F3 New Orleans

Author: Hawgcycle

  • Stolen Sandbags

    It’s a dangerous place we live in.  Nothing his safe – not shovel flags, not 50 lb bags of play sand.

    YHC arrived to find a full parking lot.  Triple Shift and Duct Tape both arrived with FNGs in tow.  HVAC came in hot and in need of a restroom.  We pointed him toward the port-a-potty on the far side of the park and told him we would see him after the warm-up.  I gave the disclaimer and being the Uptowner we were off on a ten foot mosey for the COP.

    The Thang

    Warm-up (all IC): SSH x 30, Imperial Walkers x 25, Windmills x 20; Arm circles – Forward x 15, Backward x 17 (YHC was distracted), 8-count body builders x 12?  – I’m not sure.  The Pax was not counting and I couldn’t keep it straight, so we went until I was tired.

    We headed over to retrieve some sandbags for the next COP and instead of 6, we only found 4.  Luckily 4 was the perfect amount, but I am not sure where the other two have gone.  Hopefully whoever took them got as much use out of them as we got out of the 4 they left.

    Dora 1-1-1 – We partnered up.  Pax #1 bear crawls out and back (50-60 yards in total) while Pax #2 does the prescribed exercise with the 50 lb. sandbag.  Set is over when the team reaches 100 reps in total.

    • Set 1 = Rows
    • Set 2 = Shoulder lifts (move sandbag from one shoulder to the next)
    • Set 3 = Squats (hug the sandbag like Al Gore would a tree).

    We finished the day with some Mary interspersed with 8-count body builders, all IC:  8-count BB x 10, LBC x 30, 8-count BB x 10, Dying Cockroach x 25, 8-count BB x 8, Putins x 20

    Grab a sandbag and return it to the not so good hiding spot.

    COT included an lengthy Amnesty style announcement session complete with F3 mission statement, historical significance, AO list and reviews, etc.  We named the FNGs and closed it out with a prayer for those in the Smokeys, Baton Rouge, and the sick.

    Moleskin

    • T-claps to Triple Shift as he continues to infuse our workouts with new blood.
    • T-claps to Duct Tape for his consistency (due in no small part to the bounty of information Amnesty provided him with).  Today he brought his 2.0, the first 2.0 we have had in a long time.
    • Strong showing by the FNGs.  I had thought figured the Dora with the sandbags would be tough, but the FNGs had no problems with it.  If only we had more sandbags to make it harder.

    Thanks,

    Hawg

  • Let’s Get It Baby

    I love posting with Marlin, because he always knows the exact moment any of us needs encouragement.  It comes about four-fifths the way through 11s, when for the 16th time you are picking up a rock that you now realize is way too big for you and you are trying to muster the ability to at least slow jog up Pontiff Peak.  Or maybe it comes when you’re doing 25 shoulder presses right after a set of 25 bench presses on the t-ball bleachers in some weird masochist experiment Bubba is trying out.  Or maybe it comes on your 8th of 10 sets of pull-ups, when you stopped being able to do a pull-up four sets ago.  It comes at various times, but it is almost always in the same form:  “Let’s get it baby.”  When I hear those words, I get my second wind.  I know I am almost there.  I know I am not defeated.  There is someone with me and he’s about to knock this thing out.  We are going to win.

    For that reason, YHC was not going to let some slight GoRuck hangover stop me from posting at Marlin’s Q.  I was out of town for his VQ, so I was going to make sure I made this one. Marlin rolled in at 0530 – right on Q (see what I did there?).  Marlin gave the disclaimer and we were off to the rocks.

    The Thang

    Warm-up COP:  Marlin played it cool and pretended not to know the name of any of the exercises.  The introduction to most of the exercises went like this:

    Marlin:  What do you call that exercise when you move your arms forward in circles?”

    The Pax:  Forward Arm Circles?

    Marlin:  That’s it.  Let’s get it.  1…2…3…

    So in that fashion, we did the following in cadence: Hammy Poppers x 25, Forward Arm Circles x 15, Backwards Arm Circles x 15, Side Straddle Hop x 25; Ski-Jumps from a Mountain Climber Position (Marlin Special) x 25

    It was time to grab our rock and the man said to go big.  Bubba listened.  YHC, however, tried to be smarter than usual.  From there we moseyed to Pontiff Peak for 10s.  10s you ask?  Marlin’s daughter just played her last volleyball game at Sacred Heart.  In honor of her and her volleyball number 72…psyche…18 (9+9) we did 1 bench presse ascending to 9 on one side of the peak and 9 squat presses on the other descending to 1.

    Borrowing from Amnesty’s Q script, Marlin instructed us that it was time to take a break.  We headed to the outhouse and went People’s Chair con roca.  After 3 45-60 second sets of People’s chair and a serenade from Bogey, it was time to mosey to the track.

    We set our rocks down in the north end zone.  It was mentioned that John Doe wanted us to throw our rocks over the goal post and catch them on the other side.  I’m not sure about the catching part, but I’m all for trying to throw them over the goal post.  It would be like fence chunkers on steroids.  Probably not good for the field – we were dangerously close to crossing the vandalism line with Tool’s meteor shower workout – we’ve been good stewards ever since.  That goal post is tempting though.  Maybe catching them is the answer.

    I digress.  The next exercise was named Diamond in the Rough (for not knowing any names of the exercises, Marlin is pretty good at making them up.  Just wait until you see what he came up with for Plank’o’rama).  Side Shuffle to the 50 yard sideline – 18 push-ups…er…Merkins.  Side Shuffle (face the other direction to achieve balance in your life) to the center of the south end zone – 18 lunges (each leg counts).  Run backwards to the other 50 yard sideline – 18 Freak Nasties.  Run backwards back to the center of the north end zone, pick up the rock you left and do 18 squats.  We repeated, this next time it was a race between the two halves of Pax.  Losers had to remove their pants – a punishment dubbed the Mike Yenni.  That didn’t really happen, but the threat was enough to push me across the finish line first.  Jingle Vader, much more comfortable and confident in his skin, took his sweet time to finish.

    Everyone kept their pants on as we returned our rocks to the pile.  About half way back to the flag, we circled up for the Rotisserie Chicken – I told you it was good.  $10 that if Yankee reads this Backblast he does this exercise in his next Q.  Start out in boat.  After 30 seconds, move to high plank on left side, after 30 seconds move to regular high plank, after 30 seconds move to high plank on right side.  Repeat, but use elbow planks.  After the last set, sprint to the flag.

    COT

    Tough Mudder preparation started today.  Prayers for the sick and injured, including the High School DB that broke his back.  Marlin led us out with an Our Father to cap off an excellent Q.

     

     

  • Classic Shorty

    Come to enough F3 workouts and you will start to get a good feel for the PAX.  Almost getting hit by a bike – classic Hawg.  Annoying the Q with a gazillion questions about each movement – classic Rudy.  Rolling in hot – classic Yankee.  Dr. Ws – classic SFx.  Ab exercises to infinity – classic JV.  Dressing like a Pirate – classic Bubba.  Fartsacking the day of your Q – classic Shorty.

    Sure, Shorty has plenty of other qualities;  pushing the Pax beyond what they thought they were capable of, stepping up to Q the GoRuck and making sure our training stays on track, bringin’ the namaste with Vinyasa cool downs, never missing an opportunity to point out how short Cowbell is, etc…However, his defining quality has become the likelihood that he will fartsack during his Q.  This definition was cemented even further with Monday’s workout.

    In classic Yankee style, I rucked in hot so I missed any conversations prior to the workout.  I can only assume they went something like this:

    Time:  5:28      Place: Shovel Flag     Marlin rides in on his bike

    Marlin:  What’s going on baby?  Who’s the Q?

    Bogey:  I think it is supposed to be Shorty

    Rudy:  That means we need to start coming up with some exercises.  Who wants the warm-up?

    Bogey: I’ll take it

    Bubba:  Aaargh! That thar Shorty is a lily-livered scallywag.  Ahoy Cap’n Bogey, lead thee way!

    John Doe: …

    The Thang

    YHC got to the warm-up circle just as Bogey was finishing up the SSHs which I presume was the first set of exercises.  At some point in the warm-up JV sidled up to the circle unannounced, which is not classic JV, since, as his name explains, he can normally be heard coming from a great distance.

    COP 1 (Bogey on Q): SSH x 30 IC,  Arm Circles Forward x 15 IC, Arm Circles Backward x 15 IC, Imperial Walker x 30 IC, Mountain Climbers x 30 IC, Windmills x 20 IC,

    I may have forgotten something there.  I know Bogey was trying to go until the train passed, but it stopped on the tracks.

    Rudy took over from there, instructing us to pick a rock and mosey to a nice open space just past the T-ball field.  Early in the this COP we were joined by Amnesty, Tool, and Cowbell who had been trapped across the tracks by the aforementioned train.  Amnesty was confused at first, staring blankly at the Q, thinking Shorty was wearing one of the strangest Halloween costumes he had ever seen.  Rudy welcomed the stragglers to the group by immediately calling them out – Amnesty for not paying attention and Cowbell for having to stretch his hamstrings three weeks ago at city park – classic Cowbell.

    COP 2 (Rudy on Q): Exercises all IC:  Shoulder Press x 16; Curls x 16; Rows x 16; Shoulder Press x 12; Curls x 12; Rows x 12; Shoulder Press x 8; Curls x 8; Rows x 8; Shoulder Press x 4; Curls x 4; Rows x 10 (when you think he is going to zig, he zags)

    YHC took it from there, leading the Pax to the playground for the prescribed GoRuck training (provided to me by Shorty himself #GhostQ).

    COP 3 (Hawg on Q): 10 sets of the following exercises oyo and as fast as possible:

    • 5 pull-ups
    • 7 dips
    • 9 derkins (feet in swing)
    • 12 squats con roca
    • 15 big boi sit-ups

    COT – Prayers for those suffering from cancer.  Prayers for Mason and Brady. Thanksgiving for the opportunities we have.

    -Hawg

     

     

     

  • Hitting the Wall

    We started out 6 strong – 3 ruckers and 3 non-ruckers.  Welcome back to kotter Rebel-ette.  As we moseyed to the Foundry passing the ruck on the minute, we were joined by a Carolina Conferencer, Thriller.  As we approached the Foundry the gloom gave way to a Trumpian like wall built to keep us out of the Festival Grounds.  Unfortunately the Foundry is considered part of the Festival Grounds.  I’m not sure I’ve ever considered work at the Foundry all that festive.  Maybe, I am approaching it wrong.  Anyway, the border patrol was not letting us in, so change of plans.  We headed back to our humble La Forja.  We took the long way as the Q wasn’t paying close attention.  So it may not be the big nice Foundry with the cushy rubber matting on the other side of the Wall, but it gets the job done.

    The Thang

    We stayed pretty true to the GoRuck workout for today, some core work for the first half, and upper body for the second half.

    4 sets of:

    • Squats AMRAP in 1 minute.  Ruck it if you got it
    • Flutter Kick IC x 25.  Ruckers with their ruck on stomach
    • Lunges AMRAP in 1 minute.  Ruck it if you got it
    • Big Boi Sit-ups AMRAP in 1 minute.

    Then 3 sets of:

    • High Plank aka Forward Leaning Rest x 45s. (like Tool, I’m not sure what is restful about this).
    • Pole Dance, Body Row, Bernie Sanders (rotate each set) x 45s
    • Dips x 45s…..last set was AMRAP to fatigue

    Mosey back to the flag, where we gathered to pray for: Children with Down’s Syndrome, Brady, Cowbell’s Grandmother, and those fighting addiction, specifically Shorty and his Fartsack addiction.

  • Can the H8! be Conquered?

    Okwata continues to thrive.  We showed up 10 strong on a more humid than hoped for October morning for an Okwata inspired fitness test.  The warm-up today consisted of a mosey to the foot of Canal.

    The Thang

    Each lap consists of running south to the top of the levee, crossing canal (bear crawling the neutral ground), running south to the bottom of the levee, cross canal and run north to the top of the levee, cross canal (bear crawling the neutral ground), running north down the levee and back across canal to the starting point.  At the starting point you do a descending burp and merk pyramid starting at 8 (bupee with 8 merkins, burpee with 7 merkins, …..burpee with 1 merkin)

    At the end of the 2nd lap the burp and merk pyramid starts at 7, etc.

    The goal is to complete 8 laps in 40 minutes.  According to MapMyRun, each loop is approximately 0.4 miles.  Therefore, to conquer the H8! you will have to do the following in 40 minutes:

    • Run over 3 Miles of Hills
    • 550 Yards of Bear Crawls
    • 36 Burpees
    • 120 Merkins

    We did AMRAP and then moseyed back to the flag.

    Moleskin

    • No one conquered it today.  Bubba was about 20 seconds from victory.  He apparently almost splashed on the backside of lap 8, which would have been an epic way to kick off the inagural H8!.
    • Post your number of laps in the comments if you want a record of your accomplishment.  Half laps count.
    • Better luck to us all next time.

  • 610 Stomp #61

    Luckily YHC went out the plan for my Q on #groupme the night before.  Ruck if you are a rucker and run if not.  As I rolled in hot, the group was already headed out – 3 runners and 2 ruckers (plus me).

    The Thang

    Amnesty, Cowbell, and I got in 2.75 miles of rucking, at a 15:45 pace.  We met the runners at the end and sealed the deal with 10 burpees.

    Moleskin

    • 15 minute pace is pretty fast when you are rucking.

  • Ruckers and Rudy

    Sorry for the late Backblast for all those involved.  4 men met in the 0530 gloom as Rudy, who had been there since 0500, literally ran circles around us.

    The Thang

    No time to warm-up.  The four of us headed out with three rucks to the south playground.  The workout consisted of 5 sets of the the following: 5 pull-ups,  20 squats con ruck, 15 merkins, 10 lunges con ruck.   We followed that up with a 2 mile run.

    Moleskin

    • T-claps to Rudy for his distance work.  He’s getting faster and faster.  He joined us for the COT after about 9 miles.

  • F3 NOLA’s Second Anniversary

    Nice turnout of 34 for the F3 Nola 2 year anniversary convergence.  Hawg and RY split the Q.  Yankee, being the elder statesman was first up.

    The Thang

    A sloppy disclaimer, by his own admission…then a short mosey to the Great Lawn for the largest COP in NOLA history.

    Traditional warm-up with SSH x 20, Imperial Walkers x 20, Mtn. Climbers x 20, LBC x 19, and Low Slow Squats x 21.

    As Yankee started the LSS he hiked his shorts way up and started showing some lily white thigh.  I thought it was a strange addition to the COP.  Hope it doesn’t catch on.  

    Then we spread out for 10 minutes of 4 corners.  Corner 1 – 10 burpees, Corner 2 – x-fit push-ups, Corner 3 – Surfer Burpees, Corner 4 – 180 jump squats.

    This was a shout out to Chewy who included this in his Q almost two years ago.  Most got about 2-2.5 trips around the quad in the 10 minutes.

    At this point YHC took the Q and led a mosey to the NOMA lily pond for Red Hot Chili Pepper:  Derkins x 16, Bulgarian Split Leg Lunge Left x 8; Incline Merkins x 16, Bulgarian Split Leg Lunge Right x 8, Derkins x 12, BSLL Left x 6, IM x 12, BSLL Right x 6, Derkins x 8, BSLL Left x 4, IM x 8, BSLL Right x 4, Derkins x 4, BSLL Right x 2, IM x 4, BSLL Left x 2

    This was a redux of Chong-Li’s workout at the launch.  Next came the first bad idea of the day

    We attempted a Route 66 with bear crawls between each lamp post and an increasing number of jump squats starting at 1 and ending at 11 in theory.  There was lots of modification on this one and we ran out of time before it was finished.

    We headed back to the lily pond and did 10 jump squats (or 5 to the top ledge).

    Then mosey back to the Great Lawn for some DJ Style Mary:  SFX led us off with 16 Dr. Ws.  Then Turbo Tax represented the Northshore with 15 Nolan Ryans on each side.  Next was Jingle Vader and 25 Putins (Shorty and I thought it might be infinity, fortunately JV cut it short).  Next was possibly the greatest moment in the two year history of F3 Nola when Tool led us through the alphabet.  Kim-Chi took us home with 20 dying cockroaches with 5 at super slow speed to end the set.

    Moleskin

    Thanks to all who came out this day and who keep coming out every day.  This has allowed me to work out consistently for 2 years and for that I am grateful to all involved.  It was great to see all of the Kotters come out.  By nature the second F suffers when guys quite showing up or when we split workouts.  The convergence is just another workout when it comes to the First F, but it is special when it comes to the 2nd F.  We should do it more often.

    Thanks to Amnesty for opening his home to us for breakfast afterwards and thanks to our brothers on the Northshore for making the trip down.

    -Hawg

     

  • Sandbaggin’

    GoRuck Training Day 5 called for sandbags.  Since Mike Yenni has bigger concerns to worry about, YHC didn’t check his permission before picking up 6 sandbags from Lowe’s and storing them at Pontiff Playground.  Amnesty was the scheduled Q, but was deployed for Hurricane Matthew support.  T-claps to HVAC for stepping in and taking the first half of the substitute Q.

    The Thang

    HVAC on Q:  SSH x 30 (IC), DQ x 30 (IC), Way Backs x 30 (IC), 20 Scissor Kicks, 10 Merkins, 10 FLR Cross Kicks, 8 Merkins, 8 FLRCKs, 6 Merkins, 6 FLRCKs, 4 Merkins, 4 FLRCKs, 2 Merkins, 2 FLRCKs, 20 Scissor Kicks, 8 Merkins, 8 FLRCKs, 6 Merkins, 6 FLRCKs, 4 Merkins, 4 FLRCKs, 2 Merkins, 2 FLRCKs

    Hawg on Q:  With 50 lb sandbag do 100 reps, moving the sandbag over head from one shoulder to the other.  Do the 100 reps in as few sets as possible.  Each time you take a break, bear crawl 70 yards.  For example, it took YHC 6 sets:  22 reps, bear crawl, 18 reps, bear crawl, 18 reps, bear crawl, 12 reps, bear crawl, 20 reps, bear crawl, 10 reps.

    As each man finished, he alternated max reps with plank until the 6 arrived.

    Circle up for Dealer’s Choice Mary – All IC:  LBC x 30, flutter kicks x 40, scissor kicks x 30, Super Man T to I x 20.

    Moleskin:

    • T-claps to Amnesty for his service for Hurricane Matthew victims.
    • T-claps to HVAC for stepping up to Q
    • Great to see SFx out today.  Continued prayers for him and his family as they move to Philly
    • Triple Shift with three workouts in one week.  Is this a new trend?
    • Sandbags are stored by the pump.  This workout definitely needs to make a kotter.

  • GoRuck Training Day #3 – The Foundry

    Thanks to the wonders of the #GroupMe App I was able to get the word out to Amnesty and Shorty to bring their Rucks to the Foundry this morning.  If you are not on #GroupMe and want to be, talk to Bubba.  He is our Social Networking Q and understands all when it comes to using the interwebs to connect people.

    We showed up 7 strong with 3 Rucks for the Day #3 Training regimen.  I gave the disclaimer and we started jogging toward the Foundry.  We passed the rucks around to share the load.

    The Thang

    YHC used Shorty’s GoRuck Training guide to devise the workout.  We split into two groups.  While the first group did the below exercises the second group hit the track around the festival grounds for a fast 1-mile run.  We flapjacked and then rinsed and repeated the whole thang.

    Each exercise was approximately 50 seconds with a 10 second rest:

    • Bench Press with two rucks (a little awkward but doable with some help)
    • Burpees
    • Squats with one ruck
    • Merkins
    • Lunges with one ruck
    • Push Press with one ruck in each hand (heavy)
    • Tatum Channings
    • Channing Tatums

    Moleskin

    • #Cobains for getting the pax back late today.
    • T-claps to the Pax for knocking out 16 solid minutes of weighted exercise + 2 miles of hard runs + 1.2 miles of walk/jog/ruck (Google Maps says it’s 0.6 miles from flag to foundry)
    • The second group mixed in some press jacks with the rucks.  Looked awesome.  Should be a staple of our training
    • I think we all enjoyed the Bench Press, Burpee, Merkin sequence.
    • We miss SFx already.  I stole the 1 mile run idea from him.  In his honor I tagged this backblast with as many Foundry tags as I could find.
    • Shorty is leading the GoRuck R ‘n R day tomorrow at Okwata.  Be there to find out what R ‘n R stands for. (Fortunately Quadraphilia starts with a Q).
    • It’s Ruck Season in New Orleans so put your ruck in your truck and be prepared at all times.

    Fun as always,

    Hawg