With the Gnarly Nutria in the rearview mirror, YHC and Shooter posted to the Milestone Marsh in the gloom of the early morning looking to get some work in, but with much less to prepare for. YHC noted how more difficult it is to get motivated with no major events on F3’s horizon. But, nonetheless, time marches on and the beatdowns continue.
After a brief WARMORAMA of SSHs, Arm Circles, and Butt Kicks, YHC and Shooter jumped right in for some action:
THANG
Determined to complete all 11 minutes of ISI, YHC started off with a minute plank, followed by two- 5 minute sets of alternating exercises. The first set of exercises was 10 merkins at center court, then 10 hanging leg tucks over at the play equipment. 1 minute plank. The second set was 10 squats at center court and 10 jump pull-ups at the play equipment. 2 minute plank.
The Marsh has seen it’s fair share of F3 activity lately (AO of the month…Is there such a thing?), so YHC decided it was time for a change of scenery. Let’s mosey to the Lakefront. Stop at each intersection for a minute plank to close out all 11 minutes for the day. Did I mention that ISI is getting tough?
YHC had some box jumps on the seawall in mind, but the Lake was whipping water around pretty good, so with the seawall all wet (YHC was not in the mood for swimming) and 5 minutes to spare, it was time to head back to the Marsh.
Countorama, COT and YHC prayed us out.
Thanks, Shooter, for being so dependable on the post. If not for your commitment, YHC would have been a sad clown today.
Driving back yesterday from a beucolic camping trip in the mountains of Arkansas, YHC was reintroduced to reality by way of constant rain from AR to LA. And sure enough, not willing to remain under the haven of the covering over the basketball court at the Mash, the PAX were quite thoroughly soaked by the COT. But nary a drop of rain had hit us – the relief of cool droplets would have been too much to hope for. Rather, the men of the Milestone Marsh were freely seeping salty swill from every pore not clogged by dust or dirt. This was how it went down…
WARM O RAMA
appx x15 IC:
Toe Touches
SSH
Fire Hydrants
Scorpion Kicks
THANG
ISI part 1 – 2:30
In honor of our brother Coconuts, whom we miss and eagerly anticipate his eventual, fully-healed return, PAX dropped for 10 Burpees every minute on the minute for 5 minutes, followed by a mosey around the block.
After the second round came ISI part 2 – 2:30
MARY
appx x25 IC:
LMCs (Lil Manny Crunches)
Putins
100s
Leg Raises
ISI part 3 – 2:30
COT
With the will of responsible adults overcoming the ubiquitous mumble chatter, COUNTORAMA, NAMEORAMA, YHC prayed us out.
Thank you Sirs Cooley and Cowley for posting this gloom and following the lead of this impulsively overbooked sweat angel-apprentice!
Five PAX made it out to the Marsh this morning, itching to get back to work after a grueling holiday weekend. This included a special appearance by (Chief) Captain Sparkles, who posted despite a traumatic rope swing injury suffered while impressing a lady.
YHC imagines it looked something like this…
Despite the busted arm, Sparkles suffered through the beatdown admirably, and we’re all hoping that, once healed, this’ll be the start of a Sparklanaissance. Ok, so here’s what went down this morning:
Warmorama: Arm circles, SSHs, IWs, toe touches, good mornings, all x20 IC.
Next up, knock out half the ISI with a 2 minute plank. Shooter got an early start on this, planking as YHC arrived, so t-claps to him for getting a little extra in today. (And while we’re t-clapping, let’s also give it up for Waterpik, who continued his trend of running to the AO’s. At least someone is preparing for the Nutria!)
Then over to the monkey bars for a tabata series. We did three 4-minute series of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest. We alternated between two different exercise each round.
First round: merkins / big boy sit-ups
Second round: squat jumps / burpees
Third round: hanging knee tucks / mountain climbers
Next up, a game of Catch Me If You Can: Partner 1 runs toward the lake, P2 does 10 plank jacks and 10 mountain climbers before sprinting to catch up. Flapjack.
Once at the lake, we finished up our ISI with another 2 minute plank on the sea wall.
Since we were there, why not knock out freak nasties, x15 IC? YHC resisted the (very strong) urge to jump into some Bulgarians…
And then another Catch Me If You Can back to the marsh, this time with 10x merkins as the exercise.
Mary consisted of Cowbell Flutters, LBC’s, Freddie’s, and leg raises, all x20 IC.
COT, with Shooter praying us out. This is hands down the best way to start off the work week, so thank you guys for the opportunity to lead, and for your dedication and consistency!
YHC arrived to a quiet AO with no sign of life. With the always posting Water Pik out of town for the holiday week, I was thinking this may be a repeat of a Hans Solo appearance from recent memory. As I walked around the court with mixed emotions not knowing if any brethren would be appearing my hopes were quickly lifted as the site of movement revealed that Amnesia had taken the previous nights EH. Welcome to our newly planted West St Tammany resident.. Shortly there after the likes of Bushwacker coming in hot to join the PAX, we assembled around a dirty center court.. Missing you Captain (Chief) Sparkles, your diligent cleanliness was surly missed this Gloom..
Warmup consisted of all IC to 15 Toe Touches, Arm circles forward, Arm circles to the sky, Windmills, Cherry pickers (which prove much more effective following Arm circles) and SSH..
Thang consisted of a series we will call 10s..
Monkey bars for 5 pull-ups, 10 jump squats and 15 Merkins for 10 rounds..
Total 50 pull-ups, 100 Jump Squats and 150 on the Mérks for those not wanting to work out the simple math 🤯😬..
To the court for a mixture of other exercises with full court sprints between.
25 IC was the count for exercises consisting of Little Manny crunches, Cowbell Flutters, Rosalitas, Ocho Monkey Humpers and Sparky wife pleasers..
With time quickly expiring we close out with 3 full court sprints to end with the elevated heart rate we all come for in this early Gloom..
Circled for the count/announce/COT
YHC closed with prayers for the F3 brethren traveling this week and reminded Bushwacker of my more recent take away to intentionally be KIND and not just nice!!
Appreciate you fine men following my lead and 👊🏻👍🏻✌🏻 Till the next Gloom!!
Building a workout can sometimes require some pretty big assumptions. Asking yourself how many people will be there by mentally making a checklist of names. Well this Marsh, I didn’t quite make the best assumptions and had a workout in mind that required everyone to partner up for the majority of what I had in mind. With three people there, there had to be a slight change to the initial strategy. What followed was still quite a fun beatdown.
Steve and Waterpick were at center court and already started to warmup as the Q was 1 minute late (no one gasps in surprise). After we concluded with some traditional warmup sequences I quickly introduced the “proper pushup” which would make an appearance in the next event.
A proper pushup is when drop into a standard push-up until your chest touches the ground. Make sure your hips stay off the ground, creating a bridge between chest and toes. Stretch both arms out to the side. Bring arms back to push-up position, come up and return to plank.
This type of merkin ensures that your form stays true on all reps. Cowbell would be pleased.
First we did a Colonel Trautman. Pair up (or three people pair for us) and one partner runs 20 yards to the pull up bar and do 3 pull ups while the other partner does 5 proper pushups and then holds a plank until their partner returns. And you do as many sets as you can with in the time frame. We did this for 10 minutes.
Next we did a lazy dora. An estranged and despised relative of Dora 1-2-3. Partner up. Partners perform 100 Merkins, 200 LBCs, & 300 Squats as a team. Here’s the catch…no running. P1 starts with 10 Merkins while P2 planks, then switch. Continue switching between Merkins and plank until 100 total Merkins reached. Next, while P1 does 20 LBCs, P2 performs a 6″ leg hold until P1 is finished, then switch. Continue switching until all 200 LBCs are completed. Finally, P1 does 25 squats while P2 does squat hold, then switch. Continue switching until 300 total squats are completed.
We continued this sequence with freak nasties to 200 reps.
We then concluded with 5 minutes of mary, counted off, and Waterpik prayed us out.
Thanks gentlemen for making sure I was not alone today. Partner exercises alone wouldn’t work at all!
Another glorious gloom at the Milestone Marsh shows us that valuable lessons in life can be garnered from even the most unexpected places….
QIC decided that today would be a great time to test out some (in his limited experience) never before tried- by-F3Northshore exercises (save for 1 or 2). The Marsh regulars are always down for a challenge, and as they gathered at center court, the formerly ubiquitous Weinke emerged to once again shine a magnificent light of recall upon the Q in his quest to drop the beat…doooooooown!
WARMORAMA
Nancy Kerrigans – on 1 foot, with the other extended behind, bent at the waist, and arms extended outward…arm circles x10f, x10b
Hairy Rockettes – x20 straight leg kick, touch right hand to left foot and vice versa
Sprinkler – x20 with arms out in front, torso twist to the right with right knee up to the left and vice versa
Failure to Launch – x6 hold Al Gore while Q counts down from 10 the tuck jump
THANG
With a robust selection from the Core category of the Exicon, the PAX proceeded thusly…
XYs – x25 Rosalita and Flutter Kick done together in a 4 count. Trickier than it sounds
Cross-Elbow LBCs – x25 self-explanatory nod to the obliques
Inch Worm – x25 plank position with feet on a swing, bring knees to chest
Swerkins – (count MAY have been abbreviated???) again in plank position with feet on a swing, merkin followed by knees to chest
*while at the swings, a barn owl swooped down near by to see what we were up to*
Weezy Jefferson – x25 (done in reverse from stated direction) from 10 degrees to 90, legs up on 3 count, down on 1
Van Goghda – x25 on your 6 with legs spread, sit up r hand to left foot, and flip flop (YHC’s poor brush-burned coccyx is still regretting doing this on concrete)
Protractor – on your 6 with legs extended straight, raise or lower to Q’s called-out angle from10 degress to 90
J Lo’s – x25 in chill cut plank, pivot hips to the ground side to side
Panseys – x5 pull up and hold, then raise straightened legs to 90 degrees (or at least attempt to) then lower legs and back down
Never Cross Dolleys – x25 Hello Dolleys with arms out in Iron Cross position
T-Bombs – x25 (look for these very soon at a Saturday beat down near you!) start in crab position, 1 kick legs straight out, 2spread legs aprt, 3 bring them back together, 4 back to crab position
And Finally…
Steinls – 2 sets, 30 second plank, 30 second chill cut plank, 10 merkins, 5 IC r leg peter parker, mountain climber, parker peter, followed by l leg, 10 more merkins, then return to plank, rinse and repeat.
COT
Waterpik did us the honor of leading us out in prayer
As we were spending so much time facing up, the PAX observed our visitor the barn owl stealthily perched on a rafter, hunting dragonflies that had trapped themselves under the ceiling thinking they’re freedom awaited them at the source of the daylight now streaming through the translucent skylights. She would swoop up and abscond with a crunchy morsel to devour in a near by tree. Repeatedly, she kept coming back to the buffet.
2 lessons dawned on YHC watching this play out:
1, Don’t necessarily follow the light, it can sometimes be an illusion (all that glitters is not gold)
2, If you want to catch fish, go where the fish are.
Emerging from the darkness were Cowbell and Shooter and it was time to get underway. College baseball chatter filled the humid air in the gloom at the Milestone March as the PAX converged- ready to get the week started with a beatdown.
Cowbell reported he bolted off to Oxford, MS this weekend to catch his Ole Miss Rebels in action, and YHC and Shooter had been following the LSU Tigers in their quest for a return trip to the Super regionals, and hopefully, Omaha, for the College World Series.
After a brief warmup consisting of Arm Circles (forward and reverse, softball, beachball), YHC led the PAX over to the playground equipment for a quick set of 10 pull-ups.
Next, mosey to Lakefront, to the corner of Lakeshore Dr. and Marigny St for a set of 5 timed runs around the track at Maringy St on 2 minutes time. Each lap took about 1:20, so we had about 40 secs rest in between each lap.
Next, we hit the stairs at Rips for some up and overs. One man goes up and over, while the F3 bros on the ground do some work… (merkins, jump overs, squats, Hello Dollies, Flutter Kicks, Calf Raises).
Let’s head to the seawall for some Derkins, Freak Nasties, Box Jumps.
With about 5 minutes to spare, YHC led the PAX back to the Marsh for count off, COT. YHC prayed us out. Thanks guys for empyting the tanks with me this morning and pushing me to become better in the process. I am always appreciative of the opportunity to lead this inspirational group of men.
YHC arrived at the Marsh to the sights of an unfamiliar truck.. As I exited, so did one EiEi now that’s a pleasant surprise but certainly a welcomed one.. Then the likes of another arrival not seen in sometime with Pelican pulling in as Steve and Bushwacker make there way to center court.. Of course the Marsh would not be complete without the pillar of Monday posts Water Pik rolling in right on time.. We circle up at center court to warmup for our “Marsh 500” on this heavy humid Gloom.. Not sure of the track temperatures but most of the PAX would soon be cooling things down with much perspiration as we embark down Lamarque street..
Warmup
15 IC Toe Touches
10 IC Good Mornings
15 IC Windmills
10 IC Arm circles forward/reverse
15 IC SSH
Thang
Assembled on Lamarque for the first bit of instruction. Simple Mosey to the first cross street for our 1st of only 5 exercises.. 20 8 count body builders OYO, as the YHC knew that he would not be able to maintain an accurate count as we progressed down Lamarque. Corner 2 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins. Moseyed on to our next block 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins, 34 Squats. By this point Q was beginning to wonder what possessed him to elect 8 count body builders as one of the exercises, but then Bushwhacker noticed the Ragnar t-shirt YHC was wearing which states “It’s not crazy if we all are doing it!” On to the fourth corner for 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins, 33 Squats, 50 Plank Jacks.. Arrived on the 5th corner at Lakeshore and Lamarque for completion. 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins, 33 Squats, 50 Plank Jacks and 100 LBCs.. By this point the objective of the PAX is to just complete in whatever order necessary or as we like to say modify to your abilities… PAX began some mumble chatter of a possible Uber pickup, which made the YHC feel as though he had delivered a quality product for a great price… “Marsh 500” complete 5 corners, 5 exercises and 500 Total reps.. Moseyed our 1/2 mile return to the court arriving with 2 mins to spare for a chill cut Plank followed by 10 IC J-lows..
Glad to have all you men post this Gloom, especially EIEI. Looking forward to seeing you at other AO’s as well 👊🏻!!
count, announce, COT
👏🏻👏🏻 to EIEI for closing us in prayer!!
Always appreciate the Gloom with you brethren of F3!!
Never has the PAX been greeted by a larger amount of refuse at the Marsh. Obviously, it was a raucous affair for mother’s day at the park. As YHC was going about the all too routine affair of picking up the AO, Shooter pulled up and slowly ambled from is sleek ans sporty Honda Fit. Waterpik trundled up in his reliable SUV shortly thereafter. And just when we thought the roster had settled at three, the n0w-familiar truck of Cowbell illuminated the court with its headlights. Having just signed up the previous day, QIC navigated his way through the mist of hesitation that lay at the foot of the unpropitious beat down his slightly demented imagination had conjured up. (It was worse than it sounds…)
WARM
x15 IC:
Toe Touches
Cherry Pickers
Air Presses
Arm Circles (10 F, 10 R)
High Knees
Butt Kicks
THANG
At the corner of Lamarque and Livingston, the PAX dropped for 10 Merkins IC. Then we did another 10 Merkins IC. We followed that up with yet another 10 Merkins IC. That abuse continued until 5 sets were complete, at which time we mosied southbound to the corner of Lamarque and Monroe. There, we did the same set count with Squats. Upon completion, the jolly band of brothers skipped back to the previous corner, and proceeded to rinse and repeat. Heeding Cowbell’s mention of Q’s core prowess, it was off to center court for:
MARY
50 LBCs
40 Freddy Mercury’s
30 Putins
20 Hello Dolly’s
10 LMCs
20 Heal Pulses
30 Flutter Kicks
40 100s
50 Heal Taps (or Penguins)
COT
Waterpik prayed us us out, and Shooter welcomed Cowbell to his 1st visit to the Marsh and surprised us all with a new batch of hid very own beef jerky! Eat your heart out Steve and Captain Sparkles!!!!
The Marsh has been relatively quiet lately, and yesterday was no exception. There were no transients, very little trash. Betting on a light turnout, YHC took a page from Chewy’s book by bringing the jump rope to the beatdown.
After a brief warm up of SSHs, Arm Circles, HKs and BKs, we headed over to the monkey bars for 2 sets of pull ups x 20. Partner 1 does 20 pull ups and P2 spots P1, as necessary. Rinse and Repeat.
Mosey back to the court to jump rope. P1 does an exercise (Merkins, 100s) while P2 does 100 reps with the jump rope.
Finish up with 4 corners: each block stop for a quick exercise. 10 Burpees, 30 Merkins, Crunchy Frogs, Sprints, Putins, Bulgarian Split Squats.
