Many men misjudge strength. They look at the outside. At what a man can do with ease. This is a mistake.
True strength is what a man does when he is exhausted. When his resources are gone. When he has hit his limit.
True strength is the man who keeps going. Who never quits. Who breaks every barrier. Who breaks even his own body if necessary. Muhammad Ali said, “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”
Today we saw that Popeye is a man of true strength. With his heart rate above 180-190 for much of the workout, he never quit. He never stopped. He never let his body tell him no. He hit barrier after barrier. Limit after limit. And he shattered them. Man, it was awesome and inspiring to watch. I wish you could have been there. If Popeye keeps intermittent fasting and hitting workouts like he has the past few weeks, he is going to be a terror.
For the workout itself, to start we did 15 or so intense minutes on the ground with continuous exercises: jump squats, donkey kicks, stump jumpers, jumping lunges, mike tysons, SSHs, 180s, big boys, merkins, heels to heaven, flying cockroaches, hands in the air knee ups, and more. Then we ran about 5 miles (6.3 on the apple watch) with 5-6 rounds of 800s racing our partners with 20 rep exercises in between, followed by 3-4 stagger-start sprints down the hill, followed by all-ya got back home and up the hill. It was a good morning.
Peace be with you.
Hard workouts can be scary. We get it. That’s why there are famous quotes like:
Understanding that, we weren’t surprised when only 4 guys showed up for cowbell. Feeling empathy for the petrified no-shows, we got to work.
We did swings, squats, side squats, ladder squats and swings, the sugar ray, the swinging lunge, the regular lunge, plank row and merkin ladders, lawnmowers, heavy big boy and twist ladders, heavy big boys, twists, cockroaches, and took a long farmer’s walk around the target with partner merkin chasers. And we did a bunch of sprints. Total of 5.73 miles by the apple watch.
T-claps in particular to Popeye for stepping up to the big bell today, and for his already-progress with intermittent fasting. Dasher is Mr. well-rounded, and brings power with the speed — always has. And Baio continues to impress with speed and grit. Everybody today was 49 or 42. Man, we are in our prime.
Thanks to Popeye for the takeout. Let us all love more.
With apologies, the Company will not reimburse for tonight’s Clyent Dinner. Expecting a night out with drinks, steaks, and good conversation, the pax instead found only silliness. We did some new and little-used exercises, such as:
We sang some songs in cadence while moseying about boogers and granny. Plus we did some real exercises. Most of the kids had fun, except for the kid who cried (sorry Blue Screen), and everyone got a little exercise. Enjoyed being with you all.
Announcements: the now infamous blood drive and a Rice n’ Bean/Christ Closet giveaway coming up Feb. 20th. Blue Screen took us out.
Peace.
7 men gathered for another running of the cowbell. You know what we did. We kicked the snot out of ourselves with kettlebells and sprints for 3+ miles, continuing the shredding process making it difficult for the cowbell pax to walk without swaggering.
Poor Damascus. He has been dealing with a veritable mountain of troubles for months, barely posting, getting no exercise, and gaining weight. Knowing this, Bottlecap got that mischievous grin on his face that we all know and love.
So Damascus showed up with a kettlebell that — by its size — should weigh 74 pounds. [Due to the helium it contained, no one was able to verify its true weight.]
Damascus then walked up to the line like he smelled something bad enough to choke a maggot. When he arrived, and saw Hurry and Tool Time looking nervous, Dasher faking lingering effects of COVID, and Sugar Daddy having lost his smile for the first time, Damascus suspected that Bottlecap had been talking with his tongue out of his shoe. And when the first long sprint was called, he had no doubt. To his credit, though he hung in there and pushed.
When confronted later about his prevarication, Bottlecap merely grinned, raised his hands, and replied, “hey I’m in sales. I may have left out a few details.”
So ended the third running of the cowbell. Thanks to Hurry for taking us out, and reminding us what a great gift we have in F3. Damascus was polite enough not to disagree.
7 men got fast, powerful, and mentally tough during the 2nd running of cowbell. They slung heavy bells, they sprinted, and never stopped. These are some of the fittest men in the nation. Yet at the end, some were literally unable to lift their bells for another rep. Others appeared to be swaying on their feet, breathing hard. These men were and are complete bad-asses.
Why inflict brutality on themselves this cold winter morning? To get fast, strong, and mentally tough, of course. Each man next to his brother knew he could accomplish what would be impossible alone. No matter what trial he faced later that day, it would seem smaller. These men do this most every day. You see, the men of F3 inflict trials on themselves for a reason. They know that trials produce perseverance, and perseverance produces character. With character, the really good stuff is right around the corner.
That brings me to Zinfandel’s semi-reluctant take out. For those of you who don’t know him Zin, he has one of the biggest hearts in F3. He urged us this morning to hug our neighbors, to think of them, to love them, and to think bigger than ourselves. Implicit in what Zin said was that each of us has been given a kind of power that most others are missing. We have the obvious: speed, strength, mental toughness, and the character that comes from it. And we have each other: other men to come alongside us with their own speed, strength, and mental toughness.
Let me ask you. What are you doing with these gifts? Consider your answer. And consider how to use your gifts going forward if you are not satisfied with your answer. Your brothers will support you. And when the world sees you and your brothers, using your strength, character, and relationships, acting sacrificially, in love, for others, without profit to you, they will ask WHY. Only good things come from that question. It is the 3rd F.
Ice9 out.
9 men at the inaugural launch of cowbell prepared themselves for fight or flight with hundreds of reps and sprints totaling 3 miles.
The cowbell concept is simple: keep the body in constant stress and the heart rate up with continuous kettlebells movements interrupted only by sprints. We started with a minute on mechanics: in short, make sure you swing and push the bell from your hips and legs, NOT your back. Watch the form especially when you start to fail. Then we were off.
We lined up in front of the Petsmart and did a lot of the following exercises.
Reps were punctuated by long sprints to the Brooklyn Pizza, the Chick Fil’ A, the Target, and, for rest, to the far curb and back. Leaders did swings until the six caught up, which was usually very quickly. Toward the end, we also took a break with a mini mind eraser with merkins and plankjacks when it looked like the troops would mutiny if asked to pick up their bells again. Also, a few idiots ran a couple miles before the workout, led by Hurry.
The workout was wheelhouse for Tool Time and Zinfandel: standouts for both speed and power. Tool Time was up front all morning. Zinfandel had some story about only being there because he overslept, but no one believed him. Every man pushed hard. Sadly, though, there was no merlot. So no man found his limit, leaving room for improvement next week.
Thanks to Bottlecap for taking us out with the word, and for his leadership as our Nantan.
Sign up for the blood drive, or they will find you. Christ’s Closet is loading up a truck for a giveaway in Wilmington, in place of the 10 year giveaway, and could use some strong guys like you readers to help load the truck Friday the 15th at noon on your lunch break. Great to be with these men this morning. Working out regularly in F3Waxhaw has been one of the many blessings for me from the trial of Covid.
Ice9 Out.
A fast team at Ignition did nearly 6 miles with mind erasers, leg and ab exercises, staggered races, and Indian runs to please Rubbermaid. Not everybody finished at 6:15, but all had fun. Really. They did. Special kudos to Sugardaddy, who is 2x as fast as a few months ago, and Tool Time, who admittedly benefited from Hurry #rainsacking.
Meanwhile, I thought you’d be interested in observations from tonight’s reading at #F3Sanctuary. We are studying the Christian disciplines, such as meditation, prayer, study, solitude, guidance, and celebration. Our author contends there are 2 main reasons to practice the disciplines:
This week’s discipline is #service. It is found in a lifestyle in relationship with God. True service loves hiddenness, doing small things, being indiscriminate, and meeting needs. I found particularly powerful the truth that service is one of the best ways to gain humility, especially hidden service. By choosing to serve, we achieve freedom: from pride, from needing to feel important, from the need to insist on our rights. And I found particularly insightful the observation that allowing others to serve us is a discipline itself: by submitting to allow others to serve us, we recognize their “kingdom authority” over us, receiving a spiritual gift that need not be repaid.
Thanks to Shake n’ Bake for his testimony at COT. In serving his community this morning, he was rebuked. But he gladly paid that price to do the right thing. I am thankful Shake is in my community.
Out.
14 guys at Asylum did about 4 miles worth of pearls on a string, with merkins, squat thrusts, SSHs, plank jacks, donkey kicks, mike tysons, rock hoppers, stump jumpers, wide arms, mountain climbers, jump squats, 180s, side squats, big boys, bicycle, heels to heaven, russian twists, flutters, and more. It was a rather unpleasant group today, in a fun way. Lots of arguing, bickering, and repartee.
I told Smokey right off the bat that I cannot abide fools. He retorted, “apparently your mother could.” After that, we started running. Later, Blue Screen was arguing with Ralphie. He told Ralphie, “when I was your age, I talked just the way you are talking now.” Ralphie said, “if only I had known you when you were at your best!” Schnitzel accused Shop Dawg of being drunk. Shop Dawg replied, “but I shall be sober this afternoon and you, sir, will still be German.” (I was personally offended by that one.) Fuse Box said that Swimmers was a “modest person, with much to be modest about.” Swimmers said to the rest of us that Fuse Box “loves nature, in spite of what it did to him.” Showing the Dana the family photo afterwards, Posse said to him, “You’re really handsome in this picture, I didn’t recognize you!” Dana replied, “sometimes I need what only you can provide; your absence.” Then it started getting really ugly. Chatterbox told Flanders he was “a parasite for sore eyes.” Flanders replied that Chatterbox “can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.” Loafer even bickered with Dilbert at Q source, asking, “must you fall asleep while I’m speaking?” Dilbert just smiled, “no. It is purely voluntary.”
Thanks to Dana for taking us out.
Announcements:
TAP for Hightower, his family, and the men of Grand Strand.
3rd F: Blood drive needs 20 guys to sign up today or shame and dishonor will be brought upon F3Waxhaw.
3rd F: Christ’s Closet folding party tonight, and giveaway hours Thursday night.
3rd F: Open Door Saturday and Sunday mornings w/ 3 options, currently in Romans. Sanctuary Monday nights to be starting a new study a week from today on the Christian disciplines.
18 men showed up for Ignition to get out of their comfort zones. Everyone grabbed a couple friends for the trip, explored some new territory, did some partner chases and exercises, and ended up with about 5.75 miles.
Spirits seemed good at the beginning of the workout. Hollywood announced at the start, “I feel the need — the need for speed.” Carb Load added, “fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” But Easy Button just grinned, ominously staring at his bricks, repeating “say hello to my little friends.”
As we started the partner chases, there was a lot of idle chatter. Gerber nonchalantly remarked, “one morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.” His partner Glidah replied, “you’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you?” Stinger knowingly nodded, “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
Not everyone fully participated. Bottlecap kept yelling at people, “I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” Cobbler empathized, “well, nobody’s perfect.”
In the middle, there was a lot of arguing. Smithers complained, “what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” Goodfella raged, “well here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!” Premature gasped, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Zinfandel menaced, “a Q once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some Dava beans and a nice Chianti.”
After we finished, a few seemed pretty pleased. Foundation just smiled and said of the workout that it was “the stuff that dreams are made of.” Cobbler said of Ignition, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Easy Button looked sideways at me and said, “why don’t you come up sometime and see me sometime?” This generally made me uncomfortable. Chastain kept looking at his bricks, calling them “my precious.”
Others were downright euphoric. Transporter exclaimed, “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.” Dasher thought he deserved something for his efforts, hands in the air yelling, “show me the money.” Wolverine looked with pity at the rest of us, “you can’t handle the truth.” Not sure why Chastain kept repeating, “I see dead people.”
Unfortunately, others left with the apparent need for self reflection. Stinger said unfairly of himself, “I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.” Glidah shuffled his feet, saying “I want to be alone.” Hollywide smiled confusingly, adding “a boy’s best friend is his mother.” Bottlecap pointed at me, spitting “nobody puts baby in a corner.” I would have apologized, but love means never having to say you are sorry. Whatever you do, don’t give up. After all, tomorrow is another day.
Christ’s Closet is a ministry started by the men of F3Sanctuary. We give away clothes, books, furniture, and household gifts in the name of Jesus. Because He told us to. I hope He is telling you to join us.
Our next giveaway is Thursday, October 3rd, at the Petersberg Primary School in Pageland, South Carolina. 98.8% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. The poverty in their families is palpable. In past years, kids leave the giveaway with the first book they have ever owned, and the only “new” clothes they can remember receiving. God brings these families to us so we can serve and love on them in the name of Jesus.
You can help at any one or more of the below insertion points on Thursday, October 3. If you show, God has provided a free and awesome Christ’s Closet mudgear shirt for you.