YHC was planning on posting this morning as a rucker and being the only rucker there. It soon became apparent that there would be a 3 ruckers in total, along with 3 runners and 1 S&M on a park bench. That being said, having conversation definitely made the 45 minutes in the gloom pass by faster vs. whatever was up next in my podcast feed.
COT: Prayed for Mambi’s mom (May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace) and for Vag’s meeting today at 1 pm.
Four dedicated souls braved the stench of the sugar cane plant and the lure of the warm fartsack on what for many is a day off of work. White Meat in particular shared his inner battle with himself to get out of bed and into his fly ride to make the jump across the bayou. And, Dox braved the cryptic hype Goose Q even though he has to post tomorrow for his own Q. Pope didn’t have a choice–he’s not allowed to sleep in until he can show zero sign of fatigue at the end of a beatdown that his father deems “challenging”.
The hype had no real connection to the workout; YHC just needed a place holder to let the PAX know the world wasn’t coming to an end. After warmups, which included both versions of Nightclubs for White Meat’s continuing education, we completed a short mosey to the grass over by the stop sign at the beginning of The Stretch. YHC revealed that we’d be doing some long 11’s in the fashion experienced only by Enron, YJ, and maybe Smooth about a year ago. Knowing that those fellas were unlikely to show, YHC took advantage of the ignorance of today’s PAX and explained what sounded like a relatively moderate routine: Afflecks on the near side, gas pumpers on the far side, carioca there nur back. The far side was basically the end of the grass, across from the other Stop sign (the distance of the parking lot/drive). (Afflecks are J-Lo’s with a pickle-pounder when you cross the middle–4-count this time.)
We started off being able to converse, but that didn’t last long. Dox showed some grit in staying even with YHC the whole time (Go Team Long-Tibia), and White Meat stayed right behind Pope in a show of his own mettle. It was a long grinder with the cariocas being the crux (the nurs in close second) ensuring some unique soreness tomorrow, but we finished in good time, so it was on to the cultural education portion of the beatdown.
YHC was recently reminded of an musician who captured him as a middle schooler in the early 90’s, and, though not as popular as Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, or Talk Talk, his one hit, “Walking in Memphis” opened the door to an album that’s pure enjoyment from open to close. Marc Cohn would lead us through the final 10 minutes of the beatdown with some coupon work.
The first song was the aforementioned “Walking in Memphis”, still capturing random hearts to this day–we held coupons overhead in rifle carry position and did a thruster for every “Walking”. Pope decided to modify about halfway through by dropping to his six and holding bench press position instead and doing coupon situps on the triggers. He chose poorly.
Song #2 was “29 Ways”, the upbeat, bluesy song on the album, and we got on our sixes and held our coupons in bench press position for the duration, doing coupon situps on every “door”. Sorry, Pope. Still no sleeping in.
About 6 minutes of Mary included the likes of crunchy frogs, wife pleasers, static wife pleasers, Freddy Mercs, Li’ Manny Crunches (static LBC’s), slow penguins, and Nolan Ryans (with the drawl).
COT and Dox prayed us out. Prepping for the Coyote b-day Q this Saturday, the 10-Year NOLA Convergence next Saturday, and the 4-year F3 Thib/5-year Goose Manniversary the next Saturday. So much awesomeness to look forward to!
SYITG,
Goose
Hunting & Gathering
After a deep rabbit hole dive into the physiological advantages of prehistorical homo-sapien survival, and its similarities with the F3 style of beatdowns, a particular IPC’ish pyramid scheme was created. I mean, we as a group aren’t that evolutionarily different from our ancient ancestors. Farting is still hilarious, grunts and obscure noises are echoed throughout the gloom, and sexual innuendos find their way into any exicon maneuver.
So, when 8 men and a 5 next generation 2.0’s joined YHC for his 4th year manniversary. I was pleased to share my brainchild.
After a lengthy waramarama, making sure to hit all body parts, we coupon moseyed to the track. A faintly heard the remarks of a non running beatdown plan, because WETtap doesn’t like to run. While this is true, growth only comes through pain. And “do hard s%^!”
The plan would be as follows:
Every 10 yards of the football field is marked with a cone. Mode of transportation between cones = murder bunny from goaline-50yd / REDRUM 50- goaline. Under each cone was a carefully selected exercise the PAX must complete, then run a 400m lap, then complete again before advancing to the next cone. The rep count corresponded with the yard line.
0-10 MB, 10thrusters, lap, 10thursters
10-20 MB, 20 CPR, lap, 20 CPR
20-30MB, 30 zebrakicks, lap, 30 ZK
30-40 MB, 40 BBS, lap, 40 BBS
40-50 MB, 50 merkins, lap, 50 merkins
50-40RR, 40 AH, lap, 40AH
40-30RR, 30 ZK, lap, 30 ZK
30-20RR, 20 CPR, lap, 20CPR
20-10RR, 10 thrusters, lap, 10thrusters
10-0 RR
The finish line was so close. Only Goose and Safety valve were upset the clock struck 7:30 and time was called.
We moseyed back to the flag for COT and prayers.
Thanks to the PAX for the growth and support through this life long journey.
Fresh from an Epic Grand Canyon beat down YHC thought it apt to apply some lessons in endurance.
Mosey to the JPAS for some mobility and warmup work
Worked on SQUAT form by standing face and bell to a wall and then slowly squatting, repeating till the lesson was learned
Formed up the PAX for proper hand/elbow position for some Merkins
Introduced the Toys and the BD
60# Sand Bag was the timer up the ramp and down the stairs
While the timer ticked off:
All stations worked the sets till the timer returned, then moved Clockwise to the next station
Station 1 – Take small steps up/down on a coupon – keeping knee engaged the whole time. Sort of like a single leg pulse squat
Station 2 – 40# SandBag Front Squat
Station 3 – 54 Lb KB swings
Station 4 – Barbell complex – Deadlift, Clean, Press, Tricep Ext, Return to beginning
Finished with 12 min of Pain
Mission Impossible Merkins
BB Situps/Flutter Kicks
A combo Of Fire Hydrant Leg Lifts/Scorpion Kick and Extended Side Leg Lift
Mosey to Flag and COT
Warm up in motion
Steps run up and down 10 times
Dirty McDeuce
Exercise and bear crawl the porch
Merkins
Big bois
Squats
Curls
Flashers
Bonnie Blair’s 2 is 1
overhead press
LBCs
Side lunges
shoulder taps 2 is 1
V ups
Lunges 2 is 1
chest press
Russian twist 2 is 1
Squat kick
Sunday Mornings
No Q signed up late Friday, so YHC stepped up and made the commitment.
10 other Pax joined bringing the total to 11.
Warmup at the peristyle with normal stuff.
Great Lawn has vendors setting up, so mosey to field near NOMA. Set up cones to form a field with 2 end zones. Split up pax and for 4 teams. 2 teams playing football and 2 playing ultimate frisbee on the same field. Change up games midway so everyone gets a dose of both. Total chaos.
Mosey behind Cafe du Monde for some Dora. There was something to do with running with football and frisbee which YHCs team won.
Mosey to flag for CoT followed by coffeteria
NMM
Knucklehead was wearing so much bling he didn’t notice a pendant coming off. We used the last 5 minutes scouring the football/frisbee field looking for it to no avail.
YHC tried something new, the pax were receptive, and everyone got a good workout and had some fun.
Sign up to Q and just go for it.
SYITG
Set up 4 markers in a square, about 40 yards apart. Everyone in the Pax should have a heavy rock. Here’s how it goes:
1. Start at the first marker and complete the designated exercise.
2. After finishing, toss your rock to the next marker.
3. Important: Every time you pick up the rock, you must do one burpee.
4. Complete the exercise at the second marker, then sprint to the third marker.
5. Continue around the square, performing the exercises at each marker, until you’ve made it back to where you originally left the rock.
6. Keep going through the exercises and tossing the rock until the rock returns to marker one.
Round 1 – Exercises (10 reps each):
1. Curls
2. American Hammers
3. Jump Squats
4. Earthworm Merkins
5. Mountain Climbers
Round 2 – Exercises (5 reps each):
1. Shoulder Press
2. WW3 Sit-Ups
3. V-Ups
4. 8-Count Body Builders
5. Monkey Humpers
COT: Announcements, Intentions, Prayer
Fantastic weather this morning for a krewe of 4. Lots of good mumblechatter (most of which should not be repeated for posterity) among Steve, Shooter, Pelican, and YHC.
Warmup
Toe touches
SSHs
Sealjacks
Grass grabbers
Imperial walkers
Thang – Tabata with bricks: one in each hand, 45 seconds on, 20 off.
Two rounds of the following, interspersed with some core
– Plankjacks
– Cherry pickers
– Overhead claps
– Nutcrackers
– Merkins with rows
– Torso twists
– SSHs
– Tricep extensions
– Arm curls
– Air presses
– Hallelujah Squats
– Arm circles
– Milk maids
– Goofballs
Corr (15x)
LMCs
Penguins
Leg raises
LBCs
Flutter kicks
Rosalitas
Freddy Mercury’s
90 second plank to close
The usual COT, announcements, prayer to close.
Reminder that Manny has Q tomorrow, Tanked up is going for the golds tomorrow at the Senior Olympics, there’s a spartan next week, and praise and rejoicing for a new arrival in the Shooter household!
Thank you all for joining and reading and SYITG
In a scene that could only be described as part fitness, part fandom, BBQ showed up to the workout with a brand new Kansas City Chiefs flag, proudly waving it around after the Saints’ brutal Monday night loss. It might be the new flag of the A1C he claimed. The warm-up was a mixture of stretches, questionable dance moves (the music always inspires some moves), and a few BBQ chicken wings as the flag continued to flap in the wind, mocking all Saints fans present.
Then, it was off to the courthouse for a set of 11s. Copperhead squats at the bottom had everyone’s legs shaking like a Saints’ defense on 3rd and long. Sprinting to the stairs, the team powered through calf raises on each step, praying their legs wouldn’t fail them halfway up. At the top, merkins awaited — because why not add pushups to chisel the upper body for the ladies?
The race down the ramp and around the parking lot felt like a marathon, but with the crisp fall air making it slightly more bearable. But something was missing. The group looked around — where was Einstein, the brains behind the operation? Where was Darkwing Duck, swooping in to save the day? Alas, they were nowhere to be found. It was just Moby, BBQ, the Chiefs flag, and the painful reminder that leg day is forever.
All in all, it was a great workout — though maybe next time BBQ should leave the flag at home.
YHC rolled up to familiar faces from Granny’s.
DR Mee Maw, Steve and Rouse were present.
Next thing you know an unfamiliar car comes rolling in and low and behold HogsBreath emerges from a new ride.. With all PAX accounted for we completed a light warmup..
SSH
Grass grabbers
Toe touches
Arm circles
Butt kicks
Good mornings
3 rucked out for 20 and back while Steve and Q took the lakefront route turning up and returning at the Barley Oak!!
Upon return to the AO completed Jane Fonda’s (EiEi) style.
Rouse closed with COT!!
Until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!
