F3 New Orleans

Tag: Mahatma

  • Holiday Sweet 16 Countdown

    Warmup:  SSH, Windmill, Hillbilly, Imperial Walker, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, Alternating toe taps, Arm Circles

    Moseyed across bridge and back to base of concrete apron across levee

    THANG: On December 16th, we counted down from 16 reps apiece in each circuit (16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2)

    • Burpees base of levee
    • Lunge walk up levee
    • Wall alternating hand plank-ups at top of levee on pumping station levee wall
    • Chair air presses
    • Big bois at base of other side of levee
    • Return to start

    Circle up to close:

    • Modified jack webb with merkin and superman
    • Ring of fire:  Al Gore + Imperial squat walker
    • Ring of fire:  Monkey humper

    Mary:  Freddy mercury, Boats, V-ups, LBCs, Flutters, Dying cockroach, Plank 60s COT, sharing and prayer for us to be better men and to think of one person we could help (make a difference for) during the holiday

  • 2 pax are 10x Better than 1

    Planted the flags and started workout alone.…. but was energized to see Mahatma mosey across the levee a little after the start.  Was admittedly dreading a solo workout the day after Christmas in the cold and wind.

    Warmup:  SSH, Windmill, Hillbilly, Grass grabber, Mountain Climber, Peter Parker, Arm circles

    5 Burpees atop levee, Moseyed to street, 5 burpees, Picked-up coupons and moseyed back to levee, 5 burpees, then onward to pumping station concrete pad

    First Thang:  Declining rep count for each circuit of four exercises 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5

    • Sit-ups
    • Imperial squat walkers
    • Bench press
    • Rocky balboas

    Moseyed ‘cross the bridge and back, and planked 60s to recover

    Second Thang:  Declining rep count for each circuit of two exercises 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 over levee

    • Thrusters with coupon at base of levee
    • 5 Bobby Hurley atop levee going each way
    • 8-counts

    Mary:  windshield wipers, LBC, Hello dolly, flutters, American hammer

    COT, prayer of thanks and for intentions

  • Holiday Black Jack Mile

    ‘twas December 21st so we did 21 exercises, 21 reps apiece, around the 1-mile jogging track carrying rock

    Warmup quick – quick SSH, grass grabber, windmill, arm circles

    Moseyed with rock to 7 stations:

    Station 1

    • Alternating merkins R/L
    • Side squat with rock dip
    • Flutter with rock

    Station 2

    • Rock overhead situps
    • Rows
    • Squats w/ rock

    Station 3

    • Alternating step-ups
    • Dips
    • Decline shoulder taps

    Station 4

    • Thrusters
    • Curls
    • Wife pleaser w/rock

    Station 5

    • Kettle bell
    • Russian twists
    • Hello dolly

    Station 6

    • Plank roll / push rock back and forth r/l
    • Bench press w/feet elevated, legs straight
    • Lunge over hill 21 steps

    Station 7

    • LBCs
    • Al Gore with rock held straight out 21s
    • Bear crawl 21 steps

    Mary:  dying cockroach, Freddy mercury, J Lo, more LBC

    COT, prayer of thanks for Christmas

  • Mothership Party at the Pumpkin Patch

    For the Q I sported a fancy, shiny gold uniform with a big nasty black wig, red headband / wristbands, plus converse tennie’s, and frankenstein tube socks.  I apologized to the pax for having to look at my sweaty ridiculousness for an hour.  Also wanna give credit to Medulla Oblongata for ideas in his Halloween backblast from 2018. I would note that many of us did not have power because Category 2 Zeta had just rolled through.

    After the disclaimer and rallying by the flags, the pax warmed up by the peristyle to 13 reps of SSH, peter parker, grass grabbers, windmill, arm circles, and some ol’ fashioned self-love.

    Moseyed to field aside NOMA to circle up for 8 PUMPKIN exercises, 31 reps apiece:

    P – plank jacks (1 is 1 in cadence)

    U – up/downs on your own (burpee without push-up)

    M – mountain climbers (in cadence, 2 count)

    P – power jacks (in cadence, 1 is 1, legs straight spread with both hands touching ground between legs, than jump up bringing legs together and spreading arms straight out to each side)

    K – kick squats (in cadence, squat then kick right, and vice versa, 2 is 1)

    I – imperial walkers (in cadence)

    N – Nolan Ryans (in cadence, 1 is 1)

    S – sit ups (on your own)

    Moseyed to pumpkin patch where pax picked their real pumpkin or cinder block coupon. Most of these pumpkins were big enough for a legit workout.

    Paired up for modified Dora:

    100x – pumpkin puller (flat on back, knees in air, place pumpkin overhead with arms outstretched on ground, and rotate outstretched arms to touch coupon to knees, then lower again to flat position); partner rifle carry coupon 35 yards to flag and broad jump over coupon 4x

    150x – pumpkin thruster; partner carry pumpkin to flag and then bear crawl around it 1x

    200x – pumpkin flutters (flat on back with pumpkin held straight out in bench press position, with flutter kick 2 is 1); partner carry pumpkin to flag and then do 4 kettle bell swings

    Moseyed back to great lawn for 2 rounds of sprint suicides with four cones, including 5 bobby hurley’s at each cone on 1st round, backpedaling on the return in all reps.

    Circled up at peristyle for Mary

    COT, share and prayer and naming of our lil’ FNG “Super Duper” Cooper Brunet. Triple Shift joined us after biking workout.

  • Who is the Q? Kuch says I am. Ok I’m the Q.

    As PAX arrived at Okwata it was revealed by Kuch that there had not been a Q on the sign up sheet for today. As he is prone to do, Kuch offered up me as the fill in Q. I have done this numerous times in the past and as I am prone to do I accepted. I have not Q’ed much at Okwata as I do find it challenging as the Q but I figured what the hell. Let’s do it.

    Warm-up

    Disclaimer was given and we took off towards the Mardi Gras fountain. While making the circle we did high knees, butt kicks, karaoke facing the levee, and karaoke facing the fountain. Circle up in the grass.

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Windmills x 10 IC
    • Hillbillies x 15 IC
    • Arm circles fwd/rev x 10 each IC
    • Self love x 15 IC
    • Mountain climbers x 20 IC

    Tha Thang #1:

    Mosey over to the House of Pain. Split into 4 groups for 4 stations of exercises (I went solo).

    Station 1: Bernie Sanders up the hill, 5 burpees at the top, and run down (timer)

    Station 2: squats

    Station 3: dips

    Station 4: pull ups

    Rinse and repeat for 2 total rounds.

    Tha Thang #2:

    Stay in our groups for a change in the exercises but the set up is the same.

    Station 1: bear crawl up the hill, 5 burpees at the top, and run down to the bottom (timer)

    Station 2: Reverse lunges

    Station 3: derkins

    Station 4: leg raises while hanging on the pull up bar (thanks to Mahatma for the assist on this exercise as I drew a blank on what to do)

    Tha Thang #3:

    After a 20 sec rest break everyone grabbed some space on the posts for some People’s Chair. 3 rounds for 30 sec with 15 sec rest break in between. The silence during this portion of the beatdown was defeaning.

    Tha Thang #4:

    Time for some 11s. Burpees on one side on the levee, run up and over, and LBCs on the other. 10/1, 9/2, and so on.

    Mosey back to the mythical flag where Mahatma led us in a round of 100s to cap off the day.

    Count off, name-o-rama, announcement, intentions, and COT. Once again it was a pleasure to lead a beatdown even when pushed to do it on the fly at what can be a very challenging AO.

  • Good to be back at Rock City!

    Pontiff Playground maintenance crew must have known Uptowners were loitering in Metry. The gate to our AO spot was locked. But that didn’t stop the persistent PAX… the train tried…. running full speed at 5:25 a.m. …. blocking few PAX to the AO. But regardless, everyone managed to make it to the football field with his beloved rock just in time for the first exercise – 20 SSHs in cadence… leading into the following warm-ups in cadence:

    Windmills x 10, Grass Grabbers x 10, Hill Billies x 15, Forward Arm Circles x 10, Slow Merks x 10, and Self Love x 10.

    After warmups, everyone lined up about 20 yards from the endzone facing the goal posts.

    Round 1 – 10 curls, moseyed to the goal posts and back, 15 curls, moseyed to the goal posts and back, 20 curls. SSHs for the Six.

    Round 2 – same as Round 1 – instead of curls, the exercise was chest presses. At the end of this round, Mahatma did extra homework and ran to the goal posts and back after the last 20 chest presses. Few mumblechatters here mocking Mahatma how he didn’t follow instruction of stopping after the 20 presses. So the Q decided to add more running in the following rounds. Even more mumblechatters by now…. I think mostly from Rude-y.

    Round 3 – moseyed to the goal posts and back, 10 goblet squats, moseyed to the goal posts and back, 15 goblet squats, moseyed to the goal posts and back, 20 goblet squats, moseyed to the goal posts and back. SSHs for the Six.

    Round 4 – same as Round 3, the PAX did 5, 10, and 15 big boy situps with the rock instead of squats.

    Round 5 – same as Round 3, the PAX did 5, 5, and 5 manmakers instead of squats.

    From here on out, the Q shortened the field to about 15 yards instead of 20 yards.

    Round 6 – 5 thrusters, lunge walked with the rock, 10 thrusters, lunge walked back with the rock, finished the round with 15 thrusters. SSHs for the Six.

    Round 7 – 10 Hello Dollys with the rock, overhead carried the rock towards the goal posts, 15 Hello Dollys, overhead carried back with the rock, and finished the round with 20 Hello Dollys. SSHs for the Six.

    7’s – started with 6 burpee jump overs (over the rock), carried the rock to the other side, 1 overhead press. Carried the rock back to original side of the field, 5 burpee jump overs, carried the rock back to the other side and did 2 overhead presses. Rinse and repeat until you finished with 6 over head presses and 1 burpee jump over. SSHs for the Six.

    20 flutterkicks in cadence with the rock.

    Time to return our companions and moseyed back to the flag.

    COT – announcements – new Yoga session at Okwata (Thursday – 5:30 a.m.). Prayers to Willie’s friend and thankful to be out here with the PAX. Never take it for granted that we have the physical and mental strength to do this on a regular basis. SYITG.

    King Kong

  • Us Against H8!

    Conditions: Humid, 74 degrees, Humidity 95%, Wind 8mph from ENE

    Warm-up:  Mosey from the flag to the start.  Warm-up on your own.  No time for SSH or Grass Grabbers or J-Los, we’ve got work to do.

    The Thang:  The H8!  F3 NOLA’s overly complicated, semi-annual, feat of strength.  The stick by which our fitness is measured.    

    Each lap consists of running south to the top of the levee, crossing canal (bear crawling the neutral ground), running south to the bottom of the levee, cross canal and run north to the top of the levee, cross canal (bear crawling the neutral ground), running north down the levee and back across canal to the starting point.  At the starting point you do a descending burp and merk pyramid starting at 8 (burpee with 8 hand release merkins, burpee with 7 hand release merkins, …, burpee with 1 hand release merkin)

    At the end of the 2nd lap the burp and merk pyramid starts at 7, etc.

    The goal is to complete 8 laps in 40 minutes.  According to MapMyRun, each loop is approximately 0.4 miles.  Therefore, to conquer the H8! you will have to do the following in 40 minutes:

    • Run over 3 Miles of Hills
    • 550 Yards of Bear Crawls
    • 36 Burpees
    • 120 Merkins

    NMM

    • The construction at the south base of the levee caused for a slight re-route.  The H8! Committee did a good job of ensuring that the change was slight and the overall distance was not affected so that this fall’s running of the H8! Is considered official. 
    • T-claps to all of the guys coming out for the first time.  I think Heart-A-Quake, Mama’s Pride, Undertaker, Disclaimer, Bieber, Bartman, Catfish, Big Easy, Snooze were all first timers. 
    • I didn’t keep a record of who made it and who didn’t.  I am pretty sure the success rate was just north of 50%.  That’s really good, especially for having so many new guys.  Our fitness continues to accelerate.

    One of the core principles of F3 is that it is open to all men.  But just proclaiming that you are open to all men doesn’t cut it.  We have to be intentional about making sure that we are welcoming to all men and that we are not unintentionally excluding anyone.  There are lots of things that can make men different from one another, but most of them have nothing to do with what F3 is about.  I just mean to say that participating in an F3 workout has nothing to do with what race you are, or what your financial situation is, or what religion you are, etc.  (Side note:  I do think it’s important to think about those things and make sure that we are not being unintentionally exclusive because of the make-up of our Pax.  My point is just that the core principles of F3 workouts could apply to anyone, anywhere).  One thing that does have a lot to do with F3 is fitness level.  That’s why diverse fitness levels have to be considered when planning every workout.  It is important that the guys that have a high level of fitness are getting smoked and it is important the that guys on the lower end of the fitness spectrum are staying with the group and are not being left behind on their own.  I would like to think that we are pretty good across F3 NOLA at making sure that each work out feels like a team event, that we all have a goal of getting better and that we are supporting each other to reach that goal, no matter what our current fitness level is. 

    One of the complaints that I have heard about the Iron Pax Challenge is that it is not consistent with F3 in that way; that it puts the focus on the individual and even worse, ranks the individuals.  Some men  that aren’t at the top feel a sense of embarrassment or shame that they aren’t comparable to the guys at the top. You could make the same argument about the H8!  There’s certainly a sense of completing it and not completing it. 

    Personally I think competition like this is really important.  If you want to run faster, you have to run with faster guys.  In order to accelerate our fitness, we need to be in the back of the pack striving to get to the front.  I enjoy competition and I think it plays an important role in growth.  But I also think that it is important that we work hard to keep the sense of comradery and teamwork that all F3 workouts have.  The H8! Is something we all want to conquer and that we want to help each man conquer. 

    There are a couple of quotes that have stuck with me from the book “Run the Mile You are In:  Finding God in Every Step” by Ryan Hall, the American Record Holder in the half-marathon and the fastest American to ever run the Boston Marathon (2:04).  He said “Competition can be a beautiful thing if we are focused on making ourselves and others better and are not concerned about how we stack up with everyone else…..this is why comparisons in athletics and in life are so fruitless.  When we compare, we miss the joy of the journey as well as the joy of the achievement.”     

    Let’s make sure we keep pushing ourselves and each other, without compromising the joy of the journey.  A common motto at an F3 work out is that it’s “You against You”, and that is very true.  But it is also true that it is “Us against H8!”

  • IS IT NOLAN ROBINSON OR NOLAN RICHARDSON???

    Door Dash was double booked as Q for The View and Rock City, which was not discovered until Sunday night. YHC agreed to cover the Rock City Q so the levee dwellers wouldn’t get short changed.  I can share the love with the levee dwellers next week when YHC is Q at The View.  YHC reflected on a recent beat down from the Northshore that came straight from the Exicon.  13 men braved the 72 degree morning with high humidity. 

    After the standard disclaimer, the PAX moseyed to the nearby football field for the following:   

    Warmup

    All in cadence: SSH x31, GG x15, MC x20, AC (10 forward/10 backwards), and Chinooks

    Thang

    After the warmup, the PAX moseyed to the rock pile to select a rock and was instructed to return to the nearside goal line for further instruction.  War Eagle confused the back line of the end zone with the goal line and was essentially lost in the end zone.  Totally understandable given he is a Bama fan. Bama is clearly confused as to where the goal line, end line, and side lines of the end zone are, as evidenced by Bama’s 2013 loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl which left them out of contention for a third consecutive BCS Championship appearance.  I digress.  You can get the highlight here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLO2SmM9gPw

    Round 1

    YHC had the PAX count off by ones and twos just to make sure they could count to two since the Alabama native got lost in the end zone. The PAX was then instructed to pair up to complete 150 curls followed by 300 Big Boi Sit-ups.  PAX 1 began the exercises at the goal line while PAX 2 ran backwards to the 50 yard line, completed one Bobby Hurley, and sprinted back to the goal line and switched with PAX 1.  A DORA-style format.  A round of Mary was completed by the PAX who finished first, while waiting for everyone to complete. 

    Round 2

    Same format as above completing 150 Merkins and 300 Chest Presses.

    With four minutes to spare, the PAX returned their rocks and moseyed to the flag.  Approximately half of the groups completed Round 2, and the other half came close.  We will strive for full completion by all next time.

    COT: YHC noted he modified the “Nolan Robinson” workout form the Exicon. Hawg, who apparently has the Exicon and Lexicon memorized, was perplexed.  After much thought and debate, he realized it was the “Nola Richardson;” however, since YHC modified the workout, he believes the name should also be modified and stands by “Nolan Robinson” as true and correct!

    Announcements- the H8! is Thursday, but according to mumblechatter, Kuch would prefer to do yoga. 

    Intentions- gratitude, the recent senseless killing of a two year old, healing for the sick and injured, and protection for a local Army National Guard Unit whose one-year deployment began this week. Fast Tax’s son and a close friend of YHC are members of said Unit. It was an honor to lead such HIM, and I am grateful for the opportunity to step up and assist in a time of need.

  • Respect, Respect

    Today’s Q goal was to get a good full body workout and to keep moving. 13 PAX showed up for the beat down.

    At 0530 the warm up began.

    Smurf jacks, Peter Parker’s, Froggies, Parker Peter’s, Don Quixote, Arms circles

    The Thang: 45 secs per exercise, 10 second rest between each.

    Prisoner squat, Jack knife, Hand release pushups, Carolina dry docks, Wife pleasers, Jump Squats, American hammer, Dive bomber pushups, Alternating plank toe touch,

    After completing these workouts for two round we moseyed to the wall for some “line of fire.” First, at the wall, we did Rocky Balboa for a little extra warm up. For the “line of fire” the PAX did a wall sit, while each Pax down the line did 10 donkey kicks. Next round was wall sits, donkey kicks, then they held the high plank. Next, they held the high plank and did shoulder taps. Lastly they held the high plank and did Peter Parker’s. With 3 minutes remaining more Rocky Balboa were due.

    We closed with good spirits and a COT.

  • Rock City 2020-10-05

    Nice cool morning with 10 PAX: Mahatma, Scantron, Jake from State Farm, Jingle Vader, War Eagle, Vagabond, Bogey, Rougarou, Catfish (Q).

    Moseyed to the rock area, grabbed rocks and circled up for SSH, Imperial Squat Walkers, On to faces for Plank Jacks and Peter Parker Peters. Back to feet for 8-counts to complete the warmup.

    Hiked over to the hill for 11s. One side burpees, other side Catalinas, with five thrusters on each pass over the top of the hill. Burned up a lot of time with this one.

    Moseyed back to the rock area. Grabbed some rock curls and did a rock-enhanced round of Failure to Launch (hold Al Gore position while holding rock, Q counts down, jump squat when countdown complete). Moved to sixes for flutter kicks, then back to feet for rock lunges (hold rock while doing lunges). Back to flag for COT.