F3 New Orleans

Tag: Akbar

  • Crawl Daddies Converge – from Shooter

  • No Blocks before Breakfast – from Akbar

    Early day after watching the Superbowl – wasn’t sure who would show. Just me and Grover hanging on the basketball court until 5:13 when Pik arrived on foot. YHC was excited to get back to the basics today with a full body workout with blocks and a gentle mosey around the block.

    Warm Up SSH, IW, Windmill, Self Love x10 IC
    Short mosey to pick up blocks, and……. There are no blocks, again. Time to modify

    Head to playground, 2 x10 pull ups OYO

    Mosey to the lakefront stopping at intersections, hit the wall, rips and mosey back to the AO stopping at 2 more intersections.

    3 sets of 12,8,5 reps IC equaling 50 reps per exercise except slow merkins and copperhead squats.

    Stone Mountain | Mountain Climbers
    Bulgarian Split Squat (each leg), Freak Nasty
    Merkin, Rocky Balboa’s
    Irkin, Copperhead Squat

    Mary – leg raises, LBC, Little Manny Crunches x10 IC

    Count, name, announcements – YHC prayed us out. QIC

    NMM
    Light crowd this morning, probably due to the SuperBowl and Run Cajun Run. This is the second time the blocks have been stolen in 18 months. We’ll consider it F3’s gift to the community. Good work and good conversation today guys.

  • Curls for the Girls! – from BBQ

    The weather was cold and rainy but that did not stop 10 sturdy and strong NS F3 men from rising to the challenge. The beat down moved under the trailhead shelter and went heavy on coupons. The warm up exercises were side straddle hops, torso twists, self love, wind mills, arm circles with little balls and biggest balls, grass grabbers, mountain climbers, inverted mountain climbers, plank jacks, merkins and shoulder rolls. YHC had some struggles with cadence and count but I think I am making some progress! Coupons were used for 4 rounds of 11 exercises. 3 types of curls, overhead lifts, rows, kettle bell swings, squats, Al Gore meets George Thoroughgood, LBC’s, leg raises and flutter kicks. Shooter will be sad to miss this beat down. Curls should continue to be a focus to be ready for the girls at the joint NS F3 and FIA workout on 2-25! We did one round of tricep curls at the end to keep arms from becoming too bicep heavy. Mobydick inspirationally prayed us out.

  • We all do this, don’t we? – from Waterpik

    Today’s beatdown was plagiarized from Hogsbreaths beatdown at the marsh a couple of weeks ago. We all copy workouts, don’t we? Here we go: PAX grabs a cinder block, lines up in a single file line on Lamarque st and starts heading towards the lakefront. Instructions were to walk to the lakefront with the coupon. Last man in line jogs to front of line with coupon. Rinse and repeat. At the lakefront sets of Tabata were on the menu. , 30 secs with 10 secs rest. Exercises were merkins, 100s, big boy sit-ups, Supermans, freak nasties, rows w/ coupon, presses w/ coupon, kettle bell swings, leg raises. Rinse and repeat. With 15 minutes to spare, grab coupon and head back to the marsh.
    5 minutes left: hit the 6 for some Mary: cowbells crunchy frogs ((where was cowbell?), flutter kicks, chill cut plank.

    Have a good week guys! Y’all bring out the best in me! I hope F3 brings out the best in all of you too

  • Shhhh HIIT! – from Akbar

    YHC has been thinking about a HIIT workout for a while but wanted to keep it a secret of sorts. Kinda like when you tell pax to bring gloves, and they don’t show at all. So I kept it quiet, within the family circle. Like the Grinch, tip toeing around with an evil wide grin before stealing presents. Shhh! We are going to do some HIIT today.

    The gloom was a humid 61 degrees, which felt like 85 after so much cool weather the last few weeks. YHC and Grover arrived 10 minutes ahead of go time, and quickly saw the blinding LED lights of Waterpik pull up behind. 3 flags planted, 5 on the basketball court picking up trash from the day before, and we were ready to go.

    Warm Up: x10 IC – SSH, Grass Grabbers, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Self-Love, Torso Twist

    Quick warm up run to the stop sign and back, pick up a block and head to center court. About this time, Cowbell showed up to make 6. T Claps to Pixie Stix for grabbing a man-sized block at age 15, it was duly noted that Grover was using a half block until last month.

    Thang: HIIT

    It was one of those days when some things look good on paper, but you quickly need to modify. We went through multiple sets of Tabata with varying work and rest times focusing on form, power, lean, and some plyo work

    Set 1: Power 3 sets of each exercise; 15s all out work and 40s rest

    Mountain Climbers, Squat Thrusters, KettleBell Swings

    There was some low mumble chatter about going all out for 15s and a 40s rest. It did seem like 40 was long so a modification/intensification was needed and we bumped it down to 30s rest

    Set 2: Lean Explosion 3 sets of each exercise; 20s work, 10s rest

    Sister Mary Katherine’s, High Knees, Jump Squats

    Set 3: Plyo Set 3 sets of each exercise; 30s work, 15s rest

    Plank Tuck to Tuck Jump (2 groiners and a jump squat); Plyo jack merkin, Balance Bicycles (Goblet Squat Freddy Mercury); then Block Press Freddy Mercury’s

    Set 4: Chest, Tri, Back, Shoulders 30s of work, 15s rest

    Tricep Chest Press, Tricep Chest Press with knee raise; Tricep Chest Press with knee raise and leg raise

    Block Row, Block Row with Inchworm merkin

    Elf on the Shelf; Alpos, Block Curls

    Put up blocks, time for 5MOM

    Mary x 10 IC: Heels to Heaven, Hands to Heals, Leg Raises, LBC, American Hammers, Crunchy Frogs

    Count/Name

    Announcements: Krazy Ivan, Run Cajun Run, F2 a week from Thursday with FIA – Tap Room in Covington

    Grover prayed us out.

    Thanks for hanging in there this morning and giving it your all,

    Till next gloom – – Akbar

  • Dreams Do Come True – A Tribute to MLK – from Akbar

    YHC arrived at the Marsh to a cool 32 degrees this morning. While Grover and I sat in the car for a pre-thang warm up, we were not the first to arrive. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a lone figure doing Burpees. At first I thought it was @Cowbell, since he left the only reply to my Pre-Blast about F2 after the beatdown. But no, it was none other than Russo. His Burpees were polished, in cadence, reminiscent of Mr. Miyagi’s flowing Crane kick. Alas, Cowbell did not show.

    Today we would celebrate Martin Luther King. A man with humble beginnings who had a dream that did come true.

    Warm Up: Grass Grabbers, Plank Jack, Self-Love, Big Arm Circles (front and back), Torso Twist IC x10-20

    Thang

    Modified Hero WOD for MLK based on events in his life.
    *The first 3 events, second exercise were 1 is 1; the rest of the second exercises were 2 is 1

    1929: Born in Atlanta

    19 Merkins 29 High Knees

    1944: King entered Moorehouse college at the age of 15. He would go on to receive a Bachelors in Divinity from Crozer Seminary and a Doctorate degree from Boston University’s School of Theology

    19 Freak Nasty’s 44 Randy’s (arms, up in field goal position, lower down and back up)

    1946: Atlanta Constitution publishes a letter to the editor from King stating black people should have same rights and opportunities as all American people

    19 Block Curls 46 Butt Kicks

    1955: The Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks, King is thrown in jail for protesting

    19 Block Rows 55 Moroccan Night Clubs

    1956: US Supreme Court affirms Browder V Gayle – declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional. King is one of the first to ride a bus with whites.

    19 Goblet Squats 56 Mountain Climbers

    1960: King met with Lyndon Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy to discuss racial inequality

    19 Shoulder Thrusts 60 Butt Kicks

    1963: The march on Washington DC, Kings I Have a Dream speech

    19 Merkins 63 Step Ups

    1964: King receives the Nobel Peace Prize and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed

    19 Freak Nasty’s 64 Freddy Mercury’s’

    1965: The 54 mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery ending at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Riots broke out and this day would be known as Bloody Sunday.

    19 Block Curls 65 Lunges

    1968: King assassinated in Memphis, TN

    19 Block Rows 68 Arm Circles

    1986: Inaugural Martin Luther King Day

    19 Goblet Squats 86 100’s

    1/18/21: MLK today

    18 Shoulder Thrusts 21 Burpees

    Mary IC
    M: 20 Merkins
    L: 50 LBC’s
    K: 20 Knee Raises
    Heels to Heaven, Hands to Heels, Crunch Frogs for (the missing) Cowbell x10 IC

    Count, Name-O-rama

    Announcements: Krazy Ivan, Run Cajun Run (replacing Run Ranger Run)

    Although Russo, Waterpik, and The Pelican had to work, the rest of us had a great breakfast and F2 at the Waffle House.

    Always great to hang with you guys for F3 and F2. Thanks for letting me lead

    SYITG,

    Akbar

  • Morning Stroll with Cowbell – from Akbar

    YHC arrived at 5:13 to a gloomy 38 degrees and no PAX. My sidekick Grover was out with a shoulder injury that would last until his round of golf in the afternoon. Mosey around, plant the flag, wait, wait. Wait – is that LED headlights? Did Waterpik recover more quickly than expected? And surprise! it’s Cowbell, who would have arrived early had he not gone to Grandmas House first. And then there were 2.

    We went the normal street to street down to the lakefront, hit the wall, and moseyed back with a great Monday morning marsh conversation.

    Warm up x10-15 SSH, TORSO TWIST, SELF LOVE, IMPERIAL WALKERS

    Grab coupons for 20 block curls

    6 blocks to the lakefront stopping for 20 Merkins and 20 Squats every other block.

    Wall at lakefront, 3 sets of Freak Nasty and Bulgarian Split Squats IC x20

    6 blocks back to the Marsh at 20 Merkins and 20 squats

    30 Block Curls to finish just in time for 2 minutes of Mary

    LBC and Crunch Frogs IC x20

    1,2 Count and Name and YHC prayed us out

    Simple, but effective workout, always great for a Monday morning Marsh run and catch up from the weekend.

    Til’ Next Gloom,

    Akbar

  • Intensify to Modify: Pickaxe’s First Q

    It was a frigid morning along the lakefront the 2nd day of Christmas. While 9 year old Pickaxe, in his, ahem, first Q of his young F3 career, did not give a Tujague’s recipe for the crawfish caught in Arabi (Uptown Chalmette if you’re from Da Parish), he did come bearing gifts, 12 in fact. However, these were ones we COULD wait to open, as each contained 2 various and sundry exercises for the PAX, one on the foray out, one on the way back.

    Prethang:

    Pickaxe and his dad, The Hammer, forsook the traditional 2 mile pre-thang in order to lay the 12 gifts with great care along the 1/2 mile path to the beach. The 12 packages came in different colors: red, silver, and gold. This would be important, as Pickaxe instructed the color of each package determined the number of repetitions for the exercised contained therein, as well as the mode of transportation to the next box. The directive was as follows:

    Gold: 10 reps/each exercise, Karaoke to next box

    Red: 20 reps/each exercise, sprint to next box

    Silver: 30 reps/each exercise, bear crawl to next box.

    Full Disclosure: When assisting Pickaxe with laying out the gifts, The Hammer was only thinking of the challenges on the way out. As such, the way out brought a long (read: 200 yard) sprint followed by a short bear crawl. On the way back, however, that meant a 200 yard bear crawl. As Pickaxe would say, “Intensify to Modify”.

    Each member of the PAX would take turns opening the gifts, then calling out the exercise they “unwrapped”, there being 24 in total, covering upper body, lower body, and core. A particularly tough gauntlet was a series of 30 8 count bodybuilders, with a bear crawl leading to 20 burpees, followed by a long sprint. Pickaxe insisted the exercises were blindly placed in each box so that he knew not the order, nor the quantity. This series caused some to question the 9 year old. Intensify to modify.

    When the PAX returned to the flag, we circled up for Mary, finishing up with Hello Dollies, Freddy Mercuries, 100s, and a Mission Impossible plank (SIDENOTE: The series/movies should be named Mission Improbable, not Impossible. Think about it. If true, it would’ve been a single episode series, and the ending would not have been a happy one.)

    COT, then Russo prayed us out. Pickaxe is grateful to have had the opportunity to lead, and his dad is grateful to befriend a group of men that would give him the opportunity to do so. Merry Christmas, God Bless, and SYITG!

  • Pumpkin Spice Latte

    All these holiday drinks…peppermint mocha, hot buttered rum, eggnog…anyway, inspired by recent coupon beatdowns, YHC had the idea to add a little SPICE to today’s beatdown by adding something new. After all, its the holidays and YHC likes the holiday drinks. So, desperately rummaging through the garage hoping to find a new crazy coupon, YHC settled on an old punching bag. Not nearly as manly as Moby’s chain or as rock solid as Hogsbreath’s cinder block RUCK carry, the punching bag served it’s purpose.

    With temperatures in the low 40s, YHC led the PAX through a longer warmup consisting of a mosey to the 4 corners around the Marsh with exercises at each corner. Squats, Merkins, Smurf Jacks, Flutter Kicks, Hello Dolly’s, Bear Crawl, Lunge Walk, Jog Backwards, Shuffle to each side.

    Thang

    3 Tabata Sets (30 secs, 10 secs Rest)

    The exercises were Burpees, Thrusters w/ cinder Block Coupon, Jack webbs w/ coupon, Curls w/ Punching Bag. The PAX alternated through each exercise during the 10s rest period, so each man did the exercises 3x.

    Mosey around the Block again to cool down before the closing out with some Mary: crunchy frogs, 100s, Putins, Freddy Mercs.

    Thanks, Men, for another great year for the F3 Northshore PAX. I am so grateful to be a part of such a great group of men. And I look forward to many more to come.

  • Excuse Me While I Kiss the Ground

    So there we were…how every great story starts…today was the commencement of what will hopefully become an annual CSAUP, Uncle Hammer’s 1000 Burpee Beatdown.

    First: Special Shoutouts —

    Jose 10k –DJ Jose had the best possible music, with songs individualized for members of the PAX

    Moby Dick –Dude’s 71, that’s right, 71, and he is out there making us middle agers look bad.

    Hawgcycle — Did this CSAUP on the Southshore by himself in just over 2 hours…no idea how he accomplished that. Awesome work!

    Now onto the beatdown:

    0610: Knowing this would likely be an all day affair, we skipped the normal 2 mile pre-thang, instead moseying from the flags towards the beach, stopping at each fire hydrant for a set of 10 burpees (6 sets out, 6 sets back =120). DJ 10k had Brother Angus lead us off, picking the axe (See what I did there) like lightning, but sounding like thunder. Then, while most of us may be partial to Southern Belles, Mr. David Lee Roth, with help from Steve Vai, pined for a young lass named Yankee Rose. As if the blood wasn’t pumping hard enough by 0615, Vince Neil kickstarted our hearts even further. Before we knew it, we were 1/8 the way to our goal. We returned with the remaining PAX awaiting to begin.

    0630– No warmup necessary. Jump right into the EMOM of 6 burpees. Doing this mitigates the overwhelming thought of 1000, as well as helping with the physically challenging nature of the CSAUP. As the Zen philosopher Basho once said, or maybe it was Bushwhacker, “A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single burpee.” How true.

    Mentally, the wash rinse and repeat of doing this for an hour can be quite taxing. This is where DJ Jose was so great. Always thinking of other, he picked out songs for most of the PAX. Some included were:

    The Bird (Morris Day and the Time) –Bird

    U Can’t Touch This (MC Hammer) –Hammer

    Some Moby Song —Moby Dick

    Relax (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) –Zoolander

    The Best Around (From Karate Kid) –Russo

    To be honest, the hour was over before we knew it. Most PAX were asking to continue for another hour, and Hammer could easily have been elected mayor of CSAUPtown but for all the mail in ballots. However, they all missed their wives so much, they could not bear to continue for another minute. That was the right choice, guys, as hard as it was to make.

    So, by 0730: 120+365 (5 minutes were sets of 7)+ 15 (a burpee for each PAX during COT) = 500

    Halfway home by coffeeteria!

    PHASE 2: Do 250 OYO throughout the day before reconvening at 6 pm at Grandmother’s House. Some went more traditional –Hammer did 25 sets of 10 throughout the day (looked weird doing it outside the Pelican Park gym before 2.0’s basketball game). DJ 10k did his while his M worked out. Of course, he overachieved, doing another 350 before lunch. Russo knocked the rest of his out before I got home, it seemed. Hawg’s Breath did a few with his adorable daughter on his back, like the true bad ass he is. However we decided to get it done, we finished 750 before twilight.

    PHASE 3: Final 250 at Grandma’s

    6 skrong at Grandma’s at 1800. Turbo, Bird, Jose, Hammer, Hawg’s Breath, Akbar. Knocked out the last quarter in just over 30 minutes. Having an eclectic mix to inspire us: CCR, NIN, and Billy Idol (twice, in fact. No really.)

    …And done! We then enjoyed some F2 at Old Rail, then home to bed.

    Thank you all for joining in this venture. Each of you inspired me along the way, and I am indebted to you all for the kindness, generosity, friendship, and leadership you all display.

    For those that “missed” it, there will always be next year!