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  • 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.

  • Sweat Fest at The Gipper – from Saban

    Whoa! The humidity returns.

    Warmup:
    toe touch, side straddle hops, arm circles, neck rolls, parker peters, peter parkers, imperial walkers, hillbillies, scissors, side-to-side stretch, etc.

    Thang:
    1.lung walk, squat, burpee our way down the block towards the Taj Mahal
    2.leg swings at the parking post
    3. stop and start ladder (2,4,6,8, parking stripes); forward run, back peddle, side shuffle left, side shuffle right, sprint
    4. ring of fire around the flagpole; push ups with bear crawl – clockwise then counter clockwise.
    5. mosey to the Courthouse for step-ups at the benches
    6. mosey back to the F3 flag

    Wrap:
    all worked up a good sweat
    Legal prays us out

  • Destination Paradise? That’ll be 2 tickets, sir. – from Popeye

    Opener:
    Fun fact: the average weight of a “standard” brick is 4.40lbs.
    Funner fact: the average weight of a brick from YHC’s house is 5.25lbs.
    Talk about standards…

    Intro:
    YHC was frozen upon the late realization that his original vision for a Tuesday Tuff beatdown wouldn’t work; mother goose doled out such a ration of pain on the 5 poor PAX on Monday that the thought of more merks and coupon work almost made me wince.
    Instead, YHC smirked and realized I had a special secret to share with the tribe: tickets.

    No, Jeaux! Not the kind of tickets that you firemen take from the proletariat whilst slinging trashburgers and soggy fries at the fair, the kind of tickets that bring men to greatness. I’m talking about the kind of tickets (2) that might just get you to paradise…. For 45 minutes anyway.

    YHC shared with the PAX that for the past six years while assigned to New Orleans, I would frequently run along the river to the ruins of the Market Street power plant and work out on my own there with bricks. I called it the brickyard (super original, I know) and nobody would go with me. Working out there on my own was my zen, a (probably not) safe space where I could thrash myself under the curious gaze of the zombies and day walkers who lurked about the ruins. Special place, the only thing I think I’ll miss about working in the city.

    WU1 – The usual:
    SSH, Imp Walkers, Willie Mays, Slow Hi-knees, Arm Circle mix

    WU2 – The unusual:
    SSH w/tickets, Imp Walkers w/tickets, Willie Mays w/tickets, Slow Hi-knees w/tickets. Rare show of mercy on the arm circle mix.

    Musical complement:
    The PAX performed mountain climbers atop their tickets, and executed flawless shoulder-tap ticket merkins on each “waiting so long” and mention of “tickets” while enjoying “Two Tickets To Paradise” by the legendary Eddie Money. 22 points brah!
    This was hard, just ask Cardinal.

    ~ Ticket Mosey to Rich Man’s Loop ~

    Main event:
    The good news: We’d walk one lap – with tickets.
    The not so good news: after each quarter of the loop with tickets, we’d mosey ticket-free around the rest of the loop and progressively work around.
    1st Leg: Rocky tickets (punches).
    Lap
    2nd Leg: Curls till tired, then overhead press.
    Lap
    3rd Leg: Tricep extensions.
    Lap
    4th Leg: Side extensions and front extensions.
    Lap

    The PAX (really just AB) was grumbling about being at 2.5 miles in and something about points, so we returned to the flag to ditch tickets and then carried on to close out 3 miles.
    It’s the frickin’ Cleveland Wine Mixer May Chalenge after all, no points should be left in the table.

    Time elapsed, 1:45 over.

    COT, Dox prayed us out.

    Thanks for the solid showing and enjoying two tickets in the gloom. Always enjoy pushing myself and sharing the growth that only comes through deliberate discomfort with you men.

    Now I’m off to email YETI to see if they can make a bigger bucket to carry tickets.

    SYITG