Author: Rudy

  • Catfish? I’ll take it. – from Bogey

    Arriving in the usual oblivious fashion…without concern for who the Q might be and what we might be doing. A little chatter among the few there, then a couple more…and then with but a minute until start time Catfish shows up…”Well, since no one stepped up I guess I’ll take the Q. And before I could even think about it I blurted out…”OK, Illbtake it!” Whether we’ll admit it or not, none of us really wanted a Catfishing.
    The rest is history….
    Quick disclaimer/Warm up at the Peristyle/head to the park area along City Park Ave. Dips, Step-ups, Incline Merkins, Bear Crawl on Train tracks, Mini Dora, Mosey to Esplanade, Ring of Fire, Mosey Dow City Park Ave back to the flag with a few stops along the way.
    Thanks to the Pax for humoring me for an hour on a beautiful Saturday morning.

  • Family Feud – from Paradox

    You wake up on your couch, heart pounding as you brush off the Panera crust of last nights dinner. You turn off the 10th Dr Phil rerun and make a mental note to cool it on the charger lemonades. That familiar ill feeling falls over you as you realize you are late for work and truly in deep water because your incompetent, angry, micromanaging boss will surely make another passive aggressive comment that you have too many kids. One peek out the window and it looks like a ThunderTsumamiNado is brewing. You rush to the bathroom only to realize you are out of Old Spice but luckily there is puréed banana in the fridge for just such an occasion. You hustle out to your ole lemon of a truck. The inside smells like limes and regret. You mosey on into work avoiding the burps and curls of Thibodaux traffic. Stopped at a red light on canal, you can’t believe your eyes. Your beloved lion statue at the civic center is gone. A tough pill to swallow, seeing them pave paradise and put up a parking cawn! You are already composing the email to the authorities in your head as you pull into work. This won’t end without a Feud…heyyy what’s that beeping noise…

    You awake a second time.
    In your cozy fartsack.
    Alarm says 4:50am.
    It’s time for another beatdown.
    Whewwww, just a bad dream
    You can’t wait to get to the den and stretch your calves on that perfect 75 degree angle….

    Duke !! Wake up !
    Survey says it’s time for a last minute game show beatdown !
    Roll that beautiful footage and make sure it’s on the 1992 rolltop tv/vcr !

    Warmup
    Usuals with some serious groans of the chesticle region. Mostly done in silence as we all contemplated the loss of our lion friend and his mystery flags. Was this a targeted attack? Is there something bigger/better coming as payment for our 45 minutes/week of extra park security? And most importantly, just where in the heck are we supposed to do our pre beatdown loitering?!

    YHC led the pax in a coupon mosey drop off then transitioned into an Indian run 3 burp drop to warm the carburetors.

    Back to the …cawns (single tear) ..and YHC unveiled today would be about f3 family unity.
    Ya see F3 Thib has a long and bloody history of schisms…a few highlights from our timeline :

    1.) how to say “pirogue”
    -Early Goose Era

    Status : unsettled , please don’t ask Cardinal unless you want a homily about Acadian history.

    2.) The fitness tracker wars
    -late year 2 growth spurt era

    Status : stalemate , many casualties

    3.) The BlueTooth Conflict
    -Anker Dominant era

    Status : still healing after the death of Anker

    And the most recent blood feud may top them all …

    4.) The Earls of Sandwich
    – Rienzi Awakening Era

    Status : Some of the hottest takes about sub shops you can imagine.

    That’s just a taste of the major conflicts and so today we honor the bickering of brothers that can always be overpowered by the unity of the 3 Fs. At the end of the day we can agree to disagree and when the chatter gets unbearable …well has YHC told you about double Merkin burpees yet?

    Da Thang

    “We are family”
    IW on song
    Double Merkin Burpee on “Family” and “Sister”

    -Standard issue with AB immediately guessing Sister Sledge as the artist for 30 seconds off and later Pope guessed 1979 as the year of release for another 30 second discount.

    Mosey to Stairs for…

    F3 Family Feud

    Rules:
    Split teams
    Each team has a marker board and a designated writer.
    Given a family feud style topic that was allegedly from a “random” 100 Americans survey.

    The team must list top 3 answers and the order while running a lap around the civic center. They stop half way for 15 curls of a coupon and other curled lips of aggressive intimidation.

    Highest points wins the round.

    Winner – 10 merkins
    Loser – 10 burpees
    Tiebreak – 4, 5, 6th on list

    YHC would serve as host and journalist to report the team dynamics for the historians.

    Round 1
    Bad Qualities of a boss
    Answers:
    1. micromanagement
    2. Incompetence
    3. Angry

    Team 1 rolled out strong with Popeye clearly having some bad boss history to get off his chest . (“You sure lazy isn’t in there dox?” )
    Pope was established as the team writer since he can run 7 min miles in his sleep. He also sprinkled in some timely order changes.

    Team 1 was the victor
    Team 2 felt the sting of burpees and began the rally.

    Round 2
    You’re in deep (blank)

    Answer
    1. Doo-doo
    2. Trouble
    3. Water

    There’s a few topics you just can’t beat Goose on, the top 2 being Theology and Poop. He led his team to victory here correctly placing doo doo as number 1 and a full sweep of correct placements Team 2 handed out the burpees.

    Round 3
    Rhymes with “Will” associated with doctors.

    Answers:
    1.Bill
    2.Pill
    3.Ill

    YHC had to jog in silence as the doctor bashing began. Both teams correctly guess the qualities of this money grubbing profession and it was a Tie.
    YHC awarded the W to team 2 for the creativity of Dr Phil.

    **Wet Tap continued to lecture that some people consider burpees a win. It was looked upon in disgust by all.

    Round 4
    A wrestler named after a weather condition.

    Answer:
    1.) Tornado
    2.) Storm
    3.) Thunder

    Great debate here as our geographical anxieties put Hurricane in the forefront of the minds of both teams. Another tie and Lil cuz is watching Nacho Libre as we speak.

    Round 5 – The grand Fruitnale

    What fruit would you select if you were out of deodorant ?

    Answers:
    1.) Orange
    2.) Lemon/lime
    3.) Apple

    This one seemed to launch the greatest chatter and performed well when beta tested with YHCs family. Ronnie got off to a great debate on texture vs. smell and clearly preferred bananas. Popeye seemed to have no issue with his own body odor and considers society would better off without deodorant.
    Over in group 2 Gooses overindulgence of the Old Spice led to his prescience abilities. His eyes went blue and he was on the hunt for top rated citrus.
    Lil Cuz kept saying weird stuff about papaya but Everyone else just did their curls and lost the appetites for fruit all together.

    Group 2 edged out a win

    Shortened Mary with holding of 6 inches and leg raises.

    Intentions for families going through difficult times and graduating seniors.

    COT and Tap prayed us out.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

    The Doxicology Report

    Many times you will hear a similar proclamation about F3 from guys across the nation. “It’s something I didn’t know I was missing but instantly knew I needed”. In the last few years I’ve continued to see the accuracy of this statement and it still remains difficult to quantify or even explain fully what God provides through this group. One aspect that is clear to me is that it fosters relationships where you can safely bring an opinion you know others may disagree with. This can be uncomfortable but it can also be a great opportunity to trust God in humility and to listen more than you yap. (Really tough one for yours truly )

    Whether it’s sandwich wars , Cajun dialect discussions or deeper matters YHC is grateful for a group where you can state your opinion , potentially change it based on something new and at the very least do ridiculous exercises until you forget what the issue was.

    In F3 Thib it ain’t a family without a little feuding and I reckon I’d be in deep doo doo without you fellers.

    SYITG
    Dox

  • Nickel and Dimed to Death OR Steve Is a Mean Stupid Face – from Bushwacker

    First off, let’s just take a moment to recognize the Pax that got out there early for the pre-thang – I think there were 7-8 guys? And that’s not counting Jose and JV, who started even earlier to roll at their own pace. AND, an additional t-claps to Jose for not only EH’ing JV, but also for getting out to the Marsh extra early for a pre-pre-thang of 30 minutes of pull-ups.

    And I’d argue we were off to a good start even before that, when in the wee hours of the morning the temperature mercifully dipped down into the mid-60’s. That small fact made all the difference – were it not for those 8-10 degrees, JV (by his own admission) would’ve punched that guy on roller blades in the face. And hasn’t Christian Slater suffered enough these last few years?

    Usual warmorama (can you decode them all?): WM’s, IW’s, GG’s, HB’s, AC’s, SSH’s. And 20 Merkins OYO.

    Split Q today, with YHC (Steve right now), up first. I tried to find the most pricker-filled patch of grass to mosey to for our first set of:

    Nickel and Dimes I:
    5 burpees, 10 hand release merkins, then SSH until next minute – for a total of 5 minutes. (Shout out to Catfish who taught me that one way back when.)

    Many noticed PI’s entrance at this point, but few saw Zoolander’s sly exit.

    Next up: Partner Races (or foot races, if Turtle had been there):
    Line up at the start of Marigny for a sprint down the longest block known to man. Winner does 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.

    Tank, who positioned himself as the final sprinter, noted that every guy looked good running that block. “If I was passing by and saw those guys, I’d say, ‘Wow, those guys are athletes.’” High praise from the leader of the gazelles.

    Back at the pricker-filled, ant-infested (sorry Bird) patch of grass for:

    Nickel and Dimes: First Blood Part 2
    10 Sister Mary’s (2:1), 5 squats, plank until next minute. 5 minutes.

    And another partner race down Marigny, with winner taking 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.

    There were plans for Nickel and Dimes III: Nickel and Dimed With A Vengeance, but thankfully Bushwacker had arrived and it was time to cede leadership duties. Even I was hating myself by this point. (Though I’ll point out, quite a few guys still had plenty fuel left in the tank for Wacker – including Russo, who was somehow able to calculate the age of Madonna’s hoo-ha in between Side Straddle Hops [approx. 130 yrs old, if I heard correctly].)

    So without further ado, time to turn the pages of this backblast over to the man himself, the Wacker of Bushes (and here you thought he was the long-winded one!).

    Geez! Chatty Cathy, huh, guys?

    Anyhoo, YHC got a taste of this race business (10 Burpees courtesy of Mr “I’m not really trying hard” Tank), and no thank you sir! Instead, a healthy order of circuit training was on the menu.

    All OYO, plank for the 6:

    50 100s, 40 SSH (single count), 30 Freddy Mercury’s (2is1), 20 Jump Squats, and 10 Burpees. 1 lap around Noah’s Ark and plank for the six. I reckon we made it through 5 or six rounds, with the final lap continuing to the flag.

    COT

    Count, Name, Steve prayed us out. Guys, I don’t know why you put up with Steve and his shenanigans, but I know he appreciates the allowance of said pied piper status. On a much more humble note, I appreciate this brotherhood and the ability to contribute in any small way to its lively and fulfilling existence.

  • Nickel and Dimed to Death OR Steve Is a Mean Stupid Face – from Bushwacker

    First off, let’s just take a moment to recognize the Pax that got out there early for the pre-thang – I think there were 7-8 guys? And that’s not counting Jose and JV, who started even earlier to roll at their own pace. AND, an additional t-claps to Jose for not only EH’ing JV, but also for getting out to the Marsh extra early for a pre-pre-thang of 30 minutes of pull-ups.

    And I’d argue we were off to a good start even before that, when in the wee hours of the morning the temperature mercifully dipped down into the mid-60’s. That small fact made all the difference – were it not for those 8-10 degrees, JV (by his own admission) would’ve punched that guy on roller blades in the face. And hasn’t Christian Slater suffered enough these last few years?

    Usual warmorama (can you decode them all?): WM’s, IW’s, GG’s, HB’s, AC’s, SSH’s. And 20 Merkins OYO.

    Split Q today, with YHC (Steve right now), up first. I tried to find the most pricker-filled patch of grass to mosey to for our first set of:

    Nickel and Dimes I:
    5 burpees, 10 hand release merkins, then SSH until next minute – for a total of 5 minutes. (Shout out to Catfish who taught me that one way back when.)

    Many noticed PI’s entrance at this point, but few saw Zoolander’s sly exit.

    Next up: Partner Races (or foot races, if Turtle had been there):
    Line up at the start of Marigny for a sprint down the longest block known to man. Winner does 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.

    Tank, who positioned himself as the final sprinter, noted that every guy looked good running that block. “If I was passing by and saw those guys, I’d say, ‘Wow, those guys are athletes.’” High praise from the leader of the gazelles.

    Back at the pricker-filled, ant-infested (sorry Bird) patch of grass for:

    Nickel and Dimes: First Blood Part 2
    10 Sister Mary’s (2:1), 5 squats, plank until next minute. 5 minutes.

    And another partner race down Marigny, with winner taking 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.

    There were plans for Nickel and Dimes III: Nickel and Dimed With A Vengeance, but thankfully Bushwacker had arrived and it was time to cede leadership duties. Even I was hating myself by this point. (Though I’ll point out, quite a few guys still had plenty fuel left in the tank for Wacker – including Russo, who was somehow able to calculate the age of Madonna’s hoo-ha in between Side Straddle Hops [approx. 130 yrs old, if I heard correctly].)

    So without further ado, time to turn the pages of this backblast over to the man himself, the Wacker of Bushes (and here you thought he was the long-winded one!).

    Geez! Chatty Cathy, huh, guys?

    Anyhoo, YHC got a taste of this race business (10 Burpees courtesy of Mr “I’m not really trying hard” Tank), and no thank you sir! Instead, a healthy order of circuit training was on the menu.

    All OYO, plank for the 6:

    50 100s, 40 SSH (single count), 30 Freddy Mercury’s (2is1), 20 Jump Squats, and 10 Burpees. 1 lap around Noah’s Ark and plank for the six. I reckon we made it through 5 or six rounds, with the final lap continuing to the flag.

    COT

    Count, Name, Steve prayed us out. Guys, I don’t know why you put up with Steve and his shenanigans, but I know he appreciates the allowance of said pied piper status. On a much more humble note, I appreciate this brotherhood and the ability to contribute in any small way to its lively and fulfilling existence.

  • Impromtu Q – from Kenna Brah

    6 Total HIMs met for acceleration
    Warm up –

    Arm Circles
    Upper Body Twists
    Slow Vagoda’s

    7 Min of Ab Heaven
    30 reps each – 4 ct
    Hello Dolly
    Flutter Kick
    Leg Raise
    LBC
    Freddy Mercs
    BB Situp

    Main Event
    11’s on Route 66

    Out – 10 Inch Worm Merkins 1 L/R Wife Pleaser, Backwards Run to next light
    Return Trip
    10 Squats – 1 BB Situp – Karaoke to next light

    Cool Down
    Broga
    COT

  • Pain and Self-Loathing in New Orleans – from Bolt

    Checking the Q sheet at 9:00pm YHC expected to decide whether to post or not based on the name and seeing none, my fate was sealed—there would b no fartsack Friday for the Q is now I. Filed with self-loathing for myriad reasons, that would guide our plight in the gloom so off to bed I went. Pre-Q jitters must’ve had me tossing during the wee hours as thoughts of bear crawls, rocks, 11s and burpees swirled prior to the alarm.
    Warmorama varied slightly to account for YHC’s very tight everything (opening song of course did NOT vary—Frac was pleased): Abe SLOWgodas, IW, Tie Fighters, Seal claps, OH claps, PP/PP, SSH Head to playground for Morning Calls and mosey to rock pile for a rock that pax would carry to the hill.

    The Thang: 11s it is (despite Frac and Boo Boo NOT hearing the intro) with OHP on backside of hill followed by bear crawl up to top/mosey down to trackside for LSS/Crab Can Cans (dropping into crab walk position after LSS in order to kick each leg up like a Can can dancer—Fast Tax shoulda been here!) followed by mosey to top of hill for 5 8-count BB and down the hill to start the next round. Break Down had been doing 10 reps of OHP each round, having forgotten how 11s work; welcome back Kotter.

    Mahatma Mayhem and the usual studs took up Mary as the mere mortals tried to finish up before heading back to rock pile at 6:12. Back at flag past 6:15; apologies pax—will drop Morning Calls next time (or move to the end). There was only one song skip and very little mumble chatter during the Thang so it must’ve been sufficient . COT, gratitude for the pax.

  • MotherF**ker Jones – from Jose10k

    Let’s see, 77 degrees outside with a nice breeze that broke up the humidity. 4 HIMs took the red pill this morning. The keys to the bus were available and YHC picked them up. After running at the Scramble yesterday, I honestly had no clue what to do. I decided to utilize the outside of the A1C this morning. After a series of warm-ups, we moseyed to the outside of the parking garage where there are concrete seats. We did a series of exercises, followed by a lap around the entire parking garage. We did bulgarian split squats, regular squats, wife pleasers, another core exercise, freak nasties, and derkins. We successfully completed 3 rounds of that. We then did Lt. Dan up the parking garage, moseyed the straight away, then Lt. Dan up the next level to the top. We circled up to finish up with some deep stretches to a count to 10 in a different foreign language including German, French, Spanish, Pig Latin, Roman numerals, and binary.
    COT: Moby prayed us out. Reminder: Mother’s Day is this weekend. And our own DarkWing Duck will celebrate his 18th wedding anniversary on Sunday as well. TCLAPS to him and his M.
    Double Q tomorrow from Steve and Bushwacker. I even EHd JV to do the prethang tomorrow.

    Spartan Beast Race in October, see Hammer for the information. Join the group of crazy men who are already doing some insane workouts to prepare for this event.
    Thank y’all for letting me lead, and thanks for reading this bb.
    Oh Shooter, I noticed no Mandevillians posted today 🙁

  • Birfday Cake – from Russo

    73 degrees, San Diego, no wind to speak so a very humid morning. Conversation this morning centered around soft hands, melting servers, pregnant coworkers, and single vs. double ports.

    Warmup (10x, all IC)

    -Toe touches
    -Self love
    -Arm circles
    -Grass grabbers
    -Air presses
    -Imperial walkers

    Thang: somewhat inspired by our conversation on how many different exercises we do, YHC took the opportunity for a reminder of just that with a cakewalk around the Pad. It wasn’t my birthday, but it was for Fred Astaire, Bono, and John Wilkes Booth, so we moseyed around singing Elevation (in the rain) while we plotted to do horrible things to our least favorite Lincoln (YHC’s was Riley, head coach of LSU’s next football opponent.)

    The cakewalk order:

    45 Seal jacks
    44 High knees (2 is 1)
    43 SSHs
    42 Plank Jacks
    41 goof balls
    40 squats to a
    39 Hello Dollies
    38 Calf raises
    37 Apollo ohnos
    36 Freak Nastys
    35 step ups
    34 flutter kicks
    33 butt kicks IC
    32 Peter Parker’s
    31 imperial walkers
    30 Shoulder taps
    29 American hammers
    28 Monkey Humpers
    27 Merkins
    26 Smurf jacks
    25 wife pleasers
    24 Rosalitas
    23 crab jacks (crab position – think reverse plank jacks)
    22 groiners
    21 Bear crawls (counting your right hand as a rep)
    20 murder bunnies
    19 Wide merkins
    18 slow squats
    17 crab cakes
    16 circle ups
    15 Urkins
    14 Durkins
    13 Sister Mary Catherine’s
    12 LMCs IC
    11 diamond merkins
    10 star jumps
    9 donkey kicks
    8 arm circles (should have been 8 count body builders but we were running short on time)
    7 merkins (the first repeat, will need to change that up for the real one)
    6 Box cutters IC
    5 Carolina dry docks
    4 Wife pleasers (the second repeat)
    3 jump squats
    2 burpees
    1 minute plank

    COT, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out. Steve and Bushwacker have Q tomorrow, there’s a Beast to be unleashed on October 19th, and life is good.

    SYITG

  • Which way to go? – from Shooter

    With PAX on the rucking side totaling 4, it appeared the runners would be outnumbered on this Gloom.. The likes of Steve, Zoolander and Hammer as Thursday regs, was replaced with the unusual posting of Jose10k. Now that’s not a dig 10k, but outside of RCR or the occasional training days at the Treen center we Mandevillians are only blessed with your presence on Saturday’s and us fellas always appreciate your posting.. It would be rude of me not to thank Bushwacker also and we certainly appreciate your commitment outside of your shift days to post and know we wouldn’t have balanced out the PAX without you sir Wacker!! YHC had the privilege to slow down Waterpic once again this Thursday to share in great chatter as always…

    Brief warmup of MC, Scorpion kicks, Bridges, SSH and Grass hoppers…

    Ruckers 20 out and 20isssshh plus back while the runners logged in the neighborhood of 4.3 or so and Waterpic and YHC completed 20 Merkins 2x awaiting the Ruckers return…

    Appreciate all of you HIMs for the commitment to post and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • The Ascension – from Charmin

    At length he appeared to the eleven as they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again. And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But they going forth preached every where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed. Mark 16:14-20

    13 men came into the gloom to improve themselves.