F3 New Orleans

Tag: Green Screen

  • Rumble with the MotherShip Marauders

    What a blessing to be standing in the early morning Summertime bright gloom for a Saturday MuscleShip adventure through the park. 7 Pax gathered a short disclaimer of self awareness of safety and effort was given and the fun began.

    Mosey to the baby foundry – along our route we picked up Grimace so QIC was happy with an even number for partner workouts planned. We circle up for a quick warm up:

    Slow toe touches with a hold at the bottom x 10

    Slow right leg lunch with a hold x 5 – repeat left leg x 5

    SSH x 20

    Michael Phelps x 10

    Peter Parkers x 15

    Partner up – Pax moved over to the pull up bars – idea was every Pax was to complete 10 dead hang pull ups with a spot from their partner. QIC noticed at the recent Murph, most (including the QIC) would resort to short-arming pullups especially as we got tired.  Using a spot helps work on form, confidence and strength.  After the 1st set each, PAX would do 20 LBCs or WWII sit ups, then repeat.

    Mosey over to the block pile (QIC came prepared, dropping off cones prior to meeting at AO), we only had 8 and there was a plan to use the tires (that have surprisingly be left untouched by City Park staff). As the MuscleShip Pax was focused on getting our gear in place and the “workout” task ahead, who should arrive but a group of unruly marauders of the Mothership, asserting claim to all the blocks and open space for themselves.  They attempted to intimidate the smaller Pax of 8 yet, QIC felt confident in our ability to out perform even the loudest chirping Cotter from their group.  Most had a hard time staying focused on their workout as they watched in awe of the sweat generating effort the MuscleShip Pax of 8.

    The Thang on Display –

    Two groups of partners (4 Pax) – 2 large tires.

    One Pax on his back leg pressing the tire while the partner stood in the tire adding extra weight. This did take some balance and coordination – lagniappe to the work.

    Each Pax did 50 leg presses and 25 chest press – flip flop.

    The other group of 4 –

    Pax 1 farmer carry blocks from one end of cones to the next, while Pax 2 does Squat Press – as Pax 1 is on his way back switch to prisoner overhead squat press.

    Flip Flop

    Now All 4 Pax lined up at cones did one push up on the block – 2 Over Head Lunge – 2 push ups with 4 Over Head Lunge – 3 push ups with 6 Over Head Lunge until reaching the other end of cones, RUN back with block over head. Rinse and Repeat.

    Finally – block around the trunk – PAX partners standing back to back pass the block x 10 each direction.

    FLIP FLOP with the PAX on the Tires.

    NOTE: MotherShip Marauders midway through seeing this beatdown effort couldn’t “stand” around any longer so they quietly returned their blocks and moseyed off to “Merryland”……to be seen again later at coffeteria!   Great stories of workout beatdowns were shared along with “catfishing” tales.

    MuscleShip Pax returned out gear (blocks and tires) yet still had something left in the tank…..so behind the pace of GreenScreen we headed back to the Museum fountain.

    20 incline merkins followed by 7 in unison inchworm burpees.

    Mosey over to the tree field for some core:

    1 minute low plank

    1 minute of scoops

    1 minute of flutter kicks

    1 minute of high plank

    1 minute of stretching

    The mission was accomplished!

    COT – After namorama and prayer of thanks giving – the PAX broke for the day!

    I’m grateful to have the opportunity to lead as well as the camaraderie that comes with being an F3 brother. We hold a bond of accountability – even when meeting up with (or at times being) Marauders!

  • 21’s at the Muscleship

    YHC saw the previous week that the Mucsleship did not have a Q and took the opportunity Q his first visit to the Muscleship.  Quick disclaimer was given and warm up.

    Warm-Up

    Smurf Jacks x 21

    Imperial Walkers x 21 (the PAX quickly saw a theme but were incorrect YHC did not hit the black jack tables the night before)

    Seal Jacks x 21

    Grass Grabbers x 21

    Wind Mills x 21

    21’s – I had seen this in a back blast from Fracsac not long ago and saw it at the top of the exercise list on the F3 website.  SSH were the exercise of choice and this a more of a mental test than physical test.  YHC would count in cadence to 5 and then the PAX would have to count in their head and stop right at 21.  If the PAX stopped before or after YHC there would be a penalty.  To my surprise our attempt at this was a success and no penalty was levied.

    Bear Crawl Ring of Fire

    PAX remained circled up and bear crawled in a circle until YHC said stop and then YHC did 10 merkins while the PAX planked and once each PAX completed 10 merkins the bear crawled continued.  Two rounds was enough to get the juices flowing.

    Thang 1

    Dirty McDuce

    Round 1

    Derkins x 12

    Right Leg Step Ups x 12

    Dying Cockroach x 12

    Lap around the museum

    Round 2

    Shoulder Taps x12

    Left Leg Step Ups x 12

    Russian Twists x 12

    Lap around the museum (during which YHC was advised by Frac that there should have been a penalty on the 21’s as Screw Top finished after YHC, turns out my back was to Screw Top and missed him finishing late.  We will tests the group one the 21’s again later).

    Round 3

    Irkins x 12

    Squats x 12

    Freddie Mercuries x 12

    Lap around the museum

    Round 4

    Floyd Mayweahter’s x 12

    Box Jumps x 12

    Hello Dolly x12

    Lap around the museum

    Thang 2

    Good ole Route 66

    1 Burpee at tree one and lunge walk to tree two

    2 Burpee’s at tree two and lunge walk to tree three

    And repeat until we hit tree 11 for 11 Burpee’s

    Now that everyone’s was gas tank was approaching empty YHC decided to once again test the mental strength of the group and we revisited the 21 exercise.  This time keeping a close eye on Screw Top who was clearly focused on the task at hand but could not match YHC cadence.  I will take the blame for that but alas this time a penalty of 10 Burpee’s was levied to the group.

    Thang 3

    Hurricane Hoedown

    This consist of 7 rounds of 4 variations on flutter kicks with each round reducing the count by 1.

    Each round we did the following flutter kicks: hands raised, hands out in front, on your elbows and then standard flutter kick.

    The PAX assisted YHC with someone taking a round.

    Last of the exercise was two rounds of merkin ring of fire with each PAX doing 10 merkins and planking while the others completed their merkins.

    With a little time on the clock YHC thought it would be a good idea to do some stretching when Kenna Brah volunteered to lead the stretching.  We will spare the details but it will be a long time before YHC entrusts Kenna Brah to close out the workout with some “good stretches.” 

    COT

    Count O Rama, Name O Rama, announcements, intentions and prayer.  As always it is an honor to lead and workout with the F3 brotherhood.  SYITG.

  • Get out of bed sleepy head!

    Whenever I sign up to Q or when someone signs me up to Q (Fracsac, Hawgcycle, Tool, et. al., there is always a nervous energy that starts to build up until the morning of the beatdown. I’m not exactly sure what causes that. Maybe its leading the PAX, maybe its the unspoken expectations of a great workout, maybe its the work that will be required, or maybe its the bean burrito I ate the night before. Well, whatever it is, the date on the calendar doesn’t move no matter what happens the day before. I can’t let my F3 brothers down!

    DISCLAIMER AND WARM UP

    Arrive at the virtual flag in front of NOMA, give the disclaimer and then take off to the coupon pile by Tad Gormley. Man, that is far! Maybe we can move the AO to the baby foundry to be more centrally located to the coupons, but I digress. We arrive at the coupon pile and break the pax up into groups of three (3). 2 pax members grab one coupon each and the other pax member grabs two coupons as we head to the field next to Roosevelt mall. Circle up for a warmup of 20 SSH, 20 Hacky Sacks, 20 High Knees and 20 Butt Kicks, and 20 J-Lows all IC.

    THE THANG

    Line up in groups of three facing the sidewalk of Roosevelt Mall and perform the following exercises.

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Burpee broad jump three (3) times out and three (3) times back. PAX 3 – Thrusters with coupon. 2 rounds

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Lunge walk with coupon overhead five (5) times out and five times (5) back. PAX 3 – WW2 situps with coupon. 2 rounds

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Side lunge with coupon five (5) times out and five times (5) back. PAX 3 – Sundial – plank walk in a circle with feet on a coupon. 2 rounds

    THANG TWO (2)

    Absolution x 10 IC, Angle Grinder x 10 IC and A.L.A.R.M. (Shoulder press, lunge, LBC, run to the sidewalk and back, and mountain climbers all with a coupon.

    Put the coupons back, headed back to the virtual flag and was incensed that the Mothership crew was tresspassing and, of course, mumblechatter ensued :-). With a few minutes left, we do some mobility to cool down.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA and CIRCLE OF TRUST

    So honored to lead such a great group of men. Prayed for Rudy’s father, for the safety of Amanda Eller (she is the niece of my mentor and is the missing woman in Hawaii) and that we would positively impact others by being involved and virtuous.

  • Running With Scissors

    I had been looking forward to this (1 day after) Birthday Q. Since I am a Physical Therapist I wanted to introduce a few exercises that I have my patients perform in the clinic or suped-up modifications of those exercises. I had considered using the great lawn for a portion of the beatdown but due to the amount of rain we had received and the lack of any animal crawls I opted to stay dry (of water, not sweat) which I hope the PAX appreciated. 8 men gathered in the humid, muggy, but sunny morning, the disclaimer was given, and off we moseyed to the pavilion by the Festival Grounds as everyone carried their soon to be announced coupons while I carried the scissors so said coupons could be distributed.

    Warm Up:

    • Side straddle hops x 25
    • Windmills x 10
    • Self love x 10
    • Hillbillies x 20
    • Mountain climbers x 20

    Thang #1:

    I was inspired by 2 recent beatdowns by Mr. Awesome and Kuch that included Tabata. So I performed a dry run the night before with a free app I downloaded and chose a 90s grunge playlist on Amazon Prime for 20 sec of exercise and 10 sec of rest for a group of arm exercises all using Theraband. We performed 2 rounds, with some questionable grunge selections by Amazon (Goo Goo Dolls and Dave Matthews Band are not 90s grunge).

    • Shoulder flexion (forward straight arm raise)
    • T’s/airplanes (separate arms apart while maintaining arms at shoulder level)
    • External rotation (elbows by your side and swing open arms like a gate)
    • Shoulder abduction (lateral straight arm raise)
    • Biceps curls
    • Triceps extension

    Thang #2:

    With everyone’s shoulders burning it was time to work on some legs. After shifting the picnic tables out of the way, PAX lined up on one end of the pavilion and performed a series of exercises back and forth across the pavilion

    • Lunge with twist, there and back
    • Toe walks, there
    • Heel walks, back
    • Monster walks with Theraband around ankles, forward there and retro back
    • Lateral monster walks with Theraband around ankles, alternate direction after a lap

    Thang #3:

    Everyone’s quads and gluts seemed to be burning after those so PAX circled back up for a some merkin and plank variations all performed in cadence

    • Merkin plus x 15
    • Merkin into side plank x 10
    • Plank on elbows into a birddog position (lifting alternate arm and leg) x 10

    At this point my arms were getting worn out and I was slipping from my sweat on the pavilion concrete so I made slight change in my exercise order. Time for some People’s Chair x 30 sec each, with modifications of course to target different muscle groups.

    • Feet flat on ground
    • Shift weight towards heels to fire the gluts
    • Shift weight towards balls of the feet to fire the quads
    • Single leg with right leg in air
    • Single leg with left leg in air

    Following this I went back and completed by merkin/plank exercise group with side planks into a straight leg raise x 10 each side.

    Thang #4:

    Following our pavilion portion of the beatdown we moseyed over to the deck in front of Big Lake while carrying coupons (and scissors of course). All exercises done in cadence.

    • Prone T’s/airplanes (Theraband optional) x 15 ; my apologies to the tall people/people with long arms
    • Prone W’s x 15
    • Dips x 15
    • Step ups x 15; 1 set leading with right then 1 set leading with left leg
    • High rises x 15

    Yeah, I named an exercise after myself. I have a lot of patients at the clinic perform wife pleasers. However, I do not call them wife pleasers. They are called bridges. Wife pleasers/bridges seemed too simple for this group of men so I modified it into something different. Starting position is in a crab walk, then lift your hips/butt into the air while also lifting 1 leg in the air. So it’s a suped-up single leg wife pleaser. Hope this makes sense to anyone reading this nonsense.

    Mosey back to the Muscleship shovelflag for some static hamstring, butterfly, and figure-4 piriformis stretching x 15 sec hold for each. Count off, name-o-rama, annoucements, intentions, and sweaty ball of man prayer. Thanks to all PAX for showing up. Hope everyone was as sore and fatigued as I was.

  • With a little help from my friends…

    When Tool asked me if I wanted to Q the Muscleship the Thursday before, it brought to mind how far I’ve come since starting and that I could not have done without the support of my F3 friends. From Willie continuing to try to get me out here, from seeing Medulla’s transformation, from Tool literally giving me the shirt of his back, the support from my F3 brothers (including those who made sure to be there for my first Q) has made a profound impact on my life since starting a few months ago. Therefore, I took the opportunity to lead and after the disclaimer, we were on our way.

    Warmup

    • 20 SSHs
    • 20 Imperial Walkers
    • 20 Abe Vigodas
    • 20 Mountain Climbers
    • 30 Arm Circles (15 forward, 15 reverse)

    After warmups, we broke into pairs for a Dora of 100 Plank Jacks, 200 Alternating Lunges, and 300 LBCs. We then moseyed across the road to do Deconstructed Burpees (squats, followed by leg thrusts, then merkins, more leg thrusts, then squats). We did descending rounds of 10-8-6-4-2 with the Q receiving some help from his friend Hawg on cadence and a few extra squats for Q to get his cadence straight. Next, we pulled a page from an earlier Triple Shift workout and did Embrace the Suck – 6 SSHs, 6 Merkins, and 6 jump squats (clapping optional). We did three 3-minutes rounds with 1-minute rest. The PAX them moseyed back to the starting spot for some Mary with the PAX taking turns calling out exercises. We finished with announcements and intentions. Thank you to all for your support since I’ve started this journey and for giving me the opportunity to lead.

  • Lone Rangers Need Not Apply

    teamwork (noun): work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.

    Seven men showed up eager to build some muscle on Saturday.  YHC surfed the F3 site the day before for some fresh ideas and felt some sort of theme for the morning might help engage the PAX and keep the workout from being too blah, which YHC is occasionally guilty of when not adequately preparing a game plan.  After kicking around a few options, none of which could top The Hamilton throwdown, YHC decided on a refresher of the teamwork concept that helps fuel the impact of F3 and other group/partner workouts.  We may all get numb to hearing about “pushing each other” or “iron sharpens iron” so the plan for the day would strive to hone in on why team building, team leadership, and working as a team are all proven ingredients for success.  The other, “hidden” agenda for the morning included trying to squeeze in as much sweat provoking stuff to help burn off all the bacon and beer that several of us indulged on the week before at HFTC.  After the disclaimer, reading of the teamwork definition from Merriam-Webster, and a rundown of what would be in store, some of which may seem corny but “bear with me”, here’s what we did:

    Warmup – Short Capri Lap down Lelong Dr with some butt kicks, backpedaling, bear crawling, and high knees to get the juices flowing.  Then a COP on the Museum steps where YHC shared some Google findings….T-E-A-M….Together Everyone Achieves More…so we got loose with some T-E-A-M exercises, Travoltas, Elbow Plank w/leg lifts, Arm Circles, and Mountain Climbers.  Before departing for our next stop, YHC asked the PAX to start thinking of one person who stands out to them as an inspirational leader and we’d discuss more once at the next stop.   

    Thang #1 – Mosey towards the block pile with a pit stop half way for planking to wait for the six followed by merkins on the curb.  From here, we continued with a mosey to the green building, aka train shed, for the Da Parish Special aka “Get To Know Your PAX Wall Sit” while discussing some admirable leaders…cause every good team tends to have a good leader.  Piranha started us off and set the bar high with a lengthy yet awesome explanation of his pic.  From there we all had to up our game and give more than 3-4 words answers.  YHC can’t recall all of the names mentioned but does remember George Washington, Mother Theresa?, Mark Twain?, Coach Ed Orgeron, Yoda?, and a boss at work.  This took a while but was well time spent….YHC caught a whiff of piss and vinegar after from some of the PAX.

    Thang #2 – Short Mosey to the block pile to heckle The Mothership PAX and grab a coupon.  We lined up along the prison bars aka Tool Wall for our next circuit.  YHC found the Diego circuit on the F3 site and thought it would be a good partner workout since helps push each other and keeps PAX accountable.  Diego is like Dora, but tougher and longer.  YHC warned this would take a while but assured the PAX it would be worth it.  We did these one round at a time, planking for the six, and opted to mix it up by going “swinger style” with new partner each circuit in an effort to further mesh the team.
    Round One – 100 Merkins w/PAX #2 running to other prison bars for calf raises x20

    Round Two – 150 Overhead Block Press w/PAX #2 running for hip slappers x20

    Round Three – 200 LBC w/PAX #2 running for monkey humpers x20

    …breather and corny motivational quote from Google, “All progress takes place outside of your comfort zone” 

    Round Four – 250 Block Curls w/PAX #2 running for calf raises x20

    Round Five – 300 Squats w/ or w/o block w/PAX #2 running for hip slappers x20

    Note – proud to say the PAX dug deep and pushed through this, helping other PAX finish as needed.  Some good joking and F2 was in the air throughout.  Some motivational phrases were attempted in a Coach O voice but might have lacked the firepower he packs.  

    No time left for the last few things on the weinke so after depositing the blocks, we headed back to the flag.  One last quote found on the interwebs, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else” – Booker T. Washington

    COT to seal the deal.  The Muscleship needs some Q’s in coming weeks so if you’re reading this, please consider stepping up.  T-claps to the PAX for posting and pushing each other to get stronger.  It’s always an honor to lead. 

    Tool   

  • Hamilton v Burr

    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.

  • One is the loneliest number…..

    I know this is overdue but writing a backblast is better late than never. I took my first turn at the Muscleship with the stiff competition of the Mothership Endymion run. It’s 6:30 am and no one joins me. Now its 6:31, 6:32,…6:35 and I think to myself, do I try to find the PAX on Orleans Ave or lead myself. Well, I didn’t run to Orleans so I headed to the coupons by the baby foundry and proceeded to get to work.

    I grab a cinder block and do a route 66 on Roosevelt Mall (out and back). At each bench I proceed to do 5 Man makers as I head towards Marconi ave. As I finish a few benches on my way to Marconi, the thoughts of quitting start creeping in because its lonely working out by yourself. Nearing the end of the benches, I see the friendly face of Green Screen!

    My energy, demeanor, and spirits pick up and Green Screen and I are having a great conversation while doing the prescribed routine. As we finish Route 66, I proceed to something very ambitious. We both grab 2 coupons from the pile and head over to the baby foundry for some Flora 1-2-3. This is the first time I completed this exercise without having to modify for time. Whew! That was extremely difficult! To top it off, we had to farmers carry the coupons back to the pile. My hands and forearms were burning!

    Mosey back to flag for the countoff, namerama, and COT! Thanks, Green Screen for holding me accountable and allowing me to lead!

  • Strength in Repetition

    My first attempt at a MuscleShip beatdown was today and a bit out my comfort zone. This is given the effort of not incorporating running (which I love so much). But we did, and needless to say this eventually adds up to a number of repetitions and exercises and counting…. But it was a great challenge and so were a select number of PAX to focus on strength on a mild March morning in City Park.

    Off we got to the museum lawn for warm ups:

    25 — IW

    20 – Peter Parkers

    30 – Arm circles

    25- Grass Touches

    Off to the field across the street for additional warm up via a modified “Red Barchetta”

    Run to 10 trees out — 50 SSH

    Run to 8 trees out — 40 Mountain Climbers

    Run to 6 trees out — 30 LBCs

    Run to 4 trees out — 20 Merkins

    2 trees out — 10 Burpees

    Stay put in same field and now a Bear crawl and Merkin circle

    All pax in a circle, rotate counter clock wise via bear crawl, when Q says stop, 10 merkin waterfall amoung PAX, (4) stops, 360 degrees….

    Next to the fountain to “Roll the Bones” with my infamous exercise dice:

    Did this for ~ 20 minutes, highlights:

    Rolled (4) 1 minute planks…

    30 Squats was also popular as the entire PAX took turns rolling…

    We also saw some burpees, jump squats. SSHs, etc.

    No one rolled the (3) min rest…..

    Continue on to a Jack Moses X 10 sets. each set was a plank jack increasing in quantity followed by 2 squat presses for each plank jacks. Left eye did make note of the pain of squat press as numbers got higher despite nothing in our hands.

    Finally some time filling Mary:

    Hello Dolly X 25

    Freddie Mercury — (30)

    LBC — (25)

    Burps — (10) on our own

    Ended off with count, name a rama, announcements, intentions, COT

    Lots of repetion and work for all, entire PAX did great!!! That is all.

    Se y’all on the radio.

  • ROYAL RUN #2 2019

    We posted for a beatdown at 6am in preparation for the REX ROYAL RUN 2019. We arrived to find it under 40 degrees and to find Fracsac and Two Yutes had already run a lap around the park.

    A quick disclaimer – then we mosey’d over the bandstand. A brief warm up SSH x 20, imperial walker squats x 20, merks x 20, and peter pakers x 20.

    Then we did a short mosey over to the row bars. Rows x 20, Burpees x 10, Plank Jacks x 20, and Parker Peters x 20 Burpees was the count.

    Finally we mosey’d back to the pavillion. At the pavillion we did 20 decline merks, 20 power ups right, 20 power ups left, dips x 20 20 decline peter parkers –decline shoulder taps until the song ended

    Started to notice people gathering at the front of the park – circled up for a DJ style circle of mary. Here we did 12 of each exercise: dying cockroach, freddies, protractor, lbcs, lbts, flutter, vups, nolan ryans and finished with o-marys.

    As we were doing OMARY a few random dudes dressed up likes clowns came to stare at our Circle of MARY. Many odd expressions.

    We finished our beatdown here and mosey’d over to the rex tshirts lady. I had to make sure that FRACSAC got a shirt. Once we got a BEEFY T, some champagne and OJ, and king cake from Hi-dough. Then REX showed up with the QUEEN of Carnival, they fired a cannon, and off we ran to do one lap around Audubon Park for 1.7 miles We closed with a pic and a COT.

    Happy Mardi Gras!

    Hail Rex!