F3 Knoxville

I am not ashamed

THE SCENE: sticky and hot at Rampart
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

15 SSH, 15 Mountain climbers, 10 tempo merkins, 15 Moroccan night club, 15 Imperial walkers, 10 tempo squats
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the track for the burpee mile. 12 burpees followed by 1 lap times 4.

Mosey to the amphitheater. At the bottom, perform the first exercise. Jump to the second step and do the first two exercises. Jump to the third step and do the first three exercises. Continue until all exercises are performed.

  • Derkins
  • Box jumps
  • Dips
  • Lunges
  • Big boys

MARY:
No time.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Lucky 13 worked this morning at Rampart.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” – Romans 1:14‭-‬16 NASB1995

“I am not ashamed” stands out to me in this passage. I have found myself on several occasions shying away from opportunities to show my faith as if I don’t want people to know who I really am. It is hard for some, including myself, to stand-up for the truth. It is very possible that we may reach someone just by doing that very thing.

Meeting God on the Mountain

THE SCENE: overcast
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH – Tempo Squat – Tempo Merk – Mtn Climbers – LBAC fwd/bwd – Burpees – Cherry Pickers – Stretches

THA-THANG:

  1. Parking Lot (NW Corner along Rec Ctr)
  • 10 merkins – mosey to end of parking lot – 10 Bobby Hurleys
  • Rinse and Repeat – 5x
  • 1 minute plank
  • Mosey to Playground

2. Playground

  • Begin with 4 Pull-ups
  • 15 Merkins + 5 Pull-ups (5 rounds)
  • 1 minute plank
  • Mosey to Friendship Bell

3. Friendship Bell

  • 20 Merkins
  • 1 Minute Plank
  • Mosey to K-25

4. K-2(5) (OUR HIGHEST PEAK!)

  • 10 Merkins at Bottom
  • Sprint up hill
  • 10 BBS at Top
  • Rinse-Repeat x5
  • 2 Minute Plank
  • Mosey to Shovel Flag

MARY:
No Time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10STRONG

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I shared with the guys a story from our family trip to Scotland. We spent almost all of our time in the Highlands with some hiking along the Great Glen Way, seeing the lochs and castles and the most beautiful, rugged green hills and grey skies. While anyone can see the sights and enjoy the beauty, many people have shared that there’s a feeling Scotland has. I felt it.

I experienced the thinness of the veil between heaven and earth. In the far north, Loch Broom opens up to the North Sea, and hides a small village called Ullapool. It is shielded from the North wind by the hills that surround it. On our only morning there, I woke up early to walk up the hills, to be alone. I wanted to ask God how we’ll make it through the season of change in our family’s life. As the hill climbed above the town, above the tree line, above any sign of humanity, I heard God.

More accurately, I sensed something so faint that I was surprised at how tiny and ephemeral it was. I imagined I would reach the top and cry out into the wild solitude . But it felt wrong to yell – I could only whisper. Through my ragged breath and the incessant North wind, I felt a message from God, like a memory. It was like a large library with hundreds of shelves, with thousands of books, and millions of pages – with one page lit up. It was the image of Jesus being baptized, with the Holy Spirit descending on Him, and the Father speaking over Him: “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”

On a lonely, achingly-beautiful and lonely mountain, I met God. I am exhorted once again to fix my eyes on Jesus in this difficult season, and because I am in Christ, I receive the Spirit upon me and the Father speaking those very words over me as well. “You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”

Like my namesake, the prophet Elijah, I met God on the mountain. Not in the wind, not in the fire or the earthquake, but in a still, small voice in the hills above Ullapool.

MOLESKIN:
We praised God for an answered prayer and prayed for a continued concern for Tuba’s family.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Family Q with Pool Party; service opportunities – details in Slack.

Stranger Things in the Upside Down

THE SCENE: A muggy 73 with ominous silent heat lightening in the distance.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Properly administered.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH x11
  • Knox Cherry Pickers x11
  • Tempo Merk x11
  • Tempo Sq. x11
  • Shoulder Burn x11
    • Little Baby Arm Circles x11
    • RLBAC x11
    • Seal Claps x11
    • OH Claps x11
    • Chatty Cherry Pickers x10 (Dangit.)
  • Mtn Climbers x11

Mosey!

THA-THANG:

11s on Mr. Hill. Russian Twists (Yes, I know. They just go with my theme, ok!) at the bottom. Squats at the top.

Mosey to the clubhouse.

Ascending Testicles …What? I got it from the Exicon 😉 – Cousin of Balls to the Wall. 10 Derkins with feet on the wall at 15 degree position. 10 Derkins 45 degree position. Walk up to full BTTW pose. Hold for 10 count. Rest with 1 Minute People’s Chair. Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey!

Stadium 11s – 10 Derkins at the bottom. Jim Hopper to the top. 1 BBS at the top. 0 Derkins at the bottom. Jim Hopper to the top. 2 BBS at the top. …etc.

Back to the Wall for one more People’s Chair and one more BTTW.

MARY:
Circle Merkins up to 3 and back down with various claps, one arms (nice Wingman!), etc. Finished with dealers choice. 11 LBCs and 11 Heel Touches.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Stranger Things that Lie Beneath the Surface

In Stranger Things, there are these monsters lurking in the Upside Down. Most people aren’t aware of how they are affecting the town and people.

Moses was a Hebrew. Yet, he was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. He didn’t actually FIT anywhere. Think about the identity crisis that must have been going on inside.

Exodus 2:11-15 “One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting, and he said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian”

Moses clearly reacted in this situation and didn’t even think much about how wrong it was until he was exposed. It’s obvious Moses had things lurking on the inside. How did Moses transform from this incredibly rash, reactive guy with such violent outbursts into the great leader of Israel? He spent REGULAR time encountering God.

These encounters with God were the basis of his entire leadership. H sought God’s council on everything. Left to himself, Moses would have been reactive and controlled by what lies under the surface. Instead, he led out of GOD’s wisdom.

Everyone has Stranger Things lurking under the surface. Past hurts that cause us to react. Secret Sins in our past or present that we’re anxious to keep covered up. Temptations that we’d never want someone to know we struggle with. Thought patterns that are negative, unhealthy, or shameful. Being Anxious, Reactive, and Fearful.

Regular Solitude with God helps us to be non-anxious, non-reactive, challenging presence.

Don’t live in the Upside Down. 

Moleskin:
Prayers for Olive Oyl on the DL, Skeletor traveling, and our guys that are out right now.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
2nd F event at Shakira’s coffee shop, Coffee Whipped at 8am on July 30.
Aug 6 work day at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Knoxville.

Heavy Metric Workout #2

THE SCENE:  64 and clear.  Perfect for a beatdown
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered 
WARM-O-RAMA:
 

  • SSH
  • Hairy Rockettes
  • Finkle Swings
  • Willy Mays Hays
  • Cherry Pickers
  • Cobra, Down dog
  • Merkins

THA THANG:

30 minutes to get as many cumulative reps as you can. The following list of exercises are performed in sets of 25 reps. After completing each set of 25 reps, run 25 yards (6 parking spaces), do 2 burpees, and return for the next set. Here are the exercises:

  • 150 curls
  • 125 heavy squats
  • 100 OHP
  • 75 CMU swings
  • 50 Thrusters
  • 25 Blockees

When you finish the blockees, start over and push until the timer is up.

Once through the circuit is 525 reps.  How many cumulative reps?

MARY:

Flutter kicks
Prone row
LBCs
Merkins
Rosalita

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 9 of the best men I know.  Welcome FNG “Ocho”!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The reflection this morning was simple.  We set aside a few minutes to review progress made toward our goals.  First, as a group…  In January, we talked as a group about some of the ways that we’d like to see The Project move forward in 2022.  Some ideas were;

  • Fitness. We now have a few metric workouts to measure performance (military fitness PT, and today’s heavy PT baseline).  Let’s re-do those occasionally to see how our performance is trending.  Weekly Push/Pull/Plank challenge on Slack.
  • Fellowship. Consistency in the gloom and chatter on Slack.  Outside of the gloom – Hiking daytrips…  ..  Bonfires…  Spring camping trip…
  • Faith. More deliberate discipleship.  Developing smaller shield lock groups within the larger Project group.  Meditating on and committing scripture to memory.  Leading our families in study, prayer, and faith.
  • More men in attendance. More Sad Clowns who need something like F3.  Specifically, more newly married men and new fathers – those are critical points in a man’s life and full of anxiety.  We have a wealth of experiences to share with those men – let’s find ‘em!
  • Family Workout! It’ll be great to get the families together monthly. It’s also a service to the community to we are uniquely gifted to provide.  I think this will largely define The Project’s evolution in 2022.

 

Then, we turned our thoughts inward to reflect on personal goals.  Six months ago (or 3 years ago), what did you want to change in your life?  What goal or goals did you have?  Did you make a plan?  Did you tell a trusted friend?  How are you progressing?  If you’re on track – awesome!  If you’ve tapered off, today is a great day to get back started.  If you haven’t already, write it down.  Break it down into simple steps.  Seek accountability.

Proverbs 4:25, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.”

Hebrews 12:1-2, “…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Philippians 3:14, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

 “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

MOLESKIN:

We first did this workout in January.  Every man who repeated today increased his score!  Every. Single. One.  We ARE getting stronger, men!

Here are the scores;

  January July Delta
Rocket 515 550 35!
Snaggletooth 525    
Erector 550    
Mathlete 525 599! 74!
Tuba 510 516 6!
Bobbitt 516 565 49!
Kickflip 510 565 55!
Wingman   525  
3-Peat   500  
Ocho   325  
Boy George   535  
Skewer   450  

 

For more evidence of our fitness acceleration, see this BB from March

USAF Fitness Measurement – Round 2

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Hills of Contenmt

THE SCENE: 69 degrees, 99% humidity with a slight breeze to make Ol’ GLory show her colors
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Check, Check, Check and Check
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • 5-Windmills
  • 6-Cherry Pickers
  • 10-LBAC (Foreward and Backward)
  • 10-Grady Corn
  • 10-Chattanooga (Suck-up) Cherry Pickers
  • 15-SSH

THA-THANG:
We began our morning with a mini D.O.R.A., PAX split into groups of 2. PAX 1 started doing the exercise while PAX 2 ran 100 yards and did 5 burpees, then ran back and switched.

  • 50 Merkins
  • 100 LBC
  • 200 Squats

Mosey to small hill next to light pole and completed 4 rounds of climbing exercise.

  1. ROUND 1-Welsh Dragon up, increasing in reps until reaching 10. Mosey down the hill, 3 Merkins at bottom.
  2. Round 2-Buddy up. PAX 1 hold Al Gore while PAX 2 does 50 1-count flutter kicks back pedal up the hill then 50 Sweat Angels at the top. Mosey down and switch.
  3. Round 3-50 Sumo Squats at the bottom, mosey up the hill 75 Monkey Humpers at the top.
  4. Round 4- FINAL ROUND! Arm Release Merkins at the bottom. Mosey up the Hill for San Antonio Shuffle at the top. start with 2 reps at bottom, 4 at top and increase by 2’s until reaching 10.

MARY:
5 Min. left, why do Mary when you can play a pleasant game of Rochamburpee. We’ll call it a practice run with no winner. Rules to be slightly modified next time to account for draws.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 PAX Killed it this morning!!!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
1 Timothy, Chapter 6: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.” With all the temptation around us, and everyone trying to keep up with the rat race to take a second and be content with the great things we already have. All the tings we want or think we need eventually all add up to nothing compared to the gift that the Lord has given us. The assurance that at the end of it all we will greet him in the promised land. So just remember to take that second and thank the lord and find contentment in your current situation.
MOLESKIN:
Remembering Olive Oyl with his neck injury and all our others brothers who weren’t there for one reason or another. TAPS gentlemen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
August 6- Service/Work day at Cerebral Palsy Center @ 7:00 a.m. yard work, moving things, cleaning up. Message Judge Judy and see main thread for more info, equipment needed, etc.

July 30- Saturday Beat down with Coffee Whipped Cafe Coffeteria after. Hope to see everyone there!