F3 New Orleans

Tag: Okwata

  • Tony Little’s haircut

    Gentlemen, it was a brisk morning on the Lakefront today; which got me thinking about how working out indoors might be nice; which then got me thinking about which exercises I would do if I were in the gym; which then got me thinking about the different gym equipment I could use; which then got me thinking about the elliptical machine; which then got me thinking about the ‘Gazelle Freestyle’ machine; which then got me thinking about Tony Little’s haircut. But I digress.

    T-claps to Jingle Vader for showing up in shorts & a sleeveless shirt this morning. Most of the other PAX came bundled up in winter gear. Once my watch hit 5:30am, I issued the disclaimer, and then we mosey’d to the concrete part of the levee. Once we got there, we hit a lap up & down the concrete levee, and then did the warmup.

    Warm Up:

    • Side straddle hops – 30 cadence count
    • High knees – 20 cadence count
    • Mountain Climbers – 25 cadence count
    • Windmills – 10 cadence count
    • Self Love – 10 cadence count

    The Thang:

    • Side Straddle Hops – 10 cadence count
    • 1 burpee
    • Repeat 7 times
    • Al Gore – 10 cadence count
    • 2 burpees
    • Repeat 5 times
    • Mountain climbers – 10 cadence count
    • 3 merkins
    • Repeat 6 times

    Hit a Lap up & down the concrete levee

    • Seal jacks – 10 cadence count
    • 5 burpees
    • Sean jacks – 10 cadence count
    • 4 burpees
    • Repeat until we got down to 1 burpee
    • Bonnie Blairs – 10 count
    • 5 burpees
    • Bonnie Blairs – 10 count
    • 4 burpees
    • Repeat until we got down to 1 burpee
    • Mary:
    • Flutter kicks – 30 cadence count
    • LBC’s – 25 cadence count
    • Penguins – 20 cadence count
    • Dying Cockroaches – 20 cadence count
    • Double-reverse reverse crunches – 30 cadence count (majestic exercise)

    Hit a lap up & down the concrete levee

    • Rocky Balboas – 25 cadence count
    • Floyd Mayweathers – 25 cadence count

    After that, we headed to the flag for the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. Thanks for the opportunity to Q, fellas. I always enjoy it.

  • Double Reverse Crunches…Is This Guy Serious?!

    It was a beautiful morning on Lake Pontchartrain, and 17 PAX gathered for a good old fashioned beatdown. I issued the disclaimer, and we headed across the street to the concrete planters along the Lakefront. Once across the street, we circled up for the warmup

    Warmup:

    • 20 side straddle hops
    • 20 plank jacks
    • 10 windmills
    • Self love
    • 15 low slow squats

    The Thang:

    • We sprinted to planter #1, did one burpee, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #2, did two burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #3, did three burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #4, did four burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #5, did five burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line

    Next, we circled back up and did the following:

    • Hand plank for 1 ½ minutes. While planking we did a merkin every time I said “down”
    • Kept legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 ½ minutes. Every time I said “go” we did flutter kicks for 5 seconds
    • 20 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Kept legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 ½ minutes again. This time when I said “go” we would bring our legs toward our chest and do a reverse crunch
    • Box Jump / dip routine on the planter. Started with 7 box jumps / 14 dips, then went to 6 box jumps / 12 dips, etc

    After that, we did another run / burpee routine:

    • We sprinted to planter #5, did five burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #4, did four burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #3, did three burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #2, did two burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #1, did one burpee, then sprinted back to yellow line

    Next, we circled back up and did the following:

    • Mission impossible plank position for 45 seconds. While planking we did a merkin every time I said “up”
    • Did flutter kicks for 45 seconds. Every time I said “stop” we would just hold feet 6 inches above ground
    • 10 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Got on our six, and kept legs close to our chest in the crunch position. Then every time I said “go” we would put our legs out and bring them back to our chest. This is the oft talked about yet rarely attempted double-reverse crunch. Breathtaking
    • Box Jump / dip routine on the planter. Started with 4 box jumps / 8 dips, then went to 3 box jumps / 6 dips, etc

    After that, we headed back to the flag for the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. I always enjoy it

  • Lunatic Fringe – We all know you’re out there. But where is Bogey when you need him?

    The iconic opening words to the song made famous by the 1985 smash hit “Vision Quest”. Who could forget this iconic scene? Look at those moves! No wonder this movie was so popular!

    Okay, so perhaps a minor exaggeration on my part as not a single member of the Pax could identify that song this morning, or its significance (Lunatic Fringe is in main song played in Vision Quest, which is where the name Kuch comes from). At least Shuffles has the excuse of not having been born in 1985. Bogey would have nailed it of course.

    Despite my disappointment, we decided to workout anyway on this cool crisp morning. Temperature at kickoff was right around 50, and although we may have felt a few raindrops, the weather, overall, was pretty nice.

    We moseyed to the center of the intersection, with some high knees etc… on the way, for some quick, fast paced warmups so we could all…. warm up. Except High Rise of course, who some might say was slightly over-dressed for the occasion, having worn perhaps his entire closet full of sweaters, scarves, parkas, mittens and what have you. Fitting for a man who solved the climate crisis yesterday by declaring it #2cold2warm. Regardless, High Rise remains #2legit2quit in my book.

    Once the warm-ups and player intros were complete, we headed up to the levee to Indian Run to the concrete portion for our next activity. Rockin tunes were played as we passed the speaker off. When we got to the concrete portion, there was a fence that briefly confounded all my 5:40 AM logistics… luckily, someone suggested we walk around it, which we did.

    On the concrete, we did a couple rounds of merkin ring of fire, and moved right along to a simple tabata, 20 seconds on, 7 second rest, 4 exercises x2 for each session. Burpees, LBC’s, Merkins, Squats. After completing each round of those 4 exercises twice, we ran up and down the levee 10 times to catch our breath. We completed this circuit 3 times, before Indian running back the other way.

    When we reached the intersection, we headed back to the flag for a few more rounds of merkin ring of fire until 6:15.

    We prayed for the strength to take care of our elders, the ability to appreciate our own health, and the humility to grasp that one day, we may be the ones who need help. I know that I need your help to continue to get better, and so, as High Rise suggested this week (before solving an existential crisis for all of humanity), I note that I am truly thankful for all of you, for everyone who showed up today, for everyone who has ever shared a word of encouragement with me during a workout, for everyone who has ever held me accountable, and for everyone of you, who inspires me each day. Thank you. – Kuch

  • All Hail Sir Shuffles! or the 7th Running of the H8

    All Hail Sir Shuffles! or the 7th Running of the H8

    On a windy Thursday by the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, history was made in F3 New Orleans.

    Triple Shift and Kuch kicked off the festivities for the H8 VII! They split the Pax up into two groups due to the great showing of 33 men to take on the challenge. Little did anyone know that someone was about the conquer the H8 as never seen before.

    YHC was the first and only one to bow out early due to struggles with his shoulder. The rest of the pack ran hard, bear crawled hard, and burpeed with everything they had through 40 minutes of pain and exhaustion. These are the men YHC is not ashamed to call his brothers.

    Then what men said could never be done……….. it happened.

    They said no one could run 100m in less than 9.6 seconds and on August 12, 2009 Bolt became the fastest man in the world at 9.58.

    They said no one could run a marathon in under 2 hours and on Saturday, October 12, 2019 Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in 1:59:40.

    They said no one could run 9 laps on the H8 and on Thursday, October 17, 2019 Shuffles ran 9 laps of the H8 with 30 seconds before the 40 minute mark.

    Tclaps to Shuffles for 9 and Tclaps to all of our finishers for setting the bar and giving the rest of us something to strive for. Your Fall 2019 H8 finishers: Shuffles, Breadsticks, Mahatma, Sogo, Rudy, Tua, Col Mustard, Quarterpipe, Screwtop, and Tanner.

    The Pax counted off, Name-O-Rama, Welcome to FNG Crackles, Intentions, and Prayer for the Pax

    -Rev Sox

  • The O.K.W.A.T.A. 66

    Gentlemen, i just realized that i haven’t posted the backblast from my Okwata Q back on 8/8/19. To quote Brad Gluckman from Malibu’s Most Wanted, “My Bad!” I don’t remember the Pax members, but here’s a summary of the workout:

    Warmup:

    • can’t remember what we did, but we definitely warmed up

    The Thang:

    The gist of The OKWATA 66 is that the Pax members would run a lap up the concrete levee, cut across the middle,  come back down the other side and then stop at the bottom. After each lap, the Pax members would do 66 reps of each of the exercises i had personally hand selected for the occasion. The routine is called the OKWATA 66 because each exercise would begin with one of the letters from the word Okwata and we would be doing 6 laps & 6 different exercises; thus the 66.  Who doesn’t enjoy a good acronym routine, am i right?! But i digress. Anyway, here’s how it went:

    O – Outlaws: Pax hit a lap and then did 66 Outlaws

    K – Kettle Squats: Pax hit a lap and then did 66 Kettle Squats

    W – WWII Sit Ups: Pax hit a lap and then did 66 WWII Sit Ups

    A – Angle Grinders: Pax hit a lap and then did 66 Angle Grinders

    T – Travoltas: Pax hit a lap and then did 66 Travoltas

    A – American Hammers: Pax hit a lap and then did 66 American Hammers

    After all of the Pax finished the routine, we were out of time. So we headed back to the flag for the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and the prayer

  • Rebirth of the Barre

    Right now ladies and gentlemen, back to Okwata with the lights and lonely music of that gone groove, where you can sit back and relax dig some of the wonderful things . . .

    Warm-Up: mosey to the seawall in front of the fountain and then circle up for SSH x20, Abe Vigoda x15, Arm Circles x20 (10 each direction), Imperial Walkers x20, Peter Parkers x15, Floyd Maywethers x15, and Parker Peters x15.

    The PAX moseyed to the fountain barricade for barre.

    COP1: 3 exercises (Single-leg lunge, Side leg raise, Pistol squat), 3 Sets with a mosey after each set, 1st Set x20, 2nd Set x15, 3rd Set x10 (each leg, i.e. 1st Set 20 on left and 20 on right)

    COP2: The PAX moseyed to the fountain barricade for Jack Webb Went to the Bar.  This was like a standard Jack Webb, but for the air presses, the PAX had to sit against the bar. If the PAX’s legs weren’t mush yet, sitting against the bar took care of it. Jingle Vader took over the cadence for YHC.

    COP3: The PAX moseyed to the sea wall for a Hurricane Hoedown (counting down from 7 with flutterkicks in 4 positions – upright, hands, elbows, flat). High Rise took over the cadence for YHC.

    COP4: The PAX moseyed to the Cabana of Pain for 3 sets of pull-ups x5.

    Count off, Nameorama, close out with announcements, intentions, and prayer. The gift is great, but the Giver is greater still. Teach us to be generous!

    The PAX did a lot of work in a short amount of time, and the whole body got hit.  Perfect start for the day.  Thank you for letting me Q!

  • Stompkwata

    Despite fair warning, 14 men set off into a pleasant September gloom this morning at Okwata. The warning: bring your running shoes, we’re trying something new. And so we did.

    Since we started doing Okwata, YHC has been wanting to run to the large Lakeshore Drive bridge for a change of pace. Today, we did it.

    It’s around 1.1 miles just to get there, so we had to be quick. We wrapped our warm-up into our mosey with some high knees, butt kicks, Super Marios, carioca, and Zombie walks.

    When we got to the bridge, the instructions were simple: 11’s with burpees at the bottom and merkins at the top. YHC had measured it out, and from base to center of the bridge is about 1/10 of a mile, so each “lap” would be 2/10 of a mile. No one quite completed the 11’s, but Breadsticks was close. Breadsticks seems to have found another gear lately. T-claps for that.

    T-claps to Two Yutes, who went back and swept the runners on the way there, giving them the instruction so everyone could get started. We called an end to the 11’s leaving around 12 minutes to return to the flag, and according to my calculations***, we arrived exactly on time. All in all, we ran about 4 miles, with about 1 mile of that being uphill, broken up with some burpees and merkins. We may try this one again during Run Ranger Run.

    Surge closed us out with a prayer. Thanks for trying something new with me today. – Kuch

  • You Better Have Glaucoma

    Conditions: 79 Degrees, 90% Humidity, Heat Index of 83

    Lots of good grass at Okwata and a fair amount of smoking this morning.

    Warmup

    Mandatory mosey through Louisiana’s smallest registered body of water, the sidewalk puddle just east of the shovel flag. It was good to get the shoes wet from the start so that there would be no worries about anything that might come later. We circled the Mardis Gras Fountain (where are the lights Latoya?) with high knees, carioca two ways, but kicks, and bear crawls.

    We then headed up the levee and proceeded west on the top of the levee. I almost ran over a local Shaman in Sukhasana. It would be helpful if all local Shaman wore blinking bicycle lights for safety.

    After destroying that dude’s Chi we pointlessly gathered on the leeward side of the levee. I was hoping to find some well manicured grass, but there was none to be found. So we planked for the six and headed back over the levee.

    The Thang

    11s on the levee. Burpees at the top Squat Jumps at the bottom. After you finish, run back up with anyone more than a lap behind you.

    10! – 10 merkins, 10 squats, 10 Sit-ups, 9 merkins, 9 squats,….1 merkin, 1 squat, 1 Sit-up

    House of Pain – Three lines at the pull-up bars. Each man does Bernie Sanders (L-hang on pull up bar for as long as you can), 30 dips, then go to the back of the line and do BLIMPS until you get back to the pull up bar. We did 2 rounds.

    Quadraphilia – 4 minutes up and down the levee always facing the lake #CrowdPleaser

    Mary – LBCs x 20, Flutter Kicks x 15

    COT

    Announcements: Extra Summer Series at Lafreniere. Anyone want to lead? 5-year Convergence 10/12 – Start working on your buddies that have been AWOL. New Monday Workout at UNO – Post this coming Monday.

    Prayers: Spouse facing surgery, Friends and Relatives with cancer, Praise for new grandchildren, prayers for those that have recently lost loved ones.

    NMM

    • Great to be back at Okwata. My odd race preparations have derailed my Okwata attendance over the past year, but it is still one of my favorite AOs. Glad Mahatma asked me to fill in for him.
    • Speaking of odd running habits, the Half-Fast running club sauntered by while we were at the House of Pain and gave me a serious case of #FOMO. They were running way too fast. I’m not going to be able to keep up when I return. It’s like a couple of new kids showed up to school when you were absent and the next day you no longer have a seat at the lunch table.
    • I still believe you haven’t really done 11s until you’ve done them on the levee at Okwata with burpees. Are you diggin’ me Uptown? River < Lake.
    • Usually time flies when you are having fun, but this seemed like an extra long 45 minutes. May have been the trip to the flag at the 15 minute mark that did a number on my cognitive functioning.
    • According to MapMyRun this workout was 3.8% more intense than my Popeye’s Q last week. #Acceleration
    • Mumblechatter award of the day goes to……JV the all-time champ. During Quadraphilia:
      • Me (in my Rah-Rah voice): C’mon men, you can do anything for four minutes!
      • JV: My wife would disagree.
    • T-claps to Room Service for leading us out with Flutter Kicks.
    • Happy Birthday Dad!

  • Okwata in the Fall

    Or at least it felt that way. The 22 PAX present were treated to 71 degrees and a beautiful sunrise this morning. They were also treated to: LEG DAY. (After Screw Top’s beatdown the previous day, YHC was in no mood for Merkins or Burpees)

    Mosey to the center of the intersection no one ever uses (possibly because we are in it) for

    • Mountain climbers
    • Scorpion kicks
    • SSH
    • Arm Circles
    • Hill Billies
    • All x20

    Split into 2 groups for the second running of the Single Reverse Indian Run. Like an Indian Run, but all the PAX run the loop and up and down the levee, while the last in line peels off and runs the opposite way around the loop.

    20 second count, enough time to stretch out the hips with a little open the gate and close the gate.

    Next pair up for 5 Bernies and 5 Planks. PAX 1 runs backward up the levee while PAX 2 holds one of 5 different planks, starting with high, low, left, right, and ending with bows and toes. Alternate with partner after each plank and Bernie.

    Finally, a bit of DORA 1-2-3 OYO

    • 50 Money Humpers
    • 100 Jump Lunges
    • 150 Squats

    *After each exercise is completed, one sprint up the levee and back. We made it to, but not through the squats, when it came time to head back to the flag.

    Vigorous run back led by Smooth, just in time for 6:15, where we circled up and admired the sunrise. Hokie prayed us out. Thanks for pushing me today. – Kuch

    Total Mileage: 2.86 miles

  • 1776 Merkins and a tour of Okwata

    Well, that’s what 1776 Merkins feels like! I’m glad we decided to share them as a group…

    This was my first Q and we had an amazing attendance with very special guests from uptown. The idea was to get a little tour of Okwata and also celebrate America by doing Merkins and planking after each quick run.

    We started at the flag, moseyed to the “round thing with water in it” for 20 merkins, arm circles, Side straddle hops

    We then ran on top of the levy to canal for: 20 Merkins, bear crawl across canal on top of Levy, Then 20 Merkins

    Next, we ran down the levy to the “circle of benches” for an assortment of excercises including 20 Merkins, American hammers (thanks for reminding me how to do them! Lol), dips, derkins, low slow squats.

    Next, we ran to the parking lot by the “family reunion center” and did 20 Merkins, side straddle hops, imperial walkers,  Peter Parker’s, dying cockroaches.

    We then ran back to the “circle of benches” and did 20 Derkins, low slow squats, grass grabbers, box jumps, dips, each of these separated with a 180 degree rotation (jog) around around the circle.

    The group agreed to a “one minute of standing at attention” (maybe we can make a name for this) to honor our military.

    Back to the flag for20
    More merkins and cot.

    At some point we did some burpees for good measure. Can’t remember when though…

    Special thanks to all For putting up with my lack of consistency in beginning the exercises and to Sogo for remaining me the names of exercises. Also thanks to Screwtop for signing me up for this Q! He missed a good one!

    Pax:

    King Kong, Angie’s list, Breadsticks, Catfish, Hockie pokey, Shuffle, Dirty dell, Triple shift, Tanner, Surge, High rise, Ya mama and them, Walleye, Frack sack, Bongo, Willy , So go , Jingle vador, Smooth, Tool, Shuffles, Undertaker