F3 New Orleans

Tag: Holy Grove

  • Crazy 8s

    Conditions

    Mostly cloudy, 65 F, Feels like 66 F, Humidity 93%, Wind 8 MPH from ESE.

    Warm-up

    Imperial Walkers x 31; Shoulder Taps x 31; Arm Circles: Forward x 16, Backerds x 15; Windmills x 10

    The Thang

    Grab your favorite rock and circle up for the duration.  Crazy 8s with a Deck of Death.

    • Hearts – Ground ‘n Pound con roca.  Reps = card value (2-14)
    • Spades – Squat Thrust con roca.  Reps = card value (2-14)
    • Diamonds – Curl to Press con roca.  Reps = card value (2-14)
    • Clubs – Core Exercise on the card sin roca. Reps = card value + 10 for numbers; 25 for face cards, 50 for the ace
    • Jokers – Repeat the last exercise
    • 8s – Do 8 eight count body builders each time an 8 is drawn

    NMM

    • Apparently I walked in hot and late.  Thought I had perfect timing to coolly stroll in at 0530 and give the disclaimer flag in hand, but the mumblechatter revealed that it was 0531.
    • War Eagle continues to be a non-conformist with his rock selection.  In spite of all of his peers selecting the traditional Pontiff drainage rocks, he continues to use a man-made cinder block.  Will War Eagle’s non-conformity lead to amazing success like Bill Bradley’s granny shot free throws, or will he always be viewed as a nut job like the guy that works out barefoot with F3 Nola?  Only time will tell. 
    • Mahatma taught us all an important life principle today.  Mahatma had a misshapen rock that was not easy to handle for some of the exercises.  After a round where some of the Pax traded rocks, Mahatma ended up with Frac’s rock.  Those of you that have posted at Rock City or The Uptowner may be familiar with this beast of a rock.  It appears to be a nice oblong shape that would be easy to handle, but once you start with it, you learn that one side weighs about 35 pounds and the other side weighs 15.  Remember kids, whatever your struggles are in life, there’s always someone else out there that has it harder than you. 
    • I suggest we start naming rocks.  I imagine that the aforementioned rock did not take kindly to our talk about its one-sided girth.  I can hear it protesting “It’s not a toomah!” like Governor Arnold in Kindergarten cop.  Therefore this rock shall henceforth be known as Schwarzenegger. 
    • Strava had my total mileage today at 0.18 miles.  That’s a successful Uptowner in my book. 
  • First Stomp of 2020

    First Stomp of 2020

    22 men came out in the darkened gloom to kick off 2020 with the 610 Stomp. No better way to start the year than a good run with your 22 best friends.

    The Thang

    YHC started with the basic disclaimer and gave the instructions for the morning run. Run out to the Wisner Bridge. Celebrate our run to the bridge with 10 celebration burpees. Run and back and forth over the bridge until the Q calls the time. Celebrate the end of the bridge runs with 10 more celebration burpees and run back to the flag.

    Important lesson learned this morning: Don’t follow Shuffles. Shuffles will go the long way. Shuffles can run faster than you, so take the short way to arrive at the same time as Shuffles.

    The Pax followed Shuffles the long way to the bridge and completed the 10 burpees at the base of the bridge. The pax proceeded to run back and forth over the 610 until YHC rounded everyone up to do 10 more burpees at 6:05. The pax ran back to the flag for the end.

    The Conclusion

    Count-off, Name-O-Rama, and one FNG. The Pax was off their game with name suggestions outside of Hawg who wanted to name the FNG something Canadian since the FNG was from Detroit. YHC went with Crazy Cat Guy. I hope he returns.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead. May we all lead and push one another throughout 2020.

  • Hawgcycle’s Running New Year’s Eve

    The Thang

    Run as far as you can in 22:30 and then turn around and come back. The goal was to try and run farther than you ever have at the Stomp. Some accomplished that. Shuffles, who doesn’t have a watch, ran to where he always does, the other side of the bridge, and turned around. A few saw the top of the bridge for the first time. Kuch garnered 18 achievements on Strava. YHC earned one.

    Another year in the books. Here’s to continued acceleration in 2020.

  • High Rise’s and Kuch’s F3 NOLA Chamber of Horrors War Eagle Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Beatdown Throwdown For The Cure

    Late last week Kuch and I were contacted by Gideon asking for us to step in as Q’s for the initial beatdown throwdown at the newest AO The Chamber of Horrors. Our AO originators Gideon and Tool would be unavailable to Q so, as usual, Kuch and I stepped up. Gideon agreed to attend and offered to monitor the time so we would stay on track.

    The agreement was that a brief 5 minute warm-up would commence. Then each Q would alternate 10 minute rounds of exercise for the remaining 40 minutes. The challenge was for each Q to come up with a challenging and creative beatdown and then the PAX would vote on a winner at the end. In order to avoid wasting time running all over UNO’s campus we agreed to centralize the location of our rounds. 16 PAX joined the 2 Q’s, disclaimer was given, sort of (sorry about that; my energy and desire to stay on time got the better of me), and off we went.

    Warm up:

    Mosey a lap around the parking lot and circle up.

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each IC
    • Self love x 10 IC
    • Mountain climbers x 10 IC

    Round 1 (High Rise):

    T-claps to Gideon for helping me set up the baseball diamond prior to 5:30 and to Kuch for the cones and tape measure which allowed us to play some F3 Baseball. PAX divided into 4 teams (1 at each base) and would perform said exercise then perform another exercise in transition to the next base. Due to the numbers we split into 2 groups of 5 and 2 groups of 4. The goal was for each group to complete 150 reps of said exercise as a team and then rotate to the next base. It dawned on me quickly that the groups of 4 would be passed up and possibly create a log jam, not to mention each group member perform a good bit more reps than members of the 5-PAX groups, so it was announced that 4-PAX groups would complete 120 reps total instead.

    • Home plate: merkins then broad jump/bunny hop to first base
    • First base: squats then bear crawl to second base
    • Second base: shoulder taps (1 is 1) then crab walk to third base
    • Third base: lunges (1 is 1) then crawl bear to home plate

    Round 2 (Kuch):

    Prior to 5:30 several PAX assisted Kuch in moving our monster truck tire into position so T-claps to those men. Kuch then announced we would split into 3 groups of 6 and complete a rotating circuit for the allotted 10 minutes.

    • Group 1: Each PAX would flip the tire, jump through, and return to the back of the line until the tire had reached group 2. Then plank.
    • Group 2: Plank while group 1 flips tire. Then group 2 flips tire back to the start line where they would hand it off to group 3.
    • Group 3: While groups 1 and 2 do their thing, group 3 sprints to where group 2 is planking and back, then holds an Al Gore until the tire returns to the start line.

    Each group would rotate through all 3 stations until Gideon called time. Once again T-claps to Gideon for setting up the cones for the next round while Kuch’s round was going on.

    Round 3 (High Rise):

    With cones set out 10 yards apart in a line, the same 3 groups of 6 PAX would perform Plank Hurdles. PAX #1 sprints 10 yards and then holds a plank. PAX #2 sprints to the 20 yard marker while hurdling PAX #1 in the process. PAX #3 hurdles PAX #1 and #2, etc. until all 6 PAX have hurdled and planked. Then PAX #1 hurdles all the way to the end, followed by PAX #2, etc. until all 6 PAX are at the last cone. Rinse and repeat back until Gideon calls time.

    Round 4 (Kuch):

    Shirts vs Skins soccer. Thanks again to Kuch for providing a light up soccer ball (or brick depending on where you kicked the ball). The soccer goals that are always at the field were moved into position, PAX was randomly split into 2 teams, and a very competitive match on the ant hill covered pitch commenced. A tightly fought match ended in a 1-1 draw until Gideon called time so as is the case in most soccer games, there were no winners.

    Mosey back to the flag where the PAX voted YHC as the winner with the final tally being 11-7. It was then decided by Gideon that since I received 11 votes, Kuch then performed 11 burpees as today’s losing Q. Numerous other PAX joined in because that’s what we do at F3 (but not me since I won).

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, sweaty ball of man. Once again it was a pleasure to lead the PAX. This was the second showdown between Kuch and I. The score is now tied at 1. We shall meet again.

  • I’m not modifying, you’re modifying

    My boy Screw Top was still nursing an injury following his marathon so for what felt like the 20th time I chose to step in for him as Q. I had not been a Q for a few weeks and wasn’t scheduled to Q for several more (not sure how I let that happen) so I took the opportunity to lead. 11 PAX joined myself on what has to be the greatest collection blacktops in the city at UNO. Disclaimer was given and off we went.

    Warm up:

    Took a lap around said parking lot and circled up.

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Concrete grabbers x 15 IC
    • Self love x 15 IC
    • Arm circles Fwd/rev x 10 each IC
    • Mountain climbers x 15 IC

    Thang 1:

    Moseyed over to the sidewalk along Elysian Fields. PAX gathered for what felt like the traditional Indian Run. However I found something on the exicon to change it up and we did a Prisoner Indian Run down to the traffic circle at Elysian Fields and Lakeshore Dr.

    Thang 2:

    Here is where the modification begins. I wanted to do 11s. But in honor of Michael Thomas being a bad man and breaking the single season catch record we did 13s. The modification didn’t stop there. I was inspired by Tua’s VQ a few weeks ago and stole from his playbook. So for the Double Modified 11s (AKA 13s) the PAX would run in the bike lane of the traffic circle. Once they ran half the circle they would stop and perform 12 Carolina dry docks and 1 squat jump. Run the other half the circle and do 11 CDD and 2 squat jumps, etc. until the last round was complete with 1 CDD and 12 squat jumps. The Q was stunned to find that much traffic at 5:40 AM 2 days prior to Christmas but thankfully we were able to avoid any incidents.

    Thang 3:

    Mosey over to the nearest parking. With Christmas coming up I was inspired when I found Santa’s Ladder on the exicon. PAX would start at one end of the parking lot and run to a randomly selected spot (that huge light post looks good) where we would perform 10 burpees, run back to start and perform 9 burpees, and so on until we got to round 5. Rounds 5-1 would be merkins. Plank and wait for the 6. As everyone was catching their breath I explained to the PAX that completing the ladder consisted of also performing the runs with rounds 10-6 being merkins and 5-1 being burpees. However due to time constraints I opted to modify and perform only 6 rounds.

    Mosey back to the flag in time for some Mary. Flutter kicks, Freddy Mercury’s and some other exercise that I can’t remember x 20 each IC. Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and sweaty ball of man. As always it was a great time leading the men of F3. Hopefully trying the new location at the traffic circle didn’t scare anyone but there was WAY more traffic than I anticipated so I will store that in memory for future beatdowns.

  • Baby, it’s cold outside

    To quote the late great Johnny Mercer, ‘baby, it’s cold outside.’ Or at least it was last Wednesday at The Foundry. When we got out of the car, it was 39 degrees with wind gusts of 20+. To get the blood pumping, I issued the disclaimer & then we mosey’d from the flag to the museum. Once at the museum we did the warmup.

    Warmup:

    Side straddle hops – 15 in cadence

    High knees – 15 in cadence

    Butt kicks – 15 in cadence

    Mountain climbers – 15 in cadence

    Windmills – 10 in cadence

    Self love

    Next we did The Thang:

    The Thang:

    Mountain climbers – 25 in cadence

    Irkins on fountain – 25

    Mountain climbers – 25 in cadence

    Box jumps on fountain – 25

    Mountain climbers – 25 in cadence

    Dips on fountain – 25 in cadence

    Next we partnered up and did a Dora 1-2-3. We did 100 merkins, 200 LBC’s & 300 calf raises. While one partner was doing the exercise, the other partner would run a lap around the museum

    Lastly, we did a burpee circuit on the museum steps. We ran up & down the steps of the museum & then did 1 burpee. Then we ran up & down the steps again & did 2 burpees. And so on until we reached 7 burpees.

    Once we completed that, we took a quick water break & then mosey’d back to the flag. Once at the flag, we did the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. It was a cold day, but a good day. And, as always, thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas  

  • HEY, IT’S CALLED A CO-OP!

    Last minute switch on Q for Screw Top as he ran a marathon a few days before! YHC was happy to help out.  T-claps Screw Top! Meanwhile, (“unbeknowanstince” to us) a prepared and excited Catfish noticed an empty slot on the list and couldn’t wait to jump in.  A short conversation on site and we decided to split the difference for a progressive Co-Op Q; to which there was much applause and general excitement from the Pax. As we know, everybody loves change. Here at the Mothership, we call it growth.  Off to the Peristyle… DJ Diver had the tunes for the beatdown.

    WARM UP

    Arm Circles (front/back)
    Grass Grabbers
    Hill Billies
    Peter Parkers
    Parker Peters
    Run to Marconi and back, plank for 6

    PART ONE 

    10 Pax (and one K9) – Break into 2 lines of 5 pax, plank position with hands at feet of pax in front of you, straight line all facing forward, at bottom of the Great Lawn.
    Last Pax bear crawls to front of the line, shouts, next pax bear crawls to the front… etc
    At every second tree all pax recover to feet, ring of fire with your group, 20 squats while others hold Al Gore, back to crawlin’ maggot! We’re doing the whole lawn! The length, not across..

    Make it to end. Took longer than YHC anticipated. Partner up. Move to side of lawn.
    DORA 123
     -Merkins 100
     – LBCs 200
     – Squats 300
    Partner runs across lawn. 2 burpees on the other side. Back to trade off.

    PART TWO

    Complete and hand Q to Catfish who started us off with his favorite crowd pleaser:

    Jack Webs.. in perpetuity… (to 15 merks, 30 air presses)

    Back by popular demand, his world famous 8 count body builders – Couldn’t count that high.

    Run to Marconi and back

    20 Box Jumps

    20 Monkey Humpers

    Infinite Donkey Kicks…


    Back to the flag for COT, announcements etc. Lots of health and life and death concerns today. As a general announcement to all – the holiday seasons are of course a special time and there is a lot to get caught up in and fun to be had. As leaders in our community, don’t forget that little voice at the back of your head reminding you that folks around us are still going through real challenges. Think of those struggling with addiction, depression, and isolation as well.  Don’t forget to reach out to that person struggling, without any pressure. Let them know there is a door open for them somewhere, with warm food, good spirits, no judgement. At this high pressure time of the year, these small gestures can have huge impacts for those walking through a tough cycle of their life. Just another way for us to strive to be good HIMs in our community. Always sweep the 6.

    Thanks to all for showing up in the gloom yet again, to hold each other accountable to another victory in the morning. Accelerating in to the new year.

  • Burpee Claus is coming to town

    Gentlemen, tis the holiday season, and we all know what that means; Burpee Claus is coming to town! So in honor of Burpee Claus and everything that he stands for (which is doing burpees), we did a traditional 6-10 Stomp this morning using the traditional Stomp route: the PAX ran for 6 minutes, then did 10 burpees for 1 minute (we did this 6 times, and then ultimately met back at the flag).

    T-claps to Hawg, Rev & War Eagle for running to the workout from Hawg’s house. I think they also aspired to run back to Hawg’s house as well once the beatdown was over, so they probably each logged 10+ miles this morning. T-claps also to Puddles, Amnesty’s dog, for joining us for the run.

    Once the beatdown was over, we did the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. During announcements, Amnesty mentioned that he has a keg of F3 beer & that he will send some info out on Mumblechatter to let the PAX know when/where to meet if they would like to sample it. Mayhem & Holy Grove both had prayer intentions, so we concluded by lifting up their intentions, lifting up the unspoken intentions & then ultimately thanking the Sky Q for another day of F3 exercise & fellowship. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. I always enjoy it.

  • It’s All About the Benjamins

    “Well done is better than well said.” ― Benjamin Franklin

    Another Monday in the books at The Chamber.  Today we had 9 men and 1 K-9 looking to sweat out the frustration of a Saints loss, and also sweat out any celebratory weekend libations of LSU’s win and/or holiday festivities.  Since we haven’t ventured much to the westward region of the AO, YHC figured we’d explore a bit and check out the area near Ben Franklin High School, and use the namesake as our theme for the day. Here’s what we did: 

    Warmup – quick lap around the lot, IW, WM, PP, Plank Roll

    Moseyed to the front of BFHS, kicked around the F3 mantra of “male leadership”, followed by an intro about Ben Franklin’s impact as a leader of his time.  Since he’s on the $100 bill, 100 would be our number of the day….cause “it’s all about the Benjamins“, according to Puff Daddy.    

    Wall Sit for 100 sec to start things off while YHC shared a refresher of BF’s accomplishments, contributions, and accolades….

    “Benjamin Franklin played an important role as one of the eight Founding Fathers, helping draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He never served as president but was a respected writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.”  Then a few quotes to stew on….“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”……….“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.” ― Benjamin Franklin

    BF stop #2 at the front steps, partnered up for a Dora-ish circuit…..PAX #1 works on 100 Step Jumps (2nd step) followed by 100 Declined Hip Slappers  while PAX#2 runs the parking lot loop, where some good F2 was had along the way.  T-claps to Pop Tart for the brisk runs!  

    BF stop #3 near the rear of the building for another Dora-ish circuit…PAX#2 works on 100 Hand Release Merkins followed by 100 Low Slow “Real Man” Squats, cause Ben Franklin didn’t shortcut anything, while PAX#2 runs a similar parking lot loop….more good F2.   

    Since ole Ben was a smart fella, most would assume he was no stranger to the library, so that’s where we headed next.  As the centerpiece of UNO’s campus, the Earl K Long Library boasts some of the finest concrete ledges and sprawling grass around, ideal for some staple F3 exercises.  The plan called for 100 total reps on each of the 4 sides of the building…

    #1 – Dips x25, Calf Raises x25, rinse and repeat  

    #2 – Wall Sit for 100 sec while we brushed up on the history of Earl Long, a former Louisiana governor, leader, and lover of the ladies.    

    #3 – 25 merkins, 25 step lunge walk, rinse and repeat

    #4 – no time left sooo….

    Indian Run back to the flag, getting back just in time.  Capped off with a COT, announcements, and prayer intentions for several families battling serious medial issues, along with those fighting addiction, and for guidance to continue to be strong men, husbands, fathers, and leaders.  

    YHC then remembered to share yet another Franklin quote on the wanke, this one with a bit more substance and relative to what we strive for through F3, and Holy Grove was really digging it, so it was requested that it be read again…      

     “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” ― Benjamin Franklin

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead.  

    Tool 

  • 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