YHC walked up to the flag and waited for the overachievers to make their way back from their run, and as that infamous group rolled in there was one notable absentee. Shooter was not among the Mandeville crew and he was the one that was supposed to be the Q!
It turns out that Shooter had one great reason to be out. His daughter was in the hospital about to make Shooter a grandpa!!! Grandpa Shooter, or what I would like to call him “Grooter”! I hope all is well in the family my friend.
With the Q understandably out, we all chipped in for a round robin beatdown!
Warmup
Bushwacker picked up the torch first and warmed us up with some different items all IC
Toe Touches Cherry pickers High Knees Butt Kicks Scorpion Kicks
Bushwacker threw down the torch and Steve picked it up and we moseyed to the Justice center stairs
The Thang
Steve pulled out his favorite bag of tricks starting with 11’s. Bottom of the stairs was erkens, and top of the stairs was derkens.
We then did a series of moves all IC to 12.
Step ups (both right and left leg) Freak Nasties Albanian Split Squats (both right and left leg) Freak Nasties
Turbo was next and he had some diabolical plans in the tank. We moseyed to the top of the parking garage and partnered up for a series where we traveled to opposite sides of the garage (either in side plank crawls, lunges, crab walks, or bear crawls) and went down to the bottom of the stairs and back up until you met your partner back up top.
Killer idea there Turbo!
Next YHC took the final leg and took us back to the Justice center where we did a yet to be named sequence where you cover a distance by taking two lunges forward and one lunge back. Tough stuff.
We moseyed back to the flag for a quick 20 IC reverse crunches. We circled up and Bushwacker closed us out.
I think the summary of this workout is perfectly captured by what Shooter said at the end.
“I’ve had my share of six-packs in my day, but that one had to be the worst”
Warmup
SSH Shoulder series
The Thang
We got right into the meat of the workout and today we worked on a six pack.
A six pack is similar to 11’s but the sequence is totals 6. The sequence is one burpee and five pullups. The challenge was that the the burpees were done on the Mandeville Trailhead splash pad, and the pullups were done at the playground at the Marsh. Which is about a little over 3/10ths of a mile away.
Continue that sequence until you have completed 5 burpees and 1 pullup.
That was a brutal beatdown on YHC but that’s why I picked it.
We finished with 5 minutes of Mary and normal closing ceremonies.
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:
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!
YHC knows he’s old school, old fashioned, and just plain old. #RespectHasItsDrawbacks. For the COT, he utterly–and proudly–failed in his effort to record the names of the 28!!! PAX who posted in the gloom. Even with Mariah’s held (#TClaps), it was hopeless. Thank God our beatdowns are (generally) techno-free.
With a quick disclaimer (and YHC’s failure yet again to ask whether there were any FNGs, of which there were none), the PAX was off to the soccer fields in front of Audubon for the first COP:
SSHs 25xIC
Imperial Walkers 25xIC
Grass Grabbers 25xIC
Merkins 25xIC
Low Slow Squats 25xIC (with a lagniappe of 5 burpees OYO in the middle)
Mosey over to the levee for some Elevens: ten burpees down to one at the bottom of the levee, and one jump squat up to ten at the top.
Then mosey over to the Audubon statue for some Dora 1-2-3: PAX paired up for 100 dips, 200 squats and 300 LBCs.
Then mosey back to one of the soccer fields (to get our of ears’ reach of the Clipboard barking out numbers and orders to the hapless Wallets in Tights) for a quick round of Mary:
American Hammer 20xIC
Dying Cockroach 20xIC (keep feet up for next round)
Flutter Kicks 20xIC (keep feet up for next round)
Hello Dolly 20xIC
Crunchy Frog 20xIC
Mosey back to the flag for COT and YHC’s complete inability to work either a video or audio stream on his cell phone. There was a PAX of 28, but YHC (with the help of other PAX, @TClaps) could recall all but one. So apologies to that one PAX, who gets credit from the SkyQ even though he’s anonymous (at least for now) to us mortals.
After a lousy night of sleep, YHC was not particularly excited to get up and Q Granny’s House. But you never know what surprises might await and, as often happens, this gloom brought a big surprise with the welcome return of Ringo. Back in town for a few days before the madness of Spring Break begins, the PAX was surprised to see that Ringo has lost a bunch of weight while not posting to F3 beatdowns and… while running a pancake eatery??? The mysteries of the world are endless, people.
The surprise return of a slimmed-down Ringo did nothing to diminish the return of Captain Sparkles, though, as his post today marks the start of an intense (albeit, abbreviated) training for the Ragnar in two weeks. If you doubt this man’s methods, look no further than last fall’s half marathon, or even the grow ruck back in ’17. If anyone can prepare this quickly, it would be Cap.
The Thang: A quick mosey around the block to get Cap’s running legs back, and then down to business. First up, a set of stations in the amphitheater area of the trailhead:
Burpees x20 / Shoulder Taps x5 on the stage
Big Boy (Big Ass/Huge Ass, *copyright pending*) Sit-Ups x20 / Freddie Mercuries x5 (IC)
Irkins x20 / Derkins x5 on sitting platform
Jump Squats x20 / Monkey Humpers x5
Rinse and repeat, but with each cycle the first exercise at each station goes down by 5, the second goes up by 5. After 4 rounds, we were done.
Recovery walk over to the corridor for an Indian Bunny Hop: PAX planks in a line, first man bunny hops over and drops into plank at the end, next man up, and so on until we reached the end of what felt like a very long corridor.
Next up, a set of sprints with a partner. First two men would sprint 100% to the end and jog back, while PAX performed squats. Next two up, and so on. With Waterpik doing extra credit and all men giving it 110%, this was a bit of a blur and YHC can’t remember exactly how many rounds we did. What I do remember is the Big Man – Shooter – burning me every single time, and Cap looking like Turtle back in his glory days. Nothing like sprints to get the PAX going!
Finished with a little Mary: Flutter Kicks x30 IC, Hello Dolly’s x20 IC, Rosalitas x20 IC, and Nolan Ryan’s, each side x10 IC.
COT, Ringo prayed us out, and we discussed the Northshore’s upcoming 3 year anniversary. Look out for an email soon! As always, thanks for the lead guys.
After losing Left Eye last week, I was offered redemption. Left Eye saw I had the Q at Rock City, and was kind enough to give me another shot. 24 men arrived in the dark gloom of Pontiff, without lights, for a beatdown in the dark and damp. Bogey suggested we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya during the workout so no man gets left behind. Not a bad idea… The usual disclaimer and off we go.
We moseyed to the usual spot by the rocks for our warm-up COP.
SSH x 20 IC
IW x 20 IC
Windmills x 10 IC
Arm circles 10 forward 10 backwards IC
LSS x 20 IC
Mountain climbers x 20 IC.
Grab a rock and head to the track. We lined up on the 20 yard line of the football field for a rock circuit. I kept one eye on Left Eye the whole time…
Shoulder press x 15 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock curls x 15 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock rows x 15 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock squats x 15 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
By this time, Cowbell could see what was coming…
Shoulder press x 10 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock curls x 10 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock rows x 10 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock squats x 10 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Shoulder press x 5 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock curls x 5 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock rows x 5 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Rock squats x 5 IC, sprint to the end zone and back.
Next we bear crawled from the 20 to the end zone, 20 Merkins in the end zone, and lunge walked back to the 20. Next circuit.
Chest press x 20 IC
Flutter kicks with rock held high x 20 IC
Chest press x 20 IC
Hello dolly with rock held high x 20 IC
Then we moved our rocks out to the 40 yard line, and teamed up in Pax of 3 for Merkin relays. 40 yard dash, followed by 15 Merkins, until the other Pax got back to you. 3 rounds of 15 Merkins, followed by 3 rounds of 10 Merkins, for 6 rounds total.
Circle up for some Mary.
LBCs x 20 IC
Box cutters x 20 IC
Dying cockroach x 20 IC
Penguins x 20 IC
Return your beloved rock back to the pile and run back to the flag for a percent finish. (Maybe 1 minute late according to Triple Shift, but his watch must be wrong.) Count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer. I am grateful I did not lose another Pax member today. We were 24 strong throughout. Thank you for letting me lead.
As many New Orleanians might be aware, Hamilton has been playing at The Saenger for a 3 week run. As many F3ians might be aware, Da Parish and Rudy have a thing for musicals. So of course, the Hamilton workout was an obvious combination. And a plot was hatched – only publicized to those PAX that were In The Room Where It Happened….. So Hamilton and Burr signed up to Q the Mothership and Muscleship.
6:29am, PAX loitering around both flags wondering who was stepping forward to claim the Q. Especially loud grumbling at the Mothership flag from Jingle Vader, who repeatedly expressed his dislike for all things in Pop Culture.
6:30am, Rudy at Mothership and Parish at Muscleship give the disclaimers to PAX (most of whom seemed to be saying “Yeah, I figured.”). And both PAX took off to meet at the flag standing by a large box in the field in front of the museum.
And what was in the box? No – this isn’t a Brad Pitt “What’s in the Box?” scene. Instead, it was the exercise gear for the Qs…
And all the PAX grumbled and groaned, but still circled up in one large combined workout circle.
The Warmup – Qs alternating exercise callouts
16 SSH (Hamilton was 16 on arrival to US)
7 Burpees OYO as we begin spelling out Burr
21 Imperial Walkers (Hamilton was 21 when he became aide to Washington
Up/Downs to Burr’s cadence
30 Peter Parkers (Hamilton was 30 at the Constitutional Convention
Rocky Balboas to more of Burr cadence
Then (thanks to Mahatma’s good advice), PAX numbered off. 1s go with Hamilton (Rudy), 2s go with Burr (Parish). The Q vs Q Showdown begins…
Burr – Round 1
Dora 1-2-3 to Aaron Burr, Sir & My Shot. Pax 1 will perform the exercise while Pax 2 Burr Crawls to the 2nd tree & back.
Floyd Mayweather x 100 (2=1) – Hamilton upon meeting Burr advised he had recently punched the bursar of Princton
Squats x 200 – Burr advises Hamilton, Laurens, Mulligan & Lafayette that he’d rather sit than stand for the revolution
American Hammer x 300 – Hamilton does not throw away his shot and drops his American Hammer on Burr, Lafayette, Laurens & Mulligan
MerKING Wave/Burr Crawl to You’ll be Back
While PlanKING during the song sung by King George, pax will do a MerKING wave (1 merkin performed in a wave around the circle). When the last pax merks, the entire circle will Burr Crawl clockwise 1 rotation. Repeat the MerKING wave with 2 merks, Burr Crawl, etc until song is complete.
Mary to the song Guns & Ships.
Hold out your gun at Yorktown by holding a James Bond for :30 center/left/righ
Yorktown would not have been a victory w/out the French ships in the harbor. Hold your Boat/Canoe for :30 and finish out the song.
Hamilton – Round 1
Hamiltabata. 8 exercises, 45 seconds high intensity, 15 seconds of rest. To the songs Alexander Hamilton and My Shot
Happy Jacks (5 SSH, 2 Squat Jumps)
Absolution (8 count plank-position exercise)
Merkins
Imperial Squat Walkers
Lunges
T-Merkins
Outlaw
No Surrender (aka “The Genuflect”, in F3 Nola lexicon)
20 Count
To the 2:30 song Aaron Burr: Burpees. OYO. Go. Until the song ends. Yes, grumbly PAX – I mean it. Till the song ends.
20 Count
Mosey to the fountain for a version of the Cabinet Battle.
PAX 1 planks
PAX 2 dips x30 – with feet on PAX 1 back.
Flapjack.
Flapjack for x20
Flapjack for x10
Interlude
Both groups met at the lawn, and switched. Now the 2s go with Hamilton and the 1s go with Burr.
Burr – Round 2
Take a Break while we mosey to the Foundry
Time for an amRAP Battle while we hear Cabinet Battle #1
5 Pull ups, 10 Merkins, 15 Squats, Repeat until song is complete (3:35)
How are you going to Say No To This first American Political Sex Scandal. Hamilton was being extorted by James Reynolds while Hamilton had sex with his wife Maria. The first time it happened Hamilton gave Maria $30. Perform 30 reps (IC) of these 3 Big Sexy Exercises
Pickle Pounders
Wife Pleasers
Monkey Humpers
Mosey back to the flag…Mr Burr has business to settle with Hamilton. Your Obedient Servant
Hamilton – Round 2
Same as Round 1. Equal amounts of grumbling about the burpees. Some members of this group seemed to have an entirely different perspective on the Plank/Dip combo. Rudy suggests the Uptowners pull their minds out of the gutter.
Rudy does note that this routine was significantly harder the 2nd time around….
The Duel
All PAX meet back at the flag for the final 10-Count Duel. Qs alternate calling an exercise, making a ladder.
1 Burpee
2 Squat Jumps (then 1 Burpee)
3 Merkins (then 2 Squat Jumps, then 1 Burpee. You get the idea…)
4 Lunges
5 Country Crabs
6 Dr W
7 X Fit Merkins
8 Box Cutters
9 Turkish Getups
10 Rise Ups – Hold a Squat while Q counts down from 5, squat Jump, immediately return to Squat.
And with that, the F3 NOLA Tribute to Hamilton comes to a merciful close. Just a few minutes overtime.
Countoff and Name-o-rama, welcoming our new FNG Water Boy (named quickly before the uptowners could start suggesting based on Water Boy’s pronounced profession of selling Industrial Hoses).
Upcoming F1 / F2 this Thursday night at Greenway (6:30) and Wrong Iron (7:00).
Intentions called out, ask all of us to offer our own prayers for the intentions (spoken and otherwise) for all of our brother PAX. Finally, circle up for our closing prayer. Offer of thanksgiving for the glorious day God has given us, and for the grace of His wisdom to use this gift wisely.
Rudy and DaParish both thank the PAX for their merciful tolerance of this workout.
We have the honor to be your obedient servants….A dot Ham….A dot Burr.
With a pre-announced smart sack strategy, YHC knew The Marsh would be Steveless. And with a congressional psychology strategy (ask for more than you need then negotiate down to what you want;), Shooter was a lock. The rest of the PAX was going to be a mystery. The rest of the PAX turned out to be The reigning Northshore H8 champion, Waterpik! With a trifecta achieved, we began…
WARMORAMA
15xs IC:
Toe Touches
Cherry Pickers
Torso Twists
Imperial Walkers
High Knees
Butt Kicks
Fire Hydrants
Scorpion Kicks
THANG
We started at the monkey bars with 4 “as long as we can” rounds of this month’s ISI of flexed arm hang/dead hang
Inspired by the consistently frenetic quality of Saturday’s H8 beat down, QIC lead the guys around the block 2 times, with a high rep exercise at each corner:
50 merkins
50squats
100 LBCs
50 lunges
50 100s
50 jump squats
50 freak nasties (a la conveniently placed neighborhood bench)
50 freddy mercurys
10 burpees
MARY
The PAX finished with some well-deserved and much-appreciated yoga stretches
COT
Q took us out with appreciation of his F3 bothers and the day full of possibilities and opportunities. Many thanks, guys, for your diligence an effort. There can be no one to lead if there is no one to follow.
Conditions: Early. Cool. Breezy. Gloomy like we were on the set of the movie The Fog.
We took a photo early so we wouldn’t forget. Oh, look…a cast member from the movie The Fog joined us for the workout. Sadly, it couldn’t keep up with us and faded into the wind……….
Welcome
Disclaimer
Warm-a-Rama:
20 rep warmups at the shovel flag
Arm Circles Forward
Arm Circles Reverse
Squats
Several types of stretching so we wouldn’t blow our quads. I told the guys to just watch me and count in cadence.
Mosey……
1st Circle
I cannot recall what we did here but I hope to remember so I can type it out here but if I don’t then you have this fun sentence to read. Mosey to the sundial.
Sundial
Squats
Upcline Merkins
Mosey to the 2nd circle.
3rd Circle
Side Straddle Hops – 20
Side Straddle Punch – 20 *I made this one up. The foot motion is the same but the punch is out and in. Basically, we all looked pretty goofy doing this darn thing. It’s harder than you might think because it’s an imbalance in the mind.
Return to Shovel Flag
Arm Circles Forward Forward
Arm Circles Reverse Forward
Squat stance 20 count rep
Several types of stretching so we wouldn’t blow our quads. I told the guys to just watch me.
The Thang:
Grab milk jugs of H2O. Start walking. I did inform the guys for those that wanted to modify they could go ahead and mosey to each circle area but once they arrived the water jugs had to be lifted outstretched and hold the position till the six arrived. Of course the younger guys mosey’d and the season’d gentlemen walked.
Hammer Curls to 1st Circle
First Circle:
Squat with jugs held to chest #NotWhatYouThink- On your own
Hammer Curls to the Sundial
Sundial:
Butterfly’s on the wall – 30 count
Flutter kicks on the wall – 30 count
Water jug snatch – in squat position, pick up jug, raise above head, lower down and repeat with other arm – 30 count
Crunches on the wall – partner steps on feet while the other is crunching on the wall – 30 count
3rd Circle:
Hammer Curls to the 3rd circle. The season’d gentlemen decided to have fun with the younger guys and we slowed down our walking pace as we neared the 3rd circle.
More squats in 30 count and then held in squat position for a 30 count. I told the men I love the sound of groaning in the morning.
We all mosey’d to the shovel flag so we could release our hands from our jugs. #NotWhatYouThink
Mary:
Jane Fonda – 30 – No jugs were handled during this excercise.
Anyone who has posted this week has probably gotten glimpses of the glorious full moon, made even more unbelievable in its larger, low-hanging position somewhere in the 0500 hour. That, combined with our near perfect temperatures, makes this that rare Louisiana week that is about as good as it gets for running. And run we did! But first…
Warmorama: Toe Touches, Good Mornings, IW’s, Copperhead Squats, SSH’s, all 15x IC, then lunge walk over to Garfield’s car.
The Thang: Settled into our traditional run at our traditional pace….
… until about a mile in where Coconuts and Garfield hit their strides. Now if you haven’t run with Coconuts and Garfield, you wouldn’t know that Coconuts looks like he’s taking a gentle stroll at a 7:30 pace, and Garfield is literally walking as you gasp to catch up with him. If that sounds like standard backblast hyperbole, just ask the other Scramble regulars. Anyhow, YHC foolishly decides to try to keep up with Coconuts on this beautiful gloom and, though I was unable to, he did push me to my best Scramble pace yet. So thanks to Garfield and Coconuts for the extra motivation – there’s always something to get from your F3 brothers!
Back at the flag, and with a quick goodbye to Chewy, we hit the playground equipment stations. Each man did one of the following while one performed 20x burpees to start the rotation: pull-ups, sit-ups, freak nasties, hanging knee tucks. After one full circuit, moving at a Coconuts-inspired pace, we were still able to get in some Mary with: flutter kicks x25 IC, crunchy frogs x15 IC, Putins x 15 IC, and Freddie Mercuries x20 IC. COT and Shooter prayed us out.
Thank you men for following my lead and always pushing me to get faster, stronger, better!
