F3 Knoxville

Tag: Steam

The Men in The Arena


THE SCENE: Just cool enough. No wind. FNG (now known as “Title 9” was the first to show this morning, followed by Abscess & Hercules aka Tank the dog

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

  • Welcome to F3: FitnessFellowshipFaith
  • Name is Steam & I’ll be your QIC this morning!
  • A couple things before we begin:
    • Not a professional
    • You’re here on your own volition
    • Modify as you need but push yourself  and the men around you. They deserve to be pushed and motivated and so do you.

[ Name of the game for this morning is 1 foot in front of the other ]

WARM-O-RAMA:

☐ Motivators: 10 IC  

☐ Rockette: 10 x 4 IC 

☐ Iron Mike: 10 x 4 IC 

☐ Michel Phelps: 10 x 4 IC 

☐ Windmill: 10 x 4 IC 

☐ Merkins: 10 x 4 IC

THA-THANG:

(Mosey to Cardiac Hill) 

☐ Battle-Buddy Up

☐ You and your BB have 3 points of contact 

☐ Top – Curve 1 – Bottom

☐ Top: 15 BB sit-ups (hold feet) 

☐ Curve 1: 15 1-count buddy merkins (Hugh five)

☐ Bottom: 15 squats

(Sprint back up to the top and hold the plank)

☐ 10 down/up merkins All-Together 

( 10 count)

☐ Rinse & Repeat – same exercises – 10 reps of everything instead of 15 

(Curves led PAX in 10 up/down squats)

(10 count) 

(Mosey to path that goes towards dock) 

☐ 2 lines —> bear crawl to the dock

(COP – Change of Plans: Path/boards to dock were slippery —> Q modified for PAX —> Hold the Al Gore after 1st light post and 10 sea claps)

(Mosey on to the dock)

[ Quarter Pounder ]

☐ 25×4 flitter kicks 

☐ 25×4 LBCs

☐ 25×4 hello dolly’s

☐ 25×4 straight legged curls 

(Mosey to hill before Everest by way of:

—> Dock —> through grass to small pavilion by soccer fields —> up the hill on path towards Everest

@ Small Pavilion

  • New Battle Buddy
  • BB1: Wall-sit + overhead seal claps
  • BB2: Sprint to lightpost in the middle of exterior parking lot + 2 merkins (just 2 ain’t bad right?) + recover BB1
  • Rinse & Repeat 1

(10 count)

(mosey from small pavilion in 2 lined American Indian style)

.25 later —> merge into 1 big American Indian run mosey

☐ Bear crawl up the hill and over the top 

(Mosey to base of Everest) 

“I’m Up – He Sees Me – I’m Down”

☐ “I’m Down” command – 5 merkins and hold until the next command is given 

—> “I’m Up!” Command = sprint up Everest

☐ All the way to the top

(Sandy is planted at the top of Everest behind tree at the top middle)

(Battle buddy Sandy Run to AO)

—> Sandy being carried in front by 2 PAX for 10 seconds (modified to 25 seconds later) and then recovering to the back

PAX rush past Haslam rock and stop at the small (sort of) hill right below Saturday AO parking lot

  • Sandy Toss + 5 up/down merkins up the hill to the parking lot
    • 2 PAX chuck Sandy as far as possible up the hill, all PAX sprint to it and execute 5 up/down merkins until everyone is at the top

MARY:
– 2 rounds of Boat/Canoe

– Cashed out the day with ATMs

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 PAX + 1 FNG = 17 total HIM

Cheatsheet, Mr Jinxy, Curves, FNG —> Title 9, Lulu, Waffle House, Otis, Crawdad, Abscess, Jumbo, Choir Boy, Hawk, LillyDipper, Brick, Snag, Swimmies

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The Man in the Arena does not quit, although he may be knocked down and falter from the original path at times, he’s in the arena and must learn to get back up again and again and again. This is the way.

MOLESKIN:

 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

               – Teddy Roosevelt

☐ In the ring of life sometimes it can feel like we’re on our knees crying out for freedom and all we can do is look up right? 

☐ Song by Anthony Hamilton “Freedom” — some of the lyrics go like this: “Felt like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. Pressure to break or retreat at every turn. Facing the feat that the truth I discovered. No telling how all this will work out, but I’ve come too far to turn back now. I’m looking for freedom, looking for freedom. And to find it cost everything I have.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. 1st F3 Knoxville Truebadours Q101/GrowSchool Convergence: Saturday, February 29th, 2020 – Asylum AO. More info to be pushed out in weekly emails + GroupMe soon

2. F3 Morristown Launch: Saturday, April 4th, 2020. Clown car(s) will be assembling to go support the launch on 4/4. Be on the lookout for opportunities between now and then to go post at some “test-Qs” at their new AO in the coming weeks/months.

Keep the Faith & Fight the Good Fight!

Where Is Your Sting?

THE SCENE: Cloudy, mid thirties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Side Straddle Hops.  10 Burpees. 10 Iron Mikes.  10 Windmills.  10 Cherry Pickers.  7 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward.  7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeastern Corner of Admin Bldg.  We will have cones posted along the road that semicircles around the Admin Bldg.  Each cone will give directions regarding exercises and how to get to the next cone.

  • Cone 1:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Bernie Sanders to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  20 Diamond Merkins.  Hop to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3.  20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders = 1).  Gravevine with left foot in lead to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Star Jumps.  Grapevine with right foot in lead to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Squat Jumps.  Sprint to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6:  20 Flutter Kicks (four count).  Bear Crawl to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7.  20 Smurf Jacks.  Bernie Sanders to Cone 8
  • Cone 8.  20 Merkins, 40 Baby Crunches, 20 Hello Dollies (four count), 20 American Hammers (four count), 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count), 20 Bottle Openers (both hands = 1).

Mosey back to stop sign at Northeastern Corner of Admin Bldg., picking up cones and signs along the way.  We will squat for one minute to quietly contemplate the beauty of the scenery toward the lake.

Mosey to CMU pile.  Men will split into pairs.  One partner from each pair will grab a CMU.  We will do Doras with partner one sprinting to other end of parking lot, doing 10 shin lifts, and sprinting back while partner two starts working on the exercises.  Partners will then switch positions.  These are the exercises that each pair will accomplish:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Rows
  • 100 Bell Ringers
  • 100 Merkins with feet on CMU

Mosey through entrance way gate to northern ball fields.  We will go the ball field that is closest to the entryway and congregate at one end of the marked soccer field in the outfield.  We will throw frisbee three times and race to the frisbee.  We will then race to end of the soccer field and back.  Those men who got the frisbee on the three prior throws will be competing to see who gets a free breakfast from the Q leader. Next, we will split into two teams.  Men will split up to play frisbee football.  Every time the frisbee hits the ground, not only does the possession of the frisbee change to the other team but all team members must do five burpees.  I must give my brother, Waffle House, credit for being the originator of this frisbee/burpee rule.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks, Boat Canoe.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seventeen men with one FNG, a friend of Toto’s named Marty Mason.  His F3 name is now Tinder.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

Edward Abbey was a park ranger and writer.  As a park ranger for the National Park Service he worked in scarcely populated desert areas of Utah, including the Arches National Park and Canyonlands of Southeastern Utah.  In his book Desert Solitaire, he speaks in one chapter about being alone in a very rocky canyon area in Utah.  Although an experienced ranger, he got lost and was stuck on a rock precipice.  He could make a jump across the precipice to a cliff similar in height but which was in the direction he knew would get him home.  He didn’t know how to get back the way he came even though he had tried to track it.  He was running out of water.  His choice was to either die of thirst where he was or make a huge leap from the precipice to the cliff.  The fall if he failed to reach the cliff would be hundreds of feet and would certainly bring him to his death.  He made the choice to jump and, for some good minutes, started thinking about his life before he made the jump.

What would you think about if you were faced with such a situation?  You are about to make the jump that will either continue or end your life?  What thoughts run through your mind.  Would you think about family?  About things that brought you joy?  Actions or lack of action that you regretted?  Would you wish you could say or do some things you had not yet done in life?  Would you have faith that God would follow you through death if death were to occur?  And, on the chance that you might make the jump, would you see life in a different way afterwards?  Would there be things that you would want to accomplish or do that you had yet to attempt?

Abbey gave a very poignant description of his fear and grief before making the jump.  As a man who loved nature, he thought with appreciation yet longing about the beauty of the world all around him before making the death jump.  Obviously, he made it to the other side as he later wrote the book.

As a man I would have been very scared, just as Abbey was.  As a Christian, I hope I would take comfort in verses like the one in Corinthians above.  I hope I would appreciate my mortality and the gift that God has given us in our short lives here on Earth.  But, I also hope I would realize that my perishable body has been clothed with the imperishable armor of God, that my mortality has become immortality through Him.  Then, even knowing I might fall to my death, I could say, “Death, where is your victory, where is your sting?”

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pele’s shoulder as he took a mean fall and hurt it during the frisbee football game.  Pusher, a physical therapist, said he didn’t dislocate.  Prayers for our brother, Pinto, who is suffering through treatment of multiple myeloma cancer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
New pull up bars that we raised money for will be going up.  We will have an AO launch in Morristown on April 4.

Motivators Doing Motivators is Motivating

THE SCENE: 50s, sun was setting, Lakeshore Park = empty

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

– Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith

– Name is Steam and I’ll be your QIC this evening

– Couple of things before we begin

– I’m not a professional

– You’re here on your own volition

– Modify as you need to but push yourself and those around you

WARM-O-RAMA:

THA-THANG:
[ Q has ruck with phone, med kit, and CPR kit. Too prepared? Who knows – better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it ]

(PAX mosey right outside Asylum PM parking lot)

[ Light It Up ]

  • PAX mosey towards Haslam rock overlooking Lakeshore park/river
    • Every light post (that was on) – 5 single leg merkins
      • One leg on top of the other
      • 5 reps/light together
      • switch legs each light
  • Sprint up the mini hill to Haslam rock
  • PAX executes 10 x 4 IC V-Ups
  • PAX Rinses & Repeats back down the way they came
    • Every light = 5 reps of a squat + merkin (basically a burpee but with no jump so……..basically a burpee.)
    • Last 2 lights = eeprub = 5 reps of a merkin + squat

(PAX moseys towards chapel(s))

[ Chapel 1 – Level 1 ]

  • 5 pillars in the outdoor pavilion (small chapel)
  • Each set of pillars = 5 Motivators together
  • After 5 motivators are executed:
    • Sprint to a tree 25m to the right = 1 fast burpee
  • Sprint back to outdoor pavilion (small chapel)
  • After 5 motivators are executed at 2nd set of pillars:
    • Sprint to small knoll to the left about 25m away = 1 slow burpee (form is key here)
  • Rinse & Repeat until PAX cleared the other side of the outdoor pavilion (small chapel)

(PAX mosey towards the big outdoor chapel —> occupied —> head to the parking lot to the left of it facing the soccer fields)

[Level 2 – Team on your back suicides]

  • PAX executing various exercises led by Q while 1 by 1, PAX sprint a zig-zagged course between lights the distance of the parking lot and back.
    • Exercises included but where not limited to:
      • SSHs
      • Merkins
      • Cherry-Pickers
      • Shoulder Taps
      • Flutter Kicks
      • Hello Dollys
      • Rockettes
      • LBCs
      • Line jumps
      • Motivators
      • + more but I forgot

(PAX moseys back towards AO parking lot)

Once PAX hits the street —> backwards American Indian Run until the playground next to morning AO —> sprint it out to the PM AO parking lot

[Finish How We Started]

  • 5 Motivators

MARY:
Heavy breathing, peeing behind dumpsters in the dark, normal F3 stuff.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 PAX – no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“You Have to Improve”
MOLESKIN:
From “Free to Lead: F3 and the Unshackling of the Modern Day Warrior” by Dredd and OBT (Founders of F3) —> If you haven’t read this, DO IT. Seriously. Worth the couple bucks on Amazon – lotta good stuff packed in here. Check it out here —> https://www.amazon.com/Freed-Lead-Unshackling-Modern-day-Warrior/dp/0991238109/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Free+to+LEad&qid=1579834505&sr=8-3

”The Practical Exercise (even if done well) will leave each student with only a working knowledge of the skill being taught. In other words, he will not be an expert but he will be able to get it done. That is how the Army transfers skills from the more experienced soldier to the inexperienced soldier. It provides formal training to get the basic skills across. After that, it’s up to each soldier to improve toward mastery as he performs the skill on the job, and as he seeks to meet the increasingly high standards set for him by his leaders. Thus, an Infantryman with some experience who is performing a task at minimal skill level might hear from his sergeant that he “isn’t in basic training anymore.” In other words, more is expected of you now. You have to improve. It’s an individual soldier’s responsibility to seek constant improvement. It’s the leader’s responsibility to demand that he do so.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • April 4th, 2020 – Morristown.
    • F3 Morristown is LAUNCHING and it’s going to be epic. We need all the HIM we can muster to go help support this new region because remember, that was once us. More info to come with this, but go ahead and put it on your cal for April. If you know any potential sad clowns and/or HIM that would benefit from F3 (just like you), E.H. MAN, E.H.

 

  • Saturday, February 29th: 1st ever Truebadours Q101/GrowSchool Convergence.
    • AO: Asylum
    • More info to come.
    • Hit up Abscess or Steam for more info

 

Keep the Faith & Fight the Good Fight!

Lessons from Noah’s Ark

THE SCENE: 45° Cloudy
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA

50 Star Jumps, 50 Air Punches…let’s mosey to the flag pole

 

THA-THANG:

  • 10 Burpees, 50 Picnic Rows at the Pavalon
  • Mosey to Cardiac-Run up to the top and do 10 Hand release Merkins at chalk stars x 5
  • 10 Burpees, mosey to Pickets Charge
  • 10 Burpees- run up and do 5 chicken peckers at every cone x 10
  • Mosey to Memorial and do 10 Burpees
  • Mosey to Space Station Stop and do 50 squats half way
  • space station run up/down do 25 Froggy Jumps, up/down 25 Froggy, up/down once more
  • 10 Burpees at Handicap Spot then mosey to Grinch’s Hill
  • Hello Dolly’s x 10, Run to the top, Hello Dolly’s x 10, run to bottom, RR then 10 Hello Dolly at bottom x10
  • mosey to Area 51- 10 Burpees then run to the top and do 50LBCs
  • mosey to Everest – run up to each cone and do 10 Dive Bombers x 5 to the top
  • mosey back to the AO and stop along the way to do Bear Crawl 360 x 10 each direction with 2 Burpees per direction
  • mosey back AO

MARY:
50 Flutter kicks 4 ct

50 LBCs 4ct

plank for 1 min
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:
There’s several lessons from Noah’s Ark..main one is Never let yourself get into a position that when God calls you to help others you’re not able.
MOLESKIN:
I’m very thankful for each of these guys and the impact they have on my life.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
take the Pole for TN Convergence, we have MLKJR parade Monday

Abscess Turning 50 Makes for a Tough Q

THE SCENE: 50s, calm, cool, collected

  • No FNGs

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

  • Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
  • Name is Steam and I’ll be your Q IC this morning
  • 1) I’m not a professional (depends who you ask)
  • 2) You’re here on your own volition (unless someone is forcing you to be here – then come see me afterwards) – thank you for choosing to be here this morning
  • 3) Modify as you need BUT push yourself and the men around you – we came here to work, so let’s work.


WARM-O-RAMA:

In Honor of Abscess’s 50th:

  • SSH (Side-Straddle Hop): 50 x 4 in cadence
  • Baby Arm Circles: 25 x 4 forward & 25 x 4 backwards in cadence
  • Tempo Squat: 25 x 4 in cadence
  • Tempo Merkins: 25 x 4 in cadence

THA-THANG:

  • PAX moseys to playground outside AO
  • Battle buddies assemble

[ There & Back & Back Again ]

  • BB1: 25 incline merkins on a bench
  • BB2: run to pavilion and execute 25 step-ups/box jumps (GOOD FORM = Extending legs all the way up) + runs back to recover BB1
  • R & R – each BB executes both stations twice
  • Lady Warriors of FIA enter the playground – F3 migrates to the pavilion

[ The Power of 4 (sucks) ]

  • Each HIM finds a nice table under the pavilion
  • Short Side #1 = 25 pull-ups
  • Long Side #1 = 25 incline merkins
  • Short Side #2 = 25 pull-ups
  • Long Side #2 = 25 decline merkins
  • PAX wall-sits until 6 is up
    • From the wall-sit position: @Waxjob gives a 50 count
    • Q leads PAX in downward vertebrae stretch
      • 1 vertebrae at a time going down and touching the ground, and 1 vertebrae at a time coming back up
  • PAX moseys back to AO

[ 4 Corners // Asylum 200 ]

  • Corner 1 of AO parking lot = 25 down/up merkins as a group
    • Mosey to Corner 2
  • Corner 2 of AO parking lot = 25 down/up dry docks as a group
    • Mosey to corner 3
  • Corner 3 of AO parking lot = 25 up/down squats as a group
    • Mosey to corner 4
  • Corner 4 of AO parking lot = 25 half-burpees IC as a group
    • 4-count led by Q (no merkin)
    • 5 counts were initiated by Q after 10 reps or 15 – this was a freaking smoke session
  • PAX gets a breather
  • Rinse & Repeat 4 Corners but backwards
    • Bernie Sanders from corner to corner for 2nd round

[ PAX moseys back to playground ]

[ Quarter Pounder ]

  • 5 dips
  • 5 incline merkins on the bench
  • 5 decline merkins on the bench
  • 5 box jumps
  • 5 Big Boy Sit-Ups with legs on the bench

[ PAX moseys to curb right outside the playground ]

  • 50 Irish Tap Dancers in honor of Abscess’s 50th
    • 50 4 counts take longer than originally thought = character building fun

[ PAX moseys back to AO ]

[ Toe the Line ]

  • PAX do down & backs across AO parking lot
    • Skip-jumps down + 5 half burpees at the end – Skip-jumps back
    • Karaoke down + 5 half burpees at the end – karaoke down
    • Jog down + 25 x 4 calf raises
  • Circle it Up

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 PAX – No FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

“Faith – someone who has believed in another person // fundamental believing in another person”

MOLESKIN:

(Matthew 8:5-13) – “Faith of a Centurion”

 

  • “If I believe really hard…Jesus will do this”
  • “I have to live in this moment believing in this person/people”

These are things I’ve told myself and maybe you have at some point too.

A challenge I’ve set for myself this week is what would it look like to have the faith of a muster seed // or faith like that of the centurion in Matthew 8.

Going back to “Faith – someone who has believed in another person // fundamental believing in another person” – for F3 for instance, I have faith that when I come out here, whether I’m leading or following, at least 1 HIM will be here in the gloom with me, pushing me to be a better version, and expecting me to do the same. I have faith in the Q to lead. I believe that. 

TPQs (Thought Provoking Questions)

  • Where do I lack the faith of a centurion?
  • What people/institutions/things do I fundamentally have faith in?
  • Who has faith in me?

Ties in with Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another” —> having faith in one another to Keep the Faith & Fight the Good Fight

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Make sure Abscess knows you didn’t suffer in vain this morning. Welcome him gladly into the RESPECT club, and be sure to post THIS Saturday at the Asylum for his 50th birthday Q.

Iron. Sharpens. Iron.