Author: Isaiah Grant

  • Only Brighter Days Ahead!

    After record temps only a couple days ago, 7 Men decided to come out in 30 degree temps for Morning Wood. 3 ruckers hit the early bird route and 4 runners hit our normal trail. After months of running in darkness and needing a headlamp at some point during the run, today was the first day in a long time that we didn’t need one at all. It was great having that sunlight, especially to protect us from debris on those dark trails. As we were running, I couldn’t help but notice Mudslides bone conduction headphone . I got a strong recommendation from all the PAX that those were the way to go so I hit Best Buy this afternoon and got my first pair. Cant wait to break these bad boys in!

    Thanks Fellas,

    House Party

  • What happened to the heat?

    After a couple days of around 70 degree weather, today brought below freezing temps. I arrived a little early and saw Doublemint, Footloose, and Big Rig rucking. 6:30 hits and here comes Big Rig, after leaving the others to continue rucking, dropping off his ruck and getting ready for the prerun. We hit our normal trail. Mumble chatter included family, work, Duke basketball, and how crazy this weather is.

    House Party

  • Looks like the Morning Wood keeps getting bigger.

    A total of 7 guys ditched the fartsack to get in a few miles before the beatdown. 3 Ruckers got a 30 min. jump on the runners. Rosie and I took off promptly at 6:30am and missed Shank and Mud Slide by a few seconds. We hit our normal paved trail through the woods and BTTF. Great talking with Rosie this morning about family and our next SOJ meeting.

    Nice turn out today fellas!

  • Nothing like Classic Rock in the Gloom

    12 Dudes showed up to a House Party Q not knowing what to expect. All they knew is that YHC was carrying around a blue bag…Here’s what happened.

    Mosey to the tennis court

    10 SSH
    10 Don Quixote’s
    10 Imperial squat walkers
    10 Merkins
    10 WW’s

    Mosey to the football field

    YHC pulled a speaker from the bag and turned on some tunes. Figured the amazon classic rock workout playlist would get the PAX going. PAX partnered up while one exercised for a count, then alternated exercises. Exercises where done until the song was completed (sometimes) then PAX ran 200 yards, to the opposite end zone and back. Once back, the PAX completed the next round of exercises. Exercises consisted of:

    10 Merkins while the other does flutter kicks
    15 American hammers while the other does SSH
    4 burpees while the other does monkey humpers
    20 yard bear crawl while the other does squats
    15 WW’s while the other does shoulder taps
    10 Carolina dry docks while the other does heels to heaven

    With a little time on the clock YHC figured we’d throw in a 4 corners around the football field

    5 burpees
    15 Merkins
    30 squats
    45 LBC’s

    Its been a while since YHC has Q’d a workout and it was the first AO outside of Rock N Roll. Its always great to see the forge faithful. Thanks for letting me lead today fellas!

    House Party

  • Sticking to what we know

    3 HIMs showed up to Morning Wood for a pre-run before the beat down. Florence and Footloose were already 30 mins. in rucking through the trails. YHC asked Chaplain if we should venture out of Rockwood park and cross Courthouse Rd. but we decided we would stick to what we know and hit the paved trail. Plus YHC just got a new headlamp that needed to be put to use. We hit the trail by the archery area, then by the water, and came out by the nature center. Its kind of scary running through those trails in the dark. You never know what you may run into. Maybe a snake, a bear or any wild animal. Today we ran into a speeding Big Rig! That guy is a real animal! We finished up by doing a lap around the parking lot for some extra distance and to stay warm for Big Rigs beatdown. Mumble chatter included the Frozen Triangle, rucking, and what kind of pack NOT to wear while rucking. We also talked about things we’ve seen work to grow F3rva in the past, as well as what hasn’t worked well. Finally, we discussed shared leadership, what it means, and ways to get those involved in leadership who want to. Great work today fellas!

    House Party

  • Washington Generals Tryouts…

    When I first started posting for workouts I thought guys didn’t like it unless they were beat down to the point they could barely walk but now I realize that’s not what it’s about. It’s about getting up in the Gloom with your brothers, just being active, and having fun. It’s just as much about the fellowship as it is the fitness so I thought I would try to do something a little different from my VQ, which took me a few days to recover from. How about some basketball and baseball! Here’s how things went down.

    Mosey to the Basketball courts

    Warmarama

    SSH, Helicopters, Don Quixotes, Cherry pickers Ukrainian soldiers, Merkins, WW2’s. 10 of each exercise in cadence.

    Basketball

    The runner had to score 10 points, alternating baskets after each bucket. While he is running up and down the court, the rest of the Pax is doing an exercise of the runners choosing. Exercises included squats, hand release merkins, burpees, side straddle hops, WW2, Ukrainian soldiers, arm circles, and everybody’s favorite, SCORPION KICKS. Hardywood got creative with the 2 part exercise. American hammers and a merkin each time he scored a point.

    Mosey to the Baseball field

    Baseball

    One Pax gets up to bat while the rest is in the outfield. The hitter chooses the exercise for the rest of the Pax to do and hits the ball off a tee. While the hitter is running the bases, the rest of the pax is in the outfield exercising. Exercises included burpees, heels to heaven, Suzanne Somers, mountain climbers, squat jumps, ball dippers, and others

    Triple Check

    In groups of 3, the runner runs up a hill and around the parking lot while other pax are performing dip and squats. Pax alternated until 3 rounds were completed.

    Mosey BTTF for a couple minutes of Mary with 30 WW2s and 30 LBCs OYO

    • Counterama # 
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    While playing basketball, I believe it was Hardywood who said we look like we should play for the Washington Generals, the team that is winless and that always gets obliterated by the Harlem Globetrotters! Husky and Half Pipe did better at making baskets than any of the other Pax. Snuff and Rosie showed off their center field skills during baseball by bare handing a couple of fly balls. The mumble chatter was great today, lots of fun had. Thanks for letting me lead.

    House Party

  • Party Like Its Nineteen Ninety Something…

    20 party animals showed up for a House Party VQ. Nancy Lopez was right, the adrenaline was flowing. Especially since it felt like the entire RVA region was there! I was really thankful for the support. It went a little something like this.

    Mosey to the BBall Court for 10 SSH, 10 Helicopters, 10 arm circles, 10 DQ’s 10 copperhead squats, 10 merkins, and 10 WW2’s all IC.

    Move to the baseline for suicides. 2 times down and back doing regular suicides then lunge with 4 burpees at each line and finally bear crawl with 4 merkins at each line.

    Mosey to the parking lot for some exercises and some running. Partner up. While one partner is exercising, the other is running around the perimeter of the parking lot. Each corner they hit, they come back to where their partner is exercising and switch positions. Partners alternating running and exercising until they made it completely around the parking lot. Exercises were merkins and WW2’s

    Mosey the short wooden fence by the baseball fields and do 30 reps of 4 exercises. Exercises were Merkins, dips, pole smokers, and plank jacks.

    Mosey to the area by the dog park for more fun. Grab some coupons on the way (Cinder blocks) Get in groups of 3. 1 Pax is doing shoulder presses with the coupon and the other doing WW2’s, the third is running to cones stopping for burpees, plank jacks, and hand release merkins. The groups rotated positions, beginning with the runner going from 7 reps down to 1 of each exercise. We were unable to complete as time ran out…BTTF

    COT:

    • Counterama # 
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    WE DID IT, a House Party Q, who would have ever thought? Not me! 2 FNG’s made it out. Mickey and Copay. Much love to all the men of F3. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a better group of guys. Special shout out to Florence for spotting me and inviting me (and every other man at Rockwood Park with a pulse) to join the workout 4/16/2022. DTH for presenting me with the opportunity to Q, and Chaplain (my brother in social work) for our talks during morning wood run helping me prepare. Doozy was kind enough to stay back after my first workout and talk to me about F3. One thing that he said to me was that you get out of F3 what you put in it. After a little over 2 months I have to say I respectfully disagree with Doozy. I don’t think I could ever put in as much as what F3 has given to me. Thanks for letting me lead today fellas.

    Sincerely,

    House Party