The Fire Ant:
The ruck at Golden Corral is not new, however some things are. After more than a year of being the Site Q all of the ruck options in The Fort, RAD asked to pass one AO off of YHC and the other site to Cobra Kai. An AO set up to truly train PAX signed up for GORUCK events was already in the works. Becoming the Site Q for the Tuesday Ruck option provided a great opportunity to do just that.
To start we needed a name. “The ruck option at Golden Corral” does not exactly roll off the tongue. Previous conspiring for the creation of an intense ruck option saw a few names thrown out by the group of PAX that started the recon effort and the development of what this thing needed to be. Cheddah was the winner when he through out “The Fire Ant!” Fire ants can carry 10-50 times their body weight, they spread aggressively, and most importantly, they work as a team. Given that GORUCK events are built on the basis of team work and involve carrying heavy objects for long distances, the name just fit.
As I mentioned, the intention of original Fire Ant concept was to train PAX for upcoming GORUCK events. To start, there is no such thing as a 30lb ruck for a man weighing over 150lbs at a GORUCK event. That is just the required dry weight. Add 3L of water and your ruck will weigh ~37lbs. Therefore the required weight for this AO was set to 40lbs. Given that the Fire Ant has essentially taken over an existing AO and we want to continue for guys to try rucking, we will call the 40lbs, “highly encouraged.”
The second aspect of The Fire Ant is intensity. This AO is not about miles, but about completing a soul crushing WOD. This is anything with a very high discomfort factor. “Get comfortable being uncomfortable!” WODs designed to push to failure, get the heart rate up, and lift some extremely heavy objects (both individually and as a team) will be the norm. OF COURSE, modify as necessary as you get stronger. For the most part, this is not a huge change for the AO, as the Qs have delivered some great beat downs. Some recent WODs from Mainframe & Cobra Kai, were great examples!
The Thang:
PAX were led to one of the parking islands and weight was added to every ruck that was not already over 30lbs. From there the PAX moved 2×2 to the corner of O’Reilly Auto Parts. Immediately started into the workout.
- Duck walk to the front of O’Reilly Auto Parts
- Complete a series of exercises in cadence
- Flutters x20
- Mountain Climbers x20
- Squats x20
- Bent over rows x20
- Overhead Carry the length of O’Reilly Auto Parts (40 yds)
- Broad Jump Man Maker the length of the parking spaces (30 yds) – this was a crowd favorite!
- Move to the long wall next to Harris Teeter and complete a series of exercises in cadence
- Merkins x15
- Ruck Swings x15
- Overhead Press x15
- Curls x15
- Bear crawl the length of the HT wall (60 yds)
- Drop ruck and run the large parking lot (1/4 mile)
The PAX completed the series 2.5 times before time ran out.
Excited to be a site Q again. Thank you RAD for all you have done for rucking in The Fort and appreciate you thinking of me to take over this site!
The Fire Ant continues on 8/14 with CSPAN!!