F3 New Orleans

Tag: Bushwacker

  • Remembrance and admiration to the many!

    As YHC arrived at the Scramble with few expectations of any men posting on this holiday of Independence, the thought of the movie featuring Kevin Costner with the tag line “If you build it they will come.” Through the darkness the Q could see the newly employed hairdresser Steve had already began stretching and preparing for the day. All of sudden as if they had met at a neutral location Wacker, Amnesia and Jose 10k come pulling up together like synchronized swimmers coordinating for a medal push in the Olympic Games.. As we all assemble, the chatter vibrates in the morning air and the sounds of “respect the time” Echo like voices of the far past when Turtle once posted with his F3 brethren.. YHC takes the PAX through a brief warmup of Windmills 10 IC, SSH IC 20, standing ISO quad stretches, lizard pose stretch L/R and Lunge walks across the parking lot..

    Thinking back to a Chewy inspired sprint training, Q gave the tutorial on the 6 landmarks that the PAX would increase to a sprint for 250-300 yards as we moseyed through the streets of ole Mandeville… Bushwacker (Uncle Sam) being the always over achieving (also doing the 4 on the 4th @0730 in Covington) NON runner he sometimes claims to be, could only resist holding back for the first leg of sprints as he so kindly gave the PAX a glimpse of hope that he would not lap the rest of us. Thanks to Steve for saddling up and pushing the 2 year old colt as they both galloped the Scrambles standard route.. Tclaps to Amnesia for posting his 3rd Mandeville AO in as many days off his freshly moved locale to western St Tammany.. Although battling some issues, Jose 10k respectfully posted and persevered through the Scramble and showed his grit as if tackling the trails of the not so distant Ragnar loops he conquered in ATL.. By the way I still have that man shirt for you Wacker!!

    Returned right at 0600 for count, announce and COT!!!

    YHC prayed out the PAX asking them to remember what this day truly means and the sacrifices so many before us gave for us to have this independence! Wacker added by reminding us to also thank those who are not fortunate enough to have this day of rest and celebration as they work to ensure their abilities to simply survive and pay the bills…

    Good luck to all the F3 brethren out there running the 4 on the 4th!!

    God bless this great country and all the men and women who sacrificed to give us our freedom on this Independence Day!!

    👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻 Till the next Gloom!!!

  • Strangers in the night!

    YHC arrived to a quiet AO with no sign of life. With the always posting Water Pik out of town for the holiday week, I was thinking this may be a repeat of a Hans Solo appearance from recent memory. As I walked around the court with mixed emotions not knowing if any brethren would be appearing my hopes were quickly lifted as the site of movement revealed that Amnesia had taken the previous nights EH. Welcome to our newly planted West St Tammany resident.. Shortly there after the likes of Bushwacker coming in hot to join the PAX, we assembled around a dirty center court.. Missing you Captain (Chief) Sparkles, your diligent cleanliness was surly missed this Gloom..

    Warmup consisted of all IC to 15 Toe Touches, Arm circles forward, Arm circles to the sky, Windmills, Cherry pickers (which prove much more effective following Arm circles) and SSH..

    Thang consisted of a series we will call 10s..

    Monkey bars for 5 pull-ups, 10 jump squats and 15 Merkins for 10 rounds..

    Total 50 pull-ups, 100 Jump Squats and 150 on the Mérks for those not wanting to work out the simple math 🤯😬..

    To the court for a mixture of other exercises with full court sprints between.

    25 IC was the count for exercises consisting of Little Manny crunches, Cowbell Flutters, Rosalitas, Ocho Monkey Humpers and Sparky wife pleasers..

    With time quickly expiring we close out with 3 full court sprints to end with the elevated heart rate we all come for in this early Gloom..

    Circled for the count/announce/COT

    YHC closed with prayers for the F3 brethren traveling this week and reminded Bushwacker of my more recent take away to intentionally be KIND and not just nice!!

    Appreciate you fine men following my lead and 👊🏻👍🏻✌🏻 Till the next Gloom!!

  • Boot, Scoot, and Burpee

    It was F3 Northshore’s own ne’er-present Ocho that EH’d YHC exactly a year ago. The High Impact Men of this group routinely post to support each other and lift each other up, day in and day out. Despite the broken leg and ankle, there was no way YHC was going to give up his anniversary Q and miss out on celebrating this gift of F3. So, with QIC donning a Boot and a Knee Scooter, we got started with a long “warm up”:

    12 x Toe Touches

    12 x Arm Circles

    12 x Gas Pumps

    12 x Putins

    12 x Scissors

    12 x Heels to Heaven

    12 x Air Presses

    12 x Oblique V-Ups

    12 x Little Manny Crunches

    12 x Crunchy Frog

    12 x Freddy Mercuries

    12 x Van Gohdas

    12ish Flutter Kicks

    12 x Morrocan Night Clubs

    12 x Lazy Peter Parkers

    12 x Scorpion Kicks

    12 x LBCs

    12 x Cherry Pickers

    12 x Cherry Pickers

    …and 1 Burpee

    Short scoot toward Mississippi and we circled up for some high rep Mucho Chesto:

    18 x Merkins

    18 x Wide Merkins

    18 x Diamond Merkins

    18 x Stagger Left Merkins

    18 x Stagger Right Merkins

    …followed by 12s. Why 12, and not 11 asks Jose 10k. Because that’s how many screws are in the old kicker, Jose.

    We partnered into groups of 3 and completed Freak Nasties on the Lake Wall and Big Boy Sit Ups on the side walk with 2 Partners carrying the third in between. Grundy and Toto were great sports as they quickly learned that they’d be carrying QIC for each run. Thanks guys!

    Circled up for a Mucho Chesto bonus:

    12 x Military Merkins

    12 x Makhtar N’ Merkins (5 count?, 6 count?…who’s counting?)

    12 x Irkins

    12 x Carolina Drydocks

    12 x Dirkins

    Back to the shovel flag for some Mary:

    Hello Dollies

    Jane Fondas (Left)

    Abrinome

    H2H Freddy Mercuries

    Wife Pleasers (grunted out by Sparky)

    Jane Fondas (Right)

    100s

    …and 1 Burpee

    Counterama; Name-orama; Maverick prayed out the group of 21 PAX. Thanks for following my handicapped lead, men. SYITG.

  • Laundry list ✔️!!!

    With a blast from the past planning to post this Gloom at Grandmothers House.. YHC arrived at grandmas excited about two things.. First to see Ringo who has been away for awhile taking care of his second home in Florida, serving the many patrons colored, flavored and topped pancakes as they visit the beaches on summer vacation.. If your down his way in Destin, stop on in at the “The Pancakery” and replenish those carbs you may have burned off at a recent F3 post.. Be careful though, as Dredd likes to say “You can’t out King your Queen.” Second was to complete a beatdown from a previous Q at the Gipper… With a few modifications in place the YHC planned the return of the WASHATERIA!! All though this wasn’t new to Bushwacker and Cowbell, the YHC should have given better instructions as Mr. Wacker decided to pullout his Grundyism along the way.. Halfway through as Cowbell and the Q seemed to be pulling away, Bushwacker after taking partner Ringo through some extra counts on a few of the reps decides to confirm the counts of the exercises.. Lagniappe always accepted, wether it be extra chocolate chips, Hershey drizzle or whip cream on those pancakes and Ringo gobbled up the extras like a true veteran..

    Warmup consisted of all IC to 15 Toe Touches, Windmills, Mummy kicks and SSH…

    Thang

    Partnered up.

    P1 does exercise P2 makes his way up the stairs around the flag pole and backdown halfway down the corridor relieving P1 and picking up the count..

    Werkins 50 (Hand release)

    American Hammers 100

    Step-ups 150

    Hip Thrust 200

    Air squats 250

    Toe Taps 250

    Escalator 200 (20 Burpees, 30 Merkins, 40 Jump Squats, 50 Lunges and 60 Freak nasties)

    Randy’s 150 (Reference Ralph’s brother in the Christmas story)

    Imperial Walkers 100

    Arm circles 50

    With 7 mins to spare PAX took to their six for some Mary. 1 PAX would sprint the corridor and Mosey on the return while the rest of the PAX we’re completing Little Manny crunches, Wife Pleasers and Hello Dollies.. Each PAX got through 3 rounds in all to the 0600 hour of completion..

    We circled up for the count off, announce and COT!!

    Gave the honors to our veteran guest Ringo.. He graciously reminded us to be thankful for the many blessings we have already enjoyed and not necessarily the things we wish for…

    I will include something Bushwacker shared at a previous post that has really struck the YHC..

    “Go out and be KIND, not nice but KIND!”

    That phrase is so intentional, and F3 starts with the intention to be ones better self, so to be better for those around us..

    Appreciate the journey with you this Gloom and the Laundry is complete..

    Till the next Gloom 👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻!

  • To Keep the Backblast Short…

    Bushwacker lamented that he had yet to do a workout where the Pax does one thing for the duration of the workout. It’s a simple idea but it can be tough to find that right workout that fits the time frame just right. I drill into the f3 exercise list searching for that perfect but elusive combination of a tough routine that will take the whole time. One of the reasons I particularly like doing this is that it can keep the backblast short. I’m all for that! Luckily, I was able to find one for this beatdown.

    After a warmup of IC Seal Jack’s, windmills, cherry pickers, and high knees, the Pax moseyed the shortest distance possibly ever in F3 history (about 50 feet) to diagon alley. If you are wondering what diagon alley is, it’s what I’m starting to call the alley that connects the trailhead and the justice center. Deal with it…

    We did walk like an Egyptian down the alley to the stop sign. This exercise is an indian run concept using lunges and holding them until the entire group moves forward one leg at a time with the person in the back running to the front. The cycle continues until said destination is reached.

    We then made our way to the justice center for the main event. The exercise was a simple 11 series with jump squats and merkins, the caveat is that you do the jump squats in the back of the justice center and the merkins in the front. In between you do an indian run as a group.

    Everyone did a great job and all told the distance of the indian runs was over 2 and a half miles!!!

    After our last lap we made our way back to the flag where we circled it up, counted off, and cowbell prayed us out.

    What an honor it is to lead. Thanks for letting me do that.

    Until next time,

    Grundy

  • Fast Cars and Freedom

    YHC was 1st to arrive to Mandeville City Hall, and eagerly awaited the subsequent arrival of Lord only knew – all part of the fun! As the 1st set of head lights shone indicating Waterpik’s presence, a voice softly poked through the gloomy dawn of the park, notating that the Scramble flag was soon to be planted by Shooter. YHC assured the guys that Cowbell would be an eventual show, and as start time drew nigh, the next set of headlights were identified as belonging to Chewy. As the warm up got under way, Pik expounded on the familiarity, particularly with each others’ cars and arrival style, regular F3 posting can breed.

    WARM O RAMA

    all x10 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Windmills

    Torso (in speeds the inevitable Cowbell) Twists

    Imperial Walkers

    High Knees

    THANG

    The PAX took off on the prescribed route, which today included a return trip to the Hermitage loop after Sunset Point, bringing the route to just about 4 miles. Upon reaching 190, Q almost darted out in attempt to beat the oncoming onslaught of autos, but thought better. However, at the 1st decent gap he was off, playing a successful game of frogger (nod to Chewy). As though possessed, Q lead the pack, with the road runners, Waterpik and Cowbell not far behind, while the clydesdales, Chewy and Shooter upped their game as they were bringing up the six.

    extra loop route

    MARY

    With stretching sorely needed on such a humid day…

    Downward Dog

    Right Lizard

    Downward Dog

    Left Lizard

    Downward Dog

    x10 IC Scorpion Kicks

    Q lead us out urging individual missions of kindness throughout the day.

    Thanks for following my lead guys. The effort put forth today was enough to humble and inspire any man!

  • SHOULDERING the RUNNING Responsibilties of F3 Membership

    Foregoing the 2 mile pre-thang this gloom, YHC arrived in time to plant the Marsh flag next to the Scramble flag at the blustery AO and greet the menagerie of men gathered for a proper Saturday beat down

    WARM O RAMA

    With a focus on the shoulder demands of what QIC had in store…

    All x25 IC:

    Seal Claps

    Overhead Claps

    Air Presses

    Cherry Pickers

    Torso Twists

    Imperial Walkers

    Windmills

    High Knees

    THANG

    Mosied to Grundy’s Noah’s Ark for…

    Burpee Mile – 4 laps, each followed by 12 burpees

    Mosied to between Lamarque and Foy for…

    T Bombs x25 IC – Starting in crab position, 1 legs straight out, 2 feet wide, 3 feet back together, 4 legs back in

    Mosied to the splash pad area for…

    Blackjack – 1 merkin, run a little ways, 20 LBCs. 2 merkins, 19 LBCs, etc. until 20 merkins, 1 LBC

    Q had SO much more fun in store for the PAX, however with time running short, a 2 line indian run back to the flags capped off the somewhat HIIT-like beat down that kept heart rates elevated. By Q’s count, the ISI total was 378 . Also, 3.5 miles (5.5 for the pre-thangers).

    COT

    Count o rama (17 present), name o rama, and Suckles, who was back from Georgia for a quick visit, prayed us out.

    Guys, a valorous and highly impressive effort was put forth by each and every one of you. I am humbly appreciative of your willingness to show up and follow my wackie lead.

    Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads, and to those without kids, a happy Father’s Day to your own dear old man!

    SYITG

  • The Owl and the Dragonflies: Core Life Lessons

    Another glorious gloom at the Milestone Marsh shows us that valuable lessons in life can be garnered from even the most unexpected places….

    QIC decided that today would be a great time to test out some (in his limited experience) never before tried- by-F3Northshore exercises (save for 1 or 2). The Marsh regulars are always down for a challenge, and as they gathered at center court, the formerly ubiquitous Weinke emerged to once again shine a magnificent light of recall upon the Q in his quest to drop the beat…doooooooown!

    WARMORAMA

    Nancy Kerrigans – on 1 foot, with the other extended behind, bent at the waist, and arms extended outward…arm circles x10f, x10b

    Hairy Rockettes – x20 straight leg kick, touch right hand to left foot and vice versa

    Sprinkler – x20 with arms out in front, torso twist to the right with right knee up to the left and vice versa

    Failure to Launch – x6 hold Al Gore while Q counts down from 10 the tuck jump

    THANG

    With a robust selection from the Core category of the Exicon, the PAX proceeded thusly…

    XYs – x25 Rosalita and Flutter Kick done together in a 4 count. Trickier than it sounds

    Cross-Elbow LBCs – x25 self-explanatory nod to the obliques

    Inch Worm – x25 plank position with feet on a swing, bring knees to chest

    Swerkins – (count MAY have been abbreviated???) again in plank position with feet on a swing, merkin followed by knees to chest

    *while at the swings, a barn owl swooped down near by to see what we were up to*

    Weezy Jefferson – x25 (done in reverse from stated direction) from 10 degrees to 90, legs up on 3 count, down on 1

    Van Goghda – x25 on your 6 with legs spread, sit up r hand to left foot, and flip flop (YHC’s poor brush-burned coccyx is still regretting doing this on concrete)

    Protractor – on your 6 with legs extended straight, raise or lower to Q’s called-out angle from10 degress to 90

    J Lo’s – x25 in chill cut plank, pivot hips to the ground side to side

    Panseys – x5 pull up and hold, then raise straightened legs to 90 degrees (or at least attempt to) then lower legs and back down

    Never Cross Dolleys – x25 Hello Dolleys with arms out in Iron Cross position

    T-Bombs – x25 (look for these very soon at a Saturday beat down near you!) start in crab position, 1 kick legs straight out, 2spread legs aprt, 3 bring them back together, 4 back to crab position

    And Finally…

    Steinls – 2 sets, 30 second plank, 30 second chill cut plank, 10 merkins, 5 IC r leg peter parker, mountain climber, parker peter, followed by l leg, 10 more merkins, then return to plank, rinse and repeat.

    COT

    Waterpik did us the honor of leading us out in prayer

    As we were spending so much time facing up, the PAX observed our visitor the barn owl stealthily perched on a rafter, hunting dragonflies that had trapped themselves under the ceiling thinking they’re freedom awaited them at the source of the daylight now streaming through the translucent skylights. She would swoop up and abscond with a crunchy morsel to devour in a near by tree. Repeatedly, she kept coming back to the buffet.

    2 lessons dawned on YHC watching this play out:

    1, Don’t necessarily follow the light, it can sometimes be an illusion (all that glitters is not gold)

    2, If you want to catch fish, go where the fish are.

  • Run 4 Fun, But Hatin’ On the Core

    After a 4:45am distress beacon from the “Beast Master of Bear Crawls”, YHC was prepared to put forth his 2 cents into the round robin collection basket this gloom. Upon arriving to desolation, however, the possibility of a solo run on account of a drip drop or 2 seemed distinct. But a random shadow, that happened to be carrying an American flag, chased away any chance of that. As Shooter stepped into the light, Waterpik rolled up. And before we realized the mumble-chatter had taken us slightly over start time, Cowbell arrived to round out the PAX of scramblers.

    WARMORAMA

    Shooter started us off with x15 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Windmills

    Torso Twists

    Lunge Walk to Pik’s car, and away we went!

    As tends to happen on Thursday, the PAX paired off with YHC/Cowbell and Shooter/Waterpik.

    City Hall Scramble

    When the PAX reassembled at the shovel flags, YHC lead us to the workout equipment where each man, 1 at a time, did a set of 10 pull ups, 10 knee ups, and 10 reverse leg lifts. Meanwhile, as the rest were doing there best Shooter (aka Sweat Angel) impression, they also did OYO 100 LBCs, 100 Freddy Mercurys then plank until all had finished their sets.

    Cowbell wrapped it up by leading us in x20 IC:

    Putins

    Crunchy Frogs

    Flutter Kicks

    DEATH BY CORE WORK!!!

    COT

    YHC prayed us out, as Waterpik prepared to send 2 of 5 off to dance camp, Cowebell endeavored to stare down Invest 91-L on a Florida fishing expedition, and Shooter, always being Shooter, helped an overheated and slightly dehydrated brother over to the water fountain.

    We look forward to Bubba’s long awaited Q at the Lakefront saturday!

    SYITG

  • Memorial Day Murph at the Marsh

    Fourteen men posted this morning to pay their respects to Lt. Michael Murphy and the millions of others who have sacrificed everything for our country.    To honor that sacrifice, we did The Murph.

    YHC gave a quick recap of Lt. Michael Murphy’s story – he was part of a four-man Navy Seal team that was overwhelmed by Taliban forces in Asadabad, Afghanistan.  All four men had already been wounded and, unable to radio for help from their sheltered mountainside position, it was Lt. Murphy who opened himself to more gunfire in order to successfully make the call.  In fact, after being shot in the back and dropping the radio, he picked it back up and finished the call before returning to the fight. He saved one man’s life that day.

    The crazy thing is just how many similar stories there are.  There’s PFC Ross McGinnis, 19, who deliberately threw himself onto a grenade in Iraq to save all four people in his vehicle.  Or Sergeant Henry Johnson, part of the Harlem Hellfighters, who suffered 21 wounds while rescuing a soldier and repelling a German raid in WWI. Or 1st Lt Jack Lummus who continued to give orders at Iwo Jima after losing both legs to a landmine.  The list goes on and on.  And today, we should take a minute while we are at our family BBQ’s or poolside and reconnect with that history and remember the legacy of these heroes.

    With that in mind, we began the simple benchmark workout:

    • 1 mile run
    • 100 pull-ups
    • 200 merkins
    • 300 squats
    • 1 mile run

    The PAX broke up the middle section into 20 rounds of 5 pull-ups / 10 merkins / 15 squats, then hit the final run hard, finishing right around 50 minutes.  COT and Grundy prayed us out.

    It was an impressive sight to see so many men post to the Milestone Marsh at 0500 on their Monday off.  For me, the legacy of our fallen heroes is folded into the DNA of F3.  I see the qualities of leadership and selflessness spreading across F3 nation as if they’re contagious.   And it’s not simply as a group, but the individual men of F3 all seem to embody that spirit personally.  And isn’t that the best way to remember our heroes, to try and embody their greatest qualities?  Thank you men for the remarkable effort, and enjoy your Memorial Day!