Tag: The Skinny

  • The Skinny – Challenge to Change

    I feel one of the core foundations of F3 is based in this mindset;”Challenge to Change”!  If you read nothing more, I want to encourage you to step up and sign up to Q a work out with the mindset of at least 1 per month!

    Due the “long” drive from Metry and a blocked road, the Q rolled in hot….dropping keys walking into the circle to give a disclaimer; essentially work out at your own risk!  The “push yourself but don’t hurt yourself notation was given BUT with the following thought….don’t sell yourself short on working hard just because something is uncomfortable.

    Q had pax break up into 2 groups – Mosey to the levee.  Crossing the tracks into the muck the F3 mindset of “embracing the suck” was thrown out.

    Circle Up for warm up: All in Cadence

    SSH x 16

    Toe touch down 3 count up rep count

    Side lung x 16

    Windmill x 16

    1st Initiative x 2

    • 5 squat jumps
    • Sprint up the levee
    • Walk down the otherside
    • 5 Switch Leg Jump Lunges
    • Sprint up the levee
    • Repeat

    45 sec plank

    2nd Initiative x 2

    • 5 Merkins with double climber (both feet to chest)
    • Sprint up the levee
    • Walk down the other side
    • Repeat 5 Merkin/Double climber
    • Sprint up the levee
    • Walk-down
    • Repeat

    45 Sec Plank

    3rd Initiative – 6 – 1 to

    • Start with 1 Burpee
    • Bearcrawl Up the levee
    • On top of the levee 5 PlankJacks
    • Run Down Backside
    • 5 Shoulder Press
    • Quadrafilla (run backwards up the levee)
    • On top of the levee 5 PlankJacks
    • Run Down Frontside
    • Repeat starting with 2 Burpees, 3 Burpees, 4, then 5

    4th Initiative – Partner Up x 4 (each Pax flip flops activity)

    • Partner plank taps x 5
    • Pax 1 holds feet of Pax 2 who wheelbarrows up the levee
    • Both Pax completes 3 Jump Squats
    • Run down the levee
    • Repeat until both have wheelbarrows up  2 times

    5th Initiative – Accountability EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute)

    • Q set the timer 5 running minutes
    • 5 Decline Merkins
    • Run up and over levee
    • 5 Prisoner opposite leg up downs
    • Run up and over levee
    • Any time remaining on the minute is rest – Start again 2nd minute

    Q stopped the Pax at 4 minutes as we only had 5 minutes to return

    Q formed Pax into 2 columns (“lines” per Mariah) for an Indian run back to the flag.

    30 secs and few Pax behind – 3 Purpees then down to a plank hold until the 6 arrived.

    Count off – Name O – Announcements – Intentions

    Prayer – Take nothing for granted – give thanks as well as give service to others.  Open your heart to giving and receiving forgiveness.

    Challenge yourself to lead – sign up to Q – if you need help there are plenty among your F3 brothers who would eagerly provide support and recommendations.

    Thank you Yankee for staying to help put the Pax name list together.

    On top of the levee 5 PlankJacks

    Run Down Frontside

    Repeat starting with 2 Burpees, 3 Burpees, 4, then 5

  • BASIL the Skinny Elf

    BASIL the Skinny Elf

    YHC is rarely able to make a Monday beatdown due to work. As a matter of fact, YHC has only made three Rock City beatdowns, with one of those as the Q. With YHC taking today off, it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of attending the Skinny. Upon looking at the Q list and seeing Douille lined up to lead, YHC asked if he would allow this Pax to take the helm. The Mighty Douille obliged and YHC was all set up to Q. This request took place at the Mothership. A few minutes later, YHC realized he had never even posted at the Skinny. YHC arrived a few minutes early to find the Audubon Zoo grassy areas muddy and nearly unusable. YHC asked Douille where we normally warmed up at, and he pointed in exactly the opposite direction of YHC’s plan. So much for a standard Skinny…..

    With 3 minutes to go, there were only about 5 Pax on site. With 2 minutes to go, a parade of cars flooded the parking lot, suddenly making us 18 strong. It was time to get down to business. YHC thanked Douille for allowing me the opportunity to lead, then introduced the Pax to Santa’s Chief Elf, Basil. Basil wasn’t with us, but the Pax would soon get to know each letter of his name.

    Brief Disclaimer, and a mosey across Magazine to the driest grassy area we could find at the zoo.

    Warmup
    SSH IC x 31
    IW IC x 15
    Arm Circles IC x 10 Fwd and 10 Bwd
    Peter Parker IC x 20
    Mountain Climber IC x 20
    Parker Peter IC x 20
    Grass Grabbers IC x 10

    First COP
    The first letter of Basil is B!  We can’t forget about Santa though.  SSH for Santa and Burpees for Basil!

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 10 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 9 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 8 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 7 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 6 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 5 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 4 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 3 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 2 Burpees OYO

    SSH IC x 5 followed by 10 Burpees OYO

    This was a real Crowdpleaser! Lots of Mumblechatter about No Burpee Mondays….

    Now for the A in Basil…..Agassis…aka Suicides! YHC had some cones set up in the parking lot.

    Sprint to first line and back – 5 merkins, Sprint to Half way and back – 5 merkins, Sprint to 3rd line and back – 5 merkins, sprint full length and back – 5 merkins. The Pax was thrown off by only one set, but YHC had more to get to!

    Time for the S in Basil…..The Suck! Circle up on the somewhat dry grassy area. SSH x 6, Jump Squats x 6, Merkins x 6. Repeat as many times as possible in 3 minutes, calling out each round as it gets completed. Completed two rounds with one minute rest between them.

    The I in Basil is for Indian Run. Two column Indian Run back to the gathering area.

    The L in Basil stands for Ladder Merkins…..it’s the best I could do. Start at first light post, run to second and do 20 merkins, return to first light post and do 19 merkins, then back to second for 18 and so on back and forth. We made it to 17 when YHC realized this would take way too long to complete. Quick audible, as well as Drew Brees calls ’em, and we finished with 5 Burpees at light post one, and 5 Burpees at Light post two.

    6 Minutes for Mary

    Tin Snips IC x 20
    Flutter Kicks IC x 20
    Hello Dolly IC x 20
    LBC's IC x 20
    penguins IC x 20
    Dying Cockroach IC x 20
    American Hammer IC x 10

    COT for Count off, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, and closed with a prayer to the Sky Q.

    Special thanks to Douille for allowing me to take the Q, and a big thank you to the awesome Uptown Crew for posting with me today.

    In a new turn of events, 9 Lives was dubbed Meow Meow, which he announced as his new F3 name during Name-O-Rama…..Who is YHC to object?

    Coffeeteria at PJ’s was a great experience as always, with some great F2!

    SYITG!

  • Getting back to Skinny

    This morning we pushed ourselves for a long lap around Audubon and The Fly – almost 3.5 miles.  Nice work, men.

    We started out with some warmups in place:

    • 20 x SSH
    • 10 seconds of left-leg-over-right followed by 10 of right-over-left
    • 10 x windmills

    We then did single line Indian Run to the benches in the front of the park for some more exercises:

    • 20 x step ups per leg
    • 20 x power ups per leg

    We then jogged 3 x running men and sprinted 1 x running men until we got to the pull up bars.  We split up into four groups for the following:

    • Group 1: 15 seconds of flexed hang from the pull up bars (this was the count)
    • Group 2: high plank
    • Group 3: mission impossible plank
    • Group 4: pickle pounders

    We then double line Indian ran across Magazine Street and into The Fly.  We stopped a few times for sets of 5 x burpees then circled up opposite the fields outside Children’s Hospital for one more round of exercise/Mary:

    • Ring of fire building up to 5 x merkins
    • 10 x LBCs
    • 10 x LBTs

    That got us to about 0611, so we moseyed on back to the flag, arriving just in time.  A solid 3.37 miles was completed by all PAX – a great start to Thanksgiving week. We crossed paths with the imminently well mannered Tulane Army ROTC a few times this morning.  Had me wondering how interactions will go with them following this weekend’s Tulane-Navy game…

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

  • An A-Mazing Morning

    The Skinny was looking pretty skinny this morning.  Did Medula hypnotize everyone to post at Rock City?  Oh well, it’s always an amazing morning.  So after a Q&A disclaimer, the PAX was off for a mosey to the Labyrinth.

    COP1

    • SSHs 25xIC
    • Imperial Walkers 25xIC
    • I Don’t Knows (arms to the ground in front, to the toes and to the ground behind heals) 25xIC
    • Hillbillies 25xIC
    • Low Slow Squats 25xIC
    • Squat Pulses 20xIC (sorry, the Q died out)
    • Peter Parkers 25xIC
    • Mountain Climbers 25xIC
    • Parker Peters 25xIC
    • Merkins 25xIC
    • Squat Pulses 5xIC (to finish off)

    Mosey to Tchoupiloulas and back

    COP2:

    • Right Leg Step Ups 20xIC
    • Dips 20xIC
    • Left Leg Step Ups 20xIC
    • Derkins 20xIC
    • Box Jumps 10 OYO

    Bearcrawl counterclockwise around the labyrinth.  Then Jack Webb to 10 (how did the PAX, including YHC, get to 13 with Catfish on Saturday?).

    Circle of Mary:

    • LBCs 25xIC
    • Flutter Kicks 25xIC
    • Rosalitas 25xIC
    • Penguins 25xIC
    • Russian Twists 25xIC
    • Box Cutters 25xIC
    • Big Boy WWII Situps 25xIC
    • J Los 25xIC

    Slowish Mosey back to the flat to finish off with ten burpees OYO and a plank hold for the last 45 seconds, #TClaps to Peppa for the precision timing.

    Countoff, Namorama, and COT for the PAX to be kind, generous and thankful.  As always, it was a honor to lead.  Jingle Vader

  • That’s what you guys look like?!

    Daylight savings!   Now I can see all of your ugly mugs.

    I was thinking Quarterpipe had this one but I planned a little Q when he didn’t reply to the text.  He let me know that the little one was affected by daylight savings – so he will be there next time.  He stepped up to cover a Q last week – so no sweat QP.

    We started the beatdown with a lap around the golf course parking lot.

    Circle by the bandstand.  IC  SSH x 20, Imp Walks x 20, Mtn Climbers, 20 Morning Glory x 10, and Low Slow Squats x 20 (touch the ground)

    Then we ran out and looped around the track back to the pull up bars.  (LBCs while you wait).  Seaman splashed Angie’s List at some point here – he got me later.  THere will be revenge.

    Here we did 25 hand release Merks OYO.   20 Shoulder Taps. OYO

    Ran to the PIMP station.

    On the way to PIMP station – side shuffle, skip with high knees, butt kicks, run backwards

    At the PIMP station – pull ups are the count, plank jacks, merks, side lunges, hand release merks.  Rinse and repeat.

    Superman to Bow.   Roll left and roll right.   X Y Z — back exercise pulses.

    Run back to bandstand.   On the steps by the bandstand where the yoga ladies meet – we did 50 toe taps,  then up and over the bandstand and 50 dying roaches at the end of oak alley by the track.  Then run back to bandstand.   50 more toe taps and then 50 shoulder taps.   LBC and wait.   Then we did 50 monkey humpers and 25 low country crab

    Back to the virtual flag and circle of  trust.

    Glad to step up and lead.  SYITG.

     

     

     

  • Wait… One More Thang… at The Skinny

    Pre-Thang

    YHC has been posting at Rock City on Mondays, but YHC never forgets where his very first AO, Uptown.  YHC received a text the night before from Reluctant Yankee reminding YHC has the Q.  Few minutes before the Q, YHC had to scope out the AO because some yoga masters have been working out by the Band Stand where YHC wants part of the workout to be.  At 5:15 a.m., no yoga masters in sight, but when we got there with our warm-ups at 5:31 am., they were there.  YHC had to modify part of the beatdown.  26 PAX managed to meet up on a cool, dry Monday morning.  At 5:30, YHC gave his standard disclaimer and off the PAX.

    Warm-ups

    Moseyed to the band stand and did the following in cadence:

    SSHs x 20

    Imperial Walkers x 20

    Windmills x 15

    The Thang

    Starting off at the first light post at the Oak Alley in front of the Band Stand, each Pax had to do the following:

    Round 1 – 5 burpees, then moseyed to the 3rd light post and did 50 scissor kicks, moseyed to the 5th light post and did 50 squats, moseyed right before the track with 5 more burpees, then run a lap from the track to the parking lot then back towards the shelter by the Band Stand.  Stopped by the shelter and did 50 dips.

    Round 2 – rinse and repeat but shaved off the reps with 4 burpees, 40 scissor kicks, 40 squats, 4 burpees, 40 dips.

    Round 3 – rinse and repeat but shaved off another set of reps with 3 burpees, 30 scissor kicks, 30 squats, 3 burpees, 30 dips.

    Round 4 – rinse and repeat with 2 burpees, 20 scissor kicks, …..

    Round 5 – rinse and repeat with 1 burpee, 10 ….

    Each lap is approximately 0.25 mile.  In total, the PAX toughed out 30 burpees, 150 scissor kicks, 150 squats,  150 dips, and approximately 1.25 miles run.

    T-claps to 86, Jadaveon, Mariah, and El Wire for setting the pace and finished the 5 rounds in approximately 20 minutes.  The rest of the Pax finished at a much faster time than YHC had anticipated and averaged about 5 minutes per round.  Strong work by everyone.

    Round of Mary

    Pax circled up in front of the band stand.  With the help of the Pax…..

    Medulla – Dying Cockroach x 15 IC

    Angie’s List – LBCs x 15 IC

    Bartman – SLOOOOOW American Hammers x 15 IC

    Reluctant Yankee – Low Country Crab x 15 IC

    Sandbar – Mission Impossible Plank

    El Wire – Leg Raises x 15

    Mariah – SLOOOOOOW Flutter Kicks x 15 IC

    More Thang

    After the Round of Mary, YHC noticed the yoga masters left the band stand.  And because the Pax finished the rounds so quickly, YHC did one more round starting at the back of the band stand. (this is what YHC wanted to do from the very beginning).  The Pax finished the day with 20 box jumps, climbed over the stage, moseyed to the first light post at the Oak Alley with 2 burpees, moseyed to the 3rd light post with 20 scissor kicks, moseyed to the 5th light post with 20 squats, moseyed right before the track with 2 burpees, ran the lap like before and stopped at the shelter with 20 dips.  Waited for the Six and did 15 x IC right leg step up, then 15 x IC left leg step up.  Finally, moseyed back to the flag at 6:15 a.m.

    COT

    Count-O-Rama 26PAX, Name-O-Rama, announcements, intentions.  Our thoughts and prayers for I Love You Man’s niece, Brown Bag’s 7 weeks old baby, Hawgcycle’s mother and family, and all the victims in Panama City.  Thank You all again for the opportunity to lead.  The Pax motivates me everyday to push harder than I would ever do on my own.  SYITG

    King Kong

  • Shoulders, shoulders, and more shoulders!

    Knowing weeks in advance that I had the Q today I tried to plan my workouts accordingly.  I have been having some annoying sharp pain in my knee over the past few months that only bothers me when I run.  So, I thought today would be a good day to work on some upper body…particularly the shoulders!  A short disclaimer at 5:30 and we were off!
    Mosey to grassy area right off of the track
    SSH x 20/PETER PARKER x 20/PARKER PETERx 20/MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS x 20
    Mosey to row bars – 4 groups
    ROWS were the count x 20/MERKIN/WIDE MERKINS/DIAMOND MERKINS (Thought we might get in two sets of these but after the first round decided against it!)
    Mosey to cinder blocks – 56’s
    (Increasing reps starting at 5 count all the way up to 11 count for a total of 56 reps per exercise – run/walk to next light in between sets)
    BURPEE PRESSES (There was lots of moaning and groaning about this one!)
    CURLS
    KETTLE BELL SWINGS
    SHOULDER PRESSES
    Return cinder blocks and mosey back to the flag (Not enough time left for Mary!)
    Count off, Name-o-rama, announcements, and a prayer to lift up the family of Darth Visor.
    Thankful for F3 and the opportunity to lead!  Until next time…
    Saban, Reluctant Yankee, Seaman, Bartman, Tube Steak, Landing Strip, Gabrielle, Sandbar, Moriah, Jadeveon, Roots, Nip Tuck, Schlitz, and one other?
  • Schlitz squiggy? Squiggy Schlitz? Schlitz and giggles?

    El wire had a sick kid so I stepped up to not only write his backblast but actually Q his beatdown…that I had to create.  I think I just got Tom Sawyered again!

    We ran to the soccer goal in front of the zoo.  At that field we did a standard circle:

    SSH x20, Imperial Walker Squats x 20, Mtn Climbers x 20 and Dying Bugs x 20  all IC

    Then we moseyed to the field by the river at the FLY.

    At the river view we did a mini-ring of fire.  We circled up in plank.  Bear Crawl left, bear crawl to the middle, bear crawl back, bear crawl right, bear crawl to the middle, bear crawl back.  We finished here with 15 Nolan Ryans L and R.  We also did 10 Hip Dips L and R x 10.  OYO.

    Then we got up and moseyed to Monkey Hill.  At the Hill we did a merkin regression.  We did 20 merks on the other side of hill, back and did 18, then cross over for 16 on down to 2.   Heard some trains and decided we needed to quick mosey across the train tracks.   It was run as fast as possible to the train tracks, then once there PAX had to do Bonnie Blairs while they waited for the 6.

    Another 1/2 mile mosey to the LABYRINTH.    Instead of plank and wait we did LBCs and LBTs and wait. At the labyrinth we did 20 left leg step ups IC, 10 Irkins, 20 right leg step ups IC, 10 Dirkins, 15 left leg bulgarian split lunch, 15 right leg bulgarian split lunge, 20 dips OYO.

    Set up for some MARY at the Labyrinth.  We did some Dying Roaches, attempted some donkey kicks but it was too hard to do on the bricks, did some LOW COUNTRY CRAB, we did some Russian Twist to finish.

    The beatdown finished with HORSES to the barn/flag.

    Struggled with naming our FNG from Wisco – we went with Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley (tv show look it up)  I have been having second thoughts – want something with Schlitz.  Schlitz his pants, Wisco Schlitz, Schlitz the bed, Schlitzy- Glitz.  Just thinking out loud.  I am pretty sure that squiggy isn’t going to stick. Schlitz and Giggles?

  • Monday With Macdeuce

    Pre Thang:  Third day of Fall and just another  muggy Monday morning in NOLA and the pax gathered slowly…  Yankee showed up with Shark Bait from Carmel and the regulars rolled in one at a time. We also had an appearance by FNG Carlton, who had posted twice already but left early both times and still hadn’t been named. At 05:30 a couple more stragglers came in hot and we were off into the gloom with a solid 19.

    The Thang:  Mosey around by the golf club house and over to the base of the bandstand for warmup COP: SSH, Mtn. Climber, Imperial Walker, Plank Jack x 25 IC.

    Dirty Macdeuce:  Run the loop(oak alley to the track, right to the parking lot and back around to bandstand. Approx. 1/4 Mile), Then perform the prescribed exercise x 15 IC.

    Round 1: Merkin, Squat, American Hammer

    Round 2: Left Staggered Merkin, Monkey Humper, Real Freddie

    Round 3: Right Staggered Merkin, Lunge, Flutter Kick(We lost Carlton again at this point.)

    Round 4: Wide Merkin, Low Slow Squat, LBC

    One more lap and mosey into the shelter for some bench work: LLSUx 15, Derkins x 15, RLSU x 15, Dips x 15

    Mosey over to the grass for some stretching and head to the flag.

    COT w/ shoutout by YHC.

    Good Times!

    Roots

    T Claps to Carlton for giving it another shot. If he makes it through a full workout, I move we name him Rhoda or Mary Tyler Moore. Those who grew up in the 70’s will get it…

  • Feeling Fly

    16 bright eyed and bushy tailed pax showed up promptly at 5:28, and off we went…

     

    The Thang:

    Mosey across Magazine to the field for warm up

    • SSH x 20
    • Squats x 20
    • Mountain climbers x 20
    • Imperial walker x20

     

    Mosey past the Zoo and over to the levee for 11s

    • Diamonds at the top
    • Squats at the bottom

     

    Plank to gather the 6 then continue our mosey into the rarely-explored darkness of the Fly.

     

    Mosey along by the river to a dimly lit gazebo of sorts (trying to keep the pax together here…):

    • 15x dips
    • 10x derkins

     

    I hear a train a-comin’…

    Continue into the darkness towards the baseball fields…locked! Doh!  Audible to the benches at the adjacent playground:

    • Dips x15
    • Derkins x10
    • Step ups x20
    • Dips x 15
    • Derkins x10

     

    Freight train has passed, so our path is clear back into the soft, welcoming gloom on the right side of the Levee.

    Mosey across the tracks, past the stables to the Avenue of the Oaks (is that what you all call it)?

    • Mary: Dolly > LBC > Russian twist > Protractor
    • Merkins, Plank jacks
    • Then 50 LBCs OYO to close it out.

     

    Back to virtual shovel flag for namerama and take out

     

    Musings:

    Since moving to New Orleans this summer, I’ve enjoyed posting and meeting the fine men of F3NOLA and I greatly appreciate the warm (hot and sweaty AF) welcome you all have provided me.  However, this being my F3 NOLA VQ, I felt some mileage befitting my F3Metro roots was in order.  I love the boot-camp beat-downs delivered week in and week out around here and I’m feeling the results, but it’s good to stretch the hammies out every once in a while.  I think we got in 3.2 miles on Monday plus around 100 push-ups variants (merkins/derkins/diamonds), which was a good down painment on the week.

     

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead, and thank god that freight train finally passed…

     

    ~Mariah