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  • Did I mention the ISI Challenge….

    So as 23 PAX gathered in the short-lived gloom, YHC reminded everyone that this month’s ISI challenge is 10,000 Merkins in one month.  Quite the task as that equates to an average of 333.33 merkins/day for those who are mathematically challenged.  Merkins were promised and as you will soon see,  Merkins were delivered.  After the standard disclaimer, we were off!

    Mosey around entrance to Golf Club and then to front of bandstand for Warm Up:

    • Hillbillies X 20 IC
    • Windmills X 15 IC
    • Imperial Walkers X20
    • Forward Arm Circles X15
    • Reverse Arm Circles X15

    Then short Mosey to Oak Alley for Red Barchetta (went deep in Exicon for this one).  Apparently it’s supposed to get your heart racing like a “Rush song”.

    • Start at 1st light run to last light for 100 SSH
    • Run back to starting point
    • Run to 2nd to last light for 75 Mountain Climbers
    • Run back to starting point
    • Run to 3rd to last light for 50 LBC’s
    • Run back to starting point
    • Run to 4th to last light for 25 merkins
    • Last is 10 Burpees

    I agree the routine got the heart racing, but even though I’m a fan of Red Barchetta, I think this Rush song seems more appropriate:

    Here’s to all you Working Men! Or is it Working #HIM?  BTW, where’s all the merkins?  That’s only 35 including the burpees…

    Next Mosey to Kickball Field for Merkin Ladder.  There they are!!!

    • Start on one side and do 20 merkins sprint to other side and do 19 back to starting point for 18 and so forth until you hit 1. 210 merkins total if you’re counting.  Now we’re cooking…or at least our chests are burning.

    Quite a bit of mumblechatter during this routine.  I even think I heard some comment about t-rex arms that help some of the PAX do push-ups faster… All I got to say is sometimes it’s good to be short…or short-armed.

    Next mosey to shelter for

    • Incline Merkins X15 IC
    • Right Leg Step Ups X15 IC
    • Decline Merkins X15 IC
    • Left Leg Step Ups X 15 IC
    • Merkins X15 OYO

    Next mosey to right outside shelter for

    Mary

    • Flutter Kicks x 15 IC
    • Penguins X 20 IC
    • Tin Snips X 15 IC
    • Nolan Ryans X5 each side OYO

    Mosey to Flag for Count-Off, Name-o-rama, Intentions and Prayer.  PAX, don’t forget about NOTC 2-miler this Wednesday.  Should be some good F2 and recruiting opportunities.

    So, for those counting, that’s 320 merkins to get your ISI Challenge day started.  Keep ‘em coming and Go Team Gabrielle!

    Thanks for letting me lead.

  • Rocks, History and 11

    Lovely Monday morning at Rock City: cool crisp 80 degree air, with 90% humidity.  Great way to start the week.  Pulling up to the park, I see the train on the tracks – is this going to be a repeat of last week?  Momentary panic sets in – but moments later, the gates are going up, and the line of traffic (4 F3 cars, and 2 who wish they could do F3, but instead peeled off towards Airline Hwy) crossed the tracks.

    Circling up, we welcomed back Rev Sox from his mission trip.  I want to hear more about the Rabbi with the gun….  Then the disclaimer, and we were off.

    The Warmup

    • SSH x25
    • Windmill x10
    • IW x25

    Plank-o-rama:

    • PP x25
    • PJ x25
    • PP x25
    • MC x25

    Grab a rock.  Times have changed at Rock City.  Used to be “Grab a rock” was the sole command.  Now the PAX respond with all sorts of questions – “How big of a rock?  Where are we going?  WHAT SHOULD I DO?” YHC responded to the plaintive wailings with the answer “Grab a rock”.

    Mosey to the tree line.

    The Thang

    YHC wanted to mix in a history lesson.  And June 4th had lots to choose from.  But, no good themed exercises jumped to mind.  So YHC was left with merely calling out a few historical tidbits as we went.  June 4th, 1940: The British and French complete the Dunkirk withdrawal.

    11s.  With Rocks.  And Pit Stops.

    Burpees on the starting side.  Low Slow Squats on the other side of the field.  There were some bases in the middle of the field – convenient markers.  Each time we pass the base, rock exercise!  11 Press each time in one direction, 11 Curls each time in the other direction.  Hawg kicked off his flip-flop sandals, and the PAX were off.

    55 Burpees, 55 LSS (con rocca), 110 Presses, 110 Curls. #Tclaps to Mahatma who finished far enough ahead that he went out for one more back-and-forth.  Then plank and hold.  Mambi gives us a 10 count (no, just *count* to 10.  You don’t have to do Merkins)

    As Bogey said afterwards “Well, that was a time killer”.

    The Thang, Part 2

    Partner Up.  Its Merkin Challenge in the ISI, so YHC thought he’d help the PAX along.

    • PAX #1: Merkins
    • PAX #2: Grab a rock, run across the field and back.
    • Flapjack.  And again.  Until time is called.

    June 4th 1989: Solidarity is declared the winner of the first “free” elections in Poland post-Cold War.

    Mosey back to deposit your rock (carry it overhead!)  Then mosey back to the flag

    Mary

    June 4th, 1919: Congress passes the 19th Amendment – sending Women’s Suffrage to the states for voting.

    • Flutter Kick x25

    Then YHC decided to try something new: the Dolly Ladder (I dunno, but I guess this name works).  DONT PUT YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND.

    • Hello Dolly – feet just off the ground, x10
    • 45 degree Dolly – feet at 45 degrees, x10
    • Rosality x10
    • 45 degree Dolly x10
    • Hello Dolly x10

    Circle up for Countoff, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, and close with our prayers.  Today’s Gospel – from Mark: the story of the tenants who tend the land for the vineyard owner, who kill his son when he is sent to collect fees.  While it is easy to see them as evil and cruel when reading, can we see ourselves in them?  Each of us sins against our neighbors.  Help us to see ourselves in those evil tenants, see ourselves when we are less than we can be.  Help us to see where we fail, so we can continue to strive to be better people, better followers of Your Word.

  • Bridge Over Stagnant Waters

    Leading 20+ men on Saturday beat-down is a tall order, so Your Humble Correspondent (YHC) needed to prepare. On the afternoon before the workout, my 9-year-old son and I took I bike ride to City Park to survey any hidden corners typically overlooked during Mothership workouts. Whenever the Pax moseys from the flag to the museum of art, the little hill of a bridge just after Morning Call is a nice little challenge, especially because we don’t have hills in New Orleans. But there’s too much traffic along that road to do a workout on. On my bike, YHC spied those foot bridges over the lagoon behind Morning Call and thought it might be a good spot to try something new. (At least, YHC hasn’t worked out there before.)

    YHC showed up a few minutes before the workout was to begin, and there was already a healthy crowd there. A few stragglers joined in as the PAX moseyed to the Great Lawn. Let’s get started:

    • Arm circles – 10 forward, 10 back
    • Cross-legged windmills – 10
    • Then some stretching – Runners stretch, crouching and holding it for 10, knee circles, legs open with stretch forward, soles touching and stretch forward

     

    Warm ups

    • Hillbillies x20
    • Merkins x20 (maybe too fast a cadence)
    • Jump squats x20
    • Floyd Mayweather x20
    • Peter Parkers x20
    • SSH x20
    • 10 burpees on your own

    To the bridges

    We did a Dora 123 where one partner runs over one bridge and returns over the second with some nice steps to climb up. Taps out and the other partner does the circuit. A combined exercise of:

    • 100 plank jacks
    • 200 toe-touches (from crab-walk position)
    • 300 mountain climbers

    To NOMA

    After a moment of hydration at the museum, we partnered up again at the main fountain.

    One partner bunny-hopped up the stairs, while the other partner did:

    • derkins
    • irkins
    • dips

    …partners switching each time between bunny-hops and the exercises at the fountain. When we were done, rinse and repeat.

    At the trees

    Short mosey to the field with the line of trees in front of NOMA.

    • Lunge walk (length of two trees)
    • 10 burpees on your own
    • Duck walk (length of two trees)
    • 10 burpees on your own

    Mosey back to the Great Lawn

    Time for some Mary

    • Flutter kicks x20
    • American hammer x20
    • Hello Dolly x20
    • Crunchy rolls and crunchy roll step-ups (something from my martial arts practice) – on your own
    • Freddy Mercuries (I think) x 20

    Times up! Back to the flag for name-a-rama where we named two FNGs: Calliope and Mary Lou. (Mary Lou’s leaving town anyway, so a silly name won’t haunt him for long.) Announcements, a prayer, and then some camaraderie at Morning Call.

  • Merk Fest

    As a late entry to this month’s team edition ISI, there was a need to start strong. Though truth be told, I had been eying this beat down for a few weeks now.

    WARM UP

    20xs IC:

    Windmills

    Imperial Walkers

    THANG

    Deck O Death merkin style –  J-11, Q-12, K-13, A-14

    416 merks in da books

    Round 2 – LBCs – no count kept, but we only made it through about 1/3 of the deck.

    Grundy is still getting hate

    Shooter put Lake Cooley on da map

    and now we know why Steve is an out of work hair dresser

    Thanks to the Editor-and-Chief for praying us out

    GO TEAM EI!

  • JR Smith VS The World

    To recognize JR Smith’s collapse during the first game of the NBA Finals, I decided to work a basketball theme into the beatdown this past Saturday morning. Before we get that started, let’s get warmed up.

    Warmarama: Happy Jacks- 5 SS IC- 2 Squat Jumps: Rinse and Repeat 5 times, IWs- 20IC, Seal Jacks – 21 Style: Complete 21 Seal Jacks IC- First 5 are counted out loud, the next 16 are done in silence. All pacs have to finish at the same time in order to avoid penalty exercise. We were close, but no cigar. All pacs had to do 10 burpees. High Kness – 20IC, Butt Kicks – 20IC…….Mosey to Lamarque

    BLIMPS: 5 Burpess, 10 Lunges (each leg), 15 IWs, 20 Merkins, 25 Plank Jacks, 30 Squats- Rinse and Repeat Twice

    Mosey to the Milestone Marsh – Roughy a 1/2 mile run. Goal was for all pacs to get there in 5 minutes. Goal accomplished.

    JR Smtih VS The World

    Pacs divide into two teams and line up on opposite ends of the court facing midcourt. All pacs assume the Al Gore position. On Go, first pac of each group runs to mid court and grabs one of two basketballs and attempts free throw shot on their goal. If you make it, put ball back in basket and tag next partner. If you miss it, complete 5 burpees before tagging next partner. The team that finishes first wins, and avoids the penalty exercise of a suicide.

    Rinse and repeat this game two more times, but with different shots and different exericses while shots are being taken.  Second shot was a NBA three, measured out before hand at 23.75 feet. It’s  a lot further than it looks on TV. All pacs held plank position during this shot. Third shot was in honor of our former Pelican, JR Smith, a layup. Everyone did flutter kicks.

    Barely legal’s team one the competition once. THE Manny’s team brought it home twice. Good job guys.

    Mary: Circled up around half court for some Mary. 25 LBC’s-IC, 25 Freddie Mercuries-IC, 25 Russian Twists – IC, 25 Straight Leg Lifts – IC

    Circle of Merk: All Pacs stay circled up around mid-court. We assume the plank position. Going clockwise, each pac does one merkin while the other hold the planc position. We rinse and repeat this until we get to 100 merkins.

    Long mosey back to the flag. Goal was to get back to flag in 7 minutes. I think everyone but yours truly made it back that in that time.

    T-claps to Butt Splice for praying us out. A-wall not only made it back to the Mother Ship, but he brought a FNG with him. Welcome abourd Half Pipe

  • #crowdpleaser

    At 05:30 YHC gave the disclaimer and we were off. A quick mosey over to Touchdown Jesus for the warmup:

    SSH x 51 IC

    Mosey to WPM for an Indian Run to the top. Quick round of Mary:

    LBC’s x 51 IC

    Mosey down one level to the base of the ramp for everyone’s favorite… Bearpees!! That’s right. Work your way back up the ramp via bear crawls and Burpees. 4 count bear crawl followed by 1 burpee, then 8 count bear crawl followed by 2 burpees…. finishing w 40/10. Plank for the six at the top. Not much mumblechattet during this smoke fest.

    We took a breather w some Mary:

    Hello Dolly, Dying Cockroach, LBT, Real Freddie x 21 IC

    Mosey down the stairs to the benches: Dips, LLSU, Incline Merkins, RLSU x 15 IC

    Mosey  back to TD Jesus for Low Slow Squats x 25

    Back to the flag for plankorama and 10 Burpees to seal the deal.

    COT w shoutout by YHC.

    T Claps to the pax for sucking it up!

    Remember to sign up for your chance to Q at this fine AO.

    Let me know if I missed any pax above. A little foggy post workout. Thanks RY for the recap.

    Good Times!

    Roots

     

  • RED Friday – Tommy Mac

    This year the first Friday of the month has been RED Friday at The Uptowner.  I have to give credit to F3 Greenwood.  I stole their idea and sometimes steal their workouts.  Today we celebrated the life and service of Sgt. Thomas MacPherson.  More on him in the NMM.

    Conditions: 81 degrees and 91% Humidity (Heat Index of 89 in the gloom)

    Equipment:  Rocks Ranging from 30 – 50 pounds

    Warm-up:  SSH x 31: IW x 31; Abe Vigodas x 10; Good Mornings x 10; Moroccan Night Club x 31; Self-love x 10; Copperhead Squats x 10

    The Tommy Mac uses 5 different lifts, so we practiced a few with the rocks.  These lifts actually require a barbell, so we made some slight modifications in order to perform them

    • Thrusters – Squat, then press rock above head.
    • Power Snatches – Pick up rock from the ground, lift over head, then throw it back on the ground real manly like.
    • Push Jerks – Shoulder Presses with a rock that’s too heavy to shoulder press.
    • Hang Squat Cleans – Curl the rock, then squat.
    • Overhead Squats – Just keep the rock at chest and squat.  Don’t get crazy.

    The Thang

    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Thrusters
    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Power Snatches
    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Hang Squat Cleans
    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Overhead Squats

    We went AMRAP.  I believe everyone completed 2 rounds in 28 minutes, some started a 3rd before time was up.

    NMM

    Today’s workout was in honor of Thomas MacPherson.  Sgt. Thomas R. MacPherson, 26, was killed in action on October 12, 2012 by enemy forces during a heavy firefight while conducting combat operations in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. He was leading an assault against an enemy position when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire.

    MacPherson was a team leader assigned to Company D, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. He previously served one deployment to Iraq and this was his fourth deployment to Afghanistan.

    The “Tommy Mac” Hero WOD was created by elite-level coach Rudy Nielsen of CrossFit Outlaw (Alexandria, VA, USA), who first posted the workout on his “The Outlaw Way” blog as the workout of the day for October 27, 2012. The post included the following quote from Tommy’s former Platoon Leader:

    “The whole thing with Tommy is that he embodies everything that’s right about Ranger Battalion. He held the position of Ranger Team Leader which is literally the tip of the spear. He was the consummate, quiet professional—he expected absolutely zero recognition for what he did. He loved his job because he was a born protector. He was perfectly content to carry out his life’s work under the cover of darkness, with his and his comrades’ actions to remain forever under the cloak of shadows. He died doing what he loved; protecting all of us. What stood out about Tommy the most was his maturity beyond his years. I believe it was the fact that he was the older brother of younger siblings, but like another Sgt. said “Tommy wasn’t one of those guys who joined the Army and grew into a man. He joined as a man and grew others.” He left behind his beautiful wife wife, Claudia MacPherson, and their son, Brayden.”

    Lagniappe

    • It was great to be joined by 3 actual Uptowners at The Uptowner.  I believe that is equal to the number of Uptowners that have posted in the past year.  If Uptowners ever outnumber the World at the Uptowner, we may consider a name change.  These Uptowners handled themselves admirably.  Tools always said an Uptowner would never suvive the Uptowner, but these three proved him wrong.  I hypothesize that since they are relatively new to F3, they have not been sufficiently softened by the tickle fights that occur at the Skinny.  Let’s get Douille or Yankee out here and see what happens then.
    • It was agreed by all that the rock exercises were the best part of this workout.  #BurpeeLoveHate
    • No Mahatma today, so I believe it was Tool that took home the prize of WOD crusher.
    • Pay attention to what Abacus wears.  He gets it.
    • I did my best Cowbell impersonation and wore flip-flops to the workout.  Difference is that I worked out instead of drinking an umbrellaed libation and looking on.  Baby steps.  (If Shorty is reading this, this is where he says “I think you mean Cowbell steps.”)
    • 2 Rounds = 120 burpees which we all did correctly and can count toward the June ISI challenge of 10,000 merkins.

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Forgotten Q – Uugh Oohh Spaghetti Ohhh

    So this Wednesday morning yours truly was running just a minute late and joined the PAX in mid-mosey to the track for some warm-ups.  The first conversation with Frac-Sac went something like this.

    Abacus:   Good morning Fracsac.

    Fracsac:    Hey Nice of you to join us Abacus – this is your Q this morning.

    Abacus:   Great,  this is the first I am hearing of this.   (Lesson learned to check the Q schedule more frequently).

     

    Fracsac led the PAX through warm-ups near the track.    Warm-ups included SSH, Imperial Walkers,  arm circles, and a few other well placed warm up exercises.

    Fracsac led the next exercise on the track – Run one lap of the track doing exercise at each corner including the following:  Merkins, Burpees, Cataline wine mixers, and squats.

    Abacus took over from here and led the mosey to the grassy area near the new Children’s Museum under construction.    Circle up for three minutes of “Suck” – 7 SSH, 7 Merkins, and 7 squats, AMRAP in three minutes.    Then a few minutes of Mary including flutter kicks, hello dolly, dying cockroach, and penguin.

    Mosey to the Foundry for workout on the equipment.  Pair up and we were able to do twice through the following exercises.   10 Burpees – was the timer.     AMRAP – pull-ups, step-ups, squats, incline or decline merkins (dealer’s choice), and dips.

    Mosey back to the flag just in time for count-off, name – o – rama, announcements, and special intentions.

    Thanks to Fracsac for the Co-Q.   Lesson has been learned to check the Q schedule.    Thanks to all for the opportunity to lead.

    Abacus

  • Core Crunch

    My first Q in a while was core-focused.  I rolled in hot and was the last one to join the PAX.  We kicked things off with some warm-ups in place:

    -20 x SSH

    -20 x plank jacks

    -20 x mountain climbers

    Then we moseyed over to fairway near the pull up bars.  The sprinklers were on, but it didn’t seem like they’d hit us where we circled up…but then they did.  Whoops.  We did a J-Lo Ring of Fire, with exercises up to 5 while the rest of the PAX planked.

    We then Indian Ran to the benches at the front of the park.  We did a Dora 1-2-3 with 100 LBCs, 200 Nolan Ryans and 300 LBTs.  Time was running out though, so we modified our last exercised and headed on.

    We ran 1 x running man jog, 2 x running man sprint to a green spot near the row bars next.  We circled up and did some more core exercises:

    -20 x Hello Dollys

    -20 x Rosalitas

    -20 x Dying Cockroach

    -20 x J-Lo

    Then back to the flag to count/name off.  Good to get back in the swing of things, Q-wise.

  • Wolfpack Mtn intro to the Deck of Death

    A little slow with the bb but here it is nevertheless…

    Inspired by the new for sale deck of death – and realizing that as far as I know – the Uptown crew has never lived a Deck of Death.  So I brought a deck and we did the deed on Wolfpack Mtn.

    We ran to the lower area of WPM – here we did SSH x 2o, Imperial Walker Squats x 2o, Mtn Climbers x 20 and Dying Roaches x 20.

    From there we ran to the top.

    At the TOP we started our deck of Death!  – Spades were burpees, Hearts were plank jacks, Diamonds were merks, and Clubs were Peter Parkers

    Each ACE was a lap down the stairs then up the other stairs.

    I removed the twos.  So we did 151 of each exercise.  We didn’t complete the 9 and 10 of spades so we were 19 burpees short but all other suits were completed.

    We did 3 aces but on the 4th ACE ran back to the flag.

    We had a solid PAX of 24.  I unfortunately didn’t document the PAX but I will add some names of guys I was 100% sure were there.  I will add some names if you notice your name is missing – send me a text or email F3 NOLA.