F3 Knoxville

Tag: Rocket

Soak It

THE SCENE:  Nice and cool.  Perfect for a beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered. 
WARM-O-RAMA: 

Little of this and that.

THA THANG:

I have good news!  …and bad news.  The good news is we have a fresh pile of CMUs for our workouts!  The bad news is we need to bring them to our hidey hole (about a quarter mile away).  Grab two and come on!

Perform a “move” exercise with two CMUs for some arbitrary distance.  Pause and perform a series of stationary exercises.  Repeat until we arrive at our CMU stash spot.

Move exercises included;

  • Farmer Carry
  • Heavy bear
  • CMU stack carry
  • Split carry
  • Rifle carry
  • Murder bunny

Stationary exercises included;

  • 20 Back squats
  • 25 curls
  • 20 Overhead squats
  • 15 good mornings
  • 20 Sumo deadlifts
  • 20 Curl and press
  • 10 Stacked squat
  • 20 Tricep ext w/ calves raise
  • 10 BBS Press
  • 20 heel taps
  • 15 Thrusters
  • Heavy step-ups
  • Dips w/ CMU in lap
  • Plyo Derkins
  • CMU swings
  • Burpee jumpovers

MARY:

No time!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 7 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

“Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.  Soak it then in (positive thoughts)”. – Marcus Aurelius

I love that term, “soak it”.  Soak your mind in goodness… Immerse your soul in truth… Drench yourself in nobleness… Dwell on that which is honorable…

Paul says in Philippians, “Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.” 

On Tuesday, Erector spoke about a monthly challenge that is going on.  On Slack, it’s called “JUCO-Challenge”.  Each month, a new challenge is issued – one month is was diet-related, last month it was texting a friend each day…  This month, the challenge is, 1) to post an inspirational/motivational quote each day, and 2) to read the others which have been posted.  Right now, there are 9 of us in the challenge.

Just a few days in, I’m excited about it – and enjoying it!  Each day this month, I’m going to keeping my eye out for a nugget of wisdom that I can share with my friends.  That gets me in the habit of looking for inspiring messages around me and reading scripture with an expectation of impact.  That daily objective of finding a shareable motivating quote – it orients my mindset toward the positive.  Proverbs 16:24 says,

“Nothing is more appealing than speaking beautiful, life-giving words.  For they release sweetness to our souls and inner healing to our spirits.”

It doesn’t say, “nothing is more appealing that hearing life-giving words….” – but it is “speaking life-giving words” that is so sweet to our spirits.  I hope the words I’m sharing are helpful to others – but I know that the act of finding them and sharing them is releasing sweetness for my heart and spirit.

This challenge also means that each day this month, I’m reading six, or seven, or eight other passages that some of the most important men in my life have shared because those notes are meaningful to them.  Each time something is shared, I see a notification on my phone.  So, throughout the day my mind is being soaked in these good thoughts – and over time, my soul is being colored by them.

“Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.” 

MOLESKIN:

During the month of November, soak your mind in scripture and inspired thoughts.  Join the challenge group on Slack!  Send Spotter a DM to be added to JUCO-Challenge!

Great to see Rocket in the gloom!  Great to have Trolley and Biohack out for their first Project Heavy PT.

Prayers for Biohack’s parents – Trolley’s family, sanity, and job – Rocket’s friend, Tad.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Convergence this Saturday

Men of Action

THE SCENE: Mid 50s and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
15 SSH, 15 Moroccan night club, 10 tempo Merkins, 10 tempo squats, 5 cherry pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Recruitment Center and grab a CMU. This morning we climbed a ladder of exercises. Perform 1st exercise and then CMU bear crawl to the opposite end of the parking lot. Now perform the 1st and 2nd exercises. CMU bear crawl back to start. Now do exercises 1 through 3…you get the point. Repeat until all exercises are performed.

Each exercise is 25 reps.

  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • Heavy LBCs
  • Curls
  • Tri-extensions
  • Heavy flutters kicks (2-ct)
  • Thrusters

MARY:
No time. We actually ran a little long.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
5 at The Project this morning.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:22‭-‬25 NASB
This passage teaches to be a doer and not just a hearer. You may study the Bible on Sundays and understand what is to be done in your life. However, one may walk away from the service and forget what he has heard (most likely by choice) and live an entirely different way. The same can be said really about any aspect of our lives: family, friends, work, etc. Don’t just say “I need to spend more time with my family” and then not make them a priority. We are called to be men of action. Hearing and doing are both necessary.

MOLESKIN:
It was good to be pack with the PAX in Oak Ridge today.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill is Saturday!

Getting Intentional Rest

THE SCENE: 58F post overnight rain. Much better than 58F and raining
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Administered + Cell phone + obvious COVID distancing
WARM-O-RAMA:

Today we’re going to be focusing on resting so we’ll be doing some intentional resting. All exe

Exercise Rest Note
Windmill x 5 IC Abe Vigoda
Moroccan Night Club x 10 IC Michael Phelps
Water Wheel x 5 IC Shakey Legs
Spider Man w/reach x 6 IC Shoulder Shrugs (skipped Shoulder Shrugs)
Seal Clap Squat x 5 IC Walrus (skipped Walrus)
Tempo Hand-release Merkin x 5 IC Sphinx Count = down-2-3-#-up-2-3-#
Pickle Pounder Glute Bridge Hold (Pickle Pointer)
Burpee Stargazer (skipped the stargazer)

THA-THANG:
Don’t mosey anywhere. We stayed right in the parking lot and I finally got to introduce the Pool Boy version of the Individual Medley: 4 exercises starting with 5 reps each and exercise for 1 minute 30 s with 30 s rest between each round to catch your breath and calculate. The first round we finished really early so we added 2 reps and only took 30 seconds rest.

Exercise Finish by +/- reps
Burpees 1 min 2
Merkins 1 min 10 s 1
4-ct Flutter Kicks 1 min 20 s 0
5 Seal Clap Squats 1 min 30 s / don’t finish -1

After completing 5 rounds I asked Rocket to give us a 20-count. The we went to what I’ve dubbed “The Berlin Wall”. We repeated the IM but with different exercises this time and a “rest” of “The People’s Chair” (yes, squatting on a wall with legs at 90° has a name):

Exercise Finish by +/- reps After rd exercise
Muscle-up x 5 1 min 2 1 – People’s chair
Dwight Howard x 10 1 min 10 s 1 2 – BTTW
Rotational Merkin x 5 ea 1 min 20 s 0 3 – Wall Conveyor x 2
Shoulder taps x 10 1 min 30 s / don’t finish -1

Only 3 3 rounds here including at the end a wall conveyor x2 (people’s chair + COVID distancing PAX run to next spot on the wall) with a 10-count corner hold each time. Mathlete gave us a 15-count before we moseyed to the Amphitheater. We started at the front but moved to the back as it was a more suitable height for step-ups. Same game – intentional rest of 30 seconds, first time you get to go as fast as you can and are rewarded with more rest (and more reps the next time!):

Exercise Finish by +/- reps After rd ex:
Step ups x 5 ea 1 min 10 s 1
Loop Amphitheater
Dips x 10 1 min 20 s 0
Loop Amphitheater
1 min 30 s -1
Loop Amphitheater

We got 3 rounds in just in time to take the scenic route through the Oak Ridge Civic Center courtyard after Kick-flip gave us a 10-count (maybe it was 15?).

MARY:
We got back to the AO just in time for some Dealer’s Choice Mary. Limited to 10 of an exercise, I believe the PAX chose as follows:
Rocket – Spider Man’s aka Merkin Parkers (I think that’s what Trolley calls these)
Mathlete – Heels to Heaven
Kick-flip – Mountain Climbers (creative getting around the “10” rule btw with the 4-count exercise!)
Pool Boy – LBC’s (interrupted by a car pulling into the parking lot but all good it just changed the order)
I forgot the exercises for the last 3 but we did get all the way back to Rocket as time expired (and will update once I get some input from these men!)
Kick-flip – x 10
Mathlete – x 10
Rocket – x 10

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
4 PAX. 1 workout at a time we’re growing F3 in Knoxville, Oak Ridge, and beyond!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
So today we focused on rest. Question: What is involved in rest?
Biblical rest is at least 3 things (and probably more)
1. Trusting the Lord
“and on the seventh day the Lord rested” (Genesis 2:2)
2. Asking for faith when we don’t believe
“I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
3. Persevering even when we can’t see (continuing to trust and rest in God’s provision no matter the circumstances)
We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

So it’s time for some self eval: How are you resting? What does it look like for you to rest? To take a sabbath?
1. Trusting the Lord. Are you:
Working less, sleeping more, praying more, spending less money (at least on yourself), doing less, and/or resting more?
2. Asking for faith. Are you:
Fasting (both rest & ask)
Petitioning God
Reading the Word
ISI (Getting together with other believers for the purpose of pressing into and having Christian fellowship to become more like Christ, encourage one another in Christ, and to display Christ to them?)
3. Persevering even when we can’t see (this is hard to see but clear when you’re doing it). Are you:
Not DIY (Doing It Yourself) but relying on God to change things you (cannot really) control
Keep turning from sin (repentance is continually turning from sin and even from temptation)
Keep on keeping on
Submitting to God and what He ordains

Take time this week to intentionally rest and reflect. Trust that as Jared Raby told me 10+ years ago
“God can do more in 5 minutes than we can do in 5 years.”

MOLESKIN:
Snaggletooth was sick. Prayed for him and for all of us who need to wisely REST! Missed you today though my dude! We also had the choice of “Yoga by Chaco” instead of Dealer’s Choice for Mary if he’d showed up but that was a surprise. I like having these little things in Q’s if certain guys show up (another example is if I’m Q’ing and Waxjob shows up I will always do “row, row, row your boat” with boat/canoe because he’s so enthusiastic and I’m still working on getting my core to where I can do the whole thing (4 or 6 times through the song I forget and ending with “life is but a dream, Life Is But A Dream, LIFE IS BUT A DREAM!!)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill this weekend!

Devils Tower

THE SCENE:  60 and raining.  Perfect for a heavy beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered. 
WARM-O-RAMA: 

  • Overhead claps
  • Moroccan nightclub
  • Cherry pickers
  • Mountain climbers
  • Tempo merkins

THA THANG:

Mosey under the roof at the senior center.  Ready to take on The Devils Tower.

There is a tower of 12 CMUs.  Each man grabs a CMU and performs exercises per the Q.  Exercises included;

  • CMU Curls
  • Thrusters
  • Goblet Squats
  • Alpos
  • Shoulder press
  • Flutter kick chest press
  • Tri
  • Upright rows
  • Heavy Freddy
  • Uneven Merkins L
  • Uneven Merkins R
  • Walking Lunge
  • Heavy LBC
  • CMU Curls
  • Single arm row L
  • Single arm row R
  • Blockees
  • CMU Swings
  • Burpee Jump Overs

Bear crawl with the CMUs to my truck and put it away.  Back to the Devils Tower – and repeat it all again!

MARY:

None

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 5 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Let’s talk about remembering well…

The Native American tribes of the Kiowa and Lakota have a legend…  A group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. Trying to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. As they tried to climb the rock, the bears left deep claw marks in the sides.

This story is the fanciful origin of a massive butte that protrudes from the prairie in the Black Hills of Northeastern Wyoming.  Some call it Bear Lodge Butte – but it is better known as the Devils Tower.  This massive rock stands 867 feet from summit to base.  Chaco and Whipper might tell you that it is one of the finest crack climbing areas in North America.  It was on this day 114 years ago – Sept 24, 1906 – that President Teddy Roosevelt named the Devils Tower our nation’s first national monument.

The Word that I want to share this morning is about the importance of personal monuments – relics – souvenirs – mementos.

Seven times in the book of Joshua, the people of Israel erect stone monuments.  They have different occasions each time, but the purpose is always the same.  They build to commemorate God’s faithfulness… or as a witness to the unity that is established with another tribe….or as a reminder to serve the Lord and live in obedience with the Torah…or as a reminder of their potential for unfaithfulness…  The purpose of the monuments is to prompt them to revisit those ideas from time-to-time.  During the building of one of those monuments, Joshua tells the tribesmen that they are doing this; 1) so that you will always have a reminder of what happened here, and 2) so that your children will one day ask about the monument and you’ll have an opportunity to tell them the story and lessons learned here.    

Monuments serve as aides to our memory.  They are tangible connections to something once experienced.  As life happens and memories fade, a monument prompts us to remember what was once so vivid. 

Almost two years ago, I took a weekend away with two good friends.  We stayed in a cabin in the Cherokee National Forest and spent three days engaging each other in very intentional conversations about life, and in prayer.  We took stock of our lives and each felt a strong sense of recommitment to be better fathers, husbands, friends, and followers of Christ.  I will forever look back on that weekend as a pivotal moment in my life.

One afternoon during that weekend, the three of us each decided to have some quiet time.  We sat around the cabin reading and praying, and at one point we each ended up walking alone through the woods.  As I walked and reflected on the changes that I was feeling in myself, I noticed a lone white rock on the ground – it stood out in a surrounding of dried leaves.  I picked up the rock and put it in my pocket to be a reminder of that weekend away and what it meant in my life.  (Interesting sidebar: As I sat down for dinner that evening, I pulled the rock from my pocket and set it on the table.  My two friends stared at me, then at each other – then they both took a white rock from their own pocket and set it on the table.  Unprompted and unbeknownst to the others, we each had picked up the same memento from our walk in the woods).  To this day, this white rock and a photo of my wife are the two things that sit on my bedside table.  The rock serves as a reminder of that time which was so significant in my personal journey.  I can’t tell you how many times it has brought me back to that weekend and reminded me of the change that started there.  Occasionally, my kids have asked me about it, and I have shared the story with them.

Here’s the punchline.  When you have a significant moment in life… a MILESTONE, an AWAKENING, a RECOMMITMENT – I encourage you to commemorate that memory that with a monument.  It could be a rock – or a photo – or a tattoo.  Whatever it is, place it somewhere that you’ll see it often and be reminded of what was once so vivid to you.  Remember and revisit that time, because, “remembering well is as important as doing well” (hat tip, Jonita Mullins).

MOLESKIN:

Good to have new daddy, Mathlete, back out in the gloom.

If your wife snorts at the idea of a tattoo to commemorate your significant moment…tell her that KickFlip put you up to it.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

IPC Week 4 available at JUCO tomorrow

Hardship Hill next Sat!

A Time for Everything

THE SCENE: 50 and gloomy – Perfect 1st day of the autumn!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: All the good stuff…
WARM-O-RAMA:
Projectivator (Project Special) 5X, SSH IC 9x, imperial squawkers IC 9X, tempo merkins IC 9X, mountain climbers 9X
THA-THANG: Little Bit of Everything…

@ Senior Ctr Back Wall: 22: 3-5 Handstand push-ups or as many as you want/remainder 15-17 plank jacks (4-ct)
@ Pool Wall: 9 Wall-ups
@ Parallel Bars: 11 Dips/11 Lunges
@ Friendship Bell: 9s Box jumps/BBS
@ K2-5: 3 burpees at bottom, 3 sprints (regular, Bernie, bear crawl or regular), 3 burpees at top
Lap around the ORAU Pond
Bear Crawl across bridge
@ Friendship Bell: 22 Monkey humpers (4ct)
@ Shovel Flag: 22 Pickle pounders (4ct)

MARY:
Pax choice for Mary (22 of everything): Hello Dolly, Starfish (1-ct), Side crunches (11 on 1 side+11 on the other), Freddy Mercury, LBC, Leg lift (22 sec), and a couple others I’m forgetting…

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: “A Time for Everything”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Today is the 1st day of autumn in the longest, most challenging year yet. What time is it for you? What does this new season mean? What do you need to start? What do you need to stop?

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill