Blog

  • Where Yat?

    Dec 31st means out with the old in with the new… but first we need to know where were at to know where were headed. todays beatdown was based on our previous endeavor of the go ruck challenge and basically the marshes reason for existence. How many merkins, big boy sit ups, and pull-ups can you do in one minute of time along with a timed mile run πŸ˜‰

    WARMARAMA

    20 ssh ic

    20 toe touches ic

    20 high knees ic

    20 windmils ic

    20 mummy kicks ic

    20 good mornings ic

    20 little arm circles forward ic

    20 ” ” backwards ic

    THANG

    partners keep count and accountability during

    1 min of merkins

    partners switch

    1 minute of big boy sit ups

    partners switch

    1 minute of pull ups

    partners switch

    1 mile timed run to the lakefront and back

    MARY

    20 lbc ic

    20 fred mercs ic

    10 leg lifts ic

    20 flutter kicks ic

    15 hip ups left ic

    15 hip ups right ic

    cot

    bom

    the manny prays out

    thanks and Happy New Year to all you go getters!!!

  • ND and the Ladder of Despair

    The PAX are all painfully aware of YHC’s deep love affair with the Irish, and all things related to Notre Dame. The PAX are also fond of pointing out the flaws in my beloved Irish – “What a cupcake schedule”, and “You should join a conference”. This year’s CFB Playoff offered the Irish another chance to silence the doubting PAX.

    Returning from Dallas angry and a wee bit humbled, YHC asked the scheduled Rock City Q if he would be willing to give up his Q so the PAX could share in my pain. “Manbun” Hawg willingly agreed. So the PAX got to ring out 2018 with the Notre Dame Ladder of Despair.

    Warm Up

    Perhaps you are not already aware, but Clemson drummed the Irish in the Cotton Bowl by the score of 30-3. (YHC will happily discuss how the game was closer than that – but you’d have a hard time hearing him over the howls of outraged PAX).

    Burpees, of course. 10x OYO. Repeat. Repeat. That’s 30 (for Clemson). 3 more (poor lonely 3 for ND).

    SSH x30. 3 more burpees.

    IW x30. 3 more burpees.

    PP x30. 3 more burpees.

    The Thang – The Ladder of Despair

    Most PAX know that this was not ND’s first time getting blown out on the big New Year’s Day stage. But they may not understand the full depths of my despair. This morning, they will learn just how many consecutive times ND has gotten embarrassed this way. With a ladder. A ladder that calls out each of these games. How long will it take? How far back in time? Only YHC knows.

    • Game 1: 2018 Cotton Bowl. Clemson romps. 5 Burpees
    • Game 2: 2015 Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State destroys. add 10 Shoulder Presses
    • Game 3: 2012 National Championship. Alabama cruises. add 15 Curls
    • Game 4: 2006 Sugar Bowl. LSU crushes. add 20 Merkins
    • Game 5: 2002 Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State pancakes. add 25 Squats
    • Game 6: 2000 Fiesta Bowl. Oregon State thwacks. add 30 Rows
    • Game 7: 1995 Orange Bowl. Florida State trucks. add 35 Chest Presses
    • Game 8: 1994 Fiesta Bowl. Colorado routs. add 40 LBT 

    Fortunately for the PAX – the clock ran out, coinciding with the end of the streak. 1993 Cotton Bowl, ND romped over the Texas A&M Aggies. But now it was time to return the rocks. Final Tallies: 40 Burpees, 70 Presses, 90 Curls, 100 Merkins, 100 Squats, 90 Rows, 70 Chest Presses, 40 LBT. And worst of all – the cumulative scores of those 8 games? Foes: 304, Irish: 138. Average defeat of 38 – 17. Yikes.

    Return to the flag for our COT. Count-off for 20 PAX. Nice showing, gang! (Even if the uptown members were too scared to show). Lots of upcoming stuff (Krazy Ivan, BR convergence, Mobile Spartan, Jackson Day race). Always exciting to hear all of the opportunities that PAX are pursuing. Remember – if you hear something you want to do, DO IT. Q IT. Talk it up with the PAX, you will almost certainly find someone to do it with you!

    Thank you Rev, for taking us home with a thoughtful prayer, challenging us to be better men, better leaders, better followers into the New Year.

    Thank you, as always, for the chance to lead you all.

  • Last Mothership of 2018

    Last Mothership of 2018

    With the end of the year approaching I wanted to finish the year strong with a good beat down at the Mothership. This would be my 150th workout of the year. Having started F3 on Feb. 2nd at WPM, I have come a long way, and all for the better. At 6:30 the the disclaimer was given and we moseyed to the Peristyle.

    Warm Up

    • SSH x 20
    • Hillbillies x 20
    • Mountain Climbers x 20
    • Plank Jacks x 20
    • Imperial Walker Squats x 20
    • Arm Circles -Fwd x 15, Rev x 15
    • 5 Burpees OYO
    • Mosey to the Fountain in front of NOMA

    Thang 1

    • Right Leg Step Up x 15
    • Dips x 10
    • Left Leg Step Up x 15
    • Dips x 10
    • Bulgarian Split Squats Right leg x 15
    • Dips x 10
    • Bulgarian Split Squats Left leg x 15
    • Dips x 10
    • Incline Merkins x 15
    • Line up for Indian Run to the “Rocks” – When “6” gets to front of line we halt and he calls out an exercise and did 5 reps, then continued run.

    Thang 2 – 11’s with the Rock – We found where Mahatma and Tool had stashed the blocks, and eached grabbed one. YHC was not sure where this was going to happen, but figured we could find a semi dry spot – Not the case, and as we began the sky tried to open up on us, but just briefly.

    • The 2 exercise where Squat Thrusters with the Blocks and Offset Merkins on the Block(2 is 1). Started with 10 Thrusters and 1 Merkin and proceeded to 1 Thruster and 10 Merkins. In the middle we did 11 Curls when going one direction and 11 Tricep Extension when coming from the opposite direction. The usual Mumblechatter ensued, like no one has ever done 11’s before…Let’s GO!
    • With time getting tight we finished the 11’s and returned our blocks to their home and moseyed to the Great Lawn.

    Thang 3 – Circle up for some Mary – The Great Lawn was soaked and trying to stay somewhat dry YHC opted for the Brick area where FIA warms up. which garnered plenty of mumblechatter.

    • LBC’s x 20
    • Dying Cockroach x 20
    • I had more but it was 7:30 so we moseyed back to the flag.

    COT – Circle up for Count-o-Rama, Name-o-Rama Two FNG’s – Both are ILoveYouMan’s Business Partners (they make Adult Beverages and Icees in pouches you freeze) – Antonio(ILoveYouMans, Brother) is Jesus Juice and Craig is Screw Top(He’s their tight, accounting guy). Welcome Both! Hope to see them again soon! Announcements for Crazy Ivan Jan 19th.

    With the New Year approaching, take these last few days of the year to set some goals for next year for your Life, Job, F3 and shoot for the moon. Write them down, make sure they are measurable, and have milestones through out the year to maintain focus. Not everyone is aware, but there is a tab in the Q Sign up Sheet called NYR2018 to track your workouts. I will make sure we have one for New Year Resolutions 2019. Keep track and compete with your brothers in F3. Thanks again for pushing and motivating me through 150 beatdowns this year. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

    SYITG

  • Christmas Leftovers

    The day after Christmas tends to be a bit dreary.  The excitement is over, parties are done, no more chances to wear that tacky sweater, and back to work for many.  Folks are sluggish after enjoying lots of holiday cheer, which seemed to be the case for the F3 NOLA PAX since no one signed up to lead The Foundry, including myself.  Even after some feelers were thrown out on the group chat, no one was answering the call.  So in the last hour, YHC felt the he could take one for the team, kinda like eating those Christmas dinner leftovers that no one else wanted.  Surely someone would be there in the gloom to help me polish off Aunt Peggy’s bland dressing and that smoked turkey that cousin Bill infused with too much cayenne.  So as the clock neared 5:30am, it appeared we’d have a table for 5 in City Park.  Nothing special in store, just a hodgepodge of exercises and circuits that we’d figure out as the morning progressed. 


    Mosey down RM with a warmup pit stop:  Hillbillies x20, WM x10, AC x20, ISW x20, Plankroll x20, Merkins x10


    Stop #2 – The Baby Foundry:  5 stations, 2 rounds of Pull Ups, LBC, Dips, Hanging Knees Ups, Lateral Step Ups/Overs x20 (timer)

     
    Stop #3 – The Foundry:  Round 1 included partner assist Pull Ups x2 rounds with WWII Sit Ups x15 (timer).  Round 2 came together on the fly…Body Rows, Hanging Knee Ups, Squats x25 (timer) 


    Stop #4 – The Practice Track:  Line up for for some to-and-fro Bear Crawls, Lateral Lunge, Inchworm, Crabwalks, and Kongs. 


    Then a mosey back to the flag with no time for dessert. 
    COT to cap things off. 


    The PAX enjoyed some good F2 on the moseys throughout the workout as we recapped holiday events and got the morning off to a good start. 


    Tool  

  • Returns welcomed with or without receipts!!

    With plenty of rain in the forecast the Q opened the garage anticipating a wet post, yet to his surprise it was only the sound of swirling winds, which left a path of blown over garbage cans spewing garbage throughout the streets and early dismantling of Christmas decorations hanging from the rooftops as I journeyed to the AO.. Anticipating a possible return of other PAX who have not posted in sometime (Turtle), Q was excited arriving to the headlights of regulars like Veteran (Steve), post record setter (Ringo) and 2 Scramble essentials in Garfield and Water Pik.. Planted the shovel flag and started the chatter amongst the PAX.

    Began our warmup with

    10 IC Good mornings, Windmills

    15 IC Toe Touches, SSH followed by lunge twist inward and outward for 25 yards. Burgundy arrives as we wrap up the warmup to start our journey..

    Moseyed our standard route through the debris filled streets of ole Mandeville. With steady winds and severe gusts we still managed a respectable time of less than 30 mins. Arrived back for 10 mins of work which consisted of the PAX taking to our 6 while another completed 5 pull-ups as we rotated around to each man. R/R 3 series that included LBCs, Flutter kicks and Crunchy frogs. Closed with 1 min of Merkins.

    Circled up for count, announce, COT

    Reminded everyone of the upcoming Crazy Ivan, which should prove another domination by the Northshore representing and preserving the Hammer πŸ”¨ trophy!!

    Also Water Pik put it out to the PAX for some F2 following his Q next Tuesday at Grandmas House on New Year’s Day!! We will converge at the Cafe Du Monde following the beatdown for some coffee and beignets to start the New year right!! That is of course for any man willing to delay their New Years resolution of tasty warm fried dough coverd in powdered sugar πŸ˜‹πŸ˜‹…

    YHC prayed us out.

    Appreciate the commitment through the holiday week F3 brethren and Returns are always welcomed!! New year = New choices

    πŸ‘πŸ»πŸ‘ŠπŸ»βœŒπŸ» Till the next Gloom!!

  • On the Third Day of Christmas . . .

    My true love gave to me three French hens. Got it? THREE French hens! THREE!

    The Pax moseyed west along the seawall with a stiff SE wind at its back to the U-turn at Canal and Lakeshore. There the Pax warmed up with THREE exercises, 25 reps, rinse and repeat THREE time: SSH, Imperial Walkers, and Mountain Climbers.

    The Pax moseyed west again along the seawall to the three benches just west of Canal for the thang – a THREE-stop ladder with burpees and then squats. (We couldn’t do THREE exercises because we ran out of time.) The Pax ran to the farthest of the three benches and did twelve reps. Next, the Pax ran back to the second bench and did eleven reps. Next, the Pax ran back to the first bench and did ten reps. The Pax then ran out to the
    farthest of the three benches and did nine reps. Next, the Pax ran back to the second bench and did eight reps. The pattern continued finishing with one rep at the first bench. In between exercises, YHC did a Twelve Days of Christmas count-off.

    The Pax then moseyed east along the seawall for Mary with THREE exercise, 25 reps, and thirty second plank in between each
    exercise: Partridge twist, Turtle Dove crunches, and the Dying French Hen.

    Announcements, intentions, prayer, and then count-off and Nameorama, which YHC almost forgot.

    The Pax didn’t know what type of weather it would face . It could have been a flood causing rainstorm, but there was only wind (and plenty of it). Sky Q was looking after us this morning.

  • Like Finding Candy Corn in My Advent Calendar…..

    …. as I was totally confused, by the crowd that posted at the Gipper this morning. New faces, and faces I have not seen in awhile. Then some regulars missing.

    Here is how it went:

    Disclaimer

    Warmup; All 20xIC, side straddle hops, good mornings, high knees, arm circles, seal jacks, arm circles, imperial walkers, mummy kicks, hill-billys, toe touches

    Over to the rock pile: grab a rock ( or giant boulder if your name is Butt Splice or Shooter) for; rows, overhead presses, curls, forward presses, elfs on the shelfs.

    Over to the Taj-Mahal parking lot for a ladder shuffles, forward, reverse and both laterals,

    To the front of the Taj-Mahal for a merkin ring-of fire.

    Mosey to the Justice Center parking garage for backwards lunge walks and sprints up the ramps. once on top did a few one minute exercises followed by run-arounds.

    No Mary today, as we went overtime

    Butt Splice prays us out

    Thanks for letting me lead today. I had a ribald good time.

  • Christmas Wing (What Time Is It Now?)

    I’m ready to step up for what I love. No Q for Christmas? I got this! Get back before 2.0s spring from their beds (hopefully not from my clatter)… Mission Impossible!

    YHC arrives with time to spare to see Jose and Manny warming it up. Garfield pulls up with a minute or 2 to spare – where y’at Mr. Shoota?!

    I’ll be both frank and Bushwacker, this beatdown feels like days ago, plus my wife’s aunt plied me with enough Natchez, MS version of “Amber Wind” cocktail that my memory would not be submitted into evidence at a trial at this point. That being said, I’ll do my best to recollect what was a mighty effort on today’s PAX.

    WARM O RAMA

    x10 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Imperial Walkers (Enter Shooter)

    Windmills

    Air presses

    New and, Burgundy may say, improved Fire Hydrants

    THANG

    Mosied to end of brick columns at the other end of the stairs. In 2 groups, one from each runs half way and does 5 _______, continues to the end and does 5 ______, runs up the stairs and down and does 10 ______, then half way back and does ______. Meanwhile remaining PAX is doing _______.

    Merkins, Squats, Freddy Mercuries

    (recall confusion disclaimer)

    Dive Bomber Merkins, Mountain Climbers, LBCs

    Peter Parkers, jump Squats, Heel Touches…

    Burpees…aaaahhhhhh??? What time is it?

    Mosied to the bus stop for:

    10xs Freak Nasties, 12xs In n Outs – all x3

    Mosied back to the stairs for some Bunny Hops and 3-step strides up n down.

    COT

    Jose the beast prayed us out and QIC made it back with 30 minutes to spare on 2.0 #1 stirring! Thanks you gents for showing up (NOT BUTT SPLICE) and for following my some what wingin’ it lead.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS!


  • God Make you Mighty, Gentlemen!

    This was my birthday Q (51 yrs old) and I wanted to make it special for the PAX NOLA. As Christmas day is tomorrow, I wanted to not only strengthen the body but also strengthen the mind as well. As I was thinking about the direction I wanted to go in the Christmas Eve themed workout, I realized that we already done a couple of 12 days of Christmas beatdowns and desired to go a different route. During the Christmas holiday season, the pace of life slows down enough for me to be more contempletive and I have more time to read. As I was reading a book by Ace Collins called ‘Stories behind the best-loved songs of Christmas‘, I came across the ‘real’ history of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman which fit the theme of the beatdown today. Here is an excerpt.

    “When people today say “Merry Christmas!” the word merry means “happy.” When “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, merry had a very different meaning. Robin Hood’s Merry Men might have been happy, but the merry that described them meant ‘great and “mighty.” Thus in the 15th century (Middle Ages), a strong army was a merry army, a great singer was a merry singer, and a mighty ruler was a merry ruler….the word rest in the title means to ‘make’ or ‘keep’. As the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy.” That joy and the power of faith can be felt and experienced in every note and word of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” You just have to know how to translate the words into the language of the day in order to have a very ‘Mighty Christmas!”

    WARMUP

    Run over to the field by the rock pile and proceed with the following

    51 SSH x IC, 20 Imperial Squat Walkers x IC, 10 Abe Vigodas x IC, 10 Arm Circles x IC (Forward and Backward), 20 J-Los x IC

    THE THANG

    I instruct the PAX to get a medium sized rock and we head to the football field for Bearicides. Because we had 15 men, I had to break the groups up into 3s. We line up on the sideline and PAX 1 and 2 perform 100 lunges, 150 goblet squats and 100 straight leg deadlifts. Meanwhile, PAX 3 bear crawls out and pushes the rock forward to the middle of the field then bear crawls back while continuing to push the rock.

    After the bearicides, we did a Febreeze. This exercise consists of WW2 situps followed by air presses with feet 6 inches off the ground while in a sit up position. The count was 2 situps / 10 air presses, 3 situps / 20 air presses…all the way up to 5 situps / 51 air presses. Whew….that hurt!

    Running out of time we did a Jack Webb with a rock press up to 7 merkins / 14 rock presses.

    Time is running out so we put our rocks back and mosey back to the virtual flag.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA AND COT

    Prayers for peace, hope and healing for Brad Brechtel, Hawg’s mom, Disclaimer’s 2.2 and all the intentions we hold in our hearts. Truly honored to be leading such a great group of men looking to get stronger physically, relationally and spiritually! Many blessings to you and yours this Christmas Season!

  • Christmas Vacation

    Christmas Vacation

    Thanks to the holiday season giving many PAX a respite from work the Milestone Marsh was hopping in the pre-dawn gloom of Christmas Eve day. A big welcome to all the PAX for coming out early on a Monday morning.

    CONDITIONS

    46Β°; 51% humidity; 6:54 AM sunrise

    DISCLAIMER

    The experienced PAX knew YHC’s rank amateur status.

    THE WARM UP

    All exercises done IC

    • Split jacks X15
    • Toe touches X10
    • Abe Vigodas X10
    • Ray Finkles X10
    • Steve Earles Copper head squat finished with hill billy X 10
    • Good mornings X10
    • High knees X15

    Every time Catherine revved up the microwave, I’d piss my pants and forget who I was for about half an hour or so.

    THE THANG PART 1: Getting Stronk

    YHC sees Northshore PAX getting mad strong, so he thought he would keep the trend of lower rep, higher difficulty movements.

    4 rounds
    Pull up sets x6
    Single leg squats X6 each leg

    1 minute recovery after each set

    YHC wobbled some on the single leg movements, but the assembled PAX were rock solid, straight vertical. Backdraft even rocked some of the pistol-style movement.

    It wouldn’t be the Christmas shopping season if the stores were any less hooter than they – HOTTER than they are. Whew. It is warm in here, isn’t it?

    THE THANG PART 2: Let the beat drop

    PAX did some work with 5 drop sets focusing on the lower body. Each set consisted of 15 knee tucks, 15 jump squats and 15 air squats done in succession with no rest. YHC was gassed at the end of these but the PAX grinded out each of the 5 sets with style.

    Surprised, Eddie?… If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am now.

    THE THANG PART 3: The big, big finish

    PAX finished in fine form with the following fun and games.

    • Gecko crawl across the court
    • Boo-yah merkins (Q was tired at this point and the cadence / count confused the heck out of the PAX)
    • Clapping merkins
    • Single leg hops / Marios
    • Snow board hops
    • Grand finale, 1 minute of hanging knee raises

    Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

    CountORama, NameORama, and COT

    YHC prayed us out.

    MOLESKIN

    Merry Christmas y’all

    Carve the turkey, turn the ballgame on
Make Bloody Marys 'cause we all want one
Send somebody to the Stop 'N Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprite
A box of tampons and some Salem Lights
Hallelujah, everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

    Thanks F3-bros, for the fellowship, the beatdowns and for being willing to follow my lead.