Tag: Circus Maximus

Warm-Up Shenanigans

Either burpees are Mariner’s and Joey Chestnut’s favorite exercise, or Whitedeer chose the wrong morning to call Mariner “Sauce,” so we kicked things off with 10 burpees. Conveniently, Fudd arrived shortly thereafter to knock Whitedeer onto his whitetail.

Warm-up continued with merkins, dead man hang, helicopters, LBCs, and a mosey around the bus loop. (This also marked the end of the early chatter, so apparently Joey and Mariner did something right.)

The Beatdown

Joey Chestnut led PAX on a short rifle carry to the covering at the bus loop where we broke down the man-maker:

• Plank rows

• Merkins

• Squats

• Overhead presses

PAX started at 10 reps of each, followed by a mosey to the end of the covering and back, continuing down the ladder through 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. (This was typed out since Attila later claimed he couldn’t perform a 10-count… maybe he can read though.)

Following completion of the man-makers, Mariner led PAX through Four Corners x2.

Round 1:

Lunge walk to each corner with 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 KB high pulls at each respective corner.

Round 2:

Rifle carry to each corner with 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 two-count American Hammers (KB).

Finisher

PAX returned to the parking lot via rifle carry led by Joey Chestnut, followed by in-cadence:

• 25 KB flutter kicks

• 25 LBCs

• 20 KB sumo squats

• 9 KB swings (Attila skipped the 10-count)

• 10 Don Quixotes

• Ended with a dead man hang

COT Announcements/Prayer

• The bridge 1/24
• Joey’s hotdogs next Tuesday 1/13 (unfortunately Joey Chestnut has school and is unable to attend)
• The Healing Place 10k training team starts 2/7 at 7:30
• This was Joey’s and Mariner’s second QIC and second of the week, to those who went through either of these workouts congratulations you’ve been “Marinutted”

Prayer

• Grateful for this group of men bettering ourselves and each other. Prayers for Mr. Rogers’ mom, Seymour’s patient, UpChuck’s friend, and anyone else in need of healing or extra strength. Encouraged PAX to take this positive energy, connection, and community beyond the AO—it could make a difference in someone’s day.

4 Circus regulars and a man known on the streets as Gumbo showed up 5.5 hrs after the ball drop to show 2026 what’s up.

With much mumble chatter scattered between, the Pax went through 7 rounds of overhead presses, high pulls, curls for the cougars, swings, sumo squats, sit ‘n’ press and American hammers. We did 21 of each, then 18, 15, 12, 9, 6 & 3 – with a lap run between each round.

I learned a lot about Gumbo today. His mother is of Spanish descent, he grew up in Louisiana, his father started Q94 and as a former regular of Circus, he plans to return with a classic KB Lindsay that he’s dropped on the CM clowns before. Great having you today Gumbo and good to get to know you better.

We wrapped things up with 10 overhead curb pulls, 15 Flutters with chest press (IC) and ended w/ a 60 second leg hold. Recover. Well done men.

Numbers and names.

Announcements:

0700 Convergence today. Of course these 4 beasts that joined me today promptly left CM for Dog Pile’s NYD Convergence and doubled dipped.

Dry January is upon us. It’s not too late. Jump on this train – you won’t regret it.

Salt Lick is the only bad ass I know that’s already knocking out burpees for MABA (Make America Burpee Again, 100 burpees a day for all of Jan). He’s done it 3 years in a row. So far he’s moving forward solo this year. Don’t leave him hangin’. Who’s with him?

The Bridge needs a Jan Q.

Breaking Bread – you know the deal – sign up!

Happy 15th B-Day F3. I’m deeply grateful for you.

YHC took us out. Prayers for a fantastic new year. May God lead all of us men, day by day into 2026, to grow ever closer to the men we were designed by God to be. As Fudd recently reminded me (thx Fudd, I needed it) there are plenty of service opportunities around. Pick one and do it. There are lots of problems in the world to solve. What is your part to do? You can’t solve all of them, but you have been designed by God with certain strengths. Put them to use and make your small corner of the universe a little better. I mean, think about it, a couple of dudes showed up in a park to work out together on 1/1/2011 and 15 years later look at where this amazing thing called F3 is. You never know how your actions will ripple out, for good or for bad. Leave the results up to God, but you are responsible for the actions. Let’s go make 2026 all it can be, one day at a time.

Thirteen KB warriors greeted the gloom of Christmas morning at Circus Maximus.  Here is how it went down:

• COP
  • SSH
  • Ukrainian soldiers
  • IW
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Merkins
  • LBC
  • Penguins
• KB 12 days of Christmas (had to combine the last 2 rounds due to time)
  • 12 lawn mower pulls (each arm) – 132 total
  • 11 overhead pulls – 110 total
  • 10 sit ‘n presses – 90 total
  • 9 curls – 72 total
  • 8 high pulls – 56 total
  • 7 KB swings – 42 total
  • 6 2x KB FK – 30 total
  • 5 squat thrusters – 20 total
  • 4 2x KB hammer – 12 total
  • 3 halos – 6 total
  • 2 figure 8’s
  • 1 run of the bus loop
• COT with YHC taking us out

A PAX of 13 for Christmas and 2^nd F, which included 2 teenagers.   No AO has more momentum than Circus.  Plus One started with the cannonball, but thankfully bailed after 3 rounds.  Great way to start Christmas!

Prayers up for those sick, dealing with addiction and job loss. 

God is good all of the time!  A savior is born!

Attila

Eighteen volunteers for the Human Fund (money for people), met in the back of Godwin for a kettlebell workout. After setting up the the pole that requires no decoration (I find tinsel distracting) we did some warmups.

After that we did the airing of grievances. We went around the circle to do 20 reps of whatever exercise each pax declared they did not appreciate. I got a lot of problems with this exercise and now you’re gonna hear about it! We did some terrible ones including waiter carry squats, teapots, WWIII’s that involved a sit and press and a regular press, some weird double squat thing, kettle bell swings where you stopped and then did it again, pull throughs, and death crawls. It was chaos. 16 exercises with 20 reps, one run around the loop and a waiter carry walk later, the grievances were complete.

So far this new holiday was scratching me right where I itch!

Partner up for some odds and evens. Explaining this was tough last year but I was prepared for the tinsel-like questions this go around. I did a quick tutorial, yelled my displeasure, and then ignored the mumble chatter. Some people learned how to count up to 4 for the first time, some were still confused, but most understood how to do it. Best 2 out of 3: losers ran the parking lot and did 5 burpees, winners did curls. Three rounds.

Now it was time for the feats of strength. We split into two groups based on who was odds and who was evens from the prior exercise. Odds went first: duckwalk on the grass area with hands behind the back. Goal: knock over your opponent or push them out of bounds, you fall down or go out of bounds and you are out. Round one winner: Handshake. Evens were up and Pinto outlasted the rest of the pax. Handshake vs Pinto for the championship and before the rest of the pax could circle them, Handshake was down. Handshake ended up crying. Pinto is this year’s winner! I made a donation to the Human Fund in his name. He even got a certificate as proof!

It was time for a little Mary, numbers and names. Then coffee with some chocolate Babka as our meal.

The last and most important part of Festivus is observing a Festivus miracle and we had one this morning. We never had a moment where Attila’s gas caused the circle to break up! Festivus cured Attila’s stinky anus for one morning. It’s a Festivus miracle!!!

Thanks for letting me lead. I hope you found my belief system fascinating.

Twas the week before Festivus, and you know what?

There were 21 hombres, in the parking lot.

Soon we would be, the coffee a drinking,

And in anticipation, I had been thinking.

We were short on grievances, so to Google I went.

To find more Kettlebell exercises, was my intent.

We began with the Issuance of the standard disclaimer:

• I am not a professional.
• Feel free to modify.
• Push yourself but don’t hurt yourself.
• You vs You
• Don’t leave here with more injuries than you came with. 

Warmup:

• 20 SSHs
• 20 IWs
• 20 Ukrainian Soldiers
• 10 Don Quixote
• Stretch: Right foot, Right Hand
• Stretch: Left foot, Left hand

Mosey to the closest end of covered walkway: Divide up into 8 groups beside each of 7 printed out exercises laid down in a line parallel to the road plus one place in front of the first printed out exercise. Everyone advances to the next station when the timer returns to the beginning of the line.

• Timer rifle carries or waiter carries KB to orange cone and returns to the beginning of the line of exercises
• Thruster
• Snatch
• KB Clean, Squat and Press
• Clean and Press
• Skull Crushes
• KB Goblet March
• Goblet Clean

Run around Circus Maximus:

Turn over printed out exercises to reveal exercise on back. Repeat groups.

• Timer rifle carries KB to end of covered walkway
• KB Swing Changing Hands
• KB Push Press
• Overhead Squat
• KB Single Arm Deadlift
• KB Good Morning
• KB Goblet Thruster
• Clean

Run around Circus Maximus:

Ring of Fire: Your favorite KB exercise: I started with 15 Triceps.

• Each person calls an exercise for the group.

We got all the way around the group and went back to the flag for the following in cadence

• 20 KB Swings
• 20 KB overhead presses
• 20 KB pullovers
• 60 count 4-inch leg lift

Announcements

• December 20: Pinto’s Party
• December 25: Circus Maximus 5:30
• December 27: Fireman Ed’s end of cancer treatment party
• December 27:The Bridge: contact Kubota

Prayer’s Request

• Gypsy’s Stepfather: Chemo
• Banjo: check on him, cheer him up
• Mr. Ed in Denver, death of dad and stepmom, tough holiday season
• Pax members looking for jobs

COT

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. Epictetus

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:17

19 PAX said I am not fartsacking on this cold morning and pursued a more sculpted body for the holiday. While they did not fartsack, they sure did their best to create warmth for others.

COP: DQs, Helicopters, jazzercise, arm circles, merkins, Freddy Mercuries. Mosey to bus loop.

Triple check with run to end of bus loop and back (gotta do some cardio), coupon squats and curls for the ladies. Mosey to curb.

20s which are lawnmowers and swings need to equal 20. Did a bunch of sets with a run around the loop in the middle. Mosey to courtyard which is 30 feet away.

Triple check with rifle carry around the courtyard, coupon flutters and pole smokers. This generated a symphony of hot air; the temperature is certain spots was 5 degrees warmer. This group is pretty skilled at this “art” but today seemed more frequent and at times more potent.

Lunge back to home base. 30 bench presses and some stretching, numberama.

Prayers for a family member of Gypsy’s named Kelly who is starting treatment for prostate cancer. Speaking of treatment I finish mine in two weeks and will be in remission.

Pinto is having an F3 party on 12/20 (as Pinto for more details. It is at his house, starts at 5 and goes into late in the PM). I am having a gathering at my house on 12/27 to celebrate remission. More details forthcoming. Kubota is heading up the Bridge on 12/27; let him know if you are interested. Breaking bread needs someone for Sunday 12/28. Lots happening my friends.

Thanks for letting me lead!

FIreman Ed

Eighteen KB warrior assembled for a weighted journey today at Circus Maximus.  Here is how it went down:

• COP
  • SSH
  • Ukrainian soldiers
  • IW
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Merkins
  • LBC
  • APD
• KB carry to the band/practice fields for a KB beast:
  • Rifle carry & sit ‘n presses
  • RH waiters carry & high pulls
  • LH waiters carry & curls
  • Death crawls & overhead presses
  • Lunge walks & tricep presses
  • Back carries & lawnmower pulls (each arm)
• Jog the field
• KB carry back to the flag for COT with YHC taking us out

Great to see some familiar faces back at Circus Maximus today and solid work all around.  Mumble-chatter was intense for COP, but it dissipated as the workout progressed.  The biggest challenge of the KB beast is being under weight for so long.  Plenty of divots were left on the turf as KBs were dropped in fatigue. 

Convergence next week at Mary for Thanksgiving.  Workout starts at 0700. 

Prayers up for those dealing with sickness/injuries, job searches and family member next week.  God is good all of the time!  Lots to be thankful for.

Attila

I spent some time yesterday looking up kettlebell exercises. Some of these are new or are variations of what we’ve done before.

Issuance of standard disclaimer: I am not a professional. Feel free to modify. Push yourself but don’t hurt yourself. Don’t leave here with more injuries than you came with. Pay no attention to White Deer and stay upwind from Attila.

Warmup:

• 20 SSHs
• 20 IWs
• 20 Ukrainian Soldiers
• 10 Don Quixote
• Stretch: Right foot, Right Hand
• Stretch: Left foot, Left hand

Mosey to the covered walkway: In cadence (counts given are as best I remember)

• Goblet clean: bell on round, raise to shoulder, both hands
• 12 Goblet march: hold bell at Shoulder and lift each knee waist high: don’t squat, keep back straight
• 10 Back press: one arm press
• 10 Back press: other press
• 10 Half kneeling halo: both knees on ground and do a halo: start with bell at chin, handles up and go around head:
• 5 KB single arm press
• 5 KB thrusters: other hand
• 20 Single hand deadlift: raise to waist
• 20 Single hand deadlift: other hand

Mosey around Circus Maximus bus loop

• 10 Single hand squat with bell in rack position (at shoulder), butt is lowered below knees
• 10 Single hand squat: other hand
• 12 Single hand swings
• 12 Single hand swings: other hand
• 10 Snatch: KB goes from between legs, straight out and ends up with arm extended straight above head
• 10 Snatch: Other hand

Mosey around Circus Maximus bus loop

• 5 Jerk: KB in rack position, partial squat and press overhead
• 5 Jerk: Other hand

Ring of Fire: Your favorite KB exercise: I started with 15 Triceps.

• Each person calls an exercise for the group. We got around 15 people calling exercises
• Stretch

Back to the flag

Announcements:

November 15L The Bridge and Richmond Marathon/Half Marathon

Gomer is raising money for Friends of Barnabas

November 27: Thanksgiving Convergence: 7:00 AM Mary Mumford Elementary School

Let’s find the AED at Godwin

COT

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, born nearly two millennia ago (121 – 180). He was the last of the 5 Good Roman Emperors and author of Meditations.

“When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one’s energy, that one’s modesty, another’s generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them. It’s good to keep this in mind.”

Learning and modeling good qualities from the rest of the F3 Pax is a big benefit of F3.

As Q, I arrived a little early and early enough to carry the creamer and sweeteners to the famous Circus Maximus post-workout coffee spot. My hands were full, and as I stepped out of the car, I dropped my keys. No big deal, except the short noise you’d expect from dropped keys on pavement turned into a a long jingle. “That’s a not good” said Offshore and he walked past and stopped at the nearby gutter. Phone light showed it dropped to the first level and thankfully not into the water. Byproduct saw the holes on the manhole cover and after it was moved, I was able to drop into the sewer a grab my keys. A great way to start the day and a good reason to come early (for the show)!

After that nonsense, twenty two strong circled up for warmups of SSH, Ukrainian Soldiers, Hillbillies, Copperhead Squats, LBCs, APDs & American Hammers. Done with the warm-ups, we did a twenty minute EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute). Five different exercises with the bell & 4 rounds of each. Start at the top of the minute, do the # of reps announced, and take a break when done until the next minute starts, and move to the next exercise. Exercises were Swings, Goblet Squats, Squat Thrusters, Cleans (each arm), American Hammers (two count). Started with reps of 15, 15, 15, 10 (Cleans, each arm), 10 Hammers. Seemed easy the first couple of rounds. Sometimes we went down in reps except when Offshore asked for 20 squats and I ended with a minute of Hammers (about 40 two count at my pace).

20 minutes later, the heart rate was moving. And I kept it moving with a group lap where everyone realized the EMOM featured a lot of leg work.

We then finished up with a rotation of burpees (10,8,6,4,2), groans, and an exercise: helicopters, DQs, Arm Circles (front, then back), air press in between each round of burpees. Then one last lap to finish.

It is rare that my heartrate at Circus registers higher than WTH and that was the point of the EMOM and Burpees today. It was a success!

The Bridge on 11/15 (ask Hutton for more info) and a Bridge Q is needed in December.

Safety: Where is an AED at Godwin? No one knows and that’s homework for everyone. I can confirm it is not in the sewer.

Thanks for letting me lead!

The rain did not stop 17 KB warriors from descending upon Circus Maximus on a Thursday morning.  Here is how it went down:

• COP
  • SSH
  • Ukrainian soldiers
  • IW
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • HRM
  • LBC
• KB one-man Dora – 5 sets of each exercise with a run between sets for a total of:
  • 100 high pulls
  • 150 curls
  • 200 lawnmower pulls
• 3x check
  • Run
  • Squats
  • Tricep press
• Stretch and COT with YHC taking us out

Today was much like a night in White Deer’s bedroom, dry (thanks to the bus stop overhang) but not so fun.  The reps added up, especially for those men with higher weights.  All in all, a great chance to be together and get stronger.  YHC even added in some running.

Prayers up for Kubota’s family, Chicarrone’s friend’s family, and those dealing with cancer, finding a job, and family stress. 

AO to be named in Wellsley to continue soft launch tomorrow.  5:30 boot camp.

God is good all of the time!

Attila