Micro Murph

AO: the-knoll
Q: Sooie
PAX: Derby, Half Lyfe, AAA, Sooie, Sparrow, morning stār, Gold Digger, Tonks (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0), Bumblebee (2.0), All Star (2.0), Ninja (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: Cool. Humid. Spring.

WARMUP:
Get loose!
Head nods/shakes/circles in cadence
Shoulder rolls in cadence
BAC
BBAC
Low slow squats
plank knee tapping
Low plank -> high plank -> finger tip plank

THE THANG:
Micro Murph EMOM style.
EMOM 1 pull-up, 2 merkins, 3 Jump Squats, 20 yard sprint (30x). Focus on power and form!

Cooldown mosey
Mary

MOLESKINE:
Focus on the basics.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Check slack

COT:
Prayers offered. Sooie Brewie down the hatch.

Among Us! IRL

AO: the-knoll
Q: Sooie
PAX: Pitmaster, Tebow, morning stār, Derby, El Capitan, Half Lyfe, Ex-Pat, Sooie, Tonks (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0), Eagle (2.0), Bumblebee (2.0), Rubicks (2.0), Gabby Cat (2.0), Foxy (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 15
CONDITIONS:
On the rain-lashed knoll, beneath a sky of iron-wrought clouds, the sodden grasses cling to our boots like the tendrils of some voidborn beast. The air, thick with mist, melds garb to flesh in the cool, sunless, morning light.

WARMUP:
As the chrono strikes 0530, our band of 12—soon to be 15—gathers. I, the Q, begin by clearly stating the non-professional capacity in which I will be leading thus deflecting all potential lawsuits of disgruntled PAX.

We rouse the frame for the tasks ahead:
• Side Straddle Hops: 12, counted in cadence
• Baby Arm Circles: 12 forward, 12 reverse, in cadence, loosening shoulders.

Lo! Silhouettes pierce the mist— Tebow, Pitmaster, and Eagle, our tardy kin, swell our ranks to 15. We trek among the three beacons outlining the tasks to undertake a live, knoll rendition of Among Us.

THE THANG:
Three stations, ~80 yards apart in a triangular constellation, bear tasks to test our mettle. Each demands 260 collective reps, with a limit of 10 per PAX per visit:
• STATION 1: Pull-Ups/Swing Rows
• STATION 2: Dips
• STATION 3: Step-Ups, (2=1)
Papers drawn from the Q’s helm decree fates: 13 bear “C” for Crewmate, scattered to Beacons 1, 2, or 3; 2 bear “I” for Imposters cloaked in guile. The quest is clear: Crewmates must complete all station reps to triumph. Imposters must snuff out the crew with a silent tap to foot or shoulder, their treachery veiled by false labor.
The fallen enter a spectral limbo, holding a plank where they have fallen ‘til a passing crewmate spies them, then cycling a torturous mantra—10 Merkins, 20 WW2 Sit-Ups, 30 Squats—until the quest’s end. Emergency councils, summoned by SSH when any PAX begins hopping and all join, convene at the site of the fallen to banish a suspected Imposter.

The Clash:
I, first to fall, am tapped by an Imposter’s stealthy touch en route to Station 1. Planking in the wet grass, I await discovery. Tebow, true witness, finds me, but the crew, blinded by doubt, casts him out in a council. We two share the spectral cycle—10, 20, 30, a grinding hymn. Another falls, a second council banishes a crewmate in error. Four now haunt Station 1’s limbo. Yet a third strike reveals an Imposter—TONKS, unmasked by suspicious deeds! With one imposter left and nine crewmates standing, the stations’ tallies dwindle—10 reps remain at each. As 0600 chimes, the crew completes the final reps, claiming victory o’er the Imposters deceit.

The Pursuit’s End:
With tasks fulfilled, we turn to primal chases—games of Infection and Toilet Tag, fleet-footed sprints across the knoll until 0615 seals our labor.

MOLESKINE:
Outdo one another in showing honor.
-Romans 12:10

We take time to honor one another. Prayer requests offered.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Check slack

COT:
Enjoyed the more laid back pace of Summer sipping Mtn. Mojo and Choco milk whilst the 2.0’s frolicked amongst the playground.

mini-Murph and more

AO: the-knoll
Q: Timber
PAX: The Banker, Pebbles, El Capitan, G-string, AAA, Étouffée, Sooie, Stubs, Malibu, Derby, Sparrow, Papa Bear, Siri, Pitmaster, Half Lyfe, Smoltz (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0), Tonks (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 19
CONDITIONS: Perfect, 60 degrees

WARMUP: mosey, SSH, slow merkins, slow squats, good mornings, leg stretches (covered F3 mission, 5 core principles, credo here)

THE THANG:
1.Mini-Murph: 15 squats, 10 merkins, 5 pullups X 10 sets (run ~300m after 5th and 10th sets)
2. Stations x 2 (40 sec on 20 off while rotating): fast feet, carolina dry docks, standups/sitdowns without using hands
3. Agility work: ~30 yard uphill distance on road, single leg hops, backwards run, side shuffle, bear crawl, frog jumps, sprint

MOLESKINE: played some tunes, good encouragement on the murph station, coffee by El Capitan, good effort by Smoltz leading the way

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Pebbles out on Thursday and needs a coffee guy

COT: I shared the Parable of the Oranges: be intentional in our roles as fathers, husbands, workers. Smoltz shared a personal reflection about why he likes coming to F3 (fuels his competitive drive, feels a sense of accomplishment doing something in the morning, likes to work out).

Prayer intentions were shared and prayed for.

Thanks for letting Smoltz and I lead you this morning!
-Timber

Games in the Dark

AO: the-knoll
Q: Sooie
PAX: AAA, El Capitan, Ex-Pat, morning stār, Pebbles, Sooie, Stubs, Wolfpack, Bumblebee (2.0), Tonks (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: Perfect

WARMUP:
Head and shoulders OYO
BAC
BBAC
Imperial Walkers
Cherry Pickers
Don Quixote’s
WMH OYO
Slow squats
Slow Merkins
20 yard mosey

THE THANG:
2 team relay
2 cones 20 yards apart
Each team sends a runner down to perform exercise, runner sprints back. After everyone on the team ran, we progressed to the next exercise. First team to finish wins. Exercises were:
5 burpees
10 jump squats
15 WWII’s

GAMES!!!
Bear Crawl Tag to determine who would hold the torch first in Torch Tag.
Torch Tag
1 pax with a flashlight, all other Pax try to tag them. Pax had to do SSH while the flashlight was shining on them. Bumblebee held the torch longest.
Infection
Toilet Tag

Ring of Fire to 5

MOLESKINE:
Didn’t have much of a moleskine planned other than having family fun during fall break.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Big announcement coming 10/10! Come to the-knoll to find out.
Chili Cookoff 10/20. 12:30-2:30 Shelby Park. Bring your M’s and 2.0’s. See Wolfpack for additional details.

COT:
Prayed for East Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida as well as PAX traveling over fall break.

Enjoyed the Mtn Mocha generously provided by El Capitan !

Sandlot to celebrate Bumble bees 9th birthday

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning stār
PAX: AAA, Timber, The Banker, Malibu, Sooie, El Capitan, morning stār, Buble bee (2.0; Q), Iowa (2.0), Samwise (2.0), Tonks (2.0), Fish buscuit (2.0), Smoltz (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 13
CONDITIONS: starting to get dark and cool

WARMUP: motivators from 9 down

THE THANG:
Split into teams and play baseball.
– strike out = 3 pushups
– bench warmers alternate between step ups and erkins
– modify up as desired

MOLESKINE:
– Appreciare the PAX encouragement of Bumble bee in his first Q and his 9th birthday.
– Really cool to see how much he’s picked up from participating and watching us do this every week for a year.
– The “task master” part of me wanted to put more pressure on him to make the BD a certain way … thankfully I was able to be aware of that and ease back and let him make it his own and adjust as needed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– round 2 of birthday Q on Thursday
– 1 year anniversary of the brig in Franklin tomorrow
– See slack for the rest

COT:
– Bumble bee shared that he’s noticed that because he sees myself and his mom taking care of our bodies in how we move/exercise and how we eat it inspires him to do the same. Message to the dads: your actions have a deep impact on how your kids grow and how they see what could be done.
– Ended in personal reflection on a gratitude and a need followed by a prayer.

Pyramid of Pain

AO: the-knoll
Q: The Merchant
PAX: morning stār, Pebbles, AAA, Sooie, Malibu, Timber, Fish Biscuit (2.0), Tonks (2.0), Bumblebee (2.0), Iowa (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
See you all at Sooie’s birthday bash tonight and at my Pain Train Q and Hunger Games tomorrow!

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:

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!

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

Slow down

AO: the-knoll
Q: Timber
PAX: Siri, FLO, morning stār, The Merchant, G-string, Ex-Pat, The Banker, Pebbles, Timber, Sooie, matthew hayes, Lunch Lady, Bumblebee (2.0), Fish Biscuit (2.0), Tonks (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 15
CONDITIONS:

WARMUP:

THE THANG:

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT: