F3 New Orleans

Author: Rudy

  • Why Do Today What You Can Put Off Until Tomorrow? – from Steve

    Well, for starters, because you’re gonna forget half your backblast. Kids, don’t procrastinate – write your backblasts as soon as you get home – not after you get off work, two days later. What I do remember… well, it was chilly! A surprising 39 degrees and you will not hear me complaining. (YHC will, however, complain and curse Louisiana in a month, once that heat hits. I agree with Pelican, we should hibernate in the summer.)

    So with just Russo and I for the second Tuesday in a row, we kept it simple: deconstructed burpees at each intersection on our journey through the streets of Old Mandeville (and back of course), and then half a Murph once we hit the Marsh.

    As is often the case with me, conversations tend to turn towards my love-hate relationship with all the various animals my family has forced upon me. A terrifying sequel to Pet Semetary could easily be filmed in my backyard with all the animals I’ve buried under our trampoline – cats, a rabbit, frogs, snakes, dwarf hamster, fish, hermit crabs. Seriously. Hopefully it’s not a sacred Native American burial ground.

    Anyway, my complaints about my cats barfing all over the house were dwarfed by Russo’s incredible story of his cat partially coughing up a piece of string that subsequently had to be pulled out by his wife – inch by never-ending inch – while birthday party guests gathered around and watched in horror. I imagine a similar scene played out in one of the Poltergeist films, but you’d have to consult our cultural encyclopedia The Hammer for confirmation.

    Anyway, Russo and I were able to solve City Hall’s fiscal crisis during our half Murph (nice new soft pad replacing the Marsh mulch, btw!), as well as come up with a 10 point plan for how to tackle the ever-growing concern of AI. It’s incredible what can be done when you set your alarm for 4:45am. Hmm. I guess I did end up remembering most of it. Maybe procrastination ain’t so bad?

    Russo, thanks for the being the rock of, not one, but TWO AO’s. You da man. Appreciate you and your steadfast commitment!

  • Luck of the Pax – from Paradox

    7:05am March 16
    Nicholls University Campus Police Blotter

    Early calls from the freshmen dorms reporting a group of middle aged vandals loitering around the soccer fields and hollering “do your burpees” at each other . Several shirtless. Smells like Mountain Dew. Others with matching insignias and new member initiates forced into green mullets. Clear gang affiliates. The tall one responding to honks seems to be the gang leader. And looks like the goalie is the enforcer, clearly he’s done some time but gosh he looks familiar. Like I just saw him teaching supply chains familiar…weird
    .Student Officers in bound…Tasers on the ready…

    …40 minutes earlier

    Peltier Park Tennis Courts

    **YHC and Gecko putting out cones in a beautiful gloom at the tennis court, walking though the game plan and contingencies.

    YHC: “Chillier than I expected , did you bring your gloves bud ?”

    Gecko (looking at the blueprint):
    “I think I might get warm when we do burpees , if not we should just run more.”

    YHC : (silence) *A single tear of pride rolls down one cheek. “You’re right buddy, you’re so right..**adds more burpees to notes section **
    Let’s go find some bully boys! “

    Duke!!
    those beans are not magically delicious!
    Roll that beautiful footage!

    Warmup
    YHC and Gecko rolled in from setup to unveil the newest F3 Thib Logo shovel flag to 13 other Pax ready to roll.

    Wet Tap has been working overtime in the studio to crank out a high quality shovel/pole setup and we finally put the components together for a world premiere. It was glorious.
    Will be a great addition to rep our crew at major gatherings.

    ParO’dox McBurpee and GeckOCallahan took care of the rest of warmup with the usuals.
    Some pax commented the Irish accent had declined with a whole year to improve and these pax were politely asked to write their local representatives with further complaints.

    Proper Irishmen Run

    Drop off man does 3 Bonnie Blair’s on our way to Tennis Court.

    At Tennis Court :

    Irish Trivia Opener

    AB, our most Irish heritaged Pax, lended YHC a beatdown consult with the below trivia opener.

    YHC tried to give this nugget of info but the caffeine and nerves sometimes make me delete entire words . It came out “yours Truly Americas Best made these trivia “
    Not accurate but I think “yours Truly , Americas Best” has NYT bestseller potential.

    I’ll wait on my royalties check.

    The Questions :

    1.) Contrary to urban legends (possibly meant to deter tourists from fully experiencing the attraction), local teenagers and drunkards do not pee on this Irish landmark.
    Answer: The Blarney Stoney

    Goose picked this one up immediately and YHC Introduced the Blarney Stone…

    We would roll a large dice with 6 options
    1: Trivia
    2: Trivia
    3: Burpees
    4; Merkins
    5: BBSU
    6 Bonnie Blair’s

    We did assorted rounds of the above with 10 reps each and the below trivia mixed in . 10 merkins correct , 10 burpees in correct

    2.0 question for the next generation of Llamas:

    What’s the tagline for the cereal Lucky Charms?
    -“they’re magically delicious “

    **FNG (soon to be named Daryl Starwberry) took care of this one! Strong Work

    According to legend what is a Leprechsuns occupation?
    -shoemaker

    What meat and vegetable dish is trademarked as the St Patrick’s Day meal.
    -corned beef and cabbage

    *late edition asked post beatdown

    This common term defines something “broken into many pieces”
    It comes from the Irish word, “Smidrini “

    Smithereens !

    Next was a clover Dora to honor the Prayer of St Patrick a
    D work the quads into Smithereens!

    In this prayer St Patrick asks God to remind him of his presence during all things.
    (Excerpt below)

    “Christ on my right, Christ on my left, 
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, 
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me”

    So we would honor this with a Dora with multiple exercise positions .

    Partnered up for :
    100 Apollo Ohno (1:1) Lunge walk
    200 Heels To Heaven – Nur
    300 SSH- Mosey

    YHC cut this a bit short so we would have time for some proper Irish competition

    The Grand Finale

    F3 Gaelic football

    Rules
    -goals scored by kicking the ball in , this can be accomplished by kicking the ball from the ground or dropping the ball from your hands to feet.

    – You can only take 4 steps then must pass advance the ball by throwing or kicking BUT every time you pass you must pay in burpees kick (1 burp) or throw (3 burp)
    – after score opposite team inbounds the ball

    To be honest this was one of those F3 games that YHC thought could either be fun or turn into a raging chaotic lava dumpster of epic proportions (like a Maui thang but with a soccer ball if you need a visual)
    But with the pax help on some minor tweaks (shout out to YJ for the “only kick goals in ” idea and Goose for switching us to shirts/skins) we settled in for a fiercely competitive yet tremendously fun game of Gaelic foosball.
    One of YhCs many favorite things about F3 is watching Pax of all ages switch into their respective competitive modes…it’s pure magic.

    Tough to describe but A few examples may suffice.

    Goose turned into a field general seeing every angle of competitive advantage. Lox turned shimmering golden and started calling his quads “Goku” and “Gohan”. Dilly had eyes every where, seeing passes with Lebron like court vision and flexing lightning fast twitch pickle ball calves. YJ turned back the clock 20 years diving on saves, you can replace those joints later my friend . Valve was basically imported straight from Real Madrid and kept saying “Olayyy” and doing knee slides . Captain D’s transformed into Captain Defense locking up the opponents top talents. Ronnie’s eagle vision noted pax rule infractions from 100 yards away as he led a legion of 2.0 goalies. Suckle was simply every where , in every play floating butterfly like on defense, only out done by his offensive sting! Pope did athletic Pope things that only a Sports Science episode could break down. Smooth broke the all time Gaelic football assist record despite previously asserting he would only participate in American football.
    The 2.0s scrapped about biting ankles and popping up from falls that would put their Dads in the stretcher.
    No clue where we ended on the scorecard , yHC just knows he was ready to announce we were going to play till the street lights went out and our wives came looking for us but alas 7:30a came too soon.

    A mosey back to the Flags (plural!) and some Mary to wrap a bow on it.

    Announcements:

    Getting rolling with some Brothers Keeper work.

    Check GroupMe for updates and marathon commitments/decommitments.

    COT and YJ prayed us out

    Welcome Daryl Strawberry !!
    (Genius name)

    It’s a privilege to lead you men.

    Epilogue

    University Police
    7:25 am

    The officer walked back to his car slowly as he reported his findings to his superior on the radio.

    “No arrest , not even a ticket to show! “

    His hands were raised in disbelief.

    “I don’t get it. The reports were clear. No vandals, no gangs, no lewd behavior…heck not even a mid life crisis !!”

    He paused and stared out the window of his car as the men cheered at a final goal scored.

    “ Just a couple men playing a hybrid soccer game…diving into stickers to do burpees and calling each other weird names …seemingly in the prime of their life. It’s crazy , my Psych 100 class says these are the guys that are lonely, depressed , and mad at the world and I tell you the crazy part …it looks fun …like they are really having fun”

    “Huh…just lucky I guess “ the supervising officer quipped

    “I don’t know ..” he said back as he watched them disappear into the gloom.

    “Doesn’t seem like luck has anything to do with it ….”

    SYITG

    Dox

  • Battle Stations – from Fracsac

    YHC answered the call to avoid the fart sack and signed up to Q at the Goldmine. Disclaimer given then 4 pax made their way to the warmup pad.

    Once warm, the pax made their way to YHCs truck to grab a few manly toys including a 53# sand kettle bell, a 60# sandbag and a rope. Back to the pad for stations.
    3 rounds with 2 visits to each station. 45 sec on/15 sec rest.
    Round 1 – kettle bell swings, rows, battle rope, burpees.
    Round 2 – kettle bell throws, 60# sandbag press, battle rope, pull-ups/hang.
    Round 3 – rows with kettle bell, plank pull through with sand bag, battle ropes, burpees.

    Mary with pax choice.

    COT

    Who knew we could sweat so much on a chilly morning??

  • St. Joseph and a Psycho Killer – from Goose

    There are rare occasions upon which YHC comes to discover that his firm opinions about some or other aspect of life may not be as accurate or informed as he once thought. And, sometimes, on even rarer occasions, YHC might even seek out deeper or unknown aspects of a particular area of life that much of the population seem to value but YHC sees as worthless or worse. This morning, YHC would share the results of one such venture.

    in a sliver of openness to potential value of country music, YHC stumbled across an old gem: “Psycho” by Jack Kittel, recorded in 1974. And, that’s as far as it got. No need to foray any deeper. The refrain starts, in a slow Texas drawl, “You think I’m psycho don’t you, mama?” So much for country.

    When YHC revealed that we’d be utilizing the results of his recent country study in this morning’s first exercise, the PAX had high hopes for either a country-conversion or something funny like “I Wanna Marry the Troops”. It didn’t take long for those hopes and giggles to fade into a few quetly uttered, “Oh, no”s.
    -Plank for the duration, merkins on “mama”.

    We recovered (physically), and moved into the actual theme of the beatdown, St. Joseph’s Day.
    St. Joseph went through some tough stuff, but it allowed him to participate at the deepest level in the most incredible, important event that has ever occurred on earth: God became man and lived among us. But, it wasn’t until he allowed himself, his decision-making to be led by a God he trusted despite not being able to see where it was all going.

    St. Joseph Dora–partner up for:

    1. St. Joseph finds out she’s pregnant and tries to sneak out and hit the road, but is stopped by the Angel Gabriel and runs back to Mary and her child: 100 Australian Sweat Angels, P2 sneaks out to the street and runs to the stop sign and nurs back.

    2. The governor selfishly calls for a census and forces everyone to travel back to the place of their heredity, and Joseph leads pregnant Mary all the way to Bethlehem, where he finds no room for them. But all these horrible circumstances lead to the fulfillment of many important prophecies and ultimately the revelation of God-become-man in a newborn: 200 genuflections while partner bear crawls to the sidewalk and runs back. (The Bonnie Blair b-day celebration yesterday made for some slow, sloppy genuflections.)

    3. The psycho king moves to kill all the young children in Bethlehem, and though God saves his son from an early death, He doesn’t stop Herod (or anyone else from then till now) from causing unimaginable suffering. Joseph flees with the baby and his mother to Egypt in obedience to the angel: 300 mummy walks (straight legs, toes touching outstretched hands) while partner cariocas to the sidewalk and back.

    After this, YHC waxed a bit on the nature of God’s decision to allow evil and suffering to continue in order to safeguard man’s freedom, which is required for his capacity to fully live and love. Instead of messing with that, in a genius stroke, he entered into our suffering, united himself to us exactly where he knew we felt most vulnerable, alone, and human. He knew that sharing our suffering (completely) would be an infinitely greater gift than taking it away, and he allowed St. Josph to do this with him from the very moment of his conception in Mary’s womb.

    They went through some tough stuff, but St. Joseph also got to live with him in their small little family and help form him into the man God had planned for him to be. Life in this family had to be incredibly blessed, so we would share in that blessing by sharing some suffering, too.

    Split into groups of 3: while one does 15 8-count bodybuilders, the other two are doing either LBC’s or SSH until he’s finished, then they rotate. Once done, they caught a quick 10-count before heading up to the Stage with 5. minutes remaining on the clock.

    One of the things St. Joseph is most known for is being upside down, buried in someone’s yard. The homeowners are under the impression this will somehow bring about the speedy sale of their home….No idea.

    In reparation for our boy being put so often into the dirt headfirst like a tent stake, the PAX took their positions, each near a column, for a Balls to the Wall Merkin Ring of Fire. Upside down, with feet up on the post and hands on the ground, the PAX took turns doing an upside down, head-first merkin, counting by each up to 40. Any further and more than one PAX would have passed out (and dental waivers may have needed to be passed out, too).

    We finished exactly at 6:00 and stepped down for COT, and Valve prayed us out.

    St. Joseph gave one of the best examples of how shared suffering is more of a gift than any comfort, knowledge, wealth, or fame could ever provide. He was allowed to share in God’s own suffering and life. This may sound unrealistic, but why else would 8 men show up at 5:15 am to let someone else tell them what they’re all gonna do, and the only guarantee is that it will hurt. And we can’t get enough. It’s not because we’re crazy, but because we were made for so much more than just avoiding pain and getting through day. We were made to choose to enter into life fully, and to do that with and for others in spite of (and actually through) suffering.

    Thanks for being willing to suffer with me this morning, fellas! I’ve never felt so alive!

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Better late than never – from Kenna Brah

    The PAX had nearly disappeared into the gloom when YHC arrived just in time.

    Utilized the Blue padded play area for our Warmers:
    Self Love
    Arm Circles
    SSH
    Really Slow Vagodas
    Really Slow Grass Grabbers
    Some YOGA thrown in for panache

    The Thang –
    Route 66
    Burpees/BigBoy Sit Ups 1/1
    BackWards Walk between Lights
    Lunges/Freddie Mercury’s 4 CT
    Side Shuffle between Lights

    PAX Choice –
    Merkin/Flutter Kicks
    Karayoke In between lights

    Squats/Shoulder Taps
    Mosey between lights

    End/COT

  • 80s Music and Burpees – from Rudy

    twas going to be a slopping post-rain morning in Pontiff, so YHC decided we’d head straight to the Pavillion. After saying good bye to our walkers and KoTers, the 8 PAX grabbed a rock and moseyed.

    Bogey and Fast Tax in particular seemed to enjoy a collection of 70s and 80s tunes. So we’ll use that as the Sound Track for Tabata.

    10 sets, 45 seconds on 15 second off. 4 Arms, 4 Abs, 2 Legs.

    Then head to the parking lot for 25 yd out-and-back sprint, 5 burpees then SSH for the 6. Repeat x4.

    Back to the Pavillion to repeat a round of Tabata. Then back to the Parking lot to repeat the burpee sprints.

    Back to the flag, via the Rock Pile sending our implements into splash-down mode in the swamp.

    At the flag, many prayers for health and comfort to those who are sick and suffering.

  • Elevation Training at The Stomp – from Rudy

    Chose a different route – head to Wisner Mountain (1 mile away) and then just back and forth and back and forth until it was time to head back home.

    Not too late to consider a WWR team!

  • Discount coupons – from Safety Valve

    Today there was no theme. Tough Tuesday was the theme. Thats it, so let’s get to work.

    Battan death march – 1 mile Indian run around Rich mans loop with last person dropping off and completing 5 burpees

    Stopped at the bumper to grab some coupons to complete a 7 of diamonds around the stage loop:
    First corner: 7 man makers
    Second corner: 7 man makers, 14 merkins with block
    Third corner: 7 man makers, 14 merkins with block, 21 curls
    Fourth corner: 7 man makers, 14 merkins, 21 curls, 28 goblet squats

    11s – jump squats and curls

    Finished with 2 minutes of Mary – LBCs and 6 inch hold. COT, intentions, and prayers sent out. Thank you for the opportunity to lead.

    Welcome back Goose! In your absence we have gotten soft. We thought we were doing so good until you show up after a month of being on IR and make everyone look bad. In all seriousness, you killed it today just like you always have. Happy to have Father Goose back!

  • Bonnie’s Bithday Bash – from Safety Valve

    Today we gathered to celebrate and commemorate the career of Bonnie Blair. Today is her birthday. On March 18, 1964 a legend was born. Speed skating was in her blood. Her Godmother was a Canadian speed skater and Blair herself started skating at the age of 2, becoming competitive by age 4. She was 19 when she debuted for the United States for the Olympics. During her speed skating career she amassed several World championships, and was the most decorated female speed skater of her time with 5 gold medals and a bronze medal during the Olympics. Today is for you Bonnie. Thank you for all the pain and gain that your namesake has created over the years.

    Warmaramma
    SSH
    Wind mills
    Willie Mayes Hayes
    Mountain climbers
    Arm circles forward
    Arm circles backward

    The Thangs
    Mosey to Rich mans loop. The loop became our ice rink/circuit with some imagination.

    Loop 1
    Speed skater training – Bonnie wasn’t born going as fast as she could. It took years of training to ultimately beat the World record and then beat her own world record several times. We focused on lower body strengthening to make us go fast.

    We ran the length of the loop stopping at every other light post, at which time an exercise was called out. The PAX were to complete 10 reps of that exercise and we moved on to the next light post. On the last two light poles, we pretended to speed skate (basically a run lunge kinda thing) and then sprint to the finish. PAX stayed together.

    10 squats
    10 squat jumps
    10 One legged squats right
    10 One legged squats left
    10 Apollo Oh nos

    Loop 2
    World skating competitions- this is where athletes compete yearly to improve themselves for the big stage (Olympics). Same as the last loop, we ran the length of the loop stopping every other light post to do the exercises below. We finished again with a pretend speed skater and a sprint to the finish. Pax stayed together.

    5 Bonnie Blair’s
    5 Goosies
    5 Gold Stars – Bonnie Blair then star jump
    5 Burpee Blairs – Bonnie Blair then Merkin
    5 Bonnie Blairs

    Loop 3
    The Olympics – we made it. No more Mr. Nice guy. This is the time to show what you have been training for. This one was on your own. Run the loop and complete the previous Bonnie exercises at each of the four corners of the loop. 15 reps instead of 5.

    15 Bonnie Blair’s
    15 Goosies
    15 Gold Stars – Bonnie Blair then star jump
    15 Burpee Blairs – Bonnie Blair then Merkin

    Gold medal – Pope
    Silver – Americas Best
    Bronze – Lil Cuz

    Completed our mile back to the flag and the finalist led us in a Mary. Pope calling for flying cockroaches, AB calling for “proper” leg raises where the feet never touched the ground, and Lil cuz finishing with penguins.

    COT, intentions and Cardinal prayed us out.

    Reflection on Bonnie’s success – Bonnie started skating at the age of 2. With constant instruction/coaching and with continued practice, it took her 22 years to earn her first Gold medal. Even with everything on her side going perfectly, it took 22 years for her to receive the ultimate “prize”. She truly was an amazing athlete to accomplish what she did, but Bonnie didn’t break a record every time she skated. Her best was a sub 39 second 500 meter sprint – she beat her own world record then. Her worst the next day was probably 45 seconds. She didn’t give up because one day was tough. She kept going to try and be the best version of herself possible. Things in this life may not work out when or how you want them to every time. Sticking to what you believe in and following your calling will bring you success. Maybe not in the way you think now, but in the way God wants it to happen later. Don’t ever give up on trying to be a better version of yourself. There is always potential to grow.

    Side note – Bonnie Blair supposedly is from a Scottish-Irish background. Thank you AB for the constant reminder of things that YHC does not know. The random bits of trivia you know never ceases to amaze. This is why YHC has not been invited on a trivia team trip yet. Waiting on that call though

  • The Fairy Ring – from Akbar

    14 strong today – with a little EH help from Shooter’s backblast – on this wet gloom for a pre Saint Paddy’s day celebration.

    Legend has it that fairy rings were caused by fairies, elves, and Leprechauns dancing in a circle. If humans joined in the dance they would be punished and made to dance in the ring until they passed out from exhaustion – or DIED. In 1518, the French town of Strasbourg experienced it and other outbreaks across Europe happened in the 10th century.

    It is an unsolved public health mystery, and the most recent case showed up in Mandeville, La at the Lakefront beatdown. There were exercises, dancing, moaning, and groaning, and yes – Fairies.

    Pax : Baby Yoda, Waterpik, Pass Interference, Jose 10k, Duke of Hazzard, Wicket, Bushwhacker, The Hammer, Brexit, Bird, Steve, Russo, Shooter, Akbar

    Warm Up: x10 IC: SSH, Windmills, Arm Circles, Swimmers, Backstroke, Overhead Claps, Toe Touches, Grass Grabbers

    Mosey over towards Rips, circle up for instructions.

    The Thang

    6 exercises x 10 OYO – while listening to YHC’s high school playlist, with an Irish jig after each song. When the Irish jig came on we would mosey in a circle until finished, and pick back up where we left off. A non-stop 30 minute beatdown with no breaks.

    The idea was full body on the wall – (Jose10k noted this was mostly upper body). Then lower body on the Irish Jigs. YHC did not do the math, but the Irish Jigs were around 50 seconds, and the other songs were an average of 3.5 minutes.

    Exercises:

    Wide Tempo Merkin, Step Ups (2 is 1), Freak Nasty, Renegade Row, Reverse Grip Irkin, Stone Mountain

    Irish Jig: High knees, Hallelujah runs, lunge walks, runs, butt kicks

    Fairies are Real
    A quarter way through the playlist took on a mind of its own, skipping ahead, playing a song for 3 seconds, then all together stopping. Were the fairies messing with Q? We killed the tunes and pushed forward. With no music, it looked like the scene from Halloween when the prisoners escaped from the loony bin.

    Time called and we moseyed back to the Flag for some leg work.

    3 sets x10 IC of Sister Mary Catherines, Calf Raises, Copperhead Squats

    Mary x10 IC: Freddy Mercury, Hello Dolly, Rosalita, Flutter Kicks, Heels to Heaven, Hummingbirds (100 100’s), LBC’s

    Time called, reverse count, name-o-rama, YHC prayed us out, and we headed to Coffeeteria.

    Thanks for coming out and following the lead.
    SYITG – Akbar