F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • Intense Morning at The Stage – from Goose

    YHC lost power early this morning, and as I rolled up to The Stage, it became immediately clear why –an electrical pole was down across the highway, and it had caught the fence in front of the neighborhood on fire. Enron and Kilo had to fight hard to find a way around all the road blockages and emergency vehicles and arrived in time to see the firemen hosing it all down. This set the tone for what would be a bit of an intense coupon beatdown. It just didn’t feel like the time for songs or games or anything, so after a warmup of the usual (with eyes fixed on the highway project), we set about to initiate Kilo into a new level of coupon pain.

    It started with a coupon mosey to the start of Rich Man’s Loop and the usual question from the initiate, “Is there an un-awkward way to run with this thing?” Nope. There’s not. And, if there is, YHC has not yet reached that level of F3 prowess.

    The plan was to rifle carry the block for 1 light pole (about 50 yards), then drop the block and nur back 1 pole, then sprint back to the block and plank for the six; and we’d do this five times. But, we ended up rifle carrying for the first three light poles since traffic was having to turn around in the neighborhood, and many drivers, already confused by the strange occurrence on the highway, were having to also encounter three tall men carrying cinder blocks over their heads in the dark. So, once we were past the traffic, we commenced the nurring, sprinting, etc., and slowly made progress via rifle carry to the end of the back straightaway, after which we moseyed with coupons in various holds back to the flag.

    Next, we lined up with coupons at the edge of the field for 5 rounds of the following: 5 squat thrusters, 10 curls, 15 rows. After 5 rounds, bear crawled to the other side of the field and ran back. This was admittedly harder than it looked on paper, but it filled enough of the remaining time so that we needed to move onto some block inclusive Mary so YHC could expose the PAX to yet more Exicon depth (always a goal).
    This included (all 4-count, IC): 20 block high flutter kicks, 20 block LBC’s, 15 bench press/skull crusher combos, 15 American Hammers w/block, and 20 wife pleasers w/block. That last one brought about some gratitude that the flow of traffic had resumed, otherwise what was recently a line of cars might be wondering why three men were lying on the concrete humping cinder blocks. In honor of this good fortune, we finished out the last minute or so with 15 monkey humpers.

    COT and Enron prayed us out. Kilo and Enron compared shoulder scrapes on the way back to the vehicles, grateful for the souvenirs and the pumped upper bodies.
    Much to put into God’s hands this morning, and gratitude for these HIMs fighting to get out there and push hard. Thanks for letting me lead!

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Old reliable – from Russo

    70 degrees and humid this morning for a group of 6 to conquer the semi-regular (when I have put less thought into Q than I’d like) deck of death. Old reliable was supposed to be the deck, but it also meant:

    – JV and Cowbell continuing their verbal sparring / encouragement
    – Hammer coming up with yet another brilliant analogy
    – Sweat angels from YHC that confounds Bushwhacker

    Warmup – all IC 10x -20x

    – Sealjacks
    – Arm circles
    – Toe touches
    – Grass grabbers
    – High knees

    Thang – Deck of Death (count and exercise based on card turned over)

    Split the deck into 3 groups for rounds. Rounds included:
    Spades – Wide merkins
    Clubs – crab cakes
    Diamonds – jump squats
    Hearts – circle ups

    Spades – shoulder tap merkins
    Clubs – calf raises (2 is 1)
    Diamonds – SMCs
    Hearts – Crunchy frogs

    Spades – Freak nastys
    Clubs – Monkey Humpers
    Diamonds – side squats (2 is 1)
    Hearts – box cutters / Cowbell Saturday Night Special (size of boxes varied)

    Mary (with bonus definition of Mary for the Pax from Bushwhacker):

    – 20 freak nastys
    – 20 shoulder tap plank jacks
    – American hammers 10 IC
    – Wife pleasers 20 IC
    – Gas pumps 10 IC
    – Hello Dollie’s 10 IC
    – 10 donkey kicks (what’s up Shooter?!?!)

    COT, name-o-rama, announcements and prayer closed us out. Special intention for those traveling.

    MVP to JV for accepting constructive criticism and encouragement from Cowbell with grace and style.

    Thanks for joining, gents, and yet ANOTHER all star krewe this week.

  • Guys it’s just 2 mins! – from Shooter

    After a brief warmup of 12IC Imperial walkers, Toe Touches, ABE Vogadas, Arm circles and self love plus a mosey to Woodlake school YHC explained what the PAX would be completing this Gloom.. We would start off the week at the Marsh with a simple beatdown of 2 min intervals consisting of 5 different movements with mosey in between each of about .3 miles totaling close to 2 miles on the morning.. Exercises included pull-ups, Irkins, Freak Nasties, plate swings and jump rope.. Each PAX simply completed 2 mins of work followed by our mosey until each completed the 5 exercises.. Modification was of course necessary, as 2 mins of continuous motion is certainly more difficult with 💯 humidity but even if not I would challenge any out there to pick any of the mentioned above and challenge yourself to see where you stand within your 2 mins… When all was completed we circled up with a minute to spare for a plank hold..

    Countoff, namorama, COT

    Thanks to Steve for taking us out and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • A Mary inspired Mothers Day Beat Down – from Heisenberg

    Warm up
    Imperial Walkers IC 11
    Abe Vigoda IC 10
    SSH IC 20
    Diver Down – descending shoulder taps using the Noma Stairs 8, 7,6,5,4,3,2,1
    Plank o Rama – High Plank IC x 10 Parker Peters, Peter Parkers, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks , Repeat at Low Plank
    Did you know our Mom’s gained on average 25-30 lbs creating us. To briefly simulate for 30 minutes the commitment and suffering of our mothers endured in giving us the gift of life the four of us took turns front carrying the following “babies” around city park
    1. 30 lb ruck
    2. 30 lb ruck + Acura spare tire (awkward unknown weight)
    3. 20 lb ruck plate carrier and 27 lb kettle bell
    4. 60 lb sandbag AKA “Sandy”
    We carried our “babies” to the screaming tree for some Mary – LBC, Pretzel Crunches 8 count body builders.
    Grab a different baby and continue around the loop. We stopped for some 1776. Performing big boy sit-ups, 5 burpees in the middle and plank jacks.
    Rotate baby and head back to NOMA.
    Finished with 3 Sunday Mornings
    Prayed for Mothers

  • Lil Somethin’ Somethin’ – from Vagabond

    5 pax did boot camp + 3 Double Nickel training for 10 miles

    16 descend to 0 by 2s
    – big bois
    – merkin
    – side squats

    Rock / coupon – timer runs with or without rock around perimeter of great lawn – partner up… every team has coupon off the ground entire time
    – burpees
    – curls
    – overhead press
    – kettle bells
    – X factor
    – lunges
    – jump rope

    50 step ups R/L

    COT

  • The Planets Aligned – from Mobydick

    YHC Signed up to Q the night before and showed up without much of a plan and almost expecting no turnout. To my surprise I was not alone. Fletch , Hammer , Jose10k we’re already there. The overnight rain had cooled things down but cleared out leaving a moonless predawn darkness . Fletch pointed our attention to the southern sky where Mars Mercury Venus and Jupiter were aligned and clearly visible. The workout just evolved.from there. Since I had signed up I led warmip off with vigorous 30x IC SSH and passed off the next selection to Hammer then Jose and Fletch After 3 or so rounds of that we moseyed to the Corner for the thang. YHC . continued the collaboration by selecting a 5/10/15/20 rep progression around the garage roof. We each took a corner in turn and selected an exercise. 5 Burpee’s started us off. Jose took the 10x corner with things like knuckle merkins and later to his regret 10 calf raises on each of step of two flights of stairs. Hammer took the next corner and merkins became a theme all kinds diamond/ wide/ hand release Fletch got to pick the 20x corner and legs got a workout. A 2x lunge at each parking stripe (there are 25 of them) started us off Forgive the old guy for not remembering all the exercises 4 rounds 4 different stations 4 different PAX selections adds up to a lot of variety. YHC closed out with another PAX choice set of rounds with a stretch theme. All in all a well rounded work out and ending right on time. COT

  • May Day Mahem – from Triple Shift

    With all the talk of a double nickel challenge, I started to run more and subsequently injured myself. Too much, too soon leads to metatarsalgia especially after playing a sand volleyball tourney with Bolt. That’s another story! Anyway, I chose to run less to give my right foot a break and got into my stash of steel and sand.

    I brought a 53lb kettlebell, a 44 lb kettlebell, 2 – 35 lb kettlebells, one 80 lb sandbag and one 45 lb sandbag. After getting everything out of my bus, we slowsyed to the foundry for some five by fives. It was six exercises for five reps for five rounds in 3:30 intervals. The exercises were pullups, bench press (35 lb kettlebells), burpees, toes to bar with a modified option of scaling the toes to bar with the 44 lb kettlebell as an anchor. Here is a youtube video of what I am trying to explain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5yQMplTevU, straight leg deadlifts (45 lb sand bag), wife pleasers on a bench with 80 lb sandbag, and goblet squats (53 lb kettlebell).

    With only 10 minutes left, we head to the back of NOMA for our traditional Sunday Mornings routine (10 overhead presses in a wall sit position followed by 5 donkey kicks above the line and finish with one BTTW handstand press where on the fifth donkey kick, you push feet up the wall and walk your hands in.

    Countoff, Namerama, and COT

    Naked Man Moleskin – Before I took the Q for the workout, there was something bothering me about the May 1st date. I started looking up May 1st to find out the significance of that date. I found out that May Day is also known as Worker’s Day in Europe which is similar to our Labor Day in the United States. Also, May Day was a European festival of ancient origins that was a celebration between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. Although those were factual answers as to the significance of May 1st, that wasn’t what was bothering me until I finally realized that my dad passed away of a massive heart attack on May 1st, 1983. Aha! That was what was bothering me! It was the long forgotten sorrow of a teenager whose life was forever altered by the loss of a loving and sacrificial father. I pray that I can be half the man he was. In closing, it reminds of the final line in Saving Private Ryan where a mortally wounded Tom Hanks tells Matt Damon to “Earn this…Earn it.” I want to thank all my brothers in F3 NOLA that have helped me become “that good man” and leader. Thank you for your friendship, humor, candor and love! Be blessed to overflowing and SYITG!

  • F3 Kickball: Chico’s Bail Bonds v Xscissor – from Akbar

    18 men showed in the gloom this morning for a game of F3 Kickball. We are taught to modify as necessary, and learn through trial and error that some things work, and some things don’t. Even the best laid plans go wrong sometimes, and it happened today. Below is the way YHC envisioned it, and then what really happened.

    PAX Hammer, Minnow, Chainsaw, Pickaxe, Gilligan, Moby Dick, Agent Carl, Jose 10k, Zoolander, Grundy, Steve, JV, Shooter, Waterpik, Dangerfield, Maverick, Russo, Akbar

    Warm Up x10 IC – Merkins, IW, Self-Love, Grass Grabbers, SSH, Arm Circles F/B, Toe Touches

    Thang: F3 Kickball
    Count off 1’s and 2’s to form 2 teams. Run to the baseball field in teams, arrive at the field, plank up in teams to pick team names.

    Rules for Kickers

    Kick the ball and mosey around all bases without stopping while kicking team holds plank until the kick is launched. Modes of travel will change in each inning. Modification for runners is always a backwards run. When you score, you get 1 point and lead your team in 5 Wife Pleasers IC while the fielders do Nolan Ryans. Penalty exercises on outs, strikes, and fouls – 10 Australian Mountain Climbers (2=1) OYO while field does Nolan Ryans. No bunting.

    Rules for Fielders

    Ball is not in play until it touches the ground. When the ball hits the ground, fielders must do an exercise before they touch the ball – unless it is a pop fly. If a pop fly is caught, catcher gets to choose kicking team exercises x 5IC or 10 OYO. If ball is dropped on the catch, regular rules apply and exercises must be done before touching the ball. No pegging runners while running with blocks and no forced outs.

    Game
    3 outs or 1x through the lineup, no catcher, winner chooses exercise for losing team at the Flag.

    Pre-Game – The PAX lined up for the National Anthem by Metallica.

    Exercises for Kickers and Fielders
    Inning 1: Farmers Carry, Squat Hold and 30 Air Presses
    Inning 2: Brick Fly Runs, 20 Bobby Hurleys
    Inning 3: Rifle Carry, 20 Big Boy Situps
    Inning 4: Brick Hallelujah Run, 20 Diamond Merkins
    Inning 5: Bear Crawl, Renegade Row Merkins

    What really happened – YHC explained the rules clearly and effectively and it was decided the rules would be explained as we played. The idea is the fielders do exercises to give the runners time to score, assuming that all balls would be kicked in the outfield. That was not the case. By some magic, the balls were kicked into the players at the infield and just sat there. Someone mentioned very early on this would be a low scoring game. In fact, the first inning lasted about 20 minutes. Even the QIC forgot to do exercises sometimes.

    So we went to straight up kickball, regular rules, for the last 10 minutes and a new plan for the next game swirled around in YHC’s head.

    The final score was 9 to 7, Chico’s Bail Bonds took home the pride.

    We got back to the flag a little late, and Shooter prayed us out. Great to have Agent Carl with us, EH’d by Toto, who has been lost somewhere in Oz for the last year. Come back Toto!

    Count, Name, and Shooter prayed us out.

    Thanks for following my lead –
    SYITG, Akbar

  • Double-Nickel Training Begins – from Hawgcycle

    I’m not sure if you have heard, but the inaugural double-nickel is happening in August. This brain child of F3 NOLA’s own, Rudy Tootie Fresh and Fruity is soon to become to 55 year old men what Bar Mitzvahs, Quinceaneras and Debutante Balls are to the youth of the world.
    The excitement for the double-nickel has been palpable the past few weeks as we have all eagerly awaited the official start of our training regiment. There was a soft opening on Monday with some strength training, but it got real on Tuesday with the start of our training runs.

    Rev Sox and I decided to bring back the Parten Patrol, the Tuesday morning run from YHC’s house to The Stomp (3.5 miles). We posted our Launch time and received three commitments to join us. Kuch, planned to drive to my house, Rudy would meet us as we passed his street and we would meet Tool in the middle as he started toward us from his house.

    Rev Sox and I, dressed in our Tuesday attire, stepped off at precisely 0453. Kuch was nowhere to be found. We later learned that he got lost on the way when an Ambulance passed by and he instinctively ran after it.

    When we passed Rudy’s street, Rudy was not there. I called him immediately.

    Rudy: Who is this?

    YHC: Who do you think it is? Where are you?

    Rudy: Oh. Good morning Hawg. I’m in an Ambulance on my way to Ochsner. I’ve been coughing up blood all night. I was still planning on running with you all. I got to the meeting spot a little early, but Noelle called 911. The ambulance picked me up on Metairie Road. I was too weak to fight them off.

    YHC: How are you going to finish the double nickel if you can’t fight off a couple of paramedics?

    Rudy: I know. I have a long way to go. What is that?!?

    YHC: Huh?

    Rudy: Some guy in a tank top is chasing us. I have to go. The smaller lady paramedic is giving me the stink eye. I’ll see if I can escape at the next stop and join y’all. If not can you take the Q?

    YHC: Lady Paramedics?

    Rudy: …Dial Tone

    I informed Rev about the tickle in Rudy’s throat and we proceeded toward the Stomp, eagerly anticipating our rendezvous with Tool. We were expecting to meet him a little sooner than we did, but at least Tool didn’t let us down like the others. We met him about 3 feet from the start of the Stomp.

    I took the Q and with my Bachelor of Science in Mathematics I was able to easily divide 45 minutes evenly, instructing the Pax to run out 22 minutes and 30 seconds and then come back at the same exact speed. This saves us from having to do five minutes of Mary at the end of a running workout, like we often have to do when someone with a lesser understanding of mathematics leads.