Category: Northshore

  • The Return of Captain Sparkles!

    An unexpected hero materialized out of the gloom this morning: Captain Sparkles, the firefighting leader of men with his amulet of FD power returned to show the PAX how a real man carries another man through a tunnel.

    Warm-ups were SSH, Windmills, Arm Circles, IW’s and Butt Kicks. Then, we moseyed to the tunnel for the thang that YHC has been dreading for two days:

    THANG: Basic premise is moving through the tunnel using a variety of methods with 10 burpees after each. All methods of forward progress (except the alligator crawl, which could only be completed halfway up the opposite ramp) were accomplished on both the down and up ramps with a short, slow-mosey break on the flat part at the bottom, and each followed by 10 burpees at the top.

    Started with lunge walk, then crab walk, then partner carry, flapjacking for a second round after burpees. This is where Captain Sparkles’ years of fire rescue skills left YHC in the dust carrying Zoolander on his back, confidently riding like an ostrich-jockey (metaphor provided by Hammer). Next was the brutal alligator crawl, followed by back-pedal, then sprint, and finally bear crawls (and 80 burpees overall).

    After arriving back to the flag two minutes over time, COT, and Hammer prayed us out.

    Thanks, gents, for your willingness to persevere and for giving YHC a reason to finish what we started this morning.

    See you in the gloom!

  • Episode II: I Am Your Father Yoda! OR Ain’t Nobody Humpin’ Around

    For the 2nd time in a week, 10 year old Baby Yoda stepped up to lead the Northshore PAX, this time co-Qing with his pappy, YHC. His reflections the following day (other than “Owww I’m sore”) were, “That was fun,” and, “I like telling the old guys what to do.” Well this is one old guy who likes anyone telling him what to do, so long as it results in good times and growth. And speaking of…

    PRE-THANG

    Being the last Saturday of RRR, these 2 miles held more desperate relevance to some than to others, but regardless, it was as strong a showing as ever.

    WARM-O-RAMA

    BY started us off with x15 IC:

    SSH, Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks

    x5 T Merkins OYO

    x5 Burpess OYO

    THANG

    Mosey to the Gazebo for:

    A round of 100 Circle Burps while holding Al Gore,

    A round of 100 Circle Merkins while holding Plank

    Mosey to the Unit where it was time for Pappa’s Brand New Bag as QIC 2 handed back off to QIC 1 for the Tripple Check:

    In groups of 3, 1st man sprints 50 yards out and 50 back, while 2nd man holds plank and 3rd man hold Al Gore. Upon returning 1st man get to the back of the line and into Al Gore and so on. Repeat for 3 rounds.

    Mosey to Lafitte where the PAX of 19 circled up once again, this time for Circle Travolta Merkins – Merkin, 1-arm Plank with right arm high, reach under and accross body, and back up before returning to plank. Around the circle once, then reverse direction back this time with left arm high.

    With only one PAX within quick moseying distance, it was a fairly brief run as it was time for the inaugural Tour de Humpers! Mosey north on Lafitte where, upon reaching the corner of Lafitte/Claiborne PAX did 10 Burpees(?) OYO. Continued on for another 100 feet before reaching Casa de Breve`, disturbing Mrs. Breve`, and lining up across the street facing (with an upside down view) Steve’s gracious M for x20 IC Monkey Humpers!

    Ain’t nobody humpin’ around!

    Back on course to Claiborne /Girod for another exercise, and one last stop at our former coffeeteria site, Kona, to show them what F3 Northshore thinks of their “toxic” environment.

    MARY

    Back at the flag earlier than planned, co-Q’s laid forth an abdominal smack down for 15 minutes that was certain to have hit its mark.

    COT

    Count/Name/Our mysterious F3 “out-of-town” stranger prayed us out in his slightly baritone, solemn country twang before fading back into the gloom.

    On behalf of myself and Baby Yoda, many thanks, gentlemen, for following our lead and providing the example of strength and unity that so many men, especially myself, need in their life.

  • Mosey You Shall

    A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

    It is a period of civil war. A young rebel PAX, striking from the hidden base of Wacker Fortress, stepped forth to claim his 1st victory against the evil empty Q sheet.

    During the battle, rebel spies witnessed IC x15: Cherry Pickers, Imperial Walkers, Torso Twists, High knees, and Squats done with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

    Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, the PAX races along the usual Mandeville route aboard their swift feet, custodians of the stolen plans that can save their people and restore freedom to F3 Northshore…

    Upon their return, they each did reps at an exercise station while 2 men did 5 Burpees, 10 Freak Nasties, and 15 Squats – then rotated.

    With the Empire still at their heels, the rebel PAX counted off, name o rama, and were lead safely out of evil’s reach by Hammer.

    It is still a dark time for F3 Northshore. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, imperial troops have driven Baby Yoda from his hidden base in Big Branch and pursued him across St. Tammany Parish.

    Evading the dreaded imperial star fleet, a group of freedom fighters lead by Baby Yoda, Bushwacker, Steve, Goose, and the other F3 rebels has established new Q sign ups on the desolate and icy Q sheet.

    The evil Lord Darth Fartsack, obsessed with keeping the Q sheet empty, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of the northshore to find out why so many PAX are refusing to put forth the down PAINMENT as a leader of men…. as 10 year old Baby Yoda has…..

    Stay tuned for Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Saturday at the Lakefront

  • Round Robin

    With no one signed up to Q, 8 PAX assembled at the Gipper for a Round Robin..

    Shooter: (warmup)

    IC 15 Imperial walkers, Toe touches, Cherry pickers, Air presses.

    IC 20 Butt kicks, SSH and 20 OYO Mercans..

    Jose 10k:

    Moseyed the PAX to the Justice center for what he remembered most from a former post, in which Turbo introduced us to the ramps with an unorthodox way of ascension ๐Ÿ˜ฉ.. Partnered up 100, 200 and 300 Mercans, Squats and LBCs. P1 kept the rep count as P2 laterally bear crawled up the ramps utilizing the hand railings.. With 20 mins remaining baton passes too….

    Cowbell:

    B.L.I.M.P.S

    (Burpees, Lunges, Imperial walkers, Mercans, Plank Jacks, Squats)

    Reps 10, 20 (each leg so 40), 30 (actually 60), 40, 50 and 60.. Between each exercise PAX ascended a Mosey up stairwell of the parking garage and backdown… Moseyed back for the close with…

    Grover:

    20 IC Flutter kicks and Crunchy frogs..

    ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป To Barely Legal for prayers and reflection of the start of the Lenton season…

    ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘Š๐ŸปโœŒ๐Ÿป Till the next Gloom

  • Dance Like Everyone’s Watching

    Though we had a smaller PAX than expected, the number and quality of men who showed were perfect for the beatdown that YHC had thrown together.

    Warm-up: Imperial Walkers, Toe touches, Windmills, Arm circles, High knees, Butt kicks. Then, we moseyed to the stop sign and back to wake up the cardio system.

    The Thang started with each man standing at a corner of the basketball court (half court)–the man at “home plate” started 15 burpees while first base did squats AMRAP, second base did Mercans, and third base did LBC’s until the burpees were completed by the man at home and he ran to first to relieve the squatter. Each replaced the next until every man cycled through the burpees at home.

    Then, we partnered up to take turns running suicides and splitting duty on 100 lunges, 200 flutter kicks, and 300 SSH.

    In the last 15 minutes, we burned any remaining strength with a couple of classic rock-sercises. First, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC in plank for the duration and Mercans every time they said “Thunder.” For the second, YHC revealed his signature high school homecoming dance move that, as it turns out, is well known and had already been named Imperial Walkers. The rhythm for the song “Baba O’Reilly” by The Who (“Teenage Wasteland”) is perfect for this move, though after “dancng” for five minutes straight, hip flexors will be sore tomorrow. Hammer’s superhuman knowledge of classic rock was much appreciated as he was able to tell us, to the second, how much longer we had to go.

    With five minutes left, YHC played “Flower” by Moby (“Bring Sally up, Bring Sally down”: made popular by the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds), and the PAX did squats following the instructions up and down as given in the song.

    Count, name, and Hammer prayed us out before Shooter ran the 2.5 miles back home after a killer cardio beatdown. Excellent way to start the week!

    Thanks to the men who joined. See you in the gloom!

  • Doubling Down on 2-22

    When a last-minute request for a Saturday Q yielded no results, the man who’s up for anything, the holder of no secrets, keeper of Girl Scout cookies, and grand captain of all CSAUP’s – that’s right, Mr. Bushwacker himself – offered to co-Q with yours truly. A twofer? On 2-22. How could YHC resist.

    There had been a botched attempt of this beatdown around six months ago, but a tropical storm stymied it and we threw it on the back burner. (Even back then Wacker attempted to explain the rules of Speedball to me with no success. This time around, he sent an 8-minute youtube video to me the night before, which was somehow even less successful than the first attempt.)

    Pre-Thang: You could literally feel the average age of the PAX drop by five years this morning, as the two mile warm-up run had a noticeable shot of speed added to it with Whip, Grover, and FNG Fuzzy Balls leading the way. Of course, it didn’t help that many of us are now near-crippled from all of our RRR mileage. But still…. great to have some youth mixed into the group and YHC hopes we see more of these guys.

    Warmorama: YHC took the warmup and did some pretty basic stuff: SSH, windmills, seal jacks, IW’s, merkins, mountain climbers, plank jacks, etc. All IC, somewhere between 10 and 20.

    Thang: We took a short mosey over to Rip’s, , where the PAX split in two for a derkin stair climb. That’s right: from a plank position, climb the treacherously steep and semi-rotting stairs backwards, doing a derkin on each step. (Disclaimer properly given, mind you.) The rest of the men, having formed two circles, would do whatever exercise the next man up called out. One team added the football to the mix, which made a round of flutter kicks with a game of toss thrown in (penalty burpees for missed catches, of course) seem like it should naturally be added to the exicon. In fact, maybe all Mary should involve a ball?

    Once the painful part of the beatdown was over, it was time to turn the show over to Bush for the fun n’ games. (And, appropriately, let’s turn the backblast reins over to Mr. Wack as well):

    From Ripsโ€™s, the PAX moseyed on to the Marsh, football-tossing and rules-explaining along the way. Upon arriving and splitting off into HATS vs No-HATS, the rules were covered one more time for F3 Northshoreโ€™s 1st ever fast-paced, high intensity, more than slightly confusing game of Speedball (though little good it did). There was uncertainty โ€˜til the end…in which Tanked Up was single-handedly reponsible for his bonneted brethren losing 10-1 in a melee wherein each point resulted in the opposing team kissing concrete as they all preformed 5 burpees. With fun n games concluded and lessons learned for the improvement of the next experience, the teams each Indian ran back to the flag where, after one false start and another well-intentioned interruption, the COT was finally underway. Named/welcomed FNG Fuzzy Ballz and Jose prayed us out.

    Thank you guys for putting up with the two of us!

  • The โ€œFingerโ€ can be good or bad!

    YHC arrived at the Scramble with sights of Steve turning into the parking lot.. Shortly there after Bushwacker and Waterpik roll in and we start the warm up.. Thoughts of Cowbell possibly rolling in hot we begin with all IC 10 SSH, Touch touches then lights come around the corner as Goose joins the PAX for the final two (Unnamed maybe) legs wide Palm to the ground touches and backup closing with Windmills..

    PAX journeyed 20 mins out and 20 mins back.. Total actually 4.25 miles..

    โ€œAs for the Finger, sometimes you deserve it and sometimes itโ€™s unavoidableโ€

    Thanks to Wacker for closeout with ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ!

    โœŒ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป Till the next Gloom

  • Expected and sometimes Unexpected patrons in the Gloom!!

    With hints of humidity and the chance for rain the last few weeks, AOs have created some expected and unexpected events as well as patrons.. A fixture and Expected Grover has shown great discipline in posting at the early weekdays as well as Saturdays.. Hugh ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป to him and Akbar for their commitment to F3, certainly glad to have you men.. Following a well balanced beatdown by Goose, YHC was still feeling the lingering effects of the entertaining beatdown provided on Saturday.. As for the Unexpected our journey this Gloom would include multiple sightings and interruption on the trailhead. Some provided by the PAX and others provided by the fair weather biker friends spooked by the PAX appearing out of the ground like Zombies in the night only to quickly change direction on a dime…
    Enough rambling..

    Prethang

    ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป to Cowbell with getting in an extra mile and Steve appearing out the dark with his own prethang..

    warmup

    All IC 10 Toe touches, Windmills, Cherry pickers, Shoulder presses and Butt kicks..

    thang

    Mosey to the tunnel partner up P1 LBCs while P2 jogs to the flat and lunge walks the flat back pedals up R/R back. Next P1 Merkins to 10 followed by a 10 count R/R till P2 returns from jogging down Carioca the flat sprint to the top R/R back. (2X) Last set P1 holds Al cores for 20 seconds 5 sec rest R/R.. Moseyed to the bus stop for some bench work. Hop overs 20/15/10/20 with equal counts of Freak Nasties.. Moseyed to the steps partnered again 3 rounds P1 plank P2 sprints up the steps 5 jump squats returns, R/R Nolan Ryanโ€™s both sides.. Mary to close 20 IC Freddie Mercuryโ€™s and Cowbells arms high Flutters..

    Appreciation to Zoolander for praying PAX out!!

    โœŒ๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป till the next Gloom!!

  • Shin Sprints

    After a brief warm up, mosey down to Lakefront for 10 sprints along Lakeshore Dr. of about 75 yards. Then, legs fully weakened, crank out 2 longer sprints of about 1-2 blocks.

    Mosey back to Marsh for some pull ups, Bulgarian Split Squats (Steve’s favorite), Merkins, finishing up with some core work, especially for Captain Core himself, Sir Wacker.

    COT. Thanks to Akbar for praying us out.

  • He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother

    From Goose: As the PAX circled in the light of a cold Saturday morning, YHC received for the first time as Q the focused look of many men trying to guess the type and magnitude of the pain they’re about to endure. And, though the beatdown wasn’t an overwhelming challenge for most, it was certainly a different experience than they could have guessed.

    Warm-ups consisted of IC: SSH, Seal Jacks, Windmills, toe touches, high knees, and butt kicks. 

    The Thang was varied and sundry:

    First, moseyed to the small open field area before the gazebo and broke into two teams of eight, then into groups of four facing each other about 10 yards apart for 6 rounds of shuttle runs using small cones for moveables. Each round was followed by decreasing numbers of burpees and big-boy sit-ups.

    Then, moseyed about half a mile away from the flag, just over the bridge to a larger open field. Here, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we all got a little closer with some touchy-feely quality time. 

    This started with the Tunnel of Love during which all PAX lined up shoulder to shoulder in plank position while the man on the end army crawled through the tunnel followed by the next until all had wormed their way through and all jokes about overhead clearance were exhausted.

    We then flipped onto our 6 for the Bridge of Hate: all PAX lying shoulder to shoulder as the man on the end lowers himself onto the row of eager hands to be passed, crowd-surfing style, to the end. Each man endured the slow, sloppy process, though wardrobes threatened to malfunction, and the use of knees became necessary to move more than a few men. (Grover, however, being last, was shot like a javelin down the line.)

    This was followed by Three Amigos: the PAX split into groups of three, and each group stood back to back, linked arms, and dropped into a chair-sit position. They then walked in that position about ten yards, completed five copperhead squats together, and squat-walked back.

    We finished in that field with four rounds of exercises (50 LBC’s, 40 SSH, 30 jump squats, and 20 Merkins) each followed by a forty yard sprint into a ten yard army crawl.

    We moved back to flag using a lighter version of a Bataan Death March: Indian Run with the last man stopping and doing three burpees before catching up, tapping the new last man (so he can stop and do burpees), and running to the front. The line was long and the distance short, so most only had one round, but with the time left at the flag, we completed one round of vacuum cleaners and a couple of side-plank domino/waves in a circle. 

    Vacuum cleaners: partner 1 holds partner 2’s legs wheelbarrow-style and moves forward ten yards where partner 1 does 5 Derkins, then moves backwards in the same position to the start before flapjacking. Communication was key for this one, and hand-walking backwards was unexpectedly brutal.

    COT, Count, Name, and Maverick prayed us out.

    Thanks to all who posted for this VQ!  It’s truly an honor to journey with this crew!