Category: Richmond, VA

  • Mount Henrico

    Eight fearless sherpas gathered at base camp for a trek up Mount Henrico.  Started with the first few legs of the Fudd run and then modified.  Here is how it went:

    • Depart west along the lake and around the baseball field
    • Left on College
    • Right on Wood
    • Left on Baldwin, quick jog on Westham before continuing left on Baldwin
    • Left on Rock Creek
    • Left on Forest
    • Right on University
    • 4 milers do the Arlington circle loop and then return
    • Right on the road that starts with a G.  Turns out it was Glendale
    • Left on Julian to the top of Mount Henrico
    • Return via same route

    No one signed up for this morning’s Spider Run.  Luckily YHC had a route in his back pocket that took us up to the highest point in Henrico.  The view from the top was breathtaking!  The slow incline all the way up Julian was a nice hill to tackle.  There are more variations and loops available on the west side of Forest we can try.

    YHC was dictating the names into his phone while driving home and noticed that TYA’s name came out as “TY essay”.  That would be a great alter ego for TYA.

    Two Can keeps pushing up the miles.  Keep it up brother!

    Great to see Back Bay out there today.  Hopefully the directions weren’t too complicated.  Great job to all!

    Announcements:

    Splinter out.

  • Little Bears

    7 PAX gathered in the Monday morning Gloom to consummate what may (or may not) have been YHC’s Virgin Q.  Their presence both humbled and encouraged YHC through the process.  Alongside YHC’s VQ, the PAX quietly celebrated the 25 little bears who ended a 71-year baseball curse this weekend.  How better to celebrate the Cubs than Bear Crawls for all the PAX?  YHC fears he created a lot of Indians’ fans.

    Here’s how it went down:

    SSH’s x 19
    Don Quixotes x 08 (Abe Vegoda style)
    Imperial Walkers x 19
    LBCs X 25 (4 count)  (one for each players on the Cubs)
    Arm Circles 45 total
    (Forward x 18 small, x5 large)
    (Reverso x 17 small, x5 large)

    Mozey to picnic tables for…

    Bearmuda Triangle – 3 stations.  Each PAX bear crawls between stations.  Dips, ‘Mercans, Flutter Kicks (4 count).  Round 1 x10, Round 2 x 20, Round 3 x30.  Plank up between rounds.  Hold standard plank for 2 minutes.

    Mozey to brick wall for…

    Touch a Tree…

    Donkey Kicks (10)
    Invisible Chairs (8)
    Reverse Crunches (6)
    Burpees (4)
    Balls to the Wall (2)

    Mozey by way of Polar Bear Inch Worm to the front of the school…

    Conveyer Belt through parking lot…that’s exercise at each parking space and bear crawl to the next space…

    Monkey Humpers x5
    Box Cutters x5
    Flutter Kicks (4 Count) x5

    Mozey back to the flag…

    Number-Rama
    Name-a-Rama
    Announcements

    Honey-Do took us out.

    Mumble Chatter

    Not much audible mumble chatter today. YHC wonders whether he is not able to listen to a groaning PAX while simultaneously concentrating on the next exercise while simultaneously counting reps on the current exercise.  Perhaps, YHC is learning that leadership is a lonely profession.  Or, perhaps YHC’s wife is right, he can hear, but he just doesn’t listen.  Time will tell.

    That said, YHC appreciates Toga’s continued guidance on the proper numerical angle that should formed by YHC’s shoes, caboose, and melon when exhibiting the plank position.  Targeting x = 180 degrees….current form x <180 degrees.  YHC promises to do better.

    Finally, YHC would like to thank the PAX for helping YHC through his Q-ginity issues.  Cherry officially lost.

    Announcements

    Bear Creek coming up in December.  There was some disagreement between Chum Bucket and Chum Bucket on whether registration has closed.  YHC can confirm that as of today, the registration page still appears on Facebook.  Interested folks should test for themselves.

    Still need names for F3 Tidewater kick-off November 5.  Raleigh allegedly well-ahead of Richmond.   YHC hates falling behind RDU area in anything (hoops, football, F3 recruiting…).  Let’s dig deep and put some headlocks in place.  Send names to Johnsonville.

    Cubs in 6.  UpChuck out.

  • Hunt for October at River Run

    5 River Run regulars ventured into the gloom to participate in a World Series themed beatdown.  Here is what went down.

    CoP

    • 20 X SSH
    • 20 X Imperial Walkers
    • Arm Circles 10 small + 5 large + Reverso
    • 20 X Flutter Kicks
    • 20 X LBCs

    ‘If you build it he will come’…. 

    Lazy DORA 1-2-3 (for the # of years since Cubs won World Series)

    • 108 Merkins
    • 216 LBCs
    • 324 Squats

    Mosey to front of school 

    ‘Ease his pain….’

     9 innings of Ascending Curb Crawls 

    • Merkins 1 to 9

    TD Al Gore upon completion

     Mosey to field

     ‘Field of Dreams’

    PAX counts off 1 to 4; 1s start at first, 2s start at 2nd, etc.

    • First Base (1st cone) do AMRAP Squats until relieved. – Bear Crawl to 2nd
    • Second Base (2nd cone) do AMRAP Merkins until relieved. – Broad jump to 3rd
    • Third Base (3rd cone) do AMRAP LBC’s until relieved. – Inchworm home
    • Home Plate (4th cone) will perform 15 Burpees then lunge to First, relieving the Pax there. Continue until all Pax have done the Burpees.

    Mosey to Track

    ‘Go the Distance’
    Cleveland Indian (aka Native American) runs around soccer field
    Flipdog shuffle every set (every 4 native runs)

    • Perform 10 merkins for 6 sets
    • Perform 8 merkins for 1 set

    Totaling 68 Merkins 1 for each year since last Indians WS victory

    Suicide Squeeze

    • Partner 1 = Suicides
    • Partner 2 = Freddie Mercuries
    • Switch

    Mosey to Flag

    Mary

    •  Ring of Fire Merkins

    Numberama, Name o Rama, Announcements

    • Continue to EH Va Beach/Hampton Roads recruits for F3 Tidewater launch
    • Bear Creek 10 miler December & Belmonte 25,50k March

    YHC took us out

    NMM

    This is an exciting week for Major League Baseball as two historic franchises are looking to claim title to the World Series championship beginning tomorrow night.  This also presented a great opportunity for YHC to create a World Series/Baseball themed workout.  You may recognize the quotes from the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ which focuses on re-creating the glory days of baseball in the middle of a corn field in Iowa, a perfect parallel to the historic matchup in this years’ Series and a nice backdrop for the Q this morning.  The lazy DORA (no running) provided a good start for the PAX as it was Lugnuts’ first post in a couple of weeks due to an injured knee.  The PAX also appreciated Wilson providing his 4th F to mimic a ball park organ during this exercise.  YHC also was eager to get through the entire plan as was recognized by the PAX during the super fast squats of the LD.

    The PAX was strong and pushed through the ascending curb crawls and YHC was quickly reminded of the leftover soreness from the DogPile workout with Swirly on Saturday.

    The Field of Dreams got the PAX off the blacktop and onto the baseball field at the AO.  This was essentially a baseball themed version of ‘the Suck’ and provided a nice variety of exercises.  YHC was the fifth wheel during this part and decided to tag along with LugNut on the trip around the bases.  A fair amount of grunting could be heard down the third baseline as each PAX member had to perform the inchworm to get from 3rd to Home.

    A flipdog shuffle provided a fitting tribute to the Indians as the PAX pushed through 68 strong merkins mixed in with Indian Runs around the track.  Two full laps were completed at a very brisk pace during this exercise.

    Lastly, the ‘Suicide Squeeze’ was a tribute to an event that took place 23 years ago this past spring in Richmond, VA.  It was then that an underdog team from Douglas Freeman played a far superior and celebrated Midlothian team in the 1st round of the Central Region playoffs.  The victory was determined on a very tight suicide squeeze bunt by the Freeman team to narrowly defeat the Trojans.  This was especially important as YHC was on that Freeman team and knew there would be Midlothian representation at the AO (Gumbo and Rosie).  That fateful night was also the only time YHC has made the 11 o’clock news as the victim of hitting into a triple play early in the game.

    Gentleman, it was an honor to lead and participate with you all this AM.  I look forward to seeing you next time.

    McRib

     

     

  • Atlee complex laps

    4 runners were found loitering on school grounds this morning.  Punishment was to run laps around complex:

    • start with short stroll around parking lot to catch any stragglers (none showed), then head down road until Honey Meadow Rd.  Left until bus parking lot, another left into lot, then across front of schools to starting point.  Each lap is 1.5 miles, pick your distance.

    NMS

    Teams of two formed, Anchovy and Spike leading us out, with Lab Rat and Spit close behind.  Spit was pulling hard out of the gates this morning, and Lab Rat was struggling.  After 2 miles, Lab Rat dropped the virtual tether on Spit and let him fly.  Lab Rat pulled it in early, covering 4 miles….dragging ass after a long trail run yesterday.  Anchovy and Spike came in hot, then went back out in reverse to track down Spit, who busted out 5 miles at a blistering pace.  The front runners covered about 5.5 miles.

    Announcements were:  See ya’ll in the morning.  HoneyDo Q at DaVille…..YEEEHAW!

     

    Lab Rat out

     

     

  • Two by Vehicle, Two by Land

    Four strong arrived, two runners to the AO and two drivers.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to field – 10 Don Q, 25 SSH, 20 Mountain Climbers, 20 Flutter Kicks, 15 Imperial Walkers

    Mosey to double tennis court – 11s – burpees and WWII situps. Do exercise, forward run half way and backward run the other half to point of beginning.

    Mosey to Valley of Doom – Lindsays – Leg ups on stone and Irkins

    Mosey up pavement to street – Blimps – 5 broad jump burpees, 10 lunges, 15 bear crawls, 20 bunny hops. Repeat 3 times through until reach other end of street.

    Ring of Fire – 10 Heals to Heaven while pax does 30/60/90 degree angles, then 10 box cutters. 10 Merkins, pax in plank, then 10 merkins and bear crawl around group.

    5 MOM – Freddie Mercury, Rosalitas, LBCs

    Mosey to shovel flag.

    Moleskin:

    Good work this morning guys. YHC needs to do a daytime run through the AO, it’s difficult to determine the workout from the satellite view map and whether or not the terrain is lit up. Mrs. Singer did not think this ‘errand’ was worth it Sunday afternoon.

    Normal workouts this week, nothing too new in the near future for announcements except the Virginia Beach AO in a few weeks. Watch out for acorns.

    -Singer

  • The Year of the Rat

    8 Strong men + 1 FNG showed up to celebrate a beautiful Saturday morning and Lab Rat’s 1 year anniversary the only way either should be celebrated….with a beat down.  It went down a little something like this:

    COP

    • SSH
    • Seal Jacks
    • Merkins
    • Arm Circles
    • LBC’s

    THANG

    • 4 corners:  partner up in back corner of endzone, X25 Partner Leg Tosses each, then lunge down sideline to far corner of opposite endzone.  X25 PLT’s each, karaoke across back of endzone.  Rinse and repeat back to starting point, plank up for the six.
    • X10 squat jump burpees OYO, X20 dying cockroaches IC
    • Lindsays 1:  Starting at corner of endzone, perform 30 merkins &10 LBC’s, sprint to next corner.  25 merkins, 15 LBC’s.  Progress back to starting point adding and taking away 5 exercises until reaching starting point and 10 merkins/30 LBC’s.  Al Gore for the six.
    • Mosey to pillars-
      • people’s chair, switching between high version and low version….low version shoot for thighs parallel to ground.
      • slalom pillars to back of school.
    • Rusty Cage:  Pullups starting at 5 and decending to 1, partner up for assistance.
    • Lindsays 2:  Between the foul poles on the baseball field, carolina dry docks and Imperial walkers (2-count).
    • Mary:  American Hammers, Freddie Mercuries

    NMS

    First off, my apologies to those that showed up for this workout and did not have this BB  posted on a timely fashion….no excuses there.

    Now for the rest of it….so the soon to be Lab Rat posted on a crisp October day last year upon hearing this group that Circle K (friend from before F3) had been working out with.  YHC could not contain himself, as he had been struggling with motivation lately, and could not get anybody to get up and do P90X with him in the gym.  Although YHC was what I thought of as running shape at the time, Earthworm did his magic, and the hour took a big toll.  I remember turning to Doner Kebab (my partner for the morning) and saying “really, more partner leg throws?  Is this how it always is?”  DK responded with:  “yeah, that’s kind of our thing”.

    Well, fast forward 1 year to Saturday.  This workout was an homage to that PLT-o-rama, but with a little Lab Rat flare, half the number of PLT’s, and a little more variety.  As YHC told Earthworm, he had to resist the urge to show up and say “we are running a 10K this morning” (as Earthworm notoriously hates running).  All in good fun of course.

    YHC partnered up with White Deer for the PLT’s this morning, and that man is a machine!  Well, he has machine knees, but the heart of a champ.  Good to getting to know you a bit, White Deer!

    Atilla attacked the pullups with fervor, getting a little help when needed but made a point to do those last couple solo giving it all he had.  FEBA!

    Poor Chum showed up just in time to go from a Swirly beatdown straight into pullup station.  Not one to complain, he banged them out like a pro.

    Johnsonville, Nightcrawler and Emu quietly went about the business of getting things done.  Well done, gentlemen!

    HoneyDo always has great banter, and does an excellent job keeping an eye out for the six, and any potential issues that the Q might miss.  Thanks for your presence, brother.

    Earthworm is mostly sidelined with an injury ATM, but that doesnt stop him from showing up and doing what he can.  Most people would just stay in the fartsack, but he isnt most people.

    Not to get too sappy, but I would be remiss not to take a moment to thank everyone that makes F3 a thing, posts to my Q’s, makes fun of me, runs with me even when I dont wear a shirt, and generally listens to my nonsense.  I would especially like to express my gratefulness to anybody that has Q’d a workout in which I have posted, as you are the people that kicked my ass all the way to here.  Thanks a bunch, men.

     

    Lab Rat out.

  • The Mother Teresa of F3RVA

    8 stalwarts emerged from the gloom this morning for Sunday morning run. 40 degrees and clear from a weather perspective.

    NMM:

    3 routes, 4+ reedy creek and back, 7+ add forest hill loop, 10+ add northbank trail.

    2 PAX, offshore and the FNG, opted for the 4+.  All the others went all in with option 3.

    Lots of talk about what to wear pre workout.  YHC changed from tights to shorts before he left the house.  Once on site in the parking lot, I shed my second shirt and went with a  long sleeve shirt only.  Shorts all around for everyone else, most opted for more than one shirt.  Once on the trail, no one was complaining about the cold.  My new recommendation is shorts and t shirt as long as it is above freezing.  Below freezing – add on layer.

    Mumble chatter was abundant today on the trails.  The talk was led by Lab Rat and Upchuck.  Lots of discussion on who was the most talkative.  Only one of the PAX was voting for someone other than Lab Rat as the most talkative.  I will let you guess who that was (hint.  It rhymes with cab bat).  The group kept a good pace going the whole trip.

    TYA Out

     

  • Fall is here and so is Swirly!

    24 strong posted on this beautiful morning and here is how it went down.

    Warmup: 20 SSH, 10 Helicopters , 10 Windmills, 10 EW, 15 AC, 20 LBC’s

    Love Hill – partner up – run hill to gate 3 exercises – Polar Bears , Lunges, Burpee Broad Jump

    Amp Theatre : partner dips 3 sets 20 – LBC ladder down 10 each step – incline merkin ladder up 1-18

    Rusty Cage : 4 over hand 4 under regular grip. 4 over 4 under close grip- 4 over 4 under wide grip – opposites 4 over/under – reverse 4 over/under – partner up Jerkins on dips bar repeat same as above.

    Steps: Polar bears across brick path up the stairs – lunge across – run back to starting line.

    Ring of Fire : 10 merkins each while pax holds plank.

    Mossy to the Flag

     

    moleskin: Gumbo and Rosie arrived early and got their mile in ( good job fellas ) Fall was in the air and the pax was ready to roll and in good spirits as we gathered around the flag . YHC greeted the pax as usual with the intro to the workout saying I’m not a personal trainer or fitness instructor and Fudd blurted out (I disagree with that 😀) that got the pax laughing and the mumble chatter of a typical Swirly Q began …. The pax crushed love hill -Flasdances 2.0 Athena made it look east – atta girl Athena. .. Lot’s of grunting and moaning occurred in the amp theatre especially during the incline merkin ladder . YHC was glad to have been on the other side of where Wilson was – evidently he was sharing his meal from last night with everyone by giving them all the jimmy johns Free smells – yikes…. The rusty cage was the overall crowd pleaser and the pax really enjoyed the polar bears up the steps after spending a little time in the cage!

    ET’s as always was excellent – great food and fellowship ! Circle K was in the parking lot waiting for us when we got there which confused all of us cause nobody could remember seeing him @ the workout …. Hey just goes to show you how important the 2nd F is – dude did not want to miss breakfast !!

    Great job guys that was a solid upper body beat down – way to push through and finish strong. Thanks for taking us out Gumbo.

    Annoucements : Hampton Roads – Find a Sat you can do it and join in on the clown car heading down to va beach to help get that AO going …

    congrats again to Gumbo and Hardywood for their awards great job guys

    be thinking about Garbage plate – he’s got a procedure coming up..

    A pleasure to lead this morning guys – have a good rest of the weekend !

    Swirly

  • Gloom World of Sports

    10 Regular and 6 FNG’s Stormed into New Highland for a sporty good time:

    THANG

    COP

    SSH  x 25
    Hillbillies  x 15
    Don Quixotes  x 15
    American Hammer  x 15
    LBC  x 20
    Arm Circles  x5 small, x 5 large – Reverso

    20 Merkins on your own

    Basketball

    Partner Up, together complete 200 “Jump Shot” squats while running suicides

    Baseball

    Run the bases

    1st – Burpees x 10
    2nd – Merkins x 20
    3rd – Mountain Climbers (2 count) x 30
    Home – Touch a tree, 1 guy touches 16 trees, 2 guy touches 15 trees, etc..

    Complete two times

    Soccer

    Crab vs Bear

    Divide into teams, one team has to crab walk while the other has to bear crawl. Once someone scores a goal, then the teams swap roles (bear to crab and crab to bear). Team that is scored on does 10 Burpees. Goalies have to plank. 10 minutes of play

    Ring of Fire

    Pax planks will one member does 10 merkins until all Pax members complete the exercise

    COT/Namorama

    Carpenter took us out

    Moleskin

    YHC didn’t know what to expect this morning. The Carpenter had some serious EHing going on the night before in FB. When YHC arrived he was surprised to see all the FNG’s that showed up. The shovel flag was planted and we got to work.

    Chatter was lite to start during the COP but with two FIFO FNG’s showing up, the PAX quickly got excited.

    The theme was an extension of Carpenter’s ESPN post from last week. It’s a busy time in american sports at the moment so YHC (a sport fanatic himself) felt a sport theme was needed

    First up, basketball. College basketball starts up in a just a few weeks and one of the most popular exercise for this sport is suicides. Also you can’t play basketball without practicing your jump shot so about 200 should do the trick. The PAX reluctantly agreed.

    Next in honor of the up coming World Series time for a little baseball. Every PAX member was able to bat 1.000 with 2 homers. They had to do it the hard way but hopefully it was worth it.

    Final sport was Soccer. YHC isn’t a huge soccer fan but if you add some crab walking and bear crawls into the sport I guess it’s ok. Abacus and Sugar Baby were some tough goalie but a few goals were had. Final score ended in a tie 2-2.

    Time to mosey back to the flag for a ring a fire. Near the end of exercise and special guest came though and gave Abacus a slap on the butt. It’s ok that was just his wife 😉

    Shout out to our most seasoned FNG Wild Thing (Double Respect) and our youngest Chewy (12) for posting.

    Welcome to our other FNG’s: Pincher, Mud Face, ChowDAH, and Strickland (had to leave early will be named later). Hope to see you post again soon

    YHC continues to be encouraged by Iron Sharpening Iron every week. The Creek has bought about just another reason why the 2nd F is so important.

    Announcements 

    YHC and Abacus explained a little more about what F3 is all about.

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • 40 under 40

    7 men showed up ready to throw some iron around at Circus Maximus.  Two of our F3 brothers were named to Style weekly top 40 under 40 this week so YHC set up a small tribute to them.  The article said something about Hardywood running a business and being connected to the Richmond community but F3 knows he was named to the list for his ability to slay burpees.  Gumbo on the other hand apparently does some pro bono work but the writeup failed to mention his fondness for Lindseys and merkins.

    Thang

    COP

    SSHx20, IWx20, scapula merkins x10, Arm circles x15 forward and backward

    40 under 40 – each exercise for time under 40 seconds with each arm or clockwise/counterclockwise, Q calls time, exercises as follow:

    Around the world, Halo, Swing, Curl, Lunge, American Hammer, Waiter Carry, Clean to Rack, Figure 8, Merkin Row, High Pull, Tricep Extension, Goblet Squat, WWII and Press, Millineum Falcon hold, Suitcase Carry, Snatch, Row, Clean and Press, Flutter Kick, Alabama Honeymoon, Press, Squat Press, Deadlift, Death Crawl

    Slide over in the parking lot for some partner exercises. P1 around the island in the parking lot, P2 does exercise, flapjack.  Goblet Squats, Alabama Honeymoons, Merkin Row, WWII Press

    1 round Pan-PAX 8 count burpee.

    COT

    NM

    Flip Phone has been showing up to CM and relying on someone in the PAX bringing an extra KB but this week there was not one to be found.  Unfortunately the themed workout did not lend itself to not having a KB.  He stayed near the PAX and crushed some burpees, merkins, WWII, FK, wall planks and plenty of others while the rest of us rolled through the 40.  Respect to him for sticking it out and I think a plan has been hatched to get him a KB or he will now go get his own before he posts again.

    Anyone looking for ideas for an exercise to Q a CM workout need not look any further than this BB.  Listed above is 20+ of the favorites, switching hands and directions counted as separate for this total.  Discussion at the end centered around PAX that don’t post to CM.  Sure you guys can do bodyweight exercises but can you do it with a KB, we’re not sure you can?  You know who you are…

    YHC was compiling a list of the KB exercises for a 30×30 type workout but the 40 under 40 thing was just too hard to pass up.  I all seriousness, I believe I speak for at least a few of the F3 faithful when I say that we are proud to be associated with this group and the fact that these 2 have been singled out as leaders in the community is part of the reason.

    Announcements

    EH those Tidewater men.  Toga and crew head down in a few weeks to kick it off.