F3 New Orleans

Tag: grover

  • Bring back da blocks – from Waterpik

    It was very discouraging to discover that the stash of cinder block coupons had again disappeared from their hiding spot at the milestone marsh. After all , YHC had planned to use them at today’s gloomy beatdown. Undeterred, YHC loaded coupons from the backyard into the car for today’s beatdown. After all, in the Q source, Dredd says an effective leader must be prepared to improvise.

    Warmup consisting of SSH, slow squats, IW, HB, GM.

    Main thang:
    Instructions to PAX : Do 50 reps with coupon, then run around the block, increasing rate of speed back at each corner, then back to starting line. Rinse and repeat until the closing bell. YHC let the PAX choose their own exercises, but suggested 5 sets of 10 for each round. Examples of exercises used by the pax were squat thrusters, military presses, goblet squats, kettle bell swings, jack webbs, curls, big boy sit ups, leg raises, rows, triceps extensions, bench presses.

    After about 4 or 5 rounds, the closing bell sounded and Grover prayed us out.

    Have a good week men!

  • No Blocks before Breakfast – from Akbar

    Early day after watching the Superbowl – wasn’t sure who would show. Just me and Grover hanging on the basketball court until 5:13 when Pik arrived on foot. YHC was excited to get back to the basics today with a full body workout with blocks and a gentle mosey around the block.

    Warm Up SSH, IW, Windmill, Self Love x10 IC
    Short mosey to pick up blocks, and……. There are no blocks, again. Time to modify

    Head to playground, 2 x10 pull ups OYO

    Mosey to the lakefront stopping at intersections, hit the wall, rips and mosey back to the AO stopping at 2 more intersections.

    3 sets of 12,8,5 reps IC equaling 50 reps per exercise except slow merkins and copperhead squats.

    Stone Mountain | Mountain Climbers
    Bulgarian Split Squat (each leg), Freak Nasty
    Merkin, Rocky Balboa’s
    Irkin, Copperhead Squat

    Mary – leg raises, LBC, Little Manny Crunches x10 IC

    Count, name, announcements – YHC prayed us out. QIC

    NMM
    Light crowd this morning, probably due to the SuperBowl and Run Cajun Run. This is the second time the blocks have been stolen in 18 months. We’ll consider it F3’s gift to the community. Good work and good conversation today guys.

  • We all do this, don’t we? – from Waterpik

    Today’s beatdown was plagiarized from Hogsbreaths beatdown at the marsh a couple of weeks ago. We all copy workouts, don’t we? Here we go: PAX grabs a cinder block, lines up in a single file line on Lamarque st and starts heading towards the lakefront. Instructions were to walk to the lakefront with the coupon. Last man in line jogs to front of line with coupon. Rinse and repeat. At the lakefront sets of Tabata were on the menu. , 30 secs with 10 secs rest. Exercises were merkins, 100s, big boy sit-ups, Supermans, freak nasties, rows w/ coupon, presses w/ coupon, kettle bell swings, leg raises. Rinse and repeat. With 15 minutes to spare, grab coupon and head back to the marsh.
    5 minutes left: hit the 6 for some Mary: cowbells crunchy frogs ((where was cowbell?), flutter kicks, chill cut plank.

    Have a good week guys! Y’all bring out the best in me! I hope F3 brings out the best in all of you too

  • Shhhh HIIT! – from Akbar

    YHC has been thinking about a HIIT workout for a while but wanted to keep it a secret of sorts. Kinda like when you tell pax to bring gloves, and they don’t show at all. So I kept it quiet, within the family circle. Like the Grinch, tip toeing around with an evil wide grin before stealing presents. Shhh! We are going to do some HIIT today.

    The gloom was a humid 61 degrees, which felt like 85 after so much cool weather the last few weeks. YHC and Grover arrived 10 minutes ahead of go time, and quickly saw the blinding LED lights of Waterpik pull up behind. 3 flags planted, 5 on the basketball court picking up trash from the day before, and we were ready to go.

    Warm Up: x10 IC – SSH, Grass Grabbers, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Self-Love, Torso Twist

    Quick warm up run to the stop sign and back, pick up a block and head to center court. About this time, Cowbell showed up to make 6. T Claps to Pixie Stix for grabbing a man-sized block at age 15, it was duly noted that Grover was using a half block until last month.

    Thang: HIIT

    It was one of those days when some things look good on paper, but you quickly need to modify. We went through multiple sets of Tabata with varying work and rest times focusing on form, power, lean, and some plyo work

    Set 1: Power 3 sets of each exercise; 15s all out work and 40s rest

    Mountain Climbers, Squat Thrusters, KettleBell Swings

    There was some low mumble chatter about going all out for 15s and a 40s rest. It did seem like 40 was long so a modification/intensification was needed and we bumped it down to 30s rest

    Set 2: Lean Explosion 3 sets of each exercise; 20s work, 10s rest

    Sister Mary Katherine’s, High Knees, Jump Squats

    Set 3: Plyo Set 3 sets of each exercise; 30s work, 15s rest

    Plank Tuck to Tuck Jump (2 groiners and a jump squat); Plyo jack merkin, Balance Bicycles (Goblet Squat Freddy Mercury); then Block Press Freddy Mercury’s

    Set 4: Chest, Tri, Back, Shoulders 30s of work, 15s rest

    Tricep Chest Press, Tricep Chest Press with knee raise; Tricep Chest Press with knee raise and leg raise

    Block Row, Block Row with Inchworm merkin

    Elf on the Shelf; Alpos, Block Curls

    Put up blocks, time for 5MOM

    Mary x 10 IC: Heels to Heaven, Hands to Heals, Leg Raises, LBC, American Hammers, Crunchy Frogs

    Count/Name

    Announcements: Krazy Ivan, Run Cajun Run, F2 a week from Thursday with FIA – Tap Room in Covington

    Grover prayed us out.

    Thanks for hanging in there this morning and giving it your all,

    Till next gloom – – Akbar

  • Dreams Do Come True – A Tribute to MLK – from Akbar

    YHC arrived at the Marsh to a cool 32 degrees this morning. While Grover and I sat in the car for a pre-thang warm up, we were not the first to arrive. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a lone figure doing Burpees. At first I thought it was @Cowbell, since he left the only reply to my Pre-Blast about F2 after the beatdown. But no, it was none other than Russo. His Burpees were polished, in cadence, reminiscent of Mr. Miyagi’s flowing Crane kick. Alas, Cowbell did not show.

    Today we would celebrate Martin Luther King. A man with humble beginnings who had a dream that did come true.

    Warm Up: Grass Grabbers, Plank Jack, Self-Love, Big Arm Circles (front and back), Torso Twist IC x10-20

    Thang

    Modified Hero WOD for MLK based on events in his life.
    *The first 3 events, second exercise were 1 is 1; the rest of the second exercises were 2 is 1

    1929: Born in Atlanta

    19 Merkins 29 High Knees

    1944: King entered Moorehouse college at the age of 15. He would go on to receive a Bachelors in Divinity from Crozer Seminary and a Doctorate degree from Boston University’s School of Theology

    19 Freak Nasty’s 44 Randy’s (arms, up in field goal position, lower down and back up)

    1946: Atlanta Constitution publishes a letter to the editor from King stating black people should have same rights and opportunities as all American people

    19 Block Curls 46 Butt Kicks

    1955: The Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks, King is thrown in jail for protesting

    19 Block Rows 55 Moroccan Night Clubs

    1956: US Supreme Court affirms Browder V Gayle – declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional. King is one of the first to ride a bus with whites.

    19 Goblet Squats 56 Mountain Climbers

    1960: King met with Lyndon Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy to discuss racial inequality

    19 Shoulder Thrusts 60 Butt Kicks

    1963: The march on Washington DC, Kings I Have a Dream speech

    19 Merkins 63 Step Ups

    1964: King receives the Nobel Peace Prize and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed

    19 Freak Nasty’s 64 Freddy Mercury’s’

    1965: The 54 mile march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery ending at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Riots broke out and this day would be known as Bloody Sunday.

    19 Block Curls 65 Lunges

    1968: King assassinated in Memphis, TN

    19 Block Rows 68 Arm Circles

    1986: Inaugural Martin Luther King Day

    19 Goblet Squats 86 100’s

    1/18/21: MLK today

    18 Shoulder Thrusts 21 Burpees

    Mary IC
    M: 20 Merkins
    L: 50 LBC’s
    K: 20 Knee Raises
    Heels to Heaven, Hands to Heels, Crunch Frogs for (the missing) Cowbell x10 IC

    Count, Name-O-rama

    Announcements: Krazy Ivan, Run Cajun Run (replacing Run Ranger Run)

    Although Russo, Waterpik, and The Pelican had to work, the rest of us had a great breakfast and F2 at the Waffle House.

    Always great to hang with you guys for F3 and F2. Thanks for letting me lead

    SYITG,

    Akbar

  • Blocks (Almost) Before Breakfast

    Early day after watching the superbowl – wasn’t sure who would show. Just me and Grover hanging on the basketball court until 5:13 when Pik arrived on foot. YHC was excited to get back to the basics today with a full body workout with blocks and a gentle mosey.  

    WU SSH, IW, Windmill, Self Love

    Short mosey to pick up blocks, and……. There are no blocks, again. Time to modify

    Head to playground, 2 x10 pull ups OYO

    Mosey to the lakefront stopping at intersections, hit the wall, rips and mosey back to the AO stopping at 2 more intersections. 

    3 sets of 12,8,5 reps IC equaling 50 reps per exercise except slow merkins and copperhead squats.  

    Stone Mountain | Mountain Climbers 

    Bulgarian Split Squat (each leg), Freak Nasty

    Merkin, Rocky Balboa’s

    Irkin, Copperhead Squat

    Mary – leg raises, LBC, Little Manny Crunches x10 IC

    Count, name, announcements – YHC prayed us out.

    Good work and good conversation today guys.

    Til next gloom,

    Akbar

    Moleskin

    Light crowd this morning, probably due to the SuperBowl and Run Cajun Run. This is the second time the blocks have been stolen in 18 months. We’ll consider it F3’s gift to the community. 

  • (H)Eighteen Candles

    File this one as one of those better-late-than-never backblasts…

    Well, young Grover finally hit 18. Yes, it’s still a long road to respect (just ask poor Grundy), but a pretty big milestone nonetheless. We celebrated the day by getting up ridiculously early to put in a little work in some very cold weather. (You know it’s cold when the fully-charged iPhone sitting in your car simply shuts off as a protection measure. Shooter laughs at your protection measures, Apple!)

    As is often the case with these BLTN backblasts, it’s so tardy that I can no longer remember the warmups, the mary, or even the actual pax. Apologies. Knowing my own lazy tendencies, however, I did have the foresight to jot down what we did:

    18 Blocks for 18 Years:

    Mosey eastward on the trace, stopping at every block to do 18X of an exercise. Did one big loop, hitting Jackson, down to the lake, and then back up Lamarque to the Marsh. The exercises were (all 18x):

    1. Merkins (IC)
    2. Lunges (IC)
    3. Squat Jumps
    4. Stone Mountains / CDD
    5. Sister Marys
    6. Monkey Humpers (IC)
    7. T-Merkins
    8. Hello Dollys (IC)
    9. Sit-ups
    10. Peter Parkers (IC)
    11. Freak Nasties (IC)
    12. Burpees
    13. Star Jumps
    14. Smurf Jacks (IC)
    15. Flutters (IC)
    16. Diamond Merkins
    17. Tuck Jumps
    18. Pull-ups

    Personally, YHC was never a big fan of 16 Candles. I think most would agree (except for Cowbell, who has somehow never seen a movie in his life, too busy running probably) that of similarly themed John Hughes movies, The Breakfast Club was slightly better and maybe Ferris Bueller was the best. (Weird Science should also probably be lumped in there.) Hughes pretty much did the same thing in most of these movies, which was to take teenage stereotypes (the jock, the nerd, the outcast, the neurotic, the free spirit, etc) and invert them in some way. He would have had a hard time writing a character like Grover, because the kid is just too multi-dimensional for a Hughes movie. He’s all of those characters wrapped up into one. YHC has really enjoyed getting to know Grover; he’s the kind of guy that, as a parent, you hope your own kids might turn out like. Heck, I’d be happy if they were even half as cool as Grover. So happy (belated) 18th brother!

  • Intensify to Modify: Pickaxe’s First Q

    It was a frigid morning along the lakefront the 2nd day of Christmas. While 9 year old Pickaxe, in his, ahem, first Q of his young F3 career, did not give a Tujague’s recipe for the crawfish caught in Arabi (Uptown Chalmette if you’re from Da Parish), he did come bearing gifts, 12 in fact. However, these were ones we COULD wait to open, as each contained 2 various and sundry exercises for the PAX, one on the foray out, one on the way back.

    Prethang:

    Pickaxe and his dad, The Hammer, forsook the traditional 2 mile pre-thang in order to lay the 12 gifts with great care along the 1/2 mile path to the beach. The 12 packages came in different colors: red, silver, and gold. This would be important, as Pickaxe instructed the color of each package determined the number of repetitions for the exercised contained therein, as well as the mode of transportation to the next box. The directive was as follows:

    Gold: 10 reps/each exercise, Karaoke to next box

    Red: 20 reps/each exercise, sprint to next box

    Silver: 30 reps/each exercise, bear crawl to next box.

    Full Disclosure: When assisting Pickaxe with laying out the gifts, The Hammer was only thinking of the challenges on the way out. As such, the way out brought a long (read: 200 yard) sprint followed by a short bear crawl. On the way back, however, that meant a 200 yard bear crawl. As Pickaxe would say, “Intensify to Modify”.

    Each member of the PAX would take turns opening the gifts, then calling out the exercise they “unwrapped”, there being 24 in total, covering upper body, lower body, and core. A particularly tough gauntlet was a series of 30 8 count bodybuilders, with a bear crawl leading to 20 burpees, followed by a long sprint. Pickaxe insisted the exercises were blindly placed in each box so that he knew not the order, nor the quantity. This series caused some to question the 9 year old. Intensify to modify.

    When the PAX returned to the flag, we circled up for Mary, finishing up with Hello Dollies, Freddy Mercuries, 100s, and a Mission Impossible plank (SIDENOTE: The series/movies should be named Mission Improbable, not Impossible. Think about it. If true, it would’ve been a single episode series, and the ending would not have been a happy one.)

    COT, then Russo prayed us out. Pickaxe is grateful to have had the opportunity to lead, and his dad is grateful to befriend a group of men that would give him the opportunity to do so. Merry Christmas, God Bless, and SYITG!

  • Pumpkin Spice Latte

    All these holiday drinks…peppermint mocha, hot buttered rum, eggnog…anyway, inspired by recent coupon beatdowns, YHC had the idea to add a little SPICE to today’s beatdown by adding something new. After all, its the holidays and YHC likes the holiday drinks. So, desperately rummaging through the garage hoping to find a new crazy coupon, YHC settled on an old punching bag. Not nearly as manly as Moby’s chain or as rock solid as Hogsbreath’s cinder block RUCK carry, the punching bag served it’s purpose.

    With temperatures in the low 40s, YHC led the PAX through a longer warmup consisting of a mosey to the 4 corners around the Marsh with exercises at each corner. Squats, Merkins, Smurf Jacks, Flutter Kicks, Hello Dolly’s, Bear Crawl, Lunge Walk, Jog Backwards, Shuffle to each side.

    Thang

    3 Tabata Sets (30 secs, 10 secs Rest)

    The exercises were Burpees, Thrusters w/ cinder Block Coupon, Jack webbs w/ coupon, Curls w/ Punching Bag. The PAX alternated through each exercise during the 10s rest period, so each man did the exercises 3x.

    Mosey around the Block again to cool down before the closing out with some Mary: crunchy frogs, 100s, Putins, Freddy Mercs.

    Thanks, Men, for another great year for the F3 Northshore PAX. I am so grateful to be a part of such a great group of men. And I look forward to many more to come.

  • The Milestone Marsh

    Cool temperatures greeted the PAX in the gloom at the Milestone Marsh. After a long, hot summer, the drop in temperature offers a nice respite for the hard-charging men of F3 Northshore. Even Shooter would have sweat less if he was out there today.

    YHC led the PAX straight into the fray by Warming up with Sets of Tabata w/ increasing levels of difficulty

    Tabata Sets: (30 secs w/ 30 secs rest)

    SSHs, Arm Circles, Squats, Imperial Walkers. Then some ball buster sets: merkins, burpees, bobby hurley’s, crunchy frogs, plank jacks, mountain climbers.

    Mosey to Lakefront, stopping at each intersection:

    more exercises…jump squats, flutter kicks, hello dollies, J- Lo’s, Leg raises, more of Cowbell’s Crunchy Frogs, more merkins, more burpees.

    At the Lakefront, the PAX hit the seawall for some boxjumps and freak nasties.

    Mosey back to Marsh.

    Thanks to Grover for praying us out!