F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Three’s Company…Plus an 80lb Ball of Concrete

    Arriving a little early to tackle what would most certainly be an unfortunately large amount of litter waiting at the Marsh, YHC was also greeted by an itinerant millennial hanging out. We exchanged a few pleasantries and he was extended a beat down invite before Shooter and Pik simultaneously rolled up.

    WARMUP

    All x15 IC:

    SSH

    Toe Touches

    High Knees

    Slow Squats

    Cherry Pickers

    Windmills

    THANG

    In homage to our IR Marsh regular Coconuts, the PAX hit the intersection for 10 burpees every minute on the minute for 5 minutes, followed by a run 1 block south down Lamarque and back. Next was 20 squats in the same fashion plus the run.

    Lurking in the shadows behind the basketball goal waiting for an opportune time to make a startling appearance was one of Mathlete’s 80lb atlas balls from a Saturday beat down several months back. Round 1: while one man did ball rolling suicides, the other 2 planked. Round 2: zig zag rolling from one post to the next and back while non-rollers did LBCs. Round 3: ball carrying suicides while the others did cherry pickers.

    COT

    Q prayed us out, overwhelmed by the example of challenges displayed by our visitor, and grateful for the blessings of tenacity, determination in the face of adversity, and the support that we all give and receive every day.

    Thank you, gents, for giving me another chance to grow in my leadership!

  • What I Like

    With RevSox on the IL and a number of regulars “preparing” for the H8!, I figured we might have some low numbers and that maybe it would be a good time to do an impromptu Q school at Popeyes. We are going to need some more Qs with RevSox out for the time being.

    The Disclaimer

    I gave the disclaimer with a little extra explanation of what F3 is and why it is different. The mission of F3 is to plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. There are other workout groups on the city, but not counting FIA, these workout groups are led by the same people each time. F3, not only provides us with a good workout, but it also gives us the opportunity to hone our leadership skills. If you are not stepping up to Q, you are missing out on the most important aspect of F3. I love the fact that F3 is organized to be a community of leaders. Every man not only has the opportunity, but is expected to provide leadership for the group. This benefits the entire group. At the most basic level, it gives us a variety of workouts that improves, helping to accelerate our fitness. On a higher level it teaches us how to operate in a community, it helps us to learn how to support one another, it teaches us what works and doesn’t work, etc.

    When you Q, you have to create a plan and execute it. You have to prepare for different situations. You have to effectively communicate your vision to a group of men and have them carry it out. You have to learn to be efficient. You have to motivate and encourage. You have to teach. You have to lead by example. You may just think of it as leading a workout, but if you do it correctly there are a number of skills involved that translate to the most important areas of your life.

    The Warm-up

    Counting is an important skill. We use a standard that helps us to communicate effectively. This makes the workout more efficient. Make sure you have memorized the following:

    • Next exercise is…..the ___________
    • Starting position…..move
    • In-cadence…..exercise

    There are several different types of cadences you can use. Make sure you think through them and choose the one that will be most effective for the exercises you are doing. Make sure you count at an appropriate tempo. You want to make sure you don’t leave others behind. You also want to make sure it supports what you are trying to accomplish with the exercise. In the Warm-up, make sure you touch all of the different muscle groups you will be using. Dynamic stretches are good after the body has warmed. I like to alternate exercise in a standing position and in a plank position to make the pax get up and down.

    SSH x 20 (4-count cadence – Chips), Imperial Squat Walkers x 20 (4-count cadence – Boo Boo), Mountain Climbers x 20 (4-count Kenna), Low Slow Squats x 20 (4-count cadence), Peter Parker x 20 (4-count), , 8-count Body Builders x 10 (Hokey Pokey), Red Bull Smurf Jacks x 20 (4-count cadence – Boo Boo), Catalina Wine Mixers x 10 (6-count cadence Dark Wing Duck), Abe Vigodas (4-count Chips), Merkins x 20 (2-count cadence Kenner Brah)

    The Thang

    The difficulty of Qing a workout is to plan for a variety of physical fitness and abilities. This is the F3 motto: Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him. This is difficult and it means that you, and other pax members, are paying attention.

    Mosey to the wall for a Red Hot Chili Pepper. I remember how hard this was when I did it for the first time. It has to be hard. It has to be challenging. Is it ok if guys can’t do it? Of course. They can modify. Make the workout so that you are pushing the fittest guys. Others can modify as needed. If you see a lot of people modifying or just all out quitting, encourage them to keep going by providing them with ways to modify.

    • Bulgarian Split Leg Lunge Right Leg Forward (IC) x 10
    • Derkins (IC) x 20
    • Bulgarian Split Leg Lunge Left Leg Forward (IC) x 10
    • Incline Merkins (IC) x 20
    • BSLL Left (IC) x 8 – (When you smoke yourself, call for a countdown)
    • Derkins (IC) x 10
    • BSLL Right (IC) x 8
    • Incline Merkins (IC) x 10

    Sometimes you have to admit defeat and an realize that you won’t finish eveything you want to. That said, it’s much better to plan too much than not enough.

    We moseyed back to the flag for a round of dealer’s choice Mary.

    • LBC x 20 (Kenna Brah)
    • Big Boi Sit-ups (Hokey Pokey) x 10
    • LBC x 20 (Chips)
    • Flutter Kicks x 20 (Darkwing Duck)
    The Skinny

    The above account is mostly true. It is certainly true that the 6 men named in this backblast all posted at Popeyes and we all led different exercises. Who led which exercises and how many reps did they lead – who knows? But I do know that everyone did a good job of leading and I see some hard-core beatdowns at Popeyes from this group of men in the near future.

  • 21 – Blackjack Baby!

    So I googled “blackjack quotes” and the following was the first one that appeared.

    “I like to play Blackjack. I am not addicted to gambling. I am addicted to sitting in a semi circle. ” Modify as needed – “I like the count-off and name-o-rama and intentions. I am not addicted to F3. I am addicted to the COT and standing in a circle.”

    The Lakeview clown car pulled up to the front of the museum with just a few minutes to spare this morning. After a quick disclaimer, the PAX moseyed for a warm-up run around the Museum and settled back on the grass in front of the lake for warm-ups as follows:

    SSH x 21, Windmills x 21, Peter Parkers x 21, Nolan Ryan x 21 (R & L), Merkins x 21 (this was input from youngest son last night when planning Q) and finish warm-up with some self love for one minute.

    Thang 1 – searched the F3 lexicon last night and stumbled across the “Blackjack” – we moseyed back to the area by the Muscleship flag, look up and see the Mothership PAX approaching/crossing the railroad tracks – like a scene from West Side Story, Romeo & Juliet, or possibly Revenge of the Nerds, a battle seemed imminent. Some mumblechatter ensued between the PAX and the Mothership PAX proceed to greet us with monkey humpers, but the Muscleship PAX cannot be distracted and remained focused on the beatdown and the F3 task at hand. Blackjacks – similar to 11’s, but better – ie. 21’s. Start with one Merkin, run three trees, then 20 LBC’s. Continue 21’s until 20 merkins and 1 LBC. The PAX powered through the end for the last 20 merkins. Apologies to Chips for not providing clearer instructions to the PAX. You may have done a few more LBC’s but your abs will be thanking you tomorrow.

    Thang 2 – continuing with the “21” theme we moseyed to the neutral ground in front of NOMA and lined up in single file line facing the museum for some 21’s. SSH x 5 in cadence. SSH 6-21 done in silence and PAX to stop at 21. Abacus, the Q, lost count and did one too many. No penalty burpees.

    Thang 3 – son Joel suggested toe-taps, aka Rocky Balboa’s. So the PAX did 100 Rocky Balboa’s on neutral ground by NOMA. 20 second rest then another 100 Rocky Balboa’s.

    Thang 4 – sensing the PAX shoulders were still steaming from the 21’s, we altered the Q’s plan and moseyed to the deck in front of the lake by NOMA. Time for some leg work. “Aiken legs” done in succession with no rest – Squats x 21, Lunges x 21, Box jumps/step-ups x 21, and Monkey Humpers x 21. 20 count recovery. Rinse and repeat a second time. The Q did not want the legs to miss out on the work-out.

    Thang 5 – short mosey back to the flag for the “Bear Crawl Ring of Fire” – circle up near flag and bear crawl in counter-clockwise motion. Upon direction from Q, stop and do 10 merkins. Resume bear crawl again. 10 additional merkins. Close out the last few minutes with some flutter kicks x 21 and warrior one stretch poses.

    Circle-up for count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, and intentions. Thanks to Kenner-Brah for reminding the 10 PAX of the importance of thankfulness and gratitude. Well said. Weather was perfect this morning, with sunrise over the lake by NOMA, slight breeze. Soon enough we will be working out in the “dog days” of summer. Thankful for the support and opportunity to lead the PAX this morning.

  • Birthday Q – “FORTY” – “one”

    YHC always gets excited on the days he Q. YHC is very thankful to lead his very first Birthday workout on a beautiful morning. 25 PAX were there to spend this special day with YHC. Usually, YHC sees familiar faces on a WPM Friday, but YHC noticed a few Non-Uptowners traveling to this AO. YHC is very appreciative of the support, including Hokie Pokey’s WPM debut, Mahatma, Bogey, and Jesus Juice. Sandbar made YHC aware of a FNG, later named BugBites. YHC gave his standard disclaimer and off we went!!!

    Warm-ups

    Short mosey to the base of the WPM and did the following in cadence:

    Grass Grabbers x 10

    Windmills x 10

    SSHs x 20

    Self Love x 10

    Mountain Climbers x 20

    The WPM

    Starting at the base (first ramp) of the WPM:

    1.) Partner up. Dora with 300 SSHs. While one PAX was performing the SSHs, the other PAX was running up and down the ramp. Flap Jack until the team finished 300 SSHs.

    2.) Now at the base of the 2nd ramp. Picked a different partner. Dora with 250 King Kong Shoulder Taps. While one PAX was in the plank position doing the shoulder taps, the other PAX was running backwards up the ramp and down. Flap Jack until the team finished 250 shoulder taps.

    3.) Ran through the flat level. However, stopped at each beam (10 per level), and did a burpee with a jump touching the above beam. All the way until the PAX got to the base of the 3rd ramp. Picked another different partner. Dora with 200 LBCs.

    4.) Ran through the flat level. However, stopped at each beam again (10 per level) and did a burpee with a jump touching the above beam. All the way until the PAX got to the base of the 4th ramp. Picked a different partner. While one PAX was lunge walking up the ramp, the other PAX was running backwards up the ramp. Once at the top of the ramp, ran back down the ramp and tagged his partner. Flap Jack. Now the other PAX continued to do the lunge walk where the first PAX left off. Complete the task until the team lunge walked all the way to the top of the ramp.

    5.) Ran through the flat level. However, stopped at each beam again (10 per level) and did a burpee with a jump touching the above beam. All the way until the PAX got to the base of the 5th ramp. Picked a different partner.

    HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Race

    YHC stressed this as a team race. While one PAX was resting and waiting at the base of the ramp, the other PAX was sprinting up the ramp, did 5 Hand-Release Burpees (Hurpees), and sprint back down. Tag your partner and flap jack. YHC stressed to each PAX to give it all on their sprint because each will get a chance to rest in between. Rinse and repeat 4 rounds for each PAX (total of 8 rounds for the team). T-claps to Mahatma & Saban, GSpot & Douille, and Flaming Lips & Quincy for finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively.

    Circled up for a quick Round of Mary:

    Hello Dolly x 20 IC

    Dying Cockroach x 20 IC

    Ran down the stairs back to flag and finished at about 6:17 a.m.

    COT

    Count-O-Rama 25PAX, Name-O-Rama, announcements, intentions. One FNG from Florida. He owns a franchise dealing with mosquito control. Therefore, he was named BugBites. Today we celebrate Peppa’s retirement from the Navy. He has flown F18s for the past 20 years. Thank You for your service and we couldn’t be happier that you and your family moved to NOLA and are a part of this great F3 Nola cult. Thank You all again for the opportunity to lead. Always a pleasure and honor to workout with the PAX. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. SYITG

    “FORTY” – “one”

    King Kong

  • Gipper It

    It was said that Ronal Reagan loved jelly beans, and kept a jar of them on his desk in the oval office.

    Strolling up to the A.O., looking up at the statue of R.R., one has to wonder if all of the carnuaba wax in those jelly beans contibuted to….

    Anyways, it was a beautiful post-Easter day to work off the candy consumption. And here is how it went:

    Warm-up: all 20xIC; toe-touches, good mornings, imperial walkers, arm circles, ss hops, high knees, seal jacks, butt kicks, smurf jacks

    Mosey to justice center parking

    Lunge walk, backwards halfway, then sprint the other half…repeat to the upper deck.

    For the main event: we did 10 burpees, 10 merkins, 10 sit-ups, sprint 300 feet. Repeat in decending order 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. For a total of 55 burpees, 55 merkins, 55 sit-ups, and 9 sprints.

    Mosey to the N.E. corner of the upper deck, do an exercise-then run a loop across the deck-down the stairs-then up the ramp – repeat four times.

    Mosey back to the flag. Moby strolls up with his pet cat

    Bush Wacker prays us out.

    And, welcome Cowbell, hope you enjoy the Northshore PAX

    postscript; Jelly Belly makes an interesting assortment of flavored jelly beans – even a coconut one.

  • Uniformed celebrity sightings at the Scramble!!

    5 PAX converged on the Scramble to post before the rain showers arrived.. YHC noticed Water pik already under the lamp post as I emerged from the park.. With no vehicle in sight Q realizing Water Pik had gotten in a little pre thang by running from home.. Garfield emerged from the darkness as Zoolander turned the corner and rolled in. With chatter bouncing around as each PAX joined, the time to begin quickly arrived but headlights rounding the bend revealed the Scramble would add yet another PAX in Chewy as he waited for him to join in…

    Warmup

    10 IC Imperial Squats

    15 IC Toe Touches

    10 IC Scorpion kicks (Garfield fav)

    15 IC Windmills

    Alternating lunge walk 30 yards to Zoolander’s car..

    Thang

    PAX began our Mosey down the standard ole Mandeville Route quickly establishing 2 different paced groups.. With Water Pik, Garfield and Zoolander pacing out front.. YHC and Chewy pulled the 6 with some great chatter along the way.. Returned to the AO for playground work with each PAX cycling through 10 pull-ups while the rest of us completed little Manny crunches OYO. 10 IC Freak nasties as each man completed Flutter kicks. Closed with Plank hold, left/right arm high as our Celebrity uniformed Captain Sparkles rolled in to make a down painment of different sorts..

    Count, announce, COT

    Appreciation to Zoolander closing the PAX with prayers to the sky Q!!

    Always enjoy the Gloom with you men 👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻 Till the next Gloom!!

  • Better late than never Backblast – we put the “Ab” in Abacus

    YHC enjoyed the Easter weekend with Friends and Family and was a bit tardy with this backblast. Well off we go. YHC wanted the workout to focus on our “ABS”. Also wanted to focus on some pull-ups as I don’t think we do these often enough.

    On to the warmup as follows: (probably off a bit on some of the counts)

    Windmills x 15, Grassgrabbers x 15, Self love – arm stretch (ode to Hawgcycle) (this brought some mumble chatter from the PAX), SSH x 15, Peter Parkers x 15, Nolan Ryan x 15 each side, Low slow squats x 15

    Grab a rock and mosey to the playground – on top of the wood chips.

    THANG 1 – YHC wanted a new exercise combo so we did a Febreeze – 2 Big Boy sit-ups then 10 air presses. Increase sit-ups by one and air presses by 10 until the last round we did 9 Big Boy sit-ups and 100 air presses. Somewhere along the way we lost count but finished strong.

    THANG 2 – YHC continues with the Ab theme – each PAX does 10 pull-ups. While waiting for the pull up bars, all other PAX are doing flutter kicks on your own.

    THANG 3 – Bench presses 5 count followed by 10 LBC’s. Increase bench press by 5 and LBC’s by 10 until we did 25 presses and 50 LBC’s.

    THANG 4 – repeat of thang 2 – more pull ups and flutter kicks.

    THANG 5 – random exercise – 100 monkey humpers

    THANG 6 – bench presses with rock, combined with more flutter kicks

    Bring rocks back to the pile – close it out with some Yoga type stretches with guidance from Triple Shift. I think we each did about 892 flutter kicks. COT, name-a-roma – FNG Prodigal Son, and closing prayer from War Eagle. Impromptu coffeteria due to Easter holiday for some fellowship was a great way to end the morning.

    Thanks again to all – SYITG.

  • Dropping Like Flies

    Small crew at Granny’s House this morning.  With Coconuts on IR, Ringo beachside until the fall, Bushwacker taking on a Spring Break adventure (or at least attempting to), and Chewy… wait, where has Chewy been? … Well, anyway, it was up to Shooter, Pik and YHC to hold down the fort.  And Pik, relieved of carpool duty this morning, pulled a Shooter and ran to the AO, so his warm up was accounted for.  But there’s a format to this thing and by golly we’re sticking to it.  Soooo…

    Warmorama: Arm circles (forward & back), SSH, toe touches, IW’s, seal jacks, and butt kicks, all at or around 20x IC.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to the tunnel but, en route and surrounded by the darkness of Granny’s woods and a few lone fireflies, YHC decided to stop for an impromptu minute-and-a-half plank.  This hopefully gave us some time to take in our quiet surroundings, think about the day to come, and contemplate just how insane that running crew would find us if they happened upon us huddled on the pavement in the middle of the pitch black woods.  But alas, a minute and a half passes and not a soul in sight.

    Onward to the tunnel, and once at the base, we started a Burpback Mountain (one pair running backwards up the ramp while the other starts the burpee count), up to a cumulative x60 burpees.

    Having got what we came for, we head back through the woods to the bus stop.  Is this even a bus stop?  I’ve never actually caught a bus at this location, and I live on this street.  Either way, it’s been money well spent for our crew, and we stop for some derkins, step ups, hip slappers (legs up on the benches), Bulgarians, jump overs, and freak nasties.  All about 15x IC.

    Next up, an AMRAP routine at one end of the corridor: merkins x5, squats x10, wide-armed merkins x15, LBC’s x20, then run the corridor, up the stairs and back down, sprint 100% to the start to rinse and repeat.  After YHC’s arms couldn’t muster another round of wide-armed merks, I called it and we moved on to a true 6-minute Mary.  

    It must’ve been a while since YHC has done a full 6 minutes of Mary because this one seemed to last an eternity.  PAX knocked out crunchy frogs, Putins, flutter kicks, leg raises, 100’s, and LBC’s (all around x15-20 IC) before calling it for the COT, where we discussed Wacker’s status as the CSAUP king and then Pik prayed us out. Thank you men for the post, the push, the lead – nothing beats starting the day with guys like you two.

  • Suicidal Tendencies

    Disclaimer:

    Warmup: SSH x 30, Pe/Pa x 20, AC 15/15, Abe x 15, Pa/Pe x 20, IW x 20

    To the track for Suicides with a twist…and a rock

    First quarter lap – mosey with rock held straight out, drop rock return to start for 5 each…burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers

    Half lap – grab rock at quarter point, mosey with rock overhead to halfway point, drop rock and return to start for 10 each…burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers.

    Three Quarter lap – grab rock at halfway point and mosey with rock held straight out, drop rock at 3/4 point and return to start for 15 each….burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers.

    Full lap – grab rock at 3/4 point and carry overhead to complete full lap, drop rock and return to start for 20 each…burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers.

    Tabata – mary style: 8 rounds, alternating between American Hammer and Crunchy Frog.

    COT: CO, Nameorama, anouncements, SI’s, Prayer, xxxoooo’s

  • The Millennial Beatdown

    Who knew that a workout titled “The Millennial” would actually be difficult? One would assume that given the reputation of Millennials, this would be the workout equivalent of watching Netflix. That being every 5 minutes someone asks “are we still working out”? Instead, we were introduced to a series that put the PAX and YHC into survival mode.

    But before that we warmed up with (All in cadence):
    1. SSH
    2. High Knees
    3. Butt Kicks
    4. Windmills
    5. Shoulder Series

    We then moseyed to Noah’s Ark (what I think we should call the neutral ground near Rips ever since Hammer’s beatdown) for the main event.

    Like I said before, the workout routine was called “The Millennial” and this is what we had to do. The goal is to get to a total count of 2000 as a team (roughly the time period Millennials were born). 1000 reps of exercises and 1000 meters of running. It turned out the loop around Noah’s Ark is around 350 meters versus 100 and so we ended up running around 3,500 meters. But as demonstrated on Saturday, my counting was not up to even 5th grade levels (as was pointed out by Jose).

    The sequence was the full pax does 100 reps each of a called exercise, then runs a lap back to a point where they gather again for the next called exercise. There were 10 cycles, which would get you to your number of 2,000 (Or 4,500 in our case).

    Millennials are always taking credit for other’s people work so why should the workout be any different? The first nine cycles end when the FIRST person gets to 100. The last cycle, is done together because eventually Millennials need to learn that they have to pull their own weight.

    We started each set with 6 burpees (It was 5 upon initial construction but changed last minute which led to a multiplication error).

    The sets were: 1) Carolina Dry Docks; 2) Squats; 3) Russian Twists; 4) Merkins; 5) Lunges; 6) LBCs; 7) Shoulder Taps; 8) Monkey Humpers; 9) 100s; 10) Burpees (Remaining number to get to 100 after burpees from previous rounds)

    We moseyed back to the flag and arrived at 7:30 on the nose. We circled up and Hammer closed us out.

    Thanks for letting me lead gentlemen. You always make me better!!!

    Over and Out,
    Grundy