F3 Knoxville

Tag: Snag

These Are Crazy Days, But They Make Me Shine

THE SCENE: Upper 40s or so, wet, but no rain
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 21 (4 ct)

Little baby arm circles forward x 21

Little baby arm circles backward x 21

Little bit of this and a little bit of that x 2

Michael Phelps

21 merkins

21 squats

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Rocky Mountain High

21s – Incline merkins at the top, squats at the bottom

Mosey to Everest

20 burpees at the bottom, run to the summit, 21 burpees at the top

Mosey to the Colosseum

21 derkins at the bottom of the loop, 21 calf raises at the top on the steps of the admin building

Rinse and repeat

Mosey to the Cloud

21 box jumps, 21 dips (no running in between)

Rinse and repeat

Mosey to the Pavilon

21 bench pull ups, 21 CDDs

Rinse and repeat for 4 total rounds

Mosey to Little Cardiac

Sprint to the AO

MARY:

21 flutter kicks (4 ct)

20 hokey pokeys (10 each leg)

1 merkin w/ a clap

Plank until time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
24 HIMs, including FNG Flo and Jetlag and Chugger (who are not tagged)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I Q’ed at the Equalizer on Wednesday, the last Equalizer Q for 2020.  I reflected back on my Q from 1/4/20, almost a year ago today, which was the first Saturday workout in 2020 at the Asylum.  I wrote this in my back-blast for the 1/4/20 workout:

It is a new year and a new decade and no one knows what it holds.  It could be the year that someone is added to your life, or it could be the year that someone is taken away.  It could be the year of the promotion, or it could be the year of the demotion.  It could be the year of kindergarten, or it could be the year of graduation.  It could be the year of the big win, or it could be the year of the big loss.  Regardless, you don’t need a resolution, you need a constitution, a foundation.  On a big scale, it should be God, your family, your friends, etc.  But, it can be anything that grounds you.  It can even be as simple as the F3 workouts.  The asphalt, concrete, and grass do not change, and they are always there waiting for you whether you have a good day/week or a bad day/week.  They are checkpoints after good times or bad and before whatever lies ahead.  If nothing else, start there and build.  Have a good new year but not just for what good fortunes may come your way during the year but based on what you keep your eye on and focus on while the year goes by.

I wrote this for my back-blast on 12/30/20:

I certainly did not know (nor could I have imagined) how 2020 was going to play out.  It has been a year of a whole lot of something and a whole lot of nothing at the same time.  It’s been a long year and one that has hardly existed.  I’m usually reflective at New Year’s, but this year is different.  The usual events are not there to reflect on.  But, it has been a good year to get back to those basic foundations that I mentioned in January.  I’ve spent more time at home and with my family.  I’ve attended more F3 workouts thanks to my telework schedule.  I’ve prayed a lot.  A lot people are happy to end 2020 in favor of 2021.  Those people need to be careful.  We should not wish our lives away in hopes of better days to come.  Find the joy now.  If you can’t find any, then look harder.  If you still can’t find any, then make some.  We have to live the days we are given as there is no guarantee of tomorrow.  Also, things are not going to change just because the year changes from 2020 to 2021.  Things will change with positive attitudes and actions.  When you look back on 2020, look for the good and don’t dwell on the bad.  As you look forward to 2021, look with hope and with the intention of doing something positive with it.

Wednesday night, Noel Gallagher released a song that summed up what I was trying to say about the struggle to be positive with all of the endless negativity being thrown at us.  Before I talk about his song, I wanted to provide some context.

Noel Gallagher was the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and secondary vocalist for my favorite band – Oasis.  As I have said before, I was born in the 70s, I am a child of the 80s, but I am a product of the 90s.  Few bands captured the essence of the 90s – its brash positivity, its depressing angst, and its impenetrable rebel spirit – better than Oasis.  The band’s music, as with most music of the 90s, was about being yourself, challenging authority, pressing the boundaries, and pushing the envelope.  It was dreaming and aspiring for greatness while being burdened with existential philosophical and theological questions of right and wrong and simply “why.”  Noel wrote some of the great songs that defined that era.  Those songs also contained gems such as:

I’m free to be whatever I/Whatever I choose/And I’ll sing the blues if I want/I’m free to say whatever I/Whatever I like/If it’s wrong or right it’s alright/Always seems to me/You only see what people want you to see/How long’s it gonna be/Before we get on the bus/And cause no fuss/Get a grip on yourself/It don’t cost much – Whatever

Listen up, what’s the time/Said today, I’m gonna speak my mind/Take me up to the top of the world I wanna see my crime/Day by day there’s a man in a suit who’s gonna make you pay/For the thoughts that you think and the words they won’t let you say – Listen Up

Some might say they don’t believe in heaven/Go and tell that to the man who lives in hell – Some Might Say

Look into the wall of my mind’s eye/I think I know, but I don’t know why/The questions are the answers you might need/Coming in a mess, going out in style/I ain’t good-looking, but I’m someone’s child/No one can give me the air that’s mine to breathe/I met my maker/I made him cry/And on my shoulder he asked me why/His people won’t fly through the storm/I said listen up man, they don’t even know you’re born – D’You Know What I Mean?

Take the time to make some sense of what you want to say/And cast your words away upon the waves/Sail them home with acquiesce on a ship of hope today/And as they land upon the shore/Tell them not to fear no more/Say it loud and sing it proud today – The Masterplan

I need to be myself/I can’t be no one else – Supersonic

(The title of this back-blast is also a line from one of Noel’s songs – All Around the World.)

I could go on.  Those are just a few and are not even from some of the more widely known songs.  But, I am not trying to sell anyone on Oasis.

My point is that music today has changed.  It is not only missing actual instruments, it is missing its revolution.  Ever since Buddy Holly challenged the status quo and the comfort of the established class in the 50s – through and including Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and, of course, the Beatles, music has reflected a “we are not going to take it,” “we are who we are and we are proud of it,” and a “we are going to live our lives and no one is going to tell us otherwise” mentality.  Music is the mirror that the youth hold up to everyone else to keep them in check and to improve things.  In a way, music is society’s conscious.  Not today.  Today’s music does not even have a Madonna, let alone a true revolutionary.  Everyone falls in line and sings the same tune.

Want proof?  Old-school British rockers have been rising up a lot lately against COVID masks, protocols, and things of that nature.  The list includes Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and Ian Brown from the Stone Roses.  Noel has also chimed in.  He did not say that the virus wasn’t real.  He did not say that people weren’t dying of the virus.  He simply pointed out that a lot of liberties had eroded and questioned why he has to wear a mask in public unless he is eating – will the virus recognize that he is eating and skip over him, he asked.  He was attacked for his comments by some.  I say that not to raise the usual debates about COVID, but to get to this. 

Noel has a 20-year-old daughter.  She was asked to respond to Noel’s comments.  Her response is the point, and it demonstrates a larger problem that was revealed in 2020.  She said: “I get where he’s coming from but I’m less full-on than him.  I’m generally less revolutionary than my dad.  I’ve never not worn a mask.  I think my generation is quite lenient and that’s not necessarily a good thing.  We do what we’re told a bit too much, we come from an era of fake news and Facebook telling us what the news is.  We are also hugely afraid of being cancelled.  It’s very dangerous to stand up and be your own person in my generation.  If you are going against the grain, you can be totally cut out.”

That’s scary.  In one generation, the Gallagher line has gone from striving for greatness and revolutionizing the world with such great lyrics as those mentioned before and countless others to being afraid to speak out and being afraid of being cancelled.  If the children of rock-n-roll rebels are falling in line, then where does that leave the rest of us?  If the youth movement is not there to keep the older generation in line and on its toes, then where does that leave the rest of us, not just now but with whatever lies ahead in 2021 and beyond?

Luckily, Noel is still around and still willing to comment.  So, back to the song that I mentioned earlier.  I don’t think it is controversial.  I think it is hopeful and positive.  Here are the lyrics:

Remember the dream that you’re keeping alive/Remember your love for the loved outside/Don’t fight the feeling/Don’t stop believing in what you know/‘Cause you can’t let go, my friend/We’re gonna get there in the end/Tonight!  Tonight!/Gonna let that dream take flight/And when the morning comes/Will you wake up by my side?/Love, real love/Is all I’m thinking of/Give it half a chance/And the world might find a way/Don’t be afraid when you’re rolling the dice/Life is a trip that you don’t take twice/If you think that your faith is enough/The weight that you carry is love/We’ve spent too long inside/Take a walk outside/It’s a sad, sad song that the world keeps singing/Well let love try to sing along/Don’t fight the feeling/Don’t stop believing in what you know/‘Cause you can’t let go, my friend/We’re gonna get there in the end

The video with the song shows what appears to be drone footage of a locked down city in England.  It ends with a shot of a crowd of people filling the streets as they walk across an intersection on both sides.  I’m not sure when that footage was taken, but let’s hope that it becomes more common in 2021.  Who would have thought that such a simple and mundane daily task like walking across the street in a crowd would be the focus of so many hopes and goals of a new year.  But, here we are.  And, I hope that Noel is right and that we’re gonna get there in the end.  And, while we are trying to get back to better days, I hope that we also get back to a point where we are all free to be and say whatever we want, especially our youth.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jordan, Ribbed’s wife and family, and for a great 2021

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Asylum CSAUP on 1/30

[ The Scene ]

  • 30s

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness-Fellowship-Faith
  • Name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning
  • Couple of things before we begin:
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • And if you need to modify anything we do this morning feel free to do so but push yourselves and the men around you – they deserve it and so do you
  • FNGs? — 2

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • SSH: 30×4 IC
    • Take a lap
  • Mountain Climber: 30×4 IC
    • Take a lap
  • The Squat: 15×4 IC
    • Take a lap
  • Rockette: 15×4 IC
    • Take a lap
  • Rockette: 10×4 (5 F and 5 B)
    • Take a lap

[ The Thang ]

(1) 4 Corners and a Hill

  • 4 corners of the parking lot
    • C1: Merkins
    • C2: Squats
    • C3: LBCs
    • C4: American Hammers
  • 30 reps on a 1 count for each corner
  • After you complete the corner you’re on – run up the hill and execute 30 SSHs on a 1-count
  • When you get done with with all 4 corners and your hill runs and SSHs, find someone who’s not done and push them as they finish

(10 count)

(Mosey to crosswalk next to playground )

(2) Half and Half

  • 2 POCs/Paths: Light at the back end of the parking lot + lighted patch
  • half start on the lighted path
  • Half start moseying around to the parking lot with cars
  • Lighted path: 5 lights until you cut into the back of the lot with the light: 5 Attached at the hips (Merkin straight into a BBS)
  • Back end of lot light: (1 count)
    • 30 squats
    • 30 LBCs
    • 30 Carolina dry docks
  • Rinse and repeat this once for a total of 2x

(Mosey to the playground)

(3) The Last of the Benches

  • 30 squats
  • 30 incline merkins
  • 30 decline merkins
  • 30 step-ups

(Mosey to the AO)

[ Mary ]

ATMS YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH

[ COT ]

  • # off — 11
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs — 2
  • BOM (2 Parts)
  1. 30 Reflections/Takeaways I Had in 2020
    • (1) — 1/4/2020 — from “Laws of Human Nature” — “Being able to understand more clearly that stranger within us would help us to realize that it is not a stranger at all but very much a part of ourselves, and that we are far more mysterious, complex, and interesting than we had imagined”
      • Romans 7:13-25
    • (2) — 1/7/2020 — I asked myself the question “What’s my no-BS assessment going into this year?” Here was my answer: “I need to keep fostering the mindset of “Keep Moving Forward” but sometimes that’s hard when it feels like I’m still in the thick of the fight. But in reality, I’ll always be in the fight until the end, it will just look different every year or so”
    • (3) — 1/22/2020 — I took this note while reading “Free to Lead” by the founders of F3, Dredd and OBT: “You have to improve. It’s an individual’s job to seek constant improvement. It’s the leader’s job to demand that he do so.”
    • (4) — 3/25/2020 — I went on a run this day and found myself on top of a hill and just had a good old yelling match of frustration and anger towards God. I was really pissed off and didn’t understand the events of the past couple of years and just found myself in this place of frustration with God. And then Isaiah 55:8 came to me — “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”
    • (5) — 4/9/2020 — (COVID ramping up) Listening to a Jerry Flowers sermon entitled “This is not my final destination” and he labeled exactly what I was doing during this season – I was being an Exit Strategist: wanting to get out of this season as quickly as possible, looking for an exit, trying to get out. And then he said this: “If God wants you in this place, in this season you find yourself in, there’s nothing you can do but be faithful and stop looking for an exit and start opening your eyes to the entrances He’s providing.”
    • (6) — 4/14/2020 — “I was born to walk through the fire, I was made to run through these flames. Yeah, even when I’m broken and tired, you are enough, enough, enough.” – “Enough” bu the Social Club Misfits
    • (7) — 4/16/2020 — I saw the different between the two words “though” and “yet” in Habakkuk 3:17-19 —> Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
    • (8) — 4/19/2020 — “The true Christian life is one who lives an interrupted life; an individual who continually experiences Heavenly interference.” – Jerry Flowers
    • (9) — 5/12/2020 — The Father will always call the son back into “sonship.” This rocked my world by watching a Star Wars movie out of all things. But if God created all things than surely He can speak through all things as well. Watch the video (link below) and tell me you don’t see an incredibly powerful parallel between a father and his son. This sort of reminded me of the prodigal son as well. I dissected this video so hard and realized what a gift it was from God to me during this time.

                                        [ https://youtu.be/NF5M8WE4cKU ]

    • (10) — 5/17/2020 — “Eyes —> sight. Eyes of your heart —> vision.”
    • (11) — 5/21/2020 — “Once your heart has heard the music (of God), it is happy only when it is dancing.” – Robert Benson
    • (12) — 6/1/2020 — I was made very aware of how distracted I was. I could feel my mind being pulled in different directions. This is when the George Floyd incident happened and the riots started. I think God let me see just how distracted I was. This was a big takeaway for me — so that I could hear the call to “refocus,” “refocus,” “refocus.”
    • (13) — 6/18/2020 — “What do you do when you go to the place that God told you to go to, you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, and the brook dries up?”
    • (14) — 6/28/2020 — I was bestowed the wisdom of “Usually we’re going through what we’re going through because there’s something for us to do on the other side.”
    • (15) — 7/2/2020 — I was fasting with a small group of men from Fellowship Church called The Good Fight. And at 4pm on July 2nd I was under a ruck and praying for wisdom and discernment and realized I feel really connected to God and creation when I’m under a ruck.
    • (16) —7/23/2020 — “What would it look like for God to re-introduce yourself to you, from His perspective?” Think about the movie The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe where Aslan takes Edmond on a long walk after he rescues him.
    • (17) — 7/30/2020 — We need mentors and brothers that can call out the red flags when we don’t see them. A mentor of mine who’s about 20 years my senior did just that and it was hard to hear. But I needed to hear that so I could get out of a toxic relationship.
    • (18) — 7/31/2020 — Watch The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and specifically watch starting at 1:18:00 aka “The Extraction Scene.” We are called by name. We are reminded that “too long have we sat in the shadows.” We hear our true name and are called further into it. We are reminded and loved enough to “breathe the free air again my friend” or son.
    • (19) — 8/10/2020 — Realized the necessity of reading “Waiting on God” by Andrew Murray, especially in this season/year. This was a book we were given at a 3rd F event a few years ago and it’s stayed with me ever since. The practice of “waiting on God” is difficult. And I did not do it exceptionally well this year.
    • (20) — 8/23/2020 — Learned about Critical Theory and it kind of blew my mind. Critical Race Theory is interesting too. Look it up.
    • (21) — 9/16/2020 — Here’s one way to prove that you have the power to change your thoughts: Picture a lion in your head. Got it? Good. Now picture a tiger in your head? Picturing a tiger? Congratulations – you just proved to yourself that you have the power to change your thoughts instead of be captive to them.
    • (22) — 9/21/2020 — Had a powerful collision-course encounter with Jesus at Bearden High Schoo, at the launch of Heart and Soul Church. Sometimes we find ourselves so enveloped in a powerful wrestle with God that when we finally let go and learn to release control He moves all the more powerfully.
    • (23) — 10/18/2020 — During a time of fasting I was given this verse for encouragement – Romans 15:4 “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” There is always room for more endurance. There is always hope.
    • (24) — 11/20/2020 — I love facilitating. I got the chance to lead a men’s retreat the weekend of Nov. 20th and it was an honor to see God move and work during this time. He showed me the gift he’s given me to plan and facilitate.
    • (25) — 12/3/2020 — “The more I try and control the wheel and steer, the more I realize how much I’m not in control.”
    • (26) — 12/6/2020 — Content > comfortable
    • (27) — 12/10/2020 — Daniel 8:27 – “And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and I went about the King’s business…” You see two things right off the bat from a 90,000 view here: 1 – Some stuff happened (Daniel was overcome and lay sick) and 2 – Rise and still go about the King’s business. Has this year felt like that for you? Stuff goes down yet we still must go about the King’s business He’s called us to do.
    • (28) — 12/16/2020 — Read 2 Timothy 3:16. Now look at the Message version on the Bible app on your phone. You’ll see 4 things the Bible is doing for us: “Exposing our rebellion” + “Showing us truth” + “Correcting our mistakes” + “Training us in God’s way”
    • (29) — 12/20/2020 — “God is a good gift giver but not always the gift wrapper we want.” (James 1)
    • (30) — 12/27/2020 — “Little by little, one goes far.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

(2) Code Brown’s Message and Card for Charmin

– PAX thanked Charmin for his consistent and courageous leadership of the Asylum AO this year. A good leader knows how to lead. A great leader knows how to lead and follow. Charmin is a great leader.

Festivus

THE SCENE: 32 degrees clear skies cool and miraculous
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-Rama

arm circles 10x

reverse arm circles 10x

Cherry pickers 10x

Tempo squats 10x

Tempo Merkins 10x

imperial walkers 10x

side straddle hops 10x

high knees 1/2 cross lot butt kicks other half and jog back

THA-THANG:

Feats of Strength:

6 per side mountain climbers

Bear crawl to festivus pole

6 merkins

Crab walk to other side

6 lunges (6 per side)

Crab walk back to pole

6 dry docks

Bear crawl to curb

6 Big Boys

Bear crawl to pole

6 LBCs

Crab walk to curb

6 squats

Crab walk back to pole

6 shoulder taps (6 per side)

Bear crawl to curb

6 hello dolly

Bear crawl to pole

6 burpees

Crab walk to curb

6 overhead claps

Crab walk to pole

6 star jacks

Bear crawl to curb

Plank until everyone is done

Grab a CMU

1 min plank hold on CMU->1 min squat holding CMU->1 min overhead hold

Airing of grievances

1 man carries Santa’s bag up mini cardiac

PAX choice of exercise until man comes back

Next man up Rinse and repeat

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 pax including 1 from Chattanooga see tags below
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Festivus was created to battle the over-commercialization of Christmas. We are asked to remember the only gift worth celebrating and that’s the gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Ice Cold AMRAP’S

THE SCENE: Clear and cold, around 22 degrees at circle up
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Get moving fast to get warm with 25 SSH on 4ct, 15 4ct Mtn Climbers, 20 Rocky Balboa then jog down to other end of parking lot, 20 Rocky Balboa on that end then back.  Tempo Merkins then mosey…
THA-THANG:
Mosey towards the overlook, tempo squats at stop sign to wait on 6, then finish mosey to overlook.  The deal up top is 4 one minute amrap’s. Lap around the circle after each minute.  AMRAP’s consisted of Merkins, Big Boys, Lunge, and Bobby Hurley’s

Mosey down to little everest.  4 one min amraps again at bottom, run up hill and back after each.  AMRAP’S consisted of Dry Docks, Freddy M’s, Man Makers, and Squats

Still some time so mosey to pavilion for one last bit of AMRAPS.  Alternate between 1 min amraps of table rows and wall sit.  Finished with 2 min amrap of LBC’s.

 

 

MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
23 HIM’s
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We honored what would have been my Dad’s 69th birthday.  Talked about the task we have of honoring our heavenly father every day.  That is why you’re here.  Also, challenged PAX to reach out and go a step deeper with their friendships.  Ask.

Fear the Cardboard

THE SCENE: Mid 30s, clear and calm. Not too many more days until all the leaves are gone and the AO is clean again…
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x20 IC
Tempo Merkins x10 IC
Crabettes x10 IC
LBAC x10 IC each way
Tempo Squats x10

THA-THANG:
Grab a CMU and circle up.
Bunch of dudes today, so a few (including YHC) were resigned to Murder Blocks. I gotta get a weight on those things.

Working independently today. Not a race, concentrate on form!

Cardboard wienkie as follows:

15 Up & Over Merkins (L+R=1)
30 Upright Row
20 Squat Thrust
30 Curls
30 Tri Ext
30 CMU LBC
30 CMU Swing
20 Hand-Release Derkin
20 Lawn Mowers (each side)
15 Twist Lunge (each leg)
20 OHP each arm (or 50 with both arms)
20 ALPOs
20 V-ups
Total reps add to 500… But start over at the top when you finish.
No running on the schedule today, but take a lap any time you need one.

MARY:
10x LBC IC. Felt super easy without the blocks.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Lucky 13 for today’s 500 o’ fun!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Short. Doesn’t mean it’s easy:
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.
MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Coat drive still ongoing! Check out the new Service Opportunities channel on Slack