F3 Knoxville

The Makers of Man aka Man Makers

THE SCENE: The air is THICK, but promising.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith
  • My name is Steam and I’m honored to be your Q this morning
  • Couple of things before we begin
    • I’m not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have, so if you need to modify any of the exercises we do this morning – feel free to do it!
    • But along with that – I’m going to encourage you to push yourselves and push the men around you – you deserve it and so do they.
    • You’re here on purpose this morning. You’re here on purpose.


WARM-O-RAMA:

 

  • SSH: 10 x 4 IC
  • Rockette: 10 x 4 IC 

  • Imperial Walker: 10 x 4 IC 

  • Windmill: 10 x 4 IC
  • Tempo Squat: 10 x 4 IC

THA-THANG:

 

(mosey up to the new walkway)

  • Battle Buddy Up
  1. Dora
    • BB1: Heels to Heaven (4 count ex)
  • BB2: Run to the other parking lot – execute 8 count merkin and run back
  • Each battle buddy will make the run down twice
  • Recover here when you’re done – holding the Al Gore

 

2. The Gauntlet

    • Run to the other parking lot
    • every table = 10 – 8 count body builders together in cadence

(so…..many……Man-Makers…..SO many man-makers. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TABLES UP THERE?!)

(mosey around to the left American Indian style)

(mosey to the parking lot outside the playground)

3. Quarter Pounder

    • Tops of the parking lot = 25 SSHs on a 1 count
    • Middle of the sides of the parking lot = 25 merkins on a 1 count (down/up)
  • potential for a double quarter pounder

MARY:

  • 25 flutter kicks
  • 25 heels to heaven

10 x 4 SSHs

Worked on breathing/light stretching

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

13 PAX – No FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

As I was reading Romans 8:26 I realized how much I constantly and consistently need the Holy Spirit to intercede for me because of groanings too deep for words. My anxiousness for everything going on in the world, my anguish and anger for everything going on in the world. He knows what we need when we don’t have the words.

Then I thought about “running the race.” When you think of running a race, you typically know the end goal or distance. Think about F3 – you know you’re pushing hard until 6:15am or 8am. But when you think of running a spiritual race, THE race – we know how the story ends but not necessarily how long we have to run. We just are told to run – with endurance.

And I thought “What a greater time to run our race as HIM, when we do have a great cloud of witnesses looking to us (Christians, male leadership, etc).

The encouragement is this: Even when we have groanings too deep for words – we’re still called to run the race the most high King has set before us – and to run with endurance. As HIM – you have opportunities to do this everyday in your marriage, relationships, work, spheres of influence.

So give your groanings to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to intercede for you.

And Run. Your. Race.

MOLESKIN:

Romans 8:26 — Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

Hebrews 12:1-2 — Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Leg Day in the Rain

THE SCENE: Warm, Humid, 70ish. Started raining about 10 minutes into the workout, stopped right at the end
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 20, Tempo Squats x 10, Rockettes x 10, Cherry Pickers x 5, Quad Stretches
THA-THANG:
Took a lap around the park, then went to the parking lot across the street

Parking Lot

  • Monkey Jumped (3 monkey squats followed by broad jump) all the way across the parking lot, then did 25 of each of the following: American Hammers (4ct), Big Boy Sit Ups, Flutterkicks (4ct), Little Baby Crunches
  • Lunged all the way across the parking lot again, then did 25 of each of the following: American Hammers (4ct), Big Boy Sit Ups, Flutterkicks (4ct), Little Baby Crunches
  • Duck Walked all the way across the parking lot again, then did 25 of each of the following: American Hammers (4ct), Big Boy Sit Ups, Flutterkicks (4ct), Little Baby Crunches
  • Side Lunged all the way across the parking lot again, then did 25 of each of the following: American Hammers (4ct), Big Boy Sit Ups, Flutterkicks (4ct), Little Baby Crunches

Street Next to Church

Lined up at the bottom of the parallel parking spots, did 5 reps of Get Ups (Big Boys plus standing up) followed by a sprint to the top of the parking spots. Did this two more times, but with 10 and 15 reps of Get Ups

 

Finished with another lap around the park

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Was reminded of this story of GK Chesterton, a well known Christian author of the early 1900’s. The London Times sent out a questionnaire to a bunch of authors asking “What is wrong with the world?” and Chesterton replied with a one sentence essay, “Dear Sirs, I am.” In times like what we’re seeing nationally right now I think its good for us to practice the same self awareness and humility that he did. Not to say that we shouldn’t hold others, especially those with power, accountable for their actions, but before we make judgments, condemnations or conclusions about someone or something, lets all remember Jesus’ rebuke towards our tendency to attack the sawdust in our brothers’ eyes and ignore the plank in our own

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Morristown launch is tomorrow, pray for PDA as he has an interview today with the Knox County Sheriffs department

Patience of Unanswered Prayer

THE SCENE: Sunny, temp about 90 degrees
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Plank Jacks, Plank Stretches, 10 Rockettes, 10 Windmills, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at Southeastern Corner of Admin Bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to grassy area that is south of Area 51.  There will be four cones set up in a square pattern.  We will be going in a counter-clockwise route around the square four times, stopping to do an exercise at each cone.  By the end we will have done four exercises at each cone.  Following are the exercises at each cone and the method by which to get to the next cone:

  • Cone 1:  1. 20 Side Straddle Hops (4 ct)  2. 15 Mountain Climbers (4 ct)  3. 20 Star Jumps  4.  20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)  (After exercise, Sprint to Cone 2)
  • Cone 2:  1. 20 Merkins  2. 15 Shoulder Taps  3. 10 Hand Release Merkins  4. 20 Carolina Dry Docks  (After exercise, Skip to Cone 3)
  • Cone 3.  1. 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  2. 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct).  3.  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct.)  4. 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)  (After exercise, Bernie Sanders to Cone 4)
  • Cone 4.  1. 10 Burpees  2. 15 Imperial Walkers (both legs = 1)  3. 20 Bobby Hurleys  4. 20 Squat Jumps  (High Knees to Cone 1).

Mosey to Northshore Entrance to Park.  We will go south then east on the perimeter trail, doing Nickel Dime Quarters with the following exercises:

  • Squats
  • Dead Bugs
  • Diamond Merkins
  • Dive Bombers

We will be near the Southern Ball Fields when we have done the above.  Mosey to the parking lot at the Southern Ball Fields.  We will do 8 count Bear Crawls then 8 Count Lunges, repeating this pattern from one end of the parking lot to the other.  

Mosey to Outdoor Chapel.  Take 15 second breather.  Then mosey up hill all the way to the new built area near the Admin Bldg.  Take 30 second breather.  Mosey to AO.

MARY:
25 Hello Dollies
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
22 men with two FNGs whom we named Whistler (Brett Marshman) and Leo Turcas (Nadia).  Nadia was a Flying EH victim!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Asking with Patience

Matthew 7: 7-8

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Romans 8:25

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

2 Peter 3:8

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

At last week’s internet streamed worship service at my church, a line struck me from one of the songs we sang.  The song is “Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart” by Croly and Digerness.  The line that struck me is “Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.”  That is certainly a line I need to hear during the time of this coronavirus and national unrest after the death of George Floyd.  I read the bible verse that says, “everyone who asks receives.”  I know that people all over Earth are asking that this coronavirus would end.  I ask, “God, when will you answer our prayer?”  Yet, I need to also ask, “God, teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.”

When I was a boy, my best friend, Neil, who lived next door, was the first family on our block to get a Color TV set.  Seven years later, most people had Color TV sets but I was still praying for our first one.  My mother was a single parent and a teacher – and, just like today, teachers don’t make enough money for all the work they do.  I remember getting excited when we went to a big store that had a television promo.  As part of the promo, people could bring in advertisements they received in the mail.  If your code number on the advertisement was one of the winning code numbers, you could get a free TV set.  My mother, of course, told me the odds were minuscule for us to have a winning number.  We went to the store and there were all these magnificent color television sets, sitting there for a kid like me to gawk at.  Needless to say we didn’t win a set.  “But, mom, can’t we even buy one of the smaller sets?”  I know my mother felt bad for me but with her lack of funds she was also teaching my about life – about limiting oneself to a budget; about not coveting; about appreciating what we have; about patience.

About six or seven months later I came home to find a portable television set sitting on a cabinet in our living room.  It was on, it was playing a television show, and the show was in living color!!!  My mother had saved for quite some time to get that portable but color TV set.  I was so happy!  It may have been small but it was a COLOR SET!

God, teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.  I think of people who have endured wars that last for many years.  Teach me to be grateful for what I do have.  I think of people who endured plagues like the Black Plague where cities of people were wiped out by the disease or indian tribes in America who were practically wiped out by diseases that Europeans brought from another continent.  God, teach me to have trust that you are there for me, for us, no matter what difficulties and even tragedies beset us.  For in You we have something that hardship, suffering, even death cannot take away.  As the famous poet, John Donne, said, in you Death Shall Die.

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for our nation at this time of unrest, prayers for Iceman’s father who will need surgery for his heart again, prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother and grandfather, prayers for Lillydipper’s wife.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Launch at Morristown this weekend.

The Return of the Big Dipper!

THE SCENE: Awesome evening.  Partly sunny, low 70s, not much breeze
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:

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), IC, 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), IC, 10 Steve Earles (4-ct), IC, 10 Grady Corns (4-ct), IC.  We also scattered in 30 “Marine Burpees” (burpee minus the Merkin at the bottom) in honor of Mandolin’s 35th b-day.  The Q was getting tired during the dang warmup, so we stopped there but added 5 more during the workout to make 35.

THA-THANG:

We split into two groups to be in compliance with local health guidelines.  Mr. Jinxy was Q2.

  • Mosey to the Grinch’s Hill. Do 3 sets of 7s, going up the hill a different way for each (always run down the hill):
    • First 7s. BERNIE SANDERS up the hill
      • Mountain Climbers (4-ct)
      • Burpees
    • Second 7s. EL CAPITAN up the hill
      • Star Jumps
      • Smurf Jacks
    • Third 7s. BEAR CRAWL up the hill
      • BBS
      • American Hammer (4-ct)
  • Mosey to Perimeter Trail near Area 51. Nickel-dime-quarters (run 1 light, do 5 of the exercise, run 2 lights do 10, run 5 lights do 25), with Carolina Dry Docks as the exercise.
  • Mosey a little ways up the base of EVEREST to get off the trail and out of people’s way. Do 10 of each exercise, run up 1/3 of hill and back down, then 20 of each exercise, run up 2/3 of hill, then 30 of each exercise, then run to base of summit.
    • Exercises: Big Boy Situps, LBCs, Flutter Kicks (4-ct; switched to 2-ct for the last set)
  • At BASE OF SUMMIT do 10 of each exercise, and then TAKE THE HILL!
    • 10 x Burpees, Bobby Hurleys, and SSH

MARY:
Q1 did X’s and O’s and Homer/Marge until Q2 finally decided to show up at the shovel flag.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
18 HIMs, including Clooney (couldn’t tag) and FNG Duck Hunt, who is Mandolin’s 2.0.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Jesus said that following his death, “You will know the Holy Spirit. It will be in you, and I will be in you, and you will never be alone.”  The Bible also says that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve wondered what the Holy Spirit looks like, and I’m still not 100% sure.  I thought it might look like a benevolent ghost, or a sparkling cloud with rainbows and unicorns or something that would fill you with wonder if you were to look upon it.

But these days, when it may appear that God is keeping His distance from us, I think the Holy Spirit looks a whole lot like the doctors that hold the hands of patients dying from the COVID-19 virus, who can’t have family members be with them during their final hours.  I think it looks like volunteers and loved ones who drive by and wave and hold pictures up at the windows to cheer up the residents of nursing homes.  Or parents who tirelessly help their children learn at home. Or people who contribute money or time to food pantries.  Or communities who gather outside and bang on pots at a certain time to congratulate the graduating high school class, like they did in my home town.  Or the local baker who baked a thousand cookies for the first responders at Beth Israel hospital in NYC.  At first glance, God and the Holy Spirit may seem to be distant from us these days.  But in truth, I think they are closer than ever.

“God will be with us, if we follow his commandment to love each other as Jesus loved us.” (John 13:34).

MOLESKIN:
It was just awesome to have our fearless leader Lilydipper join us again.  We prayed for him and his wife, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.  Prayers also for 3 classmates of Abscess who passed away last week.  Prayers of thanks for Pusher’s anniversary, and Thunderstruck’s mother, who is ill but felt well enough to do a short hike to a waterfall on Mother’s Day. And Happy 35th, Manilow!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Some PAX are going to Morristown to assist with their launch on Saturday.  They will be leaving around 5:30 am. Contact Abscess or Steam for more details.