F3 New Orleans

Tag: Grundy

  • Hit the Bricks! OR When Everyone’s Falling Apart, It’s Time to Push ‘Em Harder – from Bushwacker

    With May weather showing up in February, who knew we would get more 50s in the morning! It was a welcome way to start a challenging beat down on what will prove to be a gorgeous day! For YHC, this morning was about putting my money where my mouth is. There have been some grumbles about the same people signing up to lead the same workouts, and, to be quite honest, the work outs and moral are suffering. How creative, challenging and dynamic can a Q be with his beat down, when he’s lead the same one on the same day 30 out of the last 40 times?! So Bushwacker’s name was added to the sign up sheet and he brought the pain! (maybe a little too much?)

    WARMORAMA

    With Q running a little behind setting up props for the main-ish event, Zoo lander was kind enough to get things started with some Toe Touches and 1 or 2 other exercises. QIC continued with: IC 5 Torso Twists, x10 High Knees, Butt Kicks, Scuba Steves, Mountain Climbers, Shoulder Taps

    THANG

    OYO 100 Lunge Walks towards the west, then mosey to The Shaft.

    1st and 10:

    Markers were set up on the sea wall at 20′ intervals (not enough room for 10 yard intervals). Starting at the 1st marker each man started 11’s with 10 merkins and 1 Burpee in the same place. After, sprint to the last marker and recovery run back to the second marker for 9 Merkins and 2 Burpees, sprint to the end, recovery walk to marker 3, etc. etc. When finished, return to the start and Plank or core exercise to wait for the 6. It was as the process was being explained that Grundy graced us with his presence.

    After all the PAX (and then Jose) had finished, they took advantage of the markers to run Suicides (or Gaskets, Wind Sprints or whichever moniker you prefer).

    Next was a mosey back to the Gazebo, which was when Grundy revealed his inhaler on account of a mild asthma attack! He eventually made it to find Akbar’s Ring of Fire in progress. Whereas the Ring of Fire is a circle of Planks where each man drops for a Merkin as the count reaches him, Akbar’s version consists of a Merkin followed by a leap to to your feet and a hop with hands raised, all in a Burpee-ish fashion. 50 some-odd counts later, the Pax returned to 100 Lunge Walks OYO then mosied the rest of the way to the flag.

    By this point JV was stealing Jose’s grumble thunder regarding all of this darn running, on account of a lingering mystery injury to his foot/ankle. At the flag: 25 Jump Squats OYO, on the wall for: IC Freak Nasties, Irkins, Dirkins, and 25 OYO Box Jumps, where the acutely winded Grundy barked his shin on the cocnrete wall. EMT Todd was on sick leave, and since almost-Eagle Scout Baby Yoda was not present, the always prepared and ever dependable Zoolander leapt into action grabbing a first aid kit from his truck for a little BLS work on the twice-felled Grundy.

    Mosied to Noah Ark and circled up for a variation of Global Warming, where Holding AL Gore, each Pax counted off as they popped up (or squatted lower) individually, counting to 100.
    Mosied back to the flag for…

    MARY

    IC x25 Flutter Kicks, 20 Hello Dollys, 20 Wife Pleasers, 25 Freddy Mercurys, OYO 100 100’s

    COT

    Count, Name, we lost a few of our brethren along the way in Waterpik, Bird, and Grundy, though some came back, in the ineffably resilient Grundy,and some joined late, in Maverick, and later, in Cowbell (Starsky). Speaking of joining us, even though YHC missed his latest actual return last week, welcome back Cotter in Butt Splice! He was kind enough to pray us out on this lovely lovely day.

    The Endurathon benefiting the Nehemiah Project is coming up on March 17-19 at area 3 group camp at Fontainbleau Sate Park. Support the F3 team by sponsoring a loop, or joining in running a loop with Jose, Hammer, Speedy, or Tank. There will be camping Friday and Saturday night so bring the fam!

    The Fury, the Northshore’s 7th anniversary convergence will be on Saturday April 1 starting at 6am on the Lakefront. 12 45 min beat downs, 12 Qs, every hour on the hour! Come for 1, 2, or 12 like Tank. Drinks at the Barley Oak to follow at 6pm. See Slack for the sign up sheet to see who will be Q and to let F3 know which beatdowns you wish to attend. Let’s get a crowd all day long!

    And finally, making this thing – OUR thing – the best it can be, as well as the most attractive to sad clowns and other guys who generally might consider joining us, it takes the effort and dedication of all the PAX. If, excuses aside, your schedule legitimately allows it, consider coming out to a week day beat down and see your brothers more than once a week. As long as Ive been in F3 I can truly say that getting up has been treacherously challenging some mornings, but not once have I EVER regretted getting to a beatdown!
    And while we’re at it, let’s give Russo, Akbar, Shooter, and Waterpik a break and commit to a few Qs. Sign up and let’s get as full as we can a month out each month.

    Big congratulations to Amnesia who, rumor has it, has accepted job offer in Pennsylvania, and to Cowbell and Mrs Cowbell who are expecting TWINS!!!

    Gentlemen, I remain humbled by the opportunity to lead such a fine group of guys, and appreciate your willingness to follow that sometimes fickle, sometimes grueling, sometimes non-sensicle lead

    Bushwacker Sr.

  • Tuesday morn at Granny’s – from Chewy

    The pax met up for a beat down last Tuesday at Granny’s house:

    Warm up:
    SSH x 20 IC
    IW x 20 IC
    My climbers x 20 IC
    SL bridges x 10 IC
    JF x 10 IC

    Balance work:
    Y balance UE x 10 each
    Y balance LE x 10 each
    Single leg RDL 3 x 5 each

    3,2,1 GO…
    3 inch worms, 2 broad jumps, 1 burner with a sprint x 5 rounds

    Jack Webb 1 merkin: 2 skwaats x 10 rds

    Catch me if you can with 3 burpees x 1 block

    COM: plank push ups, Is, Ts, Ys and Ws

    COT, prayers

  • IPC Week 3 – Mrs. Burns – from Akbar

    Saturday, what a great day. YHC hasn’t really thought about it lately, but it’s true. As Wicket told me after Coffeeteria – On Saturdays I get to go to F3, wear my gym shorts all day, play with friends, don’t have to do school, and eat donuts and pancakes. That’s good, and so was the beatdown.

    YHC and Wicket arrived early to set up, seeing Pik and Speedy for the pre-thang 2miler. Circle up for the flag just in time to hear loud crying – Hammer brought Machete out for a beatdown. Machete cried pretty much the whole time, until we started the warmup. The cadence call was like a lullaby for the young man.

    Everyone arrived and we started out with warm ups x 10 IC, except for 1 exercise that was x9IC. SSH, arm circles front/back, imperial walkers, hillbillies, high knees, butt Kicks, self-love, toe touches, and grass grabbers.

    Grab blocks, head to the tree/start line and instructions were given.

    Week 3 was called Mrs. Burns, doing 571 reps to honor Kathleen Walzer and her fight with pancreatic cancer for 571 days.

    5 Rounds + one extra 400m run at the end. 571 reps for time

    20 Overhead Presses

    20 Burpees

    20 Curls

    20 V Ups

    20 Goblet Squats

    13 Manmakers

    400m run

    Grundy, Tank, and Steve were out of the gate fast. Wicket did some stuff, then put on my shades and decided to DJ for a while – then got back to work. This was brutal. The workout pretty much took everything out of you making the run harder. So instead of making up time on the run, it was more recovery. Halfway through a guy joined us that was unrecognizable, and I thought we may have another Fly By EH. But it turned out to be Gronk who we haven’t seen in a couple of years. Great to have you back man.

    T Claps to the top unofficial finishers, meaning the guys sitting on the wall while everyone else was still working hard. Grundy, Tanked Up, Steve, and Hammer

    Time called, with a short rest in the grass. A brief glimpse of Jose 10k holding Hammers legs over the seawall. YHC figured Machete had dropped a baby toy in the water. Hammer waded in the murky water to retrieve only his hat. Which is much better than dropping a toy.

    Head back to the flag just in time for Count and Nameorama.

    YHC closed us out with this prayer – which was said each day the Kathleen Welzer had pancreatic cancer:

    “Lord, we thank you for this day. A day we get to choose. We get to choose between darkness or light. Today, we choose light. Amen”

    Coffeeteria at Book and the Bean:

    Great work today guys, way to push hard and get it done. 1 more week and IPC is in the books.

    SYITG – Akbar

  • Split Q (IronPax and Cakewalk) – from Russo

    78 degrees to start today, and looking for any reason for positive weather news, (1) there was no rain and (2) it was slightly less humid than it has been. Really good start to the morning for a split Q of IPC week 0 and a birthday cakewalk.

    Warmup (between 10x and 14x, all IC)

    -Toe touches
    -Arm circles
    -Self love
    -Cherry pickers
    -Grass grabbers

    Thang: while Zoolander took half the pax to the west for IPC, YHC led a cakewalk (trademark to either Grundy or Zoolander), your basic descending ladder of exercises and reps, starting at YHC’s age (in this case, 44) and work your way to 1, with some moseying in between around Old Mandeville/Lakefront.

    The order:

    44 High knees (2 is 1, which YHC forgot right off the bat and thought “count by 2”, so thanks to Jose for keeping me honest. Math is hard)
    43 SSHs
    42 Plank Jacks
    41 goof balls
    40 squats
    39 Hello Dollies
    38 Calf raises
    37 Apollo Ohno’s
    36 Freak Nastys (correctly guessed by JV Raider Pride!)
    35 step ups (also correctly guessed by the Pax)
    34 flutter kicks
    33 butt kicks (2 is 1) (lead IC by the entire pax rotating, very nice job, gents!)
    32 Peter Parker’s (2 is 1)
    31 imperial walkers
    30 Shoulder taps (2 is 1)
    29 American hammers
    28 Monkey Humpers (Happy Birthday JV!)
    27 Merkins
    26 Smurf jacks (where we were joined by Ms. Cute Young Jogger, who either (1) felt bad for the old guys struggling to mosey and catch their breath, (2) knew it was JV’s birthday and wanted to give him an early birthday present, (3) was on a runner’s high and wanted to be friendly on a Saturday morning, or (4) some combo of all of the above)
    25 leg raises
    24 Rosalitas
    23 crab jacks (crab position – think reverse plank jacks, which Moby was having none of)
    22 groiners
    21 Bear crawls (counting your right hand as a rep)
    20 murder bunnies
    19 Wide merkins
    18 Bobby Hurley’s
    17 crab cakes
    16 circle ups
    15 Bulgarian split squats
    14 durkins
    13 big boy sit-ups
    12 LMCs IC
    11 diamond merkins
    10 star jumps
    9 donkey kicks (an ode to Shooter)
    8 wife pleasers
    7 merkins
    6 6 inch drills
    5 Carolina dry docks
    4 SMCs (2 is 1)
    3 jump squats
    2 burpees
    1 minute plank

    COT, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out.

    Thank you, gents, for either joining me or pushing yourself hard with IronPax. And a larger thanks to each of you for not only pushing me harder, making me better through your example, and providing friendship for 4 of my 44 years, but for being a light in your families, work, and communities.

    SYITG

  • Fire Fighter Challenge Part Deux – from Bushwacker

    I feel I’ve been so delinquent in my commitment to F3 lately and it showed as I tried to start the warmorama. IMHO (as the kids put it), that delinquency continued right on through the beat down with my unorganized leadership, chaotic participation, and off-the-cuff modifications. But YHC brought the coupons, set the games in motion, and we all watched with little surprise as the former Marsh Madness champion and current King of Distain quite literally ran away with the Badaxe award this go ’round. Nonetheless, all men (regardless of age) put forth an effort most valiant indeed!

    WARMORAMA
    As previously mentioned, QIC felt entirely out of practice, forgetting exercise names, miscalling cadences, and generally flubbing my return. But PAX kept showing up until the ranks grew to a respectable number. Even after out our mosey to the shaft, Grundy popped up to fiddle around with our tires.

    THANG
    Farmer’s Carry
    Sledge Hammer Tire
    Tire Flip
    Tire Pull
    Prisoner’s Carry
    Tire Drag
    Chain of Doom
    Lunge Walk

    Teams of 2-3 did 3 1 minute rounds switching between the coupon and plank or al gore. We kept this up until, with 5 minutes remaining, the 4 bad asses competing for the Badaxe award ran the tire drag for time. As previously mentioned, our own reverend pastor preacher man took home the prize… until next time!

    COT
    On the spot we carried out count/nameorama, with zoo having departed prematurely. I appreciate you guys. I cherish my time with you guys. Many many thanks!

  • The MURPH – from Jose10k

    It was simple: 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and 2 miles. We had split off into different groups of different levels, but in the end it was 14 of my F3 brothers completing the Murph this morning. COT, Hammer prayed us out with special intentions for TruCoats friend and Zoolanders father.

  • F3 Kickball: Chico’s Bail Bonds v Xscissor – from Akbar

    18 men showed in the gloom this morning for a game of F3 Kickball. We are taught to modify as necessary, and learn through trial and error that some things work, and some things don’t. Even the best laid plans go wrong sometimes, and it happened today. Below is the way YHC envisioned it, and then what really happened.

    PAX Hammer, Minnow, Chainsaw, Pickaxe, Gilligan, Moby Dick, Agent Carl, Jose 10k, Zoolander, Grundy, Steve, JV, Shooter, Waterpik, Dangerfield, Maverick, Russo, Akbar

    Warm Up x10 IC – Merkins, IW, Self-Love, Grass Grabbers, SSH, Arm Circles F/B, Toe Touches

    Thang: F3 Kickball
    Count off 1’s and 2’s to form 2 teams. Run to the baseball field in teams, arrive at the field, plank up in teams to pick team names.

    Rules for Kickers

    Kick the ball and mosey around all bases without stopping while kicking team holds plank until the kick is launched. Modes of travel will change in each inning. Modification for runners is always a backwards run. When you score, you get 1 point and lead your team in 5 Wife Pleasers IC while the fielders do Nolan Ryans. Penalty exercises on outs, strikes, and fouls – 10 Australian Mountain Climbers (2=1) OYO while field does Nolan Ryans. No bunting.

    Rules for Fielders

    Ball is not in play until it touches the ground. When the ball hits the ground, fielders must do an exercise before they touch the ball – unless it is a pop fly. If a pop fly is caught, catcher gets to choose kicking team exercises x 5IC or 10 OYO. If ball is dropped on the catch, regular rules apply and exercises must be done before touching the ball. No pegging runners while running with blocks and no forced outs.

    Game
    3 outs or 1x through the lineup, no catcher, winner chooses exercise for losing team at the Flag.

    Pre-Game – The PAX lined up for the National Anthem by Metallica.

    Exercises for Kickers and Fielders
    Inning 1: Farmers Carry, Squat Hold and 30 Air Presses
    Inning 2: Brick Fly Runs, 20 Bobby Hurleys
    Inning 3: Rifle Carry, 20 Big Boy Situps
    Inning 4: Brick Hallelujah Run, 20 Diamond Merkins
    Inning 5: Bear Crawl, Renegade Row Merkins

    What really happened – YHC explained the rules clearly and effectively and it was decided the rules would be explained as we played. The idea is the fielders do exercises to give the runners time to score, assuming that all balls would be kicked in the outfield. That was not the case. By some magic, the balls were kicked into the players at the infield and just sat there. Someone mentioned very early on this would be a low scoring game. In fact, the first inning lasted about 20 minutes. Even the QIC forgot to do exercises sometimes.

    So we went to straight up kickball, regular rules, for the last 10 minutes and a new plan for the next game swirled around in YHC’s head.

    The final score was 9 to 7, Chico’s Bail Bonds took home the pride.

    We got back to the flag a little late, and Shooter prayed us out. Great to have Agent Carl with us, EH’d by Toto, who has been lost somewhere in Oz for the last year. Come back Toto!

    Count, Name, and Shooter prayed us out.

    Thanks for following my lead –
    SYITG, Akbar

  • All The World’s A Stage – from Steve

    Decent crowd at Granny’s yesterday for a kinda-sorta cinderblock beatdown. Kinda-sorta because YHC only brought 3 coupons and there were 7 players in company. But, as always, we made it work (I will say, it was helpful to not have Bushwacker there undermining the Q’s efforts with constant griping about said cinderblocks!).

    Warmorama: SSH, IW’s, arm circles, cherry pickers, hillbillies, grass grabbers, seal jacks, and 20x merkins.

    Cowbell finally rolled in, which meant it was officially the end of warmorama and time to get after it.

    Thang:
    Mosey over to the stage for a rotating circuit. Each pax has an exercise, with one guy knocking out 20x burpees as the timer. Exercises were:

    Burpees x20 (timer)
    Curls
    Squat thrusters
    Tricep extensions
    Lunges
    Sit-ups
    Plank jacks

    YHC initially experimented with a cinderblock exercise called “forearm thingies,” (Bushwacker would’ve had an aneurism) which poor JV dutifully knocked out before Waterpik took over and wisely transitioned to tricep extensions.

    Once everyone had hit each station, we did a quick mosey around the trailhead in an attempt to at least get some mileage for RCR, and then rinse and repeat. After a second mosey around the trailhead, we hit the bus depot for YHC’s usual leg business:

    Bulgarians right and left, x12 IC each
    Freak Nasties, x12 IC
    Step ups, right and left, x12 IC each
    Freak Nasties, x12 IC

    And back to the stage to finish up with a different set of exercises, this time the rotation was:

    Burpees x20
    Goblet Squats
    Alpos
    Chest Presses
    Jump Squats
    Freddies
    Peter Parkers

    We only completed one round of this before it was time. COT, nameorama, and Pik prayed us out. Good to see Grundy out there now that he’s officially local. And t-claps to Hog’s Breath, since he’s decidedly not local and yet often makes it to at least one weekday beatdown. Appreciate the push you guys provide, and the opportunity to lead.

  • The Merkin Trap, Episode 4: The Search for Plutonium – from Akbar

    Admiral Gail Akbar of the Mon Calamari returns to the Northshore Mothership once again, to fight another battle against Darth Fartsack and the Sad Clown Empire. His secret mission this trip is to investigate the galactical mystery of Plutonium, reportedly found in the NOLA area by some beast named Hawgcycle. The commander of the Rebel forces knew this human was clever and dangerous – using words like isotopes, casualties, retrospect, and defecate in past correspondence about this discovery. He was at this beatdown before, maybe he would return. Key reinforcements – Baby Yoda, Bushwacker, Pickaxe, Chainsaw, and Shooter were missing. But we had new blood to make up the difference – a burly man named Cathe, with medical-surgical powers specializing in catheters, and a visiting pirate from Cape Fear named Teach. We were pleased with our chances.

    The Admiral received this note before his journey:

    Before night falls on this long winter day,
    A shining sword must find its way
    Into your hands and out of the gloom—
    Or Admiral Akbar shall meet his doom.
    To begin your quest for the Sword of Light,
    Call for the help of another to get right.
    You can always depend on an F3 brother,
    As Iron Sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.

    PAX

    Waterpik, Dangerfield, Freon, Bubba, Moby Dick, Bean, Russo, Jose 10k, Barely Legal, Speedy, Grundy, Bird, Zoolander, Maverick, Akbar, Hammer, Junior Varsity, Cathe (FNG), Teach

    Conditions – 40ish, no wind, a little foggy

    Warm Up – Arm Circles (F/B), Self-Love, Imperial Walkers, Grass Grabbers

    Thang

    Mosey up and down the Lakefront stopping for 2 exercises in each set, one of which would always be Merkins. 12, 8, 5 IC or 24,16,10 OYO. Each set = 50 Merkins, and most were 50 of another exercise except for a couple done Copperhead style.

    1 – Flag SSH, Merkins
    2 – Rips Calf Raises, Wide Merkin
    3 – Parking stripes Lunge walk, 5 Merkins every 2nd stripe
    4 – Noah Wall Tempo Freak Nasties, Dirkin
    5 – Grass Circle Al Gore/Shoulder raise, Wide Merkin
    6 – Wall Copperhead Squats, Irkin
    7 – Grass Circle Scuba Steve, Stone Mountain
    8 – Grass Circle Al Gore/Shoulder raise, Merkin
    9 – Noah Wall Scuba Steve, Diamond Irkin
    10 – Rips Twinkle Toes, Prime Time Merkin
    11 – Flag Little Manny Crunches, Merkin

    Total 550 Merkins

    Mary – x10 IC

    Fire Hydrants, Leg Raises, Hello Dolly, LBC’s, Lay flat on your back for 1 minute, time called

    Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama. Welcome FNG Cathe! Pronounced Cathy

    Announcements

    – Run Cajun Run, log your mileage
    – Hammer, Grundy, Steve, and Tanked Up! have put together a team to support The
    Nehemiah Project. They will run 48 miles over 48 hours on March 18th at Fontainebleau
    State Park. Check Slack for more.
    – Bird has the Q next Saturday

    COT

    YHC prayed us out with thoughts of words like man, father, husband, brother, friend – all verbs – and to take action this week remembering to flex our heart muscle. Don’t forget tomorrow is Valentine’s Day

    Alas, the Admiral did not find Plutonium, or Hawcycle, or the Sword of Light. But what he did find was a group of men who sharpened each other – enjoying camaraderie, food, and a hot cup of coffee for their efforts. Sad, but undaunted, he shall return next year.

    Thanks for letting me lead, and for following.

    SYITG – Admiral Akbar

    NMM

    Of all days to be late, YHC misplaced the keys and had to hall butt to make it there just in time to start.

    Great to have Teach from F3 Cape Fear make the drive from Gulfport while working out of town for a while.

    Bird brought Ian, a FNG who we named Cathe, pronounced Cathy, he works in med devices sales with vascular catheters.

    YHC had to modify pretty quickly after the Dirkins in the 4th set – in which QIC almost face planted from exhaustion. The plan was to go all the way to the playground and work my way back, but time forced a modification. We still got in around 550 Merkins in an hour

    Grundy showed up late, half way through, and owes 250 Merkins.

    I’ve been reading a lot of Jack and Annie books with the kids, and the poem came from a Merlin Mystery novel. I have to admit, these books are great – historical fiction and mystery combined. Kids and adults alike will love them. Sometimes, the book titles become backblast titles.

    The Plutonium reference came from the master backblast writer himself, Hawcycle. Look back and read it, it’s good stuff.

    Coffeeteria was great, this time including more King Cake, breakfast bowls, and my 2.0’s showed up for sugar and hot chocolate.

  • Holiday calories -BAM – from Waterpik

    YHC felt the need to work off some Holiday calories after a week of Big meals, late nights, desserts, beer, wine, and cocktails. The holidays—YHC enjoyed a bit of it all, and they’re not over yet. But, alas, it was time to get back to work, including “work in the gloom”

    After a brief warmup, YHC led the pax through a benchmark beatdown that was intended to be reminiscent of the origins of the milestone marsh- started by butt splice.

    One minute of AMRAP merkins.

    One minute of AMRAP big boy Sit-ups,

    1 mile timed run down to the lakefront’s sea wall and back. (Hence the moniker, milestone marsh)

    Back at the AO, it was time for 3-6-9. Thank you shooter.

    Pull-ups, burpees, merkins. 4 sets total.

    Close out by heading to center court for some mary.

    cot and thanks to Akbar for praying us out.