F3 New Orleans

Tag: Milestone Marsh

  • Round Robin!!!

    With a recent resurgence of F3 posters at the Marsh,  this Gloom would provide the opportunity for a round robin of sorts.. Knowing the Q was out on IR would allow for a mixed bag of goodies like rolling through a drive thru at Red Robin to get your hand into a greasy bag of salty fries on a summer vacation across an interstate near you.. 6 PAX descended on the Marsh to become better and to start the week off right. Captain-Chief Sparkles with push broom in hand cleared the center court circle as if he were Prepping for an inspection by the city of Mandeville recreational department. As in BB past we know the Marsh never lacks the need for a pickup of sorts following a festive weekend. Grabbing the BULL @OCHO YHC took the lead to assemble the men around center court and extend his thoughts of a round robin for this beatdown.. Taking the first 15-20 min YHC started the PAX with a warmup series of 20 IC Seal Jacks, 20 IC  Monkey Humpers (yes in the warmup Bushwacker), 15 IC Windmills, 10 IC Armcircles out forward/up inward and reversed for a total of 4 rounds. Concluded with 20 IC SSH..

    thang

    As I peered into the thoughts of  fellow brethren Bushwacker we took to the baseline for 5 Burpees sprint the court, 10 Burpees sprint the court 15 Burpees sprint the court 20 Burpees. Rinsed and repeated with 2 other exercises  same counts Steve’s Groiners and completed with Squats. Passed the baton to Bushwacker for a core crippling experience. Partnered up for 200 flutterkicks, 200 Putin’s, 200 Bicycles and 500 LBCs. Partner 1 ran suicides free throw, half court, free throw and other baseline while partner 2 took to his six keeping count with partner assuming count upon return till completion of each exercise. Upon completion baton handed off to Waterpik for the closeout who makes sure we get in the ISI on the day or at least conquer some to make the thought of getting the rest done seem like a cake walk. We head to the play ground area of mulch at the suggestion of the author as he recalled producing a a blister of sorts on his dairy air a few weeks back and was not looking to replicate.. On arrival we take to our 6 for 20 rower sit-ups, 10 Merkins, 20 more rower sit-ups finishing with 20 Merkins..

    Assemble back to the shiny circle for count off, announcements and COT..

    YHC lead us in prayer.

    Appreciate the post F3 brethren and the accountability to become a better man..

    👍🏻✌🏻👊🏻

  • The Marsh Was HOPPIN’ today, Boys!

    When YHC pulled up at the always quiet, very dark Basketball Court at the corner of Livingston and Lamarque, a spot known by our band of F3 brothers as the Milestone Marsh, there was a car slowly patrolling the area.  Driving slowly, first it passed on Livingston street, then it turned on Lamarque street, and finally the car parked next to mine and a guy got out.  But the person who emerged wasnt one of the regulars -Bushwacker, Shooter, etc.  This was a new car, an unknown one. After a while, we all can recognize our F3 compadres as soon as they round the corner by the car they drive.  We can always identify who drives what car, from which direction they usually come, where they usually park, and… if they usually come in HOT or not to the workouts.  (Unless you are OCHO and you sleep at the AO!).  By this time, I was trying to figure out who this guy was, certain, at some point, I would recognize him.  But, he was avoiding eye contact, and keeping his distance as I was at center court, our normal meeting point.  Long story short, he was an FNG, who lived in Hawaii, went to Duke University, and now works for Chevron.  He was EH’ed by co-worker, Sea Bass.  Here’s a BIG WELCOME to FNG, COCONUTS!

    Warmup: SSH, HK, BK, GM, WM all IC x 15

    Mosey to Lakefront for some action at RIPS:

    One member of Pax runs up and over the staircase at Rips while the other members do an exercise.  When one man goes up and over, the next man goes, until everyone is done.  Then, rinse and repeat with a new exercise.  Here’s a sampling, a taste, if you will, of the exercises: merkins, squats, lunges, flutterkicks, calf raises, Rocky Balboa’s.

    Mosey across the street to seawall.

    Starting at sidewalk, one man does an animal walk (this morning it was bearcrawl, crabwalk, duck walk). to seawall while Pax does an exercise (Al Gore, lunges). Sorry, Turbo, for leaving out the Ostrich walk, and OCHO for not sprinkling in your monkey humpers.

    Then it was ISI (rower sit-ups) sets of 10 x 4, alternating w/ 10 merkins x 4.

    Mosey back to Marsh.  COT, and YHC prayed us out!

    Thanks, fellas, for letting me lead and making me a better version of myself.

    Waterpik

     

  • Fear Does Not Exist In This Dojo

    Except maybe when it comes to 10k merkins in a month.  And with approximately 6660 merkins bearing down on us ISI challengers for the remainder of the month, it was really no surprise what would be on today’s menu.  YHC would try to alter the flavor slightly, but whether it’s in the form of Bushwacker-sans’ Deck o’ Death (416 straight), or Maverick-sans’ Mucho Chesto Extravaganza (200+ spread over the course of an hour), it all ultimately goes down the same (with a lot of grunting and groaning).  

    Paint The Fence: GWs, Toe Touches, Imperial Squat Walkers, Windmills, SSHs, Seal Jacks.

    Wax on, Wax Off: Time to leave the premises.  PAX would be running 5 blocks to the lakefront, alternating between 2 exercises at each intersection: 25x merkins / 40x IC flutter kicks.  Who knew it’d be the flutter kicks that got us?

    Sweep The Leg:  Once to the lakefront, lunge walk to the sea wall.  Gusty winds and crashing waves gave this beatdown some much-needed gravitas, as we stood  atop the wall to do calf raises (40x IC).  Even though it was a dicey proposition considering the balance issues YHC was having with the calf raises, we elected to stay atop the sea wall for Jump Squats, x20.  No one pulled a Waterboy and jumped in.  “Balance good, everything good.  Balance bad, better pack up and go home.”  Then Knee-Ups (each leg, 15x), Bulgarians (each leg 15x), and finally some Monkey Humpers to finish off the leg portion of this beatdown.

    No Mercy: Next up, a merkin/groiner combo.  Ascending first (up to 5 merks / 5 groaners) and then back down.  

    Going Home In A Body Bag: And finally, that’s right, we returned the way we came – alternating between 25 merkins and 40 flutters at each intersection.  T-claps to Pik, who’s nursing a couple injuries and somehow made it through unscathed. A minute late but finished with the COT, Pik prayed us out.

    As you can probably tell, this was a retroactively-themed beatdown.  Maybe one day I’ll prepare a bit more and pick up where Grundy-san left off with his well-thought out movie themed beatdown.  But for now, this’ll have to do.  Thanks guys, sincerely, for coming out and for the opportunity to lead.  Not just today but for the past year and a half.  It’s gonna be tough not having this group of guys to lean on for support for the next few months.  I won’t get too sappy, but let’s just say that going back to the days of sad clown workouts will indeed be… sad.   You guys will be missed.

    But I’ll see you men in October, hopefully in time for the Northshore Half.  Until then… sayonara, gents.

  • Murph Marsh Monday!

    YHC arrived at the AO to an early return of vacationer Waterpic..  Figured with the holiday the Marsh would not produce many at this beatdown and unfortunately my thoughts were correct as many chose the path of Fartsacking on this memorable day we call Memorial Day!! Time is of the essence and we have non to spare with the Murph on the agenda. So let’s pay homage to our Veterans past and present. Also let us remember the sacrifices put forth by both themselves, as well as their families..

    Simple explanation broken in 2 sets. 5 rounds of 10 pull-ups, 20 Merkins and 30 Squats. Followed by 1 mile run. R/R. Of course some modifications needed through this challenging beatdown, with much respect to Lt. Murph knowing he did no modification as well as completed with a ruck sack in tow…

    Returning we count, name and pray!!

    Waterpic recommendation of a little F2 coffateria afterwards proved just as rewarding!!

    Apprecite the post Waterpic!!

    ✌🏻 till the next beatdown!!

  • One of the main reasons I like F3…

    With the clock ticking down toward 5 am, it began to look like I would be Qing a sad clown workout.  But to use a baseball analogy, Shooter barely got under the tag as he came in real hot having hit the snooze button on the alarm clock after a restless night of sleep. Shooter in tow, we got right down to it.

     

    Warmup : SSH x 20 IC, GM x 20 IC, High Knees x 20 IC, Butt Kicks x 20 IC

    Let’s get to the workout:

    Mosey to Lakefront and back…then do 3 minutes of merkins, hello dollies, and squats.  10 reps apiece in succession until time is up.

    Then:

    Mosey to Lakefront and back…this time it was freak nasties, wife pleasers and calf raises.  10 reps apiece again for 3 minutes.

    Then: you guessed it, mosey to Lakefront and back…this time it was australian pull-ups, leg raises and one leg squats and touch  opposite hand to foot (I’m sure there’s a name for this)

    Thanks to Shooter for posting after a poor night’s sleep and making me a better man just trying to keep up with him.

    COT. Shooter prayed us out!

    F3…I believe it nurtures and encourages leadership.  This is one of the things I like most about it and one of the reasons I keep coming back.  Thanks for letting me lead today and becoming a better man in the process.

    Waterpik

  • The Day Time Stood Still

    For those individuals who showed up (the few, the proud, the elite) and didn’t break the first rule of the Northshore F3 rulebook of not skipping Mondays, this beatdown will not soon escape their minds. It was a beatdown that made it seem as if time stopped working. A day time seemed to call in sick. It will be remembered as the day time stood still.

    Let the warmup begin:

    Warmup

    SSH 25 IC

    25 Side lunge jump shots OYO

    Forward arm circles 15 IC

    Backward arm circles 15 IC

    Overhead claps 15 IC

    10 IC Chicken Claps

    10 OYO Merkins

     

    The Thang

    We started on right lower corner of the court and sprint to the top right corner, shuffle to left corner, backpedal to lower left corner, and shuffle right to the start. Continue for 5 laps.

    We then did some suicides! 2 series of regular suicides (fine, I guess we can get a 10 count). We then did a bear crawl suicide!!!

     

    After that we did a basketball conditioning drill. The objective was the sprint the width of the court back and forth with the goal of completing 12 trips in 55 seconds (every subsequent attempt we would add 5 seconds to account for fatigue). If we didn’t all make it then there was a penalty of 10 burpees for everyone. First trip came in at 56 seconds.

    Penalty burpees!!!!

    After that series it felt like we had to almost be nearing a close right? Nah. It’s only about 15 minutes in!!! Like I said before, time decided to take Monday off and hit the snooze button. Well not us!!!

    In between the sprints we would head over to the benches for some step ups and Freak Nasties (15 IC).

    We also did some Wilt Chamberlin’s. He famously scored 100 points in a game so we did 100 reps of 4 different exercises in succession.

    100 lbcs

    100 squats

    100 flutter kicks each leg

    100 Merkins.

    Time still was not out so we did one last thing to wrap it up, 1 minute dead man’s hold (feet six inches off of ground).

    Time finally decided to end the insanity as the three numbers I was looking for flashed on my watch (5, 4, 5). Time’s up!!!

    What a great effort from all of the men who showed up today. It’s an honor and a blessing to call you friends.

    Thanks for letting me lead!

  • NO FEAR!…or trash

    What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

    -Vincent Van Gough

    Fear, largely based on the unknown, keeps us from even attempting things sometimes. Courage is the power to conquer the fear despite the unknown. Fear can pervade every area of our lives, as we can all attest, and for YHC, fear inundated me on several levels as I put together today’s beatdown – and even more so as I pulled up to the Marsh in the gloom! You see, I can’t shake the words of our illustrious brother Turbo Tax following the 2 year convergence when he told us, in essence, to stop phoning it in and be the F3 that we want by, among other things, putting thought and preparation into our beatdowns. With that in mind, I fearfully sprinkled just a little bit of Bushwacker Orgininality Spice on a piece of paper, worried that, as good as it sounded now, it may end up a flop. YHC may end up pushed past his breaking point. The PAX may snicker and scoff at the ridiculous commands presented to them and secretly ridicule the Wacker (as the southshore did with the ISI week of 100s). But courage overcame the baseless fears, and the trusty Men of the Marsh met to Master another Monday ass whoopin!

    Pre-Thang

    Slow dynamic stretching seemed in order so…

    All IC:

    Toe Touches x30

    Imperial Walkers x30

    Abe Vigodas x20

    Thang

    Off to the playground equipment for…

    (all OYO)

    5 pull ups, 10squats, 25 merkins, 50 LBCs

    5 chin ups, 10 lunges (5each leg),25 freak nasties, 50 heal pulses

    5Australian pull ups, 10 1 leg squats (5 each leg), 25 derkins, 50 putins

     

    Back to the B Ball court and partnered up for my own take on  B.O.M.B.S. called B.I.T.E. M.E.

    50 Burpees

    100Iron Hulks (1:4 ratio of merkins to air presses)

    The Two Amigos (wall squat back to back and walk from one end of the court and back)

    200 E2K (ankle over knee oblique crunch, 100 each side)

    Empty Wheelbarrow (crab walk with partner holding your legs)

    Wrap Up

    Pushing the limits of temporal respect, we finished sweaty sore and exhausted with COT and a prayer from the Sharp Dressed Pik himself.

    LAGNIAPPE (or Post Thang)

    As has proudly become somewhat of an F3 northshore tradition, we scoured the Marsh like kids on an easter egg hunt for all the litter we could find, so as to leave the place better than it was when we arrived.

    Thank you gentlemen for your friendship, comaraderie, and following my lead, despite my fears

     

    A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature

    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

     

    As a post script for those of you still reading, I just read an article that says a meta study comprised of 2 Harvard studies that followed over 700 men for 75 years testing all aspects of health and happiness found “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” — Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. We, gentlemen, will live forever!

  • They came in WAVES

    It was a good showing this morning with 8 men posting at the resurgent Milestone Marsh.

    Warmarama:

    SSH

    GM

    WM -all IC x 20

    Workout/ Thang:

    Circle Up at Half Court for some WAVE ACTION:

    Merkin Wave to 200

    Shoulder Tap Wave to 100

    Plank Jack Wave to 100

    Burpee Wave to 100 while PAX holds Al Gore.

    Mosey to Baseline for some old fashioned Line Drills, Bear Crawls, Crab Walks, Jog Backwards, Karoake Drills, Mountain Climbers, Shuffle Feet.

    Mosey to Bushwacker’s “Childrens Playground Equipment.”

    Break up into 2 groups. Half the PAX does pullups (max out), while the other half do 20 Hello Dollies IC.  Switch.

    Half the group does Australian Pullups (max out), while the other half does Wife Pleasers x 20 IC. Switch.

    ISI:  Hold Plank for as long as possible.

    Mosey back to center court for countarama, nameorama, and Captain Sparkles prayed us out.

    Thanks for making me a better man and embracing the challenge of a brand new week with me, men!

    Waterpik

  • Was that supposed to be fun?

    Arrived at the Marsh still feeling the effects of Chewys “Easy beatdown?” I will remind him of the NOT in that one on Tuesday. Out of the dark 3 PAX come rolling in, as if trying to synchronize their arrival like Olympic dancers in the pool. Chatter quickly fills the air as we circle up at mid court reminiscing of activities experienced over the weekend. Bushwacker sharing stories of himself and Big Tuna EHing F3 cub scouts on a recent camp out. Waterpik sharing a recent overtime defeat with his 2.0, to what sounds like a semi pro soccer club out of NOLA. “May we see some ID please?” All though your YHC could have chosen to stay in the coffateria like experience of chatter, I know that’s not what these brothers rubbed the crustaceans from their eyes on this Gloom, so let’s have some fun..

    warmup

    20IC TT

    20IC Lawn mowers

    20 IC SSH

    20 IC SJ

    20 IC total top shelf put ups grabbing the imaginary box and shelving, which brought the chuckles out of Bushwacker.

    20 IC BK

    thang

    Lined up on baseline for bunny hop Burpees to the other baseline concluding with 20 Merkins OYO. R/R

    Next we did 90 degree jump squats front/left/right sprint to free throw, half court, free throw and baseline performing jump squats at each before back pedaling from each.

    Suicide bear crawl next returning with a crabwalk. At this point the QIC acknowledged the PAX as being overachievers as they waited my return in last.

    Taken it to the streets for four corners. We moseyed to first corner completing 8 count body builders OYO to 10, next corner Sister Mary Catherine’s to 20, third corner FK IC to 30 and upon return completing 40 Merkins OYO.

    The Marsh would not be complete without utilizing the play ground equipment awarded us from the great City of Mandeville. Partnered up for 3 sets of pull-ups (10) while other 2 PAX held plank switching out til completion.

    4 Mins remaining we took to our six for 20 IC Freddie Mercuries, 20 IC Hello Dolly’s and finished with 30 sec of ISI LBCs.

    count off, announcements, COT

    Thanks to Waterpik for praying us out!!

    Great start to the week my F3 brothers, appreciate the lead!!

  • Long Duk Dong and The Marsh Revival

    After a weeklong hiatus from F3, spent hanging with Captain Hollywood aboard the USS Kidd, it felt really good to be back in action this morning.  First off, t-claps to Bushwhacker, who responded promptly to Turbo’s call to EH more FNG’s, producing one the very next beatdown at the near-comatose Marsh.  Just more proof that Wacker’s gift of gab is good for more than just entertaining the men of F3.  Our FNG – Big Tuna – jokingly introduced himself with his own nickname (one that had us all laughing but won’t be printed here for posterity), a nickname that had YHC thinking of a classic character from 1980’s cinema (and yes, likely an offensive cliche) – Long Duk Dong, aka “The Donger.” YHC slightly regretted not bringing this up, because upon further reflection on the car ride home, YHC decided ‘The Donger’ is a pretty great nickname.  So like that time when Rudy wanted someone to be named Apples and willed it to be, YHC may be bringing The Donger out again in the near future.  But…  ‘Big Tuna’ fit the bill just as well, and he was a very welcome addition to the crew this morning, single-handedly getting the Marsh back up on its feet with SIX  PAX posting.  It felt like old times.  Now if we could get Splice back out there, this AO’s days of solo posts could be a thing of the past.

    Warm-Up: SSH, IW’s, Windmills, Toe Touches, Good Mornings, High Knees, Butt Kicks, all IC at or around 20x.

    The Thang:  Back at the Classic a few weeks ago, Shooter, Sparkles, Wacker and YHC passed the practice track in City Park and remembered fondly the 14 hours of pain and misery known as the Grow Ruck.  YHC is pretty sure the Marsh was borne out of that experience, where many of us first experienced the army physical fitness test.  Butt Splice opened the Milestone Marsh for business soon after, pushing us to set a benchmark each week with 1 minute of merkins, 1 minute of sit-ups, and a timed 1 mile run.  Keep your count and try to improve each week.  It’s been a while, and YHC thought it’d be nice to bring back a component of that.  So we began with:

    1 minute, as many merkins as possible.  The Pelican knocked it out of the park, so he took a water break while the rest of us hit 10x burpees, OYO.

    Next up, 1 minute of sit-ups.  YHC is not sure who won the count on this one, but it didn’t matter too much since there was no time for another 10 burpees, gotta keep this train moving.  So we moseyed onward, to the lakefront.

    Stop at the sea wall for: Irkins x10 IC / BSS L x10 IC / Freak Nasties x 10 IC / BSS R x10 IC / Derkins x10 IC.

    Then, on to the legendary stairs of Rips for a twist on an old classic: PAX performs Rocky Balboas, while one man begins the ascent, performing 10x calf raises as he hits each step.  At around the 3rd step, he call the next man up.  And so on, until the entire crew is lined up staggered on the stairs, pulsing up and down like a bunch of madmen.  Once you hit the top platform, knock out 10x merkins and then begin the descent, this time performing 10x squats on each step.  As each man completes the journey, he returns to the curb to continue with the Rocky Balboas until the entire PAX has completed the routine.

    Finally, mosey back to the Marsh to hit an abbreviated Mary: Leg Raises 15x IC, Putins 20x IC.

    Countdown, Nameorama and naming of the FNG, Announcements and Pelican prayed us out.  Welcome Big Tuna, great to see a new man post at 0500 on a Monday morning!  Hope to see you out there again soon.  And thanks guys for the opportunity to lead and for the motivation to get out of bed, I appreciate it!