Category: Richmond, VA

  • HB3 – Bell Bashers

    A swarthy seven SOJ studs swung their huge bells into the frosty gloom in the following HIMtastic manner:

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey loop carrying KB’s and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Warm-up Reps IC and a few stretches

    THE THANG:

    • Coupon mosey down to the best Turf field in RVA and line up on the TD line
    • THE GREMLIN – the nastier smaller brother of the classic Beast – usually shorter distances, but with movement activities between reps, and in today’s case, carrying KB’s
    • Round 1 – Lunge walk 20 yards between stops, x6 Goblet Squats at each of the six stops 
    • Round 2 – Bear crawl dragging Bell between 5 yard intervals, x6 KB swings at each stop
    • Round 3 – Overhead run between 20 yard intervals, with x6 KB WWII’s each stop
    • Round 4 – BELL BASHERS was a new one today – imagine crab walking, but with butt scooting backward along turf, alternating hands to pull along KB between legs. Used the 5 yard intervals for this nasty little movement, stopping for x6 Bell Hammers (2-count) at each stop
    • Round 5 – Shoulder carry the KB to run between 25 yards intervals, stopping for x6 Bell Merkins each stop
    • Round 6 – Last but not least, the PAX held their KB’s to hop (mini broad jump) between the 5 yard intervals, stopping for Bell Burpees at each stop (BB’s combine dropping for a Bell Merkin, the Hopping up to swing the Bell overhead)

    REVIEW TIME:

    • PAX took a few minutes to familiarize and practice proper Turkish Getup form

    Mosey BTTF and Circle up for COT:

    • Counterama # 7
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • BOM Prayer
    • COFFEE!!! (Thank you Snuff!!!)

    NMS:  There may not be a more spectacular way to start a new week than swinging Huge Bells with your favorite fellas. YHC diverged from the stationary KB routine and take the Bells on a little tour down to the field. The Gremlin beast is always a crowd favorite, and the movements and reps held the PAX to a higher level of pain than usual. Today’s novel little routine was the crabscoot KB pull, which was suggested to be called Ball Bashers by L Woods after we noticed Snuff actually crab walking with his Huge Bell sitting atop of his man parts. Snuff was prompt to edit the exercise name to Bell Bashers. Either way, the PAX put in some challenging work today, and YHC already has another 1000 ways to introduce KB’s to every Forge routine from the last 6 year. Keep posting gents! Yours AYE! ~DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • Monthly: Breaking Bread, Bridge
    • Thanksgiving Day – TWO options will be 0530 Timberwolf Ultimate Frisbee, and a 0700 pConvergence at Mary
    • 11/23 Alamo Chili Cookoff
    • 12/6 Father Daughter Dance

  • Figure 8 of Pain

    5 Men started with a mosey and a warmup which included side straddle hops, copper head squats, and arm circles. A gunshot rang out nearby and conversation of Yukon bagging a big buck started. Sadly, Yukon was more of a squirrel whisperer this morning.

    After warmup the figure 8 began. Running the Lumberyard path, starting with the bottom half of the figure at, we stopped at every “To Give a Mouse a Cookie” sign to do 20 WWII’s.

    Reaching the center of the figure 8 we grabbed some coupons for a round of 11’s. 11’s consisted of Squat Thrusters and weighted Alabama Prom Dates. Cindy quickly got the best of Beaver, but he would not be defeated.

    Finishing 11’s we set out to finish the top half of the figure 8 with 20 WWII’s continuing at all of the Mouse’s signs. There were reports of chafing and potentially losing the mouse’s cookies, but everyone finished strong, completing a 2.5 mile run with too many WWII’s to count.

    Announcements: New location for Loco Motion at New Kent High School on Fridays, as well as an upcoming daddy daughter dance and Thanksgiving Day convergence.

    Prayer requests for Pool Boy and his family as they are dealing with the loss of their grandmother.

  • Solo El Tarrington II

    The typical crew was out, YHC ran from home to the AO, circled the empty parking lot and took off for the hills. One hill actually, little different route up Ashwell into Powderham down Ellesmere back to Mt. Hill. Ran into a loose dog that didn’t appreciate the invasion of space, back track down Solstice through the woods and home. 4.5 miles total.

  • Take a hike!

    It was a giant celebration at the Deep for Take a Hike Day. Eight was enough for this trip to the woods. We started with a bus loop lap and some warmups of SSH, DQ, Ukrainian Soldiers, Copperhead Squats, LBCs, Heals to Heaven, flutters and Merkins. We then moseyed to the row houses and did a round of sevens doing both exercises at each block: HRM and Jump Squats. We then moseyed past the pool and went down into the dark.

    We crab walked down the dark hill and then moseyed to the bridge. It was dark but the bridge has railings so falling off was not an option. We would also be trapped if any animals were on the bridge but I did not tell the pax that. We did ten moving lunges each leg and then ten walking Ukrainian Soldiers and then repeated. We were now about halfway down the bridge and we ran to the end and then did ten burpees and twenty WWII. It was nice to be in the dark woods and get a nice view of the sky without the typical Short Pump lights. This is the 3rd time I’ve taken a group of pax to the woods. It was new for many in this group.

    We bear crawled back for a bit and then moseyed to the end. We then bear crawled back up the hill and found our way to a circle of some big houses. We partnered up and did some rounds of exercises while one partner ran the circle: Suzanne Sommers (each side), Rosalitas (or something else, really can’t remember), and Monkey Humpers. The exercises weren’t too tough because I knew what I had planned next.

    We hit the row houses again for a similar sevens with burpees and jump squats. If you don’t normally jump at the end of your burpee, you will now! After 21 burpees and 21 jump squats, we were back to Nuckols Farm Elementary but I took us to the original Nuckols Farm instead. After a history lesson, we did ten burpees just for fun. We then moseyed half way back to the school and found an opening and a hill to run up. Now at the big bus loop, we hit 3 light posts and did ten merkins at each and then went back to the flag. We had time for some Mary of hammers, reverse crunches and some other ab exercise.

    1.75 miles and we were done. Blue Moon and Tater did the running work without complaint, Attila kept the gas away, Mr. Rogers showed up just in time, Pigskin’s Monday rotation was Deep, Banjo brought the average age way down, Handshake got his parking pass and Gomer was a no show. And no animals on the bridge except for a Whitesnake.

    Thanksgiving at Mary at 7. Kubota taking a group to the Bridge after Christmas.

    Have a great week!

  • Free For All at Sunday Funday

    None of us really knows how many guys showed up to do the “come as you are when you are ready” event that is Sunday Funday. According to local legend passed among the campers in the park, 2 started at 6:15, 4 started at 7, one or two started at 9, and someone went biking. For all involved, temperatures remained constant at 70 and sunny.

    The 7 a.m. launch included a near millionaire, and near billionaire, a guy with a fever, a guy with 50 direct reports, and 150 bikers. Route: Bridge, dog poop, Buttermilk, Belle Isle (top loop), North Bank (note the Oxford comma), and BTT (watch out for the super fast mountain bikers!!) VSF.

    7-ish miles.

    NMS: Tons discussed…Kristi Noem’s sweet heart, no-bid $150MM contract to friends, worshiping dead racists, waterfront preservation work, stains magically appearing on a very specific part of your shorts, Jamaicans being detained by ICE at 2:30 a.m. in the hospital (ok, that one involved an old lady tripping on morphine). But, never a dull moment.

    Race results: Confusion reigned on the podium. UpChuck DQ’d for taking the hiker route, but managed to slide past Shakes / Offshore on the home stretch courtesy of a well-timed rendezvous with a friend of Shakes’ (note the apostrophe) on the trails. Somehow, slowest guy crossed the finish line first. Definitely not pretty…we’ll call it a draw.

    Announcements:

    Kubota has the Q at First Watch, the AO with the best mumblechatter in all of F3-dom on Wednesday. That kicks off Seazn of Giving. Then, K-man has the Q for The Bridge on December 27. Clown cars forming now.

    Couple of races coming up…Snowy Owl in early January, and Bel Monte in March. LG!

  • Marathon Detours

    With minutes to go until launch time, YHC was the only car in sight. Thinking a solo workout was in store, three – and eventually four – Pax arrived. We hit some of this AO’s greatest offerings working a lot of abs, legs, and a bit of shoulders.

    It was great to grab coffee and cheer on the marathon runners in one of city’s scenic areas with Bootleg and Blank Space. We took many routes to get close enough to Libbie Market and walk the rest of the way in.

    YHC took us out.

  • Marshmallow Gives Great Head

    Six of RVA’s finest piled into M-Snake’s minivan and headed out west for a beatdown for the ages.  The men of the Bridge were thrilled to join us after a 20-minute impromptu Broga session.

    COP (IC)

    • Don Quixotes
    • Helicopters
    • Copperhead Squats
    • Hairy Rockettes
    • Arm Circles
    • Overhead Claps
    • Seal Claps
    • Merkins
    • Freddie Mercurys
    • LBCs

    Mosey to the end of the blacktop

    6 Cone Déjà vu Escalator– (10 reps each stop)

    • Merkins, Run Back
    • Merkins, Jump Squats, Merkins, Run Back
    • Merkins, Jump Squats, Carolina Dry Docks, Jump Squats, Merkins, Run Back
    • Merkins, Jump Squats, Carolina Dry Docks, 2ct Lunges, Carolina Dry Docks, Jump Squats, Merkins, Run Back
    • Merkins, Jump Squats, Carolina Dry Docks, 2ct Lunges, Monkey Humpers, 2ct Lunges, Carolina Dry Docks, Jump Squats, Merkins, Run Back
    • Merkins, Jump Squats, Carolina Dry Docks, 2ct Lunges, Monkey Humpers, 2ct Flutter Kicks, Monkey Humpers, 2ct Lunges, Carolina Dry Docks, Jump Squats, Merkins, Run Back

    Mosey to the center of the blacktop

    Eye of the Storm w Partner – Booyah Merkins x 5 at the Eye

    • WWIs x 20
    • WWIIs x 20
    • Mountain Climbers x 20 2ct
    • SSHs x 40

    Modified 4 Corners

    • C1 – SSHs x 40, return to start
    • C1 and C2 – SSHs x 40, Imperial Squats x 30
    • C1, C2, and C3 – SSHs x 40, Imperial Squats x 30, Hand Release Merkins x 20
    • C2, C3, and C4 – Imperial Squats x 30, Hand Release Merkins x 20, Burpees x 10

    Mary

    • American Hammers

    Numberama, Nameorama, COT

    MOLESKIN

    On brand, a PAX led by YHC is going to be early to secure the AO.  We were early enough to have Mudslide show us a few moves not on Last Call’s menu before the men of the Bridge were released to the AO.  The Bridge’s friendly greeter affectionately known as Marshmallow was happy to take part.  At one stop during the Escalator Mudslide had the remaining remnants of his peanut butter shampoo licked away by Marshmallow.  Not sure who enjoyed it more.    Cumberland Restaurant hit the spot as usual, mumblechatter was top notch, and Senor Frog wants to know if your portfolio is strong to quite strong?  He says go all in on Crypto.  Whitesnake has the best taste in music of anyone YHC knows.  1st, 2nd, and 3rd F were all experienced on this day.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Next F3 RVA trip to the Bridge 12/27

  • Mild Hangovers

    We started with a little stretching in the parking lot as some late comers screeched into the lot, rugged men rushing to join SOJ’s flagship, Saturday lazy start, full-hour workout. 

    Overhead reach/Andy Dufresne, dead man hang, cherry pickers, helicopters, arm circles. 

    Jog to the tennis courts to continue our warmup. 

    Imperial squat walkers, merkins, mountain climbers, heels to heaven, flutters, LBCs, the wife stretches. Recover. 

    Four corners around the tennis courts, no prostitute:

    10 Lt. Dans, 20 imperial squat walkers, 30 APDs, 40 calf raises.

    20 chain smokers OYO. 

    Jog over to the concessions stand. 

    20 in cadence hoedowns, 20 dips OYO, 15 dirty hookups OYO, repeat 2x

    Partner up. Partner one does monkey humpers at the bottom of the steep hill next to the ball field. Partner two bernies up said steep him and runs down the stairs to switch out with their partner. Repeat 3x. Nice little segue way there if I do say so.    

    One final round of 20 in cadence hoedowns, 20 dips OYO, and 15 dirty hookups OYO. 

    Mosey to the trailhead next to the community gardens, then mosey a short way into the woods to the exercise equipment area. 

    11s. Pullups on the monkey bars, jog back up the trail to the gates at the trailhead, merkins. This was tough and my pullup form deteriorated quite a bit as the number of reps grew. Oh well, I know I’ll feel it tomorrow.

    Bear crawl to the top of the hill/edge of the parking lot. Work up to a mosey, headed for the basketball courts next to our cars. In the final few minutes, we were able to get in a quick four corners, no prostitute. 10 super mans, 20 something or others, 30 plank jacks, 40 SSHs. Time called. 

    Forgot names and numbers. Whoops!

    Check slack for upcoming event specifics. Chili cookoff on 11/23, 3-6 @ Alamo clubhouse, daddy/daughter dance early December sometime @ WEAG. 

    Prayers for Pierogi’s wife’s uncle recently involved in a car crash and undergoing facial reconstructive surgery, prayers for Wildcat and his family. 

    Thanks guys, that put the pep back in my step for a busy weekend. Always an honor to lead you!  

  • Brain Power

    It was an exciting edition of Morning Wood……..Ideal rucking temps and the triumphant return of Rodeo Clown! We hit the streets at 6am and finished the paved nature trail plus a couple laps around the park. The PAX made it back just in time for Purple Rain’s diabolical beatdown. Strong work fellas!

  • Swift Freak 10k

    With YHC, and Boberry at the beginning of a training block for races, it seemed like a good time to do a 10k time trial to use to help set our upcoming training plans. We were both chasing 8 minute miles, or sub 50 minute 10ks. Boberry got his sub 50 minutes, and YHC came up a little short of the goal, but still set a PR. Great to get out and push each other.