F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • Come early come late the PAX will be there.. – from Shooter

    YHC arrived with Hammer, Steve and Ballz Deep well underway knocking out some ISI Burpees before the 0500 Spartan training.
    Hammer led us through a brief warmup and then 15 mins of rifle carry, disc carry, pull-ups, hangs, knee ups and Burpees. Russo, Waterpik and Akbar arrived so the time came to get them warmed up and ready for the streets of Mandeville.. After Cherry pickers, selflove 90, wide grass grabbers, Toe Touches, butt kicks, high knees, Abe Vogdas and seal jacks.
    As we were ready to start, Chewy turns the corner to join Russo and Akbar to go rucking..
    Normal route with 2x loop and 20 out 20 back.
    Waterpik, Steve and YHC set a comfortable pace throughout, while Hammer and Ballz Deep ran and stopped every 5 mins for 10 Burpees. Returned to the AO and closed with LBCs holding to 10, flutter kicks to 10 then hold for 10 around the group for 2x. Min plank closing with 10 OYO pickle pounders..

    Announcements, intentions and COT..

    Appreciate the post and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Lone Warrior – from Pinewood

    Arrived at the Okwata AO this morning, greeted by the serene sound of the lake and the solitude of the early morning. Though the rest of the PAX couldn’t make it today, the mission of F3—fitness, fellowship, and faith—remains steadfast. As a lone PAX, I embraced the challenge and got to work.

    Warm-Up:
    SSH – 20 IC
    Abe Vigodas x 10 IC
    Grass Grabbers x 10 IC
    Forward Arm Circles x 10 IC
    Reverse Arm Circles x 10 IC
    Self Love x 10 IC
    Moroccan Night Club x 10 IC

    Thang 1: Recovery Run with step-ups and incline merkins
    Run from Mardi Gras Fountain to Landry’s and back to Canal Blvd
    At each set of palm trees
    10 Step-Ups (5 left, 5 right)
    10 Incline Merkins

    Thang 2: H8te
    Scaled version of H8te
    2 rnds: 4 and 2 burpees

    COT:
    As I finished the workout, I took a moment for the Circle of Trust. Though physically alone, I felt the presence of the F3 brotherhood and the shared commitment to improving ourselves and our communities. Reflected on the importance of perseverance and self-discipline, especially when no one is watching.

    Even as a lone PAX, the mission continues. This morning at Okwata was a reminder that the true strength of F3 lies not just in numbers, but in the resolve and commitment of each individual. Whether surrounded by brothers or standing alone, we push forward!

    SYITG

  • Sweet smell of success – from Russo

    YHC picked up a full-in Q when Steve wasn’t able to make it, so we went to an old standby. I figured to throw some burpees in to help out Jose, but alas he was in the midst of his patented pre-thang thang as I drove up. We were joined by a Shooter and off we went.

    Warmup (all IC, 10x)
    -cherry pickers
    -Arm circles
    -torso twists
    -self love
    -Toe touches
    -high knees

    Thang
    Pax knocked out the Deck of Death (exercise and count based on value and suit of the card turned over from a standard deck of playing cards). YHC likes to split the deck into 4 groups to vary up the exercises, with some moseying between rounds.

    Round 1 at the benches
    Hearts – Freak Nastys
    Diamonds – step ups
    Clubs – BSSs
    Spades – Leg Raises

    Round 2 at the fans
    Hearts – SMCs
    Diamonds – wide merkins
    Clubs – monkey humpers
    Spades – gas pumps

    Round 3 at the bus stop
    Hearts – shoulder tap plank jacks
    Diamonds – durkins
    Clubs – star jumps
    Spades – crunchy frogs

    Round 4 at the stage
    Hearts – jump squats
    Diamonds – donkey kicks
    Clubs – Lunges (2 is 1)
    Spades – wife pleasers

    Somewhere along the way, the comment was thrown out about the unpleasant aromas emanating from sweaty mid 40s gents in the near 80 degree humid morning. One of us offered that it was a “sweet smell of success” so we’ll run with that for a while. It was not lost on YHC that in the three of us you probably had the gold, silver, and bronze medals of sweating: dukes of damp, masters of moisture, princes of perspiration. I would venture only Frank could give us a run for the podium.

    Mary

    All 10x IC
    -LMCs
    -Flutter kicks
    -Penguins
    -Rosalitas
    -Box Cutters
    -Freddy Mercurys

    -One minute or so plank

    COT, Name-o-Rama, announcements, and prayer closed us out. Thank you gentlemen for joining me and get better Steve!

  • A Stroll Down Lack-of-Memory Lane (Minus the Stroll) – from Goose

    The presence of good ol’ Safety Valve has become synonymous with the F3 Thibodaux beatdown experience for months now since he decided to show up for just about everything. And, when that kind of thing happens, long-term absence of said individual has major affects not only on the the morale of the one absent but on that of the whole PAX (i.e., Y.J.). So, after hearing that Valve’s broken foot hadn’t improved much over the two-week rest period, YHC knew it was time to take matters into his own hands.

    It was time to build a beatdown that would kill four birds with one coupon:
    1. Allow Valve to fully participate without having to worry about the foot (hard to modify a mosey).
    2. Allow YJ to participate a little more fully knowing we wouldn’t be doing any major leg stuff.
    3. Come through on my vow to bring more 90’s hits that those who were in their prime during that awful decade may have erased (or claim to have erased) from their memory.
    4. Still bring the kind of challenge that these PAX show up for.

    Warmup: started with arm circles, which bent a few brains, and focused heavily on upper body and lower back (not one, but TWO Lafayette exercises).

    Thang 1: “I bet you don’t remember this one…or wish you didn’t.”

    1. “Scat Man” by Scatman John: Flutters for duration, but LBC’s during any scatting (the musical variety).
    A few remembered this one, and YHC remembered in the moment that this one may have been used at a beatdown before. Lots more LBC’s than flutters, and we were all a little dumber afterward, but nowhere near the low point of dumbness that would be achieved.

    2. “Pop Goes the Weasel” by 3rd Bass: Plank for duration, Kneel Diamonds on every “pop goes the weasel”.
    It seemed only Popeye remembered this one, and that it was an entire rap song about (bashing) one individual, Vanilla Ice, and that it also sampled a song by none other than Peter Gabriel. And, Dox wasn’t there to guess it.

    3. “Ninja Rap” by (none other than) Vanilla Ice: Bird dogs for duration, kneeling curls on “ninja”.
    Vanilla’s only other (vaguely) known hit featured in the old Ninja Turtles movie sequal, wherein rubber suited turtle dancers lit up the club with a choreographed dance to this jam. The bird dogs were similar, but different.

    4. “Hell” by Squirrel Nut Zippers: Penguins for duration, heels to heaven for the refrain.
    These guys signaled the start of the ska movement in the 90’s, which was an important movement that had lasting cultural significance. And, that many penguins is rough.

    5. “Gypsy Woman” by Crystal Waters and The Basement Boys: alternating side planks for the duration, toe-tap merkins during the droning refrain.
    This one is a remarkable 7.5 minutes of brain-numbing repetitivity. Don’t pull it up–you’ll remember it and regret it. You did it, didn’t you.

    Thang 2: Flora 1, 2, 3

    100 WW3 situps, 10 at a time, while partner does 6-in hold
    200 skull crushers (modified to 100 for time) 20 at a time while partner does X-factors
    300 shoulder shrugs (mostly didn’t get to it) 30 at a time while partner holds Al Gore
    PAX requested more ska, so Reel Big Fish was called upon followed by the man of the hour, Vanilla Ice.

    YHC wishes he’d have made more time for this one–lots of variety, and a solid muscle burner. Gypsy Woman should have probably been skipped, and been lost to the ANNALS of time (I’m sure there’s some connection to the anals of time, but I’ll let Maneater work that out along with his comfy pillow and Fire Within jammies).

    COT and Smooth prayed us out.

    It was great to have Valve back in the mix, and it’s been inspiring to see YJ work through what’s clearly a lot of pain to stay in it. Much respect to you both! And, thanks to the rest of the PAX for muscling through the playlist.

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Dang, I need to turn off my music for this conversation!!!! – from Jose10k

    5 HIMS took the red pill this morning to get out of bed early to push themselves to get better. A cool 76 degrees outside in the gloom was a nice “break” from the heat.
    Warm-ups- the usual
    The Thang: A slight version of Steve’s nickels and dimes. We ran from the marsh to the wall and back, stopping at each intersection to do 5 burpees, 10 leg lifts, and 10 big boy sit-ups. We back peddled, lunge walked, and just jogged from stop sign to stop sign. The conversation centered around this weekends assassination attempt of Trump. I had to turn off my music, yes you heard that right, the music was off. Who done it, why, which party, conspiracies out the wazoo. It all stunk bad, wait, that was Hammer with his usual morning gaseous releases. Finished up at the marsh for 3 minutes of pull ups. COT and Hammer prayed us out with special intentions for our country. In total: 55 burpees, 110 big boys and leg lifts. Hammer and myself added some regular and krakken burpees beforehand. Thanks for letting me lead and/or reading this backblast. SYITG

  • Kicks on Route 66 – from Hogs Breath

    YHC was hopeful that an Fng would show up this am.
    YHC arrived 10 minutes early set up to shovel flag in awaited. Alas, at 5:30 Hogs Breath stood alone. The phone dinged and a message from Royal Ralph saying he was running late. So I got a couple of laps in while I waited. At 5:37 the headlights of Royal Ralph appeared.

    A warm-up of some windmills butt kicks self-love, a few other things.
    The Thang
    We conducted a route 66 using the light poles around the circle perimeter of the 007. Big Boi Sit ups at the start, and Merkins at each light pole. We progressed from 1 merkin/big boi up to 11. We finished with the last set of sit ups at precisely 6:15 AM.

    Ended with the circle of trust with prayers for the nation and each other as HIM in the community. The Fng did text saying he had bloodwork this am, so we will remain hopeful for the future.

  • Blazing 80 Degrees of Swolefest – from Squints

    The temperature on the dashboard said 80 degrees as I pulled up to Swolefest today. I’m going to take the car in later today to have that checked out.

    Warmarama started with a mosey over to the Foundry.
    SSH x 15
    Grass Grabbers x 10
    Windmills x 10
    Mountain Climbers x 10
    Shoulder Taps x 10
    Arm Circles F & B x 10
    Overhead Claps x 10
    Pull Ups x 5
    Dips x 20
    LBCs x 30

    Mosey Back to Children’s Museum

    The Thang was timed by a PAX member thrusting a 50lb slam ball across the Children’s Museum walkway, while everyone else:

    Bench
    Skull Crusher
    Curls
    Squats with Cinder Block
    Cinder Block Burpees
    American Hammer w/Cindy
    Rows
    Cinder Block Swing
    Heavy Freddie
    Heavy Step Ups

    Finished up at 6:15.

    COT: Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, announcements and prayers.

  • I just felt like running! – from Jose10k

    A bunch of people ran.

  • NOW that’s what I call Dem Commitments vol 2 – from Paradox

    YHC launched several cafeteria EH campaigns the day after a fruitful July 4 beatdown and had quite a few nibbles working well into the evening until most were derailed by a glorious late night firework show. The two FNGs that did show however, were both whales in their own right. One, a youthful man’s man of only 4 years earthly experience but clearly an old soul. He came on retreat to sleep and do man stuff and he was already full up on rest. The second is more of the Moby Dick FNG. Aged and scarred, he’s dodged EH harpoons for a decade and our own Goose serves as his personal Ahab with so many name producing stories that the list could produce its own beatdown. In the vast sea of emotional headlocks , AnyfisherQ that prepares to land FnGs of this magnitude must also consult the veterans of old for a retreat beatdown battle plan. Ole Ahab was ready and waiting. And that’s how YHC found himself on the HeartRidge lake dam at 5:27a with 2 FNGs (1 legacy plus the aforementioned white whale) 3 regulars (including the newly minted Egon) , a preloaded Goose DC beatdown (if Goose puts “dem” in a title you should be afraid) , a few psalms in his heart , anddddd a list of names for these potential FNGs.

    Duke !!
    Its retreat beatdown round 2
    Roll the footage!

    Warmup
    Standard issue in a deep gloom
    keeping cadence with crickets, bullfrogs and whiporwills.
    We got right to dat action boss.

    The below is an adaptation of Goose’s “Dem Commitments” beatdown circa March ‘23.

    Verbal, written and retinal scanner consent were obtained for copyright use.

    1. ) Individual Prayer
    Indian Run from dam to the big hill loop with drop off jumps squats

    This to represent finding the time during the day to get quiet and converse with God or just maybe to just do some squats.

    2.) Couples Prayer
    Lazy Dora – 10 reps with partner in static hold then flip flop till 100
    100 merkins (plank)
    100 Squats (al gore)
    100 flutter kicks (6 inches)

    3. ) Family prayer
    Ring of Fire taking turn with 3 burpees and IW while Johnny Cash warned us about love being a burning thing.

    4. ) Couples Dialogue
    “11’s “
    Starts with 10 Apollo Onos and 1 leg raise with “The Hill” in between. As Goose alluded this is where the real work in DC begins and it was the same for this beatdown.
    This is where the record scratched and we really got to see what the soon to be named HeMan calls “doing man stuff”.
    The hill was relentless but no match for the tenacity of our multiple surgical jointed FNG. His push through the hill and blasting through his comfort zone will be burned into my memory for a really long time.

    *editors note
    -Thibodaux Rouses reports that after this beatdown “YJ taking to random strangers in the grocery line about his poor ole back ” incidents are now down 78%

    Ya love to see it

    A well earned light mosey back to the dam for COT, prayers of gratitude and some very important naming.

    When I first met our youngest FNG he showed me a fisher price work bench along side a pillow and blanket then explained it was there so he could wake up and do the man stuff. These pure alpha characteristics earned him the moniker of HeMan. Father Royal Deuce approved and it was so.

    Our elder FNG, the aforementioned scarred whale, had a epic but non traditional naming ceremony as YHC knew Goose, who has a lifetime worth of stories with this gentleman, needed to have atleast a swing at a fine surname. So we unveiled the list pre set by his old friend :

    Chainsaw Massacre
    Lead Baloon
    Wiley Coyote
    And finally …
    ..Puzzle Face

    I can’t quite explain the level of snickering that took place during these listings ( fng included ) but when the smoke cleared Puzzle Face was the clear winner and we knew that at that same moment somewhere in La, Goose was doing the Robert Redford meme nod.

    Men, thanks for the effort this week during a jam packed retreat schedule. You are a reminder to YHC that no hill is to high , no barrier to strong when we allow God to supply our source of strength

    It’s a joy to lead ya

    SYITG
    Dox