F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • Solo Muscleship Throwback (Mothership 2021-10-30 – from Catfish

    Conditions: Cool temp of ~65 F and breezy. Perfect for a throwback Muscleship workout!
    1 PAX in attendance

    The Thang

    Started by lunge walking from the flag zone to the Peristyle area for a warmup:

    Abe Vigodas x 15 (in cadence)
    Grass Grabbers x 15 (in cadence)
    Hillbillies x 25 (in cadence)
    Imperial Squat Walkers x 20 (in cadence)

    On to faces for:

    Peter Parkers x 25 (in cadence)
    Parker Peters x 25 (in cadence)
    Peter Parker Peters x 15 (in cadence)

    Lined up for a round of ascending partner BOMBS – 50 Bodybuilders, 100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Box Cutters, 250 Squats. Since no partner, every 50 reps or so did a bear crawl, duck walk, or monkey walk in rotation to the other end of the peristyle and back.

    Lunge walks back to flag zone.

  • They All Ask’d for You – from Triple Shift

    Complacency is the enemy of Acceleration!

    I had fell into the habit of recycling a few good workouts with a minor tweak here and there but let’s face it…I was in a Q rut. I could always use the excuse of ‘Cause Covid’ or Hurricane Ida but the reality is that I got lazy. The rhythm of life got jumbled up and I forgot that I have a responsibility to the pax members who show up. With that in mind, I went to the F3 Nation Exicon page and…WHOA….I had numerous ideas on just the first page. With a little inspiration, I was off and running (so to speak) with the Animal Parade theme.

    WARMUP
    Start off with 10 inch worms facing the bacon and enjoying the sunrise.
    10 – Low Slow Squats (8 count)
    10 – Low Slow Merkins (8 count)

    THE THANG
    We lined up on front apron to the left side of NOMA and then performed the following movements to travel to the right side of the NOMA. It is approximately 30 yards.
    Bear Crawl then Crawl Bear (try to keep your hips lower than your torso for both movements)
    Duck Walk then Walk Duck (try to keep your chest up and knees bent at 90 degrees)
    Monkey to the right then Monkey to the left. (try to keep your chest above your hips as you move left to right then right to left. Hands first then feet second)
    Now that we were warmed up, we used the concrete benches behind the front columns for 10 pistol squats and Bulgarian split squats on each leg.
    Head to the fountain for 10 low slow dips (8 count) and 30 right leg step ups and 30 left leg step ups. For all those doing the Veterans Day Go Ruck in NOLA, it is my strong suspicion that we will be doing the CHAD 1000x. Yes, you guessed it, you have to perform 1000 step ups in honor of Chad Wilkinson.
    With 10 minutes left, we go to the back of NOMA and perform Jackass Webbs which is one burpee with 2 donkey kicks up to 5 burpees and 10 donkey kicks. We finish it out with Sunday mornings and head back to the flag.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA, AND COT
    Extremely grateful for the men today and their efforts! Prayed for a greater awareness of our mission and that we would live life with skill to impact others in a positive way. Soli Deo Gloria!

  • A Deck 4 the Pax – from Fracsac

    YHC took the Q at the Mothership and skipped an opportunity to ruck in the west.
    With a brief disclaimer given, 4 pax headed to the great lawn to warm up. Warmup was typical stuff which Rudy, Triple Shift and Catfish thoroughly enjoyed. Closed out with some 8 count Body builders IC to satisfy some of the monthly ISI challenge.

    Mosey to the track for the main event.

    With the F3 deck in hand, instructions were simple. Flip a card and complete 10 of the exercise as a 4 count IC unless the card gave specific instructions, such as 100 calf raises.

    We did most all the Merkins available in the deck early on. If you Q with the deck, YHC recommends stacking the deck in a way to prevent that from happening. It’s like a fair way of cheating.

    We did most of the deck, then moseyed back to the shovel flag for the COT where we met up with Tool as he finished his 8 plus mile run.

    -The Mothership has been like riding an elevator to the top floors of the Hancock Whitney Center recently, the numbers continue to dwindle as people step off other floors. If the other AOs were overflowing it wouldn’t be a big deal, but maybe a little over a dozen between 3 AOs is a bit alarming. Maybe it’s just a busy time for families.
    -We headed to Hahnville to gut a house as part of our Ida relief efforts, with Gabby as Q.

    SYITG

  • Leadership Exemplified – from Hawgcycle

    Conditions: 72 degrees, 98% Humidity, Wind 2 mph from the SSE.

    Many times the Disclaimer is mumbled at the start of the workout, something like “I’m not a professional trainer, push yourself don’t hurt yourself, follow me.” But what makes for a good disclaimer? It’s really the Q’s first act of leadership in the workout. So it’s worth giving some thought to it and using it to set the tone. The bare minimum that you want to accomplish with the disclaimer is to attempt and disavow yourself from any liability if things go terribly wrong in the workout. Now, I am not a lawyer, and I am fairly certain that a no-good, unscrupulous, slick, Yankee lawyer like Kuch could easily side step our good intentions and find a way to use the law to his advantage, but at least you will have tried. So the basic starting point of the Disclaimer is to inform the Pax that:

    • You are not a professional trainer
    • They are all present on their own accord
    • They are responsible for their own well being
    • That the workout may involve times where caution must be exercised (strenuous physical activity, running in the dark, uneven ground, lifting heavy objects, etc.)
    • That they should modify the exercises at any point if they believe their safety is in Jeopardy and that they can seek your advice for such modifications if needed (all the while remembering that you are not a professional trainer and that it was your original direction that lead them to this place of peril in the first place).

    That’s the bare minimum, but a good Q will use the Disclaimer for much more. Our number one goal as Q is to make sure everyone makes it through the workout safely. In addition to the minimum disclaimer, give any specific safety advice needed at this point. For example, if it is a running workout, talk about busy intersections, making sure you are running against traffic, and not leaving anyone to run alone. Make sure someone in the group has a phone. Assign someone to watch out for the six if needed.

    If you want to go above and beyond, this is a good time to reinforce the mission and core principles of F3, especially if new guys are present. If you have planned an interactive workout, you can also take this time to forewarn the pax of questions you may ask during the workout, e.g., what is the mission of F3, what are the five core principles, why did you post this morning, etc…

    Not all disclaimers will be the same, but you know when you hear a good one. When they are really good, they become a topic of conversation. After I gave the disclaimer this morning, we ran to the rock pile. I could hear Rev Sox and Boo Boo discussing the merits of the disclaimer I had just given. They wondered aloud if the new leadership would meet this level of excellence. Personally, I believe they can, but please, don’t get too disappointed if it takes a while.

    Near the rock pile, we circled up for the warm-up. I led the group in 31 SSHs in honor of our playground’s namesake, followed by 15 Imperial Walkers. After that, we did a series of plank like exercises in succession (15 Peter Parkers, 15 Mountain Climbers, and 15 Parker Peters). Back on our feet, we closed it out with 15 grass grabbers and 10 Windmills.

    The Thang

    I spent months preparing for this Q. I read (and re-read) the book Primal Endurance by Mark Sisson. There is a great chapter in the book focused on Maximum Sustained Power. By taking some basic MSP concepts and adapting them to Rock City, I developed today’s workout. The basic principles were to find a heavy rock (mine was marked 52) and do the prescribed exercises at maximum speed. We would hopefully come close to our maximum power output in each set. We used a stack to form the basis of the workout and gave ourselves about 20 seconds to recover between sets. We gave our selves a two-minute recovery time between stacks starting with the 4th stack.

    This was the workout with approximate reps included. Some may have done more or less:

    • 5 Manmakers
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats
    • Recovery – Plank, Tree Pose each leg
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats, 20 Curls
    • Recovery – Southern Gentleman, Yankee Aggressor, Karate Kid each leg
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats, 20 Curls, 25 Rows
    • Recovery – Reverse Plank, Warrior III each leg
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats, 20 Curls, 25 Rows, 30 Bench Presses
    • Recovery – 10 Nolan Ryans each side

    After this, we did some balance work. I listened to an hour-long podcast in preparation for this Q that discussed the value of unbalanced work and core stability. In an effort to build those intrinsic muscles responsible for so much of our balance and stability we performed the following:

    • Curls x 5 with one foot off the ground…flapjack
    • Shoulder presses x 5 with one foot off the ground…flapjack
    • Rows in Warrior III x 5….flapjack

    We finished with some Core work – 20 LBCs, 15 flutters, 10 side crunches each side.
    Then we headed back to the flag.

    NMM

    About 25 minutes into the workout, Bolt prostrated himself. Was he injured? Should I check on him? Possibly, but unlikely. It seemed more likely that he was new to the Islamic faith and it was time for his morning prayer. How did I know he was new to the faith? He was totally facing the wrong way, unless he was trying to face Mecca, TX. I politely paused the workout and offered that East was the other direction. Leadership exemplified

    At one point, a train stopped on the tracks. One of the young women, running in the park needed to get back across the tracks. As soon as Rudy saw this, he dropped his rock and ran toward her and the train to offer his assistance. He is a gentleman and a scholar…well, at least a gentleman. The young woman seemed to recognize him as he sprinted toward her yelling “Perv! Perv!” Did she confuse Paul with Perv? We will never know. Just as he arrived the train started back up, she yelled “God help me!” (which Bolt had already been praying for), threw herself under the train and disappeared.

    On the way back to the flag, I EH’d a dog walker. I told him we meet in the park everyday at 5:30. He said, “I know (pause…sigh) you all park in my yard.” I feel good that he will join us in the gloom.

    After the workout, I had to pay up on a bet to Hand Grenada for the Ole Miss – Arkansas game. One burpee for every point scored in the game. Arkansas lost the game 51-52. Hand Grenada made me yell “Hoddy Toddy” as I completed each burpee, otherwise he wouldn’t count them. I got to 53 burpees before I had to take a break. At that time, Hand Grenada yelled “No breaks! Start over!” I was too gassed to protest. Looking a lot like Paul Neman’s character in Cool Hand Luke, I wearily began the burpees over. Fortunately, for Cool Hand Hawg, Rudy and Mahatma jumped in to tell Hand Grenada that he was being unreasonable. They pleaded to him to show me mercy and that his demands were jeopardizing my safety. Hand Grenada explained that my mistake was made when I made the bet. If I was not willing to pay up, regardless of the physical harm I may undergo, I should have never made the bet. Rudy and Mahatma continued to grovel for my mercy until Hand Grenada exclaimed, “Weak…I have to go to work. Parten – I’ll see you at El Diablo.”

  • The Addams family – from Shooter

    YHC planned a coupon workout for this Gloom that would see the likes of 5 PAX.. Thank you to Hogsbreath for today’s title, but know gentlemen I have selected with great thought your Addams family names..

    We started off with the warmup consisting of 10IC, some 15IC as well as 20IC mixture of Grass grabbers, Torso twists, SSH, Butt kicks, Imperial walkers, Hillbillies and Cherry Pickers..

    Our cast members of the day included Hogsbeath (Gomez).. The Stache is golden and Bushwacker is sure to be jealous of how you rock it.. Then there is Akbar (Uncle Fester) wide eyed and refreshed returning from a trip with the family to VA.. Followed by JV (Pugsley) mostly for being the young chap at this mornings AO, but also seems like an individual who might have aggravated a sibling a time or two in his past… Next we have Waterpik (Cousin ITT), now I know there may be some confusion on this one, so let me explain. Last Thursday at the Scramble YHC had noticed Waterpik had not seen the barber in awhile, so much so that at the Mothership Saturday YHC noticed right away that his ears had been pulled back from a trim.. Now it is only fitting that I name myself (Lurch) simply because it was my duty to lead these men this morning..

    Workout consisted of coupon Work starting out on the court and at the playground. Each PAX performed Squat thrusters while all did 8 pull-ups. Took to the street carrying coupons along the way alternating sprints, shuffles, back pedals and skips as we made our journey towards the lakefront stopping at each stop sign for called exercise. PAX without coupon did called core work while the PAX with coupon did stated rep count of called exercise. Coupon work consisted of shoulder presses, Block burpees, Kettle swings, One arm alternating kettle swings (which Gomez demonstrated perfectly in rhythm), Curls and cross arm block squats.. I realize there is another name but cannot think of it at the moment..Core work was plank, chillcut plank, Little Manny crunches, leg lifts, hello Dollies and flutter kicks..

    Arrived back right on time for count, name and COT…

    Appreciate the lead and follow gentlemen and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Dancing with the Devil at El Diablo – from Triple Shift

    Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
    Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
    If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
    But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.

    One of the main things I love about F3 is the brotherhood that gets forged when working out with another man. As you know, the immediate unknown of Covid-19 caused many to forego the gloom from a health perspective. Unfortunately, from my observation, many members have foregone the gloom from a habit perspective. Today, I wanted to incorporate a partner workout to bring back what I enjoyed the most about F3….shared suffering.

    Warmup
    Twelve other men joined me as we warmed up around the track doing butt kicks, high knees, side shuffles, and cariocas and then headed to the rock pile. We started with 31 SSH then 10 eight count squats, and 10 eight count merkins. After the warmup, I directed the PAX to get a heavy rock and head to the goal line on the football field.

    The Thang
    We partnered up for 25 Patty Cake Merkins, 25 BBSU, 10 Bulgarian Split Squats (Pax 1 is kneeling on the ground with one knee forward and one knee backward while Pax 2 props his back foot on Pax 1 front knee and performs the Split Squat), and finally the crowd pleaser of 10 Nordic Hamstring Curls.

    After we finished up those exercises, we performed the ‘Tortoise and the Hare B.O.M.B.S.’ on the football field. Pax 1 carries the heavy rock down the field to the other goal line while Pax 2 does 5 Burpees. After Pax 2 completes his five burpees, he runs and tags Pax 1 (who now does 5 burpees) to take the heavy rock and continues walking until he gets to the end of the field and then turns around to walk back. After the 5 Burpees, the next exercise is 10 Outlaws (think O Mary), 15 Merkins, 20 BBSU, and then 25 Squats until everyone finishes.

    Time is running short so we mosey back to the rock pile to circle up and perform 10 straight leg deadlifts (8 count). Head back to the starting point and finish up with 5 big boy sit ups then stand up without the use of your hands.

    Countoff, Namerama, and COT
    I thanked the PAX for allowing me to lead and I closed out with a prayer for God to provide healing and peace for all those struggling with disease and the difficult time we live in.

  • Last Minute with the Usual Quartet – from Jose10k

    Being at the ballpark till late at night, YHC forgot he had the Q this morning.
    What do you do in a pinch, you throw together a workout from the IRON PAX challenge.

    Warm-up: SSH, self love, then BBQ finally shows up. Torso twists, cherry pickers, then Moby finally shows up, good mornings, grass grabbers, and arm circles.

    The thang: Grab a coupon and mosey to the courthouse. 25 reps per exercise, run 30 yards to the steps, up the steps, then back down and 30 yards back. 8 sets of curls for the girls, 7 sets of squats, 7 sets of shoulder presses. There was more planned but we ran out of time. COT and Moby prayed us out. Thanks for letting me lead gentlemen.

  • Double dipper! – from Shooter

    4 PAX showed up at the Scramble for a humid Gloom. T👏🏼 to Hogsbreath for journeying over from Slidell not once but twice on this day.. He and the M Barcelona were due back in Mandeville for 6:15 tonight for the FIA mixer.. Hogsbreath brought along a buddy of bricks, plates or something totaling 50lbs as he Rucked the Scramble while YHC, Waterpik and Zoolander ran the normal route..
    warmup
    All IC10 Arm circles, Windmills, imperial walkers, hillbillies, Butt kicks, high knees and Torso twists..

    Returned after the run for some LBCs, Flutters, leg raises, regular Merkins and alternating left and right offset Merkins.
    10IC

    Appreciate the follow and allowing the lead and till the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

    Thanks to Hogsbreath for the COT..

  • Full Compliance H8! – from Hawgcycle

    Conditions: 75 degrees, 81% Humidity, Wind 1 mph from SSE

    The Thang

    The H8! is the standard measure of F3 NOLA fitness. There are 8 laps. It includes over 3 miles of running New Orleans Hills (aka levees), 550 yards of Bear Crawls, 36 Burpees, and 120 Merkins. It is hard. The H8! debuted on October 23rd, 2016. A lot of familiar names were there that day…Belloq, Tool, Triple, JV, Bubba, Cowbell, me…. all failures. The 2nd running was in March of 2017 and a couple of guys finally broke through. Since then we have held the H8! Semi-annually and seen numerous successes and improvements.

    We have also seen the standard become more lax. There was at least one (maybe more) 45 minute runnings. There has been a fair amount of corner cutting…you know that guy…the one in Junior High basketball practice that basically cut across the free throw lane when we had to run laps. Since the addition of the bike lane on Canal, guys have started running in that, significantly shorting the course. There have been shortened bear crawls as guys take a few steps into the neutral ground before getting down on all fours, or stand up and jog a few steps from the end of the neutral ground.

    Fortunately, there is new leadership in NOLA and they are not going to put up with any of this crap. I was told very succinctly (and in NSFW words) that today would be a Full Compliance workout and that if I could not make that happen there would be some changes come April.
    Luckily, for me I found some cones at Pontiff after War Eagle’s Aggie Tribute. I got to Okwata early and set out cones at every corner. Demonstrations of the overly complicated burp and merk ladder were made. I informed everyone that the running must occur on the sidewalk, and I gave the speech about the bear crawl standard….start the bear crawl with one foot on the concrete next to the neutral ground and do not stand until your hand touches the concrete on the other side.

    Showing their personalities, Saban looked at me at the starting line, made a NSFW gesture and proceeded to run in the bike lane. Vagabond on the other hand, to ensure his bear crawl compliance, started his bear-crawl across the street. Had he been wearing his Garanimals workout wear, I could have let it pass, but with a black F3 shirt, it was a definite safety issue.

    40 minutes later, we were all spent. Three guys finished all 8 laps (YHC, Catfish, and Biebs) for a 19% completion rate. However, there was a 100% success rate among the 16 men that posted today. Getting out of the fartsack and battling the H8! for 40 minutes accomplishes more physically than what many men do all week, or maybe all month.

    NMM

    Bones convinced me to get a Whoop. The Whoop assigns a Strain Score to each workout. The score is between 0-21. The higher the number, the harder the workout. Cardio heavy workouts, with very little recovery score high. Here are my highest F3 Workout scores

    • 17.3 – The H8!
    • 16.7 – IPC Week 3
    • 15.0 – IPC Week 1
    • 15.0 – IPC Week 4
    • 14.9 – IPC Week 2
    • 14.5 – War Eagle’s Aggie Offensive at El Diablo. It was a Snot Woggler.

    An average workout is around 12-13. The H8! Is not an average workout.