F3 New Orleans

Category: Northshore

  • Slow Down and Feel the Burn…Live in the Present

    Knowing that Steve was likely typing the weekly email at that moment, YHC decided to hurry up and throw his name into the Q sheet ring – the last step to feel officially “back” to full time F3-ing. But now that the easy part was done, the challenge of putting together a worthy beatdown remained. However, it was past Bushwacker’s bed time and so it was off to dreamland with low n slow merkins on the mind.

    The players gathered and soon the games began. Not Turbo-esque games of coordination laced frivolity, but games of focus and being present in the moment.

    WARM O RAMA

    IC x10:

    Toe Touches

    Imperial Walkers

    T Stretches

    Apple Pickers

    Torso Twists

    THANG

    The PAX started off with a visit to the monkey bars, et al for a run at this month’s ISI challenge of pull ups.

    After a casually chatter-filled few rounds of pull ups, with Jose’s magnitude of manhood laying all of our egos low, and meandering out to the middle of Livingston, we began with a set of merkins, x10, IC (30 reps). No big deal, right? But Q was interested in good form with a more moderate tempo. And so it went.

    The men mosied down to Marigny for squats, x10, IC (30 reps). This one, YHC felt today! (I’m lookin at you Waterpik)

    Then it was on towards the lake to Monroe for lunges, x10, IC (15 per leg).

    Rinse and repeat for 2 more blocks before just going all the way to the lakefront. You see, there was an incredible full moon the YHC had glimpsed en route to the Marsh and it became an imperative to see it in a clear sky over Lake Pontchartrain. It was a thing to behold! But it wasn’t alone, for off to the east were storm clouds with constant flashes of lightening amongst them! With more time remaining than Q realized, the PAX took full advantage of the opportunity to be experiencing that present moment of awe-inspiring nature. In the same slow fashion we continued with irkins, step ups, and squats on the wall, so as to keep the view before us.

    MARY

    After moseying back, it was time for some more moderate tempo focus, again x10, again IC: LMCs, Hello Dolleys, Rosalitas and one or two more.

    COT

    QIC lead the PAX out with an impassioned message of slowing down and recognizing the splendor of the moments we find ourselves being present in throughout the day, and experiencing them to the fullest.

    Thank you guys for following my lead and allowing me to become stronger by your examples. It feels good to be back in the saddle again.

  • Never Too Old to Play Games

    Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. You’re never too old to play games. The PAX proved as much on the Mandeville Lakefront this weekend.

    After a rather exhaustive one burpee OYO warmup, the PAX formed up into 4 or 5 man teams for the first game of the morning. Each team had to transport a sandbag and a ball to the finish line a few blocks away. Both the sandbag and ball could not touch the ground, and the man with the ball could not move. 20 and 5 all team burpee penalties, respectively, for a dropped sandbag or dropped ball. Hijinks ensued.

    It was both a blessing and a curse to have Shooter on YHC’s team. Shooter carried the sandbag with his pinkie finger the entire way in another demonstration of his real world strength. That was the blessing. The curse was that it was rather embarrassing for the rest of the team to reach the finish line much later than Shooter. He was almost finished his cigarette when we arrived.

    This whole fiasco prompted a rule change and for the next race to the Milestone Marsh each team member had to carry the sandbag at least twice. This seemed to level the playing field somewhat, and it was a much closer race with teams sticking together to exchange the sandbag regularly.

    Once at the Marsh, it was time for some passing games. We cooperated as one big team to keep the ball moving at first. Then we transformed into shirts and skins and got competitive. There were impressive displays of athletic prowess, and the shirts convincing claimed the day.

    Back to the shovel flag with our sandbags, this time with the requirement that each man carry the sandbag at least four times and play the ball with his feet only.

    Countorama, nameorama, and then young Pope prayed us out on the way to our coffeeteria.

    Thanks for letting me lead guys and for playing along with the silly games. Remember, you’re never too old to play games.

  • Burpee Ball

    Warm ups: ssh, toe touches, arm circles, cherry pickers, self love

    The thang: lt. Steve the length of the parking garage. Lazy Dora afterwards, 100 Mericans, 200 squats, 300 lbcs.

    Then I opened my trunk of beach balls. In groups of two, we began burpee ball. At first the rules were after teammate one hit the ball, do a burpee while teammate two hit it back. This proved a bit too difficult. Grundy modified the rules which worked out better. Teammate two was allowed two hits while teammate 1 did the burpee. Once the ball hit the ground, both did 20 copperhead squats. Modification 2 from Grundy, the whole group circled up with one ball and whoever hit it up, they did the burpee. It’ll get your heart rate up for sure gentleman. COt, pik prayed us out . Happy 8th birthday and first communion to his daughter. Thanks for letting me lead guys

  • Substitute Thursday!

    With a call coming in @ 0500 from Jose 10k it could only mean one thing. Can you cover the Q? Well sure, however I must T-👏🏼 both him and Speedy for both still posting even though they knew the arrival would be 10-15 mins behind. So with nothing planned YHC stalled as long as he could to allow time for the late arrival..

    warmup

    Toe touch’s, Windmills, Torso twist, SSH, Butt Kicks all IC to 20. Lap around the walking trail. Leg lunges for about 30 yards..

    All PAX ran the standard route minus the loop through Hermitage with the exception of Waterpik and Cowbell getting in some lagniappe. Cowbell had no time for the warmup taking off for 45 minutes of straight running. Sir Wacker graciously paced with the Q the whole run, and another T-👏🏼 to Cobra for pushing through as well. Jose10k and Speedy caught the PAX on the return.

    Returned with some time to knockout Mary. 20 IC Crunchy Frog, Little Manny crunches, 100s, and 20 Merkins OYO..

    Thanks to Cowbell for praying is out..

    Till the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • The Lord of the Thangs

    Huge thanks to the 20 men who posted this morning for Pope’s VQ! He’s been chomping at the bit to lead, and we greatly appreciate you guys making it so special for him, especially with our planning to move soon to an area where we’ll be starting F3 from scratch. Glad to know I can lean on him to Q every now and then!

    Excitement was in the air as more and more men made their way to the flag (Turbo Dog couldn’t hold it in.) The 11-year-old Pope had shown signs of natural leadership at previous beatdowns, so expectations were high, and he did not disappoint.

    The routine was centered around his new favorite topic, The Lord of the Rings. After having recently finished reading the books, a good percentage of his thought time these days is spent somewhere in Middle Earth, so the landmarks around The Gipper were quickly transformed into battlefields, fortresses, and volcanoes.

    Warmup: 20 Side Straddle Hops, 15 Windmills, 15 Merkins, 15 Cherry Pickers, 15 Butt Kicks, 15 High Knees

    Then, PAX grabbed age-appropriate coupons and mosey to the courthouse for the first stage of the Thangs:

    1st Stage–Battle at Helms Deep:

    Start as Legolas (fleet-footed elf) at the benches with 10 bench hops (hands on a bench and jump back and forth over), carioca run to the stairs, and run up to the top where each then becomes Gimli (short dwarf) and completes 15 dwarf jacks (smurf jacks). Then, down the ramp and back to the coupons where each becomes Aragorn (warrior king) and performs 12 sword unsheathings (overhead tricep presses).

    Three rounds of this, then haul the coupons up the stairs of the parking garage to the top ramp for…

    2nd Stage–Mount Doom:

    Hobbits Frodo and Sam teamed up to get the ring to the top of the mountain to destroy it in the flaming lava.

    PAX partnered up with partner 1 (Frodo) starting the beloved “Bear and Block” up the ramp: bear crawl a few steps, then drag/pull the cinder block forward from between your feet, then a few more steps, then drag, etc.

    Partner 2 (Sam) battled Gollum (coupon) at the bottom: 10 Man Makers for first round, 15 curls for second round, and 15 goblet squats for third. Once a set was complete, partner 2 ran up to Frodo to replace him dragging the block up the ramp, and partner 1 runs down to be Sam for a set at the bottom.

    Each time the block made it all the way to the top and was run back down, partners moved on to the next round’s exercise. After the third round, all PAX ran backwards with their coupons to the top (in the style of Gollum, dancing his way over the edge of the cliff).

    About half of the PAX found a way to destroy their rings/coupons early (a little too much “man” in the “Man Makers”) making their task a bit easier and making a Home Depot run necessary for YHC before next Wednesday.

    Moseyed back to the flag to replace the coupon fragments. COT with some great opportunities provided for giving back to the community, and Turbo Tax prayed us out.

    Thanks, again, for all the support for the young Q, and for allowing us to be a part of the F3 family! We’ll be taking full advantage of it until the day we’re moved out, and then we’ll be counting on your wisdom and support for getting F3 started in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

    God will provide!

    Goose

  • Millennial meltdown!!

    Seven PAX posted at Grandmothers House on this 95% humid Gloom to welcome the YHC. With a weeks forecast full of downpours and showers Q decided to put together a routine that would keep the PAX dry under the pavilion. The Lexicon available on F3 nation has always proven to bring impactful beatdowns throughout my tenure and this morning would prove no different. T-👏🏼 to Jose 10k on his continued dedication of consecutive post and YHC only sees this coming to an end only once he is thrust back into the classroom. Also much respect to the young Pixie Stix for his discipline in posting multiple times a week for the last few months.. Glad to see a young man step up in such a way.. So here is the meltdown..

    warmarama20IC

    Cherry pickers, Torso twist, Toe touches, Butt kicks, SSH and lap around the trailhead.

    The Millennial (Check the Lexicon)

    R1: Merkins/Chill cut til each group reach there 100 reps.
    R2: Air squats/Chill Cut

    R3: Mountain climbers/Al Gore

    R4: Carolina dry docks/Al Gore

    R5: Sister Mary Katherine/Leg lifts

    R6: Big Boy sit-ups/Leg lifts

    R7: Donkey kick offs/Flutter kicks

    R8: Jump squats/Flutter kicks

    R9: Little Manny Crunches/Flutter kicks

    R10: Burpees with only Bushwacker and Pixie Stix completing as time expired.. Great pace gentlemen..

    With guys needing to bail quickly, we sped through namarama, countarama and COT..

    YHC closed out for the day!!!

    Appreciate you men posting and keeping me accountable 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼 Till the next Gloom!!

  • Murph: The Chill-mode Edition

    Yes, maybe it was a bit cruel to spring a Murph on the Marsh crew on a Monday morning.  I figured I’d get a, “Oh hell no,” from Cowbell.  And a, “Yeah, that’s great, thanks Steve.  After I’ve done 120 frickin’ ISI squats,” from Jose.  And a lot of eye rolling from the Wacker.  But c’mon, taken at slightly less intense pace (apologies Tank), the Murph is really not as bad as it sounds.  

    So we started with some warmorama just to give Cowbell some time to navigate around the deep and dangerous ditches surrounding the Marsh. Then ran the first mile down to the lake and back at a leisurely “warm up” pace, loosening us up for 20 sets of 5 pull-ups / 10 merkins / 15 squats.  We did it together, waiting after each set before starting the next, and I think the pax would agree, it really wasn’t so bad.  T-claps to Pixie Stick, who did great in his first (near-complete) Murph.  

    Another leisurely mile run to the lake and back, some flutters, and we were done.  Countdown, nameorama, and Jose offered up a powerful prayer to close it out, with intentions for Goose’s soon-to-be born baby, Akbar’s travel to the Smokey Mountains, and some healing for our divided nation.

    Thank you for the opportunity to get stronger and better alongside such good men.  I truly appreciate it.

  • Cloudy With A Chance of Unitards

    It’s been threatening rain all week.  And the forecast for Thursday evening’s F2 beatdown was no different, with a 60-70% chance as of that morning.  YHC seriously envisioned 10k and I sitting under the gazebo drinking alone (he his bud light tallboys, me my overpriced hipster beer), while 10k grumbled about the sunset and my beer.  And while that vision partially came true – with the added bonus of a “only-in-Hollywood” rainbow overhead – we were spared the actual rain and a decent size group posted.

    YHC had planned for no warmorama, since time was short, but as BBQ was dealing with securing his bike (he rode from Covington! 👏👏👏), we knocked out some SSH’s before jumping into 20x burpees OYO.

    Next up, a Lazy Dora.  Same as the usual Dora (100 merks, 200 squats, 200 LBC’s), but instead of running between sets, the alternating partner would hold a static pose until it was his turn.  So plank for 10x merkins, Al Gore for 20x squats, and 6” hold for 30x LBC’s.  Cumulative goals were reached pretty quickly, and we moved over to the seawall for some leg work.

    20x jump squats, lunge walk to sidewalk, 20x monkey humpers IC

    20x Bulgarians IC (10 ea.), lunge walk, 20x Apollo Ohno’s

    20x calf raises IC (balancing on the edge of the seawall, which was more difficult than you might think), lunge walk, 20x Sister Mary’s.

    Finally, back to the wall for shoulders: 15x freak nasties IC, 5x derkins IC.  Rinse and repeat with 10x freaks IC / 10x derks IC.  Then 5x freaks IC / 15x derkins IC.

    Around this time we had an In Time flyby, with his cross country team in tow, and we then circled up for an abbreviated Mary of heels to heaven and leg raises, both x15 IC.  

    Upon completion, the guys noticed a rather large and somewhat magical rainbow stretched across the lakefront sky.  Turbo joked that all we needed now was a unicorn and, lo and behold, the hero we both deserved and needed materialized: Amnesia, donning, that’s right, a unitard.  (At least, according to Jose that is the official name of said bodysuit.  The differences between a unitard and a leotard and a bodysuit is a mystery to me, and one I’m not willing to google.)

    COT, prayed out by Akbar, and we all headed to the Gazebo joined by Cowbell, Tank, and Tank’s son (a soon-to-be named F3 brother).  Good beer, good company, and a good sunset – what more could you ask for?  Great time out there with you guys, thanks for posting and thanks for the opportunity to lead!  

    *rainbow and unitard not captured on film due to Cowbell’s usual tardiness

  • F3 brings out the best in me

    Bushwacker said “if you build it, they will come”. I needed an ao during the week that I could attend once work started again. So with the guidance of my F3 brothers, a Friday beat down was born. It had a theme, F3 brings out the best in me, I’m bringing out some of the best F3. Okay the thang:

    10 side straddle hops ic, had to stop and laugh when Tanked up commented on my flowing locks…asked about my conditioning products and techniques…

    10 toe touches ic

    10 cherry pickers ic

    10 torso twists, 10 self love ( brought to you for ackbar)

    5 burpees on your own

    Mosey to the school board building with shooter by my side up in front. I started reminiscing of all my runs where he always came back for me, never have I finished a run alone. Like I said, F3 brings the best out of us.

    Merican circle, 3 rounds of regular Mexicans, followed by 2 rounds of clap pushups (inspired by cowbell) followed by 2 rounds of one armed pushups (inspired by Zoolander).

    Mosey to the courthouse for some Dora (inspired by TurboTax) 100 merican, 200 squats, 300 lbcs. Partner 1 climbed the handrails up the courthouse, while partner 2 did the exercise.

    Mosey back to the top of the garage for one round of monkey lunges.

    Then 4 corners, 7 burpees, 14 merkins, 21 leg lifts, 28 squats

    Cot, shooter prayed us out

    Then we named the new ao: the a1c

    It’s an honor to lead this morning, getting out of my comfort zone. Thank you my brothers for the support. I love you guys. SYITG

  • Flip and Roll!!

    Rolled up to Jose10k, Band Camp and Russo waiting to get in the pre miler. Pre-thangers quickly doubled and we moseyed our usual destination to get things going. Arrived back at the AO to a swarm of men awaiting the beatdown, each Wednesday of the last few months has proved to be well attended with numbers usually surpassing 15 plus and today proved no different. YHC has great anticipation of what next week will provide as the young “Pope” has committed to his VQ.. Look forward to attending that one and encourage all to post in support of this great young leader.. Well knowing all the awesome coupon options around Covington, Q decided to pair a few for this morning’s beatdown. So let’s Flip and Roll gentlemen..

    warmup

    10IC Toe touches, Torso twist, Arm Circles and Cherry Pickers

    20IC SSH, Mummy Kicks, Imperial walkers

    thang

    Pax selected 9 cylinder blocks from behind the trailhead office and proceeded around the block to our parking lot with our 2 Flipping tires. Pax broke into two groups. YHC called named exercise for one group which would be completed while the other group would work with the tires.

    First set:

    Group 1 did block extender squats while group 2 flipped the tires about 30yards down and back alternating back and forth with both tires. Flapjack

    Second set:

    Group 1 did curls while group 2 rolled the tires down alternating with 2 men at the other end working in some core. Flapjack

    Third set:

    Group 1 Tri-extensions while group 2 did 2 min intervals of tire flips back and forth across from each other.

    Fourth set:

    Group 1 Chest press while group 2 rolled and bounced the tires off a local establishment wall, which hopefully was not occupied because if so the other side of that wall may have sounded like it was coming down with the impact. YHC quickly saw the destructive side of Jose 10k on this one as he thrust the tire over the railroad footing returning as if he was trying to destroy and rollover Zoolander like a locomotive.. 😬😬

    Fifth and final set:

    Group 1 Kettle block swings with multiple versions thanks to Bean for the alternating arms on this one. Group 2 individually flipped the tires 30 yards each way back and forth as their teams did Mountain climbers and leg raises respectively on each end..

    Ending with 3 mins we recovered as we walked back to the AO and returned our coupons..

    Count, name and COT

    Reminded the PAX of some F2 tomorrow by the Barley oak and the new AO kickoff on Friday at the top of the parking garage.

    Much thanks to Bart for praying us out into the Gloom.. Always enjoy the glooms with you men!!

    Great job men hope you got your 💰💰 worth 🤑🤑..

    Till the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!