Eight men met at the park to give our annual Murph challenge a go. We gave our respects to our fallen soldiers then headed out for the first mile run. From there we moved to the workout bars and commenced the 100-200-300 exercise journey.
We wisely chose a 5-10-15 plan of 20 sets. The next set could not continue till all 8 men were ready for the next. I should add Zoolander tried to trick us into additional sets. When that failed , he attempted additional reps. Thanks Zoo, I owe you.
Next onto the final mile at your own pace. We closed with a prayer led by Shooter.
In closing, a another outstanding F3 morning with our brothers. See you next year !
F3 Northshore officially is back in business. Sixteen PAX posted to the reopened Mandeville Lakefront Saturday morning for a beat down, and a soggy morning beat down it was.
After a Warmup consisting of:
Imperial Walkers 20x, Merkins 10x, Windmills 20x, Plank Jacks 20x, Copperhead Squats 20x, Mountain Climbers 20x, Hillbillies 20x, all IC, and with 10 Burpees OYO tacked on at the end
the PAX walked Eastward down the Lakefront for a bout of Dora 1-2-3
(It should be noted at this point that at least one PAX, namely Russo, was primed to mosey and visibly was disappointed in the walk. Apparently Russo has made good use of his COVID 19 break to become a runner. Don’t worry, Russo, you will have your chance to shine, and T claps to you for improving yourself while the rest of us have been eating ice cream on the couch. (And by “the rest of us,” I mean YHC)).
Back to the Dora 1-2-3:
We partnered up and together did 100 shoulder taps with feet elevated on the sea wall, 200 airplanes, and 300 OH hand claps, all with a four count and making our way to the street and back to relieve our partner by rotating low and slow side shuffles with 45 degree angled low and slow walks. This one ended up going on longer than YHC projected on account of the four count so we called it a bit early, right before Tanked Up’s head exploded from counting, and moved on down the Lakefront.
Circling up we did hit 10x hand release Merkins, 10x Nolan Ryans each side, 10x flutter kicks, 10 more hand release Merkins, 10x Jane Fondas each side, 10x wife pleasers (with Hammer demonstrating perfect form), 10x more more hand release Merkins, 10x jackhammers each side, and 10x Freddy Mercuries. Then it was time for a Merkins wave and an Al Gore hold/squat jump wave with Akbar wrapping us up each set at the magic number 113. 10 burpees OYO and then it was time to walk back towards the shovel flag.
Stopped along the sea wall for Bulgarian split squats 25x IC each leg. If you are sore today, thank Steve. YHC did not know these exercises existed until he introduced them and made them his standby exercise. So it’s Steve’s fault.
We then made our way back to the flag for a set of A-B-C-D abs and some final burpees.
Countorama, nameorama, and coffeeteria after Grundy prayed us out.
Great to be back in business. Thanks for letting me lead guys.
Wow, it’s been a while since YHC has logged onto this site (or even used the term, “YHC”). The days are growing near when these backblasts will become just another (well, let’s be honest, bothersome) routine. But… not yet.
So this was the second weekend in a row where there was a bit of a (socially distanced) crowd out there. (I know, tsk, tsk.) But hey, I spotted two Mandy police cruisers drive by and they must’ve approved of our distance because no arrests were made.
Usual 2 mile pre-thang to get things rolling, then onto:
Warmorama: Toe touches, WM, SSH, IW, hillbillies, seal jacks, bodybuilders, IC x15-20.
Thang: First up, a routine similar to an Iron Pax challenge, 4 rounds of:
50 squats
40 big boys
30 merkins
20 sister mary’s
10 burpees
Then a run down Noah’s Ark to complete the round before returning to rinse & repeat.
Grundy, Bush, and Tank took the lead on this one, though how Bushwacker did it so quickly with all his whining about sit-ups is beyond me. (And Grundy might’ve done it a little too quickly, because he had to bow out with an ankle injury immediately after.) Tank, after 30 days of consecutive Murphs (yeah, you read that correctly), breezed through this one. No surprise there.
Somewhere around this time, either Bean or Hammer initiated what I believe is called a “flying EH.” Extremely rare in these parts, this is when someone in the Pax EH’s a guy who is passing by. Bushwacker, the Northshore communications director, immediately took in James, made him feel at home, and explained all the lingo being slung around.
Next up, a COP:
High knees burpee wave, only two rounds to everyone’s surprise.
Next, hold Al Gore for a Bobby Hurley wave. (x3)
And finally, hold your ankles (welcome Six Pack!) for a monkey humper wave. (x3)
Almost time to head back to the (for now) non-existent flag, but first a quick set of 11’s. Quick, Shooter asks?!? Why, yes, no bear crawls or lunges between sets! And the guys did indeed knock out a set of freak nasties and merkins pretty quickly.
Back to the start for countdown, nameorama (welcome of Six Pack!), and Hammer prayed us out. Guys, it was really good to lead again. Thank you for the opportunity, for the camaraderie, for the push to be better. SYITG.
14 men posted Saturday to celebrate the New Orleans festivals that were not to be. Great to see everyone again in the gloom as things seem to be moving toward the new normal. And new faces too: Special thanks to Tarheel for making the long trip from Covington for what might have been his first Lakefront appearance. Great to see TurboTax back in action, bringing a FNG with him.
T Claps to Tool for creating this beatdown to pay homage to our local musicians and those that would have played at festivals this spring, including a special tribute to the late Dr. John. A fun and simple format, yet sure to test our endurance.
Prethang: 2 mile run
Coupons:
Grover and I missed the prethang and arrived to an assortment of coupons consisting of cinder blocks and ruck plates. Shout out to Waterpick for his Joseph like Technicolor coupon.
YHC posted on GroupMe the day before to bring your own coupon, but not everyone got the message. Teddy Roosevelt said: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Bush and Manny took that to heart and grabbed a weed eater and a spare tire from their vehicles for coupons. Apparently Bean randomly travels with cinder blocks so we had enough to cover everyone.
Warmorama: The Meters and Galactic started us off with a 6 minute warm up of SSH, WM, IW, AC, MC, GG, and Self-Love – although no one knew what most of those abbreviations meant. Evidently Cowbell struggled with that as well, and thankfully sent a detailed text explanation at 3:13 am – just 3 hours before the gloom.
X20 in cadence: Side straddle hops, windmills, imperial walkers, arm circles, mountain climbers, grass grabbers, and self-love
Thang: 14 songs, 48 minutes, 23 seconds rest in between.
Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show: X20 Curls, Bear Crawl 15yds and back, R&R (Rinse and Repeat) for duration of the song
Everlong – Foo Fighters: X20 Kettle Swings, Lunge Walk 15yds and back, R&R….
It’s Your Thing – Marc Broussard: Hold High Plank, Merkin on every “Thing”
Buckjump – Trombone Shorty w/Rebirth Brass Band & 5th Ward Weebie: X20 Jump Squats, Bear Crawl 15yds and back, R&R….
Keep Going – The Revivalists: X20 Shoulder Press, Lunge Walk 15yds and back, R&R….
Treme – John Boutte: Get “Down in the Treme” with a low plank and hold it
Right Place Wrong Time – Dr. John: X20 Thrusters, Crab Walk 15yds and back, R&R….
Fly Away – Lenny Kravitz: Recovery song….easy mosey 15yds and back and forth, R&R, but drop for a Flying Squirrel (Burpee) on every “Fly”
Jambalaya – Dash Rip Rock: Lay your block down or find a step, curb, etc. for continuous Rocky Balboas, and drop for an 8ct Body Builder on every “Jambalaya”, then immediately back up for more Rocky’s.
Here Come the Girls – Creole String Beans: Hold Block w/both hands and get ready to do some “Curls for the Girls!!!”….perform a curl for every “Girl”
I Thank You – Robert Randolf & The Family Band: Plankorama….any plank variation for duration of the song…high, low, side, etc.
Count| Name-o-Rama
Welcome FNG Kroeger from Charlotte – Named after Chad Kroeger from Nickelback
COT
Prayers for all those affected by the festival cancellations: musicians, organizers, hospitality, etc.
Coffeteria
Short mosey down to the Book and the Bean who have opened their outdoor seating.
Here is the full workout with playlist, coupon and non-coupon option
Inspired by St. Patrick’s use of a shamrock to explain the mystery of the Trinitarian God, we soothed our anxious souls in the gloom this morning with a full-on Irish, trinitarian beatdown.
Warm-ups were SSH, Seal jacks, arm circles, Windmill’s IW’s, high knees, and butt kicks. Then, after a moseyed lap we were back to the splash pad for the thang: three routines, each with three parts (shamrock-style).
First: partners work together to complete 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s, and 300 squats. While one did 10 Merkins, the other held a plank, then switched until 100 were done. Then, while one did 20 LBC’s, the other did a 6″ leg lift/hold until 200 completed. And, while one did 25 squats, the other held Al Gore position until 300 were done.
Second: same partners–one ran up the stairs, around, and down while the other chipped away at 100 freak-nasties, 100 box jumps, and 100 walk-up incline Merkins on the benches.
Third: each man for himself–sprint the length of the columns, then turn around and crab walk the length of three columns before gator crawling the length of two columns. Rinse and repeat for three times total. Competition was heavy, as was the breathing.
Bonus: Chumba-burpees–played the song, “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba since they are an Irish band whose lyrics only make sense to the natives of the Emerald Isle. SSH’s for the duration except for burpees every time they said “I get knocked down, but I get up again”. After the previous exercises, the SSH’s were the worst part…at first.
Tempted to call it two minutes early, YHC decided instead to offer up a set of Freddy Mercury’s and box cutters for the Southshore F3 community since they’ve had to cancel for an undetermined time.
On a serious note, it was truly a blessing to be able to post this morning during such turbulent times when everything seems to be out of our control. Having the chance to choose to run a little harder, to do one more burpee, to push through when everything in me wants to stop, and to have other men challenging and supporting me is a gift I’m not taking for granted. It’s an intense reminder that there is always something I can control: myself. I can control how much I’m willing to give, to keep pushing forward, and to choose to be a man for others, for something bigger than me despite the circumstances.
Thank God for F3 and for you men. He will lead us forward.
As the clock turned 6:30, the pacs who dared to walk outside during the corona virus hysteria, could not help but notice the coupons that were awaiting them for the beat down. But before we get to that, let’s warm up……
Forward arm circles – 10 IC, Reverse arm circles -10 IC, Overhead Claps – 10 IC, Cherry Pickers – 10 IC, Air presses – 10IC
At this point there were murmurs among-st the group in regards to my choice of warm up exercises given the coupons that were awaiting them, but those murmurs fell on def ears of the Q.
For those pacs that did not attend this beat down, but are wondering what the coupons could have been. Well read no further, 50 lb Bags of Sand. Each pac gets a partner. Each team of two is responsible for getting their 50 lb bag of sand to the shaft. Pac 1 to carries bag one block, while other pac ran ahead and planked until partner got there. Rinse and repeat until you arrive at shaft. Every one planks until 6 gets there, which in this case, and most cases, was yours truly.
Keeping with the theme of 50 for 50 lb bags of sand, I kept the reps at 50 for the next group of exercises.
Keeping your same partner, Pac 1 will run from shaft to designated oak tree and back while other pac performs burpees with bag of sand. Bag gets lifted to shoulders after merkin and groiner of burpee is performed, and bag is than pressed above head at end of burpee. Each team performs 50 in total.
With same partner, Pac 1 will carry bag of sand overhead with arms extended to same oak tree and back while partner performs crunchy frogs. Rinse and repeat until 50 crunchy frogs are completed between both partners.
At this point, I could see that the 50 lbs were literally weighing down the group. I decided to quote the great 6 time Olympia Winner, Dorian Yates in an attempt to rally the troops. “Muscle growth is an adaptation to stress.” Not sure if that helped, but I am just a Dorian Yates fan.
Pac 1 bear crawls to oak tree and runs back to shaft. Before taking off on bear crawl, Pac 1 places the bag of sand on their partners back, so that they can perform merkins. Rinse and repeat until 50 merkins are completed between both partners.
Time for some Mary…..At this point, many were thinking, yes, some Mary. We get a break from the bag of sand, not so much…..
Stay with same partner. Partner one performs LMCs – 20 IC while holding bag of sand above their head. Partner two holds plank at elbows until LMCs are completed. . Partners trade off and perform same exercises
Exercise #2 for Mary was a modification of dead cock roaches. While performing dead cock roaches, the bag of sand is held above head, 20 IC. Partner without bag performs flutter kicks, 20 IC. Partners trade off and perform same exercises. I knew I struck gold with the modified dead cock roached when I heard Grundy say, “These are tough.”
With only ten minutes to go, I wanted to get a competition in before the beat down was over. Pacs broke into two teams. Object of competition was to see who could stack the bags of sand the fastest without the bags falling over. If your tower of sand fell over, you automatically lost. Only rules were that only one pac could move bag(s) of sand at a time, and the next pac could not touch or move a bag(s) of sand until the previous pac returned. Team 1 got smoked. They finished in 2 minutes and 9 seconds. Team 2, with a FRESH Capt Sparkles, finished in 59 seconds. Zoolander did his best by knocking over their tower of sand before Capt placed the last bag on top. Good effort Zoolander, but we got beat.
At this point in the beat down, those 50 lb bags of sand had changed to anywhere from 0 to 45 lbs. Thank Goodness. In a collective effort, all packs were able to get remaining bags back to flag by swapping off between each other. Team Work makes the Dream Work. Kudos to Baby Yoda for powering his weigh through this work out. At 68 lbs, he was carrying, pulling, pushing and bag of sand that was nearly 75% of his body weight. The force is strong in that one Bush Wacker.
Waterpik was waiting in his wagon-dragger; YHC was parking askew; Akbar was approaching with a headlight out that he kept remembering to forget to change; Cowbell was nearing, earnestly on time; Burgundy was sneaking up irregularly – regularly late….and Shooter was sleeping through his alarm.
WARMORAMA
x10-15 IC: High Knees, Windmills, Torso Twists, Scorpion Kicks, Fire Hydrants
THANG
With the regular route on tap this gloom (plus Cowbell’s marathon-training scheduled lagniappe), the crew of rambling scramblers took off at an unintentional and surprising slightly sub-8:00 pace. A mile in, Cowbell took off for the first of his 6 1-minute sprints, YHC found his pace quickening a tic, and the rest of the PAX settled into a 3 man pack going 8:15-8:35 discussing the mouth-gaping happenings in the world of sports and the world at large resulting from the Covid-19 calamity.
MARY
As Cowbell ran back and forth past the flag like a lab rat trpped in a straight tunnel, the PAX first took turns doing 10 pull ups while the rest alternated between Freak Nasties and Merkins. After 2 rounds, we switched to Hanging Knee Ups while doing Freddy Mercuries and Flutter Kicks
COT
Count, Name, Waterpik Prayed us out into a fist-bumpin’ day in our fistbumpin’ world.
REMINDER: the 1st F3 Northshore Lunch will be tomorrow, Friday 3/13/20, at Whole Foods at noon.
Still smarting from the Downpainment put forth on the Lakefront by Akbar on Saturday, YHC was looking for a reprieve from upper extremity soreness to start the week.
So, with that in mind, LEGS were the order of the day.
Mosey to Lakefront stopping at each intersection for: Jump squats, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Flutter Kicks and SMKs.
Mosey to Marigny for some speed work. Split the PAX into 2 groups. Object is to go around Noah’s Ark as fast as you can. Rinse and repeat and hold plank while your partner Circled Noah’s Ark. After 2 rounds, YHC, fully exhausted, called off the 3rd set and Hit the Seawall for: Bulgarian Split Squats.
With time running out, it was time to Mosey back to the Marsh making just in time before the Bell sounded
Having returned on Saturday to an email stating you will not be able to return to work for 14 days.. YHC jumped on the Q sheet as to get back in the routine of things.. Having hit the gym only twice while on vacation, this morning would prove to be a tough one..
warmup
IC 15 Toe Touches, Torso twists, Windmills.
IC 20 Mummy kicks, Butt kicks, SSH.
thang
Consisted of Walls of Jericho with incorporated B.(Groiner)L.I.M.P.S… 7 rounds with 7 reps for each exercise with a lap around the trailhead for completion.. R/R 7X. Upon completion had 2 mins remaining to finish with Little Manny crunches (sure to see more on Saturday) and Cowbells go to of Crunchy Frog IC 15..
After Admiral Akbar masterminded the rebel attack on the second Death Star, he shows up light-years later to join General Leia’s fight against the tyranny of the First Order. During an epic battle with Kylo Ren at the helm, a huge explosion hits the bridge, and the most esteemed military commander of his generation was gone. Or was he?
Secret Intel from the Mon Calamari is leaked, and Akbar actually escaped with Leia using THE FORCE. Akbar travels to the Milky Way Galaxy and the land of milk and honey – returning to the Northshore Mothership – leading the rebels against Darth Fartsack and the Sad Clown Empire.
He could not do it alone. Key Resistance fighters were AWOL this gloom – such as Baby Yoda, Shooter, Maverick, Goose, Chewy, Bushwhacker and Captain Sparkles. Luckily, @hawgcycle and @revsox joined the Rebels from a not so distant galaxy across the lake.
Gloom
Factor:
slightly chilly, but sunny.
Yellow Stardust (pollen) in the air made YHC take the pink pill (Benadryl)
in addition to the red pill this morning
Warmorama: not so much
Thang: The MERKINFEST begins
Start
at the flag. Mosey to Harbor Field with
stops at Noah’s Ark, Lamarque Wall, and Splash Pad
4
sets of 2 exercises, a mixture of 12/8/5 double count reps or 24 16 8 single
count OYO
Total
count 50 reps per exercise unless otherwise noted
SSH
| Merkins IC
Lunge
Walk | Diamond Merkins OYO
Wall
Jumps | Derkins OYO
Slow
Squat | Stone Mountain Merkins IC
Spaceball @ Harbor Field
YHC
had a feeling something was missing from this beatdown, and added Pull Ups to
the delight of the bicep driven Zoolander. We needed bigger guns to continue
the fight.
5 Stations, 16 reps each. Run to next base after exercise completion until finished
1st
base Superman
Merkins
2nd
base Big
Boy Sit-ups
3rd
base Wide Merkins
Home Burpees
Outfield Pull
ups (AKA Zoolander’s)
Mosey back to the flag with stops at the Wall and Rips
Freak
Nasties | Irkin IC
50
LBC | 50 Calf Raises OYO
Imperial
Walkers | Merkins IC
Mary
Hello
Dolly x 15
20
Merkins OYO
Lay
flat on your back and stare at the sky for a minute
At
this point, YHC was at the end of the pain train, breathless from counting, and
decided to give the other Rebels a chance to lead to close us out.
2nd Mary
X
20 each
Hammer Crunchy
Frogs
Bean Flutter Kicks
Grover LBC’s
Steve Leg
Raises
Tanked
Up Frankenstein/Mummy kicks – can’t really explain – more like an 80’s
dance than an exercise – but requires extreme coordination which only Tank seemed
to have. Sure to be exciting to onlookers.
Count | Name-o-Rama
COT – Prayers of thanks and safety, asking for opportunities to influence others for good this week.
Tally
ended up at 860 reps per man, including @ 400 Merkins each – well done
gentlemen.
Thanks
for the opportunity to lead, and be a part of this group.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Whole
Food Friday lunches start next week – more info to come on GroupMe
