Author: Rudy

  • Launch of Zissou – from Sea Man

    Into the waters the intrepid divers lept in search of the man eating Jaguar Shark of Ponchetrain. We knew this would be dangerous! When we arrived we encountered 3 local tribesmen who were swimming with 40lbs + kettle bells.

    Undaunted by this, into the cool depths our krewe of Pai Gow, Moana, JV, Tito, Sphinxter swam free style and a lovely synchronized back stroke by JV. We swam a ladder of laps up to 5 and back down for total of 25 laps int the 25m pool. In between intervals we attempted Mericans and LBCs starting at 10 each and doubling for each lap. While we did not find the man eating Jaguar Shark of Ponchetrain we did discover that a wet dad bod on the pool deck performs better than any 5 and Dime woopie cushion! We will resume our search next week and may attempt a Saturday plunge as well.

  • 3…2…1…Blast off! – from Russo

    Pax of 4 in the gloom at Granny’s, where the “under construction” fences were up for an as-yet-undetermined project. Undaunted, we pressed on!

    Warmup (all IC, 10-20x)
    – sealjacks
    – cherry pickers
    – imperial walkers
    – toe touches
    – windmills
    – arm circles

    Thing before the Thang
    Having planned to use the benches that were now blocked off when the City of Mandeville built that wall, pax moseyed to Lafayette street to visit the Rusty Pelican for some brief tabata: 45 seconds each (not 45 minutes, Chewy, that would just be crazy) – – (1) Freak Nastys (2) Step Ups (3) Urkins

    A two block mosey back for The Thang:
    Something YHC called 3-2-1 Blastoff:

    3 reps at a column, mosey to the next column, 2 reps, mosey a column, one rep, then at the last column, up the pilot house for 10 calf raises and back down to start.

    Rounds – 3 merkins, 2 jump squats, 1 SMC
    3 shoulder taps, 2 Apollo ohno’s, 1 suicide squat
    3 plank jacks, 2 Bobby Hurley’s, 1 high knee/ super calf raise
    3 Peter Parker’s, 2 tuck jumps, one groiner
    3 werkins, 2 lunges or SMCs, one monkey humper

    Thing after the Thang:
    With a few minutes left, it was a good opportunity to complete a Motivator, if for no other reason than to rectify the count issues YHC had on the last one we completed. This Motivator went to 7 (not 11) and for the most part we counted successfully.

    COT, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, and Prayer closed us out for today.

    Special note for a busy week upcoming:
    Wednesday 7-21: Gnarly Nutria
    Thursday 7-22: FIA/F3 mixer
    Friday 7-23: A1C one year anniversary and Pelican Park Pickleball (P3-4-F3?)
    Saturday 7-24: Thibodeaux road trip for a Q school with Goose

    Special recognition/ T claps to a returning Akbar who made it back from his adventure outwest and also to Bypass, who made it back after his first beatdown yesterday at the Marsh. Keep posting as you are able, sir, and we’ll be there to continue moving you forward, because as a reminder, we’re committed to leaving no man behind and no man where they are.

    SYITG

  • A Few Card Games – from Hogs Breath

    YHC showed up 5 mins prior and was greeted by the sight of a few pax milling about. We even had a FNG waiting for us!!

    The warm up

    We began with 10 IC mountain man poopers. How YHC found that warm up was by searching through the Exicon and picking funny names. Using the same formula, YHC went to the exicon on my phone began scrolling and had my M say “stop” and that became this mornings workout. So what we we ended up with;

    Boat / Canoe – 60sec
    Burp and Merk – 5 oyo
    Crab Jacks – 10 ic

    The Thang

    An Obama the length of the basketball court.

    Originally a coupon workout was planned, however YHC was told the coupons had been taken, again. At this point the city is probably moving them, if YHC had read the back last from 2 weeks prior YHC would have realized and could have brought some coupons….

    [If anyone wants we were going to preform a workout modified from an iron pax workout:
    10 man makers
    20 overhead press
    30 kettlebell swings
    40 curls
    50 incline merkins]

    So YHC was a great Q and adapted on the fly. Even thought YHC had previous said minimal running and mostly upper body, he had to modify! A Deck O’ Death was pulled out and various games were played:

    War: highest card was the exercise and the low number was added up. I.e. 9 of spades [low slow squats] and 7 of hearts so all pax performed 16 low slow squats.

    After everyone had a turn we moseyed to the Woodlake elementary school and back.
    Then we drew a poker hand and performed all exercises of the highest poker hand. A mosey back to the school.
    Then we drew cards and lined them up highest to lowest, and performed all exercises, and then drew a second round but went lowest to highest.
    At this it was time to wrap up.

    We welcomed, and named, Bypass, a new addition to our Northshore Pax! Named because he had heart surgery last April, he was EH’d by one of our Uptowner pax. Hopefully he’ll return out to us again!

    Ended with a COT with plenty of prayers for upcoming surgeries, travels, and allowing the Great Q to be leaders in our communities as we carry forward.

  • Mothership with Frac – from Fracsac

    14 Pax made a choice to take the DRP on their journey to get right and posted to The Mothership to see what YHC had on the beat down menu. With a shovel flag planted, disclaimer was given, then:

    Mosey over to the Great Lawn and circle up on the grass for a warmup:

    SSH IC x 31
    Abe Vigodas x 10
    Grass Grabbers x 10
    Bat wings AC, SC, OH, MNC, Chinooks
    Self love x 10

    Cones were already set up like a basketball court for the first item on the menu:

    Bear crawl burpee suicides
    Bear crawl from baseline to quarter line, 5 burpees and bear crawl back.
    Bear crawl from baseline to half court, 5 burpees and bear crawl back.
    Bear crawl from baseline to three quarters line, 5 burpees and bear crawl back.
    Bear crawl full court, 5 burpees and bear crawl back.

    Next up, Embrace the Suck

    Circle up and do the following AMRAP for 3 minutes:
    Jump squat x 7
    Merkin x 7
    LBC x 7

    Four corners:

    Corner 1 – Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10
    Corner 2 – Sister Mary Katherine IC x 15
    Corner 3 – 8 count Body builders IC x 12
    Corner 4 – Bobby Hurleys x 20

    Mosey across bridge behind Cafe Du Monde to the rarely visited area of the park.

    Circle up for Merkin Wave:

    All pax in plank position, first person does one merkin, then the next person to the right does a merkin, looked like a wave flowing around the circle, until we got back to the first person who then performed 2 merkins, repeated all the way up to 10.

    EMOM x 5 minutes of Burpees just because!

    Finish off with a little Mary.

    Mosey back to flag for COT with last 2 minutes of stretching.

    – YHC was happy to take the Mothership and try a couple new things.
    – City Park cleanup followed with Coffeteria at Cafe Navarre
    – The heat and humidity are back, drink lots of water!

    SYITG

  • Prime Day at Okwata – from Triple Shift

    With Christmas in July as a made-up sales holiday, I went along with the theme of prime day (numbers) at Okwata. As a last minute Q, I wanted to get some vertical pulling since most of our exercises involve some sort of horizontal push (merkins, burpees, 8 count bodybuilders, etc.) Really missed the Murph training so I did something similar!

    As I pulled up to the AO, I made a quick decision to bring out the kettlebells and the other PAX members provided sandbags and coupons. Sudden change to a strength workout instead of only a bodyweight workout so we can get SWOLE!

    WARMUP
    31 SSH, 20 Low Slow Squats, 20 Imperial Walkers, 20 Peter Parkers, and 20 Plank Jacks all in cadence.

    THE THANG
    3 Pull Ups, 5 Heisenbergs (Burpee with 2 merkins) and 7 goblet squats every 90 seconds for 16 rounds.

    Note: I was a little ambitious with wanting to do 20 rounds but we ran out of time so we did 10 rounds with a 3 minute break followed by 6 rounds. The interval timer is a fantastic accountability tool (crowd pleaser) since it doesn’t care how tired you are!

    CIRCLE OF TRUST
    Countoff, Namerama and Intentions – We had eight (8) PAX members with Bleu Claws putting the EH on FNG – Smores who teaches at Mt. Carmel, 4 kids and rode his bike to the AO. Welcome A…Aron from Chattanooga, TN who comes to town every month for his job! Prayers for healing for friends and family members who are dealing with addiction, cancer and depression. Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

  • Simple little Mosey – from Shooter

    3 PAX journeyed through the streets of Mandeville this Gloom. At first it appeared to only be Zoolander and YHC until out of the darkness a double flagged what looked like a UFO came rolling in. Amnesia biked in 8 miles from home to join us. I have money 💰 on the fact that he registers more miles between run and bike to the WWII team challenge currently underway..
    Brief warmup 10IC Windmills, Toe Touches, self love, scorpion kicks and Torso twists..
    Changed our direction down to Villere taking a left to Girord to Lakeshore and back up West Beach with a left at Monroe and returning to the AO..
    Time was around 40 mins and with Qs Garmin being a little aggressive at 5 miles I will scale back and say we completed roughly 4 to 4.5..

    Amnesia closed us out in prayer..

    Until the next Gloom 👊🏼👍🏼✌🏼!!

  • Fear and Self-Loathing in El Diablo – from Bolt

    After a cold-induced break and a quick trip out of town, nine days lapsed between posts so yours truly was full of self-loathing and fearful of phoning in the Q. Hopefully the PAX didn’t feel that way after I decided to try out an idea I’ve been toying with: a Yin/Yang themed workout taking advantage of the universal truth of equal and opposing forces that keep all things in balance.

    Mosey to rock pile, cue obligatory highly curated playlist (which began with the classic “Rapper’s Delight”) and warmup then carry a medium rock to the pavilion, grab some bench. YHC explained each round would consist of an exercise done as we always do (Yin version), followed by a modified version that incorporated doing it from an equal but opposite perspective (Yang version). After doing the first two exercises in cadence we switched to OYO for the designated reps on the Yin and IC for the Yang.

    Warmup IC: SSH, arm circles forward/back, tclaps, seal claps, Moroccan night clubs, self love (all 20x); Toy soldiers, Hillbillies (15x)

    YIN-YANG:
    Squats(rock)/Yang (no rock): hold bottom of squat for 3 count and push ground away, squeeze glutes at top for each rep

    Merkins/Yang: hold mission impossible for 3 count and extend arms with plank jack at top for each rep

    Reverse lunges R/Yang: hold left leg at 90 degrees/R leg full reverse lunge with tall torso for 3 count, stand up and touch L elbow-R knee

    Derkins/Yang: one derkin to Peter Parker to derkin for each rep

    Reverse lunges L: hold right leg at 90 degrees/L leg full reverse lunge with tall torso for 3 count, stand up and touch R elbow-L knee

    Irkins/Yang: one irkin to Parker Peter to irkin for each rep

    Side lunges R then L: focus on driving through lunged heel, “pushing Earth away from you” on the up

    Diamond merkins/Yang: diamond mission impossible for 3 count, extend arms with shoulder taps at top

    Return rocks to pile, mosey to flag for COT, etc., welcoming FNG>Satchmo who happens to be my 17yo. Thanks, men, for joining me in the gloom and hope you enjoyed the suck as much as I enjoyed the Q. Until next time…

  • “Flexing Fletch” with special quest “Butts and Balls!” – from Shooter

    After a week away YHC decided to sign up for Today and Thursday as the Q sheet remains empty for the most part.. After arrival YHC saw the likes of Fletch pulling in to Flex his posting abilities and shortly thereafter the likes of Jose (on summer vacation) 10k as I planted the flag.. To even up the PAX Mandeville’s own Chewy pulls in and we commence to get this party started..

    Warmup
    15IC Windmills, Toe Touches, Cherry pickers, self love, SSH and Butt kicks.

    Thang
    Moseyed along the streets of Mandeville to the Marsh stopping along the way at each corner for 5 Burpee (2x Merkin), 10 Merkins and 15 Jump squats. Realizing there was only 2 corners to get there we extended around the backside to gather 2 additional blocks to get some reps in. Upon arrival at the Marsh YHC planned on some actual BLOCK work, however it appears we have been sabotaged yet again by our fellow Mandevillians or our local parish workers simply following orders in the removal of our ditch baring F3 coupons. Maybe the Qs sight is deteriorating or the GPS coordinates in my mind is way off.. Nevertheless Jose 10k tried shining a light literally to no avail.. One could understand if the removal was for the purposes of grass cutting or Bush trimming but the area we were looking through certainly shows no sign of say a “Bushwacker!” Or by no means a pruning machine in “Tanked up!” Called an audible using the monkey bars for (3x)
    5 pull ups, 10 squat thrusters minus the coupon and 5 chin ups. Back to the streets for the return stopping along the way yet again this time for 5 8 count body builders, 10 Lunges and 15 Apollo onos..
    Returned at the pavilion for some core work. PAX held chillcut while each man moseyed up and around the flag pole returning till everyone completed. Next round alternating Nolan Ryan’s 5 each side and the same up and around.. Final was 10 OYO donkey kickoffs..

    Count, Annouce and COT

    Big thanks to my Lee road Cowboys for journeying down this morning..

    Don’t forget open to all Pickle ball at Pelican park on Fridays 630PM hosted by Chewy..
    Fun times for sure..

    Appreciate Fletch 🙏🏼🙏🏼 us out and until the next Gloom 👊🏼👍🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Core Crusher and Flickerball – from Zoolander

    from TruCoat…”15 assembled Saturday at the North Shore Lakefront for a multi-phase workout and coffee. Following a short warm-up, the group conquered a 15 minute core toning medley of mountain climbers, V-ups, supermans, squats or jump tucks, and side touches. After a short mosey and 6 rounds of merkins with a soccer ball twist, the group divided and faced off for a 25 minute flickerball match. The Masters, led by Tanked-Up, and the Seniors led by very-soon-to-be-30 Grundy sprinted back and forth the long field trading scores. In the final moments, the Seniors’ secret weapon, 12 year old Baby Yoda, scored with a laser shot to the back of the goal. Bean made the highlight reel with impressive defense and Bird fearlessly recovered balls out of Lake Pontchartrain, proving gators, rough seas, and the possibility of a double dose Z-pak were no match for this aquaman. The game drew a few spectators, possibly to admire the elegant passing among the sides, or more likely, hypnotized by bare-chested Bushwacker wearing a much too small youth pinny. A good time had by all! ”

  • Impromptu 3rd F Beatdown – from Hogs Breath

    Checking the Q sheet after last nights fireworks I didn’t see anyone sign up. So I grabbed my Deck O’ Death (available at Mudgear) and headed out to Taylor Thomas Park. Planting a shovel flag five mins before, I was at least expecting one other pax to show….
    But alas at 0515 I was alone, so I began

    Warm-up
    50 self cadence SSH
    10 mountain man poopers
    10 Hillbillies
    10 toe kicks

    The thang
    Obama the length of the basketball court
    One lap around the block and then I began the Deck O’ Death, turning over a card I would perform said exercise, as I was sweating away in the muggy air I looked around at the refuse and litter left behind by the previous day’s Fourth of July. I can either complain about it, or I could improve my community and be an example and leader. Taking on one of the F3 tenants and “leave no [park] behind, but no [park] where you found him” after each card, I would sprint to a piece of litter, run to the trash can and back to center court to overturn the next card. After performing the nexts card’s exercise, I would rinse and repeat. I made it my mantra to clean the entire park by the time 0600 rolled around.
    I finished a sweaty mess, but accomplished the goal.
    And Pax, this is a beatdown I will be repeating!
    I ended with prayers for y’all! Until next time pax!!