F3 Knoxville

Tag: Wedding Singer

Less Than Ultimate Frisbee

THE SCENE: 65 or so and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Check
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Michael Phelps, Hamstring Stretch, Quad Stretch, Butterfly Stretch (since he was in attendance)
THA-THANG:

PAX divided into two teams. There was Team 1 and I forgot the other team’s name. Two rucks were available, and each team was assigned a ruck to carry during the workout.

A bonus concept that emerged was “Don’t forget about the guy with the ruck.” While you are doing your thing, it is easy to forget that there are those who would appreciate your help. Bonus concept there.

Part 1

Timed AMRAP exercises. Since this wasn’t a race, the focus was on form. Straight back for Merkins, Straight back for squats, touch knee to ground for lunges (or as deep as possible), 1 min each exercise

  • Hand release Merkins
  • BBS
  • Squats
  • Lunges
  • Burpees

Part 1.1

CMU bear crawl across lawn. Some PAX did it with the ruck. Not sure why.

PAX not crawling were performing SSH or gasping for air.

Part 2

Less than Ultimate Frisbee

If the Frisbee hits ground – 1 burpee for everyone

If one team scores – 2 burpees for other team

When one team scores, an item is added to the team:

1st score – add ruck to carry (we set it down for a short while, it soon came back)

2nd score – add 1) 5 lb dumbbell to carry

3rd score – add 2) work gloves (from Harbor Freight)

4th score – carry CMU short distance across field 1x

5th score – add the Burpee Ball. This was a foam rubber offensive weapon which a PAX could use on the other team. Hit an opponent, they have to do a burpee. After this, the possession goes to the other team.

This proved to be a lot of of chaos and fun, and YHC would have continued the game longer if not for time. Teams were evenly matched and despite a direct hit to the face, the Burpee Ball was a crowd favorite.

MARY:
Ran outta time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 PAX including FNG Henna
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
YHC recently turned 40, I and took 40 days to concentrate on my habits. I added some things and took away some things.

Took away:

  • Sugary snacks, donuts, candy, ice cream, etc.
  • YouTube for entertainment purposes (fixing lawn mower – ok)
  • No phone in the bathroom (this is embarrassing)
  • Coffee limited to one cup a week on Saturdays

Added:

  • Exercise 45 mins, 3x a week
  • Cook meal 1x a week for family (didn’t want this to be all about me)

Reflections

I did well, and was glad that I did it. I’d like to take another 40 day period to build on this one.

  • The desire to quit is strong, but the desire to cheat is even stronger
  • Quitting usually comes after cheating
  • I found myself not wanting to go back to the old habits, now that 40 days is up. That is, it would not feel like a relief to watch YouTube for hours, eating ice cream.
  • Positive habit change is possible.
  • Don’t try to “get it all back at once.” If there are areas that you know need change, take measured, reasonable steps, but it usually happens in smaller increments that we would like.
  • Cooking took more time and effort than I anticipated. I appreciate my M even more now.
  • If you try something like this, it can have positive influence on those around you. My M decided to focus on her eating habits and has lost 8 lbs in the past month. It was her idea to do this, and it has been beneficial to her.

 

  • MOLESKIN:
    See above
    ANNOUNCEMENTS:
    Wedding Singer’s mom has surgery this week, reminder to sign up for Convergence next week

Looking for the next one

THE SCENE: Dry and about 55 deg
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER CHECK
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x 25 IC

OH Claps x 40 IC

Seal Claps x 25 IC

LBAC F x 20 IC

LBAC R x 20 IC

Hamstring and quad stretching

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the coupon pile by L&N. A flying EH was attempted by YHC to a local man in the gloom, but it was not received. Mosey back to the lawn.

Thang 1 Coupon Exercises

50 OH Press

50 tricep extensions

50 goblet squats

50 partner merkins

Thang 2 Coupon Relay

4 cones were set up in a rectangle measuring approximately 25 x 20 yds.  PAX were to take turns sprinting with a coupon to the next cone and return to the original starting point. PAX remaining at cone performed an exercise, dealer’s choice style. One the coupons were all delivered to the next cone, the group likewise moved on. Exercises included:

  • Merkins
  • Squats
  • SSH
  • Flutter kicks
  • Burpees
  • And other crowd favorites

Thang 3 Silly Lawn Stuff

Recreated the Battle of Ice Planet Hoth. PAX partner up, face each other across the field. First PAX begins doing Imperial Lunges across field. Second PAX sprints toward other and does 2 bear crawls around first, then sprints back to beginning point. Repeato until first PAX crosses field. Switcheroo.

Hot feet. What you see at high school football practices where someone yells out up, down, roll right, roll left, jump, hot feet, for what seems like forever. It was like that, except YHC did not have coaches’ shorts on, sadly.

Ball tag. Within the aforementioned cone rectangle, one PAX has a Wal-Mart kickball and attempts to hit another PAX. The rectangle got progressively smaller. After a PAX was hit, he did 5 burpees. The one who hit him with the ball did 2.

MARY:
Having too much fun playing ball tag to do

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 PAX including Fridge DR from Louisville
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
YHC leads games for children ages 4 – 11 at church on Wednesdays, and I got a lot of pushback from some kids last night. The basic idea was that I was not fair in my assessment whether they were out or not in a game. In short, I told the kids that I am trying to be as fair as possible, but I have to make a call. There was some pouting.

Upon further reflection, I realized that we as men can be the same way. If things don’t go exactly like we think they should have, we have 2 options. #1 Pout, or #2 Look for the next opportunity. We will get another chance, and we might miss it if we are pouting.

MOLESKIN:
Prayer for Swanson. Made a plug for the F3 Nation Slack Channel, where I got the Battle of the Ice Planet Hoth
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP 5/6. Convergence 7/2

FIVES

THE SCENE: 30 degrees and clear. The calm before the storm to come!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Imperial Walkers, Daisy Pickers, Calf Raises, Hamstring Stretch, SSH
THA-THANG:
Turned on some tunes and started with an Indian run mosey. Once we were nice and warm we did a quick circle of pain with squats before jumping in to the main event:

FIVES. Find a partner to stick with the whole time and then follow the instructions:

Start with the first exercise. After each round, run a lap and then add an exercise:

  • 5 Burpees
  • 10 Merkins
  • 15 LBCs
  • 20 Bonnie Blairs
  • 25 Mt. Climbers
  • 30 second plank
  • 35 American Hammers
  • 40 SSH
  • 45 BBSU
  • 50 Squats

MARY:
Due to some overplanning, no one even managed to finish the main event so we didn’t have time for Mary today.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Frizzles, G-6, Postman, Huffy, Magic Mic, Fixer Upper, Air Gretzky, Secret Shower, Wedding Singer
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Just a reminder about the 5 core principles:

  • Free of charge
  • Open to all men
  • Always held outdoors
  • Peer led
  • Ends in a circle of trust

F3 is much more than just a morning workout. Take advantage of the ability to step up and lead!

Reindeer Games

THE SCENE: A very warm December morning, right before the storm. Thankfully the rain held off

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Baby Arm Circles, This and That, Michael Phelps, Tempo Squats, Tempo Merkins, Hill Billies
THA-THANG:
Today we played reindeer games. Each workout was either a solo or team competition. Losers of each workout owed the winner 10 Burpees. The games were:

  • Bring Sally Up Pushup Challenge: Up and down in cadence with the song, last man “standing” wins
  • Murder Bunny Relay Race: Divided into 2 teams. Each team lined up at the edge of the lawn. From end to end were 5 cones. First person in line Murder Bunnied to the first cone, sprinted back, and led their team in 5 merkins. Next man up ran to the block, murder bunnied to the next cone, ran back, led push ups, and so on until the first team got their block across the field and back (total of 12 segments). Everyone held a plank while waiting to run
  • Hammer Relay: We worked together on this one. In a big circle everyone held an American Hammer position while a 8lb medicine ball was tossed from person to person, making its way around the circle. When you had the ball you owed 5 American Hammers then tossed it to your neighbor. If any feet or the ball hit the ground everyone owed 10 Big Boy Situps
  • Bear Crawl Relay: Divided into 2 teams again. Lined up again on one end of the fountain pavilion, with a cone on the other. Everyone held a plank while one person from each team bear crawled to the cone. Once there, that man called out the next person from their team by name to crawl to the cone. Once an entire team had crossed, together as a team they crawled back to the start point. First team out and back won
  • Beep Test: Just like middle school gym class, run to the cone before the beep, run back before the beep. 2 failures in a row = elimination. Last man standing wins
  • Ultimate Frisbee: Ran a quick game of Box Ultimate to run out the clock. Any dropped disc meant 5 squats for everyone

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Continued to share from my routine of developing the habit championed by Jerry Bridges of preaching the Gospel to yourself daily. I’ve also been doing a Biblical Worldview training program called the Colson Fellows that has a ton of assigned readings and daily devotionals. A devotional from a few days ago said “God loved us enough to die for us. But since God can’t die He became a man in order to do so”. I felt like this quote did a good job of stating the Gospel as well as the reason for Advent and Christmas. Part of the Gospel is that we know celebrate the incarnation of God through Christ, and in this season of Advent we wait in hopeful expectation of this, knowing that it also means Christ’s death on our behalf

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome to Man in the Mirror

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO SCHOOL

THE SCENE: A very brisk, 46 degree morning with the fog rolling in heavy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
A quick stretch to loosen up in the cold followed by an Indian Run past the amphitheater, across the bridge and back down to the big ball.

Circle of pain: Monkey Humpers

Circle of pain: BBSU

Circle of pain: Merkins
THA-THANG:
We grabbed some of the classic Big Ball specialty coupons and made our way across the parking lot to a waiting whiteboard that laid out what was ahead of us: The Billy Madison. Pax were told that we were going back to school to try to prove once and for all that we are not so foolish. Each exercise represented the final exam to pass a specific grade- and each exam (much to our disappointment) was completely cumulative for all of the prior years. The final exams were as follows:

  • 1st grade: Merkins x 10
  • 2nd grade: Squats x 10
  • 3rd grade: LBC x 10
  • 4th grade: Coupon curls x 20
  • 5th grade: Plank jacks x 10 (4 ct)
  • 6th grade: Coupon squat press x 10
  • 7th grade: Iron Mike x 10 (2 ct)
  • 8th grade: Mountain climber x 10 (4 ct)
  • 9th grade: Coupon rows x 10
  • 10th grade: American hammer x 10 (4 ct)
  • 11th grade: Side straddle hop x 10
  • 12th grade: Burpee x 10

Though there were many valiant efforts made- least of which from YHC – none of the Big Ball participants had what it took to graduate and move on. Unfortunately in this reenactment of the story, O’Doyle continued to rule.

MARY:
Working as hard as we could to graduate on time left us no room for Mary today. She wil
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
G-6 (respect, respect, respect), Wedding Singer, Magic Mic, Frizzles

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Today was some encouragement towards EHing those around us. F3 is too good of a thing to keep to ourselves and we should continue to keep eachother accountable in inviting others in. A quick example of the way that F3 can be used in a man’s life was seen at the F3 10 year convergence a couple of weeks ago when F3 Nation leadership was naming FNGs on the beach:

“Our newest FNG was named ‘Rojas’ at the 10 year convergence. Olaf from F3 The Fort gave him an EH as we ran to the workout. He joined us for the full beatdown. After a couple of minutes of throwing out ideas in the Name-a-Rama, we settled on ‘Rojas’ after a character on the show ‘Ted Lasso’. We didn’t know until afterward, but he was honored to get the nickname. Unbeknownst to any of the 355 men there, Rojas was his mother’s maiden name. She passed away three months ago and on the morning we ran by him, he was thinking about her. If you do not believe in a higher power, perhaps this story will remind you that there are no coincidences. Leave space for the miraculous.”
MOLESKIN:
It is unfortunate that the exams were timed as I believe all Pax would have successfully graduated if they had been allowed all the time they needed. Perhaps next time we will move quicker in to the exam time and see what kind of performance is achieved. Maybe we can even see what some of these guy get up to after graduation! It was also a disappointment when everyone realized there would be no recess included in the studies. Perhaps including a quick recess in future attempts would improve morale and allow for some graduates to shine.