Category: Backblasts

  • This ain’t no democracy

    Just sit there and shut up. This ain't no democracy.

    A very very damp morning greeted the PAX, after yesterday’s squall lines rolled through. YHC had done a quick drive by one of the intended workout areas to see whether it was usable, and alas – discovered that it was quite soupy. So perhaps an audible was going to be necessary. More on that later.

    5:30 – Issue a disclaimer, and 21 PAX moseyed off to the track. YHC is not a regular at the Foundry. His recollections of the Foundry from way-back-when was of an intimate gathering of just a few close friends. Now we are at 21 PAX (and apparently that’s the new normal at The Foundry!) Fantastic to see such growth – more HIMs, more impact, more motivations. Thank you all.

    The Warmup

    Circle up on the track for a typical warmup, consisting of Windmills (oops – bad move on the part of the YHC, needed to restart , SSH, Arm Circles, Overhead Claps, more Arm Circles (alas, Amnesty kept chit chatting and missing the instructions to KEEP YOUR ARMS UP). Then some planks, just because.

    The Thing #1

    BLIMPS. Partner up for the BLIMPS-a-go-go. Partners run opposite directions on the track, and wherever they meet – do the next letter exercise. Then run opposite directions again. Start with Burpees x10. You all know the drill from there (except, apparently, YHC who attempted to spell out BIMPS). Ya Mom’n’Dem did a great job carrying an additional heavy weight on his back (“Jesus Juice”). Meanwhile, Holy Grove and Smooth finished about 15 minutes ahead of the next closes finisher.

    As PAX finish, start LBC’ing and Dollying awaiting the 6. YHC then offered the PAX a choice:

    • Elevens: PAX who want to do 11s, line up on YHC’s left
    • Get your shoes wet: PAX who want to get their shoes wet, line up on YHC’s right

    YHC was astounded to see a vote of 20-1 in favor of “Keep your shoes dry” (and the humble reader can guess who was the “1”). Apparently, a lesson in the Art of Manliness was in order. As this is NOT a democracy – the PAX moseyed off to collect a cinderblock from the swamp.

    The Thing #2

    Grab your cinder block and line up along the left field line in the puddles (you know, the area that looks like a baseball field when not covered by muck and grass clippings). Pop Tart scoffed at the rest of us, as the mud and water just oozed right out of his mandals…

    Round 1: 15 each Overhead Press, Curls, Rows, Bench Press. Then a Bear Crawl out about 30 yards, and Lunge Walk back. Briefs grumbling “my shoes won’t be dry for days”. Screw Top whining “Can’t we go do pullups instead? Its dry over there”.

    Round 2: 12 each. Crawl Bear out, Walk Lunge back. Words fail to express my disappointment at hearing Tool suggest that Walk Lunge would be easier if his footsies weren’t so wet.

    Round 3: 10 each. Not enough time for more out-and-back, so return our Cinderblock friends and slosh back to the flag.

    Finished about 5 mins late. Sorry PAX (but not really)

    Count-off and name-o-rama (lots of young guns at the Foundry – thanks for pushing me harder everyone!) Announcements and Intentions, especially praying for Holy Grove’s dad in his recovery from health challenges.

    As today is the feast day of St. Ignatius, YHC closed with his Prayer for Generosity. Thanks for letting me lead. And thanks for following where I go! Into the Muck and Mire!

  • Circuit court in Session

    Recovering from Waterpik’s light rep but high intensity beatdown from the day prior. YHC decided to bring some coupons of his own to the Gipper crew. Arrived at the AO to the sights of Moby, Akbar and Maverick loosening up around the flag. Knowing the PAX would soon swell by 4 as Cowbell rolls in hot and the prethangers of Legal, Turbo and Einstein come strolling in. Brief chatter as the instructions are given to what this beatdown will entail and wanting to make sure no modifications would be needed we jumped to it..

    Brief warmarama all IC 15 SSH, Imperial Walkers, Windmills and Toe Touches followed by our first 1:30 of the daily ISI (15:30 total for our final day) T-👏🏻 to all the participants on this great challenge offered up by the Northshore’s Bushwacker.. I never could have pushed through without the push of the PAX for this one but certainly glad I did.. Cowbell mentioned adding up the total cumulative count to know officially how long of planks we completed.. Look forward to seeing that number Cowbell, not to worry we will confirm with Grundy on your specs just to be certain nothing’s missed..

    Circuit court in Session

    PAX starts the Mosey carrying the coupons over to the Justice center and along the way Q has one of the PAX retrieve a medium boulder from the rock pile to add to our gadgets that will be used on this Gloom.

    Arrived in the middle for a long explanation by your YHC, but thankfully this high IQ PAX was able to put it all together. We created 7 stations with the 8th acting as our timer of sorts.

    S1 Band curls, S2 Jump rope, S3 Mountain climbers, S4 Boulder Shoulder raises, S5 Stretch Ball sit-ups, S6 30lbs plate press, S7 Alternating Step-ups and S8 controlled the timing by running to JC up the ramp down the stairs back up the stairs and backdown the ramp returning to the start creating on round of completion once of course the PAX dropped and completed 1:30 of Plank before the switch and the next round..

    Timing played out perfectly as each PAX completed the 8 circuits by 0640.. We gathered up our coupons and returned to the flag with a min to spare, so Q introduced a sample of next months challenge with a 30 sec hold in the lowered squat position.

    Counted off, announced the F2 plans, COT.

    Thanks to Maverick for leading us out with a prayer!!

    Always enjoy posting the Gipper with the Covington PAX and till the next Gloom 👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻!!

  • Tugboats are looking for Angie

    Lots of mumble chatter for this workout – I blame Douille.

    As you know by now – Sunday is a kettlebell beatdown.

    Circled up – sans flag – it is in the trunk of my totaled car.

    Warm up: Halo, Hot Potato, Figure 8, Around the waist and side to side swing

    Then a quick across to the street to the shade.

    After every circle of exercises we broke it up by doing KB swings,

    Kettle Bell swings x 20

    Rows L and R x 15, Curls x 15, Goblet Squats x 15, and Russian Twists x 15

    KB Swing x 15

    Lunges w/ KB L and R x 15

    Dead Lift x 15

    Military Press to ground and switch hands x 15

    Glute Bridge x 15 (Dr Toso walked about right about now and gave us some dirty looks)

    KB Swing x 10

    Single Leg Vup (Bell to Toe) x 15, Single Arm Press x 15 L and R, Lateral Bend x 15

    KB Swing x 5

    KB merks 5 reps per arm and 3 sets. Leg Raised Baby Crunch x 15.

    Windmills Feet 45 degree angle, touch shin to feet

    Curl with a Halo and a tricep press.

    Suitcase lifts x 5 per arm and 3 sets then 5 more KB Swings to seal the deal

  • Granny Clips Coupons

    This past weekend, YHC bumped into a friend, T shirt drenched with sweat, who said he had just come from a Cross fit workout. As my friend recounted the workout to me, I realized I could recycle at least part of this cool beatdown at Granny’s on Tuesday. Or, at least that was the idea. The cross fit workout consisted of a 1 mile run, and 10 sets of the following 3 exercises. 10 thrusters with a 75lb weight., 7 burpees, then 7 pull ups. WOW! That sounds brutal.

    With ISI always in the back stiff, err… the…the back of the mind, YHC added an F3 twist and lots of ISI to the beatdown and here’s what it looked like. The PAX Circled up at shovel flag, firmly planted by Shooter in the gloomy soil at the Mandeville Trailhead. After a brief warmup, it was time for some circuit training. 15 sets of the following:

    5 Thrusters with Coupon (cinder block), then

    run up stairs, then back down and over to bike path for…

    a 15 yard bear crawl, then…

    pop up and mosey over to wooden stage area for 3 box jumps, then mosey back to shovel flag for:

    1 minute plank.

    rinse and repeat, starting w/ thrusters again.

    Just barely got done with all 15 sets to complete ISI for the day. For those of you stiff bastards following along with ISI, we have one more day…

    Thanks guys for following my lead and thanks to Shooter for praying us out!

  • SPMILB?

    Tsunami was consistent again with a PAX of 5. Bad Moon could have pushed us over the average but decided instead to run down St. Charles on a solo mission.

    Moseyed through Tulane in a tight secret service formation whilst discussing fine dining with the Hell’s Angels. Ended up on top, well 4th floor, of Wolfpack Hill for our warm-up: SSH x20, windmills x20, grass grabbers x10

    Then onto BLIMPs – ran down a floor, backwards up the ramp & started with 5 burpees and ended with 30 squats. Substituted IW with Imperial squat walkers for added fun.

    Quick mary after squats: RFM x20

    Next onto SPMILBs – ran down the stars, hit the 1 and backup & started with 30 squats down to 5 burpees, continued to sub the IW with ISW.

    Another quick mary: Dying cockroach x20

    Mosyed to the benches: Dips x20, RLPU x10, RLSU x15, RLBSL x10, DIPS x15, LLPU x10, LLSU x15, LLBSL x10, finished with 10 Derkins OYO

    Last stop at the TD Jesus: Flutter Kicks x20, LBT x20 & RT x10

    Back to flag for count-off, name-o-rama & prayer.

    Plenty of room on Tuesdays Uptown…

  • I See ISI

    YHC’s brain could not get past fitting in today’s installment of this month’s ISI challenge of planks increasing by 0:30 a day, with today being 14:30. Fortunately, with the structure for accomplishing that in mind, winging it would not require too much creativity.

    WARMORAMA

    All IC with reps between 10-20:

    Imperial Walkers

    Torso Twists,

    SSH

    Fire Hydrants

    Scorpion Kicks

    Windmills

    High Knees

    Butt Kicks

    THANG

    1 minute plank

    Mosey towards the lakefront, stopping at each corner for 1 minute plank, finishing with on minute plank on the wall.

    10 Box Jumps OYO

    10 Derkins IC

    10 Freak Nasties IC

    One minute plank on the wall, and return to the Marsh in similar fashion.

    Upon PAX’s return, 1 minute plank

    MARY

    25 LMCs

    1 minute plank

    25 100s

    1:30 plank for a grand total of 14:30 of planking and ISI day 29 in da books for our ALL-ISI PAX.

    COUNT/NAME

    Cowbell prayed for our bodies and minds, as well as the kids and the elderly! I appreciate you guys helping your humble Q grow in his leadership. Thanks for posting.

  • Modified Spartan Run (Take Two)

    After the looming destruction of the storm (formally known as Barry) disrupted participation for my last Q on the Lakefront, I felt as if some guys missed out on a nice wholesome exercise, and it was in our best interest to bring that mother back for round two.

    The PAX started with a quick warm-up; arm circles, windmills, imperial walkers, toe touches, and side strattle hops. We mosied to the rock garden, where each man selected a stone/boulder that we carried overhead to the top floor of the courthouse parking garage (feel the burn).

    We proceeded to sprint and jog around the lot, broken up by exercises that I called out: Merkins, Colt 45’s with the rocks (look that one up), burpees, squat to push press, hammer curls, shoulder press…on and on. Doesn’t sound hard? Try it for 35 minutes.

    We mosied back to the rock garden with stones overhead (feel the burn), which, by this time of morning, we had a couple of curious onlookers. No time left for core, no one cared. A good time had by all. More to follow…..

    Bean out!

  • 10K Au Lait – Some New Faces

    Great to see Black Cat and FNG (Slash) show up for today’s 10K Au Lait. Weather was fantastic and the Covingtonions were out in full force this morning.

    Slash gave In-Time a run for his money, which I thought was impossible, and I hung back with Black Cat for a leisurely jog. Great people and great conversation out there on the road.

    Please come join us to build your aerobic capacity at your own pace. If needed, someone will alway hang back and provide subtle motivation to keep pushing. Trust me, it’s a great way to start a Sunday.

    Meet up next week at Abita Roasting (Covington), Sunday at 7:00 ready to roll. Bean out!

  • It’s All Fun and Games

    Earlier in the week Hokie Pokie asked for a replacement so YHC was happy take over Q for Muscleship. Recently my son suggested we play Red Light/Green Light as part of our workout. I did my best to design a beatdown involving games of some kind and hopefully what we did sufficed.

    Warm-Up:

    Mosey around NOMA and then circle up for exercises done IC:

    • SSH x 20
    • Windmills x 10
    • Self Love x 15
    • Imperial Squats Walkers x 15
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each

    Then it was time to grab my speaker and describe the routine that was to follow which I’m sure lead to some confused faces initially. Based on my son’s suggestion of Red Light/Green Light I found a randomized timer app. Timer was set for random times between 15 and 45 seconds during which it would alternate between red light and green light. During green light we would perform exercises in which we were moving and during red light exercises we would exercises in which we would maintain a static position.

    Green Light exercises:

    • Mountain climbers
    • LBCs
    • Merkins
    • Cross-over lunges
    • High knees
    • Right single leg wife pleasers
    • Left single leg wife pleasers
    • Crunchy planks L elbow/R knee
    • Crunchy planks R elbow/L knee
    • Freddie Mercury’s

    Red Light exercises:

    • Al Gore
    • Plank
    • Left side plank
    • Right side plank
    • Low plank
    • Static lunge left leg in front
    • Static lunge right leg in front
    • Reverse plank
    • Static heel raise
    • Static leg hold

    After this we moseyed to the Foundry for some Deck of Death Battle Edition. PAX was split into 2 teams and cards were flipped. Winner of the battle would select the exercise between the suits of the 2 cards flipped. Reps were determined by the winner’s card. In the event of a battle (same card number/face card is flipped) both exercises were performed.

    • Diamonds – pull ups
    • Spades – jump squats
    • Hearts – merkins
    • Clubs – sidelying leg raises

    After this it was time to mosey back to the flag for some cool down stretching. Count-o-rama, name-o-rama, annoucements, intentions, naming of our FNG, and sweaty ball of man. Welcome Triple Bypass. I hope some fun was had by all as everyone (my son included) continues to challenge me to get creative with my beatdowns.

  • Backblast – Mothership 2019-07-27

    Another lovely (if slightly rainy) day onboard the Mothership at City Park.  Attendance stood at 15 total, with 13 existing members and 2 FNGs.

    The following members were in attendance: Catfish (Q), Two Yutes, Heisenberg, Fracsac, Thumb, Beloch, Reluctant Yankee, Gideon, Angie’s List, Medulla Oblongata, Angel Dust, Gumby, Pop Tart

    Our FNGs were Uncut and Tabloid. Welcome Dudes

    Today’s activites started with a mosey out to the Peristyle for a little Side Straddle Hop, Hillbillies, Overhead Claps and Imperial Squat Walkers. PAX then moved to their faces for Peter Parkers, Catalina Wine Mixers, and Plank Jacks. On to our sixes for LBCs, Flutter Kicks, and Tin Snips.

    PAX then took a quick run to Marconi, then back to the benches in front of the Peristyle for 50 Box Jumps OYO, Smurf Jacks, and Jump Lunges. With legs burning, PAX lined up for an Indian Run to the Foundry.

    Since Muscleship occupied the Foudry, PAX moved to the grass beside the Foundry for Jack Webb (counted up the FIFTEEN, way to push guys!). PAX then did five minutes of ten burpees per minute (i.e. 50 burpees total).

    PAX then moseyed to the mini-foundry (a.k.a. The Refinery). Pax split into groups of 2-3 for pull ups, Merkins, Squats, Snake Jump, Dips, and Burpees.

    PAX then moseyed back to the Great Lawn, and then to the flag for count-off, naming, and COT.

    Thanks to all who participated, it turned out to be a great workout!