F3 New Orleans

Tag: Grandma's House

  • It’s Raining (High Impact) Men – from Steve

    Many a Northshore pax can tell you how often we’ve had a forecast of rain only to post and be pleasantly surprised at how narrowly we avoided it. I can’t tell you how many near misses I’ve had over the years.

    But Tuesday was not one of those days.

    Jose took off for his usual pre-thang in a mild drizzle only to arrive back at 0515 to a full on downpour. YHC was surprised anyone showed up at all. But really, I shouldn’t have been – this guy has somewhere around 120 posts under his belt this year, and that’s only the confirmed posts. He’s probably got another 20-30 unrecorded because as he reminds us constantly, yes, us Mandevillians don’t write backblasts.

    Well not today, good sir!

    Usual warmorama and then into a pyramid style beatdown, where we’d start at one side of the corridor with a set of 10 exercises, increasing as we went until we hit the stage (which was always a peoples chair with 40 air presses), and then we’d then decrease on the other side of the trailhead back down to 10.

    Exercises were:

    10 burpees
    20 merkins
    30 squats
    40 air presses
    30 squats
    20 merkins
    10 burpees

    10 big boys
    20 merkins
    30 leg raises
    40 air presses
    30 leg raises
    20 merkins
    10 big boys

    10 SMK (2:1)
    20 m humpers
    30 lunges
    40 air presses
    30 lunges
    20 m humpers
    10 SMK (2:1)

    10 Carolina dry docks
    20 Mike Tyson’s
    30 dying cockroaches
    40 air presses
    30 dying cockroaches
    20 Mike Tyson’s
    10 Carolina dry docks

    At some point Jose had to leave, but he had done his job. YHC would’ve easily returned to the fartsack had no one posted, but now, wet and sweating, there wasn’t much of a choice. Just finish the damn thing.

    Thank you Jose for the accountability and continued commitment – appreciate you brother!

  • Election Interference – from Steve

    Well, the day has finally come. Would Tank make it through this final stretch without having an aneurysm or a heart attack? Quinnipiac polls had it at 50-50 odds. But of course we all knew that if the 100 miler or the Beast or the 2 Murphs a day couldn’t kill him, this election was also unlikely to.

    But not everything went smoothly yesterday – over at Granny’s we had some election interference with an unregistered voter named “Excitebike” attempting to cast a vote outside his district (and state!). Apparently, Excitebike (who could provide no proper identification), is in the process of Northshore naturalization and, after a pending move from Katy, TX within the next year, we will be seeing a lot more of him. So of course Granny welcomed him with open arms and we took off for the polling booths scattered down Girod Street towards the lake.

    Add an exercise at each intersection for two short ladders:

    R – Ranger Merkins x10
    E – E2K x20 (2:1)
    P – Peter Parkers x30

    D – Donkey Kicks x10
    E – E2K x20 (2:1)
    M – Merkins x30

    Once at the lake we did some sea wall business (Bulgarians, Freaks, Step Downs, etc.) and then over to Rips for some stair business (climb the stairs 4x skipping steps, calf raises), until finally it was time to head back for our last ladder:

    I – Iron Mikes x10 (2:1)
    N – Never Cross Dolly x20
    D – Derkin x30

    The remaining 3 intersections were simply stops for merkins cuz… well, ‘Merica.

    Back at the flag, we made sure there were no chads left hanging, as we closed it out with a quick Mary and COT. Russo took us out with prayers for healing our country and especially prayers for Jose and his family as they deal with the loss of Katie’s mom.

    Welcome Excotebike, looking forward to more posts with you, brother. As always, appreciate the opportunity to lead and to get better out there with you gentlemen.

  • Taylor Swift’s Rhythm Nation Halloween Spectacular (with special guest Brooks and Dunn) – as edited by Steve – from Russo

    About 65 degrees to start. It’s amazing what conversations can be had early on a Tuesday, all started with the simple “How was your weekend?” It takes me a while to warmup the motormouth, and I’m not the best at small talk, but once the motor revs it’s tough to slow down.

    Great conversation throughout revolving around T Swift and other concerts, Oscar-worthy film editing, boring desk jobs, bizarro beatdowns at the ‘Pad, and other minutia that kept things fun.

    Warmup – all 10x IC
    Seal jacks
    Toe touches
    Self love
    Imperial walkers

    Thang
    Mosey to the bridge, with 10 merkins and leg raises interspersed.

    At the bridge

    10 on each side, either wide merkins and flutter kicks, or Peter Parker’s and Rosalita’s, with alternating side shuffles, backpedals, mosey, or cariocas from one side of the bridge to the other.

    COT, Name-o-Rama, Announcements (Jose needs a Turkey trot compatriot), Prayer, in that order.

    Splice had Saturday lakefront Q, YHC has Splashpad Friday Q, and Halloween is somewhere in there.

    SYITG

  • Put The Bunny Back in the Box – from Steve

    You can probably measure the difficulty of the Spartan Beast by how many days it takes Jose to recuperate and return to the weekday beatdowns. Now, if he’s not back by Friday’s A1C beatdown, it might be time to worry. There were pictures of a shirtless Tank cozying up to Parrot circulating on Instagram and Snapchat this weekend, suggesting the ride home may well have gone sideways.

    Anywho… back at Granny’s, things were on the straight and narrow, as they say. Just Russo and I, doing the usual, which today was a simple circuit (designed to be able to chat and hear about the Beast, but alas, no Sprtaners were present to tell their tales of glory and valor):

    Start at x15 reps, then increase by 5 after each round:
    Benches – Freak Nasties
    Stage – Donkey Kicks
    West Corridor – Merkins
    Depot – Bulgarians
    Stairs – Calf Raises (*always x3 each step)
    Top of the Stairs – SMKs

    Throughout the beatdown, Russo was kind enough to indulge me in a Nicolas Cage retrospective, where we recounted the many wonders of his career – from Raising Arizona to Moonstruck, from The Rock and Face / Off to National Treasure and, of course, his Oscar-snubbed performance in Con-Air. Russo and I did our best “Cage Rage” impressions for the runners passing by, before moving on to a travesty equal to the Con Air snub: Russo’s loss in his company’s annual chili cook-off. I heard all about the machinations behind the scenes – illegal alliances and clever, quippy names that edged him out of victory with what I can only assume was a damn fine chili. But don’t count him out just yet, he’s got something special cooked up for next year’s contest.

    Ended with some Mary and COT, where Russo prayed us out. Thanks brother for the consistency, appreciate you!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNLOt–5zcg

  • DR MeeMaw comes to meet Granny.. – from Shooter

    The PAX of Grandma’s had the opportunity of a visitor from DR Tuscaloosa.. Steve, Russo and the unfamiliar fellow MeeMaw were already awaiting as YHC rolled up.. Quick introduction along with some chatter and then we got started.

    Warmup
    Toe Touches, Grass grabbers, arm circles, selflove, Butt kicks, SSH and Windmills.
    Lap around

    Thang
    1 coupon at the end of the corridor. PAX would complete stated exercises at one end while each moseyed down to complete coupon work and return. R/R

    First round
    Coupon work 20 curls and 20 overhead presses.
    Included some wall holds, plank, left and right plank holds and wall sits.
    Moseyed to the bus stop for 10 OYO bench jump overs, freak nasties, and reverse Irkins.

    Moseyed back to breezeway
    Second round
    Sprint down rifle carry coupon..
    PAX complete Mountain climbers, Peter Parker’s, Parker Peter’s and Squat jumps..

    Moseyed to the Treen center for 7s Burpees and step ups 2/1. Returned and closed with Mary ETKs F/J, Hello Dollies and Little Manny Crunches 15 IC..

    Count, Annouce and COT.

    Nice meeting you MeeMaw and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • We’re Following the Leader Wherever He May Go – from Bushwacker

    The title says it all. The beat down consisted of consistent motion comprised of three minute rounds of following the leader wherever he goes, and doing whatever he does, with five second rests before the next man up. From parkour to Freak Nasty Scissoring (laces DOWN Dan!), we had a little bit of everything – all to the beat of Metallica’s drum. Bonus for not getting bit by the sleeping homeless guy’s guard dog, and Jose has an interesting new modification to T Stretches!

    SYITG

  • Ain’t Nuthin’ Lazy About It (Except Maybe The Q) – from Steve

    Definitely a lazy Q day. YHC coulda shoulda woulda done something a little more interesting, but hey, they can’t all be winners.

    Another muggy one, with Jose coming in dripping wet, looking like he just came back from getting some especially hot stock tips from Celeste and Lisa. (Sorry, I know the moment has passed, couldn’t help myself).

    Some light chatter about the magic of camera angles and Tom Brady’s skills in the announcing booth and then it was time to buckle down and get to it:

    Warmorama – Usual business…

    Time for the first Dora, P1 hits the stairs, P2 starts in on a cumulative rep count of:

    100 Merkins
    200 Step Ups
    300 Gas Pumps

    We took a “break” for a quick round of Captain Thor. Similar to Jack Webb, it’s an ascending count of big boy sit ups and American hammers (a 1:4 ratio increasing each round).

    With Jose moseying on to greener pastures, the three of us formed a team for our second and final Dora, the dreaded Lazy Dora:

    100 merkins, partner holds plank
    200 squats, partner holds Al Gore
    300 flutter kicks, partner holds a 6” hold

    Shooter is right, there ain’t nothing lazy about it.

    COT with talk of Grundy’s Spartan training coming up this Saturday, and prayers for Pelican’s boy. Appreciate you gents posting and allowing me to lead this morning!

  • Remembering 9/11 – from CaptainSparkles

    Well it was Simple the morning started with the circle of trust, announcements then a short prayer for the families who lost someone on 9/11 it took every minute to squeeze in the amount of steps needed in 45 minutes that was the reason for starting of backwards.
    Everyone wore their ruck packs or backpacks with weight to simulate the firefighter gear worn on that day. No one finished there 343 merkins so they had homework. Finish at home.

    F3 Members that participated,
    Russo, Bushwacker, Steve, Shooter, Akbar, The Dukes of Hazzard, Jose 10K, & Captain Sparkles

    Number of Steps in Twin Towers

    2071 Steps

    Mandeville Trailhead 24 steps
    =86 times up= 2064 steps

    343 Firefighters Died So 343 Merkins for the day.
    First set of Merkins 23
    20 merkins every 5th climb gives you 343 merkins

  • Wild Q let the good times roll!! – from Shooter

    Well, the Wacker of bushes may not be present but it doesn’t mean we can’t use his golden nuggets for some fun.. After all someone needs to put those things to use.. I set that one up, “That’s what she said!” It also creates great grumble mumble from Jose10k once he spots them. Anyways 4 PAX took the red 💊 for Granny’s and we ventured all around Mandeville..

    Warmup
    10IC Toe Touches, Cherry pickers, Selflove, Grass grabbers, Imperial walkers, Hillbillies and Torso twists..

    Thang
    Carried our nuggets and jump rope to the tunnel. Upon arrival selected a coupon. Rolled the number nugget for rep count. One PAX did jump rope while the rest of the PAX did the number rolled. 2 rounds with exercises consisting of chest press, curls, rows, tri extensions and overhead presses..

    Moseyed to the bus stop and same application.
    Rolled the number alternating rope 2 rounds. Exercises were bench jump overs, Derkins, gas pumps, freak nasties, Bulgarian split squats and jump squats..

    Moseyed back to the breezeway rolled the number for the count then the other dice for stated exercise.. 3 Wild Qs in a row and the selections were wide merkins, SMKs, and shoulder taps with plank jacks..

    Wrapped it up with Mary.
    15IC LMCs, Right elbow to left knee F/J, 6 inch hold with each PAX providing a 10 count 15IC hello Dollie’s in the middle and finished with the hold and 10 count back around..

    Appreciate the post and the intentions shared for Pelicans family and prayers for the family of the 3 year old that drowned last week…

    Until the next gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • What Do You Call A Three-Hump Camel? – from Steve

    Everybody’s got a DMV story. Maybe you’re the guy who, say, waited there for three and a half hours to get your first car registered. This would be pre-cell phones, of course, so to bide your time you’ve memorized all four of the eye charts they’re using behind the bulletproof glass, as well as the many cheerful posters, like the one showing an 18-wheeler with a smiley face that details the 12 steps to get your CDL license. At this point, you’ve started to reconsider every decision in your life that has brought you to this moment, trapped here in this white-walled hell. And then, just as you’re imagining driving that smiling 18-wheeler off a tall bridge to your own fiery demise, your name is finally, miraculously called. The woman behind the desk looks impatiently at you over her reading glasses, with one hand thrust out. And even after you’ve gently placed your paperwork into her outstretched claw, she still seems to be sizing you up, like she’s read your thoughts and confirmed that yes, you’re an idiot. Finally she looks down, flips through a few pages and slides them right back over to you. She’s staring at you like you’re supposed to say something, but before you can, she says, “No odometer disclosure. You need to fill this out,” she hands you a form without looking at you, “Get it notarized, and make another appointment.” And before you can protest and throw yourself at her feet, she’s called the next name in the queue.

    Nowadays, with all the online options, the DMV has come a long way. But apparently not so over in Franklinton, where grudges against certain junior high math teachers run deep. That’s right, Jose kept us entertained with his DMV tale, in which a former student’s mother attempted to exact revenge on 10k. Of course, Jose ain’t playing that game and he successfully walked away with his dignity, and his Real ID.

    Oh and yes, we did work out. A descending rep count starting at 100 of an exercise, then moseying the corridor and climbing the steps for 10 burpees. Went something like this:

    100 Mountain Climbers 10 burpees
    90 Freddie Mercurys 9 burpees
    80 Squats 8 burpees
    70 Plank Jacks 7 burpees
    60 Big Boys 6 burpees
    50 Merkins 5 burpees
    40 Sister Mary’s 4 burpees
    30 Crunchy Frogs 3 burpees
    20 T-Merkins 2 burpees
    10 Burpees 1 burpee

    A little time left for some leg work, calf raises, and Mary. COT and Shooter prayed us out.

    Oh, the three hump camel: