Blog

  • Pre thang before Turkey day!

    The Gipper produced multiple members of the forty one club on this Gloom. With Turkey day fast approaching the Q wanted to make sure the PAX burned some unwanted calories in preparation for the gobbling of feast to be consumed in future days to come.. With many regulars out of town the Gipper still produced 5 PAX with Jose and the HAMMER making holiday week guest appearances on this brisk morning..  Arriving right on time after the gauntlet of 🚦🚥 YHC planted the flag and jumped into the warmup..

    20IC SSH

    20IC Hill Billies

    10 IC Good Mornings

    20 IC Windmills

    20 IC Toe Touches

    20 IC Butt kicks

    Moseyed to the old school house for a round of plank holds with ascending Merkins around the circle as each PAX bear crawled to and fro the flag pole to 5 and backdown. Picked up or things and moseyed to the parking garage. From the bottom we dropped for 5 Burpees back pedaling halfway up turning and sprinting to the next level and completed 10 Squats. R/R 3x to the top. Recovery walked down to the middle for cycles of 5 pull-ups at each end 4x using the rafters with Carioca, back pedaling and finishing with an all out sprint for the heart rate.. Moseyed to the south side of the court house for the finale. Broke into two groups for The W.A.S.H  series of 50 Wekins, 100 American Hammers, 150 Step ups and 200 Hip thrusts. Partners kept count as other partner Moseyed up the justice center steps with the completion of a Burpee at the top and returning to pickup the count. Moseyed back to the flag for the assist with the tables..

    Maverick started off the count with all the rest of the 41s  calling out and the senior of this day being our  elder Hammer with the sound of 43 and the reflection of actually being born before Star Wars…

    Much appreciation to the F3 brothers for posting on this holiday week as the Q prayed us out into our day..

    Thanks for the lead

    👍🏻👊🏻💪🏻✌🏻 Till the next Gloom!!

  • Thanksgiving Week Malaise

    Let’s get this holiday week started with a solid post in the Gloom of the Milestone Marsh!  At least that was the plan….

    After a brief Warm Up of SSH, Imperial Walkers, High Knees and Butt Kicks, YHC and Garfield made a round trip to the Lakefront and back to get the blood flowing at a brisk 7 minute per mile pace.

    Back to the AO, it was time for some Work at the Playground equipment.  The work included Australian pullups, Squats, Merkins, Rower sit ups, and Putins.  And then…that was it.

    YHC and Garfield chatted about Grey Fox sightings, Coyote sightings, the upcoming Krazy Ivan, working out on a track instead of running on the pavement.  We covered a lot of bases and solved a lot of the world’s problems.

    YHC prayed us out!

    Happy Thanksgiving, Men of F3.  We all have so much to be thankful for.

  • Turbo Charged

    Many thanks to Turbo Tax for rallying the PAX to post this morning for a soggy beatdown at Grandmas House. YHC was grateful and honored to see some old friends and meet some new ones.  Anyway – to the beatdown – the good Lord brought the rain, but spared us the Thunder…. thankfully, AC/DC was there to fill the gap…

    Warmarama

    SSHs through Thunderstruck, with a Burpee each time we hear “thunder!”

    To the Thang:

    Mosey to Steve’s Bus Stop (missed seeing Mr. Hollywood. Hope LaLa land is treating you well)

    7 Burpee box jumps

    10 Freak Nasties

    7 Burpee box jumps

    10 Irkins

    7 Burpee box jumps

    10 Dirkins

    Mosey to the bridge and partner up

    P1 bear crawls down the ramp, backpedals under bridge, and lunge walk up.  Sprint back.

    P2 cycles through 10 LBCs, 10 merkins, and 10 squats until P1 returns

    Swap

    All PAX duck walk down ramp, backpedal under bridge, and lunge walk up.  Sprint back.

    Mosey to fence on backside of trailhead building for tricep presses – 12x IC, rest, 10x IC.

    Mosey to flag for 2.5 minutes of Mary.

    COT.

    Thanks to Bushwacker for reminding us how blessed we are.  Grateful for the opportunity to lead.  Great seeing folks this morning.

    Happy Thanksgiving

     

  • No Sleeves, No Gloves, No Problem

    On the tail end of a surprisingly cold November week, four men proved their manhood by posting in the 45-ish degree gloom at Pontiff Park for The Uptowner.  The scheduled Q requested a sub days prior so YHC hopped on it as to commit to posting and help ensure the frigid-fartsack would not prevail yet again.  As the PAX trickled in, one could only notice some crazy dude walking up in beach-like attire….sleeveless, in shorts, no gloves, no hat….wait, that’s the one and only Jingle Vader!  YHC is always in awe of his tolerance to cold weather.  After exchanging a few stories to recap the frigid workouts throughout the week, the clock struck 5:30 and we kicked things off with a disclaimer followed by a quick warmup:

    Hillbillies x20, WM x10, AC x20, ISWx10, Plank Roll x15

    Circuit #1:  Next up, grab a small “good form” rock to work with before moving on to a larger one.  In an effort to avoid wet rocks and wet feet, we opted to stay on the pavement for:

    • Tricep Ext x10
    • Rock Overhead/Side Press to Opposite Knee x10 (Imperial Rock Press?)
    • One Hand Rock Curl x10 (use other had to balance/assist)
    • Squat x10
    • Rinse and repeat (all IC)

    Circuit #2:  Set small rock down, grab a larger “man maker” rock and return to the circle.  JV once again declined an offer of the extra pair of gloves YHC had five feet away….must be immune to the numbness that the rest of the PAX encounters with chilly boulders.  I’m envious.  This circuit would be w/partners doing the following:

    • PAX #1 – Inchworm Burpee w/rock press (small) x10 (Timer)
    • PAX #2 – Curl w/large rock AMRAP
    • Switch,  then rinse and repeat x8, x6, x4, x2 w/lagniappe x10 rock press on the last burpee round.

    Circuit #3:  Similar to previous circuit but different exercises

    • PAX #1 – Squat Press w/large rock x10 (Timer)
    • PAX #2 – Tricep Extension w/small rock AMRAP
    • Switch,  then rinse and repeat x8, x6, x4, x2 w/lagniappe x10 rock press on the last squat press round.

    Time to return rocks back to base, throwing in curls x10 with each one.

    Then burpees x10 to keep the blood flowing.

    Mary:  LBC x20, Dolly x20, Penguins x20, High Plank for 1 minute

    COT to cap things off.  As always, thanks for the motivation and giving YHC the drive to get out in the gloom.

    Tool

     

     

  • Bringing a Typical Uptown Beat-down to the Mothership

    Pre-Thang

    Gabrielle originally had the Q for this Mothership.  He had asked if YHC could take the Q.  Although YHC has another Mothership Q scheduled on Dec 1st, YHC was more than happy to help a F3 brother out and lead another workout. 22 PAX managed to meet up on a beautiful, dry, cool Saturday morning.  At 6:30, YHC gave his standard disclaimer and off went the PAX.

    Warm-ups

    Short mosey to the Peristyle and did the following in cadence:

    SSHs x 20

    Windmills x 10

    Seal Claps x 15

    Hill Billies x 20

    Imperial Walkers x 20

    MC x 20

    Peter Parkers x 20

    Then picked a partner and jogged across the street to the Great Lawn. Side hopped while facing the partner from one end of the field to the other.  5 burpees. Then side hopped back to the other direction facing the partner. 4 burpees. Rinse and repeat side hopped from one end to the other with decreasing count on burpees from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. When finished, moseyed with the partner to the fountain in front of NOMA and performed 10 box jumps. Planked and waited for the six.

    The Thang (Chipper Workout)

    Because YHC doesn’t see much of the PAX from Metairie and MidCity at Uptown AOs, YHC decided to bring a typical Birdcage / Skinny workout to the Metairie and MidCity folks. Starting off by the steps in front of NOMA, each Pax had to do the following:

    Round 1

    • 50 Rocky Balboa (2 steps count as 1) in front of NOMA,
    • to the fountain with 50 dips
    • to the first light post with 5 burpees
    • to the 2nd light post with 50 Hello Dollies
    • to the 3rd light post with 5 Burpees
    • to the 4th light post with 50 squats
    • to the 5th light post with 5 burpees
    • to the 6th light post with 50 leg raises
    • to the 7th light post with 5 burpees
    • to the 8th light post with 50 King Kong shoulder taps.
    • Then moseyed back about a quarter mile to the steps in front of NOMA.  Rinse and repeat.

    Round 2 – rinse and repeat but shaved off the reps for all exercises to 40 count and all burpees to 4 count.

    Round 3 – rinse and repeat but shaved off another set of reps for all exercises to 30 count and all burpees to 3count.

    Round 4 – rinse and repeat but shaved off another set of reps for all exercises to 20 count and all burpees to 2 count.

    Round 5 – rinse and repeat but shaved off another set of reps for all exercises to 10 count and all burpees to 1 count.

    Each lap is approximately 0.5 mile.  In total, the PAX toughed out 60 burpees and 150 reps on each exercise and little less than 2.5 miles.

    While YHC was giving the instruction for the Thang, a lot of mumblechatter.  Triple Shift informed YHC with “that’s a lot of leg raises.”  The time was approximately 6:53 when the PAX started.  The goal was to finish all 5 rounds before 7:30.  YHC knew this would not be an easy challenge.

    Respect to Jingle Vader setting the tone early and starting at a very fast pace. Not sure what happened, but Triple Shift was screaming at JV telling him to come back during the first round.  The PAX finished strong.  T-Claps to Triple Shift, Tinkles, Rudy, JV, and Two Yutes for finishing the beatdown before 7:30. YHC had to call off the challenge right at 7:30, but much respect to few PAX (Mambi, Walleye, Fracsac – I may be missing few names here) ignoring the Q’s request and finishing all 5 rounds regardless of the time.  YHC loved it because he would do the same.  Needless to say, moseyed back to the flags few minutes late at about 7:35. YHC got a sense that everyone really enjoyed the challenge.  This was YHC’s most satisfying Q when he saw the PAX not giving up and giving every thing they had. The PAX who gave YHC a hard time about the leg raises finished first. 3 PAX finishing within the time were over 50. Everyone who came out today got stronger. Mad respect. YHC has a feeling the PAX will see this challenge again.

    COT

    Count-O-Rama 22PAX, Name-O-Rama, announcements, intentions. 2 FNGs (Flo and Gasper Goo) Our thoughts and prayers for I Love You Man’s niece, Hawgcycle’s mother and family, Two Yutes’ brother, Fracsac’s family, and safe travels for all family and friends during the Thanksgiving week.  Thank You all again for the opportunity to lead.  SYITG

    King Kong

     

  • Stop me if you’ve heard this before

    Today marks year 3 of YHC’s F3 addiction.  Thanks to the brotherhood which has welcomed me, challenged me, improved me.  Its been a great ride, and one I look forward to for many more years.  I hope that in some small way, I’ve helped other F3 members in the same way that everyone around the Flag has helped me.

    So – what better way to celebrate 3 years than by replaying the workout that first got me hooked on this.  Back before Hawg became a stoner, he was a thrust into the role of Emergency Q, as the Q for the morning of November 23rd, 2015 failed to show.  No, it was not “Shorty”.  It was a true and faithful brother of a slightly different height.

    Looking for Amnesty

    In hindsight, I have no idea how I survived that workout.  As Mambi referred to his first workout – I would echo that description for mine: “From Couch to F3”.  But it hooked me, and set me on a path.

    So here we are – November 19th, 2018.  Anniversary #3.  What did I do for the anniversary?  Uh, the same thing I did on November 23rd, 2015.  Same as I did on November 21st, 2016.  Same as I did on November 20th, 2017…  I’ve never been called “creative”.

    Mosey to the Rock Pile!  Oh wait, an old-school Cowbell Special: 10 Burpees OYO before we get started

    Warm Up

    SSH x5.  Then grab a rock.  Some muttering about how the warmup was as hard as Notre Dame’s schedule.  I will remember that comment, Rev-Sox.  But we’ve got to get busy.

    The Thang

    The thang that hooked me.  The Lieutenant Dan.  Yes, Bogey – WITH A ROCK.  At the end of the tree line, start Lunging and Squatting until you get to the fence.  x2.  x4.  x6.  Must. Keep. Going.  That’s a loooong way to that fence.  When you get there, no rest for the weary!  Grab a People’s Chair on the fence while we wait on the 6.  Mix in some curls while waiting for Triple Shift to finish hauling the largest rock ever seen.

    Once everyone gathered at the fence, it was time to give the legs a breather.  What better way to rest the legs than with The Jack Webb.  Yes, Amnesty – WITH A ROCK.  Merkins (one arm on the rock), Rock Presses.  1x/2x.  2x/4x.  Up to 8x/16x.  Hand Grenada 20 count, please!

    Circle up for some Mary.  One group of 4 PAX scoot over to the playground.  Everone get in a solid 10 Pull Ups, with spotting if needed.  Then hurry back.  Rest of the PAX are doing Mary.

    • Dying Cockroaches while PAX group 1 followed King Kong’s slow mosey return, hanging us out to dry.  31.  32.  33.  34……
    • Hello Dolly for PAX group 2, who seemed to understand that they should try and move a bit faster.
    • Leg Raises for PAX group 3
    • Flutter Kicks for PAX group 4

    Time to start moseying back.  And by Moseying back, I meant The Lieutenant Dan.  Yup, go the other way down the field.  Same as the first time.  Only Al Gore at the end.  Thanks, Kuch, for explaining the Al Gore to Momma and Dem.  “You see, you’re hugging a tree.  A tree hugger.  Get it?  Get it?”  As we again waited on Triple Shift, the PAX were given the choice of modifying the Al Gore: do it with your rock, or do it like Rudy (sans Rock).  Bogey tried with a rock for about 10 seconds, then decided he’d rather be like Rudy.  Good choice!

    Next up – another Hawg special from my second week: the Bloom Where You Are Planted.  Grab your rock.  The goal is to NOT PUT IT DOWN.

    • Shoulder Press, Curl, Row, Squat, Bench Press x12
    • Repeat x10
    • Repeat x8

    Time to return.  But Mambi wanted more – so one more Shoulder Press x6, just for you.  Now return the rocks and head back to the flag.

    Back at the Flag, PAX did 10 more OYO burpees, just because Rev-Sox thought we needed a bit more from the workout.

    Count Off, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, Intentions and circle up for the sweaty Circle of Trust.  Thank you all for what you’ve given me.  And thanks for the opportunity to lead again.

  • Getting back to Skinny

    This morning we pushed ourselves for a long lap around Audubon and The Fly – almost 3.5 miles.  Nice work, men.

    We started out with some warmups in place:

    • 20 x SSH
    • 10 seconds of left-leg-over-right followed by 10 of right-over-left
    • 10 x windmills

    We then did single line Indian Run to the benches in the front of the park for some more exercises:

    • 20 x step ups per leg
    • 20 x power ups per leg

    We then jogged 3 x running men and sprinted 1 x running men until we got to the pull up bars.  We split up into four groups for the following:

    • Group 1: 15 seconds of flexed hang from the pull up bars (this was the count)
    • Group 2: high plank
    • Group 3: mission impossible plank
    • Group 4: pickle pounders

    We then double line Indian ran across Magazine Street and into The Fly.  We stopped a few times for sets of 5 x burpees then circled up opposite the fields outside Children’s Hospital for one more round of exercise/Mary:

    • Ring of fire building up to 5 x merkins
    • 10 x LBCs
    • 10 x LBTs

    That got us to about 0611, so we moseyed on back to the flag, arriving just in time.  A solid 3.37 miles was completed by all PAX – a great start to Thanksgiving week. We crossed paths with the imminently well mannered Tulane Army ROTC a few times this morning.  Had me wondering how interactions will go with them following this weekend’s Tulane-Navy game…

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

  • This Looks Familiar

    Ideal weather conditions for a Saturday morning beatdown at the Lakefront. YHC was looking to repeat the soreness experienced after Turbo’s Cinder Block beatdown the Saturday before.

     Pre-thang warmorama

    11 x Toe Touches                            16 x Scorpions

    12 x Smurf Jacks                            17 x Monkey Humpers

    13 x Twist & Pivot                         18 x Arm Circles

    14 x Goofballs                                19 x Air Presses

    15 x Imperial Squat Walkers      20 x Windmills

    Mosey

    The Thang – This is about where Grundy pointed out that “This looks familiar”, as Q obviously incorporated some P90X exercises into the routine.

    10 x Spiderman Merkins

    10 x Dive Bombers

    2 x Plank Compass w/ Merkin

    10 x Burpie Scrambles

    10 x Patty Cake Merkins

    —Bear Crawl to the Lake Wall—

    20 x Heel to Toes (on Wall)

    20 x Box Jumps

    20 x One Legged Squats (on Wall)

    20 x Snowboard Hops – Thanks to Coconuts for leading the cadence…because every day is leg day.

    20 x One Legged Cross Hops…or Tony Horton’s Hot Foot

    —Bear crawl back to the field—

    10 x Depth Charges

    10 x Bushwacker Burpees

    20 x Mother Superiors – slightly intensified version of Sister Mary Katherines…too intense for YHC who took an obvious extended break half way through

    —Mosey—

    11s: Freak Nasties and Donkey Kicks with Carioca in between

    Clarence Carter Squat Hops – 2 lines of Pax do 3 squat hops to the right, 3 to the left, 1 forward, 1 backward, 180 deg around. Rinse and Repeat.  Looks like Strokin…we even squeezed in some “Sassified” Wife Pleasers as Bushwacker serenaded with the lyrics.

    Mosey to shovel flag for Counterama, Nameorama, and many thanks to Barely Legal for praying us out.

     

  • Wolf Pack MNT TGIF – Student wake up call!

    After a week of on the rode for work – 2 Texas workouts (The Woodlands and Katy) I was ready to hit the Mountain running!

    26 men showed up ( one out of town guest Pipeline from Charlotte) to what has become a legend in NOLA area AO status – Wolf Pack Mountain!  After a quick disclaimer we moseyed towards the campus.  As we entered the grounds of the area between the buildings and circled up, Triple Shift commented – we’re going to wake up some students!  Oh how their lives would change if they decided to make the commitment to roll out the rack for a regular 5:30 beatdown…..but we’ve all been there – some in the PAX aren’t long from leaving a dorm room!

    Warm Up – all 4 count

    SSH x 26

    Grass Grabbers x 15

    Parker Peters x 15

    Shoulder Taps x 15

    Push Ups x 10

    Count off 1 – 4 repeat – FracSac time warped to COT “5” – but we reeled him –

    Mosey to garage – group 1 & 4 and 2 & 3 squared up on opposite sides of the stairs – PAX from the groups then paired up to complete a DORA

    100 alternating merkins

    200 jump squats

    300 shoulder presses

    PAX 1 from each group climbed the stairs to 3rd floor then ran down the ramp while PAX 2 started the DORA – swapping efforts until completed.

    Then

    Groups 4&2 and 1&3  lined up for a “Working” Indian run up to the top of WPM – Once to the front of the line – PAX would call out an exercise for the line to complete x 3 – all men stopped completed then started the run – both lines kept good pace finishing strong at the top.

    Dilemma  QIC had additional work with only 6 minutes to go – do we turn and had back or push forward?

    We stayed in groups – splitting the upper parking area in 2 – PAX from each of the combined groups paired up.

    Sprint to the wall on opposite ends of the parking lot – perform 5 Merkins then run back to the middle PAX 1 does 3 Burpees PAX 2 8 LBC

    Run back to the opposite end perform 4 Merkins now back to the center where PAX swapped effort above – REPEAT this 3, 2, 1.

    NOW back to the flag – QIC was still convinced that the PAX had more to give so we started to run down but bailed at 4th floor to the stairs – quick pace back to the flag!

    All said we were only about 5 minutes over – SOLID work!

    COT – Name O Rama – Announcements – Intentions

    Holding each other accountable – Giving thanks to God and not taking anything for granted – accepting challenges while leading through character – OPEN our hearts to forgiving!

    God Bless – It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to lead!

     

  • Okwata – Physical Fury

    Okwata – there is no AO more unpredictable!  This time of year is a crapshoot as to weather but when you sign up to Q you get rolling either way!

    11 men showed up to the lakefront to work.  After a short disclaimer Triple Shift and his buddy (one day to join the pax, Adam) decided to skip the work out and take a walk along the lake.

     

    The rest of us took a short mosey to warm up:

    Short run with high knees and carioca around the fountain then circle up

    SSH x 25

    Side lunges x 25

    Head to the levee – line up for India Run – Pax the takes the lead and instructs the group what exercise shouts disperse – all PAX runs down the levee performs a 3 count then runs back to the top and the run continues until all have had a chance to lead.     JV decided that the PAX had not embraced the suck of the wet ground and had us perform superman roll to back cross – this got the group fired up.

    Now time to work:

    1-5 levee work

    Start with

    1 Burpee – run up levee perform 5 Merkin Jacks on top run down perform a Burpee run back up 5 Merkin Jacks run down

    Now 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 – Performing the 5 Merkin Jacks each time you hit the top of the levee

    1 minute plank recovery

    Partner Up – Wheel Barrel to the top (NOTE we did move down to a lower section)

    Pax 1 and 2 perform plank high fives – up to 10 by 2’s (right hand then left hand = 1)

    Then Pax 1 holds Pax 2’s feet as he upper body bear crawls up the levee

    Rinse and repeat 4 times so each PAX got 2 shots at climbing the levee!

    1 minute plank recovery

    Mosey back to the flag – apology to Abacus – he was tying his shoes and we took off not realizing he was pulling a hard 6!  He caught up and we started some Mary!

    Combo x 20 2 count – Dying Cockroach into Penguins

    Combo x 20 2 count – In and Out to flutter kicks

    High Plank J – Lo’s x 15 2 count

    COT

    Give thanks and take nothing for granted – carry forgiveness in our hearts!

    Let’s do this again some time!