F3 New Orleans

Author: Steve

  • A-Wash at the Gipper

    There’s been a slew of cold and rainy days here on the Northshore, and while YHC can’t attest to PAX attendance earlier in the week, I can say it was no surprise finding the usual gang ready to go at The Gipper (minus Maverick, that is, who materialized immediately after the warm-up).

    Warm Up: Good Mornings, IW’s, Seal Jacks, Windmills, SSH, Butt Kicks, High Knees, all IC, either 15x or 20x.  Followed by 20 Merks, OYO.

    The rain wasn’t coming down hard, per se, but there was enough of it to make YHC shuffle things around a bit.  We moseyed to the covered parking garage for a set of suicides.  Looooong suicides.  Rest was a set of Peter Parkers, 20x, IC.  Another set of long suicides.  Parker Peters, 20x IC.  Then Burpee Dans across the length of the garage, to finish with a set of slow squat jumps, 20x IC.  Rain had slowed to a light mist by this point, so….

    Mosey to the back of the justice center and partner up for The W.A.S.H: Partner 1 runs the length of the lot, up the stairs, around the ramp and back, while Partner 2 starts what would be a cumulative set of: Werkins (50x), American Hammers (100x), Step Ups (150x), Hip Thrusts / Wife Pleasers (200x).  Because these are above average men (ah-hem, Tanked Up), we had to adjust and make it a cumulative set of 100x Werkins, so the other partner could get his in and wouldn’t miss out on the fun.

    Back to the flag for a Burp n’ Merk, ascending to 10 merkins.  Quickly down for an abbreviated Hurricane Hoedown (Tropical Depression?) which we’ll tackle again some other day.  Countdown, nameorama, and Einstein prayed us out.  Thanks men!

  • Pub Crawl, F3 Style

    It was a rainy morning at the marsh and one of the nice things about that particular AO is that the large covered basketball court provides ample shelter for a beatdown with no need to get wet.  But where’s the fun in that?  Any man willing to show up at 5am in the rain is prepared for pretty much anything, and getting wet is likely the least of his concern.  But before venturing out, we’d start off with a warmorama under the cozy confines of the court: Good Mornings, IW’s, Windmills, Seal Jacks, SSH’s, Butt Kicks, High Knees, all IC, at or around 20x.

    The Thang:

    What better way to start the morning than with a 6 pack?  Similar in count to a set of 11’s, but starting with 5 merkins and 1 pull-up, and finishing at 1 merkin and 5 pull-ups.  Then a mosey in the rain to…

    Old Rail Brewery for a Pub Crawl: The Pax lines up along the parking curb, bear crawls through a small, refreshing reservoir in the middle of the lot to reach the opposing curb and perform 1 derkin, with feet propped up along curb.  Bear crawl back, 2 derkins.  Repeat, all the way to 13 derkins.

    Slow mosey over to the trailhead stairs and partner up: P1 runs half the corridor, up the stairs and back, while P2 does squats.  Again, with merkins, monkey jumpers, squat jumps.  Repeat, adding calf raises to the mix.

    Mosey back to the marsh for one last 6 pack before shutting this crawl down with a mary of 50 LBC’s, IC.  As The Manny noted, this was definitely the worst pub crawl any of us had been to.  But no one splashed merlot, and we hobbled away a bit stronger and with our dignity in tact.

    On a side note, this run in the rain reminded YHC that I neglected my backblast duties after our 10k in the sleet two Friday’s ago at the Cove (12/8/17).   It’s was borderline freezing, with a mix of rain, sleet, and hail – just another instance of the indomitable spirit of the Northshore Pax (Bushwacker and Pelican, I’m looking at you) that should be noted for posterity.

  • Strangers in the Night

    That was the welcome Shooter gave upon seeing EiEi in the gloom this morning, before Ei turned to me and said, “There’s the title of your backblast.”

    And so it is.  It was a welcome sight to have Ei back, especially knowing that the elder Wacker would be showing for his first beatdown this morning and that YHC is particularly bad with nicknames.  And when Splice brought in another FNG, and Garfield rolled in with an additional THREE FNG’s, I knew it was just meant to be.  With all these new faces, YHC had no trouble remembering to give the disclaimer.

    Warm-Up: Seal Jacks, Windmills, Good Mornings, SSH, IW’s, High Knees, Peter Parkers, all 20x IC.  Finished with 20 Merkins, OYO.

    Mosey a bit eastward, and lined up along the sea wall for:

    Sprint to the road, lunge walk back to the sea wall. 3x.  Then some leg business: Calf Raises, Squat Jumps, Left and Right Leg Bulgarian Splits, and Monkey Humpers all 20x IC (or somewhere near that).  Another pair of sprints / lunges, then rinse and repeat with the legs.

    Mosey eastward again, stopping in a grassy patch for a COP:

    ATM’s: Shoulder Taps, 10 Slow Merkins, 10 Fast Merkins, repeat.  Head to the sea wall for some Knee-Ups (formerly incorrectly called ‘step-ups’ by YHC), right and left 10x IC.  Back to the circle for ATM’s, Round 2.  And then once more back to the sea wall, this time for Freak Nasties, 15x IC.

    Mosey onward, finally reaching the playground for a partner routine.  P1 hits all the three padded areas for designated exercises (20x LBCs, 20x Peter Parkers, 20x Plank Jacks) before returning to relieve P2, who’s been doing burpees for the duration.  Flapjack.  That’s Round 1.  Round 2 was much the same, replacing burpees with sit-ups.  Rainbow Unicorn was particularly impressive here – he was so fast it was just a blur of neon colors, and he and Tanked Up proved an unbeatable duo.

    Final COP on this fine morning was a round of Jack Webbs, finishing at 10 merkins to 40 air presses.

    Indian Run back to the flag for a short but sweet Mary (20x IC Crunchy Frogs and Freddie Mercs), before calling time.  Countdown, nameorama and naming of the FNGs, prayer, and coffee-time.  T-Claps to all the FNG’s who pushed through, and as always, thanks for letting me lead guys.  It’s an honor.

  • Rounding the Corners of A Cold, Cold Marsh

    At 38 degrees, this was one of those mornings where YHC was entertaining the possibility of no one showing, and slipping peacefully back into the warmth of my bed.  But if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s the Northshore F3 PAX representing.  Light representation, but hey, representation nonetheless.  It only takes one… The Manny was already warming up when I rolled in, and it goes without saying that the always-present Shooter rolled in shortly thereafter.  Alrighty, let’s do this then…

    Warm- Up: Good Mornings, Seal Jacks, Mummy Kicks, High Knees, Butt Kicks, Seal Jacks, and SSH’s. Then mosey

    Four Corners (and then some): We started on Lamarque and Livingston with 10 merkins.  Headed south, alternating between sprints and moseys, adding 20 shoulder taps to the 10 merks at the next corner.  Continued on, adding at each corner until we were at 10x Merkins, 20x Shoulder Taps, 30x LBC’s, and 40x Mountain Climbers.  Another 4 blocks descending back down to 10 Merkins.  Which dropped us off at…

    The Bus Depot Benches: 15x IC Left Leg Bulgarians, 15x IC Freak Nasties, Right Leg, Freaks.  10x IC Left Leg Ups, Freaks, Right Leg.

    Mosey back to the Marsh, hitting the trailhead stairs 4x up/down on the way.

    Once back, hit the pull up bar for a descending ladder of pull ups and knee ups: 10 of each, 8, 6, 4, 2.

    Quick Mary of Freddie Mercs, Flutter Kicks, 100’s, and Crunchy Frogs, countdown, nameorama, and The Manny led us out with a prayer.  Thanks guys for showing up this morning.

  • To Stretch, Or Not To Stretch

    That is the question… not often pondered at the Scramble.  Just as conventional wisdom about eggs, exit polls, and the devil beating his wife have been (mostly) proven wrong in recent years, studies now seem to agree – static stretching is not all that good as a pre-run warm-up.   But, feeling extra groggy this entire week, YHC was nervous there might be too much time at the end of the traditional scramble, and so opted for a short dynamic warm-up to eat a bit of time.

    Across the City Hall parking lot: lunge walk with a twist, knee tucks, high kicks, and maybe something else… then off to the races.

    Back in decent time (8:45-ish miles) with a sprint to the finish line, we did some toe touches, plank inch worms, T-merkins, and then a short mosey to the playground for the descending pull up ladder: 10x, 8x, 6x, 4x, 2x.  Finally, finished the morning off with 30x merkins and an educational discussion about the merits of Asics.

    Countorama, nameorama, and Shooter led us out with a prayer.  Thanks guys.

  • Legs, Legs, Legs

    Light showing for Tuesday’s Trailhead, with 4 PAX showing up to work on some legs.  No, no Bulgarians.  And no step ups.  But a whole lotta legs regardless.

    Warm Up: SSHs, Seal Jacks, Windmills, Good Mornings, IW’s, High Knees, all 20x IC.

    Mosey over to the amphitheater stage for COP: Lunges, Calf Raises, Squat Jumps, Monkey Humpers, Donkey Kicks – all 20x IC.  Rinse and Repeat x3

    Sloooow mosey (those monkey humpers will get you) over to the corridor for a partner routine:

    1. P1 knocks out as many Merkins as possible while P2 sprints the corridor, runs up the stairs, performs 10x Sister Mary’s, and back to swap.
    2. P1 does LBC’s while P2 sprints, runs up, 10x Burpees, and back to swap.
    3. P1 does horizontal squats (these got hard pretty quick) while P2 sprints, up, does 10x Plank Jacks, and swaparoo.
    4. P1 does Peter Parkers, P2 sprints, up, and 10x Merkins.

    Back to the flag for an extended Mary: Dying Cockroaches, Crunchy Frogs, Flutter Kicks, Freddie Mercuries, and Hello Dollies, all somewhere around 20-30x IC.

    Countdown, Nameorama, and Shooter prayed us out.  Thanks gents!

  • The Quarry

    It was all the regulars at the Gipper today (all but Grundy, I should say), with Einstein coming in hot to maintain his untarnished attendance record.  YHC gave a more hearty and pronounced disclaimer before diving in:

    Warm-Up: SSH, Seal Jacks, Windmills, Arm Circles (forward & back), IW’s, and Butt Kicks.

    The Thang: 

    First stop, the bedrock quarry to grab a rock.  YHC explains that the PAX will be with their rock for most of the beatdown and not to get too macho with rock size.  Tanked Up heeds this advice, but later feels sheepish about his rock size… no matter, this is Frankie C (patented hand gesture)!!  You can bet he got more reps than the rest of us.

    So, rocks in hand, we took a slow mosey over to the Justice Center.  YHC figured that if last week’s incident with the Pequod and a car popping up on the curb didn’t ruffle any feathers, then a bunch of guys hauling rocks to the Justice Center might go unnoticed as well.

    The PAX got on their six to begin: 15x Skull Crushers (hence the hearty disclaimer), 30x bench press, up on your feet for 30x squat/overhead thrusts, 30x bent over rows.  Then Lt. Dan’s across the walkway, discard the rock for a run up the stairs and around the perimeter, and repeat starting with the bench press.

    Next, partner up: Partner 1 holds rock above head and performs squats while Partner 2 (rockless) runs the courtyard, up the stairs, performs 5 burpees, and runs back to flapjack.  2x.

    And finally, the PAX picked a column to hold a People’s Chair while performing some Wonderbras (“push em out, and push ’em up!”), 30x IC.

    Slow mosey back to the quarry to unload, and then onward toward the flag for the final routine: Partner 1 holds mission impossible plank (impossible indeed), while Partner 2 bear crawls up the small hill, does 5 sit-ups, runs and jumps onto the stage and back around to relieve P1.  2x.

    A minute for Mary, so we knocked out 50x Freddie Mercuries, IC.

    Countdown, Nameorama, and Shooter prayed us out.  Thanks gents, as always, it was a good time.

     

  • The Way of the Dragon

    It was supposed to be 40º and rainy but, as seems to often happen here on the Northshore, the Sky Q cleared the rain shortly before the pre (and pre-pre)-thang began.  YHC has noticed that with October’s dropping temperatures, PAX attendance at the mothership has also dwindled.  So it was reassuring to have 9 men show up in the unsure conditions of the morning ready to roll.  T-claps to Butt Splice, Carpool, Tanked Up and Turbo for getting in a little extra before the regularly schedule foreplay began.

    Warm Up:

    Good Mornings, IW’s, Seal Jacks, Windmills, Mummy Kicks, Butt Kicks, High Knees, SSH’s, all 20x, IC.

    The Thang:

    First off, a working mosey to the playground: PAX would begin at Girod with 15x Merkins, and add an exercise at each intersection until reaching the destination.  By the time we hit the east end of Lakeshore, we were at 15x Merkins, Squat Jumps, Shoulder Taps, Sit-Ups, and Plank Jacks.

    On your six for some Bruce Lee: 4 sets of 20 reps of Putins, Leg Raises, LBC’s, Heel Touches, Crunchy Frogs, and 100’s.  T-claps to Bushwacker for the inspiration as well as the display of proper form!  Lee said, “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at,” and we’ll continue to hold his 7 sets of 90 reps as something to aim for.  Maybe with the upcoming November ISI challenge we’ll inch slightly closer to that goal.

    Next up, a playground partner routine: Partner 1 holds people chair against a column, while Partner 2 hits the 3 padded areas of the playground doing one of the following at each: 10x merkins, squats, burpees.  Oh, and of course, bunny hops across the splash pad area.

    Indian Run back to the (imagined) flag for Mary: Fondas (10x Fonda, Quick Pulses, Heel-to-Knee, Knee-to-Knee, each legs), Hello Dolly’s, Rosalita’s.

    Countdown, Nameorama, and Ace prayed us out.  Good to have you back BEAST!  And t-claps to Grundy for making it to the next round of his lengthy vetting process.  As always, thanks for the opportunity guys, great way to start the weekend.

  • Rekindling the Round Robin

    The Trailhead (which could use a proper F3 name, Ei) is getting a decent following these days.  Nine PAX showed up on what felt like a light day, and a few of us had been notified that EiEi would be unable to make the Q.  So we went Round Robin style, like we used to do in the old days (3 months ago).

    As Clark Griswold would say, it was a bit nipply out, so YHC started the warm up with SSH, 30x IC, and then straight into butt kicks, toe touches, windmills, IW’s, arm circles forward, backward, air presses, and high knees, at or around 20x IC.

    Mosey over to the stage for a set of 11’s: Sister Mary’s up top then hop down and across to the viewing platform for derkins.  Finally got a little sweat going, just in time for Shooter to take the Q and lead us to the tunnel of pain for…

    BLIMPS: 5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 IWs, 20 merkins, 25 plank jacks, 30 squats.  Back up out of the tunnel to catch your breath, only to rinse and repeat, this time doubling the numbers.  Grundy schooled the Q (not for the first time) on how to count lunges, and reminded us that, as an auditor, nothing was a fact until he confirmed it himself!  (For all the men of ISI, the merkin count hit 130.)

    The PAX found its way through the black forest back to the flag, in time for Bushwacker to hit us with LBC’s while waiting for the six.  I counted up to around 100 before he mercifully called time.  Until next beatdown, Bruce Lee!  Countdown, nameorama, and Grundy led us out with a nice prayer.

  • The Four Corners of the Marsh

     

    Be still and the Earth will speak to you.   – Navajo Proverb

    YHC passed through the Four Corners this past summer and saw the above proverb painted on a few landscapes by the local artists.  The monument is run by the Navajo Nation and while it’s undoubtedly an overpriced tourist trap, it’s also pretty cool to chat with the local Navajos that are creating and hawking their art in the surrounding space.

    All the same, though, this quote doesn’t really apply to today’s beatdown.  And while the PAX was anything but still this morning, we did manage to clear our minds using a different technique: by knocking out 150 merkins in the first 20 minutes of this beatdown.  Here’s how it went…

    Right out of the gate, 25 merkins OYO.  Then some standard warm-up: Good Mornings, Windmills, SSH’s, IW’s, High Knees, and Butt Kicks, all 20x IC.  Finish the warm-up with another 25 merkins.

    Mosey over to the corner of Marigny and Livingston for the start of 4 corners: Start with 20 burpees, sprint a block to the next corner perform 20 burps plus 20 squats.  Next corner add 20 (full grown man) sit-ups, and at the last corner, add 20 merkins to bring the tally up to 150.

    Back into the Marsh for a quick 10 pull-ups OYO before hitting the legs.  Started out with 20x IC lunges, depth charges (t-claps to Grundy for the cooler name), calf raises, monkey humpers, and grab a pull up bar to finish with knees-to-chest.  Repeato.

    Back to the court to circle up for Mary.  The PAX attempted 5 prisoner get-ups with varying degrees of failure.  Entirely YHC’s fault – next time I’ll watch a Youtube video and demonstrate proper form beforehand.  Then onto LBC’s, starfish crunches, Freddie Mercs, and Nolan Ryans, all 20x IC before we ran out of time.  Countdown, nameorama, and then Turtle led us out with a prayer.

    More than once I’ve mentioned that I’ll be taking Monday’s off, and yet I keep finding myself back at the Marsh.  That’s because this really is the best way to start the week.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead guys.