F3 New Orleans

Tag: The Uptowner

  • The Uptowner Yoga Challenge: Week #2

    Temp was a cool 59 degrees this morning in the foggy Uptowner gloom, so I thought it best to start this session off with some traditional warm-up exercises to get the heart pumping.

    The Thang

    • SSHs IC x 25
    • IWs IC x 20
    • Windmills IC x 15
    • Wide Leg Hamstring Stretch
    • Twisting Torso Stretch
    • Split Leg Hamstring Stretch
    • Standing Side Stretch
    • Sun Salutations (x3)
    • Runner’s Stretch
    • Crescent Pose
    • Warrior 1
    • Warrior 2
    • Reverse Warrior
    • Triangle Pose
    • Twisting Triangle Pose
    • Chair Pose
    • Prayer Twist
    • Right Angle Pose with Grab and Hold
    • Tree
    • Namaste

    Moleskin

    • Great to see Da Parish recovering well from his ankle injury.  I think this is the first time he and Walleye have seen each other since Walleye left him for dead at City Park. #awkward.
    • Triple Shift came with Yoga mat in tow. #HeAintPlayin
    • I am becoming more and more impressed with HVACs ability to end his early morning runs at exactly 0530. #punctuality
    • HVAC runs after posting also. So how far does run before posting?  I imagine he has been running since last Friday. #UptownerPitStop
    • Come support the new Destrehan AO at East Bank Bridge Park.  Kimchi is on Q.  #TroubledWaters

  • The Uptowner Yoga Challenge: Week #1

    We kicked off the 8 week Yoga Challenge at The Uptowner this morning with 6 men looking to get stronger, more flexible, and injury resistent.  The idea here is to see what happens if we commit to doing power yoga once per week for 2 months.  What kind of changes are we going to see?  Time will tell.  So with that in mind, we started with your basic sit and reach so that we could get a crude baseline measurement of our current flexibility.  Mine was not good.  Feel free to post yours in the comments so that you can look back at the progress.

    The Thang

    • Wide Leg Hamstring Stretch
    • Twisting Torso Stretch
    • Split Leg Hamstring Stretch
    • Standing Side Stretch
    • Sun Salutations (x3)
    • Runner’s Stretch
    • Crescent Pose
    • Warrior 1
    • Warrior 2
    • Reverse Warrior
    • Triangle Pose
    • Twisting Triangle Pose
    • Chair Pose
    • Prayer Twist
    • Namaste

    Moleskin

    • The PAX knew YHC was serious when I showed up in my slippahs.
    • My biggest fear was assuaged as HVAC let me know he was all for the Yoga Challenge.  I hadn’t communicated it with him and was worried he would not be excited about it.  He views it as good preparation for the Classic, so I am now even more all in.
    • Kimchi started the next cycle in his new “rest on the 70th day,” training plan.  Good to have him back.  Yesterday just wasn’t the same.
    • At the encouragment of Bogè, I tried a couple of different voices for the Q.  It was decided that YHC should use the calm, soothing yoga Q voice instead of the normal, bootcamp style Q voice – it was better for our flow.
    • YHC has misplaced his travel speaker; otherwise, we could have vinyased to the beat.  If I can’t find it for next week, I challenge Bogè to start learning some Enya.
    • I got really cold afterwards.  I googled and apparently that can be a thing once you reach a state of transcendentalism; although, chills are usually the result of moving to an unheated cabin in the New England woods.
    • I hope JV gets the above joke.  If not he should thoreau his Yale diploma in the trash.

  • Making America Stretch Again!

    “Better bend than break” – Proverb

    Six men (which grew to seven later on) meandered over to the Uptowner AO.  Since Hawg decided to kill us with H8, the Pax thought it would be a good idea to recover with some yoga before the Tough Mudder tomorrow.  Little did they know that yoga is a beast in itself, but it would be a nice change-up to throwing around rocks.  So the DISCLAIMER was given, and then…

    The Thang

    We did a lot of things that popped into my head.  I gather a lot of my yoga movements from Tony or Shaun T… so this beatdown was a figure-it-out as we go.  YHC stressed the importance of breathing throughout the moves….it is the most important thing!

    Started out with some breathing movements, and hamstring/groin stretches.  Hard to explain…you just have to post to FIO.

    Plank Work:
    High Planks
    16x R. Leg Lifts
    16x L. Leg Lifts

    Sun Salutations:  Progression shown below.

    Image result for sun salutation

    Suppose to look like the girl on the left, but we looked like Sheldon:

    yoga GIF

    We did 3x Salutations (Da Parish showed up during #3), then we did it 6x Salutations and then added on a yoga pose like Warrior 1 (R/L), Warrior 2 (R/L), Reverse Warrior (R/L).  Google if you want to see what it looks like.

    Deep Muscle Work:
    16x Low, Very Slow Squats (1,2,3,Low Squat,1,2,3,Standing)
    On the 16th one, we held it down low…then did:
    16x Low Squat Pulses IC

    Repeated Deep Muscle Work with a Right Leg Lunge
    16x Squats IC
    Repeated Deep Muscle Work with a Left Leg Lunge

    Ouch!

    Plie Stretch: 45 sec on right, 45 sec on left….it’s a wide low squat with same hand on same foot (go ahead…try it!)

    Balance Poses:  Held these for about 30ish seconds.
    Knee Curls (R/L) – arms holding up your leg, try to touch knee to chest.
    Table Tops (R/L) – kinda like a standing superman while balancing on one foot.
    Chair Pose – legs together and sit in a chair, arms up to sky

    Hip Work: Hands under shoulders, knees under hips….then raise knees off the ground, and do these:

    16x Spidermans (R/L)
    16x Leg Lifts (R/L)
    Went into Childs Pose to recover after each side.

    Finished up with some flexibility work. Standard stuff like hamstrings, groins, runners stretches, etc.

    Circled up for the COT, where we had the Countoff, Nameorama, and Prayer.

    Moleskin

    Real men do yoga.  Helps you stay young!

    Good luck tomorrow to the Tough Mudder Crew.  Y’all will have a great time!

    …..and yes, Kim Chi is still perfect in 2017!

     

  • NOLA Maltz Challenge

    YHC called an audible and changed #TheUptowner plans from Awkward Yoga to The Maltz Challenge.  Today, people around the country honored fallen service men by completing the Maltz Challenge.  This is a Hero WOD named after USAF Master Sergeant Mike Maltz, who along with five others, was killed in 2003 on a para rescue mission trying to save children in an Afghani Hospital.  His grave is inscribed with the phrase “That others may live.”  His older brother, who works for the Drug Enforcement Agency, started this challenge as a way to honor those that have been killed in action.  Today people around the country participated in remembrance of the sacrifice others have made for us and others around the world.

    The Thang

    Fireman Carry 100 meters (Frac & Kim, YHC & Triple) or Farmer Carry 50 lbs 200 meters (Torque)

    100 pull-ups

    50 Dips (we did bench dips)

    400m run to playground on opposite side of Pontiff

    50 Knees to Elbows (hang from rings and bring your knees up to your elbows)

    100 merkins

    100 sit-ups

    400m run back to the other playground.

    We ended with some Vinyasas, including runners pose and the world’s greatest stretch.

    Moleskin

    Reading through all the information on MSgt Maltz is powerful stuff.  I encourage you to do so if you haven’t.  In John 15:13 Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  The six men killed that day laid down their lives for strangers, sick children that were in desperate need of supplies.  MSgt Maltz was 42 years old that day; my age.  He had two kids of his own.  Many of us would say that we would do what ever was necessary for our own children and I think that’s honest.  But would we be able to sacrifice everything for someone else’s children; children we had never met; children from a far away place that shares very little in common with our culture and ideals; children with relatives that might be trying to kill you?  That’s what those six men did that day.

    It’s not likely we will be asked to do what MSgt Maltz and his comrades did that day.  But what we can do is look to put the needs of others ahead of our own needs; loving those around us, even strangers, with sacrificial love; not counting the cost, but giving freely.  Let’s condition ourselves to love without counting the cost.  Take some time to reflect on I John 3:16-18 today:  “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

    Great work by all of the guys that showed up to The Uptowner today.  I’m really proud to have completed this challenge with you all.  Everyone completed it sub 29 minutes.  Impressive work fellows.

    -Hawg

  • Three Real Men Post

    YHC let someone else take the flag at Okwata, so we were stuck with a VSF at the Uptowner. However, that Pax posted elsewhere, so no harm done.  WPM must have been Shovel Flag aplenty on this day!

    Upon arrival at the OA, YHC came across Kim Chi, and was notified that HVAC was in the vicinity as well.  In recognition of Kim Chi’s 53rd straight post in 2017, HVAC and YHC opted to train Kim Chi to prepare for the rest of the year. Take a gander at the video to see our work in action. I think we made some real progress.  We found a lady, perhaps from FIA, that gave us some ideas on how to get him ready.  She has a potty mouth…..

    After a brief disclaimer…….

    The Thang
    SSH x 31 IC
    IW x 30 IC
    Low Slow Squats x 15 IC
    Now that we’re warmed up, time to revisit the Burpee clock introduced by Tool at Okwata. But this was a Burpee clock with a high knee metronome.
    Pax performs high knee run in place while one Pax does a Burpee and we go clockwise until we reach 45. Those Burpees sure do come around fast with only three Pax! That was 15 burpees each!

    COP 1 

    Mosey to the fence for some bear crawls and Burpee Broad Jumps.
    Starting at the fence, bear crawl out to the designated tree, and burpee broad jump back. Repeato.
    Upon completing two rounds, YHC was pretty sure it was illegal in some state to stop at two rounds. At this point, Kim Chi shared with the Pax that it was illegal to hunt whales in Oklahoma, or maybe it was Arkansas…..one of those land lubber states! That man is a wealth of information! Our training has really paid off!  As YHC returned to the fact that stopping at two rounds was illegal, probably in ND, the Pax completed the third round of bear crawls and burpee broad jumps.

    COP 2

    Off to the Pontiff Foundry.
    Stations 1 – Dips
    Station 2 – Burpees (10 count timer)
    Station 3 – Pull ups (in honor of the ongoing challenge)

    After two rounds, YHC called an audible. New stations:
    Station 1 – Pull ups (10 count timer)
    Station 2 – Pull up assist – thanks Amnesty, your method works well
    Station 3 – Dips
    After 3 rounds, Kim Chi reminded YHC that we had only completed two rounds earlier, and that was just unlawful. So we completed round three with the 10 Burpee count timer.

    COP 3

    Mosey to the rock pile and grab a friend, one that will be good for curls, there would be no lifting over the head on this day.
    Round 1 – Curls x 10 IC
    Set rock on the ground and move to rock to your left. Making the Pax use each others rocks keeps the pain coming as sometimes some Pax choose smaller rocks.
    Curls x 10 IC
    Set rock on the ground and move to rock to your left.
    Curls x 10 IC

    Round 2 – Rows x 10 IC
    Set rock on the ground and move to rock to your left.
    Rows x 10 IC
    Set rock on the ground and move to rock to your left.
    Rows x 10 IC

    Mary

    While holding the rock at your chest, flutter kicks x 15 IC
    Big Boy situps with the rock IC x 10 (20 total) – that hurt
    Let the rocks go
    Continue with Mary, all IC
    LBC’s x 30
    Hello Dolly x 15
    Tin Snips x 15
    Box Cutters x 15
    Freddie Mercury x 15

    COT
    Count off, namorama, announcements, and end with a prayer

    Moleskin
    Not counting the broad jump burpees, each Pax did 45 Burpees and at least 30 pullups. Way to go!
    T-Claps to Kim Chi for keeping the streak going – 53 posts and counting!
    Just a side note, YHC has made considerable progress in the bear crawl and burpee departments since joining F3, so the new challenge is to conquer the pullups! Thanks to the men of F3 for pushing me to become better!

    WPM is real, but there were 3 real men that posted at the Uptowner!

     

  • Welcome to The Uptowner

    After laying the guilt trip on Yankee, I got him to finally post at The Uptowner.  As lagniappe, he brought a flag.  YHC had a goal to meet so I told everyone to pick their rocks, a big one and a bigger one, as they rolled in.  The bigger one was to push yourself with.  The smaller one was for modification (without having to take the walk of shame).

    0530 and it was time to Rock ‘n Roll….something seemed like it was missing though…things felt incomplete…oh well, disclaimer given and let’s get it.

    Warm-up COP sans rocks and in cadence:  SSH x 20; Windmills x 10; LSS x 15; 8-count Body Builders x 7

    The Thang

    A close approximation of our Veteran’s Day GRT welcoming party – Deck of Death with flutter kicks with rock held above chest (or head if you are showing off), Squats con roca, Shoulder press con roca (this devolved or possible evolved into a push press for YHC), and 8-count Body Builders.

    All reps were in cadence.  The face cards represented 10 reps, aces 15 and all others were the card value.  The appearance of a Joker meant you did the previous exercise with twice the number of reps.

    The goal was to finish the deck, but we finished 7 cards short.  Next time it will be less time doing windmills and trying to build a card table and more body builders.  Unfortunately, (or fortunately if you like things easy) the first joker came after the 6 of Flutter Kicks and the 2nd was one of the 7 cards we didn’t get to.

    Total number of reps (counting 2 reps for each cadence count except Body Builders):

    194 Flutter Kicks; 178 Squats; 194 Shoulder Presses; 86 Body Builders

    *Note – a full deck w/o Jokers is 99 Body Builders and 198 of the others.

    Moleskin

    • Kimchi showed up part of the way through the deck.  That’s what was causing that uneasy something is missing feeling.  Fortunately he came on out after oversleeping to push the streak to 41.
    • Kimchi, 3Shift, and YHC got in a lagnilappe / tour of the new Pontiff benches and trash cans afterwards.  Nice work Jennifer Van Vranken.
    • T-claps to Yankee for making the drive.  Now you just have Okwata, The Coastie, and Lafitte’s Plunge left?  Speaking of which, by my count, JV is the only man to post at all 11 F3Nola AOs. #Respect
    • Glad Bubba made it out this morning.  It’s like he has a Deck of Death radar.
    • The GrowRuck is happening June 10th/11th.  Start talking it up now!  Hopefully the Deck of Death whetted the GRT appetite.
    • Quick Draw is having his 50th birthday party tomorrow morning at City Park for 0630.  Everyone is invited.

     

  • Footfree Does Not Mean PainLESS

    YHC made the mistake of going to The Skinny on Monday (mostly because he couldn’t find his car keys to get to Rock City): bad judgment.  Left foot in bad shape.  It’s hell getting old.  No posts Tuesday or Wednesday; had to resort to Water World on Thursday.  So this morning’s post would be true to The Uptowner: no fancy footwork.  So that leaves lots of other body parts to abuse … er, improve.

    After a disclaimer, THE THANG, which went approximately like this:

    • Double-slow squats (in a 13 count, most of the time: four to squat, four down, four up, and one for the count): 25xIC
    • Left foot over right foot stretch: 20xIC (Tclaps to Kim Chee for how to count)
    • Right foot over left foot stretch: 20xIC
    • Merkins: 25xIC
    • Diamond Merkins: 25xIC
    • Elf on the Shelf (to the right foot): 25xIC
    • Elf on the Shelf (to the left foot): 25xIC
    • Tricep behind the head curl: 25xIC
    • Russian twists (con rock): 25xIC
    • Flutter kicks (con rock): 25xIC
    • On belly, for Ys, Ts and Ws: 25xIC each
    • Fence sitting: 1m30s
    • Fence sitting with overhead press: 25xIC
    • Fence sitting: 1m30s
    • Upper arm curls (definitely not for the girls), or head bangers: 25xIC
    • Dead lifts(???): 25xIC
    • LBCs: 100 (or 101) xIC (YHC wanted to go to 125 a la HVAC What the Hell?, but the PAX revolted at 100)
    • Left-staggered merkin: 15xIC
    • Right-staggered merkin: 15xIC

    Apologies to the PAX because I know the list above is probably somewhat out of order, is certainly missing a roung or two and may include one or two that didn’t happened.  But, hey, YHC’s foot did find: his pecs and biceps, that’s another matter.  But you don’t get stronger without a good DownPAINment.

  • My first Q

    I know, I know its about time. Sorry this back blast is late but duct tape is capable of fixing just about anything. I will never forget my first Q , I was out of breath,my mouth was dry, and I said alot of things wrong. It was fun.

    We started off with some easy stretching

    15 forward arm circles

    15 reverse arm circles

    SSH 30x

    IW 30x

    20 burpies oyo

    After that we all grabed rocks for 25 shoulder press

    25 curls

    25 rows

    Repeat

    Mosey over to the hill and teamed up in twos

    Round one as one bear crawled over the hill and back the other did mountain climbers and rotate

    Round two as one bear crawled over hill and back the other did curls with their rock and rotate

    Round three bear crawled over hill and back as others did squats

    Round four bear crawls and shoulder presses

    after that we went over to the wall for a rest (wall sit) with rocks high on our chest . After some complaining Bogey decided to check the status of the pax on the other side of the wall.

    Lunge walk half way back to the rock pile.

     

  • Supersets

    “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender” – Anonymous

    Finally, the feeling of winter has returned!  One thing about the Uptowner is that it is not in view of any parking lots.  Due to this, you can find the Pax gathering around the flag in all sorts of ways: Bogey inspecting the Pontiff pump system, Kim Chi standing and waiting at the flag (maybe he sleeps at the AO the night before to ensure he doesn’t miss a beatdown), Hawg appears out of no where, Tool runs up right on time from the running track…..The possibilities are endless!  Our Pax of 8 finally gathered around the flag, so let’s start with the:

    DISCLAIMER

    The Thang

    and we Mosey….wait, we never mosey here….nevermind,,, let’s grab some friends, one large rock (aka Gibraltar) and one small rock (aka Cowbell, because duh).  Gibraltar should be of size that you can lift about 8ish times and Cowbell should be of size that you can lift about 20ish times.  And no, the Pax did not hold up the real Cowbell like Trump held up Hillary:

    Displaying giphy.gif

    Anyway, Pax circled back up and we started with Cowbell in hand.

    25x Rock Jacks IC
    20x Rock Marches IC
    20x Rock High Knees IC

    Good warmup, now for the supersets.

    Superset 1: Chest x 4 rounds
    8x Bench Press (Gibraltar)
    12x Merkins (Bodyweight)

    Let’s recover with Cowbell.
    15x High Shelf (R)
    15x High Shelf (L)

    Superset 2: Legs x 4 rounds… JV joined us here around round 2
    8x Squats (Gibraltar)
    12x Jump Squats (Cowbell)

    Recover with Cowbell.
    20x Kettle Bell Swings

    Superset 3: Shoulders x 4 rounds
    8x Standing Rock Presses (Gibraltar)
    Bear Crawl 15 yds, Jameis Winstons back 15 yds.

    Recover with 6MOM:
    10x Crunchy Frogs IC (w/ Cowbell)
    10x Putins IC (w/ Cowbell)
    10x Hip Flexor Curls IC (R)
    10x Hip Flexor Curls IC (L)

    Superset 4: Legs x 4 rounds
    8x Calf Raises (Gibraltar)
    5x Single Leg Calf Raises – each side (Gibraltar)
    12x Jump Lunges (Cowbell)

    Tclaps for Bogey calling out that the Pax needs to work on balance during the single leg calf raises, so we did.

    Balance COP:
    8x Single Leg Squats (Cowbell) – Right
    8x Single Leg Squats (Cowbell) – Left
    8x Single Leg Table Tops – Right
    8x Single Leg Table Tops – Left
    10x Chair-to-Alt Lunge Holds

    Drop off friends and circle back up for the COT.  Thanks for letting me lead.

    Moleskin

    RY has the Q tomorrow.  Gonna be a good one.

    Kim Chi is still perfect in 2017.  I believe his total is 23 for 23 as of today.  Keep it up man!

  • The Uptowner, not Rock City….

    The Uptown 12 mosey to the parking lot.

    Warm ups

    • SSH X 30
    • IW X 30
    • PP X 30
    • AC X 30(15 each way)
    • Windmill X 20

    Mosey to the field 15 yards away, but still evoking whining from Rudy.

    • Burpees X 20
    • Jack Web – 1:2 ratio X 20(air press)
    • Monkey Humpers X 20(in cadence)
    • See Saw Sit Ups X 40(20 each)
    • Burpees X 15 – the chatter begins to subside
    • Jack Web – 1:2 ratio X 16(air press)
    • Monkey Humpers X 15(in cadence)
    • See Saw Sit Ups X 40(20 each)
    • Burpees X 10
    • Jack Web – 1:2 ratio X 10(air press)
    • Monkey Humpers X 20
    • See Saw Sit Ups X 40(20 each)
    • Burpees X 5
    • Jack Web – 1:2 ratio X 6(air press)
    • Monkey Humpers X 20
    • See Saw Sit Ups X 40(20 each)
    • Burpees X 20
    • LBC’s X 30… slowing the cadence for a bit to induce a bit more pain
    • Hello Dolly X 20….same as above
    • American Hammer X 10
    • Parker Peter X 50

    Mosey back to the rock pile, and to JV’s chagrin….

    10 more Burpees

    Quick count off and Name-O-Rama, and naming of our FNG – Flick

    No need for announcements…Amnesty will cover in detail on Saturday.

    Ball of Man, Prayer, and goodbye’s