Tag: iHeart

  • Time Killer with the River Stones – from Rudy

    10 PAX, including 1 FNG (welcome Slab!) and 1 Kotter (good to see you back, Spawning!), at the Mothership on a uncomfortably warm and humid December morning. YHC sporting Jesuit gear in hopes of inspiring any Jays in the crowd. But seems that the regular Jays crowd must be sleeping in to get ready for a big day of tailgating. But the PAX who were present were in for a good start to Championship Saturday.

    Mosey to the Great Lawn to get started. SHOOT. Didn’t take too long for YHC to get confused about the plan. Quick pivot – lets mosey over towards the Fountain for a quick warmup. SSH, IW, and some back stretches. Bat Wings – but much to FracSac’s dismay, YHC cut off before we got to the Dancing Night Clubs. We’ve got to get moving.

    Grab a Stone and head to the Great Lawn.

    The Thang: 12 step ladder. Starting at the path on one end, there are 11 trees down the lawn. Each round, we will add one more tree and exercise to the circuit. Carry the rock from tree to tree. Most exercises used the rock. But even if it didn’t, you were on the hook to haul it along.

    + At the sidewalk, start with 1 8-Count Body Builder (thanks Hawg, for the demonstration to our FNG. YHC forgot about that).
    + Add 2 Block Burpees at the first Tree.
    + Add 3 Thrusters at the next tree.
    + 4 Curl-Presses. YHC had a total brain fart on this. There was something planned for 4, but YHC could not remember. PAX held a plank for about a minute while YHC tried in vain to recall. War Eagle suggested Curl-Presses instead, so that works. These had been planned for 7, so this gave YHC a few more rounds to remember.
    + 5 Big Boy situps
    + 6 Squats
    + 7 Cross-over Merkins. THIS WAS WHAT SUPPOSED TO BE AT 4. YHC remembered just in the nick of time.
    + 8 American Hammers
    + 9 Rows (Hawg gracefully corrected PAX form. Many thanks)
    + 10 Lunges
    + 11 Flutter Kicks – HOLD THAT ROCK OVER YOUR HEAD
    + 12 Burpees at the far sidewalk.

    YHC had estimated that this was going to take about 30 minutes. So we had another exercise planned. But it was now 7:26. So lets hustle the rocks back to their resting place and get back to the (virtual) flag.

    Finish up with COT – named our FNG Slab (he runs Kitchen Depot on Airline). War Eagle then took us home.

    YHC noticed that these river stones offer a much different challenge than Rock City. They are smooth, lacking finger holds. It pushes different muscles to carry the rock for nearly an hour without those finger holds. My forearms were sore for the rest of the weekend. I will be using these again!

  • Catfish Semi-Challenge (Mothership 2020-03-07)

    Nice chilly spring Mothership with 18 PAX in attendance: iHeart, Hokie Pokie, Tool, Angie’s List, Landing Strip, Jingle Vader, Triple Shift, Gabrielle, Willie, Squeal, Douille, King Kong, Two Yutes, Beignet, Belloq, Blowout, War Eagle, Catfish (Q).

    Started at the peristyle with Abe Vigoda, Grass Grabbers, and Side Straddle Hop. On to our faces with Peter Parkers, Plank Jacks, Parker Peters, and Mountain climbers. Finished out the warmup with some 8-count bodybuilders.

    Moved to the Great Lawn and partnered up for B.O.M.V.S. (combined 50 burpees, 100 overhead claps, 150 merkins, 200 V-ups, and 250 squats). Once completed, moved to the southeast end of the lawn for some Mary while waiting for the six (got in some LBCs and dying roaches).

    After a quick 10 count and a quick side straddle hop, moved to the base (south end) of the field, then did a quick throwback round to September 2019 Iron PAX Challenge – hop a tree length, 10 burpees, 10 bonnie blairs, 10 big boy situps, rinse and repeat 3x. Did plank jacks waiting for the six.

    Once we got to the end, split into two circles for some rings of fire. First ring was monkey humpers (2 rounds, hold the position between rounds), next ring was al gore position with bonnie blairs.

    After the rings, moved on to one of the Q’s personal favorites – Jack Webb. Got up to 13 today, not too shabby.

    Returned to the peristyle for calf raises and 8-counts to finish up.

    Great day, great workout. Thanks to all what participated!

  • Trading mental mistakes for Burpees

    YHC hasn’t been to the Mothership in awhile, and it was great to see 17 eager Pax ready to join in some pre-Crazy Ivan activity. First thing was the disclaimer, followed by a shout out to the Freedom Hammer, an honored prize from last year versus the North Shore.

    Mosey to the Great Lawn, taking the long way, circle up for the warmup

    SSH IC x 31
    Hillbillies IC x 20
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10
    Arm Circles x 20
    Peter Parker IC x 15
    Mountain Climber IC x 15
    Parker Peter IC x 15

    Have the Pax count off and remember their number…..for later

    Mosey to a long side of the Great Lawn for BLIMPS:
    Burpees x 5
    Lunges (each leg) x 10
    Imperial Walkers x 15
    Merkins x 20
    Plank Jacks x 25
    Squats x 30

    Continue until the lunges take you to the other side, each Pax completed 3 cycles. 15 Burpees so far…..

    Mosey to the cones set up on the Great Lawn for suicides:
    The cones are set up like a basketball court.
    Sprint to quarter line and back – 5 merkins
    Sprint to half and back – 5 merkins
    sprint to three quarter line and back – 5 merkins
    sprint full court and back – 5 merkins

    Next up was involving the cones again:
    Start at baseline and Burpee broad jump to quarter line, then bear crawl to half line, then peter Parker to three quarter line, then bear crawl to end.
    Note: bear crawl and PP are similar yet different…..

    Pax averaged 4 burpees, so 19 so far….

    Next up was a mental exercise to test the Pax when tired:
    YHC asks two pax for their number, say 5 and 12. We count SSH IC to 5 and complete 12 in silence, on YHC’s SSH. If all pax stop at the same time, we’re done. If any pax continue counting or fail to stop at 12, a penalty is administered.

    First penalty administered:
    SSH IC x 5
    10 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 5
    9 Burpees OYO

    Back to the mental test. Let’s say it was 3 and 11. Result? Next penalty was administered:
    SSH IC x 5
    8 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 5
    7 Burpees OYO

    Back to the mental test, and onto the next penalty….gotta stop when YHC stops!
    SSH IC x 5
    6 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 5
    5 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 5
    4 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 5
    3 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 5
    2 Burpees OYO

    One more chance for Pax to get it right: but one pax started counting during silent count…..
    Penalty followed….
    SSH IC x 5
    11 Burpees OYO…surely some Pax anticipated 1 Burpee….
    That was 65 more burpees, for 84 total

    Back to the cones for more suicides:
    5 Burpees, complete a full set of suicides like before, end with 5 burpees.

    That’s 10 more, so 94 total. If YHC has been counting, 6 more would have made it in…..

    A little Mary:
    LBC’s IC x 20
    Flutter kicks IC x 20
    American Hammer IC x 10

    Belloq, Willie, and Gabrielle take us out with some stretches…..

    Mosey back to the Shovel flag for COT:

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions and closed out a prayer to the Sky Q.
    Name-o-Rama included the freedom hammer being passed around! South shore looks to hold the prized hammer for another year!

    SYITG!!




  • Heisenburg’s Uncertainty = Catfish (Mothership 2020-01-11)

    Lovely windy morning on the Mothership with 9 PAX.

    Started on the Great Lawn with some windmills, grass grabbers, arm circles, and side straddle hop. On to our faces for Parker Peters, Plank Jacks, and Peter Parkers. Then on to some 8-count bodybuilders to finish the warmup.

    Moseyed over to the treeline for 11s with burpees and catalinas. Faster PAX did LBCs and overhead claps while waiting for the six.

    Took a quick mosey over to Cafe du Monde and then back to the peristyle. Did a merkin ring of fire (3 rounds), then 10 burpees OYO, then a squat ring of fire (hold al gore b/w squats, 3 rounds), then 10 burpees OYO, then a flutter kick ring of fire (hold legs up b/w kicks, 3 rounds), then 10 burpees.

    After this, got some donkey kicks in, then moved to the benches for right leg step-ups, dips, left-leg step ups, incline merkins, then calf raises by the columns.

    Another mosey to marconi and back to the peristyle. Finsished up with some 8-counts, then back to flag for COT.

  • Hokie Pokey’s 60th Birthday Party

    Hokie Pokey’s 60th Birthday Party

    Warm Up

    After a brief welcome and disclaimer and pointing out two FNG’s we moseyed over the great lawn for 15 SSH (some jeering the Q was already winded and thus we stopped), 10 Arm Cirlces and 10 Abe Vigoda’s we the explained today’s 6oth birthday celebration.

    The celebration of 60

    We divided into 6 groups (Four groups of 4 and two groups of 5) and established 6 starting positions around the great lawn (the 4 corners and the two “midfields”). Each group would perform 10 reps at each station for a total of 60 reps in each round.

    After each round, the fittest of the fit would run to Café du Monde and then to the Peristyle Pavilion where Catfish would lead them in 60 reps of his cardio intensity choice while waiting on the six.

    We the returned to our starting points at the great lawn to start the next round.

    Round one ~ Burpess

    Round two ~ Lunges ( 2 is one)

    Round three ~ Imperial Walkers (2 is one)

    Round four ~ Merkins (Hand Release)

    Round five ~ Plank Jacks (4 count)

    Round six ~ was performed while staying under the Peristyle Pavilion as we were running tight on our 60 minute time cap.

    COT

    Countarama, Name-o-rama, naming two FNG’s (Hokie’s son-in-law from DC is Beardo and Hokie’s brother from PA is CoatTails), announcements and prayer intentions.

    Rudy was kind enough to then close us out in prayer!

    Gratitude

    I am humbled to be able to call my F3 NOLA guys my brothers in Christ and friends. I am also appreciative of Catfish moving his Muscleship Q to Mothership and Co-Qing this 60th birthday celebration. To each of you, please know I am honored to be in your presence and have you pushing me to grow physically and spiritually. To each of you, RESPECT RESPECT to you!

    Thanks to the 26 PAX who were able to celebrate my birthday with me
    Two FNG’s ~ Coattails and Beardo
  • Poker Run

    Its the game all the new cool kids are playing.

    “A poker run is an organized event in which participants, usually using motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, snowmobiles, horses, on foot or other means of transportation, must visit five to seven checkpoints, drawing a playing card at each one. “

    YHC has previously over-estimated the PAX’s ability to listen to and understand directions. And YHC was afraid that this particular set of instructions was going to be beyond the attention span of the PAX. The PAX were warned that this was going to require attention. And all but Angie’s List seemed willing to give it a shot.

    Quick warmup with some SSH (x31 – to celebrate 31 years since ND’s last National Championship. YHC promised this would be the only ND reference during the workout) and Windmills.

    Then – PAX assume plank position while YHC explains the game. The more backtalk and sass, the longer we stay in plank position. Except Jingle Vader. JV apparently has some objection to Plank, so he stood in the Vertical Plank with arms crossed.

    The Rules: there are 5 stations around the park. See the map. At each station there are some cards (playing cards) and a card (workout card). Each group picks a playing card, and the workout card tells you what to do (which exercise, how many reps).

    Each team visits each of the stations, getting 5 cards. OK, there were other rules too. But I don’t need to go through them all here. The 3 teams (Hawg, King Kong and Bongo; Douille, Angie’s List, Jingle Vader; Catfish, Rudy, iHeart, Da Parish) each took off.

    5 Stations with Legs, Planks, Merks, Abs, Burpees. Side note: drawing the Ace of Hearts and its 30 8 Count Body Builder reward kind of sucked. Thanks Catfish.

    OK, its about 7:20 and everyone is back in the Great Lawn with 5 cards. Circle up for opportunities to replace cards.

    Monkey Humpers: Do Monkey Humbers for longer than YHC, and your team can exchange a card. Rudy got to x40. Hawg, King Kong and Bongo tapped out after 2, and assumed the Al Gore position of shame.

    Plank: Plank longer than Rudy and your team can exchange a card. Rudy got to about 90 seconds. Hawg, King Kong and Bongo tapped out after about 10 seconds.

    Burpees: Everyone on your team get 10 burpees in less than a minute? Exchange 1 card. Hawg, King Kong and Bogo tapped out at exactly 9 burpees each.

    NOTE: Everyone should have realized something by this point.

    The Wager: Each team automatically antes 10 burpee. Winner does no burpee, losing teams pay the bet. Douille, Angie’s List and Jingle Vader call the lazy triplets at 25 Burpees. While Catfish et. al. ponder their move, Hawg announces the natural full house they pulled. Fortunately, that allowed Catfish et. al. to Fold and only pay a 15 burpee penalty.

    Congrats to the winners who SWEAR they drew 3 7s and 2 10s blind.

    Thanks all for giving this a shot!

  • Terrain Race Motheusceship Q on the fly. Exit thru the gift shop.

    Tanner graciously offered to Q the Terrain Race Saturday beatdown at City Park then graciously stayed in bed once I offered to Q. It was my Mothership/ Muscleship VQ.

    7 men opted out of the terrain race and assembled near NOMA for a Saturday morning beatdown. Q eyed the group and deeming them runners all took off for the grass across from the Peristyle cause I am a Mothership man.

    Circled up Warmed up

    Prolly did SSH, GG, PP, PP, MC, AC forward and reverse, Merks,

    Decided to do some travelling BLIMPS with burpees starting at 10 and each following exercise increasing by 10. We meandered throughout City Park with random stops to do the L, I, M, P, S etc.

    After the first set of lunges I was talking smack to Rudy and Douille whence I prompty tweaked my back which hurts to this day FYI.

    Hit the baby foundry and did some excercises in 3 groups. Pullups, Decline Merks and Dips?

    Made our way to the front of the Childrens Museum and did some peoples choice mary. I promised each PAX would get to pick ONE thing from the gift shop. Rudy threw a tantrum over a $65 stuffed unicorn so all bets were off. Nobody gets anything!

    Rinsed and repeated at some point on the traveling blimps show. Just picked random spots to bang out another letter.

    With 8 minutes left we made a quick lap around the pond to finish up in front of NOMA.

    Pretty sure we finished up with a solid 3+ miles for the day.

    COT. Thanks for letting me lead.

  • Born in the Shadows

    9/16/19 – Mothership

    Another Saturday morning, another Friday Night decision to choose the gloom over old habits.  

    A warm and inviting morning of about 40deg met the pax and everyone loved it. Greetings and disclaimer, mosey to the peristyle for warmups.

    WARMUP

    Mix of arm circles, grass grabbers, squats, round robin merkins (all pax holds plank while each pumps out 10 merkins in succession, complete the circle). 

    THE THANG

    Mosey to the base of Roosevelt Mall. Using the concrete benches – 10 box jumps, run to next, 10 incline merkins, all the way up mall. Plank for 6 at the practice track. 

    Practice Track – Partner up. Catch me if you can, one lap. 
    Keep your partner – double up with another set of pax partners. (we had 10 total pax, evenly split to two lines of 5, do not recommend going over 5) The exercise is Bear Crawl Inch worm. Make two lines in plank position, hands lining up behind feet of pax in front of you.  Pax at rear bear crawls to front of line, holds plank, next pax at rear bear crawls to front, holds plank… keep going. Half the football field. Cause why not. 

    Count to 20 for a breather (quickly). Back to your original partner. 200 squats. Set of 20 while partner holds a tree (Al Gore). 

    Mosey, listen to the mumblechatter, recalibrate, make a democratic decision to take the long way. All will celebrate. Back to the great lawn.  Tclaps to Triple shift who led some mary while six was swept. 

    Great lawn for 11s.  LBCs and Bonnie blairs across the lawn. Finished exactly on time. Mosey to flag, circle up. 

    Thanks to whoever tracked, we ran 3.6 miles with the workout. Tclaps to all. I didn’t exactly intend on it being quite so long… oops. We did some serious work. So for those who completed all the above… Respect. 

    THE NOTE

    A special huge shout out to F3 Kansas City!

    YHC was out in Kansas City for work this week and it’s worth mentioning how re-energizing it is to visit another outfit.  When I reached out, their lead, Blistex, went out of his way to organize with other pax.  Someone went out of their way to give me a ride from the hotel to beatdown, and some one else covered me for the ride back – every morning!  Just awesome that the beatdown means so much and the spirit of F3 would connect people to go so out of their way, for a stranger, to workout on a freezing cold morning, in the gloom. I mean how totally weird, and awesome is that?? I hope we NOLA Pax are representing ourselves and treating our visiting brothers even half as well. 

    Our F3 brothers founded their pax just in April of this year and they are already big enough to be holding steady AO’s 6 days a week.  Their push and their attitude was great to see and a solid reminder of just how needed, beneficial, and empowering F3 nation is. You’re not just showing up for yourself, even though that’s how it starts.  Once your life vest is on and you’re hooked, you’re showing up for the next man. For your neighbor. For some one who needs this just as much as you, but hasn’t started yet. 

    Speaking with one of the KC founders – Tapps (a great example of the F3 spirit) – he talked about how just like when you’re born in the hospital, you don’t get to chose your name, when you’re born in F3 you don’t get to chose your name.  You earn it by showing up and going through the pain of birth (or beatdown) and getting named by your new F3 family. So we are all born in the shadows, in the gloom. That’s the start of the new us, committed to being a little bit better, every day. 

    Thanks for the F3 community. Thanks for letting me lead. Thanks to the gloom.