F3 New Orleans

Tag: Russo

  • Independence Day After – from Russo

    This sounds like a broken record these days, but it was 78 degrees and HUMID at Granny’s this morning. What was new(ish) was the return of Cowbell (dare I say on time?), fresh off an amazing stretch of wedding/ national title / honeymoon, a Bird sighting, Bushwhacker and what has become his trusty walkie, and Akbar. They joined “regulars” Hammer, Steve, and YHC to close out Independence Day weekend in style with a 1776 themed beatdown. Doing a quick count of fingers, pax of 7 appeared to have all digits accounted for, so amateur firework festivities seemed to have gone well.

    Warmup (all 10x-20x IC)
    – seal jacks
    – cherry pickers
    – arm circles
    – grass grabbers
    – windmills
    – toe touches
    – imperial walkers

    Thang
    Varying exercises around the number 1776, with a mosey / back pedal / side shuffle jaunt sprinkled between every two rounds or so.

    1 8 count body builder
    7 wide merkins
    7 diamond merkins
    6 burpees

    17 merkins
    76 plank jacks

    17 jump squats
    76 shoulder taps (1 is 1)

    17 monkey humpers
    76 high knees (1 is 1)

    17 freak nastys
    76 calf raises

    17 durkins
    76 squats

    17 groiners
    76 SSHs

    17 urkins
    7/6 Bulgarian split squats
    7/6 step ups

    17 side squats (2 is 1)
    76 butt kicks

    Betsy Ross (Mary)
    17 leg raises
    76 flutter kicks (1 is 1)

    17 big boy sit-ups
    76 American hammers

    17 box cutters
    7 hello Dolly’s
    6 Rosalitas

    17 crunchy frogs
    76 SSHs

    COT, Name-o-Rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out. Reminder that the Grarly Nutria (July 20) and St. Vincent 500 (August 13) are both quickly approaching. Check Slack for more info.

    Generally speaking, we take a lot of freedoms and blessings for granted, at least I know that I do. It’s easy to be distracted and go about our daily lives with its worries and chores and tasks and not take a minute to give thanks. On July 4th, I’m reminded of just how blessed I am to live in a country where, despite its flaws and fights, disagreements and ideologies, we are allowed to practice freedoms and have rights that others do not have. My challenge to all of us is that we take a minute to give thanks, reflect on how we’re blessed, and then go out and use that to provide good things for those around us.

    I appreciate each of you joining, pushing me to work harder and make myself better, and look forward to doing it again.

    Checking the notes from the pre-blast:
    1 – Minimal burpees (6, 7 if you count an 8 count bodybuilder): check!

    2 – minimal moseying, staying close to home base: check!

    3 – sweat: check!

    4 – math: check!

    5 – bats: check! (Although I only briefly caught a glimpse on the stage as we were moseying, no attacks noted)

    SYITG

  • Opposite Day – from Russo

    Fantastic Pax of 4 this morning at Granny’s, with temps slightly cooler (but no less humid). Early chatter revolved around vacations, new home projects, and various white powders. There was a tease of a theme, so YHC thought about kid’s games and how we might be able to incorporate into a beatdown to mix things up some.

    My head immediately went to “What do I remember doing or saying when I was younger?” Duck Duck Goose is still bouncing around in my brain, Tag is too much running and I didn’t want to be responsible for someone smacking their dome on a metal handrail or column, and Red Red Rover might get one of us killed when JV is sent right over.

    Moving on to phrases, “I know you are but what am I?” doesn’t really lend itself to a beatdown easily and “Takes one to know one” will be reserved for Rummel grads (Raider Pride!), but “Today is opposite day” does can be useful, so away we went with reverses and opposites, albeit very limited in creativity.

    Up Warm (All IC 10x – 20x)
    – Sealjacks
    – Windmills
    – Air presses
    – Toe touches
    – SSH
    – Imperial walkers

    Gnaht (Thang)
    Pax moseyed to the tunnel, but upon hearing “reverse”, we put it into reverse gear and back pedaled until YHC called “reverse” again.

    At the tunnel, it was 4 rounds of traversing the tunnel, side shuffles up and down, back pedal in the tunnel, with 10 plankjack shoulder taps on one side and 10 Parker Peters on the other.

    Mosey back was more of the same “reverse” game, alternating mosey and back pedal until we reached the bus stop, where Pax completed 10 IC Urkins, reversed grip to complete 10 IC freak nastys.

    A final mosey to start, where JV’s fright to simple pick between option “A” and “B” reared its head. His choice of A lead to a backwards climb up the pilot house and a backwards walk down, followed by crawl bears from one end of the columns to the other, 10 gas pumps/reverse crunches, and then reverse lunges back and ten more gas pumps. With about 90 seconds left, we planked it up until COT, Name-o-Rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out.

    I gave some thought to upping the intensity of the theme by a backwards cadence (think 3…2…1 1!, 3…2…1 2!) but somewhere along the way the Spirit said “you all have enough trouble with cadence regularly, it’s best you keep it simple”.

    Thanks to those that joined, it was rather enjoyable and I look forward to expanding the theme on a future beatdown. Now: is that a true statement or a continuation of Opposite Day?

    SYITG

  • Rotating Rock Party – from Jose10k

    YHC arrived to see a Mandevillian chilling in his car. Russo was ready to go, until they needed to weedeat behind his car, the only grass in the parking lot, and Russo parks there.
    With no one picking up the Q, YHC decided to pull out an old favorite. Time to rotate at the rock garden.
    Warm-ups: All IC, ssh, grass grabbers, torso twists, self love
    The Thang: Moseyed to the rock garden where everyone grabbed a rock. We did 10 reps in cadence. Curls for the girls, shoulder presses, squats, and rows. Then rotate. Rinse and repeat all the way around. Then we did a lap around the courthouse. Stopping at the back and the front for some irkins. Back to the rock garden where the two elder F3 brothers put their two heads together for 5 exercises in tabata style, 1 minute on, 30 seconds rest. Triceps, torso twists, bouncie squats, chest presses, and lbc’s. Moseyed back to the flag, COT, and Moby prayed us out.
    Announcements: Gnarly Nutria coming up on July 20th
    Intentions: Continue prayers for BBQ’s mother who is doing much better.
    Thanks for letting me lead gentlemen.

  • Jam Elatedly Replicating Intricate Cadences Half-Obediently – from Russo

    80 degrees or so and humid to begin the morning at Granny’s. YHC was looking for a unique way to remind folks about the beatdown and draw some attention to our mid week AOs as charged by Jose, and in doing so, Zoolander taught me a new word: acrostics. Who knew it was really a word puzzle in which certain letters in words are clues that form another word (e.g. Join Everyone Running In Certain Heat
    Outdoors) and not an acrobatic mystic or an acrylic heretic?

    Early mumblechatter revolved around dinosaur movies, cars in space, Omaha, sharknados, and JVs drinking habits.

    Warmup (all 10-20x IC)
    – Sealjacks
    – Cherry pickers
    – Arm circles
    – SSH
    – Imperial walkers
    – Air presses

    Thang
    A Shooter favorite, the Walls of Jericho
    (7 rounds of seven exercises, followed by a mosey around Granny’s)
    – 7 merkins
    – 7 squats
    – 7 groiners
    – 7 crunches
    – 7 side squats
    – 7 shoulder tap plank jacks
    – 7 American hammers

    Thang after the Thang (which reminded some of “Never have I ever”, so that’s now back on the rotation for a beatdown)

    One round of:
    – 7 Peter Parker’s
    – 7 Bulgarian split squats
    – 7 Durkins
    – 7 freak nastys
    – 7 step ups
    – 7 Urkins
    – 7 leg raises
    – Calf raises (2 on each step) up the pilot house, with a special guest on Jose’s trip (sorry about that)

    Mary
    – 25 wife pleasers IC
    – 20 LMCs IC

    COT, Name o Rama, Announcements, and prayer closed us out.

    Announcements
    – Hammer is putting together a bible study, check Slack for info and to discuss best time/day.
    – Co-Q by pickaxe and chainsaw on Saturday (Luigi’s and Boom ShackaLackas for everyone!)
    – Gnarly Nutria is July 20th at 9 – more info to come on Slack

    Good times all around, gents, thanks for joining me. SYITG

  • Oy Vey: An Unorthodox Morning at Granny’s – from Steve

    “Saturday, Donny, is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means I don’t work, I don’t drive a car, I don’t lift cinderblocks or crawl like a goddamn bear, and I sure as shit don’t do kraken burpees!”

    -Walter Sobchak (paraphrased)

    Well, at least I tried. YHC thought maybe a pre-beatdown announcement on slack could lure in the likes of Zoolander or Shooter, but alas, they did not take the bait. No bigge, though – the Granny regulars were there, including Granny’s favorite son, Russo, who has (somewhat) recovered from throwing out his back a month ago.

    Now, not wanting to tarnish his enduring reputation for being late after a string of on-time appearances, Cowbell showed up this morning exactly five minutes after we began. What’s so crazy, and I think Hammer has pointed this out before, is that he is so precisely five minutes late every time. He’s got it down to a science, really. I mean, you’d think the guy could just set his alarm clock exactly five minutes earlier and that’d be that.

    Anyway, as he sidled up next to Jose and ignored whatever warmup exercise we were doing, he mentioned that he had a really good excuse for being late this time (and boy did he): Orthodox Jews. We’ll just let that one sit for a moment.

    Warmorama: Torso twists, self love, arm circles, windmills, side straddle hops, toe touches, 10x merkins.

    Thang: First up today, a mosey to the lakefront, stopping at each intersection for a set of 10x leg, 20x chest, and 30x core exercises. Exercises were as follows:

    Squats
    Merkins
    Flutters

    Lunges
    Diamond Merks
    LBCs

    Jump Squats
    Explosive Merks
    Freddie mercs

    Star jumps
    Hand release merkins
    Crunchy Frogs

    Sister Mary’s
    T-merkins
    Leg Raises

    Jump Knee Tucks
    Staggered Merkins
    Heel Pulses

    Before Jose could continue kvetching about helping his uncle with a stuck trailer, or about the number of merkins that were rapidly piling up at this point (130), Cowbell elaborated that some of his biggest (and best) clients are Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn. While detailing some of the interesting quirks of the orthodox, he assured us that he was a man of integrity (yeah, sure, a mensch) and that he loved those guys. In fact, he is often confused for being an orthodox Jew himself! But man, those guys sure send a lot of emails after shabbos…

    Alright, so once we reached the sea wall, it was the usual leg work:
    Step ups L x15
    Step ups R x15
    Freaks x15
    Bulgarians L x15
    Bulgarians R x15
    Derkins x15

    Then a short mosey to rips for 5 calf raises on each step before heading back to Granny’s, alternating between standard mosey and sprints every other block. COT where Hammer prayed us out, thanking God for all of our blessings and asking to open Cowbell’s heart to his people. YHC had to leave shortly thereafter, as the guys stood around discussing the soft white underbelly of America and, trust me, you don’t want to be a part of that conversation. Thank you men for the opportunity to get stronger alongside you, always appreciated!

  • Old reliable – from Russo

    70 degrees and humid this morning for a group of 6 to conquer the semi-regular (when I have put less thought into Q than I’d like) deck of death. Old reliable was supposed to be the deck, but it also meant:

    – JV and Cowbell continuing their verbal sparring / encouragement
    – Hammer coming up with yet another brilliant analogy
    – Sweat angels from YHC that confounds Bushwhacker

    Warmup – all IC 10x -20x

    – Sealjacks
    – Arm circles
    – Toe touches
    – Grass grabbers
    – High knees

    Thang – Deck of Death (count and exercise based on card turned over)

    Split the deck into 3 groups for rounds. Rounds included:
    Spades – Wide merkins
    Clubs – crab cakes
    Diamonds – jump squats
    Hearts – circle ups

    Spades – shoulder tap merkins
    Clubs – calf raises (2 is 1)
    Diamonds – SMCs
    Hearts – Crunchy frogs

    Spades – Freak nastys
    Clubs – Monkey Humpers
    Diamonds – side squats (2 is 1)
    Hearts – box cutters / Cowbell Saturday Night Special (size of boxes varied)

    Mary (with bonus definition of Mary for the Pax from Bushwhacker):

    – 20 freak nastys
    – 20 shoulder tap plank jacks
    – American hammers 10 IC
    – Wife pleasers 20 IC
    – Gas pumps 10 IC
    – Hello Dollie’s 10 IC
    – 10 donkey kicks (what’s up Shooter?!?!)

    COT, name-o-rama, announcements and prayer closed us out. Special intention for those traveling.

    MVP to JV for accepting constructive criticism and encouragement from Cowbell with grace and style.

    Thanks for joining, gents, and yet ANOTHER all star krewe this week.

  • F3 Kickball: Chico’s Bail Bonds v Xscissor – from Akbar

    18 men showed in the gloom this morning for a game of F3 Kickball. We are taught to modify as necessary, and learn through trial and error that some things work, and some things don’t. Even the best laid plans go wrong sometimes, and it happened today. Below is the way YHC envisioned it, and then what really happened.

    PAX Hammer, Minnow, Chainsaw, Pickaxe, Gilligan, Moby Dick, Agent Carl, Jose 10k, Zoolander, Grundy, Steve, JV, Shooter, Waterpik, Dangerfield, Maverick, Russo, Akbar

    Warm Up x10 IC – Merkins, IW, Self-Love, Grass Grabbers, SSH, Arm Circles F/B, Toe Touches

    Thang: F3 Kickball
    Count off 1’s and 2’s to form 2 teams. Run to the baseball field in teams, arrive at the field, plank up in teams to pick team names.

    Rules for Kickers

    Kick the ball and mosey around all bases without stopping while kicking team holds plank until the kick is launched. Modes of travel will change in each inning. Modification for runners is always a backwards run. When you score, you get 1 point and lead your team in 5 Wife Pleasers IC while the fielders do Nolan Ryans. Penalty exercises on outs, strikes, and fouls – 10 Australian Mountain Climbers (2=1) OYO while field does Nolan Ryans. No bunting.

    Rules for Fielders

    Ball is not in play until it touches the ground. When the ball hits the ground, fielders must do an exercise before they touch the ball – unless it is a pop fly. If a pop fly is caught, catcher gets to choose kicking team exercises x 5IC or 10 OYO. If ball is dropped on the catch, regular rules apply and exercises must be done before touching the ball. No pegging runners while running with blocks and no forced outs.

    Game
    3 outs or 1x through the lineup, no catcher, winner chooses exercise for losing team at the Flag.

    Pre-Game – The PAX lined up for the National Anthem by Metallica.

    Exercises for Kickers and Fielders
    Inning 1: Farmers Carry, Squat Hold and 30 Air Presses
    Inning 2: Brick Fly Runs, 20 Bobby Hurleys
    Inning 3: Rifle Carry, 20 Big Boy Situps
    Inning 4: Brick Hallelujah Run, 20 Diamond Merkins
    Inning 5: Bear Crawl, Renegade Row Merkins

    What really happened – YHC explained the rules clearly and effectively and it was decided the rules would be explained as we played. The idea is the fielders do exercises to give the runners time to score, assuming that all balls would be kicked in the outfield. That was not the case. By some magic, the balls were kicked into the players at the infield and just sat there. Someone mentioned very early on this would be a low scoring game. In fact, the first inning lasted about 20 minutes. Even the QIC forgot to do exercises sometimes.

    So we went to straight up kickball, regular rules, for the last 10 minutes and a new plan for the next game swirled around in YHC’s head.

    The final score was 9 to 7, Chico’s Bail Bonds took home the pride.

    We got back to the flag a little late, and Shooter prayed us out. Great to have Agent Carl with us, EH’d by Toto, who has been lost somewhere in Oz for the last year. Come back Toto!

    Count, Name, and Shooter prayed us out.

    Thanks for following my lead –
    SYITG, Akbar

  • “Scissor me Softly” by Jose 10k – from Shooter

    Being out of sync with attendance the last few weeks YHC was refreshed to post at Grandmas on this Gloom..Since the start of the new year most credit goes to Russo for rejuvenating attendance at one of the Northshores original AOs… T👏🏼 to his dedication and persistent posting in leading our F3 brethren on the Northside.. As I recently signed up for multiple AOs over the weekend my brain 🧠 was in constant taught on what to bring or do on this gloom.. With the trusted Exicon and some assistance from Cowbell anything is possible… Hopeful of a Bushwacker showing, YHC figured the PAX would stay in proximity of the Firehouse in case of course there might be an A.L.A.R.M… With No Bushwacker in sight, the only alarmingly moment of the day would be Jose 10k suggesting some scissor ✂️ action with the Q on the benches while completing get this “Freak Nasties” by the Treen center.. He has most obviously gained great knowledge of recent Inclusion training, appreciate the compliment 10k 🤗😉…
    Enough of that so here is the breakdown…

    Warmup
    15IC Cherry Pickers, Moroccans, Toe Touches, Abe Vagodas, Grass grabbers and Imperial walkers…

    Thang
    1st A.L.A.R.M (Bus stop)
    25 rep count Incline Merkin, Step ups, Donkey kickoffs, run to the stop sign and return to the bus stop for Merkins. (Cowbell)
    2nd A.L.A.R.M (Treen center)
    25 rep count Freak Nasties, Squats, American Hammers run around the building and finish with Monkey Humpers. (Cowbell)
    3rd A.L.A.R.M (Rusty Pelican)
    25 rep count Carolina dry docks, Box jumps, LBCs run to stop sign towards the Marsh and return for 3x 10 sec Mission impossible hold. (Cowbell)
    4th A.L.A.R.M (Trailhead)
    25 rep count Burpees, Lunges, 2/1 Mountain climbers, run around the trailhead and concluded with a Monkey crawl up the steps..

    4 mins remaining PAX completed 15IC Crunchy frog, Oblique cross crunch, 💯s and Flutter kicks Cowbell style..

    Thanks to Murdock for traveling down from Pearl River and congrats on the new job as he closed us out with COT…

    Appreciate the post gentlemen and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • White elephant (Special co-Q by Pokémon Deez Nuts) – from Russo

    Cooler-than-normal temps (50 degrees) greeted the Pax of 7 this morning for a recycled/repurposed beatdown. But, hey, it was new for ‘22, and for at least some, it was new to them, so we proceed!

    Warmup (All IC, 10x to 20x)
    – SSH
    – Toe touches
    – Arm circles
    – Good mornings
    – Self love

    Thang
    Dirty Santa / White Elephant. The rules are simple:
    (1) Each HIM picks a number.
    (2) Number 1 picks a random gift/exercise from the bag (in this case, a quart sized Ziploc) and performs said exercise while the other HIM perform the standard (e.g. 10 merkins).
    (3) Number 2 has a choice: Number 1’s chosen exercise, the standard, or a new “gift”. If he chooses either of the first two options, the one who had their “gift” stolen can steal or select another mystery “gift”.
    (4) Around and around we go, until all HIM have a chance to select.

    The “gifts”:
    -10 merkins
    -18 jump squats
    -25 squats
    -8 Hand release merkins
    -20 hello dollies
    -14 leg raises
    -30 monkey humpers
    -25 plank jacks
    -4 krakken burpees
    -8 SMCs
    -15 murder bunnies or groiners
    -20 bear crawls
    -10 diamond merkins
    -50 high knees
    -24 Apollo ohnos
    -12 star jumps
    -2 calf raises
    -20 hip slappers
    -12 hallelujah squats
    -33 cherry pickers
    -6 donkey kicks

    Between rounds, Pax also moseyed around Granny’s, on occasion doing the “column slalom” ™ to provide for some strategizing.

    There was just enough time to get in 20 IC Freak Nastys, a trip up the pilot house with 2 calf raises on each step, 10 star jumps at the top, and a quick round of a Mary (20IC American Hammers and Wife Pleasers).

    COT, name-o-rama, announcements and prayer closed us out.

    MVP to JV for his outstanding work imitating a bear for almost an entire round.

    I appreciate you all joining me and letting me lead another All-Star crew.

    SYITG

  • You got to roll me, and call me… – from Russo

    71 degrees, balmy, breezy greeted a pax of 5 this morning at Granny’s, but despite the warnings and threat, no rain!

    Warmup (10-20x all IC)
    – Seal jacks
    – High knees
    – Self love
    – Arm circles
    – Toe touches
    – Good mornings

    Thang

    Super simple this week, a block by block mosey around old Mandeville, stopping to confuse the cars that passed as to why 5 HIM were rolling dice in the middle of the street.

    10 reps of each exercise based on the number of the roll. A double roll? Double the reps to 20 (Rummel math!)

    Roll of 2 – Burpees
    3 – Monkey Humpers
    4 – Leg raises
    5 – Shoulder tap merkins
    6 – Big boy sit-ups
    7 – Hallelujah squats
    8 – 8 count body builders
    9 – SMCs
    10 – Groiners
    11 – Peter Parker merkins
    12 – Calf raises

    Back at Granny’s, we utilized the benches for 10 quick Freak Nastys IC and 10 step ups.

    COT, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, and Prayer closed us out.

    Things we learned:

    – Convergence / Manniversary is THIS Saturday on the lakefront. In my best “announcer for monster truck shows / pro wrestling cards” voice: BE THERE!!!!

    – The SLU / Ole Miss baseball game will continue to live on in infamy. YHC believes this is the 4th straight week we’ve worked it into mumblechatter.

    – I get how odds work. There are 6 ways to roll a 7 with two dice, and only one to roll Snake eyes or Box cars. But this PAX really, really loved rolling 7s. Don’t take us to a craps table. Hallelujah squats for all!

    Thanks, gents, for joining me and giving me an opportunity to lead such a fine group. Great work as always.

    🤛🏼💪🏼