Okwata started with a beautiful moonrise and gentle breeze and then quickly went to CSAUP.
After the disclaimer, the PAX moseyed to the Center of the Universe for the warm-up: SSH x 25, Abe Vigoda x 15, Imperial Walkers x 25, Peter Parkers x 20, Parker Peters x 20, Sun Gods x 10 (each direction). The PAX then moseyed to the bottom of the levee for the THANG.
The THANG was an 11 using one-side of the levee: Merkins at the top (descending) and LBCs at the bottom (ascending). To achieve full CSAUP status, YHC directed the PAX to Quadrofeelia (a.k.a. Bernie Sanders) up the levee and Bear Crawl down the levee during the 11. After this, YHC needed O2, so Two Youths gave the PAX a twenty-count.
Next, the PAX moseyed to the seawall in front of the MG fountain for a Hurricane Hoedown. YHC was so spent the PAX DJ-ed the cadence. Then, the PAX DJ-ed some additional MARY: Sweat Angels, Dying Cockroach, Real Freddie Mercury, and more LBCs.
The PAX moseyed then to the virtual flag for the COT. Count Off. Nameorama. Announcements. Intentions. Prayer. Lord, teach me to be generous. . . .
Moleskin: It was a great effort from the PAX today. YHC was beat after the 11. The PAX also stepped up to help YHC with cadence and then MARY. Future Qs sharpening. Fellowship. Teamwork. You name it.
In a feat only New Orleans can accomplish, the PAX arrived to a cool yet muggy morning at 5:30 today. The sun might even have been peeking through the clouds as we set off into the humid air for a run. With the H8 last week, the new sprint workout, and the general level of intensity at the workouts lately, YHC thought a simple run this morning – no burpees, no sprints, no Mary – would be a nice change of pace. And so, that is what we did.
One of the nice things about a run is that it gives you time to talk. I personally got to run with several different PAX and catch up on all the latest. Among those I was able to run with was Steinbrenner from F3 Memphis, who is in town for a convention. We traded some war stories, learned we were both former high school wrestlers with a tendency to eat an entire large bag of chips in one sitting, and talked about the myriad ways F3 had affected our lives. Somewhere along the way, he looked me in the face and said “F3 has changed my life”.
Later I went to lunch with a friend, and we were joined by another PAX member from this morning, Briefs. Briefs is new within the last month or so, but you wouldn’t know it from the workouts. As we were walking out of the restaurant and chatting about the run this morning, he looked me in the eye and said “F3 has changed my life.”
They say good things come in threes, and it is F THREE, so I will say this much: F3 has changed my life. I think the myriad ways in which this statement is accurate are well known to all of us, and to suggest it’s only a physical change would be silly.
So thanks to all of you for that, as well as the opportunity to lead this morning.
This morning 9 of the fastest F3 PAX decided to take on the Danger Zone. I gave the disclaimer at 5:30 a.m. and we moseyed on over to the Track a.k.a. the Danger Zone (DZ).
Warm-O-Rama We did a light mosey around the track with high knees, butt kicks, carioca right/left side. We finished warming up with a few 30 yard warm-ups that honestly I forgot what they were!
We then headed on over the the Agility ladders. Here we did the following: – Two feet in each square then sprint 30 yards – Jumping Jack Feet then sprint 30 yards – Icky Shuffle then sprint 30 yards – One left foot hop then sprint 30 yards – One right foot hop then sprint 30 yards
We did a 25 second breather and we were onto a 1 mile run which included Sprinting the straights and jogging the turns. Some of the PAX did a lap cool down while others (myself included) were gasping for air—last time I eat Mexican at 8:00pm before a workout!!
Next up we did 3 heats of 100 meter sprints – due to the popularity of the Danger Zone in just 2 weeks we had to split up into 2 heats. After the first round we realized we needed some more stretching so we stopped and did some more stretching before Heat 2 and 3.
Apparently the stretching didn’t help Jesus Juice as he has been complaining all day at work about how he pulled a buttocks muscle and is limping around the office like a wounded animal.
We then used the agility ladders for some ladder push ups X2. We did a cool down stretch and moseyed back to the flag right on time.
We did Count-o-rama, COT, and Prayed. Fun time this morning in the DZ hope Jesus Juice gets his rear end back for next week.
Rudy’s not allowed to Fartlek right now, so he needed a fill in for the 610 Stomp. YHC is an old Fartlekker so it was not a probably for me. I showed up at roughly 0529:40 and gave the disclaimer. It was a beautiful day for a run. Here’s how it went
Normal Pace to the NOMA Fountain. I call it the fountain, but there is no fountain, just a lily pond with a huge statue of tri-colored bacon. Upon arrival I gave the instructions. I would call out an effort number from 1-100 (100 being a full out sprint) and a landmark to run to. After reaching said landmark, the pax was to circle back and pick up the 6.
75 to the end of Lelong Drive
Easy jog to across Esplanade and down the sidewalk to Moss Street
100 to the first big tree on Moss
70 to the curve
Easy jog to Dumain
50 to Orleans
65 to the Lafitte Greenway
Easy jog to Bienville
58 to Canal
Easy Jog back to Bienville
70 to Conti
Avoid the car and truck at the Lafitte Greenway
55 to Orleans
70 to the curve (the real curve) near Cabrini
Easy jog to the bridge
60 to Esplanade then an easy jog to City Park until the 6 arrives.
Easy Jog to Roosevelt Mall
88 to the Flag
Seal the Deal with 20 Burpees
The Skinny
If you question the accuracy of the above – you should……my nine year old and Rev Sox both have this in common: they giggled when I announced our exercise this morning. I’ll have everyone know that fartlek is a bonafide Swedish running term used with a straight face by Kinesiology majors around the world no matter how funny it sounds in English……we covered approximately 4.5 miles give or take, depending on how many times you swept the 6. I feel like we got our money’s worth……I was glad to see that so many guys survived Tool’s Big Rock Challenge on Monday. Cowbell reminded me of my own foolishness. Is it better to not be able to perform any of the exercises or admit defeat and take the walk of shame? I contend that the walk of shame is never acceptable…….we had a Recall sighting. He ran with us for a bit on the bayou then peeled off to run the Wisner bridge. Not sure why he is choosing to run alone instead of with the pack. Perhaps it is the shame associated with being a Razorback fan. It does make life difficult, but you have to be tough and overcome it…….sealing the deal is a Stomp Tradition and it brings joy to Fracsac’s heart. Our next site Q needs to make sure it regularly happens ……. speaking of which, thanks to Cowbell for his reign as Stomp Commander. Under his tutelage the Stomp has grown at least two-fold in average attendance. If U.S. Presidents can take credit for economic growth, then Cowbell should be given credit for this ……. next man up. Who will take the reigns at the Stomp and fill the teeny-tiny shoes of Cowbell? From what I can tell, it mostly involves having someone else type your name into the spreadsheet, occasionally telling people to sign up to Q, then ignoring messages on GroupMe from people that need to reschedule their Q until someone else answers them and says that they will take it. You can’t really mess it up, well actually you can, but that takes a very special person.
It was a beautiful Thursday morning on the lakefront last week. After a little chatter amongst the PAX, I issued the disclaimer and we mosey’d to the corner of lakefront drive / canal blvd. Once there we commenced with the warmup:
side straddle hops – 20
imperial squat walkers – 15
grass grabbers – 15
peter parkers – 15
arm circles – 10 forward, 10 backward
Seeing as how the H8 was coming up in 2 weeks, I thought it might be good to do a little H8 pre-work. After Kuch’s Q at Popeyes on Wednesday, the LV clown car was talking about some different TV shows, and one of the shows that came up was the Sopranos. Anytime i think of that show, the word “for-getta-bout-it” comes to mind. Well since i was thinking of that show at the same time i was trying to think about what exercises to use during my Q, a nice exercise creation was born. It would aptly be called, the “4-getta-bout-it” and it would entail 4 figure 8 laps up & down the paved part of the levee with bear crawls across the center (just like the H8). We would also do a burpee / merkin ladder like the H8 as well. The difference with the 4-getta-bout-it would be that the PAX would have to run up each of the levees backwards (Bernie Sanders style backwards). So the good news is that it would be only 1/2 of the laps as the H8; the bad news is that running up the levee backwards is not what most people consider fun. Ultimately, all of the PAX completed the 4 laps (Smooth actually completed 5 laps, which has come to be known as the “High Five”), and then after a brief 20 count from Cowbell, we mosey’d to the benches. Once to the benches, we did the following:
dirkins – 15
squat jump clockwise to next bench
left / right leg step ups (10/10)
squat jump clockwise to next bench
dips – 15
squat jump clockwise to the next bench
irkins – 10
squat jump clockwise to the next bench
windmills – 15
squat jump clockwise to the next bench
LBC’s – 15
squat jump clockwise to the next bench
dying cockroaches – 15
squat jump clockwise to the next bench
flutter kicks – 15
squat jump clockwise to the next bench
Once completed, we mosey’d back to the flag for the announcements, intentions and the prayer. As always, thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. It’s a pleasure grinding through the beatdowns with y’all!
12 PAX posted up this morning at the Foundry. At 5:30am I gave the disclaimer and we were on our way to the track for a little warm-up. At the track we did:
High Knees Butt Kicks Karaoke Left side Karaoke Right side
We then proceeded for a warm up run around the track. We stopped at the back part of the track for some more warm-ups: SSH X 25 – IC Self Love – X 15 IC Low Slow Squats – X 15 IC Jump Lunges – X 15 OYO
We then moseyed on over to the Foundry where we split to 4 groups.
Group 1 – Timer – Duck walk to the water fountain and then sprint back- thanks Triple Shift for sending the animal exercise video yesterday to the group; the PAX really enjoyed doing this. Group 2 – leg lifts with a partner (not sure what this is called- it burns the hell out of your core though) Group 3 – Jump overs on the squiggly line Group 4 – Pull-ups Rinse and repeat for 2 circuits.
Quick mosey to the NOMA wall. Where we partnered up. One partner sat on the wall while the other partner is the timer doing shoulder taps- 1 is 2 —- Da Parish quickly corrected my count to 2 is 1 (newbie screw-up on my part). My initial plan was to do this for about 4 mins, however Da Parish enjoyed this so much we decided to go for 8 mins. Followed up by 10 decline merkins on the curb.
Quick mosey to the Fountain for: Incline Merkins X 10 OYO then run to the stairs to Bunny Hop up the stairs with 5 burpees at the top. Bunny hop down.
At this point we had about 4mins to get to the flag; I didn’t realize how far out we were……we came in 2 mins over schedule. Sorry about that PAX.
We welcomed a new FNG – Breadsticks. We finished off with COT and prayed for Patience. It was an Honor to lead this group.
Something different for pax this morning at 610 stomp, some speed work at the track. Isn’t this why we set up the workout near the track, yet we always head away from it? In any event it is great timing for those getting ready for CCC on the 20th. Here is what we did:
Warm ups:
IW x 20
PP x 15
Grass grabbers x 15
Then (1) mile as fast as we can for a baseline time measure, cool down.
Back again for another mile but…. 10 burpees at each split 4 times
The speed runs at 100, 200, 300, 400 and 100 jog in between.
Then some stretching and Mary:
Flutter kicks -15
Freddie Mercury – 15
IBCs – 15
Then back to COT to name fngs and the normal closings, welcome to new FNGs and hope to see you again.
Finally, condolences to Hawgcycle for the passing of his mother. Our prayers are with you and your family in this hard time.
With all the new NOLA PAX members that have taken the Daily Red Pill and joined our ranks, there are so many great workouts they have missed since the inception of F3 NOLA. One of my favorites at Okwata is the 40! Thank you, Rudy! Other epic beatdowns such as the H8 and Elevens with Burpees at Okwata are always crowd pleasers. Since the Army Corps of Engineers raised the height of the lake levee, this AO is like no other in the city. As a side note, you can also thank Mayor Cantrell and former Mayor Landrieu for keeping the grass well manicured over the years.
WARMUP
After my disclainer, we do a quick mosey around the Mardi Gras fountain with side shuffles, high knees and butt kicks and head over to the levee. The space between the sidewalk and the bottom of the levee is very spongelike and lumpy so watch your step.
THE THANG
As I give the instructions, I hear some groans from the veterans and get some puzzled looks from the newcomers as they process the task ahead of them. It’s pretty simple. Run up and over the levee 40 times and perform 10 exercises 40 times. The sequence of the beatdown is as follows:
It’s 6:13am and we head back to the Freedom Hammer
COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA AND COT
Honored to lead all the HIM (High Impact Men) today and grateful for your friendship, camaraderie, and accountability. Prayers for those fighting cancer and those who have lost loved ones! Lord help us be the leaders we were destined to be for our wives, children, and community!
As many New Orleanians might be aware, Hamilton has been playing at The Saenger for a 3 week run. As many F3ians might be aware, Da Parish and Rudy have a thing for musicals. So of course, the Hamilton workout was an obvious combination. And a plot was hatched – only publicized to those PAX that were In The Room Where It Happened….. So Hamilton and Burr signed up to Q the Mothership and Muscleship.
6:29am, PAX loitering around both flags wondering who was stepping forward to claim the Q. Especially loud grumbling at the Mothership flag from Jingle Vader, who repeatedly expressed his dislike for all things in Pop Culture.
6:30am, Rudy at Mothership and Parish at Muscleship give the disclaimers to PAX (most of whom seemed to be saying “Yeah, I figured.”). And both PAX took off to meet at the flag standing by a large box in the field in front of the museum.
And what was in the box? No – this isn’t a Brad Pitt “What’s in the Box?” scene. Instead, it was the exercise gear for the Qs…
And all the PAX grumbled and groaned, but still circled up in one large combined workout circle.
The Warmup – Qs alternating exercise callouts
16 SSH (Hamilton was 16 on arrival to US)
7 Burpees OYO as we begin spelling out Burr
21 Imperial Walkers (Hamilton was 21 when he became aide to Washington
Up/Downs to Burr’s cadence
30 Peter Parkers (Hamilton was 30 at the Constitutional Convention
Rocky Balboas to more of Burr cadence
Then (thanks to Mahatma’s good advice), PAX numbered off. 1s go with Hamilton (Rudy), 2s go with Burr (Parish). The Q vs Q Showdown begins…
Burr – Round 1
Dora 1-2-3 to Aaron Burr, Sir & My Shot. Pax 1 will perform the exercise while Pax 2 Burr Crawls to the 2nd tree & back.
Floyd Mayweather x 100 (2=1) – Hamilton upon meeting Burr advised he had recently punched the bursar of Princton
Squats x 200 – Burr advises Hamilton, Laurens, Mulligan & Lafayette that he’d rather sit than stand for the revolution
American Hammer x 300 – Hamilton does not throw away his shot and drops his American Hammer on Burr, Lafayette, Laurens & Mulligan
MerKING Wave/Burr Crawl to You’ll be Back
While PlanKING during the song sung by King George, pax will do a MerKING wave (1 merkin performed in a wave around the circle). When the last pax merks, the entire circle will Burr Crawl clockwise 1 rotation. Repeat the MerKING wave with 2 merks, Burr Crawl, etc until song is complete.
Mary to the song Guns & Ships.
Hold out your gun at Yorktown by holding a James Bond for :30 center/left/righ
Yorktown would not have been a victory w/out the French ships in the harbor. Hold your Boat/Canoe for :30 and finish out the song.
Hamilton – Round 1
Hamiltabata. 8 exercises, 45 seconds high intensity, 15 seconds of rest. To the songs Alexander Hamilton and My Shot
Happy Jacks (5 SSH, 2 Squat Jumps)
Absolution (8 count plank-position exercise)
Merkins
Imperial Squat Walkers
Lunges
T-Merkins
Outlaw
No Surrender (aka “The Genuflect”, in F3 Nola lexicon)
20 Count
To the 2:30 song Aaron Burr: Burpees. OYO. Go. Until the song ends. Yes, grumbly PAX – I mean it. Till the song ends.
20 Count
Mosey to the fountain for a version of the Cabinet Battle.
PAX 1 planks
PAX 2 dips x30 – with feet on PAX 1 back.
Flapjack.
Flapjack for x20
Flapjack for x10
Interlude
Both groups met at the lawn, and switched. Now the 2s go with Hamilton and the 1s go with Burr.
Burr – Round 2
Take a Break while we mosey to the Foundry
Time for an amRAP Battle while we hear Cabinet Battle #1
5 Pull ups, 10 Merkins, 15 Squats, Repeat until song is complete (3:35)
How are you going to Say No To This first American Political Sex Scandal. Hamilton was being extorted by James Reynolds while Hamilton had sex with his wife Maria. The first time it happened Hamilton gave Maria $30. Perform 30 reps (IC) of these 3 Big Sexy Exercises
Pickle Pounders
Wife Pleasers
Monkey Humpers
Mosey back to the flag…Mr Burr has business to settle with Hamilton. Your Obedient Servant
Hamilton – Round 2
Same as Round 1. Equal amounts of grumbling about the burpees. Some members of this group seemed to have an entirely different perspective on the Plank/Dip combo. Rudy suggests the Uptowners pull their minds out of the gutter.
Rudy does note that this routine was significantly harder the 2nd time around….
The Duel
All PAX meet back at the flag for the final 10-Count Duel. Qs alternate calling an exercise, making a ladder.
1 Burpee
2 Squat Jumps (then 1 Burpee)
3 Merkins (then 2 Squat Jumps, then 1 Burpee. You get the idea…)
4 Lunges
5 Country Crabs
6 Dr W
7 X Fit Merkins
8 Box Cutters
9 Turkish Getups
10 Rise Ups – Hold a Squat while Q counts down from 5, squat Jump, immediately return to Squat.
And with that, the F3 NOLA Tribute to Hamilton comes to a merciful close. Just a few minutes overtime.
Countoff and Name-o-rama, welcoming our new FNG Water Boy (named quickly before the uptowners could start suggesting based on Water Boy’s pronounced profession of selling Industrial Hoses).
Upcoming F1 / F2 this Thursday night at Greenway (6:30) and Wrong Iron (7:00).
Intentions called out, ask all of us to offer our own prayers for the intentions (spoken and otherwise) for all of our brother PAX. Finally, circle up for our closing prayer. Offer of thanksgiving for the glorious day God has given us, and for the grace of His wisdom to use this gift wisely.
Rudy and DaParish both thank the PAX for their merciful tolerance of this workout.
We have the honor to be your obedient servants….A dot Ham….A dot Burr.
