F3 Knoxville

Tag: Sparkler

Cat’s in the Cradle

THE SCENE: Beautiful! Around 80 degrees, very low humidity. Aaaaaah!

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check

WARM-O-RAMA:

– 15 Split Jacks L, 15 Split Jacks R (4ct, IC)

– 15 Moroccan Nightclub (4 ct, IC)

–  10 Rockettes (4 ct, IC)

–  10 Cherry Pickers (4 ct, IC)

–  10 Tempo Merkins (4 ct, IC)

THA-THANG:

Mosey to bottom of Everest.  We learned, to our astonishment, that the Great Pyramids are actually not in Egypt, they’re at the bottom of the great Mount Everest!  Who knew???

  • EVEREST PYRAMID:
    • Do the exercise, then run ~1/3 way up Everest 5 times. Exercises will be the following (all single count)
      • 20 Merkins
      • 20 Merkins, 20 Iron Mikes
      • 20 Merkins, 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Bottle Openers
      • 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Bottle Openers
      • 20 Bottle Openers
  • MOSEY to Intersection of Trail and Road (all 4-ct, IC). AB BLASTER!
    • 20 flutter kicks (10 Wide)
    • 20 American Hammers
    • 15 Box Cutters
  • MOSEY to stop sign at northeast corner of Admin building drive.
  • DORAS: Partner 1 Bernie Sanders to end of Guard Rail, then runs to tree, then runs back. Each partner does 3 Burpees during the hand-off. Partner 2 does the exercises, then switch:
    • 100 Big Boy sit-ups
    • 100 Bobby Hurleys
    • 100 Merkins
    • 50 PCMBs (modified to 25 due to time)

AYG to guardrail, Bernie back to Stop Sign, then AYG to bat cave/AO.

MARY:
Homer/Marge.

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

I heard the song Cat’s in the Cradle the other day.  It’s an incredible song, beautiful, yet sad.  Written by Harry Chapin in 1974, it tells the story of a young boy growing up who’s dad never seems to find the time to spend quality moments with his son.  As the son grows up, as he says in the song, “I’m going to be like you, dad.”  Which at face value sounds like a compliment, but really he’s saying that as he gets older, he will be as ambivalent about spending time with his dad as his dad was to him.  And this comes to pass.  The dad, as he gets older and more frail, wants to spend time with his son, but his son finds excuses of his own, and avoids him.

When I was young, it was actually the reverse for me.  I took my parents for granted, was caught up in my own little world with my friends and activities, and in spite of having loving, caring parents that wanted to be a part of my life, I sort of ignored them, or only interacted with them on a serious level when I wanted something… my allowance, permission to hang out with my friends, etc..  As I got older that changed, and I wanted to spend more time with them and get to know them as people.  Unfortunately, they passed away before I could fulfill that desire.

I wasn’t a great son in that regard.  I’m trying to learn from my mistakes and be a better son to our Heavenly Father.  The temptation is to run to him when we need something… protection, money, salvation, whatever.  But part of the message of the song is that relationships aren’t built on the times when you NEED each other, they’re built on the times when there’s a mutual give and take.  So I’ve tried to be conscientious about really trying to share with God, and not just run to Him when I need something. And God is not like that father in the song.  He ALWAYS has time for us, for hearing us, comforting us, and providing for us.  That’s not how it should work.  In life with kids and parents, or in your spiritual life, with you and your Heavenly Father.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for a friend of Drum Major that is struggling with addiction issues, for Corona Weight’s brother who is doing well and continues to walk the line, and for Sparkler’s friend who’s battle with ALS is coming to an end.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill Oct 2.  Join the Asylum PM team, or make your own!  It’s a great day for a great cause.  We will be needing help building the obstacles in the coming weeks.

 

Making Biscuits With Aunt Ida

THE SCENE: Fluctuating rain with high humidity.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
15x Little Baby Arm Circles, 25x SSH, Little Bit This/ Little Bit That, Free leg stretch

THA-THANG:

  • Burpee Shuttle Run- run to light poles and curb doing 1x up to 5x burpees and back each time
  • Captain America- 4x lateral jumps to 1x burpee, all the way to doing 5x burpees and 20x lateral jumps
  • 11x’s- Decreasing 10x incline merkins by increasing one Bruce Lee leg lift to 10x
  • Biscuits and Gravy-10x merkin, 10x BBS, 10x Squat, on each round of laps all the way to 4 laps around parking lot

MARY:
Jane Fonda- 20x 4ct each leg

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 HIMS

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Why we keep coming back?  Because things difficult to obtain and make men work allow us to covet things in a healthy way.  It can be the difference between work and play for men.  Easy workouts allow F3ers to see it as work, but harder workouts can be problematic not allowing us to grow. At that point the workout is pure drudgery. It requires a balance of searching for hard things to challenge us to be stronger, if it is easy it is just busy work to pass the time.  This makes for soft dull men, making them inert thus making them Sad Clowns.  When your a Sad Clown you are not at your best for the people in your sphere of influence.

From Freed to Lead,  by Dredd and OBT

MOLESKIN:
PMers kicked butt in the rain.

That is a lot of goose poop

THE SCENE: Beautiful morning.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Insert information about the warmup.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the parking lot with the least amount of goose poop. Start at first cone. Do qty of 1 of 1st exercise. Move to next cone, do qty of 2, next cone qty of 3 etc. Total of  8-9 cones across lot. Run a lap around the lot after completing all cones and go back to start doing same exercise adding up again. switch to second exercise, then 3rd,4th. While waiting on the six, do LBCs or hold plank. 

exercises with travel movements are:

  • Merkins with runs
  • Squat jumps with bear crawls (every other line)
  • Dry docks with Bernie Sanders
  • Lunges with side shuffle

mosey back to start but 4 of the PAX became “injured” and had to be carried.
Mosey to AO stopping for 5 burpees.

MARY:
No time for her today.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Short worried about sacrifice and helping others. Spent most of the BOM talking about the Hardship Hill and participation from the PAX.
MOLESKIN:
Man! there is a lot of goose poop at the JUCO. I went to set up early this morning and the parking lot I was going to use was literally filled with hundreds of geese and thousands upon thousands of piles of goose poop. No go. I found a much better parking lot above and to the side of the school. Freshly paved no pebbles, perfect for today’s workout. It’s amazing how much poop a goose can churn out for the size of that animal. I mean, take a look at an Alpaca. It’s a big animal and it poops out little rabbit pellets. Did you know that alpaca poop is actually referred to as black gold. It is highly sought after for fertilizer. Also, alpacas and llamas are not the same animal. One time I did a llama race for charity. I got to run around the lawn at worlds fair park with a llama named Betty I think. I’m not real good with horse size animals. Never really get along with horses very well. I’m not intimidated by much, but horses are so big and one kick in the Jimmy would put you down for a long time. Well, I gotta get to work so no more time for the rambling poetic waxing of this PAX member. I will leave you with this. The only thing worse than it raining after you washed your car is having to poop after you get out of the shower. Leave a 💩 emoji on the slack post it you read this far and you will be an honorary member of the I read Tank’s BB club.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill and snacks for Wesley house.

Heat Wave

THE SCENE: Sunny, HOTt, humid… typical E TN summer day.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check
WARM-O-RAMA:

-Motivators (5 count, descending)

– 10 Plank  Jacks (4-ct, IC)

– 15 Moroccan Night Clubs (4-ct, IC)

– 15 Overhead Seal Claps (4-ct, IC)

– 10 Steve Earls (4-ct, IC)

– Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to the Bowl area by the Bermuda Triangle.

  • JINXY’S FOUR AND A QUARTER. Start at bottom of hill, run to top of slope and do 25 reps of an exercise, return to starting position.  R&R 4 times, totaling 100 of the exercise.
    • Round 1: Carolina Dry Docks
    • Round 2: LBCs (single count)
    • Round 3: Lunges (single count)

MOSEY to Grassy Area by Base of Everest.

Totem Pole.  Start at 10, do all the exercises, then run to the bench by the road (or to Summit, dealer’s choice), do 10 SSH, and return. Then start at 9, etc.

  • 10 Burpees
  • 9 Mountain Climbers (4-ct)
  • 8 Diamond Merkins
  • 7 Box Cutters
  • 6 American Hammers (4-ct)
  • 5 Imperial Squat Walkers (4-ct)
  • 4 Hand Release Merkins
  • 3 Prisoner Get Ups
  • 2 Squats
  • 1 Star Gazers (10 seconds).  Rabbits R&R

We got about 75% of the way through this.

Go up Summit twice, once must be Bernie.  Do 25 MERKINS, 25 BBS, 25 SQUATS, and 25 IMPERIAL WALKERS somewhere along the way.  Rabbits rinse and repeat the exercises until 6 catches up.

MOSEY TO AO.

MARY:
Ran out of time.  Did some light stretching.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
22 Strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Special WORD by Lilydipper, who has been out with an injury for a few months.  Thought it would be great to have him address the PAX as he recovers from hip surgery.  Here are his words:

Gents, I haven’t been able to work out with you guys since mid-March.  Here we are in August, 5 months later.  Your fellowship lifts me up.  Thank goodness I have been able to come to board meetings.  I get to share a beer with you, see my brothers, commune with you.  Man, I need that fellowship.  I know Jinxy has needed it as well and that is why he was hobbling on crutches to the board meetings before he healed enough to join you guys in workouts.  The well-wishes you shared with us and the prayers you prayed for us have meant more that I think either one of us can say.

But what I want to share with you today is the importance of the workout.  I have been thankful to have fellowship with you brothers at board meetings and Coffeeteria.  Yet, I can’t wait to get back to the workouts.  Of course the workout makes us more physically fit.  I must admit that I have gained about ten pounds since mid-March.  But it is not physical fitness that I want to talk about.  It’s the bond created by going through the gloom, the heat, the sweat, the grime, the gasps for breath, the spilling or merlot, the dizziness, the pain, the questioning of self, the suffering through hell with one’s brothers – that is what I want to talk about.

Jetlag and I were conversing about Coffeeteria the other day.  Both of us agreed that part of what makes it so special is the suffering that precedes it.  Somehow that coffee and bagel just tastes better when you have made it through the torture with your brothers. As Crawdad says, “It’s the reward, baby!”   And, believe me, an ice cold beer at the Board Meeting certainly tastes better after suffering through the heat of the Fake Gloom.

Still, what makes the workout even more special is being able to look at your brother and think, “man we have been through this together.”  Each man in F3 has a respect for the other because we know what the suffering is like.  Yeah, Swimmies may run around the Caribbean three times faster than me.  He respects that pain and he knows I am feeling it too.  We each know that we are pushing to get better.  He respects this old man because I am willing to go through the same ring of pain that he is.  I love that about F3.  I also love how we encourage each other.  Doubtfire is one of the best at doing this. “Hang in there, Lily, you got this.  I’ll run with you, c’mon, let’s get over that hill.”  We cheer for each other, pull each other through.  “Leave No Man Behind.”

Bros, I appreciate you allowing me to join you for fellowship after the workouts.  I see you guys drenched and grass-stained after a difficult beat-down and I almost feel guilty for showing up in my dry clothes.  Just know that when I am fully healed (which the surgeon says should be about mid-October) I will be glad to hook shields with you and battle beside you once more.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Guppy’s sister, who is expecting.  UPDATE, shortly after the workout, she delivered a healthy baby daughter!  Prayers for those affected by the flooding in Tennessee.  Also, we presented Lilydipper with a ruck sack/plate/patch gift to help him with his recovery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Iron Pax coming up, food drive continuing for a few weeks, Hardship Hill obstacle construction help needed (contact Sparkler).

15 Beating the heat at Asylum

THE SCENE: Hot with a few clouds, but mostly hot
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH IC – 25
Arm Circles IC  10 x 2
Pinto Twist 10
Michael Phelps a/r
Grady Corn 32
Cherry Pickers 15
BBS 15

THA-THANG:

Mosey down stairs to everest
15 merkins – run half way up and then back
16 merkins – run half way up and then back
17 merkins – run half way up and then back
Peoples Chair against Fence with left punch, right punch
20  BBS OYO
Mosey to Triangle
Station 1 pickle pounder , 2-Crab Jack (2 ct), 3 -Rocky Balboa (2 ct) – 5, 10 ,15
Station 1 -Amer Hammer 2 ct, 2 -Shoulder taps- 2 ct, 3 – Iron Mike (2 ct) – 5, 10.15
Mosey to stop sign
Ring of Fire – 3 rounds increasing number of Merkins up to 3
Mosey to Rock Pile
30 Press
30 curls
30 lift
Mosey to AO

 

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Knox county drug overdose deaths were 259 in 2019, 383 in 2020 and year to date as of Aug 1 were 257 !, which at the current rate equates to 440 deaths in 2021, that’s a 70% increase from 2019.  In the US, there were 93,391 deaths due to drug overdose in 2020, compare that to about 37,000 in 2010. In 2020, records were set for the most death due to opioids, the most deaths from stimulants like methamphetamines and the most deaths from the deadly class of synthetic opioids known as fentanyls.

 

Compare the US Overdose numbers (93k) to the number of deaths due to Covid 19 in 2021- 336,802. This epidemic is all around us, be aware and take action where you can. These people dying are not strangers, they are brothers, sons, daughters, sisters, fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles. We have to turn this around!

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill on Oct 2