3rd F is quickly becoming my favorite of the 3 F’s in the RVA region. Don’t get me wrong.. YHC loves seeing you guys in the Gloom.. but the mumble chatter while rolling around in the middle of freshly manured spring field has nothing on the 1 hour of COT that we have in the 3rd F. It is a COT.. so what is said in 3rd F says in 3rd F. But this is what we covered.
Disclaimer: The purpose of this AO is to push the PAX along their journey in developing the 3rd F – Faith. We recognize that PAX are at their own place on the journey and proceed at their own pace. PAX are encouraged to share. It is not required to share (wise men learn by listening), but there is a requirement to allow others to share. What is shared in this 3rd F stays with the 3rd F; it is a COT. None of the PAX has a monopoly on the truth, though we are all truth seekers. It is fine to disagree. If there are not disagreements, then we are probably doing it wrong.
This 3rd F event:
Is free of charge,
Is a discussion based on the Christian faith, but is open to all men,
Is peer led by volunteer Qs who may or may not be certified/ordained.
We started with: Who is Jesus? Mark: 8:27 “Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?“
Responses: A man? A Prophet? The Savior? The Bridge? The Son of God? (so is Solomon and Israel once he was no longer Jacob) The Holy Spirit in the Flesh? God? Interesting claim: “‘Son of God’ was a classical term for someone whose father was unknown. Jesus was called ‘the son of God’ because that was a term that mothers called their children when they didn’t know who the father was. There was no great mystical or religious significance to the term, as the churches try to claim today.”
Why are you searching for Him? Have you found Him or have you found what you hope is him? Are you looking because it was others want you to do or are you seeking for yourself. Luke 2:49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
John 11:25: “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;”
Thank you for allowing me to lead. v/r John (Gypsy) Boles
2nd F: Blood drive starts on 5/1 Blood drive for Freed To Bleed is up on the Red Cross site. You’ll see it if you search by zip code 23112. It’s at Good Sheppard Lutheran Church in Midlothian. Sign up! Tell your friends! https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/donation-time
1st F: The Thang: Worm Burners This one is an easy one to Q: Called exercise to be completed by the PAX while a single pax pushes a 35lb bench plate across the parking lot and back as a timer: Think Bear Crawl, but both hands on the plate pushing it along. Called exercises: 1st set completed for 2 rounds: Front Raises, triceps extensions, Sit up with a Press, Pull troughs, Lawn Mowers, Pull overs, Goblet Squats, 50 LBC 2nd set completed for 2.5 rounds: Halos, Jack Stands, Oblique cross over, Romanian Dead lift, Tea Pots, Flutter Press, 50 LBCs
Finish up with a burn (the Kettle bell does not touch the ground) : 7 up-right rows, 7 tea bag squats, 6,5,4,3,2,1.
NMS: Sorry for the delay on this one. A lot of excuses for not getting it out on time.. but they are all excuses. YHC had time in between items to get it done. but having a rough go of it the last few weeks. I appreciate the lead at Circus Maxius and look forward to seeing you all in the Gloom!!
call a pax you have not heard from in a while. it might just be what he needed to get through the day. v/r John (Gypsy) Boles
Getting back at it for a weekly running after taking off a few months is never fun… but when you are meeting up with your crew it makes it at least tolerable. Accountability to meet someone else at 530 AM is a driving force for many of us to get out of bed in the morning. (unless its below 42 and raining then you are just crazy). ACCOUNTABILITY (Q2.5) – F3 Nation
Running AOs can be more difficult to plan than the standard bootcamp. Trying to find a route that will allow for all to push themselves but at the same time not leave a pax behind or get them lost can be challenging. This time we did a simple 5 mile route that made a big circle around Pump road area. There wasn’t any scenery for the pax on this morning.. but the conversations were great. everything from pax members putting the cloths on inside out in the dark to new jet airplanes being build to that one former rabbit that we came across many many many moons ago.
Stay strong out there guys and thank you for the accountability.
3rd F: (Faith) Virtual 3rd F every other Tuesday. Next up is 3/2 with Honey Do on Q covering Forgiveness Guys… don’t miss out on this great event as we discuss Faith in a safe environment to express your thoughts. See 3rd F Channel in Slack or contact Offshore for the Zoom Link.
Please reach out to someone you have not talked to in a while.. Your call today may be exactly what that person needed.
2nd F: (Fellowship)
See Nancy Lopez post in Slack regarding the 5k on the 28th for The GLOW Galactosemia 2021
T-Claps for Greenbow on his 10 yrs of sobriety
1st F: (Fitness)
The THANG: Cumulative Kettlebell BEAST. Each exercise is performed 6 times, then carry your kettlebell to 6 stations, as you add in one new exercise of 6 to be performed.
Curls
Curls, Lawnmower (each arm)
Curls, Lawnmower (each arm , Flutter press
Curls, Lawnmower (each arm , Flutter press, Sit up press
Curls, Lawnmower (each arm , Flutter press, Sit up press, Goblet Squats
Curls, Lawnmower (each arm , Flutter press, Sit up press, Goblet Squats, Upright rows
Total counts: Curls 216, Lawnmowers 180, Flutter Press 144, Sit up press 108, Goblet Squat 72, Upright row 36
NMS: Naked Mole Skin Today is one of those days you don’t post for you.. you post for that pax that might be there alone if you don’t post. Light House and YHC were accountability partners today. My arms hurt too bad to type much more.
But more on Accountability can be found at: https://f3nation.com/accountability-team-q4-8-2/
Stay Strong gentlemen.
Thank you for allowing me to lead at Circus Maximus.
3rd F: (Faith) Thank you Attila for taking us out in COT. I appreciate you raising up Choppa in the prayer as he navigates the new virtual world of college isolated in a hotel room with Covid.
No one signed up to Q Virtual 3rd F on Tuesday 2/16. Guys… don’t miss out on this great event as we discuss Faith in a safe environment to express your thoughts. See 3rd F Channel in Slack or contact Offshore for the Zoom Link.
Please reach out to someone you have not talked to in a while.. Your call today may be exactly what that person needed.
2nd F: (Fellowship)
See Nancy Lopez post in Slack regarding the 5k on the 28th for The GLOW Galactosemia 2021
Splinter is looking for a VCR???
Hardywood is upgrading from Alpacas to Llamas
1st F: (Fitness)
The THANG: These were the exercises I was doing every Monday, Wednesday, Friday while stuck in IR and not able to join you all at the Bootcamps or Run AOs
Mondays each of the following 10 reps 2 sets with AHP (As Heavy as Possible) kettlebell and 32 lb block
Snatch
Halo
Curls
Upright row
Kettlebell situp
Flutter Press
Wednesdays each of the following 10 reps 2 sets with AHP kettlebell and 32 lb block
Halo
Jack stands
Kettlebell pull through
Teapots
Front lifts
Lawn mower
Fridays each of the following 10 reps 2 sets with AHP kettlebell and 32 lb block
2 Handed swings
Overhead pull
Good mornings
Kettlebell Situp w/ a press
Scissors
American hammers
50 LBC
NMS: Naked Mole Skin I have been asked a few times why I start the BB with the 3rd F versus the traditional “here is what we did”. My response is: Matthews 20:16. I believe that most of us recall the 1st few lines of items we read these days … the generation of Memes, Twitter, and text.. if it can not be summed up in a brief 280 characters its TLDR;. So IMHO, the Meat and Potatoes of F3 is the Faith and Fellowship.. it is what makes F3 different than any other workout.. the 1st F is just exercises that we can all do on our own if we wanted.. But Fellowship and Faith take a connection and a trusting environment to grow with each other in a Shield Lock. (More on Shield Lock: https://f3nation.com/tag/shield-lock-q1-7/).
I wish you all the best and look forward to SYITG at the Bootcamp and Running AOs again in March. Until then: Stay Strong gentlemen.
Thank you for allowing me to lead at Circus Maximus.
3rd F: (Faith) ~Thank you Pinto for taking us out as we closed out a killer beatdown 2nd F: (Fellowship) ~F3 Nation 10 yr anniversary convergence has been pushed out to October ~HDHH will be at Hardywood West Creek next Wednesday 12/16 starting around 5 1st F: (Fitness) The THANG: Split Q Between Gypsy and Pinto WaThoHuk is a 3 mile minimum with pain stations along the way.. this requirement does not include when or how the pain stations are to occur or what is used. Today we had some coupons
Disclaimer given Lets Mosey: it was cold so a nice slow warm up was required: 2 slow laps around the Pocahontas track and back to the AO launch.
YHC drives around with the 30lb pavers in the back of the truck. Called exercise performed with paver until the timer gets back from a 1/4 mile run around the front parking lot. 9 rounds. (each pax ran 1.5 miles during this) exercises: Curls, over head press, LBCs, Sit-up press, Triceps extension, good mornings, Flutter press, High pull, over head pull. Put the blocks back and hand off to Pinto.
Pinto calls a mosey to the Dog park going the looooooong way. Perform 15 burpees OYO at the round about. Follow Pinto on a run around the park over to the tables 30 dips at the tables 15 burpees 30 squats 15 Merkins 30 dips Mosey back to AO through the wooded path. One lap around the parking lot. finish with 25 merkins.
3rd F: Thank you Handshake for taking us out in prayer.
2nd F: Check Slack for various opportunities. There appears to be many impromptu events that pop up during the day. Side Note: If anyone has a lead sled for sighting in a new scope i’d love to host an event on my property for some distance rifle shooting. can do some skeet as well over the cleared area.
1st F: The Thang 26 Currahee pax joined up for a classic style gear workout that include tire pulls, slam ball, cinder blocks, fire hose drag and about every other coupon a pax could dream up. Handshake must have still been sipping on the Bourbon from that ABC commercial he is in when he said he wanted to do that weird triple stacked merkin accordion thing.. That was one exercise idea that went WAYYYYYYY to far. Come on man.. Social Distancing was created to prevent just such an exercise from actually making it from tiktok to real life. You just totally wrecked the gear vibe and now I guess we will have to just go run because i cant shake the idea of Gomer Pyle, Handshake, Splinter in a 3 person stacked merkin ladder. at some point the night before there was some back and forth chatter about what we would be doing at Currahee and there was mention about a “Semi inaugural Second Anal Run for Rabies”? Yes that is all spelled like it was text. I think we will pass on that one. We were also informed it was Tyra Bank’s birthday and we should honor her. Had no idea GP was a fan of Tyra but I have new respect for him now. Anyway, point being… Handshake messed up a perfectly good Gear workout… GP made a birthday cake for Tyra.. the unnamed wants to go on a Anal run.. and mushrooms are more related to animals than plants. Speaking of Mushrooms.. is Mellow Mushroom over on Broad st. by 288 any good? At some point LightHouse gathered us all up and we left the AO for a nice little warm up jog. Up Pump to John Rolfe (this leg of the warm up was dedicated to the men and women that aided in the take back of Georgia from the French during the long 3 legged leprechaun siege against the crappy northern whiskey. Left on Glen Eagles: This downward slope part of the run was dedicated to the generations before us that help push the Danes back across the Pacific Ocean to Antarctica in the famous battle over lost wooden shoes. Cross over Ridge Field to Old Prescott Rd. and circle up in the court.
The main event: With it being December 4th YHC thought it would be a great day to honor our greatest generation and totally screwed up the dates… but I’m pot commit at this point and we are doing a dedication to D-Day. (thank you guys for the fun banter back and forth the day before and for GP deleting my post out of SLACK before i was jumped on even further by the entire RAV Pax. 😉 ) Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. As our brave men stormed the well entrenched German forces they had no choice but to advance from the water line and sprint up the 5 beach fronts (Gold, Sword, Utah, Omaha, Juno) against heavy fire, land mines, and obstacles all while wearing everything they needed for the coming months. Before the battle ended: casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead.
We took on 4 of those beaches with race pace full speed from one end or Old Prescott to the other. (.4 miles) circle back for your battle buddies and then recover pace back to the start. Rinse and repeat for 3 more times. Done! 5.5 miles in 45 mins.
Mole Skin: Great job by all in the workout with some fun 2nd F ribbing at YHC expense. The Mubblechatter was great at Currahee on Friday and the pax company was perfect. This AO is quickly becoming a regular must attend for YHC on Fridays. The group runs, intervals, and chatter are always epic. I love how the end of most weeks at Currahee someone in the COT says something along the lines of … that was the furthest xyz… the was the fastest xyz… that was the most xyz that “I” had every done. This AO seems to be pushing pax outside of the comfort zone and you can physically see the pax and PAX accelerating themselves week over week.
Naked Moleskin: If you are reading this: Thank a Veteran today for his/her service allowing you to read this in a free country.
There is a best practice that YHC and a few friends came up with many moons back with regard to shopping for the Holidays. Its call Sh-rinking… yes the name could us a lot of work … but it the concept was perfect at the time. (no way I could pull this off today) You gather up 3 or 4 other buddies that are seriously procrastinating (like me with this back blast) doing the holiday shopping; with one set as the driver but he has his dinner covered by the crew. You set out to the 1st store on the list. As soon as anyone in the crew finds something and buys it, you all have to leave that store and go to closest location that serves beer and all Sh-rinkers have just one short beer. Upon completion of that one beer, you all go to the next store (unless someone saw something in the last store and needs to return to buy it.) As soon as the next item is purchased, you go to the closest place to buy a beer and and all Sh-rinkers have one short beer. Rinse and repeat.. You continue this over and over again until one of many options occurs.. 1) all Sh-rinkers have finished shopping 2) all Sh-rinkers have run out of money 3) all Sh-rinkers can’t walk to Sh-rink any more 4) the driver is done watching others Sh-rink and wants to go home to drink in peace or 5) someone thinks it is a good idea to go to Lowes and buy their M a shop vac because they have Sh-rank wayyyyyy to much (True story on that one and it did not go well for him). Anyway.. it is all in good fun and makes the shopping experience a lot more fun. It also gets you a hall pass for a 2nd F to go have a few pints with the boys because technically you are out gift shopping.
The Thang:
Pre-run at 5:15 BoBerry and YHC put in 1.5 miles while Choppa sat in the truck because it was cold outside and he wasn’t ready yet?? What did VMI teach that boy?
5:30: disclaimer given and the crew is ready to head out for a WTH style beat down.
Short warm-up run from the AO launch site to the entry of the dog park. (3/4 miles)
Dynamic stretching around the round-about
Toe Soldiers
Toes out
Toes in
Butt Kickers
Conversation starts with BoBerry about Starbucks and how they operate. So there was some questions if there was a Starbucks at Target. Without 100% agreement, YHC figured it would be good to mosey over and see they actually did have one?
3/4 miles to Target and it is determined that yes indeed it is a Startbucks but its owned by Target not a “Real” Starbucks. Roger Roger was right.. but the Target was closed so we cant get any this morning. But do you know what is ALWAYS open: MC DONALDS!!!! YHC has an addition to admit…when I am on a road trip … I have to stop and get a Quarter pounder with Cheese meal.. a single Cheese burger and a Chocolate Milkshake. I love me some McDonalds. <3
Perfect time for 1 mile of 7s. This parking lot is just the right length from the curb of Target to the far curb of McDonalds to get in exactly 1 mile over the course of 7’s. One side is Squats. The other side is Merkins. We finish up on the Target side and decide on the next store to go visit. LightHouse said he was fresh out base foundation from Ulta and there just so happens to be one across the street. Pinto was looking for some all natural earthy Crunchy healthy snack from Trader Joes, Roger Roger picked up some kind of virus on his phone down in Honduras while he was alone in his hotel and needed the help if i-Rite, and Pinto just kept talking about how good the bread was at LongHorn Steakhouse. Sounded like a perfect opportunity for a 4 corners to Fireman Ed, so YHC decided to go with it and let the PAX get in some shopping.
4-Corners around the full parking lot (1/4 miles) i-Rite: 30 WW2s Longhorn: 30 LBCs Ulta: 30 Heels to heaven Trader Joes: 30 American Hammers
Mosey back to the AO. Some light stretching. and Done!!
4 miles and some bootcamp over 45 mins.: a standard WTH beatdown with a little Sh-rinking along the way.
MoleSkin: As always: If you have read this far. Take the next 30 seconds to text a brother Pax you have not seen in the Gloom for a while. It might just be what he was needing to help him through the day.
Thank you for allowing me to lead WTH for the week.
Post on behalf of WordPress-less Pinto: (maybe a little commentary added in)
Here’s how it went down: Into the muggy hot gloom 7 men started the day wondering if it was August or November 11th.
COP: Circle up Disclaimer given (minus the one about Pinto is not awake for calling out cadence and its really an OYO until he stops counting to some random number) Start with 17 side straddle hops Next 9 don quiotes 10 merkins 20 LBC
Time to roll: 4 warriors ran by lake and across Three chopt to Culpepper sac number 1, circle back to wait for remainder to catch up. Nowhere in sight (cuz the Q said they were running around the Goose lake), keep backtracking and get back lake. Roger Roger whistles and gets reply from across water. Run continues to meet in the middle, 25 merkins, head back to cul de sacs. At each cul de sac and do 10 burpees, run to next one, 25 merkins, run to next one, 10 burpees, run and repeat until 5 sets of 25 merkins completed and 5 sets of 10 burpees. Mosey back to flag and meet up with our lost warriors (we were not lost…we just didn’t have our cell phones for GPS and the 1st door we knocked on for direction to find ya’ll offered us some breakfast and coffee so we took them up on it and then decided to head back the AO. Did a few exercises so when you guys got back, it looked like we had been working hard) and did 25 celebration merkins to round out our 4 mile trot.
Name FNG Bacon Bits Close in prayer, get the day started!!
Pray request for YHC’s Uncle Greg. He was diagnosed with Lung Cancer yesterday and they are still determining what stage and type.
Virtual 3rd F Q openings are available. Come talk with your brothers across the region every other Tuesday from 8pm to 9pm as we explore thought and ideas from a faith perspective for today’s challenges of life.
2nd F: Fellowship
Shout out to UpChuck with lining up and supporting the Breaking bread. read more here: https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2020/10/14/breaking-bread-we-need-you-now-two-nights-per-month/
Grid Iron will be on the road next week as we go support BlueMoon at this Richmond Marathon that he will start at 6:30 am. More details to come out this week so please stay posted to the Slack 1st F channel.
The RVA shoe drive has been more successful than we 1st anticipated. We are over 100 pairs of shoes and YHC will be getting a final count tomorrow morning as I understand more came in today around the region.
Announcements:
Merkin challenge is starting tomorrow 11/1. Keep yourself accelerating and burn off some of those Thanksgiving calories ahead of time. SIGN UP TODAY so you are not starting up behind. See more details here: https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2020/10/30/november-merkin-challenge-2/ Virtual Happy Hour and Kettle bells has moved from Mondays at 530PM to Thursdays at 530PM. The Zoom link will be posted in the 1st F Slack channel Thursday morning.
1st F (Fitness) The Thang: Cage Fight
6:50AM. finished the pre-run and found a few pax already standing outside on this cool fall morning. As the PAX continued to roll in, YHC knew that the we had a lot of work to get in this morning so I gave the disclaimer right at 7am and we took off immediately for a mosey to get the blood flowing. Circle up at the Tennis Courts on the back side of the school.
COP: (Circle of Pain) warm-up 1 BLIMPS
5 Burpees
10 Lunges
15 Imperial Walkers
20 Merkins
25 Plank Jacks
30 Squats
4 Corners Starting in the center of the 4 tennis courts you run to one of the 4 corners and perform 10 of a set exercise then run back to center for 2 Burpees. Go to the next corner and so on and so forth until all 4 corners and 4 sets of burpees are completed. We did 4 rounds of this with the following exercise in the corners. (32 burpees in the middle as well)
Round 1
Merkins
Wide arm Merkins
Narrow Merkins
Carolina Dry-dock
Round 2
WW2
Reverse LBC
Flutters
Hells to heaven
Round 3
Squats
Lunges
Reverse Lunges
Jump Squats
Round 4
Merkins
WW2
Squats
Burpees
10 or each exercise
Great Work guys!!!
Why are we standing around talking about F3 Disaster Ops and F3 Mission trips, WE have more work to do. (but seriously if you want to know more about the Nations 2nd F events, DM me and I can get you connected with the events NANTAN or Q lead)
The PAX looked like they were getting chilly as YHC talked their ears off so figured we needed to warm up with 1 round of BLIMPS:
5 Burpees
10 Lunges
15 Imperial Walkers
20 Merkins
25 Plank Jacks
30 Squats
Modified CAGE FIGHT WAR!!! YHC has a pack of F3 Workout cards. (See MudGear site to order a set) The game is simple: PAX lines up against the cage fence. One by one you draw a card, announce the exercise on it and keep it. (yes Chum.. you keep just your card) (Number cards you add 10 to it, face cards are 20, aces are 100) The entire pax does the exercise at the far end fence (4 tennis court lengths away) and return to start. This is done until each pax member has pulled a card. To finish this off; after each pax has their card, in pairs, they pick another pax member to “Play war” with. The higher card is the winner and the reward is we all get to do the exercise before collecting those 2 cards. Exercises pulled today: Heels to heaven, 100 M lunge walk, Ranger Merkins, Calf raises, Low Slow Squats, Flutters, Freddy Mercury, Explosive Merkins, and ??. (I forgot the last one). Mosey back to the AO launch.
DONE!!. Lets go get coffee and Bagels
NMS (Naked Mole Skin) Great work by all today! It was a bit chilly so YHC wanted to keep us moving and NOT roll in the wet fields. YHC DOES NOT LIKE rolling around in the cold wet fields. So a good ol’ Fashion cage fight was perfect for today: 3 miles of intervals almost all within he confines of the cage 200 calf raises 100 Merkins 52 burpees Countless Squats, Lunges, and Core.
Key notes taken from today. Johnsonville can whistle REALLLLLY loud.. Chum Bucket cant hear Johnsonville whistle Fireman ed is never allowed to play F3 War again. (My Calves are still burning from 200 Calf Raises) BlueMoon ditched us to go run in traffic. Deuce is a runner in disguise. (and fast on a sprint) Attila loves bootcamps with lots of squats, lunges, jump squats, calf raises.. more squats and a few more lunges. LightHouse doesn’t tie his shoes??? No idea how he does that for a workout and not trip?? Tater has more energy than a 10 yr old on 3 Monster energy drinks and a red bull. Pinto is secretly in the Secret Service but wont tell any one so keep that just between you and me. SHHHHHHHHHHH!. This ENTIRE PAX crushed it today. I look forward to seeing you in the gloom again soon. (like at WTH on Wednesdays. #ShamelessPlug ? )
AS always: If you have read this far. Take the next 30 seconds to text a person in your life that you have not heard from in a while. It may be what helps them through the day.
Thank you for allowing me to lead. v/r John (Gypsy) Boles
