F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • F3 NOLA Convergence 2021 (a.k.a.”Crew Change”) – Mothership 2021-10-16 – from Reluctant Yankee

    A fine morning, with a change in the weather providing a fitting backdrop for the changing of the guard on the F3 New Orleans Leadership Team.

    Kicked off at the flag zone with naming of the F3 NOLA Rookie of the Year and F3 NOLA Man of the Year. These went to Almonaster and Hokie Pokie, respectively. High praise and congratulations to both of these high-impact men for their efforts during the past year!

    Yankee then kicked things off on the Great Lawn with:
    Side Straddles Hops x27
    Hillbillies (in honor of Hawg’s prom) x 20
    OYO burpees x10
    Side Lunges x20
    Low Country Crabs x20
    Dying Cockroaches x20

    Moseyed to the track where Hawgcycle took over. Hawg brought the hurt with a modified Dirty Mac Deuce featuring:

    Larry Craigs x12
    Sumo Squats x12
    LBC x12

    Pax then partnered up. One pax sprinted 200 m around the tracks while the other moseyed across, then vice versa. Pax reassembled for announcement of the new SLT.

    It was time. Time to give a speech that would last generations, a speech commemorating the past 7 years, and one that would empower the incoming SLT for what was yet to come. Reluctant Yankee reached deep within his well of indisputable high octane expressions, and it was there and then he passed the torch of F3 Nola to Fracsac and Catfish, his great words of wisdom spreading across the field of F3 Nola men, leaders of this Fitness Fellowship and Faith thing we simply refer to as F3. Did anybody write down what he said?

    Fracsac circled the pax up on the field and did 5 SSH IC, followed by 10 burpees OYO. Many thought Shock and Awe was in the works, but nay, just an attention grabber. Next up was the mental challenge.

    6 SSH IC followed by 11 more in silence, all must end with the Q or a penalty would be handed out. The Pax passed with flying colors….but did they?

    4 corners on the track with 10 x 8 count body builders on 2 corners and 10 x burpees on the other 2. Circle back up for mental challenge again.

    This time there was a failure, with 10 x 8 count body builders as the penalty. The pax completed it the next go flawlessly.

    Pax had had enough mental abuse at this point, so there was much rejoicing when the workout was handed to Catfish. Catfish gently led things forward with:

    8-Counts x10
    Low Slow 8-Count Squats x20
    Bonnie Blairs x15
    Mosey back to the Great Lawn, with a quick stop at the baseball field behind Tad Gormley to do some Jack Webbs (up to 13, 11 got skipped). Continued the mosey back to the Great Lawn.

    At the Great Lawn, LBTs waiting x15 for the six. Frac then came back for a rousing round of Catalina Wine mixers (x15) for the finish.

    Back to flag for COT.

    Announcements: Roast on the Coast Starting Nov 5; GoRuck Tough NOLA the following weekend on NOV 12; Almonaster Qing a Christmas charity effort related to Operation Sweet Tooth (details to come)

    Delicious coffee and breakfast followed. Thanks to all who assisted with preparation for this.

    Thanks to all who attended and assisted with today’s convergence, and stay tuned for further announcements from the new leadership team!

  • Another Cakewalk – from Russo

    Hurricane Ida wrecked a lot of plans this year. She did a lot of damage, broke a lot of hearts, made life a ton more difficult. But one thing I’ve learned is that even in the darkest of hours, God can find a way to turn something terrible into something good.

    I don’t want to belittle the struggle our region is still dealing with, and I can tell you firsthand there is a lot of work left. But I can also tell you firsthand that God has given us an opportunity to grow together, help each other, and all in all, be better people.

    My original plan for the first week in September was to do a birthday Q, and following the lead of Grundy and/or Zoolander (depending on how good an idea it was), complete another “Cake walk” and hope it catches on as a thing.

    Well, those plans changed due to Mother Nature, but God’s timing is perfect, so a pax of 17 said “Take Two” under beautiful weather with low humidity and temps topping out at around 71.

    Warmup (between 10x and 20x, all IC)
    Seal jacks
    Toe touches
    Arm circles
    Torso twists
    Goofballs

    Thang: A cakewalk, your basic descending ladder of exercises and reps, starting at YHC’s age (in this case, 43), and work your way to 1, with some moseying in between around Old Mandeville/Lakefront.

    The order:

    43 High knees
    42 SSHs
    41 Plank Jacks
    40 merkins (where Bird started to wonder where the burpees were)
    39 squats
    38 Hello Dollies
    37 Calf raises
    36 Apollo ohnos
    35 Freak Nastys
    34 step ups
    33 flutter kicks
    32 butt kicks (2 is 1) (lead IC by the entire pax rotating, very nice job, gents!)
    31 Peter Parker’s (2 is 1)
    30 imperial walkers
    29 Shoulder taps (2 is 1)
    28 American hammers
    27 George thoroughgood
    26 Smurf jacks
    25 leg raises
    24 Rosalitas
    23 crab jacks (crab position – opposite plank jacks)
    22 groiners
    21 Bear crawls
    20 murder bunnies
    19 Hand release merkins
    18 Bobby Hurley’s
    17 crab cakes (2 is 1)
    16 circle ups
    15 Bulgarian split squats
    14 durkins
    13 big boy sit-ups
    12 LMCs
    11 diamond merkins
    10 star jumps
    9 donkey kicks
    8 8 count body builders
    7 makhtar n’jais
    6 6 inch drills (where Zoolander was wise to my plan)
    5 Carolina dry docks
    4 Bonnie Blair’s
    3 jump squats
    2 burpees (here they are Bird!)
    1 minute plank

    COT, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out.

    This Q doubled as my 3 year anniversary Q, so it’s time for me to again thank Toto for EH’ing me. Like I suspect has happened to many of us, I had no idea what I was in for. I showed up late to my first beatdown (Splice was Q) and quickly wondered what I got myself into. Manny’s words to me were “just stick with it” and he was right.

    More than once, I was the 6. I’m still the 6 on occasion. But each and every time, someone is there to pick me (or you) up. Tanked up was the first I remember. Shooter seems to do it the most (especially on moseys).

    And that’s what makes this group of men so darn solid. What started out as “I could use the exercise” or “I want to get back in shape” quickly turns to something more.

    The F for Fitness is lowercase. The other two are uppercase. I’ve enjoyed laughing with you all, especially when Hammer gets a pax going with his 80’s references, or Zoolander makes an off color joke about doing a Freddy Mercury. You each have enriched me, made me a better person, lended guidance, and just in general have been a blast to be around.

    Before I started, I didn’t have a lower back that constantly aches or stiffens up, nor did I have a left shoulder that tells me “That’s enough merkins for today.” I didn’t even know I had an Achilles’ tendon.

    But it has all been worth it. Ever nagging pain and shortness of breath: worth it knowing I’m making a decision to better myself as a leader, a Christian, a productive member of society. And that’s due to each of you, whether I called you by name above or not. Because finally, after 3 years, I think I’ve learned your real names, which is maybe a bigger compliment.

  • B.L.I.M.P.S. on the Upper Deck – from Einstein

    Short disclaimer…

    Warmup:
    all 15xIC: Toe Touch, Side Straddle Hops, Grass Grabbers, Good Mornings, Hillbillies, Shoulder Shruggs, Imperial Walkers,
    Thumb Drives, Smurf Jacks

    Thang:
    On the Upper Deck of the Justice Center Parking Garage
    Running to each of the four corners doing the following
    1st round 5×4 Burpees
    2nd round 10×4 Lunges (2 is 1)
    3rd round 15×4 Imperial Walkers(2 is 1)
    4th round 20×4 Merkins
    5th round 25×4 Plank Jacks
    6th round 30×4 Squats
    Totals: 20 Burpees,40 Lunges, 60 Imperial Walkers, 80 Merkins, 100 Plank Jacks, 120 Squats, about a mile of running

    Mosey back to the invisible flag for a few minutes of Mary: Rocky Balboas, Leg Lifts, Scuba Steves, Hello Dollies, Iron Crosses

    Count-o-rama
    Jose-10K leads us out with prayer.
    BBQ enlightens the PAX with his “tricks of the trade” on “aging” gracefully

    Thanks guys. Always extremely decent of you letting me lead.

  • When Life Gives You Lumber – from Grundy

    The old saying goes that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. A lesser known saying is that when life gives you lumber, make a bunch of other guys move it around back and forth pointlessly for an hour. So, when Ida provided my backyard and neighborhood with a plethora of logs and stumps, YHC went ahead and tried out that lesser known saying. In addition, the Q was able to get rid of the lumber at the end of the beatdown which was in danger of becoming part of the permanent fixtures that are still adorning many neighborhoods around the Northshore. Win-Win.

    So after having almost knocked out Bird with my open car door before the beatdown, I proceeded to try to give us all that same opportunity of physical injury by throwing, dragging, pressing, lifting, and flipping logs/stumps.

    That’s really all there was too this workout. After a brief warmup, we went to the field where YHC placed all of the logs. All of the logs had different corresponding exercises associated with them and we rotated through them for the hour. The signaling of when to rotate was when the one individual flipping the main log returned to the starting line.

    Sprinkled in the beatdown was some Mary as well.

    We left the field a little worse than we found it, but I guaranty that we were better men by the end of it.

    We returned to the flag and Russo closed us out.

    Thanks guys for letting me lead and have a great weekend!

  • Back to Burpees by Popular Demand – from Fracsac

    12 pax at The Uptowner looking to put some work in to improve and get stronger. Weather was a bit humid, but cooler awesome weather is on the horizon! Bogey, Hand Grenada, Left Coast, War Eagle, Mahatma, Hokie, Hobbs, Boo Boo, Triple Shift, Fast Tax, Pass Interference (DR from Atlanta) and YHC got after it at 0530 sharp.

    Disclaimer given, then mosey to the well marked and groomed field.

    Warmup was typical with some bat wings to get the arms ready! Yes, Moroccan Night Club dancing happened!

    The Thang

    Shock and Awe!

    5 SSH IC and 10 burpees OYO
    5 SSH IC and 9 burpees OYO
    Yada yada yada….
    5 SSH IC and 3 burpees OYO
    5 SSH IC and 2 burpees OYO
    5 SSH IC and….duh! 10 burpees OYO!

    Mosey to the goal line
    Bear crawl 20 yards at a time, SSH waiting for the six

    Bear crawl to 20 yard line, Catalina Wine Mixers x 10
    Bear crawl to 40 yard line, LBC x 20
    Bear crawl past midfield to 40 yard line, Merkins x 10
    Bear crawl to 20 yard line, some core exercise
    Bear crawl to goal line, 8 count Body builders x 10
    That’s 100 yards of bear crawls, not too shabby!

    Dirty Mac Duece

    We did 4 rounds of 12 reps of a leg, an arm and a core. Ran a full lap between sets on first, modified to half lap on other 3 to ensure we would finish.

    One minute left, so some West Bank Lazy Boyz!

    Mosey back to the flag

    COT

    NMM

    -War Eagle was upset with YHCs lack of burpees recently. This beat down provided resolution.
    -The Uptowner is sort of a non running AO, but that’s just a guideline and is flexible. The pax didn’t mind. Maybe running meant less burpees, so will have to address that next time. Less running, more burpees….
    -Coffeteria was awesome as always.
    -Pass Interference visiting from Atlanta was great, we always enjoy visitors down range!
    Convergence is tomorrow 0630 City Park to celebrate 7 years in Nola!

    SYITG

  • Extra Extra!! – from Shooter

    Feeling some swole from the previous days beatdown the Scramble provided less in some categories but Extra in others.. 5 PAX ran through the streets of Mandeville taking a different path down West Beach to Lakeshore drive and up a fellow F2 brethren who didn’t make it out the sack on this Gloom (Steve) down Monroe and returning to the AO.. Put in between 3.8 and 4 miles depending on the tracking device… All in all a nice Gloom with great chatter amongst the PAX as Zoolander and Hammer paced together and YHC, Bird and Waterpik lead the run.. YHC felt like he was special this Gloom running with normal fast pace fellas, however I will comeback down knowing those guys were just demonstrating selflessness as they held back to keep one company…

    Thanks to Waterpik for closing the COT…

    Appreciate the post gentlemen and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Blocks and Jocks Oh my!! – from Shooter

    11 PAX posted at the Gipper on this Wednesday for YHCs return after a month and a half layoff would certainly require some coupon work… So after returning with Einstien, Legal and Steve on the 1 mile prethang we got right to it…

    Warmup
    15IC Cherry pickers, Toe Touches, Imperial walkers, Windmills, Butt kicks and Grass grabbers.

    Thang
    Gathered 6 coupons for our mosey over to the courthouse.. Partnered up..
    First round
    P1 Using coupon did murder bunnies up the stairs keeping rep count. Combined count of 100 cumulative while P2 did rail crawls up the ramp returning to pickup count.
    Second round
    Moseyed to back side of courthouse where P1 did Curls and P2 bunny hopped up returning to pickup count..200 cumulative
    Third round
    Moseyed back to front for P1 Squat thrusters 100 cumulative while P2 Crawl bearers half the ramp the bear crawls other half.

    Moseyed back to AO returning coupons wrapping up with Mary of 20IC Flutter kicks, LBCS and Hello Dollies..

    Count, Announce, COT

    Thanks to Moby for the closeout in prayer and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Streaking – from Russo

    YHC believes streaks were meant to be broken, and then celebrated. Cal Ripken wasn’t penciled in for game number 2,633. DiMaggio went 0-fer in game 57. The Patriots couldn’t overcome a miracle play from David Tyree and Ei Manning and finished the season 18-1. YHC can only eat the same lunch for 5 or 6 days in a row.

    So hearing that Steve had Q’ed Granny’s for 4 or so straight weeks, I thought he might need a break and let someone else count cadence for once.

    Pretty decent weather on Tuesday morning for a Pax of 7, including a returning Bushwhacker, with temps topping out at 77 degrees, plenty warm enough to sweat profusely.

    Working in a profession that requires balance, order, and consistency, YHC carried that over to rep count.

    Warmup (all IC 15x)
    Seal jacks
    Imperial walkers
    Toe touches
    Cherry pickers
    Mummy kicks

    Thang
    With Granny’s still feeling the effects of a spruce up, remodel, and/or renovation, her benches were not available behind fence, so Pax moseyed over to the Rusty P for some work:

    At benches:
    15 freak nastys
    15 step ups
    15 derkins
    15 more freak nastys

    Some more moseying took us to the bus stop, where 15 box jumps were in order, and then more mosey to the tunnel, where we knocked out the main portion of the beat down:

    5 merkins, a mosey through the tunnel, where it was 5 more merkins in the center, and then a reverse mosey and 5 more merkins at the top, repeated 5 times.

    Heading back home, we knocked out 15 squats IC around coffee st., and then wrapped it up with some Mary:

    15 plank jacks IC
    15 LMCs IC
    15 six inch drill IC

    COT, name-o-Rama, announcements (F3 and FIA game night 10/21 at what’s left of the Mandeville Gazebo at 6:15, NOLA convergence on Saturday), and prayer closed us out.

    Thank you gents for joining and making it another good one.

    And If you’ve read this far because of the title and hoping to hear about us going streaking through the quad Old School Will Farrell style, I hate to disappoint you. But there’s always next week!

    SYITG

  • Old School 610 for World Burpee Day – from Rudy

    12 Runners and 3 Ruckers showed up for a traditional 610 Stomp for World Burpee Day.

    We all know the drill. Traditional route up and back along the bayou. 6 minute run, 10 burpees. Repeat ad nauseum. Finish with your 6th set of burpees back at the real flag (an infrequent sighting at the Stomp these days). OYO Stretching to loosen up the legs.

    15 x 60 burpees: way to go PAX, we contributed 900 burpees to the overall world total!

    Good to see Screwtop back in the gloom. Good reminder to all of us to keep re-EH’ing our friends who may have fallen off the wagon.

  • The deck on the upper deck! – from BBQ

    A mighty 5 worked the deck from the upper deck of the A1C. The warm up was 20 reps of self love, boxers, torso twists , arm circles forward and reverse, grass grabbers, mountain climbers, Willie Mays and Side Straddle Hops. A 52 deck of cards with 2 jokers and 2 bicycle card instructions. The cards were drawn one at a time. Hand release Merkins, jump squats, leg lifts and LBC’s were done according to suit and card number. The total reps done for each were 85 except for the LBC’s that were doubled and hit 170. The joker draw was a lap around the upper deck alternating forward and backward run and the other was a lap alternating karaoke. The bicycle card draw was 20 crunchy frogs and the other was 20 Freddie Mercuries. We had 2 minutes left and stretched. Fletch had a good one and new one to me for hips. Ask him to demo. We finished with the nameorama and COT. Moly Dick prayed us out and challenged us to help each other and the community. Thanks for the opportunity to Q!