PAX gathered, some familiar and unfamiliar faces alike. Warm-ups (approved by Bogey).
7 mins. Of Heaven (7 Spider-merkins, 14 PP, 21 Leg Raises, 28 Flutter kicks) – Repeat for 7 mins of Glory.
PAX Partnered up. One ran around the gym while the other held a pose. Repeat 5 times.
Round 1 – Wall squats
Round 2 – Plank
COT commenced with 2 burpees without resistance from the PAX
Have a great Friday and Safe Weekend.
Running,rucking, R2R Training, KOT
YHC showed up to a modest gathering of HIMs ready to accelerate their 3GL.
Warmups
Arm circles
Upper Body twist
Slow Vagoda
Imperial Walkers
SSH
Mosey to JPAS
Reading off the pre-written poster board, we began the work:
10 InchWorm Merkins
Merkin Circuit: 5x each movement, + 1 Merkin each rep
4ct Plank Jack + 1 Merkin
L/R Bird Dog + 1 Merkin
4 Ct Sh Tap + 1 Merkin
Peter Parker + 1 Merkin
Parker Peter + 1 Merkin
AB Work
10 reps each
Hello Dolly
Oh Dolly
Box Cutter
L/R single leg wife pleasers
LBC
Pickup Coupons
Complex –
Sumo Squat/Row/Curl/OHP/Tricep Ext Repeat 10x
Next
Pullover/Chest Press/BB Situp/Flutter Kick Repeat 10x
Mosey to flags and COT
3 HIMS took the red pill this morning to better ourselves. The Q was open, so I decided to take it and focus on core today. Warm-ups: The ususal.
The thang: 4 “Core”ners. We did a series of core exercises at each corner. Penquins, flutter kicks, lbcs, big boy sit ups, and off course wife pleasers (with a fun extra twist). Lt. Dan to the next corner. Finished off with 3 minutes of deep stretches. COT, Moby prayed us out the intentions for Bird and his family with the loss of his first cousin. One other intention: we get to give DarkWing respect starting tomorrow, he’s officially turning 50!
YHC usually has beatdowns loosely formed a few days in advance. But occasionally inspiration will strike so violently that the whole plan needs to be scrapped at the 11th hour. This was the case Monday night when, looking for a “it’s behind me “ hype gif , I came across LLCoolJ from Deep Blue Sea (high on the “influenced my pre teen years movie list” )
He looked in my eyes through a foggy , heavily cracked IPhone screen and spoke right to me.
“They need Shark Week Dox , search your heart, they aren’t ready, it’s your job to prepare them”
All at once, I knew it was true.
These men are headed to beaches with their families for the next 2-3 months and I can’t send them into battle without conditioning.
Say no more Mr Cool James, I’ll take care of the rest.
Duke! Get out of the water and roll the footage!
9 strong at the Stage.
We did all the favorite warmers a d YHC was downright scared at the amount of groans coming from attendees of Mondays Wet Tap massacre. Hope they wouldn’t need legs today … headed off to the deep blue sea in an Indian run 3 burp drop.
Thang 1
We would stop for 3 rounds of shark related trivia.
Simple rules.
Start with 125 reps
Take 25 off for every correct answer .
Shark trivia
1. deep blue sea —-what shark species—-mako
2. What disease are they trying to cure —-Alzheimer’s
3. Director of DBS had one previous financial success in 1993. —Cliffhanger
4. Although he plays the cook , LL cool J character is known as (Blank) and stabs a shark in the eye with a (Blank). —-preacher/crucifix
Pretty shaky start here when YHC realized know had seen this movie in like 15 years.
75 merkin fast ball right out the gate.
General Shark Round
1.) Smallest shark species—dwarf lantern shark
2.) The term “jump the shark “ was first used to reference what tv show ? ——Happy Days
3.) Appearing in the first episode of Saturday night live , this actor played a recurring character , the land shark ——Chevy Chase
4.) what Hyundai coup got its name from the Spanish word for shark —-Tiburon
Much better showing here in round 2 as the trivia titans began to stretch their brains. Could have been the acute danger of 125 monkey jumpers signaling a storm of epinephrine but regardless the count was reduced to 25.
Jaws Category
1Jaws based on novel of the same name by who ? (Peter Benchley)
2.) 2 men killed by sharks in this state inspired the book —-NJ
3.) name the species of shark killed that is mistaken for jaws ? Tiger
4. The character Quint is a survivor of what famed battleship? USS Indianapolis
50 Bobbie Hurleys and the legs were primed for Thang 2
Sharks and Guppies
Rules
1 shark starts w 15 burpees – then is free to chase
Guppies must complete 15 burpees spread out at 3 stations
If caught before completing the loop they pay 15 merkins
The shark must pay 5 burpees for every free guppy.
Round 1 Baby Shark
Round 2 Grandpa Shark
YHC made this game specifically with Honeysuckle and Pope in mind. Both with gazelle speed and wolf stamina they were in a good spot to sharpen some iron. Knowing pope would destroy most of us in the first round, the hope was to push near our limits of endurance in round 2.
This effect was devastating in the Nur round as the quads were screaming and the beekeeper ran most of us down in cold blood, hunting those who had snickered at his coupon crabwalk. Vengeance was his.
Indian run home looking for Lenny Bruce .
It wasn’t the end of the world and we didn’t feel fine either.
Animal from Granpa shark to baby shark.
Pope had true concerns that he would lose his cardio during summer camp. The collective eye roll from the pax was so severe no eye institute could repair it, not even an advanced one.
we wished him well in camp and YhC hopes the Animal is the only shirt in his suitcase.
COT and Goose prayed us out.
See you in the deep end,
Dox
When the recent news of parish reassignments hit YHC, two things became clear. The first was an inevitable Cardinal tribute beatdown and the second was that I needed some time to think. I needed some distance (about 80miles would do) , some time to reflect …maybe even a nice view…maybe even a lake. And there’s one lake I know of. It’s the one you know too. And as I sat there, parked by that lake, (you know the one), I reflected upon the gift of our own beloved Cardinal to our community. And right there, parked by that very lake, I dedicated this here beatdown to his 5 year ordination anniversary.
7 men at the Den on a relatively cool Thursday morning for some lake reflection and light calisthenics. The unsuspecting pax to be honored had been lured in with JBL HCs, dreams of chic-fil-a Coffeeteria and mysterious Smooth pressure at the previous nights DC circle. He dutifully fought the fartsack with a spare JBL, a few more regulars rolled in and we were ready to go.
Duke!! Plug Morgan city in the GPS ! What?! It’s not 80 miles away? Ok ok we’ll edit that in post …roll the footage!!
Warmup
The usuals with a warmup mosey for cone deposition and coupon configuration. This is usually where pax are looking for dox booby traps or random garage gym equipment but today all except one had been alerted it was a Cardinal tribute. They trudged onward anyway , into a nest of heavy coupons and gratitude.
THA THANG
YHC announced that we would celebrate Cardinals many gifts in circuit and musical form .
Song
The Announcement
When yHC first spoke with Cardinal about his new Morgan City parish we mostly planned an AO for the nearby LakeEnd park. It was amidst these jokes I saw the lake, and the miles, and the parking. Only one song could carry the weight of this kind of announcement
Dean Summerwind
“Parked by the Lake
Merkin – Parked
Side Reach – Lake
MC – Santa Fe
That one never gets old.
Next the Challenge
YHC has always been amazed at the sheer volume of Cardinals schedule. Mass, family dinners, meetings, plannimg schizms, whoop surveys, biscuit tastings, coffee roasters fine things club…and that’s just a regular Monday.
so an attempt was made to recreate and bring the pax along for the challenge.
Start in front of CC stairs
25 merkins (wake up)
Coupon Crab Walk to stairs (walk to coffee pot)
Confession/Mass/confession –
– 10 Thrusters – 10 curls- 10 Thrusters
High knee waves to cone (as a local celebrity
Run remaining civic center (late for a meeting) High knees waves back
Then Repeat above …because you have another mass at 10M mass
Coupon lunge backwards
25 merkins
The pax had all accepted various non priest vocations by the second serving of thrusters and Honeysuckle even assisted YHCs theme by pretending to display weakness at Coupon Crabwalks, prompting YHC to extend help to a “struggling parishioner” and swap everyone to coupon lunges walks. It’s ok HS , those Shakira hips don’t lie but they’re just too powerful.
Next we honored Cardinals uncanny ability to answer trivia with burpees on the line.
Early in YHCs Q career I selected the Hannah Montana movie album with hopes of cardio torture. Cardinal heard 2 microseconds of the beat, guessed the song, the year released AND the album saving the pax around 30 burpees. F3 Thib scholars still teach it to their students as a historical landmark of leadership.
Song:
Its the Climb – Miley Cyrus
SSH/ Burpees from Mountain to Climb
Another round of the Mass circuit and them coups were getting heavy.
Finally, and more sincerely YHC wanted to recognize Cardinals willingness to allow God to direct his life , pour out his grace and provide support for many of his F3 and community brothers through trying times and tribulations.
Song :
Lord of Hosts – Shane and Shane
Ring of Fire – Merkins – Burpees
We did a lot. The vision was blurry.
COT
Rugby to Cardinal
and Popeye prayed us out
**special shout out to a few Cardinal partners in crime who provided “Cardinals greatest hits: Seal, Nelly and beyond”
Words of a Feather:
In the fall of 2021 YHC walked onto a gloomy stage with a financial advisor and a theologian . Sounds like a bad doctor joke with a bartender punchline right?
It was actually YHCs first beatdown and I remember impressions of each man well. Goose, responsible for the EH at dinner the night before, had firmly planted himself in YHCs brain as “just my kind of crazy person”but the intensity level was palpable in his gaze so I looked onward. His wife had informed me it was “calisthenics and running” so why did it look more like a Cobra Kai seminar? “ Ok don’t panic” I told myself. , what about the other guy? Oh , Enron? He looked like a man who would crush a beer can between his forearm and bicep first and ask questions later. Clearly he was the enforcer of the bunch and I hoped my 318 cred would last for atleast 45 minutes. I was beginning to unravel this odd corporate structure, simultaneously back peddling to the car and trying to decide which one would ask me for the first monthly installment when a third man appeared. His smile was equal parts kind and welcoming and as he strolled in I felt an overwhelming sense of safety. They both addressed him as Cardinal. He replied with appropriate quips for each and we got started.
As we celebrate Cardinals 5th year as a priest it’s this very gift that I want to highlight the most, providing hope. For me that day it was just hope to survive chubbawampas hit single. But for the many people in this community he has impacted it’s a much greater Hope.
Hope restored as he administers sacraments ,Hope reminded in skilled homilies and Hope redeemed in spiritual direction.
All these, and much more he provides as an instrument of Gods grace and as an example of great trust.
Cardinal, you are a gift to our F3 brotherhood. We are grateful for you and look forward to supporting you in the next adventure.
And just know that when you’re ready , we’ll all be parked out there…sitting right by that lake…you know the one.
SYITG ,
Dox
**The Warmup:**
We started with a quick mosey around the Mardi Gras fountain, ending up on the grassy knoll for some good ol’ fashioned warmups:
– Side Straddle Hops x 20 (because who doesn’t love hopping?)
– Grass Grabbers x 10 (because the grass isn’t going to grab itself)
– Abe Vigodas x 10 (slow and steady, just like Abe)
– Imperial Walkers x 15 (marching to the beat of our own drum)
– Mountain Climbers x 15 (pretending we’re scaling Everest)
– Forward Arm Circles x 15 (windmills of glory)
– Backward Arm Circles x 15 (because why not reverse the wind?)
– Seal Claps x 15 (clapping like happy seals)
**Tabata Timed at the House of Pain:**
Next, we moseyed over to the House of Pain for a Tabata-style strength workout. It was 3 sets of 45-second intervals with 15 seconds of rest for each:
– Pull Ups (pulling up all the courage)
– Derkins (decline merkins for decline fun)
– Dips (dipping into greatness)
– Resting Chair with Air Press (sitting but still working)
**Back to the Mardi Gras Fountain:**
We headed back to the fountain where we (almost) completed 2 rounds of:
– **D-Day Combo:** 2 merkins, half barrel roll into 2 jump squats, reverse half barrel roll and repeat starting with merkins (rolling and jumping our way to freedom)
– **War Hammer:** WW2 sit-up with 4 American Hammers (double the pain, double the fun)
– **J-Lo’s:** because we’re still Jenny from the block
– **Nolan Ryan’s:** punching out the calories
– **High Knees on the Ladders:** with a lap around the fountain (high stepping like pros)
– **Step Ups:** stepping up our game
-**All timed by a climb up the levee with a 50 lbs. slam ball and 5 overhead slams on top (because why not add a mountain to our molehill?)
Moseyed back to the flag for COT: Name-A-Rama and a moment of silence to appreciate those men who paid the ultimate sacrifice on this day 80 years ago. May we live out today and every day as HIMs—not just for ourselves and our families, but for those men who never got that chance.
Thank you for a great first Q this morning, HIMs!
– Squints
Stations of the cross ruck hybrid beatdown
Maneater
Cardinal
Honeysuckle
3 fearless rucksters pulled up to the Colloseum ready for action. What they didn’t know was YHC had a little extra in store for the PAX.
Thang 1 Standard ruck to Cardinals house.
At approximately 5:16 the Pax embarked on the first leg of our journey traveling north on Audubon Ave. Talking about lighthearted thing such as YHC’s inability to decipher Popeyes old English coded Groupme message.
We made our way to St Thomas Aquinas for thang 2
Thang 2 Stations of the Cross
Not long ago YHC attended mass at STA and due to an unruly 2 year old spent the majority of the time walking the Stations of the Cross while holding a crying child. After making a couple laps, YHC mind began to wonder and was hit with a revelation. This would be a great place for a little shared suffering, and indeed it was.
The rules were do a genuflection at station one then increase to the end. The kicker was the mode of transportation would be bear crawls. YHC quickly learned that red pea gravel does not feel good on knees and hands. The PAX made it to station 7 and YHC switched it to squats and lunge walk for mode of transportation. At 11 YHC switched it to shoulder presses and farmer carry for travel due to our need to get back on with our ruck and back to the flag at an appropriate time. The Pax did great on this little change up of a thang and probably grew tired of YHC making excuses for the excursion.
Thang 3 the longer path
Once we recovered from thang 2 the PAX hit the road once again traveling east in front of the student union then south past the police station. From here we immediately jumped back on the walking path and high tailed it past the Did outfield fence recalling Nicholls baseball losing out on their chance to get to Omaha this weekend in heartbreak fashion. We made the turn around the llarge yellow post sticking up in the middle of our walking path (side note if anyone knows why that post is there please feel free The share with group. A reward may accompany your answer) and headed back to the flag. We made it back at 0605 hoping to see a smirk waiting for us there but alas it did not come into fruition.
We had COT , Intentions and instructions from Cardinal on the Eucharistic procession around Houma and Thibodaux tomorrow. Maneater prayed us out as we prayed for our F3 brothers and beyond. Thank to everyone for coming out and allowing YHC to lead.
SYITG,
Smooth Operator
It was a great way to start the day with 2 FNG’s showing up. Reminder to all, the importance of introducing new men to our group.
Quick warmups of Grass Grabbers, Abe Vigoda’s and Arm Circles.
Thang:
In keeping up with Mr. Rogers theme, we did a half Murph dedicated to Army Sergeant Bryan Cooper Mount. He was killed July 21, 2020 in Eastern Syria. He was a husband, son, brother, and leader who was adored by everyone who knew him.
In no particular order and done individually:
4 laps around track=1 mile
50 pullups
100 merkins
150 squats
Finish with 4 laps or whatever you have left in you.
Mary back at the flag.
Credit to Vagabond for the new FNG names. Welcome Crackspread and Little Mermaid.
COT
4 Pax headed out into the surprising morning syrup of humidity! 3 in the fast…1in the pedestrian lane. All returned slightly late.
