F3 New Orleans

Author: Saban

  • Trail Run #2

    Tclaps to Amnesty for getting this trail run idea started back during the beginning of Covid. Here we go for round #2!

    Stayed up late trying to plan a workout in a space with a lot of unknowns. Then, naturally, my youngest woke up at 2:30. The fear of oversleeping kept me mostly awake until 4:30 when I popped out of bed. I thought I would get out there early to scope things out again to make sure we didn’t get too lost. I arrived at about 10 after five, strapped on my headlamp, and mosey my way over to forest. I wasn’t even a few steps in when I saw a possum crawling towards me, a turtle to my right, and what looked like multiple sets of eyes starring back at me! I decided it was probably best to just trust my instincts wait for my brothers to join me on this adventure!


    Fifteen brave souls showed up for the adventure. There was lots of stretching going on pre-workout and not much talking, except when Ya Mom n Dem tried to give away his hat lamp! It was only a minor crisis when High Rise decided to wake up some peacefully sleeping ants. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sandbar had gotten his passport just in time to attend the work out. Also, good to see Screwtop out for the second day in a row! 5:30 struck and with the normal disclaimer we were off. Started off in the open field to get things warmed up.


    SSH x 20

    Imperial Walker x 20

    Mountain Climbers x 20

    Left leg hip stretch

    Right leg hip stretch

    Peter Parker x 20


    Moseyed into the forest with an army of 14 behind me to the big open area by the swing. Split up into five groups of three. The count was 10 pull ups on the tree branch while one of the other PAX did dips on the fallen tree and the other did full body ab extensions on the swing. The other four groups were:


    Low slow squats

    Decline merkins

    Flutter kicks

    Decline merkins


    After everyone got their turn on pull ups we went into the thick of the forest! The tree branches were low so we decided to bear crawl through the narrow pass. When the trail opened back up we mosey through the forest and found our way to the gravel path. Headed down the path to the big open field. I had noticed when planning the work out that in this open field they had what looked like two big cement circles that resembled a figure 8. With the HATE8 on the horizon I thought it was a good opportunity to get some work in. Exercise was for 10 minutes:


    Bear crawl The stretch of grass between the two circles, run around to the top of the circle, five Burpee‘s, run down to the bottom of the circle, bear crawl across the grass, run to the top of the other circle, five burpees, run to the bottom of the circle. Rinse and repeat for 10 minutes while listening to Van Halen‘s greatest hits!


    Next, we moseyed to a separate gate back to the forest. This led us to the hill which is apparently the highest point in New Orleans. I thought Monkey Hill in Audubon Zoo was the highest point in New Orleans but I guess it’s for debate! At the top of the hill we squeezed in on the concrete pad and did some Mary:


    Pickle pounders x 20

    Freddy Mercury x 20

    Dying Cockroach x 20

    Reverse Crunch x 15


    Moseyed down the hill and headed to what I thought was the way out. We weaved back-and-forth through a very narrow trail head and ended up all the way in the back of the forest! We eventually found water and knew that we could follow the water back to the bridge that would get us out of the forest. There were several wrong turns and a couple of dead ends but we made it out and back with all 15 PAX! The unexpected detour caused us to be three minutes late. We got together in the open field for COT. Count off, Namorama, and a prayer for the upcoming hurricane with the sounds of what we think was ol’ Puke Dick in the background! This was a fun one. Thankful for the opportunity to lead!

  • Surprise…cinder blocks!

    When the opportunity arose to step up and take the Q on Friday I jumped on it. I had signed up a bunch of Pax to Q a while back and was waiting my turn to stock the new AO with some cinder blocks! I stopped at Lowe’s on my way home from work on Thursday night and bought 12. My little Audi A4 had a hard time making it up Wisner Mountain with all the extra weight in the trunk! Even got some gloves because I figured the pax wouldn’t be ready for this.

    The thang

    Five pax showed up on this wet morning. We moseyed towards Wisner Mountain but pulled off in the grass to do a little warm up. There was some mummblecatter about how Catfish would not have approved on the length of the grass.

    Hillbillies x 20

    Grass Grabbers x 10

    Peter Parkers x 20

    We moseyed on to the base of the mountain. Started things out with 10 burpees before heading up. At the top of the mountain exercises were:

    Decline Merkins x 15

    Low Slow Squats x 15

    Merkins x 15

    Moseyed to the other side of the mountain and around the road underneath the bridge. I had seen what looked like to me a whole bunch of pull up bars. To the not F3 person these were just the beams that held up the bridge. We congregated here for 10 pull-ups OYO. We then started to mosey back to the base of the mountain when we stumbled upon these 12 cinderblocks under the bridge! There was conveniently 5 pairs of gloves to hold these cinderblocks with! We each grabbed a cinderblock and headed to the base of the mountain. Exercise that followed was quite painful:

    Ascending Manmakers up the mountain. At every other line we did a manmaker but increased the block press each time (kinda like Jack Webbs). First line, one manmaker plus two block presses

    Second line, two manmakers plus four block presses

    And so on, all the way up to ten manmakers plus twenty block presses.

    Needless to say we needed a breather after this. We walked our blocks back down to the base of the mountain. Next, we did squats with our blocks up the mountain in the same ascending fashion:

    First line, one squat

    Second line, two squats

    Third line, three squats… all the way up.

    Time was running out so we walked our blocks back to their storing place and moseyed back over the mountain all the way to the pavillion.

    Circled up for count off, namorama, announcements, and prayer.

    Intense workout, good company.

    Appreciate the opportunity to lead.

    The AO is stocked with 12 blocks if anyone is interested in using them for any future Q’s!

  • 76’s

    I was on the drive home from Florida when I realized that I had the Q on Monday morning for swolefest. I had a lot on my mind as I was thinking about my dad and who he was and what he meant to me. I wanted to offer a solid beatdown and show honor to my father through the things that he taught me throughout his life. My dad lost his struggle with cancer on January 22, 2017 after a 20 year fight. Yesterday, August 9th, would have been his 76th birthday…

    FOURTEEN pax showed up for the beatdown. It was good to see a number of guys getting back out after a long hiatus. I was pleased to see Breadsticks, especially since I had just eaten at Vincent’s last Thursday for my birthday. After the normal F3 disclaimer, I informed the group that the beatdown would be inspired by my late father.

    I also had to give a disclaimer that we would not be running or doing much lower body since I have a torn meniscus in both of my knees. And without further ado we were off. Started the warmup with sets of 20 which represented the number of years that my dad fought cancer:

    Hillbillies x 20

    Wind Mills x 20

    Peter Parker x 20

    Parker Peter x 20

    Next, I informed the group that my dad’s name was Jack and that I had done some research on the lexicon last night to find some good “jack exercises”.

    In my three years of F3 I hadn’t come across these, Happy Jacks. Five count jumping jack in cadence followed by two jump squats. We did four rounds of 5 counts.

    My dad would have been 76 yesterday so I let everyone know to look out for that number. Some of the exercises would be difficult but if there was one thing that I remember about my dad was that he was a fighter. A lot of times you have to push through the struggle in order to get to the joy on the other side.

    We started the 76’s easy with plank jacks. All of the exercises would be done on your own so I let the pax know to go at their own pace:

    Plank Jacks x 76

    From there we got into a more difficult exercise, man maker merkins! I chose this exercise because it reminded me of the things my dad taught me about being a man. This was the highlight of the workout for me. The exercise starts with your block to your right while in merkin position. Perform one merkin then pull the block across the ground to the other side, perform another merkin, and pull it back to the right. One is one, all the way up to 76! There were some breaks in between but we all made it through.

    Next, we did curls. 76 reps OYO.

    My dad was an architect and a builder so we had to get some 8 count body builders in. We did them with the coupon, Catfish would have been proud! I intended to push for 76 but realized that was not realistic about 10 reps in. We made it to 30.

    I could tell that we were needing to give the upper body a break so next we went to goblet squats, 76 reps OYO.

    Finally, had to get one more jack exercise in and multiple pax knew it was coming, Jack Webbs…actually, Block Webbs!

    We changed the count to one merkin and one block press. We aimed for 10. On the 9th round I began to feel nauseous. I thought for a moment that maybe we would stop at 9 but got encouragement from the group to push through to 10. We did it!

    When I stood up I felt like I was going to pass out. There were just about 5 minutes left in the workout but it was that bad. I had visions of Holy Grove passing out of dehydration at WPM and knew that I had to get some water. I told High Rise to lead the group in some Mary to finish things up. Tool followed me to my car to make sure I was alright. I took a sip of water but still felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down, another sip, still nauseous. Finally, I laid on the ground. I was there for about 30 seconds then miraculously felt instantly better. Took another sip of water and walked back over. I was able to finish the last two Mary exercises with the group.

    So thankful for F3 and for the group of guys that were out this morning! F3 has meant so much to me over the years. My attitude has suffered over the last month or so that I have been out dealing with the torn meniscus. That’s why I keep pushing to go out even though I know that I should be resting. F3 gives me resilience throughout each day to push through the difficult parts of life.

    You know, you get that part every morning that you post. There is always someone there pushing you to finish strong and I really appreciate that. But this morning I experienced what makes F3 so special. It’s not every morning that you push yourself to the brink of exhaustion both emotionally and physically but that was the case this morning. I am forever grateful to have my health and to know that if I fall that there is someone there to help me up. It reminded me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 4:10 that goes like this:

    “For if they fall, one will lift up his brother. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

    Thank you Tool for looking out and thank you brothers for pushing me every day to be stronger and thank you dad for being such a good father to me and showing me what its like to be a good man. I miss you dearly.

    Thankful for the opportunity to lead!

  • Low & Slow…and No Burpees!

    Coming in hot for my Q. Arrived at 5:30 on the nose! The PAX seemed to be sweating it out. After the botched disclaimer we were off. (There was some chatter about how I was a not a personal trainer but I was a professional trainer).

    Mosey around parking lot to the front of the stage for:

    SSH x 20

    Windmills x 15

    Arm Circles Forward x 10

    Arm Circles Backward x 10 (with a descending count to welcome Seaman back from vacation

    Hillbillies x 20

    Slow mosey to start of oak alley then: knee highs to first light, butt kicks to second light, bear crawl to third light, crab walk to final light.

    Mosey to the front of the zoo for some low slow dirty mac deuce. After each set of exercises we ran a lap to magazine street and back. Tclaps to G-Spot and El wire who led the way on most of these. Also to Jadeveon and Flaming Lips who blew by me on every lap!

    First Round

    Low Slow Merkin x 12

    Low Slow Squat x 15

    Low Slow Peter Parker x 24

    Second Round

    Low Slow Incline Merkin x 12

    Low Slow Bulgarian Split Lunge x 12 each side

    Low Slow Peter Parker x 24

    Third Round

    Low Slow Decline Merkin x 12

    Low Slow Dips x 20

    Low Slow J-Lo x 24

    Fourth Round

    Low Slow Carolina Dry Docks x 12

    Low Slow Monkey Humpers x 24

    Low Slow Freddy Mercury x 24

    Mosey to the pull up bars. Split up into 4 groups. Ten pullups was the count. Other groups were Plank Jacks, LBC’s, and Shoulder Taps.

    After a time check of 6:11 we stayed where we were and squeezed in some Mary:

    Russian Twist x 20

    Dying Cockroach x 20

    Box Cutters x 20

    Fast as you can (or want to) run back to the flag. Count off & Namorama. Announcements to sign up for Iron Pax challenge. Prayers for Jadeveon’s mom as she deals with the loss of two parents. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to lead!

  • Shoulders, shoulders, and more shoulders!

    Knowing weeks in advance that I had the Q today I tried to plan my workouts accordingly.  I have been having some annoying sharp pain in my knee over the past few months that only bothers me when I run.  So, I thought today would be a good day to work on some upper body…particularly the shoulders!  A short disclaimer at 5:30 and we were off!
    Mosey to grassy area right off of the track
    SSH x 20/PETER PARKER x 20/PARKER PETERx 20/MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS x 20
    Mosey to row bars – 4 groups
    ROWS were the count x 20/MERKIN/WIDE MERKINS/DIAMOND MERKINS (Thought we might get in two sets of these but after the first round decided against it!)
    Mosey to cinder blocks – 56’s
    (Increasing reps starting at 5 count all the way up to 11 count for a total of 56 reps per exercise – run/walk to next light in between sets)
    BURPEE PRESSES (There was lots of moaning and groaning about this one!)
    CURLS
    KETTLE BELL SWINGS
    SHOULDER PRESSES
    Return cinder blocks and mosey back to the flag (Not enough time left for Mary!)
    Count off, Name-o-rama, announcements, and a prayer to lift up the family of Darth Visor.
    Thankful for F3 and the opportunity to lead!  Until next time…
    Saban, Reluctant Yankee, Seaman, Bartman, Tube Steak, Landing Strip, Gabrielle, Sandbar, Moriah, Jadeveon, Roots, Nip Tuck, Schlitz, and one other?

  • The least amount of burpee’s while still doing burpee!

    It was a beautiful spring morning.  The weather was perfect (unlike last Monday).  The PAX started to trickle in at around 5:20 with the usual couple of late stragglers speeding into the parking lot!  A couple of new guys were EH’d by Roots (who decided not to show up) and Landing Strip.  To keep with the theme of “Bringing the skinny back to the skinny”, I had planned a pretty tough, run heavy workout around the park.  I was a bit nervous for the new guys whether they would be able to keep up but decided to stick with the plan.

    We started with a mosey around parking lot to Oak Alley.

    Circle up
    1 BURPEE (I think this is a record!)
    SSH x25
    IMPERIAL WALKER x25
    PETER PARKER x25
    PARKER PETER x25
    Alternate high knees/butt kicks to the end of Oak Alley then jog to the row bars

    Split up into 4 groups
    LEFT HIP DIPS
    RIGHT HIP DIPS
    ROWS
    MERKINS (count 25)

    Every other running man
    JOG x 2/SPRINT x 1 to the spot across from the bridge

    Inspired by Bartman’s “More Jack Webbs”  workout and also inspired by the one comment to his backblast from: I believe someone from The Metairie, we did 11 JACK WEBBS!  And now we all know why you stop at 10!

    Next was every other running man
    JOG x1/SPRINT x1/PRISONER RUN X1 to the fountain

    RIGHT LEG STEP UP x15
    INCLINE MERKIN x15
    LEFT LEG STEP UP x15
    DIPS x15

    Every other running man
    INDIAN RUN to the 17th hole for some quick MARY

    RUSSIAN TWIST X15
    LBC X15
    FREDDIE MERCURY X15
    V UP’S X15
    DYING COCKROACH X15

    INDIAN RUN TO THE PULL UP BARS while waiting for the PAX we did:

    PLANK
    RIGHT ARM UP IN THE AIR
    LEFT ARM UP IN THE AIR
    MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

    JOG x1/SPRINT X1 to the flag

    Plank and wait for the 6.

    Finished with the count.  (Elwire and G spot had to dip out early)

    Namorama.  Welcome two new FNG’s, SHANK and LEMON HEAD, or if you prefer LEMON HEAD MFer!  Prayed a prayer of thankfulness for God giving us the strength to wake up every morning and carry the weight that He designed us to carry.  Thankful for the opportunity to lead!  Until next time…Amen!