December 30, 2025
/25 Degrees & Burpees
- • 8 Burpee Box Jump Overs (24")
- • 8 Bar Facing Burpees
- • 8 Dumbbell Facing Burpees
- • 6 Devil Press (40 lbs)
Temperature dropped 40 degrees from yesterday. 25°F this morning — the kind of cold that makes your hands stop working on the pull-up bar. Only three of us showed up, but that's what separates the committed from the comfortable.
My back is finally, definitively better. Been throwing everything at it — stretching, ice, lacrosse ball, Theragun, vibration, STEM. The pain's basically gone. Did all the lifting pain-free and managed the deadlifts at 135 instead of the prescribed 185. Smart scaling, not ego lifting.
The troubling part about this injury? It's my first in years since starting the Joe Hippensteel stretching program. Wasn't even doing anything aggressive — just the Mike Holland warm-up with body waves when it happened. But I've turned the corner. Back to real training now.
The burpee sections were perfect cold-weather work — kept us moving, kept us warm. That last deadlift/T2B ladder with frozen hands was brutal. Sometimes the weather is the workout.
2025 is coming to a close. Tomorrow's the last workout of the year — Turner, named after my oldest son. It's an old favorite, which usually means it'll be challenging. Hope we get a good turnout to close out the year right.
The Red Rocket Lounge meets at 5am in Chattanooga. We're fathers, business owners, and community leaders who show up before the sun to get better. Drop in for a visit or join the brotherhood.
