F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Post Holiday Purge

    Pre Thang:  Still waiting on that rainy workout… not today.  Thought we might have a few more PAX, but seven strong men set out for #wolfpackmountain at 05:30 to celebrate the new year.

    The Thang:  Mosey out and around to front yard of TU for warmup COP: SSH x 30, Mtn. Climbers x 25, Imperial Walkers x 30, Plank Jacks x 25 all in cadence.

    Mosey to the mountain and lunge walk the first incline, then line up for Indian Run to the top.  After a brief countdown at the top, mosey down one level for COP:  Plank Walks x 20, 6 MOM: LBC x 25, Dolly x 25, LBT x 25, High Dolly x 25, Freddie x 25, Russian Twist x 10, Plank Walks x 20 all in cadence.

    Mosey down to DC Quad benches:  Incline Merkins x 15, Step Ups x 15, Derkins x 10, Step Ups x 15, Dips x 20 all in cadence.

    Mosey to #shovelflag area for COP:  Merkins x 10 IC, then Plank o Rama: Regular, Southern Gent, Northern Aggressor, Elbows, Tom Cruise, Regular–hold it….

    COT w/ nice reflection and shout out by Rev.

    Two Kotters today: Rev and Chaka Khan.  Glad you’re back!

    TClaps to the PAX for keeping this train on the tracks!  Let’s keep spreading the word and EH some guys.

    TClaps to Critter for his second vacation post this week.  Enjoyed meeting you and once again proving just how small of a town NOLA can be. Safe travels back to NC!

    Storyland Saturday 07:00 w/ Reluctant Yankee and Reveille

    Jackson Day 9K Sunday @ 08:30.  If you’re running the race, let’s meet at the start area around 08:15ish near the NOTC number p/u tent.

    Rock City(Pontiff) Monday 05:30 w/ Hawgcycle

    Let’s get some of the Metairie/Kenner PAX out to Rock City to join some of your uptown brothers who continue to make the trek to play around with boulders every Monday.

    Good Times!

    Roots

     

  • 2015 Weekly Weigh-in Kickoff

    iron on iron

    Happy New Year! It’s that time of year, when we all say were going to make changes for the new year, eat better, lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking, volunteer more, etc. etc. etc., blah blah blah. Chances are you’ve had resolutions every year and by the end of the 1st week or month of the New Year you’ve abandoned them all. We have all been there.

    In 2013 I set a personal fitness goal and it was to run and complete a full marathon and I did it, it was ugly but I did it. How did I do it? Lots of training of course, but it wasn’t all me, I couldn’t have and wouldn’t have done it without my F3 brethren. In a C.O.T. at the beginning of the New Year each PAX stated a goal for 2013. So I said it out loud, “I’m going to run a full marathon” and I couldn’t believe those words came out of my mouth. I credit my public statement of my 2013 goal with F3 brethren as the biggest reason for sticking with it and getting it done. The 2nd F (fellowship) is very strong in F3 and like it says in the bible Proverbs 27:17 – As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. That is certainly true within F3.

    During my training for the marathon last year I stepped up my eating, but unfortunately I still haven’t stopped eating at that level, teamed with a couple of injuries that kept me out of the gloom this year I’ve gained back much of the weight I lost since starting F3 in 2011.

    With that said I want your help (not just @f3isotope, but all of @f3nation) and at the same time hope to help some of you. My goal for 2015 is to lose the weight I regained in 2014 and get back to 175 or less.

    I’m not here to say what you should eat or not eat as there are far better qualified PAX to help you with that. I say do what works for you, F3 cleanse, low carb, fat free, liquid, grapefruit, Atkins, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and so on. My personal dietary plan is to simply cut back on my caloric intake and eliminate crappy carbs combined with continuing to post at 4-6 F3 beatdowns a week.

    So here’s my plan. Beginning Monday 1/5/15 I am going to publicly post my weight loss success and failures each and every week via Twitter Monday morning #F3Weighin. It is my hope that dozens of you will do the same. I will compile the PAX tweets into a spreadsheet and track our success and post on F3Nation.com with the tag Weekly Weigh-in.

    Tweet your successes and failures to me in this format:

    @drivethru_f3
    #F3Weighin
    2day 198.0
    LW/SW 200.0/200.0
    Diff -2/-2
    Goal 175

    tweet example

    Note: LW/SW = Last Week/Starting Weight

    Or if you are twitter challenged – email to me mcdonaldc33@yahoo.com 

    GOD speed and GOD bless.

    See you in the gloom!

    Aye,
    DriveThru

  • Awesome not Awkward

    Posted on behalf of Mr. Awesome by Roots:
    Pre Thang:  Cold and breezy in the gloom with seven PAX ready to bust a gut on the last day of the year.
    The Thang:  follow the leader mosey to the corner for the first COP with the 20lb sack – remind PAX of sudden change 10x burpees
    -on the way, karaoke, high step, backwards
    warm-up COP in cadence
    20x
    SSH
    LSS – pass the sack
    locomotives
    12x
    slow burpees – pass the sack
    Peter Parkers
    Parker Peters
    mosey to the goal post
    +sudden change!
    peek-a-boos and burpees 1 min each OYO
    lunge walks for 40 yards
    mosey to the levee for 5 minutes of Hades
    5min of Hades OYO
    +sudden change as the clock started
    sprint up the levee
    bear crawl down – rotating between forwards and backwards
    mosey to the zoo entrance
    Jack Web Merkins from ladder to 10
    seated dips in cadence x12
    mosey the the park entrance for some odd minutes of Mary
    COP of Mary
    20x
    LBC
    Freddy Mercury
    15x
    Hello Dolly
    big scissors
    12x
    leg lifts (slow down)
    Back Scratchers
    duck walk, backwards duck walk, wrestler walk, karoake
    +sudden change!
    quick mosey around a big oak tree then back to the flag for a circle of man – 3 circle-of-man-ups on each arm.
    COT w/ Shout out by Mr. Awesome
    TClaps to the PAX for jumping put of the #fartsack to get one more session in before 2014 expires.
    TClaps to Critter from Charlotte for making contact and hooking up with us.  Hope to see you Friday!
    TClaps to Mr. Awesome for his first full Q.  Great job!
    Announcements:
    F3 Four year anniversary is tomorrow 1/1/15.  Let’s EH some guys and grow this thing in NOLA!
    Friday 05:30 Wolfpack Mountain(Audubon front entrance) Roots Q
    Saturday 07:00 Storyland …Not sure about Q yet
    Sunday 08:30 Jackson Day 9k
    Monday 05:30 Rock City(Pontiff) w/ Hawgcycle
    cheers.
    Mr. Awesome

  • The VQ went DQ at the COP…

    Posted on behalf of Amnesty by Roots

    Pre Thang: Started with Amnesty, “Napoleon” (yep he does exist), Tundra and Zombie.

    The Thang:  Mosey to museum for  warmup COP

    COP:  SSH 25, Peter Parker Pushups 25, Toe touches cross overs (2 when Amnesty(VQ) pulled a hammy…the pop heard round the world).  Walked it back to start Coffeeteria early…   The #weinke was passed to the PAX who took turns Q-ing.

    Mosey to just short of outdoor gym for 6 Min of Mary.
    (Russian Twists, Jane Fondas, LBC, Flutter Kicks, LBC twists)

    Mosey to outdoor gym.
    Rotation for 4 sets each.
    Monkey bars each way.
    Inverted rows on low bar x 10
    Dips x 10
    Try to climb diagonal bar….too wet
    Pullups AMRAPs

    4 laps on track…sprint straight aways, jog curves

    Mosey to Great Lawn.

    Tree to tree:
    Walking Lunges
    Side Step squat right leg
    Side Step squat left leg
    Wrestler Walk

    COT

    Then the crew caught up with the DQ VQ at coffee……..

    TClaps to Amnesty for his partial VQ –Recover and get back out there soon!

    TClaps to the PAX for taking that #weinke and running with it…

    See Monday’s Rock City BB for current Announcements

     

  • Updated – F3nation.com, v4 (aka 2015 Site Plans)

    January 3, 2015 – Update

    Tried the core piece this morning, and the plans didn’t go as desired. This upgrade will still occur… it just needs a new form. Hold tight, it’ll happen.

    Quick summary

    Sometime in early January, a site update will occur. During that time, the site will be down for maintenance and a more localized version will appear.

    Details

    Hard to believe that this little site we call F3nation.com has had three versions over four years, each time requiring an update when bursting at the metaphorical seams or as growth dictates.

    This time is no exception.

    When I first started working on F3nation.com in 2011, there was one region — and we didn’t even call it that. It was just “F3.” Today, there 12 established regions and even more “nomads.”

    Then, the site had under 100 users; today there are over 2,500 PAX registered with many, many more unregistered.

    Posts were entered around 3-4 times per week, matching the number of workouts. At time of this writing, there are over 23,000 posts available over 100s of workouts.

    Growth has come with some pain, almost always related to the central challenge of a site like ours: It has to do many things for many people in many different places. It’s a communications hub, a place to connect, a place to learn the basics of F3, a place for someone already initiated in F3 to learn the lexicon or get workout ideas. It must be easy to use but advanced enough for a bunch of Type-A men who want control.

    Mostly though, there are two over-arching themes. One, it’s become “local.” Most of the time, regions want to promote their best stuff and we don’t (today) have a way to do this. Second, at a main site level, we’re not serving the people who want to know more about us as best as we can any more. It’s intimidating for some to not get “what is F3?” right up front.

    So over the last couple of months, I’ve been working on a plan to move us ahead. A fair warning — this will come with some bumps, but in the long run it’s best for F3.

    Matching our themes, there are three big initiatives:

    1. Provide each F3 region/nomad location an opportunity to have their own area to share backblasts, their own blog posts, keep things “pinned” to the top of their areas, etc. This will look like http://columbia.f3nation.com, http://area51.f3nation.com, etc.
    2. Separate news from workouts. Over time, on one page we will consolidate all the workouts — regardless of region — into a single place that makes it much less intimidating for the new F3 EH candidate to figure out where he should go.
    3. Redesign the home page to get F3 PAX and FNGs to the places they want to go most quickly.

    There are some anticipated pain points:

    • Registered users may not have the correct “posting” rights right away. I’m going to ask you to be patient with me and your fellow, (unpaid) IT colleagues who help manage region rights. If you see something odd AFTER the transition, email it@f3nation.com and we’ll do our best.
    • When we move to location sites, such as metro.f3nation.com, some or all archives may have broken images. I can’t predict this 🙂
    • The first “all-in, all workouts” page will take longer to launch than the first site. That will come later.

    Lastly, when I’m ready to do the work, the site will have to be down for a couple days. At that time, I’ll repost this message or something similar on the home page to remind folks to check twitter for the time being.

    Thanks for all you’re doing to grow F3!

    -AP

  • Rockin’ the Fog

    Pre Thang

    Really Foggy this morning.  Made the gloom seem rather gloomy.  Definitely can’t complain about New Orleans winters though – perfect workout temps.

    The Thang

    • Mosey to the T-ball field for Warm-up
    • Warm-up COP: SSH x 32; Good Mornings x 20; Arm Circles (Forward x 20, Reverse x 20); Imperial Walkers x 25; Windmills  x 20; Merkins x 15; Low Slow Squats x 30
    • Mosey to the Rock Pile and select your rock
    • Mosey with your rock back to the t-ball field for Rock COP
    • Rock COP: Squat and Press x 12; Lunges x 12; Imperial Rock Walkers x 15; Cusak Calf Raises x 20
    • Mosey to the Track.
    • BLOCKS Relay – Partner up. One man runs a lap around the track while other man (in this case two men) does as many BLOCKS as possible.  BLOCKS = Burpee x 3, Lunges x 6, Overhead Press x 9, Curls x 12, Knees-ups x 15, Squats x 18.  All exercises are done with Rock in tow.  Finish when each man has run a mile.
    • Mosey back to the rock pile to drop off your buddy.
    • Mosey back to the shovel flag.

    Moleskin

    • Triple-Claps to Tundra and Roots for coming out in the Holiday Gloom. Tundra has to be pretty high on the list of all-time NOLA posts.  Very impressive considering he lives an hour away.
    • Prayers go out for speedy recoveries for Yankee (flu) and Amnesty (hamstring). Maybe we should change the name of the Windmill exercise to “Republicans,” since they apparently hate Amnesty.

     Announcements

     

     

    -Hawgcycle

  • Three wise men

    Pre Thang: YHC pulled up at 05:20 to see Bad Moon arriving on foot and Tundra locking up his bike.  Looked like we might have a good turnout…  as we talked about our Christmas festivities the clock ticked on and at 05:30, we three took off into the #gloom.

    The Thang:  Mosey over to LU Danna Center Quad for warmup.

    SSH x 30 then grab a bench.  Incline Merkins x 15, Step Ups x 15, Derkins x 15, Step Ups x 15, Dips x 20 all in cadence.

    Mosey over to Wolfpack Hill and run all the way up.  Partner up(HaHa). While one is doing the designated exercise, the other runs down the stairs and back up, then switch.  Three rounds and plank up.

    Round 1 = LBC, Round 2 = Plank Jacks, Round 3 = Mtn. Climbers. Plank o Rama immediately following with regular, Right arm and right leg up, Left arm and left leg up, Northern Aggressor, Southern Gent, Elbows, Tom Cruise.

    Next we met Dan Taylor aka Lieutenant Dan — Line up and make your way across the top floor of Wolfpack Hill… 1 Squat followed by 2 Lunges, 2 Squats followed by 4 Lunges, 3 Squats followed by 6 lunges… finishing with 7 Squats and 14 Lunges.

    Mosey back to the fountain for Dips x 15 and Incline Merkins x 12 IC and a quick little out and back .25 mile mosey to eat up those last few seconds and calories.

    COT w/ shout out by Bad Moon

    TClaps to Bad Moon and Tundra, who both strongly considered #fartsacking, but dragged themselves out to hang with YHC.

    Missed RY, who messaged in late last night w/ flu like symptoms.  Hope you have a speedy recovery.

    FYI, the nationwide release of the movie “Unbroken” was yesterday, contrary to what I wrote a few weeks ago in a backblast.  Everyone needs to go to  that movie and see the true story of a man with an incredible spirit!  Inspirational and humbling to say the least.  I brought my teenage daughters, who were stunned to see what men have endured for the freedoms they enjoy today.

    Hope all the NOLA PAX had a Merry Christmas!

    Announcements:

    Saturday @ 07:00 Storyland w/ Amnesty for his VQ.  Let’s turn out big!

    Monday @ 05:30 Rock City(Pontiff) w/ Hawgcycle

    Wednesday@ 05:30 Birdcage w/ step up and Q. Let RY know you’re ready.

    F3 was born on 1/1/11and is celebrating 4 years on New Years Day. Let’s show them we’re in for the long haul and grow this thing.  Now is the time of year to get some FNG’s out here with us.  Turn a resoloutionary into a regular.  EH a friend, relative or colleague over the rest of the holidays and get some big numbers out here for our 1/2/15 and 1/3/15 workouts.  It’s free!

    Jackson Day 9K is 1/4/15.  Register before 12/28/14 when the rates increase and come for a run. http://theyatrace.com/event/jackson-day-race-2015

    Good Times!

    Roots

     

     

  • The Wile E Coyote may be illegal – who knew?

    Pre-Thang – 8 Pax gathered in the Christmas Eve gloom to pre-burn some cals before Christmas food and beers!  Zombie was ready to roll after a few weeks off.  It was a Chilly 48 degrees and wet after a full day of rain.  Still – it didn’t rain on us.

    The Thang – Mosey 1/4 mi to the first COP 1 – heading toward the levees

    COP 1 – SSH x 30, Merkins x 15, Mountain Climbers x 20, Slow Squats x 25, Peter Parkers x 20, Fast Squats x 20

    Mosey to the levee

    At the levee – Jacob’s ladder (burpees) to 8.  (I know it is normally 7 but we added one)  to make it the Chevy to the Levee

    Mosey a bit – then

    6 Minutes of Mary

    1.  Jane Fonda both sides x 20   (odd echo off the condo complex along the river – probably woke up the whole building — oops)

    2.  LBC x 20

    3.  Russian Twist x 15

    4.  V Ups x 8  (ouch those really hurt after the twist)

    5.  Flutter kicks x 20

    Mosey to the FLY entrance for some Wile E Coyote’s x 15   – tribute to Keyman

    I was informed by FNG – Casey Jones who works with/in trains – at this point that basically this exercise is illegal.  Which made me wonder is this the first illegal activity associated with F3?  Does Keyman get credit for bringing illegal activity to F3?  Why do I want to make sure that I include Coyote’s every exercise now?  Do I have to skip it – when ever Casey Jones is around?  An interesting dilemma.  All I know is that I want to have more Wile E Coyote in my life now that I am breakin’ the law!

    Run to statue of Audubon for some birdwatchers – but believe it or not some tomatoes stole our spot!  Quickly changed our mosey to the benches in front of the Audubon Zoo.

    At the benches – dips, one leg squats (right and left), inclined merkins, declined merkins x 15

    Mosey back to the flag for some Plank o rama

    Was planning on a 45 sec plank of each position but Amnesty make me feel like a wuss since we did that last time so I bumped it up to 50 secs.

    So we did 50 secs of Regular, Southern Gentleman, Yankee Aggressor, and Elbow plank – at this point we missed Hawgcycle singing for us – Roots tried but … well he tried.

    After plank o rama we still had 2 minutes so we did a quick sprint around the parking lot and back to the flag.

    COT!  Shout out by YHC – prayed for positivity and to pull others around us away from negativity during the holidays.  Focus on our blessings

    Tclaps to Amnesty for bringing socks for the Vets!

    Tclaps to these men for coming out after a night of Christmas parties!

    Next F3 Friday 530 St Charles Entrance to Audubon Park   Q is Roots

    Saturday 7AM City Park – Amnesty has his VQ –if you are in town please make an effort to go to this — a bunch of the normal Saturday crew is out of town and I would like Amnesty to have a few guys for his VQ.  Also give him feedback.

    Monday – Pontiff in the Old Metaire.  There will be rocks!  Q is Hawgcycle

    Merry Christmas!

  • The Rain Holds Off Again

    The Thang

    • Mosey out to the far end of the field for Warm-up
    • Warm-up COP: SSH x 33; Good Mornings x 29; Merkins x 16; Imperial Walkers x 26; Low Slow Squats x 31; Alternating Shoulder Taps x 40
    • Mosey to the Rock Pile and select your rock
    • Mosey with your rock to the flag – throw your rock over the fence and repeat for a total of 15.
    • Mosey across the parking lot to the area by the picnic pavilion.
    • Rock COP PAX Choice: Hawgcycle: Squat and Press x 12; Rev: Put it on the Shelf  x 12, Roots:  Rock Burpees x 10; Amnesty: Rock Presss x 10; Yank: Curls  x 15
    • Mosey to the far side of the park.
    • Boss Keane’s Rock Pile: All of the rocks start in a pile and the pax are in a line, arm’s length apart. First man grabs a rock from the pile on his left and in cadence moves it across his body and sets it down on his right between him and the next man.  Keep repeating until all of the rocks have been moved to the end of the line.  Once that is done we move them back.  Repeat for a total of 3 down and backs.
    • Mosey to the shadow of the hill running up and over it on the way
    • 5! – Rock Squat Press, Full Body Sit ups, Curls,
    • Mosey back to the shovel flag, dropping rock of along the way.

     

    Moleskin

    • Still missing the Metairie Krewe from the Metairie workouts. Hopefully we can get some Resolutionaries from the area to start the New Year.
    • T-claps to Rev and Yankee for taking Fat Boy off YHC’s hands.
    • T-claps to Rev for a thought provoking shout out about being willing to ask for help when needed and for recognizing those that need help.
    • T-claps to Amnesty for leading his first exercise IC. Great job brother.
    • T-claps to Yankee for organizing the t-shirt and sock drive for the Veteran’s house.

     Announcements

     

    -Hawgcycle

  • That dude is running with a pumpkin

    Pre-Thang – Pull up with only 2 min to spare.  Hustle to get the flag planted and get ready to run!  No rain but a cold and wet morning.

    QIC – Reluctant Yankee (to start)

    The thang

    Mosey to a spot in front of the NO Art Museum

    COP:  SSH, Mountain Climbers, Squats, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, Lunges x 25 IC

    Hawgcycle and Chaka Khan catch up to us (Last in)

    Mosey to the Lake by Christian Brothers Middle School

    Jack Webb to 10    (why does lifting air hurt so bad?)

    Mosey to just short of outdoor gym for 6 Min of Mary

    Russian Twist, Jane Fonda -both sides, LBC, Flutter, LBC Twist x 20

    Hand off the Q to Mr Awesome

    Mosey quickly to outdoor gym

    Seven man rotation (rotate when squatters complete 9 reps each)
    Monkey bars
    Inverted rows on low bar
    Partnered pumpkin toss squats, 9reps each x2
    Dips
    Try to climb the diagonal bar
    Pullups

    That was an intense set of 6 exercises

    Cooldown with 3 tai chi wheels each for fun

    Introduce sudden change (5 burpees) as mosey toward track – two sudden changes on the way — Tclaps to Bounty Hunter for bringing us Sudden Change

    1000 meters of Hades
    Run 400m
    Walk 100
    Run 300m
    Walk 100
    Run 200m
    Walk 100
    Sudden change
    Run 100m    — some strange stares as we ran with a pumpkin — several hundred people preping for the Ole Man River Half Marathon — Hey there is Roots!  We miss you Roots!

    Overhead:  “Hey that dude is running with a pumpkin!” – “yep! a pumpkin”

    Hawgcycle -LIFO – You are excused to go work at the food bank – good excuse!

    Long mosey to great lawn – two sudden changes on the way

    From tree to tree at the great lawn
    Walking lunges
    Right arm shoulder rolls  — straight up cold and VERY wet
    Left arm shoulder rolls
    Wrestler walk

    The YOGA tomatoes couldn’t help but stare at us and wonder what the hell we were doing rolling into giant puddles of cold and wet water.

    COT!  Good Shout Out by Amnesty.  Tclaps brother for stepping up!

    Tclaps to Amnesty for agreeing to step up and VQ next Saturday