Author: Phonics

  • 364 days and counting

    It’s May!  It’s 42 degrees!!  What is going on?  18 Pax members stepped onto the grounds of Atlee High School for the beatdown that was getting ready to occur.  This is how it went:

    COP:  SSH, Don Quixotes, Arm Circles, LBCs, Merkins.

    Mosey to the Soccer Field.  Begin Phonics’s Least Favorite Things.

    1.  4 corners:  Richard Kimbles, Burpees, Merkins, WWII Situps.  The PAX completed two laps.  Instead of having a number of each exercise, the PAX moved to the next corner when the Q announced to move.  This allowed the PAX to move from corner to corner today.

    Mosey to the School.

    2.  3 Stations

    1.  Start in Balls to the Wall Position, walk on hands to Plank position, walk back to Balls on the           Wall, then Walk to Plank.  Movement was directed by Q.

    2.  25 WHII Situps

    3.  The People’s Chair

    4.  Recover and Repeat all 3.

    3.  Mosey back to the soccer field.  Get in a team of 3.  One team member would go to the end of the soccer field.  One team member would sprint to the other side of the field.  When completed, the other team member would run back.  When completed, the 3rd member would sprint to the other side.  After each team member completed his sprint, he did 5 burpees.  This kept going until each team member had completed 5 sprints.  When all 5 were completed, the PAX bear crawled to the middle of the field.

    4.  IC, 10 rotating elbow planks followed by 20 Mountain Climbers.

    COT:  YHC took us out.

    NMS:  

    364 days ago when YHC first posted at Daville, there was rain, thunder, and 4 PAX members.  Today, it was 42 degrees and 18 PAX members.  It’s been awesome to see the growth of Daville.  With the weather being perfect, it YHC wanted to challenge the PAX to many of the exercises that he has struggled with over the past year.

    Lab Rat introduced YHC to Richard Kimbles at his first post.  YHC was unable to complete one.  (Mostly because of a lack of coordination.)  After a year of practice, YHC has finally figured out the exercise.

    Two weeks ago at the inaugural Heartbreak Ridge, Toga took one of YHC’s least favorite exercises, Balls to the Wall, to the next level by having the PAX walk out to Plank Position.  That was one of the most difficult exercises YHC has ever completed.  That made it a must for today’s workout.

    All PAX members were outstanding today.  Despite the difficulty of some of the exercises, there was plenty of mumble chatter throughout the PAX.  Welcome Macro!  Glad you were able to join us.

    Announcements:

    New AO starts this Thursday, May 11 at Pole Green Park.  EH those in the 23111.

    Ashcreek 5K is May 20 – Join the F3 RVA team.  For information, see Spit or visit  http://www.ashcreek5k.com/.

    F3 is expanding to Charlottesville.  See Lab Rat if you are interested in helping.

    Phonics out.

  • A Visit to 13 Acres

    8 PAX members gathered in the parking lot for a MLK Day beatdown.  A virtual flag was planted and we were off.  This is what happened.

    COP

    13 SSHs IC, 13 Don Quixotes IC, 13 Merkins IC, 130 LBCs IC

    The THANG

    1.  For 8 Minutes, do as many as possible of the following:  10 Donkey Kicks, 10 Carolina Dry Docks, bear crawl 10 yards, 25 LBCs, 10 Break Dance Kicks, crab walk 10 yards back to school and repeat.

    Saab gave a 20 count.  Mosey to bus loop.

    2.  Partner up for relay.  One partner will sprint around the bus loop.  He will then tag the other partner who will do the same.  Each partner does this 4 times.

    Toga gave a 20 count.  Mosey to playground.

    3.  TABATAS – Three 8 cycle rounds.

    • Round 1 – Tuck Jumps/Angled Knee Jumps
    • Round 2 – Merkins – start with close grip for cycle 1 get wider each cycle until cycle 4.  Repeat close grip to wide grip for cycle 5 – 8.
    • Round 3 – LBCs/Mountain Climbers.

    Lockjaw gave a 20 count.  Mosey back to flag.

    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    Moleskin

    It was an honor to lead this PAX for MLK Day at an AO that YHC knew so well growing up.  Before Holton Elementary School was built in the late 90s, this was a city park know to many in the area as Thirteen Acres.  (YHC is unable to confirm if this was the actual name.)  It was a large open space with a playground and a house that remains on the property.  When Holton Elementary opened in 1999, it was the first new school the city had built in many years.

    The theme during the COP was 13.  All exercises had 13 in them.  The AO is close to mile 20 for the Richmond Marathon.  To help the PAX get through the mile 20 wall, we worked continuosly for 8 minutes.  During the 8 minute exercise, most completed at least 3 cycles with Toga completing at least 3.5 cycles.  Outstanding work!  During the relay repeats, YHC noticed that Saab got stronger with every lap.  All PAX members performed well during difficult TABATA cycles although YHC had nothing left at the end the Merkin cycle.  YHC was most impressed today with his youngest son who was dressed and ready to go without his alarm going off at 4:40 AM.  Great job E.T. (Evil Twin)

    Announcements:

    Thank you to all for allowing YHC to lead today!

    Phonics

  • DaVille’s parking lot lights work before 6 AM!

    What a great feeling morning in DaVille.  With temperatures in the 60s and the parking lot lights on, the atmosphere was perfect for 12 men to end the workout with a Tabata beatdown.  Here is what we did:

    COP:

    • SSH  x 15
    • Don Quixote  x 15
    • Arm Circles x10 little, x5 big, Reverso
    • Merkins x10
    • LBC x 20

    The Thang

    • Partner Suicides:  The first partner sprints to and from the first cone.  The second partner then does the same.  Each partner will run to and from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, then 3rd, 2nd and 1st cones.  Plank when complete.  Repeated with exception of counting down at the end.
    • Mosey to the school
    • 8 minute variety set:  10 Donkey Kicks followed by 10 Jumping Lunges.  Jog about 20 feet.  10 Hand to Elbow Merkins followed by 20 Mountain Climbers.  Bear Crawl to begin the circuit again with Donkey Kicks.  Do this for 8 total minutes.
    • Mosey back to field
    • 3 Sets of Tabata  (All had 8 Cycles for total of 4 minutes per set)
      • Set 1 – Alternate – cycle of Tuck Jumps followed by cycle of Angled Knee Jumps.
      • Set 2 – Merkins – For first 4 cycles, hands should be close and spread them each cycle until you are doing a wide grip Merkin by the 4th cycle.  Repeat.
      • Set 3 – Alternate – cycle of Burpies and a cycle of Friddie Mercuries.
    • Mosey back to Shovel Flag

    NMS

    In planning for his VQ, YHC had two huge concerns.

    1.  How dark it was the prior week because LabRat got lost while leading the PAX through the back of the campus.

    2.  What are the F3 names for many of the exercises YHC plans to do?

    Anticipating it being extremely dark on the Atlee campus, YHC arrived at 5 AM with cones and flashlights to set up the Suicide course.  What a pleasant surprise that the parking lot lights had been turned on by 5 AM throughout the campus.  This made YHC not worry too much about concern #2.

    While determining the exercises for the 8 minute variety set, YHC remembered what LabRat had told him about Qing:  Do a few exercises that you are good at and a few that you suck at.  The two YHC sucks at were Donkey Kicks and Bear Crawls.  Those two exercises gave the appearance that 8 minutes seemed much longer as pointed out by Sticky.

    Tabata was new to most of the PAX.  During the Merkin set, Circle K reminded YHC that people had to work that day.  YHC may have forgotten that detail since he was off.

    It was a pleasure leading this great group of men this morning.

    Announcements:

    • ReeseStrong 5K is September 17.  F3 team is currently in 3rd place.  Great job.  F3 will set up a tent.  For questions, see LabRat or Phonics.  The website is http://www.reesestrong.org/reesestrong-5k/.
    • DaVille now has a Facebook Messenger group with F3 nicknames.  This is a good way those who workout at DaVille to communicate with each other.
    • A run is going to be added on Mondays.  We will meet up at Atlee High School.  LabRat will set this up.
    • Saturday at Dogpile, wear a flannel shirt.  It is the 25th anniversary of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
    • For those that have yet to sign up to F3, we have a much simpler process now. Text F3RVA to 97000, process takes about a minute. That’s it! This will put you in the database, which will allow you to contribute to back blasts. Also, we will have emergency contact info in case something happens at a workout.

    Spike took us out.