F3 New Orleans

Tag: Bushwacker

  • Burps in the Oak grove

    “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” -Jerry Seinfeld

    10 pax met up Saturday morning for a nice beat down on the lakefront. Yada, yada,yada…

    Prethang 6:10-6:30 mosey west and back to shovel flag…

    the thang:

    warm-up: SSH, mt. Climbers, IW x 20 IC

    mosey to the oak grove

    5 burpees/5 jump squats/5 merkins x 10 rounds

    jane fonda series: leg raise x 15 ic>pulses x 10 ic> knee to knee x 10> foot to knee x 10

    2 min single leg squats each leg

    5 squat thrusts/5speed skaters/ 5 merkins x 8 rounds

    Glute  bridges 3 sec x 20; single leg glute bridges x 10 each

    mosey east toward flag:

    fwd lunge with arm swing overhead x 10

    bkwd lunge with arm swing x 10

    single leg RDLs x 10 IC each leg

    mosey to shovel flag

    mac tar jai x 20 ic

    russian twist x 20 ic

    name o Rama, cot, prayer, coffeeteria

    thanks guys for letting me lead,

    chewy

     

     

     

  • Running Behind but the Timing’s Unreliable!

    YHC had a sneaking suspicion when I opened my eyes that my wake-up window for making the scramble had already started closing, rather than opening with the sounding of my alarm at any moment. I had to pee and I was wide awake – my body was screaming at me that I had missed the alarm by 20 minutes! An immediate text to the rock of the f3 northshore and it was understood that the scramble was copacetic, but without my normal morning routine would I be…?

    The now co-Q arrived on the scene to see the PAX in good hands doing lunge twists, and jumped in. The scrambling commenced along the traditional route. As we hit the Loop, though, Chewy called an audible, a la Steve’s beat down the previous day at the gipper. The Pax split up, each group heading in opposite directions around the loop in a seeming attempt to instill a little variety and sense of competition in an otherwise no-man-left-behind scenario.

    The public at-large must’ve read Monday’s back blast and sought to challenge the PAX, because there seemed to be more littler for us to tackle than normal. However, with Waterpik starting early with a piece of trash near the flag, we tackled said challenge with flying colors.

    YHC felt compelled to stop the PAX after coming off the pier for 50 OYO freddy mercury’s to throw a little more spice on the run. And upon returning to the flag, the dreaded dice of doom were brought out for for some human sacrifice! Being uninitiated, Chewy and Ei took the first 2 rolls, followed by the rest of us. 10-20 merkins, side straddle hops and putins were all well and good, but when a 50 came up, we trembled in unison as we gazed upon the other die, silently praying for anything but burpees! Jump-squats it was, and we put our lower bodies through the wringer.

    The wacker of all things wackable prayed us out, as we offered our sacrifices of copious amounts of dripping sweat for the sins of our fathers.

    Welcome back the the scramble Ei and thanks to Shooter for the cover and to the Pax for giving me a reason to look forward to waking before the sun!

  • NO FEAR!…or trash

    What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

    -Vincent Van Gough

    Fear, largely based on the unknown, keeps us from even attempting things sometimes. Courage is the power to conquer the fear despite the unknown. Fear can pervade every area of our lives, as we can all attest, and for YHC, fear inundated me on several levels as I put together today’s beatdown – and even more so as I pulled up to the Marsh in the gloom! You see, I can’t shake the words of our illustrious brother Turbo Tax following the 2 year convergence when he told us, in essence, to stop phoning it in and be the F3 that we want by, among other things, putting thought and preparation into our beatdowns. With that in mind, I fearfully sprinkled just a little bit of Bushwacker Orgininality Spice on a piece of paper, worried that, as good as it sounded now, it may end up a flop. YHC may end up pushed past his breaking point. The PAX may snicker and scoff at the ridiculous commands presented to them and secretly ridicule the Wacker (as the southshore did with the ISI week of 100s). But courage overcame the baseless fears, and the trusty Men of the Marsh met to Master another Monday ass whoopin!

    Pre-Thang

    Slow dynamic stretching seemed in order so…

    All IC:

    Toe Touches x30

    Imperial Walkers x30

    Abe Vigodas x20

    Thang

    Off to the playground equipment for…

    (all OYO)

    5 pull ups, 10squats, 25 merkins, 50 LBCs

    5 chin ups, 10 lunges (5each leg),25 freak nasties, 50 heal pulses

    5Australian pull ups, 10 1 leg squats (5 each leg), 25 derkins, 50 putins

     

    Back to the B Ball court and partnered up for my own take on  B.O.M.B.S. called B.I.T.E. M.E.

    50 Burpees

    100Iron Hulks (1:4 ratio of merkins to air presses)

    The Two Amigos (wall squat back to back and walk from one end of the court and back)

    200 E2K (ankle over knee oblique crunch, 100 each side)

    Empty Wheelbarrow (crab walk with partner holding your legs)

    Wrap Up

    Pushing the limits of temporal respect, we finished sweaty sore and exhausted with COT and a prayer from the Sharp Dressed Pik himself.

    LAGNIAPPE (or Post Thang)

    As has proudly become somewhat of an F3 northshore tradition, we scoured the Marsh like kids on an easter egg hunt for all the litter we could find, so as to leave the place better than it was when we arrived.

    Thank you gentlemen for your friendship, comaraderie, and following my lead, despite my fears

     

    A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature

    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

     

    As a post script for those of you still reading, I just read an article that says a meta study comprised of 2 Harvard studies that followed over 700 men for 75 years testing all aspects of health and happiness found “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” — Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. We, gentlemen, will live forever!

  • El Cinco de Dolor y Miseria

    Well, as they say… that happened.  The FBI physical fitness test pre-thang Q’d by Grundy started promptly at 0545 as promised, but it would require a prodding Bushwacker to keep this thing on schedule.  You see, until this morning, none of us (least of all Grundy) realized just how patriotic our lakefront residents were.  After knocking out as many sit-ups as possible in a minute, we slow-moseyed down the street looking for Grundy’s starting line… “a bench lined up with an American flag.”  Turns out there are a lot of American flags, and a bunch of benches out there.  A bit of confused back and forth and finally, worried about respecting the time, Wacker just took off on the 300 meter sprint.  The rest of the PAX quickly followed.

    T-claps to Grundy who got us out there, and to those men who got up early to complete the PFT: 1 minute of sit-ups, 300 m sprint, max out on merkins, 1.5 miles in less that 12:50.  YHC would call out each man individually, but the fog of being thoroughly beaten has settled in, and it’s a miracle I even remembered the 20 PAX who posted today.   Not sure who passed and who failed, but all men did admirably and with all the turnover going on at the Bureau these days, it’s a good thing they’ve got some young men like Grundy coming in.

    So yeah – 20 PAX this morning!  All the EH’ing and warm weather is paying off.  FNG’s are rolling in each week and that’s got the rest of us posting more regularly and upping our game.  Speaking of upping our game – YHC had sincerely thought last night about doing… well, not an easy beatdown, but maybe a more mild one?  But nah…

    Alright, enough rambling, here’s what went down:

    Warmorama: Toe Touches, Imperial Walkers, Seal Jacks, SSH, Butt Kicks, High Knees, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks.  All 20x IC.

    The Thang:

    Mosey west for a COP: 20x IC side to side plank hops, plank jacks, partner up for jump overs (20 OYO), in-out jump squats, and everyone’s favorite, monkey humpers.

    Ei said it best when he noted, “Well, now that we’ve embarrassed ourselves there…” onto the next location!  Mosey to the loading dock for what I knew would be a real crowd pleaser: burpees down the street!  More mumbling from Bushwacker (you really can’t be fasting that much with all today’s chatter), trying to tell me that I can’t eat an elephant one spoonful at a time, or some such nonsense.

    Because there were so many men this morning, YHC decided we’d partner up and P1 would hold plank while P2 burpee’d down the street.  It goes like this: burpee with the standard 1 merkin, but on the jump up do a broad jump forward.  2nd burpee has 2 merkins, followed by 2 broad jumps, 3 x 3, and so on, down the road.  It was fun.  Even better than I imagined on paper. 

    At about this time a few 10 counts were needed (in espanol for Cinco de Mayo), and then we moved over to the playground for a few stations.

    P1 holds a wall sit and does air presses while P2 hits the three padded stations: Sister Mary Katherine’s x15, hand-release merkins, and LBC’s, all single-count x15.  After 2 reps each, P1 does heels to heaven while P2 hits the stations, flapjack, 2 reps each.

    Next up, formed two lines to indian run back to the flag.  Finish up with Hello Dolly’s x25 IC.

    Countdown, nameorama, naming of our two FNG’s  (welcome Doolittle and Vel-Vito!!), and Splice prayed us out.  The only thing that would make this beatdown more complete would be a drive-by from Choppa…

    On to the Coffetería, which looked to have a little more action than usual with the table dancing, but you’ll have to check the groupme for that report.  A sincere thanks to this great group of men – despite my body’s response, YHC had a great time out there this morning.  Keep posting, keep the FNG’s coming, and hey, let’s try to get some of our missing comrades (ahem, Turtle and Bubba) back in action.  See you guys out there.

     

    EDIT: One (hopefully) final edit on this unusually long backblast: this was likely Carpool’s final posting as a Northshore resident.  As his family makes the trek over to the Woodlands, we wish them nothing but the best.  He’s been a great addition to the F3 family over here, and Houston will be lucky to have him.  Stay tuned for info on Carpool’s Woodlands launch (potentially mid-July?), would be great if a couple of us could make it out there to support him.

  • Tramps Like Us

    These days, it sure doesn’t feel like YHC was born to run.  Mosey, maybe.  But run?  And run with sprinting?  No, no, no… not with the post-Classic staleness I’ve been battling.

    Of course, that’s the thing about F3 – the exercises you despise… well, they somehow, in some twisted way, make it into your Q.  And make no mistake, this is my least favorite beatdown.  But with Chewy firmly back in the fold, it seemed appropriate to bring back his most excruciating gift to the PAX: High Intensity Interval Training.  Basically, interspersing long sprints within our usual 5k run (the key word being ‘long’).  I know, it doesn’t sound too bad on paper, but boy is it miserable.  (A little less miserable than I remember, probably due to our slower pace and the fact that summer hasn’t fully kicked in yet.)   At one point Chewy provided some scientific papers to prove the method’s effectiveness over traditional running, but hey, you’ll have to scour the history of Northshore backblasts for that one. 

    First, though, a little warmorama: PAX lined up along the parking lot edge and did the following dynamic stretches: lunge twists, high kicks, knee tucks, carioca.

    Then time to hit the HIIT, knocking out about 5x 300-400 yard sprints sprinkled throughout the usual path to and fro Sunset Point.  Unfortunately for the PAX, Wacker is on some crazy fast and so the mumble chatter was, as POTUS might say, low-energy.

    Once back, a quick plank stretch before the PAX humored me by hitting the monkey bars for some hanging toe touches – hang from the bar, kick your feet up and attempt to touch your toes to said bar.  x12, with only intermittent success.

    And finally wrap it up with 15x IC Manmakers & 15x IC Crunchy Frogs.

    Countdown, nameorama, and Shooter led us out with prayer.  T-claps to Sprocket who’s now made two consecutive Scrambles after a long hiatus – good to have you back.  And thanks guys, I certainly would not have done that on my own!

  • They came in WAVES

    It was a good showing this morning with 8 men posting at the resurgent Milestone Marsh.

    Warmarama:

    SSH

    GM

    WM -all IC x 20

    Workout/ Thang:

    Circle Up at Half Court for some WAVE ACTION:

    Merkin Wave to 200

    Shoulder Tap Wave to 100

    Plank Jack Wave to 100

    Burpee Wave to 100 while PAX holds Al Gore.

    Mosey to Baseline for some old fashioned Line Drills, Bear Crawls, Crab Walks, Jog Backwards, Karoake Drills, Mountain Climbers, Shuffle Feet.

    Mosey to Bushwacker’s “Childrens Playground Equipment.”

    Break up into 2 groups. Half the PAX does pullups (max out), while the other half do 20 Hello Dollies IC.  Switch.

    Half the group does Australian Pullups (max out), while the other half does Wife Pleasers x 20 IC. Switch.

    ISI:  Hold Plank for as long as possible.

    Mosey back to center court for countarama, nameorama, and Captain Sparkles prayed us out.

    Thanks for making me a better man and embracing the challenge of a brand new week with me, men!

    Waterpik

  • Got a spare???

    The beautiful weather brought the largest group of pacs that we have seen a while at the Mothership. We had 15 total including three FNG’s. I am glad that I brought some coupons with me, so that I would not dissapoint.

    Warm-Up

    SS Hops-25 IC, Seal Jacks- 25 IC, IMW’s-25 IC, High Knees- 25 IC, Butt Kicks-25 IC, Forward Arm Rolls- 10IC, Reverse Arms Rolls -10 IC, Overhead Claps – 15 IC

    Mosey….

    Bearmuda TIRE angle

    All pacs divide into three groups. Each group starts at one of three different stations. These stations are the sea wall, THE Tire, and a soft patch of green grass that is covered in the morning dew and one land mine. The exercises that were performed at each station went as follows:

    Station 1(seawall) – 10 Irkins, Station 2(patch of grass) – 10 Merkins, Station 3(tire) – 10 Derkins- (pacs’ feet were on the tire)

    Rinse and repeat this until all groups have done each station 3 times.

    When moving from one station to the next, all pacs must do a bear crawl to get there, hence bearmude TIRE angle.

    Just for the heck of it, we got back into a large circle and did 10 Merkins IC.

    Bearmuda TIRE angle 2.0

    This is a little twist on the previous circuit of exercises. The groups and stations were kept the same, but the exercises and how you got there changed.

    Station 1- 5 Step Ups each leg, Station 2-10 Copper Head Squats, Station 3- 10 tire(box) jumps

    All pacs had to bunny hop to get to each station.

    Recipe for Humble Pie = 1/2 of beatdown + 250lb tire flip

    I was suprised that I was able to finish the rest of the beat down due to me being so full from the HUGE piece of humble pie I had to eat before the next part of the beatdown started. While attempting to show the rest of the pacs the technique in flipping a tire, I quickly learned that the beatdown I was throwing at my fellow pacs had sucked a good bit of engergy out of me. So much, that I could not flip the tire solo. I had to call an audible……..

    Pacs break into groups of two. Each group flips the tire together 5 times. After each flip, the pacs flipping the tire do 1 burpee. While waiting for groups to complete tire flips, the other pacs are doing various plancs including regular, right arm, left arm, as well as some merkings and air presses.

    TIRE Throw

    Now we did not try to throw this monstrosity, but we did TRY to throw a football through it.

    Each pac took a try at making a 15 yard throw  through the tire.

    If the pac attempting the throw, made it through, NO BURPEES. If you hit the tire, 2 BURPEES. If you missed the tire completely, 3 BURPEES.

    Since no one made it through the tire, we all had to do 10 BURPEES.

    Indian Run back to Flag. Wait a second. There was no flag. Steve, where ya’t!!!!

    With 5 minutes left, we wrapped things up with some Mary.

    LBC’s – 20 IC, Puttins – 20 IC, Crunchie Frugs – 20 IC,  Freddie Mercuries- 20 IC, Flutter Kicks -15 IC, Straigh Leg Lifts – 10IC

    T-Claps to Shooter for helping me transport the TIRE to and from the AO.

    The newest members to F3, Dr. NO, Pot Hole, and oh yes, Poop Eye, did a great job on their first beatdown.

     

  • EH and the Brotherly Love

    Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished

    -Lao Tzu

    The Captain’s Cove is a special AO. That being said, even Seal Team 6 members need a little EH to get them out the fartsack sometimes. Yesterday afternoon the idea of a 10k post sounded fun, invigorating and much needed, but as the evening got on it was easier to imagine the warm comfort of the ol’ sack at 4am. After checking that the listed Q would be too busy in Hollywood with om Hanks to post, YHC and Shooter were insinuated into the scenario…by me. But 2 thoughts were pervasive at that point: where has the other half of the Northshore Core been and why should we do this alone?! So the EH pulled in a Reluctant Rebel in Steve and all was right in the world.

    As we 3 assembled in the gloom, the grumbles were audible and blatant. But the love was there, like making your kids eat their vegetables. COT and we were off.

    As we rounded the initial bend of the lakefront YHC, if not the entire PAX, was awestruck by the large, low-set, orangish-yellow moon! It was as incredible as it was unexpected, but ,personally, an appreciated addition to the bright stars in the clear pre-dawn sky. Now, as any of you who have ever posted with Bushwacker can attest, that guy can jibber jabber! But in the return leg of our expedition an excited mention of a Casting Crowns concert he attended with the fam lead to a discussion of more substance than your average mumble chatter is usually comprised of. Faith, hope, nature, science, the universe, and what’s is our hearts…YHC felt a closeness to the PAX that comes with unabashed realness.

    When we refer to each other as “brothers” we generally mean comrades-in-arms, but we each have our own sub-context to that term. As one with no brothers growing up, I relish the experiences and relationships I have with all of you guys, from the 1-time posters to the core of F3 Northshore to my Southshore and BR brothers. All of this was something missing, and is missing no longer. In life,as in nature, there is no need to hurry, because everything that must be accomplished will be accomplished.

    Much appreciation!

  • Rain with Pain

    With the forecast of rain ☔, I arrived suspecting  a lite post from F3 Northshore. Standing at the flag an unfamiliar vehicle arrives, which I have not seen in Scrambles past. As Chewy arrives to the post the unfamiliar pilot exits the vehicle and introduces himself. Always appreciative of a new face at the AO and hope it’s just the beginning of fellowshiping with another F3 Brother for post to come. Welcome to your first Scramble Sprocket. YHC knew there was another man in route to posting, so we mumble chattered and awaited the arrival of a cart wheeling Bushwacker. The Scramble and the excitement in which it brings always seems to effect us differently. Even IBS couldn’t stop this beatdown from going down, much less a little rain in the forecast… With all men accounted for we begin with a warmup of 15IC Toe touches, 15IC SSH, 15IC Windmills and 15IC Seal Jacks. Began our Mosey of 3.200 or 3.075 miles depending on who’s tracking. Bushwacker feels vindicated this week with the ability to run through the gazebo, so much so that a R/R upon the return was fitting. It’s those little things that bring us out in the Gloom to post or the accountability of passing up yet another piece of litter for 2 weeks in a row now and being called out on it… Work in progress here my friend!! Returning at the AO, Q had plans for the creative dice of doom which were recently introduced at the Scramble for redemption of the previous 50 Burpee roll. With not enough time permitting as YHCs warmup took longer than expected we will save redemption for another day. Finish up with 10IC Sumo Squats, 10IC Merkins and finally we wrap up with 10IC Alternating leg lunges. The remnance of leg pain from previous beatdowns and the rain drops put the PAX into quick count mode and abbreviated announcements.

    Appreciate Sprocket for the lead in prayer!!

    See you men at the next AO✌🏼✌🏼

  • Was that supposed to be fun?

    Arrived at the Marsh still feeling the effects of Chewys “Easy beatdown?” I will remind him of the NOT in that one on Tuesday. Out of the dark 3 PAX come rolling in, as if trying to synchronize their arrival like Olympic dancers in the pool. Chatter quickly fills the air as we circle up at mid court reminiscing of activities experienced over the weekend. Bushwacker sharing stories of himself and Big Tuna EHing F3 cub scouts on a recent camp out. Waterpik sharing a recent overtime defeat with his 2.0, to what sounds like a semi pro soccer club out of NOLA. “May we see some ID please?” All though your YHC could have chosen to stay in the coffateria like experience of chatter, I know that’s not what these brothers rubbed the crustaceans from their eyes on this Gloom, so let’s have some fun..

    warmup

    20IC TT

    20IC Lawn mowers

    20 IC SSH

    20 IC SJ

    20 IC total top shelf put ups grabbing the imaginary box and shelving, which brought the chuckles out of Bushwacker.

    20 IC BK

    thang

    Lined up on baseline for bunny hop Burpees to the other baseline concluding with 20 Merkins OYO. R/R

    Next we did 90 degree jump squats front/left/right sprint to free throw, half court, free throw and baseline performing jump squats at each before back pedaling from each.

    Suicide bear crawl next returning with a crabwalk. At this point the QIC acknowledged the PAX as being overachievers as they waited my return in last.

    Taken it to the streets for four corners. We moseyed to first corner completing 8 count body builders OYO to 10, next corner Sister Mary Catherine’s to 20, third corner FK IC to 30 and upon return completing 40 Merkins OYO.

    The Marsh would not be complete without utilizing the play ground equipment awarded us from the great City of Mandeville. Partnered up for 3 sets of pull-ups (10) while other 2 PAX held plank switching out til completion.

    4 Mins remaining we took to our six for 20 IC Freddie Mercuries, 20 IC Hello Dolly’s and finished with 30 sec of ISI LBCs.

    count off, announcements, COT

    Thanks to Waterpik for praying us out!!

    Great start to the week my F3 brothers, appreciate the lead!!