F3 New Orleans

Tag: Hokie Pokey

  • 9/11 Stair Climb #2

    The first known 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb event occurred on September 11, 2003 during “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Parwan Province, Afghanistan. Albuquerque Fire Department Lieutenant Charles Cogburn scaled a two story building 55 times wearing body armor, a helmet and an M-4.  Lt Cogburn returned home and on the following September 11th (2004) the climb was brought back to Albuquerque and given the title Albuquerque Firefighters Memorial Stair Climb. Firefighters from Engine 5 and Engine 2 were dispatched at 8:46am (the time the initial dispatch of FDNY units occured) to the Bank of Albuquerque Building in downtown Albuquerque. The building is 22 stories tall and it was climbed 5 times. 

    We like many others gathered to recognize the first responders of 9/11/2001 – we were 9 days late but it was the closest date open for a Q.

    In order to complete the task at hand – one had to climb 7 flights of stairs 16 times. (112 flights) The original firefighters had to climb 110 flights. Imagine they had their gear on and they never got rest as they climbed down the 7 flights of stairs. Last year I couldn’t finish I was at 11.3. This year I finished with time to spare.

    Gabrielle, King Kong, WIllie Catfish and Hokey Pokey inspired with their rucks. Special tclaps to Hokey for adding a 40 lb weight vest. Very impressive. Tclaps to Gabrielle for thinking to bring the door stops – the improved airflow was a huge game changer. I had nightmares about the smell and humidity from the climb last year as I went to bed.

    Most of the PAX finished the climb this year. Tclaps to all of the finishers.

    As we climbed I asked the PAX to reflect on being men who would rush to danger to help, instead of seeking their own comfort in a tough situation.

    Thanks for allowing me to lead.

  • Stompkwata

    Despite fair warning, 14 men set off into a pleasant September gloom this morning at Okwata. The warning: bring your running shoes, we’re trying something new. And so we did.

    Since we started doing Okwata, YHC has been wanting to run to the large Lakeshore Drive bridge for a change of pace. Today, we did it.

    It’s around 1.1 miles just to get there, so we had to be quick. We wrapped our warm-up into our mosey with some high knees, butt kicks, Super Marios, carioca, and Zombie walks.

    When we got to the bridge, the instructions were simple: 11’s with burpees at the bottom and merkins at the top. YHC had measured it out, and from base to center of the bridge is about 1/10 of a mile, so each “lap” would be 2/10 of a mile. No one quite completed the 11’s, but Breadsticks was close. Breadsticks seems to have found another gear lately. T-claps for that.

    T-claps to Two Yutes, who went back and swept the runners on the way there, giving them the instruction so everyone could get started. We called an end to the 11’s leaving around 12 minutes to return to the flag, and according to my calculations***, we arrived exactly on time. All in all, we ran about 4 miles, with about 1 mile of that being uphill, broken up with some burpees and merkins. We may try this one again during Run Ranger Run.

    Surge closed us out with a prayer. Thanks for trying something new with me today. – Kuch

  • Friday 13th

    Thirty something men assembled in the gloom under a full moon to celebrate Friday the 13th. Apparently the next time a full moon falls on Friday the 13th is 2049 so I hope y’all enjoyed it. I also hope Jadaveon will remeber all of us when he is the sole memebr of the PAX around to enjoy it again. Disclaimer was given and the Mother Ruckers spilt off to walk and tak. The remaining pax headed to the circle of palms to commence the beatdown.

    WARMUPS

    SSH X 49 (this really irritated Mariah)

    Arm Circles fore and aft. Was Seaman there? 10 Fore and 10 Aft

    Grass Grabbers X 20 (Pulled a Hammy)

    Merkins X 20

    THE THANG

    Mosey to the base of the mount. 2 lines. Indian run to the top.

    At the top split PAX into 2 groups (thanks Kuch for logistics)

    1st group runs and tags opposite wall. 2nd stays and does 5 Burpees. Groups switch and go until 25 burpees are done.

    Next same with something I cant remember then once more with Merks. Whatever it was was a pretty good workout. I was cussing the Q the entire time.

    PEOPLES CHOICE MARY

    Circled up for some Mary

    JV suggested Doc W’s

    Peaches suggested Penguins

    Somebody came up with LBC’s

    There were others but the full moon wiped my hard drive.

    BENCHES

    After the mount we descended the stairs (Yankee is hands down the fastest stair descender amongst the PAX) and grabbed some benches for some quick leg work/ dips

    RLSU X 20

    Dips X 20

    LLSU X 20

    Dips X 20

    Decline Merks X 20

    Back to the flag for count off, name o rama, announcements and intentions/ prayer followed by coffeeteria at PJ’s. Thanks for letting me lead. Sorry if I forgot you were there.

  • Sunday Mornings aka “Donkey Kicks”

    YHC has made it a habit to attend the Sunday morning workouts at the Renaissance as we can workout, have coffeeteria, and still be home by 8am before the house wakes up. One constant exercise that has showed up in each Q the last few weeks is Donkey Kicks on the back wall of NOMA – in fact, we now call Donkey Kicks – “Sunday Mornings”. The inspiration for today’s Q was Sunday Mornings and trying to incorporate some music into the work-out. So with the help of my family at the ranch – we set up a play list last night and made sure the Bluetooth speaker worked. Off we go……

    7 pax met at the flag at 6am. Quick disclaimer and a short mosey to the grassy area between NOMA and adjacent to the lake for warm up. TRACK 1 – VAN HALEN’s – JUMP – played during the warm-up with each time we hear the word “Jump” the PAX did SSH. In between, PAX did some Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles, and Mountain Climbers to warm up.

    TRACK 2 – THE BLACK EYED PEAS – LET’S GET IT STARTED (- RUNNIN’ RUNNIN’, RUNNIN’) – perfect song for indian run up and around delong drive in front of the museum

    TRACK 3 – SURVIVOR – EYE OF THE TIGER – three minutes of Rocky Balboa’s in front of the museum

    TRACK 4 – PETER GABRIEL – KISS THAT FROG – i am a huge fan of peter Gabriel so we had to incorporate one of his songs. For the length of the song perform flutter kicks – when Peter sings “Kiss that frog” – time to morph to Crunch frogs.

    TRACK 5 – BEASTIE BOYS – BRASS MONKEY – hold the Al Gore, until “Brass Monkey” transition to monkey humpers. This was more monkey humpers than Al Gore. Around the time Belloq noticed the sunrise – a site to see this morning over the lake in front of NOMA.

    TRACK 6 – IMAGINE DRAGONS – THUNDER – Dragon Walk on the neutral ground in front of NOMA about 30 yards.

    TRACK 7 – LIONEL RICHIE – EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING – mosey to the rear wall of NOMA for some Sunday Mornings – aka Donkey Kicks. Hold Al Gore or People’s Chair throughout song – Each time Lionel belts out “Easy like Sunday Morning” time for 10-20 Donkey Kicks on count of YHC.

    TRACK 8 – MAROON 5 – SUNDAY MORNING – No rain was falling so the PAX were in for more Sunday Mornings at NOMA – Incline shoulder taps with feet on back wall of NOMA with “Sunday Mornings” sprinkled throughout the song.

    With about 7 minutes left circled at the flag for some Mary – each PAX led an exercise in cadence – LBC’s, boxcutters, Cockroaches, SSH, then with one minute left and Fracsac yet to lead – you guessed it 10 burpees.

    Circle up for announcements and intentions. Enjoyed the opportunity to lead and had fun this morning. If you have not been to the Renaissance, come check it out on Sunday.

    Sunday at the Renaissance

  • Sweatin’….

    I have been to many F3 workouts over the past 21 months, all of which have been great in their own way. But this time I was hoping to do something a little different. At a sales meeting earlier this year, my company had an 80’s themed party that my division elected to dress in 80’s workout era clothing. After a short parooze on Amazon, I came across a Richard Simmons costume, complete with a balding headpiece. I just could not pass it up, especially for under $15! The costume was a hit at the work party, even though Richard dropped a rather husky girl while attempting a dip on the dancefloor. In all fairness to Richard, the dip was unexpected, the healthy young lady was caught up in the moment, and who could blame her.  Still glassy eyed, my immediate thought the next morning was, “I need to Q a workout as Richard Simmons!” so I looked at the Q schedule, and saw I was up at WPM for September 6th. I strategically planned the walk up to the PAX right as the clock struck 5:30AM, announced my disclaimer as impersonating a professional trainer, but really not one, and we moseyed in front of Tulane University for a warm up to the classic sound of the Macarena. All exercises were done in cadence, which fell right into the beat of the music.

    SSHx20

    Imperial Walkers x 20

    Arm Circles x 10

    Backwards AC x 10

    After a jaunt to the little mountain Richard determined there was too much traffic there, so an audible was called, and the PAX proceeded to the big mountain where we formed 3 lines for an Indian Run, but not just any old Indian Run. This time we ran prisoner style while flashing our best jazz hands. We stopped on the 5th floor to partner up for some DORA 123.  Exercises were done with various Queen songs in the background (Bicycle Race of course). While partner one was exercising, partner 2 was running up the stairs to the 7th floor, then back down the ramp, and tagging into the exercise picking up where partner one left off this continued until all exercises were complete. 

    Merkins x 100

    Bobby Hurley’s x 200

    Freddie Mercury’s x 300,  1=1

    Once complete the PAX made its way down to the benches for a quick round of the following all in cadence:

    Dips x 20

    Incline Merkins x 20

    The PAX then gathered in front of touchdown Jesus for a round of Mary all while listening to one of Richard’s favorite songs, ”Believe” by Cher. All exercises were done in cadence:

    Penguins x 20

    LBCs x 20

    American Hammer (Douille style) x 20

    Angie’s List pointed out that there was still a little time left on the clock, so the PAX knocked out 10 Herpes on their own. 

    We then circled up around the flag, counted off, had nameorama, intentions, announcements and a closing prayer.  It is always an honor to lead this group of men! I hope everyone who attended the workout enjoyed the little change of pace, as you never know when Richard will pop up again! 

  • 44 Minutes of Yoga and 1 Burpee

    Attendees: (9) Abacus, Belloq, Catfish, Chips, Fracsac, Gideon, Heisenberg, Hokie Pokey, Sogo (+1) Dog (DJ Diver)

    YHC wanted to plan his second Q carefully after he personally perceived his VQ at Okwata over a year ago a failure. With Catfish in the PAX on Sundays, you don’t want to be remembered as the guy who bored him to the point that he decides to do burpees because you haven’t challenged him enough.
    I have been hinting that it would be a workout of yoga and when they saw me arrive in my favorite Lululemon shorts, I could see that the 8 other men who got out of bed this morning were worried we’d be stretching for 44 minutes with 1 burpee to make it count as a Sunday morning beat down according to Fracsac; however, I had a road trip in mind…
    Started with the disclaimer and circled up the 8 around YHC in the 85° gloom to start the workout.
    Warm up:

    • Abe Vigodas x 10 IC
    • Grass Grabbers x 10 IC
    • Sun Gods forward x 10 IC
    • Sun Gods reverse x 10 IC
    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Peter Parkers x 15 IC
    • Parker Peters x 15 IC
    • Recovered to our feet


    The Track Thang: Moseyed to the practice track and planked for the 6. Bataan Death March with 3 burpees x 2 laps for 800 meters total.


    The Foundry Thang: Moseyed to the Foundry for 8 stations one full cycle

    • Station 1: Snake Jump
    • Station 2: Big Boy Situps
    • Station 3: Run to track with 3 burpees and return (timer)
    • Station 4: Pull up
    • Station 5: Dips
    • Station 6: Irkins
    • Station 7: Derkins
    • Station 8: Flex Arm Hangs


    The Wall Thang: Mosey to our wall on NOMA and plank for the 6. During plank, YHC held an informal poll to determine name for next exercise. Sunday Mornings or Sunny Sundays? Sunny Sundays was unanimous so we proceeded to do Sunny Sundays.
    Sunny Sundays were brought to us by Gideon from our brethren in Austin. The cycle includes the following:

    Squat with back against the wall in a chair position. 10 air arm presses while holding chair position.

    Go to all fours with hind side to wall for 5 donkey kicks.

    Hold fifth donkey kick and walk legs up the wall into a handstand. Do one handstand body weight press. We rinse and repeated twice for a total of 3 cycles.

     
    The Mary Thang: Moseyed back by flag and circled up for a little Mary:

    • LBC x 25 IC
      • Box cutters x 20 IC
    • Count off
    • Name-O-Rama
    • Announcements
    • Intentions

    Knowing we have a new Iron PAX challenge starting Monday and given the clues to add construction equipment to the back of my truck over the coming week, I decided to go cardio heavy on our workout.

    We lost Chips on the way due to a quick break and unfortunately I didn’t give him my plan so he ran around NOMA until we returned. T-Claps to Chips for not giving up. Also, T-Claps to Gideon for a beastly Flex Arm Hang which to be fair was done during Catfish’s turn to be our timer, but I still think his effort was outstanding.

    Thank you all for the opportunity to lead these incredible men as we start our week. Remember safety and hydration in this heat.

  • Post Iron Pax Beatdown

    With my LVCC brother Screw Top still nursing an injury I was asked again to do a relief Q which I gladly accepted. I spent Tuesday night scrolling through the Exicon for some suggestions and found something new (for me) and remembered something that I had not done in a while.

    14 PAX gathered at the our usual spot in Roosevelt Mall. I can’t speak for everyone but I was still feeling the effects of the Iron Pax beatdown from Monday so burpees, jump lunges, and sit ups were not to be on the menu for today. Disclaimer was given and off we moseyed to the track for warm up.

    Warm Up:

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Grassgrabbers x 10 IC
    • Self Love x 15 IC
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each IC
    • Figure 4 piriformis stretch x 15 sec hold each leg

    Tha Thang #1:

    Following warm-up we moseyed back to Roosevelt Mall where the 14 members were split into 2 groups for a little Route 66. I hadn’t done this exercise routine in months so I figured it was just as good a time as any to break it back out. On 1 side of the mall PAX would do derkins increasing reps with each bench. On the other side PAX would perform step ups (1 is 1 for each leg) with increasing reps each bench. Plank and wait for the 6 at the end of the mall.

    Tha Thang #2:

    PAX moseyed to the back of NOMA where were again splint into groups. Since we had 14 men we were splint into 2 groups of 3 and 2 groups of 4 for Triple Check. PAX #1 perform The People’s Chair and PAX #2 planks while PAX #3 runs around NOMA. Upon PAX #3’s return to the start everyone rotate until each member of the group has performed a round in all 3 positions. Rinse and repeat 2 more times so each PAX will have performed 3 rounds in all 3 positions total.

    Tha Thang #3:

    Mosey back to the mall where we reversed our Route 66. All PAX that had performed derkins now did step ups and vice versa. Suggestion was thrown out that we do the reps in descending order which I obliged. The PAX performing step up seemed to take a bit longer so t-claps for the PAX performing derkins to get some Mary in while waiting.

    Mosey back to the flag for some Mary for all:

    • Freddy Mercury’s x 15 IC
    • Dying Cockroaches x 15 IC
    • Penguins x 15 IC

    Count-off, name-o-rama, annoucements, intentions, sweaty ball of man. Once again it was a pleasure to lead the men in a beatdown that was hopefully enjoyable but challenging.

  • It’s a Race!

    16 men arrived to stomp through the streets of New Orleans this morning, but YHC had other plans. YHC has enjoyed tracking his endurance and capabilities through the IronPax challenge, H8, and bi-annual F3NOLA races. YHC thought it was time to throw in another way to measure himself and his brethren.

    Going forward whenever YHC Qs the 610 Stomp, the workout will be a 3 mile race followed by some fun and games. YHC’s hope is that the Pax will be able to track their time and distance to see how F3 has made us faster and stronger on this journey.

    The Thang

    Standard disclaimer and mosey from the flag to the track. The men lined up for an F3 race – 3 miles without using the inner two lanes in the track. This resulted in a 3.2 mile race. The times were as follows:

    1. Shuffles 20:16
    2. Screw Top 23:06
    3. Belloq 23:43
    4. Rudy 23:47
    5. Tua 24:11
    6. Sacagawea 24:15
    7. Jesus Juice 24:51
    8. Rev Sox 25:28
    9. Col. Mustard 27:20
    10. Swiss Miss 28:08
    11. Kuch 27:25 – 11 laps
    12. War Eagle 27:52 – 11 laps
    13. Tool 28:08 – 11 laps
    14. Complicated 25:05 – 10 laps
    15. Hokie Pokey 26:37 – 10 laps
    16. Hawg 27:04 – 10 laps

    The Game

    The Pax moseyed through the mud and over to the football field for some ultimate frisbee. The Pax counted off by two and spit into 2 teams. The skins blew out the shirts by a score of 28-7. The winners were YHC, Jesus Juice, War Eagle, Tua, Col Mustard, Kuch, and someone else on my team that I can’t remember.

    The Conclusion

    Count-Off, Name-O-Rama, and Prayer at the flag. Thank for playing some games and letting YHC score some touchdowns.

    -Rev Sox

  • Thank you USMC Joey Bovia!

    Introduction to USMC Joey Bovia

    Sgt. Joseph “Joey” Bovia, USMC, was a native of Metairie, Louisiana.  He served in the Marine Corps for six years.  Sgt. Bovia volunteered for two deployments to Iraq and his last deployment to Afghanistan.  He was the leader of a combat engineering platoon and was building an outpost to protect an elementary school in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when his unit was attacked by insurgents.  Sgt.  Bovia was killed in action on August 31, 2010, in the name of freedom and protection.  

    On August 31, 2019, 10 men of F3 (including FNG Complicated) converged at Muscleship to pay tribute to this hometown hero through a workout, on the 9th anniversary of his sacrifice, created by Sgt. Bovia’s fellow Marines. Sgt. Bovia’s mom was notified of the F3 tribute and she sent her deepest gratitude to the men of F3.  Sgt. Bovia’s mom was assured Joey’s sacrifice would not be forgotten. She expressed her greatest fear is people forgetting Joey.

    Warm up

    After an introduction to USMC Joey Bovia, we left the flag and took a slow mosey over to The Foundry to warm up.

    Once there, Hokie Pokey solicited assistance from @SOGO for Warm Ups as SOGO has not held his VQ yet.

    31 SSH, 8 Merkins, 8 Hill Billies and 8 Arm Circles Forward and Backward for the Warm up

    The Tribute ~ 8 stations 31 reps “plus bonus burpees ;-)” in teams of 2 split between 5 stations and then rotating through the 8 stations

    • Hand Release Merkins
    • Low Slow Squats
    • Pull ups with FULL extension at bottom
    • Alabama Ass Kickers
    • Floyd Mayweathers
    • Dips ensuring you get DEEP into the dip
    • Lunges (stepping way out front and getting the back knee down)
    • Mule Kicks (possibly being renamed Sunday Mornings)
    • PLUS we started and ended with 5 burpees and 3 burpees at each transition … 7 transitions x 3 = 21 +5 +5 = 31

    There was leftover time so we added some bonuses of planks while our partner ran to the track and back. We concluded by moseying back to the fountain in front of NOMA for step ups and then closing with a circle of 8 minutes of Mary

    Thank you Joey Bovia & COT

    We closed with our Circle of Trust and once again lifting up RED (Remembering Everyone Deployed) and giving special thanks to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. We also lifted up @Bell Hop and @Rudy’s Dad and all those dealing with cancer! We also lifted up all those dealing with Hurricane Dorian and those traveling this weekend.

    We also welcomed our FNG, Steven Arthur with the F3 name of Complicated which is way to complicated for me to explain here.

    As always, I thank my F3 brothers for the opportunity to push myself and hopefully aid in each of you pushing yourselves through my attempt to challenge you at your fitness level while still being able to Q.

    Thank you USMC Joey Bovia (RIP 08.31.10)
    The tribute with 8 stations and 31 reps at each station

  • Four play Fore

    There were no holes-in-one, but this is two backblasts-in-one…

    FIRST: Typical turnout at Wolfpack Mountain with a sub-krewe of ruckers showing up for their training. Those compact packs easily outweigh a fully stocked golf bag. Serious respect.

    Quick warm-up with SSH, mountain climbers, grass grabbers, and then mosey to WPM. YHC intended for all the golf participants to captain a team in order to earn mulligans during the tournament later that morning. Alas, only FracSac and yours truly emerged so we divided in half.

    Bulk of the workout was ascending WPM with stops every level for 5 burpees, 10 merkins, and 20 air squats. Team FracSac prevailed and we regathered at the top for a round of Mary. Walking lounges across the top level, down the stairs to the benches for dips, and hustle back to the flag. Plank to failure rounded things out.

    SECOND: Four of us played golf. It was a blast.

    These guys played golf.
    (l-r: Babyface, FracSac, Quiche, Nine Lives)

    Although turnout was lighter than expected, we still managed to have a great time. Quiche had to peel off shortly after the turn, I had to bail on 16 (s-l-o-w), but by all reports Babyface and FracSac finished out the 18 and crowned themselves inaugural co-champions.

    Despite the low numbers, we learned a lot about the timing and format so be on the lookout for future golf details. We’re thinking next time will be in the late fall in City Park on a Saturday. More to come on that front…

    SYITG,

    Nine Lives