Russell x 8 Again

We revisited an old friend today.  Russell has been a part of the RRL since the beginning and stirs several emotions when you see it on the board. 

1. Cool!  Field Trip

2. Shit

Russell is a short, steep hill that we run 8 times for time.  The all time record was set by Will Kelley at 11:05.  Several of us have gone under the impressive benchmark of 12 minutes but the majority of the pack comes in between 12:30 and 13:30.  I came in at 12:37 today but missed the turnaround point on the first lap by about 20-30 feet.  We turn around at a patch of concrete that looks like a little cannon, or a gun...or you can imagine what others think it may look like.  Either way, some road work had been done on a similar patch of concrete which made me think that was our gun.  Nope...so maybe I was 12:50 today.

It was really hot today.  Even at 6 am it was over 73 degrees.

It is super simple as most really good workouts are.  Simply run up the hill 8 times.

Compare to the last time we did this here

Daniel

Sweat index today...7.  One of the Kardashians stopped by for Still Water

Always good when you leave a puddle when doing Still Water

Sweat Angels after Still Water

RRL Warmup followed by:

Daniel

50 Pull-ups

Run, 400 m

21 Thrusters, 95 lbs

Run, 800 m

21 Thrusters, 95 lbs

Run, 400 m

50 Pull-ups

For Time

Then, Still Water Gratefulness exercise, 9 minutes.

I was slower today than previous efforts.  I had posted a 15:37 a few years ago, but today I did 17:27.

I was happy with my first set of 50 unbroken pullups (kipping) but the run was pretty slow after.  My thrusters were 11/5/5, then 11/5/3/2, and then last set of pullups were 20/10/5/5/5/3/2

There is definitely a love/hate relationship with this workout.  I love the pullups but have trouble with the thrusters.  The run is the run and certainly tough on our giant hill.

But lets not forget why this workout is named Daniel:

Dedicated to Army Sgt 1st Class Daniel Crabtree who was killed in Al Kut, Iraq on Thursday June 8th 2006.

Thank you for your service, Mr Crabtree.

Normal Park Stairs

Run 1 mile

10 burpees at the top of stairs

10 clap pushups at the bottom of stairs

x 3 rounds

Run 1 mile

It was hot and our times were slow.  I chose to take both Gus and Bravo for this one.  Gus, of course, was perfect, but Bravo... well...

Let's just say that he thought he was a sled dog for a while.  Puppies, like all of us, have alot to learn.  He will get there.

Kokoro Prep

AJ Hickey or 037 doing overhead work in Selection.  037 was one of the most badass people I have ever met in my life.  He was the strongest candidate but was medically dropped as one of only 2 remaining.  037 suffered serious kidney issues but has since recovered.

Matt Lawson is headed to Kokoro in Oct so I thought I would design a little prep workout for him today.  One of the worst things I encountered in both Selection and Kokoro were overhead ruck or sandbag holds. They are tough and can break you when simply standing with the bag overhead, but they are made far worse when asked to maintain an overhead hold in a deep squat.

Our workout was really very simple but looked more complicated on the board:

Run 400 round 1, 800 round 2, and 400 round 3

After running, Complete:

16 Burpees

8 kettlebell swings at 70 pounds

4 straight bar muscle ups

2 Turkish Getups at 70 pounds

1 double rope climb with no legs (this is a 15 foot climb with one rope in each hand)

x3 rounds

"Rest" exactly 2 minutes between rounds by maintaining a 45 pound sandbag in the overhead position on round 1, in full squat on round 2 and in overhead position on round 3.

Many, including myself, found it to be difficult to maintain the overhead position for the whole 2 minutes so we did an accumulated 2 minute hold, counting only the time the bag was held in an overhead position with arms locked out.

For Matt Lawson, he incurred an additional 10 burpee penalty for every time the bag touched his head.  Ouch.

At one time, I rated workouts in the summer with a sweat index.  I cant remember exactly what the standards were, but a 10 was completely soaking shoes and socks, like we had jumped in a pool and a 1 was a small ring around the collar.  I give this one about a 7.  Pretty good, completely covered, all clothes soaked but shoes and socks not completely drenched and I could not ring out my shirt.

Mr Joshua

One of the hardest workouts that we do and, in my opinion, one of the hardest in the Hero lineup is one called Mr Joshua.  It is a Hero workout which means that it is in memorial to a fallen hero.  In this case:

SO1 Joshua Thomas Harris, 36, drowned during combat operations, August 30th 2008 in Afghanistan. He is survived by his parents Dr. Sam and Evelyn Harris, his brother Ranchor and twin sister Kiki.

Hero workouts create a mix of emotions.  I feel good honoring a fallen hero through my physical exertion, however, it makes it very clear to me that our freedom and the lifestyle we have here in the USA comes at a price.  Putting a name and a face on that stirs some emotions.  I am thankful for freedom and those who put themselves in harms way to preserve and protect all of us at home doing trivial stuff like working out in our garage.  Be thankful for what you have and those who have done their part to provide it for you. 

The workout looks like this:

"Mr. Joshua"

Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps

Justin was the only one who did this at 250 lbs, AND he had a patient consultation DURING the workout...STUD!

I peeled it back to 215 and took it rather slowly this morning.  Yesterday, I aggravated my calf so I was taking precautions to keep from injuring it further.

There is nothing wrong with scaling back a workout, especially if it is obviously over your current fitness or strength level.  As we age, we have to train smarter rather than just training harder.  I know that is cliche, but it is a cliche that makes a ton of sense.  Everything we do in pursuit of fitness and health should not harm us.  If we hurt our back or something, our training will suffer.  If you are trying to get stronger or increase volume, do so slowly and be patient.  You will get there.

5 miler

nice sunset with 2 brothers climbing a tree.  Hawks Cay Resort.  Florida Keys

Run 5 miles

We did ours on big hills

39:09

Fran

After resting through the weekend while watching Hayden play Lacrosse I put Fran on the board for this morning.  Few workouts make my stomach turn like Fran.  It is a simple workout, but because the weight is light and the reps relatively short, it allows for max effort throughout the entire workout.

I looked through my results last night and saw that my first Fran was around 7 minutes.  I fairly quickly dropped that time with better kipping pullups and I got stronger in the squat.  Eventually I hit a 2:58 but have never been able to repeat that time.  I have finished in 3:12, 3:15, 3:17, 3:19 and today, 3:31.  In training for Kokoro and Selection, I would do a long ruck in pants and boots then hit Fran after a 12-15 miler to finish in about 8 minutes.  I have not had a rested attempt in quite sometime.

Some guys tried this workout for the first time today and others revisited it.  We had Chris Curtis return to us this morning and Jody brought his daughter, May, who is getting ready to take her test for Black Belt.  Good luck May!

My feeling on warmup is that the longer the workout is going to be, the shorter the warmup needs to be.  Workouts like Murph or even Triple Murph have sort of a warm up built in and you move slower for a much longer period of time.

A workout like Fran which will require maximum effort for a short period actually requires a much longer and more intense warm up.  So today we started like this

RRL Warm Up

10 pushup, 10 situp, 10 pullup, 10 burpees

30 OHS with PVC pipe

Jump Rope 3 minutes

20 GHD Situps

20 Back Extensions

20 Toes 2 Bar

20 Windshield Wipers

20 LHS

Wall Ball/ Strict Pullup

5/1, 6/2, 7/3, 8/4, 9/5, 10/6

Thruster

5-4-3-2-1

65, 95, 115, 135, 155

Fran

21-15-9

Thruster 95 lbs

Pullup

3:31

Yesterday PM and Today AM

Will H, Mike D, Doug F, PSC, and me hit up a late afternoon workout yesterday that looked like this:

Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

7min Amrap

7 Clean and Jerks (155/105)

42 Double Unders

Metcon (Time)

Then

7 min Time Cap:

21-15-9

OHS (135/95)

Cal Row

This morning we did this one:

4 rounds for time of:

Sandbag Carry, 40/20 lbs, 100 m

10 Power Cleans, 135/95 lbs

25 Overhead Walking Lunges, 45/25 lbs

10 Power Cleans, 135/95 lbs

Sprint, 200 m

Good workouts!

Ropes Gone Wild

We pulled out the Ropes today and did this:

Ropes
With Partner
20sec all out work/20 sec rest- Alternate with partner
5 small fast waves
5 giant waves
5 jumping jacks

Each partner completes 5 of each with 20 sec rest in between.  We took 1 min rest between stations and 2 min rest between groups.

Other group
5 ghd
5 vup
5 flutter

Then, an all time favorite (which we need to name...submit names)

15 hang cleans @ 135 lbs

15 burpees

x 3 rounds

for time

My record is 4:45 on this which I have tied, exactly 3 times.  Today, I came in at 4:53.  This workout is on par with a Fran or an Elizabeth.  All out work for short duration.  Excellent for wrestlers.

Great to have Matt Gardner join us today.  Byron, my friend, YOU KILLED IT THIS MORNING!  EXCELLENT WORK!

Rainy Day Deck Of Cards

It doesn't often rain really hard in Chattanooga between 5:15-7:00 am for some reason.  We often get heavy rain before and after but, conveniently, we usually get a little break during our workout time.  This morning was an exception. 

It POURED this morning so I postponed my wall ball and battle rope workout that I had scheduled for this morning and replaced it with this one:

Front Squat

5-4-3-2-1

Then

Deck of Cards

Spades = Burpees

Clubs = Grasshoppers x 4

Hearts = Situps

Diamonds = V ups

Joker 1 = 50 pushups

Joker 2 = 3 minute plank

Lots of core work in this one.  Throw a deck of cards in your travel bag and try it in your next hotel or business trip.

Back from Travel

Back from my trip to the Keys.  We filmed 8 shows for Saltwater Experience.

First workout back in the garage looked like this:

10 SDHP 75 lbs

5 Thrusters 75 lbs

Run 400 m

x 5 Rounds for time

Then

30 pullups as fast as possible

Glad to be back

Weights

Good times when my little girl used to visit us EVERY morning. 

RRL Warm Up

Jump Rope 3 min

Back squat

65% max

3x10

then do 5 box jumps after each set

Front Squat

65% max

3x10

then do 3 Sotts Press with light weight after every set

3x8 back Extensions

3x25 Situps

Superset the situps and Back Extensions

Memorial Day Murph

We have been doing a Memorial Day Murph workout to give thanks and honor to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  We have also used this opportunity to raise some money for organizations who help surviving verterans.

Today we put our efforts toward Operation Freedom Dogs.  OFD trains dogs as companion and full service dogs and matches them with a veteran who is suffering from PTSD.

Recently, one of the veterans who has received a dog posted this on Facebook:

MY DOG SAVED MY LIFE!
by Matthew Weitz

In order to tell this story correctly I need to go back 5 years… Someone asked me to house sit for them while they went out of town and I saw my chance… I was going to take my life. I didn't want to have my mother find me so this was going to be the best chance I got. I drank a lot that night and by 4 in the morning I was in the corner of his living room crying my eyes out holding a loaded pistol… This was the end… God intervened that night and showed me how selfish suicide was so I started trying to end my life other ways… I begin mixing alcohol with prescription drugs… and in large doses… I could tell story after story about how I shouldn't be here and how lucky I am but all you need to know is I kept trying to overdose and God kept allowing me to live. I developed a addiction to my anxiety medication and eventually I allowed it to take total control of my life. If I didn’t have my medicine I didn't eat, sleep or leave my bedroom. I became a complete shut in that was being controlled by something so small. Here I was this combat veteran that served in one of the most prestigious units in the US Army… I had spent 2 ½ years in some of the most dangerous cities in the world and I was allowing a little pill to control my every move. I let this go on for years until one day I decided to take action.. I checked myself in Valley and started detoxing off of my medication. While there I decided I would go to rehab and take total control of my life again. After 30 days in treatment I returned home…. I was freaking out… I was so use to taking a pill and all my anxiety being gone. The world was so loud and chaotic and there was no escape from it all. The world was too much to deal with but no longer could I be weak.. I decided I was going to look into getting a dog because I had read about all the amazing things animals were doing for veterans. In my search for a dog I met one of the best friends I have ever had… Adam Keith. He gave me one of the greatest gifts a man could receive… Happiness… Minutes after meeting me he gave me one of his puppies… Freedom would become one of the best things that ever happened to me. It was hard at first because I didn’t have the patience to deal with a puppy. I had soldiers in the Army so I understood putting something before myself and at first this was the bond we shared. He was my new private and I took care of him like I would have any soldier. I enforced a strict code of discipline and controlled his every move.. This isn’t how you raise a dog and I would soon discover that Freedom wasn’t here to be controlled… he was here to show me how to let lose… how to smile and enjoy the silly side of life. He changed my world completely. The bond we now share is one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. He doesn’t judge me when I don’t want to go into a crowded place or condemn me for allowing my anger to flare up. This dog loves me and I love him. He hasn’t fixed me or made everything perfect but what he has done is give me a reason to smile… a reason to get up in the morning and a best friend to enjoy life with. I am now 11 months sober and I haven’t thought about suicide in over 6 months and that’s huge for me. No matter what my mood is or how much I want to isolate myself I always have Freedom.. He has given me a gift I could never thank him for… A gift that I want to help as many soldiers as I can find…
Operation Freedom Dogs was formed to give this gift to as many soldiers as possible. Unfortunately this gift is far from free and while we may be able to donate our time we don’t have the financial means to support our organization. This is where we need your help… it doesn’t matter if it is one dollar or one thousand dollars.. every little bit helps. We are now accepting our first group of veterans and will soon start training our first team of soldiers. We need donations for things such as veterinary bills, adoption fees, dog food, cages, kennel fees, training equipment and to cover some of the overhead associated with an organization like this such as insurance. I know that not everyone can make large donations but anyone can give a dollar! 22 veterans a day are taking their own life… help us try to correct this! Thank you for your time and I hope you have a blessed day..
To donate visit our website www.operationfreedomdogs.org or simply click the link below
DONATE HERE

Our workout today was one called

Murph +

Run 5k

100 Pullups

200 Pushups

300 Squats

Run 5k

For time

This is just a Murph with a longer run on each end.  It was pretty tough.

Great turnout today and we raised over $1000 for OFD

5k Chipper

After the core circle Jerk on Wednesday, we hit Fight Gone Bad on Thursday

For those who may not know this workout:

Fight Gone Bad

3 rounds,

1 min per station, of:

Wall Ball, 20/14 lbs, 10 ft

Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 75/55 lbs

Box Jump, 20 in

Push Press, 75/55 lbs

Row (calories)

Rest 1 min

Rotate immediately to the next station every 1 min, the clock does not stop or reset between stations.

My score has remained relatively the same over the last 3-4 years at around 383 reps total for this workout.  However, it is interesting to see how the numbers have changed.  For example, I used to be able to KILL the box jumps and probably still could but I became gunshy after tearing both my Gastroc and Soleus on 2 different occassions.  These injuries did not happen as a direct result of the box jumps or while I was doing them, but I moved away from them during recovery and have stayed off them since. 

In order to keep the same 383 score, my push press and wall balls have had to improve greatly and they have.  The row and SDHP have remained consistent. 

Friday we did this one that I made up:

Run 5k

30 pull ups

20 KB Swings at 70 lbs

10 GHD

5 Dips

1 Rope Climb

For time

That was awesome as we usually do not lift weights or really do anything after a longer run like that.  Different...

Core Circle Jerk

Today we did a 40 minute Core Circle Jerk...

That sounds weird...let me explain.

We all gather in a circle in the driveway and each calls out an exercise 1 at a time for 40 minutes.  Today, we used the following criteria:

20 reps of any core exercise

after 3 exercises, choose an isometric exercise for 1 minute

example:

20 Situps

20 Vups

20 Toes To Bar

1 minute Plank

Continue like that for 40 minutes

This is a fun way to get in a good workout and it also doubles as a comedy hour for Will Hunt.

Good Times!

Run 7 miles

Started the day with one of my favorite runs.  Across one bridge, back across a different one, back across even another and return across the first.

We are lucky to have suck great access to the TN River.

To make things even better, a bunch of my friends ran with me and I had BOTH dogs.  This was Bravo's longest run yet and he did great.  Gus, of course, had no problems whatsoever.

Good start to a great day

Brenton

Back Squat 5-5-3-3-1-1-1

Brenton

Bear crawl 100 feet

Broad jump 100 feet

After every 5 broad jumps do 3 burpees

x 5 rounds

Wear a 20 pound weight vest

Jerry

An old favorite resurfaced today

Jerry

Run 1 mile (hill of course)

Row 2000m

Run 1 mile

For time

Our gym record on the big hill is 21:05 by Mike Drew with Kim Ray right behind. 

I finished in 23:05 today which is a little slow for me but I will blame it on trying to teach Bravo how to run with me and Gus.

Run/Row

Monday

Run 800

50 pushups

25 vups

12 OHS @135

6 Deadlifts @135

3 Push Press @135

x 2 rounds

Tuesday

Row 5000 m as a 2 man team. 

Partner 1 can row any distance before switching but Partner B owes 10 burpees or 10 pullups for every 500 m rowed. 

Most teams switched at 500m

Music

Today, we did a music themed workout which was actually tougher than I expected:

Warm Up

RRL Warm up then:

3x15 GHD Situps

3x15 3 second pause at top Back Extensions

Jump Rope 3 minutes

Roxanne

The Police- Burpee on every Roxanne and Squat on every "light"

So Lonely

The Police again - Pushup on every "Lonely"  Make it tougher and do a pushup on every "Low" as well.  Hold a plank through the entire song except for when you are doing pushups

Gina

Blues Traveler- Situps for every "Gina".  I missed the mark on this one.  Next time we will do leg lift holds for the entire song and hit v ups on every "Gina"

Bring Sally Up

Moby- Classic one.  Back Squat a comfortable weight because it will quickly become uncomfortable.  I saw Khalipa do this with 135 on the web so I chose 115 and still could not keep up with the song.  Go down on "Bring Sally Down" and hold it until "Bring Sally Up"

Annie-

Do Annie while Michael Jackson sings "Annie are you ok?"

50-40-30-20-10

Double Unders

Situps

Some guys chose GHD situps today...good work.