F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • 610 Stomp #83 – Classic with GRT Flavor

    Discipline Equals Freedom

    A quote from F3 Apache of Rock Hill:  

    The alarm clock goes off.  It’s time to get out of bed.  This is your first decision of the day.  Will you get out of bed or hit the snooze button?

    You press the snooze button and roll over.  What just happened?  No big deal, right?  Wrong.  You just lost the first battle of the day.  The Sadclown kicked your butt and has broken your will before you’ve even gotten out of bed.  You will most likely be its slave for the rest of the day.

    Are we going to beat that sad clown of the gloom? the choice is yours and it’s you against you.  Please don’t freaking lose.

    The Thang

    We started with eight 8-count body builders in cadence.  We then ran the classic bayou route stopping for eight 8-count body builders at the following spots:  NOMA, Cabrini Bridge, Dumaine St. Bridge, Orleans Bridge, Jose Marti Statue, Orleans Bridge, Dumaine St. Bridge, Cabrini Bridge, Esplanade Bridge, NOMA.  Then we sealed the deal with 12 burpees.  That’s a total of 80 body builders, 12 burpees, and 4 miles.

    Moleskin

    Six men and a K9 won the first battle of the day this morning.  By being disciplined we are free to be the men we are called to be.  Without discipline we become severely limited in what we are capable of doing.  T-claps to Tool,  who had an early appointment this morning.  He finished his run as we were starting the Stomp – that takes discipline.  That’s a man setting an example for the rest of us to follow.

    Commit to the GrowRuck today – Register Here.

    -Hawg

  • Rock Relay? Maybe not…

    YHC strolled into Rock City with 30 seconds to spare before the work-out began. A quick disclaimer, and off we go.

    1st COP. Mosey to usual starting spot by the rock pile for warm-ups.
    SSH x 30 IC
    IW x 20 IC
    Plank Jacks x 20 IC
    Peter Parkers x 20 IC
    J-Lo’s x 20 IC
    Low slow squats x 20 IC

    Mosey to the Rock Pile. Pick a medium-sized rock, suitable for running. And mosey to the track.
    Next is the Rock Relay. Split into 4 teams, for a 4×100 meter relay.
    1. Sprint 100 meters with your rock
    2. Drop for 20 merkins
    3. Plank up until the relay makes it back around to you
    4. Repeat 4 times
    As it turns out, there is a reason why people don’t sprint a relay while carrying 30-pound rocks.

    2nd COP: rock out with arms, circle up inside the track.
    Rock shoulder press x 15 IC
    Rock bicep curls x 15 IC
    Rock chest press x 15 IC
    Rock rows x 15 IC
    Rock shoulder press x 10 IC
    Rock bicep curls x 10 IC
    Rock rows x 10 IC

    Mosey to the baseball field for Animals on Parade around the bases
    1. Bear crawl
    2. Crab walk
    3. Bear crawl
    4. Frog jumps
    Repeat

    3rd COP. Mosey to the outfield for some Mary.
    Flutter kicks x 20 IC, with rocks held high
    Hello dolly x 20 IC, with rocks held high
    Freddy Mercury x 20 IC, with rocks held high
    LBC’s x 20 IC, sans rocks
    Froggy crunches x 10 IC
    Russian twists x 20 IC

    Mosey back to the rock pile to return our beloved rocks to their homes. Then sprint (sort of) to the flag.
    COT: count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a quick prayer.

    Thanks for letting me lead. No more Rock Relay for me.

  • Classic Skinny

    Inspired by Roots’ recent proclamation that he was “bringing running back to the Skinny,” YHC decided to treat the Pax to some speed work around the park loop.  We started with a short warmup jog to oak alley, where we alternated between high knees and butt kicks at each lamppost and eventually made our way to the jogging path.  There, we did fartleks using the stickmen painted on the ground as markers.  For the first stretch, we jogged for two men and sprinted one, repeating until we reached the monkey bars.

    At the monkey bars, split into 4 groups:

    • Burpees x10 (timer)
    • Pull ups
    • Plank jacks
    • Russian Twists

    Rinse, repeat, then resume fartlek, but this time jog 2 / sprint 2 until arriving at the usual Mary spot near the 17th hole tee box.   We got in plank position and did Jack Webbs starting with 1 merkin /2 air presses and increased in increments of 1 merkin / 2 air presses until reaching 10 merkins / 20 air presses.  After completing this, there was some confusing mumblechatter about “more.”   It made a lot more sense after YHC finally got around to reading Friday’s backblast and learned that #JackWebb is apparently trending among Skinny Uptowners.

    Continue around the loop (jog 2 / sprint 2) until reaching the benches at the fountain.  At the benches:

    • Bulgarian split lunge (R) x15
    • Bulgarian split lunge (L) x15
    • Dips x20
    • Decline Peter Parker x20

    (all in cadence)

    Resume 2/2 fartlek and arrive at clearing near Prytania for Plankorama, which went something like this: plank, merkin x10 (in cadence), side plank right, arm under x10 (in cadence), elbow plank, side plank left, arm under x10 (in cadence), plank, elbow plank.

    We wrapped up with an Indian Run to the flag and then concluded with the count, name-o-rama, announcements (GrowRuck – June 10) , and prayer.  During the COT, RY was frantically adding folks to the Q list so make sure you check for your names.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

    -Mulligan

  • We are Live in the Big D.

    Seven men braved Margret Orr’s Apocalyptic forecast to launch F3 Destrehan on a beautiful, cool, breezy River Parish morning.  We planted the flag directly under the bridge, gave a short disclaimer and then moseyed about 3 feet for the warm-up COP.

    The Thang

    Warm-up COP – All exercises IC:  SSH x 30; Imperial Walkers x 25; Low Slow Squats x 25; Peter Parker x 25; Merkins x 10; Plank Jacks x 24; Merkins x 10; Parker Peters x 25; Merkins x 10

    Near the end of the COP, the St. Charles PO-PO pulled up into the parking lot.  Next thing we know Torque jumps up to his feet and takes off running.  

    Exploratory Mosey: We moseyed down the jogging trail that goes around the park.  Torque claims it is one half mile, an I have no reason not to believe him yet.  There were some exercise stations along the way, a few sporadically placed picnic tables, a big open dirt area, some bleachers, some narrow grassy areas, a basketball court, and tennis courts.

    After hiding out in the bathroom for a while, Torque rejoins us.  I didn’t ask.

    Red Hot Chili Pepper:  Since we were under the bridge, it seemed appropriate to break out the Red Hot Chilli Pepper.  This was gifted to the NOLA Pax at the NOLA Launch on 10/18/2014 by Chong Li.  You can read the backblast here, where it is referred to as the Chong-Li Special.  I modified it for the Destrehan Launch, using step ups instead of Bulgarian Split Leg Lunges.  I also reversed the counts for the legs and the merkins so that it went something like this:

    • 16 Channing Tatums IC (aka Right Leg Squat)
    • 8 Decline Merkins IC
    • 16 Tatum Channings IC
    • 8 Incline Merkins IC
    • 12 Channing Tatums IC
    • 6 Decline Merkins IC
    • 12 Tatum Channings IC
    • 6 Incline Merkins IC
    • 8 Channing Tatums IC (aka Right Leg Squat)
    • 4 Decline Merkins IC
    • 8 Tatum Channings IC
    • 4 Incline Merkins IC
    • 4 Channing Tatums IC (aka Right Leg Squat)
    • 2 Decline Merkins IC
    • 4 Tatum Channings IC
    • 2 Incline Merkins IC

    We did this on the baseball field bleachers and it was hell a loud.  The guy opening the concession stand for the games later that morning came out to see what all of the commotion was about.  He seemed fine with a bunch of dudes stomping on the bleachers, so he went back inside.

    Dora 1-2-3:  Partner up. Partner 1 bear crawls about 40 yards out and back, while Pax 2 works on the the prescribed exercise.  Flapjack when Partner 1 gets back and continue exercise count as a team.  Each team does 100 Merkins, 200 Squats, and 300 LBCs.

    Mosey over to the playground

    Bernie BLIMPS: Same partners.  Pax 1 hangs from the pull-up bars, elbows bent at an L while Pax 2 goes through the following progression:  5 Burpees, 10 Lunges, 15 IW, 20 Merkins, 25 Plank Jacks, 30 Squats.  Finished when the team makes it through the entire progression.

    Mosey across River Road (Frogger) to the levee.  After a test run down the concrete side and back up, we decided it was a worthy levee for 11s or Jacob’s ladder or quadraphilia or any other of our various levee downpainments.

    Jacob’s Ladder: Run to the top of the levee and do one burpee.  Down and back up for two burpees.  Keep ascending until you reach 7 burpees.

    Mary: 10 WWII sit-ups IC with feet toward the top of the levee.

    Quadraphillia – Down the grassy side and back up, always facing the park.  We only did a couple of minutes.

    Mosey back to the flag for COT

    Moleskin

    Troubled Waters is a good AO that would be better if they didn’t lock up the baseball fields.  There’s plenty of stuff to get creative here and the levee is a definite bonus.  There are not a lot of big open spaces, so it will be tough once the numbers get huge.  No worries though, we will just add a workout at the West Bank Bridge Park.

    They have a Remote Control Race Track at this place.  How weird is that?  We had Coffeeteria at Donut Land, just down the road.  Ask Kimchi how good the donuts are.  While we were there we saw one of Torque’s buddies, who was apparently confused about the location of the workout, or exactly what the term workout means.  At least he met us for donuts.

    T-claps to Channel Mullet for his triumphant Kotter.  T-claps to Yo-Yo.  Not too many 14 year olds in the New Orleans area have the dedication to get up and workout at 6:30 Saturday mornings.  He will be a man-child before long.

     

  • NOLA Foundry 03/15/17, Better Late than Never

    Sorry for this late post. I typed it up, and forgot to post it. Gotta give people their due. Better late than never.

    It was a balmy 45 degrees this morning, but luckily it felt like 40 in the wind. Not quite like Walleye’s homeland of Minnesota, but close enough to make him feel at home. Time to exercise like real men.

    Quick mosey to the first COP:
    SSH x 20 IC
    Imperial Walkers x 20 IC
    Peter Parker’s x 20 IC
    J-Lo’s x 20 IC
    Arm Circles x 20 IC (10 forward, 10 backward)

    Next a Route 66 down Roosevelt Parkway, stopping at each park bench for dips.
    Start at 5, increase 1 dip per bench, ending at 17 dips. Get those arms warmed up.

    Next COP: Legs
    Alternating lunges x 20 IC
    Low slow squats x 20 IC
    Jump lunges x 10 IC

    Mosey to the Foundry. 8 stations for 8 men. 3 rounds each.
    1. Pull-ups
    2. Dips
    3. Step-ups
    4. Decline merkins
    5. Low body rows
    6. Knee ups on the monkey bars
    7. Super mans
    8. The 8th station had the count (10 Dr. W’s 1st round, 10 burpees 2nd round, plank walks 3rd round).

    A short mosey to the 3rd COP. A rotating Circle of Mary. The Q got lazy here, and asked on the PAX to each provide an exercise.
    Flutter Kicks x 20 IC
    Tabletop cockroach x 20 IC
    American Hammer x 20 IC
    Wife pleasers x 20 IC
    SLOW BC’s (Slow baby crunches) x 20 IC
    Box Cutters x 20 IC
    Merkins x 20 IC

    And out of time! Sorry to short you Bogey! A fast Mosey back to the flag for Name-O-Rama, intentions, and a quick prayer. Good luck and Godspeed to the Tough Mudders on Saturday!

  • Fishing Rodeo Fitness

    This day at the Mothership in New Orleans marked the annual City Park Fishing Rodeo. Tool wisely informed the PAX that this event is the oldest fresh-water fishing rodeo in the country. Tool routinely crashed this event every year as a boy, and got caught every year by the same security guard as he fished the sacred waters on the golf course. “Move along boys…” he would tell young Tool. We did not bring our rods and reels today, but we brought high spirits and eager muscles. With a forecast of thunderstorms, we were luckily with a beautiful morning of clear skies. Walleye, at the Q, was unaware of fish-themed exercises, and a little afraid of getting caught in the rodeo, so planned a Route 66 OUT of busy City Park.

    This Route 66 was in honor of Side Effects, our brother relocated to Philly, who surprised us with a Mystery Q 2 weeks ago. He led a similar Route 66 last summer. A quick disclaimer, and off we go. “Let’s move along boys…”

    A short mosey to the green lawn, and our warm-up COP.
    SSH x 25 IC
    IW x 20 IC
    Windmills x 20 IC
    Arm circles x 30 IC (15 forward, 15 backward)

    Mosey to the fountain in front of NOMA.
    Box Jumps x 20 IC
    Dips x 20 IC
    Left leg step-ups x 20 IC
    More Dips x 20 IC
    Right leg step-ups x 20 IC

    1st Route 66: down Lelong Drive to Esplanade avenue:
    10 Merkins at every light post (9 posts total)

    Round up for second COP.
    Peter Parkers x 20 IC
    Plank Jacks x 20 IC
    Parker Peters x 20 IC
    J-Lo’s x 20 IC

    2nd Route 66: down Esplanade avenue to Alcee Fortier Park (across from Cafe Degas).
    Squats, start at 5, increase 1 at every light post (10 posts total)

    On our 6 for some Mary at Alcee Fortier Park. Watch for land mines.
    LBC’s x 20 IC
    Flutter Kicks x 20 IC
    Dying Cockroach x 20 IC
    Hello Dolly x 20 IC
    American Hammer (Russian Twists, Putin’s) x 20 IC

    3rd Route 66: back down Esplanade avenue to entrance of City Park:
    10 Lunge Jumps at every light post (10 posts total)

    Slow mosey into City Park. The legs are truly burning now. A dip in Bayou St. John is suggested. Bogey wisely declines, “Move along boys.”

    4th Route 66: down Lelong Drive to front of NOMA:
    Merkins, start at 5, increase 1 at every light post (9 posts total)

    Indian Run to the baby Foundry. 3 stations:
    1. 10 Burpees (Burpees has the count)
    2. Pull-Ups
    3. Body Rows
    Sadly, only time for 1 round.

    Mosey back to flag. But there is enough time for a Pit Stop at Tad Gormley:
    Calf Raises x 20 IC

    Mosey to the green lawn. Sprint across the green lawn to end at the flag in the nick of time.
    We name our FNG “Flounder” in honor of his love for fishing, the on-going Fishing Rodeo, and his kids’ love of Disney. Announcements: kick-off at Destrahan today, support the new site. Tough Mudder completed, now sign up for the NOLA GROW RUCK June 10, 2017. Intentions: multiple friends and family members battling cancer and other illness, Rudy’s broken pinkie. A quick prayer.

    Happy Fishing.

  • Windy and Wet at the Mandeville Lakefront

    Lake Pontchartrain greeted the PAX with wind and crashing waves this morning. It was rather wet and not that the PAX is afraid of water or anything (Tanked Up proved that point beyond doubt when he conquered the Arctic Enema obstacle during last weekend’s Tough Mudder) but after a quick disclaimer for FNG Shooter’s benefit, the PAX moseyed inland to the Mandeville Trailhead for the THANG.

    The THANG

    Expansive COP on the splash pad.  SSH, IW, Merkins, Mountain Climbers, Butt Kicks, Overhead Hand Claps, Front to Back Lunges, Shoulder Taps, and Windmills.  All IC, 20x more or less, with a collapsing circle between exercises for a quick PAX fist bump before return to the starting position via the backpedal.

    Mosey to the Grassy Knoll for some quick Mary.  Circle up for flutter kicks and the Hello Dolly.  Both IC 20x with a 20 count six inch dead man’s hold afterwards.

    Partner up for the next round of pain  One partner held an Al Gore while the other ran to, up and around the Trailhead Tower and then back to his partner for the exchange.  3 trips per man, 6 total rounds.

    Another COP with big shoulder circles, little shoulder circles, 45 degree pulses with thumbs up, 45 degree pulses with thumbs down and then a nice 20 count straight arm pulse at the end.

    Set of 11s…Merkins on one side, squats on the other, with some nice obstacles in between.

    Recovery walk to the edge of the Trailhead area and then a Bataan Death March Indian Run back to the shovel (which was sans flag because Chewy prudently decided that the wind might carry the flag to Madisonville if he tried to attach it to the shovel).

    Finish up with some more Mary:  Jane Fonda, Jane Fonda pulses, Nolan Ryans, dynamic side planks, and some wife pleasers, all IC 10x.

    Count-o-rama, name-o-rama, and a nice welcome for our FNG Shooter.  Butt Splice prayed us out and then it was time for the Coffeeteria.

    Moleskin

    T-claps to Butt Splice for rejoining the PAX this morning and bringing FNG Shooter with him.  Shooter clearly did not join us straight off the couch; he has been doing Pilates or something.

    Go Ruck registration is live.  YHC will be putting out an e-mail to the Northshore PAX early next week with the registration link and some details.  So get your credit cards ready; it is time to commit.

    Go Ruck training starts this Thursday.  We’ll meet at the Covington Trailhead this Thursday 7 PM for an hour ruck (bring your packs) and then slow mosey over to the Covington Brew House or the Tap Room for a little F2.

    EiEi, the PAX knows that you are reading our backblasts as you fartsack and will be compelled to stage an embarrassing intervention at your home in front of your 2.0s soon if you do not Kotter.

    Chewy’s got the Q this Tuesday, Tanked-Up has it Wednesday and Steve will bring the week to a close on Saturday.

  • The Uptowner Yoga Challenge: Week #1

    We kicked off the 8 week Yoga Challenge at The Uptowner this morning with 6 men looking to get stronger, more flexible, and injury resistent.  The idea here is to see what happens if we commit to doing power yoga once per week for 2 months.  What kind of changes are we going to see?  Time will tell.  So with that in mind, we started with your basic sit and reach so that we could get a crude baseline measurement of our current flexibility.  Mine was not good.  Feel free to post yours in the comments so that you can look back at the progress.

    The Thang

    • Wide Leg Hamstring Stretch
    • Twisting Torso Stretch
    • Split Leg Hamstring Stretch
    • Standing Side Stretch
    • Sun Salutations (x3)
    • Runner’s Stretch
    • Crescent Pose
    • Warrior 1
    • Warrior 2
    • Reverse Warrior
    • Triangle Pose
    • Twisting Triangle Pose
    • Chair Pose
    • Prayer Twist
    • Namaste

    Moleskin

    • The PAX knew YHC was serious when I showed up in my slippahs.
    • My biggest fear was assuaged as HVAC let me know he was all for the Yoga Challenge.  I hadn’t communicated it with him and was worried he would not be excited about it.  He views it as good preparation for the Classic, so I am now even more all in.
    • Kimchi started the next cycle in his new “rest on the 70th day,” training plan.  Good to have him back.  Yesterday just wasn’t the same.
    • At the encouragment of Bogè, I tried a couple of different voices for the Q.  It was decided that YHC should use the calm, soothing yoga Q voice instead of the normal, bootcamp style Q voice – it was better for our flow.
    • YHC has misplaced his travel speaker; otherwise, we could have vinyased to the beat.  If I can’t find it for next week, I challenge Bogè to start learning some Enya.
    • I got really cold afterwards.  I googled and apparently that can be a thing once you reach a state of transcendentalism; although, chills are usually the result of moving to an unheated cabin in the New England woods.
    • I hope JV gets the above joke.  If not he should thoreau his Yale diploma in the trash.

  • FNG Friday Funday

    16 Pax showed up this morning for a fun filled workout.

    Warm up:

    SSH x25

    Hillbilly x15

    Imp Walker x15

    Smurf Jack x15

    Peter Parker x20

     

    Mosey to TD Jesus:

    Partner up – bear crawl to TD Jesus, crabwalk back, while partner is doing Burpees. Repeat doing monkey humpers instead.

    Mosey to the mountain:

    Run the incline, lunge the flat, to the 6th floor. reverse bear crawl the incline to the top.

    At the top:

    Jack Webb – each set is predicated upon a pax member saying more to do another set. we made it to 10.

    mosey back to flag for updates, FNG naming, Prayer.

     

    RY, el wire, Badmoon, Bartman did voluntary mary for some EC.

  • Sweet 16 or that’s gonna leave a mark

    All good things come to an end. And with the start of the 2017 Sweet 16, we say good bye to KimChi’s remarkable streak. Congrats brother. I’m not sure anyone will touch that any time soon.

    9 PAX started the workout (after disclaimer, which YHC is getting better at remembering…) with 16 burpees OYO. 16 will be the number of the day.

    COP 1: mosey around the fountain with follow the leader for butt kicks, karaoke, high knees and more karaoke. Circle up for SSH x20, IW x20, Smurf Jacks x20. Then plank up: Peter Parker x20, plank jack x20, mountain climber x20, and Parker Peter x20.

    COP 2 Mosey to planters for Sweet Sixteen Suicides. 4x at first, 8x at 2nd, 12x at 3rd and 16z at 4th. 4 sets: Bobby Hurley’s, xFit Mericans, deep Lunges, Box Cutters.

    During the BC circuit, Triple Shift pulled his best Grayson Allen imitation with an “accidental” trip causing YHC to go sprawling. That one hurt. Need to modify. Looks like the mascot animal parade is out….

    COP 3: Mosey to the shack. 5 groups to do circuits of Burpees (the timer), Dips, Mericans, step ups, and PullUps. Round 1: 16 burpees. Round 2: 8 burpees. Round 3: 7 burpees (adding up the 4, 2 and 1 representing the final rounds of the championship).

    Mosey back to the flag and finish with Hammer x33.

    Count off, Nameorama, close out with intentions: remember those traveling, those who are sick, and surge’s friend who had to bury a daughter much too young. YHC asks for grace to use the gift of today in service of God, and in service of others.