F3 New Orleans

Tag: The Birdcage

  • Nickel and Dimed to Death OR Steve Is a Mean Stupid Face – from Bushwacker

    First off, let’s just take a moment to recognize the Pax that got out there early for the pre-thang – I think there were 7-8 guys? And that’s not counting Jose and JV, who started even earlier to roll at their own pace. AND, an additional t-claps to Jose for not only EH’ing JV, but also for getting out to the Marsh extra early for a pre-pre-thang of 30 minutes of pull-ups.

    And I’d argue we were off to a good start even before that, when in the wee hours of the morning the temperature mercifully dipped down into the mid-60’s. That small fact made all the difference – were it not for those 8-10 degrees, JV (by his own admission) would’ve punched that guy on roller blades in the face. And hasn’t Christian Slater suffered enough these last few years?

    Usual warmorama (can you decode them all?): WM’s, IW’s, GG’s, HB’s, AC’s, SSH’s. And 20 Merkins OYO.

    Split Q today, with YHC (Steve right now), up first. I tried to find the most pricker-filled patch of grass to mosey to for our first set of:

    Nickel and Dimes I:
    5 burpees, 10 hand release merkins, then SSH until next minute – for a total of 5 minutes. (Shout out to Catfish who taught me that one way back when.)

    Many noticed PI’s entrance at this point, but few saw Zoolander’s sly exit.

    Next up: Partner Races (or foot races, if Turtle had been there):
    Line up at the start of Marigny for a sprint down the longest block known to man. Winner does 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.

    Tank, who positioned himself as the final sprinter, noted that every guy looked good running that block. “If I was passing by and saw those guys, I’d say, ‘Wow, those guys are athletes.’” High praise from the leader of the gazelles.

    Back at the pricker-filled, ant-infested (sorry Bird) patch of grass for:

    Nickel and Dimes: First Blood Part 2
    10 Sister Mary’s (2:1), 5 squats, plank until next minute. 5 minutes.

    And another partner race down Marigny, with winner taking 10 merkins, loser 10 burpees.

    There were plans for Nickel and Dimes III: Nickel and Dimed With A Vengeance, but thankfully Bushwacker had arrived and it was time to cede leadership duties. Even I was hating myself by this point. (Though I’ll point out, quite a few guys still had plenty fuel left in the tank for Wacker – including Russo, who was somehow able to calculate the age of Madonna’s hoo-ha in between Side Straddle Hops [approx. 130 yrs old, if I heard correctly].)

    So without further ado, time to turn the pages of this backblast over to the man himself, the Wacker of Bushes (and here you thought he was the long-winded one!).

    Geez! Chatty Cathy, huh, guys?

    Anyhoo, YHC got a taste of this race business (10 Burpees courtesy of Mr “I’m not really trying hard” Tank), and no thank you sir! Instead, a healthy order of circuit training was on the menu.

    All OYO, plank for the 6:

    50 100s, 40 SSH (single count), 30 Freddy Mercury’s (2is1), 20 Jump Squats, and 10 Burpees. 1 lap around Noah’s Ark and plank for the six. I reckon we made it through 5 or six rounds, with the final lap continuing to the flag.

    COT

    Count, Name, Steve prayed us out. Guys, I don’t know why you put up with Steve and his shenanigans, but I know he appreciates the allowance of said pied piper status. On a much more humble note, I appreciate this brotherhood and the ability to contribute in any small way to its lively and fulfilling existence.

  • These Hands, They Look Like Good, Strong Hands (or: Are You Happy To See Me, Or Is That a Buck Moth In Your Pants?) – from Steve

    [*Again, a situation where YHC could use a GIF (hard g, soft g, doesn’t matter), for those who didn’t grow up with a luck dragon named Falkor, being chased through the swamps by The Nothing and a bad tempered, green-eyed wolf. And as for the buck moth in your pants, well, that’s not something we’re going to delve into here… file that as one of those had-to-be-there moments.]

    So. A fairly big (six!) crowd at the Pad this humid morning – and, incredibly, Bushwacker somehow simultaneously posted to both the Splashed and the A1C. He and his clone are working overtime this month to blow the lid off those Pax Miner charts.

    But – before Bush’s clone rolled in with a buck moth in his pants, and before any of the other guys rolled in – it was just Russo and some young woman with a knee brace knocking around a soccer ball. She kept suspiciously re-parking her car in various spots around the trailhead – maybe looking for some privacy? Unfortunately for her, on this particular day we happened to be bear crawling all around the trailhead, which proved slightly awkward when every now and then we’d turn a corner and catch a glimpse of her coming out of a thicket of bamboo with her ball. It was very bizarre, though I’m guessing she thought the same – seeing six men crawling up the corridor and down the street.

    And that, obviously, was the main order of the day – bear crawling. We started on the eastern-most end of the corridor, crawling the long straightaway first before stopping for:

    10x merkins
    10x slow squats
    10x Apollo ohno’s (2 is 1)
    10x star jumps

    More crawling, this time to the stage, and again the same 4 exercises. Then to the west end of the corridor, and yeah, you get the idea. We eventually found ourselves at the bus depot for the usual leg business:

    Step ups, freak nasties, step downs, freak nasties, Bulgarians, freak nasties, jump overs, freak nasties – all x12 IC.

    Bear crawling our way back to the start, we swapped out the initial 4 “rest” exercises for:

    10x big boy situps
    10x crunchy frogs
    10x american hammers (2 is 1)
    10x 100’s (4 is 1)

    This is when things started to get a little dicey and when YHC realized just how soft I’ve gotten lately – quite literally. I guess wearing gloves the last few years has made me a baby because my hands have been jacked up since that beatdown. I don’t know if it was the loose gravel or what, but I’ve got blisters all over them. And the big boys would’ve likely have added a flayed coccyx to the list of injuries (hmm, that does not sound right), but most of us wisely took to the grass for those.

    COT and Pelican prayed us out. Thank you gents for the camaraderie, the push, and the opportunity to get out there and get stronger alongside you. I appreciate you guys.

  • Easter Saturday – from Waterpik

    With the Q sheet empty mid week, YHC grabbed the Q for the beatdown on the lakefront. Temperature 54 degrees to start the workout, beautiful westher this time of the year.

    Warmup consisting of seal jacks hill Billies, side straddle hops, wind mills.

    Mosey to the shaft for the main thing. On today’s menu was 11’s. derkins, reverse merkins, stone mountains on one side and Superman’s, sister mary Catherine’s, and rower sit ups on the other.

    Rinse and repeat with some speed work, burpees and rocky balboas on the seawall in between the sets of 11’s.

    Enjoy Easter with your families, men!

  • March of the Penguins – from Willie

    As the month of March approaches its end, so does the March of the Penguins CASUP (1000 Penguins per day in the month of March). Special shout out to @Sandbar, and @Sogo for accompanying me on this journey. Also, a big thank you to the Qs this month who added extra penguins to their workout. That does not included @Douille who did 3 total penguins at Misty Mountain last Saturday.

    Yours truly rolled into the workout right at 5:30AM, dressed in a Penguin onesie, with Welcome to the Jungle blaring on the bluetooth speaker. My standard music rules applied. The PAX can skip a song with a 10 burpee penalty for the entire group. After the standard disclaimer, we moseyed to the field for a warm up, all in cadence.

    SSH x 20
    Imperial Walkers x 20
    Mountain Climbers, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters x 15 each
    Self Love OYO for 1 minute
    Arm Circles Reverse/Forward x 10
    Hillbillies x 20

    The PAX then made it’s way to the statue in front of the zoo, and partnered up for a not so traditional DORA. The only exercise was 600 Penguins 2/1. Partner 1 ran the small loop while Partner 2 banged out penguins. We had 2 skips during the DORA, resulting in 20 burpees. The skipped songs were “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi and “Spoon Full of Sugar” from the Mary Poppins sound track.

    The next transition was a run to the bandstand where the PAX circled up on stage for the Name That Tune challenge. The songs on this playlist are all songs that we know and love, but they are sung in a Lounge Singer style by the one and only Richard Cheese. The PAX did 30 Penguins 2-1 while the song played, then the PAX to the left had to guess either the song title OR the original artist. Get it right and we continue with penguins, a wrong answer gets the PAX 20 merkins. Some of the songs played were hits like, “Baby Got Back”, “Gin and Juice,” “Brass Monkey,” and “Been Caught Stealing” just to name a few. The PAX did pretty well as we only had 2 wrong answers resulting in 40 merkins. With 6:15AM approaching we made our way back to the flag for the standard COT.

    It is a pleasure to lead these men in a workout, and I appreciate the PAX indulging me in my crazy ideas.

    SYITG

    Willie

  • The Fairy Ring – from Akbar

    14 strong today – with a little EH help from Shooter’s backblast – on this wet gloom for a pre Saint Paddy’s day celebration.

    Legend has it that fairy rings were caused by fairies, elves, and Leprechauns dancing in a circle. If humans joined in the dance they would be punished and made to dance in the ring until they passed out from exhaustion – or DIED. In 1518, the French town of Strasbourg experienced it and other outbreaks across Europe happened in the 10th century.

    It is an unsolved public health mystery, and the most recent case showed up in Mandeville, La at the Lakefront beatdown. There were exercises, dancing, moaning, and groaning, and yes – Fairies.

    Pax : Baby Yoda, Waterpik, Pass Interference, Jose 10k, Duke of Hazzard, Wicket, Bushwhacker, The Hammer, Brexit, Bird, Steve, Russo, Shooter, Akbar

    Warm Up: x10 IC: SSH, Windmills, Arm Circles, Swimmers, Backstroke, Overhead Claps, Toe Touches, Grass Grabbers

    Mosey over towards Rips, circle up for instructions.

    The Thang

    6 exercises x 10 OYO – while listening to YHC’s high school playlist, with an Irish jig after each song. When the Irish jig came on we would mosey in a circle until finished, and pick back up where we left off. A non-stop 30 minute beatdown with no breaks.

    The idea was full body on the wall – (Jose10k noted this was mostly upper body). Then lower body on the Irish Jigs. YHC did not do the math, but the Irish Jigs were around 50 seconds, and the other songs were an average of 3.5 minutes.

    Exercises:

    Wide Tempo Merkin, Step Ups (2 is 1), Freak Nasty, Renegade Row, Reverse Grip Irkin, Stone Mountain

    Irish Jig: High knees, Hallelujah runs, lunge walks, runs, butt kicks

    Fairies are Real
    A quarter way through the playlist took on a mind of its own, skipping ahead, playing a song for 3 seconds, then all together stopping. Were the fairies messing with Q? We killed the tunes and pushed forward. With no music, it looked like the scene from Halloween when the prisoners escaped from the loony bin.

    Time called and we moseyed back to the Flag for some leg work.

    3 sets x10 IC of Sister Mary Catherines, Calf Raises, Copperhead Squats

    Mary x10 IC: Freddy Mercury, Hello Dolly, Rosalita, Flutter Kicks, Heels to Heaven, Hummingbirds (100 100’s), LBC’s

    Time called, reverse count, name-o-rama, YHC prayed us out, and we headed to Coffeeteria.

    Thanks for coming out and following the lead.
    SYITG – Akbar

  • Rolling Dice with Dora!!! – from Shooter

    YHC is not sure what kept so many home today.. Was it the glove recommendation, not sure. Maybe the fact that I have not led a Saturday in some minds EVER, flattering. Or did most just have better things to do than roll Dice with Dora.. Whatever it may have been, 8 still decided to take the red 💊.. Hopefully YHC delivered what was expected but if not just maybe some of you will feel it tomorrow or the next…

    Warmup was brief
    10IC
    Imperial walkers, Hillbillies, Grass grabbers, Good mornings, Cherry Pickers and Mummy kicks..

    Thang
    Split into two groups
    Trigger was the block work

    100 (Squat thrusters/Kettle swings)
    P1 25 reps while P2 rolled the dice..
    For those not familiar Bushwacker made some blocks with stated exercises (Merkins, SSH Burpees, Putins, Jump squats etc.) numbers varied from 5 to 50..
    F/J and at the end Indian run Marigny and back.

    200 (Curls/Tri extension)
    P1 50 reps while P2 rolled the dice..
    F/J and Indian run

    300 (Chest press/Overhead press (time expired)
    P1 75 reps P2 rolled the dice..

    Thankfully the PAX only shared the count in one roll of 50 Burpees..

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

  • We Were Runninggga or Let Hydrants Be Your Guide – from Bushwacker

    Signed up, semi-planned, but am I really…?🤔

    WARMORAMA

    X10, IC: Darn near every warmup exercise in the book!

    THANG

    OYO mosey towards the beach stopping for 10 Burpees at each hydrant. At the splash pad we circled up for “Raider Pride”, the football drill consisting of running in place and dropping and popping up in turn.
    Returning to the flag doing 10 Jump Squats at each hydrant, and circled up for Al Gore/ Jump Squats.
    Headed in the other direction past the Shaft and over the bridge, doing 10 hand release merkins at each hydrant (and maybe 1 or 2 imaginary ones).
    Circled up for Plank/Merkins.
    Return with 25 SSHs per hydrant.

    MARY

    12 sweet minutes of classic core featuring such hits as LBCs, Flutter Kicks, and 100 100s!

    COT

    Count/name/announcements/prayer

    Gratitude

  • Well that changed quickly! – from Shooter

    YHC rolled up to 2 PAX in Hammer and Waterpik at the Scramble expecting to have a light showing. Out of the darkness Jose10k and Steve appear and the the headlights just kept coming in. Before long the PAX quickly swelled to 10 and so we did a simple warmup of Imperial walkers, SSH, Grass grabbers, Good mornings and Seal jacks..
    Route was down toward Monroe and zig zagged our way through the streets while 4 PAX Rucked out for 20 and back.

    Appreciate the great showing the last two weeks gentleman. Let’s keep it up..

    Keep checkin Slack as Hogsbreath will posting a date at the 007 for his 40 year birthday beatdown to come…

    Until the next gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Mutual Admiration Society – from Quincy

    Uptown tundra at 50° could not keep 10 men away from the delights of the Gloom! We started our warmup completing Side Straddle Hops, Peter Parkers, Windmills, Grass Grabbers. We jogged to the statue of John James Audubon to impress him with arm circles at the insistence of Seeman, both counting up and counting down to show the famous bird man what the birdcage brothers can do. We continued Mathlete style doing Crazy 8’s in the parking lot with 10 Burpees, 20 Merkins, 40 Bonnie Blairs; counting down by subtracting 1 Burpee, 2 Merkins and 4 BB’s a round, Angie’s List said it looked good on paper, and I was proud to lead you nowhere while running in circles. Kong pointed out we were not going to finish my master plan on time as we did a few LBC’s, Russian Twists between sets, we ended with the 5/10/20 set.
    Appreciate all of you for posting!
    Double appreciate all those who were able to give blood yesterday: 54 donations at Children’s, the goal was 40!

  • Burpees, Football, Running, Oh My! – from Bushwacker

    Cold as ballz? Tell that to F3 Fargo. Small crowd? Not likely. F3 Northshore showed up to play. Today we dedicated the beat down to our own Maximus the Marathon Man, Tanked Up, who is running the La Marathon tomorrow aiming to qualify for Boston.

    WARMORAMA

    5burpees OYO
    SSH
    HI KNEES
    BUTT KICKS
    IWs
    5 Burpees
    GOOD MORNINGS
    TOE TOUCHES
    TORSO TWISTS
    5 Burpees

    THANG

    Partnered up and each pair grabbed a football. Mosey to gazebo while passing football back and forth. The partner throwing couldn’t move, and for any dropped passes, both do 5 burpees.

    At gazebo,circled up and did 4 rounds of circle Up/Downs.

    Mosey to shaft in similar fashion.

    Lined up along tree line, P1 stayed put while P2 went out for a pass (dropped passes were 5 Burpees each). While P2 ran to shaft and back, P1 did an exercise, then switch. The exercises included SSH, Mnt Climbers, Freddy Mercurys, Hand Release Merkins, J Los, Flutter Kicks, and more! T claps to Waterpick and Baby Yoda, who connected on some long bombs like Drew Brees and Marques Colston!

    Mosied back to flag again in similar fashion, but this time the Pax honed their strategy to pick up the pace with shorter passes. BONUS, no balls in the frigid lake!!!

    MARY

    Made it back to the flag with 3 minutes to hit some core, much to Duke of Hazard’s chagrin.

    5 Burpees
    20 LBCs
    100 100s
    And planked up waiting for the man of the hour to roll in from a light 2 mile run.

    COT
    Count/name
    F3 camping Saturday Jan 27th
    https://maps.apple.com/?ll=31.212232,-90.023317&q=Dropped%20Pin&t=h

    Nightmare Before Christmas’24 Sunday January 21st 1pm lakefront, bring backpack with 10-40lbs of weight

    JV prayed us out, Byrd and Cowbell were Starskys, joining us at coffeeteria.

    Guys (you know who you are) thanks for letting us play with your ballz this morning!
    Hammer went out of his way to prove that a good beatdown isn’t complete unless someone gets hurt. Ice it up big guy. I hope you feel better soon.
    And speaking of Hammer, if anyone is looking for a nice house in a small, conveniently located sub division (with a hot tub😎) give him a shout.

    Gentleman, thanks for coming out and freezing cheeks with the Wack, and celebrating our own Medicare Machine, and best of luck to him tomorrow!