F3 New Orleans

Tag: Cheese Steak

  • The FNG – from Hawgcycle

    Fracsac noticed the FNG as he walked up to the flag this morning. Something wasn’t quite right. He looked to be in his 30s, muscular build, slicked back hair, calm demeanor. Frac gave a knowing glance to Mahatma. Mahatma nodded back. They both looked to Rudy, putting him into action. When I walked up Rudy was standing by the FNG, making small talk, gathering intel. He made sure I knew what was happening:

    “We have an FNG today Hawg.”

    I walked over to greet him: “Nice to meet you, I’m Craig.”

    “I’m Justin,” he replied.

    I turned to the group: “Alright, let’s get started,” I said. “A few more people than I was expecting.”

    The group understood what I was telling them – we have an FNG today and the F may not stand for Friendly. Everyone that is, except for Bogey. I could tell it was totally lost on him. That’s okay, the guys had recently had a training exercise called the Old Metairie Mosey where they learned how to take care of Bogey and keep him out of trouble. In the past I might have considered having Snooze put him in a sleeper hold and throw him in the trunk of Rudy’s Mini Cooper while the rest of us mosey to the warm-up. Not necessary today. We were prepared to handle the FNG and Bogey.

    We moseyed to the warm-up spot: SSH x 25, IW x 25, LSS x 20, Tempo Merks x 15, LBC x 20, Superman x 10, Superman to Boat x 3. At this point some of the guys were getting a little nervous. Thumb War asked if I was making that exercise up. This was his way of asking if I had a plan for what might go down today. I assured him that we were all well-prepared.
    “No Thumb War, we’ve been doing that exercise for a long time. It’s an oldie, but a goodie.”
    Thumb War started to settle down a little. We then finished the warm-up with a 10! Progression of Merkins, Squats, and Big Boi Sit-Ups. After finishing the FNG broke his silence.

    He smiled and said “that was a good one.”

    He was calm, breathing normally. This might be tougher than we thought.

    We moseyed to the Tool Wall where we did Calf Raises x 25, Squats x 20 Left Leg Calf Raises x 16 and Right Leg Calf Raises x 16. Then to the Little Foundry.
    On the mosey to the Little Foundry, Catfish pulled up beside me.

    “I’ve worn out my flip flops, but I don’t plan on losing one today. You know what I am saying.”

    The brand of flip flops Catfish and I wear are Locals. I knew what he was saying.

    “I hear you.” I replied.

    “I plan on protecting my flip flops at any cost. You get my drift?”

    “Yes. I understand.” I replied.

    “I’m not going to let any foreign objects destroy them. Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?”

    “Yes, Catfish. I get it.”

    “The flip flops we wear are Locals. You understand what I really mean when I say flip-flops, right?”

    “Yes….”

    “So if I have trouble with my flip-flops, you can help me protect them, right?”

    “Don’t worry. I got you.”

    “Sorry, I have to ask, you understand I’m not really worried about my flip-flops, right?”

    At this point, I decided to set his mind at ease. “When we get to the Little Foundry, we will pair up. You take the FNG.”

    “Pair up? Are we still talking about my flip-flops?”

    “…”

    At the Little Foundry we paired up. Catfish was with the FNG. Still slightly confused he kept taking off his flip-flops, matching them together and then putting them back on his feet. We did two rounds of six stations EMOM: Burpees x 15, Dips x 25, Pull-ups x 15, Box Jumps x 20, Dips x 20, Pull-ups x 15.

    The FNG was unfazed.

    As we moseyed to the track he started in with the questions. He wasn’t very subtle.

    “So you all have been doing F3 for about 10 years?”…”Are you all originals?”…etc.

    Our suspicions were being confirmed. Frac called for Cheesesteak to meet us at the track.
    At the track I let everyone know they needed to keep their pairs. “I’ve got them on my feet!” yelled out Catfish.

    “Not what I’m….Okeedookie.” I said.

    One Pax sprinted a 200 while the other jogged across the infield to meet him. I paired up with Cheesesteak and told him to go first with Catfish. That allowed me to keep an eye on the FNG. Cheeseteak and Catfish were the first to finish the 200. Catfish tagged the FNG about 15 feet ahead of Cheeseteak tagging me. I was hoping Catfish would have taken a notch off so that I could have started with the FNG, but I think he was still thinking about his flip-flops. Nevertheless, I was prepared to run as hard as I needed to keep up with the FNG. I caught him before the first curve. What was he doing? He knows I am trying to keep an eye on him? My momentum carried me past him. He’s smarter than I thought. He knows how fit I am. I can’t run that slow. I finished my 200 about 20 meters ahead of him. Luckily Catfish made up the distance and the FNG and I always started at nearly the same time. However, I couldn’t help but smoke him each time. It’s a weakness. I’m too fast.

    We completed a mile and circled up on the infield for some Mary: Crunchy Frog x 15, Wife Pleasers x 10, Nolan Ryans x 10 on each side (message sent loud and clear), Dying Cockroaches x 15

    We moseyed back to the flag for the COT. Here we go…..

    El Guapo kicked us of with Count-o-rama, followed by Name-o-rama. It was time to signal to the group my assessment. I asked the FNG to step to the middle. Right on cue Frac pointed out that I had not announced my self in Name-o-rama. We had everyone’s attention.

    “Craig Parten, Hawgcycle, 47.”

    Mahatma called out. “Liar, you aren’t 47!”

    Our message to the pax was that no one can be trusted. We have a liar in our midst and he is about to be outed.

    “You’re right,” I replied with a smile. “I’m a liar. Justin, step to the middle. Tells us about yourself.”

    At this point the FNG steps to the center and starts to talk about how he is from Virgina, how he is in town on a vacation, how his Uncle told him about F3.

    “What is your uncle’s name?” asked Squints.

    “Sam,” came the reply. He clearly thinks we are idiots.

    The FNG continued to rattle on about his family, his dogs, how he loves to workout, etc.

    Frac had heard enough. He took a step forward. We all did the same. “Why don’t you tell us who you really are.” We all took one more step forward, closing in on the FNG.

    What happened next is classified by the U.S. Government.

  • Spontaneous Q’ing – from Kenna Brah

    Arrived to find the PAX lacking a Q ( AKA Q’less), having missed my last TWO Q appointments, I decided to jump into the vacuum.

    Mosey to the Colonnade for warm-ups
    SSH
    IW
    LSQ
    REALLY SLOW VAGODAS/GRASS GABBERS
    Pivoted to some YOGA

    Without a prepared BD, I pulled out my trusty go to plan:
    10 things 10 times, for 10 rounds
    Each pax took a exercice
    Smooth – SSH
    Heisenberg – Burpees ( Big surprise)
    Vagabond – Air Squats
    Fracsac – LBC
    Catfish – 8 Ct Body Builders
    Cheesesteak – Lunges
    Maytag – Merkins
    Mr Rogers – Should Taps
    Christopher Robin – Alternate Leg Wife Pleasers
    YHC – BB Situps
    After 5 Rounds and a stunned look on the faces of the PAX we pivoted to each HIM chooses what to do next, then it all went crazy – Trust me. It was a more than adequate way to grow in leadership, creativity and all around fitness.

    COT

  • #41 (not the Dave Matthews song) at Okwata – from Thumb War

    Disclaimer and Bday announcement.

    Mosey to the grass area in front of Mardi Gras fountain for Warmup in Cadence :

    Abe bagotas
    Grass grabbers
    Low slow squats
    Hill Billies
    Arm circles F & B
    Seal claps
    Moroccan night clubs
    Peter Parkers
    Mountain climbers
    SSH – 41 in Cadence

    Thang:

    2 rounds of Route 66 towards bridge near Marconi

    Round 1
    Jogging between the light poles, did escalating burpees at each stop starting with 1 rep

    Round 2
    Jogging between the poles, did ascending air squats starting with 11 reps

    We jogged across the street towards levee but stopped along the way and held People chair at the wall.

    Indian Ran the levee top to the house of pain for 4 sets of 5 pull ups.

    Jogged back to lake by Okwata sign for around the horn of Mary.

    Back to the Flag for COT and thanks for the Bday Q and F3 in my life.

    PS. #41 is one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs.

  • Charmin’s Maniversary – Shitting Bricks – from Charmin

    February 2, 2022 will be a day that might live on in infamy, if only for it was the fateful day that YHC would post for the first time. Over the past two years, there has been much life lived, and emotions experienced; I am grateful for F3Nola being there for all of it. Some highlights include:

    Posting on 2/2/22
    The Birth of my son (2nd child) in June 2022
    My Father’s Death in Oct. 2022
    Completing the Inaugural GrowRUN in October 2023
    Becoming Q-Source Q in January 2024.

    With all that being said, see below for the workout that I experienced two years ago (Q’d by Hokie) and the pax also experienced this morning at a cool 50-ish degrees. Thanks to Rudy, who, while he could not be here (YHC is starting to sense a trend) did lend us the bricks for said beatdown. The following is a copy of the original beatdown with some slight modifications:

    The disclaimer was followed with a count-off (in which it was demonstrated that counting to 10 is quite difficult) instructions for each Pax top grab two bricks and not let them go for the entire 45 minutes of fun

    Warm up, with bricks in hand…

    arm circles, in cadence, forward x5
    arm circles, in cadence, backwards x5
    seal claps, in cadence, x6
    overhead claps, in cadence, x5
    Moroccan night club, in cadence, x10

    we then took a mosey to the track where we moseyed WITH Bricks in tow, forward around the curve, KnOT style for 100 yd, forward around the 2nd curve, and KnOT style for another 100 yards(1/4 mile loop)

    Each time we finish the quarter mile loop, shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 1. 1 minute shoulder taps, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 2. 1 min Floyd Mayweather, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 3. 1 min Nolan Ryans, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 4. 1 min Newton’s Cradle, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 5. 1 min Bat wings, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 6. 1 min Hand Release Merkins, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 7. 1 min Pointers, 1/4 mile loop (as above) shoulder taps waiting on the six

    Round 8. 1 min Toe Taps.

    Ended with Abe-Slow-Goda’s IC x 10, some Low, Slow, Squats x 10 as a cool-o-rama.

    That is 2 miles for Run Cajun Run participants

    Announcements included the upcoming RunCajunRun events and the fact that CheeseSteak had to get to work.

    Circle of Trust where we prayed in thanksgiving for my 2 years and for other intentions.

  • 2024 ReNew Q vs Q – from Mahatma

    The back story….a long long time ago of 2020 in a land far far away of Khenna there was a forgotten AO called “The View”! To bring excitement during the time of dome and gloom Mambi came up with the idea of pitting one Q vs another in a face off of who could bring the “best” beatdown with 2 Qs going head to head then have the Pax vote a champion. Unfortunately as life goes AOs thinned and “The View” became extinct! (It’s no longer on the AO list) Fast forward to the end of 2023, Disclaimer was moving into the neighborhood where the lore of this AO and the Q vs Q was stuck in his mind hearing about the tails of his brother pax bringing a competitive beatdown just a few minutes from his backyard. So the call to the last champ and challenger was made and the ReNew Q vs Q was scheduled.

    The date January 19th 5:30AM it was a wet cool 50deg with 18 pax meeting up at the flags planted in Erlanger park. YHC gave the back story and guidelines of the Q Vs Q beatdown. After a quick disclaimer (not actually) a quick warmup:
    SSH
    Grassgrabers
    HillBillies
    Mnt Man Poopers
    Merkins

    Each Q gets 2 alternating 8 minute rounds with 2 minute transition.
    Rnd 1
    Champ King Kong
    Base of the levee for 4 rounds of various in cadence exercise then mosey to top of levee for in cadence ssh.

    Rnd 2
    Tripleshift
    Partner Up for crazy 8
    One pax did exercise while partner carried block overhead out and back then flip flop

    Rnd 3
    King Kong
    HITT – pax perform exercise for 1 minute followed by active recovery for 1 minute

    Rnd 4
    Tripleshift
    Some sort of bearburpeebroadjump combo goal was to reach 40. You had to be there to understand

    Time Up
    COT
    After brief announcements the 2 Qs were brought into the circle – with a convincing unanimous vote…..oh wait Rudy decided to decent and change his vote to KK. Tripleshift was crowned the new champ. After our prayer of thanksgiving the 2 competing Qs met in the circle for the belt exchange and call out by Tripleshift of his desired challenger…..from the LVCC gang the notorious HighRise was challenged!

    A new twist to Q vs Q decided at coffeeteria – the champ gets to designate the AO of the beatdown brawl, which could be ANY so be on the lookout. If HighRise accepts the challenge Tripleshift has hinted it may be at MistyMountain.

    SYITG

  • Folsom Prison Blues – from Rudy

    21 PAX gathered in the gloom – 1 DR visitor from Katy TX (Happy Meals) and 2 more of the Chips brood – welcome Chip and Dale, his 9 year old identical twins! (also joining were the other 2 Chips boys – Frito Lay and Knucklehead. What a name — “Knucklehead”!!!)

    6:30 strikes and after a disclaimer we were off to the rocks. Limber up with some stretches and low impact activities (Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies), then some SSH. We had to restart that after explaining to Maytag how a “cadence” works. Oh, thanks for joining late Mahatma and DAX.

    Non-stop chatter from Heisenberg and Vagabond earned a quick 5 burpee penalty. Then go grab a rock.

    YHC grabbed a rock that proved to be way too big. But we’ll get to that.

    Deck-o-Death: start plowing through the deck with Overhead Press, Curl, Row and Squat. One variant – doing 2, 3 or 4 of any suit barely seems worth the trouble. So when those cards were flipped, we’d do 10 burpees, 20 Peter Parkers or 30 LBS instead. FracSac accused YHC of planting the deck with multiple King of Spades. WRONG. Half way through, Hawgcycle noticed that YHC was struggling – so he snuck in to replace my rock with a mere pebble that he’d been using. Shamed, but thankful…

    7:00am – time to call the deck off (half way through give or take) and mosey to the Mini to gather up some bricks. Didn’t quite have enough for everyone – figure it out.

    Partner up on the Great Lawn for a Dora-Ish thing. 3 rounds. PAX 1 (timer) runs back and forth with the rock while PAX 2 exercises. Flip. Rinse and Repeat. First round: PAX 2 does Brick-pees. Second round: PAX 2 does FLoyd Mayweathers (with brick). Third round: PAX 2 does Sit Ups. Rounds change on a timer, not on a count – so everyone just keeps going.

    7:20 – time for the last item. 56 Years ago today, Johnny Cash recorded Folsom Prison Blues live at the Folsom Prison. So to honor the man in black, we’ll do Ring of Fire while listening to Cocaine Blues, Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog and other hits. First round with Merkins, Second round with Squats, Third round with Leg lifts.

    And that got us to 7:30. Back to the flag for a COT. Naming of Chip and Dale might have been the FASTEST FNG naming I’ve ever been associated with. “I like Disney Land” said one of ’em. And that was that.

    Intentions for sick and suffering F3 PAX and friends – Bongo’s wife, Mayhem’s friends the Schaff family in particular (but not alone).

    YHC took us home with a reflection about Romans 7. Then off to coffee!

  • Winter is Here – from Bongo

    A little bit cold for NOLA on this first day of winter ( I think) where (5) other PAX showed. I was looking forward to this Q as my work vacation was really starting to take full flight as I drift away from work, and get into living mode. Here is what went down:

    Warm up

    run around the fountain and the following on the fountain lawn:

    – SSH X 20
    – IW X 20
    – Arm Circles X 20
    – Mountain Climbers X 20
    – Self love

    Off to running on the levee to get us warmed up, with random calls for (5) burpees when Q decides, we mad the run all the way to the shelter, turned and headed to circle benches for one clock rotation of dips X 5 at each with Lunge walks between benches in cadence. Change to Bear crawl for last 2 or 3.

    Dora 100 — Merkins, 200 — LBCs, 300 — struts

    Then back to the invisible flag for some round Robin Mary, one full circle.

    Back to COT and then…… we see 6 or 7 souls coming towards us and looking a bit hard at us….. We are at the Lakefront, and i went to Rummel, so I started having flashbacks if this was a fight?? No, it was a bunch of uptowners intiating a new run tradition from river to the Lake to happened every Thursday before Christmas, this was the first again. They joined the COT.

    Thanks for allowing me to lead, yes i need to do it more.

    See y’all on the radio or beatdowns.

    Dave D.

  • 🎶 8 Crazy Nights 🎶 – from Bolt

    “It’s Hanukkah…Bitches,” was YHC mantra as I arrived with a whole five minutes to spare before giving the disclaimer. KnOTs headed their way while the real men headed to midfield.
    
    The festival of Hanukkah celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and spirituality over materiality as well as the miracle of the much smaller group of Jewish soldiers taking back the temple from the occupying Greeks, who then were able to keep the lantern burning for eight days with only one day’s worth of consecrated oil.

    Warmaorama included the requisite Rapper’s Delight and all the usual movements; considerable mumblechatter ensued, mainly from Fracsac, but YHC was unfazed by it—mainly bc I couldn’t hear Frac over the sweet musings of The Sugarhill Gang.

    Morning call: pax hold incline plank along the play area border while 2 pax call out each of their five pull ups which the pax then merkin and return to plank while the next two head to pull up bars.

    Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song came on just in time for the above which allowed YHC to segue into trivia during the mosey to the rock pile which of course included burpees: 3 for a wrong answer and one for the correct answer; we amassed 11 burpees during this segment. Fracsac called for a skip in the waning minute of a four minute song: 5 more burpees for everyone.

    8 Crazy Nights con roca (except abs): AMRAP 8 reps (nights)/9 exercises(candles of the menorah), 10 minutes.
    OH press
    Squats
    Big boys
    Curls
    Lunges
    American Hammers
    Tricep press
    Calf raises
    Manmakers
    Everyone made it to/through two rounds before time ran out. 3 10-counts before we returned rocks and moseyed back to mid-field.

    The Uptowner “dreidel” otherwise known as the decadie of pain. Roll both die and all pax perform the two exercises/rep counts rolled consecutively and then another pax goes until the timer beckons us back to the flag. During this segment Frac called for another skip which cost everyone five burpees. This pleased the pax, especially Hand Grenada.

    Merkins/Mountain Climbers
    American Hammers/Mountain Climbers
    Merkins/Tricep dips
    Bonnie Blair/something else
    Something/Something else
    O2 deprivation is a thing…

    COT; thanks men. Reach out the MIAs

  • Even the Mosquitoes got Swoll – from Mahatma

    Roughly 2 weeks ago scanning the Q sheet I saw an opportunity to travel outside the norm and signed up for Swollfest. Of course some habits are deeply engrained so leaving at 5:15 pushed the envelop, YHC pulled up at 5:30, shoes untied. Thankfully the LVCC crew was locked and loaded with blocks pulled waiting and ready.

    Warm Up at various cadence intervals
    Scantron x 2
    Mnt Man Poopers
    AbeVegodas
    Side Lunge
    SSH
    Front lung with arm circles
    Grass Grabbers

    Tabata 30 on 10-0 off some with blocks
    Mnt Climbers
    TriCep Extensions
    Jump Sqt
    Curls
    Front Lunge with block on your back

    3 Rounds – JesusJuice informed YHC there are several timer apps created eons ago and was curious why it wasn’t being used!? Apparently the “ding” is a motivator.

    365
    3-Burpees
    6-Box Jumps
    5 – Rounds
    OYO

    Circle up for Mid Mary
    Dr W’s
    Leg Raise
    Opposite Leg Raises

    AMRAP 10 minutes
    All 20 reps except Burpees x 5
    Rows
    Burpees
    Kettlebell swing
    Over Head Press
    Sqt front raises

    Oh all to the tunes from Rock City

    Another Round of Mary
    Gas Pump to scissor kick
    XFactor
    WWI sit ups

    Finisher 2 rounds of Indian Push Ups
    Note – YHC had a brainfart in that the end of the line was supposed to complete the entire snake of the line – flip flopping from the end through he beginning (my explanation may not be communicated well so I’ll have to Q again to get it right). That said shout out to squints and other pax that completed the gauntlet twice.

    COT
    Good to see other pax that are showing up consistently holding each other accountable. Thanks be to God.

  • It’s Now Called Wally Stretch – from Bolt

    YHC posted a call for S&M on mumblechatter and Pillsbury have the HC and so it shall be. Charmin showed up and thankfully had a Pre-K sleep mat for Mr. Rogers who was on the fence about running or S&M. Cheese Steak got his passport stamped and rounded out the crew. Disclaimer and off to the pavilion for today’s session. Mr. Rogers modified a few times, showing off his yoga prowess and unwittingly made himself a future S&M Q and he’ll oblige with sessions co-led by his Broga subscription. Back to the flag where a sweaty Hawg joins the COT;. I’m thankful for the accountability men!