F3 New Orleans

Author: sandbar

  • 16 tons – and whadya get?

    The PAX turnout was small for the Skinny. Standard disclaimer and we moseyed on the track toward the southeast end of the park. Exit toward Magazine and the Zoo entrance and circle up for warm up.

    In 1919 there were a number of significant labor strikes across the country including – steelworkers in Ohio, police in Boston, women telegraph workers across Massachusetts and coal miners in southern Illinois.  So 19 was the IC count for SSH, Plankjacks, Sealjacks and Mountain Climbers. In 1898, miners won concessions at a conference in Chicago for $.40 a ton and an 8 hour day, 6 day week. $.40 a ton.  By hand.

    Mosey back to the AO start and circle up for a second warm up with Tennessee Ernie Ford providing the count. Tried to find a labor song that wasn’t Woody Guthrie or banjos. For the record, YHC has nothing against banjos.

    With “16 Tons” playing, we started with windmills and did a burpee for everytime he sang “16 tons.” Switched to mountain climbers and finished with Nolan Ryans for the last verse:

    “If you see me comin’, better step aside
    A lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died
    One fist of iron, the other of steel
    If the right one don’t a-get you, then the left one will.”

    Mosey across Magazine to pile of blocks and line up for some Organized Labor.  In a line starting at the stack, one PAX does an overhead press and passes the block to the next PAX until all PAX have a block. Circle up for some coupon work.

    5 curls, IC (5 day workweek, natch)

    8 overhead presses, IC (8 hour workday)

    8 Goblet Squats, IC

    40 bench presses, OYO (40 hour week, and the theme is established.

    Lather, rinse repeat.

    Return to Organized Labor formation, reversing the line so the PAX closest to the stack last time are now the first to finish. Pass and Press. Pass and Press.

    Mosey to the Audubon Statue for modified Dora. (Dora Cervantes is Secretary-Treasurer of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAMAW). No need to partner as there are only 8 PAX.  Each PAX completes the following set OYO, followed by a run around the neutral ground.

    8 Iron Hulks (in 1908, the first millworkers in Mass. offered a 2 day weekend to accommodate the Sabbath for their Jewish workers).

    26 Merkins (In 1926 Henry Ford set a 8 hour day, 5 day work week in his factories.)

    40 Shoulder Taps – 2 is 1 (In 1940, the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, making the 8 hour day, 40 hour workweek a national standard)

    63 LBCs (In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, providing liberty and wages to the 3.5 million enslaved blacks in portions of the southern united states.)

    “A tonnage man is a man who is actually in the pits mining (he is technically the “miner”), a day man is a man who works supplying the tonnage men or any other laborer who is not actually mining. Tonnage men were the most
    respected in the coalfields. Coleman, Men and Coal, 98. ” May we all be tonnage men in our communities.

    Mosey back to the flag for the count, name-o-rama, announcements and intentions.

    Remember Peppa’s family this week as his mother passed.

    Thanks for the opportunity to Q. Solidarity on this labor day.

     

  • sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you

    The PAX gathered at the AO ….

    Standard disclaimer and mosey around the track with a left turn across Magazine St, past the Audubon Zoo sign and into the green parking lot.

    Warm up COP

    5 burpees OYO , SSH x20 IC, Peter Parkers x20 IC, Sealjacks x16 IC (sealjacks are boring), Mountain Climbers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO.

    Mosey across the parking lot and through the gates to the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control System (aka the levee). Line up on the path for 7’s. Catalina wine mixers at the bottom and 2 leg lunges at top. OYO.

    PAX moseyed to the molehill at the end of the fly soccer fields. Pair up. Partner 1 bear crawls over the mountain, down the other side, does 30 LBCs, then moseyed back around the mountain.  Partner 2 holds a low plank until 1 gets back.  Flapjack twice.

    Mosey to the fly playground, divide into rough groups of five to rotate through pullups, incline merks, decline merks, dips, and plankjacks.  Pullup group had the count of 10.

    Fast mosey to the labyrinth for quick Mary. Russian Twist x10 IC, Hello Dolly x10 IC, LBCs x10 IC.

    Times up.

    Mosey to the flag and one minute over.  Yankee is likely drafting the email of admonishment as YHC types.

    Count off and Name-O-Rama.  With such a large group today we missed an FNG, who stealthily invented his own name.  That would not stand, however, and our friendly canadian  was named “Bieber.”

    Announcements, intentions and close.

    Thanks to all for putting up with YHC’s fumbled organization on the exercises. The Pax ate the Bear, but the Bear ate YHC.

     

  • Ev’ry man a king

    YHC is also the much belated. And yes, I’m writing this while fartsacking the Skinny.

    On May 12, 2018 the PAX gathered at Audubon Park to clown car out to Elmwood for the Huey P. Long Bridge 5K.  Uptown PAX don’t travel well so we like strength in numbers. T claps to Tinkles for driving.

    After collecting our race bibs, doing a warm up jog, and getting buzzed by a drone filming the events, the runners were ready. It was hot and 1300+ runners pressed in. Mulligan, Tinkles and El Guapo moved to the front where they could position to lead the scrum.  The gun sounded and we were off.  A quick mosey through the Elmwood office park and then up.

    “The Huey P. Long is a cantilevered steel through truss bridge that carries a two-track railroad line over the Mississippi River at mile 106.1 with three lanes of US 90 on each side of the central tracks…. In 2014, a writer in The New Yorker described the bridge as “a structure so vaulting and high that it seems to extend from one white, towering Gulf Coast cloud to the next.” Thank you Wikipedia.

    And so we reached for the clouds.

    Cashbar kept a brutal pace charging up the hill and YHC had to skip taking landscape photos from the top. At the finish line in Bridge City, we reassembled. Mulligan and Guapo had won their respective divisions and the entire PAX finished in 30’47”.  YHC was the six. We collected our t-shirts and jambalaya and took the shuttle bus back to Elmwood.

    Glad to run this one with the F3 Pax and my 2.0.

     

    #GeauxOverIt

  • The Three Mountains

    A record large group of PAX (28!) gathered at the AO in the refreshingly cool morning gloom.

    YHC bumbled the disclaimer,  and we set off on a mosey across St. Charles, toward the traditional Wolfpack mountain.

    At the base of Wolfpack, the PAX divided into two groups for parallel Indian runs to the top.  Pax kept a swift pace and YHC noted the 4 FNGs hitting the afterburners on the upslope switchbacks. Who were these guys?

    Quick summit and we headed down the stairs to West Rd (the alley behind and under Wolfpack). On West Rd. the PAX did prisoner run, followed by karoake run left and right up to Freret st. The PAX reassembled for another mosey up McAllister to the Tulane quad.

    Warm up COP

    SSH x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Imperial Walkers x20, 10 merks OYO, Peter Parkers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO

    Mosey on up McAllister past Aron Residences (former address of YHC-much water under that bridge) to the 2nd mountain. The PAX lined up for a parallel Indian run again.  YHC noted the trespassing signs forbid biking, skateboarding and rollerblading, but no mention of running.  We press on with haste. At the top the lead PAX did LBCs until the arrival of the 6. Mid – LBC, El Wire philosophically mused (as he is apt to do), what is the name of this mountain? YHC suggested “sugar mountain” in honor of the former Sugar Bowl that formerly stood on the very spot. However, on the decline mosey through the stairwell some PAX noted that near the gloomy bottom, a trespasser, probably wearing roller blades, had left a pile of human stain in a corner.  In honor of that discovery, YHC posits “Sugar Loaf” as the appropriate name for the mountain.

    At the bottom, PAX assembled for a mosey back down McAlister to pullup bars between ROTC and the law school. Immediately, plans were trashed however, as the good folk who maintain and improve the campus had replaced the grassy berm and retaining wall with a bike parking lot. Nonetheless the PAX divided into 6 groups between the ribbon racks and rotated between pullups, plankjacks, burpees, merkins, low slow squats, and something else YHC can’t remember.  Pullups had the count of 7.

    Mosey to the last mountain.  Also unnamed.  The other garage on the other campus.  Again, 2 parallel Indian runs to the top. Down the stairs and slow mosey to the flag.

    COP, countoff and name-o-rama.  The 4 speedster FNGs were EHd were Walleye’s ortho bros.  Promptly named by the PAX – eh, B, Gooooooooooal, and Windowlicker – it all made sense at the time!

    Thanks for the opportunity.

  • Form and Function

    The rain was just getting going as the PAX gathered at the AO. OBT (an F3 founder from Charlotte) posted, and conducted the second day of his unofficial audit of the Uptown PAX.  Yankee is coordinating the NOLA F3 Uptown management response.

    Standard disclaimer. Mosey along the path to the “volleyball” field and circle up. A quick PSA from YHC regarding a tough critique from YHC’s M at the F3 Christmas party (shout out to the attending M. and 2.0s – Spicebar, Candybar, Cashbar and Minibar). Spicebar, a bootcamper, yogini, and barre practitioner did not have good things to say about YHC’s and the PAX’s form during the 12 days of Christmas beat down.

    So today, as YHC is not a professional trainer, we call upon exemplary PAX to demonstrate the proper form of several of our core exercises. Yankee leads with a beautiful plank.

    Then its down to business, but keeping form in mind. 5 burpees OYO , SSH x20 IC, Peter Parkers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Sealjacks x15 IC, ParkerPeters x15 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Smurfjacks x15 IC, Mountain Climbers x15 IC, 5 burpees OYO, plankjacks x15IC

    Next we moseyed across Magazine to the long green wall. A film crew was working on the other side in the zoo, but we didn’t make it into the movie.

    OBT, participant observer, was called on to provide a primer on the Merkin form, including demos of what NOT to do. Thanks to OBT for being a sport.

    PAX grabbed some wall. Starting with regular merkins 0 degrees , 10 IC.  Then 45 deg derkins,  10 OYO. Finishing with BTTW (hold for 30 seconds).  Just for the record, YHC shared that another colleague, female, does the full Skywalker – without the wall.  She also teaches yoga to Navy Seals, so we have work to do.

    Mosey through the rain to grass parking lot for the Zoo, to use the four corners of the squarish field for some OYO BLIMPS.  Before we start, however, Gabrielle demonstrated the proper form for two key exercises in the BLIMP – Squats and Lunges.  Low and slow, baby.

    5 Burpees. Run to next corner.
    10 Lunges each leg. Run to next corner.
    15 Imperial Walkers. Run to next corner.
    20 Merkins. Run to next corner.
    25 Plank Jacks. Run to next corner.
    30 Squats. Run to next corner.

    And five more burpees OYO.

    Then we moseyed to the zoo entrance drive and sprinted to Audubon statue for some modified Dora. PAX partnered up, but before we started, Douille provided a classic example of the proper Russian Twist form (AKA American Hammer, AKA Russian Piss, AKA the Mueller).

    5 burpees OYO. PAX then alternated running around the neutral ground and completed:

    50 Merkins
    100 russian twists
    200 dips

    Mosey back toward the flag.  5 burp OYO.  Return to the flag and find a nice dry spot for 5 more burpees OYO.

    Count, name-o-rama, announcements and intentions. Prayer.

    Thanks to OBT and all the PAX for participating in the form review.

    TY, TYVM.

  • The bear went over the mountain

    The PAX gathered at the AO in the refreshingly cool morning gloom, and as Brown Bag was not wearing a parka, YHC knew it must be just above 50 degrees.

    Standard disclaimer and mosey around the track with a hard right turn across Magazine St, through the bollards and around much standing water to relative high ground in the oak alley.

    Warm up COP

    5 burpees OYO , SSH x20 IC, Peter Parkers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Sealjacks x20 IC, ParkerPeters x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Smurfjacks x20 IC, Mountain Climbers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, plankjacks x20IC

    Mosey down magazine to the field in front of the zoo, which was looking like a lake. Much mumble chatter about puddles and wet shoes. We modified to the parking lot, using it as a large rectangle for cycling through BLIMPS at the corners. 5 Burpees, 10 lunges (2 legs is one), 15 Imperial Walkers, 20 merkins, 25 Plankjacks, 30 squats.

    PAX then assembled in two lines for Indian run across the levy to the ‘fly.  One large pool of water disrupted the smooth flow of the indian run formation with PAX tacking starboard and port to avoid it, except for Sea Man, who would not be deterred by mere water and kept his line straight down the middle of it.

    PAX assembled at the molehill at the end of the soccer fields.

    We then bear crawled up over and down the other side of the mountain, to see what we could see.

    On the other side we did 30 LBCs, then moseyed back around the mountain and reassembled.  Up and over the mountain again, but the second time we planked until all assembled, then Jack Webb 7s (merk followed by 2 air presses, to 7 merks) . Bear crawl back over the mountain to Jack Webb’s meaner brother, the Iron Hulk 6s. (merk followed by 4 air presses to 6 merks). Bear crawl back over the mountain.

    4 trips over the mountain and we were out of time.

    fast mosey back to the flag, COP, announcements and intentions.

    Thanks for the opportunity.

     

  • Thanks to Mr. Brees

    The morning after the Saints win a first round playoff game and 6 PAX gathered in the gloom.

    Standard Disclaimer and as the rain begins to pour, mumble chatter from the PAX on whether we are headed to the shelter.

    We never went to the shelter.

    Mosey round the track to the rows station. 6 PAX, five bars, we make quick work of 20 OYO rows with the rain on our faces.

    Continue mosey on the track to relative high ground and low duck shite (ducks paddling under the trees in the AO), for circle up.

    In cadence: 20 smurfjacks, 20 Peter Parkers, 20 Imperial Walkers, 20 Parker Peters, 20 Hillbillies, 20 Mountain Climbers, 20 SSH.

    Continue mosey on the track to the fountain for:

    In cadence: 15 dips, 15 RL step ups, 10 dips, 15 LL step ups, 15 dips, 15 RL Power Ups, 15 dips, 15 LL Powerups, 10 dips, and 7 incline merks. Why 7?  I don’t know. El Wire offered to take the rap for distracting YHC with chatter about how long it takes to get back. We’ll go with that.

    Continue mosey on the track to a new addition to the Audubon Park – a supersize playground with lots of overhead bars, platforms and a couple of ziplines. Many thanks to the Drew Brees family for making this happen for our community.  Oh, and thanks for leading the Saints to the win!

    The PAX grabbed a bar for 10 OYO pullups.  Followed by 10 more. 5 quick burpees on the softest playground surface in town, then 10 Derkins, OYO.  El Wire tried out the zipline track (successfully!) before we moseyed to the upslope of the T box for a round of Mary.   The PAX each led their own selection for an in cadence 20:

    LBCs, boxcutters, LBTs, dying cockroach, and russian twists.

    Continue mosey to the pull-up bars. Three PAX do 10 pullups OYO, while the others plank. Flapjack.  Twice.

    Mosey back to the flag.  A minute remaining so 10 merks, OYO.

    Circle, Count, Name-o-rama, intentions, and announcements – YSR (23, HATE!) and his wife are expecting their first!! And prayer.

    Thanks for the opportunity and joining me in the rain.

     

     

     

     

  • I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. — Jewish Proverb

    Shoulders, gentlemen.  Shoulders.

    12 men assembled in the gloom. Standard disclaimer.  5:30 Mosey across Magazine to  oak alley warm up COP:

    Smurfjacks x20IC

    Parker Peters x20 IC

    1qrtrArm Circles x 40 IC (20 forward dir)

    Peter Parkers x20 IC

    1qrtrArm Circles x 40 IC (20 reverse dir)

    (hillbillies) 20 IC

    SSH x30 IC

    Next we moseyed to the long green wall. Mumble chatter about dangerous animals on the other side. But the “Most Dangerous Game” PAX grabbed some wall for Ascending Testicles. Feet on the wall in a plank, working through:

     15 degrees (10 derkins)

    45 deg (10 derkins);

    finishing with BTTW (hold for 30 seconds). Lather, rinse and repeat.

    Mosey over to the field parking lot in front of the zoo. We used the four corners of the squarish field for some OYO BLIMPS.

    5 Burpees. Run to next corner.

    10 Lunges each leg. Run to next corner.

    15 Imperial Walkers. Run to next corner.

    20 Merkins. Run to next corner.

    25 Plank Jacks. Run to next corner.

    30 Squats. Run to next corner.

    YHC fumbled the start of an Indian run. Pax moseyed to Magazine St. and back to Audubon entrance for more shoulders.  Modified Dora. PAX partnered up and alternated running around the neutral ground and completed:

    100 Dips

    150 Derkin Shoulder taps

    200 LBCs

    Circle up for Iron Hulks 7s (merkin followed by 4 air presses is 1)

    Mosey back to flag.

    Wrap with announcements and intentions, and prayer.

  • VQ – Hear a Train a Comin

    5:30 Gathered at the place a flag might be if someone brought one.  Because we were headed toward the river, and not the Skinny’s usual lakebound direction, YHC held for an extra 30 seconds for PAX who didn’t watch GoT until the 11:00pm slot and were lateshows. Mosey across Magazine to  zoo overflow parking field for warm up COP:

    • SSH x20 IC
    • Peter Parkers x20 IC
    • Smurfjacks x20IC
    • Parker Peters x20 IC
    • Kentucky Uncles (hillbillies) 20 IC

    Then we used the four corners of the squarish field for some OYO BLIMPS.

    • 5 Burpees. Run to next corner.
    • 10 Lunges each leg. Run to next corner.
    • 15 Imperial Walkers. Run to next corner.
    • 20 Merkins. Run to next corner.
    • 25 Plank Jacks. Run to next corner.
    • 30 Squats. Run to next corner.
    • Plank and wait for the PAX to finish.

    Next we moseyed around the NORD pool toward downtown to the long green wall in front of the Reptile House that protects the animals of the zoo from the wildlings of NOLA. PAX grabbed some wall for Ascending Testicles. Feet on the wall in a plank, working through:

    •  15degrees (10 derkins)
    • 45 deg (10 derkins);
    • finishing with BTTW (hold for one minute)

    There was some mumble chatter about loose rock in front of the wall and YHC promises to revisit this exercise under conditions that can accommodate the soft hands of the uptown PAX.

    Next we moseyed back across the parking lot toward the ‘Fly, with the intention of finding some elevation at the levee.  However, a train announced it’s presence as we approached the gateway across the tracks. It was sitting still, and so as not to repeat the less-than-solid example of some carrollton booster dads clambering over parked train cars, YHC led the PAX back to the over flow parking field and the treeline along Magazine for some modified Dora. PAX partnered up and alternated running the tree line to the last tree and completed:

    • 50 Dan Taylors (squat followed by 4 lunges is 1)
    • 100 Iron Hulks (merkin followed by 4 air presses is 1)
    • 150 LBCs

    Time was working against us, so YHC modified to 75 Iron Hulks and PAX finished out the LBCs. We moseyed back to the flag and then did the count and name-o-rama. Three PAX skedaddled before COT, and one was a FNG. There were some proposed names for this FNG such as “splits” or “ghost,”  but there was consensus that we will find an appropriate name when he returns. Wrap with announcements and intentions, and the jesus prayer.

    Thanks for the opportunity to Q .

    -sandbar