F3 New Orleans

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  • Honoring USN Chief Petty Officer Fontan

    With a significant drop in air temperature and increase in wind, six men appeared from the gloom to sacrifice a piece of themselves in honor of another local hero warrior.  Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan served in United States Navy from 1989-2005.  He was born in NOLA and a graduate of Brother Martin High School.  Amnesty knew CPO Fontan and shared some memories of his life.  CPO Fontan served in the Cold War, Persian Gulf, War on Terrorism, and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom). He was the platoon Chief Petty Officer of SEAL Team 10. 

    CPO Fontan was KIA on 28 June 2005 while leading a quick reaction force sent to reinforce a SEAL recon team engaged in a fierce firefight against a numerically superior anti-coalition militia. As their helicopter hovered for a quick-rope insertion, they were hit by a RPG.  CPO Fontan was awarded a Bronze Star for heroic combat achievement during Operation Red Wings (part of the popular book and movie Lone Survivor).

    The standard disclaimer was given and a short mosey to the traditional Uptowner warmup area. 

    Warmup x28: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Mountain Climbers, Arm Circles (forward and backward), Windmills, and Peter Parkers

    Thang

    The PAX formed a line for an Indian Run on the one-mile asphalt track.  At the first parking lot the PAX stopped for incline merkins x28.  At the second parking lot the PAX stopped for decline merkins x28, definitely a struggle.  At the first metal building the PAX stopped for uphill walking lunges using the ramp, another crowd pleaser! Once back at the rock pile, PAX completed dips x28 using the concrete wall at the pumps. 

    Next PAX grabbed a rock for several rounds of curls, lunge with a twist, and triceps extensions, all x28. Amnesty suggested more leg work.  YHC likes to believe he is a man of the people, so Bulgarian split-leg lunges were performed.  Rocks were returned and a round-robin of Mary finished off the beatdown. 

    COT: Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer.  Special intentions were given for CPO Fontan’s soul and comfort for his family. It’s always an honor to lead a group of leaders and even more special to honor someone who gave all of his tomorrows for our today.  May we never take a second of our lives for granted.

  • Honoring SFC Muralles

    With the Iron PAX Challenge underway, 16 men came out of the gloom to honor a local warrior hero who gave his life in defense of freedom. Army Specialist First Class Marcus “Marc” Muralles was born in the NOLA area.  He was a member of the 3rd Ranger BTN, KIA on 28 June 2005 while responding to a call for help by a four-man SEAL Team in eastern Afghanistan, which was later named Operation Red Wings  (the story behind the popular book and movie Lone Survivor).  SFC Muralles was scheduled to return home a few days after his death to celebrate his daughter’s 10th birthday.  He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with Valor, and Combat Action Badge. 

    SFC’s family said that SFC Muralles lived every aspect of his life by the Night Stalker’s Creed. 

    After the standard disclaimer, the PAX moseyed to the traditional Uptowner warmup area. 

    Warmup x28: SSH, Arm Circles, IW, Abe Vigodas, and Mountain Climbers

    Thang:

    The PAX grabbed a rock and moseyed to the track/football field for a lap around the quarter-mile track.  Then they broke up into small groups for the following x28, with a ¼ mile lap around the track after each exercise (for a total of 1.5 miles): Burpees, Curls, Squat Presses, WWII sit-ups, Full Extension Pull-ups, and Merkins. Everyone pushed hard and completed the beatdown.  Once complete, the PAX cheered on and encouraged our F3 brothers who were completing the IPC. 

    COT: Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer.  Special intentions were given for SFC Muralles’s soul and comfort for his family. We welcomed FNG Slow Tax (Fast Tax’s youngest son), FNG Jessup, and another FNG. It’s always an honor to lead a group of leaders and even more special to honor someone who sacrificed themselves so we can sleep soundly at night.  May the fallen never be forgotten, and may we never take a second of our lives for granted.

  • Welcome Blue Suede from Omaha

    Woke up with time to spare on this very humid 75 degree pre-Thanksgiving day. I posted full of gratitude for this group that gets me up and moving in the GLOOM. Blue Suede who is from Omaha but eats turkey in Mississippi drove an hour to post with us so that crazy dude woke up at 4am! Tclaps.

    Ran to the big field across from the zoo for COP 1:

    9 lives has a jacked up back so I took his Q last night. Started with SSH, Imp Squats, Plank Walk, Mtn Climbers, and Monkey Humpers x 20

    Ran to the FLY. At the curbs we did Merks around the CLOCK – counterclockwise. x 10 Had to stop before the hill – the soupy gloom made me worried that I would lose the 6.

    Ran to the Hill

    At the hill we did 20 shoulder taps, over hill 18 plank jacks, 16 taps, 14 jacks until the first PAX (BLUE SUEDE) finished. That dude can hustle.

    Ran to the FLY beach and did a quick Q school.

    Popalock did SSH, Tender did IMP walkers, Bacchus did Hillbillies, and False Start did arm circles. We let Seaman finish us off with backwards arm circles.

    Ran to the Audubon statue. Did a loop, flutter kicks for the six, ran a second loop did plank jacks for the 6.

    Moseyed to the field for some MARY. We did LOW COUNTRY CRAB, NOLAN RYANS, Plank Toe Taps and YTWs. Moseyed back to the FLAG. At the FLAG we did Monkey Humpers for a minute to finish off the beatdown!

    COT: Prayed for something for which we are grateful. Each pax named something.

  • My Qs are Impetuous

    Conditions:  70 and light rain

    Our curiosity had us gather near some type of Rock ‘n Roll Series race starting at the Peristyle.  Triple Shift said it started at 6:30. I think he was trying to get a free t-shirt and some post race pastries.  YHC gave a well thought out disclaimer and we headed toward NOMA

    The Thang

    In the aforementioned disclaimer, YHC had warned the pax that we would attempt to get in some miles and that if a pax member was not interested in running miles they could peel off and join the Muscleship.  Apparently the Mothership pax came ready to run. 

    Warm-up:  Hillbillies x 20; Low slow squats x 20; Merkins (IC) x 10; BTW

    Foundry: The Democratic Convention – Pax 1 with a Bernies Sanders; Pax 2 holds Al Gore.  Flapjack when Pax 1 falls off the monkey bars.  Did roughly 3 rounds

    Football Field:  Ten rounds of Tyson – Sprint 50 yards, do 10 reps of exercise, Sprint 50 yards, do 10 reps of exercise, Sprint 50 yards, do 10 reps of exercise, Sprint 50 yards.

    • Round 1 – Burpees
    • Round 2 – Jump Squats
    • Round 3 – Diamond Merkins
    • Round 4 – Dying Cockroach
    • Round 5 – Sumo Squats
    • Round 6 – Wide Merkins
    • Round 7 – LBT
    • Round 8 – Bonnie Blairs
    • Round 9 – Carolina Dry Docks
    • Round 10 – 8 Count Body Builders

    Hustle back to flag

    NMM

    • A lot of talk about the blistering 9:30 minute mosey pace we started with. My reputation for speed precedes me.
    • BTW was NSFW
    • All agreed that the greatness of the football field we used for 10 Rounds of Tyson was well worth the long run to get there (and back).
    • Ten Rounds of Tyson was introduced at the F3 NOLA launch by Chung-Li.  We did 5 rounds that day I think.  To my knowledge this was the first time that the full 10 rounds were completed in NOLA
    • I was afraid that some pax might quit on me if I called out burpees for Round 10.  The Body Builders were well received. 
  • Rev Sox’s Birth Story

    Rev Sox’s Birth Story

    On a brisk and windy November 11th, at the lake front on the Northshore YHC was birthed into the world of F3 kicking, complaining, and crying. It wasn’t pretty for anyone involved. Hawg may have denied knowing YHC. Two years later, at the 610 Stomp YHC led 20 men in the remembrance of his birth into F3.

    YHC’s brain has wisely blacked out and refused to retain the memories of his first workout in F3 as he complained through the entire workout with fellow FNG bootsies. The only thing YHC can remember from that fateful day is lots of running alongside the lake with step-ups as the Q’s go to exercise in each stop (sadly there is no Backblast to commemorate the workout).

    The 610 Stomp recreated this workout by running a shortened version of the standard route with step ups thrown in (lots of step ups). Following the disclaimer, the Pax was told to run the standard route without leaving City Park, but this morning they were stop at every bench for 10 alternating step ups (one is one). Only 4 men are allowed per bench, so if the bench is full, they are to pass it by and run to the next bench.

    Each lap from the 610 Stomp start to the City Park entrance on New Carrollton and back has 40 benches. Each lap is aprox 1.5 miles.

    With not enough complaining for YHC’s plans, they set out. Everything worked out well for the first lap, but YHC needed to modify the number of step ups on lap 2, so all the Pax could finish. YHC estimates that each Pax member did 300-500 step ups while running 3 miles.

    Don’t forget the Christmas Party on December 9th and the Krazy Ivan on January 18th as we had a special guest of the Freedom Hammer this morning.

    thanks for 2 years of agony,

    Rev Sox

  • Post treats at Grandmas house!!

    With school out and the weather in the mild 50s Grandmas house had a treat of some fresh faces posting this Gloom. Jose 10k and Speedy journeyed down to the trailhead to join some other F3 regulars in Hammer and Zoolander.. We briefly had an appearance of the freshly retired Garfield, however someone with his running group rolled in solo so he passed on our beatdown to accompany his friend like the fine gentleman he is..

    warmup

    Variations of IC 10and 20

    Good mornings, Toe touches, Mountain climbers, Scorpion kicks, SSH, Imperial Walkers and Hillbillies.

    thang

    Moseyed to the Marsh for some coupon work. With coupon lined the baseline of the court for instructions.

    All reps consisted of 25 per station.

    R1 Chest press, jog to other baseline squats, to the benches for Freak Nasties and concluded with pull-ups..

    R2 Kettle swings, Flutter kicks, Irkins and Pull-up hang.

    R3 Chest press, Sister Mary Katherines, Freak Nasties and hanging knee tucks.

    R4 Overhead press, jump squats, Derkins and Big boy sit-ups..

    Returned the coupons to their testing place and Moseyed back to the AO. With 10 min to spare Zoolander had a great suggestion to allow Speedy to closeout the PAX in preparation of his VQ this Saturday..

    Speedy jumped right in with Sprints down the corridor followed by 15 Burpees. Moseyed back for Mary which included 15 IC Flutters and LBCs. 30 OYO Big boys and 1 min plank hold. Anticipate lots of reps and activities this Saturday and join Speedy in support of his VQ…

    Count, announce, COT

    YHC closed the PAX in prayer!!

    Appreciate you men posting and following my lead 👍🏻👊🏻💪🏻 Till the next Gloom!!

  • Campus tour

    Nine pax arrived on time at the Chamber for my first Q; one of which was an FNG who Gideon brought in after meeting on a plane. The PAX warmed up with head rotations, self love, grass grabbers and general stretching.

    The PAX then did an Indian run up Elysian Fields to station one where I spoke of the artist Tom Sachs and his daily studio practice “work is a privilege, it is not that you have to do 50 push ups but that you can. ” with this in mind the pax did 50 Merkins.

    Indian Run to station 2 – Water Feature / here Pax concentrated on core with crunchy frogs, American hammer, J-Lo and dying cockroach – sets of 25 in cadence

    Indian Run to station 3 – The Levee / Pax partnered up for Dora, 200 cumulative dips timed by partners running up and down the the levee.

    Indian Run to station 4 – UNO Sign / Pax partnered up, 50 lung walks while partners sat in Al Gore.

    Indian Run back to the flag – 10 burpees every minute for 4 minutes completing the work out.

    Countorama, nameorama / FNG centered up and was officially named Bonvoy. Prayer spoken was centered around gratefulness.

    I had a great time leading this work out and look forward to more in the future.

    Tom Sachs:
    Website
    10 bullets, “Working to Code”

  • Tsunami 11/19

    A small gathering of 3 pax on this Tuesday morning.

    After the intro we were up and running to the parking garage for warmups:

    Sidestraddle Hop x 20

    Self Love x 20

    Mountain Climber x 20

    Merkin x 20

    After that we ran to the base of Wolfpack mountain for a BLIMP workout:

    5 burpees then run to 2nd flood landing

    5 burpees, 10 Lunges then run to 3rd floor landing.

    5 burpees, 10 Lunges, 15 Imperial Walkers then run to 4rd floor landing.

    We continued this with 20 Merkins, 25 Plank-Jacks and 30 Squats.

    From the top of the Mountain we ran down then to the next parking garage.

    From there we did 10 decline Merkins and ran to the 2nd floor. On the 2nd floor landing we did 10 V-ups then to the 3rd floor for 10 more Merkins. At the 4th Floor we did 10 V-ups.

    On the way up I picked up a coupon that was laying around.

    Then we did:

    10 overhead cinderblock presses (count), LBCs, Merkins

    10 cinderblock swings (count), dying cockroach, squats.

    After that we ran back to the flag for a quick count off and prayer.

  • Blame it on Ukraine (or at least the twists)

    Conditions were prefect at the Skinny…extra gloomy with lots of fog, cool temps, reports of poor air quality & a visitor named Uptown Girl. After a half-hearted disclaimer by the Q (you know my name), we moseyed to the Bandstand.

    1st COP:

    SSH x34 – tribute to the Saints win & Mr. Slye having to take the greyhound home.

    MC x20, HB x20, PP x20, ISW x20, PP x20

    Off to the track stopping by the row bars:

    5 groups – 10 burpees were the count (even on Monday)

    Rows, Burpees, Plank Jacks, Merkins & Squats – 1 rotation the back to track for a two-line Indian run

    Stopping halfway to the benches a little sudden change: 10 burpees (Book of Revit be damned)

    Back to the track for more Indian run to the benches:

    RLSU x20, Dips x20, LLSU x20, Dips x15, Shoulder Taps x20, Derkins x10

    Another Indian Run to the green for the 2nd COP:

    Flutter Kicks x20, Hello Dolly x20, Dying Cockroach x20, Elbow Peter Parkers x20, Russian Twists x20 & Ukrainian Twists x20

    Back to the track for the last Indian run.

    3rd COP at the pull up bars:

    Plank-o-rama followed by 10 burpees

    Back to the flag for one last COP:

    Plank crunches right then left followed by 20 seconds of MI

    Count-off, Name-o-rama, showed the flag some love then a short prayer.

    Good times & nice attendance at Coffeteria. Thanks

  • Terrain Race Motheusceship Q on the fly. Exit thru the gift shop.

    Tanner graciously offered to Q the Terrain Race Saturday beatdown at City Park then graciously stayed in bed once I offered to Q. It was my Mothership/ Muscleship VQ.

    7 men opted out of the terrain race and assembled near NOMA for a Saturday morning beatdown. Q eyed the group and deeming them runners all took off for the grass across from the Peristyle cause I am a Mothership man.

    Circled up Warmed up

    Prolly did SSH, GG, PP, PP, MC, AC forward and reverse, Merks,

    Decided to do some travelling BLIMPS with burpees starting at 10 and each following exercise increasing by 10. We meandered throughout City Park with random stops to do the L, I, M, P, S etc.

    After the first set of lunges I was talking smack to Rudy and Douille whence I prompty tweaked my back which hurts to this day FYI.

    Hit the baby foundry and did some excercises in 3 groups. Pullups, Decline Merks and Dips?

    Made our way to the front of the Childrens Museum and did some peoples choice mary. I promised each PAX would get to pick ONE thing from the gift shop. Rudy threw a tantrum over a $65 stuffed unicorn so all bets were off. Nobody gets anything!

    Rinsed and repeated at some point on the traveling blimps show. Just picked random spots to bang out another letter.

    With 8 minutes left we made a quick lap around the pond to finish up in front of NOMA.

    Pretty sure we finished up with a solid 3+ miles for the day.

    COT. Thanks for letting me lead.