Category: New Orleans

  • Walk a mile in my shoes(with a rock) – from Hand Grenada

    Disclaimer and head out in clockwise fashion on track.
    First stop roughly qtr mile, arm circles IcX10, self love IcX10
    Mosey to 2nd stop, scantron stretch IcX5, grass grabber IcX10
    Mosey to 3rd stop, windmills IcX10, seal claps IcX10
    Mosey to rock pile, squat twist for bogey IcX5, overhead claps IcX10

    Grab a rock that your comfortable toting a mile(mahatma & Mr. rogers eyes were hungrier than their biceps) mosey counterclockwise back around track

    First stop, overhead press IcX10, rows IcX10
    Mosey to 2nd stop, chest press IcX10, tricep ext Icx10
    Mosey to 3rd stop, side lunge IcX10, squats IcX10
    Mosey back to rock pile, sumo squats IcX10, 10 burpees OYO for dessert

    6MOM
    LBC IcX20
    Metal Snips IcX15
    Leg raises IcX10
    BBSU IcX10

    Mosey back to flag, countoff, name-o-rama, announcements, intentions, prayer, dismiss.

    Always a privelage & pleasure to lead and I sincerely thank you men for the opportunity. Congrats on starting your Monday 1up!!

  • Sweaty Bells! – 7-7-2024 – from Almonaster

    Hot, Humid, Worth it!

    PAX Attended:

    – Strings
    – Subprime
    – Jingle Vader
    – Almonaster

    Warm-up.

    Stretch
    SSH – 20 IC
    Arm Circles – 10 IC
    Reverse Arm Circles – 10 IC
    Imperial Walkers – 10 IC
    Grass Grabbers – 10 IC
    Windmills – 10 IC
    Mountain Climbers – 10 IC

    The Thang!

    Take a lap!

    Shrugs – 50 IC
    Kettlebell Press – 20 IC
    Right Arm Press – 10 IC
    Left Arm Press – 10 IC
    Two Arm Rows – 20 IC
    Right Arm Rows – 10 IC
    Left Arm Rows – 10 IC
    Curls – 50 IC
    Triceps Extensions – 50 IC

    Take a lap!

    Kettlebell Swings – 20 OYO
    Dead Lift – 25 IC
    Deep Goblet Squats with a three second hold – 10 IC
    Right and Left Leg Lunge – 10 IC

    Take a lap!

    Man makers – 5 OYO
    Plank KettleBell Throughs – 20 IC
    Right Arm Plank Rows – 10 IC
    Left Arm Plank Rows – 10 IC

    Mary

    Helloo Dolly! With the Bell – 20 IC
    Ukrainian Douillie’s – 20 IC

    Back to Flag

    Birthdays
    Anniversaries
    Announcements
    Intentions
    Prayer
    Coffeeteria

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

  • The Seven – from Fracsac

    7 HIMs posted to the Renni to see what YHC had in store. Shovel flag planted, brief disclaimer given and the warmup facing the bacon began where Star Wars references were in full force. #IYKYK

    Thang One – Stations

    LBCs
    Jump rope
    Sweetness toss
    Big boi sit-ups
    Kettlebell swings
    Freddie Mercs
    Burpees x 12 timer

    Thang Two

    Frisbee run around NOMA. Last man to front with frisbee then throw to last man. A drop is a roll of the beat down die.
    Pax getting too good at frisbee. Only one drop, so next round is 3 passes per run to front. The mere thought of such a feat brought severe anxiety to the pax and there were many drops, hence several rolls and several sets of exercises.

    Final Thang

    Back of NOMA for the Wapner!

    8 count Body Builders x 10
    30 second rest
    8 count Body Builders x 10
    2 pax given the opportunity to forgo final round if they catch and throw frisbee 15 yards.
    8 count body builders x 10

    Finish with Sunday Mornings

    Back to the Flag for COT

    NMM

    YHC signed up to Q late Saturday and had no idea what to do. Leading is never easy but it’s always rewarding.

    Step up, Sign Up, and Lead! We have an incredibly supportive group of men!

    It’s hot and humid, so stay hydrated!

    SYITG

  • Gambling with Minors – from Goose

    YHC showed up at the Peltch fully expecting it to be just Maneater and Jacknife joining the truckful of Dawsons on this Independence Day weekend, but what to my wandering eyes should appear, but Cuz, Honeysuckle, and Smooth, each with a 2.0. I think this is actually the first time I’ve ever attended a beatdown with more 2.0’s than 1.0’s. Even if we counted Pope as a full-grown PAX, the little ‘uns still outnumbered us 7 to 6. And, when we finally got them to put the sticks down, it was time to warmup.

    Did the usuals, but introduced the Lafayette grass-grabbers, increasing the Lafayette warmup exercises to 30% of the total this morning. You see that math? That kind of quick figuring is what almost got YHC first place in the poker tournament. But, almost means I didn’t. An unlikely victor ran away with the prize, but we had some work to do first.

    After the warmup, we moseyed to the farther end of the lower field, and YHC set up Bose with what was assumed to be a blast from the past, a reminder of years we might not want to be reminded of. (…right around the time we learned not to end a sentence in a preposition.) YHC set up Bose, gave instructions, and let fly with “Lucas with the Lid Off”, a top 25 track from 1994 with a Grammy nominated music video. We planked for the duration, toe tapped (reached under and touched opposite foot) for every “catch the vibe” and merkins for every “bubbles”. YHC expected maybe Maneater or at least Honeysuckle had heard it on the radio in middle school, but it was as if I had pulled a deep track from an unpopular album from an obscure Scandinavian country. YHC was like, “But it played on the radio all the time,” and they and every single person on GroupMe were like, “You sure that was a radio?” Whatever–music videos from other dimensions don’t get nominated for Grammys. At least I don’t think they do. But, it did motivate me to see how many other songs seemed to vanish into thin air somehow in future Q’s. More to come on this…

    On to the main event, the F3 2024 Poker Tournament. The PVC cards from the Deck of Death were still wet from last time, so shuffling was difficult, but YHC managed, and each man was given 5 cards while each boy was given 3. The men paired up for one on one 5-card draw poker while the boys paired up for battle/war. The loser of each pair had to do the exercises on the cards of the hand with the harder exercises, and the winner did the exercises on the easier hand. If you did your math, like YHC, you’d see that pretty much every card was used (we included the jokers and the instructions cards–they were wild), whihc meant that there was no avoiding the really tough ones. Someone was going to be doing the 25 burpess or the 400m sprint. The jokers were frog hops between trees, which brought back bad memories from not too long ago.

    After all 5 exercises (or 3 for the wee ones) were completed, the winners went to the winners’ bracket, and the losers to the losers’ and we did it again. After that round, we had a winning winner’s bracket, a losing losers’ bracket, and a bracket that combined the winning losers and the losing winners from the previous round. YHC and Bam Bam were the final pair to face off for the title of King Poker Face, and he won with a pair of 4s. After getting an actual flush the round before (no wilds), YHC could only muster a king-high, so Bam Bam emerged as the champion, and YHC had to do some sprinting.

    With about 10 minutes on the clock, we went all against all, 5-card stud, and somehow Cuz ended up with three kings and a Joker, so the whole PAX did the exercises on the cards in his hand. (Shared suffering is so much better than doing your own sets of different excercises, even if you’re right next to someone else.)

    After this, we hustled back to the flag for about 6 minutes of Mary: WWI situps, crunchy frogs, heels to heaven, wife pleasers, Afflecks, and side planks. COT, intentions offered, especially for the PAX on family retreat, and Coyote prayed us out.

    Awesome work, fellas! It’s always such a gift to start the weekend with such quality men.

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Charmin’s Last Q (As a 29 Year Old) – from Charmin

    For once, there were more ruckers than runners, and no KnOTers.

    That being said, we kicked of the beat down with a count off of 9, then Ruckers rucked, and Runners ran, meeting at the exit of the park.

    While paces varied, good fellowship and conversation was had by all; all that is except Bolt who was running a 10 minute mile with his ruck, and then would knock out 100 burpees in 6 minutes while he waited for those of us who were closer to a 16 minute mile.

    This beatdown was a great one to have as YHC’s last Q as a 29 year old. Everyone came, pushed themselves, and we were able to get a great and sweaty beatdown in in 45 minutes (thanks to the humidity).

    This past year has been one of growth for YHC, and F3 played no small part in that. While the “hate” will (hopefully) go away, the love of the men of F3 will continue to carry on.

  • 1776 Patriot Games – from Squints

    July 4, 1776: Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence; only Hancock and Thomson’s signatures are on this initial document.

    August 2, 1776: Most of the 56 delegates sign the engrossed copy.

    Up to 1781: The final signature, by Thomas McKean, completes the set of signatories.

    July 4, 2024: Fast forward 248 years to this morning at Okwata, four HIMs took on the challenge of the 1776 Patriot Games training provided by our fellow HIMs at F3 Suncoast in Florida. We’re gonna need a little more time to complete this one…. Seems par for the course on this 4th of July holiday.

    Mosey on over to the Mardi Gras fountain.

    Warmarama
    1. Side Straddle Hops x 25
    2. Overhead Claps x 25
    3. Moroccan Nightclubs x 25
    4. Mountain Climbers x 25
    5. Shoulder Taps x 25
    Repeat this warm-up sequence for a total of 4 sets.

    Thang 1
    Lunges Between Each Workout Exercises, totaling over 50 reps
    1. LBCs x 25
    2. Merkins x 25
    3. American Hammers x 25
    4. Step Ups x 25
    Repeat this warm-up sequence for a total of 2 sets.

    Thang 2
    High Knees Between Each Workout Exercises, totaling over 50 reps
    1. Leg Scissors x 25
    2. Dips x 25
    3. Plank Jacks x 25
    4. Squats x 25
    Repeat this warm-up sequence for a total of 2 sets.

    50 Yard Bear Crawl
    25 Burpees
    Mosey back to the flag.

    COT
    Countarama, Namearama, Announcements, Prayer Intentions, Prayer.

  • Homer and the Odyssey – from Honeysuckle

    Five PAX plus YHC descended onto the Den Formerly Known As the Lion’s for a July Fourth beatdown. As it was also YHC’s 1-year manniversary, the PAX surely wondered what was in store. Since not all trucks are created equal, it was self-evident that AB was the one backing into the parking spot. And when the tailgate lowered, the PAX knew that at some point we were to hold these coupons.

    Warmarama

    First stop in the course of today’s human events was a warmarama (SSH, windmills, willie mays, arm circles f/r, cherry pickers, Lafayette night clubs, mountain climbers).

    Thang 1

    Then it became necessary to traverse to the four separate and equal corners of the civic center. In honor of the seventh month (and Cardinal), the first straightaway transport was seven crab crawl steps (2:1) then a run to the next corner. Second was four (the day) burpee broad jumps. Third was 17 (hundred years) bear crawls (2:1), and fourth was 76 lunge steps (1:1). The lunge steps did not in fact get us to Chick Fila but ended close enough to the concrete square for YHC.

    Thang 2

    YHC spoke a few words about the positive impact F3 and the PAX have had over the past year. Smooth was clearly becoming uncomfortable, so the subject was changed to the exercise. Part of the first F3 experience is getting named, and while Buzz Lightyear was a contender during YHC’s namearama, ultimately Econoline mentioned Honeysuckle and it stuck (no pun intended).

    Upon a year of reflection on the name, YHC realized that Honeysuckle is a meaningful concept that is part of American literature and songs – of course not to the extent that the fourth of July is.

    So, for the next thang, the PAX were to listen to the beginning of a song and determine whether the lyrics include (a) Fourth of July, (b) Honeysuckle, (c) both, (d) neither. During the song, a set of exercises were to be done, and after the song, we’d take a run to Aldi. If the PAX were incorrect in their guess, we’d have 5 Aldi burpees. Otherwise 0 burpees. Lil cuz was the official PAX spokesperson.

    –Song 1: Born on the Bayou, CCR. Hold plank, Merkin on Bayou. PAX were correct that only the 4th of July is mentioned. Lots of guitar soloing in this song. Run to Aldi and Back.

    –Song 2: Church on Cumberland Road, Shenandoah. Side straddle hop, Squat jump on refrain. PAX correctly guessed that both honeysuckle and 4th of July are mentioned. Run to Aldi and Back.

    –Song 3: Tin Cup Chalice, Jimmy Buffet. Big boy situp, OHP on refrain. PAX were once again correct that only Honeysuckle was mentioned. Run to Aldi and Back.

    –Song 4: America the Beautiful, Ray Charles. 6” hold, leg raises on refrain. Lots of discord in the PAX over this one. Lil cuz ended up saying the 4th of July, but in reality neither was mentioned. AB plans to listen to this one a few more times, because maybe Ray did in fact say Honeysuckle somewhere while he’s riffing. Run to Aldi, 5 burpees for our Thibodaux PAX everywhere, and run back.

    Thang 3

    We had a few minutes left so there was time for a little Dora – another 7/4/1776 theme. The transport would start with bear crawl to the sidewalk and run back. Then run for the remainder. The exercises were 7+4=11 manmakers, 17 thrusters, 76 curls. All individual counts. We were close to finishing, and maybe a few PAX were successful in the pursuit of a good bicep pump.

    COT
    Announcements, including AB’s manniversary next Thursday. No articles of clothing to exchange today. Prayer intentions. AB prayed us out.

    I heard it on the honeysuckle vine:

    YHC was EH’d by a Yankee Joe / Paradox duo on 7/3/23. YJ must have just gotten out of an EH course, with the lead, “So, uh, what do you do for exercise?” Paradox gave off more the vibe of “I mean, I don’t care if you come or not. The more I think about it, maybe you probably can’t handle it anyway, so it might be better if you don’t.” YJ agreed to drive YHC to the beatdown the next morning (in the Odyssey, not the Prius), to a Goose Q, and the rest is history.

    To all the PAX: OG, new, past, present, regular, one-timers, haven’t been in a while, come every now and again. You all are meaningful parts of this community and I feel fortunate to have spent the past year as a part of it. My life has been enriched and strengthened in all three F’s over the past year, so thank you.

  • Another Game of Chance – from Enron

    The night prior to this morning’s beatdown, the power went out in YHCs neighborhood (along with many others) making the morning more difficult than normal. With the power still out at 11:15 PM and the temperature in the house rising to 81 degrees, there was a major question mark on if the scheduled Q was even going to be in attendance. Fortunately (possibly unfortunately for the PAX that was to show) the power soon returned, and the temperatures slowly started to drop.

    3 Brave PAX arrived in the gloom this morning ready for what was to come. As AB arrived, there was a deposition (see Paradox, this doesn’t sound right) of coupons at the stage as chatter began about the holiday week dropping attendance some.

    Warmarama:
    SSH, WM, Willie Mays Hayes, AC, Cherry Pickers, IW, Mountain climbers

    Thang 1: The Core Mile
    YHC led the group through rich man’s loop and the new section of neighborhood at the stage, stopping every quarter mile(ish) for the following:
    Mile 0.25 – 25 Merkins
    Mile 0.5 – 25 LBCs
    Mile 0.75 – 25 Squats
    We then returned to the stage for the main event of the morning.

    Thang 2: A game of chance

    YHC explained his love for games of chance, and the decision to let fate play a roll in what would be completed in this morning’s beatdown. This involved the following:

    We would begin at 15 reps a randomly drawn exercise out of a “bucket” of potential exercises. Next that exercise would be performed before running a lap around the stage. Upon return to the stage, one PAX (rotating each round) would flip a coin. If the coin was heads, we would add 5 reps for the next exercise. If the coin was tails, we would subtract 5 reps. This allowed for things to potentially get much more difficult, or easier, depending on the flip of the coin as we progressed. Additionally, it was explained that if, by chance, we worked our way down to zero, there would be a “prize”. AB, immediately, and correctly, second guessed if this would be a true prize.

    Results:
    Round 1: 15 Bonnie Blairs 1=1
    Round 2: (Heads) 20 American Hammers 2=1
    Round 3: (Tails) 15 Skull Crushers
    Round 4: (Tails) 10 Over Head Presses
    Round 5: (Heads) 15 8-Count Body Builders
    Round 6: (Tails) 10 LBCs
    Round 7: (Tails) 5 Curls
    Round 8: (Tails) 0 – And here was the prize… A 30 second 6-inch hold – only to also move the starting number up to 20 from 15. YHC also explained if we were to get to 0 again, this number would move up another 5 and so on.
    Round 9: (Heads) 25 – This card said “___x2 second plank” resulting in a 50 second plank
    Round 10: (Tails) 20 SSH
    Round 11: (Heads) 25 Coupon Presses
    Round 12: (Heads) 30 Wide Merkins
    Round 13: (Heads) 35 Burpees – Fortunately as this dreaded card was turned it was 5:57 am and the PAX was saved by the bell after about 15 burpees.

    Stats:
    Roughly 2.2 miles run.
    Average number of reps: 17.31
    Standard Deviation: 9.91
    Median: 15 reps
    Mode:15 reps

    COT and Popeye prayed us out with special emphasis on safe travels for all and safety for the July 4th holiday.
    SYITG,

    Enron

  • Nostalgia, Patriotism, and I’m out of Adderall – from Maneater

    Five PAX assembled on another muggy Monday at The Stage for a sweaty saunter down….. oh look a squirrel. What was YHC saying? Oh yeah, A sweaty saunter down ADHD lane.

    Did you know that in some circles untreated ADHD is considered a super power? It’s tru (ish). If one can see past the wild impulsivity and general lack of self-awareness, it becomes apparent that ADHD has a few benefits. I’ll give you a personal example:
    A week and a half ago M was telling YHC about a presumably interesting conversation that she had while working at a local church parish. Unfortunately, YHC was only able to catch about one quarter of the story M was saying, as the theme song for the 90’s classic cartoon Darkwing Duck was stuck on repeat in YHC’s mind. Fortunately, that Fowl diddy inspired an idea for a beatdown. So as soon as M finished YHC took out the phone and searched a few 90’s cartoon theme songs, and in true ADHD fashion, stopped there. Not finishing the beatdown plan. See, superpower.

    Low Super-power standards aside, after volunteering to cover this beatdown on short notice YHC decided to combine a few of the gooey centered ideas into larger half baked beatdown. So without further ado, Let’s get Dangerous

    The Thang:
    90’s Kid Beatdown:

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme
    -Butt Kickers for duration
    -Squat Jumps on ” TMNT”

    Darkwing Duck Theme:
    -BBS for Duration
    -Gas Pumpers on “DarkWing”

    Chip and Dale’s Rescue Ranger Theme
    -Run in Place for Duration
    -Squat Jumps for Chorus

    Thunder Cats Theme
    -Plank for duration
    -Merkin on “Thunder Cats”
    -Peter Parkers on Guitar Solo

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme again:
    -See above

    ‘Merica! That’s Why

    Five Station Circuit- Toss, Sprint, Drag, Carry, Mosey- inspired by the US Army’s Army Combat Fitness Test
    1. 40 meters each way over the shoulder medicine ball toss there and back
    2. 40 meter Sprint there and back
    3. Cinder Sled- two coupons on a folded Tarp- drag backwards 40 meters and back
    4. Carry a coupon in each hand 40 meters and back
    5. Mosey around the Stage track
    Then do It again and again and again and again.

    After performing a number of circuits, PAX moved on to MARY. PAX went around the horn with each PAX leading a burndown.
    After Mary; prayer intentions and announcements included our F3 brothers, Holy souls in Purgatory, those families on the DC retreat, that God reveal Himself through the Holy Spirit to all of those seeking Him.
    Hey, have you seen that show on FX “The Bear”? It’s really good. The language is pretty rough, but it’s gritty, emotional, and the actors do a great job.
    Anyway……. Pope prayed us out.

    SYITG,
    Maneater