F3 Knoxville

Mt. JUCOnte – Round 2

THE SCENE: 50ish and raining. Wet, very wet.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Barely, but got it done.
WARM-O-RAMA:

10 x Windmills, 10 x Hairy Rockettes, 10 x Tempo Merkins, 10 x Mtn Climbers
THA-THANG:
Mosey across the street and past Mikata parking lot to Mt. JUCOnte!

Demonstration of five exercises to be performed along the five light poles up the center of the road.

Progressive workout performed as such:

Complete first station then run to second and complete. Run back to start and complete stations 1-3. Run back to start then complete stations 1-4. Run back to start then complete stations 1-5.

Stations:

  1. 10 x Burpees
  2. 20 x 4-count Mtn Climbers
  3. 3 x Clockwork Merkins (performed on steepest part of hill) (perform one merkin at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock by rotating yourself after each merkin. one rep = one time around the clock)
  4. 40 x Monkey Humpers
  5. 50 x 4-count SSH

This is a  true grinder up Mt. JUCOnte and proved once again to be a tough one, but the PAX pushed through and got work done.

Mosey back to the shovel flag for some Mary.

MARY:
5 minutes of Quick-fire Mary.

10 reps of an exercise as called by a member of the PAX. Immediately upon completion, the next PAX in line calls out the next exercise. We did BBS, Breast Stroke, Flutter Kicks, LBCs, BBS, Shoulder Taps, Box Cutters, and SSH

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 HIMs tackled Mt. JUCOnte in the pouring rain. 2 FNGs defied all odds to come out on a rainy, cold day. Welcome Tinker Bell and White Noise!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
As we start a new year, reflect on your commitments in 2019 and learn to say “No” to those that don’t benefit more than just you. In 2020, my goal is to say “No” to those things that only benefit me and take time/passion away from my faith and my family.
MOLESKIN:
Shoutout to Tinker Bell and White Noise for making the HC to come out on such a nasty day. I felt bad having their first Q be such a grinder, but they both killed it.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill – Mandolin has stepped up to design the obstacles that JUCO will be building for race day. Let’s work with him on collecting the needed materials. Keep an eye out for a future workday to get the obstacles built.

New Year’s Day at JUCO

THE SCENE: 35 Degrees, a slight wind, but otherwise comfortable.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

The Motivator from 10
THA-THANG:

Mosey to the pond .75 miles
Warmup exercises
Karaoke
Walking Lunges
Cherry Pickers
1 mile run
once finished, find people still running and encourage them, pick up cones
Push up PT test
Sit up PT test
Mosey to AO

I will add a tab to Mandolin’s spreadsheet, so that if we want to repeat these, we have a baseline to measure improvement.  See link here.  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QvJB3KJoW9XvUVQYBBMQ-kUdJR3yOgKx_jjZbzyHQxY/htmlview# 

Results from testing:

January 1, 2020
PAX Weight Mile Time Pushups in 2 min BBS in 2 Min
Booster 9:16 45 47
Cheatsheet 8:08 100 61
Erector 6:07 81 50
Hurry Can 7:06 41 50
Judge Judy 6:57 75 55
Mailbox 6:45 41 50
Mandolin 11:29 55 40
Mermaid 199 N/A 56 50
Ralph 9:05 15 33
Spotter 6:06 68 57

MARY:
The mile run and additional warm up exercises took longer than expected.  No time for Mary.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 guys, no FNG’s today  Ralph was here too, but not yet entered into the website, so he can’t yet be tagged.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The new year an new beginnings.  I spoke about my professional life, and some challenges that led me to the where I am professionally today.  Don’t be afraid to make a professional change.
MOLESKIN:
Prayer Requests:
Cheetsheet – Pray for his family
Booster –  A friend named Jim Johnson who recently passed.  His family and their grief.
Judge Judy – His Wife’s family member Chris Kerr who is gay and is having issues with his family because of his decision to come out.
Mailbox – his wife has had some good days, continued prayer for her hart condition because the cause is still not known.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Polar Bear Plunge New Years day at noon, clown car options avail.
F3 New Year’s Party on Friday night 1/3 @ 7:00PM.

When you can’t do anything dumber…Totally redeem yourself

THE SCENE: post rain – 53 degrees and clear.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

15 SSH, 5 Cherry pickers, 5 tempo merkins, 5 tempo squats
THA-THANG:

  • Indian run with back two men racing to the front (ran to the rear parking lot in front of the ‘Stadium’ hill.
  • 3 x Circuit Breaker – broadjump two parking stalls, lunge one parking stall to the end of the parking lot. Alternate sprinting forward, shuffle, bernie, shuffle, burpee in each parking lot stall until reaching the start point.
  • 11s on Stadium Hill – Hip thrusters on the parking lot, sprint up the hill, monkey humpers at the top of the hill.
  • Dora – 100 merkins, 200 Squat Rockettes (Squakettes), 300 American Hammers (cut short on time), partner runs with CMU up the stairs and slapped the Rec Center wall.
  • Mosey back to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
31 total: 26 Pax//5 FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Classic scene in Dumb and Dumber – Just when I think you can’t do anything dumber, you go out and totally redeem yourself! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnkefjCES-4

Matthew 5:23-2423 Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

When things are wrong, whether it is your fault or not, we must be about making things right. This is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity. I shared a story from my time as an officer in the Navy. A sailor opened the door to a pressurized space and it caused the door I was opening to slam, nearly taking off the fingers on my right hand. I rushed at the sailor and got about two inches from his face and started berating him. He was in the wrong and I outranked him. In the middle of yelling at him, I look down to see another sailor that I had been studying the Bible with. Seeing her replaced my anger with shame. I walked away and cooled down. About an hour later, I found the sailor I had yelled at and I apologized to him for embarrassing him and for the things I had said. Two hours later, I found the female sailor that I had previously studied the Bible with. I owned what I had said and done and shared that I had apologized to the other sailor. I shared that the anger she saw in me was the man that I had to die to daily, the man whom Christ has helped me change from. She said that she knew I had apologized because the whole crew was talking about it (it’s rare for an officer to apologize to an enlisted sailor). 15 years later, we are still close and I saw her over Thanksgiving. She is married to a preacher and they have two kids.

Just when I couldn’t do anything dumber, I totally redeemed myself in her eyes and we are both better for it. Make wrongs right and see obstacles as opportunities.

 

Struck Down But Not Destroyed

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers (four count), 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Rockettes, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward
THA-THANG:
Get Bricks out of Truck.  Mosey Across Street to Trail that meanders to gate at Lyons Bend.  We will run with bricks for five lights then do 5 Mini-Man-Makers, 10 Jump Squats, 20 Squats and 25 Wings Up (still holding bricks).  Those getting finished first run in place with bricks.  We will then run for five more lights doing same exercises when stopping but with 25 Wings Out (instead of Wings up).  We will then run five more lights doing same exercises but with 25 Wings Down.  Next, five more but with 25 Overhead Presses.  Finally we will run for five more lights and do same exercises but with 25 Rows.  We will then mosey on roadway back toward AO.  However, we will stop in lowest parking lot on way back to bear crawls to inlets with bricks.  Finally, mosey back to AO and drop off bricks.

Mosey through entrance way of northern ball fields and go to northernmost ball field.  We will number off into two teams.  One team starts at home plate and the other team starts at second base.  We will do relay race with each man running around bases before next man starts.

Mosey to striped field in outfield.  We will do suicides running to each line and back to start but doing 15 Baby
Crunches each time we come back.  Those who finish suicides first will alternate between 10 Big Boys and 10 Merkins until everyone is back.

Mosey to pavilion.  We will alternate between 25 Picnic Table Pull-ups and 25 Bench Dips. Next we will do 20 of each, then 15 of each, then 10 of each, and, finally, 5 of each.

Mosey past pitching cages at Northern Ball Fields to Cardiac Hill.  We will run up the hill stopping to the following exercises at the following locations:

  • Curve 1:  25 American Hammers (four count)
  • Curve 2:  25 Hello Dollies (four count)
  • Curve 3:  25 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  25 Bench Dips

Mosey to CMU Pile.  We will break into teams of two each for Doras.  While one man Bernie’s to curb and sprints back, the other works on the exercises, then each man switches.  Teams will do the following exercises:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Bell Ringers
  • 100 Rows

Mosey back to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

2 Corinthians 4:8-11

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.”

As the year of 2019 comes to a close, I have been thinking about our brother, Pinto.  This has not been an easy year for him.  As you know, he had a major heart attack at the start of the year.  His mother died later in the year.  He began to cope with exhaustion and significant weight loss and weakening of the bones that led to a break in his back and tear in his rib cage.  He found out that multiple myeloma, a disease that causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone marrow, was causing his bone weakness, weight loss and exhaustion.  Pinto is now undergoing chemotherapy and may have to receive stem cell therapy.  All of this has certainly given him pause to think about life in ways that we usually do not slow down to do.  As he told me at UT Hospital after he was diagnosed, “Lily, don’t take the chance to exercise with your F3 brothers for granted.  It is a blessing to be able to do so.”

Pinto was willing to admit anxiety in facing his treatment for multiple myeloma.  He is not only facing difficult treatment that can lead to sickness and exhaustion – he is facing his own mortality.  That can be a horrifying task.  But, as I think of our brother, I also think about the armor he has for his fight.

Pinto has the knowledge that he has loved his family strongly.  He is a wonderful father.  I remember the time he wanted to make sure who the hell my wife, Jan, and I were when we invited his daughter, Molly, to a Children’s Hospital Event where families stayed at a local hotel.  Fortunately, his wife already knew Jan well (and had met me a number of times) and after finding out we were alright people, he allowed Molly to go with us.  But Pinto was going to make doggone sure his little girl was going to be safe.  I think of Pinto’s relationship with Hooker, the strong bond between father and son, how much pride he takes in Hooker and who Hooker has become (as well as in Molly and who she has become)  And, I think of the powerful love Pinto has for his wife, Tessa.  That love was particularly poignant that day I saw them both in the hospital.  Both of them were exhausted, Lee from recent back surgery and Tessa from the sleepless nights by his side in the hospital.  The power of their love was tangible.

Pinto also has the armor of his relationship with God.  He believes in God and knows that God will be with him no matter where the journey with multiple myeloma takes him.  Gents, how many of us have truly faced death square in the face?  When we do, will we have what Pinto has?  I know that Lee Gentry wants to beat this cancer, to live on to enjoy life with his granddaughter (Hooker’s future child) that is due in May.  I think he will.  Yet, even if that were not the case, Pinto knows where he will go when he breathes his last breath here on earth.  That has to be comforting.  He knows that life goes beyond these fragile moments here.  He has a Father in Heaven who will never abandon him and will take him Home when his days here are gone.

Finally, when I consider my friend, Lee Gentry, I know that whenever his final day comes (which will probably be after mine since I am older than he is), Christ’s life will be revealed in Lee’s mortal body.  Because Pinto, Lee Gentry, though hard pressed by cancer and persecuted from every side is living the kind of life that God wants him to live.  He will be the first to tell you that he has had and will continue to have his human moments of doubt and anger.  But, he strives for more and seeks God in doing so.  And, in so doing, he reveals the love of Christ.

So, as 2019 comes to a close, I not only pray for Pinto’s health but I give thanks for his presence in our lives.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for our brother, Pinto, and his family.  Prayers for Ed, cousin of Curveball, who died yesterday.  Prayers for Ed’s family.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day and 2nd F party (wives or partners only, no children) at Tank’s home on Friday, January 3.

Bear Each Other’s Burdens and CMUs

THE SCENE: 40’s and dry. Sweat was imminent
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

-2 x each leg 180 Lunges – Done OYO for a total of 180° – lunge in front (90°), lunge at 45°, lunge to the side (0°), lunge backward at -45°, lunge straight backward (-90°).
-10 x Tennessee Rocking Chair – (S/O to WaxJob for this exercise) – Begin with arms straight out in front of you: 4 ct IC: 1) touch hands to toes, 2) squat down with hands going straight out in front of you, 3) touch hands back to toes, 4) stand up straight with hands out in front

Partner up (partners used later at Sophomore Hill)
-5 x each Booyah! Merkin (modified to do high fives instead of shoulder taps as described in the Exicon)
-5 x Bropees
-3 x each / 6 x total Squat Walking Rockette – Start in a parallel squat with arms in front and kick your left leg toward your right hand, squad back down, kick your right leg toward your left hand, squat back down and repeat.

THA-THANG:
Black Snake to Sophomore Hill. PAX are getting better on the spacing but still need some work on their turning spacing.

DORA Circuit AMRAP for 10 minutes:
1. 3-legged Bernie (aka Laverne & Shirley – S/O to Guardrail for naming this one) – backwards run joined at the hips up the paved part of Sophomore Hill
2. 5 x Bropees at the top (high-five encouraged to avoid jumping into each other with a high-ten Bropee)
3. Wheelbarrow down the grassy part of the hill – halfway switch (modify if both PAX cannot do all the way down the hill to a bear crawl or lunges)
4. 5 x Booyah! merkins at bottom (same high five modification as during the warm-up)

DORA Crew (3 HIMs per group) – 5 minutes AMRAP per round

Exercise Round 1 Round 2
Hodor 1 CMU 1 CMU
Run / walk 1 CMU 2 CMUs
Thrusters 1 CMU 0 CMUs

Recover called – no time for Round 3 (plus who knows if the Q would have been able to run/walk carry 3 CMU’s).

Flutter kicks IC after “recover” was called and PAX were still putting away their CMU’s.

Black Snake back to the AO

Mini sprint workout
100% Sprint down to the bottom of the parking lot
15 second recovery
100% Sprint up to the top of the parking lot
15 second recovery

MARY:
BBS 1 minute AMRAP until 6:15
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 HIM’s bearing each other’s burdens and CMU’s (link no pic uploaded). No FNG’s. Welcome back from sleep deprivation aka a new baby, Gump!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
F3 has meant so, so, so much to me! Today we focused in the workout on working together as HIM’s. To be able to better bear each other’s burdens as I’ll read from Galatians 6 here in a moment, as the PAX have known and seen in me, more transparency and vulnerability is required to be able to better bear each others burdens. It’s F3 so much as the organization so much (though it is a solid organization) but the HIM’s who walk with me, push me, and ENCOURAGE me at 5:30 A.M. when I would previously see another woman not my wife. This was evil and wicked what I did before, but now God has changed me and my life so dramatically for the better. So while it might seem like verse 1 of the the following passage is a bit off on a first reading of the passage, I think it fits perfectly into where I’ve been walking and how we ought to walk was HIMs:

Galatians 6:1-5
“1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
5 For each will have to bear his own load.

When we exercise (physically and spiritually), we’re doing several things. We stretch our comfort zones working out and this will be especially true today. This passage outlines them for us:
1. v1-2 – Bearing each other’s burdens (especially through prayer – we’ll come back to this)
2. v.3 – Don’t think you’re something when you’re nothing
As Proverbs 27:2 says “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” We may think we’re something, but God tells all of us that we are nothing and to be humble about everything.
3. v.4-5 Each one test his work, bear his own load.
When you workout, you’re not comparing yourself to other HIMs here. God has given us each different talents, abilities, skills, bodies. But we are called “to be faithful and not successful” as I heard Rick Dunn say at Maple Street Nights a few weeks ago. Paul agrees “”For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)”

Back to Bearing each other’s burdens
You’re here to bear your own load and carry other HIM’s burdens when they can’t, and you let them when you can’t. Like how the thrusters were made SO much easier without CMU’s and how if we’d had time the Hodor would have been easier as one HIM tried to bear all 3 CMU’s at once.

So now we will do that in prayer triangles. Prayer triangles explanation:
Share 1 prayer request per HIM ~10 seconds each. Sincere but brief.
After all PAX in your triangle have shared, one HIM take initiaitive and start praying for one of the HIMs next to him.
Go around the triangle and one HIM pray for one HIM each of the other PAX in your triangle.

When all groups finished the Q said “bring it in” and prayed as one group of HIMs bearing each other’s burdens.

MOLESKIN:
Prayer for all of the HIMs present going into 2020 that we would bear each other’s burdens both at F3 and wherever we go as God calls us.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
JUCO NYD workout is ON for 0530 (with rucking after the normal workout is on. JUCO Rush will start at 0700 just for this week).

Polar Bear Plunge New Year’s Day 12:00pm. Meet at the Wye in Townsend. Immediately following we’ll have 2nd F at Soccer Taco Northshore. This has grown to be an awesome 2nd F event! Don’t miss out on something that seems impossible but could be invigorating!