F3 New Orleans

Tag: Cowbell

  • Marsh Madness 2021 – from Zoolander

    Welcome to Marsh Madness 2021. Twenty-four Pax converged upon the Milestone Marsh for this second-time event1

    In the presence of the Pick Axe-entrusted Freedom Hammer, we started with a quick disclaimer, Warmorama, Bushwacker-style2 instructions, and then the THANG.

    The Pax counted off in 4’s and formed 4 x 6ish-man teams at each corner of the court with a basketball. While 1 member of each team backpedaled with their ball to half court, performed a Bobby Hurley, and drove to goal for a shot of his choosing:

    – Layup (1 point),
    – Free Throw (2 points), or
    – Three point shot (3 points)
    Zero points for missed shots

    the rest of each team completed the following series of exercises in cadence led by a rotating corner Q.
    • Burpees
    • Air Presses
    • Shoulder Tap Merkins
    • Copperhead Jump Squats
    • LBCs
    • Plank Jacks
    • Monkey Humpers
    • Flutter Kicks
    Each man – including FNGs, 2nd timers, and celebrity guests – had multiple chances to lead the cadence.

    Shooters marked their points with sidewalk chalk and fell in line to call the cadence for the next exercise. It took a few rounds before each team found its own rhythm, but after that it was like watching a philharmonic orchestra playing Mary had a little lamb.
    After “40 minutes of hell,” team member points were tallied, and the highest scoring individual from each of the 4 teams were down-bracketed to a 5-shot “Around-the-World” shoot out on their respective side of the court. The rest of the Pax performed Goofballs and Side Straddle Hops to distract the Final Four shooters.
    Grundy, with accountant like focus, out-calculated Speedy;
    Ocho outdanced Whip.

    Grundy and Ocho were then down-bracketed to compete in a best-of-10 shootout from the free throw line. As luck would have it, they tied, and we went to Sudden Death from the Three Point line. Despite Ocho’s shenanigans, Grundy stomped the Stomper and emerged as the 2021 Marsh Madness champion!

    – Trophy
    – Count-orama
    – Name-orama – Welcome FNGs Sonar (EH’d by Turbo Tax) and Gomer Pyle (EH’d by Sparky).
    – Announcements
    o Northshore 5-year convergence led by Waterpik at the Lakefront on April 10.
    o Next F3/FiA mixer is 4/29. Thank you Jose10k, some of us do have to plan ahead for weeknight workouts.
    o ZOORICH CLASSIC at the Lakefront on April 24. (See how I slipped that in there Cowbell?…never too early!)

    QIC prayed us out and group photo followed. Great job by all. We’ll see if Grundy can defend his title in 2022. Thanks for playing along men. See you in the next Gloom.

    Footnotes:
    1Seriously, footnotes in a Backblast? Why not? The first Marsh Madness was in 2019 with a small, dare I say Elite, group of 8. Bird was an FNG and drained 16 x 3-point shots. The B-ball gods did not favor him today though. And well, Corona (as it was called back then) had other plans in ‘20.

    2Bushwacker-style instructions typically include circumlocutory, sesquipedalian musings about man’s ultimate life purpose with some semblance of what the Pax should be doing for the next 40-50 minutes. They are often accompanied by Mumble Chatter and confusion by all within earshot. Bushwacker-style instructions are the exact opposite of Turbo-style instructions, which are direct, concise, and never to be interrupted without penalty.

  • Take Shelter – from TurboTax

    8 High Impact Men took their red pills this morning and posted to The Gipper for what looked sure to be a wet workout. Of course it remained dry the whole beat down, but YHC had inscribed the beat down on his stone Winkie and weather conditions were irrelevant. Time to take shelter and get busy.

    After a warmup of Imperial Walkers, Mountain Climbers, Seal Jacks, Parker Peters, Windmills and Peter Parkers, all 10x IC, it was time for the Main event.

    5 burpees every minute on the minute for 40 minutes broken down into 8 sets. Each set coupled 5 exercises with the burpees: 5 burpees with 5 SSHs, 5 burpees with 5 squats or squat jumps, 5 burpees with 5 toe touches, 5 burpees with 5 calf raises or jump ropes or one foot hops or ice skater hopes and finally 5 burpees with 5 air presses. Rinse and repeat with some intensity added, finishing up with 100 air presses before retiring to the COT. Countorama, nameorama and Einstein prayed us out. Thanks for letting me lead guys and hope to see you all Thursday 1800 at the Lakefront Gazebo for our joint beat down with FiA.

  • Bear, Webb, Lunge – from Hogs Breath

    I showed up at grandmas house just in time to see Hammer pull in around 5:05am. Planting the flag, that Aikbar confidently left behind on Monday’s marsh beatdown, YHC awaited to see if any others would arrive.

    Once we had a decent crew arriving we began the warm-up to some “unfamiliar” and “new” exercises (that YHC simply pulled off the F3 exicon!). Bushwhacker was insistent that Grandmas House hid a tire so YHC began to mentally formulate how we could incorporate this into our workout!

    10 IC MountainMan poopers
    15 Hairy Rockettes
    15 or so Butt Kicks
    10 Torso Twists

    The thang:

    A bear crawl the length of the pavilion, up the stairs! Yes, up the stairs. Around the tower, and back down the stairs! Yes, down the stairs. Returning to the start point.

    We then moved to a round of Jack Webbs. Having some trouble keeping rhythm and cadence the Q threw in a few extra merkins!

    At this point do our eyes deceive us????? But it was Cowbell arriving only 12 minutes late!

    Back to the pavilion for a round of lunge walks. Up the stairs, round’ the tower, back down the stairs and returning to the start line!

    Then a set of Squat Webb’s. 1 squat, 2 calf raises followed by 2 squats, 4 calf raises a la Jack Webb style.

    At this point we detoured and spent a few minutes crawling through the bushes, looking for a tire that simply was not there!!! So we returned to the pavilion for a round of Inch Bears. All pax would get into the plank while the last pax would bear crawl to the front, rinse and repeat. For the return trip we modified to a Gore Lunge, where all pax would Al Gore and the last would lunge walk to the front, rinse and repeat.

    We finished out with 90seconds of Mary. Some LBCs and Flutter kicks.
    Announcements about camping, go-ruck San Antonio, FIA/F3 mashup, and COT and prayer.

  • Stretch it Out at Home – from Bird

    Seven strong posted for Scramble at 0515. A little cooler temps than expected this am as a result of the storm that rolled through Mandeville yestereve. Personally still adjusting to the time change and shaking the cobwebs off at the early hour is still a work in progress. Q arrived 0505 to find Ackbar stretching it out and getting loose. The rest of the PAX posting for the morning included: Shooter, Bushwacker, Zoolander, Waterpick (ran from his house wearing some crazy red, white, and blue getup) and Cowbell (rolling in hot as per usual).

    Q counted down watching the clock to get moving right at 0515 beginning with 10 counts, in cadence, of side straddle hops, toe touches, windmills, and torso twists. A ten count forward fold was sprinkled in to try and further loosen the hamstrings; however I recently read that there isn’t supposed to be any stretching in F3 – you’re supposed to do that at home! I guess that’s a bit like no crying in baseball? Keep stretching it out at home fellas, don’t wanna get too tight!

    The brief warm up with F3 exercises was followed by a “dynamic warmup” with a lunge walk with twist, t-walk, and ninja squats. PAX was commenting at YHC’s flexibility during the ninja squats, but little did they know that a muscle pulled during the process was concealed so as not to show any weakness prior to the beatdown.
    Typical route to sunset point was mixed up with 4x4s (burpee to plank, 4 merkins, and 4 mountain climbers). After starting with 3, PAX added 3 more each time passing the intersection at Monroe and Massena, finishing with 12 4X4s on the return trip. PAX mostly stayed together during the run, but regrouped after each round of 4x4s to begin again.

    Along the run, YHC and Bushwacker exchanged grateful observations of the night sky, clear and bright after the previous night’s washout. During the 4x4s, it was obvious that the after-effects of Shooter’s Building Blocks at the Gipper on Wednesday were taking their toll. As I’m writing this post-Saturday beatdown, YHC is amazed at the Ackbar’s dedication to the merkin. I had to pull out excel to calculate the Scramble merkins (120 if you didn’t already count), but that pales in comparison to the 500 PAX executed this am.

    PAX arrived back at City Hall with only a few minutes remaining and alas there wasn’t time for the Bruce Lee that Q had planned. Those arriving first dropped into a plank hold while waiting on the six. The rest of the PAX dropped into plank and alternated chill cut and high plank until 0600. COT, YHC prayed us out, and announcements. If you haven’t heard, next Saturday’s beatdown in at the Marsh!

  • We’re Caught in a Trap, and Can’t Walk Out… – from Akbar

    Because I love y’all too much baby.

    And so it began, the 2nd annual Merkin Trap on the lakefront. Last year around this time we did 400 Merkins, could it be topped? I think so.

    18 PAX converged at the Lakefront today (without Gnats!) to make ourselves better. It could have been an even 20 if TankedUp didn’t steel Bush and Steve for a OYO Marathon.

    Gloom Factor – overcast, chilly 47 degrees

    Warm up – Nada. It’s time to get to business

    THANG – multiple exercises, mosey’s, and a lot of Merkins with a surprise thrown in mid-way. Exercises were done IC, 12,8,5 (50 reps) and some OYO.

    Starting out at the shovel flag: SSH | Merkins IC 12,8,5

    Mosey to Rips for Calf Raises on the stairs | Dirkins on the curb. 12,8,5 IC

    Mosey to the wall: Step Ups OYO in sets of 12/8/5 | Irkins OYO 24, 16, 10

    Run 2 blocks to Jefferson, stop for 10 Merkins at Claiborne. Monkey Humpers |Stone Mountain 12/8/5 IC

    Run 2 blocks to Monroe stop at Madison for 10 Merkins. Squats | Leg-up Merkins 12,8,5 IC

    Run to the Marsh, stop at Livingston for 10 Merkins

    Milestone Marsh: 50 pull ups, 50 Freak Nasties OYO – modification was supine or negative pullups

    Cowbell gave me a time check before we hit the Marsh, and after 100 reps YHC had to modify to make it back in time.

    Run back to the flag, stopping at each street for 15 Merkins.

    On the way, some father son intensification took place with Hammer and Pickaxe. Hammer carried Pickaxe most of the way piggyback style, and I took a turn for 1 leg. While Hammer and I did Merkins, Pickaxe did a Luigi (I think) – or pretty much a Merkin with no arms. At least he didn’t have to carry Shooter for 6 blocks.

    Back to the shovel flag for the wrap up.

    · Crunchy Frogs for Cowbell | Merkins 12,8,5 IC
    · LBC’s IC 12,8,5 24 Irkins OYO 8,5 FIA Merkins IC
    · Hello Dolly | Merkins IC 12,8

    500 Merkins in an hour, Advil post beatdown OYO

    Count, Name – Welcome FNG Binky!

    Announcements:

    1. F2 with FIA Thursday March 25th, 6pm at the Lakefront Gazebo and Barley Oak afterwards. Bring your wife, girlfriend, your female children, and their friends. Who wouldn’t want to attend that!

    2. Zoolander Q next week at the Milestone Marsh – NOT THE LAKEFRONT

    Thanks for following my lead,

    Till Next Gloom – Akbar

    Moleskin

    I first did this workout in Atlanta and loved the cadence. Last year we did it with 400 Merkins and hit 500 this year. 600 in 2022?

    Great to see Blaze back at the Mothership again.

    Zoolander had a 3 man EH. T claps for What’s That making the trip all the way from Kenner.

    T Claps to Pickaxe who hung in there, that’s a long way to run for a young man.

    Great to see Steve again at coffee and glad he’s back in the workforce.

    TankedUp is either crazy, a beast, or both. He just decided to run a marathon in Covington on his own. Maybe because Hammer called him Geriatric. T Claps brother.

  • A la Moby – from Bushwacker

    It’s been too long…I’ll be missing a lot of F3 in the next few months…Jose’s a nagger. Take your pick, but YHC felt it was high time he made an appearance at the A1C (2nd of the year?) and as Q at that! Now there has been frequent talk and use of “coupons” lately. So much so, in fact, that the warning to “bring Gloves” has simply become assumed. The problem is that Q is NOT a fan of cinder blocks. They scrape forearms and lead to poor form – simply not ergonomic enough for a former weight lifter (yea yea boohoo). So, Inspired by a favorite beatdown, “Moby’s heavy-ass chain”, YHC brought a 50lb &30lb pair of doumbbells, as well as x2 25lb, 35lb, & 45lb plates!

    WARMORAMA

    This time inspired by Turbo Dog, we started off with (IC x10): Squats (sans poop), High Knees, T-Stretches, Torso Twists, Air presses, and Self Love.

    THANG

    With the plates on one end of the garage roof and the dumbbells at the other end, the PAX split up to either side. One man would carry any weights of his choice, so long as each hand was gripping metal, and move from one end to the other in any fashion he found sufficiently challenging. Meanwhile the rest would be doing a core exercise, changing each time someone returned with weights. There was walking and running, while doing shoulder presses, shrugs, flies, arm swings, or just carrying. While on the ground, you name it, someone did it. There were even games of keep away and fetch thrown in for good measure!

    MARY
    We finished with 2 minutes to spare, and the PAX were kind enough to grab the weights and return them to the back of my truck.

    COT
    BBQ prayed us out and all was right in the world! Thank you guys for rising to meet my ergonomic challenge and start the day out right.

  • Building Blocks – from Shooter

    Knowing that our coupons have never been tampered with at the Gipper, YHC planned a beatdown all around the blocks. Q has been absent on Wednesday the last two weeks, so it felt like the perfect setting to return to strength focus on this mild gloom. T👏🏼 to Barely Legal and Einstein staying committed to the prethang miler and the return of Bubba to the Gip… PAX swelled to 13 before long and 0600 had arrived for us to get started.

    Warmup:
    10IC Arm circles (flapjack), Cherry pickers, Torso twist, Windmills, Grass grabbers and Imperial walkers.

    Thang
    PAX converged at the coupon yard to grab from our selection of mixed weights of blocks. Really didn’t matter if one thought they had escaped the dense 35 pounder as they quickly learned the blocks would soon be mixed in our parking lot around the corner. On this Gloom all parties involved would get a touch of the varying weights not by choice but possibly by default of being the last to select in some cases right BB?
    💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
    First the PAX stacked all the blocks at one end of the lot them formed an assembly line to move the blocks down the line. As each PAX finished with the last block he would flip one of 2 tires placed in the lot earlier 2x and then rotate to the other end of the line to return all the blocks to the original starting block. Once complete we duplicated accept this time keeping the blocks overhead as we passed down the assembly line. R/R with the tire completing 2 rounds of each.

    FLORA 123 was next on the agenda.
    PAX partnered up for 100 (Merkins/Plank holds), 200 (LBCs/6”holds), 300 (Goblet squat/ Goblet hold).
    Example:
    100
    P1 10x Merkin with feet on coupon P2 hold plank with feet on coupon.
    200
    P1 20x LBCs with block on chest, P2 holding block above with 6” leg hold.
    300
    P1 25x Goblet squats, P2 Goblet arm chair hold.

    All about the Benjamin’s up next.
    Split the PAX on opposite ends of the parking lot.
    G1 completed 25 Curls for the girls while G2 25 Lunge walks across.
    Flapjack
    Next
    G1 Overhead press 25 and G2 25 Lunge walks with Block.
    Flapjack

    Returned our coupons to their resting place and finished with setting up for the farmers market.

    Count off, announcements and thoughts and prayers to our brethren Toto and Hogsbreath!!

    YHC prayed out the PAX

    Privileged to lead you men and would build with you anytime..

    Thanks for the post and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!!

  • March On – from Einstein

    Short disclaimer …

    Warmup:
    all 15xIC; side straddle hops, toe touch, imperial walkers, drew brees, knee highs, good mornings

    Mosey:
    to the front of the Taj-Mahal, circle up around the flag-pole, for the MROF (Merkin Ring Of Fire)
    all pax do a merkin then sidecrawl counter-clockwise, then repeat in the clockwise direction, with a set of ten jumps squats in between

    Mosey:
    to the top level of the St. Tammany Parish Courthouse parking garage, line up and at each of the parking stripes, do a burpee (twenty five in total) then follow with a core exercise.
    We repeated this sequence about six times, inserting a different challenge for the stripes

    Mosey:
    back to the Gipper statue as time expires,
    count-o-rama, Bushwacker leads us out with a prayer.

    It’s always fun running around downtown Covington, and thanks guys for letting me lead today.

  • Gnats 1 PAX 1 – from TurboTax

    It was a draw. The Gnats mobilized early and mounted a fierce attack, but the PAX persevered and evened the score with a strong showing. It all started with a burpee heavy warmup which, in all honesty, wasn’t much of a warmup at all. It was The Thang from the bell. Burpees were performed with a sprinkling of standard warmup exercises added to the mix and then it was on to the main event…PAX vs sandbag. Dividing up into teams of two and three, we moved back and forth in 10 yard increments carrying our sandbags in various fashions while bear crawling, running, burpee long jumping, etc in between rounds. We then dropped the sand bags and ran a few sprint relays wrapping things up with some Mary after returning to the Shovel Flag. Countorama nameorama and Russo prayed us out. Thanks for letting me lead guys and making us all look good for the little old lady videographer. Hammer, did you remember to give her Bushwacker’s contact info?

  • Same ole, same ole – from Waterpik

    It was the same ole, same ole this morning at the mandeville city hall scramble. But that’s the beauty of F3, it’s the consistency. Yes, some of the regulars were out, and yes, there have been some AOs where numbers are low, but it’s still good to get out there in the gloom and hit the streets of Old mandeville for our weekly 5K. Here’s to a strong close to the week, men!