City of Angels

AO: greenmachine
Q: Grape
PAX: Michelin Man, Pep, Pepsi, Cowboy, Esposa, Works for a Guy, moneyshot, Hipster, Betty Ford, Black Lung, Focker, Red Skull, Canned Heat, (Kind of)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 15
CONDITIONS: good day for runnin’

WARMUP: 17 SSH
81 shoulder burners (LBAC, OH Press, Seal claps, Moroccans)
long heard it through the grapevine run with 17 merkins, 8 burpees, and 1 body builder mixed in

THE THANG: partner workout, runner goes from goal line to goal line while partner completes exercises, switch runners after all runners are all in

Low plank
Ohno’s
Star jumps

APD’s
Narrow merkins
Gorilla bumpers
E2K (LBC)
Lieutenant Dans
E2K (mountain climbers)
Squats

Cool down- barefoot run
All in for COT

MOLESKINE: love this crew, thanks for helping me be better

ANNOUNCEMENTS: there’s a lot happening. Check slack. It’s too much.

COT: prayers for Pep , Hipster , and Focker (and the other HIMs in the circle too, proud of all of you)

:grapes:

The big 39

AO: handsomizer
Q: Natural Ice
PAX: Black Lung, Freakonomics, Salami, Red Skull, Cuban Missile, caprate, Spinal Tap, One Star
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
CONDITIONS: Steamy

Warm-Up
We kicked things off with 39 Side Straddle Hops in cadence, then rolled through the usual suspects: cadence merkins, arm circles, seal claps, overhead presses, Moroccan nightclubs, and a sprinkle of imperial walkers mid–shoulder burn just to see if they’d help or hurt (jury’s still out). Closed with some light stretching.

The Thang – Part 1
Mosey to the top of the stairs.
– 13 8-count body builders
– 13 WWIs
– 13 jump squats
– Run down and up the stairs.
– Repeat 3x for a total of 39 reps per exercise.
The Thang – Part 2
Run to the benches.
– 13 dips
– 13 incline merkins
– 13 elevated Alabama prom dates
– Run to Benson Ave and back.
– Repeat for good measure.
Finisher
Cadence 8-count body builders, mosey back to StartEx, cadence Mary, and—you guessed it—more 8-count body builders.

COT
Grateful for another lap around the sun and for the men who showed up to start the day right.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Triple Threat Convergence – Three Ring Circus next week at titan atlantis bomber

A lot of Shaqs, not many Stephs

AO: thestronghold
Q: Purple Tiger
PAX: Hipster, Right Said, Barney, bluemule, Red Skull, Shocker (Mark Holmes), Wham-O, Woodchuck,
FNGs: None
COUNT: 25
Placeholder

CONDITIONS:

WARMUP:

THE THANG:

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

90’s Summer Morning Beatdown

AO: thestronghold
Q: Hipster
PAX: Tebow, Pearl (Jonathan Halter), tampalibra, Red Skull, Dan and Dave, Right Said, Barney, toga, Chunks, Natural Ice, Purple Tiger, Young and Restless, Decaf, Wham-O, Napoleon, Step Back, Cowpie, Blackjack, Puppy Chow, Big Mama, One Star, Clorox, Cool Runnings, Beyonce, Purple Rain, Old Made
FNGs: None
COUNT: 27
CONDITIONS: Pleasantly Moist

WARMUP: Classic WOR, grab a coupon

THE THANG: Name That Tune – 90’s Hip Hop Hits

Blockey buy-in (10 I think?), start the music

Each song we are moving around campus, carrying the coupon.

At each stop – Around the Worlds waiting for the 6

Once all in – 413 PAX has the chance to name artist and title. Correct answers reduce # of blockeys, incorrect answers add more.

There were 8 or so stops around the Stonghold, with a smattering of correct answers, averaging about 7 blockeys per stop, with some WW1’s mixed in for good measure.

Back to the startex for the blockey/WW1 finisher.

MOLESKINE: Lively PAX this morning, decent showing with Name That Tune considering most of these pups hadn’t yet been born.

Thanks to the F3 guys who added some extra support and encouragement for the slower PAX, great group effort all around.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 50 miler coming up

COT: Prayers for 413 families going through some stuff, and the current class to stay focused and persistent. Always an honor to lead!

Good Warmup

AO: thestronghold
Q: SalPal
PAX: Chunks, Barney, Wham-O, Purple Tiger, Shocker (Mark Holmes), Young and Restless, Red Skull, Decaf, Puppy Chow, Step Back, Napoleon, Purple Rain, Old Maid, Big Mama, Cow Pie, Cool Runnings, Clorox, One Star, Beyonce
FNGs: None
COUNT: 20
CONDITIONS: Absolutely perfect, if you ignore the heat advisory

WARMUP: Never heard of such a thing.

THE THANG: 100 SSH, Good ‘ol Sally Shake’n’Bake, Deconstructed Burpees + Bear Crawls

MOLESKINE: Received a temporary ban from the Stronghold. I guess I did something right…

ANNOUNCEMENTS: CSAUP 50!

COT: Families, patience, discipline and excellence.

Struggle

AO: thestronghold
Q: tampalibra
PAX: Skeet, Barney, Wham-O, bigbang, Minnie Pearl, bluemule, House Arrest, Squatter (F3 Muletown), Red Skull, Decaf, Shocker (Mark Holmes), Hipster, Young and Restless, Dan and Dave, Chunks, hambone, Ponzi, Purple Tiger, Purple Rain, Black Jack, Beyoncé, 1 Star, Napoleon, Clorox, Old Maid, Go Fish, Step Back, Speed Date, Cool Runnings, Cow Pie, Puppy Chow, Big Mama, Kneecaps, Slick Rick, Tebow
FNGs: 17 Purple Rain, Black Jack, Beyoncé, 1 Star, Napoleon, Clorox, Old Maid, Go Fish, Step Back, Speed Date, Cool Runnings, Cow Pie, Puppy Chow, Big Mama, Kneecaps, Slick Rick, Tebow
COUNT: 36
CONDITIONS: Ripe

WARMUP: SSH x 30, Squats x 10, Merkins x 15

THE THANG:
Grab a block!

In the format of 7’s we started with 15 lunges (1is1) and 1 curl+1press, 14 lunges and 2curl+2press…1 lunges and 15curl+15press

Next we did 7’s: thrusters and burpees – mode of transpo is an overhead block carry

Circle up for 20 4-count flutters with block overhead, 19 block situps, 18 4CF’s, 17 block situps, etc all the way down. Don’t believe we made it past 15.

All-in-all a great workout! We were ~5 minutes over on the first two blocks, we should have had ample time to finish the core block. It’s not over-Q’d it’s the standard but 30+ guys are hard to move and hambone’s goofy ass tried to cause confusion on the counting and Red Skull somehow forgot how to demo a thruster like they haven’t been a staple of Struggle 001-004

MOLESKINE:
YHC got an urgent and tough call mid-workout that pulled me away for a second. Sobering example that stuggles dont care what you’ve got going on. Trying to help some dudes out? Trying to get your life in order? Finally submitting to God after years of straying? New baby on the way? New job? etc etc They’re coming brothers whether we like it or not so how can we prepare? We practice hard things so that we know how to respond when hard things happen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Ragnar thingy – get at Chunks if you’re one of those weirdos that love running
Struggle 005 – announcement and new promo video about to drrrrroop

Look Back and Look Forward

AO: thestronghold
Q: Chunks
PAX: toga, Purple Tiger, Shocker (Mark Holmes), Right Said, Red Skull, Decaf, Barney, Young and Restless, Tater, Wendy’s, Ice Box, Stir Fry, Road Trip, Bobby Hill, Mutt, Singlet
FNGs: None
COUNT: 17
CONDITIONS:

WARMUP:

Indigenous peoples run with Q setting the pace to first parking lot.
13 SSHs and the explanation

THE THANG:

Indigenous peoples run with Q setting the pace to next parking lot.
Each 4:13 HIM told the PAX what they were proud of they overcame during the last 40 days. Then lead the PAX in 5 eight count bodybuilders.
Indigenous peoples run with Q setting the pace to first parking lot.
Each 4:13 HIM told the PAX what are their goals moving forward. Then lead the PAX in 5 eight count bodybuilders.
Red Skull & Decaf & YHC lead 5 eight count bodybuilders with words of encouragement
Indigenous peoples run back to StartEx
Circle up for some Mary to wrap it up

MOLESKINE:

This is not the end it’s just the start.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

COT:

Monday Morning Blues

AO: westeros
Q: Old Maid
PAX: CubCadet, Natural Ice, Pep, Red Skull, Tim the Toolman, Vector, Michelin Man, caprate, Old Maid, None
FNGs: 1 None
COUNT: 10
CONDITIONS: Warm and humid

WARMUP:
30 SSH IC
30 Arm Circles IC
10 Meekins
Hamstring / Glute stretches
Willie Mayes / Good Mornings OYO

THE THANG:
Mosey to the circle by the gym.
Split into 2 teams. With one member from each team running the circle, the rest of the PAX performed squats. When the runners were finished, then next team members in line took a turn running, while the rest of the PAX continued to do squats. Continued until all members ran.

Repeated process four more times doing Freddy Mercuries, Carolina Dry Docks, Reverse Lunges, and Merkins.

Also did:
– 30 WWIs
– High knees / burpees
– Mosey back to start
– 5 minutes of merry

MOLESKINE:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
July 4th convergence at Handsomizer

COT:
No call outs. Prayers for leadership and the country

Running Blockie Apocolypse

AO: thestronghold
Q: Natural Ice
PAX: Young and Restless, Red Skull, Dan and Dave, Skeet, Purple Tiger, Decaf, Hipster, Chunks, Barney, Natural Ice, Ice Box, Road Trip, Mullet, Pick Me, Singlet, Stir Fry, Boby Hill, Wendys,
FNGs: None
COUNT: 19
Conditions: Humid and PERFECT

Warm-Up:
We kicked things off with the classics: side straddle hops, light stretching, and a touch of Broga. Loosened up the shoulders with arm circles, overhead claps, seal claps, and Moroccan nightclubs. Knocked out a few Merkins to wake up the chest.

The Thang:
Everyone grabbed a cinder block coupon and got the run-down: this workout would be nonstop movement. Any downtime or wait-for-the-six moments defaulted to our “resting” move—lift block to shoulder, press overhead, switch sides, lower to ground, repeat.

We launched into a Blockee Apocalypse:
– Travel with your block
– Drop for a round of Blockees (Burpee + Merkin on block + overhead press with block)
– Start at 10 reps, decrease by 1 at each stop
– Between rounds, PAX rotated through WWIs, or our “rest” move

Made our way across the AO with grit and sweat. At the final stop, back at the starting deck, we flipped the script and hit one last set of 10 Blockees to finish strong.

Mary:
– Flutter kicks (too many)
– 20 WWI sit-ups in cadence

COT:
Wrapped with gratitude and a prayer for the men of 413 to stay strong and finish well.

Moleskin:
– Blocks were heavy
– Spirits were high
– No one quit in this group
– You can catch your breath with out stoping

SYITG
Natural Ice

Cadence & Grisham

AO: thestronghold
Q: Ponzi , Ginger
PAX: Barney, Chunks, Ponzi, Purple Tiger, Young and Restless, Ginger, Decaf, bluemule, Wham-O, Right Said, Skeet, Red Skull, Practice, Gray Album, Pick Me, Lifesaver, Snuggie, Skud, Stir Fry, Roadtrip, Singlet, Mutt, Wendy’s, Bobby Hill, Icebox
FNGs: 7 Stir Fry, Roadtrip, Singlet, Mutt, Wendy’s, Bobby Hill, Icebox
COUNT: 25
Warmup (Ponzi on Q):
Started with the disclaimer — “Modify only as necessary, but we work to the standard.”
Talked through the importance of cadence — moving together, counting together, holding each other to a standard.
• First movement: Side Straddle Hops (SSH)
• Reps halted due to lack of unity → 3 burpee penalty
• Restarted but reps weren’t to standard → 5 burpee penalty
• Restarted again — this time, no unified count → 10 burpee penalty
• Fourth time was the charm: reps were clean, crisp, unified. 20 SSH IC.

Followed by:
• Imperial Walkers x10 IC
• Hillbillies x10 IC
• Merkins x10 IC (double time)

The Thang (Ginger on Q):
Grabbed blocks and moseyed to the court.
Partnered up in rows and columns for The Grisham WOD:
• Partner 1: Block Thrusters / Partner 2: Burpees → then swap
• Reps: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25
• Everyone held plank until the six was in

Then split into two groups:
• Each group had a leader and did movements in cadence together
• Group A: 20 Thrusters / Group B: 20 Burpees → then swap
• Reps: 20, 15, 10, 5 — all in cadence with group unity

Moseyed back, returned blocks, and circled up for COT.

Announcements:
• Brentwood Cookout – 5/22
• The Struggle 004 – 6/4

Prayers for Singlets mom and Ponzi dad for health and healing. Prayers for us as men to lead like we are meant to.

Moleskin:
We welcomed 7 FNGs — fired up to have the new 4:13 class in the gloom! Strong effort all around. We struggled, we led, we learned the standard together.
Iron sharpens iron. Let’s keep showing up.

SYITG,
Ponzi & Ginger