F3 New Orleans

Tag: Kuch

  • Mile-O-Merkins and Mile-O-Mary at Okwata

    We had a great morning at Okwata to get some miles for the AO in RRR VII, but we couldn’t forget our tradition of full-body workouts. So, disclaimer and then mosey to the Center of the Universe (COTU) for the warm up: 25 x SSH and Imperial Walkers, 15 x Abe Vigoda, 10 F/R Sun Gods, 15 x Peter Parker, 15 x Parker Peter, 15 x Concrete Grabbers and then off to Da Thang.

    From a secret starting point on the levee, YHC explained the Mile-O-Merkins. The course was a half-mile out and half-mile back with 12 stations. At each station, the PAX did a set of merkins with descending reps starting at 12. This went so well that the PAX then did a Mile-O-Mary with LBCs at each station. By the end of the workout, with moseying plus the
    Mile-O-Merkins and Mile-O-Mary, the PAX covered 3 miles.

    Lord, teach me to be generous!

    Surge

  • Sometimes You Gotta Call an Audible

    I was looking forward to Q’ing Rock City for the first time, so I took some time over the weekend to plan out a beatdown for the PAX. The beatdown was to take place on the track & field inside Pontiff Park; however, due to the rain that came down over the weekend & Monday morning, the track/field were both too #moist for us to use that day. As a result, I had to call an audible & come up with something else for us to do on the fly. Fortunately, on the car ride to Rock City that morning Kuch had mentioned to me that the track/field were too wet to use on Friday as well when he went to the Uptowner, and he told me that they had used the jogging path instead since it was a good bit dryer. So with that fresh in my mind, I issued the disclaimer to the PAX & then the workout commenced.

    • Warm Up: Mosey on the jogging path to the shelter about 250 meters away. Then we lined up around the perimeter of the shelter and did:
    • 25x Side Straddle Hops
    • 20x imperial squat walkers
    • 20x grass grabbers
    • 21x arm circles (11 forward, 10 backward)  
    • The Thang: We mosey’d from the shelter back to the rock pile, and then each PAX grabbed a rock. The Pax was then split up into 2 groups:
    • Group 1: ran 200 meters out & then 200 meters back to the rock pile
    • Group 2: while Group 1 was running, Group 2 was doing the following circuit:
    • 5 standing bench press with the rock
    • 10 curls with the rock
    • 15 shoulder press with the rock
    • 20 squats with the rock
    • _
    • When Group 1 was done with the 400 meter run, we switched, and then Group 2 ran the 400 meters while Group 1 did the circuit. Each group did the 400 meter run & the circuit 3 times. After that, we changed it up a bit and had:
    • Group 1: run 200 meters out & 200 meters back, but this time it was an Indian Run with each PAX carrying their rock during the run
    • Group 2: while Group 1 was doing the Indian Run with their rocks, Group 2 did merkins using their rocks. 10 merkins with the left hand on the rock, and then 10 merkins with the right hand on the rock, and then rinse & repeat as many times as possible before Group 1 got back. Then we switched & had Group 2 do the Indian Run with the rock & Group 1 do the rock merkins
    • After that, we circled up on the grass & did the following exercises in cadence:
    • 15x bench press with the rock
    • 20x bent over rows with the rock
    • 15x American Hammer (with or without the rock)
    • 20x Rocky Balboa’s using the rock
    • 10x burpees (no rock)

    After these exercises were done, Bogey pointed out that time was winding down, so we returned our rocks and Mosey’d back to the flag. Fortunately for the PAX, we still had 2 minutes left when the six reached the flag, so we each did 10 inchworm burpees on our own & then according to the $5.99 watch I ordered off of Amazon last week, we had reached 6:15am (however; according to Rudy’s watch, it was only 6:14am, so he was grumbling that the beatdown had ended prematurely. Classic Rudy, am I right).

    COT: Next we did the count-off, the name-o-rama, & announcements. Hand Grenada had a birthday last week, but the PAX decided a good old fashioned pat on the back would suffice in lieu of having the PAX sing happy birthday to him in unison. Next we did intentions & then closed with a prayer. Thanks for letting me lead, fellas. Enjoyed it!

  • The Muscleship Launch

    “Without continual growth and progress. such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” —Benjamin Franklin

    The Muscleship blasted off in solid fashion this Saturday, thanks in part to the 16 PAX flight crew that hopped on board for the maiden voyage.  This new workout and AO was strategically engineered to accomodate the every growing number of men eager to start their Saturdays with a F3 beatdown.  Several guys got in some RRR miles before blast off…T-claps!  As the clock approached 6:30, it was good to see several reguklars trickle in and a few koters to boot.  After a brief description of what was in store, and of course the disclaimer, we made our way over to the front of NOMA to get started.

    Warmup Part 1: IWx20, WMx20, LSSx20, SSAC (Sixty Second Arm Circles, from the F3 website…T-plank Left ACx15, LBCx15, T-plank Right ACx15), capped off with IPSWx20.  In the middle of this we noticed The Mothership trying to invade our territory in the nearby field so we upped the volume on cadence in an effort to claim dominance.  Before departing, YHC asked the PAX to start thinking of some good jokes, hoping Bogey would be the star of the show.      

    Warmup Part 2:   Short mosey to the banks of The Big Lake for some Planking and Merkins.  We lined up all holding a high plank, then 5 Merkins, then a joke, then 4 Merkins, joke, 3 Merkins, joke, 2 Merkins….at this point The Mothership did a fly by so our last joke was centered around them, then 1 last Merkin.   

    Foundry:  Short mosey to The Foundry where YHC realized the PAX was too large for plan A so we settled for Plan B:  Split up with group #1 doing 3 rounds of PIMPS (timer) near the pull-up bars and group #2 doing BLIMPS AMRAP in the grass.  Flip flop with a “pimp daddy” being chosen in each group to be the timer. Lots of intense stuff here with very little opportunity for small talk.

    Lake-North Side:  Next stop was another stretch of shoreline for Inchworm Burpess x10, joke, x8, joke(s), x6, dirty joke, x4, another dirty joke, x2, maybe a final joke. 

    Lake-South Side:  After a pit stop at the water hydrant to hydrate, we made our way over to the raised ledge along The Big Lake track.  We rotated duties with mutiple PAX running cadence and various counts for LLSUx20, Dipsx20, RLSUx20, Derkins x15…breather….rinse and repeat with the highlight being Bogey and Abacus peforming a duet in tandem. 

    Lelong Drive for Cinco de Cardio:  Here we gatherded for five 1-minute rounds of various cardio-rich exercises which proved to be much more manly than the moseying and frolicking that our counterparts were doing with The Mothership.  We dug deep and did Semi-Circle Mountain Climbers, Rocky Balboas, Partner Plank Slaps, IPSW, and Groiners as the finale. 

    One minute left so back to the flag to call it a morning.  COT, annoucements, prayer, and some admiration for the new steel encased shovel flag that may be worthy of it’s own name.  Also, YHC thanked the PAX for posting and making The Muscleship launch a success.  YHC wasn’t sure what to expect knowing so many of us enjoy and look forward to The Mothership each week and trying to split that up is no easy feat.  The F3 vatican has always encouraged an “addition by division” concept when trying to grow so it was good to see all the PAX on board with that.  YHC also mentioned a workout several years ago where a fellow PAX Q’d with some new exercises and routines, which worked well, and after talked about one of the strengths of F3 is that the group always supports those trying new things, typically with little or no heckling from the peanut gallery.  Thanks to the PAX for pushing hard and helping to make it a good one! 

    Tool       

  • Everyone Needs a Friend from St. Bernard

    • Kuch: next, we’re going to do 11’s, but a little different
    • Da Parish: How is this 11’s?
    • K: Well you go back and forth and do a different exercise on each side of the levee like 11’s, but we’re going to do it together.
    • DP: So you don’t count to 11?
    • K: Well, No
    • DP: Those are not 11’s
    • K: Look, I’m new here, okay?

    Cool, dry mornings at Okwata with a hint of a sunrise thrown in truly make the 5 AM wake-up call worth every minute of lost sleep. At 5:30 this morning, as we started out over the dark course ahead, I mumbled out a brief disclaimer and off we went into the 40 degree gloom for a bit of a leg workout. T-claps to Rudy who had already run a couple miles at that point, a decision he may have later come to regret…

    WARMUP

    • IW’s x 24 (everyone always starts with SSH, so we switched it up a little)
    • SSHx25 (a very little in fact)
    • Windmills x 15
    • Parker Peter x 25
    • 5 8-count bodybuilders OYO just for a bit of practice…
    • Mosey across the street and down the lakefront past canal for…

    FIRST EXERCISE

    Route 55, 8-count bodybuilders OUT, Low-Slow-Squats IN

    Route 55 v2, Low-Slow-Squats OUT, 8-count bodybuilders IN

    The nice thing about 8-count bodybuilder is, if you do enough of them, they make burpees feel like side straddle hops. I felt it was important to put this contrast on full display for the PAX in attendance, so we moseyed to the foot of canal for….

    SECOND EXERCISE

    “11’s”

    All Pax do one exercise for one minute on one side of the levee, and then scale the levee together to the other side, where we do another exercise for one minute, then back, rinse and repeat. We managed to get in:

    • Burpees – Monkey Humpers
    • Merkins – Squats
    • Shoulder Taps – Alternating leg lunges
    • Going up forwards got a little dull, so we did the last round Bernie Sanders, and then moseyed to the flag and got back right at 6:15 or so….

    It’s truly a privilege to lead this group.

  • RevSox’s Birthday Party

    The news spread slowly at first but soon gained speed and momentum. The beatdown on January 28th was sure to be epic, inspiring, and convoluted with poor instructions. YHC’s birthday Q was coming and the Pax was coming out in numbers to celebrate. F3 Nation arrived in record numbers with men from Kenner, River Ridge, Metairie, Uptown, and Tallahassee to celebrate the birthday of own of their own.

    YHC began the workout with a welcome to his birthday party, the standard disclaimer, and a mosey over to the open grass next to rock pile.

    Warm-Up

    Since YHC was born 36 years ago, YHC gave us a brief trip back to 1983, a year of Pop Culture glory.

    SSH – 36

    Imperial Walkers – 20 in honor of the release of the Return of the Jedi

    Peter Parkers – 20 in honor of the comic debut of Spider-Ham

    Parker Peters – 20 because Spider-Ham hasn’t receive enough love over the last 36 years

    Playing at the Park

    The Pax was invited to go pick up one party favor (a rock) for each guest and head over to the playground for some play. Each Pax member paired up with their best friend as we tackled an exercise rotation that took far too long to explain because YHC did not anticipate numbers swelling above 20. The Pax was stationed by pairs around the playground to workout at their spot while one pair knocked out 10 pull-ups as the timer. The Pax would rotate to the next spot after each set of 10 pull-ups were completed.

    The exercise stations: Pull-ups, Partner Shrugs #1, Partner Shrugs #2, Partner Curls #1, Partner Curls #2, Underdogs, Triceps Ext, Thrusters, Bicycles, Flutterkicks, Burpees, and 8 count body builders.

    Once every pair had hit every station, the Pax grabbed their rocks and headed over to the football field.

    The Suicide

    YHC wanted to relive his old soccer practices from high school, so this required suicides, Rock City style.

    The pax lined up at the end line with their rocks and ran it to 1/4 length of the field, stopped for 15 shoulder presses, and dropped the rock. Then the pax ran back to the end line and returned to grab the rock and take it mid-field for 15 curls and dropped the rock. Then the pax ran back to the end line and returned to grab the rock and take it to 3/4 length of the field, stopped for 15 low slow squats, and dropped the rock. Finally the pax ran back to the end line and returned to grab the rock and take it to the end of the field for 15 bench presses, and ran the rock back to the starting point.

    Ultimate Frisbee

    Since this was YHC’s birthday, he wanted to celebrate with some fun. There is no better F3 fun than Ultimate Frisbee with some merkins thrown in. The Pax split into two teams (shirts vs. skins). The game was standard Ultimate Frisbee rules with the addition of 5 merkins every time there was a turnover and 10 merkins for every score.

    YHC’s team (the shirts) won a close, hard-fought battle with Scantron coming in big with two scores in a 3-2 victory!

    The Close

    The Pax took their rocks back to the pile and moseyed to the flag. TClaps to Left Eye for pushing it to the end so he could get a little extra plank in before the six arrived. This is what F3 is all about, pushing each other each morning in the gloom, so we can be stronger and faster this week than the week before.

    Counted off for a Pax of 24 to set a new Rock City attendance record.

    Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions (keep praying for the Ranger in need, Cheese Fries’ family with the passing of his friend, and the growth of our men), and we came in close for the sweaty ball of man.

    Thank you for the opportunity to lead and the birthday wishes, thanks to you all 36 will be better than 35,

    RevSox

  • The Day After…

    After a quick disclaimer at the flag, the pax moved to flat ground in close proximity to the rock pile for the following warm up exercises:

    SSH – 20, Self Love – 10, Arm Circles (Forward) – 10 (backwards)- 10, Windmills – 15, Imperial Walkers – 20

    After the Pax chose their rock, we moseyed to the football field, circled up and performed the following excercises, rinsed and repeated with a lap around the track after each set.

    Thrusters – 20, Curls – 20, Triceps – 15

    The pax then slow moseyed to the goal line on our side of the football field, and partnered up for the following:

    Partner 1 sprinted approximately 50 yards and back while partner 2 did the following excerises with their rock. The partners switched after each exercise until completed.

    Squat Thursters, Curls, Triceps, Low Slow Squats

    We rinsed and repeated with the following exercises:

    Goblet Squats, LBCs, Curls, Triceps

    Once completed, the PAX circled up for some MARY to close the workout. Exercises completed were as follows:

    Penguins – 20, Flutter Kicks – 20, Freedom Hammers – 20, Dying Cockroach – 20,

    We proceeded to return our rocks, and circle up at the flag for count off, nameorama, announcements, and closing prayer.

  • YaMomAnEm’s VQ

    Warm Up: 30 side straddle hops, 25 imperial walkers, 20 plankjacks, arm circles (10 forward, 10 backwards)

    The Thang: Route 66 – there was some debate on whether or not there were 10 or 11 planters on the lakefront. Turns out i miscounted, and there was actually only 10 planters. One Pax ran to each of the ten planters and did an increasing number of decline merkins (ended with 10 decline merkins on the 10th planter), while the other Pax did dying cockroaches. The Pax partnered up and alternated until all 10 planters had been completed. We then mosey’d down the lakefront and did a set of BLIMPS (5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 imperial walkers, 20 merkins, 25plankjacks, 30 squats). We then mosey’d to the levee and did 2 sets of Bernie Sanders while the Pax at the bottom of the levee did burpees. We then mosey’d to the flag for the COT

  • Amnesty’s New Sneaks

    Amnesty made a special request for a dry workout. He recently purchased some new sneaks, and hoped to keep them mud free. The request was honored. After all, it’s Amnesty. His new neon green sneakers offered a beacon of light on this gloomy morning. 13 men showed up for the challenge. The usual disclaimer and off we go.


    Warm-up COP:

    SSH x 20 IC, IW x 20 IC, Plank Jacks, x 20 IC, Windmills x 10 IC, Arm Circles 10 forward 10 backward IC, Mountain climbers x 20 IC

    Route 66 down Roosevelt Mall: Dips. 5 dips at first bench, increase 1 dip each bench, ending at 17.

    Next we moseyed to NOMA.

    Right leg power-ups x 20 IC, Left leg power-ups x 20 IC. Then a Merkin ladder up the steps of NOMA, with 8 Merkins on the bottom step and 1 Merkin at the top. Back to the fountain for 10 box jumps, right leg step-ups x 20 IC, left leg step-ups x 20 IC. And back to the steps to repeat another Merkin ladder.

    Next, partner up for Dora 1-2-3. 100 Floyd Mayweathers, 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s, while the other Pax runs around NOMA.

    Then we moseyed back to the flag, stopping halfway for some Mary. Flutter kicks x 20 IC, Hello Dolly x 20 IC, Dying cockroach x 20 IC. We ended back at the flag, and succeeded in our mission. We kept Amnesty’s sneakers dry. Count-off, Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer. Thanks for letting me lead.

  • In the Morning when you Rise Unwillingly – WHO DAT!

    In the morning when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present- I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm? – The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, Book 5.

    This pretty much summed up my feelings on getting out of bed this morning, and also serves as a constant reminder as to why to do so on a regular basis. After all, was I put here to sleep?

    After having an appropriate amount of fun at the game yesterday but having fallen victim to the bartender several times making my drinks a bit too strong, I was a little fuzzy, hence the counting.

    Warmup:

    SSHx20; Peter Parkerx14; Imperial Walkersx20; Grass Grabbersx14; Arm, Circlesx20; Windmillsx14 … or something like that.

    The rules: We are all happy that our Saints vanquished Philly and some of its loud obnoxious fans (F3 brotherhood excluded, of course) from the Crescent City. During the workout, if someone gets a little excited about the Saints and wants to let everyone know how much they love their Saints, they are encouraged to yell out “WHO DAT”, at which point the PAX, regardless of whether they are carrying a rock (or boulder, like Triple Shift), will drop what they are doing – not on Hawg’s bare feet – and do 6 burpees to celebrate the margin of victory. All PAX are encouraged to support the Saints in this fashion throughout the workout whenever they feel it’s appropriate.

    First St[WHO DAT!]ation:

    And we were off. An unexpected but enjoyable part of the workout was the regular cheers of Who Dat! while I attempted to explain the next station. Well done.

    Traverse the field, stopping at each tree to remember one of the Saints’ notable vanquished foes as follows. Bring your rock:

    5 burpees for the Buccaneers; 10 curls for Carolina; 15 second count Al Gore for Atlanta; 20 Merkins for Minnesota; 25 Rows for the Rams; 30 Elf on the shelves for the Eagles. People’s chair /plank for 6, and then head back doing the same thing swapping out the Curls and Elves on the shelf due to some mumble chatter.

    Second Station

    Finish the job, like the Saints finished off the Eagles in the playoffs after beating them during the season as well.

    11’s. Deadlift on one side, run 5 trees with the rock, and complete the movement with a clean and press.

    Finale

    Some quick abs, American Hammers w/ rockx10, Dying cockroachesx20 and lbc’sx20 oyo and Mosey quickly to flag to arrive right at 6:15.

    We prayed for Terrabyte and Mathlete and their family, Brad Brechtel, and several other F3 brothers and friends of F3 brothers.

    Total Who Dat Count: At least 10

    Honored to lead this group. T-claps to all for all the Who Dats and Triple Shift for regularly choosing the meteor that hit Arizona for his rock and refusing to quit.

    Thanks for letting me Q. – Kuch

  • Championship Monday

    Championship Monday

    Clemson vs Alabama
    January 7th, 2019

    For may this was just a normal Monday. For YHC, this is Championship Monday! The Alabama Crimson Tide vs. that orange team in South Carolina. Living in New Orleans, I have come to obtain a lot of respect for the boys in Baton Rouge, but at Rock City, there seems to be a lot of mumble chatter about the Fighting Irish. The Irish live by one motto:

    Image result for work like a champion everyday

    Unfortunately, playing like a champion at times gets you a point in the loss column, but hey at least they look good doing it. Alabama, on the other hand, has learned to be champions in everything they do, every day. Championships don’t start on the football field. Champions try to push themselves in everything. Coach Saban said it best:

    Image result for work like a champion everyday alabama

    So today the disclaimer--work like a champion. For YHC, that ended at the warm-up.

    Warm-Up

    SSH X 18…no make that 20.

    Hillbillies X 0 (now this where the train really derailed) Q can’t call a cadence to save his life. “Must be from Bama,” they said.

    Mountain Climbers X 25

    Arm Circles X 10 (forwards and backwards)

    The important thing to remember is that champions sometimes have to take one on the chin first. Like in 2009, when the #1 ranked Alabama had to block a field goal at the end of the game to beat unranked Tennessee 12-10.

    Or when the 2011 Alabama team got cheated out of a 9-6 game at home against LSU (I still argue OJ Howard caught that ball on the goal line)…

    Or when the 2012 Alabama team had to recover from getting sucker punched by Johnny Football 29-24 at home…

    Or when the 2015 Alabama team lost to Ole Miss in week three 43-37…

    Or when the 2017 Alabama team lost to that cow college in the Iron Bowl…

    You get it. Sometimes champions get sucker punched, but it is not how you start it is how you finish. So let’s look beyond a botched warm-up and move on to a championship style beatdown.

    The Thang

    Grab a rock and mosey to the football field for an extended version of Dora. Pair up. As a team, complete the following:

    Curls X 250

    Squats X 200

    Rows X 150

    Shoulder Presses X 100

    Burpees X 50

    One Pax member works while the other Pax member runs a 40-yard dash and back.

    Cowbell and KimChi finished early rewarding all who finished 100 LBCs.

    Post-Thang

    The PAX really did not like this idea. “I thought that was the workout,” they moaned. (Maybe in Gainesville or Knoxville but not here).

    Bear crawl or lunge walk 20 yards and do 10 merkins, 20 more yards 10 merkins. (Rinse and Repeat).

    Return Rock and mosey back to flag.

    “We still have two minutes. On your six.”

    Flutter Kicks X 20

    Penguins X 25

    “We still have 30 seconds. I paid for 45 minutes,” said Rev Sox

    5 Burpees OYO

    COUNTERAMA

    NAMERAMA– Welcome FNG Rougarou (from Cajun Country)

    COT- Lord Jesus, allow us to seek you in everything we do. Make us the husbands, fathers, and coworkers that you have called us to be. In Jesus name, Amen.

    Gentlemen, thank you once again for allowing me to lead. I could not do the things I do without the support of my F3 Family.