Category: Richmond, VA

  • There are Other, More Interesting Parts of This AO

    64 legs carried 32 of the faithful and four more made the PAX 66 feet strong to celebrate UpChuck Family Birthday Week. Temperatures held steady at 70. Skies were bright and sunny. According to the runner who tried to lure DTH’s dog into the metaphorical van, the PAX did the following:

    Mosey to the Near Circle, but (wait for it) Turn LEFT to round the circle clockwise, loop back around the island of trees, and then circle up for:

    Circle of Pain:

    47 SSHs, By Request, Lawrence Welk-style (Happy birthday to UpChuck)
    14 IWs (Happy birthday to UpChuck’s daughter, F3 Vers)
    DQs x 10
    Hello Dolly (Temporarily renamed Rosalita’s)
    Rosalita’s x15 (Renamed Rosalita’s)
    LBCs x20
    HRMs x10

    Mosey to the Outer Ring of the Near Circle for:

    Bear crawl to manhole cover; crawl bear back to the outer curb.
    Polar bear crawl to manhole cover; crawl bear polar (or crawl polar bear, or bear polar crawl or…just do it backwards already)
    Partner up…wheelbarrow to the manhole cover, switch up, wheelbarrow back.

    Circle Up for Seven of Diamonds:

    Multiples of 7 exercises at each of four points. Increase reps by 7 each round up to 28 per round, then back down by 7 reps per round. 7 rounds total.

    Hand-Release Merkins x7
    Basic Squats x14
    Reverse Crunches x21
    Little Baby Crunches x28
    Flutter Kicks (4-count) x21
    Copperhead Squats x14
    (At roughly this point, Bodo’s griped for the first time in his life, and out of pure astonishment, the YHC forgot to have the PAX do Hand Release Burpees in favor of Snow Angels. “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”)
    Snow Angels x7 (The PAX subconsciously thanked Bodo’s).

    Somewhere in here one PAX member was overheard to say,”At least do half the exercises.” Line of the day.

    YHC thanks the PAX who led from the front: Swirly, DTH (YHC loves the No Faking It Merkins – or whatever those are called), and Hardywood (Master of the Arm Circle)…YHC apologizes for forgetting any other PAX who led.

    Mosey to the Amphitheater for Stairway to Seven:

    At the bottom of the Amphitheater, each PAX performs two exercises (burpees and inclined merkins), then runs to the top of the Amphitheater to perform WWII sit-ups.

    1 rep of each exercise in round one. Increase by one rep each round, up to 7 reps in the last round.

    Hardywood led enthusiastic flutter kicks, six inches, and 45 degrees for The Six.

    Mosey Back to the Flag (BTTF).

    Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, Circle K took us out with a reminder about the true meaning of the season.

    Announcements:

    Ghost Flag to the City Dwellers. No place more appropriate. Carry it with Pride.

    Christmas Morning Beatdown: 5:30 a.m. at DogPile.

    December 30, Punisher, 6:00 p.m. Bring your A-game, and your government issued photo ID (and a few bucks). Linwood Holton Elementary. UpChuck has the Q.

    NMS:

    Solid performance by the PAX today. Way to push.

    Nice to have Flashdance and Fudd back with The PAX today. YHC thought Fudd was on the juice until YHC remembered that Fudd is a) a natural athlete, and b) living at 5,300 feet. That brother has some lung capacity now.

    YHC’s travel is done for the year, and he’s ready for a break. Here’s hoping you all have some time free to spend relaxing with family and friends over the holidays.

    UpChuck spits the bit.

  • Where are we going Hardywood

    Just because Hardywood and Swirly where leading we took the long route to start with 2.5 miles. Finished with the normal 1.6.

    Great run and awesome morning for it!

    Spit On That!!

  • Lets See if This Works

    Opus, Trout, Yard Sale, Beulah, Rounders, Wild Thing, Mudface

    COP

    • SSH
    • Arm Circles
    • Tempo Merkins
    • Helicopters
    • Cherry pickers

    Ring Around the Rosie

    Pax circles up on their six and passes the kettlebell to the man on their right and then to the left

    Five time each direction

    Dora

    Partner up. One partner runs the loop while the other performs Kettle Bell dirty Dog

    Flip Flop until 100 Dirty Dogs are done

    Conga Line

    Line up. PAX in front passes bell to next man in line, then runs to back of line. Various exercises for one lap of the loop

    Some lunges, lawnmowers, halos and slingshots to finish out the time

    Numberama

    Namearama

    Wild Thing took us out

    NMS

    YHC rolled up to the AO to find out that no one had taken the Q. Well, there are a couple of things that he wanted to try out, so he took the Q. Thanks to the PAX for putting up with YHC experimenting on them. Strong work was put in by all.

    Thanks for letting me lead

  • YOUR F3 NAME SHIRT!

    YOUR F3 NAME SHIRT!

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    • Orders CLOSE on Jan 19th
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    • When ordering, READ INSTRUCTIONS carefully
    • For example – if your F3 Nickname is long, you may have to abbreviate in order to fit the 11-character limit
    • If you don’t see a shirt size or style you want, e-mail Dr TryHard at emhenderson24@gmail.com

  • You can get that in your ear?

    9 davillians and 2 SOJ’ers showed up for the only 12/20/19 of their lives.

    Take the SOJ’ers on a tour of the new AO

    COP — SSH, arm circles, DQ’s, Crab Cakes, cherry pickers, copperhead squats, inchworm merkin jumpy things

    There is only one day that is today 12/20. We celebrated with a Christmas movie trivia contest of sorts.

    Round #1 — A Christmas Story
    Right answers — 12 smurf jacks
    Wrong ones — 12 smurf jacks, 20 donkey kicks, bear crawl to first island and back
    The PAX got 2 out of 5 of these correct. If Hardywood hadn’t been premature, the PAX would have done better.

    Round #2 — National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
    Right answers — 12 american hammers
    Wrong answers — 12 american hammers, 20 flutterkicks, run to the bball hoop and back
    PAX did much better here scoring a 5 out of 6. YHC made the PAX complete the punishment for the last answer even though they got it right. That’s life.

    Round #3 — It’s a Wonderful Life
    Right answers — 12 merkins
    Wrong answers — 12 merkins, 20 plank jacks, bear crawl the length of the parking lot, run back
    PAX got 4 out of 6 correct.
    Nicely done, gentlemen!

    Finish off with 4 corners
    10 jump squats, 20 merkins, 30 split jacks, 40 hackeysackers
    then…
    40 jump squats, 30 merkins, 20 split jacks, 10 hackeysackers

    Close with 30 seconds of planking.

    Announcements, Names, Numbers, etc.

    NMS — So glad to have some out of towners with us today. DTH rocked it and Hardywood was the grand encourager as always! YHC loves this group of guys — remember today is the only 12/20/19 you will ever have — EH some guys, be strong for your family, give more of yourself today than yesterday.


  • Frozen Cheeks

    A frozen four found their way out to Twin Team in Icy 20 degree conditions to dodge the ice and find a beatdown. After jogging a loop for the NewMarket clown car that was never to appear we did:

    COP: SSH, Russian Soldiers, Helicopters, Merkins, LBCs. Head to parking lot for

    THE THANG: Partner up for 5 minutes of increasing exercises:

    Round 1: Burpees starting at 2, each man does, then increase by 2. Other man is holding Al Gore. We got up to 14. So 56 Burpees.

    Round 2: After moving to the grass; Sets of increasing by 3 of WWIIs while other man holds 6 inches. Got up to 24. 108 WWIIs total.

    Round 3: Merkins starting at 4 and going up by 4. Other man is doing squats. Got up to 28. 112 Merkins in total.

    Round 4: Donkey kicks on the track entrance building: 5 DKs then increase by 5. Other man doing LBCs. Got up to 30. 105 DKs in total.

    Long mosey back to BWES. Find grassy patch in front for: 3 sets of 20 PLTs. Then introduce BoBerry to Pickle Pounders. Finish up with Ring of Fire. YHC took us out.

    NMS – YHC stole this idea from Garbage Plate of 5 minutes alternating & increasing exercises but altered it so the count increased from 2-5 for the 4 rounds. Turns out increasing sets of 4 merkins gets tough around the 20s.

    56 Burpees got the PAX properly warmed up in the 20 degree weather.

    5 full minutes on the frosty grass doing WWII and 6 inches left all with frozen cheeks for the remainder of the beatdown. Very little mumblechatter this morning besides PAX pointing out where the black ice was around the AO. YHC hadn’t met BoBerry before, always good to meet a newer dedicated PAX member, apparently YHC needs to get his 6 out ot SOJ more often. Great way to start of YHC’s 42nd year, aye!

  • Two extra inches makes you warmer

    Yep, its cold outside. Early arrivals huddle together to stay warm. Some in shorts with bare knees and other with tights and running pants. Yet Handshake was unique from the others in his choice of socks – 2 inches above ankle. These socks, also known as the Saab Special, were intended to provide extra warmth, or precisely two inches of extra warmth. I guess it all adds up when it is 23 degrees.

    The routes were called and off we went. Down Grove to Thompson and over to Cary for a stroll through Carytown. Heading North on the Boulevard, 4s returned Kennsington to Patterson to Commonwealth to home. 5s and 6s took the Blvd to Monument for a spin east and then back west to return via Commonwealth.

    YHC took us out.

    Announcements: Winter Tour is kicking off on New Year’s Day and will run until early April. The goal is to hit all 26 AOs. Think you are up to it? Sign up.

    Too much tapering can be a bad thing.

    Lockjaw

  • Arctic Potato

    4 Davillians arrived on this arctic morning a some cold potato

    This how it went down

    Spit’s Q

    COP (ALL IC) – 10 Burpees OYO, SSH, DQ, 5 Burpees OYO, LBC’s, Scorpion Kicks, Merkins, Arm Circles

    Mosey to the courtyard

    Mini Dora – 50 Donkey Kicks, 100 Merkins, 150 LBC’s. Partner runs a loop around the courtyard

    Mud Face’s Q

    The layered Merkin (or whatever name Mud Face comes up with) – The PAX got in a line in the plank position. The person a the end stays in PAX while the person in front of him put their legs on their shoulders/back. This countines down the line. Once everyone was in position the PAX completed Merkins IC. WE got to 5

    Four Corners – Of course Mudface had to put his on spin on this. first corner – 10 Burpees, second corner – 10 Burpee w/ LBC’s, third corner – 10 Burpees w/ LBC’s + Squat, fourth corner – 10 Burpees w/ LBC’s+ Squat + Mtn Climber

    Trout’s Q

    Mosey to the hill behind the school

    The unchanging 11’s – 11 Donkey Kicks, Bernie Sanders up the hill, 11 Split Jacks. Rinse and Repeat 11 times

    Mosey back to the SF for Numberrama, Namerama, Announcements, Trout took us out

    No Q on the sheet, no worries! Hot Potatoes are always good idea. Nice to get Trout in the mix of things. Hopefully we can get him to Q a full one soon

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • A James Bond Biscuit

    6 semi frozen PAX showed up to attack the day at Timberwolf (“should I be able to feel my toes?”). YHC wanted to continue the week of themed work outs. Today is the same day that “The Man With The Golden Gun” came out in 1974 so James Bond theme it is!

    COP

    • 10 SSH
    • 10 Don Quixote
    • 10 “From Russia With Love” (Russian Soldiers)
    • 12 Cherry Pickers
    • 1 James Bond (10 count each direction of the finger gun)
    • 10 LBCs

    The Thang

    “You Live Twice” (Mankillers starting at 10)

    “Octopussy’ Four Corners

    • 8 Merkins
    • 18 2-Count American Hammers
    • 28 Plank Jacks
    • 38 LBCs
    • This went by quickly… Doozy asked if this was a “prostitute” four corners, YHC hadn’t heard of that. It was explained. Some mumblechatter (“they suck”). YHC said ok let’s do it and we did for the repeato round.

    “Thunderball”s to the wall

    • Balls to the wall – One Minute
    • People’s Chair -One Minute

    “Dr. No” Bearcrawl

    • 30 Dips (bearcrawl to next station)
    • 20 Rosalitas (bearcrawl again)
    • 10 NO Cheat Merkins

    Had some time over so we did 2 Boberry Biscuits around track with 5 burpees after each lap, then “Abs Ring of Fire” where each of 6 picked an exercise that was done by the PAX.

    Numberama, Name-orama

    Announcements

    -Winter Tour signup is available for those interested, see Oyster’s Pre-Blast

    COT – YHC took us out,

    NMS

    A lot to be thankful for in the cold gloom this morning. Great work by all of the PAX today. Enjoyed the pass around of the Q at the end! YHC may have had the Q but was influenced by others in the exercise choices today. The push to do better everyday comes not only from within, but from the push of those YHC has chosen to be around these extra frosty mornings. It was a privilege to lead!

  • Rhino Beetle Strike Again

    6 warriors rose to greet the dawn of a new day. Despite chilly temps in the Richmond metroplex, it was 70 and sunny at Huguenot High School. According to legend it went a little something like this.

    COP: SSH X 20, IW X 20, CS X 20, Lunge X 20, WWII X 10, FC X 20, HRM X 15, Arm Circle X 1

    Mosey to the locked tennis courts. Now I know how Monica Seles felt. Stick to the sidewalk.

    Three Rounds: One partner runs up sidewalk to fence and back. Other partner exercises. The exercises were as follows: Shoulder Tap Merkins, Dips, Box Jumps.

    Uphill Burpee Push: A slight modification on the four corners burpee push debuted at 45MOM last week.

    • Round 1 – Run up hill to first light and complete 5 burpees.
    • Round 2 – Run up hill to first light 10 squats, run to second light 5 burpees, 10 squats at first light, back to start.
    • Round 3 – Run up hill to first light 10 squats, run to second light 10 Captain Thors, run to third light 5 burpees, back to second light 10 Captain Thors, 10 squats at first light, back to start.
    • Round 4 – Run up hill to first light 10 squats, run to second light 10 Captain Thors, run to third light 10 shoulder tap merkins, run to fourth light 5 burpees, back to third light 10 shoulder tap merkins, second light 10 Captain Thors, 10 squats at first light, back to start.

    D O R A: Mosey to close parking lot. One partner runs the circle, the other partner exercises. Complete the totals as prescribed.

    • 100 Shoulder Tap Merkins
    • 200 Squats
    • 300 LBC

    Ring of Fire: Mosey back up to parking lot for Ring of Fire.

    Numberama, namerama and the legendary Don Draper took us out.

    News:

    • Oyster has posted the 2020 Winter Challenge
    • The 2020 Q sheet is live
    • If you are looking for a good time and a way to set the tone for 2020, grab the reins and take the lead on organizing the New Years Day F3RVA convergence. You don’t need permission, just a strong moral compass and the willpower to not over do it on New Years Eve.

    Moleskin: Thanks to the nudging of DTH, YHC made a long overdue appearance at The Forge. This is a dynamite AO with some excellent men who you can count on being there. If you haven’t checked this one off the list, it is definitely worth the trip. In addition to a great workout area, YHC found a rhino beetle. The pax was beyond impressed.

    Make it a great one fellas. Dig a little deeper and get it all out.

    Hardywood