Category: Richmond, VA

  • Price of Finishing Early

    6 Young Studs arrived dressed in their Tuesday best for a Prom Date beatdown with the lush green fields at No Toll. Like many proms, most events were a bit hazy but this is what was recalled.

    Mosey to the parking lot for quick warm up. SSH’s, Arm Circles, Reverso, Cherry Pickers, DQ’s, LBC’s, Inverted Scorpion Kicks. Everyone warm, lets hit the dance floor.

    Mosey to the perfectly manicured green fields. Ideal condition for some slow dancing and soft whispers of anticipation. First Dance – 2 songs of 5 Points. Song 1 included the 80’s rock ballad of the following exercises 30 times in each corner of the field – Dips, WWII’s, Mountain Climbers, Jump Squats, Pickle Pounders. After each exercise rejoin your friends in the center of the floor for 3 burpees. Song 2 was a slow 90’s R&B number again of 30 count broken up by 3 burpees each time – Merkins, Dips, American Hammers, Monkey Humpers, Carolina Dry Docks. Shoes were left behind mangled in a pile, showing it was time to make the move.

    Last Dance- lets pick up the pace a bit with some heavy metal 100’s. First person to 100 of each exercise calls out and PAX runs to the opposite field to find another dance partner. Rounds included Mountain Climbers, Monkey Humpers, SSH’s and the always popular calf raises (both in and out). We don’t discriminate at this party.

    Time to treat her right, so we moseyed over to the parking lot for some 1 on 1 action. Partner up for Broad Jump Burpees between the curbs while partner runs. Round 2 was Polar Bear Merkins to get back to the room.

    YHC was spent and just like in high school finished too early. Looking around at the disappointed faces, YHC had to think quick. No problem, back to the lush dance floor for a Merkin Ring of Fire. Doozy showed he still had the energy with Rocky Balboa’s.

    Still time on clock and YHC went blank. Luckily Bone Thugs felt it was time for Hardywood to become a man, killer that is. Doozy led us and our already burning calves in the No Toll Mankiller tradition. Made it through 7 count and now BTTF for a long nap and happy thoughts.

    Numberarma, Namarama, Announcements

    Memorial Day Murph coming up quick. Details coming hot.

    YHC took us out.

  • Hitting the Links

    A twosome hit the links at Holton Elementary for some F3 golf.  EF planted the flagstick.  Here’s how it went down.

    Mosey to the back of the school.

    COP (IC)

    • SSHs x 18
    • Copperhead Squats x 18
    • Standing Rockettes x 18
    • Freddie Mercurys x 18

    Mosey to the soccer field

    4 Corners (4 rounds)

    • Merkins x 18
    • Jump Squats x 18
    • Mountain Climbers x 18 (2ct)
    • Flutter Kicks x 18 (2ct)

    Mosey to side of school

    Dora 1-2-3

    • P1 and P2 – 18 Booyah Merkins
    • P1 Exercises, P2 Runs to 9 Different Trees – 72 Imperial Squat Walkers/ 288 Hello Dollys

    Mosey back to back lot and soccer field

    Drive, Chip, Putt

    • From tee box hit the soccer net with frisbee – 5 burpees per stroke, repeato 4 holes

    Mosey back to side of school

    Mary

    • Freddie Mercurys x 18 IC
    • Alphabet – spell AUGUSTA NATIONAL

    Mosey back to VSF

    Numberama

    Nameorama

    COT

    No Dropkick Murphys, no problem, F3 golf it is.  YHC usually plays golf on the first Monday in May and being such a beautiful day, seemed like a great day to dust of the sticks and make the best of it, well as we F3ers do it.  Good to have Chum along-side.  Plenty of burpees, need a pro like Lab Rat for the DCP competition out there.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    As restrictions lift, Punisher welcomes all men and hopes to see some old and new faces soon.

  • Like Choking a Goose

    A strictly legal number of gents descended upon UR to get a run in on what turned out to be a perfect morning.

    Route:

    From Commons, take the Eco-Corridor (aka Batcave) to RR Shopping Center, the Westham Station along the canal, up Ridge Rd. to River.

    Dog-leg left to Gaymont. Take to the end until it intersects with University.

    4 Milers: Take right on University, cross Ridge to Westham Pkwy. Left on Pkwy then right on Lakewood. Lakewood down to College (near lake). Run up to Robins Center parking lot then down to lake. Cross bridge then counterclockwise to Commons

    5 and 6 Milers: Left on University to end, quick right then left back onto University which turns into Ziontown.

    5 Milers: Take right on Holmes avenue to Ridge. Cross Ridge to Sunset. Sunset to Westham Parkway. Go straight (right) to University. Take University to College (near lake). Up to Robins center then down to lake (see 4-miler finish)

    6 Milers: Ziontown to Ridge, then cutover near shopping center to Forest. Forest to Lindsay. Lindsay to Westham Pkwy. Head north to Waveny. Waveny to Wood. Wood to Lakewood. (see 4-miler for finish)

    Announcements:

    Deep Run-Run on Friday (see Gomer)

    Prayer and guidance for those who are having challenges on the home front during these difficult times…

    Congratulations to TYA, Olivander and his M, on their completion of the inaugural Quarantine 50 miler from Richmond to W-Burg last Saturday.

    Saab abides

  • The birds were so loud

    A mighty band of four posted at Heartbreak for a Hot Potato and this is what went down

    Atilla –

    • warmup lap around the Track
    • COP with the normal group of exercises and his patented “Suzanne Somers”
    • Curb Crawls: 1-6 and back down to 1
    • another lap around the track

    Handshake –

    • Pull Ups, person one completes 5 Pull ups and rotate through the group, followed by 4, then 3, 2 1
    • Touch a Tree – Partner one touches 10 Trees, Partner two completes a set of exercises. Follower by 8, 6, 4, 2.
    • Cool Down Lap around the Parking Lot

    NMS: Not much mumble chatter this morning with the exception of Atilla’s gaseous emissions. Lighthouse remarked that he participated in the virtual workout on Monday, and said the birds were so loud that it was main sound being picked up by the computer microphone.

    Happy Cinco de Mayo, enjoy some socially-distanced Beers.

  • Reintroducing partner work to some varied success

    An even 8 came out to Hoedown to see if Honeydo would show up to Q this week. Perfect spring weather for a beatdown:

    COP: SSH, Russian Soldiers, Helicopters, Merkins, Flutterkicks, Scorpion kicks.

    Mosey to the 3rd Dark lot for 4 corners: 10 burpees, 20 Merkins, 30 Reverse Crunch, 40 SSHs. Over to 3rd back lot, Partner up – Broad jump burpee length of lot – alternating. 2nd round – Polar bear.

    Over to main lot: Lindsays of Carolina Dry Docks & Jump Squats. Over to TES blacktop- Partner up again for Wheelbarrow across & back. Head up to school field for attempt at Chazz Michael Michaels. Mutiny ensued and audible was called. Change up to 3 rounds of: 30 Donkey kicks, run across & 10 burpees.

    Down to Triple check loop. Partner up for 4 rounds of 1 man runs loop while other doing 1 legged LBCs. Finish up with some Heels2 Heaven. YHC took us out.

    NMS: More light and warmer temperatures in the gloom in May. Good to have 8 strong, although when Doozy and Last Call arrived with only Upchuck and YHC we were on the verge of a mini-SOJ takeover. Pucker ran in to the AO and was so sweaty nobody wanted to partner with him.

    YHC wanted to do some partner work of limited sorts and when Wheelbarrows were called the PAX took it on with vigor. Not so much when the Chazz Michael Michaels were called. Maybe YHC should have tried for Jerkins over near the gym instead. We do need to figure out how to get some arm work in the gloom somehow. Oh well good to try new things out when Q’ing. Hopefully YHC made up for his Q fail last week.

  • Going Stag to the Batteau Prom …

    After eight weeks of rehabbing a pissed-off piriformis, and armed with some gnarly COP fodder from his physical therapist, YHC decided it was time share the love. Rolling up to Batteau in an F3 tux (black shirt, black shorts), and with an F3 corsage (shovelflag), YHC realized at 05:29 that he’d be going to the dance solo. Here’s how it went:

    Mosey to the stone circle for:

    SingleOP – SSHs x 20, Don Quixotes x 10, Cherry Pickers x 10, Hello Dollies x 10. Here’s where it gets glute-a-riffic:

    Alabama Prom Dates x 10

    4 Count APDs (“Marching Glute Bridge” if you went to PT school. 1: up to APD postion, 2: left leg up to 90*, 3: switch legs, 4: recover) x 10.

    Single Leg APDs x 10 each leg

    Mosey to the boat house (burpee at each light post) for:

    THE THANG:

    M.I.L.F. Lap [Dance?]

    Merkins x 10; Imperial Walkers x 20; LBCs x 30; Freddie Mercuries x 40; take a lap up the stairs to Vinny’s Coupon Spot™ and back down.

    Rinse and repeat for 10 sets. BTTF for:

    Hands to Heaven x 10: This one is straight from Dr. TryHard’s mountain-top lab in PNG, where he’s working up some non-FDA approved fat killing vaccines to smuggle back stateside. Here’s the protocol for administering, per DTH:

    “- Hands to Heaven (Inverse of Heels to Heaven… so from lying on your six with hands raised, sit up quickly to get weight over feet, then stand, hands remain above head so essentially getting from lying to standing without using hands…then sit and lie back down) “

    So DTH must be the child of acrobat parents; or perhaps it was YHC’s beer gut getting in the way, but this Hands to Heaven thing was like a greased tapir getting out of a bathtub. YHC was reminded of some of the ukemi drills from his aikido days, so modified to a rolling Never Surrender. Me vs. me. YMMV

    SingleOT: Prayers for strength, peace and courage to all the health care workers on the front lines for us (you too Flatty!); and for those of us on the front lines at home holding together families with so much uncertainty about jobs, bills, school and health.

    NMMS: A solo beatdown is a different kind of challenge; but its also a chance to flex the “do what you promised you would do when nobody else is watching” muscle. Also got me thinking about the saying that the obstacle is the way — looked it up when I got back home: Marcus Aurelius; Meditations 5.20 “Now it is true that [difficulties] may impede my action, but they are no impediments to my affects and disposition, which have the power of acting conditionally and changing: for the mind converts and changes every hindrance to its activity into an aid; and so that which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road.” Go get some!

    SYITG

    Doublemint

  • Does Anyone Else Miss Sports?

    Four strapping F3 athletes and a 4 legged frisbee professional showed up digitally in the gloom this morning. According to the very loud birds it went something like this:

    COP

    • 20 SSH
    • 10 Don Quixote
    • 10 Imperial Walkers
    • 10 Cherry Pickers
    • 10 Rosalita
    • 10 Hello Dolly
    • 20 Freddie Mercury

    THANG #1

    Set of four exercises, done as many times as possible in 10 minutes, apparantley thats about three sets of:

    • 10 Merkins over the coupon (10 each arm)
    • 10 Nolan Ryans (10 each arm)
    • 10 Inch Worn Merkins
    • 10 Chest Press

    Long Mosey, one minute out, then back.

    THANG #2

    Tabata time, 1 minute exercise, 20 seconds rest for the following exercises:

    • Pistol Squats
    • Bobby Hurleys (slap the court before you take a jump shot)
    • Bonnie Blairs (AKA Ball Dippers)
    • American Swingers
    • Appollo Onos

    Rinse and repeat, then another long mosey.

    Finish off with a little Mary, props to the PAX for several varying exerises called out.

    Numberama, Nameorama

    Announcements:

    Two digital events Wednesday, VR Dawg at 5:30am, HDHH at 6pm. Zoom meeting ID is: 822-7005-7337. If you need the password just message myself or Offshore on Slack or Twitter.

    YHC took us out.

    NMS

    Thank you to the PAX who came out today. Beautiful weather this morning for a good sweat. Helps to take one’s mind off the whole pandemic thing. Which least important of that is the absence of sports. However at this point YHC is nearly getting the shakes from lack of sports.

  • Ten + One — Oops

    Ten + One of the faithful posted at GridIron on a sunny spring morning, probably the prettiest day of 2020. Johnsonville had volunteered as the day’s Q, and this is what went down, more or less:

    Circle up on far side of parking lot near where the policeman usually parks (but not today). Var. warmups, including SSH, don quiote, imperial walker, hillbillies, copperhead squats, merkins, LBCs, etc. 50 forward arm circles.

    Staggered-start mosey to school and around counterclockwise. Return to wall of bathrooms. 10 rounds of chicken peckers counting down from 10 to 1.

    Staggered-start mosey to tennis courts in the rear of the property. Because the gate door was locked, we circled up on blacktop in the back. 10 rounds of merkins counting down from 10 to 1.

    Staggered-start mosey back to offisite tunnel down path through woods. Mosey back to courtyard in rear of school. Relocate to grassy circle in the middle of the bus loop.

    Jack web, pausing before #1 to do about 50 backward arm circles and 10 burpees. Return to VSF.

    Announcement: New Friday run on west end started by Gomer. Mills Godwin. Name TBD.

    COT with YHC taking us out. Glad to see some faces that have not been to Gridiron in a while. Looking forward to getting a few on the injured reserve list back.

    Socially distance coffee in Einsteins parking lot.

    Good work, men! Jville

  • When Aisle 5 gets on something………just jump on!

    Three men and a dog woke and tackled the day! YHC & Aisle 5 started up Satan’s Hill to meet Punxsutawney and Cloey to walk the cul de sack tour. No runner were present. Hope everyones livers are ok.

    Aisle 5 has a VERY specific desire when it comes to looking at a new home. Ranch style with a WALK OUT basement. Few weeks back he saw a lot in NM that might suit his desire. Apparently his M is ALL on board! Today’s conversations were primarilay around reviewing everyones home and if they had a walkout basement! Our apologies to NM residents for three old dudes pointing and likely talking too loud.

    He is for sure in love with making his M happy and is looking for a buyer for his house in Brandermill. The video is outside my playlist, but fits how Aisle 5 feels about making his M happy.

    Oh..approx. 4 miles were done!

  • 4 Year Celebration with Merkins and Burpees

    Eight men gathered at the temporary AO of Da-Pile on the grounds of Atlee High School for YHC’s 4 year F3 celebration that went something like this.

    At shovel flag, 1 burpee followed by 2 merkins

    Mosey to practice field

    COP

    • 2 burpees followed by 4 merkins
    • SSH – 20 IC
    • 3 burpees followed by 6 merkins
    • Don Quixotes – 10 IC
    • 4 burpees followed by 8 merkins
    • Helicopters – 10 IC
    • 5 burpees followed by 10 merkins
    • Arm Circles – 10 big, 5 small IC
    • 6 burpees followed by 12 merkins
    • Arm Circles – Reverso – 10 big, 5 small IC
    • 7 burpees followed by 14 merkins
    • One Legged Lunges – Right Leg – 10 IC
    • 8 burpees followed by 16 merkins
    • One Legged Lunches – Left Leg – 10 IC
    • 9 burpees followed by 18 merkins
    • Heels to Heaven – 20 IC
    • 10 burpees followed by 20 merkins

    At end of COP, the total is 55 burpees and 110 merkins.

    Mosey to Cool Spring Elementary’s playground

    Lat Hangs/Merkins

    For a 15 count, PAX hangs from the pull-up bar. The last 5 seconds, PAX members would lower themselves slowly. The PAX members would do 10 merkins IC. Each PAX member led the count which meant we did 8 sets of Lat Hangs and Merkins.

    For the Lat Hangs/Merkins – PAX did 140 Merkins.

    Mosey into neighborhood of Honey Meadows. Jog to end of Meadow Pond Dr. On way, Pax did 10 merkins IC at clubhouse. (20 merkins)

    Trail Challenge – For Honey Meadows trail, alternate between 5 burpees and 10 merkins whenever PAX member does to trail interception or road. Option of doing Bernie Sanders whenever going up a hill. Ended up with total of 30 burpees and 60 merkins.

    Mosey back to Shovel Flag for a grand total of 85 burpees and 330 merkins which could count as 415 merkins towards the Daville Merkin Challenge.

    Name-o-Rama, Number-o-Rama, Announcements, YHC took us out.

    NMS

    YHC is amazed that 4 years has gone by so quickly while he is amazed that he has only been doing it for 4 years. Today’s beatdown was challenging with the distance covered which was around 3.5 miles most of what came in the last 30 minutes along with the repeat of the same 2 exercises (Merkins and Burpees.) Even during the long mosey and trail run, the PAX was never separated by much distance. Well done all!! It was great seeing Marco Polo today. YHC had not seen him since before the lockdown.

    Thank you F3RVA for many beatdowns, memories, and friendships I have developed over the past 4 year. I hope I am blessed to have many more years with this awesome group.

    Announcements

    Hanover Memorial Day Convergence – Monday, May May 25 – Hanover Wayside Park on 301. 7 AM. YHC looks forward when a large PAX can gather again at Brown’s Island but for now, this is a responsible option. The Hanover veterans memorial is at this park.

    It was an honor leading such a fine group of men.

    Gotta Run!

    Phonics