F3 New Orleans

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  • Rainy Day Workouts – from Thighs

    Today was rain the forecast, so we decided to meet at the Farmer’s Market and workout under the awning.

    We started the beat down with a warmup:
    Mose-ed two lengths of the Farmer’s Market
    15x Jumping Jacks
    7x Windmills
    7x Cherry Pickers
    7x Merkins
    7x Peter Parkers
    7x Squats

    Then we started the workout.
    Gauntlet:
    Starting at the beginning stanchion and running two stanchions each station.
    We run to the 2nd station and run back to the first station. Then we conduct all exercises at each station getting to the 3d station and running back to the first station. Then we conduct all exercises at each station getting to the 4th station and running back to the first station.

    We did this exercise 2 times.

    Station 1: 5x Burpees
    Station 2: 20x Merkins
    Station 3: 30x Peter Parkers
    Station 4: 40x Squats

    Then we turned to: AMRAP
    40 secs on / 20 secs off for 5 min
    Stanchion to Stanchion
    3x Burpees
    Broad jump to the other station
    10x Smurf Jacks
    And Broad Jump back to the start
    As many rounds as possible

    Then we turned to: Rochamburpee but w/ modification. Instead of low plank, we did squat holds with our elbows on our knees to play rock, paper, scissors.
    10x rounds
    Winner: 1x Merkin
    Loser: 1x Pike Up

    Then we turned to: 11s
    Starting w/ 10x Squats
    And at the end of the run 2 is 1x Hello Dollies

    We ended the workout with an Ab workout.
    10x Ab X-tensions
    10x BackStrokes

    We ended with the usual close out, sending us off with a prayer as the rain continued to come down.

    Looking forward to next time!

  • A little this, a little that – from Kenna Brah

    It was wet and lonely, but 3 pugnacious HIMs decided acceleration was in order, so they made the best of it.

    Scantron did KOT
    Mamby and KB opened with stretches and proceeded with a series of bodyweight strength and stretches in rotation, all without much planning.
    We used sandbags and a weighted ruck sack
    10 Reps Each
    Sumo squats
    Overhead Press
    Curls
    TriCep Extensions
    Regular squats

    Yoga break and repeat above till we were done

  • Wally Run…Ruck…KnOT is BACK Baby! – from Bolt

    Disclaimer given as 10 pax gathered in the gloom with an 11th joining ruckers on the backside for a record Wally Run attendance in a while. Two pax new to the Th ruck (Thumb War and Mayhem) plus the return of Mambi/Pai Gow’s appearance on the run. All pax returning at 6:15—COT.

  • An Apple a Day keeps the doctor away, unless you’re Moby – from Jose10k

    4 men took the red pill to come out and better ourselves mentally and physically. YHC had the keys to the bus, and I was happy to see the return of Dark Wing. No Einstein or BBQ, but 4 is a perfect number for the deck of death. Darkwing= Diamonds, Moby =Clubs, Fletch=Spades, and I was hearts. You know how it works, your suit, you call out the exercise. This is when we learn that Moby’s chiropractor is in business just because of burpees, his proctologists is still in business because of big boy sit ups, and his podiatrist is in business because of star jumps and squats. Anyways, 2 jokers meant two laps. Thanks for posting and keeping the A1C open for business. Better than those Russoian haters in Mandeville. Thanks for letting me lead.

  • What the Ruck is going on you Ruckers? – from Shooter

    Well, I expect the runners at the Scramble. Where are my Ruckers at? Hogsbreath has stayed committed even after the RCR.. So, I ask again but more specific where are my Mandeville Ruckers at?
    Thats the theme of the morning as 5 HIMs moseyed through Mandeville, eventually running into 1 Rucker on Messina.. Prior to the mosey a light warmup of 10IC and 15IC Mummy kicks, Selflove, Butt kicks, Seal jacks, Good mornings and some run stretches.. We returned to the AO and completed 5mins of 10IC Mary Little Manny crunches, L/R elbow to knee F/J, heels to heaven 10 OYO and Nolan Ryan’s L/R F/J finishing with a Waterpik go too 20 Merkins..

    Appreciate the post and see you in the Gloom!!
    👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • Mist Opportunities – from Honeysuckle

    It was a foggy morning and YHC had the title of this blast picked out before leaving home. It was an agonizing night realizing that the beatdown was about taking the PAX on a “virtual downrange” modeled after YHC’s Southport NC downrange experience last month, and with the addition of Bibs actually downranging, the perfect opportunity for an Inception-like Q was possible. Where are we now? Mobile? Thibodaux? Southport? The only way to know for sure is if the farts during ab work have an odor, you are not downrange.

    But not putting together that concept was a missed opportunity.

    Fortunately, opportunities are all around us.

    The promise of an FNG and Bibs downranging brought an energy and excitement to the Den, then the arrival of French Horn turned it up to 11. Another FNG (FNG 2) joined after watching from a distance for a while from the Civic center.

    We began with the usual warmarama, to a point where YHC started to introduce some of the differences experienced during the downrange.

    Side straddle hops

    Arm circles both ways

    Cherry pickers

    Imperial Walkers

    Pebble pickers – Willie Mays Hayes but perpendicular. Similar to grass grabbers? The PAX yawned, but YHC knew the next wrinkle would get their attention.

    High knees, but performed to the Imperial Walker pace. No jumping or running in place. You could have sworn it was a spa day with all the relaxed sighs, oohs, and aahs.

    Butt kicks, same concept. Low impact.

    Mountain climbers. Maybe they could have been done slowly but YHC went back to the usual pace.

    Equalizer. At times I definitely felt the “swing” that Goose referred to in his rowing beatdown.

    Thang 1

    Line up at the side walk. Start with 1 lunge walk steps, then four bear crawl steps. Then 2 lunge walk steps and 8 bear crawl steps. Then 3 and 12. And so on. When we reached the driveway near the oak trees, start over and go back.

    In Southport I was near the front of the pack. Today I was near the back. That is a testament to the fitness of our Thibodaux PAX.

    Thang 2

    Short mosey to the NE corner of the Civic Center. At this corner, we were to do 30 air squats. Then run to the NW corner and do 30 merkins. Then run to the next corner and do 30 WWI situps. Then run to the last corner and do 30 squat jumps. Then run to the Lion. In Southport, this was done in the equivalent of a city block in downtown Thibodaux.

    Planked at the end. After everyone was in plank position, we did 10 donkey kicks with the right leg and 10 donkey kicks with the left leg. Downrange, the Q did this while waiting for the six. Again, today we really didn’t have any six.

    Thang 3

    Short mosey to the north facing wall of the Civic center. PAX split up into two groups for each to do the Chedda Shredda. Line up shoulder to shoulder in plank position. The PAX at the end would crawl and align themselves head to head with the next PAX and they do a merkin together. Then the mobile (as in moving, not Mobile, AL) PAX moves down the line to the next PAX and those do a merkin together. While the mobile PAX goes down the line, the next PAX also goes mobile. And so on. The effect is sort of like tank tracks or cheese shreds falling when being shredded.

    After the team finished, sprint to the end of the parking lot and back.

    Then we did it all over again to perfect it. Something about needing more eye contact.

    Thang 4

    Chair position at the civic center wall, and the first PAX does four air shoulder presses. Then the second PAX, then the third, all down the line.

    Balls to the wall, and do the same thing with four shoulder taps. That was tough today. YHC didn’t realize how much adrenaline must have been flowing while downrange.

    Thang 5

    Indian run around the civic center. Last PAX drops off and does 3 merkins. YHC learned that FNG1 liked to run and was fast. So there was quite a variance in pace as we proceeded. This must have looked like a slinky.

    Thang 6

    At the Southport beatdown, there was another equalizer at this point so we did that too. After that, they have a tradition to do 10 burpees for the men who have not returned to a beatdown, or that haven’t been back in a while. So that is what we did as well.

    Since we had a few minutes left, we did a few minutes of Mary. Flutter kicks, Freddy Mercuries, LBCs, all in cadence.

    COT

    16 PAX counted off. FNG2 was named first. Yankee Joe must have heard at some point that FNG2 had the nickname Schouestmeister, which seemed like a good F3 name choice. Then FNG1 stepped up. YHC expected there to be an immediate consensus on his name but we found ourselves back at the drawing board. America’s Best made a connection to FNG1’s sheep and the fact that he’s a doctor to get to McDreamy, and there were a few supporters but FNG1 didn’t seem to like it so that sealed the deal. Welcome to both!

    Bibs mentioned a couple of events in his neck of the woods during announceorama that
    perhaps we’ll get a little more info on.

    AB prayed us out, Dox photoed us out.

    Each one of us there today had an opportunity to attend and did not miss it. Bibs had the opportunity to visit another AO for a workout and took it. The PAX had an opportunity to welcome two FNGs, one very unexpectedly. Tclaps to McDreamy for taking the opportunity to walk into a new experience and then killing it. Tclaps to Schouestmeister for being where he was this morning, for whatever reason, probably not realizing that a bunch of guys would show up and get in a circle, and then deciding to join that circle.

    When YHC went downrange, YHC didn’t know exactly what to expect, but had confidence that the experience would be worthwhile due to how F3 was set up. YHC was welcomed in without hesitation and the beatdown structure was familiar (in that there is very little structure). YHC walked away with even more appreciation of F3 because it delivered as promised. Your name is your membership card. (Now if we could only get Firehouse subs to also accept F3 names during their “if your name starts with the letter H…” promotions.)

    Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it all.

    SYITG,
    Honeysuckle

  • The Big Man Doesn’t Disappoint – from Steve

    I had my reservations when I sent out an EH over slack and received back no biceps, no bombs exploding, no thumbs ups. (To Jose’s credit, I did receive a private GIF from him explaining his absence – see, we need a GIF / video option!).

    With heavy rain throughout the night and a few other private texts saying, essentially, negative ghost rider – things were looking bleak. But I shoulda known! You never underestimate the reliability of Mr. Shooter. With just YHC and the Big Man there, it felt like a blast from the past. Hard to believe that we’ve been working out together for nearly 8 years.

    With more rain threatening, YHC set up a quick ladder of merkins, squats, LBC’s, and freak nasties so we could get to work under the covered corridor. Now, I’ve learned many things from Shooter over the years (though mastered none of it): when to get the best prices on Blue Bell (and of course, best flavors), the many uses of deer urine, how to be a good Pee-Paw once that time comes, and generally, what it looks like to be a good man. But one lesson that Shooter has impressed upon us often would not be heeded today and that is to always, ALWAYS descend!

    Instead we ascended and descended the ladder, but honestly, it wasn’t tough. With no burpees or groiners or Bulgarians, it was just enough to get a light sweat and still be able to chatter.

    Appreciate you Shooter, and I hope I get another 8 years of hitting the pavement with you brother.

  • L is for Idiots – from Rev Sox

    YHC is back. I know the pax has missed both my creative Qs and delightful leadership style and after not Qing a workout for months, I’m back but with a slight controversy.

    YHC volunteered to Q the Goldmine at the conclusion to the Scrum but never filled out the Q sheet. Another kind Pax member wrote in YHC’s name but then in the note column wrote “L” which led to questions and intrigue from the pax. What does the L stand for? Is L for Loser because YHC has missed F3 so often over the last two years? Is L for the second L in YHC’s last name? Is L for an inventive new workout the likes of which the F3 Nations has never seen before?
    YHC did not write his name on the Q sheet and the L means nothing….. until the Pax forced it to mean something because we are all idiots.

    The Thang
    Warm-up – 20 SSH, 20 Imperial Walkers, 15 Floyd Mayweathers, 10 windmills

    Fresh Meat for the Mosquitos – the mosquitos were out in force during the Scrum on Monday, so YHC thought he would play into that reality by offering up the Pax as sacrifices to the swarm. 6 pax were present, so we broke up into 3 groups of two. One group dead man hang, one group holds plank, one group holds the up position on the dip bar. Hang until the first dead man can hang no longer and switch until all pax members have offered themselves to the mosquitos by hanging on the monkey bars.

    Route 66 – mosey down 10 light posts on the path. Travel back down the path doing 1 merkin at the first light post with ascending count until there are 10 merkins at the 10th light post. YHC is not in merkin shape.

    Elevens – the remainder of the workout was a long version of elevens which no pax finished before the end. Upon announcing that the next workout would be eleven, led by the nantan himself, the Pax announced that L must stand for Eleven. Does Eleven start with L? No. But we are all idiots, so sure L stands for Elevens. Start with 10 burpees at the top of the ramp leading to the performing arts center, run down to the bottom where cinder blocks await, do 11 curls with the blocks, run to the front of the performing arts center and do 1 box jump on the stone benches, run back to the cinder blocks for 11 squats with the blocks and then run back up the ramp to start round two with 9 burpees then 11 curls then 2 box jumps, and 11 squats and so forth. Continue the exercise until 6:11 when the Pax needs to return to the flag.

    The End
    1 set of 20 flutter kicks to get the pax to 6:15. Count off, Name-O-Rama, Announcements, Intentions, Prayer with Sweaty Ball O Man

    Thank you for welcoming back your favorite Q, See you again in the gloom,
    Rev Sox

  • Hazy Shade of Spring – from Akbar

    6 in the Gipper Gloom today, arriving to warmer temps and fog.

    Warm Up: SSH, ARM CIRCLES, SELF LOVE, GRASS GRABBERS, SWIMMERS, TOE TOUCHES, WINDMILLS

    Pax: Akbar, Moby Dick, BBQ, Dark Wing Duck, Einstein, Barely Legal

    Head to the Rock Garden for 2 sets of 10 OYO. Shoulder Press, Curls, Triceps Raise, Rows, Goblet Squats

    Mosey to the Courthouse for 11’s: Scuba Steve on street side, run down past the Smoke House, up the stairs for Stone Mountains on the other side.

    Benches: 2 rounds: x10 IC 1st in regular cadence, 2nd in Tempo cadence.

    Dirkin, Freak Nasty, Romanian Split Squats, Superman’s

    Head back to the Flag for a Jose10k Wife Pleaser trifecta of regular and single leg variations, Jane Fonda’s, and time was called by Legal.

    No announcements, YHC closed out with prayers for Moby Dicks friend Ron, and opportunities to serve and lead those around us.

  • “Hey, Goose, You Big Stud!” – from Yankee Joe

    Over the past few weeks, the PAX has been playing regular season games while its Coach is sidelined for negligence around a sign-stealing scandal.

    Wait…that doesn’t sound right. Rufus, where the hell did you get this information from? Seriously? You let that baked bean loving cousin of yours tell you what to write? How many times do I have to tell you…Duke, is not a part of our Blast productions. And while we’re on the topic, you can tell that mutt and his lackey to roll their amateur footage all the way back to St. Johns.

    I’m sorry. It’s not you. I’ve been under a lot of pressure. In the past month, my profession, my coffee, and my smirk have all been called into question. I’m not sure who I am anymore, and the scorn is flowing like Goldilox (where has that guy been, by the way?).

    Ok, so over the past few weeks, the PAX has been posting without its tactle…I mean fearless leader in attendance. It has been a season of growth for the PAX, both in numbers and in identity. With Ponzi and Tidy Whity back in the mix, along with White Meat coming in hawt and staying hawt, the energy of beatdowns is palpable, not to mention the chatter quality has really found a new level.

    But no matter how many FNG’s show up, or how creative the beatdowns get, or to what extent Pope smokes the rest of us in…well everything, nothing but nothing can replace Montana. I guess he wasn’t really ‘carrying the boats’ after all.

    RUFUS! DUDE, C’mon! Please try to treat this more seriously than Popeye doing bonnie blair’s.

    Alright…Nothing but nothing can replace the energy and poise brought by Goose. And yet, while his absence creates a gaping abyss for Paradox to talk about pre-order lady cut t- shirts (“Bruhh, so the sport-tek is def superior to the tri-blend, no question.”), we can easily forget about Goose’s path to recovery. His faith unrelenting, Goose reminds us that God has a plan. Of course, that doesn’t make some of the turns any less dark.

    As such, YHC thought it might be a honkin’ good time to share in Goose’s recovery plan. So, YHC pulled up to a Tuesday Tuff expecting (hoping for) a deluge. A torrential downpour would have turned a regular session of pain into a morning full of dirty, sloppy suffering…a type of glory known only by the protectors of Helm’s Deep and Andy Dufresne. Alas, the bad weather would hold off, which is just as well. BAPS does not like to get his little knobs wet…it makes him feel all shorted out.

    By 5:15, a PAX of 8 began – that is once we waited for Paradox to finish an anecdote about something…probably another story about the trials of playing middle school football in Homer. We ran the normal warmarama. Cadence all over the place and YHC often forgot to count because he was too busy running his mouth…probably telling another story about the trials of going to middle school in the 1940’s.
    ————————————-

    The Thang

    If you’ve posted with Goose enough, you know he has a lukewarm relationship with Dora 1-2-3. Even so, YHC can’t think of a thang that is more Goose-like than:

    a) doing hard ascending exercises in increments of 100,
    b) alternating with some awful form of transport (typically leg heavy), and
    c) experiencing all of the suffering with the support of a partner.

    For this morning, we would take on a Dora 1-2-3 pyramid. The ascension/descension (reps of 100, 200, 300, 200, 100) represented Goose’s path to healing. Like any physical recovery, going up and down, the rehab is sometimes seemingly impossible, sometimes surprisingly productive.

    For each transport, we emulated Goose’s progress beginning with zombie crawls and working our way up through spiderman crawls, bear crawls, flying nuns, and finally, full-out sprints around the track. By the end, the PAX would slowly and painfully work through the pyramid to achieve Goose’s full recovery, 100 Goosie’s with full sprint as transport.
    ——————————————

    It went a little something like this…

    100 burpees – switched out for jump squats in what might be the most brilliant audible in YHC’s F3 tenure (that’s right, I said tenure)

    P1 – Zombie crawl to marker, mosey back
    P2 – Jump squats
    Flapjack

    Observations:

    YHC has called on the Zombie Crawl on several occasions as a Q. For whatever reason, it ALWAYS creates havoc, leading to debate among the mutineers about what the proper form looked like. For the purposes of posterity, let’s get this settled…let those who have ears hear, those who have bad form repent.

    The Zombie Crawl is NOT an Army Crawl. The latter requires leg movement, while the former requires your entire lower body to be dragged. As posited this morning, the Zombie Crawl can include full extension of the arms. However, doing so would basically be a mobile version of Paradox’s hip dip cobra thrust he tries to pass off as a merkin. Rather, YHC believes the Zombie Crawl should be a chilcutt (elbow) plank position, while pulling a lifeless lower body…you know…basically America’s Best’s whole experience in having YHC as a partner.

    ———————————————

    200 J-Lo’s 1:1

    P1 – spiderman crawl to marker, mosey back
    P2 – J-Lo’s
    Flapjack

    Observations:

    These are so much harder than I remembered from the Lil’ Cuz Peltch beatdown around the track. Not surprisingly, Lil’ Cuz is really good at these. At this point, any real chatter began to die off. The soundtrack at this point, the “Affirmative Goose” playlist was leaning into “Glory of Love” and “Hell’s Bells.” The morning seemed to be getting darker.

    ————————————————

    300 merkins

    P1 – bear crawl to marker, mosey back
    P2 – J-Lo’s
    Flapjack

    Observations:

    America’s Best inadvertently found himself partnered with YHC for the beatdown. Having apparently drawn the short straw, he was magnanimous in his patience with YHC’s woeful merkin count each round. I don’t know how he did it. I mean, he’s a specimen sure, but my man was turning out reps like Tana in Slidell on a Tuesday with McCallister’s in tow.

    Appropriately, the Rocky IV training montage was playing at this point. Pope thought it was theme music from a Wii game (Goose you need to address that). The morning was irrelevant. By now, time was just a construct. 10 minutes left or 20 minutes, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except for the next rep.
    ——————————————–

    200 leg raises

    P1 – flying nuns to marker, mosey back
    P2 – merkins
    Flapjack

    Observations:

    By this time, it was clear that the YHC/AB team had fallen behind. This was not really surprising in regards to the HoneyValve.com duo, but suspicions about questionable form were beginning to creep into YHC’s mind, only confirmed by AB whispering slanderous accusations.

    Now, from time to time, YHC has been known to throw an accusation or two around concerning bad form. NOT today, however. If the form police had been on site, YHC would have been brought up on felony charges, doomed to a life of peddling cigarettes and contraband posters of Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and Raquel Welch. We got a nice little upbeat interlude with Jurrassic 5’s “What’s Golden,” but nobody cared. There was nothing to care about. Life had lost its meaning. Salt had lost its taste. Enron had lost his sarcasm.
    —————————————

    100 Goosies

    P1 – sprint around track
    P2 – Goosies
    Flapjack

    Observations:

    YHC had no observations. Each sprint around the track was…well not a sprint. YHC was beyond regretting most of his life choices. Jefferson Airplane serenaded us to an anthem of urban development (can’t help but think this would be a great trivia question), followed by ‘Come Sail Away’ by Styx. The Stage had faded to black.

    Having repped, crawled, and ran our way through Goose’s recovery, we finished with the only thing YHC felt would be appropriate for a man that has designed multiple versions of Burpeepalooza. We did full out Burpees AMRAP for the last minute.

    COT, Paradox talked about pre-order t-shirts for 23 minutes, and Safety Valve prayed us out.

    It’s obvious that the PAX is not complete without you, Goose. That said, every beatdown, every individual posting, every ridiculous bout of mumblechatter, and every obnoxious accounting of proper form is a testament to your legacy and the incredible gift you offered us by bringing F3 to Thibodaux.

    Opportunities to lead are precious. I don’t take them for granted.

    SYITG,

    Yankee Jeaux

    Epilogue:

    As we neared the end, I realized, to my amazement, that other teams had not only finished, BUT were starting the regimen all over again. So inspiring was this achievement that I was snapped out of the darkness. Upon finishing my last lap – being the very last one to finish – a sense of gratitude welled up inside of me. In that nanosecond, I got a glimpse of what real servant leadership looks like. Mannn…this F3 stuff…am I right?