F3 New Orleans

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  • Play Time in the Enchanted Forest

    A crisp cool morning – at last the heat wave has broken.  In the morning gloom, the PAX started arriving, clad in the black F3 tshirts.  Apparently, someone must have established a uniform for today – at least until Amnesty appeared in his home-game Purple.  Certain PAX showed their toughness by choosing to don layers to fend off the chill generated by the brisk breeze.  Strong?  Or Tough?

    Disclaimer, then off to the lawn.

    COP 1: Burpee Play Time: How long does it take a gang of 14 men to arrange in alphabetical order?  Apparently 24 seconds.  But since they got it right, YHC decided to cut that number in half, so we started with 12 Burpees OYO.

    Then in celebration of Notre Dame’s 2-5 record, together we went through warmup – all exercises 25x: SSH, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, Left-side Nolan Ryan, Right-side Nolan Ryan, Monkey Humpers.

    Mosey to the Enchanted Forest.

    COP 2: Animal Parade.  Partner up, and as a pair animal walk to the next Oak tree.  At the tree, PAX 1 does 25 ‘murican, PAX 2 planks.  On to the next tree and flapjack.  Repeat till each pax has hit 100 Muricans.  Animal walk between trees – Bears, Ducks, Crabs, Frogs.  OYO.  Go.

    YHC apparently overestimated the collective ability of the PAX to understand this relatively simple exercise.  YHC was impressed, however, with the group’s creativity: Gazelles, Cheetahs, and Penguins all made appearances.

    PAX suggested that perhaps “overthinking it” was a flaw not only of the ND football team, but also of YHC.  Whatever.

    COP 3: Burpee Play Time: How long does it take a gang of 14 to arrange in alphabetical order based on M’s name?  38 seconds.  OK, maybe it would’ve been faster with better instructions from YHC.  Conceding the point, YHC reduced the penalty to 15 burpees OYO.

    Partner up.  PAX 1 runs to bench near the fountain and does 25 dips and returns.  Meanwhile, PAX 2 does ab work.  Flapjack.  Repeat x4.  Putins, Cockroaches, Box Cutters and Freddy Mercury.

    Mosey to the Museum

    COP 4: Visit the Tooth Fairy.  Wait, is that Maverick?  Yes it is!  Better late than never!  Group 1: Incline Murkin’s up the stairs, increasing reps by 1 on each step.  14 steps, 105 total Irkins.  Groups 2 and 3: People’s chair and Lunges while waiting on the Irkins.  Cycle through each station.

    COP 5: Burpee Play Time: On museum lawn, PAX sprint about 200 yards.  Repeat.  1 burpee penalty for every PAX that doesn’t hit their first sprint time.  That worked out to 15 burpees – as no one hit their time.  Nice work, PAX (seriously)!  This showed that everyone was busting their butt on the first sprint.

    Mosey back to the flag with 2 minutes to spare.  Plank and hold for 2 mins.

    The Finish: Count off, Name o Rama.  Announcements – Go Ruck and Jazz Half coming up.  Impressive to see the Ruckers pull out the Rucks after the workout in prep for their 6 mile hike.  Nice work, guys.

    Finish with prayer of thanks, and asking for the inspiration to use the gift of today wisely.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead you all.  I promise that next time, the Animal Parade in the Enchanted Forest will be better organized!

  • Man in the Arena

    Beautiful Fall weather and 7 PAX converged on the Mandeville lakefront this morning for a beatdown celebrating EiEi’s 40th birthday.  YHC threw down Teddy Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena’s speech to kick things off in recognition of EiEi’s transformation from a fartsacking sad sack to a regularly posting Man in the Arena beast.

    The Thang all started with a warmup COP:  SSH, squats, mountain climbers and IWs, all IC 40x.

    Mosey to Rips restaurant for the next event:  400 seconds AMRAP of 20x forward facing Rocky Balboas using a parking space bumper, up and over the Rips’ stairs, 20x lateral Rocky Balboas, up and over the stairs, etc. until the buzzer sounded.

    Mosey back to the seawall for 4 rounds 10x of partner leg lift throw downs and PTGs.  (Credit to Big Fish for PTGs, otherwise know in the military as Pray to Gods….on your knees with partner holding your ankles from behind….lower yourself forward as slowly as possible and then push yourself back up to the starting position in an explosive fashion).

    Mosey down the seawall for a set of 11s:  Starting on the seawall, 10x frog jumps, jog to the road, 1x merkin, return to the seawall.  Worked our way down to 1x frog jump and 10x merkins.

    Next up Carolina Choo Choos (aka Railroad Ties), a new one for the Northshore PAX as far as YHC is aware.  This one definitely looked easier on paper, but the PAX graciously played along and got in a good four rounds without too much mumble chatter.

    Short mosey to another COP for Seal Jack Webbs.  Squats to seal jacks in a 1:4 ratio.  Starting with 1 squat IC and 4 seal jacks IC all the way to 10 squats IC and 40 seal jacks IC.  EiEi, who is NOT a mathematician (that would be Einstein and he is in Utah running a half-marathon this weekend), calculated that the PAX did 843 seal jacks.  YHC is too tired to check his math but suspects it is less than accurate.

    Mosey back to the shovel for Mary:  a quick 40 round of Holyfields.

    Count-o-rama, name-o-rama, and then Big Fish prayed us out.

    EiEi Qs next Saturday, same time same place, but show up 15 minutes early at 0615 to get a run in before the Thang if you are interested.

     

     

  • Rockin Cardio

    6 men gathered in the gloom (which was surprisingly pleasant) to get better.  Hawg had the flag and decided not to bring it out, so we had to settle for the virtual flag.  It draws a similar theme to Cowbell being awake today and decided not to post, so we had to settle for a virtual Cowbell.

    Anyway, let’s see what we did today, but first…

    DISCLAIMER

    The Thang

    Grab a small rock.  We will be doing a lot of reps.

    Round 1)
    30x Rock Jacks IC
    20x Rock Top Shelf Twist (R)
    20x Rock Top Shelf Twist (L)
    30x Rock Marches
    Recover w/ 10x Burpee OYO

    Round 2)
    30x High Knees w/Rock IC
    30x Rock Squat-Reach IC
    30x Backward Rock Lunge Hops IC
    Recover w/ 10x Burpee OYO

    Round 3)
    30x Hop Over your rock IC
    20x Balance Knee Pulls w/ Rock (R) OYO
    20x Balance Knee Pulls w/ Rock (L) OYO
    30x Rock Pivot Lunges IC
    Recover w/ 10x Burpee OYO

    Round 4)
    20x Alt. Side Lunges w/ Rock IC
    12x Chair Pose w/ Back Lunge OQC (a.k.a On Q’s Command)
    Recover w/ 10x Burpees OYO

    YHC checked the watch and we still had 15min left!  No mosey workouts are definitely a time saver.  Anyway, let’s walk about 15 feet for some plank work.  Hawg didn’t like the moving around part, but I assured him it was only to the other side of the tree.

    8ish MOM
    1min x High Plank
    1min x Wife Pleaser Hold at the top (still no eye contact allowed)
    1min x Side Plank (R)
    1min x Side Plank (L)
    Repeat one more time.

    Walk back over to our rocks and return them home.  Circle back up one more time.

    Plie Squat work:
    Hold low squat with toes and knees pointing about 120 degreesish, and follow the Q:
    10x Straight Arm Claps (In and Out) IC
    10x Straight Arm Claps (Out and Above Head) IC
    10x Forward Arm Circles IC
    10x Backward Arm Circles IC

    Finished with two Vinyasas.  Circled up around the virtual flag for the Countoff, Nameorama, and Prayer.  Thanks for letting me lead.  Good work men.

    Naked Man Moleskin

    Ruckers:  Need to ruck one hour today.  Get use to the weight, you are going to be thankful you did.

     

  • Trailhead AO Going Strong

    Four Northshore F3 veterans met in the increasingly crisp morning air at the Mandeville Trailhead.

    Warmup

    • Mosey loop on Tammany Trace with three stops
    • Stop 1 – IW x 20 IC,  SSH x 20 IC
    • Stop 2 – Plank Jacks x 20 IC
    • Stop 3 – Slow Squats x 10 IC,  Squat Jumps x 10 IC
    • Mosey back to Trailhead

    Main Event

    • Pullups / Incline Merkin Sets:  8X / 6X / 4X / 2X IC
    • Back Extension Sit-ups x 10 IC
    • People’s Chair + Air Presses x 50
    • Mosey to bus stop for Step-ups x 15 IC each leg and box jumps x 10 OYO
    • Three sets of serrated push-ups x 7 IC + shoulder blade retractions (“Y”, “T” and “I”)
    • Mosey to Trailhead for 2x Suicides
    • Circle up for Mary – Freddie Mercuries x 25 IC, Nolan Ryans x 10 IC each side, LBC x 30 IC

    Close – Discussed the two year mark for F3 NOLA and Chewy shared the highlights from the workout last Saturday in City Park.  Congrats to our Southshore friends.

  • Pretzel AMRAP

    Only Blackbird could return from a week of backpack elk hunting in the Utah mountains refreshed and ready to humble the Covington PAX.  EiEi is used to it by now but welcome Steve to the geriatric Covington PAX where sextuagenarians abound, and bound, and jump and crush and inspire the young PAX to get after it in the gloom every Wednesday.

    So this morning’s Thang all started with a mosey to the Justice Center Veterans Memorial and a warm-up COP.  SSH, windmills, squat thrusts, torso twists, Merkins, airplanes, arm circles…all IC 20x more or less.

    Then down to business with lateral plank walks over a wide white line; back and forth IC 20x; then 20x hipslappers IC.  Rinse and repeat.  Quick mosey up the Justice Center Stairs and back for more white line work.  Lateral hops back and forth IC 20x then People’s Chair hold for a long 10 count.  Rinse and repeat 2x for 3 total rounds.

    Recovery walk to Justice Center Oak Alley where YHC stole and modified Hawg’s bear crawl fiasco from F3 NOLA’s weekend convergence.  Who says bad ideas have to die?  YHC liked Hawg’s bad idea and figured it just needed a little fine tuning.  So the PAX bear crawled to the first oak tree, lunge walked to the second, etc, etc. down Oak Alley and its 7 million oak trees.  Remember this is the St. Tammany Justice Center we are talking about here; we like trees in St. Tammany.

    Mosey back to the Trailhead for what seemed like another bad idea but actually turned out to be interesting and fun, a 5 minute pretzel AMRAP.  Starting at the top of the Trailhead hill, the PAX ran to the nearby bandstand where they jumped, climbed, and otherwise got on the bandstand, then headed down either the stairs to the left or ramp to the right and back up the hill to the starting point.  This one is kinda hard to describe with any accuracy and no one should try this at home, but the thing ended up looking like a bunch of moderately physically fit middle aged men running around in the shape of a pretzel.  Blackbird lapped the field at least 57 times.  This event definitely played to his endurance sports background.

    A few ten counts later and the PAX were ready to finish off the morning’s beatdown.  Desperately looking for a way to get even with Blackbird, YHC got the PAX moving with an 11…Merkins on one end and Burpees on the other.  Thankfully the buzzer rang halfway through and without too much embarrassment we packed it up with a count-o-rama, name-o-rama,and prayer.

    Blackbird is on for Q next Wednesday.

  • Ruck the Foundry

    We stepped off with seven and finished with eight. Wait! Who is this we see but Out For Justice. After convincing us he knew it wasn’t Saturday, we stepped off. DISCLAIMER and let’s mosey. Pax with rucks head straight to Foundry, those without run to Carrolton and then the Lil Foundry. Heard that Bubba???…the Lil Foundry….

    We had six stations with the Flutter Kicks as the timer. Keep your rucks on if you can…except the Flutter Kicks.
    Sta. 1. Flutter Kicks x 50 IC
    Sta. 2. Merkins
    Sta. 3. Squats
    Sta. 4. Pull-ups
    Sta. 5. Step ups with a ruck; box jumps without
    Sta. 6. Dips

    In the middle of our second circuit, Da Parrish showed up. Was he looking for us??? Was he on a run and stumbled upon our workout??? Who knows???!!! After two circuits it was “Play Time”…yep, Burpee Play. Drop your rucks if you have em, 15 burpees OYO. Feeling so, light…

    Time for playing is over, Round 3. Halfway through round 3 we ran out of time, but not desire… Non-ruckers run around the museum and back to the flags…ruckers take us home…

    Countoff, namerama, announcements, shoutouts, Ball of Man! See you in the Gloom!

  • Traffic in Audubon

    Must be October based on all the foot traffic/bystanders in Audubon Park this morning (just not sure mother nature has gotten the message yet- still hot/humid!)  We made a good impression- lots of “good mornings” as we mosey’d here and there  (usually RY does the most park outreach, but the whole PAX took over today.)

    Began with a nice mosey/jog around the parking lot then over behind the bandstand for some work

    COP1- SSH x 20, mountain climbers x 20, Jump-ups x 20, Pool-ups x 20 Then mosey to the Row bar as we begin our lap around the track.

    COP2- Split into 4 groups and Rotated. Group 1- Burpees x 10, they led the count. Group 2- Rows, Group 3- Squats, Group 4- Lateral line jumps

    Indian run to the lit grassy field on the right past the bridge to the golf course.

    COP3- Circle/wave of Burpees. Plank-walk while not doing burpees, Started with 1, then 2 with person next to you starting after you finished 1st burpee, then 3, then 4, then 5.  (only 15 total- but felt like more with the plank walk and no rest)

    Indian run to the fountain

    COP 4- Right leg up x 20, Dip x 20, Left Leg up x 20, Inclined Merkin x 15

    Indian run to the grassy area by the golf green on the left across from the water fountain for some mary

    COP5- LBT x 20, Russion twist x 20, Superman for 15 sec x 2, Real Freddy Mercury x 20,  Dying Cockroach x 20, V-up x 20

    Indian Run to the Pull up bar

    COP6- split into 5 groups for BLIMP (no S) and rotated. Burpee x 10 led the way and count, Lunges, Imperial walker squats, Merkins, Pull-ups

    Time to mosey back to the flag area (no flag).  Jog for 2 painted men on the track then sprint one.

    Counted off. name-o-rams, announcements, prayer.  Another great morning to be in F3!

  • The Spartacus Thriller

    As some of us continue our training for the GoRuck, the rest get to train along with us. Six of us followed the normal protocol while Rudy modified and ran the whole time as he is training for a Half Marathon.

    Warm-up COP:
    -SSH x 20 IC
    -IW x 20 IC
    -J-Lo’s x 20 IC
    -Arm Circles x 20 IC (10 ea. way)

    Grab a rock and mosey to the picnic benches under the shelter. 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
    -Alternating Step-ups w/rock or ruck
    -Rock Row
    -Side Lunge and Touch Rock (like moving the virtual rock pile back and forth)
    -Pushups
    -Rock Lunge and Rotation
    -Rock Push Press
    Rinse and Repeat for a total of two rounds.

    There’s just enough time to send the rocks home and head to the flag. T-Claps to Heisenberg for joining YHC in wearing the rucks during the workout.

    Jingle Vader showed with only one glove; Michael Jackson….”The Thriller”…

    COT: countoff, namerama, announcements, shoutouts and a prayer. See you in the Gloom!

  • F3 NOLA’s Second Anniversary

    Nice turnout of 34 for the F3 Nola 2 year anniversary convergence.  Hawg and RY split the Q.  Yankee, being the elder statesman was first up.

    The Thang

    A sloppy disclaimer, by his own admission…then a short mosey to the Great Lawn for the largest COP in NOLA history.

    Traditional warm-up with SSH x 20, Imperial Walkers x 20, Mtn. Climbers x 20, LBC x 19, and Low Slow Squats x 21.

    As Yankee started the LSS he hiked his shorts way up and started showing some lily white thigh.  I thought it was a strange addition to the COP.  Hope it doesn’t catch on.  

    Then we spread out for 10 minutes of 4 corners.  Corner 1 – 10 burpees, Corner 2 – x-fit push-ups, Corner 3 – Surfer Burpees, Corner 4 – 180 jump squats.

    This was a shout out to Chewy who included this in his Q almost two years ago.  Most got about 2-2.5 trips around the quad in the 10 minutes.

    At this point YHC took the Q and led a mosey to the NOMA lily pond for Red Hot Chili Pepper:  Derkins x 16, Bulgarian Split Leg Lunge Left x 8; Incline Merkins x 16, Bulgarian Split Leg Lunge Right x 8, Derkins x 12, BSLL Left x 6, IM x 12, BSLL Right x 6, Derkins x 8, BSLL Left x 4, IM x 8, BSLL Right x 4, Derkins x 4, BSLL Right x 2, IM x 4, BSLL Left x 2

    This was a redux of Chong-Li’s workout at the launch.  Next came the first bad idea of the day

    We attempted a Route 66 with bear crawls between each lamp post and an increasing number of jump squats starting at 1 and ending at 11 in theory.  There was lots of modification on this one and we ran out of time before it was finished.

    We headed back to the lily pond and did 10 jump squats (or 5 to the top ledge).

    Then mosey back to the Great Lawn for some DJ Style Mary:  SFX led us off with 16 Dr. Ws.  Then Turbo Tax represented the Northshore with 15 Nolan Ryans on each side.  Next was Jingle Vader and 25 Putins (Shorty and I thought it might be infinity, fortunately JV cut it short).  Next was possibly the greatest moment in the two year history of F3 Nola when Tool led us through the alphabet.  Kim-Chi took us home with 20 dying cockroaches with 5 at super slow speed to end the set.

    Moleskin

    Thanks to all who came out this day and who keep coming out every day.  This has allowed me to work out consistently for 2 years and for that I am grateful to all involved.  It was great to see all of the Kotters come out.  By nature the second F suffers when guys quite showing up or when we split workouts.  The convergence is just another workout when it comes to the First F, but it is special when it comes to the 2nd F.  We should do it more often.

    Thanks to Amnesty for opening his home to us for breakfast afterwards and thanks to our brothers on the Northshore for making the trip down.

    -Hawg

     

  • A circular square

    Where was Hawg? Shorty? Cowbell? Tool? Bogey? Bubba? HVAC? YHC will assume that they were helping SFx find a new house in Philly, but YHC digresses. With an enthusiastic FNG, YHC was forced to try to be articulate (sometimes a difficult thing). After a more thorough than usual Disclaimer, the THANG:

    COP1
    Side Straddle Hops 30xIC
    Good Mornings 20xIC
    Imperial Walkers 30xIC
    Peter Parkers 30xIC
    Monkey Humps 20xIC
    Low Slow Squats 30xIC

    COP2 with two friends apiece (one definitely larger than the other–the choice between one or the other left to each PAX):
    Shoulder press 20xIC
    Curls 20xIC
    Rows 20xIC
    Squats with holding rocks straight in front 20xIC
    Right Golf Swings 20xIC
    Left Golf Swings 20xIC
    Bench press 20xIC
    Pair up for 20 staggered Big Boy Situps with Overhead Pass of Rocks (SBBSwOPoR)
    Shoulder press 20xIC
    Curls 20xIC
    Rows 20xIC
    Monkey Humps 20xIC
    Pair up (re-shuffled) for 30 more SBBSwOPoRs
    Right Golf Swings 20xIC
    Left Golf Swings 20xIC
    Squats 20xIC
    Pair up (re-shuffled for third combo) for 30 more SBBSwOPoRs
    Bear crawl (three quarters? four quarters) around the circular square
    Bench Press 20xIC
    Bear crawl (five quarters)
    Jack Webbs (1 merkin to 2 air presses) from 1 to 10
    Bear crawl (five quarters)
    Squats 20xIC
    Bear crawl (five quarters)
    LBCs 50xIC

    With apologies, QHC may have some the order above out of order and/or have misremembered some item or other, but that’s a privilege of being an elder of F3NOLA. [YHC can’t say The Eldest, as Marlin has QHC beat by a month and World Peas, who hasn’t shown his buff self for over a year, is a year older.]

    Namorama for FNG took too long, as QHC may have been suffering hypoxia. So many choices, landed on Herschel from his Georgia days after FSU. Then intentions and prayers for a great Friday.