Category: Richmond, VA

  • How do you say Henrico ?

    What a day for a VQ, dark and a cool 68 degrees for 15 F3 men to take on WDOG and the morning went something like this:

    COP – Mosey to the Ampitheater for some warm ups:

    20 SSH, 10 DQ (slow pace for us old guys), 10 Arm Circles small and 5 more big then Reverso 10,5, 11(that’s right) helicopters, 10 4 count merkins

    and 10LBC’s. My heart is jumping out my chest now.

    THE THANG

    Mosey to the Barrel and start with 10 donkey kicks run down the hill up the other side to perform 10 cranes(karate kid) 5 each leg. Triple check so we did this fun activity 3 times. Early finishers planked until the remaining group finished. YHC asked for a 10 count and received a 10 then 1! This group is ready for more so…

    Mosey to the Triangle road of pain, at top of hill start with lunges from crop circle to intersection, run down hill, 20 LBCs and Bernie Saunders up the hill to crop circle, we did this 3 times. Early finishers planked and YHC asked for a 10 count and received all 10 numbers this time…ok better we are feeling some pain now.

    Mosey to the rusty cage(thank you Swirly for the tour guide direction) and we divide into groups of 3. Partner 1 is the coach, partner 2 gets into the pullup position with chin over the bar (this is very hard to maintain). Partner 3 runs to the hydrant and back as the timer, this was a triple check and looked much easier on paper, very hard to execute but everyone gutted this out and stayed with the cage.

    Mosey to crop circle on the way back to the flag start position and stopped with line on each side facing each other to do 10 booyah merkins and 20 booyah situps(legs interlocking…almost a good idea) where in the up position we alternate hand slaps, but some faces were getting in the way.

    Mosey to the start point and circled up.

    Numberama and announcements and YHC took us out.

    YHC wants to thank everyone that showed up today, with little sleep as I was excited to do this and nervous that I would over sleep…not possible. We had alot of mumble chatter especially with the crane activity at the start and it is quite a sight to come up the hill and see 10+ grown men performing the crane and was glad we were on the ground and not a piling (we heard yellow card, sweep the leg, and your Bruce Lee(I’m sorry Mr. Miyagi) sound effects to fill the morning gloom. The triangle was a small shout out to the BRR men as we wanted a little cardio work out. The cage was a beast and everyone gutted this out. No one took a break we worked out the entire 45 minutes and it was an honor to lead this group of fine men! Gumbo had the rat workout outfit, classic and we discussed how to pronounce ‘Henrico’ and thank you to Gomer Pyle for getting Hollywood and Dabo to this workout. Phonics was the catalyst that compelled me to join the F3 brotherhood on May 14, 2019…and now I am on the Q sheet! I look forward to seeing you in the gloom. Cheers! CB

    Announcements:

    Timberwolf Convergence is the Monday(Labor Day) workout and will start at 7am!

    Vinny is finalizing the gift from F3 for WOJO’s family.

    BRR is in 7 days and a wake up…so good luck to the men taking this on.

  • Just like old times

    A game time scratch left the Q slot open at the MannDate this morning, so Lab Rat jumped on it like a hand grenade at a SEAL convention (too much?). Not being an expert at kettlebell workouts, he reached deep into his bag of tricks back to his first ever Q…..in which he promised a then injured Bleeder (some things never change) that we wouldn’t run a step.

    Warmup:

    -Run 3 laps around the “track”. Everybody’s healthy, so why not?

    -COP with warmup and stretchy stuff

    THANG

    -12 minutes of farmer carry, alternating sides every 2 minutes

    -Slowsy to the back of the school where the picnic tables are located. In sets of 10 as the Q calls them: Step ups (each leg), incline APD’s, hand release merkins, and goblet squats. 5 or 6 sets of everything….roughly.

    -5 minutes of back friendly yoga.

    NMS

    This was my interpretation of the Men’s Health article called “5 exercises every man should master” that was floating around back when I was starting F3. They hold up, I think. It was nice to not have to worry about the guys that were finishing early, or the guys who were lagging behind, as the easy pace kept everyone together. If you worked on form, you got your workout in for the day without the need for doing ridiculous reps. AND for that,

    Lab Rat apologizes…

  • Where Three or More Are Gathered

    Three hearty early-risers gathered in the gloom for a Daville workout. Here is what happened:

    (Temp QIC Helix)

    Mosey to front of middle school for…

    COP (All IC x 10, unless otherwise specified)

    • Small arm circles plus large (x 5), reverso
    • Head circles (each way)
    • Hip circles (each way)
    • Toe sweepers
    • Copperhead squats
    • Merkins
    • Plank Jacks
    • Burpees OYO (x 5)

    (Temp QIC Spike)

    Mosey to track for…

    Four Corners x 2

    20 reps at each corner, exercises were Merkins, WWII Sit-ups, Pull-ups, and Heels-to-Heaven

    (Temp QIC Trout)

    Mosey to middle/high school bus loop for…

    11s

    Exercises were dips and donkey kicks

    COT, BOM, Spike took us out

    NMS

    A tiny-but-mighty crowd today. Spike set the bar high with challenging the PAX to two rounds of 20-reps pull-ups, plus providing assistance for the PAX. Mumble chatter centered on 2.0s returning to school, middle school anxiety, and M’s getting some well deserved respite.

    These gloom workouts really do catapult YHC thru the rest of the day. Just a great way to bracket life’s stressors, and grow from self-inflicted challenges. Thanks for sharing (and providing) the moment, Spike and Trout.

    Announcements

    Labor Day convergence and first annual retreat coming up in September.

  • NO TOLL START TIME 6AM?

    21 of F3’s faithful found their way to No Toll this morning for a Flange VQ…not my VQ, but perhaps someone in the crowd had not previously attended a Flange Q and was just excited to be there. 

    5:30 Mosey to the main parking lot:

    DQ’s, Hillbillies, Russian Soldiers, Copper Head Squats, LBC’s, Merkins, Shoulder Taps

    Thang:

    Partner up and line up along the end line on the large field.  Partner 1 begins to Bear Crawl length of field, while Partner 2 is performing 15 Smurf Jacks. At completion of Jacks, Partner 2 run to catch 1 and they switch.  Continue to the other side of field.  Run around and go back the same way, 10 Jacks, rather than 15. 

    Count off in 4’s for a four corner workout.  1’s, 2’s, 3’s, 4’s all go to their respective corners.  Corner 1 is performing 25 hand release Merkins, corner 2-50 Squats, corner 3-75 2 count Mountain Climbers, corner 4-100 SSH’s.  After completing an exercise at each corner, run to midfield and on to the next corner.  So, each PAX member will have done all corners and exercises, with the run in between each corner.   Make sense?  My best explanation with a quick typing of this…

    Mosey to Basketball Courts for another 4 corner type of workout.  4 rounds of the same exercise each round, starting with 7 reps per corner on the 1st round, then adding 7 for each additional round.  Between rounds, run to the entrance of the playground and back.  1st round was 7 Hand Release Merkins at each corner, 2nd was 14 Carolina Dry Docks, 3rd 21 Jump Squats, 4th 28 WWII’s.  Again, best explanation…

    1-1/2 minutes left, circle up for 50 count SSH’s. 

    Back to the “Flag” – YHC needs to get a flag…can’t take the one off the house! 

    Nubmerama, Namerama, PAX took us out with the Lord’s Prayer.

    Announcements: 

    Convergence-Labor Day 7AM Timberwolf

    Retreat-9/21.  YHC has to bow out of this weekend (30th high school reunion that old buddies have talked YHC into attending).  With that, Sugar Sock is now looking for a Corn Hole Partner, team name Half Nelson. 

    YHC was feeling really good leaving the house this morning, 64 degrees and pumped for what hoped to be a solid workout.  It’s always an honor to lead and work alongside you Men!  As we made our way to the courts, YHC saw a car with the headlights running and asked Tobit, is that one of ours?  Sure enough, Bone Thug emerged and joined in for the last 20 minutes or so.  After the COT, he commented that someone had told him the AO started at 6AM.  Must have been one of the Mechanicsville boys mixed up on the time zone change…

  • “I haven’t had a Slurpee this millennia”

    A spectacular six showed at Heartbreak Ridge to see what Coach Wojo had in store for this morning’s practice. With YHC’s FitBit left at home, this morning’s beat down was aided by Verizon’s finest certified pre-owned replacement I-Phone X. 5:30 Bell? Let’s mosey.

    COP

    Mosey to the teacher’s parking area for COP

    • 30 SSHs
    • 15 DQs
    • 20 Imperial Walkers
    • 25 LBCs
    • 15 Flutterkicks
    • 15 Armcircles + reverso. Warm? Let’s boogie.

    The Thang

    Exercise I – Burpee Mile

    Mosey to the dirt track. 1 mile run with 12 burpees every quarter of a mile. Mumble chatter included blowing chow, slurpees and the preference for a *BEER* mile. Correlation does not imply causation.

    Exercise II – Big 11s at Heartbreak Hill

    Mosey to the bottom of Heartbreak Hill. Hand Release Merkins at the top; Jump Squats at the base. Plankarama for the Six.

    Exercise III – The People’s Chair

    4 minutes felt like 40.

    Mary

    2 minutes left for some LBCs and Hello Dollies.

    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    Announcements/Prayer Requests

    • Lifting up Helix, his family, but most importantly, his daughter. Know the next several weeks will be challenging. We’re here for you, Brother.
    • Convergence – 7am – Labor Day Monday – Timberwolf
    • IronPax Challenge – Annual Challenge our Brethren South of here put together. I believe the DaVillians did it last year? An option for the Week Zero workout will be at this week’s TwinTeam.

    Great work today, Gentlemen. It was an honor and privilege to lead. The weather provided a needed reprieve from the summer steam and luckily the AO was ripe for a beat down.

    Nurse that Achilles, Attila and loosen up that quad and hammy, Conspiracy. Garbage Plate recommended Yoga for your troubles.

    Congrats to Oyster on completing the Summer Tour!

    Have a blessed day, fellas.

  • Spinning a Web

    ~20 runners partook in the latest iteration of The Fist. Options ranged from 4 to 6 ascents depending upon mileage.

    Today’s run served as a prep for the BRR. For those not signed up, consider it an early training run for next year’s BRR.

    Well done everyone.

    Saab abides

  • Running from Bees!

    6 strong posted for Punisher this evening and here is how it went down.

    Quick visit from TYA – what up dude – (TYA) Hey shake I think I have something of yours in my car – any guesses pax – yep a knife 🙂 Let’s Mossy…..

    COP : Plank – Wilson’s wife – windmills – IW’s SSH’s

    Triple check : teams of 3 – run around the school – cap thor’s – LT Dans – repeat 3 times.

    Benches : 3 sets – 10 incline merkins – 10 dips – 10 step ups. This is where the bees come in – our buddy Shakedown was stung – and that come to find out ain’t good cause dude is allergic …. So he let’s us know he’s good but he has to roll and get medicine quick – we watch him run off and listen for any crashing cars but hear nothing and assume all is well. Thankfully Shakedown texted us – he’s good – just has to take those things seriously – so glad to hear you are ok man – take it easy Shake.. So back to the Bees – my man Chum grabs a stick and as we begin to mossy he whacks that nest which was up under the bench and we all run like hell towards the playground – luckily nobody else was stung – but you know Jville was scared cause he beat Rosie running away from those damn bees….

    Pullups : 1-5 overhand – 5-1 underhand

    4 corners – 5 clerkins – 10- hand release merkins – 20 workins – 25 merkins – back around – 10 burpees – 20 merkins – 10 burpees – 20 merkins.

    Benches : 10 dips -10 decline merkins – 3 sets

    Curb Crawl : bear crawl 5 merkins – crawlbear back 5 merkins

    Way to work guys – enjoyed it – thanks for letting me lead. Once again happy you’re ok Shakedown !

    Chum took us out.

    Don’t forget Labor Day Convergence – Twinteam 7am

  • Hot Tomato

    Tomato Run

    It was a nice cool morning for a run and with no Q we discussed running routes while stretching and started promptly at 5:30. Our route was the following: Left on Atlee Station Road, run up the train overpass and continue on Atlee Road, take a right on Dewitt Drive then a right on Aaroe drive down the big hill and back up to DeWitt with a left on Westone Road to Atlee Station Road up to train overpass towards Halifax Drive(new Giles Development) to Willies Way trail and looped back to Atlee and this was about a 4.27mi route. Trout, Glide and Shakedown set the pace and I had the 6 all to myself. We still clocked in under a 9′-22″ avg mile pace so not a bad morning. MudFace and No Idea did their normal route around Atlee and Giles.

    Numerama and we discussed the upcoming week with reminders of the Timberwolf Convergence on Labor Day. We will be meeting @ 6:20am at the Wawa on 301 to form a couple of clown cars for the 35 minute ride.

  • An Elite 8 Battle the Darkness at Batteau

    What a gorgeous August morning for a beatdown and 8 men posted to Batteau to see what Gumbo had in store. It was dark, but I think it went something like this:

    Mosey one lap around the circle to wait for Hitchhiker to get his gear together, then pick him up on the mosey over to the Farmer’s Market lot for COP, including:

    • DQs
    • Helicopters
    • Imperial Walkers
    • SSHs
    • Tempo Merkins
    • Freddie Mercuries

    All warmed up, time to work.

    THE THANG:

    Farmer’s Market 11s – in the parking lot, form a line on one edge and start with 10 jump squats and 1 HRM. Lunge across to the other side. 9 and 2. Then, backwards run back. Continue until 1 JS and 10 HRMs. Al Gore for the SIX.

    Mosey down the Hill of Ill Repute (all lights on – way to go City of Richmond) and congregate at the bottom.

    Proper Dora – Without the Math

    Partner up and one partner runs up the hill to the second light. Do 10 uphill merkins and run back. Partner two stays at the bottom doing as many proper dora combination exercises (1 merkin, 2 squats and 3 WWII situps) as possible until your partner returns. No number to get to, just 10 minutes on the clock. Repeato until Q calls time.

    Mosey down the path and up the stairs (avoiding holes) up to the Tennis Court where Gumbo had dropped some side dishes.

    The Suck with Toys

    7 Exercises and 1 rabbit. Rabbit sprints the length of the court, slow/low side shuffle across and backwards run to the endline. Exercises were:

    • APDs
    • LBCs
    • Lunges
    • Plank
    • Jump Rope
    • Goblet Squats holding 35lb KB
    • One Arm KB Swings with 25lb KB

    2 rounds through

    ROF – Rosie Style

    PAX in a circle holding Al Gore. On your turn, drop and do 10 merkins, then on your six, holding six inches until it comes back around to you. Then, do 10 Hello Dollies and back up to Al Gore. No flair, just strong, good-form merkins.

    3 MOM

    • SSHs
    • Mark Spitz – Flutter Kicks with hands overhead
    • Rosalitas
    • American Hammers

    Back to the Flag for COT, Number-rama, Name-a-Rama and YHC took us out

    Announcements:

    • Convergence, Labor Day 0700 at Timberwolf
    • Retreat 9/21 – sign up for cornhole to help Vinny and others get numbers for the event and for food purposes.

    NMS:

    It is always great to get over to Batteau and experience total darkness, some brutal hills and the Swiss-like precision timing of Sippy’s arrival. It is a unique AO with lots of painful possibilities. Thanks for working hard and letting me lead this morning men. Great to be with you.

    No More Gumbo For You.

  • Lug Nut Leads by Example

    6 strong assembled for a Monday morning River Run. Temps were a cool 59 degrees on an August morning.

    5 departed for the reverse OG Loop at 5:30am thinking the runner on the road was Rosie…but surprise, it was Lug Nut getting some early morning extra credit!

    Naked Moleskin

    YHC has had a very lackadaisical F3 summer, but it’s immediately clear that several BRR participants are committed to being ready for the race. EF Hutton and Lug Nut look great and are close to tapering before the big weekend! Good work, gents.

    Hats off to the New Market clown car that arrived at 5:28am. Always great to have you attend!

    Cheers to EF Hutton and P.O.G. for the NFL Fantasy talk on the way down the Tarrington hill. HTTR.