Category: Richmond, VA

  • The Big 3

    The gloom called, and 3 consistent, faithful warriors answered.  Here is how it went down.

    • COP
      • 25 SSH
      • 25 IW
      • 20 merkins
      • 25 LBC
      • 15 pickle pounders
      • 25 flutter kicks
      • Arm circles – 10 big/5 small, forwards and backwards
    • Catch me if you can – 10 burpees with double farmers carry x4
    • KB escalator
      • 15 Pullovers
      • 15 Skull crushers, 20 pullovers
      • 15 Lawnmover pulls (each arm), 20 Skull crushers, 25 pullovers
      • 15 single arm swings (each arm), 20 Lawnmover pulls (each arm), 25 Skull crushers, 30 pullovers
      • 15 squats, 20 single arm swings (each arm), 25 Lawnmover pulls (each arm), 30 Skull crushers
      • 15 standing rows, 20 squats, 25 single arm swings (each arm), 30 Lawnmover pulls (each arm)
    • 11s – sit ‘n presses/American hammers COT with YHC taking us out
    • COT – Johnsonville took us out

    The core Circus Maximus PAX was solid today.  Johnsonville and White Deer endured high reps with heavier weights than YHC.  Impressive showing men!   What does not kill us makes us stronger!  Prayers to Earthworm as he recovers from a recent illness.  God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • The S-T-A-C-H-E Crosses the Rivah…

    18 strong and motivated men descended upon 45 MOM this morning to send November, and its no shaving, mustache growing and merkin challenging ways, out with a bang.  YHC planted the flag, greeted some PAX members he has not seen in quite a while and then the clock struck 0530 – TIME TO MOSEY….

    Mosey to the basketball courts (sorry ladies) for COP, all IC, including:

    • SSHs x25
    • DQs x10
    • Imperial Walkers x15
    • Merkins x10
    • LBCs x20

    THE THANG — STACHE TIME

    S – Suicides

    • Regular
    • Backward
    • Side Shuffle
    • Bear Crawl — always a crowd pleaser

    T – Tammy Wynette (inspired by her song “Stand By Your Man”)

    • Partner up and complete 5 rounds of 10 tempo merkins and 10 tempo squats each person for a total of 100 as a group.  Partner 1 performs tempo merkins to Partner 2’s count while Partner 2 is doing squats.  Flapjack back and forth until you have completed 5 rounds.

    A – APDs x 30 IC

    C – Captain Therkins

    • Captain Thors – combination exercise of WWII Situps and American Hammers (2-ct of course) in which you increase the numbers each round but maintain a 1 WWII : 4 AH ratio (1-4; 2-8, 3-12….and so on).
    • The “erkin” part of this is that in between sets of Captain Thors – you flip over and do 5 merkins
    • AMRAP for the LONGEST 5 minutes EVER!

    H – 4 H Corners

    • On the tennis courts perform 10 Hand-release Merkins and 10 Monkey Humpers in each corner

    E – Elevens

    • Mosey to the near sideline of the field for Elevens — Merkins (of course) and Box Cutters.  Perform 10 Merkins and 1 Box Cutter, then run across to tree-line and do 9 and 2….and so on.

    Native American Run back to the Flag – with a jail break called at about the pavillion

    COT, Number-rama, Name-a-rama and YHC took us out very thankful that the calendar turns to December tomorrow.

    No Announcements except a reserved confirmation that Marv’s house is still standing

    NMS:

    Not a ton of mumble-chatter, at least that YHC could hear.  If I missed some good stuff, sound off in the comments.  Lots of grumblings on the bear crawl suicide (which suck) and on the Tammy Wynette.  I will say, the first time YHC broke out the S-T-A-C-H-E, we did 10 rounds of that and it SUCKED BAD.

    It was a pleasure to lead this morning and especially fun to see some faces (new and old) that I don’t usually see.  Hitting a new AO every now and again is always great.

    Great job by everyone.  Thanks for putting up with another serving of Gumbo…

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • 7 Mins/ 7 Burpees- Merkins Completion

    Nine SOJ gladiators showed up to Timberwolf this morning for a balmy 45 degree start to the day.

    COP-
    SSH x 20
    7 Burpees OYO – Explain later
    DQ x 10
    Helicopters x 10
    Copperhead Squats x 10
    Merkins x 10
    LBC x 15
    7 Burpees OYO

    Mosey to bottom of parking lot

    Triple Check-
    Exercise 1 – Flutter Kicks
    Exercise 2 – Lt. Dan
    Exercise 3 – Carioce to end of lot and back

    Indian Run the track from front of school.

    7 Burpees OYO

    11s – Track Style
    10 -1 One one side of track, continue around the track to do 9-2 on other side for a completion of 5 laps.
    Exercise 1 – Merkins
    Exercise 2 – Box Cutters

    Mosey to Tennis Courts
    Triple Check number 2
    Exercise 1 – LBC
    Exercise 2 – Hello Dolly
    Exercise 3 – Run

    4 Corners
    Corner 1 – 10 Burpees
    Corner 2 – 20 Monkey Humpers
    Corner 3 – 30 2 Count Mountain Climbers
    Corner 4 – 40 SSH

    Mosey to flag for Mary
    Flutter kicks x 20
    LBC x 10
    7 Burpees OYO

    COT-
    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    Announcements –
    Don’t forget on Sundays, Off the Books run in Midlo, See Rosie or Honeymoon.
    Twin Team Q is open for tomorrow, the vote is a Mr Roper VQ.

    NMS
    YHC has been completely whipped by the Merkin challenge and the month of Gumbo, so it was not his intention to have any Merkins on the weinke today.  Hearing that Rosie only needed 60 to completion, we could not leave him hanging.  But with Rosie, there is always that extra “how in the hell did he do that” moment.  That moment came on the Track Style 11s, after he lapped a few of us and was kind enough to do an extra lap with us, YHC made sure that he was good with what we did and now his 5k merkins were complete.  To that Rosie responds “yea but I didn’t do 5k for the month, I upped it to 6k to push myself! My arms hurt hearing that! Good for you Rosie, awesome stuff man.  Also congrats to all of the other PAX members who completed the challenge, it was not an easy one.  Mumble Chatter was high this morning and started off with Honeymoon finding a burrito in the parking lot during COP, you never know what you will find at Timberwolf. The 7 burpees were not intended to be a part of the weinke, but Sparky was not happy about the departure time of 12 minutes before the Q was to start for the New Market clown car, stating its only a 7 minute drive.  Hence the 7 burpees added for the 7 minutes.  Great to see Vedder back out this morning as well as the Hallsley crew of Bobber and McRib 2 days in a row.  Strong work by all, have a blessed day gents!

  • Take it easy…slow down

    A half dozen men of iron showed up, including our normal 2.0, to hoist some KB and humor YHC.

    COP

    20 SSH          10/5 small/large arm circles          10 merkins          20 Imperial Walkers

    20 Freddie Mercurys          another 10 merkins

    Mosey over to the bus loop, partner up, and sloooooow dooooown…

    One partner ran the loop while the other did the following exercises until they returned.  Each rep was done to a 10 count, and YHC urged the Pax to focus on technique.  The exercises were halos, Goblet squats, tricep press, lawnmowers, overhead press and upright rows (thanks to Helix for remembering what the last was called).

    After completing this exercise WAY more quickly than YHC had thought, YHC adapted and we did all the exercises over again, in cadence.

    Mosey over to the flag area for a few more:  20 renegade rows, 20 KB merkins, 10 crunches with KB, boat/canoe and ending with stretching.

    Numberama, namerama, YHC took us out.

    Nice job by the Pax today, as they had to continually humor YHC’s efforts to adapt a too hastily composed Q.  Nice work men!

  • Motorcycle hero

    Two of us posted for The Punisher this week under dry conditions and temperatures in the mid-50s, surely warmer than for Monday’s morning workouts.  We set out from the parking lot at 6:30 PM and moseyed to the Laburnum Avenue side of Holton Elementary and began this Thang:  Startup COP with 20 x Invisible Jump Ropes, 15 x Imperial Walkers, 15 x Don Quixotes, 15 x Hillbillies, and Arm Circles as per usual.

    Began variation of 4 corners from the same side of the school.  Jog to the school wall for 5 Mountain Climbers.  Move to the edge of the outdoor classroom and add 10 Carolina Dry Docks to the 5 MCs.  Mosey to the Laburnum Avenue sidewalk and add 15 Squats.  Move to the next street light and add 20 SSHs.  Plank until PAX is reassembled.  Continue back around the square dropping off the top exercise until final 20 SSHs are done.

    Jog to the gravel driveway on Laburnum and complete 3 Merkins per tree, Lunge Walking in between, along the property edge heading back to the main parking lot entrance.

    Mosey to the school wall for a couple of rounds of Double Check – one of us held People’s Chair while the other jogged to Laburnum and back.  Switch, then repeat.  Additional round with Dead Cockroach.

    Stroll to the outdoor classroom for 11s involving Dips and LBCs.  Quick stretch sequence immediately followed, then mosey back to the parking lot.  COT.

    Nice work Ghost Rider.

  • Leftover Gumbo Warmed the Soul on the Frozen SOT Tundra

    8 SOJ regulars posted to SOT this morning maybe expecting slightly warmer temperatures, but once you cross through the gate toward the football field of broken dreams, you are always entering a dark polar vortex, and today was no different.  Today’s beatdown went like this:

    Mosey around the bus loop and back to the small parking lot to pick up McRib (new wheels but still LIFO) for COP, all IC, including:

    • SSHs x30
    • DQs x10
    • Helicopters x10
    • Imperial Walkers x15
    • Arm Circles x15 (10 small, 5 large) – forward and backward
    • Merkins x10
    • LBCs x20 (or so I think – the revving of bus engines made it hard to hear)

    THANG:

    Merkin/Jump Squat Lindsay’s on the track – mosey through the polar vortex to the track and form up at the near end to start the Lindsay’s with 30 Merkins and 10 Jump Squats – run around the track to the other end for 25 Merkins and 15 Jump Squats — continue around until finishing with 10 Merkins and 30 Jump Squats.

    Let’s Try These Proper Dora’s Again – mosey to basketball courts and partner up for proper dora’s (sort of).  The exercises were 1 Burpee, 2 WWII situps, 3 Merkins.  Complete 50 while taking turns running the length of the courts and back.

    1-minute Wall Plank – mosey to the side of the school and wall plank – starting in regular plank and moving to wall plank and back to regular plank continuously for 1 minute.

    Curb Lunge – Derivation of curb crawls but YHC’s shoulders were smoked by the merkins and planks so far, so forward lunge across to the other curb, perform 1 2-count ball dipper, backward lunge back, 2 2-ct ball dippers….up to 5 and back down to 1.

    ROF Rosie Style – mosey back to the flag and do the Rosie ROF – starting in Al Gore, drop for 10 merkins, hold plank, when it comes back around to you 10 more merkins and back to Al Gore.

    3 MOM, including:

    • Hello Dollies x15
    • Freddie Mercuries x15
    • American Hammers x10

    COT, Number-Rama, Name-a-Rama and YHC took us out

    Announcement — HDHH at Soon to be Marv’s tonight at 5:00.  https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2017/11/20/hdhh-weds-after-tgiving/

    NMS:

    Suffice it to say that the SOJers are tired of the November menu of Gumbo, but the PAX pushed through strong today.  YHC wasn’t satisfied with the last attempt at Proper Doras, so he brought it back….STILL SUCKED!  Burpees add to the misery nicely.

    Unofficial count of Merkins was 215 (assuming you did 1/2 of the merkins in the Proper Doras), individual counts may vary.

    Strong work men!  Thanks for letting me lead so much this month, it has been a pleasure.  I’m taking the show across the river to 45MOM tomorrow to close out November strong!

    No more Gumbo for you!

  • F3RVA Presents: Swirly’s First Annual Nutcrackle-er

    14 evergreens rose to the trumpet call this morning for a dose of culture and crushin’ it. Here’s how it went down.

    This year is the celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.  If you are an avid listener of the podcast and/or happened to be at Batteau two weeks ago, then you already know that F3RVA’s very own Swirly is a grand patron of the arts — particularly the Richmond Ballet’s acclaimed annual performance of this holiday classic.

    So, while the Richmond Ballet hosts their dress rehearsal this weekend, Swirly was rather disappointed to learn that he wouldn’t be able to attend to add his suggestions to the artistic director and choreographer this year. It turns out he had DOUBLE BOOKED himself by agreeing to do an Ultra Marathon with TYA. YHC saw this as his humble chance to recognize Swirly for his devotion to high culture and hopefully to put just a little more Sugar Plum Fairy dust in his step this weekend on the race course.

    THE STAHLBAUM HOUSE

    If the PAX gets a few beers into Swirly, he will go on and On and ON and ONNNN about the stagecraft of this scene, so there was no better place to start. The story begins in home of the Stahlbaum’s for a Christmas Party. 

    16 SSHs (IC)
    10 Don Saabotes (IC)
    A LIFO slaughter start to welcome Circle K of 20 merkins (OYO)
    10 Imperial Walkers (IC)
    30 LBCs (IC)
    20 more merkins (OYO)
    10 Nutcracker Soldiers (IC)

    THE PINE FOREST

    Mosey to the sunken lawn in front of the Carillon. Line up along the sidelines like a nutcracker army.

    Tim the Bears: Polar Bear Crawl to the other side. Al Gore. Polar Bear Crawl back. Al Gore.

    Lunging Bulgarian Ball Busters: 5 lunges forward, then two-count reverse lunge with a high-knee kick. LBBB over. Al Gore. LBBB back. Al Gore.

    TTB>LBBB: Tim the Bear over, LBBB back. Plank for the six.

    This is the scene where the Nutcracker becomes a human prince. YHC believes that Flipper and Saab became figurative “human princes” as YHC saw them express their empowerment to “Take Back The Night” thanks to those ballbusters.

    DROSSELMEYER’S CLOCK

    Drosselmeyer – a town councilman, toymaker and magician – is Clara’s godfather . In the ballet Clara falls asleep at midnight and while she’s falling asleep she sees him atop the clock as it strikes twelve.

    Mosey to the circle near the amphitheater.

    Using a lightpost as “12 O’Clock” Mouse King Crawl to 3 O’Clock on the clock face to do three burpees. Mouse King Crawl to 6 0’Clock to do six burpees. All the way around for nine and twelve to finish. Al Gore for the six.

    LAND OF SWEETS

    Mosey to the bottom of the amphitheater.

    Escalator Up: Do one 2-Count Russian Twist (AKA American Hammer) on every step and add one as you go up to 18.
    Escalator Down: Do 18 Cossack Dips (alternating single leg dips) on the way down to 1.

    Since the Land of Sweets turned out to be very salty, during tonight’s performance, the Cossack Dips were replaced by alternating Lieutenant Danilovs (Lt. Dans) or in the end most everyone except Flipper and Circle K (or Swirly or Bleeder?) ran out of time.

    ENCORE

    Mosey back to the flag for a two minutes of Mary encore, dealer’s choice.

    Swirly – Single Leg Lifts (IC 10 each leg)
    HoneyDo – Freddy Mercurys (IC 20)

    Number-rama. Name-a-rama. Sippy took us out.

    Announcements

    NMS

    Circle K is known to come in hot, but this morning he was molten. At his speed coming up the road as the PAX ran the other way, one might think he drove all the way from South Hill earlier this morning once he bungee corded that tarp over the hospital sign to shut it down. YHC wanted to make us easier to find, since he’d be late, but there was some mumblechatter that Circle K is part bloodhound and would find us no matter where we went.

    Time flies when the PAX is having fun! The workout barely let YHC run the PAX run at all. YHC had a Dora 125/250/375 and a Nutcracker Triple Check planned. Ah well. The Cossack Dips were awesome, but that was FAR TOO MANY of those. YHC will take a page from Lab Rat and apologize. The F3 Exicon needs more Nutcracker or Russian-themed exercises. YHC hopes we see more lunging ball busters and cossack dips in the future.

    In all seriousness, this was YHC’s first Q since he sprained the ever loving crap out of his ankle back in August. Glad to be back in the saddle, thanks to the PAX for giving YHC 45 minutes of your day, it was an honor.

    Merkin Count: 85

    We’re going viral!

  • Fun Times

    8 fighters pierced through the wall of mediocrity and fought off the fart sack for a fun adventure this morning at DaVille. Here is how we partied in the gloom…

    Mosey to the island in the middle of the bus loop.

    COP – All IC

    50 SSHs, 10 merkins, 20 imperial walkers, 10 merkins, 20 LBCS, 10 merkins, 15 Don Quixotes, 10 merkins, arm circles, 10 merkins

    Crab Bear / Bear Crab?

    Mosey around the middle school to the tennis courts. Count off by two. Ones go to one corner of the tennis court Twos go to the opposite far corner. Attack the exercise like this:

    Crab crawl the lengths, Bear crawl the widths of the tennis court. Do an exercise at each corner.

    • 20 WWII sit-ups
    • 20 two count american hammers
    • 20 two count flutter kicks
    • 20 heels to heaven

    Lunge to the middle. Hold 6 inches until the full PAX converged.

    Mosey back to the front of the bus loop.

    11s – run around the bus loops. 10 two count mountain climbers on one end, 1 merkin at the other end. Decrease/increase…

    Mosey back to the flag. 20 american hammers IC.

    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    The Moleskin

    YHC rolled into the parking lot at 5:20 am and nobody was seen… Spit arrived shortly thereafter and we planted the SF. 5:28 am had us wondering if we would be tackling this workout on our own. Four more showed up followed by two more LIFOs later.

    The island in the middle of the bus loop seemed like a good idea during the planning but reality was different. The PAX crowded around in an awkward almost-circle for the COP. The mumble chatter picked up when two LIFOs rolled in and then we rolled out to the tennis courts.

    There is something about the crab crawl / bear crawl combo that brings out the best and worst in the PAX. It was a beautiful sight seeing Pit Bull sprint across the tennis court via the crab crawl.

    The 11s around the bus loop featured a Pit Bull and Phonics clinic in going on OFFENSE with the exercises. They more than crushed it and lapped the PAX multiple times in the process. Very impressive!

    Spit was just as impressive because he fought through a brutal cough and congestion to post and complete the beatdown with little to no let up. He is a committed warrior and we are all better for knowing him.

    YHC thoroughly enjoyed stepping up to Q again after many months. There is something special about serving the PAX in this way. It was an honor to lead these men again this morning at DaVille!

  • SOP vs non-SOP

    17 grizzled vets (some more manly (or insane) than others) posted at NoToll for a mostly you vs you workout with a little us vs them thrown in also.  It went like this:

    VERY short mosey to the first light pole for COP, all IC, including:

    • SSHs x20 (during which YHC noticed the nearly even split between Shorts Only Posters and those in tights or other varieties of unnecessary clothing covering their legs – and an audible was called silently in YHC’s mind)
    • DQs x10
    • Helicopters x15
    • Imperial Walkers x15
    • Merkins x10
    • LBCs x25 (missed my exit ramp and had to go around the block)

    Manly Men vs. Others Team Relays — Another short Mosey to the basketball courts and break into two teams – SOPers and Others and form up on the end line for team relays:

    • Round 1 – Suicide relay; rest of team perform 4x4s (look ’em up and add them to your repertoire – they kind of suck especially in long durations).  Team plank when all members have completed a suicide.
    • Round 2 – Suicide relay; rest of team Hello Dolly (audible half-way through to LBCs) – Al Gore as a team when finished.
    • Close races but I think the SOPers went 2-0 — the “Others” can correct me in comments if necessary.

    Teams were actually even number of runners, since Swiper is still recovering (great to have him out today to partake in the ground and pound sections that he could!)

    Chicken Peckers Round 1 – Line up along the fence line for Chicken Peckers (a new RVA favorite) x15 IC

    Large ROF Rosie Style – Circle-up on the court for a large mid-beatdown ROF — staring in Al Gore go around the circle dropping for 10 merkins and holding plank, then when it comes back around do 10 more merkins and Al Gore for the rest of the PAX.

    Lazy Triple Check – short mosey to the bathroom area for a triple-check including People’s Chair on the wall, dips on the bench (or squats if you lost out on musical chairs) and the timer was doing 25 Werkins.  3 rounds…of course.

    Chicken Peckers Round 2 – 10 IC this time

    PLTs – partner up and perform 3 rounds of 20 PLTs each

    ROF – SOPers vs. Others – form two smaller circles and perform the traditional ROF – starting in plank and performing 10 merkins when it comes to your turn (YHC did 20 to account for the SOPers having 1 less member).  Team Al Gore when finished.  I am pretty sure this was a dead heat.

    5 MOM, including:

    • APDs x20
    • Freddie Mercuries x20
    • Flutter Kicks x20
    • Hello Dolly x20
    • American Hammers x10

    Stumble back to the flag for COT, Number-rama, Name-a-rama and YHC took us out, including two prayer requests:

    • For a St. Michael’s family whose 3rd grade son lost his battle with leukemia just the other day.  Heartbreaking – another reason to get home, hug your wife and kids and be thankful for every day and every blessing we have.
    • For my friend’s family – his father (88) is having emergency open heart surgery today as a last resort.
    • Send them all up to the SKY Q men – they all help…

    Announcements:

    NMS –

    YHC had a different plan for today, including more running and rounds of 4-corners, but seeing Swiper and noticing the near-even split is SOPers vs. Others – a necessary audible was called and YHC flew a little by the seat of pants…err shorts after that.  Nonetheless, I hope the PAX got their money’s worth out of the semi-ground & pound.  You should have gotten around 200 merkins depending on how many 4x4s you did during the first suicide relay — individual counts will vary!  Finish the challenge strong – 2 days left.

    Lots of good mumblechatter today and some especially terrible counting by the PAX…I won’t name any names…Mr. Red Shorts!  All good though and a pleasure to lead, as always.

    NoToll is officially relinquished from YHC’s control – something other than Gumbo will be on the menu next week.  You’re welcome!

    No more Gumbo for you…until tomorrow!

  • Throwing Off the Chains of Oppression

    On this day in 1821, Panama declared itself free from Spanish rule, joining Simon Bolivar’s project of a unified continent in Gran Colombia. In 1912, Albania shook free from the Ottoman Empire. 1958 saw Chad, Gabon, and Republic of Congo gain autonomy from France. Two years later on this day, Mauritania followed. East Timor saw it as a good day to go solo as well in 1975, and not to be left out, South Ossetia did its best in 1991 to part ways with Georgia.

    In celebration of so many independence movements, six brave souls set out across Heartbreak Ridge to stand in solidarity with the rights of men everywhere to live freely. Life began simply enough… COP included SSHx20, Don Quixote x 10, Arm Circles x 15 & reverso, Freddie Mercury x 25, Merkins x 20.

    THE OPPRESSIVE RULER. Since many independence movements begin under an oppressive government, Q continued to work the PAX in cadence, removing all freedom of thought or movement. Three rounds through the following:

    • 20 copperhead squats
    • 10 2-count mountain climbers
    • 20 merkins

    POLITICAL UNREST & PERIODS OF STABILITY. Independence movements always come with some combination of unrest and stability. Mosey to the top of HBR. Partner A demonstrates “political unrest” by running down HBR, Bernie back to the top. Partner B demonstrates “stability” at each interval: Balls to the Wall, Wall Sit, Squat & Hold, Elbow Plank.

    Mosey to bus loop. In honor of Nov. 28 occurring a mere 56 times on a Tuesday over the last 400 years, 56 LBCs.

    FUGITIVES. Even successful independence efforts end up with players on the wrong side of history who’ve gotta make a run for it…fugitives form groups of 3. Partner A carries B on his back, while C completes 20 merkins. C becomes A, A becomes B, B becomes C as they complete a lap around the school.

    Partner leg toss x20, curb dips x 20, repeat for good measure. Mosey back to flag for Mary. 25 WWII’s (plus a few since Q started w/o the 6!), Ring of Fire, 2-count chicken peckers x20, American Hammers x 20.

    MOLESKIN: Well done today, men. I first picked up with y’all here at the Ridge back in August and was just trying to survive. Glad to take the next step and have a VQ this morning!