F3 New Orleans

Author: TripleShift

  • What is preparedness?

    Preparedness is the state of being ready for something to happen, especially for war or a disaster, or if you didn’t know that Hawgcycle signed you up to Q.

    I rolled in today about 6:15 am and saw some PAX members assembled in a corner of the great lawn (not sure why they didn’t meet at the usual place) and pleasantries were exchanged with all the HIMs and two (2) FNGs that Moana EHed. I happen to ask who was Q-ing the workout around 6:25 am, since I didn’t check the Q sheet, and received some strange looks. With surprise and disbelief, the men said that I was the Q. Huh!!! With five minutes left, I draw from all the experience that I have gained from F3 over the years and know that I can lead when called upon. Have you developed your preparedness? I know Bogey has!

    WARMUP

    Run around the great lawn and perform 30 SSH, 20 IW, 10 Burpees, 20 LSS, 20 MC, 20 Shoulder Taps, 20 Parker Peters and 10 Burpees all IC. Not sure the order.

    THE THANG

    DORA 1-2-3 – We line up on the east pathway and perform 100 Bonnie Blairs, 200 Merkins, and 300 Dying Cockroaches. Stopped when four teams completed the entire exercise

    Hand off to Bogey.

    11s on the Great Lawn. Superman to Boat (touch toes) and run to the middle and perform 5 jack webbs combinations everytime then run to far side and then perform one squat, forward kick with one leg, another squat, then forward kick with opposite leg. Repeat until time runs out.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA, AND COT

    Thankful for allowing me to lead two (2) FNGs and F3 NOLA Pax to an impromptu beat down. T-Claps to Belloq (the encourager) for his kind words of wisdom in the COT and I closed it out with a prayer of thankfulness and petitioned for strength, wisdom, and leadership for my band of brothers.

  • Turning 52 at the 6 – 24 Stomp

    Turning 52 this day comes with a flood of memories from my past and the ever-present uncertainty for the future. I don’t know about you but I always get a little melancholy and introspective during this time of year as things slow down due to the Christmas holidays and (relatively) cold temperatures. In this breakneck lifestyle we all find ourselves in, it is hard to press pause and look around to enjoy the present….our families, our friends, our health, our faith, etc..

    With every passing year, it seems I hear about another friend or acquaintance dealing with a life-threatening disease or living in the aftermath of the death of a loved one. It’s easy to get cynical, calloused and overwhelmed to the problems around me but this brotherhood of F3 shakes me out of my laziness and indifference. The shared struggle ( waking up at 4:50 am, burpees, “The Suck”, Dora 123, any form of running, etc.) of becoming physically, relationally, and spiritually stronger men in a community of men awakens me to be a real difference-maker (leader) for my wife, my children, and my community. Thank you F3 NOLA Pax for moving me forward, one burpee at a time!

    DISCLAIMER AND THE THANG – A little twist on the 6-10 Stomp for my December 24th birthday Q. Instead of doing 10 burpees for every 6 minutes of running, I choose to do 24 walking lunges (knee to the ground or close to the ground if possible) instead. I thought was more reasonable than 52 walking lunges every 6 minutes although I might consider doing 53 walking lunges next year. Standard out and back and we got 6 rounds in. – COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA, AND COT – prayers for those struggling with loneliness and depression this Christmas season. God, help us to provide words of encouragement and acts of kindness for those we encounter. Soli Deo Gloria!

  • Merry X (Chi) mas!!!

    In signing up for the Q on Dec 23rd, I wanted to bring a little Christmas history into view as I created a Christmas themed workout. In modern times, the commercialization of the Christmas season along with a growing antagonism toward the Christian religion has lead to the increased removal of the word Christ from Christmas. However, the word Xmas has its roots back in the first century. As I explained to the PAX this morning, the Greek letter X is pronounced ‘Chi’ and it was commonly used to denote followers of Christ. The Greek letter X has many references to Christ. It was used as a memorial for fallen martyrs in the Roman coliseum, chiseled onto homes of true believers, and even used as a reference to the cross. So the next time you see the word Xmas, don’t be put off, think about Chi(ristos) during this blessed Christmas season.

    DISCLAIMER AND WARMUP

    I gave the disclaimer and off to the rock pile and headed to the middle of the football field. Warmup with 24 SSH, 24 Squats, 24 Mountain Climbers, and 24 Windmills. Rudy really enjoyed the 24 Windmills as he was chirping the whole time!

    After the warmup, we broke up into 4 groups of 3 and each group would head to one of the corners with their coupons. At the corners, there were 4 sets of exercises to perform. As two of the pax members in that corner were performing their designated exercises, the remaining pax member would head toward the middle of the field and perform 10 – 8 count bodybuilders with their rock. Once they completed their 10 reps, they would head back to their corner and then rotate until all three pax members completed their 8 count bodybuilders. Once completed, they would run 500 meters on the track without their coupon to the next corner and then perform the next set of exercises with pax members rotating to complete the 10 reps of 8 count bodybuilders. The exercises are as follows:

    Corner 1 – 12 Side Lunges, 12 Curls, 12 Angle Grinders, and 12 Reverse Crunches all IC

    Corner 2 – 12 Squats, 12 Merkins, 12 Rows, and 12 Plank Jacks all IC

    Corner 3 – 12 Lunges, 12 Shoulder Presses, 12 Wife Pleasers, and 12 Parker Peters all IC

    Corner 4 – 12 Bonnie Blairs, 12 Supermans, 12 Straight leg deadlifts, and 12 Catalina Wine Mixers all IC

    If all the exercises were completed, it would have formed an X on the field. But, alas, that was not meant to be due to the time constraint of 45 minutes. I believe we only got half of it done. Oh well, at least we performed a slash. :-(.

    COUNT OFF, NAMERAMA, AND CIRCLE OF TRUST

    Thankful for my F3 brothers and prayers to God for families suffering battling health issues, loneliness, depression, and isolation during this Christmas season. Extremely grateful for the health given to me so I can lead and serve my family and my community!

  • Get out of bed sleepy head!

    Whenever I sign up to Q or when someone signs me up to Q (Fracsac, Hawgcycle, Tool, et. al., there is always a nervous energy that starts to build up until the morning of the beatdown. I’m not exactly sure what causes that. Maybe its leading the PAX, maybe its the unspoken expectations of a great workout, maybe its the work that will be required, or maybe its the bean burrito I ate the night before. Well, whatever it is, the date on the calendar doesn’t move no matter what happens the day before. I can’t let my F3 brothers down!

    DISCLAIMER AND WARM UP

    Arrive at the virtual flag in front of NOMA, give the disclaimer and then take off to the coupon pile by Tad Gormley. Man, that is far! Maybe we can move the AO to the baby foundry to be more centrally located to the coupons, but I digress. We arrive at the coupon pile and break the pax up into groups of three (3). 2 pax members grab one coupon each and the other pax member grabs two coupons as we head to the field next to Roosevelt mall. Circle up for a warmup of 20 SSH, 20 Hacky Sacks, 20 High Knees and 20 Butt Kicks, and 20 J-Lows all IC.

    THE THANG

    Line up in groups of three facing the sidewalk of Roosevelt Mall and perform the following exercises.

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Burpee broad jump three (3) times out and three (3) times back. PAX 3 – Thrusters with coupon. 2 rounds

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Lunge walk with coupon overhead five (5) times out and five times (5) back. PAX 3 – WW2 situps with coupon. 2 rounds

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Side lunge with coupon five (5) times out and five times (5) back. PAX 3 – Sundial – plank walk in a circle with feet on a coupon. 2 rounds

    THANG TWO (2)

    Absolution x 10 IC, Angle Grinder x 10 IC and A.L.A.R.M. (Shoulder press, lunge, LBC, run to the sidewalk and back, and mountain climbers all with a coupon.

    Put the coupons back, headed back to the virtual flag and was incensed that the Mothership crew was tresspassing and, of course, mumblechatter ensued :-). With a few minutes left, we do some mobility to cool down.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA and CIRCLE OF TRUST

    So honored to lead such a great group of men. Prayed for Rudy’s father, for the safety of Amanda Eller (she is the niece of my mentor and is the missing woman in Hawaii) and that we would positively impact others by being involved and virtuous.

  • 40 – a.k.a. The Rudy Special

    With all the new NOLA PAX members that have taken the Daily Red Pill and joined our ranks, there are so many great workouts they have missed since the inception of F3 NOLA. One of my favorites at Okwata is the 40! Thank you, Rudy! Other epic beatdowns such as the H8 and Elevens with Burpees at Okwata are always crowd pleasers. Since the Army Corps of Engineers raised the height of the lake levee, this AO is like no other in the city. As a side note, you can also thank Mayor Cantrell and former Mayor Landrieu for keeping the grass well manicured over the years.

    WARMUP

    After my disclainer, we do a quick mosey around the Mardi Gras fountain with side shuffles, high knees and butt kicks and head over to the levee. The space between the sidewalk and the bottom of the levee is very spongelike and lumpy so watch your step.

    THE THANG

    As I give the instructions, I hear some groans from the veterans and get some puzzled looks from the newcomers as they process the task ahead of them. It’s pretty simple. Run up and over the levee 40 times and perform 10 exercises 40 times. The sequence of the beatdown is as follows:

    Burpees, Plank Jacks – 10 sec break

    Side Lunges, Catalina Wine Mixers – 20 sec break

    Supermans (Red Sun/Yellow Sun), Shoulder Taps – 30 sec break

    Reverse Crunches, Bonnie Blairs – 40 sec break

    Merkins, WW2 Situps / Wife Pleasers

    It’s 6:13am and we head back to the Freedom Hammer

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA AND COT

    Honored to lead all the HIM (High Impact Men) today and grateful for your friendship, camaraderie, and accountability. Prayers for those fighting cancer and those who have lost loved ones! Lord help us be the leaders we were destined to be for our wives, children, and community!

  • Spartan Redux Adieu

    After finishing the Spartan Super in Alabama last Saturday, I had a great deal to be thankful for. Although I didn’t train enough for the mileage and obstacles, the base of fitness that I gained through F3 was exceptional. Given that most of the beatdowns are 45 – 60 minutes, I was surprised at how well Hokie Pokey, Fracsac and I did for this grueling race. 8.5 miles and 25 obstacles. We all missed at least 6 obstacles and which comes with a pleasant 30 burpee penalty. That’s right, 180 burpees for me and I believe 240 burpees for Fracsac and Hokie Pokey. Although, on paper, it seems impossible, we were all thankful for the F3 NOLA Pax that kept us accountable in our training.

    THE THANG

    No warmup, just grab a rock and three (3) water buckets (35 lbs) and proceed around the park on the path. We walk briskly around the park and do a series of exercises at random intervals.

    30 SSH IC, 30 Mountain Climbers IC, Lunge Walk x 2 on the ramp by the baseball stadium, 30 Burpees, a flow exercise to stretch our hip flexors in a lunge position and the bottom, mid and top floor elevator. As we get back to the rock pile, you guesed it….30 burpees and 15 Red Sun / Yellow Sun Supermans IC.

    Countoff, Namerama and COT. Encouraged to see all the new Qs leading and I encouraged the four PAX members (Fast Tax, Scantron, Vanilla and Grimace) who haven’t Qed a workout to plan on it in the near future.

  • One is the loneliest number…..

    I know this is overdue but writing a backblast is better late than never. I took my first turn at the Muscleship with the stiff competition of the Mothership Endymion run. It’s 6:30 am and no one joins me. Now its 6:31, 6:32,…6:35 and I think to myself, do I try to find the PAX on Orleans Ave or lead myself. Well, I didn’t run to Orleans so I headed to the coupons by the baby foundry and proceeded to get to work.

    I grab a cinder block and do a route 66 on Roosevelt Mall (out and back). At each bench I proceed to do 5 Man makers as I head towards Marconi ave. As I finish a few benches on my way to Marconi, the thoughts of quitting start creeping in because its lonely working out by yourself. Nearing the end of the benches, I see the friendly face of Green Screen!

    My energy, demeanor, and spirits pick up and Green Screen and I are having a great conversation while doing the prescribed routine. As we finish Route 66, I proceed to something very ambitious. We both grab 2 coupons from the pile and head over to the baby foundry for some Flora 1-2-3. This is the first time I completed this exercise without having to modify for time. Whew! That was extremely difficult! To top it off, we had to farmers carry the coupons back to the pile. My hands and forearms were burning!

    Mosey back to flag for the countoff, namerama, and COT! Thanks, Green Screen for holding me accountable and allowing me to lead!

  • 2019 Wolfpack Mountain

    Seeing that I never Q’ed Wolfpack Mountan…ever! I decided to start 2019 a little differently. In fact, I have never Q’ed any uptown AO since the 2014 beginning of F3 or my second beginning in Sept. 2016. That’s an entirely different story for another time. Anyway, T-Claps to Yankee’s text reminding me of my date with destiny.

    WARMUP

    With 32 Pax strong, “we don’t need no stinking warmup.” I give a protracted disclaimer and we start with 10 burpees with much groaning and mumbling. After ignoring the uptown mumblechatter, I follow up with 9 burpees for a total of 19 for 2019. After we finish the warmup, we run to the base of the mountain.

    THE THANG

    We partner up and PAX 1 proceeds to run up the mountain backwards while PAX 2 does 5 burpees and sprints to catch up with PAX 1 and tags to switch until we get to Floor 4. From there, we take the steps to the top (skip 1-2 steps to make it harder)

    We circle up for a little modified ‘Suck’. 2 minutes of SSH, Merkins and Jump Squats with a 1 minute cool down x 2. I had a little hiccup with my timer and only did a follow up 1 minute suck.

    PAX 1 bear crawls about 40 yds while PAX 2 does Red Sun Supermans. After that cycle, PAX 1 does walking lunges while PAX 2 does wife pleasers.

    6 MOM – 30 LBC, 20 Dying Cockroaches, 20 Hello Dolly and 20 Flutter Kicks x IC

    With time running out, we proceed to do 25 Red Bull Smurf Jacks and 10 Merkins all IC. I’m hoping to get to 50 Red Bull Smurf Jacks one day but I digress. With 5 minutes left, we had back to the Virtual Flag

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA, COT

    With 32 strong, I was very honored by the showing and greatly appreciated the Uptown Pax accepting the leadership of a Lakeview foreigner. We welcomed two (2) doctors that Nip Tuck EHed and I hope that Quincy M.D. and Bonez make it back. Grateful for my brotherhood of F3 and prayers for God’s peace for those dealing with illnesses and the supernatural grace to lead well. May God bless your influence in 2019!

  • God Make you Mighty, Gentlemen!

    This was my birthday Q (51 yrs old) and I wanted to make it special for the PAX NOLA. As Christmas day is tomorrow, I wanted to not only strengthen the body but also strengthen the mind as well. As I was thinking about the direction I wanted to go in the Christmas Eve themed workout, I realized that we already done a couple of 12 days of Christmas beatdowns and desired to go a different route. During the Christmas holiday season, the pace of life slows down enough for me to be more contempletive and I have more time to read. As I was reading a book by Ace Collins called ‘Stories behind the best-loved songs of Christmas‘, I came across the ‘real’ history of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman which fit the theme of the beatdown today. Here is an excerpt.

    “When people today say “Merry Christmas!” the word merry means “happy.” When “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, merry had a very different meaning. Robin Hood’s Merry Men might have been happy, but the merry that described them meant ‘great and “mighty.” Thus in the 15th century (Middle Ages), a strong army was a merry army, a great singer was a merry singer, and a mighty ruler was a merry ruler….the word rest in the title means to ‘make’ or ‘keep’. As the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy.” That joy and the power of faith can be felt and experienced in every note and word of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” You just have to know how to translate the words into the language of the day in order to have a very ‘Mighty Christmas!”

    WARMUP

    Run over to the field by the rock pile and proceed with the following

    51 SSH x IC, 20 Imperial Squat Walkers x IC, 10 Abe Vigodas x IC, 10 Arm Circles x IC (Forward and Backward), 20 J-Los x IC

    THE THANG

    I instruct the PAX to get a medium sized rock and we head to the football field for Bearicides. Because we had 15 men, I had to break the groups up into 3s. We line up on the sideline and PAX 1 and 2 perform 100 lunges, 150 goblet squats and 100 straight leg deadlifts. Meanwhile, PAX 3 bear crawls out and pushes the rock forward to the middle of the field then bear crawls back while continuing to push the rock.

    After the bearicides, we did a Febreeze. This exercise consists of WW2 situps followed by air presses with feet 6 inches off the ground while in a sit up position. The count was 2 situps / 10 air presses, 3 situps / 20 air presses…all the way up to 5 situps / 51 air presses. Whew….that hurt!

    Running out of time we did a Jack Webb with a rock press up to 7 merkins / 14 rock presses.

    Time is running out so we put our rocks back and mosey back to the virtual flag.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA AND COT

    Prayers for peace, hope and healing for Brad Brechtel, Hawg’s mom, Disclaimer’s 2.2 and all the intentions we hold in our hearts. Truly honored to be leading such a great group of men looking to get stronger physically, relationally and spiritually! Many blessings to you and yours this Christmas Season!

  • Teamwork makes the DREAM WORK!

    Your QIC had a really rough week with work and dealing with trolls on Social Media.  It’s crazy how people act so ugly and with such vitriol, when behind a computer screen and it has bled over into face to face encounters.  After witnessing the unraveling of civility in our society these past years, it’s so easy to withdraw from the fray and disconnect from making a positive difference.  Well, that is where we as the F3 Nation are creating leaders through physical training.

    Leaders by nature are agents of change!  We must change for the betterment for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our community.  It all starts with taking the Daily Red Pill (DRP) and making the choice to get stronger physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally and spiritually.  Without the support and encouragement of my brothers of F3 NOLA, I could not be the leader I was designed to be.  So thankful and blessed to be part of this PAX’s Shield Lock!

    Proverbs 27:17 (AMP) As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens and influences another through dialogue.

    The goal today was to show the importance of having that Shield Lock or at least a Wing Man to keep us accountable.  So the theme was partner workouts!

     

    WARMUP

    Proceded with the Disclaimer and had to pause so the PAX could finish their discussions with each other (not going to mention anyone), I completed my monologue and headed to the Great Lawn only to find it sopping wet.  I don’t have a problem getting soaking wet in a workout but I would like to start off dry so we headed to the Peristyle and Ovaled up.

    20 SSH, 20 Hillbilly, 10 Abe Vigoda, 10 Arm Circles (Front and Back), 20 Red Bull Smurf Jacks (is that fast enough for you Rudy and Fracsac?), 10 Peter Parker Merkins, 10 Imperial Squat Walkers all In Cadence.

     

    THE THANG

    We partnered up and took turns piggybacking to the front of NOMA which was about 1/4 mile.  From there we headed to the tree line for a modified Flora.  It was 100 hand slap merkins, 200 Leg throws and 200 squats / Al Gore.  This was a cumulative effort.

    Embrace the Suck – As I was wearing my Go Ruck T-shirt, it was a foreshadowing of planned Suck.  The Suck consisted of 3 rounds of 6 SSH, 6 Merkins and 6 Jump Squats AMRAP for 3 minutes with a one-minute rest in between rounds.

    With less than 10 minutes left, we slowsyed to the Great Lawn for a few minutes of Get on Up (lying on the ground and then standing up without using your hands) and the Rotiserrie (Boat to Superman back to Boat all the while with your arms and feet off the ground).

     

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA AND CIRCLE OF TRUST

    Welcome False Alarm!  The workouts don’t get easier, you just get stronger!  Prayers of thankfulness for positive health reports (Rudy’s sister) and life successes (Rudy’s daughter got accepted to Medical School), prayers of courage for all the people affected by Hurricane Michael and the ongoing recovery efforts,  prayers of strength for families with special needs (Tool and his family) and prayers for peace to know we are doing God’s will even when undeservingly criticized and verbally attacked.  Thank you for the honor and privilege of leading!

     

    Abacus, Babyface, Bogey, False Alarm (FNG), Fracsac, Gabrielle, Green Screen, Gyro, Jingle Vader, King Kong, Left Eye, Mahatma Ice, Mambi, Medulla Oblongata, Out for Justice, Quick Draw, Rudy, Tool, Tube Steak, Two Yutes, Wille