F3 New Orleans

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  • To Keep the Backblast Short…

    Bushwacker lamented that he had yet to do a workout where the Pax does one thing for the duration of the workout. It’s a simple idea but it can be tough to find that right workout that fits the time frame just right. I drill into the f3 exercise list searching for that perfect but elusive combination of a tough routine that will take the whole time. One of the reasons I particularly like doing this is that it can keep the backblast short. I’m all for that! Luckily, I was able to find one for this beatdown.

    After a warmup of IC Seal Jack’s, windmills, cherry pickers, and high knees, the Pax moseyed the shortest distance possibly ever in F3 history (about 50 feet) to diagon alley. If you are wondering what diagon alley is, it’s what I’m starting to call the alley that connects the trailhead and the justice center. Deal with it…

    We did walk like an Egyptian down the alley to the stop sign. This exercise is an indian run concept using lunges and holding them until the entire group moves forward one leg at a time with the person in the back running to the front. The cycle continues until said destination is reached.

    We then made our way to the justice center for the main event. The exercise was a simple 11 series with jump squats and merkins, the caveat is that you do the jump squats in the back of the justice center and the merkins in the front. In between you do an indian run as a group.

    Everyone did a great job and all told the distance of the indian runs was over 2 and a half miles!!!

    After our last lap we made our way back to the flag where we circled it up, counted off, and cowbell prayed us out.

    What an honor it is to lead. Thanks for letting me do that.

    Until next time,

    Grundy

  • Heat can’t stop us

    It was a hot morning for a workout. Even after the initial warm-up, we were sweating, which made what we accomplished below awesome.

    Our exercise for today was a modified shuttle-run workout.

    Warm-Up

    • Karaokes
    • Butt Kickers
    • Zombie Walking
    • Backwards Run
    • High Knees
    • Karaokes

    Then we partnered up. While one person was running through the modified shuttle-run, the other had their choice of kettle bell swings (15lbs), Arm Circles, or High Plank until relieved.

    Set #1 – 6 Rounds – 3 each person

    • Broad Jumps to the Transition Point
    • 10 X Diamond Merkins
    • Sprint to the next Transition Point
    • 30 X Mountain Climbers
    • Broad Jumps to the Transition Point
    • 10 X Burpees
    • Run back through the set to the starting point and transition with your partner

    After a 30-second count-down…

    Set #2 – 4 rounds – 2 each person

    • Bear Crawl to the Transition Point
    • 5 X Merkins
    • Sprint to the next Transition Point
    • 20 X Plank Jacks
    • Lunge to the Transition Point
    • 5 X Merkin Jacks
    • Run back through the set to the starting point and transition with your partner.

    We mosey-ed back to flag where we did a cool-down, name-a-rama, and did our prayer.

    We were smoked at the end. I want to believe it was how hot it was and not hard the workout was.

    Next time, we are going to remind our PAXs to stay hydrated the night before, so in the early morning we can push through the summer heat of NOLA.

  • Fast Cars and Freedom

    YHC was 1st to arrive to Mandeville City Hall, and eagerly awaited the subsequent arrival of Lord only knew – all part of the fun! As the 1st set of head lights shone indicating Waterpik’s presence, a voice softly poked through the gloomy dawn of the park, notating that the Scramble flag was soon to be planted by Shooter. YHC assured the guys that Cowbell would be an eventual show, and as start time drew nigh, the next set of headlights were identified as belonging to Chewy. As the warm up got under way, Pik expounded on the familiarity, particularly with each others’ cars and arrival style, regular F3 posting can breed.

    WARM O RAMA

    all x10 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Windmills

    Torso (in speeds the inevitable Cowbell) Twists

    Imperial Walkers

    High Knees

    THANG

    The PAX took off on the prescribed route, which today included a return trip to the Hermitage loop after Sunset Point, bringing the route to just about 4 miles. Upon reaching 190, Q almost darted out in attempt to beat the oncoming onslaught of autos, but thought better. However, at the 1st decent gap he was off, playing a successful game of frogger (nod to Chewy). As though possessed, Q lead the pack, with the road runners, Waterpik and Cowbell not far behind, while the clydesdales, Chewy and Shooter upped their game as they were bringing up the six.

    extra loop route

    MARY

    With stretching sorely needed on such a humid day…

    Downward Dog

    Right Lizard

    Downward Dog

    Left Lizard

    Downward Dog

    x10 IC Scorpion Kicks

    Q lead us out urging individual missions of kindness throughout the day.

    Thanks for following my lead guys. The effort put forth today was enough to humble and inspire any man!

  • 1.7 Mile (or 2.57 for the fast ones doubling back for the six) Mosey Around Popeye’s

    Warm Up

    Started with lunges… knee low to ground and hands stretching up over head, gentle backwards run and cossacks

    The Thang

    Run out of parking lot and go right to running path

    1. Stop at .2 mile mark(across from Shelter #5) for another stretch… hands to ground, feet flat, walk hands out and do a Merkin. Slowly walk hands back to feet. There was some debate as to whether this stretches hamstrings, back or both depending on your age and flexibility ;-)… then Slow “Deconstructed” Big Boy Sit Ups 4 count x 19
    2. Continue on path to Dog Park (.4 mile mark) circling back for the six before “Deconstructed” Dips 4 count x 19
    3. Continue on path to playground (.6 mile mark) circling back for the six before Slow “Deconstructed” Merkins 4 count with hand releases at bottom x 19
    4. Continue down path to exercise area along W Napolean (1.0 Mile Mark) circling back for the six before
    • Scapular Pull ups with full arm extension AMRAP
    • Burpees AMRAP
    • Pull ups with full arm ur extension x 10 as timer
    • Squats low n hold as long as possible

    5. Continue top Shelter #8 on Right (1.2 mile mark) circling back for the six before Shoulder Taps x 19

    6. Continue to Fountain (1.5 mile mark) for Box Jumps or Step Ups x AMRAP before the clock would strike 6:13 and we would then …


    7. Continue to Flag (1.7 mile mark)

    COT

    We went through countoff, namearama and announcements:

    1. Read Yankee’s e-mail
    2. This Friday 12 noon at Galliano’s if you want to help plan F2 Picnic for Aug 3rd
    3. Next Thursday FIA/F3 Joint beatdown and F2. @Gatsby says he will reach out to Wrong Iron owner to pursue discounts
    4. Gnarley Nutria July 17th
    5. Summer Race Series July 24th
    6. @Gatsby put in a plug for F3 NOLA Swim and says he wants to target July 6th after MotherShip/MuscleShip and Coffeeteria (Save the date)
    7. Aug 3rd F3 F2 Picnic!!!!
    8. We then lifted up intentions for those dealing with cancer, illness, loss, and death. We also gave thanks for Gratitude.
    9. Thank you Sky Q for F3. Please help me have eyes to see the best in people; a heart to forgive the worst in people; a mind to forget the bad; and a soul to never lose faith in You!

    Thank you

    Thanks to Triple Shift for EH’ing me in March 2018. Thanks to Rev Sox for assigning me this Q. Thanks to each of you for helping me in my journey to get fit by 60!

  • Blame Abacus

    While determining Clown Car participants for The Foundry on Tuesday night it was realized that Abacus was listed as the Q but he has been unable to attend beatdowns lately. So after some discussion of who would Q, your resident relief Q stepped up again. Given the late timing of this I went to the Exicon for some suggestions. I found what I thought would be a good beatdown but was unsure of how much we would get through in 45 minutes. 8 PAX gathered in the ridiculously humid morning as I planned on keeping our feet dry but knew that everything else would eventually be covered in sweat.

    Warm up:

    Mosey to the track and gather in a circle. All exercises down IC.

    • SSH x 20
    • Windmills x 10
    • Self love x 10
    • Arm circles fwd/backward x 10 each
    • Peter Parker x 10
    • Parker Peter x 10

    Tha Thang:

    Following the warm-up we moseyed over to The Foundry. At that point it was time to introduce everyone to what is called the Deck of Death. I had a deck of playing cards with me and chose 4 exercises to perform. Based on the suit we would perform that exercise and the number would be the reps (jack = 11, queen = 12, king = 13, ace = 14). Here’s the breakdown:

    • Diamonds = pull ups
    • Spades = jump squats
    • Hearts = Absolution (done in 8 count cadence)
    • Clubs = side plank with leg raise; even numbers = left arm down, raise right leg, odd number = right arm down, raise left leg

    It turned out that we chose quite a bit of high numbers and face cards, particularly of diamonds and hearts (or at least it seemed). Screw Top seemed to really enjoy the side plank with leg raises so PAX suggested they heretofore be named “Screw Tops.” As was stated earlier I was unsure of how much of the deck we could complete. Thankfully Amnesty was monitoring the clock for me and we were able to get through roughly half the deck before moseying back to the flag.

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, sweaty ball of man.

    As always it was a pleasure and challenge leading the PAX. And if you didn’t like the beatdown selection today, blame Abacus.

  • Not F’ing Around

    Seven PAX showed up to arguably the “toughest workout in town”.

    After a brief disclaimer we mosyed to the Tulane ring of power for the warm up: SSH x20, IW x20, arm circles forward x10, backwards x10, Chinooks clockwise x10, counterclockwise x10, Seal Jacks x20 & Hillbillies x20

    Mosyed to the benches by Tulane’s lawn (currently brown & steamy) for running power leg ups on the bench – right leg down the bench and left leg back.

    Then moseyed around the brown lawn to the green & extremely wet lawn for a round of 7s: knee slapping jump squats on one end with crossfit merkins at the other. For added fun, we did five burpees everytime we crossed the middle for a total of 60.

    Back to the benches for a little more leg work: RLSU x20, RL Bulgarian Split Lunge x10, Bruce Lee’s x10, Dips x20, LLSU x20, LLBSL x10, Decline Shoulder Taps x10 & Decline Merkins x10

    Lastly back to the ring of power for a jam packed two minutes of mary but not before 20 monkey humpers. Mary: Flutter kicks x20, box cutters x20, tin snips x20 & hello dolly x20

    Back to the bricks (sans flag): count-off, name-o-rama, announcements (read Yank’s email) & a prayer.

    Good times on a Tuesday…

  • Happy Father’s Day!!!

    Pre-Celebration

    8 PAX decided to start off Father’s Day right with a Sweaty Bells workout at 6:30 a.m. T-claps to Hokie Pokey and Yankee on going straight to the Father’s Day Race in Audubon Park right after the beatdown. Because of this, I’ve decided to change today’s workout duration from 1 hour to 45 minutes so that they would have enough time for registration and other fun stuff before the race. Douille was planning on signing up for the race, but he found out earlier that registration costs $35 per person for a 2 miler and he said “no thanks.” He didn’t want to spend $140 for his family to run around the park once when we do that for free at the Skinny and Birdcage. Thank goodness we have F3 (no need to spend that $140). At 6:32 a.m., I gave my standard disclaimer and off we went to the field right next to the River. We got a much better view of the River and also more shady because of the trees. I received a stamp of approval from Angie’s List, who seems very happy about moving to this field away from the sun. I started the day wishing every dad a Happy Father’s Day!!! Lets celebrate this special day.

    Warm-up

    Windmills x 10 IC

    SSHs x 20 IC

    Forward Arm Circles x 10 IC

    Backward Arm Circles x 10 IC

    Hill Billies x 20 IC

    Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

    1st Celebration

    Shoulder Presses x 15 IC

    Curls x 15 IC

    Thrusters x 10 OYO

    Manmakers x 3 OYO (few PAX questioning why only 3)

    Calf raises x 10 IC

    Kettle Bell Swings x 20 OYO

    In Plank Position and pull the bell from one side to another x 20 OYO

    Halo x 20 OYO

    2nd Celebration

    I previously marked the field with cones. Pax lined up on one end of the field. Carrying his own sweaty bell, each Pax did the following exercises in the following sequences without stopping.

    Started off with 15 slow merkins in cadence.

    Moseyed to the middle and performed 10 kettle bell swings OYO.

    Moseyed toward the other end of the field and performed 20 mountain climbers in cadence.

    Ran back to the middle and performed 10 manmakers OYO.

    Ran back toward the end of the field and did 20 Peter Parkers in cadence.

    Ran back to the middle and performed 15 thrusters OYO.

    Jogged toward the other end and did 15 curls in cadence.

    Jogged back to the middle and did 10 more manmakers OYO.

    Jogged to the end of field and finished with 15 chest presses in cadence.

    To sum up our 2nd celebration, Pax did 15 merkins, 20 manmakers, 10 kettle bell swings, 40 mountain climbers, 40 Peter Parkers, 15 thrusters, 30 curls, and 30 chest presses. We ran the entire time with a sweaty bell. Medulla gave us a 20 count after the workout.

    3rd Celebration

    11’s – We started off with 10 leg raises with or without the bell on one end and did 1 merkin on the other end of the field. But every time we passed through the middle of the field, we did 11 kettle bell swings. Next round would be 9 leg raises… then 2 merkins. You get the idea… about half way in the workout – mumble chatter from couple PAX saying that’s a lot of kettle bell swings. I looked at my watch, and I agreed by quickly modifying the swings with 5 reps instead of 11. With that being said, I had to call off the celebration shortly after because we were about to run out of time. T-claps to 86 and Medulla being the only ones finishing the entire 11’s.

    4th Celebration

    Round of Mary

    American Hammer with the bell x 15 IC

    Flutterkicks with the bell x 20 IC

    LBCs with the bell x 15 IC

    COT & More Celebration at Coffeeteria

    No FNGs. Announcements and intentions. We are always grateful and thankful to be able to spend Father’s Day with our F3 brothers. Medulla and I went to CCs for some coffee after the beatdown. We ran into a well-dressed Woop at CCs before his Sunday mass service. And guess who showed up just for coffee but not for the beatdown????….. Gabrielle. What a great way to start off our Father’s Day. Thank You again for the opportunity to lead. SYITG.

    King Kong

  • 7 of Diamonds

    19 spritely souls swam through the sea of soul-sucking humidity to stare an unfamiliar beat down straight in its sly, sweat-provoking face.

    Welcoming of PAX, giving of disclaimer, leaving of flag.

    Warm Up:

    • Mosey to field in front of Zoo
    • Side Straddle Hop x 30
    • Peter Parker x 25
    • Low Slows x 15

    The Thang:

    7 of Diamonds

    • Set up consists of 4 stations. Completing each of the 4 stations makes up 1 round. The same workout is done for the same number of reps at each of the four stations. Quick mosey between stations.
      • Round 1: Burpees x 7 (at each of the 4 stations)
      • Round 2: WWII Sit Ups x 14
      • Round 3: Merkins x 21
      • Round 4: Squats x 28
      • Round 5: Flutter Kicks x 21 (2 is 1)
      • Round 6: Lunges x 14 (2 is 1)
      • Round 7: Burpees

    Mary

    • Dying Cockroach x 20
    • Pengquins x 20
    • Real Freddie Mercury x 20
    • Nola Ryan x 10 (each side)

    Bear Crawl

    • 1/2 length of field in front of Zoo (forward)
    • 1/4 length of field (backward)
    • 1/4 length of field (forward)

    Mosey back to flag, counting of numbers, sharing of names, naming of FNG, giving of announcements, balling of men.

  • SHOULDERING the RUNNING Responsibilties of F3 Membership

    Foregoing the 2 mile pre-thang this gloom, YHC arrived in time to plant the Marsh flag next to the Scramble flag at the blustery AO and greet the menagerie of men gathered for a proper Saturday beat down

    WARM O RAMA

    With a focus on the shoulder demands of what QIC had in store…

    All x25 IC:

    Seal Claps

    Overhead Claps

    Air Presses

    Cherry Pickers

    Torso Twists

    Imperial Walkers

    Windmills

    High Knees

    THANG

    Mosied to Grundy’s Noah’s Ark for…

    Burpee Mile – 4 laps, each followed by 12 burpees

    Mosied to between Lamarque and Foy for…

    T Bombs x25 IC – Starting in crab position, 1 legs straight out, 2 feet wide, 3 feet back together, 4 legs back in

    Mosied to the splash pad area for…

    Blackjack – 1 merkin, run a little ways, 20 LBCs. 2 merkins, 19 LBCs, etc. until 20 merkins, 1 LBC

    Q had SO much more fun in store for the PAX, however with time running short, a 2 line indian run back to the flags capped off the somewhat HIIT-like beat down that kept heart rates elevated. By Q’s count, the ISI total was 378 . Also, 3.5 miles (5.5 for the pre-thangers).

    COT

    Count o rama (17 present), name o rama, and Suckles, who was back from Georgia for a quick visit, prayed us out.

    Guys, a valorous and highly impressive effort was put forth by each and every one of you. I am humbly appreciative of your willingness to show up and follow my wackie lead.

    Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads, and to those without kids, a happy Father’s Day to your own dear old man!

    SYITG

  • Brick-a-palooza

    Brick /brik/

    Dictionary.com defines it as a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building.

    YHC defines it as a small rectangular block to be used in workouts to accentuate the PAX experience

    YHC loaded up the trunk of the car with 40 bricks. Thinking “Well, what if we have more PAX?”, he ran back to the shed and grabbed just a few more. At 06:15, 5 PAX were enjoying some light banter (welcome Lemon, from Birmingham!). No problem, plenty of bricks. 06:20 – a few more stragglers (an El Guapo sighting!). 06:25 – the Lakeview clown car arrives. Now we’re up to 16 PAX. YHC starting to get a bit nervous, but we should be ok.

    But then the sight that is actually quite entertaining to behold… The long stream of headlights of the late-arriving PAX. ROAR (that must be Heisenberg in his tricked-out coupe). Whoosh (there is Triple Shift arriving hot in his tricked-out cycling gear). 06:30 and we have 25 PAX ready to go. Oh well, we will have to modify…

    PAX instructed to go grab a pair bricks from the trunk. Some will be left empty handed, as YHC only had enough for 22. We will make do.

    The Warmup

    Circle up on the Great Lawn. Drop your bricks. Mahatma kindly brings his two bricks to YHC, and joins Hawgcycle brickless in the circle.

    • Windmills – Slllloooooowwwww cadence x10
    • SSH x25.
    • YHC delivers his 2 bricks to the otherwise brickless Organ Grinder. You’re welcome.
    • Brick Arm Circles 10x each direction
    • Peter Parker x20

    The Thang – Part 1

    Partner Up for Dora 1-2-3 (to be modified to Dora 1-1.5-2 to be modified to Dora 1-1.5-as-many-as-you-can-in-the-interest-of-time).

    PAX 1 sprint back and forth across the lawn (with bricks). PAX 2 exercises (with bricks). Flapjack. Continue. Groups with only 1 set of Bricks – make do. Modify.

    • 100 Brick X-Fit Merkins.
    • 200 (became 150) Brick Dying Cockroaches
    • 300 (became 200 became whatever, just keep doing them) Brick Goblet Squats.

    To much chirping from PAX named Gabriel*e, YHC kept adjusting the goal with an eye on the clock. At 06:50 – need to move on to the next workout station. But hydrate first!

    The Thang – Part 2

    Mosey to the baseball field by the refinery for Burpee Brick Shuttle Run (BBSR, and yes – it’s in the Exicon.) Medulla didn’t like being in the sun, so we modified and moved to the shade. YHC is always thinking about the well being of the PAX.

    Partner up again, then split up: PAX 1 on the 1st-base-line-extended. PAX 2 on the imaginary line about 25 yards away. All the bricks stay on the PAX 1 side.

    • PAX 1 planks and waits. And waits. Just keep planking and waiting.
    • PAX 2 does the work: sprint to the other side, get a brick, return and deposit said brick, sprint to get another brick, return and deposit said brick. Then 10x burpees.

    Then PAX 2 hollers to PAX 1, and assumes the Plank and Wait position. PAX 1 then begins the same drill.

    Repeat 3 or 4 times (YHC keeping an eye on the clock. We gots more things to do….)

    The Thang – Part 3

    Refinery. YHC had a carefully organized 6 station set that balanced core/arm/leg. But with now 26 PAX (picking up another disciple of Jesus Juice along the way), groups of 3 made 9 PAX. Deposit all the bricks by the tree. Angie needed to be reminded forcefully, then pointed to the large tree just to his left.

    Oh, but first lets run that nice family with their cute baby and dog out of the refinery. Sure, we could share. If you want to be surrounded by chirping, sweaty, smelly guys. Like Catfish.

    So the 9 stations were far less organized, and not nearly as well staggered. Shrug. Please contact YHC for a refund of your workout fee if you are less than pleased with the workout.

    Burpees x10 (timer), Merkins, Snake Jump/Box Jump, Pull Ups, Big Boy Sit Ups, Dips, Hanging Knee Lifts, 8 Count Body Builder, Floyd Mayweather (with bricks) and Merkins.

    Made it through 1 cycle before the clock beckoned. Mosey back to the Great Lawn.

    The Thang – Closing Time

    YHC said “Mosey to the Peristyle”. Hawgcycle said “But Zoomba is there”. So YHC had to try and audible, and was as unclear and confused as he usually is. The PAX (led by Screw Top, who appears to have left some bricks behind in the interest of promoting his own speed) reached the Great Lawn to discover that the Peristyle was, in fact, available. So YHC re-audibled (un-audibled?) and off to the Peristyle. King Kong seemed to think (incorrectly) that this entitled him to free coffee. Whatever.

    Plank for the 6. Then 2 rounds of Wonder Bra: Assume People Chair against a pillar. Then in cadence (with bricks): Up/Down/Out/In. x20, shake the legs out. Then x15.

    Close up with some Mary (LBC and Penguins). Mosey back to the flag and return the bricks to the trunk.

    (And much to YHC’s surprise, PAX did a fantastic job of carefully arranging said bricks in their containers. Thank you!)

    Closing

    Count-off (26!), Name-o-rama. Naming of the FNG (“Tinker” due to his interesting in tinkering with cars. YHC was not at his best for naming, so will not object if said FNG is subjected to a re-naming at his next appearance).

    Lots of announcements, pay attention to your mail.

    Several intentions, ask all of us to keep the intentions of your fellow PAX present in your own prayer time. Thank you Medulla for specifically calling out blessings for all fathers in our midst. Close with our prayer. Then off to Cafe Navarre for some great F2.

    Thank you all for tolerating, and allowing me to be your Q.