F3 New Orleans

Tag: The Uptowner

  • Maupin Hero WOD at The Uptowner

    Such a late backblast…I’ll try to remember what happened.

    Hawqcycle was on the Q schedule, but, was out of town for the BRR and suggested I take it. So I did.

    Warm-up, IC:

    • SSH x 20
    • Windmills x 15
    • Mountain climbers x 10
    • Peter Parkers x 10

    Mosey to the track, where we began the Maupin Hero WOD, which consists of 4 rounds of the following:

    • Run 800 meters
    • 49 merkins
    • 49 Big Boy sit-ups
    • 49 air squats

    We had 4 “official” finishers before the time ran out. Thanks for letting me VQ again! Still not sure if it counts. One of these days I will create an actual workout!

     

     

  • This BB is Late – I’m a Bum

    Walking back to my house from the Uptowner, I met a man and woman walking their dogs.  The man was in his 50s and dressed as if he might own a sailboat.  It stood out to me that he was wearing sunglasses at 0630, so I will call him Shades.

    Shades:  You alright?

    Hawgcycle:  Yeah, why?  Do I not look alright?

    Shades: ….

    Hawgcycle: …..

    Shades:  Well, I can tell you are not a bum.

    Hawgcycle: …..

    Shades:  Where do you live?

    Hawgcycle: …..

    I’m pretty sure the fact that Shades told me he could tell I was not a bum means:

    1.  He was pretty sure I was bum when he first saw me.
    2. He was still not sure that I was not a bum.

    I’m not sure what the term bum means to Shades, but I am going to take this interaction as a compliment.  My alarming appearance and fatigued stagger leaving the Uptowner Arena means I left it all at the AO.  There is also the possibility that my disheveled hair, $3 flip-flops, painted toenails, and horrendous stench formed his opinion.  I’m sticking with the former.

    Here’s what put me in that state:

    Warm-up

    SSH x 30; IW x 31; Don Quixote x 15; Hug it out OYO while YHC gave some instructions.

    Iron-Pax Pre-Challenge

    20 Hand Release Merkins – 100 yard Bear Crawl – 20 Hand Release Merkins – 100 yard Bear Crawl for time.

    Wood Hero WOD

    400 meter run – 10 Burpee Box Jumps – 10 Sumo-Deadlift High-Pulls – 10 Rock Thrusters.  AMRAP.

    Most of us used the T-Shift Laundry Detergent Buckets to jump over for the Burpee Box Jumps.  A few used the pump wall.  We also used the buckets for the Sumo-Deadlift High-Pulls.

    NMM

    Many things were impressive about this group today:

    • 9 guys posted – big turnout
    • 5 guys wore red.  Most ever
    • All 9 were sub 8:00 on the challenge and ranked top 60ish
    • All 9 attacked the Hero WOD after bearcrawling for days

    Thanks to all those protecting freedoms around the world.

  • Uptowner #3 7/27 Christmas “Tree” in July

    This was originally going to be my 2nd trip to area known as “Uptown” and my 1st WPM – with MO as the VQ but 2Utes need a fill in so I couldn’t let the brother that EH’d me down.

    It does help to have a son (Disclaimer) as an actual trainer that I can bounce, source and even train with for ideas.  He suggested I give a Christmas tree a shot – According to FracSac my mumblechatter post intrigued him since I mentioned a little more running for the normal fairly static Uptowner routine.  (No negativity meant but I thought it best if someone was coming for Yoga to give them a heads up)

    That said after a very short warm up x 10 each

    Micheal Phelps

    SSH

    Windmill

    Mountain Climbers

    Grab your ROCK:

    Christmas Tree Work out starts at the top and progressively expands as you move downward to the bottom adding intensity and challenge –

    Start with exercise #1, then repeat #1 and add #2, then repeat #1 and #2 add #3, then repeat #1,#2#3 and add #4……repeating and adding until you get through the last exercise.  See below:

    200 Meter Run (since this was going to be repeated we all decided to run through the 400 meter spot that Hawg has set up for his “honor” workout.

    10 one arm crossover push ups (5 each arm – one hand on the rock the other on the ground – complete a rep, now transition from one side the rock to the other with opposite hand on rock and ground – complete a rep)

    15 complex V-Ups (with rock in hands lift in a v position to left leg, back down now lift to right leg back down, now lift to the center)

    5 each leg step up (originally going to be 10 box jumps, quickly modified for all – challenge next time to add some in)

    10 rock jacks – same as a jumping jack just thrusting rock up over head

    10 Over Head squat Press

    10 Rock Burpees (well 12 for good measure) – complete the bottom half after getting back to your feet grab your rock for the over head jump press.

    DONE – I think it took about 25 minutes give or take

    Now warmed up we headed over to the fence for some upper body finishers:

    20 x 4 count 10 sec transition

    Curls

    Rows

    10 x 4

    Curls

    Over head forward press

    Rows x 16

    Take your ROCK to Mary

    Right Arm rock balance with legs extended x 30 sec count off

    Now the Left Arm x 30 sec count off

    Now chest press with legs extended  x 30 sec count off

    Now rock plank – 1 minute

    Done – return rocks

    Count off – Name – Intentions – Prayer of Thanksgiving

    For those that came you’ll be well prepared for the near future – City Park “Oak Tree Style” Christmas Tree workout.

    Thanks for letting me lead and for pushing through as a team…..Great Work!

     

  • Uptowner #1 July 13th

    Guys there are no doubt several things I need to work on –  procrastination is right at the top!

    Warm Up: Hall x 15

    Micheal Phelps

    Hill Billy

    SSH

    Leg Swing with a partner facing each but left should to right should using partner for balance swing outside leg out and back for dynamic stretch.

    Lung W/ Hamstring Stretch

    Lateral Side Lungs

    Grab a ROCK – medium to challenging

    Pyramids (RD 1) – all 4 to 6 count cadence; approx 10 sec rest in between each set to explain transition movement.

    Curl x 20

    Curl to over head press x 20

    Squat to Curl to over head press x 20

    Squat to Curl to over head press to curl x 20

    45 sec rest

    Pyramid (RD 2) – same as above regarding and transition rest

    Forward Press x 20

    Forward Press to Kettle Bell (KB) swing x 20

    Forward Press to KB swing to Tricep Press x 20

    ***Skipped sqt jump as the 4th element to FP to KB to TP*** Maybe next time.

    Head to Tree Line – “Active Recovery”

    Get a partner –

    Pax 1 Rock Kong out approx 20 yards – 4 Burpees before Bear Crawling back

    Pax 2 4 Burpees before Bear Crawling Out – retrieve rock

    Pax 1 upon return – Rock Kong Pax 2’s rock out 30 yards – 4 Burpees before Bear Crawling back

    Pax 2 upon returning with Pax 1’s rock – 4 Burpees before Bear Crawling back out to retrieve the 2nd rock

    Rinse and Repeat the Above

     

    Cardio Rock Shuttle – This was a bust I need help in coordinating but PAX went with it!

    All PAX lined up with rocks at their feet – Pax on far end pass his rock down the line (initial thought he would run to end of the line to receive rock and the process of passing rocks would continue as next Pax would have already passed their rock and run to the end of the line so Indian Style objective was to be moving all rocks towards the rock pile, again this needs some work but we did achieve the goal – ALL rocks returned.

    Mary

    Combos – Dying Cockroach x 20 with Flutter Kicks added on x 10

    Rower Sit ups x 70

    Plank 1 minute

    LBC x 20

    Circle Up

    Count, Name, Announcements and Intentions – Prayer

    I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to lead and give thanks to God for the blessing of health!

     

     

     

     

  • RED Friday – Jenkins Hero WOD

    8 men (1 FNG) posted for a RED Friday workout tribute to British serviceman Garreth Jenkins.

    Warm-up

    SSH x 20 (I could tell Frac was disappointed), Imperial Walkers x 20, Windmills x 15, then some self-love on your own while YHC gave the instructions to…

    The Thang

    Partner up for

    • 50 Burpees
    • 400 meter run
    • 50 Kettle Rock Swings
    • 400 meter run
    • 50 Pull-ups
    • 400 meter run
    • 50 Merkins
    • 400 meter run

    Partners split reps for exercises however they want for 50 cumulative, then run the 400 meters together.  Complete as many rounds as possible in the 40 minutes.

    NMM

    • First time I’ve seen Mahatma and T-Shift since the bike accident last week.  Glad to see them both.
    • Rocket works at Lockhead Martin and builds cool space vehicles.  I’m pretty jealous.  He walked away with a pretty good name, mainly because we want him to like us and post at the Gnarly Nutria.
    • I’ve never seen Fracsac run so hard.  He was partnered with Triple Shift and I think he was worried that Triple was going to run over him.
    • You would think I would be faster at burpees.  After all, the man behind the curtain running the @f3nation twitter feed posted a video of my perfect barefoot burpee form as a lesson for all.  Yet, I could not keep up with Mahatma.
    • Abacus continues to stand out among the Pax with his understanding of the RED Friday dress code.
    • Notre Dame should hire Walleye as a recruiter.  Show up to Audubon Park at 2100 hours on July 18th and you will see what I mean.

  • Quality over Quantity!

    This was YHC’s first Q outside the friendly confines of Uptown.  So it was appropriate that it would be the Uptowner that would be YHC’s first Q in the great, big WORLD.  You can imagine my dismay when I pulled into the parking area with no other cars around.  Would this be a party of 1?  If you Q in an empty park, did it really happen?  Hold on….who is that walking over the train tracks?  None other than Hand Grenada!   Now we have a party!  But wait there’s more!  Here comes Fracsac to join this merry band.  The three musketeers it is.  Quality over quantity PAX.  Let’s get this party started…right?

    Circle up for Warm up,

    • Windmills X 15
    • Forward Arm Circles X15
    • Reverse Arm Circles X 15
    • Imperial Walkers X20
    • Hillbillies X20

    We’re all warmed so let’s go to the rock pile and pick a small rock.  Oh wait, in my excitement of actually having PAX show up for my Q, I forgot the all important disclaimer.  So, disclaimer it is and then…

    Circle up with small rock for Thang 1:

    Block Webb –  1 merkin to 2 air presses with small rock increasing by 1 merkin and 2 air presses all the way up to 10 merkins and 20 air presses.  All OYO.  Needless to say we were feeling the burn in the shoulders by the end.

    Let’s walk over and throw the small rock over the fence to the baseball field.  Back to the rock pile to pick a large rock

    Take Large Rock walk around fence to field drop rock and walk to grab small rock from other side of field.  Lunge walk with small rock back to where we dropped big rock.

    As we only had 3 Pax, we decided to combine forces for Thang 2

    Flora 1-2-3 (aka Dora’s Nasty Sister)

    • 100 merkins – 10 merkins on large rock while others plank with foot on his large rock flapjack till complete
    • 200 LBC’s – 20 LBC’s with small rock while partners hold feet 6” off ground while holding small rock over chest flapjack till complete
    • 300 Goblet Squats – 25 goblet squats while partners hold a goblet squat in down position flapjack till complete

    Next, circle up for Bear Crawl Ring of Fire                             c

    • Bear Crawl to Q yells halt. When stopped, all PAX on 6 and lift Rock over head.  PAX does 10 chest presses in sequence until all are done.  Bear Crawl counter-clockwise, stop for chest presses, bear-crawl clockwise for chest presses.  Let’s kick it up a notch Boo Boo Bear Crawl right leg up clockwise, stop for chest presses,  Boo Boo Bear Crawl left leg up counter-clockwise.  Feeling good now!

    Walk large rock over to fence and throw over – Lunge walk halfway back then crab walk the rest of the way back to small rocks.

    Walk back to rock pile holding small rock in front of chest with arms extended.

    Circle up for arms and back work with large rock:

    • Curls X 20 IC
    • Rows with large rock X20 IC

    Stay in circle for Flutter Kicks while holding small rock above chest X15 IC

    Count-Off, Name-o-rama, Announcements, Intentions and Prayer.

    Thanks to the PAX for letting me lead!

  • More Crabwalks!

    Morning broke over the Uptowner, where YHC made a rare appearance for a Friday Q.  6 more PAX joined to start the day with a sweaty beatdown.

    Warm Up: YHC almost started with a Mosey, before remembering this is The Uptowner.  So instead, right here – circle up!

    • SSH x25
    • IW x25
    • Smurf Jacks x15
    • Peter Parker x25
    • Shoulder Taps x25
    • Parker Peter x25
    • Plank Jacks x25

    Burpees for Breakfast

    Every Minute On The Minute: 10 Burpees each minute for 10 minutes.  Whee!  That was fun!

    Grab a Rock.  Feel free to go bigger, we aren’t going very far.

    Crabwalking

    Line up for 11s OYO:

    • Shoulder Press with your rock (which stays here)
    • Bear Crawl about 40 yards
    • Merkins
    • Crab Walk back

    Very quickly, YHC realized that this combo was going to be a) slow and b) hard on the shoulders.  So – Modify, replacing Bear Crawl with Lunge Walk.  Didn’t make it go faster (this definitely turned into a timekiller), but it did mix in the legs.  No change to the Crabwalks – especially when YHC discovered that perhaps there is one way he can keep up with Mahatma!  So – everyone expect More Crabwalk at future YHC Qs!

    Take a break halfway through to rest the shoulders with some Mary (slow cadence)

    • Flutter Kick x20
    • Dolly x20
    • Penguin x20

    Then back to your rocks to finish the 11s.  Return the rocks to the pile and circle up for a final round of slow-cadence Mary

    • Dying Cockroach x20
    • LBC x20
    • Box Cutter x20

    Circle up, for Count Off, Name-o-Rama, Announcements, and Prayers.  Remember those who are sick.

  • Pushing through

    YHC hadn’t been to the Uptowner for almost three months–not since he banged up his right arm at the end of the Tough Mudder on St. Patty’s Day.  Walleye said it’d take two months or so to start to feel right again–he was right about the “or so” part.  But YHC decided he’d ease back in in the gloom this morning.  So au revoir to Wolfpack Mountain, and into Metry.  As PAX began to gather, YHC learned that HVAC was the Q: perfect: a tough-ass yoga session, but hopefully light on the triceps.  With great (but wholly incorrect) insight, YHC commented that HVAC always runs a lap or two before posting, so he should be here any second.  Tick, tick, tick, tick: no HVAC.  [Summertime can be busy for A/C guys: customers maybe will tolerate a broken heater for a few hours in January, but more than about 10 minutes without A/C in the summer garners no such similar tolerance. T-claps to HVAC and Duct Tape for keeping summers tolerable.]  So when Mahatma recommended a split Q, YHC figured his arm had had enough rest: time to step up for the first part.

    Warm Up:

    • SSHs 25xIC
    • Low, Very Slow Squats (4-count down, 4-count hold, 4-count to up) 24xIC
    • Abe Vagodas 25xIC
    • Merkins 25xIC

    The PAX then grabbed rocks for a favorite Friday routine for YHC:

    • 20 overhead presses
    • 20 squats
    • 20 curls
    • 20 bench presses

    Then rinse and repeat with a 15-count, then again with a 10-count and finally with a f-count.  But before turning the Q over to Mahatma, time for some sitting around.  On the fence:

    • Sit for 30 seconds
    • Curls 20xIC
    • sit for 30 seconds
    • Overhead Presses 20xIC

    Mahatma then took over for some cardio delight.  The PAX divided their rocks into two rows about 10 yards or so apart and then paired up.  Each pair faced each other then side shuffled across to the other row, did a jump squat, side-shuffled back and then concluded with another jump squat–repeat 6 times for a total of 12 jump squats.  After a 30-count countdown, the PAX rinsed and repeated.

    Lining up along one of the rows again, each PAX carried his rock overhead to the other row to do 5 burpees and then returned the first row carrying his rock straight out front a la Frankenstein’s monster for 5 more burpees, and rinsed and repeated–for a total of 20 burpees.

    Then after returning their rocks, the PAX circled up for a final COP:

    • Plank for a minute
    • Crunches from legs extended overhead to legs extended straight (but off the ground) x12 IC
    • alligator pushups (lift hands on the up-extension) x20 IC
    • Dying cockroach (x10IC), straight into flutter kicks (x10IC); rinse and repeat with x10IC, and then a second time with x5IC for a total of 25xIC cockroaches and 25xIC flutter kicks

    Thanks for letting YHC share the Q.  Jingle Vader

  • RED Friday – Tommy Mac

    This year the first Friday of the month has been RED Friday at The Uptowner.  I have to give credit to F3 Greenwood.  I stole their idea and sometimes steal their workouts.  Today we celebrated the life and service of Sgt. Thomas MacPherson.  More on him in the NMM.

    Conditions: 81 degrees and 91% Humidity (Heat Index of 89 in the gloom)

    Equipment:  Rocks Ranging from 30 – 50 pounds

    Warm-up:  SSH x 31: IW x 31; Abe Vigodas x 10; Good Mornings x 10; Moroccan Night Club x 31; Self-love x 10; Copperhead Squats x 10

    The Tommy Mac uses 5 different lifts, so we practiced a few with the rocks.  These lifts actually require a barbell, so we made some slight modifications in order to perform them

    • Thrusters – Squat, then press rock above head.
    • Power Snatches – Pick up rock from the ground, lift over head, then throw it back on the ground real manly like.
    • Push Jerks – Shoulder Presses with a rock that’s too heavy to shoulder press.
    • Hang Squat Cleans – Curl the rock, then squat.
    • Overhead Squats – Just keep the rock at chest and squat.  Don’t get crazy.

    The Thang

    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Thrusters
    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Power Snatches
    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Hang Squat Cleans
    • 12 Burpees
    • 12 Overhead Squats

    We went AMRAP.  I believe everyone completed 2 rounds in 28 minutes, some started a 3rd before time was up.

    NMM

    Today’s workout was in honor of Thomas MacPherson.  Sgt. Thomas R. MacPherson, 26, was killed in action on October 12, 2012 by enemy forces during a heavy firefight while conducting combat operations in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. He was leading an assault against an enemy position when he was mortally wounded by small arms fire.

    MacPherson was a team leader assigned to Company D, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. He previously served one deployment to Iraq and this was his fourth deployment to Afghanistan.

    The “Tommy Mac” Hero WOD was created by elite-level coach Rudy Nielsen of CrossFit Outlaw (Alexandria, VA, USA), who first posted the workout on his “The Outlaw Way” blog as the workout of the day for October 27, 2012. The post included the following quote from Tommy’s former Platoon Leader:

    “The whole thing with Tommy is that he embodies everything that’s right about Ranger Battalion. He held the position of Ranger Team Leader which is literally the tip of the spear. He was the consummate, quiet professional—he expected absolutely zero recognition for what he did. He loved his job because he was a born protector. He was perfectly content to carry out his life’s work under the cover of darkness, with his and his comrades’ actions to remain forever under the cloak of shadows. He died doing what he loved; protecting all of us. What stood out about Tommy the most was his maturity beyond his years. I believe it was the fact that he was the older brother of younger siblings, but like another Sgt. said “Tommy wasn’t one of those guys who joined the Army and grew into a man. He joined as a man and grew others.” He left behind his beautiful wife wife, Claudia MacPherson, and their son, Brayden.”

    Lagniappe

    • It was great to be joined by 3 actual Uptowners at The Uptowner.  I believe that is equal to the number of Uptowners that have posted in the past year.  If Uptowners ever outnumber the World at the Uptowner, we may consider a name change.  These Uptowners handled themselves admirably.  Tools always said an Uptowner would never suvive the Uptowner, but these three proved him wrong.  I hypothesize that since they are relatively new to F3, they have not been sufficiently softened by the tickle fights that occur at the Skinny.  Let’s get Douille or Yankee out here and see what happens then.
    • It was agreed by all that the rock exercises were the best part of this workout.  #BurpeeLoveHate
    • No Mahatma today, so I believe it was Tool that took home the prize of WOD crusher.
    • Pay attention to what Abacus wears.  He gets it.
    • I did my best Cowbell impersonation and wore flip-flops to the workout.  Difference is that I worked out instead of drinking an umbrellaed libation and looking on.  Baby steps.  (If Shorty is reading this, this is where he says “I think you mean Cowbell steps.”)
    • 2 Rounds = 120 burpees which we all did correctly and can count toward the June ISI challenge of 10,000 merkins.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Wally Warm-Up

    Sorry, really late backblast.  Better late than never, but not much as the memory had faded.

    I do remember the warm-up, or at least the theme.  It is common for a Pontiff workout to start with 31 Side Straddle Hops.  Wally Pontiff, the namesake of the park, wore 31 playing baseball at LSU.  He died of a heart attack in his sleep when he was 21.  Had that not happened, he’d probably be working out with us in the gloom.  Starting the workout with 31 SSHs has always been my way of thanking a family that’s given to our community and honoring a guy that died way to young.

    So today I wanted to stretch the warm-up out a little and make it a little more challenging than normal.  We did 31 of each exercise.  It went something like this:  SSH, IW, Squats, Moroccan Night Club, Peter Parkers, Windmills, Parker Peters, Dying Cockroach, Calf Raises

    Then we grabbed some rocks and did a couple of rounds of 3-6-3 exercises.  This involves 3 super slow reps, a hold, 6 normal, in-cadence reps, a hold, and then finish with 3 super-slow reps.  I made it up almost a year ago, because I’m a punk.  The World had beaten Uptown by a score of 363 to 360 in the Gnarly Nutria.  I Qd a month later at Audubon and developed this exercise pattern to remind them of the winning score.  However, it’s actually a pretty good workout.  So we did 2 rounds of shoulder presses, Squats, Curls, Toe Raises, and Rows.

    Then we carried one large and one small rock to the playground.  3 stations:  Bench Press with large rock AMRAP, 90 degree hang, and Plank.  30 second plank was the timer.  2 Rounds of that.  Then we moved to 3 more stations:  Swing Merkin, Swing Row, Tricep curl with small rock.  7 Swing Merkins was the timer.  We completed 1 round and returned our rocks.

    Good workout with a couple of great guys.  r