F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • School of Ruck

    The School of Ruck was in session this morning at the Covington Trailhead AO under the watchful gaze of the Gipper.  Five mumble chattering PAX turned into eight as the guys rolled in hot right in time for the bell.  Those who forgot their rucks were sent to the supply cabinet for cinderblocks, and class was promptly called to order.

    Warmup;

    OH hand claps 20x IC, Torso twists 10x IC, Squats 10x IC, Good Mornings 10x IC, Lateral Lunges 10x IC, and Heel to Toe Up Calf Raises 10x IC.

    Mosey to the Justice Center for

    The Thang:

    The PAX first hit their 6s for three sets of ruck presses and flutter kicks holding the ruck high.  10x IC each set on the presses and 15x IC each set on the flutter kicks.

    Next up were the JC Parking Garage stairs.  The PAX climbed to the top 6 times, twice one foot every stair, twice one foot every two stairs, and twice with a crossover walk.  Two feet every stair laterally always facing the JC on each descent.

    Short mosey across the street to the JC Oak Alley.  Lunge walk to the first tree, run to the second, rinse and repeat for the entire length of Oak Alley which YHC roughly estimates at 120 yards.  Alternate at every tree between OH ruck/cinderblock carries and tip toe walks on the way back to our starting point.  Then it was time to partner up for a bear hunt:  partner one bear crawls down Oak Alley while his partner runs about 50 years in the opposite direction returning to tag the crawling partner to relieve him.  Both partners mosey to the starting point, switch roles, and get after it for another set.

    Another short mosey, this time to the benches.  Three sets of lateral step ups each leg 10x IC and Merkins 10x IC.  Back to the Trailhead just in time for the closing bell.  YHC pretty much botched the closing sequence of events but eventually got it right or at least done with the help of his brothers…countorama, nameorama and prayer.

    Moleskin:

    Everything is harder with a ruck.  Everything.  Don’t you want to challenge yourself?  I thought so.  Commit to Grow Ruck 03 today!

    Grow Ruck Training Thursday 1900-2030 meet at top level of Justice Center Parking Garage for an on time roll out.  Ruck not required, but everyone has a backpack and you can pick up some bricks while we are underway so really there is no excuse.

    Chewy is on tap to Q Saturday at the Mandeville Lakefront 0630-0730 with coffeeteria afterwards.  Don’t miss it.

     

  • Iron Was Sharpened

    Six…wait…seven men showed up to grow and improve.

    Disclaimer…let’s mosey. We found a beautiful, picturesque spot to warm up:
    -SSH x 30 IC
    -IW x 30 IC
    -Mt Climbers x 20 IC
    -Arm Circles x 30 IC (15 ea dir)
    -J-Lo’s x 20 IC
    Let’s mosey to the Foundry. We had 7 stations:
    -pullups
    -dips
    -Dying Cockroach
    -Box Jumps (on a bench)
    -Rows
    -WW I situps
    -Burpees x 10 (the timer)
    (Rinse and Repeat twice for a total of three cycles)

    Sure Walleye, we can stop at the water fountain…it’s on the way. And mosey.

    Shorty called it…1000m of Hades:
    -sprint 400m
    -walk 100m
    -sprint 200m
    -walk 100m
    -sprint 100m
    -walk 100m
    TOTAL=1000m

    Mosey to the Shovel/Flag…yes, we had one today.

    On your six:
    -wife pleasers
    -piriformis stretches (bridge with right leg on left…hold…and switch…and hold).
    Recover.

    Countoff, namerama, announcements, shoutouts, prayer. It is always a pleasure to lead and be led by this group.

  • Modify When You Modify

    Nice morning in Audubon Park everyone looking enthusiastic and ready for an on your own workout bonanza.  We start with the disclaimer, including that I don’t count.  We mosey around the parking lot to oak alley.

    We pair up:

    One partner runs to the row bar and performs:

    10 burpees

    25 rows

    30 merkins

    The other partner runs suicides to the first four lights performing the following at each light:

    10 yoga squats

    10 jumping lunges

    10 imperial walker squats

    20 shoulder taps

    Repeating until partner returns then the two switch.

    Revit gives us a 30 count then mosey to the benches under the pavilion

    Pair up again, one partner runs to the pull up bars and performs:

    10 pull ups

    20 plank jacks

    30 lbcs

    While the other partner performs:

    20 v-up

    20 ski planks

    20 alternating right and left leg step up

    Repeating until partner returns then switching.

    This is where the modify happened, I was not clear on which pull up bar to go to so everyone went the the one by the flag as I went to the one around the track (valuable lesson be more explicit and try not to get too creative).

    Vader gave us a 20 count then we performed pick your poison mary.(everyone picked an exercise and did a 10 count(9 count) on each exercise.

    Back to the flag, count, name-o-rama, and prayer.

     

    Thanks for letting me lead today,

    86

     

  • 2 Miler in Troubled Water

    3 dedicated, disciplined, fartsack-averse PAX met in the gloom.  5:30am on the clock, disclaimer Mosy 1/4mi to the basketball court for some warmup

    COP

    20x high knees, 20x butt kicks, 20x Windmills, 10x Buddhist Pushups.

    YHC had a cool, new beatdown that he found on a BB from an F3 somewhere in Georgia or something, but alas, it was a partner thang and we only had 3.  We’re still growing.  We switched to the standby beatdown.

    1 Mile Run, 100 Pushups, 100 WW2 Situps, 100 Squats, 1 Mile Run

     

    Straight to Work, took a few minutes, but we all finished with time to spare.  Mosy back to the flag for some mary.

    20x Weezy Jeffersons, 20x Round the World Weezy Jefferson, (kinda just made that one up, but we did a Weezy to our the right side, returned to parallel, Weezy to the left).  1 min plank.  The plank was too easy.  The PAX didn’t even breathe hard.

     

    NNM:

    We only have one pullup bar in Troubled Waters, but I spotted a nice spot to add some more.  On a picnic shelter, similar to Okwata.  Is it considered vandalism if add pull up bars to a public facility? Also, the basketball court definitely works as a large area for work, rather than the dirt patch on the north end, but dirt is cool…so – whatever.

  • Two Years and 5,000 Burpees Later

    Rewind 2 years ago to a rainy Saturday morning in April when YHC was coaxed into coming to his first F3 workout.  Being an avid runner I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to handle, not to mention my buddy Amnesty that EH’d me didn’t exactly seem like an American Ninja Warrior.  Surely I could keep up with these guys…several of them looked older than me…surely it would be fun.  Well things quickly went downhill when I was doing jumping jacks in the rain, slipping on the soggy grass, then face down for push ups in a bed of mud/fertilizer/feces that would later be nicknamed “duck diarrhea”.  We were only five minutes in and it really was starting to suck…reminding me of my pledge semester back in the old fraternity days.  Being that YHC was not one to give up easily, I pushed through a bit longer and managed to complete an hour with these guys.

    Two years and 5,000 Burpees later, I was standing in City Park this past Saturday ready to Q a workout that I had envisioned to be a compilation of the “greatest hits” from beatdowns that wore me out, especially in those early days.  YHC wanted to pay homage to some of the memorable exercises and circuits lead by various Qs that brought the sweat and brought the burn.  There were too many to count and dozens of PAX that pushed me to get stronger so picking a select few wasn’t easy.

    As the PAX rolled in, I gave a quick brief on the “F3-versary” plans followed by the disclaimer.  Quick mosey to the Great Lawn for a warm-up COP:

    SSH x50 IC (Roots did me in with these once)

    Arm Circles x20

    Peter Parkers x20 

    Pickle Pounders x20 

    Burpee Countdown (thanks OBT!) x10, x9, x8, x7, x6, x5, x4, x3, x2, x10…yes 10 #lagniappe.  That’s 64 total.  OBT had us doing them in gravel last year so I went easy on the PAX by planning these in the grass.

    Slow jog near the amusement park to line up along the curb for Rocky Balboas OYO for one minute.  (Splash got us with these one time and it seemed like a really looooooong minute.)

    Heart rates were up at this point and sweat was prevalent.  Quick countdown and mosey to the back of the stadium.  The mumble chatter and speculation about heading to the “Tool Wall” was in fact correct, and how could I not incorporate a structure that was nicknamed after YHC.  While somewhat tempted to reenact the all so famous 2000 calf raise workout by JV that YHC was absent for, I decided to not kill the PAX just yet.  Since “11’s” always seem to push me and make for a long, grueling circuit, I wanted to work that in but had to up the rep count and decrease the trips back and forth since we had lots of ground to cover afterwards.  So here’s what we did at the two sections of “The Tool Wall”, with sets totaling 50 reps ea:

    Declined Hip Slappers on left side x40, mosey across for Calf Raises x10, back for DHSx30, CRx20, DHSx20, CRx30, DHSx10, CRx40.  

    Procession down to The Refinery (aka “Baby Foundry”) for Pull Ups mixed in with Squats.  This would be an OYO, 4 minute circuit totaling Pull Ups x20 and Squats x60, broken up in any fashion.  We allowed a 2 count Body Row to substitute for a Pull Up since bars were limited.  Most PAX finished in time and a few added some lagniappe.

    Off to the Museum for fun with our favorite concrete ledge.  A few rounds of Dora were in store, mainly to pay homage to Shorty when he had us doing an absurd amount of reps a year or two back.  I find Dora can keep the PAX from slacking by making everyone stay on course with the rep counts and working as a team.

    Dora Round 1:

    150 Side Step Up w/Knee Lift (75R, 75L) w/second PAX running 20yds to sign for Squats x5 (the original plan included bunny hopping the museum stairs but a boot camp group had them tied up)

    Dora Round 2:

    120 Dips w/second PAX running 20yds to sign for Squats x5

    YHC had hoped to work in more Dora but had a few more things on tap.  The PAX gathered up near on the beginning of the neutral ground of Lelong Ave and split up in two groups.  After a very botched explanation by YHC, we lined up on opposite sides of the street in order of how fast you are, with the speed demons in the rear and the almost-fast guys near the front.  This would be a 1/3 mile running race but in order to level the playing field, burpees were assigned in an ascending order with x2 for guy in front of each line, x4 for next, x6,x8,x10,x12, and finally x14 for the last guy.  T-claps to Bubba and ??? for knocking those 14 burpees out.  Once done your burpees, then off to the races where the guys all pushed hard, despite being worm out from prior leg and cardio circuits.  T-claps to Walleye for taking the lead followed by Yo Yo and others.  Since it’s 2017 and everyone gets a trophy, we were all treated to Jump Squats x15 as our race prize.

    After catching our breath, we had just enough time for a round of Tooth Fairy, which was one of Side Effect’s favorites that often had me sore for a week.  This was slightly modified from the original since space was limited near the museum stairs.  PAX lined up along the upper set of stairs and started with Inclined Merkins x2 on first step, the x4 on second….all the way to top step which was x16???  We were nearing the buzzer so some of us had to cut it short, not to mention arms were numb.

    Gather up for a group mosey back to base.  About halfway through the field YHC remembered an oldie but goodie called “Sudden Change”, typically 10 Burpees, which was something randomly done in a workout that Roots and others would surprise the PAX with.  After a quick reminder of what a “Sudden Change” entails, we cranked out what were some ugly but rewarding burpees to seal the deal for the day.  A not-so-brisk mosey back to the virtual flag and we called it a morning.

    COT included T-claps to Yo Yo (Triple Shift’s 2.0 age 14) for posting approx a dozen times in the past month or two.  And a few others things that I was too woozy to recall.  YHC thanked the PAX and F3 for pushing me to get in even better shape than I was before and providing the platform to motivate each other.  Also, YHC recognized that F3 can be a natural “remedy” or “therapy” for many of the stressors that we all deal with in our lives.  The early morning “sweat-fests” seem to allow us to blow off steam while strengthening both body and mind.

    Thanks again for two years of great workouts.

    Tool

    P.S.  Thanks for the continued prayer requests for my 13 yr old son, Brady, who has autism and Down syndrome.  He struggles with many simple things that we all tend to take for granted.  He has a very unique set of issues that perplex his doctors, therapists, teachers, and most of all his family.  I strive to do what I can for him and since starting the F3 workouts, I find I have more energy and a bit more patience which both help when spending time with him.  I tried to insert a picture of he and I walking the City Park track yesterday but my tech savvy skills are not up to par.  If all goes well I’ll get him out in the gloom one day.

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Morning Call

    New faces, new workouts at Saturday’s lakefront beatdown.  Warm welcome to FNG’s Ace Ventura, Dollar Bill, and Manny, hope to see you guys at the next one.  It started as it usually does, with the pre-warm-up run continuing its current trend of picking up the pace each week.  Trying to keep up with Turbo and Tanked Up left YHC particularly destroyed.

    But no time to rest, it was onto the warm up.  With no Chewy to captain the ship, the PAX settled on a round robin, starting with YHC.  Pretty standard stuff: Seal Jacks, IW’s, Mountain Climbers, SSH’s, and Windmills all 20x IC.  A few more PAX trickled in and then a quick mosey to the sea wall to begin the thang:

    Set of 11’s: Freak Nasties, jog to curb, frog jumps back and forth.

    YHC had planned to forego the usual leg routine which seems to be wearing on everyone, but Grundy insisted, so I caved: Steps Ups each leg 10x IC, Bulgarian split squats each leg 15x IC.

    Grundy then took over, starting with an Indian Run to the playground for a new one: the Morning Call.  All PAX hold plank while one does three pull ups, in cadence with these pull-ups the entire PAX does three merkins.  Completed once every PAX has done the pull ups.

    Next up was Grundy’s boat rockers, made it to around 7x, IC.  Then Turbo took over for some more core exercises: Freddy Mercuries, Scuba Steves, Side Jacks, and some other killer routines that have slipped my memory.

    Over to the splash pad for a Dirty McDeuce: Split into groups of two for 3 exercises 12x IC, followed by each group doing a lap around the playground (up and over the two jungle gym structures) in opposite directions.  T-Claps to Butt Splice who added the challenge of reversing the direction and going up the pole, which became especially tricky after it was dripping with sweat.  Four rounds and a little splashed merlot and we were done.  (A few examples of the 3 exercises done: Merkins, lateral jumps, slow squats, shoulder taps, peter parkers, parker peters, hand-release merks, and the list goes on far beyond what I can remember.)

    On the mosey back, Butt Splice took the Q and had us drop for 10 Burpees.  Then we circled up to hold plank while each PAX took a 25 yard sprint.  There may have been merkins or something else in there…

    And what would a lakefront beatdown be without a trip to Rips?  We finished there with an AMRAP of 5 merkins and a trip up and over their famous stairs.  YHC had no watch that day, so I can’t be certain how long we went, but I am fairly certain at some point we’ll need to all pitch in to help them repair that staircase.

    Quick sprint back to the flag where, as usual, Grundy beats Tanked Up for the gold.  One day Tank, one day!

    Forgive YHC if I’ve mis-remembered something or someone (did we do a Mary?)….

    And be sure to check out one or all of the following this week: Mystery Q at the Mandeville trailhead Tuesday morning (5:15), a Turbo beatdown at the Covington Trailhead Wednesday morning (6:00), early morning run at Mandeville City Hall (5:15), Grow Ruck special Thursday evening at the top of the Justice Center parking garage (7pm), and Chewy’s return to Q Saturday at the lakefront.  See you gents out there…

  • Better Late Then Never

    Well better late than never as I always say. – Every man at some point in there life.

    Last week few men gathered in the gloom to better themselves at Troubled Waters. The Pax here love there sleep and show up right at 0530 with no time to spare on the reg. When the last guy rolled in hot gave the disclaimer and we are off.

    COP#1

    SSH x20

    IWx 20

    Pigeon stretch x10sec holds each leg

    Merks x10

    I think we did other stuff but who knows

    The Thang

    COP#2

    This was going to be similar to the workout that was previously led by YHC. Yep no creativity here. The workout consisted of

    Round 1

    Burpees x 20 (count)

    Toe touches

    Inverted rows

    Pistol Squats (alt legs)

    Chin-ups

    Round 2 x15 burpees Round 3 x10 burpees Round 4 x 5 burpees

    After each round the PAX would run the length of the park. After running the last lap around the park decided to do some bonus exercises consisting of 10 merks and 20 Tip Toe squats.

    COP#3

    Core work with 30sec of ab shredding exercises

    Hands back tucks

    Marching planks

    Side plank lifts (R)

    Side plank lifts (L)

    Rest 45sec

    Seated Ab circles (clockwise)

    Seated Ab circles  (counter-clockwise)

    LBCS

    Russian “V” tuck twists

    Ended with COT announcements and intentions.

    Again thanks for letting me led

    Kimchi

  • No cotton, so let’s use rocks

    Today is YHC’s second anniversary with F3.  Tclaps AGAIN to Reluctant Yankee for EHing me.  No one got me cotton (you PAX with Ms remember that cotton comes after paper), so rocks it is.  After a disclaimer, the PAX was off, with YHC being a bit more sure than his first Q, where RY kept interjecting instructions.  Rudy seemed to have assumed that role forever more, but his pinky is still sore, so he’s running amok while the rest of the PAX is getting dizzy counting his laps.  Anyway, after a mosey to the rock pile,

    COP1 (for Amnesty and Rudy):

    • SSHs x30IC
    • IWs x30IC
    • Don Quixotes x15IC
    • Arm Circles 30xIC forward, 30xIC back
    • Low double slow squats (4-count down, 4-count hold, 4-count up): 30xIC
    • Face time a la Rudy: Merkins 25xIC, Peter Parkers 25xIC, Mountain Climbers 25xIC, JLos 25xIC

    Get cotton, er, rocks for COP2 (for Bubba): to the bleachers for some deep lifts:

    • Bench press 25xIC
    • Shoulder press 20xIC
    • Bench press 15xIC
    • Shoulder press 10xIC
    • Bench press 5xIC
    • Curls 20xIC
    • Rows 15xIC
    • Curls 10xIC
    • Rows 5xIC

    To the kiddie gym for COP3 (for Triple Shift or Shorty):  rotate pull-ups AMRAP, dips AMRAP, crooked rows (using twisted bars at different heights) AMRAP, swinging merks AMRAP, and 12 burpees for the count.  Rinse and repeat.

    Mosey to the field for an interlude: lunge walk about 50 yards to Circle of Mary:

    • Russian twists (for YHC): 20xIC
    • Crunchy rolls (courtesy of Gus from Chattanooga): crunchy frog, then roll over without using arms for another crunchy frog, then roll back without using arms: 10xIC
    • Dr. 2 (for SFx): 10xIC
    • Dying Cockroach (for RY): 20xIC
    • LBCs (for every PAX): 20xIC

    Return rocks for mosey back to the virtual flag, where Rudy was planking for the Six (YHC).

    Moleskin: When YHC started, there was only one flag and it showed up at every beatdown.  Now there are four, or maybe more, but none to be seen.  What’s up with that?

    Moleskin: YHC was planning some boo-boo bear crawls in honor of Hawg, who introduced them to YHC at his first Rock City.  [YHC still remembers the razor stickers in the field, but since he got only about 5 yards before collapsing, his palms survived.]  But, hey, time escaped, and mumble chatter prevailed.  So that will be for next time, plus I think Hawg is still in a grinning contest with SFx in Philly to see who can box-jump the highest.

    Thanks for a great two years.  I’ll be getting double-respect before I know it.  JV

     

  • Northshore Grow Ruck Training #7

    3 PAX and one K-9 tumbled out of the clown car onto the Bogue Chitto State Park Gorge Trail this afternoon for a double lap, 9 mile ruck.  Plenty of F2, one hawk sighting, and some mud and sand.  Join us for #8 Thursday 1900-2030 from the top of the Justice Center Parking Garage.

  • Troubled Waters Tabata B.O.M.B.

    Showed up to the gloomy bridge park with bluetooth speaker ready. Mathlete and Terabyte faithfully showed up 5 minutes early. Kimchi pulls into his spot as Chipper shows up to drop off the shovel flag, even though he couldn’t stay for the beatdown; Mammon needed his service this Saturday.

    Without the standby faithfuls of Chipper, Hawg, Triple Shift, etc…Troubled Waters was looking to be a more intimate affair after it’s 2nd full week of service. BUT THEN…in came an FNG, of legendary reputation. Ryan Rockefeller. Lifter of pianos, arm breaking arm-wrestler, IT champion of the handicapped, with a towel around his neck and his head full of resolve to his down painment.

     

    Here We Go:

    Disclaimer – Mosey to the dirtiest place under the bridge for the C.O.P.
    Carioca x2, POW Run, High Knees, Butt kicks until we land at the far end of the park/dirt pit.

    WarmUp

    25X SSH IC
    15 Body Builders
    Arm Circles, CW & CCW
    Don Quixotes

    ATM 15-10-10

    30 Count while Torque figures out how to use bluetooth technology, (this is why he EH’d the FNG)

    {“Come on you can do it!…YouTube >Saved Playlist >Tabata Songs, YES!}

    Ciabatta
    Jumping Lunges / Crucible Merks / Imperial Squat Walkers / Groiners

    The PAX was encouraged to pace themselves but there’s no escaping the 16minutes of pain that followed. It was long and the more you pushed yourself, the longer it got.

    Each PAX gave us a 30 count, after 2 full rounds of 4 sets each movement with 20sec work/10 sec rest interval…except the FNG – who only gave us a 15 count. Watch out for him. He’s got a dark side.

    B.O.M.B.S.
    7:10. Do we have time for B.O.M.B.S.? Yeah, we have time. Stick to the plan Torque. Quick 30 count to recover from FNG’s cruel trick, explanation of movements & pair up. Pax 1 takes a half lap around the track while Pax 2 starts working on 50 Burpees, 100 OH Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, (and 250 Squats).

    We did not have enough time. We limped our sorry behinds into the BBSU’s and walked with our tails between our legs back to the shovel flag.

    Count-a-Rama, Name-a-rama, Annouce-a-rama, Prayer.

    Moleskin
    Chipper couldn’t make the beatdown, but still emptied the fart sack to bring us the shovel flag after he Q’d Thursdays beatdown. That kind of manly commitment deserves to be commended. Similarly, Kimchi basically volunteered to be the long-term Thursday morning Q for TW. He’s an F3 rock. He and Chipper are both HIM, and Troubled Waters is in good hands with them.
    The back of the park is a wide open, soft, dirty spot. It’s ideal for some ground and pound. Also, Mathlete pointed out that the tennis courts are open and would make nice spot for suicide sprints. That guy has a unique eye for identifying grueling methods to improve your F1. He’s going to do amazing things. If you ever “Mathlete’s going to Q”. Show up…mentally prepared for a real beatdown.