F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • Just the facts, creativity tank is on empty – from Russo

    Right at about one million degrees and 345% humidity this morning for Pax of 3.

    Warmup (all 10x)
    – SSHs
    – toe touches
    – Torso twists
    – Arm circles
    – hillbillies

    Thang
    Mosey around old Mandy, stopping every block or so to do a 5-4-3-2-1 rep for different exercises.

    Group 1 Reps/ exercises
    5 T merkins
    4 Peter Parker’s
    3 Wide merkins
    2 8 count body builders
    1 Burpee

    Group 2
    5 SMCs
    4 Ballerina squats
    3 Imperial squat walkers
    2 Star Jumps
    1 Smurfjack

    Group 3
    5 Leg raises
    4 Crunchy frogs
    3 V ups
    2 Gas pumps
    1 Big Boy sit-up

    After block 3, we performed all three groups before continuing on.

    At the seawall, it was the modified “Steve circuit”, all 10x IC, sans those step downs he loves so much.

    -freak Nastys
    -BSSs
    -Step ups

    Reverse! On the way back and at home base, we reversed the rep count (e.g., 5 burpees, 4 8 counts, etc.)

    Wrapped it up with some Mary:
    – penguins
    – Wife pleasers
    – Freddie Mercury’s
    – hello Dolly’s
    – Rosalitas
    – 1 minute or so plank

    Quick COT and we were done for another day. Gentleman, as always, enjoyed the comraderie, even if I was quiet because it was brutally hot and I was sucking wind throughout. SYITG

  • 7 Strong @ The Mothership – from King Kong

    It’s been awhile since I made it back to the Mothership. Glad Catfish reached out and signed me up to Q. I had no excuse but to grab my passport and crossed that Parish line to a very far, far place called City Park.

    It was a humid, hot Saturday morning. By 6:30 a.m., I can see the glares coming off Gabby’s shiny head as he was waiting for us at the Canal Street PJ’s. Tclaps to couple pax who brought their weighted vests to the beatdown.

    We warmed up by the Peristyle with stretches, arm circles, Imperial Walkers, Hill Billies, SSHs, open gates, slow low squats, high knees, karaoke, and side hops. After our bodies were loosen up, we slowly Indian ran to NOMA.

    By the steps in front of NOMA, we did inclined merkins up each step all the way to the top. We did 20 Rocky Balboa’s in cadence and 15 right / left leg power ups by the fountain.
    I was looking for shade the entire workout. Instead of moving to the baseball field, we stayed in front of the fountain and did DORA 1, 2, 3 with 100 merkins, 200 SSHs, and 300 flutter kicks (one is one on the count). While one partner was doing those exercises, the other pax ran to a designated vehicle and back.

    After DORA, we Indian ran to the Baby Foundry. We did 5 pull ups, 10 alternate forward lunges, another 5 pull ups, 10 slow low squats, final 5 pull ups, and 10 alternate backward lunges. We left the Baby Foundry and headed to the Great Lawn.

    By the time we arrived to the Great Lawn, about 1/4 of the field had shade. And I know the Pax thanked me for hiding in that corner for the last set of exercises before meeting up with Mary. First, we bear crawled half of the field and back. Second, we duck walked half of the field and back. We finally finished off with burpee broad jumps half of the field.

    We headed back to where we started at the Peristyle with flutterkicks and Hello Dolly’s. We left Mary behind and finished the morning with stretches. Moseyed back to the flag with announcements and intentions.

    The Pax went to coffeeteria for some F2 fellowship. I am forever grateful knowing the Pax will always be there for me.

    King Kong

  • I’ll get all the sleep I need when I’m dead – from Akbar

    Fond memories flooding my sleepy brain as YHC arrived to 17 pax helping celebrate 5 years of F3. 11 hours of sleep in 2 days gave me brain farts. 2 Toe Touches IC almost back to back in the warm up, forgot PAX names when calling 10 counts, and didn’t think to tell anyone it was my 5 year anniversary.

    5 years ago, YHC arrived at the Lakefront, unwillingly, overweight, and probably hungover – EH’d by Russo and my wife. Bubba was the Q, there were men of all ages, speaking to each other like they’ve been friends for 10 years. The one thing I remember most vividly was being last, but I was not alone – learning the concept of picking up the six. No man left behind, that stuck with me. The rest of that year, I was hooked, stopped the gym, started hitting 3-4 days a week, CSAUP’s, and building lasting friendships. I lost 25 pounds in 6 months and never looked back. Fond memories, and more to come.

    Warm up:
    SSH, arm circles front/back, self-love, toe touches, Imperial Walkers, toe touches, Hillbillies, and some other stuff

    Mosey toward the wall near the Gazebo for Red Hot Chili Pepper: Dirkin, Freak Nasty, Irkin, Step Ups – x10 IC descending to 6

    Mosey to the Shaft for Benjamins.

    2 exercises each round, 25 reps each, with a mosey back and forth from the flag. 100 total per round

    Another version of sleepyhead emerged – the plan was to do Freak Nasties and Dirkins first, until YHC realized we just did 180 Merkins on the wall. Modification was needed.

    1. Stone Mountain, Bear Crawl, Mountain Climber
    2. Superman’s, Flying Nuns (lunge walk with arm circles), George Thorogoods
    3. Squats, run, Renegade Row
    4. Reverse Grip Merkin, Bear Crawl, and something else.

    Mosey back to the Gazebo for more Benjamins with Core focus.

    1. Little Manny Crunches, run, LBC’s
    2. Crunchy Frogs, run, Hello Dolly

    Mosey a little further to get some shade, circle up for some shoulder work.30 second for each exercise with a hold at the end. Moroccan Night Club, We’re not Worthy – aka Field Goals, ,Cherry Pickers, Overhead Claps, hold arms out straight – @ 30 seconds each.

    Indian Run to the Flag – kinda – everybody just really took off and ran in a line with some sprints.

    At the Flag, 7 minutes of core. Hello Dolly, Crunchy Frogs, E2k, and some other stuff.

    Count, Name, and YHC prayed us out with thanks for F3. Remembering Birds family, Jose10K’s student and their family.

    Announcements:
    Spartan Dallas in October, sign up soon – talk to Hammer. Plenty of runs coming up for July 4th through Thanksgiving.

    Zoolander’s 6 year anniversary Q next Saturday.

    Here’s to 5 more years 👊
    SYITG, Akbar

  • 7.564k Au Lait – from Steve

    I don’t know, it just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

    But hey, that’s what you get when you cut off two fingers and a few left turns. Apparently Legal and Bean could further trim the route if Tank doesn’t return from his European vacation soon.

    T-claps to Parrot for getting some extra, and to William for his ever-improving one mile sprint.

    Coffeteria followed, where we learned not to wade into Bushwacker’s reading history – some things you just don’t want to know.

  • 7.564k Au Lait – from Steve

    I don’t know, it just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

    But hey, that’s what you get when you cut off two fingers and a few left turns. Apparently Legal and Bean could further trim the route if Tank doesn’t return from his European vacation soon.

    T-claps to Parrot for getting some extra, and to William for his ever-improving one mile sprint.

    Coffeteria followed, where we learned not to wade into Bushwacker’s reading history – some things you just don’t want to know.

  • Dice Games at the A1C – from Shooter

    Warm-ups followed by a lap down to the bottow and back up to the top. Then it was time to bust out the Dice built by Whacker. One die had a number, the other die had the exercises. Each person rolled the exercise die once the number die was rolled. First round number: 25. The exercises were burpees, 8 count body builders, and wife pleasers.
    The second number: 20. The exercises: merkins, jump squats, leg lifts. The final number: 10. The exercises: burpees, right elbow left knee, left elbow right knee, and tbh I forgot the 3 exercise. Then it was a recovery walk to the end of the parking lot with a 35 pound weight, jump rope, and a core exercise. 1 minute at each station. The 35 pound weight was rifle carried (shoulder press to intesify), squat thrusters for round 2, and curls for girls for round 3. COT and Darkwing prayed us out.

  • Bona Fide Odyssey – from Goose

    YHC may have done this theme before, but if so, it’s been long enough, and we were overdue for a romp through one of the greatest movies of all time, O Brother, Where Art Thou? In no other movie can you find a script made up completely of quotable one-liners given by the most interesting and entertaining characters in an unpredictable plot with every element coming from nowhere but left field, keeping the viewer in rapt wonder from start to finish. And, because of this, it’s the only movie YHC knows that doesn’t get old no matter how many times you watch it.

    Six adults and four 2.0’s gathered in the bright summer “gloom”, and YHC figured the leader of this outfit should be the one capaable of abstract thought, so he started the warmup with some SSH and moved through the usuals, adding some WMH and Good mornings since there would be some atrain on the back early on.

    We grabbed the blocks, and it was time to R-U-N-N-O-F-T. We made it to the playground, or the chain-gang work site, and YHC began reviewing the plot: the movie starts with three men chained together, running through a cornfield to escape from a chain gang. One of them, Ulysses Everett McGill, promised the other two share in the treasure he had buried, and they were running to try to catch a box car on a train. The treasure ended up being his wife and children, and he was on a time crunch because she was scheduled to get married to another man (“Mama says he’s bonafide.” “He’s a suitor!”)

    The exercise at this point would consist of two groups of three men, the first group, arms around each other, would lunge walk four steps together before dropping to the ground to avoid being caught, and there doing four Merkins before continuing to lunge walk four more steps, and moving in this fashion to where the “train tracks” were, the far playground area. The other three men stayed put, and acted as the chain gang, doing repeated sets of 10 grave diggers and 15 overhead presses with the block while Bose’, Sr. belted out Po’ Lazarus and Big Rock Candy Mountain. Insights about where to put your arm for the lunge walks and comparisons to high school dates at the movies were shared by our resident mid-beatdown philosopher, Lil’ Cuz.

    After a successful enough escape, we grabbed our blocks and moseyed to the Thunderdome. This would act as our rural radio station, where our newfound partner, Tommy (Suckle?), who sold his soul to the devil in return for guitar lessons, would give us what we needed to sing into a “can”, record a record, and make $10 apiece, unwittingly becoming major celebrities in the process.

    Bose’ rocked “Man of Constant Sorrows”, which rocked our lower abs in the following manner: hold 6 inches for the duration, and leg raises on every non-possessive pronoun that refers to the singer (I, me, he, him).

    In order to stay ahead of the pursuing lawmen, it was time to R-U-N-N-O-F-T again, this time along the road. But, about halfway to the chimney, one of our party demanded that we pull over immediately. He had heard something so irresistable, so heart-rendingly attractive, he, and then we, couldn’t not investigate. We discovered three beautiful women doing laundry in the stream singing the most intoxicating song in perfect bluegrass harmony. We also discovered an abnormally large number of people waliking the park that day and judging us as we completed the following routine (AB’s wearing of The Fire Within may have absorbed most of the rays of judgment aimed at us, but certainly not all.):

    11’s–run instinctively to where the Sirens are (a tree about 10-15 yards away), do 10 J-Lo Pickle Pounders, or Afflecks (as Delmar said, “We was fxin’ to fornicate!”), then like Pete, we was turned into a toad and had to frog-hop back for 1 American Hammer and so on in typical 11’s fashion. The American Hammers were reflective of the two remaining friends who weren’t transformed, but were beat with a tree branch by the Bible salesman, Big Dan.

    The frog-hops were brutal, but that’s justice for you, and on we traveled. Soon, we stumbled into a KKK riitual gathering led by none other than the favorite in the upcoming gubernatorial election, Homer Stokes, the “Friend of the Little Man” who was gonna “sweep this state clean” of “rascalism, nepotism, croneyism,” etc., not to mention “all them people say we come from monkeys”.

    The routine would be a stationary Flora where we partnered up, one partner representing Stokes while the other represented the “Little Man”. They split duty on 100 Coupon Swings (sweeping the state clean), 100 tricep presses (emphatically brandishing the broom overhead) , and 100 curls (lifting up the little man). While one partner worked through 10, then 15, then 20 reps of these, the other, the “Little Man” did Smurf Jacks, then Mission Impossible plank, then LBC’s (all nice and little, or low to the ground).

    This is where we finally lost all pride. If the Sirens or park walkers didn’t defeat us, Stokes and his Little Man did. But we stuck it out, driven by the undying desire to save our wife and children from the clutches of Vernon T. Waldrip, Mr. Bonafide himself. So, in an unexpected turn of events, Stokes was revealed for the man he was, his constituency rode him out on a rail, and the three men were given bonafide jobs in the governor’s cabinet.

    We moseyed with the blocks back to the flag for what the Pax hoped would be a happy ending, but instead were met with sinister authorities, who were ready to exact the highest (or lowest) level of justice. The PAX dropped to their knees (10x, in cadence, as genuflections), and Providence smiled on them as a wall of water came rushing in and swept them all away in a cleansing tide as the valley was flooded by the TWA for the new power plant. 10 Scuba Steves, in cadence, brought us to the surface, where we discovered the roll-top desk in which we found Everett’s wife’s original wedding ring.

    But, of course, his wife had one more heroic task for Ulysses/Everett to complete–YHC won’t spoil it here , bu suffice it to say, she made her mind up (“counted to three”), so we finished with 10 static wife pleasers (hold for 3-count at the top).

    COT, and The Fire Within was bequeathed by AB to Maneater for his timely recitation of some one-liners from the movie, and he immediately squeezed into it like a wet six-year-old putting on pajamas after a bath. Prayer requests and Cuz prayed us out.

    That was a fun one, and a solid crew. Thanks for posting! “I’m with you fellers.”

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Bears and Donkey’s – from Pool Boy

    With quick intro, we began promptly at 5:30. Mosey to the rock pile.

    Warmups:
    SSH’s
    Low slow squats
    Arms circles
    Imperial Walkers
    Grass Grabbers
    Abe Vigoda’s

    Grab a rock and head to the hill walking backwards and forwards.

    The Thang
    11’s consisting of overhead press and squats. Took turns with lunges, and bear crawls up and down the hill.
    Mosey over to the gym.
    1st set
    20 calf raises
    10 donkey kicks
    2nd set
    20 calf raises
    10 donkey kicks
    3rd set
    15 calf raises
    5 donkey kicks.
    Head back to rock pile and finished with some Mary.
    Horses to the stable for COT. Enjoyed leading this fine group of men!

  • Summer Swolestice – from Paradox

    Summer Swolstice

    Inspiration for a beatdown can come from almost anywhere. The blank slate , fresh canvas you are handed as a Q will always give YHC that “kid at Christmas” feeling. Lose Yourself in some nice Cinema and the the next day you are leading the men in the Inception kick song in a mosey around a municipal building at 520am. Have another pax critique your form? No bother, you can answer with a 45 minute beatdown lecture on Apollo and his OhYes. Earl Dibbles fan? YEEEE YEEE brother! Say no more, that’s a whole hour specialty beatdown!
    Tributes , birthdays , mountain climbing franchises, feast days, holidays, schisms, sandwiches vendettas…all great reasons for a free men’s workout and today YHC wanted to add one more entry to our Pax ever expanding portfolio: the exercise research beatdown. June 20th being the summer solstice and this month being Alzheimer’s awareness month YHC has been reading more about the cutting edge prevention of this state and of neuro cognitive decline, a field that has exploded in just the last decade. YHC saw a recent study placing exercise (mental and physical) very highly on the list of modifiable risk factors. It went further, breaking down the type and duration of cardio and by the time YHC had finished reading the abstract the following beatdown was in the slow cooker just waiting on lab mice…ahemmm…pax.

    Duke! Put the WD40 on the rowing chains ! The pax need some cardio.

    YHC moseyed in with 30 seconds till kickoff after a light setup sesh. AB was found loitering in the midst of the circle and was pulled into a full on haboob he didn’t much care for. Some commented it was Darude of him to decline advances but he must be more of a slow dance kinda guy, I’ll try Peter Gabriel next time.
    Anyhouser, We got right into the usuals and then Sandstormed our way to the Cones of Dunshire.

    According to this metanalysis the following actions are optimal for maintaining our cognitive abilities and stemming decline. (Some liberties were taken so please don’t send this to JAMA , they have enough on their plate working on Valves call schedule complaints )

    Needed:

    -10 minute bursts of cardio
    -Short Term/Long Term Memory work with rapid alternation between the two
    -Execution of a task , especially with spatial awareness
    -learning a new skill
    -Social relationships

    So obviously the challenge here is “could this all be done simultaneously in 45 minutes ?”

    Here’s YHCs swing at it .

    10 station Circuit

    1. Med Ball Slam (no one has time for therapy )
    2. WW3 Sit-ups (cuz they suck)
    3. OHP (make free throws challenging)
    4. Goblet Squats (that suck thing again)
    5. Row (learn something new)
    6. Coupon Curls (for Ronnie)
    7. Pickle #1 with increasing drop burpees (build social relationships)
    8. Pickle #2 (what Goose happens after 5 guys)
    9. Apollo Ohnos (cus YJ loves them )
    10. THE TIMER : dribble run with various free throws (spatial execution)

    While traversing the circuit the lab participants would need to compile a working short term memory bank of seemingly random words while accessing there long term memory to see if there was a common thread. Musical clues and foils would be playing for motivation, rhythmic coordination, and philosophical discussion.

    R1 BEST PICTURE

    Moonlight – Parasite- Crash-Chicago-Gladiatior-Ghandi-Patton-Marty- Rebecca -Spotlight

    R2 Bond Villains

    Trevelyan- Scaramanga- elektra king -le chiffre- Hugo Drax – Dr. Julius No – Mr White – Raoul Silva- Elliot Carver – Mr Big

    R3 NOBEL Prize

    Linus Pauling, MLK, Mother Theresea , Al Gore, Red Cross, Watson and Crick , Al Einstein

    Lab Observations:
    – the OHP and Curls had devastating effecting on FT percentage (that’s what we will blame today)
    – YHC loved listening to the proposed common threads and watch the “AHA” moments as the puzzles clicked. I saw the exact moment during Duran Duran that Goose realized they were all bond villains!
    – ManEater was upset Bloodsport wasn’t in the Best Pic nods and he has his own best picture list, I can’t wait for that beatdown.
    – HS can drain a free throw on command but also wanted everyone in zone 4 cardio so he missed some just to sharpen iron,

    Gear packed in the party wagon and we moseyed back to launch pad.

    Wet Tap graced AB with The Fire Within (TFW), actually the same phrase the GI doc wrote to describe his colonoscopy.

    Invitations to keep those individuals and their families suffering with cognitive decline in your prayers and to offer our own sufferings for Christ to use in their relief.

    COT and Popeye prayed us out

    Post Doc Analysis

    Like any good study YHC had to leave some variables unknown to the subjects so YHC did not inform the Pax that the Lions den court had been converted into a linear functional MRI scanner for observation of brain waves and translation to pax thoughts during the exercise. Here are the results:

    Wet Tap: I’m feeling really extra swole in this tank top, can I award myself the fire within?

    YJ: We’re no strangers to love

    Goose: This may be the dumbest thing dox has ever done, wait is that the row machine! …ok second dumbest and I’ll give him a half point for Lecrae.

    Lil Cuz: Gladiator, Spotlight, Crash..are these all ways to describe my beard ?

    YJ: You know the rules and so do I

    Enron: Gosh I hope he’s got some Cash Money Millionaires on that playlist.

    Americas Best: I should really look for a free men’s workout with harder trivia

    YJ : Never gonna give you up

    Popeye : *smirk intensifies

    ManEater: where is “Dumb and Dumber”, “Die Hard” , and “Point Break”????
    This is clearly not best picture material.

    YJ: Never gonna let you down

    Honeysuckle: This is a great warmup. Hope I hit Zone 2 today.

    YJ : Never gonna run around and desert you !

    A pleasure to lead men
    Thanks for letting me Roll with you.

    SYITG
    Dox

  • The traffic pattern – from Safety Valve

    On this Day in 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Second in history only to the famous Charles Lindbergh. She was also the first person ever to fly from the mainland of the US to Hawaii. To be a pilot at that point in history was not an easy task. To be a woman and pilot was almost unheard of. The calculations needed and limitations of the aircraft meant that only the most intelligent and daring of people became pilots. Most pilots nowadays learn to fly the aircraft, but like most things nowadays the process are automated. There are private jets that a passenger can push a button and the jet can land itself based on GPS and autopilot functions. That was far from the case in the 1920s. People like Amelia Earhart pushed the boundaries of what aircraft in her time can do, which led to the innovations we have today. Be like Amelia, push the boundaries of what we have now so that we may make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.

    Warmaramma
    SSH – 50 of them
    Mountain climbers
    Willy mays hays
    Flying sun gods x 4

    Thangs:
    1. Learning to fly by Tom Petty – plank jacks for durations, burpees on the chorus
    2. Flying the traffic pattern – The newly paved section of the neighborhood is perfectly divided into 4 consecutive rectangles. The airport traffic pattern is flown in a rectangle. Couldn’t think of a better time to teach the PAX about flying the traffic pattern. We moseyed the short parallel streets and sprinted the long perpendicular streets because the hardest part of flying is the take off and landing.
    3. AMRAP – 1 minute of merkins and 1 minute of burpees, remember the rep count you got to. This had nothing to do with flying. Just trying to hurt these people… I mean, just trying to improve the health of my friends
    4. 11s – jump squats and stationary flying nuns
    5. AMRAP – 1 minute of merkins and 1 minute of burpees, try to match or beat the rep count from earlier

    COT, intentions, prayers. To the dismay of Goose, YHC opted for comfort over the “the fire within” since it was still wet with paradox’s sweat from the previous day. Thanks for showing up. Always a pleasure to lead.

    #renewyourvalves