F3 New Orleans

Category: New Orleans

  • The Skinny Arm post

    OK- AO – The Birdcage/The Skinny #norocks

    Sure there were only 4 of us again!  But 4 dudes trying to get better.  It was by far the coldest morning of this fall.  I kept thinking that bagasse would show up with the flag – but he fartsacked on us!

    The PAX started off with a gentle Mosey then things got harder.

    First COP – SSH x 25, Hilllbilly x 25, Imperial Squats x 25, Merks x 20, Good mornings x 25

    Kind of a quiet pax – I had to remind them to count in cadence.  Finally felt warm after that COP.

    Run following the loop and stop at the Rows.  Rows x 20 while partner does burpees until Rows are done.  Then Rows x 15  while partner does burpees until Rows are done.

    Then we mosey’d following the loop at Audubon.  We stopped and visited our old friend Jack Webb.

    No rocks but our arms were still hurting!

    Some mumble chatter about these goofy air pumps until we got to 10.  Then Douille had his ah-ha moment.  Jack Webb to 10.  Gives + 50 push ups.

    Then we mosey’d to the benches at the fountain near St Charles Ave.  I offered the opportunity to the faster runners to meet at the benches.  Nip Tuck and Douille took off.

    Here we did a COP:  Step Ups left leg, step ups right leg, Dips, one leg left squats, one leg right squats and slow dips holding each position.  x 20

    Mosey to the Golf tees.  Here we got to work on our 6 minutes of Mary.

    Hello Dolly, Russian Twist, Dying Cockroach, LBC, Peter Parkers, Flutter, x 25

    Mosey a half mile.  Finish the 6MOM that we started.

    Parker Peters, Plank Jacks, Mtn Climbers x 20

    Then it was a sprint to the finish at the Flag!

    A quick prayer to better human beings – every day all day!

     

     

     

  • Looking for Amnesty

    8 Q-less PAX arrived at #RockCity in the frigid (relative term) gloom looking to lift something heavy.  I wonder if the temperature was any warmer down south where our skinny-armed brethren were congregating.  At 0530 YHC asked if anyone knew where the Q was to learn that he had decide to rest, apparently planning to skip the workout he is supposed to Q in favor of some workouts later in the week.  #LetsNotLetHimForgetAboutThisOne.  After YHC stumbled through the disclaimer it was off to the rock pile.

    The Thang

    We circled up near our workout partners for the warm-up COP all IC:  SSH x 30; Hillbillies x 30 (insert obligatory joke about my Sr. Prom); Arm Circles x 30; Merkins x 15; Toe Raises x 30; Squats x 15.

    Time to select your workout partner, aka rock.   YHC decided to not provide any friendly advice to the FNG – some lessons are best learned through experience.

    Mosey to the flag football field for a Rock COP all IC:  Shoulder Press x 15; Toe Raises x 40; Curls x 15; Squats x 15; Rows x 15

    We then lined up facing the far fence ( 75 yards?) for a variation of Lt. Dan.  2 lunges followed by 1 squat, then 4 lunges followed by 2 squats, 6 lunges and 3 squats, etc. etc. and so forth until you reach the fence.  YHC almost got to 16 lunges.  Tool and I recognized that Shorty seemed to be benefiting from his abnormally long stride.  I am going to put his over/under at 12 lunges.  Feel free to place your bets in the comments.

    Next up was Lt. Dan’s cousin the Rockin’ Jack Webb:  1 merkin with hands on rock followed by one overhead rock press, then 2 merkins and 2 presses, etc., etc., and so forth.  We made it to 7 before YHC got totally smoked.

    Grab the rocks and mosey to the Kaboom playground where we partnered up into 4 groups and completed 2 sets of the following

    • Group 1:  Pull-ups x AMRAP
    • Group 2:  Squats con roca x AMRAP
    • Group 3:  Curls con roca x AMRAP
    • Group 4:  Rock burpees (Rockees?) x 5 (this was the count for everyone)

    Grab the rock in front of you (Heisenberg got the raw end of this deal as he got stuck with Gibraltar) and return it to its home.

    Finish with 6 minutes of Mary:  Regular Plank; Elbow Plank; Pickle Pounders x 15; LBC IC x 30; Dying Cockroach IC x 30; Superman to Boat x 2.5

    Horses to the stable back to the flag.

    Shout Out

    YHC led the shout out praising God for the weather, the park, and a group of men to workout with.  Prayed for increased strength and compassion.

    Naked Man Molekskin

    The title to the backblast is a pun poking fun of our missing Q, but it does hint at a much more serious problem in our world.  The situation in Syria and Iraq is grave and needs our attention and prayer.  The decisions that countries must make in regards to the millions of refugees are not simple.  Let’s pray that world leaders make the right decisions.  Let’s pray that God moves us to look upon those seeking refuge with love and compassion.  What is happening in Iraq and Syria is genocide.  Christians are being killed for their faith.  Peaceful Muslims are are also being murdered.  I follow the band Rend Collective on twitter and they tweeted the following quote that I think is important to consider if you are a Christian:  “Safety is not our number one priority : it is to follow the dangerous, wild, gospel with a cross on our backs. Settle for nothing less.”  If you are a Christian, you have an opportunity to exercise your faith in this crisis.  Will we deny Christ in our decision making, or will we take up our cross and follow Him?”

     

  • Goodyear and Good Cheer

     

    A faithful 11 showed up to enjoy a beatdown on a beautiful Saturday morning in New Orleans City Park.  Though we were left without a flag by the fartsacking little piggy, yet we pressed on relatively unphased.  Bueller joined the Circle of Pain shortly to make a dirty dozen.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to Great Lawn for circle up:

    25 Side Straddle Hops (IC)

    15 Arm Circles Forward / 15 Arm Circle Backward (IC)

    Mosey to Track for circle:

    Goodyear has 3 Blimps that travel to different fields every week so….

    BLIMPS #1

    10 Burpees, 15 Lunges (on each leg), 20 Imperial Walker, 25 Merkins, 30 Plankjacks, and 35 Squats (OYO)

    Plank for 6

    Mosey to Peewee Football field for circle:

    BLIMPS (same reps as above) (OYO) #2

    Plank for 6

    Mosey around to high ground by The Foundry:

    BLIMPS (starting with 5 Burpees and so on) (OYO) #3

    Al Gore for 6

    Mosey to The Foundry:

    Planked in line according to running speed and partnered up

    Round 1:

    Partner 1 – As many cycles as you can before return of partner: 5 Pull-ups (or bent-arm hangs), 10 Merkins, and 15 LBCs

    Partner 2 – Run to Brick Festival Pavilion and back (1/3-1/2 mile)

    Plank for 6

    Switch

    Round 2:

    Partner 1- cycles of 5 Pull-ups (or low rows), 10 Hip Slappers (10 slaps each hip), and 15 Straight vertical leg LBCs

    Partner 2 – Run to Brick Festival Pavilion and back (1/3-1/2 mile)

    Al Gore for 6

    Dr. W’s x 10 (IC)

    Mosey to an empty dirt spot by the Peristyle

    Superman for 6

    Random chatter:

    Ben Stein quotes of “Bueller” as he arrived hot

    Several mentions of the fartsacking piggy

    Grumblings of moseying distance to the track, YHC mentioned swinging by his house for a second

    Questioning YHC’s focus after coaching squat form on the first circle of BLIMPS and then encouraging getting 6’s in the air on Hip Slappers

    Ringing compliments of “BS” from The Foundry as YHC rounded corner from his last run

    Announcements:

    The usual schedule

    PAX encouraged to earn their turkey during the upcoming week

    Shout-outs:

    Yankee’s Aunt Julie battling cancer and enduring treatment week of Thanksgiving

    Baby Brook home and doing well

  • You Don’t Have to Move that Mountain

    “You don’t have to move that mountain, Just help me Lord to climb it.” – Nickel Creek

    12 men men met in a perfect gloom for a Wolfpack Mountain Triple Shot.  We were blessed with a guest from Carolina, and to his credit I didn’t hear him mention the Panthers one time – T-Claps for that.  I didn’t ask, but I think he may also be a world-champion crab walker. #FasterThanJameis

    This was my first time to Q a Friday workout.  We gathered around the flag for the disclaimer and we’re off.

    The Thang

    I wanted to prove that I was my own man, so we skipped the normal meandering mosey and headed straight for Touchdown Jesus (watch for cars).  We lined up by the LOYOLA sign fka the YOLO sign for the warm-up LOP.

    All exercises were ran between the LOYOLA sign and TD Jesus (about 35 yards?) – High knees, Butt Kicks, Karaoke (down and back), Bear Crawl, Crawl Bear, Jameis Winston, Winston Jamies.

    Observations:  1) The dewey (not Douille) wet ground was surprisingly cold.  2) Wild Turkey has to be the fastest Bear Crawl / Crab Walker we have ever seen ’round these parts.  I am going to check out some Area 51 backblasts and see if they just do Ark Loaders for 45 minutes.

    Humbled by the Wild Animal from Carolina YHC led the PAX to Wolfpack Mountain.

    YHC chose to do 15s up the mountain instead of 11s.  After realizing the Ole Miss grads were not in attendance I skipped the in-depth explanation of the arithmetic involved (Arkansas – 49th in Education, 1st in your hearts).

    Start with 5 burpees on the south side and 10 donkey kicks on the north side as you run up the mountain increase the burpees and decrease the donkey kicks by one.  I think we ended up with a total of 45 burpees and 40 Donkey Kicks, but take that with a grain of salt (see previous mention about Arkansas being 49th in education).

    Down the stairs.  T-claps to the Loyola campus maintenance department for cleaning up the urine and ice cream.

    We gathered at the foot of the mountain for a Dirty McDuece climb:

    •  Up the first incline and then gather for the COP (everything is IC x 12):  Merkins, Squats, Hello Dolly
    • Up two levels and then: Left Hand Stagger Merks, Lunges, Flutter Kicks
    • Up two levels and then: RH Stagger Merks, Toe Raises, Putins
    • Up two more levels to the top:  Abe Lincolns, Beyonces, Freddie Mercurys (these went particularly well with my mustache).

    Back down the stairs.  At this point we had 6 minutes left, so we went for the trifecta

    Mosey to the outer stairwell and run up one at a time.  YHC went all wedding coordinator like and made the PAX space out.  Cross the top floor of the parking garage and run down the inner stair well.  At this point we moseyed back to the flag just making it in time.

    Naked Man Moleskin

    T-Claps for this PAX and their record-setting performance on Wolfpack Mountain.  Hopefully the record doesn’t stand for very long….I know I am perseverating on this, but I can’t get over how fast Wild Turkey can crab walk.  This is the gold standard to which the NOLA PAX must aim to acheive…Full Disclosure – I think the quote at the beginning of this BB was actually written by Trisha Yearwood, but I thought it sounded cooler to attribute it to Nickel Creek who remade the song.  If you’ve read this much of the backblast your realize that I’m not cool so I’ll be honest – I do love me some Trisha Yearwood… Continued prayers for RY and Agassi’s aunt…T-claps to Wild Turkey for leading us in a great prayer.

     

     

  • It’s a bird, it’s a plane… no, it’s…Aquaman??

    “Some people feel the rain… others just get wet.”  – Roger Miller

    The perfect Gloom: Rain was everywhere and mixed with an uncomfortable chill in the air.  As YHC pulled up about 10 minutes early, Jingle Vader could be seen walking back and forth from his car to the usual flag spot.  I believe he was trying to avoid the lightning.

    To my surprise, we had 15 men post today! It must have been RY’s tough love:

    Ok old ladies–
    Shorty has the Q in the AM.
    There is a 100% chance of RAIN at 530AM.
    You will be wet, you will be muddy, you will have fun.
    Get your SIX out of the sack and meet us at Audubon 530AM.
    I wonder how many tomatoes will attend the YOGA session in front of the zoo?
    Probably not as many hardcore psychos as we will have tomorrow!
    Be there or be an old lady.  You will be one or the other.
    You choose.
    See you in the Soggy Gloom-
    RY

    Lots of mumble chatter at the pre-thang mentioning things like “Why are we doing this” and “We are awesome!” and “Look how packed the park is now (sarcasm)” and “Why would an FNG show up today” (#Tclaps to Walleye-FNG for his first post in this storm),  all with an occasional teeth chatter.

    At 530am sharp, we were off, but first…

    DISCLAIMER

    The Thang:

    COP #1 around the flag – IC: Plank-O-Rama

    • 20 x SSH
    • 20 x Elevator Merkins
    • 20 x Plank Jacks
    • 20 x Mountain Climbers
    • 15 x Ski Abs
    • 10 x In & Outs

    Exercise #1 – OYO: Indian Run Part One to the Fountain

    • Every time YHC gets back to the front, the PAX pulls over to the side to perform:
      • 15 x Peter Parkers Arthur Currys
      • Spiderman Aquaman Walk (low Bear Crawl) back to path.

    COP #2 – IC: Dips at the Fountain

    • 20 x Dips
    • 10 x Incline Merkins
    • 10 x Dips (Left Leg Up)
    • 10 x Derkins
    • 10 x Dips (Right Leg Up)

    Exercise #2 – OYO: Indian Run Part Deux to the Light post

    • Every time YHC gets back to the front, the PAX pulls over to the side to perform:
      • 15 x Peter Parkers Arthur Currys
      • Spiderman Aquaman Walk (low Bear Crawl) back to path.

    Partner-up by the light post for Exercise #3.

    Exercise #3 – OYO: Dora 1 – 2 – 3

    • Teams of 2 PAX working together to reach cumulative exercise goal of 200 prisoner squats. Pax 1 executes as many reps as possible while Pax 2 sprints to the 2nd set of light poles and back. Flapjack until team goal is reached.

    Mosey back to the flag for Name-O-Rama, Shout-Outs, & Prayer.  I’m glad everyone was able to learn who Arthur Curry was.  We all became Aquamen today!

  • Rock City VQ

    Pre-Thang

    It was time for YHC to get out of his Uptown comfort zone and have his first Q over in Rock City.  The gloom was crisp as we set out to do some real manly tasks of heaving rocks around.

    Warm-Up

    Mosey over to the rock pile and pick out your favorite dead weight to haul around.  Mosey with your rock a little ways:

    • COP IC: SSH x 30, Rock Curls x 15, Rock Tricep Curls x 10, Slow Count Merikan on Rock x 15,

    The Thang

    Mosey over to the ant hill for some Rocky Burp, Merk, Press.  Starting at baseball fence, carry your rock up and over hill to the track.  Do one burpee with 6 Merikans and 6 shoulder presses.  Carry rock back up and over hill to starting position.  Perform a burpee with 5 Merikans and 5 shoulder presses.  Rinse and repeat lowering count by 1 each round.  Plank up once you finish.

    Mosey over to the baseball field and partner up.  Separate your rock and partners rock 25 yards apart.  Shuttle back and forth with partner between rocks doing the following exercises:

    • Wheel barrow with partner
    • Boo Boo Bear Crawl
    • Duck Walk
    • Crab Walk

    Each time you get to a rock you and your partner perform 10 (per person) overhead sit up with rock being handed off back and forth at the top of each sit up.

    Mosey back to drop off rocks.  Sudden change with 15 burpees.  Sprint back to flag

    Name-O-Rama: 8 men set out to conquer the rocks.

    Shout Out: Prayers to Brooks for a hopeful final surgery, to Reluctant Yankee’s Aunt battling cancer, and to YHC’s Great Grandfather (a WWII Purple Heart Vet) who is being put into hospice for his final days.  Thanks and gratitude for helping us to become better men and to keep us injury free.

  • 610 Stomp #14 – Moss St. Route

    Seven men gathered this morning for our usual Tuesday fix of running and burpees. Conditions were moderate with a strong breeze, slightly damp air, and a surprisingly not so cool temp of 73 degrees.  After discussing an alternative route and the disclaimer, we headed off into the gloom of City Park.  Six minutes of running and a minute of burpees and/or walking, rinse and repeat till done.  The route this am was as follows:  Roosevelt Mall around the museum, down Lelong Drive to Moss St./Bayou St. John, down Moss to the end of the bayou, proceed along the bike path on Jeff Davis Pkwy, loop around the Jeff Davis Statue, and head back on the same route but opposite side of the bayou.  Total distance of 4.18 miles with several options to modify to a shorter route if needed.  We also talked about the option of bonus points by running a lap or two around the track (or Big Lake track) at the end for anyone who finishes early and feels so inclined.  Everyone was between an 8-10 min per mile pace and sealed the deal with 10 burpees at the end.  Nothing super exciting or super funny this am to report so hard to make this backblast any livelier.

    COT included some thoughts for the turmoil with ISIS and the Syrian people along with the frustration that so many feel in trying to find resolution.  We also mentioned those battling illness and surgeries.  T-claps to Side Effects for taking the prayer.  Also, T-claps to OSHA for being a regular the past few weeks and posting most mornings when in town.

    Definitely a solid morning and we all got stronger.

    Tool.

  • Rocks!? We don’t need no stinking rocks.

    Five men gathered in a rock starved Audubon Park. Feeling the need to lift something heavy, but too lazy to drive to Metairie, YHC brought a 35ish lb. sandbag to the morning’s festivities.

    The PAX made the short mosey to the bandstand for a COP. Plans changed when the PAX observed a fine gentleman catching some z’s on the bandstand. So as not to disturb the fine gentleman, the PAX headed down a ways for the COP.

    SSH x 20, Mountain Climbers x 21, Imperial Walkers x 22, Peter Parkers x 23.

    Mosey back to the flag, grab the sandbag, and begin the 2 mile sandbag Indian run. Man in the back shouldered the sandbag, sprinted to the front of the line, passed the sandbag down the line to the man in the back who shouldered the sandbag and ran to the front. Interesting discovery, albeit a small sample size, the sound that a man makes throwing a sandbag appears to be universal.

    Stop at the first exercise station for Rows x 20 and Incline Merkins x 20. Back to the run, but this time, the non-sandbag holding PAX members ran hallelujah style (arms in the air) until the next break.

    Stop for a break of Burpees x 5 and LBCs x 25. Resume run but without that hallelujah style nonsense.

    Stop at next exercise station for Pull-Ups x 8, Leg ups x 10, Derkins x 10, Incline Merks x 10, and step-ups, really high step-ups, x10. Continue the run.

    Stop at the next exercise station for bean bag toss. PAX gathered in a circle and tossed the sandbag to the man on the right x 10. Continue the run.

    Stop for some Mary. LBCs x 20, Flutter kicks x 15, Russian twists x 15, Hello Dolly x 15. PAX abandoned Mary because of a  mosquito swarm. The run was resumed all the way back to the flag for the remaining two minutes of Mary. Rosalitas x 15 and Real Freddie Mercury’s x 15.

    Take a count, name-o-rama, shout out, and prayer, with special thoughts to those in Paris.

  • A Breakfast Earned

    Thirteen men stepped off looking to improve themselves on the way to earning a big breakfast. After the Disclaimer we moseyed to the front of the museum for a COP:
    -SSH x 30 IC
    -IPW x 30 IC
    -J-Lo’s (fka Pickle Pounders) x 30 IC
    -Arm Circles x 30 IC (15 each direction)
    -Peter Parker Push-ups x 20 IC
    During the COP, Redfish came rolling in hot on his bike and then Mr. Awesome trotted up…welcome my friends.
    It’s been too long so we headed to the Foundry. With 14 men, we divided into 2 groups of 7. One group engaged the foundry and one group did BLIMPS and then we switched.
    Foundry: plank up in a line and follow the leader…
    -Pull-ups x 10 or AMRAP
    -Dips x 10 or AMRAP
    -Rows 10 or AMRAP
    -Traverse the Monkey Bars and plank and wait
    BLIMPS:
    -Burpees x 5
    -Lunges x 10
    -Imperial Walkers x 15
    -Merkins x 20
    -Plank Jacks x 25
    -Squats x 30
    SWITCH. When done both routines, time to hit the bricks with 10 burpees x 2 at both ends of mile running path. Back at the foundry everyone did another set of pull-ups and caught their breath just in time to mosey to the track for some Hades.
    1000m of Hades: sprint 400m, walk 100m, sprint 200m, walk 100m, sprint 100m, walk 100m. After a quick water stop, we hit the other outdoor gym for more pull-ups, dips and rows. At this time we came across Bueller who joined us for the finish. Regretfully, time dictates we head back to the shovel/flag, but not without a little Mary.
    -LBC x 20 IC
    -Wife Pleasers (or as …. informed us they call it ‘Homer to Marge’) x 20 IC
    -Superman and hold
    Sprint to the Shovel/flag

    COT: Count Off, Nameorama, Shout Out. Prayed for Brooks, Goose’s infant with a heart condition, and RY’s aunt with breast cancer. Time for breakfast. The pax headed to YHC’s house nearby where Side Effects cooked Swedish Pancakes, Tool provided the coffee and YHC scrambled eggs. A couple of M’s (including mine) and .2s showed up to enhance the F2 experience. Bonds are formed with the shared misery of the beatdowns, but they are enhanced with the socializing and the sharing of a meal. This needs to become a tradition. The next F2 being planned is a Christmas/Holiday Party.

    See you in the Gloom!

  • Veterans Day Workout

    Beautiful morning.  57 degrees when I pulled up to see the PAX around the flag and ready to go.  I was filling in for Splash whose back has been bothering him.  It seemed fine when I saw him and Griswold pounding beers at the Pelicans game (First win!) last night!

    Since it is Veteran’s Day we started with a pledge of allegiance.

    Then we mosey’d over to the Kickball field and we did a quick COP.

    IC:  SSH x 25, Mountain Climbers x 25, Slow Count Merks x 20, Slow Count Squats x 25

    Then we mosey’d over to the Rocketman field.

    We did a 4 corners workout.  First Round –  Per corner we did 30 Flutter, 30 Lunge Jumps, 30 Plank Jacks, and 30 LBCs

    Second Round – 15 of the same

    Third Round – 10 x burpees, Diamond merks, Russian Twist, Wide Merks

    The we mosey’d over to the levee for some Chevy to the Levee.  We crossed the muddy ditch to get to the Levee (in honor of Splash)!

    We did 10 burpees at the bottom, 10 Squat Jumps at the top, and 40 Flutters on the other side.   Then we did it again but reduced to 30 Flutters.

    Then we circled up for some Mary.

    In Mary we did: IC x 20 LBT, Russian Twist, Hello Dolly, Rosalita, Dying Cockroach, Peter Parkers

    Then we did one more push on the Chevy to the Levee.  10 Burpees, 10 Squat Jumps, and 40 Parker Peters

    After last push on the levee  (since Casey Jones was AWOL) we did X12 Wiley E Coyote on the train tracks.

    A gentle mosey over to the Rocketman field again.  At Rocketman field – we did The newly named Tchoupitoulas Tchoo-Tchoo.  All guys planked – the Pax Broad Jumped over legs until they get to the front – then wait in plank for the next guy to Broad Jump.  Good times.

    Then a final sprint to the FLAG.

    COT:  Prayers for our past and current soldiers.

    Not much mumble chatter today.  Just a solid workout.  Nip-Tuck got landmined by some dog on the levee.  Peck lost his Specks on the levee.  (Maybe his 3rd nickname is coming soon?) I lost my Weinke on the levee too.  Splash get better.

    Tclaps to the PAX that donated to the Movember Prostate Cancer fundraiser we are doing right now!

    Announcements:  Pancakes – Saturday after we workout!  Join us!  Hosted by Side Effects and Amnesty