F3 New Orleans

Blog

  • Some Things to Consider – from Tinkles

    I do not think I have ever actually taken the time to honor MLK day. Maybe in elementary school before it was holiday. Though back then it could have been mentioned in the context of replacing Robert E. Lee day. Embarrassing to admit, but of course change only comes when you are willing to take an honest look at things. I have never been against the holiday, though I certainly looked at it as a day off or an opportunity for a long weekend. But this is what we all love about F3. Of course, the challenges are physical en face, but those of us that stick with F3 realize that its being challenged in ways much beyond the physical are what keeps us coming back. I couldn’t be prouder of my 45+ minutes spent today with my brothers.

    I enjoy history and geography and was vaguely familiar with the story behind the Black Pearl neighborhood. I did not know that before it was the Black Pearl it was N-town. Before it was N-town it was N-town sans abbreviation. It was home to many of the domestic employees and laborers that powered to Uptown economy. It is now 67% white. Despite this changing demographic, it is still home to highest density of churches (not verified) that you will find in a neighborhood. One of those churches is Mount Moriah Baptist Church. Mahalia Jackson, the famous New Orleans gospel singer, got her start at this very church. The most pleasant surprise of my reading was that Mahalia Jackson sang the opening hymn before Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘dream’ speech at the National Mall! I amazed at the blessings to be found should you be willing to look for them. Thanks to those who joined me this morning.

    The Thang:
    • Warm-up: SSH X 28 (mind fart, no meaning), Grass grabber X 20, IW X 20, Hillbilly X 20
    • Black Pearl neighborhood run and tour:

    o Broadway Mission Baptist Church: standard plank for 2 minutes
    o Mount Moriah Baptist Church: elbow plank for 2 minutes
    o Greater Pleasant Green Baptist Church: panther plank for 2 minutes
    o Plymouth Rock Baptist Church: side plank/arm raise 1 minute each side
    o Zion Travelers Baptist Church: contralateral arm and leg up and hold, 1 minute each side
    o Williams United Methodist Church: elbow plan/arm raise 1 minute each side
    o St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church: merkin ring of fire x 3

    • Drew Brees memorial, 9 burpees in front of Drew Brees’s house (it is F3 afterall)

    Back to the flag and few minutes late and with Landing Strip walking slow to avoid a mid workout poop (moop). Great talk lead by Sandbar about how MLK often spoke of the importance of communities coming together in times of crisis. Words that definitely apply today. Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

  • Dreams Do Come True – A Tribute to MLK – from Akbar

    YHC arrived at the Marsh to a cool 32 degrees this morning. While Grover and I sat in the car for a pre-thang warm up, we were not the first to arrive. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a lone figure doing Burpees. At first I thought it was @Cowbell, since he left the only reply to my Pre-Blast about F2 after the beatdown. But no, it was none other than Russo. His Burpees were polished, in cadence, reminiscent of Mr. Miyagi’s flowing Crane kick. Alas, Cowbell did not show.

    Today we would celebrate Martin Luther King. A man with humble beginnings who had a dream that did come true.

    Warm Up: Grass Grabbers, Plank Jack, Self-Love, Big Arm Circles (front and back), Torso Twist IC x10-20

    Thang

    Modified Hero WOD for MLK based on events in his life.
    *The first 3 events, second exercise were 1 is 1; the rest of the second exercises were 2 is 1

    1929: Born in Atlanta

    19 Merkins 29 High Knees

    1944: King entered Moorehouse college at the age of 15. He would go on to receive a Bachelors in Divinity from Crozer Seminary and a Doctorate degree from Boston University’s School of Theology

    19 Freak Nasty’s 44 Randy’s (arms, up in field goal position, lower down and back up)

    1946: Atlanta Constitution publishes a letter to the editor from King stating black people should have same rights and opportunities as all American people

    19 Block Curls 46 Butt Kicks

    1955: The Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks, King is thrown in jail for protesting

    19 Block Rows 55 Moroccan Night Clubs

    1956: US Supreme Court affirms Browder V Gayle – declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional. King is one of the first to ride a bus with whites.

    19 Goblet Squats 56 Mountain Climbers

    1960: King met with Lyndon Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy to discuss racial inequality

    19 Shoulder Thrusts 60 Butt Kicks

    1963: The march on Washington DC, Kings I Have a Dream speech

    19 Merkins 63 Step Ups

    1964: King receives the Nobel Peace Prize and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed

    19 Freak Nasty’s 64 Freddy Mercury’s’

    1965: The 54 mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery ending at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Riots broke out and this day would be known as Bloody Sunday.

    19 Block Curls 65 Lunges

    1968: King assassinated in Memphis, TN

    19 Block Rows 68 Arm Circles

    1986: Inaugural Martin Luther King Day

    19 Goblet Squats 86 100’s

    1/18/21: MLK today

    18 Shoulder Thrusts 21 Burpees

    Mary IC
    M: 20 Merkins
    L: 50 LBC’s
    K: 20 Knee Raises
    Heels to Heaven, Hands to Heels, Crunch Frogs for (the missing) Cowbell x10 IC

    Count, Name-O-rama

    Announcements: Krazy Ivan, Run Cajun Run (replacing Run Ranger Run)

    Although Russo, Waterpik, and The Pelican had to work, the rest of us had a great breakfast and F2 at the Waffle House.

    Always great to hang with you guys for F3 and F2. Thanks for letting me lead

    SYITG,

    Akbar

  • Renny Frost (Renaissance 2021-01-18) – from Catfish

    Frosty morning at the Renny with 7 PAX: Heisenberg, Hokie Pokie, Tool, Fracsac, Pop Tart, Dax, and Catfish (Q).

    Started with Abe Vigodas, Grass Grabbers, and SSH, then warmed up the legs with a round of the Motivator. Threw in some Imperial Squat Walkers for good measure. Moved to faces for Peter Parkers and Plank Jacks.

    Moved on to five minutes of ten EMOM burpees (50 total). Went back to faces for Peter Parkers and Mountain Climbers. Back to feet for 8-counts.

    Moved to the fountain for Dips, Bulgarians, Derkins, Bulgarians (other leg), and Irkins. Once done with this, got another 5 minutes of EMOM burpees in. Circled up again for a leg ring of fire with Al Gore/Jump Squats. Then did a standard Ring of Fire with Merkins and an active plank (move leg/arm out in sequence). On to the back of the museum for Sunday Mornings.

    COT. Coffeeteria @ PJ’s.

  • Leg Day? Arm Day? WHY NOT BOTH? – from Rudy

    Delightful and crisp Saturday morning, 40 degrees on YHC car thermometer. War Eagle pleasantly referred to it as “bone chilling” cold. Catfish referred to it as “perfect burpee weather” while he continued burpeeing as we waited for 630. Professor Smiley was in his typical marlin-esque winter gear, prepared for snowfall.

    6:30: 11 PAX (well, actually 10 pax. The 11th was JV who arrived around 635. But I digress) were off.

    Old Man Warm Up: Trying to get old man bones and joints working. Start with a slowsey around the great lawn. Circle up for some stretching (Windmills, Grass Grabbers, Self Love, Open and Close the Gate). SSH x30.

    The Thang #1 – Dont Forget Leg Day

    12 Squats. 12 Lunge walk steps. 12 Squat Jumps. 12 Lunge walk steps. 12 monkey humpers. Mosey back to where you started.

    (I hope Triple Shift appreciated YHC’s attempt to remind everyone to use good form on squats…)

    Repeat with 11. Then 10. Then 9. 78 Squats, Squat Jumps, Monkey Humpers. And 156 lunge walk steps. No burpees, though. SOGO was miffed that we only started at 12. I think he decided to start at 18. Rev It used his long legs to lunge walk roughly 1 mile…

    The Thang #2 – Guns a-blazing

    12 Hand Release Merkins. 12 Bearcrawl steps. 12 Carolina Dry Docks. 12 Bearcrawl steps. 12 Plank walks. Mosey back to where you started.

    Repeat with 11. Then 10. Then 9. 78 of all of these as well. But still no burpees. By the end, though, YHC’s Merkins were looking quite similar to his carolina dry docks. Just sayin’.

    The Thang #3 – Heart Pumping

    Line up on the sidewalk. 20 Mountain Climbers. Sprint halfway across the lawn for…. Yup, BURPEES. Start with 10. Mosey back to where you started.

    Repeat with 9 burpees. Then 8 burpees. Then 7. Da Parish groused the entire time that it was unfair punishment for those NOT doing MABA. YHC ignored him.

    The Thank #4 – Mary

    Circle up for some dealer’s choice Mary. Colonel Mustard showed off his ability to endure most anything, by asking whether we could go to the dry cement rather than sit in the wet grass. YHC obliged, by telling him to get on his 6 in the grass.

    Mustard, Sogo, Snooze, and Catfish took the PAX through some ab work before YHC called it off at 730. Back to the flag!

    PAX: Thanks for letting me Q. Its been a while, and I’ve honestly been a bit scared of doing it. Thank you Fracsac for pushing me to sign up for it, and making me get past whatever has been blocking me from stepping up. There’s a hidden life lesson in there as well – sometimes we all will need a push to get past whatever it is that is blocking us from moving forward. May all of us be willing to reach out for help, may all of us be willing to accept help, and may all of us always be looking for fellow people who need us to reach out and help them.

  • Disco Rumble – from Hogs Breath

    We began with a quick discussion between hogs breath and Jose 10k about who would Q this am. Hogs Breath assured the pax he would lead. About this time BBQ pulled in blasting his high school disco alma mater. Jose 10k decided to take this as a challenge and began a musical chorus to Berger’s, Abba and other disco greats!

    The warm up:
    15 mountain man poopers
    20 imperial walkers
    10 toe touches

    Jose then lead the pax to mosey and collect some coupons. After we returned to the height of A1C we began our “royal rumble!!!”
    Hogs breath put 80 seconds on the stopwatch and pulled out the “deck o’death”! The rumble began as a card was over turned, while the pax were completing the listed exercises, a single pax would take his coupon and run the perimeter of the A1C rooftop. If the pax completed the course prior to the stopwatch expiring the pax would take the remaining time to rest. Then the next pax would pick his coupon, a card overturned and the pain would commence again. Miraculously not a single Club card (these are core exercises) was overturned. The majority was hearts (cardio) and Spades (legs) with a few diamonds (arm) thrown in for good measure.
    At 0546 Jose 10k had to depart. Recognizing that the rest times were getting shorter and shorter…. we played a round of”F3 poker” were all pax drew 5 cards and the “winning” poker hand was the next round of exercises. BBQ turned over a pair of 6 so we completed 2 rounds of:
    Backward run
    Lunge walk
    Flutter kicks
    Jump lunges
    karaoke

    Ended with a count-o-Rama, circle of trust and announcements.

  • Ruck’n to the Kenna Line Brah – from Vagabond

    After doing warm-up exercises and 60 EMOM burpees at the start (in the 38 degree wind, some modified), …to mix it up from the typical View beat downs, the four pax rucked 1-2 miles with 25lbs +/-. Stopped along the way for dips, decline shoulder taps, step ups, etc.

    Circled up for COT and prayer. Rucking is great for the “third F”- Fellowship.

  • Holding Down the Fort – from Vagabond

    The “frequent flier” Renaissance pax were at Jackson Day Race so we had two newcomers for the windy beatdown in the 40 degree chill. After doing some stretches, moseyed around NOMA then down the park entrance doing 10 warmup exercises along the way, about every 20 yards.

    THANG:
    20 reps of two exercises at each end of field, declining by 2 reps at each interval until reaching 2:
    – squat jumps touching ground with both hands, then jump raising both hands above head on the jump
    – big boi sit-ups at other end of field
    – Going to/fro each end of field, crawl through the “bear crawl” zone each way + 3 burpees in middle going both ways

    Onward to close with 3 reps of Sunday Mornings behind NOMA

    Circle up for COT, prayer

  • Burpees Are Our Friend – from Jingle Vader

    Mosey to MOMA, with a sudden change with 10 burpees; arrive with 10 more burpees. Warm up: 29 ssh, 20 grass grabbers, 20 hillbillies, arm circles: 20 forward, 20 back, 20 overhead, 20 seal, 20 moroccan nightclub. End the warm-up with 10 more burpees.
    Thing 1: Burpee-looza Route 66 to the front of the park with a mosey between each lamppost; Merkin Route 66 on the way back with lunges (sorry, dudes) between each lamppost. More burpees while waiting for the six.
    Thing 2: Around the fountain, 10 box jumps OYO, 20 dips, 20 power ups right leg, 20 derkins, 20 power ups left leg.
    Mosey to the Peristyle for a warm-down: 20 dying cockroaches, 20 hello dollys and 10 Dr Ws. Close with 10 final burpees.
    So that was at least 106 burpees. MABA: Make America Burpee Again!