F3 New Orleans

Tag: Gideon

  • It’s All About the Benjamins

    “Well done is better than well said.” ― Benjamin Franklin

    Another Monday in the books at The Chamber.  Today we had 9 men and 1 K-9 looking to sweat out the frustration of a Saints loss, and also sweat out any celebratory weekend libations of LSU’s win and/or holiday festivities.  Since we haven’t ventured much to the westward region of the AO, YHC figured we’d explore a bit and check out the area near Ben Franklin High School, and use the namesake as our theme for the day. Here’s what we did: 

    Warmup – quick lap around the lot, IW, WM, PP, Plank Roll

    Moseyed to the front of BFHS, kicked around the F3 mantra of “male leadership”, followed by an intro about Ben Franklin’s impact as a leader of his time.  Since he’s on the $100 bill, 100 would be our number of the day….cause “it’s all about the Benjamins“, according to Puff Daddy.    

    Wall Sit for 100 sec to start things off while YHC shared a refresher of BF’s accomplishments, contributions, and accolades….

    “Benjamin Franklin played an important role as one of the eight Founding Fathers, helping draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He never served as president but was a respected writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.”  Then a few quotes to stew on….“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”……….“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.” ― Benjamin Franklin

    BF stop #2 at the front steps, partnered up for a Dora-ish circuit…..PAX #1 works on 100 Step Jumps (2nd step) followed by 100 Declined Hip Slappers  while PAX#2 runs the parking lot loop, where some good F2 was had along the way.  T-claps to Pop Tart for the brisk runs!  

    BF stop #3 near the rear of the building for another Dora-ish circuit…PAX#2 works on 100 Hand Release Merkins followed by 100 Low Slow “Real Man” Squats, cause Ben Franklin didn’t shortcut anything, while PAX#2 runs a similar parking lot loop….more good F2.   

    Since ole Ben was a smart fella, most would assume he was no stranger to the library, so that’s where we headed next.  As the centerpiece of UNO’s campus, the Earl K Long Library boasts some of the finest concrete ledges and sprawling grass around, ideal for some staple F3 exercises.  The plan called for 100 total reps on each of the 4 sides of the building…

    #1 – Dips x25, Calf Raises x25, rinse and repeat  

    #2 – Wall Sit for 100 sec while we brushed up on the history of Earl Long, a former Louisiana governor, leader, and lover of the ladies.    

    #3 – 25 merkins, 25 step lunge walk, rinse and repeat

    #4 – no time left sooo….

    Indian Run back to the flag, getting back just in time.  Capped off with a COT, announcements, and prayer intentions for several families battling serious medial issues, along with those fighting addiction, and for guidance to continue to be strong men, husbands, fathers, and leaders.  

    YHC then remembered to share yet another Franklin quote on the wanke, this one with a bit more substance and relative to what we strive for through F3, and Holy Grove was really digging it, so it was requested that it be read again…      

     “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” ― Benjamin Franklin

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead.  

    Tool 

  • The Road Ahead: A Pre-Hundo Adventure

    Was it as epic as expected?  You bet.  There were packs of wild dogs, gators lying in wait in the shallow ditches of Abita Springs, machete-wielding vagabonds hiding under the overpass, and, of course, 9 pairs of utterly destroyed feet.  

    As you might expect, this group of men started out strong.  After a quick COT where Tank prayed  us in with blessings and thoughts of safety, we set out.  At this point there was still a good deal of revelry happening on Girod Street, where Sips of the Season was winding down and more than a few men were teetering in and out of bars.  Caught one doing the sidewalk, using the hedges to try and keep upright.  Little did we know we’d have roughly the same gait by the end of the night.

    But we passed the revelry with a smile and a bounce in our step, ready to tackle the road ahead.  Gideon – the Navy Seal of Netflix and Pizza – got the party started with a killer mix, and we were off.   Running now at a brisk pace, more than a few of us looked around and wondered, “Wait, didn’t we say we were walking this thing?” 

    Getting to the Abita Trailhead (approx 9.5 miles in) was relatively quick.  Took a short break (with open facilities near midnight, no less), and forged ahead.  Now here’s where things started getting dicey.  Jose and Moby had decided early on that they’d keep at a brisk walking pace, and so the rest of the overzealous gang started seeing a bit of separation from them.  A few of us would run back and check in but eventually they seemed to be going pretty steady, and so everyone just kept moving.  Shortly after hitting the Abita trailhead, the trace goes pretty dark, a little less residential, and a lot more wooded.  Being the merry band of travelers that we were, we happened to rouse a few wild dogs in the woods.  Tank was in the lead when the barking began, and when it was clear they were following us, he quickly circled back to the group ready for war.  The dogs stayed with us for a block or so, obscured by the woods, with Tank flashing his lights in and catching the glint of at least 5 pairs of eyes.  As you can imagine, Tank was fired up.  He flipped his headlamp into strobe mode (hoping to give our canine friends a seizure, or at the very least some confusion), Speedy pulled out a small knife, and there was a good half hour discussion on the weapons that would need to be crafted for the return trip through that section (Spears, bats with barbed wire, you get the idea).  The dogs probably sensed all the testosterone and fell back as we forged ahead.   (Either that or they were simply residential dogs behind a wire fence that couldn’t we couldn’t see, but hey, not a theory YHC was ready to verify!)

    Soon thereafter we reached The Gipper and collectively felt pretty darn good about ourselves.  Roughly halfway and everyone was still feeling fresh.   Moby had been picked up by Vickie in Abita Springs and it was time to check in with Jose, who had now been traveling solo for a few miles.  Tank was quite worried about the pack of wild dogs, and sent Jose an urgent text message warning him of the dangers ahead. Unfortunately, some other “Richard” in Tank’s address book would be receiving that midnight message about the wild dogs of Abita, os Tank was not wearing his reading glasses at the time. For some reason, YHC imagines that other Richard will not be that surprised.

    Hammer kept it old school and broke out the Big League Chew, and after another short break, the men turned back to head for Mandeville.  Covington turned out to be just as active as Girod street had been hours ago – and, with all the drunken revelry surrounding us, more than a few men were reminded of the time we bear crawled down Bourbon Street for the Grow Ruck. 

    Apparently Jose had turned on the heat after passing Abita as we caught him just a few yards shy of the infamous Butter Krisp and, for a brief moment, the group was in tact.  At some point YHC got a little too close to a gator, who’s loud dash into the ditch sent me nearly knocking over Wacker. (A scene reminiscent of that Captain Sparkles surprise attack at the Scramble.).  

    Tank, Jose, and YHC eventually slowed down while the rest of the gang moved onward at a steady clip.

    Jose was undaunted by all Frank’s talk of rabid dogs, and in fact, he started heckling them as we got close.  Tank tried to quiet him and Jose said hey, if a dog attacked him, he’d sue the hell out of the owners.  Tank explained that it was a poor area and he probably wouldn’t get much.  Jose said, “That’s fine, I’ll liquidate their assets.”

    Tank’s reply?

    “I’ll liquidate those dogs’ nuts if I have to.”  Cue the grunting and strobing headlamps.

    Meanwhile, Speedy hit a physical and mental wall at Koop Drive and wasn’t sure he’d be able to continue.  The men stopped to support him, but not for long, as Speedy drew down deep, found some reserves, and pushed ahead.  

    Tank, Jose and I made it through Abita without incident, and, after telling the legend of the machete man who lives under the overpass, we started approaching Koop Dr.  Once there, Jose told Tank and I to turn it on, that he’d be fine the rest of the way.  

    Took a bit to catch up with the rest of the men, who had adopted a new strategy in our absence – run a song / walk a song.   This was a total crapshoot with Gideon’s mix, knowing that there’d an 8-minute Rebirth song hitting at some point.  But it was a great distraction and we quickly found our way to Grandmother’s tunnel for a photo op, before hitting the Mandeville trailhead.

    Another break, Butt Splice bandaged a badly blistered foot, and onward we went.

    It all got a bit blurry at this point, but here are a few things I remember: Tank and Bush passing me at the lakefront for their final mile, doing it at an under 8 minute pace;  the heroic image of Speedy, who thought he was done 10 miles back, running to Survivor with fists in the air to the finish line;  Splice, feet wounded but patiently awaiting the sunrise that would bring his hour-long Q.

    The entire group finally laid out on the lakefront lawn, just in time for Garfield to show up, stretching for the a Saturday morning pre-thang.  To no one’s surprise, Tank ran the pre-thang like he hadn’t just run/walked 33 miles.  And then, Splice Q’d the hourlong beatdown like the beast that he is, and unabashedly included many, many box jumps.

    33 miles. 1/3 of our final goal, and it was hard. Really hard. The road ahead to the hundo is dark, and yet because of you guys, YHC is undaunted. This night made us stronger, more prepared, and more knowledgeable. Most of all, it made us realize the incredible fortitude of the men around us. Success or failure, Hundo, here we come.

  • The Scarlet Letter

    With Yankee’s threats to wear a reflective B during my next workout if I don’t finish this in time…

    7 Pax gathered the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for Tsunami.

    After a quick announcement we moseyed a warmup down St. Charles to Audubon place and then to the base of the Mountain for a warmup.

    SS Hop x 20

    Hillbilly x 20

    Self Love x 20

    Modified Peter Parker (with a Merkin in between) x 10

    Mountain Climber x 20

    Then to the base of the Mountain and partnered up for Catch Me If You Can:

    1 Pax: 5 hand release Merkins while the other Pax runs backwards, all the way to the Summit

    At the Summit a quick round of Mary including LBTs x 20 and Dying Cockroach x 20 while we with for the 6.

    Regrouped, we ran down the stairs and to the ROTC pull-up bars for a 3 station workout.

    Pullups x 10 (count, if you can’t do 10 the 3 second hand per pullup), Squats and Shoulder taps. Rinse and Repeat.

    Turn around for box jumps onto the small wall behind the bike racks x 10, then 20 decline merkins, then 10 more box jumps.

    Finally we ran to the base of the smaller mountain on Feret street where we did 5 burpees at each landing while running to the top.

    Our coupon from last week was still there so we had 7 Pax in a line on their backs passing the large cinder block back and forth with a cinder block lift in between.

    Finally we finished with 50 Rocky Balboa’s on the parking french fries and moseyed back to the flag for a COT.

  • My Qs are Impetuous

    Conditions:  70 and light rain

    Our curiosity had us gather near some type of Rock ‘n Roll Series race starting at the Peristyle.  Triple Shift said it started at 6:30. I think he was trying to get a free t-shirt and some post race pastries.  YHC gave a well thought out disclaimer and we headed toward NOMA

    The Thang

    In the aforementioned disclaimer, YHC had warned the pax that we would attempt to get in some miles and that if a pax member was not interested in running miles they could peel off and join the Muscleship.  Apparently the Mothership pax came ready to run. 

    Warm-up:  Hillbillies x 20; Low slow squats x 20; Merkins (IC) x 10; BTW

    Foundry: The Democratic Convention – Pax 1 with a Bernies Sanders; Pax 2 holds Al Gore.  Flapjack when Pax 1 falls off the monkey bars.  Did roughly 3 rounds

    Football Field:  Ten rounds of Tyson – Sprint 50 yards, do 10 reps of exercise, Sprint 50 yards, do 10 reps of exercise, Sprint 50 yards, do 10 reps of exercise, Sprint 50 yards.

    • Round 1 – Burpees
    • Round 2 – Jump Squats
    • Round 3 – Diamond Merkins
    • Round 4 – Dying Cockroach
    • Round 5 – Sumo Squats
    • Round 6 – Wide Merkins
    • Round 7 – LBT
    • Round 8 – Bonnie Blairs
    • Round 9 – Carolina Dry Docks
    • Round 10 – 8 Count Body Builders

    Hustle back to flag

    NMM

    • A lot of talk about the blistering 9:30 minute mosey pace we started with. My reputation for speed precedes me.
    • BTW was NSFW
    • All agreed that the greatness of the football field we used for 10 Rounds of Tyson was well worth the long run to get there (and back).
    • Ten Rounds of Tyson was introduced at the F3 NOLA launch by Chung-Li.  We did 5 rounds that day I think.  To my knowledge this was the first time that the full 10 rounds were completed in NOLA
    • I was afraid that some pax might quit on me if I called out burpees for Round 10.  The Body Builders were well received. 

  • Campus tour

    Nine pax arrived on time at the Chamber for my first Q; one of which was an FNG who Gideon brought in after meeting on a plane. The PAX warmed up with head rotations, self love, grass grabbers and general stretching.

    The PAX then did an Indian run up Elysian Fields to station one where I spoke of the artist Tom Sachs and his daily studio practice “work is a privilege, it is not that you have to do 50 push ups but that you can. ” with this in mind the pax did 50 Merkins.

    Indian Run to station 2 – Water Feature / here Pax concentrated on core with crunchy frogs, American hammer, J-Lo and dying cockroach – sets of 25 in cadence

    Indian Run to station 3 – The Levee / Pax partnered up for Dora, 200 cumulative dips timed by partners running up and down the the levee.

    Indian Run to station 4 – UNO Sign / Pax partnered up, 50 lung walks while partners sat in Al Gore.

    Indian Run back to the flag – 10 burpees every minute for 4 minutes completing the work out.

    Countorama, nameorama / FNG centered up and was officially named Bonvoy. Prayer spoken was centered around gratefulness.

    I had a great time leading this work out and look forward to more in the future.

    Tom Sachs:
    Website
    10 bullets, “Working to Code”

  • Double Reverse Crunches…Is This Guy Serious?!

    It was a beautiful morning on Lake Pontchartrain, and 17 PAX gathered for a good old fashioned beatdown. I issued the disclaimer, and we headed across the street to the concrete planters along the Lakefront. Once across the street, we circled up for the warmup

    Warmup:

    • 20 side straddle hops
    • 20 plank jacks
    • 10 windmills
    • Self love
    • 15 low slow squats

    The Thang:

    • We sprinted to planter #1, did one burpee, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #2, did two burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #3, did three burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #4, did four burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #5, did five burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line

    Next, we circled back up and did the following:

    • Hand plank for 1 ½ minutes. While planking we did a merkin every time I said “down”
    • Kept legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 ½ minutes. Every time I said “go” we did flutter kicks for 5 seconds
    • 20 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Kept legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 ½ minutes again. This time when I said “go” we would bring our legs toward our chest and do a reverse crunch
    • Box Jump / dip routine on the planter. Started with 7 box jumps / 14 dips, then went to 6 box jumps / 12 dips, etc

    After that, we did another run / burpee routine:

    • We sprinted to planter #5, did five burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #4, did four burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #3, did three burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #2, did two burpees, then sprinted back to yellow line
    • We sprinted to planter #1, did one burpee, then sprinted back to yellow line

    Next, we circled back up and did the following:

    • Mission impossible plank position for 45 seconds. While planking we did a merkin every time I said “up”
    • Did flutter kicks for 45 seconds. Every time I said “stop” we would just hold feet 6 inches above ground
    • 10 Carolina Dry Docks
    • Got on our six, and kept legs close to our chest in the crunch position. Then every time I said “go” we would put our legs out and bring them back to our chest. This is the oft talked about yet rarely attempted double-reverse crunch. Breathtaking
    • Box Jump / dip routine on the planter. Started with 4 box jumps / 8 dips, then went to 3 box jumps / 6 dips, etc

    After that, we headed back to the flag for the count-off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions & prayer. Thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. I always enjoy it

  • Born in the Shadows

    9/16/19 – Mothership

    Another Saturday morning, another Friday Night decision to choose the gloom over old habits.  

    A warm and inviting morning of about 40deg met the pax and everyone loved it. Greetings and disclaimer, mosey to the peristyle for warmups.

    WARMUP

    Mix of arm circles, grass grabbers, squats, round robin merkins (all pax holds plank while each pumps out 10 merkins in succession, complete the circle). 

    THE THANG

    Mosey to the base of Roosevelt Mall. Using the concrete benches – 10 box jumps, run to next, 10 incline merkins, all the way up mall. Plank for 6 at the practice track. 

    Practice Track – Partner up. Catch me if you can, one lap. 
    Keep your partner – double up with another set of pax partners. (we had 10 total pax, evenly split to two lines of 5, do not recommend going over 5) The exercise is Bear Crawl Inch worm. Make two lines in plank position, hands lining up behind feet of pax in front of you.  Pax at rear bear crawls to front of line, holds plank, next pax at rear bear crawls to front, holds plank… keep going. Half the football field. Cause why not. 

    Count to 20 for a breather (quickly). Back to your original partner. 200 squats. Set of 20 while partner holds a tree (Al Gore). 

    Mosey, listen to the mumblechatter, recalibrate, make a democratic decision to take the long way. All will celebrate. Back to the great lawn.  Tclaps to Triple shift who led some mary while six was swept. 

    Great lawn for 11s.  LBCs and Bonnie blairs across the lawn. Finished exactly on time. Mosey to flag, circle up. 

    Thanks to whoever tracked, we ran 3.6 miles with the workout. Tclaps to all. I didn’t exactly intend on it being quite so long… oops. We did some serious work. So for those who completed all the above… Respect. 

    THE NOTE

    A special huge shout out to F3 Kansas City!

    YHC was out in Kansas City for work this week and it’s worth mentioning how re-energizing it is to visit another outfit.  When I reached out, their lead, Blistex, went out of his way to organize with other pax.  Someone went out of their way to give me a ride from the hotel to beatdown, and some one else covered me for the ride back – every morning!  Just awesome that the beatdown means so much and the spirit of F3 would connect people to go so out of their way, for a stranger, to workout on a freezing cold morning, in the gloom. I mean how totally weird, and awesome is that?? I hope we NOLA Pax are representing ourselves and treating our visiting brothers even half as well. 

    Our F3 brothers founded their pax just in April of this year and they are already big enough to be holding steady AO’s 6 days a week.  Their push and their attitude was great to see and a solid reminder of just how needed, beneficial, and empowering F3 nation is. You’re not just showing up for yourself, even though that’s how it starts.  Once your life vest is on and you’re hooked, you’re showing up for the next man. For your neighbor. For some one who needs this just as much as you, but hasn’t started yet. 

    Speaking with one of the KC founders – Tapps (a great example of the F3 spirit) – he talked about how just like when you’re born in the hospital, you don’t get to chose your name, when you’re born in F3 you don’t get to chose your name.  You earn it by showing up and going through the pain of birth (or beatdown) and getting named by your new F3 family. So we are all born in the shadows, in the gloom. That’s the start of the new us, committed to being a little bit better, every day. 

    Thanks for the F3 community. Thanks for letting me lead. Thanks to the gloom. 

  • Renaissance 1…2…3…

    YHC felt the need to Lead, so sign up to Q he did! Four men and a canine posted for a classic Renaissance beat down courtesy of YHC. But first, a brief disclaimer and a reminder to show the shovel flag some respect……

    Mosey to the steps of NOMA for the warmup

    SSH IC x 31
    IW IC x 15
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    PP IC x 20
    MC IC x 20

    During the Abe Vigodas, YHC was nearly bludgeoned during a drive by from the Super Size Sunday Paper being delivered….Totally worth the risk!

    Dora 1…2…3….
    Partner up for cumulative exercises

    100 Burpees
    200 Merkins
    300 Squats
    Partner 1 starts exercise partner 2 runs a lap around NOMA then flap jack.

    Mosey to the Big Lagoon for Bataan Death March. Indian run with last man dropping for 3 Burpees then sprint to front. Continue for 1 full lap.
    Finish up with some Sunday Mornings at the back of NOMA.
    10 air presses in peoples chair
    5 mule kicks against wall finishing last one with a Balls to the Wall and 1 shoulder press. Repeat x 5.

    Times up! Mosey to flag for COT where we did Count off, Namorama, Announcements, Intentions, and ended with a prayer to the Sky Q.
    Notice SOGO has the weighted vest going. #HIM
    Thanks for posting with me today!

    SYITG




  • Hold It

    Mondays up in the Chilly Gentilly are strong.

    YHC had the opportunity to Q at the Renaissance the day before, which is a great AO to workshop new ideas. Today we got to tighten it up.

    WARM UP –
    x10 Arm Circle
    x10 Reverse AC
    x10 Abe Vigoda
    x15 Side Straddle Hops
    x10 Parker Peter
    x10 Peter Parker
    Mosey to Elysian Fields – Indian run to end.
    x20 SSH

    THE GRIND –
    Adaptation of the 4 corners
    Goal is to do two rounds of one movement with a paired static hold. At each corner. Bringing with you a reminder of the previous corner, to compound the pain.

    First Corner –
    Circle Up. All hold plank position. One pax member starts off – 10 merkins – then next starts on his completion. All hold plank till circle is complete. Clockwise. Yup, hold it. We had a bigger group so short recovery upon completion of each circle throughout workout was decreed. Do two rounds. Run to next corner (approx 100 yards)

    Second Corner –
    Circle up. Plank. Reduced value of 5 merkins. Complete circle. One Round. Move to your six. 20 LBCs per pax, complete the circle. Doesn’t matter how you do hold it, but feet may not touch the ground. Just hold it… 2 rounds. Run to Next Corner.

    Third Corner –
    Circle Up. Plank. 5 Merkins, complete circle. On six. 10 LBCs, complete circle. Back to Feet for next movment. All hold trees (al gore) while each pax cranks out 20 squats. Seriously. Hold it! 2 rounds. Immediately sprint the distance to last corner.

    Fourth Corner –
    Circle up. 5 of each movement while all hold matching static movement. Complete then run back to starting point for stretching.

    I’d like to work out the kinks on this one a little better so we could push through with enough time to go back down. It would be a good – solid – 45 minute plan for any Q. Either way, playing with the numbers a bit at each point is all it would take… For any interested to borrow.

    As a note, what YHC likes about this type of workout is it is F2 conducive. As others have noted about the Stomp, doing a sustained exercise with opportunity to banter is always a good one to solidify the community and accountability.

    As always, thanks for letting me lead. Thanks for the accountability to kick the week off right.

  • Renaissance for the recovery – Focus on Form not Reps!

    Post Half Marathon & GoRuck

    3 Pax gathered on the morning after several Pax ran the Half Marathon and 3 Pax did the GoRuck Light.

    Catfish did both the Half Marathon & the GoRuck Light and wisely chose to hand off this morning’s Q.

    After welcoming Dax to his 1st Renaissance and congratulations were extolled upon Fracsac for his half marathon we moseyed to start our 1st loop of the City Park NOMA entrance and BLIMPS after each loop.

    Ran a loop and did one minute of Burpees

    Ran a loop and did one minute of Lunges

    Ran a loop and did one minute of Imperial Walkers

    Ran a loop and did one minute of Merkins

    Ran a loop and did one minute of alternating Peter Parker’s and Parker Peters

    Ran our final loop and did one minute of low slow squats

    We then moseyed to the back of NOMA and introduced Dax to a deconstructed Sunday Morning (Chair position with 10 air presses, 5 mile kicks, balls to the wall and one hand press) in honor of Gideon and finished with one minute of Sunday Mornings.

    We closed with count, name-o-Rama and COT mentioning F2 event on 11.08.19 thanks to El Wire and lifting up prayers of gratitude for F3, half marathon success and GoRuck completion.

    This humbled member was grateful for the day to focus on form and Saunder 3.0 miles as your Q.