Blog

  • Fast times at the City Hall Scramble

    CONDITIONS

    66°; 90% humidity; 7:00 AM sunrise

    DISCLAIMER

    YHC isn’t going to say that he forgot to deliver the disclaimer, but if any personal injury attorneys ask you, the assembled PAX definitely understood that he was a rank amateur and shouldn’t be trusted with workout advice.

    THE WARM UP

    Northshore Q’s have been doing so much cool stuff, that YHC wanted to blatantly copy everything he could.

    Assembled PAX warmed-up with a feeble imitation of Turbo’s dynamic warm-up routine with a focus on walking quad stretches and hip stretches.

    Wait until YHC’s kids teach him how to set up a spotify playlist and he can copy Grundy’s sweet tabata jams mix-tape.

    THE THANG

    The assembled PAX scrambled through their standard 5k route.  Tclaps to Garfield and Bushwhacker for pacing us.  Northshore PAX know that this is SOP for Garfield and the Whacker is rounding into race day shape for his upcoming half-marathon.

    YHC didn’t keep detailed mile splits, but feels confident that the PAX responded well to the cooler weather and clocked some fast times.

    THE THANG – Part 2

    After the 5K, we returned back to City Hall for some work.

    The Pelican Challenge

    The first item was introduced to Northshore PAX, by our amigo the Pelican, who himself stole it from the Army’s new combat fitness test.   YHC set the timer for two minutes and the assembled PAX cranked out as many hand-release merkins as possible before time expired.

    Next we did 20 4 count tabletops in cadence, because every day is leg day.

    Rock-Paper-Burpees

    Finally, the PAX finished with 5 rounds of “rochamburpee,” which the lexicon defines as a game of rock-paper-scissors with burpees at stake. YHC observed some next level strategery among the PAX.  Never go in against a Northshore PAX with burpees on the line.  #Strategery.

    CountORama, NameORama, and COT

    YHC prayed for the assembled PAX

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

  • Grab Your Long Underwear!

    YHC walked out of his house this morning at 5:12am to a wonderful feeling of 64 degree temps with low humidity. It was amazing and felt like the F3 mornings he remembered from the days when he was an F3 novice. No theme or story for this morning’s workout, just a lot of reps with rocks.

    Warm-Up

    SSH -27 (for the Yankees who will suffer through another off-season with only 27 championships)

    Arm Circles – 10 forward and 10 backwards

    Hillbillies – 20

    Parker Peters – 20

    Annies – 20

    Windmills – 10

    Route 66

    We grabbed our rocks and strolled over to the tree line across the field and next to the parking lot. Since there is a perfect line of 11 trees, it made the ideal spots for Route 66. We did one rep at the first tree and added one rep at each tree, so we would finish with 11 reps at the final tree for a total of 66 reps.

    Round One – 66 triceps extensions

    Round Two – 66 shoulder presses

    Triple Nickel

    The key to this workout is the number 5, hence the name.

    5 curls

    lunge walk 5 steps with each leg

    5 rows

    lunge walk 5 steps with each leg

    5 Low slow squats

    Rinse and Repeat

    Fence Sitting

    YHC wasn’t sure what to do next, so he led the pax over to the fence for the tennis courts. We did some fence sitting together. We sat until YHC’s legs began to burn and then did 20 curls together. Stand up and shake the legs out. Repeat and end with 20 rows.

    Head to Toe

    Circle up for a series of rock exercises. The rock will start high and slowly get closer to the ground with each set. The key is to never put the rock down until we get on our backs for the push-ups.

    18 – shoulder press

    18 – curls

    18 – low slow squats

    18 – rows

    18 – push-ups

    Repeat the same with rep counts of 9 and then once more with rep counts of 5.

    Mary

    20 – American Hammer

    20 – Wife Pleasers

    Get out of the cold and inside for some Hot Coffee to warm-up

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, and intentions with a closing prayer in our not-so-sweaty ball of man

    thanks for the privilege to lead,

    Rev Sox

  • Winter Is Icumin In

    Well maybe not GofT winter, but I’ll take it.  So with a quick disclaimer from YHC, the PAX moseyed off to a new location (within a circle of palms at Loyola for a good echo) for the First Circle of Pain:

    • SSHs 25xIC
    • Imperial Walkers 25xIC
    • Low slow squats 25xIC
    • Squat pulses 15xIC (we miss ya, Shorty.  Quick fartsacking and show us how its done)
    • Peter Parkers 25xIC
    • Parker Peters 25xIC
    • Mountain Climbers 25xIC

    Slow mosey to the bottom of the closer parking garage for a little Dora 1-2-3.  PAX paired up with each pair to finish off 100 merkins, 200 squats and 300 flutter kicks (QHC reminded the PAX that he wanted to see no whiskeydicking: push your lower backs into the ground, you know at that sweet spot your Ms like you to rub before the real #WifePleasers, and keep the legs straight: work your core): as one PAX did 1-2-3, the other climbed the stairwell to the top then down the other stairwell; flap jack, etc.

    Slow mosey to the bottom of the ramp.  OYO, each PAX moseyed to the top of the parking lot with 5 burpees at each end on the way up for a total–if QHC can count–of a meager 55 burpees.  Rats, should have added an extra burpee for 56: a good luck number.

    Just two Minutes of Mary: LBCs 56xIC (PAX, it’s goal: next year, 57xIC, etc.  Can’t wait for double-respect  Jadaveon, YSR, Amnesia: QHC will probably be six feet under when you get there, but don’t let me slow you down).  Then the PAX moseyed back to the flags for Count-Off, Name-O-Rama, Intentions, and Prayers to be wise, generous and kind.

    See You in the Gloom, Jingle Vader

  • Winter Is Coming to Okwata!

    Okwata was angry, and it rose up beyond its borders to claim the space where F3 normally gathered. YHC indicated the Shovel Flag would be relocated to the corner of Canal and Lakeshore Drive, which brought on much mumblechatter through the Group Me feed. With a map supplied from Heisenberg, 12 men, including one FNG, showed up to get stronger while enjoying the cooler weather and lower humidity. The clock struck 0530, a disclaimer was given, and mosey to a dry track of space for the warm up

    SSH IC x 31
    IW IC x 20
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10
    Peter Parkers IC x 20
    Mountain Climbers IC x 20
    Parker Peters IC x 20
    Arm Circles 10 fwd, 10 bwd

    Mosey back to the corner of Canal and Lakeshore Drive for The DirtyMacDeuce!

    Merkins IC x 12
    LBC IC x 12
    Squats IC x 12
    Two Columns Indian Run over the levee on Canal and back

    Shoulder Taps IC x 12
    Flutter Kicks IC x 12
    Copperhead Squats IC x 12
    Two Columns Indian Run over the levee on Canal and back

    Floyd Mayweathers IC x 12
    Tin Snips IC x 12
    Alternating Lunges IC x 12
    Two Columns Indian Run over the levee on Canal and back

    Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 12
    WW2 Situps IC x 12
    Monkey Humpers IC x 12
    Two Columns Indian Run over the levee on Canal and back

    Mosey over the levee on Canal for Route 66

    Start with one Burpee at the first light pole, increase by one at each light pole up to eleven. 66 Burpees Total.

    Return to the Shovel Flag

    COT

    Count Off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, Closed with a prayer to the Sky Q

    NMM
    Welcome Seawall! T-Claps to Heisenberg for the EH. The cooler weather brought on the comment that “Winter is Coming.” (As a GoT Fan, I had to capture it) This is true, and the weather felt great! It is hard to believe that only a few hours drive to our east was an area suffering from a powerful hurricane. Keep those suffering in your thoughts and prayers, and don’t let your guard down yet, as hurricane season is still upon us.

    Thanks for posting with me today!

    SYITG!

  • 610 Stomp #163 – Wisner Trio

    YHC signed up to Q the Stomp without realizing the Saints were playing Monday night. After a soaking wet beatdown followed by good F2 at Bayou Beer Garden the night before where we witnessed history from Drew Brees, and a whole lot of Da Parish, YHC did not really want to post. Being held accountable worked again, and YHC got up and moving. Two others joined in, and it was decided we would run as a trio via the Wisner Bridge route. A brief Disclaimer, and off we went..

    Down Marconi to Zachary Taylor Drive. Stopped at Pan American Stadium for Merkins IC x 20. Up and over the Wisner Bridge, then make one and a half laps on the bike/walking path, then head back to the flag. Arrived with a couple minutes left…
    Flutter Kicks IC x 20
    Seal the Deal with 10 Burpees OYO

    COT
    Count off, Name-O-Rama, Intentions, closed with a prayer.

    Thanks for posting with me today

    SYITG!

  • Shoulders, shoulders, and more shoulders!

    Knowing weeks in advance that I had the Q today I tried to plan my workouts accordingly.  I have been having some annoying sharp pain in my knee over the past few months that only bothers me when I run.  So, I thought today would be a good day to work on some upper body…particularly the shoulders!  A short disclaimer at 5:30 and we were off!
    Mosey to grassy area right off of the track
    SSH x 20/PETER PARKER x 20/PARKER PETERx 20/MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS x 20
    Mosey to row bars – 4 groups
    ROWS were the count x 20/MERKIN/WIDE MERKINS/DIAMOND MERKINS (Thought we might get in two sets of these but after the first round decided against it!)
    Mosey to cinder blocks – 56’s
    (Increasing reps starting at 5 count all the way up to 11 count for a total of 56 reps per exercise – run/walk to next light in between sets)
    BURPEE PRESSES (There was lots of moaning and groaning about this one!)
    CURLS
    KETTLE BELL SWINGS
    SHOULDER PRESSES
    Return cinder blocks and mosey back to the flag (Not enough time left for Mary!)
    Count off, Name-o-rama, announcements, and a prayer to lift up the family of Darth Visor.
    Thankful for F3 and the opportunity to lead!  Until next time…
    Saban, Reluctant Yankee, Seaman, Bartman, Tube Steak, Landing Strip, Gabrielle, Sandbar, Moriah, Jadeveon, Roots, Nip Tuck, Schlitz, and one other?
  • Round Robin Q at the Marsh

    With no one signed up on the Q Sheet, the Men at the Marsh huddled up and called an audible to a round robin Q to start the week off.  It was a true team effort!  And, apparently, unlike Saturday, there were no celebrities posting at the Marsh. However, there was some chatter about New Orleans’ most famous celebrity, Drew Brees.  Here’s to hoping Drew Brees’ record breaking evening goes as smoothly and as well orchestrated as our Round Robin Q on this Gloom.

    Warmup w/ me, the Pik, the Waterpik.

    SSH, WM, HK, BK, Arm Circles.  All IC, to 10.  It may have been 15, but who’s counting?

    Let’s get the party started:

    35 Merkins OYO

    Bear Crawl from one end of the court to the other.

    Back pedal from one end of court to the other.

    Bear Crawl again.

    Last, run 2 line drills.

    Next Up to Q was the Pelican.

    His idea…Mosey to the Lakefront, to Rips in particular for some Calf Raises.

    Each man does 5 Calf Raises on each step to the top, then jog back down the other side.

    Next, each man does one leg Calf Raises (3) up the steps, alternating feet along the way.  Jog down the other side.

    10 Derkins, then

    Mosey to seawall for some Freak Nasties, 20 IC.

    With 15 minutes left, Coconuts gets his turn to play Q for the day.

    Mosey back to Marsh for some SERIOUS WORK!

    Circle up at center court. Time’s almost up.

    Set of 30, broken into 3 individual, continuous exercises:

    10 high jumps (try to bring knees to chest), 10 squat jumps, 10 squats.  Rest for 1 minute, then rinse and repeat.

    Core Work/ Mary:

    20 Rower sit-ups OYO

    20 Freddy Mercuries IC

    Plank for 1 minute.

    Down Dog, then Geico (Lizard Pose), each side.

    COT, and Coconuts prayed us out.

    See yall in the Gloom! Go Saints!  Drew Brees is the Man!

     

     

     

     

  • No counting before 6am.

    Started with a jog a block uptown down St. Charles and back across the street, and circled up in front of Tulane… and then things went down hill.

    This was my second time Qing–and my first go at it was a year ago, so I probably should have prepared a bit more than I did.  In any case, I had just rolled out of bed and my wheels weren’t yet spinning, and I totally botched the count on the first exercise: side, straddle, hop.  So there the whole group was counting along and exercising away, without my count.  I pulled it together by around 12 side, straddle, hops and we rolled on from there.  The rest of the warm-up included: imperial walkers, squats, mountain climbers, etc.

    Then, we moseyed over to the corner of Loyola, at St. Charles and Calhoun.  We did two rotations of four stations on each grassy landing: merkins, burpies, russian twists, and crab cakes.

    This was followed by a sprint on your own down Calhoun to Freret, where we turned to the parking lot on Freret.  After doing some modified Nolan Ryans (specifically, Captain Morgans) while the six arrived, we broke into two lines and did Indian runs to the top.

    At the top of the lot we broke into pairs, with one partner exercising while the other ran down and back up the stairs.  The exercises included 50 burpies, 150 lunges, and 250 LBCs.

    Then, it was back through Loyola’s campus to the flag.

     

  • A Stroll Down Route 66

    One of my favorite Saturday beat downs was a Route 66 down Esplanade Avenue lead by #Side FX a couple years ago. I am not a very original man, and I like to borrow work-outs from previous ones that I have enjoyed. And it’s fun to get off campus. So I revived the annual #Side FX Route 66. 23 strong men arrived at 0630 on this beautiful Saturday morning. The usual disclaimer and off we go.

    We moseyed to the green lawn on the side of NOMA for the warm-up COP.
    SSH x 24 IC, representing Notre Dame’s opponent for the day, the #24 Virginia Tech Hokies
    — at which time we realized that #Hokie Pokey was noticeably absent
    6 Burpees OYO, giving strength and support to the #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Onward to Victory
    Imperial Walkers x 20 IC
    Peter Parkers x 20 IC
    Windmills x 10 IC
    Arm Circles 10 Forward, 10 Backwards IC
    Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

    Mosey to the NOMA fountain to grab some bench.
    Left leg power-ups x 20 IC
    Dips x 15 IC
    Right leg power-ups x 20 IC
    Dips x 15 IC

    Then mosey over to the lamp posts on Lelong Drive in front of NOMA. Let the Route 66 begin.
    Stop at each lamp post for Merkins, start at 5 Merkins and increase 1 at each lamp post, ending at 14 Merkins.
    I think that makes 95 Merkins total.

    Circle up for some Mary.
    LBC’s x 20 IC
    Flutter kicks x 20 IC
    Penguins x 20 IC
    Hello Dolly x 20 IC

    Mosey off campus out of City Park to continue the Route 66 down Esplanade Avenue. It’s always nice to take in the sights on Esplanade Avenue as the sun is coming up. It even reminded some of the Grow Ruck. We stop at each lamp post for 10 squats. I don’t know how many lamp posts we stopped at. It felt like a lot. Continue on to Alcee Fortier Park, aka Dog Poo Park by Café Degas.

    Circle up for more Mary.
    Box Cutters x 20 IC
    Dying Cockroach x 20 IC
    Leg Lifts x 20 IC
    Crunchy Frog x 10 IC

    Back down Esplanade for more Route 66, heading back to City Park.
    Stop at each lamp post for 6 Jump Lunges.

    Once safely back inside City Park, we circle up for more Merkins.
    Left leg crossover Merkins x 10 IC
    Monkey Humpers x 20 IC
    Right leg crossover Merkins x 10 IC

    Route 66 back down Lelong Drive to NOMA.
    10 Plank Jacks at each lamp post.

    Circle up at the NOMA Fountain. Grab some bench.
    Incline Merkins x 10 IC
    10 Box Jumps OYO
    Decline Merkins x 10 IC
    Then 5 minutes to stretch the hamstrings.

    Mosey back to the flag. Count off, Name-o-rama, named our FNG Gyro (pronounced JI-RO) since he grew up in NOLA next to the Greek Orthodox church, announcements, special intentions, and a prayer. I love the ol’ Route 66. We miss ya #Side FX.
    Thanks to FracSac for the picture! And thanks for allowing me to lead!
    Oh, and the Irish beat the Hokies 45-23, in case you missed it.

    Walleye

  • F3 coupons never expire!!!

    It was awesome to Q again after being out of the game for 3 months with an ankle injury. Memo to self, playing your 15 year old son in a game of basketball can sometimes lead to injury!!!!! In an attempt to not disappoint, I brought some coupons out to the beat down that some of the pacs have not seen yet. Let’s get to it.

    Warmarama:

    Seal Jacks – 20 IC, IW’s – 20 IC, High Knees – 20 IC, Butt Kicks – 20 IC, Happy Jacks: 5 SS Hops IC, 2 Burpees OYO- Rinse and Repeat 5 times, Merkins – 10 IC, MCs- 10 IC, Plank Jacks- 10 IC

    Mosey…….

    Bearpees:

    Pacs line up in front of cones spaces 5 yards apart. Pacs bear crawl to first cone -do 1 Burpee, Bear crawl to second cone- do 2 Burpees, Bear crawl to third cone – do 3 Burpees, sprint back to first cone. Rinse and repeat three times.

    Indian Lunge Walk:

    Pacs form into two single file lines. Pac in the back of the line lunge walks to the front of the line. When that pac gets to the front of the line, last pac in line starts lunge walking. While pacs are  lunge walking, all other pacs are doing slow squats IC. The pac in the front of the line is keeping the cadence.  Rinse and repeat until both lines of pacs completed 100 slow squats.

    Each pac teams up with a partner. Everyone lines up against the sea wall. Pac 1 holds an AL GORE. Pac 2 sprints to the street and back, roughly 100 yards total. Pacs switch spots when Pac 2 returns to sea wall from sprint. Rinse and repeat unitl each pac completes two sprints.

    Bucket Challenge

    Coupon Time. Pacs split into two teams. Each time lines up, and takes the plank position. On GO, pac one from each team takes a football and attempts a 15 yard throw into a garbage can placed on a blanket. If you make it in the bucket, grab football, put it back in starting spot, and next pac on your team goes. If you hit the bucket or blanket, you grab football, put it back in starting spot, and complete 2 burpees before next pac can go. If you miss the bucket and blanket completely, not only should you not quit your day job, but you must complete 4 burpees after you get the ball before your next teammate can go. With any competition, there is a winner and a loser. The loser of this contest had to line up on the sea wall and skip to the street and back, holding hands, and singing a song picked by the winning team. The first song chosen was when the Saints Go Marching In. The second song was Ring Around the Rosey. The Bucket Challenge was done three times. The third time, we reduced the throw to ten yards, and changed the penalty exercise to 5 and 10 merkins. Since I was the Q and on the losing team on the last challenge, I changed the penalty exercise to bear crawls and sprints. It pays to be the Q, so if you have not Q’d yet, JUST DO IT!!!

    All Pacs line up on sea wall, 10 Left Leg Step Ups IC, 10 Right Leg Step Ups IC, 10 Derkins IC. Rinse and repeat three times. Increase step ups for each leg by 5 reps on each set.

    Mosey back to home base for some MARY….

    10 LBCs IC, 10 Flutter Kicks IC, 10 Freddie Mercuries IC, 1o Putins IC- Rinse and Repeat this 3 times, increase reps for each exercise by 5 reps every time you complete a set.

    Circle of Trust, Ocho prayed us out! That’s Right, I said OCHO!! Kudos to Zoo Lander for doing an EH to get our local celebrity back out in the gloom!!!