Blog

  • Blue Angel Dropped B.O.M.B.S

    YHC has been out of the Qing game for a while trying to finish off another semester of PhD work. So when the opportunity came to Q The Foundry it was a no brainer. YHC has a habit of showing up extra early the mornings of Q to scout out the AO and make sure everything is in place for the beatdown ahead. Around 5:25, Screw Top and his band of misfits emerged from the gloom followed by a gentleman wearing a Jesuit blue shirt introducing himself with a “normal” name like John or something like that. Clearly, we had an FNG joining us this morning without the PAX member who EH’d him. (No worries, Walleye, we took care of him).

    5:30 – Disclaimer and we were off heading towards the City Park office.

    Warm-Up:

    SSH, Mountain Climbers, Hillbillies, Windmills, Arm Circles.

    The Thang

    Mosey to the Foundry. Along the way, the FNG became quite interested in each of our names. “I bet you aren’t an Auburn fan.” YHC knew then we had a genius on our hands

    B.O.M.B.S

    Partner up. As a pair complete the following as one PAX member runs to the track and back:

    Burpees X 50

    Overhand Claps X 100

    Merkins X150

    Big Boy Sit-Ups X 200

    Squats X 250

    Post-Thang

    Mosey to the beginning of the Roosevelt Mall. At the first bench complete 5 dips, 2nd bench 10 dips…carry on till you get to 40. Mosey back to the flag.

    Our FNG competed like a champion. Turns out he served in the Air Force, flys for FedEx and had a royal blue shirt. He throughly enjoyed supporting the Navy and proudly accepted the name Blue Angel.

    COT

    *Sorry for the delay in writing the backblast. As always it was a pleasure to lead this great group of men.

  • Dirty Dozen at the Mothership

    A post following the Tchoupitoulas Bar-A-Thon is never easy, but 3 committed Pax (Sogo, YHC and Heisenberg) made it to bring the total Pax to a dozen. With the clock hitting 0630, time for the brief disclaimer, and then a mosey to the Great Lawn for……

    Warmup

    SSH IC x 31
    Hillbillies IC x 20
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    Arm Circles IC x 20
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10
    Peter Parkers IC x 20
    Mountain Climbers IC x 20
    Parker Peters IC x 20

    Thang 1

    Dirty Mac Deuce…..
    Round 1
    Merkins IC x 12
    Squats IC x 12
    Flutter Kicks IC x 12
    Do a Lap around the Great Lawn

    Round 2
    Shoulder Taps IC x 12
    Lunges IC x 12
    Hello Dolly IC x 12
    Do a lap around the Great Lawn

    Round 3
    Floyd Mayweathers IC x 12
    Side Lunges IC x 12
    Dying Cockroach IC x 12
    Do a lap around the Great Lawn

    Round 4
    Diamond Merkins IC x 12
    Monkey Humpers IC x 12
    Tin Snips IC x 12
    Do a lap around the Great Lawn


    If anyone really knows this guy, you know that Catalina Wine Mixers usually make it into the DMD, but we were doing the exercises on the brick path, and YHC does not like the feel of elbows on brick. Knowing the Pax was itching to do this exercise, YHC moved the Pax to the grass where we performed Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10. With the crowd back under control, time to mosey to the NOMA fountain.

    Thang 2
    Right leg step ups IC x 15
    Dips IC x 15
    Left Leg step ups IC x 15
    Derkins IC x 10

    Thang 3
    Mini Dora 1…2….3
    Count off, 1 and 3 partner up, 2 and 4, 5 and 7, etc.
    Burpees x 50
    Squats x 100
    LBC x 150
    1 Pax starts exercise, Pax 2 runs the circle around NOMA

    Thang 4
    Mosey to the Tree line for some “Embrace the Suck!”
    3 minutes of 6 x SSH, 6 x Merkins, 6 x Bobby Hurleys (over and over)
    During the exercise, Shorty recommended renaming the Bobby Hurleys to Zions. Shorty doesn’t post much and rarely has good ideas. At least he fixed one of those issues today……
    Rinse and Repeat for 3 minutes of 6 x SSH, 6 x merkins, and 6 x Zions!

    Mosey back to the VSF for the COT
    Announcements, Intentions, closed with prayer.

    NMM

    It looks like Smooth is leaving us soon with an awesome adventure to Spain! Good luck and come back and visit. Send us a photo of the shovel flag when you start the F3 there…..

    Speaking of shovel flags, where are they? Someone must has several in their trunk……..

    Glad to see Quick Draw back! Kotter!

    YHC got the selfie, minus Hawg and Dax. Thanks for posting with me today, and for allowing me to be part of such a great organization. Coffeteria after at Cafe Navarre was awesome as always!

    SYITG


  • Get out of bed sleepy head!

    Whenever I sign up to Q or when someone signs me up to Q (Fracsac, Hawgcycle, Tool, et. al., there is always a nervous energy that starts to build up until the morning of the beatdown. I’m not exactly sure what causes that. Maybe its leading the PAX, maybe its the unspoken expectations of a great workout, maybe its the work that will be required, or maybe its the bean burrito I ate the night before. Well, whatever it is, the date on the calendar doesn’t move no matter what happens the day before. I can’t let my F3 brothers down!

    DISCLAIMER AND WARM UP

    Arrive at the virtual flag in front of NOMA, give the disclaimer and then take off to the coupon pile by Tad Gormley. Man, that is far! Maybe we can move the AO to the baby foundry to be more centrally located to the coupons, but I digress. We arrive at the coupon pile and break the pax up into groups of three (3). 2 pax members grab one coupon each and the other pax member grabs two coupons as we head to the field next to Roosevelt mall. Circle up for a warmup of 20 SSH, 20 Hacky Sacks, 20 High Knees and 20 Butt Kicks, and 20 J-Lows all IC.

    THE THANG

    Line up in groups of three facing the sidewalk of Roosevelt Mall and perform the following exercises.

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Burpee broad jump three (3) times out and three (3) times back. PAX 3 – Thrusters with coupon. 2 rounds

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Lunge walk with coupon overhead five (5) times out and five times (5) back. PAX 3 – WW2 situps with coupon. 2 rounds

    PAX 1 (Timer) – Farmers carry two coupons to the sidewalk and back (25 yards). PAX 2 – Side lunge with coupon five (5) times out and five times (5) back. PAX 3 – Sundial – plank walk in a circle with feet on a coupon. 2 rounds

    THANG TWO (2)

    Absolution x 10 IC, Angle Grinder x 10 IC and A.L.A.R.M. (Shoulder press, lunge, LBC, run to the sidewalk and back, and mountain climbers all with a coupon.

    Put the coupons back, headed back to the virtual flag and was incensed that the Mothership crew was tresspassing and, of course, mumblechatter ensued :-). With a few minutes left, we do some mobility to cool down.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA and CIRCLE OF TRUST

    So honored to lead such a great group of men. Prayed for Rudy’s father, for the safety of Amanda Eller (she is the niece of my mentor and is the missing woman in Hawaii) and that we would positively impact others by being involved and virtuous.

  • Warming up at the Knoll, BR

    Had our howdys and the disclaimer.

    Had a good workout this morning. Began with a long set or warmups near the flag location. Then ran a mosey half way around our usual track, ending at the sundial. Did a variety of more exercises at the sundial. Mosey’ed to the top of the hill where we ran a plethora of runs up and down the hill towards the creek. Did merkins at the bottom and burpees at the top, all in ever decreasing numbers. Ran 5 laps up and down. Moseyed to the soccer field and did suicides to the 25 did merkins, 50 did situps, 75 did something else and 100 did squats. Mosey’ed back towards the flag location exercise bars foundry. Divided up into pairs. Did 100 pull ups or 100 situps in pairs. Chatted with the other group that starts out there at the foundry.

    Did a bunch of Marys and Jane Fondas there at the flag location. Finished up with our call for needs and then ending prayer. Everyone had places to go this morning so no coffeerama. Worms

  • A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3 1

    Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Da Parish, Happy Birthday to me.   YHC is not sure who started this tradition of Qing a PAX special day, but the gloom was not the first thing I wanted to greet on the first day of my 37th year.   But alas, I put my name on the spreadsheet, as I do every year. 

    The Thang

    • A – Abe Vigoda
    • B – Burpee
    • C – Catalina Wine Mixer
    • D – dying cockroach
    • E – E2K (elbow to knee)
    • F – Floyd Mayweather
    • G – Goofball
    • H – Hurpees (burpee with hand release merkin)
    • I – Imperial Walkers
    • J – J Lo’s
    • K – Knerkin (knuckle merkin) 
    • L – LBFCs (LBC’s while flutter kicking)
    • M – Monkey Humpers
    • N – Nolan Ryan’s
    • OP- Partner up for overhead claps+people’s chair & plank jacks
    • Q – quad stretch + hamstring stretch
    • R – Rosalita (while we listen to Bruce Springsteen’s Rosalita)
    • S – Seal Jack’s
    • T – Travoltas (while we listened to the BeeJee’s Staying Alive) 
    • U – Up Straddle Hop (1 legged SSH)
    • V – V Ups
    • W – Wife Pleasers
    • X – X Lunges (I just made this up.  2 forward & 2 reverse lunges forming an X),  
    • Y – Y’s (a higher than normal air press)
    • Z – Zombie crawl back to the flag.

    Thanks were given to the Sky Q for the ability to better ourselves this morning and give strength & patience to those who need it. Closed with the serenity prayer.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead, SYITG,

    Da Parish, age 36

     

  • Party at Okwata

    There was excitement oozing from GroupMe yesterday in anticipation of the party at Okwata. Bones was trying to draw the uptown crowd in. The lakeview clown car(s) all showed up! 16 Pax joined YHC on the lakefront to celebrate the day a legend was born. Brief disclaimer, then a mosey around the mardi gras fountain with butt kicks, high knees, and carioca.

    Circle up on the grassy area for a warmup.

    SSH IC x 49 – Hokie Pokie figured it out……
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    Arm Circles IC x 20
    Grass Grabbers IC x 15
    Peter parker IC x 20
    Mountain Climbers IC x 20
    Parker Peter IC x 20

    Party favor 1

    Mosey to the top of the levee for a disperse Indian Run. Last pax runs to the front and yells disperse and an exercise. Pax disperse either side of the levee, complete 3 of the exercise, and run back up the levee back in formation. YHC called it a little over half way through as time was a concern. Regular Indian run to a clear spot for:

    Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10 (Crowd pleaser)
    Disperse Indian Run is a challenge with 17 Pax. But no complaints here!

    Party favor 2

    Mosey back to a drier area for a little Shock and Awe (Happy Birthday to Me!)
    SSH IC x 6
    10 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 6
    9 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 6
    8 Burpees OYO
    ……..
    ……..
    SSH IC x 6
    2 Burpees OYO
    SSH IC x 6
    10 Burpees OYO (cause we don’t do 1 Burpee)
    Nobody commented on the odd 6 SSH. YHC let an extra slide by the first time, but there was no chance of letting anyone actually know. So 6 SSH’s it was throughout…….

    Mary
    Tin Snips IC x 15
    Flutter Kicks IC x 20


    Party favor 3

    Mosey back to the levee for :
    Quadraphilia with 5 burpees at the top of the levee each time up. Completed approximately 5 minutes of this horrible evolution before time was up

    Mosey back to the virtual shovel flag for countoff, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and closed out with a prayer to the Sky Q.

    NMM

    Thank you for showing up in force this morning and celebrating my birthday with me. A legend was born this day. That’s right, YHC shares a birthday with Janet Jackson………

    Bar-a-thon tomorrow night!!!

    ISI point!

    SYITG




  • Foundry McDeuce

    13 men arrived at the Foundry on a really beautiful May morning. Clear skies, cool, sun rising. Days like this really make you appreciate the beauty in the world, and make getting out of bed worth it. Enjoy it while it lasts fellas, because the heat is coming. A disclaimer and off we go.

    We mosey to the track for the warm-up COP: SSH x 20 IC, IW x 20 IC, Windmills x 10 IC, Arm Circles 10 forward 10 backward IC, J-Lo’s x 10 IC, Mountain Climbers x 10 IC.

    We stayed at the track for a Dirty McDeuce. 3 exercises with a 12 count (1 arm, 1 leg, 1 core), then a 400m lap around the track.

    • Round 1: Merkins, Squats, LBC’s
    • Round 2: Right leg cross-over Merkins, Side Lunges, Flutter Kicks
    • Round 3: Left leg cross-over Merkins, Jump Lunges, Hello Dolly
    • Round 4: Teepee Merkins, Monkey Humpers, American Hammer

    Next we moseyed to the Foundry, stopping at each Light post for 5 Merkins. At the Foundry, 4 stations for circuit work.

    • Round 1: Body Rows, Step-ups, Pull-ups, 15 WWII sit ups (the count)
    • Round 2: Body Rows, Dips, Hanging knee ups, 20 Squats (the count)

    We mosey back to the track for a 200m sprint, then mosey on to the flag for count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer. Days like this are really what it’s all about. A beautiful crisp day spect with friends trying to make ourselves better. Thank you guys.

    Walleye

  • Don’t You Wish You Had Mandals.

    15 strong at The Stomp for a rousing round of rarájipari. We divided into to 4 teams and YHC gave the obligatory disclaimer about the inherent dangers to your ankles. I then called out a destination that only a few were familiar with and the race was on.

    The Thang

    Two teams headed down Roosevelt Mall toward the museum and two headed the opposite direction. YHC gave the team of Screwtop, Shuffle, and Manscape some bad directions a couple of times which allowed our team of Bongo, Kuch, El Guapo, and me to catch up. Once we made it to the woods we could hear another team. After much wandering around in the Couturie Forest, the team of Tool, Fracsac, Rev Sox and Abacus made it to the top of Laborde Mountain first, where Tool being the HIM that he is, immediately started leading everyone in some Mary. After a couple of rounds of Mary there was still no sign of team four (Dirty Dell, Briefs, Room Service, and Half Nelson). Being up against the clock, YHC had everyone start race #2 back to the flag while I went deep into the forest to locate the Team Dirty Briefs. They were close. YHC led them to our city’s highest point for future reference and then we were off to the flag. When I caught up to the other teams, Team Screwscape Shuffle was nowhere to be found. They were about a mile ahead of everyone else. My team made the decision to take Marconi on the way back and we got to the flag with about 5 minutes to spare. Still no sign of the Screwscape Shuffle. We found them at 6:15 apparently running victory laps around City Park.

    The Skinny
    • Mandals are freaking awesome for playing rarajipari. It’s as if the game was invented by people that wear them. Just ask Kuch about my sandwedge ability to get the ball out of the rough
    • T-claps to me, Bongo, and Kuch. We were on a team with El Guapo and he didn’t run off and leave us. Maybe he could have, but I’m going to believe that we hung with him out of our own improvement
    • Marconi is definitely the fastest way to Laborde Mountain. We will have to outlaw that route in the future.
    • T-claps to the Lakeview Krewe as they continue to successfully EH every man in the greater New Orleans area. This is Hall of Fame type EHing that we are witnessing by Screwtop et al., a la Reluctant Yankee 2015-16, 2017 Triple Shift, or the HNJ Flood of 2018.
    • T-claps to Rev Sox for rocking the tank on an unofficial Tank Top Tuesday.

  • Bacon Rarajapari with a slice of ultimate burpee bacon

    It’s my birthday week so indulge me and let me do what I want with this beatdown. 70 degrees cool and beautiful outside. Showed up with my bucket of baseballs, and a frisbee. The pre-beatdown chatter focused on the Bourbon Rodeo on Monday night – total FOMO from me. I had a great B-Day with the fam but totally jealous of the food and booze beatdown hosted by Sandbar, Squeal, and 86.

    Started off with grabbing some baseballs out of the bucket. We ran to the parking lot in front of the zoo. SSH x 20. Imp Walkers x 20 and Morning Glories x 10. Drop your ball and run to Audubon Statue.

    At Audubon we did around the clock merks x 15 at 3,6,9,and 12 – That means inclined merks, right arm raised merks, decline merks, left arm raised merks.

    Drop the ball and run to the FLY beach playing Rarajapari with partner – only rule is that you can’t kick the ball twice.

    At the FLY beach we did Monkey Humpers x 20 and Mtn Climbers x 20

    Drop your ball and run the big hill with your partner and your ball – finish by kicking your ball over the hill.

    At the FIELD we played Ultimate Frisbee. We divided teams based on F3 shirts. 2 burpees for a change of possession. 7 burpees for a score. Final score was 7-3. So my team did 49 burpees and the bad guys in F3 shirts who enjoy ruining birthdays did a mere 21 burpees. Not including turn overs.

    Some observations–Angie’s List is the Honey Badger of ultimate – knocking frisbees out of peoples hands with reckless abandon, Bones used to play professional ultimate – he even knew the correct terms for different plays,etc. If you ever need a ringer call Bones. Nip Tuck has a ridiculous wingspan – he was pulling out some crazy plastic man long arm catches. Peaches can sail a frisbee – his first kick off was two football fields away–guess I made the field too small for him, G-Spot has Drew Brees like accuracy with the frisbee – he landed 2 kickoffs on the goal line, Quarterpipe also may have played ultimate in Division 1 – punk, King Kong got attacked by the wet grass monster – I hope your knee and your groin are OK, he is not afraid to dive and finally Wipeout is a post up beast. Just throw it up in the air and he will come down with it. Nice TD. Sorry to the guys who didn’t get a mention.

    Rarajapari back to Audubon Statue. At the Statue LBCs while you wait. Also had a minute for Low Country Crab x 20. It wouldn’t have been my beatdown without them.

    Finally back to the FLAG with some Rarajapari. Careful crossing Magazine. Got back 30 sec early so we did MISSION IMPOSSIBLE to finish.

    Thanks for allowing me the chance to lead. Always a pleasure. In the prayer I asked everyone to BE THE BACON. Be the thing that people look forward to in everything that you do.

  • Tee-Tee Returns

    Thanks to Douille for giving up his birthday Q so I could lead a 3-year anniversary beat down. I meant to give him a shout out during the work out and totally forgot so please tell him happy birthday next time you see him. I racked my brain to come up with a good workout involving the number 3 but none seemed to want to stick. I figured I’d catch my groove with something and moved on to the idea that I would provide a little F3 Nola 5/11/16 trivia.

    Warm UP:

    Disclaimer and quick mosey to the peristyle. It’s always refreshing to see America’s future lounging around the lagoon with a good vape in hand at 6:30. I must say I was a little jealous of the one guy with three girls but recalled that set up usually meant no deal was going to be sealed and buddy you might just need to pack it in the for night. Nonetheless I think they were curious of the pax and when one young lady started doing side straddle hops I lost the pax momentarily. We re-centered though and knocked out those SSH IC x 30, IW IC x 30, Grass Grabbers IC x 30, Peter Parker IC x 20, Mountain Climbers IC x 20, Parker Peter IC x 20, and something else.

    The Thing:

    Mosey around the way OYO to the little foundry. Plank and wait. Divvy into groups of 3: Al Gores, Pull-ups (count, 10), Dips. Rotate and repeat x 1.

    Mosey further around the way OYO to the track.

    Trivia fact one: 5/11/16 was a banner day at The Skinny. FNG’s included YHC plus Quick Draw (anyone spotted our favorite boy in blue lately?) and G-spot. Not sure who in the pax that day knew that ‘G-spot’ is a nickname for Greensboro, NC but the name caught on. I assume G-spot omits that nugget when detailing how he really got his name.

    Anyway the pax has caught their breath by now and is ready to run a mile. Easy enough but catch 10 burpees at the start of each lap. On the last lap instead of crossing the finish line the leader stops 20 yards short of the finish line and the next guy stops 20 yards short of him etc, etc. Plank and wait and the 6 with sweep you up to the finish. This went ok.

    Trivia fact two: I left my first beatdown with the name Tee-Tee. There was some trepidation in the name but urinary names can do that. My kids were stoked when I came home from the gloom and explained my new name. Well it didn’t last. Sometime between the post and the publication of the backblast (Shorty was Q so it may have been a bit) I was renamed Tinkles. Some backroom maneuvering but I think the right call was made.

    Indian run to the NOMA fountain. Spirits were running high so no need for more trivia. Need was for: RLSU IC x 20, LLSU x 20, Classic Tinkles (someone else said it not me) IC x 20.

    Partner up. Partner one stay and do modified LBC with feet on the bench. Partner two run around the now-open circular drive around NOMA. A pleasant mix of AC and paint fumes hung in the air around the museum. I almost vomited but survived. Switch.

    Just enough time to catch a view of Muscleship doing classic Muscleship aka Indian Walk or something like that.

    Mosey back to the flag with just enough time for some plank work on the side walk. We welcomed back Rudy from his butt cyst recovery run. Didn’t see any bloody discharge on the back of his shorts so I assume that it went ok.

    Circle up. Trivia fact three: I was EH’d by Walleye with an assist from Roots. This gave me the idea of having the pax say who EH’d them during the namorama:

    • JV- Yankee
    • Rudy- Heisenburg
    • Catfish- F3nola.com
    • 86- Tinkles
    • Angie’s List- Willie
    • Douille- Bagasse/Yankee
    • King Kong- Angie’s List
    • War Eagle- Baby Face
    • Two Utes- Hawg
    • Colonel Mustard- Seaman
    • Bongo- Maverick
    • Gabrielle- Seaman
    • Triple Shift- Triple Shift
    • Organ Grinder- Google
    • Fracsac- Maverick/Bubba
    • Heisenbery- Bogey

    T-claps to Seaman, Yankee, and Maverick for topping list of EH’ers

    Close with a prayer with special dedications to Fracsac’s mom, Triple Shift’s friend, and Moms. Thanks for the chance to lead and looking forward to another 3 years!