Author: Dr Tryhard

  • Phone Time!

    10 HIM’s arrived to the sound of Reacher’s chainsaw preparing the implements of woe, and this PAX put in some serious “Phone Time,” which Reacher tells us is what his drill instructors called BUDS-style telephone pole PT. Here how DTH & Reacher welcomed the FNG “Romeo” and delivered the PAX a healthy dose of sanctifying pain: 

    The THANG:

    DTH WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey lap the upper lot and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Prolonged DTH warm-up Reps IC with variable stretches mixed in and finished off with a run down the hill and Bernie back
    • Included Review of F3 Mission, Credo, and Five Core Principles 

    REACHER’s PHONE TIME:

    • PAX mosey to the pole pile
    • Reacher provides a brief explanation for safe handling of the poles and PAX choose their pain pole – a 12’ with 4 guys, a 10’ heavy with 4 guys, and a 5’ with 2 guys
    • x10 Reps Overhead Press to Alt Shoulders
    • x10 Squats holding Pole to Chest
    • Shoulder carry poles to grass area where PAX take turns under the 12’ pole for x10 Pole Press reps
    • Shoulder carry poles again to other side of lot and complete x10 more Overhead Presses
    • Shoulder carry poles a ways back to Upper Field and pile up

    DTH WALLORAMA:

    • Mosey down to the church and stretch out pole-sore muscle groups
    • Hoedowns x10 IC
    • Leg Raises x15 OYO
    • Hoedowns x10 IC
    • Leg Raises x15 OYO
    • Donkey Kickoffs – escalating up to 15 reps

    VARIABLE MOVEMENT MOSEY BTTF:

    • Karaoke both ways, High Knees, Butt Kickers, Bear Crawling, Crab Walking, Lunges, Broad Jumps, and last stretch via Bear Crawl
    • Circle up for 2 Min of Mary

    COT:

    • Counterama # 10 (with a tardy Du Hast just showing up from work in time to join us for COT)
    • Namerama – welcome ROMEO!
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  Solid larger PAX tonight for a combo-Q courtesy of YHC and Reacher. We had all thought he was joking about bringing some “toys” for his part of the Q – we now all have a very different level of expectation with Reacher, and a very new definition of “toys.” The PAX will be glad to hear we decided after the workout to chainsaw that behemoth 10’ pole into two 5’ pole segments. Reacher invited any/all Crossing Q’s to feel welcome to use the pile of poles anytime. Yaaay. A big warm welcome to William Sutton who attends our church and has been riding the fence about attending F3 for quite some time, but he is ALL about coming back! Nickname came from his name William —> Shakespeare —> Romeo. Super solid dude and great addition to our PAX! Also great to see Slider back out after a long hiatus – welcome back brother. Let’s keep these bigger numbers going! Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Dry January Ongoing
    • Forge Coffeerama w QSource discussion
    • 2/7 Frozen Triangle
    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge

  • ?what does the oreo say in German? NINE!

    A grand 11 HIM’s RSVP’d “Hell Yeah!” to Oreo’s 9th Birthday Bash, which coincidentally also celebrates NTB’s 9th wedding anniversary. By the minimalist attire of ROSIE temps were 70 and Sunny (as always), but LWOODS’ impersonation of Randy from the Christmas Story movie (stuck in puffy snowsuit) suggested true temps may have been in the 20’s. Here’s how we celebrated YHC’s firstborn:

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey onto the BBall Court lot and circle up
    • Slaughter Start with x9 Burpees to thaw the extremities
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Variety of Warm-up Reps, each x9 IC

    KILO-OREO:

    • Mosey to the bleachers
    • Partner up, alternating cumulative reps with the other running across the field and back
    • O – x100 Big O’s rotating legs above and below plane of bleacher seat
    • R – x200 Ranger Merkins
    • E – x300 Each Leg Bleacher StepUps
    • O – x400 Oblique LBC’s
    • (No matter what SNUFF says – this DOES add up to 1000 reps!)

    BURPEE LADDER:

    • Mosey to the pavilion
    • PAX complete descending reps of merkins per burpee, from 9 down to 1, woth a run around the Pavilion between sets.
    • Flutters to the Beat for the SIX

    PAY THE TOLL:

    • x9 Derkins IC (painfully slow)

    BTTF:

    • 2.5min of Variable Mary

    COT:

    • Counterama # 11
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer – theme of Gratitude
    • COFFEE! (Thx to SNUFF)

    NMS:  Brothers, thank you for posting in 20-something weather, for your enthusiasm to take on whatever YHC had in store, and for your fantastic mumble chatter. What a great PAX! This tradition of celebrating Penniella’s birthday is now complemented beautifully with knowing we also celebrate NTB’s nuptials. Blanchard’s Coffeerama was spectacular- thank you again Snuff. YHC is deeply grateful to have such an amazing PAX of brothers to be in the gloom with. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 01/01 – 7am Convergence at Dogpile
    • 01/08 – 7pm SOJ Hang at Heists

  • Rock of Ages

    A handsome 8-PAX rolled into a balmy 50’s and breezy Huge Bells to follow a sleeveless Q into the gloom rockin out the top songs from 30 years ago. Key Takeaways:  Dealer likes to hold small things to make his hands look bigger. Machinehead’s side hustle is a messenger angel. Blank Space admiringly noted he’s never been to an AO with both hot coffee and music to follow. Snuff can’t be beat at KB rep speed. And here’s the meat of the story:

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Breathless run around the knollercoaster
    • Circle up an put on the music – top hits from 30 years ago (1985)
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Warm-up Reps – a few IC without KB’s, then not IC but with the KB’s – completely randomly made up by YHC on the fly

    LIGHTPOLE ALLEY:

    • Mosey down to the Culdesac stopping at each of 12 lights to complete reps. Alternate every other light doing x5 reps of Side Swings (ea side) and x5 reps of Racked Side Lunge (ea side).

    CULDESAC RING OF FIRE:

    • Circle up for variable KB reps called by each successive PAX around circle
    • Long mosey back to the base of Love Hill

    LOVE HILL C.M.I.Y.C:

    • Partner up, each partner completes each round exercise before moving to next round
    • Round 1 – P1 walks backwards up hill holding KB overhead while P2 completes x10 KB swings then runs to catch up and switch
    • Round 2 – P1 lunges up hill with KB racked in front while P2 completes x10 WWII Sit&Press then runs to catch up and switch
    • Round 3 – P1 bear crawl drags KB up hill while P2 completes x10 Squat Thrusters

    25’s:

    • Stop at each lightpole to complete x25 reps, first to 25 calls it quits for all – basically Snuff finished first every time…

    COT:

    • Counterama # 8
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  Awesome group this morning for a very unseasonably warm workout. YHC was gonna play the top hits from 2025, but was so disgusted by the playlist we went back 30 years instead – ended up reminiscing about an hilarious movie from 2012 “Rock of Ages” – gotta see it. PAX got a decent swolt by the end of lightpole alley, and the other COP’s were a decent challenge as well. Snuff takes home the prize for finishing first on all the 25’s – just grateful we didn’t do 25 KB Burpees! Dealer’s lumberjack hands look massive holding the tiniest Yeti coffee mug you’ve ever seen. Bring your kids to New Years Convergence – maybe we’ll set up a 2.0 fight club after. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 01/01 – 7am Convergence at Dogpile

  • HIM HIM CLOWN

    The Bon Iron gang hopped aboard the DTH Pain Train, everyone with freshly pressed F3 t-shirts and full of enthusiasm for some new ideas. Accompanied by some fine alt/rock from the end of the last century, here’s how these SIX HIM’s conquered the hard thing:

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • ROCKIN BEATS ON
    • Mosey lap around the big field and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Warm-up Reps IC

    COP #1:

    • Mosey over to the school for a WALLODORA
    • Partner up, one completing reps on the wall, the other bear crawling up the hill and crawl bearing back down
    • x100 Dirty Hookups
    • x200 Donkey Kicks
    • x300 Hoedowns

    COP #2:

    • Mosey around the school to a grassy spot
    • Partner up for PLT’s – x25 each for x2 rounds

    COP #3:

    • Mosey to the back lot for a LOT LADDER
    • Broad jump between 14 parking lot lines, completing escalating Squat reps at each line

    COP #4:

    • Mosey BTTF and spread out in a large circle in the field to play HIM-HIM-CLOWN
    • While the group completes called reps, one PAX makes the rounds similar to Duck-Duck-Goose, but saying HIM-HIM-HIM until he chooses his victim and calls out CLOWN! ….at which point the chase begins.
    • The loser completes x5 Burpees while the winner picks both the next exercise and who will be next to make the rounds. 
    • Various exercises included: WWII, Freddie Mercuries, American Hammers, Flutters, etc

    COT:

    • Counterama # 6
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  Well done fellas! That wallodora was a hell of a shoulder and quad burner and YHC was very impressed with the enthusiasm that accompanied efforts for Him-Him-Clown. Gotta give a shout out to SPINE for his superman efforts to catch and tag LWoods with a fully extended cheetah leap, and also to TIN MAN who is sneaky speedy! Appreciate having this AO close to home and YHC is planning to attend an Q here more often. Happy New Year fellas. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 01/01 – 7am Convergence at Dogpile

  • Christmas Smokefest 2025

    Five festive NOS HIM’s posted to The Forge for a second annual DTH gift wrapping smokefest. Without once calling a rep in cadence here’s how the big box was wrapped:

    THE WARMUP BOW:

    • Mosey to the midpoint of the tip lot and circle up
    • Christmas tunes ON
    • Random exercises NOT in-cadence with breaking every two exercises to take a few looping runs on the knolls

    The RIBBON:  PAX run to various location all around the AO and Mt Chaplain to complete the following:

    1. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (2:07) – SSH’s to the beat, and a Burpee for every “Christmas”
    2. Jingle Bell Rock (2:11) – Mtn Climbers to the beat, Merkins for every “Jingle”
    3. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2:32) – Flutters to the beat, WWII for every “Wonderful”
    4. This Christmas (3:52) – Squats to the beat, Burpees for every “This Christmas”
    5. Here Comes Santa Claus (2:30) – Shoulder Taps to the beat, and a Groiner for every “Santa Clause”
    6. You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch (2:57) – V-ups alternated with Supermans to the beat, switching (rolling) with each “Mr Grinch”
    7. A Holly Jolly Christmas (2:16) – Monkey Humpers to the beat, with a Monkey Roll for every “Holly Jolly Christmas”
    8. Run Rudolf Run (2:45) – SSH’s to the beat, with a Lt Dan for every “Run Run Rudolf”
    9. Last Christmas – OYO variable movements ip and down the big hill – Run, Bernie, Bear Crawl, Lunge, Crabwalk, Broadjump

    Mosey BTTVSF for COT:

    • Counterama # 5
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  MERRY CHRISTMAS F3 RVA! YHC is truly thankful to these fine few brothers who broke from festive fartsack tradition to start the day right. This was also YHC’s first F3 workout on a Christmas morning, and as a gift to myself, we just repeated the musical beatdown YHC gave the NoToll PAX on last year’s Christmas Eve. Might just have to become another F3 holiday tradition! Just like last year the PAX movement produced a lovely wrapped Christmas gift (see picture on Slack) but this year was a lot more hills. These fine brothers also went home laden with delicious cold smoked venison loin for their holiday charcuterie boards or frying pans. Keeping the Christ in Christmas, YHC closed the morning with a bit of a testimony during COT. Bottom line, Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He works through me every day to love and serve others, and it is a supernatural exchange wherein He gives me incomparable peace and joy in exchange for my obedience. My prayer is each of you finds the same miraculous life transformation and eternal purpose in turning your lives over to Jesus. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 1/1 Convergence, 0700 Dogpile

  • wear your BROWN pants

    The NOS cold-weather ruckers brought along our beloved 60# Sandy for an up-hill down-dale trek across new terrain. The promise was something challenging enough that wearing brown pants might hide the fact you shat yourself in the process. The goal was to use fingers of woods behind/between neighborhoods to circumnavigate an apartment complex near SPFP – and we succeeded in that goal. Also it turns out there are some really lovely open hardwood spaces to walk through in these back neighborhood nomansland areas. Enjoyed the banter as PAX tried to figure out where they were during the ruck, and felt challenged with some deep thoughts at Einstein. Until next time, yours AYE! ~DTH

    COMING UP:

    • 12/23 NoToll – Rosie’s annual 12 Days beatdown down and gift exchange
    • 12/25 Forge – DTH Christmas Whoopin
    • 01/01 Dogpile – New Years Convergence starting at 0700

  • IR-friendly Circuit of Doom, AKA: The welcome back party for Biodome

    Five brothers crossed past their comfort zones to embrace a new level of pain train madness, all thanks to our brother Biodome’s long anticipated return from IR. The man can’t move faster than a walk, so it was heralded as a no-run beatdown, which we honored (endured) with gusto:

    WARMERAMA OYO:

    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • OYO movements and stretches to get the blood flowing

    THE THANG:  PAIN TRAIN CIRCUIT

    • PAX each take a Station and complete reps until the TABATA timer goes off (100 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest/stretch = 2min per station)
    • Station #1 – Battle Rope
    • Station #2 – WWII’s
    • Station #3 – 60# Sandbag Squats
    • Station #4 – Flutters with Skull Crushers (10# plate in each hand)
    • Station #5 – Plank Pull-Through of 30#KB
    • Station #6 – Curls with 30# Ruck Plate
    • Total of 20 Stations completed

    COT:

    • Counterama # 5
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer

    NMS:  AMRAP reps to a Tabata timer, with most stations incorporating heavy weights, was HARD work. The encouragement was to have good quality form, adjust to a different exercise at each station as needed, but keep the reps going for the full 1:40 at each station. The efforts put forward were impressive, and all the PAX were truly exhausted by the end of 20 stations. We are all very thankful to have Biodome back with the PAX! Yours AYE, DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 12/6 Father Daughter Dance
    • 12/23 Rosie’s 12 Days – NoToll

  • Thars Gold in Them Hills

    Well, that was quite the adventurous morning. The original Q NTB dropped out with the latest viral bug and Sable’s also still sick after world travels. YHC offered to Q if nobody else wanted it only to be shaken awake by the M saying “your alarm is goin off again” just 5min before the 0500 launch. So YHC texted L Woods the “coming in hot” message and launched into 16 layers to try and keep warm, only to find a permafrost on the truck blocking the windshield view. Showed up 3min late to find L Woods, PR, and Dealer taking a warmup lap in the lot. Then YHC was told nobody else had a route or desire to think of one, so it was “OK, well let’s go this way” having not actually thought of a route myself, but YHC was willing to see where the good Lord might lead us. Following the ends of our noses, mine being the only unprepared one not lit by a headlamp, we found a route across Huguenot and down into Bon Air, and YHC decided a jaunt through woods and new terrain would be fun. Well, we may have quietly trespassed a tiny bit and were then concerned for the pack of bloodthirsty howling coyotes that turned out to be a very upset toddler in a nearby house (probably freaked out by the ghosts of the woods), but we made it through swamp and bramble to climb hand over fist up the railroad tracks berm. Then YHC decide we’d try a little trail called “Don’t Surf” on Google Maps that turned out to be quite a nice mountain bike trail (inspiring the title of this BB), and by the time we exited the beautiful Bon Air woods we had just enough time to speed ruck the return route, all uphill as a straight shot along McRae Rd to COT and coffee at Einstein’s. Prayers for Dealer’s daughter turning six, and for PR’s BIL with early-onset Alzheimers, and for Wildcat. Discussion in Einstein’s revolved around various topics, but included some thoughts on habits, the 80/20 rule, substance use, and parents hotboxing THC with their kids on board. It’s a wild world we live in, and we can’t expect others to make the right choices, but we can live by example. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 12/6 Father Daughter Dance
    • 12/23 Rosie’s 12 Days – NoToll

  • 43 Turkish Getups!

    That’s right, the fastest growing new AO in RVA witnessed nine Huge-Bell-Toting HIM’s complete 43 Turkish Getups to celebrate the DTH Pain Train’s latest lap around the sun. Here’s a little outline for your reading pleasure:

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey loop without bells and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Variable warm-up Reps with and without the bells

    THE THANG:

    • Mosey down to the tennis courts
    • Round 1 – x13 Turkish Getups (bonus points for any PAX using the #50 KB for x3 getups)
    • Wait for the SIX doing KB hammers
    • Run up and down Love Hill without KB
    • Round 2 – x10 Turkish Getups
    • Wait for the SIX with WWII Sit-N-Press
    • Run Love Hill
    • Round 3 – x10 Turkish Getups
    • Wait for SIX with supine KB press
    • Run Love Hill
    • Round 4 – x10 Turkish Getups
    • Wait for the SIX with KB overhead Flutters
    • Final run up Love Hill carrying KB’s

    COT:

    • Counterama # 9
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer – Gratefulness Theme

    NMS:  Happy Birthday to YHC! Broken bodies yes, but exuberant spirits will somehow power us through the day. Doing a few sets of TGU’s is no joke, but YHC was pumped to CSAUP these reps alongside such a great group of brothers. TClaps to NTB for joining YHC in the highly exclusive 50 pound TGU Club. Looking forward to seeing what other madness the Huge Bells Q’s come up with in the weeks to come. Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • 12/6 Father Daughter Dance
    • 12/23 Rosie’s 12 Days – NoToll

  • Time to Beat: 52min

    Game time decision – neither the 60# Sandy or the 50# KB made it out of the back of YHC’s Taco for this morning’s drippy walk through the dark woods. With just four PAX present, and HP going easy on his knee, we opted for a speed ruck around the perimeter loop of Larus Park – no shortcuts, no stops, 52 min in total time with the stopwatch starting and ending in the Einstein lot. This establishes a baseline time for other Q’s to try and beat in future. NTB had to bounce after COT to catch baby vomit before it sullied his angelic wife’s honor, while the rest of us enjoyed a long and coffee drenched discussion about a number of books. Happy Thanksgiving brothers. Yours AYE! ~DTH