F3 Knoxville

A Q for Remembering

THE SCENE: Around 50, with an amazing sun coming up
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

25x SSH IC
15x TN Rocking Chairs IC
10x 4ct Travoltas each side
15x Tempo Squats
10x Tempo Merkins
Run one lap

THA-THANG:
Played a good ol’ game of Memory. 20 cards with 10 different exercises.
PAX take turns flipping 2 cards. If the cards don’t match, all PAX do BOTH exercises.
If the cards match they’re removed, and PAX just do that exercise followed by running a lap.

The cards:
15 Merkins
15 Dry Docks
10 Iron Mikes (each leg)
10 Squat jump
10 Burpee
15 Monkey Hump 4ct
20 Mtn Climber 4ct
Bear Crawl to Pavalon, Crawl Bear back
10 Body Weight Rows at the Scrapyard
20 Big Boys

MARY:
PAX cleared the last card just in time for:
Hello Dollys
Flutter Kicks
Crossing Hello Dolly Flutter Kick Things (pretty sure they have a name, but I can’t think of it)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
7 PAX this morning. The number of perfection!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Every workout ends with the Ball of Man… A group united as one! But as an engineer, I am always working with a different BOM – Bill of Materials. The Bill of Materials is a detailed list of all of the components that make up the system that’s currently being designed. All those components serve a very specific purpose. They’re included for a reason. Once they’re assembled, they are part of a functioning unit. Both of those meanings of BOM together reminded me of 1 Corinthians 12:

14For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 19If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20But now there are many members, but one body.

Your role as a member of Christ’s body is no more or less important to Him than any other. This is not to say “You are a special snowflake and nobody is like you”. This is to say that you have a specific reason, purpose, for being, for doing, for living. You have a job to do, a role to fill. Seek what that role is from the Head, and DO it with all your might!

MOLESKIN:
You can always count on Rain Check to subvert the workout… Only 4 cards left and he decided he didn’t want to run, so he intentionally flipped non-matching cards! Of course, it only delayed the inevitable…
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Pray for Butterfingers’ MIL – Upcoming surgery. Support Moses run for 100 miles today! Hardship hill May 19.

Mary Ate a Big Burger

THE SCENE: 50° clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

None
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Bearden Middle track
Mary’s Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese:
5 Ruck burpees at start and between each set run back to start for ruck burpees before next stop. Stay together.
Plank w/ ruck till everyone done with exercise
25 yd – Coffin Situp (ruck OH, legs out straight)
50 yd – Hammers
75 yd – single count flutter (ruck over head)
100 yd – heels to the heavens (holding ruck behind head)
Mosey back to AO.
Bear crawl up lovers each time at top do:
Upright rows x 20, OH presses x 20, Merkins x 20. Mosey down to next level, repeat bear crawl up lovers moseying down to next level down each time. (s/b 5)

MARY:
Covered
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
4 great men
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Have a good day!
MOLESKIN:
Great conversation. Flutters should be 4-count next time to truly suck. We only had time for 4 rounds of the lovers lane circuit but it sucked none the less.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Ring Around The Mosey

THE SCENE: Nice and Warm in the Upper 40s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 15 IC

Cherry Pickers x 10 IC

Frankenstein Walk through parking lot

Walking Quad Stretch through parking lot

Walking side to side groin stretch through parking lot

THA-THANG:
We began with a mosey through the park.  We made sure to stay at a pace where everyone could stay relatively close together.

Stop 1 was at the Fountain and we did 10 Burpees OYO and held Al Gore until 6 up.

Continue the Mosey up the hill.

Stop 2 was at the top of the big hill at the back of the park and we did 20 merkins and 20 squats OYO.  Held Al Gore until 6 up.

Continue Mosey back down to Mt. Crumpet, which just so happened to be our 3rd stop.

At Mt. Crumpet, we did 5 ascents up the hill.

  • Ascent 1 was a bear crawl
  • Ascent 2 was a sprint
  • Ascent 3 was a bear crawl
  • Ascent 4 was a sprint
  • Ascent 5 was a bear crawl

Burpees OYO until 6 up.  Continued our ring around the mosey all the way around the park to the base of the hill that climbs to the grinder.  This was Stop #4.

We circled up and did a burpee circle of pain.  The circle held an Al Gore and we took turns doing a burpee until we reach 52 burpees, which was 4 rounds.  We sprinted the hill to the grinder and back.

Circle of pain merkins for same number as the burpees followed by a sprint to the burpees.

At this point, we had 7 minutes before I wanted to start Mary, so we just cashed out the beat down portion by doing an AMRAP of 5 Pull-Ups, 10 Merkins, 15 Squats.

MARY:
Flutter Kicks x 30 IC

Slutter Kicks x 20 IC

Hello Dollys x 15 IC

Cash Out last minute with LBCs.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 HIMs showed up to do some serious work.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In Romans 12, the Bible tells us to strip off every weight that so easily entangles us and run with endurance.  That really gets me thinking about Jesus telling his disciples that they and we would face trials and tribulations, but to take heart because he overcame the world.

A lot of times, we get caught wanting life to be a nice, easy mosey through to the end, but that will NEVER be the case.  We serve a very real God, but we also fight a very real enemy who seeks to destroy us and our families.  Life is going to be hard and it will throw curve balls at you.  How you respond to the difficult times and the mentality with which you attack those difficult times can and will make or break you.

Jesus telling his disciples to take heart in today’s terms is him telling his disciples to keep a positive mindset.  Don’t ever let negativity creep in or come out of your mouth because it is like a cancer that will infect those around you as well.  I apologized to the group for any times that I let negativity come out of my mouth during beat downs and vowed to try not to do that anymore.  It may suck, but we are fighting and winning the battle to be our best self.

Run the race of life with endurance and always keep a positive mindset.
MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Be Sweet

THE SCENE: Mid 50’s, not raining for once

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Jump rope on Q
  • High Knees on Q
  • Wide Knees on Q
  • Butt kicks on Q
  • Arm Circles Little and big on Q

THA-THANG:

Indian run to Matterhorn, last man dropping for 4 squats then sprint to the front

11’s on Matterhorn 1 Merkin/10 Burpees start at the top

Pavalon Dora P1 15 4-count SSH/BBS P2 200 side tri rise(10 per)

MARY:

  • Crunchy frog x 15 IC
  • Single leg touch x 15 IC each leg
  • Flutters x 15 IC
  • Dollys x 15 IC
  • Slutters x 16 IC
  • Superman 10 count hold x 5
  • Scissors 1 min to cash

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 Brothers

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Life is too short to get upset about stupid little annoyances in our lives. I have been working on this the past 6 months and my wife says I’m sweeter to her. I can tell we are closer and more loving when I’m not always trying to educate and correct her. She is my best friend and not identical to me. If I accept her as she is we lead a much happier life with a tight relationship.

MOLESKIN:
Thanks to locals for showing me around the park on a recon ruck. Nice place you got! Wall ball did some marathon training instead of the beatdown, but we enjoyed his mumblechatter when he passed by.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Gimme Shelter

THE SCENE: 55 degrees with a light rain to wash the sweat away
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Checked off.

WARM-O-RAMA:
To the music of Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones, circa 1969:

SSH – x20; Little Baby Arm Circles (forward and reverse) – x15; Cherry Pickers – x10; Imperial Squat Walkers – x15

Jog; Skip; Bear Crawl/Jog; Bear Crawl/Jog length of the grinder.

THA-THANG:

“A” Leg Exercises

Under the Pavilion:

Bench Step Ups x12; Dry Docks x12; Squat Jumps x12; Merkins x12; SSH (single count) x12; BBS x12

Intermission

Run from the Pavilion to the Road:

Merkins x6; BBS x6; Drydocks x6

Run back to the Pavilion.

“B” Leg Exercises

Under the Pavilion (Using CMU’s)

Kettlebell Swings x12; On the Shelf x6/side; Bent Rows x12; Curls x12; Squats x12; Deadlift x6/arm

Intermission

Run from the Pavilion to the Road:

Merkins x6; BBS x6; Drydocks x6

Run back to the pavilion

Repeat Above as Time Allows

MARY:
Leg Lifts, Box Cutters, Hello Dolly’s, and then cashed out with 1 minute of Little Baby Crunches.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 faithful, 0 FNG’s

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We started the workout to the song Gimme Shelter, the opening track from the Rolling Stones 1969 album, Let It Bleed.  When asked who sang the song most will generically say the Rolling Stones or specifically, Mick Jagger.  When I listen to the song, I hear Merry Clayton.  She is the background vocalist and the one who puts her heart and soul in the song.  Merry was born on Christmas Day, 1948, and was the daughter of a Baptist minister in the New Orleans area.  She began singing gospel music in church before she was tagged as a background singer for Ray Charles and others at the ripe age of 14.

In 1969 she was pregnant and living with her husband in Los Angeles.  The phone rang around midnight and an agent said this British rock group needed a background vocalist for a track to complete a soon to be released album.  They needed her to come to the recording studio right away.  At first she said no, she was tired and she wasn’t feeling too well.  Her husband said she needed to go; that it might be good for her singing career.  Merry shows up at the studio and talks to Keith Richards about the song, the significance of the words written by Jagger, and the way they wanted it sung.

She sang one take, got some feedback from Richards and Jagger, and then said she would give it one more try.  After the second take she offered a third and then said goodnight.  The rest is history for the Stones.

Merry is always the singer I hear in the song.  She was the one that gave it everything she had and she blows it away – as a backup singer.  The Rolling Stones almost always gets the credit for this hit from almost 50 years ago.

There are many times that our roll in life is like Merry’s was that night.  We are not the one to make the decisions, we are not THE face in the crowd, we are not the leader, we may not get the recognition we deserve.  We are the backup, the support member of the team, the one given a specific task in the big picture, the one that will be an integral part of future success.  Regardless, our job is to push ourselves, attain the objective, and move on to the next.  Always remember that there is no limit to what can be attained if no one cares who gets the credit.

So where is Merry?  She went home after the Stones session and had a miscarriage late that morning.  She believes the stress she put herself in earlier was a factor and she could barely bring herself to sing the song for a few years afterwards.  She continued mostly in a backup singer roll and was highlighted in a 2012 documentary about others in similar rolls that made many of the legendary songs of the past.  Finally some well deserved recognition has come to her.  In 2014 a car accident left her without legs.  Her faith in God and the inner strength and determination derived from that faith is keeping her on her feet and her music alive.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Don’t forget Hardship Hill at Fort Southwest Point Park in Kingston, TN.  Can’t or won’t participate?  Volunteers are needed and welcomed for setup and event day.