F3 New Orleans

Category: New Orleans

  • Going BIG at Rock City!

    When Rudy signed me up to Q Rock City at Coffeeteria 2 weeks ago, I said ‘Sure’, thinking that this will be a piece of cake.  Then reality set in at 4:45 am this morning.  What the heck was I thinking?  In preparation for the GoRuck in 6 days, should I take it easy and taper down with some stretching or Yoga or should I go BIG!  Why did I agree to this?  Didn’t I know I needed to save my strength?  I’m not a Millenial!  Well, needless to say, Leaders Lead and the 12 PAX that showed up inspired me to go BIG!

    THE WARMUP

    We moseyed over to the rock pile and warmed up with

    30 IC x SSH

    15 IC x High Knees

    14 IC x Butt Kicks (Lost count)

    20 IC x Plank Jacks

    Enough already, let’s get the pre-welcome party started.

    THE THANG

    QIC instructed the PAX to get a big rock and then mosey to the center of the track field.  I informed the men that we will do a descending ladder from ten (10) to one (1) of 8 Count Bodybuilders (no Rock), shoulder presses IC, Squats IC and Flutter Kicks IC with the Rock.  After rounds 10, 9 and 8, QIC decided that a quick 400-meter jaunt would liven things up a little.

    NOPE!  Just panting and sweating.

    After a 20 count from Shorty, we did rounds 7, 6, and 5 with another 400-meter run and another 20 count from Shorty.

    I’m running out of gas!

    Finally, we finished off with rounds 4, 3, 2 and 1 and you guessed it….another 400-meter run.

    I’m really tired now!

    Thankful the pain is almost over. We picked up our Rocks and moseyed back to the pile and made a deposit and then worked our way back to the flag.

    We picked up our Rocks and moseyed back to the Rock Pile and made our deposit and then worked our way back to the flag.

    Countoff, Namerama and COT for strength for Tool and Brady and all parents of special needs children, Fracsac’s dad, and Maverick’s uncle.  Sorry if I left out someone.  As the Sun was coming up over the tree line, I could feel it’s warmth and energy especially after starting in the Gloom.  Prayers to the Creator to help us reject passivity and indifference and allow us to leave a positive legacy for our families and communities.  So thankful for the Sun but especially THE SON!

  • Ultimate Frisbee

    “Ultimate [insert-item-here]” – Da Parish

    I mean, he does deserve the quote spot with his 29+ Groupme messages that day….I guess that’s what happens when we change it up with some Ultimate Frisbee for a beatdown.  In fact, you would’ve thought the convergence was today with the 27 Pax posting.  Anyway, with cones, flags, and frisbee (Tclaps Roots for bringing one!) in hand, we were off….but first….DISCLAIMER

    The Thang

    Mosey over to the Festival Grounds so YHC could set up the 50 yd x 90 yd field (roughly) while the Pax split up into two teams, one with flags and one without….then each team to a separate endzone for some Ultimate Frisbee.  Rules are simple:

    • Teams advance the frisbee by throwing/catching the frisbee to reach the other teams endzone for a point.
    • Thrower (guy with frisbee) cannot move.
    • Defense on Thrower – 3 yd safe zone.
    • Penalties:
      • Turnovers (frisbee hits the ground or intercepted) – turnover team does 2 reps of exercise before playing defense
      • Scores – defense does 5 reps of exercise while scoring team runs to their endzone for kickoff

    We played two (25 min) halfs, with a Plank Hold Water Break in between.

    • Penalty Exercises:
      • 1st Half – Burpees
      • 2nd Half – Merkins

    By the end of it, the score ended up 10-9 (closer that the Warriors vs Cavs series so far), no one was injured, and we ended up doing 70 – 90 Burpees, 70 – 90 Merkins, ran over 3 miles, and found out how much fun it was to be a kid again!  Also found out that Bubba should tryout for the Ultimate Frisbee Olympic Team….is that a thing??  It should be!

    Mosey back over to the parking lot near the flag…noticed a quarter of the Pax was missing.  What happened?  Were they still playing Ultimate?  Did they get lost?  Turns out they were getting in some strength training by pushing a car out of the mud #GRT.

    The Pax regrouped for the single COT of the day:

    COP #1: 3MOM

    15x Crunchy Frogs IC
    15x Hello Dolly IC

    Back to the flag for the COT, where we held the Countoff, Nameorama, Shoutouts and Prayer. Thanks for bringing your competitive edge this gloom…We will do it again!

    Moleskin

    • NOTC Summer Series 2 miler is Wednesday in City Park.  F3 / FiA is sponsoring the event. Come be a walking billboard for the F3NOLA Pax.
    • Convergence is this Saturday, June 10th in AUDUBON PARK at 0800 hrs.  By rule, we need to get 100 Pax there, so bring anyone and everyone you know!  Dredd & OBT (founders of F3) will be on Q, and you won’t want to miss it!  Coffeeteria / Grow School will be held after, and it will be a great time.
    • Grow Ruck 03 is also Saturday, June 10th in City Park (Mothership AO) at 1700 hrs.

  • Countdown to Grow Ruck

    “Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

    – Mark Twain

    7 men of F3 gathered at Okwata at 0530 on a Sunday morning, fired up to get another ruck in before the Growruck event next weekend.  Terabyte asked if his M could shadow, as they have been rucking together over the last few weeks.  There were no objections.  YHC would struggle to get his M up that early, unless there was a flight to an exotic place in the works, and there were no later flights available.  YHC would prefer not to consider the response from his M if he were to ask, “would you like to don a weighted ruck sack and ruck for 2 hours with me and the guys at 0530 on a Sunday morning?”
    Upon arrival at Okwata, YHC and Triple Shift saw the same two individuals outside the same truck, and in the same spot, as last Sunday. YHC would normally take the opportunity to employ an EH, but thought better of it. Like beasts in the wild, they seemed less interested with our presence from the week before. Too bad this will be our last Sunday ruck for a while.
    Ruck sacks on, time to go! Triple Shift was thoughtful enough to bring a coupon along. This is getting real! YHC thought, “in one week from now, our group will be finishing up….or maybe just wishing it was over”
    Roots, Heisenberg, Triple Shift and Bogey gave YHC a run down on what used to be where the new pump station is past the SYC as we made our way to Breakwater Park, where the road was lined with litter. It’s a shame people don’t take more pride in their city and pick up after themselves. Bogey pointed out the incredible yacht owned by Otto Candies. There was plenty of good F2 the whole way.
    There was some discussion along the way about how younger members would help to ease the load of the older guys. With that, YHC took the coupon for a third time, and put the age factor to rest. F3 has prepared us well for this upcoming challenge, and we will be better for doing it.
    After approximately 2 hours and 6.6 miles, the PAX called it a day.
    Count off, nam-o-rama, and a prayer for strength to tackle the Grow Ruck challenge next week.
    Thanks for rucking with me today.

     

  • Hump Day Delight

    It was a damp and gloomy Wednesday in City Park but fortunately we were spared any rain. Solid turnout with 8 faithful PAX of F3 and a not-so-solid turnout with the rest of the Wed am exercise enthusiasts that typically converge on that area of City Park.  No boot camp crowd, no track team practice, only a few stragglers in site….this would mean we’d have the track to ourselves so YHC altered the route laid out in his hard drive.  The high and almost dry track area would be much more enjoyable than the soggy grass that had been saturated with rain all week.  Maybe YHC is getting weak or picky or maybe it’s just the flashbacks from the “Duck Diharreah” workout that had me questioning the morals of F3.  Keeping the feet dry is always a plus in my book.  As the PAX trickled in, we were graced by Amnesty’s reappearance after getting back from three weeks in The Philippines with the USMC.  Thanks for your service and glad to have you back in the gloom.  The workout in store was intended to hone in on the upper body and hopefully improve our pull ups, something YHC has always struggled with.  After informing the PAX of what was on tap, then the disclaimer, and off in a mosey to the west side of the track.

    Warmup (all IC):

    • SSH x30
    • Hill Billies x20
    • Arm Circles x20
    • Chinook Squats (aka Stripper Tease) x20
    • Plank Roll x20
    • Cherry Picker x20

    Realign near the edge of the rubberized area (50yds long according to Google Maps).  Usually we have to share this space with others but today it was all ours.  Great surface for crawling and less slippery than the green alternative.  Here’s what we knocked out:

    1. Bear crawl across
    2. Mosey back
    3. Crab Walk across (forward half way, backward the other half)
    4. Backpedal back
    5. Lunge Walk half, Bear Crawl half
    6. Mosey back
    7. Lunge walk half, Crab Walk half
    8. Backpedal back

    Catch our breath and trot to The Foundry where we paired off into four groups for a circuit routine:

    1. Body Rows AMRAP
    2. Run to water fountain, grab a sip, Squats x20, run back (Timer, approx 1 minute)
    3. The “Shorty Special” at the monkey bars: Pull Ups x2, Merkins x5, alternate AMRAP
    4.  Flutter Kicks AMRAP

    Rinse and repeat for two rounds total.  Make our way back to base with a detour for another COP that YHC hoped to squeeze in.  In lieu of 6MOM, we attempted to do 5 Minutes of Cardio, aka Cinco de Cardio….five different cardio-packed exercises for one minute each:

    1. Up Downs
    2. Rapid Low Country Crab
    3. …….Ran out of time but hoped to also do: Burpees, Semi-Circle Mountain Climbers, and Side Hops.

    Mosey across the track and back to the flag to commence another fine hump day beatdown with the PAX.  T-claps to Griz for detouring to pick up a few pieces of litter near the sidewalk….gotta keep our AO’s looking good!  Wrapped up with a COT.

    Always a great way to start the day.  Thanks for letting me lead.

    Tool

     

     

     

     

     

  • 45 minutes of Mary

    9 strong at Okwata on a rainy gloomy gloom.

    YHC always thought to do a core only work out, today would be that day. #45minutesofmary Has it ever been done in NOLA??

    Mosey around the fountain.

    Warm Up COP:

    25 X SSH

    25 X Hillbillies

    25 X Plank Jacks

    15 X Cowbells (Smurf Jacks)

    10 F/B X Arm Circles

    Mosey to the lakefront for:

    “Hurricane Hoedown”

    4 different variations of flutter kicks (Sitting up right with hands in the air, slightly reclined, laying down, crunch position)

    7 X each variation

    6 X each variation, etc. down to 1

    11’s on the lakefront (LBC / Hello Dolly)

    Mosey up Canal Blvd to the levee and to the pull up bar shelter.

    Circuit:

    -Hanging Leg Ups

    -Russian Twist X 20 (TImer)

    -Dying Cockroach

    Repeat X 2 (last round Russian Twist X 10)

    Mosey to the parking lot median for:

    “Hands of TIme”

    Circle up, feet out, heads in, legs at 90 degrees, legs down to 10 degrees and count off after the person to your left counts,legs back to 90. continue around the circle.

    We got to 150. #crowdpleaser

    1 minute left, time for Mary!

    20 X LBC

    Great post by the entire PAX, especially our Friendly New Visitor from Spain, The Stranger!

    Always a pleasure to lead y’all.

  • Lafitte’s Plunge #18 – Don’t Get Wet in the Rain

    *tip tap *tip tap

    The rain beat intermittently on my roof this morning.  Only having put the baby down 4 hours and 10 minutes prior, YHC knew the gloom would be extra gloomy.  Good thing I was going swimming and not working out in the rain.  *snooze

    5:10 am – GET UP!!! GET UP!!! GET UP!!!

    5:20 am – In the car, “Siri, text F3”

    5:38 am – Take The Plunge (Amnesty had already completed most of the 200 yd w/u)

    The Thang (distance 950 yds)

    • 200 yd w/u
    • Pace work:  25 yd Sprint, :30 rest, 50yd fast,  :20 rest, 100 yd swim, :10 rest, 25 yd Sprint.    Rinse & Reverse: :30 rest, 100yd swim, :20 rest, 50yd fast, :10 rest, 25yd Sprint
    • 11’s (I don’t know why, but I always come back to 11’s) Merkins/WWII Sit Ups

    Running Club at The Basin tonight at 6:30, M’s & Shorties are welcome – https://www.facebook.com/groups/930543780411154/?ref=bookmarks

    Thank you for the opportunity to Lead,

    Da Parish

  • GrowRuck 03 Preblast & Agenda Update

    Gentlemen,

    With GrowRuck 03 quickly approaching, I wanted to provide you with an update on the agenda for the weekend. Please read this comz completely, and if you have questions, let me know either through comments below or on the Twitter machine.

    First off, I want to thank the local Qs for their help in organizing the event. These men (listed below) have spent many hours herding cats and without their hard work, this event would not be possible. Next time you seen them thank them.

    Local Qs:

    • NOLA: Heisenberg
    • Northshore: Turbo
    • Houston: Leprechaun

    Secondly, I want to tell you men how excited I am about the opportunity that lies before us. As anyone who’s done an event like a GORUCK Tough before will tell you, putting yourself in a stressful and difficult situation helps you better understand who you are, and where your limits lie. Most men who take on and finish a Tough find that those limits are well past what they originally perceived. Additionally, the bonds forged in these difficult situations are strong and not easily broken.

    This experience paired with F3 GrowSchool will hopefully strengthen your leadership chops and give you some tools to help you grow your regions.

    Now, here’s all the logistical info that you’ll need to know for the weekend:

    T-Shirts

    We’ll distribute t-shirts during GrowSchool on Saturday AM. Wearing these shirts has been scientifically proven to make you ruck hard. Trust me.

    Packing List

    Please double-check that you have all the required items on the packing list in your ruck prior to start time. Don’t be the guy that causes OBT to have to do 100 (more) burpees because you forgot your $20 or extra batteries.

    Required Packing List

    • A rucksack or backpack
    • 6 Bricks (4 if under 150 lbs) / 30# plate (20# if under 150 lbs)
    • Water – 2L minimum (hydration bladder recommended)
    • PT belt/reflective band around your ruck
    • $20 cab fare (but you aren’t allowed to quit)
    • Headlamp with extra batteries
    • A photo ID

    You can check out GORUCK’s full packing list and recommended items here.

    Agenda

    Friday Night

    Capitol Ruck Tour in Baton Rouge: Friday, June 9th 6:30 (caravan from City Park)
    City Park (1 Palm Dr, New Orleans, LA 70124)

    For GrowRuck 03, we have the opportunity to combine some 1st and 2ndF on Friday night by taking part of the final portion of Cadre Danny Stoke’s Capitol Ruck Tour in Baton Rouge. Danny (our GORUCK cadre) is traveling across our great United States this year to raise awareness and money for Operation Enduring Warrior. OEW’s mission is “to honor, empower, and motivate our nation’s wounded veterans through a physical, mental and emotional rehabilitation”. It’s an amazing organization and I’m proud that we’ll be able to support it.

    We’ll ruck the last few miles of the tour, then take part in the closing ceremony at the Louisiana State Capitol where representatives from OEW will speak to the group about their experience in the service.

    The trip to BR and back should give the crew plenty of time to hang out and get some good 2ndF in, and I’m proud that F3 will make a big presence at this stop on the Ruck Tour.

    The plan is to meet up with the rest of the group at 8:30 at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine (Skip Bertman Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70803) for the last 4 miles of the ruck to the Capitol. To do so, the New Orleans crew will meet at City Park (1 Palm Dr, New Orleans, LA 70124) at 6:30 to caravan to the rally point. The Northshore guys will coordinate travel from their AO, and the Houston guys will arrive in Baton Rouge in time to rally with us.

    The patch ceremony should wrap around 10pm allowing us to get back to New Orleans by midnight.

    Capitol Ruck Tour
    https://www.facebook.com/capitaltour2017/

    Operation Enduring Warrior
    http://enduringwarrior.org

    Saturday

    Convergence: Saturday Morning, June 10th 8:00am – 9:00am
    Audubon Park (6500 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70118)

    Convergence led by Dredd & OBT, with men from three local regions. This is not intended to be a heavy, break-you workout, but hell, you never know with these two guys at the helm.

    Please, please, please encourage everyone to participate in the Saturday AM convergence and GrowSchool.

    Coffeeteria & GrowSchool: Saturday Morning, June 10th 9:30am – 11:30am
    PJ’s Coffee (5432 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115)

    Breakfast provided (we’ll pass the hat to cover it), in a sit-down instructional setting, led by Dredd & OBT in the back room at PJs Coffee. If you’re the type of guy that doesn’t have total recall, bring a notebook to jot down some truth nuggets.

    GORUCK  Tough Challenge: Saturday Evening, June 10th 5:00pm
    City Park (56 Dreyfous Dr, New Orleans, LA 70119)

    Our challenge will take place at City Park and will begin at 6:00pm sharp. Our start location is the Goldring/Woldenberg Great Lawn. Be there for pre-challenge BOM at 5:30.

    If anyone would like to shadow the event, they need to be at the starting point to receive instructions from the cadre. Also, since this is an F3 event, we have a “dudes-only” rule for shadows.

    Sunday

    You can plan on the GrowRuck to last approximately 12-ish hours, depending on our performance.

    Finally, I’d like to leave you with this, the best advice I’ve ever received: When I was gearing up for my first GORUCK Challenge, and had the pre-event jitters, one of my buddies told me “Don’t worry Robber, they won’t eat you, and they can’t take away your birthday”.

    Remember that.

    -Robber

  • Heavy Shoes, Light Hearts

    The rains of the week blessed us with a cool morning and plenty of soggy ground to play with.

    We started with a comfortable mosey around the clubhouse parking lot that allowed us to gather the straggling PAX who seemingly modified their alarm clocks this AM.

    Once at a dry patch on the field in front of the zoo, we got to warming up:

    • Sidestraddle hop x 25
    • Arm Circles forward x 20
    • Arm Circles backward x 20 (missing Seaman’s countdown)
    • Imperial Walker Squats x 20
    • Peter Parkers x 20

    A mosey took us across the train tracks to a levee that could more appropriately be described as a mountain rising from the surrounding marshland.

    Here we partnered up for Dora 1-2-3’s up and over the levee:

    • Merkins x 100
    • LBC’s x 200
    • Squats x 300

    With heavy breaths and heavier shoes, we mosied back to Oak Alley and the lamp posts:

    • From the track, Bear Crawl to first lamp post: Putins x 25
    • Bear Crawl to 2nd post: Dying Cockroach x 30
    • Bear Crawl to 3rd post: Parker Peters x 20
    • Bear Crawl to 4th post: Box Cutters x 20, with a complimentary hold at the end at 45 degrees

    After an easy mosey to the shelter:

    • Left Leg Step-Ups x 20
    • Dips x 20
    • Right Leg Step-Ups x 20

    Finally, wetter with sweat than the ground we trod on, we mosied back to the flag for the Count-Off, Name-o-rama, Announcements, and BOM. Happy to see the 13 PAX this morning. Thanks for following along with the workout and keeping a light heart in the mud – Jadeveon.

  • MARSOC Beatdown

    Rudy joined us at the Wolfpack on Friday ostensibly for some uptown fellowship but perhaps he really wanted to ensure the Mothership had an uptown Q for Saturday. Quick Draw had to postpone his Q and I volunteered to fill in.  What to do?

    In memory of those that sacrificed for our freedom I chose to lead the Pax through a military themed post on this Memorial Day weekend Saturday.  I for one was sucking air and this certainly help put my cush civilian life in perspective.

    Mosey to the big American flag near the peristyle for a warmup:

    • SSH X 30
    • Hill Billy X 20
    • IW Squat X 20
    • WWII Sit-ups X 20

    Mosey to the Foundry running path:

    (So long Walleye!)

    • Bataan Death March subbing 10 squats instead of burpees to save some stamina
    • Once we cycled through the Pax we started over with POW style Indian run until we competed the lap

    Water break and slow mosey to a grassy clearing for the main event.  The MARSOC short card. These were done in cadence and at a slower pace which proved to be a challenge on top of the challenge (i.e. perhaps a bad idea!).  This is intended to done without a break between exercises.  Full disclosure: we took an occasional 20 count and the Q even needed a water break (err ‘don’t splash merlot break’) about 2/3 of the way through.

    • 30 Merkins
    • 30 Air squats
    • 30 Crunches
    • 10 Burpees (4-count seemed to work)
    • 10 Windmills
    • 30 Merkins
    • 30 Mountain Climbers
    • 30 Flutter kicks
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Cherry pickers
    • 30 Merkins
    • 30 SSH
    • 30 Supermans
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Chain Breakers
    • 20 Merkins (Q prerogative)
    • 30 Lunges
    • 30 Hello Dollies
    • 10 Burpees
    • 10 Trunk Twists
    • 1 set of pull ups (max reps) Modified from the 3 reps on the official workout

    T claps to the Pax for busting this out.  The mumble chatter was to a minimum and I was impressed with your endurance.

    Hobble back the flag for count off, nameorama, and ball of man.  Thanks for our Freedom!

  • Rucking Around in the Rain

    Ruck for 45 minutes in the rain: that’s about it–if you’re counting time.  But life’s a journey.

    So after Cowbell ditched his Q to stay an extra day at Orange Beach, and after Da Parish texted at 5:04 that he would be fartsacking (dude, you’re already up!), and after Rudy was fearing that he might even like the Green Eggs and Ham if he tried it, and after an apparent loss of the Red Pill amongst others, an intrepid PAX of two showed up in the rain for a nice stroll along Bayou St. John with their rucks.

    When you’re rucking, the F1 is on autopilot, so the F2 kicks into gear.  A nice chat about life.  The rain stopped when we finished: I love the rain in late spring.  A great time for a beatdown.

    Prayers for Fracsac’s father who begins radiation treatment.

    Jingle Vader