Job’s Birthday Celebration
AO: Cruelhall
PAX: Bagger Vance, Donuts, Edible Arrangement, Dr. Smartt, Floppy Disk, Big Bang, Funyuns, CCR, PSL, Bartman, Blood Clot, Torch, Tortoise, Love Boat, Giggem, Cajon, CAPSLOCK, Accounts Receivable, Blackwater, Rooster, Grisham, Dupree, Prevac, Cinderella, Umbrella, Yard Sale, Big Stick, Foxtrot Talks A lot, Ludwig von Beethoven, Braveheart, Numb Tucks, Harvey Updyke, Offshore, Swamp Fox, Captain Derivative, Private Sandman, Black Widow, Olan Mills, Hood Rat (FNG), Wedding Planner (FNG), Ettou-five (FNG), Bernie Madoff (FNG), Honey Badger (FNG), Fancy Pants (FNG), GreaseTrap QIC
When I arrived there was a welcome party doing extra credit burpees, which I did not partake in. I watched Bagger, Funyuns, and BigBang put there rucks on which I advised would not be a good idea. They should have known that you don’t have to make my workouts harder.
Everything in the workout was based around two numbers(more to come on this):
135- the number of days Job lived after being diagnosed with DIPG
6- this day (Dec 8) was his birthday which he turned 6 years old.
Here is how everything went down:
There was some malicious intent on our part with the warmup. For all the FNG’s, we normally run a slow loop and circle up to stretch and warmup. That was not our plan. At the strike of 5:30 Edible hollers to circle up with some SSH in cadence. The joy to me was no one but a few pax knew how many we were going to do. Edible did a fantastic job calling out 135 SSH. Not only did he do them all, but he kept good cadence. Props to him. I will remember for a long time Bagger standing there waving his hands in the air. Haha.
Once finished I brought everyone in to explain the significance of the day and what the numbers meant. We were there to workout so no long speech for me, and I sent pax off to grab coupons and meet again under pavilion.
We had already knocked out 1 of 6 135 reps exercises, so here was the rest:
Partner up- count reps together
135 merkins with coupon on back switching off
135 Burpees (shoot me)
135 Tabletop jumps (some pax did bench jumps-weak)
135 coupon squats (FNG- Wedding Planner has the best form out of all of us)
135 Rows with coupon on chest
You had 5 min to compete each round and if not finished, move to the next exercise to keep up with time.
Put coupons up and meet back in parking lot for COT. Skipped Mary. 44 Pax took a min, but it was so cool. 5 FNG’s to meet and name. I knew all of them from different walks of life, and it was great for them to be there.
Prayer and then the announcement there was Donuts and coffee at Dupree’s church next door for everyone.
Words can not describe how much each of you have meant to me this year. It started out as a workout, and had lead to some of the best friendships. You all have been there with me through the whole time. There are moments that I will never forget- at the hospital Edible and Calf Killa were some of the first people to see us after the diagnosis, who, at the time did not know us that well. You all sent letters, texts, and recourses to me that I can not describe how much helped. You have always been there, at my house, when I said I needed help within 10 minutes. I particularly remember on Sept 14 I sent a text out and you were there in my driveway, quick. You prayed for us everyday and still do! Your wives have become some of Katie’s best friends and have given her so much strength. You have shown us a lot of love, and I am so thankful!
The 135 days Job lived after the diagnosis were some of the hardest but sweetest times of my life. With this type of news, your perspective on life changes, and it did that to me. I will cherish those days with Job for the rest of my life. I was suffering at the time, and F3 was what seamed to be the only constant in my life. Everything in my life turned upside down, but F3. I was still there because you gave me strength to go home and face the reality of my life.
Thanks to all of you who showed up Friday morning. It means a lot to me.
GreaseTrap
Winter Hillympics Week One
The first annual Winter Hillympics kicked off yesterday at The Hill as 20 strong enjoyed the cold morning with some fun and games.
The Winter Hillympics is a two-month long competition to see who can earn the most points and take the title of Winter Hillympics champion.
PAX: Frugal Macdoogal (QIC), Big Bang, Skid Mark, Toga, Funyuns, Buffalo Bill, Bro At Law, Dr. Smartt, Monkey Feet (FNG), Pop-A-Lock, Headstud, Bagger Vance, Big Stick, Foxtrot Talks A Lot, Pope, Tampa Libra, Prevac, Black Lung, Too Tall, Venus
All PAX received 5 points just by showing up.
WOR:
SSH x 12
Squat x 12
Merkins x 12
Good Mornings x 12
Willie Mays Hays x 12
Forward BAC x 12
Backward BAC x 12
Overhead Clap x 12
Shoulder Press x 12
Mosey to the Endzone
THANG:
Competition #1: 100 yard Bear Crawl
- First Place (7 points): Pop-A-Lock
- Second Place (5 points): Dr. Smartt
- Third Place (3 Points): Funyuns
- Everyone Else receives 1 point for completed workout
- Once all in, all PAX do 20 squats and 30 LBCs OYO.
Competition #2: 50 yard Sideways Crab Walk
- This was far more difficult than QIC had thought when planning workout
- First Place (7 points): Buffalo Bill
- Second Place (5 points): Dr. Smartt
- Third Place (3 Points): Funyuns
- Everyone Else receives 1 point for completed workout
- WWI until all in.
Mosey to the weight room, partner up, and grab a barbell with 10lbs. on each side (total of 65lbs.) per group and take it out to the amphitheater.
Competition #3: AMRAP Curls in 1 Minute
- Partner One curls while Partner Two wall sits, then rotate.
- First Place (7 points): Frugal Macdoogal and Dr. Smartt with 29 reps
- Second Place (5 points): Skid Mark and Headstud with 26 reps
- Third Place (3 Points): Big Stick with 25 reps
- Everyone Else receives 1 point for completed workout
Competition #4: AMRAP Upright Rows in 1 Minute
- Partner One rows while Partner Two wall sits, then rotate.
- First Place (7 points): Big Stick with 42 reps
- Second Place (5 points): Headstud with 26 reps
- Third Place (3 Points): Tampa Libra with 24 reps
- Everyone Else receives 1 point for completed workout
Competition #5: AMRAP Shoulder Press in 1 Minute
- Partner One presses while Partner Two wall sits, then rotate.
- First Place (7 points): Big Stick with 37 reps
- Second Place (5 points): Tampa Libra with 34 reps
- Third Place (3 Points): Dr. Smartt and Prevac with 28 reps
- Everyone Else receives 1 point for completed workout
Competition #6: 1v1 Curls
- Partner One curls while Partner Two runs Quad Loop. When runner gets back, partner stops lifting weights. You were competing against your partner.
- Winner: 3 points
- Loser: 1 point
Competition #7: 1v1 Upright Rows
- Partner One rows while Partner Two runs Quad Loop. When runner gets back, partner stops lifting weights. You were competing against your partner.
- Winner: 3 points
- Loser: 1 point
Return weights to weight room then mosey up to football field.
Competition #8: 100 yard Sprint
- First Place (7 points): Prevac
- Second Place (5 points): Big Stick
- Third Place (3 Points): Tampa Libra
- Everyone Else receives 1 point for completed workout
COT
Great job by all and an awesome start to the Hillympics! I’m excited for the next two months. If you missed out on week one, you can still be a part. You earn points just by showing up at a workout at The Hill and taking part, so come join us!
Here’s the point standings after Week One:
Big Stick 33; Dr. Smartt 27; Tampa Libra and Headstud 25; Pop-A-Lock, Prevac, Skid Mark and Frugal 21; Big Bang and Buffalo Bill 19; Monkey Feet and Funyuns 17; Toga, BV, Foxtrot, and Pope 15; Bro@Law 14; Too Tall, Venus, and Black Lung 13.
If you want to lead a Winter Hillympic workout, sign up – we’re booked through year end, but will have a few open dates in January.
See You Next Week,
Frugal
Offshore at The RaceTrack
Pax of 17 at racetrack this morning. Funyuns, olan mills, black widow, too tall, pop a lock, numtucks, Harvey Updike, umbrella, high heels, private sandman, ccr, headstud, dmishonuts, captain derivative, grease trap, Cinderella , offshore (QIC)
The pax mosied up to the parking deck and warmed up with SSHsx 10, baby arm circles x10 both ways, good mornings x10, willie Mays hays x10, squats x10. All IC
Proceeded to run 6 flights with 6 burpees at top then down and up to 5 with 5 burpees 4,3,2,1 till finished. Then mosey to brick wall for incline merkins x10 and derkinsx10. Another long mosey to the track to rotate between four stations x 3 (10 burpees, 10 WW1s, 10 pull ups, 25 squats). Next partner wheel barrows for twenty yards bear crawl back flapjackx2, then burpee broad jumps for 20 yards and crawl bear.
Mosey to parking lot for Mary with flutter kicks x30, lbcs x30, and WW2s x10.
NM:
Great VQ by Offshore this AM. Strong numbers at The RaceTrack as well. Great to see a run of VQs lately. HIMs stepping up! Let’s continue the momentum and get better!
Aye,
Funyuns (posting for Offshore)
Monday Funday
Under a bright super moon on an unseasonably warm December morning, 21 decided to start the week out right…
PAX: Olanmills, Legalzoom, Offshore, CAPSLOCK, Umbrella, Yardsale, Dine ‘n Dash, NumbTucks, PSL, Harvey Updyke, CCR, Dupree, Pop A Lock, Donuts, Ludwig van OshKosh, TooTall, Floppy Disk, Black Widow, Accounts Receivable, Blackwater, Dr Smart
Started out with 10 Burpees and then a jog around the ball field…
WOR:
20 side straddle hops
15 good mornings
15 BACs forward
15 BACs backward
15 high knees
The Thang:
Indian run to the bottom of the hill / entrance of Ellington (.4 miles)
20 jump squats
Indian run back up the hill to the school (.4 miles) and meet at shed to pick up coupons
Begin the Murph
Break up 100 pull ups, 200 merkins, 300 squats w/ coupons into 10 sets (10/20/30)
We get through about 5-6 sets before time to run again
Indian run to bottom of the hill / entrance of Ellington (.4 miles)
Indian run back up hill to the school (.4 miles) and circle up for Mary
40 WW1s
20 Freddie Murcury’s
10 tempo merkins
Good push by all and welcome to FNGs Randy Bostich aka Legal Zoom and Malcolm Reddoch aka Harvey Updyke.
Announcements: It’s Joel Kemp’s bday on Friday. Please keep the Kemps in your prayers.
A_R
DORA – AROD
PAX: CAPS LOCK, Pappa Lock, brother-in-law, Funyuns, PSL, PreVac, Grease Trap, Floppy Disk, Big Bang, Big stick,BV, umbrella, Black Lung, FNG (skidmark)
14 PAX braved the rain this morning to enjoy one last day of warm weather (60 degrees) before winter really rolls in.
Bagger was on the Co-Q to protect the group from experiencing a full VQ this AM. After a mosey to the top of the Ag Center and a quick disclaimer, Bagger responded to some mumble chatter with another lap around the Ag Center for good measure and then proceeded with WOR
THE THANG:
Partnered up for DORA 123
Partner 1 ran the distance while partner 2 performed the exercise and then swapped, building to a cumulative number of each exercise.
1st Exercise: 100 Merkins; partner ran to 1st speedbump
2nd Exercise: 200 LBCs; partner ran half way down Ag center driveway
3rd Exercise: 300 Squat Jumps: partner ran full loop up/down hill to Ag center.
Plank until all in then . . . you guessed it
Reverse DORA123 (AROD?)
1st Exercise: 300 Frog Humpers partner ran half the hill
2nd Exercise: 200 Flutter kicks while partner ran to first speedbump
3rd Exercise: 100 Carolina Dry Docks (no running)
Mosey back to the parking lot for 6 minutes of MARY DJ style, then announcement and the naming of FNG Skidmark
Great work today,
Black Lung
GrowSchool 2.0
Rev Scraps Christmas
QIC: Scraps
Pax: Aristotle, Iditarod, Yosef, Nuggets O’Patty (Tclaps for posting for his 2nd straight workout), Seagull, NPR, Mr. Roboto, Noble Virus, Grohl, Schnitzel (who bounced after the Beast).
WoR: Warm up big lap with politicians, side shuffle both ways, bear crawls and crawl bears.
13 Good Mornings
Some Willie Mays Hays w arm circles
Some Imperial Walkers
Some Hillbilly’s
The remainder of this post is in Scraps own words:
(Alternative) Christmas Workout
Christmas is not about jingle bells and Santa Claus.
Its about a Divine Savior taking on flesh so he can crush the serpent and bring life to his brothers and sisters.
SOOOOOO…
We started with the Beast (6 excerices, 6 reps, 6 times- 666). Sprint 25ish yards in between. Exercises were Merkiins, Squats, Burpees, Baby Crunches, Dips, Shoulder Touches.
By the end of the exercise, we all hated the beast…and longed for a savior- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
We then explored the mysterious humanity & divinity of the Christ child.
“Tunnel of Love” reminded us that Jesus was physically born a human.
So, we traversed through a birth canal made up of Planking Pax.
“Bridge of Hate” (renamed Psalm 91) remind us that Jesus was lifted up and attended to by angels.
So, PAX on BACKS awkwardly passed one another down the row.
Closed with reminder that anytime humans act like God, we end up doing, at best, awkwardly. Usually it results in disaster.
Only Jesus could pull off being truly human and truly divine.
Now, we get to represent him, as humans- image bearers, ambassadors of Christ, proclaimers of gospel.
Encouraged everyone to live out that true humanity, and let Jesus handle being God.
Anything else is awkward and laughable. Its sin.
And now, Aaron Neville on Bells
19 bell ringers posted for some fun on The Hill. Here’s how it went down:
Mosey down to gym for quick disclaimer, partner up for The Chipper: 30 pull-ups, 50 squats, 50 sit-ups and 100 kb swings (cumulative reps for the team)
Grab a kettlebell and head outside to the courtyard for multiple rounds of My Little Buddy:
- Partner 1 executes 10 kb clean and press ea hand while partner 2 holds a plank. Flapjack and repeato x3
- Partner 1 executes 10 kb snatch while partner 2 holds balls to the wall. Flapjack and repeato x3
- Partner 1 executes 10 curls ea hand while partner 2 holds boat pose. Flapjack and repeato x3
- Partner 1 executes 10 merkins passing kettlebell from right side to left on each rep while partner 2 holds decline plank. Flapjack and repeato x3
- Sit back to back with partner and pass kb 25x clockwise and 25x counterclockwise.
- Divide into two groups and pass all weights to top of amphitheater and back down. AMRAP for 3 min
- COT and YHC took us out.
- NMM: It never fails. When you get a bunch of guys swinging weights around, you have the option of listening to a lot of mumble chatter or bringing a speaker. YHC failed to bring the speaker, and a chorus of Aaron Neville wannabes happened. CCR, Kathy and possibly Venus were bringing it with the falsetto. YHC should have seen that coming??
- Solid work by all today, and it’s always fun to see who is smart enough to grab a decent sized kettlebell vs. those who maybe, kind of should have opted for a more sensible choice (looking at you BV and Umbrella, #Overachiever).
- As always, special thanks to Mr McDoogal/Keymaster for access to the facilities.
- Announcements:
GrowSchool this Saturday!!!! These are great opportunities to come together as a PAX, enjoy some good fellowship and refocus on leadership and the 3rd F.
Details:
0600-0700 Workout at The Hill!
0715-0815 GrowSchool inside FRA w coffee (Rumored appearance by bagels or biscuits)
BV at the mic to speak briefly on 3-5 topics from past GrowSchools, Freed to Lead and the F3 podcast.
Daddy is Back
Great to be pack with the fine men of West Nashville Westeros after paternity leave. Luckily everyone was sleeping and quiet when I left the house, so my conscience was clean as I depart for the AO.
5 Pax (YHC, Bad Boy, Megatron, Crawfish, High Viz) departed the parking lot and wait, who is that appearing in the darkness, PA and Porcelain! Lucky 7 for the morning. Could tell everyone was moving a little slow either from turkey or last weekend’s GrowRuck. We pushed on..
Here is what went down:
Mosey to the school for COP under the lights – 30 SSH, Imperial Walkers, Squats, Mountain Climbers, Merkins, and Good Mornings.
Mosey to the playground for today’s route o pain:
Suicide on the tennis court, bear crawl down the sidewalk, 10 pull ups, and a trip through the tunnel. Rinse and Repeat X5. Doesn’t look like much, but it was. As evidence by my wheezing and the rest of the pax.
Finished with about 10 minutes of Mary with the highlight being a perfectly executed Dixie Stamped. Indian Run back to the parking lot.
Bullhorn:
Great to be back after a few weeks off. Thanks to all the guys who have stepped up the last week or so as we’ve had guys out due to Grow Ruck recovery and holidays. You know who you are and it does not go unnoticed.
Megatron let us know about a great event that Parks Church PCA is hosting on Friday night. Details below. Also, Megatron is making his VQ debut on Friday. BE THERE!

