F3 New Orleans

Tag: Briefs

  • Swolefest 11-9-2020

    5:30am on Monday morning felt like it came quickly this week. But once it hit, it was time to start off the week right with a little F3 Swolefest beatdown:

    Warm Up:

    • side straddle hops – 20 in cadence
    • wind mills – 10 in cadence
    • plank jacks – 20 in cadence
    • arm circles – 10 forward, 10 backward in cadence

    The Thang:

    Dora 1-2-3 – partner up. One partner does the exercise, while the other partner runs a lap around the traffic circle  

    • 100 flutter kicks with the block (cadence count in your head) – 1,2,3, one, etc
    • 200 squats with the block
    • 300 curls with the block

    Cool down lap around the circle

    Dora 1-2-3 – again with partner. One partner does the exercise, while the other partner runs a lap around the traffic circle  

    • 100 standing overhead press with the block
    • 200 side ab raises with the block (rotate side each time)
    • 300 bent over rows with the block

    Cool down lap around the circle. Then:

    • Dips on the big concrete circles – 20 in cadence  
    • 8 count body builders – 10 on your own

    Next, we did the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. As always, thanks for the chance to lead, fellas. It’s always a pleasure.

  • Pull-Ups Can Be Swole Too

    The first disclaimer this morning, as I turned on my speaker and it immediately died, was that I forgot to charge may speaker last night. Swole Fest just ain’t as swole without some good 90’s tunes. So we had to make due with the iPhone speaker. Just not the same. Apologies to the Swole Fest Pax for letting you down so early on a Monday. Ashamed, I stumbled through the rest of the disclaimer and we got to work.

    Warm-up COP: SSH x 20 IC, Windmills x 10 IC, IW x 20 IC, Grass Grabbers x 10 IC, Arm Circles 10 Forwards 10 Backwards IC, Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

    We started with a Swole Fest cinderblock reverse pyramid. Time to get swole. 5 exercises, 3 rounds, decreasing reps.

    Shoulder press x 20 IC, Curls x 20 IC, Goblet Squats x 20 IC, Rows x 20 IC, Chest Press x 20 IC

    Shoulder press x 15 IC, Curls x 15 IC, Goblet Squats x 15 IC, Rows x 15 IC, Chest Press x 15 IC

    Shoulder press x 10 IC, Curls x 10 IC, Goblet Squats x 10 IC, Rows x 10 IC, Chest Press x 10 IC

    Next we moseyed to the Foundry. We worked the front, now time to work the back. And what better way to get Swole than to bring back Pull-Ups. Pull-Ups have always been a staple of the Foundry and City Park, but we had to abandon them for while during Covid when the exercise equipment was off-limits. Now that the equipment is back open, the Pull-Ups are back on. 3 stations, 2 rounds:

    Pull-Ups x 10 (the count), Rows, Super-Mans, Dips

    We moseyed back to the front of the Children’s Museum, grabbing our blocks on the way, for 11’s.

    Deep Squats on one side, Jump Lunges on the other side.

    Cinderblock in the middle.

    When crossing to one side, 10 Curls in the middle.

    When crossing to the other side, 10 Shoulder Press in the middle.

    We moseyed back to the flag for count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and prayer. Thank you for the privilege to lead.

    Walleye

  • Celebrating the Six

    Conditions:  Humid and Partly Cloudy.  73 degrees, 100% humidity.  Wind 4 mph from the NW

    The Thang

    We divided up into nine teams to play some Rarájipari.  Teams of 4 or 5 kick a baseball as they run.  No real rules other than you have to kick it everywhere you go.  Today each team had to visit four landmarks to collect a playing card.  They could collect the cards in any order. First team to make it back with all four cards and the ball was the winner.  The landmarks were the Peristyle, The Dueling Oak, The Singing Oak, and the Rugby Pitch.  Overall mileage was roughly 3 miles for the efficient teams, over 3.5 for some of the more directionally challenged teams. 

    Cool Down

    As teams arrived back to the start High-Rise led as he took stretch requests and YHC closed us out with a little Mary before we sealed the deal.

    NMM

    • Chaos ensued at the start.  A couple of Pax went down with turned ankles and balls were lost.
    • We started with nine balls.  We ended with five.  Not sure of the specifics, but one team was rumored to have lost two balls somehow.
    • One team lost a ball off the Wisner Bridge.  That leads to a number of questions.
    • The teams that went to the Peristyle first had to weave their way through a Zumba class to get to the flag. 
    • This workout was much more compliant with Corona restrictions than what Papa Smurf did on Monday.  Although our pods were sharing the same ball, YHC was the only one without shoes.  CDC guidelines limit shoeless Rarájipari players to one per team.  In an abundance of caution, other teams shod all of their players.    
    • Some teams were looking for Dueling Oaks.  Just to clarify, the Oaks themselves have no beef with one another.  The Dueling Oak, singular, was the location of many a human duel back in the day. 
    • T-claps to Rudy, Boo-Boo, and Kuch for helping YHC put the flags out this morning. 
    • T-claps to Bushwhacker and Cowbell for making the trek from the frigid North.  Cowbell was showing off a strong sock game today.
    • Every Rarájipari team has a 6.  And depending on what group we are in, that could, for the most part, be any one of us.  The fast guys are usually controlling the ball up front and the 6 is keeping a consistent pace trying to keep up.  You may be falling farther and farther behind, but you keep running.  You keep plugging away.  Inevitably someone kicks the ball into the shrubs, or into a giant mud hole, or off the Wisner Bridge and you catch up.  It’s hard to overstate the importance of consistency in every aspect of our lives.  Keep plugging away – you’ll get there.      

  • Swolefest 10-5-2020

    The Swolefest AO is a great place to start off the week. Throwing around the cinderblock is a good way to get the blood pumping and the body moving. Today was no different. When 5:30am hit, I issued the disclaimer and then we proceeded with the warmup:

    WarmUp:

    • Side straddle hops – 20 in cadence
    • Mountain climbers – 20 in cadence
    • Windmills – 10 in cadence
    • Arm circles – 10 forward, 10 backward in cadence

    After the warmup, it was time to get it on. So we proceeded with the thang.

    Tha Thang:

    DORA 1-2-3:

    • 100 curls with the block
    • 200 bench press with the block
    • 300 plank jacks with the block

    Highrise gave us a 30 count, then we went ahead & did another DORA 1-2-3

    DORA 1-2-3:

    • 100 leg raises over the block
    • 200 step ups with the block
    • 300 bend over rows with the block

    Once we finished with the second DORA, it was right at 6:15am, so we did the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. We also had an FNG out there with us in the Gloom this morning. He was a friend of Belloq & Tool, and he did well out there during his first beatdown. After the name-o-rama, he went into the middle of the circle and told us a little about himself. After some deliberation, the consensus on his F3 name was “Heart-o-Quack.” Welcome Heart-o-quack. Hoping to see you in the Gloom for more beatdowns in the future. As always, thanks for the chance to lead, fellas. It’s always enjoyable.

  • No Peace Without War

    Like many of you, I’ve taken to reading and following David Goggins, whose story is both inspirational and at times, crushingly real. I won’t spoil any of it – the book is well worth the 20 bucks.

    One of Goggins’ guiding principles is the concept of going to war with yourself on a daily basis. He believes in challenging yourself, putting yourself in uncomfortable or impossible positions where you’ll be forced to make a decision to either quit or push through. Only by choosing to accept and push through the pain does real growth occur. This of course turns out to be a metaphor for life, where our ability to handle the difficult, the uncomfortable and the stuff no one else can do leads to true fulfillment.

    Today, as we set out on absolutely perfect morning, greeted by a breeze, temperatures in the 70’s, and a perfect sunrise, I borrowed some words of encouragement from his book. It’s only by giving more than we thought we had when we got there this morning that we grow. I think we all lived up to that today.

    Quick warmup of SSH, Hill Billies, Arm Circles and Mountain climbers, followed by a brisk run (thanks Catfish) to the base of the intersection.

    Once we arrived we partnered up for some 1. AMRAP Mary (to give the shoulders a break from Iron Pax) 2. sprints up and mosey down the levee.

    Once complete, we lined up for an Indian Run down the levee. Swept the 6, turned back for a Bataan Death March all the way back. As we got close, everyone was instructed to drop for burpees and sprint it out.

    We swept the 6 and headed back to the flag for some burpees to seal the deal as the clock struck 6:15. Moment of silence to focus on thankfulness for the present and how we could help others today. Surge led us out with the prayer for generosity.

  • 76’s

    I was on the drive home from Florida when I realized that I had the Q on Monday morning for swolefest. I had a lot on my mind as I was thinking about my dad and who he was and what he meant to me. I wanted to offer a solid beatdown and show honor to my father through the things that he taught me throughout his life. My dad lost his struggle with cancer on January 22, 2017 after a 20 year fight. Yesterday, August 9th, would have been his 76th birthday…

    FOURTEEN pax showed up for the beatdown. It was good to see a number of guys getting back out after a long hiatus. I was pleased to see Breadsticks, especially since I had just eaten at Vincent’s last Thursday for my birthday. After the normal F3 disclaimer, I informed the group that the beatdown would be inspired by my late father.

    I also had to give a disclaimer that we would not be running or doing much lower body since I have a torn meniscus in both of my knees. And without further ado we were off. Started the warmup with sets of 20 which represented the number of years that my dad fought cancer:

    Hillbillies x 20

    Wind Mills x 20

    Peter Parker x 20

    Parker Peter x 20

    Next, I informed the group that my dad’s name was Jack and that I had done some research on the lexicon last night to find some good “jack exercises”.

    In my three years of F3 I hadn’t come across these, Happy Jacks. Five count jumping jack in cadence followed by two jump squats. We did four rounds of 5 counts.

    My dad would have been 76 yesterday so I let everyone know to look out for that number. Some of the exercises would be difficult but if there was one thing that I remember about my dad was that he was a fighter. A lot of times you have to push through the struggle in order to get to the joy on the other side.

    We started the 76’s easy with plank jacks. All of the exercises would be done on your own so I let the pax know to go at their own pace:

    Plank Jacks x 76

    From there we got into a more difficult exercise, man maker merkins! I chose this exercise because it reminded me of the things my dad taught me about being a man. This was the highlight of the workout for me. The exercise starts with your block to your right while in merkin position. Perform one merkin then pull the block across the ground to the other side, perform another merkin, and pull it back to the right. One is one, all the way up to 76! There were some breaks in between but we all made it through.

    Next, we did curls. 76 reps OYO.

    My dad was an architect and a builder so we had to get some 8 count body builders in. We did them with the coupon, Catfish would have been proud! I intended to push for 76 but realized that was not realistic about 10 reps in. We made it to 30.

    I could tell that we were needing to give the upper body a break so next we went to goblet squats, 76 reps OYO.

    Finally, had to get one more jack exercise in and multiple pax knew it was coming, Jack Webbs…actually, Block Webbs!

    We changed the count to one merkin and one block press. We aimed for 10. On the 9th round I began to feel nauseous. I thought for a moment that maybe we would stop at 9 but got encouragement from the group to push through to 10. We did it!

    When I stood up I felt like I was going to pass out. There were just about 5 minutes left in the workout but it was that bad. I had visions of Holy Grove passing out of dehydration at WPM and knew that I had to get some water. I told High Rise to lead the group in some Mary to finish things up. Tool followed me to my car to make sure I was alright. I took a sip of water but still felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down, another sip, still nauseous. Finally, I laid on the ground. I was there for about 30 seconds then miraculously felt instantly better. Took another sip of water and walked back over. I was able to finish the last two Mary exercises with the group.

    So thankful for F3 and for the group of guys that were out this morning! F3 has meant so much to me over the years. My attitude has suffered over the last month or so that I have been out dealing with the torn meniscus. That’s why I keep pushing to go out even though I know that I should be resting. F3 gives me resilience throughout each day to push through the difficult parts of life.

    You know, you get that part every morning that you post. There is always someone there pushing you to finish strong and I really appreciate that. But this morning I experienced what makes F3 so special. It’s not every morning that you push yourself to the brink of exhaustion both emotionally and physically but that was the case this morning. I am forever grateful to have my health and to know that if I fall that there is someone there to help me up. It reminded me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 4:10 that goes like this:

    “For if they fall, one will lift up his brother. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

    Thank you Tool for looking out and thank you brothers for pushing me every day to be stronger and thank you dad for being such a good father to me and showing me what its like to be a good man. I miss you dearly.

    Thankful for the opportunity to lead!

  • Off on the wrong foot

    Over a month ago I opted to sign some of the usual suspects on the Q sheet for The Chamber of Horrors and The Foundry, mostly consisting of members of the highly exclusive Lakeview Clown Car. I tried to be a good citizen and alert Holygrove Tuesday evening on Mumblechatter that he had the Q for The Foundry, in case he didn’t check the spreadsheet. In the event that he wasn’t able to/didn’t make it I would come up with a beatdown and fill in since I was the one who signed him up in the first place. However late last night Dirty Dell informed me that he was actually the Q, as I had inadvertently looked at the wrong week. Dell wasn’t able to make today despite his best intentions of having a 311-inspired beatdown. So I agreed to fill in as Q.

    All this was a precursor to the odd scene that took place outside my house at 5:15. Screw Top is the usual chauffeur for me and Shuffles for the north-side crew of the LVCC. No sign of either of them. At 5:17 I sent a text asking what was up. 5:19 I opted to just get in my car and go because I didn’t want to be late. I was glad to be joined by 9 men (Shuffles drove himself as well) at the virtual flag for what was sure to be a little bit of a different beatdown.

    Warm up:

    Mosey over to the track. Along the way to the back side of the track I called out carioca to the right, carioca to the left, butt kicks, and high knees. Circle up.

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Arm circle x 10 fwd/rev IC each
    • Track grabbers x 15 IC
    • Self love x 15 IC

    At this point Sheetrock who had also overslept decided to join us. Instructions were given to mosey to the pavilion by the festival grounds, sweep the 6 if needed once we get to the Children’s Museum. It was not needed as the PAX stayed tightly bunched.

    Tha Thang:

    1) Splint into 2 groups for some walk through exercises:

    • Lunge walk with a twist there and back
    • Toe Walk there
    • Heel walk back
    • Lateral monster walks there and back

    2) Crazy Indian – All 11 PAX got into balls to the wall position. First man ran around the outer edge of the pavilion until he reached the first available post and resumed balls to the wall. All remaining PAX hold balls to the wall position. Proceed like an Indian Run and once runner reached his post the next guy took off. Everyone took 1 lap around the pavilion. Much harder than I anticipated.

    3) Modified ring of fire – Everyone circle up and maintain a side plank position. One PAX performs 5 side leg raises and proceed until each member has done 5 reps and the circle was completed. 20 sec rest. Rinse and repeat to opposite side.

    4) People’s Chair and more – I feel like we hadn’t done this in a while so we did 5 versions of the People’s Chair for 30 sec each.

    • Feet flat (standard position)
    • Shift weight to ball of foot
    • Shift weight to heel
    • L Single leg
    • R Single leg

    5) Chicken Peckers – I found this on the exicon and the name alone made me want to try it. Basically it’s shoulder taps in a balls to the wall position. 15 reps IC.

    Mosey back to the virtual flag. Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, sweaty ball of man. Look forward to the next time and sorry for all the confusion on who was actually going to Q.

  • So this is 40… when do I get my old man strength?

    14 PAX posted for the Chamber on Monday, March 9 for a mostly perfect morning, little cool, little humid, mostly great anyway. YHC was born 40 years ago on Sunday, March 8, but was otherwise engaged on that day with a 10-year-old girls soccer tournament, so the celebration was moved to Monday.

    The plan was simple: cram in a decent workout and leave enough time for a quick ultimate frisbee match at the end. But Kuch, it’s dark, did you forget about daylight savings time? How are we going to see a damn frisbee? This is going to be the worst game ever. Why do you have such terrible ideas?

    Well, dear reader, never fear. I planned ahead:

    But first, the workout:

    Quick lap around the parking lot right into

    • SSHx20
    • Hill Billies x20
    • Windmillsx10
    • Mountain climbersx10
    • Something else x something

    Next, a quick tribute to 40. 40 burpees, 10 per minute, OYO. So you can take 6 seconds per burpee and do 40 slowly, or you can do 10 quickly and use the remaining 30 or so seconds to rest. Your call.

    Next, we hit the tires for a preview of the Ultimate Frisbee match. We separated into 2 groups of 7, each person gets 3 flips in, and sprints to the second tree and back while the next person is flipping and so on. Team Small Tire claimed more flips; Team Manly Tire claimed more, uh, manliness. After a few rounds of each, quick Indian run to the parking lot and back.

    And finally, it was time for the Ultimate Frisbee Showdown. I’d like to say Team Manly Tire dominated, but due to about 30 dropped frisbees on the goal line, the game ended in a 3-3 draw. Some on team Small Tire suggested the referee (YHC, also a member of Team Manly Tire) might have been biased and ruled Saban out of bounds when he really scored a TD, but unfortunately for Team Small Tire, those complaints were summarily overruled. A last second score sealed the tie.

    COT, Name-o-rama, and prayers of thanks for good health and for comfort and grace for those of us waging our own private battles. I know I’m healthier at 40 than I was at 30, and I know that’s because of F3, so as always, I’m truly thankful for all of you who push me to be better. – Kuch

  • I once was lost, but now am Found(ry)

    I once was lost, but now am Found(ry). This statement technically makes no sense, but I liked the way it sounded so I decided to use it as the name for the Backblast. With that being said, here’s how things went down:

    WarmUp:

    • Jog to Noma, then we did:
    • Side straddle hops – 15 in cadence
    • Mountain climbers – 15 in cadence
    • Concrete Grabbers – 15 in cadence
    • Windmills – 15 in cadence
    • Self love

    The Thang:

    • Jog to Peristyle, then we did:
    • Merkins – 30 in cadence
    • LBC’s – 30 in cadence
    • Low slow squats – 30 in cadence
    • Calf raises – 30 in cadence
    • Dips – 30 in cadence
    • Jog back to flag, then we did:
    • Rocky Balboas – 30 in cadence
    • Plankjacks – 30 in cadence
    • Floyd Mayweathers – 30 in cadence
    • Burpees – 10 on your own

    After that, we did some static stretching, count-off, name-o-rama, announcements & intentions. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. I always enjoy it!

  • Time Trials at the Stomp

    Since we do all this damn running anyway, we might as well see how we’re doing, right? There is some good research that suggests setting real goals and regularly tracking progress increases our chances for success. So let’s do it. Today: a 5k

    Of course, there is also the matter of a beautiful hammer adorned in freedom and f3 stickers that we would like to hang on to. Perhaps the “men of the Wally run” or the weekend crew will actually bring it out to the Stomp for all to enjoy next time.

    In no particular order, here are the times submitted to me and a list of the PAX who have not submitted a time yet, in the event they decide to:

    1. Shuffles: 18:47
    2. Briefs 24:57
    3. High Rise 28:37
    4. Jesus Juice 24:58
    5. Rev Sox 26:06
    6. Shorty: 25:24
    7. Kuch: 24:55
    8. Da Parish 29:56
    9. Boo Boo 29:10
    10. Belloq 24:05
    11. Rudy 24:10
    12. Catfish 21:20
    13. Screwtop 22:07
    14. Blowfish 28:30
    15. Tool 28:30
    16. Sheetrock 23:30
    17. Tugboat 38:08 (3.04 miles)
    18. Mahatma
    19. War Eagle
    20. Bongo
    21. Breadsticks 22:07
    22. Holygrove
    23. Frac Sac

    We will revisit this challenge post RRR and see if we got any faster.

    Thanks, as always, for allowing me to lead a workout in a group full of leaders. – Kuch