Category: Richmond, VA

  • Answer: You get your shoes wet

    9 humans and one canine posted on a beautiful Sunday morning at the Pump House parking lot. Route was over the bridge, east on the access road, loop around Belle Island, and back the access road.

    NMM:

    Lug Nut is killing it. That dude has been rocking out the runs and losing the LB’s. He is getting slimmer and faster by the day.

    If you want to piss Lab Rat off, just tell hime you are going to run on the trails when they are wet. Seriously, he will get pissed. More importantly, he is right about not running on the wet trails. It damages the trails and I am hoping to run on them for a long time to come. Thank Mr. Rat for reminding us of when they are closed or not.

    When we reached the start of the access road, we were greeted with 50 yards of ankle deep water. Two of the PAX decided to go straight in and get there shoes wet right away. The rest tiptoed through the woods to make it to the other side.

    Question is “What is the difference between a trail run and a road run”

    TYA Out


  • Preparing for the Madness of March

    Five noble and strong redwoods attacked this cold and wet morning with an enthusiasm unbeknownst to the rest of mankind.  Here is how is went down:

    • COP
      • 30 SSH
      • 15 Russian soldiers
      • 15 cherry pickers
      • 10 2x merkins
      • 15 2x flutter kicks
      • 20 Suzanne Somers, each leg
      • 10 pickle pounders
      • 30 2x LBC
      • 15 helicopters
    • Lindsay with dips and bench kicks
    • Bearimeter of the parking lot with intermittent exercises totally
      • 50 burpees
      • 125 WWII sit-ups
      • 75 1-legged APDs, each leg
    • Mosey to the jerkin gym for a jerkin ladder starting at 8
    • Mosey to the pickleball courts for 6 suicides
    • Mosey back to the parking lot with Chum Bucket taking us through post-workout stretching
    • COT with YHC taking us out and post-workout fellowship at Einstein’s

    YHC correspondent has March Madness on his mind, with hopes of a happier March this year than last.  To win it all this year, his Wahoos will need to be strong, hence the dips, bench kicks and jerkins.  The Final Four has been elusive, but is reachable.  Hence the bear crawl to the 4 corners of the parking lot.  Finally, it will take 6 wins to cut down the nets, meaning the endurance test of 6 grueling suicides. 

    Great to have the PAX with me for today’s beatdown.  Quietly, Quest has become the most consistent member of the Gridiron PAX.  Come Saturday, it is death, taxes and Quest!  Byproduct and Chum Bucket did not fall prey to the fart sack, unlike a certain member of the PAX who shall be named…White Deer.  Apparently wet weather causes White Deer’s manhood to shrink and his attendance to cease.  Finally, Tater continues to impress with his effort and consistency.  Forever positive, he is a great addition to the PAX.  Enjoyed spending time with the PAX at Einstein’s this morning.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Thursdays event — Circus Minimum – minus a Lawyer

    Two steadfast (The Engineer and the CPA) Pax members worked hard for  45 minutes sharpening iron on the tarmac while the Lawyer fart sacked for some extra winks.  Hope to recruit a few tuckahoe clown trucks for the show next week. Don’t want to broadcast a ” Last Man Standing”

    COP

    15 Large Arm circles (F &R) 

    15 Helicopters

    15 SSH

    15 Merkins

    15 APD’s 

    Mosey on over to the CM Circle for a 360 loop of 15 of each of the following KB throw your weight around  with 15 lunges forward to the next exercise ( Repeat)

    Deadlifts

    Kettlebell press

    Clean Right

    Clean Left

    Snatch Right

    Snatch Left 

    Squat Press

    Figure 8 curl right

    Figure 8 curl left

    Single arm row Right 

    Single arm row Left 

    Lunge pass

    Squat leg raise

    Halo Right

    Halo Left 

    Dead lift

    Chop Right

    Chop Left

    Two arm swing

    Sit and Press 

    Mosey back over to the CM parking lot  for kettlebell bear crawls for 15 spaces 

    15 Sit and Presses 

    15 heels to heaven 

    Back to the opposite side of the parking lot with kettlebell bear crawls for 15 spaces 

    15 Sit and Presses 

    15 heels to heaven 

    Just a solid hard 45 minute workout from Atilla and White Deer. Yes, we threw the weight around and it felt GREAT! Johnsonville we missed you!

    Atilla hope you got your monies worth.

  • We Are The F3 World

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9BNoNFKCBI

    28 world class musicians met at Dogpile for a Vinny Jones produced version of We Are The F3 World. Here’s how it sounded.

    Vocal Warmups: Arm Circles x 10. (Hardywood and Wilson had early feedback on their mics, that needed to be handled accordingly). Burpees x 30. Russian Soldiers x 15. LBCs x 20. Merkins x 15. Scorpion Kicks x 10. (The Daville boys behaved themselves, so they were rewarded). Smurf Jacks x 15.

    First Verse / Triple Nickel: Water treatment hill by Columbus. Triple check style. Lead singer Bernie Sanders to the top of the hill. Five squats. Run back down. Back up singer 1 performs WWIIs. Back up singer 2 performs SSHs. Repeato x 3. Got to get that sweet sound just right.

    Second Verse / Ode to Batteau: Eleven trees. Five HR Merkins at each tree. Lunge to the next tree. Repeato. Early finishers back for the six. We finish together. Harmony makes that sweet sound even sweeter.

    Third Verse / Ode to Arthur Ashe: Spread out on the tennis court bleachers. Merkins of choice. Most chose incline. One chose decline x 20. HR Merkins x 20. Down to the courts for suicides. Keep it going. It’s coming together nicely.

    Fourth Verse / Honor and Protect: WWIIs IC x 30. Merkins x 10 IC. Flutter Kicks x 100 IC.

    Fifth Verse / We Are The World: Back to the flag with the six as the six. Finish strong. Finish together. Mona from Who’s The Boss died. 5 burpees. Super Man as we fade to black.

    YHC took us out.

    Announcements: Earth Day 5K on 4/27. See Wedding Singer of Friday’s RAMM BB for details.

    Naked Mole Skin: The day started – as usual – with a strong showing of ruckers and Breakfast Club runners. Running to and from ETs with the flag never gets old. Awesome! 05:25 and the ruckers game out of the woods wagering bets on what Vinny had in store for today. No stage workout Wilson, and I wasn’t planning on hitting the tennis courts until you brought it up – so pay up. Mumble chatter was in full force early; the usual culprits. And it really ramped up during flutter kicks. I must have been doing mine wrong, cause talking was difficult.

    Today marks the end of a week’s worth of Qs for me, and to a degree, the end of a year with F3. My first Dogpile (also my first post) was quite memorable. Although he wasn’t there today, I want to again thank Malpractice for picking me up on several occasions that day. It’s what F3 is all about, and it’s what today was all about. We didn’t finish with the six, we finished as the six. As it should be. Bone Thugs, way to push today brother. We covered a lot of ground, and you covered every inch of it with us. As always, bringing things to a close Super Man style is great. (Go check out the video on F3 Richmond Instagram or on my twitter feed: @sportsesquire. Bone Thugs steels the show – hilarious!

    What a great day and great week, men. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Now time for my customary 4-hour Saturday nap.

  • ABSolutely Crushed It!!

    The rain may have kept some away but 12 fighters jumped out of the fart sack and rolled into The Creek for a battle that went something like this…

    Mosey around the church building to the far part of the parking lot.

    COP All IC – 50 SSHs, 50 LBCs, 50 Imperial Walkers, 10 Don Quixotes, 10 Helicopters

    Mosey to the pavilion.

    CRUSH THIS!

    5 skull crushers one way, 5 skull crushers the other way, 5 two-count flutter kicks, hold six inches for 5 count – All IC

    Repeat with 10 each, repeat with 15 each, repeat with 20 each, repeat with 25 each, repeat with 20 each, repeat with 15 each, repeat with 10 each, repeat with 5 each.

    Some more time MOM – All IC

    20 american hammers, 20 heels to heaven, super man, 50 LBCs

    1 merkin…

    Mosey to the parking lot

    Numberama, Namerama, Announcements, YHC took us out

    Announcements: Grow Ruck events, Colonial Relay 70 in September.

    NMS:

    There is a buzz in the air at the recent workouts in the land of DaVille. The core PAX have been showing up along with some new guys. YHC wanted to provide some fun for all this morning.

    Mudface baited YHC with some fake excuses last night via text. YHC responded with some challenges and Mudface must have approved because he showed up. Mailsack continues to rival Emoji with enthusiasm and nobody on earth thought that would be possible.

    The rain was minimal at the beginning. The COP featured some nasty 4th F gas from Rounders. YHC started to drive heave and almost lost his previous night’s dinner in light of the Jersey-like smells. The SSHs brought out the best in everyone as the PAX leaped around. Spit made his way all the way to the side of the building to get some shelter from the rain. YHC decided to go up to 50 IC with the imperial walkers and realized that he may have never done that before or remembered anyone else doing that. It was a good way to fire up the troops.

    The PAX seemed relieved to go to the pavilion as the rain started up. YHC designed the workout to avoid any use of arms since he was still recovering from Spit’s MURPH workout on Tuesday and Mudface’s Turkish beatdown on Wednesday.

    YHC honored our Houston F3 brothers with a large helping of skull crushers. YHC visited Houston for a training a few years ago and experienced a Texas-sized beatdown at a few AOs. YHC took the PAX on a long series of skull crushers. Bulkhead said something like, “I bet you can’t take us up to 50…” YHC considered it but decided to start descending after the sequence of 25. Gigawatt was one of the first to move to the ground for the flutterkicks each time. He has been a great addition to the PAX!

    The final merkin gave us one brief moment for our arms…

    As always, it was an honor to lead this fine crew of warriors in the gloom. There is nothing like it!

    The Carpenter



  • You can do anything for 10 seconds

    4 SOJ studs assembled for a Timberwolf beatdown. No New Market guys in sight. DK signed up to Q, but surprise, surprise: Bullseye took the reigns.

    THANG

    Circle around back of school to Side parking lot

    COP: SSH, DQs

    Parking Lot Circuit: Several iterations of running across parking lot and back + various exercises on sidewalk where we started. Runs included: 50%, 75%, backwards, 90%, sideways, karayoke, layups. Exercises included wide grip merkins, diamond grip merkins, up & down merkins, walk out merkins, wall sits 30s then lower for 30s,
    wall sits 30s then lower for 30s ,
    wall sits 30s then lower for 30s ,
    wall sits 30s then lower for 30s , and
    wall sits 30s then lower for 30s w/ 10s countdown (hence the title of the BB)

    Line up for Indian Run through neighboring neighborhood. Played some categories as the back runner passed the PAX to reach the front of the line.

    Assemble at base of big hill: merkins + run backwards up + merkins

    Mosey around to tennis courts for more circuits. Bear Crawl width of 1 court + 10 merkins + Crawl Bear back -> repeato x 3 (no stops). More merkin work + runs across 3 courts and back. PAX group COP: Freddies, LBCs, Crab Cakes, Copperheads, Burpees, etc

    Mosey back to VSF

    COT – Lugnut took us out

    Naked Moleskin

    Bullseye didn’t disappoint and packed loads in. It felt like the PAX was moving the entire time.

    Kudos to Orange Crush for attending 4 workouts in a row in his second week attending F3 workouts!

    Kudos to LugNut for getting back into the swing of F3 bootcamps!

    The neighborhood streets have a lot to offer. More to come for sure…

  • Life-giving

    Eight steel pistons – cold, quiet, and inert – YHC turned the key, and the F3 engine roared to life. Here’s how those steel pistons created F3 inertia: 

    The THANG:

    COP #1: (at the Flag)

    • SSH x20 IC
    • DQ’s x10 IC
    • Ball Dippers x10 IC
    • No Cheat Merkins x10 (Hand Release + Shoulder Tap = 8 count IC)
    • Freddie M’s x20 IC

    Mosey to COP #2: (Elem school front circle)

    • Indigenous Peoples Curb Crawl: PAX Carousel Plank around island curb, last man completes 5 Burpees then bear crawls around loop to the front …continued until all PAX have completed Burpees

    Mosey to COP #3: (Track)

    • PLT’s – x3 Sets of 20 each
    • Run around track
    • Lunge for the Six to catch up
    • Partner up for Wheelbarrows down long stretch of the track
    • Big O’s x15 clockwise, then x15 ccw (sitting on bench with legs straight, trace big circle with legs together) 

    Mosey to COP #4: (Parking Lot near Track)

    • Menage a Trois (AKA – Triple Check): P1 Carousel Planks around island curb (sets pace), P2 “Wheel of Merkin” on opposing Curb (3,6,9,12oclock), P3 Burpees

    Mosey Back to Flag:

    • Plankorama waiting for the Six
    • 100 Flutter Kicks in honor of VINNY’s anniversary week (4-count IC, completing 5 sets of 20, alternating x20 high flutters with hands up/back, then x20 lower flutter with hands under six, repeato until 100 reached)
    • No Cheat Merkins x10 IC
    • CIRCLE MERK !!! x3 

    COT:

    • Counterama #
    • Namerama
    • Announcements (included below in Comments)
    • YHC Prayer

    NMS: 

    • Slightly colder and damper than expected, but a glorious Q nonetheless. It seems 8 men makes a near perfect PAX for maximizing the 3 F’s – healthy mumble chatter, equal pairings, and minimal waiting for the 6. While running between COP’s today, a light rain and breeze refreshing my awareness of Life, YHC worshipped God and gave thanks for the leg and heart strength to find joy in this fitness. This Spiritual perspective was further heightened to hear of the sudden passing of Big John, just in his mid 40’s. Life is precious. Keep EH’ing to get the guys you know out to join our fellowship. Let’s make the most of today, and every day, by the grace of God, and to His glory! 

  • Richmond Rockit

    Seventeen scratchers came to RAMM for a Herbie Hancock Rockit show. No defined miles today, just settle in and crush it. Negative split. Out 23 minutes. Back 22. North on Commonwealth – East on Grove.

    Announcements:   Wedding Singer’s promotions and marketing team are teeing up an Earth Day 5k at Tredegar on 4/27. See him or his crew for details.

    NMS: Lab Rat is heavily into the mechanics and descriptive underpinnings of Great Dane breeding. I’m sure he’d be delighted to discuss his newfound interests with you anytime.

    Way to push today men, negative splits are tough, especially for runners like me who don’t know how to pace themselves. Offshore noted that you taste your own poison if you roll out too fast. Indeed my friend, indeed. Sally Girl, as always kept the six in her grasp.

    See y’all tomorrow at Breakfast Club and Dogpile for YHC’s final Q of the week.

  • (One) Year Ago When I Came To Know Mary

    Twenty-two Richard Marx fans lined up at 45MOM for pre-sale tickets to his June 1st show at the Beacon Theater in Hopewell. Here’s what we did while we waited for the box office to open up:

    COP:  SSHs x 25. Forward Arm Circles x 10. Russian Soldiers x 10. Copperhead Squats x 10.

    Field Trip to the Greek Church:  Partner up. Boxing Cockroaches. 20 each x 5 sets. Tower 11s.  Each PAX member grabs two parking spaces side-by-side. Merkins and Carolina Dry Docks are the exercises. Start at the parking space header in the left spot. Perform exercises. Bear crawl to top of the parking space, over to your right, and crawl bear back down to the header in that space. Rinse and repeat. Arm Circles. Backwards x 10. DORA.  100 Rosalitas. 200 Squats. 300 SSHs. PLTs  25 each PAX member.

    Get on the Bus – Head Back to/for Mary: Merkins x 10. Flutter Kicks x 100. Burpees x 10. 60 seconds of high knees. 06:15 box office doors open.

    YHC took us out.

    Announcements: Grow Ruck is headed our way. See the pre-blast and do your best to participate in some if not all.

    NMS:  05:25 and the PAX was ready to go. YHC was scrolling through the Beacon Theater box office list yesterday and noticed that the one and only Richard Marx is headed our way. The perfect F3 field trip if you ask me. Viral in particular is excited. Noting, isn’t he the guy who sang about being accused of kidnapping someone? Why yes; yes he is.

    Awkward Transition: Today is an important day for me. It is my last day at The Gee Law Firm. I joined them six years ago, and was friends and colleagues with most of them years prior. They are family. It is not without sadness that I leave them. As we go forward today, let’s remember those who did right by us, who lifted us up, who took us in from the rain. Move forward, but look back. Tomorrow I start a new job that I am very excited about. But that’s tomorrow. Today, I soak it all in. I encourage each of you to do the same. To lift up the positivity in our lives, and to thank those who play(ed) a part in it.

    Enjoyed the morning men. It was great sharing it with each of you.

  • Kettlebell sing-a-long

    11 men, including a man-like 2.0, showed up to pick a workout from the Mudface Menu. Here’s what happened…

    COP SSH x 10, Merkins x 10, Arm circles 10 and 5, reverso.

    Mosey back to bus loop, time for AMRAP fun. 10 minutes of: snatch, 5 each arm, one leg dead lift, 5 each leg, sit up touch KB to toes x 5, jump squats with KB x 5. Count up how many sets of this you did, subtract that from 20, perform that number of Turkish get ups.

    Graduation walk for Mudface, Chewy, Bulkhead and No Idea, waiter carry around the loop while the PAX hums Pomp and Circumstance. 5 minute AMRAP: overhead press x 5, lawnmowers, 5 each arm, slingshots, 5 each direction, curb calf raises x 5. Count up the sets, subtract that from 10 and get those TGU done!

    Circle up, numberama, namerama, Chewy took us out.

    NMS- Mudface again asked the PAX to pick workout A or B-assuming he actually had different workouts planned, the PAX chose one of them, YHC doesn’t remember which. At some point, Mudface quoted a line from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, “Always look on the bright side of life.” The PAX responded by doing the whistling part, and Mudface kept the song going for quite a long time. YHC has included a clip of the relevant part above. The mumble chatter was brisk early on but the AMRAP quickly cured that. The Turkish getups were killers, and kudos to Mudface and Rounders for making sure everyone followed proper form.

    As usual, I have No Idea what I’m doing.