Steam – Page 58 – F3 Knoxville

Tour de 11s in the Fog

March 11, 2020 Steam

THE SCENE: Dark, gloomy, foggy, ruckers and their headlights popping in and out of the gloom coming to the AO.

FNG – Kyle shows up with Skeletor early

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith

My name is Steam and I’m ready to get steamy.

Couple of things before we begin:
- Not a professional
- You’re here on your own volition
- I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have – so with the PT we do today, modify as you need but push yourselves and the men around you when at all possible.
FREE.99

WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH: 11 x 4 IC

4 Count Merkin: 11 x 4 IC

Mountain Climber: 11 x 4 IC

Rockette: 11 x 4 IC

Squat: 11 x 4 IC

Baby Arm Circles: 11 x 4 F & 11 x 4 B

THA-THANG:

PT (Tour de 11s)

(Mosey to Playground)

[ 11s X ]

10 merkins + 1 pull-up
Rinse and Repeat 11x
When you’re done – flutter kicks

(11 count)

[ Classic 11s ]

@ playground: 10 squats
@ top of Bermuda Triangle: 1 lunge
Rinse and Repeat (9/2, 8,3, etc)
When you’re down hold the squat
ALL PAX: Execute 11 more squats <— push through it moment

11 count)

(Mosey to splash pad)

[ 11s Down ]

11 box jumps/step ups
- Tap-Out literally made one of the benches tap-out. Tap-Out: 1 Bench: 0
11 dips
THEN —> 10 box jumps/10 dips
So on and so forth
When you’re done hold merkin plank
When all PAX are done – execute 1 good merkin and recover

(11 count)

(Mosey back to Bermuda Triangle)

[ 11s Pyramid ]

Battle-Buddy Up
11 merkins straight up (1 count)
4 SSHs (1-count)
- The Q messed this count up sorry – wrote down one thing but my mind was telling me another – it sucked either way. In a good way.
Take a lap around the Bermuda Triangle with your BB
Rinse & Repeat: 10 merkins straight up + 4 SSHs + take a lap

(Q realizes it’s 6:05 – instructs Battle Buddy teams to do one more round and then all PAX will complete 3 more rounds all-together) <— basically a smoke sesh.

MARY:

Flutter Kicks: 25 x 4 IC
LBCs: 25 x 4 IC
American Hammers: 10 x 4 quick // 10 x 4 slow // 5 x 4 slow
Recover

[ Stretching with Steam ]

Slow Cherry-Pickers
- Try and raise up one vertebrae at a time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

14 PAX + 1 FNG

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

[ Ebeneezers In Your Life ]

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.””
- 1 Samuel‬ ‭7:12‬ ‭ESV‬

“Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “Ebenezer” (Rock of Help), saying, “This marks the place where GOD helped us.””
- 1 Samuel‬ ‭7:12‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Reading these two different verses because I like they way they both paint a picture of the Lord’s faithfulness – but with a little different wording.

A big part of my story is deliverance by the Lord – from a world where I was unconsciously in self-destruct mode. My first 2 years of college (and the previous 3 years or so) was all about me. Me. No one else. I did what I wanted, with little to no regard. The faith component was there, but as a backup….funny. When the Lord really gut punched me and stirred up my convictions (the Holy Spirit really went to town) I walked through some fire, some intense, really hard, annoying, “doesn’t make sense,” pissed-off fire. HOW IN THE WORLD could this turn to something good? The Lord delivered me from a crumbling and crippled world I had built for myself in my first couple years of college in Chattanooga and brought me back to Knoxville. An angry young man at the series of events I had just left, I found myself literally saying “God what are you doing.”

And yet I didn’t realize His faithfulness was more powerful than my faithlessness.

Looking back, that fire I walked through, I wasn’t walking through it alone. I would ask myself years after, “How in the world could God possibly use this screwed-up circumstance for good in my life?” What a laughable thought.

2 years later – I get to share the Lord’s faithfulness in the midst of a dark and confusing time with college men and women that were in that same arena I was in just the past couple years.

In the Message version of the passage above it says: “This marks the place where GOD helped us.”

Whether it is a physical/emotional/mental/spiritual testament of a time the Lord provided and came through, went to battle on my behalf, reached down and INTERVENED so that I could draw nearer to Him – that’s an Ebeneezer. And driving home from F3 this morning I thought – dang, if none of that had happened I might have never found F3. I might have never been brought to such a place of desolation where all I could muster was to look up and remember who He is. There are countless Ebeneezers in my life – and I’m sure you have yours too. If we serve a God of 2nd and 102nd chances – take a look back at the places that He’s come through and intervened on your behalf, for HIS glory. Even if you can’t see it yet. Mark those down, write them out, remember them, cherish them. The God that came through for you that time is the same God that will come through for you next time, and time again. How could He not?

So the questions was asked: What marks that place in your life? Share those in boldness! With your family, your friends, F3 brothers, co-workers. Afterall, we were all sad clowns once. And there was someone that spoke life into you just like you are expected to speak life into someone else.

I’ts a haunting thing for me as a young man – 4 years deep into F3 – I might have never found you guys if the Lord hadn’t found my heart first. F3 has changed the trajectory of my life as a young man. Literally. How can I do anything else but be thankful and remember the ebeneezers in my life.

I’m an open book – questions? Hit me up.

Iron. Sharpens. Iron.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

10 for 10 + Yoga

March 10, 2020 Steam

THE SCENE: 60s – orange tape everywhere. The Big Ball’s beloved AO meeting spot (World’s Fair Park fountains) was sectioned off by orange tape and construction cones for what I can only assume is the work of an overzealous TN Vols fan.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith

My name is Steam and I’m ready to get steamy.

Couple of things before we begin:
- Not a professional
- You’re here on your own volition
- I don’t know any injuries you may or may not have – so with the PT we do today, modify as you need but push yourselves and the men around you when at all possible.
Because check it out – most people in the world aren’t out here – I think that’s a pretty accurate statement. But you are – make it count

WARM-O-RAMA:

4 Count Merkin: 10 x 4 IC

Mountain Climber: 10 x 4 IC

Rockette: 10 x 4 IC

Squat-Bender: 10 x 4

SSH: 10 x 4 IC

THA-THANG:

[ Theme of 10s for the day ]

(Mosey to Big Ball Stairs)

[ 10 for 10 ]

All 10 exercises will be done here at the bottom of the stairs

1st 5 Xs: execute together – bear crawl up this first flight of stairs – and run around to the right until we’re back here.

2nd 5 Xs: execute together – run to the right and around – bear crawl down the stairs right back here
- (Modification after 1st round of 2nd 5 Xs –> rain comes down and makes the stairs slick so walk down the stairs and execute 5 squats instead)

The Xs
- 1st 5:
  - 10 merkins (down/up)
  - 10 V-Ups (1 count)
  - 10 wide merkins (down/up)
  - 10 spider-mans (1 count)
  - 10 4 count merkins

( 20 Seconds in between the 1st 5 and 2nd 5 )

2nd 5:
- 10 squats (down/up)
- 10 plank jacks (1 count)
- 10 iron mikes (1 count)
- 10 Oblique crunches (1 count)
- 10 lunges (1 count)

( 20 counts of rest )

“Sometimes the only way you can go is up – so up we go)

(Mosey up the full flight of stairs to the top)

(Mosey to WFP entrance across bridge on the Left)

[ Level Up ]

In a circular fashion around the monument at the entrance to WFP
- 5 incline merkins on lowest level
- push-up hands to the second level — 5 incline merkins
- push-up hands to the top level — 5 incline merkins

[ DimeLight ]

Alternating lights, execute 5 SSHs or 5 merkins (all 1 count) until you get to the other side of the bridge – Al Gore
Tired? Sore? Push a little longer – and pull one of these guys with you to push as well

(PAX is spent – but still rocking)

(Mosey under the bridge by the water)

Battle buddy up
Battle buddy teams against either side of the tunnel/bridge below the Big Ball

[ 1 more + 5 ]

BB1: handstand against wall
BB2: Bear crawl to the middle (ruck as a point of contact)
- Execute 1 merkin
- Bear crawl back to recover BB1
BB1 & BB2 switch roles
- However – BB2 now does 2 merkins
- Same thing next time, except BB3 does 3, so on and so on
When BB team finishes 5 merkins total – hold the wall-sit

(Rest = 5 SSHs in cadence)

BB teams back on the wall
BB1: Wall Sit
BB2: Long jump to the middle (ruck)
- Execute 1 burpee
- Long jump back to recover BB1
BBs switch roles
- Same deal as above

(10 SSHs all together)

Single file line going towards AO
American Indian run back to ShovelFlag

[ At ShovelFlag/Next to AO ]

MARY:

[ Quarter-Pounder ]

25 flutter kicks (4 count)
25 LBCs (4 count)
25 American Hammers (4 count)
25 Mountain Climbers (4 count)

^^^Holy crap that’s a core killer ^^^

[ Yoga with Steam – 5 Minutes ]

Why? Because I’m getting old and sore and don’t stretch at all pre or post F3. And apparently it’s good for you, idk. It was a worthy endeavor.
Worked through a variety of slow movements – exposing and manipulating muscle groups that were worked today

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

12 PAX – No FNGs

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

[ What do you do when you don’t get the results you want? ]

MOLESKIN:

Training for Army OCS, and yesterday I didn’t get the answer I wanted. I was off by 4 points on my testing. Missed it by that much. I was pretty pissed. 4 points are you kidding me? I racked my brain going through what I could have done better, playing out hundreds of scenarios in my head – of what I thought would be a very different turnout.
So what now?

And yeah – it’s disappointing but I have 2 options – (1) take it as a crushing blow and count myself down and out or (2) absorb the blow – get back up on the horse and move forward – realizing the work I need to do to make it happen next time.

Regroup. Get back up. Stay in it.

Question/Challenge to all of us is this: when you don’t get the news or results you want – what’s your initial instinct and how do you pick yourself up and move forward.
- Maybe a bigger question is not what your initial instinct is but who/where do you run to?

Motivational Statement from a timeless classic: https://youtu.be/umSlEYfYzK4

Just 5 More

March 8, 2020 Steam

THE SCENE:

Chilly and a slight bit windy (30s)

Title9 and Steam get back from the pre-ruck as guys are pulling in and getting ready.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Welcome to F3: Fitness/Fellowship/Faith

My name is Steam and I’m your Q in charge this morning

Let’s get a couple things out of the way before we begin:
- I’m not a professional
- You’re here on your own volition
- You know your body and any injuries you may have – I don’t. If you need to modify anything we do this morning feel free to do it. But push yourself and the men around you!

FNGs?

The name of the game for the next 58 minutes or so is “5 more.” Look at one of your hands – how many fingers? Hopefully 5. When you’re beat down, tired, cold, asking yourself why am I out here in the freezing cold, tell your mind and your body “5 more.” Whether it’s 5 more breaths, 5 more steps, or 5 more seconds of suffering, it will pass and you will push through. AYE?

WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH: 10 x 4 IC

Rockette: 10 x 4 IC

Baby-Arm Circle: 5 x 4 (F) & 5 x 4 (B)

Mountain-Climbers: 10 x 4 IC
Cherry-Picker: 10 x 4 IC
Windmill: 10 x 4 IC

THA-THANG:

[ 10s ]

Battle buddy teams will run to the next light post
1 BB will hold the feet of the other, as they execute 10 BB sit-ups
Run to the next light – same thing
The BB that is executing sit-ups will roster every light
Go to the street
Once at the street – execute flute kicks

(10 count)

[ 5s ]

Same type of deal – we’re going to go back down this path

Every light = 5 battle buddy merkins together

[ Flying EH from Hooker – Mahamoud (FNG) ]

- Hooker picks up a runner named Mahamoud
- Mahamoud knows who we are – he sees us every Saturday running around the park.
- Joins PAX in finishing up “5s” exercise – PAX gives a warm welcome and Lillydipper sticks with our new FNG
Finish in that parking lot where we started – squats until 6 recovers

[ Parking Lot Obstacle Course ]

3 points of contact: middle + 2 perimeter sides
- PAX bear crawls to one side – executes 15 x 4 SSHs
- PAX bear crawls back to middle – executes 10 x 4 SSHs
- PAX bear crawls to opposite side – executes 15 x 4 SSHs
- PAX bear crawls back to middle side – executes 10 x 4 SSHs

(15 count)

(Mosey to Cardiac)

[ Blackjack/21 ]

New Battle-Buddy
Push each other through this evolution

3 points of contact on Cardiac
- Top
- Curve (middle)
- Bottom lamp post

Top: 10 x 4 Mountain Climbers

Curve (Middle): 10 x 4 Merkins (Army)

Bottom: 10 x 4 SSHs

Run back Up to Top and hold the plank until 6 is up

[ All PAX does Blackjack/21 together – finishing at the bottom ]

[ Mahamoud is still with us! ]

(15 count from PAX)

(PAX moseys to covered pavilion facing lake below baseball fields)

[ 5 More ]

All-Together
- 5 incline merkins on bench
- 5 dips
- 5 decline merkins on bench
Rinse & Repeat 3x
- EXCEPT – 1 evolution = 10 reps each – Mahamoud answered the questions “How many fingers are on your hand” with 10 – so 10 it was.
PAX push through 1 more set of 5 together

(Mosey to big pavilion next to morning AO)

[5s]

All Together
5 pullups under table
rotate to the right
5 incline merkins
rotate to the right
5 pullups under table
rotate to the right
5 decline merkins

( Rinse & Repeat – Q asks PAX for just 5 more )

(PAX mosey to morning AO parking lot)

Q leads PAX in cool-down drills
- karaoke, frankenstein stretches, side-shuffles, jog/merkins across the lot and back

(New Battle Buddy Teams)

Q releases each battle buddy team to sprint it out and finish up the hill to the Saturday AO parking lot

(30 seconds left)

5 final SSHs

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

12 PAX – 1 FNG

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

[ What Are You Fighting For ] [ 5 More ]

MOLESKIN:

[ What Are You Fighting For ]

(LOTR – The Two Towers)

Frodo : I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam : I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for

This pivotal question halfway through the story-line of Lord of the Rings must be asked and called out. What are we holding on to as High Impact Men? What are you holding on to?

When you’re in the suck (whatever that is for you), remind yourself of this crucial question. That YES, THERE IS evil in the world and it’s not always a good and fair place BUT YES, THERE IS some good left in this world and it absolutely is worth fighting for. It’s worth going toe to to with men at 0530, it’s worth being the leader of your family day in day out, it’s worth that conversation, it’s worth pushing your battle buddy and reminding them of this truth as well.

Biblically – I think this ties in extremely well with Sam’s truth that he speaks in the midst of a hellish and seemingly impossible mission.

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Note the similarities in this rhetoric. Not ideal situations BUT/YET – the reminder of hope appears.

[ 5 More ]

Take a look at your hand at some point in time this week and look at how many fingers you have. 5 (hopefully….)
I encourage all of us to push ourselves and the people around us this week with this simple challenge: Can I give 5 more?
- 5 more breaths
- 5 more steps
- 5 more reps
- 5 more minutes
- 5 more_____________
Tell your mind that you’re going to push harder, go further, and give 5 more this week.

Team Hoyt Mentality

March 5, 2020 Abort

THE SCENE: 45*, clear, and perfect
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Did that
WARM-O-RAMA:
Squat and reach
4-count merkins
Windmills
SSH
8-count bodybuilders
THA-THANG:
Quick mosey over to the long, straight sidewalk adjacent to the convention center. Six cones are set up down the length of the sidewalk, spaced 15-20 yards apart. Each cone has an exercise and rep count, simply run between cones knocking out the exercises. After completing the last exercise, lunge walk to first cone (fifth from start) and sprint the remainder. First man back instructed to pick an exercise and knock it out until everyone returns.

Cone 1 – 10 burpees
Cone 2 – 15 tuck jumps
Cone 3 – 20 CDD
Cone 4 – 25 merkins
Cone 5 – 30 squats
Cone 6 – 35 leg lifts

Rinse and repeat, only this time grab a battle buddy. You both still do all the reps, but you’re not alone. Quick 10 count and mosey over to the base of the Big Ball stairs. Routine as follows:

10 sit up ups at the bottom
Crawl bear up the stairs to the first big landing
10 supermans
Wall sit until everyone completes

Assemble in front of the Big Ball, grab a different battle buddy from before. One man knocks out pull ups on the Big Ball while their buddy does 25 squats. Flapjack until both have done one round of each exercise. Reassemble in front on the stairs, repeating the previous routine with another battle buddy. Again, both doing all the reps, just not alone:

10 sit up ups at the bottom
Crawl bear up the stairs to the first big landing
10 supermans
Wall sit until everyone completes

Back to the Big Ball, doing pull ups until your partner relieves you. Squats were substituted for Army quality 4-count merkins before relieving your partner.

Quick ring of fire with merkins, going around doing 1 rep, then 2, etc up to 5 reps. Recover and mosey back to SP

MARY:
45* situps on each side
Freddy Mercury
BOAT/CANOEEEE!!!
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
12 Strong: Butterfly, G6, Hoops (FNG), Half Caff, Postman, 8 Seconds, Dovetail, Steam, Jenner, Backdraft, Swanson, Abort (QiC)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Use the Hoyt mentality. Rick Hoyt was born with cerebral palsy, and despite doctors telling his parents he would be nothing but a vegetable his whole life, his family didn’t give up on him. They continued working with him with a computer he gained the ability to communicate and eventually went on to graduate college. Team Hoyt began in 1977 when Rick Hoyt asked his father if they could run in a race together to benefit a lacrosse player at his school who had become paralyzed. He wanted to prove that life went on no matter your disability. Dick Hoyt was 36 years old and not a runner. After their first race, Rick said, “Dad when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.” This team has completed 257 triathlons, 6 of which are Ironman, 7 Half Ironman, and 72 marathons with over 30 being the Boston marathon.

We were in multiple two man teams this morning, and in that case you are either the fast man or the slow man. Dick Hoyt would have never began his journey without his slow man. They have went on to inspire countless people (YHC included) because the push from the slow man. NEVER DOUBT YOUR IMPACT regardless of how you perceive your abilities. Also, if you happen to be the fast man, you better be sure you’re bringing someone along. Dick Hoyt carried his son between events, towed him while swimming, pushed him on the bike and in the wheelchair. Without his son, he was just another competitor. With him, a legend.

Steadfast

March 3, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Sunny skies, temp in 60’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle Hops; 10 Mountain Climbers; 10 Windmills; 10 Tempo Merkins; 63 Grady Corns
THA-THANG:

Mosey to large parking lot with islands and that is south of northern ball fields. We will be going counter-clockwise around the parking lot. There will be four cones around the parking lot. Exercises will be displayed at each cone. At each cone will also be instructions of how maneuver to the next cone:

Cone 1: Do 20 Hello Dollies (four count). Run to Cone 2.
Cone 2: Do 20 Big Boy Sit-ups. Bernie Sanders to Cone 3.
Cone 3: Do 20 Flutter Kicks (four count). Run to Cone 4.
Cone 4: Do 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count). Bernie Sanders to Cone 1.
Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey on sidewalk that goes from parking lot to Pavilion at northern ball fields. We will do 20 Picnic Table Pull-Ups, then 20 Bench Dips, then 15 of each, then ten of each, then 5 of each. After that we will do the same pattern as above but with Bench Jumps and Decline Merkins.

Mosey to CMU Pile. Men divide into teams of two. Each team grabs one CMU and heads to the entrance of the parking lot. We will be doing Doras. One partner does exercises with CMU while the other partner Bernie’s up Cardiac Hill to the Green Park Sign. The partner then runs back down hill. Partners switch places. These will be the exercises that each team does with the CMUs:

100 Overhead Presses
100 Curls
100 Rows
100 Squat Thrusts
100 Decline Merkins (feet on CMU)

Return CMUs to pile.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Sixteen men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Psalm 117:1-2 ESV

Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

God’s Love is constant. It is steadfast. God does not just love us now and then. It may feel like that sometimes. Sometimes God may seem very distant to us. He is beyond those clouds somewhere and we may not feel his presence. But don’t allow the way you feel at the moment obscure the truth. His love for us is steadfast. We may also feel God loves us less when we do wrong. We may do something that we regret, that hurts us, hurts someone else, or which God would not like. Certainly God does not like sin. And, God loves it when we do good. But God does not love us more because we do good or less because we sin. His love is powerful and continuous. The word “steadfast” is used 219 times in the Bible and in over 200 of those times the word is followed by “love.” If we believe in the words of the Bible then we must believe that God’s love is steadfast. This should give us comfort. Because God offers His great love to us freely, even though we are unworthy. He loves us even when it doesn’t make sense for Him to do so. So, take that love in. Breathe it. That loves is always there and it ain’t going to go away from you.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for coworker of Crispr whose father is paralyzed after scuba diving in Hawaii; for Woodshack and family after death of his father-in-law; for coworker of Squirtle; for help for Steam at a difficult time; for fathers of Hooker (e.g., Pinto) and Iceman and mother of Thunderstruck; for friend of Jenner.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board meeting!