F3 New Orleans

Tag: Mothership

  • Return of KimChi

    Mothership is the AO where I met other PAX outside of Uptown. I miss those days where we were averaging 20 plus PAX. But because of COVID, as leaders in our community, we added new AOs to thin out the numbers of PAX at each beatdown. Well, 10 strong PAX (one FNG – Two Dollar) showed up this morning, and Bogey made sure I knew that none of my Uptown PAX showed up for my Anniversary Q. When Jingle Vader was coming in hot, I told Bogey “See, there is an Uptowner!” Bogey responded “He’s here every Saturday.”

    I can write about the exercises… we did Dora, partner workout at the Great Lawn, round of Mary…. but the highlight of the day was to see KimChi back. Even better was that I was able to catch up with him during the cleanup. BTW, our area of City Park is beautiful. Well done PAX. I am extremely thankful that I am part of the F3 community. I don’t know where my mental state will be during COVID if I don’t have this. KimChi – none of us can understand what you are going through, but I hope to see you back out regularly. There is no cure for your wounds, but I hope spending an hour with your F3 brothers on a Saturday morning will bring a little joy because it certainly does for me.

    SYITG

    King Kong

  • Glorious Return to the Mothership

    Glorious Return to the Mothership

    YHC was out of town, far from town actually. While working 200 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico on a boat that was running from hurricanes, Catfish stepped up and took YHC’s scheduled Q. Upon reading his backblast, YHC felt motivated to bring something different and challenging. Spoiler alert, it included burpees.

    5 shovel flags marked the spot where 19 Pax posted for a solid beat down. Disclaimer was given amidst mumble chatter emitting from the Pax.

    Mosey to the parking lot toward Marconi, past the putt putt place for a warmup. All IC:

    • SSH x 31
    • Hillbilly’s x 20
    • Abe Vigodas x 10
    • GG x 10
    • Bat wings
      • FWD AC x 20, Seal Claps x 20, BWD AC x 20, OVH Claps x 20, Moroccan Night Club x 31

    10 Burpees OYO

    Mosey to the tool wall

    • Calf Raises IC x 30
    • Monkey Humpers IC x 30

    10 Burpees OYO

    Mosey to the nearby baseball diamond for the next evolution known as Sugar Cookies:

    The goal here was to get the Pax wet, then dirty. Mission accomplished…

    • Superman while kicking feet (AKA Aquaman) IC x 10 completed on the wet grass,
    • Run to the red dirt baseball diamond, complete 10 hand release merkins OYO, followed by 10 Big Boi Situps
    • Run back to the grass and plank and wait for the six.
    • Rinse and Repeat x 3

    10 Burpees OYO

    Mosey to the football field next to the practice track. Here was where YHC ran into the first obstacle of the day. The field was closed and locked. Jumping the fence would not have been a good idea, so change of plans. Mosey to the inner field of the practice field. Quickly set up 10 yard increments using trash, branches, and hurdles. It worked…

    From the Exicon: 1st and 10

    • Start at 10 yard line. Complete 10 merkins and 1 Burpee. Sprint 90 yards, and mosey back to the 20 yard line. Complete 9 merkins and 2 Burpees (always 11). Sprint 80 yards and mosey back to the 30 yard line. Continue until reaching 1 merkin and 10 burpees.

    Line up at approximately the 10 yard line in the tall wet grass for Never Surrender (AKA Genuflect):

    • Hands behind head, elbows out. Down on right knee, then both knees, then stand up. Complete IC x 10
    • Rinse and Repeat with Left leg first IC x 10

    Mosey to the open area of the practice track for some Mary:

    • Dying Cockroach IC x 30
    • Freddie Mercury IC x 10

    Mosey back to the Shovel Flags

    COT with count off, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions and closed with a prayer to the Sky Q.

    NMM

    • YHC was gone for 26 days, and was blessed to have the Pax for support while gone.
    • The warmup was interesting, we had a ball (wiffle ball size) being kicked among the Pax during the evolution. Some kicked better than others…..
    • Jumping over the fence was never really an option. It was a thought, but not an option. Just another example of being prepared to expect the unexpected.
    • The Sugar Cookies were a huge hit…….the grass was prime with morning dew.
    • Thanks to Belloq for taking the second Never Surrender, and for Triple Shift and Thumb War for helping with Mary. YHC started losing his voice…
    • Gabrielle hosted a mini work party to clean up the area around Cafe Du Monde. The Pax performed exceptionally well, but what else would one expect?
    • Coffeteria was enjoyed by many at Cafe Navarre.

    Thanks for allowing me to be part of such a great organization.

    SYITG

  • Burp or Merk – ND Trivia Day

    As most of the PAX may be aware, YHC is a wee bit of an ND fan. And today’s a big day – #1 Clemson coming to town. As most of the PAX are also aware, and happy to remind YHC, Notre Dame does not exactly have a stellar record in these kinds of games. But perhaps the PAX don’t know just how abysmal the record is. They will soon learn.

    Good crowd of 16 at the Mothership. Weather is delightful – summer heat is definitely gone. Just a few orange shirts in the group (looking at you Sogo and Pop Tart). Not sure if they did that just to spite me, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. No other green to be seen among the PAX. I will not forget that.

    The Thang

    Mosey to the lawn in front of NOMA. Start with SSH x27. Why x27? Because 27 years ago was the last Irish victory against a #1 ranked team (ND 31 – FSU 24 in 1993).

    A few other warm ups, then lets introduce the game of “Burps or Merks”. YHC will call on a PAX to answer a question. Answer it correctly? 5 Merks for the PAX. Answer it wrong? 5 Burpees for the PAX.

    And the theme? Notre Dame’s record in the last 20 games against Top 5 competition.

    • How many wins does ND have? Lots of burpees (including doubling up b/c Side Effects repeated a previous incorrect answer) before YHC had to provide the answer: 1 win. Yes, we are 1-19 in our last 20 games. Sigh.
    • Who beat us the most in that span? More burpees until Catfish saved the day – USC has beat us 5 times.
    • Who is the 1 win against? More burpees – until Snooze tossses out the correct answer of Michigan.
    • YHC now tries to end the game to move on, but PAX keep throwing out more teams that beat us. More Merks for right answers, and more Burpees for wrong answers (no, Oklahoma has not had their way against us in this particular streak)

    Finally – enough of those burpees.

    So lets do some more burpees.

    The Current 11 Game Losing Streak

    Yes, ND is currently on an 11 game losing streak against top 5 teams. What else goes with 11? That’s right – the Route 66. 11 Lightposts with burpees. 1 at the first, 2 at the second, etc… (SOGO seemed unclear on the concept so YHC took the time to help by explaining all the way up to 11).

    The Overall Deficit in those 11 Games

    Partner up, for some modified Dora. The total score in that 11 game losing streak? YHC now forgets the actual number but its roughly Bad Guys 380, ND 160. Yes, we are more than doubled up over those 11 games. So lets Dora. 160 Monkey Humpers, 380 LBCs. The other PAX bear crawl 3 trees and run back.

    Then back to the Great Lawn.

    Something Else

    Change of Pace. This week, Sean Connery – the original 007 – passed away. A quick round of Burp or Merk to guess how many James Bond films he was in. 5 Burpees for a wrong guess, then the right answer of “7”.

    • Home Base – Dr. No, the first flick. After each other exercise, return home for 7 Dr. Ws. Thanks Side Effects for the demonstration.
    • The Exercises – around the great lawn, 6 stations for his other six JB flicks. Multiples of 7 for Diamond Merks (Diamonds are Forever), Russian Twists (From Russia with Love) and others.
    • Another quick Burp or Merk for guessing who was 2nd and 3rd in most JB appearances.

    Finally – one of YHC’s favorite time-wasting flicks: The Rock. Sean Connery crawling around under Alcatraz with Nicholas Cage. Lets bear crawl across the lawn.

    Mosey back to the flag. Its 7:30.

    NMM

    Thanks, everyone, for putting up with my never-ending ND drivel. Just hope that ND doesn’t actually win one of these games, as I may become insufferable if that were to happen.

    Its quite humbling, and inspiring to watch this group. You guys are STRONG. Thank you for pushing. SOGO: I heard the “Way To Go Rudy” as you ran back to the center after the Diamond Merks. Those little encouraging words and pushes are what keep me going. I’d encourage all of the PAX to remember that – push, and ENCOURAGE. Remember – leave no man behind, but LEAVE NO MAN WHERE YOU FOUND HIM.

    Prayers especially for Hokie’s Mom. May God be with her, with the whole family, as they start this next journey.

  • 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.

  • Broken Metronome @Mothership

    Mosey down Dreyfous, around the Great Lawn, back on Dreyfous and over the bridge to the Anseman Oak for warmup:

    • SSH
    • Pagodas
    • Grass Grabbers
    • Batwing
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Hill Billys

    Mosey to Solomon Place Path then, bear crawl to Allard Blvd path. LBCs to wait for six.

    Crab Walk to Sherwood Forest Drive path. LBCs to wait for six.

    Lunge walk to corner of Carrollton Ave and City Park Ave.

    Mosey to Dreyfous Meadow for:

    • Dying Cockroaches
    • Real Freddy Mercs
    • Merkins
    • Imperial Walkers
    • LBCs
    • Flutter Kicks

    Mosey to Great for:

    • Dying Cockroaches
    • Real Freddy Mercs
    • Merkins
    • Imperial Walkers
    • LBCs
    • Flutter Kicks
    • Supermans

    One round of Mary Fire

    Mosey back to circle of trust

    Count-off, Name-O-Rama, Intentions, and quick reflection on words attributed to Michelangelo: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” For me, F3 is a tool for this, and for sculpting ourselves physically and mentally. Chipping away at what doesn’t fit. Supporting each other and building our guardrails. Also reflection about my two kids, 6 and 4, and their intense sincerity. We are born sincere, though it can get lost as we age and get a bit more defensive. We can and should re-find it and nurture it.

  • Symmetry and Justice for All

    It went something like this

    Disclaimer

    Warmup in Cadence (IC)

    IWx20 IC

    SSH x 20 IC

    Arm Circles x 10 front IC x 10 back IC

    Peter Parkers x 25 IC

    Low Plank Parker Peters x 20

    10 Burpees on your own (OYO)

    Mosey to NOMA Fountain

    9 burpees on your own

    RL step up 25

    Dips 20

    LL step up 25

    Dips 15

    RL step up 20

    LL Step up 26 – some mumblechatter about symmetry

    Indian run around Big Lake ¾ mile – stopping periodically for 8 then 7 burpees OYO

    Dora 1,2,3, 100 merkins, 200 jump squats, 300 crunches – Pax 1 ran around museum

    Water Break  – 6 burpees OYO and 7 RL step ups IC

    Mosey to tool wall –

    Calf raises IC x 25

    Inward IC x 20

    Outward IC x 15

    Mosey to great Lawn

    5 burpees OYO, 4 burpees OYO, 3 burpees OYO, 2 burpees OYO,  . . . 1 burpee OYO

    Count off, name a rama, announcements, intentions, pledge of allegiance, prayer

  • It was in the cards

    YHC was amazed as the circle kept growing larger and larger this past Saturday as we gathered for what may have been a modern record 31 PAX at the mothership (hopefully soon to be broken).

    The youth movement continued, as we welcomed back Sparky who was joined by his 2.0, an FNG.

    PAX warmup included SSHs (Cadence of 20), Cherry Pickers (20), Imperial Walkers (20), Seal Jacks (20), Arm Circles, and High Knees (20).

    After YHC confirmed he did indeed know East from West (thanks Pik!), PAX moseyed to Rip’s for 8 minutes of alternating rounds 20 Calf Raises and 20 Rocky Balboas, with a trip up and down Rips’ steps sandwiched in between.

    Moving over to the general vicinity of Noah’s Ark, PAX completed what YHC hopes will become his calling “card”: the deck of death! Breaking up into 4 groups, lady luck brought forth the following, depending on suit:

    Pod1: Merkins, Suicide Squats, Six-inch drill, Donkey Kicks

    Pod 2: Burpees, Cooperhead Squats, Crunchy Frogs, Plank Jacks

    Pod 3: Peter Parkers, Sister Mary Catherines, Gas Pumps, Shoulder Taps

    Pod 4: Freak Nastys, Box Jumps, ‘Derkins, Flutter Kicks

    A couple wild cards were also thrown in for good measure, a quick mosey around the Ark, just to prove to Turbo that YHC LOVES running.

    T claps to those who led cadence in each of the groups, especially the 2.0s that have stepped up to keep the older generation motivated.

    Following a quick mosey back to base, PAX wrapped up with a COT and Name-O-Rama, including welcome to SparkPlug. YHC wrapped things up praying us out.

    Another thank you goes out to everyone coming out to sweat (maybe not as badly as me) and enjoy the fellowship. You all push me harder than I thought possible.

  • Respect at The Great Lawn

    Something has been going on in the last couple months that just doesn’t seem right.  I haven’t had proper care for much longer than that, but at least I have good company every week, that is until sometime mid-March.  You see, there is this awesome group of Men that make me feel like I have purpose.  They don’t just sit on me or leave trash all over me.  They really care.  Not like that so called “groundskeeper” that doesn’t know anything about grass.  I’m only about 10 years old, so I’m still trying to figure things out.    

    I’m sorry, let me introduce myself!  I’m the Great Lawn, and I was shown some serious Respect this last Saturday, 16 May.  It’s been rare to see these fine Men gather here as of late, except for F3 Fest, which was a total blast by the way!  That guy Tool really knows how to throw a party….

    The one they call Fracsac gave a disclaimer, had the men count off and remember the numbers, and then brought all 12 Men to my domain Saturday morning in what he referred to as a Phase 1 celebration.  I guess that means F3 is back, which is awesome.  I missed these Men.  Well most of them anyways.  I try not to play favorites, but have you met that Rudy guy?  But I digress……

    There was a warmup:

    • SSH IC x 50 – wait a minute….Why more than 31?  I’m confused
    • IW x 20 IC
    • GG IC x 10
    • AC IC x 20
    • PP IC x 20

    Then they moseyed to one side of me for the first Routine:

    Blimps – Starting on one side, do an exercise, run to the other side of me, do the next exercise, then run back.  You get it, right?

    • Burpees x 10
    • Lunges x 10
    • IW x 15
    • ‘mericans x 20
    • Plank Jacks x 25
    • Squats x 30

    Then he had then split up by even and odd numbers, using the count off from the disclaimer.  It was a real disaster, but so was the Routine:

    Start at each corner…..it was so bad, we’ll just say they did Burpees x 10, and 8 count body builders IC x 10.  Probably something else too, but we just need to get past this one.  I thought this Q was educated……

    Mosey back to one of the corners for next Awesome Routine:

    DirtyMacDeuce!

    Round 1

    • ‘mericans x 12
    • Squats x 12
    • Bigboi situps x 12
    • Run a lap around me

    Round 2

    • Shoulder Taps x 12
    • LBC’s x 12
    • Lunges x 12
    • Run a lap around me

    Round 3

    • Floyd Mayweathers x 12
    • Bonnie Blairs x 12
    • Freddie Mercury x 12
    • Run a lap

    Round 4

    • Cataline wine mixers x 12
    • Jump squats x 12
    • LBT’s x 12
    • Run a lap

    The next Routine was a test of mental fortitude:

    Spoiler alert, it didn’t go well

    The Q would ask for 2 numbers from the pax.  One was for the number of SSH IC, the other was for SSH in silence, ending in unison with the Q.  A failure would result in a penalty.

    After 4 rounds of 10 penalty burpees, the Q called it.  But on the bright side, the Pax got to do 40 more burpees!  Good times!

    Finished with some Mary.

    Ended with a COT

    I overheard some new Respect from the Pax, apparently the one they call Fracsac turned 50!  Wow, how did that happen?

    That must have been a real downer to turn 50 during a pandemic.  As it turns out, that guy had a pretty awesome day.  After enjoying some coffeteria at the re-opened Café Navarre, several of the Pax surprised him with a drive by birthday and visit!  What an awesome organization F3 is!  I wish I could get up and join them.  Maybe someone will put some good grass on me……

    SYITG

    Coffeteria at Cafe Navarre
    Birthday Drive By
    Birthday Ride By
    Awesome F2 Surprise

  • Last Mothership Before COVID-19 Changes Everything

    Back in January, I have already heard about the Coronavirus because of my family living in Hong Kong. My father, who is still currently stuck in Hong Kong due to the travel restriction, had informed me how bad this thing is and how many people had already died in China. I knew it was somewhat serious, but I never expect it to be THIS bad where it will affect everyone of us for a very long time. Particularly, I remember my parents were in Hong Kong when SARs broke out in 2003. Because Hong Kong did a great job containing SARs, I never thought a similar highly contagious respiratory infection would hit us all the way to NOLA.

    Before City and Statewide stay-at-home mandate, we get a chance for one last Saturday beatdown. 20 PAX showed up on a beautiful morning. I gave my standard disclaimer and off we went!

    We started off with a lap around the great lawn and back to the Peristyle for our warmups in cadence:

    SSHs x 20

    Forward & Backward Arm Circles x 10 each

    Windmills x 10

    Grassgrabber x 10

    Hill Billies x 20

    Peter Parker x 15

    Mountain Climbers x 15

    Parker Peter x 15

    Part 1

    Picked a column at the Peristyle. In plank position, each Pax did hands on the wall x 20. Then did 20 right leg step ups. Then back to a column and did another 20 hands on the wall in plank position. Then back to the bench to finish with 20 left leg step ups.

    Part 2

    Walked across the street to the Great Lawn. We were using palm trees on the right as our markers. At the first tree, we started off with 1 lunge (Two is One). At the second tree, we did 2 lunges (Two is One), at the third tree, ….. all the way to the eighth tree. Then sprinted back to the very first tree and planked / waited for the Six. Then we added another layer of exercise. At the first tree, we started off with 1 lunge (Two is One) and 1 big boy sit-up. At the second tree, we did 2 lunges (Two is one) and 2 big boy sit-ups. At the third tree…. all the way to the eighth tree then sprinted back to the beginning and waited for the Six again. Final layer of exercise we added on was everyone’s favorite: burpees. At the first tree, we did 1 lunge, 1 big boy sit-up, and 1 burpee….. all the way to the eighth tree again. So in total, each PAX ponied up 108 lunges (2 is 1), 72 big boy sit-ups, and 36 burpees.

    Part 3

    We moseyed to the fountain in front of NOMA. We picked a partner and did DORA 1, 2, 3. The exercises were 100 leg raises, 200 inclined merkins, and 300 LBCs. While one pax was doing the exercise, the other partner was burpee broad-jumping towards NOMA on the flat surface and bunny hopped on the steps. Then ran back to flapjack with the partner.

    We ran back to the flag for COT. We went overtime by a minute or so. At every COT, I always mention how grateful I am able to do this with the PAX on a regular basis. F3 is a big part of my life. I do this 4 to 5 times a week. I enjoy the F2 part the most. We had our last Cafe Navarre breakfast together. Now, I still workout with few PAX in a smaller group and keeping our social distance. I’ve been running into other smaller F3 groups here and there in the gloom. I cannot wait till we can all get back together with 30 plus PAX at the WPM, Mothership, Rock City, The Skinny, Chamber of Horrors, 610 Stomps, Tsunami, The Birdcage, Foundry, Popeyes, Okwata, Stiffler’s Mom, Master Melvin, Wally Run, Uptowner, Sweaty Bells, and Renaissance. Until then, stay safe!

    King Kong

  • 4 Years, Fellowship and Neil Peart Tribute

    When Mahatma signed me up for the 2/1 Mothership Q, I didn’t initially make the connection with my 4 year anniversary of joining F3 (actually 1/30). But after realizing, what more can you ask for in justifying a Mothership Q? A lot going on this weekend for F3, start of Run Ranger Run, then folks were training for Ruck early this morning and then the midnight run at Pontiff last night? Given all that we still had (12) on hand this morning as to which I had no problem accommodating more running than less. We tracked 3.0 miles on my Strava App. and made a circle around south half of City park per below, so don’t forget to log in RRR.

    Here we go:

    Strictly Warm Ups in the Green:

    21 – IW

    12 – Windmills

    21 Peter Parkers

    12 – Arm Circles

    Note the coding of reps — 2112

    Next Mosey over to the track to do some dedicated running with no distractions. First, it was cold and time to heat up and pay tribute to the great Neil Peart whom we lost back on 1/7/20 to brain cancer. Triple Shift did make the recommendation of actually going to the soccer field with markings so we did. No shortcuts on this one, in its entirety per F3 specification:

    Red Barchetta

    100 yard run — 100 SSH

    75 Yard Run – 75 Mountain Climbers

    50 Yard run – 50 LBCs

    25 yard run — 25 Merkins

    10 yard run – 10 Burpees

    Image result for neil peart Images

    Now for the speed portion of the workout at the track.

    Partner up. On person runs a 200 yard dash while the partner runs directly across the field to meet at the other side of the track in “recovery”. Some lunge walked. Repeat 4 times in honor of my anniversary. Triple again with recommendation on track direction for running. I remember doing this a couple years ago but can’t remember the F3 name of the exercise.

    Mosey through backway from the track to Foundry, again partner up and and 5 stations while 10 burpees times the reps. Another recommendation from Mahatma to not double up on upper body. A lot of advice to the Q this morning.

    Finally, mosey to the museum pond for final exercises. Initial story of splitting my chin during a long ago Q with box jumps in wet conditions. We did (1) box jump in tribute, and that was enough for me. Thereafter:

    21 Incline Merkins

    25 LBCs

    15 Dips

    ~2:00 plank hold

    20 Hello Dollys

    12 more Incline Merkins

    Mosey back to the flag for normal count off, names, announcements, and prayer. I mentioned my thoughts on the 3 Fs and what they have meant to me over the last 4 years.

    Many Thanks for the opportunity to lead and the last 4 years of Fellowship.

    See you on the radio…

    Bongo