Category: Northshore

  • HardCORE in the Foggy Dew

    RunRangerRun is 50% complete, and according to northshore team 1 captain, Steve, we are in 7th place for runners nation-wide! The maverick machine, Amnesia, has taken sole ownership of team 2, and chugging along! With all of that in mind, YHC pulled in this gloom just in time to jump into the 2 mile pre-thang along with the other pre-thangers, as well as the pre-pre-thangers. With Butt Splice in the mix, there would indeed be a competitive pace man to chase.

    Related image

    The rest of the Saturday warriors were eagerly assembled in the hazy morning around the flag in anticipation of the beatdown in store for them. With the House of Steve under quarantine, Captain Core stepped in to cover Q.

    WARM O RAMA

    15xs IC:

    Cherry Pickers

    Arm Circles (forward 10/reverse 10)

    Imperial Walkers

    Torso Twists

    High Knees

    Slow Squats

    20 Merkins OYO

    THANG

    Mosied to the Gazebo for:

    20 Bay City Scissors – 8 count (horribly bungled in the case), with Flutter Kicks for 1-4 and Hello Dollys for 5-8

    Image result for bay city scissors

    25 Irkins on the sea wall

    20 more Bay City Scissor (thanks to Zoolander for selflessly pushing the PAX;)

    Mosied to the far side of the fountain for:

    Big Os – on the sea wall, with legs extended, swing legs in on O. IC 10 counter clockwise, 10 clockwise

    25 Dirkins

    Partner up for:

    While P1 runs to designated tree 25 yards or so away and back to switch out, P2 does cumulative: 1) 200 Chill Cut Peter Parkers 2) 200 Freddy Mercurys and 3) 200 Gas Pumps (legs extended and in for a crunch)

    25 Freak Nasties

    10 Burpees

    5 Burpees

    20 Merkins

    Mosied back to the gazebo for:

    Guantanamo – circle up on your 6, legs straight up. each man take s a turn to go around the circle pushing legs down, as each man brings them back to the sky. Today’s exercise just showed that guys can turn ANYTHING into a competition!

    20 Paddy Cake Merkins – Head to head, partners do simultaneous merkins and alternatingly slap hands

    Image result for paddy cake push ups

    Mosey back to the flag for:

    25 Ic:

    100s

    Putins

    Little Manny Crunches

    Monkey Crunches – in sit-up position, crunch and reach for the outside of your ankles

    30 seconds each of: Plank, Chill Cut, Mission Impossible, Chill Cut, Plank, 1 hand- right arm up, 1 hand – left hand up, Back Plank (Heeeey Baby!), Freddy Mercurys

    Tanked Up has the anticipation building for his F3 party on March 16th and 2nd-timer, Shrimp Boots prayed us out.

    Great job done by a hardCORE PAX , with much appreciation for following QICs lead. May your activities of daily be preformed more steadily with your freshly worked core.

    Image result for hardcore



  • NKOTB Valentine Run

    Image result for nkotb

    With no Shooter, Steve or Chewy, it was no “old guard” and all “new guard” (The Pelican being “mid-guard”?) on this chilly Valentine’s morning. With Ringo rolling in hot and a little late (but back to his customary F3 winter uniform), the PAX had warm ups already underway.

    20 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Imperial Walkers

    Torso Twists

    High Knees

    Abe Vigodas

    With RRR in mind, YHC had intended close to 5miles in the gloom, but given an odd assortment of excuses mixed with a dusting of miscommunication, while the route slightly altered, the distance remained the same.

    Coconuts and Garfield lead the pack, with Ringo and The Pelican covering the middle ground, and Waterpik and YHC pulling the caboose.

    With 10 minutes to Mary, we finished with: Downward Dog, Lizard Pose, Planks, Chill Cut Planks, Mission Impossible Planks, Right/Left Side Planks.

    Pelican prayed us out, and off we went to welcome the day! Thanks to Waterpik for hanging back with this stumbling fool, to Coconuts for swinging back for us mosiers, and to the PAX for following instruction, if not lead.

    I’m very impressed and proud of the new wave of consistency and leadership in F3 Northshore that has been built on the leadership and committment that each of us found already here when we were FNGs. I consider this group to be a valuable and integral part of my life, and the lives of its member. Always remember, WE are F3 Northshore. Without US, it does not exist.

  • The Wheel

    YHC didn’t invent it.

    Tasked by an ailing Einstein for a substitute Q, YHC went to the Hawg playbook and unabashedly copied a recent Red Friday workout, the Loredo. After a warmup of Seal Jacks, Toe Touches, Windmills, Mountain Climbers, Parker Peters, SSHs, Good Mornings, High Knees, Butt Kicks all IC 10x and some arm circles (golf ball to beach ball and back), YHC led the PAX to the Justice Center for a simple but not easy beatdown:

    AMARP for 30 minutes: 25 air squats, 25 Merkins, 25 Walking Lunges and a 400 Meter Run (don’t tell the PAX the rep count was supposed to be 24 and not 25; YHC is old and cannot read his Winke in the Gloom).

    The PAX managed 7 rounds. Probably would have been 12 had YHC used the correct rep count.

    Back to the trailhead for a balance challenge: stand on the right leg for 30 seconds and then 10 right leg hops OYO; rinse and repeat on the left leg; and then a weird balance exercise that is too complicated to explain but YHC will show you some time.

    Countorama, nameorama and Steve prayed us out. Thanks for letting me sub for Einstein guys, and T claps to you for the hard effort this morning.

  • Silence of the lambs!!!

    With Q considering a day of rest from running, I awoke to a message from Waterpic. He mentioned that if I was running to Grandmothers house he would join in along the way. That is all the YHC needed was the simple EH from Pic to silence those negative thoughts and hit the pavement. Besides RRR is only one month and the miles count toward a great organization.. Appreciate the EH and the accountability Pic.. We arrive at the AO with no movement in sight, shortly after Garfield rolls in primed and ready to go as always as the Pelican and Ringo emerge as well. Knowing the forecast to be calling for Thunderstorms throughout the day, Q figured we would see a sighting of Bushwacker. He monitors the weather like a young “Bob Breck” knowing all the details and patterns of southeast Louisiana, besides I also believe he gets tremendous joy out of making ridiculous post in fridged temps, Thunderstorms, high heat index, etc.. With the mumble chatter building YHC rallies the PAX to begin.

    Warmup

    All IC 15 Windmills, Mummy kicks, Toe Touches and Air presses. IC (10) straight arm, 45 degrees and 90 degrees.. Not sure if my geometry is accurate on that, but we will go with it..

    Thang

    Lindsey’s aka forties from the F3 list would be our first at the bus stop.. Exercise consists of 2 chosen movements always equaling a total of 40 subtracting 5 from the top and adding 5 to the bottom. YHC chose Merkins and Freak nasties. First set 30 Merkins followed by 10 Freak nasties. Second 25 and 15, Third 20/20, Fourth 15 and 25 and final 10 and 30. Although it’s only a 100 total of each the combination seemed to quickly silence the PAX. So much so that as we began our Mosey to the tunnel there was no chatter for nearly half a mile, then Ringo mentioned as long as he was ahead of Wacker he was good. To appreciate that comment one would have had to be there, no PAX wanted to be behind Wacker as he had earlier demonstrated that his previous days meal would not allow for him to keep the Silence so to speak.. Arrived to the tunnel where the PAX was instructed of our next routine. Quarter Pounder (add onions) except for you Wacker.. Broke into 2 teams of 3. Team 1 sprinted 25 yards and completed 25 Merkins returning back pedaling while Team 2 did Al Gores (reversed sequence), Team 1 50 yard sprint and 50 squats back pedaled while Team 2 held plank (reverse), Team 1 75 yard sprint 75 plank Jacks back pedaled while Team 2 did alternating lunges (reverse) and finally Team 1 100 yard sprint with 100 SSH while Team 2 did LBCs (reverse).. Moseyed back to AO with Garfield reminiscing of a Mickey Rork show and mentioning other moments from In Living color with Shhh NayNay and Jim Carey. Both scenes related to Silence that sometimes is broken without saying a word.. Arrived at the AO for a min of Mary low Flutter, high Flutter and Hello dollies..

    Count off, announcements (mentioning about the Ragnar in April), COT

    Pelican took the honors of praying us out!!!

    Appreciate the post gentleman and the accountability!!

    Till the next Gloom 👊🏻👍🏻✌🏻!!

  • Ass-Kickers at The Roadhouse

    A warmer 62 degrees and a light rain, as we met up at The Marsh. Shooter had the PAX impressed that he ran over 2 miles from home to our AO.

    Greetings and banter before warm ups. As WaterPik and Coconuts called me out as having “Starbucks Hands” I immediately regretting wearing gloves on this warmer morning.

    WarmORama: Good Mornings, Wind Mills, Toe Touches, Hill Billies, Imperial Walkers, Side Straddle Hops.

    Guided by the blue light of Pelican Pointe Car Wash, the PAX moseyed to Ruby’s Roadhouse for a change of scenery, and did the Escalator routine: 10 ASS-KICKERS, 20 Burpees, 30 Merkins, 40 Squats, 50 Lunges. As if Burpees aren’t hard enough, WaterPik showed up the group by starting his on a fire ant pile.

    Next PAX moseyed all the way down to the lakefront sea wall and did 20 each: Box Jumps, Merkins, Step-Ups, Derkins, Lunges, and Freak Nasties.

    Next PAX moseyed over to Rip’s on the Lake where we did “Stair Barrows.” PAX partnered up. Partner 1 held Partner 2’s legs while he did a wheel-barrow up the stairs and 10 derkins, then both PAX ran down the stairs, then flap-jacked. PAX who were waiting did Partner 1’s choice of exercise for each round consisting of: Squats, Freddy Mercury’s, Flutter Kicks, etc.

    PAX moseyed back to the basketball court. As we arrived, YHC was ready to dish out some MARY, but was quickly interrupted and told that time had expired. (Apparently YHC’s watch somehow fell back 5 minutes during the beatdown). Since many PAX are already doing xtra credit with RRR, we went right into Circle of Trust.

    Thanks Shooter for leading us in prayer, and for the tip about Boudin by Jamison.

    Thank you guys for the opportunity to lead.

  • The Extra Mile Is Never Crowded

    Unless, of course, you’re running in Old Mandeville, where there are always other running crews hitting the pavement before 0500.

    First off, t-claps to Coconuts for showing up with some reflective running schwag, instantly making the pax both safer and giving us that “seasoned runner” look (so that when the group of women doing a 6-minute pace passed us, they knew they were passing some serious men).

    Secondly, t-claps to Waterpik, who has posted to more than a few beatdowns while he rehabs his ankle.  He got YHC thinking this morning: would I show up if I couldn’t run?  Probably not.  Maybe the first week, but then the temptation of an extra hour of sleep (maybe 2 for an outta work hairdresser?) would be too much.  Pik leads by example and character like his is one of the biggest reasons why I’ve made F3 such an integral part of my life.

    The Thang: Once our new reflective bands had been properly secured, YHC warned the pax that we’d be skipping our usual warm-up in lieu of a little more distance: 4 miles rather than our usual 3.2.

    Today’s route:

    Back in time for a few flutters (30x IC) and a few merkins (20), before COT with Chewy praying us out.  Thanks for going the extra distance today guys, appreciate it!

  • Sweat Angels Back in Full Force!

    “The night was hot, wait no, the night, the night was humid. The night was humid, no wait, hot, hot. The night was hot. The night was hot and wet, wet and hot. The night was wet and hot, hot and wet, wet and hot; that’s humid. The night was humid.”

    -Larry Donner (Billy Crystal), Throw Momma from the Train

    Image result for THROW MOMMA from the train the night was humid

    The gloom of February 6th showed us that, as colossal as the beatdown may have been, Spring ( with an identity crisis of Summer) has reared its humid head a little early for this guy’s taste. And with it came the fluttering of mighty sweat-angel wings! So bring your towels and changes of shirts, grab an extra water or 2, and don’t forget your A-game because it’s time to perspire like a proper PAX preposterously early in the AM!

    PRETHANG

    10 minutes early, 6 road warriors gathered to run a mighty mile , and wave good morning to Steve’s brother-in-law’s house.

    WARMUP

    All IC x20:

    Alternating Air Presses

    Bent Arm Lateral Shoulder Raises

    Torso Twists

    Imperial Walkers

    High Knees

    SSHTHANG

    PAX mosied to the front of the court house for:

    Jump Squat Holds – In a circle, Q counted off as the PAX did 10 jump squats followed by 10 seconds of Al Gores. Each PAX took a turn, lowering the rep/second count by 1

    Jonny Drama – Using handrails for stability on the steps, PAX did 25 negative calf raises

    Mosied to the parking garage and all the way to the top level and did 20 Jackees – burpees with a SSH at the end

    Mosied back to the bottom and did…

    San Antonio Shuffle (x10) – left leg lunge, right leg lunge, burpee with a plank jack

    Mosied back to the top for 12, 8, and 4…

    SSH Jumps – Starting in chair position, SSH with a squat

    MARY

    Mosied back down and onward to home base where the Wacker of Abs lead this hardcore group of F3 brothers in:

    LMCs (Little Manny Crunches) – Like an LBC, but hold the crunch for a three count. 50 reps at varied pace of cadence

    James Bonds – On your 6, leaning back slightly, feet off the ground hold your hands together like you’re holding a gun out in front of you. Hold for 10 seconds, turn to the right, middle, left, middle

    Reach-Through Mid-sit ups (for lack of a better name) – on your back, knees bent, feet on the ground, hands reach forward between your knees. More than a crunch – less than a sit up

    Plank 30 seconds, Chill Cut Plank 30 seconds, Mission Impossible Plank 30 seconds, Plank 30 seconds, 10 IC of a nameless exercise in which from plank position reach right hand to outside of left knee, then left hand to outside of right knee.

    COT

    Count Off/Name-o-rama

    Maverick prayed us out and into a productive and positively influential day.

    Thanks for following my lead through the toils of shirt-soaking physical fitness in the gloom! It is my sincere hope that you all found prodigious amounts of value at The Gipper today.

    Image result for sweat angels
  • Rise When the Rooster Crows (or, Do Monkey Humpers when the Rooster Crows)

    Granny’s house is the only real wild card in the northshore schedule these days.  While other AO’s maintain a consistent crew, Granny’s House can fluctuate greatly.  And it’s kinda nice not knowing what you’ll get – sometimes it’s 8-10 pax, other times it’s 2.  For two weeks in a row, though, it’s been a packed house.  Maybe because of the special appearances by Captain Sparkles?  Who can say.  But it was nice to have a solid number of men in the gloom this morning, up early enough to hear the rooster crow.   Literally.  That’s right, we have a rooster at Granny’s House.  (Or, at least, in the general vicinity of Granny’s.) 

    Warmorama (under the safe confines of the covered corridor, while the rain petered off): Toe Touches x15 IC, 10 Merkins, SSH x15 IC, 8 Merkins, IW x15 IC, 6 Merkins, Copperhead Squats x15 IC, 4 Merkins, High Knees x15 IC, 2 Merkins, Butt Kicks x15 IC.

    The Thang:

    This beatdown was a bit of a medley – less rinse and repeat, more mosey from COP to COP.  Our first mosey was through the woods over to the Marigny intersection for a quick set of Peter Parkers, Alternating Should Taps, and Parker Peters, all 20x IC.  

    Then onward to the Lamarque intersection, where the Pax circled up to perform monkey humpers while each man got a turn at 5x jump squats.  A neighborhood dog caught sight of Wacker humping and, well, let’s just say it’s a good thing there was both a fence and the dog’s owner came out to restrain him.  Between that and the rooster, it was pretty clear that it was time to move on,  so we moseyed quickly over to the Marsh’s pull-up bars.

    First up, a set of 7’s : 6 hanging knees-to-chest to 1 Sister Mary Katherine.  Next up, 20 squat / pull-up combos OYO.

    Another mosey, this time back towards Granny’s, but with a quick stop on Girod to circle up for Al Gore, while each pax quickly performs 5x IW’s.

    Mosey onward, until we were safely back at the trailhead, where YHC confidently explained how to do Bear Crawl Merkins across the length of the corridor.  Incorrect explanation, but done with great confidence so no one questioned it until about halfway through, when someone realized the count should be an odd number to correctly alternate our staggered merkins.  Regardless though, the pax seemed to enjoy.

    Another mosey, this time to the bus stop benches for: 10x Jump Overs, Freak Nasties x10 IC, Knee Ups R Leg x10 IC, Freak Nasties x10 IC, Knee Ups L Leg x10 IC, Freak Nasties x10 IC.

    Back to the start for a blast from the past, an old favorite that YHC had nearly forgotten (thanks Bushwacker for mentioning groiners and triggering a light bulb moment): an 8-count exercise known as Absolution.  It involves groiners, Makhtar N’Diayes, and plank jacks, and it’s a pain in the ass to count off. But we managed to knock out 10 of those IC and then finally finished up with a muddy Mary of: flutter kicks, high flutters, LBCs, crunchy frogs, and Putins, all 20x IC.

    COT and Captain took us out with a special prayer for Dan Ziegler, who was seriously injured in the Metairie condo fire over the weekend.  Please send your thoughts and prayers to Dan and his family.  And thank you men for the opportunity to lead!

  • Train like the opponent who beat you!!

    After watching the Patriots Tom Brady march into the history books with his 6th Super bowl victory, the Q as much as he didn’t want too, couldn’t help but tip his hat to this remarkable achievement… Now had the Black and Gold been in the big game, I can only imagine the outcome would have been different.. As if the big game weren’t enough our beloved Tigers Men’s basketball team were up ended by the Razorbacks over the weekend breaking a 10 game win streak and 18 game homestand at the Pmac.. Knowing how we were clearly robbed of the first opportunity, I remain optimistic as our local GOAT Brees stated, we still have a window with a team of young rising stars and will only get better from the No Call that caused our City to demonstrate in multiple Boycotts across the area.. Which leads to the 2nd and the motivation behind the beatdown at the Marsh on this humid Gloom.. Scrolling through the list of exercises YHC spotted the Nolan Richardson. For those not familiar he was the Razorbacks coach back in the day who took his team to a National Championship and a spot into the College Hall of Fame.. Not trying to give too much admiration to our opposition, I still felt the PAX needed to train like the program that recently ended our streak in the only sport of interest left to the Q until next football season.. Enough tutorial, let’s get after it.

    Warmup and Thang

    “Nolan Richardson”

    20 IC Windmills and 20 American Hammers, Mosey to stop sign and back.

    Take to the court for 6 partnered exercises consisted of 150 and 300 rep counts cumulative. P1 exercise while P2 backpedals half court jog forward backpedal full court jog forward alternating in and out.

    Round 1 150 Burpees and 300 Squats.

    Round 2 150 Big Boy sit-ups and 300 Arm circles

    Round 3 150 Merkins and 300 Imperial Walkers

    With inspiration from the Men’s health article Q picked up on the 6 mins of Mary shown in the article, with limited time had to call an audible till future post and only completed 24 sec of Little MANNY crunches, 24 sec of High scissors and 24 sec of Low scissors…

    Appreciation to Ringo, Steve and Water Pik Marsh staples for the post..

    Thanks to Water Pik for the COT pray out!!!

    Till the next Gloom 👊🏻💪🏻👍🏻✌🏻!!

  • NOLA No Call Beatdown – Northshore Edition

    It was great seeing the South Shore on the North Shore. I am sure they were happy it was not at 7pm, in tank tops, and 30 degrees!!!! Thanks for making the trip across the bridge to take part of our beatdown. Let’s get this thing going!

    Warmarama: Toe Touches – 15 IC, Windmills – 15 IC, IWs- 15 IC, SS Hops- 15 IC, Seal Jacks 15 – IC, High Knees 15 – IC, Butt Kicks 15 – IC, Eight Count Body Builders 10 – IC

    Mosey….

    11’s : Start at the seawall by doing 1 step with each leg. Bear crawl to the street, and do 10 plank jacks. Lunge walk back to the sea wall. Rinse and repeat, increasing the step ups until you get to 10 and decreasing the plank jacks until you get to 1.

    Mosey….

    With it being the eve of Superbowl 51, where our beloved Saints received the shaft, I thought it would be fitting to incorporate a part of our beatdown dedicated to the Black and Gold. All pacs were asked trivia questions regarding The Saints. An exercise was performed that was coinciding with the answers. The knowledge of the pacs regarding out team was quite impressive.

    1. How long was Garret Bartley’s field goal that sent the Saints to the super bowl in 2009? Answer: 40 yards, Exercise: 40 Jump Squats OYO
    2. In what year did the Saints play their first season in the Super Dome? Answer: 1975, Exercise: 75 Air Presses OYO
    3. What is the most touchdowns that a Saints player has scored in a season? Answer: 18, The original exercise was 18 burpees. Due to The Channel Mullet knowing that the Saints player who scored these 18 touchdowns was Dalton Hillard, we only had to do 17 burpees, IC. Thank You Channel Mullet!!!!
    4. What team did the Saints give their first victory after starting 0 and 26? Answer: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Exercise: 26 Merkins
    5. On what date did the Saints beat the Rams for their first playoff win? Answer: Dec 30, 2000, Exercise: 30 American Hammers IC

    Merkin Wave – with a twist

    All pacs take the plank position, starting with THE Manny, do one Merkin. Going in a clockwise direction, each pac does one Merkin while all other pacs hold plank position. Rinse and repeat this 4 times. In between each wave, all pacs move a 1/4 turn to the right in a plank position. This is Butt Splice’s absolutely favorite exercise on the F3 website.

    Mosey …..

    Mary- LBCs – 20 IC, Freddie Mercuries – 10 IC, Flutter Kicks – 10 IC, Leg Lifts- 10 IC, Crunchie Frogs – 10 IC

    Break into 4 groups of 6, each group sprints back to flag after giving the group in front of them about a 40 yard head start.

    Welcome to the 3 FNGs that joined the F3 Nation today, Celtic Warrior, Hogie, and Shrimp Boots. Glad I could Q your first of many beatdowns.

    Circle of Trust -Butt Splice prayed us out

    Great F2 at coffeterria afterwards.