F3 Knoxville

Tag: Pele

Three Strands Ain’t Easily Broken

F3 Q — 11/27/21

AO: Asylum (Saturday)

0700 – 0800

[ The Scene ]

  • 40s
  • Sunrise at 7:10am
  • Cold, but character building

[ 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 volition
    • If you need to modify anything that we do this morning feel free to do so! But push yourself and the men around you, they deserve it and so do you!
  • FNGs?

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • SSH — 20×4 IC
  • Rockette: 10×4 IC
  • SSH: 20×4 IC
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4 IC
  • SSH: 20×4 IC
  • Merkin: 10×4 IC
  • SSH: 20×4 IC
  • Squat: 10×4 IC
  • SSH: 20×4 IC

[ The Thang ]

(Mosey to the playground)

(1) 13s

  • Playground: 12 box jumps/step-ups
  • Pavilion: 1 incline merkin
  • Rinse and Repeat (11+2, 10+3, etc)
  • When you’re done — flutter kicks right here in the center

(10 count or so)

(Mosey to The Island)

(2) Island Hopping

  • Battle Buddy Up
  • 4 stopping points around the island
    • (1) Top and Bottom
      • Battle Buddy BBS – 10 each
    • (2) Sides
      • 4 count Merkins — 10 together
  • Rinse and repeat for a total of 2x around the island
  • When your BB team gets done, pickup with another BB team as they finish

(10 count or so)

(Mosey to The 3 Strands)

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(3) The 3 Strands

  • Break into teams of 2 or 3
  • Each of the 3 strands has a start (L) and finish (R) point (where the trail starts and where the trail ends)
  • Each team will do all 3 of the strands, 1 at a time.
  • When you’re done with 1 strand, execute 1 burpee before moving on to the next one
  • Strand 1 (Grassy)
    • Start: 25 Carolina Dry Docks (1ct)
    • Finish: 25 merkins
  • Strand 2 (Mulchy)
    • Start: 25 LBCs (1ct)
    • Finish: 25: Reverse crunches (1ct)
  • Strand 3 (Woodsy)
    • Start: 25 Squats (1ct)
    • Finish: 25 Iron Mikes (1ct)

(Mosey to the AO lot)

[ Mary ]

(4) ATM Withdrawal + Deposit

  • We’re doing a regular ATM — CASH OUT
  • 15×4 shoulder taps
  • 10×4 slow merkins
  • 10 fast merkins

SWS (Stretching With Steam)

  • Light stretching infused with motivational insights, with Steam

[ COT ]

  • # off — 15
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs
  • BOM

“Training For Battle & Maintaining Defense Systems”

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”

  • ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭144:1‬-2 ‭ESV‬

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of three strands is not easily broken.”

  • Ecclesiastes 4:12

“We ought not to receive so great a boon as strength to resist evil, to defend truth, and to conquer error, without knowing who gave it to us, and rendering to him the glory of it. Not only does Jehovah give strength to his saints, but he is their strength. The strength is made theirs because God is theirs. God is full of power, and he becomes the power of those who trust him. In him our great strength lieth, and to him be blessings more than we are able to utter. It may be read, “My Rock;” but this hardly so well consorts with the following words: “Which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” The word rock is the Hebrew way of expressing strength: the grand old language is full of such suggestive symbols. The Psalmist in the second part of the verse sets forth the Lord as teacher in the arts of war.

If we have strength we are not much the better unless we have skill also. Untrained force is often an injury to the man who possesses it, and it even becomes a danger to those who are round about him; and therefore the Psalmist blesses the Lord as much for teaching as for strength.

Let us also bless Jehovah if he has in anything made us efficient. The tuition mentioned was very practical, it was not so much of the brain as of the hands and fingers; for these were the members most needful for conflict. Men with little scholastic education should be grateful for deftness and skill in their handicrafts.

To a fighting man the education of the hands is of far more value than mere book learning could ever be; he who has to use a sling or a bow needs suitable training, quite as much as a scientific man or a classical professor.

Men are too apt to fancy that an artisan’s efficiency is to be ascribed to himself; but this is a popular fallacy. A clergyman may be supposed to be taught of God, but people do not allow this to be true of weavers or workers in brass; yet these callings are specially mentioned in the Bible as having been taught to holy women and earnest men when the tabernacle was set up at the first. All wisdom and skill are from the Lord, and for them he deserves to be gratefully extolled.

This teaching extends to the smallest members of our frame; the Lord teaches fingers as well as hands; indeed, it sometimes happens that if the finger is not well trained the whole hand is incapable.”

  • Charles Spurgeon

“Such strange creatures are human beings, that if a number of them are kept in peaceful association under the leadership of any one of the Lord’s servants, he is bound to bless God every day for the wonderful fact. The victories of peace are as much worthy of joyful gratitude as the victories of war. Leaders in the Christian church cannot maintain their position except as the Lord preserves to them the mighty influence which ensures obedience and evokes enthusiastic loyalty. For every particle of influence for good which we may possess let us magnify the name of the Lord.”

  • Charles Spurgeon

Big Mac Burner

THE SCENE: 34 degrees with a bit of fog.  A beautiful Thanksgiving morning.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Started with 25 SSH on 4ct, to the curb for tie fighters x10 4ct left and right sides, mosey down to other end for tempo mericans x10 and mountain climbers x10, mosey back for 4ct imperial walkers x10, mosey back down parking lot for 10 burpees OYO
THA-THANG:
Start at the pavilion for 3 rounds of 20 table rows, 20 dips, and 20 standing calf raises

Mosey to poles next to circus maximus for 5 OH Claps, 5 squats, and 5 Monkey humpers at every pole (10 poles) 4ct flutters waiting on 6

Mosey to Cardiac for 4 cones up and down (2 times) with 5 4ct flutters at every cone

Mosey to front of Asylum for 3 burpees at every other light pole to crosswalk.  Tempo mericans wait on 6 then perform 5 burpees OYO because Cheatsheet was late. Mosey up stairs towards overlook.

At overlook partner up for: Partner 1 runs loop while Partner 2 does AMRAP Mericans.  Same process for LBC’S

Split in 2 groups for 5 squats at every tree ad lunge in between

Mosey back and circle up.

 

MARY:
Nope
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Insert the WORD here.
MOLESKIN:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Giving Thanks… and no Beaver Moon!

THE SCENE: Cold, low 40s, fairly calm and clear, but the hallowed Beaver Moon didn’t make an appearance, to everyone’s disappointment.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check.


WARM-O-RAMA:

– Motivators 7 count decreasing

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence (aborted this exercise due to mumblechatter around 6 or so…)

– 10 Rockettes (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Grady Corns  (4-ct), in cadence

– Calf stretches

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Caribbean Parking Lot

  • NO MERCY MILE (really more like a half mile)
    • Near end: Bear Crawl around turn
    • Run to ½ way point. 25 Merkins. Run to curve
    • Far End: Lunges around turn
    • Sprint to ½ way point. 25 Squats. Run to Curve.
    • Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to open air Chapel

  • AMRAPS
    • 30 sec dips, rest 10 sec. R&R x4
    • 30 sec incline merkins, rest 10 sec R&R x4
    • 30 sec isometric squats (alternating), rest 10 sec R&R x4

Mosey to east down path towards the bottom of Cardiac.  At intersection, 20 American Hammers (4-ct)

Mosey to bottom of Cardiac.  20 Imperial Walkers (4-ct)

  • Cardiac Crusher
    • Run to first curve and back, 20 flutter kicks (2-ct)
    • Run to second curve and back, 20 flutter kicks (2-ct)
    • Run to top, stop at each turn to do 10 merkins, 10 squats, and 10 BBS

Mosey to AO

MARY:
Homer/Marge leg raises

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Thanksgiving:

Back in 1620, 102 separatists Christians left Europe and came to America via a little boat called the Mayflower.  The first years in America were very hard, and about half the population died within the first several months.  They likely all would have died without the help of the Native Americans, who provided food and taught them how to grow crops.  They celebrated the harvest the following year, in 1621, with Thanksgiving. The celebration lasted 3 days. Thanksgiving was only sporadically celebrated until 1789 when George Washington called for it to be a recurring celebration.  Even then, it still didn’t totally catch on until 1941, when FDR and Congress declared it a national holiday.  Why is it so tough to celebrate Thanksgiving?  We seem to want to skip over it it and move right from Halloween to Christmas.  If you’re cynical, maybe it’s because there’s no money in Thanksgiving?  Not as many cards, gifts, and promotional events…Except for the Macy’s parade, and for that everyone is just waiting for Santa at the end.

But there is a human need to give Thanks.  One of the first things parents teach their children is to say Thank You (when handing a young child something…: “What do you say? What do you SAY??”).  Giving Thanks is important because it interrupts the Self, recognizes the Other in our life.  We value that other.  We have an imperative and a need to give Thanks to those we have relationships with.  And who or what is the primary relationship in our life?  It’s God, and we need to give Thanks to God.  Giving Thanks reminds us that we are recipients, not creators.  It allows us a moment to pause and count our blessings.  STEAM recently posted a message in Sticky Notes Channel: “GAS PRICES ARE HIGH, THIS SUCKS” VS “I WAS ABLE TO FILL UP MY CAR WITH GAS. THANK YOU JESUS.” What a great perspective for the week of Thanksgiving.

I love the line from the song Signs that was sung by Tesla and written by Five Man Electrical Band… “Thank you Lord, for thinking about me, I’m alive and doing fine.”

Here’s what I think.  I think we need to build a world that strips out the biases and fear of other religions, other cultures, other world views and focuses on the basics.  Love God, Love your Neighbor.  Easy Peasy.  Right?  Wrong.  It’s simple, but it’s not easy.  How do we do that? Giving Thanks can be a great place to start and get beyond the differences.  Seek first the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is love, generosity, thankfulness, and justice.  That is how we live in that Kingdom.  This is what was in the heart of the Pilgrim’s journey. To be a loving, generous, and thankful community.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Steam’s mom who has COVID, for other friends and family members going through illness or trials.  Prayers for the victims of the Waukesha driving calamity.  Prayers for our nation as tensions rise and the Enemy tries to divide and discourage us.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Christmas party Dec. 11!

You Are Already There

THE SCENE: You Are Already There
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Jog around the lot, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, 15 Shoulder Taps, 10 Rockettes, 5 Cherry Pickers, 5 Windmills, Michael Phelps, A Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Men split up into teams of two.  We will go to parking lot across the street.  Each team gets two bricks.  Mosey with bricks to the Caribbean parking lot.

Team runs together around parking lot stopping at every two islands.  At each island each partner does five mini-man-makers with bricks.  While one partner does the five mini-man-makers the other partner does five shoulder taps (both shoulders = 1).

Next, we will do Doras with the bricks.  While one partner runs to the cone which is about 40 yards away, the other does the exercises with the bricks.  Then partners switch.  Each team does the following exercises:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Punches with each hand
  • 100 Wings Up
  • 100 Wings Out
  • 100 Winds Down

Mosey back to the shaded parking lot to drop off the bricks.

Mosey up Mini-Cardiac and then go on perimeter trail to the stop sign at road that lead to Admin Bldg. We will do 20 American Hammers in cadence.

Mosey to bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will do the following exercises before running to the top of the Space Needle, then back to the portion of the road in front of the Admin Bldg Parking Lot.

  • 20 Hello Dollies
  • 20 Flutter Kicks
  • 40 Little Baby Crunches

Mosey from Admin Parking Lot to Front Porch of Admin Bldg.  We will do 20 Calf Raises on steps then run counter-clockwise on loop that goes through Coliseum Area.  On the benches in that area we will do 20 Bench Lifts.  Then we will continue to run counter-clockwise around the loop and go back to porch.  Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to AO

MARY:
Bernie and Skip Around the Parking Lot.  Ten Jump Squats.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 Men with one FNG whom we dubbed, “Britches.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
You Are Already There

“Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely. … He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Life is a journey.  In that journey, men tend to live it like a quest.  The quest is the prize and we are always yearning for something more.  And, we tend to tie our self-concept into it.  That quest can be a good thing.  We tend to grow along the way.  But if that quest is not for God, we fall short.  We get that worldly thing but will always yearn for something more.  More money, a better job, a bigger home, a faster car.  Further, if we tie our self-concepts into that quest, we are deceived.  Are egos grow too big if we attain the worldly goal or we look at ourselves as failures if we don’t attain it.

Stop to think about life’s purpose.  What are we living for?  What is it that we are supposed to attain in this life.  Brothers, what if we are already there?  What if God loves us completely, just as we are.  What if we don’t have to win the prize, set the high mark, achieve some kind of standard to have God love us to the very depth of our being?  God loves us despite our flaws.  God keeps no record of being wronged by us.  God is patient, is kind, and never gives up in us, is always hopeful for us, enduring every one of our circumstances and human failures.

If we have that kind of love, we can be satisfied with what we have and who we are.  I don’t need the fast car, the mansion on the hill, to eat at the best restaurants.

Having that kind of love, knowing that whatever I do, that I am always favored by God and I am never seen as a failure in his eyes – that gives me the confidence to go out and take risks.  Knowing that should give us brothers the confidence to try, fail, and try again.  For we may fail, but we are not failures.  God is with us.  He loves us to the end.  We may never achieve our worldly quests.  We may fall short of getting that job we want, buying the house we hope for, earning the type of money to give our wives and children the things we long to give them.  But we have already attained our heavenly quest.  God is there with us already.  And if we trust in that, even if we die tomorrow, we have achieved our prize.

MOLESKIN:
Praise for Swimmies who has a daughter due to be born and house about to be closed on for the same day.  Prayers for those who are ill or shut in, including Steam’s mother who recently contracted Covid.  Fortunately, she is doing well.  Prayers for all those who are traveling at Thanksgiving.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Christmas Party at Judge Judy’s home on December 11.  Thanksgiving workout at Asylum will be at 7 am this Thursday.  Asylum and Asylum PM will combine for that workout.

Getting Uncomfortable

THE SCENE: Rainy day, but skies cleared by start of Q as temperatures started to drop
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20x Side straddle hops, Cherry Pickers, 15x Moroccan Bightclubs, Tempo Squats and Little of this and that

THA-THANG:
The grass was wet, but we hit it early anyway

  • Straight to the bottom of Pickett’s Charge for a Pickett’s Charge Suicide run.
    • 5 merkins at the bottom each time back, 1st tier 5 Prisoner Get-ups, 2nd tier 5 Imperial Walkers and 3rd trip all the way up to the Coliseum and stayed there
  • Coliseum, under the string lights. A little back and forth.
    • One side under the lights, lunges to each pole and 10 Big Boys at each of the 4 stops, run back to the other side
    • Other side is bear crawls to each pole with 10 squats at each stop then run back to first side and rinse and repeat each side twice to finish up
  • Mosey to the light pole at the base of the Haslam Rock. Route 66 heading towards the rest rooms downhill. 11 light poles adding 1 merkin each stop to 11 lights.
  • After gathering ourselves we wandered to the adjacent parking lot across the street from the Cloud and ran 2 Karaoke runs the full length of the lot switching sides halfway each run and sprinting back to the beginning
  • Slosey to the base of mini-Cardiac hill where we did 5 Burpees before a Bernie to the sign a bit more than halfway up and then sprinted to the top. Followed by a run back to the AO for circle time and a couple minutes of stretching

MARY:
Just a few leg stretches to finish off the last 2 minutes
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Spoke of a retired Marine friend of mine who has spent the last half year getting himself into uncomfortable positions talking to those less fortunate than us on the streets of Tampa and befriending them to know their stories and helping them out as much as he can. He related getting uncomfortable to the November tradition of men growing facial hair and how that can remind those that do that to embrace getting uncomfortable and seeking to find hard truths during the month. That is a great lead in to Thanksgiving week where we then express thanks for what all we have, which then leads to December where you can better target giving and gifts and the great holiday spiritual journey ties up nicely in January where you can then find a way to better yourself with a resolution for the New Year. Don’t coast through the holidays, grow through them.

MOLESKIN:
The Q started tough and didn’t let up, but our 10 hung tough.

We also welcomed an FNG tonight. Welcome to @Moneyball

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Announcement on the upcoming F3 Christmas party on Dec 11