F3 New Orleans

Tag: Hand-Grenada

  • Look Mom! I’m 4! – from Rev Sox

    Everyone is born once. Many have been born twice. A select few have been born thrice. Today YHC celebrates the 4th anniversary of my third birth.
    On January 27, 1983 on a cold, wintry morning in Binghamton, NY, Shawn Willson was born to David and Becky Willson at Wilson General Hospital.
    At some point in the late 80s, YHC has no clue to the precise date, he had his second and most important birth. YHC believed and trusted in Jesus to save him and give him His life. At that moment, YHC was born again through the power and saving work of Jesus to now live with eternal life.
    On Veterans Day weekend in 2017, Hawgcycle and Channel Mullet heaped unending piles of guilt on YHC’s two scrawny shoulders and convinced YHC to join them for his first F3 workout. The following morning through sweat, tears, and much complaint, YHC was born a third time as Rev Sox. Hater of Red Sox and hater of step ups. The Pax celebrates that day, today.
    Circle Up for the Warm Up
    No mosey to the Rock Pile or some dark corner of Pontiff Park, the Pax starts this one hot with the warm-up right at the flag.
    SSH – 20
    Hillbillies (in honor of the hillbilly standing next to YHC who introduced him to this stupid group) – 20
    Smurfjacks – 20
    Low Slow Squat – 12
    Bat wings (don’t put your arms down until we’re done) – 10 forward arm circles, 10 reverse, 10 seal claps, 10 overhead claps, 10 Moroccan night clubs
    The Thang
    Mosey to the first pavilion, it’s occupied, mosey to the second pavilion to commence the memory of YHC’s first F3 – this means step ups
    Dips – 15
    Right leg step ups – 15
    Dips – 15
    Left leg step ups – 15
    Mosey to the bleachers
    Tooth fairy
    Seven merkins on the first bench of the bleachers, six on the second bench, and so on until you hit one at the top
    Alternating step ups – 20
    Mosey to the playground
    Alternating step ups – 20
    Mosey to the Rock Pile and Grab a Rock
    In Cadence, 6 curls and 1 shoulder press, 5 curls and 1 shoulder press, 4 and 1, 3 and 1, 2 and 1, 1 and 1
    Now with 6 shoulder press and 1 triceps extension
    Now with 6 chest press and 1 big boy sit up
    Now with 6 squats and 1 curl
    Return your rock and Mosey to the football field. At this point, Mop began to trash talk that he was feeling perfect and maybe the Q needed to step things up and make it more difficult. That kid is such a punk. Who lets a 9-year-old come to F3 anyway?
    Circle Up for Some Climate Change
    In honor of COP26, F3 NOLA did our part this morning by hugging our imaginary trees and putting our faces in the grass in remorse over all the noxious gases that have been released into the atmosphere during F3 workouts. The Pax held Al Gore while the first Pax went down and did 6 merkins, the second began his after 3 were completed. Two rounds around the circle.
    The Celebrating Fun
    It’s not a Rev birthday without Ultimate Frisbee and some guys running around without a shirt on in the cold so Boo Boo and War Eagle can complain about it on end for the next couple of years.
    The Pax split up in two teams – shirts and skins. The shirts won because they are a bunch of jerks who don’t let the Q win on his birthday celebration. Thankfully, since there were no Lakeview players present, cheating was at a minimum with everyone hitting the ground for their merkins after every turnover. Final score: shirts 5, skins 4.
    The End
    Short mosey back to the flag as the Pax counts off, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer. Thank you all from the depths of my heart for what you have each meant to me over the past 4 years. Your presence is everything. Working out alone is the worst. May F3 endure from now until the end of Christ’s rule on earth. I hope to do F3 into eternity.

  • BETTER LATE THAN NEVER! – from Fast Tax

    Okay…so it’s been a few days since YHC Q’ed Rock City but a late backblast is better than no backblast.
    Twas the morning after All Hallows Eve as six brave souls ventured forth to work off their treats from the night before.

    After disclaimer, we headed near the rock pile for warmups.
    Warmups consisted of:
    o Grass Grabbers IC 10
    o Abe Vigodas X 12 IC
    o Happy Jacks X 4 Sets IC
    o Forward and Reverse Arm Circles
    o Swan Dives

    Sufficiently warmed, we headed to the rock pile, grabbed large rocks (most of us) and headed to the field.

    The first event was Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum – of course. We lined up and, trying not to hit each other and incur 20 burpees, we threw our rocks as far as we could, broad jumped then lunged the remaining distance to the rock. Rinse and repeat until we hit the fence.

    Next, we traversed to the track for a lap or two of Catch Me If You Can. Dragon walk was the third exercise beginning at the 50yd line and ending at the goalpost.

    Having dispensed with the preliminaries, it was time to head to the darkened tennis courts for the main event.

    Blind Man’s Dodgeball:
    The original setup, which I must admit was mostly taken from Rev Sox’s Q, went something like this:
    Two Pax were on opposite sides of a half-court with rest in between. When a Pax got hit, he would step off and do the exercise following the one the previous PAX did from the following list: 8 Pull-ups, 8 Burpees, 8 Bodybuilders, 8 BBS. Then he would return and take over as a ball thrower.

    Admittedly, the rules evolved somewhat as YHC learned that one half court was waaayyyy too small, but using half of two courts with throwers on each end was too boring due to it still being relatively dark and hard to see. The best configuration was keeping the throwers restricted to the green area of the court while rest of Pax had to stay on the red areas (partial credit to Rudy).

    At 6:15 it was back to the rock pile and a quick mosey to the flag for COT.
    Coffeteria at PJs followed.
    Thanks for the fellowship!
    SYITG

  • The Rocky Run – from Baywatch

    Conditions were cool and excellent for an early morning Friday beatdown. With pleasantries exchanged and a disclaimer given, we moseyed over to the rock pile for a warmup.

    Warmup (IC):

    SSH 20x
    Hillbillies 20x
    Stormtroopers 20x
    Peter Parkers 15x
    Parker Peters 15x
    Arm Circles F/B 15x

    Now the fun part…everyone grabbed a rock (well, except for Rougarou. He grabbed a pebble.) and we headed over to the track.

    The name of the game was 4-corners. We did 4 laps around the track, carrying our rocks, and stopping at each corner for some fun.

    Corner 1–25 curls & 25 flutter kicks (FK)
    Corner 2–25 overhead presses & 25 FK
    Corner 3–25 bent over rows & 25 FK
    Corner 4–25 squats & 25 FK

    After 4 laps we all finished right at the buzzer with Bogey and Vagabond leading the way. We dropped our rocks off (and one pebble) and headed back to the flag to close it out.

  • Leadership Exemplified – from Hawgcycle

    Conditions: 72 degrees, 98% Humidity, Wind 2 mph from the SSE.

    Many times the Disclaimer is mumbled at the start of the workout, something like “I’m not a professional trainer, push yourself don’t hurt yourself, follow me.” But what makes for a good disclaimer? It’s really the Q’s first act of leadership in the workout. So it’s worth giving some thought to it and using it to set the tone. The bare minimum that you want to accomplish with the disclaimer is to attempt and disavow yourself from any liability if things go terribly wrong in the workout. Now, I am not a lawyer, and I am fairly certain that a no-good, unscrupulous, slick, Yankee lawyer like Kuch could easily side step our good intentions and find a way to use the law to his advantage, but at least you will have tried. So the basic starting point of the Disclaimer is to inform the Pax that:

    • You are not a professional trainer
    • They are all present on their own accord
    • They are responsible for their own well being
    • That the workout may involve times where caution must be exercised (strenuous physical activity, running in the dark, uneven ground, lifting heavy objects, etc.)
    • That they should modify the exercises at any point if they believe their safety is in Jeopardy and that they can seek your advice for such modifications if needed (all the while remembering that you are not a professional trainer and that it was your original direction that lead them to this place of peril in the first place).

    That’s the bare minimum, but a good Q will use the Disclaimer for much more. Our number one goal as Q is to make sure everyone makes it through the workout safely. In addition to the minimum disclaimer, give any specific safety advice needed at this point. For example, if it is a running workout, talk about busy intersections, making sure you are running against traffic, and not leaving anyone to run alone. Make sure someone in the group has a phone. Assign someone to watch out for the six if needed.

    If you want to go above and beyond, this is a good time to reinforce the mission and core principles of F3, especially if new guys are present. If you have planned an interactive workout, you can also take this time to forewarn the pax of questions you may ask during the workout, e.g., what is the mission of F3, what are the five core principles, why did you post this morning, etc…

    Not all disclaimers will be the same, but you know when you hear a good one. When they are really good, they become a topic of conversation. After I gave the disclaimer this morning, we ran to the rock pile. I could hear Rev Sox and Boo Boo discussing the merits of the disclaimer I had just given. They wondered aloud if the new leadership would meet this level of excellence. Personally, I believe they can, but please, don’t get too disappointed if it takes a while.

    Near the rock pile, we circled up for the warm-up. I led the group in 31 SSHs in honor of our playground’s namesake, followed by 15 Imperial Walkers. After that, we did a series of plank like exercises in succession (15 Peter Parkers, 15 Mountain Climbers, and 15 Parker Peters). Back on our feet, we closed it out with 15 grass grabbers and 10 Windmills.

    The Thang

    I spent months preparing for this Q. I read (and re-read) the book Primal Endurance by Mark Sisson. There is a great chapter in the book focused on Maximum Sustained Power. By taking some basic MSP concepts and adapting them to Rock City, I developed today’s workout. The basic principles were to find a heavy rock (mine was marked 52) and do the prescribed exercises at maximum speed. We would hopefully come close to our maximum power output in each set. We used a stack to form the basis of the workout and gave ourselves about 20 seconds to recover between sets. We gave our selves a two-minute recovery time between stacks starting with the 4th stack.

    This was the workout with approximate reps included. Some may have done more or less:

    • 5 Manmakers
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats
    • Recovery – Plank, Tree Pose each leg
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats, 20 Curls
    • Recovery – Southern Gentleman, Yankee Aggressor, Karate Kid each leg
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats, 20 Curls, 25 Rows
    • Recovery – Reverse Plank, Warrior III each leg
    • 5 Manmakers, 10 Shoulder Presses, 15 Squats, 20 Curls, 25 Rows, 30 Bench Presses
    • Recovery – 10 Nolan Ryans each side

    After this, we did some balance work. I listened to an hour-long podcast in preparation for this Q that discussed the value of unbalanced work and core stability. In an effort to build those intrinsic muscles responsible for so much of our balance and stability we performed the following:

    • Curls x 5 with one foot off the ground…flapjack
    • Shoulder presses x 5 with one foot off the ground…flapjack
    • Rows in Warrior III x 5….flapjack

    We finished with some Core work – 20 LBCs, 15 flutters, 10 side crunches each side.
    Then we headed back to the flag.

    NMM

    About 25 minutes into the workout, Bolt prostrated himself. Was he injured? Should I check on him? Possibly, but unlikely. It seemed more likely that he was new to the Islamic faith and it was time for his morning prayer. How did I know he was new to the faith? He was totally facing the wrong way, unless he was trying to face Mecca, TX. I politely paused the workout and offered that East was the other direction. Leadership exemplified

    At one point, a train stopped on the tracks. One of the young women, running in the park needed to get back across the tracks. As soon as Rudy saw this, he dropped his rock and ran toward her and the train to offer his assistance. He is a gentleman and a scholar…well, at least a gentleman. The young woman seemed to recognize him as he sprinted toward her yelling “Perv! Perv!” Did she confuse Paul with Perv? We will never know. Just as he arrived the train started back up, she yelled “God help me!” (which Bolt had already been praying for), threw herself under the train and disappeared.

    On the way back to the flag, I EH’d a dog walker. I told him we meet in the park everyday at 5:30. He said, “I know (pause…sigh) you all park in my yard.” I feel good that he will join us in the gloom.

    After the workout, I had to pay up on a bet to Hand Grenada for the Ole Miss – Arkansas game. One burpee for every point scored in the game. Arkansas lost the game 51-52. Hand Grenada made me yell “Hoddy Toddy” as I completed each burpee, otherwise he wouldn’t count them. I got to 53 burpees before I had to take a break. At that time, Hand Grenada yelled “No breaks! Start over!” I was too gassed to protest. Looking a lot like Paul Neman’s character in Cool Hand Luke, I wearily began the burpees over. Fortunately, for Cool Hand Hawg, Rudy and Mahatma jumped in to tell Hand Grenada that he was being unreasonable. They pleaded to him to show me mercy and that his demands were jeopardizing my safety. Hand Grenada explained that my mistake was made when I made the bet. If I was not willing to pay up, regardless of the physical harm I may undergo, I should have never made the bet. Rudy and Mahatma continued to grovel for my mercy until Hand Grenada exclaimed, “Weak…I have to go to work. Parten – I’ll see you at El Diablo.”

  • Dancing with the Devil at El Diablo – from Triple Shift

    Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
    Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
    If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
    But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.

    One of the main things I love about F3 is the brotherhood that gets forged when working out with another man. As you know, the immediate unknown of Covid-19 caused many to forego the gloom from a health perspective. Unfortunately, from my observation, many members have foregone the gloom from a habit perspective. Today, I wanted to incorporate a partner workout to bring back what I enjoyed the most about F3….shared suffering.

    Warmup
    Twelve other men joined me as we warmed up around the track doing butt kicks, high knees, side shuffles, and cariocas and then headed to the rock pile. We started with 31 SSH then 10 eight count squats, and 10 eight count merkins. After the warmup, I directed the PAX to get a heavy rock and head to the goal line on the football field.

    The Thang
    We partnered up for 25 Patty Cake Merkins, 25 BBSU, 10 Bulgarian Split Squats (Pax 1 is kneeling on the ground with one knee forward and one knee backward while Pax 2 props his back foot on Pax 1 front knee and performs the Split Squat), and finally the crowd pleaser of 10 Nordic Hamstring Curls.

    After we finished up those exercises, we performed the ‘Tortoise and the Hare B.O.M.B.S.’ on the football field. Pax 1 carries the heavy rock down the field to the other goal line while Pax 2 does 5 Burpees. After Pax 2 completes his five burpees, he runs and tags Pax 1 (who now does 5 burpees) to take the heavy rock and continues walking until he gets to the end of the field and then turns around to walk back. After the 5 Burpees, the next exercise is 10 Outlaws (think O Mary), 15 Merkins, 20 BBSU, and then 25 Squats until everyone finishes.

    Time is running short so we mosey back to the rock pile to circle up and perform 10 straight leg deadlifts (8 count). Head back to the starting point and finish up with 5 big boy sit ups then stand up without the use of your hands.

    Countoff, Namerama, and COT
    I thanked the PAX for allowing me to lead and I closed out with a prayer for God to provide healing and peace for all those struggling with disease and the difficult time we live in.

  • RevSox – the Prophet – from Rudy

    5:23am. That’s what time it was when YHC realized he had the Q. Just drove up to RockCity in the gloom. Getting out of the car, taking one last peek at the phone. Lo and Behold: calendar reminder that its my Q this am. Quick! Think! I’ve got one go-to Rock City exercise routine. A good time killer.

    Little did I know at this time that RevSox had predicted EXACTLY this Rudy workout at 3:40pm the day before. If YHC had paid attention to Slack, I would have known both that I had the Q and that I had better devise something new. But alas, RevSox apparently knows me too well. Better than I know myself, even.

    So 8 men (including Marlin again – maybe he’s becoming a regular!) welcomed the new week, and departed into the gloom for “The Usual”.

    Warm up at the Rock Pile with SSH, Stretching, some Peter Parkers, some Glute work till I got bored. Grab a rock, lets go.

    The Thang: 11s with Shoulder Presses and Curls mixed in. Not sure what this is? Either search my backblasts, or ask RevSox. He’ll tell you.

    Next: Core work. 2 PAX mosey off to pull-ups while the remaining PAX do an in-cadence core exercise. Flutters, Matahtma-X’s, Cockroaches and something else. Throw in some Wife Pleasers to work those glutes.

    Finally: Diver Down at the stairwell. Rows. “Diver Up” (Diver Down, but irkins, going up). More Rows. Then get them rocks back and get back to the flag.

    Wrap up around the virtual flag.

  • Back to Burpees by Popular Demand – from Fracsac

    12 pax at The Uptowner looking to put some work in to improve and get stronger. Weather was a bit humid, but cooler awesome weather is on the horizon! Bogey, Hand Grenada, Left Coast, War Eagle, Mahatma, Hokie, Hobbs, Boo Boo, Triple Shift, Fast Tax, Pass Interference (DR from Atlanta) and YHC got after it at 0530 sharp.

    Disclaimer given, then mosey to the well marked and groomed field.

    Warmup was typical with some bat wings to get the arms ready! Yes, Moroccan Night Club dancing happened!

    The Thang

    Shock and Awe!

    5 SSH IC and 10 burpees OYO
    5 SSH IC and 9 burpees OYO
    Yada yada yada….
    5 SSH IC and 3 burpees OYO
    5 SSH IC and 2 burpees OYO
    5 SSH IC and….duh! 10 burpees OYO!

    Mosey to the goal line
    Bear crawl 20 yards at a time, SSH waiting for the six

    Bear crawl to 20 yard line, Catalina Wine Mixers x 10
    Bear crawl to 40 yard line, LBC x 20
    Bear crawl past midfield to 40 yard line, Merkins x 10
    Bear crawl to 20 yard line, some core exercise
    Bear crawl to goal line, 8 count Body builders x 10
    That’s 100 yards of bear crawls, not too shabby!

    Dirty Mac Duece

    We did 4 rounds of 12 reps of a leg, an arm and a core. Ran a full lap between sets on first, modified to half lap on other 3 to ensure we would finish.

    One minute left, so some West Bank Lazy Boyz!

    Mosey back to the flag

    COT

    NMM

    -War Eagle was upset with YHCs lack of burpees recently. This beat down provided resolution.
    -The Uptowner is sort of a non running AO, but that’s just a guideline and is flexible. The pax didn’t mind. Maybe running meant less burpees, so will have to address that next time. Less running, more burpees….
    -Coffeteria was awesome as always.
    -Pass Interference visiting from Atlanta was great, we always enjoy visitors down range!
    Convergence is tomorrow 0630 City Park to celebrate 7 years in Nola!

    SYITG

  • CPR at The Real Rock City – from Fracsac

    8 pax at The Real Rock City looking to put some work in to improve and get stronger. Humidity is back, but not too bad. The 72 degrees weather was well received by Bogey, Scantron, Hand Grenada, RevSox, War Eagle, Marlin, Pai Gow and YHC.

    Disclaimer given, then mosey to the rock pile.

    Warmup was typical with some bat wings to get the arms ready!

    Grab a rock and rifle carry back to the field inside the track.

    The Thang

    CPR

    Cones are set up about 20 yards apart. Starting on one end:
    Curls IC x 10
    Presses (Overhead) IC x 10
    Rows IC x 10

    Bear crawl 20 yards, complete 10 x 8 count body builders, bear crawl back 20 yards. Then run a lap around the track.

    Completed 4 evolutions, mixing in some lunges with the bear crawls.

    Rifle carry rocks back to the pile, then complete 10 x 8 count body builders IC to get us to 50 total.

    Mosey back to the flag

    COT

    NMM

    -55 was the magic number for 8 count Body builders, it’s the Iron Sharpens Iron task of the month. Only 5 more OYO! Join on Slack for non stop fun!
    -The Pax thoroughly enjoyed the variety brought today, YHC could tell by the enthusiasm displayed!
    -Coffeteria was awesome as always, joined by the men from The View!

    SYITG

  • Hurricane Ida prep burpees + other treats – from Left Coast

    The Warm-up
    SSH x 20
    Abe Vigodas x 15
    Grass Grabbers x 15
    Hill-Billies x 15
    Imperial Walkers x 15
    Shoulder Taps x 15
    Floyd Mayweathers x 15
    Arm Circles (Forward) x 15
    Arm Circles (Reverse) x 15
    Moroccan Nightclubs x 15

    The Workout (Used without Boo Boo’s express written consent which is strictly prohibited)

    100 SSH

    10 Burpees

    90 LBCs

    10 Burpees

    80 Squats

    10 Burpees

    70 Big Boy sit ups

    10 Burpees

    60 Wife Pleasers (30 L/30 R)

    10 Burpees

    50 Leg Raises

    10 Burpees

    40 Bonnie Blairs 1 is 1

    10 Burpees

    30 Shoulder Taps 2/1

    10 Burpees

    20 Catalina wine mixers

    10 Burpees

    10 Merkins

    10 Burpees

    When finished lap around track until the 6 is completed.

    Final exercise to get us to 6.14am led by Bogey
    Ring of Fire
    Round 1 – Merkins (Plank hold)
    Round 2 – 4 Count Merkins (Plank hold)

    Jog back to COT.

    That’s All Folks!

  • Happy Birthday to Rudy – from Fracsac

    4 High Impact Men gathered at El Diablo for a beat down led by none other than YHC. Rudy was scheduled as it was his birthday, but he and 11 other HIMs are heady to the Pacific Northwest today for the Hood to the Coast run. T-Claps!
    Anyhow, YHC took the Q and recognized Rudy’s 54th year on the Big Ball with every 5 minutes complete 4 burpees, no matter what.

    Boo Boo , Hand Grenada, and Baloo joined YHC to get things done! The Shovel flag and yard sign were planted, the disclaimer was given.

    Warmup

    SSH IC x 20
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10
    Abe Vigodas IC x 10
    Arm circles IC x 15 fwd
    Arm circles IC x 15 back
    MNC IC x 15

    There were 4 burpees in there somewhere

    Dirty Mac Deuce:

    4 rounds of 3 x 12 rep exercises IC, an arm, a leg and a core. Run a lap on the track after each round.

    Round 1
    Merkins (2 count), Big boi sit-ups, squats
    Lap
    Round 2
    Shoulder taps, Hello Dolly, Lunges
    Lap
    Round 3
    Merkins (4 count), tin snips, side lunges
    Lap
    Round 4
    Catalina wine mixers (6 count), Flutter kicks, low slow squats
    Lap

    There were burpees sprinkled all over the DMD! Good Times!

    Cones were set up to use the short length of the field.
    5 x 8 ct BB on one end, bear crawl to middle, complete 50 LBC, lunge walk to other end.
    Bear crawl to middle, 50 LBC, lunge walk to other end.
    Rinse and repeat with burpees sprinkled in every 5 minutes. We got through nearly twice.

    COT

    NMM

    – No EMOM today, the pax seemed disappointed
    – It was great to see Baloo again! Keep coming back brother!
    – I felt I had a good variety today, probably one of the best Qs ever. Boo Boo said he’s going to talk his family into naming a future grandchild after me, it was that great!

    Thanks for posting with me! I love you guys!

    SYITG