F3 Knoxville

Tag: Mr Jinxy

This Is 2020 (Without Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters)

THE SCENE: Rainy, low to mid 50s

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x 20, baby arm circles forward x 20, baby arm circles backward x 20, 20-second plank, Pilates push-ups x 20 (10 each leg – merkins with left leg raised up x 10 followed by merkins with right leg raised up x 10), tempo squats x 20

THA-THANG:
Mosey to CMU pile via the Dragon’s Tail stopping at each light pole to do an exercise x 20 reps – alternating between merkins and squats

Pickup a CMU and mosey to the pavilon

CMU curls x 20 followed by 20-second recovery, rinse and repeat for 4 rounds (80 total reps)

Mosey to Crawdad’s Yoga Studio

Carolina dry docks x 20 followed by 20-second recovery, rinse and repeat for 4 rounds (80 total reps)

Mosey back to pavilon for table rows using the same reps and recovery as before

Mosey back to the yoga studio for flutter kicks, same schedule

Mosey back to the pavilon for CMU overhead presses, same schedule

Mosey back to the yoga studio for more Pilates push-ups, same schedule – Cheatsheet and Crawdad started singing the Hokey Pokey Song and dubbed the Pilates push-ups the “Hokey Pokeys”

Mosey back to the pavilon, pick up the CMUs and mosey to the CMU pile to return them

Mosey to Cardiac with just a few minutes to spare, so we only had time for one run up Cardiac and to the AO without stopping for any exercises

MARY:
We ran out of time for Mary, but we did get some ab work in during the workout

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 HIMs getting better in the rain on the first Saturday workout at the Asylum in 2020

Veggie was here, but he is not in the group, so I couldn’t tag him.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
It is a new year and a new decade and no one knows what it holds.  It could be the year that someone is added to your life, or it could be the year that someone is taken away.  It could be the year of the promotion, or it could be the year of the demotion.  It could be the year of kindergarten, or it could be the year of graduation.  It could be the year of the big win, or it could be the year of the big loss.  Regardless, you don’t need a resolution, you need a constitution, a foundation.  On a big scale, it should be God, your family, your friends, etc.  But, it can be anything that grounds you.  It can even be as simple as the F3 workouts.  The asphalt, concrete, and grass do not change, and they are always there waiting for you whether you have a good day/week or a bad day/week.  They are checkpoints after good times or bad and before whatever lies ahead.  If nothing else, start there and build.  Have a good new year but not just for what good fortunes may come your way during the year but based on what you keep your eye on and focus on while the year goes by

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pinto, Flashback 2, Lady Tank, Cheatsheet’s family, Lady Junk, and Veggie going back for another semester of college
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Party at Tank’s house on 1/10

Still need money for pull up bars for the Dog Pound

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.

Away in a Manger

THE SCENE: Overcast and cool, low 40s.  Nice sunset beyond the clouds, but quickly got dark.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Got it right this time! 🙂
WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Lunges (lungeus interruptus halfway through due to PAX losing count, resulting in 5 Burpees)

-20 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 BACs forward and backward

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to Big Parking Lot for CANDY CANES! (Hat tip to Cap’n Crunch!). Run to each station, do the exercise, and run back. The six stations are:
    • 20 Dive Bombers
    • 20 Iron Mikes (2-ct)
    • 20 BBS
    • 20 Star Jumps
    • 20 Squat Jumps
    • 20 LBCs
  • Mosey to Cardiac:
    • Cardiac Suicides. Run to first bend, 5 BODY BUILDERS, run back. Run to second bend, 10 BODY BUILDERS, run back.  Run to top, 15 BODY BUILDERS.
  • Mosey to CMU pile
    • DORAs 100 of each exercise while partner runs with CMU over his head to the end of parking lot and back.
      • Overhead Presses
      • Curls
      • Squats
      • Rows
      • Triceps (didn’t finish these…)
    • Mosey to AO

MARY:
20 Hello Dollies, + 5 punishment burpees for messing up the count… again…

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 Strong, no FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

(From Luke 2) So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

One of things that I love about the Christmas story and the life of Jesus is the circumstances under which he was brought into this world, and how he left it.  He came into it in the most humble conditions, and placed in a manger.

Definition of a MANGER: a long open box or trough for horses or cattle to eat from. The son of God came into this world basically in a soup bowl for livestock, and left this world on a cross, after being betrayed, humiliated and tortured.

This was not some gilded king, born in wealth and comfort, and who died gloriously.  This was a child born to a poor family who was sent by God to live among us and who died for our sins.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

If we had the CEO for Crossfit or some other exercise program show up out of the blue in a limo, dressed in a fur coat, with leather gloves and wing-tipped shoes tell us to do 100 burpees, crawl in the mud, and run up and down a huge hill a few times, we’d probably tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine.  But when it’s an idiot like me, who is out here doing it with you, with snot running down my face and bloody shins and freezing cold hands, you nod, get your mind right, and get it done.  I love that Jesus was one of US, not one of THEM.  I love that the life he lead and the teachings he passed on came from a place of humanity and poverty, not power and wealth.  I think of the billionaire politicians that are supposed to be our leaders and it’s hard sometimes to relate to them and to accept what they say and how they want us to act.  But I will follow Jesus as my Q any day of the week.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for several members of the PAX who are suffering this holiday season due to the death of loved ones or illness. We pray for comfort and recovery.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Polar Bear Plunge on Jan. 1, New Year’s party at Tank’s house Jan. 3, Ski Trip Feb 7-9.

The Answer

THE SCENE: Temp about 36 degrees with snow.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Side-Straddle Hops, HIgh knees run to end of parking lot and Bernie Sanders back, 62
Brady Corns, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Rockettes.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Dragon Tail.  We will do Route 66 up the Dragon Tail and come back down after each exercise.  Here are the exercises:

  • Squat Jumps
  • Diamond Merkins
  • Iron Mikes

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do elevens.  The first set of elevens will be with Decline Merkins and Bench Dips.  The second set of elevens with be with Bench Jumps and Picnic Table Pull Ups.

Mosey to CMU pile.  Team up into pairs of two.  Each team grabs CMU.  We will do Doras with one man doing Bernie Sanders to other side of parking lot, doing shin lifts, and sprinting back.  Meanwhile his partner starts on the list of exercises.  Then partners switch.  These are the Dora exercises:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows

Mosey back to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Our technology, our science, it supposedly makes life easier.  We get answers to our questions by clicking on Google or speaking to Alexa, and get feedback at the bat of an eye.  We can gather more information in 10 minutes through Google now than I could find in a full year back in the days of paging through encyclopedias at my local library.  But, are men more satisfied now then men who lived in the 1960s. . . 1860’s. . . 1760’s . . . or 2000 years ago?  We search for answers, listen to the news, watch experts pontificating on television, hear folks calling in on radio talk shows . . . and are left unsatisfied.  As Faulkner proclaimed, it is all “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

2000 years ago God sent His son to give to us what has always been the answer:

John 1:  1-5.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In this season of Christmas, let us ponder on life’s true meaning.  Let us take the time to stare into the darkness and come to see the light.  Let us celebrate the answer to our longing that God gave and gives to us through a child born in a lowly manger.  That child, that man, that God says to us:

Eat this Bread, drink this Cup.  Come to Me and never be hungry.  Eat this Bread, drink this Cup.  Trust in Me and you will not thirst.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pinto, for his wife, Tessa, and prayers that they will get the best of medical teams to work with Pinto.  Prayers for others in Pinto’s family including Hooker and Mr. Jinxy.  Prayer for friend of Doubtfire who recently lost his brother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Polar Bear Plunge on New Years Day!

Truck Stop Convergence

THE SCENE: 40 and clear….perfect

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER


WARM-O-RAMA:  (Waxjob)

  • Side Straddle Hop x 25
  • Tempo Merkins x 15
  • Tempo Squats x 15
  • Grady Corns x 31
  • Crabettes x 10

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to the concrete bleachers (Bartman)
    • 11’s on the hill – squat jumps at the bottom / carolina dry docks at the top
  • Mosey to the end of the soccer field (Waxjob)
    • 50% run across the field
    • 75% run back the other direction across the field
    • 100% run across the field 25 v-ups at the other end
    • 100% run back – 25 big boy situps at the other end
    • Tunnel of love
  • Mosey to the bottom soccer field (Bartman)
    • Kraken style run around 6 cones.  Start with 5 burpees, 5 merkins, 5 squats at the first cone, then increase by 5 reps after each lap around the cones.  When you get to the last cone you’ll be doing 30 burpees, 30 merkins, 30 squats.  Time ran out, had to cut this short.
  • String of pearls mosey back to the AO (Waxjob)
    • Monkey humpers facing the road
    • Freddie Mercury by the outhouse
    • Pledge of Allegiance by the flagpole

MARY:  (Waxjob)

  • Boat/canoe while singing row, row, row your boat

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
41 strong!   Snorkel, Waxjob, Brick, Mr. Jinxy, Driftwood, Woodshack, Kickflip, Drive Thru, Curveball, Herbie, Bagman, Mustard, Snitch, Swimmies, Full House, Choir Boy, Gibbler, Tweet-E, Swanson, Cosmo, MC Hammer, Tank, Face Plant, Manilow, Abscess, Cavalier, Poyo, Mermaid, Mailbox, Slag (FNG), Guardrail, Lillydipper, Pele, Butters, Frosty, Sparkler, Moses, Steam, Rosetta, Hammy, Bartman

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:  (Bartman)
2019 has been a tough year among our F3 brotherhood – we have dealt with illness, injury, death.  In light of that and also in light of the Christmas season I decided to share several scriptures of encouragement to remind us that GOD is ultimately in control and we can find our rest in him.

MOLESKIN:
It’s always fun to have a big group together for a convergence workout – today was not different.   It was great to see many faces I hadn’t seen in a long time.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F immediately after the workout at Two Rivers church