F3 New Orleans

Tag: Cowbell

  • Farewell Q

    It is with great sadness and much gratitude that I write my last backblast as a regular member of the Northshore F3 family. (I trust you’ll forgive the length!) As I shared with the men this morning, F3 has been an overwhelming answer to prayer, and as Bushwacker reminded me, it’s the individuals involved who truly make it what it is, so huge thanks for all of you guys allowing me to participate. More on this toward the end.

    This morning’s beatdown was meant to be a quick rundown of a few of the life lessons that F3 has confirmed for me in very concrete ways. The first, of course, being the necessity of a good warm up when you know you’re about to get your rear end kicked:

    Warmup: IC Windmills, IW’s, Cherry Pickers, High Knees, Butt Kicks followed by the first exercise listed on the Exicon (Shooter aced the pop-quiz, like I knew he would!):

    21’s–21 side straddle hops in cadence, but only the first 5 are counted out loud with an expectation that all PAX count the rest silently and end in perfect sync after the 21st. 10 burpees and start over if anyone is anything but perfect.

    Life Lesson #1: Togetherness is more about what’s in your head than it is about the people you’re with. (I may or may not have just made that up, but I think it’s got some staying power.)

    After one penalty set of burpees and a second round of SSH, YHC decided to modify for the sake of time and get moseying to the rock garden for Colt 45’s and Bolt 45’s.

    Colt 45’s = 15 curls from halfway down to all the way up, 15 curls all the way down to halfway up, and 15 curls from all the way down to all the way up.

    Bolt 45’s = same as above, but with squats (and rocks)

    Life Lesson #2: Don’t let your ego determine the size of your rock, especially if you don’t know what’s coming. But no matter how heavy or what the task ends up being, carry the weight you’ve got with courage. Own it!

    After “gently” replacing our rocks, we moseyed to the courthouse steps for some partner work:

    Partner 1 ran up (and down) the stairs using the following pattern: 2 up, 1 down, 3 up, 2 down, 4 up, 3 down, etc. until the top was tediously reached, then ran back down to Partner 2 who did continuous flutter kicks (round 1), Freddy Merc’s (round 2) and LBC’s (round 3) while waiting. In lieu of Jose’s math teaching prowess, Whacker provided tutoring for those who struggled.

    Life Lesson #3: Real progress is usually gradual and hard earned, so be patient, stay focused, and fight discouragement.

    This, followed by a mosey to the top ramp of the parking garage for more partner work:

    Partner 1 holds plank while Partner 2 sprints up the ramp, around to the opposite stairs, down, and back to Partner 1. His job is to get there in enough time for his partner to have held his plank without modifying; if his partner modifies, the sprinter has to do 5 burpees, so the planker’s job is to hold his position for the sake of his partner.

    Life Lesson #4: We are naturally more willing to endure pain and push harder for other people than we are for ourselves, we just need to tap into that power. F3 seems to exists for this reason!

    After two rounds of losing our breath (and eventually losing Bushwhacker to the irresistible call of nature), we moseyed back to the courthouse stairs for an exercise YHC forgot: three rounds of crab walking both up and down the courthouse stairs

    Life Lesson #5: Some things are easier for tall people. (Truth be told, pretty much every other F3 exercise seems to favor the smaller guys. It was nice to finally have an advantage over Cowbell.)

    After this we moseyed back to the flag for the last exercise/lesson:

    Followed the directions given in the song Flower by Moby (“Bring Sally up, bring Sally down…”) with squats, up and down with the words “up” and “down”. Thank you’s to Cowbell, Steve, and Amnesia for modifying with merkins and mission impossible planks to save their legs for the big race tomorrow–you guys made our leg pain seem relatively minimal in comparison.

    Life Lesson #6: Pain is temporary, though the worse it is, the more we tend to fear that it will last forever.

    COT and YHC prayed us out.

    Thanks, gentlemen, for following my lead today, and for an awesome year of comradery, creativity, and the best reason to get up early and sweat that I’ve had since college. Special thanks to Maverick who got me out there, the men who reached out to me during those first few beatdowns to make sure I felt like I was part of the team, the guys who hung back so often with me and kept up conversation to get my mind off my lack of oxygen, the men who were willing to share their lives with me during the longer runs, for the guys who continually witness to the truth that the men we’re exercising with are more important than the exercises we’re doing, and to the men who continue to push beyond their comfort zone so the rest of us can follow.

    It breaks my heart to leave what has become such a central part of my (and Pope’s) life, and though I’ll be working to get F3 started in the Thibodaux/Houma region, it won’t be with you guys, so know that you’re deeply appreciated, and you’ll be greatly missed. I know that God has great things in store for my family and I down there, and I’m sure there are a lot of guys who will greatly benefit from F3, so please keep us in prayer for the transition, and that we’ll remain open to all that God has in store for us, both the blessings and the trials. You’ll certainly be in mine.

    SYITG,

    Goose

  • Audibles at Granny’s (I’m not a Professional)

    As YHC pulled up to Granny’s, there was an unusually large group of F3 men ready to start the day off right. With the incessant soreness from Cowbell’s ISI pull-up challenge and Bushwacker’s consistent weekly prodding for some yoga infused workouts, we got started with some power flow, sun salutation, warrior 1, 2, 3, 4, half moon, whatever, whatever…I’m not a professional!

    Mosey to the bus stop. Not a lot of mumble chatter here, and Cowbell even kept his shirt on.

    – Bulgarian split squats (IC),

    – Box Jumps (OYO)

    – Burpee Box Jumps (OYO)

    – Irkins (IC)

    – Dirkins (IC)

    – Freak Nasties (IC)

    – Balls to the Wall Burpees aka Decline Burpees (Durpees?) OYO.

    Mosey to the tunnel, where, according to Jose, nothing good ever happens (including QIC’s cadence counting).

    – Top of the tunnel – 10 Jump Squats IC

    – ½ way down the incline – Merkins, I think

    – ½ way through the tunnel – 12 count body building, mounting climbing, shoulder tapping, squat jumping, burpees (IC). QIC was just calling audibles at this point. I’m not a professional!

    – Sprint to the top of the tunnel for some cool down Imperial Walkers

    – ½ way down the incline – hand rail dirkins, I think

    – ½ way through the tunnel – We did something. It’s a blur after the earlier 12 counts.

    – ½ way up the incline – slow Peter Parker/Parker Peter (there’s a yoga term for this, I’m sure…Bird said we were “flying”…I guess that’s what birds do.)

    – Top of the tunnel – 20 Sister Mary Katherines

    Mosey back to the trailhead, bunny hop up the stairs and reconvene at the shovel flags. Jose, did you notice we had two this morning?

    Closed out with Cowbell Crunchy Frogs and Goose-led Nolan Ryan’s.

    QIC prayed us out into the day. Thanks for posting in numbers today and following my lead, men. SYITG.

  • ROOTS

    Over the past 6 months since since the quarantine, there have been many different routes / variations / themes (speedy’s sprints come to mind) taken for the weekly F3 5K. Today, YHC decided to take the 5k Scramble back to it’s roots, which is around the loop, then all the way to the end of the pier at Sunset Point. Back at the flag, we hit the workout equipment for 10 minutes of circuit training (bear crawls, freak nasties, hanging leg tucks).

    COT and thanks to Akbar for praying us out!

    SYITG

    Pik

  • Duck Hunting 101

    YHC has always joked that he does F3 to he can be in shape for duck season, among MANY other reasons. Duck hunting on public land in the Mississippi Delta is a very physically demanding hobby and for some strange reason I absolutely love it. Waking up at 2am to wade through waste deep water in 20 degrees just sounds fun, right??

    Well, YHC wanted the Gipper pax to learn a thing or two about the prep that goes into a morning of duck hunting, sans water and 20 degrees.

    Disclaimer was given and PAX was instructed to grab some gear from the camp (cinder block). Each block was to account for all of the gear needed on a hunt.

    COP #1- Warm Up:

    10 Burpees OYO

    20 X SSH

    10 X Good Mornings

    10 F/B X Arm Circles

    20 X J Lo’s

    10 L/R X Nolan Ryan’s (on crushed gravel!)

    Now we need to load up the truck: 10 L/R X Elf on a Shelf with block

    Mosey to the courthouse walkway (boat launch) at a brisk pace as we need to beat all other hunting parties to the duck hole!

    Load the boat: split into 2 lines with blocks at the end of each line. Pass block down to the end of the line, and back down. R&R X3.

    The boat is launched, now we need to drive as far as we can in the timber…quick mosey to the parking garage entrance and ramp. Leave your gear while we go search for a good spot to set up: Run up the ramp and complete 10 burpees on one side and 10 merks on the other side all the way to the top. Repeat.

    We found a prime duck hole at the top of the garage!! grab your gear and meet there.

    Now its time to throw out the decoys, we brought 3 dozen this trip..

    Block swings X 12, R&R X3.

    Now its time to actually hunt, so we need to practice raising the gun to our shoulder: Chest press X 10, R&R X3.

    We shot a few ducks but ran out of time to pick them up!

    Carry your gear back to the camp.

    Count, Name, and Grundy took us out with a prayer.

    Thank you all for hunting with me and appeasing me!

    Cowbell

  • The Lord of the Thangs

    Huge thanks to the 20 men who posted this morning for Pope’s VQ! He’s been chomping at the bit to lead, and we greatly appreciate you guys making it so special for him, especially with our planning to move soon to an area where we’ll be starting F3 from scratch. Glad to know I can lean on him to Q every now and then!

    Excitement was in the air as more and more men made their way to the flag (Turbo Dog couldn’t hold it in.) The 11-year-old Pope had shown signs of natural leadership at previous beatdowns, so expectations were high, and he did not disappoint.

    The routine was centered around his new favorite topic, The Lord of the Rings. After having recently finished reading the books, a good percentage of his thought time these days is spent somewhere in Middle Earth, so the landmarks around The Gipper were quickly transformed into battlefields, fortresses, and volcanoes.

    Warmup: 20 Side Straddle Hops, 15 Windmills, 15 Merkins, 15 Cherry Pickers, 15 Butt Kicks, 15 High Knees

    Then, PAX grabbed age-appropriate coupons and mosey to the courthouse for the first stage of the Thangs:

    1st Stage–Battle at Helms Deep:

    Start as Legolas (fleet-footed elf) at the benches with 10 bench hops (hands on a bench and jump back and forth over), carioca run to the stairs, and run up to the top where each then becomes Gimli (short dwarf) and completes 15 dwarf jacks (smurf jacks). Then, down the ramp and back to the coupons where each becomes Aragorn (warrior king) and performs 12 sword unsheathings (overhead tricep presses).

    Three rounds of this, then haul the coupons up the stairs of the parking garage to the top ramp for…

    2nd Stage–Mount Doom:

    Hobbits Frodo and Sam teamed up to get the ring to the top of the mountain to destroy it in the flaming lava.

    PAX partnered up with partner 1 (Frodo) starting the beloved “Bear and Block” up the ramp: bear crawl a few steps, then drag/pull the cinder block forward from between your feet, then a few more steps, then drag, etc.

    Partner 2 (Sam) battled Gollum (coupon) at the bottom: 10 Man Makers for first round, 15 curls for second round, and 15 goblet squats for third. Once a set was complete, partner 2 ran up to Frodo to replace him dragging the block up the ramp, and partner 1 runs down to be Sam for a set at the bottom.

    Each time the block made it all the way to the top and was run back down, partners moved on to the next round’s exercise. After the third round, all PAX ran backwards with their coupons to the top (in the style of Gollum, dancing his way over the edge of the cliff).

    About half of the PAX found a way to destroy their rings/coupons early (a little too much “man” in the “Man Makers”) making their task a bit easier and making a Home Depot run necessary for YHC before next Wednesday.

    Moseyed back to the flag to replace the coupon fragments. COT with some great opportunities provided for giving back to the community, and Turbo Tax prayed us out.

    Thanks, again, for all the support for the young Q, and for allowing us to be a part of the F3 family! We’ll be taking full advantage of it until the day we’re moved out, and then we’ll be counting on your wisdom and support for getting F3 started in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

    God will provide!

    Goose

  • Murph: The Chill-mode Edition

    Yes, maybe it was a bit cruel to spring a Murph on the Marsh crew on a Monday morning.  I figured I’d get a, “Oh hell no,” from Cowbell.  And a, “Yeah, that’s great, thanks Steve.  After I’ve done 120 frickin’ ISI squats,” from Jose.  And a lot of eye rolling from the Wacker.  But c’mon, taken at slightly less intense pace (apologies Tank), the Murph is really not as bad as it sounds.  

    So we started with some warmorama just to give Cowbell some time to navigate around the deep and dangerous ditches surrounding the Marsh. Then ran the first mile down to the lake and back at a leisurely “warm up” pace, loosening us up for 20 sets of 5 pull-ups / 10 merkins / 15 squats.  We did it together, waiting after each set before starting the next, and I think the pax would agree, it really wasn’t so bad.  T-claps to Pixie Stick, who did great in his first (near-complete) Murph.  

    Another leisurely mile run to the lake and back, some flutters, and we were done.  Countdown, nameorama, and Jose offered up a powerful prayer to close it out, with intentions for Goose’s soon-to-be born baby, Akbar’s travel to the Smokey Mountains, and some healing for our divided nation.

    Thank you for the opportunity to get stronger and better alongside such good men.  I truly appreciate it.

  • Cloudy With A Chance of Unitards

    It’s been threatening rain all week.  And the forecast for Thursday evening’s F2 beatdown was no different, with a 60-70% chance as of that morning.  YHC seriously envisioned 10k and I sitting under the gazebo drinking alone (he his bud light tallboys, me my overpriced hipster beer), while 10k grumbled about the sunset and my beer.  And while that vision partially came true – with the added bonus of a “only-in-Hollywood” rainbow overhead – we were spared the actual rain and a decent size group posted.

    YHC had planned for no warmorama, since time was short, but as BBQ was dealing with securing his bike (he rode from Covington! 👏👏👏), we knocked out some SSH’s before jumping into 20x burpees OYO.

    Next up, a Lazy Dora.  Same as the usual Dora (100 merks, 200 squats, 200 LBC’s), but instead of running between sets, the alternating partner would hold a static pose until it was his turn.  So plank for 10x merkins, Al Gore for 20x squats, and 6” hold for 30x LBC’s.  Cumulative goals were reached pretty quickly, and we moved over to the seawall for some leg work.

    20x jump squats, lunge walk to sidewalk, 20x monkey humpers IC

    20x Bulgarians IC (10 ea.), lunge walk, 20x Apollo Ohno’s

    20x calf raises IC (balancing on the edge of the seawall, which was more difficult than you might think), lunge walk, 20x Sister Mary’s.

    Finally, back to the wall for shoulders: 15x freak nasties IC, 5x derkins IC.  Rinse and repeat with 10x freaks IC / 10x derks IC.  Then 5x freaks IC / 15x derkins IC.

    Around this time we had an In Time flyby, with his cross country team in tow, and we then circled up for an abbreviated Mary of heels to heaven and leg raises, both x15 IC.  

    Upon completion, the guys noticed a rather large and somewhat magical rainbow stretched across the lakefront sky.  Turbo joked that all we needed now was a unicorn and, lo and behold, the hero we both deserved and needed materialized: Amnesia, donning, that’s right, a unitard.  (At least, according to Jose that is the official name of said bodysuit.  The differences between a unitard and a leotard and a bodysuit is a mystery to me, and one I’m not willing to google.)

    COT, prayed out by Akbar, and we all headed to the Gazebo joined by Cowbell, Tank, and Tank’s son (a soon-to-be named F3 brother).  Good beer, good company, and a good sunset – what more could you ask for?  Great time out there with you guys, thanks for posting and thanks for the opportunity to lead!  

    *rainbow and unitard not captured on film due to Cowbell’s usual tardiness

  • Back to the Basics

    YHC signed up to Q long before knowing Tuesdays would become interval running days. The solution was simple, no running and do some quality exercises, Tabata style.

    Disclaimer was given and we did a short mosey to the commuter bus stop.

    COP #1) Warm Up

    20 X SSH, 20 Jlo’s, 10 X PP, 10 X PP, 20, Mtn Climbers, Arm Circles, 10 X LSS

    Mosey back to the stage area for little activity: Everyone take off your shirt and put it on the ground in front of you. Now get in balls to the wall stance and try to put your shirt on. I think we got close to 100% completion!

    COP #2) Tabata (10 Rounds, 1 min work, 15 sec rest)

    1. Burpees
    2. Merkins
    3. Sister Mary Catherines
    4. Freak Nasties
    5. LBC
    6. Derkins
    7. Box Jumps
    8. Serratus Merkins
    9. Crunchy Frog
    10. Low Plank Hold

    Rinse and Repeat

    We still had some time left so we started another round of Tabata to stretch out, something we all admitted we could use more of.

    1. Straight leg hold
    2. Hip Flexor Left
    3. Hip Flexor Right
    4. Quad Left
    5. Quad Right

    Mosey back to the flag for COT. Count, Name, Goose prayed us out.

    F2 this Thursday right in front of Barley Oak. 30 min beatdown led by Steve with Tailgate beers to follow.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

    Cowbell

  • Round Robin

    4 PAX gathered on another hot, humid, gloomy morning with a notable person missing, the Q. Could be part my fault, I did tell Cowbell I’d remind him Sunday – but he reassured me he had it on the calendar.

    We pressed on nonetheless, with a round robin working the full body.

    Warm Up: SSH, Arm Circles (front/back), good mornings, self love, windmills

    Round 1: Waterpik

    Short mosey to the playground for 3 sets of 5 pull ups & 10 Merkins, 1 set of calf raises X 10, then 3 sets of 10 hanging leg raises and 15 squats

    Round 2: Jose 10k

    4 corners. 15 Merkins, 20 Squats, 25 LBC’s on each corner with a run in between.

    It seemed like forever, and everyone kept asking what time it was except Pixie Stick. 5:39am, 20 minutes left

    Round 3: Akbar

    Continue with 4 corners. 10 Diamond Merkins, 15 Carolina Dry Docks, 20 Bobby Hurleys

    Mary: Clean up the park

    Announcements: Gnarly Nutria Wednesday, new workout @ top of the parking garage in Covington starts a week from Friday

    Count, name, prayer

  • Burpee Crowd Pleaser

    Ok ok, last week got away from me. But, here is the backblast nonetheless.

    11 men met out on a beautiful morning in at the Gipper.

    COP #1: Warm up (All IC X 20)

    SSH, IW, Hillbillies, Arm Circles (x10), Jlo’s, Grass Grabbers, Toe Touches.

    Mosey to the Justice center parking lot for the first crowd pleaser:

    COP #2: Merkin Variation Ladder

    10 regular merks, 10 wide arm merks, 10 diamond merks

    9 regular merks, 9 wide arm marks, 9 diamond merks

    and so on…. we got down to 5 and YHC asked the pax if they wanted to stop and the only voice he heard was from Einstein (Respect Respect) “Lets finish!”

    and finish we did..

    Moseyed to the 2nd deck of the parking garage for the main event crowd pleaser.

    The Thang:

    The instructions were so simple. 4 exercises, 5 rounds.

    Reps were: 50,40,30,20,10

    Exercises were: Burpees, Squats, Merkins, Big Boi Sit Ups

    Complete 50 reps of each exercise, run up the ramp to the other side of the garage, down the stairs and back and then begin the next round of 40 reps each…. etc.

    most of the pax completed 2 rounds while a few over achievers (Steve, Turbo, Zoo) got halfway through round 3.

    YHC will be back and we WILL finish!!

    Mosey back to the flag.

    Thanks for letting me lead, as always.

    Cowbell