Category: Richmond, VA

  • Forward Straddle Hops

    The moist and misty gloom of the Forge welcomed four HIM’s to sharpen their steel. Impromptu was the name of the game, and audibles made their appearance at least twice. Here’s how:

    The THANG:

    COP #1:

    • F3 Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Moseycise with about a dozen mini (x12 IC) Pearls around the parking lot loops off Campbell

    COP #2:

    • Mosey back up to the small loop in front of the Middle school
    • DORA was called and the PAX were asked to choose some exercises… then, as only can be expected for weak suggestions, Burpees were called…ugh
    • x100 Burpees
    • x200 Flutters (2-ct)
    • x300 LBC’s
    • Moving partner circuits the loop, alternating between “Forward Straddle Hops” (think of a moving SSH) and BearCrawl …this sucked

    COP #3:

    • Mosey to the Amphitheater 
    • Quadruple Check:
    • P1 Donkey Kicks
    • P2 Freddie M’s
    • P3 Box Jumps steps
    • P4 Dips up on the picnic table
    • PAX completed the circuit x4 times

    Mosey BTTF for COT:

    • Counterama # 4
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Comments)
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    NMS:   Coming off an awesome week of vaca, YHC’s fartsack had some extra gravitational pull this morning. But that’s one of the great things about signing up to Q – no excuses! YHC had burpees in mind for the Quadruple Check but (regretfully) had to implement them in the Dora, which really sucked. You wouldn’t think it, but traveling SSH’s are quite challenging. GP determined that doing it Bernie-style worked best while Doozy preferred a Side-hopping SSH. Pretty sure Chaplain just powered through broad jump style with a little arm flapping thrown in the mix. Doozy was kind enough to encourage YHC not to give up, and Garbage Plate carried YHC’s struggling butt across the finish line. Thx fellas. SYITG, YHC, Tryhard

  • Is this a running AO?

    4 Men and 2 runners faced the sweat of SOT. YHC had pushed arrival to the brink but Hermie had a solid pick me up to get me there on time. As the bus horn blew we were off.

    Mosey to the front bus loop for COP. 20 each: SSH, LBC’s, 10 each: DQ’s, Cherry pickers, Deadman hang, Helicopters, Arm circles +reverso, Merkins,

    The Thang: Mosey to the track. Run full lap stopping on some corners for some beat downs. 1st lap: 25 plank jacks, 2nd lap: 25 Lunges, 3rd lap 25 box cutters, 4th lap, 25 merkins, 5th lap 2 20 count bernies on straight always and 2 kareoke on the corners. Mosey to hill. PArtner up. PArtner 1 run to the top PArtner 2 Lunge then 2nd exercise ?? Mosey BTF for 2 ring of fire merkins followed by 2 minutes of stretching.

    Announcements: A lot coming up check pre-blast and slack. YHC took us out in prayer.

  • Hill Run route Pre-blast:

    1.6 Mile Route. Route is: Down hill to bottom of Charnwood & Melwood.

    Left and up to top of Rolsyn Hill. Take Left on September and back down Melwood to bottom

    Bottom of Melwood go straight instead of turning and head up Twin Lake. Take 1st right on Twin Lake Ln

    Turn left on bottom of hill at Shadow (before lake) then take Shadow all way back to Charnwood and go right.

  • Shut up and swing your bell.

    Four upstanding gentlemen arrived in the gloom, hunks of iron in tow, eager to start the day off right. Unfortunately for the rest of them, YHC was in charge, so “right” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the previous sentence. Here’s what happened in this Birthday Q:

    COP – side straddle hops, Don Quixote, helicopters, Russian soldiers (with some mumblechatter about whether one is meant to use arm/leg from the same side or opposite sides), LBCs, merkins

    Triple Check #1:

    Carry the bell in a lap of the parking lot
    Old Man Test – sit down and stand back up again without hands or knees touching the ground (basically a squat that sucks more)
    “Strong & Accomplished” – combo of bicep curl, overhead press, then tricep curl behind the head, then reverse (if there’s already a name drop it in the comments)

    Triple Check #2:

    20 kettlebell swings (timer)
    WWII w/bell press
    Goblet Squats

    Finale: The Bell Toss. Does what it says on the tin – you throw the bell over your head, man with the furthest-away impact crater wins. YHC absolutely crushed the competition. And yes, I realize that “humble” is part of that acronym, and it, too, is doing a bit of heavy lifting in that previous statement. I said what I said.

    35 trips around the sun have brought about new pops and aches in the joints, joys and tragedies, hopefully a bit of wit and wisdom, and good people to share all of it with. Glad that you lot are a part of it! I appreciate the motivation, the new ideas, (most of) the chatter, and the fellowship of good dudes. Apologies to Oyster for the reminder of why he only comes to MANNdate once a year. We collectively blame Mud Face.

    YNWA,
    -Mr. Holland

  • Does it matter? just do it!

    Seven strong came to WDog for a summer sweatfest. YHC shook off some rust to Q and tried out some new stuff. We did:

    COP: SSH, Don Qs, Russian Soldiers, Merkins, Flutterkicks. Over to other circle, which is now a pile of dirt for Bermuda Triangle: Bear crawl top section, 20 Merkins, down to bottom of Rugby, 30 Reverse Crunches, up hill, 40 Jump Squats. 2nd round same distance but change exercises: 10 Burpees, 20 WWIIs, Bernie up the hill, then 40 Squats. Plank for 6 then down to Rusty Cage.

    4 Rounds of: 5 Pullups, 10 Dips, 20 LBCs. Mosey up to Amphitheater. Debut of Donkey-Ups. Similar to DKs but kick feet up to top of step then hold for few seconds. PAX loved this! Then make way up steps: Alternating 5 Derkins and 2 Step ups each step. Finish with round of Wheelbarrows on field then back to flag. YHC took us out.

    Announcements: HR-HD-HH tonight at YHCs. See Slack for info. Retreat and Field Day coming in Sept.

    NMS: Good mix of PAX this morning between Neutral fresh of his virgin post yesterday at Spider Run and Bootleg and Swiper, who YHC hasn’t seen in a while. Neutral claimed he’d need to modify some as he is nursing an injury- guess he really is a friend of shakedown. BB title comes from the philosopher Swiper who made the comment when he was asked how the long was the run to the AO, which he did, as he is in BRR prep mode.

  • Muscle Memory?

    With Honeydo on assignment, regulars presumably on vacation, others rehabbing, and Handshake off at parts unknown, a smaller but mighty group of four set the tone for the day.

    Mosey to Church patio

    COP (IC)

    • Russian Soldiers
    • Arm Circles
    • Helicopters
    • Cherry Pickers
    • Monkey Humpers
    • Freddie Mercurys
    • Suzanne Somers (L/R)
    • Merkins

    Mosey over to Cameron and Culpepper

    Dora

    • P1 – 100 Imperial Squat Walkers, 200 Dying Cockroaches, 300 SSHs
    • P2 – Bernie up the hill, run back down

    Mosey around Thom-Cameron Loop

    • 5 Merkins per left-side mailbox, 5 Jump Squats per right-side box, 1 Burpee per SUV along the way

    Mosey back to the parking lot and retrieve coupons

    Conveyor Belt (2 rotations)

    • P1 – Curls/ Squats
    • P2 – Squat Thrusters/ Overhead Press
    • P3 – Bench Press/ Alternating Merkins
    • P4 – Run Loop

    Mary

    • American Hammers
    • Heels to Heaven
    • APDs

    Numberama, Nameorama

    MOLESKIN

    As the PAX arrived at Cameron and Culpepper, Kubota questioned if YHC had done this before.  To which YHC replied, “Yes, I’m not that creative.”  Without realizing it, YHC reran much of his Q from back on St. Patty’s Day, eerily similar actually.  Is that muscle memory or just a lack of memory?  Good to have Offshore back at First Watch, just watch out for cars when you Bernie.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    HDHH and Hill Run today – Honeydo’s (see Slack for address)

    Tuckahoe/West End needs a Field Day Captain

  • Acadia with 2.0 Coupons

    YHC has spent a glorious 5 days with the M + 2.0’s + brother John (AKA “Flint”) on Mount Desert Island (Maine), enjoying all that Acadia has to offer. Among many hiking/boating/swimming/fishing adventures, today’s rigorous climb to the summit of St Sauveur Mtn (679’), carrying one or both 2.0 “coupons” was quite the workout worthy of a backblast. The frequent near-vertical rock scrambles made the going a bit hairy, but YHC had the occasional breather picking blueberries along the way, and the views of Somes Sound were breathtaking. The descent was killer on the quads, and we were all exhausted when we reached the bottom. Of course, since we found ourselves about a mile from where we parked, YHC volunteered to complete the workout with a sprint to retrieve the vehicle and maintained a sub-7-min pace on the mile. This was exactly the vaca YHC has been aching for – thanks be to God. SYITG, YHC, Tryhard

  • Disco Inferno..

    6 svelte Davilians braved the humidity this morning.. The days appear to be getting longer but the humidity has yet to leave… Enough already! Here’s what went down.

    Mosey to bus loop

    DQs, Invisible Jump Ropes, Hillbillies, Scorpions, Body Builders

    Picnic Tables :Skull Crushers x 10, Incline Merkins x 10, Dips x 10, Decline Merkins x 10

    Mosey to practice field behind Atlee HS

    6 Exercices- 2 rounds- Timed by the runner

    First Round: Curb Taps, Cinderblock Squat Press, Kettlebell Swings, Cinderblock WW2s, Plank— Runner runs the practice field with 8lb medicine ball- bear crawl the last 25 yards then back

    Second Round: Cinderblock Squat, Kettlebell Swings, SSHs, Cinderblock Chest Press, Plank— Runner does same thing but brings it back “Hallelujah style”

    Black Snake Run back to flag

    10 reps of each in cadence: shoulder taps, flutter kicks, plank-arms to elbows, heels to heaven, mountain climbers, hello dollys, cat burglars, box cutters, hand release merkins. DONE- NUMBERAMA, NAMERAMA – OUT

    The title of this post is reference to the “burn baby burn” line from the disco inferno song.. YHC thought we would try something new despite the fact that Lab Rat would be there.. YHC was pleasantly suprised at the results.. we had some atheletes out there in the gloom and it seemed that everyone felt a good, balanced beating..

    Always grateful to lead. God Bless.

  • New Take On an Old Pitchfork

    Twenty hulking studs attacked some hills.  Shakedown was sweating before the run, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  Here’s where they went: 

    All

    • Out to College around Pitt Field
    • R on Lakewood
    • L on Westham
    • Continue on Country Squire
    • L on S. Ridge

    4s

    • At the bottom reverso
    • Back to flag

    5s/ 6s

    • Continue on Westham Station
    • L on Old Bridge
    • Hit fork at Old Bridge and Highland
    • Reverso
    • Back to flag

    6s

    • Complete Old Bridge plus Highland (once each)
    • Reverso
    • Back to flag

    Numberama, Nameorama, COT

    MOLESKIN

    After cool dry mornings a week ago, the funk was back and funky as ever.  Like running through a greenhouse.  As such, stages of dress varied.  Glad the PAX is comfortable with that, just don’t expect YHC to finish with a BOM.  Great to have Shake’s FNG join us this morning.  Originally hailing from Switzerland, Swiss Miss and Toblerone were thrown out as potential names, but the PAX and YHC settled on Neutral.  Hoping Neutral had a positive experience and returns soon. 

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    HDHH and Hill Run tomorrow – Honeydo’s (See Slack for address)

    Field Day 9/18

    Retreat 9/25 – Cornhole signup coming, find a partner now, preferably from a different nanoregion

  • Back to Bootcamp

    Time to reclaim Hearbreak Ridge.  After 3 straight weeks of ultimate and dingers (all good, just realizing it had been 3 straight weeks), time to strap on the boots for a beat-down.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • DQ
      • Helicopter
      • Arm Circles
    • Mosey to the football field for a cumulative beast:
      • 216 HRM
      • 180 reverse crunches
      • 144 squats
      • 108 flutter kicks
      • 72 2x crab cakes
      • 36 burpees
    • Cool down with 50 LBC and 40 APD
    • Mosey back to the parking lot with a Bernie back up the slope
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    It was time for the paid workout hogging the parking lot to see how real men workout.  Solid work from the PAX today.  If you have not been in a PAX with our elder statesman Pigskin, make it a point.  He is running laps around dudes ½ his age.  It is spectacular.  Plus, he is a great guy to hang out with.  Solid work from all of the PAX.  Lighthouse, Ronnie, and Handshake were leading the PAX.  Great to see Carfax.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila