F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • The cards cast our fate – from PVC

    We welcomed Cauliflower of NC
    Warmorama
    The usual
    The Thang
    Circled up and layed the deck of cards In the center. We went around the circle doing 20 of whatever card chosen(lots of Merkin’s). The Burpee option was given for those doing the Friday burpee challenge and Bolt and Hangrenade completed100 each.
    COT

  • DJ DOD – from Paradox

    Deep in the depths of the Paradox iPhone lives a playlist that has no name. It feeds on the souls of poor burpee form. It has daily injections of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. It never stops looking for repetitive songs to link with even more repetitive exercises. It delights at the thought of mumblechatter. It has one singular purpose: smoke the PAX. It has grown for months in darkness waiting to be unleashed on unsuspecting individuals at the Stage when the moment was right…
    YHCc (your humble co-coordinator) rolled into a pitch-black stage after an early morning power outage. After questionable attendance and busy schedules abound a pre planned CoQ beatdown was ready to roll with Enron. A simple mixture of 1 deck of death plus a playlist was proposed and when the whistle blew 5:30 am the Stage lights flashed on and the monster was unleashed.

    Warmup
    Enron lead us through some favorites (SSH, WM, IW, grass grabbers ) and YHCc led a shoulder stretch series capped by a bumper Mosey with a beautiful sunrise where we weighed the pros and cons of an on site bathroom for the SV500 . (it was voted neigh x3)

    THANG
    Justin Timberlake got us started with “Cant stop the feeling” One pax ran the track , high knees on bench straight away while 2 pax got jiggy with some Morrocans. Cant stop the feeling indeed.
    DOD round 1: 20 merkins, 12 burpees, 17 LBCs
    Eminem led us to the picnic tables where we completed incline merkin types in ring of fire format during “Till I collapse”. Yankee Joe came up with an ingenious variation of staggered picnic table merkins. We alternated merkins sets with ring of fire step up. Well played slim shady.
    DOD round 2: 20 incline merkins, 400m sprint, 15 RosaLitas. Some confusion here on difference between Rosalita and Hello Dollie and Gooses deep exicon knowledge was sorely missed. (he had an appropriate excused absence)

    We once again fell into a burning Ring of Fire during Bear crawls around the picnic table while Johnny Cash informed us that love was a burning thing born of wild desire. Merkins for every “fire” and continuous bearcrawls the rest. We felt the love Johnny.

    DOD round 3- 100 SSH, Bear crawl, Karaoke to sidewalk and back

    YHCc gave the pax a disclaimer that things were about to get weird as JBL pulled a favorite from YHCc’s high school techno phase. Benny Benassi’/Skrillex led us through Cinema with Bicycles during all the beat drops and a variety of core for the rest (penguins, lbcs, big boys, leg raises). Enron got lost in a techno haze as the bicycle pace picked up and only a timely “recover” saved him from a strobe light seizure.

    2 minutes left for Lil Jon to ask us a deep philosophical question: Turn Down for What???
    Burpees on this phrase and IW on the rest. A fine finisher. Is there really anything We should turn down for? We are still searching for the answer.

    Announcements: Tuesdays at 6am for the new AO @ Shriever park. Continued preparations for the SV 500.
    Congrats to the Dawsons on the new 2.0 baby Joseph! There are reports his lil baby crunches are already surpassing his fathers form.
    COT and Enron prayed us out.

    Thanks to Enron for the co-Q . DJ DOD had a nice tempo and will be a Stage mainstay.
    Beautiful morning with a lot of Gods blessings to celebrate. Thanks for the opportunity fellas.

    SYITG

    DJ Pdox

  • The Dynamic Duo at the A1C – from Jose10k

    YHC arrived early to the A1C to find Moby gazing up at the sky as the planets aligned. I will not try to compete with the wordsmith from Tuesday (Steve), but Uranus was not visible this morning. We used the 15 minutes to discuss possible workouts, waiting on others to show up. No BBQ, no Hammer, Shooter is away on another planet trying to be more like Tanked Up. And then there is Cowbell, trying to figure out how to get a big screen tv hooked up in the Keys so he can watch Ole Miss and say I do at the same time. On the eve of Hammers epic beatdown (there is no way he’s going to allow his boys to outdo him), we decided to take it easy. Warm-up: Moby led us in a ton of stretches. If you can imagine a stretch, we did it.
    The Thang: We moseyed off the A1C to the sidewalk to the walls for some Irkins, bulgarian split squats, freak nastys, cooperhead squats. Moseyed to the parking lot behind the A1C to discuss the original plans for the beatdown (future dora in the future). Moseyed to the front of the courthouse for some more irkins, freak nastyes. Moseyed to the rock garden for some curls for the girls and shoulder presses. Back to the A1C for calve raises to the top. Finished off with 6 minutes of Mary.
    COT. More conversations afterwards with of course special attention to blood sugar, spaghetti sauce, gardening, and body aliments. SYITG gentlemen.

  • Road Trip – from Mahatma

    The decision was made the evening before while sitting on the porch checking out the Q Sheet……no commitment for the birdcage so why not. YHC new the trek would require some planning: 1. Rise 15 minutes early 2. Pack a snack as its a long drive 3. Route around road construction 4. Don’t suck bring the beatdown.
    Well if it wasn’t for luck in crossing King Kong’s path YHC wouldn’t have had a shot at #4…..it was God’s plan!
    Arrive exactly at 5:30 – YHC busted out with “boom” box ready to rock…..only to find a crowd of 12-15 pax standing around. Quick disclaimer and we were off to the lighted alley you’d expect to find in Audubon (Metry ain’t got such nice things).
    Music On!
    Quick Warm up of AbVagodas, Mnt Man Poopers, Good Mornings, SSH, and Side Lunges

    Work 1
    1771
    Line Up on Light Pole 1, Speaker at Light Pole 2, transition at Light Pole 3
    For 1771 – each end always adds to 8 – flip flop exercise at either end V-Ups and Jump Squats
    2 Merkins in the middle in one direction and 2 Burpees in the middle coming back
    When finished circle up for Mary – Sandbar lead us in LBCs
    Work2
    Le’ 14 (I honestly think there were some chuckles as to the idea of how easy this was going to be).
    13 double under and 1 merkin
    12 double under and 2 merkins
    so on…….
    YHC has never been able to go past 8 without a break and today was no different. All Pax stood to recover for 1m and 15sec
    Restart
    7 double under and 7 merkins
    so on…..
    YHC made a mental strain error at 4 as we continued to 10 double under then 10 merkins at this point YHC was modifying merkins from his knees.
    We completed through 1 DU and 13 Merkins –

    Work 3
    In The Air Tonight
    Hold plank throughout the song – merkins during the best part YHC counted out 20

    Work 4
    AC/DC Thunderstruck
    1 Burpee everytime the title was said we counted somewhere between 30-32 – it appeared some of the pax hated the music as much as the burpees

    Warm Down with Mary
    X Factor – Gas Pumpers – WWII SitUps

    COT – welcome 2 new Pax – “Higgins” and “Royal w/Cheese”. No doubt Peaches was probably correct more “creative” names may have had been bestowed with the help of
    Angie’s List!

    All said it was good to see “most” of the pax…..lol just kidding. I can honestly say the “uptowners” do a great job showing up and continuing to EH. Solid!

  • Pyramid of Pain – from Shortbus

    Thursday morning on the westbank start with a short warmup of arm circles, windmills, and imperial walkers. We proceed to the amphitheater and use the steps for the following– 10 merkins, 20 lunges, 30 squats, 40 Mountain Climbers, 50 LBCs, 60 flutter kicks, 70 Bobby Hurleys, 80 SSH. Round 2 we reversed the order and finished with 80 merkins. Round 3 returned to the original order. Last 5 minutes was completed with some Lazy Boys.

  • A New AO? What the BLEEP?? – from Goose

    After Lumen Christi told us their retreat schedule was getting too packed to let a bunch of rowdy, burpeeing, snake biting, HIMs run around the otherwise quiet and reflective property every Tuesday morning, YHC made a quick hunt for a solution. The first choice was Schriever Park, and after making a visit on the way home from work, it was clear that it had great potential: playground equipment, benches galore, bleachers, baseball field, large fields of grass, and tennis courts. So, at 6am, 5 PAX hesitatingly made their way through the gate and into a new frontier. It doesn’t have an F3 name yet, but it certainly delivered this morning, and all were in agreement that we’d be back next Tuesday. (A little PTSD always keeps you coming back!)

    Warmup: When YHC didn’t start with SSH, the PAX had to pick their brains up off the grass, but it was premeditated; it was necessary. After starting with windmills and going through the rest of the usual routines, this time including high knees and butt kicks, YHC revealed that we’d be finishing with 29’s. It’s like 21’s, but today is Cardinal’s last day to be 29, so the theme was set.

    29’s: PAX do 29 SSH in cadence, but only the first 7 are counted out loud. Then, the rest are completed in silence, but if all the PAX didn’t stop exactly on 29, there would be a 10 burpee penalty. With 5 PAX, YHC was sure there would be burpees, especially with Enron’s tendencies with numbers. But, in one of the cleanest, most dramatic endings YHC has ever seen, all PAX stopped dead at exactly the same time. It was beautiful. It was inspiring. And we felt really good about ourselves for the last time that morning.

    Bleacher crawl merkins:
    Moseyed over to the baseball bleachers where all PAX crawled up one bleacher at a time completing three merkins (irkins) on each. Then, turned around and did the same thing coming down (headfirst, so three derkins on each).

    “29 Ways”:
    Moseyed to the Thunderdome 2.0 (smaller covered pavilion, but reminiscent of the large one at The Peltch). Played the song “29 Ways” by Marc Cohn, a favorite of YHC’s growing up and perfect for the day’s theme: 6 inch hold for the duration, leg raises on every “29”, and Hello Dollies for every “door” and “more”. This definitely ranks in the top 5 hardest songs this crew has done.

    BLEEP Test:
    YHC hadn’t heard of this until digging through the Exicon last night, but it seems like it’s a generally well known fitness routine/performance test. Using a Bleep Test app that beeps at shorter and shorter intervals over time, the PAX lined up on the tennis court and ran to a line 20 meters away at every beep. Anyone who couldn’t make it to the line before the next beep was “out” and had to complete continuous rounds of 29 squats, 29 air presses, and 29 toe touches until there was only one PAX remaining.
    The first few beeps were easy enough and gave the PAX plenty of time for a quick breath between runs, but that didn’t last long. It became clear pretty quickly that speed wasn’t what was needed for victory–it was oxygen. So, after one round, YHC reset the timer and lined us up for a second–there’s only one way to get better at this!
    We discussed future plans for all PAX to PR, then test again a few weeks/months later to mark improvement. Ought to be fun!

    29 burnout:
    Moseyed back to the Thunderdome 2.0, and in cadence, completed the following on the picnic tables: 29 L Leg stepups, 29 Freak Nasties, 29 R Leg stepups, 29 Irkins, 29 alternating stepups, and 29 Derkins.

    Moseyed to the flag for some Mary: 29 LBC’s IC, 29 Penguins IC, and 29 Big Boy Situps OYO (because Cardinal will be a big boy tomorrow!).

    COT and prayer with gratitude for a cool new AO, and on our way out, a walking couple stopped us to ask who we were. The guy was a Marine and law enforcement vet, and he was fired up to see us out there. Turns out, he’s also a pastor at a local Baptist church, and the likelihood is high that he’ll be FNG-ing soon, hopefully with some of his congregation to follow!

    Thanks for following my lead, guys, and for grinding it out today!
    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Uranus in Retrograde – from Steve

    Some weird planetary alignment threw us into an alternate universe this morning, and not a good one.

    Cowbell showed up on time (which should’ve been our first sign that things were askew), immediately souring JV’s intention to “live his life gloriously” while Cowbell was away for a week. As the smile dropped from JV’s face, it was immediately picked up by Cowbell who came frolicking (yeah, frolicking) in with a noticeable twinkle in his eye and a pep in his step. You might think this was due to his impending wedding bliss, but no – apparently there’s some sort of college baseball finals going on right now.

    Anyway, a super chatty warmorama caused YHC to abandon cadence counting for the first time in 5 years, before finally just calling it and heading to the stage for the intended circuit routine.

    Now the night before, Bushwacker had texted Jose and me that today – the first official day of summer (yeah, right) – there would be a dazzling planetary alignment: five planets in an arc, with the crescent moon situated somewhere in the middle. So, once in the grassy knoll at the foot of the stage, we looked up. But it was difficult to see anything beyond the thick swarm of bats that had suddenly blotted out the sky. Seriously, it was like Old Testament Egypt out at the amphitheater this morning.

    One grazed JV’s face, which prompted a quick swat and a, “Get outta here.” But when one buzzed Cowbell’s face, mid-jumping rope, he let out a howl and nearly fell off the stage. Not wanting to bring Ebola or SARS down to Key West for his wedding, Cowbell was not happy about these bats. (JV, though, happily added this incident, along with Cowbell’s tire pull efforts, to his list of ammo for those occasions when he needs to defend himself.)

    Oh yeah, and we were doing some exercises out there, too: jumping rope, curls, plank toe taps with resistance bands, freak nasties, flutters, planks, hand release merkins, squat thrusters, etc, with occasional runs hoping the swarm would dissipate.

    But bats were only the first plague that descended on us this morning. The second, and arguably worse, was mosquitos. I guess it didn’t help that we were lying around in the grass complaining instead of doing said exercises, but those suckers were eating us alive. Eventually, we had the sense to move to another area that had fans going.

    All in all, there was a lot of grumbling, and in a weird reversal that must’ve been due to Jupiter’s third moon ascending, it was everyone BUT Jose who was complaining. I’m telling you, bad omens all over the place at Granny’s this morning.

    Some things that we complained about: obviously, bats, mosquitos, proper jump rope technique (double jumps??), Bypass (ok, ok – Jose did contribute a little here), airline security lines, and Richard Simmons being the most important Brother Martin alum.

    YHC nearly went over because, apparently, time flies when you’re being attacked by nature and having a good gripe session. COT, nameorama, and Jose prayed us out, with intentions for Cowbells wedding and everyone’s safe travels down there.

    Reminder, a few CSAUP’s coming up: Goose and Paradox’s St. Vincent 500 in Thibodeaux, Hammer’s yet-to-be-named standing guard at the CPC, and, of course, the fast-approaching Gnarly Nutria. Thanks guys for the entertaining morning, always appreciate getting stronger with you all.

  • It’s Going to be a Great Day – from Landing Strip

    Warmup
    -mosey to WW1 Memorial, do 20x SSH

    Tha Thang
    -deconstructed BLIMPs = 5x burpees, followed by a lap past the Peristyle, through the parking lot and back to the WW1 Memorial, followed by 10x lunges (2:1), 15x imperial walkers (2:1), 20x merkins, 25x plank jacks and 30x squats, each followed by a lap
    -if you finish, then start back the other way (30x squats, 25x plank jacks, etc.) until we hit time
    -mosey back to the flag for COT

    COT
    -Author BJ Fogg (Tiny Habits) says we can transform ourselves via the formation and deconstruction of good and bad habits in our lives. I heard an interview with him where he says the most powerful habit anyone can pick up is to simply say the phrase “It’s going to be a great day” upon waking up each morning. I’m going to try it and encourage the HIMs of F3 to do so as well.

  • Murphish – from Akbar

    72 degrees and not too muggy yet on this early Monday morning. 4 showed up to get better. Great mumblechatter on the runs about fathers day weekend, Saturdays beatdown, and what we can do to bring some guys back.

    Warm Up x15 IC
    Imperial Walkers, SSH, Grass Grabbers, Arm Circles, Self Love

    YHC modified on the spot after learning that Hammer ran to the AO again, and shortened the runs. Was a modification for me as well after running around Noah’s Ark for 30 minutes Saturday.

    Run to the 2nd stop sign for High Knees (yes, we just ran Jose 10k) x15 IC, return to court.

    Head to the playground for a mini murph of 5/10/15 x 5 rounds = 25 pull ups, 50 Merkins, 75 squats

    Run to the 2nd stop sign for High Knees x15 IC, return to court.

    Partner up at the court.
    100 block shoulder presses while P2 runs the length of the basketball court, bear crawls to halfcourt, and runs back to relieve P1.

    Round 2 repeato with 100 skull crushers, same mosey.

    Run to the 2nd stop sign for High Knees x15 IC, return to court.

    Back to the playground for another modified Mini Murph. 5/10/15 x 5 rounds = 25 Supine Rows, 50 Dirkins, 75 Bouncy Squats.

    No relief at all on those Bouncy Squats. Hammer and Pik used the row bars for a Dirkin higher than the sea wall, we followed on rounds 2 – 4.

    Run to the 2nd stop sign for High Knees x15 IC, return to court.

    Back to the court for partners
    100 Shoulder Presses while P2 runs to half court and bear crawls back.
    50 Skull Crushers while P1 lunge walks to half court and runs back

    Mary – Peter Parkers and LBC x15 IC

    Count, Name, and Jose10k prayed us out with thoughts for Pik’s father in law.

    Announcements :

    Hammer has the Q Saturday. Hammer is starting a bible study in July, most likely Wednesday nights. Hammer has a CSAUP – Completely Sacred and Utterly Purposeful – at the Crisis Pregnancy Center – read slack for the full message & let him know if you are in.

    Sign up to Q and bring a friend.

    Thanks for showing up fella’s, and the opportunity to lead.

    SYITG, Akbar

  • Just for the Record – from Mahatma

    YHC was already pushing the clock to arrive with a few minutes to set up……coming down the street the red flashing lights was a signal…..patients. YHC was confident that the Pax would carry on and after planting the speaker on the field, he headed towards the sound of cadence where War Eagle had just finished the warm up and it was time to work.

    Everyone grab your favorite medium size rock and line up for an overhead Indian run to the field. We planted our rocks midway then headed the bleachers.
    Several rounds of rail exercises with one merkin climb up to the top of the bleachers mixing in some big boy sit ups at the bottom. Once everyone had enough we moseyed back to the field for a concert……Phil Colins “in the air tonight” – plank throughout with merkins during the good part holding plank again to the end approx 5:30. Then AC/DC “Thunder Struck” burpees on every mention of the word “THUNDER” YHC estimated 36 but was caught on several attempts trying to entice the Pax yet the hearing was very good.
    Now time for rock exercises – OH press, curls, rows, front raises, chest press. TriCep press……you get the picture. As the music died we returned the rocks the same way we came, Indian style.
    5 minutes of Mary then back to the flag.

    COT