Tag: Wolfpack

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Spontanous Work from the Well, Together

AO: 2ndf
Q: morning stār , Wolfpack
PAX: Wolfpack, morning stār
FNGs: None
COUNT: 2
CONDITIONS: just the right level of ambient noise and accountability for good productivity.

WARMUP: hug and quick catch up

THE THANG: pomodoro style …
2 sets of:
– 25 min focused work time
– 5 to 10 min walk around the block w/ intentional conversation

MOLESKINE:
– this seems like a good 2ndF thing to do for PAX that work from home in west Nashville
– we’ll do this again … maybe add lunch
– could potentially be a spot to invite potential FNGs to that work from home but haven’t made it to a workout
– if you’re interested in something like this reply to this post or send Wolfpack or me a DM

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You are more than what you do

AO: pain-train
Q: morning stār
PAX: Sooie, Wolfpack, G-string, Dilbert, Siri, The Merchant, Timber, morning stār, Lunch Lady, Cheeks (Franklin)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: just finished raining, perfect temp

5:30 – Men welcomed, disclaimer given: “YHC is not a fitness or mental health professional, you are responsible for your own physical and emotional health this morning. Raise your hand if you’re willing to take responsibility for your personal wellbeing.”

PAX accepted personal responsibility.

WOR:
Motivators 5 to 1, then followed Q around the playground.

COT formed early, this will be a different kind of beatdown.
Count-o-Roma

PAX stretched on their own as YHC laid out the parameters:

“Our goal this morning is to exercise our capacity towards intimacy with others. Intimacy is revealing parts of yourself to others in a space of safety. “Into-me-you-see”.

We’re going to create a safe space for that by making three agreements to one another:
1.Confidentiality: I will hold each man’s story sacred and will not share it outside this circle without that man’s permission. I am free to share my story and my experience outside this circle.
2.Vulnerability: I will stretch myself emotionally by sharing parts of myself that are intimate. I will do this by choice not out of compulsion. I will modify as necessary so that I stay safe emotionally.
3.Attention: I will listen to each man’s story with my whole being, focusing on finding the goodness and beauty in that man. I will not interrupt another man when he is sharing, I will not give advice or feedback. If I have something to share with another man I will reach out to him outside this circle.

If you agree to confidently, raise your hand.
If you agree to vulnerability, take something you’re wearing and put it in this bag.
If you agree to attention take a moment and make eye contact with every man in this circle and communicate to him that you see and accept and honor him as he is.”

THE THANG
Reflection during movement. Sharing after movement. Rinse and repeat.

Part 1: who are you?

Reflection Prompt: think about your essence … “I am a … man” … what does this mean to you?

Movement: 7 min of repeating rounds of work/active recovery. Lt. Dans with standing cross crawls (lazy imperial walkers) and knuckle shoulder taps with rocking.

Sharing: After movement YHC led off and then each man stepped into vulnerability and shared a part of himself as the circle practiced attention.

3 burpees after all shared.

Part 2: how are you showing up as your true self, how are you experiencing joy?

YHC invited each man to put aside any consideration of where the PAX falls short. Focus on identifying and sharing the goodness and beauty that is.

“I Invite that part of you that evaluates how you’re falling short to take a break for the next 20 minutes. I invite the part of you that sees goodness, beauty and virtue to come fully online for the next 20 min.”

Reflection Prompt: think about a moment where you showed up as your true self. Or consider how you experienced joy recently.

Movement: 10 min of repeating rounds of work/active recovery. Lt. Dans with standing cross crawls (lazy imperial walkers) and knuckle shoulder taps with rocking.
Prompt: how have you showed up as that kind of man recently? What’s brought you joy recently?

Solid mumble chatter during first half of movement.

YHC invited PAX to finish movement in silence and refocus on the prompt.

Sharing: After movement YHC led off and then each man stepped into vulnerability and shared a part of himself as the circle practiced attention.

3 burpees after all shared.

Part 3: anchor the experience and check out

YHC asked all PAX to find a bar and hang as long as possible and think of a word or phrase that describes this time for you.

Come back to plank.

YHC realized that G-string and Timber were stuck in a dual to see who could hang the longest and called them back to the circle.

While planking YHC reminded PAX that what they shared in the COT stays in the COT. None of what they shared will be posted in BB.

We checked out with name-o-roma plus the phrase or word that described this experience to each PAX.

Closed COT with ball of man and “pain train” on three.

MOLESKIN
– I think anything with jump lunges should be called “ass crushers”
– great to meet Cheeks from the brig, across the county line from Franklin
– great to meet Dilbert who drive 45 min to be with us
– This DB was inspired by 30/30 from F3 Katy (props to Cash and Salty for the encouragement and sharing what they’ve learned).
– the BD was designed to provide plenty of immediate and future pain. My kuckles have tissue damage and I will be feeling those Lt. Dans tomorrow. Anyone else?
– Honoring and then inviting the part of me that evaluates and critiques all my actions has been life giving to me. It takes practice, but it’s with it. Continue to practice it with yourselves and those around you. Gratitude helps immensely in this pursuit.
– We were after the pain that has a higher purpose to build us up and help us grow.
– The tissue in my knuxks will heal and new, tougher skin will form. The soreness in my glutes will come and go and leave stronger muscles. The discomfort I felt when I stepped into the circle to share myself was replaced by peace and tenderness as I saw my brothers give me their full attention and heard what others shared.
– I’ve found that an accelerant growth is what happens after the work I do. When I intentionally rest and recover after the exertion (physical or emotional). Consider ways to give yourself space to recover and reset both physically and emotionally this week. We all did solid work today; of boys and heart. Well done!

Continue to practice grace and curiosity my brothers, especially towards yourselves,
-m*

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A Freight Knot

AO: pain-train
Q: Sooie
PAX: G-string, Siri, Sooie, Timber, Wolfpack
FNGs: None
COUNT: 5
CONDITIONS: 65 and humid. Not too shabby for Spring in Middle TN.

WARMUP:
Imperial walkers 10x
Good Morning’s OYO
Keep ’em Ups 10x of each
Shoulder taps
Side shoulder taps
Front shoulder taps
Horizontal scissors
Scissor chops
BAC
BBAC
Don Quixote’s 10x

THE THANG:
12 lbs weighted vest was worn by a PAX at all times throughout the workout. Handoff had to be initiated by one of the un-weighted PAX. Each PAX wore the weight once.

Exploratory Mosey to 9 square court. PAX were rewarded with 15 sets of 1 pull-ups EMOM. Squats in between sets.

Mosey back to the caboose.
Conductor/Cargo/Caboose around the inside track in which PAX carried a picnic table around the playground in a rotating fashion. 1 PAX was at the front (Conductor), 1 PAX held a plank on the table (Cargo) 1 PAX was at the back (Caboose). Other 2 PAX followed with lunges. Rotated every 30 seconds.

Mosey to the stage. Performed 10ish Wallkout Merkins. Feet low on the wall, merkin. Feet walk up the wall, merkin. Walk a little higher, merkin…and back down.

Mosey to the turf. 2:48 plank while reviewing F3 mission/core values/credo. Collapse.

MOLESKINE:
Starting out as young men, we learn to carry our own burdens. As we get older, we learn to look out for others who need help carrying their burdens. And sometimes we have to carry each other. Ultimately we have someone who is strong enough to carry all of our burdens.

“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you”
Psalm 55:22

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Plankril continues
Knolliversary 5/2 BYOK
Pain train launch 5/10 spread the word!

COT:
Prayers offered.
Coffeeteria and mumblechatter at #pain-train is par excellence! Siri realized his life long dream of becoming a standup comedian. Rarely have I laughed so hard that I couldn’t laugh anymore…the humor was the Mary!

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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.

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[pain-train] LOTR Tabata

AO: pain-train
Q: G-string
PAX: Wolfpack, Siri, Timber, Flo
FNGs: None
COUNT: 5
CONDITIONS:
-Cool, Crisp, and a little damp
-Soundtrack for the workout was Lord of the Rings battle music

WARMUP:
– Indian run around the track w/ football
– Runners stretch
– Downward dog
– Shoulder warmup
– High plank w/ merkins for mission/credo/core principles

THE THANG:
Tabata style workout. 40 seconds work and 20 seconds rest for the first two rounds, then 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest for the remainder.
Tabata 1:
– sandbag rows
– Block swings
– Split squats
– Derkins
– Sandbag Front Squats

Tabata 2:
– sandbag bear complex
– Block presses
– Pistol squats
– Pull-ups
– Log Jumps

Mary:
– Bird dogs
– Leg Raises
– Hollow Hold

MOLESKINE:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– Plankpril is going. Today is 2:06 for the plank
– Franklin is doing pull-up challenge (message G-String for details)

COT:
Intentions were offered. Prayers were said. Flo was named and welcomed in. Branding to come later.

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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.

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It takes movement … so, move!

AO: the-knoll
Q: morning star
PAX: Sooie, Wolfpack, Siri, morning star, Right Said, El Capitan, Merchant, Malibu, Ex-Pat, Pebbles, Big Red (2.0), Bumble Bee (2.0)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
CONDITIONS: low 40s and not too bad

5:30 – welcome to the knoll, where 2.”a are always welcome. Took a moment to appreciate the birds.

Mosey to the flood monument bench

WARMUP:
Circle up for Lazy imperial walkers, all arm movements balanced on one leg (alternate to other leg when you lose balance): LBCs, reverse LBCs, put your glasses on, take your glasses off, jimmy goes to Egypt, slow merkins, low slow squats

THE THANG:
30 rounds of 5 seconds of work, 25 seconds of active recovery, alternating between merkins and jump squats (or modification).
– roll after merkins, before getting up
– lots of variations of active recovery and silly interactions after squats

Mosey to the playground, find a bar and do a max habg, mosey back and plank to wait for six.

YHC remembered the disclaimer…

Repeat 30 rounds.

Mary:
– Alternate crab walk and cat/baby crawl back to playground.
– Baby rocking to wrap up

MOLESKINE: I’m a leadership and personal development geek. I love thinking about it and practicing it. I enjoyed sharing some thoughts on it today. Remember that to bless simply means to find good and call it out. Don’t forget to bless yourself as you practice blessing. It’s a skill. I also enjoyed all the laughter and horse play during our active recovery. Joy is also worth practicing.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
– plankril today is 1min 16 seconds
– 5 mile Saturday run to support Richland creek, meets at Richland park, see Right Said for details

COT:
– Counts, names and announcements
– The founders of F3 thought they men functioned best when they were aware of and connected to something bigger than themselves
– Took a moment of silent reflection to connect with personal SkyQ … consider someone you’re close to, picture their face, what might be one thing you could do to deepen your connection? Commit to doing that today
– YHC blessed the PAX to go forth and practice bless today
– Poured ginger tea as YHC shared on leadership (see below)

Here is a framework for personal acceleration:
– draw a y and x axis … the y axis represents your motivation: who are you serving? Bottom is you, top is others … the x axis represents type of action. The left is responding (following or participating) the right is initiating (leading)
– bottom left quadrant is participating to serve yourself
– top left is participating to serve others
– Top right is leading to serve others
– bottom right is leading to serve yourself
– growth is recognizing what quadrant you tend to be comfortable in and then considering moving to another quadrant to practice something you may not be as comfortable in
– The key to maturity is to keep moving through the quadrants to be well practiced in all, there’s no “bad” expression here

Wolfpack encouraged the PAX to make their comfort spot with an x.

YHC encouraged the PAX to consider a growth edge: challenge yourself to do something you don’t normally do. That may be initiating or participating. That maybe to shift your focus to yourself or to others. Honor to each man in his unique journey. We all bring a contribution that is valuable.

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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.

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#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:

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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: