F3 New Orleans

Category: New Orleans

  • Winter is Coming

    YHC arrived at the AO a few minutes early. Was YHC the first to arrive today? Wait, who are the others huddled in their vehicles? Is it cold? No, not yet, but Winter is Coming. And who are the guys putting make up on? Since that is a question YHC doesn’t want to know the answer to, how about an easier one. Where are all the Shovel Flags? Speaking of Shovel Flags, where are all the Backblasts that document where the Shovel Flags were placed? Speaking of backblasts, time to get back to the task at hand…..

    0630, so time for the disclaimer……and then…mosey to the great lawn for:

    Warmup
    SSH IC x 31
    Merkin Merkins IC x 10

    Since some seemed to think this morning was cold, not JV or Rudy, as they wore their sleeveless F3 shirts, YHC needed to get the Pax heated up. Lucky for the Pax, YHC had just the thing:

    Blackjack on the Great Lawn (count always equals 21)
    1 merkin one side, run across and do 20 LBC’s on the other side, run back across.
    2 merkin one side, run across and do 19 LBC’s on the other side, run back across.
    …
    …
    20 merkins one side, run across and do 1 LBC on the other side, run back across.

    Mosey to the Peristyle
    Flutter Kicks IC x 20
    Dolly IC x 20
    Rosalita IC x 20

    On the brick walkway outside the Peristyle:
    Bear crawl from bench one to bench three
    Copperhead Squats IC x 20
    Bear Crawl from bench three to bench six
    Jumps Squats OYO x 20

    Back to the Great Lawn for BLIMPS at the corners OYO, mosey between exercises
    Burpees x 10
    Lunges x 15 each leg
    Imperial walkers x 20
    Merkins x 25
    Plank Jacks x 30
    Squats x 35

    Mosey to the NOMA Fountain
    LL Step Ups IC x 10
    Derkins Derkins IC x 10
    RL Step UPs IC x 10

    Mosey to the grass near the fountain
    Catalina Wine Mixers x 10

    Mosey back to the VSF.
    One minute Left, so plank.

    COT

    Count off, Nam-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and closed out with BOM and a prayer.

    Capped it all off with coffeteria and some great F2.

    Winter may be coming, but F3 will keep you warm. Come on out and join your brothers. Better yet, sign up to Q and lead your brothers.

    ISI Challenge Participants: Add 285 Merkins (295 if you count the Burpees) and 5.79 km to your total.

    SYITG

  • And Then There Were Three

    One of YHC’s favorite songs: from Genesis’ 1978 album And Then There Were Three.  Sure enough, as 5:30 arrived on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain – 3 PAX gathered for a workout.

    But today’s theme was not Genesis.  No, not today (but maybe a future workout).  Today YHC had something else in mind.  Technically, YHC had something else in the trunk.

    The Thang: Mosey to the trunk of YHC’s car and each PAX grab a pair of bricks.  Get to know your bricks, they will be your friends for the next 45 minutes.

    Mosey over towards, and around, the fountain.  Mix in some High Knee, Karaoke, and Butt Kicks before settling in on the grass.

    COP #1: Usual Rudy Warmup

    • SSH x25
    • IW x25
    • Plank-o-Rama: PP x25, FM (with Bricks) x20, PP x25, PJ x30

    COP #2: 2 Pax exercise while 1 Pax runs a lap.  All exercises and laps done with bricks.  Repeat each exercise until each PAX has taken advantage of the opportunity to run laps twice.

    • 8 Count Body Builders.  (JV turned them into 10 count, adding a brick-press).
    • Lunges
    • Dying Cockroaches

    YHC noticed quickly that just holding the bricks throughout was, in itself, a good grip workout.  YHC also noticed that each lap JV ran seemed to be different – different direction, different distance.  Some around the fountain, some around 1 quad, some around both quads, some around the fountain and one quad.  While lunging, YHC wondered what the inside of JV’s head must be like.

    COP #3: October ISI Challenge continuing, so YHC needed more pullups.  With our brick friends, mosey to the top of the levee and over to the HOP.

    • Down the levee to the HOP.  Pull-ups x5
    • Up the levee.  Brick Murican x5
    • Still on the levee.  Squats x5
    • Repeat x5

    Triple Shift crushed us.  Impressive watching the machine knock out the Pull Ups then sprint back up the levee.  Nice work!

    COP #4: Mosey back to the VSF to finish with some Brick-Mary

    • Putin x20
    • Flutter x20
    • Rosalita x20
    • Crunch x20

    COT: Countoff and Name-o-rama (both of which go pretty quickly when there are only 3).  Finish with a prayer, asking for God’s providence to help us use the gift of today wisely.  YHC asks for blessings on a long time friend of the family who passed away last night.  Close with St. Ignatius’ Prayer for Generosity.

    JV, Triple Shift: Thank you for humoring me as I decided to try something different today with the bricks.  I think it went well enough that I’ll give it a shot again one day soon.

  • Visiting the Birdcage

    “Don’t worry about me. I joined to fight. If necessary, I shall die fighting. Those things which are precious are saved only by sacrifice.” – Band of Brothers, Stephen E. Ambrose

    15 Pax strong in the chilly gloom at the Birdcage AO.  Let’s see what we did….but first,

    DISCLAIMER

    The Thang

    A quick Roots lap thru the parking lot, and over to a grassy area.

    COP #1

    10x Merkins IC
    10x Shoulder Taps IC
    10x Plank Jacks IC
    10x Merkins IC
    10x Squats IC (Hold Al Gore on the last one)
    10x Squat Pulses IC
    10x Burpees OYO

    Mosey thru lamp post alley, and partner up at lamp post #2

    Circuit #1

    Pax 1: runs to lamp post #1, and back.
    Pax 2: runs to lamp post #3, and back.

    35 sec x Sprints OYO
    15x Power Squats IC
    10x Mountain Climbers IC

    Did four sets of this bad boy. YHC was huffing and puffining.

    Mosey down the track and over to the railroad track.  We stopped halfway for this:

    COP#2

    10x Putins IC
    10x Penguins IC

    Finally got to the track for this:

    Jacob’s Ladder: Seven times up the hill, with an increasing number of burpees at the top each trip up. Seven is perfection!

    Mosey over to the Birdcage ledge for this.

    COP #3

    12x Dips IC
    12x Dips IC
    12x Dips IC

    Mosey back to the flag. We stopped halfway and did this:

    COP #4

    10x Hello Dolly IC
    10x Flutter Kicks IC
    10x Crunchy Frogs IC

    Back at the flag. We ended with the COT, which included the Countoff, Nameorama, Shoutouts, and a Prayer.

    Thanks for letting me lead.

    Moleskin

    Great time hanging with the Uptown crew.  Always good to go back to the original Wednesday AO.

     

     

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.
  • Octal October & October Surprise

    Octal October & October Surprise

    “And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave.” ~~Captain Ahab

     

    So today we ditched the decimal(base 10)counting system and went with octal(base 8) counting. With a twist; If any PAX cadenced 8,9,18,19 we all had to do 10 merkins for punishment.

    Here is a table for reference:
    1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 decimal count
    1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,20,21,22,23,24 octal count

    here is how it went;

    short disclaimer

    warmup

    all in OCTAL CADENCE; side straddle hops, imperial walkers, toe touches, good mornings, arm circles, lunges, butt-kicks, squats, seal-jacks, mummy-kicks, high-knees
    we all fumbled the counting one time or another, and thus ended up doing about 120 “punishment for not concentrating”” merkins

     

    mosey to the “BEDROCK QUARRY”
    each PAX picks out a good sized limestone boulder, for coupon exercises
    on the ground for rowing exercise, then up for arm curls, all in octal cadence

     

    mosey to the front of the Taj Mahal
    circle up by the flagpole – step back to outer ring, everyone in plank position,
    10 merkins each, then one PAX jumps up and runs around and up the steps, while the PAX planks,
    repeat until all took their turn
    Next, bear crawl in to the flagpole, crab crawl out, repeat
    Next, 10 burpees

    mosey to the back of the St.Tammany Parish Courthouse Annex parking garage,
    backwards lunge walk halfway up the first floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way
    jog/walk across the second floor ramp
    backwards lunge walk halfway up third floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way

    And now….Moby-Dick takes over the queue with his October Surprise: and the PAX is treated to the inaugural launch of SV Pequod, with each PAX member getting the excellent opportunity to drag Capt Ahab on a Nantucket Sleigh ride, and then to play Capt Ahab and be dragged. Much fun and cheering as we all took turns. See picture of Shooter towing two!! And that non-skid surface was not stopping us!!

     

     

     

     

    And the PAX gives YHC a hard time for not knowing the nuances of the novel “Moby-Dick”, but in Catholic elementary school we were not allowed to read anything with “Dick” in it.

    Nice spray-paint job on the SV Pequod, Moby!! You must have used a template.

    mosey back to the trail head.

    count-o-rama, good prayer led by Shooter, we bid our adieus and head out to take on the day.

  • Across the River with El Wire a classic

    El wire stepped up for Landing Strip who damaged his “wrist” doing whatever Landing Strip does in his free time.  Probably burpees.  Probably.

    Warm up SSH and some other things.

    Ran to Monkey Hill.  Did some backwards bear crawls.

    Also did a variation of douilles – instant classic the levee.  There were Russian Twists.

    We American Ninja warrior’d using the soccer goal- you had to grab the bar and slide across the “river”.

    Then we finished with a Ring of Fire on the bandstand.

    Tclaps to Wire for stepping up.

    Next Q lets learn how to post one of these things.

    Convergence is Saturday.

  • Wisner Mountain – Stomp #111

    “I just felt like running” – Forest Gump

    The 111th Stomp took place this morning, and 9 brave men were there to enjoy it.  The gloom graced us with lots of humidity and a lack of wind had the PAX really fired up to embark on a long mosey.  Welcome Jiffy from F3 Birmingham who is in town for a few days.  Rumor had it we were going to conquer the newly opened Wisner Overpass, so after briefing the PAX on the route and the usual disclaimer, we were off and on our way to the east side of City Park.  Here’s what we did:

    Leg #1:  Mosey at your own pace from the flag on Roosevelt Mall to the foot of the Wisner Overpass.  Approx 1 mile.

    Leg#2:  Run at your own pace up and down the overpass on the pedestrian lane and once on the north side, veer left on the service road along Bayou St. John for approx 100+yds, turn around at the stop sign and head back across the overpass.  This made for an approx .85 mile loop.  The goal was to run this loop (full or partial) multiple times until approx 6:05ish.  T-claps to the guys in the front PAX for knocking out three full loops plus some lagniappe.  Others knocked out 2 and some change.  The inclines seemed long and a tad brutal but nothing the PAX couldn’t handle.  The absence of breeze allowed us to really take in the all so pleasant aroma of steamy swamp mud from the bayou and carbon dioxide from the interstate below.  YHC got the impression the PAX was pumped up when we got to the bridge and glad when we departed.

    Leg #3: Backtrack leg#1 and head back to the flag at you own pace.

    Most guys covered between 4-5 miles total.  I think a few could have probably gone 5+ if YHC had mentioned prior that there was no need to wait at the start/stop of each leg….sorry for the mixup.   Either way, those guys kept busy with core work while waiting for the six.  Apparently JV’s watch was not in sync and made him tardy at the end but we’ll give him a pass since he’s posted 200+ times this year.

    Closed out with a COT and prayer.  Thanks to those who posted and continue to push each other.

    Tool