F3 New Orleans

Tag: Steve

  • Face cards prevail, unfortunately not at the Casino.. – from Shooter

    7 PAX and a visitor to close at COT graced the YHC this Gloom for some card work..The face cards were a plenty, if only that could happen at the Blackjack table..

    Warmup
    15IC Toe Touches, Hillbillies, SSH, Air presses, Cherry pickers, Imperial walkers and Butt kicks..

    Thang
    Moseyed through Mandeville utilizing 2 bus stops, OLL overflow parking area and the corridor of Granny’s..
    Each stop instructions given for each suit with called exercises. First stop included jump stairs, freak nasties, Derkins and jump ups. Second stop sprints, calf raises, alternating merkins and American hammers. Third stop jump overs, Irkins, little Manny crunches and step ups. Returned to AO for the finale including Diamond Merkins, Burpees, Flutter kicks and a Joker at which YHC offered a called exercise of 25 LBCs by Hammer..

    Count, namorama, and COT with Wacker slipping in with flag and walkie-talkie in tow..

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

  • Day of remembrance – from Shooter

    6 PAX converge on this Veterans Day to get some before the daylight breaks the horizon..
    Brief warmup all to 11 SSH, Toe Touches, Butt kicks, Windmills, Squats and Merkins..

    Different route through Mandeville stopping along the way for reps of 11 Merkins, Squats, Crunchy frogs, Burpees..

    Returned back to use the barricades at the Scramble for curls, presses and shrugs…

    Appreciate you men posting and allowing me to lead!!

    Till the next Gloom 👊🏼👍🏼✌🏼!!!

  • These go to 11…or 9…or 11 – from Russo

    A brisk temperature of 48 degrees (still not cold enough for sleeves) and a clear sky greeted a pax of 5 this morning for an organized, balanced, and repetitive beatdown that of course incorporated number patterns because that is how YHC maintains a small measure of control in an otherwise chaotic world.

    Warmup (believed to be all IC, 10x, but that’s difficult to confirm when Bushwhacker gets to talking about rookie hazing and toilet scrubbing at the firehouse)

    – Grass grabbers
    – Torso twists
    – Cherry pickers
    – Toe touches
    – Arm circles
    – Good mornings

    Thang before the Thang

    A two block mosey down Girod to the Rusty P and their outside benches to get us started, where YHC wondered how long it would take before someone figured out the secret repetition code. Answer: not long, even in the early morning hours, not with a sharp as a tack Chewy on the case.

    11 step ups were followed by 9 freak nastys, then 9 step ups followed by 11 freak nastys.

    The gig was up, but the question remained: Why 9 and 11? Despite thoughts of September 11, January 19th, calling 9-1-1 hoping Bushwhacker makes house calls, and something or other about 91, the clue of today’s date finally allowed YHC to see the bright light bulbs going off among the Pax: November 9, which is either brilliant or incredibly lazy in its simplicity. It was probably the latter.

    As we moseyed closer to Granny’s (with either 9 or 11 diamond merkins, jump squats, big boy sit-ups interspersed) the pax was briefly stopped by some “traffic”. Prayers up to that mailbox.

    Pax made it to the bus stop, where the sequence was 11 Bulgarian split squats, 9 durkins, 9 BSSs, and 11 durkins before a short mosey to begin the Thang:

    With only 2 minutes or 25 minutes left (depending on whether you were using Bushwacker’s timekeeping or YHC’s), we worked 6 rounds of alternating reps of 11 and 9 at each column, followed by a trip up and back down the pilot house:

    – 11 SSH and 9 squats
    – 11 seal jacks 9 merkins
    – 11 high knees 9 LBCs
    – 11 Apollo Ohnos 9 plank jacks
    – 11 mummy kicks 9 lunges
    – Butt kicks, hello dollys, and merkins in a 9-11-9 sequence

    Just enough time remained for a 90 second plank, and then we closed with a COT, name-o-rama, announcements, and prayer.

    As always, I’m appreciative of the opportunity to lead such a fine group of men.

    SYITG

  • Fall Back – from Steve

    Talk about a dark warmorama. About the only definable figure I could make out was, well nobody, really, since Shooter wasn’t there. Of course I knew Jose was present from the early morning grumbling, but the rest of the crew were shrouded in mystery. Given such circumstances, YHC delivered a clear disclaimer in case there were any FNGs (turned out there were two), and we got things rolling.

    Started off with the usual – good mornings, windmills, torso twists, arm circles, IW’s, Hillbillies, SSHs, High Knees – mostly at 10x IC, but a 15 and a 30 crept in there. I like to say those instances are “to keep the pax on their toes,” but of course the pax is smarter than that – they know it’s just early morning brain fog.

    We hadn’t moseyed to the playground in a while, so that was on the menu today, stopping at each intersection for a set of 10x deconstructed burpees. Zoolander’s No-Booze-November had hit a snag the night before (a snag by the name of Woodford Reserve), and so my originally planned set of x20 burpees seemed cruel as he had, not but 5 minutes before this point, requested “no burpees, please.” So we deconstructed instead, which would mean 10x squats, 10x groiners, 10x merkins, and 10x jump squats. Knocked those out at the three intersections and then hit a fourth one when we reached the playground.

    Then it was time for one of my lakefront standards, a partner routine where P1 wall sits and performs overhead air presses while P2 hits three stations: 10 t-merkins, 10 jump squats, 10 big boys. Three rounds of that and it was on to neighboring grass patch for a few games.

    That’s right, games. Let it not be said (Toto) that I do not include any fun in my beatdowns! First up was a game called When Animals Attack, which features one pax (it) bear crawling to tag any of the other guys, who are all crab walking. Any one who is tagged then performs 5 burpees and immediately joins in as a bear, to help tag the rest of the crew. I had initially envisioned a rabid, growling Tanked Up tearing through that patch of grass, but alas, when the sun finally rose this morning and it was clear who was standing before me, there was no Tank to be found. Grundy was the next best choice, so he became the first bear. Now, whoever invented this game clearly did not know the Northshore region’s distaste for crab walking because when the game finally began, the crabs all just sat in place waiting to be tagged. Some even moved closer to the bear! It seemed unanimous – the guys would rather do their 5 burpees and half-heartedly attempt to tag others than crab walk five steps. The next round was hardly better than the first, with Zoolander and his stomach of steel as the bear, and so we moved on to another game: Duck Jousting.

    To say duck jousting was more successful might be a stretch, but it was certainly more entertaining. In this game, it’s every man for himself. You get in a low duck walk position with your arms across your chest, and hobble over to the nearest pax to try and topple him without the use of your hands. Once you’ve been knocked over, you start high kneeing until the game ends.

    Though this was totally a Mathlete type of game, a surprise attack by Zoolander knocked him out early on. It came down to Jose, Swole, and Zoo. Swole attempted a Switzerland type of strategy, where he simply sat (or squatted) off to the side and awaited the victor between Jose and Zoo. But this proved faulty when Zoo took him down by surprise. By this point, our two gladiators had entirely abandoned the rule of duck walking (well, let’s be fair, Zoolander was never actually duck walking from the start). Even with an assist from Bird, Zoo was unable to take down Jose, but one final assault sent both men to the ground in a tie.

    Time to head back, so we formed two lines and Bataan Death Marched back to the flag. Once back, we did some single leg squats to the sea wall while Turbo graciously picked up the six. Quick Mary and time for COT. Welcome FNG’s Slater and Woody, and t-claps for hanging in there. Hope to see you guys back out soon. (And a personal thanks to our FNG’s for forcing me to write a backblast after months of negligence.) Hammer prayed us out and off to Book and the Bean for coffeteria. Appreciate the opportunity to lead you men, SYITG.

  • Another Cakewalk – from Russo

    Hurricane Ida wrecked a lot of plans this year. She did a lot of damage, broke a lot of hearts, made life a ton more difficult. But one thing I’ve learned is that even in the darkest of hours, God can find a way to turn something terrible into something good.

    I don’t want to belittle the struggle our region is still dealing with, and I can tell you firsthand there is a lot of work left. But I can also tell you firsthand that God has given us an opportunity to grow together, help each other, and all in all, be better people.

    My original plan for the first week in September was to do a birthday Q, and following the lead of Grundy and/or Zoolander (depending on how good an idea it was), complete another “Cake walk” and hope it catches on as a thing.

    Well, those plans changed due to Mother Nature, but God’s timing is perfect, so a pax of 17 said “Take Two” under beautiful weather with low humidity and temps topping out at around 71.

    Warmup (between 10x and 20x, all IC)
    Seal jacks
    Toe touches
    Arm circles
    Torso twists
    Goofballs

    Thang: A cakewalk, your basic descending ladder of exercises and reps, starting at YHC’s age (in this case, 43), and work your way to 1, with some moseying in between around Old Mandeville/Lakefront.

    The order:

    43 High knees
    42 SSHs
    41 Plank Jacks
    40 merkins (where Bird started to wonder where the burpees were)
    39 squats
    38 Hello Dollies
    37 Calf raises
    36 Apollo ohnos
    35 Freak Nastys
    34 step ups
    33 flutter kicks
    32 butt kicks (2 is 1) (lead IC by the entire pax rotating, very nice job, gents!)
    31 Peter Parker’s (2 is 1)
    30 imperial walkers
    29 Shoulder taps (2 is 1)
    28 American hammers
    27 George thoroughgood
    26 Smurf jacks
    25 leg raises
    24 Rosalitas
    23 crab jacks (crab position – opposite plank jacks)
    22 groiners
    21 Bear crawls
    20 murder bunnies
    19 Hand release merkins
    18 Bobby Hurley’s
    17 crab cakes (2 is 1)
    16 circle ups
    15 Bulgarian split squats
    14 durkins
    13 big boy sit-ups
    12 LMCs
    11 diamond merkins
    10 star jumps
    9 donkey kicks
    8 8 count body builders
    7 makhtar n’jais
    6 6 inch drills (where Zoolander was wise to my plan)
    5 Carolina dry docks
    4 Bonnie Blair’s
    3 jump squats
    2 burpees (here they are Bird!)
    1 minute plank

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

    This Q doubled as my 3 year anniversary Q, so it’s time for me to again thank Toto for EH’ing me. Like I suspect has happened to many of us, I had no idea what I was in for. I showed up late to my first beatdown (Splice was Q) and quickly wondered what I got myself into. Manny’s words to me were “just stick with it” and he was right.

    More than once, I was the 6. I’m still the 6 on occasion. But each and every time, someone is there to pick me (or you) up. Tanked up was the first I remember. Shooter seems to do it the most (especially on moseys).

    And that’s what makes this group of men so darn solid. What started out as “I could use the exercise” or “I want to get back in shape” quickly turns to something more.

    The F for Fitness is lowercase. The other two are uppercase. I’ve enjoyed laughing with you all, especially when Hammer gets a pax going with his 80’s references, or Zoolander makes an off color joke about doing a Freddy Mercury. You each have enriched me, made me a better person, lended guidance, and just in general have been a blast to be around.

    Before I started, I didn’t have a lower back that constantly aches or stiffens up, nor did I have a left shoulder that tells me “That’s enough merkins for today.” I didn’t even know I had an Achilles’ tendon.

    But it has all been worth it. Ever nagging pain and shortness of breath: worth it knowing I’m making a decision to better myself as a leader, a Christian, a productive member of society. And that’s due to each of you, whether I called you by name above or not. Because finally, after 3 years, I think I’ve learned your real names, which is maybe a bigger compliment.

  • When Life Gives You Lumber – from Grundy

    The old saying goes that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. A lesser known saying is that when life gives you lumber, make a bunch of other guys move it around back and forth pointlessly for an hour. So, when Ida provided my backyard and neighborhood with a plethora of logs and stumps, YHC went ahead and tried out that lesser known saying. In addition, the Q was able to get rid of the lumber at the end of the beatdown which was in danger of becoming part of the permanent fixtures that are still adorning many neighborhoods around the Northshore. Win-Win.

    So after having almost knocked out Bird with my open car door before the beatdown, I proceeded to try to give us all that same opportunity of physical injury by throwing, dragging, pressing, lifting, and flipping logs/stumps.

    That’s really all there was too this workout. After a brief warmup, we went to the field where YHC placed all of the logs. All of the logs had different corresponding exercises associated with them and we rotated through them for the hour. The signaling of when to rotate was when the one individual flipping the main log returned to the starting line.

    Sprinkled in the beatdown was some Mary as well.

    We left the field a little worse than we found it, but I guaranty that we were better men by the end of it.

    We returned to the flag and Russo closed us out.

    Thanks guys for letting me lead and have a great weekend!

  • Blocks and Jocks Oh my!! – from Shooter

    11 PAX posted at the Gipper on this Wednesday for YHCs return after a month and a half layoff would certainly require some coupon work… So after returning with Einstien, Legal and Steve on the 1 mile prethang we got right to it…

    Warmup
    15IC Cherry pickers, Toe Touches, Imperial walkers, Windmills, Butt kicks and Grass grabbers.

    Thang
    Gathered 6 coupons for our mosey over to the courthouse.. Partnered up..
    First round
    P1 Using coupon did murder bunnies up the stairs keeping rep count. Combined count of 100 cumulative while P2 did rail crawls up the ramp returning to pickup count.
    Second round
    Moseyed to back side of courthouse where P1 did Curls and P2 bunny hopped up returning to pickup count..200 cumulative
    Third round
    Moseyed back to front for P1 Squat thrusters 100 cumulative while P2 Crawl bearers half the ramp the bear crawls other half.

    Moseyed back to AO returning coupons wrapping up with Mary of 20IC Flutter kicks, LBCS and Hello Dollies..

    Count, Announce, COT

    Thanks to Moby for the closeout in prayer and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Streaking – from Russo

    YHC believes streaks were meant to be broken, and then celebrated. Cal Ripken wasn’t penciled in for game number 2,633. DiMaggio went 0-fer in game 57. The Patriots couldn’t overcome a miracle play from David Tyree and Ei Manning and finished the season 18-1. YHC can only eat the same lunch for 5 or 6 days in a row.

    So hearing that Steve had Q’ed Granny’s for 4 or so straight weeks, I thought he might need a break and let someone else count cadence for once.

    Pretty decent weather on Tuesday morning for a Pax of 7, including a returning Bushwhacker, with temps topping out at 77 degrees, plenty warm enough to sweat profusely.

    Working in a profession that requires balance, order, and consistency, YHC carried that over to rep count.

    Warmup (all IC 15x)
    Seal jacks
    Imperial walkers
    Toe touches
    Cherry pickers
    Mummy kicks

    Thang
    With Granny’s still feeling the effects of a spruce up, remodel, and/or renovation, her benches were not available behind fence, so Pax moseyed over to the Rusty P for some work:

    At benches:
    15 freak nastys
    15 step ups
    15 derkins
    15 more freak nastys

    Some more moseying took us to the bus stop, where 15 box jumps were in order, and then more mosey to the tunnel, where we knocked out the main portion of the beat down:

    5 merkins, a mosey through the tunnel, where it was 5 more merkins in the center, and then a reverse mosey and 5 more merkins at the top, repeated 5 times.

    Heading back home, we knocked out 15 squats IC around coffee st., and then wrapped it up with some Mary:

    15 plank jacks IC
    15 LMCs IC
    15 six inch drill IC

    COT, name-o-Rama, announcements (F3 and FIA game night 10/21 at what’s left of the Mandeville Gazebo at 6:15, NOLA convergence on Saturday), and prayer closed us out.

    Thank you gents for joining and making it another good one.

    And If you’ve read this far because of the title and hoping to hear about us going streaking through the quad Old School Will Farrell style, I hate to disappoint you. But there’s always next week!

    SYITG

  • UPPER DECK – from Einstein

    Short disclaimer…

    Warmup:
    all 20xIC: Toe Touch, Side Straddle Hops, Good Mornings, High Knees, Shoulder Shrugs, Imperial Walkers,
    Swimmers, Butt Kicks

    Thang:
    After a reverse lunge walk and sprint mix on our way up the ramps to the upper deck of the Justice Center Parking Garage,
    The Pax did a set of elevens with burpees up hill and merkins down hill
    Next Thang:
    Using the twenty four parking space striping, the Pax performed a StarJump routine:
    1 jump every other space, jog back, 2 jumps every other space, jog back, 1 jump plus 1 up to 13 for every other stripe

    Mosey back to the flag for times-up.

    Count-o-rama, Akbar leads us out with prayer.

    Thanks guys. Always extremely decent of you letting me lead.

  • Iron Pax week 4: We’re all super ants! – from Russo

    Pretty nice weather, a little on the humid side, but that’s picking nits, for the final week of the 2021 Iron Pax at the Lakefront this morning.

    Between a storm, a sinus infection, and vacation, YHC has been MIA for most of this year’s IPC, so my goal was to at least proctor and attempt some of the fun this week.

    As we gathered, Tanked Up took things to that next level with a (homemade) tee showing off his Raider Pride. Any Rummel alumni worth his salt (admittedly not much) knows the story of the Super Ants: an underdog Raider football team defeated the might Chalmette Owls (!!!) back in the day, and the moniker Super Ants made it into the newspaper write up (remember those?). From them on, a super ant is anyone that displays courage, heart, fight, and a motor that never quits (all characteristics of your typical college football “possession receiver”). Think Don Beebe running down Leon Lett. Danny Amendola. Abram Booty. Any Iowa receiver.

    I digress, but this week there was a colony of super ants that gave an incredible effort and pushed themselves HARD in the gloom.

    Pre Thang
    Quick warmup of seal jacks, cherry pickers, toe touches, and mummy kicks approx. 10x each, all IC)

    Thang
    A descending ladder, each set 25 reps, with a 25 yard run, followed by three burpees, and then 25 yards back for the next round of 25 reps.

    Rounds were:
    8 sets of curls (200 total)
    7 sets of squats (175 total, you get the picture)
    6 sets of overhead presses
    5 sets of kettle bell swings
    4 sets of merkins
    3 sets of thrusters
    2 sets of Bonnie Blair’s
    1 set of blockers

    Finish those, and you work your way back up the ladder, times for a total of 52:30.

    Major T claps to Grundy and Tanked up for setting the pace, but incredible effort and very little resting (excluding YHC) from what I saw.

    A mosey back from the Shaft and a COT closed us out with name-o-rama, announcements (F3/FIA mixer on the 21st and NOLA convergence on the 16th), and a prayer. Special appearance by Speedy and Cowbell, while Bean, Swoll Patrol, and an FNG had to scamper out early.

    Much respect to Zoolander for commandeering the coupons and markers and helping to coordinate this week. It was very much appreciated.

    Raider Pride and SYITG