F3 New Orleans

Author: Russo

  • Nothing Little About This League

    YHC braved the chilly, chilly temps of the Saturday morn’ gloom and managed to sweat despite the dip in the thermometer.

    YHC was met early by a self-admittedly “tired” Bushwhacker, who still managed to dig up old memories of Saved by the Bell. We were so excited, so excited, so scared to get started, but once we did, a PAX of 18 joined us for a beatdown centered around a baseball diamond.

    Warmup (most in cadence)

    Seal jacks

    Arm circles

    Toe touches

    High Knees

    Cherry pickers

    Imperial Walkers

    Da’ Thing

    After “warming” up, YHC asked the PAX to really stretch their brain and remember their number for a rock to the park, a mosey that was intermittently halted to perform a 10 count of the lucky number’s choosing. Sensing Zoolander struggling to remember “15”, YHC called his number first, followed mostly by odd numbers (see how that worked to remember them, Tanked Up?). Good mix of work, including burpees, shoulder tap/merkin combos, leg raises, various squats, freak nasties, mountain climbers, etc.

    Main Event

    YHC really asked for an extra effort by asking the PAX to remember ANOTHER number from 1 to 4 to break into 4 groups to work their way around a little league diamond in 5 “innings” of work. Each group started at a base, and completed the reps for that base, moving to the next for the next portion of the inning, until all 4 bases were touched, comprising the “inning”.

    1st base – 5 reps each (Innings 1-5 were Burpees, 8 count body builders, T merkins, Diamond merkins, Burpees, respectively)

    2nd base – 10 reps each (Innings 1-5: Apollo Onos, Sister Mary Catherine’s, Makhtar N’diayes, side squats, Monkey humpers)

    3rd base – 15 reps each (Innings 1-5: Jump squats, George Thoroughgoods, Suicide Squats, Peter Parkers, Crab Cakes)

    Home – 20 reps each (Innings 1-5: LBCs, 6 inch drill, Leg raises, Crunchy Frogs, Wife Pleasers)

    Between base mode of transportation? Back pedals, Karaokes, Murder Bunnies (quickly becoming a favorite of YHC), Bear Crawls.

    A mosey back to the flag with a few other 10 reps mixed in wrapped up the beatdown.

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, COT closed us out.

    An ever present thank you to everyone for posting and always supporting me and each other.

  • All of the Lights

    The beatdown at the Mothership this week was a little bit of an audible. At least the location was.

    As YHC was driving down Girod, his attention was diverted by the recently installed Christmas lights around Grandma’s house, so the plan was put in motion to move part of the beatdown there.

    Warmup

    Seal jacks

    Cherry Pickers

    Toe touches

    Burpees

    Side straddle hops

    Imperial walkers

    Windmills

    After warm-up, Pax moved to Rips’ for a timed workout, alternating between running the steps, calf raises (10 OYO), and Rocky Balboas (10 OYO, 2 count as 1).

    Pax then moseyed down Girod, stopping at various points to complete sets of 10, as called by each of the members.

    Arriving at Grandma’s house, Pax divided into teams of 3 for a somewhat traditional relay race: 3 rounds, merkins interspersed:

    Leg 1: Bear crawl seven columns, up, around, and down (UAD) the pilot tower

    Leg 2: Crab walk, same seven columns, UAD the pilot tower

    Leg 3: Modified murder bunny (thanks IRON Pax!), same seven columns, UAD the pilot tower

    Pax then moseyed back the length of Girod to the flags, again stopping at various points to complete sets of 10, including merkins (not push ups, Grover), jump squats, modified T merkins, 10-second plank, modified sister Mary Catherines, Bobby Hurleys, Money Humpers, Side straddle hops, etc.

    Arriving at the flag, Pax completed a little Mary, including 100s, Shoulder taps/Mountain climber combo, and Peter parkers/Parker Peters combo.

    We wrapped it up with a COT, count out, roll call, announcements (sign up to Q!), and a prayer.

  • The Cards were Aces

    A PAX of 24, including visiting Duracell from BR and Trojan from Houston (awkward thumbs up!), helped celebrate YHC’s two year anniversary with some extended card play.

    Warmups (All in Cadence)

    Seal jacks

    Air presses

    Toe touches

    Imperial Walkers

    High Knees

    Windmills

    Cherry Pickers

    The Main Event

    Pax moseyed over to Noah’s Ark for a celebratory Deck of Death/Decadence, breaking up into 4 groups who (mostly) managed to avoid well-placed landmines. Each group completed reps based on the card value (Aces up to 15) and suit, with two wild cards (a rock around Noah’s Ark) thrown in for good measure.

    Merkins

    Burpees

    Plank Jacks

    Shoulder Taps

    Deep Squats

    Jump Squats

    Lunges

    Box Jumps

    Crunchy Frogs

    Big Boy Situps

    Flutter Kicks

    Gas Pumps

    Donkey Kicks

    Freak Nastys

    Durkins

    Makhtar N’Diaye’s

    After completing 420 total reps, the card were not done with the Pax. There was just enough time for one more party game: Card Sharks!

    PickAx started us off by drawing an ACE to start, sending the Pax into a flurry of 15 8 count bodybuilders. A game of “higher or lower” followed, with a correct guess yielding the next card value multiplied by 2, an incorrect guess yielding the next card value multiplied by 3. Not one to selfishly keep all the cards, YHC offered a choice to multiple Pax on what torture was in store. After the final round of 24 T merkins, the cards were put away until the next time we were feeling lucky.

    A mosey back to the flag, a COT, and Name-O-Rama wrapped us up. Welcome to the newest FNGs, Sex Panther, who correctly noted that 50% of the time, it works every time, and Lollipop, a big Kojack fan, but an even bigger fan of sucking on sweet, sticky, candy treats.

    A prayer closed us out until next time.

    A final word from YHC: I huge thank you to Toto for throwing an EH my way two years ago. That small gesture has made a positive impact in not only my life, but I hope the lives of all those I come in contact with. It’s not often you get the full satisfaction of knowing you absolutely made the right decision. Saying “Yes, I’m in next week” was one of those decisions for me.

    Even after showing up late to my first post (sorry Splice!), and absolutely taking the “6” position and having to be picked up by Tanked Up, I worked up the courage to keep posting, in no small part because of Manny’s sage advice to “just keep coming, it may not every be easy, but it gets easier.”

    Thank you to all of you that keep pushing me, putting up with me, and driving me to be a better human being, whether you know it or not. The fitness is important, but the fellowship with a faith community is probably the most valuable to me.

    SYITG

  • The Leftovers

    Those of us unable to celebrate the Nola anniversary on the south shore (the Leftovers) met up on a brisk morning to celebrate in our own way.

    Warmup

    Side straddle hops, air presses, toe touches, imperial walkers, high knees, windmills, cherry pickers

    Main Event

    Russo Q’s have to include either a deck or cards or Rip’s steps, and this one was no different. 8 minutes of alternating calf raises, Rocky Balboas, and trips up Rip’s.

    Pax then moseyed west to complete 50 step ups and then a factor 11 of freak nastys and gas pumps, with back peddling in between.

    After 10 Dr. Ws, Pax rocked around the Nick with a mosey interspersed with a “viewer’s choice” including jump squats, burpees, spider mans, and monkey humpers (facing the street of course) among others.

    Arriving back at the flag in our head, we circled up for name-o-Rama and YHC prayed us out.

  • It was in the cards

    YHC was amazed as the circle kept growing larger and larger this past Saturday as we gathered for what may have been a modern record 31 PAX at the mothership (hopefully soon to be broken).

    The youth movement continued, as we welcomed back Sparky who was joined by his 2.0, an FNG.

    PAX warmup included SSHs (Cadence of 20), Cherry Pickers (20), Imperial Walkers (20), Seal Jacks (20), Arm Circles, and High Knees (20).

    After YHC confirmed he did indeed know East from West (thanks Pik!), PAX moseyed to Rip’s for 8 minutes of alternating rounds 20 Calf Raises and 20 Rocky Balboas, with a trip up and down Rips’ steps sandwiched in between.

    Moving over to the general vicinity of Noah’s Ark, PAX completed what YHC hopes will become his calling “card”: the deck of death! Breaking up into 4 groups, lady luck brought forth the following, depending on suit:

    Pod1: Merkins, Suicide Squats, Six-inch drill, Donkey Kicks

    Pod 2: Burpees, Cooperhead Squats, Crunchy Frogs, Plank Jacks

    Pod 3: Peter Parkers, Sister Mary Catherines, Gas Pumps, Shoulder Taps

    Pod 4: Freak Nastys, Box Jumps, ‘Derkins, Flutter Kicks

    A couple wild cards were also thrown in for good measure, a quick mosey around the Ark, just to prove to Turbo that YHC LOVES running.

    T claps to those who led cadence in each of the groups, especially the 2.0s that have stepped up to keep the older generation motivated.

    Following a quick mosey back to base, PAX wrapped up with a COT and Name-O-Rama, including welcome to SparkPlug. YHC wrapped things up praying us out.

    Another thank you goes out to everyone coming out to sweat (maybe not as badly as me) and enjoy the fellowship. You all push me harder than I thought possible.