F3 New Orleans

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  • The Almighty EH

    With a 12 mile, obstacle-filled mud fest of a CSAUP awaiting the men of F3 saturday morning, this particular man knew a 4:45am 10k would not be high on his priorities. However, a simple “maybe-ish” text to one half of “The Northshore Core”, Shooter, was enough to stoke the irrepressible flames of the EH. Somehow, after just brief digital exchange, YHC found himself roped in as though he had signed up to Q himself rather than offering to cover for Captain Sparkles (Captain Sparkles =EiEi, but that’s a different backblast).

    With a chance groupme comment by the long lost Pelican offering similar intentions as I, YHC felt compelled to sic the EH master on him. SUCCESS! 3 sets of headlights ended up simultaneously rolling down Jackson St. to converge at the Cove.

    Today’s 10k was, indeed, and educational experience. So to recap, what did we learn?

    1. There’s no readily apparent excessive benefit to a Disney cruise over a non-Disney cruise.

    2. LBCs are a great way to break up the monotony of a long run.

    3. Though a man may keep mum about your over exaggeration of accomplishment, NEVER misrepresent that your HALF beat his WHOLE.

    4. Self-employment tax sucks!

    5. Shooter wins the gold medal for EH.

    6.Garfield can put the best of us to secret running shame.

    7. The Pelican is Japanese!

    8. Bushwacker suffers from Foot-In-Mouth disease.

    9. Small grown men drive small grown cars (but they sure are fun!)

    Class dismissed

  • Oops, it’s me again.

    It’s been gloomy this week.  A good resbit before the Turkish steam bath that is soon to arrive.  QHC sees a lonely silhouette of a PAX ready to go.  It’s Hand-Grenada, our FNG from Monday gratis Walleye.  He’s nervously peering into the chasm for the pumping station into Pontiff.  It’s scary business.  But not nearly as scary as when QHC asked who’s today’s Q and was told he was!  Actually, that doesn’t frighten QHC any more.  I just hope my on-the-cuff DownPainMents aren’t too dull, whiskey-dick-ish (TClaps to Tool for the vocab drills) or repetitive.  So with an opportunity for a real Disclaimer (because a professional trainer would know he’s up), the PAX is off–for a distance of about twelve feet.

    COP1:

    • SSHs ICx20
    • Inchworm (gratis YSR at the Birdcage this week) ICx10
    • Moroccan Casbah (gratis The Rev from about a year ago or so) [squat while twisting arms] ICx20
    • Mountain Climbers ICx20

    The PAX gets two rocks: big and bigger for COP2:

    • Overhead press ICx20
    • Curls ICx20
    • Nape scratchers (tricep lifts) ICx20
    • Rows ICx20
    • Bench press on our 6s ICx20
    • Low slow squats ICx20

    Rinse and repeat, but with ICx15 (and regular squats instead of LSS); rinse and repeat again, but with ICx10 (again regular squats instead of LLS); then rinse and repeat again–kinda:

    • Overhead press ICx5 (but real slow, 20 count, for #5)
    • Curls ICx5
    • Nape scratchers ICxG (but real slow, 20 count, for #5)
    • Rows ICx5
    • Bench press ICx5 (hold last for 20 count)
    • Low slow squats (for a total of 25 LLS and 25 regular squats) ICx5

    Time for some relaxing at the wall:

    • People’s chair for a long-ass time, with overheads ICx10 and curls ICx10 and sitting some more
    • Rest oh so briefly
    • People’s chair again for not at long: overheads ICx10, curls ICx10, hold rock out 30 seconds.

    Mosey back (10 feet) for Circle of Mary:

    • Flutter kicks with rocks ICx20
    • LBTs ICx20
    • Hello Dollys with rocks ICx20
    • Penguins ICx20
    • Rosalitas with rocks ICx20
    • WWII situps ICx20
    • Russian twists with rocks ICx20
    • LCBs with rocks ICx20

    And it’s 6:15.  Countoff, Name-o-Rama, Shout Outs and closing prayer from HVAC.  Tclaps to Hand-Grenada for two posts in his first week.  Jingle Vader

  • The 40, Part 4

    Its Okwata Time. That means its Levee time. 40 times.

    11 PAX gathered around the shovel flag this morning in the dark gloom. Alas, no glorious sunrise over the waters of Okwata. The PAX will have to wait several weeks for the morning light to appear during the workouts again. Until then, just gloomy gloom. The PAX welcomed the visitor – Schottenheimer from Cleveland. Thanks for coming out to join us!

    At 5:30, YHC pronounced the disclaimer and so we began.

    First, Mosey 10 yards to the flag (from all the way across the sidewalk). Circle up for warmup, sprinkled with mumble chatter.

    • SSH x25
    • Abe Vigoda x10
    • IW x25

    Then off to the base of the Levee.

    By now, the PAX know the drill.  10 exercises.  4 Sets of each exercise.  10 reps per set.  Back and forth over the Levee for each set.  That equals (do the math….) 40 trips over the levee.

    1. Cross Fit Merkins: Oh, the grass is cold.  And wet.
    2. Box Cutters: Out-Up-In-Down half the time, Up-Out-Down-In the other half.  Shorty finally realizes there’s a difference.
    3. 4-Count Lunges: Triple Shift appears to have mixed signals and went for the 20 reps of 4 count lunges.
    4. Derkins: a new wrinkle – stop half-way down the levee for the exercise.  Slip and Slide trying to stop
    5. Dying Cockroach: Frac rightly points out that Roaches crawl, forcing a clarification from YHC that we were doing the Dying variety.  On our backs.
    6. Bobby Hurley: OK, YHC certainly felt this when running up the hill.
    7. Irkins: stop half-way up the levee for the exercise.
    8. Monkey Humpers: I thought the Bobby Hurley burned….
    9. Hello Dolly: I think that just maybe I saw Mahatma break a sweat.
    10. Burpees: The crowning glory, as Tool was lamenting the lack of burpees in the workout.

    Finished up at 6:08.  We are getting better at this.  That meant we had time for more!  Quadrophelia!  Up to the top of the levee, so we can run forwards-down and backwards-up (i.e., always look to the lake) for 4 minutes.

    Back to the flag with a minute to spare.  Time for LBC x40.

    Finish up with Count-off and Name-o-rama.  Intentions, then close with prayers.  Psalm 40, a song of praise.

    I waited patiently for the Lord;
        he turned to me and heard my cry.
    He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
        out of the mud and mire;
    he set my feet on a rock
        and gave me a firm place to stand.
    He put a new song in my mouth,
        a hymn of praise to our God.
    Many will see and fear the Lord
        and put their trust in him.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • Long Lost Pelican and the Ubiquitous Captain

    As the latest CSAUP is nigh upon us, 3 of the bold participants gathered in the frigid gloom to do what we do here in F3, for ourselves and for our brothers -get the heart rates up and micro-tear a little muscle. You see, the thing about obstacle races is that there’s a lot of running, but its broken up intermittently by various physical challenges. And so, in a mildly similar fashion we proceeded to scramble.

    After seeing the important-yet-forgotten dimension of fitness that Chewy has brought back with his recent Qs, I decided to start things off with some intentional ballistic stretching. Once we got going, the idea was that at random moments YHC would say STOP! and call out an OYO exercise for the PAX to knock out. The 1st instance was 25 merkins within the 1st block of our run. A couple of blocks later came 25 squats. Next was 10 burpees. With the power of the pied piper, I reversed the usual route, taking us to sunset point 1st. At the end of the pier we jumped on the benches for 25 calf raises. Our boisterous activity spooked a pelican perched on the rail, who found another section of rail closer to shore. The pelican may have gone away, but we knew he couldn’t STAY away (Where you at Pelican?)

    Now, YHC finds, and the PAX would certainly concur, that our F3 runs are enjoyable spans of time based , especially, on the the company of our F3 brothers. This morning that could not have been more true for the sudden and abruptly unexpected appearance of Captain Sparkles, who, dressed in his fisherman’s finest, jumped out from behind a bush with a loud AAAAGGGHH! as we cleared the end of the pier. While Shooter and I were certainly given a bit of a shock, poor Steve, who was closest to the perp,  barely escaped the experience with clean drawz LOL. A life-long fireman, Sparkles had to  flex his pranking muscles before he shoved of with Turtle and a group of guys making for an off-shore fishing trip.

    Having recovered our sensibilities, we stopped for 50 LBCs (DISCLAIMER: events may or may not have happened in the exact order YHC currently recalls). Upon exiting the sunset point gates, we took advantage of a 2 foot tall section of concrete to grab 25 incline merkins. Along the subdivision loop we knocked out 25 toes touches to stay at our peak of nimbleness. At some point Shooter’s off hand comment having something to do with “core” and “back” inspired 25 supermans. And finally, at Florida (Hwy 190) we dropped to the invitingly soft grass for 25 heal pulses (heals to heaven).

    After proper consideration, we decided to shut things down officially before moving on to anything else with COT: count-o-rama, name-o-rama, announce-o-ramma, and prayer-o-ramma (thank you Steve). I always enjoy my F3 beat downs, but there’s something appreciably special when I get to experience it with, what could arguably be considered the true core of the northshore, Steve and Shooter. Thank you gentlemen for following this pied piper’s little ditty in this star-filled gloom – the honor is all mine.

    AND THEN…

    LAGNIAPPE: 3 ISI participants can’t walk away without knocking out the challenge of the day. Specifically, 1 minute decline plank followed immediately by 1 minute of derkins….followed immediately by 3 strong, proud, adult fathers collapsed in heaps on the pine needle-covered ground. good times!

  • Mid-Month AMRAP Recap

    At a cool 38° and with the Ides of March approaching, it wasn’t a Shakespearean betrayal that had YHC worried – it was what miserable AMRAP challenge would Turbo come up with next?  So 14 days in, I figured we’d sprinkle a few of the past challenge exercises (italicized below) throughout today’s beatdown as a reminder of this month’s short but effective doses of pain.

    Warm-Up: Good Mornings x15, IW’s x20, Windmills x15, SSHs x25, 8-Count Bodybuilders x15, Shoulder Taps x25, all IC.

    The Thang: First and foremost, mosey to the back of the Justice Center to knock out today’s challenge before our legs were jello (gotta keep those numbers up!): 90 seconds of one-legged curb hops (45 secs each leg).  Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson were somewhere around the block in downtown Covington this morning, starring as two Texas Rangers on the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde.  Had they seen Turbo perform his one-legged curb hops with his usual sense of ease, he surely would’ve merited a part as a Ranger alongside the two (though, probably one who gets shot down early on in the film).  Is there enough room on the Northshore for two stars of the silver screen?

    Onward to the Veteran Memorial for a COP:  Burp n’ Groin, Burpees with ascending groiners after the merkin, up to 10x. As the PAX has noticed, groiners have become my new go-to.  Out with the old (Sayonara Bulgarians!), in with the new.

    Animal Walk on the grass back to the rear of the Justice Center: Bear Crawl, Monkey Humpers x20 IC, Duck Walk, Monkey Humpers x20 IC, Crab Walk, Frog Jumps x10 (forward and back)

    Next up, an AMRAP run up the rear justice center walkway: 10x Hand Release Merkins at the starting line, 10x derkins at first set of benches, alternating one-legged Freak Nasties x10 at second set, and up the stairs for 10x Butt Kick Jumps.  Reverse, hitting those same stations until reaching the starting point.  Rinse and repeat for approx. 8 mins.  (Hitting the derkins station for the 3rd time and facing a slab of concrete with weakened arms was a good reminder that YHC had forgotten the disclaimer.)

    Finally, plank up and wait while each man takes a turn sprinting the corridor, up the stairs and back.

    YHC wanted to return to the flag for and get in a few minutes of Mary, but alas, out of time.  Greeted at the flag by a nearly fully-recovered Moby, who is looking rested and slim!  Countdown, nameorama, and Shooter prayed us out.  T-claps to Turbo for reminding us to sign up to Q – if you haven’t already, please do.  Let’s get this next month all locked up.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead guys!

  • Sudden Change!

    8 F3 regulars circled the virtual site flag on a cool 50 degree gloom ready to get better!

    DISCLAIMER

    Mosey to the track and around it once doing butt kicks, high knees, karaoke each way, repeat X2.

    COP #1: WARM UP
    SSH X 20
    Hillbillies X 20
    J Lo’s X 10
    Squat Pulses X 20
    Good Mornings X 10
    Burpees X 5 OYO

    Mosey to the Foundry stopping twice for sudden change: 5 Burpees OYO
    The mumblechatter was music to my ears!!

    Foundry Circuit: Partner up, 4 groups
    – Run to water fountain, 5 Burpees, run back (timer)
    – Hanging leg lift oblique twists
    – WWII Sit Ups
    – Pull Ups

    Rinse and Repeat

    Mosey to NOMA stopping on the bridge for sudden change: 5 Burpees OYO
    YHC noticed a well lit area with a nice sized curb, perfect for D14 ISI!
    Single leg curb hops X 45 seconds each leg.
    If you’d like a demonstration on perfect form, just ask Bogey.

    Line up at the fountain for:
    Dips X 20
    Ierkins X 15
    Derkins X 10

    COP #2: MARY
    LBC X 30
    Russian Twist X 20
    Crunchy Frog X 20 (RIP Shorty/Snooze)
    Hello Dolly X 10

    Mosey back to the VSF.
    Hold up, sudden change: 5 Burpees OYO

    Made it back with 30 seconds to spare, my bad…
    5 Burpees OYO

    Sealed the deal with COT: Count-off, Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and Prayer.
    Good luck to those Tough Muddin’.

    Thanks for letting me lead.
    Cowbell

  • Pilates for Men?

    4 Pax met up in the brisky gloom this morning for a round of  hip mobilization and core activation activities.

    Joe Pilates, back in 1919, promised that by following his methods you would develop a flexible youthful spine, a strong center, and system wide integrated strength. Ol’ Joe was a cigar smoking boxer, acrobat, and gymnast, and he developed his exercise program from that background first and foremost for men.

    The Thang:

    -Warm-up lap around the trailhead

    -Down dog stretch

    -Anterior Lunge with Bilateral OH Arm swing x 10

    -Post Lunge with bilateral Arm swing at ankle height x 10

    -The Pilates 100

    -Hamstring stretch: 3 sec hold x 10

    -The Roll Up  x 5

    -side lying leg raise X 25 IC

    -Single leg glute bridges x 25 IC

    Jack Webb: (Chewy style)

    (1) Chaturanga Dandasana 3 count hold : (2) Bruegger Exercise with 3 count hold  to 8

    Here’s some references in case you are wondering:

    7 Steps to Master Chaturanga Dandasana

    http://www.stretching-exercises-guide.com/bruegger-exercise.html

    -Plank walk across the stage

    -Jump Rope x 1 pax while the other 3 zig zagged poles up and down tower.

    “Jumping rope is barely possible with poor form or poor technique. Everyone will make consistent mistakes and be interrupted by a rope that catches on a foot. The rope is the coach. Jumping rope is what I call a self-limiting exercise. Participants are limited in their ability to perform the exercise by lack of technique. In other words, truly poor technique will prevent the participant from performing the exercise, so bad movement patterns cannot be reinforced. This is the most important reason for jumping rope. It is possible to perform sprints, shuttles, and agility work with poor form as long as times are adequate. Other forms of popular endurance work such as jogging, cycling, and rowing can also allow poor form without supervision and coaching. Poor form can be reinforced without the athlete ever realizing it.”

    “Much of the impact of jumping rope is taken through the leg muscles. The erect posture and long spine forces the abdominal muscles to hold the midsection tight and work in perfect coordination with the back muscles to form the same kind of intern al pressure as a weight belt.” ~ Gray Cook Excerpted from Athletic Body in Balance, pages 125-129

     

    Same side and Opp side lateral lunges with OH arm swing x 10

    Anterior and posterior foot reaches with Bilateral arm swings x 10 for increased stability.

    Name-o-rama, COT, Prayer.

    Thanks guys for letting me lead.

    Chewy

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Track Work

    7 men gathered in the chilly gloom to better themselves today.  Instead of venturing down the usual Stomp route (honestly…it’s been so long…i didn’t know what usual was anymore), YHC choose to play it safe and get after it on the track.  We were off…but first…

    DISCLAIMER

    The Thang

    Mosey over and around the track one time, then circle up for a quick warmup:

    15x SSHs IC
    6x Don Quixotes IC
    6x Good Mornings IC

    YHC explained to beatdown to come…1 min AMRAP of an exercise, then a lap around the track….plank and wait for the six.

    Exercises:
    1) Squat Jacks
    2) Switch Kicks
    3) Jump Knee Tucks
    4) Speed Knee Curls
    … 12 count by Woz…
    5) Burpees
    6) Frog Jumps (Front/Back)…Cowbell had an advantage of course (this joke never gets old!)
    7) Low Plank Parker Peters
    8) Plank Jacks (Modify 1min to 3min to handle the daily challenge) #ISI Tclaps Turbo!

    Slowzy back to the flagless AO, where we had a Plankorama OYO for the last 2min.  Pax gathered around for the COT, which included the Countoff, Nameorama, Shoutouts and a Prayer.

    The Pax moved quickly through this beatdown. Well done, men!  Time flies when you are having fun….Oh, yeah…no more Hate for YHC!

    Thanks for letting me lead!

    Moleskin

    Miss you guys.  Definitely needed this beatdown to get my ass back in shape.  Best way to start the day!

    Tough Mudder is this weekend.  Good luck to the guys getting after it!

     

  • The bear went over the mountain

    The PAX gathered at the AO in the refreshingly cool morning gloom, and as Brown Bag was not wearing a parka, YHC knew it must be just above 50 degrees.

    Standard disclaimer and mosey around the track with a hard right turn across Magazine St, through the bollards and around much standing water to relative high ground in the oak alley.

    Warm up COP

    5 burpees OYO , SSH x20 IC, Peter Parkers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Sealjacks x20 IC, ParkerPeters x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, Smurfjacks x20 IC, Mountain Climbers x20 IC, 5 burpees OYO, plankjacks x20IC

    Mosey down magazine to the field in front of the zoo, which was looking like a lake. Much mumble chatter about puddles and wet shoes. We modified to the parking lot, using it as a large rectangle for cycling through BLIMPS at the corners. 5 Burpees, 10 lunges (2 legs is one), 15 Imperial Walkers, 20 merkins, 25 Plankjacks, 30 squats.

    PAX then assembled in two lines for Indian run across the levy to the ‘fly.  One large pool of water disrupted the smooth flow of the indian run formation with PAX tacking starboard and port to avoid it, except for Sea Man, who would not be deterred by mere water and kept his line straight down the middle of it.

    PAX assembled at the molehill at the end of the soccer fields.

    We then bear crawled up over and down the other side of the mountain, to see what we could see.

    On the other side we did 30 LBCs, then moseyed back around the mountain and reassembled.  Up and over the mountain again, but the second time we planked until all assembled, then Jack Webb 7s (merk followed by 2 air presses, to 7 merks) . Bear crawl back over the mountain to Jack Webb’s meaner brother, the Iron Hulk 6s. (merk followed by 4 air presses to 6 merks). Bear crawl back over the mountain.

    4 trips over the mountain and we were out of time.

    fast mosey back to the flag, COP, announcements and intentions.

    Thanks for the opportunity.

     

  • The Q needs a flashlight and directions

    The only thing worse than posting at 5:30am to workout is posting at 5:30am on the Monday after Daylight Savings Time. I should have checked on that before asking Hawg to let me Q for the first time. Hawg did make my morning by arriving with the flag just before we started to get going. I think this was the 3rd or 4th time I’ve seen the elusive F3 flag.

    Disclaimer and then mosey to the rocks.

    The cadence was shaky but we did:

    – SSH x 20

    – Peter Parkers x 30

    – Imperial Walkers x 20

    – Propellers x 22 (11 each direction)

    -Hillbillies x 20

    We grabbed our rocks for some classic rock city exercises with more of my shaky cadence:

    Shoulder Press x 15

    Curls for the Girls x 15

    Rows x 20

    Low, Slow Squats x 30

    We moseyed over to the playground equipment for a 4 part rotation exercise. I needed a little help along the way to locate both the swings and later to the hill. It turns out that working out in the dark doesn’t help me know how Pontiff Park is laid out.

    Our rotation workout:

    Elf on the Shelf with a rock for a 10 count while we rotated between elf, underdogs, dips, and mercins.

    After playing around under the swings, we took our rocks to the hill for elevens. It was 10 bench presses with the rock on one side of the hill and 1 burpee on the other to start.

    We ended with Mary:

    American Hammer x 15

    Penguin x 20

    Dying Cockroach x 15

    LBC x 15

    We dropped off our rocks and moseyed back to the flag. I got us there one minute early and was threatened to put shame upon my family name for finishing at 6:14, so we did Freddie Mercury for one minute.

    Count off, namerama, announcements, and a prayer.

    I led. I survived. I am now a man.