F3 New Orleans

Tag: The Gipper

  • Bringing It Home

    “Baseball may be a religion full of magic, cosmic truth, and the fundamental ontological riddles of our time, but it’s also a job.”  Bull Durham
     
    Same truth goes for F3 beatdowns.  And the job at hand this morning at The Gipper was pretty simple for YHC – gas the PAX and try out a few new things in the process.  Yes, that meant there were no Bulgarians this morning, but there were more than enough squats to satisfy anyone of Balkan descent …
    Warm-Up:  SSH, Toe Touches, Good Mornings, IW’s, Mummy Kicks, Butt Kicks, all 20x, IC.
    Thang:  Mosey to the School Board and circle up at the back memorial for a medley of merkins and squats, all 15x IC:
    • Wide-to-Narrow Merkins (killer)
    • Wide-to-Narrow Squats
    • Atomic Merkins
    • Sister Mary K’s
    • Shoulder Tap Merkins
    Onward to the loooooong parking garage rooftop for a set of suicides, flutter kicks 20x IC, suicides, plank jacks 20x IC.
    Next up, rooftop F3 baseball: 1st base LBC’s, 2nd base Parker Peters, 3rd base Freddie Mercs, and home base 15 burpees.  Rotate after home base completes their set of 15, bear crawling to the next base.  Completed once everyone has hit each base.  (After nearly skinning my face on the concrete, YHC offered a very, very late disclaimer.)
    Finished up with Lt. Dan’s across the parking lot (1:4 ratio) and mosey back to the flag.  The PAX was out of time for Mary but, after a quick COT, put in a little extra by helping set-up the tables for the Covington Farmer’s Market.  Thanks guys, enjoyed leading today.

  • Rock’n’Roll

    Just a few Fred Flinstone quotes to go with today’s Rock’n’Roll:

    Fred Flintstone: Sorry I’m late. Had car trouble, I picked up a nail.
    [Shows everyone a bandaid on his dirty foot]
    Mr. Slate: Thank you for sharing that with us, Mr. Flagstone. May we continue?

    Sharon Stone: Can I get you anything? Coffee?
    Fred Flintstone: Sure.
    Sharon Stone: [seductively] How would you like it?
    Fred Flintstone: In a cup?
    Sharon Stone: Bold choice, Mr. Flintstone! You’ll go far in this company.

     

    Fred would have made an excellent F3

     

    Great weather this morning for the Pax! Here is how it went:

    Short Disclaimer …and lame attempt at business marketing by YHC

    warm-up
    all 20xIC; side straddle hops, imperial walkers, toe touches, good mornings, arm circles, lunges, smurf-jacks, butt-kicks, squats, seal-jacks, mummy-kicks, maybe some high-knees

     

    roll to the “BEDROCK QUARRY”, which before this morning, was called, by The Covington Women’s Auxiliary and Benevolent Society, “Garden of the Month.”
    each Pax picks out a medium sized limestone boulder, for coupon exercises:
    elf on the shelf; to the right…then to the left, over head press, curls, pick up and put down,lunge with boulder in opposite arm.
    I know if Grundy would have posted – he would have chosen the largest, heavy-est, most massive boulder to work out with.

    roll to the school board building (Taj Mahal) parking lot
    pair up, with one Pax doing 2,4,6,8,10,12 BLIMPS, while the other Pax painfully waits in human chair position. Switch roles.

    roll to the front of the Taj Mahal
    circle up by the flagpole – step back to outer ring, everyone in plank position,
    3 of 6 pax bearcrawl across the flagpole area, while the other 3 of 6 pax remain in plank, waiting for bearcrawling pax to arrive, tag, and switch. repeat a few times

    roll to the back of the St.Tammany Parish Courthouse Annex parking garage,

    backwards lunge walk halfway up the first floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way
    jog/walk across the second floor ramp
    backwards lunge walk halfway up third floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way

    mosey across the deck and down the stairs to the Eastern Parking lot,
    lateral hop/cross-over, tracing the parking lot striping for about a block

    roll back to the trail head, with a stop for a quick view/explanation of the USGS Benchmark posted in the Old Train Depot wall. Elevation approx 29 feet ASL.

    count-o-rama, good prayer led by Shooter, we bid our adieus and head out to take on the day.

     

     

  • In Cadence In the Rain

    There is plenty of shelter at The Gipper AO.  The PAX did not take advantage of it this morning.  Instead, the PAX chose to brave the elements for a wet and dirty beatdown.

    YHC and Brat tag teamed for The Warmup:

    Squats 20x IC

    SSH 20x IC

    Butt Kicks 30x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    High Knees 30x IC

    Shoulder Circles 10x IC each direction

    Peter Parkers 20x IC

    IW 10x IC

    Good Mornings 20x IC

    Windmills 10x IC

    Mosey to the back of the Justice Center for The Thang:

    Round 1:  Burpee to Forward Bench Jump 5x OYO, circle up for Plank Jacks 20x IC

    Round 2:  Burpee to Lateral Bench Jump 5x OYO, circle up for Shoulder Taps 20x IC

    Round 3:  Burpee to Lateral Bench Jump 5x OYO, circle up for Carolina Dry Dock Ankle Taps 20x IC

    Mosey back to the Trailhead for an AMRAP:

    In the spirit of trying something new and somewhat stupid, YHC threw down instructions for a 10 minute AMRAP.  Raccoon crawl up the concrete barrier, tumble or backwards crab walk down the grassy knoll, jump up on the bandstand, jump down the stairs or bunny hop down the ramp, back to the raccoon crawl for as many rounds as you can complete in 10 minutes.  The PAX were good sports, spread out along the circuit, and got to work.  The jump up to the bandstand was interesting coming out of the tumble; jumping while dizzy is somewhat disconcerting.  It goes without saying that everyone enjoyed getting dirty.  Why not?

    Into the bag of tricks for a Game:

    Another first for YHC as Q.  Distributed tennis balls among the PAX and teamed up into groups of 2 and 3 with each team possessing two balls.  Passed the tennis balls to one another with the goal of keeping them in the air as much as possible.  Most if not all of the PAX apparently have years of little league baseball under their belts as there were very few dropped balls and the pace picked up once the teams settled into a rhythm.

    Circle up for the Finale:  Seal Jacks 101x IC

    Countorama, nameorama and prayer of gratitude for one another and all the first responders, public and private, helping out in Houston.

    Moleskin:

    Great job Brat stepping up to Q the warmup.

    Thanks to the PAX for the eager willingness to try new things.  YHC loves games.  When did we, as men, stop playing the stupid games we enjoyed so much as boys?  YHC is committed to bringing back a taste of that silliness to his beatdowns.

    Thanks for letting me lead.

     

     

  • Dog Days at The Gipper

    With the little ones heading back to school tomorrow, it seems summer is coming to a close.  In reality, of course, it’s been a mild August thus far, so we’re probably in for a pavement-melting October.  Regardless, YHC was happy to have the (ever-so-slight) dip in humidity this morning, though it did little to deter the PAX from sharing multiple stories of splashing merlot (along with specific locations) to our FNG before we even got rolling.  (spoiler: he did fine)

    Alright, let’s get this thing going…

    Warm-Up: Seal Jacks, Windmills, Mummy Kicks, High Knees, Butt Kicks (All 20x IC)

    The Thang:  Mosey to the justice center garage for Burpees (15), Lunges (20 IC), Imperial Walkers (25IC), Merkins (30), Plank Jacks (35IC), and Squats (40).  That’s right, BLIMPS, with some backpedaling and sprints in between as we made it up the garage ramps to the top.

    Up top we tried a new one – Dominoes.  All PAX line up in a left arm high plank along the curb, and the left-most man kicks things off by dropping into standard plank and doing 5 merkins.  Next man, and so on, until all have completed and are now in standard plank position.  Then swaparoo, with right arm high.  Two rounds of this had YHC recalling Grundy’s Plank Challenge from yesterday, and I called it.

    Down to the Justice Center for some quick leg business: Step Ups (each leg, 10x), 1 minute of Rocky B’s, up and around the stairs 2x, Bulgarian Split Squats (each leg, 15x), 1 minute of wider stance Rocky B’s, up and around the stairs 2x.

    Over to a patch of grass for Jack Webbs – up to 10 merks and 40 air presses.  YHC wanted to go one more, if only to mentally mess with Grundy, but alas, time called us back to the flag for an abbreviated Mary: Jane Fondas (15x IC) and leg pulses (15x IC), each leg.

    Countdown, naming and welcoming of FNG Dr. Buckeye (welcome brother!), announcements (get ready for the 10k sando and, if you’re interested, a street-fighting class courtesy of Turbo’s posse) and finally, Moby prayed us out.  Thanks for letting me lead guys, always a pleasure!

  • Cinemassacre

    Little did the PAX know, but they were going to more than just a workout in this morning’s gloom. No; they were also going to a premiere. A premiere that may have been more appropriate to be wearing a tux then some gym shorts. Today was the premiere… of the Cinemassacre workout.

    Every exercise in today’s workout would be based on or related in some way to a movie, including one that was created by the QIC as well. Too bad we couldn’t have had the movie man himself give his opinion (we all missed ya Steve). And to make it even more special, there was a rare sighting that can only be summarized with this line:

    “It’s a bird…It’s a plane… No! It’s Collard Greens!!!”

    That’s right! Mr. Shoulders himself returned and it was actually him (along with Turbo) who correctly identified the theme of today’s workout. Welcome back man!!!

    Without further ado, let’s get to the beatdown.

    (I hope you have your popcorn ready)

    Warmup:

    Smurf Jacks: 15 IC

    Imperial Walkers (Star Wars): 20 IC

    “The Mummy” Kicks: 20 IC

    Don Quixotes (Windmills): 15 IC

    Peter Parker Peter (Spiderman): 10 IC

    Frankenstein’s: 15 IC

    Daniel-Son (The Karate Kid): Assume the Karate Kid crane kick position. Alternate legs in quick succession. “If do right, none can defend.” 10 reps OYO

    The Thang:

    Turbo kept asking me why I kept messing with my bag. It reminded me of another scene from a movie..

    “What’s in the box bag! WHAT’S IN THE BOX BAG!!!”

    The item in my bag was none other than what would be the “score” of today’s cinematic adventures. My phone plugged into the speaker in my bag would serve as both as an accompaniment to our exercises, but sometimes also as the decider of what our workouts would be. The first song would fall into the latter category.

    The first song came on to break the silence and fill us in on our first “scene”. It was the Rocky theme song!!! So we did Rocky Balboas on the stairs until the song finished (I can feel us “getting stronger” every day gentleman!).

    The next song faded up to let us know that we would be doing some moseying. That of course was the iconic “Chariots  of Fire” theme! The running felt inspired and before we knew it we were all at the school board with the song still driving us on. So how about another lap around the building everyone!? The PAX obliged and we finished the lap just as the song was fading out.

    The next exercise was the “Moon”… Wait, I hear a voice.. Ben Kenobi?! What’s that? It’s no moon? It’s a death star?!?!

    Death Star: We 5et 5 points/cones out in shape of star. Bear Crawl to each cone and perform 25 each of merkins and LBCs rotating. Plank until everyone makes it around.

    Way to go guys! We all conquered that death star. All we had to do was use a little “force”…

    The Chariots of Fire theme once again rose from the ashes of the smoldering Death Star and we moseyed to the second ramp of the parking garage. If you haven’t already gathered from what we’ve done so far, with this workout “you never know what you’re gonna get!”

    Forrest Gump strolled in and introduced us to his good friend “Lt. Dan”. The only thing is that Lt. Dan “ain’t got no legs”. And neither were we in a minute. Lt. Dans up the ramp to 10 and then sprint the rest.

    After that we made our way to the far divider at the top of the parking garage where Tom Hanks was making a back to back appearance. The next exercise was “Catch me If You Can”.

    Catch Me If You Can: Start with two partners. Partner 1 performs 3 Burpees and then sprints to catch Partner 2 who has been running backwards around the divider at the top of the parking garage. Once caught, the two switch roles and the first partner now runs backwards while partner 2 does 3 burpees and chases partner 1. Continue this process until the team completes 2 full laps.

    This was a quad burner (especially if one determines to try to beat his partner backpedaling for an entire lap… Sorry Shooter).

    The workout was winding down in time, but it was building towards something else as well. And the PAX felt its imminent arrival. A looming finale that was hinted at only slightly by the ever increasing grin of the QIC who had “seen the end of this movie before”. A finale which the QIC had watched the night before in the midnight showing. In fact, he directed it himself. An exercise that will have you seeing things “not of this world.” But I know one thing is certain, once you finish this exercise, I know “Who you’re gonna call?”…

    I’d like to introduce everyone to… Gut-busters!!!

    Gut-Busters: Everyone starts in and holds a plank during the Ghostbusters song. Every time they say “Ghost Busters” you complete a burpee [20 burpees total (11 in last 55 seconds)]. In the “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts” sections do plank jacks in rhythm (16 for each section. 64 total). Way to push everyone on Captain Sparkles! Bustin’ makes everyone feel good!!!!

    We moseyed/limped back to the flag with the Chariots theme once more.

    Normal closing procedures issued.

    I had such a blast creating and participating in this workout with you guys! Thanks for indulging my nerdy ways.

    May the force be with you… always!

     

    Roll Credits…

  • What I Did On My Summer Vacation

    on the first day of my summer vacation
    I woke up…
    then I went downtown…
    to look for a job…
    then I hung out in front of the drugstore

    on the second day of my summer vacation
    I woke up…
    then I went downtown…
    to look for a job…
    then I hung out in front of the drugstore….. “Cheech and Chong, Sister Mary Elephant”

    T-claps to any PAX member who can tell me the job Chong got on his day three.
    And double T-claps to any PAX member who can tell me who Sister Mary Elephant was substituting for.

     

    The PAX, on their Summer Vacation…traveled Route 66. Starting with One Burpee at the first station, we headed to the next station,
    increasing the burpee count by one, for a total of 66 burpees per PAX member at 11 stations. Or in Einstein shorthand: total burpees=((N*(N+1))/2)

     

    To the best of my recall; here is how it went

    Short Disclaimer …I don’t know why the PAX was laughing at this point

    warmup
    all 20xIC; side straddle hops,windmills,imperial walkers,toe touches,hillbillys,arm circles,lunges,side straddle hops in squat position

    mosey to the school board building (Taj Mahal) parking lot
    Two Burpees
    pillar push for 20 count; rinse and repeat x3

    mosey to the front of the Taj Mahal
    Three Burpees
    circle up by the flagpole – step back about 5 yards out
    bearcrawl in, shoulder taps, crawlbear out, merkins; rinse a repeat x3

    mosey to the back of the St.Tammany Parish Courthouse Annex parking garage,
    Four Burpees
    backwards lunge walk halfway up the first floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way
    Five Burpess
    jog/walk across the second floor ramp
    Six Burpees
    backwards lunge walk halfway up third floor ramp
    turn and crossover hop up rest of the way
    Seven Burpees

    on the top deck of the parking garage
    enter Senor oCho nUeve, just in time for…
    Eight Burpees
    some more merkins
    scout run across the parking deck with front man sprinting out 10 paces, turn around then queue at the back of the line
    Nine Burpees

    mosey to the front of the St. Tammany Parish Courthouse
    circle up around the military monuments
    merkin and fiddler crab crawl counter-clockwise,9 more merkins all around the cicle
    merkin and fiddler crab crawl left clockwise, 9 more merkins all around the cicle
    Ten Burpees

    mosey back to the trail head
    ELEVEN Burpees

    mary
    20xIC bicycles
    20xIC dollys

     

    count-o-rama, prayer led by Grundy, we bid our adieus and head out to take on the day.

     

  • Simple but Deadly

    11 PAX gathered under the Gipper’s gaze in the Gloom this morning for a simple but deadly beatdown.

    Warmup:

    SSH, Merkins, IWs, Plank Jacks, Windmills, Butt Kicks, High Knees, Seal Jacks and Torso Twists, all 20x IC except for the Torso Twists at 10x.  Enter Ocho, precisely timing his arrival to miss the warmup.

    Mosey to the top deck of the Parking Garage for

    The Thang:

    Burp Back Mountain-Partner up and hit 100 burpees as a team; one PAX burps it up while his partner runs down the ramp and the backpedals up the ramp to tag and relieve the first PAX.  Much Mumble Chatter to start but that petered off fast enough because O2 was soon in short supply.  500 burpees total for Cadre Danny.

    Recovery walk to the Justice Center alley for a Princess Tea Party-Partner up again, plank up facing your partner and play pattycake IC for 10x, then Partner back to back Al Gores for 30 seconds.  Rinse and repeat in ladder fashion so 15x and 45 seconds for round 2, 20x and 60 seconds for round 3, back down to 15x and 45 seconds for round 4, and then 10x and 30 seconds for the last and best round.

    Mosey back to The Gipper for a little plank work then Countorama, Nameorama and Moby prayed us out.

    Welcome FNG Brat!  Great to have you in the PAX.  It never gets easier; you just get better.

  • Mr. “T” at the Gipper

    Mr. “T” at the Gipper? Say it ain’t so. “I pity the fool who shows up to the Gipper not expecting to get a good beat down and leave sweating and taxed!” 8 PAX members converged on the Covington trailhead this Gloom to take on YHC and the letter “T”

    warmarama

    20 IC Butt kicks

    20 IC Knee highs

    20 IC Wind mills

    15 IC Arm circles (Front, back, upward/inward, upward/outward)

    the thang

    Moseyed to the old school yard to circle around Ole glory for the first “T” Triple check (Modified to Quad check this Gloom) split into 2 teams. One PAX  holds air chair, another planks, another does Merkins while the last member  makes 2 laps up and down the stairs and around the flag pole replacing each PAX until everyone experienced each station of work. Moseyed to the parking garage for the second “T” Triple Nickle 5/5/5 First group at top     working core while the bottom working endurance. Top (Thanks for the modify Grundy) (IC 5MC5PeterP5ParkerP5LlankJ5ShoulderT)     Bottom (IC 5SSH5IW5SealJ5ToeT5Knee jumps) Sprints in between up and down ramp. RR 5x. Top PAX group (overachievers) turned it into a race and finished early so the YHC sent them on a lagniappe Mosey around the parking garage while the rest of the PAX completed.. This crew strives for more every workout (love it).. Moseyed to the court house for third “T” of the Gloom “The Coo” (modified to half because of time) started by the benches with 5 Burpees, 5 Squats, 5 Merkins sprint up the stairs catching each one of course to the top and descended order 4,3,2,1 (great pace Turbo) The  YHC realizing we had time remaining challenged the PAX to RR at which of course they obliged. Moseyed back to the flag for announcements, count o Rama, COT.

    Great job Gipper PAX!! (Stronger each time)

     

     

  • The Walls of Jericho

    This morning the PAX embarked on a journey inspired by the days of yore. It was an ambitious attempt which ultimately wasn’t entirely successful, but every man who showed up came out a little bit stronger by the end. And that is what F3 is all about.

    Disclaimer issued for what I knew was coming and it was time to get rolling.

    Warmup:

    20 SSH IC

    1 Burpee

    No time for a long warmup so off we ran to the parking garage for our one and only item we would be doing this morning.

     

    The Thang:

    The Walls of Jericho:

    This exercise was one meant to bring fear into the hearts of those facing it. It derives it’s creation from the story of the Israelites  and the city of Jericho. In the story the Israelites overcame the mighty walls of Jericho by walking around it 7 days. On the 7th day the walls came crashing down. The challenge was this: 7 exercises done7 times and finished by one lap around the garage. The goal is to make it around the garage 7 times.

    The 7 exercises were:

    1. Depth Charges (a 4 count squat finished with a jump at the end)
    2. 25 foot sprints
    3. Hurpees (Hand release Burpees)
    4. Lt. Dans up the ramp
    5. 15 foot bear crawls
    6. Merkins
    7. Dr. W’s

     

    The PAX gave it all they had (and often highlighted the forgetfulness of the Q to ensure the maximum downpainment was achieved. You can thank Steve and Shooter for those extra bear crawls in round 2) but only 4 trips around the wall were completed. So to quote Einstein “The Walls of Jericho are still standing.” But one thing is sure, the walls will be torn down by our group soon enough. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, F3 PAX tear down this wall!!! Victory will be ours.

     

    Moseyed back to the flag for our normal ending procedures and had the great pleasure of welcoming Sgt. Guns to our group!!!

    Thank every one of you for letting me lead. It is and always will be an honor.

     

  • It’s All Fun and Games before the Big Event

    Seven PAX met in the soggy yet sunny gloom this morning under the Gipper’s watchful gaze to make themselves better.  With an eye towards this weekend’s Grow Ruck 03 festivities, the PAX focused on agility and explosiveness, keeping it relatively light overall.

    The Warmup:

    SSHs, squats, good mornings, lateral lunges, front to back lunges, Merkins, and torso twists, all IC 10x for the lateral lunges and torso twists and 20x for the rest.

    Mosey to the Justice Center for some more dynamic warmup exercises:

    Working down the lane, the PAX got in some toe walk forward arm circles, reverse toe walk with reverse arm circles, skips, backpedals, cariocas, lateral bounces, lunge and reaches, dynamic quad stretches, and dynamic hamstring stretches.  Then the PAX executed increasing intensity runs down the lane starting at 65% and progressing to 75%, 85%, 95%, and finally 100%.  10 count and then…

    The Thang:

    Working with four cones set roughly 10 yards apart down the lane, the PAX executed a lateral shuffle shuttle (shuffle from the first to the second cone, return to the first, shuffle to the third cone, return to the first, then shuffle to the fourth cone, return to the first).  Next up was a sprint/backpedal using the same sequence.  Rinse and repeat for two complete sets.

    Short recovery walk and after a brief set up the PAX played a passing game that YHC remembers from his soccer days.  Five cones demarcate a rough circle.  The PAX counts off, begins moving within the circle, and then using a lacrosse ball #1 bounce passes to #2, #2 to #3, etc.  Every missed pass results in an exercise for the whole PAX.  Then we count off again and start and of course the order of passes will change as a result of the count.  Once we mastered the first level, we added a level of difficulty.  First, you have to exit the circle after passing by running around a cone before you can receive your next pass, using a different cone each time.  Second, you have to add a SSH every time you exit the circle around a cone.  Finally, you have to execute a clap Merkin every time you exit the circle around a cone.  The possibilities are endless, but our efforts ended with clap Merkins this morning.  As for the exercises performed within the game, we hit vertical jumps, seal jacks, SSHs, clap Merkins, star jumps, split jumps, plank jacks, forward and reverse hops, and lateral hops.  Fun stuff.

    4 position planks to close things out:  back plank, T stand planks each side, and regular front plank…45 seconds each.

    Mosey back to the Gipper for countorama, nameorama, announcements and Einstein prayed us out.  Shooter has the Q next Wednesday.

    Moleskin

    Welcome Captain Sparkles to the Gipper.  Glad to have you.

    Convergence this Saturday, June 10th, 0800-0900 Audubon Park.  You do not want to miss this beatdown which will be lead by OBT and DREDD, F3’s Founding Fathers.  We will be joining F3 NOLA and F3 Houston.