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
We all come to F3 as individuals, men with our own past and our own unique stories. But we all share one very similar story, which is the story of our first post to an F3 beatdown. This story usually involves a little fear, a lot of pain, and in some cases, a splash of merlot. My story took place at Grandmother’s House (before it had a name), and I can be honest and say it was filled with trepidation: Will I be able to make it through this? What if I don’t like some of these guys? Are they going to ask me to lead part of it? And why the heck am I up so damn early???
Everyone knows how the story goes – YHC was accepted but quickly pushed to be a better man in all aspects. That impact – an effect felt on all F3 brothers – is what we came together to celebrate on the Lakefront today. F3 has now been thriving and changing men on the Northshore for three years now.
A few lucky Southshore men arrived early, unaware they’d get roped into a 2 mile pre-thang. Back at the flags (four flags this morning), YHC gave a quick welcome and disclaimer, and we got this thing started:
Warmorama:
Three years, three sets of 8-count bodybuilders. Founding year 2016, so 16 reps of each. Sprinkled some standard warm-ups in between:
8-count bodybuilders x16 IC
SSH, IW’s x20 IC
8-count bodybuilders x16 IC
Toe Touches, Windmills x20 IC
8-count bodybuilders x16 IC
The Thang:
3 Stations for 3 Years: Every Man Leads
Leadership is one of the skills F3 hones that YHC is most thankful for. It’s also the thing YHC was most uncomfortable with those first few weeks. These stations were meant to honor the leadership impact that F3 spreads.
The PAX was split into three groups, with three leaders picked for an impromptu lead at each station. The leader got two minutes to come up with a routine while the rest of the PAX circled up for Peter Parkers x15 IC, Shoulder Taps x15 IC, and Merkins x15 OYO.
If memory serves, here’s what each leader had us performing:
Squats x10 IC, Jane Fondas x10 IC (each leg), Lunges x10 IC, Monkey Humpers x10 IC.
Station 3: West Swingset Pad, led by Russo
Little Manny Crunches x10 IC, Six-Inch Exercise x10 IC, Crunchy Frogs x10 IC. (Pretty sure there was something else in there….)
Mental and Physical Toughness with Fracsac
Next up, the baton was passed to Fracsac for a little taste of the Southshore. He told us of his recent Spartan Race with Triple Shift, how challenging it was, and how F3 had prepared him both mentally and physically. So this next pearl would exemplify both.
The physical part was an Indian Run (PAX split into 2 groups), where the man sprinting to the front would yell out an exercise, the PAX would quickly disperse and perform 5 of said exercise (burpees, jump squats, derkins, one-armed merkins, to name a few) before getting back in line and continuing the run. Halfway through we were stopped for the mental exercise: perform 21 SSH’s, with only the first 10 called out in cadence. If one man fails to halt at exactly 21, there was a penalty of 30 burpees. After some mumble chatter about who’s cadence was the correct cadence, we all performed the penalty burpees. The Indian run then headed in the opposite direction, with the same mental exercise waiting at the end of the line – this time 17 SSH and only 6 called in cadence. Another failure and another 20 burpees were in order.
Team Races: Pushing Each Other Forward
YHC took the final pearl with some competitive team exercises. This section was cut short due to time, so we did one quick hopscotch race: the original three teams lined up in plank position, with the last man rising to bunny hop over the rest of his team, and then drop back into plank position. Teams finished once their last man crossed the finish line – the infamous lakefront shaft.
The two losing teams would need to do a penalty exercise, but the true winning team would never be known because there were some last-second shenanigans on all three teams as they neared the finish line. So we all performed the penalty together: the 8-count exercise known as Absolution.
Mosey back to the flag, where Shooter led a very abbreviated Mary of planking before we called it.
COT: Count-o-rama, name-o-rama, naming of an FNG (welcome Stockboy!) and Triple Shift led us in a prayer of thanks.
Coffetería brought out a few of our injured brothers, with Butt Splice, The Manny, and Tanked Up joining us. T-claps to our Southshore brothers for making it across the pond to make this a true convergence, it wouldn’t be the same without you guys. And t-claps to all the guys who led today, it’s an honor to work beside you men. SYITG.
Showed up at 6:45 and no one else showed until 7:10. By that time I’d already made a deal with Dennis that I might just work out with them this morning. Dennis and his group have been meeting near us at the Knoll doing their exercise routine. Shangeaux’s daughter sometimes works out with them. We all greet each other every Saturday and enjoy his dogs that get so excited when the run or when the stop running.
Then Big Easy showed up and then Banjo and then about 8:00 Shangeaux miraculously found us way out in the far east end of the park where we’ve never been, and stayed the course with us.
Since our group was small we just decided to work out with Dennis, Paul and Gerald and of course Dennis’ 3 dogs, today. Dennis seems to be their exercise leader. Since I had asked to join him I opted to let him lead his group and we would just try to go with his lead. He moseyed us all northward on the walkway toward the bridge where we store all our coupons in the creek. We crossed the bridge and went NE towards the tennis courts. There we did a variety of lunges and skips, both sideways and forward and then backwards. We did Kariokes back and forth from the big oak tree to the concrete pad with the water stub up. We eventually ran all the way to the building to the East with the water faucets, near the playground equipment. Rested there a minute. Then walked from their to a place at the far East edge of the park, beyond the soccer field. From there we did a variety of relay runs from a point on the trail to the south near a green carpeted exercise spot about 10×8 feet. Did a variety of exercises on that green mat. Then did more relay runs back and forth along that eastern end of the running trail, which is also very near Highland Road. Ended with a full tilt run from the a point along the creek to the nearest picnic table pavilion which is about ¼ mile away. We then all walked back to the parking lot pavilion. We did not have our usual COT or namarama since we really just joined their group for the morning.
Gleeful that LSU Hoopsters made it to the Sweet 16, and enjoying some Brand Spanking New F3 Baton Rouge workout shirts, we posted at The Knoll and made the rounds of our favorite workout stations….
INTRO The Q gave the usual disclaimers: I’m not a professional trainer, I’m not bonded or insured, and I rarely arrive on time (so thanks for starting without me!)
WARM-O-RAMA
Mosey to the sundial (where we were joined by the tardy Q!)
SSH
Arm Circles x2
Windmills
Toy Soldier
(Getting our hammies all nice and loose)
THE THANG
Freak Nasty & Incline Merkin (gettin nice guns to treat the women in our lives)
Lunge A Thon across the front field. (Can you ever do too many lunges?)
Mosey to the top of the hill (snaking the Long Way around!)
Partner up – one runs down and up, the other does Squat Thrusts – to a total of 40 Squat Thrusts. (a routine we’ve missed for awhile!)
Mosey to nearby picnic benches – a new spot for us.
Follow the Leader over the tables and around.
Incline merkins
Mosey to pullup bars (now for some biceps)
Partner up – 30 pullups between the 2 of you
Mosey to stairs
Calf raises: 25 heels out, 25 regular, 25 heels in (hoping your coworkers notice your limp on Monday)
Draw Cards from the F3 Card Deck, to fill in the rest of the time….. and Lady Luck drew us some
Plank Jacks (no strong consensus on which muscle this works, but we were all out of breath either way)
Shoulder Taps (the rocking motion is the key)
6-MOM: Taking Turns to Lead
Leg lifts
Rock the Cradle
LBCs
Penguins
Jane Fondas
American Hammer
COT: The Serenity Prayer, and intentions for safe travels
Conditions: Early. Cool. Breezy. Gloomy like we were on the set of the movie The Fog.
We took a photo early so we wouldn’t forget. Oh, look…a cast member from the movie The Fog joined us for the workout. Sadly, it couldn’t keep up with us and faded into the wind……….
Welcome
Disclaimer
Warm-a-Rama:
20 rep warmups at the shovel flag
Arm Circles Forward
Arm Circles Reverse
Squats
Several types of stretching so we wouldn’t blow our quads. I told the guys to just watch me and count in cadence.
Mosey……
1st Circle
I cannot recall what we did here but I hope to remember so I can type it out here but if I don’t then you have this fun sentence to read. Mosey to the sundial.
Sundial
Squats
Upcline Merkins
Mosey to the 2nd circle.
3rd Circle
Side Straddle Hops – 20
Side Straddle Punch – 20 *I made this one up. The foot motion is the same but the punch is out and in. Basically, we all looked pretty goofy doing this darn thing. It’s harder than you might think because it’s an imbalance in the mind.
Return to Shovel Flag
Arm Circles Forward Forward
Arm Circles Reverse Forward
Squat stance 20 count rep
Several types of stretching so we wouldn’t blow our quads. I told the guys to just watch me.
The Thang:
Grab milk jugs of H2O. Start walking. I did inform the guys for those that wanted to modify they could go ahead and mosey to each circle area but once they arrived the water jugs had to be lifted outstretched and hold the position till the six arrived. Of course the younger guys mosey’d and the season’d gentlemen walked.
Hammer Curls to 1st Circle
First Circle:
Squat with jugs held to chest #NotWhatYouThink- On your own
Hammer Curls to the Sundial
Sundial:
Butterfly’s on the wall – 30 count
Flutter kicks on the wall – 30 count
Water jug snatch – in squat position, pick up jug, raise above head, lower down and repeat with other arm – 30 count
Crunches on the wall – partner steps on feet while the other is crunching on the wall – 30 count
3rd Circle:
Hammer Curls to the 3rd circle. The season’d gentlemen decided to have fun with the younger guys and we slowed down our walking pace as we neared the 3rd circle.
More squats in 30 count and then held in squat position for a 30 count. I told the men I love the sound of groaning in the morning.
We all mosey’d to the shovel flag so we could release our hands from our jugs. #NotWhatYouThink
Mary:
Jane Fonda – 30 – No jugs were handled during this excercise.
5 men posted, Snack Pack stopped by to encourage us. Could not post due to hand surgery. Hats off for that act of kindness! Some men won’t get up to exercise at all and he comes all the way out to the AO just to shake our hands. Now thats a friend
Disclaimer: “I am
not a professional trainer”
Warm-a-Rama: 15 reps for all
SSH, Al Gore’s, Toy
Soldier, Arm Circles both ways, Wind Mills, then mosey around track to benches
for Freak Nasty and incline merkins. Moved to picnic tables for step ups. Warm up complete
The Thang:
From the Movie Full Metal Jacket “This is my rifle. There are many like it but
this one is mine. My rifle
is my best friend.” Well, lets just use
a rock from the creek!
This is MY ROCK! Time to mosey to the creek for some Jacob’s
Ladder. Each Pax selected their rock to
cuddle with for the remainder of the hour.
Started at bottom of the hill, only to sprint
to the top “with your rock”. At top we did set of merkins x 10 on our rock.
Sprint down the hill, careful not to drop the rock. At bottom, we did Peter
Parkers x10 then quickly gathered the rock for another sprint up the hill. Then
it was time for 5 burpees’, then another sprint to the bottom for a final set
of monkey humpers x 10. 20 second rest
count!
With you Rock! It was of on a mosey through
the park trail to the football field to continue the Thang. We paired up for relay. One team member sprinted to the 25 while the
other partner did merkins until they reached the 25-yard mark. Then that
partner sprinted to them and did merkins while they made it to the 50, then
repeated for 75- and 100-yard line. Rinse, repeat back the other way. 20 second rest count.
Moseyed back to creek still holding our rock
to carefully place them back for another day!
Moseyed back to flag for some Mary’s: Leg Lifts ¼ to full up position and down same
for x 10, Baby Crunches x 15, scissor kicks x 15, Jane Fonda’s left and right x
10, finished with American Hammer x15.
Count-o-Rama
Name-o-Rama
Prayers and request: asked for us to be
leaders in our family and workplace. Prayed for our F3 brothers that were not
able to be with us.
After prayer we discussed the need to reach
out to past participants, try to get them back out.
Conditions:41*, Overcast, and slightly wind. Park was rather abandoned…
8 Pax made it out of bed and posted! Where did the warm weather go from this week?
0700 – YHC was the only one not wearing a jacket…but of course he was the Q, so he knew how warm we’d be getting in our beatdown! He brought out a speaker…what would that be for?? The Pax would see.
The flag was flying better than ever with a nice steady wind. It was cold and rather depressing looking outside like the scene from an abandoned town. A few brave souls were jogging, but no cross-country meet was taking over the park.
No Disclaimer since there were no FNG’s…hopefully we’ll get some out next week.
Warm-a-Rama:
1 lap (opposite way as usual) around the “track.”
Finkle Swings x11
Goofball x16
Plank jacks x12
Smurf Straddle Hops x14
Seal jacks x20
Peter Parker x10
The Thang:
YHC pulled out his phone, connected it to the speaker, and played Thunderstruck. Pax were instructed to get in plank position and do a merkin every time they heard the word “Thunderstruck.” Backflip wanted to get even more buff, so he added merkins to the word thunder too. Some Pax joined in. A few minutes later, our arms were shaking, and we resented the ACDC artist for singing “Thunderstruck” so frequently at the end of the song.
YHC had mercy on the PAX and decided to let the next the next ACDC song play while we stretched. As “You shook me all night long” played, we stretched hamstrings, glutes, groin, hip flexors, calves, etc.
Backflip gave a recovery countdown while YHC put the stereo away… Pax played Frogger and moseyed across Highland road to the baseball field.
The scene was set…it was a baseball game that had 4 innings…
In inning one, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 7 runs, so we did 7 burpees at each base, moseying in between.
In inning two, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 14 runs, so we did 14 merkins at each base, moseying in between.
In inning three, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 21 runs, so we did 21 flutter kicks at each base, moseying in between.
In inning four, YHC announced that PAX had allowed 28 runs, so we did 28 Al Gores at each base, moseying in between.
70 runs allowed!
Yes, it was a fake game, but the workout was as real as it gets…Any team that bad would be deserving of the first-round draft pick!
Then Pax moseyed back across highland to the pav.
Partner exercise – one partner did a wall sit while the other ran to the pullup bars for 10 pullups, then ran to the sundial for 10 freak nasty’s and finally rounded the corner with 10 merkins at the last “base.” When your partner got to the sundial, the wall sitters added air presses as well. Dagwood showed his real speed, earning himself the gold medal…we all coveted Shangeaux who was paired with Dagwood and therefore had the shortest wall sit…good father/son combo.
Finally, we finished off by visiting the zoo with a duckwalk and bear crawl back across the path followed by a crab walk and frog hop back. Snack pack enjoyed the bear crawl the most since he was rocking his Baylor Bears gear.
Mary:
YHC grabbed a coupon from the car…
American Hammer – 5 each with the coupon, passing it around while the rest of the Pax did non-coupon hammers when it wasn’t their turn. 40 total. The overachiever once again was backflip who cadenced his 5 hammers making them 10.
LBC’s – same as hammers but with coupon held over the head.
Count-o-Rama
Name-o-Rama
COT/BOM:
Prayer requests:
Worms announced his daughter passed a retest at OT school that she had failed the first time…answer to prayer.
Backflip’s baby is due in April…now we see why he was overachieving (trying to avoid the dad-bod!)
YHC prayed… thanked God and lifted up baby backflip.
Most Pax left, a few went to lighthouse coffee house for fellowship afterward.
Ready for warmer weather…see you Wednesday at the Coliseum!
F3 Credo: Leave no man behind, but leave no
man where you find him.
Worms gave the standard disclaimer. Megadad disclaimed himself too. We’ve
got 3 Q’s today.
In celebration of the first Anniversary of the starting
of F3 Baton Rouge at Highland Road Park, called “The Knoll”. PAX from the
Coliseum and the Knoll came for a celebration of the first year of Men growing
in Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith, and the growth and success that F3 BR has
experienced during that time.
AO Flags was planted in the ground in the center of the big lawn. The
Detailed Disclaimer (“You can’t sue us”) was given by Worms, and off we moseyed
to the sundial for warmup and getting stronger.
The Beat-down was divided into 3 segments, each with a
different Q taking an opportunity to lead.
After a quick mosey to the sundial we circled up for the
a warm up.
WARM UP by Worms
15 – Worlds Slowest, Rigor mortis Side Straddle Hops
5 – 6-Count SPRAWL Burpees (instead of a merkin we do a
sprawl instead)
10 – Imperial Walker Squats. Stand in squat
position. (Do mock situps while in the
squated position)
10 – Abe Vigoda A variation on the Windmill, which is performed
much more slowly and with more stretching (aka “Old Man Style”).
10 – Arm Circles – Fwd & Rev
10 – Plank Jacks.
Side straddle hops but hands go together in front, not above our heads
10 – Peter Parkers. Like mountain climber but legs go out
to each side, not straight behind
15 – Bear Crawl
Merkin. 4ct exercise. Start in bear crawl. 3 count crawl with the 4th step
being the merkin. Hands should be staggered during merkin and if done correctly
will result in each hand being staggered forward on opposing reps.
FLAG GAMES, this was fun. Equipment:
miscellaneous dish towels. One per man.
6 tennis balls and one 6” yellow nerf type ball.
Mosey over to lawn between sundial and parking lot around
the flag. All right men, if it was
warmer I’d ask everyone to take off our shirts.
Everyone was free to take off their sweat jackets and their shirts if
they wanted to but since it was 34F with a little ice on the ground all decided
they’d just use the dish towels brought by Worms. Everyone take a towel. Create a “Flag” by
tucking it in the back of your shorts.
2 Minute Flag Games – Your shirt is your
Flag, Don’t let it get pulled! Game is
similar to flag football except most of the rules are completely different.
Flag pulling is the only similarity. 4
parts to this game.
1st Round – Do 2
Knee-to-Chest Jumps every time your flag gets pulled, reload and continue
pulling flags after the knee-to-chest jumps.
2nd Round (x2) – Tennis Balls and a Nerf football were
added as additional “Ammo”. In addition
to Jumps for flag pulls, if you are hit with a tennis ball do 5 Merkins. Hit by the nerf ball do 5 Burpees. Reload flag and keep going after the penalty. Any balls found are fair game to use!
3rd Round (x2) – Same Rules as 2nd round, but no reload
of flag, perform penalty exercise, Plank and wait in place till end.
4th Round – Trophy Flags – Same rules as Round 3 but Flag
puller keeps and collects flags he pulls, Person with the most flags wins.
Backflip was the winner with 4 flags! Good work Backflip!
We’re all WINNERS because we showed up! Certainly no losers in this game.
Next time, set up a boundary area so the men don’t get
spaced apart so much. The close
proximity works much better than having infinite space.
The Q is then passed to Dagwood.
Dagwood Qs.
SUICIDES. Set up a long starting line for all to stand
on. Dagwood wisely uses 4 convenient trees as
markers.
Run to marker 1 and back 5 Burpees
Run backwards to marker 2 and back 5 Burpees
Run to marker 3 and back 5 Burpees
Run backwards to marker 4 and back 5 Burpees
Burpee Broad Jump to marker 1 and back
Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10
Run to marker 1 and back 5 Merkins
Run backwards to marker 2 and back 5 Merkins
Run to marker 3 and back 5 Merkins
Run backwards to marker 4 and back 5 Merkins
Worms takes time out to talk with our walk-on today,
Vance Barney, on the way to the suicides now in progress. He was there to do exercise all on his own at the
park today. He walked up at our starting time and struck up conversation. He
took us up on the invitation to join in. Wise young man. He had to leave before
our finish time so we didn’t get to name him properly, yet. He was a great addition
to our beat down and worked into all the activities like an F3 pro.
The Q was passed to Moneycat. and we moseyed back to the
flag in the middle of the lawn betwixt the sundial and parking lot.
CONVERGENCE CIRCUIT
8 stations had been designated around the perimeter of
the Great Lawn with a Flag positioned in the Center. Moneycat marked 8 posts, each with a sheet of
paper with the exercise for each station. The Pax was divided into groups
to go to each station. The Bobby Hurley station would provide the
count of 20 reps, while every other station did AMRAP (As Many Reps As
Possible) of their designated exercise. At Halt, Everyone ran to
the flag to CONVERGE and partner up for 5 Patty Cake Merkins, then rotate
clockwise to the next station. Some even did a 3-man patty cake merkin.
Worked well. The stations were:
Bobby Hurley’s. (Do
a squat and slaps the ground with both hands like a Duke basketball player,
then jumps up and raising arms as if taking a jump shot.)
Merkins
Mountain Climbers
Plank Jacks
Low Slow Squats
Jump Lunges
Freak Nasties
Monkey Humpers – A
half-squat performed while grabbing the inside of one’s ankles. This restricts
movement to a half-squat type exercise but increasing the burn.
We are done!
Moseyed over to the pic nic tables pavilion for our
breakfast anniversary celebration. We
moseyed over to where a awesome spread of food awaited us in the N pavilion
where Cherrypicker was so helpful to set up all the foods for 8:00.
Eggs with Bacon in a Croissant, Bottled Water, and Coffee and OJ.
Big thank you to all who made it out for this awesome beat-down in the
park. I know I speak for all the Q’s when I say, it was a
pleasure to lead as always, and thanks for the opportunity to lead this great
PAX.
Had open discussion about all the benefits the men have
had attending these F3 events this first year.
Great discussion.
COT
Circle up for Count-O-Rama – 12 counting the 2 that had to leave early (Vance
and Dagwood)
Name-O-Rama.
FNG’s Named – but Vance had to leave before this time so
we’ll do his naming next time.
The Pax thanked Worms for starting F3 here for all to
enjoy. Worms thanked everyone for being so willing to join in. It makes it all worthwhile! The Pax made many kind remarks to Worms and
he is grateful to the men for being there for each of us and especially this
big group for the anniversary!
Bring it in tight for a Sweaty Ball of Man!! Not so much
sweat actually. It was still just about 38 degrees. Megadad finished it
up with a prayer. Took some group photos.
Everyone hung around with lively banter until about 9:00 then all
collected the breakfast materials and headed back to our wheels.
Pax:
Hope to see everyone and more next year!! SYITG!! (See You In The Gloom)
Disclaimer. Initial chit chat. Wondered by Moneycat wasn’t here and then moved to the Mosey.
Mistletoes prepared a vigorous series of exercises for us today. Much of it styled after his heavy weight lifting exercises. Started off with a 1/4 mile mosey around the inner track through the sundial. Moseyed to the foundry. We did a variety of new exercises at the foundry including jump pull-ups. Then we moseyed east to the hill between the track and Highland Road and did a series of gruelling repetitions from the base of the hill to the plateau at the top, involving burpees at the top and Merkins at the bottom. We started with 10 Merkins at the bottom then ran to the plateau where we did 1 burpee then down the hill for 9 Merkins then up to the plateau for 2 burpees and so on till we did 10 burpees at the plateau. Simple. Nothing to it. Mosey to the sundial. Did side squats in a circle around the sundial. Moseyed back to the roofed area and did 6 or more minutes of Mary.
Had our Circle of Trust time, Namorama and final prayer. Mistletoes, Shaengo, Duracell and Worms met at CC’s by Perkins Row for Coffeeteria. A great beatdown by the Mistletoes!
