Most Recent Update...

So as of today we got our most recent update to the gear list.  First things first, the fish is out!  I know I am upset too but I guess PETA got wind and they thought we were going to have to eat it or something.

Anyways here is the new list:
1.  Goggles
2.  Dixon - Ticonderoga #2 Pencil
3.  Hand Drill w/ a 1/2" Drill Bit
4.  Hand Saw
5.  Tape Measure
6.  Axe or Maul
7. 10' Section of Climbing Rope
8. Carabiner
9. 1x $20 Bill
10.  2x $1 Bills

And we are supposed to be getting a very important email tonight at some point.  Just in time for some last minute gear scrambling.  Keep following as I will update tonight.

Freddy Fuck Fuck Games

Let the games begin:

Theme for this year is World Religions... Awesome!

Oh yeah boys and girls recent update from our friend Joe:

Oh  yeah and check out this awesome video of lasts years race in action.  The interviews are live from racers on the course being asked to step into the barn and do a quick interview.  This hopefully paints a picture of this race.  And hopefully this copy from Peak Races Facebook page shows you the mind games that Joe and Andy (the founders) like to play.

6.5 Hour Day from Hell

Sorry for the delay in the updates & this one will be quick because it is so late:

So on May 18th, Brian, Brett, Anthony, Reed and I all met at Blueberry Hill / Tri-Boro Quarry in Lindenwald.  We had set up a series of tasks along with some mental challenges.  The day began at 1000 and finished 6.5 hours later.

The Course Layout at Tri-Boro Quarry

The tasks were as follows:

Pebble Bucket Carry

40' Tall Stone Pile

Task 1 - Climb to the top of the gravel pile and fill your 5-gallon bucket with stone gravel.  Carry the bucket to the quarry wall and attach it to a rope / Climb the rope to the top of the quarry ledge and then haul the bucket up.  Carry the bucket all the way around to the far trail and return to the gravel pile (roughly 1/2 a mile) -- repeat 5 times

Anthony Climbing the Wall

Quarry Ledge

Task 2 - Saw roughly an  8" diameter log into five pieces / quarter the pieces and carry 5 of the pieces back to check in ( 3/4 of a mile in  /  3/4 of a mile out)









Mental Task 1 - Zoom Puzzle -- look at 30 different cards depicting a picture that is either a zoomed in / out of another card.  Put the cards in the correct order so you they continuously zoom all the way in or out -- if you get it wrong perform 5 push for each card out of place

I forgot what task I was on and brought the wrong tools
so instead of sawing the double arms length I chopped it.
It Sucked!

Task 3 - Saw a double arms length of a tree 5" in diameter and carry it around the quarry's edge and over the stone pile back to the starting point (roughly 3/4 of a mile)

Zach Walking with the Log

Task 4 - Throw 4 Iron Ore Deposits (roughly 120 yards)

4 Pieces of Iron Ore

Mental Task 2 - Iron Ring Puzzle -- try and remove the iron ring from the other rings without bending or destroying the rings -- 50 reps of the exercise of your choice


Mental Task 3 - Memorize 10x random items in a plastic bag at the top of the stone pile -- finish task 5 -- and then upon your check in at the vehicles record all 10 items -- 10 reps for every item you can not remember

Stump Removal

Task 5 - Hike to the far side of the quarry / Cut down a 5" diameter tree and dig out its stump / Return the stump to the check in (1 mile in  /  1 mile out)

Brett dragging his pet stump

Evil Stumps

Log Book at Check In

After every task (except the mental tasks) you must do the 3/4 mile hike out of the woods and back to the vehicle check in point.  Each trip out requires that you go up and down through the simulated barb wire course (with all of your gear you are carrying).  This day sucked and was a true test but totally worth it.  Head to my youtube page to watch all the videos but I will post some here.

Cigarette waiting at the finish

Death Race Gear List, so far...

2011 Death Race Gear List:

1.  Goggles  -  "Don't know what kind but I'm guessing swimming."
2.  Dixon-Ticonderoga #2 Pencil  -  "I think I will bring several along with a sharpener"
3.  Hand Drill w/ 1/2" Drill Bit  -  "Laura's father is giving me one that was her grandfathers... I will guard it with my life, death race style!"
4.  Hand Saw  -  "Forearm Warrior"
5.  Tape Measure  -  "To measure the swelling in your muscles"
6.  Maul or Axe  -  "I have an 8 lb Maul"
7.  10' Section of Climbing Rope  -  "Well you can't climb very far with that!"

and finally, my favorite so far...

8.  A Live Fish  -  "What the fuck!"

Bucket Brigade -- Death Race Style



Filling the buckets with water... it was such
a lovely shade of brown


So Monday I met Brett Delucca at the Boat House on Cooper River.  Prior to arriving I stopped at the local hardware store and bought 2x 5 gallon buckets.  I had my smaller trail pack loaded up with some water, webbing and TRX strap.  Brett brought 2x 5 gallon buckets as well.  We loaded a vitamin water of his and some more webbing into my bag before setting out to the waters edge where we filled all 4x buckets up with water.  So each 5 gallon bucket was weighing in at roughly 40 lbs (roughly 8 lbs per gallon of water x 5 gallons).
 

160 lbs of pure forearm madness



The end of the peninsula... "What the fuck!"



We set out, headed east towards Cuthbert Blvd.  We made it about 5 minutes of straight carrying before we had to stop and give our arms a break.  We then cranked out 20 push-ups.  We continued on, stopping sooner and sooner as the fatigue set in.  All the while performing some short exercise upon each stop (flutter kicks, tricep push-ups  decline push-ups, squats, lunges, bear crawls up and down a hill, rock tosses, etc.)  About 20 minutes in we realized that by following the coastline we had inadvertently ended up out on a peninsula.  This required us to back track and continue on through the fuck up (totally Death Race style).



KIA - 1x bucket down for the count despite
Brett's resuscitation efforts



Just prior to reaching Cuthbert, Brett suffered a mishap with one of his buckets snapping at the handle.  He quickly repaired it but another 1/2 mile later and we had to surrender and toss the bucket.  We then took turns managing 2x buckets while the other managed 1x.  At first the single bucket sounded nice but you quickly found out that you were slowed down by the fact that your balance was thrown off and you were forced to lean to the side as you carried the single bucket.



Catch your breath before some decline push-ups
"No Stopping or Standing"


Several times throughout the walk we did Tabatta style movements with 20 seconds of quick paced walking and 10 seconds of rest.  We made some good progress with this style of movement but the Cooper River Death March still seemed to go on forever in the May sun.  At one point we did Tabatta along a set of river rock ledges, performing some 1 - 2 ft. step ups.  Brain Kane did this same workout the week before by himself and it took around 1.5 hours.









Step Ups - Doesn't Look to Hard



All in all several lessons were learned:

1. Bring plenty of water
2. Webbing / Lifting Straps are a must
3. Always balance the weight of the loads you are carrying
4. Stop listening to Reed's bright ideas!



Finished 2.5 hours later / Missing 1x Bucket... good luck
driving home.



Today's Jiu Jitsu Style Workout

Today we mixed it up a little with some workout ideas out of a great book, Training for Warriors: The Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Workout, by Martin Rooney.  We added in some work in between with the fire truck tires and dead lifts.  After all that we finished it up inside with a killer 3 set rotation (4 minutes per set).  Oh yeah and we experienced some lovely training weather today; a nice steady rain. The workout went as follows:


Exercise 1:


Alternating Partner Should Carry - Carry your partner across your shoulders the length of the yard, set him down have him switch sides (shifting the heavy portion of his body to the other side) and carry him back


Dead Lifts of a fire truck tire until the carries are finished



Peform each exercise twice resulting in everyone being carried, carrying and lifting the tire twice.


Exercise 2:


One partner holds a fighter's stance w/ hands on top of his head while the other partner rotates around his torso 5 times in one direction and then 5 times in the other direction.  This requires core strength on both individuals parts along with grip and arm strength.


The third partner dead lifts a tire off of another tire and stacks it by itself.  He then returns to the other tire and dead lifts it / shuffles to the side and stacks it on top of the other tire.  He repeats this until the other two are finished.


Rotate until all 3 have completed all 3 positions.


Exercise 3:


One partner mounts the other in a Jiu Jitsu back mount while the other alternates between  rotating from side to side trying to throw him off his back.  The rep count was 10 per side


The third partner hops between two fire truck tires doing dead lifts combined with shoulder shrugs until the other two finish 10 reps.



Rotate positions so that all 3 complete all 3 stations.


Exercise 4:


Two partners carry the third partner above their head in a shoulder press position the length of the yard and repeat until all 3 have been carried





Exercise 5:


One partner wearing a 50 lb weight vest does a burpee push up on a large tire and then stands up / straight leg dead lifts the tire and tosses it forward.  He then runs to the tire and repeats this for a total of 20 reps


2nd partner continuously swings a 6 lb maul at a tire.  He swings the maul over his right shoulder using his right hand as the primary hand.


3rd partner continuously swings an 8 lb maul at a tire. He swings the maul over his left shoulder using his left hand as the primary hand.



When the 1st partner reaches the rep count everyone rotates to the other station and continues until all 3 have completed all 3 stations.


Finishing Set:  3 x 4 Minute Rounds


Station 1: Continuously alternating between 5 Pull Ups (using rock climbing finger grips hanging by chains) and 5 leg raises and leg tucks


Station 2: Heavy Bag lift over the shoulder / squat and then slam  (repeat until time is up)


Station 3:  Inch Worm Variation (using a bar bell) - roll the bar bell out and then inch the legs back to vertical keeping the knees from bending.  Repeat this the whole length of the driveway. At the end of the driveway clean and press the bar bell over your shoulders and lower it onto your shoulders.  Now lunge all the way back up the driveway and repeat until the time is up.




Say what you want but lets see you try it!

Some Old Videos of Chopping Wood after Lifting for an hour or two

So any time I go to the gym (Royal Fitness) I always finish up with chopping wood in my back yard.  I figure since I will be pretty fatigued when I do have to chop wood I better practice chopping after I am totally gassed.

Oh yeah check out my little asshole dog Charlie and what he thinks of my log chopping at the end of the 2nd video.

"I better have a headache and be sweating when I'm done!" - Tim Houck

Timmy gearing up for 6 Minutes of Station 1

So here is a couple videos of a finishing set after an hour workout.  The workout run down went like this:

Mind you the title are the exact words my brother Tim said to me as we arrived to start the workout; I think I made a believer out of him.

6 Minute Rounds:

• Station 1:  Alternating Lunges across the yard while wearing a 50 lb weighted vest / dragging a big ass tire behind you / and holding a 75 lb bar bell on your shoulders  (This Sucks)
• Station 2:  35 lb Kettle Bell Swing x 10 Reps / 45lb Kettle Bell Press x 10 Reps / Big Ass Tire Flip & Spins down the drive way / Big Ass Tire Drags back (all while keeping tension on a stupid ass rubber band around your ankles) oh yea repeat!
• Station 3: Throw Logs and Chop Them (this also sucks)

Station 3

2nd Set of 6 Minute Rounds:

• Station 1:  1 Minute of Boxing / 5 Minutes of alternating between Max Push ups & Pull Ups & Leg Ups
• Station 2:  Yard Sprints while wearing the 50lb weighted vest and dragging that stupid ass tire
• Station 3:  More Log Chops / Alternating Arms... what else

Finishing Set:  Shoulder Blast

• Inch Worms w/ Push Ups (only pussies don't do Push Ups)
• Side Shuffles on all fours

Check out this Blog and Youtube spot... good stuff

So I began following George St. Pierre's blog since his article in Men's Health.  I steal some of his workout ideas and try to implement them daily along with his nutritional advice and mental advice!  The guy is the best pound for pound fighter in the world and down right brilliant!

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/user/officialGSP

and

http://socialofficesuite.com/App/Posts/Blog.aspx?pstaid=3481

Oh yea and I challenge all you Ladder 2 Characters to try the following and give me a shout when you are ready to perform

http://www.youtube.com/user/officialGSP#p/u/7/uukj8zy801s

Give me 8 reps at least!

Pull Up Improvement

In an attempt to improve my over-all pull up and push up count I have been trying to do max pull ups and push up reps throughout my workouts each day. The key to increasing your rep count is to do every set to the max or until failure.  So instead of setting a goal of 3 sets of 10 pull ups, I either set a total rep count (i.e. 60 reps) and accomplish this over the fewest possible sets or I set a set count of 3 and do as many reps until I fall off the bar each time.  Yesterday I knocked out the following reps with varying weights attached to my waist (note - these were pull ups not chin ups / palms facing away from me):

Warm Up (body weight only, 165 lbs) - 8 Reps

Set 1: (+25 lbs) - 12 Reps

Set 2: (+45 lbs) - 10 Reps

Set 3: (+70 lbs) - 4 Reps

Set 4: (+90 lbs) - 2 Reps

Set 5: (+45 lbs) - 6 Reps

Set 6: (+25 lbs) - 6 Reps

Set 7: (body weight only, 165 lbs) - 14 Reps

Total Rep Count: 62 pull ups

So for all you guys out there who claim that little guys like me can do so many pull ups only because we have the body weight of a small dog... Take a look at Set 4 where I did at least 2 Reps of  your whopping body weight of 255 lbs.  So shut up or hit the pull up bars

For the non-believers I'll post video shortly.

Rough Weekend

So this weekend I did some hardcore Death Race Training.  I began Thursday with a Chest and Tricep Workout in the gym.  Rather then righting it all out you can see the exact workout I did along with a video of the guy who we got this from.  I say we because my brother Timmy introduced me to these workouts.  I swear the key to these exercises kicking the shit out of you is the Giant Sets and Drop Sets.  A Giant Set is performing 3 exercises (targeting a muscle group) in a row with no break.  After the 3rd exercise you take the break.  A Drop Set is similar except you rep each weight until failure and then drop the weight by a certain increment (usually 5 - 10 lbs) and continue until you have dropped the weight 3 times.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-week-2-day-8.html

My weight for each exercise was as follows:

• Flat Dumbbell Press @ 95 lbs each w/ drop set of 85 / 75 / 65
• Flat Bench Flyes @ 65 lbs each w/ drop set of 55 / 45 / 35
• Incline Cable Flyes @ 65 lbs each w/ drop set of 65 / 55 / 45
• Cable Crossovers @ 50 lbs each w/ drop set of 50 / 40 / 30
• Tricep Cable Pushdowns @ 70 lbs w/ drop set of 70 / 60 / 50
• Reverse Cable Pushdowns @ 50 lbs w/ drop set of 50 / 40 / 30
• Giant Set @ 65 lbs
• Head Smackers
• Skull Crushers
• Rockers

Friday I gave my muscles a break and worked my liver out @ the Old Rail Tavern in Barrington.  I know, I know but it was the Phillies season opener.  So that started at 12:45 and went until 10:30 pm.  I was hammered.  I slacked Saturday as well with no lifting but only a cardio workout.  Saturday night I worked out the liver again w/ an all night drink fest in my old stomping ground of Manayunk.  That ended about 2 am and I had already texted Brian to workout at 10 am Sunday morning.

Sunday Morning it was only me and Brian as the rest were all too hungover to join.

The workout was as follows:

3 Stations @ 6 minutes each:

Station I:  Wood Tossing & Chopping... as always

Station II:  Tire Flip - down and back / followed by Medicine Ball Reverse Chop - 10 reps each side

Station III:  Bear Crawl while dragging a 100 lb heavy bag behind us

oh yea... repeat this circuit a 2nd time for another 18 minutes.

Finish w/ our classic 20 lunges forward, backward, side to side and split.  This was followed by a dropset of frogger hops and tricep pushups.  The break between rep counts was an equal amount of deep breathes.  We started at 10 and took it down to 0 with a final 10 tricep pushups.

Brian almost puked!

Friday Fun Run... Yeah Right!

So on Friday myself, Brian and Brett got together at Brett's house and headed off into the woods and quarry near his home in Lindenwold.  I know if we wanted a real challenge we would have just ran through Arbor Wood Court Apartments in a true "Death Race" fashion.  The run was somewhere between 40 min to an hour; I'm not really sure since Brian was timing.  It started with your standard trails and progressed to full on sprints up sandy hills; involving the occasional hand over hand climbing to tackle.  After a roller-coaster of hills, tall grass, brambles and some water obstacles we finished with a bounding exercise across the faces of a series of rolling sandy hills. Not so easy we found!  Below are some photos I found of the location but these are not photos I personally took.  Feel free to give me a shout if you want to join us.

I'm pretty sure this is where we were forced to spear our hands over and over
again into the hill face to get up to the top.

Wednesday's Rainy Workout

What better weather to train in than cold steady rain!  Below are two compilations of the workout sets we did this past Wednesday.  A nice steady rain was falling making this workout extra special.  The entire workout consisted of 3 parts.

Part I: 3 Stations - 5 Minutes @ each station

• Station I - Log Split - Like it says... throw some logs from the pile over to where you split them and then get to splitting until the times up
• Station II - Weights & Tire - 10 Reps of alternating between dead lifts and cleans (5 of each) / then jump inside a fire truck tire, inside grip and carry the tire in a should shrug hold to the end of the driveway / drop the tire and drag it back... repeat again and again until the times up
• Station III - 50 lb Bag and Tree Stump Carry - Alternate between high and low carrys of a 50 lb bag of cement mix w/ a sling attached and a tree stump ( ?? lbs) w/ a chain attached.  Carry up and down the yard until the time is up

Part II: 3 Stations - 5 Minutes @ each station

• Station I - Telephone Pole Chop - Continuously chop a telephone pole alternating every few swings between left and right hand swings.
• Station II - Weights & Tire & Kettle Bell - (aka FML station)  First 10 Reps of alternating suitcase dead lifts (alternating hands / 5 on each side) / then flip the truck tire down the driveway (40') / 10 reps of alternating, one hand, 30 lb, kettle bell swing / drag the f*in tire back and repeat until your heart is content...
• Station III - Heavy Bag Carry of Fun - Fireman Carry a 100 lb Heavy Bag around the yard (100' +).  Alternate between shoulders and finish the last 30 seconds with it across both out stretched arms.

Part III: Finishing Set

• 21 Alternating Front Lunges
• 21 Alternating Back Lunges
• 21 Alternating Side Lunges
• 21 Split Lunges
• Dropset of Burpee Pushups w/ Equal Rep Deep Breathing Exercise
• Begin w/ 10 reps and drop a rep each time
• Perform 10 Burpee Pushups followed by 10 Deep Breaths / repeat with 1 less rep and so forth until you get to zero
• Finish w/ pushups to failure!

Enjoy

Update...

First, I must apologize for the long delay between posts; the holidays and everything has kept me busy.  So with that said let me bring you up to speed so far:

The Team:
Zach Houck - Cherry Hill FD
Brett Delucca - Cherry Hill FD
Timothy Moore - Cherry Hill FD
Reed Costello - Willingboro FD
Brian Kane - Evolution Fitness Now
Anthony Capone (our NY friend)

We have started training every Wednesday together and a couple of other days here and there.  I am posting some videos of our recent training below.  A typical Wednesday looks like the following:

4 - 5 Stations @ 5 - 6 minutes per station
Station Ideas:

• Wood Toss, Split w/ an axe, Stack - 1st you toss the wood, then you split it, finally you stack it
• Heavy Bag Crawl (100 ft +) - simulate crawling under barb wire while dragging a load behind you
• Off Set Carry - Walk (100 ft +) carrying a 35 lb kettle bell high at shoulder height and a 5 gallon bucket full of rock salt low at your side; then switch it up!
• Tire Flip / Drag - Flip the fire truck tire down the driveway and back, and then drag the truck tire with the rim still attached up and back.  (ask Timmy Moore how it feels to have that tire fall on you)
• Tire Throw / Carry - Throw a standard vehicle tire then pick up the other and shoulder carry it to the spot where the other tire landed... repeat and maybe drag a heavy bag with you and wear a 50 lb weight vest
• Wood Chuck / Carry - Chuck 8 - 10 small pieces of wood then carry them back to the pile using a post hole digger (traps will be screaming!)
• Weight Set - Do a combination of moves using weights and the TRX (i.e. upright rows, bent rows, curls, dead lifts... etc.)
• Dig a hole! - dig a hole and fill a bucket with soil using the post hole digger, and then carry that bucket on your shoulders for a lap around the property

Finishing Set - we always finish with a variation of this!

• 18 + (we add 1 each week) lunges in each direction (forward, backward & side to side)
• 18 + split lunges
• Drop Set of Burpees or weird pushup thrusts combined with deep breathing in between
• Start @ a 10 count and each set you subtract 1 all the way down to 0
• In between each set we take slow deep breaths equal to the rep count
• 10 + push ups at the end

Enjoy! : )