F3 Knoxville

Tag: Sparkler

Pain is Gain

THE SCENE: Beautiful day, temps in high 70’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle-hops, 10 Pinto Twists, 10 Windmills, Plank stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on southeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to Area 51.  We will run up hill stopping three times to do decline merkins.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to bat house above Roadshow Run.  We will do the Pinto Grinder.  We will start with 20 Star Jumps by bat house.  Then run down stairs and do 20 Diamond Merkins.  Run to grove of trees just below peak of Mt. Everest.  Do 10 Burpees.  Run up to peak of Mt. Everest and do 20 Big Boys.  Rinse and repeat.

Do 20 American Hammers in Shade.

Mosey to stop sign at northeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.  We will head back on road toward AO but stop at each cone along the way.  The cones will instruct us what to do next.  The instructions at each cone are as follows:

  • Cone 1:  10 Shoulder Taps (both arms = 1).  Bear Crawl to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  25 Baby Crunches.  Lunge to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  20 Flutter Kicks (four count).  Bernie Sanders to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Buzz saws (four count).  Grapevine with face away from Admin Bldg to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Carolina Dry Docks.  Grapevine with face toward Admin Bldg to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6.  Go back to Cone 1 to rinse and repeat.

MARY:

10 Bottle Caps, 20 Box Cutters, Stretches.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNGs.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 That’s why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day. This light, temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison, because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

It can be human nature to desire the easy way out.  But the fact is that truly good things generally involve toil, effort and pain.  I often times witness people wanting to move forward but unwilling to accept anxiety, stress or pain in order to get there.  As a psychologist I see people wanting to take narcotics or avoid challenges to that they don’t have to experience anxiety.  I am not belittling the anxiety that those with Anxiety Disorders must battle.  But some people actually think humans aren’t supposed to experience anxiety.  They want to avoid anxiety at all costs.  The fact is that anytime we take on new challenges, we are going to experience anxiety.

I see some people wanting to improve physically without experiencing pain.  I know that doctors and physical therapists see this all the time.  Someone gets total knee replacement and then is sent to see a physical therapist.  They stop going saying the physical therapy only made them feel worse.  Of course it made them feel worse – it is supposed to make them feel worse – so that through work, pain and effort they will improve and eventually feel much, much better.

We in F3 get up early mornings to face the gloom and experience the pain and thrashing of an F3 workout.  It is supposed to be painful.  Without the pain we don’t receive the gang.  We could wimp out and make it easy for everyone.  But as Cheatsheet proclaims, “Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself!”

We often think relationships are supposed to be free from pain and turmoil.  Nothing goes wrong in our relationships in the Honey Moon stage.  Your lover can do no wrong.  It is later that we wake up to the reality that this lover is a real person – with her own strange idiosyncrasies and opinions that don’t,God forbid, always coincide with ours.  We begin to think, what’s wrong with this person – maybe she isn’t right for me.  But maybe, just maybe, that person is right for you.  To find true love is to work through differences with another that can sometimes be painful.  But in working through these differences we see we can learn and live with them.  We find something richer and greater – not a person who will agree with us about everything – but someone who will love us, no matter how hard that task can be (look at yourself, that can be pretty doggone difficult) and will help us to grow stronger and better for it in the process.

Finally, with God it is not always rosy and wonderful.  We sometimes want to turn from Him when things aren’t wonderful and going our way.  We may blame Him for it, say “Where the hell are you God?”  Or, we may not want to follow Him when He wants us to do something we don’t like to do.”  But God’s way is the best way, not the easy, rosy way.  We don’t just follow God when it feels good.  We follow God when it is difficult, when it is not all fun and games, when we doubt, when we hurt, when we are ready to give up, when we are angry and pissed at Him.  In so doing, we find faith, we find hope, and we have a true relationship with a God who desires relationship and desires to make us better men.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for five of Abscess’ friends who have had heart attacks.  Continuing prayers for Pinto who is recovering from his heart attack and heart surgery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill!

God Has Our Six

THE SCENE: Cloudy with temps in 60’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 15 Squat Jumps, 10 Rockettes, Plank Stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey northeast to perimeter trail near intersection of primary park roadway and roadway going to admin bldg.  We will be doing nickel, dime, quarters (running one light to stop and do 5 of exercise, running two lights to do 10 of exercise and running five more lights to do 25 of the exercise.  We will initially head west on perimeter trail, following it all the way to southern ball field area.  Here are the exercises we will be doing

  • Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Merkins
  • Star Jumps
  • Hello Dollies
  • Diamond Merkins
  • Smurf Jacks
  • American Hammers
  • Carolina Drydocks
  • Iron Mikes
  • Flutter Kicks (four count)
  • Dive Bombers
  • Plank Jacks

Mosey to Outdoor Chapel.  We will do sevens starting with one Decline Merkin at stage area and six Mountain Climbers at other end of chapel.

Mosey to AO.

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:
One psychological definition of anxiety states that it is 1. the overestimation of threat and 2. the underestimation of competency to handle the threat.  It is not uncommon for us to experience anxiety, particularly when we take on new things.  For example, when taking on a new challenge (such as starting a new job) we tend to worry about the many things that could go wrong – in so doing we exaggerate the likelihood of bad things occurring.  Those of you who have never taken the Q at an F3 workout may worry that the guys would not like what you have put together, that what you planned will not be hard enough or that it would be too hard, that you will plan too much or too little, or that you will screw up when leading the exercises. You may not think about it being common to make mistakes when you do your first Q and that the other guys will understand that and accept you.  When taking on new challenges we also tend to underestimate our competency.  When taking on a new job you may forget that you were hired because of abilities and skills that the employer saw in you and that you can learn and adapt to new situations.  When thinking of leading a Q you may underestimate how much you have learned from being involved in F3 workouts, how even though you have never led a Q your ability to do so will be just as good as other guys who have never led a Q, how you can write out a good outline for a workout, how you can adapt your workout as you move along, how you can be inventive and come up with new ways of doing things, how when delivering the message guys will be interested in your experiences and what you have learned in life.

Take on new challenges.  Remember it is common to feel some anxiety when you do so.  But remember that you are probably overestimating the threats of the new challenge as well as the negative reactions to your making mistakes.  Remember your abilities, your ability to adapt, your ability to get up when you have been knocked down, and that God and friends are there to turn to when mistakes are made because in taking on new challenges you are supposed to make mistakes.

Remembering these words from Christ in Matthew, Chapter 6, may also help:

25 e“Therefore I tell you, fdo not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 gLook at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. hAre you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ispan of life?7 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, jeven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

 

Dog Day Sun and Run at Asylum

THE SCENE: Sunny, Slight Breeze – Temp in the 50’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – IC 20

Candy Corns – 4CT IC – 24

Windmills – IC 12

Cherry Pickers – IC 15

Merkins (slow) IC – 10

THA-THANG:
Mosey Down Stairs to West Pathway- turn right

  • RTE 66 Round 1
    • BBS at each light post – starting with 1, increase by 1 to 11 (Rabbits sweep back)
    • Alternate Bearcrawl and Bernie between posts
  • RTE 66 Round 2
    • Diver Bomber at each light post – starting with 1, increase by 1 to 11 (Rabbits sweep back)
    • Alternate Lunge and Run between posts
  • Long Mosey to CMU pile by baseball fields – each grab CMU
    • 25 curls IC
    • 25 Rows IC
    • 25 Press IC
    • R n R
  • Mosey to Picnic Shelter
    • 11’s – Alternate bench dips with Squat Jumps
  • Mosey up winding path to Monument – wait for 10 ct
  • Slow Mosey back to AO
  • Hello Dolly – IC 25
  • Ring of Fire Planks – one round of 4 Merkins while rest of Ring holds plank, second round of just one Plank

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 HIMs + Dog. Welcome FNG @ Chapter 11 (Patrick Woodside)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In our personal circles, in our families and at work we have certain “go to” people we count on for support all the time – like our spouses or certain team members. We delegate tasks many times at the last minute and many times without asking and/or maybe they just know what to do and do it- alot.  We count on them and we wouldn’t be able to do what we need to do without them. We need to take the time to recognize their constant support and give something back- maybe pick up some of their tasks unannounced. Reach out, acknowledge their constant efforts and let them know our appreciation.

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
See Jinxy for Heatbreak Hill Team – Asylum Team name is “Boardroom”

The Last Shall Be First and First Shall Be Last

THE SCENE: Sunny, clear, temps in 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 15 Mountain Climbers, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot by entry to northern ball fields.  Line up on curb of parking lot closest to street.  There will be two cones in middle of parking lot.  On some of the following exercises we will ignore the cones while on some we will use the cones. These are the exercises:

  • Side twister run to other curb and back, facing south as we run.
  • Bernie Sanders to curb and back
  • High Knees run to curb and back
  • Bear crawl to first cone, hop to second cone and lunge to curb.  Do same thing going back.
  • Sprint to curb and back.

Next we go to CMU pile.  Each man grabs a CMU.  We will do the following exercises:

  • 25 Overhead Presses
  • 25 Curls
  • 25 Rows
  • 25 Squats
  • 25 Bench Presses

Mosey to Serpentine Sidewalk (between northern ball fields and outdoor chapel).  We will do 14’s (run one light with listed exercise and sprint four lights, continuing pattern with that exercise until done) all the way to perimeter trail.  First men getting to perimeter trail sweep other men back. The following are the exercises for the 14’s:

  • Duck walk one light, sprint four
  • Hop one light, sprint four
  • Bernie one light, sprint four

Mosey to Playground at northern ball fields.

We will do elevens, starting with one Bench Dip and ten Bench Jumps.  We will repeat elevens with one Decline Merkin and Ten Legs Up Sit Ups.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Insert the WORD here.
MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
God uses all people, whether big or small, powerful or lowly, famous or unknown, rich or poor, for his purposes.  We are all important to God – His Kingdom is quite different than that of what we see in our world.  We may feel sometimes that we don’t count.  We believe there are others out there who have much more “say” than we do.  But each one of us, each one of you, count just as much to God as do presidents and rulers.  Who did Jesus go to for his disciples?  Was it the rulers of Isreal, the rabbis or scholars?  He chose “common” men.  And he said to them, that in God’s Kingdom “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.”

In his book, The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis, a group of tourists are visiting heaven.  They see a great parade held in honor of someone who had recently died on Earth.  They wonder who the parade is for.  Surely, it was for someone special on Earth, an inventor whose invention changed the course of the world, a dignitary, a ruler, a great athlete.  They find the parade is for Mary Smith, an unknown woman who loved God and lived out that love toward others.

If my mother-in-law, Ruby Grimes, were to have a resume, it wouldn’t stack up very well with most people.  She had one job in her life, as a bookkeeper for a local school in Kentucky.  But, as David Brooks would say, her Eulogy Virtues will far outweigh her Resume Virtues.  And, I believe, there will be a great parade in heaven for her when she arrives there.  She is the type of person that you just feel good being around.  I truly love visiting her.  One problem though, is that when you go her church with Ruby it seems you can never get away after the service is over.  Everyone wants to talk to her and you find yourself standing around, waiting to get to the car and get home.  When we visit my wife’s parents for Christmas, you can count on people coming and knocking on the door on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Who are these people?  Relatives?  No, the relatives are probably already in the house.  The people who come by are just folks who Ruby has somehow touched in their lives.  Often it is former neighbors who knew Ruby when they were kids.  They probably got cookies from her, came on in the house when they were little, knowing the home was a place where they were always welcome.  They still want to see her as adults, just to let her know they still love her.  Ruby’s refrigerator door is constantly littered with cards from folks who she has known.  They may now live in other cities or states but they still want to keep in touch with her.  She has touched others with a love that is difficult to put into words.  But God surely sees it.

Each one of us may not be the top dogs in our jobs, the best on the sports teams we play for, the best known in our communities.  But we are important to God.  And, we can serve God’s purposes in ways that the world may not see as incredible but in which God surely sees as incredible.  The last shall be first and the first shall be last.  Remember that as you go out and live for God’s purposes.

ShamPain Toast at the Asylum

THE SCENE: Mid to upper 50s, sunny, beautiful
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Check. 
WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

– 20 Imperial Walkers (4-ct), in Cadence

– Bolt 45s

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to open, low-lying field near north entrance.

SHAMROCK of PAIN!! FOUR (THREE) CORNERS : There will be three sets of cones set up in diamond formations, somewhat reminiscent of a shamrock…  Hmm.  Imagine that.

We will split up and move through the Shamrock of Pain and do the exercises on each cone. Rinse and repeat each leaf.  We did 1/2 the number of reps about 3/4 of the way through to save time.

First “leaf” (Bear Crawl between posts)

    • 10 Burpees
    • 20 Merkins,
    • 20 Carolina Dry Docks

Second “leaf” (Hop between posts)

  • 20 Big Boy Situps
  • 20 American Hammers (4-ct)
  • 20 Hello dollies (4-ct)

Third “leaf” (Lunge between posts)

    • 20 Smurf Jacks
    • 20 Iron Mikes (each pair of legs = 1)
    • 20 Tempo Squats

MOSEY along path adjacent to Northshore to EVEREST

  • EVEREST PYRAMID :
    1. Run 3/4 way up Everest to big tree, at the bottom do the following:
      • 10 Tempo Squats
      • 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Mountain Climbers (each pair of legs = 1)
      • 10 Tempo Squats, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Diamond Merkins
      • 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Diamond Merkins.
      • 10 Diamond Merkins

Go over Everest and Mosey to AO

MARY:

  • Flutter kicks
  • Boat/canoe
  • Ring of Fire Merkins (had to stop after 4 reps because we were out of time)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 Men, including one FNG, Shane (forgot his last name, sorry!) who we named Shakespeare.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Leadership Shamrock .  I read an article in the Harvard Business Review recently about Leadership.  Creating Trust is a critical component of being a leader. The level of trust is the #1 factor for how people rate the effectiveness of a leader.  How can you follow or take direction from someone you can’t trust?  A huge study was performed that looked at data from 360 assessments of 87,000 leaders. The objective was to identify “clusters” of traits that are most often the foundation of trust.  The researchers performed correlations and factor analysis statistical tests on the data to “group” the characteristics that most strongly influence the level of trust in a leader.  There were three primary factors (kind of a “Leadership Shamrock” that can be used to reinforce trust principles similar to how St. Patrick used the shamrock to describe the Holy Trinity) that were commonly grouped as most important for engendering trust among others.

  1. POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
  • Stays in touch on the issues and concerns of others.
  • Balances results with concern for others.
  • Generates cooperation between others.
  • Resolves conflict with others.
  • Gives honest feedback in a helpful way.
  1. GOOD JUDGMENT/EXPERTISE (how well informed and knowledgeable you are)
  • They use good judgement when making decisions.
  • Others trust their ideas and opinions.
  • Others seek after their opinions.
  • Their knowledge and expertise make an important contribution to achieving results.
  • Can anticipate and respond quickly to problems.
  1. CONSISTENCY (do they walk their talk and do what they say they will do)
  • Are a role model and set a good example.
  • Honor commitments and keep promises.
  • Follow through on commitments.
  • Are willing to go above and beyond what needs to be done.

Additional take-home messages of the study:

  • You don’t have to be outstanding at all these to be an effective leader, just strong/above average. Being below average in any can destroy trust.
  • RELATIONSHIPS the most important of the three.  Perhaps people understand that leaders can’t know EVERYTHING, and that some inconsistency is to be expected.  But once Positive Relationships are damaged, every other aspect of trust suffers.
  • Think about which of these three you are weakest at, and then work to improve that area.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pusher’s mother, who is very ill.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Convergence is the last Saturday of the month.  Sign up on the Calendar!