4 pax met up at Gma’s house last tuesday for a circuit of exercises in the 95 degrees heat and humidity at 5:00 am.
Is November here yet?!
The Thang:
1/4 mile run around the block followed by
-10 Aussie Pull ups
-15 HR Merkins
-20 Good Mornings
-25 Skwaats
Rinse and Repeat x 6
Name-o-rama, COT, Prayer.
Warmarama:
10 reps IC for each exercise:
Toe Touches, Wind Mills, Imperial Walkers, Slow Squats, Side Straddle Hops, Seal Jacks, High Knees, Butt Kicks, Forward Arm Circles, Reverse Arm Circles, Overhead Claps
Mosey
Circle Burp……
All pacs formed the best circle that 22 guys could make. Everyone starts doing High Knees. Starting and ending with yours truly, when Pac shouts “DOWN,” all pacs do one burpee. High Knees commence until the next pac says down. Rinse and repeat until all pacs have done one burpee.
Mosey to the Park
7 of Diamonds
Not sure if anyone found any diamonds, but I am pretty sure everyone found the bottom of their gas tanks with this one.
Starting at one corner of the park, all Pacs will perform an exercise layed out by THE Manny for 7 reps. Once that exercise is complete, all pacs mosey to the second “corner” of the park. The same exercise is completed for the same amount of reps. Pacs mosey to the third corner, rinse and repeat the same exercise and reps performed at the first two corners. Once everyone gets back to the first corner, plank it up until 6 gets there and then wait for the next exercise and reps to be distributed to the troops. Here’s how this went down this morning.
Round 1 – 7 Burpees
Round 2 – 14 Merkins
Round 3 – 21 Squats
Round 4 – 28 Plank Jacks
Round 5 – 21 Mountain Climbers
Round 6 – 14 Squat Jumps
Round 7 – 7 Burpees
Mosey to the spot of the Circle Burp and get on your 6 for some Mary.
Little Manny Crunches – 15 IC
Freddie Mercuries – 20 IC
Flutter Kicks – 10 IC
Leg Lifts – 10 IC
Puttins – 10 IC
100s – 10 IC
Absolutions – 10 IC
Pacs break into two groups and Mosey back to flag.
Special appearance by Capt Sparkles for the Circle of Trust. Thanks for treating the 22 Pac Turn Out to coffee Capt.
The Hammer prayed us out.
Hey Gipper! It’s been a while. Did you miss me? I sure missed you. In fact, I missed you so much that slow-ass drivers and blinding rain couldn’t keep me away this morning. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder! And, of course, my most sincere apologies for my lateness, but I made sure you were in the excellent hands of Barely Legal until I arrived. He made sure you were nice and warm with Windmills and other exercises by the time I got there. Though I had to be absolutely certain you were ready to break a sweat by adding Torso Twists and Scorpion Kicks to the list.
I didn’t want to waste any time in getting reacquainted so I lead you to the top of the justice center parking garage, which seemed like the perfect setting for some…fun n games;)
I was planning to honor Coconuts, and crown a new champion in Turbo Tax’s conspicuous absence, but, alas, I forgot my phone with the freshly downloaded Beep Test app. Instead, I – wouldn’t quite say settled – on Doracides to really get you all hot and bothered. Moby Dick was playing with himself, as we all teamed up to do cumulative 100 SSH, 200 Merkins, 300 Squats and 400 100s, while the odd partner did suicides with 1 or 2 burpees at each point.
By this time our pulses were racing, but things were really about to get Jacked Up. In cadence, we did a set of x50SSH, then 40Seal Jacks, 30 Plank Jacks and 20 Smurf Jacks. I don’t know about you, but that really took my breath away!
After revving our engines so hard, I wanted to finish things off a little more gently. So we mosied back to the flag for some Little Manny Crunches and Freddy Mercurys.
Still flying high on the buzz of our electrifying encounter, the COT was immediately followed by some direct O MY HALLELUJAH from Einstein.
I’m sorry I had to run out so abruptly when we finished, but, ya know, I had a… thing… I had to get to. You were incredible Gipper! My body aches in places I didn’t know I had, for cryin’ out loud! You’ll always be my favorite…be seeing ya.
Everyone can finish the saying, “When life gives you lemons…”. But not everyone knows how to complete the saying, “When life gives you cinderblocks….” So let YHC help everyone out; “when life gives you cinderblocks, you use them in your workouts!!!”
The PAX learned the truth of this saying this morning in a more than intellectual level. And even though this workout was very difficult, I would argue that all the blame should be placed on TurboTax. For he’s the one who lent me his cinderblocks. I take no responsibility, Turbo should have known better.
So after a disclaimer was given, the fun began.
Side straddle hop In cadence to 52! I wanted the pax to remember Dredd’s saying when he came down for our GrowRuck, “Be prepared for the expected, but be ready for the unexpected.” Doing side straddle hops to 52 definitely drove that idea home.
Then we did:
Windmills in cadence, and a shoulder series warmup in cadence.
Moseyed to the opening before the bridge where the Grundymobile was parked with the aforementioned cinderblocks. But first we did something called the welsh dragons.
Welsh Dragons: Remain in plank position the whole time. Bear crawl forward 4 steps, do 1 merkin, 1 plank jack, and tap the BACK of each shoulder 1 time. Repeat adding 1 rep to each exercise each time – bear crawl forward 4 steps, do 2 merkins, 2 plank jacks, 2 sets of back of shoulder taps… etc. We went until We reached 10 reps each and covered 30-50 feet.
Then the Q realized he had left the keys to his car back at the flag… So the Pax got a 5 minute plank/rest while the Q ran back to grab them. I’m sure everyone held a plank the whole time…
Upon returning, the grundymobile was opened and the cinderblocks were distributed. It was time for the main event. Everyone partnered up (some teams had 3 people), and we did a Dora 1, 2, 3 with cinderblocks. Round 1 (100 step ups on to the sea wall with the cinderblock) partner 2 ran to the walkway and did 3 burpees and returned to take over the rep count. Round 2 (200 kettlebell swings), and round 3 (300 overhead presses).
There was much pain involved but kudos to all of the pax for pushing through! We returned the cinderblocks and moseyed/walked back to the flag for some Mary.
Like the beginning of the workout, be ready for anything. Like Little Manny crunches in cadence to 53!!!
Circled it up and Manny closed us out wonderfully.
Great job everyone!
Until next time, Grundy
Backblast will be like the beatdown, just a routine break at work.. It shall be brief and to the point so here it goes..
Warmup
10IC Torso twist, 10IC Scorpion kicks, Down dawg stretch with right leg high and left leg high.. 10IC SSH and 10IC Butt kicks..
Thang
Standard route through ole Mandeville with 4 breaks in the run. 3 taking place at the corner of Monroe and Massena Street to drop for 5 Merkins, 5 eight count body builders and 25 LBCs. One on the run down, after the circle, on Sunset pier and again at the corner on the return to the AO..
Upon return the PAX completed 20IC Freddie Mercuries, chill cut Plank with right arm high and left arm high.
count, announce, COT
Appreciation to Waterpik for 🙏🏻 us out!!
👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻 Till the next Gloom!
19 pax showed up to the Lakefront on Saturday Morning, for a beatdown known as the Green Mile.
Pre-thang; 2 miles Tanked up, Bushwacker, Barely Legal and a late arriving YHC.
The thang:
Warm up: SSH, IW, Mt climbers, Slow skwaats, and dippy birds all IC x 20
The Green Mile: 1/2 mile from shovel flag to eastern playground with 7 fire hydrants along the way. The pax were instructed to perform 5 merkins and 10 squats at each hydrant on the way down and 10 merkins and 20 squat on the way back. The pax returned to the shovel flag with 30 min to spare, just enough time for a second round. Only this time it was 10 merks/20 squats on the way down and 5 merks/10 squats on the way back.
Cooldown: SSH, IW, Mt climbers, Slow skwaats, and dippy birds all IC x 20
It seems that the pax has some superhumans among them: with Zoolander only weeks out of surgery for a lower leg fracture, leading the front of the pax…unreal. And Tanked-up despite finding a 7th gear to end the workout up front, well done guys.
When planning today’s beatdown, YHC decided it might be a good idea to get in touch with our roots. With that in mind, YHC revisited the roots of the Milestone March. Of course Bushwacker, ever the commentator, accurately pointed out that YHC was not around when the roots were planted by Senor Butt Splice et al. at the Milestone Marsh. Who cares? Not me. And off we went into the Gloom.
Warmup
SSH, Arm Circles, Squats, Imperial Walkers
Thang: 1 minute merkins, 1 minute Big boy sit ups, then timed 1 mile run to the seawall and back.
Mary:
Flutter kicks, Hello Dollies, 1 minute Plank, Crunchy Frogs.
I think I may have forgotten some exercises that we did because that BB is awfully short.
Sometimes taking a Q is just a way to ensure you actually post to the beatdown, which was the case for YHC and the Scramble yesterday morning. Luckily, six other men required no such motivation. Well, I say six, but really there were only 5 others until the final minutes of the beatdown. You can guess which man forgot the start time this morning (but did end up getting in most of the run!).
Also of note, our favorite bickering couple returned to the fold, Chewy having convinced Ei to come back out of retirement for the seventh time by signing up for a half marathon and all the training that went along with it.
Alright, warmorama: copperhead squats, good mornings, toe touches, torso twist, arm circles, SSH, all x12 IC
Then, off on the traditional route.
It should be on record that Shooter was part of the “gazelle club” on this particular morning, taking the lead with Pik as the rest of the PAX fell behind at a more leisurely pace.
YHC ran with Demo, who had for some reason decided he wanted to completely annihilate himself before his family vacation: after a long period of inactivity, he posted for Grundy’s grueling cinderblock beatdown the day before, took an 11 mile bike ride that night, and then got up early to do this 5k. I’m sure his M will be pleased that’s he’s incapacitated for their trip.
Finally back at the flag, a mysterious figure that we had passed near Sunset Point revealed himself to be none other than the only member of the PAX to successfully be renamed (you don’t count, Jose, as YHC believes you’re still officially “Mourinho” on all legal paperwork).
On our six, we closed it out with some Mary: Flutter kicks, LBCs, 100s, Hello Dollys, Rosalinas, and crunchy frogs, all x20 IC.
COT, with announcements to sign up for the upcoming Iron Pax, and Pik prayed us out. T-claps to Chewy, who stepped up to take Saturday’s Q (I figure if I keep applauding you, Chewy, you’ll be forced to make sure you have a sitter…). Thank you men for posting, for the great conversation, and for the always enjoyable run!
Something that Turbo said a couple of months back kind of has stuck with me. He said something like (paraphrasing) ‘I’m not sure there are many people who like putting themselves through painful workouts, except of course Grundy…’ I laughed it off at the time, but the more I thought about it I had to conclude that it was actually true! If I see or hear about a workout that is labeled “painfully difficult” or “crazy hard”, my next thought without fail is “when can I try it!!!!”
This type of attitude might categorize me as a lower level Masochist which by definition is “a person who enjoys an activity that appears to be painful or tedious. ” But on some level though, if we are being honest with ourselves, everyone in F3 is a little bit like that to one degree or another.
So when Turbo said that the hardest workout he did all of last year was the week 2 cinderblock workout from the Iron Pax Challenge (which is coming up again in September so sign up here with F3 New Orleans at https://f3greenwood.com/ironpax-form/ ), my ears perked up and I immediately went into planning how I can make it happen again. I was not there the first time, so I needed to experience the pain…
Turbo got me the cinderblocks and the rest was history. 8 men in total were going to go through that beatdown again because I am indeed a Masochist..
After a brief warmup in cadence with some SSH, arm circle series, and good mornings, we walked over to the gravel pit near the trailhead for the main and only event.
Cinderblocks in hand, we embarked on the madness.
4 sets of 8 minutes
* Perform as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of each set
* After 25 reps, run 25 yards out and back (50 yards total)
* Rinse and Repeat until 8 minutes is up
* Make note of your rep count
*Rest 2 minutes exactly between sets
Set 1 – Squat Thrusters w/Coupon
Set 2 – Curls w/Coupon
Set 3 – KB Swings w/Coupon
Set 4 – Manmakers w/Coupon
* Coupon – Standard concrete block – 25lbs-35lbs
Total Score = Set1+Set2+Set3+Set4
It was as bad as it was hyped up to be and, true to my nature apparently, I loved it! We limped back over to the flag for a quick count off and Shooter prayed us out.
Truth be told though guys, doing all of this type of stuff wouldn’t be anything outside of doing it alongside one another. We truly make each other better and it’s amazing to be a part of a group of men of the highest quality.
Until next time,
Grundy
It has been awhile since YHC has even thought about a beatdown where no one showed. Come to think of it, I can pinpoint it to when Cowbell washed ashore this side of the lake. With Pik consistently posting to the Marsh and Cowbell now consistently posting at Granny’s, you knew there’d at least be one other member of the PAX out there.
But, alas, even Cowbell needs a vacation. In Idaho, of all places. Anywho, with no familiar cars in sight by 0525, and enough time using stretching as a delay tactic, YHC had to decide, would I pack it up and head back to the sack, or dig deep and get some in this morning?
Well, YHC hit the trace hard, getting in a whopping 10 miles. On top of that, I knocked out around 200 merkins and 200 big boy sit-ups along the way.
Nah, I’m just kidding. YHC got back in the car and went right back to bed!!! (Well, after doing the ISI challenge.) You see, it just goes to prove that there really is something to this whole accountability thing.
Missed you gents this morning, SYITG!
