Tag: Tool

  • Swingers Style Football

    “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” –Vince Lombardi

    Cool and crisp morning a few Saturdays ago at The Muscleship, perfect conditions for a beatdown.  Six men posted, ready to get better.  T-claps to SOGO for getting in a pre-run w/weighted vest beforehand…#beast!  Lots of good football being played the past few week in South LA, minus the Falcons game, so YHC decided to repurpose a football themed Chamber workout from a month ago.  The extra 15 min allowed for some tweaks and lagniappe.  Thanks to quick google search, we had a list of motivational quotes from coaches and players that would hopefully keep things in high gear throughout the game. 

    Warmup:  Started with an impromptu mosey near the shoreline of the Big Lake, including a landmine run through duck poop alley, then circled up in front of NOMA for SSH, AC, IW, LSS, WM, and one or two more.      

    The Game:  We grabbed some half-sized cinder blocks (20lbs) and made our way to the field where two rows of cones approx. 25yds apart.  The game plan called for (4) 5 min quarters, partnering up with a different PAX each time….a swingers party if you will.  PAX #1 stays at the line doing one stationary exercise while PAX #2 does moving exercise to the cones and back.  Flip flop for the full five min quarter with focus on using good form and digging deep the whole time.  Strive to do more than just go through the motions, something we may all be guilty of from time to time.  But first, another Lombardi quote… 

    “There is only one way to succeed in anything…and that is to give it everything.” –Vince Lombardi

    1st Quarter: PAX #1 – Lunge walk w/block to cone then run back, PAX #2 merkins till fatigue – then hold plank.  Flip flop 5 min.

    “Stay focused. Your start does not determine how you’re going to finish.” – Herm Edwards

    2nd Quarter: PAX#1 – Tricep extetension w/block,  PAX #2 – crab walk and run back.  Flip flop 5 min.

    “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” — George S. Halas

    Halftime: Mosey over to the Big Lake ledge for RLSU x20, Dips x15 (requested by Gabrielle), LLSU x20, Ledge Crunches x20.  Mosey to the Singing Oak for some round robin Mary led by Gabrielle, Thumb War, and Tanner, maybe?  Then an Indian Run around the rest of the track finishing up near the cones.  

    “Don’t let good enough get in the way of greatness. That just means come back to work on Monday ready to go. Still lots of ways we can improve.” –Joe Burrow

    3rd Quarter: PAX #1 – Curl Press w/block, PAX #2 Side lunge there and back.  Flip flop 5 min.

    “Success isn’t owned, it’s leased. And rent is due every day.” –J.J. Watt

    4th Quarter: PAX #1 – Standing bench press/block ext….audible called halfway to kettle bell swings, PAX #2 – Bear crawl there and run back.  Flip flop 5 min. 

    “You cannot make progress with excuses.” –Cam Newton….followed by some chatter from the PAX about our favorite Panthers player.    

    Overtime (w/added Iron Pax flashbacks for good measure): PAX #1 – Thrusters!!! w/block, PAX#2 – Backpedal, 3 burpees, run rack.  Flip flop 5 min. 

    “Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.”  Mike Ditka

    Squeezed in a minute of stretching followed by COT and prayer. YHC mentioned that he didn’t play football growing up but has developed an appreciation for the game and enjoys seeing the hard work unfold on the field by the players and coaches alike. The level of dedication put in is admirable, something we can strive to do in our own lives with work, family, fitness, etc.

    Reconvened for coffeteria at our favorite caffeinating hole with our Mothership buddies. 

    Tool

  • Rev Sox’s Birth Story

    Rev Sox’s Birth Story

    On a brisk and windy November 11th, at the lake front on the Northshore YHC was birthed into the world of F3 kicking, complaining, and crying. It wasn’t pretty for anyone involved. Hawg may have denied knowing YHC. Two years later, at the 610 Stomp YHC led 20 men in the remembrance of his birth into F3.

    YHC’s brain has wisely blacked out and refused to retain the memories of his first workout in F3 as he complained through the entire workout with fellow FNG bootsies. The only thing YHC can remember from that fateful day is lots of running alongside the lake with step-ups as the Q’s go to exercise in each stop (sadly there is no Backblast to commemorate the workout).

    The 610 Stomp recreated this workout by running a shortened version of the standard route with step ups thrown in (lots of step ups). Following the disclaimer, the Pax was told to run the standard route without leaving City Park, but this morning they were stop at every bench for 10 alternating step ups (one is one). Only 4 men are allowed per bench, so if the bench is full, they are to pass it by and run to the next bench.

    Each lap from the 610 Stomp start to the City Park entrance on New Carrollton and back has 40 benches. Each lap is aprox 1.5 miles.

    With not enough complaining for YHC’s plans, they set out. Everything worked out well for the first lap, but YHC needed to modify the number of step ups on lap 2, so all the Pax could finish. YHC estimates that each Pax member did 300-500 step ups while running 3 miles.

    Don’t forget the Christmas Party on December 9th and the Krazy Ivan on January 18th as we had a special guest of the Freedom Hammer this morning.

    thanks for 2 years of agony,

    Rev Sox

  • Great Idea – Let’s Bear Crawl up Roosevelt Mall!

    Nice fall weather greeted 12 PAX for the beatdown at the Foundry. When the blackberry beeped signaling 5:30am, YHC issued the disclaimer and off we went.

    We started with a short mosey to the round-a-bout for high-knees, and carioca left and carioca right around the neutral ground. PAX circled up in the grass area of the neutral ground for warm-ups including SSH x 18, Imperial Walkers x 18, Windmills x 14, Arm Circles, Grass Grabbers x 14, and Self-love.

    Thang 1 – YHC wanted to do something that had not been done before at the Foundry so we decided to incorporate bear crawls up Roosevelt Mall to the new Louisiana Children’s Museum. We met at the light post near the flag and PAX would alternate bear crawl and sprint between each of the 15 light posts from the flag to the Louisiana Children’s Museum. At each light post, each PAX does 10 Monkey Humpers. We did have to watch out for land mines when bear crawling – sorry @Dirty Dell.

    Thang 2 – PAX circled up near the benches by the Louisiana Children’s Museum for 1 minute AMRAP of the following exercises, alternating Mary and other. Dips, LBC’s, Incline Merkins, Flutter kicks, Step-ups, Freddie Mercury’s, Decline Merkins, and Plank.

    Thang 3 – With about 10 minutes to get back to the flag we started from the far end of Roosevelt Mall and alternated lunge walk and sprint between each of the 15 light posts up Roosevelt Mall. At each light post, each PAX does 10 Merkins. We got through about 10 light posts and sprinted back to the flag for 6:15.

    PAX circled up for count-off, name-o-rama, intentions, and closing prayer to Sky Q – I am grateful for the support of F3 Nation and the opportunity to lead. @High Rise – thanks for the heads up on the Q this week as I had not checked the Q sheet.

  • Hold It

    Mondays up in the Chilly Gentilly are strong.

    YHC had the opportunity to Q at the Renaissance the day before, which is a great AO to workshop new ideas. Today we got to tighten it up.

    WARM UP
    x10 Arm Circle
    x10 Reverse AC
    x10 Abe Vigoda
    x15 Side Straddle Hops
    x10 Parker Peter
    x10 Peter Parker
    Mosey to Elysian Fields – Indian run to end.
    x20 SSH

    THE GRIND
    Adaptation of the 4 corners
    Goal is to do two rounds of one movement with a paired static hold. At each corner. Bringing with you a reminder of the previous corner, to compound the pain.

    First Corner –
    Circle Up. All hold plank position. One pax member starts off – 10 merkins – then next starts on his completion. All hold plank till circle is complete. Clockwise. Yup, hold it. We had a bigger group so short recovery upon completion of each circle throughout workout was decreed. Do two rounds. Run to next corner (approx 100 yards)

    Second Corner –
    Circle up. Plank. Reduced value of 5 merkins. Complete circle. One Round. Move to your six. 20 LBCs per pax, complete the circle. Doesn’t matter how you do hold it, but feet may not touch the ground. Just hold it… 2 rounds. Run to Next Corner.

    Third Corner –
    Circle Up. Plank. 5 Merkins, complete circle. On six. 10 LBCs, complete circle. Back to Feet for next movment. All hold trees (al gore) while each pax cranks out 20 squats. Seriously. Hold it! 2 rounds. Immediately sprint the distance to last corner.

    Fourth Corner –
    Circle up. 5 of each movement while all hold matching static movement. Complete then run back to starting point for stretching.

    I’d like to work out the kinks on this one a little better so we could push through with enough time to go back down. It would be a good – solid – 45 minute plan for any Q. Either way, playing with the numbers a bit at each point is all it would take… For any interested to borrow.

    As a note, what YHC likes about this type of workout is it is F2 conducive. As others have noted about the Stomp, doing a sustained exercise with opportunity to banter is always a good one to solidify the community and accountability.

    As always, thanks for letting me lead. Thanks for the accountability to kick the week off right.

  • Crescent City Fall Classic Preview

    The Q sheet for The Stomp was mysteriously blank for this beautiful Tuesday morning. On Monday, YHC wondered why would such a popular beatdown did not have a Q — rain in the forecast (we all know Lakeview people can’t handle a little rain). So at 5:01 am, YHC took the Q, his first at the beloved 610 Stomp.

    This Saturday morning is the Cresent City Fall Classic. YHC has always dreamed of running the Cresent City 10k from a timed coral. The fall classic and the St. Patty’s two-miler are the qualifiers for the 10k but YHC cannot attend either this year. So, why not make the entire Stomp crowd attempt to run qualify for the race at an F3 workout.

    We mosey from the flag to the starting line. Along the way, we warmed up with high knees, butt kicks, carioca right, and carioca left.

    At the starting line, the course was roughly explained. Runners were reminded that a CCC10k qualifying time was 22:00. With that disclaimer, we were off.

    After passing Christian Brother’s the kind security guard told us that our route would need to be modified (darn VooDoo Fest). No worries we modify and move on.

    At the conclusion of the run, a few things were determined.

    1. The Pax determined that Shuffles probably qualified and no one else.
    2. YHC discovered how his M feels when I don’t follow directions.
    3. F3 is full of leaders and followers, both were on display today.
    4. Amnesty plays by his own rules.
    5. The park is safer than running down the bayou (except for that one part when I lead the Pax into the middle of Wisner).

    Finished with Mary, stretching, and burpees.

    COT

    It is always a pleasure to lead. Thank you, gentlemen.

  • Low Impact Muscleship

    Conditions: 68 degrees with 94% humidity. Lots of debris across the park as a result of either Tropical Storm Olga or VooDoo Fest…not sure which.

    Warm-up

    Imperial Walkers x 25; Windmills x 15; Alternating Lunges x 10; Tempo Merkins x 20; Low Slow Squats x 25; Forward Arm Circles x 20; Moroccan Night Club x 25; Backward Arm Circles. Hobbs starts to worry about the extended amount of shoulder warm-up.

    The Thang

    Bear Crawl the length of Lelong Dr. (a little shy of 1/4 mile). When lead dog, err..bear, reaches Wisner, he turns around and bear crawls back toward the six. As the lead bear gets to you, turn around and join his crawl to the six. Hobbs fears are realized.

    Mary: Flutter Kicks x 20; LBCs x 20; Penguins x 20

    Head back toward museum along the tree line. Jameis Winston for two trees, bear crawl two trees, lunge walk two trees. There were 16 or so trees. Again, the lead pax came back to the six and all joined in along the way.

    One more bear crawl for 6 or so tree lengths.

    Grab a cinderblock and start walking toward the Baby Foundry, aka the Refinery. Along the way we…walked Cusak Style, did curls, did Farmer Carries.

    Partner up at the BF Refinery. One partner pulls a Bernie Sanders on the pull up bars while the other does a Curl, Squat, Curl, Press Combo. Flap Jack when partner one falls out. After two rounds or so, it turned to straight curls. Did 3 or 4 rounds.

    Walk back with block, moving it from right shoulder to left shoulder via a shoulder press on call. Stopped at Victory Avenue for some Curls in Cadence.

    8-count merkin walk over block x 7

    Cool Down

    World’s Greatest Stretch, Touch your Toes, COT

    NMM

    • I listened to a F3 Roundtable Call with F3 Gastonia. They have a no run AO called Pain Lab. They take it as far as to have no high impact exercises…No-Impact = two feet on the ground, Low-Impact = one foot on ground at all times; High Impact = both feet come off the ground. I thought the Muscleship would be a great place to try this out. It meant no SSHs in the warm-up and no burpees.
    • The bear crawl was Epic. SOGO did a quarter of a mile without stopping. The rest of us were not far behind. How far can someone bear crawl without stopping?
    • JVs audible exertions are reaching new levels.
    • From what I could understand, Tool’s Coach O impersonation was very encouraging.
    • SOGO agrees that rain-soaked coupons are the best coupons
    • War Eagle hates Lloyd Dobbler. Not sure about his feelings for Diane Court. What am I saying? He has know idea who those people are.
    • There are patriots among us at City Park. Our flag fell while we were at the Refinery and someone stuck it back in the ground. This evens the score for when they stole our flag a few years ago. City Park Patriots 1 – City Park Commie Bastards 1.
    • Can I still say Commie or is that a Twitter offense?
    • Thumb War was noticeably excited about the Yoga at the end. Beware, I see some Warrior poses in his future Qs.
    • T-claps to all our F3 brethren that ran the Jazz Half and those doing the GoRuck tonight.

  • You don’t have to be perfect, just better than yesterday

    20 runners were greeted with an absolutely perfect pitch black morning at the Stomp today. The temperature hovered around 65 degrees for the entire run, and at no point did we see the sun. Thanks to Daylight Savings Time and those long Spring and Summer days, we’re treated to at least a mid-workout sunrise for most of the year. In fact, the sunrises will be back next month when Daylight Savings Time kicks in. Until then, let’s enjoy these last few chances to make our way through the dark, quiet streets of New Orleans while the city sleeps.

    About 6 months ago, some of us timed ourselves in a 1-mile at the Danger Zone. Since the DZ is no more, YHC decided to bring the time trials to The Stomp. The instructions were simple…. well, I thought they were simple at least.

    • Bring an activity tracker
    • All run one warm-up mile together
    • Once your activity tracker makes 1 mile, run Mile 2 as hard as you can
    • Regardless, turn back at 20 minutes and run back to the flag.
    • Send me your mile 2 time

    Even with a little confusion, this mostly went off without a hitch. The purpose of the time trial is not to see who’s fastest, but see how we’re improving. Sure, it’s fun to run around in a tank top in the early morning grabbing grass and doing a few burpees, but overall, I think we all want to get a little better, faster, stronger. To that end, I’ll post your time from today if you send it to me, and I’ll tag this post with #timetrial . Search that tag next time we do this and see how you’ve improved. Here is what I have. This is not necessarily the order in which they finished:

    1. Shuffles
    2. Tua 6:47
    3. Dirty Dell 6:37
    4. Briefs
    5. Screwtop
    6. Belloq 6:51
    7. Hawg 6:40
    8. Jesus Juice 7:02
    9. Rudy
    10. Kuch 7:06
    11. Breadsticks 6:32
    12. Rev Sox 7:51
    13. Tool 8:49
    14. Woz
    15. Bongo
    16. Chips
    17. Tugboat
    18. Hokie Pokey 10:30
    19. Thumb War 8:13
    20. Gideon

    Few rounds of Mary led by different PAX, and then 5 burpees for each pax member who did not stick with the group early on. The usual formalities and a prayer for peace and stillness in our lives. Thanks for having me. – Kuch

  • Monday Legs Day with No Rain and a Sketchy Drive by

    After 94 days as a part of this rock solid organization, I took the plunge into Q-ship. Here’s my maiden Voyage:

    Warmup:

    Parking Lot Tracers (w/ back peddling and side shuffling)  – Dug into Exicon for this. The Chamber just might have the smoothest, well marked and lit parking lot in all of NOLA.

    Circle Up for:

    SSH (15 ct.) /  Forward Arm Circles (15 ct.) / Reverse Arm Circles (15 Ct.) / Grass grabbers (15 Ct.) / Low Slow Squat (15 Ct.)

    Dirty MacDeuce:

    4 Rounds – 3 Exercises (Chest, Legs, Abs Focus) x 12 reps with Lap around Chamber parking lot.

    • Round 1 – Merkins / Squats / Big Boy Sit Ups
    • Round 2 – Incline Merkins on the Curb / Calf Raises / Flutter Kicks
    • Round 3 – Wide Grip Merkins / Summo Squat / Freddie Mercuries
    • Round 4 – Carolina Dry Docks / Bonnie Blairs / Reverse Crunches

    Moseyed to the Soccer Field…

    Leg Wrecker Round 1

    Split into 2 groups/partner up. One Pax does Lt. Dan’s across the width of field will the other holds Al Gore’s

    Moseyed to Bleachers…

    • Right Legged Step Ups (20 Ct.)
    • Dips (20 Ct.)
    • Left Legged Step Ups (20 ct.)
    • Incline Pushups (20 ct..)

    Leg Wrecker Round 2 – The Same

    Wrapped up the workout with some Mary (LBC’s x 20, American Hammer x 20, and Penguins x 20) and some stretches.

     Concluded with COT and Prayer.

    Many thanks for the support and feedback from the group through the workout. Thanks for the opportunity to plan and lead as Q and already looking forward to my next one. I encourage those who haven’t taken the plunge to just do it!

  • Great > Good

    “Don’t let good enough get in the way of greatness. That just means come back to work on Monday ready to go. Still lots of ways we can improve.” -Joe Burrow

    A victorious weekend of football on 10/12 & 10/13 made for lots of happy PAX this past Monday morning at The Chamber. The Saints pounced the Jaguars, LSU took a rather large bite out of the Gators, and Tulane rolled over The Huskies….great motivation to start the week off with a bang. YHC felt a football themed workout would only be fitting. The goal was to use good form and really push through….do more than just go through the motions, something many of us can often be guilty off. Ten PAX posted, surprisingly not the hangover rate one may expect after such a weekend. Here’s what we did:

    Warmup: Capri Lap around the parking lot, dodging some unusual early morning traffic, followed by a quick COP with SSH x42 (LSU points/score), IW x13 (Saints), and headed to the curb for Rocky Balboas x49 ea leg (Tulane). Then Burpees x10 to give a shout out to the defenses that all had a stout week.

    Then grabbed some 8x8x8 “half blocks” (20lbs) that YHC had in the truck, and made our way to the field where cones were positioned for some 4 rounds aka “quarters” of 5 minute long partner circuits.

    1st Quarter: Lunge walk w/block overhead to cone while PAX#2 performs merkins till fatigue followed by planking. Flip flop for five min.

    2nd Quarter: Tricep extetension w/block while PAX#2 crab walks to cone and runs back. Flip flop for five min.

    Halftime: Some attempts at a Coach O pep talk, then Indian run (.4mi) down Elysian Fields toward the lake followed by a quick Mary COP. a run back at your own pace with tire flips x5 and burpees x5 when back at the starting area.

    3rd Quarter: One hand block curls while PAX #2 bear crawls to the cone and runs back. Flip flop for five min.

    4th Quarter: Everyone’s favorite, Thrusters!, while PAX#2 backpedals to the cone, knocks out 3 burpees, then runs back. Flip flop for five min.

    COT and BOM to seal the deal….strive for greatness, prayers for the Hard Rock victims. Nice to see The Chamber with a strong foothold and steady following of PAX. Let’s keep it going.

    Tool

  • All Hail Sir Shuffles! or the 7th Running of the H8

    All Hail Sir Shuffles! or the 7th Running of the H8

    On a windy Thursday by the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, history was made in F3 New Orleans.

    Triple Shift and Kuch kicked off the festivities for the H8 VII! They split the Pax up into two groups due to the great showing of 33 men to take on the challenge. Little did anyone know that someone was about the conquer the H8 as never seen before.

    YHC was the first and only one to bow out early due to struggles with his shoulder. The rest of the pack ran hard, bear crawled hard, and burpeed with everything they had through 40 minutes of pain and exhaustion. These are the men YHC is not ashamed to call his brothers.

    Then what men said could never be done……….. it happened.

    They said no one could run 100m in less than 9.6 seconds and on August 12, 2009 Bolt became the fastest man in the world at 9.58.

    They said no one could run a marathon in under 2 hours and on Saturday, October 12, 2019 Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in 1:59:40.

    They said no one could run 9 laps on the H8 and on Thursday, October 17, 2019 Shuffles ran 9 laps of the H8 with 30 seconds before the 40 minute mark.

    Tclaps to Shuffles for 9 and Tclaps to all of our finishers for setting the bar and giving the rest of us something to strive for. Your Fall 2019 H8 finishers: Shuffles, Breadsticks, Mahatma, Sogo, Rudy, Tua, Col Mustard, Quarterpipe, Screwtop, and Tanner.

    The Pax counted off, Name-O-Rama, Welcome to FNG Crackles, Intentions, and Prayer for the Pax

    -Rev Sox