When you hit 1000 posts you can post a backblast at your leisure 😛. JK. Love ya Nancy.
Back to this morning —> started with a big loop indian run with caboose doing one burpee and running to front. Circle up in culdesac near dog walk path for stretching and warmups.
COP 1: All leg triple check. Squats, Lunges, runner to top of of hill (near Wilson’s) and does five fire crackers.
COP 2: Mosey to rock pile. Grab a coupon. Circle up. Pax selects exercise and then runs to green electrical box and back. Standard stuff like curls, squats, overhead press, chest press, etc.
COP 3: One more triple check near playground. Stepups and Pullups. Runner to the bars for jerkins and back.
I role in at 5:25, to see some suspicious men scrambling with a coffee maker and a table. Apparently, we have some trick outlets at Bettie Weaver elementary. Guys began to circle around, 5:30 am, we set off at a gentlemanly pace towards the Blue Ribbon school of Excellence James River...
For the record, James River received this honor first:
🏆 Chesterfield County High Schools That Are National Blue Ribbon Schools
Midlothian High School – 2019 (National Blue Ribbon School)
James River High School – 1999–2000 (School of Excellence designation)
Cosby High School – 2015 (National Blue Ribbon School)
I digress, circle up at the front of the school for various dynamic stretches and made an attempt to avoid a cadence count.
COP 1 – Touch a tree by the band practice area (near the steel observatory tower). Pax instructed to select a leg exercise below ten reps, run across parking lot and touch tree. Repeato. We did lunges, squats, sumo squats, calf raises, 1 burpee, and some monkey humper.
COP 2 – Switch to upper body. Gentle mosey to the pull-up/jerkin bars behind the school. Pax did 6 rounds of jerkins/pullups (5 reps each), combined with a short bear crawl uphill towards the loading area (5 pushups at top).
COP 3 – To the track. Team jog on straights. Core exercises at each curve, followed by skipping the curves. Fan favorite was certainly the glute bridge (APD finishing move).
Back to flag for a few stretches.
THANK YOU to Last Call for the coffee. Good convo with the dudes after.
Announcments:
Frozen Triangle is 2/7/26 – 6 am launch. Get there at 5:30 for some extra miles with Draper (his birthday).
Head to bridge with Pigskin on 1/24/26 – all F’s involved.
Prayers:
Prayers for OC’s coworker. The poor dude is in the ICU with the flu
Prayers for all the kids (and big kids) going back to school.
Lounge is always a good time, give it some love sometime!
3 HIMs emerged from the gloom this morning for a beat down. YHC is thankful that fartsack did not win this morning like it did last week!
Although YHC had a whole work-out planned, another HIM requested to Q today.
According to the broken light post on the lake, here’s what went down:
Mosey down to the lake for COP
Dead man hang
Helicopters
Imperial Walkers
Merkins
Light post roullette: at each light post, do 3 merkins, 3 WW2s, 5 squats. YHC did not count the light posts, unfortunately.
Take the long route to mosey back to the flag.
Hitchhiker has a new year resolution to run 30 miles per week, so this Q helped achieve his goal for this week. Glad to hear that Fireman Ed is making progress in weight gain in his remission recovery! Other mumble chatter included portadash app, the sketchy neighborhoods in southside, and reminiscing on Suntrust employment and nearby restaurants.
After side straddle hops, do alternating overhead triceps while I share who we are:
Overhead, tricep stretches
Intro: We are F3 1. You never pay to be part of our workouts 2. Open to all men (No matter the man, you are welcome here) 3. Meet in the great outdoors 4. Peer lead (we practice leadership by leading each other in a rotating fashion) 5. Ends with a circle of trust.
We leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him. This life is hard, we’re here to not do it alone.
Please modify as needed throughout the workout and keep moving. If form is breaking down, modify. If you may faint or get sick, pause exercise.
◦ Michael phelps ◦ Beet pickers ⁃ In cadence
◦ Arm circles : in cadence, starting positions. Exercise. 1–2-3 “[count]” ⁃ x 12 small (transition: “make them bigger” ) ⁃ x 12 big
◦ Sideways lunge stretch- Willie mays hays ⁃ In cadence
◦ Mosey to opposite side of parking lot
Mosey 4 sections of Alamo lot
1. At bottom of hill, we will start with 10 Inchworms ⁃ On my down ⁃ For the first run through, we will stay together. 2. Line-up at bottom and then mosey to top corner of lot • 10 Werkins • Mosey to top of other hill of parking lot. 3. 10 Merkins • Then mosey down to bottom of parking lot 4. 10 Narrow merkins (Nerkins?) • NOW- Repeat! • New rule: 5 at each of 4 points all the way through and then we will do one less together all the way to 1. • FINISH EARLY – Squats
Brief breather
2nd Set:
1. Carolina Dry Docks 20x • On my down
2. Dead bugs (opposite arm to leg) 20x • In cadence
3. T-claps, then mosey to start. 20x •. In cadence
Repeat 3– 15x,10x, 10x Mary Thread the needle – Stretch ⁃ On my command: Down, and then up.
Skaters ⁃ Swing back leg across ⁃ On my down, alternating swinging legs
Water Sprinkler lunge In a lunge, opposite hand on ground supporting and then same hand as leg goes behind your ear to twist towards the leg and towards the sky.
Rolling C3’s: Child-Cat-Cow Starting position: Table top ⁃ 1. Push back into child’s pose (stretch put the lower back) ⁃ 2. Roll forward into Cow pose (udders hang low) ⁃ 3. Switch to cat’s pose ⁃ (Count) and freeze on Cat’s ⁃ 1. Roll into child’s pose ⁃ In SLOW, pacing cadence.
Starfish stretch: • Start face-down • One arm will stay stretched out behind you and you will twist your hips away from that arm behind and your shoulder, and use your leg to stretch out. Opposite hand can stabilize. LBCs Rosalita—Ab exercise done laying on back, legs raised to 90 degrees. Keeping legs perpendicular to ground, separate legs outward then return to start. ⁃ Forward lunges and over head stretch of opposite arm ⁃ American Hammers ⁃ Luge—From flat on your back, raise both your head and upper back and feet off the ground. From here, bring your knees and chest together, then return to the starting position.
Stretch—Clasp hands behind back, lift from waist out and up towards shoulders and add forward bend/fold as you are comfortable for a nice stretch • On your own
Circle of Trust 1. Count-a-rama – 17 2. Name-o-rama 3. Announcements: “Frozen triangle” coming February 7th.
4. Words of wisdom (W.OW)
W.O.W. Respect and consideration for the “M”- a fellow yet delicate heir of God.
”Husbands… treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.“ 1 Peter 3:7 NET
In the book, “Love & Respect”, a picture using this verse was painted that has helped me in my marriage — picture men as a vase made of copper and women as a vase of beautiful porcelain. Each is useful and has its purposes. Yet you learn to handle them differently. Both can be damaged and need sometimes different treatment and care. Be considerate of each other.
Let us treat our Ms with consideration, respect, and kindness. They are equal heirs of the grace and life given to us in the family of Jesus. Knowing this, if we treat the women in our life poorly, especially a wife, mother or significant other—our own relationship with Jesus and even our prayers can be hindered.
”Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.“ 1 Peter 3:7 NET
Prayer requests – Flyboys sister, lump found recently – return to school and health
Station 1 – Dips, Station 2- Step ups, Station 3- Flutter kicks, Station 4- merkins, Station 5 – Squats, Station 6 – Calf raises, Station 7 run lap around 3rd light pole island and back as the timer.
We rotate through the stations to complete a full set, perform 2 more sets for a modified triple check.
Mosey to parking spaces, each member takes a space and we do 11’s. start with 10 merkins lunge to opposite parking space number 1 LBC, Backwards lunge to opposite parking space number 9 merkins, forward lunge to opposite parking space number 2 LBC. We repeato until 1 merkin and 10 LBC’s
Mosey to flag.
COT
Numberama, namerama, Yardsale took us out in prayer.
Moleskin-
Wow…1000 posts for YHC…this is a great group and all of you brothers are special to me and have crossed my life and made a positive impact in many ways. I appreciate all of you and thank you for your wisdom, kindness and botherly love. Sorry for the late post…just alot going on personally and look forward to seeing you in the gloom soon.
Two PAX arrived on this wet day. YHC was 1-min late, so the other PAX had already left to do his own circuit. According to the street lamp that went out at 5:40am, here’s what happened by the amphitheater:
COP: Helicopter, arm circles (forwards and backwards), Ukranian soldiers, Imperial walkers, Copperhead squats.
Merkins x35, Superman x 1min
Cue music-driven ab excercises – flutter kicks, freddie mercury, LBCs
Algore for 1 minute
Arm lifts with traffic cone x 3 sets
Bear crawl + SSH through half of the traffic circle
Mosey to stage – 3 sets of BTTW, merkins, and belly-down starfish
Mosey to Cage – 15 pull-ups and 10 Jerkins
Mosey back to the field – 20 squats, 15 hand-release merkins, 30 merkins
Both PAX reconvened at the field for some fellowship, and YHC took us out, asking the Lord to help us remember his love for today.
The Pax: Scram, L Woods, Machismo, Machine Head, Spencer (“W”)
FNGs: 1 (Spencer, named “W”)
The Q: Machismo
The Thang: 4 Corners Prostitute-Style, Curb-Work 11s, and a Glorious Wall Detour
The gloom welcomed five men to Bon Iron this morning, including FNG Spencer, who arrived just in time to catch the final disclaimers—a perfect start to the F3 trial by fire. YHC (Machismo) was quickly reminded that for a new guy, the mental hurdle of seeing a humble water spot and deciding “this is where we execute the LBCs” is part of the beautiful misery we cherish.
After the mission was stated, we moseyed to the Cancha de Riverside for a proper re-calibration.
WARMARAMA: Court-Side Calisthenics
The Pax worked through the non-negotiables to prepare the soft tissue for the abuse to come:
SSH (Standard F3 count)
Imperial Squat Walkers
Mericans (Standard Push-ups)
The ever-blessed Don Quixote (Arm circles, forward and back)
THE THANG: The Road to the Wall
We stayed on the court to kick things off with a brutal 4 Corners Prostitute-Style beatdown:
Corner 1: 10 Merkins
Corner 2: 20 Squats
Corner 3: 30 LBCs (Making excellent use of the court’s puddles, indeed!)
Corner 4: 40 SSH
After sufficiently draining the gas tanks and, perhaps, Spencer’s remaining inhibitions, we moseyed across campus to the curbs near the pavilion for classic 11s (descending one side, ascending the other).
Dips (Starting at 10)
Step Ups (Double count, starting at 1)
With the clock burning, YHC decided the standard route back was too dull. The final leg was an adventure: a Crawl Bear down the ball field hill and through the woods in search of the border. What did we find waiting for us? A great, beautiful, tremendous Wall (and yes, impersonations ensued). We honored the discovery with 20 Hoe Downs before the final, hard mosey back to the Shovel Flag.
COT/BOM (Circle of Trust / Ball of Man)
The FNG, Spencer, stood at attention, ready to receive his permanent name. Given his background in political campaigning and his initiation into the gloom both by men bearing W’s, he was christened: “W”. Win for the second FNG coming to the ranks through Bon Iron. Welcome to the fold, brother! Nice recruiting L Woods.
Mumble Chatter & Announcements:
The haul to Riverside is a clock burner, and the baseball fields and parking areas near Bon Air offer plenty of future punishment potential. L Woods offered to take the Q on future occasions, but noted he’ll be Grow Rucking this coming weekend.
Praises & Prayers:
Prayers up for Machine Head desire to have a baby.
Prayers for W and L Woods’ friend battling cancer.
Continued prayers and congratulations to L Woods and Erica on the pregnancy.
Kudos to Scram for outrunning his kids and getting out to keep up the intensity.
Prayers for a successful and challenging time for L Woods rucking next weekend.
After scanning the area and securing parking, YHC waited to see if there were any others present for a pre-run. No takers, no worries, onward to the preplanned route. Out on the Potterfield Bridge, back on the bridge suspended under the road. Forgot gloves for the main event so got to do an extra hill climb to retrieve them. Got in 2.99 miles. Beautiful morning for a run over the river with views of the city. SYITG.
Why: It is a CSAUP. You get to burn a bunch of calories prior to superbowl. Be a HIM. Wave around the American Flag. To quote one of the greatest HIMs, “Transformation does not happen in the comfortable middle. Transformation happens at the hard edges. ”
What’s next, how can I help?
We need people to Q at Dog Pile, Punisher, and Mary. I have reached out a few via DM (check your messages).
DTH to lead rucking group. Thank you.
Need a team to lead provisions: I wanted to try something new for snacks/drinks this year. My idea being we could have a few guys drive an suv/van loaded snacks/drinks (I will provide) that meets the runners/ruckers at each destination. This group would basically “setup” before arrival. If they want, participate in the AO beatdown. Then load up the supplies and move on to next AO waiting for people to arrive again. I think this would be a better approach because we won’t have to preposition vehicles or snacks.
Would you be interested in helping or participating? Let’s go!!
Two intrepid PAX braved some bitter cold to get in a few miles today. With Big Rig doing the Roanoke Half and YHC doing the Willis River 35k, we both were needing to get in some big miles this morning. We made it out and got in a solid 15-16 miles. Time on feet was high with slow paces and stops for thawing out, hydration and nutrition. Always good to get some miles in with Big Rig. Talk about cold, things were freezing YHC had never experienced before!
