F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Me again…

    YHC has been on IR for the last 4 weeks or so and was glad to have the chance to Q. Due to the shoulder still being an issue the pax was informed there would be plenty of legs and abs. After the disclaimer we took off at 05:30 and went straight to the mountain.

    The Thang:  form two columns and IR to the top for the festivities. At this point we all partnered up and the mission was explained. It was a variation on BLIMPS…  Partner A would perform the exercise AMRAP while partner B ran downstairs to the ground floor, then across to the opposite stairs and back up to flip flop. After each  set was completed, the next exercise would be performed. They were as follows — Bicycle(real Freddie), Lunges, Imperial Walkers, Monkey Humpers, Putins, Squats.  It appeared we would run short of time and not complete the circuit, but after wasting a few minutes chitchatting about modifying, El Wire convinced us we could get it done… And we did!  When completed we made a quick dash back to the flag to close out the morning.  COT w/ shout out by YHC.

    Always a pleasure to Q. Glad to be back out there.

    Good Times!

    Roots

  • Relay Day

    Six fearless PAX and YHC braved the harsh elements (mid-70s, mild, light breeze) along the ominous – OK, cheerful – Mandeville lakefront this morning.  We kicked things off slowly with an easy warmup:

    • Abe Vigodas, Arm Circles, Shoulder Presses (varying 15-25x each IC);
    • Annie – many thanks to Grundy and Bushwacker for serenading the passersby.  The F3 Exicon warns that some PAX may break out into song.  I knew you guys wouldn’t disappoint!
    • 10 Burpos (low burpees)
    • Side Straddle Hops, Cheerleaders, Imperial Walkers, High Knees, Dancing Bears (varying 15-25x each IC)

    After moseying to a couple of well-spaced oaks, the PAX formed two teams and indulged the Q’s love of relays:

    • Relay #1 – Bear Crawls and Burpees (one team member bear crawled to the next oak and back, while the rest of the team did burpees – relay-style until all PAX had gone).  At this point, the Q (brought to his knees by the dreaded Bear Crawl) issued the disclaimer.
    • Relay #2 – Bunny Hops and Bobby Hurleys

    Mosey to the playground for more relays:

    • Relay #3 – Broad-Jump Burpees and Planks
    • Relay #4 – Sprints and Sister Mary Catherines (4x)

    Mosey to the flag to finish up:

    • Burp & Merk Pyramid (up to 10 OYO)
    • Dan Taylors (up to 10:40 OYO)
    • Mary – LBCs, right-side crunch, left-side crunch, push-throughs, flutter kicks, Freddie Mercuries (varying 15-25x each IC)

    Bushwacker prayed us out and reminded us about the Fallen Heroes 5K at the Chafunkta Brewing Company on November 4.  Contact Bushwacker if you’re interested.  Einstein, THE Manny, Bushwacker, and YHC retired to the coffeteria for some great F2.  THE Manny saved the flag (reminding YHC to grab it before jetting).  Thanks guys.

  • Uptowner Stink BOMBS

    YHC saw an opportunity to Q this non running AO and jumped on it, since jumping is allowed at the Uptowner.  Arriving 10 minutes early, YHC was alone.  At 5:25, YHC was still the lone Pax, but there was still plenty of time.  The clock hit 5:29 and genuine concern set in.  It looked as if today would be that dreaded day, the day of the lone Q.  Wait, here comes Duct Tape, reporting that he had been waiting at the Rock City AO, wondering where the Pax were….and here comes Triple Shift!

    YHC had two options this day, one was to partner up, and the other was for an odd number of Pax.  Looks like the odd number would prevail….until the arrival of a totally unexpected visitor!  Welcome Reluctant Yankee!  The partner routine it is then!  YHC was so relieved to see other Pax that he may have overlooked the disclaimer, but pretty sure something was muttered about modifying as needed…..

    Warm Up

    SSH IC x 31
    Abe Vigodas IC x 5
    Enough of that….we have a lot to get to!
    Everyone grab a rock that can be used for Overhead Press and Curls.

    Stink B.O.M.B.S.

    YHC had 5 cones set up in a large circle with approximately a 40 foot diameter, with a few cones marking the center. Partner up, and one Pax goes to an outside cone, while the partner goes to center cones. Lucky for YHC, the smart Pax were in attendance, so instructions remained minimal, and easily grasped. Working clockwise:
    Cone 1 – 100 Burprees
    Cone 2 – 200 Overhead Presses with rock
    Cone 3 – 300 Merkins
    Cone 4 – 400 Big Boy Situps
    Cone 5 – 500 Squats
    The exercises on the outside cones are cumulative. Timer is the Pax at the center cones doing 20 curls with rock and 20 LBC’s. Supplement the 20 curls with rows as needed. Once complete, swap with outside Pax and keep the beat down going.

    Times Up!

    Count off, Name-O-rama, Intentions, and Close with a prayer to the Sky Q.

    Naked Man Moleskin
    Neither team got past the Big Boy Situps before time expired. This routine may find its way back, but with a slight modification to make sure we can get through it. There was minimal mumble chatter during the beatdown, with good reason, as those Burpees, OH Presses and Merkins were a killer, especially when mixed in with LBC’s and Curls/Rows for the timer.

    Thanks for posting with me today! The Uptowner is still a great opportunity to bring a beat down without running! But isn’t that what the 610 Stomp is for? Oh yeah, and WPM……if you’re into that sort of thing…..

    Fracsac

  • 10k Foray

    YHC stood in for Captain Sparkles today, as he had some excuse or another for not making it out – something to do with resting the week between running a half marathon and attacking a half iron man – or some such weak sauce non-sense.  I was, once again, admiringly impressed with the definition of punctuality that my F3 brothers are renowned for, as The Pelican arrived 2 minutes before 4:45 and Dundee and Carpool arrived 2 minutes after.

    Commencing in reverse, as is Captain’s Cove tradition, we started out with namorama and prayerorama. After our illustrious QIC initially aimed the PAX towards the boat ramps, we comically course corrected and were off at a pace of 4 guys focused solely on endurance (and, well, survival).

    I always love the cove because it consistently proves to be a great opportunity to get to know your fellow F3s a little better. Today’s PAX, for example, hail from as close as Metairie and Slidell, to as far as Arizona! We had  three loving fathers, a former soldier, and a blue devil.  They showed dedication by arriving at 4:45 am to run 10k. They showed heart by pushing themselves without complaints or gripes. There was even a showing off the wearing of big-boy pants  by the tightening of sphincters as they passed the point of no return, more colloquially known as the sunset point port-o-potty! I mostly appreciate the comaraderie and brotherhood of the men who aim to add value to their lives and those of the people around them.

     

    “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship”  -Buddha

  • Plyos for Breakfast

    A light turnout at the Gipper this morning but that did not stop the PAX from getting after it.  After the requisite disclaimer, Moby got down to business with the warmup:

    SSH, Toe Touches, Windmills, Butt Kicks and Shoulder Circles, all 15-20x IC.

    Mosey to the back of the Justice Center where YHC took the Q.  Picture a barbell with Merkins 10x IC on each side and plenty of plyos in between.  Total of 5 round trips up and down the Justice Center alley and steps.  100 Merkins total with skips, carioca, 45 degree hops, lateral hops, backward hops, bounds, and frog jumps in between.

    Mosey to the Veterans Memorial at the front of the Justice Center.

    Seal Jacks 20x IC

    Squats 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    Split SSHs 20x IC

    Good Mornings 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    Twisting SSHs 20x IC

    Squats 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    One foot SSHs 20x IC (10 each foot)

    Good Mornings 10x IC

    Merkins 20x IC

    Mosey back to the Trailhead for some Mary:

    Vladimir Putins 25x IC

    Straightlegged Jackknives 10x IC each side

    Reverse leg raises 10x IC each leg

    Countorama, nameorama, and a prayer of gratitude to wrap things up.

    Great job this morning men.  Thanks for letting me and Moby lead.  Always an honor.

    Moleskin:

    This is the first Gipper beatdown that Einstein has missed in over a year.  If YHC did not know that his daughter was visiting from Colorado, the PAX would have skipped the beatdown and commenced immediate search and rescue operations.

    Final Merkin count for the ISI challenge:  150.

  • Rekindling the Round Robin

    The Trailhead (which could use a proper F3 name, Ei) is getting a decent following these days.  Nine PAX showed up on what felt like a light day, and a few of us had been notified that EiEi would be unable to make the Q.  So we went Round Robin style, like we used to do in the old days (3 months ago).

    As Clark Griswold would say, it was a bit nipply out, so YHC started the warm up with SSH, 30x IC, and then straight into butt kicks, toe touches, windmills, IW’s, arm circles forward, backward, air presses, and high knees, at or around 20x IC.

    Mosey over to the stage for a set of 11’s: Sister Mary’s up top then hop down and across to the viewing platform for derkins.  Finally got a little sweat going, just in time for Shooter to take the Q and lead us to the tunnel of pain for…

    BLIMPS: 5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 IWs, 20 merkins, 25 plank jacks, 30 squats.  Back up out of the tunnel to catch your breath, only to rinse and repeat, this time doubling the numbers.  Grundy schooled the Q (not for the first time) on how to count lunges, and reminded us that, as an auditor, nothing was a fact until he confirmed it himself!  (For all the men of ISI, the merkin count hit 130.)

    The PAX found its way through the black forest back to the flag, in time for Bushwacker to hit us with LBC’s while waiting for the six.  I counted up to around 100 before he mercifully called time.  Until next beatdown, Bruce Lee!  Countdown, nameorama, and Grundy led us out with a nice prayer.

  • The Four Corners of the Marsh

     

    Be still and the Earth will speak to you.   – Navajo Proverb

    YHC passed through the Four Corners this past summer and saw the above proverb painted on a few landscapes by the local artists.  The monument is run by the Navajo Nation and while it’s undoubtedly an overpriced tourist trap, it’s also pretty cool to chat with the local Navajos that are creating and hawking their art in the surrounding space.

    All the same, though, this quote doesn’t really apply to today’s beatdown.  And while the PAX was anything but still this morning, we did manage to clear our minds using a different technique: by knocking out 150 merkins in the first 20 minutes of this beatdown.  Here’s how it went…

    Right out of the gate, 25 merkins OYO.  Then some standard warm-up: Good Mornings, Windmills, SSH’s, IW’s, High Knees, and Butt Kicks, all 20x IC.  Finish the warm-up with another 25 merkins.

    Mosey over to the corner of Marigny and Livingston for the start of 4 corners: Start with 20 burpees, sprint a block to the next corner perform 20 burps plus 20 squats.  Next corner add 20 (full grown man) sit-ups, and at the last corner, add 20 merkins to bring the tally up to 150.

    Back into the Marsh for a quick 10 pull-ups OYO before hitting the legs.  Started out with 20x IC lunges, depth charges (t-claps to Grundy for the cooler name), calf raises, monkey humpers, and grab a pull up bar to finish with knees-to-chest.  Repeato.

    Back to the court to circle up for Mary.  The PAX attempted 5 prisoner get-ups with varying degrees of failure.  Entirely YHC’s fault – next time I’ll watch a Youtube video and demonstrate proper form beforehand.  Then onto LBC’s, starfish crunches, Freddie Mercs, and Nolan Ryans, all 20x IC before we ran out of time.  Countdown, nameorama, and then Turtle led us out with a prayer.

    More than once I’ve mentioned that I’ll be taking Monday’s off, and yet I keep finding myself back at the Marsh.  That’s because this really is the best way to start the week.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead guys.

  • Spartacus Delayed

    Spartacus Delayed…but not to be Denied…   Some of the pax, YHC included, were delayed getting to the AO due to a train.  The motivated pax, who were at the AO, took the initiative and began the Warm-up COP.  Us stragglers caught up and YHC took over the Q.   T-Claps to Bogey for filling in.

    -SSH x 30 IC
    -IW x 30 IC
    -Arm Circles x 30 IC (15 ea. dir.)
    -J-Lo’s x 20 IC
    Grab a rock, medium, one you won’t drop on your head…Let’s mosey to the shelter (cuz it has benches).
    It’s time for some Spartacus. The timer on my phone had us working out for 1 minute with a 15 sec rest for each exercise:
    -Goblet Squat w/ rock
    -Feet-Elevated Mountain Climbers
    -Kettlebell Swing w/ rock
    -T-Pushups
    -Step up, alternating legs with or without rocks
    -Rock Row
    -Elf on a Shelf-Side Lunge and Touch Rock (like moving the virtual rock pile back and forth)
    -Merkins
    -Rock Lunge and Rotation
    -Rock Push Press
    Rinse and Repeat for a total of two rounds.

    A couple minutes of Mary:

    -LBC x 20 IC

    -Penguins x 20 IC

    -Wife Pleasers x 20 IC  (as always, a strictly no eye contact event…that means you Rudy)

    Mosey to the Virtual Flag for the COT.  Countoff, namerama, announcements, and a prayer.

    It was an honor to lead.  SYITG…

  • 3 Years in the Making

    Three years ago 15 men launched F3 New Orleans – you can read about that first workout here.  Yesterday 68 men showed up in force to celebrate that date.  Yankee lost his voice yelling at his Dad’s softball team, so YHC was charged with the disclaimer.  It was sloppy.  Then off to the great lawn

    Warm-up

    Yankee led the warm-up.  Many pax noticed how similar it was to the warm-up he led Friday. #Preparation.

    SSH x 25 IC; Imperial Walkers x 25 IC; Mountain Climbers x 25 IC; Hillbillys x 25 IC; Dying Cockroach x 25 IC

    You Against You

    Tabata is a you against you.  It works when you go 20 seconds as hard as you can.  It’s a microcosm of F3.  It works best when you are pushing to get the most out of yourself.  We went with two rounds of Burpees, Merkins, Squats, and WWII Sit-ups.

    Pushing Yourself For Others

    F3 teaches you to push yourself.  There are certain times during a workout where you are pushing yourself for the other men you are working out with.  In the big picture, you are pushing yourself to get better for your family and community.  This was a partner workout.  Pax 1 ran a sprint across the great lawn (150 yards) while Pax 2 held Al Gore.  We flapjacked and repeated for a total of 3 sets.  Then we did the same thing with Mission Impossible.

    Trip Down Memory Lane

    We moseyed to the museum for some Red Hot Chili Pepper – introduced by Chong-Li at the first NOLA workout.  The group was two big for the fountain so we split in two.  One group did the Red Hot Chili Pepper with YHC while the other did core work with Yankee.  Then we flapjacked.

    Red Hot Chili Pepper:  16 Left Leg Bulgarian Split Leg Squats, 8 Decline Merkins, 16 Right Leg Bulgarian Split Leg Squats, 8 Incline Merkins; 12 LLBSLS, 6 Derkins, 12 RLBSLS, 6 Irkins; 8 LLBSLS, 4 Derkins, 8 RLBSLS, 4 Irkins; 4 LLBSLS, 2 Derkins, 4 RLBSLS, 2 Irkins

    Core Work:  Fire Hydrant x 20 IC; Parker Peter x 20 IC; Crunchy Frog x 10 IC; Peter Parker x 25 IC; Plank Walk x 20 IC

    Burpees for Linus

    We moseyed back to the great lawn and threw in 20 burpees at the buzzer.

    COT

    We wrapped it up with our longest name-rama ever as we welcomed 5 FNGS.  Welcome Chowdah, Spike, Wipe-out, Apples.  Then Ocho took us out with a very well spoken prayer.

    Moleskin

    • Thanks to all the men of F3 Nation that helped launch this thing: OBT, Merlin, Chong-Li, Bobby McGhee, Sir Toppam Hat, and all the others.  I know it’s made a difference in my life as well as many others in the New Orleans area.
    • 5 men from the original group of 15 in 2014 were in attendance:  Reluctant Yankee, Roots, Triple Shift, Channel Mullet, and Hawgcycle
    • 5 FNGs – T-claps to the pax for the EHs.
    • Great to see the all of Kotters.
    • T-Claps to F3 Northshore for coming across the lake.
    • T-Claps to the Uptowners for finding their way to City Park.
    • T-Claps to Worms for coming in from Baton Rouge.  Look out Baton Rouge – we are coming.
    • T-Claps to Amnesty for opening his house for Coffeeteria.
    • T-Claps to Shorty for introducing me to the greasiest donuts I’ve ever had.  They are awesome.
    • The Red Hot Chili Pepper was a shout out to the Chong-Li Special from our very first workout.  It made a lasting impression and has been repeated several time in NOLA.  For the original, Chong-Li held it under the 610 Overpass on tables covered in bird crap.  That started a tradition of North Carolina guys coming to New Orleans and picking strange places to hold exercises.  OBT circled us up in the middle of the street (right next to a really large green space) and DREDD got us kicked out of the Sculpture Park.  As far as I know, those are the only three times those spots have been used for an F3 NOLA workout.  It’s also led to the widespread belief that men in North Carolina workout in parking lots next to beautiful parks.

  • The Scramble is a small world after all!!

    QIC arrived a little early 0440 to get in some reps at the Playground for the ISI. Expecting to see other F3 brothers as he has in the past for some pre thang, he quickly realized it’s a small world when it comes to prethang before 0500. Before long he looked to his illuminating phone to see 0510 and no movement in sight, with concerns starting to mount that the morning journey would be solo, QIC Moseyed to the parking area to the surprise of multiple F3 brothers turning in from all directions. We started the Mosey on the standard route with Burgundy, Carpool and Shooter setting a little brisker pace while Dundee and Turtle paced the rear.. Upon are journey with some great mumble chatter of sorts the QIC learned a little more about Carpool. It most certainly is a small world after all,  learning that his father was ones History teacher in high school.. Returning back to the AO with 15 min to spare the PAX were happy to engage in some extra curricular activity…

    20 IC Merkins, 20 IC LBCs, 1 min true F3 blank (Turtle),  20IC SSH, 20IC MK, 20 IC BK and 15 IC Arm circles F/R closing with 20 IC Arm presses..

     

    countarama, annoucarama, COD

    Good luck in the 13.1 Burgundy!!

    Enjoyed the Gloom with you gentleman, and appreciate the opportunity to lead!!!