Category: Richmond, VA

  • SOJ Ghost Flag Returns!

    After a mysteriously long delay, the SOJ Ghost Flag re-emerged at Satan’s Hill. Dreams of a Nancy Lopez Hulk Hogan themed workout were shattered. Here is a brief summary for your viewing pleasure:

    Warm Up: Mosey up Satans Hill. On the way back: Knee Pulls, Open the Gate, Overhead Claps, Hillbillies, Arm Circles.

    Circle up for Jazzercise, Mummy Kicks, Pickle Pounders, Alabama Prom Dates.

    The Workout: Mystery Box
    1 man draws a card and calls out the exercise, then totes the medicine ball up Satan’s Hill and back. PAX performs the exercise for the duration.

    Burpees
    Sprints w/10 seconds rest
    Hand Release Merkins
    Carolina Dry Docks
    V-Ups
    Bear Crawl
    Murder Bunnies
    Crunchy Frogs
    WWII sit ups
    Hello Dollies
    Lt. Dans
    American Hammers
    Smurf Jacks
    Jump Squats
    Run up Satans Hill
    *Two Others

    Nancy Lopez lead 2 minutes of cool down exercises until time was called.

    COT and TryHard took us out

    Final Thoughts: Had a great time leading this morning and getting the flag back in circulation! Appreciate NTB, OC, DTH, Sable, House Party and Touchdown for making the trek. Nancy was a great sport and I have no doubt he and the SSOJ crew will be seeking retribution in a big way. As usual, the Mystery Box playlist created some controversy with “Thirsty and Miserable” specifically being criticized by the workout music purists – SMH. Mudslide exhibited encyclopedic knowledge of wrestling as respect was paid to Hulk Hogan. We are all Real Americans!


  • Rage Clean Spills into AM Beatdown

    4 Gloom Monsters emerged from their fartsacks and joined at PFP for a good ol fashioned Beaver Beatdown that YHC wasn’t expecting. Once the 4th rolled in (Schmildschmood) 😉 YHC decided let’s not do a 10 burpee late penalty, we’ll do 30 burpees, and the workout just flowed from then on.
    Mosey to the octagon!

    • Deadman Phelps OYO
    • 49 SSH IC
    • Runner Stretch
    • The Wives
    • 25 LBC’s IC
    • 1 Arm Planks
    • 20 HR Merkins IC
    • Personal single stretch OYO

    Mosey to Choo Choo’s new sand filled toys near the cars.

    COP1 – Indigenous Lunge walk 1/8 mile passing medicine ball and brick bag. Leave the weights.

    Bear Crawl to the parking blocks, once arrived perform 25 incline merkins. 10 Second break. 20 Mike Tyson’s on parking blocks. Mosey back to weights. Indigenous rotation with PAX lined up along speed bump and heels on speed bump, P1 & P3 squat with weights to 10 while P2 & P4 are performing monkey Humpers. Complete one full rotation. Indigenous style walk back to the cars while performing shoulder to shoulder with sand toys.

    COP2 – 4 corners – Lady of the Night

    • 10 Smurf Jacks
    • 20 WWII
    • 30 Merkins
    • 40 LBC’s

    Pick up your things and meander back to the whips!

    CoT – Numbers(4) & Names

    Announcements & Prayer Requests – Choo Choo’s 200 post tomorrow! Let’s show up for our brother and help celebrate with him in a fun workout he’s putting on. Bring a pair of post workout flip flops. Prayers for Florence and the loss of his dad. The men taking part in Dry July and staying strong. Praises – Congrats to Wonka on achieving a work promotion!

    YHC closed us out in prayer. Don’t take these moments of physical ability for granted. RIP Hulk Hogan 🙏

  • Triples all around

    6 PAX, no Q on the sheet, that screams for a hot potato with some Triple Checks. YHC kicked it off witih an extended Lounge and Chaplain-esque warmup with some exercises in cadence and some various methods of movement across the blacktop.

    Stay there for Triple Check #1 – curb toe taps, Freddies, run the length.

    Rodeo Clown moseyed us to the pull up bars for an extended 5 round Triple – run the field, WWII, and pull ups/bar hangs. Rounds 4 and 5 were definitely more hang than pull.

    RC’s extended triple left little time for Doozy’s triple check of squats, lunges and a bear crawl/curb walk/crawl bear timer. Since he did not have a watch on, YHC called time and took over for the final mosey and backblast.

    Announcements –

    • 2.0 Friendly Ultimate tomorrow at DaPile
    • School of Ruck – 2.0 friendly ruck and bootcamp 7/27 7-8am Rockwood Park
    • HR Derby 2.0 August 5
    • Homegrown Half – 8/16 Robious Landing Park – start time = early; 10k run and ruck options available
    • That’s the short term list – many more things on the longer term be on the lookout for more

  • Hospital Name

    3 runner that turned into 4 with a FNG and 5 Ruckers came out for Tomato Run stop of the summer tour.

    Route – Runners heading through Rutland, Norwood, and the Cool Spring trail loop with some extra sprinklered in to get from 4 to 4.5 miles

    Ruckers – Rutland and Cool Spring loop to get in 2.5 miles

    Welcome to Forest (temp name till we can think of something better). Forest has run in 15 marathon in his lifetime

    Glad to have UpChuck (our lone summer tourists) join us this morning. Enjoy listening to the store of the Hosptial Name and almost pulling it off with our FNG this morning

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • Welcome, Dr. Who?

    Am I SOS, or am I NOS? I am part of F3Rva, that’s what I am, though unquestionably I fit into the SOJ category. I would probably caucus with the SOS crew if forced to choose, like for a game of ultimate for instance.  

    I participate in a lot of beatdowns with the Alamo and Satan’s Hill boys. I also find myself at Ruckhenge, the Forge, and Rock n’ Roll. Once a quarter or so, I’ll head into the city for DogPile on Saturday. Seems like I have a foot in a couple of different regions. Most of this is down to where I live, not in New Market or RounTrey, not in Bon Air, I’m in the in-between, right down the road from L Woods.

    Sounds like everyone had a great time at the SOJ v. NOS ultimate frisbee game this past week, and my commentary is in no way meant to detract from the merits of competition between regions. Keep it up! But every so often, I encourage everyone to drive five, ten, fifteen additional minutes, visit another AO. Maybe do it with some regularity. This will pay dividends. F3Rva is teeming with solid HIMs, every region, and it’s a treat to see different faces and AOs. It’s a little easier for me, living in the in-between; if I had an AO in my neighborhood, of course it would be a staple post for me.

    So today I lead my first Q at the Forge, an awesome and spacious AO with a ton of options. Great guys, 14 strong, and an FNG courtesy of Gaudi. And we got after it!

    Run to the tennis courts. Circle up for:

    Andy Dufresne, rotator cuff stretches, helicopters, dead man hang, cherry pickers, SSHs, copperhead squats, merkins, downward dog and cobra stretches, Thor’s Chair (feet stay off the ground the whole time if you’re able, start with 10 scrunchy frogs followed by 1 American hammer, 9 scrunchy frogs then 2 American hammers, it’s like 11s without running, your last set should be 1 scrunchy frog/10 American hammers. I think the PAX really enjoyed this.)

    Run to the track. Four corners, not prostitute style. 10 broad jump burpees, 20 LBCs, 30 Lt. Dans, 40 groiners

    To the bleachers. Bear crawl up the wet and treacherous bleachers. Crawl bear back down. Next, we tried crawl bearing up the bleachers and immediately abandoned this idea, so we just bear crawled back up the bleachers a final time. 

    We tried running to the hill on the side of the school but were stymied by fences and gates. Change of plans. Run back to the tennis courts. SSHs until the six was in, then 10 burpees. More running to the school steps/benches.

    Dora time. Runner up the stairs, down the hill, and back to their partner. 100 spiderman pushups. 200 dips. 300 monkey humpers. BTTF.

    Names. Numbers. Announcements. Check Slack.

    Philip Grotz, aka Dr. Who; a doctor whose first concert, none of the PAX recognized the performer. Poof! Dr. Who is born. He hung tough and kept pace. Keep coming out brother! 

    Prayers for Florence and his family, prayers for the unspoken needs of the PAX.

    I had a blast this morning fellas. Thank you for letting me lead. Until next time

  • Playground or Jungle?

    “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” -Christopher McDougall

    This morning, 8 men returned to simpler times and took on some playground staples to start the day the day. But what started as innocent fun quickly turned into a battle for survival.

    After a quick mosey, the PAX warmed up with side straddle hops, deadman hangs, and cherry pickers before getting to work.

    Playground Game #1: Duck, Duck, Goose.

    You’re familiar with the rules. Form a circle, one man (“The Picker”) goes around declaring each member of the circle a duck or a goose. Once a goose is declared, the race is on. If the Picker beats the goose back to his spot, the goose becomes the Picker. If the goose prevails, the Picker seeks his next victim. For an added challenge, each member of the circle held a plank while the Picker chose his prey. Each Picker-Goose race proved exciting, with tight cornering on a wet surface making each race more unpredictable than the last. We also witnessed history as Flyboy won his first Picker-Goose race in 29 years.

    Playground Game #2: Tag

    Following the excitement of Duck, Duck, Goose, we moved to our Upper Elementary School recess days to play some Tag. The Rules were modified for an added challenge. Two men were It and the first person tagged by either It could avoid becoming It if he completed 6 burpees before a second person was tagged.

    With two Its, pack hunting mentality took over. Like lions hunting gazelle, the Its identified prey and attempted to run them down for an easy kill. While this proved effective, the Not Its devised herd movement tactics to protect themselves and wear the hunters out. It was truly a battle for survival with incredible demonstrations of athleticism as both Its and Not Its dove, pivoted, cut back, and rolled to tag or avoid tagging.

    COT: Boys of Summer Points awarded to Flyboy for breaking his 29 year slump and Warby for an incredible dive/slide to avoid a tag. Announcements: Family Friendly Workout this Saturday, Homegrown Half August 16, CSAUP in late September. Details for all can be found in Slack.

  • Jolly Good Fellows

    Nine noble lads embarked on a 3.5mi ruck around Larus Park and the Stony Point Mall on this week’s episode of Ruckhenge. YHC brought a couple of gift bags for the PAX to share, each weighing approximately 40lbs.

    Coffeerama at Einstein’s followed as per usual and the PAX had a great discussion on chapter 3 of H. Muller’s Uses of the Past, which deals with Judaism, Christianity, and their proliferation throughout history. Next week we turn our attention to Ancient Greece.

    Prayers for Pad Thai and his M as they are expecting baby #2 at any day now, as well as, L Woods and his M who are scheduled for IVF implantation in the week to come.

  • A City Lounge?

    9 hungry souls posted to 45MOM this morning for some pre-dawn Gumbo. A 10th had no appetite, so he took is bike and disappeared until COT. For the 9 hungry folks who bellied up to the bar, the menu was as follows:

    Mosey to the blacktop that has been partially taken over by building supplies and circle up for some Saab-approved, Lounge-style COP, including dead man hang, abe vigoda DQs and more. Once our bodies (and minds thanks to the banter) were property awaken and warm, the fun began.

    THE THANG
    Mosey toward the field and stop for Circuit 1 – 10 Imperial Squat Walkers, 20 SSHs, 20 Merkins and 20 2-ct Freddies. Al Gore for the Six.

    Mosey toward Cary Street/Westmoreland corner – Circuit 2, same as Circuit 1, unless you are Saab.

    Mosey to Cary/Commonwealth corner – Circuit 3, same as 1 and 2.

    Mosey to the pull-up bars for Circuit 4, same as 1-3.

    Triple Check – on the tennis courts, in groups of 3, 1 doing pole smokers on the fence, 1 doing Mike Tyson push ups, last man running to the monkey bars and doing 5 pull-ups (or 30-second hang).

    Line up on the fence for 3 rounds of:

    • Round 1 – 10 Donkey Kicks, bear crawl to the net, lunge back
    • Round 2 – 20 DKs, sprint to net, Bernie back
    • Round 3 – 30 DKs, mosey to net, 2 burpees, mosey back

    Mosey back to the flag/parking lot

    Circuit 5 – same as 1-4

    5 Minutes of Mary, including our ladies – Dolly, Rosalita and Susan Somers and finishing with 1 minute of American Hammers

    Numbers, Names, Announcements, Prayers, COT

    Great morning for a somewhat Loungey workout. Plenty of mumblechatter and not too much deep breathing, but still a solid workout (I think). Coffeeteria with Applesauce, Vandelay, Nacho Libre and Rosie afterwards at Libbie was excellent as well. Thanks for coming out. Finish the week strong!

    Announcements:

    • HR Derby Part Deux – Tuesday, April 5 at Huguenot Little League.
    • Home Grown Half – August 16, James River Landing (behind James River High School) – Draper is scheming up the worst course imaginable, but you can also come and run, walk, ruck whatever you want – half, 10K, or choose your own adventure. Just come on out.
    • Others – check Slack

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • No Crazy Train today

    15 of the West End and Midlo’s finest including a new KBer met up at MG to endure a Fireman Ed beatdown.

    Fireman Ed thought of an Ozzy themed workout for a few seconds and thought better of it.

    COP: DQs, helicopters, merkins, plank jacks, FMs, phelps the arms out. Lots of mumble chatter with White Deer leading the way.

    Mosey to bus loop: Perform lunges until Gypsy complains, do more lunges. Mosey to pump road curbs.

    10 lawnmowers each arm, 15 lawnmowers each arm, 20 lawnmowers each arm. Mosey to front of school.

    Triple check with run around parking lot, high pulls and swings. Mosey to pump road curbs.

    Death crawl (bear crawl with coupons) back and forth twice. Feel the burn. Mosey to bus loop.

    Overhead pulls 10, 15, 20. Mosey to home base.

    Finish with stretches cuz most of us are old. Coffeteria although slightly delayed was good as usual.

    Prayers for Roger Roger and his wife, Fudd’s sister Mary, those doing dry July and Handshake’s niece. This Saturday Gridiron is at Lake Anna marina 7 a.m. – see Tater for details. Thanks for letting me lead.

    Fireman Ed

  • Nickel Bridge Flashbacks

    4 Crossing regulars enjoyed some moderate weather and, of course, a meticulously planned workout…………The following is a brief summary for your viewing pleasure:

    Run a couple laps around the parking lot, then: Jazzercise, Bruce Lee Punches, Overhead Claps, Mountain Climbers, Double Tap HR Merkins, Freddy Mercuries, Oblique LBC’s, Flutter Kicks, Knee Pulls, Open the Gate, Karaoke, Lunge Walks.

    Mosey to the Playground area for a Quad Check:
    Runner, Incline Merkins, Jump Squats, WWII Sit-Ups.

    To the back of the Church for Partner Exercises:
    BooYah Merkins
    BooYah Hand Release Merkins
    BooYah Burpees
    Partner Squats
    Partner Dips
    Wheelbarrows
    Partner Crab Walk
    Partner WWII’s
    Human Decline Merkins
    3 Man Grow Ruck Carry – We moved Birdman across the back parking lot.

    Back to the Flag for Ab Ring of Fire: Flutter Kicks, Frog Kicks, LBC’s.

    COT and YHC took us out.

    Final Thoughts: Initial plan was to partner carry House Party, but we audibled to Birdman – gotta work our way up. Lots of lingering trauma related symptoms from Grow Ruck: but overall a success. Had a great time hanging with the Crossing Crew! Nice work