F3 Knoxville

Tag: Stage Hand

One more 18 beatdown

THE SCENE: Low 50s, perfect temp to sweat
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Windmills x12 IC
Shoulder taps x12 IC
Tempo merkin x12 IC
Tempo lunge x12 IC
SSH x31 IC
THA-THANG:
Collect keys and mosey out of the A.O. toward the amphitheater.  Run under the bridge and through the seldom used part of the park, pausing at the statue for a round of leg blasters.  20 squats, 20 lunges, 10 air squats all done in cadence and no break in between.  Shake your legs out and continue Mosey.  Cross Cumberland Avenue and run up Estabrook behind the engineering buildings until reaching the stairs of Mordor.

Partner up for a Dora workout.  One man performs exercise while the other runs to the stop of the stairs, performs two burpees, and runs back down the stairs to relieve his partner.  Flap jack, all exercises cumulative between partners. 150 reps of each exercise:

  • Bulgarian split squat (using benches)
  • Ranger merkins
  • American hammers on 4-count
  • Overhead claps on 4-count

Recover and 10 count.  Routine took up the entire workout (glad I didn’t say 200 reps of each) so we head back to A.O. for Mary.

MARY:
Flutter kicks x20 IC
Captain Thor up to 5:20
Q favorite of Boat/Canoe until time ran out
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 Strong including 2 FNGs: Swanson, Cowbell, Half Caff, The Voice, Stagehand, Passport, Reverb, Rousey, Soot, G6, Hot Topic (FNG), Amazon, Blackout (FNG), Jenner, Huey, Abort
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
New years always bring about resolutions of people trying to set goals, some of which are too vague or too difficult to be obtainable (nothing wrong with resolutions, or setting high goals).  During this time of year, challenge everyone to think of one word they can choose to try to improve different aspects of their life, this stolen from an F3 podcast I listened to.  Examples of words I heard or found were Present, Change, Joyous, Purposeful (what I’m leaning towards).

The point is to let that word improve all aspects of your life instead of just choosing one thing you may or may not do.  In my case, to be purposeful with what I do.  Move and workout with purpose, love those around me with purpose, perform my job with purpose.  LIVE with purpose.
MOLESKIN: Continue to pray for Butterfly and his wife Chelsea and she tries to figure out what has been causing her medical issues; pray for Soot, Huey, and Hot Topic as they return back to station and for Soot’s possible deployment; pray for the Corcoran family who lost their son in a car accident Saturday night; pray for Stagehand as he travels to Florida to be present with his family; pray for our community and our brothers as we close out this year and begin 2019.

Ups and downs

THE SCENE: 62* and clear, perfect for a beatdown or some more SWAT training
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH 20x IC
Temp squats 10x IC
Peter Parker merkins 10x IC
Imperial walkers 10x IC
Large group and plenty of mosey in store, had PAX number off prior to leaving AO to ensure we leave no one behind.

THA-THANG:
Mosey out of the SP towards amphitheater, making right turn up the hill.  Stop and Al Gore at red light at 17th street while waiting for the 6 to catch up.  Cross 17th and mosey around parking garage to the pedestrian bridge at the bottom of The Hill.
PAX lunge across bridge
First person across (Petey) clears the ramp and begins merkins, PAX join in as they clear the bridge.

Continue mosey to the west side of Ayres Hall on The Hill.  Routine is Sevens.

  • Start with 6 burpees at the bottom, run to the top of the hill, 1 jump squat.  Return to the bottom for 5 burpees etc. working through the Sevens routine.
  • Jackrabbits instructed to alternate between 15 merkins and 15 BBS at the top once completed.

Recover and 10 count.  PAX take a slow mosey down the stairs on the west side of the hill toward the University Center.  PAX instructed to find a battle buddy who they have never paired with before.  Partner A will start at the bottom of the stairs and sprint the stairs to the top, turn around and return.  Partner B does as many reps as possible of exercise one until Parter A returns.  Flapjack, Partner A does exercise one as many reps while Parter B runs.  Then move onto exercise two and continue through.  Exercises

  • Plank jacks
  • Superman swims
  • Table rows
  • Hand release merkins
  • Thrusters

Recover and 10 count.  Begin mosey back to AO

MARY:
Floor wipers 6x IC

New exercise, Q tried to move too quickly.  We’ll get there haha
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
22 Strong: Preacher, Half Caff, Soot, Petey, Stagehand, Singlet, Pretzel, Bareback, Lactate, Swanson, Filter, G6, Waffle House, Careless, Quarantine, Cougar, Cowbell, Downhill, Threadcount, Bitcoin, Rousey, Abort
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Don’t have a scarcity mentality, where you believe to get more you must take from others.  Have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets bigger.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill OCR in two Saturdays.  A few spots still open, and if anyone would like to volunteer or knows anyone that might to get in touch with Tank or with me and I’ll get them to Tank.

Mountain Man Memorial March

THE SCENE: 75-80* nice and warm, clear for the most of the day, cloudy (thankfully toward the end of the day)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
None.
THA-THANG:
Insert 35 pounds in ruck (not including water), mosey for about 26.5 miles.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 brave souls
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Got a good 8 hours of remembering why we were there.  Marched to honor all of the men and women who have fallen for their country, and specifically for 2nd Lt. Justin Sisson and his family.

Aye!!

Tower of Power/Keep the Faith

Maker:S,Date:2017-12-4,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

THE SCENE: 50 degrees, light to medium rainfall = CBB (Character Building Beatdown
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

“Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith. My name is Steam and I’ll serve as your QIC for the next 45 minutes. I am not a professional – you are here on your own volition. Which means I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have. That being said, if you need to modify any of the exercises we do this morning, feel free to do so but push yourselves and the men around you!”
WARM-O-RAMA:

  1. Side Straddle Hop (SSH): 25 x 4 (in cadence)
  2. Squat: 10 x 4 (in cadence)
  3. Imperial Walker: 10 x 4 (in cadence)
  4. Merkin: 10 x 4 (in cadence)

THA-THANG:
Pre-Mosey —> number off (14) = start with 14, end with 14…keep 100% accountability.

  • Mosey to Locust Street Garage
    • 2 lines
    • Halt by Big Ball
    • Prom King led PAX in 10 squats
    • Mosey across bridge across Henley St.
    • Halt in front of Locust St. Garage –> PAX executes 10 squats
  • Tower of Power
    • 6 Levels = L1 – L6

    • Before we begin, all I have is this: Do you have faith in me as your Q this morning? You have a choice, you always have a choice.”

    • L1 = 50 – 1 count Merkins
      • Bearcrawl to L2 –> upon arrival at L2 – hold merkin plank
    • L2 = 40 – 1 count merkins
      • Bearcrawl to L3 –> upon arrival at L3 – hold merkin plank
    • L3 = 30 squats
      • Battle buddy fireman carry to L4 –> upon arrival at L4 – hold squat
    • L4 = 20 squats
      • Battle buddy fireman carry to L5 –> upon arrival at L5 – hold squat
    • L5 = 10 squats

    • You’ve made it this far – I’ll ask you again: after all we’ve gone through to get up here, do you still have faith in me?

    • Line up shoulder to shoulder facing the ramp up to L6
    • L6 = dark, rainy, unknown…etc

    • You always have a choice. You chose to be here this morning and you chose to push yourselves to get up the tower of power. No one forced you to do that. Men, we always have a choice in life. When crap hits the fan and we’re faced with the unknown, not knowing what comes next, you have a choice. If you still have faith in me, follow me.

****Full sprint to top of L6 —> execute 10 incline merkins on wall*****

  • Mosey down the Tower of Power
  • QIC leads motivational F3 cadence call
  • Mosey back to AO –> sprints the straightaway by the Hilton Hotel at AO

MARY:
Upon arrival at AO — get accountability. 14 started – 14 finished
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
PAX = 14: Abort – G-6 – Prom King – Guppy – Careless – Quarantine – Plunger – Cheatsheet – Petey – Preacher – Amazon – Soot – Stage hand – Steam

FNG = 0
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Before we began the tower of power, I asked if you had faith me as your Q for today. Faith in me to lead all of us, keep us safe, and provide a way for you to get form point A to point B. I knew what the master plan was – I knew where we were going and how we were going to get there. It was tough right? But as we went up the Tower of Power and all of you continued to have faith in me, it got a little easier each level right?

Matthew 17:20 = “…truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move, because nothing is impossible for you.”

The point I’m trying to make is this: Sometimes I feel like I don’t even have the faith of a tiny mustard seed. Because I want to be in control. I want to control my life, my decisions, my outcomes, my future. And I am so scared of what would happen if I just….let go. But it’s not my life to control.

All God wants is to extend to you His hand and say: Do you have faith in me? That’s all he wants, just your faith the size of a mustard seed. A mustard seed of faith in your marriages, your relationships, your vocation, your life. I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but God does. Do you trust Him to be able to let go?
MOLESKIN:
Keep the Faith & Fight the Good Fight!

The Bomb Shelter Run (C.S.A.U.P. Event)

THE SCENE: Low Mid 60’s with some light rain
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Drifter Q:

start things off with the Disclaimer (He is NOT a professional, refers everyone to take notice of how he is dressed; clearly NOT a professional…1 PAX member commented that Drifter must have had a Blink182 concert to attend after the event…

SSH (IC) x10 slow / x10 fast
Boxer Jacks (IC) x10 slow / x10 fast
Mosey to Grinder:
Lunge forward then backwards
Inchworm Merkins w/hand release
Quad Stretch
Cherry Picker Stretch (fists on ground, walk legs out to the side and back in)
Merkin Ring of Fire, but as a Wave!
Mtn Climbers (IC) 10x slow / 10x fast

THA-THANG:
1st leg was approximately 3.2 miles of running until arriving to the Beatdown:

Mayberry Q:

21 Jump Street:

  • 21 Pull-ups (side of the Alcoa bridge)
  • 21 Burpees (middle of bridge)
  • 21 handstand push-ups (far side of bridge)
    Run back to start and drop 1 rep. (15 min time limit)

2nd leg was approximately 3.2 miles until arriving to the Beatdown:

Snorkel Q:

Split up into 2 groups and then partner up. Near side of Bicentennial Park bridge do:

  • 10 Plank Tri Ext & Derkins Then Wheel Barrel Half of Bridge Switch and come back
  • 8 Plank Tri Ext & Derkins Then Wheel Barrel Half of Bridge Switch and come back
  • 6 Plank Tri Ext & Derkins Then Wheel Barrel Half of Bridge Switch and come back
  • 4 Plank Tri Ext & Derkins Then Wheel Barrel Half of Bridge Switch and come back
  • 2 Plank Tri Ext & Derkins Then Wheel Barrel Half of Bridge Switch and come back

Far side of Bicentennial Park Bridge Partner 1 Wall Sits until Partner 2 completes 15 side to side Merkins.
Partner 2 then monster tire walks to replace Partner 1; Partner 1 bear crawls to area to complete side to side Merkins.

3rd leg….who cares how long, we were too far away to quit and had to get back to the car somehow…(another 3… something miles…felt like 10; here we go!).

Waxjob Q:

Split into 3 groups. 1st man plank, 2nd man bear crawl ahead and plank, 3rd slalom bear crawl to front. Remaining PAX continue to slalom bear crawl to the front until team reaches 50 yard line.
Reverse the process, planking person is now facing the sideline while the PAX in motion jump over the planking PAX.
Mosey to jungle gym:
15x Partner reverse-merkins/OHP on monkey bars
15x Squirkins
10x Over/Unders
15x Leg Throwdowns

4th and final leg was very short, no lies, really short…more like a mosey.

Cap’n Crunch Q:

Starting with 1 exercise, adding another exercise until all 5 exercises are completed in succession. then work back down until only the last exercise is left. 20 seconds per exercise:

  • Burpees (20 sec)
  • Burpees (20 sec) Dry Docks (20 sec)
  • Burpees (20 sec) Dry Docks (20 sec) Narrow Squats (20 sec)
  • Burpees (20 sec) Dry Docks (20 sec) Narrow Squats (20 sec) Diamond Merkins (20 sec)
  • Burpees (20 sec) Dry Docks (20 sec) Narrow Squats (20 sec) Diamond Merkins (20 sec) High Knees (20 sec)
  • High Knees (20 sec) Diamond Merkins (20 sec) Narrow Squats (20 sec) Dry Docks (20 sec) Burpees (20 sec)
  • High Knees (20 sec) Diamond Merkins (20 sec) Narrow Squats (20 sec) Dry Docks (20 sec)
  • High Knees (20 sec) Diamond Merkins (20 sec) Narrow Squats (20 sec)
  • High Knees (20 sec) Diamond Merkins (20 sec)
  • High Knees (20 sec)

MARY:
No PAX were interested in any ladies, specifically Mary by the end of this event!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
38 PAX!!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

BOM – CSAUP – Bomb Shelter Run (Cap’n Crunch)

I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.

I ask not for an easier path, but for stronger feet.

I ask not for weaker enemies, but for a stronger self.

Jewish Proverb

Congratulations brothers, you did it.  You embraced the challenge and are victorious.  Take and let it sink in…you’ve earned.

I’d like to share something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.  F3 has been a life-changing experience for me.  Every morning I leave a workout I truly leave better than when I arrived.  Lately I’ve been thinking about why that is the case.  Here are my observations.

I believe there are two simple truths that we have lost as men:

  1. The opposite of manhood isn’t womanhood, it’s boyhood
  2. Manhood isn’t a destination or a journey, it’s a mindset

When we lose the distinction between boyhood and manhood our worlds begin to spin off kilter.  We become self-focused, self-protective, self-indulgent and self-reliant.  In other words, it becomes all about us.  As we reject passivity and accept responsibility for our lives we grow as men in all areas: physically, mentally, relationally and spiritually.  We begin to be others-focused, self-sacrificing and interdependent.  We begin acting like men.

In this world, three things serve as resistance to our growth as men:

  • Comfort
  • Convenience
  • Certainty

Overcoming these boils down to our mindset.  We have to daily set aside a boyhood-mindset and embrace a manhood-mindset.  We combat comfort with challenge, we set aside convenience for consistency and we abandon certainty and embrace camaraderie.  I see it as two contrasting mindsets:

A Boyhood-mindset seeks… A Manhood-mindset seeks…
Comfort Challenge
Convenience Consistency
Certainty Camaraderie

Every time we gather, the COP becomes our arena to consistently embrace challenge in the company of like-minded men.

But it’s not enough for us to do this physically.  We MUST carry this mindset to all areas of our lives, especially our relationships with our loved ones and with God.  Never stop striving for more brothers.  Keep embracing new challenges and keep any eye on the six so you can help the man who has stumbled.  Together we will make a difference!