13 PAX for a beatdown. We had a #suddenchange with the Q. I signed someone up but I forgot to remind them so my error – so I Q’d.
We started off with a Tinkles special- F3 St Charles BLIMPS Charge.
A letter of the BLIMPS at each intersection all the way to TD Jesus.
We mosey’d to Wolfpack Mtn. Passed through a crowd of extras. We did a lunge walk up the first ramp. Then we dodged cars and extras all the way to the top of Wolfpack Mtn. On the way up we did 10 Merks and 10 Pickle Pounders.
At the top we did a quick COP. Side lunge x 20, Crab Toe Touch x 20, Side Crunch-Left x 20, Side Crunch-Right x 20
Then we mosey’d down the stairs through the extras again. We went to Wolfpack Hill. Ran up the ramps to the top. At the top we did the exercises Roots left on the columns in chalk. One group did Russian Twists – 1st lap and LBCs 2nd lap. The other group ran down a flight of stairs and then up the ramp backwards.
At that point we mosey’d back to the flag for the COT. In the COT I used my 7 yr olds advent calendar which reminded us to include those who are lonely or who might need someone to talk to this holiday.
This will be my third Q, second F3 post and first preblast. It’s been a weird weather weekend – super humid, super windy, barely chilly with light rain at times. Forecast is for more of the same in the gloom tomorrow AM. Here’s how it should go down at 0530 at The Skinny. We’ll do a lap around the Fly + a visit to the WWI memorial in Audubon Park if we have time:
THE THANG
Run to the soccer fields in front of the Zoo for…
Warm Up
10 x SSH
10 x Imperial Walkers
10 x Squats
10 x Windmills
… then Indian Run to the soccer fields @ the Fly…
We’ll do a sprint back-and-forth across the field width-wise with a 1-10 Jack Webb on the baseline
Then the same counting back down w/Burpees
… then POW Run to the Labyrinth…
10 x Double Dollys
10 x Superman / Sun Gods
10 x Little Baby Flutter Kicks
…then Easy Run to WWI Flagpole…
10 x Dips
10 x Decline Merks
10 x WWIs
…then Slow Mosey back to base for COT.
When my wife & I were in Asia, we spent a night in a buddhist monastery outside Seoul, South Korea. We ate simple meals, assisted the monks with their chores around the monastery and participated in their worship. A key part of Buddhist worship is the 108 prostrations, or bows. Buddhists believe there are 108 defilements in the mind, and so by prostrating 108 times, we clear each potential pitfall one by one. As we make each prostration, we clear that portion of our consciousness and repent. It’s a beautiful worship, and a decent workout! I’ll share a few prostrations each of my next few Qs:
I prostrate in repentance for being ignorant of where I came from and unmindful of where I will go.
I prostrate in repentance for having taken my body for granted.
I prostrate in repentance for having taken my ancestors for granted.
I prostrate in repentance for having taken my parents for granted.
I prostrate in repentance for having taken my relatives for granted.
I prostrate in repentance for being unmindful of all those who have contributed to my learning and education.
I prostrate in repentance for being unmindful of all those who have grown, prepared, and provided my nutrition.
I prostrate in repentance for being unmindful of all those who have made and provided my clothing.
I prostrate in repentance for being unmindful of all those who have built and provided my shelter.
I prostrate in repentance for manipulating people for my own selfish needs.
I prostrate in repentance for having ignored the effects of my misdeeds on others.
It’s a dangerous place we live in. Nothing his safe – not shovel flags, not 50 lb bags of play sand.
YHC arrived to find a full parking lot. Triple Shift and Duct Tape both arrived with FNGs in tow. HVAC came in hot and in need of a restroom. We pointed him toward the port-a-potty on the far side of the park and told him we would see him after the warm-up. I gave the disclaimer and being the Uptowner we were off on a ten foot mosey for the COP.
The Thang
Warm-up (all IC): SSH x 30, Imperial Walkers x 25, Windmills x 20; Arm circles – Forward x 15, Backward x 17 (YHC was distracted), 8-count body builders x 12? – I’m not sure. The Pax was not counting and I couldn’t keep it straight, so we went until I was tired.
We headed over to retrieve some sandbags for the next COP and instead of 6, we only found 4. Luckily 4 was the perfect amount, but I am not sure where the other two have gone. Hopefully whoever took them got as much use out of them as we got out of the 4 they left.
Dora 1-1-1 – We partnered up. Pax #1 bear crawls out and back (50-60 yards in total) while Pax #2 does the prescribed exercise with the 50 lb. sandbag. Set is over when the team reaches 100 reps in total.
Set 1 = Rows
Set 2 = Shoulder lifts (move sandbag from one shoulder to the next)
Set 3 = Squats (hug the sandbag like Al Gore would a tree).
We finished the day with some Mary interspersed with 8-count body builders, all IC: 8-count BB x 10, LBC x 30, 8-count BB x 10, Dying Cockroach x 25, 8-count BB x 8, Putins x 20
Grab a sandbag and return it to the not so good hiding spot.
COT included an lengthy Amnesty style announcement session complete with F3 mission statement, historical significance, AO list and reviews, etc. We named the FNGs and closed it out with a prayer for those in the Smokeys, Baton Rouge, and the sick.
Moleskin
T-claps to Triple Shift as he continues to infuse our workouts with new blood.
T-claps to Duct Tape for his consistency (due in no small part to the bounty of information Amnesty provided him with). Today he brought his 2.0, the first 2.0 we have had in a long time.
Strong showing by the FNGs. I had thought figured the Dora with the sandbags would be tough, but the FNGs had no problems with it. If only we had more sandbags to make it harder.
A modest PAX of 4 posted on Tuesday for the usual run/cardio fix. An iffy forecast may have scared some of the fair weather fans away but we were greeted with dry conditions. No one signed up for this week so YHC, being the site Q, decided to try a few variations of previous workouts. The “standard” Bayou St. John route is always enjoyable but YHC thought we could use a change of scenery. After the disclaimer, we were off in an Indian Run past the museum, then picking up the pace a notch down Lelong Ave and back to the track making for 1.5 miles total. Quick breather at the edge of the track while YHC got the PAX on board for part B: Goal of 10 laps on the track OYO, starting the first lap with 10 Burpees and descending down on each lap….always adding up to 11…which is something YHC realized halfway through. T-claps to Rudy for pushing hard and making all ten laps. T-claps to the rest of the PAX for getting near the goal. T-claps to the SUNO track team that was practicing out there and making hurdle jumping look easy. Time was ticking so mosey back to the virtual flag where we sealed the deal with 10 more Burpees. Total distance for the morning was 3-4 miles and 55-65 Burpees. Ended with a COT and prayer.
The turnout on Tuesdays have been spotty. Hopefully we can think of ways to keep it fresh and appealing…whether it be through straight up runs or other running/cardio variations or new routes or??? YHC asks the PAX to put their thinking caps on and sign up on the Q list.
3 Pax strong on a humid last day of November gathered around a virtual flag.
No pre-post “where’s Shorty?” chatter was had. Can we just add him to the F3NOLA archives? Guess he fell victim to the #holidayslump?
DISCLAIMER
Mosey towards the museum to a “hill” for:
COP #1- Warm Up:
SSH X 20
Hillbillies X 20
Seal Jacks X 20
Good Mornings X 20
Peter Parkers X 20
Arm Circles X 30 (15 F/15 B)
Air Squats X 10
Mosey to the Foundry for circuits OYO.
Burpees with jumping knee slappers X 5
Pull Ups X 10
Merkins X 15
Air Squats X 20
Russian Twist X 25
Step Ups X 30 (15 each leg)
Flutter Kicks X 35
Run to and around cul-de-sac and back
Repeat until further notice with no rests between rounds.
We completed 4.5 rounds. Nice work PAX!
Mosey back to the virtual flag and held the COT mid-mosey as Bogey had a plane to catch.
Thanks for letting me lead! if you want to read a real BB, see Rudy’s post below!
YHC was cooking dinner last night (Crispy Parmesan Chicken, for those of you at home wondering) with an NCAA basketball game turned on. Turns out that this week is the start of the 9th annual “Jimmy V Week” on ESPN. And I turned on the tube just in time to catch a replay of Jimmy Valvano’s stirring speech from the inaugural ESPY awards on March 3rd, 1993. And just like that, I had a theme for this mornings Okwata work out – words of wisdom and numbers from the life of Jimmy V.
The Wind: A PAX of 9 held their ground against the blowing east wind. Belloq had planted the lost shovel flag deep in the ground, so it held firm against the gale. After a disclaimer, and brief F3 intro for our FNG from Champaign, IL, we were off.
The Fountain: Mosey around the fountain with the usual butt kicks, karaoke and high knees before settling into the marsh grass.
Be enthusiastic every day, and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm,” to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have
Jimmy Valvano died on April 28th, 1993 at age of 47. So we opened with SSH x47. Then plank position for MC x47 and PJ x47.
The Levee: Mosey to the Levee.
Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.
Words to live by as we stare at the Levee. Variation on traditional 11s – we are going to do 12s. Start with 10 burpees (other side of the levee) and 2 Dr. Ws this side. Back over for 9/3. 8/4. Each pair adds up to 12. (And yes – Dr. W because JIMMY V IS A WINNER).
OYO. Go. PAX starts grumbling and questioning. “Why 12s?” YHC challenges them to figure it out. Shortly, JV observes “Well, that’s a total of 54 reps – that’s my age.” Then Hawg gets it – “Wait, that’s how many points NC State had when they won the NCAA in 1983.” Bingo.
(YHC had a plan to do 13s as well – 10/3, 9/4, …. The rep total for that? 52 – how many points Houston scored. But time prevented….)
The Shack: Mosey to the shack. Actually, YHC tried to turn it into a hands-in-the-air Sprint to the shack, to mimic Jimmy V’s wild run around the court. Didn’t go over well.
Partner up in 4 groups. We’ll have 4 stations: Pull Ups (AMRAP), Dips (AMRAP), Murcans (AMRAP) and Legs (the counters)
What’s the count? 25 – Dereck Whittenburg who heaved the wild airball at the end of the game wore number 25.
There are three things we all should do every day. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that’s a full day.
We’ll do 3 full rotations (each pax hitting each station is 1 rotation).
Rotation 1: Laughter. Our count is 25x Squats
Rotation 2: Think. Our count is 25x Lunge
Rotation 3: Moved to Tears. Our count is 25x Monkey Humpers
The Flag: Return to the flag for a round of Mary.
I will thank God for the day and the moment I have
Who reeled in Dereck’s errant shot (or on-the-money pass)? Lorenzo Charles, wearing number 43. So we finish with Sweat Angels x43, LBC x43, and Putins x20 (YHC is not JV. I totally ran out of steam….)
(Sweat Angels are from the F3 site: think making a snow angel, but keeping legs, arms up off the ground. Hello Dolly with arm motions)
The Finish: Finish with count-off, name-o-rama (dubbing FNG “Axe Man” after a game of word association starting with Cheap Trick, his hometown band), and prayers. Prayer for people in Tennessee and Ohio State University. Please remember all people through the holiday season: travellers, family, people struggling with depression. YHC finished by asking for strength and comfort for those who have lost loved ones to cancer, and for guidance and wisdom for those looking to find a cure and providing care to those suffering.
Thank you, gentleman, for giving me the opportunity to lead.
3 pax met on Saturday for a slightly chilly, workout.
Although turbo tax wasn’t there to motivate, they found the resolve to still meet 15 min early for a quick run, building up mileage in prep for the tough mudder.
After a quick jaunt out and back from the invisible shovel flag that Nacho is still holding hostage, the workout began:
Mosey to swing set:
-side shuffle with bands/monster walk with band x 20 yds repeat
-plank o rama: 10 merkins in cadence, followed by down dog to plank,
side plank x 30″ each side
Bizz-buzz in which each member of the pax calls out a number in order and replacing the word “bizz” with multiples of 5 and the word “buzz” with multiples of 7. Anyone who screwed up had to do 10 merkins and the count started over. The ‘game’ ended once the pax made it to 35 or
“bizz-buzz”
This was a game that YHC remembered from 6th grade math class, and then evolved to a drinking game in college, and now a plank challenge.
Mosey to seawall:
Bulgarian split squats and incline merkins x 20 IC x 2 sets
Mosey back to swing set:
Single leg squats/lat pulls with swing x 20 IC x 2 sets
Mosey across bridge:
5 rounds of burpees, jump squats, and merkins x 5 reps OYO with 30 count between sets
Mosey back across bridge:
5 rounds of 6 surfer burpees, 8 speed skaters, 10 mt climbers with 30 count b/n sets
Mosey back to invisible shovel flag for Mary:
-Flutter kick x 20 IC
-HTH x 15 IC
-Russian twist (aka Putin) (aka Trump’s Buddy) x 20 IC
Great to see Collard Greens and Tank-Up return for their second post this morning. Something about the approaching storm motivated the 4 strong PAX to get after it without delay, warming up with a sense of urgency under the Gipper’s gaze: Seal Jacks 20x IC, IW 20x IC, Torso Twists 10x IC, Merkins 10x IC, Mountain Climbers 20x IC, SSH 20x IC, Butt Kicks 20x IC, and Windmills 10x IC.
Mosey to the Justice Center Veterans’ Memorial for a shoulder/rotator cuff complex: lateral arm raises 10x IC, front arm raises 10x IC, thumbs up 45 degree arm raises 20x IC, thumbs down 45 degree arm raises 20x IC, small arm circles forward 20 count, small arm circles backwards 20 count, touchdown rotator cuff raises 20x IC, and arms in front pulses 20 count. Separately, not very challenging, but when linked together and the challenge of not dropping your arms is issued, quite challenging indeed.
Short mosey to the Justice Center Oak Alley for a burpee gauntlet…burpee at each oak tree down the alley.
Recovery walk to the rear of the Justice Center where the PAX combined repeated strides at 85% down a lane with return agility drills back to the starting point: lateral bounces each direction, carioca each direction, low slow lateral shuffles each direction, heal walk, toe walk, and finally ankle flips.
Mosey back to the Trailhead, grab some coupons (T claps to Steve for replacing the coupons that the PAX destroyed a couple of weeks ago), partner up for 5 minute AMRAP of OH cinderbock walk for partner 1 while partner 2 hits as many Merkins as possible, switch up, and get in as many rounds as possible.
On our sixes for some coupon pause bench press, then flutter kicks and Hello Dollys 10x each IC holding coupon arms extended, and wrap it up with some wife pleasers 20x IC.
Count-o-rama, name-o-rama, and Einstein prayed us out as the storm arrived.
Solid effort this morning. Thanks for letting me lead.
13 pax showed up ready to get the Christmas season started off in style and I did not want to fail to present at least one two-for-one deal. We welcomed back Landing Strip from his trans-Asian vacation and look forward to some MMA style workouts soon. Whoop also posted a Cotter and the pax was hoping he’d been training his bowels since his last post- alas he was in shelter #1 during the disclaimer. Let’s mosey
Mosey to the fairway near the first pull up station. Welcome Seaman, El Wire, and a refreshed Whoop. Warm up time:
SSH IC x 25
Seal Jack IC x 25
Smurf Jack IC x 25
Plank Jack IC x 20 —> Peter Parker IC x 20
Recover
To the pull up bars for 10 pull ups with assistance if needed. 2 guys at a time with all others holding Al Gores on the ten count.
Indian run to green area for some Mary. Unplanned by the QIC but noticed by all that this combination really works the quad/groin area.
Putins IC x 25
Pickle Pounder IC x 20
Real Freddy Mercury x 25
POW run to the fountain. This felt really far and the arms were burning a good sign that more arm work was needed. COP at the benches:
Right leg step up IC x 20
Left leg step up IC x 20
2-4-1 special
Decline merkins IC x 10
Shoulder taps IC x 20
Decline merkins IC x 10
Judging by the mumble chatter the pax was not pleased with this cyber monday offering!
The beatdown continued with the ridiculous looking portion of the workout beginning with a group mosey of varying styles:
POW run for 50 yards
Backwards run for 50 yards
Left side shuffle run for 50 yards
Right side shuffle run for 50 yards
Standard jog to next COP
COP:
LBC IC x 25
Dying cockroach IC x 20
Dolly IC x 25
Stay in a circle for plank leapfrog maneuver- executed perfectly by everyone except the QIC- damn
Indian run to next circuit station. Time was running short so after planking and waiting for the 6 we did 10 burpees OYO.
To bring it home we did a sprint/jog alternating run back to the virtual flag.
Nameorama and intentions. RY paused for a moment to reflect on the passing of his great-grandfather who remained spry and active until his recent passing at age 96! What a great life. Ball of man for our prayer. Complimentary to my last prayer regarding our spiritual need for each other I reminded myself and the pax that God governs all and we should live each day in His honor.
To those that fartsacked today in order to get prime cyber monday deals, we look forward to a beer in front of your new 84 inch TVs!
YHC wasn’t expecting a big PAX, but was expecting at least someone beside himself. But at 5:30, YHC was a man standing alone: so be it.
Thus, YHC began a slow COP1: SSHs 30xIC, Low Double-Slow Squats 30xIC, Imperial Walkers 30xIC, Slow as hell merkins 20xIC (wanted to get to 30, but didn’t get there; a goal for next time–like his goal of 100–yep 100–monkey humpers. It won’t be all at once, YHC is not insane, but it’s a doable DownPainMent, though sure to result in some mummblechatter).
Still no other PAX. YHC didn’t have the discipline to stay put, even though The Uptowner is supposed to be stationary. So he moseyed around Pontiff to the gym set at the opposite side of the park for a modified Murphy of pull-ups, squats and more merkins (all sans extra weight). It’s tough with no motivation from other PAX, but YHC trudged on until he couldn’t any more.
YHC then continued a mosey around the rest of the outside track, and then onto the inner track for a final sprint at his all out: not a Cowbell or NipTuck sprint, but way better than what YHC could have done a year ago. Finished off with 100 LBCs, when who should appear but Duct Tape. He apparently got to the virtual flag about when YHC had decided to mosey and thus was also then his own PAX of one. YHC was kicking himself for not staying put. Why is self-discipline the hardest? [Difficult question, but it’s obvious why a PAX of more than one is compelling; getting the ego to accept that it needs help can be tough.]
Anyway, a great F2 with Duct Tape. Tclaps to Triple Shift for all his recent EHing.
Here’s to a large PAX this upcoming Friday at The Uptowner.
