Coldest Run of the Year!

AO: tortoise-and-hare
Q: Red Skull
PAX: Judy, Brown Slip, Young and Restless, Barney, Decaf, Dunkin (Waxhaw), Zumiez, Puff Puff, Finger Tips, Papa Bear, Slurpee, Pom Pom, Bedazzle, Sticky Fingers, Torta, The Count, Chicken Little, Guppy, Stir Fry
FNGs: None
COUNT: 20
CONDITIONS: 16 Degrees :cold_face:

WARMUP: Standard Pre-Run Warm-Up: SSH, Squats, IWs, Down and Hold

THE THANG: RUN!!!

MOLESKINE: We had 6 4:13 Strong men set a new Personal Best time this morning. I think the cold must make them faster. Thank you Brown Slip for the extended after run party while we waited for the six to arrive.

COT: There was a lot of moaning and groaning as we took a knee to offer thanksgiving and ask for guidance.

Warm Welcome

AO: thestronghold
Q: tampalibra
PAX: Decaf, Skeet, Dan and Dave, Dan Tanna, Goodwill, Chunks, Young and Restless, Barney, Red Skull, Pearl (Jonathan Halter), Wham-O, Hipster, Tater, Zumiez, Puff Puff, Finger Tips, Papa Bear, Slurpee, Pom Pom, Torta, Giggity, The Count, Chicken Little, Guppy, Stir Fry, Bedazzle, Sticky Fingers, Nut Spread
FNGs: 15 Zumiez, Puff Puff, Finger Tips, Papa Bear, Slurpee, Pom Pom, Torta, Giggity, The Count, Chicken Little, Guppy, Stir Fry, Bedazzle, Sticky Fingers, Nut Spread
COUNT: 29
Red Skull commented that we saw the softer side of Tampa today :joy:. Nothing too brutal, didn’t harp on cadence, and didn’t start with burpeeapocolypse!

Warm ups:
SSH x 50 (to get the heart rate going, warmup, and stop the complaints about the cold weather)
Squats x 10
WMH x 10 OYO
Air Press x 50
LBAC x 10 each
Finger Bangers x 10

Grab a coupon and mosey to the courts.

Without explaining group 1 vs group 2 here is what we did:
Perfect Merkin x 20
Mosey (either murder bunny or lunge)
Ground to shoulder x 20
Mosey back

R&R 15, 10, and then 5

Then. same pattern with:
We’re Not Worthy x 5
Mosey (no blocks)
Thruster x 5
Mosey back

R&R 10, 15, 20

Back to startex, circle up for name-a-rama, started burpees instead bc everyone wanted to dilly dally getting back to startex.

These men are breaking deeply rooted habits and ways of living/thinking. Pray for them. Pray the Lord gives them the vision to see why they need it, courage to do the hard things, and confidence that they can accomplish it despite the difficulty,

…And we named a dude Nut Spread :peanuts:

[tortoisehare] Run #1 – The Slowest Run of the Year

AO: tortoise-and-hare
Q: Red Skull
PAX: Chunks, Decaf, Young and Restless, Goodwill, Judy, Barney, Right Said, Hipster, Stir Fry, 12 FNGs
FNGs: 1 12 FNGs
COUNT: 23
CONDITIONS: Brisk 34 degrees….perfect running weather

WARMUP: Standard Pre-Run Warm-Up: SSH, Squats, IWs, Stretches

THE THANG: RUN!!! – One 4:13 Strong man under 30:00, One 4:13 Strong man over 55:00. Lots of room for improvement over the next six weeks.

MOLESKINE: Sometimes we make what should be the easiest parts of the day hard (like getting into the circle for COT). Men who are successful in life do not let the easy things knock them off track.

Hipster called Chunks old and slow and challenged the 4:13 Strong men to beat him next week.

COT: Prayers for strength and courage.

Cherry Poppers – VQ & VAOQ

AO: the-castle
Q: Brown Slip
PAX: Chunks, Hipster, Dilbert, Mr. Pancake, Horizon, Brown Slip, Steely, Butterfingers, Barney, Flipper, Goodwill, None
FNGs: 1 None
COUNT: 11
CONDITIONS: Drizzle, Wet, Perfect Temp

WARMUP:
• SSH – 20 IC
• Windmills – 10 IC
• Imperial Walkers – 15 IC
• Arm Circles – 10 forward/10 backward IC
• Cherry Pickers – 10 IC

THE THANG:
Cherry Bomb Circuit – 4 Rounds
** Randomized Q for each activity**
• Merkins – 20
• Squats – 20
• High Plank – 20 seconds
• Lunges – 15 each leg
• CarolinaDry Docks – 15
• Mountain Climbers – 25

Rest 30ish seconds between rounds.

MOLESKINE:
• Typewriter – 20 IC
• Standing Side Crunch (Hillbilly Walkers)– 15 IC
• Chunks with the 5 Burpee Audible
• CarolinaDry Docks Buyout

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
• thestronghold 4:13 Tuesdays & Thursdays – support the new cohort
• Holy Smokers this Thursday Strutter house – check Slack for details
• Check Slack for surrounding AOs and activities
• Lean PAX

COT:
• Prayers for Strutter’s MIL family & safe travels
• Strength & Guidance

New Years Day Convergence – Welcome 2026!

AO: thestronghold
Q: Red Skull
PAX: Hipster, DintyMoore, Mumbler, Ponzi, Natural Ice, Purple Tiger, hambone, toga, Chunks, Barney, Wolfpack, Tinkertoy, Young and Restless, Tim the Toolman, Decaf, Grape, Pep, Topanga, Take 3, Animal, BTB, Tool Bit
FNGs: None
COUNT: 23
CONDITIONS: 32 Degrees – perfect workout weather!

WARMUP: Mosey to the gravel lot for the usual warm-up: SSH, IWs, Windmills, Squats, Merkins, T-Ups and Scorpion Stretch.

THE THANG:
Mosey to the Auditorium

Part 1: Mental Toughness Week (Tryouts) – Burpee Apocalypse with a run around the building the building in between each round.

Mosey to the North Lot

Part 2: 40 Day Challenge – 6 weeks of work condensed down to six movements: Lt. Dan, Bear Crawl, Crab Walk, Burpee Broad Jump, Crawl Bear and Politician.

Mosey to The Hill

Part 3: The Work Phase – 7’s on the hill with Hand Release Merkins at the top, run down the hill, Jump Squats at the bottom, Politician up the hill.

Mosey back to the flag and time!

MOLESKINE:
4:13 Strong is a great program for men who want to change the course of their life, but it is hard. Only 35% of the men who enroll have what it takes to complete all program requirements. A big factor to success are the relationships that our men build with other men who can show them how to handle hard things. You can make a real difference for the 4:13 Strong guys by showing up, working out with them and modeling how HIM face challenges.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
LeanPax begins on 1/5
The Stronghold is now meeting every Thursday
Struggle Prep is coming in a few short weeks
Young and Restless is the new AOQ of The Stronghold

COT:
A great turnout for our New Years Day Convergence. Thank you all for coming out to join us!

Oh Hill no, Christmas edition

AO: the-castle
Q: Strutter
PAX: SalPal, hambone, Fabuloso, Brown Slip, Barney, Strutter, Steely, Cross-stitch, Pep, Wrong Way
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS:

WARMUP:

THE THANG:

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

Hanukkah – A Celebration of Lights

AO: middle-tooth
Q: sooner
PAX: Barney, Cowboy, DrRupp, Topanga, Young and Restless, Betty Ford, Esposa, Moped (DR – Athens GA)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
Active Warm up to the sounds of Jack Black and Adam Sandler

8 Crazy Nights

Each night, we play the dradel and light a candle. The dradel sets the rep count by 4 multiples of 4: ש (Shin) = 4, נ (Nun) = 8, ה (Hey) = 12, ג (Gimel) = 16. Eight squat buy in for the night. First part of the night is to run out on the field and do eight menorah Maccabees (aka plank jack burpee with a star jump). Each pax returns to the new exercise equipment that no one has used yet and picks something new completing the number of reps dictated by the dradel. Can’t do the same exercise twice.

After each nights game, plank for the pax. Gemini attempted to give us hebrew blessings. It worked about half of the time. The PAX was not impressed.

A very educational Hanukkah playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5kfbpR6ApGjEQYAHoyr0ci?si=ncW9H7FuSBGgyHMRgw2FAw&pi=ulG2ud86TwOLs

Lots of announcements, see slack

Prayers, Sami & Darren, victims of gun violence

Esposa really liked the coffee and was the most knowledgeable about Jewish tradition and culture.

4-31

AO: middle-tooth
Q: Matador
PAX: Cowboy, Betty Ford, Toothless, sooner, Barney, Matador
FNGs: None
COUNT: 6
CONDITIONS: cold and dry

WARMUP: stretching, broga, SSH

THE THANG: 4 rounds. 5 exercises per round. 40 reps of everything first round, 30 reps of everything second round, etc. Laps in between.

Round 1: 40 reps
1. Merkins
2. WWIs
3. Squats
4. Freddie Mercuries (2 is 1)
5. Mountain climbers (2 is 1)

Run around the parking lot
***meet in gated area with brick wall

Round 2: 30 reps
1. Burpees
2. Box jumps
3. Shoulder tap merkins (each side)
4. Dry docks
5. Iron mikes (2 is 1)

Run around the parking lot
***meet at home base

Round 3: 20 reps
1. Cowboy giddy up
2. Lunges (2 is 1)
3. V-Ups
4. Wide merkins
5. Monkey humpers

Run around the parking lot
***meet at front of school (swingset area)

Round 4: 10 reps
1. Diamond merkins
2. Split squats (10 each leg)
3. Pull-ups
4. Slow A-Rods
5. Decline merkins (bench)

Run around parking lot
*meet at home base

<5 mins left…
Do 1 rep of everything!

MOLESKINE: what is this

ANNOUNCEMENTS: check slack. Ugly sweater party, Christmas Eve drop-in at Peabody’s, NY day convergence at stronghold.

COT: God answers prayer. Toothless house sold! Moving to new house soon. Prayers for transition.

ARE YOU FASTER THAN THE WEREWOLVES!?

AO: middle-tooth
Q: bluemule
PAX: Cowboy, sooner, Betty Ford, Barney, Choo Choo, Stuntman
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
CONDITIONS:
-Wet, dark, and crappy, but all PAX were in good Halloween spirit!

WARMUP:
-Usual suspects

THE THANG:
-Multiple increasing rounds of burpees and sprints to see how long you can ward off the werewolves! Werewolves did push-ups and sit-ups while the non-werewolves did sprints and increasing burpee counts! How many rounds would you have survived?

MOLESKINE:
-BOO!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
-More Halloween workouts later this week!
-Co-Q month at Green Maching starts next month – link up with Cowboy to claim a spot

COT:
-Healing prayers for Sooner’s family with his family’s medical tests

A Time for Reflection

AO: thestronghold
Q: Red Skull
PAX: Right Said, Brown Slip, toga, Young and Restless, Wham-O, Dan and Dave, Barney, Hipster, Decaf, Phonics (Franklin), Mater, Dinky, Mosh Pit, Shred-It, Cuties, Speed Date, Raisin, Old Man River
FNGs: None
COUNT: 19
CONDITIONS: 45 degrees…the first chilly workout of the season at The Stronghold.

WARMUP: SSH, Windmills and Willie Mays Hayes. Mosey to the first school parking lot to continue the warm-up with Squats and Imperial Walkers.

THE THANG: Long mosey to the far front lot followed. YHC demonstrated the cadence for 8-Count Body Builders by doing five and then invited each 4:13 Strong (8 in total) to lead the group in a set of five. Before leading they needed to share something that they had learned in the past 40 Days. Decaf jumped in to share and lead bring our total count to 50 8-Count Body Builders.

We celebrated our accomplishment with a mosey to the back of the campus. Then each 4:13 Strong man was invited to share their vision for the future and how that vision is different today vs. 40 Days ago, and then lead us in another set of 5 8-Count Body Builders. Barney jumped in at the end to share some of his wisdom and gave us 5 more 8-Count Body Builders, bringing our total to 95.

We reversed course and retraced our steps making stops at both locations on the way back home. Hipster had the privilege of getting us to 100 and Wham-O got us to 105.

Once we got back to the flag YHC offered another 5 to get the total for the day up to 110 8-Count Body Builders.

MOLESKINE: It was a great morning. Thank you to the F3 PAX for coming out and supporting our men. Winners of the 4:13 Strong shirts were Right Said, Dan and Dave and Phonics

ANNOUNCEMENTS: That was the last workout at The Stronghold for 2025. Please consider spending your Thursday mornings at greenmachine or atlantis for the next several weeks but make sure you come back to thestronghold in January!

Signing Day tomorrow at 11:30am. All are welcome.

COT: Prayers for wisdom, strength and guidance.