F3 Knoxville

Tag: Whipper

The courage to lead

THE SCENE: Warm for January, low 50s and damp. Something like Ideal gloom with a waning gibbous overhead
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Projectivators
  • Tempo Squats
  • LBACs
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Fence Steppers
  • Grady corn

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to the parallel bars and have each man  handwalk the parallel bars
  • Mosey to the pool wall
    • Wall sit-ups – All PAX wall sit then do a wall-up upon command.
    • Repeat 5 times
  • Mosey to recruiting center
    • Relocate the entire block stack to the corner of the lot. TO move each block:
      • 20 plyo-merkins or thrusters to farmer carry each block
      • 20 4-ct heavy freddies or flutters to lunge the block
      • 20 swings or good mornings to rifle carry the block
    • Relocate the poles likewise in pairs
      • 20 golden arches then shoulder carry
    • Then move everything to the other corner of the parking lot
    • Then put it all back where we found it
  • RTF

MARY:
11 Heels to heaven, 11 American Hammers
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

On Saturday, I was fortunate to attend the convergence down at Bombshelter and, among several benefits, hear a message from Cap’n Crunch, one of the OG founders of F3 Knoxville. His message was framed with four points on how to improve personal leadership:

  • Resist Passivity
  • Expect Long-term Gains
  • Accept Responsibility
  • Lead Courageously

While any one of these points could serve as the jump-off point, today I am focusing on Lead Courageously. Unlike some other virtues, like temperance or fortitude, Courage is a word that still gets a fair bit of use in the modern cultural lexicon. Pretty much no matter who you are or how you view the world, everyone agrees that courage is virtuous, because everyone agrees that there are things which ought to be done that fear prevents us from doing. Now, Cap’n Crunch noted, and it bears repeating here, that courage is not the absence of fear. If you are not afraid, then you have no need of courage. Rather, courage is fortitude to endure fear which makes possible justice despite opposition, temperance in the face of temptation, and prudence which sees future peril but is not diverted. C.S. Lewis, in the voice of Screwtape, put it this way:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of all virtues at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity, or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” – Screwtape

Obviously, having courage is great, but how do I get it?

There is more than one way to answer this question, but today I want to focus on one that we moderns somehow often neglect: From the men at your side. Ever notice what lies at the center of this word: en-COURAGE-ment From time immemorial, men have been facing challenges in groups, even when it provides no pragmatic advantage. In fact, this reality lies at the very heart of F3. By facing our challenges together, with shields locked, we muster courage which we do not individually merit. Do not neglect to engage this resource, for:

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:36-39)

No one knows the future. If you desire to lead, you must either be naïve to this or courageous to face it.
MOLESKIN:
I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to lead you fine men this morning. Coming out of a bewildering day, you helped bring me back to center. Truly grateful for your fellowship today and always.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence at Rampart Saturday to finish his VQ and honor his memory. Receiving of friends is 3-5 at South Harriman Baptist Church, Funeral at 6. Burial will be Sunday at 2 pm at Bookwalter Cemetery in Knoxville.

Keep Your Head

THE SCENE:  59 and foggy.  Perfect for a beatdown.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Administered. 
WARM-O-RAMA: 

Little of this and that.

Mosey to wall.  10 wall-ups + 20 squats.

Mosey to the amphitheater.  20 merkins, bear crawl the length of the stage, 10 box jumps.  Mosey to through the parking lot, stopping for 3 burpees at each light pole.

THA THANG:

Mosey to the cinema – grab a block.

  • 10 Single arm squats – Left
  • 10 Sumo deadlifts
  • 10 Tricep ext w/ calves raise
  • 10 Curl and press
  • 10 heel taps
  • 10 BBS Press
  • 10 Good mornings
  • 10 Single arm squats – Right

Next… 5 stations laid out in the parking lot.  Perform exercise at a station, rifle carry block to the bottom of the steps, carry to the top of the steps and back down, rifle carry to the next station.  Repeat until all stations are completed.

Exercises were;

Station 1: 30 Single-arm squats + 20 Curl and press + 10 Blockee

Station 2: 30 tricep ext + calves raise + 20 CMU swings + 10 Burpee Jumpover

Station 3: 30 sumo deadlifts + 20 heel taps + 10 BBS Press

Station 4:  30 heavy freddy (4-ct) + 20 Thrusters + 10 Good mornings

Station 5:  50 CMU benchpress + 25 Derkins

MARY:

Mosey to the amphitheater.  Flutter kick for the 6.

At 6:14, jailbreak!  Get 60 seconds worth of distance run.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 5 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The day after Hardship Hill, our weekly email’s “Say What” featurette included a long quote from the Q-Source.  It was borrowed from Q3.12, Courage – which was appropriate given our race the day before.  What does it take to face hardship virtuously?  It takes…courage.

The chapter has a long quote from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, If.

“If you can keep your head when all about you  

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;  

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;  

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,  

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,  

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”

 

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…”  The Q Source calls this a pretty good definition of what it means to gracefully handle hardship.  Where does this courageous gracefulness emerge from?  It comes from living in peace.

And how do we grow this depth of peace in our lives?

  • Through PRAYER… (Philippians 4:6-7), “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
  • By LIVING VIRTUOUSLY…(Psalm 119:165), “Abundant peace belongs to those who love your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.”
  • By TRUSTING IN OUR GOD…(Isaiah 26:3), “You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.”

Use prayer, virtue, and trust to cultivate the peace of God in your heart – so that when you are confronted with hardship, you are able to keep you head…and respond to that hardship with courageous grace.

BE STILL

THE SCENE: 68 with 99% humidity (no joke)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: regular + CV19 + cell phone for emergencies
WARM-O-RAMA:
• Projectivator x6
• LBAC (fwd/bwd) x10
• Tempo Merkin x8
• Carolina Dry Dock x8
• Cherry picker x5
• Mosey to Half Wall – 10 Wall-ups
• Mosey to RC

THA-THANG: CMU Relay (not partnered)
With 1 CMU, 15 of each exercise (one at a time), then CMU bear crawl to other side of parking lot (island to island)
• Combo: Overhead Press/Tricep Extension
• Curls
• Side-step (4-ct)
• Lunge (each leg)
• Heavy Freddy (4-ct)
• Hello Dolly (4-ct)
Complete 15 of each exercise (one at a time) then Rifle Carry CMU back to starting parking lot island for next exercise.
• Single-arm Row (each arm)
• Alpo
• Jump Over (2-ct)
• Squats
• Flutter Kick (4-ct)
• LBC

Mucho Chesto:
10 of each merkin movement – 2 rounds

Mosey back to Shovel Flag

MARY:
PAX Choice: Rainbow Drop or Roll-over (elbow plank touching each hip to the ground), Pickle Pounders, Star Fish (diagonal V-ups), Flutter Kick doubles (8-ct!!)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
4STRONG: Chaco, Dart Gun, Whipper, Snaggletooth

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

BE STILL

We took a moment to be still, be quiet, slow down breathing, be thankful for the morning, for the health and strength to workout, the blessings in our lives. We took a moment to slow down, and become aware of God.

“Exercise daily in God – no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit today and forever.” (I Timothy 4:8, The Message Translation)

MOLESKIN:
Prayed for Chaco’s girl as she cares for her nonagenarian father, Whipper’s octagenarian aunt finishing chemo, and dad’s friend needing intervention, Dart Gun’s father-in-law in a stressful job.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
IPC @ JUCO tomorrow

Forgiveness

THE SCENE: Humid summer morning
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
harry Rockettes, cherry pickers, SSH, tempo merkins, downward dog, tempo squats
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the recruitment center for heavy day. Grab a block and circle up. We performed a series of 2 exercises starting with 25 reps each and then scaling down by 5s.

  • Curls and big boys
  • Tricep extensions and squats
  • Rows and American hammers

For the last round, we started with 30 reps:  merkins and 4-ct flutter kicks

MARY:
Dealers choice around the circle: SSH, heels to Heaven, lunges, mountain climbers
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 HIMs today.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
YHC (Erector) will try to recount the word from Chaco this morning. Here is a quick summary (sorry for the lack of detail). Nelson Mandela is a great example of the embodiment of forgiveness. He was imprisoned for 27 years for standing up for his ideals. He didn’t stew on this punishment, but instead moved on to do great things. To see forgiveness in this way, is to see something like an embodiment of divine forgiveness. Keep this in mind when you consider forgiveness.

“Are You With Me?”

THE SCENE: Awesome weather.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Done and done. 
WARM-O-RAMA:

  1. 10 Tempo Squat – 4ct, IC
  2. 10 Tempo Merkins – 4ct, IC
  3. 10 Windmills – 4ct, IC
  4. 10 Cherry Pickers – 4 ct, IC
  5. Mosey to Playground

THA-THANG:

7s @ Playground: Pullups + Burpees=7. 1 Pullup+6 Burpees, 2 Pullups+5 Burpees, etc. (Still lose count at the tipping point: 3 Pullups + 4 Burpees, 4 Pullups + 3 Burpees!)

Brick Work @ Toy Box (until we get a proper name for all our equipment near the Recruiting Offices – CMUs, Cut Utility Poles, Tractor Tires, Concrete Boxes, Pull-up [some assembly required]:

  • One at a time, each PAX will Farmer Carry 2 CMUs (pinch grip) from Toy Box to parking lot curb. This will establish the time/# reps for each exercise. Everyone else rotates through these exercises:
    • Curls (vary grips – inside, outside, etc)
    • Single Arm Bent Over Row (alternating 10 each side)
    • Kettle Bell Swing
    • Thrusters (cuz we can’t get enough of these!)
    • Squat (vary stances – feet together, regular, wide sumo, etc)
    • Single Leg Dead Lift (alternating 10 each side)
    • Burpees
    • For variety, we threw in some Tricep Extensions, Calf Raises, or PAX choice
  • At time, Mosey back to Shovel Flag

MARY:
After all that BRICKWORK, PAX Choice yielded 10 Windmills + 10 Cherry Pickers with a lot of moaning and groaning, and a last minute mad rush of Flutter Kicks, Hello Dolly, and Freddy Mercury.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Fantastic 4+1: Erector, Kickflip, Whipper, Snaggletooth and Jesus.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM: “Are You With Me?”
I’ve shared a prayer request with some of the PAX earlier in the week that I’ve had a few stupid moments in the last month (more than usual in quick succession): blow-up anger that terrified my family, open-mouth-insert-foot conversation with wife. I knew something was wrong and that I needed help. Since then, I’ve been able to see a counselor that has proved to be very fruitful and helpful to me. I came away with a question that is vital for marriage. What each partner wants to know is: “Are you with me?” In the midst of pain and fear, anxiety and sin, triggers and rush, each of us needs to know that the answer to this question is, “Yes. I am with you. I am for you.” When I get derailed, lose focus, or forget my priorities, I need to be asked, “Are you with me?” And when I feel scared or anxious, and I ask the question, I’ll need to be convinced that the answer is “Yes.”

With a little distance from Christmas, we may still remember this verse in the gospel of Matthew 1:23, quoted from the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 – “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’).”

Because of Jesus (Emmanuel), whenever we ask God, “Are you with me?” the answer is forever “Yes. I am with you. I am for you.” Ask Him. (Rom 8:31-39)

MOLESKIN:
This is why Jesus came – that we might be reconciled to God, adopted as sons. (Rom 5, Rom 8) He is a Friend who sticks “closer than a brother.”(Prov 18:24) He teaches us “how deep the Father’s love for us.” (I Jn 3:1) He fulfills God’s promise, “I will never leave nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6, Heb 13:5) How important it is for us to ask the question of God – so that we are reminded afresh of His answer: “Yes. I am with you. I am for you.” This is the good news for us. This is the gospel.

Prayed for Rocket’s mom, Spotter’s mom, and people affected by tornadoes in Middle Tennessee.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Collecting snacks for Wesley House on Friday March 6, Convergence at JUCO on Sat, March 28, Hardship Hill on Sat, May 2