Category: Richmond, VA

  • We are what we eat

    Our usual motley crew this morning, plus the triumphant return of gloom warrior Cookie! A fistful of HIMs, some mostly good tunes, and a mild temperature, here’s what happened:

    SSHs, merkins, Andy Dufresne, helicopters, deadman hang, overhead triceps stretch, LBCs, cobra and downward dog

    20 swings, 20 goblet squats, 20 (10/leg) single leg deadlifts, repeat 3x

    20 Romanian deadlifts, 20 APDs, 75 calf raises, repeat 3x

    20 upright rows, 20 overhead presses, 30 (15/arm) one arm rows, repeat 3x

    10 merkin pull throughs, 20 skull crushers, 20 curls, repeat 3x

    Some time left, so…

    Lap around the school, 20 double count American hammers, squats until time

    A great way to begin New Year’s Eve. Enjoy your evenings fellas, stay safe, and we’ll regroup next year to take 2025 by the horns. Always an honor to lead you.

  • A roof is a roof

    Eight of us posted for the rainy, final GridIron of 2024. Johnsonville and Chum Bucket share the Q. Gather in the Pouncey Tract Park lot and mosey to covered court #2 at new pickleball complex for the startup Circle of Pain led by Chum, including SSHs x 20, IWs x 15, Ukrainian Soldiers x 15, Dead Man Hangs for flexibility, DQs x 10, Merkins x 10, Suzanne Somers x 10 (each side), Freddie Mercuries x 25, APDs x 25, and Big Arm Circles x 10 (forward and reverse).

    Tag J’ville. Merkin Ladder starting at 11 with Arc Loader movement. Bear Crawl across the covered pickleball court and finish 11 Merkins. Crab Walk back for 10. And so on, with varied crawls and walks working down to one merkin rep.

    Tag Chum. Shift to covered court #1 for cumulative Mary four corners, starting with Reverse Crunches x 20, and adding Rosalitas x 30, Box Cutters x 40, and LBCs x 50.

    J’ville again. Move from shelter in the direction of the fresh adjacent parking lot, stopping a few times for Curb Crawls and a round of Rocky Balboas. Line up at the end of the parking lot for a Lindsay starting with 30 Squats. Mosey a curb near the other end of the parking lot for 10 Ball Dippers. Continue, as usual, dropping five reps from the first exercise and adding five to the second for a rep total of 40. Replace Squats with Monkey Humpers for the final few rounds.

    Chum again. Mosey to the Pull Up Bars. Divide into groups of four. Take turns with one guy from each group holding a Flexed Arm Hang for 10 seconds while remaining group members hold Plank on the perimeter. Rotate through several times.

    J’ville. Mosey to the nearby picnic shelter. One guy completes 10 Abyss Merkins while the other PAX members complete Step Ups. Go around once.

    Mosey back to the start. Al Gore with Overhead Presses in cadence until time called.

    COT. Chum took us out. Welcome Backhand – visiting his hometown of RVA from F3 in St. Charles, Missouri.

  • The Extra Mile

    4 HIM’s came ready to ruck for the final gloom of 2024. We brought along much mumble chatter and a coupon to pass every quarter mile to make the ruck a little more challenging. We may have dropped our rucks back at our chariots however we continued walking and hitting some pull-up bars and bench dips along the way, finishing up at 4.11 miles.

    I’m hoping to bring in some logs for 2025.

    Numbers, Namarama and COT



  • Polos and Dockers

    Polos and Dockers

    6, maybe 7, depends how you count it, total studs stopped off on their way home to pick up chicken and work off some pounds in the latest edition of The Punisher. Temperatures were 70 and sunny. According to the waitress at Dot’s Tavern, the following might have happened.

    COP

    SSHs, Hillbillies, Don Quixotes, Dead Man Hang.

    Run the loop, 1.25 laps.

    Line up at the parking signs. YHC felt inspired by Senor Frog. At each sign, we did 1-2-3. One burpee, 2 WWIIs, 3 merkins. Let’s call it 10 signs.

    Mosey over there for the Deck of Death. Here’s the catch: we didn’t have a deck of cards, which is a little bit of a challenge when playing Deck of Death. So, YHC just improvised and called cards of his choice.

    Diamonds: side straddle hops, or hop stride saddles
    Clubs: Monkey humpers
    Hearts: Squats
    Spades: Merkins

    This one will be back.

    Mosey BTTVSF. One round of the squat wave, dealer’s choice.

    Numbers, names, and The Handshake took us out.

    Announcements: Splintervals today.
    January 25, Fudd leading at The Bridge. Other Q’s, please announce this.

    NMS: Kubota and EF Hutton are sharp dressers for work.

  • You almost killed Pigskin!

    It was cold rainy day in March and Johnsonville had the Q. Gomer made some early comment about not using any cover and Johnsonville complied. There was running and exercising around the pickleball courts and lots of work in puddles. This Q became legendary because Pigskin quit early thinking he was going to die if he continued. They were so cold that Johnsonville forgot to post the backblast. “Stupid” is what is referenced when looking back on this Q. Remember, as Mr. Garrison said, “there are no stupid answers, just stupid people”.

  • Heartbreak Ridge: Wrapped

    Heartbreak Ridge: Wrapped

    2024 was another great year at Heartbreak and for the final Q, we reviewed some of our greatest hits. And if the Pax guessed the Q for each routine, the Q did 5 burpees (and they never guessed wrong).

    We started with a warmup of SSH, Ukrainian Soldiers, Dead man’s hang, Cherry Pickers, Flutters, Handshake Scorpion Kicks, Half Pencil Roll, Honeydo Scorpion Kicks & HRM.

    Then we hit the bus loop and did 3 squats at each pole. This was a Senor Frog special and with him not attending, no burpees were assigned.

    We hit the back lot and partnered up for some wheelbarrows and derkins (3X). Honeydo was the Q and was correctly guessed by the Pax and so he did 5 burpees in honor of his Q and the rest did SSH.

    We were next to the bleachers so did a Lindsey of Step-ups and Dips. The Pax correctly identified this as an Attila favorite and he did 5 burpees as the rest did SSH.

    After a mosey to the wall, we did a triple check of people’s chair with overhead press, LBCs and the runner going to the far right pole and weaving their way to the far left pole, then the same from the left for the second run and for the final run, going straight ahead and then choosing left or right. Handshake started by saying this was his and so he did 5 burpees at the end while we did SSH.

    Mosey to the railing and it was time for a Pigskin favorite. 7’s with the railings in the middle: go over the railings one way and under the other. The exercises were HRM and WW2. Pigskin did his 5 burpees and we all did SSH.

    Time was running out so we went back to the flag. Those that did not have an exercise called or did not Q today (Gomer, Lighthouse, Offshore, Blue Moon), did not Q enough at Heartbreak in 2024 and so did ten burpees while the rest of us did SSH. Then the 5 of us with multiple Q’s in 2024 (Handshake, Attila, Pigskin, Honeydo and me) did 5 burpees to catch up. We all finished with SSH until time.

    Announcement: 1/1/25 Convergence at Dogpile/WDog

    Prayers: Thanks for 2024 for blessings in 2025 and raising up Fudd’s sister Mary, Fireman Ed and Roger Roger’s family.

    Coffeeteria at Starbucks. Attila did not attend because he had to take a shit and the rest of us, joined by Hutton, talked about taking a shit.

    Pigskin left us with the “see you next year” dad joke. Of course he did.

  • Closing 2024 with an Old Glory

    9 gloom warriors posted to NoToll to close out 2024 in style – with an Old Glory. Most knew what was coming and came anyway. A few, including on DR visitor, didn’t know exactly what they were in for. Either way, 0530 cam and off we went to dodge the Recycling truck and get our work done.

    Mosey to the back fields and around for 2 laps with OG in tow.

    Plant OG in the front corner and set the 20-minute timer for large 4 corners – 1) 20 merkins, 2) 20 jump squats, 3) 10 burpees and 3) 20 WWIIs. Complete as many laps as you can in 20 minutes. GO.

    Log your laps here if you want: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-L8e9W24ygnU0suaGyKxzi1PgPqY1CBd57hLrKTZI-g/edit?gid=1717732871#gid=1717732871

    Time is called. Convene back at the flag and line up for indigenous people run, with OG leading the way. 2 laps and back to the parking lot, including Oyster leading a jailbreak to keep OG away from Tinman.

    3 minutes left for some Mary – Freddies, Dollies, Rosalitas, Reverse Crunches and 30-seconds of Superman.

    COT, numbers, names and YHC took us out with reflections on 2024 and hope for 2025.

    Announcement – New Year’s Day Convergence tomorrow 0700 at Dogpile.

    No More Gumbo for 2024. Happy New Year men!

  • Downrange at Blackbeard’s Revenge

    Closing out 2024 with 1 final down range post in Surfside Beach/Murrells Inlet area. Respect to the 14 HIMs that showed up this morning. There were equal if not more PAX members that were 50+ in age today including Papa Smurf who is 76! Great to post with these fellas today and end 2024 with a good workout. Look forward to what 2025 has to offer. Here is how the workout went down:

    Warmup with various IC exercises including a variety of shoulder exercises that had my shoulders burning!

    COP 1: Lap around the baseball field to the benches. Partner up – alternate between wall sits and exercises on the benches to include dips, decline merkins, incline merkins, step ups x 24 each

    COP 2: Basketball Court Suicides including various exercises and bear crawls

    COP 3: Ring of Fire of your favorite called exercise x 24

    BTTF, Numbers, Names, Announcements, COT

  • chasing paces

    after previous miscommunication, YHC and Big Rig met at Swift Creek Elementary for a run on the Brandermill paths. Running down along the reservoir and back for 5ish miles. We were going for progressive paces for the middle miles, but the windy paths made it difficult to hit our lofty goals. But, we are better for attempting it!

  • Easy as One, Two, Three

    14 gathered for an end of the year Hoe Down Monday morning beat down.

    Mosey to Bodos’s office complex parking lot for a standard Introduction, Disclaimer and Warm Up. SSH, DH, DQ, EW, US, MERK, LBC

    Mosey to Rustique Salon & Spa for a Triple Check. MERK, LBC & Timer runs around Walgreens.

    Mosey across the street to Cocoanut Jewelry. Looking down said shopping plaza for potential Yoga girls to gawk-at, at Zinger Fit YHC noticed 54 structural walk way poles he could potentially put to good use. Something Simple, Something Easy. Easy as One, Two, Three. So YHC quickly formed, in the back of his reptilian brain, an articulate plan of action. ONE Burpee, TWO WW2, THREE Merkins at each of the 54 structural support poles. Sounds easy enough….

    YHC had to call an “audible” at pole 42 just shy of Bistro804. Something about only having 5 minutes to make it back to the flag.

    Mosey back to the Flag.. With 1.25 minutes to spare. “I figured we had time for a few more poles.” Names & Numbers. A few discussions concerning New Years Resolutions. 1. Read more books. 2. Use less profanity. 3. Join Oyster at Breaking Bread.

    No Prayer requests.

    Announcement- JAN 1 Dog Pile Convergence. See Slack. Gypsy Q.

    Thank You Bodo’s for praying for us.

    Thank You Pax for letting me Q!