F3 New Orleans

Tag: Steve

  • The Sound of Cowbells on the Farm

    With an inspirational consistency not seen since the Ol’ Ringo of ’18, YHC feels compelled to give special mention to Ei for cranking out a Mandeville Straight right out of left field! Also tumbling through the vast emptiness of YHC’s brain was the fact that today marked the 2nd (1st time in Q’s solemn presence at least) meeting of veteran south shore and veteran north shore legends in Mr. Farmer and Mr. Schedler.

    Speaking of Mr Farmer, as per somewhat usual, his long-time neighbor and homie Chewy came rolling in just late enough to let the warm up breathe a little. Further speaking of…

    WARM O RAMA

    This morning demanded we start of with:

    10x Abe Vigodas (great job counting PAX)

    10x High Knees

    25x Cherry Pickers

    10x Imperial Walkers

    THANG

    As the PAX embarked on the regular route, the mumble chatter began in earnest, despite the already-ubiquitous humidity promising a Shooter-approved beat down.

    MARY

    Upon reconvergence and ample recovery time (depending on who you ask?) the PAX gathered at the workout equipment, where Freddy Mercurys were continuously performed while each man did 5 pull ups and 5 knee ups. When all were done the beat down was concluded with 2 minutes of plank, right hand up, left hand up and back to plank.

    COT

    Steve lead us out by speaking his appreciation, which appreciatively did not evolve into a meandering ramble, as our collective exhaustion could’ve lent itself to. Thanks guys, you each rock individually and as a PAX!

  • Back-to-Back Blasts

    Anyone who has posted with me knows that YHC is not much of a talker.  Hell, I can hardly find enough to say for one backblast each week.  And yet here we are.  YHC supposes it is a small price to pay for all the benefits of F3.  And hey, if a bear craps in the woods and no one is around to write a backblast about it, did it really happen?

    Pre-beatdown, with mumble chatter about our aches and pains from the last few days, Einstein noted that as the PAX gets stronger, the ceiling on beatdowns is pushed higher and higher.  It’s both great (hey, we get our money’s worth) and at the same time pretty awful (might not be able to walk like a normal human being the next day).  That got me thinking about Chewy’s request for a more restorative beatdown on the Northshore, which is a great idea.  Today’s beatdown, though, wasn’t going to be so restorative. And with that in mind, YHC gave a disclaimer for the first time in… well, too long.

    Warmorama: Air presses, overhead arm circles, arm circles forward and backward, SSHs, hillbillies, high knees.  All x 20 IC.

    The Thang: First stop, the quarry for some rock work.  Part of YHC’s mission this week was to introduce Cowbell to the various offerings at each AO, and this seemed to be one we hadn’t seen much of lately. 

    • Curls x12 IC
    • Squat-to-Overhead-Press x10 IC
    • Bent over Rows x 12 IC

    Rinse and repeat, swapping the counts. Then we gingerly placed the rocks back just as we had found them (so as not to offend the beautifying efforts of the Covington Garden Club), and we were off to the front of the Justice Center, where the bulk of today’s efforts would take place.

    First, a quick stop at the benches for lateral jump overs x20 OYO, and Bulgarians x10 IC each leg. Then partner up…

    P1 runs the length of the courtyard, up the stairs, does 15x jump squats, and returns to relieve P2, who is planking in front of a bench, walking his hands up onto the bench and then back down again, repeatedly. There’s probably a name for this or, at the very least better wording to explain it, but YHC can’t take the time to look it up in our exicon.

    After two rounds of that, we did a variation, P1 runs same route, does star jacks x10, while P2 is now walking his feet up to the bench and back down, adding a derkin in each time both feet are up on the bench. R&R.

    A quick 10 count then grab a bench for step ups x15 IC each leg, and freaks x15 IC.

    Next up, suicides across the courtyard for P1, Mahktar N’diayes for P2. Swaparoo. Again the beautifying efforts of Covington were appreciated, as some men opted to save the skin on their forearms and avoided the concrete, using instead the small gardens near each bench.

    And then the finale, P1 up at the top of the stairs holding a people’s chair and doing air presses, P2 bear crawling backwards up the stairs.  (We missed you Maverick.)

    Back to the flag for a quick Mary of 100’s, Crunchy Frogs, and LBC’s x20 IC.

    COT and Einstein Cowbell prayed us out.  Thank you for following my lead today guys, I sincerely appreciate it!

  • Make Grandmothers Great Again

    Without Coconuts or Ringo to provide the kind of steady care that Granny needs, she has been on her last gasps for a few months now.  We won’t go too far with the dying grandmother imagery (because that’s just tasteless), but let’s just say it’s been pretty bad here on Tuesday mornings.  Four men, however, posted on this particularly gloomy morning to provide a little resuscitation.  (Yes, this included Ei on his second consecutive post and third post of the month – don’t worry, Ei, no one’s keeping track.)  And, with the promise of Chewy returning from his triathlon and Cowbell firmly locked in, things should hopefully be looking up this summer for our dear Granny.

    So the intent of today’s workout was not to… take it easy, per se… but after Shooter’s brutal whipping yesterday at the Marsh, a lighter load might not be such a bad thing.  So we started with… 

    Warmorama: Abe Vigodas x10 IC, good mornings x10 IC, arm circles… at this point Ei interrupted to note that this was actually exactly how Shooter began yesterday’s beatdown. 

    Exactly?

    Oh well. On to reverse arm circles x20 IC, seal jacks x20 IC, and we’re off on a mosey to the tunnel.

    The Thang:

    First up, a set of 11’s:  starting at the base of the tunnel with x1 burpee, backpedal up the largest hill in Mandeville and, with no Wacker in sight to complain, perform Sister Mary K’s x10 IC.  With such a light crowd we did the 11’s together, and there was more chatter about The Dawn Wall (where we discovered that Cowbell was also a huge fan and had read the book), until the lack of moving air and burpees finally set in.

    Mosey back toward the trailhead with a quick stop at the benches for Freak Nasties, x10 IC.  

    Onward, with Cowbell showing off his athleticism with a few cow-gongs, and then we were at the amphitheater stage for some Rochamburpees.  Partners were Zoo and Ei, Cowbell and YHC.  Chillcut plank, rock-paper-scissors, winner takes the merkins and loser takes the burpees.  Count starts at 1 and play was up to 10.  Losing in the beginning is pretty inconsequential, but a loss on the final two is just brutal.  YHC was not sure what was going on with Zoo and Ei, as it looked like Ei was just laying on the ground watching Zoo do a bunch of burpees. Maybe he’s just that good at rock-paper-scissors?

    Finally, back at the flag for a simple Mary of flutter kicks, x40 IC.

    COT and Zoo prayed us out.  Thank you guys for posting in this ideal weather, and giving me the opportunity to lead.  SYITG.

  • First at the Marsh for ole EiEi Oh? Literally/Figuratively

    YHC arrived at the Marsh to the sights of an unfamiliar truck.. As I exited, so did one EiEi now that’s a pleasant surprise but certainly a welcomed one.. Then the likes of another arrival not seen in sometime with Pelican pulling in as Steve and Bushwacker make there way to center court.. Of course the Marsh would not be complete without the pillar of Monday posts Water Pik rolling in right on time.. We circle up at center court to warmup for our “Marsh 500” on this heavy humid Gloom.. Not sure of the track temperatures but most of the PAX would soon be cooling things down with much perspiration as we embark down Lamarque street..

    Warmup

    15 IC Toe Touches

    10 IC Good Mornings

    15 IC Windmills

    10 IC Arm circles forward/reverse

    15 IC SSH

    Thang

    Assembled on Lamarque for the first bit of instruction. Simple Mosey to the first cross street for our 1st of only 5 exercises.. 20 8 count body builders OYO, as the YHC knew that he would not be able to maintain an accurate count as we progressed down Lamarque. Corner 2 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins. Moseyed on to our next block 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins, 34 Squats. By this point Q was beginning to wonder what possessed him to elect 8 count body builders as one of the exercises, but then Bushwhacker noticed the Ragnar t-shirt YHC was wearing which states “It’s not crazy if we all are doing it!” On to the fourth corner for 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins, 33 Squats, 50 Plank Jacks.. Arrived on the 5th corner at Lakeshore and Lamarque for completion. 20 8 count body builders, 25 Merkins, 33 Squats, 50 Plank Jacks and 100 LBCs.. By this point the objective of the PAX is to just complete in whatever order necessary or as we like to say modify to your abilities… PAX began some mumble chatter of a possible Uber pickup, which made the YHC feel as though he had delivered a quality product for a great price… “Marsh 500” complete 5 corners, 5 exercises and 500 Total reps.. Moseyed our 1/2 mile return to the court arriving with 2 mins to spare for a chill cut Plank followed by 10 IC J-lows..

    Glad to have all you men post this Gloom, especially EIEI. Looking forward to seeing you at other AO’s as well 👊🏻!!

    count, announce, COT

    👏🏻👏🏻 to EIEI for closing us in prayer!!

    Always appreciate the Gloom with you brethren of F3!!

    👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻 til the next Gloom!!

  • Fuzzy Balls

    22 PAX strong on the Mandeville Lakefront. 23 if you count Brat who joined us for a little foreplay as he works his way off injured reserve. Brat, an officer with the NOPD, injured himself successfully tackling and arresting a bad guy. The PAX’s consensus is that he should use a Tazer next time Indiana Jones style or perhaps transfer to a Northshore police agency where a polite request to stop, issued with an English accent, is all that is required to apprehend a criminal.

    Kicked things off with warmup of seal jacks, toe touches, SSHs, imperial walkers, merkins, and Jane Fondas. We then divided into three teams, and YHC retrieved his bag and revealed his fuzzy balls.

    Each team received a fuzzy tennis ball (yes, YHC had three) and instructions to race with it about a half mile west along the Lakefront to the Shaft. To begin, there were only three rules: first, you cannot run if you are holding the ball; second, no pass backs-you cannot receive a pass back from the man you just passed to; and third, the entire team had to stop dead and perform five burpees every time the ball touched the ground before proceeding. Then Cowbell whipped a legal pad out of his briefcase and starting asking questions and for clarification on a few items so we ended up with a few more rules. No wonder you guys don’t get anything done on the Southshore.

    Circled up upon arrival at the Shaft for T merkins and alternating Supermans..

    Back to the races with another tennis ball sprint further westward along the Lakefront to the playground where we circled up for prisoner squats, hand release merkins and crab cakes.

    Raced back eastward with our fuzzy balls to the Shaft for a third COP consisting of a merkin wave, lunges, Supermans, arm circles, overhead hand claps, and air presses.

    One final race back to the shovel flag, wrapping things up with some Mary…single leg raises, scuba Steves and a 60 second plank.

    Countorama, nameorama and Phoenix prayed us out on the way to the coffeeteria.

    Thanks for letting me lead, guys, and thanks for competing so earnestly in the silly tennis ball game.

  • Sandy Returns

    A Grundy beatdown in 2019 wouldn’t be complete unless Sandy showed up. And showed up she did. But let’s warm up first.

    Warmup included, Seal Jacks, Butt Kicks, High Knees, and Nolan Ryans. All of them were in cadence.

    We then moseyed to the parking garage to meet up with the aforementioned Sandy who was conveniently waiting in the Grundymobile.

    We showed her the usual respect and did a planking tunnel of love and pulled her through with our right arms up the first ramp. We then pulled her through our legs down the straightaway to the other ramp. We rinsed and repeated up the second ramp pulling through with our left arms.

    On the top we partnered up and did catch me if you can with three laps for each team. Turbo decided to make YHC’s first backpedal extra long. Thanks man…

    We then got in some of my PT and did some core work while one PAX took a band and in a squat shuffled left and right up the straightaway. We did that for every PAX while switching the exercise in between.

    After a Indian run on the roof we left Sandy behind and went to the Justice center benches. We did a Steve classic with some step ups and freak nasties in cadence.

    We moseyed back to the flag and concluding with a count off and COT with prayer.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • Granny’s House: Into the Multiverse

    It was as if the LIGO super collider had been activated and, through some rip in the space time continuum, produced three Q’s instead of the usual one for Tuesday’s beatdown.  Either that or no one signed up to Q Granny and we did a Round Robin.   Dimensional warping or no, though, the varied leadership produced a worthy beatdown.  Here’s the gist:

    Warmorama (Steve): cherry pickers, arm circles (forward and back), imperial walkers, SSHs, high knees.  All x20 IC.

    The Thang:

    Part 1: (Steve) Over to the marsh for an AMRAP set of 5 pull-ups, 10 merkins, and 15 squats.  With a very-probable Murph coming up for Memorial Day (mark your calendar, gents), it seemed a good idea to start getting some reps in.  PAX did 50 pull-ups, 100 merkins, and 150 squats.

    Part 2: (Zoolander) Back to Granny’s for some corridor action.   Since many of us were denied the pleasure of finishing the Zoorich Classic and thus denied the broad jump burpee finale, Zoo decided we should get another chance and this time he doubled down on the pain.  PAX would broad jump burpee to the first column, then bear crawl back to start, broad jump burpee to the second column, bear crawl back, and so on.  After a few of these excruciating suicides, we partnered up for…

    Part 3: (Zoolander, with a suggestion from Cowbell) Modified BLIMPS: Partner 1 begins with the burpees, while partner 2 runs the corridor, up and down the stairs and back to relieve P1.  With time constraints, we nixed the cumulative count and simply each did one round of the following: burpees, lunges, imperial walkers, merkins, plank jacks, squats.

    Mary: (Shooter) Shooter, fresh off a trip to Grand Isle which found him… on the opposite end of rested, continued the pain with a round of crunchy frogs, LBC’s, wife pleasers, and Freddie Mercs, all around 20x IC.

    COT and Shooter prayed us out.  Thanks to the PAX for posting and leading – it was brutal and, as always, somehow fun. 👊

  • 2 is Company

    The Marsh has been relatively quiet lately, and yesterday was no exception. There were no transients, very little trash. Betting on a light turnout, YHC took a page from Chewy’s book by bringing the jump rope to the beatdown.

    After a brief warm up of SSHs, Arm Circles, HKs and BKs, we headed over to the monkey bars for 2 sets of pull ups x 20. Partner 1 does 20 pull ups and P2 spots P1, as necessary. Rinse and Repeat.

    Mosey back to the court to jump rope. P1 does an exercise (Merkins, 100s) while P2 does 100 reps with the jump rope.

    Finish up with 4 corners: each block stop for a quick exercise. 10 Burpees, 30 Merkins, Crunchy Frogs, Sprints, Putins, Bulgarian Split Squats.

    YHC prayed us out.

    Thanks, Steve, for joining me in the Gloom.

    SYITG.

    Pik

  • Run For the Roses It Was Not

    With the rain clouds threatening, and the forecast looking just as ominous, YHC did not know how many PAX would brave the elements for today’s beatdown. Of course, YHC should have known better as 17 men posted on the Mandeville Lakefront despite the rainy, wet conditions. Actually, the rain combined with a nice breeze to cool things off, providing a break from the recent humidity. But of course, mornings like this one are reminders of what it means and feels like to be “alive”, as Maverick alluded to in our closing prayer.

    WARMARAMA

    SSHs, Good Mornings, Torso Twists, High Knees, Butt Kicks, all to about 15 IC

    THANG

    Hat’s off to ZooRich for his imaginative, golf-themed beatdown last Saturday on the Lakefront. From what I hear, it was legendary! With no ideas of Grandeur Dancing around in YHCs very small brain, YHC decided it was time for a downpainment (more on that later) of sorts. After a quick mosey to the east towards RIPS, it was time to circle up for some Al Gore’s (3 sets, about 30 sec hold). Sprinkle in a set of Peter Parker’s and Parker Peter’s and it was time to mosey eastward again. Before turning up Lamarque St. to head to the Milestone Marsh, the PAX hit the seawall for some: Freak Nasties, Derkins, and Step-Ups.

    Sweat pouring, the PAX headed up Lamarque St. circling up at each intersection for some exercises: Flutter Kicks, Hello Dollies, Mission Impossible, Crunchy Frogs. The neighbors must have wondered, “who are these idiots, laying in the street while its raining?”

    MILESTONE MARSH

    Circle up at midcourt for a quick Merkin Wave, then down to Chill Cut with nearly each man giving a 10 count before recovering. Before heading back to the Lakefront, YHC must have been having a flashback to a recent Bushwacker-led beatdown at the Marsh: 10 Burpees.

    Indian Run back to the Lakefront with the last man dropping for 2 merkins before sprinting to the front of the line.

    Back at the Lakefront, YHC realized he had forgotten to recognize the master 10 Burpees. After all, Bushwacker borrowed it from somebody, don’t we all do that? Yes we do; so hat’s off to Coconuts, the master of 10 Burpees at the Milestone Marsh. Here’s hoping to a return to health, my friend!

    Circle Up on Lakeshore Dr. one last time for a rapid fire series of Bear Crawls, Bunny Hops, Shuffles, Back Pedals, and Sprints back and forth to the seawall. For good measure, sprinkle in some merkins, box jumps and freak nasties.

    With no time to spare, it was time to head back to the flag for Count off, Name o rama and COT. Welcome FNG Hansel, one of Zoolander’s neighbors (how many neighbors does he have?) to F3 Northshore. I hope your experience will be as powerful as mine.

    Thanks to Maverick for praying us out.

    Thanks men for braving the elements this morning. Thanks for following my lead, despite the lack of creativity for the beatdown. I heard that no one paid the green fee at the Zoorich Classic last Saturday, so good citizens as we are, I felt F3 Northshore had to make a little downpainment with interest.

  • I’d rather be, under the sea…

    With the sharp rise in temperatures and humidity this week, I think we’d all rather be in an octopus’s garden, in the shade.

    I’m sorry…. lame, I know. That’s the best lead line YHC could think of. (There were other, lamer ones – trust me.) Where’s Ei when you need him?

    So every time Ringo returns from the coast, YHC has to come up with another lame Beatles reference. In this case, it’s one of the two songs that Ringo actually wrote for the Beatles, so at least there’s that bit of trivia to carry you through the rest of this backblast.

    Anywho. The scramble. It was as it usually is – with the exception of a visiting Ringo and Cowbell’s first scramble experience.

    Parking Lot Warmorama: Lunges across and back, Frankenstein’s across and back, followed by SSH & IW’s, x20 IC.

    The Thang:

    Despite the humidity, it was a nice run and getting to chat with recent Southshore defector, Cowbell, made it pass even quicker. As one of the few H8! finishers, YHC looks forward to the painful beatdowns to come from him later this year. Also, he attempted to explain what is happening with this months ISI over on the Southshore, but I still left somewhat confused.

    Post-Thang:

    PAX flutter kicked their hearts out while one by one each man rose to do x10 pull-ups. After all men finished, we planked for a bit and performed the following: Merkins x10 IC, Makhtar N’Diayes x10 IC, and Peter Parkers x10 IC.

    COT and Chewy prayed us out. Thanks men for another opportunity to lead, your push and accountability is always appreciated!