F3 Knoxville

Tag: Thunderstruck

Big Shoes to Fill

THE SCENE: HOT! 90 degrees, mostly sunny, but a slightly coolish breeze kept it from being unbearable.  Pele is going to melt this summer…!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check!
WARM-O-RAMA:

– 20 SSH (4ct, IC)

– 20 Moroccan Nightclubs (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Windmills (4 ct, IC)

– Leg/hamstring stretches, left leg over right, then reverse.

– 10 Plank Jacks (4 ct, IC)

THA-THANG:

Warm up Mosey around Admin building.  Picked up Pusher on the way back.

  • EVEREST SUMMIT PYRAMID: Do the exercise, then run up Summit each time. Wait at the top, come down as a group.  Cheer on your fellow PAX!
  • Exercises will be the following (all single count, 15 sec count in between rounds)
    • 20 Iron Mikes
    • 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Jump Squats
    • 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Jump Squats, 20 Merkins
    • 20 Jump Squats, 20 Merkins
    • 20 Merkins
  • MOSEY to grassy area near Roadshow Run. Three cones will be laid out for a BEARMUDA TRIANGLE!
    • Bear crawl to first cone, 1 Burpee, second cone, 2 Burpees, third cone, 3 Burpees.
    • Rinse and repeat x2 (only one Burpee per cone on the second round).
  • MOSEY to Intersection of Trail and Road
    • 20 American Hammers
  • MOSEY to stop sign at northeast corner of Admin building drive.
  • DORAS: Partner 1 Bernie Sanders to end of Guard Rail, then runs to tree, 1 Burpee, then runs back. Partner does the following:
    • 100 Gas Pumps / 100 Pickle Pounders / 100 Froggy Jumps
  • AYG to AO.

MARY:
Random assorted mix of core exercises.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 men, no FNGs. Lilydipper and Jinxy met us for the Board Meeting

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

As many of you know, Lilydipper stepped down as our AOQ last week.  He’ll be out for a while because of his hip, and there needs to be someone who’s here at the AO on a pretty regular basis, so he and the leadership team asked me if I’d take on the role.  At first, I was reluctant. As I told them, Lilydipper is the one who first introduced me to F3 and the Fake Gloom PAX, and is one of my closest friends and mentors in the world, and I he’s our AOQ, simple as that.  But, as with the Nan’taan position, it’s a good thing to transition in fresh blood on a regular basis and give more people a chance to take on leadership roles. So I accepted.  But the first thing I want to do is for us all to convey our deep appreciation to Lilydipper.  I wouldn’t have come to my first F3 without his introduction to what it was all about, and after that horror show, I damn sure wouldn’t have come to my second one without his encouragement.

So you Fake Gloomers are stuck with me for a bit.  It’s a pretty hands-off position.  I’ll make sure the Q calendar gets filled up, let everyone know about general stuff going on, but I do want to re-emphasize a few things that I would like us to focus on a bit more going forward.

  1. Community Service: We are here not only to work out, but to become better leaders, and to be a leader you first have to be a servant.  I ask each of you to evaluate how you can better serve your community, families, and churches.  Leaders must lead by example, and by actively participating in helping others, you take that first huge step.
  2. Cheerleaders for each other: We need to be cheerleaders for each other, as well. One of our biggest resources and source of strength and encouragement is each other.  Let’s continue to verbally encourage the man to your left and right during workouts. I know if I hear a “Way to go, Pele!”, or a “Finish it off, don’t quit!” from one of you Bozos it really encourages me, gives me a second wind.  Fist bumps and high fives, are back on the menu, too, now that COVID is relaxing its grip.  Help each other get through the workouts, especially now that the summer heat is upon us.  And this goes for stuff going on OUTSIDE the AO, too.  Personal issues, just a simple question about well-being, etc. can go a long way.
  3. Re-commitment to the values of F3. For some of us that have been in this awhile, there’s a tendency to take it for granted.  To just show up, get in a little exercise, maybe have a cold beverage at the Board Meeting.  But I’m going to try to re-commit myself to the basics again, and I hope you join me.
    1. Form. Not cutting corners. Especially when we’re tired.
    2. Positivity. Open to all men, all religions. F3 is apolitical.  We hear enough of that stuff on the news or in other facets of our lives.  Let’s keep that out of our community.
    3. As Crawdad says, show up, but SHOW UP ON TIME! Let’s recommit to being here by 5:45 pm. We often seem to double our numbers from the time the disclaimer begins to when we mosey, with a few stragglers arriving even later. Being on time shows a commitment and respect for the PAX.

In short, I want us to be the leaders in Knoxville in the way we work out, the way we support our communities, and the way we commit to a common cause of self-betterment through service. I’ve been proud as heck of our contributions to service drives, F3 Knoxville events, and our commitment to embracing the Suck.  But we can always be better.  There is more work to be done.  Let’s GO.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Lily’s wife, who is undergoing a heart test on Thursday.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Big Ball convergence cancelled, sign up for Dog Pound CSAUP ASAP!

Don’t Widen the Plate!

THE SCENE: Soooo beautiful! Upper 60s, popcorn clouds, nice amount of sunshine.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check


WARM-O-RAMA:

-30 Split Jacks (4-ct), 15 each leg, in cadence

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

– 10 Rockettes (4-ct), in cadence

– 5 PCMBs, OYO

– 10 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

THA-THANG:

PE EXAM (Hat tip, Erector)

MOSEY to STOP SIGN SOUTH OF ADMIN BUILDING, in a nice shady spot in the grass.

P – 10 Prisoner Cell Merkin Burpees aka PCMBs.  Basically, a burpee with 3 merkins and pulling each knee to your chest between the merkins (see F3 Exicon).

Near same tree, up to nearest hill and back…

E – Elevens – squats at the bottom and BBS at the top.

MOSEY across street to curved road that leads to gravel parking lot.

E – Escalator – BEAR CRAWLING! Fives cones: 1) 10 Burpees, 2) 20 Squat Jumps 3) 30 Imperial Walkers, 4) 40 SSH, 50 lunge-walks back to start.

MOSEY to field below Coliseum

**WE INTERRUPT THE PE EXAM DUE TO THE INVASION OF A KRAKEN!**

KRAKEN:` 6 cones in a circle, with Ab exercises in blue, and upper body exercises in red.  Do the blue exercise, then run around clockwise plus one cone and do the next exercise.  Rinse and repeat until back and starting point.  Then do the same thing, in the opposite direction, doing the red exercises.  * Didn’t have enough time, so we just did one circuit, alternating between blue and red exercises at each cone.

  • Blue exercises:
  1. 20 BBS
  2. 20 Gas Pumps
  3. 20 Box Cutters
  4. 20 LBCs
  5. 20 Bicycle kicks (4-ct)
  6. 20 American Hammers (4-ct)
  • Red exercises:
  1. 20 Merkins
  2. 20 Carolina Dry Docks
  3. 20 Shoulder Taps (both shoulders =1)
  4. 20 Diamond Merkins
  5. 20 Bottle Openers
  6. 20 Wide Merkins

MOSEY to small parking lot below Coliseum

X –Xs and Os , on Q’s call

MOSEY to Coliseum (… which had food trucks on it, and was being used by some people, so we went to the roundabout and did “A” there, substituting Bobby Hurleys for Bench Jumps)

A – Aiken legs – Done in succession with no rest — 20 Squats, 20 Box Jumps, 20 Lunges (10 each leg), 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward).

RINSE AND REPEAT

JAIL BREAK back to AO for the last letter.

M – Mary

MARY:
Captain Thors
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 dudes
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

An old coach named John Scolinos, who had begun coaching in the 1940s, once spoke at a Baseball coaching conference in Nashville, Tennesse in the 1960s. His talk was called, 17 INCHES.

He walked in with a home plate hung around his neck.

He said, “You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck.

“Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?”

After a pause, someone offered, “Seventeen inches?”

“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day?”

Another long pause. “Seventeen inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.

He repeated the same question for high school coaches.  Minor league coaches.  And those who had any experience in the big leagues.  The answer was always the same.  17 inches.  “That’s right,” he said.  “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?” Pause. “The press calls him a bum and they send him down to the minors!”

“What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a seventeen-inch target? We’ll make it eighteen inches or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.’”

Pause. “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him? Do we widen home plate? ”

“What do we do when our kids misbehave, break the rules, and tell lies?  Do we widen home plate?”

“What do we do when our politicians lie to us, fail to live up to the moral standards that we expect out of our elected leaders, and stop doing what’s best for us and the country?  Do we widen home plate and say, “Well, that’s ok, the other side does it too”.  Or do we hold them to their actions, even if we consider ourselves in the same party as them?

We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!”

“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today. It is this: “If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; We have dark days ahead!.”

Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches.  Don’t widen the plate.”

MOLESKIN:
Jinxy and Lilydipper joined us for the Board Meeting!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Kickball tournament this weekend.

Next Right Thing

THE SCENE: 70 and Sunny in the Fake Gloom
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Did it
WARM-O-RAMA:
Little of this, that, and the other.  SHH, Cherry Pickers, and Rockettes of course
THA-THANG:

Rounds of:  Squat Jumps, Lunges, Iron Mikes, Tempo Squat, Apollo Ono, Bridges, CLIMB THE HILL and then 4-ct Box Cutters, Big Boys, 4-ct Freddy Mercury, LBCs, 4-ct American Twist, 4-ct Flutter Kicks

Battle Buddies: 250 Side Straddle Hops, 200 Calf Raises, 150 Squats, 100 Push Ups, 50 Burpees

Rounds of: Diamond Push Ups, 4-ct Mountain Climbers, Carolina Dry Docks, Wide Push Ups, 8-ct Man Makers, Motivators (Starting at 5), RUN ACROSS THE FIELD then, 4-ct Box Cutters, Big Boys, 4-ct Freddy Mercury, LBCs, 4-ct American Twist, 4-ct Flutter Kicks

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Recently I’ve been pretty overwhelmed with life.  Some good problems to have, just a lot of stuff.  My wife told me, “You know what Ana says – just do the next right thing.”  It made sense to just take one step at a time.  I can’t tackle everything at once.  Chip away at it and everything will be OK.  A few days later I was complaining again about all that’s going on and my wife says again, “You know what Ana says – just do the next right thing.”  At that point I asked, “Who is Ana?”.  My wife replies, “You know.  Ana.  From Frozen II.”

Sometimes wisdom comes from the strangest places.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Charity kick ball tournament coming up.  Pele will post details in Slack.

The Switchgrass and Squirtle show: In Rememberance

THE SCENE: 60s Sunny and Windy
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER 
WARM-O-RAMA:
15X Little Baby Arm Circles (front then backwards)

22X 4ct Side Straddle Hops

Little Bit of This

Little Bit of That

22X Jump Squat

Run the Space Needle

22X Jump Squat

THA-THANG:
Switchgrass has the Mic:

2 Rounds

1st Round:  (Bottom of Everest) 22 Merkins, 22 Big Boy Sit Ups, 22 Air Squats

(Midway Up) 22 Burpees

(Top of Everest)  22 Calf Raises, 22 American Hammers / Durkins, 22 Hello Dollys

2nd Round:  (Bottom) 44 Merkins, 44 Big Boy Sit ups, 44 Air Squats,

(Midway) Still 22 Burpees

(Top) 44 Calf Raises, 44 American Hammers / Durkins, 44 Hello Dollys

 

Squirtle Takes the Mic:

Mosey over to the amphitheater. (Workout modification to share space with other park patron running his dog)

Bottom of hill 5 Merkins, Bear Crawl up hill, 10 Merkins, Mosey back down hill, 15 Merkins, Bear Crawl up then 20 Merkins, Mosey back down.

Repeat same workout but with Carolina Dry Docks.

Repeat but with Diamond Merkins and Crab Crawl or Reverse Bear Crawl

Repeat with Hand Release Merkins and Crab Crawl or Reverse Bear Crawl

Mary: 22 Hello Dollies in Cadence, 22 Box Cutters, 22 Reverse Box Cutters

 

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 Pax no Fngs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

In memory of and making aware that 22 Veterans commit suicide everyday. Even if they aren’t a vet please reach out and help pull a brother or sister out of darkness. Show and give them hope that people really do care. – Switchgrass

We all feel from time to time that we are in a bad place, a place that hurts, a place that makes you want to quit. But there is a light at the end of that dark tunnel. God knows and cares about your situation, your pain and your life.

He has a gift for you: Encouragement

We find that many people in the bible, like us, had been easily discouraged, depressed, and felt like giving up.

Moses for example, before he was used by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery, he wanted to give up at several points when circumstances didn’t meet his expectations.

Imagine getting to a stage in your life where you think you are too old and the idea that freeing the Israelites was a mistake. And then God showing up in a burning bush to revive your desire, power and might to accomplish that task.

If you’re still breathing, God’s not done with you. Your life has purpose and meaning.

  • Condensed from the You Version Holy Bible App, 13 Reasons to Keep Going, daily devotional plan.

 

MOLESKIN:
Keep Austin East and Jinxy in our prayers. Remembering Jetlag, Squirtle’s and other Pax’s friends and family members who fell victim to suicide.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
No announcements

With One Eye Squinted…

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy, very pretty clouds, low 70s, quite breezy.  Good kite-flying weather.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check.

WARM-O-RAMA:

-Motivators (7-ct)

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

– Hamstring stretches, sky reaches

– 20 Grady Corns (4-ct), in cadence

– Little of this and that

THA-THANG:

MOSEY to stop sign at northeast corner of circle drive.

  • ARM STATION: MUCHO CHESTO
    • 10x Merkin
    • 10x Wide Merkin
    • 10x Stagger Left Merkin
    • 10x Stagger Right Merkin
    • RINSE AND REPEAT

MOSEY to Center of Coliseum.

  • LEG STATION: AIKEN LEGS
    • 20 squats
    • 20 Box Jumps (on wall)
    • 20 Lunges (10 each leg… but we did 20 each leg for extra credit)
    • 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward… but we did 20 each leg forward for extra credit)
    • RINSE AND REPEAT

MOSEY to lower parking lot under Coliseum

  • 5/10/15s. Get a Battle Buddy.  Partner 1 runs up to stop sign and does 5x reps of two exercises, then comes down and switches with Partner 2, who is running in place or doing SSH.  R&R with 10x, then 15x exercises.  The exercises are:
    • Round 1: Mountain Climbers and Peter Parkers (both 2-ct)
    • Round 2: Smurf Jacks and Froggy Jumps

Mosey to stop sign at southern corner of circle drive.  20 American hammers (4-ct, IC), 10 BBS.

Bernie Sanders to no parking sign.  20 American hammers (4-ct, IC), 10 BBS.

MOSEY TO AO.

CMU Catch Me If You Can!

  • Partner 1 Lunges away, Partner 2 does 20x of an exercise, then runs with CMU (overhead carry) to catch Partner 1.   Keep going, changing the exercises.  Partners must agree on exercise.
    • OPTIONS: Overhead Press, Curls, CMU Press, Situps, Rows, Triceps, Squats

MARY:
LBCs until 6 caught up.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 strong!  Plus one doggy.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Those of us in the Christian faith have just emerged from a special part of year, the Easter season.  Part of what makes Easter so extraordinary is that it is about moving on, emerging from the darkness, and having faith that God will make all things new again.  As the seasons change, winter turns to spring, and the Easter season arrives, we move ahead slowly, deliberately, with great love, and great hope.  But the true meaning of Easter is not without some darker elements as well.  Before we reach the time of great renewal and hope there can be much fear, hesitation, and confusion, similar to what Mary Magdalene felt initially when she saw the empty tomb.

(Mary) Flannery O’Connor is a well-known southern author who wrote strange and often violent short stories.  She was diagnosed with Lupus at a relatively young age.  Her stories were often influenced by her struggles with her disease, and were often sardonic and dark, but she was a devout Christian that also incorporated messages of faith in her writings.  Her faith-based outlook on life are on full display in a book called THE HABIT OF BEING, which is a collection of letters she wrote in the latter half of her life. And she writes that being a person of faith is not all sunshine and rainbows….

She writes, “All Human Nature rigorously resists grace. Grace changes us, and change is painful.  We don’t run towards Grace, sometimes we are dragged fighting it all the way.”  Faith calls us out of complacency, and into places of uncertainty. It’s risky. Uncomfortable.  It’s transformative.  She writes, “What people don’t realize is how much religion costs…” “It seems to be a fact that you have to suffer as much from the Church as for it, but if you believe in the divinity of Christ, you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.”  Fear. Uncertainty. Transformation. And only then, Exultation! That’s Easter in a nutshell.

Flannery O’Connor died of her illness at age 39.  Despite the struggles and challenges, she wrote of her life, “I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing.”  As we move through the darkness of the past year, hopefully we can acknowledge our blessings and faith in the journey, and, with one eye squinted, find some grace, some miracles in the year behind us, and recognize and act on the ways we were all called to be changed.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the return home of Corona Weight’s brother, prayers for Ribbed, Jinxy, La-Z-Boy and Lillydipper, as they recover from injury and illness, prayers for Steam’s friend Shawn.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
April service challenge! Details TBA.