F3 New Orleans

Tag: Mahatma

  • Running With Scissors

    I had been looking forward to this (1 day after) Birthday Q. Since I am a Physical Therapist I wanted to introduce a few exercises that I have my patients perform in the clinic or suped-up modifications of those exercises. I had considered using the great lawn for a portion of the beatdown but due to the amount of rain we had received and the lack of any animal crawls I opted to stay dry (of water, not sweat) which I hope the PAX appreciated. 8 men gathered in the humid, muggy, but sunny morning, the disclaimer was given, and off we moseyed to the pavilion by the Festival Grounds as everyone carried their soon to be announced coupons while I carried the scissors so said coupons could be distributed.

    Warm Up:

    • Side straddle hops x 25
    • Windmills x 10
    • Self love x 10
    • Hillbillies x 20
    • Mountain climbers x 20

    Thang #1:

    I was inspired by 2 recent beatdowns by Mr. Awesome and Kuch that included Tabata. So I performed a dry run the night before with a free app I downloaded and chose a 90s grunge playlist on Amazon Prime for 20 sec of exercise and 10 sec of rest for a group of arm exercises all using Theraband. We performed 2 rounds, with some questionable grunge selections by Amazon (Goo Goo Dolls and Dave Matthews Band are not 90s grunge).

    • Shoulder flexion (forward straight arm raise)
    • T’s/airplanes (separate arms apart while maintaining arms at shoulder level)
    • External rotation (elbows by your side and swing open arms like a gate)
    • Shoulder abduction (lateral straight arm raise)
    • Biceps curls
    • Triceps extension

    Thang #2:

    With everyone’s shoulders burning it was time to work on some legs. After shifting the picnic tables out of the way, PAX lined up on one end of the pavilion and performed a series of exercises back and forth across the pavilion

    • Lunge with twist, there and back
    • Toe walks, there
    • Heel walks, back
    • Monster walks with Theraband around ankles, forward there and retro back
    • Lateral monster walks with Theraband around ankles, alternate direction after a lap

    Thang #3:

    Everyone’s quads and gluts seemed to be burning after those so PAX circled back up for a some merkin and plank variations all performed in cadence

    • Merkin plus x 15
    • Merkin into side plank x 10
    • Plank on elbows into a birddog position (lifting alternate arm and leg) x 10

    At this point my arms were getting worn out and I was slipping from my sweat on the pavilion concrete so I made slight change in my exercise order. Time for some People’s Chair x 30 sec each, with modifications of course to target different muscle groups.

    • Feet flat on ground
    • Shift weight towards heels to fire the gluts
    • Shift weight towards balls of the feet to fire the quads
    • Single leg with right leg in air
    • Single leg with left leg in air

    Following this I went back and completed by merkin/plank exercise group with side planks into a straight leg raise x 10 each side.

    Thang #4:

    Following our pavilion portion of the beatdown we moseyed over to the deck in front of Big Lake while carrying coupons (and scissors of course). All exercises done in cadence.

    • Prone T’s/airplanes (Theraband optional) x 15 ; my apologies to the tall people/people with long arms
    • Prone W’s x 15
    • Dips x 15
    • Step ups x 15; 1 set leading with right then 1 set leading with left leg
    • High rises x 15

    Yeah, I named an exercise after myself. I have a lot of patients at the clinic perform wife pleasers. However, I do not call them wife pleasers. They are called bridges. Wife pleasers/bridges seemed too simple for this group of men so I modified it into something different. Starting position is in a crab walk, then lift your hips/butt into the air while also lifting 1 leg in the air. So it’s a suped-up single leg wife pleaser. Hope this makes sense to anyone reading this nonsense.

    Mosey back to the Muscleship shovelflag for some static hamstring, butterfly, and figure-4 piriformis stretching x 15 sec hold for each. Count off, name-o-rama, annoucements, intentions, and sweaty ball of man prayer. Thanks to all PAX for showing up. Hope everyone was as sore and fatigued as I was.

  • Hoke no like Cinder Block. Hoke Smash.

    On a warm, muggy morning that serves as a reminder of what’s to come in the next few months, 13 PAX (a Popeye’s record) gathered for YHC’s Q, motivated only by getting better and not missing YHC’s Q…. and maybe because Popeye’s was the ISI point today. Perhaps they knew there would be smashing involved.

    Brief mosey to one of the workout areas with some high knees and butt kicks along the way, followed by a fast-paced warm-up of the following:

    • Imperial Squat Walkers x10
    • SSXx20
    • Arm Circlesx20
    • Parker Peterx20
    • Self love

    The workout

    8 stations using Tabata as a timer (20 seconds on, 10 seconds to rotate)

    • Turkish Get Up’s w/ 10lb Kb (became sweat angels when we “ran out of” a cinder block)
    • Jumping rope (with 2 recently purchased speed ropes, neither of which withstood the workout. This eventually became Rocky Balboas)
    • Pull-ups/hang from pull-up bar
    • Burpees (of course)
    • 8 count bodybuilders (right after burpees because why not?)
    • Dips
    • Jump Squats (side note: while on vacation recently, I attended a yoga class that took place on a raft in the pool. One exercise was jump squats, and let’s just say the instructor’s form was a bit better than mine. He would squat down, jump up, turn 180 degrees in the air, and would drop back into a squat as he landed. This resulted in YHC falling off the raft several times, but being convinced this was the right way to do a jump squat. YHC encouraged everyone to try it this way today.)
    • Curl and press with cinder blocks.

    A couple rounds in, and we were all feeling it, some more than others. And by some, I mean Hokie Pokey, who opted for a demonstration of strength during this exercise. And by demonstration, I mean he smashed the cinder block at his feet, and then stood over it like a DB who had just leveled a receiver coming across the middle. We all applauded this feat of strength, made certain modifications and mental notes, and moved on.

    All in all, I think we got 5 rounds of this Tabata circuit in. For the first 3, we listed to Rage Against the Machine songs, but YHC made the mistake of throwing out a couple song choices to the Pax. Thus, our final round was done to “Video Killed the Radio Star”, compliments of Frac Sac. Thanks?

    We moseyed back to the flag, down a coupon, for some stretching led by Mahatama, and then a bit of planking. We gave thanks for the day, and remembered to appreciate even the hot, muggy days.

    Thanks to our Uptowners, Nip Tuck, Bones and JV who hopped on their flights this morning and made it all the way out to Lafreniere. And thanks for letting me lead. – Kuch

  • H8! #6

    The Thang

    Event: The 6th running of the H8!

    Conditions: 72 degrees, 90% humidity, winds out of the SSE at 4 mph.

    Participants: 30 Pax including, 7 H8!ers, and 14 first timers.

    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 merkins, burpee with 7 merkins, …..burpee with 1 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 just less than 3.5 Miles of Hills
    • 550 Yards of Bear Crawls
    • 36 Burpees
    • 120 Merkins

    We did AMRAP and then moseyed back to the flag.

    The Skinny
    • 12 finishers for a 40% success rate: SOGO, Cowbell, Smooth, Mahatma, 86, Thighs, Mariah, Triple Shift, Dirty Dell, Ya Mom N Dem, Screwtop, and Hawgcycle
    • No one got nine. Who will be the first?
    • I feel like YHC spent most of my energy chirping at Mahatma, at least until the 5th lap at which point he left me far enough behind he couldn’t hear me anymore.
    • I may have to put cones out next time to protect the integrity of the H8!.
    • Rudy had his first DNF at the H8! but it was for medical reasons. His doctor says no burpees. I would like to find a doctor like that.
  • Murph Prep

    Murph Prep

    Fifteen men gathered around 3 shovel flags, disclaimer, and let’s mosey to the track.  Two laps and hit the outdoor gym.  As we grow and build up to a full  Murph, we modified.  After the two laps, begin the pull-ups, merkins and squats.  Four sets of 5 pull-ups, 10 merkins and 15 squats is 1 round.  Run one lap after each round.  After the fifth round, run two laps to get the 2 miles.

    TClaps to the few who completed it.  TClaps to the pax who worked hard to grow and improve.

    Back at the Shovel Flags, countoff , namerama, announcements, shoutouts and a prayer.

  • Inverted BLIMP Pyramids. Or something like that.

    Man, what a beautiful Saturday morning in April. It’s really one of the best months of the year in NOLA. 20 men gathered on this beautiful day for some F3. The usual disclaimer and off we go.

    We moseyed to the great lawn, unusually soggy and muddy on this day, for the warm-up COP:

    • SSH x 20 IC
    • Peter Parkers x 20 IC
    • Abe Vigodas x 10 IC
    • Arm Circles 10 Forward, 10 Backward IC
    • Hill Billies x 20 IC
    • Mountain Climbers x 20 IC

    Next a short jog to the front of NOMA where we crossed paths with the MuscleShip, on their turf. Here YHC distastefully lead the Mothership pax in 10 Monkey Humpers in the general direction of the MuscleShip pax. Sorry @Abacus, not very tasteful of this Q. I do apologize.

    Then we lined up for an inverted BLIMP pyramid along the tree line, or something like that. Exercise, then run to the next tree.

    • 5 Burpees
    • 10 Lunges each leg
    • 15 Imperial Walkers each leg
    • 20 Merkins
    • 25 Plank Jacks
    • 30 Squats
    • 30 Squats
    • 25 Plank Jacks
    • 20 Merkins
    • 15 Imperial Walkers each leg
    • 10 Lunger each leg
    • 5 Burpees

    We moseyed to the end of Lelong Drive for the next COP:

    • Side lunges x 10 IC
    • Low slow squats x 20 IC
    • Tree Huggers x 10 IC

    Then travelled back down the opposite side of Lelong Drive, heading back toward NOMA, with animals on parade. Parade for 6 trees, doing a different animal at each tree. Then a Route 66 back to NOMA, stopping at each street light for 5 jump lunges with each leg.

    Back at NOMA, pair up for 2 rounds of Merkin ladders. One pax does a Merkin ladder up the steps of NOMA, 8 Merkins at the bottom to 1 at the top, while the other pax does alternating step-ups at the fountain. 2 rounds.

    Mosey to the baby foundry. Each pax does 10 pull-ups, 10 dips. 2 rounds.

    Mosey to the fence at Tad Gormley stadium for calf raises. Regular calf raises x 20 IC, toe-in calf raises x 20 IC, toe-out calf raises x 20 IC.

    Finally mosey back to the flag for some hamstring stretches before the finish. Count-off, name-o-rama, intentions, and a prayer. Welcome to our FNG, Donatello. Thank you for letting me lead.

  • Reading emails…

    YHC is not always on the forefront of technology.  Frankly, for all its so-called convenience, it makes us slaves to drudgery and loses the connections that count.  Some call it old, but remember it could be #Respect.  Anyway, thanks to the SkyQ, around 5am this morning, YHC read Reluctant Yankee’s weekly missive to learn that he was to Q at Rock City.  So off to Metry and a flag.  With a goodly showing in the Gloom, the PAX was off after a Disclaimer.

    Warm Up COP:

    • Imperial Squat Walkers x20IC
    • Abe Vigodas x20IC
    • Mountain Climbers x20IC
    • Merkins x20IC
    • Hillbillies

    The Thang

    With rocks, the PAX moseyed to the football field for a COP of 20 overhead lifts, 20 curls, 20 rows, and 20 squats, then a mosey around the track.  Rinse and repeat for 15 reps, then rinse and repeat for 10 reps, and finish with another 5 reps, each time with a mosey around the track.

    Circle of Mary

    • Russian Twist (with rock) x20IC
    • Bench Press (with rock) x20IC
    • Dying Cockroach x20IC
    • Penguin x20IC
    • LBC (with rock) x20IC
    • Flutter kick x20IC
    • Low plank 1 minute
    • J Lo x20IC

    Return the rocks and mosey back to the flag for a countoff, name-o-rama, name our FNG (#TClaps to Fast Tax for getting out his 2.0, who smoked it around the track), and thanks to SkyQ.  Glad I read my email, because I would have otherwise posted at The Skinny.  JV

  • Birthday Q – “FORTY” – “one”

    YHC always gets excited on the days he Q. YHC is very thankful to lead his very first Birthday workout on a beautiful morning. 25 PAX were there to spend this special day with YHC. Usually, YHC sees familiar faces on a WPM Friday, but YHC noticed a few Non-Uptowners traveling to this AO. YHC is very appreciative of the support, including Hokie Pokey’s WPM debut, Mahatma, Bogey, and Jesus Juice. Sandbar made YHC aware of a FNG, later named BugBites. YHC gave his standard disclaimer and off we went!!!

    Warm-ups

    Short mosey to the base of the WPM and did the following in cadence:

    Grass Grabbers x 10

    Windmills x 10

    SSHs x 20

    Self Love x 10

    Mountain Climbers x 20

    The WPM

    Starting at the base (first ramp) of the WPM:

    1.) Partner up. Dora with 300 SSHs. While one PAX was performing the SSHs, the other PAX was running up and down the ramp. Flap Jack until the team finished 300 SSHs.

    2.) Now at the base of the 2nd ramp. Picked a different partner. Dora with 250 King Kong Shoulder Taps. While one PAX was in the plank position doing the shoulder taps, the other PAX was running backwards up the ramp and down. Flap Jack until the team finished 250 shoulder taps.

    3.) Ran through the flat level. However, stopped at each beam (10 per level), and did a burpee with a jump touching the above beam. All the way until the PAX got to the base of the 3rd ramp. Picked another different partner. Dora with 200 LBCs.

    4.) Ran through the flat level. However, stopped at each beam again (10 per level) and did a burpee with a jump touching the above beam. All the way until the PAX got to the base of the 4th ramp. Picked a different partner. While one PAX was lunge walking up the ramp, the other PAX was running backwards up the ramp. Once at the top of the ramp, ran back down the ramp and tagged his partner. Flap Jack. Now the other PAX continued to do the lunge walk where the first PAX left off. Complete the task until the team lunge walked all the way to the top of the ramp.

    5.) Ran through the flat level. However, stopped at each beam again (10 per level) and did a burpee with a jump touching the above beam. All the way until the PAX got to the base of the 5th ramp. Picked a different partner.

    HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Race

    YHC stressed this as a team race. While one PAX was resting and waiting at the base of the ramp, the other PAX was sprinting up the ramp, did 5 Hand-Release Burpees (Hurpees), and sprint back down. Tag your partner and flap jack. YHC stressed to each PAX to give it all on their sprint because each will get a chance to rest in between. Rinse and repeat 4 rounds for each PAX (total of 8 rounds for the team). T-claps to Mahatma & Saban, GSpot & Douille, and Flaming Lips & Quincy for finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively.

    Circled up for a quick Round of Mary:

    Hello Dolly x 20 IC

    Dying Cockroach x 20 IC

    Ran down the stairs back to flag and finished at about 6:17 a.m.

    COT

    Count-O-Rama 25PAX, Name-O-Rama, announcements, intentions. One FNG from Florida. He owns a franchise dealing with mosquito control. Therefore, he was named BugBites. Today we celebrate Peppa’s retirement from the Navy. He has flown F18s for the past 20 years. Thank You for your service and we couldn’t be happier that you and your family moved to NOLA and are a part of this great F3 Nola cult. Thank You all again for the opportunity to lead. Always a pleasure and honor to workout with the PAX. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. SYITG

    “FORTY” – “one”

    King Kong

  • Suicidal Tendencies

    Disclaimer:

    Warmup: SSH x 30, Pe/Pa x 20, AC 15/15, Abe x 15, Pa/Pe x 20, IW x 20

    To the track for Suicides with a twist…and a rock

    First quarter lap – mosey with rock held straight out, drop rock return to start for 5 each…burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers

    Half lap – grab rock at quarter point, mosey with rock overhead to halfway point, drop rock and return to start for 10 each…burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers.

    Three Quarter lap – grab rock at halfway point and mosey with rock held straight out, drop rock at 3/4 point and return to start for 15 each….burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers.

    Full lap – grab rock at 3/4 point and carry overhead to complete full lap, drop rock and return to start for 20 each…burpees, squats, merkins, monkey humpers.

    Tabata – mary style: 8 rounds, alternating between American Hammer and Crunchy Frog.

    COT: CO, Nameorama, anouncements, SI’s, Prayer, xxxoooo’s

  • Coupon H8

    YHC is nothing if not not creative. After employing the pax at Popeyes a couple weeks back to transport coupons back to the flag, and noticing how little fun we all had doing it, the idea of a coupon run was born. Luckily, I overbought pavers a while back for a backyard project, and not wanting to do the walk of shame to return some pavers that each cost about 50 cents, we now have some “square running coupons”. They shall be referred to as the SRC’s henceforth, and they will always have been bought for the good of the F3 Nola pax, not my much smaller than expected backyard project.

    Warmup

    • Mosey to the center of the intersection with some high knees and butt kicks
    • SSHx20
    • Arm circlesx20
    • Parker Peterx20
    • Hold for planking on each hand
    • Open the gate, close the gate
    • LSSx10

    Station 1

    An abbreviated H8 with the SRC’s. Grab 1 in each hand, run to the top of the levee, deposit them, bear crawl across, run down to the bottom, straight back up, bear crawl across, retrieve SRC’s, down to the bottom at Lakeshore Drive for 5 Manmakers w/ the coupons. X 4.

    A few Pax completed 5 and even got in some Bernie Sanders while they waited for the slow guys, i.e., YHC to complete their 4th.

    Station 2

    Indian Run to the end of the levee on the concrete, where we got in a bit of Mary.

    • Crab Cakes x20
    • Absolution x10 (pretty sure I messed this one up again – going to need another demonstration the count, Triple Shift)

    Mosey down the levee and back to the flag, led by our FNG, Chips. Chips was EH’d by Hokie Pokey, and he put in a hell of an effort for his first workout. I saw he posted the next day at The Uptowner as well, so if you have not met him yet, you’ll probably see him soon. He’s a great addition to F3 Nola.

    We also bid farewell to Cowbell, who is going to the Northshore. Our loss, their gain. Cowbell is a quiet leader who pushes hard and helps those around him. Hopefully we’ll SYITG from time to time.

    Thanks for having me. I see the next month is covered, but we have been having some difficulty filling Q’s for Okwata. This is the best time to sign up for Okwata, as the days get longer, and we get absolutely beautiful sunrises over the lake. Show up for an Okwata or two when you can, and then sign up to lead one. With so many options for exercises, it’s truly one of the great AO’s we have. – Kuch

  • Lightening don’t strike twice. Please.

    YCH needed no alarm early Friday. Sky Q took care of that with a pretty spectacular lightening storm that got cranked up around 4:50. I have yet to miss a workout due to weather but I do have a decent amount of mouths to feed so I reached out to Yankee. Yankee let me know he generally sits out the lightening workout but he had a guy in from Chicago and he felt he couldn’t say no. Not wanting any electrocutions on my watch I tapped out a quick message about not judging anyone for sitting out due to lightning. As it turns out storm blew through and was completely done by 5:15 or so. So 23 PAX assembled at St. Charles and Audubon Park. After a quick disclaimer, we were off.

    Warm ups at Palm Circle

    • SSHX20
    • Arm Circles forward and reverse X10 each
    • WMX20
    • PPX20
    • MCX20
    • PPX20

    Mosey to Wolfpack Hill then on to Wolfpack Mountian.

    After warmups we headed to the rarely visited Wolfpack Hill. 2 lines at the base. Indian up. Indian down.At the base of Wolfpack Mountain, you guessed it, 2 lines/ Indian up to the top.

    The Dora Thang Up top

    • Partner up.
    • 1st round 60 burpees. Partner runs to opposite end of garage and back.
    • 2nd round 120 plank jacks, partner runs.
    • 3rd round 240 LBC’s, partner runs.
    • Plank and wait for 6. Inspired by Fracsac I burpeed and waited for 6. Much respect.

    Stairs to the benches

    • Grab a bench.
    • RLSUX20
    • DipsX20
    • LLSUX20
    • DipsX20

    Mosey back to the flag

    We arrive 3 minutes early so Mahatma leads the group in a circle of merks. 10 is the count, 5 is the start from the man next to you. After that with time to burn I offer up more merks. 10 in cadence quickly changed to 15 cause they just feel so damn good.

    We wrap up with COT count off, name o rama, announcements, prayers.

    I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead twice in one week!

    (Also after the beatdown I let everyone on mumblechatter know that because I had shown up i rwas recanting my “no judgement” position to one of full and total judgement.