F3 Knoxville

Thankful

THE SCENE: Rainy, temp in 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

10 Pinto Twists, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, Michael Phelps.
THA-THANG:
We met at Pavilion at Northern Ball Fields due to rain.  We stayed at Pavilion after the Warm-O-Rama to do Totem Pole with the following exercises, 30 seconds each exercise, five times each exercise:

  • Burpees
  • Squats
  • Picnic Table Pull-ups
  • Star Jumps
  • Big Boy Sit-ups

Mosey to CMU pile.  Each man gets CMU and puts it by curb on parking lot.  We will do the following exercises, then, after each exercise, bear crawl two parking spaces, lunge two parking spaces, and Bernie the remainder of the parking lot to the curb. Sprint back to other curb and do the next exercise, then repeat the trek across the parking lot.  Here are the exercises with the CMU’s:

  • 25 Overhead Presses
  • 25 Curls
  • 25 Rows
  • 25 Squats with CMU at chest.
  • 25 Incline Merkins with hands on CMU
  • 25 Decline Merkins with feet on CMU

Return CMU’s to pile.  We will then sprint back and forth across the parking lot.  We will go back and forth four times.

Mosey back to Pavilion.

MARY:
2 minute squat with back to wall.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I Chronicles 16:34 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

As Thanksgiving approaches I want to say how thankful I am to have F3 brothers like you in my life.  As men, we need the bond of other men in our lives.  I have a wonderful wife, wonderful family, wonderful co-workers.  But I need to walk among solid men, men who strive to be HIM’s, men who challenge me, men who push me, men whom I can talk to in confidence, men who I admire, men whom I feel a unique bond with.  F3 has added something to my life.  I feel it each week, feel it in my step, feel it when I get together with you guys, whether for workouts, Coffeeteria, or a beer.  And, my wife sees this change in me.  She loves it that I go to F3.  She loves it that I am in community with such good, spiritual men.

So, I give thanks for you guys.  And, I look forward to giving you Hell at Brolympics!!

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Junk’s wife, Messi’s wife, Thunderstruck’s mother, Chaucer, and Butter’s son.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Brolympics this Saturday, 6:45 am at Asylum.

Lt. Dan & Iron Mike meet Squat for legwork

THE SCENE: Clear, about mid 50s, no wind, normal gloom
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH 20 IC

Cherry Pickers 15 IC

Windmills 15 IC

Candy Corns 31 IC

  • Merkins 5 IC
    THA-THANG:
  • Mosey down street to stop sign – 5 burpees OYO, the mosey to bottom of hill to 4 cones approx 20 yds apart, do exercise at each cone, first lap 5, second 10, third lap 15
      • Cone 1 Squats (Lt Dan to Cone 2 – lung, then squat, 2 lung, 2 squats, 3 lungs, 3 squats etc)
      • Cone 2 BBS – run to cone 3
      • Cone 3 American Hammer (4 ct)
      • Cone 4 Windmills (4 ct)
  • Mosey up hill to monument 5 Merkins OYO, then mosey to CMUs
  • Dora with partner
    • round 1 curls 100x, partner bernies to end of lot does 15 bbs, runs back
    • Round 2 presses, 100x, partner lunges to end of lot, does 15 jump squats, runs back
    • Round 3 Push ups on each side of CMU 70 x, run to end of lot, 15 iron mikes
  • MOsey to monument – 20 Flutter kicks (4 ct) IC
  • Mosey to AO
  • COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

    CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
    Everyone is faced with burdens, some are small, others quite significant. No one is immune.  at Juco last friday @fingerfood mentioned a situation where a patient was diagnosed with MS whereby the patient would certainly end up in a wheel chair. The patient was someone who was full of life replied (something like this), after the news of the diagnosis – “if God wants me in a wheelchair, then I will worship him from a wheelchair”. We all have some sort of wheelchair.  We do not choose these burdens. Rely on God and our communities to help carry the burdens.
    MOLESKIN:
    Pray for brother @Chauncer who was in a severe car crash on Nov 3 and for @crashlab’s work team who is facing some tough times related to various medical issues and pray for his co-worker nurse who was killed by a drunk driver
    ANNOUNCEMENTS:
    Broolympics this saturday

Shedding the False Self

THE SCENE: Blue skies and temp about 70 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Bottle Taps, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Rockettes, 10 Tempo Squats
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Light Post by Lower Parking Lot near trail that goes towards Lyons Bend Gate Entrance.  We will do Route 66 with the following exercises:

  • Star Jumps
  • Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Iron Mikes with both legs forward = 1

We next will do 14’s with Bear Crawls (Bear Crawl 1 light and Run 4 lights in sequence) until we reach the road that goes to Lyon’s Bend Entrance Gate.  Next, we will do 14’s with Lunges (Lunge 1 light and Run 4 lights in sequence) until we get to the bottom of Mt. Everest.

At Mt Everest we will do 20 Merkins, 30 Squats and 40 Baby Crunches.  Then we will run to the road above the Summit.

Next, we will Mosey south on the roadway until it we are by the big tree as the road heads east toward the stop sign.  We will run down incline by the roadway.  We will then do sevens starting with one Hello Dolly on bottom of incline and six Burpees on top.

Mosey back to AO.

MARY:
20 Box Cutters
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I am a psychologist.  I recently looked back on some literature discussing Eric Erickson’s research and theory regarding identity formation in human beings.  Eric Erickson was a German Developmental psychologist who moved to the United States and taught at Harvard, UC Berkeley and Yale.  In his theory regarding identity formation he stated that we humans go through various stages in life that help form our identity.  One stage, which generally occurs in adolescence, but which extends into adulthood, is what he called the stage of Fidelity.  You may have heard of the term “Identity Crisis.”  Erickson was the first to coin it. The conflict the human deals with in this stage is Identity vs. Role Confusion.  The individual grasps with who they are and what they want to become in their life.  That question of “Who Am I” encompasses vocation, sexual, and religious factors, among others.

Some psychologists and psychiatrists, Donald Winnicott being one of the most prominent, also talk about struggle between the False Self and True Self in terms of identity formation.  Winnicott theorized that we humans often take on the role of a false self in forming our identities – that identity relates more to what parents, teachers, or society wants from us than who we are authentically.  Winnicott felt that we are less spontaneous and real when living up to our false self ideals.  We are also more neurotic and psychological unfit when doing so.

If you look back on your adolescence you may remember your own struggles with identity development.  You may, further, remember trying to fit in with the popular crowd, trying to be the cool guy in high school, not wanting to be considered silly or atypical by others.  I can remember my son, Bennett (aka Puddle in F3) talking about changes that occurred for him during this stage.  He was trying to “fit in” with the way he dressed, with sports he played, even with the music he listened to.  He got to a point where he said “to hell with it”, I am going to be me.  He started wearing socks with his sandals because, well, he liked to when it was colder outside.  He later saw other people doing the same thing as him.  He decided he disliked some of the music that high school kids were listening to.  He found he liked Neil Young, Pink Floyd, stuff his Old Man liked.  But in exploring further, he found Indie music with groups that were influenced by artists like Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and groups like Pink Floyd, but who were creating their own music of a different sort.  He has led his Old Man (yours truly) to find and love some of these artists such as Jason Isbell, The Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Jack White, Raconteurs, and Shins.  Bennett found in exploring what he truly liked that other friends truly loved this kind of music as well.  And these seemed to be the kinds of people who were more passionate about music.  I remember taking a group of his high school friends to see 70+ old Neil Young play in an outdoor concert near downtown Nashville.  The kids were very into Neil Young as was this Old Man.

We continue to form our identities as we go further into adulthood.  We face identity crises at work, in our love lives, and in our search for what makes life truly meaningful.  Hopefully, we shed some of our false self skin in the process and get closer to our true natures that God gifted us with.  We, after all, were created in God’s image.  And, the Bible actually speaks of us shedding our false self skin, which it calls the “old self” , shedding what the world wants of us, and living out a “new self” which is what God created us for in the first place:

Collossians 2: 9-10:  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

1 John 2:15-17: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Pinto’s mother who is very ill and may be entering the final phase of her life.  Prayer for Pinto as well after injuring his ribs when moving some things for his mother.  Prayers for Messi whose wife has had seizures and may have to be operated on in the hospital.  Prayers for Squirtle’s ex-girlfriend whose 21-year-old daughter recently died of medical issues.

The Gift of Today

THE SCENE: Beautiful, sunny, low 60s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Check.
WARM-O-RAMA:

-20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Imperial Squat Walkers (4-ct), in cadence

-Bolt 45s

– 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct), in cadence

– 10 Windmills (4-ct), in cadence

– Little of This and then That

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Area 51.

DORA!  PARTNER UP! One partner runs to fire hydrant near the Area 51 Loading Dock (this was modified to the big tree half way down… the fire hydrant was a bridge too far…) and does 5 squat jumps and runs back while the other starts the exercises.  Each pair shall complete the following:

  • 100 Big Boy sit-ups
  • 100 Lunges (doing both legs counts as 1)
  • 100 Merkins
  • 100 Smurf Jacks

Mosey to Grassy Field southwest of Admin Building.

RECTANGLE CONE WORKOUT:

  • Run around cones in rectangle.  On the long side, do Bernie Sanders, on the short side do Bear Crawls.  Stop at midpoints and corners for exercises:
    • At midpoints (long side only), do 20 Carolina Dry Docks
    • At each corner, do 20 mountain climbers (2-ct)

Rinse and repeat, but replace the exercises with the following:

  • At midpoints (long side), do 20 Bobby Hurleys
  • At each corner, do 20 Plank Jacks

Mosey to Intersection of Circle Drive.

  • 25 American Hammers, 20 Flutter Kicks, 20 E2Ks left side/right side.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
Ring of Fire, Captain Thors, and we ended with 31 Candy Corn

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We did the 31 Candy Corn in honor of Quikrete, aka Grady Pitstick, who joined our PM PAX last year and passed away last November.  He would have been 31 today.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. Take advantage of today.  Always take the opportunity to reach out to someone who might need a little support, a little encouragement, or just a smile and a friendly greeting. It may mean more than you think.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers to Sparkler and his family on this day.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Goliath at the Gorge this week-end. Good luck, brothers!

Durn Curmudgeons

THE SCENE: Sunny, temps in low 70s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Plank raises, 20 Plank Jacks, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers, 8 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on northeast corner of Admin Bldg.  We will go back on the road that semi-circles around the Admin Bldg stopping at various cones to do exercises.  The exercises at each cone are as follows:

  • Cone 1:  10 Burpees.  Then, Barry Sanders to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  20 Big Boys.  Then Bear Crawl to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3.  20 Squat Jumps.  Then Mosey past parking lot to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Imperial Walkers (both legs = 1).  Then Sprint to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5.  20 Squats.  Then Hop to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6.  20 Merkins.  Then Mosey to Cone 7
  • Cone 7:  20 Hello Dollies (4 count), 20 Iron Mikes, 20 American Hammers, 20 Dying Bugs, 20 Flutter Kicks

Mosey to Shaded Area near Park Entryway off of Northshore.

40 Baby Crunches

Mosey to Bottom of Mt. Everest.  40 Baby Crunches.  Then run up to top of Mt. Everest.

Rinse and Repeat on the 7 cone run on the road that semicircles around the Admin Bldg.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Ten men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Helping the Curmudgeons of the World

As HIMs we try to help others in our community.  Some folks take our help graciously.  Others do not.  Some people are mighty difficult to help.  I have been giving a number of messages about helping such “hard to help” people.  Helping difficult people, the curmudgeons of the world, is hard.  If we can trust that God is also working with them, it might make it easier for us.  Our efforts may not reap rewards quickly.  Rather, we might be planting a seed that will lead to blossoming that is very slow to come.

Furthermore, we must remember that we are sinners ourselves.  The curmudgeon’s pride, disrespect, and lack of kindness may be sinful but that does not make us somehow superior to the curmudgeon.  In fact, the curmudgeon might be able to offer us something that helps us to grow as humans.

A wonderful illustration of how Curmudgeons can involuntarily be helped by others and help others as well is the book A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  Ove is a true curmudgeon.  He can be downright rude and cruel to others.  He is 59 years old, has been forced to take retirement, and is pissed about it.  He hates life and wants out of it.  We find out, in the book, that the one person whom he did allow to get close to him was Sonja, his wonderful wife.  She saw beneath his outward stiffness.  But we also learn that Sonja has died of medical causes.

Ove contemplates and tries various ways to kill himself in the book.  But they are foiled by heaven, fate, or crazy people in his life that he just can’t get away from.  Two of those people are Patrick and Parvaneh, new neighbors who back up their U-Hual right over Ove’s mailbox.  Others are an overweight neighbor named Jimmy, a diffident mailman named Adrian, a flamboyantly gay young man named Mirsad, and a crazy cat that keeps on coming around Ove’s house when Ove would like it to go the hell away.  Ove begrudgingly helps each one of these characters (or animals in the book).  He feeds the cat and finally allows it to come into his home.  He helps Jimmy get a job.  He teaches Parvaneh to drive and takes her to the hospital to deliver her baby.  And, these people, also help Ove.  Although he wants out of life, they give him a reason to live.

It isn’t that any of these characters made the choice to help this curmudgeon called Ove or that he sought them out.  Rather, it is through their sloppy, confounding, odd, and downright hilarious interactions and relationships that each character grows – and takes Ove away from the incredible depression that was leading him to try suicide.

So, our interactions with others need not be smooth and on target to derive benefit.  Your attempt to help curmudgeons will be downright difficult and sometimes seem impossible.  But if you can be patient, who knows how God will work in your relationship with the curmudgeon.  You may plant a seed that brings about change.  And, God may work with your relationship in such a way that the doggone curmudgeon actually helps you!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Iceman gets married Saturday and Hooker’s wife, Carly, is due with baby in April!  Prayers for the aforementioned.