Battle

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: El Capitan, Sparrow, SalPal, Sooie, morning stār, AAA, The Banker, FLO, Tebow, Tea Party, Malibu, voucher, Bookworm
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
CONDITIONS: Perfect

WARMUP:
Bacs
Bac-Bacs
Don Quixotes
Slow Merkins
Slow Squats
Stretch On Your Own
Disclaimer Given
Mission Stated
Core Principles Recited

THE THANG:
Thang 1
DORA (modified) – partner up, one person runs 100M while the other performs reps of the following exercises. Repeat until all reps are done.
200 Dips
100 Burpees
50 Pull Ups (100 swing ups)

Thang 2
11s on the hill
Carolina Dry Docks
Lt. Dans

MOLESKINE: Our role as men is hard. For me it feels like the entire day is dealing with truckload after truckload of crap that comes my way. This is the battle, to not become discouraged or shirk my responsibilities in the face of daily struggles. Keep battling.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome :party_parrot::party_parrot:Tea Party :party_parrot::party_parrot:
Brewsday TONIGHT
the-knoll will be closed on July 4th so everyone go to greenmachine for a convergence!
Gulliver’s Travel challenge all of July and August
Check slack

COT: Prayed for 2 children to find a home, 13-year wedding anniversary, and all present.

Ring Around the Rosies

AO: the-knoll
Q: Sparrow
PAX: Pebbles, El Capitan, Timber, Sooie, Malibu, WordPress, FLO, Gabby Cat, Bookworm, Smoltz, Iowa, Tonks, Fishbiscuit, Foxy, Samwise
FNGs: None
COUNT: 16
CONDITIONS: 67 Degrees, Partly Cloudy

WARMUP: (5 mins) Inch Worm. Start from touching you toes, walk hands down to down dog. Pedal legs, walk back up to standing, do 15x calf raises. Repeat, except replace pedal with leg lifts. Repeat till time is out.

THE THANG:
(Ring Around the Rosies) – Group 1 that met criteria will run a lap, the group 2 will do an exercise till everyone finishes lap, those who finish early will join exercise. Cycled through Burpees, High Knees, Side Squats, Apollo Onohs, Lung Jumps). Q picked.
Core workout (15 mins): Pattern 45 sec hold, 15 sec rest:
Set 1: Plank Jacks, R Side Plank Crunch, Back Plank with Leg lifts, Left Side Plank Crunch, Plank Shoulder Touch
Set 2: Scissor Legs, Bicycles, ww2’s, Superman Alternating, Rest
Set 3: Repeat Set 1

Cooldown (10 mins): Freeze Tag. 2.0’s are freezers, but it takes 2 unfrozen players to simultaneously touch to unfreeze someone. 2.0’s WON two rounds

MOLESKINE:
As men we often have been conditioned to think in terms of left brain/right brain, reason vs feelings and put a wall between them. This has some merit but sometimes it leads to feeling a disjointed and anxious life. God created our hearts, our desires, and the deepest fundamental reality of who we are. When we see our feelings as flowing from our God given desires, and our thoughts/reasoning as flowing from our heart- it can lead to freedom and contentment, and fellowship with our creator.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Lots of stuff going on in F3 Nashville, Check the slack! No Knoll workout next Thursday as there will be a convergence at Green Machine.

FLO will be doing VQ This thursday. Go FLO!

COT:
Prayers offered and lifted.

90s Summertime

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: morning stār, Pebbles, Sooie, The Banker, AAA, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, FLO, Sparrow, Timber, Malibu, @fishbiscuit (2.0), @tonks (2.0), @bumblebee (2.0), @icebox (2.0), @nitro (2.0), @cookie (2.0), @spike (2.0), @fern (2.0)
FNGs: 4 @nitro (2.0), @cookie (2.0), @spike (2.0), @fern (2.0)
COUNT: 19
CONDITIONS: Humid, upper 70s

TUNES: 90s jamzz

WARMUP:

My Climb Warm-up Routine
– downward dog / cobra
– power merkins (3x per side)
– deep calf stretch
– PE back stretch
– lower back stretches

– Mosey around back stop to center of field

THE THANG:

Part 1: Duck, Duck, Goose on the Plank!

– Duck PAX are all planking in a circle. Tagger chooses a “goose!” who will sprint around the circle to return to their spot. Instead of chasing, tagger does 10x Side Straddle Hops. Whoever is last to plank is “it”. (We had several close races!)

Part 2: Water Balloon Challenge

– 16x reusable water balloons contain laminated slips of paper with various workouts & are hidden around the playground.

– All PAX will hold a squat while one looks for a water balloon. He or she may pelt the PAX with the water balloon upon returning. All PAX will perform the exercise written within. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Cool down: Mosey’d a caboose-is-loose around the-knoll, then convened at playground for three minutes of Freddy Mercuries.

MOLESKINE:

– Count Off
– Name-O-Rama
– Welcomed aboard 4 FNG’s visiting Uncle Sooie’s family from Central Florida. All had excellent F3 name choices.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Black Lung & Hair Band to Co-Q a 4th of July convergence beatdown at greenmachine :flag:

COT:

“You are as important as you make another person feel.”
-Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

I am so grateful for the men who make the-knoll such a positive, encouraging place to get stronger. I encourage y’all to be aware of the “least of these”, to see each person as a unique individual made in God’s image who is worthy of respect. Rather than seek glory for ourselves, seek the good of others in quiet service, empathy, and kindness.

Closed in prayer.

It was an honor to lead y’all this morning! :el-capitan:

Trip to the Zoo – Animals on the loose!

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles , Sooie
PAX: Sooie, Nubbins, Timber, AAA, Wolfpack, El Capitan, Pebbles, Sparrow, Malibu, Ex-Pat, Fish Biscuit, Tonks, Iowa, IceBox
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
CONDITIONS: Warm and damp

WARMUP:
Mosey around the backstop
Disclaimer given
Bac’s – Bac-Bac’s
Don Quioxte’s
Slow Merkins
Slow Squats
Stretch on your own

THE THANG:
THANG 1
2.0s picked an animal then pretended to be that animal while running around distracting the PAX doing station work. 2min at each station.
1. Dips
2. Swing pull ups
3. Jump Squats
4. Pull ups
5. Lunges

THANG 2
6 cones set 50yds apart. Do 6 reps of an exercise then sprint to next cone. (Burpees, WWIIs, Merkins, Lt Dans, Partner Carry x2)
Bear capture the flag
Toilet Tag
Bear Tag

MOLESKINE:
Reflection on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Good reminder that the things we struggle with, while not to minimize them, pale in comparison to what those men did to earn our freedom.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome Nubbins to the-knoll! Looking forward to many more beatdowns together.

T-claps to the one and only morning stār for completing THE STRUGGLE last night. Congrats to all those men who did a very hard thing together.

COT:
Intentions given and Sooie prayed for all.

Packing and Slacking

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles , Sooie
PAX: AAA, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, Malibu, morning stār, Pebbles, Sooie, Sparrow, The Merchant, Timber, Wolfpack, Bumblebee (2.0), Link (2.0), Smoltz (2.0), Mucchi (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0), Tonks (2.0), Gabby Cat (2.0), Foxy (2.0), Big Red (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 20
CONDITIONS: perfect late spring morning

WARMUP:
mosey around the backstop.
Motivators from 7
BAC’s
BBAC’s
Slow Merkins
Slow Squats
Mosey to the flood table

THE THANG:
Pack Your Bags
2.0’s shared their ideal vacation spot and the 1 exercise they’d pack with them.
Total of 16 rounds of the exercises. 30 seconds on 30 seconds off. Had to run to catch our flight after we packed 9 bags.

Thang 2: Slacking
We setup a slack line and traversed it in various ways performing various exercises while waiting for to cross.

Thang 3: Game time
Infection
Toilet tag

MOLESKINE:
Reminder that unstructured time is great and sometimes it’s good to just do nothing together.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
El Capitan AOQ FOR THURSDAY’S AT THE KNOLL! El Cap has been at the knoll since the beginning and always brings joy, encouragement, hardwork, and dedication! Looking forward to all that he’ll bring as AOQ! Baby G-string born last week!

COT:
Prayers lifted and offered!

Coffeeteria with bananas for all from Pebbles ! Chocolate Milk for the 2.0’s. :boar: :coffee: :tm: for the adults!

FEEL THE RHYTHM

AO: the-knoll
Q: The Merchant
PAX: AAA, caprate, DintyMoore, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, FLO, Malibu, morning stār, Pebbles, Sooie, Sparrow, The Banker, The Merchant, Timber, Wolfpack
FNGs: None
COUNT: 15
CONDITIONS:
Sunny, clear skies, 62F
WARMUP:
Side-straddle hops, BACs, BAC BACs, motivators, WMH
THE THANG:
Cycle between different exercises along with the playlist, at your own pace

Song intros/outros are active recovery

Round 1: (Pop/Lower Body)
Verses: Squats, Choruses: Lunges, Bridge: Hold squat
Round 2: (Folk/Core)
Verses: Sit-ups, Choruses: Baby crunches, Bridge: Freddy mercury’s
Round 3: (Rock/Upper Body)
Verses: BACs, Choruses: Merkins, Bridge: Dips
MOLESKINE:
“The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step…” -Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
May You Pull Up ending this Saturday

I forgot to record this part so I hope I’m not forgetting anything important :joy:
COT:
Thank you to all who came out for my VQ! Hopefully this will be the first of many.

10 Stations

AO: the-knoll
Q: Timber
PAX: Sooie, The Banker, G-string, Malibu, Ex-Pat, AAA, El Capitan, Timber, Pebbles, Lunch Lady, Sparrow
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: 67 degrees, mostly cloudy

WARMUP: SSH, BACs, back BACs, Seal Claps, Merkins, Imperial Walkers, Don Quixotes

THE THANG:
Station Work (2 rounds): 10 stations, rotate when runner returns
Stations – pullups, merkins, side lunges, calf raises, derkins, BW squats, planks, dips, farmer carry (with coupons), ~300m run
Team Mosey: ran 1 mile together

MOLESKINE: Ex-Pat sat in valiantly as AOQ, I don’t think G-string took a break from pullups the entire time he was at that station, we thought we heard the howl of Wolfpack but it turns out it was his snoring, the music playlist was hit and miss with some of the PAX

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
-VQ ALERT: The Merchant VQ this Tuesday
-check details at coworking for those work from home folks

COT: morning stār read from/talked about a children’s book a few weeks ago. This got me thinking about my favorite kids books and perhaps my favorite is The Giving Tree. It is such a simple book, but with a profound message: give until you don’t think you can give anymore, and then give a little more. May we continue to strive to be SERVANT leaders for our families.

Enjoy the rest of your week!
-Timber

Roll the Dice!

AO: the-knoll
Q: Timber
PAX: Sooie, morning stār, AAA, El Capitan, The Banker, Timber, Sparrow, Malibu, Étouffée, Pebbles, FLO, The Merchant, G-string, voucher, Ex-Pat, Bubblebee (2.0), Goliath (2.0), Monkey (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0), Tonks (2.0), Smoltz (2.0), Ace (2.0), Gipper (2.0), Dr. Kitty (2.0), Mocchi (2.0)
FNGs: 2 Dr. Kitty (2.0), Mocchi (2.0)
COUNT: 25
CONDITIONS: 68 degrees, dew on the grass, sun out

WARMUP: 15 SSH, 15 BACs, 15 back BACs, 10 slow squats, 5 8ct burpees

THE THANG:
Thang 1: Roll the Dice – 4 rounds, 6 exercises (merkins, iron mikes, BW squats, WWIIs, leg raises, burpees), total # on dice = total # of reps
Rd 1 – roll 1 die, Rd 2 – 2 dice, Rd 3 – 3 dice, Rd 4 – 4 dice
*thank you to G-string for being our math guy and adding up the dice!
Thang 2: Ultimate Football – like ultimate frisbee but with a football (modification: each team could select 1 “running back”), team 2 wore patriotic themed beads around their neck for identification purposes

MOLESKINE: Malibu made a glorious return and brought with him some great cosmic rays for the morning, Étouffée showed he’s a little better than Uncle Rico (Napoleon Dynomite) and can still throw the pigskin, Tonks was the best dice roller of the morning, The Banker has now introduced 6 of his 9 2.0s (where 3 away from the entire crew), Sooie brought the coffee brew, chocolate milk for the 2.0s, the patriotic beads must have weighed heavy on Team 2 as Team 1 pulled out the victory in ultimate football, RECORD # of PAX at the knoll!!!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: may-you-pull-up challenge still ongoing, coworking planned for tomorrow, The Merchant VQ next Tuesday: make plans to be there to support him!

COT: Understanding your purpose, and having a clear vision in your life/work can help you achieve greater things and help you get through difficult times. I shared the story of a wrestling match in college. The Banker and I returned to New York after attending a funeral for one of our uncles who had just passed. Emotionally exhausted from the trip home, The Banker returned to school to find out he was 12 lbs over weight. He proceeded to stay up late, wake up early, and run during any free time between classes the next day to lose that weight and make weight. During the wrestling match later that day, in heroic fashion, he pulled out a stunning and almost impossible victory, sealing the team win by pinning his opponent. He had decided to offer up the challenge for our uncle. Had he not given himself the “why” he likely wouldn’t have been able to overcome the emotional and physical exhaustion to pull off the stunning victory. This is the stuff legends are made of! May we all reflect on and remember our “why” so that when things get tough at work, or with family, we push on!!

Thanks for a great morning,
-Timber

Running Through the Wet Grass

AO: the-knoll
Q: Sooie
PAX: Ex-Pat, G-string, Malibu, Pebbles, The Merchant, Sooie, Lunch Lady, Josh Stevenson (Sparrow)
FNGs: 1 Josh Stevenson (Sparrow)
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: Perfect temperature. A bit damp.

WARMUP:
Motivators from 5
Imperial Walkers
“Keep em Up!”:
Shoulder taps
Side shoulder taps
Front shoulder taps
Scissor chops
Horizontal scissors
BAC
BBAC
Don Quixotes
OYO stretch/shakeout

Might as well knock out today’s 2 minute plank

THE THANG:
5 cones between the road and the tree line across the knoll. Began at the road. Exercise and MOT to each cone was different.
Sprint to cone 1: 20 burpees
Crab crawl to cone 2: 20 Lt. Dans
Crawl crab to cone 3: 10 breakdancer merkins
Mosey to cone 4: 30 Spicolli’s
Bear crawl to cone 5: 10 plank rotations
Mosey to tree line: 2 minute active recovery.

COMPETE FOR CONES:
first PAX to pick up the cone got a point. Sprint to cone 1 then tree line, cone 2 then tree line, cone 3 then tree line…you get the idea.

Mosey to the playground. Split into 2 groups. Group 1 dead hangs. Group 2 lunges to the road and mosey’s back. Swap.

Close out with some recovery breath work. Pebbles contributed to the air quality during this phase. :dash:

MOLESKINE:
Proverbs 24:5-6
A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

These verses have meant a lot to me and have grown more as I have spent more time in F3. Thank you men for the encouragement, support, and camaraderie!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Plankril continues
G-string will be conductor at pain-train tomorrow. Be sure to punch your ticket!
The knolliversary is coming up 5/2. More on that later

COT:
The Merchant was the 6 and shared what F3 meant to him.
Prayers requested and lifted.

Your story matters

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning star
PAX: Wolfpack, Siri, The Merchant, Ex-Pat, El Capitan, morning star, Malibu, Pebbles, Bumble bee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: delightful and the rain held off

5:30am – welcome and disclaimer

WARMUP:
YHC loves motivators so much that I asked a PAX to lead a round since I couldn’t die to my Achilles recovery. El Capitan stepped up.

Motivators followed by lazy imperial walkers, little baby arm circles, and something else I can’t remember.

THE THANG:
Part 1
30 rounds of 10 seconds of work / 20 seconds of active recovery:
1. hinge from knees / neck mobility
2. hard style plank + super slow push up / rocking
3. super slow Freddy mercuries / egg rolls

YHC demoed the excerccises and then had to pre-evac Bumble bee home.

Part 2:
Wolfpack stepped in and led the pax in:
Alternating between Low Slow Squat and Low Slow Merkin.

– 20 reps, 10 second rest of both
– 15 reps, 15 second rest of both
– 10 reps, 20 second rest of both
– 5 reps with 5 second hold, 25 second rest of both

Part 3:
YHC returned and led PAX through originally planned thang 1. Swapped recovery and work time for last round (20 seconds work / 10 seconds active recovery)

Mary:
– Max plank for those doing plankpril.
– Flow core work along with low slow squats and slow merkins, ground movement (cat crawl, baby crawl), lots of rocking

MOLESKINE:
– I find that when I do “inner work” it cones in rounds … work that is slow and methodical, then a rest, then another round of work that may vary in intensity, then rest. If I don’t take time to actively recover I sputter and burn out. This applies to all areas of life.
– I like being able to play with the creativity of these workouts to reinforced things I’m learning and practicing in my day to day. Appreciate the PAX for engaging in these mini experiment and / learning labs.
– I’ll be coming back to this topic of our stories when I Q at pain-train in a couple weeks.
– Thank you to Wolfpack and the PAX for continuing the BD while I had to leave. Am continuously encouraged by how powerful shared leadership is. Let’s keep practicing it and demonstrating it in our day to day outside the gloom.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– plankpril continues, get out in public and take some photos
– Good meat and fellowship at Chunks place, check 2ndf for details
– Drop into pain-train this Friday, Wolfpack is leading growth phase ramp up to official launch on 5/10
– Keep inviting men you know, grab a business card if it helps to leave them with something tangible

COT:
YHC reflected on the peaks and valleys of his life, shared some. Encouraged the PAX to reflect on their story and find ways to celebrate and honor it, even the touch painful scenes.

Here are some things to consider:
– What are the most beautiful moments of my life?
– What are the most broken moments of my life?
– What are the highs and what are the lows?
– Who are the people that have had the impact impact on who I am today (even those that hurt or abused me)?

Here is the why behind this (quote from the Intentional Father by Jon Tyson):

“The goal here is to begin to get a sense of your own story, have awareness of the moments that have defined you,and remember the people who have shaped you. “”It’s important to come to terms with your own story. “”[Victor] Frankl said there’s something powerful about stepping back, gaining an objective distance from your own story, and observing the things that have made you who you are.”
YHC used to avoid his story, even despise it. It’s only recently that he’s come to explore it and honor it. That work (and it’s hard work) has led to much acceleration.

We ended with a ball of man with “honor” on 3.