Category: Richmond, VA

  • Bend It Like Bam Bam!

    4 soccer enthusiasts emerged from the gloom to find copious amounts of wet Bermuda grass clippings in places they should never ever be. Commando might have us doing another Merkin Challenge mid season here 😉

    Mosey to the bball court for Warmarama

    • Various leg stretches and wives
    • SSH
    • Ukrainian Soldiers
    • Cherry Pickers

    Meander to the soccer field for some fun soccer challenges.

    • Partner Up – P1 Runs 100 yards, kicks soccer ball 50 yards to goal and kicks the ball back to center field while P2 performs as many sets of 10 Merkins and 10 Squats.
    • Many MoT’s took place involving exercises to follow at each end of the field as we all took turns running something by the PAX.

    Fun workout today men! Commando closed us out in prayer.

  • The Red Flag Ruck

    We rucked for an hour. House Party provide excellent life coaching, as usual. He also had some funny lines about the girls of Hopewell High School back in the day.

  • Roy Campbell

    Six posted to the Rutland on this Thursday to ruck and run. The runners, guided by BAM!, took it easy as they meandered through Rutland, Cool Spring Forest, and Cool Spring West for a little over 4 miles. The Ruckers rucked.

    COT: Numberarama, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, YHC took us out.

    NMS

    Topics among the runners were focused on food, both healthy and not so much. As YHC and Opus finished running, they started talking about great guitarist. YHC mentioned the great guitar player, Roy Campbell. Opus, a musician, had never heard of him. Within a few minutes, it was discovered that YHC meant Roy Clark and Glen Campbell, both of whom are great guitarist no matter what they rankings are.

    Announcements: No updates on Wong’s Tacos. We will wait until next week for who went their this weekend.

    Gotta Run!

    Phonics

  • Hoopin’

    Bootcampers, runners, kettlebellers, ruckers………….ballers?

    Mosey to the small basketball court for Warm-Up: SSH’s, Don Quixotes, Big Overhead Claps, Bruce Lee Punches, Crab Cakes, Freddy Mercuries, No Cheat APD’s, Knee Pulls, Side Steppers (??), High Knees, Mummy Kicks, Mario Jumps, Butt Kicks, Lt. Dan’s, Sprint. Might have missed a couple.

    Exercise One: Free Throw Shooting
    Missed shot – everyone does a suicide.
    Made shot – shooter choice.
    Airball – 10 Burpees

    We managed to miss every shot until Steamer came through in Round 2. We also completed 10 burpees

    Exercise Two: Medicine Ball Layups. Dribble down the court and make a shot. PAX complete various exercises for the duration.

    Exercise Three: Passing. With a partner, side shuffle down the court while completing back and forth chest passes. Drops = 5 burpees. PAX complete various exercises for the duration.

    Round 2 was completed with Medicine Ball. I believe we had 2 drops and the appropriate number of burpees were completed.

    Exercise Four: 3 passes and make a shot. Just like it sounds with a partner. PAX does various exercises throughout. Made shots = Mario Jumps down the court and back. Missed shots = Sprints.

    Exercise Five: 3 Pointers.
    Missed shot: 10 hand release merkins
    Made shot: shooters choice.

    Airball – 10 Burpees

    Take a wild guess at how many merkins were completed. We also did 10 burpees.

    Exercise Six: 21. Chaplain childhood rules with tips taking you back to zero. Deep Dish got to 20 just as time expired and was declared the winner.

    Back to the flag for Numbers/Names/Announcements

    YHC took us out

    Final thoughts: It was a fun workout this morning! The PAX generally looked bad on most of the drills, but people came to life during the game of 21. Deep Dish and Six Shooter were standouts. YHC became enraged when a Little Leaguer shouted “airball” during one of the exercises. You try finishing workout, punk!

    SYITG

  • 3 Fs in balance – or – You v you

    18 Redwoods, looking for a you v you experience descended on DogPile to see what Gomer had planned – frankly it was up in the air til go time. Contemplated one of three options including the use of some prop rings that Senor Frog was happy to lend to the PAX. According to the vehicle sleepers we work with our antics it went down something like this…

    Welcome. Disclaimer. Gitty up start with 8 Gurprees. Mosey to COP. 

    You v you workout. Do more, do less – keep yourself accountable. Find personal max ‘mer’can. Find personal max WW2. Store in the memory banks for later. 

    COP all IC: 10x Don Quixote, 10x Turn and Bounce, Fun with LBCs: 15x LBC, 10x left leg straight (LLS) LBC, 10x RLS, 10x BLS, 10x 45 degrees legs straight , 10x 90 deg legs straight, 10x APD, 10x Pilates APD, 25x Flutter Kicks. Albatross arms: 20x forward, 20x back, 10x seal claps, 10x overhead claps. Mercanorama: 6x diamond, 6x wide, 6x ranger, 6x fingers in, 6x fingers out. Mosey to amphitheater open book stretch. 30 min in. 

    30min of sharing while stretching OYO. Topics to help us be better men: father stories, F3 why. More below.

    YHC took us out.  Prayers for WoJo, Roger Roger, Charlotte , monument 10k, the PAX. Prayers to help us give F3 away and lead you v you through an impactful F3 success story heard this week. Give it away.

    TClaps to Snuff for coffee. And for 1k post club support to Upchuck and Horneydo. 

    NMS – For YHC, 1k post milestone reached today. Also nearly 9 years of F3 starting at Dogpile on Wednesday this week. Thanks again to Fudd and Hardywood and all the other PAX that kept me around.

    Congrats to all milestone makers. Gumbo has also recently hit 1000 posts.

    Today we had the perfect 3Fs in balance, 30 min 1st F, 30 min (at least) 2nd F, and 30 min 3rd F.

    YHC heard about 30 for 30 and wanted to try it. F3 men lucky enough to have found a good circle or shield lock are used to sharing. Many of us do not: some never share; some run off to real commitments to dogs and kids. YHC sought to create the opportunity to form new bonds within the PAX. Topics:

    1. Fathers. Not everyone is a father, but everyone has had one. Not everyone had a “great” father; but also not everyone had a “bad” father. Regardless fathers are our first male leaders and they teach us a ton on purpose or not. Today we shared what have we embodied most into our adult lives based on this experience.

      Parting thought that has sit with me for a while: all of us have a father that taught us something IN our life. As a father, my children ARE my life – the center of my decision making as a provider.
    2. Give it away. As leaders we should be creating leaders – it’s in rhe F3 mission. The best way is to give away what we have in F3 with all who will give it a listen. Once men are here, we should be about creating opportunities for men to lead. That is invigorating male community leadership. 

    Get some!

  • People start pollution. People can stop it.

    Eleven of the finest men on this side of the Mississippi got an extra hour of sleep, joined Gridiron and did their part to save the world.

    5 burpee start in honor of Gomer’s 1000th post. Then after the four ruckers and a late Chum joined, we did it again. A traveling COT eventually made its way to the far end of the track. Back in 1989, when Gomer and I were doing shots of Vodka before going out to fraternity row, we dreamed about doing the biggest four corners known to Gridiron. While his days of running are over, I think the goal was met today.

    The running group started at the far end of the track with 50 WW2, then ran to the basketball courts in the back of the school for 50 Merkins, then we ran to the blue playground for 50 Squats and then joined back with the walkers in the newest pickleball lot for 50 SSH. The walkers did the same exercises but their 2nd stop was the front of the school and their 3rd stop was at the football field.

    It was at the parking lot that we saw that thanks to the “cool” high school kids who hung out at the courts last night, the parking lot was full of trash. I think I saw a crying Indian somewhere too. Instead of “touch a tree” we did “touch some trash” and did 3 rounds of running to grab trash & throwing it out. Chumbucket found a lovely smelling rice bowl while most of the trash was alcohol related. Rumor is finger prints could reveal Mariner or Joey Chesnutt were there (because they seem cool). We will never know. Either way, good work by the pax to clean up the parking lot.

    We then went to the sunny gridiron for a Quarter Pounder. 25 HRM, 50 single count flutters, 75 jump squats, 100 SSH. At some point, Pigskin had to leave to cheer on some family at the 10K.

    Shade was needed by YHC so we moved to the front of the school for a triple check with balls to the wall and heals to heaven as the fun parts.

    We slow moseyed to the lower football field, did 25 WW2, then 3 rounds of Pigskin-ups with ten merkins at the top of the hill. Running out of time, we went back to the flag for numberama.

    Ended up with almost 2.5 miles of distance today! Well done Pax!!

    While 4 of us gathered before launch, Tater asked me to predict numbers. I said 11. Him and Pinto took the under. 11 was the final number. As a result of my Nostradamus-like genius, here are some other predictions:

    1. Commanders trade up and get the RB. Trade next years #1 which they think will be #30 but it will be top 10 (again).
    2. CM Punk retains the title at Wreslemania. Turns heal in the process.
    3. The Dow will hit over 50,000 on Monday, drop under by the end of the week and not hit it again until 2027.
    4. The founders of F3 will rename it to F3-AI and the stock will triple.
    5. Tater will Q Gridiron soon and do lots of abs.

    Thanks for letting me lead

  • Projectile Dysfunction

    Six men showed up in the gloom with no coupons in sight… just bows, arrows (tipped with lighted chem sticks), and a bad feeling about where this was headed.

    We opened with a strategically slow mosey (Excel already managing energy output), followed by stretching and what may have been the most important evolution of the morning:

    The Archery Disclaimer & Safety Briefing

    “Range is hot.”

    “Range is cold.”

    “Don’t shoot each other.”

    “Yell “fore” before shooting each other”. 

    • Gotham nodded like he’d heard this before.
    • Snooki looked concerned.
    • Trespass was already scanning for shortcuts.
    • Futon was wondering where he could take a nap at.

    The  beat down Begins:

    PAX split into 3 teams of 2 and launched the first volley of arrows lighting up the AO — glow sticks streaking across the sky like tracer rounds.

    From there:

    • Sprint to your arrow
    • 3 burpees at impact
    • Regroup
    • Shoot again until target is hit

    1st team  to hit the target 

    -1 burpee

    2nd team (AKA – 1st place losers) to hit the target:

    -3 burpees

    3rd team to hit the target

    -5 burpees (sucks to lose)

    Winners called out the next target. Rinse and repeat. 

    Notable Events (aka the highlight reel)

    • Trespass attempted a “tactical shortcut”… and successfully navigated his team directly into the woods and temporarily off-grid
    • One team (names withheld to protect the guilty… looking at you, Snooki ) struggled with the basic concept of how to shoot a bow and arrow
    • Excel stayed methodical, likely tracking all his misses in a mental spreadsheet
    • Gotham operated like a man who’s seen worse — calm, steady, and mildly disappointed in the rest of us
    • The younger PAX applied pressure early and often, proving once again that youth + cardio = bad news for the rest of us
    • Multiple allegations of intentional targeting were raised, but there were no confirmed hits. Although there were several suspiciously close “near-misses.”

    We’ll call it controlled chaos. 

    What We Learned:

    • Accuracy saves burpees
    • Shortcuts lead to the woods
    • Not everyone earned an archery merit badge
    • Glow sticks make bad shots easier to track
    • Brotherhood > accuracy

    Takeaway:

    This wasn’t about perfect shots or clean wins. It was about showing up, doing something different, and pushing each other through a workout none of us will forget (mostly because we were all grown men running all around the AO like a bunch of little school kids literally chasing something shiny. 

    Most AO’s do a beat down at 0530. This week the Woodshed prepared for the zombie apocalypse with a stupid amount of burpees thrown in for good measure. 

    Closed with countorama, nameorama, announcements and prayer. 

  • 2+2+2 = 6

    16 grown-boys came out to run around Satan’s Hill this morning. Warby was all set to lead the boys but YHC swooped in with the Ghost Flag!

    HIGHLIGHTS

    • Running
    • University of Michigan trivia
    • Lifting rocks
    • Confusion
    • YHC got feisty and used some potty words

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    • Boys of Summer coming up!

    PRAYERS/WINS

    • Heist’s BIL
    • 2 FNG’s today!

    Not my finest work but thanks for allowing me to lead!

  • He might have a face made for Podcasts, but his body just won’t quit.

    4 absolute legends joined YHC for some quality Twin Team Lounge work this morning. With perfect conditions, YHC set out to show our Bon Air guest what the Lounge was all about.

    Warm-a-rama: Walking warm up. Some stretches, some high knees, some kicks, some arm circles.

    Thang 1: Quarter Pounder (wasn’t the same without our brother Last Call). Bro code was invoked on the pace.

    • 25 SSH’s
    • 50 Monkey Humpers
    • 75 Squats
    • 100 of some exercise that I don’t remember

    Thang 2: Mozey to The Twin Team namesake. Bro code jog up to the top stopping an each mailbox to do 5 of some type of exercise. Round robin format kept it fresh and interesting.

    Thang 3: Mozey bro code style to the bottom, stopping at most mailboxes on the way down. We celebrated with 1 burpee when Doozey announced that he’s finishing up with Dealer’s renovation project this week. There’s no one more excited than Dealer as he gets to move back in to his house.

    Mozey back to the start for a little broga. Time called.

    Backblast title credit goes to Deep Dish who spoke about his recent work in the podcast realm.

    YHC was excited to see Dealer in the parking lot this morning. Hope it happens again soon.

  • The Wimps Went to Tunnel Vision

    After I posted that we were gonna run hills for 45 minutes, I thought numbers would be lower, but 11 showed up to suffer for a while, leaving only the wimps of Westhoe to go to Tunnel Vision.

    The Main Event: We ran up Glen Eagle, going up and down any dead end with some incline in it. Once we hit 22.5 minutes, we retraced our steps. Lots of hills today. Well done men!

    Names. Numbers.

    Announcements: Upchuck is still hoping a HIM will reach out to him about taking on RVA’s Site Q responsibilities for The Bridge.

    Prayers: Prayers for those still in need of healing and comfort.

    YHC took us out in a thick fog of gas, which no one owned. I’m not sure anyone heard the prayer, as we were being choked out.

    Moleskin: Discipline makes us stronger. When you get more comfortable in the fire, you are able to handle more. Today was all hills and horrible gas. And somehow we are all a little better for it. I hope everyone has an excellent Friday. It could only get better after this start to the day.