F3 New Orleans

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  • I don’t like anyone behind me when talking – its a fact

    Douille was sick!  Got the 455am text and of course – I knew I would cover it.

    I handed off my Friday Q so that Peaches and Angie’s List could have their VQ!

    So as I walked up at 529 – I gave the disclaimer and we were off.

    Ran to the field across the street for my normal COP#1 warmup – SSH, Imp Walker Squats, Mtn Climbers and LBCs.

    Blood pumping so we mosey’d to the first beach at the FLY.  Here the speedsters would PLANK walk and wait instead of just plank.

    At the beach we did some actual PLANK WALK, Shoulder Taps, and some NOLAN RYANs L and R which I changed to Pedro Martinez’s – PAX  didn’t like that – won’t do it again.

    Mosey’d to the HILL.  At Monkey Hill we did 10 burpees, cross the MTN 9 burpees, cross back 8 burpees, until the first PAX finished.

    After the the descending ladder of burpees we lineup on the Soccer Pitch for World Cup action.

    Speed races in 2s.  Across both soccer fields.

    Mosey’d to the Labyrinth.  At the Labyrinth we did flutter kicks, single leg wife pleasers R/L X 15 , hip dips R/L x 15,  and dying bugs.

    Mosey’d back to the FLAG to close out the beatdown.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead- Douille hope you feel better.  I’d like to see more SPRINTS incorporated in our beatdowns.    Also would like to bring the Ultimate Frisbee burpee fest to Audubon Park one day.

    Thanks Roots for the help with the PAX.

     

     

  • Rarajipari at the Stomp

    El Guapo:  When Hawg sent the message on GroupMe last night that we would be playing Rarajipari at the Stomp, I knew I had to be there.  I’m running the Blue Ridge Relay in September and I’m taking every opportunity that I can to train.  I also thought it would be a good opportunity to see how Hawg’s training is going.  Truthfully, I’ve been a little concerned.  He set up a June challenge for us on MapMyRun.  They idea was to run at least 70 miles in the month of June.  86 and Swampcock are already over a hundred.  Everyone else on the team is around 50-60.  Hawg has run…..11.  Eleven miles.  that’s about a third of a mile per day.  A third of a mile per day.  He also looks a little overweight.  Well, maybe more than a little.  I’m not sure he’s training.

    Rudy:  You have met Hawg right?  What about him made you think he knows what training is?  I didn’t even know he was still doing F3.

    Da Parish:  Hawg made a burpee bet with me on the LSU – Arkansas series this year and then went double or nothing on the SEC tourney.  He owes me 66 burpees at the Mothership, and I haven’t seen him since.

    Hawg:  I got a lot of family commitments.

    Stubhub:  Now that school is out, I’m glad to be back to working out with the guys.  I’ve been back for a while, but Hawg kept making a big deal about my “kotter” today.  I just let him go on and didn’t say anything.  My kotter was a month ago.  I’m not sure the last time he posted.  When he taught my girls in high school my wife and I used to talk about how we weren’t real sure he knew what he was doing.  Seeing him operate at F3….my opinion hasn’t really changed.

    Bongo:  “We gotta get out while we’re young, ‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run..”

    Triple Shift:  Hawg pulls up, at 5:30 mind you, with a couple of baseballs.  We are supposed to be playing Rarajipari.  They actually make balls for that, but he’s going to use baseballs.  What kind of Mickey Mouse operation is this?

    Stubhub:  So as soon as we take off, my calf starts acting up again.  I injured it last week.  Let’s see…what was I doing when I injured it?  Oh yeah, I was at an F3 workout.

    Hawg: So Stubhub pulls up lame right out of the gate.  I felt so bad for him.  His first day back in a year and that happens.

    Stubhub: ….

    Cornbread:  T-claps to Stubhub.  He stuck around and got some work in and met us for the COT.  A lesser man would have gone home.

    Tool:  I was excited about the team I was assigned to – Me, T-Shift, Rudy, and El Guapo.  We are all strong runners and I can get to Laborde Mountain in my sleep.  I’ve actually done it a couple of times after one of our block parties.  At least, I think that’s how I got there.

    El Guapo:  We came out of the gate with the early lead, but we start to hear heavy breathing around Diagonal Ave.  We knew JV was out of town, so it had to be Hawg.

    Tool:  Things were going well, until Diagonal Ave.  Rudy and El Guapo must have gotten spooked and they took off….fast.  As Cornbread caught up to me and Triple, I could see Rudy and El Guapo crossing Harrison.  They were heading into the Couturie Forest using the path on the right.  Ironic as it is, the path on the right is wrong, but they were too far gone to hear me.

    Da Parish: Our team entered the Couturie Forest with Tool and Triple, but Rudy and El Guapo were already in there.  Laborde Mountain is only few hundred yards or so.  Having gone to Nichols, I’m familiar with losing and this had loss written all over it.

    Cornbread:  So kicking this baseball down the street is pretty easy, but once you get into the woods it gets a lot harder.  That’s when Hawg tells me and Da Parish, “I’ll run ahead and make sure we are going the right way.  You guys take care of the ball.”  …. Thanks Hawg.

    Da Parish:  We got to the top of Laborde Mountain and there was not a Rudy or El Guapo in sight.  We won!  I knew those Basin Runs would pay off.  Have I ever mentioned that there’s a run every Thursday night at The Basin?

    Hawgcycle:  Given the ISI this month, I thought we would do some merkins while we waited for the other team to straggle in.  Knowing that Triple Shift was there, I counted the cadence very slowly, making sure everyone had time to do them in perfect form.

    Tool:  Bongo and I split up to look for Rudy and El Guapo, hoping to find them in time to still win.  When we got to the top, the other team was there.  Wait, where’s Bongo?

    Bongo:  “All by myself, Don’t want to be, all by myself…anymore.  All by myself, Don’t want to be….

    Triple Shift: So Hawg finishes the merkins and proudly exclaims “That’s 50 more toward this month’s challenge.”  If he has done the rest of his merkins the way he did those 50…. I’d say he’s done…..zero merkins this month.

    Tool:  Hey guys – we need to go get Bongo.  No man left behind

    All:  No Man left behind!

    Stubhub:  ….

    Cornbread:  Unfortunately finding your way back from Laborde Mountain is easier than finding your way there, even for Rudy.

    Hawg:  We had lost sight of El Guapo and Rudy, by the time we passed the Foundry.

    Rudy:  I lost sight of El Guapo by the time I passed the Foundry.

    El Guapo:  Okay.  I’m certain Hawg’s not training.

     

     

     

     

  • Remember Little BigHorn

    Just like Armstrong Custer yhs took charge of the Q from 86 without a clue as to what to do. So we made it up as we went with disastrous consequences.

    Headed out for real quick mosey to the bandstand where did 21 SSH followed by 10 Burpees Deconstructed
    (10 Mericans w/ 10 Squats)
    then
    21 LBCs
    10 Mericans w/ 10 Squats

    An event shorte mosey to Oak Alley Lights
    Lunge to each light then 10 Mericans w/ 10 Squats

    Got into 2 lines, should have been 3 for some “Catch Me if You Can Indian Run” to Row Bars, with last guy doing 10 mericans

    Count was 10 Row’s, with pax doing Hello Dolly, Rosalita, and Mericans

    RINSE & REPEAT cause I had to stall and had no plan.
    Count was 10 Row’s, with pax doing Hello Dolly, Rosalita, and Mericans

    Catch me if you can indian run, 2 lines with last guy doing 10 mericans

    back to Oak Alley where we repeated the Lunge to light then 10 Mericans w/ 10 Squats

    We then took the Shelter for RLSUP / LLSUP x 21
    10 Mericans
    RLPUP X21 reverse LLPUP X21
    10 Dips or 10 inverted Mericans

    Into the grass for a double ring of fire 10 -Mericans for a total of 20 Merican

    Call out circle of Mary, LBCs, Box Cutters, Peter Parkers, Russian Twist, Crunchy Frog, Penquin, and maybe some more it was hot! Back to circle where we were greeted by Chacquita recovering from hernia reconstruction!

  • Mellon Collie and the Infinite Side Straddle Hops

    I checked the temp as I walked out out the door this morning to discover that it was a cool, crisp 81° with 91% humidity. Perfect weather for a F3 beat down.

    We gathered around the flags and at 5:30am I gave the disclaimer and we moseyed over to circle up next to everyone’s favorite rock pile. My sparsely used theme for the morning is 90s alternative rock, so we did some extra SSHs to go with my title which is based on the 1995 Smashing Pumpkins album.

    The warmup

    SSH – 35

    Parker Peters – 20

    Hillbillies – 25

    Smurf jacks – 20 (since I needed to get a few more side straddle hops in for the sake of my title)

    The Playground

    We picked out our rocks and took them over to the playground for a standard playground rotation exercise. Everyone got a partner and I tagged up with Mambi and Hand-Grenada. We rotated to complete sets of shoulder presses (with rock), pull-ups, under dogs, real freddie mercuries, burpees, and merkins. The count was 20 shoulder presses. We completed the rotation twice.

    Slow Motion Suicide

    We took our beloved rocks to the football field to complete a slow motion suicide. I felt like slow motion suicide sounded like the name of an alternative rock band from the 90s. (I just googled the name and Slow Motion Suicide is the name of an alternative rock band!) We did a slow suicide down the football field and back. We ran 1/4 length of the field with rock over head. We stopped for 20 curls and then dropped the rock to run back to the starting line and back to our rock. We took the rock over head to midfield for 20 bench presses. We ran down to the starting line and back to the rock. We put the rock over head to 3/4 of the field for 20 rows. We ran down to the starting line and back to the rock. We put the rock over head to the end for 20 LSS. Following a 30 count, we repeated the suicide across the field to get back to our original position.

    Mary

    We deposited the rocks back in the pile before circling up for some Mary.

    Flutterkicks – 15

    Penguins – 20

    American Hammer – 20

    Wife-pleasers – 20

    O Dolly – 20

    We ran back to the flags. At our arrival there was some controversy with Rudy complaining that he wanted 60 more seconds of Mary. I was ready to put her to bed, so we counted off followed by name-o-rama, and prayer. Thank you men for running and sweating with me. I would never be out there without you. 13 strong.

     

  • Running Introduction

    Not enough can be said about what we can achieve when we are held accountable.  I’d had a long week by Friday morning and the weekend wasn’t looking any better.  No need to get up at 5 right?  Not quite.  Roots had already texted earlier in the week to let me know I had the Q and just knowing it was my turn to contribute was enough to drag myself out of bed.  I’m not saying I did it very quickly and when I forgot my watch and had to go back inside to grab it I knew time would be tight!  Salt it the wound when I arrived and found a movie production taking up all the parking.  I grabbed a spot much further than normal and could see the Pax staring at their watches as I ran up to meet them.  F3 disclaimer on the fly as we moved quickly into the warm up.

    Warm Up:

    Quick Mosey to the flag where this spring’s duck shit has sprouted some aggressive grass. Knowing the shoulders would be a little tight from Wed:

    • Plank Jack IC X 30
    • Peter Parker IC X 30
    • Mountain Climber IC X 30

    Mosey to the neutral ground for F3 marketing BLIMPS.  Several cars patiently waited on us to cross so at least a few people noticed.

    Slow Mosey from the neutral ground to in front of the Loyola music building where We found some benches:

    • LLS X 20
    • Dips X 20
    • RLS X 20

    Long Mosey to the Tulane Parade grounds.  Smell of bacon was in the air.  BLIMPS at the corners and 1/2 way mark.

    Mosey to Wolfpack for a double line Indian Run to the top. Hustle down the stairs.

    Mosey to touchdown Jesus for one round of dying cockroaches IC X 20.  Mumble chatter suggested perhaps the pace between locations was faster than desired but everyone made it!

    Mosey back to the flag just in time.  Count off, namorama,  ball of man.  After a little grab ass in the ball of man, the Pax redirected and joined me in a prayer of thanks for the abilities we have including the mental strength to get out and post with our brothers!

  • He’s not heavy, he’s my brother!

    As I was preparing for my Q at the Mothership (Rudy ‘Voluntold’ me last week), I wanted to incorporate some new exercises to keep it ‘Fresh’ as my kids say and to have a theme of teamwork.  The one thing about F3 I so greatly appreciate is the partner workouts.  I know myself too well and I will quit on myself far earlier than quitting on someone else.   After going through the Exicon on our F3NOLA website, I gathered some thoughts and formulated a plan.

     

    WARMUP

    25 SSH, 10 Abe Vigoda, 10 Arm Circles (front and back) all in cadence.

    20 x Cheerleaders (Things got off kilter and I got messed up but this was pretty difficult)

    10 x Sprinklers

    20 x J-Lo’s and 20 Peter Parkers

     

    THE THANG #1

    Incorporating the partner theme, we grouped up into 2 groups of three and 2 groups of four and did ‘Catch us if you can’.  We would head from the great lawn to the large grassy area to the right of NOMA (Thank the Lord there are trees for shade and the grass was cut).  For the groups of three, one member carries another member by fireman’s carry or piggyback and runs to the field while the final pax member does 5 plank walks and runs to catch up to their teammates and switches out until they reach the field.  For the groups of four, one pax member will fireman’s carry or piggyback their partner while the other two pax members perform 5 plank walks and then runs to catch the other members of their team and switches out until they reach the field.

     

    THE THANG #2

    After we arrived at the field with many stares from onlookers, we partnered up for B.O.M.B.S. in the shady tree line.  50 Burpees, 100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Bridges a.k.a Wife Pleasers and 250 Squat Jumps.  One pax member runs out approximately 100 yards and then back while their partner performs the exercises listed.  There was very little mumble chatter as we got to work.  As the PAX started on the Squat Jumps, I could see the fatigue amongst the PAX and quickly decided to drop the total number to 200 from 250.

     

    THE THANG #3

    After a quick water break, we did the Genuflect.  What is the Genuflect, you may ask?  It is a modified Lt. Dan where you are standing and then kneel down and stand back up.  After you stand back up, you perform 2 forward lunges.  From there you kneel down and stand up 2 times and lunge walk forward 4 times.  We did this all the way up to 10 kneel downs and 20 forward lunges.  Again, no mumble chatter.  After we arrived at the 8th tree, we slowsyed back to the water fountain with about 4 minutes left.

     

    THE THANG #4

    Did we run or walk back?  No!  This is a partner themed workout!  Because we did ‘Catch Us If You Can’ on the way out, we would do ‘Catch Us If You Can’ on the way back.

     

    Countoff, Namerama, and Circle of Trust.

    It always amazes me how F3 has grown and impacted so many men in our area and throughout the country.  Over half the men at today’s workout weren’t there 6 months ago!  Prayers for the sick and strength and grace for parents that have special needs children.  Lord help us to be difference makers in our homes and in our community!  Thank you for allowing me the privilege of leading the PAX of F3 NOLA!

     

     

     

     

  • An Ode to the CWS

    The Scene:  The Knoll

    Conditions: Sunny. We passed the longest day of the year so only getting shorter from here, a la a time is coming when it’s still shady for this workout.

    Welcome

    Disclaimer

    Warm-a-Rama:

    Mosey’d the main loop before descending the hill toward the road, crossing and stopping in the outfield.

    [All in place]

    • Seal Jacks 13x
    • Imperial Walkers 13x
    • Windmills 13x
    • Butt Kicks 13x
    • Open Faced Strike 20x (sit down in the squat position and with an open palm out, strike straight out at the air and alternate arms)

    —

    The Thang:

    Shoutout to Omaha, CWS and Fastball for giving us the inspiration for this one.

    Pax goes into high plank in semi-circle around home plate. One person gets up, runs the bases (pax holds high plank entire time), and when they get back, one merkin is done by the pax. 2nd person runs around the bases, followed by two merkins, etc.

    We had six in our pax, before the glorious arrival of Shangeaux, so we snaked 1-6, and then went back down.

    —

    Same concept but this time we did big boy sit ups while each person ran to the left field foul pole and back. We didn’t snake this time. Shoutout the guys for helping the next guy up.

    —

    Same concept. Al gores with a variation—hands behind your head with a squat. Ran to the right field foul pole and back.

    —

    The glorious arrival of Shangeaux! Shades of Gandalf arriving to the battle at Minas Tirith, no horse. (Puts our pax at 7 now)

    —

    We stood in a circle and decided the exercise we were best at that we could do in place, then moved our exercise to the person to our left.

    We ran to center field this time and back, while doing an exercise. When our runner got back, we “passed” our exercise to the left.

    • Al gores
    • Big boy sit ups
    • Merkins
    • Arm Circles
    • Butt Kicks
    • Crunches (can’t remember name)

    —

    Walked it off to edge of baseball fence and then mosey’d to the jungle gym/refinery/steel factory (pull up bar area).

    —

    Circuit was 20x each exercise.

    • Step ups on low bar
    • Incline Merkins
    • Decline leg lifts (bless that thing)
    • Pull ups

    —

    Mosey’d the lap and ran backwards, shuffled, broke up the mosey till we got to the flag.

    Mary:

    American Hammers

    Jane Fondas

    1 minute hold of high-low plank (get into high plank, count to 10, drop to low plank, count to 10, move up to high plank)

    Count-o-Rama

    Name-o-Rama

    COT / BOM:

    Duracell returns soon!

    Announcements:

  • And for the Beatdown, I’ll start with Shoulders and then for my entrée shoulders with a side of shoulders and for dessert…Shoulders!!!!

    Oh yes, now we are in the dog days of summer.  So not only did we have 80 degree temperature greeting us at 5:30 but let’s add 100% humidity as it rained the day before.  Fun times and time for some upper-body work.  As El Wire duly noted towards the end of our beatdown.  Every exercise except one included shoulders.  Yes El Wire they did, they surely did.  Onward to the Thang!

    Mosey to a open space by Magazine St. for Warmup:

    • Arm Circles Forward X15
    • Arm Circles Reverse X15
    • IW X20
    • Windmills X 15

    Mosey to Soccer Field for Bear Crawl Ring of Fire

    • Bearcrawl Counter-Clockwise all till Q yells halt
      • 10 merkins
    • Bearcrawl Clockwise
      • 10 diamond merks

    Let’s increase the difficulty!

    • Boo Boo Bearcrawl Counterclockwise Right Leg Up
      • 10 staggered right
    • Boo Boo Bearcrawl Clockwise Left Leg Up
      • 10 staggered left

    Mosey to street leading to statue for:

    Indian Crab Crawl to Statue – Line up in four lines of four or five PAX.  Last PAX crabwalks to front of column while other PAX does LBC’s and so on.  This exercise took a little bit longer than expected so we stopped about halfway and…

    Moseyed to the statue for:

    Dora 123 – Partner Up

    • 100 burpees
    • 200 derkins
    • 300 squats

    Ran out of time, so called it with most PAX somewhere in their Squat count.

    Moseyed to flag with one minute to spare, so, 10 Nolan Ryans each side OYO!

    Count off, Name-o-rama (one FNG, Betty Crocker as he likes to bake), announcements, intentions and prayer.

    Thank you for letting me lead!

  • Discipline Equals Freedom

    “Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen.  You won’t be.  Don’t count on motivation.  Count on discipline.” – Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom:  Field Manual

    “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 bet, 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, Extreme Ownership:  How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.

    “Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures.  Discipline equals freedom.”  Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership:  How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.

    YHC sprinkled words of wisdom from his favorite U.S. Navy SEAL throughout this morning’s beatdown.  He was preaching to the choir, of course, because all seven PAX standing around the shovel flag on the Mandeville Lakefront at 0630 already had passed their first test of the day.  Their alarms sounded and they posted, ready to get some.

    Barely Legal assisted YHC with this morning’s Warmup, a Q school of sorts.  YHC led the PAX in Seal Jacks, lunges, Merkins, Copperhead Squats, windmills, and OH Hand Claps.  Barely Legal followed suit and, being a quick study, had mastered several counting styles in no time at all.  When all was said and done, the PAX had a solid 20 reps IC for each exercise and was ready to mosey down the Lakefront for a

    Ring of Fire

    Forming a ring around YHC’s backpack, the PAX bear crawled around the ring to the left, then the right, forward to the backpack and back, performing Merkins, Parker Peters, and plank variations along the way.  Then we recovered for a standing Ring of Fire, shuffling with thighs parallel to the ground around the ring to the left, then the right, duck walk forward to the backpack and back, with Copperhead Squats and some Al Gore mixed in.  Brief recovery then a mosey further down the Lakefront for

    3×30

    YHC placed two cones about 100 yards apart, sweeping the lane of travel for land mines as an early morning gift to the PAX.  The next bit went like this:

    10 regular Merkins, stride it out to the far cone, backpedal to the near cone; 10 right hand forward Merkins, stride/backpedal again, then 10 left hand forward Merkins, final stride/backpedal

    10 Good Mornings, prime time to the far cone and back; rinse and repeat two times

    10 hand release Merkins, lateral bounce extend to the far cone and back; 10 hand release T Merkins, lateral bounce extend again; 5 regular hand release Merkins and 5 hand release T Merkins; later bounce extend for the final trip

    Another pause to catch our breath and then time for the main event.

    Flying Sprints

    Starting at the near cone, the PAX ran at 50% for the first 75 yards and then executed an all out sprint the remaining 25 yards to the far cone.  Instructions were to give it everything for those final 25 yards, run ugly if necessary to close the distance as fast as possible.  Recovery walk back to the start.  Rinse and repeat twice for 3 high quality sprints.

    Of note, Moby surprised us all, and himself as well, with Bo Jacksonesque sprints.  If anyone personifies our “discipline equals freedom” mantra for the day, it’s Moby.  When was the last time you saw a 67 year old run like a Heisman trophy winner?

    Back to the shovel flag for

    Mary

    70 second front plank, Jane Fonda left then right 20x IC each, single leg lifts 10x IC each leg, and finally a set of scorpions 10x IC.

    Countorama, nameorama and then off to the Beach House for our coffeeteria with a few wins under our collective belts to start our weekends.

    Thanks for letting me lead this morning, guys, and for always pushing me to be better.

  • More Crabwalks!

    Morning broke over the Uptowner, where YHC made a rare appearance for a Friday Q.  6 more PAX joined to start the day with a sweaty beatdown.

    Warm Up: YHC almost started with a Mosey, before remembering this is The Uptowner.  So instead, right here – circle up!

    • SSH x25
    • IW x25
    • Smurf Jacks x15
    • Peter Parker x25
    • Shoulder Taps x25
    • Parker Peter x25
    • Plank Jacks x25

    Burpees for Breakfast

    Every Minute On The Minute: 10 Burpees each minute for 10 minutes.  Whee!  That was fun!

    Grab a Rock.  Feel free to go bigger, we aren’t going very far.

    Crabwalking

    Line up for 11s OYO:

    • Shoulder Press with your rock (which stays here)
    • Bear Crawl about 40 yards
    • Merkins
    • Crab Walk back

    Very quickly, YHC realized that this combo was going to be a) slow and b) hard on the shoulders.  So – Modify, replacing Bear Crawl with Lunge Walk.  Didn’t make it go faster (this definitely turned into a timekiller), but it did mix in the legs.  No change to the Crabwalks – especially when YHC discovered that perhaps there is one way he can keep up with Mahatma!  So – everyone expect More Crabwalk at future YHC Qs!

    Take a break halfway through to rest the shoulders with some Mary (slow cadence)

    • Flutter Kick x20
    • Dolly x20
    • Penguin x20

    Then back to your rocks to finish the 11s.  Return the rocks to the pile and circle up for a final round of slow-cadence Mary

    • Dying Cockroach x20
    • LBC x20
    • Box Cutter x20

    Circle up, for Count Off, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, and Prayers.  Remember those who are sick.