F3 New Orleans

Category: New Orleans

  • 60 is the new 45- Sunday @ the Renaissance

    60 is the new 45- Sunday @ the Renaissance

    8 PAX got themselves out of bed on a Sunday morning to battle through the heat and humidity to start their week off right with a beatdown. We even had an FNG show up to see why other PAX left their AC’d houses for the discomfort of City Park. YHC gave the disclaimer and we moseyed to the steps of NOMA to warmup.

    WARMUP-
    SSH IC x20
    AV IC x 20
    Arm circles IC x 20
    Dying cockroaches IC x 20
    Peter Parkers IC x 20
    Parker Peters IC x 20

    I had heard the Iron Pax Challenge was going to be stationary this week, so to honor the Iron Pax, I decided to lead the PAX in an Indian Run over to the Great Lawn for:

    Suicide 11’s- Big Boy Situps and 8 Count Bodybuilders
    I had 8 counts planned for Catfish, but apparently he had to run across 2 more states that morning. For this beatdown we started at the top of the Great Lawn facing North with 1 Big Boy Situp, running to the first swing and performing 10 8-count bodybuilders. We then continued running to the electrical box, and then to the second swing for the farthest sprint.

    Running suicides as part of 11s definitely took more time, but I looked at my watch and knew we were in the clear to Indian Run to Roosevelt Mall for:

    Route 66– Jump Squats
    Taking advantage of the concrete benches on Roosevelt Mall, PAX ran up one side of Roosevelt Mall with Jump Squats until the 11th Bench, PAX then crossed Roosevelt Mall for:
    Route 66 – Dips
    There was some grumbling among the PAX regarding time, for Sunday Mornings (a Renaissance signature exercise). Again, I looked at my watch and knew we were good on time.

    After completing descending Dips and Moseying to the back of NOMA, we took a 20 count and I noticed Hokey Pokey was already waiting, and questioned why we were taking so long. I looked at my watch again, said,
    “It’s 7:23 we’ve got 7 minutes, that’s plenty of time for Sunday Mornings.
    “Renaissance is 45min, not 60.”
    Well, YHC was quite surprised and embarrassed.
    One of the PAX said, “60 is the new 45”. We laughed and I learned a new word- LAGNIAPPE: Something extra the Q makes you do when you don’t want to (nailed it!). As we were over time, I cut our final exercise down from 5 rounds to 3:

    Sunday Mornings

    10 Air Presses in the peoples chair, followed by 5 donkey kicks, on the 5th donkey kick up to Balls to the Wall with one merkin/shoulder press. That’s one.

    COT
    This was a particularly memorable beatdown, not only for the extra time, but also as we got to welcome FNG- Full Count into F3. As we start the Iron Pax Challenge there’s always a bit of rubbernecking and chatter about times/scores, I reminded the PAX about this quote from Hemingway, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Just by coming out to post each one of us is better than we were yesterday. I’m very thankful that we can come out, post and motivate each other to be better than our former selves.

    A great start to the week and a fun time at coffeteria. SYITG.

  • The Bridge Run

    YHC signed up for the Ocean Springs Bridge Run on September 12th in Mississippi, so he wanted to practice running some bridges. The best place to practice bridge running is the Wisner Bridge. Therefore, this morning’s 610 Stomp was off to the bridge!

    New Route

    Down past the Museum of Art and take a hard left right before the park exit to run alongside the Big Lake and toward the festival grounds trail. Once the Pax arrives at De Saix Blvd, sweep the six, so we can all arrive at the base of the Wisner Bridge together. (At least this is a new route for me)

    The Thang

    Run over the bridge and back, repeat

    Run one lap around the Festival Grounds Trail

    Back to the bridge for two more trips over

    Run back to the flag for the COT

    YHC greatly underestimated the distance to go over the Wisner Bridge and back. Most of the Pax completed the two trips over the bridge and the lap around the old festival grounds, but only Shuffles and Bongo made it back up to the bridge following the mile lap. We will try it again this fall and hope to find a higher percentage of runners make it back up the bridge.

    Closing

    Count-off, Name-O-Rama, Intentions, and Prayer

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead

    Rev Sox

  • Broken Metronome @Mothership

    Mosey down Dreyfous, around the Great Lawn, back on Dreyfous and over the bridge to the Anseman Oak for warmup:

    • SSH
    • Pagodas
    • Grass Grabbers
    • Batwing
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Hill Billys

    Mosey to Solomon Place Path then, bear crawl to Allard Blvd path. LBCs to wait for six.

    Crab Walk to Sherwood Forest Drive path. LBCs to wait for six.

    Lunge walk to corner of Carrollton Ave and City Park Ave.

    Mosey to Dreyfous Meadow for:

    • Dying Cockroaches
    • Real Freddy Mercs
    • Merkins
    • Imperial Walkers
    • LBCs
    • Flutter Kicks

    Mosey to Great for:

    • Dying Cockroaches
    • Real Freddy Mercs
    • Merkins
    • Imperial Walkers
    • LBCs
    • Flutter Kicks
    • Supermans

    One round of Mary Fire

    Mosey back to circle of trust

    Count-off, Name-O-Rama, Intentions, and quick reflection on words attributed to Michelangelo: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” For me, F3 is a tool for this, and for sculpting ourselves physically and mentally. Chipping away at what doesn’t fit. Supporting each other and building our guardrails. Also reflection about my two kids, 6 and 4, and their intense sincerity. We are born sincere, though it can get lost as we age and get a bit more defensive. We can and should re-find it and nurture it.

  • Non-Stop

    Conditions – Humid and Partly Cloudy, 79 degrees, Feels like 82.  Humidity 91%, Wind 3mph from SW

    The Thang – Every Minute On the Minute for the entire workout.  Do the number of exercises on your own and rest for the rest of the minute.  60 sets. 

    Warm-Up

    1. Mosey to the warm-up Cone (80 yards)
    2. SSH x 60
    3. Imperial Walker (2 is 1) x 25
    4. Windmills (2 is 1) x 15
    5. Peter Parker (2 is 1) x 25 – stay in plank when finished
    6. Mountain Climbers (2 is 1) x 25 – stay in plank when finished
    7. Parker Peter (2 is 1) x 25 – recover to your feet
    8. Merkins x 30
    9. Squats x 60
    10. Wide Merkins x 40
    11. Monkey Humpers x 40
    12. Mosey back to the flag (80 yards)

    Levee Work – Quadraphilia = running down and back up always facing south; Crawl Bear = Jog down the levee and crawl bear to the top

    1. Quadraphilia x 3
    2. Quadraphilia x 2 (3 if you can)
    3. Quadraphilia x 2 (3 if you can)
    4. Quadraphilia x 2 (3 if you can)
    5. LBCs x 50
    6. Crawl Bear x 1
    7. Crawl Bear x 1
    8. Crawl Bear x 1
    9. Crawl Bear x 1
    10. LBCs x 50
    11. Mosey to the Cardio Cone (50 yards)

    Death By Burpees – If you get caught switch to merkins and do twice the number

    1. 8 Burpees
    2. 9 Burpees
    3. 10 Burpees
    4. 11 Burpees
    5. 12 Burpees
    6. 13 Burpees
    7. 14 Burpees
    8. 30 Merkins (we all got caught at 14)
    9. Mosey to the Rocks and plank the rest of the minute (40 yards)
    10. Plank

    Rock Work

    1. Pick out a rock and carry it back to the circle
    2. Presses x 25
    3. Curls x 30
    4. Squats x 25
    5. Curls x 30
    6. Squat Presses x 20
    7. Carry your rock back and throw it on the pile
    8. Mosey back to the cardio cone (40 yards)

    Nickels and Dimes

    1. 10 Bonnie Blairs (2 is 1) + 5 squats
    2. 10 Bonnie Blairs (2 is 1) + 5 squats
    3. 10 Bonnie Blairs (2 is 1) + 5 squats
    4. 10 Bonnie Blairs (2 is 1) + 5 squats
    5. 10 Bonnie Blairs (2 is 1) + 5 squats
    6. Mosey to the flag (40 yards)

    Quadraphilia

    1. LBCs x 50
    2. Quadraphilia x 1
    3. Quadraphilia x 2
    4. Quadraphilia x 2
    5. Quadraphilia x 2
    6. LBCs x 50
    7. Mosey to the Wall (40 yards)

    Wall Work

    1. Plank
    2. Feet half way up wall – Shoulder Taps (2 is 1) x 15
    3. Feet all the way up wall – Hip Slappers (2 is 1) x 10
    4. Feet half way up wall – Shoulder Taps (2 is 1) x 15

    The End

    1. Mosey back to the Flag (40 yards)
    2. Dying Cockroach x 30

  • Stars of the View

    4 pax started their day off living right by posting at The View where a round robin Q took place. YHC led the warmup with SSH, Hillbillies and Bat Wings.

    Papa Smurf took the Pax to the benches for Stations.

    • Station 1- step ups AMRAP
    • Station 2 – Incline merkins AMRAP
    • Station 3 – Crunchy Frog on bench AMRAP
    • Station 4 – Burpees x 20 – Timer
    • Rinse and Repeat

    Door Dash brought the Ring of Fire.

    • Hold Al Gore with each pax doing jump squats x 10 going around twice
    • Hold plank position with each pax doing dive bombers x 10 going around twice.

    YHC closed it out with Mental Fortitude:

    • SSH IC x 7 followed by 6 in silence – all pax must stop together or face penalty. Repeat x 3 with different numbers.
    • Penalty 1 – Burpees x 10
    • Penalty 2 – Merkins x 20
    • Penalty 3 – Burpees x 10

    End with COT

    NMM

    During the ring of fire Papa Smurf asked about the SSH penalty thing, so YHC introduced it. Door Dash seemed to enjoy the penalties!

    Papa Smurf threw the 20 burpees out there for stations, then said only do 10 in the second round. However, he still did 20, which pushed each pax to follow suit!

    Papa Smurf mentioned he knew a couple that rode out Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles in a closet, but they were old, like 35 or 40…..😂

    T- Claps to the Pax for pushing through together! Well done!

    SYITG

  • New Blood @ da View

    Our PAX honored with 4 new HIMs, some new to f3, one is an alum (Woodstock). Thanks to our raving fans Door Dash and Papa Smurf for reaching out to this crew. They are already a PAX to themselves lead by WingNut. We hope to see more of these guys.

    Warmup – Bat wings @ 10 a piece on a 4 count, Hill Billies @ 15, Abe Vigodas @ 20 , Grass Grabbers @ 20

    Start with some fun – @revsox showed us this game last week, you setup a target unknown to the PAX, then divied into two teams and kick baseballs one at a time around till you find the target and get your team’s ball into that target. We took this over the levee and back and down the bike path. It was fun and a good team game.

    Now the beatdown – 11’s across the Bay of Pigs. Squats-Merkins, on last leg , 20 Rocky Balboas, every 2 squares.

    End with COT, prayer.

  • D.B.B’s (Decline Bridge Burpees)

    Gentlemen,

    Today ‘twas my first Q since sometime earlier this year. Apparently having a 3rd child during a global pandemic can be a bit cumbersome, but fortunately I’m back in the proverbial saddle and back out in the gloom attending some beatdowns with the boys. To get things kicked off, we did a warmup:

    Warmup:

    • Side straddle hops – 25 in cadence
    • Mountain climbers – 25 in cadence
    • Windmills – 10 in slow cadence
    • Arm circles – 10 forward, 10 backward in cadence
    • Grass grabbers – 15 in cadence

    The Thang:

    Next, we mosey’d over to Wisner Mountain. At the base of the mountain, we partnered up and then we sprinted at 85% to the top of the bridge. Once at the top, we rotated some exercise as follows:

    • Dirkins – 25 count
    • Box cutters – 25 count
    • Low slow squats – 25 count

    Then, we mosey’d down the other side of the bride and did the following:

    • High/Middle/Low push ups – till arms got tired
    • 1 legged squats – 15 per leg
    • Calf raises – 25 cadence count
    • Dying cockroaches – 25 cadence count
    • LBC’s – 25 cadence count
    • Merkins using the bridge to hold up our feet – 25 in cadence

    After that, we hit another sprint at 85% back to the top of the bridge. Once at the top, we did D.B.B.’s (Decline Bridge Burpees) all the way down the back side of the bridge. At each new slab of concrete, we stopped and did a burpee. I obviously didn’t do a great job of counting the concrete slabs on my initial sprint up the bridge because I thought this would equate to around 15 burpees or so. But by the time we got to the bottom, I would estimate that we each did between 30-40 burpees on the way down the bridge. One theory on how my burpee estimate was so off is that on our first trip up the bridge, we were sprinting so fast that it was physically impossible for any human to accurately count the number of concrete slabs on the bridge. Tool was next to me while sprinting, so he may be able to verify if this was indeed the case.

    In any event, after finishing the burpees, we took a brief stretch break and then mosey’d back to the flag. Once there, we did the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements & prayer. We also had an FNG out in the gloom with us this day. Roots brought a pal of his out there named Jake. Jake was wearing a red shirt, and somehow or another someone ended up calling him Jake from State Farm at some point, so after a little banter we decided to name him ‘khakis’ referencing the fella named Jake who is wearing khakis in those State Farm commercials. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, guys. Felt great to get back out there and lead a beatdown again.  

  • 4 Years of F3 and You Could Look Like Me

    4 Years of F3 and You Could Look Like Me

    Four years ago in the gloom of the Peristyle, YHC was EHed by Heisenberg to check out this men’s only fitness group. Bubba’s Beatdown was all it took to keep YHC coming back for more. What better way to celebrate my anniversary than to recycle my first Q, which was at Okwata. Thank you to all of the PAX that posted today.

    W/U

    • SSH x 30
    • IW x 15
    • HB x 15
    • AC x 10 x 10
    • Peter Parker x 15
    • Parker Peter x 15
    • Self Love

    The Thang – Mosey to Canal blvd and partner up. PAX 1 will AMRAP while PAX 2 runs up Canal, bear crawl the median, and back down Canal. Switch.

    • Plank Jacks
    • Tempo Merkins – 2 count up, 2 count down
    • Step Ups
    • Dips

    Mosey back to the Lakefront area across from the fountain and circle up for the Lazy Q. Each PAX step into the middle and call an exercise to be performed for 22 Reps.

    Counterama, Namerama

    Announcements – Register for the IronPax Challenge. Pay attention to Mumble Chatter and emails for information regarding recovery efforts for our neighbors in Southwest Louisiana who are suffering from Hurricane Laura.

    NMM – Takeaways from today’s beatdown were not announced but included awareness or PTSD and Mission 22, a organization dedicated to Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, substance abuse and all of the issues veterans are facing today.

  • Farewell Q

    It is with great sadness and much gratitude that I write my last backblast as a regular member of the Northshore F3 family. (I trust you’ll forgive the length!) As I shared with the men this morning, F3 has been an overwhelming answer to prayer, and as Bushwacker reminded me, it’s the individuals involved who truly make it what it is, so huge thanks for all of you guys allowing me to participate. More on this toward the end.

    This morning’s beatdown was meant to be a quick rundown of a few of the life lessons that F3 has confirmed for me in very concrete ways. The first, of course, being the necessity of a good warm up when you know you’re about to get your rear end kicked:

    Warmup: IC Windmills, IW’s, Cherry Pickers, High Knees, Butt Kicks followed by the first exercise listed on the Exicon (Shooter aced the pop-quiz, like I knew he would!):

    21’s–21 side straddle hops in cadence, but only the first 5 are counted out loud with an expectation that all PAX count the rest silently and end in perfect sync after the 21st. 10 burpees and start over if anyone is anything but perfect.

    Life Lesson #1: Togetherness is more about what’s in your head than it is about the people you’re with. (I may or may not have just made that up, but I think it’s got some staying power.)

    After one penalty set of burpees and a second round of SSH, YHC decided to modify for the sake of time and get moseying to the rock garden for Colt 45’s and Bolt 45’s.

    Colt 45’s = 15 curls from halfway down to all the way up, 15 curls all the way down to halfway up, and 15 curls from all the way down to all the way up.

    Bolt 45’s = same as above, but with squats (and rocks)

    Life Lesson #2: Don’t let your ego determine the size of your rock, especially if you don’t know what’s coming. But no matter how heavy or what the task ends up being, carry the weight you’ve got with courage. Own it!

    After “gently” replacing our rocks, we moseyed to the courthouse steps for some partner work:

    Partner 1 ran up (and down) the stairs using the following pattern: 2 up, 1 down, 3 up, 2 down, 4 up, 3 down, etc. until the top was tediously reached, then ran back down to Partner 2 who did continuous flutter kicks (round 1), Freddy Merc’s (round 2) and LBC’s (round 3) while waiting. In lieu of Jose’s math teaching prowess, Whacker provided tutoring for those who struggled.

    Life Lesson #3: Real progress is usually gradual and hard earned, so be patient, stay focused, and fight discouragement.

    This, followed by a mosey to the top ramp of the parking garage for more partner work:

    Partner 1 holds plank while Partner 2 sprints up the ramp, around to the opposite stairs, down, and back to Partner 1. His job is to get there in enough time for his partner to have held his plank without modifying; if his partner modifies, the sprinter has to do 5 burpees, so the planker’s job is to hold his position for the sake of his partner.

    Life Lesson #4: We are naturally more willing to endure pain and push harder for other people than we are for ourselves, we just need to tap into that power. F3 seems to exists for this reason!

    After two rounds of losing our breath (and eventually losing Bushwhacker to the irresistible call of nature), we moseyed back to the courthouse stairs for an exercise YHC forgot: three rounds of crab walking both up and down the courthouse stairs

    Life Lesson #5: Some things are easier for tall people. (Truth be told, pretty much every other F3 exercise seems to favor the smaller guys. It was nice to finally have an advantage over Cowbell.)

    After this we moseyed back to the flag for the last exercise/lesson:

    Followed the directions given in the song Flower by Moby (“Bring Sally up, bring Sally down…”) with squats, up and down with the words “up” and “down”. Thank you’s to Cowbell, Steve, and Amnesia for modifying with merkins and mission impossible planks to save their legs for the big race tomorrow–you guys made our leg pain seem relatively minimal in comparison.

    Life Lesson #6: Pain is temporary, though the worse it is, the more we tend to fear that it will last forever.

    COT and YHC prayed us out.

    Thanks, gentlemen, for following my lead today, and for an awesome year of comradery, creativity, and the best reason to get up early and sweat that I’ve had since college. Special thanks to Maverick who got me out there, the men who reached out to me during those first few beatdowns to make sure I felt like I was part of the team, the guys who hung back so often with me and kept up conversation to get my mind off my lack of oxygen, the men who were willing to share their lives with me during the longer runs, for the guys who continually witness to the truth that the men we’re exercising with are more important than the exercises we’re doing, and to the men who continue to push beyond their comfort zone so the rest of us can follow.

    It breaks my heart to leave what has become such a central part of my (and Pope’s) life, and though I’ll be working to get F3 started in the Thibodaux/Houma region, it won’t be with you guys, so know that you’re deeply appreciated, and you’ll be greatly missed. I know that God has great things in store for my family and I down there, and I’m sure there are a lot of guys who will greatly benefit from F3, so please keep us in prayer for the transition, and that we’ll remain open to all that God has in store for us, both the blessings and the trials. You’ll certainly be in mine.

    SYITG,

    Goose