Sometimes hugs say more than words / 1 year knollaversary!

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning stār , El Capitan
PAX: Ex-Pat, Wolfpack, The Merchant, El Capitan, FLO, The Banker, Timber, Lunch Lady, Ranger, morning stār, Pebbles, Parka-Eh, Birdman (2.0), Rubiks (2.0), Smoltz (2.0), Mozart (2.0), Bumble bee (2.0), Link (2.0), Retro (2.0), 2 fun new kids yet to be named
FNGs: 2 Retro (2.0), 2 fun new kids yet to be named
COUNT: 21
CONDITIONS: delightful

WARMUP:
– mosey around the backstop as a group while signing “happy anniversary to the knoll”
– SSH x12, joint warmups x 12 (neck, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles)

THE THANG:
Split into 2 teams, then again to get 4 teams.

Part 1: minute to win it
Each team performed given exercises at own pace for 1 min. Add up team total at the end.
Exercises: merkins, squats, lt. dans

Timber’s team won the first two. Lots of fun mumble chatter about legitimacy of this.

Mosey around the backstop and sing “happy anniversary to the knoll” again.

Hand off Q to El Capitan.

Part 2: Fun and Games
Form back into original 2 teams.

Round 1: frisbee
Round 2: soccer
Round 3: Calvin ball … 2 adults and 2 kids from each team split off to do human wheelbarrow to the tree and back while the rest played soccer and frisbee (all at once)

Stopped Calvin ball early to bring in the six because “we leave no man behind”.

COT:
– count-o-roma and name-o-roma
– YHC read “The Rabbit Listened” and talked about how this kids book gives him a wonderful example of how to BE with those around him that are hurting or upset.
– We poured drinks and YCH toasted (with a shot of olive oil).

“May we all continue to learn to live from our hearts.
May we all continue to get physically fit.
May we all continue to choose fellowship over isolation.
May we all continue to give this away and invite others into this space.
Blessing to all of you present, and all of those that will join us in the next year!”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Lunch Lady and YHC informal fasting club, reach out to one of us if you’re interested. It’s for those that want to explore fasting (from physical health or spiritual perspective) or those that are already fasting and could use encouragement/mutual edification.
– may-you-pull-up challenge starting next Monday. Goal is to see how much you can improve your pull up max over 4 weeks. Most improved gets a beer or coffee on Hair Band.
– pain-train official launch next week! Bring your coupons (cinder blocks so they can get branded).
– Ex-Pat is leading a book study on Falling Upward by Richard Rohr starting May 14th. This is especially for men in their late 30s or 40s and feeling a shift in their outlook on life; open to all though. Reach out to him directly if interested.
– Check slack for others …

MOLESKINE:
– Great to see new and old friends today!
– Backstory on the Rabbit Listened: we got this book via Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (free books for kids though age 5). When I first read it I was deeply moved. My typical reaction to something going wrong around me is to find blame (who did it?) and then to fix it. This reaction has done a lot of harm to my relationships, especially with my M (wife) and 2.0s (kids). The Rabbit listened gave such a clear picture of how I could BE with those around me that are hurting or upset.
– I choke up and tear up each time I read it. I want to be the rabbit and I also am grateful for all those in my life that have chosen to BE with me in the beautiful mess of my broken humanity.
– About 6 months ago I traveled to California to spend with with my dad, step mom and my sister. They were all going through really hard times. When I prayed and considered how to BE on that trip, I realized that God was inviting me to sit and listen like the Rabbit. I took that book on my trip and it helped me recenter and practice this skill.
– Here’s the book being read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBjAWkog9n0&ab_channel=BuddySonStorytime

Continue to practice BEING with others my brothers,
-m*

Vulnerability Line Dance

AO: the-knoll
Q: Ex-Pat
PAX: Pebbles, Siri, Lunch Lady, morning star, Timber, Sparrow, Ex-Pat, Wolfpack, Sooie, G-string, Link (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: wonderful, cool and breezy

WARMUP: Downward Dog to Plank to Upward Dog on Command, BACS, Back-BACS in Cadence, Willie Mays Hays on own, Motivators starting with 5

THE THANG:
There is a line of cones in the grass, each cone has 2 people. 5 minute exercise where one partner does the exercise and the other answers a question and has a conversation. 2.5 minutes for each and switch. After the 5 minutes you rotate to the next cone on your right to have a new parter. Q calls out the exercise and question for each round

Exercise 1 – Plankril – 2min 42 seconds or Side Plank to Plank to Other Side Plank 10 seconds each.
Question 1 – what are you most grateful for in your life? Why?

Exercise 2 – Lunge & Squat – lunge left, lunge right, 5 second slow squat and repeat
Question 2 – what is something you are afraid of? Why?

Exercise 3 – Shoulder press & London Bridges – shoulder press x 20 then London Bridge x 10 and repeat
Question 3 – what do you value most in a friendship and why?

Exercise 4 – Butt Kicks x20 then High Knees x20 then Mountain Climbers x20 and repeat
Question 4 – what is something you would change about how you were raised? How did affect you as a kid and how does it affect you now?

Exercise 5 – Merkins – Either do merkins the entire 2.5 minutes, do side plank to merkin to other side plank repeat, or do 10 merkins then 5 burpees and repeat
Question 5 – what is something you need to or can do to deepen a friendship or your involvement in community?

Mary – 1 minute choose you own adventure – choose your own Mary

MOLESKINE:
I’ve been thinking about wealth lately. We tend to only think of monetary wealth. But what happens if that doesn’t exist? What if money was useless? What is going to be the most important resource? It is social wealth. Our species survived because it could think and the first thing we thought to do is to group together and work together. We need to get back to that and think about our social wealth and how we build that. And we need to think about how busy we are and does that add or subtract to our social wealth. We never do nothing – and we need to do more of nothing, and do nothing with others – so the challenge is to grab someone and go do nothing with them – go take a walk, sit and watch a sunset, etc.

Prayed a Scottish Celtic Blessing and took prayer requests

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Pain Train on Fridays
New locations are starting

COT: morning star brought the cold ginger tea and it was amazing! Thank you all again for honoring me by allowing me to lead you. Thank you for your vulnerability and having conversations that blessed me.

Games with Dad – Bring your kids to workout, part 2

AO: the-knoll
Q: Wolfpack , Sooie, Ex-Pat, Pebbles
PAX: Aflac, El Capitan, Siri, Sooie, Ex-Pat, Wolfpack, morning star, Merchant, Firefox, Bumble bee (2.0), Awesome Axolotl (2.0), Link (2.0), Birdman (2.0), White Pony (2.0), Rubiks (2.0)
FNGs: 2 White Pony (2.0), Rubiks (2.0)
COUNT: 16
CONDITIONS: warm, overcast and delightful

WARMUP: (Wolfpack and Link)
I Spy With My Little Eye – Various stretches while Link called out different parts of the playground he spies (Top of a slide, a pole, a ladder). PAX has to run and touch that spot on the playground.

THE THANG:
Part 1 – baseball practice (Pebbles)
Pax team up with a 2.0 for infield practice. 1 Pax does exercise while the other runs the bases. Switch between exercise and running for 2:30.
– First Base – Lunges
– Second Base – Carolina Dry Docks
– Short Stop – Burpees
– Third Base – Merkins
– Catcher – Squats

Part 2 (Ex-pat and Birdman)
2 min each circuit, 30 sec rest/explain and mosie to other area
1. London bridge – dad goes into bridge and kid army crawls under then dad comes down or not and kid continues to make circles
2. Leap Frog to next exercise
3. Slow hold tandem crunch – face each other feet together and hold hands, one moves to a low hold for 10 seconds and then switch. Keep going for all time
4. High skip to next exercise
5. Hold squat jumping jacks – dad holds a squat and kid does 15 jumping jacks and then switch
6. Bear crawl to next exercise
7. Stacked push ups – dad on ground, kids hands on back, dad does merkin then kid does one – go till fatigue
8. Ladder – take turns following each other through the ladder making up steps as you go

Mary (Sooie) – PAX choice

MOLESKINE: this was round 2 and we’ll continue this each month. Was great to see 2 new 2.0s!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– pre-hab continues at 5:15 before the workout
– Plankril is on!

COT: (Pebbles)
We have many roles as fathers. One of the most important is to teach our kids what’s right and wrong. However our delivery (tone, body language, etc) is just as important as our message. Sometimes we need to be firm and enforce consiwuiendes and other times our kids need complete mercy. May we consider this and have discernment.

Requests shared and prayers said.

#the-knoll’s 1st Annual (B)easter Egg Hunt!

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: Aflac, Wolfpack, morning star, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, Sooie, Link (2.0), Bumblebee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: frosty & starlit

TUNES: Americana / Alt-country

WARMUP:

1. downward dog
2. Viper
3. 3x power push-ups (both sides)
4. Deep Calf stretch
5. Back twist
6. BACs & BackBACs 15x each
7. Motivators to 5

THE THANG:

All PAX circle up in grass beside picnic table.

One PAX will don headlamp & bring back one (B)easter egg – eggs are hidden around playground, underneath trees, etc.

Waiting PAX will perform a plank until seeker returns.

All PAX will perform whatever exercise is written on the slip of paper in the (B)easter eggs.

Rotate until all eggs have been opened (25 eggs total – we did 24!)

MOLESKINE:

I encouraged the PAX to find ways to include joy in the hum-drum and routine moments of life.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

– Plankril starts Monday!

– BYO2.0 workout on Tuesday, April 2nd.

COT:

– Countorama
– Nameorama
– Sooie on the 6
– Prayer requests shared & lifted up to the Lord
– Sooie Brewie

So thankful for y’all!

:mountain:

Endless Reps, Together

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: morning star, El Capitan, Wolfpack, Sooie, Malibu, Merchant, Right Said, Link (2.0), Bumblebee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: Decent weather for ducks, but at least we had 70s Rock to listen to. :the_horns:

WARMUP: Caboose-is-loose run to the top of Harpeth Knoll hill. At top of hill, all PAX will do together:

-10x 3-count merkins
-10x 3-count squats

Turn around & return to playground. Split up into two teams & line up at playground.

THE THANG:

Phase 1:

Each PAX team will perform the following “endless” exercises …
– Lunges
– Leg Raises on back
– Carolina Dry Docks
– Freddy Mercuries

One PAX will long jump to opposite end zone lamp, high knees back. Rotate until all PAX have completed the mosey, then move on to the next exercise. Rinse, repeat.

Phase 2:

Mosey to flood table.

All PAX perform “endless” dips while one PAX runs to backstop & back. Exercise is complete when all PAX have completed backstop mosey.

Phase 3:

A Cool Down Stretch!

– Butterflies with deep breathing sequence
– Straight-leg stretch
– Child’s pose (my favorite)
– Downward dog / arch
– Viper
– Power Push-up Stretch
– Deep calf stretch
– Back twist

MOLESKINE:

I struggle with anxiety, especially when it comes to finances. Recently, we’ve had several (expensive) things hit my family at once which has caused me to reflect… do I trust that God will take care of us? As a Christian, do I believe Jesus’ words when He tells His disciples to “consider the birds of the air & the flowers of the field” and “does not Your Father provide for them”? I challenged the PAX to consider their personal anxieties, and to give them up to the Lord who knows & cares for them.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

– #PreHab will continue each morning at 5:15 unless otherwise notified by morning star
– That Mile :grimacing: is happening at greenmachine Thursday. I will be offering a slightly (but only just) less difficult workout at the-knoll.
– Plankril is less than a week away… One minute plank on April 1st (no fooling), add 6 seconds each day after that.

COT:

Prayer requests were shared amongst the PAX. We closed in a moment of silent reflection & prayer, followed by Sooie Brewie.

I’m so thankful for y’all.

:mountain:

The OTB One at Pain Train

AO: offthebooks
Q: Wolfpack
PAX: Flower Power, Link (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 3
CONDITIONS: 65 and sprinkling. Perfect weather.

WARMUP: mosey around the park. SSH, BACs, BACBACs, stretch your legs

THE THANG:
THANG 1: DORA
200 reps Merkins
200 reps dips
One Pax runs around the playground while the other is knocking out the reps.

Thang 2: 11’s
Pull ups
Skull Crushers
15 yard run in between

Thang 3: Follow the Leader
Tested our mobility and ability to squeeze through tight spots on the playground while following Link as best we could.

Mary:
LBCs
Freddie Mercuries

MOLESKINE: Huzzah for showing up and getting the work done in the rain.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT: Fellowship at The Well

Ten Trees!

AO: the-knoll
Q: Wolfpack
PAX: AAA, The Banker, G-string (Eli Kresta), Pebbles, morning star, El Capitan, Sooie, Bumblebee (2.0), Big Red (2.0), Link (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: Cold enough for gloves, yet warm enough for short sleeves… very confusing times we live in…

WARMUP: Mosey to stop sign then a series of stretching exercises led by Link.

THE THANG:
Thang 1
Huddle around the River Table to complete a series of exercises done in reps of 10. After each set of 10 you must run and touch a tree.

Round 1: Squats (5reps) Merkins (5reps) x10 sets
Round 2: Iron Mikes (5reps) Dips (5reps) x10 sets

Partnered up for the next two rounds:
Round 3: Picolis until partner returns from touching a tree x10 sets
Round 4: Shoulder taps until partner returns from touch a tree x10 sets

Thang 2
6 rounds of 1 minute freeze tag.
If you get tagged you must stand with legs apart performing Overhead claps until someone crawls between your legs to unfreeze you. All Pax got a chance to be “it”

Mary
LBCs and Flutter kicks

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Lots coming up! I encourage everyone to check out Toothless’s latest post in General for everything.

Tuesday 3/5 – Take Your Kid to Workout Day here at The Knoll… great chance to share our passion for the three Fs with your family, friends, Pax who haven’t come out in a while, and PAX who haven’t experienced the beatdown that is a 2.0 workout.

COT:
Sometimes showing up is enough.

dad jokes; lol

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning star
PAX: Sooie, Wolfpack, G-string (Eli Kresta), The Banker, Pebbles, DB, Malibu, morning star, Link (2.0), Bumble bee (2.0), RP (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: dark, yet lovely

WARMUP: split into 4 teams and mosey to the tree line while passing a ball among the team … stop at the knoll hill and roll down.

30 SSH (led by RP), motivator x5, balance follow the leader style, 15 low slow squats (led by RP)

THE THANG: mosey to the backstop and split into 4 stations:
1. move rocks into a pile, then do it again
2. Three sets of motivators x 5
3. Crawl forwards and backwards between the backstop benches (change crawling each set)
4. One partner does a body builder burpee, the other does fast and loose drills, then switch

Continue at your station until another team team relieves you. The motivators are the clock, once they finish, they transition to new stations.

Music: Dad jokes music …

MOLESKIN: YHC talked about the importance as men, and especially fathers to learn to get back to joy from challenging emotions. There’s a joy center in our brain that can keep growing as we practice appreciation and connection. Joy is relational, its about being delighted to be with someone. YHC was inspired by a workbook my 2.0s have been going through to create a “calming bag” to help with this. My intention is to go to the bag instead of food when I’m stressed and dysregulated.

YCH encouraged the PAX to reflect on how they are leading by example in their household, especially in the area of soul/heart care.

YHC prayed the PAX out.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– F3 Franklin has a monthly physical challenge; run/walk/ruck at least 1 mile a day … reach out if you want access to the spreadsheet.
– YHC will be taking a mini-break from AOQ for Feb/March, Wolfpack will sub in for me. Honor to Wolfpack for his willingness; excited to grow under your leadership!

El Cap’s Indie Rock Block

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: morning star, G-string (Eli Kresta), Pebbles, Sooie, Wolfpack, El Capitan, AAA, @BigRed (2.0), @Link (2.0), @Bumblebee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Starlit, upper 30s

TUNES: Indie / Alternative Jams

WARMUP:  

– Climb stretch routine
– Willie Mays Hayes (3x each side)
– Don Quixotes (in cadence)
– Cherry pickers (in cadence)
– On your own stretch

THE THANG:

ROUND 1:

Caboose-is-loose up Harpeth knoll hill, right at Harpeth Bend, back up to the coupon tree.

ROUND 2:

Four light cones. PAX will team up in pairs of two, choose a coupon, & line up at starting line.

With coupon in tow, Player 1 will LUNGE to each cone.

First cone: 15x goblin squats

Second cone: 15x overhead presses

Third cone: 15x curls

Leave coupon at third cone & bear crawl to backstop benches for 15 step ups

Bear crawl back to third cone & pick up coupon to mosey to starting line.

Player 2 will do the following exercise, then rest (one exercise per round):

– 100x American hammers (2 is 1) with coupon
– 50x big boy sit-ups with coupon at chest or in lap
– Hold plank until Player 1 begins step ups.

Rotate & repeat (3x Rounds)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  Convergence in Brentwood on 01/12 in honor of a Knoxville-based PAX that passed away one year ago.

Moleskin: Read a poem titled “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. Encouraged the PAX to continue to serve their families well (even when it feels thankless & nobody sees).

Prayer requests:

– for @Sooie to get back into the mental groove at work
– for @ElCapitan ’s home recently invaded by ants (#stressful)
– for @Timber as he leads his wrestling team

Thank you @morningstar for the ginger tea!