Tag: northshore

  • President’s Day Celebration

    PAX: AKBAR, GROVER, HOGSBREATH, RUSSO, SHOOTER

    QIC checked the weather a lot last night wondering how cold and wet it may be, and how much to modify if necessary. Alas, there was no rain and the plan would go as scheduled. Today we celebrated the athletic prowess of our past leaders of the free world.

    Warm Up: SSH, Windmills, Grass Grabbers, Torso Twist, Imperial Walkers x 10-15 IC

    Thang: Celebrate our most athletic Commander in Chief’s and their respected sports. Mosey stopping at each block for work on Noah’s Ark to the lakefront and back.

    Each exercise consists of 2 rounds of Tabata: 46s work and 15s rest.

    1. George W Bush: Running | Run/Sprint between each block
    2. Woodrow Wilson: Cycling | Freddy Mercury
    3. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln: Wrestling | Bear Crawl, Crawl Bear
    4. Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama: Basketball | Bobby Hurley’s
    5. Ronald Reagan, JFK: Swimming | Scuba Steve’s
    6. George H Bush Baseball | Squats with arms out straight
    7. Teddy Roosevelt Wrestling, Boxing, Jujitsu | Jujitsu hips**
    8. Gerald Ford, Dwight Eisenhower: Football | Up Down Merkins
    9. Richard Nixon Bowling | Bowler’s Lunge

    Interesting Facts:

    • Woodrow Wilson – once biked more than 200 miles from York to London
    • Ronald Reagan won a Gold Medallion in the international swimming hall of fame and reportedly saved 77 lives as a lifeguard in his youth
    • John F. Kennedy swam at Harvard, In WW2, his PT 109 was sunk and he towed an injured crewman to an island by dragging him with the strap of his life-vest in his teeth.
    • George H Bush  played first base for Yale
    • George W Bush played baseball at Yale, and like to cycle and run. He ran the Houston Marathon in 3:44.
    • Jimmy Carter played baseball in high school as well as basketball
    • Gerald Ford played football at Michigan and won championships in 1932/33 and MVP in 1934. He was recruited to play for Green Bay and Detroit, but decided to go to law school at Yale.
    • Richard Nixon installed the bowling alley in the White House

    Mary: Heels to Heaven, hands to heels, leg raises, American hammers

    Count, Nameorama – YHC prayed us out

    Lagniappe F2: Hogsbreath had to split but the rest of us went to Waffle House for a well deserved hot breakfast.

    Til next gloom – Akbar

    Moleskin

    The run was really nice and kept us warm – better than sitting on the basketball court – although coming back, we were against the wind. It was so cold that Shooter wore pants, but will be much colder tomorrow.

    Wasn’t sure about the timing and how 46 seconds would work, but it was challenging on the squats, lunges, Hurley’s, and even Scuba Steve’s, Worked a lot of legs today.

    **Jujitsu Hips: lay on the floor with arms extended to the side and your knees just slightly bent. Cross your right leg over the left thigh, digging your right heel into the ground and letting your right hip come off the ground. Now put pressure on your right heel and lift your bottom slightly off the floor, sliding your left leg out from underneath your right and preparing to twist your hips to the other side. Next, repeat on the other side by crossing your left leg over the right.

  • Agility at The Gipper

    14 strong at The Gipper this morning for some agility and Tabata work after a quick warmup of SSHs, Merkins, IWs, Mountain Climbers and Seal Jacks, 20x IC. A quick mosey brought us to the Justice Center where YHC set down four cones, and the PAX got down to business with various variations of shuffles, back pedals, carioca, skips, and sprints. The PAX also mixed in a few Tabata sets of pistol squats and lateral single leg step ups on the Justice Center benches.

    It was great to have Big Cat return to The Gipper and also to have an FNG, BBQ’s son, visit us from St. Louis. A 6’9″ former college basketball player who now works for FedEx, the freshly dubbed Mailman put in a solid performance, raising the average athleticism of our Wednesday morning group considerably.

    Thanks for letting me lead this morning guys. See you in the Gloom.

  • Audibles at Granny’s (I’m not a Professional)

    As YHC pulled up to Granny’s, there was an unusually large group of F3 men ready to start the day off right. With the incessant soreness from Cowbell’s ISI pull-up challenge and Bushwacker’s consistent weekly prodding for some yoga infused workouts, we got started with some power flow, sun salutation, warrior 1, 2, 3, 4, half moon, whatever, whatever…I’m not a professional!

    Mosey to the bus stop. Not a lot of mumble chatter here, and Cowbell even kept his shirt on.

    – Bulgarian split squats (IC),

    – Box Jumps (OYO)

    – Burpee Box Jumps (OYO)

    – Irkins (IC)

    – Dirkins (IC)

    – Freak Nasties (IC)

    – Balls to the Wall Burpees aka Decline Burpees (Durpees?) OYO.

    Mosey to the tunnel, where, according to Jose, nothing good ever happens (including QIC’s cadence counting).

    – Top of the tunnel – 10 Jump Squats IC

    – ½ way down the incline – Merkins, I think

    – ½ way through the tunnel – 12 count body building, mounting climbing, shoulder tapping, squat jumping, burpees (IC). QIC was just calling audibles at this point. I’m not a professional!

    – Sprint to the top of the tunnel for some cool down Imperial Walkers

    – ½ way down the incline – hand rail dirkins, I think

    – ½ way through the tunnel – We did something. It’s a blur after the earlier 12 counts.

    – ½ way up the incline – slow Peter Parker/Parker Peter (there’s a yoga term for this, I’m sure…Bird said we were “flying”…I guess that’s what birds do.)

    – Top of the tunnel – 20 Sister Mary Katherines

    Mosey back to the trailhead, bunny hop up the stairs and reconvene at the shovel flags. Jose, did you notice we had two this morning?

    Closed out with Cowbell Crunchy Frogs and Goose-led Nolan Ryan’s.

    QIC prayed us out into the day. Thanks for posting in numbers today and following my lead, men. SYITG.

  • The Thunder Rolls….

    After doing Cowbells crazy 5 sec rest ISI in the parking garage, Q noticed the storm rolling in. The rain wasn’t my concern, however, the amazing display of lightning was. A small modification was needed.

    Warm-up: Toe touches, torso twists, Bushwackers T motion, and something else I cannot remember.

    The thang: We moved from the top of the garage to the second floor (remember the lightning). It was time for 4 corners. 4 rounds: 7 burpees, 14 merkins, 21 squats, 28 lbcs. After each round, down the stairs, around the corner, and run back up to the second level. After the four rounds, down the staircase. 10 calve raises each step to the top. At the top, Hammer tried Cowbell’s plank with feet high up on the wall and try to put your shirt back on. Cowbell then demonstrated with the Q following. Everyone else Al Gored while watching the foolishness. 5 minutes left, round robin mary. 20 leg lifts IC, 30 american hammers, flutter kicks, then hold a plank to Queen’s We will rock you. Thank you to cowbell for showing me plank paper, rock, scissors. Will use it soon. COT with Hammer praying us out. Thank y’all for allowing me to lead such a great group of men that I am lucky to call my brothers. I love y’all, and will see you in the Gloom soon.

    Jose 10k signing off.

  • ROOTS

    Over the past 6 months since since the quarantine, there have been many different routes / variations / themes (speedy’s sprints come to mind) taken for the weekly F3 5K. Today, YHC decided to take the 5k Scramble back to it’s roots, which is around the loop, then all the way to the end of the pier at Sunset Point. Back at the flag, we hit the workout equipment for 10 minutes of circuit training (bear crawls, freak nasties, hanging leg tucks).

    COT and thanks to Akbar for praying us out!

    SYITG

    Pik

  • Duck Hunting 101

    YHC has always joked that he does F3 to he can be in shape for duck season, among MANY other reasons. Duck hunting on public land in the Mississippi Delta is a very physically demanding hobby and for some strange reason I absolutely love it. Waking up at 2am to wade through waste deep water in 20 degrees just sounds fun, right??

    Well, YHC wanted the Gipper pax to learn a thing or two about the prep that goes into a morning of duck hunting, sans water and 20 degrees.

    Disclaimer was given and PAX was instructed to grab some gear from the camp (cinder block). Each block was to account for all of the gear needed on a hunt.

    COP #1- Warm Up:

    10 Burpees OYO

    20 X SSH

    10 X Good Mornings

    10 F/B X Arm Circles

    20 X J Lo’s

    10 L/R X Nolan Ryan’s (on crushed gravel!)

    Now we need to load up the truck: 10 L/R X Elf on a Shelf with block

    Mosey to the courthouse walkway (boat launch) at a brisk pace as we need to beat all other hunting parties to the duck hole!

    Load the boat: split into 2 lines with blocks at the end of each line. Pass block down to the end of the line, and back down. R&R X3.

    The boat is launched, now we need to drive as far as we can in the timber…quick mosey to the parking garage entrance and ramp. Leave your gear while we go search for a good spot to set up: Run up the ramp and complete 10 burpees on one side and 10 merks on the other side all the way to the top. Repeat.

    We found a prime duck hole at the top of the garage!! grab your gear and meet there.

    Now its time to throw out the decoys, we brought 3 dozen this trip..

    Block swings X 12, R&R X3.

    Now its time to actually hunt, so we need to practice raising the gun to our shoulder: Chest press X 10, R&R X3.

    We shot a few ducks but ran out of time to pick them up!

    Carry your gear back to the camp.

    Count, Name, and Grundy took us out with a prayer.

    Thank you all for hunting with me and appeasing me!

    Cowbell

  • You Gotta Buy-In!

    If you are crazy enough to be one of the men who voluntarily forego their normal names in exchange for a nickname that could be mistaken for a middle schoolers insult; all for the “privilege” of leaving your DNA all over Mandeville and Covington, then you are quite familiar with the concept of “buying-in”.

    The very fact that you would get out of your fartsacks and drive to a workout before the Sun even decides to get its butt in gear proves that you are fully bought in to the cult brotherhood of F3.

    Today’s beatdown took that concept and applied it to an idea that turned into a lot of fun… YHC was a little beat up so I took more of a Iron Pax facilitator role and had to modify some of the exercises during the beatdown. Seems fair to me.

    The Warmup

    • SSH IC to 25
    • Shoulder Series
    • 10 Hand Release Merkins OYO
    • In Honor of Zoolander, we did the “We’re Not Worthy” which is basically a good morning with your hands raised. All of the PAX faced Zoo to pay homage to what he’s accomplishing on the ISI pull-up challenge.

    The Thang

    We all grabbed an extra heavy cinder block from the Grundymobile and proceeded to line up in the middle lane of the top of parking garage.

    This was the main event.

    The concept is simple. The objective for each individual was to complete 100 reps of a certain exercise per round. Once someone finished their 100 reps, they would end that round and the rest of the PAX would stop where they are.

    The catch is that in order to begin your reps for the round, you have to “Buy-In” by completing some other exercise. The second catch was that every two minutes YHC would call out “Buy-In” and the entire pax would have to complete those exercises again before they could continue with their reps.

    So you wold have to “buy-in” and use whatever remaining time you had left in your 2 minutes to get as many reps as possible before the next buy in. If you don’t give effort in the buy in phase, then you will be left with no time to complete any reps and it can become a brutal cycle!

    This was a lot of fun (At least for me who didn’t really perform the running portions of any of the Buy-Ins)

    Round 1:
    Objective: Complete 100 reps of bent-over rows with the Cinder Block
    Buy In: 5 burpees and carry cinder block across the parking garage to the other side.

    Round 2:
    Objective: Complete 100 squats with the Cinder Block
    Buy In: 15 Merkins and run to the other end of the parking garage and back.

    Quick break and did a Mary of spelling out the alphabet with your legs
    (Jose ‘NOW I know my ABC’s. I’m a math guy so it’s good to finally learn that.’)

    Round 3:
    Objective: Complete 100 kettle bell swings
    Buy In: ~20 yard bear crawl and back

    Last round: 1 minute round before buy in
    Objective: 200 reps of cinderblock bench press
    Buy-In: 10 Russian Twists (1 per side)

    We put away the blocks and everything is good with the world again. We circled up, counted off, and Waterpik prayed us out.

    It’s an honor gentleman!

  • The Lord of the Thangs

    Huge thanks to the 20 men who posted this morning for Pope’s VQ! He’s been chomping at the bit to lead, and we greatly appreciate you guys making it so special for him, especially with our planning to move soon to an area where we’ll be starting F3 from scratch. Glad to know I can lean on him to Q every now and then!

    Excitement was in the air as more and more men made their way to the flag (Turbo Dog couldn’t hold it in.) The 11-year-old Pope had shown signs of natural leadership at previous beatdowns, so expectations were high, and he did not disappoint.

    The routine was centered around his new favorite topic, The Lord of the Rings. After having recently finished reading the books, a good percentage of his thought time these days is spent somewhere in Middle Earth, so the landmarks around The Gipper were quickly transformed into battlefields, fortresses, and volcanoes.

    Warmup: 20 Side Straddle Hops, 15 Windmills, 15 Merkins, 15 Cherry Pickers, 15 Butt Kicks, 15 High Knees

    Then, PAX grabbed age-appropriate coupons and mosey to the courthouse for the first stage of the Thangs:

    1st Stage–Battle at Helms Deep:

    Start as Legolas (fleet-footed elf) at the benches with 10 bench hops (hands on a bench and jump back and forth over), carioca run to the stairs, and run up to the top where each then becomes Gimli (short dwarf) and completes 15 dwarf jacks (smurf jacks). Then, down the ramp and back to the coupons where each becomes Aragorn (warrior king) and performs 12 sword unsheathings (overhead tricep presses).

    Three rounds of this, then haul the coupons up the stairs of the parking garage to the top ramp for…

    2nd Stage–Mount Doom:

    Hobbits Frodo and Sam teamed up to get the ring to the top of the mountain to destroy it in the flaming lava.

    PAX partnered up with partner 1 (Frodo) starting the beloved “Bear and Block” up the ramp: bear crawl a few steps, then drag/pull the cinder block forward from between your feet, then a few more steps, then drag, etc.

    Partner 2 (Sam) battled Gollum (coupon) at the bottom: 10 Man Makers for first round, 15 curls for second round, and 15 goblet squats for third. Once a set was complete, partner 2 ran up to Frodo to replace him dragging the block up the ramp, and partner 1 runs down to be Sam for a set at the bottom.

    Each time the block made it all the way to the top and was run back down, partners moved on to the next round’s exercise. After the third round, all PAX ran backwards with their coupons to the top (in the style of Gollum, dancing his way over the edge of the cliff).

    About half of the PAX found a way to destroy their rings/coupons early (a little too much “man” in the “Man Makers”) making their task a bit easier and making a Home Depot run necessary for YHC before next Wednesday.

    Moseyed back to the flag to replace the coupon fragments. COT with some great opportunities provided for giving back to the community, and Turbo Tax prayed us out.

    Thanks, again, for all the support for the young Q, and for allowing us to be a part of the F3 family! We’ll be taking full advantage of it until the day we’re moved out, and then we’ll be counting on your wisdom and support for getting F3 started in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

    God will provide!

    Goose

  • Leg Day

    Still smarting from the Downpainment put forth on the Lakefront by Akbar on Saturday, YHC was looking for a reprieve from upper extremity soreness to start the week.

    So, with that in mind, LEGS were the order of the day.

    Mosey to Lakefront stopping at each intersection for: Jump squats, Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Flutter Kicks and SMKs.

    Mosey to Marigny for some speed work. Split the PAX into 2 groups. Object is to go around Noah’s Ark as fast as you can. Rinse and repeat and hold plank while your partner Circled Noah’s Ark. After 2 rounds, YHC, fully exhausted, called off the 3rd set and Hit the Seawall for: Bulgarian Split Squats.

    With time running out, it was time to Mosey back to the Marsh making just in time before the Bell sounded

    COT and thanks to Goose for praying us out.

    SYITG

  • Shin Sprints

    After a brief warm up, mosey down to Lakefront for 10 sprints along Lakeshore Dr. of about 75 yards. Then, legs fully weakened, crank out 2 longer sprints of about 1-2 blocks.

    Mosey back to Marsh for some pull ups, Bulgarian Split Squats (Steve’s favorite), Merkins, finishing up with some core work, especially for Captain Core himself, Sir Wacker.

    COT. Thanks to Akbar for praying us out.