Mosey down Dreyfous, around the Great Lawn, back on Dreyfous and over the bridge to the Anseman Oak for warmup:
SSH
Pagodas
Grass Grabbers
Batwing
Imperial Walkers
Hill Billys
Mosey to Solomon Place Path then, bear crawl to Allard Blvd path. LBCs to wait for six.
Crab Walk to Sherwood Forest Drive path. LBCs to wait for six.
Lunge walk to corner of Carrollton Ave and City Park Ave.
Mosey to Dreyfous Meadow for:
Dying Cockroaches
Real Freddy Mercs
Merkins
Imperial Walkers
LBCs
Flutter Kicks
Mosey to Great for:
Dying Cockroaches
Real Freddy Mercs
Merkins
Imperial Walkers
LBCs
Flutter Kicks
Supermans
One round of Mary Fire
Mosey back to circle of trust
Count-off, Name-O-Rama, Intentions, and quick reflection on words attributed to Michelangelo: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” For me, F3 is a tool for this, and for sculpting ourselves physically and mentally. Chipping away at what doesn’t fit. Supporting each other and building our guardrails. Also reflection about my two kids, 6 and 4, and their intense sincerity. We are born sincere, though it can get lost as we age and get a bit more defensive. We can and should re-find it and nurture it.
YHC was amazed as the circle kept growing larger and larger this past Saturday as we gathered for what may have been a modern record 31 PAX at the mothership (hopefully soon to be broken).
The youth movement continued, as we welcomed back Sparky who was joined by his 2.0, an FNG.
PAX warmup included SSHs (Cadence of 20), Cherry Pickers (20), Imperial Walkers (20), Seal Jacks (20), Arm Circles, and High Knees (20).
After YHC confirmed he did indeed know East from West (thanks Pik!), PAX moseyed to Rip’s for 8 minutes of alternating rounds 20 Calf Raises and 20 Rocky Balboas, with a trip up and down Rips’ steps sandwiched in between.
Moving over to the general vicinity of Noah’s Ark, PAX completed what YHC hopes will become his calling “card”: the deck of death! Breaking up into 4 groups, lady luck brought forth the following, depending on suit:
Pod 2: Burpees, Cooperhead Squats, Crunchy Frogs, Plank Jacks
Pod 3: Peter Parkers, Sister Mary Catherines, Gas Pumps, Shoulder Taps
Pod 4: Freak Nastys, Box Jumps, ‘Derkins, Flutter Kicks
A couple wild cards were also thrown in for good measure, a quick mosey around the Ark, just to prove to Turbo that YHC LOVES running.
T claps to those who led cadence in each of the groups, especially the 2.0s that have stepped up to keep the older generation motivated.
Following a quick mosey back to base, PAX wrapped up with a COT and Name-O-Rama, including welcome to SparkPlug. YHC wrapped things up praying us out.
Another thank you goes out to everyone coming out to sweat (maybe not as badly as me) and enjoy the fellowship. You all push me harder than I thought possible.
Something has been going on in the last couple months that just doesn’t seem right. I haven’t had proper care for much longer than that, but at least I have good company every week, that is until sometime mid-March. You see, there is this awesome group of Men that make me feel like I have purpose. They don’t just sit on me or leave trash all over me. They really care. Not like that so called “groundskeeper” that doesn’t know anything about grass. I’m only about 10 years old, so I’m still trying to figure things out.
I’m sorry, let me introduce myself! I’m the Great Lawn, and I was shown some serious Respect this last Saturday, 16 May. It’s been rare to see these fine Men gather here as of late, except for F3 Fest, which was a total blast by the way! That guy Tool really knows how to throw a party….
The one they call Fracsac gave a disclaimer, had the men count off and remember the numbers, and then brought all 12 Men to my domain Saturday morning in what he referred to as a Phase 1 celebration. I guess that means F3 is back, which is awesome. I missed these Men. Well most of them anyways. I try not to play favorites, but have you met that Rudy guy? But I digress……
There was a warmup:
SSH IC x 50 – wait a minute….Why more than 31? I’m confused
IW x 20 IC
GG IC x 10
AC IC x 20
PP IC x 20
Then they moseyed to one side of me for the first Routine:
Blimps – Starting on one side, do an exercise, run to the other side of me, do the next exercise, then run back. You get it, right?
Burpees x 10
Lunges x 10
IW x 15
‘mericans x 20
Plank Jacks x 25
Squats x 30
Then he had then split up by even and odd numbers, using the count off from the disclaimer. It was a real disaster, but so was the Routine:
Start at each corner…..it was so bad, we’ll just say they did Burpees x 10, and 8 count body builders IC x 10. Probably something else too, but we just need to get past this one. I thought this Q was educated……
Mosey back to one of the corners for next Awesome Routine:
DirtyMacDeuce!
Round 1
‘mericans x 12
Squats x 12
Bigboi situps x 12
Run a lap around me
Round 2
Shoulder Taps x 12
LBC’s x 12
Lunges x 12
Run a lap around me
Round 3
Floyd Mayweathers x 12
Bonnie Blairs x 12
Freddie Mercury x 12
Run a lap
Round 4
Cataline wine mixers x 12
Jump squats x 12
LBT’s x 12
Run a lap
The next Routine was a test of mental fortitude:
Spoiler alert, it didn’t go well
The Q would ask for 2 numbers from the pax. One was for the number of SSH IC, the other was for SSH in silence, ending in unison with the Q. A failure would result in a penalty.
After 4 rounds of 10 penalty burpees, the Q called it. But on the bright side, the Pax got to do 40 more burpees! Good times!
Finished with some Mary.
Ended with a COT
I overheard some new Respect from the Pax, apparently the one they call Fracsac turned 50! Wow, how did that happen?
That must have been a real downer to turn 50 during a pandemic. As it turns out, that guy had a pretty awesome day. After enjoying some coffeteria at the re-opened Café Navarre, several of the Pax surprised him with a drive by birthday and visit! What an awesome organization F3 is! I wish I could get up and join them. Maybe someone will put some good grass on me……
SYITG
Coffeteria at Cafe NavarreBirthday Drive ByBirthday Ride ByAwesome F2 Surprise
Back in January, I have already heard about the Coronavirus because of my family living in Hong Kong. My father, who is still currently stuck in Hong Kong due to the travel restriction, had informed me how bad this thing is and how many people had already died in China. I knew it was somewhat serious, but I never expect it to be THIS bad where it will affect everyone of us for a very long time. Particularly, I remember my parents were in Hong Kong when SARs broke out in 2003. Because Hong Kong did a great job containing SARs, I never thought a similar highly contagious respiratory infection would hit us all the way to NOLA.
Before City and Statewide stay-at-home mandate, we get a chance for one last Saturday beatdown. 20 PAX showed up on a beautiful morning. I gave my standard disclaimer and off we went!
We started off with a lap around the great lawn and back to the Peristyle for our warmups in cadence:
SSHs x 20
Forward & Backward Arm Circles x 10 each
Windmills x 10
Grassgrabber x 10
Hill Billies x 20
Peter Parker x 15
Mountain Climbers x 15
Parker Peter x 15
Part 1
Picked a column at the Peristyle. In plank position, each Pax did hands on the wall x 20. Then did 20 right leg step ups. Then back to a column and did another 20 hands on the wall in plank position. Then back to the bench to finish with 20 left leg step ups.
Part 2
Walked across the street to the Great Lawn. We were using palm trees on the right as our markers. At the first tree, we started off with 1 lunge (Two is One). At the second tree, we did 2 lunges (Two is One), at the third tree, ….. all the way to the eighth tree. Then sprinted back to the very first tree and planked / waited for the Six. Then we added another layer of exercise. At the first tree, we started off with 1 lunge (Two is One) and 1 big boy sit-up. At the second tree, we did 2 lunges (Two is one) and 2 big boy sit-ups. At the third tree…. all the way to the eighth tree then sprinted back to the beginning and waited for the Six again. Final layer of exercise we added on was everyone’s favorite: burpees. At the first tree, we did 1 lunge, 1 big boy sit-up, and 1 burpee….. all the way to the eighth tree again. So in total, each PAX ponied up 108 lunges (2 is 1), 72 big boy sit-ups, and 36 burpees.
Part 3
We moseyed to the fountain in front of NOMA. We picked a partner and did DORA 1, 2, 3. The exercises were 100 leg raises, 200 inclined merkins, and 300 LBCs. While one pax was doing the exercise, the other partner was burpee broad-jumping towards NOMA on the flat surface and bunny hopped on the steps. Then ran back to flapjack with the partner.
We ran back to the flag for COT. We went overtime by a minute or so. At every COT, I always mention how grateful I am able to do this with the PAX on a regular basis. F3 is a big part of my life. I do this 4 to 5 times a week. I enjoy the F2 part the most. We had our last Cafe Navarre breakfast together. Now, I still workout with few PAX in a smaller group and keeping our social distance. I’ve been running into other smaller F3 groups here and there in the gloom. I cannot wait till we can all get back together with 30 plus PAX at the WPM, Mothership, Rock City, The Skinny, Chamber of Horrors, 610 Stomps, Tsunami, The Birdcage, Foundry, Popeyes, Okwata, Stiffler’s Mom, Master Melvin, Wally Run, Uptowner, Sweaty Bells, and Renaissance. Until then, stay safe!
When Mahatma signed me up for the 2/1 Mothership Q, I didn’t initially make the connection with my 4 year anniversary of joining F3 (actually 1/30). But after realizing, what more can you ask for in justifying a Mothership Q? A lot going on this weekend for F3, start of Run Ranger Run, then folks were training for Ruck early this morning and then the midnight run at Pontiff last night? Given all that we still had (12) on hand this morning as to which I had no problem accommodating more running than less. We tracked 3.0 miles on my Strava App. and made a circle around south half of City park per below, so don’t forget to log in RRR.
Here we go:
Strictly Warm Ups in the Green:
21 – IW
12 – Windmills
21 Peter Parkers
12 – Arm Circles
Note the coding of reps — 2112
Next Mosey over to the track to do some dedicated running with no distractions. First, it was cold and time to heat up and pay tribute to the great Neil Peart whom we lost back on 1/7/20 to brain cancer. Triple Shift did make the recommendation of actually going to the soccer field with markings so we did. No shortcuts on this one, in its entirety per F3 specification:
Red Barchetta
100 yard run — 100 SSH
75 Yard Run – 75 Mountain Climbers
50 Yard run – 50 LBCs
25 yard run — 25 Merkins
10 yard run – 10 Burpees
Now for the speed portion of the workout at the track.
Partner up. On person runs a 200 yard dash while the partner runs directly across the field to meet at the other side of the track in “recovery”. Some lunge walked. Repeat 4 times in honor of my anniversary. Triple again with recommendation on track direction for running. I remember doing this a couple years ago but can’t remember the F3 name of the exercise.
Mosey through backway from the track to Foundry, again partner up and and 5 stations while 10 burpees times the reps. Another recommendation from Mahatma to not double up on upper body. A lot of advice to the Q this morning.
Finally, mosey to the museum pond for final exercises. Initial story of splitting my chin during a long ago Q with box jumps in wet conditions. We did (1) box jump in tribute, and that was enough for me. Thereafter:
21 Incline Merkins
25 LBCs
15 Dips
~2:00 plank hold
20 Hello Dollys
12 more Incline Merkins
Mosey back to the flag for normal count off, names, announcements, and prayer. I mentioned my thoughts on the 3 Fs and what they have meant to me over the last 4 years.
Many Thanks for the opportunity to lead and the last 4 years of Fellowship.
15 PAX joined YHC on a beautiful, calm Saturday. The temp was 48 degrees F, which was perfect weather for a beatdown. Today marked YHC’s 2 year anniversary of joining F3 and was also first day of Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat). YHC gave his standard disclaimer and ran to the great lawn for some warm-up exercises.
The PAX did the following warm-up exercises in cadence:
SSHs x 20
Forward Arm Circles x 10
Backward Arm Circles x 10
Windmills x 10
Imperial Walkers x 20
Peter Parkers x 15
MCs x 15
Parker Peters x 15
The PAX formed 2 lines in Indian Run
formation and jogged from the great lawn to the track.
At the track, the PAX circled up to do some Dirty McDeuce.
First Set:
Slow Merkins x 10 IC
Squats x 20 IC
Flutterkicks x 20 IC
Then ran to the middle of the football
field and back.
Second Set:
Shoulder Taps x 20 IC
Lunges x 15 IC
Hello Dolly x 15 IC
Then ran to the middle of the football
field and back.
Third Set:
Burpees x 10 OYO
Jump Squats x 15 OYO
LBC’s x 20 IC
Then ran to the middle of the football
field and back.
The PAX formed 2 lines again in Indian
Run formation and moseyed to the fountain in front of NOMA. Each PAX
partnered up for Dora 1, 2, 3.
DORA 1, 2, 3
100 Step-ups – while one PAX was
doing the step-ups, the other PAX was Rat Crawling (thanks to
Popalock for reminding the Q to stick with the Year of the Rat theme)
instead of Bear Crawling from the fountain to the 2nd set
of the steps in front of NOMA and back.
200 declined shoulder taps – while
one PAX was doing the shoulder taps, the other PAX was lunge walking
from the fountain to the 2nd set of steps in front of NOMA
and back.
300 LBCs – while one PAX was doing
LBC’s, the other PAX was bunny hopping the same distance as above and
back. Flap Jack until all exercises were completed.
SPRINT
Upon completion – Picked a different
partner and went to the field next to NOMA. Each PAX lined up by the
first tree.
First Set:
One PAX sprint to the 4th
tree and did 5 hand-release merkins and sprint back and tagged his
partner. Flap jack until each PAX did 3 rounds of the sprint.
Second Set:
One PAX sprint to the 4th
tree and did 10 SSHs and sprint back. Flap jack until each PAX did 3
rounds of the sprint.
The PAX then moseyed back to the flag.
Everyone ended the day with a 2 min plank (1 minute in high plank
and the final minute in low plank).
COT. I am very grateful to be able to workout with the PAX on a regular basis. I never take it for granted the fact that I am able to attend F3 workouts 2 years straight. I hope to do this for a very long time. SYITG.
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!
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 meTwo FNG’s ~ Coattails and Beardo
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.
