F3 New Orleans

Tag: Steve

  • – from Bushwacker

    As I stood in the gloom and watched the the headlights roll in, I thought about all of the “regulars” I was going to see at Granny’s. And when the PAX circled up, including Chewy doing his best Cowbell impression, I didn’t see ANY regulars…all I saw were a group of HIMs ready to start their day off with an offering to the gods of sweat and pain! And thoug YHC brought every excuse as to why this beatdown would be “a little less intense”, the PAX brought their A game all the same.

    WARMORAMA

    All IC x10:

    SSH
    High Knees
    Butt Kicks
    …? (sorry I went on to lead PT for my fellow recruits and have become confused)

    THANG
    But anyhoo…We broke into groups of 2 and reported to either the benches, the pillars or the stairs. Different exercise at each station and rotate several times.
    Benches – Freak Nasties
    Pillars – Squats
    Stairs – Bunny Hops

    SECOND EVOLUTION

    Benches – 100s
    Pillars – Tuck Jumps
    Stairs – run up, 5 burpees, around tower, 5 burpees and down

    THIRD EVOLUTION

    Benches – Freddy Mercuries
    Pillars – Lunge Walks
    Stairs – run up and down twice

    COT

    Count and name, with Chewy praying us out. Thanks for following the gimp of my lead gents.

    See yall at the H8!……?

  • Northshore 5 year convergence – from Waterpik

    What a great day it was, as today’s experience crystallized the essence of F3 in so many ways. YHC awakened, checked my phone and noticed a text from cowbell, inquiring on the status of the beatdown on behalf of the PAX from Nola who were preparing to cross the causeway. That was at 0455! T-Claps to those guys for even considering making the trip across for the convergence. After all, and unbeknownst to them, the causeway was CLOSED at the time due to the severity of the weather.

    And don’t forget Goose, who decided to make a surprise appearance and left his home in Thibodeaux at 0445, driving through rain storms, lightning, and thunder at a mere 45 mph on the interstate before encountering the closed causeway bridge himself. T-Claps to you, Goose, for your perseverance and your faith that F3 would stick to its credo of “rain or shine”. And that we did! It was really go to see you, Goose!

    And what about Jose and Speedy and Bushwacker, who showed up at 0600, ready for the pre thing on the Lakefront? Thanks for sticking around, guys, until 0730, and for your dedication to our Organization.

    And then, despite the horrific weather over night, 15 PAX showed up the beatdown! T-claps to all of you guys who showed up for the convergence. Without a PAX, we are all sad clowns. And thanks to F3 for giving me more than I have given to it! I am definitely a better man now than I was before. That is, more dedicated, more confident, more responsible, more faithful, more resolute, more grounded, and more and more and more!

    And here’s a prayer for F3 Nation, who has had a change of leadership and has very ambitious goals to keep growing, thriving, and adapting. Those will be no easy tasks, but my prayer is that they (we) will succeed. It’s because of PAX like YOU GUYS that I have confidence that WE can do just that.

    And by the way, there was a workout. It was much of the same. You know the drill, merkins, cinder blocks, Mary, COT, special intentions and Goose to pray us out

  • INFERNO – 9 CIRCLES OF HELL – from Zoolander

    The Northshore beatdown on Holy Saturday was themed around Dante’s Inferno. A group of 18 Pax, including a guest appearance from the Southshore’s SOGO, descended upon the Lakefront for 9 Circles of Hell. Warmup exercises were completed in reverse cadence (4-3-2-1) to align with the date (4/3/21) and to remind everyone it was Cowbell’s birthday. We traveled 9 blocks, circling up at each one to perform the 66 exercises illustrated below. Lots of Mumble Chatter, especially at Circle no. 2. We finished at the shovel flag with some Absolution, completing 666 total reps (or there about) for the day.

    Announcements:
    – Northshore 5 year Convergence to be led by Waterpik on Saturday 4/10.
    – Fia/F3 mixer at the Gipper on 4/29 at 6:30pm.

    Cowbell prayed us out. Happy Easter to all.

  • Curls for the Girls! – from BBQ

    The weather was cold and rainy but that did not stop 10 sturdy and strong NS F3 men from rising to the challenge. The beat down moved under the trailhead shelter and went heavy on coupons. The warm up exercises were side straddle hops, torso twists, self love, wind mills, arm circles with little balls and biggest balls, grass grabbers, mountain climbers, inverted mountain climbers, plank jacks, merkins and shoulder rolls. YHC had some struggles with cadence and count but I think I am making some progress! Coupons were used for 4 rounds of 11 exercises. 3 types of curls, overhead lifts, rows, kettle bell swings, squats, Al Gore meets George Thoroughgood, LBC’s, leg raises and flutter kicks. Shooter will be sad to miss this beat down. Curls should continue to be a focus to be ready for the girls at the joint NS F3 and FIA workout on 2-25! We did one round of tricep curls at the end to keep arms from becoming too bicep heavy. Mobydick inspirationally prayed us out.

  • Dreams Do Come True – A Tribute to MLK – from Akbar

    YHC arrived at the Marsh to a cool 32 degrees this morning. While Grover and I sat in the car for a pre-thang warm up, we were not the first to arrive. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a lone figure doing Burpees. At first I thought it was @Cowbell, since he left the only reply to my Pre-Blast about F2 after the beatdown. But no, it was none other than Russo. His Burpees were polished, in cadence, reminiscent of Mr. Miyagi’s flowing Crane kick. Alas, Cowbell did not show.

    Today we would celebrate Martin Luther King. A man with humble beginnings who had a dream that did come true.

    Warm Up: Grass Grabbers, Plank Jack, Self-Love, Big Arm Circles (front and back), Torso Twist IC x10-20

    Thang

    Modified Hero WOD for MLK based on events in his life.
    *The first 3 events, second exercise were 1 is 1; the rest of the second exercises were 2 is 1

    1929: Born in Atlanta

    19 Merkins 29 High Knees

    1944: King entered Moorehouse college at the age of 15. He would go on to receive a Bachelors in Divinity from Crozer Seminary and a Doctorate degree from Boston University’s School of Theology

    19 Freak Nasty’s 44 Randy’s (arms, up in field goal position, lower down and back up)

    1946: Atlanta Constitution publishes a letter to the editor from King stating black people should have same rights and opportunities as all American people

    19 Block Curls 46 Butt Kicks

    1955: The Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks, King is thrown in jail for protesting

    19 Block Rows 55 Moroccan Night Clubs

    1956: US Supreme Court affirms Browder V Gayle – declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional. King is one of the first to ride a bus with whites.

    19 Goblet Squats 56 Mountain Climbers

    1960: King met with Lyndon Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy to discuss racial inequality

    19 Shoulder Thrusts 60 Butt Kicks

    1963: The march on Washington DC, Kings I Have a Dream speech

    19 Merkins 63 Step Ups

    1964: King receives the Nobel Peace Prize and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed

    19 Freak Nasty’s 64 Freddy Mercury’s’

    1965: The 54 mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery ending at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Riots broke out and this day would be known as Bloody Sunday.

    19 Block Curls 65 Lunges

    1968: King assassinated in Memphis, TN

    19 Block Rows 68 Arm Circles

    1986: Inaugural Martin Luther King Day

    19 Goblet Squats 86 100’s

    1/18/21: MLK today

    18 Shoulder Thrusts 21 Burpees

    Mary IC
    M: 20 Merkins
    L: 50 LBC’s
    K: 20 Knee Raises
    Heels to Heaven, Hands to Heels, Crunch Frogs for (the missing) Cowbell x10 IC

    Count, Name-O-rama

    Announcements: Krazy Ivan, Run Cajun Run (replacing Run Ranger Run)

    Although Russo, Waterpik, and The Pelican had to work, the rest of us had a great breakfast and F2 at the Waffle House.

    Always great to hang with you guys for F3 and F2. Thanks for letting me lead

    SYITG,

    Akbar

  • Blimp 11’s – from Cowbell

    COP #1: warm
    20xSSH, high knees, butt kicks, mtn climbers, Peter Parker’s

    Warm up lap around the trailhead

    The Thang:
    3 rounds of 11’s using BLIMPS exercises (one exercise at top of stairs and the other at the end of the breezeway)
    Round 1: Burpees and Lunges
    Round 2: Imperial Walkers and Merkins
    Round 3: Plank Jacks and Squats

    COP #2: 6MOM
    20x crunchy frogs

    Shooter prayed us out.
    FYI- doing this on Rudy’s new backblast experiment format and it’s super easy.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

    Cowbell

  • Are their any regulars at Granny’s House? – from Cowbell

    YHC was excited to Q and see some regulars at Granny’s to which the witty wacker poised the question, Are their any regulars at Granny’s anyway? Good question and food for thought. No, wacker was not there to find out…
    …But Steve and Chewy were… Welcome back guys!

    Warm up:
    SSH X 30
    IW X 20
    PP X 10
    PP X 10
    PJ X 10
    MC X 10
    AC F/B X 20

    The Thang:
    Complete 50 burpees, run 100 yards, 50 jump squats, run 100 yards, 50 merkins, run 100 yards, 50 LBC’s, run back to the start.
    complete 40 burpees, run 100 yards, 40 jump squats……

    The idea was to complete through 10 reps each but the mumblechatter was plentiful…
    I believe more regulars would have increased the competitiveness and thus allowed us to finish. We’ll try again!

    Back to the flag for COT.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • Out of the Shadows

    Imagine Cowbell’s face when he arrived (on time, give the man credit) to the AO to find Waterpik and YHC, fresh out of Covid quarantine, as the only two pax present. Had Hog’s Breath posted (he broke his quarantine spell the day before at the Marsh), Cowbell might’ve just gotten right back in the truck and bounced. But he made it this far, and it was too cold to turn back around, so we got down to business.

    Warmorama: Good mornings, toe touches, SSH, IW’s, torso twists, seal jacks, x10-20 IC.

    YHC is gonna miss the Christmas lights at the trailhead, they’re downright cheerful. And heart warming! And the place is so well-lit! Anyway, the last few times YHC has Q’d, I’ve elected to stay close and enjoy the twinkling lights, and today was no different. Quick mosey around the block to warm up before launching into a long lunge walk down the length of the corridor and around the bend until we reached the stage. At every other column, we would perform 5 burpees, thereby helping Cowbell (the sole Northshore ISI participant) get some in before daybreak. By the time we hit the stage we had 55.

    Once at the stage, we circled up for:

    1. Squats x20 IC
    2. Burpees x5
    3. Jump Squats x20
    4. Burpees x5
    5. Sister Mary’s x20 IC
    6. Burpees x5
    7. Monkey Humpers x20 IC
    8. Burpees x5
    9. Calf Raises x20 IC

    Back to the corridor, where we bunny hopped our way back, stopping at every other column to do x10 merkins. With 110 merkins completed, we knocked out another 5 burpees.

    Our favorite stair-climbing couple has been MIA lately, probably because it’s so darn cold, so we took over their stairs for alternating single-leg calf raises, x5 each step up.

    YHC was ready to head over to the bus stop, my preferred location for bench work, but after spotting the knife-wielding Mr. Perkins sleeping there at the start of the beatdown, we decided to give him a wide berth and chose the benches around the splash pad instead. Time for … more legs!

    1. L leg step up, x20 IC
    2. Freak Nasties, x10 IC
    3. R leg step up, x20 IC
    4. Freak Nasties, x10 IC
    5. L leg Bulgarians, x20 IC
    6. Freak Nasties, x10 IC
    7. R leg Bulgarians, x20 IC
    8. Freak Nasties, x10 IC

    And finally, some standard Mary with Jane Fonda’s mixed in to complete the legorama. Thanks to the guys for posting, when it’s as cold as it’s been lately, it is tough getting out of bed and to the AO. The whole accountability thing works, so I can’t thank you guys enough.

  • Intensify to Modify: Pickaxe’s First Q

    It was a frigid morning along the lakefront the 2nd day of Christmas. While 9 year old Pickaxe, in his, ahem, first Q of his young F3 career, did not give a Tujague’s recipe for the crawfish caught in Arabi (Uptown Chalmette if you’re from Da Parish), he did come bearing gifts, 12 in fact. However, these were ones we COULD wait to open, as each contained 2 various and sundry exercises for the PAX, one on the foray out, one on the way back.

    Prethang:

    Pickaxe and his dad, The Hammer, forsook the traditional 2 mile pre-thang in order to lay the 12 gifts with great care along the 1/2 mile path to the beach. The 12 packages came in different colors: red, silver, and gold. This would be important, as Pickaxe instructed the color of each package determined the number of repetitions for the exercised contained therein, as well as the mode of transportation to the next box. The directive was as follows:

    Gold: 10 reps/each exercise, Karaoke to next box

    Red: 20 reps/each exercise, sprint to next box

    Silver: 30 reps/each exercise, bear crawl to next box.

    Full Disclosure: When assisting Pickaxe with laying out the gifts, The Hammer was only thinking of the challenges on the way out. As such, the way out brought a long (read: 200 yard) sprint followed by a short bear crawl. On the way back, however, that meant a 200 yard bear crawl. As Pickaxe would say, “Intensify to Modify”.

    Each member of the PAX would take turns opening the gifts, then calling out the exercise they “unwrapped”, there being 24 in total, covering upper body, lower body, and core. A particularly tough gauntlet was a series of 30 8 count bodybuilders, with a bear crawl leading to 20 burpees, followed by a long sprint. Pickaxe insisted the exercises were blindly placed in each box so that he knew not the order, nor the quantity. This series caused some to question the 9 year old. Intensify to modify.

    When the PAX returned to the flag, we circled up for Mary, finishing up with Hello Dollies, Freddy Mercuries, 100s, and a Mission Impossible plank (SIDENOTE: The series/movies should be named Mission Improbable, not Impossible. Think about it. If true, it would’ve been a single episode series, and the ending would not have been a happy one.)

    COT, then Russo prayed us out. Pickaxe is grateful to have had the opportunity to lead, and his dad is grateful to befriend a group of men that would give him the opportunity to do so. Merry Christmas, God Bless, and SYITG!

  • It really did happen.

    You guys will do whatever it takes to keep a guy on the straight and narrow.  Looking back at my one and only backblast (VQ on 11/14), it was late just like this one.  A little headlocking and friendly ribbing may just be the encouragement some of us need. I know I do.  So without further ado, see below for Bird’s yoga inspired Q – it actually did happen Wacker! 

    0510 – Q posts with computer, yoga mats, speaker and phone in tow in preparation for said event.  Borrowed yoga mats courtesy of Bayou Yoga studio, which if I’m not doing some craziness with you guys ITG is where I might be otherwise on an early morning.  Oh who am I kidding, if I don’t show I’m probably still in bed at 5:15!  Actually, I do enjoy the yoga, although I’m not sure if my illicit affair is with the yoga studio or F3 – depends on who you ask I guess. 

    Shortly after distributing yoga mats and various props arrive the following members of PAX: Shooter, The Pelican, Steve, and Zoolander. 

    0515 – Chilly morning, albeit not as bad as the forecasted high 30 temps.  The combination of cold temps, yoga, and those of you who aren’t so flexible could have been a recipe for disaster!  Cold temps abated with a quick warm up consisting of high knees, butt kicks, side straddle hops, seal jacks, torso twists, windmills, mountain climbers, and merkins (10 each IC). 

    0520 – Just to ensure all the sensitive areas were good and warm, PAX took a quick run to the tunnel – gotta remember a headlamp next time for the spooky, dark forest in the turn northward.  Eventually, the light of the tunnel approaches and PAX regroups with a plank a ten count merkins in cadence before the return run. 

    0530 – PAX regroups on stage where yoga mats are spread.  Shooter was the only one who got the memo about bringing a mat, but it was some sort of blanket from south of the border – not your typical yoga attire.  Speaking of which, thankfully there were no yoga pants to be seen either.

    After circling up for the upcoming spiritual experience, Q reminds PAX that yoga should be done with intention, gratitude, and purpose.  One of the nice thing about the practice is that it allows the space for thinking about those things.  Did I mention I’m grateful for the PAX?  I am. 

    First yoga series consisted of:

    • Child’s pose
    • Table, right-arm up, twist under, breath
    • Table, left arm up, twist under, breath
    • Bird dog, right arm out, left leg up, knee to elbow five times
    • Bird dog, left arm out, right leg up, knee to elbow five times
    • Table to bear pose to down dog
    • 10 Down dog pushups (aka Carolina Dry Docks)
    • Repeat 1x

    Second yoga series consisted of:

    • Two rounds of sun salutation A (i.e., forward fold, halfway left, plank to chataranga, up dog, down dog, jump or step to hands)

    Third yoga series consisted of:

    • Sun Salutation A
    • Right leg up to runners lunge
    • Rise to crescent
    • Twisting crescent
    • Hands to hear center and bend forward to hook elbows on knee (twisting lunge)
    • Open arms
    • Twisting crescent
    • Crescent
    • Repeat 1x

    Fourth yoga series consisted of:

    • Sun Salutation A
    • Right leg up to runners lunge
    • Warrior 1
    • Warrior 2
    • Reverse warrior
    • Right angle pose (bind encouraged)
    • There was a bunch of stuff I had planned after that that I forgot that will save for next time
    • Warrior 2
    • Warrior 1
    • Repeat 1X

    Fifth yoga series consisted of:

    Honestly gents, it’s been so long since the Q (it actually did happen Wacker) that I’ve gotten a little fuzzy on what happened next, but there was some yogi squat action, lizard lunging, and flying into configurations inspired by birds of sorted varieties.  Zoolander covered a few of them.  I can’t even remember if we did a little meditating at the end or did a shavasana, but I do recall some focused breathing – cool are in through the nostrils, arm air out through the nostrils – and the obligatory namaste.  For those of you who’ve gotten this far, a little Wikipedia explaining a shavasana – if we didn’t do it last time, we will the next time. 

    Shavasana (Sanskrit: शवासन; IAST: śavāsana), Corpse Pose, or Mrtasana,[1] is an asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, often used for relaxation at the end of a session. It is the usual pose for the practice of yoga nidra meditation.  Shavasana is intended to rejuvenate the body, mind, and spirit. In the pose, the breath deepens, and the stress of the day is released. The yogi forgets all other thoughts and surrenders any psychological effort. While in Savasana, yogis slip into blissful neutrality and reflect on the practice.[7] Comfort is essential in the pose; the slightest point of discomfort can be endlessly distracting. Shavasana is a good way to reduce stress and tension.[8]

    Namaste ended the practice and brought the PAX back from oblivion into the present moment.  Following a few quick announcements (last week was a busy one!), Steve led us in prayer. 

    A quick afterthought…yoga isn’t something you do as a one off.  Like anything, to get good at it and realize the benefits, one has to practice.  PAX performed admirably considering yoga isn’t in the regular lineup of F3 beatdowns.  Looking forward to rotating this in on occasion and adding flexibility to the list of qualities that describe such a fine group of men. 

    Glad to be with you all,

    Bird