F3 Knoxville

BB – Asylum PM Candy Corns!

THE SCENE:Overcast and a bit Humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH 25 IC

Arm Circles – thumbs up IC

Arm Circles- thumbs down IC

Cherry Pickers IC

THA-THANG:
Insert information about the workout.

  • Select Partner- Pair up
  • Mosey down the steps by the Bat Cave to HWY 66
  • 10 Merkins OYO
  • Bataan Death March  up RTE 66 – One Pair starts with 3 burpees while rest of group runs, first Pair catches up with group, tags another pair. Complete until all have been tagged 2X.
  • Mosey to large open field below brick bldg.
  • In pairs – Vacuum Cleaners across field (alternate bearcrawls), at end (- 25 yards), 10 Derkins, switch, Vacuum Cleaner back across field or bearcrawl – 10 Derkins (alt Merkins)
  • Imperial Walker Back across, 15 BB slap situps with partner,step lunge across field on return, 15 more BB slap situps
  • Bernie Sanders back across – 25 LBC, return Bernie Sanders, 25 more LBC
  • Lt Dan back across (1 squat,1 Left leg lung, 1 rt leg lunge, add one to each until reach other side) – 10 plank jacks then return with more Lt Dans
  • Rinse and Repeat 1 x
  • Mosey (corrected  to Charge!) up hill to benches
  • 10 Bench drops + 10 Elevated Merkins, rinse/repeat 1 x
  • Mosey to Rock pile, 15 curls with friendly rock
  • Mosey to Bat Cave

MARY:
Insert information about any additional post-THANG work (if applicable).
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

8 PAX and 1 FNG – FOF (Andy Ferguson)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
God provides our community – don’t be afraid to ask for help when you or loved ones face difficult times. Use the community resources God provides. As a F3 leader, step up and provide support when called.
MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Cash Songs and Kids’ Games

THE SCENE: High 80s, humid as all get out.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

– 20 SSH (IC), 10 Windmills (4 ct, IC) 20 baby to big arm circles, forward and backward (IC), 20 Imperial Squat Walkers (4-ct, IC).  Almost had to repeat this last exercise because the PAX forgot how to count.

THA-THANG:
Moseyed to the new field below the Admin Building where the Ring of Fire was set up.  The 8 stations were as follows:

  • Little Baby Crunches
  • Bobby Hurleys
  • Captain Thors
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Diamond Merkins
  • Iron Mikes
  • E2Ks
  • Hand-release Merkins

Break up into pairs, start at different stations.  60 seconds at each station with 20 second break in between.  The twist was that we also played Duck Duck Goose around the ring.  Each pair, in turns, would run up the hill to a set of trees and return back to the circle, counting off “Duck Duck GOOSE” to designate the next pair to run.  (There was a burpee penalty for not doing this that was poorly enforced.) After all groups ran the hill, brief recovery, then rinse and repeat.  We planned for a third circuit but ran out of time.

MARY:
Moseyed to AO and did the following exercises.

– Homer/Marge, pickle pounders, box cutters, Hello Dollies, Squats

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 strong!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM

In a recent Sports Illustrated article, Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher of the modern era, feels that every time he fails, he views it as a tiny affront to the God who gave him so much talent. He thinks often of his favorite verse, Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”  The heaviest load he carries isn’t the weight of fans’ expectations, it’s that he believes he has been given a gift that he doesn’t deserve, and that if he doesn’t succeed he is squandering God’s gift. Some other relevant verses include:

PROVERBS 16:3 : Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

EPHESIANS 6:7 Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.

I’ve felt this same way to some degree. If I failed, which I did often, I was letting down my team, myself, and God.  Why do we work hard?  Many times it’s to please someone else.  Yes, we all need to make sure our bosses are happy with our performance, our companions (teammates, family members, etc.) are taken care of and satisfied with us… But we shouldn’t forget that there is virtue in doing something to the best of your ability for the Lord. But what happens when we fail? Are we failing God?  There is nothing in those Bible passages above that mentions failing.  To fail is human, and to accept our imperfections and thank the Lord for the opportunity to succeed through hard work is what is important.  F3 is a good example. We are out here working hard, there are no human masters here judging us or forcing us to go through 45 minutes of hell.  We do it for ourselves, and our brothers, and I believe, for our Lord, to celebrate our life and health and to improve the tool that is our body that was given to us by his loving hand.

MOLESKIN:
The Q lost his phone during the workout, and even though they were told to go on home, every single member of the group stayed late to help him find it, even climbing up and down more hills to the Ring of Fire course.  I’m not sure if they were tears of gratitude or rivulets of sweat on my cheeks at this act of brotherhood, but I’ll go with the latter. Yeah. It was SWEAT, dang it!!  Many thanks s to Swimmies for running ahead and finding it at one of the stations.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 anniversary Olympics coming up!  And Happy Birthday Jinxy!

A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall

THE SCENE:  Thunderstorms, plenty of rain and lightening.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

We had to make a mad dash to the northern ball fields pavilion as we were getting started, due to rain and lightening.  It was full of people so we made another dash to the outdoor chapel and worked out there.  We did plank stretches and then got to “Tha-thang”.
THA-THANG:
Totem poles doing each exercise for 30 seconds before going to the next one.  In round one we do the first exercise only.  In round 2 we do the first and second.  In round 3 we do the first, second and third.  We keep going until all five exercises are done.  Then we drop off the first exercise and do only exercises two through five.  Next we drop the second exercise and do only three through five.  We do this until only the fifth exercise is done.  The following are the exercises:

  • Burpees
  • American Hammers
  • Decline Merkins
  • Bench lifts
  • Squat Jacks

Next, we did four corners, performing 20 Little Baby Crunches at each corner.  We hopped from corner one to two, Bernie Sanders Sprinted from two to three, bear crawled from three to four, and sprinted from four to one.  Next we repeated the above routine except did 15 Big Boy Sit-Ups at each corner

Next we did another totem pole but this time with only four exercises.  They were:

  • Squat Jacks
  • Flutter Kicks
  • Hello Dollies
  • Mountain Climbers

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
We had ten men present including a Flying EH whom we named Nick.  We gave him the F3 name of Stormy.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 King James Version (KJV)

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We tend to avoid thoughts of death.  We rather not think about it.  In many ways, we fear death.  And whether we fear death or not, we certainly don’t want to die and rarely think of our own deaths.  Yet, there can be advantages to thinking of our own mortality.

  1. We see how precious our time here on Earth is and it can motivate us to act more like HIM’s with the time we have here.  And we appreciate our mortality more.  As Bob Geldof says in one of his songs, Mortality is a cheap price we pay for existence.”
  2. We are forced to think of life beyond this existence.  We are forced to wonder about God, about His creation and whether God has plans for us beyond our lives here.
  3. We have a better understanding of our dependency on God.  We must trust in God, that God indeed does have plans for us.  As Henri Nouwen states, we come into this world as a dependent creature and leave life as a dependent creature.  And, if we can trust that God exists and that He has plans for us beyond our lives here, then . . .
  4. We fear death less.  We realize that, although Mortality is a cheap price we pay for existence” our existence is more than our lives here.  If we can trust in God, we need not fear death but welcome it.  Just as, when we were in the womb, we did not know what our lives outside of it would be like, we do not know what our lives beyond what we have on Earth will be.  But, with God, “Death, where is your sting?”  With God, as John Donne says, “Death, thou shalt die.”

 

Earn the Stargazers!

THE SCENE: Started out clear and bright, but clouds and fog moved in to keep us cool.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x25 IC
Cherry Pickers x8 IC
SSH x5 more just for Crawdad, who rolled up late…
Crabettes (Like Rockettes, but from crab position) x20 IC
Cossack Squats x20 IC
Mountain Climbers x10 IC
Walk toes forward as far as possible toward planche position for 10 more IC
Walk toes backward until abs are fully engaged, 10 more IC

THA-THANG:
Mosey toward the base of Everest, stopping about halfway for 15 Inchworm Merkins OYO

At the base of Everest, 10x Travoltas each side

Promised everyone 30s of Stargazers after an AYG charge up Everest. If you can breathe when you get there, you didn’t push hard enough…
30s count is OYO, then flutters until everyone has had their 30s.

Everyone grab a CMU-equivalent coupon (1 per person) and partner up.
Coupons go in a line about 10 yards away. Entire group goal is to move all coupons to a line about 70 yards away.
One partner runs to the nearest coupon, does 3 Burpee Broad Jumps with coupon to advance, then mosey back to switch with partner.
Stationary partner alternates between squats and crabettes after each trip.

Once all coupons are across the line, everyone grab one and mosey partway down Everest, line up across the hill for Tombstone Toss.
Everyone toss coupon as far up the hill as possible. Bunny hop to your coupon, pick it up, and continue hopping until you reach the furthest one. Once everyone has arrived at the furthest one, toss again.

When everyone has reached the top of the hill, put away coupons and 10 Hand Release Merkins OYO.

Mosey back toward the AO, stopping at the corner for a 30/30/30 of merkins, big boys, and squats.

Q noticed the big ol’ stone block monument thing just sitting there, so 10 Derkins on the block

MARY:
Mary started out with 10ct Stargazers, just because I’m nice…
30x flutter kicks IC (with a small rest as Crawdad attempted to avoid being run over…)
15x slutter kicks IC
15x side crunch IC (each side)
4x Row Your Boat (caused a bit of a scene since traffic is kinda picking up in the park by this point)
Everyone had to hop up and allow a vehicle to exit the parking lot. This presented a great opportunity for some Monkey Humpers (x15 4ct IC)
10x Shoulder Tap Merkins
About 30s of OYO SSH to finish out the hour.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 strong this morning, including one FNG – Snoopy (Terry Hill)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Ephesians tells us to love our wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her. The thing that first comes to mind when you hear this is how He died for us. As men, we like to think, “Yeah, I’d die for my wife.” However, Christ gave himself fully, not just on the cross, but daily as he lived on earth. He walked dusty, excrement filled roads, lived day and night with 12 of the most annoying, bad listening, etc. guys you can imagine. Did everything that sucks with no thought for himself, poured his life into them. Through each day, look for opportunities to give yourself in those kinds of ways.
MOLESKIN:
I forgot about the Saturday relocation to the upper parking lot… Much appreciation for Hawk running down and getting me before time to start the beatdown! I had a great time working out with the Asylum PAX this morning. F3 Knoxville is full of HIMs – I would encourage everyone to be promis-Q-ous and make your way around to as many AOs as you can. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do them all in a single week!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Sendoff this morning for Soot (Daniel Anders) at the Overlook. Heading off to be stationed in Colorado Springs.

The Gate

THE SCENE: Cloudy and hot
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 25 Squats, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to big tree by stop sign at northeast corner of admin bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to park perimeter trail where it intersects with roadway that heads to admin bldg.  We will do 25 Squats.

Run on perimeter trail as it heads west and north and curves toward the bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will stop at every fifth light to do 10 merkins, then continue.  At bottom of Mt. Everest we will do 25 Squats then run around big tree in middle of Mt. Everest, then come back to perimeter trail.  We will then do 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count).

Run to every fifth light and stop to do 10 Big Boy Situps.  Continue this until we get to roadway that comes in from Northshore gate.  Stop to do 20 Hello Dollies.

Run across roadway, staying on perimeter trail.  Run to every fifth light and stop to do 10 Shoulder taps (ten taps each shoulder).  We will run until we reach soccer fields.  Stop to do 20 Box Cutters.

We will next go across soccer field.  We will lunge to first line, run to next line, lunge to next, run to next in alternate fashion until we reach the end of the soccer field.  We will stop to do 25 Squats.

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  Stop to do 20 pickle pounders (four count).

Run to Boulder Pile.  Pick up appropriate size boulder.  We will do 25 overhead presses, 25 Curls, 25 Rows and 25 Triceps.

MARY:
Plank Stretches.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men present, one FNG, Josh, a good friend and coworker of Hooker.  We named Josh “Hotspur.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
This is a poem written by Marie Howe.  It is about her brother who died.  He was sick and knew he would die when the moments this poem describes takes place.  In this poem he points out to the poet the importance of life’s everyday moments – like eating a cheese and mustard sandwich.  Maybe it is these moments that we are really waiting for, not the big successes, the big job, the big whatever.  For what do the big successes gain us?  Only the opportunities to have special moments with others.

THE GATE BY MARIE HOWE

I had no idea that the gate I would step through
to finally enter this world
would be the space my brother’s body made. He was
a little taller than me: a young man
but grown, himself by then,
done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet,
rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold
and running water.
This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me.
And I’d say, What?
And he’d say, This—holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich.
And I’d say, What?
And he’d say, This, sort of looking around.
We spend much of our loves working towards something, trying to achieve whatever version of success we or others have implanted in our minds.  We often fail to take notice of the simple events of daily life, the simple things around us, such as the folding of sheets after laundry, the walls and pictures in the residences we live in, the simple conversations with loved ones and friends, the beauty around us, whether it be the mountains in the distance or a simple weed growing on the ground in front of us.  Marie Howe’s brother points out that these are the moments and things we are waiting for.
Let us savior these days, these things, these moments that God has given us.  Van Morrison speaks of this in his song, These Are The Days.  He says in the poem that we must savor these days as if there is no past, no future, only now.  He goes on to say:

These are the days by the sparkling river
And His timely grace and the treasured find
This is the love of the one great magician
Turned the water into wine

These are the days now that we must savor
And we must enjoy as we can
These are the days that will last forever
You’ve got to hold them in your heart.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Beer run to Union Jacks directly after this workout.