Tag: 45 Minutes of Mary

Nine rational, analytical, thinking men challenged themselves to improve in a non-compulsory, burpee-free fashion. Temperatures hovered at 70 and sunny. According to the lone computer worker taking a ten person table at Starbucks’s, the following might have happened.

Mosey to the basketball courts for the COP.

SSHs – 4 count x50
Dead Man Hang
Fudd’s Wife
Left leg high, right leg high, right leg + left hand, left leg + right hand, Wilson’s wife, pigeon right, pigeon left
Roll over for Freddie Mercury
Flutter kicks
Inverted Scorpion kicks

Mosey to the school wall for a triple check.
Partner 1: run to the fence, Bernie Sanders back x2
Partner 2: fire hydrants
Partner 3: V-ups

Kudos to Circle K (not present) for the exercises.

Mosey to the picnic tables for Elevens. YHC likes to provide options, so here goes. PAX choice – elevens of pick-your-choice merkins and WWIIs, or 100 burpees, for those who want to Make America Burpee Again (advice to Qs – if there is a monthly challenge that you want to do, then do that challenge, but little sense in making someone else do your challenge). FWIW, 3 men, one injured, chose the challenge…and did 50 burpees. 6 did Elevens.

Mosey to the parking lot. Line up along the first parking space for 1-2-3’s. Gracias to Senor Frog (not pictured). Pick 3 exercises for the first parking space. Do 1 rep of 1, 2 reps of the second, and 3 reps of the third. Move to the second parking space by a method of your choice. Pick 3 DIFFERENT exercises (no repeats). Continue to the third, fourth, fifth parking spaces, and so forth. The PAX covered about 10 parking spaces.

Numbers, names, and Lockjaw took the cold call to take us out.

NMS: Nice to have Pull Out at Mary today. Great to see an old face again. In other news, 52 was enough to take the War Daddy title at Mary today. Has to be the youngest War Daddy at Mary for a while…YHC guesses maybe the youngest WD title for the year. Only 51 Mary’s to go…

Announcements: VMI grad and solid, long-term PAX member Fudd has the Q at The Bridge on January 25. Jump in the Clown Car with him and head out to help some men grow and get their lives on track.

Also, not mentioned, but at least one of the guys who graduated last month has a job maintaining equipment at a golf course. Let’s support these guys on their journey.

Breaking Bread is the last weekend of each month. For those guys who are new-ish, Breaking Bread has been F3RVA’s unofficial, but somewhat official, volunteer activity for roughly 9 years. This is part of our DNA in the community. Over the years, a different PAX member has taken the lead recruiting PAX members to attend (Hardywood, Lab Rat, YHC, and now Oyster have all taken turn owning this over the years). Simple process: PAX member signs up on the Q sheet, then the PAX member(s) make dinner for the guests, usually 8-12 people, at the Southside Medical Respite Clinic. It’s great to stick around, meet a few people, maybe play a board game, watch some TV, or just chat with the guests. This is a super way to have your family help out in the community. Oyster leads our efforts these days. We do this 2x per month, always the fourth weekend, and, if everyone takes a turn, we have a few years of Qs ready to go! Sign up on the Q sheet!

Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…not even Fudd…until his alarm went off at 5:04am and he checked the Q sheet to see which AO he’d hit that day. When what to his wondering eyes did appear, but YHC’s name on the Q sheet for 45MOM, and something about a Christmas Eve special…..

YHC arrived to secure the AO and 7 other intrepid souls joined him, including an FNG, to see what special Christmas workout was in store. YHC admitted to not remembering putting his name on the Q sheet, and no explanation could be had for the “Christmas Eve” reference. Regardless, 5:30 arrived and we were off….

COP: SSHs, DQ’s, Helicopters, Susanne Summers, a few Mary exercises, some stretching, etc.

Mosey to the SW side of the school and bear crawl to the NW corner, counting all of the window Christmas lights. Official total was 55.

Mosey to the picknick tables and do 25 reps of step up, on, and down the other side. Mosey to the NW edge of the block for 4 corners around the block…..10 burpees, 20 merkins, 30 monkey humpers, 40 LBC’s. Rinse and repeat.

Mosey to the front of the school for some Mary. Back to the flag for Numberama, Namerama, YHC took us out.

NMS:

As we approach the dawning of a new year, the time seemed apprapo to contemplate some actions that YHC may not want to repeat in 2025. Let’s start with signing up to Q while intoxicated……it’s not a good idea. You probably won’t remember doing it and if you don’t check it often you might miss it all together. Or you might catch it in the nick of time like YHC. Despite the brain fog, the PAX performed admirably today. Hitch crushed the block wide 4 corners, practically begging for a round 2 until YHC relented. FNG Folgers posted with a pink coffee cup, hence his name. He spilled all the coffee after the workout, thereby christening the AO with his namesake. Coffeeteria at Libbie Market was great as always, and highlights from the Mumblechatter produced several other resolutions for YHC…..check your streaming subscriptions and cancel some. 2.0’s seem to be able to find any movie online for free, so as long as it’s not illegal, maybe that’s a viable alternative. YHC will also be partaking in dry January along with trying to lose some weight and Faceplant has some good tips on meal ideas for 2,000 calorie a day diets. Also, we have the MABA challenge for January that OBT put out there…..100 burpees a day for 31 days. YHC did this a few years ago in Denver and…..it sucked, as you might imagine. However, your body will thank you when swimsuit season comes around.

Prayers for Salt Lick and his mortgage closing challenges.

Thanks for letting me lead today fellas. It was a blast.

Never stop chasing the wabbit!

Fudd

Eight F3 soldiers started this Thursday with a grand nature tour of 45 MOM’s perimeter in great anticipation of the 2024 Christmas celebrations.

Thank You Vandelay for confirming that Christmas is on Wednesday the 25th this year.

1. Burpee.
2. Mosey to Front right corner of school for disclaimer and warmup. We borrowed a Handshake, all inclusive, warm up of everyone doing 10 of their favorite exercises. All was good until Anthrax decided it was time to do 10 Burpees.
3. Mosey to tree line. 2X2X2. Two Merkins, Two WW2, Two squats. “How Many Trees?” “Are you sure?” Final Answer 38 + the lost memorial tree near Bodos’s Jacob’s Ladder.
4. Mosey to Jungle Gym arena. Inclined Merkins while everyone does 5 Pull Ups. Dips while everyone does 5 Pull Ups.
5. Hitchhiker left at 6AM. He will need to do #6 as make up work to get full credit.
6. Mosey to wall for Triple Check. People’s Chair, LBC, Timer runs.
7. Mosey to Pavilion. 10 Pole Smokers, 10 Merkins, 10 WW2’s. X3.
8. Mosey to Flag for a Mary of Merkins.

Thank you for letting me lead you men this morning. I suspect it will be the high light of my whole day! I feel blessed to know each and every one of you!

Announcements. Christmas is on the 25th says Vandelay. I did confirm he is correct.

Prayer requests are a repeat of First Watch 12/18. Please see on Slack.

Gumbo, be warned: if you miss another Q, Swirly may actually log in to Slack and make a fuss.

7 gentleman plus 2 geriatric walkers gathered without Gumbo this morning, so YHC grabbed the Q at 0529. Off we went.

COP on the Blacktop. standard fare. Mosey to the tree line.

Chutes and Ladders: Run 2 trees, Bernie back 1, drop and do 5 reps of the called excercise. Round 1: Squats, Round 2: Merkins, Round 3: LBCs. Mosey to corner of school.

Triple Check: P1: Wall sit, P2: dips, P3: run to pull up bar, 5 pull ups, run back. Mosey to Tennis courts.

Dora: 100 Merkins, 200 2x American Hammers, audible called, mosey back to the flag.

COP: end with 50 IC Pickle pounders.

SMS: Welcome Mountain Man from Columbus, Ohio! Lots of debate about the proper way to conduct chutes and ladders. Lots of moaning and groaning during the Pickle Pounders. Great group, great way to start the day! SYITG

Five hombres guapos found their way to Mary for a hot potato Q. The slightly higher temp was counteracted by a very cold and strong wind, making this potato slightly less warm. All 5 of us managed to hold the potato, even for a couple of minutes. Here’s what happened:

Bodos: COP on the black top, then 7 of diamonds: 7 rounds of 4 corner excercises in increments of 7. Rounds were: 7 jump squats / 14 merkins / 21 LBCs / 28 Squats / 21 Carolina dry docks / 14 2x flutter kicks / 7 Burpees. Potato passed to Swirly

Swirly: 20 Dips, Sprint, 20 Incline Merkins, Sprint, 3 rounds of 5 Pull ups. Pass to Oyster

Oyster: Bear crawl back and forth a few times. Broad jump burpees, other stuff I can’t remember

Vandalay: Back to the chin up bar. 3 rounds of 5 pull ups + 3 rounds of 5 dips.

Senor Frog: COP – merkins

Namerama, YHC took us out.

NMS: Vandalay shared about an FNG who reported that he wouldn’t come back to F3 because the Pax he was with were cheating on their form and not performing full proper squats. This made Swirly very upset and we had to console him and promise him we would never let this happen again. Our form was excellent this morning.

SYITG.

It is truly remarkable how quickly a group of middle aged men at 5:30 in the morning can turn nearly any topic into sex and genitalia jokes. This morning, it took about 34 seconds for these ten OGs of the gloom to do so, and it just kept on going. As for exercise, here’s what happened:

COP at the intersection of Commonwealth and Hanover. DQs, Ukrainian soldiers, etc.

Burpee Alley: Run all the way down Hanover to Shadwell, 3 burpees at every lamppost. From there, mosey down shadwell, west on grove, stop at the parking lot of Jenny Maraghy real estate.

Wall to Wall: Partner up. Round 1: P1 runs to wall and performs 10 donkey kicks, P2 Wall sits. 3x. // Round 2: P1 runs to wall and performs 10 Chicken peckers, P2 wall sit. 3x. // Round 3: P1 runs to wall and performs 10 dirty hookups, P2 wall sit. 3x. Mosey east down Grove to Lock Lane, then over to First Pres Parking Lot, stopping intermittently for 3 burpees along the way.

Triple Check: At some point after the last set of exercises Hitchhiker abandoned us, so numbers were perfect for triple check. P1: Squats // P2: LBCs // P3: run to the playground fence, bernie sanders back. Mosey back to the school, stopping along the way intermittently for sets of 3 burpees.

COP: ring of fire, sets of Freddie Mercuries, American Hammers, Crunchy Frogs. Finish with 3 Burpees.

NMS: What a great morning, we covered a ton of ground and worked every muscle. Lots of laughter, which is pretty much a guarantee with Saab and TYA in the mix. Great to have Vandalay back. Seymore broke up the COT with a serious stench.

SYITG!

Warm up SSH arm circles Helicopters Merkins Dead man hangs.

Decathlon  Run to football field 

Phase 1 4 sets of 25 step upsalternate with 4 sets of 25 Merkins

Phase 2 10 sets of 5 Partner 50  Pull ups 10 sets of 20 monkey jumpers 

Phase 3 4 sets of 25 squat jumps alternate with ww2 

Phase 4 full field sprint  broad jump goal line to 50

Phase 5 100 double count penguins  run around to flag

16 gladiators of the gloom joined together to celebrate YHC’s 10 year anniversary and the brotherhood that has led so many of us to better versions of ourselves. Hitch arrived at 5:29:45 and we were off for……

COP

SSH x 100 (10 for every year obviously)

DQ x 10

Imperial Walkers x 15

Dead Man Hang with a little bit of yoga

Rosalita’s x 20

The Thang

Mosey to the field for the Beast

Exercises were Merkins, Flutter Kicks, Squats, Rosalita’s, Burpees, and LBC’s

Mosey the north a bit for the Tunnel of Love

Mosey East for some Mary and stretching

Back to the SF for Numberama, Namerama, Seymour took us out.

NMS

TClaps and many thanks to the men that posted this morning to help YHC celebrate a decade of F3 and to raise money for Renewing RVA. Thinking back to that first workout, it seems so long ago……much more than 10 years…..but that’s just YHC showing his age and nostalgia. The valleys we’ve all had to cross in those 10 years have been numerous and deep, but as Proverbs 17 tells us, “A friend loves at all times and a brother is made for times of adversity.” YHC is eternally grateful for this F3 brotherhood and the support and prayers that you’ve provided through all of the valley’s I’ve walked through. Human nature guides us to seek comfort and security, but it’s only through adversity that we find out who we truly are. Adversity is the tool God uses to refine our character, strengthen our resolve and discipline, and show us what we are capable of. YHC is doing his best to embrace adversity, and I do that only through the grace of God and the love and support of my family, friends, and F3 brothers. Thank you for helping to shape the man I am today…..still a bit rough around the edges, but confident in the love that God has for us all and secure in the knowledge that no matter how rough the road ahead, my F3 brothers will be right there beside me.

Prayers for Upchuck (who graciously offered to match YHC’s donation to Renewing RVA), Fireman Ed, Roger Roger’s wife, and my sister Mary.

Never stop chasing the wabbit!

Fudd