Category: Richmond, VA

  • Early Morning Shavasana

    A pair of SOJ Brogiis braved the hostilities across the river to get some limbering exercises in before many had risen from their warm slumber. The call went out for Broga late Tuesday as ideal conditions were enjoyed. Shoulders, hips, hammys and back were the emphasis today. Warrior II, Cobra, Peacock and the always popular pigeon were widely enjoyed followed by an elongated Shavasana. Well done Chappy. Thank you for encouraging me this morning.

  • Not a Takeover but a nice visit

    4 runners and a four legged one plus 2 Ruckers hit the street of Atlee for another tomato morning

    Runners headed out to Atlee station and ran around the new asst. living facility, under the flyover tunnel follow by the trail loop in Cool Spring East and finished with the Rutland loop for 4 miles

    Ruckers got their 5 am start, stop by the AO at 5:30 in case of any late Ruckers and did their thing

    Enjoyed having Handshake join us!

  • I swear benches are over there

    Seven strong came out to Twin Team on a perfect Friday morning. Some were expecting a Kettlebell friendly beatdown but Westhoe brought 4 at stole Chaplain’s Q. Upchuck got us started:

    COP: Imperial Walkers, Dead man hang, Calves stretch, merkins, LBCs.

    The THANG: 11s with Dips in front of school on bench, merkins in back of school on the smoke break benches. Hand Q to EF Hutton:

    2 rounds of alternating Step ups. Mosey to front of school. Lunge in assorted range of directions around student gardens. Over to bus loop for Ark loader: Bear crawls, crawl bears, bunny hops, Couponless Murder Bunnies, Gorilla crawls. Hand over Q to Hornydo.

    Mosey to back of school for 4 corners: 10 burpees, 15 HRMs, 20 Jump Squats, 25 Heels2Heaven. Few rounds of Pickle Pounders, then back to flag for 3 min of Mary.

    NMS: Another nice morning for some October Ghostflag Q stealing challenge. Even better when the Q starting off has a vague idea about the AO. YHC gassed himself trying to keep up with Hutton on the bear crawls. Time to start thinking of Celebrity mashup challenge options. YHC has dibs on: Nick Walker, Texas Ranger.

  • Gobble Gobble

    10 Wild Turkeys arrived for the Tour of New Market. Let’s Go.

    Warmarama:
    1 mile run through the streets of New Market
    Helicopters, Arm Circles, DQ, Imperial Walkers, Ukrainian Solders, Merkins, LBC, American Hammers.

    The Thing:
    Lamp1: 1 Burpees
    Lamp2: 2 Burpees
    Lamp3: 3 Burpees
    Lamp4: 4 Burpees
    Lamp5: 10 SSH
    Lamp6: 20 SSH
    Lamp7: 30 SSH
    Lamp8: 40 SSH
    Lamp9: 10 Mtn Climbers
    Lamp10: 10 Mtn Climbers
    Lamp11: 10 Mtn Climbers
    Lamp12: 10 Mtn Climbers
    Lamp13: 10 LBC
    Lamp14: 20 LBC
    Lamp15: 30 LBC
    Lamp 16: 40 LBC
    Lamp17: 10 Leg Lifts
    Lamp18: 10 Leg Lifts
    Lamp 19: 10 Leg Lifts
    Lamp 20: 10 Box Cutters
    Lamp 21: 10 Box Cutters
    Lamp 22: 10 Box Cutters
    Lamp 23: 20 American Hammers
    Lamp 24: 20 American Hammers
    Lamp 25: 20 American Hammers
    Partner Up
    Lamp 26: 20 PLT (switch)
    Lamp 27: 20 PLT (switch)
    Lamp 28: 20 PLT (switch)
    Lunge to the next LP
    Sprint to the next LP
    Bernie past 2 LP
    Partner Up
    Lamp 29: 10 Dying Cock Roaches (switch)
    Lamp 30: 10 Dying Cock Roaches (switch)
    Lamp 31: 10 Dying Cock Roaches (switch)
    Mosey BTTF
    Ring of Fire

    Numberama: Namerama:
    Vagabond took us out: Prayers to Warby, Hermie and to all the PAX.

    NMS: Well done Boys. We made it Friday! Thanks for letting me lead.

    Announcements:
    Food Ruck – See Slack
    SOJ – 2nd F Lunch, Last Friday of the month at Rusty Taco 11:45am (Westchester)

    Oyster

  • Bad News for Those Prepared for Disappointment

    Ten running redwoods embarked on a fun and likely route. After discussing the various winter gear making its way into the Pax’s rotation, off we went.

    East on Grove, North on Antrim, West on Monument, South on Willow Lawn, and West on Patterson. 4s take a left on Westview, 5s on Maple, and 6s on St Chris. Everyone returns on Grove with 5s/6s doing a lap around the school block.

    Bone Thugs took us out.

    Announcements:

    Thoughts go to Bone Thugs as he embarks on his half marathon this weekend.

  • Beep Beep

    A thin layer of gloom hovered over the parking lot of Huguenot High as YHC waited for the PAX to arrive for the second NTB beatdown of the week. Low turnout was to be expected given the option of an Orange Crush birthday bash, but after a silver sedan took a lap through the parking lot and then exited back onto Forrest Hill, YHC knew it was going to be the ultimate “you vs. you” morning. Mosey on!

    Warmarama at the flag pole.

    Brickyard 400 – Mosey around to the amphitheater for a Snuff-inspired pyramid.

    • 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-2 rep scheme, moving up/down the brick steps each set for a total of 50 reps.
    • Squats, Merkins, Ball Dippers, WWIIs, LBCs, Flutter Kicks, Carolina Dry Docks = 400 reps

    Beep ($#&*%) Test – Mosey down to the football field for YHC’s inaugural beep test. While traditionally conducted on a 20m interval, YHC did the math and shuttled between the goal-line and 21-yard line which is close enough. Scored a 7.9. Finished with a cooldown lap around the track and then mosey BTTF for a few minutes of self-reflection and prayer for the PAX.

  • 1620

    7 men met and they worked out with kettlebells. That’s what we do at the Circus. The theme was 16 for my daughter’s birthday and 20 for my years as a married man.

    COP: DQs, DMH, Merkins, MCs, add in a little Suzanne Somers since she passed (I did not make them do 76 of them thankfully), LBCs. Mosey for some 1620s.

    Sit and Press do 2 sets of 8 and 2 sets of 10. Mosey a bit.

    Then Bench press 16 and 20. Mosey and repeato the 16 and 20 with Lawnmowers pulls (which I called dumbbell rows – who calls them that?), Step ups 1 count, High pulls and Finish with 2 count flutter kicks with coupon.

    Mosey to bus loop. Line up. Pacer runs to end of bus loop and back. Others do burpees, bicep curls, overhead presses, swings, LBCs and coupon squats. SOS the second time with bear crawls and bernies as the pacer and the third time lunges and run back as pacer.

    Finish with prayer. Please pray for Whitesnake’s father n law as he grieves the loss of his M and goes through the pains of needing specialized care.

    Thanks for letting me lead and for finding a way for the Jets to beat the Eagles even without a decent QB.

    Fireman Ed

  • Burpee’s for all

    5 bootcampers and 4 runners made their way to SOT to see what Doozy had in store, we won’t talk about the runners but according to the conspiracy camera duct taped to Hardywoods van this is what happened.

    Mosey to the Bus lot for COP

    DQ’s, Helicopters, 10 burpees, 10 WWII’s, 9 Burpees, 9 WWII’s (Hermie starts to see a pattern) all the way to 1

    Mosey to the front of the school.

    33 doors lets do it

    Start at door 1 with American Hammers, Door 2 Squats – so on and so on until all 33 doors are done

    Little time left so why not try to get some 11’s in curb to curb

    Start with 10 dips on the benches, Lunge to the opposite curb for 1 incline merkin reverse Lunges back

    Time called BTTF

    Numbers / Names Hardywood took us out

    NMS:

    NTB said no Burpees at No Toll, Not on my watch sir.

    Originally YHC had planed to do Burpees and American Hammers at the doors but cooler heads prevailed.

  • Laughter in the Gloom

    8 aspiring comedians descended on Mary Munford to get their sweat on and enjoy a Fudd beatdown. Here’s how things progressed:

    The Thang: Mosey to COP at the Northwest corner of the property.

    SSH x 50

    Arm circles small forward x 20

    Arm circles small backward x 20

    Arm circles big forward x 10

    Arm circles medium backward x 10

    Merkins IC x 10

    Hello Dollys x 20

    Speed skaters x 20

    Maybe something else

    Mosey to the map of the country on the blacktop for various exercises done to the music of Sixwire’s “The Beast” which is one continuous succession of 22 different songs done with instrumentals only (mostly guitars) and ends with…..you guessed it, Free Bird. The PAX did 2 rounds of the following exercises, transitioning at every song: Burpees, SSH, LBC’s, Merkins, Squat jumps, Flutter kicks, Alternating lunges, Speed skaters, Wide grip merkins, Hello Dolly’s, Plank.

    Mosey to the pull up bars for 2 rounds of the following:

    3 pullups

    6 hanging leg raises

    9 merkins

    12 Lt Dans

    15 SSH

    18 LBC’s

    Partner up for 2 rounds of the following: partner one bernie sanders around the track and P2 does 5 burpees and runs after P1. When they meet, the switch places and P2 does 5 burpees and chases P1. Rinse and repeat until lap is completed.

    Mosey back to the SF for various Mary exercises.

    Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

    NMS:

    So many titles could have been chosed for this backblast due to the plethora of jokes and laughs that occurred today in the gloom. YHC couldn’t decide on one so I didn’t. For starters, today was TYA and Saab’s first bootcamp workout since going out on IR, and YHC was honored that they chose today to do so. Saab was quick to return to his cantakerous, contrarian ways by stopping during the first COP exercise, SSH’s, after about 20 and just standing there for a while. Bodos followed suit a bit and the rest of the PAX powered all the way through to 50. During the first round of arm circles, Saab voiced his displeasure with this exercise, which prompted YHC to add 3 more rounds, to everyone’s enjoyment and amusement.

    The Beast song/exercise seemed to be well received by the PAX and mumblechatter was high. Watching Saab do the speed skaters was the highlight of my week. Instead of swinging his arms speed skater style, he spread his arms and hands and did a curtsy with each movement. Having two daughters that take ballet, YHC was amazed at Saab’s form. It was as good as these professionals (see link: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=ballerina+curtsey&type=E211US714G0#id=1&vid=45584271313d1c06a3f7a797cf97d7b4&action=click)

    The track work was a nice balance to the bootcamp exercises from the first two stations, and everyone seemed gassed by the end. This was one of the most enjoyable workouts that YHC has attended in some time. The laughing started before we even launched and didn’t finish until the end. It reminded YHC of the early days of F3RVA when everything was new and exciting and funny as hell. I wish I could bottle this and take it around to every AO to be opened every morning. Alas, we’ll have to rely on each other.

    Given the job struggles that YHC has endured recently, today’s fellowship was exactly what the doctor ordered. Thanks as always men for letting me lead. I love you guys and appreciate you more than I’ll ever be able to put into words.

    Fudd

  • Stevie Wonder let us down, but we still had a party.

    13 dudes ready to party hardy joined YHC for a little birthday celebration. October 19th, marks another pass around the sun for YHC and, per usual, a few fun birthday games were created for the PAX.

    Mozey to the basketball court for a little Warm-a-rama –

    YHC had a great idea to use Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday song for a little Sally Up/Sally Down action, but the JBL didn’t work, the sound off of YHC’s phone just wasn’t cutting it and squats/burpees combo was well…dumb. So, an audible was called about 30 seconds into that disaster. Note, YHC’s M told him that this was a stupid idea at the kitchen table last night. Death to anyone that tells her that she was right. Other exercises –

    • Side Straddle Hops
    • Jazzercise
    • Dead man Hangs
    • Merkins
    • Helicopters
    • Alphabet Abs, but instead of spelling the Alphabet, PAX spelled out Happy Birthday OC.

    Mozey to the tennis courts for Birthday Suit ’47’s.

    Starting with YHC in tennis court #1, an exercise was called and the first person to 47 1) gets to choose the next exercise and 2) must shed an article of clothing. All good exercises chosen and it was dark enough that the school’s cameras surely didn’t pick up on any nudity of the PAX. The kernel of this idea is credited to DTH; I wasn’t able to upload the PowerPoint presentation that he sent to me, but it did recommend a 12 count burpees/merkins/smurf jack thing.

    After the Birthday Suit ’47’s, line up on the baseline for some shots, burpees and sprints. YHC supplied the red solo cups and poured a hearty shot of Tequila (cleverly disguised as Gatorade) for each member of the PAX. PAX downed the shot, did a burpee and sprinted back and forth across the tennis courts. Two rounds, two shots and then off to the football field for some 1976ers.

    Starting at the goal line, complete 19 Squats, 19 Two Count Lunges and 19 Monkey Humpers moving 10 yards forward after completion. Stop at the 50. Candidly, a bit tougher on the legs than YHC would have liked. Starting on the 50, complete 7 Merkins and 6 Wide Grip Merkins proceeding 10 yards forward until the goal line is reached. Mozey back to the flag for…

    19 Burpees OYO and a plank hold while singing Happy Birthday to OC to close ‘er out. Good times.

    Announcements:

    • Oyster’s paying lunch at Rusty Taco on October 27th.
    • Ruck for Food on November 11th

    Prayer Requests:

    • Warby and Hermie – send ’em a text to let them know you’re thinking of them.

    YHC took us out.

    Man, YHC is sooo grateful to have been able to start the first day of 47 day with 13 great dudes. YHC loves to laugh and mix in a bit of exercise – mission accomplished this morning. Thank you.