F3 New Orleans

Author: Hawgcycle

  • With A Little Help From My Friends

    In desperation mode to reach the October ISI Challenge goals of 10,000 merks and 1,000 pull-ups, YHC shamelessly took the Q at The Uptowner and made everyone do merkins and pull-ups for 45 minutes.

    Warm-up:  I waited too long to write this backblast, but I figure we did SSH x 31, IW x 25, Abe Vigodas x 20, and J-los x 20.

    The Thang

    Three groups of two.  We rotated between 5 pull-ups, 10 squats con roca, and 15 merkins.  We completed 10 rounds.

    Break for some Mary:  Again, not sure, but I know dying cockroaches were involved.

    Back to the rotation.  We did 5 rounds and then made it a free for all during the last 10 minutes.  Pax could work on anything they wanted and get in as many reps as the could.  I skipped the squats and worked on my merkin and pull-up numbers.

    Moleskin

    • Thanks to all for helping me get to the October goal.
    • This actually turned out to be a pretty good workout, if I do say so myself.
    • You shouldn’t procrastinate.  How many times have I told myself that?
    • Great to see Apples and Two Yutes with the mid-week post.

  • 3 Years in the Making

    Three years ago 15 men launched F3 New Orleans – you can read about that first workout here.  Yesterday 68 men showed up in force to celebrate that date.  Yankee lost his voice yelling at his Dad’s softball team, so YHC was charged with the disclaimer.  It was sloppy.  Then off to the great lawn

    Warm-up

    Yankee led the warm-up.  Many pax noticed how similar it was to the warm-up he led Friday. #Preparation.

    SSH x 25 IC; Imperial Walkers x 25 IC; Mountain Climbers x 25 IC; Hillbillys x 25 IC; Dying Cockroach x 25 IC

    You Against You

    Tabata is a you against you.  It works when you go 20 seconds as hard as you can.  It’s a microcosm of F3.  It works best when you are pushing to get the most out of yourself.  We went with two rounds of Burpees, Merkins, Squats, and WWII Sit-ups.

    Pushing Yourself For Others

    F3 teaches you to push yourself.  There are certain times during a workout where you are pushing yourself for the other men you are working out with.  In the big picture, you are pushing yourself to get better for your family and community.  This was a partner workout.  Pax 1 ran a sprint across the great lawn (150 yards) while Pax 2 held Al Gore.  We flapjacked and repeated for a total of 3 sets.  Then we did the same thing with Mission Impossible.

    Trip Down Memory Lane

    We moseyed to the museum for some Red Hot Chili Pepper – introduced by Chong-Li at the first NOLA workout.  The group was two big for the fountain so we split in two.  One group did the Red Hot Chili Pepper with YHC while the other did core work with Yankee.  Then we flapjacked.

    Red Hot Chili Pepper:  16 Left Leg Bulgarian Split Leg Squats, 8 Decline Merkins, 16 Right Leg Bulgarian Split Leg Squats, 8 Incline Merkins; 12 LLBSLS, 6 Derkins, 12 RLBSLS, 6 Irkins; 8 LLBSLS, 4 Derkins, 8 RLBSLS, 4 Irkins; 4 LLBSLS, 2 Derkins, 4 RLBSLS, 2 Irkins

    Core Work:  Fire Hydrant x 20 IC; Parker Peter x 20 IC; Crunchy Frog x 10 IC; Peter Parker x 25 IC; Plank Walk x 20 IC

    Burpees for Linus

    We moseyed back to the great lawn and threw in 20 burpees at the buzzer.

    COT

    We wrapped it up with our longest name-rama ever as we welcomed 5 FNGS.  Welcome Chowdah, Spike, Wipe-out, Apples.  Then Ocho took us out with a very well spoken prayer.

    Moleskin

    • Thanks to all the men of F3 Nation that helped launch this thing: OBT, Merlin, Chong-Li, Bobby McGhee, Sir Toppam Hat, and all the others.  I know it’s made a difference in my life as well as many others in the New Orleans area.
    • 5 men from the original group of 15 in 2014 were in attendance:  Reluctant Yankee, Roots, Triple Shift, Channel Mullet, and Hawgcycle
    • 5 FNGs – T-claps to the pax for the EHs.
    • Great to see the all of Kotters.
    • T-Claps to F3 Northshore for coming across the lake.
    • T-Claps to the Uptowners for finding their way to City Park.
    • T-Claps to Worms for coming in from Baton Rouge.  Look out Baton Rouge – we are coming.
    • T-Claps to Amnesty for opening his house for Coffeeteria.
    • T-Claps to Shorty for introducing me to the greasiest donuts I’ve ever had.  They are awesome.
    • The Red Hot Chili Pepper was a shout out to the Chong-Li Special from our very first workout.  It made a lasting impression and has been repeated several time in NOLA.  For the original, Chong-Li held it under the 610 Overpass on tables covered in bird crap.  That started a tradition of North Carolina guys coming to New Orleans and picking strange places to hold exercises.  OBT circled us up in the middle of the street (right next to a really large green space) and DREDD got us kicked out of the Sculpture Park.  As far as I know, those are the only three times those spots have been used for an F3 NOLA workout.  It’s also led to the widespread belief that men in North Carolina workout in parking lots next to beautiful parks.

  • #ConqueringH8!

    Event:  3rd Running of the H8!

    Conditions: Breezy and 70ish

    Field: 12 F3 Nola Pax

    Post your results in the comments below to have a record of your progress.

    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

    • 5 of the 12 participants #ConqueredH8!  That’s a pretty good percentage.
    • Welcome to Cowbell and Nip/Tuck, the two newest members of H8! club.
    • Nip/Tuck is the first Uptowner to #ConquerH8!
    • SOGO showed up 6 minutes late, or he would have conquered.  #DontBeL8.
    • Now that Cowbell has done it, I fully expect to see him standing across Lakeshore Dr. in flip flops with a Pina Colada in his hand observing the next one.

    Shorty suggested that #ConquerH8! become the new social motto for the world.  There’s a lot of hate in the world today and this has been are rough few months.  So let’s keep growing this thing.  There were thousands of men this morning that committed to making themselves better, and that’s some good news for the world.  Keep at it.  #ConquerH8!

  • A Rough Day

    A long anticipated cold front moved through the New Orleans area and YHC woke up to 69 degrees and light rain.  I had noticed it raining throughout the night and was excited about getting down and dirty at Rock City.  8 others joined me at our local flood reservoir.  I gave the disclaimer, adding the fact that we were going to get muddy, and headed to the rock pile.

    Warm-up

    SSH x 31 (IC); 8-count Body Builders x 10; IW x 25 (IC); 8-count Body Builders x 10;  Abe Vigodas x 10 (IC); 8-count Body Builders x 10; Good Mornings (IC) x 10

    The Thang

    Grab a rock, small enough to mosey with, but large enough to hurt.  We moseyed to the hill (I feel like it’s been a while).  We did a modified 11s exercise.

    Run con roca over the hill and do 10 rock burpees on the other side, run back con roca over the hill and do 20 bench presses.  Continue, descending the rock burpee count on the far side by 1 each time.  Hold the bench press count steady at 20 on the near side each time.

    Totals:  Rock Burpees = 55;  Bench Presses = 200

    We ran to the top and circled up for some squats.  20 regular squats in cadence followed by 20 squat pulses.  Some mumble chatter made YHC realize standing on the tallest point in Old Metarie with lightning strikes nearby was not OSHA compliant, so we grabbed our rocks and moseyed back to the pile.

    Here we completed our Squats:  Plié Squats (IC) x 20 followed by Plié Squat pulses (IC) x 20; Sissy Squats (IC) x 20

    Sprint back to the flag #punctuality

    Moleskin

    • I thought the work on the hill was a beast.  At the 8 rock burpee set I was sure I was going to have to call for a break about half way through and finish later.  However, the pax dominated this exercise.  What do you call it when all of the Pax finishes ahead of the Q?  These men are strong.
    • Sissy Squats are a crowdpleaser.
    • I am really disappointed in how clean I was after this workout.
    • If you are participating in the ISI challenge this month – that was 85 merkins.  If you are not particpating – you really should, loser.
    • Thanks to the Pax for calling out the repetitions so loudly this morning.  It really helped.  However, I did get confused a couple of times.  I think I was hearing Douille yelling them out Uptown.
    • Woz was a beast this morning.  It seemed like he ratcheted it up a couple of levels this morning. T-claps my man.
    • We woke this morning to the horrific news of the Las Vegas shooting.  One of our own, Terabyte was on vacation with his M in Vegas, staying 10 floors below the shooter at Mandalay Bay.  They were awakened by the gunfire.  He let us know that he and his wife are both safe.  Let’s continue to pray for those affected and keep growing F3 as a way to heal our country.
    • Later this afternoon we learned of the passing of Houston’s Big Wheel.  Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet him.  I did have the good fortune of spending 14 hours carrying the world’s heaviest telephone pole with his father, a man that was beyond impressive to me in our short time together.  I have no doubt that the world has lost a High Impact Man.  Our hearts and prayers go out to F3 Houston and those touched by Big Wheel’s life.  Godspeed brother.

  • ISO Suck

    Taking some advice from the Northshore’s Turbo regarding this months ISI Challenge, YHC sent out a mission today for 5 sets of 1 minute Al Gore and 1 minute Mission Impossible.  When Amnesty texted me this morning that the hammy was going to keep him from his scheduled Q, I decided to work in the ISI challenge as a substitue – with one minor enhancement.

    Warm-up

    The first thing we had to do was mosey to the Foundry, which may be half a mile.  Rudy was obviously itching to get out and run.  For one, he showed up on a Wednesday.  For two, he took off for the Foundry like a bat out of hell.  During his hiatus he must have forgotten our motto of “No Man Left Behind,” as he proceeded to break that rule x 6.

    Once we got to the Foundry, we proceeded with some standard warm-up fare.  YHC tried to structure it so we were getting into plank and back up every other exercise.  I figure people like that.  I also switched to a Red Bull cadence after 10 reps of most exercises.  This sufficiently worried the pax when I started doing windmills (aka Hammy Poppers)

    • SSH (IC) x 25
    • Mountain Climbers (IC) x 25
    • Imperial Walkers (IC) x 25
    • Peter Parkers (IC) x 25
    • Hammy Poppers (in honor of our fallen Q and IC) x 10
    • Parker Peters (IC) x 25
    • Squats (IC) x 10 followed by Squat Pulses (IC) x 20
    • Plank Jacks (IC) x 25

    ISO Suckfest

    Each set consisted of 1 minute of Al Gore, 1 minute of Mission Impossible, and 1 minute of Bernie Sanders (90 degree pull-up hold – hang in there as long as you can.)  There were 15 seconds between exercises for transitioning.  We did 5 sets.

    From there we took the long way back to the track and did 1 bear crawl across the field (a little over 50 yards).  We finished our short time at the track with 15 burpees and headed back to the flag (on time mind you), where we enjoyed a COT.

    Moleskin

    • Normally when you bear crawl a long distance you inevitably have a few guys getting up several yards short of the end and walking the last bit.  Not today.  These men saw the bear crawl all the way through.  Very impressed with our group today.
    • I’m used to a lot of noise like grunting and heavy breathing, etc.  As you may have noticed, JV has been to over 200 workouts this year.  However, JV is a Birdcage man, so he was no where near the Foundry.  T-claps to the Pax for pushing through even when it meant making some noise to get it done.
    •  We fell well short of my 100 burpee standard.  I’ll do better next time.
    • I would much rather be moving forward than holding a position.
    • Al Gore I can handle, but not Bernie Sanders.  In the beginning I could stand about 40 seconds of Sanders, by the end, I could barely take 10 seconds.  I should probably get to know him better.

     

     

     

  • The World Celebrates

    It’s been a little over two months since The World dominated the Gnarly Nutria.  Hoping to keep the memory alive, today seemed like a good day to remember and celebrate.   So at the ironically named Uptowner, three worldly men broke out in celebratory 3-6-3 exercises.

    There is one rule at The Uptowner, and as a result of that rule everything written below occurred within 3 feet of the flag.

    Warm-up

    SSH x 31 (IC); IW x 31 (IC); J-Los x 15 (IC); Abe Vigodas x 16 (IC); Burpees OYO x 20; Good Mornings (IC) x 15

    The Celebration

    A series of 3-6-3 exercises.  Each exercise consists of 3 super slow cadence reps with a hold at the end, followed by 6 regular cadence reps, and then 3 more super slow cadence reps with a final hold.  Why do we use the 3-6-3 to celebrate?  Check the historical records to see why.

    Here are the excercises (all con roca) – We all chose two rocks: big and bigger

    • Shoulder Press
    • Curls
    • Squats
    • Rows
    • Bench Press
    • Left Leg Lunges
    • Tricep Curls
    • Right Leg Lunges.

    Break for some Mary:  LBC x 31 (IC); Penguins x 31 (IC); Dying Cockroach x 31 (IC)

    Then repeat the 3-6-3 exercises

    Announcements and COT and the celebration ends.

    Moleskin

    • It felt good to reflect on our greatness.
    • There was a general consensus that the 3-6-3 is harder that it seems.  I’m looking forward to some lactic acid build up.
    • It’s my overall feeling is that The Uptowner sucks and I believe it is wholly due to the one rule of The Uptowner.
    • They don’t get much more consistent than Fracsac and JV.  Thanks for the inspiration brothers.

  • Beans and Burpees

    It was a Nationwide convergence as 4 men from Chicago, East Carolina, Cleveland and New Orleans met in the gloomy reflection of the Cloud Gate to let Chicagoland know that F3 Nation has arrived and things will never be the same.

    I let the Nation know that I was not a professional trainer and that there was a high probability that I would get lost.  With that, we moseyed up the long winding bridge to the east? side of the the park and over the big, busy road.  There we found a small patch of grass to start our warm-up

    The Warm-up

    • 20 Burpees OYO
    • 20 SSH (IC), 20 IW (IC), 10 Abe Vigodas (IC)
    • Burpees EMOM:  4 sets of 12
    • 20 Peter Parkers (IC), 20 Plank Jacks (IC), 20 Parker Peters (IC)
    • Burpees EMOM: 2 sets of 10

    Route 66

    We found a perfect line of trees all planted about 10 yards apart.  We lunge walked to the first tree and did one squat, lunged walked to the 2nd tree and did 2 squats, etc.. until we got to the 11th tree and did 11 squats for a total of 66 squats.  Slow mosey back to our burpee area to finish with 12 burpees.  That gave us 100 burpees which should really be the minimum amount for a good workout.  Denari had to cut out early for work at this point.  Thanks for the hospitality brother.

    From there we crossed the street.  I had noticed a very small levee on the banks of Lake Michigan perfect for some crawl bear.  So I explained to the two remaining Pax that we were going to do 11s with squat jumps and merkins, while bear crawling down the levee and crawl bearing up.  As fortune would have it, we started at the top so we were bear crawling down the leavee when we realized that people from Chicago do not pick up after their dogs.  I avoided at least 8 land mines on the way down the levee.  Reaching the bottom I decided to modify, cancelling the 11s in favor of some ledge work.

    The Red Hot Chili Pepper

    This is a modification of the Chong-Li Special.  All counted in cadence.

    • 20 Left Leg Step Ups (aka Tatum Channings)
    • 10 Dips (aka Freak Nasties)
    • 20 Right Leg Step Ups (aka Channing Tatums)
    • 10 Derkins
    • 16 TCs
    • 8 FNs
    • 16 CTs
    • 8 Derks
    • 12 TCs
    • 6 FNs
    • 12 CTs
    • 6 Derks
    • 8 TCs
    • 4 FNs
    • 8 CTs
    • 4 Derks
    • 4 TCs
    • 2 FNs
    • 4 CTs
    • 2 Derks

    From there we moseyed back to the big shiny bean and had count-off, name-o-rama and shout outs for Katie, a young girl involved in an accident in the Clevelend area, the people of Mexico, and the people of the Caribbean.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead.  It was a privilege.

    -Hawg

  • Q School in God’s Country

    Four Southshore Pax made the trek to the most scenic AO in F3Nation to join our Northshore brethren for a Q school beatdown.

    Pre-thang

    We made it just in time to join the Pax on their traditional 2 mile pre-thang run.  Turbo and Butt Splice set an 8 minute/mile pace as we Southerners tried our best to keep up.  Ocho joined us for the last 0.00002 miles and we returned to the flag with a minute to spare.

    Introduction

    At 0630 we ovaled up around the flag as the group had grown too large to make a circle.  #NiceProblemToHave. YHC briefly introduced myself and the other Southshore pax, gave everyone an explanation of why we were there and moseyed to wider area.

    As we moseyed, Kimchi notified me that I had not given the disclaimer.

    Q Rule #1 – Don’t let anyone know when you screw up.

    We circled up and YHC proceeded to give the disclaimer, acting as if I had been waiting for the stragglers to arrive.

    Q Rule #2 – Always start the workout with a disclaimer.

    The Q should start each workout by letting everyone know that he is not a professional trainer, that there are inherent risks involved in what is about to take place, and that if you choose to participate it is upon your own volition.

    Q Rule #3 – Make it hard.

    We keep coming back to F3 because it challenges us.  It’s important that the workout is tough.  When you Q, push yourself.  Have a plan, believe in your plan, and execute your plan confidently.  Make sure you are moving from exercise to exercise with purpose and direction.  Keep the pax engaged and don’t give them any downtime to wonder what they should be doing.  Note:  There are going to be times that you smoke yourself and are going to need a breather.  Give yourself and everyone else a break by having one of the fit guys countdown.  10 -20 seconds ought to do.

    • 8 Count Body Builders IC x 20
    • Abe Vigodas IC x 20; Imperial Walkers IC x 25; J-Los IC x 15
    • EMOM – Burpees x 12; 8 Count BB x 8; Merkins x 40; Squats x 50; Burpees x 10; 8 Count BB x 6
    • Floyd Mayweathers IC x 20; Connor McGreggors (aka Parker Peters) IC x 20
    • 8 Count Body Builders IC x 15

    Q Rule #4 – Know how to count.

    When leading exercises we use 3 two part commands to keep the pax together.  These commands are standardized across F3 Nation.  By using the standard commands the pax knows what to expect and is able to easily stay together.  It makes the workout efficient, allowing us to get more done with the time we have.  Here is an explanation by the founders of F3.

    At this point Kimchi took over and coached several “volunteers” on counting.  First he explained the commands:

    1. Next exercise is….The Side Straddle Hop.
    2. Ready position….Move.
    3. In cadence….Exercise.

    He also explained how to vary your count on the last rep to let everyone know that the exercise is ending, and if you are on the ground, tell everyone to “recover” if you want them to get up.  Each man that posted to the center led the group in a traditional 4 count cadence exercise along and a non-traditional cadence.  The oddball cadences and exercises were:

    • Redbull Smurf Jacks (Super fast 4 count)
    • Merkins (Super Slow 4 count)
    • Squats (Down Up 2 count)
    • Copperhead Squats (Slow movement on first 3 counts, exploding on 4th)
    • Dr. Ws (8 count) – T-claps to Grundy for his assist.

    Q Rule #5 – Plan more than you can do

    You want to make sure that you have enough exercises planned to fill the entire time slot.  You never want to get to run out of things to do with time on the clock.  That inevitably leads to down time as you scramble to think of what you can do next.  The pax will notice and the mumble chatter will start.  It’s always better to plan too much than too little.

    Q Rule #6 – Be flexible and ready to adjust your plan

    After YHC’s extended warm-up and Kimchi’s counting school, we had about 7 minutes left to fit in Fracsac’s COP and the 600 reps Triple Shift had planned.  Quick regroup by Frac and Triple and they created a mash-up of their COPs to top off the workout.

    Q Rule #7 – Smoke the world. 

    One pillar of an F3 workout is that it is open to all men, no matter what their fitness level is.  As a Q it is your job to devise a workout that pushes the Stallions to get better without leaving the Clydesdales behind.  There are a few tricks we can use to accomplish this:

    • Exercises where you do as many reps as you can within a time limit – Tabata, EMOM, etc.
    • Partner exercises.  By dividing into groups some of the pax can carry a heavier load – Dora 1-2-3, Foul line to Foul line, etc.
    • Exercise where you run station to station, Elevens for example.

    After a little trouble counting to 2 (come on St. Tammany Parish School Board!) the pax was divided into two groups.  Group one did 15 freak nasties, 15 pistol squats each leg, and 15 derkins while group two bear crawled out 35 yards and back.  1 Flapjack and we were out of time.

    Q Rule #8 – Be Attentive

    Know how many guys are at the workout and keep an eye out to see if any are struggling.  When going on long moseys make sure you assign someone to sweep the six to make sure everyone gets to the destination.  You would be surprised at how many times we have heard a new guy express his appreciation for someone that went back and got him.  It’s important that everyone that participates in the workout knows that no man is left behind.

    It’s also important to give clear directions about form.  There is nothing wrong with coaching guys.  We all want to get the most out of our workouts and we often don’t realize that we are doing something incorrectly.  It is time well spend to take a few seconds to discuss the correct form when doing an exercise (like merkins).

    Q Rule #9 – Be punctual

    It’s important to start and end on time.  If you wait on people before you start you are allowing them to be late and you’ll find that your workout time gets pushed back later and later each week.  If you don’t end on time, you may be keeping some of the pax from getting to their next big thing on time.

    Q Rule #10 – End with a COT

    As Q you get the final say in naming the FNGs.  Try not to suck at it.  We had 4 today and I am notoriously bad at FNG naming (see The Dentist).  Fortunately EIEI rolled out of the fartsack to join us this morning.  Welcome Sisqo, Grasshopper, MASH, and Carpool.

    Be prepared to lead the prayer at the end, but you can usually find a volunteer if needed.

    Q Rule #11 – Write a Backblast

    It’s important to commemorate your achievements in the historical records.  Here is a good one if you need an example.

    Q Rule #12 – Sign up and lead.

    Man up here.

     

  • Burpees Over Broadway

    The scheduled Q had to live Third and take a 2.0 off to college, so the Q was up for grabs Friday evening.  Rudy and YHC put it to the pax for a vote – me with the possibility of a burpee warm-up or Rudy and a likely Broadway themed workout.  Pending some controversy regarding unregistered voters, my burpee filled workout eeked out a one vote victory as the poll closed.

    The Disclaimer and Mission

    Since Q-school I’ve made a conscious effort to give more attention to the disclaimer.  Quick Draw noticed.  I also tagged a little information on about our mission – to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership.  The idea being that as we grow in physical and mental strength, and as we become more disciplined men we will naturally start to look outward for ways to strengthen our community.  To serve others you have to be humble, and there’s no better exercise to humble yourself than the burpee.

    The Thang

    Warm up – I am Third

    • 20 burpees OYO
    • Chop Wood IC x 20; Imperial Walkers IC x 20; J-Lo’s IC x 20
    • Burpees EMOM (12, 12, 12, 12, 10, 10)
    • Arm Circles OYO
    • 12 Burpees OYO

    100 bupees in the first 15 minutes.  Well done men.  During the EMOM rest we discussed the Gayle Sayers Autobiography “I Am Third,” meaning to put God first, family and community second, and yourself third.  We discussed Mark 8:34 where Jesus told the disciples that anyone that wants to follow Him must take up their cross and deny themselves.  During the arm circles we reflected on last week’s Morning Calling where we discussed how Solomon.  He sought purpose by fulfilling his own desires and came to the conclusion that life is meaningless, much in the same way that little baby arm circles are basically meaningless (don’t you think, Yankee?)

    We broke for water and moseyed to the Big Lake, pairing up with a similarly sized man along the way.

    Stand By Your Brother – Accountability

    We need other men in our lives to stand by us and hold us accountable, to make sure that we are prioritizing the things that bring purpose and meaning to life and not falling into the easy trap of serving ourselves.  To illustrate this our exercise involved one man doing 10 merkins while his partner stood by him and did 10 squats.  We flapjacked after each set of 10 until we reached a total of 100 merkins and 100 squats.

    Carry Your Brother – Service

    Sometimes we are called to carry those around us, no matter how heavy the burden.  After a brief demonstration using Cowbell, we fireman carried (or carried on our back) our partner to the Foundry, flapjacking along the way

    Pull ups – Iron Sharpens Iron

    We needed to get some pull-ups in for this month’s ISI Challenge.  Pax 1 does 5 pull-ups while Pax 2 planks.  Continue flapjacking until time is called.

    Circle of Air Chairs – Helping Others Do What’s Hard 

    Everyone gets in an air chair – good form with thighs parallel to the ground.  10 second count starts when the Q is satisfied that everyone is low enough.  The Pax were instructed to look around and call out anyone that was not in the correct position.  After a couple of call outs and a reset after 2, the pax looked good and the 10 count was won.

    In Mark 8:34 Jesus calls Peter Satan because Peter told Jesus that he must not got to Jerusalem to die.  Peter said what he did because he loved Jesus.  He didn’t want to see Jesus go through the crucifixion.  But Jesus knew the will of God and Peter was standing in the way of God’s will.  Be careful not to try and protect those you love from doing the will of God when it is hard.

    Tabata – Digging Deep

    After Moseying back to the Great Lawn we circled up for Tabata (8 cycles of 20 seconds max effort followed by 10 seconds of rest).  We used Wide Merkins, Monkey Humpers, World War II Sit-ups, and Burpees.

    Tabata is a great exercise, but you are only going to see great gains from it if you go all out during the 20 seconds of exercise.  Going all out for 20 seconds is hard.  You have to dig deep.  I believe that we find purpose and meaning when we look outside of ourselves and live to serve others.  However, denying yourself and living humbly is hard.  You have to dig deep

    Mary and Legs – What to do When You Have 4 Minutes Left

    Mary: LBT IC x 30, Dying Cockroach IC x 31

    3-6-3 Squats:  Super Slow full four count for the first 3 and hold it on the last one, then normal cadence for the next 6 and finish with 3 super slow and a hold.

    Naked Man Moleskin

    We are in preliminary discussions with Son of a Saint  about how we might partner with them.  We are going to start with a few F3 lead workouts in the next couple of months and see where it goes.  My idea is that we would use the workouts to teach leadership skills, much the way the GoRucks do.  Today was my attempt at a practice run.  I welcome your feedback.

  • Rock City Q School

    New leaders bring new ideas and new ideas bring growth.  In hopes of accelerating that growth Tool suggested we have a Q school at Rock City today, so we gathered 17 strong in the gloom for some lessons in leadership.

    Disclaimer

    Most of us don’t do a good job with this, as we usually gloss over it as we start our mosey.  It’s important to emphasize a few points – We are not professionals, this is going to be physically demanding, there are inherent risks (physical exertion, it’s dark, mud, roots, rocks, etc.) and all participants assume those risks, and you should modify if necessary.

    Getting Started

    We moseyed past the rock pile to the t-ball field (Pontiff Playground was in surprisingly good shape after serving as a reservoir during Saturday’s street flooding).  It’s important to set a good tone for the workout early.  You want to portray that you believe that what you are about to do is worth doing.  That it is worth getting out of bed and to the park for 5:30.  We have to make it hard or it won’t be in important to the Pax.

    • 20 Burpees OYO (On Your Own)
    • SSH x 15 (IC); Imperial x 20 (IC); J-Los x 10 (IC)
    • Burpees EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) x 6 minutes (Reps: 12, 12, 12, 12, 10, 10)
    • Peter Parkers x 20 (IC); Plank Jacks x 20 (IC); Parker Peters x 20 (IC)
    • 12 Burpees OYO

    Total Burpees during Warm-up = 100.

    Cadence and Counting

    An important part of our workouts are the commands used to lead an exercise in cadence.  We use 3 two-part commands.  The fact that we use the same commands every time promotes efficiency and pace and keeps us together.  The commands are straight up army style, consisting of two-parts, a preparatory command, followed by a very brief pause, followed by a command of execution.  Example:

    • Next exercise is….the side straddle hop
    • Ready position…move
    • In cadence….Exercise

    There is great deal of controversy over whether it is Ready Position…move or Starting Position…move.  In the infamous DREDD/OBT video “How to Count” DREDD says “Starting Position.”  I gave my Freed To Lead Book away two years ago, so I’m not sure what it says.  However, I am pretty sure OBT used “Ready Position” when he taught me how to do it.

    Kimchi took over at this point and provided instructions for the different cadence counts we use.  Some points to remember:  The Q always counts 1-2-3, while the Pax responds on the 4th count with the number of the repetition.  The Q must change the tone of his count on the last rep to let the Pax know the exercise is ending.  If you are on the ground, tell the Pax to get up by saying “recover” after the exercise is over.  If you want the pax to stay down so you can lead them through 15 variations of plank and merkin exercises a la Rudy, then don’t tell them to recover until the end.

    • Red Bull Count – This is a super-fast 4 count.  Kimchi demonstrated by leading us in Red Bull Smurf Jacks
    • Normal Count, but slow exercise – This is a normal count, but you do half the exercise on the first 3 counts and then complete it quickly on the four count.  Normally used with Low Slow Squats, which Kimchi demonstrated with, but also works well with Merkins.
    • Slow Count – This is a super slow four count.  This one can be a little difficult and takes metronome like skills to keep everyone together.  Kimchi demonstrated with Merkins.  Personally, I use it for Don Quixotes and Good Mornings.
    •  8 count – Used for our more complicated exercises.  Kimchi demonstrated with 8-count Body Builders #crowdpleaser.  Also commonly used by JV for Dr. Ws.
    • Woz then reminded us that we left one out – the 2 count aka up/down cadence.  This cadence works well for all exercises in which you move up and down.  The Q calls out the commands Up and Down (or Down then Up depending on the exercise) as the Pax counts after Down (or UP).  Woz demonstrated with Squats.  #GRT

    Throughout this section, several men posted to the middle to practice leading an exercise.  T-claps to Babyface, Milkman, Marlin, Yo-Yo, Tiny Dancer, and the aforementioned Woz for stepping up to lead.

    Smoking the Pax

    When structuring a workout, you want to make sure that you smoke the super fit guys without leaving everyone else behind.  You also don’t want to make it so that the really fit guys are waiting around a long time for everyone else to finish.  The goal is to create a workout that smokes everyone, regardless of fitness level.  Shorty took over at this point and gave some examples of exercises one can use for this purpose.  You want to use exercises where the intensity is not dependent on time or distance.  For example, Tabata is a good one where everyone stays together and each man does as much as he can during each 20 second interval.  The EMOM used during the warmup is another good example.  Shorty suggested partner work.  Partner work is good because one partner may be able to carry more of the team load than the other.  As long as you don’t let Jadaveon and El Wire partner up together, it seems teams are usually more even than individuals.  Shorty led us in a round of abbreviated Dora.  One partner did Jump Squats while the other jogged to 40 yards and back.  Teams were to complete 300 jump squats, but we ran out of time around 200.

    Circle of Trust

    If there are FNGs, it’s a good idea to recap what F3 stands for and why we find it important.  We always finish with countarama, namearama, announcements and a prayer.

    Naked Man Moleskin

    • Great turnout today for Q-school.  We should have at least 17 for every Rock City.
    • Judging fro the mumblechatter, the 100 burpee warm-up seemed to be as much of a hit in The World as it was Uptown.
    • Good input from all the Pax today:  Triple Shift reminded us the importance of paying attention to the Pax as you lead and that it is ok to stop and correct form when you see people doing it wrong.  Tool suggested that splitting your VQ with someone else is always a good option.  Walleye reminded us of the importance of planning a total body workout and not just focusing on one area.
    • Rudy had a section planned on Trying New Things, but we didn’t get to it.  One reason we want new Qs to step up is because they often bring fresh ideas.  It never hurts to try something new.  If it doesn’t work, you don’t have to bring it back.  But more often than not, it works.
    • That brings me to flexibility.  Today, the cadence training was going well and we had a lot of newer Qs that we wanted to give some practice to.  We spent some extra time on that section, knowing it would cost us Rudy’s section at the end.  You want to bring a plan, but always be prepared to change it during the workout.
    • Also, it’s much better to over plan than under plan.  You never want to run out of things to do and then just be making stuff up to kill time at the end.  You want to finish strong.  In case you do run out of stuff, you can always finish with Mary, but it works best to have a go-to Mary series ready, instead of making it up on the fly.
    • If you attended the Q school today, let me know what worked well and what didn’t work well.  You can post it in the comments below.  I would love to have your feedback.  We are going to take this show on the road at the end of the month, and I would like for it to be better than what it was today.

    Thanks,

    Hawg