Author: Rudy

  • Better Late than Never – from Fast Tax

    Absolution and the Mad Mad Race

    Forgetting that Saturday beat downs started an hour later, YHC showed up bright and early at 5:30. After a short nap in the car, 6:30 rolled around.

    9 Pax, including 3 that made the Beer-run the night before, ventured forth to Mothership to see if Fast Tax had yet run out of creative ways to Embrace the Suck. With the shovel flag flapping in the breeze, we welcomed War Eagle from F3-Tallahassee, disclaimer was given, and Pax moseyed to the parking lot for some warm-up.

    Warmups consisted of:
    o Abe Vigodas 13 IC
    o Mountain Man Poopers 10 IC
    o Bat Wings 20 IC
    o Happy Jacks 4 cycles IC

    To the rock pile (aka Fountain) we go…yes, Bogie, there is a rock pile at Mothership.

    As we lined up amidst the chatter, YHC thought maybe we needed a little absolution first before we got started…make that 12 Absolutions (an 8 count exercise starting in the plank position: feet forward, feet back, left elbow down, right elbow down, legs out, legs in, left elbow straight, right elbow straight).

    To the delight of the Pax, Mini Hairburners were next. Starting in plank position, on a line, in cadence, Pax pushed their rocks forward and pulled them back until YHC thought we scarred the grass up enough.

    Rocks down, we raced to Humpty-Dumpty, sat on a wall (People’s Chair for 45 secs), and, of course, ended with a fall (to Merkins) and a run back to the rock pile.

    Next bit of fun was the Mad Mad Race.
    We formed teams of 3, with each Pax in the team choosing one of the following exercises: soldier crawl, broad jump, or crab walk – no duplicates. From the line, the teams had to traverse 40ish yards, switch positions, and come back. Losing two teams had to do 15 burpees [Bogie and the winning team graciously took five].

    Rock-a-bye Baby was the next event.
    In a chair position with our rocks at chest height, sequence is IC: rocks overhead, back to chest, arms straight out, arms to the left, back to middle, arms to the right, back to middle, back to chest. 10 reps.

    Finally, it was time to Get our Rocks Off.
    Holding wife pleaser position with rocks on the ground past their head, sequence is IC:
    As YHC called “up”, tricep lift to overhead and back down. 15 reps or until it hurts.

    With plenty of time remaining, YHC introduced the Bear Crawl Snake as the final event. Pax line up in a plank, head to toe, three feet apart with last man bear crawling to the front, weaving between each Pax until last man passes the finish line (40 to 50 yards).

    To close out the morning’s entertainment, we circled up and did a round of choose your own Mary, in reverse direction so as to not hurt Snooze’s feelings.

    At 7:23, as the picnic-goers began to arrive (and stare at us), we headed back to the flag with Catfish lamenting the extra 45 seconds we could have exercised.
    To ease Catfish’s angst that we would finish early, we counted off 3 times before name-a-rama, announcements, intentions, and prayers.

    Coffeteria at Café Navarre with Hokie, Gabbie, and Fracsac joining.

    Thanks for the fellowship!
    SYITG

  • The punching bag coupon – from Waterpik

    YHC started the pax out with a brief warmup at the marsh consisting of SSHs, arm circles, Wind mills, imperial walkers. Then mosey to grandmothers house for some coupon work.

    Having utilized the cinder blocks about a half dozen times recently YHC felt the pax needed a change of pace. So, it was raid the garage time. YHC found an old punching bag that looked like a perfect weight to drag back and forth on the grass. It was tough after a while , but make no mistake, it did not compare to moby’s chains.

    YHC also utilized some buckets of chlorine. They looked perfect to use for carrying up the stairs and they were just that. After some 5 reps Apiece it was time to Head back to the marsh.

    Cot and thanks to hogs breath for Praying us out.

    P.S. welcome to FNG, pee wee Herman, and welcome back to nacho who made his first post about in over a year.

  • Patriotic Friday – from Jose10k

    While nursing a bum knee, YHC decided to focus on chest exercises. Getting there early, I completed 200 merkins before the PAX showed up. Moby, Cowbell, Einstein and myself made a great group to work out on a windy Friday morning. After a brief warm-up, we moseyed to do 4 corners. 7 wide merkins at each corner, 14 t merkins, 21 hand release merkins, followed by 28 merkins at each corner. Then a quick 20 to make it an even 300 merkins. After I ducked out to go to work, Cowbell lead the PAX rounds of exercises, adding to each. 5 burpees, 5 burpees, 10 squats: 5 b, 10 s, 15 lbc: 5, 10, 15, then 20 lunges: then 5, 10, 15, 20, adding 25 plank jacks, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, then adding 30 sec plank, the decreasing and working the exercises backwards. Mary: 15 hammer, 15 penguins, 15 crunchy frogs. Einstein prayed them out. Thanks for joining me and allowing me to lead. Thanks for Cowbell taking over for me.

  • The Afternoon Delight – 5-19-2021 – from Almonaster

    Beatdowns in the rain are the best!

    PAX:

    – Douille
    – Wipeout
    – Coastrat
    – Blowout
    – FCOJ
    – Almonaster

    Mosey to Zoo Overhang.

    Warmup:

    SSH – 20 IC
    Arm Circles -10 IC
    Reverse Arm Circles – 10 IC
    Imperial Walkers – 10 IC
    The Morpheus – 10 IC
    Grass Grabbers – 10 IC
    Windmills – 10 IC
    Mountain Climbers – 10 IC

    The Thang:

    Benches in front of the Zoo.

    Incline Merkins – 10 IC
    Right Leg Step-ups – 10 IC
    Dips – 10 IC
    Left Leg Step-ups – 10 IC
    Rinse and Repeat

    Mosey to Zoo Statue.

    Dora from Statue around stop sign and back.
    Decline Curb Merkins – 100
    Squats – 200
    Russian Twists (Douilles) – 300, 1 is 1

    Mosey WW1 Monument.

    Mary.
    LBC’s – 20 IC
    Freddie Mercuries – 20 IC
    Scissor kicks – 20, 1 is 1 OYO
    Dying Cockroach – 20 IC
    Box Cutters – 20 IC
    Gator Roll – 10 OYO
    Burpees – 10 OYO

    Back to Flag

    Announcements
    Intentions
    Prayer
    Thanks for the opportunity to Lead!

  • It looked better on paper – from Rudy

    Large crowd in the gloom at El Diablo this am. Weather was delightful. Ground was moist, promising a nice, muddy workout. So at 5:30 – YHC gives a disclaimer and 12 PAX head to the football field. BooBoo starts the festivities by mocking the Q about said disclaimer, so all PAX get to start with 5 OYO Boo-Boo Burpees. Then we warm-up. Stretches, SSH, IW, arm circles. Get the blood flowing. And lo-and-behold, Vagabond emerges from the gloom just in time to make for an even 13 PAX.

    The Thang 1: Two teams, count total reps. Losing PAX team will have to do more Boo-Boo Burpees. What’s the event? 10 8-cts, run to the other bench and back (i dunno, maybe 20 yards each direction?) 10 BBS, run to the bench and back. That’s 1. Do it again. OYO. Count how many iterations you get done. YHC sets a timer (8 minutes, but don’t tell anyone. Its more fun when you have no idea how long you’ll be working….). Go. Team 1 (with only 6 members) still outshines team 2 28-27. Way to go FastTax and Hawg, leading the way.

    OK, that part worked ok.

    Lets head to the playground. Quick round of 6 stations with pull ups as the counter. I’m not even sure what other exercises we did. This part definitely did not work out right. YHC was very confused about how to split PAX into 6 groups. So rather than multiple rounds, lets just get the heck out of here and go get a rock.

    The Thang 2: Line up. What’s the event? 10 Overhead, 10 BBS, 10 Press, Bearcrawl 2 trees (20 yards-ish), mosey back. That’s 1. YHC sets a timer (again, 8 minutes. But don’t tell anyone). Go. OYO. Timer finishes, line everyone up by how many laps they got done (Bogey, FastTax, Vagabond and Hand Gernada led with 7). (one brief pause for 5 Hawg-Burpees as punishment for mocking the Q)

    Lets do it again – the winner of each group gets to watch the losers do burpees. YHC sets a timer again (4 mins this time). FastTax, BooBoo, LeftCoast and someone from the “other-side-of-the-fence” group were the winners. Everyone else got to do 5 RevSox Burpees.

    Overall, that one worked pretty well. Some room for improvement, though.

    The Thang 3: OK, this one didn’t work. I hesitate to write it. But it happened. Partner up. PAX 1 does *whatever PAX 1 wants*. PAX 2 mirrors it. 90 seconds, then flipflop. The idea is to challenge our awareness, responsiveness, agility. Rougarou nailed it with a weird Irish clog dance that Hawg desperately tried to follow. War Eagle seemed to take it to mean “Can I just stand here?” which is, technically, allowed.

    This one didn’t work so well. But YHC will adjust and try it again one day. Be warned.

    Mosey back to the flag (3 mins late…)

    NMM: Thanks, Vagabond, for sharing a story of forgiveness. Good reminder for each of us to avoid holding grudges. Reach out to those we may have hurt, or those who have hurt us. Offer forgiveness. Bring ourselves to feel the forgiveness in our heart, even when our brain is not ready to.

  • Northshore H8! Practically Perfect in Every Way – from TurboTax

    21 PAX posted for the fourth semi-annual and second official Northshore H8! which, like Mary Poppins, was practically perfect in every way. The weather was great, the course was marked clearly and the PAX were motivated. Plus everyone knew that whatever we did it would be at least .01% better than anything the Southshore could accomplish. We have the Freedom Hammer to prove it.

    Anywho…we hit it hard. Reputations were burnished, feelings were hurt and everyone seemed to get their money’s worth. Several PAX completed eight laps and those that didn’t weren’t far behind. Except, of course, for Akbar who very conveniently was “injured.” YHC didn’t see any doctor’s note…just sayin.

    8 laps translates to 3.2 miles running, 550 yards of bear crawls, 36 burpees and 120 hand release Merkins. Not too shabby.

    So rest up for 6 months, guys, and we’ll test ourselves again in November. Thanks for letting me lead. Over and out.

  • Cashing in on the coupons – from Shooter

    Following up from my Q on Friday at the A1c with coupon work I wanted to bring my Mandevillian brethren into the mix in similar fashion.. For a moment it looked as if it would only be Waterpik and YHC, until of course Cowbell returned back to his old ways of rolling up slightly behind to join Pik and I as we started the warmup with a lap around the first block.

    Warmup
    All IC 10 Windmills, Arm circles F/B, Imperial walkers and SSH.

    PAX collected a coupon and returned to the court. YHC pulled out a deck of cards and instructed the first exercises represented by the suits of the first 12 cards turned over. Lots of high numbers ♠️ (block squats), ♦️ (shoulder press) ♣️ (Curls) ♥️ Chest press. After turning 12 we moseyed another lap. Returned for round 2 ♠️ (Squat thrusters) ♦️ (Kettle swings) ♣️ (Curls…why you ask? For the girls!) ♥️ (LBCs) flipped a Joker on this round so a mixed rep count of 10,10,10 and 20.. Wrapped up the block work and returned to center court for a core closeout..
    IC 20 Peter Parker’s, Parker Peters, Mountain climbers and Shoulder taps.. IC 15 Flutter kicks, Hello Dollies, Rosalitas and Crunchy Cowbells…

    Appreciate Waterpik closing with our intentions…

    Till the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • A roll of the die birthday Q – from Fracsac

    14 Pax including 1 FNG made a choice to take the DRP on their journey to get right and posted to the Renaissance wondering what awesomeness YHC had in store for his Birthday Q! With a shovel flag planted, disclaimer was given, then:

    Mosey to the steps of NOMA for a warmup

    IW x 15
    Abe Vigodas x 10
    GG x 10
    Bat wings (dancing during Moroccan NC)

    Mosey back to the fountain to reveal what YHC had to share….a six sided box aka the die of death…

    Motivator
    Embrace The Suck
    Sweetness Run
    EMOM x 5 minutes
    Deconstructed burpees
    Jack Webb

    First roll brought the Sweetness Run. This is a combination of an Indian run, Bataan death March, and a ruck. Form a column, pax in front starts running with Sweetness, a 60 lb sandbag. All other pax drop for 5 burpees then last man sprints to catch Sweetness. Continue until all Pax get to dance with Sweetness.

    Second roll brought….

    The Motivator! Deconstructed SSH descending from 10 to 1. It’s a real crowd pleaser!!!

    Third roll brought….

    EMOM x 5
    That’s 5 minutes of 10 burpees every minute on the minute.

    Last roll brought…..

    Embrace the Suck. 3 minutes of 7 x Jump Squats, 7 x Merkins, and 7 x LBC’s over and over calling out your rounds.

    Finished with Sunday mornings at the back of NOMA.

    COT with the naming of the FNG. Welcome Bag Pipes!!!

    NMM

    -Having 14 at my birthday Q was awesome! I felt the love.
    -100% attendance at coffeteria!
    -Received a gift from Vagabond that was in a Frac – Sack! Perhaps those awesome shorts will become the brotherhood of the traveling shorts, with the birthday Q wearing them??
    -Gideon captured some great footage with the drone!
    -Thanks for everyone’s love and support!

    SYITG

  • Time will tell – from Shooter

    In a selfish attempt to slow multiple PAX down for the upcoming H8, YHC will need to wait 24 hours to see if his evil plan plays to his favor.. Then again all the men that posted on this wonderfully cool gloom at the A1c have proven time and time again that they won’t be denied when it comes to a challenge.. Wether it be Einstein continuing an amazing streak of 38 years at the CCC T👏🏼, or Russo’s transformation of shredding lbs and becoming a runner through this last year of COVID, perhaps most importantly Cowbell breaking his record this week of being on time for the start of every beatdown 😬 (Alexis aka Brains for loaning the Audi)🤪 that must be the reason? Maybe it’s Jose10k and the past 60 plus streak of beatdowns I believe it was with inspiration of course from Zoolander with the sweat gallon challenge 🤢… My skin still itches for you Zoo!! However considering your one armed modified Merks or your Murphs in true form with a ruck sack I am sure your armor repelled the acid filled jug with ease… I look forward to seeing you guys crush the H8 in the Gloom, as I know my evil wish will NOT deter any of you from showing up or showing out or perhaps showing off as we meet at the Lakefront tomorrow for a Turbocharged Turbo tax Q!!

    Brief warmup
    All 10IC Grass grabbers, Torso twists, Cherry pickers, Toe touches, Imperial walkers and Seal Jacks.

    Moseyed over to the front or rear Tax payor funded fortress of a Justice center to Qs parked car. Retrieved our coupons with the perfect number of six.
    Instructions simple
    “Ring of Fire” check out the Exicon for details.

    Short order alternating Blocks/Cardio
    Squat thrusters, Bench box jumps, Shoulder press, Sister Mary’s, Curls, Apollo Onos, Chest press, Jumping Knee tucks, Block clean and jerks, Sprint up stairs and return to R/R 2 full rounds of all 10 and pressed for time we got back to the first 4 for the final round.. 24 sets of AMRAP with time blocks of 1 min…

    Returned to the top of the garage right on time to count-off, announce and YHC closed out the COT with intentions of awareness of Mental health Month for May..

    Always enjoy the Gloom with you men and appreciate the accountability!!

    PAX
    Cowbell, Einstein, Jose10k, Russo, Zoolander

  • The beatdowns have gotten easy lately – from Waterpik

    That’s what cowbell said this morning. If you sign up to Q a workout be sure to take that into account.

    That’s all I’ve got, men