F3 New Orleans

Tag: Grundy

  • Can You Feel The LOVE?

    We were all FNGs once…BUT….IF….you’ve been an F3 Northshore FNG recently, making your first post at the most logical AO, the Mandeville Lakefront, you’ve experienced some extreme H8 from on-Q-high.  Of course, I would never mention any Qs by name…but a few nicknames come to mind: Turbo (extreme H8), Maverick (he called it “a sampling” of H8), and who could forget Bushwacker and his “animal planet” on what had to be the longest set of city blocks in all of Mandeville (I attribute my slow typing to the blisters on my fingers from bear crawling).  And, there may have been another obstacle course beatdown sprinkled somewhere in there, but YHC cant remember that one very well.  To make a long story short, there seems to have been some sort of Challenge or Race at each Saturday morning beatdown this summer.   So YHC figured with all this H8, it was time for some LOVE.  So here’s how it went:

    Warmarama

    SSH, Imperial Walkers, High Knees, Butt Kicks.  x 15 all IC.  Then off we go for some fun and games.  Mosey to the Great Lawn…

    Thang:

    45 Minute game of Ultimate Frisbee with some school yard smack talkin’ mixed in.  It was awesome!  YHC felt like a kid out there.  Raise your hand if you’ve said, “Losers walk” in the last 30 years.    The game went great–we had some diving catches, some nice throws, some blocked passes and deflections.  Even Chris Berman and Tom Jackson would have been impressed if they had seen the full speed, Sportscenter-esque collision between Assets and TankedUp.    Relieved that no one was “Jacked Up” after the collision, YHC called “next point wins.”  With a quick score by the Shirts (the Skins fell asleep because the rest of the game was such a blowout), it was time to mosey back to the Flag for some Mary:

    Flutter Kicks, Hello Dollys, Putins, Rower Sit-ups, and Leg Raises.

    Countarama, Namorama, and YHC prayed us out.

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead, men.  I appreciate it.

  • Discipline Equals Freedom

    “Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen.  You won’t be.  Don’t count on motivation.  Count on discipline.” – Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom:  Field Manual

    “The test is not a complex one:  when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep?  If you have the discipline to get out of bet, you win-you pass the test.  If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail.  Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions.  But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”  Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership:  How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.

    “Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures.  Discipline equals freedom.”  Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership:  How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.

    YHC sprinkled words of wisdom from his favorite U.S. Navy SEAL throughout this morning’s beatdown.  He was preaching to the choir, of course, because all seven PAX standing around the shovel flag on the Mandeville Lakefront at 0630 already had passed their first test of the day.  Their alarms sounded and they posted, ready to get some.

    Barely Legal assisted YHC with this morning’s Warmup, a Q school of sorts.  YHC led the PAX in Seal Jacks, lunges, Merkins, Copperhead Squats, windmills, and OH Hand Claps.  Barely Legal followed suit and, being a quick study, had mastered several counting styles in no time at all.  When all was said and done, the PAX had a solid 20 reps IC for each exercise and was ready to mosey down the Lakefront for a

    Ring of Fire

    Forming a ring around YHC’s backpack, the PAX bear crawled around the ring to the left, then the right, forward to the backpack and back, performing Merkins, Parker Peters, and plank variations along the way.  Then we recovered for a standing Ring of Fire, shuffling with thighs parallel to the ground around the ring to the left, then the right, duck walk forward to the backpack and back, with Copperhead Squats and some Al Gore mixed in.  Brief recovery then a mosey further down the Lakefront for

    3×30

    YHC placed two cones about 100 yards apart, sweeping the lane of travel for land mines as an early morning gift to the PAX.  The next bit went like this:

    10 regular Merkins, stride it out to the far cone, backpedal to the near cone; 10 right hand forward Merkins, stride/backpedal again, then 10 left hand forward Merkins, final stride/backpedal

    10 Good Mornings, prime time to the far cone and back; rinse and repeat two times

    10 hand release Merkins, lateral bounce extend to the far cone and back; 10 hand release T Merkins, lateral bounce extend again; 5 regular hand release Merkins and 5 hand release T Merkins; later bounce extend for the final trip

    Another pause to catch our breath and then time for the main event.

    Flying Sprints

    Starting at the near cone, the PAX ran at 50% for the first 75 yards and then executed an all out sprint the remaining 25 yards to the far cone.  Instructions were to give it everything for those final 25 yards, run ugly if necessary to close the distance as fast as possible.  Recovery walk back to the start.  Rinse and repeat twice for 3 high quality sprints.

    Of note, Moby surprised us all, and himself as well, with Bo Jacksonesque sprints.  If anyone personifies our “discipline equals freedom” mantra for the day, it’s Moby.  When was the last time you saw a 67 year old run like a Heisman trophy winner?

    Back to the shovel flag for

    Mary

    70 second front plank, Jane Fonda left then right 20x IC each, single leg lifts 10x IC each leg, and finally a set of scorpions 10x IC.

    Countorama, nameorama and then off to the Beach House for our coffeeteria with a few wins under our collective belts to start our weekends.

    Thanks for letting me lead this morning, guys, and for always pushing me to be better.

  • Just Another Lazy Morning

    It was just another lazy morning for the six PAX that showed up to the Gipper this morning (7 if you count our Honorary Member for the day Moby). Because it was a nice and cool morning I thought it fitting to add an exercise that has “lazy” in the title. How hard can something with “lazy” in the title really be? Well, as the PAX soon discovered, there was nothing lazy about it.

    Warmup

    SSH 25 IC (In Cadence)

    Windmills 15 IC

    High Knees 20 IC

    Butt Kicks 20 IC

    Arm Circles (forward, backwards, and backwards larger circles) 15 IC

    Let’s get this party started!

    The Thang’

    Mosey to the Taj Mahal.

    Today I focused on one of the elements of F3 that sets it apart in my mind, and that is the area of togetherness. No man left behind and we are all in this together! So all of the exercises today were done with a partner or as a team.

    First we partnered up and had one partner get in a wall sqauat. The other partner would do 2 burpees and run a lap around the building (stopping to do 2 more burpees on the opposite side). When partner 2 returns they replace partner 1 on the wall and reverse roles. 3 total laps were done for today.

    After a brief 10-count we split up into groups of three and got about 75 feet apart or so facing each other. Group 1 held an Al Gore while group 2 lung walked to group 1’s location. Once there they switched and group 1 lunge walked back to group 2’s original location while group 2 held an Al Gore. Rinse and repeat!

    After that everyone was acting really lazy so I decided to bring in the aforementioned “lazy” exercise. The exercise is called Lazy Doras.

    The objective is similar to Dora 1-2-3 in that as a group you are to accomplish 100-200-and 300 reps of an exercise. The difference is that  rather than having one partner run off and return to replace the partner at where they left off, both partners never separate. Instead, while one partner does the reps of the merkin portion , for example, the other partner is in a plank. Along those lines, when one partner does squats the other holds an Al Gore, and while one does lbc’s the other does a six inch dead man’s hold.

    The format of accomplishing the objective was split up into 10-20-and 30 reps for each corresponding exercise session. When one partner does 10 merkins, the other partner continues immediately with the next 10 and so it ping pongs until completion. We did 100 merkins, 200 squats, and 300 lbc’s with that pattern.

    It was so hard, that even Einstein’s legs were sweating (his words on the measure of the intensity of a workout…).

    After everyone was done being lazy, we moved into our final event called Blue Falcon. Splitting into teams of three the objective was to create a workout that your group tries to finish in three minutes (with some adjustments to the plan during the 3 minutes granted). Simultaneously both groups attempt their workout and do as much as they can. Once done, the workouts are attempted by the other team. Whoever finishes the other team’s workout first is declared the winner. The loser has some penalty exercise to do.

    The winning team (Maverick, In-Time, and Einstein) were gracious enough to join the losers club (Turbo, Barely Legal, and YHC) in the penalty of 20 Russian Twists IC.

    Slow mosey back to the Flag and lo and behold, there she blows! Moby Dick in the flesh doing some core work! Way to be committed even when most would have just called it a lost day. Nicely done man.

     

    Circled up and counted off.

     

    C.O.T. to close with Maverick praying us out.

     

    Great job everyone!!! It really is such an honor to be a part of this group let alone being allowed to lead some. It’s awesome!

     

    Have a great day men!!!

     

     

  • Merk Fest

    As a late entry to this month’s team edition ISI, there was a need to start strong. Though truth be told, I had been eying this beat down for a few weeks now.

    WARM UP

    20xs IC:

    Windmills

    Imperial Walkers

    THANG

    Deck O Death merkin style –  J-11, Q-12, K-13, A-14

    416 merks in da books

    Round 2 – LBCs – no count kept, but we only made it through about 1/3 of the deck.

    Grundy is still getting hate

    Shooter put Lake Cooley on da map

    and now we know why Steve is an out of work hair dresser

    Thanks to the Editor-and-Chief for praying us out

    GO TEAM EI!

  • Dice of Doom’s Hard Opening and The Battle Old Mandeville

    With the winds died down and the hail unscathingly passing us by, it seemed like a good morning to bring out the Dice of Doom for and official hard opening. 12 PAX made sufficient numbers for a team battle of epic proportions.

    WARM UP

    each x20 IC:

    Toe Touches

    Windmills

    Imperial Walkers

    THANG-A-LANG

    Ok, so it went down like this – team 1 rolls the dice and then attempts to answer a trivia question for a point. While they perform the resulting exercise, team 2 planked. After each team had a chance to be “plank-in-waiting”, they each took a round to hold and Al Gore instead… and so on and so forth. The team with the most points at the conclusion won the right to casually watch the losing team do an exercise of team 1’s choice to whatever rep count team 2 rolled.

    Adding a lil lagniappe to this beat down, the PAX started at the flag and mosied down the lakefront to Marigny for the next roll, then up Marigny 1 block for the next, east 1 block, back south the the lakefront, and finally east to the playground/splash pad for the final roll.

    Considering A. this was an idea that YHC was conducting semi-on the fly and B. YHC was also doing all of the exercises along with both teams, the exact numbers and order are a little jumbled in my Wackie mind. However, there were a superlative amount of jump squats, some putins, a WILD Q set of freak nasties, a sparse sampling of merkins, and a round of 50 side straddle hops.

    QIC felt that the PAX was enjoying themselves a little too much, as shown by the over-abundance of mumble chatter. Thusly, the whoopin stepped up a notch with and abbreviated version of the B.I.T.E.M.E. (inspred by B.O.M.B.S.) better recognized as B.I.M. – 50 burpees, 100 iron hulks, and 150 moroccan nightclubs. That changed the PAX’s tune, or at least winded them enough to give their gums a little respite.

    Broken back into team 1 and 2, the indian run back home commenced. Big props and T claps to Moby who kept moving at his best pace after pre-thanin’ it and recently returning full time from IR. Double respect was duly shown by a majority of the PAX circling back to join Shooter in rolling in with the great White Whale.

    MARY

    All x20 IC:

    LBCs

    Flutter Kicks

    Freddie Mercury’s

    And finally, with a Dice of Doom trivia tie hanging over the PAX like spring-time storm clouds darker than 50 shades of gray (absolutely not erotic!), there was a final showdown still to be played out. Steve representing team1 stood eye to eye – nay, brow to brow with Ei of team 2, as these 2 titans of F3 lore faced off, each with a stare of intense animosity and rivalry that would have slain a fire-breathing dragon! With fists clenched, sinewy muscles taught, and lightening flashing in both of their eyes, their respective teams chomping at the bit with flared nostrils of wild stallions, QIC handed the numbered die to Steve to roll like a steel gauntlet slapping with indignation the faces of each of the battle-worn members of team 2. And what a blow! 50 – there would be no topping it, only another roll of 50 would agonizingly drag this battle out. Alas, it was not to be, for the brave and venerable Ei’s roll, as though time was moving at a near stand-still…..came up a 20. With the sweet taste of victory like honey on their lips, team 1 doled out the harshest penalty to their vanquished foes, BURPEES! As team 2 collapsed to the earth with the weight of the world on their backs to serve their sentence, a ray of sunny good will began to shine when team 1, under no obligation to do so, dropped to salute their worthy foes with planking of of superiorly perfected form.

    Ok it wasn’t EXACTLY like that, but more or less.

    COT, Bubba prayed us out with solemn vigor, and The sharp-dressed man himself, Waterpik pick up the forth-coming coffee. Many thanks to you both, and to all of the PAX who put forth a mighty effort in the wake of my humble lead!

    PS – I’d also like to give special T Claps to the stellar beard that Turbo picked up in Colorado! Clean up the edges a little and you may look like a respectable lawyer of some sort.

  • The Day Time Stood Still

    For those individuals who showed up (the few, the proud, the elite) and didn’t break the first rule of the Northshore F3 rulebook of not skipping Mondays, this beatdown will not soon escape their minds. It was a beatdown that made it seem as if time stopped working. A day time seemed to call in sick. It will be remembered as the day time stood still.

    Let the warmup begin:

    Warmup

    SSH 25 IC

    25 Side lunge jump shots OYO

    Forward arm circles 15 IC

    Backward arm circles 15 IC

    Overhead claps 15 IC

    10 IC Chicken Claps

    10 OYO Merkins

     

    The Thang

    We started on right lower corner of the court and sprint to the top right corner, shuffle to left corner, backpedal to lower left corner, and shuffle right to the start. Continue for 5 laps.

    We then did some suicides! 2 series of regular suicides (fine, I guess we can get a 10 count). We then did a bear crawl suicide!!!

     

    After that we did a basketball conditioning drill. The objective was the sprint the width of the court back and forth with the goal of completing 12 trips in 55 seconds (every subsequent attempt we would add 5 seconds to account for fatigue). If we didn’t all make it then there was a penalty of 10 burpees for everyone. First trip came in at 56 seconds.

    Penalty burpees!!!!

    After that series it felt like we had to almost be nearing a close right? Nah. It’s only about 15 minutes in!!! Like I said before, time decided to take Monday off and hit the snooze button. Well not us!!!

    In between the sprints we would head over to the benches for some step ups and Freak Nasties (15 IC).

    We also did some Wilt Chamberlin’s. He famously scored 100 points in a game so we did 100 reps of 4 different exercises in succession.

    100 lbcs

    100 squats

    100 flutter kicks each leg

    100 Merkins.

    Time still was not out so we did one last thing to wrap it up, 1 minute dead man’s hold (feet six inches off of ground).

    Time finally decided to end the insanity as the three numbers I was looking for flashed on my watch (5, 4, 5). Time’s up!!!

    What a great effort from all of the men who showed up today. It’s an honor and a blessing to call you friends.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • Burps in the Oak grove

    “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” -Jerry Seinfeld

    10 pax met up Saturday morning for a nice beat down on the lakefront. Yada, yada,yada…

    Prethang 6:10-6:30 mosey west and back to shovel flag…

    the thang:

    warm-up: SSH, mt. Climbers, IW x 20 IC

    mosey to the oak grove

    5 burpees/5 jump squats/5 merkins x 10 rounds

    jane fonda series: leg raise x 15 ic>pulses x 10 ic> knee to knee x 10> foot to knee x 10

    2 min single leg squats each leg

    5 squat thrusts/5speed skaters/ 5 merkins x 8 rounds

    Glute  bridges 3 sec x 20; single leg glute bridges x 10 each

    mosey east toward flag:

    fwd lunge with arm swing overhead x 10

    bkwd lunge with arm swing x 10

    single leg RDLs x 10 IC each leg

    mosey to shovel flag

    mac tar jai x 20 ic

    russian twist x 20 ic

    name o Rama, cot, prayer, coffeeteria

    thanks guys for letting me lead,

    chewy

     

     

     

  • El Cinco de Dolor y Miseria

    Well, as they say… that happened.  The FBI physical fitness test pre-thang Q’d by Grundy started promptly at 0545 as promised, but it would require a prodding Bushwacker to keep this thing on schedule.  You see, until this morning, none of us (least of all Grundy) realized just how patriotic our lakefront residents were.  After knocking out as many sit-ups as possible in a minute, we slow-moseyed down the street looking for Grundy’s starting line… “a bench lined up with an American flag.”  Turns out there are a lot of American flags, and a bunch of benches out there.  A bit of confused back and forth and finally, worried about respecting the time, Wacker just took off on the 300 meter sprint.  The rest of the PAX quickly followed.

    T-claps to Grundy who got us out there, and to those men who got up early to complete the PFT: 1 minute of sit-ups, 300 m sprint, max out on merkins, 1.5 miles in less that 12:50.  YHC would call out each man individually, but the fog of being thoroughly beaten has settled in, and it’s a miracle I even remembered the 20 PAX who posted today.   Not sure who passed and who failed, but all men did admirably and with all the turnover going on at the Bureau these days, it’s a good thing they’ve got some young men like Grundy coming in.

    So yeah – 20 PAX this morning!  All the EH’ing and warm weather is paying off.  FNG’s are rolling in each week and that’s got the rest of us posting more regularly and upping our game.  Speaking of upping our game – YHC had sincerely thought last night about doing… well, not an easy beatdown, but maybe a more mild one?  But nah…

    Alright, enough rambling, here’s what went down:

    Warmorama: Toe Touches, Imperial Walkers, Seal Jacks, SSH, Butt Kicks, High Knees, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks.  All 20x IC.

    The Thang:

    Mosey west for a COP: 20x IC side to side plank hops, plank jacks, partner up for jump overs (20 OYO), in-out jump squats, and everyone’s favorite, monkey humpers.

    Ei said it best when he noted, “Well, now that we’ve embarrassed ourselves there…” onto the next location!  Mosey to the loading dock for what I knew would be a real crowd pleaser: burpees down the street!  More mumbling from Bushwacker (you really can’t be fasting that much with all today’s chatter), trying to tell me that I can’t eat an elephant one spoonful at a time, or some such nonsense.

    Because there were so many men this morning, YHC decided we’d partner up and P1 would hold plank while P2 burpee’d down the street.  It goes like this: burpee with the standard 1 merkin, but on the jump up do a broad jump forward.  2nd burpee has 2 merkins, followed by 2 broad jumps, 3 x 3, and so on, down the road.  It was fun.  Even better than I imagined on paper. 

    At about this time a few 10 counts were needed (in espanol for Cinco de Mayo), and then we moved over to the playground for a few stations.

    P1 holds a wall sit and does air presses while P2 hits the three padded stations: Sister Mary Katherine’s x15, hand-release merkins, and LBC’s, all single-count x15.  After 2 reps each, P1 does heels to heaven while P2 hits the stations, flapjack, 2 reps each.

    Next up, formed two lines to indian run back to the flag.  Finish up with Hello Dolly’s x25 IC.

    Countdown, nameorama, naming of our two FNG’s  (welcome Doolittle and Vel-Vito!!), and Splice prayed us out.  The only thing that would make this beatdown more complete would be a drive-by from Choppa…

    On to the Coffetería, which looked to have a little more action than usual with the table dancing, but you’ll have to check the groupme for that report.  A sincere thanks to this great group of men – despite my body’s response, YHC had a great time out there this morning.  Keep posting, keep the FNG’s coming, and hey, let’s try to get some of our missing comrades (ahem, Turtle and Bubba) back in action.  See you guys out there.

     

    EDIT: One (hopefully) final edit on this unusually long backblast: this was likely Carpool’s final posting as a Northshore resident.  As his family makes the trek over to the Woodlands, we wish them nothing but the best.  He’s been a great addition to the F3 family over here, and Houston will be lucky to have him.  Stay tuned for info on Carpool’s Woodlands launch (potentially mid-July?), would be great if a couple of us could make it out there to support him.

  • to be continued…..

    Instruction received from a previous email posted by Northshore core Turbo who by the way will probably post a .5 on the ISI for his pre thang run sparked this Q to dive into the Lexicon in preparation for the Gipper beatdown. Had I known the astronomy lesson would incur upon arrival at the Gipper, one may have looked into the galaxy of workouts awarded your YHC and properly planned out the parameter of time before becoming overly zealous in the selection process. The Q and Steve were greeted by a St. Tammany worker gazing into the night sky, which he quickly pointed out Jupiter in the distance between trees followed by 10 o’clock of the moon and some other (forgotten named planet) closing with a lesson of seeing Saturn with binoculars on a clear night.. That is the extent of my learned lesson of astronomy. Anything further than that may I recommend a post at the Gipper.. With 4 ideas picked out for the beatdown, 0600 quickly approaching and the sound of gravel turning beneath Grundy’s mini wagon it’s time to circle up.

    Warmup

    15IC Windmills, 15 IC plank hand in front rotations right/left (to prepare for this upper body intense planned beatdown), 10IC front deltoid shoulder rolls in plank, 20IC Toe touches

    thang

    Moseyed to the back of the Taj Mahal for are first set. Dan Taylor’s 1:4 ratio of squat and alternating leg lunges. Setting the bar at 20:80 total the Q was quickly reminded by the ever specific Grundy that this was indeed NOT upper body.. Oh so correct Grundy! 20 would have certainly taken to long and so to be continued… has started. We completed 10:40 and proceeded to the flag pole in front where we partnered up for some 4×4’s. PAX keeps elevated palms to the sky while one of the pairs drops to plank for 4 Merkins followed by 4 MC. Upon return to their feet the next pair drops so on and so on. We make 4-5 rounds in total, Q has never claimed to be accurate with numbers that is Grundy’s deal anyway.. 😏 Upon completion we journey to the top of the parking garage for a distant, often, planned and forgotten Deck of Death.. My memory serves best of Glooms past at the Mothership, Marsh and ISI challenge of October 2017, which shall never be forgotten as the “I want to pump your chest until your pectorals bust those already tight shirts.” Instructions Hearts are Burpees, Spades are Merkins, Clubs are FK and Diamonds are sprints… Cards are face value with Jacks being 11 Queen being 12, etc. etc. with 2 jokers valued at 50 and the person who flips calling the exercise. Thanks Grundy for the continued upper body tear down with IC shoulder taps so what should have been 50 total turned into 50 each side 😩. After about 3 cards in the PAX welcomes in the baton carting Maverick, realizing time will become a factor we push to 0640 at which time the YHC informs the PAX of bad news and our

     

    to be continued…

    Moseyed back to AO with a min to spare and assume plank for completion..

    Nice job today men!!

    Keep pushing Moby, progressing well Brother..

    Till the next Gloom ✌🏻

     

  • They came in WAVES

    It was a good showing this morning with 8 men posting at the resurgent Milestone Marsh.

    Warmarama:

    SSH

    GM

    WM -all IC x 20

    Workout/ Thang:

    Circle Up at Half Court for some WAVE ACTION:

    Merkin Wave to 200

    Shoulder Tap Wave to 100

    Plank Jack Wave to 100

    Burpee Wave to 100 while PAX holds Al Gore.

    Mosey to Baseline for some old fashioned Line Drills, Bear Crawls, Crab Walks, Jog Backwards, Karoake Drills, Mountain Climbers, Shuffle Feet.

    Mosey to Bushwacker’s “Childrens Playground Equipment.”

    Break up into 2 groups. Half the PAX does pullups (max out), while the other half do 20 Hello Dollies IC.  Switch.

    Half the group does Australian Pullups (max out), while the other half does Wife Pleasers x 20 IC. Switch.

    ISI:  Hold Plank for as long as possible.

    Mosey back to center court for countarama, nameorama, and Captain Sparkles prayed us out.

    Thanks for making me a better man and embracing the challenge of a brand new week with me, men!

    Waterpik