F3 Knoxville

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

Driftwood VQ – Catchin the Tail

THE SCENE: 33F and calm, dark and overcast – not as cold as yesterday!

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Also included Tony Cozy (A-di-das) but he is not registered on site
WARM-O-RAMA:

  1. SSH (Side-Straddle-Hop) 15×3 in cadence
    • 1 Burpee on your own
  2. Imperial Walkers 15X3 in cadence
    • 2 Burpee on your own
  3. Cherry Pickers 5×3 in cadence
    • 3 Burpee on your own
  4. Baby Arm Circle 15×3 in cadence forward and backwards
    • 4 Burpee on your own
  5. 15 Air squats 15×3 in cadence
    • 5 Burpee on your own

THA-THANG:

[PAX mosey’s to stop sign at parking lot split] (0.18 miles)

  1. 15’s at stop sign 3X each exercise
    • 5 Burpee on your own
    • 5 air squat on your own
    • 5 Merkin on your own

[Pax mosey to parking lot and split into teams of 3-4 people] (0.13 miles)

  1. Catch the tail – 4 loops (0.56 miles) – run circle of outside parking spaces at Lakeside parking lot
  2. Parking lot 4 corners X 3 times Double row parking with handicap (0.21 miles)
    1. Corner 1 start
      • 15 shoulder taps (both shoulders =1)
      • 20 big boy sit up
    2. Bear Crawl to Corner 2
      • 15 hand release merkins
      • 20 hello dollies
    3. Sprint to corner 3 – full speed give it everything
      • 20 Overhead press
      • 10 squat jumps
    4. Lunge to Corner 4
      • 15 side crunches left
      • 15 side crunches right
    5. Sprint to Corner 1
  3. Mosey to grass hill – directly across from restaurant facing house X 3 times 120 length of grass (0.13 mi)
    1. 15 Dry docks using curb at top of grass hill
      • Run down the hill
    2. 15 Star jack at bottom
      • Bear Crawl to top
    3. Pax return to AO (0.23 miles)
    4. Suicides in tennis court
      1. Suicide 1 (down and back)
        • 15 big boy sit ups
      2. Suicide 2 (down and back)
        • 15 side crunch left and 15 side crunch right
      3. Suicide 3 (down and back)

MARY:
ABSCESS – 10 Merkins OYO

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Positive Thinking / Positivity is a current leadership trend and buzz word.  If you take it serious and not as Pollyanna (“an excessively or blindly optimistic person”) there are great habits and leadership skills that can be learned. Don’t just be positive, when life is easy. If you stay positive when life is hard it’s not Pollyanna. It’s about trusting God, overcoming obstacles, finding a way forward, and believing the best is yet to come!  Many COT’s provided by F3 HIM’s will give you fuel to stay positive.  The one thing that has really helped me to create a positive environment with my family is to Pray Continuously – what that means is that when you know it is about to erupt – stop for 2 seconds and say a prayer – pray for words, humility, and patience, it works – I always wondered how to Pray Continuously and by starting when I knew things might erupt I learned.

I encourage you (this means it’s really for me!) to take a 23 day challenge up to Christmas (this is practice for the Woodshack eating challenge), you don’t have to commit to eating better just try to do one “Positive” thing for the next 23 days … Truly Spread the Spirit of Christmas, Smile first, say thank you more, open the door for everyone, choose faith and not fear – Pray Continuously.

MOLESKIN:
Special thanks to Mr Jinky for getting me into F3 (it took persistence, but I am forever grateful) and Abscess the “fake gloomers” that got me hooked on F3 and for coming all the way out to the Dog Pound (my AO home) in the early morning hours.  Only true friends/HIMs do this for their fellow brother.

Also, special thanks for La-Z-Boy for putting on the Q101 a few weeks ago, that was an EH for me to step up to the Q plate.  For those that have not Q’d yet, do it sooner rather then later, you’ll be glad you did.  And don’t worry you won’t remember most of the work-out, you will only remember the great support of F3 HIM!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F convergence at the Truck Stop – Saturday at 7AM Workout followed by 3rd F at Two Rivers Church

The Burpily Feud

THE SCENE: Shorts Weather, but for real
WARM-O-RAMA: 

Those tricky SSHs where we do the last 20 in silence to see if everybody can count and stay focused. We came close, but it was 10 burpees for those of us who showed up on time (looking at you High Heels and Cheatsheet). Cherry Picker stay-downs, more baby arm circles than anybody wanted.
THA-THANG:
We moseyed low and slow, like Pele after Beaujolais. QIC stole a trick from the Lillydipper hisself and did some nickel-dime-quarters all the way to the Area 51 dropoff. Everest is for the kind of people who like wet feet and shaky legs; we were not those people.

Whatever else happens today, one thing went just right: 10 PAX came up on 10 CMUs up by the Esplanade construction. PAX choice CMU AMRAP. Question: where’s the only place Cheatsheet’s going to find singles? Answer: Wendy’s. Mans hits the double count every time. Don’t cheat yourself. Fist emoji.

Catch me if you can to the Cloud – thank you Curveball for not catching me the second time.

The Burpily Feud! No uhs, ums, pauses, or repeats.

Have a Nice Day on the 2 count.

My old college roommate Jack Webb showed up. I hate that guy.

Up the Little Hill and yours truly was shot.

MARY:
Who Mary?
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 good ones. Lillydipper, Rooney, Curveball, Choirboy, Abscess, High Heels, Mr Jinxy, Goober, and Cheatsheet, plus YHC.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Sic transit gloria mundi.
MOLESKIN:
Thanks men, for getting me out there again. I would not do any of it without you.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence next week!