Tag: GridIron

10 mature warriors showed up in Northern Short Pump and dodged pickleballers for a Fireman Ed beatdown. Mosey to the football field that is the inspiration for Gridiron.

COP: DMH, DQ, merkins, HRMs, FMs, Phelps the arms out to get them ready.

Line up at goal line for a Triple Check.

Pacer bear crawls to 20 and crawl bears back. Others do Carolina Dry docks and APDs. Three sets of bear crawls and crawl bears are tough especially when you are next to energetic Tater. Line up at 50.

Pacer lunges to 25 and bernies back. Others do squats and jump squats. Mosey to little hill next to parking lot.

Burpee time with first set 30 seconds of burpees with 30 seconds rest, then 35 and 25, 40 and 20, 45 and 15, 50 and 10, and finally 55 and 5. This one was a crowd pleaser. Mosey to the Gator bars.

First set 10 chinups/jerkins and 20 dips, then 7 chin ups/jerkins and 30 dips, then 5 chin ups and 40 dips. Mosey to Marcy’s playground.

Doras with 100 derkins, 200 2 count flutter kicks and 300 LBCs. Other partner runs a half loop around the parking lot.

Finished with APDs, American hammers, diamond merkins and stretching exercises (I am allowed to lead those since I am an AARP member).

Firehouse subs on Tuesday. Pray for Fudd’s sister, Fireman Ed’s father and law, Fireman Ed’s medical test on 10/14 and those recovering from Helene’s aftermath. While Attila graciously took us out in prayer, a parent of one of the young football players decided to come in with 90 decibel modern rap music. Hence the title of the backblast.

Let’s go Mets!

Fireman Ed

This was supposed to be a pig family affair but Chicharon got Covid earlier this week, so it ended up with just Piglet and me. Piglet started out. The following is more or less correct.

For the record, shocking display of good grooming by Johnsonville noted; haircut, beard trimmed. Almost didn’t recognize him.

Disclaimer and Warm up

• 20 SSHs in cadence
• 10 Don Quixote in cadence
• 15 Imperial Walkers in cadence
• 10 Merkins in cadence
• 15 Copperhead squats in cadence

Mosey to the goal line of the Gridiron (there’s no game here today)

• Bear crawl to the 5-yard line, 5 Carolina Drydocks, crab walk back to the goal line and do 5 Crabcakes
• Bear crawl to the 10-yard line, 10 Carolina Drydocks, crab walk back to the goal line and do 10 Crabcakes
• Bear crawl to the 15-yard line, 15 Carolina Drydocks, crab walk back to the goal line and do 15 Crabcakes
• Bear crawl to the 20-yard line, 20 Carolina Drydocks, crab walk back to the goal line and do 20 Crabcakes

Mosey to the track.

At the start, person 1 will start doing merkins. Person 2 runs about 1/3 way down the left side straightaway and starts WWIIs. Person 3 runs to apex of the opposite curve and starts merkins. Person 4 runs to 1/3 way down the right side straightaway and starts jump squats.

After person 1 finishes their 20 merkins they start running to person 2 and that starts the “chase”. Three times around track.

Handoff to Pigskin

Mosey to the benches on the Gidiron for Lindsay: Bench kicks and Dips

• 30-10
• 25-15
• 20-20
• 15-25
• 10-30

Bulgarian Split Squats and Derkins in cadence

• 10-10-10 Stretch
• 10-10-10 Stretch
• 10-10-10 Stretch

Finish up in on sidewalk beside Parking lot with Mary

• 15 Hammers
• 20 APDs
• 60 count 6-inch leg lift

Announcements

None

Circle of Trust

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)

“His philosophy combines elements of Christianity with realism, emphasizing the tension between human aspirations for justice and the inherent flaws in human nature. He also developed the concept of “Christian Realism,” which advocates for a pragmatic approach to ethics and politics, acknowledging both the potential for good and the inevitability of sin.” Source: ChatGPT

The one thing that is truly within our power to change is ourselves. We need to have the desire, determination, persistence and the wisdom to realize how to go about making change.

Prayers for Fudd’s sister, Mary, who is battling a very serious case of cancer. We ask for the best in medical care and for Mary and her family, the strength to handle the enormous weight they are under.

Finish up with Bacon snack before the trip to Starbucks.

Mosey to burpee hill
Warm up: SSH, DQ, DMH, Armcircles forward back/big/small, LBCs, Merkins
Mosey to the field of pain
Sprint 10 jog 90 90 lbcs
Sprint 20 jog 80 80 penguins
Sprint 30 jog 70 70 American hammers
Sprint 40 jog 60 60 Freddy mercury
Sprint 50 jog 50 50 plank shoulder taps
Sprint 60 jog 40 40 calf raises
Sprint 70 jog 30 30 crab cakes
Sprint 80 jog 20 20 monkey humpers
Sprint 90 jog 10 10 merkins

Repeat with each member of pax picking an excercise

Wall 200 yds recovery

20 Don world War Quixotes
Strech
Circle up, prayer
Great work everyone.

A glorious and dewy morning awaited a bakers dozen.  Here is how it went down:

• Mosey to the pickle ball court area for COP
  • SSH
  • IW
  • DQ
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Merkins
  • LBC
• Mosey to the turf fields for a four corners – 10, 15, 20, 25 reps
  • 55 HRM
  • 55 WWII sit-ups
  • 55 monkey humpers
  • 55 2x crab cakes
  • 55 one-legged crunches, each side
• 20 yard partner wheel barrow followed by 20 PLTs – rinse and repeat 3x
• Mosey to the pull-up bars for 3x check
  • Run
  • Step-ups at the picnic table
  • Pull-ups
• Mosey to the parking lot for a 60 second wall sit to wrap things up
• COT with YHC taking us out

YHC felt like messing with the pickle ball players today to show them what real men do on a Saturday.  We got a visitor for COP, but he quickly checked out when the merkins came.

The PAX needs miracle ear.  How many times do you need to know the number of reps?  Apparently put it on a loop.

Welcome Red Roof!   Great to have a FNG.  Thanks for the head lock Mountie.

Convergence in 2 weeks.  Check Slack.

God is good all of the time!

Attila

10 – 12 mountains of muscle showed up on College Football day to embark on a cardio coupon workout.

Fireman Ed realized he forgot his watch but the PAX stepped up to give him time updates.

COP: DQs, ACs, HRMs, MCs, Plank jacks, etc. Go to coupons.

I was hoping for a multiplier of 4 but we had 10 at this point. I had the brilliant idea of doing a quintiple check with bench presses, WW2s, merkins, coupon flutter kicks and a bear crawl run/bernie pacer. The PAX were getting restless as they were forgetting the exercise order and the routine dragged on a bit. I stopped it after 4 rounds; I will put in on the “Do not do again” list. Mosey to other portion of field.

Triple check with bicep curls, coupon squats and a 50 yard and back pacer run. This was more efficient. Mosey to other part of field.

Dora with 100 coupon rows, 200 jump squats and 300 LBCs. Mosey to home base.

Pass the coupon wall sits both directions and finished with American hammers, heels to heaven and DQs. I was told I finished a little early; my bad.

Finished with prayers for healing for Gomer and for me to have a good specialist check up this Thursday.

Convergence Labor Day is west Short Pump at Nuckols elementary. 10 year anniversary at Dogpile later in September with a 7 a.m. main event and some pre events for go getters (including happy hour at Snuff’s in Bon Air). See backblast for further details.

I enjoyed coffeeteria including the debate on whether Pearl Jam sucks. I for one think Pearl Jam is a great band but there are those who think otherwise.

Fireman Ed

A beautiful Saturday greeting 12 noble warriors at the OG of AOs.  Here is how it went down:

• COP
  • SSH
  • IW
  • DQ
  • Helicopters
  • Arm circles
  • DMH
  • Suzanne Somers
  • Merkins
  • LBC
• Burpee march down parking lot with burpee at each parking space, finish with 20 WWII sit-ups and 20 APDs, rinse and repeat 3x
• Mosey to the pull-up bars for a 3x check
  • Run the outside of the pickleball courts
  • ARMRAP of pull-ups, jerkins
  • Storm squats
• 3x 20 PLT
• Mosey to the turf field for 4 corners
  • 70 HRM
  • 70 side crunches, each side
  • 70 jump squats
• Mosey back to the pull-up bars for some Mary
  • One-legged crunches, each side
  • Elbow plank
• COT with YHC taking us out

Great work from the PAX today.  A blessing to have new faces in Poe and Billboard.  T-claps to Mr. Rogers and Pigskin for leaving no man behind today. YHC enjoyed being back in the fold after being away 3 of the last 4 weekends.  Today, we hit some oldies but goodies that have not been done in a while (pull-ups and burpee march).

Prayers for Offshore after the loss of his dad and for families as they head back to school.

God is good all of the time!

Attila

2345 hours Friday night and YHC was checking the Q schedule for Dogpile and noticed an open Q for Gridiron. Quick math was completed and YHC realized that not only could he lead his Virgin Q but he could also get an extra hour of sleep, so YHC grabbed the Q and immediately went to bed. At 0630 when YHC work up he hadn’t begun to think about what to do. At 0650 as YHC approached Gridiron YHC saw a neighborhood on the left of densely packed homes and thought to himself, “I wonder if they’ve ever gone over there?” And the ideas started to percolate.

0700 and the workout commences, 8 strong to include 2 out of 3 of the Huddle Crew. We moseyed over to the track for a COP with various exercises. We had to relocate because of the lady walking the track, we would have blocked her route. We made over way over to the neighborhood and YHC stole a page out of EF Huttons playbook: Car/SUV/Van workout rotation. 5 Merkins at every SUV/Truck, 10 WWII’s at every Car, 1 Burpee at every Van and if we spotted a Cyber Truck then 10 Burpees would be done. It was a densely packed neighborhood, luckily the people of Glen Allen don’t love SUV’s as much as the people of Tuckahoe. This rotation seemed to go on forever.

It was time to make our way back towards campus so YHC asked White Deer to lead the way. YHC said that we’d run as far as White Deer could go and when he stopped we’d do some exercise. We made over way over to the Kid Med/ Kids Experience parking lot and YHC called on Tater to pick our poison. 10 Crunchy Frogs and 10 Squats at each parking spot.

As time was coming to a close we did an Indigenous Peoples Walk back towards campus. As we approached the Football field we saw a lone person doing exercises. We all thought it was Seymour at first, but it turned out to be Piglet. Apparently he arrived about 10 minutes late and after searching for us he decided to do a solid Beast, The Hard Way. It’s clear that Piglet has been fully indoctrinated into the Huddle family, since a solo Beast would totally be On-Brand for Pigskin. YHC decided to jump into the routine until YHC realized he was doing it The Hard Way and we’d run out of time.

We moseyed back to the flag for 2 minutes of stretching to wrap things up.

Announcements – Pickleball Tournament next Saturday. 10 year Anniversary coming up on September. Additional announcements will be posted in the comments section on Slack.

NMS – YHC realized since this was his first time Qing at Gridiron that it is a special responsibility. It’s akin to being a wait staff at a swanky restaurant where you need to ask if anyone has any food allergies, or in this case any exercise restrictions (sorry White Deer). YHC mistook “can’t run” with “didn’t want to run”. Apparently with his knee replacements he shouldn’t run. YHC will do better next time.

14 of the greatest athletes in the world were in Paris while at Short Pump Middle we had a dozen knuckleheads, one guest from Charlotte (Clipboard) and a young FNG (Forrest). But this group of misfits rose to the occasion at my Olympic themed Q.

We circled up in the parking lot and did some warmups of SSH, IW, Ukarnian Soldiers, LBCs & Merkins. All done in cadence and stopping at random numbers to keep everyone on their toes. We then moseyed to the track for the first event.

4×4 relay. Three teams and we did it three times, rotating positions. The relay started with bear crawls, 2nd leg did crabwalks, 3rd did broad jump burpees and the 4th ran the rest of the way (3/4 of the track). Everyone did SSH when it was not their turn. This is how young Forrest got his name. He is 15 and runs cross country and track for Deep Run. He ran the first heat and won by half a lap. We only did this three times as the fourth rotation would have had Attila and White Deer running and we would still be watching them if we let it happen.

We moved to the swimming pool (parking lot) and did a 4×100 relays Dora style. Find a partner, run back and forth 25 yards while you and your partner did 100 freestyle (merkins), 100 backstroke (2 count flutters), 100 butterfly (wide merkins) and 100 breaststroke (HRM). That was a lot of merkins.

We then hit the volleyball court (next parking lot) and did some volleyball practice. dig practice: 21 copperhead squats, Set practice: 21 squats with air press, block practice: 21 jump squats with arms in the air.

If you were not aware, @pigskin is in Europe for two weeks and part of his travels includes negotiating with the IOC to bring his parkour routine to the 2028 Olympics. In his honor, we moseyed to the school loading dock and combined his parkour routine with biking. 3 rounds with 20 two count Freddies. Random shouts of “parkour!” added to the festivities.

Then this “Dream Team” went to the bball courts and played 4 corners: 10 burpees, 20 WW2, 30 Plank Jacks and 40 Box Cutters.

Time was running out on our Olympic dreams. We moseyed back to the football field and did a warm-down beast adding six of an exercise every twenty yards (and back): arm circles forward (36 total), reverso (30 total), squats (24 total), hillbillies (18 total), V ups (12 total) and burpees (6).

COT and Atilla took us out. Prayers for Forrest and his family. They’ve been through a lot lately and Clipboard is a family friend in town to help. Clipboard was paying back the help he received from them when he had his own trials in life and he brought out young Forrest this morning. He sets a great example for all of us.

Big group for coffeteria as Pinto and Gomer joined us. Gomer hit up two coffeteria’s today to show off his knee brace.

Thanks for letting me lead.

14 men looking for a more enlightened F3 experience showed up at Gridiron for a workout full of sprints that are just so much fun because they involve a frisbee!

Mosey to Striker field with cones and frisbees, split up into two teams of 7 and one team sheds their shirts. A quick COP of SSH’s, various yoga stretches & poses, merkins, and burpees to get the blood flowing. Teams take sides and we were off! Teams scoring a goal did 15 2 count flutter kicks while the other team did 4 burpees. Switched excercises halfway through to 2 count Freddie Mercury’s and 15 merkins.

The Skins (Lighthouse, OC, Bennett (FNG), Fudd, Chicheron, Snuff, & Flatty) quickly took the lead, scoring 5 goals in rapid succession. It became evident rather quickly that this was arguably the best Ultimate team that F3RVA had every fielded and OC’s son Bennett (FNG) was the cream of our crop. In an effort to keep the game interesting we “traded” Bennett to the Shirts (Labrat, White Deer, McRib, Pinto, Byproduct, Handshake, & Upchuck) although that team failed to trade anyone back, so at that point it became 8 vs. 6.

Both teams continued to score and the Skins kept a healthy lead until 7:48am when Snuff remarked that the Shirts would have to score one goal every two minutes to catch us (It was 10-4 at that point). And damned if that wasn’t the moment that the Shirts found their mojo and the Skins started dropping passes! The Shirts came roaring back, scoring 5 goals in the last 12 minutes to almost catch the winning team! Thankfully for YHC’s pride, the Skins held out and took home the virtual trophy.

NMS: YHC can truthfully say that I have more fun playing Ultimate than just about any other version of F3. It is a game that admittedly has a higher chance of injury than other pursuits so that’s always something to consider, especially with the typical crowd that graces Gridiron. Despite the risk, we had the perfect number for an awesome match! Notable callouts include Snuff who’s “ups” resulted in many interceptions or blocked passes, Sunkist who probably scored the most goals for both teams, and Flatty who utilized his stellar vocal prowess to test the nerves of any opposing player in his vicinity that was trying to catch a pass. Labrat was also vocal about the fact that this is against the rules (yelling, mumbling, farting, or doing anything to break the concentration of a player trying to catch a pass). Who knew?! White Deer suprised everyone by running quite a bit and did a surprisingly good job at catching & passing! Fun was had by all and everyone was smoked by the end as my iWatch said we ran/sprinted 3 miles during that hour, in addition to the other exercises. Coffee at Starbucks afterwards was great as always.

Thanks for letting me lead gents and for a great Saturday morning!

Never stop chasing the wabbit!

Fudd

PS – Ultimate will be played again this week at Heartbreak Ridge!