F3 New Orleans

Tag: Rudy

  • The Gap and the Gain – from Triple Shift

    Date: May 15th, 2023
    Location: Rock City
    Weather: 71 % humidity and 75 degrees

    With all the ChatGPT generated backblasts hitting Slack, I wanted to go old school and work on my memory, thinking and writing skills. With Fracsac out of town, he asked me to pick up his Q and I gladly said ‘yes’. My goal for this year is to hit 250 workouts and Q at least 2 times a month. Needless to say, I’m missing the mark. Which leads me to the title of my backblast. I’ll explain at the end.

    Warm-Up: It’s 5:30am, I give the disclaimer and the five core principles. We headed to the rockpile and then out to the football field. Circle up on me and I give instructions that this will be a slow cadence session to focus on the ‘TUT’ or time under tension principle. We start off with 10 – 6 count man makers with the rock. Looking back, I should have made it a 8 count man maker. Next up is 15 – Low Slow Squats, 30 SSH, 10 Peter Parkers (LSC – Low Slow Cadence), 10 Shoulder Taps – LSC, 10 Parker Peters – LSC and finally 10 Floyd Mayweathers – LSC.
    The Thang: Because partner workouts always push us, I start off with Catch Me If You Can around the 400-meter track. Partner 1 runs backwards, and Partner 2 drops and does three burpees and sprints to partner 1 and tags him. They flip flop their exercises until they complete one lap. Plank up for the 6 or pick them up.
    The Thang 2: Partner workout on the football field. Partner one bear crawls out and partner 2 does 5 goblets squats with the rock then runs to tag partner 1. They flip flop the exercises until they get to the other goal line. To get back, partner 1 lunge walks and partner 2 does 10 overhead presses then runs to tag partner 1. They flip flop their exercises until they get back to the original goal line.
    With a little time left, I incorporated a modified Jack Webb with the rock. One hand release merkin with 2 overhead presses with the rock. We work our way up to 5 hand release merkins and 10 overhead presses. Back to the rock pile and just enough time for some Mary in a low slow cadence. 15 Big Boy Sit-ups, 10 Flutter Kicks, 10 Dying Cockroaches, 10 get ups (lie on the ground and get up without using your hands or arms then lay back down). Horses to the barn with Disclaimer as the winner…for now.
    Countoff, Namerama, and COT: Prayed for the men with friends that are ill and the ones that are suffering with loss.
    NMM – I shared some of the insights that I gained from reading the book “The Gap and the Gain”. I for one was always looking to accomplish a goal and when I reached that goal, it never brought lasting happiness. And on the many occasions where I missed my self-imposed goal, I thought of myself as ‘less than’, a failure, not good enough or not worthy. That’s called the Gap. The space between where we want to be and where we are. Simply put, a mindset stuck in the Gap is never a good place. In contrast, the gain is the area where we came from. Your starting line, your starting weight, your starting fitness level, your starting financial situation, etc. Comparison with others breeds discontent. Comparison with where you started breeds hope and contentment.
    Godliness with contentment is great gain – Apostle Paul

    Conclusion: The F3 NOLA workout at Rock City was an incredible experience that pushed us beyond our limits and strengthened our bonds of brotherhood. The combination of challenging exercises, beautiful surroundings, and the unwavering support of our fellow PAX created a memorable and uplifting morning. We left Rock City feeling accomplished, energized, and ready to take on any challenge. (This paragraph is ChatGPT)

  • Runners, Ruckers, and a Hokie – from Charmin

    The title says it all.

  • No Knees Over Toes Tabata – from Scantron

    Started off with a brief backwards walk around the south end of the track to the parking lot behind the bleachers. Did a short warmup and then mosied over to the small levee behind the admin building.

    We did some up and backs over the levee, with each run ending in some derkins (10, 8, 6, 4, 2).

    That was followed by a Tabata with some complaints about not having a rock.

    6 exercises
    8 rounds of 30 seconds work/10 seconds rest

    Catalina Wine Mixer (complaints lessened after round 3)
    Calf Raises (complaints increased and Bogey tried to calf raise to the beat)
    Forward and Backward Arm Circles, Seal Claps, Overhead Claps (complaints decreased)
    Squats
    Flutter kicks
    Side to Sides up the levee and back (no more complaints)

    This was all accompanied by the following playlist, that when done right, ends with The Final Countdown finishing you out right at 45 mins.

  • Dream Sequence: Cinco de Mayo AND a Rudy Appearance – from Bolt

    As site Q, YHC psyched to see Cinco de Mayo open since it’s the day that my ancestral people celebrate…u know, Anglo Saxon Americans who pretend to b Mexican as an excuse to drink copious amounts of tequila and cervezas, all the while thinking it’s Mexican Independence Day (NOPE) but I digress…
    Imagine my exuberance when I rolled in hot to Q and saw Rudy—RUDY!—who avoided BC Uptowner since its inception bc he was “training for the Double Nickel” which apparently is now a double nickel and a penny. Really, he just hates burpees and mistakenly thought Mahatma was the Q—jokes on u! This WOULD require an audible, lest I scare Rudy off forever. Warmup of the usual stuff plus 5 burpees added in for Rudy plus it IS Cinco de Mayo.
    The Thang: (descriptions at the end) Start with Plank Hurdles the length of the football field with Bolt’s cringy playlist serenading and mocking us all at the same time. Make our way to the playground equipment for M.A.Y.O. where every letter represents a series of exercises:
    Morning Call (x5)
    Aiken Legs (x23)
    Yurpees (x5)
    Outlaws (x23)
    This is where the audible happened as I had a 100 burpee play list in the queue; switch to more M.A.Y.O.
    Mountain Goats (x23)
    Absolution (x5)
    Yurpees (x5)
    Outlaws (x23) u can’t unsee a group of men’s O faces…

    Return to the flag via backward mosey once on the track as a nod to knees over toes for 5 Yurpees (as Rudy astutely noted we skipped Y and did M.A.O. before leaving the gazebo area) plus Mary to fill the time—no short-changing the pax. Apple Watch said the BD was sufficient as did my sweat soaked shirt—Bogey concurred at coffee. Honored and humbled, men.

    Morning Call
    All but one PAX get into push-up position and hold the up position while one guy counts off doing 5 pull-ups. Every time a pull-up is called out, the PAX does a merkin. After 5 pull-ups, he joins the PAX and the next guy gets up and calls out his 5 pull-ups. The cycle continues until all have performed 5 pull-ups. No one leaves the push-up position unless it’s his turn to call out pull-ups or until all calls have been made.

    Mountain Goats
    Like Mountain Climbers but with an added goat kick (where both legs leave the ground simultaneously) – exercise is done on a four count … three mountain climbers (1 – 2 – 3) and the 4 is the goat kick. Get those legs up high to 45 degrees! Repeato until you’ve had enough.

    Absolution
    Start in plank position and perform a single Groiner (cadence “1” jump feet forward, “2” jump feet back), then Mahktar N’ Diayes to Chillcut position (cadence “3” & “4” with drop to each elbow), then Chilly Jack (cadence “5” feet out, “6” feet together), and finally Mahktar N’ Diayes to plank starting position (cadence “7” and “ONE, TWO, etc.” with rise on each hand).

    Aiken Legs
    Done in succession with no rest — 20 Squats, 20 Box Jumps, 20 Lunges (10 each leg), 20 Split Jacks (10 each leg forward). Rinse and Repeated as many times as you can.

    Yurpee
    Burpee Variation in honor of the Ruskie (Yuri Verkhoshansky) who developed Plyometrics to train Olympians. Merkin at bottom of burpee is a clap-merkin and on up portion there are 2 tuck jumps per burpee. Basically a Clurpee with 2 tuck-jumps.

    Outlaw
    Sitting in the position for flutter kicks, keep your feet together and make a big “O” with them. 10 reps to the right and 10 reps to the left or as many reps as the Q deems necessary.

    Plank Hurdles
    Done on a football field. In small groups of 5-6, everyone starts in the plank position in the end zone. 1st man from each group sprints to the 10 and planks, 2nd sprints, hurdles him, planks on the 20, 3rd man hurdles each, planks on the 30, etc. At the end of the group, 1st man sprints, hurdles everyone, etc. Everyone should finish in a plank in the opposite end zone.

  • And on this day…. – from Rudy

    Summertime humidity is rolling in. Gone are the glorious days of winter and spring (there was a spring, right?). 8 PAX started off at 6:30 for what would turn out to be a hot, sweaty celebration day.

    Warm Up: Some slow count stretching, IW and SSH. Get the blood flowing. Get ready. FracSac and Triple Shift attempted valiantly to correct the Q’s cadence calls, but the Q would have none of that.

    PAX – plank up while the Q explains the day. More griping about why the Q doesn’t have to do the planking. Answer: Because I’m the Q.

    The theme for today: On This Day – May 6th.

    Thing 1: Birthday Burpees. There are a wealth of options for celebrating birthdays on May 6th. Sigmund Freud, Orson Welles, Rudolph Valentino, Willie Mays, Tony Blair, George Clooney. But the PAX got to celebrate with Detroit’s own Bob Seger – turning 78 today.

    Q up the tunes, starting with Hollywood Nights. Bob would serenade us throughout the morning.

    EMOM – 78 burpees. 10 per minute for 7 minutes, finish with 8 on the 8th minute. Go.

    Thing 2: Sports! Head out to the field where a baseball diamond was laid out. 90 feet is a lot farther than it looks on tv. What else happened today? (2 penalty burpees for incorrect guesses from the PAX). 1915 – Babe Ruth hit his first home run, guessed correctly by Heisenberg. We’ll take a home run trot… Bear Crawl the bases, 5 burpees at each base. Go. (100 burpees – done for the day).

    and what else? in 1954, Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile barrier. Lets run the bases for 4 minutes, see how far you can get. Catfish led the way – getting about 6.5 laps done in 4 minutes. 1 mile would be about 15 laps…

    Onward to the Rocks!

    Thing 3: TV Shows. Pick a Friend (i.e., a partner) — 19 years ago was the last showing of “Friends”. 66 years ago was the last showing of “I Love Lucy”. So for today, Dora was renamed Lucy. 100 lunges, 150 merkins, 200 BBSU. PAX 2 timer – 5 each of overhead press, curl, row, and bench press. Go… (took a bit longer than expected – so we called it when Catfish and Heisenberg hit the finish line.

    Thing 4: Launches! 2002 – SpaceX. 1998 – iMac. We’ll Launch our Rocks. From one tree line – launch the rock, lunge walk to it. Rinse and repeat to the far tree line and back.

    Thing 4a: Failure to Launch – 1934, the Hindenberg. A real Quad Pleaser – 5 sets of 5 reps of Peoples Chair for 5 count followed by squat jump returning right back to peoples chair.

    Return the rocks, and back to the flag.

    COT: Several prayer requests offered. Thanks, Heisenberg for sharing with the PAX and letting us pray with and for you. And for all PAX in NOLA and elsewhere – lets them find comfort, strength and perseverence – through each other, through their faith, through us.

    Great Coffee, especially watching the storm roll through!

  • 7 OGs at CP – from Reluctant Yankee

    Mis-timed my launch to get ALL the way out to City Park aka CP and arrived for my Q – 1 min late. Luckily one of the guys started it off with some burpees and then a short mosey to the Peristyle. At approx 631 I started my Q with a COP #1 at the Peristyle.
    My apologies for the late arrival – it has been awhile since I have posted so FAR AWAY.
    SSH (Rudy making fun of my arm motion)-x 20, Imperial Scott Squat Walkers x 25, Mtn Climbers x 20, and Plank Jacks x 20 MOnkey Humpers x 20
    Started our run towards the track!
    Slowed for our 6 – we did AROUND THE CLOCK merks x 8 at 12,3 6, and 9 oclock using the curb in front of storyland.
    Then we moseyed to the gate at TAD GORMLEY for hanging calf raises forward x 20 backward x 20 and decline shoulder taps x 20 *watch out for spikers!
    Finally we mosey’d over to the track!
    THE DEAL: DIRTY MACDEUCE
    RAN A LAP – then we did staggered merks, roaches and low slow squats x 12
    RAN A LAP – then we did staggered merks the other way, monkey humpers, russian twists x 12
    RAN A LAP – then we did wide merks, lunges forward, freddies x 12
    RAN A LAP – then we did side lunges, walking plank, and omarys x 12
    **Brother Martin and MT Carmel track teams were trying to figure out how to operate around these old guys – some mumblechatter of the appropriateness of monkey humpers and omarys in front of the kids
    Ran down ROOSEVELT MALL to the front of NOMA
    at the fountain we did Step Ups R and L x 20, Bulgarians L/R x 20 and Shoulder Taps x 20
    Ran back to the FLAG – stopped at the big field for a few quick Mary exercises.
    Hip Dips x 10 each side, Ys and Ws for the back x 20 and Birddogs x 20.
    Then we finished up at the FLAG.
    Quick circle to hope for a decrease in violent crime in NOLA.
    I enjoyed dragging myself out to CP – I almost never want to get up in the AM and post but after a beatdown I always appreciate the fellowship/faith and Never regret the fitness.

    Until the next time…

  • Spring – Blocks – Present – from Mahatma

    April 22nd conditions great: sunny, cool, nice breeze and 11 pax decided to be present….at least one (Rudy) heeded the request to bring a block – YHC had 1 too so that would do.

    Mosey Gr Lawn – circle up
    Scantron stretch then
    10-20 of each
    SSH
    ABSLOWGODA
    MNTMANPOOPERTOGOODMORNING
    MNT CLIMBERS

    4 rounds
    5 merkins – 20 Peter Parker
    5 merkins – 20 Mnt Climber
    5 merkins – 20 Parker Peter
    5 merkins – 20 Plank Jacks

    Line up at speaker
    Red Barchetta – if you’ve done it before then you know otherwise you’re probably not showing up enough or spending too much time Uptown.

    Some mumble chatter about the Q’s Sox having some potential reference as to “Christmas” so YHC was happy to please.

    Line up on the “red” line for a Christmas Tree and a present – 5 of each building on each other with a short mosey between each round ending with 10 burpees.
    1 – merkins
    Run
    Then repeat 1 now 2 – Vups
    Run
    Then repeat 1, 2 now 3 – Bobby Hurley
    Run
    Repeat 1,2,3 now 4 – LBWC – got to show up to know
    Run
    Repeat
    1,2,3,4 finish with 10 Burpees

    Grab the blocks 2 lines mosey to fountain while passing the block overhead to pax behind, once “safely” passed of go to the back of the line. Once all arrive at the fountain

    365 –
    3 somewhat cadence counted burpees
    6 box jumps or modified alternating step ups
    5 rounds
    1 minute recovery
    Rudy was asking for yet YCH is simply out of shape and decided to take a simpler direction to grab the 2 blocks and head to the tree field.

    Again 2 lines over / under for 3 trees all on the team does 5 burpees and back – losing team does another 5 burpees

    Circle up 1 5 minute round of “silence” where Q leads by example – just do what he does. In the F3 ball busting mindset this may “seem” like an eternity!

    Count of 1,2 1,2 harder for some than others 2 teams were formed now same 3 trees block bridge pull (or throw) 5 burpees at mid point and back losers again have a penalty.

    Mosey block pass back to the flag.

    What 3 minutes? We Indian Merkin Ladder

    7:30

    COT

    We are truly blessed!

  • 4×20 on 420 – from Rudy

    Delightful gloom at the lakefront! 8 PAX celebrated 420 day. Thanks to all of the millenials who were able to explain to YHC *why* 420 is now associated with weed. Rest assured, no weed was present at the workout.

    Mosey to the foot of Canal Street for a quick warm up, then lets get to work.

    4×20: Run up/across/down/across. At each corner, 20 reps of an exercise.
    * Hand Release Merkins (Jesus Juice notes that “4 sets didn’t sound so hard when we started”)
    * Big Boy SitUps (High Rise wants Crunches. YHC says “Listen to the Q”)
    * Lunges (Glitter Balls rejects the “2 is 1” count, YHC concurs. 1 is 1 it is)
    * Peter Parkers (Kuch – my gosh, the man is a never ending stream of conscience. QUIET PLEASE)

    Head to the top of the levee – 10 burpees OYO.

    4:20 of Quadrophelia

    Off to the house of pain for 1 round (all we had time for)
    * Pull Ups (Ya Mom and Dem casually knocked out about 75 pull ups. Impressive)
    * Step Ups
    * Crunches
    * Up the hill for 5 burpees

    Back to the flag for a last 5 burpees and a few rounds of Mary

    COT, Name-o-Rama. There’s a lot of 39 year olds out here…

    Be on the lookout for the 40th Lake View beer run in the coming months.

    Intentions and a prayer to close out a glorious morning.

  • Dewars, Storks and Peanut Butter and Butter – from Rudy

    Yesterday (April 14th) was 3rd anniversary of my dad’s passing. YHC brought some memories to the beatdown this am. At 628am, YHC opened up the Mini, asked everyone to grab a pair of bricks. At 630am, YHC turned on the 80s playlist, and the 13 PAX moseyed (with their bricks) to the Peristyle.

    But wait – Cheese Steak rolled in hot. YHC back to the car to get one more set of bricks. A few minutes later, our DR visitor from Chicago (Bob the Builder) rolled in. Hokie went for more bricks.

    After a brief warmup (thank you Mahatma!), we got to work. We were going to visit a few places in the park. At each place, we’d have a cycle of exercises – 60 seconds on, 20 second rest.

    Stop #1: The Peristyle with bricks. My father’s favorite evening night cap was a splash of Dewars. We still keep a bottle of it around with my family to periodically celebrate. 2 rounds of exercises to spell out DEWARS

    Donkey Kicks
    Eagle Wings (bat wings stuff – with bricks)
    Wonderbra (peoples chair – then push the bricks out, then push’em up)
    American Hammer
    Rocky Balboa
    Starfish crunch

    Stop #2: Return the bricks to the Mini, and head to the rocks by the fountain. My father was an OB/GYN. His passion was delivering babies. What else delivers babies? 2 rounds of exercises (con roca) to spell out STORK

    Squats
    T-Merkins
    Overhead Press
    Rows
    Kettlebell Swings

    Triple Shift gratefully let YHC have a shot with TS’s rock while TS proceeded to one-arm Overhead Press YHC’s rock. Eventually, Frac relieved YHC.

    Stop #3: Return the rocks, mosey to the little foundry. My father’s favorite treat that he introduced to my kids – the Peanut Butter and Butter sandwich (only to be made with spreadable tub butter). 2 rounds of PBB exercises

    Pull Ups
    Burpees
    Big Boy Situps

    Stop #4: Stop by the Tool Wall. As the cancer took his life, he lost strength in his legs. YHC will pay a bit of honor with some leg strengtheners.

    Calf Raises
    Monkey Humpers
    Bonnie Blairs (modify to Lunges)
    Calf Raises

    Couldn’t get through 2 full rounds as. we were already late. Back to the flag – getting their about 5 minutes late. YHC didn’t apologize for the delay, as he didn’t feel bad about it.

    Finished with our COT. Prayers offered for other PAX who also go through struggles with their aging parents and health concerns.

    Thank you all for allowing me to celebrate my father’s life. He meant the world to me. I miss him daily. But I know he has moved on to the next phase of his life, and I know I will be rejoining him again one day.