F3 New Orleans

Tag: Briefs

  • Rev Sox’s Birth Story

    Rev Sox’s Birth Story

    On a brisk and windy November 11th, at the lake front on the Northshore YHC was birthed into the world of F3 kicking, complaining, and crying. It wasn’t pretty for anyone involved. Hawg may have denied knowing YHC. Two years later, at the 610 Stomp YHC led 20 men in the remembrance of his birth into F3.

    YHC’s brain has wisely blacked out and refused to retain the memories of his first workout in F3 as he complained through the entire workout with fellow FNG bootsies. The only thing YHC can remember from that fateful day is lots of running alongside the lake with step-ups as the Q’s go to exercise in each stop (sadly there is no Backblast to commemorate the workout).

    The 610 Stomp recreated this workout by running a shortened version of the standard route with step ups thrown in (lots of step ups). Following the disclaimer, the Pax was told to run the standard route without leaving City Park, but this morning they were stop at every bench for 10 alternating step ups (one is one). Only 4 men are allowed per bench, so if the bench is full, they are to pass it by and run to the next bench.

    Each lap from the 610 Stomp start to the City Park entrance on New Carrollton and back has 40 benches. Each lap is aprox 1.5 miles.

    With not enough complaining for YHC’s plans, they set out. Everything worked out well for the first lap, but YHC needed to modify the number of step ups on lap 2, so all the Pax could finish. YHC estimates that each Pax member did 300-500 step ups while running 3 miles.

    Don’t forget the Christmas Party on December 9th and the Krazy Ivan on January 18th as we had a special guest of the Freedom Hammer this morning.

    thanks for 2 years of agony,

    Rev Sox

  • Double Reverse Crunches…Is This Guy Serious?!

    It was a beautiful morning on Lake Pontchartrain, and 17 PAX gathered for a good old fashioned beatdown. I issued the disclaimer, and we headed across the street to the concrete planters along the Lakefront. Once across the street, we circled up for the warmup

    Warmup:

    • 20 side straddle hops
    • 20 plank jacks
    • 10 windmills
    • Self love
    • 15 low slow squats

    The Thang:

    • We sprinted to planter #1, did one burpee, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #2, did two burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #3, did three burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #4, did four burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #5, did five burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line

    Next, we circled back up and did the following:

    • Hand plank for 1 ½ minutes. While planking we did a merkin every time I said “down”
    • Kept legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 ½ minutes. Every time I said “go” we did flutter kicks for 5 seconds
    • 20 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Kept legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 ½ minutes again. This time when I said “go” we would bring our legs toward our chest and do a reverse crunch
    • Box Jump / dip routine on the planter. Started with 7 box jumps / 14 dips, then went to 6 box jumps / 12 dips, etc

    After that, we did another run / burpee routine:

    • We sprinted to planter #5, did five burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #4, did four burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #3, did three burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #2, did two burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #1, did one burpee, then sprinted back to yellow line

    Next, we circled back up and did the following:

    • Mission impossible plank position for 45 seconds. While planking we did a merkin every time I said “up”
    • Did flutter kicks for 45 seconds. Every time I said “stop” we would just hold feet 6 inches above ground
    • 10 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Got on our six, and kept legs close to our chest in the crunch position. Then every time I said “go” we would put our legs out and bring them back to our chest. This is the oft talked about yet rarely attempted double-reverse crunch. Breathtaking
    • Box Jump / dip routine on the planter. Started with 4 box jumps / 8 dips, then went to 3 box jumps / 6 dips, etc

    After that, we headed back to the flag for the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. I always enjoy it

  • Lunatic Fringe – We all know you’re out there. But where is Bogey when you need him?

    The iconic opening words to the song made famous by the 1985 smash hit “Vision Quest”. Who could forget this iconic scene? Look at those moves! No wonder this movie was so popular!

    Okay, so perhaps a minor exaggeration on my part as not a single member of the Pax could identify that song this morning, or its significance (Lunatic Fringe is in main song played in Vision Quest, which is where the name Kuch comes from). At least Shuffles has the excuse of not having been born in 1985. Bogey would have nailed it of course.

    Despite my disappointment, we decided to workout anyway on this cool crisp morning. Temperature at kickoff was right around 50, and although we may have felt a few raindrops, the weather, overall, was pretty nice.

    We moseyed to the center of the intersection, with some high knees etc… on the way, for some quick, fast paced warmups so we could all…. warm up. Except High Rise of course, who some might say was slightly over-dressed for the occasion, having worn perhaps his entire closet full of sweaters, scarves, parkas, mittens and what have you. Fitting for a man who solved the climate crisis yesterday by declaring it #2cold2warm. Regardless, High Rise remains #2legit2quit in my book.

    Once the warm-ups and player intros were complete, we headed up to the levee to Indian Run to the concrete portion for our next activity. Rockin tunes were played as we passed the speaker off. When we got to the concrete portion, there was a fence that briefly confounded all my 5:40 AM logistics… luckily, someone suggested we walk around it, which we did.

    On the concrete, we did a couple rounds of merkin ring of fire, and moved right along to a simple tabata, 20 seconds on, 7 second rest, 4 exercises x2 for each session. Burpees, LBC’s, Merkins, Squats. After completing each round of those 4 exercises twice, we ran up and down the levee 10 times to catch our breath. We completed this circuit 3 times, before Indian running back the other way.

    When we reached the intersection, we headed back to the flag for a few more rounds of merkin ring of fire until 6:15.

    We prayed for the strength to take care of our elders, the ability to appreciate our own health, and the humility to grasp that one day, we may be the ones who need help. I know that I need your help to continue to get better, and so, as High Rise suggested this week (before solving an existential crisis for all of humanity), I note that I am truly thankful for all of you, for everyone who showed up today, for everyone who has ever shared a word of encouragement with me during a workout, for everyone who has ever held me accountable, and for everyone of you, who inspires me each day. Thank you. – Kuch

  • Al Gore is an idiot

    YHC was up for his second consecutive Q in City Park. Following the fill-in Q at The Stomp and seeing that the forecast for this morning was for a chilly 34 degrees, I opted to include more running than I typically would include in a Foundry beatdown in order to keep our bodies moving and stay warm. Thankfully there was negligible wind so today actually felt warmer than yesterday. With that said, Al Gore doesn’t know anything about “global warming” when New Orleans is in a near freeze in the middle of November. 11 PAX gathered at the mythical shovelflag, disclaimer was given, and off we went.

    Warm up:

    With the weather being what it was I opted for a slightly longer warm up so we moseyed from the flag and made a full lap around the practice track. After that circle up.

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

    Thang #1:

    I chose for a more run based routine and found the Merkin Mile on the exicon. Run a lap (1/4 mile) then perform 25 merkins. Rinse and repeat 4 times. Total = 1 mile and 100 merkins. I also wanted to keep everyone together as much as possible so I added that once everyone’s lap and merkins were complete we would hold the aforementioned Al Gore until the 6 had completed the round.

    Thang #2:

    After that we recover walked over to the starting line on the back side of the track. Here we would do 40s. This consisted of performing 2 exercises in which you perform 30 reps of exercise 1, run the 100m, perform 10 reps of exercise 2, and run back to the start for round 1. With each round the reps would change by 5 reps. 25/15, 20/20, 15/25, and 10/30. Since we went heavy with arms/chest previously I thought a good leg burn would go over well. Exercise 1 was squat jumps and exercise 2 was single leg wife pleasers (bridges). Plank and wait for 6 when complete.

    Thang #3:

    Recover walk back over to the warm up area of the track for The Gross. I found this one on the exicon a few weeks ago and since I had some time left over (and the list of exercises still saved on my phone) I went back to the well with a slight adjustment from my previous go round. 12 reps of 12 exercises. I once again tried to even it out with 4 leg, 4 arm, and 4 core exercises.

    • Low slow squats IC
    • Jumping/Bouncing IC (don’t let heels hit the ground)
    • R side lunges
    • L side lunges
    • Floyd Mayweathers
    • Carolina dry docks
    • Diamond merkins
    • Air shoulder press
    • Flutter kicks
    • Hello dollies
    • Box cutters
    • Freddy Mercury’s

    Mosey back to the flag and plank for ~1 minute until the clock struck 6:15. Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and sweaty ball of man. I once again challenged the PAX to think of something to be thankful for every day as Thanksgiving is approaching. As always it was a pleasure to lead.

  • Great Idea – Let’s Bear Crawl up Roosevelt Mall!

    Nice fall weather greeted 12 PAX for the beatdown at the Foundry. When the blackberry beeped signaling 5:30am, YHC issued the disclaimer and off we went.

    We started with a short mosey to the round-a-bout for high-knees, and carioca left and carioca right around the neutral ground. PAX circled up in the grass area of the neutral ground for warm-ups including SSH x 18, Imperial Walkers x 18, Windmills x 14, Arm Circles, Grass Grabbers x 14, and Self-love.

    Thang 1 – YHC wanted to do something that had not been done before at the Foundry so we decided to incorporate bear crawls up Roosevelt Mall to the new Louisiana Children’s Museum. We met at the light post near the flag and PAX would alternate bear crawl and sprint between each of the 15 light posts from the flag to the Louisiana Children’s Museum. At each light post, each PAX does 10 Monkey Humpers. We did have to watch out for land mines when bear crawling – sorry @Dirty Dell.

    Thang 2 – PAX circled up near the benches by the Louisiana Children’s Museum for 1 minute AMRAP of the following exercises, alternating Mary and other. Dips, LBC’s, Incline Merkins, Flutter kicks, Step-ups, Freddie Mercury’s, Decline Merkins, and Plank.

    Thang 3 – With about 10 minutes to get back to the flag we started from the far end of Roosevelt Mall and alternated lunge walk and sprint between each of the 15 light posts up Roosevelt Mall. At each light post, each PAX does 10 Merkins. We got through about 10 light posts and sprinted back to the flag for 6:15.

    PAX circled up for count-off, name-o-rama, intentions, and closing prayer to Sky Q – I am grateful for the support of F3 Nation and the opportunity to lead. @High Rise – thanks for the heads up on the Q this week as I had not checked the Q sheet.

  • Crescent City Fall Classic Preview

    The Q sheet for The Stomp was mysteriously blank for this beautiful Tuesday morning. On Monday, YHC wondered why would such a popular beatdown did not have a Q — rain in the forecast (we all know Lakeview people can’t handle a little rain). So at 5:01 am, YHC took the Q, his first at the beloved 610 Stomp.

    This Saturday morning is the Cresent City Fall Classic. YHC has always dreamed of running the Cresent City 10k from a timed coral. The fall classic and the St. Patty’s two-miler are the qualifiers for the 10k but YHC cannot attend either this year. So, why not make the entire Stomp crowd attempt to run qualify for the race at an F3 workout.

    We mosey from the flag to the starting line. Along the way, we warmed up with high knees, butt kicks, carioca right, and carioca left.

    At the starting line, the course was roughly explained. Runners were reminded that a CCC10k qualifying time was 22:00. With that disclaimer, we were off.

    After passing Christian Brother’s the kind security guard told us that our route would need to be modified (darn VooDoo Fest). No worries we modify and move on.

    At the conclusion of the run, a few things were determined.

    1. The Pax determined that Shuffles probably qualified and no one else.
    2. YHC discovered how his M feels when I don’t follow directions.
    3. F3 is full of leaders and followers, both were on display today.
    4. Amnesty plays by his own rules.
    5. The park is safer than running down the bayou (except for that one part when I lead the Pax into the middle of Wisner).

    Finished with Mary, stretching, and burpees.

    COT

    It is always a pleasure to lead. Thank you, gentlemen.

  • You don’t have to be perfect, just better than yesterday

    20 runners were greeted with an absolutely perfect pitch black morning at the Stomp today. The temperature hovered around 65 degrees for the entire run, and at no point did we see the sun. Thanks to Daylight Savings Time and those long Spring and Summer days, we’re treated to at least a mid-workout sunrise for most of the year. In fact, the sunrises will be back next month when Daylight Savings Time kicks in. Until then, let’s enjoy these last few chances to make our way through the dark, quiet streets of New Orleans while the city sleeps.

    About 6 months ago, some of us timed ourselves in a 1-mile at the Danger Zone. Since the DZ is no more, YHC decided to bring the time trials to The Stomp. The instructions were simple…. well, I thought they were simple at least.

    • Bring an activity tracker
    • All run one warm-up mile together
    • Once your activity tracker makes 1 mile, run Mile 2 as hard as you can
    • Regardless, turn back at 20 minutes and run back to the flag.
    • Send me your mile 2 time

    Even with a little confusion, this mostly went off without a hitch. The purpose of the time trial is not to see who’s fastest, but see how we’re improving. Sure, it’s fun to run around in a tank top in the early morning grabbing grass and doing a few burpees, but overall, I think we all want to get a little better, faster, stronger. To that end, I’ll post your time from today if you send it to me, and I’ll tag this post with #timetrial . Search that tag next time we do this and see how you’ve improved. Here is what I have. This is not necessarily the order in which they finished:

    1. Shuffles
    2. Tua 6:47
    3. Dirty Dell 6:37
    4. Briefs
    5. Screwtop
    6. Belloq 6:51
    7. Hawg 6:40
    8. Jesus Juice 7:02
    9. Rudy
    10. Kuch 7:06
    11. Breadsticks 6:32
    12. Rev Sox 7:51
    13. Tool 8:49
    14. Woz
    15. Bongo
    16. Chips
    17. Tugboat
    18. Hokie Pokey 10:30
    19. Thumb War 8:13
    20. Gideon

    Few rounds of Mary led by different PAX, and then 5 burpees for each pax member who did not stick with the group early on. The usual formalities and a prayer for peace and stillness in our lives. Thanks for having me. – Kuch

  • The Killer Burpees

    We had a nice breeze Monday morning when we arrived at the UNO Human Performance Center for the newly dubbed Chamber of Horrors. The instructions were simple – do the Iron Pax week 1 challenge, consisting of an aggregate 150 yards of broad jumping, 150 yards of bear crawling, 150 burpees, 150 big boy situps, and 150 Bonnie Blairs. The challenge itself was anything but simple. Everyone rose to the occasion anyway, and we all completed it in under 40 minutes. Breadsticks paced us at right around 31 minutes.

    When I first began F3, I could not do a burpee. Rather, worse, I did not even know how to do a burpee. First, I did something of a squat thrust, completely omitting the merkin and the jump. In fact, I thought the guys jumping and clapping after each rep were taking a victory lap on me or something. Look at me, this is so easy I’m gonna let you know each time I complete one by jumping and clapping for myself. I thought my squat thrusts were pretty damn good, even if I could only do about 5 of them before exhaustion.

    Then, I found out the jump portion was not optional. This makes a lot of sense in hindsight, and my only defense is that I function at something less than optimal mental processing at 5:30 in the morning, especially before I got used to it. Squat thrust + jump. Okay fine, I can do this, but I don’t have to like it.

    Then I noticed the merkin part. Ohhhhhhh. When guys around me are generally saying to no one in particular “watch your form on those burpees”, they’re totally talking to me, right? Damn.

    Since then, I have made burpee form something of a personal crusade. It’s funny how you can take something you’re bad at, and really focus on it, and all of a sudden, it’s not so bad anymore. You crack the code. By paying careful attention to each step AND committing to yourself to never do 9 when 10 is called, to never cheat on form, and to never accept less than your best, you can improve.

    And so if I’m a bit of a burpee nazi with others sometimes, please accept my apologies. I wish someone had more directly told me that I was not doing burpees correctly early on in my F3 career. This is the form I at least attempt to emulate at all times:

    Chest all the way to the ground; everything hits at once. Back straight.

    If you ever see me doing them wrong or dogging them or you think I’m cutting a corner, please return the favor. Don’t let me get away with cheating myself, and I won’t let you get away with cheating yourself. Deal?

    Afterwards, we gave prayers of thanks for all we have, and enjoyed a coffeeteria at Starbucks on Harrison.

  • You Better Have Glaucoma

    Conditions: 79 Degrees, 90% Humidity, Heat Index of 83

    Lots of good grass at Okwata and a fair amount of smoking this morning.

    Warmup

    Mandatory mosey through Louisiana’s smallest registered body of water, the sidewalk puddle just east of the shovel flag. It was good to get the shoes wet from the start so that there would be no worries about anything that might come later. We circled the Mardis Gras Fountain (where are the lights Latoya?) with high knees, carioca two ways, but kicks, and bear crawls.

    We then headed up the levee and proceeded west on the top of the levee. I almost ran over a local Shaman in Sukhasana. It would be helpful if all local Shaman wore blinking bicycle lights for safety.

    After destroying that dude’s Chi we pointlessly gathered on the leeward side of the levee. I was hoping to find some well manicured grass, but there was none to be found. So we planked for the six and headed back over the levee.

    The Thang

    11s on the levee. Burpees at the top Squat Jumps at the bottom. After you finish, run back up with anyone more than a lap behind you.

    10! – 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 Sit-ups, 9 merkins, 9 squats,….1 merkin, 1 squat, 1 Sit-up

    House of Pain – Three lines at the pull-up bars. Each man does Bernie Sanders (L-hang on pull up bar for as long as you can), 30 dips, then go to the back of the line and do BLIMPS until you get back to the pull up bar. We did 2 rounds.

    Quadraphilia – 4 minutes up and down the levee always facing the lake #CrowdPleaser

    Mary – LBCs x 20, Flutter Kicks x 15

    COT

    Announcements: Extra Summer Series at Lafreniere. Anyone want to lead? 5-year Convergence 10/12 – Start working on your buddies that have been AWOL. New Monday Workout at UNO – Post this coming Monday.

    Prayers: Spouse facing surgery, Friends and Relatives with cancer, Praise for new grandchildren, prayers for those that have recently lost loved ones.

    NMM

    • Great to be back at Okwata. My odd race preparations have derailed my Okwata attendance over the past year, but it is still one of my favorite AOs. Glad Mahatma asked me to fill in for him.
    • Speaking of odd running habits, the Half-Fast running club sauntered by while we were at the House of Pain and gave me a serious case of #FOMO. They were running way too fast. I’m not going to be able to keep up when I return. It’s like a couple of new kids showed up to school when you were absent and the next day you no longer have a seat at the lunch table.
    • I still believe you haven’t really done 11s until you’ve done them on the levee at Okwata with burpees. Are you diggin’ me Uptown? River < Lake.
    • Usually time flies when you are having fun, but this seemed like an extra long 45 minutes. May have been the trip to the flag at the 15 minute mark that did a number on my cognitive functioning.
    • According to MapMyRun this workout was 3.8% more intense than my Popeye’s Q last week. #Acceleration
    • Mumblechatter award of the day goes to……JV the all-time champ. During Quadraphilia:
      • Me (in my Rah-Rah voice): C’mon men, you can do anything for four minutes!
      • JV: My wife would disagree.
    • T-claps to Room Service for leading us out with Flutter Kicks.
    • Happy Birthday Dad!

  • Bring in the lefty

    Over the weekend my fellow LVCC member, and unofficial F3 chauffeur, Screw Top was injured (not seriously) in a purely unavoidable pool incident in which he was emulating Odell Beckham Jr. Thankfully Kuch being the big man that he is volunteered to step up as replacement Q. Unfortunately it was determined on Tuesday afternoon that Kuch’s schedule would not allow him to Q. So your resident relief pitcher stepped in to clean up the mess. I scoured the F3 exicon for a solid routine and came across one that had a fitting name for me but also would somewhat put me out of my comfort zone.

    25 PAX gathered at our usual location for The Foundry on a typical hot, humid, windless morning. Disclaimer was given and off we went to the track.

    Warm Up (all exercises IC):

    • SSH x 20
    • Windmills x 10
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each
    • Grass grabbers x 15
    • Self love x 15

    Tha Thang:

    I found a routine on the exicon called The Cooper which was fitting for me since my youngest 2.0 is named Cooper, who also happened to turn 3 y.o. 4 days ago. The Cooper consists on running a lap around the track then performing 10 burpees, 10 squats, and 10 merkins. Then run a lap and follow with 9,9,9, etc. in descending order until completed.

    T-claps to Shuffles and Holygrove who absolutely killed it. Speaking for myself I still had over 2 laps plus exercises to go when they finished. As instructed (rather poorly) anyone who had finished all 10 rounds were to plank, perform the ISI squat, do some mary, or help sweep the 6. I apologize if I missed anyone deserving of T-claps.

    Around 6:10 I yelled for anyone who hadn’t completed all 10 rounds to circle up back at the start with the rest of the PAX for some mary. To keep in line of helping newer members get practice with leading workouts Mmmbop, Tug Boat, and Pop Tart stepped to each lead an exercise. T-claps to all 3 men.

    Mosey back to the flag. I explained to the PAX my reasoning for choosing this routine. I will never be the best distance runner, I will never be able to easily crank out merkins, and burpees are among my least favorite exercises. But I wanted to better myself in these areas and hopefully everyone that participated was able to do the same. Countoff, name-o-rama, announcements, sweat ball of man.