5 PAX posted on the much milder Gloom before the rain and cooler weather expected tonight for the Crazy Ivan!! YHC had nothing but a modest run on the agenda..
Short warmup 10IC Windmills, Cherry Pickers, leg swings, 20IC SSH, Imperial walkers and Butt kicks..
Thang 3.84 miles for some but 4 miles for others..
Appreciate you fellas posting this Gloom..
Until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!
YHC arrived to Grandmas with a familiar vehicle from the North.. Jose 10k is back and all it took was the kickoff of RCR 2022 to bring Mr. competitor out to the AO.. With mild temps and the possibility of a radio in hand Bushwacker, Qs beatdown would keep us at the Trailhead..
Warmup
12IC Windmills, Toe Touches, Imperial walkers, Hillbillies and Arm circles..
Thang
Simple
“Billy Madison”
Exercises consisted of Merkins, Squats, Air Presses, Flutter kicks, Leg raises, SSH, Lunges, Mountain climbers and Burpee’s.. Only able to get through 9th grade as our laps consisted of roughly a quarter mile around the trailhead giving those tracking mileage for RCR a total of 2.25… Of course overachieving Jose 10k and Steve corresponded for a little Prethang action, so each of them probably hit 5 miles and the anticipation of JV rucking it out 3x a day with the dog walk he will also get started on a good note over 5 for the first day… Glad to have you join in on RCR2022 JV!!
With the PAX having to dropout after 9th we will eventually need to go “Back to School!”
Hogsbreath prayed us out and shared the future shovel planting next Monday at Heritage park in Slidell!!
Recruit anyone you know in the Slidell area and join in Monday 0530 2/7/2022 to welcome in this fresh start with HIMs and Pass Interference…
Appreciate the follow gentlemen and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!
With Shooter pulling double Q duty this week, YHC felt compelled to take the Scramble. Which was good, because it’s about the only thing that got me out there that morning. Luckily, regulars Shooter and Waterpik don’t need such motivation. And Pelican has officially come out of his summer hibernation with this second consecutive Scramble post. He must be getting Ivan-ready.
Warmorama: Torso twists, windmills, IWs, SSHs, slow squats, leg swings, lunges out to Waterpik’s father-in-law’s truck.
Then we paired up – Shooter and Pik, Pelican and I – and took the usual mosey (minus the destroyed pier) with the usual chatter to give us just a touch over 3 miles at an easy breezy pace.
But not easy breezy enough, I guess, as there was still ample time for two rounds of: x20 merkins, x20 freak nasties, x20 leg swings, and x10 pull ups. After two full rotations and a quick Mary, we called it.
COT, Nameorama, and announcements – sign up for RCR and prepare for the Ivan!! It all happens next week.
Pik prayed us out, calling attention to the way F3 helps us grow stronger – physically, mentally, and spiritually – and how gift is given to us so that we may turn and offer it to others in need. Thank you for the reminder, and thank you men for the opportunity to lead.
Having missed the last few Gipper beatdowns, YHC knew he had no excuses if he took the Q… Meeting up with Steve at our WD location to carpool. Minus one of our other brethren in Bushwacker the ride produced some small talk and not the normal rambles of chatter on the drive north.. Upon arrival Steve and YHC noticed we were the first at the AO until the likes of Barely legal came rolling in.. After planting the shovel flag the 3 of us started out for a pre miler running through the streets of beautiful Covington talking some sports and mumbling about the upcoming challenge that one (unnamed) of our own is setting out to achieve.. Although the insanity of the challenge he has bestowed upon himself seems impossible, the 3 of us all agreed it will be accomplished knowing the natural desire and determination of this individual.. Beware Covington of possible Wolverine sightings in your future!! Returning to the shovel flag 4 more PAX, plus Sonny awaited as we started in our warmup..
All 15IC SSH, Toe Touches, Cherry Pickers, Arm circles, Imperial walkers, Hillbillies and Butt kicks…
YHC chose 2 coupon workouts from the Exicon, so we gathered our blocks then returned under the breezeway for FLORA 123.. Partnering up we completed the 100 200 and 300 rep count of Derkins, planks, LBCs, 6inch holds, Goblet squats and holds..
Sonny was extra motivated on this Gloom as he tried getting in some of his own versions of Monkey Humpers with mans best friend.. Not sure where the motivation came from but maybe it was the cologne or soap, which prompted other PAX to inquire about the secret aroma for potential attractant at home with the M… Not sure if it would work but let’s just say it was in the air at the Gipper on this day with the abundance of attempts displayed by ole Sonny (Turbo dawg) on this HUMP day!!!
After finishing we took our blocks to the parking area/boat yard soon to be attorneys office for the finale.
Gorilla Complex was on tap with one modification. YHC was not sure of one of the said exercises in the rotation, so substituted Rows instead.. The just is 8 rounds of 5 exercises with 8 reps followed by a 50 yard sprint between each round.. With coupon 8 curls, 8 rows, 8 shoulder presses, 8 squat thrusters and 8 Merkins then sprint/mosey for 50 yards.. R/R 8x
Hope you got your monies worth gentleman and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!
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Not-quite-as-cold-as-it-has-been 45 degrees this morning, slight drizzle that Steve lamented was relenting. 4 HIM tackled the ladders Granny set up this morning.
Things we learned this morning: Rummel has/had some fantastic lunch options, none better than daily square pizza and bi-weekly chicken parm on Thursdays. Raider Pride! This statement was confirmed by all 2 Raiders present, and before Pik could disagree and let the Metairie scum know how much better Jesuit fare is. There were no Crusaders, Cavaliers, Purple Knights, Eagles, or Tigers present to object, so by unanimous consent, Rummel is the undisputed king of lunchtime for the old school Catholic league. Print the shirts!
Warmup (all IC)
22 SSH
22 cherry pickers
11 grass grabbers
11 good mornings
11 imperial walkers
Thang
Ladders
Rounds 1 and 2 (rep count 1 to 7, then rep count 7 to 1 next round)
7 and 1 Freak nastys
6 and 2 Step ups (2 is 1)
5 and 2 Derkins
4 and 4 Bulgarian split squats
3 and 5 Shoulder taps
2 and 6 Urkins
1 and 7 Hip slappers
Rounds 3 through 9 (start with the count below, then next round, move the 1 rep “up” to the next exercise, replace first exercise with 7) – rinse and repeat until each exercise completes 28 reps
7 Burpees
6 Deep squats
5 Merkins
4 Nutcrackers (2 is 1)
3 BB sit-ups
2 Mountain climbers
1 Star jump
Ladders 10 through 12 – Pax killed the planned ladders, so we added exercises and reps. In addition to the above, we worked through 8 monkey humpers, 9 groiners, and 10 Supermans.
Ladders 13 and 14
7 and 1 Hello Dollys
6 and 2 LBCs
5 and 3 American hammers
4 and 4 LMCs
3 and 5 Scissor kicks
2 and 6 Leg raises
1 and 7 Dr. W (a terrible, awful, no good exercise to cadence by the way)
Certain rounds got a bonus mosey between them to break up the monotony and give us a chance to mumblechatter.
After ladders, Pax climbed up the pilot house, 2 calf raises each step.
COT, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out.
Reminders included RCR, Krazy Ivan 2/3 @8, and sign up to Q!
Another superstar group this morning, thanks for letting me lead.
SYITG
35º temps may have kept a bunch of the regulars away, but it brought in an old (in all senses of the word, especially compared to his firehouse brethren) regular who was… still on the clock! This meant my original trip down to the tunnel would be off the table – gotta stay in radio distance – but you know what they say: one door opens, and out through the other door comes Wacker with a 100 feet of bundled hose. That’s right, he came bearing coupons this morning.
And to be honest, YHC was thankful it wasn’t the 130 lbs dummy that has been oft teased, as fun as it sound picking that thing up with frozen fingers. Also, the buried memory of carrying Frank through a path of slop during a Tough Mudder would’ve no doubt resurfaced, and sometimes it’s best to keep those things buried.
And of course, Granny’s favorite grandson, the ever present Russo, was also there. So after some chatter, we got down to it: SSH, GMs, ACs, HBs, IWs, GGs, and a quick lap around the trailhead to finish warming up (and also give me time to come up with a plan!).
Thang:
First up, 1 guy would carry the coiled hose up the stairs and back, while the other 2 would be performing steps ups. Rotate until everyone’s carried said hose. (There’s a joke in here that I’m missing – where’s Zoolander when you need him?)
Next up, same thing but instead of step ups, we did freak nasties and derkins.
Time to give the hose a rest and get started on legs. Lunge walk the small field along the corridor, stopping at each tree (there were 5) for a set of: x5 squats, x5 jump squats, x5 monkey humpers, and x5 Apollo Ohno’s. The original plan was to head back bear crawling and doing 4 different type of merkins x5 at each tree, but that sounded terrible, so instead we did some Rochamburpees.
Now, while you may see YHC at 0515, I don’t actually become a functioning human until around 0800. So while this seemed like good idea with three people (“hey, there’ll just be two losers or two winners”), the actuality is that it doesn’t really work if each of the pax chooses a different shape. That’s just a tie. So we modified and when that happened we simply split the number of burpees/merkins.
Nearing the home stretch, we finished up with a sprint down the corridor, quick trip up the stairs and back, sprinting back down the corridor to the start.
Mary consisted of quick rounds of leg raises, heels to heaven, lbcs, Freddie’s, Dolly’s, Rosalita’s, and 10x merkins.
Countdown, nameorama, announcements (remember to send in your RCR team members, shirt sizes, and payments ASAP!) and Russo offered a thoughtful prayer of thanks. Which I second – thank you guys for posting on such a chilly morning, offering me the opportunity to lead, and just generally pushing me to be better in so many ways. Appreciate it.
Things you’ll only hear at Waffle house. This was said as a grown man walked through the door, and decided to tell YHC, Steve, and Russo what business he had to take care of – as if his inner child woke up at that opportune moment. YHC knew it was going to be cold, obviously everyone else knew as well. 5 Pax gathered this cold and gloomy morn. Grover EH’d a guy who fartsacked, but it was great having him in the gloom again. The plan was to get warmed up really quick.
Conditions: Cold, as mentioned above, with a slight wind.
Warm Up x 10 IC – High Knees, Butt Kicks, Self-Love, Cherry Pickers, Arm Circles F/B, IW
Playground: 11’s of Swerkins (plank position, legs in swing ab crunch/Merkin) and Pullups with 25ish yard run in between.
Mosey to the Lakefront by Rips down Noah’s Ark with a modified Red Barchetta to get the blood pumping. Stop at each intersection for 1 exercise until we reached the wall – 50 SSH, 40 Mountain Climbers, 30 LBC’s, 20 Merkins, and 10 Squats.
Wall x 20 IC, 2 sets. Freak Nasties and Shoulder Taps
Stairs at Rips to climb the Stairway to 7. Pax line up in plank, 1 at a time do: 1 Freak Nasty, 1 Dirkin on the bottom step; run up to the top for 1 Squat, run back down the other side. Rinse and Repeat adding 1 rep for 7 rounds. Pik reminded QIC of the time check and we only got to finish 6 rounds.
Run back to the Marsh in time for COT followed by breakfast at Waffle House.
Announcements: Krazy Ivan Feb 3rd 8pm. Run Cajun Run – get your teams together, sign up coming. Sponsors due by Jan 26th.
NMM
We are told to always plan for more than we need in case time runs out. I had enough for another 30 minutes. I haven’t fully figured out how to work the new Garmin I got for Christmas, Pik saved me from going over. Great conversation as always, which continued as expected at Waffle House.
Twas six nights before Christmas, in 2020 it was spurned, but now the year reads 21’, and the nightmare has returned.
This workout is intense, you need not take my word, that’s fine. But if you need a reference, Tanked up will tell you I’m not lying. Sometimes we went slick and other times was with a ruck, and in the times that it got hard we had to just embrace the suck.
This year there was Hogs breath, Steve, and Junior Varsity. Russo and Amnesia and the newly disdained Grundy
For those still unaware (or knew before and did not show), here’s the list of all we did…
For workout see below:
150 burpees
2 miles of running
150 man-makers
2 miles of rucking
100 Merkins
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats
100 4 count SSHs
100 4 count mountain climbers
100 4 count flutter kicks
100 Ruck Presses
100 2 count Ruck twists (American Hammers)
100 Ruck Pull Throughs
We left with aches and bruises and pray we have no long term damage, but the tales we heard from Hogs breath will help us carry on and manage. The man shows up to beatdowns from the far land of Slidell, so if there was a “commitment” award he’d surely win the title.
JV has become a real staple of our crew. With his completion of the nightmare he’s now earned his stripes to boot. He now joins a fraternity of those who’ve reached the end, forevermore he’s one of us and one I’m proud to call my friend.
Russo showed up with what seemed was insufficient baggage. But once more it’s been shown “it matters not the size of package”. In the end it made it through with Russo’s sheer determination, and that describes the man I’ve come to have such admiration.
Amnesia powered on when his body said ‘enough’! But just one look at that man’s legs will tell you that he’s tough! When the last rep was accomplished, and after talking with his spouse, Amnesia climbed up on his bike and then he rode back to his house.
Steve returned once more for what could maybe be called penance, but how could one commit such evil where this would be the sentence?! The only way I can account for Steve repeating this endeavor, is that he’s a man who’ll walk ‘longside a brother through whatever.
These examples, and countless more, are the reasons we all do this. And thus our workout completed once more “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.
Until next year….
Grundy
It was great to be back out at the Scramble, especially on a crisp clear morning with Christmas carols in the air! As we began the warm up, a bright pair of head lights made the corner and what to our wondering eyes did appear but Zoolander arriving to spread Christmas cheer…but no Cowbell.
WARMORAMA
x10 IC:
SSH, High Knees, Imperial Walkers, Slow Squats, Windmills, Toe Touches
THANG
It seems since Ida took out out the pier, there is no more “Regular” route, and Qs have been trying to be clever with various trajectories and tribulations for the PAX to suffer through. QIC was similarly inspired last night, but that inspiration was dashed by a wave of life and the Scramble was all the better for it. We went something like this: Messina to Monroe to W Beach to Lakshore to Coffee to Villere (through Pik Pass) back to Messina and returning to city hall. Along the way YHC had to stop to retie his shoe, it’s always this pair, always the right one. So I chose to keep a brisker pace in order to catch back up the the pack O’ scramblers each of the 5000 times it happened!
MARY
7 minutes more, the better to kill the core! 100x OYO:
LBCs, 100s, Freddy Mercurys, Flutter Kicks, Roslitas
COT
Count/name (still no Cowbell). Requesting special intentions for a friend, Bird reminded us that the holidays can be a hard time for some people. YHC took us out with a focus on the value we bring to each other, and the urging to share that value, in whatever form, to others we encounter.
As were were concluding our activities, Waterpick’s Dick Tracy watch went off alerting us all that Cowbell had gone straight to Liz’s Where Ya At to reserve a table for a lil coffeteria . What do ya know, Cowbell showed up after all!
Another year in the books as YHC turned 51, joined by 8 HIM who woke up early Monday morning – some after Sunday’s Nightmare Before Christmas. The theme was 51 on paper, 5 sets, 5 exercises 10 reps each, with the last exercise being a 10 second hold. Sometimes paper doesn’t translate in reality so there were some modifications.
Tunes accompanied courtesy of Grover’s Camp playlist.
Rd 1: Block press, shoulder taps, squat press, Alpo’s, 10 count mid-way hold.
Rd 2: Block row wide, block row narrow, supine row, renegade block row L, renegade block row R. 10 count hold.
Rd 3: Merkin, chest press wide, chest press narrow, right arm single block press, left arm single block press, 10 count hold.
Rd 4: Block curl wide, block curl narrow, forearm curl, left arm block curl, right arm clock curl ( the single arm curls did not happen). 10 count hold
Rd 5: Diamond merkin, overhead block extension wide, overhead block extension narrow. 10 second hold.
Mosey to the stop sign and back, circle up for Mary
Squats x 20, Lunges x 20, LBC – leg raises, dolly x10
Count, Name-o-rama, and YHC prayed us out with thoughts of focusing on unselfishness this week and thanks for accountability.
Thanks for letting me lead, it’s always a blast.
Akbar
