Tag: Heartbreak Ridge

  • 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…

  • Waking with bated breath

    6 men arose from a warm fartsack to see what this weeks rendition of Heartbreak Ridge would have, and this is what happened:

    Longer than normal mosey, much to Attilla’s chagrin, to the Quioccasin Middle Bus Loop

    COP under the covered Loop with various exercises

    Indefinite Triple Check with a Run to the Shed by the Fuel Site, HRM’s, and SSH’s for the first 2 rounds, third round was a Run, with Squats, and LBC.’s

    Miscellaneous Wall Work to stay under the covered loop

    Mosey to the Blacktop for a 4 Corners: C1 – 40 SSH’s, C2 30 Squats, C2 20 Carolina Dry Docks, C4 10 Burpees

    Mosey to the Benches in the main parking lot – 30 Dips, and 10 Single Leg Step Ups. Bear Crawl back to the Flag to finish.

    Announcements – 2nd Lunch at Firehouse Subs at Innsbrook at Noon today

    NMS – We had a solid 6 of grizzled veterans who weren’t afraid to post on a cool, windy, wet day. Although we were all prepared to get wet, it didn’t mean any one of us actually wanted to get wet. Good thing for covered Bus Loops.

  • Preemptive Complaining

    Yesterday at Hoedown, we did a lot of shoulder work. SOOOOOOO, Handshake did some preemptive complaining about the potential for more merkins, etc. today. As a result, I modified somewhat my usual routine. Here’s how it went.

    Warm-up

    • 20 SSHs in cadence
    • 10 Don Quixote in cadence
    • 10 Susan Sommers in cadence (each side)
    • Plank: Right hand/right foot stretch & vice-versa

    Mosey to Heartbreak Ridge for 11s

    • Pole smokers at the top
    • Imperial Walkers at the bottom

    Mosey to benches for Lindsays: 30/10, 25/15, 20/20, 15/25, 10/30

    • Dips
    • Bench kicks

    Mosey to Quioccasin Wall for BBTW routine

    • 15 People’s chair airpress in cadence
    • 10 BTTW hip slaps in cadence
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    • 15 People’s chair Milkers in cadence
    • 10 BTTW Australian Mountain Climbers
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    • 15 People’s chair Lalannes in cadence
    • 10 BTTW toe taps in cadence
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO
    • 15 People’s chair Muhammad Ali in cadence
    • 10 Dirty Hookups in cadence
    • 15 Donkey Kix OYO

    Mosey to benches in front of school for Dips, Bulgarian Split squats and Step-ups

    • 10 Dips/1 Bulgarian Split Squat Single count
    • 9 & 2
    • 8 & 3
    • etc.

    Mosey to the flag for

    • 5 minutes of Burpees
    • Stretch for 2 minutes

    Announcements:

    Frozen Triangle this weekend

    2nd F, 2nd Tuesday (next week) at Firehouse Subs in Innsbrook

    Takeout by YHC

    When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. Marcus Aurelius

  • Fuzzy Navels

    A lucky seven assembled in the gloom to reverse the curse of last week’s running workout.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • DQ
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • Jazzercize
      • Suzanne Somers
      • HRM
      • LBC
    • Mosey to the black top for four corner with 10, 15, 20 & 25 reps
      • 70 HRM
      • 70 WWII sit-ups
      • 70 copperhead squats
      • 70 side crunches, each side
    • Mosey over to Heartbreak Hill for an 11 on the hill with H2H and monkey humpers
    • Mosey around the track to the pull bars where each PAX does 7 pull-ups while the rest Al Gore
    • Bernie up the slope and mosey back to the shovel flag for some dead man hang
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Great work by the PAX today.  Several PAX members sported the short shirt tail, exposing the midriff for all to gag on.  Pasty and unsightly.  A lot to stomach (pardon the pun) in the gloom.  Great to have Pigskin back safe!

    Check slack for upcoming Frozen Triangle and Grow Ruck.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • WTH adjacent

    9 men joined for a Handshake makeup Q from 2 weeks ago and this is our offsite adventure

    Start with a mosey to the wind-free courtyard at Quiocassin Middle

    Mosey over to Shane Road and take advantage of the lights at the Henrico Recycling Center and do a Triple Check. P1 HRM’s, P2 Squats, P3 runs down to the corner of Woodcrest and back. 3 Rounds

    Starting at the Recycling Center we moseyed back down to Woodcrest to start a Lindsay with 30 Squats and 10 Carolina Dry Docks. Continue at Holbrook/Elon, then Vassar Road, then Woodcrest Road.

    We’ve got enough time so lets do the run in reverse

    Turn back in reverse and at Elon/Holbrook and do 50 2-Count Flutter Kicks.

    This is where things went downhill, YHC didn’t remember to turn left on Holbrook and continued to Fisk and to Inez and then to Quioccasin and back to QMS. This mistake extended to the run from .46 miles to .91 miles. Pinto clocked us at 2.3 total miles.

    We arrived at the Flag with 2 minutes to spare so a Burpee Ring of Fire was completed.

    Announcements – Frozen Triangle is coming up and so is Grow Ruck

    Prayer Requests – none

    NMS – slightly warmer weather than we’ve seen in the last week made for good running. It was nice to make a off campus trip, not something that is done frequently at Heartbreak Ridge. Thanks to the Pax for their patience during a slight misadventure.

  • The FIGO Variable

    6 West-Ender HIM’s donned their toboggans and answered the call to join DTH for a frosty beatdown on the Heartbreak tundra. Here’s how we showed Figo (2nd-ever post) a good time:

    The THANG:

    WARMERAMA: 

    • x1.5 Mosey laps around the parking lot and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • Variable IC Reps to get the muscles warm top to bottom – Nancy Kerrigans, Imperial Squat Walkers, DQ’s, Opus, etc

    COP #1: 

    • Mosey around the the bus loop covered area and every man pick a pole for Pole-smokers x30 IC
    • Followed by WWII’s and Oblique LBC’s IC

    COP #2:

    • Line up on the wall for WALL WORK
    • x20 Hoedown’s IC
    • x15 Hip Slappers IC
    • x10 Dirty Hookup (ea side)
    • Then mosey and sprint around the bus lanes

    COP #3:

    • INDIGENOUS POLE BEARS
    • PAX complete pole smokers while last PAX bear crawls to front and restarts pole smokers. Continue end to end.
    • Mosey around back of school and down to the track

    COP #4:

    • TRACK WORK
    • Mosey around the track stopping every quarter for variable exercises – Dips, Copperhead Squats, Incline Mericans, Monkey Humpers, Raise the Roof in People’s Chair (les by PIGSKIN), Lt Dan’s (led by MR ROGERS), more dips, and then a finale loop with just variable movements

    Mosey BTTF for COT:

    • Counterama # 7
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    NMS:  Been too long since I’ve rubbed elbows with the Heartbreak gang (last time was playing Ultimate!) but having a brother from church “FIGO” living in the Short Pump area seemed like a fantastic reason to introduce him to an AO closer to home. Appreciate you guys coming out on a frosty morning and giving this workout solid effort. Handshake commented it was much better than if YHC hadn’t been looking out for a newer brother. Maybe true… will just have to come back and supply the over-unders in the muddy snow you missed out on. SYITG, DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

  • Heartbreak Ridge- Where’s Handshake?

    Six committed PAX members posted in the cold this morning looking for Handshake…

    We started with a brisk mosey to the back of school pavement for an all contributing round of COP that went something like this. SSH, DON-Q, Imperial Walkers, Helicopters, LBC, Merkins.

    4-Corners at same location was 12 Merkins, 12 WW2’s, 6 Burpee’s, with a bear crawl to 4th and final corner.

    Mosey to Elementary School for a Triple Check in the parking lot. LBC, HR-Merkins, Runner as the timer.

    Mosey to the back play ground for another Triple Check of 5 pull ups, 5 WW2’s and 5 Deep squats.

    Mosey back to middle school for 3 squats at every pole of the over hang.

    Mosey to front of middle school picnic tables for 20 Dips, 10/10 Steps Ups, 8 declined merkins.

    Short Mosey back to Flag for announcements by PigSkin about Fire House Subs and an awesome closing prayer from Atilla.

  • Speaking of a small penis, where is Handshake?

    Nine noteworthy PAX posted to the 1st HBR of 2024. A benevolent Q tried to keep the PAX dry along the way. We did:

    COP: SSH, Don Qs, Imperial Walkers, Helicopters, Merkins.

    Mosey over to covered area: Pole Smokers & Merkins all the way down. Over to the Tennis courts for 4 rounds of: Wheelbarrows & 10 Derkins. Up to the PES lot for a Triple Check: HRMs, Reverse Crunch, & run lot the back. Over to Playground for Pullups: 4 Rounds of 8, WWIIs while you wait.

    Back over to main HBR lot for another Triple Check: dips, Peoples chair, & run the blacktop. Finish with 3 min of Mary and Ring of Fire. YHC took us out.

    NMS: With Handshake out with a Poor oral hygiene trip, YHC asked Kubota to step in and fill the role of PAX instigator. He was not needed as another HBR regular provided us with the BB title. Good to have Tonka post out at Heartbreak. Senor Frog was moving today, looks like he is pushing himself in 2024. Maybe he is the new Oyster. Nice way to start of the new year with 9 PAX.

  • Die Hard is a Christmas movie

    Tater thought he could take it to a vote, but as Q, I both break the 4-4 tie and also get to declare whatever I want!

    It has been 35 years since that fateful Christmas Eve that resulted in the loss of innocent lives and severe damage to Nakatomi Plaza. We honored the courage of John McLane today by climbing Nakatomi.

    After some warmup, we ran up (and down) the hill ten times. Handshake led the grumbling.

    Almost a third of the way to the roof, we did another ten but added a merkin at the top, eventually doing ten merkins the last time.

    More grumbling. We got lucky and ran into an innocent bystander on the 20th floor. So we partnered up and did 10 combined. One ran while the partner did WWIIs (and switch).

    30 floors up we were getting too close to Hans Gruber and his crew. We had to hit the air ducts for two floors and so bear crawled up twice. We ran the last three floors and successful got to the 35th floor.

    We were not done as all the innocent partygoers were on the roof. We bear crawled one last time and then shot our machine guns up in the air to scare off the copters and get the partygoers to run back downstairs.

    We successfully saved the employees. Unfortunately the helicopters were not as lucky, but we did not like the FBI guys anyway.

    In celebration, we ran to the football field and did 2 rounds of ten burpees, run to the 50 and 25 squats.

    Everyone was very happy to have come to such a fun workout. But in case I missed a complaint or two and I have two comments:

    1. Now, you listen to me, jerk-off, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem.
    2. Yippee-kiy-yay motherfucker!

  • Poor Man’s 12 Days

    Four noble warriors held down the HBR fort as the masses converged on No Toll today.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • DQ
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • Jazzercize
      • Suzanne Somers
      • LBC
    • Over to Heartbreak Hill for our own 12 days of Christmas – run of the hill complete the reps, adding a new exercise each time and return down the hill, rinse and repeat until all 12 days are complete:
      • 12 merkins (144)
      • 11 WWII sit-ups (121)
      • 10 2x flutter kicks (100)
      • 9 side crunches – each side (81)
      • 8 squats (64)
      • 7 CDD (49)
      • 6 H2H (36)
      • 5 burpees (25)
      • 4 2x shoulder taps (16)
      • 3 2x crab cakes (9)
      • 2 diamond merkins (4)
      • 1 30 second fence sit
    • Mosey to the jerkin gym for 12 jerkins
    • Mosey around the track and Bernie up the hill to the parking lot
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    To be clear, there was no “patent” or “copyright” violations as a part of this workout.  Sold work from all  of the PAX.  Grateful for good health and the ability to do this injury free.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila