F3 New Orleans

Tag: Q School

  • Q School in God’s Country

    Four Southshore Pax made the trek to the most scenic AO in F3Nation to join our Northshore brethren for a Q school beatdown.

    Pre-thang

    We made it just in time to join the Pax on their traditional 2 mile pre-thang run.  Turbo and Butt Splice set an 8 minute/mile pace as we Southerners tried our best to keep up.  Ocho joined us for the last 0.00002 miles and we returned to the flag with a minute to spare.

    Introduction

    At 0630 we ovaled up around the flag as the group had grown too large to make a circle.  #NiceProblemToHave. YHC briefly introduced myself and the other Southshore pax, gave everyone an explanation of why we were there and moseyed to wider area.

    As we moseyed, Kimchi notified me that I had not given the disclaimer.

    Q Rule #1 – Don’t let anyone know when you screw up.

    We circled up and YHC proceeded to give the disclaimer, acting as if I had been waiting for the stragglers to arrive.

    Q Rule #2 – Always start the workout with a disclaimer.

    The Q should start each workout by letting everyone know that he is not a professional trainer, that there are inherent risks involved in what is about to take place, and that if you choose to participate it is upon your own volition.

    Q Rule #3 – Make it hard.

    We keep coming back to F3 because it challenges us.  It’s important that the workout is tough.  When you Q, push yourself.  Have a plan, believe in your plan, and execute your plan confidently.  Make sure you are moving from exercise to exercise with purpose and direction.  Keep the pax engaged and don’t give them any downtime to wonder what they should be doing.  Note:  There are going to be times that you smoke yourself and are going to need a breather.  Give yourself and everyone else a break by having one of the fit guys countdown.  10 -20 seconds ought to do.

    • 8 Count Body Builders IC x 20
    • Abe Vigodas IC x 20; Imperial Walkers IC x 25; J-Los IC x 15
    • EMOM – Burpees x 12; 8 Count BB x 8; Merkins x 40; Squats x 50; Burpees x 10; 8 Count BB x 6
    • Floyd Mayweathers IC x 20; Connor McGreggors (aka Parker Peters) IC x 20
    • 8 Count Body Builders IC x 15

    Q Rule #4 – Know how to count.

    When leading exercises we use 3 two part commands to keep the pax together.  These commands are standardized across F3 Nation.  By using the standard commands the pax knows what to expect and is able to easily stay together.  It makes the workout efficient, allowing us to get more done with the time we have.  Here is an explanation by the founders of F3.

    At this point Kimchi took over and coached several “volunteers” on counting.  First he explained the commands:

    1. Next exercise is….The Side Straddle Hop.
    2. Ready position….Move.
    3. In cadence….Exercise.

    He also explained how to vary your count on the last rep to let everyone know that the exercise is ending, and if you are on the ground, tell everyone to “recover” if you want them to get up.  Each man that posted to the center led the group in a traditional 4 count cadence exercise along and a non-traditional cadence.  The oddball cadences and exercises were:

    • Redbull Smurf Jacks (Super fast 4 count)
    • Merkins (Super Slow 4 count)
    • Squats (Down Up 2 count)
    • Copperhead Squats (Slow movement on first 3 counts, exploding on 4th)
    • Dr. Ws (8 count) – T-claps to Grundy for his assist.

    Q Rule #5 – Plan more than you can do

    You want to make sure that you have enough exercises planned to fill the entire time slot.  You never want to get to run out of things to do with time on the clock.  That inevitably leads to down time as you scramble to think of what you can do next.  The pax will notice and the mumble chatter will start.  It’s always better to plan too much than too little.

    Q Rule #6 – Be flexible and ready to adjust your plan

    After YHC’s extended warm-up and Kimchi’s counting school, we had about 7 minutes left to fit in Fracsac’s COP and the 600 reps Triple Shift had planned.  Quick regroup by Frac and Triple and they created a mash-up of their COPs to top off the workout.

    Q Rule #7 – Smoke the world. 

    One pillar of an F3 workout is that it is open to all men, no matter what their fitness level is.  As a Q it is your job to devise a workout that pushes the Stallions to get better without leaving the Clydesdales behind.  There are a few tricks we can use to accomplish this:

    • Exercises where you do as many reps as you can within a time limit – Tabata, EMOM, etc.
    • Partner exercises.  By dividing into groups some of the pax can carry a heavier load – Dora 1-2-3, Foul line to Foul line, etc.
    • Exercise where you run station to station, Elevens for example.

    After a little trouble counting to 2 (come on St. Tammany Parish School Board!) the pax was divided into two groups.  Group one did 15 freak nasties, 15 pistol squats each leg, and 15 derkins while group two bear crawled out 35 yards and back.  1 Flapjack and we were out of time.

    Q Rule #8 – Be Attentive

    Know how many guys are at the workout and keep an eye out to see if any are struggling.  When going on long moseys make sure you assign someone to sweep the six to make sure everyone gets to the destination.  You would be surprised at how many times we have heard a new guy express his appreciation for someone that went back and got him.  It’s important that everyone that participates in the workout knows that no man is left behind.

    It’s also important to give clear directions about form.  There is nothing wrong with coaching guys.  We all want to get the most out of our workouts and we often don’t realize that we are doing something incorrectly.  It is time well spend to take a few seconds to discuss the correct form when doing an exercise (like merkins).

    Q Rule #9 – Be punctual

    It’s important to start and end on time.  If you wait on people before you start you are allowing them to be late and you’ll find that your workout time gets pushed back later and later each week.  If you don’t end on time, you may be keeping some of the pax from getting to their next big thing on time.

    Q Rule #10 – End with a COT

    As Q you get the final say in naming the FNGs.  Try not to suck at it.  We had 4 today and I am notoriously bad at FNG naming (see The Dentist).  Fortunately EIEI rolled out of the fartsack to join us this morning.  Welcome Sisqo, Grasshopper, MASH, and Carpool.

    Be prepared to lead the prayer at the end, but you can usually find a volunteer if needed.

    Q Rule #11 – Write a Backblast

    It’s important to commemorate your achievements in the historical records.  Here is a good one if you need an example.

    Q Rule #12 – Sign up and lead.

    Man up here.

     

  • Rock City Q School

    New leaders bring new ideas and new ideas bring growth.  In hopes of accelerating that growth Tool suggested we have a Q school at Rock City today, so we gathered 17 strong in the gloom for some lessons in leadership.

    Disclaimer

    Most of us don’t do a good job with this, as we usually gloss over it as we start our mosey.  It’s important to emphasize a few points – We are not professionals, this is going to be physically demanding, there are inherent risks (physical exertion, it’s dark, mud, roots, rocks, etc.) and all participants assume those risks, and you should modify if necessary.

    Getting Started

    We moseyed past the rock pile to the t-ball field (Pontiff Playground was in surprisingly good shape after serving as a reservoir during Saturday’s street flooding).  It’s important to set a good tone for the workout early.  You want to portray that you believe that what you are about to do is worth doing.  That it is worth getting out of bed and to the park for 5:30.  We have to make it hard or it won’t be in important to the Pax.

    • 20 Burpees OYO (On Your Own)
    • SSH x 15 (IC); Imperial x 20 (IC); J-Los x 10 (IC)
    • Burpees EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) x 6 minutes (Reps: 12, 12, 12, 12, 10, 10)
    • Peter Parkers x 20 (IC); Plank Jacks x 20 (IC); Parker Peters x 20 (IC)
    • 12 Burpees OYO

    Total Burpees during Warm-up = 100.

    Cadence and Counting

    An important part of our workouts are the commands used to lead an exercise in cadence.  We use 3 two-part commands.  The fact that we use the same commands every time promotes efficiency and pace and keeps us together.  The commands are straight up army style, consisting of two-parts, a preparatory command, followed by a very brief pause, followed by a command of execution.  Example:

    • Next exercise is….the side straddle hop
    • Ready position…move
    • In cadence….Exercise

    There is great deal of controversy over whether it is Ready Position…move or Starting Position…move.  In the infamous DREDD/OBT video “How to Count” DREDD says “Starting Position.”  I gave my Freed To Lead Book away two years ago, so I’m not sure what it says.  However, I am pretty sure OBT used “Ready Position” when he taught me how to do it.

    Kimchi took over at this point and provided instructions for the different cadence counts we use.  Some points to remember:  The Q always counts 1-2-3, while the Pax responds on the 4th count with the number of the repetition.  The Q must change the tone of his count on the last rep to let the Pax know the exercise is ending.  If you are on the ground, tell the Pax to get up by saying “recover” after the exercise is over.  If you want the pax to stay down so you can lead them through 15 variations of plank and merkin exercises a la Rudy, then don’t tell them to recover until the end.

    • Red Bull Count – This is a super-fast 4 count.  Kimchi demonstrated by leading us in Red Bull Smurf Jacks
    • Normal Count, but slow exercise – This is a normal count, but you do half the exercise on the first 3 counts and then complete it quickly on the four count.  Normally used with Low Slow Squats, which Kimchi demonstrated with, but also works well with Merkins.
    • Slow Count – This is a super slow four count.  This one can be a little difficult and takes metronome like skills to keep everyone together.  Kimchi demonstrated with Merkins.  Personally, I use it for Don Quixotes and Good Mornings.
    •  8 count – Used for our more complicated exercises.  Kimchi demonstrated with 8-count Body Builders #crowdpleaser.  Also commonly used by JV for Dr. Ws.
    • Woz then reminded us that we left one out – the 2 count aka up/down cadence.  This cadence works well for all exercises in which you move up and down.  The Q calls out the commands Up and Down (or Down then Up depending on the exercise) as the Pax counts after Down (or UP).  Woz demonstrated with Squats.  #GRT

    Throughout this section, several men posted to the middle to practice leading an exercise.  T-claps to Babyface, Milkman, Marlin, Yo-Yo, Tiny Dancer, and the aforementioned Woz for stepping up to lead.

    Smoking the Pax

    When structuring a workout, you want to make sure that you smoke the super fit guys without leaving everyone else behind.  You also don’t want to make it so that the really fit guys are waiting around a long time for everyone else to finish.  The goal is to create a workout that smokes everyone, regardless of fitness level.  Shorty took over at this point and gave some examples of exercises one can use for this purpose.  You want to use exercises where the intensity is not dependent on time or distance.  For example, Tabata is a good one where everyone stays together and each man does as much as he can during each 20 second interval.  The EMOM used during the warmup is another good example.  Shorty suggested partner work.  Partner work is good because one partner may be able to carry more of the team load than the other.  As long as you don’t let Jadaveon and El Wire partner up together, it seems teams are usually more even than individuals.  Shorty led us in a round of abbreviated Dora.  One partner did Jump Squats while the other jogged to 40 yards and back.  Teams were to complete 300 jump squats, but we ran out of time around 200.

    Circle of Trust

    If there are FNGs, it’s a good idea to recap what F3 stands for and why we find it important.  We always finish with countarama, namearama, announcements and a prayer.

    Naked Man Moleskin

    • Great turnout today for Q-school.  We should have at least 17 for every Rock City.
    • Judging fro the mumblechatter, the 100 burpee warm-up seemed to be as much of a hit in The World as it was Uptown.
    • Good input from all the Pax today:  Triple Shift reminded us the importance of paying attention to the Pax as you lead and that it is ok to stop and correct form when you see people doing it wrong.  Tool suggested that splitting your VQ with someone else is always a good option.  Walleye reminded us of the importance of planning a total body workout and not just focusing on one area.
    • Rudy had a section planned on Trying New Things, but we didn’t get to it.  One reason we want new Qs to step up is because they often bring fresh ideas.  It never hurts to try something new.  If it doesn’t work, you don’t have to bring it back.  But more often than not, it works.
    • That brings me to flexibility.  Today, the cadence training was going well and we had a lot of newer Qs that we wanted to give some practice to.  We spent some extra time on that section, knowing it would cost us Rudy’s section at the end.  You want to bring a plan, but always be prepared to change it during the workout.
    • Also, it’s much better to over plan than under plan.  You never want to run out of things to do and then just be making stuff up to kill time at the end.  You want to finish strong.  In case you do run out of stuff, you can always finish with Mary, but it works best to have a go-to Mary series ready, instead of making it up on the fly.
    • If you attended the Q school today, let me know what worked well and what didn’t work well.  You can post it in the comments below.  I would love to have your feedback.  We are going to take this show on the road at the end of the month, and I would like for it to be better than what it was today.

    Thanks,

    Hawg