F3 Knoxville

Tag: Pele

4 The Love of 6!

THE SCENE: It was a dark and stormy night… but actually pretty pleasant! The rain was considerate enough to hold off until the very moment we finished the workout.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH (4 x 6 = 24, IC), Cherry Pickers (4 + 6 = 10, IC), Tempo Merkins (4 + 6 = 10, IC), Bolt 45s, with a bonus squat to make them Bolt 46s (IC) — YES, there’s a pattern.  One guess as to how old the Q turned today…
THA-THANG:
Mosey to drive/parking area southwest of admin building.

BEARWAY TO HEAVEN: three cones set up at approximately 15 yard intervals. Bear crawl suicides to each cone, doing 4, 6, then (4 + 6 =) 10 merkins at each cone.  Run back to start after last cone.

4/6/(4+6) 10s Part 1: Mosey to parking inlet southwest of admin building.  Battle buddy up.  One person runs the loop up the stairs and around back into the parking area while the other person does Imperial Squats, then the other partner runs the lap.  Half way through the loop, do the following three exercises.  Do three loops doing 4x, 6x, and 10x reps:

  • LBCs
  • BBSs
  • American Hammers

4/6/(4+6) 10s Part Deux: Mosey to rock pile by the AO.  One person grabs a rock, runs to the tree down the driveway, and does the three exercises below, and runs back, switching with partner after each lap.  Everyone does this three times, doing 4x, 6x, and 10x reps on the exercises.  While one partner is running, the other is doing maintenance exercise of merkins (first lap) and running in place (second and third laps).

  • jump squats
  • lunges (doing both legs count as 1)
  • Iron Mikes (4-ct)

Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
Homer/Marge until the grunts were getting a bit embarrassing, modified table saw x20 (4-ct), Tempo Merkins

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
6 men strong!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Don’t Make It About You, Make it About the Team.

The people you have known who are great leaders, that you admired, that you would run through a brick wall for… did they tend to compliment and encourage others, or did they brag about their own accomplishments and take credit for themselves?  Strong leaders are those who have the confidence in themselves to give praise to others, thereby instilling pride in them and encouraging them to continue to put forth their best efforts.  During the retirement ceremony tight end Jason Witten, Coach Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys described one of the things that made the future hall of famer so special, which was his humility and praise for his teammates.  He recalls in the clip below how Witten– when discussing one of the greatest plays of his career– gave praise to everyone else on the team for being an integral part to its success.  Witten wasn’t a rah rah guy, but he was universally respected for not only his talent as a player, but because of his team-first mentality.  We can all take a lesson from this, and take the time to lift someone else up, give them thanks and praise for being a part of your “team”, whether it’s your family, a sports team, your church group, your PAX.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Final Thursday of the month beer rendezvous at Union Jacks! The birthday boy paid the tab.  In the spirit of the Word above, I wanted to show my appreciation to the team at the Asylum that has meant so much to me.  Cheers, fellas!

Our Shield, Our Protector

THE SCENE:  Sunny and warm, mid-eighties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Mans, Plank Stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers, 20 Quick Wing Claps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to shade of tree by stop sign at Northeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Box Cutters.

Mosey to shaded grassy area near driveway that goes to northern side of Admin Bldg.

Go to four cones that form large square in grassy area by long driveway.

  • Corner 1:  20 Big Boy Sit ups.  Then Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
  • Corner 2:  20 Squat Jumps.  Then Bear Crawl to Corner 3.
  • Corner 3:  20 Dive Bombers.  Then Sprint to Corner 4.
  • Corner 4:  20 Star Jumps.  Then Lunge to Corner 1
  • Rinse and Repeat

Mosey back to the long driveway leading to northern side of Admin Bldg.

We will do suicides.  We will always Bear Crawl to first cone while doing the suicides and sprint to remaining three cones.  Each time we return back to the starting point, we will do 25 Little Baby Crunches.

Rinse and Repeat.

Next, do suicides without bear crawls and baby crunches, sprinting to first cone and back, second cone and back, third cone and back, fourth cone and back then continuing to third cone and back, second cone and back and first cone and back.

Mosey to roadway that is on east side of admin bldg.  Go down steps on east side of roadway opposite the sidewalk that goes to the admin bldg.  

We will do thirties, starting with 5 bench dips at the bottom of the steps.  We will run up the steps and then up the sidewalk to the steps of the admin bldg.  There we will do 25 decline merkins.  We then sprint back to the benches where we did the dips.  We do 10 bench dips, then sprint back to the admin bldg to do 20 decline merkins.  We continue this pattern until we have done 25 bench dips and 5 merkins.

Mosey to grassy area on east side of admin bldg.   Do 20 American Hammers

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Twelve men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

When you were young, did you have a father that you admired, that protected you, that you knew found favor in you and you knew would be there for you if in stress?  Did you see that father as big, powerful, strong and mighty when you were a little boy?  Did you like those special times when you got to sleep by him in his bed, just because he was awesome and big and you felt safer being close to him?  Some of us had that in our dads.  Some of us are fathers to children who look up to us and trust in us for protection.

As grown adults, we still have that need for the strength of a father who is big and powerful.  I would say we have that childlike need but the need is not childlike as all adults have that need.  We, as strong men, know that we cannot always go it alone.  We need someone more powerful than us, who will “kick ass” to get to us when we are in trouble, defying all odds to do so.  We have that in our God, our creator, our FATHER.  I love the following verses from Psalms 18 (verses 2 – 19) because they portray not only a wonderful image of just how strong our Father is but how strong his passion is for just one of his children.

2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
    and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;
    the torrents of destruction assailed me;[a]
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
    to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
    and my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
    the foundations also of the mountains trembled
    and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,[b]
    and devouring fire from his mouth;
    glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
    thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
    thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
    and the Most High uttered his voice,
    hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
    and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high, he took me;
    he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
    and from those who hated me,
    for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
    but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
    he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

 

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.

King James Version (KJV)

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.