Warmarama
26 Side straddle hops
The Thang
Start off with 50 Merkins
20 times up and down stairs
35 Merkins
20 times up and down stairs
15 Merkins
26 times up and down stairs
Water break
20 times up and down stairs
Total 100 Merkins
86 times up & down stairs
Equaling 110 floors
Or 2071 steps
Complete in approximately 50 min.
COT
By: Money Cat
The Scene: The Knoll
Conditions: Sunny (longing for arctic air in June.)
The men of F3 Baton Rouge gathered together in a circle. A voice spoke up, “who’s going to Q?” Immediately the men’s eyes darted skyward and downward. A look so reminiscent from childhood as if their mother’s caught them with their hands in the cookie jar. You could cut the fog of silence with a dull butter knife like Scooby-Doo did in his weekly cartoon. A lone wolf could be howling out on the football field. Suddenly, Fastball spoke up…”I’ll do it!” And thus was born the Ballad of Fastball.
Welcome: 11 men posted.
Disclaimer:
After the disclaimer Fastball informed the men this was his last week in F3. He explained his job with Home Depot ( cue Home Depot music ) will take him out of town for 2 weeks and after that he’ll be home to help family pack up and make the move to Georgia. This sudden news caught the men by surprise. We knew Fastball would be leaving us soon, but not this soon! The men began loudly weeping and tearing their shirts!!! Runners near us stopped in their tracks, cupped their hands to their ears and headed back in the direction they came. Thankfully someone made a joke about all of us receiving Home Depot gifts (free orange aprons) Fastball would send back to us. Aprons are nice for making lemon zest bundt cakes but I believe many of the men secretly longed for one thing and one thing only…power tools and bandoleer’s filled with beef jerky (GRUNT!) (GRUNT!) (GRUNT!)
Warm-a-Rama:
We mosey’d around the track once and cut into the middle for warm ups.
Jumping Jack’s, arm circles-forward and backward, goof-balls, Bobby Hurley’s were all done in cadence.
Merkins and burpee’s were done on our own in a count of 10.
The Money Cat was breathing heavily when Fastball gave the order to mosey to the football field.
The Thang:
Out on the football field Fastball explained the routine.
After each man lost 5 pounds of sweat on the field, Fastball told us to mosey to the sundial for more back breaking exercises.
At the sundial many F3 men planked while waiting for Worms and Money Cat who was ripely turning into a Smelly Cat. The next group of exercises started at 25 and decreased at increments of five. There were two sets: merkins and dips. The Money Cat was running on his 7th life and ready to give up his 8th when the tiny twinkling stars appeared in his eyes. He began pawing at them like a real cat would and was meowing loudly. Money Cat realized it would be best to lie down on the concrete bench and perform standard flapping motions with his arms. The amusement was seen by all but just like the Honey Badger…..Money Cat don’t care!
Fastball gave the order to mosey to the pavilion for some warm tepid water. At the pavilion Fastball noticed Money Cat hiding in the slender shadow of a pole. Fastball asked him if he was ok. Money Cat gave him a thumbs up as he figured it would be impolite to give him the middle finger of friendship. Fastball yelled out, “hey gang….lets go have a groovy time across the street on the baseball field” or at least that’s what I think I heard??? The Money Cat realized he needed water. He lumbered to the Catmobile and secured his iced cup of H2O. He and worms made it over to the ball field where the guys partnered up. Half the guys ran around poles out in the outfield and the other guys did grunting exercises. Money Cat couldn’t see what the exercises were because his concentration was on the clear frosty water cascading down his throat providing well needed relief to his thirsty soul. Not excited to pass on a raging case of cooties to the other men…Money Cat drank alone.
The guys made it back to finish up with Mary’s at the Pavillion. Not wanting to have all the “Q” glory to himself, Fastball started the first set but called out F3 names to lead a Mary. The called on dudes did as they were told and there was great splendor in the grass……well, not the 1961 dramatic romance movie staring Natalie Wood type of splendor in the grass. That…would…just…be…wrong…..
Count-o-Rama
Name-o-Rama
Circle-o-Rama
***TISSUE ALERT***
All of us F3 dudes are going to miss Fastball saying, “I’ll go ahead and Q, but you guys are going to hate me!” We are going to miss the pain our F3 brother put us through. I recall being partnered up with Fastball when he used baseball seasons’ opening day as his theme. When we ran the foul poles 5X’s in the outfield…I thought I was gonna die!!! But I didn’t and if I had…the Money Cat has 8 more lives to give. I went back to read all the back blasts that he led on those early Saturday mornings. Reading these memories are good for the soul! It reminds me what I was and where I’m headed. I believe I speak for all of us F3 guys that Josh Black aka FASTBALL lives the F3 Credo: leave no man behind, but leave no man where you find him. Fastball, you have left your mark on F3 Baton Rouge -The Knoll and The Colosseum. We all thank yeaux for molding us into better and thinner men. We know you’ll leave your mark with more guys where ever the Lord leads you.
Friends – Michael W. Smith
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord’s the Lord of them.
And a friend will not say never
‘Cause the welcome will not end.
Though it’s hard to let you go
In the Father’s hands we know.
That a lifetime’s not too long
To live as friends.
7 PAX gathered around 2 flags, enjoying the bright morning skies. “I need some shades” commented Da Parish.
Wisner bridge remains closed off, though the walkways look like they are nearing completion. Soon we’ll be able to add that route to the regular routes. But instead, since Rudy wants some mileage (gearing up for Gnarly Gnutria) – we’ll do the usual Bayou St. John out-and-back route. Be back at 6:10 for Mary.
The Thang
Out and back along Bayou St. John. Typical June sweat-fest. Enjoyed a great outbound run with Triple Shift, always a pleasure to feed off of his energy. Home Schoolers are well served by having such a passionate advocate on their behalf. Keep Pushing!
The Finish
6:10 – finish up with some Mary, everyone join in as they return.
Circle up for count-off, name-o-rama, announcements and intentions. FracSac seemed to casually keep moving to the side of the circle opposite YHC (who, having noticed this behavior, kept casually crossing the circle to stand next to FracSac. Is it my sweat?)
Finish off with prayers for guidance and wisdom, to use the glorious gift of Today in service of Your wishes.
So as 23 PAX gathered in the short-lived gloom, YHC reminded everyone that this month’s ISI challenge is 10,000 Merkins in one month. Quite the task as that equates to an average of 333.33 merkins/day for those who are mathematically challenged. Merkins were promised and as you will soon see, Merkins were delivered. After the standard disclaimer, we were off!
Mosey around entrance to Golf Club and then to front of bandstand for Warm Up:
Then short Mosey to Oak Alley for Red Barchetta (went deep in Exicon for this one). Apparently it’s supposed to get your heart racing like a “Rush song”.
I agree the routine got the heart racing, but even though I’m a fan of Red Barchetta, I think this Rush song seems more appropriate:
Here’s to all you Working Men! Or is it Working #HIM? BTW, where’s all the merkins? That’s only 35 including the burpees…
Next Mosey to Kickball Field for Merkin Ladder. There they are!!!
Quite a bit of mumblechatter during this routine. I even think I heard some comment about t-rex arms that help some of the PAX do push-ups faster… All I got to say is sometimes it’s good to be short…or short-armed.
Next mosey to shelter for
Next mosey to right outside shelter for
Mary
Mosey to Flag for Count-Off, Name-o-rama, Intentions and Prayer. PAX, don’t forget about NOTC 2-miler this Wednesday. Should be some good F2 and recruiting opportunities.
So, for those counting, that’s 320 merkins to get your ISI Challenge day started. Keep ‘em coming and Go Team Gabrielle!
Thanks for letting me lead.
Lovely Monday morning at Rock City: cool crisp 80 degree air, with 90% humidity. Great way to start the week. Pulling up to the park, I see the train on the tracks – is this going to be a repeat of last week? Momentary panic sets in – but moments later, the gates are going up, and the line of traffic (4 F3 cars, and 2 who wish they could do F3, but instead peeled off towards Airline Hwy) crossed the tracks.
Circling up, we welcomed back Rev Sox from his mission trip. I want to hear more about the Rabbi with the gun…. Then the disclaimer, and we were off.
The Warmup
Plank-o-rama:
Grab a rock. Times have changed at Rock City. Used to be “Grab a rock” was the sole command. Now the PAX respond with all sorts of questions – “How big of a rock? Where are we going? WHAT SHOULD I DO?” YHC responded to the plaintive wailings with the answer “Grab a rock”.
Mosey to the tree line.
The Thang
YHC wanted to mix in a history lesson. And June 4th had lots to choose from. But, no good themed exercises jumped to mind. So YHC was left with merely calling out a few historical tidbits as we went. June 4th, 1940: The British and French complete the Dunkirk withdrawal.
11s. With Rocks. And Pit Stops.
Burpees on the starting side. Low Slow Squats on the other side of the field. There were some bases in the middle of the field – convenient markers. Each time we pass the base, rock exercise! 11 Press each time in one direction, 11 Curls each time in the other direction. Hawg kicked off his flip-flop sandals, and the PAX were off.
55 Burpees, 55 LSS (con rocca), 110 Presses, 110 Curls. #Tclaps to Mahatma who finished far enough ahead that he went out for one more back-and-forth. Then plank and hold. Mambi gives us a 10 count (no, just *count* to 10. You don’t have to do Merkins)
As Bogey said afterwards “Well, that was a time killer”.
The Thang, Part 2
Partner Up. Its Merkin Challenge in the ISI, so YHC thought he’d help the PAX along.
June 4th 1989: Solidarity is declared the winner of the first “free” elections in Poland post-Cold War.
Mosey back to deposit your rock (carry it overhead!) Then mosey back to the flag
Mary
June 4th, 1919: Congress passes the 19th Amendment – sending Women’s Suffrage to the states for voting.
Then YHC decided to try something new: the Dolly Ladder (I dunno, but I guess this name works). DONT PUT YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND.
Circle up for Countoff, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, and close with our prayers. Today’s Gospel – from Mark: the story of the tenants who tend the land for the vineyard owner, who kill his son when he is sent to collect fees. While it is easy to see them as evil and cruel when reading, can we see ourselves in them? Each of us sins against our neighbors. Help us to see ourselves in those evil tenants, see ourselves when we are less than we can be. Help us to see where we fail, so we can continue to strive to be better people, better followers of Your Word.
Leading 20+ men on Saturday beat-down is a tall order, so Your Humble Correspondent (YHC) needed to prepare. On the afternoon before the workout, my 9-year-old son and I took I bike ride to City Park to survey any hidden corners typically overlooked during Mothership workouts. Whenever the Pax moseys from the flag to the museum of art, the little hill of a bridge just after Morning Call is a nice little challenge, especially because we don’t have hills in New Orleans. But there’s too much traffic along that road to do a workout on. On my bike, YHC spied those foot bridges over the lagoon behind Morning Call and thought it might be a good spot to try something new. (At least, YHC hasn’t worked out there before.)
YHC showed up a few minutes before the workout was to begin, and there was already a healthy crowd there. A few stragglers joined in as the PAX moseyed to the Great Lawn. Let’s get started:
Warm ups
To the bridges
We did a Dora 123 where one partner runs over one bridge and returns over the second with some nice steps to climb up. Taps out and the other partner does the circuit. A combined exercise of:
To NOMA
After a moment of hydration at the museum, we partnered up again at the main fountain.
One partner bunny-hopped up the stairs, while the other partner did:
…partners switching each time between bunny-hops and the exercises at the fountain. When we were done, rinse and repeat.
At the trees
Short mosey to the field with the line of trees in front of NOMA.
Mosey back to the Great Lawn
Time for some Mary
Times up! Back to the flag for name-a-rama where we named two FNGs: Calliope and Mary Lou. (Mary Lou’s leaving town anyway, so a silly name won’t haunt him for long.) Announcements, a prayer, and then some camaraderie at Morning Call.
As a late entry to this month’s team edition ISI, there was a need to start strong. Though truth be told, I had been eying this beat down for a few weeks now.
WARM UP
20xs IC:
Windmills
Imperial Walkers
THANG
Deck O Death merkin style – J-11, Q-12, K-13, A-14
416 merks in da books
Round 2 – LBCs – no count kept, but we only made it through about 1/3 of the deck.
Grundy is still getting hate
Shooter put Lake Cooley on da map
and now we know why Steve is an out of work hair dresser
Thanks to the Editor-and-Chief for praying us out
GO TEAM EI!
To recognize JR Smith’s collapse during the first game of the NBA Finals, I decided to work a basketball theme into the beatdown this past Saturday morning. Before we get that started, let’s get warmed up.
Warmarama: Happy Jacks- 5 SS IC- 2 Squat Jumps: Rinse and Repeat 5 times, IWs- 20IC, Seal Jacks – 21 Style: Complete 21 Seal Jacks IC- First 5 are counted out loud, the next 16 are done in silence. All pacs have to finish at the same time in order to avoid penalty exercise. We were close, but no cigar. All pacs had to do 10 burpees. High Kness – 20IC, Butt Kicks – 20IC…….Mosey to Lamarque
BLIMPS: 5 Burpess, 10 Lunges (each leg), 15 IWs, 20 Merkins, 25 Plank Jacks, 30 Squats- Rinse and Repeat Twice
Mosey to the Milestone Marsh – Roughy a 1/2 mile run. Goal was for all pacs to get there in 5 minutes. Goal accomplished.
JR Smtih VS The World
Pacs divide into two teams and line up on opposite ends of the court facing midcourt. All pacs assume the Al Gore position. On Go, first pac of each group runs to mid court and grabs one of two basketballs and attempts free throw shot on their goal. If you make it, put ball back in basket and tag next partner. If you miss it, complete 5 burpees before tagging next partner. The team that finishes first wins, and avoids the penalty exercise of a suicide.
Rinse and repeat this game two more times, but with different shots and different exericses while shots are being taken. Second shot was a NBA three, measured out before hand at 23.75 feet. It’s a lot further than it looks on TV. All pacs held plank position during this shot. Third shot was in honor of our former Pelican, JR Smith, a layup. Everyone did flutter kicks.
Barely legal’s team one the competition once. THE Manny’s team brought it home twice. Good job guys.
Mary: Circled up around half court for some Mary. 25 LBC’s-IC, 25 Freddie Mercuries-IC, 25 Russian Twists – IC, 25 Straight Leg Lifts – IC
Circle of Merk: All Pacs stay circled up around mid-court. We assume the plank position. Going clockwise, each pac does one merkin while the other hold the planc position. We rinse and repeat this until we get to 100 merkins.
Long mosey back to the flag. Goal was to get back to flag in 7 minutes. I think everyone but yours truly made it back that in that time.
T-claps to Butt Splice for praying us out. A-wall not only made it back to the Mother Ship, but he brought a FNG with him. Welcome abourd Half Pipe
At 05:30 YHC gave the disclaimer and we were off. A quick mosey over to Touchdown Jesus for the warmup:
SSH x 51 IC
Mosey to WPM for an Indian Run to the top. Quick round of Mary:
LBC’s x 51 IC
Mosey down one level to the base of the ramp for everyone’s favorite… Bearpees!! That’s right. Work your way back up the ramp via bear crawls and Burpees. 4 count bear crawl followed by 1 burpee, then 8 count bear crawl followed by 2 burpees…. finishing w 40/10. Plank for the six at the top. Not much mumblechattet during this smoke fest.
We took a breather w some Mary:
Hello Dolly, Dying Cockroach, LBT, Real Freddie x 21 IC
Mosey down the stairs to the benches: Dips, LLSU, Incline Merkins, RLSU x 15 IC
Mosey back to TD Jesus for Low Slow Squats x 25
Back to the flag for plankorama and 10 Burpees to seal the deal.
COT w shoutout by YHC.
T Claps to the pax for sucking it up!
Remember to sign up for your chance to Q at this fine AO.
Let me know if I missed any pax above. A little foggy post workout. Thanks RY for the recap.
Good Times!
Roots
This year the first Friday of the month has been RED Friday at The Uptowner. I have to give credit to F3 Greenwood. I stole their idea and sometimes steal their workouts. Today we celebrated the life and service of Sgt. Thomas MacPherson. More on him in the NMM.
Conditions: 81 degrees and 91% Humidity (Heat Index of 89 in the gloom)
Equipment: Rocks Ranging from 30 – 50 pounds
Warm-up: SSH x 31: IW x 31; Abe Vigodas x 10; Good Mornings x 10; Moroccan Night Club x 31; Self-love x 10; Copperhead Squats x 10
The Tommy Mac uses 5 different lifts, so we practiced a few with the rocks. These lifts actually require a barbell, so we made some slight modifications in order to perform them
The Thang
We went AMRAP. I believe everyone completed 2 rounds in 28 minutes, some started a 3rd before time was up.
NMM
Today’s workout was in honor of Thomas MacPherson. Sgt. Thomas R. MacPherson, 26, was killed in action on October 12, 2012 by enemy forces during a heavy firefight while conducting combat operations in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. He was leading an assault against an enemy position when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire.
MacPherson was a team leader assigned to Company D, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. He previously served one deployment to Iraq and this was his fourth deployment to Afghanistan.
The “Tommy Mac” Hero WOD was created by elite-level coach Rudy Nielsen of CrossFit Outlaw (Alexandria, VA, USA), who first posted the workout on his “The Outlaw Way” blog as the workout of the day for October 27, 2012. The post included the following quote from Tommy’s former Platoon Leader:
“The whole thing with Tommy is that he embodies everything that’s right about Ranger Battalion. He held the position of Ranger Team Leader which is literally the tip of the spear. He was the consummate, quiet professional—he expected absolutely zero recognition for what he did. He loved his job because he was a born protector. He was perfectly content to carry out his life’s work under the cover of darkness, with his and his comrades’ actions to remain forever under the cloak of shadows. He died doing what he loved; protecting all of us. What stood out about Tommy the most was his maturity beyond his years. I believe it was the fact that he was the older brother of younger siblings, but like another Sgt. said “Tommy wasn’t one of those guys who joined the Army and grew into a man. He joined as a man and grew others.” He left behind his beautiful wife wife, Claudia MacPherson, and their son, Brayden.”
Lagniappe
