Category: Richmond, VA

  • The Creek – Church Run – Hindsight 20/20

    15 PAX enjoyed a blistering 53-degree wake-up call Friday 2/24 5:30am at “The Creek” New Highland Baptist Church parking lot in DaVille. From ages 8 to 60, the men endured a double-Q, divided strategically between 1) an accountant and 2) a slimy sales/marketing entrepreneur -for maximum torture and muscle confusion.

    Yard Sale took the Q:

    Warm-O-Rama:

    Side Straddle Hops X 50 (IC)

    Arm Circles X 20 (IC)

    Merkins X 20 (IC)

    LBCs X 20 (IC)

    Don Quixotes X 20 (IC)

    The Thang:

    Church Run

    1. Partner Up
    2. One partner merkins while other partner runs around the church and relieves first partner – continue till total = 100 merkins
    3. One partner burpees while other partner runs around the church and relieves first partner – continue till total = 100 burpees (original plan was 200 burpees, but mumble chatter turned to gasps of pain, and audible was called to reduce total to 100)
    4. One partner LBCs while other partner runs around the church and relieves first partner – continue till total = 300 LBCs
    5. Al Gore/Recover

    Emoji took the Q

    Hindsight 20/20

    1. Mosey to soccer field
    2. PAX run from corner #1 to corner #2, 20 merkins
    3. Bear Crawl from corner #2 to corner #3, 20 supermen
    4. Run BACKWARDS from corner #3 to corner #4, 20 WW2 sit-ups
    5. Lunge from corner #4 back to corner #1, 20 Freddie Mercurys
    6. REPEAT

    Tricep Blast

    Mosey to picnic table pavilion

    1. Partner-up
    2. One partner – dips on picnic table seat while other partner run the diagonal of the soccer field and returns
    3. Switch – other partner dips while first partner runs

    Mosey back to shovel flag

    2 minutes left……Merkin ring – all plank while each PAX does 5 merkins

    Numberama / Nameorama

    COT:

    Emoji took us out

    Moleskin

    Mild-mannered but bold Yard Sale agreed to Q today, but he, The Carpenter, Spit, Mud Face and others EH’ed Emoji out of his comfort zone to co-Q and step-up.

    It was a pleasure co-Qing with Yard Sale, a champion.

    Great to see 8yr olds, 12yr old, 14year old 2.0s coming back each week getting strong like bulls, gaining adult mentorship and confidence!

    Welcome Slash! 8 yr. old FNG hoping to see classmate LP today, but LP and Dad: Chow-DAH were under the weather fartsacking. Heal quick!

    It was intimidating trying to keep up with Slash, till the realization that his dad is Spike, so – unfair athleticism in the gene pool.

    Once again Hardywood arrived right on time by Learjet to inject positive energy and support in the DaVille neighborhood! ALWAYS appreciated! Celebrity guest last time was Flipper!

    The philosophy behind Hindsight 20/20 was to implement lower back strength – Supermen – to BALANCE the dominant traditional front/chest/shoulder/ab moves,

    But ALSO a shameless attempt to impress F3 chiropractic gurus Flashdance, Flipper, and hopefully someday Mike Mathes will be able to post.

    When pre-teens and adults alike all finish up drenched and panting from their own pace, it’s a testimony to the You vs. You success process. Even Hardywood seemed to get a beat down to write home about.

    Perfect way to start a Friday! Well done men.

    Announcement: Sign up for the AshCreek 5K (under team name F3, bring your Marys and kids) May 20, 2017 www.ashcreek5k.com, Let’s see if we can be the largest registered team and make a visible splash in the community.

  • Haiku For You

    17 Rolled in for a Spring Time Run/Bike in Winter

    Today we did the reverse route of the February 4 CCV/UR route.  Continuing the haiku theme:

    This time in reverse
    Down and back up in darkness
    Found a new classic

    Marv took us out.

     

  • KB Standing Row Zig Zag Death Crawl @ The Circus

    4 cars, 8 able bodies assembled on a beautiful February morning to embark upon a KB beatdown that went something like this:

    Slaughter Start: 10 burpees OYO

    COP: SSH, DQ, Freddie Mercury’s, Imperial Walkers

    KB Waiter Carry around the Circus Bus Loop

    Lindsays: KB Merkin Rows + KB Curb Lift Overs

    Some Dead Cockroaches

    Mosey to Bus Loop

    KB Standing Row Zig Zag Death Crawl: start with 4 PAX on each side of bus loop, 10 KB Standing Rows, KB Death Crawl across, drop off KB, Crab Crawl to the KB left behind by the guy in front of you, guy at front runs to the back.

    Repeato w/ KB Lawnmower rather than KB Standing Row

    KB Waiter Carry around the Cirus Bus Loop back to VSF

    COT – Johnsonville took us out.

    Naked Moleskin

    Kudos to the DaVille boys who showed up late, spilled out of MuddFace’s truck and still almost beat Johnsonville to the start of the COP.

    The Merkin Rows crushed the PAX today and took way longer than YHC thought they would. They definitely crushed White Deer’s mumblechatter, anyway. Head’s up to check the Q signup because Gumbo liked the idea of repeating the Lindsay with KB Merkin Rows & WW II KB Presses.

    The Zig Zag Death Crawl made sense in YHCs mind on the way to the AO this moring, but the explanation wasn’t working when all 8 PAX were lined up on the SAME side of the bus loop. The Merkin Row affect was strong…and it took YHC some time to remember we needed dudes on BOTH sides of the loop. Duh. The zigging and zagging made for a fun twist, but it seemed to sink in more with the PAX closer to the Q than the poor lost souls further away who bungled their way through the first round. (Bungle…good F3 name for later…and popular English children’s TV character)

    Impressive Carbon Footprint today: 4 cars for 8 bodies

    Good work today, gents. YHC is still feeling it.

    Announcements:
    Splinter is leading March’s HDHH

  • Anxiety and Stress – 3rd F Gathering

    14 men chose to engage in a spiritual workout this morning at the Rise & Shine Diner and it went something like this…

    Motown fired up the discussion on “Lesson #7: Don’t Make Life So Damn Complicated” by asking the question, “What makes our lives complicated?” The PAX engaged the question in one large group and pulled no punches.

    Motown shared from the “Seven Lessons in Manliness from the Greatest Generation” study we have been considering:

    If there is a common thread in these lessons, it’s having a common sense and a level-headed approach to life. The Greatest Generation’s uncomplicated approach to life is refreshing. They didn’t go on a diet, they simply at whole food; they didn’t exercise, they worked around the house; they didn’t obsess about their relationships, they just found a gal they loved and married her. They didn’t think about how to get things done, they just got em’ done.

    The PAX threw down comments and questions about this quote and dialogued about how it applies to our lives today as men.

    Motown pointed us to two Bible passages:

    Matthew 6:31-34

    31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

    Micah 6:8

    He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
        And what does the Lord require of you?
    To act justly and to love mercy
        and to walk humbly with your God.

    The PAX then wrestled with this content in one large group discussion. Motown finished up the main part with a reading from a devotion that spoke to the themes of the morning.

    Namerama, Numberama and Motown took us out in prayer.

    NMS:

    The DaVille PAX have been firing up the physical workouts and the call to arms has gone out to fire up the spiritual ones as well. I was asked this past weekend, “How is The Shining different than a Bible study?” I would say that this 3rd F gathering is different because the men are truly looking to push and sharpen each other through raw, honest dialogue and resulting action steps. The goal of this 3rd F gathering (and future ones!) is to propel men to ACTION. Most Bible studies can stay in the HEAD but not move to the HEART and then to the HANDS (aka action!).

    Motown asked, “What makes life complicated?” and the PAX shared about the endless struggle of keeping up with life in a 24 hour, device-driven world. The pace of life can suck the life out of us as we seek to MAN UP and lead. We talked openly about our struggles with our PRIDE, EGO and COMPETITIVENESS. We focused on what motivates us as men and how competition can turn into pride. This pride can drive us to work in a manner that breeds anxiety, stress and worry when we don’t know how things will turn out (even though everyone expects us to know this).

    We then focused on what motivates us. Is the motivation to get better for excellence or to get better to BE BETTER than someone else? If the motivation is the latter, then we will be in an endless competition that will feed our pride if we ‘succeed’ or destroy our self-worth if we ‘fail’.

    The discussion turned to the words of Jesus and his call to “seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness and everything else will be given to you as well.” Where is our focus? Is it vertical (trusting God and serving Him for excellence)? Is it horizontal (competing with others to be better)? If we focus on the vertical then we can experience freedom, joy and strength.

    Life is a “you vs. you” workout where God is our true Q and He is the one that should be following!

    We can build “spiritual strength” (not just physical strength) as we exercise our faith through seeking to live out our God-given purpose in this world. These spiritual workouts give us a renewed perspective on our days and send us out into the world to take ACTION.

    A big THANK YOU to the men for stepping into this “you vs. you” spiritual workout this morning. Let’s go out and live with a vertical mindset so that we can more positively impact our horizontal relationships with every person we encounter!

    The Carpenter (summarizing the good work of MoTown who Q’d this spiritual workout)

     

  • Jumping practice

    It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.                                        -Theodore Roosevelt

    An even prime number of 17, including 1 FNG rolled into the parking lot of Mary Munford to debate the question:  Are we on Grenwich Mean Time or Lab Rat Standard Time?  Upon compromising on the time, YHC decided no compromising on the workout.  This is how we rolled:

    COP

    • SSH
    • Ball Dippers
    • Don Quixote (groan inducing slow)
    • Freddie Mercury’s (standard issue 4-count)
    • Push fest:  Merkins, Werkins, Diamond Merkins

    THANG

    Plyo/Cardio party:  Consisting of the following exercises, give or take (forgot the weinke at home): jump squats, runner squats, Heisman hold, circle run/people’s chair sequence, jump tucks, ball dippers, frog squats, line hops, squat jacks, Rock Star hops, Russian soldier, monster truck tires, hot foot, jump shots, halfback, and low lateral skaters.

    2 MOM:  American Hammers

    NMS:

    -This morning was frighteningly quiet after COP, which the Q took as either a really good sign or a really bad sign.  This was the 2nd time Lab Rat has used this same workout, which he mistakenly took as an easy workout last time….the pax firmly disagreed.  Except for the standard “good Q” post workout…..and one comment from a pax member on injury recovery duty regarding when apologies are due, Lab Rat is interested to know if the pax gives this change in normal mode of operations a “thumbs up” or “don’t pull that shit again” vote.

    Details are blurry, as the Q was intensely engaged with his watch most of the morning.  On the way home though, Phonics and Lab Rat started coming up with a workout that would simply be named:  Awkward.  So pax would do well to start practicing their Richard Kimbles, Turkish Getups, and Sphynx style Merkins ahead of time.  Until then, go forth and dare greatly, brothers.

    Announcements:

    -Thursday lunch:  West Enders meet at Whole Foods, Downtown is at Pop’s Deli.  Both roll at noon.

     

    Lab Rat Out

     

  • Silly English Kunnnnnnnnnigits!

    Nine brave men defeated the call of the fartsack and followed the sound of the coconut halves to hunt for the Grail at the second showing of The MANNdate. The VSF was planted and the quest began.

    COP

    SSH x 10

    Scapula Merkins (bad push-ups) x 10

    Arm Circles x 10/5 reverso

    Don Quixotes x 10

    Waiter’s Carry Mosey to the track

    Bring Out Your Dead:

    teams of three , one doing 20 Goblet Squats, one doing death crawl wheelbarrows, one holding legs

    When squats are completed rotate position until team reaches halfway point of the track

    Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch:

    Turkish Get Ups x 1 each side

    One Hand Kettle Bell Swings x 2 each side

    Clean and Press x 5 each side

    OYO for 5 Minutes repeato 3 minutes

    Ministry of Silly Walks:

    Low Lunges to halfway point of track under weight

    On Leg Deadlift Walks the rest of the track

    Curls;

    OYO for 2 minutes to eat up time

    Hallelujah carry back to flag

    Numberrama

    Namearama

    Announcements:

    Achcreek 5k may 20th, see Spit

    The Shinning 3rd F tomorrow morning at Rise and Shine Diner  at 6:30

    Abacus took us out

    NMS

    YHC had been thinking about a way to combine kettle bells and the fun of wheel barrows for a while. Death Barrows didn’t sound like a good name. Fortunately i was watching The Holy Grail when he  realized that he  had the Q today, and Bring Out Your Dead and the theme for the Q was born.These got harder very quickly and took longer that YHC had originally thought, audible was called for only a half lap on these. MumbleChatter was high at the beginning but quickly tapered off once the level of suck was felt. Then silence fell during the Holy Hand Grenade, which made YHC smile a little smile on the inside. Low Lunges is another that looks good on paper but suck in reality.

    The PAX destroyed this today and that brought an even bigger smile. Every one worked hard and King Arthur would be proud.

    Come Patsy, We Ride!

    Mudface

     

  • Greatest Hits

    A Fiesty 14 came out to WDOG hoping to hear some of their faves.  When you see the Rolling Stones in concert you know your gonna hear Satisfaction and Gimme Shelter, when you post to Dogwood YHC wanted to deliver the greatest hits:

    COP in the normal circle- SSH, Merkins, Flutterkicks, DQs, Arm Circles

    Beatdown Setlist:

    1. Amphitheater

    2. Rusty Cage

    3. Jacobs Ladder

    Amphitheater was 5 derkins a step down, 5 WWII situps back up. 5 Burpees at the top.

    Rusty Cage was 3 sets of 8 Pull-up & Jerkins. 2 round 3 sets again only 4 reps.

    Jacobs Ladder were Burpees up to 5. Mosey back to flag fr Honeymoon Suite- Alabama Prom Dates, Monkey Humpers, Pickle Pounders.

    NMS – Welcome JTB and Bodos. Solid work today, hope to see you both out again .

    YHC wanted to deliver the Best Of edition Dogwood this am. We covered the biggest hits as this is the best AO in F3 Nation. The pax were ready as well to get back to basics as even TYA posted. As Q it may seem boring but when I saw Don McLean live you know what he played – American Pie.

    The PAX knocked out the Amphitheater and Rusty Cage. There were some groans about all the arm work, but YHC needs it. The Sandbags are looking pretty sad in the dark. Maybe time to resupply.

    Thanks to Sippy and Hardywood for watching out for the FNGs, that is my bad. On second thought ending with the Honeymoon Suite with 2 pastor FNGs was not a great idea but YHC was unaware of their vocations at the time.

    Announcements – Ides of March HDHH is in the works at Splinters house. More details to come but it might involve dressing in Togas…

    Pleasure to lead this am men.

  • Golden Fart of a Mystic Unicorn

    Six men chose to leave the comfort of the fart sack to brave the balmy, gloomy AO known as SOT!

    At 5:30 sharp the PAX followed YHC on a short mosey to Clover Hill High School for what YHC hoped to be the workout he had envisioned a week ago!

    COP:

    SSH, Merkins & Imperial Walker

    Move over to the bleachers for some bleacher work.

    Partner up (thankfully there were 6 PAX) for partner bleacher work. One runs up/down while the other does the following exercises for all 8 stairways for a total of three rounds.

    Round 1 – Incline Merkin, Decline Merkin, Dips & Merkin

    Round 2 – Bench Leg Lifts, Body Ups, LBC’s & Box Jumps

    Round 3 – Snake – Up/down all 8 stairways then repeat on the way back to the beginning.

    Gather at the base of bleachers for a group Merkin. I saw this on the internet and thought it would be cool to try………….not so much. But, it was fun to hear the mumble chatter about having to put your feet on a PAX member to do Merkins. I’ll keep trying and Honeymoon stated he knew what I was trying but chose not to take over and let me learn by failing. Gee thanks!

    Mosey back to VSF for a short session with Mary. LBC’s, Superman & Alabama Prom Dates.

    COT – Name/numberama & YHC took us out……….It’s me God, Wilson!

    Moleskin:

    Last week Honeymoon & YHC ventured off the normal AO to try something different. The rain last week proved to be bad for running on aluminum bleachers. Neither of us were totally pleased with our performance. So this week YHC hoped to have more PAX and no rain to try it again. YHC also wanted to keep up with the recent trend of venturing off the normal AO’s! Thanks to McRib & Honeymoon for selecting round 2 & 3 exercises. They both proved to be a challenge. YHC thought that the dry conditions would be ideal for the bleacher exercises, but quickly found out that even without rain, vertigo can show its ugly head. A few of us either almost wiped out or did. Glad everyone escaped with nothing injured.

    YHC like to post videos on the backblasts. As I was searching for a video for bleacher fails, I came across the attached video. I not only almost peed myself, but found it to somewhat applicable to YHC skill set for evacuating open air spaces. While I wanted to show epic bleacher fails, I hope the attached video will make some laugh as it did me!

  • 0 Tractor Tires, 4 Tolls

    The bus left early from Mechanicsville to come see how the other half lives.  Instructions were to bring your own beverages, and to keep extremities inside the vehicle at all times.  Hopes were high that the Southside Natives would be active this morning, and they did not disappoint.   After the smoke cleared, a Pax 20 strong emerged as a single unified front.  We worked out:

    COP

    • parking lot tracers
    • SSH
    • Invisible jump ropes (Double Dutch optional)
    • arm circles

    THANGAMABOB

    • 11’s with incline APD’s and 4-count Freddie Mercury
    • Quarter Pounder:
      • Run to 25 for 25 merkins, run backwards to start.
      • Run to 50 for 50 squats, run backwards to start.
      • Run to 75 for 75 2 count mountain climbers, run backwards to start.
      • Run to 100 for 100 SSH’s, run backwards to start.
    • 4 Corners….ascending:
      • 10 WW2 Situps, 10 2 count flutter kicks
      • 20 WW2 Situps, 20 2 count flutter kicks
      • 30 WW2 Situps, 30 2 count flutter kicks
      • 40 WW2 Situps, 40 2 count flutter kicks
    • Mary
      • LBC’s
      • 10 burpees OYO

    NMS

    My apologies in advance, because this morning was awesome and some funny stuff happened.  But alas, some crazy stuff is going on at work today that has really held the construction of this BB.  So, I will note a couple things from this morning, then everybody can fill the other stuff I missed in the comments section….kinda like a “choose your own adventure” book.

    -Toga tried to kick it up with the How many guys from the village does it take to Q?  Unfortunately, his bailing on the Q yesterday took the bite out of it.

    -Hardywood was working on seeing how he would look in a kilt.  If anyone could pull it off, it’s him…..but no.

    -Awesome effort today from Viral.  I’d share a park bench with you any day.

    -Phonics put in 6 workouts in a row….not one of them was in Mechanicsville.  A bit of a tour of the city week for him.

    -Honeymoon wore a poofy jacket.  He looked warm.

    Thanks for having us, No Toll.  Great to see some guys that we dont run into on the regular any more.

     

    Lab Rat (and Circle K) out.

     

  • Pre-Blast: F3RVA WEST lunch launch

    “2nd F” alert – if you typically cannot make it downtown for Farrah and lunch, this is your huckleberry.

    AO: Whole Foods
    Day: Thursday 2/23
    Time: High noon
    Q: Loose Goose

    The intent is to make this a weekly occurrence, and details will be decided by the PAX who show up at the first one.