Author: Machismo

Date: 10/04/2025 AO (Area of Operations): Bon Air Elementary School QIC : Machismo PAX (Persons Attending): Last Call, Scram, Dookie, Snip, Sable, Punkie Brewster, Machismo (Q) Total PAX: 7

Conditions: A perfect, crisp Saturday morning in the gloom, ideal for putting in work.

Intro: Record Numbers for Bon Iron: Seven HIMs (High Impact Men) including the Baron of Bon Air bypassed the fartsack to get stronger together. The morning began with a mosey to the bus loop, where the PAX discovered a freshly painted, intricate children’s bike course. The gears started turning for a future Q’s diabolical plan, but for today, it served as a perfect spot to get warm.

Warm-o-Rama:

• Side Straddle Hops (SSH) x 20 IC
• Imperial Squat Walkers (ISWs) x 15 IC
• Ukrainian Soldiers (UKs) x 15 IC
• Tempo Merkins x 10 IC
• WWII Sit-ups x 15 IC
• Don Quixotes (DQs) x 10 IC

The Thang:

Thang 1: Playground Grinder With the PAX sufficiently warmed, we moseyed to the playground for a four-station grinder. The format was simple: complete the exercises at a station, then run a full lap around the track before proceeding to the next.

• Station 1: 5 Pull-ups & 10 Knee Raises, followed by a lap.
• Station 2: 10 Dips & 10 Derkins, followed by a lap.
• Station 3: 5 Burpees & 10 Squats, followed by a lap.
• Station 4: 10 Pole Smokers & 10 Freddie Mercuries, followed by a lap.

Thang 2: The Tremendous Wall After the playground, the PAX took a trip to what can only be described as a big, tremendous, beautiful wall for a Triple Check.

• Timer: Run a lap around the parking lot.
• Exercise 1: Donkey Kicks on the wall.
• Exercise 2: Hoe Downs. PAX rotated through until all were gassed.

Bonus Thang: Indigenous Curb Crawl We returned to the bus loop for an Indigenous People’s Curb Crawl. The man at the back of the line performed 5 Derkins, then sprinted to take the lead. This continued the length of the bus loop, keeping the PAX together and pushing the pace.

Thang 3: Mini DORA To ensure no energy was left in the tank, we partnered up for a quick DORA finisher.

• 50 Merkins (cumulative)
• 100 Squats (cumulative)
• 150 LBCs (cumulative)

Mary: With the clock winding down, we circled up for a final 5 minutes of core work to finish the morning strong.

Count-o-Rama / Name-o-Rama: 7 PAX

Announcements:

• Coffeteria next week. A great chance for 2nd F (Fellowship)!

Prayers/Ball of Man (BOM):

• Prayers for L. Woods, Pad Thai, and NTB as they endure the GrowRuck challenge tonight. T-Claps to these men for stepping up.
• Prayers were lifted for our children. A powerful reminder to all of us to: “Love them well, coach them better.”

It was an honor to lead this strong group of men this morning. You all pushed hard and made it easy on the Q.

SYITG, Machismo

The Bon Air soft launch was a perfect opportunity to celebrate what it means to start a new AO, and to honor the legacy of the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ old baseball diamond. We rededicated ourselves to the F3 mission to plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership.

Machismo led the workout, beginning with a mosey to the grassy baseball diamond. With introductions and the F3 disclaimer complete, we kicked off with warm-ups including SSH, merkins, LBCs, Imperial Squat Walkers, and UKs.

The Thang:

We started with a tribute to the last games at the old Diamond with Thang 1: The 7 of Diamonds. We hit each base for a round of exercises, climbing the rep count with each trip: 7 burpees, 14 merkins, 21 squats, and 28 pickle pounders. Then, we ran it back down the ladder with 21 LBCs, 14 of something, and 7 Lt Dans.

Next up was Thang 2: Triple Check. The PAX worked in groups of three. One partner did chain smokers, another did hand release merkins, and the third ran to the playground for 5 chinups before returning.

Finally, we wrapped it up with a diamond classic in Thang 3: Run the Bases. We bear crawled to first base for 10 squats, crab-walked to second for 10 WWII sit-ups, and either Bernie-sanded or ran backwards to third base for 10 lunges, with a final sprint to home.

COT (Circle of Trust)

After the sweat and the struggle, we circled up for names and numbers. The inspiration for this new AO became clear as we heard from FNG, LFG. He hasn’t worked out in years, recovering from a viral infection that required the removal of fascia from his leg. As a father of two growing sons with special needs, his desire for a close, neighborhood-based F3 community spoke to the very core of our mission. This AO, a right fit for Bon Air with its strong ties to F3RVA through No Toll and The Forge, is a reminder of why we’re here: to serve and encourage our fellow men and build communities.

Let’s F-ing Go.

-Machismo

Bon Iron?

Intro

For a while now, an idea has been bouncing around in my head: Why not have a Saturday morning post a little closer to home? Rock N Roll and Dogpile are great, but with more and more PAX showing up at Forge, and No Toll gaining momentum, it felt like a good time to explore a new AO.

So, I put out an e-mail suggesting we meet in two weeks. Within 30 minutes, Snuff was on the line, asking, “Why wait two weeks? How about tomorrow?” Text messages went out to reframe the plan for an immediate launch. The replies were crickets, with Last Call giving a firm “don’t count on me.”

Nevertheless, a flag was planted by the glowing kiosk. Snuff and I weren’t waiting. We were explorers. We moseyed to the back of the elementary school, popping through the woods to Riverside School. The terrain was perfect: a large field for a sunken game of ultimate, a big hill, and a track with a brand new playground. We found the perfect spot for our first workout.

The Thang

Circle of Pain (CoP)

We formed a line since there were just two of us and got into the work.

• SSH (Side Straddle Hops)
• DQ (Don Quixote), real slow
• WWII (World War II Sit-ups)
• Freddie Mercuries
• Merkins
• Ukrainian Soldiers
• Imperial Squat Walkers

Dora

We moseyed to a small hill (that deserves a name) for a mini-Dora. We did a crawl bear to the bottom of the hill and traded reps.

• 25 WWIIs
• 50 Merkins
• 100 Copperhead Squats

Cocaine Bears

We moseyed to the Bon Air Community Center for some Cocaine Bears—a bear crawl with a merkin at every line in the parking lot.

The Wall

After hitting the nameless pedestrian bridge, we found a nice brick wall for a mini-tabata. We hit each interval for 45 seconds each.

• Wall Sit
• Australian Mountain Climbers
• Mohamed Ali
• 30 Donkey Kicks (rest for the remainder of the interval)
• Hoe Downs

The Loop

Next, YHC discovered a loop for a little duo. In the circuit, there were stairs for some Tooth Fairies: a runner goes up the stairs, Tooth Fairy-style (Merkin on each step) while the partner does Alabama Prom Dates. We thoroughly marinated the security camera with our pelvic thrusts before moseying to the next location.

The Maze

We found an interesting maze of circles, rectangles, and triangles connected with lines. YHC prescribed 5 merkins at every triangle, 5 abs at every rectangle, and 5 squats at every circle.

More touring was had, then it was back to the flag for COT.

Moleskin

While there were thoughts of other locations such as Robious Middle, this little pocket of Bon Air felt like a nice oasis. There is quite a bit of nature and some good wide open spaces. With the Riverside School, churches, and Bon Air Community Center all nearby, there was plenty to keep us occupied and inventing new workouts.

YHC felt like there is no time like now to start a new AO, and Saturdays feel like a great day to spread the love. We’ll be back out next week. Until then, Bon Iron might be a good new name for this AO, paying tribute to Bon Air’s establishment as a resort community at a railroad station for those seeking “Good Air.” And Iron, for as Iron sharpens Iron so one man sharpens another.

COT

Numbers: 1 then 2.

Names: Snuff, Machismo.

Prayer: Prayers were had for redirecting energy as we find availability with Snuff’s kid going to school and filling voids in our lives.