Tag: The Crucible

Blackwell Elementary School

  • Anaphylaxis Sucks

    Four stalwarts and Crucible regulars arrived at Blackwell Elementary this morning to a kettlebell beatdown but…

    Some of us had aching backs and we didn’t have any of the newer guys so we did some stretching and decided to go for a run. We ran to the river, crossed the T-Pot, then the Pipeline Trail (JC’s first time) and over the temporarily closed Mayo Bridge. YHC is not a huge fan of running on that bridge what with the narrow lanes, the maniac drivers and the two-inch curb that would be hardly noticeable to a distracted driver. It was a real treat to run over it right down the middle of the road. Good fun.

    Back to the flag, talk about the AO, talk about the evolving t-shirt design and YHC regaled the gents with the tale of when I almost got killed by yellow jackets.

    Until next week… I think it’s SOJ takeover. Looking forward to it.

  • Bye, Felicia

    Seven studs stormed the field at Blackwell as if they had taken C4 followed by a Total War chaser. According to Felicia, this is the THANG we did after we said “bye”:

    Mosey to the field in front of the community center on Maury and circle up for the mission of F3 and 4 of the 5 core principles. COP: Side Straddle Hops x20 in cadence (IC), Imperial Walkers x20 IC, Merkins x10 IC, Birddogs x20 IC, McGill Crunches x20 IC, Suzanne Somers x10 each side IC, Suzanne Somers on Steroids x5 each side IC, Suzanne Somers Roid Rage x5 each side IC.

    Mosey back to the VSF for a Triple Check with Coupons: Overhead Pulls, Curls, and run and touch a tree.

    Mosey to the hill behind the preschool for a Lindsay: Donkey Kicks against the wall, Bernie Sanders up the hill, and Merkins at the top.

    Mosey back to the VSF for a Conveyor Belt: Flutter Press, Curls, KB Swings, Tricep Extensions, Squats. The remaining two PAX did 10 Romanian Dead Lifts with no weight and they were the timer. Circle up for the COT.

    NMS:

    The COT was a bit unorganized and unorthodox, but it was great, like hanging out with old friends. YHC looked up the 5th core principle, we took a picture, discussed fishing on psychedelics (Solifornia) and named FNGs.

    Convergence Monday, 7am at Tredegar. Welcome FNGs Titanic and Radical Rick (or “Rad” for short), and solid work today. Shakedown discovered at the end that he knew Rad from BMX. We learned that Flintstone can bench 400 and Kindergarten Cop can curl 250. It was great to have No Regerts back at The Crucible.

  • Crushing it at The Crucible

    Whelp, I am not that good at posting backblasts in a timely manner. Please forgive me…

    It was a lovely morning in Blackwell for the four gloom warriors to take the field. We started with a COP, as usual. It consisted of the regular stuff that I do – you know, SSHs, DQs, Ukrainian Soldiers, merkins, and the like.

    Offshore had some coupons – a 40lb kettle bell and a 30 pound ruck plate so YHC decided to use those because it’s not really working unless it hurts a little bit. YHC is going to start bringing a couple of KBs on the regular.

    We partnered up and one partner did an exercise with the coupons while the other ran across the playground to the tree and back. Exercises were Russian kettlebell swings (the Russian swings are where the KB is straight out in front of the swinger, the American is when you swing it overhead – in case you were wondering), overhead press, and goblet squats – good times

    Then we went to the brutal and steep but mercifully not huge. We did 11’s featuring Carolina Dry Docks and jump squats.

    Next we moseyed across the street to the sports fields and went all the way to the end where we did some burpees, WW2s. and something else I cannot remember. Mosey back to the flag for numberama, namerama, and COT.

    Keep Caleb in your thoughts and prayers – he is struggling.

    So – I marked this post 3rd F for a couple of reasons. This AO has a couple of purposes and you may know – one is to attract men from The Healing Place and the other is to expand into neighborhoods underserved by F3RVA. This is something that we all (or most) agreed would be an important thing to do during our Pandemic Zoom town hall thing. It is so late because we are working with the schedules of the men in THP. We have a couple of ex THP Pax who have dug right in to F3RVA and I am grateful that they are now reaping the benefits of what we as a group have to offer.

    The second reason is that The Crucible has been added as a 3rd F AO for the Summer Tour. YHC plans to do the tour and hope some of you other touring Pax come by.

    Yours in service and brotherhood,

    Shakedown

  • Fire Up the Crucible

    Blackwell neighbors were treated to the sights and sounds of the PAX getting The Crucible back in business. The THANG:

    Mosey around the school and back to the playground for COP.

    COP: SSH, IW, Bird Dog, Suzanne Somers, Suzanne Somers with a Half Side Plank (“on steriods”), Suzanne Somers with a Full Side Plank (“roid rage”), McGill Crunches

    Mosey to the picnic tables for: PAX 1 is the timer – runs back to the cars and performs kettlebell exercise (Round 1 – Tricep Extensions, Round 2 – Curls, Round 3 – Bench Press), PAX 2 Dips, PAX 3 American Hammers, PAX 4 Derkins. Rotate when PAX 1 returns.

    Mosey to the bluetop for four corners: 10 Squats, 20 Merkins, 30 Flutter Kicks, 40 SSHs. Along the “short” sides (full length basketball court), Bear Crawl or Crab Walk (PAX choice). Run along the long sides.

    Back to the cars for one round of: PAX 1 Overhead Pulls x10, PAX 2 American Hammers, PAX 3 Six Inches, PAX 4 Flutter Kicks. Rotate when PAX 1 finishes.

    1 Burpee

    COT

    Announcements: CSAUP next week at Godwin High School. Rides will leave from men’s and women’s THP at 7:30am next week. There is a plan for more planning at ETs tomorrow morning. The team of Flintstone + 3 THP women are looking for challengers.

    NMS:

    Welcome Nacho, who doesn’t each nachos and hasn’t seen Nacho Libre. But he grew up as a wrestling fan. Credit to Joey Chesnut for the name.

    YHC worked in some back exercises from PT into a back-friendly workout, with a Burpee on top so that Nacho would be properly introduced to F3.

    Solid work by the PAX today!

  • Well you go tell HR to F#*^ off!

    6 strong including a FNG came out to The Crucible on sunny Saturday morning with a Hot Potato Q. Anthrax started us off on the initial mosey and then passed the Q of the COP to Shakedown.

    COP: SSH, Ukrainian soldiers, Don Qs, Helicopters, Arm Circles, Merkins, LBCs. Q back to Anthrax. He served up 4 corners: 5 burpees, 10 Merkins, 20 WWIIs, 30 SSH. We did it cumulative with going back to the start at each corner. Shakedown took us back to the playground where Offshore took the Q. 4 rounds of pullups and crawl bear rounds.

    Offshore passed the Q to YHC. We did 4 rounds of Swing-ups and WWIIs, a triple check of Donkey Kicks, Squats, and up the hill. Finish up with 3 rounds of PLTs, some APDs, and YHC took us out.

    NMS: Good group this morning with strong work put in by our FNG SlowHand. He got to experience the quickest Q handoff ever with Anthrax leading us on the mosey over and then passing to Shakedown. Mumblechatter centered around the universal experience that all productive workers hate HR, regardless of industry or field. YHC is pleased to know he is not alone in this stance.

    Announcements: Next Saturday is last week of Crucible before we merge with Healing Place 10k training team. Flintstone will be doing his VQ! Be there. Also still space for Bear Creek 10 miler in March.

  • Shoe Day!

    10 gloom warriors, including 2 FNGs, braved the chilly wind and cam together to be awesome.

    Flinstone was on the Q sheet but was unaware that today was his VQ so YHC improvised and we all had a Kickass time and it went something like this:

    COP was mostly the usuals – SSH, LBC, arm circles, Ukrainian soldiers, Don Qs, merkins etc..

    Flinstone is nursing a big toe injury so we kept it close to the flag, mosey to curb crawl up to 5 and back down.

    Next was 11s on the hill. Jump squats up top and WW2s at the bottom.

    then we did a double check of sorts partner up and we were running from one picnic or another – Donkey Kicks, dips, decline Merkins.

    Mary ring of fire and we’re done.
    2 FNGs Sean Vass and his son Jackson (10) are now Rongrande and LilRon in homage to Jackson’s love of soccer and C. Ronaldo specifically.

    After the beatdown we handed out shoes that Gypsy so kindly donated to the guys. Smiles and gratitude all around.
    Some of the guys want to do Bear Creek 10 milers and we may be sponsoring those that don’t have the scratch.

    The message we left with is to always lift up our brothers who may be struggling. Positive reinforcement is what we do.

    Two more Saturdays at our current location and then we switch the AO to The Healing Place where we will be participating in the 10k training team. Come join us, no commitment required. See me or Offshore for details.

    Peace and chicken grease

    – Shakedown ✌?❤️??

  • Aces!

    Weather was same as last week… 70 and sunny. the four of us partnered up and did a work out based on a deck of cards. 7 of heart=7 burpees, King of spades = 10 mericans etc… Mosey to a hill for a crawl bear up the hill. Harder than it sounds. Mosey back two Burpees to fill the last few seconds.

    Announcements: We need to work out the clown car to Snowy Owl 10 miler next Sunday. Registration is full but there is a wait list, link below.

    Flintstone took us out.

    Happy new year!

    https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=96250

  • Frozen Christmas Balls

    3 knuckleheads had an slightly less formal than usual work out. Mosey to the brand new basketball courts. Wam ups were cut short because standing still just didn’t make sense. 4 corners (returning to the start after each corner) with 10 mericans, 20 jump squats, 30 LBCs, 40 jumping jacks. Mosey back to the school yard. Triple check with WW2’s, picnic table stairmaster and running. We called it 10 minutes early on account of Extra credits frozen balls and headed out in search of coffee. No open coffee shops were found. Google lied to us 3 times… Toad was named in the car on the return to Healing Place. He vowed to show up next week! Merry Christmas fellas!

  • That’s Too Many!

    Flying in the face of dismal forecasts, a super-solid PAX of 5 posted to The Crucible for the following:

    Mosey around to the school circle for a disclaimer and COP: SSHs, IWs, Hillbillys, Merkins, Freddie Mercurys, Scorpion Kicks IC.

    Mosey to the curb for an Ascending Bear Crawl up to 13.

    Mosey to a picnic table for a variation on B.O.M.B.S.: like a Dora where the PAX alternates between exercises and running to another picnic table. Each PAX completes: 25 Box Jump Burpees, 50 Overhead Claps, 75 Merkins, 100 Big Boy Situps, 125 Squats.

    COT

    Announcements: Carols tomorrow, one-hit wonders next Saturday at Dogpile. YHC is out of town next Saturday. Plans for The Crucible?

    NMS: The goal was to produce a beatdown that the camera crews would be sorry they missed. Honeydo issued the BB title at the announcement of the Ascending Bear Crawl – a good indication that the PAX were on the right track. YHC comforted Honeydo with a slogan YHC uses at work: It could be worse. Note that it is not, “It could be a lot worse,” because that wouldn’t be true, but it could be worse. YHC could have included Crawl Bear. The PAX did it by the book: Exicon – F3 Nation.

    Scripps has posted twice now – a Honeydo Q and now this one. He is tired of silent assassins and suspects that there are loud and soft Qs to experience. Extra Credit powered through all of the exercises and is starting to formulate plans for his VQ with inspiration from his military training. Smile17 (Smiles for short) was all smiles, of course. His name comes from the fact that he placed 17th in the 10-miler in September: A Day of Firsts (f3rva.org)

  • Winter is coming

    Four faithful enjoyed a beautiful sunrise on the way to The Crucible to start their weekend off right. We did:

    COP: invisible jumprope, Don Qs, Copperhead Squats, Merkins, Reverse Crunch, Merkins, Scorpion kics. Shakedown joined us at end of COP.

    Mosey across street to park, under the Caution tape, and break in the basketball courts with a Dora 123. 100 Burpees, 200 Heels2Heaven, audible to 150 Jump Squats. Mosey back over to school playground and use the swings for Merkins-Ups, which is feet in swing and do merkin then tuck legs in and back out. Partner is counter and does 15 WWIIs. Then 4 sets of 8 pullups on whatever part of playground the PAX could find. Switch partners then do 3 sets of Donkey Kicks while partner runs up and down hill. Finish with 3 sets of 20 PLTs and 30 seconds of stretching.

    NMS: Solid veteran PAX with ample mumblechatter made the time fly for the Q. Handshake is super supportive of YHC’s road of recovery from COVID. The fresh blacktop at the park was a nice find and once that is all done will enhance the options at the AO. All the PAX were pumped for the 100 burpees for the Dora 123. Coffee at Crossroads after was nice with a TSB sighting behind the counter.

    Announcements: Christmas Carol sing next Sunday at Fudds, bring your kids and M. Happy hour at Final Gravity on 12/21. GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!