Category: Richmond, VA

  • Mystery B 2025: Pop Lock and Drop It??

    It was a festive atmosphere at The FORGE as Mystery Box made it’s annual holiday appearance. We had 9 strong ready to put in some work while enjoying some amazing music . Here is a brief summary for your viewing pleasure:

    Mosey to the abandoned school for warm-up: Jazzercise, Helicopters, Cherry Pickers, BOC’s, and we are good. To the customary back of the school location for the main event:
    One PAX pulls an exercise out of the box then grabs the medicine ball and runs to the top of the hill and back. The remainder complete that exercise for the duration:

    Burpees
    Crawl Bear
    WWII Sit-ups
    Crunchy Frogs
    Murder Bunnies
    American Hammers
    Broad Jump Burpees
    Hello Dollies
    Sprints with 10 seconds rest
    V-ups
    Smurf Jacks
    Shoulder Taps

    Back to the flag – finished off with a minute or so of ab exercises.

    COT and YHC took us out

    Final Thoughts: We had some tough pulls this morning! L Woods was falsely accused of making up challenging exercises. Overall, I think we got a well rounded beatdown. Lots of great holiday themed workouts to check out this week and next…………..Look for a Mystery Box return sometime next year!

  • 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!

  • We had a Festivus miracle!

    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.

  • HGH up 771%

    YHC promised to spike you HGH 771% and only 3 studs took the pill (or bait?). Others opted to air grievances and perform feats of strength. But did that swell your balls or add facial hair? I doubt it. Add that to your grievances.

    COP included stretches and various exercises.

    THANG – Sprints = HGH

    6 30-second all-out sprints followed by 4 minutes of rest, stretching, light exercises and mumblechatter.

    BTTF, Numbers, Names and YHC took us out with a prayer for energy, patience and presence.

    No More Gumbo For You!

    here is the science for you: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSKn5xPE1Ka/?igsh=MThha29zdXltMmJqZw==

  • Circuit Manndate

    Three men posted this morning to do some circuit iron tossing.

    COP

    Corned Beef brought the clubs and jump ropes so the PAX made some stations and got to work. The stations rotated between upper body, lower body and core exercises. The jump roper was the timer.

    Some boat canoes and GRAMS to end the workout.

    Numbers, names, Corned Beef took us out.

  • 8 Days until Christmas WTH style

    AS usual we found the morning to be70 degrees and sunny, hopefully somewhere, but 12 men showed to fight off the holiday treats that are flowing abundantly these days! We moseyed toward West Broad Village and stopped at the familiar PAD for warm ups. After the legal ease warnings, 15 SSH, 15 Don Qs, 20 LBCs, and 10 slow merkins. We then launched to start the Christmas window shopping in the Trader Joes parking lot with a cumulative 4 corners done twice to match our 8 days till Christmas. We did 10 merkins, 20 WW2s, 30 squats, and 40 SSHs. After the 2 rounds we moseyed over towards the Gazebo along the lake. We took in the beautiful Christmas lights and feeling especially festive stopped in from of ACAC to give the F3 hello to those paying for their workouts, from the 2nd floor the treadmill runners enjoyed seeing 12 men waive hello with 25 Monkey Humpers and then 10 Merkins. Heading to the Gazebo we stopped and said a quick hello and then continued the long way around the lake to the flag. Pulling up with little time left and 3 miles covered. 6 of us headed to Dunkin after for some F2 time. Prayers for those sick and battling cancer, those who are hurting emotionally and for the blessings to be able to be out of bed and working out with these fine men. Thanks for allowing me the lead today. Merry Christmas!

  • Yo, Adrian!!

    For a Rocky workout montage, 9 HIMs showed up at the Woodshed to prepare for Rocky’s foes with a spirited workout.

    Warmerama included moseying down the streets of Philly (or Harpers Mill), SSHs, Don Quixotes, Cherry pickers, Leg and Hip stretchers.

    Finding the best from Rocky’s movies, we undertook some clear and some confusing exercises. Duly noted by YHC…

    All rounds included 1-minute AMRAP style exercises, some that paired with another HIM and then a full parking lot jog and back.

    Round 1: Apollo Creed

    • Clapping merkins – note to self, don’t start with these again …
    • Full sit ups
    • Leg raisers with partner push off

    Round 2: Clubber Lang

    • Back to back with partner for a coupon (medicine ball) pass, both directions
    • Shadow box shuffle from side of parking lot to the other side and back
    • Frog hop with a coupon

    Round 3: Ivan Drago

    • Foot-elevated merkins with a partner
    • Dragon Flies – or at least our attempt at them by raising torso and legs into the air on a plane
    • Bear crawl up and down the field hill

    Round 4: Tommy “The Machine” Gunn

    • Medicine ball (coupon) merkins, first with one hand elevated and then switch to the other
    • Full sit ups with a torso twist (optionally, could have partner slap stomach per Rocky’s trainer. No one chose this option.)

    Closed with a circle up and some more SSHs and LBCs to time.

    Numbers and Names

    Announcements included Rosie’s 12 days of Christmas. Prayers for multiple people seeking jobs + reminder about Rudy’s ministry opportunity. See 3rd-f channel for details. Encouragement for more Qs at Woodshed!

    YHC also learned there is such a thing as SOP and it is not standard operating procedure. Will have to do the shorts-only next time (maybe).

  • Frosty Run

    It was cold that day, COLD I tell you. Bullseye and YHC headed to the flats of Riverdown until YHC had to reroute the course for a warmer restroom. 4ish miles.

  • wear your BROWN pants

    The NOS cold-weather ruckers brought along our beloved 60# Sandy for an up-hill down-dale trek across new terrain. The promise was something challenging enough that wearing brown pants might hide the fact you shat yourself in the process. The goal was to use fingers of woods behind/between neighborhoods to circumnavigate an apartment complex near SPFP – and we succeeded in that goal. Also it turns out there are some really lovely open hardwood spaces to walk through in these back neighborhood nomansland areas. Enjoyed the banter as PAX tried to figure out where they were during the ruck, and felt challenged with some deep thoughts at Einstein. Until next time, yours AYE! ~DTH

    COMING UP:

    • 12/23 NoToll – Rosie’s annual 12 Days beatdown down and gift exchange
    • 12/25 Forge – DTH Christmas Whoopin
    • 01/01 Dogpile – New Years Convergence starting at 0700

  • Pervert in the Bushes

    A well rounded 12 men met for this weeks Season of Giving Handshake Q.

    Warm up at the small park to allow Fudd to arrive and get settled in. COP. Quick count off (more on this later).

    Mosey over to the top of Gaymont and partner up. P1 runs down the hill and back, P2 does an exercise. Running down the hill with your partner after both of run. Keep this up for a while. Down Gaymont, left of Rose Hill until we reached Ralston.

    At Ralston we keep forward progression. We stopped around Kubotas house and did squats and ran up the driveway, down the sidewalk, up and over the porch, then through the grass.

    Keep moseying up Ralston and stop at Finkles house for a 20 HRM’s and 10 Merkins.

    Mosey up to River and down River almost to Gaymont and stop at the pull off and do 36 Squats.

    Mosey back to the Parking Lot and get with your partner and do 20 single count Boo-yeah Merkins, 20 single count Boo-yeah WWII’s, 20 Boo-yeah Jump Squats.

    1 minute of stretching.

    Announcements – Kubota is leading The Bridge on 12/27. Festivus tomorrow at Circus. There will be a Kettlebell Workout next Thursday on Christmas morning at Circus.

    NMS – fun morning that wasn’t nearly as cold as it has been. Glad to see Wojo out in the fold. Atilla will be on Channel 12 news tonight for urinating on someone’s bush. Senor Frog was the random number I thought of before the workout and he was the real prize for this weeks Season of Giving.