F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Into the Brier Patch

    “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

    Michael Jordan

    YHC arrived early enough to plant the shovel flag and to set up some cones for an Uptowner beatdown. It’s 0530, the disclaimer is given, so nothing holding us back now.
    Warmup
    SSH IC x 31
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10

    Grab a medium large rock and set it by the cone nearest the Shovel flag. There are 4 cones set up in a baseball diamond configuration, each approximately 15 yards apart. Home plate is nearest the shovel flag.
    Although YHC has improved his bear crawl ability, it’s not nearly good enough. If one wants to improve at something, one must do more of it!  Wanting and wishing won’t get us there, so let’s make it happen!
    Round one:
    Bear crawl 15 yards to first cone:
    Merkins IC x 20 (4 count x 10)
    Bear crawl 15 yards to second cone:
    Catalina wine mixers IC x 10 (6 count)
    Bear crawl 15 yards to third cone:
    10 Burpees OYO
    Bear crawl 15 yards to home plate cone:
    Grab the rock – Curls IC x 20

    Round two:
    Bear crawl 15 yards to first cone:
    WW 2 Sit Ups IC x 20 (4 count x 10)
    Bear crawl 15 yards to second cone:
    Tin snips IC x 20
    Bear crawl 15 yards to third cone:
    10 Burpees OYO
    Bear crawl 15 yards to home plate cone:
    Grab the rock – OH Shoulder Press IC x 20

    Round three:
    Bear crawl 15 yards to first cone:
    Copper head squats IC x 20
    Bear crawl 15 yards to second cone:
    Monkey Humpers IC x 20
    Bear crawl 15 yards to third cone:
    10 Burpees OYO
    Bear crawl 15 yards to home plate cone:
    Grab the rock – Elf on the shelf IC x 10 left, IC x 10 right

    Rinse and repeat all three rounds for a total of 6 rounds!

    Upon completing the final Elf on the Shelf, just enough time for a little Mary!

    Freddie Mercury IC x 20
    Flutter Kicks IC x 20
    Hello Dolly IC x 20

    Return the rocks to the pile.

    COT for count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and closed it out with a prayer.
    Stay safe with Nate coming through this weekend!
    Thanks for posting this morning for a stroll through the brier patch!
    Moleskin
    For those in the October ISI Challenge, each Pax completed 120 merkins with a whole lot of bear crawlin’! Well done!

  • The Classic Levee?

    YHC needed a change of pace from the loop, the lights and the leg-ups next to a drifter so we spent the morning at the levee.

    Warm- up on the way: SSH x20, MC x20, Lunge-Throughs x10

    At the Levee:

    5 burpees  then run up levee & back –  repeat 5 times

    Peter Parker X20

    5 All-American Body Builders then run up levee & back – repeat 5 times

    Parker Peters x20

    5 Jump Squats then run up levee & back – repeat 5 times

    Real Freddie Mercurys  x20 (after the Pax almost pulled a Hawg)

    10 Merkins then run up levee & back – repeat 5 times

    Russian Twist x20 (the bots told me to do it)

    10 LBC then run up levee & back – repeat 5 times

    Mosey back to the flag for plank-o-rama and the obligatory 20 second MI

    Count off, name-o-rama, thoughts on National Taco Day & a prayer…always good times.

  • Would someone teach this Q to count already??

    Tuesday at the Trailhead is proving to be mathematically difficult on this QIC. The last 2 weeks have produced double digit numbers and this Gloom proved to be no different. I arrived to the  AO with 6-7 PAX standing around mumble chattering. Quickly the PAX awoke to 11 men including 2 FNGs ready to accept the challenge the QIC intended to deliver. But wait it’s a bird, it’s a plane nah it’s just Chewy coming through the darkness.. Total of 12 now. Now that was easy.. The Q was attentive to some of the chatter about Merkins (Turtle) so he felt the need to store that info in his memory bank for the beatdown.. Lets begin.

    Warmarama

    All 20IC SSH, IW, BK and Arm circles F/B..

    the thang

    Moseyed to the Trailhead, wait the AO is the Trailhead🤔 ment to say the Tunnel of glow on the Trace. Upon arrival the instructions were to split into 2 teams of 6 (math skills) with the first man starting a series of Merkins (incline/decline) at the top for 20 at the start of the glow 20 at the end of the glow 20 and at the top of the other side for 20 again. (Total 80) Yes!  The PAX hanging back awaiting there turn once the first man completed his first set was required to hold the Al gore while waiting and upon the first man completing on the other side had to hold plank and await the rest of the PAX. Seemed like a nice R/R excersise but first let’s reverse the order of the teams  and changed the staging workout to Mission Impossible hold (nice job Bushwacker I saw you killing this one brother 👍💪) on the start and finish.. The QIC and an FNG (to be continued) began the 2nd round. Once complete the PAX moseyed back to the official Trailhead to another team excersise which consisted of 8 man body builders building to 10 starting at one end moseying to the steps and up (1 top, 2 bottom, 3top 4 bottom) team Ocho,Turtle, Song Bird (FNG), Carpool, Dundee decided to put in some extra work..  Nice job fellas. (Something about not hearing instructions). Completed the task and circled up to count off and here is where the QIC takes blame in not realizing he had 2 men unaccounted for, Dundee and Carpool who were going the extra mile and completing the mission was still at the top once the count began.  My mistake gentleman, so we recounted off while Turtle gave a card to a future FNG who jumped in the mix for some work at the end..

    countarama, annoucarama, COT

    Appreciate Butt Splice closing us in prayer offering intentions to those in Las Vegas and those still impacted in TX, LA, FL and PR in the wake of the hurricanes..

    Welcome FNG Song Bird glad to have you!

    Appreciate the opportunity to lead gentleman!!

  • Ultimate Frisbee #2

    YHC wanted to do another round of Ultimate Frisbee, but the only problem is that YHC doesn’t have a frisbee… but you can always count on the Pax to pull you through.  Thirteen Pax at the start, Sixteen Pax at the end…Tclaps to Two Yutes for the Frisbee; and Tclaps to the three FNGs that posted! Otherwise, we would have been doing less fun things.  The DISCLAIMER was given and we were off.

    The Thang

    Mosey over to the Festival Grounds while the Pax split up into two teams, Uptown vs The World….then each team to a separate end zone for some Ultimate Frisbee.  Rules are simple:

    • Teams advance the frisbee by throwing/catching the frisbee to reach the other teams endzone for a point.
    • Thrower (guy with frisbee) cannot move.
    • Defense on Thrower – 3 yd safe zone.
    • Penalties:
      • Turnovers (frisbee hits the ground or intercepted) – turnover team does 2 reps of exercise before playing defense
      • Scores – defense does 5 reps of exercise while scoring team runs to their endzone for kickoff

    We played two (25 min) halves.

    • Penalty Exercises:
      • 1st Half – Burpees
      • 2nd Half – Jump Squats / Merkins

    The World won by a landslide….But both teams won by still doing a bunch of burpees and never thinking about it.   Your mindset has everything to do with it!

    Mosey back to the flag, with some random stops along the way to get some time with Mary.  Ended with the COT, which included the Countoff, Nameorama, Shoutouts and a Prayer.  Thanks for letting me lead.

    -Shorty

  • A Rough Day

    A long anticipated cold front moved through the New Orleans area and YHC woke up to 69 degrees and light rain.  I had noticed it raining throughout the night and was excited about getting down and dirty at Rock City.  8 others joined me at our local flood reservoir.  I gave the disclaimer, adding the fact that we were going to get muddy, and headed to the rock pile.

    Warm-up

    SSH x 31 (IC); 8-count Body Builders x 10; IW x 25 (IC); 8-count Body Builders x 10;  Abe Vigodas x 10 (IC); 8-count Body Builders x 10; Good Mornings (IC) x 10

    The Thang

    Grab a rock, small enough to mosey with, but large enough to hurt.  We moseyed to the hill (I feel like it’s been a while).  We did a modified 11s exercise.

    Run con roca over the hill and do 10 rock burpees on the other side, run back con roca over the hill and do 20 bench presses.  Continue, descending the rock burpee count on the far side by 1 each time.  Hold the bench press count steady at 20 on the near side each time.

    Totals:  Rock Burpees = 55;  Bench Presses = 200

    We ran to the top and circled up for some squats.  20 regular squats in cadence followed by 20 squat pulses.  Some mumble chatter made YHC realize standing on the tallest point in Old Metarie with lightning strikes nearby was not OSHA compliant, so we grabbed our rocks and moseyed back to the pile.

    Here we completed our Squats:  Plié Squats (IC) x 20 followed by Plié Squat pulses (IC) x 20; Sissy Squats (IC) x 20

    Sprint back to the flag #punctuality

    Moleskin

    • I thought the work on the hill was a beast.  At the 8 rock burpee set I was sure I was going to have to call for a break about half way through and finish later.  However, the pax dominated this exercise.  What do you call it when all of the Pax finishes ahead of the Q?  These men are strong.
    • Sissy Squats are a crowdpleaser.
    • I am really disappointed in how clean I was after this workout.
    • If you are participating in the ISI challenge this month – that was 85 merkins.  If you are not particpating – you really should, loser.
    • Thanks to the Pax for calling out the repetitions so loudly this morning.  It really helped.  However, I did get confused a couple of times.  I think I was hearing Douille yelling them out Uptown.
    • Woz was a beast this morning.  It seemed like he ratcheted it up a couple of levels this morning. T-claps my man.
    • We woke this morning to the horrific news of the Las Vegas shooting.  One of our own, Terabyte was on vacation with his M in Vegas, staying 10 floors below the shooter at Mandalay Bay.  They were awakened by the gunfire.  He let us know that he and his wife are both safe.  Let’s continue to pray for those affected and keep growing F3 as a way to heal our country.
    • Later this afternoon we learned of the passing of Houston’s Big Wheel.  Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet him.  I did have the good fortune of spending 14 hours carrying the world’s heaviest telephone pole with his father, a man that was beyond impressive to me in our short time together.  I have no doubt that the world has lost a High Impact Man.  Our hearts and prayers go out to F3 Houston and those touched by Big Wheel’s life.  Godspeed brother.

  • Core Values

    Just before 5am, out of the gloom converged Turtle, Shooter, and QIC, making note of the ubiquitous site of Captain Sparkles truck looming like an F3 sentry to watch over the marsh. This could only mean that while the rest of us were justifiably still fartsackin in the 4 o’clock hour, the machine was out here putting in work. So no hate as he came jogging up while the PAX was warming up. Conversation of the outdoor variety masked the growing intensity of the workout, where, after warming up , we unleashed upon our cores The Bruce Lee, a 5 exercise ab run that quieted talk of Turtle taking to a deer stand in a wind storm, painting visions of Lt. Dan with all his righteous fury. Next we partnered up for leg pushdowns and wrapped core with  2 minute plank. With the latest ISI in mind, we shifted gears and proceeded with contra burpees, bump ups, and fortunately last but, unfortunately not least, a merkin ladder. Many thanks to our resident mathematician for calculating our total merkin count for the beatdown at 265. Finally, we closed things out with COT and much needed prayers .

    WARM UP:

    20 Imperial Walkers IC

    20 Windmills IC

    20SSH IC

    THE THANG:

    The Bruce Lee – superset: putins, leg raises, LBCs, heel touches, crunchy frogs, 100s  3 sets of 20 reps IC

    Leg Push Downs – partners,  3 sets each 10 reps OYO

    2Minute Plank

    Contra Burpees – increase merkins each burpee up to 10 merkins

    Bump Up – burpee under pull-up bar with a pull-up on each jump  10 reps OYO

    Merkin Ladder – starting at 20 merkins, run up and down basketball court decreasing rep count at each end until down to 1

    COT

    1st solo Q in da books. Thanks F3 brothers!

     

  • Dog poo landmine for the Q

    Hey Guys –

    Good beatdown this AM.  Sad that I didn’t mention the Vegas shooting.  #prayforvegas  Now my thoughts and prayers go out to all of those people and their families.

    We started this rainy gloomy morning with a pre-planned weinke but once I saw 2 FNGs I decided to modify and stay in the neighborhood.  Good thing bc that allowed us to find Thumper!

    Tclaps to Brown Bag who had 2 FNGs at the flag ready to go.  Brown Bag showed up at 529AM – we thought he did the ole’ EH and Sack.  However he was kind enough to post!

    Tclaps to Chic-ka-chic-ka for coming back for his second beatdown in 2 weeks

    Welcome back Kotters to Quick Draw.  We have missed you in the gloom.

    Also had an exchange from North Carolina – welcome to the PAX – unicorn.

    We did a short Mosey around the parking lot and circled up in front of the Gazebo.

    IC SSH x 20, Imperial Walker Squats x 20, Mtn Climbers x 20, LBC x 20

    Mosey down the muddy path to the row bars.

    At the row bars – a circuit   20 rows is the count, then the other 3 groups – low/slow squats, plank jacks and burpees.

    Only bc Seaman and revit decided to no-show due to the rain.  At this point I landmined myself by the row bars.

    As we were working at the row bars – a guy ran by and I decided to mid workout EH him.  Turns out it was F3 Thumper and he nerviously asked are you guys F3?  So I was all excited about my mid-workout EH and then it ended up being one of our guys – so welcome back kotter to Thumper.

    We ran the WWI monument.  We did a small circle of merks.  Merks x 20, Wide merks x 10, Staggered L merks x 10, Staggered R merks x 10.

    We ran back to the pull up bars.  At the pull ups it was 5-10, then a lap around parking lot, then 20 step ups per leg, then back to the pulls ups for burpees, then a lap around the lights.  You could have started in a different spot for that circuit.   BLIMPS to wait for the 6.

    Then we mosey’d back to the Gazebo for 6 min of Mary.

    This we did low country crab x 20, Fire Hydrant x 20, donkey kicks each leg x 20,  Russian Twist x 20, LBT x 20, Peter Parkers x 20, Parker Peters x 20.  More like 10 min of Mary.

    Mosey back to the Flag but do 10 decline merks on the benches on the way to the FLAG.

    We closed with a hopeful thought to be more mindful of our relationships.

    Thoughts and prayers for Vegas

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

    Reluctant Yankee

     

     

  • One Dozen For PFC Jackson

    Do yourself a favor.  Visit the Congressional Medal of Honor website and read the commendation for our most recently departed patriot, Arthur J. Jackson, PFC, USMC.  PFC Jackson served our country with distinction in the Pacific during WWII, and his deeds on September 18th, 1944 deserve your attention.  We all like to believe that we would step up like PFC Jackson when called.  Most of us fortunately will never know.  However, all of us have the opportunity to step up in our daily lives in a more modest fashion to serve our families, friends, communities and country.  PFC Jackson’s story can inspire us to serve others with gratitude.

    So after a brief disclaimer, a dozen PAX got underway this morning with the warmup.

    Seal Jacks 20X IC

    Mountain Climbers 20x IC

    Copperhead Squats 20x IC

    Butt Kicks 20x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    SSH 20x IC

    High Knees 20x IC

    Windmills 20x IC

    Then the PAX held an Al Gore while YHC read out PFC Jackson’s commendation.  It wasn’t short.

    Bushwacker assumed the Q, and we set off with wobbly legs on a mosey.  Found a nice stretch of ground, and Bushwacker lined us up for a Caterpillar from bench to tree, about 30 yards.  An exercise that looks much easier on paper, the Caterpillar or Chattanooga Choo Choo is a bear.  A grunting, mumble chattering PAX held their low planks while one by one they jumped over one another in an excruciatingly slow march to the oak tree.

    Bushwacker then handed off the Q baton to YHC.  Mosey to the harbor playground where we set up for a passing game using a lacrosse ball.  Counting off established the order of passing from PAX to PAX, and we attempted to keep the ball moving with one bounce passes.  The bad news is that the PAX needs to work on its communication and ball skills; the good news is that we paid the penalty of an exercise for each dropped pass and suffice it to say that we got our money’s worth on the exercise end of things.  Squat jumps, ice skater hops, split jumps, seal jacks, SSHs, Merkins…multiple reps of each multiple times.

    Back to Bushwacker who brought us on a mosey back towards the flag.  Bushwacker pulled a new one out of his VQ hat, the dirty hook up.  An eight count exercise, the dirty hook up consists of a plank position start, stepping up to the sea wall for an Irkin, then stepping back down for a Merkin.  Apparently, Bushwacker dialed the intensity down for us because the sea wall was too short to do whatever his diabolical mind originally had contemplated but trust YHC the watered down version was plenty challenging.  And what it is about 8 count exercises that totally confuse the PAX on the count.  We’ve seen it with the 8 count bodybuilder multiple times, and here the counting confusion returned for the dirty hook up.

    Final mosey back to the shovel flag where we finished things off with 50 long flutter kicks IC, a countorama, nameorama, and short prayer.  Off to the Beach House for our coffeeteria and some nice F2.

    Good stuff this morning men.  Thanks for letting YHC and Bushwacker lead.

    MOLESKIN

    A few parting thoughts:

    It is great to see new guys lead.  Moby and Bushwacker had their VQs this week, and we are seeing more and more PAX accept the challenge of leadership.

    Convergence with F3NOLA on October 14th at the Mothership in City Park to celebrate F3NOLA’s 3rd anniversary.  F3 Northshore will clown car over.  Details to follow.  You will not want to miss what promises to be an epic beatdown.

    Challenge yourself this month by participating in Iron Sharpens Iron.  Like Hawg’s invitation on the F3 Northshore Group Me, and Hawg will add you to the ISI group.  The only requirement to participation is a desire to make yourself better.

    T claps to Captain Sparkles for committing to Site Q our new Friday morning beatdown, Captain’s Cove, a 10k weekly run.  It is great to see the Northshore PAX putting in the miles and dropping their times.

    F3 is looking to expand to Baton Rouge but first we need to show some Redstickers what F3 is all about.  If you have a brother or friend who lives in the Baton Rouge area and needs F3 in his life, get busy with an EH and get him over to workout with us, the sooner the better.

    Finally, get your F3 Northshore t-shirt order in.  The deadline is October 9th.  Steve did an amazing job with the design, and YHC bets that it will win some type of an Emmy award for t-shirts this year.

     

     

  • This is Bullshit

    A sweet 16 slumped into the gloom this AM to ascend Wolfpack Mountain.

    After saying the words at the beginning that we’re always supposed to say… a quick mosey over to the front lawn of Tulane…

    • Line up for SSH x 20
    • Bear Crawl to first oak tree
    • Up on feet for Imperial Walker Squats x 20
    • Crab Walk to next oak tree
    • Mountain Climbers x 25

    Mosey over to the base of the Mountain…

    • Partner up
      • PAX 1 executes 15 Burpees while PAX 2 does a Wall Sit. Then, switch.
      • Rinse and repeat with 10 Burpees
      • Rinse and repeat with 5 Burpees

    Mosey up the stairs, almost to the peak of the Mountain, stopping on floor 6 at the base of the ramp…

    • Partner up for Dora 1-2-3
      • Running heads up ramp and taps wall at top before heading back down
    • Jumping Lunges x 100
    • Merkins x 200 (it was during this set that Amnesty glanced over at me to say, “This is bullshit”)
    • Russian Twists x 300

    Line up 1/4 of the way up the ramp…

    • In honor of Reverend, Reverse Bear Crawl up to top of ramp

    Mosey to peak of the Mountain…

    • Get in groups of 3
    • Partner Leg Push-Downs x 25 while 3rd PAX executes LBC’s
    • Cycle each PAX through once

    Mosey down the Mountain and to the Flag. Count-off, Name-o-rama, announcements, and Ball o’ man.

    I hope you all will think of me today and tomorrow when a bout of soreness kicks in. But I ultimately hope your M’s will think of me two days from now when you’ve recovered and feel like you can do anything, for any amount of time.

     

  • Plunging…

    Yep, another morning at the pool.  Like Dori said, “Just keep swimming…”

    And for a special treat:  Yes, JV did have his speedo on under that comfy terrycloth rob.  Oh Joy!!!  Naturally, we were all jealous.

    The Thing:  Swim 100m for a warmup, then try to swim continuously shorter breaks.  Exhausted and refreshed at the same time….  See you next Thursday.