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  • 7 Men of The Renaissance

    7 Men of The Renaissance

    Even at 0630 the heat and the humidity were present, but 7 men committed to give it their all and push through it. A brief disclaimer was given, followed by a short mosey to the NOMA steps for a warmup:

    • SSH IC x 31
    • IW IC x 15
    • Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    • GG IC x 10
    • Bat wings – AC fwd and back, OH Clap, Seal Clap, Moroccan Night Club

    Start off with Ascending ‘mericans on the steps of NOMA. Start with 1 at the bottom and increase to 8 at the top.

    Mosey to some cones set up about 30 yards apart in the grass. Here’s what happened:

    • Bear Crawl IC to midway, followed by 10 ‘mericans, then bear crawl to the end IC followed 10 more ‘mericans
    • Lunge Walk IC/monkey humpers IC on the way back
    • 11’s OYO, with Burpees on one side, run between, Bonnie Blairs on the other end (2 is 1 on BB’s)

    Circle up for Embrace The Suck:

    • 7 SSH’s, 7 ‘mericans, 7 Bobby Hurleys continuously OYO for 3 minutes
    • 1 minute rest
    • 3 more minutes of The Suck

    Mosey behind NOMA for Sunday Mornings

    • 10 air presses in Peoples Chair, 5 Donkey Kicks, followed by 1 BTTW Shoulder Press (That’s 1) x 5
    • Finish with Rocky Balboas IC x 15

    Mosey back to the 3 Shovel Flags for COT

    NMM

    This was Door Dash’s first visit to The Renaissance, he’s a solid The View guy. Glad to see him make it out.

    Iron Pax Challenge is coming up in September, so sign up and help NOLA show The Nation how awesome we are.

    Both of my recent Q’s (Friday and Sunday) The Suck has made an appearance. If you need to work on increasing one’s endurance, this is the one to bring! That Bat Wing thing came back too, it’s great to prep the arms for a work out.

    What a great way to start the week, followed by our regular awesome coffeteria!

    SYITG

  • Ascend and Launch (WPM 2020-08-14)

    Another excellent morning on the mountain with 24 PAX: Angie’s List, Chowdah, El Wire, G Spot, Jingle Vader, Moana, Mulligan, Sandbar, Wipeout, Eager Beaver, Gabrielle, Dry Socket, Quincy, Squeal, Shurly, Jadaveon, Tube Steak, Bad Moon, Mr. Peabody, Seaman, Bones, Shocker, Tinkles, Catfish (Q).

    Started with a mosey over to the base of the mountain. Warmed up with arm circles (both ways), Windmills (Abe Vigoda), Grass Grabbers, and SSH. Assembled at the base for the ascent.

    First leg was 10 burpees, run backwards up the first two inclines to the first flat. Planked and waited for the six with peter parkers.

    Second leg was 20 bonnie blairs, bear crawl to about the stairwell entrance, mosey to the incline, then backwards run to the next flat. Planked and waited for the six with Parker peters.

    Third leg was 30 merkins, duck walk to about the stairwell entrance, mosey to the incline, then backwards run to the next flat. Planked and waited for the six with shoulder taps.

    Fourth leg was 40 flutter kicks (one is one), crab walk to about the stairwell entrance, mosey to the incline, then backwards run to the next flat. Planked and waited for the six with Floyd Mayweathers.

    Fifth leg was 50 squats, crab walk to about the stairwell entrance, mosey to the incline, then backwards run to the next flat. Planked and waited for the six with Floyd Mayweathers.

    Sixth leg was 60 LBTs (one is one), bear crawl to the top of the mountain.

    Continued with Jack Webbs up to eleven, then did an excercise called Failure to Launch (hold Al Gore while Q counts down from 10, then get a solid jump up with knees to the chest.

    Took the stairs back down to the base, circled back up for some Catalina Wine Mixers. Back to the flag, finished out with a solid 2.5 minutes of 8-count bodybuilders.

    Excellent workout with a nice big group. Thanks to all who attended!

  • Keeping up with the Joneses

    There was a spectacular lightening show being delivered from north of the lake that YHC enjoyed on the bike ride to the AO. A clear sky south of the lake welcomed 6 Pax to the AO known as The View, but can you guess which chatting icon is attached to Fridays? (Hint: There was a Shooting Star that graced the sky during the warm up) I’ll just leave that there…..

    0530, time for the disclaimer, then a short mosey for the warm up:

    • SSH IC x 31
    • Grass Grabber IC x 15
    • Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    • Bat Wings IC
      • Fwd AC, Bwd AC, OH Clap, Seal Clap, Moroccan Night Club
    • Hillbillies IC x 15

    Mosey to the levee for the first set of pain. Starting at bike path, bear crawl IC toward levee, going up and over with ‘mericans called out by the Q. That looked a little something like this:

    • Bearl crawl IC followed by 10 ‘mericans on flat ground
    • Bear crawl up levee IC, stopping midway for Incline x 10
    • Bear crawl IC to top of levee, regular x 10
    • Bear crawl down levee other side stopping midway for Decline x 10
    • Bear crawl to base of levee for regularx x 10
    • Repeat on return trip over levee

    YHC set up some cones about 30 yards apart for second set of pain.

    Lunge walk/Monkey Humpers

    • Lunge walk IC to midway followed by Monkey Humpers IC x 10
    • Lunge walk IC to other end followed by Monkey Humpers IC x 10
    • Repeat on return trip to starting point

    Repeat with Peter Parker crawl/Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10

    Burpee Broad Jump to one end and back.

    For the third set of pain, YHC did a ring of fire:

    • Hold the Al Gore while sending jump squat around the ring x 10 (next Pax starts at 5). Send around twice.
    • Repeat in plank position with ‘mericans.

    For the fourth set of Pain, The Suck…Embrace it! 3 minutes of the following continuously:

    • SSH x 7
    • ‘mericans x 7
    • Bobby Hurley’s x 7

    One minute recovery, followed by another 3 minutes.

    Finish off with

    • LBC’s IC x 30
    • Big Boi Sit Ups (WW2) IC x 10
    • Crunchy Frog IC x 10

    COT to close it out at 0615.

    NMM

    YHC planned this beat down with a low impact (no running ) theme in mind. Not to brag, but this was a real smokefest. Ok, I’m pretty proud of it.

    YHC doesn’t do many original things, but after reading “Freed to Lead” I found out that there’s nothing wrong with that. F3 is known for taking other ideas and building upon them. But I have to give credit where credit is due. Hawg has made the Bat Wings a regular thing, but the first time I saw it was when Kimchi brought it some time ago. I’m pretty guilty of dropping my arms during the evolution when War Eagle and Hawg bring it, but I didn’t when I Q’d it. There’s just something inspirational about delivering pain to others.

    The bear crawl and ‘mericans up and down the levee was about as original as it gets for me. But I’m sure it’s been done before.

    I like to set up cones, it makes life easier.

    The Suck is something I remember Tool delivered. After 6 minutes of that, the Pax is pretty smoked. That’s a great one to keep in your back pocket.

    I was saving some Shock and Awe, among other things, for the Mothership, but I found out Jingle Vader had signed up too, and he really wanted it. The issues with the Q sheet aren’t that big of a deal. Catfish made sure a Q is lined up, and that’s all that really matters. I have no doubt a serious beat down will be delivered by JV. I’ll save mine for another day.

    Thanks for allowing me to be a part of F3.

    SYITG

  • The Thunder Rolls….

    After doing Cowbells crazy 5 sec rest ISI in the parking garage, Q noticed the storm rolling in. The rain wasn’t my concern, however, the amazing display of lightning was. A small modification was needed.

    Warm-up: Toe touches, torso twists, Bushwackers T motion, and something else I cannot remember.

    The thang: We moved from the top of the garage to the second floor (remember the lightning). It was time for 4 corners. 4 rounds: 7 burpees, 14 merkins, 21 squats, 28 lbcs. After each round, down the stairs, around the corner, and run back up to the second level. After the four rounds, down the staircase. 10 calve raises each step to the top. At the top, Hammer tried Cowbell’s plank with feet high up on the wall and try to put your shirt back on. Cowbell then demonstrated with the Q following. Everyone else Al Gored while watching the foolishness. 5 minutes left, round robin mary. 20 leg lifts IC, 30 american hammers, flutter kicks, then hold a plank to Queen’s We will rock you. Thank you to cowbell for showing me plank paper, rock, scissors. Will use it soon. COT with Hammer praying us out. Thank y’all for allowing me to lead such a great group of men that I am lucky to call my brothers. I love y’all, and will see you in the Gloom soon.

    Jose 10k signing off.

  • ROOTS

    Over the past 6 months since since the quarantine, there have been many different routes / variations / themes (speedy’s sprints come to mind) taken for the weekly F3 5K. Today, YHC decided to take the 5k Scramble back to it’s roots, which is around the loop, then all the way to the end of the pier at Sunset Point. Back at the flag, we hit the workout equipment for 10 minutes of circuit training (bear crawls, freak nasties, hanging leg tucks).

    COT and thanks to Akbar for praying us out!

    SYITG

    Pik

  • You Go This Way, I’ll Go That Way

    Apologies in advance for just about the weakest back blast by yours truly, or anyone this side of the lake (Although I seem to recall one by Chewy that was pretty close).

    We 5 gathered and warmed up with a number of exercises to loosen the joints and muscles.

    After mosying to the bus stop, the trek began. Jose, P Shooter and Pelican did core exercises while Waterpik and YHC ran west on the trace stopping at carol and adair for 5 burpees each. Then the hardcore trio ran east to the fire station stopping at 2 designated spots for 5 burpees each. Continue the core while the runners continued 4, 3, 2 burpees before time ran out.

    Pelican and his hair prayed us out

    I swear I’ll do better next time!

  • PreBlast: Running + BLIMPS

    Warmup
    -20 x SSH
    -20 x Peter Parkers
    -20 x Parker Peters
    -20 x Mountain Climbers

    Tha Thing
    -Mosey around track to Prytania, do a BLIMP starting w/5 burpees
    -Mosey to Exposition shelter, do a BLIMP starting w/10 burpees
    -Mosey to Cecile’s Crepe Myrtle Grove, do a BLIMP starting w/15 burpees
    -Mosey to just past hole on outside of track, do a BLIMP starting w/10 burpees
    -Mosey to corner closest to Walnut, do a BLIMP starting w/5 burpees
    -Mosey back to flag

    Potluck Mary = LBCs, Dr. Ws & Penguins

  • 76’s

    I was on the drive home from Florida when I realized that I had the Q on Monday morning for swolefest. I had a lot on my mind as I was thinking about my dad and who he was and what he meant to me. I wanted to offer a solid beatdown and show honor to my father through the things that he taught me throughout his life. My dad lost his struggle with cancer on January 22, 2017 after a 20 year fight. Yesterday, August 9th, would have been his 76th birthday…

    FOURTEEN pax showed up for the beatdown. It was good to see a number of guys getting back out after a long hiatus. I was pleased to see Breadsticks, especially since I had just eaten at Vincent’s last Thursday for my birthday. After the normal F3 disclaimer, I informed the group that the beatdown would be inspired by my late father.

    I also had to give a disclaimer that we would not be running or doing much lower body since I have a torn meniscus in both of my knees. And without further ado we were off. Started the warmup with sets of 20 which represented the number of years that my dad fought cancer:

    Hillbillies x 20

    Wind Mills x 20

    Peter Parker x 20

    Parker Peter x 20

    Next, I informed the group that my dad’s name was Jack and that I had done some research on the lexicon last night to find some good “jack exercises”.

    In my three years of F3 I hadn’t come across these, Happy Jacks. Five count jumping jack in cadence followed by two jump squats. We did four rounds of 5 counts.

    My dad would have been 76 yesterday so I let everyone know to look out for that number. Some of the exercises would be difficult but if there was one thing that I remember about my dad was that he was a fighter. A lot of times you have to push through the struggle in order to get to the joy on the other side.

    We started the 76’s easy with plank jacks. All of the exercises would be done on your own so I let the pax know to go at their own pace:

    Plank Jacks x 76

    From there we got into a more difficult exercise, man maker merkins! I chose this exercise because it reminded me of the things my dad taught me about being a man. This was the highlight of the workout for me. The exercise starts with your block to your right while in merkin position. Perform one merkin then pull the block across the ground to the other side, perform another merkin, and pull it back to the right. One is one, all the way up to 76! There were some breaks in between but we all made it through.

    Next, we did curls. 76 reps OYO.

    My dad was an architect and a builder so we had to get some 8 count body builders in. We did them with the coupon, Catfish would have been proud! I intended to push for 76 but realized that was not realistic about 10 reps in. We made it to 30.

    I could tell that we were needing to give the upper body a break so next we went to goblet squats, 76 reps OYO.

    Finally, had to get one more jack exercise in and multiple pax knew it was coming, Jack Webbs…actually, Block Webbs!

    We changed the count to one merkin and one block press. We aimed for 10. On the 9th round I began to feel nauseous. I thought for a moment that maybe we would stop at 9 but got encouragement from the group to push through to 10. We did it!

    When I stood up I felt like I was going to pass out. There were just about 5 minutes left in the workout but it was that bad. I had visions of Holy Grove passing out of dehydration at WPM and knew that I had to get some water. I told High Rise to lead the group in some Mary to finish things up. Tool followed me to my car to make sure I was alright. I took a sip of water but still felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down, another sip, still nauseous. Finally, I laid on the ground. I was there for about 30 seconds then miraculously felt instantly better. Took another sip of water and walked back over. I was able to finish the last two Mary exercises with the group.

    So thankful for F3 and for the group of guys that were out this morning! F3 has meant so much to me over the years. My attitude has suffered over the last month or so that I have been out dealing with the torn meniscus. That’s why I keep pushing to go out even though I know that I should be resting. F3 gives me resilience throughout each day to push through the difficult parts of life.

    You know, you get that part every morning that you post. There is always someone there pushing you to finish strong and I really appreciate that. But this morning I experienced what makes F3 so special. It’s not every morning that you push yourself to the brink of exhaustion both emotionally and physically but that was the case this morning. I am forever grateful to have my health and to know that if I fall that there is someone there to help me up. It reminded me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 4:10 that goes like this:

    “For if they fall, one will lift up his brother. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

    Thank you Tool for looking out and thank you brothers for pushing me every day to be stronger and thank you dad for being such a good father to me and showing me what its like to be a good man. I miss you dearly.

    Thankful for the opportunity to lead!

  • Duck Hunting 101

    YHC has always joked that he does F3 to he can be in shape for duck season, among MANY other reasons. Duck hunting on public land in the Mississippi Delta is a very physically demanding hobby and for some strange reason I absolutely love it. Waking up at 2am to wade through waste deep water in 20 degrees just sounds fun, right??

    Well, YHC wanted the Gipper pax to learn a thing or two about the prep that goes into a morning of duck hunting, sans water and 20 degrees.

    Disclaimer was given and PAX was instructed to grab some gear from the camp (cinder block). Each block was to account for all of the gear needed on a hunt.

    COP #1- Warm Up:

    10 Burpees OYO

    20 X SSH

    10 X Good Mornings

    10 F/B X Arm Circles

    20 X J Lo’s

    10 L/R X Nolan Ryan’s (on crushed gravel!)

    Now we need to load up the truck: 10 L/R X Elf on a Shelf with block

    Mosey to the courthouse walkway (boat launch) at a brisk pace as we need to beat all other hunting parties to the duck hole!

    Load the boat: split into 2 lines with blocks at the end of each line. Pass block down to the end of the line, and back down. R&R X3.

    The boat is launched, now we need to drive as far as we can in the timber…quick mosey to the parking garage entrance and ramp. Leave your gear while we go search for a good spot to set up: Run up the ramp and complete 10 burpees on one side and 10 merks on the other side all the way to the top. Repeat.

    We found a prime duck hole at the top of the garage!! grab your gear and meet there.

    Now its time to throw out the decoys, we brought 3 dozen this trip..

    Block swings X 12, R&R X3.

    Now its time to actually hunt, so we need to practice raising the gun to our shoulder: Chest press X 10, R&R X3.

    We shot a few ducks but ran out of time to pick them up!

    Carry your gear back to the camp.

    Count, Name, and Grundy took us out with a prayer.

    Thank you all for hunting with me and appeasing me!

    Cowbell

  • Extreme Couponing

    10.8.20

    6 Pax arrived at The View @ The Joy for a coupon workout. After the disclaimer we moseyed to a flat area and got motivated with “motivators.”

    At one point I had a plan, but that quickly went out the window.

    For tha thang we started off with 10 Jack Webbs, 10 Prisoner squats holding the coupon, 10 Genuine, Front raises, Curls, Triceps and Around the World.

    At this point the plan went out the window and I just started throwing out exercises. Some of the exercises included Big Boy Burpees, Rocky Balboa, Good Mornings, Sumo squats, Dynamic lunges, Squat Press, Show Stoppers, Plank Jacks, Dirkens, Side-to-side Merkins and another set of Around the Worlds.

    Finished off with 3 sets of WWII sit-ups for a total of 100 sit-ups.

    We moseyed back to the cars for count-o-rama, name-o-rama, intentions, and a prayer.