F3 New Orleans

Tag: Ringo

  • Remembering

    5 men did the annual 9/11 stair climb on Tuesday to remember and honor those 2792 men, women, and children who died 18 years ago. Hard to believe it’s that long ago already, and how much that event changed our world.

    With the grueling Iron Pax Challenge happening both the day before and after this beatdown, this was a great opportunity for us to slow down a bit, talk, and reflect.

    Sweating profusely with the 100% humidity that seems to accompany every day here, we wondered aloud how difficult it must’ve been for those firefighters to ascend in all their gear, with all that weight and heat, and with the knowledge that things would likely not go well for them. YHC cannot imagine the fear that would produce, and that these men were able to push that aside and rush up is astonishing.

    So we climbed 82 1/2 flights at Grandmother’s, which according to Pelican’s calculations approximated the 110 floors of the WTC. Quick Mary of 20x Merkins, Hello Dolly’s, Freddie Mercs, and LBC’s. COT and Chewy prayed us out, reminding us to be thankful for the sacrifice those men and women made for our country.

  • Float like a butterfly, sting like a…

    The Killer B’s ended with a bang Saturday morning, with Grundy taking the Northshore lead by mere seconds.  Sure, we could debate the fairness of doing it on the lakefront’s luxurious grass vs. the Marsh’s unyielding concrete, or the legality of the proctor himself taking home first place, but when it comes down to it, we must (begrudgingly) give Grundy due credit (and hate!) – it was a pretty inspirational effort.  In fact, Tank was nipping at his heels the entire time and it seems the two were feeding off one another’s energy to push each other to their record times.

    So t-claps to those two men for giving it their all and, while we’re t-clapping, we might as well toss another one out to Zoo and his miraculous self-healing leg, for taking the opportunity to hit the challenge for a second time and improve upon his score.  Alright, the rundown:

    Usual pre-thang 2 miler featured guest appearances by both Bushwacker and Garfield, and then we went right into the warmorama: Arm circles (forward/back), IW’s, copperhead squats, toe touches, hillbillies, SSHs, mountain climbers, all x20 IC.

    Thang:  Half the PAX followed Grundy to complete the IP challenge, while those that had already had their fill followed YHC.

    First stop on our tour of the lakefront was an old favorite that can be difficult to use with a large pax: Rips.  Instead of the traditional stair run/Rocky Balboa’s, though, we simply grabbed a handrail and did one legged negative calf raises, at a slow cadence: x15 per leg.

    Then, eastward towards the baseball field, stopping for a quick COP of high knees and a burpee wave.  About 6 rounds, and then onward…

    To the pull-up bars behind the baseball field.  Circled up on our six for flutter kicks, while 2 men got up to do 5x pull-ups.  Around the circle again and again and again, until each man had 25 pull-ups.  We maxed out on flutters and at some point switched to Freddie Mercs, which did not really help all that much.

    Next up, flip over to a plank for plank jacks, while 2 men got up to do hanging knee tucks x10.  Round the circle a few times, switching about halfway to shoulder taps, until each man had 30 tucks.

    Mosey back towards the boat launch to split into two teams for a 100-yard sprint relay race.  Losing team gets hit with 25 burpees, winning team gets 25 merkins.  (YHC has learned that, in the realm of F3, the winning team never takes the easy way and sits out on the work so why even bother pretending there’s a reward.)  With Bean pulling double duty for Team 2 to secure the win, they performed their merkins and then jumped in to help Team 1 finish up with their burpees.  And then everyone took a page from Pik, who’s been keeping Old Mandeville clean for the better part of two years, and did a quick sweep of beer bottles before heading over to the playground for a quick partner routine.

    P1 holds people’s chair while doing air presses, P2 bear crawls up the small hill to the swingset pad for 10 merkins and then bunny hops back down to flapjack with P1.

    Just enough time to Indian Run back to Rips, get in one more set of calf raises (x10 each leg this time), and back at the flag for a round of boxcutters, x20 IC.  The rest of the gang joined us at this point, looking thoroughly destroyed, and we circled up for COT.  Zoo encouraged all to share the gift of F3 and bring out some new brothers, and Maverick took us out with a prayer, encouraging us to be men of strength. Then off to coffeeteria.  Thank you men for the opportunity not only to lead, but to get stronger and sharper alongside you.

  • Laundry list ✔️!!!

    With a blast from the past planning to post this Gloom at Grandmothers House.. YHC arrived at grandmas excited about two things.. First to see Ringo who has been away for awhile taking care of his second home in Florida, serving the many patrons colored, flavored and topped pancakes as they visit the beaches on summer vacation.. If your down his way in Destin, stop on in at the “The Pancakery” and replenish those carbs you may have burned off at a recent F3 post.. Be careful though, as Dredd likes to say “You can’t out King your Queen.” Second was to complete a beatdown from a previous Q at the Gipper… With a few modifications in place the YHC planned the return of the WASHATERIA!! All though this wasn’t new to Bushwacker and Cowbell, the YHC should have given better instructions as Mr. Wacker decided to pullout his Grundyism along the way.. Halfway through as Cowbell and the Q seemed to be pulling away, Bushwacker after taking partner Ringo through some extra counts on a few of the reps decides to confirm the counts of the exercises.. Lagniappe always accepted, wether it be extra chocolate chips, Hershey drizzle or whip cream on those pancakes and Ringo gobbled up the extras like a true veteran..

    Warmup consisted of all IC to 15 Toe Touches, Windmills, Mummy kicks and SSH…

    Thang

    Partnered up.

    P1 does exercise P2 makes his way up the stairs around the flag pole and backdown halfway down the corridor relieving P1 and picking up the count..

    Werkins 50 (Hand release)

    American Hammers 100

    Step-ups 150

    Hip Thrust 200

    Air squats 250

    Toe Taps 250

    Escalator 200 (20 Burpees, 30 Merkins, 40 Jump Squats, 50 Lunges and 60 Freak nasties)

    Randy’s 150 (Reference Ralph’s brother in the Christmas story)

    Imperial Walkers 100

    Arm circles 50

    With 7 mins to spare PAX took to their six for some Mary. 1 PAX would sprint the corridor and Mosey on the return while the rest of the PAX we’re completing Little Manny crunches, Wife Pleasers and Hello Dollies.. Each PAX got through 3 rounds in all to the 0600 hour of completion..

    We circled up for the count off, announce and COT!!

    Gave the honors to our veteran guest Ringo.. He graciously reminded us to be thankful for the many blessings we have already enjoyed and not necessarily the things we wish for…

    I will include something Bushwacker shared at a previous post that has really struck the YHC..

    “Go out and be KIND, not nice but KIND!”

    That phrase is so intentional, and F3 starts with the intention to be ones better self, so to be better for those around us..

    Appreciate the journey with you this Gloom and the Laundry is complete..

    Till the next Gloom 👍🏻👊🏻✌🏻!

  • I’d rather be, under the sea…

    With the sharp rise in temperatures and humidity this week, I think we’d all rather be in an octopus’s garden, in the shade.

    I’m sorry…. lame, I know. That’s the best lead line YHC could think of. (There were other, lamer ones – trust me.) Where’s Ei when you need him?

    So every time Ringo returns from the coast, YHC has to come up with another lame Beatles reference. In this case, it’s one of the two songs that Ringo actually wrote for the Beatles, so at least there’s that bit of trivia to carry you through the rest of this backblast.

    Anywho. The scramble. It was as it usually is – with the exception of a visiting Ringo and Cowbell’s first scramble experience.

    Parking Lot Warmorama: Lunges across and back, Frankenstein’s across and back, followed by SSH & IW’s, x20 IC.

    The Thang:

    Despite the humidity, it was a nice run and getting to chat with recent Southshore defector, Cowbell, made it pass even quicker. As one of the few H8! finishers, YHC looks forward to the painful beatdowns to come from him later this year. Also, he attempted to explain what is happening with this months ISI over on the Southshore, but I still left somewhat confused.

    Post-Thang:

    PAX flutter kicked their hearts out while one by one each man rose to do x10 pull-ups. After all men finished, we planked for a bit and performed the following: Merkins x10 IC, Makhtar N’Diayes x10 IC, and Peter Parkers x10 IC.

    COT and Chewy prayed us out. Thanks men for another opportunity to lead, your push and accountability is always appreciated!

  • Tomorrow Never Knows

    After a lousy night of sleep, YHC was not particularly excited to get up and Q Granny’s House. But you never know what surprises might await and, as often happens, this gloom brought a big surprise with the welcome return of Ringo. Back in town for a few days before the madness of Spring Break begins, the PAX was surprised to see that Ringo has lost a bunch of weight while not posting to F3 beatdowns and… while running a pancake eatery??? The mysteries of the world are endless, people.

    The surprise return of a slimmed-down Ringo did nothing to diminish the return of Captain Sparkles, though, as his post today marks the start of an intense (albeit, abbreviated) training for the Ragnar in two weeks. If you doubt this man’s methods, look no further than last fall’s half marathon, or even the grow ruck back in ’17. If anyone can prepare this quickly, it would be Cap.

    Warmorama: (all IC)

    SSH x10, Toe Touches x15, SSH x10, Windmills x15, SSH x10, IW’s x15, SSH x10, Copperhead Squats x15.

    The Thang: A quick mosey around the block to get Cap’s running legs back, and then down to business. First up, a set of stations in the amphitheater area of the trailhead:

    • Burpees x20 / Shoulder Taps x5 on the stage
    • Big Boy (Big Ass/Huge Ass, *copyright pending*) Sit-Ups x20 / Freddie Mercuries x5 (IC)
    • Irkins x20 / Derkins x5 on sitting platform
    • Jump Squats x20 / Monkey Humpers x5

    Rinse and repeat, but with each cycle the first exercise at each station goes down by 5, the second goes up by 5. After 4 rounds, we were done.

    Recovery walk over to the corridor for an Indian Bunny Hop: PAX planks in a line, first man bunny hops over and drops into plank at the end, next man up, and so on until we reached the end of what felt like a very long corridor.

    Next up, a set of sprints with a partner.  First two men would sprint 100% to the end and jog back, while PAX performed squats.  Next two up, and so on.  With Waterpik doing extra credit and all men giving it 110%, this was a bit of a blur and YHC can’t remember exactly how many rounds we did.  What I do remember is the Big Man – Shooter – burning me every single time, and Cap looking like Turtle back in his glory days. Nothing like sprints to get the PAX going!

    Finished with a little Mary: Flutter Kicks x30 IC, Hello Dolly’s x20 IC, Rosalitas x20 IC, and Nolan Ryan’s, each side x10 IC.

    COT, Ringo prayed us out, and we discussed the Northshore’s upcoming 3 year anniversary. Look out for an email soon! As always, thanks for the lead guys.

  • Full Effort Is Full Victory

    We cranked up the morning with a 2 mile run. Tanked Up shared a quote from a book he had on his shelf. The quote stressed when we work our butt off in the streets of Mandeville, or wherever you may be, the satisfaction of that workout lies in the “effort” you give. Full effort is Full victory. Something tells me most of us gave full effort this glorious morning.


    Warmup–SSH, windmills, arm circles, flutter kicks, low ssh,

    The Thang–

    Ab work- circle up in a plank position. Rotate right,stop, merkins, rotate merkins, rotate merkins. Let’s throw in Peter Parkers, Parker Peters and some Up/Downs.. Tanked Up challenged Brother Martin nemesis , Turbo and soccer pal, Jose 10k to some face to face up/downs. Raider Pride.😁

    20 minute challenge-4 exercises merkins, crunches, ssh, squats, 25 reps then run 300 yards. Repeat for 20 minutes.. Zoolander decided to come out guns blazing!

    To the sea wall– 2 exercises by the wall. Derkins Burpees 5,4,3,2,1 reps followed by ascending order 1,2,3,4,5

    Over to the flag for more AB work led by Bushwacker, could not tell you the exercises due to fatigue!

    Circle up for close out. Prayer led by Steve! Coffee and cake for one of the older men in the club.

    Enjoyed the morning with some of the best of the northshore..

  • Pre-thang, Shme-thang

    As the clock runs out on February, YHC happily bids adieu to RRR and all pre-thangs associated with it. With only a day left, the Gipper’s 1 mile run wasn’t terrible, but some secret, John-Hancock-related activity beforehand did leave us a bit behind schedule and, at 0601, we were rightfully greeted back at the flag with a, “Nice of you men to show up.”

    In an attempt to retroactively ‘respect the time,’ YHC took it upon himself (myself? this YHC thing continues to confuse me…) to pack in as much into the remaining 44 minutes as possible. That said, we quickly jumped into…

    Warmorama: Abe Vigodas, Good Mornings, ISW’s, all 10x IC, 20 OYO merkins, and SSH 25x IC.

    The Thang: Then a quick mosey over to the back of the courthouse for an AMRAP routine: 10x merkins, 10x freak nasties, up the stairs, 10x groiners, then run the perimeter of the courthouse parking lot to the start to begin again. About 10 mins later, onto the second portion of today’s thang…

    The Bruce Lee. YHC has never seen Bruce Lee’s most famous movie, Enter The Dragon, but I have seen The Way of the Dragon, which features an epic fight between Bruce and a young Chuck Norris, with Rome as the backdrop and a small kitten as the sole spectator. There’s a lot to love in this fight sequence, including a weirdly prolonged moment of both men removing their shirts, a moment where Bruce rips out a handful of Chuck’s chest hair, and some crazy push-ins on the aforementioned cat. Oh, and there’s also some of the best martial arts in there as well. Anyhow, Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris never met Turbo Tax, so to call this one of the best fights ever may be a tad premature. But it’s pretty good nonetheless.

    So the Bruce Lee. Wacker introduced us to this a while back and, as YHC wanted nothing to do with legs, core seemed like the only decent substitute. 10x IC of Putins, Leg Raises, LBC’s, Heel Touches, Crunchy Frogs, and 100’s. 30 seconds rest between sets, we went 4 rounds.

    Mosey up the parking garage to do the fastest Burp-back Mountain on record. Partner up, partner 1 backpedaling the ramp and jogging back down, while partner 2 starts on the cumulative burpees until they reach 50x.

    Back to the flag right in time for countoff, announcement of Tanked Up’s upcoming birthday, and Ringo prayed us out. Thank you men for following my lead and helping to make us all better and stronger!

  • Krewe of F3!

    Is Mardi Gras the world’s longest-running, largest, free, annual, outdoor celebration? I’ll let the PAX chew on that for a while. In the meantime, there was no celebrating yet at the Mandeville City Hall Scramble as it was business as usual for the veteran PAX of F3 Northshore. Word has it there will be a Birthday Bash worthy of RESPECT, RESPECT on the Lakefront Saturday morning. For those looking for a good beatdown before heading out to the parades, be sure to post on the Mandeville Lakefront on Saturday to find out what’s in store! But back to the task at hand:

    YHC led the PAX through a brief warmup consisting of SSHs, HKs, BKs, WMs, and GMs, before departing for the weekly 5K jaunt on the traditional route through Old Mandeville and Sunset Point.

    Back at the Ranch, aka, the AO, we finished up with Merkins x 40 OYO, Flutter Kicks X 20 IC, Hello Dollies x 20 IC, and Imperial Walkers Squats x 20 IC.

    Nameorama, Countoff, and COT. Thanks to Coconuts for praying us out into the day!

    Moleskin: Best of luck and Best Wishes to Ringo who departs our company for a short time to the beaches of Florida’s panhandle.

    As always, thanks, men for inspiring me to try to become the best version of myself today and everyday. And, as was mentioned on the most recent episode of F3’s 43 feet podcast, thanks for helping me to increase my mental and physical toughness over the past 14 months. As a group, we are stronger than any one individual by influencing and inspiring one another and constantly pushing one another.

  • Running Interference

    YHC woke to the sound of rain, knowing he may have to adjust the planned Beatdown a little. A lot of uphill/downhill sprints were originally planned, but we all know how slippery the tunnel of love gets when wet.

    YHC arrived a little earlier than usual for the Q, but surprisingly, half the PAX was already there. Shooter already drenched in sweat from his run from home. All arrived, 5:15am came, so off we went…

    WarmOrama: Good Mornings, Windmills, Toe Touches, Imperial Walkers

    PAX moseyed to “The Love Tunnel”: Along the way there was concern that a band of rain was on the way. At Grandma’s, there is a covered area to perform exercises, but we took our chances.

    PAX separated into 2 groups of 3. Almost forgetting, YHC gave disclaimer. While group 2 did Freddy Mercurys, Group 1 jogged down the slope of the tunnel, ran at about 80% on the flat, then ran at 100% up the other side, then did the same on the way back. The groups flapjacked. Rinse and repeat; We did a 2nd round, doing squats in place of Freddy Mercurys.

    PAX moseyed to “Interference” bar and Saia’s parking lot, a new venue for the PAX.

    A variation of a routine borrowed from Maverick:

    Pax separated into two groups, and started catercorner to each other across the parking lot. PAX performed 25 reps of a different exercise at each corner of the parking, running from corner to corner: Burpees, Merkins, LBC’s, Lunges. Rinse and repeat for 2 rounds.

    Next, PAX moseyed back to the Farmer’s Market area. As we ran through Wendy’s Drive-Thru, some of the PAX mentioned their favorite Wendy’s meals, like the “Double Stacks;” however, Pelican said that he favors Jack in the Box, going into detail about their tacos…If only Wendy’s were open…

    Arriving at the Farmer’s Market area with only 10 minutes remaing, YHC called for a modified(shortened) version of Dora 1,2,3. Teams of 2 PAX working together to reach cumulative exercise goals of 50 Merkins, 100 Freddy Mercurys, and 150 Squats. PAX 1 executed as many reps as possible while PAX 2 back-peddled about 20 yards down and sprinted back, flapjacking until the team goal was reached.
    PAX finished at exactly the 6:00 buzzer.

    We did circle of trust, and CountOnameO. Thank you Steve for praying us out, thanks Guys for the opportunity to lead…and thank you God for holding up on the rain.

    As PAX dispersed, Bushwacker shared that he knows its a good Beatdown, when he feels a litttle anger towards the Q….

  • The Grundy-mobile

    The PAX knew something was up when YHC walked up to the flag from the backside. When asked about the reason for the strange entrance, a simple “you’ll find out” would suffice.

    With the PAX aware of something looming, we began to warmup.

    • 30 Seal Jacks IC
    • 10 Forward Lunges IC
    • 10 Merkins OYO
    • Shoulder warmup series

    THE THANG

    Unaware of what the Q had in store, the PAX began moseying down the trace toward the tunnel of love with the men almost anticipating something to jump out at them. As we were approaching the final intersection of the trace before the tunnel of love, an object started to come into view… A shadowy object that was first identified by Coconuts… It was the Grundy-mobile!!!

    The Grundy-Mobile with my girlfriend Sandy

    It was only then that the PAX fully realized what I had in store. It was where the Q left his girlfriend Sandy… Don’t be rude guys, she’s a little self conscious because she put on at least 10 pounds since you saw her last. I don’t mind. It’s just more to love.

    After we picked her up, we finished our Mosey to the Tunnel for the main event.

    • Tunnel of Love in the Tunnel of Love. The PAX lined up in a plank and pulled Sandy up the ramp through the plank tunnel. When a PAX finished pulling her through they would get up and go to the front of the line. Rinse and repeat with the opposite arm.
    • Next the PAX did a core exercise while one PAX took Sandy and backpedalled the ramp and ran back. Rinsed and repeat until everyone had gone. Core exercises included: LBCs, flutter kicks, leg raises, hello dolly’s, plank, plank left, and plank right.

    After completing that we went back to the bus stop to finish up (dropping off Sandy at the Grundy-mobile on the way back).

    We finished with what Steve appropriately called crazy eights. It basically is 11’s but with 8 instead of 11. The only difference is the distance between the two points. Point A was the bus stop and point B was the top of the trailhead stairs under the American Flag. Bushwacker said he didn’t want to play anymore. I don’t blame him.

    The two exercises were freak nasties and sister mary katherines. We went until the time expired.

    Circled up at the flag where we went through the typical F3 closing ceremonies and Ringo closed us out.

    It was an honor to lead you gentlemen. Until next time.

    Grundy and Sandy