
Praise for Jenner for positive developments in his pursuit of a medical degree.  Prayers for Guppy’s grandmother and for Jan, Lillydipper’s wife.

Welcome to FNG Spanky! (Raphael… sorry, I forgot his last name.  He is friends with Puddle)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None

The Essential Isn’t Imposed

THE SCENE: Misty and humid, temps is 80s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 10 Toes Reaches, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward, 7 Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign at northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to perimeter trail and head west.  We will follow the perimeter trail north to the shaded tree by Lyons Bend.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey to Mt. Everest.  We will do 40 Baby Crunches, then run up to large tree, circle around it and return.

Mosey to shaded area by water bldg.  20 Flutter Kicks.

Mosey to North Shore gate and head east on trail.  There will be cones in flat grassy area to the right.  We will divide up men to start at different cones.  We will go counter-clockwise to each cone. The cones will list exercises.  We will do circle the cones three times doing the first exercise listed the first time there and continue in sequence the next time there.  However, before starting into the next sequence of cone exercises we will make a full circle around the cones.  Here are the exercises for each cone:

  • Cone 1:  1. 20 Bobby Hurleys.  2. 20 Smurf Jacks.  3. 20 Star Jumps.
  • Cone 2:  1. 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  2. 20 Squats.  3. 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)
  • Cone 3:  1. 20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1).  2. 20 Mountain Climbers (both legs = 1).  3. 20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1)
  • Cone 4:  1. 20 Merkins.  2. 20 Carolina Dry Docks  3.  20 Diamond Merkins

Mosey to beginning of parking lot at Area 51.  We will Bernie Sanders to the curb by the grass, then run back to the starting point of the parking lot, then Bernie Sanders back to the curb again.  Next, at curb we will do 20 Toe Taps (4 ct).  Then we will run to the road up top where there is a shaded tree.  There, we will do 30 Second Leg Lift.

Mosey to bat cave.  From the bat cave we will sprint to the administration parking lot.  Each man walks back to bat cave after the sprint, then sprints to parking lot again.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Hello Dollies, 20 Tempo Merkins.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
20 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Quote from James Finley, a theologian and former monk who studied under Thomas Merton: “That which is essential never imposes itself for love is always offered, it’s never imposed, and that which in unessential is constantly imposing itself.”

God created us in His image.  He made us for communication with Him.  We fall short in life if not with Him.  We are in need of Him.  Without Him we are thirsty.  Without Him there is something wrong in our lives.  His love is Essential.  And, as James Finley says, his love is offered freely to us.  It is not imposed, it is not forced upon us. It comes to us in so many ways: the playfulness of a child, the chance for rest or Sabbath, the words of the Bible, the laughter among friends, intimacy with a partner, the love shared by a neighbor, the smile of a stranger, the songs of the birds, the beauty of the mountains, the plains, the wind, the sky, God’s creation.  Notice how these Essential things hang back, they do not force their will on us, they do not impose themselves.  Notice how we have to truly look, to truly listen, to truly observe in order to appreciate them.  It is like pulling over to the side of the road to really enjoy a sunset.  You sit there in your car and our blown away by the beauty.  And then, after you start the car up and drive on home, you think to yourself, I need to do this more often, I need to truly take this beauty in each day.  It is like when you hear a great song that makes the hair rise on your skin and you think, how beautiful, how powerful, this song makes me want to be more than what I have been.  Or, it is like when you are at worship and hear a particular sermon that makes you almost want to cry and you think, man, I need to remember this, I need to take this into the fiber of my being . . . and, a few days later you kind of forget what the sermon was all about.

A problem we humans face is that, like Finley claims, “the unessential is constantly imposing itself” on us.  What are some of these unessential things?  Wealth, power, fame, success, popularity are examples.  Think about our daily lives.  Think about what the world says we should be.  We are constantly bombarded by shoulds in our lives. “I should do more to rise to the top at work.”  “I should work more hours so that I can make more money.”  “I should get a bigger home.”  “I should get a nicer car.”  “I need to participate in more organizations so that I am doing more with my life.”  “I gotta make that deadline.” “I should be slimmer and more fit.”  “I should spend more of my time working for charities so that people see how much I am giving to others.”  “I need to be the top salesman in my region this year”.  “I need to belong to that country club because it is populated by some of the most notable people in Knoxville.”  I am not saying that any of the above things are unworthy.  But, they are unessential.  These shoulds are often what we pay the most attention to.  And by doing that, we lose sight of God’s creation, God’s love.  We miss out on what God has made essential for us.

Lord, help us to spend more time focusing on the essential.  You have given these essential things to us because you love us.  You don’t impose them on us.  You give us free will to accept them because you know that true love cannot be forced upon us.  Help take our eyes away from what is unessential and keep our eyes on you.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Prayers for Title -9 as he adjusts to living in Oregon, for Lily’s wife who will have double mastectomy surgery on Wednesday, Augut 19, for Thunderstruck’s mother as she faces chemotherapy and blood transfusions, for safety of the F3 dads and kids at camp this weekend, for the AO in Morristown that we helped start.  Steam will be going to the Morristown AO workout to support them this Saturday and welcomes anyone who would like to go with him.

Press On

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Wide Arm Circles forward and 10 Wide Arm Circles backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the stop sign at the Northeastern Corner of the Admin. Bldg.  We will be moving to different cones on a counterclockwise route past the admin bldg and back to where we start.  The cones will tell us the exercise and how to move to the next cone.

  • Cone 1:  20 Hello Dollies (4 ct).  Sprint to Cone 2
  • Cone 2:  20 Big Boy Sit-Ups.  Bear Crawl to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  20 Jump Squats.  Run to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  40 Shin Lifts on steps.  Run to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct).  Run to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6:  20 Dive Bombers.  Run to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7:  20 Merkins.  Hop to Cone 8.
  • Cone 8:  20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)  Bernie Sanders to Cone 9.
  • Cone 9:  20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct).  Run back to Cone 1 to rinse and repeat.

Mosey to plaza at Outdoor Colosseum area to gander at East Tennessee.

Mosey to semi-circle area close to soccer fields and housing area.  We will do following along each small fence pole along the semi-circle:  Bear Crawl for 3 poles and do 3 hand-release merkins, lunge for 3 poles and do 3 squats, run for 10 poles.  Then start again until semi-circle is finished.  When semi-circle is finished, complete a full circle by going to street and going back to starting spot to Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to Playground. We will do elevens at benches, starting with 1 Bench Jump and 10 Bench Dips.

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups, 20 Decline Merkins and 20 seconds of regular Pull-ups at the Baseball Dugouts.

Mosey to CMU pile.  Each man grabs CMU.  We will do 20 Overhead Presses, 20 Curls, 20 Squats, and 20 Rows with the CMUs.  Replace CMUs.

Mosey to start of Mini Cardiac.  Bernie to Park Sign, Sprint to top crosswalk, then walk to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
J.K. Rowling’s book, Harry Potter, was rejected by 12 different publishers before being accepted by Bloomsbury Publishing.  Can you imagine being one of the reviewers who rejected Harry Potter?  Talk about regretting a decision!  John Grisham’s first novel, a Time to Kill, was rejected 30 times before it was published.  Still, it wasn’t widely read.  After he published hits like The Firm and The Pelican Brief people finally read Grisham’s first book, A Time to Kill, and people ended up loving it.  Stephen King’s first published novel, Carrie, was also rejected 30 times.  Nobel Prize winning author William Faulkner was famously rejected by many publishers.  He kept every rejection he ever got.  Now he is considered one of the greatest authors of all time

The message we can learn from so many authors is this:  Don’t Give Up.  Keep pursuing your vision.  Our brother, Crawdad, has already received praise for what he has recently written.  I hope he keeps on writing.  For those of you who have important goals ahead, whatever the task, don’t let falling short get you down.  Maybe that is what it takes to finally get to your goal.  Myself, at age 62:  I have never mastered the pull-up!!  I am pretty good at push-ups but, perhaps because my arms are so darn long, I can’t do a pull-up.  I recently bought a pull-up bar that I have wedged between two slats in my basement.  I figure that doggone bar may reject me 100, 200, maybe 1000 times but one of these days I am going to do a pull-up!!

When times get tough we sometimes can lose faith in ourselves and faith in God.  As a Christian, I love these words from Paul in the bible.  From Philippians 3: 13-14:

Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Don’t lose faith.  Press on toward your goal men!

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Choir Boy’s wife and Lillydipper’s wife, prayers to end racism and dissension in our country, prayers for Mermaid’s friend who hurt his back.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Workday at 8:45 am, August 8 at Mooreland Heights Elementary School.

Hold Thy Tongue

THE SCENE: Rained heavy immediately before the workout and ended up with dry but humid conditions, temp in low 80s.  The AO was at northern ball field parking lot due to rainy conditions before we started.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot with islands on south side of northern ball fields.  Do 20 Hello Dollies.

Next we will do Christmas Candy Canes in July.  We start on one end of parking lot and go around and 1/3 of the way back down.  Thus, the diagram of the travel is in the form of a candy cane.  We will do the following runs with stops at each island to do the following exercises, running back to the start of the candy cane once the full route is complete:

  • Sprint, stopping to do 3 Burpees at each island.
  • Bernie Sanders, stopping to do 10 Squats at each island.
  • Sprint, stopping to do 10 Merkins at each island
  • Grapevine left or right stopping to do 10 Big Boy Sit-Ups at each island.

Mosey to Pavilion at northern ball fields.  Do 25 Picnic Table Pull-ups, 25 Bench Dips and 25 Decline Merkins.

Mosey to CMU Pile.  Each man grabs CMU.  We will do the following exercises.  We will Sprint to end of parking lot and Bernie Sanders back after each exercise.

  • 20 Overhead Presses
  • 20 Curls
  • 20 Rows
  • 20 Squats with CMU at chest

Replace CMUs and mosey to center of parking lot.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct) and 40 Baby Crunches.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Proverbs 10:14

Wise men store up knowledge,
But with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand.

Proverbs 13:3

The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;
The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Some of us are extroverts and some of us are introverts.  Some of us are talkers and some of us prefer to say little.  I tend to be on the talkative side and sometimes get in trouble because of it.  I haven’t experienced the ruin talked about in the verses above but I have sounded mighty foolish at times.

In groups settings, it helps me to listen closely to the words of those who generally keep silent.  I find that, if they do speak up, what they have to say is usually doggone important.  Back in my college days, I belonged to a fraternity.  We would have fraternity meetings weekly.  All members had the opportunity to speak.  I don’t mean to tell you that those who spoke often did not have good things to say. But, members who seldom spoke often gave us wonderful pearls of wisdom when they did.  I particularly think of two fraternity brothers:  Mark Williams and Blair Jones.  They were some of the shier guys in the fraternity.  When they did speak at our meetings you could sometimes her a pause in the air – that was because our guys were truly contemplating what they said.  What they said was on point and meaningful, frequently giving us perspectives we had not considered.  Mark Williams is one of my best friends today. I still can count on him for advice and council.

Why do I bring this up?  Partially for my own benefit.  Being a guy who sometimes speak too much, I need to remember to store up knowledge and guard my mouth, as the aforementioned Proverbs allude to.  But I also say it for the benefit of those of you who are not extroverts, who are not likely to speak before large groups.  Don’t be afraid to share what you have to say when we gather together at the end of our workouts.  Don’t be afraid to Q a workout and give a message at the end of it.  You are the wise men who have been holding your tongues and storing up knowledge.  Give us the benefit of your words of wisdom.  We will grow because of it.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pacman and his daughter.  Prayers for wives of Lilydipper and Choir Boy.  Prayers for the City of Portland and the peace that is needed there.  Prayers for Title 9 who is now in Eugene, Oregon.

Wanna Bet?

THE SCENE:

The epitome of fake gloom muggy, humid nastiness.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3. Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. I am CRISPR, your Q for today. This is a free workout and you’re here on your own volition. I am NOT a professional. I do not know your injuries or capabilities, so feel free to modify as necessary. Safety is the #1 priority. Remember we are under social distancing rules, so keep your distance from others.

WARM-O-RAMA:

15x Side Straddle Hops, 10x Windmills, 10x Imperial Walkers, 7x Cherry Pickers, A little bit of this, little bit of that, 10x Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Mosey to The Bowl. Black Jack (Round 1):  Do 1 Hill Run, then 20 Gas Pumps, then 2 Hill Runs, then 19 Gas Pumps, and so on.

Mosey to steps of Admin Building. Deck of Death (4x):  When a “Flipper” gets to a station, they flip to the next card, and do the exercise (2-Ace, where J=11, Q=12, K=13, A=14).  If you’re not a “Flipper”, just do the card facing up when you arrive. If a deck has been finished, keep going until all are finished.

Mosey to field by AO. Black Jack (Round 2):  Alternate between Jump Squats and Plank Jacks.  Do 1 Squat, then 20 Plank Jacks, then 2 Squats, then 19 Plank Jacks, and so on.

Black Jack (Round 3):  Alternate between American Hammers and LBCs.  Do 1 American Hammer, then 20 LBCs, then 2 American Hammers, then LBCs, and so on.

Finish up with some Catalina Wine Mixers and a Wave of Merkins.  Do an “Obama” (4 count bear crawl with 4 merkins) back to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

25 HIMs including one FNG – Furby

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Something that’s been on my heart lately Is whether or not to keep my kids home this fall or to send them back to school. I know this has been on a lot of people’s mind and we’re all wondering if we’re making the “right” decision.  As I’ve been wrestling with this decision I’m trying really hard to remember the lesson I learned from a book called “Thinking in Bets” by former World Series of Poker Champion Annie Dukes.

Essentially, we all confuse DECISIONS with OUTCOMES. For example, many of us know a guy who always buys his wife flowers remembers every birthday and anniversary shows up for all their kids’ events and provides financially and emotionally for his family, but ultimately winds up in a divorce.  Does the outcome of a divorce mean that his behaviors bad decisions just because they resulted in a bad outcome?

In her book, Annie Dukes describes the difference between, decisions and outcomes in a poker example. Imagine going all in because you’re holding 4 Kings, but then on the River card the guy across from you backs his way into a Straight Flush and wins the pot.  Was going all in with 4 Kings a bad decision just because it ended with a bad outcome?

I’ve used the phrase “make good decisions”, but how do you do that? Annie Dukes suggests one way to make better decisions is simply to ask, “Wanna bet?”

Consider this…  Every F3 workout ends in a “Name-o-Rama” where we give our birth name, age, and F3 name. At the end of every workout I say my birth name is “David”. But, if I said, right now, “Wanna bet $100 my birth name is David?”  How does that change what you previously knew to be absolutely true?  I guarantee you’ve already started questioning yourself. Maybe my name is Andrew David Smelser, III and I just go by David as not to be confused with other family members?

By just asking that simple question “Wanna bet?”  You’ve gone from knowing something with 100% certainty to something less than 100%. And, now that you’re less than 100% certain your brain can accept new information, options, and possibilities to come in which allows you to make better decisions.

I encourage us all to ask ourselves, “Wanna bet?” and to know things with less than 100% certainty so we can make better decisions for ourselves and for those around us.