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

Joy center

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning stār
PAX: Parka-Eh, Timber, Pebbles, morning stār, Bumble bee (2.0), Pele (2.0), Smoltz (2.0), Mona Lisa (2.0)
FNGs: 1 Mona Lisa (2.0)
COUNT: 8
CONDITIONS: chilly

WARMUP: SSH, arm circles, mosey.

THE THANG:
5 burpees and run up hill. Pair up at top of hill.

Each pair completes a hill run and then walk backwards together while practicing appreciation using GAMES:
– gratitude for something in the present
– anticipation for something in the future
– memory from past that brings you joy
– experience: somethong you can do to bring a smile to someone’s face
– singing (Timber Lee us in Lean on me)

COT:
– the joy center of our brain is the only part of our brain that can keep growing our whole life
– Cold plunge face off … props to all the PAX that embraced the suck. Parka-Eh reigns as this years champ!

The freedom of forgiveness

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning stār
PAX: Timber, AAA, Sparrow, Half Lyfe, El Capitan, Étouffée, Papa Bear, Pebbles, morning stār, Pitmaster, Bumble bee (2.0), Shmoltz (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: chilly and windy

WARMUP: moved all the joints and some SSH

THE THANG: each packed picked up a coupon or two; this was their burden for the pilgrimage ahead.

We spent most of the time in the gloom walking in essential silence reflecting on parts of our lives that were painful.

We paused for body builder burpees, bird dogs and dead bugs with some step ups thrown in there.

YHC then invited each PAX to practice forgiveness through a simple yet practical process.

MOLESKINE: it was a pleasure sharing this sacred space with you all.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– leanpax is coming
– cold plunge battle happening at the-knoll on thursday; bring a down. Your clothes wont’ get wet unless it rains.

COT: YHC shared how forgiving myself for the consequences of my choices around toothcare in childhood has liberated me from regret, fear and anxiety.

May we all grow in the courageous skill of forgiveness,
-m*

Keep it Simple

AO: the-knoll
Q: Wolfpack
PAX: Hair Band, El Capitan, Timber, Sooie, The Banker, FLO, Parka-Eh, Pitmaster, Pebbles, Papa Bear, Malibu, Half Lyfe, morning stār, Link, Bumblebee, Schmoltz, Goliath, Ace, Monkey, Dr.Kitty, Taz
FNGs: None
COUNT: 22
CONDITIONS: Little wet, but temp was right

WARMUP: Jog around the Knoll while the 2.0’s call out various movements to get those joints loose.

THE THANG:
Tabata: 30 seconds on 10 seconds rest. 4 exercises in a round. 4 rounds total:
– Merkins
– Mountain Climbers
– Squats
– High Knees

VCR
Split up into pairs. One PAX is the VHS and the other has the remote. If remote runs backwards, the VHS goes in slow motion. If remote runs forwards, the VHS goes fast. If the remote pauses, the VHS holds it’s current position in the exercise.

4 rounds of Squats
4 rounds of Merkins

5 minutes of Yoga then 10 minutes of Mary

MOLESKINE: Little bit of mumble chatter. Lots of 2.0’s today, which always makes it fun!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: morning stār on Q next week with so get ready for some cold cold ice plunges.

COT: In NoNoiseNovember I have reflected on some of the key writings I find important. I’ve found that these are broken out into three categories that really feed off of each other. So a reminder to PAX to make sure you have a FOUNDATION to build your ACTIONS off of so that you can push into the unknown and GROW. For me, I use the Tao Te Ching for my Foundation, The Four Agreements for Action and Emerson’s Self Reliance for Growth. Find what works for you and take the time to read and reflect

FREEDOM!

AO: the-knoll
Q: G-string
PAX: Pebbles, Timber, Waffle, AAA, Stubs, Sooie, morning stār, Ike(William Herbert), Bumblebee, The Judge, Rubix
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
CONDITIONS: Warmer than Tuesday and wet

WARMUP:
13 of each for the colonies
– SSH
– Don Quixote
– Hill-billy
– BACs
– Merkins
– Indigenous people’s run to the stop sign and back

THE THANG:
– 56 Pull-ups for the 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence
– 65 No Surrenders for the 65 countries who have won independence from Great Britain
– 76 Merkins for 1776 signing of the Declaration and the 76th birthday of the British Monarch, King Charles
– 87 Squats for 1787 ratification of the Constitution
Each of the PAX was encouraged to modify up or down according to their ability. There were Sandbags and Coupons available.

One of the cultural phenomenon lost as the British Empire spread was stone lifting in Ireland and Scotland. There were heavy stones of cultural significance that the people lifted as rights of passage, job interviews, funeral games, etc.
I brought a large stone from home that anyone who wanted to could attempt to lift. T-Claps to Timber and Waffle for lifting the stone, to Pebbles and morning stār for working together, Sooie for getting an ghaoth faoi (the wind under it), and to the 2.0s for their heart to try!!

MARY:
– American Hammers
– WW1s
– WW2s
– Panamas

MOLESKINE:
There were blocks and sandbags to allow PAX to modify up as well as options to modify down. Know yourself and what you need. Push yourself when you can, and pull-back when you need to.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– No Noise November
– Bingro

COT:
– Prayers were offered up.

KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)

AO: the-knoll
Q: G-string
PAX: Stubs, AAA, Pebbles, Timber, morning stār, El Capitan, Sooie, Ex-Pat, Siri, Papa Bear, Sparrow, Bumblebee, the Judge, Rubix
FNGs: None
COUNT: 16
CONDITIONS: Cool and damp

WARMUP:
– SSH
– Seal Claps
– Overhead Press
– Mission and Credo while stretching
– High Plank with 5 merkins for each of the 5 core principles

THE THANG:
– Brief run to the far stop sign with stops
– 10 Burpees
– Politician two houses
– 10 Iron Mikes
– Karaoke two houses
– Wounded Bear Crawl
MAIN THANG: Partner up for a DORA
– 100 Pullups
– 200 Bulgarian Split Squats
– 30 yard Bear-crawl
– One partner crawls while the other does reps. Alternate bear-crawl and crawl-bear

Count the number of sets each pair took to complete the work (35 total). 7 PAX over the HC count (thought it was 8 because I didn’t count the 2.0 HC).
Set out to finish with 8 sets of:
– 35 merkins
– Hill Sprint

T-Claps to Timber, Pebbles, and AAA for completing six sets.

MOLESKINE:
I tried for a long while to come up with a super involved workout that would have taken as much time to explain as it would to do. But then I remembered to just keep it simple. Do lots of just a few exercises, and it’ll work. Sometimes I get so bogged down in the details that I forget simplicity. How often things go better if we do them the straightforward way.
Also, we often say to “modify as necessary,” with the thought of modifying down, but what about modifying up? How often do we challenge ourselves and really try hard? Today I wore a weight vest to challenge myself a bit more, and it was brutal! I felt like it was my first workout all over again. Seek out challenges when they are available.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
none

COT:
-Thankful for our veterans