Tag: Circus Maximus

Eight noble KB warriors embraced the gloom of the Circus.  Here is how it went down:

• COP
  • SSH
  • IW
  • DQ
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Merkins
  • LBC
• KB AMRAP – – 5 exercises, 30 seconds for as many reps as possible followed by a rest of 20 seconds between exercises for the 1^st cycle, 15 on the next, 10 on the 3^rd and 5 on the final cycle
  • High pulls
  • Curls
  • Tricep press
  • Squats
  • Swings
• Run the bus loop
• 2^nd KB AMRAP
  • Sit ‘n presses
  • Bench presses
  • Overhead pulls
  • Skull crushers
  • KB hammers
• Mary
  • One-legged crunches – each side
  • H2H
  • FM
• COT

Great work by the PAX.  Plenty of mumble chatter, but no issues here.  Prayers up for Fudd’s sister and Fireman Ed’s father-in-law.  Cancer sucks!  All in all, great start to the day.  Offshore continues his tradition of brewing coffee during the workout for the PAX, which is next level. 

Convergence and 10 year anniversary celebrations this weekend.  Check Slack.

God is good all of the time!

Attila

The Circus was strong this morning with 11 PAX prowling the confines of our favorite bomb shelter school, Mills Godwin. After getting my bearings together and with the lights of the bus loop shining, we started some KB work.

COP: DQs, arm circles, HRMs, MCs, plank jacks, Freddies. With a strong trumpet blast from White Deer, I ended the COP. Mosey to Pump Road side.

I was planning to do Triple Checks around the indented area between the school and Pump Road. Given the area would have taken a couple PAX several minutes to navigate, I changed it. Pacer runs around 50 yards and back, partner 1 does sit and press, partner 2 bicep curls.

Lindseys with high pulls and lawnmower pulls are next. We would mosey toward the bus loop after each set. The set of 30 high pulls proved to be a pain inducer.

Next is the Fireman Ed loop. Line up on the curb. Pacer runs around bus loop. pacer finishes and the PAX rotate. Exercises included Bench Press, squats, Triceps, Coupon flutters, american hammers, tricep pull downs, sumo squats, lawnmower pulls and I forget the last one.

Finished with coupon wall sits and some stretching.

Big 10th anniversary at Dogpile. See slack for details. Please attend the next Firehouse subs gathering (me included since I work 1/2 mile from there) on the second Tuesday. Prayers for my father n law battling liver cancer.

The reason for the title of the backblast was during namerama, White Deer mentioned his age and I said “Happy Birthday White Deer.” He then said, “my birthday was in July”. So most of the PAX decided to tell me when their birthdays were so I could wish them belated happy birthdays. So if I forgot your birthday, happy belated birthday to you.

Enjoy the rest of your week and hopefully I will see you soon.

Fireman Ed

Offshore brought us coffee (Arabica) for after the workout. Thanx! ¡Gracias! Danke! Merci!

Warmup

• SSHs, Ukrainian Soldiers, Don Quixote, plank stretch, arms stretch.

Walk over to the covered walkway for a Burpee countdown

• 20 Swings/5 Burpees;
• 20 Curls/5 Burpees,
• 20 Upright Rows/5 Burpees,
• 20 Triceps/5 Burpees,
• 20 Sit & Press/5 Burpees,
• 20 Press/5 Burpees,
• 20 Goblet Squats,
• Run around island:

11s. We walked back and forth across the covered walkway area between two cones.

• Renegade Rows, Rifle carry both directions, American Hammers
• Run around island

11s. We walked back and forth across the covered walkway area between the school and the curb.

• Thrusters (goblet Squat followed by an overhead press), Waiter’s carry both directions. Overhead pulls. We didn’t quite finish this.

Numberama, namearama

Announcements:

September 10, Tuesday noon: 2^nd F at Firehouse Subs on Tuesday (in 5 days) (However, I will not be there.)

September 20-21: Ten-year anniversary of F3 in Richmond. Convergence at Dogpile on Saturday. For more details, go the F3RVA website. https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2024/08/20/f3rva-10-year-anniversary/

COT:

“In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

From Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, specifically in Chapter 13, titled “Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning Their Felicity and Misery.” In this chapter, Hobbes discusses what life would be like in a state of nature, a hypothetical condition where there is no government or social contract to enforce order and laws. He argues that in such a state, there would be constant fear and danger of violent death due to the lack of authority to prevent conflict. (Chat GPT)

The point I want to dwell on is the part you may have heard before;” the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” This was written at the end of the English Civil War (1642-1651), a horrific period in English history; a large loss of life, destruction of property and the execution of King Charles I.

When we see the murder of hostages in Gaza, we are not far from Hobbes’ “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” observation.

And we are a long way from Matthew 5:43-44: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

We should be grateful that we live in the USA where, even though people don’t like each other over their politics, we’re not killing each other.

A swampy, sleepy morning greeted a magic 8-ball PAX.  Channeling his inner-Pigskin, YHC provided a deceptively cardio-heavy ground and pound workout that went down as follows:

• COP
  • Invisible jump rope
  • Ukrainian soldiers
  • DQ
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Merkins
  • LBC
• Mosey to the picnic tables for an 11 with step-ups (each leg) and sit ‘n presses
• Mosey to the bus loop for a KB escalator with 10, 15, 20 & 25 reps
  • 70 tricep presses
  • 70 high pulls
  • 70 swings
  • 70 sumo squats
  • 70 curls
• 4x check with run, overhead pulls, lawnmower pulls and a pole sit
• Mosey to the parking lot for quick Mary with one-legged crunches on each side
• COT with YHC taking us out

Great work by the PAX today.  This one had a little bit of pace to it to raise the heartbeat.  Also, more legs than my previous arm burnout.  T-claps to Offshore for the post workout coffee. 

The Nuckols Farm Elementary has its maiden voyage as an AO on Monday.  Convergence at 7 am on Monday.

God is good all of the time!

Attila

The security guard reviewing the cameras after reports of illegal outlet usage caught a glimpse of the following.

The Thang:

COP: SSHs, IWs, DQs, Suzanne Somerses, Teapots, Freddie Mercurys, Birddogs, Merkins IC

50s. At each station, YHC called an exercise. PAX are to perform 50 reps of the exercise. Breaks are fine, but PAX are required to complete 3 Burpees for each break. Each PAX who finishes before the six completes 3 Burpees. Transportation between stations alternated between Rifle Carry and Farmer’s Carry. Exercises were:

Curls

Step Ups

American Hammers

Tricep Extensions

Upright Rows

Sit and Presses

Overhead Pulls

Mosey to the courtyard for a surprise… and a letdown (hopefully, mostly for YHC). YHC will try again soon.

COT: Labor Day convergence, 10 Year Anniversary convergence.

NMS: It had been too long since YHC had been to the Circus and needed the Qdrenaline to complete the beatdown. Attila tried to make this more complicated than the Deck of Death and White Deer could not get over the fact that the PAX did not show up at their assigned times nor park in their assigned spaces.

Thank you to the PAX for all the prayers for YHC and the family.

YHC was back in the Q chair for Circus Maximus after an extended Q hiatus.  Time to bring back an oldie but a goody.  Here is how it went down:

• COP
  • SSH
  • IW
  • DQ
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Merkins
  • LBC
• Deck of death – each suit is an exercise with 12 reps and jokers are burpees; pull 4 cards at a time and work through the full deck
  • 156 sit ‘n press
  • 156 curls
  • 156 high pulls
  • 156 overhead pulls
  • 24 burpees
• COT with YHC taking us out

Great work from the PAX today as this was an arm burner.  Any chicken legs remained unchallenged.  This is a Ltd. Dan inspired workout. No legs required. This is a workout that starts relatively tame but quickly has a cumulative impact.

New AO starting in September at Nuckols Farm Elementary.  AO name TBD.  Labor Day convergence at the new AO to help kick it off.

Continue prayers for families of Offshore and Whitesnake after recently losses. 

God is good all of the time!

Attila

6 men braved the threat of elements and the invasion of new animals to the circus. It started to come down pretty good for COP (thanks Debby) but then stopped for most of the workout. I guess the humidity and our studliness led some bugs to go attacking during the workout.

COP: Normal stuff: DQs, helicopters, HRMs, MCs, FMs, ACs.

Four different exercises rotate the amount of each. Start with 5 sit and press, then 10 bench press, 15 coupon flutters – 2 count and tricep pull downs. Totals are 50 each, not too shabby. the bench presses after the sit and presses got me pretty good. After two sets of the four, we would mosey around the circle for a little cardio.

Next set was squats, triceps, bicep curls for the ladies and halos. Same type of rotation as before. Halos proved to be difficult. Honestly when you take two weeks off of the circus, a lot proves to be difficult.

Elevens with high pulls and lawnmower pulls. By the last few sets, I was doing electric lawnmower pulls. Another thing I can work on. Mosey near home base.

Finished with calf raises – 3 sets.

Prayers for a successful birth for byproduct’s first 3.0 (grandchild). Enjoyed the talk of the Olympics and the coffeeteria afterwards. It is almost fantasy football time. Is it worth drafting Rogers?

Fireman Ed

Four Horsemen rode in to Godwin HS on this swampy morning for some Circus Maximus kettlebell fun. According to the air that was not cool nor moving, the following occurred:

COP: DMH, Reach for the Sky, DQ’s, Helicopters, Imperial Walkers, Reverse Scorpion Kicks, Suzanne Somers right, Scorpion Kicks, Suzanne Somers left, HR Merkins, Fudd’s Wife, Wilson’s Wife, Jazzercises for a tribute to the late Richard Simmons (R.I.P.)

Mosey to the bus loop and set-up for:

Super KB 21’s

Three exercises were KB Squats, KB Chest Pulls, KB American Hammers (2-ct)

1 of each, Bear Crawl to curb, Crawl Bear back

2 of each, Bear Crawl to curb, Crawl Bear back

3 of each, Bear Crawl to curb, Crawl Bear back

4 of each, Bear Crawl to curb, Crawl Bear back

5 of each, Bear Crawl to curb, Crawl Bear back

Run a length of the bus loop to loosen arms up

6 of each, Lunge to curb and Reverse Lunge back

7 of each, Lunge to curb and Reverse Lunge back

8 of each, Lunge to curb and Reverse Lunge back

9 of each, Lunge to curb and Reverse Lunge back

10 of each, Lunge to curb and Reverse Lunge back

Run

11 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

12 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

13 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

14 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

15 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

Run

16 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

17 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

18 of each, Side Lunge to curb and Side Lunge back

19 of each, no Lunges for time purposes

20 of each, no Lunges for time purposes

21 of each, no Lunges for time purposes

Back to the Flag!

Numbers, Names, Announcements and YHC took us out!

NMS:

Nice morning for a sweat fest! The only way there would have been a breeze is if Whitedeer would have shown up. Yes, go ahead and get on YHC for doing the same (almost) routine three days in a row. Great to meet Gaudi and to see Atilla and Lighthouse again!

Way to work this morning, men, and SYITG!

Kubota

7 of finest bibbed overall wearing, hay chewing, boot wearing, crop dusting PAX from all of F3 RVA came together for the inaugural WESTHOE 4H member’s meeting.

According to the two ladies walking by (that tried to pick up Byproduct) it went something like this.

Warmup. It’s always a good idea to warm up a bit before you start your farm chores.

• SSH
• Slow count Merkins
• Shoulder stretch
• Waiter carry your Kettlebells to the workout location.

The Thang

Decided to mix it up a bit today and instead of using Kettlebells we used a few manual tools I have at the farm. Each one by itself will kick your ass and give you a workout, so naturally in F3 tradition, YHC combined a few of them for us. Each pax member performs the exercise at the station until the time returned then switched to next station until all stations are completed once by all pax.

Round 1: Timer is Fireman carry two (one in each hand) 5 gallon water bladders (41lbs ea.) to set place and back.

• Station 1: 20 ft of logging chain bunched up for bicep curls (awkward AF and apparently will crush your shins if not careful)
• Station 2: a Field Boulder to do man-makers with
• Station 3: an 8 pound Maul and a tire. Just keep hitting that tire until the timer gets back
• Station 4: 5ft 40lb digging bar for overhead press
• Station 5: A wooden cable reel: used for bent over rows. Grab it by the sides, lean over and start to rowing.
• Station 6: An ax and a log of cedar. Dont stop chopping until you know who returns
• Station 7: 50lb bag of seed. Put it on your shoulders and start doing squats.

Mosey to the Kettlebells for a break.

Break consists of: 20 lawnmower, 15 triceps extensions, 10 Plank pull through, 5 deep Squat manmakers.

Back to work for

Round 2. Timer is a pax carrying the cable reel to stated location and back. (Mr Rogers was a little aggressive and RAN with it?!?)

• Station one: 1 water bladder: Good-mornings
• Station 2: Logging chain curling.
• Station 3 Boulder overhead press.
• Station 4: Digging Bar. Twist and shout.
• Station 5: Ax and cedar log chopping.
• Station 6: Seed bag squats.

Farm work done. Grab the bells and waiter carry back for a few mins of COP to end the meeting.

COP (w/ Kettlebells): Around the world, Figure 8s, American hammer, Flutter press and wrapped it up with some LBCs.

Love my 4H brothers. Gotta get back to work now.. these hackers are killing me this week because of internet outage last Friday.

lots of stuff on Slack for social events, purchasing the 10yr anniversary gear, convergence.

SYITG!

John (Gypsy) Boles

BTW: if you read this far, you have enough time to call or text a guy you haven’t heard from in awhile.. it maybe exactly what he needs to get through the day. #NoOYO.

8 magnificent kettlebell slingers (not swingers) of F3, pondering the big question for today; Should we have a CSAUP event between Circus Maximus, The Old Hundred and Mann Date? Hmmmmm..

Warmarama: Mosey around the circle, DQ, Helicopters, Arm Circles, Imperial Walkers, Copperhead Squats, Cherry Pickers, Helicopters (again).

The Thang: more Tabata work, with a better soundtrack.
Round 1
1 Minute Work / 15 Seconds Rest (each exercise)
Swings
Curls
Lawn Mowers
Triceps
X 4 Rounds

Round 2
1 Minute Work / 15 Seconds Rest (each exercise)
Lunges
Calf Raises
Sumo Squats
Burpee / Run / Burpee
X 3 Rounds

BTTF:
Numberama:Namerama
Announcements: Pickleball, Ultimate Frisbee, Home Grown 1/2, The never-ending tour.
YHC Took us out.

NMS: Great to see Bodos out at Circus Maximus, this was his first time posting to the AO. I know right!!
Mumblechatter came in 60 second increments. Nice to throw some weights around (even though my KB was lightest). Well done boys!!

Oyster