F3 New Orleans

Category: Northshore

  • Dance Like Everyone’s Watching

    Though we had a smaller PAX than expected, the number and quality of men who showed were perfect for the beatdown that YHC had thrown together.

    Warm-up: Imperial Walkers, Toe touches, Windmills, Arm circles, High knees, Butt kicks. Then, we moseyed to the stop sign and back to wake up the cardio system.

    The Thang started with each man standing at a corner of the basketball court (half court)–the man at “home plate” started 15 burpees while first base did squats AMRAP, second base did Mercans, and third base did LBC’s until the burpees were completed by the man at home and he ran to first to relieve the squatter. Each replaced the next until every man cycled through the burpees at home.

    Then, we partnered up to take turns running suicides and splitting duty on 100 lunges, 200 flutter kicks, and 300 SSH.

    In the last 15 minutes, we burned any remaining strength with a couple of classic rock-sercises. First, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC in plank for the duration and Mercans every time they said “Thunder.” For the second, YHC revealed his signature high school homecoming dance move that, as it turns out, is well known and had already been named Imperial Walkers. The rhythm for the song “Baba O’Reilly” by The Who (“Teenage Wasteland”) is perfect for this move, though after “dancng” for five minutes straight, hip flexors will be sore tomorrow. Hammer’s superhuman knowledge of classic rock was much appreciated as he was able to tell us, to the second, how much longer we had to go.

    With five minutes left, YHC played “Flower” by Moby (“Bring Sally up, Bring Sally down”: made popular by the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds), and the PAX did squats following the instructions up and down as given in the song.

    Count, name, and Hammer prayed us out before Shooter ran the 2.5 miles back home after a killer cardio beatdown. Excellent way to start the week!

    Thanks to the men who joined. See you in the gloom!

  • Doubling Down on 2-22

    When a last-minute request for a Saturday Q yielded no results, the man who’s up for anything, the holder of no secrets, keeper of Girl Scout cookies, and grand captain of all CSAUP’s – that’s right, Mr. Bushwacker himself – offered to co-Q with yours truly. A twofer? On 2-22. How could YHC resist.

    There had been a botched attempt of this beatdown around six months ago, but a tropical storm stymied it and we threw it on the back burner. (Even back then Wacker attempted to explain the rules of Speedball to me with no success. This time around, he sent an 8-minute youtube video to me the night before, which was somehow even less successful than the first attempt.)

    Pre-Thang: You could literally feel the average age of the PAX drop by five years this morning, as the two mile warm-up run had a noticeable shot of speed added to it with Whip, Grover, and FNG Fuzzy Balls leading the way. Of course, it didn’t help that many of us are now near-crippled from all of our RRR mileage. But still…. great to have some youth mixed into the group and YHC hopes we see more of these guys.

    Warmorama: YHC took the warmup and did some pretty basic stuff: SSH, windmills, seal jacks, IW’s, merkins, mountain climbers, plank jacks, etc. All IC, somewhere between 10 and 20.

    Thang: We took a short mosey over to Rip’s, , where the PAX split in two for a derkin stair climb. That’s right: from a plank position, climb the treacherously steep and semi-rotting stairs backwards, doing a derkin on each step. (Disclaimer properly given, mind you.) The rest of the men, having formed two circles, would do whatever exercise the next man up called out. One team added the football to the mix, which made a round of flutter kicks with a game of toss thrown in (penalty burpees for missed catches, of course) seem like it should naturally be added to the exicon. In fact, maybe all Mary should involve a ball?

    Once the painful part of the beatdown was over, it was time to turn the show over to Bush for the fun n’ games. (And, appropriately, let’s turn the backblast reins over to Mr. Wack as well):

    From Rips’s, the PAX moseyed on to the Marsh, football-tossing and rules-explaining along the way. Upon arriving and splitting off into HATS vs No-HATS, the rules were covered one more time for F3 Northshore’s 1st ever fast-paced, high intensity, more than slightly confusing game of Speedball (though little good it did). There was uncertainty ‘til the end…in which Tanked Up was single-handedly reponsible for his bonneted brethren losing 10-1 in a melee wherein each point resulted in the opposing team kissing concrete as they all preformed 5 burpees. With fun n games concluded and lessons learned for the improvement of the next experience, the teams each Indian ran back to the flag where, after one false start and another well-intentioned interruption, the COT was finally underway. Named/welcomed FNG Fuzzy Ballz and Jose prayed us out.

    Thank you guys for putting up with the two of us!

  • The “Finger” can be good or bad!

    YHC arrived at the Scramble with sights of Steve turning into the parking lot.. Shortly there after Bushwacker and Waterpik roll in and we start the warm up.. Thoughts of Cowbell possibly rolling in hot we begin with all IC 10 SSH, Touch touches then lights come around the corner as Goose joins the PAX for the final two (Unnamed maybe) legs wide Palm to the ground touches and backup closing with Windmills..

    PAX journeyed 20 mins out and 20 mins back.. Total actually 4.25 miles..

    “As for the Finger, sometimes you deserve it and sometimes it’s unavoidable”

    Thanks to Wacker for closeout with 🙏🏼!

    ✌🏻👊🏻👍🏻 Till the next Gloom

  • Expected and sometimes Unexpected patrons in the Gloom!!

    With hints of humidity and the chance for rain the last few weeks, AOs have created some expected and unexpected events as well as patrons.. A fixture and Expected Grover has shown great discipline in posting at the early weekdays as well as Saturdays.. Hugh 👏🏻 to him and Akbar for their commitment to F3, certainly glad to have you men.. Following a well balanced beatdown by Goose, YHC was still feeling the lingering effects of the entertaining beatdown provided on Saturday.. As for the Unexpected our journey this Gloom would include multiple sightings and interruption on the trailhead. Some provided by the PAX and others provided by the fair weather biker friends spooked by the PAX appearing out of the ground like Zombies in the night only to quickly change direction on a dime…
    Enough rambling..

    Prethang

    👏🏻 to Cowbell with getting in an extra mile and Steve appearing out the dark with his own prethang..

    warmup

    All IC 10 Toe touches, Windmills, Cherry pickers, Shoulder presses and Butt kicks..

    thang

    Mosey to the tunnel partner up P1 LBCs while P2 jogs to the flat and lunge walks the flat back pedals up R/R back. Next P1 Merkins to 10 followed by a 10 count R/R till P2 returns from jogging down Carioca the flat sprint to the top R/R back. (2X) Last set P1 holds Al cores for 20 seconds 5 sec rest R/R.. Moseyed to the bus stop for some bench work. Hop overs 20/15/10/20 with equal counts of Freak Nasties.. Moseyed to the steps partnered again 3 rounds P1 plank P2 sprints up the steps 5 jump squats returns, R/R Nolan Ryan’s both sides.. Mary to close 20 IC Freddie Mercury’s and Cowbells arms high Flutters..

    Appreciation to Zoolander for praying PAX out!!

    ✌🏻👊🏻👍🏻 till the next Gloom!!

  • Shin Sprints

    After a brief warm up, mosey down to Lakefront for 10 sprints along Lakeshore Dr. of about 75 yards. Then, legs fully weakened, crank out 2 longer sprints of about 1-2 blocks.

    Mosey back to Marsh for some pull ups, Bulgarian Split Squats (Steve’s favorite), Merkins, finishing up with some core work, especially for Captain Core himself, Sir Wacker.

    COT. Thanks to Akbar for praying us out.

  • He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother

    From Goose: As the PAX circled in the light of a cold Saturday morning, YHC received for the first time as Q the focused look of many men trying to guess the type and magnitude of the pain they’re about to endure. And, though the beatdown wasn’t an overwhelming challenge for most, it was certainly a different experience than they could have guessed.

    Warm-ups consisted of IC: SSH, Seal Jacks, Windmills, toe touches, high knees, and butt kicks. 

    The Thang was varied and sundry:

    First, moseyed to the small open field area before the gazebo and broke into two teams of eight, then into groups of four facing each other about 10 yards apart for 6 rounds of shuttle runs using small cones for moveables. Each round was followed by decreasing numbers of burpees and big-boy sit-ups.

    Then, moseyed about half a mile away from the flag, just over the bridge to a larger open field. Here, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we all got a little closer with some touchy-feely quality time. 

    This started with the Tunnel of Love during which all PAX lined up shoulder to shoulder in plank position while the man on the end army crawled through the tunnel followed by the next until all had wormed their way through and all jokes about overhead clearance were exhausted.

    We then flipped onto our 6 for the Bridge of Hate: all PAX lying shoulder to shoulder as the man on the end lowers himself onto the row of eager hands to be passed, crowd-surfing style, to the end. Each man endured the slow, sloppy process, though wardrobes threatened to malfunction, and the use of knees became necessary to move more than a few men. (Grover, however, being last, was shot like a javelin down the line.)

    This was followed by Three Amigos: the PAX split into groups of three, and each group stood back to back, linked arms, and dropped into a chair-sit position. They then walked in that position about ten yards, completed five copperhead squats together, and squat-walked back.

    We finished in that field with four rounds of exercises (50 LBC’s, 40 SSH, 30 jump squats, and 20 Merkins) each followed by a forty yard sprint into a ten yard army crawl.

    We moved back to flag using a lighter version of a Bataan Death March: Indian Run with the last man stopping and doing three burpees before catching up, tapping the new last man (so he can stop and do burpees), and running to the front. The line was long and the distance short, so most only had one round, but with the time left at the flag, we completed one round of vacuum cleaners and a couple of side-plank domino/waves in a circle. 

    Vacuum cleaners: partner 1 holds partner 2’s legs wheelbarrow-style and moves forward ten yards where partner 1 does 5 Derkins, then moves backwards in the same position to the start before flapjacking. Communication was key for this one, and hand-walking backwards was unexpectedly brutal.

    COT, Count, Name, and Maverick prayed us out.

    Thanks to all who posted for this VQ!  It’s truly an honor to journey with this crew!

  • Hurry up and Hang Around

    The pre-thang ranged from 1-3 miles and EVERYBODY was running around somewhere! The eventuality of 3 groups of sub-PAX converging on the flag(s) within the cock’s crow of 6am gave way to the somewhat unorthodox beatdown that went something like this…

    THANG

    Gathered in the driest area near the flag, the PAX commenced to SSH while Sir Einstein the Gallant galloped to the rock garden area and back, an approximate 10th of a mile. And so it went, changing exercises, as each man departed and returned. These included Imperial Walkers, Windmills, High Knees, Overhead Claps, and Scorpion Kicks.

    After moseying to the Justice center, the PAX continued to exercise in the absence of each man who, in turn, ran on back to the rock garden area before rejoining his comrades. Fully and properly warmed up, the next set of exercise included Merkins, Jump Squats, Groiners, Burpees, Monkey Humpers, Carolina Dry Docks, and Apollo OH NOs.

    Staying with the same running route, the PAX next made use of the stone benches in their midst by doing Box Jumps, Freak Nasties, Hop Overs, Irkins, In & Outs, Dirkins, and Prayer Squats.

    So as not to ignore a perfectly good set of steps, the PAX carried on doing L Calf Raises, R Calf Raises, Irkin Plank, and “Step Up/Step Down”. QIC and Cowbell ran out of time and so ran an extra lap on the way back to the flag where…

    COT

    Count/Name/Einstein prayed us out with customary short, sweet and to the point words.

    I know we didn’t do much but stand around in a few different places, but I appreciate y’all following along any how!

  • One long mile with a strong… draft.

    Man it’s been a long time since YHC has written a backblast. And while I’d love to blame it on that insanely good BB Hawg dropped on us last week (I mean, who wants to follow that?), it is of course out of pure laziness. So thanks to today’s special guest for helping to get me back on track.

    Usual warmorama, went something like this: arm circles, cherry pickers, windmills, imperial walkers, seal jacks, toe touches, all IC at or around 15x.

    Thang: Started things off pretty foolishly, considering the Nightmare was a mere two days ago: a Merkin Mile to the tunnel. That’s 1/4 mile, x25 merkins, 1/4 mile, x25 merkins, etc. Once we hit a mile at the tunnel, and 100 merkins, we partnered up for:

    Wilt Chamberlains, or some modification of it: 100 LBC’s, 100 squats, 100 flutters (2-count) and 100 lunges. Cumulative count, with P1 running down to the base and backwards back up for the flapjack.

    Modified Merkin Mile back to the flag, with only half the merkins (that’s right, only 50 this time, that’s it. Not like Hammer and I didn’t do 400 two days ago), back for just enough Mary with a guest appearance by our own Backdraft, back from Gitmo! In his prolonged absence he had all the times wrong, but hey, we were happy to catch even a few minutes of him.

    Mary was leg raises, Putins, Jane Fonda’s (including all three stages: plain jane’s, quick pulses, and heel-to-knees).

    COT with Pik praying us out. Welcome back-Draft, it’s great to have you posting again. Start recruiting some of your friends for next year’s Ivan, seriously, it’s never too early to start plotting.

    Thanks to Goose for stepping up to Q ( a VQ no less!) this Saturday, let’s all post to support… and thanks men for posting this morning, for getting me out the sack, and allowing me to lead such a great group of men. It’s always a pleasure.

  • Deck On The Upper Deck

    With rain forecasted, the plan was to work-out inside of the parking garage, using the F3-Deck-Of-Death routine. But the major rain held off, so we headed up to the upper deck for some fresh air and a modified D-O-D.

    Warmed up with 20xIC: windmills, s.s hops, arm circles, high knees, imperial walkers, seal jacks, good mornings, butt kicks, toe touches, smurf jacks.

    With the Deck-Of-Death, clubs=burpees, diamonds=merkins, spades=squats, hearts=crunchy frogs. Modified on the J,Q,K, face cards with; a run down the ramp, up the stairs, and across the upper ramp. Modified on the Ace card with a 50 yard bearcrawl and run return. Modified on the Joker with an exercise choice of whoever drew.

    Time expired about 3/4 through the card deck.

    Back at the invisible flag, we counted off, someone blurted out some stuff about Bushwacker. And Bart2Steve prayed us out.

    Thanks Gents. See you next Wednesday.

  • Round RRR Robin-ing ‘Round the Marsh

    And so it came to be that 50% of today’s PAX found themselves running to the Marsh in the gloom. After all, it’s February. And, while most anywhere else that statement may require a bit more explanation to cover the nuance, round these parts…’nuff said.

    THANG

    So after gathering at center court, the Warm-O-rama became the Thang and the Thang became the Warm-O-rama, as the collective PAX returned to the street to tour Old Mandeville a la Wednesday night’s F2 beatdown. Moseying here and there, each man took a turn, at Q’s random call, to lead a round of an exercise of his choosing. With the 1st round being reserved for those exercises belonging to the warm up class, it was an easy going first mile or so filled with revolving mumble chatter of the most casual nature. And when the leash was removed, and Shooter commenced in dishing out a round of OYO Burpees, the continuously elevated heart rates climbed ever higher.

    MARY

    After the whip that cracked thunder upon our collective heads was passed all the way around, center court was reestablished as our base where we gained our 6 and blasted our common core with what was left in the chamber.

    COT

    count/name/Q prayed us out

    Thanks gents for roamin’, ramblin’ and rangerin’ with this simple man in the gloom of the place we all call home.