Category: New Orleans

  • 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

  • This Birdcage ain’t big enough for the both of us

    28+ gathered for the Birdcage in the thick, sticky gloom of Audubon Park.  Men of various shapes, sizes and ages – but all with the purpose and drive to get out of the fartsack and better themselves and others. F3 is a wonderful thing… so here we go…

     

    Thang:

    Around golf course parking lot and back to the field for some warm up. All exercises 15 count in cadence:

    • SSH
    • Mountain Climbers
    • Squats
    • Parker Peters
    • Wide arms 

     

    Mosey down Oak Alley to pick up some coupons

    Mosey back to running path and partner up

    • A: Run a suicide of light poles (3)
    • B: AMRAP exercise

    Round 1: chest press

    Round 2: curls

    Round 3: goblet squats

    Round 4: merkins on your block 

    Round 5: LBCs

     

    Mosey back to fountain to return the coupons

    Squats while we wait for the 6

     

    Circle up for some Mary (15 count in cadence):

    • Russian Twists 
    • Flutters
    • Oblique crunches (R/L)
    • J-Los

    Back to the flag with 5 burpees to finish up. 

     

    NMM

    Big crowd this morning, with plenty of visitors from outside of Uptown…I guess everyone came to see the Biebs (this week’s scheduled Q). Hope my lead didn’t disappoint.  I had a bad Plantar Fasciitis flare up on Monday so wanted to keep the mileage low and also keep the group together…I think we did both and everyone got a solid workout in. (If not, please email me for a refund.)

    Funny situation when we got back to the shovel flag: a group of guys were circled up doing merkins at the behest of another guy in the middle standing there barking orders with a pit bull on a leash.  Looked like a highly suspect college-aged group – perhaps even some kind of pledge training, but either way upon seeing 29 sweaty, dirt-covered middle aged men running up they quickly vacated our shovel flag area and didn’t heed our invitation to join F3 (“it’s free and we’ll push you harder than that joker”).  Something for everyone I guess.

    Welcome Cowboy from F3 Puget Sound and (renamed) FNG Schlitz from Dufossat St, by way of Milwaukee.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead boys.

    Until next time…

    Xo,

    Mariah

  • Why Merkins Are Beneficial

    Overall a good showing for yet a still humid fall NOLA morning.  We started promptly at 5:30 after the disclaimer for both my ability as a trainer and my lack of sleep…

    Warm up

    Abogotas or windmills — 15 very slow…

    PP – 15

    MC -15

    IW – 20

    SSH-25

    First event:

    Eleven at Canal Blvd. with Squat jumps at top of levee and LBCs at bottom.

    Next a recap from Hokey Pokey Face book post the benefits of push ups (good time to catch breath versus countdown.)

    Merkins – 12

    Incline merkins – 10

    Decline merkins – 10

    Shoulder taps – 15

    More Merkins – 10

    Then….  Time for a Red Barchetta (“This a song about a car”)

    Modified using light poles as boundaries and recommendation by Walleye to head west along lake due to a straight line versus east.

    Run up to 5 poles (not including the baseline) — 50 SSH

    4 poles — 40 MC

    3 poles — 30 Lunges

    2 poles — 20 LBCs (but truncated due to time)

    1 poles – 10 Burpees

    Six was regrouped after each exercise.

    Quick Mary

    Flutter Kicks — 15

    Plank hold 30-40 seconds and back to flag

    Round of numbers, names, announcements, intentions and COT.

    Great to lead and thanks for opportunity,  sorry it’s been so long…

    Bongo

  • Ten-Four, Good Buddy

    Dome Patrol was 4 strong this morning, minus Nip/Tuck, the usual Q.  The less than steamy weather was right for a nigh 5 mile mosey through the Quarter, Waterfront, and back around the Dome.

     

  • Oh! It’s a Murph Day???

    A few brave souls showed up at the Foundry for a Murph. A few more showed up because they didn’t look at the schedule and know it was a Murph Day. 😉
    Explained a Murph, Disclaimer and let’s mosey:
    -run 1 mile to the Foundry
    -100 pull-ups
    -200 merkins
    -300 squats
    (recommended it be broken down into 20 sets of 5 pull-ups, 10 merkins, 15 squats)
    Some completed the exercises in time, the rest worked hard on improving and getting stronger.
    -run 1 mile back to the VF (Virtual Flag)

    Countoff, namerama, announcements, shoutouts, a prayer. SYITG!

  • The Journey to 28

    The Journey to 28

    This morning is the beginning of a momentous journey for all baseball fans as the New York Yankees begin their quest for their 28th World Series Championship. To cheer on the Yankees, YHC tried to bring out the Yankee spirit among this morning’s PAX at the Fight Club. Following the disclaimer and a short mosey, we began with a standard warm-up

    The Warm-Up

    Imperial Walker – 27 (We started as the evil empire.)

    Annies – 20

    Windmills – 20

    Low Slow Squats – 20

    Noah’s Ark

    The PAX ran a big lap up the levee ramp and down the steps back to the starting point. YHC then introduced a new exercise inspired by the Rev in his name. The PAX will now imagine that we are each fulfilling the role of Noah and trying to get the animals and our children away from the flood waters and up to higher ground on the levee (New Orlean’s ineffective ark). The PAX will climb the levee by going up the fight set of steps and then across the grass while doing the bear crawl to the steps on the other side. After going up the next few steps, the PAX will cross the grass back to the other side while doing the crab walk. Up a few more steps and back over doing the monkey hop. Up the last few steps and back over while doing the boo boo baby. (See the picture if you have never been to La Salle Landing to get some idea of what YHC is talking about)

    Now that the PAX is at the top of the levee, YHC informed them that there is a rare reading in the Hebrew text of the story of Noah’s Ark. Jack and his three sons Jack, Jack, and Jack all fartsacked onto the ark and Noah threw them out to splash in the waves and drown. The PAX will now play the role of the Jacks as we descend the levee. This time the PAX will go down a level, stop in the middle as they cross to the other side for 20 smurf jacks. They will continue to go down the levee and stop at each level for 20 plank jacks, 20 chilly jacks, and 20 jumping jacks.

    The Intermission

    YHC killed some time with a 20 count of Rocky Balboas and 20 dips.

    Deconstructed Burpees

    The PAX started at the bottom of the levee (away from the steps) for a few deconstructed burpees. The PAX did 28 merkins on the bottom of the levee and ran up and over levee for 28 jump squats on the bottom of the other side. Two more rounds of 18 merkins and jump squats, followed by 8 merkins and jump squats. The 8 is in honor of Yogi Berra. Yogi is the greatest Yankee ever with a record of 10 World Series championships and the king of quotes. 8 is also the only Yankee number retired twice as it was also worn by the legendary Bill Dickey.

    Mary

    The PAX triangled up to end with a little Mary.

    Wife Pleasers – 20

    Penguins – 20

    American Hammer – 20

    Dying Cockroach – 20

    Flutterkicks – 10

    O Dolly – 10

    The Conclusion

    Count off, Name-o-rama, announcement, and intentions. Thanks River Ridge Bros for coming out this morning for a beatdown and for putting up with my Yankee fandom (it’s not as bad as Rudy’s Notre Dame obsession).

  • Schlitz squiggy? Squiggy Schlitz? Schlitz and giggles?

    El wire had a sick kid so I stepped up to not only write his backblast but actually Q his beatdown…that I had to create.  I think I just got Tom Sawyered again!

    We ran to the soccer goal in front of the zoo.  At that field we did a standard circle:

    SSH x20, Imperial Walker Squats x 20, Mtn Climbers x 20 and Dying Bugs x 20  all IC

    Then we moseyed to the field by the river at the FLY.

    At the river view we did a mini-ring of fire.  We circled up in plank.  Bear Crawl left, bear crawl to the middle, bear crawl back, bear crawl right, bear crawl to the middle, bear crawl back.  We finished here with 15 Nolan Ryans L and R.  We also did 10 Hip Dips L and R x 10.  OYO.

    Then we got up and moseyed to Monkey Hill.  At the Hill we did a merkin regression.  We did 20 merks on the other side of hill, back and did 18, then cross over for 16 on down to 2.   Heard some trains and decided we needed to quick mosey across the train tracks.   It was run as fast as possible to the train tracks, then once there PAX had to do Bonnie Blairs while they waited for the 6.

    Another 1/2 mile mosey to the LABYRINTH.    Instead of plank and wait we did LBCs and LBTs and wait. At the labyrinth we did 20 left leg step ups IC, 10 Irkins, 20 right leg step ups IC, 10 Dirkins, 15 left leg bulgarian split lunch, 15 right leg bulgarian split lunge, 20 dips OYO.

    Set up for some MARY at the Labyrinth.  We did some Dying Roaches, attempted some donkey kicks but it was too hard to do on the bricks, did some LOW COUNTRY CRAB, we did some Russian Twist to finish.

    The beatdown finished with HORSES to the barn/flag.

    Struggled with naming our FNG from Wisco – we went with Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley (tv show look it up)  I have been having second thoughts – want something with Schlitz.  Schlitz his pants, Wisco Schlitz, Schlitz the bed, Schlitzy- Glitz.  Just thinking out loud.  I am pretty sure that squiggy isn’t going to stick. Schlitz and Giggles?

  • Who me?

    After learning yours truly had the Q at 5:28am…

    Disclaimer

    Warm up : SSHx35/IWx20/ACx10f&10b/MCx20

    The Thang…

    Bear Crawl around Triangle of Trees(30yds)/Goblet Squatsx20 w rock.                                                          Lunge Walk around ToT’s/Squat Pressx20 w rock.                                                                                                Burpeesx10 at each Tree/Goblet Squatsx20 w rock.

    All with Rocks: Buddy sit upsx30 each man/Slow curlsx20/Slow Rowsx20/Stepupsx20(alt leg)/Slow Shoul. Pressx20/Slow curlsx15/Slow BBCL’s(ball buster core lifts)x15/Slow rowsx15/Buddy sit upsx20 each man

    A little change of scenery(and a 20 yd mosey…this is the uptowner, correct)

    Peoples Chair-1 min…last 20 sec rock overhead/Peoples chair-30sec…last 10sec rock overhead/Peter Parkerx20/Parker Peterx20

    Got to do a little running – 61 yd sprintx2

    Mary – LBC’sx35/Slow H. Dollyx20

    CO/NOR/Intentions/Prayer

  • 610 Stomp #162 – Run!

    Late Monday, a request for a 610 Stomp Q went unanswered, so YHC committed to taking it, which would also make sure I got my hind end out there! RY mentioned that we might have an exchange student posting Down Range, but the late night temptations of New Orleans probably contributed to the Fartsack. Regardless the reason, no visitor today. YHC arrived to the AO with three minutes to spare and 5 other usual suspects of F3 looking lost in the gloom. With two shovel flags planted and a working streetlight, YHC gave the minimal version of the disclaimer, and said to be back at 0610. We ran……
    Smooth, Rudy, Cowbell, and El Guapo took off way ahead as expected. Thankfully Heisenberg was there to keep YHC company. Not that we were slow. 4.2 miles in 38 minutes, equivalent to a 9:04 pace, is nothing to sneeze at! That sub-9:00 pace is right around the corner!!

    Mary
    Flutter kicks IC x 20
    Hello Dolly IC x 20
    Tin Snips IC x 15
    LBC’s IC x 30
    Crunchy Frogs IC x 10

    Seal the deal with 10 Burpees OYO!

    COT

    Count-off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements (Convergence the 13th), Intentions, and closed with a prayer.

    NMM
    We somehow brought our numbers from 6 to 7 at the COT. Hawgcycle rode his bike to the Stomp, but it was apparent his ETA was a little off. Regardless, he got some good miles in, and still rode his bike home! Well done!!!
    There are lots of opportunities to Q the Stomp. Feel free to change things up, or keep it traditional. Step up and Lead! Remember, leading a workout is how you give back to F3!

    SYITG