F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Sweatin’….

    I have been to many F3 workouts over the past 21 months, all of which have been great in their own way. But this time I was hoping to do something a little different. At a sales meeting earlier this year, my company had an 80’s themed party that my division elected to dress in 80’s workout era clothing. After a short parooze on Amazon, I came across a Richard Simmons costume, complete with a balding headpiece. I just could not pass it up, especially for under $15! The costume was a hit at the work party, even though Richard dropped a rather husky girl while attempting a dip on the dancefloor. In all fairness to Richard, the dip was unexpected, the healthy young lady was caught up in the moment, and who could blame her.  Still glassy eyed, my immediate thought the next morning was, “I need to Q a workout as Richard Simmons!” so I looked at the Q schedule, and saw I was up at WPM for September 6th. I strategically planned the walk up to the PAX right as the clock struck 5:30AM, announced my disclaimer as impersonating a professional trainer, but really not one, and we moseyed in front of Tulane University for a warm up to the classic sound of the Macarena. All exercises were done in cadence, which fell right into the beat of the music.

    SSHx20

    Imperial Walkers x 20

    Arm Circles x 10

    Backwards AC x 10

    After a jaunt to the little mountain Richard determined there was too much traffic there, so an audible was called, and the PAX proceeded to the big mountain where we formed 3 lines for an Indian Run, but not just any old Indian Run. This time we ran prisoner style while flashing our best jazz hands. We stopped on the 5th floor to partner up for some DORA 123.  Exercises were done with various Queen songs in the background (Bicycle Race of course). While partner one was exercising, partner 2 was running up the stairs to the 7th floor, then back down the ramp, and tagging into the exercise picking up where partner one left off this continued until all exercises were complete. 

    Merkins x 100

    Bobby Hurley’s x 200

    Freddie Mercury’s x 300,  1=1

    Once complete the PAX made its way down to the benches for a quick round of the following all in cadence:

    Dips x 20

    Incline Merkins x 20

    The PAX then gathered in front of touchdown Jesus for a round of Mary all while listening to one of Richard’s favorite songs, ”Believe” by Cher. All exercises were done in cadence:

    Penguins x 20

    LBCs x 20

    American Hammer (Douille style) x 20

    Angie’s List pointed out that there was still a little time left on the clock, so the PAX knocked out 10 Herpes on their own. 

    We then circled up around the flag, counted off, had nameorama, intentions, announcements and a closing prayer.  It is always an honor to lead this group of men! I hope everyone who attended the workout enjoyed the little change of pace, as you never know when Richard will pop up again! 

  • Laces out

    Small but mighty group today for Tsunami. After a brief disclaimer we were off.  

    Lots of early discussion of the Saints win last night.  Once again the script-writers at the League office tried to rob Who Dat nation of a win through botched officiating, but Wil MF-ing LUTZ came through huge!  

    Also much discussion of IPC, with pax coming down on both sides of the issue consistent with GroupMe mumblechatter. Yes, it’s stupid and those jokers in Greenwood shouldnt have made up a workout that takes longer than 45 mins to reasonably complete, but Yes it’s also meant to be tough and pushing yourself is good for you. Either way, we didn’t see any cinderblocks or do an unreasonable amount of burpees today, so I lived up to my promise of being IPC prep and recovery-friendly.  Anyhoo…

    After a brief mosey down to Walnut and back up St Charles, we “squared” up for some warm-up under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus at Loyola:

    SSH x15

    Mountain Climbers x15

    Squats x15

    Merkins x15

    Mosey through colonades and under and past WPM, and up to the nicest air-conditioned parking deck around.  

    Indian run up Little Wolfpack Mountain to the top:

    Partner up for Dora:

    50 jump lunges

    100 Widearms

    150 plank jacks 

    200 LBCs

    Other partner enjoys 5 flights down and back up of sweet, sweet clean air-conditioned stairs. 

    Plank for the 6

    Then down the stairs and out into the humid gloom, and over to the big boy Wolfpack Mountain.

    Up the Stairs up to 5th floor

    5 burpees then backwards/forwards run to 6th floor

    10 squats

    backwards/forwards run to top

    5 burpees then 10 squats

    Back down

    Mosey back across St Charles and over to the Drew “the real Touchdown Jesus” Brees family playground

    6 minutes of Mary, IC:

    20x Freddy Mercury

    10x Incline Swing ab extension (crowd pleaser!)

    15x Oblique crunches each side

    15x Flutters

    Protractor

    15x Russian Twists

    15x Decline swing ab crunches (at 86’s suggestion)

    Mosey back to virtual flag, with some final Merkin variants to kill time. 

    COT with Q-provided refreshments

    Always a pleasure to lead and thanks for the collective push today boys.

    Until next time,

    Mariah

  • Watch your head

    Four PAX decided to participate in the second week of the Iron PAX 2019 Challenge on a hot and humid Monday morning. After the disclaimer, we took on the challenge.


    “Meatloaf’s massacre”

    4 rounds for time (Elapsed Time Scoring) Round 1:

    *10 Manmakers

    *20 Overhead Presses

    *30 Kettlebell Swings

    *40 Goblet Squats

    *50 Incline Block Merkins

    **1600 Meter Run
    **Rinse and repeat for rounds 2,3 and 4 with the following modification: decrease run 400 meters for each subsequent round. Round 2 was 1200m, round 3 was 800m and round 4 was 400m

    I was eager to take on this week’s challenge and tackle what I thought would be the toughest part of the challenge, the Manmakers. The very first rep produced a painful result for me when my coupon hit the front part of my hairline which left a knot on my head for a week. 
    From there I proceeded a little more carefully. We all completed the challenge, encouraging each other along the way.
    Results: Belloq 56:24, Thumb War 56:38, Tool   59:30, High Rise  62:04
    Thank you for the opportunity to lead this challenge. 

  • Exterminating The Killer B’s

    “We comin’, and we ain’t backin’ down”  -Coach O 

    With the first week of The Iron Pax Challenge coming to a close, the brave men of F3 NOLA had one last shot at exterminating the Killer B’s, a workout not meant for the weary.  For some guys it was round one, others round two with hopes of improving times.  The heat and humidity along with the uncut wet grass would not help matters at The Muscleship, but the Pax was determined to take care of business.  After a quick warmup, we got in position and fired up some motivation music to hopefully help numb the pain of the burpees and such that wait ahead. Saturday was also the much anticipated LSU vs UT game, so a few LSU fight songs made their way on the playlist, in lieu of the Coach O motivation sound bites that YHC was unable to make happen.  

    The THANG: Killer B’s

    Broad Jump 10 yards, do 10 burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs (jump lunges) and 10 Big Boi situps.

    Broad Jump 10 yards, do 10 burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs (jump lunges) and 10 Big Boi situps.

    Broad Jump 10 yards, do 10 burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs (jump lunges) and 10 Big Boi situps.

    Bear crawl back 30 yards.

    Complete 5 sets for time

    All PAX finished in times ranging from roughly 27-45 min.  T-claps to those early finishers that swept the six and got some lagniappe in. Many PAX later discussed the wet, uncut grass hindering times, but that was our only choice in the area.  YHC had previously considered a mosey to one of the nearby, manicured fields but figured the extra run would bring some groans.  

    Capped things off with 5 or so round robin Mary exercises and a COT.   

    A good morning was had by all.  T-claps to the PAX for digging deep and grinding through.  And T-claps to the die-hards that opted to do this workout 2-3 times throughout the week.  Hopefully we all got stronger. 

    Tool     

  • Float like a butterfly, sting like a…

    The Killer B’s ended with a bang Saturday morning, with Grundy taking the Northshore lead by mere seconds.  Sure, we could debate the fairness of doing it on the lakefront’s luxurious grass vs. the Marsh’s unyielding concrete, or the legality of the proctor himself taking home first place, but when it comes down to it, we must (begrudgingly) give Grundy due credit (and hate!) – it was a pretty inspirational effort.  In fact, Tank was nipping at his heels the entire time and it seems the two were feeding off one another’s energy to push each other to their record times.

    So t-claps to those two men for giving it their all and, while we’re t-clapping, we might as well toss another one out to Zoo and his miraculous self-healing leg, for taking the opportunity to hit the challenge for a second time and improve upon his score.  Alright, the rundown:

    Usual pre-thang 2 miler featured guest appearances by both Bushwacker and Garfield, and then we went right into the warmorama: Arm circles (forward/back), IW’s, copperhead squats, toe touches, hillbillies, SSHs, mountain climbers, all x20 IC.

    Thang:  Half the PAX followed Grundy to complete the IP challenge, while those that had already had their fill followed YHC.

    First stop on our tour of the lakefront was an old favorite that can be difficult to use with a large pax: Rips.  Instead of the traditional stair run/Rocky Balboa’s, though, we simply grabbed a handrail and did one legged negative calf raises, at a slow cadence: x15 per leg.

    Then, eastward towards the baseball field, stopping for a quick COP of high knees and a burpee wave.  About 6 rounds, and then onward…

    To the pull-up bars behind the baseball field.  Circled up on our six for flutter kicks, while 2 men got up to do 5x pull-ups.  Around the circle again and again and again, until each man had 25 pull-ups.  We maxed out on flutters and at some point switched to Freddie Mercs, which did not really help all that much.

    Next up, flip over to a plank for plank jacks, while 2 men got up to do hanging knee tucks x10.  Round the circle a few times, switching about halfway to shoulder taps, until each man had 30 tucks.

    Mosey back towards the boat launch to split into two teams for a 100-yard sprint relay race.  Losing team gets hit with 25 burpees, winning team gets 25 merkins.  (YHC has learned that, in the realm of F3, the winning team never takes the easy way and sits out on the work so why even bother pretending there’s a reward.)  With Bean pulling double duty for Team 2 to secure the win, they performed their merkins and then jumped in to help Team 1 finish up with their burpees.  And then everyone took a page from Pik, who’s been keeping Old Mandeville clean for the better part of two years, and did a quick sweep of beer bottles before heading over to the playground for a quick partner routine.

    P1 holds people’s chair while doing air presses, P2 bear crawls up the small hill to the swingset pad for 10 merkins and then bunny hops back down to flapjack with P1.

    Just enough time to Indian Run back to Rips, get in one more set of calf raises (x10 each leg this time), and back at the flag for a round of boxcutters, x20 IC.  The rest of the gang joined us at this point, looking thoroughly destroyed, and we circled up for COT.  Zoo encouraged all to share the gift of F3 and bring out some new brothers, and Maverick took us out with a prayer, encouraging us to be men of strength. Then off to coffeeteria.  Thank you men for the opportunity not only to lead, but to get stronger and sharper alongside you.

  • 44 Minutes of Yoga and 1 Burpee

    Attendees: (9) Abacus, Belloq, Catfish, Chips, Fracsac, Gideon, Heisenberg, Hokie Pokey, Sogo (+1) Dog (DJ Diver)

    YHC wanted to plan his second Q carefully after he personally perceived his VQ at Okwata over a year ago a failure. With Catfish in the PAX on Sundays, you don’t want to be remembered as the guy who bored him to the point that he decides to do burpees because you haven’t challenged him enough.
    I have been hinting that it would be a workout of yoga and when they saw me arrive in my favorite Lululemon shorts, I could see that the 8 other men who got out of bed this morning were worried we’d be stretching for 44 minutes with 1 burpee to make it count as a Sunday morning beat down according to Fracsac; however, I had a road trip in mind…
    Started with the disclaimer and circled up the 8 around YHC in the 85° gloom to start the workout.
    Warm up:

    • Abe Vigodas x 10 IC
    • Grass Grabbers x 10 IC
    • Sun Gods forward x 10 IC
    • Sun Gods reverse x 10 IC
    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Peter Parkers x 15 IC
    • Parker Peters x 15 IC
    • Recovered to our feet


    The Track Thang: Moseyed to the practice track and planked for the 6. Bataan Death March with 3 burpees x 2 laps for 800 meters total.


    The Foundry Thang: Moseyed to the Foundry for 8 stations one full cycle

    • Station 1: Snake Jump
    • Station 2: Big Boy Situps
    • Station 3: Run to track with 3 burpees and return (timer)
    • Station 4: Pull up
    • Station 5: Dips
    • Station 6: Irkins
    • Station 7: Derkins
    • Station 8: Flex Arm Hangs


    The Wall Thang: Mosey to our wall on NOMA and plank for the 6. During plank, YHC held an informal poll to determine name for next exercise. Sunday Mornings or Sunny Sundays? Sunny Sundays was unanimous so we proceeded to do Sunny Sundays.
    Sunny Sundays were brought to us by Gideon from our brethren in Austin. The cycle includes the following:

    Squat with back against the wall in a chair position. 10 air arm presses while holding chair position.

    Go to all fours with hind side to wall for 5 donkey kicks.

    Hold fifth donkey kick and walk legs up the wall into a handstand. Do one handstand body weight press. We rinse and repeated twice for a total of 3 cycles.

     
    The Mary Thang: Moseyed back by flag and circled up for a little Mary:

    • LBC x 25 IC
      • Box cutters x 20 IC
    • Count off
    • Name-O-Rama
    • Announcements
    • Intentions

    Knowing we have a new Iron PAX challenge starting Monday and given the clues to add construction equipment to the back of my truck over the coming week, I decided to go cardio heavy on our workout.

    We lost Chips on the way due to a quick break and unfortunately I didn’t give him my plan so he ran around NOMA until we returned. T-Claps to Chips for not giving up. Also, T-Claps to Gideon for a beastly Flex Arm Hang which to be fair was done during Catfish’s turn to be our timer, but I still think his effort was outstanding.

    Thank you all for the opportunity to lead these incredible men as we start our week. Remember safety and hydration in this heat.

  • The WB Week 1 IronPax Challenge

    YHC took advantage of Labor Day and posted at the new AO Chamber of Horrors to get the first opportunity of the week in for the IPC. To his delight, Short Bus made the trek as well. Would that mean the Master Melvin was going to be down 2 Pax? Hardly! YHC arrived a few minutes early with a 100 foot tape and some cones to set up the field.

    At 0500, six devoted Pax were assembled around the flag planted on site. YHC gave a brief disclaimer, then mosey for a warmup:

    SSH IC x 31
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10
    Arm Circled IC x 20

    With the warmup completed, mosey to the cones for the main course, The IPC week 1 “Killer B’s”

    Times for the Pax ranged from 28+ to 31+ with improvements from both Short Bus and YHC.

    Good times!

    SYITG

  • Post Iron Pax Beatdown

    With my LVCC brother Screw Top still nursing an injury I was asked again to do a relief Q which I gladly accepted. I spent Tuesday night scrolling through the Exicon for some suggestions and found something new (for me) and remembered something that I had not done in a while.

    14 PAX gathered at the our usual spot in Roosevelt Mall. I can’t speak for everyone but I was still feeling the effects of the Iron Pax beatdown from Monday so burpees, jump lunges, and sit ups were not to be on the menu for today. Disclaimer was given and off we moseyed to the track for warm up.

    Warm Up:

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Grassgrabbers x 10 IC
    • Self Love x 15 IC
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each IC
    • Figure 4 piriformis stretch x 15 sec hold each leg

    Tha Thang #1:

    Following warm-up we moseyed back to Roosevelt Mall where the 14 members were split into 2 groups for a little Route 66. I hadn’t done this exercise routine in months so I figured it was just as good a time as any to break it back out. On 1 side of the mall PAX would do derkins increasing reps with each bench. On the other side PAX would perform step ups (1 is 1 for each leg) with increasing reps each bench. Plank and wait for the 6 at the end of the mall.

    Tha Thang #2:

    PAX moseyed to the back of NOMA where were again splint into groups. Since we had 14 men we were splint into 2 groups of 3 and 2 groups of 4 for Triple Check. PAX #1 perform The People’s Chair and PAX #2 planks while PAX #3 runs around NOMA. Upon PAX #3’s return to the start everyone rotate until each member of the group has performed a round in all 3 positions. Rinse and repeat 2 more times so each PAX will have performed 3 rounds in all 3 positions total.

    Tha Thang #3:

    Mosey back to the mall where we reversed our Route 66. All PAX that had performed derkins now did step ups and vice versa. Suggestion was thrown out that we do the reps in descending order which I obliged. The PAX performing step up seemed to take a bit longer so t-claps for the PAX performing derkins to get some Mary in while waiting.

    Mosey back to the flag for some Mary for all:

    • Freddy Mercury’s x 15 IC
    • Dying Cockroaches x 15 IC
    • Penguins x 15 IC

    Count-off, name-o-rama, annoucements, intentions, sweaty ball of man. Once again it was a pleasure to lead the men in a beatdown that was hopefully enjoyable but challenging.

  • The Killer Burpees

    We had a nice breeze Monday morning when we arrived at the UNO Human Performance Center for the newly dubbed Chamber of Horrors. The instructions were simple – do the Iron Pax week 1 challenge, consisting of an aggregate 150 yards of broad jumping, 150 yards of bear crawling, 150 burpees, 150 big boy situps, and 150 Bonnie Blairs. The challenge itself was anything but simple. Everyone rose to the occasion anyway, and we all completed it in under 40 minutes. Breadsticks paced us at right around 31 minutes.

    When I first began F3, I could not do a burpee. Rather, worse, I did not even know how to do a burpee. First, I did something of a squat thrust, completely omitting the merkin and the jump. In fact, I thought the guys jumping and clapping after each rep were taking a victory lap on me or something. Look at me, this is so easy I’m gonna let you know each time I complete one by jumping and clapping for myself. I thought my squat thrusts were pretty damn good, even if I could only do about 5 of them before exhaustion.

    Then, I found out the jump portion was not optional. This makes a lot of sense in hindsight, and my only defense is that I function at something less than optimal mental processing at 5:30 in the morning, especially before I got used to it. Squat thrust + jump. Okay fine, I can do this, but I don’t have to like it.

    Then I noticed the merkin part. Ohhhhhhh. When guys around me are generally saying to no one in particular “watch your form on those burpees”, they’re totally talking to me, right? Damn.

    Since then, I have made burpee form something of a personal crusade. It’s funny how you can take something you’re bad at, and really focus on it, and all of a sudden, it’s not so bad anymore. You crack the code. By paying careful attention to each step AND committing to yourself to never do 9 when 10 is called, to never cheat on form, and to never accept less than your best, you can improve.

    And so if I’m a bit of a burpee nazi with others sometimes, please accept my apologies. I wish someone had more directly told me that I was not doing burpees correctly early on in my F3 career. This is the form I at least attempt to emulate at all times:

    Chest all the way to the ground; everything hits at once. Back straight.

    If you ever see me doing them wrong or dogging them or you think I’m cutting a corner, please return the favor. Don’t let me get away with cheating myself, and I won’t let you get away with cheating yourself. Deal?

    Afterwards, we gave prayers of thanks for all we have, and enjoyed a coffeeteria at Starbucks on Harrison.

  • The Best Chicken IronPax

    Popeyes not only holds the crown for the best chicken sandwich in the Fastfood wars but also holds the crown for the best location for the IronPax challenge.

    12 men came out in the heat and humidity to conquer the IronPax challenge and all 12 men finished the task at hand.

    Challenge One: The Killer Bs

    10 Yard Bunny Hop

    10 Burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, 10 Big Boy Situps

    10 Yard Bunny Hop

    10 Burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, 10 Big Boy Situps

    10 Yard Bunny Hop

    10 Burpees, 10 Bonnie Blairs, 10 Big Boy Situps

    30 Yard Bear Crawl

    Rinse and Repeat for 5 laps

    SoGo won the day with a time of 21:15 but all 12 men pushed themselves through the dirt and grass to complete the challenge. YHC, SOGO, Tua, Shuffles, and Tanner all completed the Challenge for the 2nd time this week and each improved on his time before. T-Claps to Tua for knocking 7 minutes off his Rock City time.

    The End

    Count-Off, Name-O-Rama, Prayer in the Sweaty-Ball-O-Man

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead,

    Rev Sox