F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • No counting before 6am.

    Started with a jog a block uptown down St. Charles and back across the street, and circled up in front of Tulane… and then things went down hill.

    This was my second time Qing–and my first go at it was a year ago, so I probably should have prepared a bit more than I did.  In any case, I had just rolled out of bed and my wheels weren’t yet spinning, and I totally botched the count on the first exercise: side, straddle, hop.  So there the whole group was counting along and exercising away, without my count.  I pulled it together by around 12 side, straddle, hops and we rolled on from there.  The rest of the warm-up included: imperial walkers, squats, mountain climbers, etc.

    Then, we moseyed over to the corner of Loyola, at St. Charles and Calhoun.  We did two rotations of four stations on each grassy landing: merkins, burpies, russian twists, and crab cakes.

    This was followed by a sprint on your own down Calhoun to Freret, where we turned to the parking lot on Freret.  After doing some modified Nolan Ryans (specifically, Captain Morgans) while the six arrived, we broke into two lines and did Indian runs to the top.

    At the top of the lot we broke into pairs, with one partner exercising while the other ran down and back up the stairs.  The exercises included 50 burpies, 150 lunges, and 250 LBCs.

    Then, it was back through Loyola’s campus to the flag.

     

  • A Stroll Down Route 66

    One of my favorite Saturday beat downs was a Route 66 down Esplanade Avenue lead by #Side FX a couple years ago. I am not a very original man, and I like to borrow work-outs from previous ones that I have enjoyed. And it’s fun to get off campus. So I revived the annual #Side FX Route 66. 23 strong men arrived at 0630 on this beautiful Saturday morning. The usual disclaimer and off we go.

    We moseyed to the green lawn on the side of NOMA for the warm-up COP.
    SSH x 24 IC, representing Notre Dame’s opponent for the day, the #24 Virginia Tech Hokies
    — at which time we realized that #Hokie Pokey was noticeably absent
    6 Burpees OYO, giving strength and support to the #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Onward to Victory
    Imperial Walkers x 20 IC
    Peter Parkers x 20 IC
    Windmills x 10 IC
    Arm Circles 10 Forward, 10 Backwards IC
    Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

    Mosey to the NOMA fountain to grab some bench.
    Left leg power-ups x 20 IC
    Dips x 15 IC
    Right leg power-ups x 20 IC
    Dips x 15 IC

    Then mosey over to the lamp posts on Lelong Drive in front of NOMA. Let the Route 66 begin.
    Stop at each lamp post for Merkins, start at 5 Merkins and increase 1 at each lamp post, ending at 14 Merkins.
    I think that makes 95 Merkins total.

    Circle up for some Mary.
    LBC’s x 20 IC
    Flutter kicks x 20 IC
    Penguins x 20 IC
    Hello Dolly x 20 IC

    Mosey off campus out of City Park to continue the Route 66 down Esplanade Avenue. It’s always nice to take in the sights on Esplanade Avenue as the sun is coming up. It even reminded some of the Grow Ruck. We stop at each lamp post for 10 squats. I don’t know how many lamp posts we stopped at. It felt like a lot. Continue on to Alcee Fortier Park, aka Dog Poo Park by Café Degas.

    Circle up for more Mary.
    Box Cutters x 20 IC
    Dying Cockroach x 20 IC
    Leg Lifts x 20 IC
    Crunchy Frog x 10 IC

    Back down Esplanade for more Route 66, heading back to City Park.
    Stop at each lamp post for 6 Jump Lunges.

    Once safely back inside City Park, we circle up for more Merkins.
    Left leg crossover Merkins x 10 IC
    Monkey Humpers x 20 IC
    Right leg crossover Merkins x 10 IC

    Route 66 back down Lelong Drive to NOMA.
    10 Plank Jacks at each lamp post.

    Circle up at the NOMA Fountain. Grab some bench.
    Incline Merkins x 10 IC
    10 Box Jumps OYO
    Decline Merkins x 10 IC
    Then 5 minutes to stretch the hamstrings.

    Mosey back to the flag. Count off, Name-o-rama, named our FNG Gyro (pronounced JI-RO) since he grew up in NOLA next to the Greek Orthodox church, announcements, special intentions, and a prayer. I love the ol’ Route 66. We miss ya #Side FX.
    Thanks to FracSac for the picture! And thanks for allowing me to lead!
    Oh, and the Irish beat the Hokies 45-23, in case you missed it.

    Walleye

  • F3 coupons never expire!!!

    It was awesome to Q again after being out of the game for 3 months with an ankle injury. Memo to self, playing your 15 year old son in a game of basketball can sometimes lead to injury!!!!! In an attempt to not disappoint, I brought some coupons out to the beat down that some of the pacs have not seen yet. Let’s get to it.

    Warmarama:

    Seal Jacks – 20 IC, IW’s – 20 IC, High Knees – 20 IC, Butt Kicks – 20 IC, Happy Jacks: 5 SS Hops IC, 2 Burpees OYO- Rinse and Repeat 5 times, Merkins – 10 IC, MCs- 10 IC, Plank Jacks- 10 IC

    Mosey…….

    Bearpees:

    Pacs line up in front of cones spaces 5 yards apart. Pacs bear crawl to first cone -do 1 Burpee, Bear crawl to second cone- do 2 Burpees, Bear crawl to third cone – do 3 Burpees, sprint back to first cone. Rinse and repeat three times.

    Indian Lunge Walk:

    Pacs form into two single file lines. Pac in the back of the line lunge walks to the front of the line. When that pac gets to the front of the line, last pac in line starts lunge walking. While pacs are  lunge walking, all other pacs are doing slow squats IC. The pac in the front of the line is keeping the cadence.  Rinse and repeat until both lines of pacs completed 100 slow squats.

    Each pac teams up with a partner. Everyone lines up against the sea wall. Pac 1 holds an AL GORE. Pac 2 sprints to the street and back, roughly 100 yards total. Pacs switch spots when Pac 2 returns to sea wall from sprint. Rinse and repeat unitl each pac completes two sprints.

    Bucket Challenge

    Coupon Time. Pacs split into two teams. Each time lines up, and takes the plank position. On GO, pac one from each team takes a football and attempts a 15 yard throw into a garbage can placed on a blanket. If you make it in the bucket, grab football, put it back in starting spot, and next pac on your team goes. If you hit the bucket or blanket, you grab football, put it back in starting spot, and complete 2 burpees before next pac can go. If you miss the bucket and blanket completely, not only should you not quit your day job, but you must complete 4 burpees after you get the ball before your next teammate can go. With any competition, there is a winner and a loser. The loser of this contest had to line up on the sea wall and skip to the street and back, holding hands, and singing a song picked by the winning team. The first song chosen was when the Saints Go Marching In. The second song was Ring Around the Rosey. The Bucket Challenge was done three times. The third time, we reduced the throw to ten yards, and changed the penalty exercise to 5 and 10 merkins. Since I was the Q and on the losing team on the last challenge, I changed the penalty exercise to bear crawls and sprints. It pays to be the Q, so if you have not Q’d yet, JUST DO IT!!!

    All Pacs line up on sea wall, 10 Left Leg Step Ups IC, 10 Right Leg Step Ups IC, 10 Derkins IC. Rinse and repeat three times. Increase step ups for each leg by 5 reps on each set.

    Mosey back to home base for some MARY….

    10 LBCs IC, 10 Flutter Kicks IC, 10 Freddie Mercuries IC, 1o Putins IC- Rinse and Repeat this 3 times, increase reps for each exercise by 5 reps every time you complete a set.

    Circle of Trust, Ocho prayed us out! That’s Right, I said OCHO!! Kudos to Zoo Lander for doing an EH to get our local celebrity back out in the gloom!!!

     

  • This Birdcage ain’t big enough for the both of us

    28+ gathered for the Birdcage in the thick, sticky gloom of Audubon Park.  Men of various shapes, sizes and ages – but all with the purpose and drive to get out of the fartsack and better themselves and others. F3 is a wonderful thing… so here we go…

     

    Thang:

    Around golf course parking lot and back to the field for some warm up. All exercises 15 count in cadence:

    • SSH
    • Mountain Climbers
    • Squats
    • Parker Peters
    • Wide arms 

     

    Mosey down Oak Alley to pick up some coupons

    Mosey back to running path and partner up

    • A: Run a suicide of light poles (3)
    • B: AMRAP exercise

    Round 1: chest press

    Round 2: curls

    Round 3: goblet squats

    Round 4: merkins on your block 

    Round 5: LBCs

     

    Mosey back to fountain to return the coupons

    Squats while we wait for the 6

     

    Circle up for some Mary (15 count in cadence):

    • Russian Twists 
    • Flutters
    • Oblique crunches (R/L)
    • J-Los

    Back to the flag with 5 burpees to finish up. 

     

    NMM

    Big crowd this morning, with plenty of visitors from outside of Uptown…I guess everyone came to see the Biebs (this week’s scheduled Q). Hope my lead didn’t disappoint.  I had a bad Plantar Fasciitis flare up on Monday so wanted to keep the mileage low and also keep the group together…I think we did both and everyone got a solid workout in. (If not, please email me for a refund.)

    Funny situation when we got back to the shovel flag: a group of guys were circled up doing merkins at the behest of another guy in the middle standing there barking orders with a pit bull on a leash.  Looked like a highly suspect college-aged group – perhaps even some kind of pledge training, but either way upon seeing 29 sweaty, dirt-covered middle aged men running up they quickly vacated our shovel flag area and didn’t heed our invitation to join F3 (“it’s free and we’ll push you harder than that joker”).  Something for everyone I guess.

    Welcome Cowboy from F3 Puget Sound and (renamed) FNG Schlitz from Dufossat St, by way of Milwaukee.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead boys.

    Until next time…

    Xo,

    Mariah

  • Why Merkins Are Beneficial

    Overall a good showing for yet a still humid fall NOLA morning.  We started promptly at 5:30 after the disclaimer for both my ability as a trainer and my lack of sleep…

    Warm up

    Abogotas or windmills — 15 very slow…

    PP – 15

    MC -15

    IW – 20

    SSH-25

    First event:

    Eleven at Canal Blvd. with Squat jumps at top of levee and LBCs at bottom.

    Next a recap from Hokey Pokey Face book post the benefits of push ups (good time to catch breath versus countdown.)

    Merkins – 12

    Incline merkins – 10

    Decline merkins – 10

    Shoulder taps – 15

    More Merkins – 10

    Then….  Time for a Red Barchetta (“This a song about a car”)

    Modified using light poles as boundaries and recommendation by Walleye to head west along lake due to a straight line versus east.

    Run up to 5 poles (not including the baseline) — 50 SSH

    4 poles — 40 MC

    3 poles — 30 Lunges

    2 poles — 20 LBCs (but truncated due to time)

    1 poles – 10 Burpees

    Six was regrouped after each exercise.

    Quick Mary

    Flutter Kicks — 15

    Plank hold 30-40 seconds and back to flag

    Round of numbers, names, announcements, intentions and COT.

    Great to lead and thanks for opportunity,  sorry it’s been so long…

    Bongo

  • Ten-Four, Good Buddy

    Dome Patrol was 4 strong this morning, minus Nip/Tuck, the usual Q.  The less than steamy weather was right for a nigh 5 mile mosey through the Quarter, Waterfront, and back around the Dome.

     

  • The 41 Club!

    With some of the regulars MIA this morning at the Scramble, it was purely coincidental, but all 3 PAX posting in the Gloom had one thing in common-we are all 41 years of age.  And, yes, we all wish we ran as well as the other more noteworthy #41 common in these parts—Mr Alvin Kamara.  But the pace on our regular 5K through the streets of Old Mandeville was far slower than the pace at which Mr. Kamara has shredded NFL defenses during his first season and a half in the Black and Gold.

    Before we completed the routine 5K, we warmed up to the following cadences.

    SSH x 15

    GM x 15

    HK x 15

    BK x 15.

    Then after the 5K, we returned back to City Hall for some work…

    PLANK for 1 minute.

    REVERSE PLANK for 1 minute.

    25 ROWER SIT-UPS OYO

    25 MERKS OYO

    20 PUTINS IC

    20 FKs IC

    20 HELLO DOLLYS IC

    Next, we closed out with some Chewy inspired strecthing and YOGA.

    DOWN DOG

    GEICO

    AND THAT’S ALL FOLKS!

     

    COT, and YHC prayed us out!

    Thanks for following my lead, fellas. And thanks, as always, to F3 and its collection of brothers, for pushing me to greater heights in fitness and life!

    PIK!

     

  • Oh! It’s a Murph Day???

    A few brave souls showed up at the Foundry for a Murph. A few more showed up because they didn’t look at the schedule and know it was a Murph Day. 😉
    Explained a Murph, Disclaimer and let’s mosey:
    -run 1 mile to the Foundry
    -100 pull-ups
    -200 merkins
    -300 squats
    (recommended it be broken down into 20 sets of 5 pull-ups, 10 merkins, 15 squats)
    Some completed the exercises in time, the rest worked hard on improving and getting stronger.
    -run 1 mile back to the VF (Virtual Flag)

    Countoff, namerama, announcements, shoutouts, a prayer. SYITG!

  • The Usual Suspects

    The usual suspects rolled in from the Gloom at their usual times this morning, Maverick hitting the tarmac just in time to join the warmup of dynamic stretching exercises up and down the fake train platform at the Covington trailhead:  lateral SSHs, lunges with a twist, lateral lunges, a variety of skips, and some additional soccer style exercises to get the blood flowing.

    Mosey to the front of the Justice Center for a set of 7s:  pistol squats to Marios using the benches at the bottom of the stairs and ice skater hops (Bonnie Blairs or Apolo Ohnos) at the top.  We attacked the stairs laterally to keep with the theme of the day, moving sideways to move forward.

    Mosey to the side of the Justice Center for 3 sets of:  10 T Merkins and 10 jackknives each side with a lateral bear crawl around the circle and back thrown in for good measure.

    Mosey to the back of the Justice Center for an exercise YHC learned while posting with Charlotte Metro a few weeks ago:  the railwalk.  Pole dancer might be a more appropriate name but, at any rate, it involves finding some railings on a ramp and then walking up the railing laterally with your hands and feet, essentially a suspended lateral plank walk with extra motivation to avoid a face plant.  Gauged by the mumble chatter, the PAX found this exercise plenty challenging and of course it was consistent with the lateral movement theme of the day.

    Another quick mosey to the Justice Center benches for a sequence of Bulgarian Split Squats (we’ve been missing you Steve…come home soon), two foot lateral hops, lateral step ups, left leg lateral hops, lateral box jumps, and right leg lateral hops.  10 reps each and then moving directly to some agility work with lateral shuffles, crossover runs, and caricoa.

    Mosey back to the trailhead to finish off with some Mary:  Nolan Ryans, Scuba Steves, and a one leg/two leg lift combo to close out the day.

    Countorama, nameorama and then Einstein prayed us out.  Thanks for letting me lead guys.

    NMM

    We attempted to EH a guy on the fly this morning.  We hooked him for a little while but the railwalk may have been too much.  We’ll see.

    Monday Night Ruck and Football October 8th.  Meet on the Mandeville Lakefront for rollout at 1815 and then we’ll head over to the Barley Oak for some F2 and to watch the Saints (hopefully) smoke the Redskins.

    NOLA Convergence October 13th at City Park 0700 hours.  Clown car from the old Winn Dixie parking lot near the causeway.  Rollout at 0600.  Don’t miss it.

    EiEi reportedly is back from Siberia and training locally for the 2nd Annual Krazy Ivan which, save the date, is scheduled for January 19th at 1900 hours on the Mandeville Lakefront.  Don’t say anything to the Southshore guys at the Convergence.  We want to spring the whole thing on them at the last minute.

     

  • The Journey to 28

    The Journey to 28

    This morning is the beginning of a momentous journey for all baseball fans as the New York Yankees begin their quest for their 28th World Series Championship. To cheer on the Yankees, YHC tried to bring out the Yankee spirit among this morning’s PAX at the Fight Club. Following the disclaimer and a short mosey, we began with a standard warm-up

    The Warm-Up

    Imperial Walker – 27 (We started as the evil empire.)

    Annies – 20

    Windmills – 20

    Low Slow Squats – 20

    Noah’s Ark

    The PAX ran a big lap up the levee ramp and down the steps back to the starting point. YHC then introduced a new exercise inspired by the Rev in his name. The PAX will now imagine that we are each fulfilling the role of Noah and trying to get the animals and our children away from the flood waters and up to higher ground on the levee (New Orlean’s ineffective ark). The PAX will climb the levee by going up the fight set of steps and then across the grass while doing the bear crawl to the steps on the other side. After going up the next few steps, the PAX will cross the grass back to the other side while doing the crab walk. Up a few more steps and back over doing the monkey hop. Up the last few steps and back over while doing the boo boo baby. (See the picture if you have never been to La Salle Landing to get some idea of what YHC is talking about)

    Now that the PAX is at the top of the levee, YHC informed them that there is a rare reading in the Hebrew text of the story of Noah’s Ark. Jack and his three sons Jack, Jack, and Jack all fartsacked onto the ark and Noah threw them out to splash in the waves and drown. The PAX will now play the role of the Jacks as we descend the levee. This time the PAX will go down a level, stop in the middle as they cross to the other side for 20 smurf jacks. They will continue to go down the levee and stop at each level for 20 plank jacks, 20 chilly jacks, and 20 jumping jacks.

    The Intermission

    YHC killed some time with a 20 count of Rocky Balboas and 20 dips.

    Deconstructed Burpees

    The PAX started at the bottom of the levee (away from the steps) for a few deconstructed burpees. The PAX did 28 merkins on the bottom of the levee and ran up and over levee for 28 jump squats on the bottom of the other side. Two more rounds of 18 merkins and jump squats, followed by 8 merkins and jump squats. The 8 is in honor of Yogi Berra. Yogi is the greatest Yankee ever with a record of 10 World Series championships and the king of quotes. 8 is also the only Yankee number retired twice as it was also worn by the legendary Bill Dickey.

    Mary

    The PAX triangled up to end with a little Mary.

    Wife Pleasers – 20

    Penguins – 20

    American Hammer – 20

    Dying Cockroach – 20

    Flutterkicks – 10

    O Dolly – 10

    The Conclusion

    Count off, Name-o-rama, announcement, and intentions. Thanks River Ridge Bros for coming out this morning for a beatdown and for putting up with my Yankee fandom (it’s not as bad as Rudy’s Notre Dame obsession).