Category: New Orleans

  • 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.

     

  • The Great 8

    YHC was going to fall short by a tenth of a point in the ISI challenge for the month of May.  But yesterday YHC saw an opportunity to take the lead, but was careful not to taunt Shooter from the Northshore and chance getting crushed!  Those NS Pax are relentless!  YHC saw that Shooter was also Q’ing this morning, which meant a fartsack by yours truly was not acceptable.  Thanks for pushing me hard this month Shooter!

    YHC was happy to see 7 others post at Okwata, 7 men committed to improve.  There were three shovel flags planted and the clock showed 0530, which could only mean one thing…..brief disclaimer….and mosey…

    Mosey around the fountain, carioca left, then right, followed by butt kicks.  Circle up on the grassy area in front for:

    Warmup

    SSH IC x 31 – Hawgcycle gave an explanation of why he uses 31 at Pontiff, which is a tribute to the number 31 worn by the great Wally Pontiff who sadly died too young.  YHC has a different reason for the 31, and that is a reference to the ship I served on in the US Navy.  It was the USS Strerett CG-31.

    The Sterett was 547 feet long, with a compliment of 418 men.  I proudly served as part of her crew from December 1988 until April 1992.

    IW IC x 20
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    Michael Phelps (Hug Yourself) IC x 10
    Sun Gods IC x 20 (10 fwd, 10 back)

    Mosey to the barre for double shots with Jack Webb

    1 merkin followed by 2 air presses (double shots) in the people chair against the barre.
    2 merkin……..4 air presses
    3 merkin……..6 air presses
    you get the idea
    10 merkins……20 air presses

    Mosey to the House of Pain for Circuits
    Pair up, four stations
    Station 1 – Bear Crawl up levee and complete 5 merkins, run back down (timer)
    Station 2 – Squats (AMRAP)
    Station 3 – Step Ups (AMRAP)
    Station 4 – Pull Ups (AMRAP)
    Rinse and Repeat

    Mosey to a steep part of the levee for 11’s

    1 Squat Okwata side, run up and over, 10 Burpees opposite side
    2 Squat Okwata side, run up and over, 9 Burpees opposite side
    You get the idea – always adds up to 11
    10 Squats Okwata side, run up and over, 1 Burpees opposite side

    The Pax seemed let down that YHC did not invoke the DirtyMacDeuce this day, and especially because this caused them to miss out on the wonderful Catalina Wine Mixers. YHC can’t leave the Pax wanting, so…
    Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10

    Mosey to the Flag for Mary

    Flutter Kicks IC x 20
    Hello Dolly IC x 20
    Dying Cock Roach IC x 20
    Penguins IC x 20
    LBC’s IC x 20

    COT
    Count off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, and Closed with a Prayer.

    Thanks for posting with me today.

    NMM
    Join us for the summer series next Wednesday night. Check your email and Group Me to find how to contribute as F3 is sponsoring. It’s going to be Epic!

     

    SYITG

     

  • Memorial Day Murph

    Growing up, Memorial Day represented the first weekend of summer.  This was the first time we would pack up the car, hitch up the boat, and head to Lake Norfork on the eastern side of the Ozarks; a ritual we would repeat every weekend until Labor Day.  I loved Memorial Day and hated Labor Day.  Labor Day represented the end of summer, the beginning of school, and the end of fun.  Made sense that a holiday celebrating work would represent all those terrible things.  Also appropriate, Memorial Day represented freedom.  School was out.  It was time to be care-free and head to the lake.  I had a good understanding that Memorial Day represented freedom, but I never considered the cost associated with that freedom.  And that is unfortunate, because that is what the holiday is really about.

    So for Memorial Day 2018 F3 New Orleans did our best to recall the sacrifices made.  We, like many others around the nation, completed a Murph.  A Murph is a 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 merkins, 300 squats and a 1 mile run, named in honor of Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy Seal who lost his life in Afghanistan.  I have feeling the real Murph didn’t modify his pull-ups as much as I did.  Oh and he wore a weighted vest through the whole thing.

    Naked Man Moleskin

    Great showing by the Uptown and World Pax, coming together at City Park.  I was impressed.  Further confirmation that 0530 is the right time to workout on the weekdays:  November Project showed up at 0600 only to find us on the equipment.  It worked out though, mainly because the F3 Pax crushed this Murph.  We were all running our final mile by the time they needed the pull-up space.  Lucky for them, there was no showdown.  Also lucky for us Da Parish and Rudy were not around.  I’m certain they would have broken into song from West Side Story.

    Impressive times by all.  I believe Mahatma and Gabrielle completed it in about 36 minutes. We finished with Mary, culminating in a 21 gun salute of the American Hammer.

    Great way to start the week and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.  Thanks guys.

  • The Dome Patrol

    Nip/Tuck has been leading a band of merry Blue Ridge Runners in a parking garage training run downtown by the dome.  We decided to make it official.  So if you want to attend F3 New Orleans newest AO, meet near the dome at the corner of Poydras and LaSalle.

    This weeks run consisted of the Arena parking garage (3 times) and the Hyatt Parking Garage (3 times).  In all we ran 4.6 miles and my Garmin tells me we climbed 186 ft.  To Tinkle’s point, seems like 6 garages would be a little more elevation, but probably not a lot.  The mileage and elevation gain are approximately equal to leg 9 of the BRR.  In case you were wondering, it’s one of the easy legs.

    We finished up on time and had a COT to make it official.  Come join us.

     

  • Wally Warm-Up

    Sorry, really late backblast.  Better late than never, but not much as the memory had faded.

    I do remember the warm-up, or at least the theme.  It is common for a Pontiff workout to start with 31 Side Straddle Hops.  Wally Pontiff, the namesake of the park, wore 31 playing baseball at LSU.  He died of a heart attack in his sleep when he was 21.  Had that not happened, he’d probably be working out with us in the gloom.  Starting the workout with 31 SSHs has always been my way of thanking a family that’s given to our community and honoring a guy that died way to young.

    So today I wanted to stretch the warm-up out a little and make it a little more challenging than normal.  We did 31 of each exercise.  It went something like this:  SSH, IW, Squats, Moroccan Night Club, Peter Parkers, Windmills, Parker Peters, Dying Cockroach, Calf Raises

    Then we grabbed some rocks and did a couple of rounds of 3-6-3 exercises.  This involves 3 super slow reps, a hold, 6 normal, in-cadence reps, a hold, and then finish with 3 super-slow reps.  I made it up almost a year ago, because I’m a punk.  The World had beaten Uptown by a score of 363 to 360 in the Gnarly Nutria.  I Qd a month later at Audubon and developed this exercise pattern to remind them of the winning score.  However, it’s actually a pretty good workout.  So we did 2 rounds of shoulder presses, Squats, Curls, Toe Raises, and Rows.

    Then we carried one large and one small rock to the playground.  3 stations:  Bench Press with large rock AMRAP, 90 degree hang, and Plank.  30 second plank was the timer.  2 Rounds of that.  Then we moved to 3 more stations:  Swing Merkin, Swing Row, Tricep curl with small rock.  7 Swing Merkins was the timer.  We completed 1 round and returned our rocks.

    Good workout with a couple of great guys.  r

  • Stomp #144

    A half dozen of NOLA’s most elite, middle-aged athletic phenoms showed up on Tuesday to prove we can still run like, or even better than, a bunch of youngsters.  After exchanging the usual pleasantries and kicking around some ideas on which route we’d run, it was concluded that we would embark on a variation the original route, which is now safe and enjoyable since we have some daylight to work with.  This week’s Stomp entailed the following:

    Mosey OYO down Marconi to Harrison (or Filmore for the non-conformists), down Harrison to Wisner, Wisner to the road in front of Pan Am, then make your way to the practice track which was 3.15 mile, or 4.5ish for the show-offs that went to Filmore.  Once back at the track, use remaining time for some speedwork, running the straightaways and jogging/walking the turns.  We headed back to the flag with a few minutes left for Plankorama and hip flexors to make sure we stay young and agile.  All PAX were able to run between 4-5 miles ea in 40+ minutes….well done men!

    Always a good way to start the day.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

    Tool

     

     

  • Curls For The Girls

    Seven men got some loving with rocks on Friday at Pontiff…gotta get those guns and upper body honed for the summer.  No running involved so lot’s of time to hopefully build some muscle.  Here’s what we did:

    • IPW x25
    • Goofballs x20
    • AC x20
    • WM x20
    • Crab Cakes x20
    • LS Squat x20
    • 1 round of Crowd Pleasers (Merkin:Groiner, 1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:4, 5:5, 4:4, 3:3, 2:2, 1:1)

    Headed to the rock pile and grab something large for curling then circled up for Curls x12 IC

    Deposited large rock over outfield fence, grabbed a regular/medium rock, lifted overhead, and lined up for an Indian Lunge Walk to the field entrance.  From there we deposited med rock on baseline, then bear crawled to get large rock.

    Next up, everyone’s favorite, 11’s:

    • Side #1 – Curls w/large rock
    • Bear Crawl approx 10yds to…
    • Side #2 – Squat Press w/med rock
    • Backwards Bear Crawl Back

    Then time to break for some Mary:

    • Rosalita x25
    • Penguins x20
    • WWII Sit Ups x20
    • Chest Press w/large rock x20
    • Flutter Kick holding rock above chest x20
    • Russian Twist x20
    • Row ? x20?

    Just enough time left for one last upper body COP, this time rotating clockwise and using next rock in line.  YHC mentioned it never hurts to try some “strange”.  Seven rocks so seven quick rounds, all IC:

    • Curls x5
    • Curls x5
    • Curls x5
    • Shoulder Press x5
    • Shoulder Press x5
    • Curls x5
    • Curls x5

    Walked back to base, keeping rocks moving the whole time with more presses and curls.

    COT to cap things off.  Fine job men!

    Tool

     

     

     

  • Teamwork

    Mosey over for a quick warm up in the great lawn.

    • 15x Plank Jacks IC
    • 20x Elevator Merkins IC
    • 20x Peter Parkers IC
    • 20x SSHs IC

    Partner up for some Dora 1-2-3.

    1. 100 Burpees (at the Great Lawn)
    2. 200 Mayweathers (at NOMA)
    3. 300 Squats (NOMA neutral ground)

    Mosey over to the refinery and split into 2 groups.

    1. Calf Raise Circuit (timer)
    2. 3x Pull ups, 5x Merkins/Squats AMRAP

    Back to the flag, where we held the COT. Coffeteria and 3rd F (Q’d by Woz) was held after…great time!

    Moleskin

    MURPH at the Foundry…get some!

  • Okwata Route 66 and then the Train Ran out of Time

    We had a beautiful Okwata morning with a thundercloud to the south providing special effects.    But, the rain held off.  Disclaimer and then the THANG:

    The PAX moseyed around the fountain and then circled up for the warm-up: SSH 25xIC, Abe Vigoda 15xIC, Sun Gods 10xIC each direction, Imperial Walkers 25xIC, and Peter Parkers 205xIC, and Parker Peters 20xIC.

    Then, the PAX moseyed to the seawall for Route 66 ( 11 stops) staring at the lightpost approaching Canal Blvd. Merkins out ascending.  LBCs back descending.  Low slow squats out ascending. Dying cockroach back descending.  Hello Dolly out descending.  The PAX enjoyed lots of up and down with their moseys.

    To get back for COT, the PAX moseyed to the top of the levee and commenced to Railroad Track back.  The PAX couldn’t take the train all the way because of time, but YHC is going to work Railroad Track into a Q in the future.

    When the PAX reached the flag, Count-o-rama, Name-O-Rama, announcements, intentions, and COT.

    To toil and not to seek for rest,
    Surge