F3 New Orleans

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  • Me again…

    YHC has been on IR for the last 4 weeks or so and was glad to have the chance to Q. Due to the shoulder still being an issue the pax was informed there would be plenty of legs and abs. After the disclaimer we took off at 05:30 and went straight to the mountain.

    The Thang:  form two columns and IR to the top for the festivities. At this point we all partnered up and the mission was explained. It was a variation on BLIMPS…  Partner A would perform the exercise AMRAP while partner B ran downstairs to the ground floor, then across to the opposite stairs and back up to flip flop. After each  set was completed, the next exercise would be performed. They were as follows — Bicycle(real Freddie), Lunges, Imperial Walkers, Monkey Humpers, Putins, Squats.  It appeared we would run short of time and not complete the circuit, but after wasting a few minutes chitchatting about modifying, El Wire convinced us we could get it done… And we did!  When completed we made a quick dash back to the flag to close out the morning.  COT w/ shout out by YHC.

    Always a pleasure to Q. Glad to be back out there.

    Good Times!

    Roots

  • Book Club: 3 of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

    YHC arrived with the some trepidation as it had been a while (at least a year) since last Qing.   A large PAX was present missing a shovel flag.  YHC was going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance, but it will have to wait till next Q.

    We moseyed to the great lawn for a COP (Circle of Pain/Pro-activity) warmup:

    SSH IC 49, IW IC 49, Squats IC DU 49, Calf Raises IC UD 49, Arm Circles Small IC 14 F & B, Arm Circles Large IC 14 F & B, Merkin DU 7, Diamond Merkin DU 7, Wide Merkin UD 7, Staggerd Left DU 7, Staggered Right DU 8, Wide Merkins DU 7

    There was some mumble chatter about the count of 49.  Many thought it was a birthday themed Q, as YHC  hit 49 in August.  But no, this workout was based on Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, as  7 X 7=49.

    YHC  directed the PAX to the museum fountain and stayed with 6.  Upon my arrival, I was pleased to see the PAX planking.  It was at the fountain YHC explained today’s theme and introduced the first habit.

    Habit 1: Be Proactive. As men, husbands, fathers, and leaders, we are faced with numerous concerns.  Habit 1 teaches us to focus on the things we can do something about.  As we become more proactive, we expand our circle of influence.

    Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind.  In his book, Dr. Covey asks the reader to visualize their own funeral. “To Begin with the End in Mind” means to start with a clear understanding of your destination.

    I volunteered Rudy to run to the 7th tree along the green space known as Dreyfous Meadow and place a set of cones, approximately 100 yards.  The first set of cones represented our ultimate end (death).  YHC asked the PAX to think about their legacy and what do they want to accomplish during this lifetime.

    Bear Crawl towards death – 7 trees est 100 yards.  This totally sucked, and there was in fact talk of death.  However, we all lived to crawl again.

    YHC volunteered Hawg to take the cones and move them down another 7 trees.  This time the PAX was asked to think about life in 10 years.

    We alternated lunge walks and bear crawls passing 7 trees.  86 was  the next volunteer to move the cones down 7 trees – This time we thought about what do we want to accomplish in the next year.

    We alternated bear craws and lunge walks.  The fast PAX took the proactive step to move the cones one additional tree.  We covered the distance of the medeow which is about 300 yards.  Thanks to DaParish for bringing gloves for those who did not see the forewarning on GroupMe.

    If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.  Highly effective people are driven and not drifters.

    We collected the cones and moseyed to the green space called the John S. Mcilhenny Meadow.

    Habit 3: Put First Things First.  In Habit 2 you set your vision.  In Habit 3, you manage your time by focusing on those activities that are the most important in supporting your vision.

    We used the cones to  layout Covey’s Time Management Matrix. It consists of four quadrants.

    Quad 1 Urgent and Important – Ex. deadlines, emails, meetings, tests.  The idea is you want to manage the activities in this quadrant and not get stuck in quad 1.  YHC used 49 RedBull Seal Jacks IC in an attempt to drive this point home.  YHC was later told by Douille that “Redbull Smurf Jacks” was called out in error leading to confusion and mumble chatter.

    Quad 2 Not Urgent and Important – Ex. relationship building, exercising, spirituality, continuing education.  This is the quadrant we want to focus on for most of our time.  This quadrant was next to the singing tree in City Park, but with no wind, the chimes were silent.  Bogey sang instead.  YHC used 7 EMOM with 7 burpees as the exercise.   All 7 habits reside in this quadrant.

    Quad 3 Urgent and Not Important – Ex. Facebook updates, phone solicitation, junk email. This quadrant should be avoided if possible. 21 Monkey humpers

    Quad 4 Not Urgent Not Important – Examples watching TV, social media.  This quadrant should be limited.  Goofballs 14 IC.

    There wasn’t enough time to cover the last 4 habits.  The first three habits deal with private/personal leadership.  The next three deal with pubic leadership and the 7th habit is about continuous renewal/improvement.  They will have to wait for the next F3Nola Book Club.

    Habit 4: Think Win Win

    Habit 5: Seek first to Understand then be Understood

    Habit 6: Synergize

    Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw – Self- Renewal

    With time running out, we headed back towards the virtual shovel flag stopping for water and some Mary and our last 7 merkins to bring us up to 49.

    Merkins 7 UD

    Peter Parkers – 21 IC

    Crunchy Frogs – 7  IC

    In regards to  Habit 1, Being proactive, and Habit 2, Putting first things first, there is a saying attributed to Mark Twain. “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

    COT

    Countdown, Name-O-Rama.  Welcome Stitch (from Hawaii) and Navigator (Red Sock fan who was able to navigate from Uptown to City Park. A skill still rarely seen from our Uptown brethren).  We closed with a ball of man and a prayer.

    Moleskin

    I challenge the PAX to work on Habits 1-3 and eat frogs as needed.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead.

  • Relay Day

    Six fearless PAX and YHC braved the harsh elements (mid-70s, mild, light breeze) along the ominous – OK, cheerful – Mandeville lakefront this morning.  We kicked things off slowly with an easy warmup:

    • Abe Vigodas, Arm Circles, Shoulder Presses (varying 15-25x each IC);
    • Annie – many thanks to Grundy and Bushwacker for serenading the passersby.  The F3 Exicon warns that some PAX may break out into song.  I knew you guys wouldn’t disappoint!
    • 10 Burpos (low burpees)
    • Side Straddle Hops, Cheerleaders, Imperial Walkers, High Knees, Dancing Bears (varying 15-25x each IC)

    After moseying to a couple of well-spaced oaks, the PAX formed two teams and indulged the Q’s love of relays:

    • Relay #1 – Bear Crawls and Burpees (one team member bear crawled to the next oak and back, while the rest of the team did burpees – relay-style until all PAX had gone).  At this point, the Q (brought to his knees by the dreaded Bear Crawl) issued the disclaimer.
    • Relay #2 – Bunny Hops and Bobby Hurleys

    Mosey to the playground for more relays:

    • Relay #3 – Broad-Jump Burpees and Planks
    • Relay #4 – Sprints and Sister Mary Catherines (4x)

    Mosey to the flag to finish up:

    • Burp & Merk Pyramid (up to 10 OYO)
    • Dan Taylors (up to 10:40 OYO)
    • Mary – LBCs, right-side crunch, left-side crunch, push-throughs, flutter kicks, Freddie Mercuries (varying 15-25x each IC)

    Bushwacker prayed us out and reminded us about the Fallen Heroes 5K at the Chafunkta Brewing Company on November 4.  Contact Bushwacker if you’re interested.  Einstein, THE Manny, Bushwacker, and YHC retired to the coffeteria for some great F2.  THE Manny saved the flag (reminding YHC to grab it before jetting).  Thanks guys.

  • Uptowner Stink BOMBS

    YHC saw an opportunity to Q this non running AO and jumped on it, since jumping is allowed at the Uptowner.  Arriving 10 minutes early, YHC was alone.  At 5:25, YHC was still the lone Pax, but there was still plenty of time.  The clock hit 5:29 and genuine concern set in.  It looked as if today would be that dreaded day, the day of the lone Q.  Wait, here comes Duct Tape, reporting that he had been waiting at the Rock City AO, wondering where the Pax were….and here comes Triple Shift!

    YHC had two options this day, one was to partner up, and the other was for an odd number of Pax.  Looks like the odd number would prevail….until the arrival of a totally unexpected visitor!  Welcome Reluctant Yankee!  The partner routine it is then!  YHC was so relieved to see other Pax that he may have overlooked the disclaimer, but pretty sure something was muttered about modifying as needed…..

    Warm Up

    SSH IC x 31
    Abe Vigodas IC x 5
    Enough of that….we have a lot to get to!
    Everyone grab a rock that can be used for Overhead Press and Curls.

    Stink B.O.M.B.S.

    YHC had 5 cones set up in a large circle with approximately a 40 foot diameter, with a few cones marking the center. Partner up, and one Pax goes to an outside cone, while the partner goes to center cones. Lucky for YHC, the smart Pax were in attendance, so instructions remained minimal, and easily grasped. Working clockwise:
    Cone 1 – 100 Burprees
    Cone 2 – 200 Overhead Presses with rock
    Cone 3 – 300 Merkins
    Cone 4 – 400 Big Boy Situps
    Cone 5 – 500 Squats
    The exercises on the outside cones are cumulative. Timer is the Pax at the center cones doing 20 curls with rock and 20 LBC’s. Supplement the 20 curls with rows as needed. Once complete, swap with outside Pax and keep the beat down going.

    Times Up!

    Count off, Name-O-rama, Intentions, and Close with a prayer to the Sky Q.

    Naked Man Moleskin
    Neither team got past the Big Boy Situps before time expired. This routine may find its way back, but with a slight modification to make sure we can get through it. There was minimal mumble chatter during the beatdown, with good reason, as those Burpees, OH Presses and Merkins were a killer, especially when mixed in with LBC’s and Curls/Rows for the timer.

    Thanks for posting with me today! The Uptowner is still a great opportunity to bring a beat down without running! But isn’t that what the 610 Stomp is for? Oh yeah, and WPM……if you’re into that sort of thing…..

    Fracsac

  • 10k Foray

    YHC stood in for Captain Sparkles today, as he had some excuse or another for not making it out – something to do with resting the week between running a half marathon and attacking a half iron man – or some such weak sauce non-sense.  I was, once again, admiringly impressed with the definition of punctuality that my F3 brothers are renowned for, as The Pelican arrived 2 minutes before 4:45 and Dundee and Carpool arrived 2 minutes after.

    Commencing in reverse, as is Captain’s Cove tradition, we started out with namorama and prayerorama. After our illustrious QIC initially aimed the PAX towards the boat ramps, we comically course corrected and were off at a pace of 4 guys focused solely on endurance (and, well, survival).

    I always love the cove because it consistently proves to be a great opportunity to get to know your fellow F3s a little better. Today’s PAX, for example, hail from as close as Metairie and Slidell, to as far as Arizona! We had  three loving fathers, a former soldier, and a blue devil.  They showed dedication by arriving at 4:45 am to run 10k. They showed heart by pushing themselves without complaints or gripes. There was even a showing off the wearing of big-boy pants  by the tightening of sphincters as they passed the point of no return, more colloquially known as the sunset point port-o-potty! I mostly appreciate the comaraderie and brotherhood of the men who aim to add value to their lives and those of the people around them.

     

    “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship”  -Buddha

  • Plyos for Breakfast

    A light turnout at the Gipper this morning but that did not stop the PAX from getting after it.  After the requisite disclaimer, Moby got down to business with the warmup:

    SSH, Toe Touches, Windmills, Butt Kicks and Shoulder Circles, all 15-20x IC.

    Mosey to the back of the Justice Center where YHC took the Q.  Picture a barbell with Merkins 10x IC on each side and plenty of plyos in between.  Total of 5 round trips up and down the Justice Center alley and steps.  100 Merkins total with skips, carioca, 45 degree hops, lateral hops, backward hops, bounds, and frog jumps in between.

    Mosey to the Veterans Memorial at the front of the Justice Center.

    Seal Jacks 20x IC

    Squats 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    Split SSHs 20x IC

    Good Mornings 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    Twisting SSHs 20x IC

    Squats 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    One foot SSHs 20x IC (10 each foot)

    Good Mornings 10x IC

    Merkins 20x IC

    Mosey back to the Trailhead for some Mary:

    Vladimir Putins 25x IC

    Straightlegged Jackknives 10x IC each side

    Reverse leg raises 10x IC each leg

    Countorama, nameorama, and a prayer of gratitude to wrap things up.

    Great job this morning men.  Thanks for letting me and Moby lead.  Always an honor.

    Moleskin:

    This is the first Gipper beatdown that Einstein has missed in over a year.  If YHC did not know that his daughter was visiting from Colorado, the PAX would have skipped the beatdown and commenced immediate search and rescue operations.

    Final Merkin count for the ISI challenge:  150.

  • Rekindling the Round Robin

    The Trailhead (which could use a proper F3 name, Ei) is getting a decent following these days.  Nine PAX showed up on what felt like a light day, and a few of us had been notified that EiEi would be unable to make the Q.  So we went Round Robin style, like we used to do in the old days (3 months ago).

    As Clark Griswold would say, it was a bit nipply out, so YHC started the warm up with SSH, 30x IC, and then straight into butt kicks, toe touches, windmills, IW’s, arm circles forward, backward, air presses, and high knees, at or around 20x IC.

    Mosey over to the stage for a set of 11’s: Sister Mary’s up top then hop down and across to the viewing platform for derkins.  Finally got a little sweat going, just in time for Shooter to take the Q and lead us to the tunnel of pain for…

    BLIMPS: 5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 IWs, 20 merkins, 25 plank jacks, 30 squats.  Back up out of the tunnel to catch your breath, only to rinse and repeat, this time doubling the numbers.  Grundy schooled the Q (not for the first time) on how to count lunges, and reminded us that, as an auditor, nothing was a fact until he confirmed it himself!  (For all the men of ISI, the merkin count hit 130.)

    The PAX found its way through the black forest back to the flag, in time for Bushwacker to hit us with LBC’s while waiting for the six.  I counted up to around 100 before he mercifully called time.  Until next beatdown, Bruce Lee!  Countdown, nameorama, and Grundy led us out with a nice prayer.

  • The Four Corners of the Marsh

     

    Be still and the Earth will speak to you.   – Navajo Proverb

    YHC passed through the Four Corners this past summer and saw the above proverb painted on a few landscapes by the local artists.  The monument is run by the Navajo Nation and while it’s undoubtedly an overpriced tourist trap, it’s also pretty cool to chat with the local Navajos that are creating and hawking their art in the surrounding space.

    All the same, though, this quote doesn’t really apply to today’s beatdown.  And while the PAX was anything but still this morning, we did manage to clear our minds using a different technique: by knocking out 150 merkins in the first 20 minutes of this beatdown.  Here’s how it went…

    Right out of the gate, 25 merkins OYO.  Then some standard warm-up: Good Mornings, Windmills, SSH’s, IW’s, High Knees, and Butt Kicks, all 20x IC.  Finish the warm-up with another 25 merkins.

    Mosey over to the corner of Marigny and Livingston for the start of 4 corners: Start with 20 burpees, sprint a block to the next corner perform 20 burps plus 20 squats.  Next corner add 20 (full grown man) sit-ups, and at the last corner, add 20 merkins to bring the tally up to 150.

    Back into the Marsh for a quick 10 pull-ups OYO before hitting the legs.  Started out with 20x IC lunges, depth charges (t-claps to Grundy for the cooler name), calf raises, monkey humpers, and grab a pull up bar to finish with knees-to-chest.  Repeato.

    Back to the court to circle up for Mary.  The PAX attempted 5 prisoner get-ups with varying degrees of failure.  Entirely YHC’s fault – next time I’ll watch a Youtube video and demonstrate proper form beforehand.  Then onto LBC’s, starfish crunches, Freddie Mercs, and Nolan Ryans, all 20x IC before we ran out of time.  Countdown, nameorama, and then Turtle led us out with a prayer.

    More than once I’ve mentioned that I’ll be taking Monday’s off, and yet I keep finding myself back at the Marsh.  That’s because this really is the best way to start the week.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead guys.

  • Spartacus Delayed

    Spartacus Delayed…but not to be Denied…   Some of the pax, YHC included, were delayed getting to the AO due to a train.  The motivated pax, who were at the AO, took the initiative and began the Warm-up COP.  Us stragglers caught up and YHC took over the Q.   T-Claps to Bogey for filling in.

    -SSH x 30 IC
    -IW x 30 IC
    -Arm Circles x 30 IC (15 ea. dir.)
    -J-Lo’s x 20 IC
    Grab a rock, medium, one you won’t drop on your head…Let’s mosey to the shelter (cuz it has benches).
    It’s time for some Spartacus. The timer on my phone had us working out for 1 minute with a 15 sec rest for each exercise:
    -Goblet Squat w/ rock
    -Feet-Elevated Mountain Climbers
    -Kettlebell Swing w/ rock
    -T-Pushups
    -Step up, alternating legs with or without rocks
    -Rock Row
    -Elf on a Shelf-Side Lunge and Touch Rock (like moving the virtual rock pile back and forth)
    -Merkins
    -Rock Lunge and Rotation
    -Rock Push Press
    Rinse and Repeat for a total of two rounds.

    A couple minutes of Mary:

    -LBC x 20 IC

    -Penguins x 20 IC

    -Wife Pleasers x 20 IC  (as always, a strictly no eye contact event…that means you Rudy)

    Mosey to the Virtual Flag for the COT.  Countoff, namerama, announcements, and a prayer.

    It was an honor to lead.  SYITG…

  • 3 Years in the Making

    Three years ago 15 men launched F3 New Orleans – you can read about that first workout here.  Yesterday 68 men showed up in force to celebrate that date.  Yankee lost his voice yelling at his Dad’s softball team, so YHC was charged with the disclaimer.  It was sloppy.  Then off to the great lawn

    Warm-up

    Yankee led the warm-up.  Many pax noticed how similar it was to the warm-up he led Friday. #Preparation.

    SSH x 25 IC; Imperial Walkers x 25 IC; Mountain Climbers x 25 IC; Hillbillys x 25 IC; Dying Cockroach x 25 IC

    You Against You

    Tabata is a you against you.  It works when you go 20 seconds as hard as you can.  It’s a microcosm of F3.  It works best when you are pushing to get the most out of yourself.  We went with two rounds of Burpees, Merkins, Squats, and WWII Sit-ups.

    Pushing Yourself For Others

    F3 teaches you to push yourself.  There are certain times during a workout where you are pushing yourself for the other men you are working out with.  In the big picture, you are pushing yourself to get better for your family and community.  This was a partner workout.  Pax 1 ran a sprint across the great lawn (150 yards) while Pax 2 held Al Gore.  We flapjacked and repeated for a total of 3 sets.  Then we did the same thing with Mission Impossible.

    Trip Down Memory Lane

    We moseyed to the museum for some Red Hot Chili Pepper – introduced by Chong-Li at the first NOLA workout.  The group was two big for the fountain so we split in two.  One group did the Red Hot Chili Pepper with YHC while the other did core work with Yankee.  Then we flapjacked.

    Red Hot Chili Pepper:  16 Left Leg Bulgarian Split Leg Squats, 8 Decline Merkins, 16 Right Leg Bulgarian Split Leg Squats, 8 Incline Merkins; 12 LLBSLS, 6 Derkins, 12 RLBSLS, 6 Irkins; 8 LLBSLS, 4 Derkins, 8 RLBSLS, 4 Irkins; 4 LLBSLS, 2 Derkins, 4 RLBSLS, 2 Irkins

    Core Work:  Fire Hydrant x 20 IC; Parker Peter x 20 IC; Crunchy Frog x 10 IC; Peter Parker x 25 IC; Plank Walk x 20 IC

    Burpees for Linus

    We moseyed back to the great lawn and threw in 20 burpees at the buzzer.

    COT

    We wrapped it up with our longest name-rama ever as we welcomed 5 FNGS.  Welcome Chowdah, Spike, Wipe-out, Apples.  Then Ocho took us out with a very well spoken prayer.

    Moleskin

    • Thanks to all the men of F3 Nation that helped launch this thing: OBT, Merlin, Chong-Li, Bobby McGhee, Sir Toppam Hat, and all the others.  I know it’s made a difference in my life as well as many others in the New Orleans area.
    • 5 men from the original group of 15 in 2014 were in attendance:  Reluctant Yankee, Roots, Triple Shift, Channel Mullet, and Hawgcycle
    • 5 FNGs – T-claps to the pax for the EHs.
    • Great to see the all of Kotters.
    • T-Claps to F3 Northshore for coming across the lake.
    • T-Claps to the Uptowners for finding their way to City Park.
    • T-Claps to Worms for coming in from Baton Rouge.  Look out Baton Rouge – we are coming.
    • T-Claps to Amnesty for opening his house for Coffeeteria.
    • T-Claps to Shorty for introducing me to the greasiest donuts I’ve ever had.  They are awesome.
    • The Red Hot Chili Pepper was a shout out to the Chong-Li Special from our very first workout.  It made a lasting impression and has been repeated several time in NOLA.  For the original, Chong-Li held it under the 610 Overpass on tables covered in bird crap.  That started a tradition of North Carolina guys coming to New Orleans and picking strange places to hold exercises.  OBT circled us up in the middle of the street (right next to a really large green space) and DREDD got us kicked out of the Sculpture Park.  As far as I know, those are the only three times those spots have been used for an F3 NOLA workout.  It’s also led to the widespread belief that men in North Carolina workout in parking lots next to beautiful parks.