F3 New Orleans

Blog

  • Catfish Semi-Challenge (Mothership 2020-03-07)

    Nice chilly spring Mothership with 18 PAX in attendance: iHeart, Hokie Pokie, Tool, Angie’s List, Landing Strip, Jingle Vader, Triple Shift, Gabrielle, Willie, Squeal, Douille, King Kong, Two Yutes, Beignet, Belloq, Blowout, War Eagle, Catfish (Q).

    Started at the peristyle with Abe Vigoda, Grass Grabbers, and Side Straddle Hop. On to our faces with Peter Parkers, Plank Jacks, Parker Peters, and Mountain climbers. Finished out the warmup with some 8-count bodybuilders.

    Moved to the Great Lawn and partnered up for B.O.M.V.S. (combined 50 burpees, 100 overhead claps, 150 merkins, 200 V-ups, and 250 squats). Once completed, moved to the southeast end of the lawn for some Mary while waiting for the six (got in some LBCs and dying roaches).

    After a quick 10 count and a quick side straddle hop, moved to the base (south end) of the field, then did a quick throwback round to September 2019 Iron PAX Challenge – hop a tree length, 10 burpees, 10 bonnie blairs, 10 big boy situps, rinse and repeat 3x. Did plank jacks waiting for the six.

    Once we got to the end, split into two circles for some rings of fire. First ring was monkey humpers (2 rounds, hold the position between rounds), next ring was al gore position with bonnie blairs.

    After the rings, moved on to one of the Q’s personal favorites – Jack Webb. Got up to 13 today, not too shabby.

    Returned to the peristyle for calf raises and 8-counts to finish up.

    Great day, great workout. Thanks to all what participated!

  • Blimpin Aint Easy at WolfPack Mountain

    Fridays at Wolfpack Mountain are always a treat for those who love the quad and thigh burning pain an F3 workout can provide. There’s nothing like the delight of scratching and clawing your way to the peak of the Urban Oasis that is WPM!

    Quick 5:30 disclaimer, a brief mosey to the grass in front of Tulane for the pre-mountain warm-up. Warm up consisted of some usuals: SSH X 20, Windmill X 10, Grassgrabbers X 10, Hillbilly X 15, then an added bit of, dare I say, a deconstructed Burpee?? 10 Merkins in Cadence, 10 Jump Squats OYO, 8 Merks IC, 8 Jump Squats OYO, 6 Merks IC, 7 (a goof up) Jump Squats OYO. We then moseyed over to the base of WPM for the thang.

    BLIMPed up the mountain in the following manner:

    5 Burpees on the first deck followed by a backpedal up the ramp, run through the flat, SSH til the 6 arrives

    10 Lunges (2 is 1) on the second deck, followed by a backpedal, a run, and then a plank n wait for the 6.

    15 Imperial Walkers (2 is 1) on the third deck, followed by a backpedal, a run, and SSH

    20 Merkins, backpedal, run, plank n wait til 6

    25 Plankjacks, backpedal, run, SSH til 6 (we were now at the top)

    30 Squats, run to the other side of the mountain

    Then we partnered up and completed a round of 100 merkins, 200 dying cockroach, 300 flutterkicks. One partner ran down the stairs, and then across the lot and back up while the other partner exercised. Switcharoo until all reps are complete.

    We followed that with some benchwork…RLSU x 20, Dips X 20, LLSU X 20, Derkins X 10, RLPU X 20, Irkins X 10, LLPU X 20, Dips X 20.

    Back to the flag for count-o-rama, name-o-rama, COT. Thank the Lord for this opportunity, and thank the F3 brothers for making me a better version of myself!

    Then we had to go find my key that I lost along the way!

  • Oh, I’m the Q??? … and what is an EMOM?

    On Tuesday, I received a call from Boo Boo asking me about the upcoming Q I was leading at Popeye’s and letting me know he was on IR and unable to run and asking about the plan.

    I let Boo Boo know I would commit to little to know running and looked forward to seeing him.

    Let’s stretch

    At the age of 60, I really appreciate a good stretch both before and after our workouts.

    Downward Stretch SLOWLY and GENTLY extend the stretch with each exhale.

    Abe Vigoda x10, Grass Grabbers x10, Imperial Walkers x10, Arm Circles with Thumbs up x5 small, x5 medium and x5 large, Arm Circles with Thumbs down x5 small, x5 medium and x5 large, closed out with some lunge stretching looking over our back shoulder.

    The Thang ~ 3 Segments

    The Q came bearing gifts… 20# Ruck Plate, 30# Ruck Plate and 40# weighted vest

    1st segment ~ Pax 1 is the timer with a lap around the water (approx 400 meters), Pax 2 30# Curls, Pax 3 40# calf raises, Pax 4 Bear crawls low and slow keeping shins & back parallel to the ground, Pax 5 Sit ups with 20# plate on chest…. Rotate so each person got each of the 5 stations.

    2nd segment ~ Pax 1 is the timer with a lap around the water (approx 400 meters), Pax 2 30# Overhead presses, Pax 3 40# step ups , Pax 4 Reverse Lunges, Pax 5 Forward Lunges with 20# plate overhead…. Rotate so each person got each of the 5 stations.

    3rd Segment ~ EMOM Hokie Style!!! Some of the Pax told the Q they believe EMOM is one minute of exercise followed by one minute of rest. This Q stated there is plenty of time to rest when your dead 😉 Instead our EMOM was one exercise after another after another after another switching every minute…. Push ups, Lunges, More Push Ups, Bobby Hurley’s, Plyometric Push ups (accelerate on the up and get hands off the ground… clap if you can), Plank, Nolan Ryan’s R, Squats, Nolan Ryan’s L, Chair position

    The Cool Down

    More stretching for 5 minutes

    COT

    We lifted up prayer requests and gratitude. We are grateful for F3!

  • Renaissance 5… or was that 6

    Warm up

    As the sun rose on a glorious morning after the completion of Run Ranger Run, we started with easy stretching as about 1/2 the group was out late last night with the final RRR run and sushi. Our stretching included legs together and leaning over SLOWLY, extended our stretch with each exhale, followed by Abe Vigoda x10, Grass Grabbers x10, Imperial Walkers x10, Arm Circles x10 forward and then x10 backward, and finally a lunge stretch.

    The Thang

    FracSac, Belloq, Catfish, Tool and yours truly started with a slow jaunt around NOMA followed by

    50 Burpess, then another loop around NOMA.

    100 push ups, then another loop around NOMA.

    150 Lunges, then another loop around only 1/2 around NOMA… stop in the back for…. incoming Pauly D …. and …

    200 squats followed with 5 MINUTES of Sunday Mornings (10 air presses while in people’s chair position, 5 donkey kicks up NOMA wall, then one balls to the wall and press = a Sunday Morning) now rinse and repeat for 5 minutes

    The Cool down Stretch

    We returned to the flag and did 5 minutes of stretching lead by Belloq.

    COT

    We closed lifting up our injured F3 brothers and those battling cancer and other illnesses along with announcements including read your F3 e-mail 😉

    Coffeetria

    100% attendance of the original 5. Pauly D stayed in City Park to get the rest of his Sunday morning exercise completed.

  • Post RRR Wally Run

    With RRR finished, what would YHC do at the Wally Run? Run! A brief disclaimer, followed by the regular route where all 3 pax stayed together for a good run with some great F2.

    Finished 4 miles with 5 minutes to go, so the pax got some good stretches in.

    COT with count off, name o rama, announcements, intentions, and closed with a prayer.
    Good times!

    SYITG

  • The Return of Captain Sparkles!

    An unexpected hero materialized out of the gloom this morning: Captain Sparkles, the firefighting leader of men with his amulet of FD power returned to show the PAX how a real man carries another man through a tunnel.

    Warm-ups were SSH, Windmills, Arm Circles, IW’s and Butt Kicks. Then, we moseyed to the tunnel for the thang that YHC has been dreading for two days:

    THANG: Basic premise is moving through the tunnel using a variety of methods with 10 burpees after each. All methods of forward progress (except the alligator crawl, which could only be completed halfway up the opposite ramp) were accomplished on both the down and up ramps with a short, slow-mosey break on the flat part at the bottom, and each followed by 10 burpees at the top.

    Started with lunge walk, then crab walk, then partner carry, flapjacking for a second round after burpees. This is where Captain Sparkles’ years of fire rescue skills left YHC in the dust carrying Zoolander on his back, confidently riding like an ostrich-jockey (metaphor provided by Hammer). Next was the brutal alligator crawl, followed by back-pedal, then sprint, and finally bear crawls (and 80 burpees overall).

    After arriving back to the flag two minutes over time, COT, and Hammer prayed us out.

    Thanks, gents, for your willingness to persevere and for giving YHC a reason to finish what we started this morning.

    See you in the gloom!

  • Sloppy Seconds Ain’t My Style

    Today is March 2nd, which means we’re nearing the end of the (sometimes) cold season here in New Orleans. For those of you keeping track, and I’m sure you all are, my attendance has been spotty over the past several months in what can only be described as F3 hibernation. I loathe below-50 degree weather and do my best to avoid it, especially if its also been raining. I know many people hate the humidity here, but I’ll take the heat any day.

    Now, given the Calvinist nature of the Q assignment, we (usually) don’t select our own Q-ings, but are predestined according to the (presumed) foreknowledge of the AO site coordinator. And as such, I’ve only “reported for duty” on days when the temperature was 50+, unless I was predestined for Q-ing in the cold (see 11/13/2019). But it seems that Rock City AO coordinator Mahatma, in his grace and mercy, saw fit to elect me to Q on March second, a day that had no cold and no sloppy ground – really a perfect weather day.

    So it began with warm-up exercises in the traditional Rock City warm-up area. It was the usual bag of tricks:

    SSH

    Abe Vigodas

    Imperial Walkers

    Grass Grabbers

    Peter Parkers

    Arm Circles

    All @ 26 each. There appeared to be some great letdown among the PAX that 26 had no significance other than having an equal number of forward and backward arm circles. Sorry for those that thought that I might be honoring P.J. Williams or celebrating my 26th birthday…

    Next up we gathered our rocks and headed to the football field, where we paced 10 yards for every exercise, from the goal line, in reps of 15, in cadence:

    Curls

    Tricep Extension

    Merkins

    Chest Press

    Shoulder Press

    We then partnered up for a dash from the 50 yard line to the goal line and back, while the alternating partner worked to complete the following:

    Burpees x 50

    World War II Sit-Ups x 100

    Squats x 150

    Flutter Kicks x 200

    Rows x 300

    Finally, we reversed our 10 yards/reps of 15/in cadence to the original goal line, finishing with just enough time to return our rocks and circle up. I have to say, given my F3 hibernation as of late, I’m definitely not in the same shape I was in November. So much so, that I was fading badly on the last set of tricep extensions and apparently lost the ability to count. Fortunately, Mahatma stepped in and picked up my slack continuing the cadence. It reminded me of that scene in Casino when Joe Pesci is all coked out near the end of the film, and he starts to beat a guy to death, but then doesn’t have the stamina to finish, so one of his henchmen takes over to finish the beatdown. Only without the coke. Or murder.

    In closing, we had no announcements, only prayers for those in our F3 community and those connected to it, giving thanks and glory to God.

    *The title of this post was a line uttered by Danny Zuko (John Travolta) in the movie Grease referring to…well, not muddy fields or March 2nd.

  • Look Dad! Is that a squirrel? No son, that is a Monkey Humper!

    When I rolled up on Mothership Saturday morning, and everyone was staring at me, I was a little concerned that I had forgotten something, and I had, it was my Q!!! Lucky for me I always have a few workouts in my back pocket! 

    After the standard disclaimer and a short mosey to the great lawn, the warm up commenced, all in cadence:

    SSHx20, Grass Grabbbersx15, Self Lovex15, Mountain Climbersx20, Peter Parkersx20

    The pax relocated to the the front of NOMA for the next block of exercises, which was a short DORA 50, 100, 150 with the exercises being merkins, plank jacks, and monkey humpers, while the partner ran to the electrical box in the neutral ground in front of NOMA and back. Right as I said Monkey Humpers, Vagabon decided to give us all a scare as he hit the deck and was out for about 30 seconds. Hawg and Fracsac were on the phone with EMS, and within 10 minutes EMS was on the scene checking Vagabon’s vitals. Word to the wise, if you have the Q either have your phone, or as part of the disclaimer,  make sure one of the Pax has one handy. Vagabon’s vitals checked out, and Hawg facilitated getting him home. Thank you Hawgcycle! 

    While waiting on EMS to examine Vagabon, the pax did the following in cadence around the fountain:

    Right/Left leg step upsx 20 with Dips in between x 20

    Incline Merksx20 followed by more Dips x10

    At the conclusion of the last set of dips the Pax gathered in front of NOMA for Monkey humpersx10 in cadence.

    Then 11’s commenced with burpees and squats followed by more Monkey Humpers x10 in cadence on the very top step of the fountain. It was weird seeing your reflection in the pond, it must have been cleaned recently.

    The Pax then mosyed to the foundry, split into three groups and did the following: Pull ups x10 (pull ups were the count), LBTs, merkins. After we rotated through all three sets, the pax found something to stand on, and we did core engaged monkey humpers x 10 in cadence. 

    We then mosyed back to the flag, did some light stretching, and had count off, nameorama, and prayer. Seriously guys, please stay vigilant with your physicals. I’m far from perfect, but I have scheduled an appointment with my primary care physician, for a physical, which is 2 years overdue! I was lulled into the mindset of, hey I’m doing F3 on a regular basis, so I have to be healthy right? I hope the answer is yes, but I need to know for sure…

  • Foggy fog

    Hey, YHC can’t remember jack from three weeks ago, so this is a guess. But he does remember it was foggy and dizzly.

    Begin with some SSHs, Low Slow Squats and other stretches of some variety or another.

    Suicide by lamp post: bearcrawl to a light, then do something (shoulder press?), mosey back; bearcrawl to second light, etc.; for eleven lights.

    Under the canopy for some leg work on the benches: 15 left leg step ups with kettlebells, 15 dips, 15 right leg step ups with kettlebells, 15 derkins, 5 box jumps; rinse and repeat with 10 and finish with 5 box jumps; rinse and release all with 5.

    Crawl back by the lamp posts: bear crawl with 5 crouching lawn mower starts with left hand and then 5 with right; bear crawl to next lamp for 10 and 10; then to next for 15 and 15; etc. for eleven lamp posts.

    Cross the road to close with a quick Circle of Mary or something or other. YHC apologizes for his fogginess: he should have posted this weeks ago. JV

  • Episode II: I Am Your Father Yoda! OR Ain’t Nobody Humpin’ Around

    For the 2nd time in a week, 10 year old Baby Yoda stepped up to lead the Northshore PAX, this time co-Qing with his pappy, YHC. His reflections the following day (other than “Owww I’m sore”) were, “That was fun,” and, “I like telling the old guys what to do.” Well this is one old guy who likes anyone telling him what to do, so long as it results in good times and growth. And speaking of…

    PRE-THANG

    Being the last Saturday of RRR, these 2 miles held more desperate relevance to some than to others, but regardless, it was as strong a showing as ever.

    WARM-O-RAMA

    BY started us off with x15 IC:

    SSH, Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks

    x5 T Merkins OYO

    x5 Burpess OYO

    THANG

    Mosey to the Gazebo for:

    A round of 100 Circle Burps while holding Al Gore,

    A round of 100 Circle Merkins while holding Plank

    Mosey to the Unit where it was time for Pappa’s Brand New Bag as QIC 2 handed back off to QIC 1 for the Tripple Check:

    In groups of 3, 1st man sprints 50 yards out and 50 back, while 2nd man holds plank and 3rd man hold Al Gore. Upon returning 1st man get to the back of the line and into Al Gore and so on. Repeat for 3 rounds.

    Mosey to Lafitte where the PAX of 19 circled up once again, this time for Circle Travolta Merkins – Merkin, 1-arm Plank with right arm high, reach under and accross body, and back up before returning to plank. Around the circle once, then reverse direction back this time with left arm high.

    With only one PAX within quick moseying distance, it was a fairly brief run as it was time for the inaugural Tour de Humpers! Mosey north on Lafitte where, upon reaching the corner of Lafitte/Claiborne PAX did 10 Burpees(?) OYO. Continued on for another 100 feet before reaching Casa de Breve`, disturbing Mrs. Breve`, and lining up across the street facing (with an upside down view) Steve’s gracious M for x20 IC Monkey Humpers!

    Ain’t nobody humpin’ around!

    Back on course to Claiborne /Girod for another exercise, and one last stop at our former coffeeteria site, Kona, to show them what F3 Northshore thinks of their “toxic” environment.

    MARY

    Back at the flag earlier than planned, co-Q’s laid forth an abdominal smack down for 15 minutes that was certain to have hit its mark.

    COT

    Count/Name/Our mysterious F3 “out-of-town” stranger prayed us out in his slightly baritone, solemn country twang before fading back into the gloom.

    On behalf of myself and Baby Yoda, many thanks, gentlemen, for following our lead and providing the example of strength and unity that so many men, especially myself, need in their life.