F3 New Orleans

Tag: Half Nelson

  • The 10 Gassers Challenge

    YHC was happy to return from his week long absence due to a family trip to Disney World. While it may be the happiest place on Earth, I feel that everyone with small kids who takes them there will agree that it’s not a vacation, it’s a trip. I’ll leave it at that.

    With that said 11 men met in the gloom on a warm, humid, yet mildly breezy morning at our usual spot. We were blocked from parking in our normal spots due to some cones and a cop car but otherwise everything seemed like a typical morning. Disclaimer was given and off we went to the track.

    Warm up:

    • Frankenstein kicks
    • Butt kicks
    • Carioca
    • Straight leg shuffle (Kuch thought this had a different name but his argument was weak so it was overruled. I thought he was a lawyer?)
    • Closed the gate
    • Open the gate
    • Super Mario punch
    • 400m jog

    Tha Thang – The 10 Gassers Challenge:

    • Round 1: 50m at half speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 2: 50m at half speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 3: 50m at three-quarters speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 4: 50m at three-quarters speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 5: 50m at full speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 6: 100m at half speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 7: 100m at half speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 8: 100m at three-quarters speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 9: 100m at three-quarters speed, backpedal to return
    • Round 10: 100m at full speed, backpedal to return

    Static stretching (each done for 15 count):

    • Seated Hamstring stretch
    • Figure-4 piriformis stretch
    • Kneeling hip flexer stretch
    • Stand quad stretch (done with partner for balance)

    Lagniappe:

    • Mountain climbers x 10 IC into 100m full speed sprint
    • Merkins x 10 IC into 100m full speed sprint

    Mary/Plankorama:

    • Forearm planks x 30 sec
    • Side planks x 30 sec each arm
    • Single leg planks x 30 each leg
    • Alternate arm/leg forearm planks x 15 sec each

    Mosey back to the shovelflag, countorama, nameorama, announcements, intentions, and sweaty ball of man.

    Glad to be back and thankful for a safe trip. Look forward to leading the PAX for my next Q.

  • Respect the Mountain

    I’m out of practice. Secondary to other commitments I haven’t posted at Wolfpack proper in several months. I underestimated the stairwells, especially the stairwells in June. More on that later. The red Friday workout in honor of Sgt. Joey Bovia from Metairie was planned for the Uptowner. In a clear move of imitation/flattery I wanted to incorporate the 8 exercise for 31 reps scheme into today’s beat down at Wolfpack.

    Disclaimer and brief introduction of the Angry Wave duo of Bad Moon and Roots and we are off.

    Short mosey to the bench area in front of Loyola for our 8/31 warm up:

    • SSH
    • Imperial Walker
    • Mountain Climbers
    • Peter Parker
    • RLSU
    • LLSU
    • RL Bulgarian Split Lunges
    • LL Bulgarian Split Lunges

    Mosey to the Mountain for a quick regroup and two-column Indian run to the top.

    Assemble on the peak for Dora 1-2-3. Burpees, Merkins, Russian Twists (one is one) while the partner goes down the stairs to the ground level and back up the other stairs. The stairwell loop took longer than expected and once I got started I don’t think I ever caught my breath or got my heart rate back below 130. After me and G-spot each did two laps we still in the middle of Merkins and time was getting short. Audible to staying up top and finishing your reps together. Kudos to the Pax for busting ass on this. The time passed quickly but the intensity didn’t allow for much banter which I missed.

    Mosey back to the flag. 35 pax! Had to grab my phone as my hypoxic brain wasn’t going to remember beyond the guy to my right. Two FNGs who, based on the namorama video footage, didn’t look too beat down. Welcome Creeper (a legit actor whose credits include some NCIS (he played a rapist) and Jeepers Creepers 3) who gave a nice reminder that every moment is a gift from God (paraphrase). Welcome Uncle Rico (almost ‘Precursor to the Heisman’ or similar) who has a career in football (coaching) who during his HS QB days was backed up by Baker Mayfield. I look forward to learning more about these two gents.

    COT with special intentions for BellHop and his battle with cancer and for a friend of Roots whose son was in a serious ATV accident. A prayer of thanks for great men like Joey Bovia and all the veterans who died on D-day or elsewhere to secure our freedom. A prayer of thanks for the strength we get from each other. Amen.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

  • First Timer at Okwata

    It wasn’t how YHC planned. It just sort of happened.  Nonetheless, YHC arrived at Okwata in the Lakeview Clown Car on a bright morning, devoid of gloom, ready to lead 16 PAX.

    Disclaimer issued and a quick mosey to warmup:

    SSH x 15 IC
    Hill Billies x 15 IC
    Arm Circles x 15 IC
    Mountain Climbers x 15 IC

    The Workout

    Run up the levee at Canal, sprint across the grass median, run back down, complete 5 burpees. Rinse and repeat with 4 burpees down to 0 burpees.

    YHC wasn’t thrilled with the sprinting effort, so penalty Bernies were issued. Two rounds of the above with Bernies up the hill, with sets of 5 and 4 burpees respectively. 

    Part 2

    Mosey to benches, 16 PAX, 2 per bench:

    Floyd Mayweather x 20 
    Low Slow Squats x 20
    LBC x 20
    Merkins x 20
    Lunges x 20
    Dips x 20
    Step ups x 20
    Derkins x 20

    Repeat for 10 each

    At 6:11 we moseyed back for the usual formalities.  Thanks to all who came out to my VQ and gave me the opportunity to lead. 

  • The DZ Demands a Sacrifice

    8 PAX gathered for a sprint workout at the track. YHC has been wanting to break out the jump ropes for a while, but today was the first time we had enough ropes (4) and a small enough crew to put them to use. First though, a warm-up consisting of a lap around the track with: moseying, high knees, butt kicks, Super Marios, carioca, open the gate, and of course, close the gate (this is not a barn).

    Afterwards, we circled up to complete the warm-up with

    • 20 mountain climbers IC
    • 20 scorpion kicks IC (10 each leg)
    • 1 minute of static stretching on OYO

    The workout – 1st Exercise

    Divide into 2 groups.

    We did this circuit 4 times with a very brisk 20-second count in between round 2 and 3 from Double J.

    The jump ropes will be back, guys, so I suggest a little practice. This one costs 10 bucks and we used two of them without incident today. Might wanna invest in that jump rope form before the penalty burpees begin (j/k…. or am I?) https://smile.amazon.com/Survival-Cross-Jump-Rope-International/dp/B00LGXE5NS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=speed+rope&qid=1559585099&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

    During this circuit, The Wiz injured his calf, and has been hobbling around since. Hoping that’s a short term thing – it’s been really cool having a founding member back in action with us.

    2nd Exercise

    The Danger Zone requires a bit of downtime to catch your breath with all the sprinting, so we hit the abs early with some Mary IC

    • Flutter Kicks x20
    • LBC’s x 20
    • American Hammers x 15
    • Penguins x 20
    • Hello Dolly’s x 15
    • Low Country Crabs x20

    PAX were encouraged to squeeze their abs, keep their form, make every rep count.

    3rd Exercise

    Fastest Quarter Mile – Go! I’ll add your times as you send them to me. Here is what I have for finishing place as best I can remember:

    1. Jesus Juice – 1:16
    2. Screw Top – 1:17
    3. Kuch – 1:30
    4. Shuffles
    5. The Undertaker
    6. Half Nelson – 1:55
    7. Quiche – 1:59

    (The Wiz – DNP due to injury)

    Mosey back to the flag to close with some static stretching and the usual formalities. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be a leader today. – Kuch

  • Tank Top Tuesday

    Sun’s Out Gun’s out was the Theme for Tuesday at the Stomp. Thanks to Kuch’s idea a few weeks back we were able to get 40% participation this week. Looking forward to more next week!

    I woke up this morning sore as hell from the Murph so I decided to make the run a little easier for all. Keeping in mind our Vets I thought it would only be appropriate to honor those by running a “No Man Left Behind” route. At 5:30am I gave the disclaimer and we headed down the road towards “The Hill” (near the trails in the Park). Not sure what this place is called but Hawg took us here last week while kicking baseballs and I was excited to head back there with no baseballs in play.

    Once at the Hill we did 75 seconds of Levels and then headed back to the flag. We were able to complete 4.3 miles at a 10 min pace (nice and easy) while leaving no man behind. The Wiz and Amnesty are working there way back into the distance so they broke off the pack to complete a 1 mile out and back run.

    Once at the flag we did COT, Announcements, Intentions, and Kuch took us home with Prayer. Thanks for allowing me to lead this morning always a good time.

  • A No-Fluff Blast (it’s 5 pm on Friday)

    Warm Up:

    • SSH x 25
    • Loooow Slooows x 10
    • Peter Parkers x 25
    • Arm Circles x 10 (forward, then back)

    Mosey to the base of The Mountain

    • PAX split in two groups, each one running up the stairs to the 4th level of the garage
      • Burpees x 20
    • Back down to the base of The Mountain
      • Windshield Wipers x 20
    • Up to the 4th level again
      • Jumping Lunges x 20

    Remaining on the 4th level

    • Jack Webb – up to an 11 count Merkin

    Mosey to peak of The Mountain

    • Dora 1-2-3
      • First exercise was actually a wall sit – each PAX completed 2 rounds before moving to next round
      • 200 x LBC’s
      • 300 x Monkey Humpers

    Remaining at the peak to enjoy the view

    • Dying Cockroach x 25
    • Box Cutters x 10 – then, reverse the box x 10
    • Leg Raises x 20

    Mosey to Flag

    • Count off
    • Name-o-rama
    • Ball of man

    Thanks for a solid showing.

  • Loose as a Goose

    It’s always stimulating to start of the week with an F3 beatdown first thing Monday morning. So when 5:30am hit, I issued the disclaimer and we set off to mosey to the track Once at the track, we did a dynamic stretching warmup that consisted of:

    • High knees
    • Butt kicks
    • Open the gate
    • Close the gate
    • Karaoke (30 yards out, 30 yards back)

    Following the dynamic stretching, each PAX did some individual static stretching on their own to get loose. Once everyone was loose as a Goose (Top Gun Danger Zone reference), we began with some ladder / sprint combos:

    • 1) High knees through the ladder, then 50 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 2) Butt kicks through the ladder, then 50 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 3) Squat jumps through the ladder, then 50 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 4) Sideways in & out’s through the ladder, then 50 meter sprint. Mosey back 
    • 5) Sideways in & out’s through the ladder on the other side, then 50 meter sprint. Mosey back

    We took a brief 20 count break, then we proceed to do the same thing except we did 100 meter sprints:

    • 1) High knees through the ladder, then 100 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 2) Butt kicks through the ladder, then 100 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 3) Squat jumps through the ladder, then 100 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 4) Sideways in & out’s through the ladder, then 100 meter sprint. Mosey back
    • 5) Sideways in & out’s through the ladder on the other side, then 100 meter sprint. Mosey back

    After this, we mosey’d to the middle of the track for some mary. We circled up, and then each member of the PAX had to lead a mary exercise in cadence using a 15 count. Screw Top & Smooth (if my memory serves me correctly) harnessed their inner Double J & decided to have us do some merkins instead of a mary exercise. Fortunately, though, no penalty burpees were issued for not following directions.

    Once every member of the PAX had finished counting off their exercise, we did some line drills. There were 5 drains along the inside part of the track, so we partnered up and then sprinted back & forth to each of the 5 drains. The first set of sprints was from shortest to longest (we began with the closest drain & ended with the drain that was furthest away). The next set of sprints was from longest to shortest (we began with the last drain & ended with the drain that was closest).

    After this, we took a brief 20 count break & then we ended with a 100 meter sprint and then a mosey around the track. Back at that flag, High Rise led us in some static stretching & then we did the count-off & prayer. I forgot the name-o-rama (was operating on 2 hours of sleep that morning), so we did the name-o-rama after the prayer was over just & then called it a day. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas, and my apologies for the terrible Top Gun Goose joke above!

  • Don’t You Wish You Had Mandals.

    15 strong at The Stomp for a rousing round of rarájipari. We divided into to 4 teams and YHC gave the obligatory disclaimer about the inherent dangers to your ankles. I then called out a destination that only a few were familiar with and the race was on.

    The Thang

    Two teams headed down Roosevelt Mall toward the museum and two headed the opposite direction. YHC gave the team of Screwtop, Shuffle, and Manscape some bad directions a couple of times which allowed our team of Bongo, Kuch, El Guapo, and me to catch up. Once we made it to the woods we could hear another team. After much wandering around in the Couturie Forest, the team of Tool, Fracsac, Rev Sox and Abacus made it to the top of Laborde Mountain first, where Tool being the HIM that he is, immediately started leading everyone in some Mary. After a couple of rounds of Mary there was still no sign of team four (Dirty Dell, Briefs, Room Service, and Half Nelson). Being up against the clock, YHC had everyone start race #2 back to the flag while I went deep into the forest to locate the Team Dirty Briefs. They were close. YHC led them to our city’s highest point for future reference and then we were off to the flag. When I caught up to the other teams, Team Screwscape Shuffle was nowhere to be found. They were about a mile ahead of everyone else. My team made the decision to take Marconi on the way back and we got to the flag with about 5 minutes to spare. Still no sign of the Screwscape Shuffle. We found them at 6:15 apparently running victory laps around City Park.

    The Skinny
    • Mandals are freaking awesome for playing rarajipari. It’s as if the game was invented by people that wear them. Just ask Kuch about my sandwedge ability to get the ball out of the rough
    • T-claps to me, Bongo, and Kuch. We were on a team with El Guapo and he didn’t run off and leave us. Maybe he could have, but I’m going to believe that we hung with him out of our own improvement
    • Marconi is definitely the fastest way to Laborde Mountain. We will have to outlaw that route in the future.
    • T-claps to the Lakeview Krewe as they continue to successfully EH every man in the greater New Orleans area. This is Hall of Fame type EHing that we are witnessing by Screwtop et al., a la Reluctant Yankee 2015-16, 2017 Triple Shift, or the HNJ Flood of 2018.
    • T-claps to Rev Sox for rocking the tank on an unofficial Tank Top Tuesday.

  • I’m told there was a 45-minute workout today

    Last week, High Rise was thrust into the spotlight at the Danger Zone when the Q failed to show. This week, High Rise was thrust into the spotlight when YHC had to make an abrupt exit to take care of a most urgent matter.

    Before all that though, we warmed up with a lap around the track, where we did some high knees, butt kicks, skipping, running sideways, zombie walks, and moseying.

    Next, we split into 2 heats for the following:

    • sprint 100, jog 300
    • sprint 200, jog 200
    • sprint 300, jog 100
    • sprint 400

    Somewhere around the time we came around the second turn of the 300 sprint, YHC broke the news to High Rise that he would, in fact, be Q’ing another workout on very short notice. Luckily, High Rise took it in stride.

    • YHC: Yo, I gotta go. real bad. you got this
    • High Rise: Sure thing. What’s next
    • YHC: Uh, sprints
    • High Rise: uhhhhh. okay

    YHC had planned some parachute runs and round two with the new, hopefully fixed, speed ropes, but when ISI doubled the normal turnout at the DZ, those plans were scrapped for a “spur of the moment” workout. Luckily, High Rise was up to the challenge. I’m told the following occurred while I was gone:

    • 400m sprint
    • Relay Races
    • PAX choice MARY (dying cockroaches, penguins, merkins, crab cakes, Freddie Mercury)

    Luckily, YHC returned in time to suggest we finish up by timing our fastest quarter mile. This was met with some groans – apparently there had been running while YHC was busy handling nature’s call. Who knew?

    We finished up with some stretching and a bit of grumbling from Rudy, so I’d say we were fully back on track by the end. War Eagle prayed us out. Thanks for letting me lead half a workout, and thanks to High Rise for being a great sport and taking the reigns. – Kuch

  • 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.