Author: Fireman Ed

  • Scrooge is Legal

    9 mostly young warriors headed out to the gloom of Huguenot High to get a good beatdown. And in honor of Scrooge’s special birthday, we embarked on a 21 themed workout. I was initially disappointed to not see Scrooge at the COP. But right after I made a comment about it, he showed up 30 seconds later:)

    COP – Run to bottom parking lot, 21 SSH, 21 Freddy Mercuries, 7 Don Quixotes, 7 Helicopters and 7 arm circles

    First Exercise: Four corners with 21 heels to heaven, 21 hand release merkins, 21 2 count mountain climbers and 21 WWIIs; mosey to next parking lot

    Second Exercise: Four corners again with burpees, one at the first corner, 3 at the second, 7 at the third and 21 at the last corner (32 burpees in total); mosey to amphitheater (with long pole giving me directions)

    Third Exercise: 21s in combination of tricep dips and box jumps. Start with 20 tricep dips and 1 box jump, decrease 3 dips by step, increase 3 box jumps by step. I noticed that I even at 6’1 had more trouble with the jumps than the more vertically challenged guys.

    Fourth Exercise: Triple check with wall sits, Carolina dry docks and runs around 2 different medians (Figure 8). The Figure 8 run took more time than I thought making the dry docks quite a challenge.

    Last Exercise: 2 sets of 21 PLTs each

    Closed in prayer.

    I enjoyed my first SOJ Q. I do feel older with this group but that is all good. I noticed that Fresh Prince is super fast and I am not. I was thinking about making Scrooge drink but while it may be 12 o’clock somewhere, 6:15 in the morning is pushing it.

    Prayers go out to Helix’s daughter, Wojo for his sister, and Orange Crush for his son. Hope they all recover completely.

  • The Big 80!

    28 warriors including one FNG hardened by humidity staked their claim on Byrd Park this morning.

    COP: 7 Don Qioxotes (a bit too fast for Saab), 6 Helicopters, 19 Freddie Mercuries and 39 Side Straddle Hops – this represents my dad’s birthday of 7/6/1939 – he is 80!

    First Exercise: Ran up Blanton Ave, mixing in a little karaoke, high knees and butt kickers. Had to move for a few cars that came by.

    Second Exercise: Lunge across the tennis courts

    Third Exercise: Modified Doras – 80 Burpees, 160 jump squats and 320 2 count flutter kicks; Mosey to fitness trail section nearest to police statue

    Fourth Exercise: Bear crawl from fitness trail halfway, 20 WWIIs bear crawl rest of way to statue , 20 more WWIIs. Crawl bear back to where we started same cadence of WWIIs. Mosey to the cage

    Fifth Exercise. Three stations: Station 1 – Alabama prom dates – 24, Station 2 – Pull up bars – 8 and Station 3 – Dips – 8. There was confusion around # and direction but after some trial and error the PAX got it. We got through three rounds of each station on average.

    Last Exercise: Share 80 PLTs (40 each). There was concern over dripping sweat on partners but I think everyone did OK with it.

    Announcements:

    F3 Mosey shirts on sale – see Lab Rat for details.

    Another upcoming happy hour/work out at Palani – details will come shortly

    5K race per Krytonite, I think it already happened by the time this publishes:(

    Labor Day convergence, any leaders want to set up/run? Kubota can pass along his wisdom if you are willing.

    Closed in prayer. Keep Helix’s daughter and family in your prayers.

    Enjoying leading a larger group today and it was good to see the burpees lessened the mumble chatter. Good to see Abba bring an FNG. Welcome Dancing Queen visiting all the way from Sweden.

    Speaking of my 80 year old dad, he still walks ~5 miles a day (he picks a 1/4 to 1/2 mile route and does it over and over again). I don’t think he can handle 80 burpees but I am still proud of his determination. He is a good example of persistence and humility that I hope to continue as I get older.

  • The Fab Five

    5 Fantastic athletes showed up wondering who would take the lead on this nice warm morning.  It went a little something like this:

    Handshake Q: 

    COP:  20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Don Quixotes, 10 Merkins and 20 (?) Freddie Mercuries.   

    First Exercise: Indian Run around Quioccasin Middle School

    Second Exercises: Pole Running – each PAX grabbed a pole and alternated between flutter kicks and leg lifts while a PAX ran down and up the bus loop. Did that a few times and my abs are looking good right now.

    Passed to Fireman Ed for Q:

    Third Exercise: Run to benches in front of school. 2 sets of 20 Tricep dips with a set of 20 incline merkins

    Say goodbye to Handshake who had to leave at 5:55 p.m.:(

    Next Exercise: Partner up and share 100 PLTs

    Next Exercise: 3 sets of 8 jerkins on the bars by the track. Remembering Conspiracy’s advice, I requested that we go slow and hold at the top.

    Ran around track, did a bear crawl up the hill to the parking lot and closed with 30 American hammers, 20 mountain climbers and a bunch of LBCs.

    Closed in prayer.

    It was nice to have a small group including a visitor from DaVille or SOJ (Corned Beef). Handshake showed his devotion by working out around the track before Heartbreak to get his 45 minutes in before he left at 5:55 (not sure why he had to leave at that exact time).

    Announcements:

    Puppy Pile 7:05 6/29, Convergence – 7/4 at 7 (I think) at Tredegar, some social going on at Independence on Thursday per Corned Beef and retreat on 9/21 (sign ups for Cornhole tournament need to be done soon).

    Have a productive day!

  • D-Day at Mary

    On a nice humid low 70s morning, 14 beasts showed up for a good beatdown from the Fireman.  

    COP (Warm Up) – 6 Don Quixotes (Saab kept going – I think he did 9), 6 OYO burpees, 19 Freddie Mercuries and 44 Side straddle hops.  So the PAX are wondering why the odd #s.  The reason is that on 6/6/1944 the Allies landed on Normandy for what we call D-Day.  After an “appropriate” recovery period we headed down for our first exercise.

    First Exercise: In honor of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, we split up 75 burpees into 19 sets by doing a set of 4 burpees at each tree (1 extra since we are tough).

    Second Exercise: At the next corner we bear crawled and at the first tree did 1 WWII, bear crawled to the next tree, did 2 WWIIs and so on. We stopped at the next corner.

    Third Exercise: We did lunges from the road to half way across the tennis court. I was initially thinking of going all the way across the tennis court but after someone asked when we should stop I stopped halfway.

    Fourth Exercise: We did modified Doras with a partner and did 75 Hand release Merkins, 150 2 count mountain climbers and 300 2 count flutter kicks.

    5th Exercise: We gathered around the monkey bars and we had 2 rings of fire with 2 participants doing 5 chin ups while the others were in plank position, doing derkins or tricep dips. I thought this was going to go around once but the group was so fast we ended with 2 times around and Swirly and Goldberg going 3 times. I guess they love some chin ups.

    Last exercise was 35 American hammers.

    Announcements: Summer Tour still going on, sign up if you haven’t already. Early risers club (or last call for you youngens) is on 6/22 at Dog Pile/Byrd Park. See HoneyDo for details.

    Musings: It was fun Qing Mary for the first time. The group tends to partake in more mumble chatter than at Hoedown or Heartbreak. And yes I am not a “personalized” trainer.

    Welcome Pistorious (FNG). He did a great job keeping up with the burpees, bear crawls and hand release merkins. He works with prosthetics hence the name.

    Lastly, let’s take time to remember those who lost their lives on D-day. Do Great things men!

  • Near Derailment

    On a beautiful Monday morning, 12 mighty warriors met up for a beatdown and i believed they received it.

    Warm ups:

    10 Don Quixotes, 20 Side straddle hops, 10 forward and backwards Arm circles and 10 Merkins

    First Exercise:

    Doras with 100 Gaga jumps (jumps over the Gaga Ball pit boundaries), 200 Carolina Dry Docks and 300 2 count flutter kicks, Other partner is running to the other side of the black top and back.

    Mosey to Hillsdale road

    Second exercise:

    Fireman Carry up the hill around the cul-de-sac back down the hill

    This is where Roger Roger carrying Bodos nearly toppled. I credit Roger Roger with a good save but it was close.

    Bear crawl up the hill ~1/8 mile jog down the hill and plank

    Mosey to the field behind TES

    Third Exercise:

    Triple check with Donkey kicks, Tricep dips and run to the chin up bar and do 5 Burp ups (burpies to a chin up).

    Last exercise:

    Run to the horsehoe and share in 65 PLTs. 65 to 1 were the odds of Country House winning (or winning by default) the Kentucky Derby. Was that a foul or not? I have no idea. Finish with 15 merkins.

    Announcements: Bodos first Q is this Wednesday at Dog Pile.

    We have Field Day this Saturday. For those at Tuckahoe Nano Region, represent with the collared shirt and old khaki shorts, I’d say even a visor.

    I had fun Q’ing again although I was unable to complete the triple check due to being slightly out of shape. I also had a few comments on my sleeveless shirt. I think my look resembled the latest photo of Christian McCaffrey (look up Christian McCaffrey jacked). Have a productive week and god bless!

  • Ed’s Random Number Generator

    8 above average PAX including myself braved the 35 degree somewhat breezy conditions to get a good workout.

    The workout went something like this:

    Warm-up: Mosey to the Rite Aid and do 25 side straddle hops, 10 Don Quixotes, 13 LBCs, 7 forward arm circles, 6 backward arm circles. Honey Do was remarking on my odd counts and asked if I had a random number generator to which the answer is yes.

    Exercise 1: Doras with 100 merkins, 200 jump squats and 300 two count flutter kicks while the partner runs around the Rite Aid.

    Exercise 2: Cross the street. Same partner. Partner 1 does 5 merkins, partner 2 bear crawls, Partner 1 catches up to partner 2 and they switch.

    Exercise 3: Go to the driest ground in RVA; otherwise known as Bodos’ backyard. Share 100 PLTs.

    Exercise 4: Using what little I know about the NFL combine (did you see that a 260 pound defensive lineman ran a 4.41?) I had the PAX try 3 attempts at the 40 yard or meter dash (Offshore and Garbage Plate appeared to be the fastest) and then try 3 attempts at the 60 yard or meter shuttle. Kubota did a Forrest Gump like over run on the first attempt (Stop Kubota Stop). Upchuck made a failed attempt at recasting the “Hi Roger” event from a couple months ago.

    We finished with 25 plank jacks, 30 American Hammers, 25 2 count mountain climbers and 25 side straddle hops.

    No announcements of note and the Fireman closed in prayer. It was good to see Splinter back in action.

  • Elevens with burpees equal goodness

    A dozen PAX including yours truly showed up at Heartbreak looking for a mild winter morning beat down and I think they got one.   Although the Fireman was the only one present at 5:23, the caravans came through.  The exercises went like this:

    Warm up – 25 side straddle hops, 10 Don Quixotes, 10 arm circles each direction and 20 Freddie Mercuries

    Exercise 1 – Partner carry around the 1/4 mile (aboot .4 kilometers) track.  At one point two people came sprinting past us.  I still don’t know if that was two of our PAX or the non F3ers who were using the track this morning.

    Exercise 2 – Run around Quiocassin Middle school and do sets of 10 merkins during the run.  I estimate we ended up doing ~80 merkins

    Exercise 3 – 100 PLTs total between 2 PAX

    Exercise 4 – Elevens starting with 10 burpees at the bottom of the hill by the parking lot up the hill 1 WWII and drop a burpee add a WWII until we get to 1 burpee and 10 WWIIs.  this one elicited a few groans and complaints after the fact.

    Exercise 5 – wall sits alternating with tricep dips

    Cool down with 30 American hammers, 30 3 count mountain climbers (which I barely 1,2,3 at the end of) and 40 side straddle hops.  Lastly, we did a Merkin ring of fire.

    No announcements and closed in prayer.

    Quiet group this morning.  Perhaps the fireman needs to liven it up a bit.  There was some mumble chatter about doing elevens with burpees so I used that as the title for today’s post.  Enjoy the 70 degree sunny day and do great things.

    Fireman

  • The Art of Naming FNGs

    We have 18 strong PAX including yours truly; that includes 3 FNGs which is awesome.  We went to work on a somewhat mild winter morning.

    Workout went something like this:

    Warm up:  16 Side straddle hops (in honor of the Bears score, poor Cody Parkey), 15 forward arm circles, 15 backward arm circles, 20 LBCs and 25 Freddie Mercuries

    First Exercise:  Mosey to the Rite Aid after figuring out how to best navigate the Ridge Road crossing.  Do 4 corners – start with 10 burpees, then next corner 10 burpees and 20 WWIIs, then 10 burpees, 20 WWIIs, 30 jump squats, and lastly 10 burpees, 20 WWIIs, 30 jump squats, and 40 2 count flutter kicks.

    Second exercise, reverse back the 4 corners with 40 2 count flutter kicks, 30 jump squats, 20 WWIIs and 10 burpees.  I sensed the FNGs were thinking “Wow these dudes are serious”.  After some planking activity we proceeded back to the front of Tuckahoe.

    Third Exercise:  Get a partner and split 100 Merkins on the bike rack, 200 step jumps and 300 2 count flutter kicks, one partner exercises while the other runs to the start of the teacher’s lot.

    Last exercise:  Handshake led the group with a merkin ring of fire.

    Announcement:  Olivander is handling Puppy Pile which is scheduled for 1/26.  Closed in prayer.

    Musings:  The Fireman was amazed at having 18 PAX and this was his first time picking names for FNGs and this morning we had 3 of them.  The first names went without too much trouble (Welcome Bernanke and Scrum) but on the 3rd name we got stuck on Dell and then Viral starting talking about a “dude” in the old Dell Commercial.  So I thought why not go with Dell dude which in hindsight sounds pretty lame.  The Dell “dude”‘s name is Steven by the way.  So there were lots of mumble chatter and laughter at the Fireman’s expense about how bad a name that was.  Well smarter minds prevailed and the 3rd FNG is Escobar.  Welcome Escobar!

     

  • Meters? This is America!!

    On a seasonably cold morning, 8 hardened athletes and yours truly showed up for a good workout.  And I think they got one!

    Warm up:  22 side-straddle hops (in honor of the Jets moral victory of scoring 22 points against the Texans last week, yes they lost but it was close), 12 forward arm circles, 12 reverse arm circles, 15 Don Quixotes and 20 Freddie Mercuries.

    First Exercise:  Run 1/4 of the track (which I deemed 100 meters to which Attila said Meters this is America!) so that changed to 100 yards then do 22 merkins, 1/4 of the track do 22 2 count mountain climbers, 1/4 of the track do 22 merkins and the last quarter do 22 2 count mountain climbers.

    Second Exercise:  Same as the first exercise but with 11 burpees at each quarter of the track.  this one elicited a few groans.

    Third Exercise:  Traverse the swamp to get to the jerkins bar.  Do three sets of eight hold at the top jerkins.  I don’t think everyone got the hold at the top part.  Oh well!

    Fourth Exercise:  PLTs – 100 between yourself and your partner

    Run around the track through the parking lot and do the 5th exercise which was groups of 3.  One will do a wall sit, the other do tricep dips on a bench and the third bear crawl about 40 feet and run a loop in the parking lot.  Switch and do each exercise 3 times.

    After this exercise we cooled down with 30 American hammers – 2 count and 30 2 count flutter kicks.

    We closed in prayer.

    Announcements:  HoneyDo mentioned the big weekend night race in March ( I believe it is at Pochontas State park).  He mentioned more information coming from a facebook page.  I mentioned Hardywood’s daughter doing a book singing tomorrow at 5:30?  at Crossroads café on Semmes Ave.

    Musings:  I enjoyed Qing Heartbreak for the first time and will look to do it again soon.  Perhaps I will introduce the metric system to more Americans (for instance I weigh 90 kg.) Bromance was questioning the need to do this on Christmas morning next week but Honeydo said he would be there so show up before presents are opened and justify the egg nog you will consume later.

    Fireman Ed

     

     

  • Big thanks to our Veterans

    On a beautiful Veterans Day morning, 12 freezing weather loving PAX and I made the sacred pilgrimage from Hoedown headquarters at Tuckahoe Elementary to Kanawha Recreation Association (KRA).

    Warm up (in front of three spectators):

    15 Side straddle hops, 10 helicopters (in honor of the Jets score against the mighty Buffalo Bills, one better than the Richmond Spiders), 10 Don Quixotes and 10 front and back arm circles

    First exercise:  For Veterans Day we did army crawls from the end of the school grounds to the flag pole and back.  I think I was one the last ones to finish which isn’t a good start.

    Mosey to KRA by doing what I call a Merkin run.  For some historical context, my first F3 a little over two years ago was at Mary with Flipper as Q.  At the end, he had us run together and drop and do 10 Merkins, etc.  So I decided with this Merkin contest and my unexplainable desire to be at KRA, why not honor the great Flipper?  So we did ~80 merkins on the way there.

    At KRA, we did a Dora with 100 Carolina Dry docks which I am told do not count as Merkins (sorry), 200 2 count mountain climbers and 300 flutter kicks.

    After that fun, I tried to do elevens with WWIIs and jump squats.  Unfortunately I grossly underestimated the time it takes to go up and down KRA’s parking lot so we stopped about 2/3 the week into it.

    We finished with the run and another ~80 merkins having to look out for cars which keeps things interesting when most of the PAX wear dark clothing.

    Concluded with announcements (1.  There is an event that is listed on the backblast that Handshake mentioned at Ruth and Ollies in Carytown this Thursday at 5:30.  Handshake I had trouble logging in to the app so if can pass along details that would be great.  2) Marv mentioned a Thanksgiving day football game for under 14s.  Details for this are also on backblast)  and prayer.

    Lastly I want to give thanks for all of our veterans.  They have done and continue to do a lot for our country.  When I take a step back and think about all of the freedoms we have (voting, religion, etc.) and the prosperity we have in America, I realize how lucky I am to be an American.   After Hoedown, I went to Tuckahoe Elementary for a Veterans Day assembly because my bro and law is a Marine and my younger daughter goes there.  It was a really cool ceremony.