F3 Knoxville

It’s High Heels in the End Zone

THE SCENE: If there was a nicer Saturday morning to work out in, I don’t want to know about it
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Cap’n was there, so I think that covers us
WARM-O-RAMA:

Archie and Cap’n were in cooldown mode after 3 rucking miles…Pusher and Crawdad were pulling in…

10 Windmills IC while waiting for Crawdad and Pusher

25 SSH, but only 5 IC. The other 20 we were supposed to do in our heads. We did not all end at the same time. Could’ve been Q’s fault. 10 Burpees OYO.

BAC forward and reverse, OHCs in between

THA-THANG:

Little Mosey over to the base of Spaceship Hill. Catch Me If You Can with 10 LBCs to the stop sign on the far side.

Another mosey down to Area 51, which has missed us, and which also had an unidentified structure. We took it apart and did some CMU Doras. Pusher found a hole that was hiding, but recovered on the mosey like the badass that he is. 

Indian run over to the FiA parking lot, where Abcess had already delivered baloons. We presented them with a birthday present, candle, and we sang Happy Birthday. Q started us off about two octaves too high but he is not paid for his beautiful singing voice.

Down to the soccer fields to meet Jack Webb! Back in college we used to play Ultimate Frisbee, so we played in Jack’s honor. 2 burpees for everyone if the frisbee touches the ground, 5 merkins for a team that gets scored on. High Heels got the Golden Glove Award.

MARY:
Mary Schmary

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.”
― Wendell Berry

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Encouragement

THE SCENE: Beautiful day, temp hovering under 70 degrees, blue sky with a few white clouds
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers, 7 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 7 Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and 5 Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign at northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  We will do Twenty American Hammers.  Then we will do the following cone exercises around the roadway that semi-circles the Admin Bldg.  We will sprint to Cone 1 and follow instructions from there.

  • Cone 1:  Ten Burpees.  Then Bernie Sanders to Cone 2
  • Cone 2:  20 Hello Dollies (four count).  Then Hop to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  20 Imperial Walkers (both legs = 1).  Then Bear Crawl to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Smurf Jacks.  Then Lunge to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Squats.  Then Bernie Sanders to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6:  20 Squat Jumps.  Then Grapevine Right to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7:  20 Carolina Dry Docks.  Then Grapevine Left to Cone 8.
  • Cone 8:  40 Baby Crunches, 20 Merkins, 20 Box Cutters, 20 Diamond Merkins, 10 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1).

Mosey down hill by roadway that heads to main roadway coming from entrance gate at Lyons Bend.  We will do elevens starting with 1 Big Boy Sit Up at bottom of hill and 10 Iron Mikes (each leg = 1) at top of hill.

Mosey to Area 51.  We will do 20 Hands Wide Merkins.  Then we will run up the hill to roadway that semicircles the Admin Bldg.  We will go back to Cone 8 and repeat the exercises there.

Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks, 20 Bicycle Kicks, 30 Side Heel Touches while on Six, 25 Buzz Saws
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV /

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

One thing I appreciate about our F3 brotherhood is how we encourage one another.  I always hear brothers exhorting one another to keep up the good work, to keep pushing.  I never hear brothers criticize other brothers for being too slow, for not keeping up.  We work hard but we do so with a great deal of support.  It works the same way with the time we share from our hearts.  We praise one another when the news is good and are ready to console and wrap our arms around anyone who shares something painful or difficult.  Keep up the good work.  Keep striving to be excellent but keep encouraging one another to reach for excellence.  Men need encouragement and it is the iron sharpening iron aspect of F3 which is one of the truly magical things about our group.  We take that creed seriously and in so doing, we reach out to our fellow man.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for J-Lo’s recovery from torn meniscus and prayers for co-worker of Sparkler and her husband who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board meeting to prepare for Hardship Hill.  Hardship Hill will be this Saturday.

Highway 45

THE SCENE: Beautiful weather
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH
  • Tempo Squats
  • Baby Arm Circles (Forward/Reverse)
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Merkins

THA-THANG:
Went down to the oval parking lot – 9 light poles total on the perimeter of the oval. 1 Lap for each of the following exercises, stopping at each light pole and doing 5 reps of the exercise (total of 45 reps each lap):

  1. Burpees
  2. Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  3. Diamond Merkins
  4. Jump Squats
  5. Mountain Climbers (4 ct)
  6. Star Jacks
  7. Wide Merkins
  8. Hello Dollies (4 ct)
  9. Carolina Dry Docks
  10. Victory lap for the ones who finished

Back up to the AO for bear crawls across the parking lot, stopping at each line to do 1 Merkin. Back across the parking lot with lunges, stopping at each line to do 1 squat. Then, reverse lunges across the parking lot with bear crawls on the way back.

MARY:
Just enough time for one set of American Hammers

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
27 HIMs – no FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Make the most of the day you’re given. It’s easy to look ahead to the next weekend, next vacation, next milestone, etc., but God has given us today. Today is a gift – be intentional with it.

Circuit Work

THE SCENE: No rain but humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH
  • Tempo Squats
  • Baby Arm Circles (Forward/Reverse)
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Merkins

THA-THANG:
Circuit with 6 stops – 2 exercises at each stop; first lap is 15 reps of each exercise, then decrease by 1 each lap (14, 13, 12…..)

  1. Iron Mikes (4 ct) / Big Boy Sit Ups
  2. Flutter Kicks (4 ct) / Supermans
  3. Merkins / Jump Squats
  4. Derkins / American Hammers (4 ct)
  5. Bench Rows / Tricep Dips
  6. Overhead Press / Bicep Curls (w/ the CMUs)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
38 HIMs including 1 FNG – Welcome ‘Goober’

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Crucifixion Love is the love that Christ showed us. He loved us even though we didn’t deserve it. His Love for us was not predicated on us first loving Him.

Reciprocation Love is loving someone because they’ve first loved us or loving someone with an expectation of something in return. Examples: 1) I’m going to unload the dishwasher so that my wife will notice and that will hopefully lead to sex later on tonight. 2) I’m going to help out with the kids this morning so that my wife will let me go golfing next weekend (and if she says ‘no’, I’ll remind her of how helpful I was with the kids the other day). 3) Or maybe it’s simply that you’re hanging out with someone or being friendly towards them because you’re expecting something in return – you hope to close a business deal, be seen in a certain crowd, you want them to approve of you, etc….

Although we’ll constantly fall short of it in our fleshly bodies, we are called to love others with crucifixion love. Love others even when they don’t deserve it. Love others with no expectation of anything in return.

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.