F3 Knoxville

And It Was Good

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Lap around the parking lot, 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Twistees, 10 Windmills, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Caribbean.  We will run Candy Cane with the following exercises at every other island, then sweep back.

  • 20 Merkins
  • 15 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.

Mosey to street side end of the Serpentine Sidewalk.  We will Bear Crawl one light and sprint four lights all the way down the Serpentine Sidewalk until it hits the perimeter trail.  There, we will do 20 Bicycle Kicks, 4 ct.

Mosey to Cardiac.  We will go up Cardiac, stopping to do the following exercises along the way:

  • At start:  20 American Hammers (4 ct)
  • First turn:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  • Second turn:  20 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
  • Third turn:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  20 Bench Dips

Mosey to bottom of mini-cardiac.  We will Bernie up to the park sign, then run to the top.  Run back down to AO.

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

And It Was Good

Some verses from Genesis, Chapter 1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. 

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,[d] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13

And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 

25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

One sentence that echoes through the creation story of the Bible is, “God saw that it was good.”  And, indeed, His creation is good.  That is easy to see here in East Tennessee where, as Crawdad would say, we are blessed to view “best sunrise in America.”

Amidst the strife and toil of our world, amidst Covid 19, the conflict among our people, the wars between nations, we may fail to recognize the blessings of God’s creation.  We, as human, may sometimes mess things up.  But God is good and his creation is good.

Let us recognize the blessings of the earth and firmament.  Let us rejoice in it, be stewards of it, and protect it.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Steam’s girlfriend who has Covid, and for his girlfriend’s mother who has cancer.  His girlfriend lives with her mother and, although quarantining, is worried about giving her mother, whose immune system is compromised, cancer.  Prayer’s for Steam’s good friend, Nathan, whose mother recently died.  Prayers for a coworker of Pusher.  The coworker had to leave work early today to go the the hospital where his stepfather is in critical condition.  Prayers for Operation as he and his wife have been working at getting pregnant for three years now in hope of having a baby.

Snow-No

THE SCENE: Cloudy, right at freezing, was supposed to be snowing, but just a light drizzle/sleet/winter mix that did change to snow during the last 15 minutes of the workout.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER  Check.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-15 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence – Run across parking lot and back

– 8 Abe Vigodas (4-ct), in cadence – Bernie across and back

– 15 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence – Super Mario across and back

– 15 Tempo Squats (4-ct), in cadence

THA-THANG:

MOSEY up the Dragon’s tail to stop sign past the Rock.

  • 20 Imperial Squat walkers, 4-ct, IC

Partner UP!

  • Partner 1 Bernie’s to guard rail, runs to tree, 5 Jump Squats, run back
  • Partner 2 Alternates between 10 Deconstructed Burpees (doing all components of the Burpee separately) and 10 Froggy Jumps
  • R&R

Snowgazers: Catch 5 SNOWFLAKES ON YOUR TONGUE!  (this didn’t work out, seeing as there was no snow…)

MOSEY to Overlook/Coliseum:

  • SMEAR THE Q!
    • Get in a line, take a shot at hitting the Q with a Snowball. Everyone gets three tries.  Hit = 10 ct stargazer.  Miss = 5 Deconstructed burpees.  A hit to the face or groin = 10 Real burpees for all of us.  Do SSH while you wait your turn.  (again, had to modify this since there was no snow.  PAX picked 3 numbers between 1 and 10, another PAX secretly selected the number, if the number was picked, it was a HIT, otherwise a miss.)

Mosey to Roundabout. (RIGHT when we got here it started to snow… Arrrgh)

5/10/15s.  Partner 1 runs to curb and does 5x of 2 exercises, trades off with partner.  R&R with 10 x.  R&R with 15 x.  Partner not doing exercises is doing a slow mosey in the bullpen.

ROUND 1 Exercises: PLANK JACKS AND PETER PARKERS

ROUND 2 Exercises:  SMURF JACKS AND BOBBY HURLEYS

Mosey to AO.
MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Aristotle had a theory that men take on a particular quality by engaging in a particular behavior.  You’ve probably all heard the expression “You are what you eat.”  This might be altered to “You are what you do… over and over and over again.”

Aristotle: Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions.  First of all, they set you up for failure, and then comes the wave of guilt if you don’t reach that goal.  Second, they’re temporary.  You may achieve whatever goal you set out to do, whether it’s to lose 10 pounds, abstain from alcohol for a month, save enough money to purchase a new couch, or whatever, but then what happens?  You go right back to your old ways.

A better approach might be to take a page out of Aristotle’s book and focus on Behavior rather than Goals.  By changing Behavior, you establish patterns that pay off with results and are more long term.  You become what you do.  Instead of setting a goal of losing 10 pounds, try to reduce your sugar and carb intake.  Instead of stopping alcohol cold turkey, use the “I’ll have one later” approach to delay the number of drinks you have.  Instead of saving for a new TV or couch, which, once paid off, may result in you going back to spending more than you need to, set up small automatic transfers of your pay check into a savings account.  And as HIMs, don’t think to yourself, “Gee, I’ll try to be more of a HIM this month”.  Instead, integrate acts of character, leadership, and positive encouragement to those around you on a regular basis.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jetlag’s family and Jinxy’s family as they go through some health issues, prayers for Curveball’s parents who were not answering the phone recently, prayers for Abacus’ mom
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Triple birthday Hot Toddy Q this Saturday!

Just Desk Work

THE SCENE: 52, dry surfaces, minimal fog
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry Pickers, Reach for the stars, Let it hang, Windmill, Tempo Squats, Tempo Merkins, Maracan Night club
THA-THANG:

8 HIMs ended the year right with a little desk work.
Mosey through the courtyard with mountain climbers to start, then side shuffle across each walkway.

Ended with Bernie to the old chair style desks by the PODS.   No CMU’s today.  Just an old desk.

  • Up and Over (step on the chair and hop over)
  • Curls of the deks
  • Derkins on the desk
  • Overhead Press with the desk
  • Squats
  • Float between 2 desks (while your partner ran the hill)
  • Dips between 2 desks (while your partner ran the hill)

The color of your chair/desk determined the number of reps you did each round.  10, 15 or 21

MARY:
On the mosey back, each stop sign or crosswalk one HIM called a core excercise: Imperial walkers, Flutter kicks, Hello dolly, LBC, Heels to heaven.  Ended with 5 burpees and a start jump
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Elementary School was basic. Reading, Writing, Math.
The Christian Walk is basic too. Prayer, Bible Reading, Worship and Service
Today I want to focus on how we finish off this year well with prayer.
I’ll share an article I read just recently and has already made a difference in my prayer life. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/stop-having-quiet-times/
In the gospels we are told Jesus went away to pray 20+ times.
To get away from distraction. but also to talk out loud to His Father.  I encourage you to do the same.
Luke 5:16 But he would withdrawal to a desolate place to pray.
This year, get away, pray out loud and see if it doesn’t breath new life into your prayer life.
Mat 6:6 But when you pray, go to your room and shut the door

MOLESKIN:
Be sure to get away  from it all and pray out loud before the year is up

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Happy New Year!  Great job in 2021.  2022 is going to be even better.

Choose Your Words

THE SCENE: 50 and amazing in the fake gloom
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  did it
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, cherry pickers, rockettes, and a little this and that
THA-THANG:
Insert information about the workout.

  • Burpees up the Dragon, one per lap, then wagon wheel back to the 6
  • Battle Buddy with bench dips and calf raises
  • Mary work, 10 flutter kicks, 10 box cutters, 10 hello dollys at every other light pole
  • Coming back, 10 jump squats, 10 plank jacks, 10 merkins at alternating poles
  • Battle Buddy plank and calf raises
  • Bear crawl to the Dragon
  • Big Boys down the Dragon back to the AO

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 PAX in the fake gloom
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I’ve been struggling a little lately with folks complaining about how tough things have been for the past 2 years.  Sometimes I think “It’s be 2 years.  Time to move on.”  I admit my life hasn’t been impacted by COVID nearly the extent others have been.  I catch myself judging others who aren’t sucking it up and pressing forward with their lives, but I’m also trying remember I don’t know everything about everyone’s circumstances.  Ironically, two COTs in the last two weeks have been about judging others.  As I sit and struggle with judging, I can reflect back to the words a HIM said just last week to help me.

The message you deliver in the COT is meaningful.  Don’t take the message part of Q’ing lightly and give thought. You never know who might need to hear it in that moment.  It’s an opportunity to impact men in your community.

Super easy AOQ handoff beatdown

THE SCENE: Few clouds, 54°F, Feels like 52°F, Humidity 82%, Wind 2mph from SW
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Arm circles forward IC 15x
  • Overhead Claps IC 15x
  • Seal claps IC 15x
  • Amr circles backwards IC 15x
  • Tempo squats 10x
  • SSH 30x

THA-THANG:

  • Herbie starts with Q
  • Mosey to the planters. Partner up. 
  • Dora’s
    • 100 derkins
    • 200 dips
    • 300 step ups (2 CT left leg right leg)
    • Partner 2 runs to the bush and back while partner 1 does exercise
  • Hand off Q to Geppetto
  • 10 count Welsh dragons.
    • 4 step bear crawl
    • Merkin, plank jack, same shoulder shoulder taps = 1 rep
  • Mosey to the rock pile.
  • Diego’s
    • Grab a good sized rock
    • Partner up, partners do total reps
    • 100 curls
    • 200 overhead presses
    • 300 squats
  • Mosey back to the main parking lot, single file line and Indian run to the marathon station backer on the parking lot to the AO.

MARY:

  • Dealer’s choice.
    • Hello dollies on a 20 count.
    • Captain Thor’s six to and 24.
    • Freddie Mercury’s
    • Ring of fire till Time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Handoff of the flag and AOQ from Herbie to Geppetto

To the pax:

It has been an honor and blessing to be the AOQ for the Brickyard. You men have inspired and challenged me. We have faced a pandemic together and grown stronger together. F3 has made me a better man and you all are a part of that. Leadership of the AO does not fall on the shoulders of one man. You all are a part of this. If you haven’t figured it out yet, we are a leadership group disguised as a workout group. So if you have an idea of something to do, don’t wait do it. You are freed to lead. Start it up and pull other men into it with you and get after it.

I love you all.

To Geppetto:

I’m handing over a group of rowdy wild men that are passionate and outspoken. They have heart and will push you to your limits at times. As the AOQ you will represent Brickyard to the other AOs and with the Nantan, but you are not alone. Do not feel that you have to do everything yourself, you have a group of men here to lead and guide. Call upon us, challenge us and push us to be better. Iron sharpens iron only by being struck and scraped together. At times things will be abrasive, but that is the sharpening of men and it cannot be done alone. Thank you for your willingness to step up and be the AOQ, we have your back.

MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Christmas party and emerald youth toy store