Calling all Northshore PAX. Prepare yourselves for the Northshore H8. Modeled after the Southshore H8 (but sure to be .01% better and more fun), the Northshore H8 will test your mettle this Saturday, August 4th, at 0630 on the Mandeville Lakefront. You can expect a benchmark workout that will gauge your current fitness level. We’ll run it again in 6 months and, unless you plan on spending the next 6 months on the couch with EiEi, you’ll see marked improvement and be proud of yourself. The H8 involves burpees, merkins, bear crawls and running and will look something like Hawg’s April 19, 2018 beatdown on the Southshore (check out the backblast) but, again, will be slightly better in all respects. Bring your A game and plan on getting some. See you in the Gloom.
Tag: Lakefront
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Back Pain? Okwata!
History tells us that Native Americans referred to what we now call Lake Pontchartrain as Okwata, which means “wide water”. Since history is known to be subjective, YHC is calling upon the dialect from a local tribe of leaders that refers to Okwata as a “cure all”. Not feeling well? Okwata! If YHC were to ask one of our medicine men if this were true, there is no doubt the answer would be yes! Speaking of medicine men, we need a Doogie Howser! But I digress…….
We even have clinical trials, as can be seen in case study #1. One of the Pax complained of back pain, YHC recommended Okwata. Guess what? No more back pain! Take your weekly dose of Okwata, and all will be well. There is one alternative to this miracle natural remedy, but only one. The little known weekly treatment identified as “The Dome Patrol” has great healing qualities, or so it has been reported. Thursdays have so much to offer……
With two shovel flags and 6 Pax anxious to get started, YHC gave the disclaimer, then threw everyone for a loop by going on a mosey away from the fountain! All except Recall, as this was his first post to Okwata. Circle up on some grass where it just felt right for…..Warm Up
SSH IC x 31
IW IC x 15
Abe Vigodas IC x 10
Mountain Climbers IC x 20
Peter Parkers IC x 20
Parker Peter IC x 20
Sun Gods IC x 20 (10 fwd, 10 bwd)Mosey to the corner of Canal and Lakeshore Drive for…
DirtyMacDeuce Okwata Style
Round 1
Merkins IC x 12
Squats IC x 12
Crunchy Frog IC x 12
Indian Run the loop between Lakeshore Drive and Amethyst StreetRound 2
Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 12
Monkey Humpers IC x 12
LBC’s IC x 12
Indian Run the loop between Lakeshore Drive and Amethyst StreetRound 3
Floyd Mayweathers IC x 12
Lunges IC x 12
Putins IC x 12
Indian Run the loop between Lakeshore Drive and Amethyst StreetRound 4
Shoulder taps IC x 12
Jump Squats IC x 12
Flutter Kicks IC x 12
Indian Run the loop between Lakeshore Drive and Amethyst StreetWell done, earned the Pax a slow mosey to the House of Pain for Circuits!
Partner up, three stations
Station 1 – Step ups or box jumps AMRAP
Station 2 – Pull ups AMRAP
Station 3 – Bear crawl up levee, 5 burpees, run back down (timer)
Rinse and repeat with second round timer being:
Kong up the levee, 5 merkins, run back downMosey back to the flag for some Mary
Rower Situps IC x 10 (4 count)
Hello Dolly IC x 20
Tin Snips IC x 20
Rosalita IC x 20
Freddie Mercury IC x 20COT
Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, closed with a prayer to the Sky Q
NMM
It was discovered today that we may not be doing the best job of orientating the new Pax coming into the fold with all the tools available to promote accountability. For example, some Pax don’t know about ISI, which evolved into the discussion of Group Me, which in turn produced a look of “what are you talking about?” That evolved into a discussion about Backblasts, which didn’t produce a different look. Please make an effort to reach out to any newer Pax that may not know about these tools, and let’s fully bring them into the fold. Getting them onto the email is the first step, but let’s not stop there!Thanks for posting with me today!
SYITG
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No U.S.? Who cares! World Cup Soccer–F3 Style
After playing touch football (who remembers those kids riding by, windows down, shouting at us??) on Superbowl Saturday (#Turbo Tax) and half court basketball at the Milestone Marsh during March Madness (#THE Manny), YHC began planning a soccer themed beatdown to coincide with the start of the World Cup. I figured, correctly, that Shooter wouldn’t mind lending his truck to transport my kids’ soccer goal from my front yard to the Mandeville Lakefront. After all, ISI has necessitated a “very chesty” month for our F3 Northshore PAX who are participating, so it seemed a break from the norm was very much in order. And so it was.
Warmup: SSH, High knees, butt kicks. Mosey to the soccer field on the Mandeville Lakefront that you didn’t know about–the F3 Soccer Field, brah!
Let’s get right to it:
Divide the PAX into two teams (shirts and skins—like when we were kids–way before dry-fit, under armour, nike pro combat) and play keep away with the soccer ball in a square grid about 30 x 30 yards. The Goal: each team tries to complete three consecutive passes without losing possession. When that happens, the opposing team gets a penalty exercise–merkins, burpees, groiners (Steve may have been cussed here by a very ‘whacky’ someone if memory serves), squats, sprints, flutterkicks, hello dollys, freak nasties, mountain climbers, sister mary Katherine’s.
After a while and with the competitive juices flowing pretty good among the PAX, YHC began to fear a regrettable, preventable injury, and called for “next goal wins.”
Time for a change of pace, and more penalty exercises.
Let’s do some PK’s:
Each player gets to take a PK. If you miss, or the goalie saves it, your whole team gets a penalty exercise. If you make it, the other team gets a penalty exercise. Rinse and repeat until all players on both teams have taken a PK and played goalie.
Let’s change things up again:
Shots on an Open Net from about 30 yards out. If you miss, the entire PAX gets a penalty exercise. If you make it, everyone rests. Easy enough, right? Not so fast, my friend! Unfortunately, only about 4 people made their shot.
Now it’s time to mosey back to the flag. Indian Run Style.
Count off, naming of FNG, and thanks to Bubba for praying us out!
Welcome, FNG, In-Time! Hope to see you at the beatdowns.
Thanks for following my lead today, men! I look forward to seeing you all in the gloom.
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The Great 8
YHC was going to fall short by a tenth of a point in the ISI challenge for the month of May. But yesterday YHC saw an opportunity to take the lead, but was careful not to taunt Shooter from the Northshore and chance getting crushed! Those NS Pax are relentless! YHC saw that Shooter was also Q’ing this morning, which meant a fartsack by yours truly was not acceptable. Thanks for pushing me hard this month Shooter!
YHC was happy to see 7 others post at Okwata, 7 men committed to improve. There were three shovel flags planted and the clock showed 0530, which could only mean one thing…..brief disclaimer….and mosey…
Mosey around the fountain, carioca left, then right, followed by butt kicks. Circle up on the grassy area in front for:
Warmup
SSH IC x 31 – Hawgcycle gave an explanation of why he uses 31 at Pontiff, which is a tribute to the number 31 worn by the great Wally Pontiff who sadly died too young. YHC has a different reason for the 31, and that is a reference to the ship I served on in the US Navy. It was the USS Strerett CG-31.
The Sterett was 547 feet long, with a compliment of 418 men. I proudly served as part of her crew from December 1988 until April 1992.
IW IC x 20
Abe Vigodas IC x 10
Michael Phelps (Hug Yourself) IC x 10
Sun Gods IC x 20 (10 fwd, 10 back)Mosey to the barre for double shots with Jack Webb
1 merkin followed by 2 air presses (double shots) in the people chair against the barre.
2 merkin……..4 air presses
3 merkin……..6 air presses
you get the idea
10 merkins……20 air pressesMosey to the House of Pain for Circuits
Pair up, four stations
Station 1 – Bear Crawl up levee and complete 5 merkins, run back down (timer)
Station 2 – Squats (AMRAP)
Station 3 – Step Ups (AMRAP)
Station 4 – Pull Ups (AMRAP)
Rinse and RepeatMosey to a steep part of the levee for 11’s
1 Squat Okwata side, run up and over, 10 Burpees opposite side
2 Squat Okwata side, run up and over, 9 Burpees opposite side
You get the idea – always adds up to 11
10 Squats Okwata side, run up and over, 1 Burpees opposite sideThe Pax seemed let down that YHC did not invoke the DirtyMacDeuce this day, and especially because this caused them to miss out on the wonderful Catalina Wine Mixers. YHC can’t leave the Pax wanting, so…
Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10Mosey to the Flag for Mary
Flutter Kicks IC x 20
Hello Dolly IC x 20
Dying Cock Roach IC x 20
Penguins IC x 20
LBC’s IC x 20COT
Count off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, and Closed with a Prayer.Thanks for posting with me today.
NMM
Join us for the summer series next Wednesday night. Check your email and Group Me to find how to contribute as F3 is sponsoring. It’s going to be Epic!SYITG
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Dice of Doom’s Hard Opening and The Battle Old Mandeville
With the winds died down and the hail unscathingly passing us by, it seemed like a good morning to bring out the Dice of Doom for and official hard opening. 12 PAX made sufficient numbers for a team battle of epic proportions.
WARM UP
each x20 IC:
Toe Touches
Windmills
Imperial Walkers
THANG-A-LANG
Ok, so it went down like this – team 1 rolls the dice and then attempts to answer a trivia question for a point. While they perform the resulting exercise, team 2 planked. After each team had a chance to be “plank-in-waiting”, they each took a round to hold and Al Gore instead… and so on and so forth. The team with the most points at the conclusion won the right to casually watch the losing team do an exercise of team 1’s choice to whatever rep count team 2 rolled.
Adding a lil lagniappe to this beat down, the PAX started at the flag and mosied down the lakefront to Marigny for the next roll, then up Marigny 1 block for the next, east 1 block, back south the the lakefront, and finally east to the playground/splash pad for the final roll.
Considering A. this was an idea that YHC was conducting semi-on the fly and B. YHC was also doing all of the exercises along with both teams, the exact numbers and order are a little jumbled in my Wackie mind. However, there were a superlative amount of jump squats, some putins, a WILD Q set of freak nasties, a sparse sampling of merkins, and a round of 50 side straddle hops.
QIC felt that the PAX was enjoying themselves a little too much, as shown by the over-abundance of mumble chatter. Thusly, the whoopin stepped up a notch with and abbreviated version of the B.I.T.E.M.E. (inspred by B.O.M.B.S.) better recognized as B.I.M. – 50 burpees, 100 iron hulks, and 150 moroccan nightclubs. That changed the PAX’s tune, or at least winded them enough to give their gums a little respite.
Broken back into team 1 and 2, the indian run back home commenced. Big props and T claps to Moby who kept moving at his best pace after pre-thanin’ it and recently returning full time from IR. Double respect was duly shown by a majority of the PAX circling back to join Shooter in rolling in with the great White Whale.
MARY
All x20 IC:
LBCs
Flutter Kicks
Freddie Mercury’s
And finally, with a Dice of Doom trivia tie hanging over the PAX like spring-time storm clouds darker than 50 shades of gray (absolutely not erotic!), there was a final showdown still to be played out. Steve representing team1 stood eye to eye – nay, brow to brow with Ei of team 2, as these 2 titans of F3 lore faced off, each with a stare of intense animosity and rivalry that would have slain a fire-breathing dragon! With fists clenched, sinewy muscles taught, and lightening flashing in both of their eyes, their respective teams chomping at the bit with flared nostrils of wild stallions, QIC handed the numbered die to Steve to roll like a steel gauntlet slapping with indignation the faces of each of the battle-worn members of team 2. And what a blow! 50 – there would be no topping it, only another roll of 50 would agonizingly drag this battle out. Alas, it was not to be, for the brave and venerable Ei’s roll, as though time was moving at a near stand-still…..came up a 20. With the sweet taste of victory like honey on their lips, team 1 doled out the harshest penalty to their vanquished foes, BURPEES! As team 2 collapsed to the earth with the weight of the world on their backs to serve their sentence, a ray of sunny good will began to shine when team 1, under no obligation to do so, dropped to salute their worthy foes with planking of of superiorly perfected form.
Ok it wasn’t EXACTLY like that, but more or less.
COT, Bubba prayed us out with solemn vigor, and The sharp-dressed man himself, Waterpik pick up the forth-coming coffee. Many thanks to you both, and to all of the PAX who put forth a mighty effort in the wake of my humble lead!
PS – I’d also like to give special T Claps to the stellar beard that Turbo picked up in Colorado! Clean up the edges a little and you may look like a respectable lawyer of some sort.
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Six Pack at Okwata
YHC arrived at Okwata one year wiser and three flags heavy. The mugginess seems to be coming back, but Okwata delivered us a nice breeze this morning to keep it at bay. With the shovel flags planted, the clock turned 0530, which means it’s time for the disclaimer. Once that’s out of the way, mosey around the mardi gras fountain, carioca left, carioca right, then circle up on the grassy area in front for:
Warm up
SSH x 31 IC (Because that’s just what we do)
IW IC x 15
Abe Vigodas IC x 10Mosey to the levee. No Surge, so it’s ok to bypass the Jack Webb at the Barre……
Levee Routine
This is an OYO routine. 8 Burpees on one side of levee, run up and over, 8 squats on the opposite side. Complete 6 sets. That’s the best YHC could come up with to get to 48, which Rudy caught onto immediately.
Mosey to Canal for:
DirtyMacDeuce
This is a routine of 4 sets of 3 x 12 four count exercises all IC (One chest, one leg and one core) with a lap between each set. Our lap was an Indian Run up and over and back on Canal between Lakeshore Drive and Amethyst Street.
Set One
Merkins x 12
Copperhead Squats x 12
WW2 Situps x 12Indian Run
Set Two
Catalina Wine Mixers x 12 (Ok, so this is a 6 count, but always have to work it in)
Lunges x 12
Tin Snips x 12Indian Run
Set Three
Shoulder Taps x 12
Monkey Humpers x 12
Flutter Kicks x 12Indian Run
Set Four
Copperhead Merkins x 12
Squats x 12
LBC’s x 12Indian Run
Mosey back to the flag for
Mary
Hello Dolly IC x 20
Putin’s IC x 20
Dying Cockroach IC x 20COT
Count off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, and closed with a prayer to the Sky Q. Thanks for posting with me today!
NMM
I received many great birthday wishes from the Pax yesterday, which meant a lot. Thanks for the support, the accountability, and the friendship!
Happy Birthday DaParish!
SYITG!!!
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El Cinco de Dolor y Miseria
Well, as they say… that happened. The FBI physical fitness test pre-thang Q’d by Grundy started promptly at 0545 as promised, but it would require a prodding Bushwacker to keep this thing on schedule. You see, until this morning, none of us (least of all Grundy) realized just how patriotic our lakefront residents were. After knocking out as many sit-ups as possible in a minute, we slow-moseyed down the street looking for Grundy’s starting line… “a bench lined up with an American flag.” Turns out there are a lot of American flags, and a bunch of benches out there. A bit of confused back and forth and finally, worried about respecting the time, Wacker just took off on the 300 meter sprint. The rest of the PAX quickly followed.
T-claps to Grundy who got us out there, and to those men who got up early to complete the PFT: 1 minute of sit-ups, 300 m sprint, max out on merkins, 1.5 miles in less that 12:50. YHC would call out each man individually, but the fog of being thoroughly beaten has settled in, and it’s a miracle I even remembered the 20 PAX who posted today. Not sure who passed and who failed, but all men did admirably and with all the turnover going on at the Bureau these days, it’s a good thing they’ve got some young men like Grundy coming in.
So yeah – 20 PAX this morning! All the EH’ing and warm weather is paying off. FNG’s are rolling in each week and that’s got the rest of us posting more regularly and upping our game. Speaking of upping our game – YHC had sincerely thought last night about doing… well, not an easy beatdown, but maybe a more mild one? But nah…
Alright, enough rambling, here’s what went down:
Warmorama: Toe Touches, Imperial Walkers, Seal Jacks, SSH, Butt Kicks, High Knees, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks. All 20x IC.
The Thang:
Mosey west for a COP: 20x IC side to side plank hops, plank jacks, partner up for jump overs (20 OYO), in-out jump squats, and everyone’s favorite, monkey humpers.
Ei said it best when he noted, “Well, now that we’ve embarrassed ourselves there…” onto the next location! Mosey to the loading dock for what I knew would be a real crowd pleaser: burpees down the street! More mumbling from Bushwacker (you really can’t be fasting that much with all today’s chatter), trying to tell me that I can’t eat an elephant one spoonful at a time, or some such nonsense.
Because there were so many men this morning, YHC decided we’d partner up and P1 would hold plank while P2 burpee’d down the street. It goes like this: burpee with the standard 1 merkin, but on the jump up do a broad jump forward. 2nd burpee has 2 merkins, followed by 2 broad jumps, 3 x 3, and so on, down the road. It was fun. Even better than I imagined on paper.
At about this time a few 10 counts were needed (in espanol for Cinco de Mayo), and then we moved over to the playground for a few stations.
P1 holds a wall sit and does air presses while P2 hits the three padded stations: Sister Mary Katherine’s x15, hand-release merkins, and LBC’s, all single-count x15. After 2 reps each, P1 does heels to heaven while P2 hits the stations, flapjack, 2 reps each.
Next up, formed two lines to indian run back to the flag. Finish up with Hello Dolly’s x25 IC.
Countdown, nameorama, naming of our two FNG’s (welcome Doolittle and Vel-Vito!!), and Splice prayed us out. The only thing that would make this beatdown more complete would be a drive-by from Choppa…
On to the Coffetería, which looked to have a little more action than usual with the table dancing, but you’ll have to check the groupme for that report. A sincere thanks to this great group of men – despite my body’s response, YHC had a great time out there this morning. Keep posting, keep the FNG’s coming, and hey, let’s try to get some of our missing comrades (ahem, Turtle and Bubba) back in action. See you guys out there.
EDIT: One (hopefully) final edit on this unusually long backblast: this was likely Carpool’s final posting as a Northshore resident. As his family makes the trek over to the Woodlands, we wish them nothing but the best. He’s been a great addition to the F3 family over here, and Houston will be lucky to have him. Stay tuned for info on Carpool’s Woodlands launch (potentially mid-July?), would be great if a couple of us could make it out there to support him.
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Northshore at The NOLA Mothership
With the Northshore convergence taking place, YHC wasn’t sure how many Pax would post to the Mothership. Expecting a large presence on the NS, YHC was surprised to find 25 Pax gathered around the 4 shovel flags. YHC was very happy to see 3 FNG’s post, keep up the EH’ing!
YHC decided it would be a good idea to dedicate the Mothership beat down to the Northshore in honor of their 2 year convergence. Since the NS was planning a beat down that would visit each AO, YHC created one as well, with more of a virtual visit to each AO. 0630, so time for the disclaimer, then….
Mosey to the Great Lawn for the Warmup. The Pax will begin and end at the Mothership….
SSH IC x 31
Imp Sq Walkers IC x 10
10 Burpees OYOWith the warmup complete, the Pax took a virtual bike ride to the first AO…
Milestone Marsh
YHC read a BB that had Waterpik doing suicides on the basketball court, so cones were set up to resemble a court for:
Burpee Suicides
Start at base line, sprint to first line, then back to base line for 5 Burpees
Sprint to half court and back to baseline for 5 Burpees
Sprint to 3rd line and back for 5 burpees
Sprint full court and back for 5 BurpeesThe Pax mount their virtual bikes for a ride to the next AO….
Grandmothers House
YHC read a BB where Pelican, Shooter, and Ocho did some 11’s. Using the first and last row of cones…
10 merkins first row, 1 Bobby Hurley last row
9 merkins first row, 2 Bobby Hurley last row
Continue until 1 merkin and 10 Bobby Hurleys.The Pax mount their virtual bikes for a ride to the next AO…
The Gipper
Turbo seems to like sprints, based upon his BB. Using the cones again….
Sprint from first row to last row, and complete 5 burpees, then slow mosey back.
Sprint from first row to third row, then some exercise, 5 merkins maybe…slow mosey back
Sprint from first row to second row, then maybe 5 squats, slow mosey back….
Sprint to last row again, and collect cones on the way back.The Pax mount their virtual bikes for a quick ride to the next AO…
City Hall Scramble
Apparently Bushwacker likes to do a 5k run with Burpees and merkins, according to the BB…..
The Pax did a modified 5k run, stopping near Morning Call for 10 Burpees OYO. The Pax continued to the open lawn
near NOMA where they enjoyed a round of:
Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10 (YHC had to fit them in)
Continue on to the NOMA fountain for:
Freak Nasties IC x 20The Pax mount their virtual bikes for a short ride to the next AO…
Captains Cove
Captain Sparkles really likes to run…..seriously, he has a running AO named after him….that’s cool!
This AO is a 10k run, which the Pax did a modified version…
Line up in two columns on the path that goes around Lagoon Number 7 for:
Bataan Death March!
An Indian Run where the last Pax drops for 5 Burpees, then sprints to the front. Each Pax got to do a set, which took us one lap around the lagoon.The Pax mount their virtual bikes to ride to the final NS AO…
The Lakefront
Steve had a BB where there was some bearcrawls and 8 Count Body Builders…nice
8 Count Body Builders IC x 10
line up at first tree, bear crawl to third tree for 5 Burpees OYO
Bear Crawl to 5th tree
Merkins IC x 10 (4 count)Mary
Flutter Kicks IC x 20
Hello Dolly IC x 20
Rosalitas IC x 20
Tins Snips aka Egg Beaters IC x 20
American Hammer IC x 20
LBC’s IC x 20The Pax mount their virtual bikes and head back to the Mothership Flags, but with a 6:29 arrival, the Pax had time for a quick mosey to the Great Lawn for:
10 Burpees OYOMosey to the Flags
COT
Count Off, Name-O-Rama.
3 FNG’s joined us this day and were brought into the F3 Brotherhood. Welcome Mambi (He’s a hunter, said he harvested Bambi’s brother), Wolverine, an Ohio State alumni, and Recall, who does something with food and beverage.
Intentions, and closed with a prayer.Great coffeteria was enjoyed by all that stayed.
YHC hopes you enjoyed this tribute to our NS brethren. YHC will make it back up there before long.
Thanks for posting with me today, and for pushing me.
NMM
It’s the little things that matter. After the 8 Count Body Builders at the Lakefront AO, YHC was about wiped out. Walleye apparently noticed, and he gave YHC some words of encouragement that proved enough to take it to the finish line. We push each other to improve and to succeed, taking our bodies farther than we thought they could go. That’s F3.
Remember, F3 is an organization of leaders, not an organization with leaders. If you haven’t signed up to Q yet, get your name on the signup sheet.