Dealing it out

AO: the-knoll
Q: G-string
PAX: Pebbles, morning stār, El Capitan, Half Lyfe, Wolfpack, Stubs, Sooie, Papa Bear, Sparrow, Bumblebee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: Dark with a sliver of crescent moon. Brisk but warmer than than it has been.

WARMUP:
SSH and something else before I got there. Sorry guys!
– Slow Squats
– Mike Tysons
– Willie Mayes Hayes while we went over the mission and core principles

THE THANG:
Deck of cards work out. Reps match the card. Aces are 15
:hearts: – Decline Merkins
:spades: – Pulse Squats
:diamonds: – Pullups
:clubs: – Reverse Lunges
:black_joker: – 10 Burpees
Twos: Mosey to the backstop and sprint back
Threes: 15 reps of the exercise chosen by the person who drew the card.

MOLESKINE:
We discussed two questions.
1. What are some things you want your son (or daughter) to know before they leave home?
2. Who do you want them to be?
We then left with a challenge to think about how to communicate those things.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Biscuit run this weekend
March Merkin Madness starts on Saturday
Night Moves happening

COT:
Prayers were offered up.

A Walk

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: morning stār, Malibu, Étouffée, Stubs, Half Lyfe, Sooie
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
CONDITIONS: 13 degrees

WARMUP: Ruck to pick up Malibu

THE THANG: Ruck for 2.5 miles while passing around 60lb sandbags.

MOLESKINE: YHC was smoked from late nights and sick kids. Great to enjoy a challenging ruck and good conversations. Loved seeing everyone want to take on extra weight.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

Hazzaah!

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: Stubs, Wolfpack, Half Lyfe, El Capitan, Malibu, Sparrow, morning stār, Pitmaster, Bumblebee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS:
Cool trending toward cold

WARMUP:
Mosey to retrieve coupons
Bacs
Bac Bacs
Don Quixotes
Slow Squats
Stretch OYO – Mission stated, 5-core principles

THE THANG:
Split into two teams. One team completes 100meter MOT while the other works. 2 rounds for each exercise.

Exercises with coupon:
Deadlift
Snatch
Overhead Press
Floor to Ceiling

MOTs:
Lunges
Bear Crawls

Mosey to return coupons
3 min of Plank Ups/Ring of Wolfpack
2 min Mary

MOLESKINE:
Super impressive to watch the evolution of PAX from FNG to seasoned PAX. Everyone was bear crawling like a champ today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Lot’s of opportunities to socialize on slack

COT:
I was up most of the night worrying about things. Money, job, housework, etc. It’s been a long time since I’ve worried. I blame it on not being able to workout for a week. Working out is critical to overall wellbeing.

Prayers offered for families and those without shelter.

Return to Cinder

AO: the-knoll
Q: Half Lyfe
PAX: El Capitan, Lady Liberty, Malibu, morning stār, Pebbles, Stubs, 2 2.0 Iowa, Samwise?
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: Frosty 14 degs.

WARMUP: SSH, BAC, BBAC, High Knees, Good Mornings, WMH’s, mosey to get coupons.

THE THANG: Tribute Sooie with modified exercise challenge. Instead of planks did Cinder block arm extension in front hold until your not able to. Run to tree line and back. First person out (me) did jumping lunges. Did 2 rounds then started various exercises some with and some without cinder block. Push Ups alternating which hand is on block, bent over row, overhead thrusters with block, shoulder press, pull ups, curl/press/tricep, extension, on back leg press towards sky, mosey to concrete bench. Did steps ups with block, box jumps and dips with block on legs. Back to playground. Did some agility with block. Jump over side to side for 30sec, then side to side step ups for 30sec. Ended with more push ups and modified mountain climbers for some abs. Mosey back to return coupons.

MOLESKINE: Getting outside comfort zone. Applies to many areas of life, work, relationships, kids, F3, etc. Good to have routine, but also good to mix it up. Don’t get stuck!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bellevue ADA Playground Equip meeting tonight. Reach out Stubs for details. LeanPax on going. Pitmaster VQ tmrw at Pain Train.

COT: Prayers for those battling and impacted by Cali wild fires, Stubs friend who had a stroke, and Mental health.

Memory Game Part Deux!

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: Pitmaster, Sparrow, morning stār, Sooie, Half Lyfe, Stubs, El Capitan, @Bumblebee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: :cold_face:

TUNES: “Lost in the Dream” by War on Drugs

WARMUP:

Climb stretch routine (1.5x speed)
Joint work!
Overhead presses
Seal claps
Moroccan Night Clubs
Motivators to 7

THE THANG:

18 pairs of cards, each with a workout written on them.

PAX will circle around cards & take turns drawing.
If the cards drawn don’t match, all PAX will perform both card’s exercises 5x

If cards do match, no exercise is performed & the drawer can draw again.

Repeat until all cards are matched

Exercises:

happy crunchy frogs
Bulgarian split squats (2 is 1)
Mountain climbers (2 is 1)
Dips
SSH (4 count)
Cherry Pickers
Step Ups (2 is 1)
Flutter kicks (4 is 1)
Elevated Merkins
Burpees
Sky Thrusters
Broken Bicycle
Yerkins (clap merkins)
Lunges (2 is 1)
WW1 Snow Angel
hacky sacks (4 is 1)
Ukrainian hammers
Don Quixotes (4 count)

Welcome the New Year with 25 pull-ups! (Deduct the number of matched cards you found from your total).

MOLESKINE:

Shared how I really enjoyed the Q workout on Tuesday & was excited to create a Volume 2 for today. Sometimes the formula works when you’re Q’ing multiple times – take what works, tweak it a bit, and share it with the PAX!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

LeanPax starts soon!

TClaps to morning stār for writing up a letter to our local government leaders in favor of adding ADA-compliant playground equipment to the-knoll! Thanks also to Stubs for bringing it to our attention. :muscle:

COT:

Nameorama, Countorama, prayers of gratitude lifted up, and :el-capitan: :coffee: enjoyed.

Lots of Bear Crawling

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles
PAX: Dr. Stogie, morning stār, Stubs, Wolfpack, El Capitan, Malibu
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
CONDITIONS: Cool Pleasant

WARMUP: Mosey to collect coupons
BACs
BBACs
Slow merkins
Slow squats

THE THANG:
4 stations
Pull ups
Squats
WWIIs
Kettle bell swings

2:30 of work, 30 sec rest, move to next station
PAX operated in pairs. One bear crawled around playground while other worked.

10 stations completed, 30 min of hard work.

MOLESKINE:
It was awesome to watch everyone push themselves to their own ability. Bear crawls are tough. There was very little rest between sets.
Tclaps to Malibu for starting with a weighted vest
Welcome back Kotter to Dr. Stogie 🔥

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Leanpax starts in 2 weeks. Check any channel on slack.

Bring a gift on Thursday for a fun swap.

COT: Prayers for charity/peace with family and for loved ones nearing the end of this life.

12 Days of Christmas

AO: the-knoll
Q: AAA
PAX: Pebbles, Timber, The Banker, morning stār, Stubs, Sparrow, G-string, Bumblebee, Smoltz, Moochi
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: a little chilly

WARMUP: -5 motivators
-Baby arm circles 8 forward 7 back
-imperial walkers
-slow squats
-slow push ups
-mosey down to bottom of hill
-5 squats : backwards up hill and jog back
-5 lunges: shuffle sideways up and down hill
-5 squats: run up hill

THE THANG: 12 days of Christmas theme workout. Each day of Christmas you do that number of reps of an exercise.
Day 1- 1 inch worm
day 2- 2 burpees
Day 3 – 3 LT Dans
Day 4- 4 side lunges (2 is 1)
Day 5- 5 hand release mercans
Day 6- 6 squat jumps
Day 7 – 7 Carolina dry docks
Day 8 – 8 mountain climbers (2 is 1)
Day 9 – 9 dips
Day 10- 10 leg lifts
Day 11- 11 dercans
Day 12- 12 step ups (2 is 1)

Once we completed the 12 days of Christmas, we did a pull up ladder with partner starting at 6 reps and working down.

We finished by one partner holding a plank while the other partner ran down to street and back. We alternated for 5 minutes. Finished the last couple of minutes with stretching.

MOLESKINE: Holiday Season can be stressful and a tough time for some, especially those who have lost loved ones or feel stress of travel, gifts, etc. Challenge this year is to first remember what you are celebrating, and then remember to till all those close to you that you love them and appreciate them.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: lean PAX starts in January, workout on the 26th is the gift exchange so bring any item or (leftover gift you don’t want) to do a gift exchange.

COT:

Short Card, Knoll Ed.

AO: the-knoll
Q: Malibu
PAX: Pebbles, AAA, Waffle, Timber, Stubs, Sparrow, Sooie, morning stār, Malibu, Bumblebee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: 27*, frosty, and motivated.

WARMUP: Mosey to stop sign, BAC+BBAC, slow squats, imperial walkers, something else I can’t remember rn, and stretching on own.

THE THANG: modified version of a workout from an earlier life: the Marine Corps Recon Short Card. The Knoll’s edition of this is: tabata (120s work, 60s rest) of each:
Squats
Mericans
Burpees
Crunches (dealers choice of WWI, WWII, baby crunches, or other)
Mountain climbers
Flutter kicks
Burpees again
Daisy pickers
Back extensions
American Hammers

MOLESKINE: sometimes life stretches you and diminishes your ability to create new things. A lesson from Marine Corps days in these situations: sometimes the value of habits isn’t in something new but in going through something that works. Grateful for this community to do the work in the dark, cold, and yet wonderful mornings together.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: lean pax coming up in January.

COT: Closing prayers for family and brothers, in the words of a great friend (Peace at Last, JH Newman).

Coffeeteria ftw, thanks to Pebbles for bringing the brew!

Simplify

AO: the-knoll
Q: El Capitan
PAX: morning stār, Sparrow, Stubs, El Capitan, FLO, Half Lyfe, Papa Bear, Pebbles, Pitmaster, Sooie, @Bumblebee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: damp & foggy; mid-50s

WARMUP:

10 minutes of Pilates Warrior Flow with speed cardio mixed in (mountain climbers, scissor kicks)

THE THANG:

Part 1: Held a 90-30-Run around the Flood Table

Workouts included:
1. Elevated merkins
2. dips
3. Step-ups
4. Elevated shoulder taps
5. Elevated crunches

Work for 90 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, run to backstop & back as a group.

Discussed the F3 Mission Statement, Credo, and what F3 means to us as men during the rest breaks.

Part 2: Light Battle

Split into two teams / three light-up cones per side

Object of game is to change color of all three lights of other team first by hitting the (hard-to-push) buttons.

If you are tagged (two hand touch) by a defender, you must return to your side’s end zone & perform 5 Lt. Dan’s before returning to game.

MOLESKINE:

December is an extremely busy month. I’m grateful for the opportunity to simplify with a straight-forward workout & focus on stretching (something I haven’t had time to do in weeks!). I encouraged the Pax to remember the Advent season with the word “Immanuel” (God with us). The birth of Jesus & His Presence with us through the Holy Spirit is a great comfort in the chaos.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

LeanPax starts in January. Enjoy those treats while you can. 😀

COT: Countorama, Nameorama, and ended with Mountain Mojo + Mochas.

I’m grateful for y’all! :el-capitan:

Freed to Lead

AO: the-knoll
Q: Pebbles , The Banker, AAA
PAX: morning stār, Timber, Half Lyfe, Wolfpack, Stubs, Bumble Bee
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: Cold and windy

WARMUP:
Half mile run with various dynamic movements (not stretching)

THE THANG:
Randomly selected 3 PAX to lead 10min of the workout. Surprise!

Banker – monkey humpers, partner carry, wall sit
AAA – AMRAP merkins, squat jumps, pull ups, big boys
Bumble bee – game of infection

MOLESKINE:
T-Claps to The Banker, AAA, and Bumble for stepping up to lead with no notice. It’s tough to lead with no prep, but as men we need to be ready to step in and step up.

I was up all night with a sick two year old and was not in good mental shape to lead the workout.

Shared that I was grateful for the time I spent comforting my 2.0. Time goes by fast and she won’t need me for long.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT: Prayers