Category: Richmond, VA

  • 10 Year Triple Check

    After months of telling Lab Rat I would eventually post, on Tuesday, May 2, 2016, it was time. There was lightning outside. There’s no way anybody will be outside at Atlee High School exercising. As YHC pulled into the parking lot a few minutes after 5:30 AM, there were 3 circled up doing jumping jacks. At the end of the bootcamp, no nickname for YHC was determined. When YHC posted again on May 9, the name “Phonics” had been given.

    10 years later, YHC shows up to DaPile on this Saturday, May 2, 2026 to see 2 preparing to begin the bootcamp without him. YHC spoke up and said this is my F3 anniversary and follow me. Off they went with several 20 poind dumbbells, a 25 pound plate, several jump ropes, and and several bands.

    Mosey to the side entrance of Atlee High School

    COP: SSHs, Helicopters, Don Quixotes, Arm Circles, Reverso, Merkins.

    Triple Check #1- Timer will do side steps with the band, one arm bent over rows, switch arms when timer turns around, Power cleans with dumbbells. (Audibled when timer broke the band and switched to lunges.)

    Triple Check #2 – Wall Sits, Curls, Timer bear crawls

    Mosey to blacktop

    Triple Check #3 – Timer Jump Ropes either 100 times or to end of blacktop and back, Pull-ups, Arm twist (pull) with bands.

    Mosey back to the Shovel Flag

    COT: Numberarama, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, YHC took us out

    NMS:

    YHC has really enjoined his 10 years with F3 and is grateful for Lap Rat EHing him.. From who was there today, it’s possible that YHC would not have gotten to know Opus and would have only know Corned Beef from Cross Country. Since our kids have all graduated, its likely we would have lost touch with each other. YHC hopes for many more years of F3 beatdowns to come.

    Announcements

    • Memorial Day Convergence – Dogpile at 7 AM.

  • 9 is the perfect number

    YHC had planned exercises on the field in front of The Carillion until YHC realized it was Arts in the Park weekend and YHC knew he needed to audible.

    The clock struck 0600 and we made our way down the road. We knew Hitchiker was coming to the workout the way only himself and Fudd can, late, so we moseyed towards him.

    We did a COP with various exercises. **Lets it be known, today is the day the American Civil Wars were invented. It’s a Heels to Heaven followed immediately by a WWI**. This started with Upchuck joking with a name and followed by YHC making it a reality…

    Next up was a Triple Check. Is there a better exercise than a Trip Check with 3 groups?…. No! P1 Runs to the Gum Tree and back P2 Hand Release Merkins P3 WWII’s.

    SORA time. Solo-Dora. 30 Deep Squats followed by 25 SSH’s, 40 of something I don’t remember followed by 25 SSH’s, 50 Caroline Dry Docks followed by 25 SSH’s.

    Mosey over to the Amphitheater. 2 reps of an exercise on each step on the way down, 3 reps of a different exercise on each step on the way up, 4 reps of different exercise on each step on the way down, 5 reps of a different exercise on each step on the way up.

    Circle of Doom. Bernie around the circle. Run forward around the circle (at this point a 3rd grader raced a 51 year old child). Bear Crawl across the circle, Crab walk back.

    Circle up for a round of Merkins. Each man calls a type of Merkins and we complete 5 OYO. YHC ended up calling Hitchhiker Merkins because he didn’t <insert eyeroll>

    Mosey back to the flag for 2 different Ab exercises to finish up.

    Announcements – YHC has made the executive decision that the Memorial Day Convergence will be at Dogpile at 0700 on Memorial Day. Browns Island is shut down for construction so we will audible.

    Prayer Requests. YHC’s M’s Cousins 2.0 has been battling Cancer for 2.5 years. She just recently turned 11 and the end is rapidly approaching. Hug your children and love your families. Roger Rogers FIL is in Hospice. Wojo’s Mom recently broke her hip, Fudd’s sister Mary is battling Cancer,

    NMS – Dogpile is my true love. There is no more capable and beautiful AO. She is always open and eager to bring both pleasure and pain. We are very fortunate to have a AO like Dogpile. Thanks for Bootleg and Luigi for allowing YHC to Q. We look forward to their Co-Q next Saturday.

  • May I Borrow Your Cheeseboard…

    A formidable 14 descended upon Mary to run, bike, or walk…

    Saab abides

    Route:
    All heading in direction of Patterson then heading west with 4 & 5 milers starting on Westmoreland and 6 milers starting on Commonwealth

    Note the 4M does not go all the way to the bottom of Paxton

    4.2 mile route
    5.1 mile route
    5.9 mile route

  • Monkey humpers near the Yard Sale

    16 Pax regulars including a spirited young new regular went to Short Pump to workout and clean litter from last night’s workouts.

    COP: DQs, jazzercise, merkins, arm circles, cherry pickers, freddies. Mosey to football field.

    Cumulative go ten yards, do 10 of an exercise. Then 10 and 20 yards 20 exercises, 10, 20 and 30, 10, 20 30 and 40 and lastly 10, 20, 30,40 and 50. Exercises were merkins, WWIIs, 2 count mountain climbers, jump squats and SSHs.

    Mosey to other side and repeato with 10 HRMs (50 total), 20 Irish hammers (80 total), 30 Carolina Dry docks (90 total), 40 squats (80 total) and 50 LBCs (50 total). 80 Irish hammers suc%s pretty bad.

    Mosey to field next to yard sale. Dora with 50 burpees, 150 American hammers and 250 monkey humpers. I did not look at the yard sale to see if the patrons were admiring our monkey humper form. I did notice a number of more mature folk; that may be what Pigskin would be doing if he didn’t kick so much a#s. Mosey back to home base.

    Triple check with balls to the wall, flutter kicks and a run around most of the parking lot. Finished with DQs, a dancing exercise suggested by Fire Chicken and Dead Man Hang.

    Closed in prayer for Charlotte, Mary and those looking for work and/or suffering from the drought. I am told that Upchuck may be looking for a replacement for the Bridge. Coffeeteria was good as always. Thanks for letting me lead!

    Fireman Ed

  • Loquacious

    4 of the most chatty HIMs in RVA plus the Q converged at Mary for a 45 minute beatdown. Here’s what happened:

    COP in the parking lot: warmup and stretch. Mosey to Picnic tables

    Picnic Tables: 3 rounds of 3 excercisesx10. Incline Merkins, Dips, Wingnuts. Mosey to field, stopping at trees along the way for Squats.

    Treeline: Lunge 2 trees, Bernie Sanders back 1 tree. At each tree perform 10 merkins, 20 WW2s, 30 squats. Mosey to Pull up bar

    Pull ups: Each man hops up for 5 pulls up, Q calls other excercises while waiting. 2 rounds. Mosey back to flag

    COP: end with circle of fire, ab excercises.

    COT

    NMS: Still dealing with some foot pain, so grabbed the Q to minimize running. only 5 PAX today, but 4 of us talk enough to reach an equivalent of the word count for a Pax of 10. Good times, good laughs, good workout!

  • This one goes to 11

    A cool, overcast morning with a tight-knit group of 5 rock n’ roll veterans. YHC did not show up with much in the tank, but we ended up having a tough beatdown anyway. 7 o’clock. Time to do what we came to do.

    Mosey to the tennis courts. Standard warm up, a little shorter the usual.

    11s across the tennis courts. Imperial squat walkers and scrunchy frogs. Nice.

    A brief mosey past the dog park to the first pavilion. Deep dish called triceps dips on the tables, partner runs some distance and back, then swaps out. Three rounds.

    Mosey into the woods on one of the trails. Steamer calls exercise bank. The PAX total their reps together to achieve a cumulative 80 merkins, 200 crunches, 300 monkey humpers.

    Mosey further into the woods. At the top of a steep hill, I made the mistake of asking Melville what was next. 11s, again. Burpees at the top, hand release merkins at the bottom. Melville misread my joke that we should bernie from the bottom of the hill to the top, and that became an audible. About halfway through the 11s, Melville swapped hill bernies for walking lunges. Brutal. Thanks, Melville, for turning up the heat and making us work!

    Longish mosey BTTF. Perfect timing.

    Names, numbers, announcements.

    Memorial Day convergence going down, location TBD. The choice is probably between dogpile and Brown’s Island if I had to guess. Keep an eye on slack.

    I never regret attending a workout, but I do regret fart sacking. When my battery is low, there are always other PAX at a beatdown who have a full charge. They challenge me and restore my fire. Keep doing hard things, keep challenging the PAX and yourself. When you call an exercise and hear groans, pat yourself on the back.

    Thanks for letting me lead you!

  • 40th Birthday Q

    YHC entered the decade of silence turning 40 on April 29th. 15 HIMs came out to help celebrate a few days late. According to the bottle of Old Forrester 86 Proof (in honor of the year 1986), this is how it went down:

    Warmup: Mosey to the bottom of the hill and back to the parking lot for various IC exercises.

    COP 1: YHC was born 4/29/86 therefore we completed a variation of a Triple Check:

    P1 – 4 Burpees, P2 – 29 Coupon Curls, P3 – 86 LBCs – Hold plank for your group to finish and then run to the bottom of hill and back to the parking lot. Rotate until each partner has completed all exercises.

    Ran this back with 4 Blockees, 29 Merkins and 86 Flutter Kicks

    COP 2: “Build a Bar” – To earn your shot glass, chocolate bottle and liquid of choice (Bourbon vs Body Armor) you had to complete the following:

    Foward Lunges

    Up/Down Planks

    Tuck Jumps

    One Leg Squats

    No Cheat Merkins

    S print up Satan’s Hill

    40 Carolina Dry Docks

    Round 1 x 10 reps, Round 2 x 20 reps

    COP 3: “Build a Bank”

    4 – Mike Tyson Push Ups each

    29 – Navy Seal Burpees combined

    1986 – Squats combined

    Numbers, Names, Shots of liquid of choice for a toast to 40, Announcements (Memorial Day Convergence Location TBD, Boys of Summer at Timberwolf starts 5/7), Prayer Requests (Wildcat positive news with scans, Hermey’s son positive news with scans, Individual in Rountrey who loss wife recently)

    Thanks to all of you for coming out this morning, despite temperatures trying to match my new age! Blessed to be a part of this brotherhood! Cheers to 40 and no more hate!

  • These Frisbees suck

    9 disc golf champions gathered on the BWES grounds for a lounge around beatdown

    5:30 mosey to the front door for a quick no counting stretch COP

    Mosey to find a bag of frisbees

    A flag (end point) is called the frisbees are thrown, PAX run to get their frisbee do a merkin for the number of stroke you’re on. If your frisbee is caught you get a 3 merkin penalty, if someone tries to catch you frisbee and misses they get a 3 merkin penalty. First HIM to reach the flag names the next exercise to replace the merkins. Pad Thai gets the award for most first finishes, Deep Dish gets the award for loosing a frisbee and Melville gets the award for best speed walker.

    Good times had by all

    Numbers / Names Pad Thai took us out

    NMS: This proved to be a little less loungy than YHC had intended it to be, by about the third round we were sweating and OC slowed it down with a power walk rather than a run to your frisbee. And yes these frisbees do suck but they only set YHC back $0.15 each

  • Tour of the Hood

    6 dudes posted for a tour de Westham with Fudd.

    COP – various exercises to get warm. Mosey down Lindsay, right on West Drive Circle, run to #305 and do some burpees as YHC grew up in that house. Mosey up West Drive, right on Lakewood. Do some more burpees. Mosey down Lakewood to Forest, cross over to the Third ancillary lot, grab the blocks for a triple check. P1 runs the loop, Pax 2 & 3 do block swings and curls.

    Rifle carry around the lot, stopping at most of the painted arrows to do a few burpees. Put the blocks back and mosey to the VSF for 8ish minutes of Mary. YHC took us out.

    Thanks for letting me lead fellas. Enjoyed it, as always.

    Fudd

  • Breaking Bread – Sunday edition

    Why: Breaking Bread is a medical respite program serving individuals experiencing homelessness who need a safe place to recover from medical conditions. The Daily Planet provides medical care, support, and a stable environment for healing.

    To help meet this need, volunteers are essential in providing meals for patients during their stay. F3 Richmond answered that call several years ago and has been providing meals on the last weekend of every month ever since.

    Menu: Pork BBQ Sliders, Coleslaw, Rolls, Assorted Chips, Pickles and Cupcakes for Dessert.

    Moleskin: The M and the 2.0 were nowhere to be found for this meal prep. YHC took the easy path. Picked up a Pork Butt, threw it on the smoker, and 10 hours later shredded and put into trays. Couple bags of coleslaw, coleslaw dressing, into another tray. Couple of bags of Rolls, jar of pickles, BBQ sauces, hot sauce, bag of assorted chips, and a pack of cupcakes. Let’s Go!!

    We had 3 join us for dinner, some decided to sleep through dinner and 1 mentioned the taco’s that Upchuck brough the night before was the best taco’s she’s ever had. Wait until she eats this BBQ!!!

    Breaking Bread is on the Q sheet. Hope to see you on it!

    Oyster