Tag: War Eagle

  • Labor Day at Rock City

    YHC is unable to do Mondays due to having to be at work early, where a 0630 meeting with the boss trumps F3. YHC once indicated that Rock City was out unless it was a vacation day or a Holiday. Someone was listening, and YHC ended up listed as the Q on Labor day. The participation was a little thin due to the college football kickoff weekend and it being the unofficial end of summer. Congrats to Mahatma’s 2.0 contribution to the amazing victory over Miami. #89Rocks
    Five men was all that was needed to claim victory this day. YHC showed up a few minutes early and planted the shovel flag, then strategically placed some cones in the field inside the track. Someone needs to pay the light bill at Pontiff, just sayin’.
    YHC gave a brief history of how Labor Day came about. It’s great to have a three day weekend, but what does it mean? Factories were full of workers as young as 5 years old in the 19th century, and labor laws were pretty much non-existent. We’ve come a long way since then, and Labor Day is now dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. A massive Railway Union strike in 1894 affected the nation, and president Grover Cleveland sent in Army troops to break it up. Several people died during the riots, and then Congress passed a law making the first Monday in September “Labor Day” at the request of Grover Cleveland. It’s now the unofficial end of Summer. With the Pax history class complete, time for a brief disclaimer, and then mosey toward the rock pile for:

    Warmup

    SSH x 31 IC
    IW x 20 IC

    Plank-o-Rama (Rev Sox loves this)
    Peter Parkers IC x 20
    Mountain Climbers IC x 20
    Parker Peters IC x 20

    Time to get to work. This may be YHC’s third time at Rock City, but it’s Hokie Pokey’s first, so we need to make it memorable. The Pax is instructed to grab a rock, preferably a medium one that can be used for OH presses. YHC was counting on Triple Shift going big, and he did not disappoint. More on that later.
    Mosey back to the big field inside the track where the cones were set up. YHC set the cones in the middle of the field as a reference point.

    11’s
    Starting on one long side of the field – 10 Curls
    Mosey with rock to the other side (passing cones) – 1 OH press
    Mosey with rock to middle of field where cones are – 10 low slow squats
    9 and 2 then 10 low slow squats
    8 and 3 then 10 low slow squats….
    …..
    1 and 10 then 10 low slow squats and finish at side where we started
    Continue doing low slow squats while waiting for the six.

    Short mosey to the track and drop your rocks for:

    Bataan Death March “Rock City” style!
    Here is where Triple Shifts big rock came into play. All rocks stay on the ground except for the biggest one. Line up in a single column, last man holds the big rock. When the pax begins to run, last man drops the rock, completes 2 burpees, picks up the rock and runs to catch up to the column. Upon reaching the column, the rock is dropped away from the column (safety first), then sprint to the front. As soon as the rock is dropped, the last man drops off and does 2 burpees, picks up the rock and repeats. Each Pax completed this evolution twice.

    The Pax is instructed to grab their own rock and head toward the rock pile, but YHC stopped them just outside the area where the shovel flag is located. There’s is approximately 15 yards between 2 large trees where we did a rock lunge walk. YHC requested each pax to have the knee touch the ground for each lunge, or go as low as you can without injuring yourself. Once complete, mosey back to the rock pile.

    Back at the rock pile, YHC saw one minute left, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Return your rocks, the do 10 burpees OYO.

    Mosey back to the flag for COT

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions and closed with a prayer.

    NMM

    Rev Sox launches Fight Club at the end of Williams BLVD in Rivertown Wednesday. T-Claps to Rev Sox!
    The West Bank Master Melvin continues Thursday at Mel Ott Park, T-Claps to those that have helped to launch it!

    Since it’s a holiday, we talked about coffeteria, and YHC recommended heading to the place we have gone to in the past. War Eagle scoffed at this recommendation, indicating it would be CC’s or nothing at all! He followed this with the fact that CC’s gives free refills…..CC’s it is!
    YHC is now a CC’s fan…..anyone know how we can get them to bid on the City Park Casino Building?

    Thanks for posting with me today! SYITG!

  • Try Something New – 2 Year Anniversary

    2 Years ago, YHC arrived in the gloom of City Park at the suggestion of a work colleague. Little did YHC know that he was going to be embraced by fellow men and begin a journey to become a High Impact Man.   F3 took this Sad Clown out of his regular routine of pumping dollars into the gym, living the POGO40, and letting his Jester rule his life.  This was because YHC decided to TRY SOMETHING NEW; take the DRP.  Too many times we are scared by the unknown  that we deny ourselves the possibility of something we may enjoy.   Today, YHC remade the commitment he made 2 years ago and decided to try something new.   Rock City is the not the home AO for YHC.  What better way to take the DRP than to sign up to Q.

    During YHC’s Sad Clown days, he had a subscription to Men’s Health Magazine. In an effort to give the PAX a Downpainment, YHC skimmed the dusty magazines for Rock City inspiration.  While there was a lot of great information, there were also some exercises that should be put back on the shelf.

    Disclaimer; Mosey to rocks

    W/U – 1 mi. AMRAP each exercise

    • Squats
    • Merkins
    • Mountain climbers
    • V-ups
    • Split squats (:30 per leg)
    • SSH
    • Plank
    • Single Wife Pleaser (:30 per leg)
    • Burpees

    Grab a rock

    • Lunge & Twist x 20 paces
    • Curls, Press, Carry x 20 paces
    • Rinse & Repeat

    Mosey to the Pavilion

    • 10 IC Incline Bench, Military Press, Merkins
    • 10 IC Tricep Extensions, Bicep Curls, Rows
    • 10 IC Goblet Squats, Bulgarian Split Squats, Rock Swings

    Partner up

    • Big Boy Sit ups x 10 (each)
    • Standing Torso Twist x 10
    • Plank Combo x 10

    Mosey Back to the Rocks (Time toTSN)

    • Over – Under x 10 – Stand back to back with your partner and pass the rock over head, then bend down and pass it through your legs. This received quite a bit of Mumble chatter, but here we have Bogey & Wall Eye with excellent form.

    • 20 IC Merkins
    • Mosey to the Flag

    Counterama, Namerama,

    Announcements – Pelicanman Duathlon, New Kenner AO

    Ball of Man thanking the Sky Q for the gift of today, the opportunity presented by F3, request for strength, and the Serenity Prayer.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead,

    Da Parish

  • Put Me In Coach

    “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”  -Vince Lombardi 

    Another notch was added to The Foundry belt when 10 of F3’s finest gathered in City Park for the weekly hump day workout.  Lots of themed workouts lately with Elvis, Notre Dame, Iron Pax, etc so YHC kicked around several themed ideas with no avail until finally formulating a plan 5 minutes prior to kickoff.  Nothing extravagant in store, just a mix of usual stuff and few things with a twist, all of which would hopefully break a sweat along with building some endurance and muscle.  Being that football season is upon us, why not steal a few drills from the world of pigskin….who knows, one of us may get called up to the big leagues.  After the PAX of 10 assembled and the usual disclaimer, the clock started for 4 quarters of sweaty goodness.

    1st Quarter:

    Mosey down Roosevelt Mall with some high knees, butt kicks, and backpedaling thrown in for good measure.  Huddle up in the grass for IWx20, PPx20, ACx20, WMx10, Seal Jacksx10, capped off with approx 20 Up-Downs.  Then, a mosey to The Refinery.

    2nd Quarter:

    5 Stations including Body Rows, Hanging Knee Ups, Squats, Pull Ups, with timer being Step Ups x12L + x12R.  Rinse and repeat.  YHC’s forearms were screaming from lots of bar gripping so thinking we should have substituted the rows for dips or merkins.

    Then to the sideline (large landscape timber) for Derkins x20 OYO, Lunge Walk to tree and back, followed by Derkins x20.

    Halftime:

    Mosey to water fountain for hydration and 1-2 min plankorama.

    3rd Quarter:

    Mosey over to Christian Brother’s Falcon Field for some turf time.  First up would be a partner routine with PAX #1 performing AMRAP Burpee Jump Overs in rapid fashion on the goal line while PAX #2 runs across the field to the opposite endzone for 10 Merkins then runs back.  Flip flop, rinse and repeat.  Lots of grunts and heavy breathing.

    4th Quarter:

    The last circuit was originally designed to be somewhat of an experiment to test our athleticism but YHC botched it up a bit due to a cardio buzz.  Plan called for a series of relay team sprints (40yds) to see if we could put any correlation to age, F3 tenure, etc….and get the competitive juices flowing.

    Sprint #1:  Line up by age with young bucks on one team and old dudes on the other.  First person from each team sprints 40yds and touches goal line, which then prompts next person to run, and so on.  This resulted in a photo finish so we concluded it was a tie.  Looking back, YHC could have laid this out in a different way but we rolled with it.

    Sprint #2:  Line up by amount of time participating in F3 which had it split with guys around 1 year or less on one side and the vets on the other.  Same 40 yd sprint with the newbies coming out on top.  T-claps to Mahatma for pushing hard, maybe too hard.

    Sprint# 3:  Line up again but due to time ticking and YHC having a brainfart, we settled for a group sprint then proceeded to mosey across the grass, alongside the track and back to the flag:

    Two Minute Warning:

    Plankorama and Hip Flexors to seal the deal.

    Overtime:

    COT and sweaty BOM to cap things off.

    Not much mumble chatter or buffoonery to report.  It was a rather quiet 45 minutes…YHC can only hope that was due to a good beatdown being delivered and not a just a poor job of keeping the PAX entertained.

    Thanks for the motivation, camaraderie, and chance to lead.

    SYITG,

    Tool

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • IRONPAX III

    Hawg stole YHC’s Q for this morning with IronPax Week III, and YHC was not happy.

    YHC loves his precious F3 workouts and these stupid IronPax Challenges were just ruining a good thing. The first challenge left me hobbled like a 90 year old grandma, but YHC is into it now. After watching Amnesia and Hawg up their scores in week two by over 100 from their first run at the IronPax at the Birdcage to their second run at the Uptowner, YHC was ready to take up the challenge and work his way into top 100 in the nation for week 3.

     

    Hawg weighed out a dozen 25-30lbs rocks, Mahatma set off cones 10 ft apart (we quickly corrected his mistake before the challenge started), and YHC led a warmup of 20 SSH and 15 PeterParkers.

    Mahatma served as our time keeper as he recovered from an injury and we were off. The IronPax challenges are surprisingly quiet as we go all out trying to get in the most burpees and other stuff as possible.

    This week’s challenge was a confusing one, but here it is in a nutshell:

    15 burpees, 50 hand release merkins, broad jump (bunny hop) 10 yards and back

    14 burpees, 50 goblet squats, broad jump (bunny hop) 10 yards and back

    13 burpees, 50 leg lifts while holding rock in bench press position, broad jump (bunny hop) 10 yards and back

    rinse and repeat while counting down the burpees

    Once again JV is the tops of the morning with an astounding 626 reps

    Hawg 532

    RevSox 519

    TripleShift 455

    Tool 440

    Rocket 431

    FracSac 404

    War Eagle 394

    Two Utes 389

    Amnesia 384

    Abacus 265

    YHC improved from 404 to 519. YHC points this out to say it was all based on watching his brothers tough it out last week in the challenge and push him to do better. You never know how you will challenge, encourage, or push the men out here simply by being present and challenging yourself. YHC is stronger and healthier thanks to all of you in F3, and he can’t put into words what this group has meant to him over the last 10 months. F3NOLA, keep pushing forward, so we can all journey with you.

    RevSox

  • Beatdown Fit for a King

    This sure was one of the Gloomiest days in 1977.  The day that would be the last full day in the life of Elvis Aaron Presley.  Known as the King of Rock & Roll, his music would shape the lives of Americans today.  Today, his music would put 10 PAX into shape.

    W/U

    • SSH x 30
    • IW x 25
    • HB x 25
    • SG x 20
    • MC x 25
    • JL x 10

    The Thang

    • Get Your Kicks on Route 66 – Travel down the Roosevelt Mall in your Pink Cadillac.  Stop at each bench for a Squat (but don’t stay there as long as Elvis did) and increase your count by 1 with every bench.
    • Elvis the Pelvis whiskey dicked nothing.  He went Balls To The Wall in every aspect of life, especially on stage.  BTTW while the PAX goes down the line.  State your F3 name, Year of Birth, Favorite Elvis Song.
    • One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, NOW GO CAT GO!  Mosey to the steps of NOMA for a new favorite routine created by YHC called Blue Suede Shoes.  1 Burpee, 2 Merkins, 3 Squats, 25 Rocky Balboas.
    • An Elvis show would not be complete without a tribute to America.  Head to the fountain for our very own Merkin Trilogy IC.  10 Irkins, 10 Derkins, 10 Merkins
    • Blue Suede Shoes again followed by an intermission water break (HYDRATE)
    • Elvis was well known for his manly figure, which he kept with a strict regiment of Karate.  Head back to the fountain for Step Ups, but be sure to include a kick at the top (grunt optional).

    Mary

    • Picture a black screen.  A light comes shines on a tall slender handsome man.  He has jet black hair, soft blue eyes, skin so smooth you’d swear that he’d shaved with the legendary Excalibur.  In his hand is a silver microphone with a cord that seems to disappear in to the nothingness, but in your mind you know that mic is plugged directly into your senses.   The music starts to play and the angelic figure, dawned with a white suit and red ascot, begins to sing.  You’ve forgotten who you are, where you are, who your with and what you’re doing.  The only thing you know is lit up in front of you in bright shinning red letter, ELVIS.   On your six for ABC’s.  Spell ELVIS PRESLEY with your legs on the Q’s count.
    • Elvis is called the King of Rock & Roll, but in truth; he’s the god.  I found this routine in the Exercon. “An ab exercise done in a 1:4 ratio. 1 big boy sit up to 4 American Hammers (Russian Twist). Try to get 10:40 before Merlot comes.”

    Counterama, Name-o-rama, Announcements, COT

    • Guidosportif is hosting the annual Elvis Lives Run at the Rivershack, tomorrow 8/16/18 at 7:00pm.
    • Mambi is hiring sales positions.  Contact for details.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead, Thank You Very Much

    Da Parish

  • 19 for 11

    Back from Canada after a weeklong hiatus, YHC was ready to get back in the saddle.  7 days is enough to enable one to forget just how oppressive August humidity can be in the south.  Feeling like a weakened northerner, unable to face the Southern Summer, YHC decided to dress the part – so for today (and today only), Union General Ambrose Burnside made an appearance at Rock City.

    As the gloom lifted – PAX appeared, crawling out of every nook and cranny at Pontiff playground.  First there were 5.  Then 8.  Then 11.  Uptowners made the long Trek.  The clock steadily ticked towards 5:29 and the PAX just kept appearing.  5:30 – and BAM, 19 PAX set off down the path.

    Warm Up

    Assume the position.  Plank position.

    • Peter Parker x25
    • Parker Peter x25
    • Mountain Climber x25
    • Plank Jack x25

    Recover.  Just kidding.  Back to Plank.

    • Shoulder Taps x25
    • Floyd Mayweather x25

    Recover.  For real.  Now go get a Rock.

    At this point, YHC owes Bogey an apology.  I heard grumbling about lack of guidance on rock size selection.  Who else would grumble, I thought?  So I blamed Bogey.  But alas, it wasn’t him.  The grumbler still remains anonymous.  Probably an uptowner.

    The Thang.  11s

    Mosey to the tree-lined field.  Line up in the middle, facing West.  We’ll do 11s.

    • Burpees on the West side (starting at 1, heading up to 10).
    • West to East run: stop at your Rock for 11 Shoulder Presses
    • Squat Jumps on the East side (starting at 10, heading down to 1).
    • East to West run: stop at your Rock for 11 Curls

    When finished, PAX joined the circle for LBC waiting on the 6.

    Hydrate.  Can’t emphasize this enough over the summer.  Stay hydrated.  Quick water break at the Gazebo.

    Change of Plans.  Right, the Gazebo.  I’d forgotten about that.  Since we were all there (except the few left by the rocks because they didn’t want water), we grabbed some bench.  (the other 4 brave souls began running over)

    • Right Leg SU x25
    • Irkins x20
    • Left Leg SU x25
    • Derkins x15.  And those last 2 were killer for the Q.

    Grab a spot on the wall for a rest.  People Chair.

    • 90 seconds.  Up and shake it out.
    • 60 seconds, with Air Press x15

    Mosey back to your rock.  Bring the rock back to the pile (pressing, curling, overhead carrying while moseying).  Then back to the flag.

    Wrap Up: Count-off.  19 PAX, a new rock City record!  Great to see all of the new faces out and about.  Keep EH’ing – bring F3 with you wherever you go!  Announcements of upcoming races and events – Next Gen Gala on August 24th.  Keep up the great work, Babyface!  Finish up with prayers.  All: remember Rev Sox’s father in your prayers.  Losing a lifelong friend and partner cannot be easy, Sky Q: please grant Mr. Rev Sox the strength and comfort to persevere and grow.

    Also – thank you all for the prayers and support you have offered me over the last weeks.  My sister has a diagnosis, and its really the best possible outcome: stage 2a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, nothing below the diaphragm.  That all means her condition is very treatable, with a great prognosis.  Still a long road, and several chemo treatments yet to come.  But this is the best outcome we have been hoping and praying for since the initial diagnosis.  Thank you all again!

  • It’s Blimping Hot Out

    Rock City has been a hot ticket the last few Mondays, with Uptowners and FNG’s alike arriving for a hot beatdown on muggy Monday mornings. No different today, with 15 men rocking Pontiff for a good sweat. A gentle disclaimer for our FNG, and off we go.

    We took the usual mosey just past the Rock Pile for our warm-up COP:
    SSH x 20 IC
    Imperial walkers x 20 IC
    Merkins x 20 IC
    Windmills x 15 IC
    Arm Circles 10 Forward, 10 Backward IC
    Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

    To the rock pile to grab a rock. YHC suggested just a medium rock today, so not to overheat with a bit of running. Then we mosey to the tree line along the running path for BLIMPS.
    5 Burpees
    10 Lunges IC with rock
    15 Imperial walkers IC with rock
    20 Merkins (without rock)
    25 Presses with rock
    30 Squats with rock

    The we mosey to the Pontiff Hill for 11’s, to the chagrin of Cowbell.
    Rock shoulder press on one side, run over the hill, Rock squats on the other side.
    This sufficiently gassed YHC, so a little water break was in order.

    Then back to the tree line for return BLIMPS.
    5 Burpees, this time with a rock press (courtesy of Triple Shift and Mahatma)
    10 Lunges IC with rock
    15 Imperial walkers IC with rock
    20 Merkins (without rock)
    25 Presses with rock
    30 Squats with rock.

    Mosey to center field for some rock Mary.
    Flutter kicks holding rock high x 20 IC
    LBC’s with rock on chest (Medulla’s idea) x 20 IC
    American Hammer with rock x 20 IC

    We then returned our beloved rocks and ran back to the flag for count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer. Our FNG is a pastor who loves Alabama football, so the Pax named him War Eagle. Tool astutely noted that his neighbor was the original War Eagle, but has not ben out in over 2 years, so the name was repossessed. If @Reluctant Yankee finds this unacceptable, we will happily re-name him.

    Thanks for allowing me to lead.

    Walleye