F3 New Orleans

Author: Side Effects

  • Your First Daily Test

    “The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day.  The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep?  If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.  If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail.  Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions.  But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.” – Jocko Willink, Task Unit Commander, SEAL Team Three, Task Unit Bruiser in his book Extreme Ownership

    The only way you will have time to get the extra, truly impactful things done in your life is to make time by waking up early.  If you get up with the common man, you will accomplish what the common man accomplishes daily.

    That of course lacks the eternal perspective.  In 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, Paul teaches on his spiritual discipline: ”Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

    Paul exerts purposeful control over his body; he does not follow the urges and weaknesses of his body into the sin which will further weaken him and disqualify him for the prize of heavenly glory promised to those that abide in Jesus Christ.

    Am I saying that hitting snooze or rolling over in the fartsack is the precursor to an ungodly life, by no means, but it is the first of many tests of your self-discipline every day and that can have lasting impacts on your spiritual discipline.  While at the same time, we praise God for His grace that covers the many times we fail in our spiritual discipline.

  • 60 Minutes of Joy in City Park

    Eleven hardcore veterans of F3 subjected themselves to 60 minutes of painful joy in City Park even with the realization that it may cause days of soreness.  YHC’s bad reputation may no longer hold the power it once did so he endeavored to reestablish the fear with…..

    The Thang:

    Mosey to Great Lawn
    Imperial Squat Walkers (IC) x 30
    Bear Crawl to one side of LawnCrab Walk back to middle of Lawn
    Mosey to the other side of Lawn
    Squat Ladder: Run to opposite side of Lawn (the width, approx 50 yards) and perform 20 squats, return to start and perform 19 squats, repeato until perform 1 squat

    Mosey to The Foundry
    PAX divided into the following exercise stations:Pull-ups (Modify: Jump chin to bar and slow drop) (OYO) x 10 (Exercise Station Timer)
    Bar Dips
    Lunges
    Low Bar Rows
    Hip Slappers (Modify: Feet on bench w/ high 6)
    Hanging bar kicks (Modify: Hanging knee-ups)
    Merkin Bulldogs (YHC Original – decline merkin – push backwards and bend legs, head moves in a circular motion)
    Plank
    Plank
    LBC
    LBC
    Everyone through the rotation 2 times

    90 Degree Arm Hang for time x2 – Tclaps to Sparky for outlasting the PAX twice

    Mosey to the water fountain

    Mosey to the Museum Steps
    Divide in 3 Groups for:Calf Raises on Steps
    Rocky Balboa
    Ascending Tooth Fairy (Merkin on each step, 1 on 1st, 2 on 2nd, 3 on 3rd, etc. to 14th Step)
    Rotate when Tooth Fairy Group finishes

    Mosey to the Great Lawn
    Dr. W (IC) x 13
    Dancing Chillicut (IC) x 10LBC (IC) x 26
    Superman (IC) x 10
    Flutterkicks (IC) x 30

    Mosey to the Actual Flag (Made its first appearance in like three weeks of posting for me) Tclaps to Griswald for bringing the flag

    Announcements:
    Sacred Heart 5k on 2/27

    Prayers:
    Amnesty – Health
    RY – Aunt Julie – Health
    Bubba’s Friend – 31 week old baby passed
    OSHA and Bubba’s Wifes Health

  • 60 Minutes of Glory with the Bad Rep

    For sixty minutes of glory, six mighty men of valor slew thousands of Big Easy Fartsackers with grit, determination, and brotherhood once again, without a flag.  Apparently our normal PAX could not handle a little change in temperature or YHC is getting a bad reputation for Qing workouts.

    The Thang

    Mosey to the Pop Band Stand
    30 Imperial Squat Walkers (IC)
    30 Side Straddle Hop Burpees (IC) = 10 burpees

    Detour by the non-existent flag to see if the African American Lady in a Chevy Blazer was one of you Fartsackers!

    Mosey to The Foundry
    Partner up, rotating between working in the foundry and running approximately 300 meters to achieve the following numbers (since YHC modified the numbers there were overachievers):

    50 Pull-ups – Modify options: Round 1: Jump chin to bar with a slow drop; Rounds 2+: 3 low rows = 1 pull-up
    100 Modified Balls to the Wall – Feet up on 4 foot high bar
    100 Bar Kicks – Modify option: knee-ups
    150 Parallel Bar Dips – Modify option: bench dips

    30 Second count

    Mosey to the Side Museum Steps

    Partner 1: Rocky Balboa
    Partner 2: Modified Tooth Fairy (Bearcrawl instead of Hopping and adding another merkin at each step): 1 Merkin on 1st Step, 2 Merkins on 2nd Step, etc. up to 15th Step (120 Total)

    20 Second Count

    Mosey to the Great Lawn

    CoP for 6MoM:
    Dr. W (IC) x 12
    Dancing Chilcutts (IC) x 12
    LBC (IC) x 24
    Superman Reps (IC) x 12
    Flutterkicks (IC) x 36
    Superman Hold for about 30 seconds

    To get in the Valentine’s Day Spirit:
    Tunnel of Love x 3 crawls each

    Mosey to the Flag Sans Flag

    Idle Chatter:
    YHC said he would start bringing a Swedish Flag because maybe a dose of Socalism will get one of our Republic Patriots to remember the Red, White, and Blue!

    Shout Outs:
    RY’s Aunt Julie
    YHC’s Father
    OSHA’s Wife
    Bubba’s Wife

    T-claps to Risky Business for not giving up on the Modified Tooth Fairy despite it being his second post.

  • City Park Fitness/Frigid Test #1

    Ten veteran F3’ers braved the frigid (for NOLA) 39 degree temps to measure themselves versus the fitness standards of our nation’s greatest warriors.  Believe it or not JV posted in a parka, snow pants, and snow shoes (practically, at least relative to his normal attire) and at least our friendly Arkansan wore shoes because he didn’t post in much else.

    Mosey to Great Lawn

    Circle up for

    Side Straddle Hops (IC) x 25

    Imperial Walkers (IC) x 25

    Mosey to the Foundry

    The Test:

    1. Maximum Sit-ups in 2 minutes (On Marine Corps and Navy Seal PFT)

    Partner-up – Partner 1 Perform Maximum Sit-ups in 2 minutes with Partner 2 holding feet

    Switch and repeat

    Top Scores: Hawg 94 and Jingle Vader 75 (Minimum Standards: 45-Marine Corps and 52-Navy Seals)

    Recover 30 seconds to record reps performed

    Split PAX between Push-ups and Pull-ups

    2. Maximum Push-ups in 2 minutes (On Navy Seal PFT)

    Top Scores: Jingle Vader 100 (Minimum Standard: 42-Navy Seals)

    3. Maximum Pull-ups w/o dropping off bar (On Marine Corps and Navy Seal PFT)

    If completing less than 5, PAX did low bar rows to put work in

    Top Scores: Side Effects 22 and Maverick 12 (Minimum Standards: 3-Marine Corps and 8-Navy Seals)

    1 minute rest to record scores and line-up for run

    4. 2-Mile Run (approximately: 2 laps around Parade Ground Trail, starting and finishing at Foundry)   Note: Marines run a 3 mile course and Seals run a 1.5 mile course

    Top Score: Hawg 14:54 (Minimum Standard Pace: Marine Corps 20:00 and Navy Seals 15:20)

    Early finishers did extra credit work on pull-ups, dips, push-ups, sit-ups, and low bar rows.

    Completion of Fitness Test (7:10am)

    30 second count

    Dr. W (IC) x 10

    Mosey to Front Museum Steps

    Route 66 (actually 55) from Museum Steps – Jump Squatting at each light post on right side of drive in front of museum and running back to Museum Steps

    Plank and wait

    LBC’s with hold on 1 count (IC) x 20

    Flutter Kicks (IC) x 20

    Boat w/ extended arms and hold for 15+ sec

    Superman and hold for 15+ sec

    Boat w/ extended arms and hold for 15+ sec

    Superman and hold for 15+ sec

    Mosey to the Flag

    Announcements:

    The usual schedule

    King Cake Festival holding Gladiator Games

    Shout-outs:

    Kimchi’s new baby

    RY’s Aunt Julie

    Osha’s wife

     

    Idle Chatter:

    “They usually measure these standards on like 18 year olds right?” – Bogey

    “Wait that was only 1 minute!!!!” – PAX

    “Can I cheat on the pull-ups?” – Heisenberg

    “Can we complete an entire F3 workout without a single burpee?” – From Rudy’s general direction as we moseyed back to the flag

    Test Summary:

    Number of PAX Members reaching Marine Corps / Navy Seals Minimum Standards (# “Competitive” for Navy Seals):

    Pull-ups: 6 / 2

    Sit-ups: 7 / 7

    Push-ups: — / 7

    Run: 9 / 3

    If you would like your individual numbers, please email me to let me know caswen@hotmail.com.  Otherwise I will maintain this record and we can revisit the test in about 6 months.  Until then, pull-ups and running are clearly two areas where we can improve as a group.

  • 610 Stomp #18 – Remix

    Outlined against a black-rainy December sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.  In dramatic lore they are known as Jingle Vader, Rudy, Tool, and Side Effects. These are only aliases, but their real names shall not be mentioned here. They formed the crest of the New Orleans F3 nation before which every bystander must step aside.

    The New Orleans F3 nation can’t be snared. It may be surrounded, but somewhere it breaks through to keep on going. When the PAX starts from Roosevelt Mall, where the candle lights still gleam through the City Park Live Oaks, those in the way must take cover at top speed.

    All apologizes to Grantland Rice, but I thought Rudy would get a kick out of it.

    The Thang:

    The PAX took to the Bayou St. John route. For those up for some real fun, they cycled between running six minutes, running a 30 second pick-up, walking for 30 seconds, and back to running for six minutes.

    Shout Outs:

    Those traveling over the holidays

  • Goodyear and Good Cheer

     

    A faithful 11 showed up to enjoy a beatdown on a beautiful Saturday morning in New Orleans City Park.  Though we were left without a flag by the fartsacking little piggy, yet we pressed on relatively unphased.  Bueller joined the Circle of Pain shortly to make a dirty dozen.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to Great Lawn for circle up:

    25 Side Straddle Hops (IC)

    15 Arm Circles Forward / 15 Arm Circle Backward (IC)

    Mosey to Track for circle:

    Goodyear has 3 Blimps that travel to different fields every week so….

    BLIMPS #1

    10 Burpees, 15 Lunges (on each leg), 20 Imperial Walker, 25 Merkins, 30 Plankjacks, and 35 Squats (OYO)

    Plank for 6

    Mosey to Peewee Football field for circle:

    BLIMPS (same reps as above) (OYO) #2

    Plank for 6

    Mosey around to high ground by The Foundry:

    BLIMPS (starting with 5 Burpees and so on) (OYO) #3

    Al Gore for 6

    Mosey to The Foundry:

    Planked in line according to running speed and partnered up

    Round 1:

    Partner 1 – As many cycles as you can before return of partner: 5 Pull-ups (or bent-arm hangs), 10 Merkins, and 15 LBCs

    Partner 2 – Run to Brick Festival Pavilion and back (1/3-1/2 mile)

    Plank for 6

    Switch

    Round 2:

    Partner 1- cycles of 5 Pull-ups (or low rows), 10 Hip Slappers (10 slaps each hip), and 15 Straight vertical leg LBCs

    Partner 2 – Run to Brick Festival Pavilion and back (1/3-1/2 mile)

    Al Gore for 6

    Dr. W’s x 10 (IC)

    Mosey to an empty dirt spot by the Peristyle

    Superman for 6

    Random chatter:

    Ben Stein quotes of “Bueller” as he arrived hot

    Several mentions of the fartsacking piggy

    Grumblings of moseying distance to the track, YHC mentioned swinging by his house for a second

    Questioning YHC’s focus after coaching squat form on the first circle of BLIMPS and then encouraging getting 6’s in the air on Hip Slappers

    Ringing compliments of “BS” from The Foundry as YHC rounded corner from his last run

    Announcements:

    The usual schedule

    PAX encouraged to earn their turkey during the upcoming week

    Shout-outs:

    Yankee’s Aunt Julie battling cancer and enduring treatment week of Thanksgiving

    Baby Brook home and doing well

  • 610 Stomp #12 (NOPD can’t stop us now)

    Seven veteran 610 F3 Stompers and one FNG showed up in City Park which showed all the ill effects of a long weekend rocking out to Ozzy, Florence and the Machine, etc. complete with weed smells wafting through The ‘Hood (ask Amnesty).

    The Thang

    It started like any other 610 Stomp with 4 F3ers taking the Road Less Traveled (4.5 miles) which truly did make all the difference (thank you Robert Frost) and 4 F3ers modifying to 3.3 (or so they thought).  Everyone breaking after every 6 minutes of running for one minute of the combination of burpees (up to 10) and walking.  As they reentered the part of City Park south of 610 on Henry Thomas Drive, the modifiers were confronted with an 8 foot high chain link fence blocking the road as they resurfaced from the 610 underpass.  As you might guess, they quietly complied when the rent-a-cop used his last little piece of authority to turn they away, extending their run to over 4 miles as they continued to Marconi and reentered the park on Roosevelt Mall.

    YHC led the charge for the other 4 F3ers and would not allow a want-a-be NOPD officer to break his stride on Henry Thomas Drive, quietly opening the fence and flying past before the man behind the plastic badge could finish his bite of Maple Bacon Log.  YHC finished just a few seconds ahead of the first modifiers.  The remaining 3 followed suit and finished close to the rest of the modifiers.

    Shout-outs

    Yankee’s Aunt with Stage 4 Breast Cancer

    Baby Brook, had a rough couple of days being readmitted to the hospital and undergoing an open heart procedure which had complications

    Disclaimer: Any disrespect for legal authority that may be construed from the comments herein are simply for humor and not the true feelings of YHC toward any badged officer of the law (ATF Officers included) or security guard.

  • Heed the Athenian Beatdown

    Seven tried, true, and trusted warriors of our fine city banded together on this cool fall morning to prove that the “Spartans” had nothing on toughness or fitness.  They were joined in short order by a warrior from a foreign land (South Carolina) who quickly proved himself worthy of the battle.

    “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”- Pericles to the families of the dead after the Athenian War

    First Athenian Workout Tip: Workout drunk or hung over (The Q did not provide the warning nor the means to comply with this tip)

    Second Athenian Workout Tip: Workout to music (which we accomplished for the leg portion of the Thang)

    THE THANG:

    Sudden Change

    Mosey to the Great Lawn

    Imperial Squat Walker (IC) x 20

    Happy Jacks (IC) x 20

    Mosey to the Foundry

    1 and a half cycles (everyone did 3 sets of pull-ups) of 30 seconds OYO through below stations:

    Pull-ups, Bear crawl, Low rows, Merkin bulldogs, Pull-ups, Flutter kicks, Crab walk

    Mosey to the Singing Tree (Our music) w/ a Sudden Change en route:

    Low Slow Squats (IC) x 20

    Squat Jumps (OYO) x 10

    Daft Punk (Follow Q w/o cadence) x 10 cycles

    Lunge Jumps (OYO) x 10 each leg

    Mosey to NOMA Side Steps w/ a Sudden Change en route:

    Half PAX: Toe Touches on Curb (OYO)

    Half PAX: Hand walk up and down museum steps (drag legs behind) (OYO)

    Switch

    Partner-up – wheel barrel up museum steps and switch (OYO)

    Mosey to Foundry

    Half PAX: 10 Hanging Leg Raises and 5 Hanging Knee-ups (OYO)

    Half PAX: Lying straight leg hip thrusts (OYO)

    Switch

    Box Cutters (IC) x 15

    Dancing Chilcutts (IC) x 10

    Dr. W x 10

    Canoe held for 20 sec

    10 second count

    Canoe / Superman x 2

    Mosey to the NOMA Fountain

    Decline Merkins (OYO) x 10

    Dips (OYO) x 10

    Hip Slappers (OYO) x 10 each side

    Decline Merkins (OYO) x 10

    Dips (IC) x 20

    Mosey to the Flag

    Announcements – The usual workouts for the week with Saturday being CONVERGENCE.

    Shout-outs: To our brothers battling for the day in Mobile.  For our brothers and all the families in South Carolina experiencing loss and trying to recover to normal life.

  • Drag Race in the Park

    Six F3ers showed up on our first cool morning of the fall, then the four Overachievers (ran 6 miles before the workout) joined the PAX as a personal challenge to the Q.  Then the beat down of the PAX (Overachievers especially) began…

    The Thang:

    Mosey to the Great Lawn-

    Partner-up for 4 cycles of Gasers (Started with foot on the “Gas”)

    Partner 1 – Gaser (four widths of Great Lawn at fast pace)

    Partner 2 – LBC’s (OYO)

    Switch

    Plank and wait

    Side Straddle Hops x 20 (IC)

    Partner 1 – Gaser

    Partner 2 – Flutterkicks (OYO)

    Switch

    Plank and wait

    Imperial Walker x 20 (IC)

    Partner 1 – Gaser

    Partner 2 – Hello Dolly (OYO)

    Switch

    Plank and wait

    Goofballs x 20 (IC)

    Partner 1 – Gaser

    Partner 2- Dr. W (OYO)

    Switch

    Plank and wait

    20 Count

    Mosey to Roosevelt Mall-

    Plank and wait

    Route 66 (“nice, easy stroll” through the Oaks):

    Round 1:

    Partner 1 – Copperhead Squats at each bench on right side of Mall (1 rep ascending up to 11 at the last bench), Mosey between benches

    Partner 2 – Derkins at each bench on left side

    Plank and wait

    Switch sides and exercises

    Plank and wait

    Round 2:

    Partner 1 – Step-ups (each leg is one rep)

    Partner 2 – Hip Slappers (slap on each side is one rep)

    Plank and wait

    20 Count

    Switch sides and exercises

    Plank and wait

    Round 3:

    Partner 1 – Lunges (each leg is one rep) (6-11 reps)

    Partner 2 – Dips on the bench (6-11 reps)

    Mosey to Refinery for 1-2 sets of Pull-ups / Monkey Bars (OYO)

    Mosey to the Flag

    Shout-outs: Health of PAX (Amnesty achilles) and Tool’s son Brady

    Q failed to give the Overachievers a “satisfactory workout” so they did 2 more miles.  The next time this Q will plan on 6 cycles of Gasers and Route 66 exclusively with leg exercises!

  • City Park Rurpeen-athon

    Five half-crazy veteran F3ers showed up for the regular Tuesday fun (4.5 mile run with a minute break for 10 burpees/walk every 6 minutes).  One fully crazy FNG (War Eagle) led the way looking for a real challenge (i.e. Shorty, Mr. Awesome, and Hawg cycle).

    Shout-Outs:

    Tool’s son Brady

    Forest’s soon-to-be bride

    Rev and Yuengling travel/settling in new homes