Category: Richmond, VA

  • Too humid and rainy for paid workouts

    4 fearless faithful found a completely empty AO to play with by ourselves. So we did:

    COP: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Don Qs, Flutterkicks, Reverse Crunches, Merkins.

    Over to PES lot for Dora 123: 100 Merkins, 200 Donkey Kicks, 300 Jump Squats (audible to 100 for time). Over to PES playground: 5 rounds of 6 Pullups & 10 Squats. 3 sets of 25 PLTs.

    Down to Jerkin Gym: 4 rounds of 8 Jerkins. 40 Reverse Crunches. Across field then round of Donkey-Ups. Up to blacktop for rounds across including: lunges, Bear Crawls, and Crab walk. Back to flag and some mary to close out.

    NMS: Light crowd this AM with Gypsy in quarantine, Handshake mia, and others on vacation. 4 who posted got after it. YHC tried to keep the PAX dry but drainage on the HBR fields is non-existent. The pay2play group was a no-show this morning, either too rainy or messy. They don’t know what they are missing as the bog down by the Jerkin Gym is always welcoming.

  • Ab-solutly fantastic!!!

    6 Abs of steel veterans showed up to No Toll to see what Jane Fonda had in store for them only to find Doozy with the Q.

    COP mosey to the Tennis courts, PAX saw a car rolling up on our way out so once the circle was formed and a body was spotted running to the parking lot a few yells where made and Florence joined in.

    DQ’s, Helicopters, Arm Pretzels, Weed Pickers, Imperial Walkers, Merkins

    Mosey to the parking lot

    Regular 4 corners (10) LBCs, (20) American Hammers, (30) Scrunchy Frogs, (40) Sugar Sticks

    Mosey to the pavilion

    Triple check – Partner 1 does bench crunches, partner 2 does knee slides, partner 3 runs across both fields (or one field twice)

    Mosey back to the parking lot

    Prostitute 4 corners same exercises as before but reverse the corners (10) Sugar Sticks, (20) Scrunchy Frogs, (30) American Hammers, (40) LBCs

    Mosey to the basketball court Bear crawl suicides with a LBC at each line and increasing by 1 crawl bear back to baseline until times up (per Doozy’s watch)

    BTTF – Numbers / Names DTH took us out

    NMS:

    As summer starts to wind down YHC decided to make it as much an Ab day as possible so the PAX can finish the beach body season strong. YHC finally broke down and bought a shovel and used an old flag that has been waiting to see the light of day again, YHC will be adding stickers from other regions that he visits.

  • Five-Finger Pivot

    A Formidable 15 faced elevation and complex geography. This is what transpired, more or less…

    Run out toward front of Robbins Center onto College Rd. Head upwards and jump on path near UR entrance. Jump onto Wheeler then to Ridge Top. Climb Ridge Top all the way to Patterson, to Three Chopt, then to Boatright. Take Boatright to Campus Drive. Proceed to climb the following as an out an back: Bostwick, Old Mill. Run down Tawano, take path through woods. 4’s return. 5’s/6’s turn left and take Ridgway to the top. 5’s return on Roselawn. 6’s backtrack then also climb Tapoan, then return.

    Saab abides

  • You Say That Like It’s A Bad Thing

    Ten strong for the newest edition of Hoedown, including a one-week veteran’s FNG.

    Mosey to basketball blacktop

    COP (IC)

    • Copperhead Squats
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Helicopters
    • SSHs
    • Merkins
    • Freddie Mercurys
    • Hello Dollys

    Jack Webb Legs

    • 1:4 Ratio up to 10:40 – Jump Squats and Monkey Humpers

    Mosey down Lindsay Dr and hang a right

    Triple Check

    • P1 – HRMs
    • P2 – Heels to Heaven
    • P2 – Run the circle counterclockwise

    Mosey back to Lindsay Dr

    Love Hill

    • P1 – Polar Bear, Lunge, Broadjump Burpees
    • P2 – Run up to Lindsay Ct intersection and back

    Mosey to Handrail Maze

    • Partner Jerkins 3×10

    Mosey to Horseshoe infield

    • PLTs 3×20

    Mary – Rosalitas, APDs

    Numberama, Nameorama, COT

    MOLESKIN

    Great to have Neutral’s 2.0 join us this morning.  The first one is the hardest.  YHC never wants to cause a splash of Merlot, but it is a little satisfying when the old dudes can show the young dudes what they can do.  Gomer Pyle was fired up doing his best Andrew Dice Clay impressions and UpChuck had a really good story about his lawyer this morning.  Perhaps he’ll tell it again at the next Puppy Pile.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Prayers for the turmoil in Afghanistan

    Teams SOJ/Tuckahoe need Field Day captains 9/18

    Third Annual First Inaugural Retreat 9/25 (cornhole sign up coming, get a partner now, preferably from a different nanoregion)

  • Island of Misfit Toys

    YHC grabbed the Q yesterday to ensure he would start the week right. 8 other gloom warriors did not need the Q for motivation and showed up anyway. According to the frogs this is what went down.

    COP- 20 each: SSH’s, LBC’s, 10 each, DQ’s, cherry pickers, Jazzercise, Helicopters, Imperial walkers, deadman hang (4 way), Merkins.

    Mosey to rock pile to pick up a coupon. 9 men = perfect numbers for triple checks. 1st run to otterdale stop sign, curls, overhead press, 2nd one run to top of lot do 10 incline merkins, front lat raises, triceps. 3rd one to top of Satan’s hill, hand release merkins and alternate between Dollies and flutters. Cut the last one a rotation short for time. Finished with 2 quick rounds of ring of fire merkins.

    Nice work out today boys. Getting some big numbers at Satan’s Hill. Hermie brought his son as the FNG. Keeping with the Rudolf theme Yukon Cornelius or for short welcome Yukon!!

    Prayer to our children going back to school may they be safe and healthy. Hermie took us out in prayer.

    Make today awesome gentlemen!!

  • Deluge-ional

    2 gluttons for punishment posted in a downpour at Rockwood Park to log their DDP. Here’s the rundown :

    Warmarama on basketball court :

    20 SSH IC

    10 Don Q’s IC

    10 Cherry Pickers IC

    10 Imperial Walkers IC

    THE THANG :

    On basketball court, perform Merkin Jax – Done in a 1:4 ratio : 1 merkin, 4 plank jax, 2 merkins, 8 plank jax, up to 5/20 and all the way back down 

    Jump squat holds – Together, perform jump squats counting down from 10 to 1. Then hold an Al Gore in helix counting down from 10 to 1. Repeato starting at 9 then 8, etc all the way down to 1. Surprise the PAX by holding the last Al Gore for 10 seconds.

    Mosey to stairs by baseball fields

    Grizzcalator – bear crawl up the stairs, stopping at each step to do a merkin

    Jacob’s Ladder – do seven sprints up the stairs with increasing reps of burpees at the top of the stairs each set. Start at 1 burpee and go up to 7 burpees.

    Mosey to baseball field next to stairs and line up in the outfield

    merkin ladder – Start with 20 merkins. Sprint 100 yards to other end of outfield. 19 merkins. Sprint back 100 yards to starting point. Repeato decreasing merkin count down to 1 merkin for a Total 210 merkins. 

    Mosey back to basketball court

    COP :

    1 minute of Flutters

    1 minute of WWII’s

    30 seconds of LBC’s

    DONE

    Numberama

    Name-arama

    COT :

    Prayers for Doozy’s 2.0 as she starts college at Coastal Carolina and for the family as they adjust to the first 2.0 leaving the nest.

    F3 movie night to watch Shang Chi first weekend in September. More details coming soon.

    If anyone needs access to the Q sheet so they can sign up to Q, DM Splinter on slack.

    NMMS :

    YHC is encouraged and challenged by the endurance of Doozy. YHC prays to be in that great of shape at 50. RESPECT

  • Deal with the Carillon

    A lively and plucky bunch, most of whom were looking for some relief of the humidity by way of a bicycle, showed up at Mary Munford’s Elementary School on Friday. It’s been really, really hot lately…like, the kind of heat that when you walk outside you just get mad. It’s August, so it’s really no one’s fault that it is so hot, but when someone recommended an Amateur RAMM Gears, it seemed to make sense to a good amount of people.

    YHC originally signed up to lead the PAX on a jog around the near west end…maybe a new route that no one would follow, maybe an old route that no one follow, maybe something that no one has any idea what it is. Upon hearing from Splinter on Thursday that there was an Amateur RAMM Gears on Friday, YHC figured most would be up for that and the runners would be a small number (as they’ve been lately at Munford).

    So YHC borrowed a bike from a buddy and woke up five minutes earlier than normal to tighten up the seat and get it into the car. Why didn’t I do all that the night before? I’m not sure, but I’ll keep that in mind this fall when I get on my 14yo so about being lazy.

    Or maybe I won’t.

    Anyway, shockingly, the bike didn’t originally fit in the back of the 2015 Honda Accord. Who saw that coming? After a few tries I decided to see if I could open the window and stick the wheels out. Sure enough, that worked. Eureka! Of course, that left 7 minutes to get to Munford, normally a 9 minute drive. So YHC did about 75 down River and up Cary…smart move.

    Fortunately, I didn’t get caught behind any lights or slow cars and pulled in with about 45 seconds to spare to give the runners…of which there were more than normal…the route. “Carillon”. That was met with some considerable consternation, for reasons passing understanding. YHC feels like it’s been a bit since we’ve run that nostalgic route.

    So off they go and YHC grabs his bike and begins the breeze feeling RAMM Gears Amateur hour. About 50 yards into the trip one of the more experienced Gear guys mentions that I have a flat tire and “You’re not going anywhere on that thing.”

    Nice.

    Dumped the bike, went for a reverse carillon run, YHC thinking I’d meet up with the regular carillon runners who, you know, theoretically should be running in my direction. Yet I never ran into them. No one saw that coming.

    Awesome to have 25 guys out there in some way shape or form. Next time, Saab, I’ll put together a new and intricate route that will make up for this one.

  • Removing the governor

    “We may look different on the outside, but under the hood we all have huge reservoirs of potential and a governor impeding us from reaching our maximum velocity… Impulse is driven by your mind’s desire for comfort, and it’s not telling you the truth.  It’s your identity trying to find sanctuary, not helping you grow.  It’s looking for status quo, not reaching for greatness or seeking wholeness”. -David Goggins

    7 PAX convened on the grounds of Timberwolf for some boot camp action. According the the sanitation expert we are still trying EH, the beat down went something like this.

    COP

    Mosey around the school to the bus lot for various warmerama exercises, including:

    • Side Straddle Hops
    • Michal Phelps
    • Dead Man Hang
    • Russian Soldiers
    • Collard Pickers
    • Scorpion Kicks

    The THANG

    Mosey to the track for a crack at the week 0 routine from last year’s IronPAX Challenge. It consisted of four rounds of:

    • 50 Squats
    • 40 WW2s
    • 30 Merkins
    • 20 Ball Dippers
    • 10 Burpees
    • Run a lap

    COP Part Deaux

    Mosey BTTF for some cool down stretching and 5 min of Mary with each PAX getting a turn calling an exercise.

    Numbers, Names, Announcements

    NMM

    YHC did not tell any PAX that they were doing one of the IronPAX Challenge workout routines today. This was intentional. We all have self imposed limits on what we are capable of achieving. In F3, personally, professionally and all other aspects of life. Not knowing that they were doing an intentionally tough workout, the PAX crushed it! It was an honor to lead.

  • “Everybody PLANK!”

    Veteran 2.0’s dragged their Dad’s from cozy fartsacks for a day in the park. Here’s how the animals got covered in fresh cut grass: 

    The THANG:

    COP #1:

    • Oreo pointed South, and the PAX moseyed to a grassy spot to warm up with a few standard IC reps 
    • Each 2.0 assisted by adding in some creative ideas, Somersaults being the most odd

    COP #2:

    • Disclaimer was provided each Dad would take a lead with the Potato, and Snuff was first to lay hands gently on the tepid earth fruit
    • Triple Check: LBC’s, Planks, and Run

    COP #3:

    • Snuff called a mosey to the Amphitheater for a Froggy Triple Check
    • P1 – Frog hops x4 steps (timer)
    • P2 – Froggy Humpers
    • P3 – Crunchy Frogs

    COP #4:

    • Potato was tossed to Splinter who organized Dad/2.0 teams for 2-3 rounds of running the Amphitheater loop while partner stayed in the bottom for exercise reps
    • YHC’s recollection of what exactly we did is getting fuzzy at this point since YHC was semi-successfully wrangling the two tiny 2.0’s to participate in some form/fashion

    COP #5:

    • Ascending the Amphitheater steps, each team rotated x5 dips with x3 step-ups on each step to the top
    • Then Splinter led the troop to the grass circle where ANIMALS was called, mostly zoo or aquarium types, and the PAX mimicked their movements across the space repeatedly…getting covered in freshly cut grass

    COP #6:

    • YHC believe’s Handshake took the reigns at this point with a mosey back to the top step of the Amphitheater 
    • Descend with alternated WWII & Merkin, x1 rep each step going down
    • YHC vaguely recalls something else being done in the pit before most folks were ready to call it quits

    Mosey BTTF for a Brief 3min of Mary by YHC, then circle up for COT:

    • Counterama # 9
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Comments)
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    NMS:  Already exhausted from the Dogpile Q, and with absolutely nothing planned for Puppypile, YHC was eternally grateful to Snuff, Splinter, and Handshake for their masterful potato handling. Their older boys did a phenomenal job leading the way, while YHC’s mini-2.0’s provided the entertainment. Oreo at one point grabbed an invisible clipboard and attempted a Q-coup to command the PAX from stage in what (I’m sure) would have been a brutal beatdown…but of course the young warrior has still much to learn… Pleasure to have the older 2.0’s back in the Gloom after a pandemic hiatus, and hope we’ll get the full complement of RVA’s 2.0’s for the big 9/11 Dopgpile/Puppypile combo. Until then, YHC, Tryhard

  • Sweat Soup

    The sloppy gloom of Dogpile welcomed 16 HIM vets to cut water weight with the latest edition of Tryhard Or Die Tryin! According to the groggy ?homeless couple nestled in their sleeping bags on the amphitheater stage, who we rudely awoke with our first COP, here’s how these fine men carved their names into the F3RVA wall of fame:

    The THANG:

    COP #1:

    • Mosey to the Amphitheater
    • Variable IC warmerama with interval ascents – either box jumps or bear crawl up the steps

    COP #2:

    • Mosey around to the Bowl
    • LINDSEY:
    • Dips 10/15/20/25/30
    • Merkins 30/25/20/15/10
    • Run between sides
    • Plankorama for the SIX

    COP #3:

    • Mosey to a flat grassy spot
    • CAPTAIN THOR:
    • WWII & Am.Ham’s, escalating from a 1:4 ratio up to 10:40

    COP #4:

    • Mosey to collect Coupons and circle up in the soft wet grass
    • Dealer’s Choice Round Robin to exercise some PAX for near-future CQ’s
    • Going around the circle, each PAX took a turn calling x10 reps IC of a block exercise – there was amazing variety in both exercises as well as ways to count cadence… 
    • Return blocks

    COP #5:

    • Mosey to the grass circle near the amphitheater
    • Partner up for Carousel Burpees 
    • Alternate carousel (plank walks) around circle with other guy doing x5 burpees

    Mosey BTTF for 3min of Mary

    COT:

    • Counterama # 16
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Comments)
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    NMS: Having never had a legit audience for an F3 COP #1, YHC was torn between pride and caution when we discovered two older folks happily snoozing in their fartsacks on the amphitheater stage. Whether it was a hopeful deterrent to the predawn cadence or just a first morning habit, the man lighting up a cigarette while cooly watching our performance certainly lended an air of drama. It was unusual to say the least. Anyway, following a recent pattern for Tryhard Q’s, today’s was also entirely unplanned. The PAX got their share of shoulder and ab work, and the diamond in the rough today was a little Cadence practice for the PAX calling 16 different coupon exercises. What variety! In the most part, the PAX would benefit from Upchuck’s Q school (details TBD), but generally everyone did a great job!!! And look out for Mr Roger’s VQ – he’s already working on a shovel flag for the big day! Proud to serve alongside such fine men. SYITG, YHC, DTH