F3 Knoxville

Tag: Steam

Zone Improvement Plan

THE SCENE:

Partly Cloudy Temperature Humidity Feels like Wind Speed Wind Direction
90 ℉ 50% 95 ℉ 4.7 mi/h SSW

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER.
Delivered as desired. I am not a professional.

WARM-O-RAMA:

As PAX arrive give them each a golf ball and have them write an exercise on it (using Sharpie and be careful to let dry a bit).
25 SSHs,  10 Tie Fighters, 15 Grady Corns, 10 Rockettes.

THA-THANG:

Head down the stairs to flat area at bottom. Have each PAX put their golf ball into a cooler. Cooler is already half full with ice water, bottled water, and some golf balls that I have marked up before arriving.

Next to cooler: Clock Merkins – 5 Merkins at Noon, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock.

Mosey to hillside north of park entrance road.
On the hill and in the shade,
10 Incline Merkins (Head up the the hill)
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Merkins facing 3 o’clock. Right arm down hillside.
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Decline Merkins facing 6 o’clock.
Mosey 30 yds to next shady area.
10 Merkins facing 9 o’clock. Left arm down hillside.

Reverse path and do same 4 stations as you make your way back to the cooler.

At the cooler, a PAX reaches into cooler (cooling his wrists) and picks a golf ball. Another PAX rolls dice to see home many of the drawn exercises will be done. Between 15 and 30 count. Repeat with different PAX until time is called. Some rules I implemented. After 4 exercises, we ran a lap around wooded area (.2 miles up steep grade back to and down staircase to cooler). I also included some golf balls with the ‘Lap’ as the exercise. So, you could end up running sooner than expected. Only 10 burpees and man-makers.

Mosey back up stairs to Flag.
MARY:
American Hammers/Big Boy Situps. 20/5.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
18 Brothers.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

PETER MARSHALL Chaplin of US Senate 1947
“May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to do what is right.”

 

MOLESKIN:
For the safety of all those traveling and staying home this coming week. For all the sick and suffering.  For the unsaid prayers in our hearts.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Convergence July 2nd at JUCO

2 For Tuesday w/Steam

F3 Q: 6.28.22

5:45pm – 6:30pm

Asylum PM

[ The Scene ]

  • High 80s
  • Sunny
  • Character-building weather

[ 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 belief
    • 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?
  • Happy 2 For Tuesday!

[ Warm o Rama ]

  • Merkin: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • Merkin: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back
  • Imperial Walker: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back
  • Rockette: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • Rockette: 10×4
    • Run to the sandbox and back
  • SSH: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back
  • SSH: 10×4
    • Run down the stairs and back

[ The Thang ]

[1] Tower of Power

  • 4 levels
  • L1 (Top) — 20 reps on a 1 count
    • Merkins
  • L2 — 20 reps on a 1 count
    • Squats
  • L3 — 20 reps on a 4 count
    • Flutter Kicks
  • L4 (Bottom) — 20 reps on a 4 count
    • Imperial Walkers
  • After you get done with a level, run to the top, and then to your next level
    • Done with L1, run to the top and then back down to L2 instead of to the bottom
  • Once you finish L5: Hold up top and knock out LLBCs

[2] 2 For Tuesday — run it back, but this time, all together, and top down, rather than down to the top

(Mosey to the top of the Coliseum with the flag)

Plant Flag. 60 seconds of plank and starting out at the sunset, releasing stress and anger.

Run to the bottom of the coliseum and execute the core 4

  • LBCs
  • LLBCs
  • Cockroaches
  • American Hammers

Run to the top of the coliseum and execute the core 4 again.

Run back to the AO

[ Mary ]

SWS

[ COT ]

  • # off
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs
  • BOM

Week 26 of the 2022 — The Halfway Point

We’ve been through 26 weeks of 2022 now. And it’s to be expected that before a new year, there’s vision-casting, goal-planning, organizing timelines and objectives and KPIs and such. Some people might call these resolutions. But why wait for another 5 months or so to do that? You have 6 months left in this year. How are you going to steward them?

And so I was thinking about some of the big things in my life that have already happened this year, and what to look forward to for the rest of the year. Some of them you all have seen and some of them you have not.

Big things:

  • Updated, re-vamped and handed off Beyond the COT, the F3 Knoxville podcast to Blindside in January
  • Proposed and got engaged in February
  • Re-launched a men’s ministry called The Good FIght
  • Changed jobs in March to a far better role
  • Planned a wedding from March to May
  • Left our home church and re-located to Fellowship

These are very visible things, and if you’ve been coming to F3 or follow me on social media you’ve probably had a front row seat. But here are some things you probably haven’t had a front row seat to in my life for the past 26 weeks.

  • Crippling anxiety
  • Depression
  • Addiction (overeating, pornography)
  • We left a church back in March and it was the hardest thing I’ve done so far this year
  • Financial distress

Whatever you have done and experienced the first part of this year, don’t let it control your outlook on the last half of the year.

Stay strong, keep the faith, fight the good fight, and reach out if you need help.

Carry the Football

F3 Q: 6.25.22

AO: Asylum

7am – 8am

[ The Scene ]

  • muggy
  • 80s
  • BSIA

[ 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 belief
    • 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?

[ Warm o Rama ]

  1. SSH: 25×4

(Take a lap around the lot)

  1. Merkin: 25×4

(Side shuffle around the lot)

  1. Squat: 25×4

(Take a lap around the lot)

  1. Plank Jack: 25×4

(Side shuffle around the lot)

  1. Mountain Climber: 25×4

(Take a lap around the lot)

[ The Thang ]

(Mosey to the playground – short)

[1] Upper

  • 3 stations, 3 rounds
  • (1) Playground
    • 25 Incline Merkins (1ct)
    • 25 SSH (1ct)
  • (2) Pavilion
    • 25 Dips (1ct)
    • 25 SSH (1ct)
  • (3) Between 2 Fields
    • 25 Carolina Dry Docks (1ct)
    • 25 SSH (1ct)
  • Complete station 1
    • Run and complete station 2
    • Run back to station 2
  • Complete station 1 + 2
    • Run to station 3
    • Run back to station 1
  • Complete all 3 stations, but add 25 reps each station = 50 reps at each station

— 10 count or something —

(Mosey to Cardiac Hill – medium)

[2] Lower

  • 3 stations
  • Base
    • Squats: 25 (1ct)
    • 25 mountain climbers (1ct)
  • Middle Curve
    • Lunges: 25 (1ct)
    • 25 mountain climbers (1ct)
  • Top (Benches)
    • 25 Apollo Onos (1ct)
    • 25 mountain climbers (1ct)
  • Stay at the top when done: Al Gore
  • Once everyone is at the top, execute all together:
    • 25 squats (1ct)
    • 25 iron mikes (1ct)
    • 25 squat jacks (1ct)

— 10 count or something —

(Mosey to the Amphitheater – Long)

(American Indian Run)

[3] Core

  • 3 stations
  • Middle
    • 25 up + outs (1ct)
    • 25 LLBCs (1ct)
  • Right
    • 25 cockroaches (1ct)
    • 25 LLBCs (1ct)
  • Left
    • 25 mountain-climber cross overs (1ct)
    • 25 LLBCs (1ct)
  • Complete the middle, and then both the left and right stations
  • Recover in the middle when done: Flutter Kicks

— 10 count —

[4] Put It All Together

  • 3 stations (triangle)
  • Everything is 10 reps on a 1 count
  • We’ll do these together in cadence
  • Top (1ct) — GO HERE 2ND
    • 10 incline merkins
    • 10 dips
    • 10 dry docks
  • Left (1ct) — GO HERE 1ST
    • 10 squats
    • 10 lunges
    • 10 Apollo Onos
  • Right (1ct) — GO HERE 3RD
    • 10 up + outs
    • 10 cockroaches
    • 10 mountain-climber crossovers

— 10 count or something —

(Mosey back to AO)

[ Mary ]

  • SWS

[ COT ]

  • # off — 10
  • Name o Rama
  • FNGs — 1
    • Tyke Hillmer
    • F3 Name: Fumble
  • BOM

I had a word prepared for this morning but last night and going into this morning, I felt like this was put on my heart to share instead.

For the past 60 minutes, we carried a football around, but didn’t really use it much, except for tossing it around during 10 counts and on the mosey a bit. We didn’t use it, but we carried it. And in fact, even though it’s really not that heavy, over the period of 60 minutes. It became a little more tough to carry, after doing merkins, and squats and all kinds of exercises.

And don’t we do the same thing in real life? We carry around these “footballs” through life that we don’t use all the time but that we’re carrying around. “Footballs” like old wounds, past trauma, addictions, and whatever else you’re carrying that may have gotten heavier over time.

So why carry around a football and pass it around to others so they can help carry it over the course of the workout?

“Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

— Galations 6:2

TPQs (Thought Provoking Questions)

  1. What “footballs” are you carrying around that you need to let go of?
  2. Who can you invite in to help carry your football and release it?
  3. How can you help people around you release their grip on their football?

God’s Identity Papers

THE SCENE: 70s, clear but humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 5 Burpees, 10 Mountain Climbers, 4 Burpees, 10 Twisties, 3 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 2 Burpees, 10 Tempo Merkins, 1 Burpee, Stretches
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot close to the Brolympics Field.  Turn around about 1/3 of the way along the parking lot and Bernie Sanders to the curb. Mosey to the flat fields where we hold the Brolympics. There will be 8 cones set in a perpendicular line.  In single file we will serpentine between those 8 cones.  Then sprint to 2 cones set parallel to each other.  Do a broad jump at the imaginary line between those two cones.  Then bear crawl to the last cone.  Rinse and repeat two more times.

Run up to the Coliseum, stopping at the top of each hill to do 3 Burpees.

In the courtyard od the Coliseum we will do 20 American Hammers ans 20 Hello Dollies.

Next, we will run counterclockwise around the loop that goes by the Admin Bldg.  We will stop at each quarter to do the following exercises:

  • 1st quarter:  20 Diamond Merkins
  • 2nd quarter:  20 Calve Raises on Steps of Admin Bldg.
  • 3rd quarter:  20 Wide Merkins
  • 4th quarter:  20 Decline Merkins off benches in Coliseum Courtyard.
  • Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to bat cave.  We will run in a counterclockwise route stopping to do the following exercises at the following locations:

  • 20 Star Jumps at Bat Cave
  • 20 Carolina Drydocks at bottom of stairs.
  • 20 Incline Merkins on final summit od Mt. Everest.
  • 10 Dive Bombers at tip of summit.
  • Rinse and Repeat.

We will do 20 4 ct Baby Crunches.

Mosey to Rock Pile just below Coliseum.  Each man picks up a large rock.  Mosey with rock above head to next rock pile.  We will then do the following exercises with the rocks:

  • 20 Curls
  • 20 Overhead Presses
  • 20 Rows
  • 20 Chest Out Pushes

Mosey back to other rock pile and relace rocks

Mosey to nearest cone on Brolympics field.  We will Bear Crawl to parallel cones, then do a standing broad jump, then lunge to the next cone, then serpentine sprint between the last 8 cones.  Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to parking lot bt the Brolympics field.  We will sprint halfway down parking lot then Bernie Sanders to curb.  We will do the same thing back.  Then, mosey to AO.

We will do 20 Side Straddle Hops, then Bernie Sanders the length of the parking lot and sprint back.

 

MARY:
Stretches
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 men and one fine dog.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

God’s Identity Papers
With the war in Ukraine, with the long list of public shootings occurring over the past two months, including those in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, with the inflation we are coping with in 2022, with the continuing Covid numbers that faded but now seem to be rising again, it is easy to lose sight of God.  We worry about the state of the world and continue to hear from news pundits and politicians about what should be done or, even more often, what isn’t being done.  God, where are you in this process?
Maybe this is a time when we should slow down . . . in order to allow our senses to hear God, to see Him, to feel Him, to taste and discover Him.  Where is He?
Let me read you a poem that my pastor, Shaun Slate told our congregation about.
I Wake Close To Morning by Mary Oliver
Why do people keep asking to see
God’s identity papers
when the darkness opening into morning
is more than enough?
Certainly any god might turn away in disgust.
Think of Sheba approaching
the kingdom of Solomon.
Do you think she had to ask,
“Is this the place?”

I am often guilty of failing to see God when the evidence is there before my very eyes.  The world spins in the same pattern daily, the days of the year remain the same, each season returns, the stars gaze at us from the sky, the birds in the air, the animals of the earth, the mountainous majesty, the waves of the ocean, all speak of the majesty of God.  Is it harder to believe when we see wars and shootings?  Maybe so.  But remember when Christ came to Earth over 2000 years ago?  What was the state of the world then?  Wasn’t their war and bloodshed then?  The Romans ruled much of Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia through a bloody and deadly war campaign.  The Romans were often vicious, using people as slaves, hanging people on crosses in public areas to remind people to fear the Roman Empire or else.  And Christ, the one who Christians like me believe is the loving representation of God, was hung by those very Romans on a cross for all to witness.  It was hard for Christ’s disciples to believe.  But Christ showed Himself to them.

Where is God in these uneasy times we face?  Allow God to show Himself to you.  His identity papers are all around us.  Let us open our eyes and see.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for all those impacted by the war in Ukraine and by the recent shootings in the United States.  Prayers for Steam’s safe travels to Kentucky next week and for all our brothers who are traveling.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F6 and Del Monte are performing in the musical, Something Rotten at the UT theatre.  F3 Knoxville has a convergence at Juco on July 2.

Continue reading

Bearing Our Burdens

THE SCENE: Warm and steamy mid-70s (great for generating sweat)

WARM-O-RAMA:
A plethora of SSHs, Merkins, Tempo Squats, Tie Fighters, and Grady Corns; A quick meander and mosey to the CMU pile and the pillars of the church

THA-THANG:

Dora-style load bearing… battle-buddies select a pillar of pain and station their CMUs for a sweet sweat sesh; HIM 1 works through reps at pillar while HIM 2 moves 1 or 2 CMUs to the center of the parking lot; After running back to swap, HIM 2 continues the reps while HIM 1 goes to gather the load and returns it to the pillar;  Rinse and repeat while moving through the exercises and reps collectively.

Exercise 1: 300 reps of Wall Sit Grady Corns

Exercise 2: 200 reps of CMU Squat Thrusters

Exercise 3: 100 reps of CMU Alternating Merkins

Exercise 4: 50 Blockees

On the way back to the CMU pile we stopped to load the dock; Each HIM moved their CMU on to the dock, jumped up on the dock, carried their CMU down the steps; Each worked in 2 reps; Waxjob inspired many to Rifle Carry Hold while waiting to load the dock.

MARY:

After dropping off our CMUs and a steady mosey back to the AO; the PAX enjoyed the great tradition of burpees for broken CMUs – fortunately we only had 1 block broken – so we did 10 burpees OYO

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 HIMs walked away huffing and sweaty…. no FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Galations 6:2-3 NLT… “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.  If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.  You are not that important.”

Expect the unexpected.  Life is full of challenges and burdens that sometimes we create ourselves.  The F3 PAX is here to help and will gladly help carry your burdens as men… but you have to make your need known. I love these men and would do anything to help any one of them.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence coming on July 2nd.