F3 New Orleans

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  • 40

    Twas sticky and warm at Okwata.  Typical June morning, 10 PAX including YHC set off to better ourselves.

    Inspired by a recent family roadtrip, when The Best Closing Song for a Rock Concert EVER popped up on Spotify, and YHC got to tell stories about his youth to his captive kids in the backseat….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcTA2Y0pOPA

    (apparently this was a somewhat controversial choice as best ever.  But whatever.  My Q, My Rules).

    Warmup: Disclaimer, then off to the fountain lawn.  A bit disappointed to find such dry and recently cut lawn in front of the fountain.  Where’s the muck and mud, YHC wondered…  SSH x25, then planking for PP x20, MC x20, PP x20.  Then mosey to the Levee for The Thing

    The Thing: 40

    Stare at the behemoth in front of us.  We are going over it 40 times.  10 exercises.  Each exercise in 4 sets.  Each set is 10 reps.  Alternate sides of the levee for each set.  When we’re done, we’ll have done 400 reps, and crossed over the levee 40 times (with YHC throwing in 40-themed facts, trivia and tripe)

    • Exercise 1 – Low Slow Murican: What’s more Murican then a Mickey’s Big Mouth 40 oz Malt Liquor?  Did you know 40s are illegal in Florida?
    • Exercise 2 – Box Cutter: The 40th mayor of New Orleans?  The illustrious (and apparently accomplishment-less) Isaac L Patton
    • Exercise 3 – Low Slow Squat: NFL players with jersey #40 retired?  YHC called out 4 (but there are actually 5) Joe Morrison (WR Giants), Tom Brookshire (DB Eagles), Mike Haynes (CB Patriots), Pat Tillman (S Cardinals) and Gale Sayers (RB Bears)
    • Exercise 4 – Plank Jack: ND National championships in the 40s?  4: 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949
    • Exercise 5 – Diamond Murican: 40th state to join the Union?  South Dakota – also having the smallest capital by Population (Pierre, 14,000 potential pax)
    • Halfway point.  Pause, Bogey gives us 20.  PAX grumbles.
    • Exercise 6 – American Hammer: Did you know “Forty” is the only number with letters in alphabetical order?
    • Exercise 7 – Lunge: American Top 40 All time hits leader?  #1 is easy – Elvis.  PAX proceeds with guesses (good ones: Beatles, Stones, Elton John; Bad ones: Right Said Fred – seriously Mav?).  #2 on the list – Lil Wayne.
    • Exercise 8 – SSH: PAX catches a break, as YHC decides to skip the Burpee’s originally planned for this spot.  How many NCAA seasons with a player averaging 40 PPG?  5 – 3 of which are local hero Pistol Pete.  The others: Frank Selmy and Johnny Neuman.
    • Exercise 9 – Durkins: YHC has run out of facts, having left a few more tidbits on his Weinke in the car.
    • Exercise 10 – Flutter Kicks: PAX seems to be grumbling “Let this End”.  But we plow through

    Mosey (really really slow mosey) back to the Flag.  Seal the deal with 10 Burpee’s OYO.

    Finish with Countoff, Name-o-rama, Announcements and Prayer.  Please continue to remember Cable Guy’s wife, and whole family, and prayer for her health and successful treatment.

    PAX: Thank you for persevering with me through this.  I wasn’t sure we’d make it through all 40 trips, but you inspired me to complete.

    And somehow, I forgot to close with Psalm 40 verses 1:4, which was part of the whole point of the workout.

    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.

  • Three ‘cides to a Good Story

    Pre-Thang: Sixteen PAX gathered right on time for a good old summer “soul crusher”. After the disclaimer we took off at 05:30.

    The Thang: Mosey over to golf club house and around to the grass near the bandstand for warm-up COP: Plank Jacks x 25, Squats x 25, Plank Walks x 20, Low Slow Squats x 15, Mtn. Climbers x 25, all in cadence. Short mosey to festival of lights.

    Circle up for warm-up #2: Forward arm circles standing on left foot, then on right foot x 15 IC. Down to business: Burpee Suicides x 5 at each light, then back to the start. When complete, 5 more then plank and wait for the six.

    Slow mosey to the other end(track side). Warm-up #3: Rear arm circles on left foot, then on right x 15 IC. Next: Merkin Suicides x 10 at each light headed toward the bandstand. 10 at the finish then plank and wait.

    Mosey on to the track and head toward St. Charles Ave., then turn in at the shell road back to the lights. And: Squat Suicides x 15 at each light. 15 at the finish and plank. 10 quick Merkins since YHC missed a step earler. Should’ve listened to Douille!

    Quick trot to the middle of the lights for some Mary: LBC x 52 IC and Hello Dolly x 26 IC. Finish with a two minute plank.

    Back to the flag for COT w/ shout out by YHC.

    T-Claps to the PAX. Although we were never very far from the flag, we covered 2.1 miles. Nice work!

    Good Times!

    Roots

  • Reagan never got his Mary

    Three men gathered in the presence of Ronald Reagan’s statue, and it began.  TurboTax volunteered YHC to Q, and YCH accepted.  Since the Gip prefers to watch Mary as opposed to warmup, we moseyed to the Justice Center to commence warmup:

    THE THANG

    SSH x 20, Jump Squats  x 20, Seal Jacks (new fave) x 20, Obligatory IW’s x 20, all IC

    Mosey to top of steps for:

    1. Jog down steps
    2. Sprint to end of square
    3. Lunge walk to first set of benches for 15 freak nasties OYO
    4. Lunge walk to second set of benches for 10 Dirkins OYO
    5. Lunge walk to third set of benches for 10 box jumps OYO
    6. Jog back up steps

    Rinse & Repeat

    After first rinse and repeat, YHC had pure and honest intentions to rinse/repeat a third time.  YHC instructed the PAX to plank, and each man do a 20 count, for a total of 60 seconds of plank.  Nacho took the first 20 count, and then, in a most presumptuous, assertive and unexpected manner, commenced the first ever (to my knowledge) Hijacking Of The Q.

    THE HIJACK THANG

    Starting where we left off, at the end of the 20 count plank…

    1. Man maker left hand high 30 count
    2. Man maker right hand high 30 count
    3. Right leg high 30 count
    4. Left left high 30 count
    5. Right arm high 30 count
    6. Left arm high 30 count
    7. Shoulder plank taps x 20 IC (this is great, thx Nacho)
    8. Shoulder plank taps with Merks x 10 IC
    9. Plank Walk-Around-The-Clock (I propose this exercise be coined “The Fonz”) – 2 revolution right, 2 revolutions left

    Shoulders are now completely melted.

    Tabata time, each exercise 20 secs with 10 sec break x 4

    1. Jump squats
    2. Freak Nastiness (one of the PAX, to remain unnamed, was reminded not to turn tabata into vujana)
    3. Step ups (2 right leg, 2 left leg)
    4. Decline box jumps with a long jump after (Don’t ask.  Just know its hard.)

    Mosey back to the Gip for quick suicides consisting of 3, 5, 10 yards, x 3

    Countdown, Namorama, COT

    No Mary; sorry Gip.

    Great workout.  Nice hijack Nacho, it was killer!!

    EiEi

  • 610 Stomp #44 – Fartlekin’

    5 fartlekers gathered for the weekly 610 Stomp.  Not only was Amnesty back from Hawaii and recovered from his hula accident, but he also orchestrated a subtle, yet successful EH on Splash, motivating Splash to make his way to the Roosevelt Mall this morning.  T-claps to the both of ya.  YHC gave a subtle disclaimer and it was time for…

    The Thang

    4.5 mile run with Fartleks to the the Jose Marti statue at Jeff Davis and Banks and then back along the other side of the bayou.  The Pax stayed together for this one.  We jogged at a conversational pace.  YHC would yell out random percentages to step up our pace to (e.g. 65%, 80% 100%, etc.).  We would run for a random length at that amount of effort.  We finished with a couple of minutes left to seal the deal: 8 burpees, 1 super slow merkin, 3 burpees, 1 super slow squat with a hold at the bottom, and finished with 2 burpees (although YHC lost count and did 3).

    Moleskin

    I’m a fan of the fartleks.  I am feeling this workout.  Looking forward to doing it again the next time I Q the stomp.  Not sure how I lost count going to 2.  Even I can usually count that far without issue.  I’m blaming the fartleks.

     

  • I’ll show you mine if you show me yours

    Nice morning at the Mandeville Trailhead, not too hot, but certainly humid.  In lieu of a warmup, Nacho and YHC bared their chests, exposing total manliness, the magnitude of which was admired by all the PAX.

    THE THANG

    1. Run up tower steps for 5 burpies, run down tower steps for 10 squat jumps.
    2. Mosey to stage for Jack Webbs with Nacho-requested 4 (yes, four):1 air press/Merkin ratio, all the way up to 9 Merks.
    3. Mosey to concrete benches for jump lunges x 10, followed by freak nasties x 10.  Rinse,repeat.
    4. Mosey to big green box (which serves as the soundboard man’s platform for live performances at the amphitheater) for box jumps x 10 OYO, followed by Irkins IC x 10.

    Mosey back to tower.  Mosey around the Old Rail block (alternating with backpedaling, thanks TurboTax), stopping at two corners for seal jacks x 20(?) IC and Hillbillies x 15(?) IC.

    Mosey back to tower.  Rinse and Repeat 1 thru 4 above. Then mosey along trace to Marigny Ave (again, alternating with backpedaling).  Sprint back to Girod Street along Trace.  TClaps to Nacho for killing the sprint.  No Merlot, sadly, but close.

    Back to shovel flag for some quick Mary: LBC x 31 IC, flutter kicks x 21 IC, Vladimir-the-Tiger-Wrestler Putins x 12 IC.

    Namorama, COT.

     

     

  • Better late…or never

    My apologies , this BB is so very late, almost to the point I thought about not doing it. But YHC wanted to make sure the Pax on the south shore knows that F3 Northshore is still going strong with a small but faithful and committed crew, and your efforts to help get us launched were not in vain.

    The thang: met at shovel flag: ran eastItoward playground stopped half way for extended warm up/COP:
    SSH x 30 IC
    IW x 30 IC
    Slooow Squats x 30 IC
    Merkins x 15 IC
    Scorpion kicks x 15 IC
    I, Y, T progression x 15 each IC
    Burpees x 5
    Sumo Squats x 20 IC
    Calf raises in squat position x 20 IC
    single leg pulses x 30 IC each leg
    Merkins x 15 IC
    Sidelying leg raises (jane fondas) x 30 IC each leg
    Side plank x 30 sec each side

    Run to play ground: plank and wait
    Partner up:
    partner 1 run lap around playground/partner 2: 10 merks/20 reverse lunges rinse and repeat x 3 reps
    mosey to swings:
    partner 1 lat pulls on swing x 20/partner 2: plank walk across field.

    Green Mile run back to shovel flag: 10 merkins at each fire hydrant

    COM: flutter kicks, bicycles, dollies x 30 IC

    COT.

  • What happens in Hawaii stays in Hawaii

    YHC got the text last night from Amnesty that he threw out his hip doing the hula.  So the Pax was stuck with me again.  7 men gathered at a very soggy Pontiff Playground.  Rudy reminisced about Marlin’s Q when they worked out with the pumps on.  I gave the disclaimer, we hopped the puddle and moseyed to the rock pile

    The Thang

    Warm-up:  SSH IC x 40; DQ IC x 12; Peter Parker IC x 30; Lunges IC x 20; Superman IC x 20; LBC IC x 40; Superman IC x 20

    Pick a Rock – Go big or go home.

    COP:  Squat Thrusts IC x 15; RL Decline Merkins IC x 10; Rows IC x 15;  LL Decline Merkins x 12; Rows IC x 10, Squats IC x 15; Bench Press IC x 25

    Mosey about 100 yards and circle up for 10!  #crowdpleaser.  (Shoulder Presses, Squats, Sit-ups)

    Mosey to the Kaboom! for some Tabata Stations.  Assisted Pull-ups, Box Jumps, Bernies, Rock Burpees, Swerkins, Squat Presses, Squats – Repeato

    Mosey down the track to the flag.  We only had time to get in one Fence Chunkers.  Grab the rock and return it to the rock pile.

    Moleskin

    T-claps to the Pax today.  I tried to keep the pace quick, but I couldn’t shake them.  There’s something about carrying rocks around like cavemen that gets the week started right.  I wanted to incorporate more fence chunkers, but given the divots created by the one toss, it’s probably best we were short on time.  The Pax seemed very impressed by the duct tape I was sporting on my knee.  I think they envisioned that it was my caveman way of suturing a gash I had received doing something very manly.  Alas, it’s only my home remedy for a giant wart.

    COT

    Remember those in our community with family members going through treatments and doctor’s appointments today.

  • Too much chatter, gotta push harder

    14 Men and No Flag started our Wolfpack Mtn journey on a very humid Friday.
    Got a few comments about the size of my Weinke – so I had to remind the PAX its not the size of the Weinke that matters but rather how you use it.

    Lets get straight to business! Straight to the MTN for the start of the beatdown. I wanted to try and beat the record of laps on the MTN but alas we could only tie it.

    First COP at the bottom. SSH x 25, Imp Walker Squats x 20, Crab Touches x 25 (Hawg decided to show up at this point), and Merks x 20.
    Run up to the Top of the MTN using the stairs.

    Slow Merks, Slow Squats, Slow LBCs – that sucked – regroup and just do regular LBCS bc the slow LBC thing didn’t work, then finish with some Plank Walk all x 20

    Then we ran a lap on the MTN. Down the stairs across to the other stairwell and then up the stairs. 7 flights. An easy modify is to cut out some of the stairs. It keeps the pax together and each guy can push himself.

    Then another COP with V UPS, Pickle Pounders, Diamond Merks, and Peter Parkers x 20 At this point Shorty and Hawgcycle start their mumblechatter fest. I can’t tell if I am not working the pax hard enough or if Hawg and Shorty are just in a chatty mood.

    Then another lap.

    At the top we had another mini-Q school. Tinkles led SSH x 25, Ball Boy led LBC x 20, Eight-Six led flutter kicks, Quick Draw led Squats and Frac Sack led lunges. I can’t remember the counts. More mumblechatter from Hawg and Shorty.

    Then another lap.
    Then we did the TITO lounge by the pool special. For a 20 sec cool down.
    More mumble chatter – from Hawg and Shorty. I could never tell if the workout was too easy or if they were just messing with me. A few of the PAX assured me – that the workout was fine.
    At the top we did Staggered Merks-each position, Parker Peters, and Mat Jumps.

    Then we were out of time so we mosey’d down the MTN and back to the Flag for our COT.
    Thanks for letting me Q – I had a nice AM in the HUMIDITY!

    Peace. RY

  • The Thunder Rolls

    Nice turnout at the Mothership as storm clouds brewed above.  Several of the Pax started to wonder if the disclaimer covers lightning strikes.  I’m no lawyer, but the disclaimer seems airtight to me.  JV and YHC each planted a flag in the hardest, driest piece of ground on the gulf coast, I said the obligatory disclaimer, and we were off.

    The Thang

    Mosey to the great lawn for the warm-up.  Just slightly soggy.  SFx was wishing he was Q so he could lead burpees in the corner with the sprinklers.  He’s sick.  We moseyed to the other end for   SSH IC x 37; DQ IC x 13; Merkins IC x 17; Squats IC x 31;  Dying Cockroach IC x 37

    Mosey to the Refinery.  We circled up in the tall, seedy grass next to the equipment for Burpeefest. 1 minute = 12 burpees + whatever time is left for recovery.  5 sets.

    Next each man took a station at the refinery for a tabata-esque workout.  20 seconds all out followed by a 10 second recovery as you rotate to the next station – 17 stations: Pull-ups, Bernies, Pull-ups, Dips, Dips, Channing Tatums, Tatum Channings, low-bar pull ups, Squat thrust pull-ups, Box Jumps, Box Jumps, Pole Dancer, Pole Dancer, Squats, Squats, Rows, Muscle-ups.

    Mosey to the prison bars outside of the Tad.  Hop up on the ledge and grab some metal.  3 sets of calf raises IC:  Regular x 25, Toes In x 24, Toes Out x 25.

    The gate to the Tad was open so me moseyed by to check it out.  There was a security guard outside and the ramps were taped off with caution tape.  We are obviously not welcome anymore.  From there it was a disappointed mosey to the Track.  Along the way I led the Pax through some Marshlands.  Anyone that followed me gained some extra weight on their feet in mud and water. YHC is 2 for 2 this week.  Two Qs and I led the Pax through a marsh at both.

    We lined up for an Ark loader across the infield: Bear Crawl 50 yards, Winston Jameis 25 yards, Jameis Winston 25 yards, Burpee Broad Jump x 10, Duck Walk 25 yards

    Just a little bit of time left for a SFx 220 special.  SFx led this exercise the first time he Q’d.  Not sure if it has been done since.  #LongOverdue.  Partner one sprints half way around the track while Partner 2 jogs across the field to meet him, then switch.  Repeat.

    From there it was a long mosey back to the flags.  Surprisingly both flags were upright.

    NMM

    Great crowd today despite several of the regulars being out.  T-claps to Mav for squeezing as much of the workout in as he could before he had to head out to his son’s 8:00 baseball game.  T-claps to Radar for wearing a sweatshirt in June.  T-claps to Bubba and Douille for their Track Prowess.  T-claps to everyone for the Tabata workout at the refinery.  That went much smoother than I thought it would. I always enjoy the opportunity to lead at the Mothership.  Thanks for putting up with me.

     

  • Don’t Skip Your Q Day

    “The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” -Theodore Roosevelt

    8 Okwata warriors gathered in the pre-dawn gloom.  At 0530 we rolled out with no meddling from our Q.

    The Thang

    The Fountain was on (thanks Mitch) so we had to warm-up in it’s mist.  We circled up in the muddy waters near the fountain for our Warm-up COP:  SSH IC x 30; Peter Parkers IC x 30; DQ IC x 15; Squats IC x 20

    From there we hit the nearby benches for a round of Tabata: Channing Tatums, Decline Merks, Tatum Channings, Incline Merks, Repeato.  Disclaimer: YHC may have called for two sets of Channing Tatums in the first round.  I get so confused with that dude’s name. 

    No sign of any late arrivers as we mosey through the muddy waters to the new pull-up bars installed by the city.  Thanks again to Mitch and his fitness initiatives.  The Pax had some recovery time as YHC struggled to divide 8 by 3.  I finally got it figured out and commenced the next exercise. One Partner does pull-ups while another is doing burpees on the other side of the levee.  The third partner runs from one station to the next and switches off.  We did 3 sets of whatever this is called.

    Mosey to the top of the levee and grab your six.  Not literally.  I just mean sit down.  6 MOM: LBCs IC x 40; Slow Scissors x IC x 10; LBT x 44; Putin IC x 15.  Recover and Quadriphilia (Always Facing the Lake run down the levee and back up, AMRAP in 4 minutes).

    Slide down the levee a little ways for some Merkins around the clock: 1200 IC x 10; 0300 IC x 8; 0600 IC x 6; 0900 IC x 8.

    Back on top of the levee for some Sungazing Squats IC x 20.  In honor of our Original Q we finished with some Yoga.  I think it was a sun salutation, or something close to it.

    Back to the flag for the COT and the naming of the FNGs.