7.22.19 – Intro to Pain Rucking

After the heatwave of the weekend, we got a nice cool 66 degrees this morning and 5 PAX (Archive, Banks, Crunch, Noodles, TBTF) showed up for Monday’s Pain Ruck with some bonus weight on-hand. After our sand and surf heavy week, the promise was no shenanigans, just straight up work. Specifically, 170 lbs of Ruck, 100+# of concrete, 50+# of water, and 67# of sand. We rotated as we went and everyone got a turn with the sandbag and the jerry can.

The Opener:

  • Ruck Motivators IC x 5
  • Abe Vigodas IC x 20

The Pain Ruck:

  • The Burpee Mile: The Long Mile – 12 Burpees OYO every quarter mile (Combined Ruck Weight = 170 lbs., Bonus Team Weight = 220 lbs.)
  • The Overtime: Extra .5 mile, dropped the coupons off, dropped the jerry can at the half-way mark (Rucks = 170#, Team Weight = 93#)

Total Combined Ruck Work = 607

COR/NOR/COT: Prayers for job travel, recovery from workouts, continued health.

Short and Sweet, but a heck of a workout. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was (am) still sore from Saturday. We’ll see how recovery time goes before Thursday’s workout.

7.20.19 – Beating the Heat

With a heat index threatening our fun, 5 stalwart PAX (Archive, Banks, Jazz Hands, Noodles, Crunch(QIC)) posted in a muggy 80 degrees before it got any hotter. The Q’s genius plan to keep exertion to a maximum and heat related smart-sacking to a minimum was the addition of a makeshift kiddie pool courtesy of some not yet utilized workbench lumber. It worked surprisingly well for being slapped together, and we got good and soaked regularly throughout the rotation. We had rucks enough to go around, so no one had to do the modified coupon version.

The Standard: 

  • Motivators IC x 7
  • Tin Soldiers IC x 14

The Water Workout:

  • 100 Ruck Squats
  • 1 Kraken Ruck Burpee in the “pool” (3 hand release merkins)
  • Ruck up the hill
  • 70 Ruck Push-ups
  • 33 Ruck Swings
  • 30 Lunges down the hill
  • Mandatory water-break
  • Repeat all of the above steps 2 more times

The Filler:

  • PAX played “Deck of Pain” (draw two: 1st card is your exercise, 2nd card is your rep count) with the workout cards until the 6 arrived.
  • Tear down the “pool” and haul it to the Q’s car

COR/NOR/COT: Prayers for job applications, upcoming work-travel for Banks, “Crunch’s rat disease-thing”, Noodles 2.0 (and his room!) — praise that we all beat the heat and lived to tell the tale.

Thought of the Day: It has been a long time since I did that many modified push-ups.

7.15.19 – EMBRACE. THE. GRIT.

Sometimes it’s not the reps, it’s the environment that gets to you. Sometimes it’s not the body, but the mind that refuses.

The sun rose and 3 unsuspecting PAX (Noodles, Banks, Gummi Bear) rucked over to Mastodon to perform a morale test. This morning’s sadistic Q (YHC, Crunch) felt like rising to the bait of our sand and surf rucking challenge this month and even found a nice little tucked away sandbox for our ruck PT pleasure. (Mastodon has it all!)

Warm o Rama:

  • Ruck Motivators IC x 5
  • Abe Vigoda IC x 10
  • Arm Circles over to the C.O.O.T.E.E.s ring
  • One Complete Ruck-Up (a pull-up or dead hang for 30 seconds)

The Thang:

Proceed to the volleyball courts (tucked behind the aquatic center) for a lovely patch of damp sand. Try not to get it in your eyes while bear crawling.

AMRAP for 20 min:

  • Flutters x 20 (we did IC, because that’s how you count Flutters!)
  • Bear Crawl 30 yards
  • American Hammers x 20 (IC, because that’s how you count American Hammers!)

After 6 rounds we went to straight count to finish out the 9 sets before time was up. No time for MoM, but a quick ruck back to the parking lot and a rinse at the drinking fountain.

COR/NOR/COT: prayers for work / productivity / purpose — anxiety about upcoming vacations — anxiety about past vacations (waiting out incubation periods for rat-borne illnesses) — Noodles’ transfer application processing (and 2.0’s room) is taking longer than expected.

All things considered, these guys passed their “putting up with a crazy Q” test with flying colors. Sand does not make a workout more fun. But it does send you home with more genuine grit than you came with…

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6.27.19 – New, Improved Operation Overlord

Now with more coupons!

6 PAX (Toolbox, Noodles, CATS, Banks, Archive, Crunch[QIC]) posted promptly for a Thursday Beatdown that was early, but certainly not gloomy. YHC had too much planned anyway, so we hit it hard and the time flew by. Inspired by the last rucking workout, the Q felt the need to up the ante with some coupons.

Warm-O-Rama (The Usual)

  • 7x Motivators
  • 10xIC Tin Soldiers
  • Burpee (Short)Mile – 12 Burpees x 4 around the island loop (.72 mi if you needed to know)

The Thang: Everyone’s Favorites

20 Min cycle of:

  • 50m Coupon Lunges
  • 50m Bears and Blocks
  • 25 American Hammers (w/ Coupon)
  • 50m Coupon Lunges
  • 50M Bears and Blocks
  • 25 Man-Makers

No time left for MoM or the Bucket Brigade up the hill. Mosey to the flag.

COR/NOR/COT: Prayers for traveling PAX — Noodles’ new hire and plans for transfer — new projects for Archive’s work.

I’ll be missing you guys being DR for the next three Saturdays. Hopefully after this workout, you won’t miss me as much!

6.24.19 – Ruck Mondays – 82nd Airborne

Two PAX (Noodles / Crunch) posted in the bright mid-summer “gloom” to start the week off right with the last of the GORUCK June workouts: the 82nd Airborne Workout. After waiting a respectful time (10 IC Tin-Soldiers) for any borderline fartsackers to race into the parking lot, they started out on their mile:

82nd Airborne:

8 rounds for time: (32 min)

  • 8 Shoulder Press
  • 20 Plank Pulls (10 per side)
  • 8 Ruck Swings
  • 200m Ruck (with added sandbag, optional)

With some extra time we moseyed to the hill for some bonus work (with the ruck on):

  • Hill Sprint
  • Bernie (sprint)
  • Bear Crawl

2 MoM:

  • American Hammer ICx20

NOR/COR/COT: prayers for hiring process at Noodles work and health for Noodles M (and baby) as they await the new arrival. — For a strong start to the week and good commitment from us and the other PAX in the group, that we would Get After It in work, home, and personal arenas. — For good preparation and safe travels for the Crunch household as they trek out to Colorado for a few weeks.

 

6.22.19 – No Legs

8 PAX including one FNG (Welcome Too Big To Fail!) showed up on a beautiful summer day for the regularly scheduled weekly beatdown. With the evening ruck on the Horizon, our Q promised to stay away from any leg exercises. The lesson behind today’s workout is that when you put your mind to it, you can do 5 of anything, just keep moving forward.

Warm-O-Rama (The Usual)

  • 7x Motivators
  • 15x Tin Soldiers

Thang 1: 5 Alive

  • Run the short mile stopping at each lamp post and adding on the rep count
  • 1st Lamp Post -> 1 Burpee, 2nd Lamp Post -> 2 Burpees… 5th Lamp Post -> 5 Burpees
  • 6th Lamp Post -> 5 Burpees, 1 Merkin…. 10th Lamp Post -> 5 Burpees, 5 Merkins
  • 11th Lamp Post -> 5 burpees, 5 Merkins, 1 Star Jump
  • 16th Lamp Post -> 5 Burpees, 5 Merkins, 5 Star Jumps, 1 Dive Bomber
  • 21st Lamp Post -> 5 Burpees, 5 Merkins, 5 Star Jumps, 5 Dive Bombers, 1 OHC
  • 25th Lamp Post -> 5 Burpees, 5 Merkins, 5 Star Jumps, 5 Dive Bombers, 5 OHC’s
  • Totals: 115 Burpees, 90 Merkins, 65 Star Jumps, 40 Dive Bombers, 15 OHC’s

The Finale:

  • 20x Pull Ups
  • 2 MoM – 50 4-Count Flutter Kicks

COR/NOR/COT

We welcomed FNG Too Big To Fail! Prayers for this evenings Ruck Event, Jazz Hand’s Wife and her new job, Noodles and his Baby, and safe travels for Toolbox and Panadero.

6.17.19 – The 101st Airborne

Three PAX (Banks, Crunch and Noodles rocking a new bag and plate(+5lbs!)) posted to take on the 101st Airborne workout (2 of 4 for June). The coolest day of the week made for a comfy rucking morning, and we got after it without a warm-up:

The 101st:

Done for Time: (~42min)
– 101 Thrusters
– 400m Ruck
– 101 Lunges
– 400m Ruck
– 101 Ruck High Pulls
– 400m Ruck
– 101 second Plank
– 400m Ruck

Done in cadence to keep the rhythm going, we made our way around the lake stopping at the quarter miles. Done with a few minutes to spare.

COR/NOR/COT: Lifting up health for Noodles’ M and baby as she’s heading into her third trimester. — productivity for the week ahead — prayers for safety and enthusiasm for the double-header F2 + Unity Ruck/F2 events Friday and Saturday.

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Another Monday Ruck in the books. Definitely going to be stronger after this one. Need to work in more regular arm-exercises with the ruck.

6.15.19 – APFT Benchmarking

With YHC’s birthday coming up next week, and with the Army having it’s 244th birthday on Friday, it felt like the best possible time to try the Army Physical Fitness Test and get some numbers on the board. 8 PAX showed up to see how their present selves measured up against their future selves.

The Standard Open:

  • Motivators x7
  • Abe Vigoda IC x 20

The Main Event – APFT:

  • 2 minute AMRAP Push-ups
  • 2 minute AMRAP Sit-ups
  • 2 mile run

APFT June 2019 results:

Name – Push-ups / Sit-ups / 2 Mile time (Age / Army Scores = Total out of 300 possible)

  • Captain Crunch – 70 / 68 / 13:24+10sec penalty for shortcut (32 / 95 + 91 + 97 = 283)
  • Jazz Hands – 43 / 35 / 17:44 (32 / 67 + 52 + 87 = 206)
  • Skirt Chaser – 61 / 43 / 15:03 (36 / 86 + 61 + 84 = 234)
  • Archive – 80 / 70 / 15:06 (33 / 100 + 93 + 84 = 277)
  • CATS – 20 / 19 / 21:47 (31 / 40 + 33 + 8 = 81)
  • Noodles – 46 / 24 / 19:09 (39 / 72 + 45 + 52 = 169)
  • Hurt Locker – 69 / 66 / 16:14 (41 / 96 + 89 + 77 = 262)
  • Banks – 74 / 69 / 16:14 (37 / 100 + 93 + 77 = 270)

Overall assessment – Not bad F3 Wheaton, but there is more core and cardio in our future…

The Closer:

  • American Hammer with Coupons, while Captain Crunch did his penalty Blockees for bypassing the parking lot detour on his first mile. (If you can’t do it, don’t Q it, man!)

COR / NOR / COT: Prayers for continued growth as individuals and as a group, for support and strength, that we can help the people around us be their best selves and make the world a better, healthier place for our presence in it — Lifting up Jazz Hands and his M and 2.0s in the midst of a season of transition on all sides.

 

MOLESKIN: Today I was really impressed by the grit on display by all these men, giving what they had in them to bust through, arms shaking, joints complaining. 100% completion. And we have the future APFT to look forward to. A lot of newer PAX here have done less than two months of F3. This was a great day to have in the books to look back to.

Doing the Goruck June challenge has really driven home for me that improvement comes from consistent application over time. To get the mileage in, I have been rucking almost every day, and I have seen steady strength and speed increases that I wouldn’t have had or wouldn’t have noticed without trying to accomplish the same thing again and again, day after day. To any PAX reading this, what is the thing you want to be better at? Do it at least every other day, preferably every day. Measure successes and failures. It will improve. Embrace the Suck.

6.6.19 – D-Day Fun!

It was another weekday workout where the sun was up and there was no gloom! We had a great turnout and a total of 6 PAX including 1 FNG (Skirt Chaser) and a friendly visit by Bruce Lee coming all the way from Greensboro! Our Q was also pleased to see that Captain Crunch thought the workout would be challenging enough and did not feel the need to wear a ruck for the entire thing.

Warm-O-Rama: (The Usual)

7x Motivators

15x Tin Soldiers

Thang 1: Mile-O-Fun

We took the short mile and performed the following along the way:

  • 11’s – We stopped at each light post and completed 10 Merkins/1 Squat and made 10 stops until we did 1 Merkin/10 Squats
  • We moseyed to the Pullup Bars and partnered up
    • 1 Partner did Burpees while the other ran and completed 5 pullups (4x Each)
  • We got back on the trail and completed Dan Taylors – 1 Squat/4Lunges up to 10 Squats/40 lunges
  • We then did some BLIMPS (Burpees, Lunges, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Plank Jacks, Squats) stopping at each light pole completed 5x each exercise
  • We wrapped up the Mile-O-Fun with some Jack Webbs – 1 Merkin/ 4 OHC counting up to 10 Merkins/40 OHCs

Thang 2: Escalator

Sprint up the hill and complete one of the following at the top each trip:

  • 10 Star Jumps
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Merkins
  • 40 Squats
  • We ran out of time before we could finish with 50 Lunges

COR/NOR/COT

We welcomed FNG Skirt Chaser! Prayers for finishing the week strong, Gilligan, Grow Ruck, Noodles’ Son, Toolbox’s Wife & Skirt Chaser’s Sister. We are also thankful on this 75th anniversary of D-Day for the sacrifice that all of those brave men made for our freedom and to make the world what it is today.

6.3.19 – The Ruck 5k *With Friends!*

Our Monday Rucking Squad (4 PAX strong at Noodles, Hoser, Archive and Crunch(QIC)–and almost Toolbox!) was greeted with some pleasantly bug-free 50 degree weather as we met up and got down to it. The Challenge: get 3 miles in between 5:30-6:15. Short, simple, but not easy. A few imperial walkers and butt kicks and we were off!

We were hovering right around it the whole time, with the need for a prompt work-friendly exit as our motivation. Ultimately just missing the mark at about 47 min total. A solid start to June’s mileage heavy D-Day challenge, but plenty more miles to come!

With reaching the finish-line a few minutes overtime we even peaced out without a COT (or selfie!!) Your hasty Q offered up TAPS on his way home, but some penalties are probably in order…

Well done, HIMs. Next week, the D-Day 75 Anniversary PT workout!