F3 Knoxville

Tag: Mr Jinxy

Tabata and Hills

THE SCENE: mid 70s, partly sunny, humid as heck after the storms
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3, Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. F3 is a free workout program designed to improve fitness, share some camaraderie, and foster male leadership in the community.  I’m Pele and I will be your Q today.  I am not a professional, and I do not know your fitness level or injury history.  Please push yourself, but modify the workout as necessary to avoid making any existing injuries worse.  The goal is to get better together!


WARM-O-RAMA:

-30 Split Jacks (4-ct), 15 each leg, in cadence

– 10 Windmills (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Plank Jacks

– 20 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

  • 10 Steave Earles, (4-ct), in cadence
  • 10 LBCs small and wide (4-ct), forward and backward in cadence

Run to tree down the road, 5 squat jumps, Bernie back

THA-THANG:

TABATA 1 (20 seconds exercise, 10 seconds rest, 4 rounds = 2 minutes per exercise x 5 exercises = 10 minutes per round)

  • Plank Jacks
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Catalina wine mixers
  • Bottle Openers

RUN DOWN STAIRS, OVER TO BASE OF SUMMIT, UP SUMMIT, BACK TO BAT HOUSE.  At EACH “CORNER” DO 15 SMURF JACKS

TABATA 2

  • American Hammers
  • Gas Pumps
  • Wide Flutter Kicks

RUN LOOP, DO 15 BOBBY HURLEYS

TABATA 3

  • High Knees
  • Squats
  • Lunges

RUN LOOP, DO 15 DESONSTRUCTED BURPEES

MARY:
No time for Mary today.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 strong. Pop a top not tagged.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Fellows, it’s been a difficult past couple of weeks for our AO.  We recently, had to part ways with a brother, and that’s just not something we ever want to do.   I have to admit I lost a lot of sleep over it.  And the situation made me consider the fine line between holding someone accountable versus judging someone.  We try to do the former in F3, but stay away from the latter, but sometimes that’s a tough distinction.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines accountability as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions, while judgmental is defined as “characterized by a tendency to judge harshly”.  After thinking about it a little more, I came up with sort of my own definition of these terms… accountability is holding someone responsible for norms, traditions, rules, etc. that are broadly accepted by a group, while being judgmental is passing judgment on whether someone measures up to your own PERSONAL ideas or notions.

As I’ve expressed in Slack, I feel it’s VERY important to refrain from publicly passing judgment on our fellow brothers, because when you do so it inevitably causes rifts.  Disagreement is fine, but if you have something you object to, I think it’s always best to have a private discussion about it.

Before parting ways, the former member of our group first passed judgment on our AO in terms of how we uphold the Second F (Fellowship), then passed judgment on an individual in terms of his interpretation of the Bible and his message, and finally, in a parting message to me, passed judgment on me (and, more broadly, our entire group) in challenging our religious beliefs, patriotism, and leadership.

Although I’m not perfect about it, I try to refrain from passing judgment on others.  I have my own belief system, and sure, I appreciate seeing qualities in others that follow a similar system, but I try not to denigrate or think ill of those who have other beliefs.  But let’s face it… we all judge others, and on a pretty regular basis.  It’s part of our DNA, as far I’m concerned.  But there’s a difference in making that determination of judgment internally, and publically attempting to coerce others to conform to your perception of how things should be.  The latter is something that I feel we need to avoid in F3, which was intentionally formed as a very inclusionary group of men.  If you were here a few Saturday’s ago, we had a Guest Q from Chattanooga that emphasized F3s core mission: to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.  That’s it.  There are certain components to every F3 workout, and one of those is the Word, followed by the Ball of Man.  I can honestly say that I have personally disagreed with at least a small portion of just about every Word, but also that is OVERHELMED by the amount of wisdom and perspective that I have received.

In closing, I found a couple of statements that I thought really hit the nail on the head when it comes to being Judgmental :

Judgment is the basis for separation, which is the ego’s goal. When we judge a brother or sister, be it in thought or action, we create a sense of separation.

You will save yourself and others years of stress, anger, disappointment and resentment if you allow your brothers and sisters to follow their own hearts. If your brothers and sisters know that they can come to you for advice without criticism and judgment attached to it, you will forever be their sounding board. However, if you end up judging and criticizing their efforts and decisions they will put up walls every time you question or try to advise them.

– James Blanchard Cisneros, Author of You Have Chosen to Remember: A
Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 91-92

Born in Geneva, Switzerland. He grew up in Caracas, Venezuela and obtained his B.S. and MBA degrees in the United States. James states “My grandfather served in WWII as a colonel in the United States Marines, my father was a Vietnam Army veteran. After the Vietnam experience, my father wanted to break the cycle and protect us from a future draft. So he arranged for my brother and myself to be born in Geneva, Switzerland (a neutral nation), so that we could choose to refrain from the next conflict if that was our choice.”

James 4:11-12

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Romans 16:17 

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

MOLESKIN:
Great to see Sparkler out there, and Pop a Top killed it in his second workout.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Speedway launch Saturday at 6 am, Convergence July 2!

The Asylum PM’rs Take On The Compound

[ The Scene ]

  • 70s
  • Hot
  • Character building
  • Pre-Ruck with Guppy

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • A few things before we begin:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own belief
    • You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you.
  • FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • 10×4 Around the Clock Lunges (12, 3, 6, 9)
  • 10×4 Cherry Pickers
  • 10×4 Windmill
  • 10×4 merkins 
  • 10×4 SSH

Cash-In with some ATMs

[ The Thang ]

(Mosey to The Compound)

(1) The Timeless Classic: 11s

  • but since today is the 10th, we’ll just do 10s
  • Here: Merkins
  • There: Star jacks
    • (9 + 1, 8 + 2, etc)

(2) Battle Buddy Bays

  • 3 POCs or “bays”
  • 1 BB will wall sit up here + execute raise the roofs until recovered
  • 1 BB will run to the bay and execute 25 reps of an exercise at each of the 3 bays.
    • Bay 1: Merkins
    • Bay 2: Bobby Hurleys
    • Bay 3: LBCs
  • So you and your BB team will graduate from 1 bay to the next. Each BB will complete the X for each bay
  • The wall sits remain the same throughout

(3) There And Back Again

  • 2 POCs: The Compound + The Dock
  • Compound: triad merkins and run to The Dock
    • 1 reg, 1 wide, 1 diamond
    • Run up tue platform and back down, and then up to The Dock
  • The Dock: triad of squats
    • 1 reg, 1 sumo, 1 together and then run back to The Compound
  • Rinse and Repeat, adding 1 rep to each station (round 2: 2 reg, 2 wide, 2 diamond + 2 reg, 2 sumo, 2 together) until you complete 5 reps of each triad.
  • Recover at The Compound

[ Mary ]

American Indian run back up to the AO

BTTW (Balls To The Wall) to the AO about 50 yards out

[ COT ]

  • # off — 9
  • Name o Rama
    • Guppy, Brick, Drum Major, Crispr, High-Heels, F6, Mr. Jinxy, Rooney, Steam
  • FNGs — 0
  • BOM

For my BOM tonight, I’m going to try and listen to myself as I talk, because I really need to hear this, and I feel like this was  put on my heart to share as well, and just maybe, you’ll find some things that will apply to your life as well.

I’d like to start off by sharing a story.

Last night, I was asked to play goalie in my fiancé’s soccer game with her brother and some of the women she coaches at Johnson University. Now I played soccer growing up, and while I did play church league soccer, I also played competitively, but I was always a midfielder or forward. I ran and kicked, I didn’t block. So after some prompting from both my fiancé and future brother in law to play goalie, I said okay, knowing that this was about to be way better than I expected, or way worse than I expected. So we took the field and I was pretty pumped up.

Now I didn’t get too upset when the first 2 goals were scored on me, but man, the last 5 were brutal. One of the 5 was between my legs, another one out of the 5 I mis-timed and tipped it back into the goal for an own goal, and yet another one out of the 5 was shot from midfield and sailed past my head. I was furious. I was ashamed. I was humiliated. I was disappointed. I was upset. I used an expletive or 3 both in my head and out loud. I had failed. I had let the team down. I wasn’t good enough. I was furious with myself for my performance. Even in the midst of my fiancé, future brother in law, and some of the other collegiate women who were on the team’s “Hey you did great” and “We’re just out here to have fun” and “You did way better than I would have done” my internal programming and messaging screamed LIAR. FALSE. INCORRECT. NOT TRUE. I don’t want to be consoled, or comforted or your pity, I know how badly I did out there. After a hasty and very unloving hug and “I love you” I have my fiancé, I sped out of that parking lot in rage for how poorly I had performed.

One thing my fiancé said to me before I left was “You have to stop beating yourself up about this. You need to quit being so hard on yourself.” To which I replied a measly “yeah.” My internal response to this in that moment and all the way home and as I went to bed last night and woke up this morning was “NO I DON’T HAVE TO. I CAN’T STOP. I FAILED AND I AM GOING TO LET MYSELF KNOW IT. IF I STOP BEING HARD ON MYSELF AND BEATING MYSELF UP I WON’T BE GOOD ENOUGH. Whoah…..there’s something deeper there. My fiancé has not heard me communicate any of this to her yet, but she knows me well enough to know what type of humiliating and self-deprecating dialogue was going on internally for me.

Maybe you’ve heard these things before:

  • I’m my own harshest critic
  • I’m so hard on myself
  • I just beat myself up about this or that

As those goals continued to pummel me throughout the game, I kept thinking “Cmon Dan you’re better than this. You should be doing better than this. You’re failing. Goal after goal after goal, the same mental assault crashed like waves on a beach, louder and louder.

Until I realized this – and honestly the Holy Spirit loved me so well in this moment and helped me realize: You’ve never played goalie before Dan. Why did you think that? Why did you think you would be so much better than this? Why did you allow yourself to set standards of near perfection that you were never going to achieve? You’re destroying yourself mentally. I’ve never played goalie before guys. But it didn’t matter, I showed up and gave it my all, shouldn’t I have been better than this?! I MEAN CMON.

And maybe you’ve found yourself on the wrong side of a mental fuse the enemy has lit. And all he has to do is sit back and watch you start to believe that lie a little bit more and a little bit more until you’re furious. And humiliated. And have talked yourself out of grace, mercy, gratitude, and love.

As men we can be so hard on ourselves and beat ourselves up until we are mentally and emotionally and spiritually black and blue. STOP IT. Go easy on yourself. If you’re too hard on yourself like I typically am, here is something I found today, or that found me today, that helped take back some lost ground, mentally.

Three Warning Signs That You’re Too Hard On Yourself

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/am-i-too-hard-on-myself

            1. First, you’re being too hard on yourself if your failures to meet your standards result in a depressed loss of joy in the Lord.

“Christ has made you his own. That changes everything about how you run your race.”

            1. Second, it’s evidence of a person’s being too hard on himself if his failures result in hurtful anger: hurtful toward himself, inclining him toward habits that are self-destructive, or hurtful toward others.
            1. Third, it’s evidence that he’s being too hard on himself if his failures produce paralyzing fear or anxiety about approaching the tasks of his life. If he feels like he’s fallen short so often that he loses the capacity to attempt anything of significance, it’s evidence that he’s being too hard on himself in the sense that he’s not trusting Christ for the ability to keep him going.

So maybe we change the mental conversation and quit being so hard on ourselves as men. And maybe it sounds something like this:

“I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:12-14‬ ‭MSG‬‬ (https://bible.com/bible/97/php.3.12-14.MSG)

 

Wondering Where The Lions Are

THE SCENE: Sunny and warm, temp in low eighties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

THA-THANG:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Twisties, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Little Baby to Big Wide Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward

We will mosey past the stop sign at the northeast corner of the Admin Bldg and go to the grassy area by the perimeter trail.  We will do 20 Flutter Kicks in the grass.  Next, will run west on the perimeter trail, stopping every ten lights to do ten of each of the following exercises.  Those arriving to the tenth light first will rinse and repeat until the six has done ten of each exercise.  Here are the exercises for each tenth light:

  • Merkins, Big Boys
  • Squat Jumps, Lunges (each leg = 1)
  • Carolina Dry Docks, Hello Dollies

Next, we will run to Area 51.  Stop at the area by the parking lot on the right.  We will split into teams of two.  While one team member does an exercise, the other runs to the curb at the end of area 51, does 10 jump squats, and runs back.  The partners then switch.  When each partner had done an exercise twice, they shift to the next exercise.  Here are the exercises:

  • Gas pumps
  • Rocky Balboas
  • Diamond Merkins
  • Iron Mikes

Next, we will run up the hill above Area 51 to roadway above the big tree.  Those getting there first will do bench dips until the six arrives.

Mosey to AO by running to gravel parking lot area, walking along the parking lot area, then running to AO.

Next we will do sprints to sign by parking lot and slow job back to where we started.  Repeat sprints three more times.  Then slow jog back to AO.

MARY:

35 Baby Crunches
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 showing, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Wondering Where The Lions Are

Have you heard or do you remember the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den from the Bible?  Daniel was a Jew who was serving Darius, the King of Babylon or Prussia.  Daniel was an excellent administrator and King Darius liked him.  The other administrators and officials of King Darius were jealous of him.  They did know how strongly he worshipped his God.  They planned a scheme where , supposedly to celebrate the king, they convinced King Darius to issue a decree that any person in the kingdom who prayed to or worshipped any God or human for the next 30 days, other than King Darius, should be thrown in a Lion’s Den.  Daniel worshipped his God daily and continued to do so after the decree.  Caught, he was thrown in the Lions Den.  The next morning King Darius rushed to the den to find Darius alive, the ferocious lions acting tamely beside him.  King Darius, who cared for and admired Daniel then proclaimed:

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever”.

As a psychologist, I see many people who suffer from anxiety.  I recently had my first session with a mid-thirties woman who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (anxiety that occurs after one suffers from a trauma), Social Anxiety (anxiety about being in social situations), and Agoraphobia (condition where a person panics if they leave their household). Ten years ago, she could hardly leave her home without breaking down. She even had difficulty answering phone calls, too anxious to talk to strangers.  Fortunately, she met a therapist who helped her out. He talked to her about how anxiety can be incredibly crippling but that some anxiety can be gradually overcome through something called exposure therapy.  If people, who have been frightened in the past, can expose themselves to the situation they fear and see that nothing disastrous happens, the anxiety can, over time, decrease.  He used a metaphor with my patient.  He said if we were to open a door and have a ferocious lion attack us, we would be very frightened of ever opening that door again, even if the lion was taken away and people tried to rationally convince us there was no lion there anymore.  We may panic trying to open the door and our hearts might pound like crazy.  But, each day, if we continued to open the door and see that no lion was there, we would gradually be less anxious about doing it.  We might not ever fully wipe out the anxiety but we would be better off.  That is what has happened to this lady.  She still gets nervous when going into public settings but can now do so.  And she wants to continue that process so that in the future, she will be even better at it.

In life, we face difficult and challenging situations.  We get burned sometimes in these situations or we fail at them.  We then fear trying similar situations.  We worry about the consequences.  We worry that we can’t face up to the situation.  But, if we can expose ourselves to the challenging situations and learn from them, we grow.  If we can trust that God is on our side, we can tame the lions we fear.

One of my favorite songwriters, Bruce Cockburn, wrote a song that talks about the ecstasy that comes with belief in God and His eternity.  He also talks about about how fear is diminished with the knowledge of this belief.  I will finish my message with some lines from that song which is entitled, “Wondering Where the Lions Are”:

Sun’s up . . . looks okay
The world survives into another day
And I’m thinking ’bout eternity
Some kinda ecstasy got a hold on me

I had another dream about lions at the door
They weren’t half as frightening as they were before
But I’m thinking ’bout eternity
Some kinda ecstasy got a hold on me.

And I’m wondering where the lions are
I’m wondering where the lions are
I’m wondering where the lions are.

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for safe travels for Pusher and Rusty on their vacation.  Prayers for Thunderstruck and his family after the death of his mother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP tomorrow night at Haw Ridge, 9 pm.

The Myth of Talent

THE SCENE: Scrumptiously perfect.  Low 70s, partly cloudy, very light breeze
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

You know the drill.
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 SSHs (4-CT, IC) / 10 Steve Earles (4-CT, IC) / 10 WINDMILLS (4-CT, IC) / 10 Tempo Merkins (4-CT, IC) / 10 BACs forward and backward (4-CT, IC)

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Field below Colosseum.

Do a KRAKEN.  Five cones.   Do 5 reps of 3 exercises (Carolina Dry Docks/Squats/BBS) at Cone 1, then run around circle plus one cone.  Add 5 reps to each cone until back at cone one, so last cone will have 25x each exercise

MOSEY to Area 51.

MUCHO CHESTO (10 Merkins, 10 Wide Ms, 10 Diamond Ms, 10 Staggered Ms Left and 10 Right)

MOSEY to EVEREST.  BERNIE to the Summit until failure, run the rest of the way.

At the Base of the Summit:

HILLS AND ABS:

  • 10 LBCs, 10 BBSs, run up the hill and back. R&R 3 more times adding 10 reps to exercises.

MARY:
Bear Crawl Ring of fire (Bear crawl in a circle 1 rotation, then PAX do 5 merkins each, R&R).

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 strong (Cheetah Boy not tagged)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Read Kurt Vonnegut’s quote during an interview where he told an archeologist about his varied interests, but how he was not good at any of them.  The archeologist replied how important it was to gain those experiences regardless of “success” at the endeavors.  This forever changed Vonnegut’s perception of himself and of succuss vs. failure.  Don’t feel that endeavors you pursue are not worthwhile just because you don’t reach a high level of success at them.  This is the myth of talent.  Success is not driven by society or your peer base, but how your experiences shape you and how you find joy in them.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers of praise for Cheetah Boy finishing the Harry Potter series.  Prayers to be with Brick and Matlock as they spread the message of their journey. Prayers for Steam and his coworkers.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Haw Ridge CSAUP, one week from tomorrow!

Shedding Skin

THE SCENE: Beautiful late afternoon, temps in upper 60’s.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Motivators starting with seven, 10 Twisties, 10 Windmills, 5 Burpees, 10 Tempo Squats, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign by northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  We will stop to do 10 Rocky Balboas and 10 American Hammers.

Mosey on perimeter trail toward Lyons Bend then head right on trail across roadway that goes to park entry gate.  Continue to mosey to cones in the grassy field on the right.  We will split into teams of two to do Doras.  While one partner runs up the hill to the tree by the roadway and back, the other partner does exercises.  Partners then switch.  Here are the exercises the partners do as a team:

  • 100 Big Boy Sit-Ups
  • 100 Jump Squats
  • 100 Merkins
  • 100 Imperial Walkers (both legs = 1)
  • 200 Baby Crunches

Next we will mosey to the bottom of Mount Everest.  We will do 20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct) and 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct) in cadence.  We will then run to the top of Everest.  Those at the top will do imaginary skip ropes until the six arrives.

Mosey south to the cone that is across the street from the gravel parking lot.  We will Sprint to cone then Walk to next cone, Sprint to cone, then Walk to next cone, and continue this process until we reach the cone by the stop sign at the southwestern corner of the Admin Bldg.  Those reaching the stop sign first will do imaginary skip ropes until the six arrives.  We will turn around and do the same thing going back but will Bernie and Walk. Those reaching the cone by the gravel parking lot first will do imaginary skip ropes until the six arrives.

Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Comfortable In My Own Skin

Do you remember those Dove Men Body Wash commercials where famous coaches or athletes like Magic Johnson, John Elway, Tom Izzo and John Thompson III talked about being comfortable in their own skin?  Those commercials had appeal because not only was Dove was supposed to make a man’s skin comfortable; they appealed to viewers because we want to be like the coach or athlete, having reached a certain level of self-satisfaction.  We want to reach a point in our lives where we can sit back and say, “yes sir, I am comfortable in my own skin.”

Yet, if we are to grow as men, we in some ways need to be uncomfortable in our own skin.  Each of us have certain sins, certain vices, that we need to get rid of, to cast off.  God wants us to become ever more like Him.  And, if we are to do that, we must shed old selves and become something new.

The following passage is from Voyage of the Dawn Treader in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicle of Narnia.  In the passage, a boy named Eustace is telling his friend, Edmund, how he became a boy again after he had been transformed into a Dragon. The lion referred to in the passage is Aslan, who represents Jesus.  Eustace has already told Edmund about how he has shed skin about three different times to get rid of his dragon skin.  But he needed to shed even more skin to become human.  Here is what Eustace says about the process:

Then the lion said- but I don’t know if it spoke – “You will have to let me undress you.” . . . “Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off – just as I thought I’d done it myself the other three times, only they hadn’t hurt – and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. Then he caught hold of me – I didn’t like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no skin on – and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious… After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me . . . in new clothes.

There’s a song about baptism by the Christian songwriter, Kyle Matthews.  In it, a young male describes his own baptism.  He says

“I’ve been through the water and I’ve come out clean
Got new clothes to cover me
And you don’t wear your old shoes on your brand new feet
When you’ve been through the water”

What I am trying to say is that God wants us to keep on changing, constantly grow, continually shed old skin.  Am I comfortable in my own skin?  Compared to the man I was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, I can say I am.  I know I am closer to God than I used to be.  But, I need to keep shedding that skin.

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Swimmies whose good friend, Brandon, died one year ago.  Prayers for Thunderstruck and his family after the death of his mother.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP at Haw Ridge!