With the emotional pain of the Saints last-play, crushing defeat at the hands of the all-to-familiar Minnesota Vikings, coupled with the immediate aftermath of Frankie C’s Hundo YHC figured spirits would be subdued and the PAX of F3 Northshore might just Opt for an extra hour of sleep in the gloom. But, as Lee corso likes to say, “Not so fast, my friend.” YHC was delighted to greeted by Akbar and The Hammer upon arriving at the AO.
YHC led the men through a brief warmup consisting of SSHs, arm circles, HK, and BKs.
With the intent to provide the PAX (YHC wanted to gripe about the Saints game) a chance to vent about the saints game and to also recap the Hundo, a running beatdown (Sean-#7 was bruising Sunday) Full of FUMBLE chatter was on today’s gloomy menu.
Start by moseying toward the lakefront , stopping at each intersection to do 10 reps of the following 6 exercises: merkins, smurf jacks, stars, squats, rower sit-ups, and plank jacks. The PAX took a circuitous route through Old Mandeville eventually Heading back to the marsh just in time for the closing .
Count off, cot and thanks to the hammer for praying us out.
While a few soldier Pax were recovering from Tanked Up’s overnight 100k Hundo, the rest of us got to work on a clear Breesy Saturday before the Saints stick it to the Vikings on Sunday.
Pre-thang 2 miler with Turbo, Pik, Freon, Zoo, and FNG Paul.
We warmed up with Imperial Walkers, Squats, Imperial Squat Walkers, Side Straddle Hops, Sleep Walker 123 (up to 5), and Merkins
Mosey to Noah’s Ark where Freon took the Q / VQ, and led the beat down, which like Brees’ and Thomas’ records, was nothing short of spectacular. It went like this:
3 Rounds:
High Knees 60 50 40
Mountain Climbers 30 40 46
Straight Leg Sprints 50 40 30
—Recovery Run around the Ark—
Gorilla Crawls 16 20 26
Jimmie Jumps 50 40 30
Triple Bear 15 20 21
Frog Burpees 25 20 15
—Recovery Run around the Ark—
For a total of 684 reps equivalent to the sum of Brees’ and Thomas’ record breaking stats (540 all time touchdowns + 144 receptions = 684)
YHC resumed the Q for some work on the Lake Wall. Irkins, Box Jumps, Derkins, Freak Nasties, Burpee Box Jumps
Indian Run back to the shovel flag where the Pax indulged QIC with a Kenpo Kooldown.
Excellent work, Freon! YHC was not feeling creative for this beatdown and enlisted Freon last minute for some hurry-up offense. Not only did he Co-Q/VQ, but he EH’d Psycho and brought FNG Paul, now known as Jukebox.
Psycho, having escaped the Bates Motel to support Freon, prayed us out.
YHC ate way too much over his Christmas break and so was quick to respond to Steve’s call to Q this morning. After joining Legal, Hammer and Zoolander for a little Foreplay in the Gloom, YHC circled up the PAX, partnered up with Grover and got down to business with a warmup.
YHC and Grover rotated warmup exercises of Imperial Walkers, SSHs, Hillbillys, Seal Jacks, Butt Kicks and High Knees, all 20x IC. Good job Grover in leading for the first time.
The PAX then headed down the Lakefront for a set of Dora 1-2-3s with a partner: 100 hand release Merkins, 200 45 degree lunges, and 300 SSHs with bear crawls and crab walks in between.
After a brief recovery walk and a short mosey a little further eastward down the Lakefront, YHC set up a few cones for a version of Catch Me if You Can. Partner 1 backpedals about 10 yards from cone 1 to cone 2 while Partner 2 holds at cone 1. As soon as Partner 1 hits cone 2, Partner 2 sprints to try to beat his backpedaling partner to cone 3 about 30 yards away. Recovery walk back with the partners switching spots and then repeating.
Three more sets with three different partners and it was time to dig into the bag of tricks to retrieve a ball for the next stage of our beat down.
The PAX divided into three teams, each with a ball, for a race to the Harbor playground. Despite HanDcock, Esquire’s attempt to confuse matters with lawyerly questions, the rules were very simple for the race: PAX cannot run when holding the ball and each time the ball hits the ground the entire team has to do one burpee before getting underway again. Serious high jinx ensued, and YHC cannot even remember who won except that it wasn’t his team.
The PAX then hit some staggered Merkins and took a brief reprieve and then it was a race back to the starting point, this time using only your non-dominant hand to catch and throw.
Mosey to the virtual shovel flag for some Mary with dynamic back and front planks.
Countorama, nameorama and Goose led us out in prayer on our way to the coffeeteria.
Moleskin
If you are old and grumpy like YHC and think that our youth should be doing something other than spending all of their time glued to their phones, then you need to meet 9 year old Bear and 17 year old Grover. Bear can bear crawl like, well, a bear and singlehandedly kept his team in contention for the ball games this morning and his dad honest on the hand release Merkins. Grover quickly accepted YHC’s invitation to lead this morning’s warmup and cheerfully executed like a seasoned veteran. It is absolutely fabulous to see these two young men join their dads in the Gloom. Mathlete and Akbar should be very proud of their 2.0s.
The Krazy Ivan is coming up, Comrades. All Northshore PAX need to clear their calendars for the evening of January 18th. It is imperative that we have maximum participation. The Southshore PAX have been gloating over last year’s victory and posting pictures of themselves with the Freedom Hammer all year. It’s enough to make you sick.
For various reasons, YHC has been away from the gloomy streets of Old Mandeville, unable to post at the Scramble and the Marsh (YHC’s 2 favorite AOs) on a regular basis for the last 3 months. But today was different! YHC was excited to be back out ratting the streets with some of his runnin podnuhs. Here’s to hoping for more posts in the future.
Here’s a LOOSE description of what went down and who was there to attest.
Thang: Mosey over to workout Equipment for 3 sets of Pull ups x 5, alternating w/ 10 squats.
Mosey to Lakefront, stopping at each intersection for some exercises: Putins, Leg Raises, Crunchy Frogs, Merkins, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Al Gores, Chill Cut Planks. Then off to Rips for some up and over work before heading back to the Marsh to close out.
Thanks to the always loquacious Bushwacker for praying us out!
Good to be back out there in the gloom with you men. F3–Always pushing ahead, always pushing forward!
Extremely proud of the PAX for joining me at the Gipper this cold morning. Thank you for keeping us accountable and making us better men!
After a brief warm-up, the PAX gathered around the rock garden. Some men/boys chose a small-sized rock (hate), others chose medium/large-sized rocks (respect). The PAX enjoyed many kettle bell swings, hammer curls, squats, and overhead presses. Arms and shoulders felt nice and toasty, assuming you selected a rock that was appropriately sized.
We made our way to the top of the parking deck and enjoyed a leisurely routine of either jump squats or burpees for everything three parking spaces. At each space the men would increase reps and at the end of the routine, the cold temperature did a number on our lungs (it burns!!!).
Kudos to all that could join. Expect a similar workout next time…
Maverick put such a whuppin’ on our upper bodies yesterday at the Gipper that YHC had preordained there’d be no burpees, no merkins, and no pull-ups at the (post) Scramble this morning.
We began with one the slowest warmoramas YHC has led, and I’ve led some pretty slow ones. Good Mornings, at an excruciatingly sluggish pace, followed by windmills, toe touches, IW’s, and lunges, all x12 IC for Mackenzie’s birthday. Happy birthday, Mackenzie, whoever you are.
Finally, time to mosey. Traditional route plus some – after Sunset Point we doubled back to hit the Hermitage loop for a second time, bumping our mileage up to an even 4.
Things went south at about this point, when Akbar went AWOL, which in turn sent Shooter running in circles, which in turn had the rest of the PAX performing exactly 127 LBC’s. This, along with some overly-chatty announcements, sent us over on time by about six full minutes. Luckily, Turtle was not present to note my disrespect of the time.
Soon-to-be-retired Garfield prayed us out and the PAX scattered like the wind. Thanks men for getting me out there today, some mornings are tougher than others, and I’m incredibly thankful I have you guys to hold me accountable.
10 men braved the Olga aftermath to see what was on the No Power Menu this past Saturday. YHC may not be able to remember much of what was actually on the menu, but I can tell you what was not on the menu: a fun game of mud football wasn’t (or, really, any “fun” in general); a beatdown with a clear vision wasn’t; and a fast cup of strong coffee at coffeeteria wasn’t either. But more on that later.
First, there was much mumblechatter and confusion as to what exactly happened to Wacker. He had posted on the GroupMe that Olga had “slipped in last night and screwed things up.” But many men hadn’t heard that the tropical storm had been named and so, naturally, thought a Russian woman had slipped into Bush’s bed. Obviously, there was a lot of concern and alarm until it was revealed Olga was “not the Russian lady he did that run with a few weeks ago.”
Now, the beatdown. Nevermind that YHC can’t remember the specifics of the warmorama (it’s pretty much the same 15 or so exercises anyway, right?), more of note was that it had to be the darkest warmorama on record. With the power out in the entire neighborhood, it really couldn’t be any darker (unless, of course, we lost the light coming from Hammer and Pik’s phones). YHC kept thinking, how can we do anything in this darkness? No bear crawls, no suicides – what are we gonna just sit in a circle and do side straddle hops all morning??
So… after some SSH’s, we carefully tread over to the playground equipment for a round of 7’s: pull-ups to merkins. Then over to the benches for a second set of 7’s: Freak Nasties to Bulgarians (admittedly, Bulgarians were a bit ill-conceived due to the awkwardness of having to do each leg).
Then carefully back to center court for a set of 1 minute AMRAPs, dealer’s choice: we went around the circle and each man picked an exercise. I can’t remember the exercises: there were merkins, there were jump squats, there were burpees, oh, and then Maverick showed up about this time and made us do Merkins again.
After that, Tank mercifully took the Q for a moment, just as light was starting to peek through. He had us do runs across the court, with a merkin at each end. About 5 laps here to get the heart rate going.
YHC took the Q back for what I thought could be an interesting one: partner up for the slowest Catch Me If You Can ever. P1 will inchworm down the block, P2 will perform 10 merkins, 10 squats, and 10 LBCs, before bear crawling to catch and replace P1. YHC thought it would be fun to go sightseeing down the block (now that there was light) where there were downed power lines, fallen trees, frantic cars, and all sorts of other fun stuff to dodge. But the wise Hammer pulled us back to the safety of the court. This exercise turned out to be not so fun in the end anyway.
Then we split into two teams of 5 and did a relay race across the court. Jose ran so fast that I think he ran straight outta the court and into the home across the street, but he did seal the tie for his team. So, 20 burpees for all.
And… what else? Ah, we finished with a round of Mary: again, a 1 minute AMRAP, dealer’s choice, around the circle. And again, YHC cannot recall the exact exercises, but does remember that Pik had us do calf raises, because I remember thinking, “this isn’t core,” but hey, fair game nonetheless. And Turbo had us do Scuba Steves. And Jose pulled out his fave – Jane Fondas, 1 minute each leg to close it all out.
COT where Tank took center stage to announce the Hundo, which is gaining some traction despite its utter insanity. You gotta love these guys. Akbar prayed us out and then we were on our way in search of coffee. Despite the citywide outage, this group of stragglers wouldn’t take no for an answer and found the local Waffle House to be incredibly accommodating despite the lack of power. T-claps to our cheery waitress, who put up with Hammer’s constant tea refills and a bunch of sweaty guys that had no intention of eating. In the company of these men, that weak, slow-drip coffee was some of the best I’ve ever had.
So while we may never know if those eighteen year olds were able to pull their truck out with bungee cords, like much in life, some things are just better left to the imagination. Gents, thanks for the opportunity to co-lead with Tank, I believe I can speak for both of us when I say that it’s a privilege and honor that we don’t take for granted.
Like the men of F3, Waffle House plans for the expected, but is prepared for the unexpected.
At 5:12 a.m., YHC pulled into the Marsh, only to find it empty. Prepared to move forward with a Beatdown of 1, Cowbell soon made his presence known. With no Q signed up, Cowbell and Hammer quickly agreed to co-Q. Akbar must have overheard, because right as we were to begin warmups, he swooped in to create a triumvirate of Qs.
Cowbell took Q from here, as we began a mosey toward the Lake. We stopped on the corner of each block to perform the following trifecta in descending order: Merkins/Squats/Big Boi Situps x 25/20/15/10/5.
Once at the Lake, Akbar took over, and we began with 25 Freak Nasties on the wall. We began our mosey back to the Marsh, and Akbar had us do the following trifecta in descending order: Jump Squats/Walking Lunges/LBCs x25/20/15/10/5. YHC has concluded that Akbar is still angry about Ole Miss’ loss to the Aggies on Saturday, and he was taking it out on us via the Jump Squat/Lunge combo. There really is no other explanation.
Once back at the Marsh, the Hammer took Q back over and led the triumvirate in a series of suicides on the court, much to the chagrin of Cowbell and Akbar. We changed it up as follows:
Full sprint each way/Bear Crawl out, backwards run back/Shuffle out, 10 LBCs at each line, sprint back/Sprint out, 10 of Dealer’s Choice at each line, Sprint back/Sprint out, Descending Burpees at each line –4,3,2,1, Sprint Back
To finish with a few minutes of Mary, Cowbell had each of the PAX pick an exercise x 25. The Hammer chose (of course) American Hammers, Akbar chose Mountain Climbers, and Cowbell finished us off with Crunchy Frogs.
Hammer prayed us out, lifting up our brothers Water Pik, Jose 10k, and special intentions.
Cowbell and YHC have often discussed the misery of Monday mornings at the Marsh. Typically they’re not the most difficult beatdowns of the week, but coming off the weekend, as Lionel Ritchie would tell anyone who’d listen, they’re never easy, easy like Sunday morning.
In fact, this beatdown was designed purposefully to be easy, and it still wasn’t easy. If that makes any sense whatsoever.
After a quick warmorama at center court (consisting of toe touches, arm circles, good mornings, windmills, ssh’s) we took a mosey.
This whole thing was a mosey, in fact – up the trace, to Jackson, down to the lakefront and back – with the stipulation that we’d stopped at (most) intersections to perform a 1 minute AMRAP of an exercise. From what YHC can remember, it was something like:
squats
LBCs
merkins
mountain climbers
flutter kicks
freak nasties
knee ups (1 min each leg)
burpees
jump squats
monkey humpers
And then back in time to hit the pull up bars for 20 oyo.
Abbreviated mary of Freddie Mercs and leg raises, and Akbar prayed us out. Thanks men for posting and for the opportunity to lead, as you know, I wouldn’t be out there if it wasn’t for you guys!
The Killer B’s ended with a bang Saturday morning, with Grundy taking the Northshore lead by mere seconds. Sure, we could debate the fairness of doing it on the lakefront’s luxurious grass vs. the Marsh’s unyielding concrete, or the legality of the proctor himself taking home first place, but when it comes down to it, we must (begrudgingly) give Grundy due credit (and hate!) – it was a pretty inspirational effort. In fact, Tank was nipping at his heels the entire time and it seems the two were feeding off one another’s energy to push each other to their record times.
So t-claps to those two men for giving it their all and, while we’re t-clapping, we might as well toss another one out to Zoo and his miraculous self-healing leg, for taking the opportunity to hit the challenge for a second time and improve upon his score. Alright, the rundown:
Usual pre-thang 2 miler featured guest appearances by both Bushwacker and Garfield, and then we went right into the warmorama: Arm circles (forward/back), IW’s, copperhead squats, toe touches, hillbillies, SSHs, mountain climbers, all x20 IC.
Thang: Half the PAX followed Grundy to complete the IP challenge, while those that had already had their fill followed YHC.
First stop on our tour of the lakefront was an old favorite that can be difficult to use with a large pax: Rips. Instead of the traditional stair run/Rocky Balboa’s, though, we simply grabbed a handrail and did one legged negative calf raises, at a slow cadence: x15 per leg.
Then, eastward towards the baseball field, stopping for a quick COP of high knees and a burpee wave. About 6 rounds, and then onward…
To the pull-up bars behind the baseball field. Circled up on our six for flutter kicks, while 2 men got up to do 5x pull-ups. Around the circle again and again and again, until each man had 25 pull-ups. We maxed out on flutters and at some point switched to Freddie Mercs, which did not really help all that much.
Next up, flip over to a plank for plank jacks, while 2 men got up to do hanging knee tucks x10. Round the circle a few times, switching about halfway to shoulder taps, until each man had 30 tucks.
Mosey back towards the boat launch to split into two teams for a 100-yard sprint relay race. Losing team gets hit with 25 burpees, winning team gets 25 merkins. (YHC has learned that, in the realm of F3, the winning team never takes the easy way and sits out on the work so why even bother pretending there’s a reward.) With Bean pulling double duty for Team 2 to secure the win, they performed their merkins and then jumped in to help Team 1 finish up with their burpees. And then everyone took a page from Pik, who’s been keeping Old Mandeville clean for the better part of two years, and did a quick sweep of beer bottles before heading over to the playground for a quick partner routine.
P1 holds people’s chair while doing air presses, P2 bear crawls up the small hill to the swingset pad for 10 merkins and then bunny hops back down to flapjack with P1.
Just enough time to Indian Run back to Rips, get in one more set of calf raises (x10 each leg this time), and back at the flag for a round of boxcutters, x20 IC. The rest of the gang joined us at this point, looking thoroughly destroyed, and we circled up for COT. Zoo encouraged all to share the gift of F3 and bring out some new brothers, and Maverick took us out with a prayer, encouraging us to be men of strength. Then off to coffeeteria. Thank you men for the opportunity not only to lead, but to get stronger and sharper alongside you.
of the Saints last-play, crushing defeat at the hands of the all-to-familiar Minnesota Vikings, coupled with the immediate aftermath of Frankie C’s Hundo 
YHC figured spirits would be subdued and the PAX of F3 Northshore might just Opt for an extra hour of sleep 
in the gloom. But, as Lee corso
likes to say, “Not so fast, my friend.” YHC was delighted 
to greeted by Akbar and The Hammer upon arriving at the AO. 
Sean-#7 
was bruising 
Sunday) Full of FUMBLE 
chatter was on today’s gloomy 
menu. 
, stopping 
at each intersection to do 10 reps of the following 6 exercises: merkins, smurf jacks, stars, squats, rower sit-ups, and plank jacks. The PAX took a circuitous route through Old Mandeville eventually Heading back to the marsh just in time for the closing 
. 
