It was just the pines and Beaver this morning. YHC covered something like 5.2 mi and gets a max speed of 12.2 mph. YHC took a page from Commando’s book and used this time to talk with God in the overcast gloom. Even though I missed the guys, it was nice to have this alone time.
Category: Richmond, VA
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Huge Bells #2 – Conquering Mt. Chaplain
Six men of Gondor brought their finest forged steel from the mines of Moria to do battle on this gloomy Monday morn.
Warmarama – Mosey around the parking lot, observing all traffic cones, then circle up in the parking lot for various stretches. YHC kept the calisthenics light today given our pump-focused workout. It honestly felt a little weird given all of the running that takes place at Huguenot High on a later day of the week.
COP #1 – Kettle Bell Bear Crawl
To launch into our workout the PAX bear crawled down the parking lot from L Woods’ bumper to Chaplain’s and then back, advancing our kettlebells underneath us as we went.COP #2 – Mt. Chaplain Circuit
Six stations – 2min. max effort each station with a 20sec. rest in between
1) Lateral Deadlift Passes – With feet wider than shoulders, place the KB/weight on the outside of one foot and then transfer it across the body using the opposite hand.
2) Rows – Hinged at the waist, single arm. AKA lawn mower pulls.
3) Squats – You know this one
4) Swings – Russian style
5) Shoulder to Overhead – Alternating single arm. Depending on the weight in use this could be ground-to-overhead, strict, or assisted with a kip.
6) 50lb KB carry up and down Mt. Chaplain as many times as allowable in the time limit.COP #3 – Swing/Squat/Press Complex
Cadence: Always perform a KB swing, front squat, and OH press in quick succession. Each round one of the movements goes up in reps.
– Round 1: 1-5 Swings, 1 Squat, 1 Press
– Round 2: 1 Swing, 1-5 Squats, 1 Press
– Round 3: 1 Swing, 1 Squat, 1-5 Press
– Total Reps: 75COP #4 – Ab Circuit
– 2 Rounds of 20 Deadbugs, 20 Front Plank Pass-Throughs, and 20 American Hammers
– 2 minutes of Turkish Get-Ups OYO until time called.Numbers/Names/Announcements/Prayer Requests
– The Bridge – Saturday 11/15
– SOJ Chili-Cookoff
– Daddy/Daughter Dance
– Prayers for NTB travelling with family out of the country this weekend.Awesome morning with the PAX! Looking forward to seeing this AO grow.
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Tried and True at Hoedown
At 0529, 8 men stood in the parking lot at Tuckahoe Elementary School wondering what YHC had in store. As Handshake came screeching into the parking lot at 0530, we did a short loop around the parking lot to give Handshake time to get out of his car. With Handshake in tow, we headed to Third Church’s Parking Lot A for warm up.
Warm Up included the following:
- SSH
- DQ
- Helicopter
- Merkin
- Scorpion Kick
- Suzanne Summers
Mosey behind the church to Parking Lot B for a triple check.
- Partner 1 – Run to the end of the parking lot and bernie sanders back
- Partner 2 – BTTW
- Partner 3 – flutter kicks
Mosey to Parking Lot C for 4 corners.
- 10 HRMs
- 20 WWIIs
- 30 Flutter Kicks
- 40 Squats
Stay in place and retrieve coupons for triple check #2.
- Partner 1 – Run around parking lot
- Partner 2 – alternating merkins on block
- Partner 3 – squats
Mosey down Silverspring doing exercises for the different vehicles encountered. Crossovers are counted as cars. And, Honeydo asked whether a Honda Ridgeline counts as a truck. The pax debated but did their burpees.
- SUVs – 5 merkins
- Cars – 5 squats
- Trucks – 2 burpees
Return to the flag for a few minutes of Mary.
Announcements
- Thanksgiving Day Convergence. 0700 at Mary Munford. See Slack for Details.
- EF Hutton leading the Bridge this Saturday. 0600 launch. See Hutton for details.
Numbers, Names and YHC took us out. Thanks for letting me lead today!
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Crabtastic Q
Between work travel and football-fartsacking, YHC has missed a few Alamo’s and wanted to get back out there. No better motivation than to put your name on the Q sheet! I completed my pre-blast on a paper plate and sent it to the group the night before.
Gathered the group, mosey to start things off. Fresh legs led to a tempest pace out the gates. Warmup to get the blood flowing on a chilly morning.
First THANG – Pyramids
These are becoming a favorite of mine. Start with one exercise, add one exercise each round. After completing 6 exercises in a round, we start dropping one.
One the tennis court along the base line (some may call it other things but they are foolish)
1 – Shuttle run
2 – hand release merkins x10
3 – mountain climbers for Swoop x20
4 – Superman planks (Nancy named these, send all complaints his way) x10
5 – J-LO pickle poppers x10
6 – Burpees x5
Editor’s Note: It would appear from the mumble-chatter that shoulders were burning amongst the groupSecond THANG – Triple Check
Per plate instructions, head to the hill behind the hill and locate 5 sandbags in the dark.
Runner – run up hill with sandbag, lunge down the hill.
P2 – No surrenders
P3 – Lt Dans
Editor’s note: It would appear from mumble chatter that legs were still struggling after Friday’s SH workout. YHC intended this to be true.Third THANG – Bunker Kicks
Mosey to bunker for a series of Donkey Kicks / I am not worthy / Wall SitsBTTF for ring of fire abs edition.
Announcements – Bridge this weekend, Hutton leading. Bunch of people doing Richmond Half – send them some love! Chili cookoff 11/23 @ 3pm, signup sheet on Slack.
Prayers – Wildcat scans, Hermey wife healing from ankle surgery
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Traditional Deep Q
A six-pack of faithful warriors assembled in the gloom for a traditional Deep beat-down. Here is how it went down:
- COP
- SSH
- Ukrainian soldiers
- IW
- Helicopters
- Arm circles
- DMH
- Merkins
- LBC
- APD
- 11s on the hill by the school with Mike Tysons and WWII sit-ups
- Mosey to the back to the school for a Lindsay with dips and step-ups – 100 of each
- 2x 20 PLTs
- 5 Bernies up the small hill
- Mosey to the pull-up bars for a de-escalator of pull-ups – 6, 5, 4, 3, 3
- 5 Bernies up the small hill
- Mosey back to the flag for COT with YHC taking us out
Good work from the PAX today. We were able to get a lot in, and the ground was not soggy. Weather should get colder the rest of the week. Be ready.
The Bridge is the Saturday. Reach out to EF Hutton. Convergence at Mary on Thanksgiving at 7 am.
God is good all of the time!
Attila - COP
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Friday Triple Checks
Three men got out of bed this morning to get a good workout in cool weather.
COP:
After running some parking lot tracers, we did the following: SSH’S, Don Quixotes, Imperial walkers, copperhead squats, forward and reverse arm circles, alternating shoulder taps, hand release merkins, WW2’S, and Alabama prom dates. All in cadence.
THANG
Triple check 1 at basketball court
Jump squats, LBC’S, suicides as timer( backpedal out and forward back)
Triple Check 2 at the playground
Pull ups, dips and lunges to the building and mosey back as timer.
Mosey to parking lot for some boat/canoes and a ring of fire of merkins (2X)
Numberama, Namerama, Surf n Turf took us out.
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Back to the norm
Today was the first day since late March where met up front, a group of 9 gents graced Rockwood Park on a nice fall Saturday morning with the shadow of the recent beaver moon still in the sky. Let’s review….
Started off a little run around the parking lot, them into the basketball court for the uncustomary WARMARAMMA(a moving warm up not being in the circle I want to change things up). Started with runner’s lunge to a twist, then at each point 5 SSH, walking lunges with arms riding to cactus position, side shuffles, mummy kicks(I am renaming to the chaps), plank walks then a light suicide run to finish. Mosey over to the main lot which was fairly empty. 4 corners next: 20 Carolina Dry Docks, 40 SSHs, 60 American Hammers, 80 mountain climbers. Then a little stroll to the concession area for a TC(wall sits, tricep dips, run down the steps back up near the end broad jump up the steps). I wanted to do plank wall ups but the ground was a little slick. A new one I came up with: hoe downs with a twist to each side at the top. A nice little change up from the usual.
Then down to where I had some “toys” I brought out today: classic Dora(100 Merkins, 200 squats, 300 LBCs) you’re time carried a bucket, sandbag weighting 50-60 pounds, or my Thor kettlebell hammers. After that VA little fun tire tossing, same bag pull thrus, seal crawl walks, A final stretch corn to the pull up area for a quick round pull ups, scrunchies, left lift up and over the post. A final run to the flag, 10 HRMs to close things out. Numbers, names announcements and prayer led by YHC to close Saturday morning.
Next week, Richmond Marathon and the Bridge(I am going to the bridge, been wanting to go for a while). So you have a chance to lead a workout, do so step up time. Grab a Q i know guys will not grab one is simple the key is make it your own. You control things if you want to do a 3 mile run with a Dora added why not. Second thing: Spartan Virginia 2026 last week of getting to race for free(I mean free). You have the Super Saturday morning, there’s a Sprint in the afternoon then Sunday the Sprint is the entire day. I am doing both in the morning each day. Will I be doing the trifecta next year most likely! Where I do the beast is the next question. If any questions reach out you have a little over 11 months to get ready I have reached out to a place that is a FARM with obstacles to train. Will fill in more details as I hear back. See you at the next gloom
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Rainy with a chance of country club
The forecast called for rain, and for once it didn’t lie. Expectations for attendance were low, and YHC was fully prepared to enjoy a solo workout under the luxurious St. Christopher’s Sports pavilion — one of the finer outdoor fitness facilities in the greater West End.
To YHC’s pleasant surprise, Applesauce arrived, immediately elevating the gloom factor and the quality of conversation. The pavilion provided a dry, echoing backdrop for six rounds of Tabata, punctuated by laps around the pristine SCCC track.
Discussion topics ranged from family dynamics to the delicate art of managing in-laws — all tackled with the same intensity as burpees, though slightly more grace.
In the end, we were reminded that sometimes the best workouts aren’t about numbers, but about showing up, staying dry, and sharing a few honest words.
Announcements:
- Thanksgiving workout at Mary Munford, 7 AM. Bring gratitude and coffee.
YHC took us out in thanks for simple mornings, and covered pavilions.
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Groveeeeeee but make it fast
Fourteen harriers of varying speeds descended upon the hallowed grounds of Mary Munford for what was advertised as a run but quickly turned into an exercise in personal honesty. With a few minutes to spare, YHC took the Q and unveiled the plan: run down Grove for 23 minutes, turn around, and make it back in 22. Negative splits.
It was a familiar route with an unfamiliar sense of accountability. Go out easy, come back hard. Some followed that guidance. Others just went out hard and came back less hard.
The sixes (Sippy and Phonics) held strong. Phonics remains the only man capable of maintaining both conversation and forward momentum better than YHC. A true cardio philosopher.
Mumble chatter highlights included:
- Shakedown’s luscious locks, which may or may not qualify as a mullet depending on lighting and wind speed.
- Yard khakis: the official uniform of men pretending they’re not just wearing old work pants.
Announcements:
- EF Hutton is headed to the bridge on the 15th. Looking for a few more to join him.
- Thanksgiving Day beatdown tentatively set for Mary Munford at 7 AM. Nothing says gratitude like burpees before pie.
Praises:
- Shakedown’s flow—business in the front.
- All men brave enough to rock yard khakis in public.
Prayers:
- For Saab’s M, caring for her 99-year-old mother.
YHC took us out with a reminder to be grateful for what we have—and to share it with others.
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Don’t prepare a 45 minute workout for a 60 minute AO
13 PAX showed up to Pickleballville expecting a beat down and they got one, slightly improvised.
COP: Helicopters, Jazzercise, arm circles, HRMs, MCs and LBCs. Hey I have 5 coupons. Let’s Mosey.
Elevens of diamond merkins and jump squats with a little moseying with coupons. For some reason, the passing of the coupons was not understood until they saw me take the coupon one way, see me pass it to Byproduct and then viola!!
Triple check: Derkins, coupon curls and run around the field goal post. Mosey to playground.
Another triple check: Flutters with coupon presses, heels to heaven and run to second lightpost on left.
Mosey to home base/bathroom wall: wall sits with pass the coupon after a press, donkey kicks, 5 burpees (because White Deer started b%^ching) and 10 HRMs. Repeato.
That was my workout and it was 7:45. Need to fill up another 15 minutes. Curb crawls to 5 down to 1 and then one set of 25 PLTs. Then American hammers, Freddie Mercuries and some stretches.
Bridge on 11/15 – see EF Hutton for details or let him know if you are interested. Thanksgiving workout 7 a.m. at Mary Mumford. Make sure you know where the closest AED is located at each AO (located at the building next to the main football field) and have someone with a phone on them (thank you Pigskin). Prayers are with Fudd’s sister, Handshake’s neice and others looking for work or going through health issues. Go Jets (is the over under on the Cleveland matchup 15). Also was nice that everyone that worked out went to coffee! Thanks for letting me lead!
Fireman Ed