F3 Knoxville

Stickin Together

THE SCENE: A nice cool 68 degree morning. Slightly foggy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry picker ic x20

Baby arm circles ic x20

Forward hamstring stretch

Downward dog calf stretch

SSH ic x30

THA-THANG:
We moseyed to the base of the Big Ball itself. YHC began by identifying what would be used as four corners: the current spot, just across the water at the amphitheater, further along the water at the West end of the bridge, and finally the East side of the bridge. Pax were to complete a set of exercises at each corner oyo and then wait until the 6 was in. Pax would mosey to the next corner together. Exercises at corners 1 and 3 would be the same, and exercises at corners 2 and 4 would be the same.

Corners 1 and 3:

  • Super skaters x10 each leg
  • Standing lunge x10 each leg
  • 1 leg deadlift squat x10 each leg
  • Monkey humper x20

Corners 2 and 4:

  • WW2 situps x20
  • V up rollups x10
  • 2 count American hammer x20
  • Crunchy frog x20

Once we returned to corner 1, we moseyed on over to a nearby cone. YHC pointed out that there were three additional cones just like this first one lined up approximately 30 yards apart. Begin at cone 1 and follow as instructed below. Sprint between each cone.

THE BEAST:

  • Sprint to cone 2 for 6 merkins
  • Sprint to cone 3 for 6 LBCs
  • Sprint to cone 4 for 6 squats
  • Sprint back to cone 3 for 6 burpees
  • Sprint to cone 2 for 6 werkins
  • Sprint to cone 1 for 6 American hammer
  • Complete a suicide as quickly as possible

Drive thru enjoyed this exercise so much he asked that we repeat it. We obliged him and did just that.

MARY:
Returned the flag just in time for some 6-minute abs:

Freddy Mercury ic x20

Heels to heaven ic x20

Flutter kicks ic x10

BBSU ic x20
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

MOLESKIN:

Giving Abort credit for the Q since I’m not in the QIC dropdown yet.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I am thankful for F3 and the ability to have a like-minded group of men that will support and encourage almost anywhere in the country (and even some other countries! Shoutout F3 Nairobi). Having only moved to Knoxville a month ago, I wanted to take some time to appreciate this group and make sure that we do not take for granted what a gift this group is

Big Ball Summer Olympics 2021

THE SCENE: partly cloudy, warm, mid 70’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Everyone was numbered off into 2 teams, each representing fictional nations competing for gold. Teams were Narnia and Rivendell.
THA-THANG:
5 events were held at this year’s Summer Olympics. With Olympic theme blasting in the background, Narnia and Rivendell gave their blood, sweat and tears to bring home gold and represent their fictional homelands. Here are the events:

  • Spikeball: Teams lined up in order, sending 2 representatives at a time to square off in a round of Spikeball against their opponents. After each point, whoever was in longest went to the back of the line and the next man subbed in. While 4 battled it out on the court, everyone else was doing typical warm up exercises (SSH, Hillbillies, Arm Circles, Tempo Squats, etc.) while waiting for their shot at glory. Narnia took gold in this event after a display of absolute dominance
  • Box Ultimate: Ultimate frisbee with an Olympic sized twist, instead of two end zones there is one box in the middle that serves as a universal end zone. Teams had to complete 3 passes before being able to toss to someone in the box for a point. Every time the frisbee hit the ground everyone had to do 5 merkins. First to 3 points took gold. Rivendell won a close game of 3-2
  • 100ish Meter Sandbag Relay: Sandbags were placed at one end of the field near the fountains, one for each nation. Teams got into order again. Whoever was in the front of the line ran to the bag, tossed it as far as possible, ran back and did 5x Jumping Knee Tucks, Carolina Dry Docks, and Big Boy Sit Ups each, and then returned to line. The next person ran as soon as the first person completed their toss. First team down and back again won. Narnia took gold in a hard fought battle
  • CMU Capture the Flag: Exactly what it sounds like, CTF with CMUs. The field was divided in half. You could be tagged on the other half but were safe on your own half. Anyone with the flag could be tagged at any time. Once tagged you had to run back to your own field’s far side and do 5x American Hammers on a 4ct. No one won, but Rivendell took gold due to being the only team to move the flag, a whopping 5 ft
  • Bear Crawl Ball: Soccer in a bear crawl where you can hit with your hands. Everyone had to stay in bear crawl in order to move of touch the ball. First to 3 would have won, but with a buzzer beating clutch shot from PDA we ended right at 8am with a tie at 2-2

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Shared the story of Robert McCherye, who was a 19th century minister who was just as well known for his faith as he was for being a workaholic. He died of cardiac arrest at 29 and on his death bed wrote “God gave me a message to deliver and a horse to ride on. Alas, I have killed the horse and now I cannot deliver the message.” I think we tend to acknowledge that rest is worthwhile but are still reluctant to take the time needed for it. Sometimes it makes us feel weak or like we’re wasting our time. When Jesus was confronted about working on the Sabbath He said that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath for man. It’s easy to walk away from that saying “OK, Jesus said its fine for me not to rest”, but rather we should hear that and acknowledge that if the Sabbath was made specifically for us then it must be worthwhile. So let’s seek out rest wherever we need it, whether that be physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually

Keeping It Simple

THE SCENE: A somewhat cooler morning, upper 60’s and not too humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Arm Circles, Shoulder Taps, Moroccan Night Clubs, Overhead Claps, This and That, Tempo Squats
THA-THANG:
Moseyed over to the drive in front of Gresham. We did 3 rounds of Doras, changing partners each time. We started at the end of the side walk and would run to the stop sign at the other end of the drive.

  • Round 1: 200 Merkins plus running
  • Round 2: 300 BBS plus running; if you finished first when running with a group you could add 5 reps to your total
  • Round 3: 400 Squats and running; if you finished before the person who started running before you you could add 10 reps to your total

MARY:
Moseyed back and did a very fast round of the Protractor

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The Office is easily my favorite show of all time. One of my favorite quotes is where Dwight gives Ryan sales advice saying “Michael always says ‘K-I-S-S: Keep It Simple Stupid’. Great advice, hurts my feelings every time”. This is really helpful advice for me as well because I have a tendency to over complicate things, even when making workouts, which is why today we did only 4 things that everyone knows how to do: running, push ups, sit ups and squats. This quote also got me thinking of how simple our call as believers can often be. Paul instructed the Thessalonians to lead a quiet life and work with their hands, Jesus’ answer to the question of what command is greatest was simple: love God and love your neighbor. Looking back on my life the men who had the most impact on me were not engaging in any sort of crazy complicated approach to anything, they just simply loved God and loved me. So my advice to us all is to keep it simple stupid.

The Un”bear”able Lap

THE SCENE: 70 degrees, humid and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, This and That, Arm Circles
THA-THANG:
We did two laps around the lawn, with a set of exercises at each corner and another set at each cone which was in between each corner, so 4 corners and 4 cones. Lap 1 we bearcrawled the entire lap, lap 2 we walking lunged

  • Corners: SSH x 10, Flutterkicks x 10, Merkins x 10, Flutterkicks x 10, SSH x 10
  • Cones during Bearcrawl lap: Imperial Walkers x 10, Box Cutters x 10, Carolina Dry Docks x 10, Box Cutters x 10, Imperial Walkers x 10
  • Cones during Walking Lunges: Shoulder Taps x 10, LBC x 10, Cobra Merkins x 10, LBC x 10, Shoulder Taps x 10

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Yesterday Drive Thru spent his Word talking encouraging us to sign up to lead a work out soon, especially if we haven’t led before. So I decided to give my Word to talking about why it’s worth meeting the need of leading workouts. When I think of why leading is worthwhile I think in terms of 3 “ships”. The first one being obvious: leadership. Raising up male community leaders is one of the foci of F3 and leading a workout is an opportunity to grow in that. The second is ownership. I went from feeling like someone who occasionally attended F3 to someone who is a part of F3 after leading workouts. The third ship is fellowship. I feel like I know those who lead often more than those that don’t, and that others know me better through me leading. So I added this onto Drive Thru’s encouragement to sign up to lead

Focker’s Bachelor Party

THE SCENE: A nice comfortable morning. No rain and just enough sun.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSHs, lots of joint rotations, tempo merkins and squats.
THA-THANG:
Started off nice and easy with some Doras. Battle Buddy pairs completed 50 merkins, 100 squats, and 150 LBCs.

After that, we took a lap around the field stopping at six stations along the way. The first round was a demonstration with 5 reps each. Then we released OYO to complete the ladder of 5-10-15-10-5.

  1. Squats
  2. Merkins
  3. Flutter Kicks
  4. Lunges
  5. Prone Row
  6. Burpees

Once we completed going ’round the field a couple of times, we gathered by the flags near the fountain. Running between the two circles of flags, we completed two rounds of 7s. First was merkins and squats; second was SSHs and flutter kicks.

MARY:
With four minutes remaining, some of the veteran PAX took turns leading us in core work.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
22 PAX to include 6 out-of-town FNGS (Heisenberg, Tyson, Martha, Floater, Hustler, Snake Eyes).

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Misfire gave his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Focker, some words of wisdom and encouragement. We concluded with a BOM praying for Focker and his soon-to-be wife.