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 #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.
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 🔨 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 😋😋…
YHC prayed us out.
Appreciate the commitment through the holiday week F3 brethren and Returns are always welcomed!! New year = New choices
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.
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!
YHC is rarely able to make a Monday beatdown due to work. As a matter of fact, YHC has only made three Rock City beatdowns, with one of those as the Q. With YHC taking today off, it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of attending the Skinny. Upon looking at the Q list and seeing Douille lined up to lead, YHC asked if he would allow this Pax to take the helm. The Mighty Douille obliged and YHC was all set up to Q. This request took place at the Mothership. A few minutes later, YHC realized he had never even posted at the Skinny. YHC arrived a few minutes early to find the Audubon Zoo grassy areas muddy and nearly unusable. YHC asked Douille where we normally warmed up at, and he pointed in exactly the opposite direction of YHC’s plan. So much for a standard Skinny…..
With 3 minutes to go, there were only about 5 Pax on site. With 2 minutes to go, a parade of cars flooded the parking lot, suddenly making us 18 strong. It was time to get down to business. YHC thanked Douille for allowing me the opportunity to lead, then introduced the Pax to Santa’s Chief Elf, Basil. Basil wasn’t with us, but the Pax would soon get to know each letter of his name.
Brief Disclaimer, and a mosey across Magazine to the driest grassy area we could find at the zoo.
Warmup SSH IC x 31 IW IC x 15 Arm Circles IC x 10 Fwd and 10 Bwd Peter Parker IC x 20 Mountain Climber IC x 20 Parker Peter IC x 20 Grass Grabbers IC x 10
First COP The first letter of Basil is B! We can’t forget about Santa though. SSH for Santa and Burpees for Basil!
SSH IC x 5 followed by 10 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 9 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 8 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 7 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 6 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 5 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 4 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 3 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 2 Burpees OYO
SSH IC x 5 followed by 10 Burpees OYO
This was a real Crowdpleaser! Lots of Mumblechatter about No Burpee Mondays….
Now for the A in Basil…..Agassis…aka Suicides! YHC had some cones set up in the parking lot.
Sprint to first line and back – 5 merkins, Sprint to Half way and back – 5 merkins, Sprint to 3rd line and back – 5 merkins, sprint full length and back – 5 merkins. The Pax was thrown off by only one set, but YHC had more to get to!
Time for the S in Basil…..The Suck! Circle up on the somewhat dry grassy area. SSH x 6, Jump Squats x 6, Merkins x 6. Repeat as many times as possible in 3 minutes, calling out each round as it gets completed. Completed two rounds with one minute rest between them.
The I in Basil is for Indian Run. Two column Indian Run back to the gathering area.
The L in Basil stands for Ladder Merkins…..it’s the best I could do. Start at first light post, run to second and do 20 merkins, return to first light post and do 19 merkins, then back to second for 18 and so on back and forth. We made it to 17 when YHC realized this would take way too long to complete. Quick audible, as well as Drew Brees calls ’em, and we finished with 5 Burpees at light post one, and 5 Burpees at Light post two.
6 Minutes for Mary
Tin Snips IC x 20 Flutter Kicks IC x 20 Hello Dolly IC x 20 LBC's IC x 20 penguins IC x 20 Dying Cockroach IC x 20 American Hammer IC x 10
COT for Count off, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, and closed with a prayer to the Sky Q.
Special thanks to Douille for allowing me to take the Q, and a big thank you to the awesome Uptown Crew for posting with me today.
In a new turn of events, 9 Lives was dubbed Meow Meow, which he announced as his new F3 name during Name-O-Rama…..Who is YHC to object?
Coffeeteria at PJ’s was a great experience as always, with some great F2!
Late Monday evening, the PAX checked the Q sheet – lo and behold, Shorty was listed! Could it be? Would he make a long-awaited return to the Stomp?
Short answer: No.
But that didn’t stop the 4 PAX who gathered to dash off into the thick soupy fog. Typical Stomp: 20 mins out and back, saving some time for Mary. Thanks, Smooth, for hanging back with me for the outbound leg. Great chit-chat. As YHC turned at Tulane for the return trip, Smooth decided to continue the outbound. Whoosh – he disappeared into the gloom. YHC returned, crossing paths with Woz and Hawg on the way back. And of course, as we neared the Shovel Flag – Smooth sailed past us, barely breaking a sweat.
Finished up with some Mary around the flag. Thanks for the great run, gentleman. Maybe next week, we’ll see Shorty again.
A chilly 46 degrees and windy means a cold mountain at the top of Wolfpack Mtn. I had a few ideas in my head but I waited until the PAX gathered before committing to a plan for the whole workout. El Wire greeted me with his classic – he Yankee is that the North star?
It was so wet on the Avenue I decided to skip a classic Tinkles move by Blimping on the avenue – instead we went straight to the base of WOLFPACK MTN.
We circled for a warmup – SSH x 20, Hillbillies x 20, Mtn Climbers x 20 and Imperial Walker Squats x 20.
Then the thang. We did an Indian run up the Mountain. Each of the 2 lines had a football. The first guy would throw the football back to the 6. The 6 would sprint to the front of the line with his football. Then he would throw the football back to the six. If the football was dropped the punishment was 3 burpees. Team one only did 6 burpees up the mountain. Team two did 15 burpees up the mountain.
Once we got to the top we circled up for a 12 days of Christmas replay.
Burpees
2 V-Ups
Peter Parkers
FLutter Kicks **After this we did a lap down/up the stairs
Rising Suns
Dying Bugs
Plack Jacks
Bycicles **After this we did a lap down/up the stairs
Merks
Russian Twists
Low Country Crab
Burpees
We finished with 5 min left – ran to the benches and we did a side crunch exercise that I wanted to try — 10 OYO on each side. Not sure if that exercise is for everyone.
This was my last Q of 2018. I enjoyed being with you guys – I appreciate the accountability. We prayed for digits and her PAX and family in South Carolina.
Twas the Murph before Christmas and all through the park not a creature was stirring except four PAX in the dark.
The question was asked “What will we do? Should we modify or would a real Murph do?”
A debate ensued and the majority ruled, four PAX ran out into the gloom.
A few steps in the oldest PAX bailed. He went to the track to forge his own trail.
The three PAX continued then up on the track there stood such a puddle they ran through the grass.
Then on to the playground where our oldest PAX stood. We decided twenty rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats would be good.
Then on to a discussion about a super seafood salad it carried on like a longwinded ballad
The time kept ticking as the rounds kept going we completed the twenty then back to the one-mile and closing.
A modified mile to avoid the big blue then a sprint to the finish War Eagle he flew.
On Bogey, on Eagle, on Pai Gow, and old Amnesty too…
Merry Christmas to all and to all a fit night…
On a serious note, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. Continue to remember those who are celebrating Christmas alone and those who are celebrating their first and last Christmas with a dear loved one. Finally, remember that Jesus is the true reason for the season.
Front Lung with elbow touch the ground – hold for 5 count – introduced by Tool at Foundry
Scorpion kicks
Star Plank – hold for 30 count
One leg lung jumps – this would need practice to be effective.
1st – Thang – Catch me if you can – run around the fountain
Pax lined up – Shoulder Press to 20 – Each Pax would count their rep out loud, once reaching 10 the Pax to their left would start, 1st Pax reaching 20 would sprint around the fountain with the next pax once reaching his 20 in chase this continued until all Pax completed 20 reps and attempted to catch the pax ahead of them.
Rinse and repeat except 20 jump squats
Mosey to the Canal St. Mountain
Pax split into 2 groups of 4 –
1st effort sprint to the top of Canal St Mnt. – do 10 Merkins walk back down same side- 10 more merkins
2nd effort sprint to the top of Canal St. Mnt – 10 Merkins walk down back side 10 more merkins
3rd effort sprint up and over to starting point. 10 Merkins
Mosey midway back – introduce new effort – All PAX got into a high plank then did a double under (both feet forward) into a jump squat (legs spreading apart like a jumping jack), transition down to a low plank with a double Peter Parker back to a high plank x 5
Mosey to levee – EMOM – 1-5 start with decline merkin x 1 – run up and over the other side there perform Prison up down (hands over head dropping to alternating knees) x 5 run up and over now decline merkins x 2 up and over then Prisoner Up down x 4 continue until the # are reversed. Key is PAX only got as much rest they earned completing the task in 1 minute before having to start again.
Mosey to flag for some Mary
All 25 x 4 count – Between each effort PAX would transition into high plank for 30 sec count
LBC
Crunch with heel touch
Crunch with legs straight up touching toes (similar to DC)
Crunch while reaching hands between legs
Straight leg scoops over head
Circle Up – Count Off – Name O – Prayer of Thanks giving
On 20 Dec, Christmas came to the Westbank, F3 style!
After a quick warm-up, we celebrated a Christmas tree, then we did some Reindeer Hops, and ended by opening gifts!
Christmas Tree (Pyramid)
Christmas Tree
We partnered up and then did the following exercises. One partner did the exercise while the other did a half lap. Then we switched.
50 – Burpees
100 – Overhead Claps
150 – Merkins
200 – Squats
150 – Merkins
100 – Overhead Claps
50 – Burpees
Reindeer Hops (Caterpillar)
Reindeer Hops
PAX got down in low-plank position. Allow 2-3 feet between PAX. Last man box-jumps over the planking PAX to the head of the line, Indian Run style. We continued for 25 yards.
Opening Christmas Gifts
F3 Workout Deck
I purchased a F3 Workout Deck in August, but never used it. Today was the day we opened it. We played a quick round of Texas Hold ’em Poker. Winner’s two cards determined the amount and type of exercise.
10 – 4 count Flutter Kicks
We ended the morning workout with name-arama, intentions, and prayers for a safe and memorable Christmas.
