F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Band camps vq!

    It was a hot and humid morning. The sun began to rise, and the smell of greatness filled the air ( maybe it was the garbage truck that was passing by). A 13 year old stepped out of the car, nervous, but ready to lead. He started off with side straddle hops ic, confidence in his counting. Arm circles, air presses, windmills followed. Again, confidence could be heard in his voice. We moseyed to Noah’s ark for some Dora. 100 merits, 200 squats, 300 lbcs while partner 2 ran the ark. Little did we know that this sick little man was just warming up. We then lined up on the wall for 11s. Freaknastys folllowed by a lunge walk to the street, then burpees followed by bear crawls back to the wall. Shooter, Jose, and Russo were sweating buckets from this beat down. (However, they would sweat that much just sitting there fishing, but that’s besides the point) The young lad smiled as we were gasping for air, grunting in displeasure. He was happy, but realized quickly that there was time left, and he had finished his list. We moseyed back to the flag, and got a series of on the spot exercises. No rhyme or reason to them. The young man was tired, but relieved the workout was over. He led a group of men who’s average age was 3 times his own. That is F3! COT, and prayers after,

  • Tabata, Tabata, and more Tabata

    Monday morning came and after discovering a treasure trove of exercises and routines on a Youtube page recently I wanted to try out a leg dominant beatdown. But don’t worry the upper body was addressed at the end. 5 PAX joined me, including 2 PAX that have not been able to attend in a while, in the muggy gloom.

    Warm up:

    After a brief jog around the fork in the road we circled up in front of LCM.

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Grass grabbers x 15 IC
    • Hillbillies x 15 IC
    • Mountain climbers x 20 IC

    Today we performed an APEX routine. Anterior muscle exercises, followed by Posterior muscle exercises, and completed with Explosive exercises. Once this series is completed follow that with 2 “corrective” exercises consisting of hip abductor strengthening exercises.

    Round 1:

    Goblet squat, bridge march with cinderblock on waist, and kettle bell swing with cinderblock. Rest 30 seconds.

    Perform 30 seconds each leg: sidelying leg raises and 1 1/2 standing hip abductor slides.

    Round 2:

    Reverse lunge, sprinter lunge, and jump squats. Rest 30 seconds.

    Perform 30 seconds each leg: 1 1/2 sidelying leg raises and standing hip abductor slides.

    Round 3:

    Neverending squat, hamstring RDL, and Glut RDL. Rest 30 seconds.

    Perform 30 seconds each leg: sidelying leg raises and 1 1/2 standing hip abductor slides.

    Round 4:

    Reverse creeping lunge, long legged bridge with block on waist, and Bonnie Blair’s. Rest 30 seconds.

    Perform 30 seconds each leg: 1 1/2 sidelying leg raises and standing hip abductor slides.

    Now that the leg portion had been completed I kept with the APEX theme for a few rounds of upper body Tabata.

    Round 1:

    Block biceps curls, Overhead triceps extension with block, and T merkins

    Round 2:

    Front raises with block (heretofore known as Walleye’s), prone T’s, and Burpees

    Round 3:

    Repeat round 1.

    Round 4:

    Repeat round 2.

    Cooldown with various leg stretches. Countoff, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, physically distanced COT. As always it’s a pleasure to lead the fine men of F3. Can’t wait to do it again.

  • Again? Why do we keep farting?

    While searching for Fartlek’s in prep for the Scramble a few weeks ago, YHC discovered another type of interval that sounded like fun. It would also give us a baseline to track our progression over the year.

    Today we did the Marine Core Officers Candidate School Fartlek, which is done in preparation for the OCS physical training test. Marines consider physical fitness as an indispensable aspect of Leadership, as does F3.

    From the QSource:

    Fitness is a man’s Right relationship with himself, Fellowship is his Right relationship with the people with whom he is in Proximity, and Faith is his Right relationship with his creator, the SkyQ .

    The order of the Get Right (1-Fitness, 2-Fellowship and 3-Faith) is prescriptive, not random. Although it might seem philosophically that Faith should come first and that Fellowship should precede Fitness, that just does not turn out to be true as a practical matter.

    Why? Because men who have no self-control over what they eat or drink and the daily use to which they put their bodies become captive to their lack of physical fitness. Ultimately, that defines them, primarily in their own minds but also in the eyes of those around them.

    So YHC pulled up with a mission, a timer, and a pink clip board provided by my daughter – ready to put us to the test. Joined by 4 men and 1 small man, we hit the ground running. Which is not what anyone wanted to do after Speedy’s half marathon beatdown Saturday. I think next time we’ll do this on a Wednesday to allow for more recovery.

    Warmorama: 2 minute run to Monroe Street and back. SSH, Mountain Climbers x 25, arm circles front and back, Torso Twist x 10

    Thang

    • 30 Second AMRAP Merkins, 1 minute run
    • 30 Second AMRAP LBC’s, 1 minute run
    • Star Jumps x 25
    • Max Pullups
    • Burpees x 25
    • Lunges, 25 per side
    • Max Freak Nasties
    • 30 Second AMRAP Big Boy Situps
    • Max Squats
    • Max Merkin
    • Max Plank

    The live OCS test includes running a mile in between each exercise station. YHC could tell time would not allow, so we cut out the runs in between. No one minded.

    We were pretty even on AMRAPS and Max outs until we got to squats – where Bushwacker and Jose 10k blew us out. Below are the numbers.

    ExerciseAkbarWaterpikPixie StickShooterBushwackerJose- 10k
    AMRAP Merkin 332735353735
    AMRAP LBC 8070637995104
    Max Pullups 89109154
    Max Freak Nasty 355060428362
    AMRAP Big Boy Situps302529273136
    Max Squats 601255970152202
    Max Merkin 233246415142
    Plank1:492:252:102:143:202:05

    Announcements

    F2 Thursday at Lakefront this Thursday, Jose 10k leading new AO Friday at the top of the parking lot by the Courthouse in Covington

    COT

    Thanks for those who serve our country – this was only a sampling of the OCS Physical Fitness test, and representing only one branch of our Military. Prayers for safety for those who protect us, asking for opportunities to lead and influence others for good this week.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead.

    ‘Til Next Gloom,

    Akbar

  • La Vue de D’gloom

    La Vue de D’gloom

    Four pax rallied for the 60-minute beatdown.  Circled up for warmup by the shoreline for SSH, windmill, peter parker, parker peter, mtn climber, caterpillar, arm circles f/b, grass grabber, low slow squats, self lovin’.

    Moseyed westward to the benches.

    7s over the levee:   cataline wine mixer, 5x prisoner kneels, wife pleaser situps, 5x reverse lunges down levee

    Tabata sequence with rocks + 80s Rock:  ~1 min w/20 sec recovery

    • Lunge twist with rock
    • Flutters
    • On back vertical rock lift
    • Slow burpees
    • On back horizontal rock rotation
    • Hello dolly
    • Plank moving rock R/L
    • American hammer w/rock
    • J Lo
    • Curls

    Moseyed back to concrete ramp:  35s

    • 7 burpees
    • 14 dirkins
    • 21 incline situps
    • 28 side squats
    • 35 x  2 penquins

    Abs

    • 20x LBC
    • 20x Freddy M.
    • 20x Dying C.

    To burn down the clock, onward to levee for several Hawg-style descents forward, ascents backward (heavily modified by Vagabond)

    Circle ‘round flag, count / ID / COT

    God bless F3Nola – Strength and Honor

  • 12’s for my 2.0

    12’s for my 2.0

    At 0530, six PAX gathered at the View for a workout in honor of my 2.o’s 12th birthday….

    After the disclaimer we started our Warm up with: 12 Side straddle hops, 12 Abe vagoda, 12 grass grabbers, 12 arm cirlcles and 12 big boy sit ups

    The Thang … We moseyed down towards Treasure Chest and grabbed heavy rocks for just 12 reps of chest presses (at a time)…

    12’s not 11’s…. 12 Chest presses, run up and over the levy then 12 burpees… back to the Lakeside of Levy for 12 more presses and back over to the riverside for 12 lunges… back Lakeside for 12 more presses and back to Riverside for 12 Imperial Walkers, back to Lakeside for 12 more presses and back to riverside for 12 Merkins…. you got the idea…. presses, planks jacks, presses and squats… BLIMPS is only six letters so we had to repeat to get to 12 up and over the levy round trips 😉

    Now for a new and lighter rock and a ring of fire, except to 12 not 10. Three rounds of Al Gores and curls and three rounds of rocks over heads and shoulder presses.

    Back to the flag for COT.

  • Start with Shoes off???

    Start with Shoes off???

    At 0630 after a brief intro and disclaimer by Hokie, Hokie and Catfish decided to lead 4 Pax in some new stuff focusing on strengthening our feet, arches of our feet, and toes by asking the Pax to remove their shoes.

    Part of the disclaimer by Hokie was not all workouts have to be beatdowns, even when Catfish is involved 😉 The links for these new exercises are https://posturedirect.com/how-to-fix-flat-feet/ and https://posturedirect.com/improve-your-ankle-dorsiflexion/

    We did have a 5th Pax join us during our Foot Focus warm ups

    After 10 minutes of foot focused exercises we continued our warm up with big arm circles both forward and backward and Abe Vigodas

    The Cinderblock party then started with 1 minute of right leg step ups onto the cider blocks raising trailing knee as high as possible and 1 minute of left leg step ups, followed by 4 minutes of burpees jumping over the cinder blocks after each burpee. Then 1 minute of right leg step up and leap over the cinder blocks and one minute repeat with left leg.

    Next was another disclaimer about protecting our backs followed by two minutes of lunges with twists while holding cinder blocks close to our chests and two minutes of Sumo Squats with Cinder blocks.

    We concluded our front of NOMA tour with two minutes of bench presses with cinder blocks before doing farmer carries with two cinder blocks each to the back of NOMA.

    Once at the back of NOMA, before closing with our usual Sunday Morning ritual, we assumed one legged endurance squats with left leg up followed by one minute right leg up while in squat position…. no cinder blocks!!! We finished with Sunday mornings and a farmers carry back to the flag.

    It is always a pleasure to create something new to change up our workouts so we can not be accused of being predictable. I thank Catfish for the very different beginning and would not be surprised to see us do that again as I believe all agreed it was good!

    We closed with our COT lifting up our F3 brothers and giving thanks for F3!

    All in attendance left with two party favors, their own set up two F3 coupons. We then had 120% attendance at coffeeteria as Gabby joined us at PJ’s.

  • What is preparedness?

    Preparedness is the state of being ready for something to happen, especially for war or a disaster, or if you didn’t know that Hawgcycle signed you up to Q.

    I rolled in today about 6:15 am and saw some PAX members assembled in a corner of the great lawn (not sure why they didn’t meet at the usual place) and pleasantries were exchanged with all the HIMs and two (2) FNGs that Moana EHed. I happen to ask who was Q-ing the workout around 6:25 am, since I didn’t check the Q sheet, and received some strange looks. With surprise and disbelief, the men said that I was the Q. Huh!!! With five minutes left, I draw from all the experience that I have gained from F3 over the years and know that I can lead when called upon. Have you developed your preparedness? I know Bogey has!

    WARMUP

    Run around the great lawn and perform 30 SSH, 20 IW, 10 Burpees, 20 LSS, 20 MC, 20 Shoulder Taps, 20 Parker Peters and 10 Burpees all IC. Not sure the order.

    THE THANG

    DORA 1-2-3 – We line up on the east pathway and perform 100 Bonnie Blairs, 200 Merkins, and 300 Dying Cockroaches. Stopped when four teams completed the entire exercise

    Hand off to Bogey.

    11s on the Great Lawn. Superman to Boat (touch toes) and run to the middle and perform 5 jack webbs combinations everytime then run to far side and then perform one squat, forward kick with one leg, another squat, then forward kick with opposite leg. Repeat until time runs out.

    COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA, AND COT

    Thankful for allowing me to lead two (2) FNGs and F3 NOLA Pax to an impromptu beat down. T-Claps to Belloq (the encourager) for his kind words of wisdom in the COT and I closed it out with a prayer of thankfulness and petitioned for strength, wisdom, and leadership for my band of brothers.

  • (not) Cloudy with a Chance of Sweat

    (not) Cloudy with a Chance of Sweat

    Warm 0 rama

    (A heat advisory was around the corner. Did we need to warm up?) YES

    Mosey one time around park circle (about 1/4 mile)

    Side-straddle hops x20, Trunk rotations x6 in each direction (with Nature-boy distracto counting), Imperial Walkers

    The Thang

    Mosey to hill with coupons

    Black-jack with LBCs and Blockees (Six made it around 14 – 7, Blockees with the W).

    Recovered to the Sundial.

    Step-ups x15

    Irkens x10.

    Lunges in each direction along the outer brick circle.

    Duracell led ring-of-fire drills. This involved side-shuffles in each direction, touch the center (of the sundial), touch the outside, down on one’s six and front. Six did side-shuffles while instruction was given at random intervals. Energizer didn’t have a chance doing this.

    Recovered

    Moseyed to shovel flag for Marys.

    American hammer, Chilcut plank 1 min. Alphabets (no one pressed the Caps-Lock button, so case was decided by user)

    A suggestion was made about using the Greek alphabet. That was just Greek to me. And lastly, no coupon was left behind at the hill.

    Thanks MoneyCat for the assist of the picture.

  • Uptown Wins 2020 Gnarly Nutria!

    Nutria – An Animal You Will Be Seeing More Of

    Winners usually write history but, in this case, you’re going to have to hear it from a loser. The 2020 Gnarly Nutria was epic. Torrential rains, flooding streets, Uptown ringers and police park patrols all contributed to an outstanding event. So without further adieu, here are your 2020 results (confirmed by a team of Swiss accountants no less):

    Uptown-Winner with 828 points

    World-1st Loser with 517 points

    Northshore-2nd Loser with 463

    But hey, who’s kidding who, we’re all winners right?

    And individual results:

    1. LuluLemon (FNG), Uptown, 60 points
    2. In Time, NS, 59 points
    3. Ocho, Uptown, 58 points
    4. Cowbell, NS, 57 points
    5. Bieber, Uptown, 56 points
    6. I Love You Man, Uptown, 55 points
    7. Sphinxter, Uptown, 54 points
    8. Steve, NS, 53 points
    9. Nip Tuck, Uptown, 52 points
    10. Waterpik, NS, 51 points
    11. Catfish, World, 50 points
    12. Chaser (FNG), World, 49 points
    13. TankedUp!, NS, 48 points
    14. Tubs, World, 47 points
    15. El Wire, Uptown, 46 points
    16. Gump, Uptown, 45 points
    17. Bushwacker, NS, 44 points
    18. Mariah, Uptown, 43 points
    19. Three Way, Uptown, 42 points
    20. The Hammer, NS, 41 points
    21. Shorty, World, 40 points
    22. Quarterpipe, Uptown, 39 points
    23. Rev Sox, World, 38 points
    24. Right Cheek, World, 37 points
    25. Tua, World, 36 points
    26. Belloq, World, 35 points
    27. Tinkles, Uptown, 34 points
    28. JAX, World, 33 points
    29. Bones, Uptown, 32 points
    30. Roots, Uptown, 31 points
    31. Moana, Uptown, 30 points
    32. Fez, World, 29 points
    33. Grover, NS, 28 points
    34. Shooter, NS, 27 points
    35. Angie’s List, Uptown, 26 points
    36. Rev It, Uptown, 25 points
    37. Mick, NS, 24 points
    38. Bongo, World, 23 points
    39. Pop A Lock, Uptown, 22 points
    40. KI55, World, 21 points
    41. Tool, Uptown, 20 points
    42. STYX, World, 19 points
    43. Da Parish, World, 18 points
    44. Akbar, NS, 17 points
    45. Dry Socket (FNG), Uptown, 16 points
    46. Squeal, Uptown, 15 points
    47. Old Bay, Uptown, 14 points
    48. Vagabond, World, 13 points
    49. Hot Pants, Uptown, 12 points
    50. CHIPS, World, 11 points
    51. Pelican, NS, 10 points
    52. War Eagle, World, 9 points
    53. Quickbooks, World, 8 points
    54. Moby Dick, NS, 2 points
    55. Amnesia, NS, 1 point
    56. Baby Yoda, NS, 1 point
    57. Jingle Vader, Uptown, 1 point
    58. Kenner Brah, World, 1 point

    Ruckers: Baywatch, Boo-Boo, Fracsac, Gabrielle, Heisenberg, and Triple Shift

    Thanks to all the PAX who posted in the rain.

    Good luck and prayers to RY (and his surgeon Bones) for a successful procedure and speedy recovery.

    Hope to see you all on the Northshore in January for the Krazy Ivan!