F3 New Orleans

Tag: Tanked Up

  • AB-solutely Appreciative

    “I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another” Thomas Jefferson

    And it was, indeed, a pleasure doing a good job whooping on the the PAX this morning!

    Warm-o-rama:

    Air Squared (people’s chair with seal claps) x20

    21s – SSH in cadence, 1-5 out loud, 6-21 in our heads. Shooter drew a yellow flag  by starting #22, so we dropped for 5 merkins and gave it another shot. An antsy Tanked Up tried throwing some accusations Water Pic(k)’s way, but the PAX wasn’t having a round 3.

    We finished up with a cameo from our ISI AMRAP, courtesy of Turbo Tax. Single-leg lateral hops, 1 minute each leg.

    The Thang:

    After moseying to Marigny and partnering up (thanks Beast for showing up late to even out our number), YHC unveiled the as-yet-unperfected Bushwacker’s Ladder. Using the 6 telephone poles as markers, while P1 did merkins at 1st pole, p2 bear crawled to second pole and proceeded to do merkins while p1 bear crawled to meet him. Proceeding thusly, burpees/ sprint, alt single leg lunge/ high step, plank/squat walk, and finally p1 &p2 together SSHed laterally to the last pole.  To get back to the lakefront p1 carried p2 half way, then switched to complete the journey.

    We mosied towards the little bridge near the “beach”, but, after realizing it was a farther mosey than YHC realized, we broke it up with a quick set of 25 merkins.

    At the bridge we secured our feet under the bottom rail and busted out 20 or so sit ups. Now realizing the agony of my decision to both our feet and tail bones, we shifted over to the grass for 25 LBCs and 25 Heels to Heavens.

    Half-way along our return mosey we stopped for an invigorating game of F3 Pinocle (f3nation.com’s spelling not mine). In a circle each PAX was issued before him 5 cards (though time only allotted the use of 3 each) from my son’s deck of average, non-playboy playing cards . Each at a time flipped and we all performed however many reps as the number on the card (A=20), with the suite determining the exercise: Heart = merkin, Spade = squat, Diamond = burpee, and Club = putin. Mostly putins, very few burpees, and only 1 Ace. YHC would like to think he wasn’t alone in being APPRECIATIVE that we did 3 rounds instead of all 5, as a revealing of the remaining unturned cards produced such terrors as the A of spades, A of hearts, and the dreaded A of diamonds.

    Mary:

    (2) 10x Outlaws aka OOOOH Marys (Someone check for security footage from Don’s!)

    25x Freddy Mercurys

    20x Feddy Flutters

    3 minute plank, while I expounded on my appreciation for the fine gentlemen who surrounded me, those who could not post today, and the F3 organization as a whole. We should never be so far gone as to lose sight of the gifts we’ve been blessed with.

    As a parting gift, the chiseled brother fresh on his journey into his 60th year on this planet, graced us and the Mandeville Lakefront public with a brief, but titillating, strip tease of male dancing as only a landscaper could!

    YHC prayed us out with more urgings of appreciation for all things precious

    Gentlemen, it was an honor and a pleasure

    Thanks for the generosities of Shooter

  • Good Ol’ Boys

    Two PAX showed up on time, with a third PAX – Maverick, doing the best Dukes of Hazzard arrival, with a family vehicle, that I’ve ever seen.
    …flying into the parking lot, shooting gravel everywhere, some of which bounced off the Gipper statue, leaving R.R.’s nice patina, speckled, like a cheap polka-dot suit.
    Maverick “I’m here for the forty minute workout.”

    Indeed… To the best of my recall, here is how it went:

    Short Disclaimer …

    warmup
    all 20xIC; side straddle hops,good-mornings,windmills,imperial walkers,toe touches,hillbillys,arm circles,single leg lunges,squats,mummy kicks

    mosey to Bedrock; pick up a 10 pounder or so;
    all 15xIC; curls,overhead presses,rows,outward presses, elf on the shelf

    mosey to the front of the Taj Mahal for the MERKIN MEMORIAL
    here we have lots of brick pavers,each with a name and date,
    one pax, at a time, bearcrawls in toward the flagpole to a brick, reads the name and the date, chooses an odd or an even number, if an odd number,  we all bearcrawl counter-clockwise that many paces and do that many merkins, if an even number we all bearcrawl clockwise that many paces and do that many merkins. A crowd pleaser!

    mosey to the St.Tammany Parish Courthouse parking garage for sprints, backward lunges, and burpees.

    Indian Run back to the trail head

    count-o-rama, Moby Dick, on I.R., strolls up just in time to lead us out with a prayer.

  • It Was A Happy B.D. Because Of U!

    Being able to join my Brothers on a day of reflection does not get any better for a F3 member. I thank Turbo for encouraging me to join this fine group, just over one year ago. So many men I now know. Bonding to make us stronger indivudually and as a collective F3!!group.

     

    As a workout goes, wish we had doubled the Burpees, if only our workouts were longer.

    Warmup- finger stretches, arm stretches and rotation, SSH, squats, toe touches, toe hold, etc

    Thang–100 Burpees- give or take.. 10 sets of 10 halt at first man to 10….Butt/Bushwacker setting the pace for sure..rest of us not far behind.

    Cowboy and Indians– for fun, You had to be there.. Maverick — he had the best horseee.

    Serpentine–Sprints through 4 rows of cones with a sprint-loop. Butt Splice had to hang with the teacher to ensure 100 Percent effort..my soccer buddy. 4 reps in all..

    100-200-300–Merks, Squats, Mountain Climbers, with a run around the pole.  Steve/Tank took the count for sure, Turbo and I think his partner Waterpick,took the endurance portion. Waterpick- if not,then who?

    Shoulder Taps– close with a 5 minute challenge on the shoulders– Bush man fired up Turbo resulting in this challenge.. Was worth it and a fitting final exercise of the day..

    Announcements, prayer–The Manny- followed by, box jump competition, then good ole coffee and cake– thanks Captain, thanks all for a  great and memorable BD morning… U the best!

     

     

  • Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

    11 Pax posted for our Saturday beat-down.

    I hate burpees, so we knocked out the big rocks first:

    10 burpees, 9 burpees, 8 burpee,…. etc and on with the pattern continuing down until there was nothing left and then we finished off with another.. 10 burpees.

    Then we did short a short mosey to go warm up.

    • Side straddle hop (20x)
    • arm circles
    • imperial walkers
    • hillbillies
    • peter parkers
    • plank (1 minute)

    Then a short mosey over to an animal planet:

    • bear crawl (approx 15 yards out and then back)
    • crab walk
    • spider-man crawl
    • bear again

    Another short mosey:

    We reflected on a conversation from Alice in Wonderland:

    Alice: `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
    `That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
    `I don’t much care where–‘ said Alice.
    `Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

    We tied this in to our purpose for where we are going with family, community, career, and more relevantly – how we can reflect on our direction in and purpose on this workout to strengthen our bodies to do more of God wants us to do.

    We put this practice with a round of Merkin Tabata

    Then to help us push through limits… we reflected on this recent article from the WSJ: The Mental Tricks of Athletic Endurance

    Another round of Tabata but this time all 4 minutes were mountain climber.

    Short mosey over to do a partner wheelbarrow out and back about 20 yards – 2x

    Mosey back toward the flag. We slowed it down along the way with about 30 yards of Zombie walkers.

    Final COP of abs:

    8 more minutes of tabata with flutter kicks, american hammers and hello dollies mixed in.

     

    And.. we closed out with Roxanne.

     

  • Valentine’s Day Massacre

    Madness has officially descended upon the Northshore PAX.  At first, it was easy to blame Captain Sparkles and Bushwacker, who, like tyrannical taskmasters, drove the PAX to run ever-increasing distances.  But eventually we must all shoulder the blame for the insanity, with Shooter, EiEi, and YHC taking things a step too far ourselves, going as far as to suggest (and then carry out) a 5 mile run ahead of today’s usual beatdown.  When the foreplay becomes a thang in and of itself (and it certainly felt like we went far beyond 2nd and 3rd base on this Valentine’s day), then perhaps the F3 lexicon needs to be expanded – ‘foreplay’ and ‘pre-thang’ just don’t seem to cover it anymore.

    So when Grundy rolled in to the Gipper this morning to find Shooter and YHC already sweating profusely, he wondered aloud what was going on but privately, I suspect he wondered when and where he could get in on the action.  And that’s what I’m taking about when I say we must all shoulder the blame: this is our group’s mentality and I can pretty much promise you, it will only get worse… (which in our F3 world is, of course, always better).  Don’t say I didn’t warn you PAX!

    Warm-Up:

    SSH x25, IW’s x25, Good Morning’s x15, Windmills x15, MC’s x25, all IC.

    The Thang:

    On to the Taj Mahal for a COP: Plank – 10 Merkins – 10 Peter Parker’s (left leg only) – 10 Mountain Climbers – 10 Parker Peter’s (left leg only) – Chillcut Plank… hold and recover.  Next up, hold Al Gore, while PAX rotates performing 10 Sister Mary K’s.  Then the same plank routine, but right leg for the Peters and the Parkers.  And finally, Al Gore routine with jump squats in place of the SMK’s.

    Short mosey to the Justice Center for a partner routine: P1 sprints to first set of benches, 10 merkins and jogs back, sprint to second set of benches, 10 merkins and jog back, and finally all the way up the stairs, 10 merkins and jog back.  P2 performs that lovely 8-count exercise that YHC has been driving into the ground lately: plank, groiner and back, chillcut, plank jack, and back up to regular plank.

    Second routine using the same path: P1 lunge walks and performs squats at each set of benches, while P2 does flutter kicks.

    Mosey back to the flag for the finale, an AMRAP of Turbo’s raccoon crawl up the wall along the small hill, forward rolls or crab walks back down, hop up to the stage for 10 merkins, and back around to rinse and repeat for 6 mins.

    Mary: Freddie Flutters x22, Leg Raises x20, Putins x20.

    Countdown (we missed you Einstein, sorry to see your streak come to an end!), nameorama, and Shooter prayed us out.  Even though, comparatively, this was a fairly tame beatdown, it felt like a massacre to YHC by the end.  Thanks guys for always pushing, I can’t say enough about all the motivation/inspiration this group provides.

  • The Mande Monkey-Humpers

    Our regularly scheduled Saturday foreplay became irregular this morning, with both Shooter and Bushwacker respecting the time a little too much, misremembering the start time as 0600 rather than 0610.  A bewildered Tanked Up watched from his car as PAX would randomly show up and take off in different directions.  This “respecting the time” would become a bit of a theme for Bushwacker, who kept an especially strict eye on his watch for the entirety of today’s beatdown.

    Warm-Up:  SSH, Seal Jacks, IC x 25 / 10 8-Count Bodybuilders / Windmills, IW’s, Hillbillies, IC x 15 / 10 8-Count Bodybuilders / Mountain Climbers, IC x50.

    The Thang:

    First stop this morning would be the gazebo for a COP.  Everybody grab your ankles and hold, while each PAX does 10 monkey humpers, rotating around the circle.  x2.  T-Claps to Chewy who, as usual, demonstrated perfect form.  (No one asked if this came from excessive practice.)  Around this time a drone began circling overhead, presumably sent by Captain Sparkles to get some aerial footage of the PAX for F3 Nation’s front page.  What could be better advertisement for F3 than a group of monkey-humping PAX?  Move over, Milkshakers!

    Next up, derkin wave.  Tank, being the indomitable beast that he is, suggested 10 derks per man while PAX holds declined plank, so we got to it.  After one round, YHC felt we still had a little left in the tank, pun intended, so we rotated once more with a single derkin per man.

    Final gazebo wave was an Al Gore hold while each man performed 10 squat jumps.  Quick 10 count and onward to the sloppy field for….

    BOMBS!  Partner up, P1 runs to the previously-coined “headless penis” and back to relieve P2, who began the work of accumulating the following totals: 50x Burpees, 100x Overhead Claps, 150x Merkins, 200x Big-boy Sit-ups, 250x Squats.  At this point, the Wacker, who was a thorn in my side throughout the beatdown, gave his own disclaimer: sit-ups are not good for you, military institutions have abandoned them, yada-yada-yada.  YHC briefly toyed with the idea of increasing the sit-up total, but our resident physical therapist stepped up, explaining how to use slower, more controlled movements to decrease the chances of injury, and so the attempted mutiny was quashed.  Modify if necessary, people.

    This one took a bit longer than expected, with all the running back and forth adding a decent chunk to our RRR totals, and so we didn’t have much time to do the planned third pearl of this morning’s beatdown.  However, despite Bushwacker’s increasingly desperate pleas to turn back, YHC figured we could at least complete part one of that pearl.

    So, keep your partners, and mosey onward to the far side of the bridge.  P1 performs 4×4’s (burpees with 4 merkins, and 4 mountain climbers per leg), while P2 bear crawls forward down and backwards back up the bridge.  Flapjack.

    Finally, pull Bushwacker off the ledge (literally, of the bridge), and mosey back to the flag to find Turtle, looking way too clean in a sparkling white t-shirt.  With Turtle jeering us on: Leg Raises, IC x20, Putins IC x 20, and… “Lob Lollies,” IC x 15.

    Countdown, nameorama, and Manny prayed us out.  Onward to the coffetería, where it should be noted that our faithful barista, who has put up with both the smell and disorderly conduct of the PAX for well over a year of Saturdays, is finally moving on to better things.  We wish him luck (and better tippers).

    Thanks PAX, I had a great time this morning – always appreciate the opportunity to lead you men!

  • Super Bowl Saturday

    A little foreplay, a short disclaimer and then off to the races this morning on Super Bowl Saturday.

    52 reps of Seal Jacks, Mountain Climbers and Imperial Walkers, all in cadence, for a warmup.

    Mosey to the first COP for:

    10 count Al Gore, 10 copperhead squats, and 10 vertical jumps.

    10 count Mission Impossible, 10 slow Merkins, and 10 Northshore (plyo) Merkins.

    10 count balance on right leg, 10 slow pistol squats right leg, and 10 right leg hops.  Rinse and repeat on the left leg.

    10 count isometric lunge with the right foot forward, 10 slow lunges, and 10 half Sister Mary Katherines.  Rinse and repeat with the left leg forward.

    Mosey to the Main Event:

    The PAX set up a field approximately 30 yards x 30 yards and then separated into two teams, one donning wifebeaters left over from the Krazy Ivan.  Two teams, one football and an old fashioned game of keep away that reminded us all of our 12 year old selves.  Liberal sprinkling of Merkins, burpees, vertical jumps and star jumps every incomplete pass.  Not exactly Eagles v Patriots although some previously undisclosed skills were revealed by the wheezing PAX.

    Mosey back to the Shovel Flag for Mary:

    Scuba Steves, plank right leg pulses, plank left leg pulses, flutter kicks, and dynamic side planks both sides all 52x IC.

    Countorama, nameorama, and Chewy prayed us out on our way to the coffeeteria.

    Fun time this morning guys.  Thanks for being such great sports and letting me lead.

    Moleskin

    T claps to the 10 Northshore PAX participating in the Run Ranger Run February challenge.  As of this writing, Team Northshore sits in 21st place on the national leaderboard with 83 running miles logged since Tuesday.  Let’s keep up the momentum men.

  • Celebrity Q

    Much like POTUS’ final season of Celebrity Apprentice which starred the likes of Geraldo Rivera and Ian Ziering, this morning’s Celebrity Q brought the biggest names of the Northshore PAX out of retirement.  Along with the return of Turtle came the long-awaited return of founding-father Nacho, as well as Ocho and Choppa.  It was also Tanked Up’s first foray into Grandmother’s House.  Had this beatdown been broadcast, it surely would’ve been a ratings bonanza. Like, totally huge.

    In keeping with Turtle’s dislike of rules and regulations (see Krazy Ivan disqualification for reference), the Q had us skip the warm-up portion of the beatdown and head straight into some shoulder work.  (Spoiler: there would be a lot of shoulder work.  In fact, that was the only thing Turtle had planned for us this morning.)

    The Thang: 40 merkins OYO, followed by shoulder taps 25x IC, arm circles forward 20x IC, reverse 20xIC, and air presses 40x IC.  Not sure at all about those numbers, even though YHC was the one doing the counting.  (Another Turtle thing, he has yet to conquer counting in cadence…)

    Round 2: After YHC deliberately disregarded the Q’s request for only 15x IC Shoulder Taps, the Q wrested back control of the beatdown and finally tried counting in cadence for himself.  Air presses 20x IC, arm circles forward and reverse 15x IC, and finally, 15x merkins OYO.

    Then a mosey through the woods to the tunnel, where the PAX circled up for… merkins, shoulder taps, air presses, and arm circles!  Then Turtle turned the Q over to YHC, who attempted to show the PAX a new 8-count exercise that consisted of a groiner (1-2), down into an elbow plank (3-4), plank jack (5-6), and back up to normal plank (or “F3 Plank,” as the Q today would call it).  This was semi-successful, as Tanked Up seemed to have it down.  So it’d be a partner routine, with P1 doing the 8-count exercise described above, and P2 sprinting have the tunnel, back-pedaling the rest, and doing 10 jump squats before returning in the same manner he came.  YHC had planned a few rounds with various exercises, but again, Turtle did not like the way things were proceeding and decided it was time to head to the bus stop for some leg work.

    Knee Ups, each leg 15x IC, Freak Nasties 15x IC, Bulgarian Splits, each leg 15x IC, Freaks, 15x IC.

    And the grand finale – turning the Q over to Choppa for 5 minutes of Mary: Crunchy Frogs, Flutter Kicks, Hello Dollies, Jane Fondas (L&R), and some merkins to bring it back full circle.  All to some intense music that I’m pretty sure is used for action movie trailers.

    Nameorama, countdown, and Turtle closed it down with a thoughtful prayer.  T-claps to all the men who made it back after such a long hiatus, it really was a lot of fun seeing you guys again.

  • Krazy Ivan 2018

    The events depicted in this Backblast are completely stupid and utterly pointless.  Any similarity to events which are neither stupid nor pointless is purely coincidental.  

    No animals were harmed in the running of the Krazy Ivan.

    The Inagural Northshore Krazy Ivan CSAUP went off as planned, sort of.  The Northshore won, the Southshore whined, and it was….warm??!!??  The lack of frigid conditions made for a slightly less stupid but still rather pointless event.  Next year, we will aim higher.  Without further ado…

    Twenty men gathered at the gazebo on the Mandeville lakefront on a beautiful, starry, breezy Saturday evening: 15 Northshore PAX, 1 Northshore Scorekeeper, and 4 Southshore PAX.  Lots of mumble chatter, a bit of trash talk, and some ogling at the Freedom Hammer ensued.  Somewhere around 2100, as the PAX waited for Triple Shift to open the needle valve to bleed some pressure (a little oilfield lingo, there), THE Manny rung the bovine bell.  Some quick instructions from YHC, including a warning of low visibility, potentially questionable footing, an offer of flashlights (offer summarily rejected), and the PAX gathered at the starting line.  Hawg mumbled something about the Gnarly Nutria always beginning on time.  Uh huh.

     

    With another ringing of the bovine bell, THE Manny released the hounds.  Turbo, Backdraft, Steve and all the other skinny dudes went out guns blazing.  Out and back to the west end seawall x 3 was the course.  The easterly breeze made for a nice tailwind on the way out that was as appreciated as was the equal and opposite headwind was loathed on the way back.  That is, unless you were Triple Shift.  You see, Triple Shift had a strategy, folks: get right on the heals of a really good looking, husky PAX and run in his ample slipstream the entire race, save for the last 50 yards when you turn on the reserves and blast past him.  So if you think about it, Triple owes YHC one of his points.  But more on the (contested) scoring later.

     

    The course was dark, sometimes nearly pitch black.  Although Orian’s belt and the waxing crescent were quite visible, the running path was at times not.  As 19 PAX trekked and traversed back and forth, forth and back, we passed those both ahead and behind us, those who lapped and those who got lapped.  This afforded the PAX opportunity to root for, hiss at, tease, encourage, or mock those we were passing.  I can speak for Triple, as he was behind me the entire time benefitting from all my hard work I mean seriously did I mention that already I mean it’s not a big deal that he got one more point than I did but really when you think about it I should at least be added to his Christmas card list but whatever I’m not bitter or anything.  Particular attentiveness and night vision skills were needed to navigate the last two tenths of the west end.  YHC had specifically warned the PAX about this risky, questionable section of the course.  So it’s a good thing that YHC himself did not take a tumble and nearly bust his ass on the exact part of the course on which the warning was issued.  That would be ironic.  Dontcha think.

    At the finish line, the PAX again gathered and coalesced.  Fracsac volunteered for Safety Caboose, finishing up the race and also ensuring that no man was left behind, injured, abducted, or absconded with.  Thanks Frac.  THE Manny tallied up the score and announced a 176-31 Northshore victory; looks of mistrust appeared on a few faces.  Perhaps that was because they were expecting a 177-31 loss.  But, abiding by the only rule of the Krazy Ivan – run the race in a tank top – THE Manny exercised legislative, judicial, and executive powers and stripped Turtle of his single point for finishing the race in a hooded sweatshirt.  Coutoramma, Nameorama, BOM, and off to The Barley Oak for some F2.

    At the BO, drinks were had an all was merry.  Tomatoes tested the neck twisting and head turning capabilities of Captain Sparkles (ok, his were not the only capabilities tested…hellLLOOO black dress).  An impromptu yet formal meeting of the F3 Rules Committee adjudicated on the ability to move an AO once it is established.  Verdict: negative ghost rider, pattern’s full brah.  At this point, Hawg petitioned the Rules Committee for a formal, third party review and calculation of the night’s score.  THE Manny’s honour in question, YHC immediately began the process.  Third party results are in, proving that you should sometimes watch what you ask for.  The final, certified, verified, bonafied count is 190-35.

     

    Excellent CSAUP, PAX.  T-Claps to the Southshore guys who posted.  We will see you at the 2018 Gnarley Nutria.  A pleasure to be amongst you.

     

    EiEi

  • A Mild Morning at the Mothership

    T-Claps to Butt Splice for continuing to bring out the FNG’s – producing not one, but two on this balmy 41° morning.  And in turn, t-claps to FNG The Clap for convincing fellow FNG Phooey that he was attending some sort of outdoor bible study group in workout clothes.  Hey, whatever it takes.

    Now you know that things have warmed up around here when everyone goes back to ordering iced coffees at coffeteria.  The cold front that brought temperatures down to a record 16° at The Gipper on Wednesday have hardened our PAX, and typical winter Louisiana weather now seems downright cozy.  So off with the knit caps and the Driving Miss Daisy gloves (Tanked Up!), and down to business:

    Warm Up: SSH, Seal Jacks, Windmills, IW’s, Good Mornings, Mummy Kicks, High Knees, Butt Kicks. Then mosey East to circle up for…

    COP: Holding plank, the PAX performed: Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, MC’s, Shoulder Taps, MC’s, all 20x IC, followed by 10x Merkins OYO.  Quick rest, before:

    Round 2: MC’s, Parker Peters, MC’s, Plank Jacks, 20x IC, followed by 20x Merkins OYO.  Recover and mosey to the Lakefront Playground for….

    Partner Routine 1: P1 does 20x Big Boy Sit-ups followed by 20x Merkins continuously while…

    P2 starts at Pad 1 with 20x LBC’s, then crab walks to Pad 2 for 20x Plank Jacks, bear crawls to Pad 3 for 20x Squat Jumps, then bunny hops to the start.  Partners flapjack until each has done 3 rounds.

    Partner Routine 2: P1 does Lt. Dans down the stretch, sprints back, while P2 does Burpees.  Switcheroo.  If you need instructions on the lunge-to-squat ratio for Lt. Dans, ask Maverick, I think he went to a fancy New Orleans school.  And if you need to know why shots of Cuervo the night before an F3 workout might not be a great idea, ask Phooey.  (Though to his credit, he was unaware of what he was getting into this morning, and was somehow able to finish without splashing merlot.  An impressive feat.)

    Then a Double Applesauce Bataan Death March back to the flag for…

    Mary: Putins 25x IC, Leg Raises 15x IC, Crunchy Frogs 12x IC.

    Countdown, nameorama, naming of the FNG’s, and…. hey, who shows up, but EiEi – just in time for free coffee and to plug his event, The Krazy Ivan.  Tanked Up sent us out to coffeteria with a great prayer.   Thanks gents for a great start to the weekend, it’s always a pleasure to lead this group.  And hey, wash your tank tops, dust off that ushanka, do what you need to do, but whatever you do – show up tonight.  The Ivan is finally here and our honor rests in your hands.