We’re gonna keep this short and sweet, as YHC is behind the eight ball on these backblasts. The usual crew posted this morning (minus Shooter, who may still be hauling trees Commando-style out at his camp, and minus Bushwacker, who is attempting to heal a wide assortment of ailments). Cowbell doesn’t really count, because he is usually “stuck” at the beach anyway on Mondays. Jose 10k rolled in mid-warm up after a disoriented drive around Old Mandeville finally reminded him of the Marsh location.
Warmorama – Good mornings, toe touches, SSH, arm circles, air presses, seal jacks, IW’s, all IC somewhere between 10-20x.
YHC missed Cowbell’s reopening of the Marsh last week (it’s been barricaded for months), and though it was nice to be able to warmup under on the court again (which could’ve used a Captain Sparkles sweep, btw), we decided to take it on the road this morning.
Mosey towards the lake, with a stop at each intersection for 15 merkins, 20 squats, and 25 IC flutter kicks. 5 blocks later, we headed over to Rips for a backwards bear crawl up the stairs, followed by calf raises (5x each step) going back down. Calf raises for the guys either waiting in queue or finished and waiting.
Already time to head back the way we came, with the same 15 merkins, 20 squats, and 25 flutters at each intersection until we returned to the court just in time. (Well, ok, maybe a minute late.)
Pik prayed us out, wishing his brother a happy 40th on this day, and we went on our way. Thanks gents, posting with you guys is the best way to start the week!
At this time last year, I showed up to my first lakefront beatdown (thanks Russo), and almost didn’t come back. I was a gym rat, couldn’t run a mile, ate like crap, and hovered around 190. But I was intrigued by the companionship of the PAX that day, the leadership focus, how no man was left behind, and pressed on. I attended Saturdays through September, then cancelled my gym membership, and went all in averaging 4 days a week, including the scramble (thanks Shooter). Since then, I’ve lost 25 pounds, done CSAUPS and F2 events, and ran 80 miles last Feb during Run Ranger Run. My only regret is that I didn’t find this earlier.
PAIN TRAIN
26 posted (6 under 17) at the mothership Saturday to help celebrate YHC’s 1 year anniversary, and take a ride on the Pain Train. We traveled from the flag to the shaft, stopping at 8 pain stations along the way, accompanied by motivational tunes. *I understand that most songs could not be heard, songs are listed after each station
Pre-Thang: 2 miler
Warmorama: Arm Circles, SSH, Torso Twist, Self-Love, Hillbillies x10 IC
THANG: All About the Benjamins – Everything equals 100 reps.
Exercise 1: 25 reps at the wall
Travel in various ways 55 feet to the flags
Exercise 2: 25 reps, run back to the wall Rinse and repeat
Total of 50 reps of each exercise
All exercises done OYO, plank for the six
Pain Station’s 1 and 2
Freak Nasty, Bear Crawl, Mountain Climbers
Run, repeat
Dirkins, Flying Nun (Lunge with arm circles), Twinkle Toes (Al Gore calf raises)
Run, Repeat
It’s All About the Benjamin’s, P.Diddy et all
C’Mon ‘N’ Ride it (The Train), Quad City DJ’s
Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
Breathe, The Prodigy
Song 2, Blur
Pain Station 3: Let the Good Times Roll
Burpees on Good Times Roll, air presses in between.
Let the Good Times Roll, The Cars
Pain Station’s 4 and 5:
Bulgarian Split Squats, Army Crawl, Superman’s
Run, repeat
Stone Mountain, Crawl Bear, Renegade Row (1 arm plank, 1 arm row)
Run, repeat
The Kill, Thirty Seconds to Mars
Firestarter, The Prodigy
Fly from the Inside, Shinedown
Pain Station 6: The SSH Motivator
IC 10 full SSH, Shoulder level, down and out, then hands at sides, then 9 each, then 8, etc. non-stop
‘Till I Collapse,Eminem & Nate Dogg
Gonna Fly Now, Bill Conti (Rocky Theme Song)
Seemed easy enough, but what ensued was a painful comedy of errors. YHC had a tough time conveying and keeping the order of positions, which kept us out of synch just a tad. To curious onlookers it must have looked like a bunch of birds trying to take flight.
After a while it seemed it would never end, why was it taking so long, why do I feel like I’m about to collapse? I kept my gaze at Bushwacker (who brought us The Motivator), seeking some rescue by mental telepathy – but all I got was a big smile.
Legend has it the Arnold Schwarzenegger and his buddies would go camping and do squats until they couldn’t stand any more. This was not to be our fate, we would persevere!
Later in the day I sought advice from the engineering mind of Grover and he did not hold back. “You did it wrong dad: the positions were wrong and you did a double count instead of single.”
Ah, all makes sense now. So we did 440 SSH instead of 220. Way to hang in there guys.
Pain Station 7
Merkins on New Day Rising, plank in between
Pain Station 8: Mary IC
8 ct Peter Parker Merkins (Perkins) x10
Crunchy Frogs x20
LBC x50
LMC x25
Count, Name-o-rama, Welcome FNG Laces!
COT: Prayers for the crazy world we are in, safety, and thanks for blessings.
Coffeteria: Book and the Bean
All said and done, including WU and Mary – 1096 reps, 100 yards of crawls, 100 yards of runs
Thanks for a great year, friendships, pushing me beyond what I ever thought I could do, and the opportunity to lead.
11 blockheads posted at The Gipper this morning for an Ackbar inspired beat down. After a warmup of Imperial Walkers, Toe Touches, OH Hand Claps, Windmills, Merkins and Squats, all 10x and IC, the PAX recovery walked over to the Brickyard to secure coupons and brace themselves for The Thang.
8 sets of 4 minute blocks: 10 coupon swings every minute on the minute for 2 minutes, another exercise for a full minute, and then a minute rest. When the dust settled, the PAX had performed 160 coupon swings and 1 full minute each of Coupon Merkins, Bulgarian Split Squats each leg, Manmakers, Around the Worlds each direction, RDLs, and coupon Al Gores.
Countorama, nameorama and a Jadeveon inspired prayer. If you haven’t read Jadeveon’s recent BB, Leave No Man Behind, it’s worth your time.
Blame Akbar. This was his doing, really. His “block party,” (henceforth known as ‘Akbar’s Abomination’) – which was preceded by Tank’s Murph – pretty much guaranteed that Saturday’s beatdown would focus on legs and core.
But first, the pre-thang : the usual 2 miles out and back with the usual suspects. Now, YHC was definitely not looking at Bushwacker’s butt. And neither was Tank. But I mean, really, when the guy’s shorts are that tight and he’s running in front of you, it’s hard not to take note. Looked like he had those things painted on. Tank was comfortable enough in his masculinity to throw out a few catcalls. Though, judging by Wacker’s mustache (which was recently tamed from a Guy Fawkes-type stache to a more respectable – and less anarchistic – Tom Selleck-type), it is possible that he is more in tune with the modern trends of the day and hey, what do I know, maybe the short shorts are making a comeback this year?
Yes, this was created with MS Paint.
Back at the flag, there was a surprisingly large group milling about. Most noticeable were all the 2.0’s. It was great to see the Baby Yoda, Pope, and Pixie Stick (along with Grover, who is now a fixture at most beatdowns) posting alongside their fathers. Also of note, the (second) return of Backdraft, who’s already committed to leading in the near future.
Warmorama: Good mornings, torso twists, IWs, toe touches, SSHs, merkins, shoulder taps, high knees, all at or around 15x IC.
Somewhere around the SSH’s, Sparky shows up. Turns out Bushwacker does not stand alone in his love of Magnum P.I.
The Thang:
Simple enough opening routine: Lt. Dan’s to the gazebo. Which, okay, yes, is about 400 yards. And felt longer. But at least the guys had some time to catch up.
Next, Core COP: The Bruce Lee. We’d do all six exercises, x20 IC, then take a 30 second break:
Hammers
Leg Raises
LBCs
Heel Touches
Crunchy Frogs
100’s
Rinse & Repeat. Initially we were going to do three rounds, but honestly, YHC can’t multitask – I can either call out cadence for 6 routines or I can suffer through them properly, but doing both proved too much for a third round. So onward to the bridge!
Partner up for a Dora:
P1 runs up and over the bridge and back to swap with P2, who begins knocking out the cumulative reps of:
100 Merkin Toe Touches
200 Freak Nasties
300 Squats
Nearly out of time, YHC called it so we could make it back to the flag promptly. Double lined Indian Run back to the flag, where we closed it out with a quick set of Jane Fonda’s.
Countdown, namerama, and welcoming of FNG Pixie Stick!
Grover closed us out in a prayer of thanks and everyone set out to coffeteria. YHC feels blessed to have this group of men pushing me to be a better version of myself. It felt good to be back out there with such a large group (25 men!), and to see the gift of F3 passed on to so many 2.0’s. Thank you men for the opportunity to lead!
With beatdowns returning to normal operation, Q decided to incorporate a different route picked up from the underground post of weeks past. Generally PAX would run the loop and back out down to the point, but this Gloom instruction was given to head up Monroe to West Beach then take to the lakefront down to Girord up to Florida instead (alternate called by the Thoroughbreds Cowbell, Zoolander, Steve) left on Livingston which proved to be a good choice considering we would have less traffic while sticking to the back roads.. With the Q bending Waterpik’s ear the entire run time passed quickly although we added 1.2 extra miles from the regular route. Total 4.37 at 8:55 pace. Goose and Akbar could be heard pulling the 6 with some chatter as well..
Prior to the run PAX completed a warmup consisting of 10IC Toe touches, Torso twist, Scorpion kicks, 20IC SSH, Butt kicks and Lunge walk 20 yards.
Finished with 1 min and completed 20IC Little Manny crunches..
YHC has made a few questionable decisions in my short tenure at F3, but this one may have taken the cake.
Coming back from one of the hottest, sleepless camping trips I can remember; my first Murph early on Memorial Day; and a family hike after. I remembered I had the Q with a pre-determined beatdown that I almost changed. I knew it would hurt, but decided not to back down. 10 men posted to push me through.
Gloom Factor: 75 degrees, 82% humidity
Pre-Thang – 1 miler
Warmorama: SSH, Toe Touches, Torso Twist, Self-Love x10 IC
Thang – The block party begins, que angry man music
6 Exercises, 6 Rounds, 10 Reps each, add 1 rep after each round
Blockee’s: Burpees with blocks
Curls
Squat Thrusters
Derkins
Triceps Extensions or Close-grip block presses
WW1 Sit-ups
Run to Beck and Call and back. Run modification: step-ups or SSH
Round 1, 2
Not that bad. The run gave us a short reprieve, especially when Beck and Call fired up the bacon – a sweet, sensory moment before returning to the beatdown
Round 3
Go time. Cowbell and Bean lose the shirts, flashback to Iron Pax.
Round 4-6: Pain Train
Exhaustion sets in, just in time for an uplifting tune from Hatebreed:
Now is the time for me to rise to my feet, wipe the spit from my face, wipe the tears from my eyes. I’ve been tried and tested, but I won’t accept defeat. Through the worst we prevail, Now is the time
6 rounds completed with 5 minutes to spare
Mary
American Hammers: For Hammer and, more importantly, Rachel who might have been delivering their newborn.
Total reps: 450. The shower afterwards felt great until I turned around and screamed out loud – right when the water hit the brush strokes from the WW1 sit-ups. Note to self, sit-ups in the grass next time.
The first time I did this workout was in Nashville, in 17 degrees with strangers. It was inspiring to do it again with my brothers (minus the heat). Thanks for letting me lead, pushing me to be better each day.
Eight men met at the park to give our annual Murph challenge a go. We gave our respects to our fallen soldiers then headed out for the first mile run. From there we moved to the workout bars and commenced the 100-200-300 exercise journey.
We wisely chose a 5-10-15 plan of 20 sets. The next set could not continue till all 8 men were ready for the next. I should add Zoolander tried to trick us into additional sets. When that failed , he attempted additional reps. Thanks Zoo, I owe you.
Next onto the final mile at your own pace. We closed with a prayer led by Shooter.
In closing, a another outstanding F3 morning with our brothers. See you next year !
F3 Northshore officially is back in business. Sixteen PAX posted to the reopened Mandeville Lakefront Saturday morning for a beat down, and a soggy morning beat down it was.
After a Warmup consisting of:
Imperial Walkers 20x, Merkins 10x, Windmills 20x, Plank Jacks 20x, Copperhead Squats 20x, Mountain Climbers 20x, Hillbillies 20x, all IC, and with 10 Burpees OYO tacked on at the end
the PAX walked Eastward down the Lakefront for a bout of Dora 1-2-3
(It should be noted at this point that at least one PAX, namely Russo, was primed to mosey and visibly was disappointed in the walk. Apparently Russo has made good use of his COVID 19 break to become a runner. Don’t worry, Russo, you will have your chance to shine, and T claps to you for improving yourself while the rest of us have been eating ice cream on the couch. (And by “the rest of us,” I mean YHC)).
Back to the Dora 1-2-3:
We partnered up and together did 100 shoulder taps with feet elevated on the sea wall, 200 airplanes, and 300 OH hand claps, all with a four count and making our way to the street and back to relieve our partner by rotating low and slow side shuffles with 45 degree angled low and slow walks. This one ended up going on longer than YHC projected on account of the four count so we called it a bit early, right before Tanked Up’s head exploded from counting, and moved on down the Lakefront.
Circling up we did hit 10x hand release Merkins, 10x Nolan Ryans each side, 10x flutter kicks, 10 more hand release Merkins, 10x Jane Fondas each side, 10x wife pleasers (with Hammer demonstrating perfect form), 10x more more hand release Merkins, 10x jackhammers each side, and 10x Freddy Mercuries. Then it was time for a Merkins wave and an Al Gore hold/squat jump wave with Akbar wrapping us up each set at the magic number 113. 10 burpees OYO and then it was time to walk back towards the shovel flag.
Stopped along the sea wall for Bulgarian split squats 25x IC each leg. If you are sore today, thank Steve. YHC did not know these exercises existed until he introduced them and made them his standby exercise. So it’s Steve’s fault.
We then made our way back to the flag for a set of A-B-C-D abs and some final burpees.
Countorama, nameorama, and coffeeteria after Grundy prayed us out.
Great to be back in business. Thanks for letting me lead guys.
Wow, it’s been a while since YHC has logged onto this site (or even used the term, “YHC”). The days are growing near when these backblasts will become just another (well, let’s be honest, bothersome) routine. But… not yet.
So this was the second weekend in a row where there was a bit of a (socially distanced) crowd out there. (I know, tsk, tsk.) But hey, I spotted two Mandy police cruisers drive by and they must’ve approved of our distance because no arrests were made.
Usual 2 mile pre-thang to get things rolling, then onto:
Warmorama: Toe touches, WM, SSH, IW, hillbillies, seal jacks, bodybuilders, IC x15-20.
Thang: First up, a routine similar to an Iron Pax challenge, 4 rounds of:
50 squats
40 big boys
30 merkins
20 sister mary’s
10 burpees
Then a run down Noah’s Ark to complete the round before returning to rinse & repeat.
Grundy, Bush, and Tank took the lead on this one, though how Bushwacker did it so quickly with all his whining about sit-ups is beyond me. (And Grundy might’ve done it a little too quickly, because he had to bow out with an ankle injury immediately after.) Tank, after 30 days of consecutive Murphs (yeah, you read that correctly), breezed through this one. No surprise there.
Somewhere around this time, either Bean or Hammer initiated what I believe is called a “flying EH.” Extremely rare in these parts, this is when someone in the Pax EH’s a guy who is passing by. Bushwacker, the Northshore communications director, immediately took in James, made him feel at home, and explained all the lingo being slung around.
Next up, a COP:
High knees burpee wave, only two rounds to everyone’s surprise.
Next, hold Al Gore for a Bobby Hurley wave. (x3)
And finally, hold your ankles (welcome Six Pack!) for a monkey humper wave. (x3)
Almost time to head back to the (for now) non-existent flag, but first a quick set of 11’s. Quick, Shooter asks?!? Why, yes, no bear crawls or lunges between sets! And the guys did indeed knock out a set of freak nasties and merkins pretty quickly.
Back to the start for countdown, nameorama (welcome of Six Pack!), and Hammer prayed us out. Guys, it was really good to lead again. Thank you for the opportunity, for the camaraderie, for the push to be better. SYITG.
14 men posted Saturday to celebrate the New Orleans festivals that were not to be. Great to see everyone again in the gloom as things seem to be moving toward the new normal. And new faces too: Special thanks to Tarheel for making the long trip from Covington for what might have been his first Lakefront appearance. Great to see TurboTax back in action, bringing a FNG with him.
T Claps to Tool for creating this beatdown to pay homage to our local musicians and those that would have played at festivals this spring, including a special tribute to the late Dr. John. A fun and simple format, yet sure to test our endurance.
Prethang: 2 mile run
Coupons:
Grover and I missed the prethang and arrived to an assortment of coupons consisting of cinder blocks and ruck plates. Shout out to Waterpick for his Joseph like Technicolor coupon.
YHC posted on GroupMe the day before to bring your own coupon, but not everyone got the message. Teddy Roosevelt said: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Bush and Manny took that to heart and grabbed a weed eater and a spare tire from their vehicles for coupons. Apparently Bean randomly travels with cinder blocks so we had enough to cover everyone.
Warmorama: The Meters and Galactic started us off with a 6 minute warm up of SSH, WM, IW, AC, MC, GG, and Self-Love – although no one knew what most of those abbreviations meant. Evidently Cowbell struggled with that as well, and thankfully sent a detailed text explanation at 3:13 am – just 3 hours before the gloom.
X20 in cadence: Side straddle hops, windmills, imperial walkers, arm circles, mountain climbers, grass grabbers, and self-love
Thang: 14 songs, 48 minutes, 23 seconds rest in between.
Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show: X20 Curls, Bear Crawl 15yds and back, R&R (Rinse and Repeat) for duration of the song
Everlong – Foo Fighters: X20 Kettle Swings, Lunge Walk 15yds and back, R&R….
It’s Your Thing – Marc Broussard: Hold High Plank, Merkin on every “Thing”
Buckjump – Trombone Shorty w/Rebirth Brass Band & 5th Ward Weebie: X20 Jump Squats, Bear Crawl 15yds and back, R&R….
Keep Going – The Revivalists: X20 Shoulder Press, Lunge Walk 15yds and back, R&R….
Treme – John Boutte: Get “Down in the Treme” with a low plank and hold it
Right Place Wrong Time – Dr. John: X20 Thrusters, Crab Walk 15yds and back, R&R….
Fly Away – Lenny Kravitz: Recovery song….easy mosey 15yds and back and forth, R&R, but drop for a Flying Squirrel (Burpee) on every “Fly”
Jambalaya – Dash Rip Rock: Lay your block down or find a step, curb, etc. for continuous Rocky Balboas, and drop for an 8ct Body Builder on every “Jambalaya”, then immediately back up for more Rocky’s.
Here Come the Girls – Creole String Beans: Hold Block w/both hands and get ready to do some “Curls for the Girls!!!”….perform a curl for every “Girl”
I Thank You – Robert Randolf & The Family Band: Plankorama….any plank variation for duration of the song…high, low, side, etc.
Count| Name-o-Rama
Welcome FNG Kroeger from Charlotte – Named after Chad Kroeger from Nickelback
COT
Prayers for all those affected by the festival cancellations: musicians, organizers, hospitality, etc.
Coffeteria
Short mosey down to the Book and the Bean who have opened their outdoor seating.
Here is the full workout with playlist, coupon and non-coupon option
