F3 Knoxville

Frustration Station

THE SCENE: Cloudy, temp at about 30 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-Straddle Hops, 20 Plank Jacks, Ten Tempo Merkins, 10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the long parking lot that is south of the northern ball fields and is adjacent to the serpentine sidewalk.  There will be six cones places along the length of the parking lot.  We will do suicides.  First we will sprint to each cone and back to the start until we have sprinted to every cone in order.  Next, we will do the same thing but do 10 Big Boy Sit-ups each time we come back to the starting cone.

Mosey to Pavilion at Northern Ballpark.  We will go in counter clockwise run, stopping at the following areas to do the following exercises: (we will rinse and repeat)

  • Pavilion:  20 Picnic Table Pull ups
  • Flag:  20 Boxcutters
  • Benches:  Ten Bench Jumps
  • Dugouts:  Ten Pull ups or 15 second hang

Mosey to Cardiac Hill.  We will run up the hill to the benches but stop to do the following exercises at the following areas:

  • First Turn:  20 American Hammers (four count)
  • Second Turn:  20 Hello Dollies (four count)
  • Third Turn:  20 Decline Merkins (four count)
  • Benches:  20 Bench Dips
  • Rinse and repeat

Mosey to AO

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks, 20 Bicycle Kicks, 20 Pickle Pounders, ATMS
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I chose these verses because, this week, I needed to read something in the Bible about coping with frustrations.  And, my frustrations were minor, when I think about the home fires, the prejudices, the poverty, the joblessness, the family deaths, and life struggles that many are coping with.  We all get frustrated, no matter what our positions in life.  At such times, it is good to think of God having our six, being there for us. God knows we will have tribulations.  But He is there for us.  He has overcome the world and he can certainly help us overcome what we are dealing with.  He asks us to fear not.  He tells us that he will strengthen us.  He says he will hold us in his righteous hand.  We can think on these comforts during frustrating times.  It may not answer our questions immediately, nor take away all the pain, but knowing that he watches out for us, loves us, and has plans for us, certainly helps.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F event on Saturday, December 11, 8:30 AM at the Outlook.

Pierced by Grace

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy, sometimes raining, temps in 40’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Planks, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers (4 count), 10 Cherry Pickers, Little of This and Little of That
THA-THANG: 

Mosey to upper parking lot at northern end of park.  Each man picks up two bricks that will be in the parking lot.

Mosey on perimeter trail toward Lyons Bend Entrance of park.  Then go east on the trail that crosses road near the park entrance.  Twenty Imperial Walkers.

We will run with bricks for three lights, then stop to do 5 mini-man-makers.  We will do the same two more times along the trail.  Those who finish first do curls with bricks until all men have finished.  Then we do ten standing body twists (four count).

Next, we run for two more lights with bricks and stop to do 20 overhead presses.  Rinse and repeat twice along the trail.  Those finishing do curls again until all have finished.  Then we do ten tempo squats.

Next run for one more light with bricks and stop to do 20 wing claps with bricks.  Rinse and repeat twice as with other exercises.  Those finishing first do curls.  Then we ten tempo merkins.

We will be close to the parking lot where we picked up the bricks.  Put bricks back where they were.

Mosey to Pavilion by northern ball parks.  We will do a tadpole (doing the following exercises in ascending order, adding one exercise each time until we do all five, then dropping first exercise etc until we do only last exercise.  We will do each exercise for 30 seconds with a 30 second break after each set of exercises.  The exercises will be:

  • Burpees
  • Decline Merkins
  • Picnic Table Pullups
  • Bench Jumps
  • Bench Lifts

Next, team up into partners of two.  We will do Doras with partner running twice around the pavilion while the other partner exercises.  Then partners switch.  We will do the following exercises:

  • 300 Baby Crunches
  • 200 Squats
  • 100 Big Boys Sit-ups

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The following message is taken from a sermon given by Matt Howell, director of RUF at UTK.  He was visiting speaker last Sunday at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Bible Reading from John, Chapter 13, verses 1-9.

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

When we read these verses, we may think Peter is being humble when he tells Jesus not to wash his feet.  After all, the Lord is taking on the role of a servant, performing a task that those of menial positions did in those days.  But, looking more closely, Peter is also displaying a veiled pride.  He is saying, I am beyond having my feet washed by you.  My God cannot take on such a subservient role.  I will have no part of it.  Jesus, in turn, is saying that if you cannot accept my loving you like a servant then you can not really share me fully. ( If we cannot accept God’s love in full, we miss out on God, we do not share in what he wants to give us.)

If we humans look at ourselves fully, we see that we, like Peter, have this veiled pride.  Look at how we accept compliments:  with great difficulty.  We generally shun them, getting uncomfortable, joking the compliment off, or saying it is not true.  Us men are also bad on accepting gifts or physical signs of grace from others.  Look at men at a restaurant:  First man:  I’ll get the bill.  2nd man:  No, no, let me take it.  First man:  No, I insist.  In some ways we do this out of courtesy but we also do this out of pride.  We do not want to be the “lowly person” who has his meal paid for.  Also, how do we accept help from others?  We usually shun it, too proud to ask for help.  Finally, we are too proud to accept our brokenness and need for God.  Or we may say, my sins are too great for God’s help, as if our sins, verses those of others, are too great for God.

Matt Howell, in his sermon, used two interesting quotes in his sermon from famous writers.  The first was from Victor Hugo, who said, “Grace is a most formidable assault.”  The second was from Flannery O’Connor, who said, “Grace must wound before it can heal.”

We must get over our veiled arrogance to accept God’s grace for us.  We must accept His assault on our pride, realizing we are broken and that we need his love.  We must get through the embarrassment of recognizing we need Him that much. We must get beyond the fear of His kind of intimacy.  We must let His grace pierce us before we can be truly healed.  Otherwise, as Jesus said, we do not really take our share of Him.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F on Saturday, December 8 at Outlook by UT strip, 8:30 AM.

Standing Tall in the Year of Drought

THE SCENE: Cloudy with temps in low 40s.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops, 15 Imperial Walkers, 10 High Kicks, 10 Cherry Pickers, Little of This and Little of That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of admin bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey south to roadway and head towards Lyons Bend Exit.  Stop at perimeter trail just south of exit.

We will be running on perimeter trail, going south and then east, past soccer fields and to southern ball fields.  We will do the following as we go along the trail:

  • Sprint forward four lights, then do exercise.
  • Bernie Sanders for three lights, then exercise.
  • Lunge for two lights, then exercise.
  • Bear crawl for one light, then exercise.  Then do baby crunches until others arrive.
  • Rinse and repeat as we keep moving forward on the perimeter trail but with a new exercise each time.
  • The following will be the exercises for each set of the above: 1:  5 Burpees; 2:  15 Squat Jumps; 3:  15 Merkins;  4:  15 Big Boys.

We will be at the southern ball fields when we finish the above.  Mosey to Outdoor Cathedral.  We will do 20 Bench Dips.

Mosey to roadway and go in the direction that heads south and then west.  Go to the stop sign by the road that heads toward the admin bldg.  Walk north to next stop sign on the southeastern corner of the admin bldg.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The following is from Jeremiah 17:  7-8.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

We sometimes find ourselves anxious when unexpected events occur, when we lose something important to us, when we fail at something we have taken on, when bad times hit, when, as the bible verses above allude to, the “year of drought” is here.  I think of the folks out in California right now who have lost homes and possessions.  I saw one homeowner who was interviewed who said that the only thing in his home that survived the fire was a ceramic pot he made when he was a student in school.

It is at such times that we truly must trust in the Lord.  How do we trust at such times?  We must believe that comfort will come.  We must believe that God has people out there who are willing to provide support.  We must believe that God is with us.  If we can stay strong, not see merely the negative, we have strength to unite with others and rebuild.  It will take community and strength for those in California to survive the fires.  Those that are firmly planted in God will strive on despite the pain, will work through their fear, will not only take the helping hand that Americans will provide but reach out a helping hand to others.  If we can trust in God we can stand tall in such difficult times, rise above the destruction and work toward something greater than the things we have lost.
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
AO Launch in Cleveland, TN this Saturday.  3rd F at 8:30 am at Outlook on Saturday, December 8.

Synergy at Sundown

THE SCENE: Cloudy, 50s, and threatening rain, but threaten is all it did…
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER 

Check

WARM-O-RAMA:
20 SSH (IC), 20 Suzanne Sommers, 10 Cherry Pickers (IC), 5 Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees (PCMB) OYO

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the new trail at the north end of the park.

  • LIGHT POLE ESCALATORS
    • Start at first light pole. Do exercise then run to second light pole, do exercise, run back, etc.  Go to 8 light poles. Exercises are:
      • Light Pole 1: 5 Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees (PCMB)
      • Light Pole 2: 10 lunges (5 each leg)
      • Light Pole 3: 15 Carolina Dry Docks
      • Light Pole 4: 20 Suzanne Sommers
      • Light Pole 5: 25 LBCs
      • Light Pole 6: 30 iron mikes (15 each leg)
      • Light Pole 7: 35 Hello dollies (single count)
      • Light Pole 8 : 40 Imperial Walkers (single count).
    • When done, do LBCs until 6 catches up.

Mosey to the center of the circle drive around the Admin building.

  • BUCK 25s!
    • Start at center cone.  Barry Sanders to the left to another cone about 75 years away. Sprint back to center cone, do 10 Pickle Pounders.
      • Barry Sanders to the cone to the right about 75 yards away, sprint back, do 10 more Pickle Pounders.
      • Run down stairs and back up, do 5 more Pickle Pounders.
      • Bernie Sanders to the base of the stairs at the admin building, do 100 SSHs
      • Run back to center cone, and sprint back to the top of stairs of admin building and do one more emphatic Pickle Pounder!
  • 75 calf raises on building steps (25 normal, 25 toes in, 25 toes out)

Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
Captain Thors, Boat/Canoe, Bicycle kicks, Hold plank 1 minute, Star Gazer refractory period.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Nine men strong! (Quickrete not tagged)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Many Words recently have focused on surrounding ourselves with positive people.  Why is that?  The reason is because of a concept called SYNERGY, which is based on the Greek word Synergos, which means “working together”.

In my line of work, we look at toxic effects of chemicals.  If there is synergistic toxicity, the sum of the toxicity is something greater than simply adding the two together.  For example, the toxicity of Chemical A (with toxic units =2) + Chemical B (with toxic units =3) = 10, not 5. An example is mercury and lead, both of which are neurotoxins.  A study was done where mice were given a dose of mercury that typically would kill 1% of them, and a dose of lead that would also typically kill 1% of them.  So you would expect 1-2% to die.  But they ALL bit the dust, because of the the combination of lead and mercury, which are synergistic toxins.

So synergy can be a bad thing in toxicology.

But it can be a wonderful thing in other facets of life… like FOOD and DRINK

  • Milk + Chocolate Chip cookies!
  • Pumpkin Pie + coffee!
  • Pizza + Beer!
  • A nice Bordeaux wine + a perfectly cooked filet mignon!!!! (This is where the Q started to get really hungry…)

We all know about the analogy of the fist, too.  Each finger by itself is very weak, but when balled together, WATCH OUT!

It can also be wonderful in relationships.  We are stronger together than the sum of our parts. As Cap’n said at the Olympics, there’s no way in heck we would all get up in the dark and go to a mist-covered field to throw a discuss and do bench presses and flip a 400 pound tire if it weren’t for the presence of others in the group.  Same goes for every F3 workout that we do.  I want to thank the F3 PAX, and especially the Fake Gloomers for adding synergy to my life. I am grateful for each one of you.

Quote:

GENESIS 11:6.  And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

MOLESKIN:
Prayers of thanks that Mr. Jinxy’s situation at work has stabilized.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Special F3 workout at the Mend House, Monday Nov 12 6-7 pm, 308 Knox Road.  Park at the Fountain City Krogers nearby.  Contact Abscess or Tank for details.

Cleveland, TN F3 launch Saturday, Nov. 17! 7-9 am with caravan leaving earlier.  Contact Abscess for details.

Third F coming up December 8, 8:30 a.m. Stay tuned…

True HIM’s Serve

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy skies with temps in 60’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 15 Mountain Climbers, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Windmills, Little Baby Arm Circles Forwards and Backwards (ten each).
THE THANG:

Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeast Corner of Admin. Bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey north to Perimeter Trail and run on that until it hits main roadway going by baseball fields.  Mosey to Serpentine Sidewalk that is between northern ball friends and outdoor chapel.  20 Hello Dollies.

We will do 1-4’s on Serpentine Sidewalk (this is where we do listed exercise to one light, then sprint four more lights, etc, until the sidewalk hits the perimeter trail by the river.  Jog back to start after we hit perimeter trail for the next set of 1-4’s.  We will stop at the perimeter trail after the third set of 1-4’s.  Here are the exercises for the three sets of 1-4’s:

  • Bear Crawls
  • Hops
  • Lunges

We will do 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count) after the three sets of 41’s.

Mosey to Cardiac Hill.  We will run up hill doing the following exercises:

  • 40 Baby Crunches at start
  • 20 Flutter Kicks (four count) at first turn
  • 20 Decline Merkins at second turn
  • 20 Bench Lifts at the benches.

Mosey to Stop Sign at northeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Box Cutters

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
ATM’s.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
A true HIM serves others.  We continually talk about this in F3, as we should, because as true men we should serve our families, our coworkers, our friends, and our community.  The great thing about F3 is that I see brothers not just talking the talk but walking the walk.  The 3rd Anniversary Celebration for F3 Knoxville was a great example.  Brothers like Lazy Boy and Abscess got up early to make sure the grounds were prepared for us.  Brothers like Hooker and Edit, who, because of injuries could not compete, were manning some of the Brolympics stations, keeping score and cheering us on.  Brothers like Junk. Abscess and Lazy Boy were out at the picnic area on Sunday, several hours ahead of time, smoking our meals.  I am not mentioning all the other brothers who pitched in time and equipment to help out.  Another cool thing about F3:  there are ALWAYS brothers volunteering to help, whether with setup or cleanup.

It was also awesome to see F3 Brothers serving their families.  All those dads out there with their kids, running with them, hopping with them, tumbling with them, and laughing with them.  It was wonderful to meet wives and partners of our brothers – some great folk that were easy to talk to.

We have something special with F3 Knoxville.  And if we maintain our pledge and duty to serve our community, there is no telling what directions we will go.  One direction will be to Cleveland, TN on Saturday, November 17 when Abscess and other brothers will head there to help launch another F3 AO.  Join them if you can.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
AO launch in Cleveland on Saturday, November 17.