F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Horrendously Happy

    Today was a prime example of the efficacy of the self-EH strategy of signing up to Q. After a horrendous night sleep, YHC was begrudgingly ready to get some miles in with the always semi-chipper PAX known colloquially as the City Hall Scramblers.

    WARM O RAMA

    Windmills x15

    Imperial Walkers x15

    Torso Twists x15

    High Knees x 17

    Donkey Kicks rx10, lx10

    Down Dog Merkins (credit Chewy for naming rights) x15

    Scorpion Kicks x15

    THANG

    The tradish Old Mandeville route was tackled this gloom. Garfield smartly listened to his body and passed on Sun Set Point. YHC wished he had done the same down the final stretch. Avoiding thoughts of a post-post trail run with Steve as best as possible, Q instead focused on one foot in front of the other in the NOW.

    MARY

    Taking advantage of the pull up bar at the park, the PAX each tested their metal in this month’s ISI of flexed-arm hangs, while the rest of the group did unending LBCs, Freddy Mercurys, and Heel Touches.

    COT

    Garfield took us out with positive vibes and grand hopes for the day. Thanks for posting , guys, and for following the sometimes predictable, yet often unpredictable lead of he who is feared by bushes far and wide!

    POST SCRIPT

    Steve and I did successfully complete a 1 mile trail run without being attacked, or otherwise molested by: alligators, snakes, spiders (though their webs kept things interesting), raccoons, squirrels, or devilish forest gnomes. We are looking forward to adding more miles and more men to the next run!

    POST POST SCRIPT

    I passed an active scene with a very totaled St Tammany Sherrif’s suburban on the way home. Please say some prayers for the officer invoved.

  • A,B,C…1,2,3

    I only posted because I was the Q. The time change, the Mardi Gras break, the darkness of the gloom- all good reasons to sack. As been said many times, if left to my own devices I wouldn’t be there. Thanks to F3 I was. Disclaimer which included a very Confession-like ‘my last Q was 6 months ago’(!) and we were off.

    Warm Up in oak alley:

    • SSH IC X 30
    • Hill Billy IC X 30
    • Arm circles X 10 and reverse

    The Thang: I wanted to do Catch Me if You Can all the way around the park with some beat downs interspersed. Keeping the pax in order necessitated lining up in alphabetical order so we got a little brain workout as well. Once organized we made our way around the park doing Catch Me if You Can with the last guy in the column dropping off for 3 burpees. This seemed to please everyone. Alphabetical order insured we all got a chance to participate!

    First beat down at the row bars for: rows (count to 10), lunges, Bobby Hurley’s, LBCs, Low Slow Squats

    Next COP across from the bridge: Merkin Wave with bear crawl to center and out between each wave. 3 waves total.

    Next COP was at the benches by the fountain: RLSU IC X 20, Dips X 15, LLSU X 20, Classic Tinkles (just offering that moniker)(Akin to naming yourself ‘Ice Man’ or similar I assume): Shoulder taps IC X 10 straight into Derkins IC X 10, followed by shoulder taps IC X 10

    Mosey on to grassy knoll for some Mary:

    • WW 2 sit ups X 20
    • Dying cockroaches X 20
    • Douilles X 20
    • Supermans X 20

    Back to the track and on to the pull up bars. Short on O2 I went with the same rotation that we had done at the row bars. The mumble chatter involved Yankee wondering how many likes his posts get. He must work with adolescent/teen girls all day.

    Back to the flag and only several seconds over the time limit. Not bad.

    Count off, namorama, and COT. Continued prayers for Angie’s dad.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

  • Don’t Say B.O.M.B.S in an airplane…

    But saying B.O.M.B.S at Popeyes means a great beatdown.

    Warm-Up

    Hillbillies X 20

    Mountain Climbers X 20

    SSH X 20

    Peter Parker X 20

    Arm Circles X  20 (10 forward, 10 backwards)

    Abe Vigodas X 10

    The Thang

    Today, YHC decided to consult the F3 Exicon for an optimal beatdown. The best beatdowns are those where you are intentionally pushed by the man beside you so partner up for B.O.M.B.S.

    As a group/pair complete the following:

    Burpees X 50

    Overhand Claps X 100

    Merkins X 150

    Big Boy Sit-Ups X 200

    Squats X 250

    1st PAX runs to the corner of the walking path while the 2nd PAX works on the exercises.

    Two observations from Popeyes this morning. First, at some point during a week Rev Sox must complain about a workout–today was that day. Second, Popeyes is the only AO where a real chicken may join the workout. They are friendly, resilient, and completely harmess so just keep working.

    Post-Thang

    Mosey to the wall at the entrance of the dog park.

    Dips X 25 in cadence

    Irkins X 20 OYO

    Dips X 15 in cadence

    Irkins X 10 OYO

    Mosey Back to the Flag

    Counterama

    Namerama – Welcome FNG – Darkwing Duck (He is a private investigator by trade.)

    COT

    -prayers for those fighting cancer

    As always, it was a pleasure to lead. SYITG.

  • Metric tonne of burpees

    Metric tonne of burpees

    CONDITIONS

    7:15 a.m. sunrise

    DISCLAIMER

    Q confessed that he was not a professional

    THE WARM UP

    All exercises done IC, or in cadence-ish. YHC’s counts were so far off, it was a miracle the assembled PAX didn’t disband then and there.

    • Seal jacks X15
    • Toe touches X10
    • Abe Vigodas X10
    • Copper Head squats X10
    • Steve Earles Copper head squat finished with hill billy X 10

    THE THANG PART 1: 3/4 Dab

    Pax moseyed around the block and returned to the bus stop to get to work. Daylight savings time had Q’s thoughts muddled so YHC picked a nice simple beatdown to use for this circumstance. We ran through a modified version of the Dab a.k.a. series of 10 burpees done EMOM style. At the risk of getting monotonous with all 4 rounds total burpees, YHC trimmed the sequence to a nice compact, block of 150 burpees.

    THE THANG PART 2: One leg at a time


    -Marios
    -Single leg wife pleases
    -Single leg split squats
    -Reverse table tops
    -Ham string bridge

    Mary and we out

    • Absolution
    • Flutter kicks
    • LBCs
    • Plank

    CountORama, NameORama, and COT

    The Pelican prayed us out.

    Thanks F3-bros, for the fellowship, the beatdowns and for being willing to follow my lead.

  • 43 going on 44

    23 PAX posted in the the dark at Rock City. The effects of the time change were felt as I tried to wake up and get ready to make the trek to Metairie. It was still so dark I could barely see who all had shown up in the dark gloom. At 5:30 The announcement and disclaimer were given and off we moseyed to the grassy area near the rocks for Warm-up.

    Warm-Up

    SSH x 20, Hillbillies x 20, Moroccan Night Clubs x 15, Fwd Arm Circles x 15 Rev. Arm Circles x 15, Mountain Climbers x 20

    THANG1 :

    Grab a Rock – Form 2 lines on the path, walk path around to the hill doing Left, Right, Center with Rock above head (don’t rest it on your shoulder!)

    THANG 2

    Dora 1, 2, 3 First stop at the Hill – Partner up –

    100 Thrusters combined while PAX 2 goes over the hill and back, flapjack. Plank and wait for the 6

    Mosey to the large field with your rock

    200 Curls for the Girls combined while PAX 2 runs to tree line and back. LBC and wait for the 6

    300 Chest Press combined while PAX 2 runs tree line and back. LBT and wait for the 6.

    THANG 3

    Circle up for a Merkin wave. Plank up, Q starts with 10 alternating arm rock push ups, next person starts on second rep and goes around. With 23 PAX there was lots of mumble chatter about the length of time planking.

    6 MINUTES OF MARY

    LBC’s x 43 – (My last beat down at age 43)

    Flutter Kicks x 15, Penguins x 20, Dying Cockroach x 20, American Hammer x 15

    Put up your rock and Mosey back to the flag.

    COT

    Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama, No FNG’s, Very disappointing because I love naming people and then hearing about it the next day. Announcements: Sunnyside for 2.0’s March 17 at Audubon Park – Drew Brees Playground. F2 at Wrong Iron March 21st 6:30 PM. Special Intentions, & Prayed it out with a sweaty ball of man, still in the pitch black darkness.

    Always and honor and pleasure to lead this group of High Impact Men that motivate and drive me everyday to be the best I can be.

    SYITG

  • Surge’s B-Day Q

    YHC turned 51 and wanted to celebrate F3 style. Okwata provided a beautiful sunrise and a light breeze. First, DISCLAIMER and then

    Mosey to the Center of the Universe for the warm-up: SSHx51, Abe Vigoda x10, Sun Gods 10f/10b, Peter Parker x20, Parker Peter x20, Imperial Walker x20, Concrete Grabbers x10

    Mosey to the levee for an 11 with burpees (descending) and low slow squats (ascending)

    Mosey to the seawall for a Hurricane Hoedown looking out over Okwata and the beautiful sunrise

    Mosey up and over the levee and back to the flag for some bonus Mary: American Hammer x20, Freddie Mercuries x20, LBCs x20 (courtesy of Kuch).

    Count off, Nameorama, Announcements, Intentions, Prayer

    The PAX had a F3 guest from North Carolina. YHC thinks he was impressed with our hill (aka, levee) and how we used it a lot. Thank you for a great birthday start. Teach me to be generous!

  • Strength in Repetition

    My first attempt at a MuscleShip beatdown was today and a bit out my comfort zone. This is given the effort of not incorporating running (which I love so much). But we did, and needless to say this eventually adds up to a number of repetitions and exercises and counting…. But it was a great challenge and so were a select number of PAX to focus on strength on a mild March morning in City Park.

    Off we got to the museum lawn for warm ups:

    25 — IW

    20 – Peter Parkers

    30 – Arm circles

    25- Grass Touches

    Off to the field across the street for additional warm up via a modified “Red Barchetta”

    Run to 10 trees out — 50 SSH

    Run to 8 trees out — 40 Mountain Climbers

    Run to 6 trees out — 30 LBCs

    Run to 4 trees out — 20 Merkins

    2 trees out — 10 Burpees

    Stay put in same field and now a Bear crawl and Merkin circle

    All pax in a circle, rotate counter clock wise via bear crawl, when Q says stop, 10 merkin waterfall amoung PAX, (4) stops, 360 degrees….

    Next to the fountain to “Roll the Bones” with my infamous exercise dice:

    Did this for ~ 20 minutes, highlights:

    Rolled (4) 1 minute planks…

    30 Squats was also popular as the entire PAX took turns rolling…

    We also saw some burpees, jump squats. SSHs, etc.

    No one rolled the (3) min rest…..

    Continue on to a Jack Moses X 10 sets. each set was a plank jack increasing in quantity followed by 2 squat presses for each plank jacks. Left eye did make note of the pain of squat press as numbers got higher despite nothing in our hands.

    Finally some time filling Mary:

    Hello Dolly X 25

    Freddie Mercury — (30)

    LBC — (25)

    Burps — (10) on our own

    Ended off with count, name a rama, announcements, intentions, COT

    Lots of repetion and work for all, entire PAX did great!!! That is all.

    Se y’all on the radio.

  • Sub freezing Super 21

    YHC arrived at the Gipper with an entire workout planned with my girlfriend Sandy. But since the temperature was a balmy 30 degrees with high humidity, the mandeville usuals took a well deserved day off. With only 5 men by the time 6AM rolled around, the Q had to call an audible and save the original beatdown for another date. I got an earful from Sandy in the car on the way back about dragging her out of bed. She might hit the ice cream extra hard and put on another 5 pounds.

    After a warmup of seal Jacks, arm circles, high knees, and butt kicks we moved on to the beatdown.

    With the original workout scrapped, YHC called upon an old faithful workout you can summon in a pinch. A super 21!!!

    Start 1 rep each of Merkins, Plank Jack’s, Shoulder Taps (2 count), and LBCs and do a lap around the perimeter of the gipper. Upon returning you do 2 reps of all of those exercises and then take another lap. Rinse and repeat until you get to 21 reps of each exercise. Blackjack!

    That workout always gets the blood flowing and somehow we were all breaking a sweat in that freezing temperature. After we finished we had a few minutes left where we did some leg work and then some mary.

    We circled it up and Jose 10katie closed us out.

    It’s an honor to lead gentlemen. Thanks for being a continual reminder of what it looks like to seize each new day.

    Over and out. Grundy

  • Runners of the Scramble

    With recent Scrambles producing mixed groups of eight in a half, some nine min milers and the occasional quarter to ten/ten min milers this Gloom showed out a heap of runners.. 5 PAX assembled at the flag for the start of this day.. Mild mid 40s gave the PAX a spring in their step or is it the fact that day light savings time will soon be gone as we spring forward in time this weekend… The gazelles of this Gloom included the likes of the regular Garfield who always pushes his younger counter parts, along with Chewy and Water Pic as the Q held back another of the gazelles in Zoolander striking conversation early as to not be left behind… Even though the intention was in my favor the PAX pushed YHC from the comforts of his mid 9 min mile to log a respectable mid 8 pace.. Proving one of the many reasons I enjoy posting with this group of brothers to get the King relevant in my own life…

    Warmarama

    Good mornings 10 IC, Toe Touches 10 IC, Annie alternating right/left, Hairy Rockettes 10 IC and SSH 10 IC…

    Thang

    Assumed positions around the newly acquired workout stations with the fresh aroma of Astro turf rubber filling our nostrils as we took to plank. Each PAX required to complete 10% of the ISI challenge of a 30 sec hold while the rest of us completed Nolan Ryan’s right and left, mission impossible, LMCs (LittleMannyCrunches) and Flutter kicks. Closed with the PAX completing scorpion kicks 15 IC, Ws 3sec hold to 15, a little sprinkle of yoga down dawg stretch and mixing in left/right leg forward inner groin and hip stretches…

    Circled up for count off, announcements, COT…

    Much appreciation to Water Pic for closing us out with the daily prayer!!

    Enjoyed the journey gentlemen ✌🏻 till the next Gloom!!

  • It’s all about Grip strength

    After the long Mardi Gras season, I think everyone in NOLA is a bit off their game the day after Fat Tuesday….but 5 PAX strong showed up on a cold Ash Wednesday to kick start our morning. Answering the call to fill in for Hawg I showed up with only a minimal plan in mind….we weren’t going to get wet!

    Warm – mosey to the covered pavilion circle up and get the blood flowing.

    • 10 Greg Louganis 
    • 10 low slow squat
    • 10 side lung
    • 20 SSH
    • 10 ea leg scorpion kick 
    • 10 

    Move over to the railing 10 each leg step ups

    Mosey to the center of the park area, circle up for push up ring of fire x 5 then mosey along the running path, stopped at street crossing 5 burpees on your own.  Mosey to the outdoor gym near W. Napoleon.  QIC has been reading the Iron Sharpens Iron chatter and this month Triple Shift has made an emphasis of “grip strength” by performing a Flexed Arm Hang – we started with a 1 minute effort; taking a 1 minute rest then 4 30 sec hangs with 20-30 sec reset in between.  A lot tougher than it may sound, so if you haven’t made an effort to grip the bar yet…..get some!

    Then…While at the gym we broke up into 5 stations – 5 low hang pull ups was the timer, incline merkins, box jumps, dips and elevated leg lifts (again this was harder than it looked).

    Mosey up the running track to the edge of the lake – lined up for some core work: 20 flutter kicks, 10 scoops, 20 more elevated flutter kicks on elbows.

    Mosey back towards the gym, lined up on the side of the track, line of jump squats x 5 x 5.  Rev Sox helped move this along.

    Mosey back towards the start….Oh QIC decided Indian run was best but didn’t communicate completely……It got worked out, last man did 3 push ups then ran to the front and so on.

    Stopped at parking lot, found some measuring points (parking spaces) lunged to one side of parking area performed 10 merkins, bear crawled back did 5 burpees.

    Mosey again – stopped at light poles (3 were in a row before crossing the bridge to the starting point) 10 merkins, 10 jump squats, 10 Catalina Wine Mixers.

    Mosey again – well to the bottom of the bridge – lunged walk up and over.

    Meet at the edge of the lake – another push up ring of fire except this time it was a catch me if you can around the outer parameter of the pavilion.  Kuch put up a good push which got everyone else behind him motivated. 

    Mosey to the starting point – 2 minutes of plank.

    COT – We push our selves to improve both physically and spiritually as solid men that lead.  I’m blessed to have been given the chance to be in a position today to be a part of the Popeyes PAX….Thanks.