F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Traditional Scramble With A Few Untraditional Faces

    Sometimes taking a Q is just a way to ensure you actually post to the beatdown, which was the case for YHC and the Scramble yesterday morning.  Luckily, six other men required no such motivation. Well, I say six, but really there were only 5 others until the final minutes of the beatdown.  You can guess which man forgot the start time this morning (but did end up getting in most of the run!).

    Also of note, our favorite bickering couple returned to the fold, Chewy having convinced Ei to come back out of retirement for the seventh time by signing up for a half marathon and all the training that went along with it.

    Alright, warmorama: copperhead squats, good mornings, toe touches, torso twist, arm circles, SSH, all x12 IC

    Then, off on the traditional route.

    It should be on record that Shooter was part of the “gazelle club” on this particular morning, taking the lead with Pik as the rest of the PAX fell behind at a more leisurely pace.

    YHC ran with Demo, who had for some reason decided he wanted to completely annihilate himself before his family vacation: after a long period of inactivity, he posted for Grundy’s grueling cinderblock beatdown the day before, took an 11 mile bike ride that night, and then got up early to do this 5k.  I’m sure his M will be pleased that’s he’s incapacitated for their trip.

    Finally back at the flag, a mysterious figure that we had passed near Sunset Point revealed himself to be none other than the only member of the PAX to successfully be renamed (you don’t count, Jose, as YHC believes you’re still officially “Mourinho” on all legal paperwork).

    On our six, we closed it out with some Mary: Flutter kicks, LBCs, 100s, Hello Dollys, Rosalinas, and crunchy frogs, all x20 IC.

    COT, with announcements to sign up for the upcoming Iron Pax, and Pik prayed us out.  T-claps to Chewy, who stepped up to take Saturday’s Q (I figure if I keep applauding you, Chewy, you’ll be forced to make sure you have a sitter…). Thank you men for posting, for the great conversation, and for the always enjoyable run!

  • Tabata and a little Controversy at the Foundry…

    Hear He Hear He! The rap master is writing his much anticipated back blast after the most controversial AO in a while!

    Lets first off by saying that the Q apologizes to anyone who was offended by NSFW music. I have heard the “mubble chatter” all week and will make a “minor adjustment” for my next Q. Let me be clear and say that the hip hop music genre will not be going away, but the language will be more inclusive. With that said, I want to personally thank the many people who appreciated the genre of music and even came up to me to thank me for such a great workout.

    Here is the workout:

    28 PAX gathered at the foundry for a Wednesday beatdown.

    Warm Up:

    Jumping Jacks

    Wind Mills

    Grass Grabbers

    Mountain Climbers

    Arm Circles

    Indian Run to Foundry

    Q placed several workout tools: Agility Ladders, Jump Ropes, resistance bands, and resistance straps.

    We then started our Tabata workout

    Tabata: 25 /10

    4 rounds

    9 exercises

    Speed ladders (1 foot in and out on each square)

    Merkins

    Pull Ups

    Oblique twist with resistance bands

    Dips

    Side lunge with resistance straps

    Flutter Kicks

    V-UPS

    Jump Rope

    We finished up with a  count off, name of rama, and a circle of trust.

    We welcomed two new FNG’s: Tugboat and OTC

    I look to my next Q so I can blare me some Brittany Spears!

  • Apparently you just run

    What a lovely day for a brisk run around Audubon.

    We started with two laps around the park stopping at the Magazine entrance each time for 10 pull-ups and the St. Charles entrance for 10 burpees.

    After the run we circled up at the St. Charles entrance for some Mary:

    • 20 Penguins (FEET TOGETHER AND TOUCH THOSE HEELS)
    • 20 La cucharachas
    • 20 WW2 Sit-ups
    • 20 Mountain Climbers
    • 20 Peter Parkers with 10 second holds every 5

    We had 3 minutes left so we headed to the benches for 20 dips.

    Back to the start for COT

  • Halfway to 70

    Can’t think of a better way to spend the day after my birthday than getting sweaty with a bunch of dudes.

    I never thought I would feel better at 35 than I did at 25. I owe it all to F3 and all of you guys for giving me a reason to wake up at 5AM and sweat my ass off. Big thanks to everyone that made it out to celebrate my birthday beatdown with me.

    Short jog to the Tulane sign and circled up.

    • 35 SSH
    • 15 Grass grabbers
    • 35 Mountain climbers
    • 15 Peter Parkers

    Mosey’d to the benches:

    • 35 Right leg step-ups
    • 20 Diamond derkins
    • 35 Left leg step-ups
    • 35 Dips
    • 20 Incline Merkins

    Mosey’d to the garage for the crowd favorite Indian Run all the way up.

    Once at the top of the mountain we split into pairs for some Dora. One person ran all the way to the bottom of the stairs and back up the other stairs while the partner did the following:

    • 50 Burpees
    • 100 Jump squats
    • 200 Shoulder taps

    Sang Kumbaya while we watched the sunrise and then mosey’d back to the flag for COT.

  • Sandbagging it

    Started with a short jog to the Tulane sign and circled up.

    • 20XSSH
    • 20XWindmills
    • 20XArm Circles
    • 20XReverse Arm Circles
    • 20XPeter Parkers

    Ran back to the park and grabbed the sandbag that I stashed earlier.

    Started running on the track while doing something I like to call “no bag left behind”. The idea is that one person takes the sandbag and the group runs on the track. The first person to run pass a “running man” on the ground has to run back to take the sandbag from the person holding it. Repeat until you get to he next exercise.

    No bag left behind to the drinking fountain by the greens. Circled up for some Mary while passing the bag around.

    • LBC
    • Freddy Mercury
    • American Hammer

    More no bag left behind to the monkey bars and split up into 3 groups and did the following:

    • 10 Pull-ups as the count
    • Dry docks
    • Pass-the-bag which is basically just throwing the bag around.

    Back to the track for no bag left behind again. Stopped at Magazine street entrance. For 10 OYO burpees.

    No bag left behind back to the flag for COT.

  • Typical, Humid, Summer 610 Stomp Morning

    What is also becoming typical on Tuesdays is the large PAX and participation we continue to see and grow through F3.  This is despite even adding a Monday morning running workout.  This is a good thing.

    The workout was very simple:

    15 minutes out and back,  traditional route via Bayou St John.

    Then directly to the track for 10 minutes of running the straights,  jog

    curves.

    Then some stretching exercises, LBCs,  and a “slant” hold for that last 5 minutes.  Some folks haven’t stretched since high school.

    Count off, Nam-a-rama, Announcements, COT.

    Always a privilege to lead with such a great large group of like minded individuals.

    From San Jose, CA see you in the gloom and on the radio,

    Bongo

     

  • EMOMs can’t stop us

    This week, we welcomed a new brother, Fracsac, to our AO and to the BestBank 😉 by doing some morning EMOMs.

    Pic courtesy of Freelancer

    At the Master Melvin AO, we have 5 stations. After a quick warm up, we did 5 minute EMOMs at each station together.

    Station #1:

    • 10 – Step-Ups
    • 10 – Merkins
    • 10 – Leg Lifts

    Station #2:

    • 5 – Derkins
    • 12 – Donkey Kicks (each leg)
    • 10 – Bicycle crunches

    Station #3:

    • 6 – Broad Jumps
    • 15 – Dips
    • 10 – Merkin Toe Touches

    Station #4:

    • 5 – Jumping Lunges
    • 5 – Burpees
    • 20 – Plank Jacks

    Station #5:

    • 15 – SSH
    • 20 – Mountain Climbers
    • 20 – Flutter Kicks

    After we completed the lap around the 5 stations, we did a cool down including our newly named “Thighs” stretch. (No relation 😉 )

    We circled up, did name-a-rama and made some good plans for the future.

    It was a tough workout! But we worked together, motivated each other, and got through it!

    Everyone should come out to the Best Bank and try out the Master Melvin AO.

  • Am I A Masochist?

    Something that Turbo said a couple of months back kind of has stuck with me. He said something like (paraphrasing) ‘I’m not sure there are many people who like putting themselves through painful workouts, except of course Grundy…’ I laughed it off at the time, but the more I thought about it I had to conclude that it was actually true! If I see or hear about a workout that is labeled “painfully difficult” or “crazy hard”, my next thought without fail is “when can I try it!!!!”

    This type of attitude might categorize me as a lower level Masochist which by definition is “a person who enjoys an activity that appears to be painful or tedious. ” But on some level though, if we are being honest with ourselves, everyone in F3 is a little bit like that to one degree or another.

    So when Turbo said that the hardest workout he did all of last year was the week 2 cinderblock workout from the Iron Pax Challenge (which is coming up again in September so sign up here with F3 New Orleans at https://f3greenwood.com/ironpax-form/ ), my ears perked up and I immediately went into planning how I can make it happen again. I was not there the first time, so I needed to experience the pain…

    Turbo got me the cinderblocks and the rest was history. 8 men in total were going to go through that beatdown again because I am indeed a Masochist..

    After a brief warmup in cadence with some SSH, arm circle series, and good mornings, we walked over to the gravel pit near the trailhead for the main and only event.

    Cinderblocks in hand, we embarked on the madness.

    4 sets of 8 minutes
    * Perform as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of each set
    * After 25 reps, run 25 yards out and back (50 yards total)
    * Rinse and Repeat until 8 minutes is up
    * Make note of your rep count
    *Rest 2 minutes exactly between sets

    Set 1 – Squat Thrusters w/Coupon
    Set 2 – Curls w/Coupon
    Set 3 – KB Swings w/Coupon
    Set 4 – Manmakers w/Coupon
    * Coupon – Standard concrete block – 25lbs-35lbs

    Total Score = Set1+Set2+Set3+Set4

    It was as bad as it was hyped up to be and, true to my nature apparently, I loved it! We limped back over to the flag for a quick count off and Shooter prayed us out.

    Truth be told though guys, doing all of this type of stuff wouldn’t be anything outside of doing it alongside one another. We truly make each other better and it’s amazing to be a part of a group of men of the highest quality.

    Until next time,
    Grundy

  • Mosey to the Chickens

    QHC thought it was a joke when RY posted that QHC was to be Q at Popeye’s this morning.  QHC had been there only twice, and pretty sure that at least once he got there only by accident.  With a sly smile across Rev Sox’s face, no PAX was fessing up.  So with a disclaimer, the PAX were off.

    Warm Up:

    • Side Straddle Hops 20xIC
    • Low Slow Squats 20xIC
    • Imperial Walkers 20xIC
    • Mountain Climbers 20xIC
    • Merkins 20xIC

    With the roosters crowing away and time to mosey, QHC announced that the PAX should mosey to the chickens.  QHC didn’t see any chickens, but lots of geese, which smell like hell.  Get past them ASAP!, and continue to the Popeye Foundry.

    At the foundry, a round of fun.  The PAX divided up five routines: PAX One did 15 burpees as the timer, PAX Two pullups, PAX Three box jumps, PAX Four pirouettes/twirl-girls (jump up and try to get a 360 twirl), and PAX five hanging dips.  Rotate around.  Then rinse and repeat but with just 10 burpees as the timer.  Because it was so much fun, rinse and repeat with a mere 5 burpees as the timer.

    Slow mosey to the adjacent field for a round of Elevens–moseying between two trees, at one end doing merkins from 10 down to 1 and at the other end doing jump squats from 1 up to 10.  QHC was getting tired, so Rev Sox did a stellar countdown from 20 with a few fractions in between.

    Mosey back to the warmup spot in the grass for some Mary:

    • LBCs 20xIC (last five fooled the PAX because QHC slowed the cadence down so everyone else stopped for a round or two)
    • Flutter Kicks 20xIC
    • Penguins 20xIC
    • Russian Twists 20xIC
    • Dying Cockroaches 20xIC

    Mosey back to the flag for QHC’s surprise: today’s Iron Challenge Iron special: a full, feet-flat-on-the-ground, balls and butt just an inch or so off the ground, stretch-your-spine squat for a full 2:20.

    And it was time.  Count Off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements (such as they were, all PAX professing to have signed up for F3 Greenwood’s Iron Challenge), and a COT thanking our Sky Q for his infinite gifts.  JV

  • The Sounds of Silence

    It has been awhile since YHC has even thought about a beatdown where no one showed.  Come to think of it, I can pinpoint it to when Cowbell washed ashore this side of the lake.  With Pik consistently posting to the Marsh and Cowbell now consistently posting at Granny’s, you knew there’d at least be one other member of the PAX out there.

    But, alas, even Cowbell needs a vacation.  In Idaho, of all places.  Anywho, with no familiar cars in sight by 0525, and enough time using stretching as a delay tactic, YHC had to decide, would I pack it up and head back to the sack, or dig deep and get some in this morning?

    Well, YHC hit the trace hard, getting in a whopping 10 miles.  On top of that, I knocked out around 200 merkins and 200 big boy sit-ups along the way.

    Nah, I’m just kidding.  YHC got back in the car and went right back to bed!!!  (Well, after doing the ISI challenge.)  You see, it just goes to prove that there really is something to this whole accountability thing.

    Missed you gents this morning, SYITG!