F3 New Orleans

Category: Northshore

  • The No Power Menu

    10 men braved the Olga aftermath to see what was on the No Power Menu this past Saturday.  YHC may not be able to remember much of what was actually on the menu, but I can tell you what was not on the menu: a fun game of mud football wasn’t (or, really, any “fun” in general); a beatdown with a clear vision wasn’t; and a fast cup of strong coffee at coffeeteria wasn’t either.  But more on that later.

    First, there was much mumblechatter and confusion as to what exactly happened to Wacker.  He had posted on the GroupMe that Olga had “slipped in last night and screwed things up.”  But many men hadn’t heard that the tropical storm had been named and so, naturally, thought a Russian woman had slipped into Bush’s bed.  Obviously, there was a lot of concern and alarm until it was revealed Olga was “not the Russian lady he did that run with a few weeks ago.”

    Now, the beatdown.  Nevermind that YHC can’t remember the specifics of the warmorama (it’s pretty much the same 15 or so exercises anyway, right?), more of note was that it had to be the darkest warmorama on record.  With the power out in the entire neighborhood, it really couldn’t be any darker (unless, of course, we lost the light coming from Hammer and Pik’s phones).  YHC kept thinking, how can we do anything in this darkness?  No bear crawls, no suicides – what are we gonna just sit in a circle and do side straddle hops all morning??

    So… after some SSH’s, we carefully tread over to the playground equipment for a round of 7’s: pull-ups to merkins.  Then over to the benches for a second set of 7’s: Freak Nasties to Bulgarians (admittedly, Bulgarians were a bit ill-conceived due to the awkwardness of having to do each leg).

    Then carefully back to center court for a set of 1 minute AMRAPs, dealer’s choice: we went around the circle and each man picked an exercise.  I can’t remember the exercises: there were merkins, there were jump squats, there were burpees, oh, and then Maverick showed up about this time and made us do Merkins again.

    After that, Tank mercifully took the Q for a moment, just as light was starting to peek through.   He had us do runs across the court, with a merkin at each end.  About 5 laps here to get the heart rate going.

    YHC took the Q back for what I thought could be an interesting one: partner up for the slowest Catch Me If You Can ever.  P1 will inchworm down the block, P2 will perform 10 merkins, 10 squats, and 10 LBCs, before bear crawling to catch and replace P1.  YHC thought it would be fun to go sightseeing down the block (now that there was light) where there were downed power lines, fallen trees, frantic cars, and all sorts of other fun stuff to dodge.  But the wise Hammer pulled us back to the safety of the court.  This exercise turned out to be not so fun in the end anyway.

    Then we split into two teams of 5 and did a relay race across the court.  Jose ran so fast that I think he ran straight outta the court and into the home across the street, but he did seal the tie for his team.  So, 20 burpees for all.

    And… what else?  Ah, we finished with a round of Mary: again, a 1 minute AMRAP, dealer’s choice, around the circle.  And again, YHC cannot recall the exact exercises, but does remember that Pik had us do calf raises, because I remember thinking, “this isn’t core,” but hey, fair game nonetheless.  And Turbo had us do Scuba Steves.  And Jose pulled out his fave – Jane Fondas, 1 minute each leg to close it all out.

    COT where Tank took center stage to announce the Hundo, which is gaining some traction despite its utter insanity.   You gotta love these guys.  Akbar prayed us out and then we were on our way in search of coffee.  Despite the citywide outage, this group of stragglers wouldn’t take no for an answer and found the local Waffle House to be incredibly accommodating despite the lack of power.  T-claps to our cheery waitress, who put up with Hammer’s constant tea refills and a bunch of sweaty guys that had no intention of eating.  In the company of these men, that weak, slow-drip coffee was some of the best I’ve ever had.

    So while we may never know if those eighteen year olds were able to pull their truck out with bungee cords, like much in life, some things are just better left to the imagination.  Gents, thanks for the opportunity to co-lead with Tank, I believe I can speak for both of us when I say that it’s a privilege and honor that we don’t take for granted.

    Like the men of F3, Waffle House plans for the expected, but is prepared for the unexpected.

  • Rise-n-Stein

    Sorry about this backblast being tardy. The piece of paper that I had my login password on, fell behind the refrigerator.

    So with a cool morning at the Gipper, in the 40s, a long warm-up was in order; 20xIC: windmills, side straddle hops, arm circles, seal jacks, good mornings, high knees, imperial walkers, butt kicks, toe touches, and hillbillys.

    Mosey over to the Taj-Mahal, split into two groups with one group running around the campus building while the other group squats in human chair position. Repeat a few times.

    Stroll over and circle up around the substantial flag pole. One pax walks to the flag pole and shimmys up the pole a little. The counter clockwise pax person calls out an exercise to be completed while the pole-climber hangs on. Repeat around until everyone gets a turn. Shooter, no doubt, could have a second career as a circus sway-pole climber.

    Mosey over to the Justice Center parking garage. A quick stop at the short wall to do a series of step-ups. Then to the ramps for backwards lunge walking and sprints. On the top deck we did a series of 100 yard side shuffles while touching the ground at each parking space.

    Mosey back to the flag for one minute of Freddies.

    Circle up, count off, and BushWacker leads us out with his Epistle to the Gipperians II.

  • Whats a “Slow-Zee”?

    A little chilly for your preference or, as Turbo would have us all believe, perfect running weather? Well, as YHC philosophizes, everything in life is relative, and this is simply one more example. My heart was gladdened to hear that, like myself, Cowbell feels more distinctly at home in the 70s to 80s with slightly lower humidity. Speaking of Cowbell, his suggestion of a …slow-zee…? sounded just about right just days before this year’s North Shore Half Marathon. And thus…

    WARMORAMA

    x10 IC:

    Good Mornings

    Imperial Walkers

    High Knees

    Butt Kicks

    Scorpion Kicks

    THANG

    Scrambling along the traditional old MANDEVILLE (ahem, Hawgcycle) route, Q made sure to keep the PAX more or less together by instituting several location-based stops to either Freddy Mercury or LBC OYO until the 6 caught up, then start an IC 10 count. That was until the final stop at Monroe, after which the stallions were let loose from the barn!

    MARY

    The Freddy Mercury/LBC count was extended back at the flag to a mischievous 26 reps before OYO 10 Burpees and 50 (with good form) Merkins.

    COT

    Count/Name Amnesia, whose third child is due in December, prayed us out.

    Thanks, guys, for following my lead and my shenanigans.

    *BE PREPARED FOR SOME MUD-SLOPPY FUN N GAMES SATURDAY (GLOVES/TOWELS)*

  • Crowd Pleaser

    Let’s just acknowledge that there was an actual “crowd” to please in the first place – Grandma’s was a-hoppin’ this morning. Aside from the regulars, there was Zoo, who has started to become a regular. There was Hammer, who not only posted today, but yesterday at the Marsh as well. And then there was Captain, the Chief, the Sparkliest of firefighters and most notable of actors in the Hollywood South, who made a rare guest appearance. Sounds like he may soon bump himself up to a series regular if we continue to EH him (hint, hint). There was also a very vocal owl that greeted the Hammer and I with eerily childlike rantings (YHC was reminded of the Hammer’s demonic, discarded doll), but he didn’t stick around long enough to make the cut. Anyhow, for Granny, it was a packed house.

    Warmorama: IWs, torso twists, toe touches, SSHs, and probably something else. Finished with 20x merkins OYO.

    As the fall weather settles in, YHC sometimes worries that the PAX just won’t sweat enough. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night. I mean, if Shooter doesn’t sweat during a beatdown, then really what was the point? Luckily temperatures hadn’t dropped too much, but YHC decided to start with a quick mosey around the block to get the blood flowing.

    Next up was the “crowd pleaser,” a term YHC takes at face value, rather the ironic one that seems to be intended. In front of the stage (which was well illuminated for some reason this morning), we spread out to four imaginary corners. The routine would be to travel clockwise to each corner, and perform the same exercise x10 until you’ve returned to your original corner. So:

    Bear crawl, x10 merkins at each corner
    Lunge walk, x10 squats at each corner
    Crab walk, 10x big boys at each corner
    Frog jumps, 10x burpees at each corner

    Recovery walk over to the corridor for partner sprints: P1 holds a people’s chair while doing air presses, P2 sprints half the corridor and back, then the full thing (including the stairs but mindful of our friendly stair-climbing couple) and back to flapjack.

    The Grand Finale was a last minute call – seeing that stage so well-lilt, and having an actor in our presence, it seemed necessary to get up there in the spotlight. So we hopped up to center stage for a little game of Rochamburpees. Same partners, rock/paper/scissors with the winner doing 1 merkin and the loser, 1 burpee. Redos for ties, and an ascending count each round, up to 10x. As the odd man out, YHC unfortunately hitched his wagon to the wrong horse, with Captain defying the odds and losing the first 8 straight. Out of sympathy, Cowbell even tried purposefully losing, which failed as well. Such was the bad luck of Cap. In the end, though, he came through when it mattered and secured the final two wins.

    Back to the flag for a some Mary: Crunchy Frogs, LBC’s, Putins, Flutters, and 100’s, all x20 IC. COT and Shooter prayed us out. Thank you men for getting out of the sack this morning and helping me become a stronger and better man.

  • Just Another Manic Monday

    At 5:12 a.m., YHC pulled into the Marsh, only to find it empty. Prepared to move forward with a Beatdown of 1, Cowbell soon made his presence known. With no Q signed up, Cowbell and Hammer quickly agreed to co-Q. Akbar must have overheard, because right as we were to begin warmups, he swooped in to create a triumvirate of Qs.

    Warmups: (The Hammer)

    SSH x18/IW x10/Merkins x10/Arm Circles –Forward x5, Backward x5/Toe Touches x10

    Cowbell took Q from here, as we began a mosey toward the Lake. We stopped on the corner of each block to perform the following trifecta in descending order: Merkins/Squats/Big Boi Situps x 25/20/15/10/5.

    Once at the Lake, Akbar took over, and we began with 25 Freak Nasties on the wall. We began our mosey back to the Marsh, and Akbar had us do the following trifecta in descending order: Jump Squats/Walking Lunges/LBCs x25/20/15/10/5. YHC has concluded that Akbar is still angry about Ole Miss’ loss to the Aggies on Saturday, and he was taking it out on us via the Jump Squat/Lunge combo. There really is no other explanation.

    Once back at the Marsh, the Hammer took Q back over and led the triumvirate in a series of suicides on the court, much to the chagrin of Cowbell and Akbar. We changed it up as follows:

    Full sprint each way/Bear Crawl out, backwards run back/Shuffle out, 10 LBCs at each line, sprint back/Sprint out, 10 of Dealer’s Choice at each line, Sprint back/Sprint out, Descending Burpees at each line –4,3,2,1, Sprint Back

    To finish with a few minutes of Mary, Cowbell had each of the PAX pick an exercise x 25. The Hammer chose (of course) American Hammers, Akbar chose Mountain Climbers, and Cowbell finished us off with Crunchy Frogs.

    Hammer prayed us out, lifting up our brothers Water Pik, Jose 10k, and special intentions.

  • Spanish lesson please gentlemen your messing up the Qs count!!!

    Lots of chatter and the return of Burgundy at the Scramble. I will be brief as my time has been consumed by other activities, but when AEP (Annual Election Period) ends I will consider taking lessons on counting in Spanish past 10…

    Warmup

    IC 15 SSH, Toe touch’s, Windmills, Butt Kicks, high knees and lunge walk about 30 yards..

    Mosey consisted of interval sprints of 100-200 yards multiple times throughout the run. Paused briefly at the pier for Erkins and Slow squats to 15 IC. Returned to Mosey back to the AO.. Pace was a respectable 8:37 I believe called out by Cowbell.. Finished with 15 IC Merkins, Lil Manny Crunches, Scissor kicks, Scorpion kicks. Held chillcot plank 30 sec holds, left/right arm high while counting around the circle. Q learned his fellow PAX are well versed in their Spanish. Ended with 15 IC slow squats..

    YHC prayed us out!!

    Appreciate the post PAX till the next time!

    👊🏻✌🏻

  • Barricadia

    We arrived at Grandma’s House to find we were barricaded out! As if that would stop the PAX…T-Claps to Steve for moving them so we could park.

    Warm o Rama: Good Mornings, Toe touches, Imp Walkers, Hill Billies, SS Hops.

    First up, a mosey on over to the tunnel. Along the way some friendly chatter about the past weekend…Topics that stood out were Shooter with a hunting kill(T-Claps), and Cowbell’s less than stellar sales experience when he went boat shopping.

    The Thang:

    Arrived at the tunnel. Bear Crawls 25 paces, then jog then sprint to the other side of the tunnel and repeat back. Rinse and repeat for 2 rounds.

    Next PAX moseyed over to the bus stop. PAX did 10 each: Decline Merkins, Step-Ups, Incline Merkins, Box Jumps, and Freak Nasties. Rinse and repeat for 2 rounds. YHC almost splashing merlot after those box jumps!

    Next we moseyed over to the Market area where PAX completed Dora 1,2,3. Teams of 2. Pax 1 Ran at 80% to end of Market Hall, and sprinted back, while Pax 2 were doing cumulative reps of 100 Merkins, 200 LBC’s, and 300 Squats. Pax 1 and 2 flap-jacked runs/exercises until cumulative exercises were completed.

    Count O , Name O

    Shooter Prayed us out.

  • 5 year CONVERGENCE!

    Well – 5 years later we are still going STRONG! I remember when we started thinking I don’t have time in my life for this group. After a week of beatdowns I knew that we had to commit to growing this group – it had already begun to change my life and they way I interact with people everyday. I know after a nasty 530am beatdown – that I can handle anything the day throws at me. Thanks to all the guys here in NOLA that keep things running so that we can continue to be a group. Thanks to OBT for taking time out of his life to get us going in the GLOOM! Looking forward to 5 more years of F3 in NOLA.

    Today the pre-run started with about 20 PAX for a run down BAYOU ST JOHN. Beautiful weather, cool air and a crisp breeze. We ran 12 min out and 12 min back so that we could arrive in time for the fun.

    KUCH – has a been a great EH’er and a nice addition to F3 NOLA. Kuch started the party off with a WARM UP circle. SSH, Imp Walkers, Arm Circles, Peter Parkers, Merks.

    Then we divided up by 5 count into teams. We did 5 burpees, 5 Lunges, 5 Merkins, 5 Squats, 5 Plank Jacks. Bear Crawl across the lawn. Run back. KUCH did an excellent job getting the teams set quickly

    5 reps. We ran out of time and had to call it after 3 reps. No team won due to the shortened KUCH set. Kuch represented NOLA well – with a pretty gnarly start to a celebratory event.

    2nd set with DURACELL – FROM BATON ROUGE

    Duracell brought out 2 coupons. 40lb cinderblocks. 2 PAX ran to the center and did 3 thrusters. We went two different directions. A slow starter but once the PAX got the hang out this one – this was a solid beatdown. Duracell had to do about 15 exercises in cadence to 20. Exercises ranged from a regular plank, to shoulder taps, to merk variations to squat/lunge variations. The highlight of this section was Mathlete’s 2.0-Bear getting that cinderblock in the right position and up. Duracell represented the RED STICK well.

    THIGHS FROM THE WANK- 3rd quarter. We started with a solid mosey over the to the lawn in by the museum. Upon arrival we see that Thighs has organized with some printed out signs a 15 min beatdown that is going to suck. At each sign there was an exercise- PAX had to complete 20 reps the first time through, 15 reps the 2nd time through. (Possible 3rd time for the fastest pax members). Exercises were:

    1. Bonnie Blaires
    2. Diamond Merks
    3. Reverse Crunches aka Gaspumps
    4. Bobby Hurleys
    5. Merkin Toe Touches (need to incorporate this more in my Qs)
    6. Freddie Mercs

    RUN back to the start line and do this again. Thighs had the teams organized in a way by street names. Due to 75 PAX that didn’t quite workout but Thighs quickly modified and let the teams fall where they were. A good quick call. Thighs demonstrated that there is nothing easy about the WANK. Those guys are tough! Great turnout by the WB.

    STEVE FROM THE NORTHSHORE- FINISHED OFF The PAX back on the great lawn. Each pax got a partner.

    You had to do your partners age in burpees, your partners weight in LBCS, and your partners months in F3 in Freddies.

    Steve had a few minutes left so he finished with some Peter parkers, and some American Hammer.

    After a 75 PAX NAME O RAMA, NUMBERRAMA – Hokey POkey finished us off with an awesome prayer!

    After the whole beatdown we gathered at Cafe Du Monde for a 5 year celebration party. Tclaps to Rudy, Tool and Gabrielle for making that happen. There were eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, beignets and plenty of coffee!

    Thanks to our awesome Qs! IT is NOT easy to Q 75 PAX!

    So blessed to be a part of this group- cheers to 5 more years of F3 NOLA!

  • Wait…You Were Serious?! Tales From The Tabata Trio

    So, YHC thought it would be a brilliant idea to run 5 miles to the Marsh this gloom (yes I was serious), which it was. Except for the tragic water bottle to the knee injury, almost being run off the trace by the brightest bicycle light in the world, and the cramping caused by running the entire way with a shovel flag that kept trying to fall apart. All of which became the final nail leading today’s beat down going from an intense feat of athletic stoicism featuring the Marsh’s newest mega coupon, an outrageously enormous tire (which has already been stolen after only 2 weeks and no opportunities to use it) to a casual, mumble-chatter filled , Shooter-less tabata session in which YHC’s perfectly apropos Halloween costume ideas for Akbar and Steve were blown apart by the awesomely anticipated Obi Wan Kenobi and Fat Sweat-Pants-wearing Spiderman costumes, featuing family coordination.

    ANYway…

    WARM O RAMA

    Steve covered the warm up while Q…uh…took care of some… business – returning in time to rock out some Imperial Walkers.

    THANG

    Tabata cycles of 4 sets of 20 seconds of reps with 10 seconds rest in between each set. Exercises included Merkins, LBCs, Lunges, Reverse Lunges, Reverse Crunches, Freddy Mercurys, Scorpion Kicks ans more Imperial Walkers.

    COT

    Count, Name, Akbar prayed us out, and we are certainly blessed. This Halloween be sure to be on the lookout for Akbar and his light saber and Steve with his slice of pizza!

    Gentlemen, thanks for posting and playing a few rounds of “Bushwacker says”. And Steve, thanks for the ride home…looks like I won’t need a knee replacement after all! (yet)

  • Short and Sweet!

    This BB will be just as the title states, YHC has entered into 2 seasons both of which are Short and Sweet so enough said..

    Warmarama

    All IC to reps of 10 and 15 SSH, Good mornings, Hillbillies, Arm circles and Mummy kicks..

    Thang

    Moseyed to Marigny each corner reps of 5, 10, 15 and 20.. Burpees, Squats, Merkins and Sister Marys 60-70% Mosey to each corner toward the lake. Total reps 350 and 1 mile. Recover walk past RIPS and backdown Girod reps 5, 10, 15 and 20. Groiners, Balboas, LBCs and Hello Dollies.. 2 mins left Front Plank, Right/Left Arm high and Front Plank.

    Intentions for Southshore’s Bellhop and family for their loss!!

    Thanks to Cowbell for praying us out!!

    Till the next Gloom 👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻!!