Warm Up: 30 side straddle hops, 25 imperial walkers, 20 plankjacks, arm circles (10 forward, 10 backwards)
The Thang: Route 66 – there was some debate on whether or not there were 10 or 11 planters on the lakefront. Turns out i miscounted, and there was actually only 10 planters. One Pax ran to each of the ten planters and did an increasing number of decline merkins (ended with 10 decline merkins on the 10th planter), while the other Pax did dying cockroaches. The Pax partnered up and alternated until all 10 planters had been completed. We then mosey’d down the lakefront and did a set of BLIMPS (5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 imperial walkers, 20 merkins, 25plankjacks, 30 squats). We then mosey’d to the levee and did 2 sets of Bernie Sanders while the Pax at the bottom of the levee did burpees. We then mosey’d to the flag for the COT
Jackie Robinson once said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives”. Today, 42 men showed up in the soggy gloom to face the Mountain. Today, we caught a glimpse of the incredible impact F3 has had on a growing number of lives as we set yet another AO record for attendance.
“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.”
No spectators here – we jumped right into the thing after the disclaimer and an awe-inspiring cartwheel demonstration by Crop Duster.
Brief mosey to Tulane’s front yard for an oval warmup
Side Straddle Hop x 25
Imperial Walker Squats x 20
Arm Circles Forward/Back x 15
Mosey to top of the Mountain via the stairs
11’s comprised of Leg Raises and Burpees
LBC’s OYO to wait for the 6
Merkins x 10
Mosey down the Mountain to Touchdown Jesus via stairs
Pax formed groups of 3
Pax 1 executed Squats AMRAP style at one end while Pax 2 held a Plank at the opposite end of the lawn. Pax 3 ran to tap out Pax 2 and take his spot so that he could then take Pax 1’s position doing Squats. Continued this rotation allowing each Pax to complete Squats, then Jumping Lunges, followed by Monkey Humpers. This is tough to explain in writing, but much tapping occurred and all were jolly.
DIZZY BEAR! – Traditional Bear Crawl that leads into a Reverse Bear Crawl upon Q yelling, “DIZZY BEAR!”
Merkins x 10
Dying Cockroach x 20
“This ain’t fun. But you watch me, I’ll get it done.”
It sure ain’t always fun, but it’s worth it.
I’ll leave y’all with one last Jackie Robinson quote as I think it ties even more directly into what we’re doing than the previous ones, “F3 is great.”
Lobsta (FNG), Grimace (FNG), Pops (F3 Cleveland), Monty (F3 Cleveland), Sesame Street (F3 Naperville), Crop Duster (F3 Naperville and visiting cartwheel extraordinaire), Gabrielle, Willie, King Kong, Medulla, Peppa, Douille, Saban, Sandbar, Brown Bag, Chiquita, Two Yutes, Fracsac, Bad Moon, Chowda, Jingle Vader, G-Spot, Bartman, Piranha, Landing Strip, Mariah, Reluctant Yankee, Flaming Lips, Giligan, Wash n’ Fold, Cavalier, Bones, Quincy, False Start, Cowbell, Angie’s List, Quarter Pipe, Tinkles, 86, Nine Lives
Amnesty made a special request for a dry workout. He recently purchased some new sneaks, and hoped to keep them mud free. The request was honored. After all, it’s Amnesty. His new neon green sneakers offered a beacon of light on this gloomy morning. 13 men showed up for the challenge. The usual disclaimer and off we go.
Warm-up COP:
SSH x 20 IC, IW x 20 IC, Plank Jacks, x 20 IC, Windmills x 10 IC, Arm Circles 10 forward 10 backward IC, Mountain climbers x 20 IC
Route 66 down Roosevelt Mall: Dips. 5 dips at first bench, increase 1 dip each bench, ending at 17.
Next we moseyed to NOMA.
Right leg power-ups x 20 IC, Left leg power-ups x 20 IC. Then a Merkin ladder up the steps of NOMA, with 8 Merkins on the bottom step and 1 Merkin at the top. Back to the fountain for 10 box jumps, right leg step-ups x 20 IC, left leg step-ups x 20 IC. And back to the steps to repeat another Merkin ladder.
Next, partner up for Dora 1-2-3. 100 Floyd Mayweathers, 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s, while the other Pax runs around NOMA.
Then we moseyed back to the flag, stopping halfway for some Mary. Flutter kicks x 20 IC, Hello Dolly x 20 IC, Dying cockroach x 20 IC. We ended back at the flag, and succeeded in our mission. We kept Amnesty’s sneakers dry. Count-off, Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer. Thanks for letting me lead.
In the morning when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm? – The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, Book 5.
This pretty much summed up my feelings on getting out of bed this morning, and also serves as a constant reminder as to why to do so on a regular basis. After all, was I put here to sleep?
After having an appropriate amount of fun at the game yesterday but having fallen victim to the bartender several times making my drinks a bit too strong, I was a little fuzzy, hence the counting.
Warmup:
SSHx20; Peter Parkerx14; Imperial Walkersx20; Grass Grabbersx14; Arm, Circlesx20; Windmillsx14 … or something like that.
The rules: We are all happy that our Saints vanquished Philly and some of its loud obnoxious fans (F3 brotherhood excluded, of course) from the Crescent City. During the workout, if someone gets a little excited about the Saints and wants to let everyone know how much they love their Saints, they are encouraged to yell out “WHO DAT”, at which point the PAX, regardless of whether they are carrying a rock (or boulder, like Triple Shift), will drop what they are doing – not on Hawg’s bare feet – and do 6 burpees to celebrate the margin of victory. All PAX are encouraged to support the Saints in this fashion throughout the workout whenever they feel it’s appropriate.
First St[WHO DAT!]ation:
And we were off. An unexpected but enjoyable part of the workout was the regular cheers of Who Dat! while I attempted to explain the next station. Well done.
Traverse the field, stopping at each tree to remember one of the Saints’ notable vanquished foes as follows. Bring your rock:
5 burpees for the Buccaneers; 10 curls for Carolina; 15 second count Al Gore for Atlanta; 20 Merkins for Minnesota; 25 Rows for the Rams; 30 Elf on the shelves for the Eagles. People’s chair /plank for 6, and then head back doing the same thing swapping out the Curls and Elves on the shelf due to some mumble chatter.
Second Station
Finish the job, like the Saints finished off the Eagles in the playoffs after beating them during the season as well.
11’s. Deadlift on one side, run 5 trees with the rock, and complete the movement with a clean and press.
Finale
Some quick abs, American Hammers w/ rockx10, Dying cockroachesx20 and lbc’sx20 oyo and Mosey quickly to flag to arrive right at 6:15.
We prayed for Terrabyte and Mathlete and their family, Brad Brechtel, and several other F3 brothers and friends of F3 brothers.
Total Who Dat Count: At least 10
Honored to lead this group. T-claps to all for all the Who Dats and Triple Shift for regularly choosing the meteor that hit Arizona for his rock and refusing to quit.
For may this was just a normal Monday. For YHC, this is Championship Monday! The Alabama Crimson Tide vs. that orange team in South Carolina. Living in New Orleans, I have come to obtain a lot of respect for the boys in Baton Rouge, but at Rock City, there seems to be a lot of mumble chatter about the Fighting Irish. The Irish live by one motto:
Unfortunately, playing like a champion at times gets you a point in the loss column, but hey at least they look good doing it. Alabama, on the other hand, has learned to be champions in everything they do, every day. Championships don’t start on the football field. Champions try to push themselves in everything. Coach Saban said it best:
So today the disclaimer--work like a champion. For YHC, that ended at the warm-up.
Warm-Up
SSH X 18…no make that 20.
Hillbillies X 0 (now this where the train really derailed) Q can’t call a cadence to save his life. “Must be from Bama,” they said.
Mountain Climbers X 25
Arm Circles X 10 (forwards and backwards)
The important thing to remember is that champions sometimes have to take one on the chin first. Like in 2009, when the #1 ranked Alabama had to block a field goal at the end of the game to beat unranked Tennessee 12-10.
Or when the 2011 Alabama team got cheated out of a 9-6 game at home against LSU (I still argue OJ Howard caught that ball on the goal line)…
Or when the 2012 Alabama team had to recover from getting sucker punched by Johnny Football 29-24 at home…
Or when the 2015 Alabama team lost to Ole Miss in week three 43-37…
Or when the 2017 Alabama team lost to that cow college in the Iron Bowl…
You get it. Sometimes champions get sucker punched, but it is not how you start it is how you finish. So let’s look beyond a botched warm-up and move on to a championship style beatdown.
The Thang
Grab a rock and mosey to the football field for an extended version of Dora. Pair up. As a team, complete the following:
Curls X 250
Squats X 200
Rows X 150
Shoulder Presses X 100
Burpees X 50
One Pax member works while the other Pax member runs a 40-yard dash and back.
Cowbell and KimChi finished early rewarding all who finished 100 LBCs.
Post-Thang
The PAX really did not like this idea. “I thought that was the workout,” they moaned. (Maybe in Gainesville or Knoxville but not here).
Bear crawl or lunge walk 20 yards and do 10 merkins, 20 more yards 10 merkins. (Rinse and Repeat).
Return Rock and mosey back to flag.
“We still have two minutes. On your six.”
Flutter Kicks X 20
Penguins X 25
“We still have 30 seconds. I paid for 45 minutes,” said Rev Sox
COT- Lord Jesus, allow us to seek you in everything we do. Make us the husbands, fathers, and coworkers that you have called us to be. In Jesus name, Amen.
Gentlemen, thank you once again for allowing me to lead. I could not do the things I do without the support of my F3 Family.
This was my birthday Q (51 yrs old) and I wanted to make it special for the PAX NOLA. As Christmas day is tomorrow, I wanted to not only strengthen the body but also strengthen the mind as well. As I was thinking about the direction I wanted to go in the Christmas Eve themed workout, I realized that we already done a couple of 12 days of Christmas beatdowns and desired to go a different route. During the Christmas holiday season, the pace of life slows down enough for me to be more contempletive and I have more time to read. As I was reading a book by Ace Collins called ‘Stories behind the best-loved songs of Christmas‘, I came across the ‘real’ history of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman which fit the theme of the beatdown today. Here is an excerpt.
“When people today say “Merry Christmas!” the word merry means “happy.” When “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, merry had a very different meaning. Robin Hood’s Merry Men might have been happy, but the merry that described them meant ‘great and “mighty.” Thus in the 15th century (Middle Ages), a strong army was a merry army, a great singer was a merry singer, and a mighty ruler was a merry ruler….the word rest in the title means to ‘make’ or ‘keep’. As the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy.” That joy and the power of faith can be felt and experienced in every note and word of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” You just have to know how to translate the words into the language of the day in order to have a very ‘Mighty Christmas!”
WARMUP
Run over to the field by the rock pile and proceed with the following
51 SSH x IC, 20 Imperial Squat Walkers x IC, 10 Abe Vigodas x IC, 10 Arm Circles x IC (Forward and Backward), 20 J-Los x IC
THE THANG
I instruct the PAX to get a medium sized rock and we head to the football field for Bearicides. Because we had 15 men, I had to break the groups up into 3s. We line up on the sideline and PAX 1 and 2 perform 100 lunges, 150 goblet squats and 100 straight leg deadlifts. Meanwhile, PAX 3 bear crawls out and pushes the rock forward to the middle of the field then bear crawls back while continuing to push the rock.
After the bearicides, we did a Febreeze. This exercise consists of WW2 situps followed by air presses with feet 6 inches off the ground while in a sit up position. The count was 2 situps / 10 air presses, 3 situps / 20 air presses…all the way up to 5 situps / 51 air presses. Whew….that hurt!
Running out of time we did a Jack Webb with a rock press up to 7 merkins / 14 rock presses.
Time is running out so we put our rocks back and mosey back to the virtual flag.
COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA AND COT
Prayers for peace, hope and healing for Brad Brechtel, Hawg’s mom, Disclaimer’s 2.2 and all the intentions we hold in our hearts. Truly honored to be leading such a great group of men looking to get stronger physically, relationally and spiritually! Many blessings to you and yours this Christmas Season!
Front Lung with elbow touch the ground – hold for 5 count – introduced by Tool at Foundry
Scorpion kicks
Star Plank – hold for 30 count
One leg lung jumps – this would need practice to be effective.
1st – Thang – Catch me if you can – run around the fountain
Pax lined up – Shoulder Press to 20 – Each Pax would count their rep out loud, once reaching 10 the Pax to their left would start, 1st Pax reaching 20 would sprint around the fountain with the next pax once reaching his 20 in chase this continued until all Pax completed 20 reps and attempted to catch the pax ahead of them.
Rinse and repeat except 20 jump squats
Mosey to the Canal St. Mountain
Pax split into 2 groups of 4 –
1st effort sprint to the top of Canal St Mnt. – do 10 Merkins walk back down same side- 10 more merkins
2nd effort sprint to the top of Canal St. Mnt – 10 Merkins walk down back side 10 more merkins
3rd effort sprint up and over to starting point. 10 Merkins
Mosey midway back – introduce new effort – All PAX got into a high plank then did a double under (both feet forward) into a jump squat (legs spreading apart like a jumping jack), transition down to a low plank with a double Peter Parker back to a high plank x 5
Mosey to levee – EMOM – 1-5 start with decline merkin x 1 – run up and over the other side there perform Prison up down (hands over head dropping to alternating knees) x 5 run up and over now decline merkins x 2 up and over then Prisoner Up down x 4 continue until the # are reversed. Key is PAX only got as much rest they earned completing the task in 1 minute before having to start again.
Mosey to flag for some Mary
All 25 x 4 count – Between each effort PAX would transition into high plank for 30 sec count
LBC
Crunch with heel touch
Crunch with legs straight up touching toes (similar to DC)
Crunch while reaching hands between legs
Straight leg scoops over head
Circle Up – Count Off – Name O – Prayer of Thanks giving
6 dedicated men posted in the gloom on a chilly 39 degree Wednesday morning. YHC was listed as the Q, so the Shovel Flag was planted, the disclaimer was given, and then….
Mosey to the track for the Warmup
SSH IC x 31
IW IC x 15
Arm Circles – 10 Fwd, 10 Bwd
Abe Vigodas IC x 10
Grass Grabbers IC x 10
Catch Me if You Can – Partner Up
Pax 1 – Run Backwards on the track
Pax 2 – 5 Burpees then sprint to catch partner
Flap Jack until each Pax does 20 Burpees
Four Corners At the start, sprint straightaway to first corner Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10 Mosey to corner 2 Partner Decline Merkins – Pax 1 holds Pax 2 feet off the deck while in Squat position – Pax 2 does 10 Merkins – Flapjack Sprint straightaway to corner 3 Merkins IC x 10 Mosey to corner 4 Diamond Merkins IC x 10
Mosey to Foundry, stopping at each lightpole for 5 jump lunges Stations Station 1 – Pullups AMRAP Station 2 – WW2 Situps AMRAP Station 3 – Run to bike track, 3 burpees and run back (timer) Rinse and Repeat
Find a pull up bar, and hang so your feet are not touching the deck. Hang for 1 minute. This was a great test of grip strength, and one we will see again.
Mosey back to the flag for Mary Flutter Kicks IC x 15 Tin Snips IC x 10 Hello Dolly IC x 15
Count off, Name-o-rama, Announcements, Intentions, and closed with a prayer to the Sky Q. Thanks for posting with me today! SYITG!
“The American Dream means giving it your all, trying your hardest, accomplishing something. And then I’d add to that, giving something back. No definition of a successful life can do anything but include serving others.” -George H.W. Bush
The air was crisp and chilly on Wednesday at The Foundry, just the way we like it. Perfect conditions for paying homage to the 41st President of the United States on this national day of mourning. Regardless of one’s political beliefs, it was hard to not have respect for the guy and the days he spent as a leader of our country. With that being said, we read a few of #41’s quotes before takeoff. YHC also mentioned that he sifted through some of the Northshore’s backblasts to get some inspiration for the day. With The Crazy Ivan race coming up in January, us Southshore guys need to make sure we can meet or exceed the physical and mental fortitude of our brothers across the lake. Without further ado, the disclaimer was recited and off we moseyed down Roosevelt Mall.
Warmup (with a Northshore twist):
Good Mornings x10
Finkle Kicks x10R x10L (these were ugly, as expected)
Arm Circle x10F x10R
Lateral Lunge x10
Scorpion Kicks x10L x10R (a tad lackluster)
Forward Lunge w/forearm to ground x5L x5R (good stretching here!)
SSH x41 to cap it off for pres #41
Foundry:
This would be a circuit found in a Northshore backblast called 3-6-9 which consisted of:
3 Pullups, 6 Merkins, 9 Squats every minute on the minute (EMOM) for 10 rounds. At first, this seemed a tad too easy but it got the juices flowing a few rounds in. After round 5, we circled up for a tribute to G.H.W.B. with a plank/merkins circle counting up to 41, then holding a low plank for 41 seconds in silence, then another plank/merkin circle up to 41, topped off with Flutter Kicks x41IC and LBC x41IC. Finished with rounds 6-10 with some good mumble chatter to boot. Looking back, YHC feels certain the Southshore PAX can handle that circuit with 4-8-12 or even 5-10-15…we’ll see.
The Track:
After a mosey for the foundry to the practice track, we circled up for some burpees in honor of George H. W. Bush, stressing good form that would make him proud. We knocked them out in chunks, x10 x10 x10 x11 for 41 total. YHC was hoping for a lap around the track but it was time to mosey back to base.
COT:
The usual announcements of upcoming events and Christmas party/workout next week. A few more words about #41 before ending with a prayer.
Good way to start the day. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
