F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Post Iron Pax Beatdown

    With my LVCC brother Screw Top still nursing an injury I was asked again to do a relief Q which I gladly accepted. I spent Tuesday night scrolling through the Exicon for some suggestions and found something new (for me) and remembered something that I had not done in a while.

    14 PAX gathered at the our usual spot in Roosevelt Mall. I can’t speak for everyone but I was still feeling the effects of the Iron Pax beatdown from Monday so burpees, jump lunges, and sit ups were not to be on the menu for today. Disclaimer was given and off we moseyed to the track for warm up.

    Warm Up:

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Grassgrabbers x 10 IC
    • Self Love x 15 IC
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each IC
    • Figure 4 piriformis stretch x 15 sec hold each leg

    Tha Thang #1:

    Following warm-up we moseyed back to Roosevelt Mall where the 14 members were split into 2 groups for a little Route 66. I hadn’t done this exercise routine in months so I figured it was just as good a time as any to break it back out. On 1 side of the mall PAX would do derkins increasing reps with each bench. On the other side PAX would perform step ups (1 is 1 for each leg) with increasing reps each bench. Plank and wait for the 6 at the end of the mall.

    Tha Thang #2:

    PAX moseyed to the back of NOMA where were again splint into groups. Since we had 14 men we were splint into 2 groups of 3 and 2 groups of 4 for Triple Check. PAX #1 perform The People’s Chair and PAX #2 planks while PAX #3 runs around NOMA. Upon PAX #3’s return to the start everyone rotate until each member of the group has performed a round in all 3 positions. Rinse and repeat 2 more times so each PAX will have performed 3 rounds in all 3 positions total.

    Tha Thang #3:

    Mosey back to the mall where we reversed our Route 66. All PAX that had performed derkins now did step ups and vice versa. Suggestion was thrown out that we do the reps in descending order which I obliged. The PAX performing step up seemed to take a bit longer so t-claps for the PAX performing derkins to get some Mary in while waiting.

    Mosey back to the flag for some Mary for all:

    • Freddy Mercury’s x 15 IC
    • Dying Cockroaches x 15 IC
    • Penguins x 15 IC

    Count-off, name-o-rama, annoucements, intentions, sweaty ball of man. Once again it was a pleasure to lead the men in a beatdown that was hopefully enjoyable but challenging.

  • The Killer Burpees

    We had a nice breeze Monday morning when we arrived at the UNO Human Performance Center for the newly dubbed Chamber of Horrors. The instructions were simple – do the Iron Pax week 1 challenge, consisting of an aggregate 150 yards of broad jumping, 150 yards of bear crawling, 150 burpees, 150 big boy situps, and 150 Bonnie Blairs. The challenge itself was anything but simple. Everyone rose to the occasion anyway, and we all completed it in under 40 minutes. Breadsticks paced us at right around 31 minutes.

    When I first began F3, I could not do a burpee. Rather, worse, I did not even know how to do a burpee. First, I did something of a squat thrust, completely omitting the merkin and the jump. In fact, I thought the guys jumping and clapping after each rep were taking a victory lap on me or something. Look at me, this is so easy I’m gonna let you know each time I complete one by jumping and clapping for myself. I thought my squat thrusts were pretty damn good, even if I could only do about 5 of them before exhaustion.

    Then, I found out the jump portion was not optional. This makes a lot of sense in hindsight, and my only defense is that I function at something less than optimal mental processing at 5:30 in the morning, especially before I got used to it. Squat thrust + jump. Okay fine, I can do this, but I don’t have to like it.

    Then I noticed the merkin part. Ohhhhhhh. When guys around me are generally saying to no one in particular “watch your form on those burpees”, they’re totally talking to me, right? Damn.

    Since then, I have made burpee form something of a personal crusade. It’s funny how you can take something you’re bad at, and really focus on it, and all of a sudden, it’s not so bad anymore. You crack the code. By paying careful attention to each step AND committing to yourself to never do 9 when 10 is called, to never cheat on form, and to never accept less than your best, you can improve.

    And so if I’m a bit of a burpee nazi with others sometimes, please accept my apologies. I wish someone had more directly told me that I was not doing burpees correctly early on in my F3 career. This is the form I at least attempt to emulate at all times:

    Chest all the way to the ground; everything hits at once. Back straight.

    If you ever see me doing them wrong or dogging them or you think I’m cutting a corner, please return the favor. Don’t let me get away with cheating myself, and I won’t let you get away with cheating yourself. Deal?

    Afterwards, we gave prayers of thanks for all we have, and enjoyed a coffeeteria at Starbucks on Harrison.

  • The Best Chicken IronPax

    Popeyes not only holds the crown for the best chicken sandwich in the Fastfood wars but also holds the crown for the best location for the IronPax challenge.

    12 men came out in the heat and humidity to conquer the IronPax challenge and all 12 men finished the task at hand.

    Challenge One: The Killer Bs

    10 Yard Bunny Hop

    10 Burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, 10 Big Boy Situps

    10 Yard Bunny Hop

    10 Burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, 10 Big Boy Situps

    10 Yard Bunny Hop

    10 Burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, 10 Big Boy Situps

    30 Yard Bear Crawl

    Rinse and Repeat for 5 laps

    SoGo won the day with a time of 21:15 but all 12 men pushed themselves through the dirt and grass to complete the challenge. YHC, SOGO, Tua, Shuffles, and Tanner all completed the Challenge for the 2nd time this week and each improved on his time before. T-Claps to Tua for knocking 7 minutes off his Rock City time.

    The End

    Count-Off, Name-O-Rama, Prayer in the Sweaty-Ball-O-Man

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead,

    Rev Sox

  • Killer B’s at Birdcage Iron Pax Week #1

    Posted in a million degree weather with 1000% humidity to start this IPC.

    Meet at the lawn by the ZOO! Line up.

    Broad jump 10 yards, 10 burpees, 10 bonnieblairs, and 10 big bois, broad jump 10 yards do it again, and broad jump 10 yards and do it again.

    Bear Crawl back to start line and do it again – 5 times

    Easy if you write it – hard if you do it.

    Tclaps to Happy Little Trees and G-Spot for the sub-20 finish. I think if you did it again you could shave another 30 secs or so off your time.

    The early finishers ran laps around the course while the rest of the PAX finished.

    While this contest is you vs everyone – it is also you vs you. I’d love to pull out the KILLER Bs in January and have you compare your times – I am sure you would see some great results.

    Great work and here are the results by time. We need to keep participating every week!

    1938 Happly Little Trees

    1947 GSpot

    2120 DOuille

    2230 Sandbar

    2435 Seaman

    2451 ILOVEYOUMAN
    2451 CHIQUITA
    2445 86

    2530 Saban

    2540 Jingle Vader

    2629 Gabrielle

    2647 King Kong

    2800 Tinkles

    2842 Quarterpipe

    2941 Brown Bag

    2957 Bones

    3000 Tube Steak

    3002 Bartman

    3030 Angies List

    3055 R. Yankee

    3055 Quincy

    3223 Squeal

    3254 Chowda

  • Power of Two

    The morning before Labor Day should be a time to get ahead, so that Labor Day can be a day of rest.  86 on Saturday: “Jingle Vader, you’re Q’ing tomorrow?”  YHC: “Yep.”  Willy on Saturday: “See you tomorrow, JV.”  So who shows up?  Just Douille and YHC.  Carpe diem.

    • SSHs 25xIC
    • Imperial Walkers 25xIC
    • Low Slow Squats 25xIC
    • Mountain Climbers 20xIC
    • Peter Parkers 20xIC
    • Parker Peters 20xIC

    Mosey to the top of the Hill for Round One.  Apparently, the PAX aren’t the only ones ever to venture up here.  Evidence of a good time abounded: about a dozen beer cans and two towels.  But no bodies in sight.  SOOOO

    • Halos clockwise 20xIC
    • Hales counterclockwise 20xIC
    • Overhead press 20xIC
    • Leg Arm lift to chest 20xIC
    • Right Arm lift to chest 20xIC
    • Kettle Bell swings 20 OYO
    • Bench press 20xIC
    • Sprint to the levee and back

    Rinse and repeat, but this time just 15xIC; then rinse and repeat again with just 10xIC; and rinse and repeat one last time with just 5xIC.

    For a bit of working rest: farmer’s carry around the hill twice alternating arms half way around each time.

    Back up the hill for Circle of Mary:

    • Russian Twist 20xIC (with kettle bell)
    • Flutter Kicks 20xIC (with kettle bell)
    • Penguins 20xIC
    • Dying Cockroaches 20xIC
    • Hello Dolly 20xIC (with kettle bell)
    • Superman about 2 minutes
    • Plank about 2 minutes

    COT with a very quick countoff, name-o-rama, and thanks for a glorious weekend.  Off to Coffeeteria.  Thanks Douille for keeping it going.  JV

  • It’s a Race!

    16 men arrived to stomp through the streets of New Orleans this morning, but YHC had other plans. YHC has enjoyed tracking his endurance and capabilities through the IronPax challenge, H8, and bi-annual F3NOLA races. YHC thought it was time to throw in another way to measure himself and his brethren.

    Going forward whenever YHC Qs the 610 Stomp, the workout will be a 3 mile race followed by some fun and games. YHC’s hope is that the Pax will be able to track their time and distance to see how F3 has made us faster and stronger on this journey.

    The Thang

    Standard disclaimer and mosey from the flag to the track. The men lined up for an F3 race – 3 miles without using the inner two lanes in the track. This resulted in a 3.2 mile race. The times were as follows:

    1. Shuffles 20:16
    2. Screw Top 23:06
    3. Belloq 23:43
    4. Rudy 23:47
    5. Tua 24:11
    6. Sacagawea 24:15
    7. Jesus Juice 24:51
    8. Rev Sox 25:28
    9. Col. Mustard 27:20
    10. Swiss Miss 28:08
    11. Kuch 27:25 – 11 laps
    12. War Eagle 27:52 – 11 laps
    13. Tool 28:08 – 11 laps
    14. Complicated 25:05 – 10 laps
    15. Hokie Pokey 26:37 – 10 laps
    16. Hawg 27:04 – 10 laps

    The Game

    The Pax moseyed through the mud and over to the football field for some ultimate frisbee. The Pax counted off by two and spit into 2 teams. The skins blew out the shirts by a score of 28-7. The winners were YHC, Jesus Juice, War Eagle, Tua, Col Mustard, Kuch, and someone else on my team that I can’t remember.

    The Conclusion

    Count-Off, Name-O-Rama, and Prayer at the flag. Thank for playing some games and letting YHC score some touchdowns.

    -Rev Sox

  • Thank you USMC Joey Bovia!

    Introduction to USMC Joey Bovia

    Sgt. Joseph “Joey” Bovia, USMC, was a native of Metairie, Louisiana.  He served in the Marine Corps for six years.  Sgt. Bovia volunteered for two deployments to Iraq and his last deployment to Afghanistan.  He was the leader of a combat engineering platoon and was building an outpost to protect an elementary school in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when his unit was attacked by insurgents.  Sgt.  Bovia was killed in action on August 31, 2010, in the name of freedom and protection.  

    On August 31, 2019, 10 men of F3 (including FNG Complicated) converged at Muscleship to pay tribute to this hometown hero through a workout, on the 9th anniversary of his sacrifice, created by Sgt. Bovia’s fellow Marines. Sgt. Bovia’s mom was notified of the F3 tribute and she sent her deepest gratitude to the men of F3.  Sgt. Bovia’s mom was assured Joey’s sacrifice would not be forgotten. She expressed her greatest fear is people forgetting Joey.

    Warm up

    After an introduction to USMC Joey Bovia, we left the flag and took a slow mosey over to The Foundry to warm up.

    Once there, Hokie Pokey solicited assistance from @SOGO for Warm Ups as SOGO has not held his VQ yet.

    31 SSH, 8 Merkins, 8 Hill Billies and 8 Arm Circles Forward and Backward for the Warm up

    The Tribute ~ 8 stations 31 reps “plus bonus burpees ;-)” in teams of 2 split between 5 stations and then rotating through the 8 stations

    • Hand Release Merkins
    • Low Slow Squats
    • Pull ups with FULL extension at bottom
    • Alabama Ass Kickers
    • Floyd Mayweathers
    • Dips ensuring you get DEEP into the dip
    • Lunges (stepping way out front and getting the back knee down)
    • Mule Kicks (possibly being renamed Sunday Mornings)
    • PLUS we started and ended with 5 burpees and 3 burpees at each transition … 7 transitions x 3 = 21 +5 +5 = 31

    There was leftover time so we added some bonuses of planks while our partner ran to the track and back. We concluded by moseying back to the fountain in front of NOMA for step ups and then closing with a circle of 8 minutes of Mary

    Thank you Joey Bovia & COT

    We closed with our Circle of Trust and once again lifting up RED (Remembering Everyone Deployed) and giving special thanks to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. We also lifted up @Bell Hop and @Rudy’s Dad and all those dealing with cancer! We also lifted up all those dealing with Hurricane Dorian and those traveling this weekend.

    We also welcomed our FNG, Steven Arthur with the F3 name of Complicated which is way to complicated for me to explain here.

    As always, I thank my F3 brothers for the opportunity to push myself and hopefully aid in each of you pushing yourselves through my attempt to challenge you at your fitness level while still being able to Q.

    Thank you USMC Joey Bovia (RIP 08.31.10)
    The tribute with 8 stations and 31 reps at each station

  • Four play Fore

    There were no holes-in-one, but this is two backblasts-in-one…

    FIRST: Typical turnout at Wolfpack Mountain with a sub-krewe of ruckers showing up for their training. Those compact packs easily outweigh a fully stocked golf bag. Serious respect.

    Quick warm-up with SSH, mountain climbers, grass grabbers, and then mosey to WPM. YHC intended for all the golf participants to captain a team in order to earn mulligans during the tournament later that morning. Alas, only FracSac and yours truly emerged so we divided in half.

    Bulk of the workout was ascending WPM with stops every level for 5 burpees, 10 merkins, and 20 air squats. Team FracSac prevailed and we regathered at the top for a round of Mary. Walking lounges across the top level, down the stairs to the benches for dips, and hustle back to the flag. Plank to failure rounded things out.

    SECOND: Four of us played golf. It was a blast.

    These guys played golf.
    (l-r: Babyface, FracSac, Quiche, Nine Lives)

    Although turnout was lighter than expected, we still managed to have a great time. Quiche had to peel off shortly after the turn, I had to bail on 16 (s-l-o-w), but by all reports Babyface and FracSac finished out the 18 and crowned themselves inaugural co-champions.

    Despite the low numbers, we learned a lot about the timing and format so be on the lookout for future golf details. We’re thinking next time will be in the late fall in City Park on a Saturday. More to come on that front…

    SYITG,

    Nine Lives

  • Backblast: Labor Day … +1

    Happy Labor Day VQ for Tube Steak, where learning to count was the real training for the day (@Squeal was right…counting is hard).

    Rolled out from the circle at 0530 with a dirty dozen group (including +1 FNG) and a quick disclaimer. Straight away looking for trouble while running right at the grounds crew blowing away debris. After flocking around the workcarts the members went on to warm up by the gazebo:

    20 SSH; 20 Imperial Walkers; 10(+1) Forward Arm Circles and the same in Reverse (thx SeaMan); 15 Grass Grabbers

    Pax mosey’d through the woods onto the first stop at the row bar station in three groups: 20 Upright Rows (had the count); Merks; Jump Squats…Rinse and Repeat

    Single Line Indian Run to the bridge, splitting off from the track for mountain climbers; peter parkers; parker peters

    Jog to Sprint Running Man on the track down to the big fountain for 15 Right Leg Step Ups, 20 Dips, 15 (+1) Left Leg Step Ups; 20 Decline Merks

    Back to the track for Jog; POW Jog; Sprint to the water-fountain and some Mary (with at least one +1)

    Quickly onto the pull-up bars for a final 10 count round rotating low slow squats and a trial run of BonnieBlairs (all agreed that won’t be fun Wednesday)

    Back to the circle at 0615 (also +1) for name-o-rama welcoming @Waltzing Schnitzel to the group, announcements; intentions (thoughts to those in the path of Dorian), Sweaty BOM and on to F2 Coffeeteria at the PJs

    Thanks to all who kept up the count!

    Tube Steak

  • Iron Pax Week 0 at the Knoll

    Iron Pax Week 0 at the Knoll

    Discharged disclaimer and other niceties at the Flag and moseyed to Sundial for Warm A Rama

    • 15 SSH
    • 15 Hairy Rockettes
    • 16 Arm Circles
    • 15 Wind Mills

    The Thang Moseyed through ankle deep mud to rugby pitch to perform practice Iron Pax (With deep appreciation to Hawgcycle for explaining concept of elapsed time)

    Six Reps of :

    • 24 Air Squats
    • 24 Merkins
    • 24 Walking Lunges
    • 400 Meter Run

    Twinkletoes and Shangeaux led the way with the rest of us getting lapped by the 4th grade track team using the track. Times were respectable in the 30-40 minute range. Twinketoes may have been sub 30, but I was too far back to know.

    After many comments on how hard it was and much begging for water, transport by ambulance back to Flag muster point for COT followed by search for Twinletoes glasses.