Author: Machismo

  • Nancy’s Festivus

    Tzatziki was ready for a George Costanza inspired celebration 🎉 but Machismo had his own holiday in mind. With SOJ’s Ghost flag in hand and a handful 👋of Forge regulars the furnace was lit for a new festival. With a little pre-scouting Machismo found the gates to the tennis court unlocked and pulled the pad out into the field for a mosey around the track.

    YHC landing back at the warmup mat for a little standard warmarama.

    first and 10 became a real clock burner and challenge to the pax orienteering 🧭 skills as the unmarked field proved challenging. Run to the 10 for 10 burpees and 1 merkin score a TD and run back. To the end zone to rinse and repeat. 20 yd line is 2 merkins 9 burps. Etc. Belay and Tin man led the charge. Pax were entertained with some Festivus trivia upon completion.

    Mosey to the tennis court.

    Human conveyor belt to the next open gate.

    Pole smokers and hold six at the poles more trivia

    light poles for the finish.

    Pleasure to lead and to lighten the load in the bed of my truck after a long stint of carrying the ghost flag. Always good to know that we are here in this together worldwide. This is a gift we can share with others this holiday season 🎁. EH your family and lets grown the pax.

    prayer requests for Raj Machismos nephew in the picu. Keep up the good work gentlemen!

  • Community Building and Covalent Bonding at Bon Iron


    YHC wanted to focus on community building today, so we took a literal tour of the structures that hold a community together: The Church (Faith), The School (Education), and The Library (Shared Knowledge). Like water molecules, we needed a little cohesion to pull it all together.
    Warm-Up:


    Quick mosey to the Church Parking Lot to survey the perimeter.

    The Thang:
    Part 1: The Church (Faith in the Reps)
    We surveyed the 12 doors of the church.

    • Doors 1-5: 10 reps at each station (Merkins, American Hammers, Freddie Mercurys, Squats, WWIIs).
    • Doors 6-10: Combined effort for 150 Side Straddle Hops (SSH) total.
    • Door 11: Burpees.
    • Door 12: Imperial Squat Walkers.
      Part 2: The School (Higher Learning on the Wall)
      We moved to the school for some education on pain tolerance. We alternated reps with all PAX assuming the People’s Chair, performing the exercise while holding the wall sit, separated by an intermission.
    • Round 1: People’s Chair with Muhammad Ali Air Punches.
    • Intermission: 10 Donkey Kicks (OYO).
    • Round 2: People’s Chair with 10 Hoedowns.
    • Intermission: 10 Donkey Kicks.
    • Round 3: People’s Chair with 10 Milkers.
    • Intermission: 10 Donkey Kicks (OYO).
      Part 3: The Library (The Book of Pain)
      Final stop at the Library for some lines and corners.
    • Cocaine Bears: Bear crawl a parking space, stopping at every line for a Merkin.
    • Broad Jump Ladder: Back across the 13 lines. Broad jump the space, then Squats increasing from 1 to 13 reps at each line.
    • Four Corners:
    • Corner 1: 20 Merkins
    • Corner 2: 30 American Hammers
    • Corner 3: 40 Squats
    • Corner 4: 50 Raise the Roofs
      COT:
      Count-o-Rama, Name-o-Rama.
      Moleskin:
      Small numbers but high impact today. L Woods gets the assist for the pre-blast and rallying the troops. Machismo put in the work on the EHs, but his invites decided the fartsack was warmer than the gloom.
      It didn’t matter though. We experienced that scientific phenomenon—like covalent bonding or surface tension—where water molecules pull together tight to form a drop. With just three of us, the community was formed instantly. We toured the pillars of the neighborhood (Faith, School, Knowledge) and sharpened the iron.
      Great work men.

  • The Wheel of Time

    Chad and Brad where running late as the clock struck 6am and Machismo wagon pulled up just after with trailer in tow. Brad was sitting in his jeep impersonating Tin Man. When the pax went in for closer inspection the true identity of the Jeep driver was discovered. Brad finally responded to the EH and none the less on a 21 degree morning in the gloom. But what did Machismo have in store?

    After dragging brad out of his Jeep. The pax circled for a warmup. Circles and rotations were a theme of the workout. The pax discussed the origins of the Ukranian soldiers as we hit, SSH, Ukranian Soldiers, American Hammers, Etc.,

    Mosey to the spindle. YHC gave a brief introduction while Brad marked a tree. This Q took a turn towards forced labor as the pax were in for a version of indigenous people run as Machismo was reclaiming the spindle for the White farm. 3 pax on the spindle rolling it up hill as the 4th member did 5 burpees. Spindle was rolled up to the school where the pax completed a lap around the bike training course with a 10 burpee penalty for crossing any of the lines. After a victory lap around the circle it was to Machismos waiting trailer for one last push.

    Thang 2:

    Being well rounded as he is Machismo next invited the pax for a quattro de checko. With abs, legs, and arms. 3 pax worked while 1 pax ran to the fence at the end of the tundra. Squats, Merkins, and American Hammers.

    With time expiring the pax hit a 5 minutes of Mary. With 4 pax ab excercises included 2 seldom used ones from our new personal trainer “Brady Bunch” Brad Howren. X cross situps and some sort of hamstring bridge leg raise. Pax finished with pickle pounders.

    With time out we did numbers and had the opportunity to name our new pax member. Brad has several siblings and jokingly populates 50% of the adjacent Church Stony Point Presbyterian. He plays in the band and is a personal trainer. Given his music prowess and the Dookie’s attempt to jar his memory for famous family bands. Machismo gravitated towards the Brady Bunch. Brady was close enough to Brad and with multiple musical family members the name seems to fit. Machismo did a quick search of Brady Bunch episodes and it appears we may have missed an opportunity to call our FNG “Sergeant Emma”. Welcome our newest Pax Brady Bunch.

  • 11s

    Machismo blasted the group late last night noting a quick exit to take his son to an early morning soccer game and the AO responded. There was plenty of mumble chatter about how we can support motivate and encourage those in our charge and the early Saturday start coupled with the 45 min. Std boot camp proved just what YHC needed.

    The pax marched down to Riverside School for warmerama

    ssh, DQs, mountain climbers, merkins, etc.

    next ensued 2 rounds of 11s with dips and step ups and ww2s and burpees under the pavilion.

    Bttf for Mary and a little tibata.

    sitting at the soccer field writing this backblast waiting for the game to start. Let’s keep on getting up for our children and putting the work in at home. Talks of an F3 campout father and children were had.

  • Good old No Toll

    🥶 The Gloom Report: 11/18/2025 – No Toll

    Nine Gloom Soldiers saddled up for what Machismo had in store this morning. Scrapping the frost from our iron steeds, the Pax mostly wearing gloves (except Dookie!) fumbled our way in the darkness towards the frosty fields.

    🔥 Warm-up

    It was a prompt start with a lap around the track for Warmarama.

    • Side Straddle Hops (SSH)
    • Imperial Walkers (IW)
    • Hand Release Merkins
    • Little Baby Crunches (LBCs)
    • Don Quixote’s (DQs)
    • …and more

    🔨 The Thang

    The Pax got straight to work with a mix of running and strength:

    • Triple Check: Run across the field with a triple check, hitting the standard Merkins and WWIIs (World War II Situps).
    • Man Killers (Ouch!) Q got to dish out the count around the pax. YHCs calves were burning tonight.
    • The Pavillion – Dora: Moved to the pavillion for a round of Dora 1-2-3:
      • 100 Dips
      • 200 LBCs
      • 300 Raise the Roofs
    • Indian Run (IP): A lap around the field with a Burpee Cherry.

    ⏱️ 5 Minutes of Mary (5MOM)

    Returned to the start for a round of Mary.

    🙏 The Moleskin

    YHC (Yours Truly, the Q) asked the Pax what they were thankful for. We got many great answers, but above all, we were thankful for Snuff’s Coffee, delivered even though he was running it tight to get his wife to the airport.

    Humbled to lead you all this morning. Grateful for the opportunity to start the day together!

    Aye, Machismo (Q)

  • Machismo has the Q.

    Snuff texted late last night saying the Q looks open. Machismo realized he had mistakenly put himself down for Mammoth balls instead. Living the life of column AO#7 on the Q sheet requires more precision than Machismo is able to conjuor. That said YHC stepped up to the challenged and attempted to live up to the mistake with a ballzy 300 Q.

    Warmerama. SSH, LBCs, uks, among others were had. Along with 24 Merkins which started our countdown. 300 merkins was the goal for today. Starting at 24 and working out way down to 1.

    mosey to the riverside school. 23 22 21 20

    Thang 1 4 corners prostitute style. Corner number 1 19 merkins. 20 squats, 30 lbc, 40 ssh. The pax kept chomping down on the merkins.

    Thang 2 11s at the Gazebo which looked especially nice as Tin Man had done the metal roof on it. Step ups and dips. Pax got down to 11 merkins

    Thang 3. Hill sprints on the ball field. Sprint to the top of the hill by the track. Do hand release merkins at the top.

    mosey to the school for some donkey kicks and more merkins by the conex.

    bttf for 1 hand clap merkin.

    it was pleasure to lead the pax today. Coffeeteria was especially delicious. We were reminded a of the need to get the call out to more HIMs and fill the table at the bon iron house. Next week we aren’t in the house so Machyman will try to bring the airpot.

    Go eagles! (Scram’s soccer team not the NFL) Let’s focus on those we coach this week and encourage them to do their best.

  • Shapes and such

    A refresher on (running) shapes in the (refreshing) rain. Warmarama – Part 1: Mosey loop around parking lot. Form a perfect LINE for SSH’s, DK’s, CH Squats, Arm Circles. Warmarama – Part 2: Mosey to bottom of hill. CIRCLE up for Ukrainian Soldiers, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, LBC’s. Mosey to track/football field. COP #1: OVAL run around the track with 25 reps before and after every turn. Lt Dan’s, Merkins, Jump Squats, and something else. COP #2: Prostitute style 4 corners of a SQUARE with 50 yards of a football field between corners. WW2’s, Ball Dippers, LBC’s, Monkey Humpers. Mosey to steps above bleachers. COP #3: Partner up for a TRIANGLE Dora. 100 Carolina Drydocks, 200 squats, almost 300 LBC’s as we ran out of time. Running amounted to 2+ miles according to DTH’s IT band… Announcements: Huge Bells on Monday (lots of jokes about bells/balls), Bon Iron on Saturday. Prayer requests: Dookie’s family and Sable’s travels to Africa.

  • 4×7=28 diamonds

    F3 Bon Air “Iron” Backblast – 10/25/2025AO: Bon Air Elementary Q: Machismo Pax: 4 total. Scram, L Woods, Tin Man, Machismo (YHC)Warm-O-RamaSSH (Side Straddle Hop)UKs (Ukrainian Soldiers)DQsPeter ParkersMerkinsStarfish SitupsThe Thang 1: 7 of Diamonds on the Ball Field The Pax completed a pyramid chipper.7 Merkins14 LBCs (Little Baby Crunches)21 ISWs (Imperial Squat Walkers)28 SSH (Side Straddle Hops) – The Peak21 Monkey Jumpers14 [What was the 14-rep exercise here?]7 BurpeesThe Thang 2: Mini-Dora In partners, P1 ran to the Little Free Library and back while P2 worked on the cumulative count. Flapjack until complete.25 Pull-ups (cumulative)50 Dips (cumulative)75 Step-ups (cumulative)The Thang 3: 4 Corners in the Hood Moseyed through the neighborhood, stopping at four corners for a beatdown.Corner 1: 25 MerkinsCorner 2: 25 Freddie MercuriesCorner 3: 25 Peter ParkersCorner 4: 25 Heels to HeavenMary No time for Mary, BTTF (Back To The Flag).COTCount-O-Rama: 4Name-O-Rama: Scram, L Woods, Tin Man, MachismoAnnouncements: [Any announcements made?]Praises/Prayers: [Any intentions shared?]Naked Moleskin (AAR)Solid work from the 4 Pax who showed up to get stronger.YHC (Machismo) confirms: Peter Parkers, done correctly with knee to the respective (same-side) elbow and back, are hard.The flag location is confirmed to be staying at Bon Air Elementary.Coffeeteria was great at the Polk House (we opted to meet inside). Fellowship was even better.Aye! Machismo

  • Bon Air’s Newest Grand Prix… and a Tremendous Wall

    Date: 10/04/2025 AO (Area of Operations): Bon Air Elementary School QIC : Machismo PAX (Persons Attending): Last Call, Scram, Dookie, Snip, Sable, Punkie Brewster, Machismo (Q) Total PAX: 7

    Conditions: A perfect, crisp Saturday morning in the gloom, ideal for putting in work.

    Intro: Record Numbers for Bon Iron: Seven HIMs (High Impact Men) including the Baron of Bon Air bypassed the fartsack to get stronger together. The morning began with a mosey to the bus loop, where the PAX discovered a freshly painted, intricate children’s bike course. The gears started turning for a future Q’s diabolical plan, but for today, it served as a perfect spot to get warm.

    Warm-o-Rama:

    • Side Straddle Hops (SSH) x 20 IC
    • Imperial Squat Walkers (ISWs) x 15 IC
    • Ukrainian Soldiers (UKs) x 15 IC
    • Tempo Merkins x 10 IC
    • WWII Sit-ups x 15 IC
    • Don Quixotes (DQs) x 10 IC

    The Thang:

    Thang 1: Playground Grinder With the PAX sufficiently warmed, we moseyed to the playground for a four-station grinder. The format was simple: complete the exercises at a station, then run a full lap around the track before proceeding to the next.

    • Station 1: 5 Pull-ups & 10 Knee Raises, followed by a lap.
    • Station 2: 10 Dips & 10 Derkins, followed by a lap.
    • Station 3: 5 Burpees & 10 Squats, followed by a lap.
    • Station 4: 10 Pole Smokers & 10 Freddie Mercuries, followed by a lap.

    Thang 2: The Tremendous Wall After the playground, the PAX took a trip to what can only be described as a big, tremendous, beautiful wall for a Triple Check.

    • Timer: Run a lap around the parking lot.
    • Exercise 1: Donkey Kicks on the wall.
    • Exercise 2: Hoe Downs. PAX rotated through until all were gassed.

    Bonus Thang: Indigenous Curb Crawl We returned to the bus loop for an Indigenous People’s Curb Crawl. The man at the back of the line performed 5 Derkins, then sprinted to take the lead. This continued the length of the bus loop, keeping the PAX together and pushing the pace.

    Thang 3: Mini DORA To ensure no energy was left in the tank, we partnered up for a quick DORA finisher.

    • 50 Merkins (cumulative)
    • 100 Squats (cumulative)
    • 150 LBCs (cumulative)

    Mary: With the clock winding down, we circled up for a final 5 minutes of core work to finish the morning strong.

    Count-o-Rama / Name-o-Rama: 7 PAX

    Announcements:

    • Coffeteria next week. A great chance for 2nd F (Fellowship)!

    Prayers/Ball of Man (BOM):

    • Prayers for L. Woods, Pad Thai, and NTB as they endure the GrowRuck challenge tonight. T-Claps to these men for stepping up.
    • Prayers were lifted for our children. A powerful reminder to all of us to: “Love them well, coach them better.”

    It was an honor to lead this strong group of men this morning. You all pushed hard and made it easy on the Q.

    SYITG, Machismo

  • The Perfect Number.

    12 Hims graced the beautiful lawn of No Toll to get swole. Machismo’s son Polar Bear says body weight work out isn’t efficient and chose the gym instead Machismo set out to prove him wrong.

    Warm up we did a lap around the fields to prep ourselves for them pending old glory. We settled into the parking lot for a warmerama. SSH, DQs, IWs, x factor situps, tempo merkins and some weird exercise that really hard to get in count.

    thang 1. Merkins ladder 1 rep lbc run to the middle of the field 1 markin climb theadder to ten.

    Thang 2: 4 corners. 20 reps each. ‘mericans, x factor, hammers, isws.

    pay the toll 20, 20, 20. Dips, step ups, decline ‘mericans.

    5 MOM.

    pleasure to lead you all this morning. NOS Leadership meeting at DTHs house Thursday at 8. Prayers for Lwoods grow ruck and the baby.

    reflections went deep on marriage as a covenant and not a contract. About enduring the hard times and sticking with it. Tin Man and his wife and Machismo and Alyssa will be celebrating 20 years next year. Contracts are often broken the covenant of marriage is a promise that says I’ll love you even though we are broken.