F3 New Orleans

Tag: Cowbell

  • Pre-thang to Northshore’s first 2 a day!!

    7 PAX converged on the Scramble this Gloom preparing for their first experience with a 2 day. Cowbell will be introducing an evening Q occurring at the Mandeville Lakefront for 6 followed by some F2 at the Beach house.. YHC had considered doing some interval training, however many have come to appreciate the routine of our 5k Scramble, so no reason to break with the norm.

    Warmup

    10 IC Imperial Squats Walkers, 10 IC Toe Touches, 10 IC Windmills, 20 IC SSH, 10 IC alternating lunges..

    Thang

    Took to the streets of Mandeville with the PAX staying together for the first 1/4 mile or so till we crossed East Causeway approach. After crossing a couple of different groups formed. The “Gazelles” Steve, Garfield and Cowbell jumped out to set the pace. Followed by Zoolander and Chewy with Water Pik and the Q not far behind.. Hats off to Water Pik for pacing with the all to familiar lagging YHC, as we chattered along catching up on conversations we hadn’t shared in some time..

    PAX all finished with respectable times ranging from 8-9 mins. Finished out with a series of exercises mostly performed on our 6 or reversed.. 2 30 sec holds of mission impossibles, 2 rounds of scorpion kicks 10 IC, 10 IC Wife pleasers, 10 IC one legged wife pleasers, 20 IC Flutter kicks, 10 IC Hello Dollies, 10 IC Heels to heaven and finishing with 20 IC LBCs…

    Appreciate the post F3 brethren..

    Count, Announce, COT

    YHC closed PAX out!!

    Till our 2nd meeting of the day 👊🏻💪🏻✌🏻!!

  • It’s All Fun & Games

    Still sore from Memorial Day’s Murph and knowing that some Gipper regulars pleaded for but did not receive mercy from Chewy yesterday at Grandmother’s House, YHC planned a morning of fun and games. The aforementioned Gipper regulars must have really needed a break because the Mandeville clown car never materialized out of the Gloom. So the rest of us got on with it and after a brief disclaimer and a warmup of Seal Jacks, Windmills, Butt Kicks, Toe Touches, SSHs, and High Knees headed over to the Justice Center for the Thang.

    YHC coned off a good size square, produced a lacrosse ball, and we started a passing game with consequences. After counting off, the PAX starting moving within the square, bounce passing the lacrosse ball to one another in order. A dropped pass resulted in penalty exercises, among them Tuck Jumps, Sister Mary Katherines, Merkins, Mission Impossible, Box Cutters, Pickle Pounders, and J-Los.

    The PAX mastered the first level quickly, and it was time for YHC to add some complexity. We counted off again, changing the passing order to keep everyone mentally sharp, and added the requirement of leaving the square to round a cone after making a pass and before receiving the next pass with a prohibition against using the same cone twice. We continued in this vein for the rest of the beat down, adding levels of difficulty. Not only did we keep changing the passing order, but we required each passing PAX to leave the square and perform an exercise (2 burpees, a star jump, an 8 count body builder, 2 plank jacks, and ice skater hops) before reentering the square to receive the next pass. For one game, we even prohibited the use of your strong hand…so a right hander could only use his left hand. The ambidextrous Jose had a distinct advantage here but since we were all in it together that didn’t make much of a difference. There were lots of penalty exercises, especially as the speed of the game accelerated and fatigue set in. However, YHC is proud to report that the level of play increased significantly with each game.

    Countorama, nameorama and Cowbell prayed us out once we made it back to the Trailhead.

    Thanks for letting me lead guys. See you in the Gloom.

  • Hill repeats

    5 Pax met at Granny’s House today.

    Warm up: back lunge with reach x 10; side lunge with reach x 10; Glute bridges x 10IC; Jane Fonda x 10 IC; Hip Crossovers

    The Thang:

    Mosey to underpass: hill repeats x 10

    Plank, Single leg glute bridges x 10 IC; single leg RDL (Dippy Birds) x 10 IC

    Hill repeats x 6

    Plank

    Hill repeats x 2

    Mosey back to flag

    COM: JF, Flutter, HTH x 10 IC

    Name-o-rama, COT, prayer.

    Thanks guys!

    Chewy

  • The Sound of Cowbells on the Farm

    With an inspirational consistency not seen since the Ol’ Ringo of ’18, YHC feels compelled to give special mention to Ei for cranking out a Mandeville Straight right out of left field! Also tumbling through the vast emptiness of YHC’s brain was the fact that today marked the 2nd (1st time in Q’s solemn presence at least) meeting of veteran south shore and veteran north shore legends in Mr. Farmer and Mr. Schedler.

    Speaking of Mr Farmer, as per somewhat usual, his long-time neighbor and homie Chewy came rolling in just late enough to let the warm up breathe a little. Further speaking of…

    WARM O RAMA

    This morning demanded we start of with:

    10x Abe Vigodas (great job counting PAX)

    10x High Knees

    25x Cherry Pickers

    10x Imperial Walkers

    THANG

    As the PAX embarked on the regular route, the mumble chatter began in earnest, despite the already-ubiquitous humidity promising a Shooter-approved beat down.

    MARY

    Upon reconvergence and ample recovery time (depending on who you ask?) the PAX gathered at the workout equipment, where Freddy Mercurys were continuously performed while each man did 5 pull ups and 5 knee ups. When all were done the beat down was concluded with 2 minutes of plank, right hand up, left hand up and back to plank.

    COT

    Steve lead us out by speaking his appreciation, which appreciatively did not evolve into a meandering ramble, as our collective exhaustion could’ve lent itself to. Thanks guys, you each rock individually and as a PAX!

  • Back-to-Back Blasts

    Anyone who has posted with me knows that YHC is not much of a talker.  Hell, I can hardly find enough to say for one backblast each week.  And yet here we are.  YHC supposes it is a small price to pay for all the benefits of F3.  And hey, if a bear craps in the woods and no one is around to write a backblast about it, did it really happen?

    Pre-beatdown, with mumble chatter about our aches and pains from the last few days, Einstein noted that as the PAX gets stronger, the ceiling on beatdowns is pushed higher and higher.  It’s both great (hey, we get our money’s worth) and at the same time pretty awful (might not be able to walk like a normal human being the next day).  That got me thinking about Chewy’s request for a more restorative beatdown on the Northshore, which is a great idea.  Today’s beatdown, though, wasn’t going to be so restorative. And with that in mind, YHC gave a disclaimer for the first time in… well, too long.

    Warmorama: Air presses, overhead arm circles, arm circles forward and backward, SSHs, hillbillies, high knees.  All x 20 IC.

    The Thang: First stop, the quarry for some rock work.  Part of YHC’s mission this week was to introduce Cowbell to the various offerings at each AO, and this seemed to be one we hadn’t seen much of lately. 

    • Curls x12 IC
    • Squat-to-Overhead-Press x10 IC
    • Bent over Rows x 12 IC

    Rinse and repeat, swapping the counts. Then we gingerly placed the rocks back just as we had found them (so as not to offend the beautifying efforts of the Covington Garden Club), and we were off to the front of the Justice Center, where the bulk of today’s efforts would take place.

    First, a quick stop at the benches for lateral jump overs x20 OYO, and Bulgarians x10 IC each leg. Then partner up…

    P1 runs the length of the courtyard, up the stairs, does 15x jump squats, and returns to relieve P2, who is planking in front of a bench, walking his hands up onto the bench and then back down again, repeatedly. There’s probably a name for this or, at the very least better wording to explain it, but YHC can’t take the time to look it up in our exicon.

    After two rounds of that, we did a variation, P1 runs same route, does star jacks x10, while P2 is now walking his feet up to the bench and back down, adding a derkin in each time both feet are up on the bench. R&R.

    A quick 10 count then grab a bench for step ups x15 IC each leg, and freaks x15 IC.

    Next up, suicides across the courtyard for P1, Mahktar N’diayes for P2. Swaparoo. Again the beautifying efforts of Covington were appreciated, as some men opted to save the skin on their forearms and avoided the concrete, using instead the small gardens near each bench.

    And then the finale, P1 up at the top of the stairs holding a people’s chair and doing air presses, P2 bear crawling backwards up the stairs.  (We missed you Maverick.)

    Back to the flag for a quick Mary of 100’s, Crunchy Frogs, and LBC’s x20 IC.

    COT and Einstein Cowbell prayed us out.  Thank you for following my lead today guys, I sincerely appreciate it!

  • Make Grandmothers Great Again

    Without Coconuts or Ringo to provide the kind of steady care that Granny needs, she has been on her last gasps for a few months now.  We won’t go too far with the dying grandmother imagery (because that’s just tasteless), but let’s just say it’s been pretty bad here on Tuesday mornings.  Four men, however, posted on this particularly gloomy morning to provide a little resuscitation.  (Yes, this included Ei on his second consecutive post and third post of the month – don’t worry, Ei, no one’s keeping track.)  And, with the promise of Chewy returning from his triathlon and Cowbell firmly locked in, things should hopefully be looking up this summer for our dear Granny.

    So the intent of today’s workout was not to… take it easy, per se… but after Shooter’s brutal whipping yesterday at the Marsh, a lighter load might not be such a bad thing.  So we started with… 

    Warmorama: Abe Vigodas x10 IC, good mornings x10 IC, arm circles… at this point Ei interrupted to note that this was actually exactly how Shooter began yesterday’s beatdown. 

    Exactly?

    Oh well. On to reverse arm circles x20 IC, seal jacks x20 IC, and we’re off on a mosey to the tunnel.

    The Thang:

    First up, a set of 11’s:  starting at the base of the tunnel with x1 burpee, backpedal up the largest hill in Mandeville and, with no Wacker in sight to complain, perform Sister Mary K’s x10 IC.  With such a light crowd we did the 11’s together, and there was more chatter about The Dawn Wall (where we discovered that Cowbell was also a huge fan and had read the book), until the lack of moving air and burpees finally set in.

    Mosey back toward the trailhead with a quick stop at the benches for Freak Nasties, x10 IC.  

    Onward, with Cowbell showing off his athleticism with a few cow-gongs, and then we were at the amphitheater stage for some Rochamburpees.  Partners were Zoo and Ei, Cowbell and YHC.  Chillcut plank, rock-paper-scissors, winner takes the merkins and loser takes the burpees.  Count starts at 1 and play was up to 10.  Losing in the beginning is pretty inconsequential, but a loss on the final two is just brutal.  YHC was not sure what was going on with Zoo and Ei, as it looked like Ei was just laying on the ground watching Zoo do a bunch of burpees. Maybe he’s just that good at rock-paper-scissors?

    Finally, back at the flag for a simple Mary of flutter kicks, x40 IC.

    COT and Zoo prayed us out.  Thank you guys for posting in this ideal weather, and giving me the opportunity to lead.  SYITG.

  • Fuzzy Balls

    22 PAX strong on the Mandeville Lakefront. 23 if you count Brat who joined us for a little foreplay as he works his way off injured reserve. Brat, an officer with the NOPD, injured himself successfully tackling and arresting a bad guy. The PAX’s consensus is that he should use a Tazer next time Indiana Jones style or perhaps transfer to a Northshore police agency where a polite request to stop, issued with an English accent, is all that is required to apprehend a criminal.

    Kicked things off with warmup of seal jacks, toe touches, SSHs, imperial walkers, merkins, and Jane Fondas. We then divided into three teams, and YHC retrieved his bag and revealed his fuzzy balls.

    Each team received a fuzzy tennis ball (yes, YHC had three) and instructions to race with it about a half mile west along the Lakefront to the Shaft. To begin, there were only three rules: first, you cannot run if you are holding the ball; second, no pass backs-you cannot receive a pass back from the man you just passed to; and third, the entire team had to stop dead and perform five burpees every time the ball touched the ground before proceeding. Then Cowbell whipped a legal pad out of his briefcase and starting asking questions and for clarification on a few items so we ended up with a few more rules. No wonder you guys don’t get anything done on the Southshore.

    Circled up upon arrival at the Shaft for T merkins and alternating Supermans..

    Back to the races with another tennis ball sprint further westward along the Lakefront to the playground where we circled up for prisoner squats, hand release merkins and crab cakes.

    Raced back eastward with our fuzzy balls to the Shaft for a third COP consisting of a merkin wave, lunges, Supermans, arm circles, overhead hand claps, and air presses.

    One final race back to the shovel flag, wrapping things up with some Mary…single leg raises, scuba Steves and a 60 second plank.

    Countorama, nameorama and Phoenix prayed us out on the way to the coffeeteria.

    Thanks for letting me lead, guys, and thanks for competing so earnestly in the silly tennis ball game.

  • Sandy Returns

    A Grundy beatdown in 2019 wouldn’t be complete unless Sandy showed up. And showed up she did. But let’s warm up first.

    Warmup included, Seal Jacks, Butt Kicks, High Knees, and Nolan Ryans. All of them were in cadence.

    We then moseyed to the parking garage to meet up with the aforementioned Sandy who was conveniently waiting in the Grundymobile.

    We showed her the usual respect and did a planking tunnel of love and pulled her through with our right arms up the first ramp. We then pulled her through our legs down the straightaway to the other ramp. We rinsed and repeated up the second ramp pulling through with our left arms.

    On the top we partnered up and did catch me if you can with three laps for each team. Turbo decided to make YHC’s first backpedal extra long. Thanks man…

    We then got in some of my PT and did some core work while one PAX took a band and in a squat shuffled left and right up the straightaway. We did that for every PAX while switching the exercise in between.

    After a Indian run on the roof we left Sandy behind and went to the Justice center benches. We did a Steve classic with some step ups and freak nasties in cadence.

    We moseyed back to the flag and concluding with a count off and COT with prayer.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • Mother’s Day Hangover

    Never has the PAX been greeted by a larger amount of refuse at the Marsh. Obviously, it was a raucous affair for mother’s day at the park. As YHC was going about the all too routine affair of picking up the AO, Shooter pulled up and slowly ambled from is sleek ans sporty Honda Fit. Waterpik trundled up in his reliable SUV shortly thereafter. And just when we thought the roster had settled at three, the n0w-familiar truck of Cowbell illuminated the court with its headlights. Having just signed up the previous day, QIC navigated his way through the mist of hesitation that lay at the foot of the unpropitious beat down his slightly demented imagination had conjured up. (It was worse than it sounds…)

    WARM

    x15 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Cherry Pickers

    Air Presses

    Arm Circles (10 F, 10 R)

    High Knees

    Butt Kicks

    THANG

    At the corner of Lamarque and Livingston, the PAX dropped for 10 Merkins IC. Then we did another 10 Merkins IC. We followed that up with yet another 10 Merkins IC. That abuse continued until 5 sets were complete, at which time we mosied southbound to the corner of Lamarque and Monroe. There, we did the same set count with Squats. Upon completion, the jolly band of brothers skipped back to the previous corner, and proceeded to rinse and repeat. Heeding Cowbell’s mention of Q’s core prowess, it was off to center court for:

    MARY

    50 LBCs

    40 Freddy Mercury’s

    30 Putins

    20 Hello Dolly’s

    10 LMCs

    20 Heal Pulses

    30 Flutter Kicks

    40 100s

    50 Heal Taps (or Penguins)

    COT

    Waterpik prayed us us out, and Shooter welcomed Cowbell to his 1st visit to the Marsh and surprised us all with a new batch of hid very own beef jerky! Eat your heart out Steve and Captain Sparkles!!!!

  • Raise Your Hand if You’re Steve

    YHC walked up to a healthy group of scramblers with words of salutation dripping from his already blustering pie hole. Never mind the fact that the thus-far gathered PAX were in the middle of a round of mumble chatter that caused looks of contemplative concern on most of their countenances. But more on that later…

    WARM O RAMA

    With a recent BB trend in mind, QIC lead the Pax in a random smattering Air Presses (my bad), High Knees, Butt Kicks, Torso Twists, Calf Raises and Slow Squats before High Skipping about 10 yards. Then away we went!

    THANG

    So, apparently, Steve has been battling a muscle receptor issue which was hindering his ability to straighten his arms. YHC has dealt with something similar in the past so he can empathize. However, this particular handicap made for a multiple-comment worthy running form as the scramblers scrambled along their scramble-licious route.

    T claps to the scramblers as a group, who have increased their average pace from around 9:30/mile last year to 8:30/mile now.

    MARY

    With our war torn compatriot in mind, Q wrapped things up with exercises modified to either lay flat on the back or tummy, including such bastardized favorites as Armless Freddy Mercurys, Hello Dollys, Rosalitas, Pumping Leg Presses, Circle O Superman, and Scorpion Kicks.

    COT

    Chewy prayed us out….

    Once again, F3’s resident physical therapist super hero, and the REAL reason we all post at the Scramble, Chewy was on the job. He got to polkin’ and prodin’ the Hobester, and after tricking a few of those muscle receptors, the arms were as straight as an arrow (though a bit sore).

    Guys, thanks for waking up at the butt crack of dawn and scrambling through the edge of Hades’ humidity to push yourselves and your F3 brothers.