F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • Reindeer Games 2 – from Hogs Breath

    Since Hogs Breath was the sole participant of Reindeer Games 1, YHC decided to set a rematch.
    This time the pax doubled! YHC and Pass Interference!
    We begin our chilly, 37*, games with a warm up of
    – Imperial Walkers
    – SSH
    – Windmills and some other stuff

    The Thang
    The gameplay is easy. A yard jenga tower awaited. Each pax took turns pulling a log out. If there was an exercise written on said log it was dealer choice for the amount of reps. If it was blank it was completely a dealers choice for both except use and reps. Also, a Deck-o-Death awaited to assist the pax if they needed inspiration for an exercise or number of reps.
    Once the tower fell, due to Hogs Breath, the pax at fault did burpees until the tower fell. It took 25 Burpees for the tower to be rebuilt!!
    Ended with some videos for promotional content for F3, COT, and coffeeteria at Starbucks!

  • Sir Pax-A-Lot – from Yankee Joe

    The power sub-station is down. It could be hours before power is restored. It typically takes me three hours to write a back blast regardless of quality. My laptop has about an hour of battery life remaining. This will be the biggest challenge of my F3 career. Bring it.

    It is final exam week, and I am desperately treading water in an ocean of incompetent student essays, projects, and presentations. With every group presentation, I further doubt my own competence as an instructor. How did I fail them so completely? From this group of poor victims, comes interactions that make every painful moment worthwhile. I offer some real gems below:

    Presentation Q&A Example 1:

    – YHC: In what ways did Covid-19 impact the supply chain logistics within the automobile industry?

    – Student: Great question. To be honest, we can say that the supply chain was totes jacked up. In fact, I’m pretty sure the expression, “off the chain” came from this issue.

    – (YHC Internal Monologue): Well crap, it was indeed totes jacked up. I know this did not spawn the term, “off the chain”…right? I don’t even know what’s real anymore.
    —————–
    Presentation Q&A Example 2:

    – YHC: You mention that customers in China had trust issues with the company’s distribution channels?

    – Student: Totally. The products were all warehoused in the U.K.

    – YHC: Ok. What was the issue with products being warehoused in the U.K.?

    – Student: I mean, it’s a bunch of college students running the company?

    – (YHC Inner Monologue): Oh…oh no. No, no, no…She thinks that “UK” stands for University of Kentucky. Oh God…what do I do? Keep a straight face, keep a straight face. It’s too late for her. I can’t help. This is not the hill.

    – YHC: GO Wildcats!
    ——————
    Presentation Q&A Example 3 (and my absolute favorite so far):

    – YHC: You talk about the challenges of Starbucks entering the Indian market? Why was market entry so difficult?

    – Student: Well, it seems that they didn’t really have the right equipment and gear.

    – YHC: Explain

    – Student: Well, as you know, the northern border of India has the Himalayan Mountains, which make entering the country really hard.

    – YHC: (stares at student)

    Student: (stares at YHC)

    – YHC: (realize that student isn’t kidding)

    – Student: They’re really high mountains.

    – YHC: (long pause) Welp…sounds good to me! Moving on to the next question.
    ——————-
    What does all this have to do with a beatdown? Per usual, it is a very weak connection, but if I am good at anything, it’s forcing a square peg in a round hole. I use Backblasts for cathartic journaling as much as…well that’s it actually. Does anyone really read these things? If yes, post your favorite meme from The Office.

    7 Pax at the Stage. It’s been awesome as of late. The addition of Fence Post has raised the bar and the regs keep it consistent. Montana’s newly styled Sumo bun is looking on purnt! It was 43 degrees. As mentioned in prior blasts, YHC is not a tough guy when it comes to cold. The wind was blowing. I, with my tights and hooded sweatshirt felt very weak next to Enron in his shorts and short sleeves.
    —————-
    Warmarama
    – SSH – 30 ct until YHC felt some blood moving
    – Windmills that YHC thought were arm circles
    – Grass Grabbers w/ the Clap so YHC could feel like the NOLA PAX
    – Finally, real arm circles, but YHC forgot to call out the exercises
    – Some high knees, some Derricks…maybe (taken from the now famous Enron Re-VQ)
    – And a Mosie

    (now that I’m writing it down, it was pretty much the worst Warmarama since Montana)
    —————-
    ON to the Thangs…No real theme except that YHC misses IPC like the deserts miss the rain.

    The Beatdown: Sir Pax-A-Lot (three-part thang)

    AKA: 30-60’s – 20-40’s – 30-60’s (You’d get it if you had it goin’ like a turbo ‘Vette.)
    —————
    Set up:
    cones in a square of 20-yard sides. PAX moves starts at the lower left corner, then moves to the upper left corner, then diagonally to the lower right corner, then to the top right corner, finally diagonally to the lower left corner.
    ——————
    Round 1: 30 – 60 (transport – bear crawl)
    – 30 merkins
    – 60 arm raises
    – 30 Carolina dry docks
    – 60 seal jacks
    – 400 m run
    ———————-
    Round 2: 20 – 40 (transport – lunge walks)
    – 20 leg thrusters
    – 40 prisoner squats
    – 20 Bonnie Blair’s the hard way 2:1
    – 40 side to sides 1:1
    – 400 m run

    **the Bonnie B’s following the lunges, following the prisoner squats, following the leg thrusters suuuuuucked!
    ———————–
    Round 3: 30 – 60 (transport – crab walk)

    The subordina…er, I mean, chatter really picked up here. Goose had “so many questions” and Cardinal kindly reminded YHC that only 12 minutes remained. Montana announced 4:1 flutters equaled 120 (all by hisself too!). Enron questioned the exercise in general, forgetting the vendetta YHC had on he and Goose from a couple weeks ago…nobody can remember about what though.

    – 30 flutters 4:1
    – 60 low plank leg lifts 1:1
    – 30 Poppin Dollys (hello dolly followed by 90 degree leg lift)
    – 60 J-lo pickle gobblers 1:1 (J-Lo then two pickle pounders = 4 ct)
    – 400 m run

    ** I still can’t figure out how Cardinal so effortlessly glides through a crabwalk. YHC tried to keep up, which resulted in a muddy backside. I think he’s tired of hearing about it. Seriously, just let a playa’ play.
    ———————-
    Not Mary

    – We did something…whatevs…this ain’t even my whole day
    – Lastly, we did three level push-ups (up à quarter merkin hold, up à half merkin hold, up à full merkin hold; same thing down, BUT no hold at the bottom, which was a huge missed opportunity. That said, Enron was doing the wide arm mission impossible to hold the WHOLE DANG time at the bottom. I was very impressed…Enron was very pissed. My B.

    COT

    Goose prayed us out.

    Not my best work fellas, but I appreciate you powering through and raising the bar with every beatdown.

    Ooohh…the power just came on. Time to hear more inspiring presentations.

    SYITG,

    Yankee Joe

  • VQ Redo – from Enron

    Recently having to miss the last two reportedly epic beatdowns around Thanksgiving, including the highly contested Turkey bowl, YHC was ready to get back to action. Lately the Thibodaux PAX have had quite a few VQs including Wilford Montana, Goats in the Machine, and a report of an upcoming Lil’ Cuz VQ. YHC was reminiscing on his own first. In review of the laminated sheet (yes there was at least some prep), it was established that the new(er) PAX have been much more impressive in their creativity, preparation, understanding of timing of when exercises should be completed, understanding of generally how this should work, etc.… The thought blossomed to re-create the VQ for a replay to show how far we have come.
    Pulling up in the gloom to the empty parking lot at 5:25, the stage was set. As it turns out, YHCs original VQ ended up being a solo beatdown, meaning no one actually showed up. Therefore, the true VQ had to be rescheduled to a time where one other PAX was in attendance via an EH at 6:15 the morning of, on a brother-in-law, Headcheese. 6:30 rolled around and the stage remained empty of other attendees. Still confident of a late, and somewhat usual arrival of Goats, solo side straddle hops began the warmup. Just as these were completed, the headlights of not one, but two speeding minivans stormed on the scene. The minivan brigade barreled in the parking lot revealing Goats and Yankee Joe in perfect fashion to bring back memories of the VQ. After some mumble chatter on 2.0s and other reasons for the late arrival the explanation of what was coming began.
    YHC described the tale from his VQ and how in reading back through the beatdown and the realization of just how utterly stupid it was, it was perfect for a replay. The full intent of this was to demonstrate how impressive the recent VQ activities have been.
    PAX: Enron, Yankee Joe, Goats in the Machine

    Warmup:
    Abe Vigoda’s
    SSH (again for the late arrivals)
    Derrick’s – The stupidity of why these were ever placed into a warmup we will never know. Although, Yankee Joe seemed to enjoy the difficulty of them so early in the beatdown
    Nolan Ryans – Why would you put these in the warmup? You may ask. – because it’s a VQ and YHC didn’t know what he was doing
    Alarm Clocks – First on the Lexicon so naturally had to throw these in
    Bumper mosey

    Thang 1:
    “Yeah” by Joe Nicholls – played on only an iPhone, to bring back the simplicity of times before the infamous Thibodaux speaker debacle. JBL Proud®©™
    Plank for the duration
    Plank jack on “Yeah”
    Mountain climber on “She”

    Thang 2:
    The Cindy Crawford (for the perfect beach body)
    In each corner and then the middle of the stage, mosey between stations – 4 rounds of the following were completed:
    5- Merkins
    10- Moroccan Night clubs – why? You may ask – because it was a VQ and YHC didn’t know what they were
    15- Squats
    20- LBCs
    25- Calf Raises (or toe raises as they were strangely titled on the previously mentioned laminated page)

    Thang 3: Deck of Death
    It wouldn’t be an Enron Q without the DoD, although the VQ came before YHC had access to the F3 deck. Each PAX drew approximately 6-8 cards each from a regular deck of cards until it was 6:10
    Hearts: Merkins with face cards being hand release merkins
    Clubs: Squats with face cards being jump squats
    Diamonds: LBCs with face cards being Big boy sit-ups
    Spades: Burpees with face cards being SSHs
    Aces: bear crawl to end of field (30 yards) – mosey back

    Mary:
    Freddie Mercury’s
    Arm Circles – Why are we doing a warmup at the end? You may ask. Because it was a VQ and YHC didn’t know what he was doing
    Abe Vigoda- Why are we doing a warmup at the end? You may ask. Because it was a VQ and YHC didn’t know what he was doing
    Heals to Heaven
    Mountain Climbers

    COT and prayed us out. Thanks, guys, for the laughs to go along with this one, it was a nice way to ease back into it after the holiday.

  • 12° on December 1st – from Hokie

    I awaken to the sound of cold wind and regretted signing up to Q on the Lakefront

    As I got out of the car, at 0515, I was greeted by 12° air temps and blasts of cold with 120 mph winds coming off Lake Pontchartrain, so I got back in my car to wait on Pax to arrive.

    I will call my mechanic today as my car said the temperature was 46° but i know better having just been out of the car.

    As 0528 came along 8 additional pax emerged from vehicles including Chootem posting Downrange from Katy

    Rudy was heard by the Q saying something to the effect of “a nice Q might consider going to the other side of the levee”

    At 0530 nine of us moseyed up and over the levee to retreat for coverage and wind protection

    As we hid behind the levee the Disclaimer was given and we did 12 SSH to help the blood start flowing. When we stopped at 12 Q was questioned as to the rep count and YHC welcomed folks to December

    Next 12 slow Merkins

    The 9 of us then spent the next 5 minutes enjoying Bernie Sanders up the levee and run down. After 5 minutes 12 burpees

    4 more minutes of Bernie and then 12 burpees

    3 more minutes of Bernie (for a total of 12) and 12 more burpees

    We then posted on the street and YHC gave a suggestion we be courteous for those still sleeping and remain aware of our voices

    12 more burpees then lunge to next light pole and hold people’s chair waiting on six

    12 burpees and 12 side lunges then Bernie to next light pole and hold people’s chair waiting on six

    12 burpees, 12 side lunges & 12 Imperial Walkers and lunge to next light

    12 burpees, 12 side lunges & 12 Imperial Walkers, add 12 merkins and mosey to the base of Canal

    Bernie up Canal, mosey to Lakefront and 12 plank jacks

    Mosey to flag and 12 Squats will get us to 0615

  • Finally the clock rolled back for someone!! – from Shooter

    As I turned into the parking lot at the AO, YHC almost had to pause as the sight of an F150 idling with its lights on sat. It was almost like seeing some atmospheric event in my lifetime as there is no way this could be Cowbell.. But to my surprise and the surprise of the rest of the PAX it indeed was Cowbell.. Only conclusion that could be drawn was he finally rolled back his clock for daylight savings..

    Warmup
    15IC Seal Jacks, Butt kicks, SSH, Toe Touches, Windmills, Grass grabbers and alternating leg swings front/back side/side..

    Thang
    2 runners and 3 Ruckers set out with a pause on Messina for 10 OYO worse merkins ever and 20 jump squats then resumed.
    Returned for some core 10IC right elbow left knee F/J 20IC Flutter kicks and LBCs..

    JV closed us out in prayer and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Reunion at the Gipper! – from Shooter

    Seeing the Q sheet blank at the Gipper and the Scramble YHC decided to signup and fill the post. Shortly after Q received a message from Bushwhacker confirming a meet at the old WD parking lot.. Little did Q know he had also EHed Steve for a reunion car pool to convoy up to the north.. YHC had also EHed Akbar to meet and join, but was instructed if no sightings had occurred by 0540 to rollout, so that’s what we did. Now Akbar still posted and shortly into the beatdown Akbar would come to learn that YHC was informed of a recent “Ring of Fire” incident… Funny story to me but maybe not those involved, but never the less felt obliged to pay homage…

    Warmup
    10IC
    Cherry pickers, self love, Torso twists, Toe Touches, Windmills, Grass grabbers, Butt kicks and High knees..

    Moseyed a lap down the trailhead and around back to the flag at which point YHC noticed a new 6 foot barrier between the PAX coupons.. Wasted no time and called an audible in my head..

    Thang
    Moseyed to the school board building where we circled around the flag for a sweet ole campfire song by the famous Johnny Cash.
    “Ring of Fire” played as the PAX completed Merkins. Next we partnered up for wall sits P1 and P2 instructed to sprint around the building. R/R 2x. Next we Indian ran in 2 groups to the front of the Justice center for P1 Right and Left leap frogs on the benches while P2 bunny hopped up the steps and moseyed the ramps down to F/J. Then we we moseyed to the backside of the center for P1 freak nasties on the benches and P2 Carioca to the steps sprinting up like Rocky and returning. R/R 2x.
    Moseyed back to the AO to finish with the Worse Merkin ever to 10 and some Core.
    Wife pleasers, Jane Fonda’s 3 styles, 100s, hands to heels and leg raises..

    Counted off, announced another potential Wacker vacation in Kokomo (possibly Jan/Feb) and Barely legal prayed us out with thoughts and condolences for the families of the recent murders of a retired Priest and pastoral council member found just the other day in Covington… 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

    Appreciate the follow gentlemen and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • 4 laps for Bird’s Bday – from Chewy

    8 PAX met up on Tuesday morning for a beat down at grandmothers house.
    Warm-up included:
    Sidesaddle x 20 IC
    Imperial walkers x 20 IC
    Windmills X 10 IC
    Glut bridges X 20 IC
    SL Glut Bridges x 10 IC
    Scorpion kicks x 10 IC
    I’s T’s and Y’s x 20 IC

    The thang:
    11’s merkins and step ups

    Mosey to the underpass
    Walk the down, jog the flat, sprint the up x 4 laps

    glut bridges x 10 IC
    SL glut bridge x 5

    Mosey back to flag
    -SL RDLs x 10 pho
    -core rolling x 5 ea oyo
    Plank push ups x 10 oyo
    plank with kicks x 10 oyo
    HS stretch x 10
    Jane Fondas x 10 IC

    Name o Rama, COT, prayers by Shooter

    Happy Birthday to Bird!

  • Hand Grenada’s Gym-Bor-eaux – from Hand Grenada

    75 degrees, SEVERE lightening, rain and humidity as thick as bogey’s eye brows…

    Pax, pvc, bogey, mayhem, hg

    -Intro and disclaimer

    -Mosey to rockpile/pond, select rock and head to gym AQAP to avoid ground strikes(conversation ensued btw bogey and hg as to whether the Gym or pavilion would be better shelter from lightening. Bogey, who’s prowess as a shade tree meteorologist was unknown to hg, alerted hg to the fact that the gym in fact was equipped with a “lightening rod” therefore making it a much more suitable choice. Still waiting on Elon’s team of unemployed fact checkers to get back to us on this…)

    -warm up: hillbilly ic x15, grass grabber ic x15, Abe vagoda ic x15, on ur face, Floyd mayweathers ic x15, shoulder taps ic x15, toe touches ic x15

    -select a stair bay that fits ur personality for hand Grenada’s gym-bor-eaux fizz. 3 rounds of 10 exercises 12, 10, 8 reps each all ic.. calf raise, squat w/rock, side squat w/rock, uphil lunge, step back lunge, grab bags, decline merkin, incline merkin, peoples chair curls, balls to wall.

    -mosey back to rockpile/pond, return rock, Mary: LBC ic x15, dying cockroach ic x15, flutter kicks ic x15

    -mosey to flag, count off, name o rama, announcement, intentions, prayer, dismiss.

    Cap tip to Mayhem for wearing a watch!

    Always privilege and pleasure to lead, hg

  • From Silence to Mayhem-2 – from Mahatma

    10 pax, including an FNG (Kyle) gathered to start the road to recovery – from the gluttony of the extended Thanksgiving weekend. No doubt YHC was confident it would not be a solo calorie burn as Hokie texted his committed presence while in route. After a quick disclaimer and a short mosey to an opening just of the track there was a quick stretch and warm up.

    Then to the surprise and delight of the pax, YHC gave calming instructions that for the next 10 minutes the work would be in silence, simply follow whatever exercise YHC was performing – SSH – Vups – Merkins – Squats – Burbee – Mnt Climbers – Toy Soldiers – LBCs continue to rinse and repeat as YHC continued.
    Complete mosey to the rocks, get one and line up for Indian Walk to the Hill.

    Split up 1/2 & 1/2 – drop rocks on either side meet on top for the instructions. It started as a 1771 where 2 exercises were to be done crossing to either side each time crossing either perform 5 merkins or 3 burpees – YHC intended for 3 rounds that included a bear crawl around the base yet his ability communicate clear instructions was a clear failure and slice of humble pie. The pax vocalized this clearly yet attempted to follow the folly of Mayhem even to give it a 2nd try. YHC accepts the failure as a learning experience and challenge to come up with better plan for a future beatdown!

    Grabbing our rocks we headed to the pavilion YHC spirts were lifted as comments were made that he came close to other highly respected HIMs who try to implement creative pax activities therefore taking our comfort zones to new levels. (Mahatma’s Mayhem will return for a 3rd attempt!)

    5 box jumps followed by a burpee x 5. Fast Tax was determined to put perform the pax by increasing his burpees with each round so 5BJs 1 Burpee then 5BJs 2 Burpees and so on……hard charger!

    25 leg lifted rock chest press
    20 WII sit ups

    Return the rocks.

    COT Kyle was tagged with the name “Mayhem” in honor of him holding his composure and seemingly gleefully for a return!

    Prayers or gratitude, grace and humility of service.

  • Tabata Bout It – from Goose

    Still moping from having missed the Turkey Bowl on Saturday, YHC was looking forward to seeing the PAX this morning and hearing all the details. And, after hearing the details, it only made me more sorry that I missed it. But, camaraderie forged in pain was to be this morning’s gift, and the four PAX who attended were gracious enough to join YHC in the suffering.
    Warmups of the usual with some added hillbillies to burn up some soreness in the hips. Then we were off in and Indian Run around Rich Man’s Loop with the last person doing 5 Apolo Ohno’s before running to the front.
    Upon returning, YHC wasted no time in firing up the Tabata timer (I like the “Smart WOD” app) for 29 rounds of 40 seconds exercising and 20 seconds rest. Many were harder than YHC imagined, and some were a little easier (though not many). The chest was good and fried by the end of it, as were the calves. Background music was nixed in favor of space for mumblechatter, but it ended up being 29 straight minutes of panting and grunting and some jerk constantly telling us we were only halfway there. It was awesome. Here’s the list of exercises:
    1. Line jump w/2 feet (jump side to side over a line in the concrete)
    2. Left foot line jump (dang)
    3. Right foot line jump
    4. Irkins (on the bricks on the stage for this and the next few)
    5. Derkins
    6. Box jumps
    7. Dips
    8. Bonnie Blairs
    9. Big Boy Situps
    10. Calf raises
    11. Backward lunges
    12. Mountain climbers
    13. Merkins
    14. Werkins (wide arm merkins)
    15. Side lunges
    16. Freddy Mercurys
    17. LBC’s
    18. Flutter kicks
    19. Hairy Rockettes (straight leg up to opposite extended hand, to one side, then the other, like the Rockettes)
    20. Diamond merkins
    21. Pickle pounders (low plank, not high–that would be weird)
    22. Carioca (back and forth across the concrete)
    23. Elbow to opposite knee situps
    24. Rocky Balboas (on curb)
    25. Knerkins (merkins on knuckles, a.k.a Chuck Norris merkins)
    26. Plank jacks
    27. Toe taps (high plank, reach through and touch opposite toe)
    28. Crab cakes (opposite of above–crab position, reach up and touch opposite toe in turn)
    29. Carolina dry docks

    Finished at exactly 6:15 for some COT and some heavy prayer intentions for a lot of folks going through some major stuff.
    It was a blessing to be out there with you gents!
    SYITG,
    Goose