F3 New Orleans

Author: OutForJustice

  • Bridge Over Stagnant Waters

    Leading 20+ men on Saturday beat-down is a tall order, so Your Humble Correspondent (YHC) needed to prepare. On the afternoon before the workout, my 9-year-old son and I took I bike ride to City Park to survey any hidden corners typically overlooked during Mothership workouts. Whenever the Pax moseys from the flag to the museum of art, the little hill of a bridge just after Morning Call is a nice little challenge, especially because we don’t have hills in New Orleans. But there’s too much traffic along that road to do a workout on. On my bike, YHC spied those foot bridges over the lagoon behind Morning Call and thought it might be a good spot to try something new. (At least, YHC hasn’t worked out there before.)

    YHC showed up a few minutes before the workout was to begin, and there was already a healthy crowd there. A few stragglers joined in as the PAX moseyed to the Great Lawn. Let’s get started:

    • Arm circles – 10 forward, 10 back
    • Cross-legged windmills – 10
    • Then some stretching – Runners stretch, crouching and holding it for 10, knee circles, legs open with stretch forward, soles touching and stretch forward

     

    Warm ups

    • Hillbillies x20
    • Merkins x20 (maybe too fast a cadence)
    • Jump squats x20
    • Floyd Mayweather x20
    • Peter Parkers x20
    • SSH x20
    • 10 burpees on your own

    To the bridges

    We did a Dora 123 where one partner runs over one bridge and returns over the second with some nice steps to climb up. Taps out and the other partner does the circuit. A combined exercise of:

    • 100 plank jacks
    • 200 toe-touches (from crab-walk position)
    • 300 mountain climbers

    To NOMA

    After a moment of hydration at the museum, we partnered up again at the main fountain.

    One partner bunny-hopped up the stairs, while the other partner did:

    • derkins
    • irkins
    • dips

    …partners switching each time between bunny-hops and the exercises at the fountain. When we were done, rinse and repeat.

    At the trees

    Short mosey to the field with the line of trees in front of NOMA.

    • Lunge walk (length of two trees)
    • 10 burpees on your own
    • Duck walk (length of two trees)
    • 10 burpees on your own

    Mosey back to the Great Lawn

    Time for some Mary

    • Flutter kicks x20
    • American hammer x20
    • Hello Dolly x20
    • Crunchy rolls and crunchy roll step-ups (something from my martial arts practice) – on your own
    • Freddy Mercuries (I think) x 20

    Times up! Back to the flag for name-a-rama where we named two FNGs: Calliope and Mary Lou. (Mary Lou’s leaving town anyway, so a silly name won’t haunt him for long.) Announcements, a prayer, and then some camaraderie at Morning Call.

  • Side of Crunchy Rolls

    When I checked the weather at 5 a.m., my phone said there was a 100% chance of light rain. I decided to forgo a jacket, just put on baseball cap instead. But when I got to City Park, the rain had stopped. The ground was shiny wet and the park surprisingly empty for such a balmy and pleasant morning. Luckily, it wasn’t totally empty. There were six other PAX waiting at the spot, including an FNG.

    It was my VQ (not counting the half-Q I shared with Rudy one Saturday a few months back). I had written down some exercises and the outline of a route on a little blue notecard, but in the gloom it was unreadable. No matter. I had re-read before I left the house. I tucked it into the waistband of my shorts just in case, assured everyone that I had no idea what I was doing, and then we were off.

    We moseyed a short ways to the athletic track—the one with the markings and measurements—and we found a patch of concrete to do our warm-ups.
    •    20 Windmills
    •    20 press ups
    •    20 SSHs

    Got on the ground and revolved around with plank jacks, left-hand Nolan Ryans, crab toe touches, right-hand Nolan Ryans and 20-count mountain climbers.

    Moseyed over to the museum and circled up on a soft patch of grass there. My F3 name is a reference to aikido, and I wanted to try an aikido warm-up exercise. It probably has a Japanese name, but for F3 I called them “crunchy rolls” (sushi reference at least). Basically, you begin seated, rock backwards onto your upper back/shoulders and then rock forward again, crossing your legs in the air each time. 10 count. Next exercise was the same thing, but as you rocked forward, you come up onto your foot with knee bent at 90 degrees before rocking backwards again. 10 times. Finally, it became a “crunchy roll step-up” (again, my own term) where you take the previous exercise but totally stand up on one foot, then lower back to your butt, rock backwards, cross legs in the air, and rock forward and stand up on the other foot. Try not to use your hands at all. 10 count.

    In the same spot, did some bear crawling and wheelbarrowing to the kiddie train tracks, and went over to the fountain:

    •    10 box jumps
    •    10 incline merkins
    •    10 box jumps
    •    10 decline merkins

    Hit the track to mosey around the lake and went most of the way around until we got to the boat rental cottage. On a patch of grass there we did some Mary:

    •    Putins
    •    Crunchy frogs
    •    Flutter kicks
    •    Pretzel crunches (left and right sides)

    When we were leaving, we noticed a tent nearby. Hope we didn’t disturb the poor guy sleeping inside. Moseyed back to the museum fountain for a few more derkins and incline merkins interspersed with left- and right-leg step ups. With five minutes left, we all moseyed over to the spot.

    We dubbed our FNG “Spaniel” for his love of his dog. Gave our intentions in recognition of disturbing world events (Syrian chemicals, Russian subway attack) and events closer to home, including the passing of Walleye’s uncle. A prayer, and we were off into the world, feeling energized and ready to take on the day.