F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Show Up and Find Out – from Smooth Operator

    Show Up And Find Out

    Paradiddle, Pope, Goose, Paradox, Yankee Joe, Tana, French Horn, Smooth Operator

    After sending some slightly inebriated cryptic pictures as beat down hype, YHC was not sure what kind of turn out to expect. YHC showed up at the Den around 0415 to do a little levee scouting and rack up the ruck mileage for our May challenge. Around 0440, Paradox and YJ pulled into the parking lot and started pounding the pavement making circles around the reservoir. Pope and Goose were the next to arrive around 0450 and had the same intentions. 75% of the Smoothie Kings completed a mile and headed back to the flag. Tana arrived next along with French Horn, and Paradiddle seemed to appear out of thin air.

    Alright warm ups went like this:

    Side Straddle Hops
    Wind Mills
    High Knees
    Butt Kicks
    Arm Circles
    Self Love

    Yankee Joe like worrying about odd numbers so I threw in a 27 count of side straddle hops to make his noggin start hurting.

    I picked 3 people with a special connection to May 18th that I felt exemplified the 3 F’s of F3 and I broke them down into 3 Thangs. I also decided it would be a makeshift guessing game. So let’s get to it.

    Thang 1 (Faith)
    The first guy’s birthday was May 18th 1920.
    Through his Papacy he worked toward ending communism and building bridges to people of different religions.
    He was also a big fan of skiing.
    He is St. Pope John Paul the 2nd.
    Ole Yankee Joe got it right

    From the flag we went ahead and started with an Indian run which the last guy would be doing 5 genuflections while we ran 1 ½ times around the reservoir levee. From here we would be doing some levee climbing.

    We went ahead and did 10 Carolina Dry Docks on top the levee. Ran down the levee and did 10 WW2 sit ups. All of this took place on the front side of the reservoir between the reservoir and Hwy 20 for advertising purposes. All in all we completed between 5 and 6 sets and we moseyed to the baseball field.

    Thang 2 (Fitness)
    Our second guy’s special connection to May 18th was a little different. On May 18th 2004, This 40 year old threw MLB’s 17th perfect game.
    He was a 5 time Cy Young award winner and won a World Series with the Diamondbacks.
    He was also a member of the 300 win club and a 1st ballot hall of farmer.
    He is Randy Johnson
    French Horn got this one correct and knew a lot more about the big unit than anyone else did. T-Claps buddy.

    In honor of his perfect game we would run around the bases 27 times in sets of 6. In between sets we would be doing 10 Chuck Norris style merkins. Around lap 24 or 25 YHC had to call it due to time purposes. It was definitely not due to the stars and black dots that had started clouding YHC’s vision. After this we moseyed back to the flag to find out who our final May 18th guy would be.

    Thang 3(Fellowship)
    As DJ YJ set up the speaker for YHC, we started talking about another man born on May 18th. His birth year was 1952.
    He was dubbed the King of Country Music. After this one a lot of guess started flying. I heard Hank Williams, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash. All wrong.
    He had 60 #1 hits over a 30 year period.
    He is George Straight.
    French Horn got this one correct also. Looks like that college education is paying off buddy.

    The first musical work out would be to the song Fireman by King George. Whenever the PAX would hear “They call me the Fireman” We would switch gears from mountain climbers to merkins.

    2nd musical work out would be the song Murder on Music Row by Alan Jackson and George straight. This workout would be done similar to the first song but the switch would be done on the phrase “music row”. The two workout were WW2 sit ups and Heels to heaven.

    After this song YHC called it at 0559. I had another musical work out planned, but it worked out for the best “A love without end, Amen” would have probably been a little awkward between ole Goose and Pope. From here we counted off one short due to Paradox cutting out 5 minutes early. We had announcements and Tana prayed us out.

    Total count for the May challenge was 150 Merkins, 100 WW2 sit ups, and 2 miles run.

    P.S. Around lap 18 or 20 of running the bases is when YHC realized that he was surrounded by 7 certified beasts. Y’all keep up the good work fellas. I hope one day I can get to y’all level of fitness.

    SYITG,
    Smooth

  • Core Workouts allows you to see your D*** – from Mobydick

    Yes sir, you read it correctly. The inspirational quote and motivation behind today’s workout came from Moby’s moment on the commode. Thanks to core workouts, he’s slimmed down to where he could see his MobyDick again. That’s the kind of mumble chatter you get at the A1C gentlemen, why aren’t y’all posting here more often. You get stories about Mathlete’s alter ego, Kenny Rocks, proportional comparisons of stomach and johnson’s, grumble grumbles of past merkin inspired beatdowns, Zoolanders amazing physique and ability to do merkins with both hands and feet in the air, and of course, death matches between us and the splashpad. But today, it was all about MobyDick, and his deck of death.
    The usual A1C crowd circled up to begin the beatdown, when up the ramp came the sight we’ve missed for quite sometime. We were finally joined by our long, lost brother, BBQ. Are PAX was complete, we could begin.
    Warm-ups: SSH, windmills, head rolls, oblique stretches, all in cadence
    The Thang: Deck of Death (Core style) Hearts 5 count, Diamonds-10 count, Clubs-15, Spades-20. Round Robin style. You flipped the card, you pick the core exercise. With a joker being pulled with a heart, diamond, spade, and a club on it for a 50 count. The chatter was positive and upbeat, the fellowship was great as always, and the beatdown will most certainly have me cursing out Moby tomorrow morning. Thank you Moby for picking up the Q for me, I honestly thought I was going to be a scratch for today. Thank y’all for posting and/or reading this backblast. Truecoat has the Q tomorrow. SYITG

  • What the Ruck is this? – from Shooter

    YHC doubled up on the Q sheet this week taking over the reins from Russo and Steve on Tuesday and signed up for the AO of responsibility… Arrived early to the sights and sounds of Speedy as he sat in his vehicle listening to some Jams as Waterpik came Moseying in with his own prethang from the house… PAX then welcomed Steve and Hammer with his own prethang as well and Zoolander rounded out the PAX pulling in right on time.. Two things would be missing this day, our Rucking crew unrepresented and the Chattering of Sir Wacker already cruising the freeways with the family in the mini van on their way to San Antonio…

    Brief warmup
    10IC Torso twist, Scorpion kicks, Superman holds, Runners poses with alternating PAX 10 count, SSH and squat holds..

    Path for today was back through the park and out to Greenleaves for 20 mins out and 20 mins return. Hammer graciously hung back with YHC and Zoolander slid back and joined at the halfway mark as Steve, Speedy and Waterpik distanced further out.. Upon return Steve provided they had completed 4.5 miles and the six finished with around 4.2 miles..
    Chatter was great and weather was mild..

    Count, announce, COT and appreciation to Waterpik for the close in prayer!

    Until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Happy Belated Birthday to me! – from Fracsac

    I tried the ChatGPT program and I think I spent more time trying to get it to send me something useful than I would have had I just wrote the backblast. Now I’ve doubled my time on a BB.

    9 Pax posted at Okwata. Jesus Juice, Snooze, Cracklin, SOGO, Cheesesteak, Bongo, Gabrielle, Pho (DR) and YHC.

    Circle the fountain and form up in the grass for a warmup, which ended with 10 x 8 count body builders and the Motivator!

    Mosey to the levee for disperse people’s run. Finish at Canal and test the new H8 course with 4 corners, following the path of the H8 with bear crawls on the new concrete.

    Partial Route 66 to get to 51 burpees at the lakefront, then back to the levee for quadraphilia.

    Back to the vsf and 2 burpees to hit 53 from the Route 66.

    CoT

    Thankful for another year with my F3 brothers that help me to be a better man.

    SYITG

  • Afternoon Delight – 5-17-2023 – from Almonaster

    Christmas in the air!

    PAX:

    – Strings
    – Willie
    – Bullseye
    – Subprime
    – Topless
    – Almonaster
    – Server FNG
    – Blue Card FNG
    – Walker FNG

    Warmup:

    SSH – 20 IC
    Arm Circles -10 IC
    Reverse Arm Circles – 10 IC
    Imperial Walkers – 10 IC
    Balance on 1 foot for 10 seconds – Each Foot
    The Morpheus – 10 IC
    Grass Grabbers – 10 IC
    Windmills – 10 IC
    Mountain Climbers – 10 IC

    The Thang:

    Tonight was the night to Mosey around the Track to welcome our FNG’s! Perfect weather and clear night!

    Incline Push/Pull Station.
    I set of each timed by a group with 10 Burpees

    Stop at the Bridge.
    Pull through Lunges Right Foot – 10 IC
    Squats – 10IC
    Pull Through Lunges Left Foot – 10 IC

    The Fountain.
    Douillies – 20 IC
    Dips – 10 IC
    Burpees – 10 OYO

    Stop by the Golf Cart Path.
    Merkins – 10 IC
    Bama’s – 10 IC
    Nolan Ryan’s – 10 – 5 each arm

    Stop by final Curve
    Mary

    LBC’s
    Flutter Kicks
    LBT’s

    Back to Flag

    Birthdays
    Anniversaries
    Announcements
    Intentions
    Prayer

    Thanks for the opportunity to Lead!

  • Singular Peer Pressure – from Hogs Breath

    I showed up at 5:29 AM. Not another soul around and thinking that anytime the Q, Pass Interference, would show up. So I jumped out and quickly planted the shovel flag. Alas, no Pass Interference showed, just as I was considering rolling the shovel flag up and hopping back in and driving away. I looked up at the Bayou front and what did my wandering eyes see? A houseboat with two males sitting, staring back at me. Even though I was all alone, I felt the peer pressure to represent. F3 could not let a chance to EH go by.
    The warm up :
    nothing crazy some SSH, good mornings, world‘s, greatest stretch, etc.

    Coming up on The Thang, it was relatively simple. I looked at an old backblast I had in my phone’s notepad, and did an exercise followed by a lap on the circle loop. Then back to the shovel flag for another exercise.
    v-ups, break dance merkins, pull ups, ya know, stuff like that!
    I continued this manner for 35 minutes. I was hoping to be able to EH the two males on the houseboat, however, when I approach the houseboat, they quickly jumped inside. So, although it might not have been from a HIM the peer pressure did get to me, and I had to perform a Beatdown for a small audience.

    And since it was just me, I have a Coffeteria back at the house!

  • The Middle – from Charmin

    Disclaimer and count off, 11 Total with 2 going to do some Elbows over Hands or something.

    Go to Grass by the rocks to warm up.

    Warm-o-Rama

    Side straddle hops x 15
    Imperial walkers x 15
    Grass Grabbers x 10
    Mountain Climbers x 15

    Time to go to the pavilion

    Get in groups of five. Do exercises. Until all 5 rounds are done. Timer is 30 lbc’s. repeat for another round

    M -Merkins
    I – Incline Merkins
    D – Dips
    D – Decline Merkins
    L – LBC’s

    No one noticed that the exercises spelled ‘MIDDL’ and that we needed the ‘E’. So after pointing that out we go over to The Hill of Mayhem

    E – Elevens!!

    One side is Lunges ( 2 is 1)
    Other side is Big Boy Sit-Ups
    Go up the hill backwards and down the hill forwards

    With the following playlist, if you hear the word middle, do two squats if not on your 6 and 3 lbc’s if you’re on your 6.

    Playlist:
    The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
    Out in the Middle by Zac Brown Band
    Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel
    Edge of Town by the Middle Kids
    The Middle by Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey
    Alive or Dead by Middle Class Rut

    It was during this that we picked up a War Eagle

    Over to a flat area

    Bears eat Crabs

    One person bear crawls and tries to eat the crabs. But before he does that he has to work up an appetite by doing 3 burpees. Meanwhile crabs crabwalk away. Once he tags a crab they can bear crawl and they both do 3 burpees and then go after remaining crabs. Last crab becomes bear for next round.

    This seemed to go over well however some changes would be recommended:
    Start with 2 bears (or more if more PAX than today)
    Have a smaller defined area.

    Mary at end for time and then off to the Flag. Ended up getting our numbers to 13 with the addition of Hawgcycle.

    Ended with COT.

    Final Message: A couple of weeks ago I got the song The Middle by Jimmy Eat World stuck in my head. Thinking of ways to use this for good, I decided to craft a workout around this. Reflecting more on this theme however, I felt called to share with the PAX that we are all in the middle of something, or will be. And we must remember that it is just that, The Middle. And if we ever feel like our Middle is too much for us to handle, we should feel no qualm about reaching out to another one of our brothers to help us carry our middle.

  • Im Prompt 2 – from Vagabond

    10 burpees x5
    BLIMPS
    More burpees and bench work
    Mary

  • The Gap and the Gain – from Triple Shift

    Date: May 15th, 2023
    Location: Rock City
    Weather: 71 % humidity and 75 degrees

    With all the ChatGPT generated backblasts hitting Slack, I wanted to go old school and work on my memory, thinking and writing skills. With Fracsac out of town, he asked me to pick up his Q and I gladly said ‘yes’. My goal for this year is to hit 250 workouts and Q at least 2 times a month. Needless to say, I’m missing the mark. Which leads me to the title of my backblast. I’ll explain at the end.

    Warm-Up: It’s 5:30am, I give the disclaimer and the five core principles. We headed to the rockpile and then out to the football field. Circle up on me and I give instructions that this will be a slow cadence session to focus on the ‘TUT’ or time under tension principle. We start off with 10 – 6 count man makers with the rock. Looking back, I should have made it a 8 count man maker. Next up is 15 – Low Slow Squats, 30 SSH, 10 Peter Parkers (LSC – Low Slow Cadence), 10 Shoulder Taps – LSC, 10 Parker Peters – LSC and finally 10 Floyd Mayweathers – LSC.
    The Thang: Because partner workouts always push us, I start off with Catch Me If You Can around the 400-meter track. Partner 1 runs backwards, and Partner 2 drops and does three burpees and sprints to partner 1 and tags him. They flip flop their exercises until they complete one lap. Plank up for the 6 or pick them up.
    The Thang 2: Partner workout on the football field. Partner one bear crawls out and partner 2 does 5 goblets squats with the rock then runs to tag partner 1. They flip flop the exercises until they get to the other goal line. To get back, partner 1 lunge walks and partner 2 does 10 overhead presses then runs to tag partner 1. They flip flop their exercises until they get back to the original goal line.
    With a little time left, I incorporated a modified Jack Webb with the rock. One hand release merkin with 2 overhead presses with the rock. We work our way up to 5 hand release merkins and 10 overhead presses. Back to the rock pile and just enough time for some Mary in a low slow cadence. 15 Big Boy Sit-ups, 10 Flutter Kicks, 10 Dying Cockroaches, 10 get ups (lie on the ground and get up without using your hands or arms then lay back down). Horses to the barn with Disclaimer as the winner…for now.
    Countoff, Namerama, and COT: Prayed for the men with friends that are ill and the ones that are suffering with loss.
    NMM – I shared some of the insights that I gained from reading the book “The Gap and the Gain”. I for one was always looking to accomplish a goal and when I reached that goal, it never brought lasting happiness. And on the many occasions where I missed my self-imposed goal, I thought of myself as ‘less than’, a failure, not good enough or not worthy. That’s called the Gap. The space between where we want to be and where we are. Simply put, a mindset stuck in the Gap is never a good place. In contrast, the gain is the area where we came from. Your starting line, your starting weight, your starting fitness level, your starting financial situation, etc. Comparison with others breeds discontent. Comparison with where you started breeds hope and contentment.
    Godliness with contentment is great gain – Apostle Paul

    Conclusion: The F3 NOLA workout at Rock City was an incredible experience that pushed us beyond our limits and strengthened our bonds of brotherhood. The combination of challenging exercises, beautiful surroundings, and the unwavering support of our fellow PAX created a memorable and uplifting morning. We left Rock City feeling accomplished, energized, and ready to take on any challenge. (This paragraph is ChatGPT)

  • Tuesday Tough, Mostly – from Goose

    YHC pulled into a crowded parking lot for a Tuesday after making a quick loop around the new lot across the street, which caused the loitering PAX much consternation and fearful curiosity. But, it was unfounded–YHC was only scouting for a usable stretch of street for the first Thang.

    During the first part of the warmup, YHC was again faced with the weak, quiet cadence counting that tends to characterize the Thibodaux PAX. This weakness in an otherwise perfect PAX rears its ugly head especially when downrangers are with us–the confused outsider counts loud and proud while only about 2 or 3 locals eek out a barely audible, inaccurate count between Paradox and Yankee Joe’s comments about Tana’s hair. So, YHC shared his shame this morning, assuming the Tuesday Tough PAX would receive the blow with rock hard abs, but, alas, it was not so. You would have thought YHC had pulled out a ruler and was coming after their nether regions. All downrangers were immediately condemned and banned from future beatdowns, and warmup counts for the next two weeks are guaranteed to be a combination of both overly loud and overly quiet with side plots to overthrow the count-shamer. Well, so be it. At least we’re not overly schism prone–we should get through this no problem.

    The first Thang was supposed to be a quick Bleep Test over by the bumper area, and as the PAX planked up while YHC and Pope set it up, YHC noticed that it seemed a little farther of a distance than usual. The typical bleep test consists of two lines a set distance apart, and you run from one to the other at the sound of a beep–you have to arrive before the next one because it signals the start of the return trip. So, you’re running across at every beep, and if you don’t make it before the next one, you have one more try before you’re “out”. Originally, YHC thought the distance was 40 meters (34 yards), and set it up that way, but after the first beep, it became very clear that YHC was woefully mistaken. Literally nobody made it. So, thanks to the invention of the internet, YHC was able to double check and saw that the official distance is actually 20 meters. This thew off the idea that we would be driven to finish at least 40 laps to make a full mile, but half a mile or so would have to suffice.
    These men were no less tenacious, though, and YHC found himself challenged by a PAX that hung in there way longer than in previous beatdowns. As the time between beeps continued to shorten, YHC settled into what would clearly be some long-suffering. After about 40 laps, more and more PAX started dropping off, but we made a rule that you could buy your way back in with 20 monkey humpers, so as Paradiddle, Pope, and YHC tried to outlast each other, PAX with refreshed(ish) legs kept jumping back into the mix, pushing us to drive harder. It was quite the mental challenge, but all said and done, we completed about 54 laps, which is by far the highest we’ve done yet. Super impressed and grateful for this crew!

    With about 15 minutes left, YHC had three songs and three core bombs to deliver. The first was “Walking on the Moon” by the Police during which we’d be on our sixes holding feet at six inches, with a big, slow flutter kick at every “walking”. This is a five minute song, so I gave the PAX a chance to end early by guessing the artist–after some work, they got it, and YHC was happy to stop after about three minutes.
    The second song was “Ooh, Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson. We held static LBC position (crunched up) for the duration, and dropped down and back up with every “baby”. This was a first for YHC, and it really worked–we’ll definitely be seeing this again.
    The third was “Keep on Rockin’ Me Baby” by The Steve Miller Band–held static wife pleaser position (hip bridge up) for the duration, and down and back up for every “rockin’”. This was a killer, too–definitely worth repeating.

    With about 8 minutes left, we finished everyone’s mile by running three laps around the track (thanks, Paradox, for the push!), which left us with about five minutes for Mary. We started with Hello Dolly’s, and YHC’s goal was to keep going until Yankee was no longer able to sustain his high-energy counting. It was a nice distraction, but all distractions ultimately fail against increasing fatigue, so we made it to about 34 (2:1). We filled the last 4 minutes with as many Big Boys as possible. This sparked what YHC deemed the best mumblechatter line of the morning: YJ had brought his new F3 Broga mat and was pulling it out when Paradox commandeered it for group usage the way we’ve been doing with YHC’s for the past week. A mat that big is wasted on just one, so Dox and I assumed the three-man-butt-saver position, leaving a sliver for YJ, which led him to share that he felt “like the kid who brought a new toy to recess only to have the big kids take it away.” Shared suffering, bro. That’s how it goes.

    COT and the Animal shirt went to Superfun(d) (first time recipient) for his silent doggedness through the morning’s grind. Announcements and the typical accusations of exclusivity followed, and Paradiddle prayed us out.

    It was awesome to push through this morning with these guys, especially having Lil’ Cuz and Superfun(d) back in the mix, and Paradiddle posting three morning’s in a row! It’s amazing how the presence of each unique man makes such a huge difference–don’t think you’re not missed when you’re not there! You know how it feels to look around the circle at each guy with gratitude that they’re there–it’s no different when we look at you! So get there!

    SYITG,
    Goose