The Halloween Ranger Physical Fitness Test
9 men conquered the (adjusted) Ranger Physical Fitness Test (RPFT) this Halloween morning with 3 cleared for service. Here is the synopsis of the event.
The adjusted test was comprised of 4 parts:
1) 2 minutes of perfect form merkins (goal = 49)
2) 2 minutes of full sit-ups (goal = 59)
3) Pull-ups (dead hang with no lower body movement x 6 minimum)
4) 5 mile run (goal = 40 min or 8min/mi)
While many excelled at individual challenges, only 3 (Fletch, Mighty Mite, and Turkey Leg) passed all 4 to gain figurative entry into the Rangers basic training. Great job guys on your all around fitness!
Here is a summary of each event:
1) Merkins: Range 49 to 80 with Haggis, Turkey Leg, and Fletch in the lead
2) Sit-ups: Range 35 to 65 with Mighty Mite, Fletch, and Turkey Leg in the lead
3) Pull-ups: Range 6 to 13 with Haggis, Frasier, and Mighty Mite in the lead
4) 5-mi Run: Range 36:05 to 43:40 (7:13 to 8:44 min/mi) with Frasier, Turkey Leg, Fletch, and YHC in the lead
Overall, it was a great morning with cool breezes and good 2nd F throughout. As always, YHC appreciates the opportunity to train next to this great group of men. Aye!
Greyhound – F3 Legend
19 young men and one 75 year old badass named Greyhound took on Hydra today.
The Thang:
-Jog 2 laps around mini track.
-Alternating wide arm and diamond merkins.
-Jog to transition area (T-Ball field) and partner up.
-Man A runs to bleachers at concession stand and completes 25 dips and 15 wall jumps then runs back to transition area.
-Man B runs to playground and completes 15 pull ups (or knees to chest) and 25 LBC’s then runs back to transition area.
-At transition area each 2 man team completes a team total of 50 merkins then flapjacks. Run circuit for 30 minutes non stop.
-Circle up for burpee Jack Webb’s (1 burpee, 4 shoulder presses up to 6, 24).
-6 MOM: LBC’s, dollies, slow Peter Parkers on back, slow bicycle.
-Indian Run back to parking lot for COT.
Moleskin:
-Anyone who has posted at Hydra over the past 2 months or so has been introduced to Greyhound. He has become a Hydra regular and is one of the toughest and fittest 75 year olds that many of us will probably ever meet. So as Q this morning I knew that I was going to pick Greyhound to be my partner. His response to me was “I’ll try my best to keep up with you”. He did not let me down. He is not the fastest runner out there, but takes anything the Q’s throw at him and he always pushes himself to the limit as can be seen from the sweat. When coming into the transition area each time I would tell him how many more merkins we needed to get to 50 and his response to me was “yes sir!” A couple of times he even tried to do more merkins than our team needed! It’s amazing and inspiring to see a man old enough to be your father and even grandfather to some come out and make his weekly downPAINment. This morning he even asked what the F3 workout schedule was on Thanksgiving day! So the the question is… If a 75 year old can post every Thursday… why can’t you (YHC included)? Take that fartsackers!
-Thanks for the inspiration Greyhound! Hopefully I can make it another 30 years and will join you for an F3 workout when I’m 75. See you in the gloom.
-Strong effort out there today by all. Happy Halloween!
Announcements:
-New Wednesday workout starting next week at Providence Day School. Double D’s and Bulldog are Q’s. Check website and Twitter for more info.
-Workout on November 10th honoring the Marine Corps birthday at Myers Park High School. Gunny will be Q.
Diamonds are a Pax Best Friend
Twelve of South Charlotte’s finest got a lesson in geometry this morning at Anvil. Really, YHC got the lesson (compliments of Purple Haze) but we all shared in the pain. The main event featured a four corner circuit and was planned as a square (four equal sides, right?). Turns out two of the sides were a good bit longer than the others, which provided a little extra burn.
The Thang
Quarter-mile jog through parking lot, circle up
COP
- SSH x 20
- Suspended Turle x 10
- Merkin x 10
Diamond Circuit
Divide into four groups – one group at each light post (forms a quasi-diamond shape). Each pax performs stationary exercise x 40 then moving exercise to next light post (clockwise) – 50-75 yds. Four sets per round, four rounds total.
- Round one: merkins x 40, butt kicks to next light post – x4
- Round two: squat jumps x 40, walking lunge to next light post – x4
- Round three: dips x 40, butt kicks to next light post – x4
- Round four: LBCs x40, bear crawl (crowd pleaser) to next light post – x4
Hill of a Good Time
Five minutes left on the clock means plenty of time for some hill work. Divide into two groups at top of hill at entrance to Calvary.
- Group one forward run down hill, backwards run up hill. Group two plank.Flapjack
- Group one face right shuffle down hill, face right shuffle up hill. Group two plank.Flapjack
- Group one face left shuffle down hill, face left shuffle up hill. Group two plank. Flapjack
- Everyone sprint down hill, sprint up hill, jailbreak back to cars.
Moleskine
Great effort by everyone today. We did a lot of reps and covered a lot of ground. The “diamond” ate up a lot of time (and the less-than-smooth parking lot ate up a few hands – sorry) but provided great burns for the legs, chest and arms. Next time I’ll be sure to allow more time for the hill! It seemed like there was pretty good chatter among the four groups, which always helps. It was a pleasure to lead you all this morning – thanks for the opportunity.
Running Around With Some 40’s…
–Posted on bahalf of Snakebite–
Shovel flag was planted and 30 fine men posted for a morning into the gloom at Death Valley. Little did the PAX know we’d just run around with 40’s.
Jog to football field and circle up on the 40 yard line.
COP:
SSH – x 20 (4 ct)
Merkin – x10 (2 ct)
IW – x 20 (4 ct)
Merkin – x 10 (2 ct)
Squats – x 20 (4 ct)
Merkin – x 10 (2 ct)
LBC – x 20 (4 ct)
Merkin – x 10 (2 ct)
Mosey to track for 60% run 2/3 around track, line up on goal line.
Sprinting Jack Webb’s:
1 x 4 Jack Webb, Run to 40 yard line
Repeat to 10 x 40, running back and forth
End at Goal line
Mosey to track for 60% run ½ around track, line up at 40 yard line
Minute Burpees:
10 burpees in a minute, rest when complete – 4 minutes
Count off by twos and mosey to track for ½ lap at 60%. Line up on the sideline at the 40
Racing Tunnels of Love:
Break up in teams (1 or 2) and plank up high. Race the tunnel to other sideline
Jog to track for ¾ lap run at 60%
Jog to bathrooms for some peoples chair and balls to the wall
Mosey to parking lot
5 MOM –
Dolly – x 20
Flutter – x 20
HOLD EM
Protractor
Russian Twist – x 20
COT
Moleskin:
I would like to thank the PAX for sharing my second Q and 40th birthday with me this morning. It was truly an honor to lead you men.
I followed Stone Cold’s example by not announcing my birthday to avoid the 40 burpees OYO. I’ll make them up at some point. Most everything this morning was based on 40, a theme I swore would get picked up early by the PAX. Thanks to Bulldog for donning the searchlight to light up YHC.
Strong work by all today. Breaks were held to a minimum this morning in an effort to keep us all moving and motivated throughout. Still had some #mumblechatter at the start but it quickly dissipated when the sprinting Webb got under way. Hope you all liked that one!
Again, thanks to all for allowing me to lead and joining me out in the gloom!
Announcements:
Wednesday 11/6 launch of The Charge at Providence Day School – Boot camp at football field near bleachers. Bulldog and Double D’s on Q.
Mud Run in Spring 2014 – Signups still available with Stage Coach
3 Pack of headlamps (with batteries) available at Costco for $7.99
HDHH tonight – 6pm at The Lodge
Pre-blast
Crabcake on Q for rebel yell tomorrow. Circles not needed in order to dish out pain, just the fact that your at rebel yell is enough. It’ll be fun. Weather is not a reason to fartsack. See you in the gloom.
Who Ordered The Krispy Kremes?
15 faithful rose from their “deads” to shop for downPAINment at the Maul.
Mighty Mite arrived clean shaven and perplexed asking who stole his facial hair when Hops shamelessly admitted to this thievery wearing his pre Halloween bearded mask.
The Thang:
- COP- SSHx25
- Merkins x20
- Mountain Climbers X15
- IW x20 to warm up
Mosey to the fountain to partner up for a hearty breakfast of Burpee sandwiches:
- First Partner: 5 burpees, 20 dips, 5 burpees plank when done
- Partner 2: jog around one building increasing speed each turn, flapjack
- Round 2: 5 burpees, 20 derkins, 5 burpees while partner runs around 2 buildings, flapjack
- On your back for 6 inches until everyone is done, threw in a little protractor just because
- Round 3: 5 burpees, 20 dry docks, 5 burpees, partner runs, flapjack, plank until all done
- Finish with 10 diamond pushups and 10 jump ups
Mosey to the speed bumps behind Target:
- Bearcrawl to first speed bump for one leg squats x10, bearcrawl to second speed bump for opposite leg squats x10, bearcrawl to third speedbump for 10 slow deep squats plank
- Turn around and come back with lunges in between speed bumps and single leg plyo squats (squat then jump and land softly), and squat jumps X10 to finish.
**It was on the way back when the morning krispy crème delivery truck drove through that Q almost called an audible to flip the truck over and spend the rest of the workout eating said donuts, alas we decided to press on and finish strong***
Mosey to wall for people’s chair with 40 shoulder presses.
Repeat but this time 6 inches deeper on the people’s chair (ouch)
Hand off to Mic Check for a little Mary
- Mason twist
- Flutter
- Dolly
- Some JLo to finish out this workout, and the PAX all finished strong.
COT
T-Claps for Philmont who turned FOOORTY FIIIIVE! on Sunday, happy belated.
Always an honor to lead at the Maul
Fish Taco
Preblast: Devil’s Turn – The Halloween Ranger Challenge
Ok, so at the risk of offending the Devil’s Turn purists out there, YHC is proposing a new challenge this Halloween morning. The challenge is the Army Ranger Physical Fitness Test (minus the rucking since that would just be crazy).
The adjusted test is comprised of 4 parts:
1) 2 minutes of perfect form merkins
2) 2 minutes of full sit-ups
3) 5 mile run
4) AMRAP pull-ups
The proposed 5 mile loop is included below. To get in the pull-ups, we will stop at mile 2.3 at William R. Davie Park (D on the map). After restarting the timer, we will continue past South Charlotte Middle School and onto our standard path back to the start.
The idea is to max out on each of the events to determine your current fitness level. In this case, we can use this as our baseline to compare in the future when we revisit the challenge.
Here is the rough schedule:
Begin: 5:15 at Rea Rd. and Bevington Pl (warmed up and ready to go)
Push-up Challenge: 5:15 – 5:17
Sit-up Challenge: 5:18 – 5:20
5-mile Run Challenge: 5:20 – 6:15 (with stop for pull-ups @ William R. Davie Park)
End: 6:15 convene for COT
See you in the Halloween Gloom!
HB
Don’t Fear the Whistle..1,235 Total Reps
33 Pax signed up for another round of beat downs at Skunkworks this morning. It was a systematic breakdown of each muscle group that hopefully will leave a few people sore throughout the day.
The Thang:
5 Minutes of Jogging in place and Q called out “down” – PAX had to drop flat down to stomach and Pop back up as quickly as possible x 40 (alternating rolling left and right intermittently)
Merkins x 15
Goblet Squat x 10
Merkins x 14
Good Mornings x 10
Merkins x 13
Goblet Squat x 10
Merkins x 12
Good Mornings x 10
Merkins x 11
Goblet Squat x 10
Merkins x 10
1000 Rep Challenge – Partners cumulative rep counting per round
Round 1. P1 Overhead Press x. KB; P2 Bear Crawl with KB; flapjack until reaching 200 reps
Round 2. P1 Bent-Over Rows x. KB; P2 Sprint to fence and back approx. 100 yards; flapjack until reaching 200 reps
Round 3. P1 Dolly w. KB Press; P2 Duck-Walk with KB 30 yards and run back; flapjack until reaching 200 reps
Round 4. P1 Upright Rows w. KB; P2 Sprint to fence and back approx. 100 yards; flapjack until reaching 100 reps
Round 5. P1 KB Swings; P2 Lunge Walk 30 Yards, run back; flapjack until reaching 100 reps
Round 6. P1 Bicep Curls w. KB; P2 Sprint to fence and back approx. 100 yards; flapjack until reaching 100 reps
Round 7. P1 Tricep Curls w. KB; P2 Sprint to fence and back approx. 100 yards; flapjack until reaching 100 reps
TOTAL Reps: 1,000 (not counting any reps from COP or other work workout)
Up downs x 20
LBC x 50
COT
Moleskin:
It’s been over 3 months since I’ve been able to come back out to Skunkworks and it was a nice homecoming for sure (been head locked by SPEARHEAD and GORUCK). The Pax killed it out there today and it was an impressive display of strength and cardio by all in attendance. T-Claps to everyone as I can’t just single out a couple people – the entire group worked well together, followed cadence and completed the massive amount of reps we had on the agenda today.
In all we completed 1,235 TOTAL REPS! That is 27 reps per minute for 45 minutes. Unreal!!!
Brothers, it was great to lead such an impressive group of athletes today. As always, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to lead you through another workout and hope the pain was sufficient.
Respectfully,
The Hoff
He missed it – And we ran.
9 pax endured another smoke boot filled workout but there was a hitch. A field goal contest was thrown into the mix. Wait, we run regardless of whether we make it or not? This is #F3FastTwitch.
The Thang
Warm up – 1 mile jog (7:20 pace)
SSH x 15
IW x 15
Mosey back to track
In groups of 2 – 100 yard sprints on track – rest 30 seconds X 12
Field Goal Challenge
Most pax got an attempt to try and make a 24 yard FG from the left hash mark.
Made FG – 120 yard gasser x 2 followed by 50 LBC
Missed FG – sprint 800 meters (2x around track – this got modified to 1x)
We were 1-8 from 24. #chokers
Moleskin
Great job by all the pax today. QIC decided to take a page out of Sprague’s book with the 100 yard sprints following warm up. You are welcome. #gassed
Read about the FG idea in a Joust backblast a few weeks back and thought it definitely needed to come back out. Why only a 24 yard field goal you say? Let’s just say the Mizzou kicker would like another shot as well after hitting the left upright for a choke on Sat night in front of his home crowd. Will also say that YHC thought it would be easy. What did he do? Off the left upright. So the laps began pretty quickly and often – we had to modify down to 1 lap due to time constraints (that is my excuse and I am sticking to it). YHC wasn’t the only one with a poor effort on the FG attempt and it was abundantly clear we were all a little rusty. However, t-claps to Frasier for placing one right down the gut. Never thought we’d be so excited for 120 yard gassers.
Total mileage – 4 miles
Always enjoy the feeling following a good Fast Twitch work out.
Announcements
11/10 – Panther’s Football Party at Fox and Hound – Sign up on Evite
12/7 – Holiday Party
1/4/14 – Convergence and 5k Run.
I wonder what’s over here?
12 men gathered this morning to do a little early morning this-and-that.
Mosey to the parking lot near Performance Orthotics
30 x SSH
25 x Imperial Walker
20 x Mountain Climber
15 x Merkin
Mosey to the parking lot near Varrow. Observe.
The parking lot has circles with numbers in them. This ought to be fun!
Split up into teams of two. For every circle, do that many burpees and head to the middle for assigned Mary then back to circle and Plank while others finish. Rotate to next circle.
Circles:
12 Burpees + 12 Dolly (Cadence Count) + Plank: to 6 inches
13 Burpees + 13 Flutter (CC) + Plank
14 Burpees + 14 Rosalita (CC) + Plank: to 6 inches
18 Burpees + 18 Heels to Heaven (Normal)
17 Burpees + 17 Mason Twists (CC) + Plank
16 Burppes + 16 LBC (CC) – Plank: left arm high, normal, right arm high
= 90 Burpees
Mosey to the Loading Docks
Peoples Chair for 1:30
40 Air Presses
Mosey to Brixham Tent and Food Truck Court
1 mile run around Food Truck Court on your own (4 laps)
Mosey back to parking lot
15 Burpees on your own
Moleskin
In an effort to head a different direction YHC used Google Maps to find some new territory to explore and that how he happened upon The Circles. There was chatter afterward about other ideas for the circles. They appear to go from 1-18.
YHC flip-flopped the usual ‘corners’ exercise and did burpees at the outside and Mary in the Middle. Otherwise we would have only done 60. It took almost 35 minutes to complete the round
Thought we had only done 85 Burpees at circle time so wanted to hit a clear 100 hence the 15 back at the start. Well, YHC can’t count when he can’t breathe. Today’s tally was actually 105.
MapMyRun was used to calculate the mile. Here is a link to today’s route. (1.98 miles)
Announcements
11/10 – Panther’s Football Party at Fox and Hound – Sign up on Evite
12/7 – Holiday Party
1/4/14 – Convergence and 5k Run.
Happy Birthday to Filmont – 45.