F3 New Orleans

Category: Backblasts

  • Attitude Determines Altitude – from Paradox

    YHC touched down at a crisp cool Den today with a single mission: Prepare the PAX for one of modern man’s most grueling mental and physical battles.

    An ultramarathon you say ?
    No , that’s fun …I guess..enjoy your 120.0 bumpersticker bro

    Surely it’s The Iditarod then??psssshh Child’s play and the dogs get all the cardio anyway.

    But wait …Swimming the English Channel? …yea sure that’s cute. My grancy used to do water aerobics too.

    No men , this grueling cauldron of chaos is not for the faint of heart. Today it is YHCs privilege to prepare the pax for …(dramatic pause) ….
    ….taking your family to the airport …there were audible gasps from the Pax as we had to fan Goose back to life after he fainted thinking about 11 suitcases in the van of power but we would soon find out the syncope was actually related to wardrobe vascular constriction.

    So the peanuts were fresh , the runway was clear and if you are getting nauseated by airport puns then you better get the Dramamine baby cus this little Cessna is just getting warmed up!

    Duke! Get your boarding pass
    It’s time for the bean footage!! (TM)

    Warm Up
    Standard issue where we discussed the NYT article about pickleball injuries being the leading cause of F3 fartsacks. Hope our F3 brothers can get some help soon. The first step is knowing you have a problem.

    Thang 1

    As with most fruitful endeavors, the real work starts in the home. When your wife sends you to the attic to get the luggage while she crams shoes into vacuum bags.

    We rifle carried over to the steps where YHC delivered a brief monologue enjoyed by all except the king of monologue’s. We want name him but he looked as if YHC was his 4th job applicant of the day who said “my greatest weakness is having no weakness”.
    Pure disgust from the professor.
    It fuels me.

    Packing luggage
    P1 100 thrusters/squats
    P2 takes coupon over stairs and back in rifle carry
    FencePost is a coupon thruster machine.

    Thrusters really got those propellers spinning and we were halfway through a second ten count when Goose took off his hoodie and changed F3 Thibodaux forever. YHC did an actual double take as my first glance revealed Goose was covered in turquoise body paint. Closer examination revealed a women’s extra small tank top with a euro strip in the back for full trap flex. Silence descended as the backstory unfolded. Our fearless leader had wrestled this item away from his M and 2.0s to better serve the pax after the recent demise of Animal shirt 1.0.
    It’s this brand of tenacity that allows Goose to lead this pirate ship with wreck-less abandon. (How he went 17 minutes with a straight face boggles my mind. )

    YHC tried to recover the blackbox flight plan after this crash but I’d be lying if I wasn’t sneaking peaks at the absolute unit turquoise pectoral muscles across from me. Away from me temptress!

    Alight alright , focus …this is what we trained for.

    Sooooo now You have the 12 year old gmc Acadia busting to the gills with luggage and half eaten cinnamon rolls. You give the ole girl two pats on the hood, she coughs to life and you try to remember when you got new tires, 2017? we’ll be ok. It’s time to head to the danger zone.

    Thang 2 ..the Danger Zone
    Side Block Hops
    Increasing block merkins (irkins ) on Danger zone
    Full disclosure I had no idea there were that many “Dangers “ and this got out of hand fast so I had to pull the plug. Can’t win them all.

    Next you arrive at the parking garage and hustle the short term lot for long term pricing (pro tip from money market Ronnie!)

    TSA final boss

    Conveyor belt race
    2 teams
    Plank side to side pull coupon under backwards when it passes pax does 5 plank jacks. Team Delta took the title with a plank Jack strategy that YJ figured out too late and Im sure there will be a Council of Jeaux about this slight very soon.

    Now you get to your Gate and have 2 hours to kill because that TSA precheck ultra boost double clear (Ronnie did it again!) got you through TSA in a flash so it’s time to impress your family with aviation trivia.

    Head for the hill in front of civic center.
    Right answer lunge to and Back
    Wrong answer , coupon lunge

    1. This American aviator made the worlds first nonstop flight from NYC to Paris
    Charles Lindbergh

    2. 1905 the wright brothers were credited with flying the worlds first plane. first names of the Wright Brothers. (Orville and Wilbur )

    3. What town did this occur in? Kitty Hawk, NC

    4. What does the letters TSA stand for? Transportation Security Administration (great save by Yj)

    Goose was full of that mean girls tank top swagger and crushed 4/4 questions for the pax , even guessing correct questions before YHC got them out.
    Do not bring your medium difficulty trivia into the house of Dawson unless you want to get swatted into the rafters.

    We finished with the main event ..
    The Delta Mile
    4 different layovers with a “flight in between “ and a return to baggage claim. We left Lil cuz at LAX a few times but all found our bags unharmed.

    25 coupon press
    25 coupon OHP
    25 coupon curls
    25 coupon squats

    Great effort here to get our flights on time.

    The real “M” VP of any travel is your wife who always plans the best travel, games, snacks, medicines and we wrapped up with a few rounds of Mary to honor our better halves.

    Goose then bequeathed the Tank of Destiny to YJ and it’s future looks bright.

    Announcements :
    Northshore 12 hour beatdown on Saturday . Goose leaving at 4:15 from the Stage.
    Buy those pre order shirts !

    COT and Goose prayed us out

    NMM

    Does anyone else have that phrase from your childhood that at the time made you sick to your stomach but in the light of adulthood looks better and better. Mine is “your attitude determine your altitude “and if I had one coach say it I had a thousand.

    F3 and our Thibodaux brotherhood has helped this phrase come to life for me. Carrying luggage, shuffling bags, coupon thrusters , silly plank races . These all can be put in the “that’s stupid “ file very quickly. But when combined with shared suffering , and an attitude of “I wont let a physical barrier break my spirit “ well then , the sky is the limit.

    Thanks for flying Paradox Air
    Please return your coupons to the upright position

    SYITG ,
    PDox

  • All Hail the 88th – from Rudy

    March 29th, the 88th day of the year. That screams out for a particular exercise. Hint hint – fortunately, Frac knew the answer…

    But first – the air was a bit chillier than anticipated for this first annual National Midriff TShirt Day. Bogey and Frac joined YHC in baring our bellies. Not quite sure how this idea started, I blame over-caffination at CC’s on Monday. Hokie, Mayhem and PVC KNEW what was expected, but bailed on us. The other 6 PAX (including 1 FNG who undoubtedly was wondering what he’d gotten into) were blissfully unaware of that expectation.

    So we started with 9 burpees OYO as a penalty – 1 for each fully-clothed PAX

    Then off to the rocks (“Don’t cheat yourself” was the instruction. Frac and FNG took that to heart).

    In the field, YHC’s timer struck 4 minutes. That meant – its time for 8 8-count body builders. After PAX completed, YHC explained that the timer was set to go off every 4 minutes. Each time, drop what we’re doing and do 8 8-count body builders. We’ll finish with 11 sets, 88 total 8 counts. Good times!

    Thang 1: 8 x 8 x 8 to work these flabby, exposed midriffs back into shape. Start on one side of the field with 8 Twists, then in the middle with 8 4-count slow flutters, then the other side of the field with 8 BBSU. Then return to the start of the field. All exercises and movements con roca. The goal is to get 8 sets.

    Oh, and YHC would announce the 4 minute timers.

    The Architect set the pace, finishing his 8th set right around 6am (just after set #7). In the interest of time, YHC called it off.

    Thang 2: Keep that rock up. 8 Overhead, 8 curl, 8 row. Repeat at 7, then 6, … then 2, then 8. 2 more sets of 8 counts in the loop.

    Time to return home – via a rifle carry to the rock pile. Hand Grenada took off at a sprint. Impressive!

    One more set at the rock pile. Horses back home, and finish with the 11th set right as time expired.

    Back at the flag, finish with name-o-rama, naming our FNG – “First Shot”. Maybe that was because it was the first nickname shouted out, or maybe it was because he’s proud parent of a sweet little girl, born approximately 9 months after his wedding day…. (BTW – He’s Mutt’s son)

    Closing with a prayer to help us all live our life intentionally, as we called out intentions for those who are sick.

  • Pyramid and the JERF – from Wet Tap

    YHC pulled up to the Stage only a few seconds late to see the PAX eagerly awaiting a beatdown. Somehow subconsciously, the PAX had unassumingly formed a circle. This instinctive skill must be a defensive mechanism. Never-the-less, despite vomit, monsters, and God Thunder, YHC was ready with a quality Tuesday Tuff beatdown.

    The usual warm-a-rams without haste:
    SSH, high knees, Butt-kicks, arm circles F/R, Self-love

    The JERF goes back as long as time itself. Some say this was the brainchild of Moses, others Ancient Egyptians. I personally believe it pre-dates most of written history. Somewhere in the late 80’s an F3 folk legend names Yankee Jeaux eagerly typed these instructions on his state of the art typewriter (with delete function). The JERF is a mighty foe in itself, yet YHC yearned for more, call it ignorance.

    In typical fashion, the JERF includes 10 sets of:

    10 coupon curls
    30 squats*
    10 merkins
    10yd bear crawl
    10 merkins
    20 American Hammers (2:1)
    30 Lying leg lifts
    20 LBC

    YHC wanted a throw back pyramid training in-between each set. The standard pyramid sprint cycle goes like this:
    50 yd, 100 yd, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100, 50

    The sprints would immediately follow each set.

    The eerie quiet of the PAX made me consider I bit of too much. Perhaps we’d run out of time? With the flash of lightning and rumble of thunder the party began.

    As we climbed the pyramid, all hopes of a low strain were gone; and at the summit a much needed 10 count ^2 let us admire the view. Back to work with high hopes. As we descended the subtle sounds of back against pavement cued Paradox to enforce form police mode. Without even a glance, Paradox can tell if those leg lifts are hittin’ just right!

    Beast mode was attained as Enron hit a 5th or 6th gear, leaving us wondering how and why? The unexpected strength and stamina exhibited by the PAX as we all finished together was something awesome. Leave no man behind was in full force as we all ran a little harder to finish the beatdown ( FrenchHorn-Goose).

    A 2 minute Mary was all we had left, giving us plank hold shoulder taps in sequence and a final 6 “ leg hold slow and steady fall.

    COT and prayer by French Horn
    @Goose, @FrenchHorn, @ Enron, @ Paradox, @Smooth Operator,

  • Buncha Varietals – from Vagabond

    Warmup with easy mosey

    Fountain
    -dips
    -burpees
    -step ups

    Wall
    -donkey step ups
    -side squats
    -plank ups

    Fountain
    -derkins
    -incline wife pleasers
    -bear crawl around fountain

    Wall
    -decline shoulder taps
    -Bobby Hurley
    -wall sit 60 secs

    Side stairs
    -push up 21 steps
    -lunges 21
    -calf raises

    Side stairs
    -side bear crawl up
    -J Lo
    -side bear crawl down

    Descent
    -incline big bois
    -decline shoulder taps 4 counter
    -incline on back alternating toe touches 2is1

    Field
    -alternating toe taps
    -caterpillars
    -American hammers

    Sunday Mornings

  • God of Thunder, before the thunder – from Hogs Breath

    YHC arrived at 5:21, nine whole minutes before the beatdown. Already three cars were waiting, including an FNG! After planting the flag, another car arrived with two FNGs. Ominous clouds appeared overhead, but the rain (and thunder) did hold off for our beatdown, instead we had muggy 71* weather.

    Disclaimer: given

    The Warm Up: some sets of 10, IC windmills, IC imperial walkers, IC toy soldiers, IC copperhead squats, etc.

    The Thang: After moseying to grab some coupons, and some mumble-chatter about the ‘largest rock’ we took a page from Chris Hemsworth during his preparation for the latest Thor movie.
    10 Curls for the girls
    10 OH presses
    10 Tricep extensions
    10 Squats
    10 IC weight twists
    10 bent over rows
    10 Chest presses

    Followed by a lap around the circular sidewalk at your own pace. Than plank or Al Gore while waiting for the 6. Lather, rinse and repeat for 5 rounds.
    After dropping off the coupons we had about 3 minutes of Mary.

    COT
    We names FNGs; Bumper (names after an embarrassing high school accident), Howdy Doody (A displaced Texan who owns a doggy pooper scooper business), and Lucky Dog (a fresh-up-and-comer who survived a bad car crash).

    Announcements of the Fury beatdown and some local beatdown locations.

  • And the walls… – from Russo

    67 this morning and humid from the rain, but Pax of 3 managed to avoid the storms and put in the work.

    Warmup
    All 10x IC:
    – Seal jacks
    – Grass grabbers
    – Torso twists
    – Toe touches
    – Cherry pickers
    – Good mornings

    Thang

    Mosey south to the Treen building for: Walls of Jericho (7 count of seven exercises 7 times around the hall)

    – Merkins
    – Ballerina Squats
    – Shoulder tap plank jacks
    – Monkey humpers
    – Groiners
    – Donkey kicks
    – Crunchy Frogs

    Followed by: 4×4 (4 more times around, 4 exercises, 4 reps at 4 corners)
    – Rosalitas
    – Leg raises
    – LMCs
    – American Hammers

    Mosey back to start where we wrapped up with a 20 IC flutter kicks, 20 IC penguins, and 10 gas pumps.

    COT, Name-o-Rama, Prayer.

    Fury is this weekend! Inferno coming up!.

    Great having you join/read. Let’s do it again soon. SYITG

  • Working Through Some Emotions – from Glitter Balls

    366 days ago I saw my father alive for the last time. Taking a queue from Saban, I thought it’d be a good idea to Q as a way to remember him and to give myself some perspective on the gift of life I still have. I would have done it the day of, but the 28th would have been 610 Stomp so I figured what’s one day.

    Warmup: some number of SSH, Grass Grabbers, Windmills, Arm Circles, Mountain Climbers, IWs.

    Workout: Tabata. The app I use doesn’t allow for increments outside of 5’s so I couldn’t do my planned 72/28 (72, my dad’s age at passing, 28, the day he passed) so I opted for 70/25.

    Music: Some Spotify Playlist titled “60’s-70’s Mix” but they definitely snuck in Huey Lewis & the News so, let’s call it a grab bag of 60’s-80’s.

    3 Rounds of 8 Excercises with 1 minute recovery between rounds.

    Round 1:
    Decline Merkins on the block
    LBCs with block
    Squats
    Overhead Press
    Right Hand Rows
    Block Swings
    Heavy Freddy
    Calf Raises on the block or holding the block

    At Kuch’s encouragement, I shared some fun stories about my dad. This one was my dad forbidding my family from eating at R&O’s ever again after he lost the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo when a fisherman caught a Tarpon in Lake Ponchartrain in his nets and was encouraged by the owner of the restaurant to drive it down to the Rodeo. He did, and weighed it in as the winner. We never ate at R&Os again.

    Round 2:
    Incline Merkins on the block
    Big Boy Situps with feet in the block
    Skull Crushers on your six
    Curls
    Left Arm Rows
    Walleyes (seated or standing)
    Right Legged Wife Pleasers (foot on the block)
    Left Legged Wife Pleasers (foot on the block)

    This story involved my dad getting arrested in 1998 for attempting to bring a gun on a commercial flight to Florida. He was going fishing in Key West with some friends and my mom packed his bag for him, unaware that the bag had a false bottom where he stashed his .38. Security found it and it scuttled the trip and also gave my school’s principal a lot of fun firepower the rest of my 8th grade year. Thankfully this was all explained away pretty easily and there were no charges pressed. What a glorious time the 90’s were! I also speculated that perhaps my father was D.B. Cooper.

    Round 3:
    8 Count Body Builders
    Flutter Kicks with block
    Step Ups
    Box Cutters with block
    Normal Rows
    Thrusters
    LBCs
    Curls

    COT: Prayers for Tool’s father as he shared with us that his health is waning. Also prayers for Abacus’ mother, who also passed on March 28th 3(?) years ago. Even as we age, losing our parents is never easy, as I’ve learned this past year. There’s a childlike part of our brains that just expects them to always be there, even when we know they cannot.

    As an aside, I want to share how much F3 has meant to me in my grieving and reflection this last 6 months.

    I was at a birthday party for a friend’s daughter when Jesus Juice asked me how I was doing. An innocuous question we ask each other thousands of times but for some reason, that day I was open and honest with him: “Not great.”

    He offered to me to come workout on Monday, and for some reason, I did. Since then I’ve poured a lot of myself into fitness and diet, and I’ve achieved a lot of wins but most importantly, I’ve started to feel like someone I haven’t felt like in a long time. There’s encouragement and fraternity here and I’m forever grateful for his kindness that day.

    Additional thanks to my regular brothers at AO-CityPark, Kuch, Saban, Abacus, YaMomAnEm, Snooze, Mama’s Pride, High Rise and many more.

    Rest in Peace, Pops. <3

  • 42 & The Mental Health WOD – from Mayhem

    After starting the F2L read and listening to a few F3 podcasts this month, YHC decided to grab the Q for a unique Rock City.

    Metry Rd train derailed plans of arriving early, as well as all PAX showing up on time. Forgiveness granted. Eventually we were 16 strong.

    Normal disclaimer. Reminded all that contrary to Pool Boy’s beliefs, YHC is not a professional trainer.

    Mosey to the field.

    SSH x27 – 27th of March coincides with YHC’s 42nd birthday

    Rest of workout focuses on Mental Health Month of March.

    Imperial Walkers x22 – 22 veterans commit suicide everyday
    Hill Billies x21 – 21% of US adults experienced mental illness last year
    Grass Grabbers x10 – suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America
    Arm Circles + Reverse + Seal Claps + Overhead Claps x10ea – only 40% of people with mental disorders actually seek and receive treatment

    Mosey to the parking lot. While Bogey led the infamous twist squat, YHC finished setup. Shared the story of a friend of a PAX committing suicide a few years prior on March 27th. Ever since, the east coast AO established a WOD (workout of the day) to be done on the anniversary in remembrance. This is a modified version.

    5 Stations inspired by the 5 Core Principles of F3. As PAX advance through the rounds, all previous workouts are completed at each station. After each station, return to COT for burpees.

    Station #1: Free of Charge
    Rd 1 – Hand Release Merkin x10
    Rd 2 – ADD Clap Merkin x10 (later changed to hand release)
    Rd 3 – ADD Fingertip Merkin x10
    Rd 4 – ADD Floyd Mayweather x10

    Station #2: Open to All Men
    Rd 1 – Shoulder Tap x15 (2 is 1)
    Rd 2 – ADD Mountain Climbers x15 (2 is 1)
    Rd 3 – ADD Peter Parkers x15 (2 is 1)
    Rd 4 – ADD Parker Peters x15 (2 is 1)

    Station #3: Held Outdoors
    Rd 1 – Monkey Humpers x20
    Rd 2 – ADD Bonnie Blairs x20 (1 is 1)
    Rd 3 – ADD Side Lunges x20 (1 is 1)
    Rd 4 – ADD Jump Squats x20

    Station #4: Peer Led
    Rd 1 – LBCs x25
    Rd 2 – ADD Freddie Mercury (bicycle) x25
    Rd 3 – ADD Penguins x25 (2 is 1)
    Rd 4 – ADD Flutter Kicks x25 (2 is 1)

    Station #5: Circle of Trust
    Rd 1 – 2 burpees (total of 8)
    Rd 2 – 4 burpees (total of 16)
    Rd 3 – 8 burpees (total of 32)
    Rd 4 – 2 burpees (total of 8)

    Shared a few more unfortunate stats along the way in between rounds:
    – About 1 in 2 men will have a diagnosable mental disorder at some point in their lifetimes.
    – Men are about 2x less likely than women to seek help if problems occur.
    – Almost 50% of men feel that they are struggling more than they admit to people in their life.
    – Depression looks significantly different in men than in women… women tend to present as sad and withdrawn, while men tend to present as irritable and angry.

    Coming up on 6:14am we had to HALT midway through Round 4.

    Mosey back to relocated COT.

    Welcomed an FNG EH’d by Pool Boy. Father of 6 including 5 girls… WEDDING PLANNER it is.

    Hokie prayed us out beautifully.

    Remember the WHY behind the WOD. Men are not good at reaching out. Touch base with someone that you haven’t spoken to in a while just to check in.

    Thanks for letting me lead on my birthday! SYITG!

  • Rain down upon thee w/ Goats – from Goats in the Machine

    Pulled up to the stage just as a rain band began to pelt the Honda pilot. They lack of weekend hype gif had YHC concerned it may just be me against the elements. Suddenly the pax trickled in and the rain began to subside. I really wanted to see as the humidity returned, if a Goats Monday can be one of those que’s to gain F3 Thib lore.
    Let’s roll the tape………
    Warm-o-Rama
    The usuals coupled with one of my personal favorites, wille mays hays

    Thang 1
    The merkin mile- talk of a Cardinal mile next time cause he thought we said 45 merkins per quarter mile

    Thang 2 deck of death Ronnie style
    Aces are 10 burpees
    And each suit had an exercise of this choosing but….. he totally made up the rep count.
    All in all it was a ton of hand release merkins. It was bad and we were soaked

    Thang 3 game of 21’ deck of death Ronnie version.
    He basically dealt himself 21 and we did burpees and jump squats

    We all rounded it out with everyone chooses a round of Mary

    Cot and cuz prayed us out
    Very thankful for each and everyone of you! Goats out

  • Repeato – from Akbar

    4 PAX this morning for a muggy beatdown at the Marsh. Usual arrival at 5:10 to see Waterpik and Hammer picking up trash and stretching. An on time arrival from Whacker and we were ready to get to work. YHC remembered the Q late in the day and headed to the backblast to repeat a workout over a year ago.

    Conditions: 73 degrees and Humid
    Warm Up: SSH, Grass Grabbers, Arm Circles, Windmills, High Knees, Butt Kicks

    Playground: 10 pull ups, 10 merkins, 3 sets OYO

    Mosey to the Lakefront wall for the Thang. Exercise on the wall x10 IC, various mosey to the street for second exercise x 10 IC and sometimes OYO

    Bulgarian Split Squats, lunge walk, Calf Raises
    Dirkins, Bear Crawl, Bouncy Squats
    Freak Nasty, Crab Walk, Superman
    Stone Mountain, backward lunge, Shoulder Taps
    Repeat x2, mosey back

    Mary
    LBC, Flutter Kicks, Rosalita, Jane Fonda x10 IC

    Count, name, and Hammer prayed us out with intentions for family and those in the Rolling Fork, MS tornado this weekend.

    Announcements
    Fury Convergence at the Lakefront Saturday 6am to 6pm.

    Always a pleasure to start out my week with you guys. Thanks for following my lead, Akbar