Category: Richmond, VA

  • Toga’s Time Bomb

    7 strong from across RVA joined YHC to avoid potential injury on the Ultimate field and instead opted for potential injury from excessive KB work.

    Vague recollections of a Circus workout by Toga years ago and YHC playing with the ‘Workout’ function on my watch led me to the Time Bomb. After a brief warmup we got to the main event. 6 exercises – 30 seconds each; rest between exercises decreasing from 30 seconds down to no rest in 5 second increments. For those not wanting to do the math, that’s 7 rounds. Exercises were Swings, Press, Goblet Squat, Halo, KB merkins (one hand on KB), and Sit and Press. Lots of good shoulder work against Dumar’s Dr.’s orders.

    Farmers walk around the parking lot and circle up for some Mary – beginning with the Alabama Honeymoon – the advanced KB version of the APD. Add some flutters, some complicated KB American Hammers, and a few regular APDs to close out the time.

    NMS: Excellent muggy morning to get some KB work in and for those that didn’t want to run, this was the workout for you. Welcome to B.O.B. – 2nd post in 2 days, great to have you out. Hopefully Hermie doesn’t need to do too many root canals today, the arms may be a little dead holding them in someone’s mouth. Despite moving to the City, Gumbo still found his way south of the river, just can’t take the SOJ out of him. Nancy may be starting a Pre-Pre-early Wood workout of Sitting 2 year-olds starting at 3am – be on the lookout for the pre-blast.

    Announcements:

    Float the James – Sunday Aug. 11 – See Meatball

    Sat. Aug. 17 – Pickleball Tournament – See Oyster

    Wednesday Aug. 21 – Upchuck’s 100 @ First Watch

    Wed. Aug. 28 – Magnolia Green AO Launch

    Monday Sept. 2 – Labor Day Convergence – More info to come

    Sept 20-21 – F3 RVA 10 year anniversary festivities

  • You were doing 10!?

    YHC plus a faithful two ripped up the jungle gym this morning for another addition of pull up strength. Headlamp are back in style and lit up the following down

    11s with toe touches and dips

    reverse ladder pull-ups emom down from 6-7 reps. Then banded burnout.

    way to put in the work boys!!

  • The Harvard Hustle

    PAX: BB, Booster, Chowdah, Dunder, Heist(DR), Jello, Miles Per Davis (MPD), Pack Rat (DR), Sandbar, The Country Gentleman, and Jack Myers (FNG).

    Warmup:

    We kicked things off with a lap around the track to get the blood flowing. After gathering back at the starting point, we recited the F3 mission statement and the five tenets.

    Side Straddle Hops (SSH)Copperhead SquatsDeadman HangPlankFudd and Wilson’s Wife (Up Dog and Down Dog)Inverted Scorpion KicksRosco’s Mom Stretch (Anti EH – great call, Chowdah!)
    The Thang:

    The Beast: We lined up at the end of the Harvard soccer practice field for a grueling Beast workout. Six rounds of six exercises, moving down and back at the 25, 50, and 75-yard lines. Exercises included:
    SquatsDry Docks (Pike Push-ups)Big Boy Sit-upsMonkey HumpersBurpees
    Next, we moseyed to the amphitheater area, carefully dodging beer cans at the skate park and sprinklers. There, we executed a Triple Check:
    Groups of threeRotate through three exercisesThree roundsTimer runs to the mound and back, while the team rotates through dips and step-ups.
    Brocode Run: Heading back to the flag, we engaged in a Brocode run, performing a merkin (push-up) at each lamp post. We hit about 7 or 8 posts.

    Finisher: Upon returning to the flag, we circled up tightly. The PAX held a plank while taking turns doing bear crawls around the circle. We ended with 30 seconds of stretching.

    Time: Numbers and names.

    Announcements:
    August 10 – F3 Second F baseball game.BB is working on social media for the PAX.MPD is organizing a book club – send your recommendations.
    Prayers:
    MPD mentioned a church member who had a stroke – prayers for family strength, and especially for the 9-year-old child healing.Chowdah remembered his dad, who would have been 84 yesterday and made him the man he is today.BB shared that a close family friend, Beatty, passed away. These people took his family in and were very good to them.
    Great work, everyone! Thanks for letting me lead.

    Big shout our to MPD for the ride. He is hooking me up again Thursday for the Chowdah beatdown!

  • Sorry folks! Park’s closed..

    Seven vacationers showed up to Wally World looking for some fun. Instead they got this:

    Warmups in the end zone near the Ridge (SSH, IW, Ukrainian Soldiers, Merkinsm LBCs). Explained this workout was somehow Vacation themed. Started with the Jelly of the month club: 12 count of a different exercise every ten yards with lunges in between. Nice slow pace to start the morning. Exercises included WWIIs, Merkins, HRM, Diamond Merkins, Hammers, Flutters, V-ups, Squats some other stuff I don’t remember and we ended with 12 burpees as a preview to the next exercise. Lots of good mumble chatter. Handshake said he likes it faster. So…

    Are you serious Clark?? We went the other way and created a deconstructed burpee every 25 yards: 20 merkins, 20 jump squats, 20 groiners and then 20 burpees. The mumble chatter seemed to end. There were some glaring looks. Some wanted to quit. Well I’ll tell you something, this is no longer a vacation. It’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun! I’m gonna have fun, and you’re gonna have fun, We’re all gonna have so much fuckin’ fun we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles!!

    Next we reenacted the crash from Vacation by running up the hill, and doing 15 HRM in the infield dirt. Pinto stabbed his brain.

    Next we partnered up. Timer ran the bases three times, pointing and saying “Big Ben” at home every time. Other partner did an exercise. We did this three times. Group mood improved with lots of shouts of “Big Ben”. Exercises were Flutters, 10 WWII/pencil/1 Merkin, and something else I don’t remember. I was too distracted whistling “Zio-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” out of my asshole.

    We took to Holiday Road (the track). Ran 1/4, did some bear crawls, Senior Frog found a dead bird (Frog: Do you know what the penalty for animal cruelty is in this state? Mr. Rogers: No, sir I don’t. Frog: Well….it’s probably pretty stiff”). We then did bunny hops, ran some more with high knees and then butt kickers to the next set of bleachers.

    We did 3 rounds of 20 dips and 20 bench kicks while imagining Christie Brinkley driving or swimming by. Senior Frog really got into this. Do you ever “bop your baloney”?, he asked.

    Had a few minutes of Mary with Freddies, APDs and some Dead Man hangs. Whitesnake: “I think it’d be best if everyone went home…before things get worse”. Lighthouse: “WORSE? How could things get any worse? Take a look around here. We’re at the threshold of hell!”

    Good to have Mr. Rogers back from his South Carolina vacation and Pigskin back from his European vacation. Not sure if Mr. Rogers got see a giant ball of twine or if Pigskin won his cruise on the gameshow “Pig in a Poke” but they both had a good time.

  • Ultimate Frisbee Tournament – Replay Booth needed?

    29 HIM’s including 2 FNG’s showed up this morning to will their team to a championship in the first annual ultimate frisbee tournament. Here is what went down…

    Warmarama- quick F3 mission and warmup ( SSH, dead man hang , merkins and light stretching) and the teams were selected.

    First game was a shorter warmup game where the Foreskins prevailed over with some superior passing and long range caches on the back field. Meanwhile the team with an extra man decided to use them as a sub and prevailed with some short quick movement down the field.

    Second game- The foreskins turned our to be to strong and took the championship. MVP performance from Snip with some insane passing skills.

    YHC is thinking we need to run this back again sometime in the fall. We may need to start recruiting coaches and allow them to draft / recruit teams…NO NIL MONEY! thoughts?!

    Announcements-

    Sign up to go to the bridge. Small commitment and big reward of helping others get back on their feet. Contact Upchuck for details.

    New AO coming to Magnolia green 8/28- tell your friends

    Pickleball tournament- contact Oyster ( the king of pickleball)

    YHC took us out in prayer

  • Three Sloggers

    YHC thought it might be a low turnout due to the preceding weekend’s Homegrown race (great job by the way), but with minutes to spare a couple cars came racing in and off we went.

    Route – the flattest running route from Bettie you can find – to Robious Landing, around the loop, back to Bettie and around the bus loop. Two times over for around 3.8 miles.

    Thanks to Elwood and Lone Wolf for making it out. Lone Wolf has been crushing it after a multi-year absence until last Monday. Way to go. Great to run with them both as we all had a similar speed this morning. YHC had thought about another route but with the slightly achy bones and a couple dudes expressing their introduction back to running, we kept it nice, flat and sloggin through the morning humidity. -Singer

  • Itty Bitty Biceps

    15 grown boys got their week started off at The Alamo!

    WARMARAMA – Moseyed to the other side of the horseshoe. Circled up, gave the F3 Mission and got into it…SSH’s, Dead Man Hang, Arm Circles, LBC’s, Rosco’s Mom, Merkins, Wilson’s Wife and Fudd’s Wife.

    The THANG – Moseyed across the street, down the hill, through the tunnel and popped out the other side. On the way to the first site, we jazzed up the jog by rotating 90 degrees at every tree along the way. This created a mix of running, side-shuffling and bernie-ing.

    COP 1: The PAX took their position around the perimeter of the newly-discovered playground. The monkey bars served as pull up bars for 2 PAX members at a time while rest of the PAX side-crawled around the perimeter with hands on the curb. Once the pull ups were complete, the PAX member would head to the back of the line and the next 2 popped up from the front for their turn on the monkey bars.

    • Round 1: (5) Pull Ups while PAX moved counter-clockwise around the perimeter.
    • Round 2: (5) Pull Ups while PAX moved clockwise around the perimeter.
    • Round 3: (5) Pull Ups while PAX executed incline/decline Merkins.

    COP 2: After a quick mosey, YHC called for a BLIMP on the way back to the clubhouse.

    • B: (5) Berpies
    • L: (10) Lunges, Double-Count
    • I: (15) Imperial Walkers, Double-Count
    • M: (20) Merkins
    • P: (25) Plank Jacks

    COP 3: Ring of Fire!

    • Round 1: PAX hugged a tree while (10) various SQUAT exercises were completed.
    • Round 2: PAX completed various AB exercises.
    • Round 3: PAX completed various MERKIN’s.

    Slow mosey back for numbers, names, announcements and prayers/wins.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    • Ultimate Frisbee Tournament – Tuesday, August 6th at No Toll. Sign up on Slack!
    • NEW AO ALERT!! – Wednesday, August 28 at Magnolia Green. Show up and show out!

    PRAYERS/WINS

    • WIN – Blacktop’s two sons were baptized yesterday! Let’s goooo!!!!
    • PRAYER – YHC’s family planning.

    Thanks for letting me lead, Boys! I’m so thankful to be a part of this group of men. Stay strong!

  • Tuckahoe Hangover?

    A quartet of the finest looking chaps embraced the sunny and 70 conditions to start their weeks off strong. 5.30 hit in mid-conversation with the PAX soon realizing that no on had signed up to lead. Q rotation was called with Faceplant leading off. Here is how things went down.

    Faceplant Q: Mosey around the carpool loop for numerous laps. Stopping at each lap for variety of exercises and stretching routines typically in conversation. No stragglers this morning, so off we continue down Lindsay. Love Hill – partner runs to the top of the hill while lunges, bear crawl and broad jump burpees are performed. 1 round each followed by mosey to the top. Q is passed to…

    Pigskin Q: Mosey over to the Wall of Pain for Pigskin signature beatdown. Cadence count of Airpress, Inverted Hipslaps, 15 Donkey Kicks. Milkers, Australian Mountain Climbers, 15 Donkey Kicks. Mohammed Ali’s, Inverted Toe Taps, 15 Donkey Kicks. Q is passed….

    Whitesnake Q: Mosey to the top of the blacktop to examine the perimeter via 4 corners. Round 1 included 10 HR merkins, 20 squats, 30 WWII’s, 40 2 count mountain climbers. Round 2 – 10 2 count American Hammers, 20 V-ups, 30 LBC’s, 40 SSH’s. Q is passed…

    Last Call Q: Blacktop 11’s. Start with 1 monkey humper followed by 10 merkins across the blacktop. Wosey to the carpool loop for numbers, names, prayers. YHC took us out.

    NMS: Great Hot Potato Q with everyone adding their own bit of spice to the mix. Good mumble chatter consisting of Pigskins’ world travels, Faceplants AARP membership and BRR training. Many Hoedown regulars must be recovering from their takeover travels or getting the final swings if for the upcoming Pickleball tourney. Hot Potato’s are always fun but particularly brutal with Pigskin’s wall of pain. Great work today fellas.

  • What is the Actual Definition of Third Base?

    Six hombres of The Gloom circled up and rolled out for the latest edition of DaVille. Temperatures were 70 and sunny. According to the two ladies spying on our workout, the following might have happened:

    Mosey around the parking lot 1x.

    Circle up for the COP.
    SSHs x50 (4-count)
    Dead Man Hang
    Fudd’s Wife
    Right leg high. Left hand high (if you got it). Left leg high (if you got it)
    Left leg high. Right hand high (if you got it). Right leg high (if you got it)

    Wilson’s Wife
    Pigeon right, then pigeon left.
    Hand release merkins x20
    LBCs x20
    WWIIs x10
    Copperhead Squats (x10)
    Imperial Walkers (x10)
    Hillbillies (x10)

    Mosey over there.

    Touch a Tree. Partner up. Rounds of 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2. Hello Dolly, something else, squats, gas pumps, and burpees

    Mosey to front of the parking lot. Partner up. Dora 50/50 (merkins), 100 (squats), 150 (4-count SSHs).

    Mosey to the other side of the parking lot to do a Prostitute. 4 corners, but always return to the start, repeating each exercise until the group has built up to 40. 10 merkins (1st base), 20 squats (2nd base), 30 (4-count) LBCs (3rd base), and 40 flutter kicks (you have scored).

    30 seconds to go, BTTVSF.

    Numbers, names, and Phonics took us out.

    Announcements:

    Prayers for Corned Beef’s boss’ family. Boss has lost both mom and dad in the last year.

    Rugby. Wednesday’s at 6:30 and Sunday’s at noon. Tuckahoe Middle School (one of the back fields?). TOUCH (not tackle). See Boo Boo for details.

    The Bridge is coming together. Studs from all over F3RVA putting forward their time and efforts to help the guys reforming their lives at The Bridge Ministry in Buckingham. More information to come. But, it’s an All-Star cast of F3’s finest.

    NMS: Backblast title comes from a PAX member who, upon completing 2nd Base, commented to YHC, “What exactly is the definition of 3rd base? I mean, in high school, we had ideas of what we would call it, but none of us actually did anything.” Yep.

    Upchuck spits the bit.

  • The Second Annual Homegrown (you get what you pay for) Half (& 10K + 5K) 

    The long awaited weekend arrived without much fanfare. Just a bunch of blokes and a single lass gathered early at a bustling Robious Landing Park, while YHC & Rosie pulled in just in time (after a prolonged morning of sign placing and water station setup) to hit the roads at 6am. 

    This is what it looked like:

    To make up for the new routes that reduced altitude gain, the Pax were asked to Bernie Sanders Twin Team and make it a proper CSAUP. Few felt obligated, so compliance was limited. SHAME! 

    The weak link for the day was the signage:

    • The meandering routes through multiple SOJ neighborhoods caused a bit of turmoil. 
    • And despite the well-intentioned directional guidance via distance-colored signs, YHC planted them with one post instead of two, causing them to swivel and point in random directions throughout the course. 
    • Finally, the Pax was forced to navigate a complicated signage landscape; choosing their adventure between the F3 Homegrown races, Dragon Boat Racing, and a Crab Feast put on by the American Legion. 

    Everyone made it back to the flag so we’ll consider it all a success. 

    A special thanks to all of the helpers: 

    • Snacks & Breakfast: Gumbo
    • Route Masters: DTH (5K), Chaplain (10K), Boberry (1/2) 
    • Water Donation: Honeymoon
    • Setup & General Guidance: Rosie

    And the finishers:

    • 10K – Mudslide, Wedding Singer, House Party, Katniss, Lighthouse, Gypsy, Chaplain, Pacer
    • 5K – DTH, Rosie, Corned Beef, Broadway, NTB, ChooChoo, Banksy, Spit (x4 kids), Greg (FNG & Friend of ChooChoo) 
    • 1/2 – Doozy BoBerry, Anthrax, Tobit, Rosetta, Hardywood, Gumbo, Big Rig
    • Other: Don Draper – 9 miles, Christy – 10 miles

    We didn’t do a COT since each race group finished at different times so the FNGs weren’t named (Christy & Greg)… but it was a jolly good time had by all, so thanks to everyone for making it out.

    Let’s do it again next year!  

    Prayer Request:  My dad’s birthday is (was?) Tuesday, August 3rd, and it’s the first one without him. I’d definitely appreciate a few thoughts and prayers as I make my way through the week.