Tag: #SOJ

  • VQ=Done

    11 PAX gathered at the Old Hundred Racetrack to help keep me on track for my VQ.   Missed a few counts and the order of closing, but after 8 month, VQ=Done.  First time in 8-months I have seen a warm up that had no mosey or SSH- Hope they don’t kick me out :).  

    Warm Up:  Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers, Arm Stretches x 2 way, Don Quyotes, Merkins, LBC-

    COP 1: Kettlebell carry around the racetrack and stopped at each light pole.  Stop1-10 Kettlebell Curls, Stop2- 20 Kettlebell Squats, Stop3- 30 Kettlebell Skull crushers, Stop4- 40 Kettlebell Lunge, Stop5-40 Kettlebell Curls, Stop6- 30 Kettlebell Squats, Stop7- 20 Kettlebell Skull crushers, Stop8- 10 Kettlebell Lunge

    COP2. 11’s- Kettlebell Plank pull-throughs with Kettlebell Bench Press

    COP3. Triple Check- Kettlebell Swings, Kettlebell side bends, and runner went between light poles. 

    COP4. Another Kettlebell carry around the racetrack and stopped at each light pole.  Stop1-10 Kettlebell Swings, Stop2- 20 Kettlebell Alen Iversons, Stop3- 30 Kettlebell Lawnmowers, Stop4- 40 Kettlebell Overhead press, Stop5-40 Kettlebell Swings, Stop6- 30 Kettlebell Alen Iversons, Stop7- 20 Kettlebell Lawnmowers, Stop8- 10 Kettlebell Overhead press

    Numbers, Names, Announcements & Prayers to include Vagabond and his family as they start the next chapter in their life and everyone during this election day.   

    Thank you everyone for this opportunity and allowing me to lead us out in a prayer my M and I say with our kids EVERYDAY.  Teach them young to pray and communicate with other- we all need help others from time to time-set that good example.    

    Stark Family Morning Prayer:

    Jesus, we want to thank you for all these great gifts you have given us, especially the gift of life.

    We pray that as we journey today that you journey with us; as we walk you walk by our side to help guide me us and lead us. 

    We pray that you help us to find our words so that we know what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. 

    We pray that you help us to treat others with kindness and respect, the way we want to be treated. 

    We pray that if something happens today that you give us the strength and courage to tell mommy or daddy or the teachers. 

    We pray that you help us to grow happy, healthy, gentle, and kind, and to be good listeners and to do your will. 

    Amen. 

    God is good. God is great. Let us have an Awesome day. 

  • If you can VQ for 70, you can Q for 9

    If you have never had the pleasure of having your balls busted by Heist then shame on you! He spent 3 months busting YHC’s balls earlier in the year to join F3 and then every day after YHC’s VQ (9/16) to pick up another Q. If you can VQ for 70 PAX members, you can Q for 9 Pax members, so get your ass on the sign-up sheet is what I vaguely remember him telling me. Well, the ball busting ended today! Q taken and workout ready to go, until a PAX member (won’t mention names Warby) reached out and asked if there was a lot of running. YHC woke up at 12:30 AM and 2:30 AM to change things up a bit to accommodate for the 5-6 week lingering coughers. Here is what went down:

    Warm Up: Mosey to the Graythorne entrance and back to the Alamo for the following exercises: SSH x 15, Imperial Walkers x 12, Arm Stretches x 4 way, Merkins x 10, Seated Butterfly Stretch, Freddie Mercuries x 15

    COP 1: Parking lot curb block walks with Merkin between blocks traveling both right and left while 1 PAX member at a time runs loop around the Alamo. Performed curb block walks until each member circled the Alamo once. This burned the chest/shoulders way more than it seemed like it would at 12:30 AM.

    COP 2: Partner up for Dora without running? – 100 Crab Walk Single Leg Extensions (2 count), 200 Box Cutters, 300 Ball Dippers: Partner 1 performs Dora exercises while partner 2 performs 7 Burpees – switch until exercises complete.

    COP 3: Mosey to front of the Alamo for a Triple Check – Squats, WWIIs and runner up the hill to the Graythorne entrance.

    COP 4: Mosey to the tennis courts for 4 corners: 1st Corner x 10 Carolina Dry Docks, 2nd Corner x 20 LBCs, 3rd Corner x 30 Mountain Climbers (announced single count, Wildcat requested double count, ask and he shall receive), 4th Corner x 40 Calf Raises with Raise the Roof.

    Mosey back to the parking lot to circle up for ring of fire stretches for last few minutes.

    Numbers, Names, Announcements & Prayers to include continued recovery from cardiac surgery for Warby’s father, Hermes surgery this coming Thursday and YHC’s coworker who just lost her mother to battle with cancer.

    Thanks to all that showed up today and hope to see more of you out there this week. In all seriousness, the ball busting was completely worth it. I appreciate Heist getting me out there and introducing me to a great group of guys and a way to better myself physically, mentally and emotionally. You can’t help others fill their cup if yours is empty and the fitness, fellowship and faith sure has kept my cup overflowing! It was an honor to lead the group today and look forward to many more.

  • The Fence is Your Friend

    12 SOJ all-stars gathered in the chilly gloom for the latest edition of Rock N Roll. The following is a brief summary for your viewing pleasure:

    Mosey to the parking lot for Warmarama:
    LBC’s, Freddy Mercuries, Alabama Prom Dates, American Hammers, Dead Man Hang AND Forward Straddle Hops, Mario Jumps, Karaoke, Walking Knee Pulls, Mummy Kicks all across the parking lot.

    Mosey to the back of the baseball fence for Exercise One: 100 Chain Smokers. Stop when the first man hits 100 (Florence).

    To the Baseball Outfield for Exercise Two: 7’s (kind of like 11’s); Chicken Peckers and Donkey Kicks. Run along the outfield fence in between sets.

    Mosey to the back Parking Lot for Exercise Three:
    Triple Check – Run down the hill and back, Merkins, Jump Squats.

    To the Pull Up Bars for Exercise Four: Circuit – do in any order:
    10 Burpees, 20 Hanging Knee Raises, 30 Hand Release Merkins, 40 WWII Situps, 50 Dips.

    Back to the Parking Lot for Exercise 5: Crab walk across the parking lot.

    To the Flag for 2 minutes of Monkey Humpers

    Numbers/Names/Announcements/Prayer Requests

    YHC took us out

    Final Thoughts: Great group this morning! First time really feeling the fingers freezing – especially during the Chicken Peckers. We had a random Michigan fan pop in during the circuit and trash talk Big Rig. He did not appear overly interested in coming out for a workout, unfortunately. What I love about Rock N Roll is that it has developed an amazing core of PAX who are very consistent. As always, it was a great honor to lead. Happy upcoming birthday to POSH!

    SYITG

  • SOJ knows it is always sunny in the gloom

    The rumors were swirling that the north of the river men were saying that SOJ wouldn’t hack the cold weather. This morning 12 angry SOJ beasts showed up to prove them wrong…wearing jorts of course!

    Here is how it went down

    Warmarama- quick mosey to the front of the entrance and back followed by SSH, Don Q, Imperial Walkers, Cherry pickers, Merkins, LBC’s

    11’s – Decline merkins & jump squats- runner to the opposite end of the parking lot

    triple check with coupons- curls, skull crushers, runner to the other side of parking lot

    BUILD THE HILL- 1/4 way up the hill 5 burpees…back to the bottom ….1/4 way 5 burpees continue to 1/2 way for 10 mountain climbers….back to the bottom…followed by burpees, mountain climbers and 3/4 way 15 lbc…lastly climb one more time 5burpees , 10mountain climbers, 15 LBC, 20 SSH

    Still time left for more coupon work…circled up for a you call it around the circle of alternating excercises rotating coupons for each exercise ( curls 2x, skull crushers, squats, chest press, shoulder press, WW2, leg raise, coupon hold above head, calf raise, merkins,rock copters)

    announcements- ruck for food, thanksgiving Q at Mary Mumford

    YHC took us out in prayer

    Great work this morning guys. Always an honor to lead this group.

  • Running & Mumblechatter

    5 elite runners took to the pavement with an out&back route on Coalfield. With a easy and route, all energy went to planning the next great CSAUP.

    Option 1: Teams of 3 gather for a run & bike relay from Williamsburg to Richmond on the Capital Trail (50 miles)

    Option 2: Teams of 5 gather for a run & bike relay up Skyline Drive (120 miles)

    Option 3: Something similar but more stupid, like 500 miles stupid.

    We agreed to do them all, in order. So… who else is up for the challenge?

  • New month….We don’t stop

    As the runners took off, 4 of us hung around and decided today was a “Hot Potato” day. As we moseyed down to the track, the mind starts to figure out what do you want to do when it’s your turn. After a little WARMARAMMA by all of us(SSHs, Don Quixotes, Cherry Pickers etc), we got down to business and boy we did.

    Yee Haw was first up: 50 Perfect Merkins, 100 lunges, 150 squats(partner up we each did a lap around the track) we put in 3/4 of a mile just that alone

    I was next: over to the stairs where the light was plenty another mini dora(50 WW2, 100 double count flutters, 150 mountain climbers), as we ran up to the top(5 Lt Dans)

    NTB stepped up(went over to where some of the buses were): whatever the bus numbers added together(Carolina dry docks) with a run to the pole and back) example 623 equals 11 dry docks.

    Swoop closed us out with 11s(burpees and I said go with Bobby Hurleys). That little chill in the air makes it a bit tougher, but we powered thru with everyone all good

    The last few minutes was a little broga by yours truly, after that everyone returned(count-outs, announcements and prayer taking us out)

    Enjoy the day, see you next time

  • Audible: A VQ Story

    Audible: A VQ Story

    Excellent showing of 21 and 1 FNG at The Alamo this morning to get after it for my VQ. I’d wager it would have been 20 and 1 FNG had I not bribed Hardywood with breakfast following EF Hutton’s beat down on Saturday at DogPile.

    Calls for ‘audible’ were heard throughout 11s @ Horseshoe and rumors have it that it was the boys from north of the river, however we’ll never know for sure… Unfortunately for them, I’m not a football guy despite my Texas upbringing, so we carried on to complete the set. No audibles at The Alamo. NOJ, please direct all toll reimbursement requests to @johnny-schroepfer on Venmo.

    Grateful for the opportunity to lead this group of men this morning and feeling overwhelmed by the familiar faces and support of the PAX, especially the Love for Liv swag. Also, a huge welcome to Co-pay for joining us this morning. Looking forward to seeing you out there!

    Excellent start to the week, gentlemen!

    Here’s what went down at the Alamo this morning:

    Opening

    • Mission statement
    • Ask for FNGs 
    • Let’s get after it

    Warm up — @ The Alamo

    • SSH — 15x
    • Dead man hang — C, L, R 
    • Merkins — 15x
    • On your six — Roscoe’s mom
    • On your six — leg to chest, L/R

    Mosey to bottom of cul de sac by 3DD House  

    • Base for uphill run/sprints 

    Thing 1 — Triple check up the hill @ cul de sac

    • Navy seal burpees
    • Heels to Heaven 
    • Active recovery: Plank for the 6, recover

    Mosey up the hill to The Alamo 

    Thing 2 — 11s @ Horseshoe

    • Jump Squats
    • Run
    • Burpees
    • Active recovery: Plank for the 6, recover

    COT — @ The Alamo

    • Announcements — FNG, Welcome Co-Pay!
    • Prayer requests 
    • Futon closed out with prayer

  • Back to Back…Mudslide style

    Yesterday at Satan’s Hill, the way i planned it went about as well as I could have asked for….today it was pretty damn close. A hard working group of 9 came out(1 FNG) decided what do I have planned for today? A little chat, then off to the races. Warm up: SSHs, Helicopters, Don Quixotes, Imperial Walkers, Copperhead Squats, Merkins and LBCs. The sun was rising up, time to mosey

    Part 1(little area in the woods): a mini Dora 25 Pull-ups, 50 Raise the Roofs, 100 Bobby Hurleys(run to the gate)

    Part 2(old school Dora): 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, 300 LBCs(run to the far side of the island and back)

    Part 3(Triple Check): Wall sits, Tricep dips, down the stairs(at the bottom 10 shoulder taps) run back up

    Part 4(Four Corners) 25 incline merkins, 50 walking lunges, 75 SSHs, 100 toe taps

    Final part: Something new(11 and 22) Dive bomber/Hindu merkins, bear crawl(later changed to run then bernie), kick throughs. 11 was for the dive bombers/hindu, 22 for the kick throughs. We got to 8-9(16-18)before time was up

    One final good burpee, announcements(the big one is the VQ for Yee Haw Monday at Alamo). If anything else see Slack. Count-outs prayer lead by YHC

    2 things: welcome Ian(Jiggy) to the group. He comes to us from Maine came out this morning did a great job we see him be a guide for a little bit till he gets more comfortable with everything. 2 this time of the year upcoming is tough for a lot of people(situations in life). It can be hard to open up(I am one of them) have others give advice or just be a friendly ear to listen. That little bit can help and also make sure to pay it forward to others when the time comes. Have a good weekend, be ready a little chill upcoming

  • Last Broga for October

    5 came out(Big Rig was already running, getting his mileage in) I was there on time as we got situated for a nice round of stretching out the body. We started with a little cat/cow, made our way into down dog then walked the feet up to the hands and rose up. A nice little flow was established including warriors, reverse, a little side angle. The new thing I added today was broken airplane/hood(started in a bird dog, then the arm and leg go out to the side, then back to the midline. Some nice pigeon, knees to each side(looking in the opposite direction), then finally sitting up and stretching out to finish.

    The warmer temps definitely helped getting loose. Today it is a true double dip so time for part 2

  • “Band” Halen

    PS…thanks to Purple Rain for the heading. Warning…this workout contains things that may be “painful” perhaps one where you want to come and try(read all warnings before coming to a Mudslide Q). A bakers dozen(13) came to the Southside, saw that I had the Q and wanted to see what did I have in store today. After a short warm-up(SSHs, Don Quixotes, Helicopters, Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers, Merkins and LBCs). It was time for the main part…..

    Round 1:(Triple Check) Farmers Carry with the Cindies down and back, Incline Merkins, Thrusters with the bands

    Round 2:(Triple Check) Run down to the stop sign Bernie back up, Swings with the cinder blocks, squats with the bands

    For the remiander…..it was strickly bands with certain movements(first part skaters, next bernie runs) then finally why I enjoy the hill(if you have anything left, leave it all out). The hill was 20 seconds run, 10 seconds lunging, 10 seconds bear crawl you did that till you were at the top(extra bonus to State Farm for a double shot)

    Back to the flag, put away the cindies, circle up, count outs names and prayer led by YHC to close it out

    Lately I have been trying to figure out a lot of things(mentally and physically). Things have not been easy for me. I did lose my job at Capital On after nearly 19 years(let go) so in the process of looking for something new. It’s a huge thing to lose something after so long(hits hard) not only affects mentally but physically. I have this, it’s like a drug for me where I have to train so hard to help balance me a little bit. Do I struggle at times(yes)? I hold things close, I have never been one to let things out but yes I do struggle mentally with things and sometimes physically. Luckily I have those who are trying to help me, show me things that I never knew really existed. One thing it took me a while to learn that it’s ok to struggle. I will have ups and downs this is where I have to start to figure out the balance where things are not so extreme(ups and downs)

    Have a good one….those coming to Rock and Roll tomorrow see you there be ready