F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Scrambling for Substitutions!!

    With Cowbell on the Q sheet for the Scramble YHC awoke with preparation of attending knowing the EHs had been set by Waterpik and Wacker. Shortly after waking the illumination of my phone signaled there would be a Substitution on this Thursday. It was Cowbell informing he was under the weather and would need assistance.. Like a teacher in the school system he put out feelers to others as well to find out who would lead the class.. YHC won the response before the Wacker and took to the chaulk board.

    warmup

    IC 10 Windmills, Good Mornings, SSH

    IC 15 Seal Jacks, High Knees, Butt Kicks

    Moseyed our route through Mandeville with chatter and Illumination along the way.. T-claps to Amnesia for lighting up our path as we completed our 5k and returned to the flag with a decent pace.
    Closed with IC 10 Merkins, IC 10 Scorpion kicks and a handful of welcomed stretches and Yoga. Sorry for leaving out the crunchy frogs Cowbell, but I am sure the PAX will get them done remember men D-5 IC 25.

    Amnesia prayed out the PAX

    Appreciate the lead and you men following till the next Gloom 👊🏻💪🏻✌🏻

  • Whoa there little buddy…margaritas must wait!

    First sweaty bells of 2020, how many PAX would show to ring (bells) in the new year???  YHC was happy to see Pop-a-Lock locked and loaded to get his bells on when he pulled up.  Soon we were joined by Squeal and Jingle Vader.  Let’s get started!  Introduction and disclaimer, welcome to 2020 PAX oh wait is that Willie coming in hot???? More on that later.  Off we go.

    Stay in place and circle up for:

    Warm Up

    • Halos 10 Left then 10 Right
    • Windmills IC X15
    • Self-Love IC X20
    • Line Up on Soccer Field for Toy Soldiers until Q yells halt then Open Gates till Q yells halt and then Close Gates till Q yells halt.  Mosey back to bells.

    Circle Up for Iso and Combo Bell Exercises:

    • Lunge + Press IC X20 (Down/Up)
    • Rocy Balboas IC X20
    • Curl + Press + Tri-Extension
    • Rocky Balboas IC X15
    • Chest Press in Boat Position IC X20
    • Rocky Balboas IC 15
    • Skull Crushers in Boat Position IC X20
    • Rocky Balboas IC X15
    • Rows IC X20 L then R
    • Rocky Balboas IC X15
    • Switch KB Swings IC X20

    Mosey to bottom of hill for:

    11’s starting with Body Builders with Press then over the mountain alternating suitcase walk to Deadlift to Squat on other side.

    Mosey to Flag for…. Whoa there little Willie!  Bring that Bell back. Close that trunk.  We’re not done.  As Pop-a-Lock astutely noted, Willie you must wait for that margarita at Superior Grill for Saints pre-game.  We got one more thing to do!

    Circle up for Mary:

    • V-Sit Up with Russian Twist IC X10

    Now we are done!  Who Dat!  Oops too soon.

    Count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions and prayer.

    Nice work King Kong for pulling a classic Gabby and showing up for Sweaty Coffee!

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • Purple Haze 😈

    With the emotional pain 😢of the Saints last-play, crushing defeat at the hands of the all-to-familiar Minnesota Vikings, coupled with the immediate aftermath of Frankie C’s Hundo 👏🏻👊🏻YHC figured spirits would be subdued and the PAX of F3 Northshore might just Opt for an extra hour of sleep 😴 in the gloom. But, as Lee corso✏️ likes to say, “Not so fast, my friend.” YHC was delighted 🤩to greeted by Akbar and The Hammer upon arriving at the AO.

    YHC led the men through a brief warmup consisting of SSHs, arm circles, HK, and BKs.

    With the intent to provide the PAX (YHC wanted to gripe about the Saints game) a chance to vent about the saints game and to also recap the Hundo, a running beatdown (👎🏼Sean-#7 💪🏻was bruising 🏋️‍♀️Sunday) Full of FUMBLE 🏈chatter was on today’s gloomy 🌒menu.

    Start by moseying toward the lakefront 🌊, stopping 🚦at each intersection to do 10 reps of the following 6 exercises: merkins, smurf jacks, stars, squats, rower sit-ups, and plank jacks. The PAX took a circuitous route through Old Mandeville eventually Heading back to the marsh just in time for the closing 🔔.

    Count off, cot and thanks to the hammer for praying us out.

  • First Stomp of 2020

    First Stomp of 2020

    22 men came out in the darkened gloom to kick off 2020 with the 610 Stomp. No better way to start the year than a good run with your 22 best friends.

    The Thang

    YHC started with the basic disclaimer and gave the instructions for the morning run. Run out to the Wisner Bridge. Celebrate our run to the bridge with 10 celebration burpees. Run and back and forth over the bridge until the Q calls the time. Celebrate the end of the bridge runs with 10 more celebration burpees and run back to the flag.

    Important lesson learned this morning: Don’t follow Shuffles. Shuffles will go the long way. Shuffles can run faster than you, so take the short way to arrive at the same time as Shuffles.

    The Pax followed Shuffles the long way to the bridge and completed the 10 burpees at the base of the bridge. The pax proceeded to run back and forth over the 610 until YHC rounded everyone up to do 10 more burpees at 6:05. The pax ran back to the flag for the end.

    The Conclusion

    Count-off, Name-O-Rama, and one FNG. The Pax was off their game with name suggestions outside of Hawg who wanted to name the FNG something Canadian since the FNG was from Detroit. YHC went with Crazy Cat Guy. I hope he returns.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead. May we all lead and push one another throughout 2020.

  • Hawgcycle’s Running New Year’s Eve

    The Thang

    Run as far as you can in 22:30 and then turn around and come back. The goal was to try and run farther than you ever have at the Stomp. Some accomplished that. Shuffles, who doesn’t have a watch, ran to where he always does, the other side of the bridge, and turned around. A few saw the top of the bridge for the first time. Kuch garnered 18 achievements on Strava. YHC earned one.

    Another year in the books. Here’s to continued acceleration in 2020.

  • King Cake Conditioning

    “If you get da baby, you gotta Q the next workout”

    January 5th is day of little significance, at least in all places outside of South Louisiana. For those of us fortunate enough to live in and around The Big Easy, it’s the last day that we, at least the purists, will have to hold out to the temptation of scarfing down a piece of king cake…..that’s cause the following day is King’s Day, aka Epiphany, when it becomes kosher to enjoy that tasty treat unique to our hometown. Plus it’s “officially” the end of the Christmas season making way for all things Mardi Gras! That being said, YHC thought it would be fitting to have a king cake conditioning theme for this morning’s Renaissance workout, focusing on cardio and core, in an effort to make room for the doughy goodness that is sure to plaque kitchens and break rooms throughout the region. Here’s how the morning went…

    Catfish was first PAX to arrive…t-claps for running there! Dax came on his bike…t-claps for biking there! Hokey drove up, despite a lingering knee ailment…t-claps for still posting! YHC had no pre-workout recognition other than having a rough game plan for the morning. Started things off with a warmup COP consisting of IW, AV, Toys Soldiers, PP, Side Lunges, and SSH.

    Then on to the meat and potatoes, or dough and cinnamon…

    51 days in Mardi Gras season this year, so that was our number of the day. Plan called for a total of 51 Burpees, 51 Big Boy Sit Ups IC, 51 Shoulder Taps IC, 51 Gas Pumps IC, 51 Box Cutters IC….and running approx 5.1 kilometers (3.17 miles). We broke up the run in 3 legs, stopping 3 times for 17 reps of each exercise. The moseying brought us throughout the park, structured so that the PAX that needed modification could do so.

    Ended up behind the museum for 2 rounds of obligatory “Sunday Mornings”, just to keep things kosher.

    Good times, great F2, ended with a COT and BOM. Perfect attendance at coffeeteria for deep conversation solving many of the world’s problems.

    Not many better ways to start a Sunday.

    Tool

  • Records Were Meant To Be Broken

    While a few soldier Pax were recovering from Tanked Up’s overnight 100k Hundo, the rest of us got to work on a clear Breesy Saturday before the Saints stick it to the Vikings on Sunday.

    Pre-thang 2 miler with Turbo, Pik, Freon, Zoo, and FNG Paul.

    We warmed up with Imperial Walkers, Squats, Imperial Squat Walkers, Side Straddle Hops, Sleep Walker 123 (up to 5), and Merkins

    Mosey to Noah’s Ark where Freon took the Q / VQ, and led the beat down, which like Brees’ and Thomas’ records, was nothing short of spectacular. It went like this:

    3 Rounds:

    High Knees 60 50 40

    Mountain Climbers 30 40 46

    Straight Leg Sprints 50 40 30

    —Recovery Run around the Ark—

    Gorilla Crawls 16 20 26

    Jimmie Jumps 50 40 30

    Triple Bear 15 20 21

    Frog Burpees 25 20 15

    —Recovery Run around the Ark—

    For a total of 684 reps equivalent to the sum of Brees’ and Thomas’ record breaking stats (540 all time touchdowns + 144 receptions = 684)

    YHC resumed the Q for some work on the Lake Wall. Irkins, Box Jumps, Derkins, Freak Nasties, Burpee Box Jumps

    Indian Run back to the shovel flag where the Pax indulged QIC with a Kenpo Kooldown.

    Excellent work, Freon! YHC was not feeling creative for this beatdown and enlisted Freon last minute for some hurry-up offense. Not only did he Co-Q/VQ, but he EH’d Psycho and brought FNG Paul, now known as Jukebox.

    Psycho, having escaped the Bates Motel to support Freon, prayed us out.

    Thanks for following our lead men. SYITG.

  • A Walk In The Park

    Was it easy-No Would we do it again-Yes Why would a person subject themselves to such pain? We know the answer.

    First and foremost,the strength of our togetherness made the difference. 18 hours on the trace gives one much time to share our lives. To make one stronger when we felt weak. To know that you only die once but you can live everyday.

    The obstacles were there, rain-38 miles worth, cold-it gets you when you are wet, aches-pretty much the entire body below your waist.

    The Hammer set the pace cranking out a 8:45 pace for the first 10 miles. Hammer was clearly our psychological booster lifting us at the 40 mile mark. Sort of like reinforcements when you needed it most! As he approached , nothing looked better than smiling face as he ran toward us.

    Steve was our steady force! We all know Steve. Does not slow up, does not complain, keeps on truckin. To him, mile 64 was like mile 1! The only thing that beat Steve was his cell phone😬😬. It never died even when tracking our progress for 18 hours. No charge. All other phones quit 20 miles earlier.

    Bushwacker- it is no secret his legs endured the most pain in this adventure. I wondered how this man almost always finishes first during our lovely boot camp workouts. Let’s remember he is a guy that could be 6 feet under right now. If you ever wonder why he runs funny, blame it on his motor cycle and that crunching sound when two objects collide. Yet, with his rebuilt body, he is my six million dollar man. The fortitude was clearly visible for all to see.

    For me, I always wanted to be a Roman Centurian. Maybe now I can join their ranks.

    In closing, we want to thank our wives for supplying us several times in this adventure. And you guys, texting us to make sure we were ok. And finally our pre hundo buddies prepping us for the final show.

  • 200th Beatdown in 2019!

    21 brave PAX joined YHC on a chilly, windy Wednesday. The temp read 40 degrees F on the dashboard, but it felt colder because of the windchill. Needless to say, it was cold! Today was YHC’s 200th F3 beatdown in 2019. After 2018, YHC set his goal to post 200 times in 2019….. looking like YHC has some room to spare with couple more weeks left in 2019.

    The PAX warmed up with a lap around the parking lot by the Audubon Clubhouse to the Bandstand. In front of the Bandstand, the PAX did the following warm-up exercises in cadence:

    SSHs x 20

    Imperial Walkers x 20

    Self Love x 10

    Windmills x 10

    Peter Parkers x 15

    MCs x 15

    Parker Peters x 15

    The PAX then jogged through the Oak Alley towards the track, did 10 burpees on your own and moseyed back to the shelter.

    To dedicate YHC’s 200th beatdown, YHC decided to do Dora 2, 2, 2. Partnered up. While one PAX was doing the exercises, the other PAX ran from the shelter through the Oak Alley to the track and back.

    200 – steps-up

    200 – declined shoulder taps

    200 – LBCs

    Upon completion – El Wire gave the PAX a 20 seconds count. Picked a different partner and did another Dora 2, 2, 2. with the following exercises:

    200 – air squats

    200 – inclined merkins

    200 – hello dolly

    Round of Mary

    The Pax stayed at the shelter and did the following exercises in cadence:

    Dying Cockroach x 15

    Flutterkicks x 20

    American Hammer x 15

    Moseyed back to the flag with some COT. I am very grateful to be able to workout with the PAX on a regular basis. Never take it for granted. I set my goal in December 2018 that I will try my best to participate 200 F3 workouts in 2019. Blessed with minor injuries and I was still able to achieve this goal. This is only possible because of the PAX. I could never do this on my own. I ended up posting 206 times in 2019. Thank You PAX and I hope to do this for a very long time. Happy 2020!!! SYITG.

    King Kong

  • Get in gear for the new year with 400 reps

    On Tuesday evening, December 31st, YHC put out a brief message: Get some rest tomorrow, because Thursday will feature the 400 at Okwata. This was done for several reasons:

    • First and foremost, the 400 is hard. It’s a great aerobic/anaerobic mix, and I at least tend to get winded pretty quickly.
    • Second, if YHC knew that was coming, the thought, at least, was that YHC would be more responsible on New Year’s Eve knowing that he would be sweating out every drop of vodka. And publicly committing to it was the best way to assure it would actually go down.
    • Finally though, the 400 is a good test of where we all are. When you finish it, there is a sense of accomplishment. It’s a benchmark you can revisit and track progress, and progress is something we should never stop striving for, in whatever form it may come.

    What is the 400? I had last done it courtesy of a Triple Shift Q, and struggled mightily through it, but I believe it goes back to the early days of Okwata. The 400 is

    • 10 trips over the levee and back
    • stopping at the top of the levee, then the neighborhood side of the levee, then back to the top of the levee, then back to where you started for….
    • 10 reps of a particular exercise

    So a typical round is:

    • run up the levee for 10 merkins (for example)
    • run down to the other side for 10 merkins
    • run back up the levee for 10 merkins
    • run back down to where you started for 10 merkins

    Today we did

    1. SSH 50% effort for a warm-up. (YHC had done an abbreviated warmup because last time, we’d used almost the entire 45 minutes to complete it, so we used this as part of the warmup)
    2. Merkins
    3. Burpees
    4. Squats
    5. Carolina dry docks
    6. Bonnie Blairs (3 count, 1,2,3 1; 1,2,3 2)
    7. J-Lo’s (3 count)
    8. LBC’s (3 count)
    9. Monkey Humpers (3 count)
    10. At this point, we still had some time, so YHC decided we would redo the SSH at 100% so as not to short ourselves. So SSH (3 count)
    11. Final exercise, only one choice (and a very popular one judging by the groans and mumblechatter). More burpees!

    Some stretching led by High Rise, prayers for one our pax who has a child going through some challenges, and something I wanted to share with the group from a friend who recently died from brain cancer. Several months before his death, having lived with the cancer for a few years, he remarked:

    “While I’ve lost nearly everything, physically, financially, emotionally, materially, Never, not once, have I lost hope, belief, faith.”

    I know of no better way to live.

    I also know of no better group of men than this one, and for that, I thank all of you. Here’s to a great 2020. – Kuch