Tag: Abacus

  • That Was Super

    Run Ranger Run crunch time ensured that we had a healthy number of Stompers on Tuesday. In order to maximize our time, we ran the traditional route down the bayou, 22:30 out, then turned around and came back. The only rule was that you must have a negative split. We didn’t all achieve the negative split, but we were close. We circled up for COT a minute or two late and gave thanks for the day.

    NMM
    • T-claps to Smooth. He was able to make it just past Earhart. That is the farthest I’ve ever known anyone to make it. 6.5 miles for a just over a 7 minute/mile pace. That’s poster material.
    • T-claps to War Eagle. He has become a runner in the past couple of months. The young buck must have been feeling his oats as we rounded NOMA on the back stretch. Like a horse to the barn he took off as Rudy and El Guapo approached. He was a good 10-15 feet ahead of me and I was not able to close the gap. I was seriously wondering if he was going to beat me to the flag.
    • He didn’t.
    • There was a supermoon in the sky. Problem was that we couldn’t see it. If you haven’t noticed, it will be raining in New Orleans for the next two months.
    • T-claps to Amnesty and Tool who, each nursing their injuries, were willing to get out on their bikes and get some work in. The ride-by heckling was a nice touch.
    • Running in shoes is the worst. How do you all do it? It’s awful. If anyone is headed to Hawaii soon, let me know. I’ll give you $5 to pick me up a pair of Locals slippers from the nearest CVS.
    • Run Ranger Run 10 Member Team Standings as of 1512 hours on 2/20. It’s tight:
      • #5 Okwata (507 miles)
      • #6 Rock City (494 miles)
      • #7 The Birdcage-1 (476 miles)
      • #8 Mothership (470 miles)
      • #10 Northshore (461 miles)
      • #18 HNJ (362 miles)

  • Tire Flipping at The MuscleShip RV1

    1st Shot at Qing the newest AO – I showed up early to drop off the “tire” and set up the cynderblock playground then ran to the fountain to get things kicked off. 

    Disclaimer – mousy to the “long way” to the playground – with the muscle flag stand, exactly 1/2 mile.  Circle up for a quick warmup.  All in cadence:

    SSH x 20

    Scorpion Kicks 10 x each leg

    Shoulder Taps x 12

    Everyone grab a block – mousy over to edge of the field and line up.

    1st Effort – Bear crawl out 30 yards with block –  perform 10 merkins – Bear crawl back with block – 5 man makers

    2nd Effort – Kong out 30 yards with block – perform 10 merkins – Kong back with block – 5 man makers 

    Count off 1,2,3

    Group 1 – tunnel block slide – pull the block under yourself passing it to next pax get up run to the end waiting for the block to be slide down – continue to mark and head back to the start.

    Group 2 – over under with the block – out and back to the mark

    Group 3 – 10 curls – 10 squat press – 10 man makers – continue until both group 1 and 2 complete their journey

    Rinse and Repeat

    Group 1 – Timer – Indian style tire flip, jump through then go to the back of the line. Challenge apprx 40 yards.

    Group 2 – Sledgehammer tire slam. 100 count each Pax does 10 reps while the rest of the group does alternating block step overs. If rep count reached then each Pax does 5…..

    Group 3 – block squats, deep block merkins, alternating block merkins, overhead block press

    Rotate through all 3 stations.

    Before returning blocks – 2 sets of arms in cadence curls x 20 with 10 secs rest then overhead tricep press x 20

    Roll tire back to QIC truck – Tool recommended Pax should run around the tire while rolling to the truck – challenge complete.

    Indian Run back with the Muscle Flag stand in hand leading the charge.

    4 minutes of Mary finish with 3 burpees.

    COT – Count off, Name O, Intentions, Prayer of Thanksgiving.

  • 610 Stomp with 11 PAX

    The mumble chatter started the night before with the PAX anticipating a rainy run on this Tuesday morning.  The weather forecast indicated a nearly 80% chance for rain. Well the weather advisors are sometimes wrong, right?

    So 11 committed PAX met at the Stomp for 5:30 ready to log some miles for Run Ranger Run.      After a brief disclaimer, we moseyed along the normal Tuesday morning route up Roosevelt Mall, around NOMA, out of City Park, and around the Bayou and into the City.     20 minutes out and 20 minutes back.

    T-claps to da Cousin for continuing to push. Getting up out of bed and to the workout is the first challenge of the day – keep doing so and you will reach your goals.

    The legend of “Smooth” grew today  – I think he ran into downtown, saw the riverfront, stopped for coffee, and still made it back in less than 40 minutes.  Seriously though – thanks Smooth for setting the bar high for all of us to attain.    Keep pushing us.

    Meet at the flag for a few minutes of Mary – flutter kicks and penguins.  Closed the workout with 10 merkins OYO.

    Count-off, Name-o-rama, and intentions.  Thanks for the opportunity and privilege to lead.

    Keep logging your miles for Run Ranger Run – F3 is represented well by several teams – Keep going strong!!

  • NO Spartacus For You

    We were fortunate it started to rain harder as 16 men gathered around the SF and one, Abacus, was running the track. (I’m missing one name. Let me know who and I’ll update this BB) DISCLAIMER and let’s mosey.  There was a lot of disappointment we weren’t doing Spartacus, but the pax were pleasantly surprise with what was in store. We found a nice, wet grassy field for the warmup:

    -SSH x 30 IC

    -IW x 30 IC

    -Abe Vigoda’s x 10 IC

    -Mt Climbers x 30 IC

    -Arm Circles x 30 IC (15 ea dir)

    Grab a rock:

    -shouler press x 20 IC

    -curls x 20 IC

    -squats x 20 IC

    -merkins x 10

    Let’s mosey 200m and back. Rinse and repeat with 15 reps and 400m run.  Rinse and repeat with 10 reps and 400m run.  Next is the  Merkin Circle.  Three pax at a time would run to outdoor gym and do 10 pull-ups each. While they were at the pull-up bar, one pax in the circle would do 5 merkins, then the next guy, etc… When all pax did their 10 pull-ups, we did one more round of the above, without the run.

    Time for some Mary:

    -LBC x 20 IC

    -Flutterkicks x 20 IC

    -Hello Dolly X20 IC

    -Dying Cockroach x 20 IC

    -Penguins x 20 IC (per Mahatma, heels together)

    -Wife Pleasers x 20 IC

    -J-Lo’s x 20 IC

    Times almost up, put the  rocks to bed and plank back at the SF.We did some High Planks, Low Planks, Left Arm up, Right Arm up and Mission Impossible.

    Countoff, namerama with a FNG, Announcements, Shoutouts and a Prayers.  SYITG!

  • Muscle-Ship or is it Block City?

    With my knee giving me some issues this week and on the schedule to Q the mother ship I had to make an audible and Hawg was happy to swap AO’s for the opportunity to throw down a run heavy beatdown on the Mothership to rival Rudy’s beatdown the prior week. I planted Tools creation in the ground that is the Muscleship Shovel Flag and gave my usual disclaimer. Let’s Mosey. One lap around the museum.

    Warm Up – At Muscle-ship we get JACK-ed

    SSH x 20

    Imperial Walker x2 0

    Grass Grabbers x 20

    Seal Jacks x 20

    Red Bulls Smurf Jacks x 15

    Plank Jacks x 20

    Arm Circle Fwd & Rev x 15 each way

    Thang 1 BLIMP Mosey to the blocks.

    Mosey when Q yells HALT we did the usual BLIMPS progression all the way to the blocks. 5 burpees, 10 Lunges, 15, Imp. Walkers, 20 Merk’s, 25 Plank Jacks, 30 Squats.

    Grab a block and partner up!

    Thang 2 – DORA 1 – 2 – 3 – 2 – 1

    PAX 1 carries block above head while PAX 2 does exercise to get combined count of each exercise:

    100 Thrusters

    200 Curls for the Girls

    300 Chest Press

    200 Goblet Squats

    100 Tricep Extensions

    Mosey back the Fountain

    Thang 3 – Fountain work

    Right Leg Step up x 15

    Incline Mercks x 10

    Left leg step up x 15

    Decline Mercks x 10

    Bulgarian Split Squats r leg up x 15

    Bulgarian Split Squats l leg up x 15

    Mosey to the flag and circle up for some Mary

    LBC’s x 20

    Dying Cockroach x 20

    Flutter Kicks x 20 (RUDY ran by us, by him self and just kept on going)

    Penguins x 20

    American Hammer x 15

    Freddie Mercury x 20

    COT

    Count-O-Rama 11 PAX, Name-O-Rama 1 FNG – Welcome Brown Eye! He’s a GI Doc! Announcements and Prayer

    Another good beatdown! Thanks as always for the opportunity to lead.

    SYITG.

  • Keep It Simple Stupid

    The Uptowner was greeted with 14 fiends this week itching to get their Friday fix. Although YHC had been voluntold to Q weeks ago, he slacked on working up a fancy workout with a cool theme, laminated weinkie, or pre-arranged cones. Therefore, back to basics for the PAX with 45 action packed minutes of good old-fashioned exercises and circuits, with hopes of leaving stronger than when we came. As the PAX rolled in, YHC gave the usual discalimer along with second disclaimer and warning that his sharpness as a playcaller may be hindered by the aftereffects of the evening beatdown and IPA fuelled F2 hours earlier. Here’s what went down:

    Warmup: IPW, AC, WM, LS Squats, PP, Plank Roll, LC Crab, all various reps IC, followed by a Bear Crawl approx 40 yds to the rock pile.

    The Thang: Countdown circuit with 4 exercises, all IC and same rep count, to be varied up along the way. These tend to be tough but the descending count provides some light at the end of the tunnel.

    • First round consisted of: Curls x15IC, Low Slow Squat w/rock x15IC, Shoulder Press x15IC, Mary/Rosalitas x15IC. Rinse and repeat x14, x13, x12, x11 all with varying Mary exercises at the end. YHC enlisted the help of the PAX to share the cadence duties.
    • Break for a bear crawl around our circle of rocks followed by a Alabama-cousin-marriage joke complemets of War Eagle.
    • Next round: Curls x10, Lateral Lunge x10, Shoulder Press x10, Dealer’s Choice Mary x10, rinse and repeat x9, x8, x7, x6.
    • Final round: Curls x5, Front Lunge w/rock overhead x5, Shoulder Press x5, Mary x5. Not much time left to keep working our way down so we had to cut it short and deposit the rocks.

    Last 90 seconds included Hip Flexors and Plankorama.

    COT to seal the deal. Welcome to our FNG who gace us lots of info on himeself but not much nickname material…hence the name Vanilla.

    T-claps to the PAX for pitching in on the never ending cadence.

    Tool

  • I Don’t Mind Running, But Don’t Lie to Me

    The title is a quote from Left Eye, and you can understand where he is coming from. Uptowners stay in one place. That’s what you expect. So what’s happened the last three weeks at The Uptowner?

    • Three weeks ago – A Murph, by definition it includes 2 miles of running
    • Last week – Mambi was Q and he led us all over God’s green earth. Who knew Pontiff was so big?
    • This week – Run Ranger Run started so we did a The Laredo, which ended up being about 3 miles of running
    Warm-Up

    Boo- Boo volunteered to lead the warm-up. It seemed like he had no idea what he was doing when he started with Imperial Walkers, but it turns out he was in full control. Best Warm-up all year: IW x 20; Arm Circles x 10 Forward, x 10 backards; SSH x 30 (Finally); Grass Grabbers x 20

    The Thang

    The Loredo

    • 24 Air Squats
    • 24 Merkins
    • 24 Walking Lunges
    • 400 meter Run

    AMRAP – 11 was the most anyone completed.

    Naked Man Moleskin
    • Two Yutes crushed it. I was pacing him, hoping to humiliate him in the last 40 yards, but I’m old and he’s in good shape, so things didn’t go my way. It’s been impressive to see the gains he has made since joining F3.
    • T-Claps to Boo-Boo for stepping up to lead the Warm-up. He handled it like a pro.
    • Our Workout today was done in memory of Edwardo Loredo.
  • Mile-O-Merkins and Mile-O-Mary at Okwata

    We had a great morning at Okwata to get some miles for the AO in RRR VII, but we couldn’t forget our tradition of full-body workouts. So, disclaimer and then mosey to the Center of the Universe (COTU) for the warm up: 25 x SSH and Imperial Walkers, 15 x Abe Vigoda, 10 F/R Sun Gods, 15 x Peter Parker, 15 x Parker Peter, 15 x Concrete Grabbers and then off to Da Thang.

    From a secret starting point on the levee, YHC explained the Mile-O-Merkins. The course was a half-mile out and half-mile back with 12 stations. At each station, the PAX did a set of merkins with descending reps starting at 12. This went so well that the PAX then did a Mile-O-Mary with LBCs at each station. By the end of the workout, with moseying plus the
    Mile-O-Merkins and Mile-O-Mary, the PAX covered 3 miles.

    Lord, teach me to be generous!

    Surge

  • Sometimes You Gotta Call an Audible

    I was looking forward to Q’ing Rock City for the first time, so I took some time over the weekend to plan out a beatdown for the PAX. The beatdown was to take place on the track & field inside Pontiff Park; however, due to the rain that came down over the weekend & Monday morning, the track/field were both too #moist for us to use that day. As a result, I had to call an audible & come up with something else for us to do on the fly. Fortunately, on the car ride to Rock City that morning Kuch had mentioned to me that the track/field were too wet to use on Friday as well when he went to the Uptowner, and he told me that they had used the jogging path instead since it was a good bit dryer. So with that fresh in my mind, I issued the disclaimer to the PAX & then the workout commenced.

    • Warm Up: Mosey on the jogging path to the shelter about 250 meters away. Then we lined up around the perimeter of the shelter and did:
    • 25x Side Straddle Hops
    • 20x imperial squat walkers
    • 20x grass grabbers
    • 21x arm circles (11 forward, 10 backward)  
    • The Thang: We mosey’d from the shelter back to the rock pile, and then each PAX grabbed a rock. The Pax was then split up into 2 groups:
    • Group 1: ran 200 meters out & then 200 meters back to the rock pile
    • Group 2: while Group 1 was running, Group 2 was doing the following circuit:
    • 5 standing bench press with the rock
    • 10 curls with the rock
    • 15 shoulder press with the rock
    • 20 squats with the rock
    • _
    • When Group 1 was done with the 400 meter run, we switched, and then Group 2 ran the 400 meters while Group 1 did the circuit. Each group did the 400 meter run & the circuit 3 times. After that, we changed it up a bit and had:
    • Group 1: run 200 meters out & 200 meters back, but this time it was an Indian Run with each PAX carrying their rock during the run
    • Group 2: while Group 1 was doing the Indian Run with their rocks, Group 2 did merkins using their rocks. 10 merkins with the left hand on the rock, and then 10 merkins with the right hand on the rock, and then rinse & repeat as many times as possible before Group 1 got back. Then we switched & had Group 2 do the Indian Run with the rock & Group 1 do the rock merkins
    • After that, we circled up on the grass & did the following exercises in cadence:
    • 15x bench press with the rock
    • 20x bent over rows with the rock
    • 15x American Hammer (with or without the rock)
    • 20x Rocky Balboa’s using the rock
    • 10x burpees (no rock)

    After these exercises were done, Bogey pointed out that time was winding down, so we returned our rocks and Mosey’d back to the flag. Fortunately for the PAX, we still had 2 minutes left when the six reached the flag, so we each did 10 inchworm burpees on our own & then according to the $5.99 watch I ordered off of Amazon last week, we had reached 6:15am (however; according to Rudy’s watch, it was only 6:14am, so he was grumbling that the beatdown had ended prematurely. Classic Rudy, am I right).

    COT: Next we did the count-off, the name-o-rama, & announcements. Hand Grenada had a birthday last week, but the PAX decided a good old fashioned pat on the back would suffice in lieu of having the PAX sing happy birthday to him in unison. Next we did intentions & then closed with a prayer. Thanks for letting me lead, fellas. Enjoyed it!

  • The Muscleship Launch

    “Without continual growth and progress. such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” —Benjamin Franklin

    The Muscleship blasted off in solid fashion this Saturday, thanks in part to the 16 PAX flight crew that hopped on board for the maiden voyage.  This new workout and AO was strategically engineered to accomodate the every growing number of men eager to start their Saturdays with a F3 beatdown.  Several guys got in some RRR miles before blast off…T-claps!  As the clock approached 6:30, it was good to see several reguklars trickle in and a few koters to boot.  After a brief description of what was in store, and of course the disclaimer, we made our way over to the front of NOMA to get started.

    Warmup Part 1: IWx20, WMx20, LSSx20, SSAC (Sixty Second Arm Circles, from the F3 website…T-plank Left ACx15, LBCx15, T-plank Right ACx15), capped off with IPSWx20.  In the middle of this we noticed The Mothership trying to invade our territory in the nearby field so we upped the volume on cadence in an effort to claim dominance.  Before departing, YHC asked the PAX to start thinking of some good jokes, hoping Bogey would be the star of the show.      

    Warmup Part 2:   Short mosey to the banks of The Big Lake for some Planking and Merkins.  We lined up all holding a high plank, then 5 Merkins, then a joke, then 4 Merkins, joke, 3 Merkins, joke, 2 Merkins….at this point The Mothership did a fly by so our last joke was centered around them, then 1 last Merkin.   

    Foundry:  Short mosey to The Foundry where YHC realized the PAX was too large for plan A so we settled for Plan B:  Split up with group #1 doing 3 rounds of PIMPS (timer) near the pull-up bars and group #2 doing BLIMPS AMRAP in the grass.  Flip flop with a “pimp daddy” being chosen in each group to be the timer. Lots of intense stuff here with very little opportunity for small talk.

    Lake-North Side:  Next stop was another stretch of shoreline for Inchworm Burpess x10, joke, x8, joke(s), x6, dirty joke, x4, another dirty joke, x2, maybe a final joke. 

    Lake-South Side:  After a pit stop at the water hydrant to hydrate, we made our way over to the raised ledge along The Big Lake track.  We rotated duties with mutiple PAX running cadence and various counts for LLSUx20, Dipsx20, RLSUx20, Derkins x15…breather….rinse and repeat with the highlight being Bogey and Abacus peforming a duet in tandem. 

    Lelong Drive for Cinco de Cardio:  Here we gatherded for five 1-minute rounds of various cardio-rich exercises which proved to be much more manly than the moseying and frolicking that our counterparts were doing with The Mothership.  We dug deep and did Semi-Circle Mountain Climbers, Rocky Balboas, Partner Plank Slaps, IPSW, and Groiners as the finale. 

    One minute left so back to the flag to call it a morning.  COT, annoucements, prayer, and some admiration for the new steel encased shovel flag that may be worthy of it’s own name.  Also, YHC thanked the PAX for posting and making The Muscleship launch a success.  YHC wasn’t sure what to expect knowing so many of us enjoy and look forward to The Mothership each week and trying to split that up is no easy feat.  The F3 vatican has always encouraged an “addition by division” concept when trying to grow so it was good to see all the PAX on board with that.  YHC also mentioned a workout several years ago where a fellow PAX Q’d with some new exercises and routines, which worked well, and after talked about one of the strengths of F3 is that the group always supports those trying new things, typically with little or no heckling from the peanut gallery.  Thanks to the PAX for pushing hard and helping to make it a good one! 

    Tool