Category: Richmond, VA

  • Here to “Pump You Up!”

    Time to prepare for spring break.  Five somewhat willing PAX member had an arm-heavy KB tour of the bus loop today.  Here is how it went down.

    • COP
      • SSH
      • Hillbillies
      • Ukranian soldiers
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • Dead man hang
      • Merkins
      • LBC
      • APD
    • Lucky bus loop – 4 stops around the loop, 2 loops, 15 reps, add a new exercise each stop
      • 120 lawnmower pulls, each arm
      • 105 high pulls
      • 90 curls
      • 75 sit ‘n presses
      • 60 overhead pulls
      • 45 sumo squats
      • 30 KB swings
      • 15 2x hammers
    • Mosey to the parking lot for some Mary
      • FM
      • Reverse crunches
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Time to revisit the 80’s and try to morph into our favorite SNL characters, Hanz and Franz.  YHC is here to pump the PAX up.  Good work today.  YHC is sure some of those men will be ready to just run tomorrow at Currahee. 

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Tour de Cool Springs West

    4 runners launched from the Rutland clubhouse, quickly meeting Bulkhead, running towards the start, to make 5 runners. The Pax took the long way to Cool Springs West, via Oakham, Fox Hill Farm, Colvincrest, and Hughesland. Runners then completed an outer loop around the Cool Springs West trail and an inner loop around the southern part of the neighborhood. Spit, Bulkhead, and Opus took the short way back, down Crestfield, for between 4 and 4.5 miles. YHC and Whitesnake took a longer route, including all of the trail prep Whitesnake will need for his Bear Creek 10 miler, for between 4.5 and 5 miles. The ruckers, who ambitiously covered 5 miles, were running late, so we counted them off in absentia. No announcements, but good luck to the west end folks in their race this weekend. Opus took us out. Notably, there was actual sunlight by this time. Just say no to daylight savings time!

    YHC was trying to avoid duplicating recent runs and to take advantage of the relatively bright conditions we would have. I think that may be enough Cool Springs West for a while, though. It was great meeting and running with Whitesnake. The 200 yards of unpaved trail we ran have you good to go for Sunday.

  • Burpee Sandwich

    7 roughnecks played 7 of Diamonds dealt by Dealer and enjoyed a burpee sandwich for dessert (Last Call’s favorite).

    COP – Mosey to tennis courts for a mish-mash of side straddle hops, Ukrainian soldiers, dead man hangs, merkans, WWIIs with a few others. Eagle eye Machismo spotted Hardywood and Don Draper a quarter-mile away at the top lot and cat whistled for them to join us.

    THE THANG – Played 7 of Diamonds on the plush turf football fields to protect our soft hands and old backs. 7 rounds of exercises done at each of the four corners of the diamond. Rounds 1-4 increase reps by 7; rounds 5-7 decrease reps by 7. For the first round, we did 7 burpees at each of the 4 corners with a mosey in between corners. Rd. 2 – 14 WWIIs at each corner with a mosey in between. Rd. 3 – 21 merkans at each corner. Rd. 4 – 28 squats…Rd. 5 21 mountain climbers 2-count…Rd. 6 14 LBCs…and finally Rd. 7 7 burpees hence the burpee sandwich.

    Moseyed to ramp to practice a slice of Old Glory in honor of Dr. Try Hard (DTH) who is practicing good halfway around the world. Bear crawled halfway up ramp; lunged second half of ramp; 20 jerkins at top. Threw in 5 more burpees for good luck and mounted a 1-minute offensive on a coupon Machismo had in tow (work trailer).

    Numberama, namerama, announcements (Diamond Billards tomorrow at 5/530 PM) for beers, pool, and fellowship. Prayed for Machismo’s growing business, DTH’s mission, and generally showing up well on all paths we walk.

  • These go to 11…

    11 strong rose to the challenge at Mary today. There was much mumble chatter on this topic of the number 11 quickly confirming the theme of the day. These go to 11 (or not).

    COP – mosey to front of school on Grove. SSHs, deadman’s hang, Don Quixotes, imperial walkers and helicopters to get us started.


    Mosey to the field and line up for….wait for it….11s! Apparently this 11s is new to the pax so I am happy to introduce a new exercise regimen to them. At each tree (of which there are 11), perform a set of one type of exercise. Round 1 – 3 burpees at each of the ELEVEN trees. Round 2 – 10 LBCs at each of the ELEVEN trees. Round 3 – 3 Lt Dans at each of the ELEVEN trees. The concept of 11 trees was too much for the pax and threw them off for the remainder.


    Nonetheless we were able to get some work in. We next moseyed to the pull-up bars and while the pax did dips on the low wall around it, 2 pax would do 5 pull-ups. We did 3 rotations in random fashion as pax was unable to grasp concept of moving clockwise direction like we always do. They were still thinking about the number 11.

    Mosey to blacktop for a triple check (not an undecuple check). Wall sits, Flutters, run to fence and Bernie Sanders back. Pax was still thinking of the number 11 and had difficulty forming groups of 3 or 4.

    Mosey to front of school for a curb crawl. Bear crawl to other side do 1 incline merkin, bear crawl back do 2 decline merkins, and so on up to 5 and back down to 1.

    Mosey to covered pavilion and partner up – one partner does 10 pole smokers and other does step ups on the benches. 5 rounds. We finished with a ring of fire of merkins and hit time.

    Based on the fascination with the number 11, YHC may introduce a version of 4 corners called 11 corners or the Hendecagon. Be on the lookout!

    Numberama, namerama, YHC took us out. Good luck to the 11 running the Bear Creek this weekend (see what I did there!).

  • Tour de Timberwolf

    5 Beasts mustered the strength to push their legs out of the sack this morning and stare the dark hours in the face. YHC had a planned Q for the AO since becoming site Q to show the PAX all the AO has to offer. Today was that day. Let’s just say that we didn’t stop moving, and much like an excursion when traveling abroad, we hit all of the top tourist destinations. According to our guy in the green trash truck, here’s what went down.

    COP:

    SSH, DQ, Ukr Soldiers, Butt kickers, calf raises, Arm circles small then big, one leg ankle circles to warm up the joints (I knew we would need to), Cherry pickers, Merkins, LBCs, Flutter kicks, on your feet and let’s mosey.

    The Thang:

    The idea was to hit as many points of T-wolf as possible so we did a lot of short burst exercises today. Here is the progressions:

    • Mosey to benches and partner up. P1 runs to farthest light pole, P2 does incline merkins. Run it back with P2 doing dips
    • Mosey to Love Hill. Sprint up, jog down for one minute
    • Mosey to the light poles in the bus parking lot and do a burpee loop. Start with 1 at first light pole, 2 at the second, 3 at third until we got to 5. What goes up must come down so we repeated burpees 4, 3, 2, 1 to the last light pole in the loop
    • Mosey to bus lines. It wouldn’t be a Vagabond Q without some variation of the large parking lot tracers. Run up side shuffle, bernie back then hit the curb for 5 double count toe taps. Run up, karaoke, bernie, 5 count toe taps. Repeat until we reach the end of the line.
    • Mosey to treasure island for some indigenous plank walks. We got a little off base here with who was going to be the first runner, but we knocked it out. Runner runs around the island while the PAX plank walks around the island. Continue the progression in the line. Reverse it with Crab walks on the curb the other direction for one more rotation
    • Mosey to light pole alley. Merkin progression by 2s. Start with 2 at the first light pole, 4, 6, 8, 10 when we hit the 5th light pole.
    • Mosey to Bball courts. Suicides for 1 minute, no stopping
    • Mosey to track for CORE four corners. Exercises were 10 heels to heaven, 20 windshield wipers, 30 LBCs, 40 Freddie Mercuries
    • Mosey to tennis courts for another four corners, but getting the PAX involved with exercise choices. I kicked us off with 10 merkins, Mcgruff chose 20 WW2s, Heist chose 30 SSHs, Mudslide chose 40 squat jumps, but pivoted to monkey humpers
    • Mosey to the 6th light pole bc we couldn’t leave any out. My intent was to finish with a burpee progression down 5,4,3,2,1 but I looked at the time after 5 and 4 and we had one minute left, so moved to merkins for 3,2,1.
    • Mosey to flag…TIME

    Man, I will tell you that in my brain this was a great idea. I wanted to show the PAX all the great options T-wolf has to offer. It is one of my favorite AOs, and we hit most of them, but this one was a beat down. Everyone in the PAX were filling their lungs at the end, but it was well worth it. We got our money’s worth and that one will be making a comeback. Would love to have some more of you join us soon to get a taste of T-wolf.

    COT:

    • Chatter about all the options T-wolf has to offer. YHC encouraged the PAX to lead one similar of their own soon
    • Spring is around the corner and with that, continue to encourage those coming out of hibernation to join us back in the gloom. It is more about the brotherhood, the workout is a bonus. 45 minutes of DUDE time that we so rarely get. And don’t hesitate to put a bug in the ear of the M’s to help encourage their better halves to burn off the Covid 20. Use a little Goggins mentality to encourage others to own the dark hours and not be scared of 5:30.
    • Reminder that 3/20 we will be shifting the Monday Satan’s Hill to Rountrey. We would love a big showing to turn some heads of all the runners and walkers in the neighborhood. YHC will be leading that Q and it will be last day of hate Q. YHC will also be leading the Tuesday kettlebell work out for the big 40!
    • Prayer for all of our brothers on IR and those that just need the extra motivation. As daylight creeps back in next week and the weather turns, let’s get our guys back out for that DUDE time. Prayers for motivation to lead and that we may be shown the way to have impact.

    It was a hell of a morning gents and I appreciate you all for joining. That was the hardest part of your day! Let’s own the end of this week.

    -Vagabond

  • A Irish Horseshoe

    5 Davillians came out (some a little earlier than others) for their mid week kettlebell fix

    This how it went down

    COP – Deadman Hang, Cherry Pickers, SSH, Helicopters, Heels to Haven, Flutter Kicks, Arm Circles

    THANG

    Lucky Horseshoe – Start with one exercise for 13 reps then a lap around the parking lot then add an exercise each round with 13 reps for each. After adding all 5 exercises drop the first one till down to last one added then finish with a victory lap. Exercises were Merkins, Halos, Goblet Squats, Hammers (2ct) w/ KB, and Swings

    11’s – Demon Crushers one side and Lawnmows the other with KB lunges between

    Numberrama, Namerama, Announcements, Yardsale took us out

    MOLESKIN

    Been a few months since YHC has swung a KB so it felt good to get back out. Today was about bring back the old. Lucky Horseshoe use to be staple workout at MannDate back when Honey Do first introduced it during a Takeover Week back in 2018. Was great to completed once again.

    YHC kept the reps lower than normal to make sure it was completed but also to bring back another oldy but goody with one of Emoji’s “favorites” Demon Crushers

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • Bodo’s does not break any blocks; Handshake hocks loogie on self.

    Another typical Wednesday morning at First Watch brought 8 chilly regulars into the 5am gloom. YHC called for headlamps, Last Call exclaimed “What!?” Time to warm up, let’s go!

    Mosey around the parking lot to the tiny triangle park for:

    COP:

    SSH’s, Imperial Walkers, Ukranian Soldiers, Merkins, Hand-Release Merkins, Crab Cakes, LBC’s, Helicopters, DQ’s

    Mosey down S. Ridge, evade the paperman in the pick-up truck, breath in his exhaust and commence all the way to the bottom.

    Oh look, there are 7 blocks lying beside the road.

    Partner up!

    Timer runs down Westham Station and turns around at the three full trash bags beside the road and runs back to partner who is doing exercises.

    Round 1: Curls

    Round 2: Bench Press

    Round 3: Overhead Press

    All 7 blocks must go back up to the AO parking lot (~.5 mile uphill, of course)

    Keeping same partners, Partner 1 carries two cinder blocks while Partner 2 completes 40 LBC’s and then runs to catch up with “two cinder block carrying partner.” Switcheroo until back at YHC’s truck.

    Deposit blocks and circle up for:

    Honeymoon Suite:

    APD’s, Suzanne Somers L&R, Pickle Pounders, Diamond Merkins (for Honeydo, missed you!)

    Four minutes of “Broga by Last Call” to finish us out.

    Numbers, Names, Announcements and Fudd took us out!

    NMS:

    YHC is pleased to report that all blocks made it back up to the truck in one piece, even with Bodo’s posting! Handshake couldn’t shake a loogie loose while doing APD’s and had it boomerang right back on his face. Carrying two cinder blocks back up the hill had it’s challenges. Double shoulder carries turned into Farmer’s carries for some of the PAX. “Proper Diamond Merkins” which consist of putting your nose in the middle of the Diamond, are tough but rewarding. A rare FW morning twilight was witnessed this morning. Bodo’s asked how many times one must post to FW in order to Q. Answer: When you put your name on the Q Sheet!

    Well done fellas and way to work. Coming back up that hill sucked!

    SYITG!

    Kubota

  • Preparing for Bear Creek

    Almost full moon and pretty bright, very nice. Continuing Heart Break Ridge trend, attendance was pretty low, White Snake and YHC. Since White Snake is preparing for Bear Creek run, YHC suggested just a run. After a short discussion, the suggestion was approved. We ran to the end of Three Chopt, then came back on Broad Street, went around the lake and came back to the flag. That gave us four miles and 35 minutes. We got the last mile on the track, though White Snake slacked off a bit complaining about his overworked legs. Given his difficulties with five miles, both of us wondered how is he going to do ten miles of Bear Creek. Still, it is great that he has determination to do it. Best of luck!

  • Just the two of us

    White Snake was away, so YHC thought he is going to do it by himself, but then Gypsy showed up! It is way more pleasant to run together with other people. We ran standard Branch Club four-mile loop. Actually, last time we did it with White Snake we got lost. It was good that Gypsy ran it many times with Blue Moon, so he remembered all correct turns. While YHC suggested a bit longer run, Gypsy insisted on four miles. After that several times he tried to deviate into a longer routes, but YHC kept it at four. My apologies for the backblast delay.

  • Dead Battery

    6 strong attacked WDog this morning and here is how it went down.

    Warm ups

    Theatre – incline merkins step ups up – dips – squats down

    Rusty Cage – ladder – 5-1 pull ups and jerkins

    Stage – partner up exercises with block over head press – curls squats helicopters bench press – other partner running.

    Ring of fire 10 merkins dealers choice

    Woke up to a dead battery this morning – thanks to Senor Frog for picking me up.

    Way to work guys – nice cool beautiful morning – great way to start the day !