F3 Q  – 5.2.23

• Asylum PM 
• 5:45pm – 6:30pm
  • Pre-ruck / Shield Lock at 5:10pm

[ The Scene ] 

• 60s
• Windy 
• Sunny

[ Welcome/Disclaimer ]

• Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith 
• My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning 
• A few things before we begin: 
  • I’m not a professional 
  • You’re here on your own volition
  • You know your injuries if you have any so if you need to modify anything we do today feel free to do so, but push yourselves and the men around you. They deserve it and so do you. 
• FNGs?

The cool thing about today? It’s 2 For Tuesday ON May 2nd. So let’s roll. So let’s roll. 

[ Warm o Rama ] 

• SSH: 5×4
  • 5 merkins 
• SSH: 10×4
  • 5 merkins 
• SSH: 15×4
  • 5 merkins 

(Rinse + Repeat — 2FT!)

[ The Thang ] 

— Mosey to the Coliseum — 

(1) Murph Practice — May’s Metric Workout

• Murph 
  • 1 mile run 
  • 300 push-ups
  • 200 squats
  • 100 pull-ups
  • 1 mile run
  • All with a 20lb weighted vest

• TOC (Top Of Coliseum)
  • 5, 10, 15 model — all on a 1-count
    • 5 shoulder presses (in place of pull-ups — hitting the lats)
    • 10 merkins 
    • 15 squats 
    • Sprint, not mosey, sprint around the circle as fast as you can 
    • Rinse and repeat once 

• • 10, 10, 10 model — all on a 1 count
    • 10 dry docks
    • 10 merkins 
    • 10 squats 
    • Sprint, not mosey, sprint around the circle as fast as you can 
    • Rinse and repeat once

• • 10, 20, 30 model — all on a 1-count
    • 10 shoulder presses 
    • 20 merkins 
    • 30 squats 
    • Sprint, not mosey, sprint around the circle as fast as you can
    • Rinse and repeat once 

— Mosey to the picnic tables beside the Coliseum —

(2) There And Back Again

• Points of contact: picnic table + far bench on the hill
• Ping Pong Model
  • 5 pull-ups on the table / 5 merkins on the bench
  • 10 pull-ups on the table / 10 merkins on the bench
  • 15 pull-ups on the table / 15 merkins on the bench
  • 20 pull-ups on the table / 20 merkins on the bench

(3) Enough Upper, Focus on Lower

• Points of Contact: picnic table + wall at the Coliseum
• Ping Pong Model
  • 10 squats / 10 squats
  • 20 squats / 20 squats
  • 30 squats / 30 squats

— Mosey back to the AO — 

[ Mary ] 

Breathe

[ COT ]

• # off — 9 

• Name o Rama 

• FNGs

• Word — Tear Up The Planks – God Wants What’s Underneath

No doubt I now grew very pale; — but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased — and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound — much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath — and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly — more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men — but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed — I raved — I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder — louder — louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! — no, no! They heard! — they suspected! — they knew! — they were making a mockery of my horror! — this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! — and now — again! — hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! —

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! — here, here! — it is the beating of his hideous heart!”

• The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

— RD’s talk at the Fellowship men’s retreat – he spoke on this idea of “tearing up the planks.”

— More recently, I’m learning a lot about flooring. We’re going to have to replace our wood floors at some point this year, and unfortunately, due to some water damage from the dishwasher and fridge, the subfloor is now damaged in some places too, which means we’ll have to replace that. Ah, the joys of home ownership. 

— All that being said, when we first realized some of the planks were warped and twisting up, and probably needed to just be taken off and covered, we tried to get them to lay flat again, or covered them with a rug.

— If you think about your life like a floor, you have a couple of components

• • Planks (floor) top level
  • Subfloor is underneath
  • Whatever is under the subfloor 

— My journey in vulnerability over the past year or so has increased tremendously, and to be honest, more rapidly than I am comfortable with — but I don’t think we’re called to be comfortable in this life. It’s in the uncomfortable places that growth happens. 

— Maybe this is true for you – it definitely it for me. Here’s what happens a lot of times: something really tough or hard happens in our life, maybe that we’ve done or caused, or maybe that someone else has, and we want to stow it underneath the surface so no one can see it. And we nail that plank down super hard – with self-denial, disassociation, coping mechanisms, distractions – these are some of the nails we use to do this. 

— This is a good fix – it’s safe for the time being, it’s underneath the surface where no one can see it. But up top on the surface, man! That floor looks good. Polished, put together, everything’s cool! 

— But unfortunately like in my case with my house — what’s not addressed and brought out of the darkness and into the light, can damage the subfloor over time. It can be maddening – just like in The Tell-Tale Heart. How does everyone not see this?! Surely they’re on to me and know what I’m struggling with! But unfortunately, our culture have become masters in the art and tactics of camouflage. 

— Over time, that plank needs to be ripped up and dealt with, and addressed — but what’s true in my life is that anytime I get the sense that the plank I don’t want to come up starts to come up, I grab some of those nails (self-denial, disassociation, coping mechanisms, distractions) and nail that sucker back harder than the first time, or the most recent time that is. 

— “I’m not ready to tear that plank up yet! I don’t want to go there. It’s too painful. I’m the only one that deals with this. No one would understand or be empathetic.” These are all lies. 

— But God is not just interested in how you look from the outside, he wants what’s underneath.

— You know what a good homeowner does? They don’t just pay attention to what’s on the surface in their home, they deeply care about what’s going on underneath. God is the best homeowner – because in reality He does own the home (our lives). And over the course of our lives there is a sometimes gentle and sometimes more urgent invitation to tear up the planks. He wants what’s underneath. Those places that are really hard to go sometimes. And His deep care and love for us wasn’t enough, he puts people and things in our life, just like F3 and our community of men, to help in this process.

The journey of vulnerability and tearing up the planks is not easy nor is it comfortable, but it is good, very good.