F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Running and core work – from Landing Strip

    Warmup
    -Mosey to corner of St. Charles and Calhoun for 20x SSH, 20x windmills, and a 20 count standing toe touch.

    Tha Thing
    -Indian ran to corner of Calhoun and Willow for 50 LBCs OYO
    -Mosey to Yulman Stadium parking garage for a run backwards up the ramps and forwards on the flats
    -50 LBTs OYO at the top
    -Down the stairs, through campus via an Indian run down McAllister Drive to the rec center garage
    -Run up the ramps and lunge walk the flats
    -J-Lo ring of fire at the top
    -Mosey over to WPM, up the stairs and down and back to the flag

    We covered more than 5k (and some elevation) this morning. I hadn’t Q’d (or posted) at WPM for a minute, so it was good to see some familiar faces. Have a great weekend!

  • Music and Respect – from Jose10k

    As y’all have probably learned that the cross town rival splash pad AO has a lake and a tunnel. The stepdad of both the Splash pad and Grandmas, Russo, has pointed out several advantages of both AOs. Russo is a smart man who is a great salesman. His back blasts are epic, creative, and inspiring. So YHC was curious if he could sell his AO, the A1C, like the stepfather sold his AOs. And it’s so simple: Music and Respect. That’s right gentlemen, at the A1C, you will always have music and respect. Rock n roll is always blasting, and the average age is over 50 (much respect). Top that Russo, I doubt you can, however, I eagerly anticipate reading your blackblast to see you try. I’ll leave your questionable movie choices for another backblast. FYI, how can anyone not like the Goonies. That’s damn near unamerican.

    Humid, check, hot, check, a group of highly motivated men ready to work out, check.
    Warm-up: y’all have been to a beat down, you know how that goes
    The Thang: Music, yes, music. We began with the Cupid Shuffle, a nice 4 minute song in which participants did shoulder taps until the song lyrics make you shuffle to the right 3 times, the left 3 times, butt kick into the air 4 times, followed by 6 mountain climbers. Then back to the shoulder taps.
    Open the trunk for various goodies, coupons, 35 lb plates, and 30 pound dumbbells. Pick your poison for some 11s on the ramp. Shoulder presses at the top, slow squats at the bottom, rifle carry your weight up and down the ramp. Finish it off, return the weights to the trunk, exactly 5 minutes of Mary. COT, with Moby praying us out. The summer heat and humidity is officially here boys, stay hydrated. Grundy is bringing the pain tomorrow. Thanks for letting me lead and thanks for the gentlemen. Goonies never die! Life is like a box of chocolates….

  • The Fat Boy Food Adventure – from Smooth Operator

    Participants: paradox, Enron, superfund, FNG (Michelin), Yankee Joe, Paradiddle, Goose, Smooth Operator

    I pulled up to the Lions Den at 0455 to find a FNG sitting in his truck. It looks like he had been there for quite some time and was ready to get his first F3 experience going.

    After that Enron pulled up and started giving us the synopsis of his Mexico City trip. He went on a guys trip and apparently ate at one of the best restaurants in the world, but for some reason either the restaurant or all of Mexico does not do Michelin stars. This brought us to another interesting topic, the Michelin star program is put on by the same people who sell tires. You learn something new everyday.

    At 0515 we had 7 eager adventurers rocking out to YHC’s musical fanny pack, and ready to overcome whatever craziness that YHC had planned for the PAX.

    We started with SSH and Goose gave the F3 disclaimer. After this we did windmills, arm circles cherry pickers, high knees, butt kicks, and mountain climbers. Somewhere in the middle of this Paradiddle snuck in probably saying something about a train or stomach issues or being busy making a list as reasons for his tardiness. Either way this dude is always ready to roll on minimal warm ups.

    The thang

    After this it was time to talk about our adventure. Two things you need to know about YHC. Even though I lost a little bit of weight YHC is still a certified fat boy. It has nothing to do with F3 which has done great things for me but it kind of hard to outwork the fork when you spend most days eating like crap. It’s something I got to work on and I will, but first I figured let’s have fun with it. Secondly through the last couple monthly challenges YHC has learn that I like to ruck and am not a big fan of long distance running which seems to be involved in the majority of our beatdowns. So I figured let’s combine these two things and let’s see what happens. This is how YHC came up with the Fat Boy Food Adventure.

    The Fat Boy Food Adventure basically goes like this, the PAX would carry our coupons in whatever manner possible to various locations visiting some of YHC’s favorite restaurants in the area. The only time we would need to put the coupons down is to perform some manner of exercise that would almost always be more taxing on the body than rucking. Our mode of transport would be an Indian ruck with the last person dropping off to do a couple man makers and hustled to the front of the line. We started with 5 man makers and eventually went down to 3 then 1 as our journey got more difficult and time started to become a factor.

    First things first, we started our journey at the flag with 25 man makers which seemed to be a big hit with the PAX. From here we headed up the reservoir and across the bridge to the parking lot of 5 guys burger joint all the while jamming out to some southern and classic rock complemented by a couple of Spotify ads.

    At 5 guys, we did 25 coupon curls and 25 Chuck Norris merkins and discussed there delicious burgers, cajun fries, and YHC’s personal favorite their bacon flavored milk shake. It was nice to put a-little sweat equity down as payment for the next time YHC goes there to shovel down some more greasy food. After this, we continued our journey across the slightly less deserted parking lot of Rouses to our next work out location. After everyone completed 5 man makers YHC dropped it down to 3 due to the doozy of a work out coming next.

    Our next stop was across the large parking lot of Rouses heading up LA 308 where a car was parked conveniently about 30 to 40 yards away. YHC decided this would be our stopping point for some parking lot suicides.
    Half the PAX would be doing suicides while the other half completed 25 coupon squats and then we switched.
    The suicides were pretty straight forward, touch the closest yellow line and head back to the curb hitting every line until you reached the car.

    After this we headed to another great restaurant Big Mikes BBQ. You could smell the meat smoking as we reached the parking lot for another exercise. The exercise was 25 world war 2 sit ups and some bear crawl suicides. Once we started doing sit-ups YHC realized that we would not be able to complete the entire exercise as planned so YHC started cutting it down to make it back to the flag for 0600. So YHC deferred the bear crawl till Part 2 and we continued our ruck.

    The Pax started rucking down the road passing in front of Anytime fitness, the dog park and hustled up the reservoir levee. We stopped near the bridge intersection and performed 15 coupon swing which may have disrupted a couple of curious reservoir walkers on accident.

    From here we headed to the Civic center HVAC system to do our next exercise. At the Back corner of the Civic center we did 15 tricep curls and headed back to the flag to complete our last leg of the ruck.

    Once at the flag with a couple minutes to spare the PAX completed 25 more world war 2 sit ups, 25 PAX approved star jumps, and Apollo onos AMRAP for a couple minutes as 0600 was approaching quickly.

    We finished up with COT and named our new FNG Michelin due to our pre beatdown conversations and the fact that he is a trained chef. Paradox passed the distinguished ANIMAL shirt to a well deserving Superfund. Enron prayed us out as a muffler-less vehicle decided to make its presence known.

    Thanks to all the PAX who came out and decided to embark on this adventure. Without y’all always pushing YHC to the limit, I would still be a sad clown sitting on the sideline.

    SYITG

    Smooth Operator

    Part 2 coming to the Lion’s Den soon

  • Runner, Ruckers, and Sweat – from Charmin

    Started with 3 Runners and 3 Ruckers Ended with 2 Runners and 4 Ruckers and a ton of sweat.

  • Mankini, Banana Hammock, Root Suit – from Einstein

    Yes, that was BBQ describing his preferred swim wear – anticipating showing off his F3 toned physique on his next beach visit.
    and the mumble chatter continued in that venue, easily overtalking the cadence

    After the early-bird one mile run we got to it;

    Long Warmup:
    Toe Touch, SSHops, Inperial Walkers, Good Mornings, Butt Kicks, Neck Rolls, High Kneees, Arm Circles, Imperial Walkers, Scissors, Smurf Jacks, etc.

    Thang:
    Three sets of about fifteen minutes of block work, separated by a run around the square block
    block work included; curles, rows, blockees, over-head press, sit-ups, eights thru the legs, windshield wipers, squats, skull crushers, murder bunnies,
    bear crawl with block snatch, farmer carry, rifle carry, etc.

    Circle-up, Count-o-rama, Legal leads us out with prayer.

    One humid mofo,this Wednesday morning, at The Gipper, but we all walked away better for it. Ha.

  • Not a professional, also not Kenna Brah… – from Bolt

    Coming in hot and tempted to grab my speaker given Kenna Brah’s previously scheduled Q, I opted to have faith KB would screech in behind me to lead the BD—shoulda grabbed the speaker. Too late; disclaimer and urging the pax onto the field still hopeful for the Qs emergence during the “Warmarama (sans music—the pax were disappointed). Usual stuff with a Scantron stretch added in just because. Guess YHC is the Q and also not Kenna Brah.

    The Thang: Bogey astutely noted as Warmarama ended that pax would gather along the goal line in plank for what was going to b a periodic BD opener and now YHC is almost forced to make it as much a mainstay as Rapper’s Delight and burpees (u can thank Bogey)—Plank Hurdles (the pax from Monday rejoiced) and Vagabond started us off on the right hash rather than midfield, the path had been set. Upon completing the length of the field to the back of the opposite end zone (despite Bogey urging to continue to the tracks) it was time to circle up for 25 LBCs, on your feet for 5 burpees OYO, sixes for 20 wife pleasers, up for 5 burpees, sixes for O-rings 10x each direction, 25 monkey humpers (a theme had developed which cleared the track of all onlookers) 5 burpees.

    Continuing his Nostradamus-like ability, Bogey correctly predicted after our mosey to the playground equipment that morning calls were next. These really sucked on Monday with 12 people and they still sucked today with only seven people.

    Mosey to the far curb of the gym parking lot for 20 tricep dips to warm us up for bears eat crabs in honor of Charmin (who it turns out had a fender bender otw to the BD). The Architect was successful again in completing the course as a crab along with Heisenberg who ventured in with his passport from the BIG CITY. All other crabs became bears upon my tag, yet ate no crabs. Circle the six and bear crawl the rest of the way with them—no man left behind.

    Mosey to the pavilion for 20 RLSU, 15 derkins, 20 LLSU and then in honor of Mahatma, the plank-merkin Indian “run” much to everyone’s delight–ful groaning as we got to the halfway point.

    Mosey back to nearest end zone and circle up for protractors cuz Pool Boy remarked how much he liked them Monday except we were only able to dedicated 1 minute to them for time—I won’t let u down next time, Pool Boy. Back to flag, COT.

  • Just Making It Up As I Go – from Glitter Balls

    Victory loves preparation – there was little preparation but perhaps victory only sort of likes preparation as a friend in this case of The Foundry.

    3 PAX for this Flag Day. Let’s dive in.

    Warmup:

    YHC was still a bit groggy so we took a nice mosey to NOMA to kick it off and jumped into

    20 SSH
    10 Windmill
    10 Grass Grabbers
    1 Bear Crawl around the circle
    5 High-Knee Burpees (a Flag Day gift from YHC to Fracsac)

    Thang:

    Bunny Hop up and down NOMA steps as timer while PAX perform:

    Dips
    Squats
    LBCs

    Mosey to Foundry stopping every 45 seconds for:

    5 High-Knee Burpees
    10 Lat Pull Superman
    10 Reaching Plank Jacks

    Foundry:

    5 High-Knee Burpees
    Quarter Murph (substitute pull-ups for inverted rows as needed).

    Mosey back to Flag stopping when YHC felt it-

    20 Right Leg V-Ups
    20 Left Leg V-Ups

    75 reps for Mary for June 16, 1775 the day the Continental Congress approved the US Flag and established the Continental Army-

    25 Penguins
    25 Plank Jacks
    25 Flutter Kicks

    COT.

    STAY HYDRATED!

  • Tabata with the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra – from Heisenberg

    Warmup – In Cadence – Imperial Walkers 20, Grass Grabbers 15, Windmills 15, Arm Circles 11, SSH 31, 8-Count Body Builders – 10

    The thang
    10 stations 40 second workout with 20 seconds to rest and move.

    1.Curls – 30 lb ruck, 2. Flutter Kicks, 3. Kettle Bell Swings 4. Rows 60lb sand bag, 5. Big Boy Situps, 6. Step Ups with 20 lb ruck plate, 7. Plank, 8. Jump Rope with weighted 3lb rope, 9. Burpees, 10. 80Lb medicine ball carry/bear crawl push.

    We accomplished 2.5 rounds

    5 Sunday Mornings

    COT Prayer of gratitude for the wonderful music, prayers for healing for the M’s having surgery or illness, prayers for 2.0’s that are injured.
    Coffee PJ’s were we were joined by Triple Shift.

  • Daddy, I’m Prairie Doggin’ it! A Road Trip Story – from Yankee Joe

    Prologue:

    What are your favorite road trip movie moments?

    Was it when Clark Griswold packed the dead Grandma on top of the station wagon in National Lampoon’s Vacation?

    Or maybe you were inspired by Paul Costanzo’s quote in Road Trip when talking about the difficulty of taking shortcuts, “It’s supposed to be a challenge, that’s why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.”

    Some of you might relate to Rat Race when John Lovitz’ daughter, needing the bathroom, eloquently exclaimed from the backseat, “Daddy, I’m prairie doggin’ it.”

    Of course, for my money, it’s hard to beat the moment when Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) misses the turn for Colorado and instead ends up in Nebraska. When Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) wakes up, he says, “I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this.” Lloyd replies, “I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver’s full of shit, man.”

    That all said, the best road trip scene of all time is found in (one of many) John Hughes’ masterful works, “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” Having missed his flight, Neal Page (Steve Martin) is desperate to get home. He meets Del Griffith (John Candy) who offers him a ride across country. While driving (and arguing), Del (Candy) claims that Neal (Martin) does things that annoy him. When Neal asks for an example, one of the greatest dialogues in cinematic history emerges:

    Del (John Candy): You play with your balls a lot.

    Neal (Steve Martin): I do NOT play with my balls.

    Del: (laughs) Larry Bird doesn’t do as much ball-handling in one night as you do in an hour!

    Neal: Are you trying to start a fight?

    Del: No. I’m simply stating a fact. That’s all. You fidget with your nuts a lot.

    Neal: You know what’d make me happy?

    Del: Another couple of balls, and an extra set of fingers?

    Mic drop.

    ——————————-

    Background:

    YHC was fortunate enough to take his family on a road trip to Fairhope, AL last week. The sheer multitude of graces and blessings that come with such an opportunity does not escape me. That said, I think traveling with small children is another compelling piece of evidence that God does indeed have a wonderful and humbling sense of humor.

    YHC’s three children are beautiful, smart, kind…and absolutely horrendous travel companions and roommates. Holy crap, what is wrong with these people? But as any road trip veteran may tell you, it’s not the temper tantrums or the unbelievable lack of gratitude. It’s not even the fact that YHC’s 2.3 picked up a croquet mallet and started terrorizing everyone and beating their tables during dinner at the nice, peaceful hotel restaurant (this happened).

    The hardest part is their locking onto 4 or 5 songs and demanding them to be played on repeat for 120 hours. During that time, we listened to a lot of great music. We also listened to a lot of really, really awful music. I endured it like the IM3 that I aspire to be, but the resentment continued to build over days. As it wouldn’t be right (or in some cases, legal) to vent this frustration on my children, I instead gifted that frustration to the PAX.

    ——————————–

    The Beatdown Preamble:

    Four PAX showed on a nice, muggy Tuesday Tuff mernin’. Montana was already parked when YHC pulled up 10 minutes early. We’re uncertain if he showed up because of the shade YHC threw at him the night before. Goose rolled up, three-point turned like a boss, and backed up…cuz we gonna need those coupons. YHC then emptied the back of the minivan, cuz yeah, we gonna use bricks with those coupons. We were all awaiting Enron, full of energy and fluent in Spanish from a healthy boys’ trip to Mexico City. Alas, he could not show due to being a good father and taking care of a sick 2.0. Hope everyone feels better soon.

    The normal warm-ups, slightly extended to accommodate Paradiddle’s routine tardiness. At some point, somebody has got tell him that the beatdown starts at 5:15, not 5:23. While you’re at it, drop the same revelation on French Horn. It’s ok though. P-Diddy is coming all the way from Bourg. Wait, what you said? He’s not coming all the way from Bourg? Interesting. Regardless, he always brings some solid tank top energy much needed when Paradox is not in the house.

    ————————————

    The Thangggs:

    5 songs were offered. 3 of these could be used for psychological warfare. 2 of the songs are good, but have now been so played out in my house, I can never enjoy them again. In between each song, we engaged in some very active recovery.

    Song 1 – Hug a Turtle (:49) – 5:25 am

    by Parry Gripp – from his punk movement band, the Nerf Herders to creating false commercial jingles to writing children’s music, this guy has been pumping out content for over 30 years. And I hate him.
    – Hold Al gores, arms up with bricks, hug on “Hug a Turtle” with bricks

    Active Recovery (coupons and bricks):
    – 30 coupon LBCs; Mario punch with bricks to sidewalk; high knees/high arms back with bricks, 30 coupon LBCs

    —————————————-
    Song 2 – Geronimo (3:38) – 5:31 am

    by Sheppard – This one isn’t so bad until the 734th time you hear it.
    – Shoulder taps in duration; Merkins on “Geronimo” and “Bomb’s Away”

    Active Recovery (coupons):
    – Murder Bunnies to 3rd picnic table; 50 SSHs; Redrum bunnies back

    —————————————-
    Song 3 – It’s Raining Tacos (1:32) – 5:38 am

    by Parry Gripp – In honor of Taco Tuesday
    – Walk in place high knees; Burpee on “Taco”
    – Mosh jumps during refrains (yum, yum, yum); Hold Al Gore during slow reading of ingredients

    Active Recovery (coupons):
    – 25:coupon curls; 25 goblet squats; 25 overhead presses; 25 curls

    —————————————-
    Song 4 – Crazy People (2:28) – 5:45 am

    by Casting Crowns – seemed like it was written for F3
    – Six inch coupon leg hold; Refrain – Shoulder presses with coupon, legs down

    Active Recovery (coupons):
    – 15 thrusters, rifle carry to sidewalk, 15 overhead presses, farmer carry back, 15 thrusters

    —————————————-
    Song 5 – That’s Just My Baby Doge (1:02) – 5:53 am

    by Chicky Milky
    – High plank; Groiners on “That’s Just My Baby Doge.” (for me, this was the worst because the title of the song is the only lyric in the song, which means an F load of groiners)

    *At this point, Paradiddle offered the contact of a really good therapist. I don’t think he was referring to my back issues.

    Active Recovery (coupons and bricks):
    – Run/Nur Suicides with bricks (all picnic tables and sidewalk), track mosey

    2 minutes of LBCs IC

    —————————————
    COT and ‘Tana prayed us out.

    Kidding aside, even in the deep sleep deprivation of traveling with small children, I couldn’t help thinking about how much gratitude I instinctively have for the blessings in my life. To be clear, it has not always been that way. I know we often remark on the power of F3 and the camaraderie it provides. Self reflection and humility naturally follow. For me, it is important, if not crucial, to continue speaking these appreciations out loud. I’m showing up for God, my family, my job, and my community in ways that I never thought possible. Without reservation, that “showing up” is continuously fueled by each of you “showing up” for me.

    In a way, it’s kinda like hugging a turtle. Actually, it’s not like that at all. Paradiddle, what was that therapist’s number again?

    SYITG,

    Yankee Joe

  • We have a tunnel too – from Russo

    The Splashpad and Granny’s share a common space. It’s unclear where one begins and the other ends. It’s more of an F3 commune for midweek beatdown madness. Neither can claim to be unique, but both can claim individuality.

    Even though you technically can make the Tunnel from the Pad, YHC thinks we may have only been once, but it is a regular part of Granny’s thanks to Steve and Shooter’s sadistic side and YHC’s determination to conquer it and not regret the decision to traverse. Today, Cowbell and YHC did indeed sing “Hi ho, the derry-o, a tunneling we will go!” (maybe that part was only in my head).

    Warmup (all 10x IC)
    – Good mornings
    – Toe touches
    – Self love
    – Arm circles
    – High knees

    Thang
    Traverse to the bus stop and tunnel, where a Tabata of 90 seconds on and 15 seconds off got us there and back. We alternated between:
    1 – mosey
    2 – lunge walk
    3 – side shuffle
    4 – back pedal
    5 – high knees

    At the bus stop
    – 10 IC freak nasties
    – 10 Durkins
    – R&R those two

    At the tunnel

    Mosey down, side shuffle through, back pedal up, with 5 burpees at the top. Then 5 Shoulder tap plank jacks. Followed by 5 hand release merkins. Repeat those three rounds for 6 rounds total.

    Mosey back to bus stop where it was 10 more durkins and freak nastys.

    Mary (10 IC)
    – crunchy frogs
    – Flutter kicks
    – LMCs
    – Gas pumps

    COT, Name-o-Rama, and prayer closed us out. Ya’ll keep Cowbell and his expectant M in your prayers for a healthy pregnancy.

    Good chatter around college baseball and babies, and of course a good sweat this morning.

    SYITG