When Tool asked me if I wanted to Q the Muscleship the Thursday before, it brought to mind how far I’ve come since starting and that I could not have done without the support of my F3 friends. From Willie continuing to try to get me out here, from seeing Medulla’s transformation, from Tool literally giving me the shirt of his back, the support from my F3 brothers (including those who made sure to be there for my first Q) has made a profound impact on my life since starting a few months ago. Therefore, I took the opportunity to lead and after the disclaimer, we were on our way.
Warmup
20 SSHs
20 Imperial Walkers
20 Abe Vigodas
20 Mountain Climbers
30 Arm Circles (15 forward, 15 reverse)
After warmups, we broke into pairs for a Dora of 100 Plank Jacks, 200 Alternating Lunges, and 300 LBCs. We then moseyed across the road to do Deconstructed Burpees (squats, followed by leg thrusts, then merkins, more leg thrusts, then squats). We did descending rounds of 10-8-6-4-2 with the Q receiving some help from his friend Hawg on cadence and a few extra squats for Q to get his cadence straight. Next, we pulled a page from an earlier Triple Shift workout and did Embrace the Suck – 6 SSHs, 6 Merkins, and 6 jump squats (clapping optional). We did three 3-minutes rounds with 1-minute rest. The PAX them moseyed back to the starting spot for some Mary with the PAX taking turns calling out exercises. We finished with announcements and intentions. Thank you to all for your support since I’ve started this journey and for giving me the opportunity to lead.
teamwork (noun): work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.
Seven men showed up eager to build some muscle on Saturday. YHC surfed the F3 site the day before for some fresh ideas and felt some sort of theme for the morning might help engage the PAX and keep the workout from being too blah, which YHC is occasionally guilty of when not adequately preparing a game plan. After kicking around a few options, none of which could top The Hamilton throwdown, YHC decided on a refresher of the teamwork concept that helps fuel the impact of F3 and other group/partner workouts. We may all get numb to hearing about “pushing each other” or “iron sharpens iron” so the plan for the day would strive to hone in on why team building, team leadership, and working as a team are all proven ingredients for success. The other, “hidden” agenda for the morning included trying to squeeze in as much sweat provoking stuff to help burn off all the bacon and beer that several of us indulged on the week before at HFTC. After the disclaimer, reading of the teamwork definition from Merriam-Webster, and a rundown of what would be in store, some of which may seem corny but “bear with me”, here’s what we did:
Warmup – Short Capri Lap down Lelong Dr with some butt kicks, backpedaling, bear crawling, and high knees to get the juices flowing. Then a COP on the Museum steps where YHC shared some Google findings….T-E-A-M….Together Everyone Achieves More…so we got loose with some T-E-A-M exercises, Travoltas, Elbow Plank w/leg lifts, Arm Circles, and Mountain Climbers. Before departing for our next stop, YHC asked the PAX to start thinking of one person who stands out to them as an inspirational leader and we’d discuss more once at the next stop.
Thang #1 – Mosey towards the block pile with a pit stop half way for planking to wait for the six followed by merkins on the curb. From here, we continued with a mosey to the green building, aka train shed, for the Da Parish Special aka “Get To Know Your PAX Wall Sit” while discussing some admirable leaders…cause every good team tends to have a good leader. Piranha started us off and set the bar high with a lengthy yet awesome explanation of his pic. From there we all had to up our game and give more than 3-4 words answers. YHC can’t recall all of the names mentioned but does remember George Washington, Mother Theresa?, Mark Twain?, Coach Ed Orgeron, Yoda?, and a boss at work. This took a while but was well time spent….YHC caught a whiff of piss and vinegar after from some of the PAX.
Thang #2 – Short Mosey to the block pile to heckle The Mothership PAX and grab a coupon. We lined up along the prison bars aka Tool Wall for our next circuit. YHC found the Diego circuit on the F3 site and thought it would be a good partner workout since helps push each other and keeps PAX accountable. Diego is like Dora, but tougher and longer. YHC warned this would take a while but assured the PAX it would be worth it. We did these one round at a time, planking for the six, and opted to mix it up by going “swinger style” with new partner each circuit in an effort to further mesh the team. Round One – 100 Merkins w/PAX #2 running to other prison bars for calf raises x20
Round Two – 150 Overhead Block Press w/PAX #2 running for hip slappers x20
Round Three – 200 LBC w/PAX #2 running for monkey humpers x20
…breather and corny motivational quote from Google, “All progress takes place outside of your comfort zone”
Round Four – 250 Block Curls w/PAX #2 running for calf raises x20
Round Five – 300 Squats w/ or w/o block w/PAX #2 running for hip slappers x20
Note – proud to say the PAX dug deep and pushed through this, helping other PAX finish as needed. Some good joking and F2 was in the air throughout. Some motivational phrases were attempted in a Coach O voice but might have lacked the firepower he packs.
No time left for the last few things on the weinke so after depositing the blocks, we headed back to the flag. One last quote found on the interwebs, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else” – Booker T. Washington
COT to seal the deal. The Muscleship needs some Q’s in coming weeks so if you’re reading this, please consider stepping up. T-claps to the PAX for posting and pushing each other to get stronger. It’s always an honor to lead.
As many New Orleanians might be aware, Hamilton has been playing at The Saenger for a 3 week run. As many F3ians might be aware, Da Parish and Rudy have a thing for musicals. So of course, the Hamilton workout was an obvious combination. And a plot was hatched – only publicized to those PAX that were In The Room Where It Happened….. So Hamilton and Burr signed up to Q the Mothership and Muscleship.
6:29am, PAX loitering around both flags wondering who was stepping forward to claim the Q. Especially loud grumbling at the Mothership flag from Jingle Vader, who repeatedly expressed his dislike for all things in Pop Culture.
6:30am, Rudy at Mothership and Parish at Muscleship give the disclaimers to PAX (most of whom seemed to be saying “Yeah, I figured.”). And both PAX took off to meet at the flag standing by a large box in the field in front of the museum.
And what was in the box? No – this isn’t a Brad Pitt “What’s in the Box?” scene. Instead, it was the exercise gear for the Qs…
And all the PAX grumbled and groaned, but still circled up in one large combined workout circle.
The Warmup – Qs alternating exercise callouts
16 SSH (Hamilton was 16 on arrival to US)
7 Burpees OYO as we begin spelling out Burr
21 Imperial Walkers (Hamilton was 21 when he became aide to Washington
Up/Downs to Burr’s cadence
30 Peter Parkers (Hamilton was 30 at the Constitutional Convention
Rocky Balboas to more of Burr cadence
Then (thanks to Mahatma’s good advice), PAX numbered off. 1s go with Hamilton (Rudy), 2s go with Burr (Parish). The Q vs Q Showdown begins…
Burr – Round 1
Dora 1-2-3 to Aaron Burr, Sir & My Shot. Pax 1 will perform the exercise while Pax 2 Burr Crawls to the 2nd tree & back.
Floyd Mayweather x 100 (2=1) – Hamilton upon meeting Burr advised he had recently punched the bursar of Princton
Squats x 200 – Burr advises Hamilton, Laurens, Mulligan & Lafayette that he’d rather sit than stand for the revolution
American Hammer x 300 – Hamilton does not throw away his shot and drops his American Hammer on Burr, Lafayette, Laurens & Mulligan
MerKING Wave/Burr Crawl to You’ll be Back
While PlanKING during the song sung by King George, pax will do a MerKING wave (1 merkin performed in a wave around the circle). When the last pax merks, the entire circle will Burr Crawl clockwise 1 rotation. Repeat the MerKING wave with 2 merks, Burr Crawl, etc until song is complete.
Mary to the song Guns & Ships.
Hold out your gun at Yorktown by holding a James Bond for :30 center/left/righ
Yorktown would not have been a victory w/out the French ships in the harbor. Hold your Boat/Canoe for :30 and finish out the song.
Hamilton – Round 1
Hamiltabata. 8 exercises, 45 seconds high intensity, 15 seconds of rest. To the songs Alexander Hamilton and My Shot
Happy Jacks (5 SSH, 2 Squat Jumps)
Absolution (8 count plank-position exercise)
Merkins
Imperial Squat Walkers
Lunges
T-Merkins
Outlaw
No Surrender (aka “The Genuflect”, in F3 Nola lexicon)
20 Count
To the 2:30 song Aaron Burr: Burpees. OYO. Go. Until the song ends. Yes, grumbly PAX – I mean it. Till the song ends.
20 Count
Mosey to the fountain for a version of the Cabinet Battle.
PAX 1 planks
PAX 2 dips x30 – with feet on PAX 1 back.
Flapjack.
Flapjack for x20
Flapjack for x10
Interlude
Both groups met at the lawn, and switched. Now the 2s go with Hamilton and the 1s go with Burr.
Burr – Round 2
Take a Break while we mosey to the Foundry
Time for an amRAP Battle while we hear Cabinet Battle #1
5 Pull ups, 10 Merkins, 15 Squats, Repeat until song is complete (3:35)
How are you going to Say No To This first American Political Sex Scandal. Hamilton was being extorted by James Reynolds while Hamilton had sex with his wife Maria. The first time it happened Hamilton gave Maria $30. Perform 30 reps (IC) of these 3 Big Sexy Exercises
Pickle Pounders
Wife Pleasers
Monkey Humpers
Mosey back to the flag…Mr Burr has business to settle with Hamilton. Your Obedient Servant
Hamilton – Round 2
Same as Round 1. Equal amounts of grumbling about the burpees. Some members of this group seemed to have an entirely different perspective on the Plank/Dip combo. Rudy suggests the Uptowners pull their minds out of the gutter.
Rudy does note that this routine was significantly harder the 2nd time around….
The Duel
All PAX meet back at the flag for the final 10-Count Duel. Qs alternate calling an exercise, making a ladder.
1 Burpee
2 Squat Jumps (then 1 Burpee)
3 Merkins (then 2 Squat Jumps, then 1 Burpee. You get the idea…)
4 Lunges
5 Country Crabs
6 Dr W
7 X Fit Merkins
8 Box Cutters
9 Turkish Getups
10 Rise Ups – Hold a Squat while Q counts down from 5, squat Jump, immediately return to Squat.
And with that, the F3 NOLA Tribute to Hamilton comes to a merciful close. Just a few minutes overtime.
Countoff and Name-o-rama, welcoming our new FNG Water Boy (named quickly before the uptowners could start suggesting based on Water Boy’s pronounced profession of selling Industrial Hoses).
Upcoming F1 / F2 this Thursday night at Greenway (6:30) and Wrong Iron (7:00).
Intentions called out, ask all of us to offer our own prayers for the intentions (spoken and otherwise) for all of our brother PAX. Finally, circle up for our closing prayer. Offer of thanksgiving for the glorious day God has given us, and for the grace of His wisdom to use this gift wisely.
Rudy and DaParish both thank the PAX for their merciful tolerance of this workout.
We have the honor to be your obedient servants….A dot Ham….A dot Burr.
It was chilly, rainy & dark when I got out of bed on Saturday morning, so I was dragging my feet a little to get dressed. On the Mumblechatter, Tool & Kimchi posted messages to get the PAX motivated to get out of bed & come post. While the LV fellas (Kuch, Half Nelson, Abacus & High Rise) & myself were clown carring to the AO, we bounced some workout ideas off of each other. One idea was to avoid the rain altogether & head strait to Navarre café so that the PAX could all drink coffee & share their respective feelings with one another in lieu of working out in the cold/rain. Once I saw Mahatma arrive at the workout, I knew this option would be a tough sell, so I proceeded to commence the beatdown.
Warmup: We mosey’d to the pavilion by CBS; circled up, and then proceeded to do the following in cadence:
side straddle hops – 20
imperial squat walkers – 20
plank jacks – 20
high knees – 20
Next, we split into 2 groups. Group 1 moved to 1 side of the pavilion, and group 2 moved to the other side:
Group 1:
10 inchworm burpees
50 big boy sit ups
100 seal jacks
Group 2:
10 regular burpees
50 dips on the benches
200 shoulder taps
Group 1 did their exercises in cadence, and then made sure that Group 2 was aware that they finished their exercises first. We then switched sides / exercises. For this round, Group 2 did their exercises in cadence (loudly to jab back at Group 1), and Group 2 finished first. Group 1 pointed out that Group 2 did LBC’s instead of big boy sit ups, and that’s why they finished first. This was in part (and by, in part, I mean 100%) the Q’s fault, as I mistakenly said LBC’s to Group 2 when giving the instructions for round 2.
Next we attempted to do a long jump / inchworm burpee combo, but it was too wet/slick in the pavilion, so we shut that down and mosey’s back to the fountain. Once at the fountain, we did an interval exercise where the PAX did 1 box jump on the fountain, ran to the museum steps, bunny hopped up the steps, did 1 merkin at the top of the steps, then ran down the steps back to the fountain. Once at the fountain, the PAX did 2 box jump, ran to the museum steps, bunny hopped up the steps, did 2 merkins at the top of the steps, then ran down the steps back to the fountain. We did this until we got to 10 box jumps / 10 merkins.
Next, the PAX mosey’d to the side of the museum & proceeded to do the following:
Group 1 – people’s chair on the wall
Group 2 – 200 Rocky Balboas (timer)
Once Group 2 finished the Rocky Balboas, we switched and had Group 1 do the Rocky Balboas & Group 2 lean against the wall to do the people’s chair. At one point, Rudy questioned Mahatma’s cadence technique while he was leading Group 2 in doing the Rocky Balboas, but ultimately the math checked out & we proceeded on with the workout
Next, we mosey’d to the grass & did the following:
Lunge walk / inchworm burpee combo from Tree 0 to Tree 1 & back
Bear Crawl from Tree 0 to Tree 2; do 31 squats (not sure where the number 31 came from, it just felt like the right amount); and then Bear Crawl back
Lastly, we headed back to the fountain & did the following in cadence:
Irkins – 21
Dips – 16
Left leg high knee step up – 21
Right leg high knee step up – 21
Dirkins – 16
Plank jacks on museum steps – 31 (there’s that 31 again for no particular reason. Classic)
Once completed, we mosey’d to the flag for the count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. Thanks for posting on Saturday morning, fellas. I enjoyed it!
My first attempt at a MuscleShip beatdown was today and a bit out my comfort zone. This is given the effort of not incorporating running (which I love so much). But we did, and needless to say this eventually adds up to a number of repetitions and exercises and counting…. But it was a great challenge and so were a select number of PAX to focus on strength on a mild March morning in City Park.
Off we got to the museum lawn for warm ups:
25 — IW
20 – Peter Parkers
30 – Arm circles
25- Grass Touches
Off to the field across the street for additional warm up via a modified “Red Barchetta”
Run to 10 trees out — 50 SSH
Run to 8 trees out — 40 Mountain Climbers
Run to 6 trees out — 30 LBCs
Run to 4 trees out — 20 Merkins
2 trees out — 10 Burpees
Stay put in same field and now a Bear crawl and Merkin circle
All pax in a circle, rotate counter clock wise via bear crawl, when Q says stop, 10 merkin waterfall amoung PAX, (4) stops, 360 degrees….
Next to the fountain to “Roll the Bones” with my infamous exercise dice:
Did this for ~ 20 minutes, highlights:
Rolled (4) 1 minute planks…
30 Squats was also popular as the entire PAX took turns rolling…
We also saw some burpees, jump squats. SSHs, etc.
No one rolled the (3) min rest…..
Continue on to a Jack Moses X 10 sets. each set was a plank jack increasing in quantity followed by 2 squat presses for each plank jacks. Left eye did make note of the pain of squat press as numbers got higher despite nothing in our hands.
Finally some time filling Mary:
Hello Dolly X 25
Freddie Mercury — (30)
LBC — (25)
Burps — (10) on our own
Ended off with count, name a rama, announcements, intentions, COT
Lots of repetion and work for all, entire PAX did great!!! That is all.
Thanks to Woodstock, Green Screen and YHC, age won before beauty or youth. So with apologies to Brown Eye as our youngster for the day, here’s The Thang.
Warm up
SSHs 35xIC (changing cadence was tricky for some, but YHC persisted)
Low Very Slow Squats 20xIC
Hill Billies 20xIC
Slate Grabbers 20xIC
Plank Jacks 20xIC
Parker Peters 20xIC
Peter Parkers 20xIC
Merkins 20xIC
Short mosey to the side of the Museum, where the PAX split up with half doing a Tooth Fairy up the 14 steps (one merkin on the first step, two on the second, etc., to 14 merkins on the 14th step) while the other half sat in People’s Chair watching the day go by. [YHC is convinced that the other half of the PAX was purposefully, and vindictively, slow on their round of Tooth Fairy.]
Short mosey to the other side of the Museum, where the PAX again split up with half doing a reverse bear crawl up the 14 steps with the other half did LBCs.
Short mosey to the great lawn for some tree trimming. One burpee at the first tree, all the way to 11 burpees at the 11th tree. In between it was bear crawls, then duck walks, then reverse crab, then forward crab, then Donkey Kongs; and then repeat because the PAX traversed across 10 trees.
Short mosey to the fountain:
Leg Leg Power-Ups 20xIC
Dips 20xIC
Right Leg Power-Ups 20xIC
Derkins 20xIC
Saunter to the curb for 50 Rocky Balboas, then bunny hop up the Museum Steps and 5 SSHs at the top; rinse and repeat twice more times.
Short mosey back to the grass for Circle of Mary:
Flutter Kicks 20xIC
Dying Cockroach 20xIC
Russian Twist 20xIC
Hello Dolly 20xIC
Penguins 20xIC
And finish off with 30 seconds of Mission Impossible.
1st Shot at Qing the newest AO – I showed up early to drop off the “tire” and set up the cynderblock playground then ran to the fountain to get things kicked off.
Disclaimer – mousy to the “long way” to the playground – with the muscle flag stand, exactly 1/2 mile. Circle up for a quick warmup. All in cadence:
SSH x 20
Scorpion Kicks 10 x each leg
Shoulder Taps x 12
Everyone grab a block – mousy over to edge of the field and line up.
1st Effort – Bear crawl out 30 yards with block – perform 10 merkins – Bear crawl back with block – 5 man makers
2nd Effort – Kong out 30 yards with block – perform 10 merkins – Kong back with block – 5 man makers
Count off 1,2,3
Group 1 – tunnel block slide – pull the block under yourself passing it to next pax get up run to the end waiting for the block to be slide down – continue to mark and head back to the start.
Group 2 – over under with the block – out and back to the mark
Group 3 – 10 curls – 10 squat press – 10 man makers – continue until both group 1 and 2 complete their journey
Rinse and Repeat
Group 1 – Timer – Indian style tire flip, jump through then go to the back of the line. Challenge apprx 40 yards.
Group 2 – Sledgehammer tire slam. 100 count each Pax does 10 reps while the rest of the group does alternating block step overs. If rep count reached then each Pax does 5…..
Group 3 – block squats, deep block merkins, alternating block merkins, overhead block press
Rotate through all 3 stations.
Before returning blocks – 2 sets of arms in cadence curls x 20 with 10 secs rest then overhead tricep press x 20
Roll tire back to QIC truck – Tool recommended Pax should run around the tire while rolling to the truck – challenge complete.
Indian Run back with the Muscle Flag stand in hand leading the charge.
4 minutes of Mary finish with 3 burpees.
COT – Count off, Name O, Intentions, Prayer of Thanksgiving.
“Without continual growth and progress. such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” —Benjamin Franklin
The Muscleship blasted off in solid fashion this Saturday, thanks in part to the 16 PAX flight crew that hopped on board for the maiden voyage. This new workout and AO was strategically engineered to accomodate the every growing number of men eager to start their Saturdays with a F3 beatdown. Several guys got in some RRR miles before blast off…T-claps! As the clock approached 6:30, it was good to see several reguklars trickle in and a few koters to boot. After a brief description of what was in store, and of course the disclaimer, we made our way over to the front of NOMA to get started.
Warmup Part 1: IWx20, WMx20, LSSx20, SSAC (Sixty Second Arm Circles, from the F3 website…T-plank Left ACx15, LBCx15, T-plank Right ACx15), capped off with IPSWx20. In the middle of this we noticed The Mothership trying to invade our territory in the nearby field so we upped the volume on cadence in an effort to claim dominance. Before departing, YHC asked the PAX to start thinking of some good jokes, hoping Bogey would be the star of the show.
Warmup Part 2: Short mosey to the banks of The Big Lake for some Planking and Merkins. We lined up all holding a high plank, then 5 Merkins, then a joke, then 4 Merkins, joke, 3 Merkins, joke, 2 Merkins….at this point The Mothership did a fly by so our last joke was centered around them, then 1 last Merkin.
Foundry: Short mosey to The Foundry where YHC realized the PAX was too large for plan A so we settled for Plan B: Split up with group #1 doing 3 rounds of PIMPS (timer) near the pull-up bars and group #2 doing BLIMPS AMRAP in the grass. Flip flop with a “pimp daddy” being chosen in each group to be the timer. Lots of intense stuff here with very little opportunity for small talk.
Lake-North Side: Next stop was another stretch of shoreline for Inchworm Burpess x10, joke, x8, joke(s), x6, dirty joke, x4, another dirty joke, x2, maybe a final joke.
Lake-South Side: After a pit stop at the water hydrant to hydrate, we made our way over to the raised ledge along The Big Lake track. We rotated duties with mutiple PAX running cadence and various counts for LLSUx20, Dipsx20, RLSUx20, Derkins x15…breather….rinse and repeat with the highlight being Bogey and Abacus peforming a duet in tandem.
Lelong Drive for Cinco de Cardio: Here we gatherded for five 1-minute rounds of various cardio-rich exercises which proved to be much more manly than the moseying and frolicking that our counterparts were doing with The Mothership. We dug deep and did Semi-Circle Mountain Climbers, Rocky Balboas, Partner Plank Slaps, IPSW, and Groiners as the finale.
One minute left so back to the flag to call it a morning. COT, annoucements, prayer, and some admiration for the new steel encased shovel flag that may be worthy of it’s own name. Also, YHC thanked the PAX for posting and making The Muscleship launch a success. YHC wasn’t sure what to expect knowing so many of us enjoy and look forward to The Mothership each week and trying to split that up is no easy feat. The F3 vatican has always encouraged an “addition by division” concept when trying to grow so it was good to see all the PAX on board with that. YHC also mentioned a workout several years ago where a fellow PAX Q’d with some new exercises and routines, which worked well, and after talked about one of the strengths of F3 is that the group always supports those trying new things, typically with little or no heckling from the peanut gallery. Thanks to the PAX for pushing hard and helping to make it a good one!
