Category: Richmond, VA

  • Leave no man behind… except latecomers… they have to catch up

    Eight freedom fighters of Southerly origins rucked the South Bank of the James from HFW to PP and back. NTB snoozed the alarm one too many times and escaped his fartsack 3 minutes before launch, texting “I can catch up.” With great faith, YHC replied “Yeah you can.” And perhaps with fear of loneliness as his greatest inspiration, NTB+50# ran/ruck caught the PAX before we reached the turnaround at Pony Pasture. TClaps! Good times and conversations had by all. GTE is just a couple months away! Let’s keep the ruckmentum going and get some more PAX registered. 💪🔥👊

    TONIGHT -🚨 VQ ALERT 🚨 – MEATBALL at The Crossing, 6pm kickoff, 401 N Parham Rd

  • Back with the Pax

    As promised.. No track at WTH for the 5 pax that came to get some good ole fashion run focused bootcamp.

    Ran over to the gazebo at the Goose lake. Did some standard warm ups with SSH, Toy Soldiers, Copper head Squats.

    1st round: Run the Goose loop back to gazebo then do 10 of each Derkins, WW2, Dips

    2nd round: Run the Goose loop back to gazebo then do 10 each of Incline Merkins, step ups, WW2s.

    3rd round: Run Goose loop back to the gazebo then do 10 each of Merkins, WW1s, step up knee ups.

    back to AO.

    Parking lot dash. All Pax did called exercise while one pax ran to end of parking lot and back. Called exercises: WW2s, Bomb jacks, burpees, merkins, Squats.

    Close out with COT.

    v/r

    Gypsy

  • Late to Party – Ruck on

    YHC Came in hot for a Ruck walk just past 5:30…Runners already launched.

    With no other ruckers to ruck with…chose the Sancerre Route over the tracks and return. When YHC arrived back to the start was welcomed by 2 runners for this morning.

    Numberama/Namerama Phonics took us out!

  • NoToll Block Party

    A prime number of SOJ HIMs gathered in the NoToll parking lot eager for the low-cardio pump session YHC had teased the night before. Little did they suspect the pump they sought would come at such a high price.

    Mosey to the far parking lot, stopping at the bridge to pay the toll (10 incline merkins & 10 dips).

    WARMARAMA

    • With temps in the high 20s we have a quick intro and jump into fast-paced SSH, followed by various IC movements waking up the whole body.
    • Warm-up complete. Locate the eight CMU coupons behind the dumpster enclosure and carry them overhead, with arms straight, back to the basketball court.

    COP #1: Gorilla Complex

    • Line up the coupons along the baseline and partner up for 5 rounds of the following:
      • 8 Curls for Girls
      • 8 Standing High-Pulls
      • 8 OH Press
      • 8 Tricep Extensions
      • 8 Merkins (coupon on the ground off to the side)
    • While Partner 1 is completing the complex, Partner 2 bear crawls to the far baseline and back.
    • The objective is to hold the CMU the entire time while performing the complex until the merkins, working the upper body muscle groups continuously while moving around the center of mass.
    • Zero mumble-chatter, just solid work by the PAX. Those bear crawls kept our shoulders smoked the entire time.

    COP #2: Coupon Indian Crawl

    • Stack the coupons in the corner of the court and line up, on your six, along the sideline.
    • HIM closest to the coupon pile grabs one, performs 2 WWIIs, then passes the coupon to his right.
    • Repeato until all of the coupons are passed over, then get up and run to the end of the line to receive the coupons coming down the tracks.
    • Choo-choo, the pain train is rolling! It didn’t take long to find our groove as a unit and we circled the perimeter of both basketball courts despite Last Call attempting to divert the train down the center between the courts. In protest, he broke one of the coupons.
    • Mumble-chatter starts to pick-up as we turn the first corner and we realize how long this is going to take. Honeymoon reminded us he was cold about every five minutes.
    • After doing 2 WWIIs for 3/4 of the loop, we switched it up for 2 seated OH presses.
    • All-in-all this was about a 20-minute suck-fest. Great work!!

    Three minutes left so we march the coupons back to their resting place behind the dumpster and gather there for COT.

    Announcements

    • Meatball VQ tomorrow night (2/21) at The Crossing!
    • Off the book rucking at Huguenot Flatwater tomorrow AM w/ YHC and DTH. We have extra packs for anyone who wants to try rucking!
    • GROWRUCK May 4-6: You’ve heard about it. You know you should sign up.

    Prayer Requests

    • YHC is very grateful for the PAX lifting up my family in prayer and supporting us as we move forward from our miscarriage a few weeks ago.
    • Dr TryHard took us out.

  • Triple Triple Buster

    Three men showed up for a triple triple check on the hallowed grounds of the Atlee HS parking lot mixed in with a few other pain and gain exercises. We moseyed from the front parking lot to the cafeteria entrance of Atlee HS for a COP involving arm circles, helicopters, imperial walkers, Ukrainian soldiers, Don Quixotes, copperhead squats, and cherry pickers. We then commenced our first triple check as follows:

    IC merkins, IC calf raises x3, 30 second wall sit

    IC merkins, IC calf raises x3, 45 second wall sit

    IC merking, IC calf raises x3, 1 minute wall sit

    We then moseyed to the beginning of the front sidewalk of Atlee HS for our second triple check which went as follows:

    Lunges 1/3 of the way, IC copperhead squats, IC calf raises x3

    Lunges another 1/3 of the sidewalk, IC copperhead squats, IC calf raises x3

    Lunges the final third of the sidewalk, IC copperhead squats, IC calf raises x3

    At the end of the sidewalk, we arrived at the bus loop to perform our third triple check which went as follows:

    20 OYO merkins, 20 OYO LBCs, brisk mosey around the outer bus loop on the sidewalk. Rinse and repeat three times. 

    We then performed an Indian run back to the front parking lot of Atlee HS and performed a gut buster that went as follows: LBCs, full extension crunches, LBCS, Jane Fondas, LBCS, flutter kicks, LBCs, vertical scissor kicks, horizontal scissor kicks, LBCs. Recover. 

    Some totals for the morning beatdown: 120 merkins, 180 calf raises, 100 copperhead squats, 260 crunches

    Namarama, numberama, COT, Q saw us out.

  • Saturday Morning Wild Kingdom

    A bit of a chilly breezy morning brought out two runners and a solo bootcamper. The two runners showed up extra early to put in far more miles than the bootcamper could even consider running. The bootcamper forewent the COP for some quick simple stretches. The personal bootcamp went as follows:

    Mosey from the Atlee front parking lot to the bus loop between Chickahominy MS and Atlee HS. Merkins and LBCs followed by a brisk run around the bus loop. Rinse and repeat 5 times. Lunges across the sidewalk back to the Atlee front parking lot followed, interrupted three times with ankle touch deep squats and calf raises. The fun continued with a 1.5 mile jog and merkins at each speed bump (10). For the morning: 250 merkins, 200 LBCs, 200 calf raises, 100 squats, 75 lunges each side. 

    Somewhere along the way, a Speakeasy sighting occurred. The elusive wild creature was deep in his natural habitat jogging around for what this Q can only assume was 1,000 miles. There was also an Opus-on-the-loose sighting, crushing pavement underfoot without mercy.

    Legend has it, Speakeasy is still out there making the globe spin with each step. Opus returned from pounding out 8 miles and a mini COT happened at the point of entry at the Atlee front parking lot. 

    Namarama, numberama, COT, Opus saw us out. 

  • Fart Boxes Almost Prevail

    A slight chill in the air brought out two bootcampers while fart boxes trapped most of the rest of our F3 M’Ville bros. The beatdown went as follows:

    Karate style stretches and limbering followed by arm circles, helicopters, Don Quixotes, imperial walkers, Ukrainian soldiers, merkins, and LBCs started the beatdown. We then did 30 sec wall sit, merkins, and calf raises. Next came 45 sec wall sit, merkins, and calf raises. A third round included 1 minute wall sit, merkins, and calf raises. We then moseyed to the front parking lot to perform a triple check as follows: merkins, copperhead squats, mosey around the front parking lot. Rinse and repeat three times. Final mosey to the side parking lot brought us to a gut buster that went as follows: LBCS, flutter kicks, LBCs, scissor kicks, LBCs, full extension crunches, LBCs, Jane fondas, LBCs. Recover, stretches to end the beatdown. 

    Namarama, numberama, COT, Q saw us out. 

  • That’s gonna itch when it dries

    6 HIMs made their way to the Old Hundred to melt the morning frost with the heat from the kettlebell hell. Here what went down.

    Quick mosey to kick things off followed by SSH, Dead man hang, Don Quixote and merkins.

    The Thang: 4 corners, lady of the night style. Lt. Dans, WW3s, upright rows and skull crushers around the outer perimeter of the OHES parking lot. Short sides were farmer carries and long sides were running with kettlebell over head.

    Just enough time to finish with a triple check. Timer ran with their kettlebell while remaining PAX did calf raises and chest press. Time called.

    Numbers, names, announcements prayer requests, YHC took us out in COT.

    Welcome into the world Arya aka baby Cookie!!!!!

    Always an honor to lead you gents.

  • The Devil’s and Mudslide Playground

    Good morning…..70 and sunny(more like 25 and I thought I saw a penguin from the corner of my eye). A day like today, it allows me to try thingsv plus some gear I haven’t brought out in a while was used. It was just 2 of us((Broadway and myself). After a quick warmup(SSHs, Don Quixotes, Arm Circles, Imperial Walkers) time to get it going.

    The first notes from Cult of Personality hit, we were off and running. First part was a 5 exercise station, 3 times thru: 50 2-count battle ropes, 10/side clean and press with a 16kg/35 pound kettlebell, tire slams(10), 10 WW2 with a press(25 pound sandbag) at the top, and jump ropes(in brought 2, 50 with the regular and if you felt up for the challenge 25 with a 5 pound rope). After that down to the football field

    What was up next: how about sandbag drags with bear crawls(WTF). A 50 pound sandbag drag, reach back, grab a handle and pull thru. As it moves up, bear crawl to where the bag stopped switch hands. This morning one corner of the end zone to the other side, then turn back around. As the person is doing the drags, the other is running down to the end zone at the other end, come back pick up where they left off at. You have to remember, sand moves inside this requires everything from head to toe to work together so a challenge no doubt

    As time was getting closer, one final mini triple check: run up and down the hill with the sandbag on your shoulders, the other person does 10 incline Merkins, 15 tricep dips. We went back to the street, closed it out, loaded gear into my vehicle and called it a day

    This will be done again, hopefully with a few more people cause I could literally use 2( I’m have 4 sandbags ranging from 25 to over 100 pounds), what I can come up with will be fun plus the battle ropes fact in my head just now something for next time. I lead again Saturday at Rock and Roll, be ready.

  • Die Hard 2: Die Harder

    Ten strong this morning (including a returning Gypsy) suffered through my sequel to the Christmas time Die Hard workout. I like my themes and had no good new ideas, so why not do a sequel! It was clear many of the Pax have not seen this classic 1990 movie which is sad. It is a must watch.

    Before getting to the main dish, we hit the track and did a lap of indigenous people run/walk. Main qualifier was that we do it correctly-only one runner at a time or we would have a 5 burpee penalty. All was fine until Mr. Rogers wanted us to do burpees and broke the rules. We then ran to the top of Heartbreak Ridge for warmups: 25 SSH, 20 Hillbillies, 20 Merkins, 20 LBCs, 20 Freddies, maybe something else.

    Before you see a sequel, you need a refresher on the original. We did 10 down/up the hill runs to remind us what it was like to climb Nakatomi Plaza.

    Then a Die Hard 2 trivia question. No one knew the answer “Just the fax” so we did 5 more hill runs with escalating Burpees (1-5). We then worked on our flying skills with some Bat Wings (20 arm circles forward, 20 backward, 20 seal claps, 20 overhead claps–keeping the arms up at all times). We passed the flight test so took a break from Nakatomi Plaza and went to the baseball field for some partner exercises.

    One partner ran the bases, other did Squats (3 rounds) WWII (3 rounds) and after a successful Die Hard 2 Trivia question, we did it again with HRM (3 rounds).

    We did one last flight of Nakatomi Plaza and then hit the football field. We made two lines to create a runway for the planes running out of gas and ran to the 50, 5 burpees, high knees to the end, Bernie back and had time to do it again. One line was great, the other a mess but no planes crashed.

    Total of 2.1 miles today. Less miles than when Handshake got us lost offsite down Shane Road. Similar level of complaints.

    It was a honor to lead this morning.

    I will steal some quotes from the movie to express the opinion of the Pax:

    Whitesnake: You’re the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Handshake: Story of my life.

    Lighthouse: Oh man, I can’t fucking believe this. Another hill, another burpee. How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?

    Whitesnake: Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.

    “Die Hard with a Vengeance” coming to a AO near you, sometime in the future…