The Uptowner was greeted with 14 fiends this week itching to get their Friday fix. Although YHC had been voluntold to Q weeks ago, he slacked on working up a fancy workout with a cool theme, laminated weinkie, or pre-arranged cones. Therefore, back to basics for the PAX with 45 action packed minutes of good old-fashioned exercises and circuits, with hopes of leaving stronger than when we came. As the PAX rolled in, YHC gave the usual discalimer along with second disclaimer and warning that his sharpness as a playcaller may be hindered by the aftereffects of the evening beatdown and IPA fuelled F2 hours earlier. Here’s what went down:
Warmup: IPW, AC, WM, LS Squats, PP, Plank Roll, LC Crab, all various reps IC, followed by a Bear Crawl approx 40 yds to the rock pile.
The Thang: Countdown circuit with 4 exercises, all IC and same rep count, to be varied up along the way. These tend to be tough but the descending count provides some light at the end of the tunnel.
First round consisted of: Curls x15IC, Low Slow Squat w/rock x15IC, Shoulder Press x15IC, Mary/Rosalitas x15IC. Rinse and repeat x14, x13, x12, x11 all with varying Mary exercises at the end. YHC enlisted the help of the PAX to share the cadence duties.
Break for a bear crawl around our circle of rocks followed by a Alabama-cousin-marriage joke complemets of War Eagle.
Next round: Curls x10, Lateral Lunge x10, Shoulder Press x10, Dealer’s Choice Mary x10, rinse and repeat x9, x8, x7, x6.
Final round: Curls x5, Front Lunge w/rock overhead x5, Shoulder Press x5, Mary x5. Not much time left to keep working our way down so we had to cut it short and deposit the rocks.
Last 90 seconds included Hip Flexors and Plankorama.
COT to seal the deal. Welcome to our FNG who gace us lots of info on himeself but not much nickname material…hence the name Vanilla.
T-claps to the PAX for pitching in on the never ending cadence.
Some of us are born flexible and some of us are born…well, not. Either way, good running requires good stretching before and after the actual running. I’d first like to thank the good people at Runner’s World as well as the folks at Google for helping me create this Q.
F1/F2 event this Thursday at Wrong Iron. DownPAINment will begin at 18:30 sharp.
This Thursday & Every Thursday is the Lakeview Running Club. Meets up for 18:30 for a 5K or more run followed by complementary Jambalaya Girl & Cash bar.
Intentions
A family friend & fellow Holy Cross grad, Jacob Stetchmann, fell 34 floors to his death in Honolulu. Please keep his soul and his family in your prayers through this difficult time.
“Without continual growth and progress. such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” —Benjamin Franklin
The Muscleship blasted off in solid fashion this Saturday, thanks in part to the 16 PAX flight crew that hopped on board for the maiden voyage. This new workout and AO was strategically engineered to accomodate the every growing number of men eager to start their Saturdays with a F3 beatdown. Several guys got in some RRR miles before blast off…T-claps! As the clock approached 6:30, it was good to see several reguklars trickle in and a few koters to boot. After a brief description of what was in store, and of course the disclaimer, we made our way over to the front of NOMA to get started.
Warmup Part 1: IWx20, WMx20, LSSx20, SSAC (Sixty Second Arm Circles, from the F3 website…T-plank Left ACx15, LBCx15, T-plank Right ACx15), capped off with IPSWx20. In the middle of this we noticed The Mothership trying to invade our territory in the nearby field so we upped the volume on cadence in an effort to claim dominance. Before departing, YHC asked the PAX to start thinking of some good jokes, hoping Bogey would be the star of the show.
Warmup Part 2: Short mosey to the banks of The Big Lake for some Planking and Merkins. We lined up all holding a high plank, then 5 Merkins, then a joke, then 4 Merkins, joke, 3 Merkins, joke, 2 Merkins….at this point The Mothership did a fly by so our last joke was centered around them, then 1 last Merkin.
Foundry: Short mosey to The Foundry where YHC realized the PAX was too large for plan A so we settled for Plan B: Split up with group #1 doing 3 rounds of PIMPS (timer) near the pull-up bars and group #2 doing BLIMPS AMRAP in the grass. Flip flop with a “pimp daddy” being chosen in each group to be the timer. Lots of intense stuff here with very little opportunity for small talk.
Lake-North Side: Next stop was another stretch of shoreline for Inchworm Burpess x10, joke, x8, joke(s), x6, dirty joke, x4, another dirty joke, x2, maybe a final joke.
Lake-South Side: After a pit stop at the water hydrant to hydrate, we made our way over to the raised ledge along The Big Lake track. We rotated duties with mutiple PAX running cadence and various counts for LLSUx20, Dipsx20, RLSUx20, Derkins x15…breather….rinse and repeat with the highlight being Bogey and Abacus peforming a duet in tandem.
Lelong Drive for Cinco de Cardio: Here we gatherded for five 1-minute rounds of various cardio-rich exercises which proved to be much more manly than the moseying and frolicking that our counterparts were doing with The Mothership. We dug deep and did Semi-Circle Mountain Climbers, Rocky Balboas, Partner Plank Slaps, IPSW, and Groiners as the finale.
One minute left so back to the flag to call it a morning. COT, annoucements, prayer, and some admiration for the new steel encased shovel flag that may be worthy of it’s own name. Also, YHC thanked the PAX for posting and making The Muscleship launch a success. YHC wasn’t sure what to expect knowing so many of us enjoy and look forward to The Mothership each week and trying to split that up is no easy feat. The F3 vatican has always encouraged an “addition by division” concept when trying to grow so it was good to see all the PAX on board with that. YHC also mentioned a workout several years ago where a fellow PAX Q’d with some new exercises and routines, which worked well, and after talked about one of the strengths of F3 is that the group always supports those trying new things, typically with little or no heckling from the peanut gallery. Thanks to the PAX for pushing hard and helping to make it a good one!
My thermometer on the car showed 39 F driving in the gloom, could have been worst (610 Stomp yesterday…) given little wind and no rain. Regardless, (9) PAX showed up wide eyed and willing to help celebrate a beat down marking (3) years in F3 for me! Everything revolved around the number 3 or multiples of, so off we go into the cold.
Warm Up
(27) — SSH
(18) — IW
(18) — Arm Circles
(18) — Mountain Climbers
(18) — Toe Touches
Now to formally “Warm Up”:
Route 66 via Burpees at each park bench, easy enough….
Then to the open field across from the new Children’s Museum under construction
Bear Crawl Ring of Fire: All PAX form a circle and get in a plank position, in a counter clockwise order each PAX does 10 Merkins. After one rotation we near bear crawl 1/3 of the circle circumference. Repeat for one full 360 rotation.
Move on to Museum pond, after a brief recap of risks of box jumps and former incident…. exercises in cadence excluding Box jumps:
(18) Dips
(18) Right Leg step ups
(18) Left Leg step ups
Repeat 1 X
Mosey back to Track for Mary:
(30) LBCs
(18) Flutter Kicks
(18) Hello Dollies
(2) Laps around track sprint straight aways, jog curves, after curve (6) Jump Squats
Back to flag for COT. As I noted above, many thanks to F3 for the opportunity to lead and participate in this experiment. Emphasis on the 2nd F for Fellowship and the drive to get us all out here on a 39 degree morning for the good of all! Also welcomed PAX from Tallahassee F3 Chapter in town for a visit, and likewise Tclaps for the hurricane recovery efforts from F3 in the area ongoing from last season, hard to think about tropical storms on a morning like this, but we are familiar.
Take it easy and see you in the gloom and on the radio.
Thanks to Gabrielle, YHC had a different take on his usual Stomp-and-Sprint workout. So Tuesday am, time was right to give it a test run. I think it has some potential, but needs some help. We will definitely try again soon.
12 PAX gathered in the gloom. Nice to see a good sized crowd on a Tuesday am – thanks, brothers! Warmer than expected, causing YHC to regret the choice to bundle up. Oh, the fun of winter weather cycles in NOLA. After a disclaimer, the PAX set off for 30 minute run: meet back at the track at 6am.
Not surprisingly, Smooth, El Guapo and Mahatma took off to the front. Even less surprisingly, Mr. Freedom-Hammer himself decided he didn’t want to hang back with El-G or M-Ice, and bolted. Smooth sure can fly. YHC enjoyed the chance to catch up with Sesame Street – I wish I had his dedication when travelling. 5 days in NOLA and 4 workouts. Nice work!
Back at the track at 6am (Hawg straggling in late at his 11:45 pace), we gathered to try Gabrielle-themed workout. Split into groups of 4. 3 of the 4 take their position on the track roughly 1/3 apart from each other for a sprint relay. The 4th toes the line to get ready….
Position 1: 25 LBC
Position 2: 25 PJ
Position 3: 25 Merkins
Go… PAX sprints to the Position 1. Tag, you’re it! PAX from Position sprints to the next spot, while the arriving PAX does the exercise and waits for the relay to come back around. That’s the cycle. Sprint when its your turn, do your exercise on arrival, and wait. As YHC says – needs a bit of work, but everyone got 3 or 4 sprints in before we headed back to the flag.
COT ends with our count-off, name-o-rama, and close with a prayer to use the gift of Tuesday, January 22nd wisely.
A beautiful, crisp Saturday morning for the Mothership, with a quick disclaimer we ….circled up.
For the last couple of weeks, YHC has been thinking about events that have occurred in our F3 family. These include Terrabyte’s passing, illness with our F3 brother’s loved ones and the impending closure of Morning Call and loss of employment, at least temporarily, for our faithful waiter, Mike. As YHC was preparing for his Q at the Mothership during the week, YHC noticed an old favorite movie had been added to Netflix, Black Hawk Down. This film is about the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in the early nineties which resulted in the death of 19 American Soldiers, YHC noted some explicit themes in the movie such as “No Man Left Behind” and “We fight for the man next to you”. There was also some implicit themes including no man is on his own. Clearly, all of these themes are echoed in the F3 credo “Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him”. So in honor of the 19 American Soldiers who died in Mogadishu and all of our F3 Brothers going through tough and uncertain times, this Mothership beatdown will have no OYO exercises. One other note on Blackhawk Down, in the movie there was multiple references to “chalks”. After some quick research with the source of all sources, Wikipedia, a “chalk” in military terminology is a group of troops (think platoon) in an airborne assault. PAX, count off 1, 2, 3, 4 and form up into Chalks 1, 2, 3 and 4. This will be your group throughout the workout. Each Chalk designate a Chalk Q and grab a Flag.
Mosey to Great Lawn for Warm Up
Form rows of by chalk starting with Chalk 1 then Chalk 2
followed by Chalk 3 and 4. Chalks try to
stay in formation Let’s begin:
All exercises until Q yells Halt
Walking Soldiers
High Knees
Butt Kicks
Carioca
Circleup for additional warm-up:
Self Love I/C X20
Imperial Walkers I/C X20
Hillbillies I/C X20
Form your Chalks into
circles on the Great Lawn for the next thang… Bear Crawl Ring of Fire:
Bearcrawl Counter-Clockwise till Q yells halt
10 merkins in ring of fire fashion starting with
the PAX to the left of the Chalk Q
Bearcrawl Clockwise
10 wide merks Bearcrawl Counter-Clockwise till Q
yells halt
Let’s increase the difficulty!
Boo Boo Bearcrawl Counterclockwise Right Leg Up
10 staggered right merkins in ring of fire fashion starting with the PAX to the left of the Chalk Q
Boo Boo Bearcrawl Clockwise Left Leg Up
10 staggered left merkins in ring of fire fashion starting with the PAX to the left of the Chalk Q
Chalks grab flag, form columns and march to road in front of
Storyland. Line up chalks in four
columns facing towards museum for Indian Runs to Fountain.
At Fountain circle up staying with your Chalk for Red Hot Chili Pepper:
Right Leg Step Ups x 16; Decline Merkins x 8; Left
Leg Step Ups x 16; Incline Merkins x 8
Right Leg Step Ups x 12; Decline Merkins x 6; Left
Leg Step Ups x 12; Incline Merkins x 6
Right Leg Step Ups x 8; Decline Merkins x 4; Left
Leg Step Ups x 8; Incline Merkins x 4
Right Leg Step Ups x 4; Decline Merkins x 2; Left
Leg Step Ups x 4; Incline Merkins x2
Next, down Lelong Drive for more Indian Runs in Chalks. T-claps to Chalk 3 for hanging back to keep their chalk together. Now you’re getting the idea!
Mosey in Chalk to side of NOMA and partner up in Chalk for
O.P.P.
One PAX does OH Claps (O) in People’s Chair (P) while the
other PAX does 20 Plank Jacks (P) Flapjack till Q yells halt. These were done in 2 count cadence. Let’s try to stay together on cadence Chalks!
Time is running out so grab Flags and mosey in Chalk columns
to great lawn for:
Quick Mary:
Flutter Kicks I/C X20
Hello Dolly I/C X20
Times up so circle around Flags in Great Lawn for CoT
Count-Off, Name-o-rama (1 FNG who was named Twin Span as he’s
from Slidell), Intentions and Prayer.
T-claps to all the PAX who did the daily double, the
Mothership and Krazy Ivan. Southshore brought
the Freedom Hammer home!
Thank you PAX for embracing the Beatdown’s theme of no man
is “on his own” in F3. As we all go
through life’s ups and downs, it feels good to know that we have our F3’
brothers to watch our six. We are truly
our Brother’s Keeper!
NM Moleskin
For 4 years, the PAX have been enjoying F2 and F3 at the Morning Call in City Park after the Mothership. For most if not all of those coffeetaria’s, we have arrived to ice cold water to refresh us and been served “Hot” au laits, “Cold” iced coffees and for a brave few “Hot Black” coffees by our faithful waiter Mike. We all know that this past weekend was the last for Morning Call and there is some uncertainty whether Mike will come back with Café du Monde. Even if he does, he will be out of work for at least a month. So in true F3 fashion, an operation was drummed up. In a short week, what became known as Operation Big Tip was put into full effect to thank Mike for all of his service to the PAX. The PAX raised $349 for Mike and a Framed Picture signed by the PAX was delivered at Coffeetaria. YHC even noticed a tear in Mike’s eye. The PAX should be proud of their efforts. This is the best of F3.
After the Pax chose their rock, we moseyed to the football field, circled up and performed the following excercises, rinsed and repeated with a lap around the track after each set.
Thrusters – 20, Curls – 20, Triceps – 15
The pax then slow moseyed to the goal line on our side of the football field, and partnered up for the following:
Partner 1 sprinted approximately 50 yards and back while partner 2 did the following excerises with their rock. The partners switched after each exercise until completed.
Squat Thursters, Curls, Triceps, Low Slow Squats
We rinsed and repeated with the following exercises:
Goblet Squats, LBCs, Curls, Triceps
Once completed, the PAX circled up for some MARY to close the workout. Exercises completed were as follows:
Warm Up: 30 side straddle hops, 25 imperial walkers, 20 plankjacks, arm circles (10 forward, 10 backwards)
The Thang: Route 66 – there was some debate on whether or not there were 10 or 11 planters on the lakefront. Turns out i miscounted, and there was actually only 10 planters. One Pax ran to each of the ten planters and did an increasing number of decline merkins (ended with 10 decline merkins on the 10th planter), while the other Pax did dying cockroaches. The Pax partnered up and alternated until all 10 planters had been completed. We then mosey’d down the lakefront and did a set of BLIMPS (5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 imperial walkers, 20 merkins, 25plankjacks, 30 squats). We then mosey’d to the levee and did 2 sets of Bernie Sanders while the Pax at the bottom of the levee did burpees. We then mosey’d to the flag for the COT
Eight men posted this Tuesday to enjoy some cool crisp air and another F3 Stomp. T-claps to Hawg for EH-ing his buddy in town from SC. He used the word “mittens” right off the bat so there was some strong nickname material already in place. The plan for the day was to alter the route and take the road less traveled, or possibly never traveled in an F3 workout. After the disclaimer, we embarked on a 35min run south along Marconi, left on City Park Ave., then Moss St. along the bayou out as far as your pace allowed before heading back on the other side of the bayou and past the museum, then sweep the six if back before all eight PAX were at the flag. T-claps to those who pushed hard and made it to/past the end of the bayou. Some good f2 was enjoyed along the run as we covered between 4-5 miles.
We had approx 5-6 min left to cap things off with a “happy ending” on the neutral ground near the circle. After getting some minds out of the gutter, we aimed to knock out 100 burpees Dora style with PAX#1 running around the circle while PAX#2 does burpees AMRAP. The guys pushed hard and we got close but but time and energy was not on our side.
Back to the flag for the COT. Welcome FNG Puppet Show who vowed to never return…he lives in SC and was in town for a short stay. Great job men for continuing to push each other to get faster and stronger!
Amnesty made a special request for a dry workout. He recently purchased some new sneaks, and hoped to keep them mud free. The request was honored. After all, it’s Amnesty. His new neon green sneakers offered a beacon of light on this gloomy morning. 13 men showed up for the challenge. The usual disclaimer and off we go.
Warm-up COP:
SSH x 20 IC, IW x 20 IC, Plank Jacks, x 20 IC, Windmills x 10 IC, Arm Circles 10 forward 10 backward IC, Mountain climbers x 20 IC
Route 66 down Roosevelt Mall: Dips. 5 dips at first bench, increase 1 dip each bench, ending at 17.
Next we moseyed to NOMA.
Right leg power-ups x 20 IC, Left leg power-ups x 20 IC. Then a Merkin ladder up the steps of NOMA, with 8 Merkins on the bottom step and 1 Merkin at the top. Back to the fountain for 10 box jumps, right leg step-ups x 20 IC, left leg step-ups x 20 IC. And back to the steps to repeat another Merkin ladder.
Next, partner up for Dora 1-2-3. 100 Floyd Mayweathers, 200 Squats, 300 LBC’s, while the other Pax runs around NOMA.
Then we moseyed back to the flag, stopping halfway for some Mary. Flutter kicks x 20 IC, Hello Dolly x 20 IC, Dying cockroach x 20 IC. We ended back at the flag, and succeeded in our mission. We kept Amnesty’s sneakers dry. Count-off, Name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, and a prayer. Thanks for letting me lead.
