F3 New Orleans

Tag: Mothership

  • Bicycling with Freddie Mercury: How Ten Men Saved the Park from the Chupacabra – from Douille

    It was a beautiful morning in the city, and the sun was just starting to rise over the park. A group of ten men had gathered there to work out, doing their usual morning exercise routine. They were all focused on their training, pushing themselves to be the best they could be.

    Suddenly, they heard a terrifying roar that shook them to their core. They quickly realized that a chupacabra, a legendary creature known for its ferocity, was attacking the park. Without hesitation, the men sprang into action and rushed to protect the women and children who were also in the park, enjoying the early morning.

    The men formed a protective circle around the women and children, ready to face the chupacabra. They knew they had to act fast, so they began doing side-staddle hops to warm up their muscles. As they hopped, they could hear the chupacabra getting closer and closer.

    The men then did power-ups around the fountain, their muscles bulging as they leapt high into the air. The chupacabra was now in full view, its eyes glowing red as it snarled at them.

    Undeterred, the men began running backward towards the creature, their bodies moving in perfect sync. They did burpees with lightning speed, their legs pumping furiously as they landed on the ground.

    The chupacabra lunged forward, but the men were too fast for it. They began bear-crawling towards the creature, their strong arms propelling them forward.

    The chupacabra was no match for the men’s strength and agility. They continued to move as one, their bodies working in harmony to protect the park and its inhabitants. Finally, they pulled out the big guns and started bicycling around the fountain with the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, who had coincidentally been jogging through the park and decided to join in.

    The chupacabra was left panting and defeated, lying on the ground as the men cheered and hugged each other. The women and children were safe, thanks to the bravery and quick thinking of these ten heroes.

    From that day on, the men were known as the protectors of the park, and they continued to train and work together to keep their community safe from any danger that might arise. And every time they passed the fountain in the park, they would remember that epic battle and the day they bicycled with Freddie Mercury.

    As they finished their workout and parted ways, they felt a sense of pride and accomplishment for having worked together to protect their community. And they knew that they would always have each other’s backs, whether they were working out in the park or facing any other challenges in life.

  • And on this day…. – from Rudy

    Summertime humidity is rolling in. Gone are the glorious days of winter and spring (there was a spring, right?). 8 PAX started off at 6:30 for what would turn out to be a hot, sweaty celebration day.

    Warm Up: Some slow count stretching, IW and SSH. Get the blood flowing. Get ready. FracSac and Triple Shift attempted valiantly to correct the Q’s cadence calls, but the Q would have none of that.

    PAX – plank up while the Q explains the day. More griping about why the Q doesn’t have to do the planking. Answer: Because I’m the Q.

    The theme for today: On This Day – May 6th.

    Thing 1: Birthday Burpees. There are a wealth of options for celebrating birthdays on May 6th. Sigmund Freud, Orson Welles, Rudolph Valentino, Willie Mays, Tony Blair, George Clooney. But the PAX got to celebrate with Detroit’s own Bob Seger – turning 78 today.

    Q up the tunes, starting with Hollywood Nights. Bob would serenade us throughout the morning.

    EMOM – 78 burpees. 10 per minute for 7 minutes, finish with 8 on the 8th minute. Go.

    Thing 2: Sports! Head out to the field where a baseball diamond was laid out. 90 feet is a lot farther than it looks on tv. What else happened today? (2 penalty burpees for incorrect guesses from the PAX). 1915 – Babe Ruth hit his first home run, guessed correctly by Heisenberg. We’ll take a home run trot… Bear Crawl the bases, 5 burpees at each base. Go. (100 burpees – done for the day).

    and what else? in 1954, Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile barrier. Lets run the bases for 4 minutes, see how far you can get. Catfish led the way – getting about 6.5 laps done in 4 minutes. 1 mile would be about 15 laps…

    Onward to the Rocks!

    Thing 3: TV Shows. Pick a Friend (i.e., a partner) — 19 years ago was the last showing of “Friends”. 66 years ago was the last showing of “I Love Lucy”. So for today, Dora was renamed Lucy. 100 lunges, 150 merkins, 200 BBSU. PAX 2 timer – 5 each of overhead press, curl, row, and bench press. Go… (took a bit longer than expected – so we called it when Catfish and Heisenberg hit the finish line.

    Thing 4: Launches! 2002 – SpaceX. 1998 – iMac. We’ll Launch our Rocks. From one tree line – launch the rock, lunge walk to it. Rinse and repeat to the far tree line and back.

    Thing 4a: Failure to Launch – 1934, the Hindenberg. A real Quad Pleaser – 5 sets of 5 reps of Peoples Chair for 5 count followed by squat jump returning right back to peoples chair.

    Return the rocks, and back to the flag.

    COT: Several prayer requests offered. Thanks, Heisenberg for sharing with the PAX and letting us pray with and for you. And for all PAX in NOLA and elsewhere – lets them find comfort, strength and perseverence – through each other, through their faith, through us.

    Great Coffee, especially watching the storm roll through!

  • 7 OGs at CP – from Reluctant Yankee

    Mis-timed my launch to get ALL the way out to City Park aka CP and arrived for my Q – 1 min late. Luckily one of the guys started it off with some burpees and then a short mosey to the Peristyle. At approx 631 I started my Q with a COP #1 at the Peristyle.
    My apologies for the late arrival – it has been awhile since I have posted so FAR AWAY.
    SSH (Rudy making fun of my arm motion)-x 20, Imperial Scott Squat Walkers x 25, Mtn Climbers x 20, and Plank Jacks x 20 MOnkey Humpers x 20
    Started our run towards the track!
    Slowed for our 6 – we did AROUND THE CLOCK merks x 8 at 12,3 6, and 9 oclock using the curb in front of storyland.
    Then we moseyed to the gate at TAD GORMLEY for hanging calf raises forward x 20 backward x 20 and decline shoulder taps x 20 *watch out for spikers!
    Finally we mosey’d over to the track!
    THE DEAL: DIRTY MACDEUCE
    RAN A LAP – then we did staggered merks, roaches and low slow squats x 12
    RAN A LAP – then we did staggered merks the other way, monkey humpers, russian twists x 12
    RAN A LAP – then we did wide merks, lunges forward, freddies x 12
    RAN A LAP – then we did side lunges, walking plank, and omarys x 12
    **Brother Martin and MT Carmel track teams were trying to figure out how to operate around these old guys – some mumblechatter of the appropriateness of monkey humpers and omarys in front of the kids
    Ran down ROOSEVELT MALL to the front of NOMA
    at the fountain we did Step Ups R and L x 20, Bulgarians L/R x 20 and Shoulder Taps x 20
    Ran back to the FLAG – stopped at the big field for a few quick Mary exercises.
    Hip Dips x 10 each side, Ys and Ws for the back x 20 and Birddogs x 20.
    Then we finished up at the FLAG.
    Quick circle to hope for a decrease in violent crime in NOLA.
    I enjoyed dragging myself out to CP – I almost never want to get up in the AM and post but after a beatdown I always appreciate the fellowship/faith and Never regret the fitness.

    Until the next time…

  • Spring – Blocks – Present – from Mahatma

    April 22nd conditions great: sunny, cool, nice breeze and 11 pax decided to be present….at least one (Rudy) heeded the request to bring a block – YHC had 1 too so that would do.

    Mosey Gr Lawn – circle up
    Scantron stretch then
    10-20 of each
    SSH
    ABSLOWGODA
    MNTMANPOOPERTOGOODMORNING
    MNT CLIMBERS

    4 rounds
    5 merkins – 20 Peter Parker
    5 merkins – 20 Mnt Climber
    5 merkins – 20 Parker Peter
    5 merkins – 20 Plank Jacks

    Line up at speaker
    Red Barchetta – if you’ve done it before then you know otherwise you’re probably not showing up enough or spending too much time Uptown.

    Some mumble chatter about the Q’s Sox having some potential reference as to “Christmas” so YHC was happy to please.

    Line up on the “red” line for a Christmas Tree and a present – 5 of each building on each other with a short mosey between each round ending with 10 burpees.
    1 – merkins
    Run
    Then repeat 1 now 2 – Vups
    Run
    Then repeat 1, 2 now 3 – Bobby Hurley
    Run
    Repeat 1,2,3 now 4 – LBWC – got to show up to know
    Run
    Repeat
    1,2,3,4 finish with 10 Burpees

    Grab the blocks 2 lines mosey to fountain while passing the block overhead to pax behind, once “safely” passed of go to the back of the line. Once all arrive at the fountain

    365 –
    3 somewhat cadence counted burpees
    6 box jumps or modified alternating step ups
    5 rounds
    1 minute recovery
    Rudy was asking for yet YCH is simply out of shape and decided to take a simpler direction to grab the 2 blocks and head to the tree field.

    Again 2 lines over / under for 3 trees all on the team does 5 burpees and back – losing team does another 5 burpees

    Circle up 1 5 minute round of “silence” where Q leads by example – just do what he does. In the F3 ball busting mindset this may “seem” like an eternity!

    Count of 1,2 1,2 harder for some than others 2 teams were formed now same 3 trees block bridge pull (or throw) 5 burpees at mid point and back losers again have a penalty.

    Mosey block pass back to the flag.

    What 3 minutes? We Indian Merkin Ladder

    7:30

    COT

    We are truly blessed!

  • Dewars, Storks and Peanut Butter and Butter – from Rudy

    Yesterday (April 14th) was 3rd anniversary of my dad’s passing. YHC brought some memories to the beatdown this am. At 628am, YHC opened up the Mini, asked everyone to grab a pair of bricks. At 630am, YHC turned on the 80s playlist, and the 13 PAX moseyed (with their bricks) to the Peristyle.

    But wait – Cheese Steak rolled in hot. YHC back to the car to get one more set of bricks. A few minutes later, our DR visitor from Chicago (Bob the Builder) rolled in. Hokie went for more bricks.

    After a brief warmup (thank you Mahatma!), we got to work. We were going to visit a few places in the park. At each place, we’d have a cycle of exercises – 60 seconds on, 20 second rest.

    Stop #1: The Peristyle with bricks. My father’s favorite evening night cap was a splash of Dewars. We still keep a bottle of it around with my family to periodically celebrate. 2 rounds of exercises to spell out DEWARS

    Donkey Kicks
    Eagle Wings (bat wings stuff – with bricks)
    Wonderbra (peoples chair – then push the bricks out, then push’em up)
    American Hammer
    Rocky Balboa
    Starfish crunch

    Stop #2: Return the bricks to the Mini, and head to the rocks by the fountain. My father was an OB/GYN. His passion was delivering babies. What else delivers babies? 2 rounds of exercises (con roca) to spell out STORK

    Squats
    T-Merkins
    Overhead Press
    Rows
    Kettlebell Swings

    Triple Shift gratefully let YHC have a shot with TS’s rock while TS proceeded to one-arm Overhead Press YHC’s rock. Eventually, Frac relieved YHC.

    Stop #3: Return the rocks, mosey to the little foundry. My father’s favorite treat that he introduced to my kids – the Peanut Butter and Butter sandwich (only to be made with spreadable tub butter). 2 rounds of PBB exercises

    Pull Ups
    Burpees
    Big Boy Situps

    Stop #4: Stop by the Tool Wall. As the cancer took his life, he lost strength in his legs. YHC will pay a bit of honor with some leg strengtheners.

    Calf Raises
    Monkey Humpers
    Bonnie Blairs (modify to Lunges)
    Calf Raises

    Couldn’t get through 2 full rounds as. we were already late. Back to the flag – getting their about 5 minutes late. YHC didn’t apologize for the delay, as he didn’t feel bad about it.

    Finished with our COT. Prayers offered for other PAX who also go through struggles with their aging parents and health concerns.

    Thank you all for allowing me to celebrate my father’s life. He meant the world to me. I miss him daily. But I know he has moved on to the next phase of his life, and I know I will be rejoining him again one day.

  • April Foolishness – from Kenna Brah

    A rare and last minute appearance by YHC. So you know me to be unconventional, right?

    Well here was the warm up:
    Good Morning Mountain Man Poopers
    Imperial Walkers
    Simple horizontal twists
    Hot diggity dynamic downward dog cobras
    Multi Variant variable cadence SSH

    Foolish right? Why? Bring up examples if foolishness and what might appear foolish but actually results in innovation.

    Then mosey to the greatest lawn ever for the first thang:
    4 corners of the lawn were used.
    1st corner
    10 hand release Merkins
    10 plank jacks
    Backwards run to corner 2
    20 squats
    20 SSH
    Backwards run to corner 3
    30 Big Ball sit-up
    30 leg lifts
    Backwards run to corner 4
    40 mountain climbers
    40 OH claps

    Repeat one more time.

    Pickup the 6’s Mosey back to start, catch breath, talk a bit.

    Run across the lawn to swings, flowers etc.
    Did balance work with Yoga like moves, but it was definitely NOT Yoga, right Frac?
    Used swings for silly moves that didn’t work out well.
    Incorporated stretches between exercises
    Moved to, dare I say, Ple-A? Nicely done guys!! T-claps!
    10 sets
    Combo Curtsey, backwards, wide back lunges in cadence.
    15 count step ups
    People’s chair with 10,20,30, airpresses
    20 Dippity do da’s

    Circle up at starting point
    7 minutes of Mary,
    Flag and COT to induct an FNG

  • Leave no Man Behind – from Heisenberg

    Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you find him

    Warm up in the Peristyle – Imperial Walkers, Grass Grabbers, Abe Vigoda, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, Arm Circles, 8 Count Body Builders.
    Leave No Man Behind – We separated into three groups. Group one carried the 80lb sand medicine ball (“Aponi”), 60lb sandbag (“Sandy”), and a 40lb sandbag (I didn’t catch the name) towards the Foundry. In contrast, the other two groups moseyed a certain distance, then performed three burpees and swept back to meet the group with the coupons. This was repeated as each group took turns carrying coupons or running/Burpees/sweeping the six until we arrived at the Foundry.

    Foundry – keeping our groups, we had stations of merkins, pull-ups, lunges, and the timer of running to the walking path and performing three burpees. Those looking for additional work performed the timer with sandbags. We completed three rounds.

    Tool Wall – using the one group carries and two groups sweep we moved to the tool wall for some calf work.

    Great Lawn –Again, alternating groups with coupons, we moved from the Tool Wall to the Great Lawn for some mary and then back to the flag with a bit of time for some burpees.

    COT – Welcome down range Carpool (Northshore, now Woodlands Tx) and Chick (San Antonio, now Chicago), and FNG Clouseau, and welcome back Kotter to Kimchi.

    Notes
    Aponi (as suggested by ChatGPT) – “Aponi,” which means “butterfly” and is associated with healing and transformation in several Native American cultures. The name is often given to girls with the hope that they will grow up to become healers or medicine women.

    TClaps to Mahatma for performing lunges with Aponi and KimChi for his triumphant return.

  • Return of Out For Justice – from King Kong

    Catfish met up with us at Wakin’ Bakin’ after Sweaty Bells couple Sundays ago. During breakfast, he asked if I would take the Mothership Q few Saturdays away. Of course I said yes.

    We woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning in the mid 60’s. I got in my vehicle and was about to head to Audubon Park for Misty Mountain. As I was driving on Broadway towards St. Charles, I see my phone lit up from the corner of my eyes. A message from Willie popped up on my lock screen said “Mutha”. That’s when I was reminded…. go to City Park instead! Headed to Muthaship!!!

    I realized how much I miss City Park. I get to see the Pax whom I usually don’t see. Triple and Hokie were there before me. As my watch was ticking closer to 6:30 a.m., more Pax were pulling up. Most surprising of all was the arrival of Out For Justice. This was his first post in 4 years! Kotter Justice! I gave my disclaimer and off we went……… only few yards away to the great lawn for warm-ups: SSHs, windmills, grassgrabbers, stretches (right over left foot and vice versa), arm-circles, Hill-Billies, and Imperial Walkers.

    First stop – we moseyed to NOMA (my favorite part of City Park) and did a classic Dora, 1, 2, 3. Exercises were 100 inclined merkins, 200 squats, and 300 flutter kicks. After we finished, we formed two lines and did people run from NOMA to the Wisner’s entrance and back.

    Second stop – we went to the field right next to NOMA and did Seven’s. We started off with 6 burpees on one side, then bear crawled to the other side, 1 jump squat on this side, then lunge walked back to the burpees side. We finished with 1 burpees on one side and 6 jump squats on the other side.

    Third Stop – we people ran from NOMA to Baby Foundry. Here we did reverse hang. We separated into 2 groups. One group was in Al Gore position while the other group was hanging from the bars for 20 seconds. Started off with chin above the bar, then slowly lowered your head below the bar in 20 seconds.

    Final Stop – back to the great lawn for a round of Mary and stretches.

    Back to the flag with announcements and intentions. Important announcement was Afternoon Delight 2 Year Anniversary – this Wednesday, March 15. We are always grateful for our health. Thank You Hokie for leading the prayer!

    Happy to be back at the Mothership, and I have to make that as part of my routine.

    SYITG

    King Kong

  • BOMBS Away! (Mothership 2023-03-04) – from Catfish

    Conditions – A cool 60-ish degrees

    The Thang

    Quick Mosey over to the peristyle for a warmup:

    SSH x 30 (in cadence)
    Abe Vigodas x 10 (in cadence)
    Grass Grabber x 10 (in cadence)
    8-Counts x 15 (in cadence)
    Peter Parker Peters x 20 (in cadence)

    Moseyed over to the Great Lawn and partnered up for BOMBS (50 burpees, 100 overhead claps, 150 merkins, 200 big boys, 250 squats). One partner ran to other side, did three 8-counts, then ran back while other exercised. Also got in some some SSH, LBTs, and Dying Cockroaches waiting for the six

    Moseyed to the peristyle/bench area for some leg action:

    Bulgarians x 20 (in cadence)
    Side Leg Lifts x 20 (in cadence)
    Bulgarians other leg x 20 (in cadence)
    Side Leg Lifts other leg x 20 (in cadence)
    Bonnie Blairs x 20 (in cadence)
    Back Leg Lifts x 20 (in cadence)
    Irkins x 20 (in cadence)
    Back Leg Lifts other leg x 20 (in cadence)
    Imperial Squat Walkers x 20 (in cadence)

    On to sixes for ten Dr. W’s (in cadence), then back to flag zone for CoT.

  • Nickel and Dime – from Rudy

    No Q at the Mothership as of 6:25am, so YHC steps in (to avoid having Frac or Heisenberg grab it and turn it into a burpeefest). Needing a moment to think, YHC instructed 8 PAX to plank. PAX responded with mumbling and chatter about how disappointed they were in the workout. And even more grumbling when we arose from the plank for Abe Vigodas and Windmills. PAX wanted more.

    YHC would do his best to deliver for them.

    Mosey over to the F3 fountain to grab a rock. Triple Shift complained that the rocks weren’t big enough, so he scurried away. YHC thought maybe he was heading home (and leaving E Major behind), but no – he returned with his trusty sandbag. Meanwhile, the rest of us got busy with a “keep dem rocks up”. Shoulder Press, Curl, Row. 10x/8x/6x/4x/5x. Catfish’s boulder certainly outweighed mine.

    Now time to get some mileage on the books, so bring the rocks back to the Great Lawn for the Nickel and Dime. Laps around the Great Lawn. Over yonder at the half-way point, 10 BBSU. Back home at the starting point, 5 Man Makers with your rocks. Each lap is about a quarter mile. Go. Got in 8 laps, 2 miles in the bank for RCR. Return the rocks, and then back to the Great Lawn for some Mary and 1 last lap, bringing the total mileage to 2.9 (or 3.1 on Heisenberg’s watch).

    NMM: Suicide took the life of the father of one of my daughter’s med school friends – a man who, on the surface, appeared to have everything in order as part of a successful life. What a reminder for all of us – we can’t know the battles that someone near us may be facing. We can (and must) be ready to be there for people, and do what we can to look for signs and support people. And SPECIFICALLY FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE READ THIS FAR: YOUR BROTHERS AROUND YOU IN THE COT ARE THERE FOR YOU. USE US. RELY ON US. WE HAVE YOUR BACK IF YOU WILL LET US IN.