Category: Northshore

  • The Roger Rabbit, The Sprinkler, & The Running Man – from Steve

    What do these have in common? They’ll all be featured in a Russo-choreographed dance routine that his daughter will perform as her first “contemporary” solo with her dance company sometime in 2025. That’s right, few knew it before this moment, but Russo is a regular Bob Fosse (minus all the smoking, drinking, and infidelity, of course).

    During the warmorama, we mulled over some of the moves that he had already scratched from his repertoire (Moonwalk, Walk Like and Egyptian – “overused,” “cliche” he says), some that he was on the fence about (Electric Slide, The Snake), and others (The Robot, The Chicken Wing) that he was confident would add texture, but was having trouble working into the routine without making it feel a bit too heavy-handed. Hey, it’s a delicate balance.

    Hearing about all this dancing had me jazzed for our coupon beatdown, a retread of something YHC did solo last week:

    100 Squat Thrusters (25 reps, x4)
    200 Curls (40 reps, x5)
    300 Chest Presses (50 reps, x6)

    In between each set of reps we slalomed the columns (a Russo original, inspired by his love of ski ballet, apparently) over to the stairs for 10x calf raises.

    Another talent you may not know about Russo: he can expound upon the technical brilliance of Mad Max Fury Road and also give me the cliff notes to an epic, 4-hour YouTube review of the Star Wars hotel, all the while keeping the rep count in his head. (This seems to be an F3-honed skill that happens once you hit the 7-8 year mark; though Russo, being mathematically minded as he is, was of course on the fast track.)

    YHC envisions a day when we might combine the previously mentioned dance moves with our 25 lbs coupons. I mean, hell, I already felt like I was lifting up Jennifer Grey as I was doing the squat thrusters today. Could be a whole new era for F3. Or, at the very least, a new category in the lexicon: 80’s Power Pumps. I know I’d be down for the playlist alone.

    COT, and the man himself, Russo, prayed us out. See you gents tomorrow for what we all know will be a punishing beatdown from the tyrants Pickaxe and Chainsaw!

  • TIL YOU cant no more – from Mobydick

    Every time I Q I am concerned this 74 yo isn’t going to give the pax their money’s worth. Having been routinely beat down to MY limit by you young punks. So I came up with a plan. After a rather routine warm up of SSH Arm circles toe touches torso twists scissors hops butt kicks etc etc I laid out a simple plan. Each pax was to do each exercise to his limit. Til YOU can’t do any more. That was a short list. Freak Nasty Squats Leg Lifts Merkins. All done slow and complete without concern for count just til there wasn’t any thing left. In between each set of those was a lap. The thang went to 3 sets of limits each a little shorter than the last. Closed out with stretches COT and a prayer of gratitude for the strength we each found with in ourselves.

  • Standards at the Scramble! – from Shooter

    7 HIMs posted on a mild Thursday gloom to get in some work. Arrived with Jose10k getting in some pre work, while Hammer was doing some stretches on his own. Out of the shadows arrives Waterpik with his pre mosey to the Scramble. BD came over through the park with ruck sack in tow, as Chewy walks up with a Ruck as well. . Oh wait, what are these late headlights coming in. Has Cowbell returned? Negative, its Bird rolling in Hot as the warmup is under way..

    15IC SSH, Hillbillies, Windmils 10IC Bridges, wife pleasers, glute stretch and hold.

    Ruckers 20 out and back, while runners journeyed original route adding an extra loop through the Hermitage. Runners had some time to spare so completed 20IC Elbow to knee left/right, LBCs and 20 Merkins OYO..

    Annoucments: BEAST and don’t forget the shirt order.. Hammer has the Q Saturday and PickAxe may be part of the planning so prepare..

    Chewy closed us out with COT and until ther next Gloom 👊🏼 👍🏼✌🏼!!

  • It’s good to be back with the Gipper’s!! – from Shooter

    With the summer season here and the opportunity to post again at the Gipper.
    YHC figured the best way to do it would be to take the Q. Jose 10k head locked YHC for the pre-miler but you better not be on time or your late is what I gather as he was already moseying when I arrived. Stated a quick GM and hello to Moby while he was planting the flag and off I went to try and catch Mr. Anderson.. Before the turning point joined up with Jose 10k and returned to the AO with the PAX now at 4. Jumped into our warmup of 15IC Imperial walkers, Hillbillies, SSH, Grass grabbers, Toe Touches, Cherry pickers, front claps. 10 OYO arm circles forward and reverse and finish with selflove..
    Plan was to touch all the memorable spots around on Covington with some reps along the way. First stop SB admin building with a series of hop scotch and back pedal, 30-40% sprints and Carioca back 2x, leg lunge 2 parking spots and bunny hop 2 R/R till the end.. Moseyed to the flag pole for AL Gore and some George Thourogoods while we completed a ring to 5 of 8 count bodybuilders. Moseyed to the backside of Justice center.. Partner 1 did stated exercise with the benches while Partner 2 moseyed up the steps and completed a Burpee. 2 rounds each of jump overs, Freak Nasties and bench Mountain climbers. Moseyed to the front of Justice center for step ups P1 and P2 up the steps for choice of 5 count Merkins 2x.. Time of 10 mins remaining had to make sure to get in the Rocks so moseyed over and instructed medium rock or the option of a cylinder block. Overhead press 20x, Curls 20x, Rows 20x and Chest press 2x 40 reps each.. Returned coupons and moseyed back for 3 mins of Core. LBCs, Flutter kicks and 💯s 100 OYO..

    Appreciate the morning with you gentlemen and prayers extended for intentions of BBQs coworker and the loss of his mother, prayers for Jose 10ks coworkers surgery and prayers for Einstein’s son with the closing of his job at the end of the month and the landing of another to come soon…

    Always enjoy the gloom with you gents and until the next 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!!

  • How is it not summer yet? – from Russo

    How do I know it’s unofficially summer? Close to 80, crazy humid, not a breeze to be had at 5:15 AM. Oh, and Jose posted which means school is all but wrapped up.

    Pax of 4, with regulars Steve and Chewy rounding out our barbershop quartet. Yes, Chewy moved up to regular status this week in YHC’s opinion. Pax Miner is pleased.

    Warmup (all 10x)
    – seal jacks
    – Self love
    – Good mornings
    – Toe touches
    – grass grabbers
    – Torso twists

    Thang
    Mosey to the bridge, where at every block it was 20 plankjacks and 20 squats merkins.

    At the bridge: 7s (Peter Parker’s 2×1 and Donkey kicks)

    Between:
    – Mosey
    – Carioca
    – Back pedal
    – Lunge walk
    – Skip
    – Mosey again (I forgot we could sprint, high knee, or side shuffle, knowing a bear crawl was out of the question)

    Back at the pad, Mary included some 10x IC core (LMCs, flutters, B2K, Rosalitas, Wife Pleasers, American Hammers) and a column slalom.

    COT, NOR, Announcements, and Prayer closed us out. SYITG

  • Milestone Memorial Day Murph – from Akbar

    13 for the Memorial Day Murph at the Milestone Marsh. Mumblechatter was strong and the weather was stifling hot, muggy, and brutal.

    PAX: Speedy Gonzalez, Bird, The Hammer, Parrot, Zoolander, Steve, Shooter, Tanked Up!, The Manny, Chewy, Jose 10k, TruCoat, Akbar

    Warm Ups: SSH, Self-Love, Arm Circles, Grass Grabbers, Windmills, Overhead Claps, Slow Squats

    Thang: The Murph

    1 mile run to the Lakefront wall and back

    100 Pull Ups

    200 Merkins

    300 Squats

    1 mile run to the Lakefront wall and back

    Count-o-rama, name-o-rama

    Trucoat shared personal experiences of how tough battle can be, reminding us that the wars fought don’t end on the battlefield – but can carry on for a lifetime. Shooter prayed us out with thanks and honor to all U.S. Military who have served and will serve, honoring those who died while serving our country.

    Announcements:

    Spartan Dallas in October – se Zoolander or Hammer for sign up information

    T shirt order ends in 6 days.

    Coffeeteeria at Zoolander’s house

    SYITG,

    Akbar

  • Damn, it’s hot out here – from Jose10k

    A bunch of foolish hims showed up to run in this heat. YHC was ridiculously stupid and showed up a half hour early to get in a half Murph at the playground. Oh well, SYITG

  • The Return of Echo India – from Steve

    Man it has been a while. YHC couldn’t remembered exactly when Ei left, partly because even when he still lived here he had stopped posting regularly, was skipping the annual event he started and – maybe most heartbreaking of all – had ceased all GroupMe musings like his infamous “No Horses In The Tunnel” post. Despite that, he is a tough man to forget.

    Or is he?

    Much to Ei’s chagrin, when he pulled in to the Gipper and enthusiastically greeted Moby after a three year absence, Moby couldn’t remember who the hell he was. Though, as Moby offered in consolation (pointing at me): “Hey, I can barely remember that little shit.” Fair enough – us Mandevilleans have not done such a great job posting to the Covington (or Slidell!) AO’s. Hoping that changes now that Summer is here and some of us are no longer beholden to our kids’ school schedules.

    Anyhow, it was good to have Ei’s wit and energy back in the Pax and, once Legal, BBQ, and DarkWing Duck rolled in, we got to it.

    YHC had the day before received the Nation’s email about the tragic passing of Jason Richard, aka “Falcon” (of the St. Louis – Mermemac region), father to four and husband to a wife who has been battling cancer. He was an FNG who collapsed on his first workout just as the pax were naming him.

    So in his honor, we stuck together and performed “The Falcon 026”:

    14 SSH’s (IC)
    26 Flying Squirrels
    26 American Hammers (IC)
    26 Lunges
    26 Curls
    One Lap around the depot (approx. 400 meters)
    26 No cheat merkins.
    14 SSH’s (IC)

    BBQ prayed us out with intentions for the Richards family, and gratitude for the return of old friends like EiEi. Good to have you back, brother, even just for a day.

  • Dora The (Lonely) Coupon Explorer – from Steve

    It was my own damn fault – I knew Russo was out this week, probably waiting in a long line for a $40 hot dog and working out the cost efficiency of those lightning lane passes, and yet still YHC failed to send out the bat signal to Chewy or Shooter or Bird or any other potential Granny pax.

    I got there early to set up the coupons and knock out a few merkins, so when start time came and went, YHC had worked up enough of a sweat that the thought of returning to bed wasn’t as appealing. The blocks were already out, so might as well get some use out of them:

    100 Overhead Presses (sets of 25, 4x)
    200 Curls (sets of 40, 5x)
    300 Chest Presses (sets of 50, 6x)

    15x calf raises between sets, and sometimes a slalom the columns (when you’re solo, there’s a lot of cheating going on…). The lesson for me was clear – sure, I can do it alone once, maybe twice. But for a month? No. Eight years? No way, definitely need the men of F3 for that kind of accountability. I appreciate and am grateful for you fellas, whether you’re there or not!

  • 7s at The A1C – from Einstein

    long warmup:
    toe touch, good mornings, grass grabbers, arm circles, soccer foot stretch, swimmers,
    hi jack hi jills, imperial walkers, hillbillies, side straddle hops, etc

    thang;
    line up at the upper deck end zone for sevens, running to each of the four corners for:
    4×7 burpees
    4X14 flutter kicks
    4×21 merkins
    4×28 squats
    4×21 dips
    4×14 crunches
    4×7 backward lunges
    ran about a total of 12 football fields
    10 star jacks before calling time

    chatter was good
    all worked up a sweat
    DarkWingDuck prayed us out