Yhc arrived at the Gipper where there was already a group of PAX waiting. As we were ready to start, a couple more showed up just in time.
Warmup: Arm circles, Self love, Good mornings, Windmills, Seal jacks, Imperial walkers, Cherry pickers followed by 20 Merkins, 20 Big boy sit-ups and 20 Squats.
Thang: Started with a mosey around the train depot followed by Tabatas, 20 sec on 10 sec off 8 cycles.
Tabata plank position holds.
Run, mosey around train depot
Tabata, Al Gores
Run,train depot
Tabata, crab cakes, crab humper, crab jacks, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, superman, scuba steve
Run, burpee dans, 1 burpee, 4 lunge’s, to end of train depot, and mosey back.
Finishing with 20 merkins, 20 big boy’s and 20 squats.
Thanks for letting me lead. Much respect for these men.
Tag: Backdraft
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Oh I Bet! – from Russo
If you’ve ever seen YHC at a beatdown, there are certain things you can bet money on:
(1) There will be sweating. A lot of sweating. Shooter in a sauna sweating. Tanked up on mile 10 sweating. (Even money)
(2) At some point the phrase “Yeah you right” will be uttered (2:1)
(3) A deck of cards might find its way into the beatdown (5:1)If you had found a way to find a casino willing to take a three-bet parlay on those things happening at Granny’s this week, you would have made at LEAST $4.17.
Pax of 4 this week to see what the cards had in store.
Warmup (pretty much all IC)
Seal jacks
Toe touches
High knees
Arm circles
Butt kicks
Torso twistsThang before the thang
Pax did a quick course YHC refers to as a “conveyor belt”: lunge walk to each column at granny’s, and drop to a burpee there. Up and around the pilot house, then lunge walk backward, hitting a burpee at each column on the way back as well.
Thang
It had been a few months since breaking out the stinky, dirty, stained deck YHC loves to use, so Pax did another deck of death (!!!), this time splitting into halves instead of fours1st half:
Diamonds: Merkins
Spades: jump squats
Clubs: shoulder tabs (2 is 1)
Hearts: Six inch drill (IC)Halftime: Almost as much fun as the puppy bowl is to the super bowl, a quick slalom mosey among granny’s columns, just to say we, ahem, “ran”.
2nd half:
Diamonds: Makhtar N’Diayes (which morphed into more merkins because exposed elbows and forearms don’t much enjoy smacking pavement repeatedly)
Spades: Suicide squats
Clubs: Freak Nastys
Hearts: Leg RaisesHaving a little time left, Pax gave it a go for another mosey around the warehouse and past the stage.
COT and Name-A-Rama closed us out. You can say it was, err, um, ahem: Aces!
Thanks for joining me and we’ll do it all again soon.
SYITG
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Boom-Shaka-Laka! And Then There Was Chainsaw! – from The Hammer
As YHC has/am learning, a large part of being a parent is nothing more than a glorified chauffeur/ATM. If you are Pickaxe’s dad, you can add scribe into the mix. An excuse to get in my cave and crack some AC/DC while I write. So all good!
Pickaxe has been itching to Q again since his initial Q the day after Christmas. With a dearth of Northshore PAX donating their talent to the Lakefront beatdown, no better time than the present. So off we go…
Warm-o-Rama
Windmills
Waybacks (Toe Touches w/ extra stretch at end)
IW
SSHThis 9 year old drill sergeant made us bear crawl towards Noah’s Ark. Along the way, he planted several Easter Eggs with exercises or candy in them. As we approached them, he had members of the PAX open and read them. On our journey to the Ark, we did:
Jump Squats x 15
8 count Bodybuilders x 10
Luigis x 10 (This is a PIckaxe original spawned from a Mario video game wherein a short, fat Italian plumber falls down, does some movement only possible through coding, and arrives in an erect posture. In practice, it must be modified from its video precision, and basically looks like a burpee where you turn over on your back before you jump up.)For the second half of our journey to Noah’s, we karaoked. Once at the Ark, our leader had us partner up for the following:
Burpees x 120
Freak Nasties x 240
Crunchy Frogs x 360 (We missed you, Cowbell!)Cumulative, done by one while the other partner ran around the Ark.
As an aside, the human body is not designed to do 360 Crunchy Frogs. Just an aside.On the mosey back, Pickaxe saved the most brutal Easter Egg for last. Another Pickaxe original that he made up one night as his father begged him not to! Boom-Shaka-Lakas! What is that you ask? It is a “different” kind of cadence exercise. While Pickaxe said “Boom-Shaka-Laka, Shaka-Laka, Shaka-Laka, Shaka-Laka, Boom…”
Now, we started doing Merkins, then when he said Boom, we turned over into a crab-walk like position to do what can only be described as elevated Wife Pleasers (Hip Thrusters according to Pickaxe ;). Nonstop. 20 of them. There was almost Mutiny on the Bounty. Had our Q been old enough to see a PG-13 movie, there almost certainly would have been! However, his leadership and willingess to push all us old dudes is actually inspiring (if YHC does say so himself.)
Back at the flag, we did some Mary, ran to the Gazebo and back, Name-o-Rama, COT. We had one FNG, Pickaxe’s younger brother, who happened to turn 7 on this day. He wanted to come out to F3 to support Pickaxe. His older brother gave him a ridiculously awesome name that he made his dad call him the rest of the day.
As Pickaxe shared, his brother once cut his foot on a chainsaw…so welcome, Chainsaw! It was a special day for both Pickaxe and Chainsaw. Shooter bequeathed the Freedom Hammer to Pickaxe’s care for the time being, and the PAX sang Chainsaw Happy Birthday. Be it known that later that day, Chainsaw and his friends “played F3”, with Chainsaw as Q.
Thank you to all for allowing yourselves to be led by a 9 year old, and for making a 7 year old’s birthday so special. Their dad just might be proud of them.
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Minute Mania – from Shooter
Great showing at the Marsh following the month of RunCajunRun. Q planned a beatdown with minimum running this Gloom as I know many are wanting to rest the tread on their sneakers coming off an incredible month as mentioned by RY in his email.. YHC brought a companion (30 lbs Ruck plate) to the beatdown to inspire the PAX..
Warmup
10IC Windmills, 15IC SSH, 20 IC Grass grabbers and 25IC Butt kicks.Thang
Wanting to bring back the premise of how the Marsh was formed YHC with phone in hand for the timer kept the PAX busy with multiple timed reps of exercises.All exercises would be max reps for a minute. Split into 2 groups of 4 with pull-ups and swing tucks. F/J
Upon finishing PAX met on the sidewalk by the playground for Carolina dry docks and Sister Mary K/Catherine’s..
We then ran down to school and back.
Assembled at the court for the company of the ruck plate. Each PAX alternated running suicides with the plate for a min until each member completed a round. The rest of the men completed called exercise. Exercises included Mountain climbers, Peter Parker’s, Parker Peters, Shoulder taps, jump squats, Bobby Hurleys, Lunges and squats. Next up we took to our six for 3 rounds of chest press 5, 8 and 10 looking for the right number to complete in a min as the PAX completed LBCs passing along the plate.. Next up curls for the girls which proved inefficient in form with 10 and only getting through half of the PAX before the timer sang so we completed regardless. Then we were able to complete 10 shoulder presses while the PAX did overhead claps. We did SSH on a 2nd round of shoulder presses. With 8 mins remaining we completed a lap around the block returning for time for 20IC Crunchy frogs 🐸, because 360 on Saturday wasn’t enough. And ended with 20IC Flutter kicks…Appreciate the great showing on a Monday, especially Backdraft making the decision to join instead of hitting that snooze 😴…
Let’s make sure we give Russo a similar showing at Grannies on Tuesday!!
Until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!
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QUAD-rophenia
Blame Akbar. This was his doing, really. His “block party,” (henceforth known as ‘Akbar’s Abomination’) – which was preceded by Tank’s Murph – pretty much guaranteed that Saturday’s beatdown would focus on legs and core.
But first, the pre-thang : the usual 2 miles out and back with the usual suspects. Now, YHC was definitely not looking at Bushwacker’s butt. And neither was Tank. But I mean, really, when the guy’s shorts are that tight and he’s running in front of you, it’s hard not to take note. Looked like he had those things painted on. Tank was comfortable enough in his masculinity to throw out a few catcalls. Though, judging by Wacker’s mustache (which was recently tamed from a Guy Fawkes-type stache to a more respectable – and less anarchistic – Tom Selleck-type), it is possible that he is more in tune with the modern trends of the day and hey, what do I know, maybe the short shorts are making a comeback this year?
Yes, this was created with MS Paint. Back at the flag, there was a surprisingly large group milling about. Most noticeable were all the 2.0’s. It was great to see the Baby Yoda, Pope, and Pixie Stick (along with Grover, who is now a fixture at most beatdowns) posting alongside their fathers. Also of note, the (second) return of Backdraft, who’s already committed to leading in the near future.
Warmorama: Good mornings, torso twists, IWs, toe touches, SSHs, merkins, shoulder taps, high knees, all at or around 15x IC.
Somewhere around the SSH’s, Sparky shows up. Turns out Bushwacker does not stand alone in his love of Magnum P.I.
The Thang:
Simple enough opening routine: Lt. Dan’s to the gazebo. Which, okay, yes, is about 400 yards. And felt longer. But at least the guys had some time to catch up.
Next, Core COP: The Bruce Lee. We’d do all six exercises, x20 IC, then take a 30 second break:
- Hammers
- Leg Raises
- LBCs
- Heel Touches
- Crunchy Frogs
- 100’s
Rinse & Repeat. Initially we were going to do three rounds, but honestly, YHC can’t multitask – I can either call out cadence for 6 routines or I can suffer through them properly, but doing both proved too much for a third round. So onward to the bridge!
Partner up for a Dora:
P1 runs up and over the bridge and back to swap with P2, who begins knocking out the cumulative reps of:
- 100 Merkin Toe Touches
- 200 Freak Nasties
- 300 Squats
Nearly out of time, YHC called it so we could make it back to the flag promptly. Double lined Indian Run back to the flag, where we closed it out with a quick set of Jane Fonda’s.
Countdown, namerama, and welcoming of FNG Pixie Stick!
Grover closed us out in a prayer of thanks and everyone set out to coffeteria. YHC feels blessed to have this group of men pushing me to be a better version of myself. It felt good to be back out there with such a large group (25 men!), and to see the gift of F3 passed on to so many 2.0’s. Thank you men for the opportunity to lead!
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I once was lost, but now am Found(ry)
I once was lost, but now am Found(ry). This statement technically makes no sense, but I liked the way it sounded so I decided to use it as the name for the Backblast. With that being said, here’s how things went down:
WarmUp:
- Jog to Noma, then we did:
- Side straddle hops – 15 in cadence
- Mountain climbers – 15 in cadence
- Concrete Grabbers – 15 in cadence
- Windmills – 15 in cadence
- Self love
The Thang:
- Jog to Peristyle, then we did:
- Merkins – 30 in cadence
- LBC’s – 30 in cadence
- Low slow squats – 30 in cadence
- Calf raises – 30 in cadence
- Dips – 30 in cadence
- Jog back to flag, then we did:
- Rocky Balboas – 30 in cadence
- Plankjacks – 30 in cadence
- Floyd Mayweathers – 30 in cadence
- Burpees – 10 on your own
After that, we did some static stretching, count-off, name-o-rama, announcements & intentions. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. I always enjoy it!
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One long mile with a strong… draft.
Man it’s been a long time since YHC has written a backblast. And while I’d love to blame it on that insanely good BB Hawg dropped on us last week (I mean, who wants to follow that?), it is of course out of pure laziness. So thanks to today’s special guest for helping to get me back on track.
Usual warmorama, went something like this: arm circles, cherry pickers, windmills, imperial walkers, seal jacks, toe touches, all IC at or around 15x.
Thang: Started things off pretty foolishly, considering the Nightmare was a mere two days ago: a Merkin Mile to the tunnel. That’s 1/4 mile, x25 merkins, 1/4 mile, x25 merkins, etc. Once we hit a mile at the tunnel, and 100 merkins, we partnered up for:
Wilt Chamberlains, or some modification of it: 100 LBC’s, 100 squats, 100 flutters (2-count) and 100 lunges. Cumulative count, with P1 running down to the base and backwards back up for the flapjack.
Modified Merkin Mile back to the flag, with only half the merkins (that’s right, only 50 this time, that’s it. Not like Hammer and I didn’t do 400 two days ago), back for just enough Mary with a guest appearance by our own Backdraft, back from Gitmo! In his prolonged absence he had all the times wrong, but hey, we were happy to catch even a few minutes of him.
Mary was leg raises, Putins, Jane Fonda’s (including all three stages: plain jane’s, quick pulses, and heel-to-knees).
COT with Pik praying us out. Welcome back-Draft, it’s great to have you posting again. Start recruiting some of your friends for next year’s Ivan, seriously, it’s never too early to start plotting.
Thanks to Goose for stepping up to Q ( a VQ no less!) this Saturday, let’s all post to support… and thanks men for posting this morning, for getting me out the sack, and allowing me to lead such a great group of men. It’s always a pleasure.
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The Wis
Conditions
Overcast, 63 F, Feels like 63 F, Humidity 90%, Wind 8 mph from the South
The Thang
27 Pax tried a new route today, crossed the Cabrini Bridge and then went over and back on the Wisner overpass. We ended up on the back side of the track and ran laps for the 6. Distance ended up being about 3.5 to get to the track.
NMM
- T-claps to the Ruckers that got started at 4 am and got in close to 8 miles – Hokie, Gideon, and Thumbwar
- Good to see SFx this morning. He also rucked. Will rucking become a thing in NOLA?
- I like that this route involves the Wisner Bridge, but it’s a little short. Maybe next time we do it we will add another small loop that involves the Bridge a second time.
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12 Days of Christmas – Sunnyside
More 2.0s than Dads gathered at UrbanSouth Brewery for the annual Christmas beatdown and fest. Quick disclaimer and we were off up Market St. Some ambitious 2.0s had to be full-stopped before racing across Religious St. in the dark. A few motorists were surprised by the pack the of seemingly feral children that were leading a group of wheezing middle aged men, winding through the dark streets between the warehouses.
We arrived at Annunciation Square and circled up. Quick 20 SSH in cadence to warm us up. Then the began the days, using the 2.0s as coupons where possible. YHC lucked out with a 2.0 under 25lbs. For PAX without a 2.0, they borrowed from others with several to spare. Modifications were offered if 2.0s were uncooperative.
- Partridge in a Pear Tree – squat thrust 2.0 up to the shoulder; or a burpee
- V-Ups
- Lords/ladies leaping (2.0s hop over dads in plank) or Russian Twists
- Flutter Kicks
- Dizzy Bears
- Dying roaches
- Plank Jacks
- Freddy Mercurys
- Measly Merkins
- Baby crunches
- Crabs a crawling
- Burpees or a (12) Partridge in a Pear Tree.
The PAX then went to COT and the naming(!) Lots of creativity and individual expression from the 2.0s. Then a mosey back to Urban South to a feast, a bounce house, sweaty & dirty children, and excellent fellowship. Much good food, but shout out to #bones for the smoked boudin he served up.
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Gnarly Nutria IV The Uptown Funk
YHC began Wednesday morning like any other Wednesday morning with a quality 45 minute beatdown at Popeyes (this Wednesday led by the always dangerous Darkwing Duck). YHC’s thoughts quickly turned to the Gnarly Nutria as a nutria was spotted by Hokie Pokey running in the grass near the Pax. YHC took this as a strong omen for an upcoming victory for the World. The native nutria had come out from its hole to bless the World on the morning of the Gnarly Nutria.
YHC’s confidence continued to grow as he arrived at the Gnarly Nutria to see members of the World surrounding him as the World came out in force. Surely the World would continue their winning streak and extend their dominance over the Uptowners on their home turf. Reluctant Yankee shouted out the rules and scoring system and led the racers to the starting line.
A record 91 men lined up for the 4th running of the Gnarly Nutria. 51 for the World. 28 for the Uptowners. 12 for the Northshore. After an odd 2 minute countdown, the runners were off in the humidity and the heat for 5.4 miles of sweaty, stupid joy.
As YHC rounded the first turn of the Gnarly Nutria with Tua and Heisenberg by his side, he his extreme confidence in a victory began to fade and he knew the world might be in trouble in spite of their superior numbers. A mass of Uptowners burst forward past him with a speed the World would be unable to match.
Then the funk hit. YHC doesn’t want to know what the Uptowners are doing in their fabled Audubon park but the stink of the park was strong last night and surely slowed down the time of the World and the NorthShore who aren’t accustomed to the Uptown Funk.
Flatline can hold his head high and claim the title “Fastest Man in F3NOLA” for the next 12 months. Flatline finished the Gnarly Nutria IV in a blistering fast 33 minutes. ESPN8 came in second with 35 minutes. In-Time came in third with a time of 38 minutes. Mulligan finished fourth with 39 minutes and Isobar rounded out the top 5 with 39 minutes and 40 seconds.
4 of the top 5 were Uptowners with In-Time the top finisher for the NorthShore and Shuffles coming in 7th with the top place for the World. Thanks to their domination in speed, the Uptowners overcame the World’s superior numbers.
The Uptowners won Gnarly Nutria IV with 326 points.
The World came in second with 260 points
Northshore came in third with a respectable 127 points coming from only 12 runners.
Tripleshift wins the award for most significant run of the night as he rucksaked the race in honor of Terabyte who went to be with his Savior, Jesus Christ earlier this year.
Bogey wins the award for most beautiful face of the night. Thanks for keeping score and being the pretty face waiting for us at the finish line.
The After Party
The Pax of 91 – 5 gathered together for post-race Name-O-Rama and the announcements of the winner and top finishers. The Pax began with a moment of silence and prayer thanking God for Terabyte and the role he played in F3NOLA.
Followed by a far too long Counterama, followed by a far too long Name-O-Rama, the Pax named 9 FNGs. I am guessing that is a new F3NOLA FNG record. Welcome to Mallrats, Bangs, Johnny Football, Polaroid, Mumbles, Body Shots, Incandescent, Apollo, and Hot Pants.
The Pax gathered together for the infamous sweaty ball-o-man as YHC closed the Pax out in prayer thanking God for the evening and asking Him to use F3 to impact the lives of more men in NOLA. F3 means so much to all of us and may we not hog and hide the friendship, accountability, and growth we have received in F3. Continue to find those men at your work, neighborhood, and in your families who are isolated and struggling. The average American man has less than one friend. YHC has 91. You have 91. Pass this friendship on to others.
Your Humble Correspondent,
Rev Sox
The Results
- Flatline
- ESPN8
- In Time
- Mulligan
- Isobar
- Waterpik
- Shuffles
- Turbo Tax
- Cavalier
- Mahatma-Ice
- Screw Top
- Cowbell
- Tinkles
- Saban
- Fetch
- Baby Bjorn
- FNG Alex
- El Guapo
- Sea Biscuit
- Sandbar
- Rudy
- Ya Mom’n Dem
- 86
- Shorty
- SOGO
- Jadaveon
- Two Yutes
- FNG Deano?
- Backdraft
- Jesus Juice
- Nip Tuck
- FNG
- Heisenberg
- Speedy Gonzalez
- Quarter Pipe
- Bartman
- Rev Sox
- Tua
- FNG
- Shooter
- FNG
- Pai Gow
- Amnesia
- Bongo
- FracSac
- Ocho
- FNG
- Einstein
- Nine Lives
- Kuch
- Kiss
- Tool
- Baywatch
- Gideon
- Chewy
- Reluctant Yankee
- Gumby
- FNG
- PoBoy
- Woz
- FNG
- FNG
- War Eagle
- Tanner
- FNG
- Hawg
- Surge
- Chowda
- Chips
- Darkwing Duck
- Hokey Pokey
- Triple Shift
- Jose 10k
- Bushwacker
- Brown Bag
- Earmuffs
- Squeal
- Moist
- DaParish
- Uncle Si
- Colonial
- Mambi
- Short Bus
- Left Eye
- King Kong
- Amnesty
- Seaman
- Cash Bar
- Gold Bar
- FNG
- FNG
