F3 Knoxville

Tag: Pinto

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.

 

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.

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.”

 

Sizzlin

THE SCENE: Sunny and warm with high in upper 80’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Plank reaches (to count of four), 10 Windmills, 10 Baby to Wide Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward.

THA-THANG:

Mosey to stop sign on northeast side of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers, 20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to alley way that dead ends at north of Admin Bldg.  Stop where bricks are lined up near shade tree.  We will do Dora’s with partner running to dead end, doing 10 decline merkins there, and running back.  Meanwhile other partner is doing exercises with bricks.  Partners switch off when running partner gets back.  These are the exercises:

100 Overhead Presses, 100 Curls, 100 Rows with bricks on each side, 100 Neck Drops, 100 Squats with bricks over head, 100 Wings forward, 100 Wing drops, 100 Wing raises.

Mosey to Trail that begins by Northern Parking Lot.  We will lunge to first light, run next four, etc. until we reach road that leads out northern gate of park.

Mosey on perimeter trail until we are at bottom of Mt. Everest.  20 Box Cutters.   Then run to top of Mt. Everest.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:

Hello Dollies.

COUNT-OFF AND NAME-O-RAMA:

Nine men.  No FNG’s.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The song “No Hard Feelings” by the Avett Brothers is one that we can learn from as humans who are prone to have anger toward those who have hurt us or jealousy toward those who one up us.  In the song, the authors talk about how holding on to the anger and jealousy doesn’t lead to good for anyone – rather the feelings distance us from those we have the opportunity to get to know and love.  They lead to fear and destruction.

There is a beauty and poignancy to the song as the narrator looks toward death:  “When my body won’t hold me anymore and it finally lets me free – will I be ready?”  He looks toward a time of possibility in that death, a time “when the jealousy fades away and it’s ash and dust for cash and lust – and it’s just halleluhah”  He wonders whether he “will join with the ocean blue or run into the savior true – and shake hands laughing.  And walk through the night, straight to the light, holding the love I’ve known in my life – and no hard feelings.”

The narrator glimpses at death from the standpoint of one who has cast judgement and bitterness aside:

“under the curving sky, I’m finally learning why it matters to me and you.  To say it and mean it too.  For life and its loveliness and all of its ugliness.  Good as its been to me, I have no enemies . . . I have no enemies . . . I have no enemies.”

How incredible it could be if we could really say that.  What release and joy it would bring us.  To say, when our “body’s won’t hold us anymore” that “I have no enemies.

So, to be true HIM’s, we need to get rid of our “Hard Feelings.”