Tonight... we work out... in HELL

The first official Hell Night was tonight. It was great. Seven people showed up, and we dragged in an eighth that we saw walking by. I know of one other person who just couldn't show up today, and we found at least two people who might be interested in joining us in the process. So I'm calling it a success.

We met up, warmed up a bit, and then got started. Two of the other guys had been to my planning session, but no one else had any idea what was in store for them... After the warmup, we started with this:


Crab walk up, backwards, move over a flight of stairs, and then QM down. Rinse, wipe hands on pants, repeat until out of rows of stairs.

Other popular favorites included grabbing on to a handrail and wrapping your feet over it, hanging underneath, and then crawling up. Wouldn't be too hard... except for the vertical support poles you have to go around. It was some serious work, but it was fun.

The Indian Wall Sits were good too. About a 75ft stretch of wall, sit with your legs at 90 degree angles, and your back pressed against the wall. The person at the end of the line stands up, runs across everyones thighs, goes back to position. Repeat until the end of the wall.

There was a lot of QMing. Up stairs, down stairs, up hills, down hills, through the woods (That's a personal favorite of mine. About 1/5th of a mile path through the woods. Get down on your hands and feet, and crawl as SILENTLY as you can, trying not to make any sound at all. It's long, hard, and dirty, but it's probably the best thing we did all night).

My only complaint is that there was a lot more resting than I had hoped/planned for. Part of this is almost required, seeing as there is some required waiting for room to open up for some of the activities, but we finished in around 3 hours this time. Next time, I want to aim for 2.5.

Of course, every Hell Night will be different. Next week we're going to do it all in the opposite order, partially so we can get to the really awesome rock precisions before it gets too dark.

However, I was VERY impressed by everyone. There's a lot of work to be done, but I think if people stick with it, as well as the rest of their training, we can really turn ourselves into something special. Especially once the dogsled gets built. (That's right. I said dogsled. Note: There will be no dogs involved in the pulling of this sled...)


(Left to right: Artem, Zachary (me), Charlie, Zack, Mike, Eric, Andres)

Great Job, guys. Lets keep it up.

The first rule of Hell Night...

Thursday night I went out with Mike and Charlie, and we did a test run of Hell Night, which is basically going to be a 2-3 hour strength/conditioning/endurance session using Parkour style movements. There is shimmying, crawling, climbing, jumping, carrying, running. There are group activities and solo ones. The name was borrowed from the British traceur Blane, and the concept is adapted to fit the campus here at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The goal of Hell Night is more than just conditioning the body and the mind; the goal of Hell Night is to break you. Once you are broken - physically, mentally - you can progress to a new level. It is night: it is dark, cold, often will be wet, and you will be tired. People are capable of amazing things, but they do not think they are. If people can push themselves to what they believe is the brink of their physical capabilities, and then farther... That is when people begin to understand who they are. What they are capable of. I want people to develop an iron will, an unwillingness to give up. Once you are broken, then keep going... that is when you prove to youself that you can handle anything.

A preview of Hell Night. This is by no means even a small part of the total experience:
2x - Piggyback rides (or maybe fireman's carry) a partner up and down a hill.
2x - Crab walk up stairs, quadrupedal movement (QM) down.
2x - Bridge walk down between wall and handicap ramp, cathang the other side and shimmy up the other side of the ramp.
1x - Indian Wall Sits (everyone does a wallsit, the person in back gets up, runs across the thighs of everyone else, wallsits in the front. Rinse, wipe hands on pants, repeat until end of wall, about 100ft later)
1x - Cliffhanger (grab onto ledge, shimmy horizontally without a wall to touch against)
5x - Traverse from one side of playground to another without touching the ground.
1x - 1/6th mile QM through the woods. Emphasis on being as silent as possible.
2.5x - Precision jump from rock to rock, and then back, that's one lap. There are 43 rocks.

3x - Climb in a circle around tree, from branch to branch, using only arms.

Hell Night will evolve over time. Once winter really hits, there will be many changes to take advantage of the new enviroment (slippery surfaces, ice, snow). No two Hell Nights will be the same.

After the run through (which was closer to a full workout than a test run), I went back to the gym to get my bag. The receptionist said "Have a good workout."

I just smiled.