F3 New Orleans

Tag: mandeville lakefront

  • Eye on the Ball

    After a brief warmup of Seal Jacks, Lunges, Imperial Walkers, Toe Touches, and SSHs, with some Burpees sprinkled in for good measure, it was game time this morning on the Mandeville Lakefront. Forming up into three teams of four and armed with tennis balls, the PAX made their way to the Mandeville harbor playground via a passing/running game and with a brief stop for some Merkins.

    At the playground, the ball games continued. We started with a cooperative passing game. Penalties of Burpees, Merkins, and Squat Jumps were dished out for every break down, and the difficulty level was increased as we got the hang of things. Then we switched to a competitive possession game where despite an early lead, the red team lost it at the buzzer. No one was to blame of course and his name will not be mentioned, but let’s just say that the red team would have prevailed if a certain PAX whose name rhymes with BurboBax had caught the final pass.

    Back to our three teams of four and to the shovel flag using just our feet to move the tennis balls with us.

    Nameorama, countorama and Moby prayed us out. Thanks for letting me lead and playing along this morning, guys.

    NMM

    Having Zoolander in the PAX for a running dominant workout is like bringing your dog for a walk in the park. He runs 3 miles for every one that you walk.

    Krazy Ivan is on for Friday February 5th at 2000 hours. Hope to see you all out there if not for the run then for the F2 afterwards at the Barley Oak.

  • First Official Northshore H8!

    The inquiries started as soon as Steve announced the 3rd semi-annual Northshore H8! in his weekly e-mail blast. Would YHC get it right this year? Couched in the politest terms possible, the PAX wanted to know. So after reassuring everyone who asked that yes I knew what I was doing this time, YHC privately reviewed his notes from the last two fiascos, scoured Hawgcycle’s backblast from the recent Southshore challenge, and secretly consulted with Cowbell to confirm his conclusions. The result of all was, I think, a successful running of the Northshore H8! Finally.

    But first there was the warmup and a memorable warmup it was when 9 year old Pick Axe agreed to help prepare the PAX by leading his favorite exercises. YHC and Pick Axe rotated with Seal Jacks, SSHs, Hillbillies, IWs, lunges, toe touches, and arm circles. Once he adjusted his volume to screaming 9 year old level, Pick Axe performed flawlessly. The PAX really enjoyed it, and the presence of so many sons with their fathers in the early morning Mandeville Lakefront gloom has been a real boost to our fellowship and wholesome mission.

    So everyone was feeling pretty good on the mosey to that famous landmark, the Lakefront Shaft, and the starting line for the 3rd semi-annual but 1st official Northshore H8! Once YHC got through the instructions over Bushwacker’s questions, comments, thoughts, and philosophical musings, we were off.

    Of course, the Northshore PAX cannot replicate the Southshore’s version of the H8! precisely because we don’t have levees and a figure 8 was out of the question (it would be like playing Frogger with the traffic). We did our best and if truth be told it was more like a HS! YHC marked out a .4 mile out and back course which included a bridge with minuscule elevation change and cones measuring 35 yards apart. The first lap required each PAX to run and bear crawl the course and then perform 8 burpees and 36 hand release Merkins upon returning to the starting line. Rinse and repeat with the number of burpees and Merkins decreasing by 1 each lap. The objective was to complete 8 laps in 40 minutes. Total of over 3 miles running, 550 yards of bear crawls, 36 burpees and 120 hand release Merkins for the 8 laps.

    There were some impressive performances. This type of workout tends to favor the little guys and the guys who like to run. The guys who can lift appliances with their pinkie fingers when helping their friends move generally do not like this workout. But YHC didn’t hear any negative mumble chatter and only witnessed lots of effort. The 40 minute buzzer finally sounded and we made our way back to the shovel flag where we wrapped things up in our COT, Hammer praying us out.

    Thanks for letting me lead guys. SYITG.

  • The Cave of Time

    Back in the day, YHC was really into the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books.  One of the few I remember was called The Cave of Time, where you enter this cave and, depending on the path you choose, you might find yourself stuck in an Ice Age, or in the Jurassic Era, or in a never-ending time loop.  The great thing about these books is that there were many, many bad endings.  If the series was written today, every ending would probably be a happy one.  But no, in the 80’s, death awaited at every turn!  

    So much like The Cave of Time, the 28 pax who posted were faced with a similar “choose your own adventure”™: take the path to the left, and follow Bushwacker into the world of pain known as The Iron Pax Challenge; or take the path to the right, and follow YHC into a potentially less painful but hopefully equally rewarding beatdown.  As in the books, misery awaited the pax in both paths!  (Obviously, YHC is a sucker for bad endings.)

    A couple of new faces, so a hastily given disclaimer was issued, before launching into:

    Warmorama: Good mornings, arm circles, torso twists, IW’s, Seal Jacks, mountain climbers, plank jacks, and SSHs.

    The Iron Paxers took off with Bush to begin their timed misery, while the rest of us moseyed to the splash pad, stopping at each intersection for a quick round of exercises:

    @ Marigny:

    • 20 Wide armed merkins
    • 20 Jump squats IC
    • 20 LBCs IC

    @ Lamarque:

    • 20 Diamond merkins
    • 20 Sister Mary’s IC
    • 20 Leg raises IC

    @ Foy:

    • 20 T-merkins
    • 20 Monkey humpers IC
    • 20 V-ups OYO

    Finally at the playground, time for a quick COP:

    • Circle Burp!  (high knees while each of the pax drop for 3 burpees)
    • Then, Al Gore while each of the pax knock out 3 jump squats

    Over to the curb for a set of 11’s:

    • 1 Mike Tyson, bear crawl to opposite curb, 10 star jumps, continue until numbers are reversed.

    Here’s where things got brutal.  YHC had heard of Mike Tysons (which involve planking with your feet on the curb, doing a horizontal squat, then back out to plank for a merkin – that’s one), but never actually tried them.  Combining those with bear crawls for a set of 11’s was one of those “it looked good on paper!” moments.  Nevertheless, the pax pushed on, unaware that YHC would call it about 3/4ths of the way in.  T-claps to the younger men in our group who put in a heroic effort here. 

    And finally, one more routine just for Jose 10k (only two more days to fill that jug!): Sprints! P1 sprints, while P2 does: Peter Parkers, then rinse and repeat with plank jacks.

    With time running short, time for a Bataan Death March back to the flag (t-claps to Shooter for picking up the six).

    The Iron Pax men were still wandering around looking like someone hit them with a hammer, but YHC was able to convince a few to drop to their six for an abbreviated Mary of Dollies and Rosalitas. T-claps to all the men who attempted the challenge this week, regardless of times. It was a tough one.

    Countdown, nameorama, and naming of FNGs.  YHC is very bad at naming FNG’s, so apologies to the new guys.  Welcome Cucumber, Squid, and… TruCoat!  (That’s right, there was a post-coffeteria renaming of our final FNG.)  It was determined by the two co-Q’s that Woodchuck was just too lame.  So in a nod to the movie Fargo, he was renamed for the following scene:

    Mathlete prayed us out, with intentions for Legal’s friend, and everyone made their way over for some coffee… some even got a lift in Amnesia’s sweet new ride!

    Thank you men for the tremendous push this morning!

  • Never Too Old to Play Games

    Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. You’re never too old to play games. The PAX proved as much on the Mandeville Lakefront this weekend.

    After a rather exhaustive one burpee OYO warmup, the PAX formed up into 4 or 5 man teams for the first game of the morning. Each team had to transport a sandbag and a ball to the finish line a few blocks away. Both the sandbag and ball could not touch the ground, and the man with the ball could not move. 20 and 5 all team burpee penalties, respectively, for a dropped sandbag or dropped ball. Hijinks ensued.

    It was both a blessing and a curse to have Shooter on YHC’s team. Shooter carried the sandbag with his pinkie finger the entire way in another demonstration of his real world strength. That was the blessing. The curse was that it was rather embarrassing for the rest of the team to reach the finish line much later than Shooter. He was almost finished his cigarette when we arrived.

    This whole fiasco prompted a rule change and for the next race to the Milestone Marsh each team member had to carry the sandbag at least twice. This seemed to level the playing field somewhat, and it was a much closer race with teams sticking together to exchange the sandbag regularly.

    Once at the Marsh, it was time for some passing games. We cooperated as one big team to keep the ball moving at first. Then we transformed into shirts and skins and got competitive. There were impressive displays of athletic prowess, and the shirts convincing claimed the day.

    Back to the shovel flag with our sandbags, this time with the requirement that each man carry the sandbag at least four times and play the ball with his feet only.

    Countorama, nameorama, and then young Pope prayed us out on the way to our coffeeteria.

    Thanks for letting me lead guys and for playing along with the silly games. Remember, you’re never too old to play games.

  • All Aboard! Hahahaha – 1 Yr Anniversary

    At this time last year, I showed up to my first lakefront beatdown (thanks Russo), and almost didn’t come back. I was a gym rat, couldn’t run a mile, ate like crap, and hovered around 190. But I was intrigued by the companionship of the PAX that day, the leadership focus, how no man was left behind, and pressed on. I attended Saturdays through September, then cancelled my gym membership, and went all in averaging 4 days a week, including the scramble (thanks Shooter). Since then, I’ve lost 25 pounds, done CSAUPS and F2 events, and ran 80 miles last Feb during Run Ranger Run. My only regret is that I didn’t find this earlier.

    PAIN TRAIN

    26 posted (6 under 17) at the mothership Saturday to help celebrate YHC’s 1 year anniversary, and take a ride on the Pain Train. We traveled from the flag to the shaft, stopping at 8 pain stations along the way, accompanied by motivational tunes. *I understand that most songs could not be heard, songs are listed after each station

    Pre-Thang: 2 miler

    Warmorama:  Arm Circles, SSH, Torso Twist, Self-Love, Hillbillies x10 IC

    THANG:  All About the Benjamins – Everything equals 100 reps.

    • Exercise 1: 25 reps at the wall
    • Travel in various ways 55 feet to the flags
    • Exercise 2: 25 reps, run back to the wall Rinse and repeat
    • Total of 50 reps of each exercise
    • All exercises done OYO, plank for the six

    Pain Station’s 1 and 2

    1. Freak Nasty, Bear Crawl, Mountain Climbers
    2. Run, repeat
    3. Dirkins, Flying Nun (Lunge with arm circles), Twinkle Toes (Al Gore calf raises)
    4. Run, Repeat
    • It’s All About the Benjamin’s,  P.Diddy et all
    • C’Mon ‘N’ Ride it (The Train), Quad City DJ’s
    • Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
    • Breathe, The Prodigy
    • Song 2, Blur

    Pain Station 3: Let the Good Times Roll

    Burpees on Good Times Roll, air presses in between.

    • Let the Good Times Roll, The Cars

    Pain Station’s 4 and 5:

    1. Bulgarian Split Squats, Army Crawl, Superman’s
    2. Run, repeat
    3. Stone Mountain, Crawl Bear, Renegade Row (1 arm plank, 1 arm row)
    4. Run, repeat
    • The Kill, Thirty Seconds to Mars
    • Firestarter, The Prodigy
    • Fly from the Inside, Shinedown

    Pain Station 6: The SSH Motivator

    IC 10 full SSH, Shoulder level, down and out, then hands at sides, then 9 each, then 8, etc. non-stop

    • ‘Till I Collapse, Eminem & Nate Dogg
    • Gonna Fly Now, Bill Conti (Rocky Theme Song)

    Seemed easy enough, but what ensued was a painful comedy of errors. YHC had a tough time conveying and keeping the order of positions, which kept us out of synch just a tad. To curious onlookers it must have looked like a bunch of birds trying to take flight.

    After a while it seemed it would never end, why was it taking so long, why do I feel like I’m about to collapse? I kept my gaze at Bushwacker (who brought us The Motivator), seeking some rescue by mental telepathy – but all I got was a big smile.

    Legend has it the Arnold Schwarzenegger and his buddies would go camping and do squats until they couldn’t stand any more. This was not to be our fate, we would persevere!

    Later in the day I sought advice from the engineering mind of Grover and he did not hold back. “You did it wrong dad: the positions were wrong and you did a double count instead of single.”

    Ah, all makes sense now. So we did 440 SSH instead of 220. Way to hang in there guys.

    Pain Station 7

    Merkins on New Day Rising, plank in between

    Pain Station 8: Mary IC

    1. 8 ct Peter Parker Merkins (Perkins) x10
    2. Crunchy Frogs x20
    3. LBC x50
    4. LMC x25

    Count, Name-o-rama, Welcome FNG Laces!

    COT: Prayers for the crazy world we are in, safety, and thanks for blessings.

    Coffeteria: Book and the Bean

    All said and done, including WU and Mary – 1096 reps, 100 yards of crawls, 100 yards of runs

    Thanks for a great year, friendships, pushing me beyond what I ever thought I could do, and the opportunity to lead.

    SYITG – Akbar

  • Misty Morning Beatdown

    YHC ate way too much over his Christmas break and so was quick to respond to Steve’s call to Q this morning. After joining Legal, Hammer and Zoolander for a little Foreplay in the Gloom, YHC circled up the PAX, partnered up with Grover and got down to business with a warmup.

    YHC and Grover rotated warmup exercises of Imperial Walkers, SSHs, Hillbillys, Seal Jacks, Butt Kicks and High Knees, all 20x IC. Good job Grover in leading for the first time.

    The PAX then headed down the Lakefront for a set of Dora 1-2-3s with a partner: 100 hand release Merkins, 200 45 degree lunges, and 300 SSHs with bear crawls and crab walks in between.

    After a brief recovery walk and a short mosey a little further eastward down the Lakefront, YHC set up a few cones for a version of Catch Me if You Can. Partner 1 backpedals about 10 yards from cone 1 to cone 2 while Partner 2 holds at cone 1. As soon as Partner 1 hits cone 2, Partner 2 sprints to try to beat his backpedaling partner to cone 3 about 30 yards away. Recovery walk back with the partners switching spots and then repeating.

    Three more sets with three different partners and it was time to dig into the bag of tricks to retrieve a ball for the next stage of our beat down.

    The PAX divided into three teams, each with a ball, for a race to the Harbor playground. Despite HanDcock, Esquire’s attempt to confuse matters with lawyerly questions, the rules were very simple for the race: PAX cannot run when holding the ball and each time the ball hits the ground the entire team has to do one burpee before getting underway again. Serious high jinx ensued, and YHC cannot even remember who won except that it wasn’t his team.

    The PAX then hit some staggered Merkins and took a brief reprieve and then it was a race back to the starting point, this time using only your non-dominant hand to catch and throw.

    Mosey to the virtual shovel flag for some Mary with dynamic back and front planks.

    Countorama, nameorama and Goose led us out in prayer on our way to the coffeeteria.

    Moleskin

    If you are old and grumpy like YHC and think that our youth should be doing something other than spending all of their time glued to their phones, then you need to meet 9 year old Bear and 17 year old Grover. Bear can bear crawl like, well, a bear and singlehandedly kept his team in contention for the ball games this morning and his dad honest on the hand release Merkins. Grover quickly accepted YHC’s invitation to lead this morning’s warmup and cheerfully executed like a seasoned veteran. It is absolutely fabulous to see these two young men join their dads in the Gloom. Mathlete and Akbar should be very proud of their 2.0s.

    The Krazy Ivan is coming up, Comrades. All Northshore PAX need to clear their calendars for the evening of January 18th. It is imperative that we have maximum participation. The Southshore PAX have been gloating over last year’s victory and posting pictures of themselves with the Freedom Hammer all year. It’s enough to make you sick.

  • 21 Gun Salute

    21 PAX braved the foggy Mandeville Lakefront for the running of the H8! After 20 SSHs IC and a short mosey down the Lakefront, the PAX pumped themselves up for a 45 minute DownPAINment on the weekend. It looked like this:

    First round of one burpee (with eight hand release Merkins inside it), followed by a second burpee (with seven hand release Merkins inside it), then a third burpee (with six hand release Merkins inside it)…all the way down to one burpee (with one hand release Merkin inside it)…bear crawl for 35 yards, round trip run for .4 miles, bear crawl for 35 yards back to the starting point to complete the first round.

    Second round starts with one burpee (with seven hand release Merkins inside it)…descending to one last burpee (with one hand release Merkin insdie it)…bear crawl, run, and bear crawl back to the starting point.

    AMRAP in 45 minutes with an objective to hit 7 rounds.

    The Northshore PAX definitely is growing in fitness as an impressive number of men completed 7 rounds and some men completed even more. Not bad considering 7 rounds translated into 36 burpees (with 120 hand release Merkins inside them), 490 yards of bear crawls, and 2.8 miles of running.

    Slow mosey back to the shovel flag where Speedy Gonzales prayed us out after the countorama and nameorama. Then it was off to the coffeeteria.

    Thanks for letting me lead, guys. It’s great to see everyone getting better.

  • Taking Care of Business

    Nineteen men posted on the Mandeville Lakefront this morning and took care of business. It was a beautiful morning in the land of milk and honey, and the PAX wasted no time kicking things off after some of the boys wrapped up their 2 miles of foreplay. Brief disclaimer for our FNG Grover and then a burpee OYO, followed by

    20 Seal Jacks IC

    3 Burpees OYO

    20 Copperhead Squats IC

    5 Burpees OYO

    20 Toe Touches IC

    7 Burpees OYO

    10 Windmills IC

    9 Burpees OYO

    20 Mountain Climbers IC

    11 Burpees OYO

    10 Merkins IC

    12 Burpees OYO

    20 SSH IC

    We then moseyed Westward for a round of 11s: lateral step ups with a jump on the sea wall on one end balanced by ice skater hops on the other end with lunge walks in between. We partnered up for these manly exercises because old guys like YHC need assistance remembering the count when it gets to 5 or 6 (thanks Speedy!) and ended up a little early because the whole production was taking longer than YHC had planned.

    Moving further Westward down the Lakefront the PAX circled up around a cone for a Ring of Fire: merkin wave, t stands, shoulder taps, bear crawls to and back from the cone, as well as plank walks to the left and right kept us busy for a while and then we recovered and moved on further down the Lakefront.

    YHC set up three cones in a V shape, and it was time for some agility drills. Repeating each drill twice we shuffled facing outwards, shuffled facing inwards, did the carioca facing outwards and then inwards, hopped laterally with vertical jumps between hops, and backpedaled with a sprint to finish things off.

    Worked our way back to the Shovel Flag with a Horses to the Barn sprint from about 300 yards out. Collected the Six for our countorama, nameorama (named our FNG Grover), and prayer before retiring to the Book & Bean for the coffeeteria.

    Thanks for letting me lead guys. It’s always fun, and you always manage to play along with good attitudes which YHC truly appreciates.

  • In the Books

    The 2019 Iron PAX Challenge is now in the books for the F3 Northshore PAX. T claps to F3 Greenwood for throwing the challenge out to the F3 Nation and keeping so many men across so many regions working hard and engaged for an entire month. The beat downs have been epic, and there is something really positive and rewarding about overcoming physical and mental challenges throughout the course of a month. Monday sees the return of our regularly scheduled program at the Milestone Marsh.

    After a combined warmup of 15x IC of Seal Jacks, Mountain Climbers, Windmills, Butt Kicks, Merkins, OH Hand Claps, and SSHs, the PAX split with Grundy taking the IPC PAX westward and YHC taking the non-IPC PAX eastward.

    The eastward bound PAX circled up across from Rips for some Peter Parkers and Parker Peters, 15x IC, and then made their way to the Rips stairs for 5 minutes AMARP of 10x regular Rocky Balboas, 10x lateral Rocky Balboas, and a trip up and over the stairs. Then it was time to mosey down to the Harbor playground for fun and games.

    YHC deployed some cones and balls from his backpack and engaged the PAX in a passing game with increasing levels of difficulty. We started bounce passing the ball to one another in a predetermined order within the confines of the paint (an area otherwise known as the spash pad and usually occupied by wet and screaming rug rats). Every dropped pass earned the PAX a penalty exercise of 5 burpees, Bobby Hurleys, Bonnie Blairs (hair of the dog), Merkins or I’m a Star Jumps. Proficiency ensued and so the PAX advanced to Level 2 where a trip out of the paint and around a cone was required after passing and before receiving the next pass. The game continued with increasing levels of difficulty and at the very end, before our Indian Run back to the Shovel Flag, the PAX returned to Level 1 and impressed themselves with their passing and communication prowess. Forty minutes of honing skills paid dividends.

    Countorama, nameorama and then over to the coffeeteria after reuniting with our worse for the wear looking IPC brothers.

    Thanks for letting me lead guys and congrats to all of you who participated in the IPC. You are all better men than you were 4 weeks ago.

  • A Tale of Two Beatdowns

    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, and…. yes, it was certainly the age of foolishness.

    The Pax were presented with two choices this morning, follow the Wacker of Bushes off to the Marsh where 35 lbs. cinderblocks awaited them or, for a potentially less-painful option, follow YHC into the unknown. So the Pax split, the Iron Pax-ers heading off to fulfill the week 3 challenge, and those who had already completed it stayed behind.

    Warmorama: 10x merkins OYO, arm circles, air presses, IWs, SSHs, high knees, all at various reps IC.

    Thang:

    Bear crawl approximately 400 yards to the lakefront gazebo. Caveat: if you need to pause for rest, perform 10x merkins then jog to catch up with the man in the lead. YHC declines to say whether or not this was intended to make the PAX rethink their choice of beatdowns but, impressively, there was relatively little grumbling. That is how difficult the IP challenges are – the minds of the PAX have been recalibrated and this – bear crawling 400 yards – is actually better than the alternative. T-claps to Grundy who (YHC believes) was the only one to make it the full distance without stopping.

    Next, circle up inside the gazebo for a quick round of squats, 20x IC, before assuming an Al Gore hold while each man takes his turn doing 10x Bobby Hurleys. Turbo explained to the young ‘uns who BH was, and that he did indeed slap the floor as a Duke player. Everyone seemed to sink their shots – with Chewy mixing in a few granny-throws – and we wrapped things up in the gazebo with a round of the ever-popular monkey humpers, x22 IC. A short recovery stumble down the path before moseying to the canal bridge for a partner routine.

    Partner 1 heads up the path, over the bridge and down a short distance – to where a young couple was necking in the grass – and then circles back to relieve partner 1, who will begin the cumulative reps of:

    • 50 Burpees
    • 100 Sister Mary’s
    • 150 T-Merkins
    • 200 Squats
    • 150 Freak Nasties
    • 100 Monkey Humpers
    • 50 Burpees

    T-claps to the young couple, who YHC figured would relocate to a more private spot within the first 5 minutes. These two, though, persevered the parade of sweaty men and continued to put on a show for nearly the entire duration of our routine. And this routine took some time – especially the t-merkins, which seemed to bring nearly everyone to their knees. Hey, maybe they’re exhibitionists and this is what they came for?

    Quick Indian run back to the flag and, with minutes to spare, we knocked out some Jane Fonda’s, quick pulses, and heel-to-knees, 10x IC each leg. Having reached the end, we looked around for our Iron Pax brethren, but to no avail. So, back on our six, we knocked out a bit more: flutters, LBCs, and Freddie Merc’s, all 20x IC. A quick look around again but, alas, still no one in sight.

    Time to call it – so we circled for countdown, nameorama, and COT. Shooter prayed us out with intentions for recently slain Captain Vincent Liberto and his family. Liberto, a father of seven, had served the Mandeville police department for over 25 years and was known to be a good man, who served his country and community with pride. His sacrifice comes as a shock, and is a reminder of just how lucky we are to have such great men and women protect and serve our community.

    Soon after, the Iron Pax-ers appeared and we circled up for COT, part deux, this time with Hammer praying us out. Double intentions for Capt. Liberto and his family.

    Then it was off to coffetería, where Tank regaled us with warm stories of Italian family gatherings. A near perfect morning. Thanks for the opportunity to lead and get stronger alongside you men.