F3 Knoxville

Tag: Lillydipper

Taking Time to Reflect

THE SCENE: Sunny, temps in eighties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Iron Mikes, 10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers, Michael Phelps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  There will be sets of bricks.  We will be doing Doras with the brick.  While one partner runs to cone, does 10 merkins, and comes back the other partner will be doing exercises with the bricks.  The partners switch off when one partner comes back from the run.  The partner teams will do 100 of each of the following exercises with the bricks:

  • Overhead Presses
  • Curls
  • Rows with brick at each side
  • Punches from chest out (punch with each hand = 1)
  • Wings out
  • Wings up
  • Wings down

Mosey north to perimeter trail and head west on perimeter trail to area below Roadshow Run.  Each man will do 20 Big Boys, then run to top of Roadshow Run by the bat house.  There, each man does 40 Baby Crunches.  We will rinse and repeat.  The first man who finishes then runs back up Roadshow Run sweeping all men upward.

Mosey to grassy area in shade and by small wall on west side of road.  We will do elevens starting with 10 Jump Squats and 1 Incline Merkin with hands on wall.  We will do another eleven with 10 Mountain Climbers (four count) and one bench raise off of wall.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Ten men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I read this week about something that the comedian Louie C.K. said when he was being interviewed by Conan one time.  He commented that he doesn’t want his kids to have cell phones because he wants them to be sad.  He was being funny with this comment but he was also being serious.  Sadness can come when we are forced to be alone with our thoughts.  The comedian noted, “That’s what the phones are taking away, the ability to just sit there.  That’s being a person.”

He also talked about a time when he was driving and listening to a Bruce Springsteen song on the radio.  He was feeling a melancholy come over him and his immediate response was to grab the phone and text somebody.  Instead, he let the sadness grow and pulled over to the side of the road to weep.  Afterwards, came another strong feeling, one of joy and thankfulness for his life.

Technology and cell phones are not bad things.  They are useful things.  But we can get too absorbed in it.  In so doing, we may find that we are avoiding true alone time, true thinking time.  We may be be pushing aside time to reflect over the events of the day, good and bad, that impact us cognitively and emotionally.  We may be merely numbing our minds.  We are not struggling but sometimes struggle is important.  And as Louie C.K. implies, sometimes sadness is good.  We don’t like seeing our loved ones, our children, or ourselves feeling sad.  But sadness is an important emotion – one that can inspire us to change or one that puts us more in touch with humanity.  Life is about loss as well as gain.  Sadness comes with loss and it is important to reckon with it.

The bible gives us plenty of images of Christ weeping – whether over the death of Lazurus, for the fate of Jerusalem, in compassion for others, or in anger over the tyranny of death over mankind.  Christ does not keep us from experiencing sadness.  But, in living in a relationship with Him, with God, he also shows us what true joy is.

Louie C.K., explaining his resistance to cell phones and technology, stated “you don’t ever feel really sad or really happy, you just feel. . . kinda satisfied with your products.  And then you die.”

I hope that we, as HIMs, are striving for more.  That striving for more may take the form of welcoming the Gloom when it meets us in the cold of a 5:30 am workout or heat of a 5:45 pm beat down.  It may also come in the form of welcoming the sadness that sometimes comes about in living a meaningful life.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Sparkler’s stepdad, Shooter’s friend, and Iceman’s brother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Neyland run on Saturday, May 11.  Hardship Hill on Saturday, May 18.

The Road Not Taken

THE SCENE: Warm, mid 80s, sunny, with a slight breeze (thank goodness)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Nailed it.


WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct) IC, 10 Cherry pickers (4-ct) IC, 20 Lateral Hops (4-ct) IC, 10 baby arm circles (small to wide) forward and backward(4-ct) IC

THA-THANG:

PE EXAM!! (Hat tip to Erector!)

Mosey to stop sign at main road for the first letter of P.E. E.X.A.M.

P – 10 Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees aka PCMBs.

Mosey to the grassy hill partway down the Dragon’s Tail.

E – Elevens – merkins at the bottom and Bobby Hurleys at the top.

Do Escalator down Dragon’s Tail.

E – Escalator – 10 burpees, 20 squat jumps, 30 mountain climbers (2-ct), 40 iron mikes (2-ct, audibled to 1), 50 LBCs at each successive light.

Took the road less travelled.  Play a bit in the sprinklers by the new bathrooms, and then Mosey cross country all the way across grassy field in front of Admin building to stop sign at junction of circle drive.

X – Xs and Os , 2 minutes

Mosey to parking sign up the road towards admin building

A – Aiken legs – Done in succession with no rest — 15 Squats, 15 Froggie Jumps, 15 Lunges (each leg), 15 star jumps.

Mosey back to AO for the…

M – Mary

MARY:

  • Captain Thors
  • 20 Bottle Taps or Openers, always forget what they’re called (4-ct) IC
  • 20 Box Cutters (4-Ct) IC
  • 20 Pickle Pounders
  • 20 Hello Dollies (4-Ct) IC
  • Ring of Fire
    COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
    8 strong, including one FNG, whom we named Squirtle. J-Lo not tagged.
    CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
    Recently, a friend’s blog led me to revisit one of my favorite poems, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (note the title… The Road Not Taken, NOT The Road Less Traveled):

    Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

    And sorry I could not travel both

    And be one traveler, long I stood

    And looked down one as far as I could

    To where it bent in the undergrowth;

     

    Then took the other, as just as fair,

    And having perhaps the better claim,

    Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

    Though as for that the passing there

    Had worn them really about the same,

     

    And both that morning equally lay

    In leaves no step had trodden black.

    Oh, I kept the first for another day!

    Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

    I doubted if I should ever come back.

     

    I shall be telling this with a sigh

    Somewhere ages and ages hence:

    Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

    I took the one less traveled by,

    And that has made all the difference.

    A common misconception about this poem is that the road that the protagonist takes truly is less traveled, and as such has some additional inherent worth than the other road.  But upon closer reading, the two paths are actually equal, the other path being “just as fair” and was worn “really about the same”.  Having this pointed out to me was fascinating, as I had never noticed it before.  Two key conclusions can thus be made:

    1. The paths are essentially equal in worth, and therefore, picking one over the other is essentially like flipping a coin.
    2. The way we perceive choices affects our decision and the ultimate outcome.  The author PERCEIVES that one path seems to be less traveled, and takes it, and as he says in the last line, “that has made all the difference”.

    But what affects our perception??  This is where I see a bit of a religious meaning in the poem.  Two options exist.  Which one to choose?  I tend to agonize over big decisions, and have prayed over such choices, asking God to direct me down the best path.  But there may not truly be a “best path”… each may have its own advantages and disadvantages.  But for me at least, given some time, my preference of one path over the other grows stronger, and I select it.  And you know what?  Each big choice has worked out.  That doesn’t mean that if I had picked a different path my life would be in flaming ruins.  But God has gently guided me down the roads that have lead me to where I am today, and I am very grateful that He is with me to help me choose, even if the choices are relatively equal.  Don’t beat yourself up over the choices you make.  Sometimes we choose well, sometimes, perhaps poorly, but open your heart to God and let him help lead you down whatever path your life takes.

    PROVERBS 3:5-6

    Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
        and do not lean on your own understanding.
    In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.

    ISAIAH 30:21
    And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

    Psalm 119:105

    Your word is a lamp to guide me
    and a light for my path.

    MOLESKIN:
    Good luck to the Ruckers competing this week-end!
    ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Q has no rhythm and Bearmuda Triangle Survival

THE SCENE: Overcast, Mid 70s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 20 IC

Candy corns – 30 IC (kind of)

Windmills 15 IC

Arm Stretches

Imp Walkers (20) IC

THA-THANG:
Mosey Down Steps – all the way to the path way at base of Everest

  • Bernie up back of Everest to Plateau
  • Bearmuda Triangle – 3 rounds-bearcrawlbetweeneachcone
    • 1st Round – 1 burpee at 1st cone, 2 burpee at 2nd cone, 3 burpee at 3rd cone
    • 2nd round – 4 strides, 4 merkins til 2nd cone, last cone 8 strides, 4 merkins
    • 3rd round – 8 bbs at first, 16 bbs at 2nd, 24 bbs at 3rd
  • Mosey back down to path at bottom of hill – 3 rounds with “Peoples Wall” at end of each (sit against fence for 1 minute) for a total of 3
    • station 1 – pulse squat x5 + squat jump x 5, station 2- 20 American Hammers, station 3 – 20 plank jacks, station 4- 20 lbc (4 ct)
    • station 1- 25 bbs, station 2- 20 bobby hurleys, station 3 20 decline merkins, station 4 – 20 imp walkers (4 ct)
    • station 1- 20 hello dolly, station 2- flutter kicks (4 ct), station 3- 20 bbs, station 4- 20 slow squats
  • mosey back up stairs to top stairs with hand rail- 20 heal dips heals parallel, 20 head dips, heal inward, toes outward
  • mosey to AO

MARY:
none.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We all go through seasons of change, God decides when we will have each season, it is out of our control. Sometimes we may initiate a change of seasons, but God controls the pace. Some season changes come fast and completely upset your universe. This is God’s way and we cannot change it. We often question these changes, but it is futile to try and understand the reasons. No one is spared from these season changes – some will get alot, others more gradual, but no one is immune. We need to understand this is God’s way and we need to accept it. Psalm 104:19 “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knows his going down.”
MOLESKIN:
Pray for Sharpie and his wife Kerri
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
none

Pain is Gain

THE SCENE: Beautiful day, temps in high 70’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle-hops, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Windmills, Plank stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on southeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to Area 51.  We will run up hill stopping three times to do decline merkins.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to bat house above Roadshow Run.  We will do the Pinto Grinder.  We will start with 20 Star Jumps by bat house.  Then run down stairs and do 20 Diamond Merkins.  Run to grove of trees just below peak of Mt. Everest.  Do 10 Burpees.  Run up to peak of Mt. Everest and do 20 Big Boys.  Rinse and repeat.

Do 20 American Hammers in Shade.

Mosey to stop sign at northeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.  We will head back on road toward AO but stop at each cone along the way.  The cones will instruct us what to do next.  The instructions at each cone are as follows:

  • Cone 1:  10 Shoulder Taps (both arms = 1).  Bear Crawl to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  25 Baby Crunches.  Lunge to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  20 Flutter Kicks (four count).  Bernie Sanders to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Buzz saws (four count).  Grapevine with face away from Admin Bldg to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Carolina Dry Docks.  Grapevine with face toward Admin Bldg to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6.  Go back to Cone 1 to rinse and repeat.

MARY:

10 Bottle Caps, 20 Box Cutters, Stretches.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNGs.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 That’s why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day. This light, temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison, because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

It can be human nature to desire the easy way out.  But the fact is that truly good things generally involve toil, effort and pain.  I often times witness people wanting to move forward but unwilling to accept anxiety, stress or pain in order to get there.  As a psychologist I see people wanting to take narcotics or avoid challenges to that they don’t have to experience anxiety.  I am not belittling the anxiety that those with Anxiety Disorders must battle.  But some people actually think humans aren’t supposed to experience anxiety.  They want to avoid anxiety at all costs.  The fact is that anytime we take on new challenges, we are going to experience anxiety.

I see some people wanting to improve physically without experiencing pain.  I know that doctors and physical therapists see this all the time.  Someone gets total knee replacement and then is sent to see a physical therapist.  They stop going saying the physical therapy only made them feel worse.  Of course it made them feel worse – it is supposed to make them feel worse – so that through work, pain and effort they will improve and eventually feel much, much better.

We in F3 get up early mornings to face the gloom and experience the pain and thrashing of an F3 workout.  It is supposed to be painful.  Without the pain we don’t receive the gang.  We could wimp out and make it easy for everyone.  But as Cheatsheet proclaims, “Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself!”

We often think relationships are supposed to be free from pain and turmoil.  Nothing goes wrong in our relationships in the Honey Moon stage.  Your lover can do no wrong.  It is later that we wake up to the reality that this lover is a real person – with her own strange idiosyncrasies and opinions that don’t,God forbid, always coincide with ours.  We begin to think, what’s wrong with this person – maybe she isn’t right for me.  But maybe, just maybe, that person is right for you.  To find true love is to work through differences with another that can sometimes be painful.  But in working through these differences we see we can learn and live with them.  We find something richer and greater – not a person who will agree with us about everything – but someone who will love us, no matter how hard that task can be (look at yourself, that can be pretty doggone difficult) and will help us to grow stronger and better for it in the process.

Finally, with God it is not always rosy and wonderful.  We sometimes want to turn from Him when things aren’t wonderful and going our way.  We may blame Him for it, say “Where the hell are you God?”  Or, we may not want to follow Him when He wants us to do something we don’t like to do.”  But God’s way is the best way, not the easy, rosy way.  We don’t just follow God when it feels good.  We follow God when it is difficult, when it is not all fun and games, when we doubt, when we hurt, when we are ready to give up, when we are angry and pissed at Him.  In so doing, we find faith, we find hope, and we have a true relationship with a God who desires relationship and desires to make us better men.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for five of Abscess’ friends who have had heart attacks.  Continuing prayers for Pinto who is recovering from his heart attack and heart surgery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill!

Cogs in the Wheel

THE SCENE: Misty, in 40’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 15 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot near entry to northern ball fields.  We will split into partners of two men each to do Doras.  One partner will Bernie Sanders to cone, then sprint to end of parking lot.  At end of parking lot he does two burpees.  He then does Bernie Sanders to cone and sprints back.  Meanwhile, the other partner is working on exercises with CMU’s.  The exercises are the following

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Squats with CMU at chest area

Mosey to beginning of Serpentine Sidewalk located between north ball fields and outdoor chapel.  We will do 14’s (do listed exercise for one light then run for four lights) to where sidewalk hits perimeter trail or from perimeter trail back to roadway if it is next exercise on list).  We will do three exercises and, therefore, will end at perimeter trail.  All men who finish first on any exercise and run will do baby crunches until last man arrives.  Here are the exercises:

  • Bear Crawl
  • Hops
  • Lunges

When we are through with above we will do 20 Hello Dollies (four count) as a group.

Mosey on perimeter trail to cardiac hill.  At cardiac hill we will run up hill doing the following exercises at each turn:

  • Turn 1:  20 American Hammer
  • Turn 2:  20 Big Boy Sit Ups
  • Turn 3:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Turn 4:  20 Bench Raises

Rinse and Repeat

Mosey to bottom of mini-cardiac.

We will do 20 Merkins at bottom of mini-cardiac, then run up and do 20 Carolina Dry Docks by gate.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (four count); 15 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1); stretch of each leg and slow toe touches, slow back bends.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
12 Men, no FNG’s.  Finger Paint was with us but has yet to be tagged for the post.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM

God had created each one of us as special, unique individuals.  As the apostle Paul claims, we each have individual gifts.  But he also remarks that these individual gifts we have serve the whole community.  In this way, we are all part of the body of Christ.

From 1 Corinthians 12:

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[d] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[e] yet one body.

There is a song by the group Fleet Foxes that I particularly enjoy.  It is called Helplessness Blues.  Here are the lyrics in the beginning of the song:

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.

We are each of us unique.  Each one of us is different – in body size, strength and endurance levels; in age; in the backgrounds we come from; in the types of jobs we have; in our politics; in our dreams for the future.  But as the great poet John Donne proclaimed, “No man is an island unto himself.”  We have a need for our fellow man.  And when united together, we give service to something that is greater than ourselves.  I often feel that with the men of F3.  It is sometimes difficult to put into words.  But by getting up in the morning to be here with my friends, my brothers, I am not only serving myself but something beyond myself – something that brings me, brings each of us, closer to what God created us for – and, therefore, closer to God.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill in May!