Author: Jim Huddle

  • Substitute

    Light Warm-up. Then KB exercises, a short run, stretching, some other KB exercises, a short run, stretching, repeat.

    For warm-up; SSHs, IWs, Don Quixote, stretch, around the world KB.

    20 Swings,
    15 Curls (in cadence)
    20 Rows
    20 Triceps
    15 Sit and Press
    20 Press
    15 Squats with posterior resting on the curb

    Run around the ‘loop’. Do some stretches.

    15 each arm Renegade Rows
    10 each leg one-legged Dead lifts
    15 each arm Lawnmowers
    10 each arm one arm presses
    10 each direction Halos
    10 each arm Snatches

    Run around the ‘loop’. Do some stretches.

    Repeat the above starting with 20 swings 1 and ½ more times. For a little variation, I changed a few of the exercises. For the one-legged dead lifts, I substituted racked lunges. For the Lawnmowers, I substituted wood choppers.

    I volunteered to fill-in today replacing the always-reliable Atilla.

    Announcements:
    Blood Drive October 20 (Wednesday) at Good Shepherd Lutheran Old Hundred Rd, Midlothian, VA 23114 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

    We need donors and volunteers. Sign up on RedCrossBlood.org and search for ‘F3’. It’ll likely be the second one that comes up. If you want to volunteer, you can send me a note on Slack.

    As of now, we need 1 more to help set up (from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM), 4 to sign-in (9:45 – 12:30 and 12:15 to 3:00) and 3 to take down (3:00 to 5:00).

    We have 4 donors! We are looking for a TOTAL of 40.

  • Uno Dos Tres

    We stayed ‘on-campus’ and focused on keeping the heartrate up, upper body work and stretching.

    Warmup: Upper Parking lot: 20 SSHs, 10 Man-maker Merkins, 15 knee-ups, stretching exercise
    Warmup: Lower Parking lot: 20 IWs, 10 Diamond Merkins, 15 American Hammers, stretching exercise
    Warmup: Upper Parking lot: 20 Russian Soldiers, 10 Stagger arm Merkins, 15 Crunchy Frogs, stretching exercise
    Warmup: Lower Parking lot: 12 Don Quixote, 10 Stagger arm Merkins, 20 Flutters, stretching exercise
    Wall Courtyard: 10 single count air-press (People’s chair), 10 BTTW hip slaps in cadence, 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    10 single count milkers (People’s chair), 12 BTTW Australian Mountain Climbers in cadence, 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    10 single count Lalannes (People’s chair), 12 BTTW ToeTaps in cadence, 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    Railing for Derkins/Outboards: Single count: 10 Pull-ups, 10 Derkins, 9 Pull-ups, 9 Derkins, etc.
    Upper Parking lot: 5 minutes of Tabata Burpees
    Wall Courtyard: Angry Donkeys (11s with single count Air press People’s Chair and Donkey Kix. We did these together.)
    Far Parking lot near the Wall Courtyard: 10 Mike Tysons, bear crawl across, 10 Squats, crab walk back.
    Far Parking Lot: Line Jump: 20 count in cadence, stretching exercise, 3 times
    Lower parking lot: 60 count 6-inch leg lift, stretching exercise.
    Time’s up.

    Announcements:
    I put on Slack that we are having a Blood Drive under the channel “Freed to Bleed” (a new channel I set up). It will be WEDNESDAY, October 20 from 10 to 3 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Midlothian (off Hiway 288, south of the James). We need donors and volunteers for the day of the drive.

    For those interested in learning a little Español:
    Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, Diez
    Arriba: Up
    Levántese: stand up
    Ándale: Come along
    Siéntese: Sit down (on your six)
    Recuperar: Recover

  • Music

    Almost all kettlebell exercises. A variety of items different from the usual offering. This link is the source of the exercises I used. I brought my music (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, etc.)

    https://www.gbpersonaltraining.com/33-kettlebell-exercises-from-beginner-to-advanced/

    Warmup: SSHs, Stretching exercise, Russian Soldiers, another stretching exercise
    After the warmup, we did the following all the way thru:
    Slingshot (around body) 10 each direction
    Halo 10 each direction (handle points up in front, upside down in back)
    Single Arm Deadlift (Keep back straight) 10 each side
    Single Leg Deadlift (Same leg goes up as the arm with the kettlebell) 10 each leg
    Partial Turkish Getup (leg bent at knee is the same side as arm with KB) 5 each side
    Goblet Squat (handles pointing down, deep squat) 10 in total
    Racked squat 10 each side
    Racked lunge 10 each side
    Alternating Single arm swing 20 in total
    Clean and Press (bend knees, keep KB close to body) 10 each side
    Squat and Press
    Bottom up Clean (KB upside down at rack, hold 5 seconds) 10 each side
    Overhead squat (KB held with arm straight above head) 10 each side
    High Pull (A swing but pull the KB to the shoulder at top of swing, then push back and finish the swing) 10 each side
    Snatch 10 each side
    At the end, we did about 5 minutes of stretching exercises and started again at the top of the stack with the “slingshot”. We got to the “Bottom up Clean” and time was up.

    This was my first Q at Circus Maximus. I would have written up this back blast sooner but my wife and I are working out with a 17 pound kettlebell. He’s 3 months old and can’t go to daycare because of a potential Covid exposure at the daycare. (By the way, Jane and I are both vaccinated.) We’re pitching in and helping out our daughter and son-in-law who both work for a living.

    Our son and daughter live about 15 minutes (in different directions) from where we live. We can provide support with care for their children. My son has a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. The 5-year-old is now in kindergarten, although we did some day care for him this summer.

    When Jane and I were raising our son and daughter, we did not have the luxury of nearby grandparents. My parents were about 700 miles away. They also died before either of our children had much of a chance to know them. In fact, my mother died before our daughter was born.

    Jane’s parents lived an hour and 45 minutes away. Our children know them a lot better (Jane’s parents are also both gone now) but not like our grandchildren are likely to know us.

    It is great to be here.

    Announcements:
    Field Day Saturday
    Freed to Bleed: will be October 20 (a Wednesday)

  • Be Grateful

    I wanted to introduce Gridiron to different exercises that I had done in Charlotte but had not seen here yet. (Mike Tysons, Get-ups, 100-yard run and belly touch (disguised Burpees))

    In the parking lot:
    20 SSH, 10 Man-maker Merkins, 15 Knee-ups and a stretching exercise.
    To the goal line of the football field:
    20 IWs, 10 Diamond Merkins, 15 American Hammers and a stretching exercise
    To the 50-yard line of the football field:
    20 Russian Soldiers, 15 Crunchy Frogs, 10 Stagger arm Merkins and a stretching exercise
    To the other goal line of the football field:
    20 Don Quixotes, 15 Heels to Heaven, 10 Stagger arm Merkins and a stretching exercise
    Run the length of the football field 3 times: Belly Touch every ten yards (disguised Burpee) with Handshake leading the way.
    On hill leading up to the Football field:
    11s with Get-ups and Merkins: I think Tater finished first.
    On the stadium benches:
    10 Dips in cadence, 10 Derkins in cadence; 8 Dips, 8 Derkins, etc.
    Using the wall around the building at the 50-yard line:
    People’s Chair 15 Air Press, 10 BTTW Hip Slaps, 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    People’s Chair 15 Muhammad Ali, 10 BTTW Australian Mountain Climbers, 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    People’s Chair 15 Milkers, 10 BTTW Toe Taps, 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    On the hill by the parking lot:
    11s with Mike Tyson and Squats
    To the football field between the 10 and 30-yard lines: partner up (partner 1 on the 10-yard line and partner 2 on the 30-yard line), bear crawl to the middle, 10 hand slap Merkins, backwards run to the 10 or 30. 3 times
    On the football field: a couple of minutes of Mary
    To the parking lot for a couple of minutes of stretching

    I had not really thought about today being 9/11 when I signed up about 3 weeks ago to Q. Reading some of the commentary on the 20th anniversary of that awful day: some survived because of decisions made, maybe on a good hunch, to leave the building. Other less fortunate didn’t for no good reason; call it ‘bad luck’ if you will.

    The next minute is not guaranteed to you. Be grateful for it. And be a blessing to those you come in contact with, today and every day that follows. That contact you make may be your last contact with them. Be a true reflection of your faith so that others may see God thru you.

    Announcements:
    There will be a Blood Drive. It will likely be December 19, a Sunday. Please contribute!
    Next week, we will have a Gridiron workout but there is also a field day at Dog Pile(?)

  • Nowhere to hide

    You can run but you can’t hide from the rain at Gridiron. The good news is that it was about 70 degrees and it didn’t even rain a lot until the last 10 minutes or so.

    This was my virgin Richmond Q. I used to Q around 15 to 20 times a year in Charlotte, although typically with an older group.

    I’ve attended Gridiron many times over the years. I started with F3 ten years ago, either July or August 2011. Since my son has lived in Richmond since 2007, whenever we came up on weekends, I usually went to Gridiron on Saturday. So roughly about 3 times a year, I would come to Gridiron. I figured I should do my part and Q.

    Purpose was to get the heartrate up without doing a lot of running. We went from one exercise to the other with a stretching exercise after ‘groups’ instead of a 10 count. Most of the following was done in cadence.

    In the parking lot: 20 SSH, 10 Man-maker Merkins, 15 Knee-ups and a stretching exercise.

    To the front of the school: 20 IWs, 10 Diamond Merkins, 15 American Hammers and a stretching exercise

    Using the front wall of the school: People’s Chair 15 Air Press, 10 BTTW Hip Slaps, 15 Donkey Kix OYO

    People’s Chair 15 Muhammad Ali, 10 BTTW Australian Mountain Climbers, 15 Donkey Kix OYO

    People’s Chair 15 Milkers, 10 BTTW Toe Taps, 15 Donkey Kix OYO

    To the other end of the football field in front of the school: 20 Copperhead Squats, 15 Crunchy Frogs, 10 Stagger arm Merkins and a stretching exercise

    To the practice football field at the side of the for 20 Lunges, 10 Stagger Arm Merkins, 20 Dollies and a stretching exercise

    Next, using the hill between the practice field and the regular football field, Jacob’s Ladder.

    Next, bathrooms next to where we started: Angry Donkeys (11s with People’s Chair air press and Donkey Kix.

    Next, to parking lot for 3 rounds of jumping back and forth over the line in cadence to 20. Let’s call it ‘Happy Feet’, with a stretching exercise in between to catch my breath.

    Next, to the playground near the Pickle Ball courts for: 10 Pull ups, 20 Merkins, 30 LBCs: 3 times.

    Next, to the soccer field for 7s with Merkins and Squats between the ‘base line’ and the quarter line.

    Using the same soccer field lines: bear crawl out and crab walk back. Repeat with broad jump out and crab walk back. To the beginning point for about 3 minutes of stretching.