Tag: First Watch

7 First Watch regulars and 1 SOJ traveler woke before most to brave the tepid temps along River Road to see what YHC had in store. According to the 5.30 biker that cuts across the parking lot, this is what was rumored to have or have not occurred.

5.01 hit on Handshakes timer so off we go to the front of the church for disclaimer and warm ups that included DQ’s, Helis, Invisible Jump Rope, Jazzercise, Merkins and a bit of Broga to finish us off.

Mosey to the small side parking lot for 11’s. Donkey Kicks, bear crawl to the opposite side for Merkins. Lunge back.

Mosey to the front of the church for quadruple check. Timer runs to the vans, Australian Mountain Climbers, X Planks, LBC’s.

Mosey down Ridge to the southern end of the park for Burpee Dora that included 100 mountain climbers, 200 merkins, 300 jump squats.

Still time on the clock. Florence selected option A so BTTF for 3 minutes of ab work. Not So Lazy Boys with each Pax performing 10 ab exercises on their own.

Numbers/Names/Announcements/Prayers. YHC took us out.

Grow your stache for November. Merkin challenge vs. Jersey happening.

NMS: Good to have Florence join up today with an overshare. A bit mumble chatter but it seems the group is on a bit of a dry spell. Maybe the warmer temps and the leaves falling on Splinters trampoline will provide better tales next week. With Kubotas hopeful return, could some Florence Nightingale adventures be forthcoming? Well done fellas. Enjoy the day.

A Baker’s Dozen posted to First Watch on this warm, misty, gloomy, foggy morn in order to celebrate some anniversaries. There was also a workout, that went like this:

Mosey over to the tiniest of Henrico parks for:

COP:

SSH’s x 20, Helicopters x 10, Ukrainian Soldiers x 10, DQ’s x 10, Jazzercises x 10

Mosey down S. Ridge Road to almost the bottom for:

Traveling Lindsay:

Merkins and V-ups (ouch!)

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Ukrainian Soldier Walk, Bernie Sanders, Bear Crawl in between sets.

Toss the Q to Honeydo

Mosey back up to the parking lot and everyone grab a block.

Teams of 4 rotating between and completing two rounds of Overhead Press, Bench Press, Swings and run a lap around the parking lot.

Toss the Q to Splinter

One lap around parking lot with block in hand.

Redeposit blocks and mosey over to the curvy brick wall by the church.

Everyone complete/attempt to complete a Balls to the Wall Hand Walk along the length of the wall (this is sure to be shelved until the FW 10th Anniversary)

Mosey around behind the church to the main parking lot and complete 5 Jump Squats at each handicap sign (there were a lot) and bear crawl in between each sign. Turn around at the end and complete 5 Hand-Release Merkins at each sign and Lunge in between. Made it halfway before YHC took the Q back over (sorry, Splinter) and headed back the the shovel flag.

3 Burpees for the First Watch 3rd Anniversary

5 Burpees for YHC’s 5th F3RVA Anniversary

Numbers, Names, Announcements and YHC took us out!
Announcements: See Slack

Prayer Requests: Splinter’s former running coach, Coach Chuck. Splinter’s cousin’s family.

NMS:

Three years for First Watch and five years for YHC! Double celebration! To start off with, First Watch was an experiment that Honeydo and YHC started that seemed strong at first, waned for a while, grew back stronger for a few months, then really got strong and has stayed that way leading up to today. First Watch has been called a “Stand around and Watch each other” AO by one pax member early on, an “AO for those on the Injured Reserve” by another pax member early on and an AO that’s “not going to make it because it starts a 5am” by a host of others. Well, YHC calls BS!! We are now averaging around 12 each Wednesday with a high of 17. But, it’s not about numbers here. It’s about having a good time oversharing and just letting loose! Broga helps beforehand and coffeeteria helps afterwards. At this AO, anyone can share anything and not worry about any repercussions, especially those repercussions from our M’s. The workout this morning was a repeat of the first workout conducted here, by the same Q’s, at the end of October 2019. Thanks to all for helping make this AO what it is today!

In closing, YHC wants to thank everyone in the F3RVA pax for the last five years. YHC may not post regularly like he used to, but the brotherhood and friendships get stronger every week. YHC appreciates each and every one of you!

SYITG!

Kubota

Ten box hunters gathered, in shorts only of course, for today’s super creative First Watch Q. After Handshake and Marv rolled into their positions, we took a short lap around the lot before COP.

COP

• DQ x10
• Arm Circles x15
• SSH x20
• Hillbillies x15
• Mountain Climbers x10
• Scorpions x10
• Inverted Scorpions x10
• LBCs x20

The Thang

Short mosey to the near corner for some fresh air and instructions. 4 corners with 5x burpees, 10x dips, 15x jump squats, 20x WWIIs. Bear crawl the shorts and bernie the lengths. Repeato.

Medium mosey through the carpool lane and settle on the back side of the church for medium sized 4 corners. 10x burpees, 20x merkins, 30x Lt Dans, 40x 2 count flutters. Run length 1, karaoke 2, bernie 3, karaoke 4. Repeato with squats instead of Lt Dans.

Short mosey to the northeast corner and settle for large 4 corners. 20x burpees, 40x CDDs, 60x humpers, 80x LBCs. Run to the corner of river & ridge, carpool entrance, northwest corner, northeast corner.

One burpee then mosey to the traditional COP area for Mary which included HTH, Freddie Mercuries, Reverse Crunches, Dying Cockroaches, APD, right leg high APD, left leg high APD. BTTVSF where Marv improved to take us out.

Announcements

• 10/29 beer mile @ Faceplant’s
• Clydesdale shirts for sale only for the mega chungus in the group. Handshake was first to order.
• Call your parents for no reason

Moleskin

No overshare this week but the overflatulence award goes to the entire PAX whose GI apparently doesn’t adjust well to the cold weather. Multiple stains ensued.

Marv was the second to last to leave the parking lot and head east. YHC believes that Marv almost went left of the median on ridge, quickly adjusted, barely missed the sign, then scurried home. Only Marv, who likely won’t read this backblast, can confirm or deny.

I enjoyed it fellas. Splinter’s 195159th Q out, but who’s counting.

Nine guys bore the wrath of an angry Q.  Here’s what transpired:

Mosey behind the Church

COP

• Imaginary Invisible Jump Ropes
• Helicopters
• Copperhead Squats
• Arm Circles
• Imperial Walkers
• Merkins
• Suzanne Somers L/R
• Freddie Mercurys
• Hello Dollys
• Inverted Scorpion Kicks

Mosey back around to the Church patio

Super 21s

• Merkins/ WWIIs 1:1, 2:2, 3:3…18:18
• Monkey Humpers IC and a lap of Church after sets 10 and 15 (w Speed Bump Burpees)

Mosey to Block Pile

Lindsay – Overhead Block Press/ Block Squats (Super 21s sets 19 and 20 after Lindsay 20/20)

Block Curls x 20 IC

Return blocks and mosey to Henrico’s Tiniest Park

Boxing Cockroaches 2×25

Mosey back to Flag

Super 21s – set 21

Finish with Monkey Humpers

Numberama, Nameorama, COT

MOLESKIN

In the grand scheme YHC has no reason to complain, but the fact is YHC was a tired irritable Q this morning.  With barely a plan in place, YHC needed to work through some frustration.  Sorry, not really, sorry to those receiving the brunt of the punishment.  First Watch can really change a man’s mood and perspective though.  Thanks to all.  Coffeeteria topics of the day included proper birthday celebrations, teacher appreciation, retirement and the economics of Millennials and Gen Z.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Beer Mile 10/29 – See Faceplant

YHC wanting to be sure to be early to set up arrived to about 10 parked vehicles already in the lot…wow at 4:50am. Broga was in session across the street and those folks returned around 4:58 and cars were still coming in! Photo of the PAX below:

COP

We moseyed to the SE parking lot corner, so we had room for the large circle for warmups of: 20 SSH, 10 helicopters, 15 Arm circles (10 small 5 big), reverso, 10 DQ’s, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 4ct LBC’s, 10 reverse scorpions, 10 scorpions and 20 merkins.

THANG

We mosey to the long part of the lot where a Red Barchetta was set up with glow sticks and the group ran to the far island past the glow stick for 100 SSH, run back to start and plank for 6. Run to blue glow stick (about 75 yards) for 75 lunges back to start plank for 6. Rund 2 second red stick and 50 squats back to start and plank for 6, run to first stick for 25 merkins back to start and plank for 6.

Next YHC has the pax count from 1-5 then repeat until we had 3 groups of 3 and 2 groups of 4. We mosey to the blocks and grab a block for each team (2 blocks for the 4 men teams). and we are ready for the first triple check. P1 – Runs lap around parking lot as timer, P-2 LBC’s and P3 – Upper body exercise of choice with coupon. WE do this rotation 3 times for a triple check.

Triple check number 2

P1 – Runs lap as a timer, P2 – merkins of choice, P3 – Squats with Block this is first rotation, second rotation the same except P2 -Flutter kicks, Third Rotation the same except P2 – Hand release merkins.

Triple Check number 2 (on 2 rotations as time ran out)

P1 -runs lap as timer, P2 Ab Exercise of Choice, P3 upper body coupon exercise of choice.

Mosey to flag for Numberama, Namerama.

COT

We circle up in man ball and YHC took us out in prayer.

Announcements – Please check the holiday weekends (Thanksgiving and Christmas) for the Breaking Bread activity as we need volunteers for these weekends.

Beer Mile event is happening October 29th at 7PM in Ginter Park…there will be details in Slack in 2nd F.

Moleskin

IF you ever think of slowing down in F3, just make a road trip to another venue and your cup will be refilled quickly. Like visiting old friends from school or home, just a nice warm bro-hug to feel recharged and ready for the day. Getting up at 4:15 to make this AO is well worth it as you also get the 2nd F benefit at Starbucks and can really catch up with the gang and even from my area north of the wall be home well before 7. Thank you, gents, for posting this morning and allowing me to lead at this great venue as it was a record one this morning. Enjoy the day brothers, Cheers….CB!

11 dedicated HIM set their alarms a bit earlier than normal to come together and talk about things that probably should not be repeated in polite company. According to the bats in the church bell tower, the following may have occurred:

Mosey from the VSF to the brick pavers in front of the entrance to the Baptist church for COP, consisting of 45 SSH’s, Deadman Hang, Downword Dogs, Merkins, Don Quixote, Arm circles (big then small), & Hillbillies

Mosey back to the parking lot to pick up coupons…..1 for every PAX. Mosey to the middle of the parking lot for parking lot circles with the block. We all did overhead press, curls, and block swings followed by overhead carry, lunge, and reverse lunges for a full circuit of the lot.

Mosey to the grassy triangle with blocks for a circuit of murdered bunnies. Start at the southern end of the triangle and murder bunny north to the first tree, jog back to the start and do 5 merkins, crab walk back to your block and murder bunny further north to the 2nd tree, jog back and do 10 merkins, then bear crawl back to your block and murder bunny north to the 3rd tree, jog back and do 15 merkins, then lunge back to your block and murder bunny the rest of the way to the fence, jog back and do 20 merkins. We did Al Gore for the 6 after each leg.

Mosey back to the parking lot to return the coupons, then mosey back to the bricks in front of the church for birthday burpees and abs. Do 1 burpee, then an ab exercise, then 2 burpees, another ab exercise, on upward to 9 burpees so we did 9 sets of ab exercises….usually 20 reps IC of each. Ab exercises included: Freddie Mercuries, Hello Dollies, Flutter Kicks, Dying Cockroaches, Crunchy Frogs (I think?), American Hammers, LBC’s, and something else. Once completed, mosey back to the VSF for numberama, namerama, and YHC took us out.

NMS:

YHC rolled in hot today with about 2 minutes to spare prior to launch. Several PAX expressed having doubted whether YHC would show and seemed to be quite relieved that they did not have to pivot to a hot potato. YHC was happy to be there to celebrate (belatedly) his birthday F3 style. For those that weren’t aware, YHC was out of town this past weekend, enjoying time at family at a location that will remain nameless. All I will say is it was an island and there was a beach.

YHC was appreciative of the moral support during the birthday burpess/abs session. There was some confusion as to which ab exercise a “crunchy frog” actually is, and the PAX was very gracious in letting YHC know that the exercise that I thought was a “crunchy frog” is actually a “dying cockroach”. YHC ran over the total workout time by about 2 minutes and again, the PAX were very understated and kind about how they let YHC know about that as well. Everyone seemed to be appreciative of the extra time needed to complete the 45 burpees each to celebrate YHC’s birthday.

Mumblechatter was at an all time high today, with several stories and comments that would make a lady of the night blush. Next time you see EF Hutton, ask him about precocious puberty……or maybe don’t, especially if you’ve just eaten. Splinter had some choice analogies with regards to arm circles…big then small…..full then partial. I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest.

OOTW involved activities that kids sometimes walk into unexpectedly that they could go through their entire lives without seeing and be the better for it. Once seen, some things in life cannot be unseen. Properly engaged locks are an often underappreciated blessing.

Coffee afterwards was enjoyable as always and it was great to have BT join us following WDog. It seems Hitchiker’s absence resulted in a lack of caffeine post workout that sent the PAX looking for alternate sources. Glad to accomodate boys! #FirstWatch is 30 minutes earlier but Starbucks is right down the street.

YHC is thankful on this, his 45th birthday, for the 8 years he has been involved in F3. These friendships have sustained me during some really hard times and you also helped me build maybe the most robust shed that has ever been raised in RVA. Thanks for everything boys!

Fudd out.

10 strong took on a humid start to fall at FW. We searched for the crane from last week at the start in the COP but managed to find it on the other side of the church. We did:

COP: Invisible Jump rope, Don Qs, Arm Circles, Freddy Mercurys, Merkins, Scorpion Kicks.

Mosey to back lot and partner up: Dora 123 of: 100 Derkins, 200 Donkey Kicks, 300 Flutterkicks. Switch partners and Wheelbarrow across and back of the lot. Head over to side of church for 4 rounds of: bear crawl across, 15 Merkins, lunge back & 20 LBCs. Mosey over to Coupon drop zone.

Partner up. 1 PAX runs to end of lot & back while other does exercise. 4 exercises were: Block Swings, Curls, Squats, Presses. Stay with partner. Lunge the entire parking lot and back while partner does 5 burpees, runs to catch up and switches block. Finish up with 1 min of American Hammers.

NMS: Solid group this morning. Temps and humidity made for more challenging conditions than the last week. Was nice to have the crane in the back lot as a marker, Upchuck would have created a new exercise: Touch a Crane. BB title comes from Bacon Bits filling in for Handshake by coming in hot at 4:59.

Crazy to have 2 PAX members in their 20s post to a 5:00 am beatdown, that’s dedication. When the blocks were grabbed nobody took the new mega-blocks. As a FW founding member YHC declares Marv a First Watch probationary regular, which means he is under probationary status for 2 months where he can overshare and then earn full regular status.

A, reportedly, record breaking 14 men were seen in the gloom on this sub 60 degree, well before the crack of dawn, First Watch.

An interesting note before we get started…

–Who knew that some of the guys really do get together at 4:30 for Yoga. Here I was, this fledgling member of First Watch, thinking that the chatter on the text was pretty much tongue in cheek. No Sir. When they say that they are on the mat at 4:30 am, they are on the mat at 4:30am. I would say that I would never do that…but then again, I can remember thinking that I’d never do First Watch, yet here I am.

It’s been awhile since YHC, HC’ued a boot camp style workout. When I say awhile, I probably mean over three years. Reading that in print is pretty embarrassing, YHC needs to probably jump into that a little more. That being said, we decided to go THEMATIC for the morning…”Build a Bear”.

The Thang…

The morning got off to an auspicious start with a huge freaking crane where we planned to circle up to warm up. That moved the circle to the relatively damp grass in front of the soon to be under construction church (either that or someone just left a crane there).

10 Donkey Hoetees. 10 Helicopters. 20 Side Straddle Hops. 15 arm circles forward, 15 arm circles backwards. 10 mercans. 10 Ukranian Freedom Fighters

Mosey south on River to Country Squire Lane.

The “Build A Bear” instructions were, apparently, lacking to some of the Pax and the mumble chatter ramped up a bit. Fair enough. Essentially, we were going to do three different sets of partner exercises on three different hills around the neighborhood…each having to do with a bear (Bear Crawl, Crawl Bear (thanks for the assist on that one Kubota), Polar Bear). Whichever “Bear” exercise you did for your first one, you could NOT do at the next location. Had YHC had to do it over again, he would’ve said “We are going to three locations over the course of the Q, this is our first one, you have to choose one of the three Bear exercises…whichever one you choose, you cannot do in the next two heats.” But it didn’t come out that way.

Handshake mentioned that while YHC can run fast, I’m not that efficient. That’s been a lifelong struggle, but I also invite Handshake to run with me on Friday morning for 45 minutes.

The Q went up the Country Squire hill by the Goodwin house, which I think is finally finished. Or maybe it’s close to finished and they just park their crane by the church on off days.

Q then went down Westham Station road and “Built the Bear” (get it?) on Overlook Drive.

Arm Circles and Mercans at the bottom of the hill.

Q then went up Westham Station road and “Built the Bear” up to Ross.

Arm Circles and Mercans at Ross.

“Built the Bear” (the 4th time, alternationg from Polar Bear to Bear Crawl to Crawl Bear” back to Country Squire Road.

Executed three Richard Kimballs on the way back to the flag.

COT–Iron Cross, 20 American Hammers, Spell “Build a Bear”, Superman’s (with song), 10 Mercans

YHC Took Us Out.

Great to have Monroe visiting us from Wilson, NC.

13 men chose to knock this thing out right now in the latest edition of First Watch, F3RVA’s only AO with its own cult following. Temperatures remained 70 and sunny. According to the citizens concerned upon seeing men with cinder blocks in the middle of the night, the following might have happened:

THE COP (singular):

Mosey to the grassy knoll in front of River Road Church (a Baptist-type organization):

SSH’s x20 (4-count)
Merkins x5 (4 count)
Hillbillies x10 (4-count)
Merkins x5 (4 count)
Imperial Walkers x10 (4-count)
Merkins x5 (4 count)
Dead Man Hang x10 (4-count)
5 burpees
Alabama Prom Dates x10 (4-count)
Merkins x5 (4 count)

Mosey to the Parking Lot…grab a block (thank you to Site Q-bota for the new blocks):

For purposes of simplicity, the next 40 minutes of the Beatdown were conducted while carrying a block.

Mosey to South Ridge and Cameron. 20 curls.

Mosey to Cameron and Culpepper. Triple check.

PAX 1: Bernie Sanders up the hill; run back down.
PAX 2: Overhead press
PAX 3: Bench press

Mosey to Grattan and Culpepper. Triple check.

PAX 1: Option A: Bear crawl to the dump truck (sans block). Option B: Run to the pick-up (with block).
PAX 2: Little baby block crunches
PAX 3: Curls

Mosey to South Ridge and Cameron. 20 of something.

Mosey to the parking lot (far corner): 20 block exercises. Dealer’s Choice / OYO.

Return the blocks.

Mosey to the VSF for 3 MsOM.
30 Flutter kicks (4-count)
Reverse crunches
4 burpees

Announcements / Requests:

Firewoman Kate is having neck surgery tomorrow. Let’s hope for a successful operation and a quick recovery. Prayers for her and the whole First Responder family this week.

Gumbo and Rosie have something cookin’. It involves a Triangle. Look for more details and plan to attend.

Splinter is starting a new hammock rental business. See Slack for details.

Safe travels and a good time for everyone at the BRR. Let’s do this!

NMS:

YHC’s momma turns 83 tomorrow. When one raises 4 reasonably well-adjusted kids (or any number of kids) who have turned into halfway decent adults / parents, that deserves respect. Being a parent involves learning how to carry a little bit heavier load than we each planned (by analogy, the block). As we get older, sometimes life throws more blocks at us. Mom has gone through the last 12 years learning how to do things on-her-own (like many of our parents). Sometimes smooth; sometimes a little rocky, but always pushing forward. Happy birthday, mom.

A great eight came out for F3’s earliest workout. We had stars, clouds, humidity, and a little bit of oversharing. Due to some members wishing to recover from injury prior to BRR, YHC kept the mileage manageable.

Mosey across the parking lot for COP. Pick up some blocks and let the fun begin.

11s – Murder Bunnies across the parking lot while doing Merkins/Box Cutters as the exercises.

Triple Check – Wall sit, elbow plank, and 40 Monkey Humpers as the timer.

Half-Dora for 1 – 10 triceps extensions, 20 bicep curls, 30 bench press – all with the blocks. Lunge across the parking lot and back – 5 sets

100 two count flutter kicks

Beast with Blocks was called, though we got halfway through. Exercises were squats, Softball APD, and kettle swings.

Quick round of American Hammers.

Bodos took us out.