Category: Richmond, VA

  • DIY – the Original DTH ShovelFlag!

    For a number of different reasons, there has been some entertaining Mumblechatter among the PAX in regard to YHC’s most superb ShovelFlag, created in preparation for our newest AO, The FORGE, starting 4/4/19. The original design seemed flimsy and labor intensive, so YHC developed a better design – stronger, lighter, and capable of lengthy extension.  For those of you interested in making your own version of the DTH Original, below are the necessary steps…

    Historical Note: YHC’s Flag soared above the United States Capitol on the day of YHC’s Graduation from the Virginia Military Institute (May 14th, 2005). Rah Va Mil!!!

    Step 1 – go to Lowes with ~$45 to purchase the following…

    Badass Shovel: ~$18

    https://m.lowes.com/pd/True-Temper-39-in-Fiberglass-Long-handle-Digging-Shovel/50223625

    Extender Rod: ~$10

    https://m.lowes.com/pd/Mr-LongArm-Twist-Lok-Steel-3-342-ft-to-6-075-ft-Telescoping-Threaded-Extension-Pole/1000524555

    Eye Bolt & Nut:  ~$1 (can be any gauge, but long enough to go through extender rod)

    https://m.lowes.com/pd/National-Hardware-5-16-in-x-3-25-in-Zinc-Plated-Steel-Plain-Eye-Bolt/1000367315

    O-Ring: ~$1

    https://m.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-Nickel-Plated-O-Ring/999971120

    Spray Paint: ~$5

    https://m.lowes.com/pd/Krylon-Professional-Gloss-Black-Spray-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-15-oz/1000459705

    American Flag: ~$10 (if you don’t already have one…)

    https://m.lowes.com/pd/Independence-Flag-5-ft-W-x-3-ft-H-American-Flag/1197541

    DIRECTIONS:

    • Remove foam grip on Shovel & plastic grip on Extender (insert Extender into Shovel to confirm perfect fit)
    • Remove all labels (use GooGone)
    • Spray paint Shovel above blade
    • Spray paint Extender’s yellow thread-top
    • Let these items dry fully
    • Drill hole through top of Extender ~1” below plastic threaded top (drill bit should be slighter wider than gauge of EyeBolt)
    • Use manly brute strength and whatever tools on hand to slightly widen opening of Eyebolt, then hook Eye onto Flag’s top rivet hole
    • Similarly separate and widen opening of O-Ring to hook onto Flag’s lowest rivet hole, then tighten O-ring back up (if possible
    • Attach EyeBolt to top end of Extender (if desired, can use a bonding agent to lock nut securely on back end)
    • Slip O-Ring over bottom end of Extender, then extend rod & hand-tighten to keep Flag & O-Ring on Extender rod
    • Insert base of Extender into top of Shovel – only about 1” needed, otherwise difficult to remove
    • Decorate as you see fit, though traditionally an F3 sticker on the Shovel head is recommended at minimum
    • NOTE: Amazon sells excellent Vinyl stickers (white, 1-3” variety) if you would like to have words on the handle
    • Now you’re ready for all things F3! …or at the very least, joining the Breakfast Club extra credit on Saturday mornings! AYE! 

  • “Leadership is Influence…..”

    “Leadership is Influence.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Just because someone has a title, doesn’t mean that person is a leader.  When it comes to identifying a real leader….The proof of the leadership is found in the followers.”     -John C. Maxwell

    37 strong attacked another Hot Potato Q at Dogpile in the chill this morning.  At 0600 when the conditions finally became 70 and Sunny, we were off.  Let’s mosey!

    COP (at near traffic circle) (Kubota):

    Helicopters x 15

    Don Quixote x 10

    Imperial Walkers x 15

    SSH x 20

    Scorpion Kicks x 15

    Freddie Mercury’s x 15

    ****Time to honor one of our brothers, Gomer Pyle, his Dad, and Fudd’s parents who are all on a mission trip in Honduras.  They are partnering up with Friends of Barnabas to help make a difference in the lives of Hondurans.  Time for us to partner up and make a difference in our fellow brother’s lives*****

    2×25 sets each partner of Wilson’s Dying Boxing Cockroaches

    2×10 sets each partner of Plerkins

    Time to pass the Q to:  2nd Lieutenant Soot stationed in Fort Lee, VA.  Soot comes from Knoxville, TN F3 Pax.

    11’s:

    On road outside of circle complete 10 Hand Release Merkins and bear crawl to other side of road for 1 Carolina Dry Dock.  Crawl Bear back for 9 HRM’s and you get the point.  Modify to lunges instead of Bear Crawls if needed(yes, it was needed).

    Pass the Q to ABBA:

    To the amphitheater for Ascending Box Jumps:

    1 on bottom step, 2 on next step and so forth until 18 on last step.

    Variety of exercises led by Dr. Try Hard outside of amphitheater to wait for the six.

    Pass the Q to Tobit:

    To the field for Four Corners:

    Accumulating

    Corner 1: 10 Burpees

    Corner 2: add 20 WW2’s

    Corner 3: add 30 2-count American Hammers

    Corner 4: add 40 2-count flutter kicks

    Run the long side of fields, carioke the short sides.

    Pass the Q to, none other than, Lab Rat:

    Mosey back to traffic circle for:

    YOGA:

    I can’t even explain what we did, but I do know that if you did it like Lab Rat explained, then it was hard!  If you laughed and didn’t take it seriously, then it didn’t help you any.

    Q passed back to YHC for 5MOM (variety of people called upon)

    Malpractice 20 x Jerry West’s

    Opus 20 x SSH

    Oyster 20 x Rosalitas

    Bodos 20 x Merkins

    Time up, back to the flags!

    COT:

    Numberama, Namearama, Announcements and Handshake took us out with a nice prayer!

    Announcements:

    Sign up for Breaking Bread!  4th Sunday of each month.  Sign-up on the Q sheet.  You will not regret it!

    Get your personalized shirts that DTH took charge of.  Go to F3 wear/Mudgear on the F3 Nation website

    Growruck needs you!!  YHC wishes he could lead by example here, but he cannot participate in Growruck, but you can!!  HoneyDo is doing a great job of putting this together and we need some F3RVA pax to sign up.  Corporate is looking at us!  See HoneyDo if you need more details.

    NMS:

    “Show you can lead a team to victory and you will have shown you can positively influence your followers and organization”    -John C. Maxwell

    YHC would have added “Family” to the end of that quote, but nonetheless, John C. Maxwell makes great points about leadership.  This Pax is the “team” that he speaks of and we are looking for nothing less than “victory” when we wake up early, post to workouts and lead by example.  We have so many great leaders among our group and the best way to show that and to get it out of you is a “Hot Potato” Q.  Some may be getting tired of these since we have now done two in a row at Dogpile, but YHC thinks that they are among the hardest to lead and they are freakin’ hard workouts!  Back to back Hot Potatoes have given a lot of different Pax members a chance to bring out their leadership skills.  Everyone has to be ready and has to bring their “A Game” with them, because you never know what you are going to have to do, for example, Yoga!  I mean, just look at Lab Rat’s leadership.  He took a chance with this Pax by calling out Yoga and everyone listened and did what he proposed (though there was some Mumblechatter, it was mostly quiet.)  Again, if you did it correctly, it was hard.  If not, then hit Love Hill!  It was great to have Soot with us and to lead us.  Thank you for your service, young man!  Also, thanks to ABBA and Tobit who agreed to take the potato and lead by example.  Thanks to Oyster, Malpractice, Opus and Bodos for calling out cadence and to Swirly and Dr. Try Hard for keeping things going in between exercises with planks and other exercises.  HoneyDo has shown his leadership skills in taking the reigns of Growruck.  Let’s try to support this and him as best we can!

    Man, isn’t it great to LEAD!  To see others following you and doing what you propose is a great victory for you and a great victory for the team of F3RVA.  If you haven’t Q’d yet, what are you waiting for?  We WILL follow you and it WILL help you in all other aspects of your life.

    Side notes:

    Welcome to FNG’s Soft Serve and General Flea.  Soft Serve was formerly (Olaf) but was changed on the flag run back to ET’s.  He likes all things hard, so there you have it!  General Flea is a Civil War re-enactor and bassist, so there you have it!

    Breakfast Club Run had 9 strong this morning and 5 shovel flags flying.  (Kubota, Swirly, Flatline, Lab Rat, Vinny, Soot, Shakedown, Hardywood and Ollivander)  Come join us!  It’s a great experience!

    Ruck Crew had 5 strong this morning (Spit, Marmaduke, Honeymoon, Recall, Sippy Cup)

    Extra credit it there if you want it on Saturday mornings!!!!

    All, I enjoyed leading this Hot Potato Q this morning and hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

    “All it takes is all you got!”     -Hardywood

    Kubota

    keep posting!

     

  • Two Kids Under 4 Never Make Things Easy

    13 Davillians arrived to a cold parking lot to find out this would be an last minute tag team Q

    Some mumble chatter was had and the PAX got to work

    This is how it went down:

    Emoji takes the Q starting with the traditional mosey around the church

    COP (ALL IC) – SSH, DQ, LBC’s Merkins, Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles

     Spit takes that the Q and leads the PAX to the field

    The Michigan – A sprint workout. 10 100 yd sprints across the field. Holding plank for the six after each sprint and 5 count. Rinse and Repeat – 8 80 yd sprints, 4 40 yd sprints, 2 20 yd sprints

    Partner Four Corners – Partner up and pick a corner to start at. 1st – 20 KB Swings each, 2nd – 10 Burpees each (one partner holds PAX), 3rd – 40 (2ct) Flutter Kicks, 4th – 30 Situp + Press with Cinder Block

    Mosey back to the SF Numberama, Namerama, and Announcements. Emoji took us out

    MOLESKIN

    It was a rough early morning the Spit household with both kids not sleeping well. YHC was worried about make it to Q on time so thankfully Emoji step up to plate. Thanks again Emoji.

    The PAX push themselves during the Michigan. It was good to see the older 2.0’s encouraging the younger ones. True testament of Iron Sharpens Iron.

    Welcome to Red (Pinky’s youngest 2.0)! Hope to have you back soon.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • “I was looking for Antrim with a U”

    21 pax and evidently a pair of ghost bikers met the day with ferocity this morning.  Serpentine route maps were handed out and met with groans….but in the end most seemed to like the route.  Shakedown even sent me a pic of the route on a map because he said it looked cool!

    Nobody got lost, but Singer joked that he got lost because he was looking for Antrim with a “u”…obviously my prowess as as cool looking route designer is not matched by spelling skills!  So much for laminating these maps! Back to the drawing board…

    No ice or barking raccoons this morning….which was a first on the Serpentine run.  Handshake was barking a bit and laying waste to runners in his tailwind, but that’s par for the course around here.

    Here’s to hoping everybody had an awesome day!

     

    Lab Rat apologizes…

  • PreBlast – PuppyPile CANCELLED

    PuppyPile is cancelled for tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to be in the low 20’s and I don’t think that’s great for young kids.  It’s super disappointing because my 2.0 (Churchill) has been talking about it all week and even practicing some of the exercises (PLT’s and Wheelbarrows are his favorites).

    I’ll keep an eye on the weather and will get something on the books soon when it gets more tenable.  See ya in the (cold) gloom.

    Ollivander

  • Swim Practice with Kettlebells

    It was warm but wet Thursday morning at Circus, which adds a slight element of danger to kettlebelling.  It was Johnsonville’s (YHC) day to Q, and this is what went down, more or less:

    Mosey over to the far end of the bus loop under the bus loop shelter (which offered little shelter from sideways rain).  Warmup with SSH, don quiote, imperial walkers, LBCs, APDs (two and one leg variations), and arm circles.

    Dirty McDeuce consisting of the following:
    Round 1 –
    12x sit & press in cadence.
    12x merkin rows in cadence.
    12x goblet squats in cadence.
    Bear crawl down pillars about 30 yards and run loop.

    Round 2 –
    12x clean & rack (right) in cadence.
    12x clean & rack (left) in cadence.
    12x standing rows in cadence.
    Bear crawl down pillars about 30 yards and run loop.

    Round 3 –
    12x halos (right) in cadence.
    12x halos (left ) in cadence.
    12x Alabama Honeymooners in cadence.
    Bear crawl down pillars about 30 yards and run loop.

    Round 4 –
    12x snatch (right) in cadence.
    12x snatch (left) in cadence.
    12x lawnmower pulls (OYO each arm).
    Bear crawl down pillars about 30 yards and run loop.

    Wall of fire while each person does 10 merkins and 20 SSH in succession.  Go ’round twice.

    COT with YHC taking us out.

    Great work, men!  Jville

  • No Mercy VQ #2

    With a sentiment of TGIF, 11 zero-dark-thirty warriors set off for a latecomers “Courtesy Loop” around the Parking Lot with a little COP of x20 SSH. Unfortunately the hoped for FNG was a no-show, so off we went. En route ROSIE suggested YHC should add house calls to my EH’ing – apparently the elusive FNG is more likely to escape the fartsack if you are leaning on your horn outside his house at 5AM. Duly noted!

    The THANG:

    Mosey to COP #1: (Playground)

    • Morning Call:  First man completes 5 pull-ups calling cadence to the pushing PAX who completes 5 matching Merkins – after 5 pull-ups completed, brother-on-bar calls out his F3Name – echoed by the pushing PAX. Repeato for each member, 55 Merkins total.

    Mosey to COP #2: (Lot near Track)

    • Imperial Squat Walkers (4 count, nice & slow)
    • Around the World Lunges (12 count to lunge Rt leg to 12/3/6, then Left Leg 6/9/12)
    • Jingle Balls (Plank position – Each foot brought up to Each Hand, 4 count)
    • CrabJacks (crab walk position, legs extended/split/return, 4 count)
    • Windshield Wipers (on six, arms out to sides, leg together & touching sky, dropped to right, then up, then left – 4 count) …similar to WWII’s on a slope YHC found himself “walking” slowly down the slightly graded pavement
    • Hands above head Flutter Kicks (audible appreciation from PAX for a COP exercise they recognize)

    ROSIE:  “We need to stop him from reading the Exicon!”

    Mosey to COP #3: (Track)

    • No Mercy Mile (Modified)- PAX completes 4 laps around track, each time stopping at the first 50 yard line to complete 25 Merkins, 25 Monkey Humpers at opposite 50 yard line, and Captain Thor’s at completion of lap to wit for the Six. Straightaways run, while curve exercises varied for each lap:
    • Lap 1 Curves: Bear Crawl & Lunges (ouch, let’s not do that again)
    • Lap 2 Curves: Alternate Partner Carries (Felt like I was floating off the ground after carrying 210lb of Beaker!)
    • Lap 3 Curves: Carioca both ends
    • Lap 4 Curves: Partner Wheelbarrows (where’d my breath go?!)

    OUT OF TIME …AYG sprint through muddy field back to Shovel Flag

    (Will plan better next time to leave room for the DTH “Circle Merk” closeout exercise)

    COT:

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

    NMS:

    • YHC slightly disappointed at the start due to an FNG no-show, but warmly cheered up by the 10-strong PAX moving through this morning’s routines with great enthusiasm. The Exicon continues to produce entertaining options, though YHC getting the cadence right for the CrabJacks was initially challenging (PAX patience & humor much appreciated). The No Mercy Mile took us a lot longer to complete than expected, so an action packed Triple Check YHC had planned will have to wait for next time – perhaps for YHC’s next Q at HeartBreak Ridge on Tuesday (1/29). Getting all the feels this AM – humbled and privileged to be a member of such an amazing group of Men. Thank you!!!

  • The Great Debate

    Which has a larger perimeter: Midlothian Middle School or Tomahawk Creek Middle School?

    This is mostly what the Pax deliberated during a DK beatdown in the driving January rain that went something like this:

    (Please note: From hence forward, “1 Perimeter” denotes 1 Tomahawk Creek Middle School Perimeter, including running down to entrance and back up to normal PAX parking spot)

    1 Perimeter

    Assemble at main entrance to seek shelter for 3 for COP, completely in conversation: DQs, Imperial Walkers, Squats, LBCs, Dying Cockroaches, Arm Circles

    Following, Bullseye’s lead: Set of Moving DQs (move foot forward as you come up)

    1 Perimeter

    Assemble at main entrance again for BLIMPS down to the drive entrance and back up: forward lunge, backward lunge, forward Lt. Dan Walkers, backward Lt. Dan Walkers, Bear Crawl (made it to bottom, now going back up), Crawl Bear, Walk Outs, backward Crab Walk, forward Crab Walk, forward Duck Walk, backward Duck Walk, bunny hops, broad jumps

    1 Perimeter

    Assemble close to main entrance for Ciabatta: Step Ups – 20s on, 10s off

    1 Perimeter

    Assemble back at main entrance for Accelerators – run 75% of straightaway, sprint last 25% – Repeato x 2

    Mosey back to VSF for COT. YHC took us out with a moment of silence for government employees who haven’t been paid in weeks.

    Naked Moleskin:

    It was wet…real wet. But it was warm…like sunny and 70.

    Quote of the morning came from Gumbo who said he had started sweating…and YHC reminded him that he was covered in rain…and Gumbo said “it’s sweat; it tastes different.”

    The New Market clowns were nowhere to be seen.

    Announcements:

    Dr. Tryhard Q tomorrow at Twin Team.

    Order your F3 RVA shirt here: https://f3.mudgear.com/products/f3-rva-shirt-pre-order Cheers to Dr. Tryhard for coordinating (Döner Kebab is exactly 11 characters…boom!)

  • Tawm Bradee Rode An Elevata

    Eighteen NFC fans posted at 45MOM to discuss all things Rams. Here’s what we talked about:

    COP: Invisible jump rope / IJR left leg only / IJR right leg only. On your six. Flat on the ground. Arms above your head. Flutter kick position. Now assume merkin position. Recover – just for you TYA. SSHs / Hillbillies.

    Sammy Sosa (Marmaduke calls it The Prostitute. I call is baseball. Sammy Sosa seems like a fair compromise): Home Plate: hold :60 elbow plank. First Base: 10 burpees. Second Base: 20 merkins. Third Base: 30 american hammers (2-count). Home Plate: 40 WWIIs. Start at HP and hold :60 elbow plank. Run to first base, perform the exercise and back to HP for plank. Run to first and second, perform the exercises and back to HP for elbow plank until you’ve circled the bases, performed the exercises, and finished back at HP with a :60 elbow plank.

    Catch Me If You Can: Pax was expecting the usual 5 WWIIs and play by normal rules. Not today. If Tom Brady can deflate the football, we can all change the game. 20 WWIIs and go. The goal here was to catch your partner – running backwards – if you could. It’s called Catch Me If You Can. Not, Catch Me A Whole Bunch and Switch. Some caught their partner, some did not. But everyone ran their butts off, and earned their avocado ice cream.

    Crab Walk Beast: Starting line is doubles line on first tennis court. Turn around line is center line of court number 2. First exercise: LBCs. Second exercise: SSHs. Third exercise: HR merkins. Time running out. Modify fourth round to lunges and jump squats. Buzzer rang. Back to the flag.

    Pucker, riding that Patriots high, took us out.

    Announcements: Puppy Pile is a maybe for Saturday. Stay tuned. My law firm is running a canned food drive for furloughed federal employees in need. Reach me at 804-852-0800 for details. Dr. Try Hard has limited add space left on his shovel flag if you are looking to expand your marketing. New AO opening on 4/4 at Huguenot HS. Dr. Try Hard – well done setting this up. You may lose out on naming rights, however. Breakfast Club launches from ETs at 05:30 every Saturday. Bring your shovel flags and run with us. It is a really cool experience.

    NMS: TYA was lucky enough to experience one of the coolest events in sports, an NFL conference title game, in KC this past Sunday. His Chiefs fought hard, but in the end, were robbed by the NFL – Bob Kraft machine. While he was there, Tawmmy Avocodo rode in an elevator. And no TYA, we are not changing Friday’s run name from RAMM to PATS for the next two weeks.

    Great work today men. The energy was awesome! The gloom really is a powerful thing. Loved having y’all out there with me today. Go Rams!

  • I would like door number…

    8 men braved the not quite as cold pre-dawn to swing around some iron and shape up their spleens.  This is what happened.

    COP  SSH    merkins    arm circles      maybe something else??

    Mosey to bus loop, time for fun!  AMRAP (As many rounds as possible, DaVille version), for 10 minutes, rotate between single leg deadlift snatch, sit-up straight arm toe taps, and some squat variance, 5 reps of each per round.  One minute break (to run the loop), second 10 minute AMRAP, halos both ways, sling shots both ways, lunges, again 5 reps of each per round.  One minute break while doing some burpees.  3rd 10 minute AMRAP, lawnmowers, 5 each arm, superman bananas, 5 each direction, calf raises on the curb.

    Mosey to flag, plank up, only KB needed was Rounder’s 55 pounder!  While planking, reach through and pass the KB around, one complete circle each way.

    Numberama, namerama, Emoji took us out.

     

    NMS

    Mudface hates writing backblasts but loves leading workouts, and YHC likes writing backblasts, so we have teamed up–YHC will sign Mudface up for a Q, any Q, and YHC will attend and write the backblast.  This is the inaugural effort, let’s see how it goes.

    There was an inordinate amount of mumblechatter focused on whether this was a good spleen workout, in the end consensus is it did a great job.  No need for handwarmers this morning, it was a balmy 30 when we kicked things off.  Some of the exercises needed explanation, and the superman bananas (on stomach, arms stretched out grasping KB, lift KB up a few inches, maintain this form while rolling to side, then roll back, put down KB, that’s one) roughed up the PAX.  Mudface, as is his custom, asked the PAX to pick a workout, as he had 2 prepared, and we chose option A, which thankfully did not contain Turkish getups.  Bulkhead worked out a little closer than last week, which Helix attributed to him (Helix) having put on deodorant today, perhaps next week he’ll actually join the group!

    Only announcement is that Rounders is hosting a poker game this weekend, get in touch with him for details.

    As usual, Mudface and I have No Idea what we’re doing.