F3 Knoxville

Tag: Pusher

Wanna Bet?

THE SCENE:

The epitome of fake gloom muggy, humid nastiness.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3. Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. I am CRISPR, your Q for today. This is a free workout and you’re here on your own volition. I am NOT a professional. I do not know your injuries or capabilities, so feel free to modify as necessary. Safety is the #1 priority. Remember we are under social distancing rules, so keep your distance from others.

WARM-O-RAMA:

15x Side Straddle Hops, 10x Windmills, 10x Imperial Walkers, 7x Cherry Pickers, A little bit of this, little bit of that, 10x Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Mosey to The Bowl. Black Jack (Round 1):  Do 1 Hill Run, then 20 Gas Pumps, then 2 Hill Runs, then 19 Gas Pumps, and so on.

Mosey to steps of Admin Building. Deck of Death (4x):  When a “Flipper” gets to a station, they flip to the next card, and do the exercise (2-Ace, where J=11, Q=12, K=13, A=14).  If you’re not a “Flipper”, just do the card facing up when you arrive. If a deck has been finished, keep going until all are finished.

Mosey to field by AO. Black Jack (Round 2):  Alternate between Jump Squats and Plank Jacks.  Do 1 Squat, then 20 Plank Jacks, then 2 Squats, then 19 Plank Jacks, and so on.

Black Jack (Round 3):  Alternate between American Hammers and LBCs.  Do 1 American Hammer, then 20 LBCs, then 2 American Hammers, then LBCs, and so on.

Finish up with some Catalina Wine Mixers and a Wave of Merkins.  Do an “Obama” (4 count bear crawl with 4 merkins) back to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

25 HIMs including one FNG – Furby

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Something that’s been on my heart lately Is whether or not to keep my kids home this fall or to send them back to school. I know this has been on a lot of people’s mind and we’re all wondering if we’re making the “right” decision.  As I’ve been wrestling with this decision I’m trying really hard to remember the lesson I learned from a book called “Thinking in Bets” by former World Series of Poker Champion Annie Dukes.

Essentially, we all confuse DECISIONS with OUTCOMES. For example, many of us know a guy who always buys his wife flowers remembers every birthday and anniversary shows up for all their kids’ events and provides financially and emotionally for his family, but ultimately winds up in a divorce.  Does the outcome of a divorce mean that his behaviors bad decisions just because they resulted in a bad outcome?

In her book, Annie Dukes describes the difference between, decisions and outcomes in a poker example. Imagine going all in because you’re holding 4 Kings, but then on the River card the guy across from you backs his way into a Straight Flush and wins the pot.  Was going all in with 4 Kings a bad decision just because it ended with a bad outcome?

I’ve used the phrase “make good decisions”, but how do you do that? Annie Dukes suggests one way to make better decisions is simply to ask, “Wanna bet?”

Consider this…  Every F3 workout ends in a “Name-o-Rama” where we give our birth name, age, and F3 name. At the end of every workout I say my birth name is “David”. But, if I said, right now, “Wanna bet $100 my birth name is David?”  How does that change what you previously knew to be absolutely true?  I guarantee you’ve already started questioning yourself. Maybe my name is Andrew David Smelser, III and I just go by David as not to be confused with other family members?

By just asking that simple question “Wanna bet?”  You’ve gone from knowing something with 100% certainty to something less than 100%. And, now that you’re less than 100% certain your brain can accept new information, options, and possibilities to come in which allows you to make better decisions.

I encourage us all to ask ourselves, “Wanna bet?” and to know things with less than 100% certainty so we can make better decisions for ourselves and for those around us.

Do you remember that time we did Picketts and Everest the same day?

THE SCENE: Perfect July Morning ! Temp was about 74. Had rain over the weekend. Dew on the grass, did not see or smell any skunks.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Reminded everyone that I was worse than any professional. Monitor and modify..etc. Covid disclaimer – do not spit on each other!

WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Cherry Picker, Butter Fly ( Included Coach Dunn’s advice) , Shoulder Stretch, Arm Circles, 50 % pace lap around parking lot.
THA-THANG:
Mosey down to playground

  • set of 11s – Box Jams and Decline Merkins

Mosey to Picketts Hill

  • Set of 7s – Run 1/2 way up Picketts and do Burpee with Carolina Dry Dock on bottom.
  • 10 Count Recovery after 7 set complete.
  • Run up Picketts Hill

On Top of Picketts Hill – 10 count set of Squats followed by Mosey to bottom of Everest.

At Bottom of Everest

  • 10 Merkins, 10 4 Count Flutter Kicks, then run to stump that is approximately 1/3 up Everest. Repeat this 3 exercise set 5 times.
  • Run to top of Everest and then 10 count recovery. Followed by mosey to AO.

At AO

5 minutes game of Duck Duck Goose with Pax doing core exercises while the “Ducker” goes around the circle to finish.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 Pax got better today.

 

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Shared today the contrast of the story of  Job vs the book of Proverbs. Proverbs gives us practical wisdom and advice for living our life. The story of Job is a story of a good life gone bad as God gives Job the many challenges he has to face. You could argue that these two parts of the Bible are so different that you would wonder if they are in the same book! So much of our lives we have been fortunate to have lived in a Proverbs world. However all of us will from time to time find ourselves in a Job world through challenges in our personal, professional, spiritual or physical ( health ) life. In the current world – pandemic, economic, political , racism etc.. it seems like we ( our country/ community, world) have all been going through a Job phase. As leaders we need to keep that focus like Job. There is another side and it is up to HIMS like us to help and be strong for our community and Pax.

After the Proverbs / Job word I shared that I had found an old book about change that I had lost. The book “Who moved my cheese” was a successful book 20 years ago about change in the workplace and how to adapt. The book is a 10 minute read and I recommend it in our quickly changing world – here is a summary I found online:

Who Moved My Cheese Summary

Have a great week everyone

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Code Brown reminded that there were still a couple of Qs left for the week.

The Giving Tree

THE SCENE: Mid 80s, cloudy, humid as all get out.
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!  Some additional COVID-19 considerations: keep your distance between you and other members of the PAX and any other folks that we pass during moseys, etc. to 6-10 feet.  We will be splitting up into groups smaller than 10 if necessary.  We need to set good examples and be good neighbors out here at this public park, especially with so many folks out and about.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-Motivators, 7-CT decreasing

– 10 Windmills, 4-ct IC

– 25 Grady Corns , 4-ct IC

– 10 Imperial Squat Walkers 4-ct IC

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to Coliseum circle in front of admin building:

Modified KRAKEN with 4 cones (“X”s on sidewalk).  Do 5 reps of each exercise, then run around circle PLUS ONE cone, do 10 reps, etc. increasing the reps by 5 at each cone until you finish with 20 of each at the last cone.

  • EXERCISES: PLANK JACKS / SHOULDER TAPS (2-CT)/ Carolina Dry Docks

MOSEY to the dingy little parking lot to the south.  Get a BATTLE BUDDY for THREE BY FIVES.  One partner will be in the “bullpen” slowly running back and forth, while the other partner runs to the Stop sign and does two exercises, then runs back.  Start with 5 reps of both exercises and increase by 5, for three trips doing 5x/10x/15x of the exercises.  The three sets of exercises are:

  1. Peter Parkers (2-ct) / Half-Burpees
  2. Star Jumps / Iron Mikes
  3. Gas Pumps / American Hammers

Mosey to the edge of the lawn in front of the admin building.  25 AMERICAN HAMMERS (4-ct, IC)

BERNIE to the steps of admin building

40 CALF RAISES on steps, OYO

AYG back to the AO.

MARY:
No time.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 strong.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein was one of my favorite books when I was a child.  It was about a boy and a tree, and their special relationship.  Early on, the boy swings from the branches and eats apples provided by the tree and loves the tree so much that he carves “Me + Tree” into the bark.  As he gets older, he still comes to the tree, but less often, and not so much for friendship, but because he wants things.  Apples to sell.  Wood (which he chops down) for a house and boat.  The tree is happy to give everything for the “Boy”, but is also sad because they spend less time together, and the Boy leaves as soon as he has what he wants.  When he is an old man, he comes back to the tree one last time.  But the tree has nothing left to give, as it is only a stump.  The old man says that’s all he wants, just a place to sit down.  The tree has is able to give him this last gift.  And for that, it is happy.

Some see this story as an allegory for selfless Christian love.  Pope Francis recently said the following about how natural entities do not benefit from their own qualities themselves, but rather provide for others (from Jan Neece, Lilydipper’s wife’s FB page):

 “Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.

Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other.

No matter how difficult it is…Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.”

From Tank’s FB page… (Matt 22:34-40)

34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Challenge for today: go show some love to a random person today by being kind and doing something for them.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Mrs. Lilydipper as she completes her chemo.  Happy 18th Birthday to Curveball’s daughter.  Prayers for Steam and his dad as they lead the effort for some community improvement efforts in Johnson City.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Q101 in the Scorching Fake Gloom

THE SCENE: Hot enough to melt your face off… think of that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the bad guy sees the ark’s contents. 97 degrees at LEAST with probably a 110 degree heat index. It sucked.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Introduced myself as Q and Lilydipper as Co-Q for a Q101 beatdown that will include some commentary during the workout to reinforce the F3 standards of what we do and why we do it.

Done, with explanations as to what the components are and why we do it, including:

– Call out TIME WARNING (2 mins, 1 min) and START ON TIME.

– Carry a WATCH and PHONE!

–  WELCOME to F3! FITNESS, FELLOWSHIP, AND FAITH!!

INTRODUCE yourself! You will be leading these men for the next 45 minutes to an hour, establish yourself as their Q!

– IDENTIFY ANY FNGs

  1. Make sure they understand the disclaimer (get a nod of understanding)
  2. Make sure you demonstrate exercises that may be unfamiliar to them.
  3. Make them feel welcome! Pay special attention to their status during the workout.

–  Include LEGAL DISCLAIMERS:

  1. I am not a professional
  2. You are here on your own volition, and participating at your own risk
  3. F3 is a free program open to all men
  4. Know your limits, and modify if you need to, but do the best you can! ALWAYS GIVE 100%… UNLESS YOU’RE DONATING BLOOD!  Ha Ha Ha.
  5. Additional COVID-related disclaimers. 1. Limit of 50 PAX, 2. No sharing of equipment; gloves recommended, 3. If you’ve been sick, or around someone who’s sick, please stay home. 4. Maintain social distancing.


WARM-O-RAMA:
Performed exercises that would demonstrate various counts and focused on 1.) getting the heart rate up, 2.) stretching the legs, and 3.) stretching the arms.

– TAKE CHARGE!

  1. Make eye contact
  2. Use your “outside voice”
  3. Use GOOD FORM
  4. Bring great ENERGY and ENCOURAGE!

– The Warm up usually consists of 4 to 5 exercises designed to get the heart rate going and provide some stretching of the arms and legs. Call out:

  1. The NAME of the exercise
  2. Whether it’s single count or in cadence
  3. “Ready position”… “Exercise!”
  4. Change cadence on the final rep.

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Steve Earls (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 calf raises, SINGLE COUNT

– Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

THA THANG is the main part of the workout, and usually consist of 3 to 5 “stations”, where you mosey to and then do an exercise (“String of Pearls”). Keeps the PAX together and provides some variation.

– PLAN OUT the workout ahead of time!

– Keep an eye on your TIME

– EXPLAIN CLEARLY and ENCOURAGE

– If you can’t Q it, don’t do it!  Not a “clipboard” program where the Q sits out

– Be FLEXIBLE!

– Make sure everyone is always ACTIVE! Give the rabbits something to do if they finish first.

– Situational awareness! Pay attention to the PAX. Sweep back to get the 6. NO man left behind!!

MOSEY to the parking lot below the Coliseum.

DORAS: These are a common type of exercise used in F3 where you pick a battle buddy and work towards a cumulative goal, like reps of an exercise.  RABBITS, Help out with the reps of others!

One partner runs a loop up the stairs and around while the other starts the exercises.  Each pair shall complete the total number:

  • 100 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 100 Big Boy Situps
  • 100 Lunges (2-count; only count the left leg)

** Turned the beatdown over to the great and powerful Lilydipper!!**

Mosey to the shaded parking lot across the street from the Northern Ball Fields Entryway parking lot.

We will do four corners with the following exercises:

Corner 1:  20 Star Jumps.  Then Bear Crawl to Corner 2.

Corner 2:  20 Big Boy Sit-Ups.  Then Bernie Sanders to Corner 3.

Corner 3:  20 Merkins.  Then Lunge to Corner 4.

Corner 4:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct).  Then Sprint to Corner 1.

Rinse and Repeat.

Next we will take a short mosey to beginning of the Dragon Tail.  We will do Route 66 up the Dragon Tail with the following exercises. (Note:  Those finishing the last light of the Dragon Tail will sweep men back to start the Dragon Tail again with the next exercise.)

  • Squat Jumps
  • Dive Bombers
  • Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)

(We only finished the first one due to time). Mosey to Shady Tree area by stoplight at northeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey to AO.
MARY:
20 Hello Dollies

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

One thing that many of us worry about in regarding to Q’ing a workout is giving the message, the BOM, at the end of the workout. We might think “I can’t speak the way that some people can.”  “I don’t have anything wise or good to say.”  “I’m not religious enough.”  “I will screw it up.”

You don’t have to deliver a long speech for the BOM.  Also, you need not know the bible well or deliver a message that must pass religious muster.  Just speak about something you have learned, something important to you, something that might help others.  Not everyone will respond the same way but I can almost guarantee that some of your brothers will get something out of your message.  I personally love hearing what different brothers have to say, the little pearls of life wisdom they can share with me.  And, as for your ability to speak well, thing about Moses, the great leader of the Israelites that led them from Egypt to Isreal:

From Exodus 4: 10-12

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

As to worrying about screwing up, your brothers are on your side no matter what.  And, screwing up is what we do.  Think of Abraham Lincoln.  The following list is from an article by Ron Kurtus:

A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is:

  • 1831 – Lost his job
  • 1832 – Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
  • 1833 – Failed in business
  • 1834 – Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
  • 1835 – Sweetheart died
  • 1836 – Had nervous breakdown
  • 1838 – Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
  • 1843 – Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
  • 1846 – Elected to Congress (success)
  • 1848 – Lost re-nomination
  • 1849 – Rejected for land officer position
  • 1854 – Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
  • 1856 – Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
  • 1858 – Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
  • 1860 – Elected President (success)

The fact is that we are supposed to screw up as leaders.  That is how we learn and how we grow.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GrowSchool to immediately follow the workout.  CSAUP this week-end at the Dog Pound, 6:30 am Saturday. Asylum PM is trying to break the attendance record on Tuesday to send Title IX out in style!

Leaders Eat Last

THE SCENE: 92 and full of sunshine
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
15x Side Straddle Hops, 10x Imperial Walkers, 5x Cherry Pickers, A little bit of this, little bit of that, 10x Rockettes

THA-THANG:

Four Corners

CORNER ONE:  Round 1: 25X CMU Curls, Round 2: 25X CMU Bench Press, Round 3: 20x of Both

CORNER TWO:  Round 1: 20X Freddy Mercury’s (4-count), Round 2: 20X Rocky Balboas, Round 3: 10x of Both

CORNER THREE:  Round 1: 25X CMU Good Mornings, Round 2: 25X CMU Rows, Round 3: 20x of Both

CORNER FOUR:  Round 1: 20X Box Cutters, Round 2: 20X LBCs, Round 3: 10x of Both

With COVID rules, we can’t share CMUs.  So…you get to take it with you.

Mosey to the winding hill. At light pole #1, 10x incline Big Boys, at light pole #2, 10x decline Merkins, alternate to the top, rinse and repeat

Mosey towards the AO. 10x bear crawl, 10x lunges, rise and repeat, empty the tank sprint to the bat box.

MARY:

Freddy Mercury’s,H ello Dollies, American Hammers, Plank

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

Obviously the world has a lot of things going on these days.  A lot of bad things.  A lot of the things people want to see changed.  But, a lot of people want to just snap their fingers and have it all fixed. They want to go to bed one night in a world full of problems, then wake up the next morning with all those problems solved.

This got me thinking about leading during troubled times and one of my favorite books, “Leaders Eat Last”, by Simon Sinek.  In his book he writes:

“Good leadership is like exercise.  We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons.  In fact, if we only compare the way our bodies look on a given day to how it looked on the previous day we would think our efforts had been wasted.  It’s only when we compare pictures of ourselves over a period of weeks or months that we can see a stark difference.  The impact of leadership is best judged over time.”

This resonates with me right now.  Because right now the world needs SUSTAINED leadership.  Not quick fix leadership.  Not a few leaders focusing on the next news cycle.  Not a few leaders saying, “Look what I did”   Right now we need millions of leaders.  Leaders who are more concerned with making an impact than they are with making headlines.  Leaders who are focused on making a difference and improving the lives of our fellow human beings.

Sometimes we all want to see a more immediate impact from our efforts.  But, sometimes that’s just not the timeline the world is on.  More often than not we’re part of the timeline where we’re pushing a giant boulder up a mountain.  It’s actually rare to be the one who pushes it over the top.  With it being unlikely that we will get any recognition for our efforts it becomes imperative to remember why we are pushing that boulder up that mountain.

And, to remember that when results come slowly that we cannot give up.  That our efforts have not been wasted.  And, that our leadership is best judged over time.  We have to remember why we are serving as leaders.  We have to remember it’s all to make the world a better place for our fellow human beings.

“Leadership is not a license to do less.  It’s a responsibility to do more.  Leadership takes work.  It takes time and energy.  The effects are not always easily measured and they are not always immediate.  But, leadership is always a commitment to human beings.”  ~ Simon Sinek

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GROW School / Q101 at AsylumPM Thursday.  CSAUP on Saturday.  Title9’s last post before leaving to Oregon will be July 21st.  We plan to set an AsylumPM attendance record for him.