Category: New Orleans

  • Runners, a Rucker, and some pop-up Architects – from Charmin

    Started with one rucker, four runners, and picked up The Architect along the way.

  • 55s – from Rudy

    Whew. It was Hot and Muggy. No wind. Just moisture lingering in the air. High Rise and I staring at watches, wondering if it was going to be a Man Date or not. But SOGO, Frac and Saban rolled in hot – so 5 of us set off to the levee.

    Top of the levee for a quick warmup of stretching, Imperial Walkers, and SSH. Today is the last day of YHC’s 55th trip around the sun, so I pulled up a playlist representing top hits from my 18th birthday year – August of 1985.

    The Thing: Modifying the “40” to be a “55”. Each round is 55 reps of the exercise. 11 at the start, over the levee for 11 more, back for 11, back over for 11, back to the start for 11.

    Round 1: Hand Release Merkins
    Round 2: Big Boy Situps
    Round 3: Monkey Humpers. SOGO attacked by ants, so he got a pass on this one.

    Damn, its hot. 20 count Frac

    Round 4: Plank Walks.
    Round 5: Heels to Heaven
    Round 6: Slow Squats

    Still hot. 10 counts sprinkled around for everyone.

    Round 7: Peter Parkers

    Mosey to the top of the levee for some mary, then back to the flag.

    COT: It is *HOT*. Everyone, be careful out there. Praying for the health and well being of the many homeless in our city who are bearing this heat without the benefits that most of us take for granted.

  • The 5-6 Stomp – from Rudy

    YHC picks up Q #2 in the Birthday Week bonanza. Thanks, Heisenberg, for going 2 for 2!
    Humidity was MUCH higher than Monday. And only gonna get worse this week. Hydrate well, everyone!

    10 PAX joined for a run. 20 out, 20 back along the traditional route. A birthday variation of the traditional 6-10, today we ran the 5-6 Stomp: Every 5 minutes, 6 burpees. This took a remarkable amount of explaining, causing YHC to turn into Angry-Q. ITS NOT HARD. EVERY 5 MINUTES, DO 6 BURPEES.

    Several runners (looking at you, Screwtop Runway and Breadsticks) revolted and just ran. And ran fast. And far.

    The rest of us ran and burpeed. Pop-Tart, thanks for the enjoyable convo!

    Finished up with COT and Prayers. Be well, Mr. Rogers!

  • Run Lift Shoot Beatdown – from Smooth Operator

    Attendance
    Goose
    POPE
    Tana
    Safety Valve
    Wet Tap

    YHC pulled up at the stage around 5 o’clock followed closely by Tana and Wet Tap whom looked on with curiosity as I set up and tested the final Thang of the morning. After this Goose and a sore Pope pulled up ready to get another week started. Right before we started stretching Safety valve came rolling up which means St. John’s Place had a strong showing as usual. I guess the Rienzi (30A) clan needed their beauty sleep.

    Warm ups
    SSH 27 count
    Windmills
    Mountain climbers
    Arm circles
    Cherry pickers
    Mosey to the coupon corral for some goodies

    YHC decided to continue on with Paradox’s Memorable Men Mondays with a different type of high character man. YHC’s addition to triple M is an ultra marathon running, weight lifting, bow hunter whom’s goal is to be the unobtainable Ultimate Predator. I first heard of this fella while listening to the Joe Rogan Podcast, he has been on the podcast a number of times. Recently YHC started reading his book titled Endure which is an autobiography that shows this dude was a normal guy before he picked up bow hunting then he started training to become the best bow hunter he could be all while having a family, and working a 9 to 5 job. Today he is probably one of the biggest names in bow hunting. His name is Cam Hanes.

    Cam Hanes started his own YouTube channel and one of his programs is titled Run Lift Shoot. He takes different types of people and brings them run a trail up a mountain, brings them back to the gym and to move some weight, and finally brings them to get fitted for a bow and teaches them how to launch arrows at targets. YHC decided we would be doing a F3 version of Run Lift Shoot.

    Thang 1
    Run Indian
    YHC decided we would be doing a Run Indian for the running portion. which was introduced to me by Wet Tap. Basically the lead man calls out an exercise and will complete 10 reps of it. The rest of the pax will complete 5 and will run the rich man loop trail we normally run. The lead man will sprint to catch up and once he gets to the Pax the next lead man will call out an exercise and the process starts over again. This seemed like a good idea until YHC realized that we were moving at Gazelle speed instead of Clydesdales speed. We finished the exercise out with a 150 yard all out sprint to the flag.

    Thang 2
    Coupon Circuit
    After a couple of 10 counts YHC could formulate a sentence again. We would be doing 59 man makers, 59 goblet squats, 59 thrusters, and 60 overhead presses on our lifting portion of the workout. The reasoning behind this was solid, Cam Hanes broke a world record by hitting a ballon with an arrow at 237 yards (59×3)+60=237. I had good intentions but due to time constraints we needed to cut this down. We ended up going with 27 reps which was the number of miles Cam Hanes runs in a day. Even then YHC still had to pull up short on the over head presses to get to our shooting portion of the morning. The entire PAX could have earned the animal shirt with the effort they put forward.

    Thang 3
    Tire toss

    YHC thought about bring a bow and target to do a little shooting this morning but I decided we didn’t need law enforcement called on us this morning. Instead I decided to do an old fashion tire toss. First things first an exercise would be called out and the entire PAX would do 10 reps of the exercise.
    After this the tire tosser would turn around and throw the tire over their head toward a 8 lb maul which acted as our target. The next man up would then lunge walk the distance between target and the tire. We would then complete the buy in exercise as per the amount of lunges completed between maul and tire with some help from YHC. Listed below are the buy in exercises.

    C = coupon swings
    A =American hammers
    M= merkins

    H = hammer curls
    A = Australia sweat Angels
    N = Apollo unos
    E = goosees
    S = scissor kicks

    We completed the buy in for scissor kicks and Pope got to toss his second tire as the clock hit 6 o’clock.

    We hustled back to the flag and had COT and Safety Valve prayed us out. Thanks guy for sticking with me on this one. Y’all made this one fun.
    SYITG
    Smooth Operator

  • You Got Goose-Diddled! – from Goose

    The GroupMe was eerily silent last night/this morning for two reasons:

    1. French Horn had laid down a stronger than usual commitment post, and though many doubted, and many wrote and then deleted hilarious comments stating such thoughts, nobody wanted to discourage what looked to be an actually possible showing by the long-absent, greatly missed, mop-topped, boat-conceived youngster. Couldn’t risk that.

    2. Paradiddle was on the list to Q, but no hype had been posted by the ‘stached bandit nor any comment acknowledging the inevitable. Many wrote and then deleted requests for hype or temperature checks due to the fear that has now been associated with tank-tops, mouth-brows, and a white-capped abundance of hair.

    YHC thought there might be a small chance that Diddle had forgotten amidst his wild schedule, but wasn’t necessarily prepped with a back-pocket Q. Thoughts between waking and arriving had fluttered around Dilly’s spoken desire to complete grades 7-10 (left incomplete during his back to school Billy Madison Q) and memories from last year’s IPC, specifically the “Death by Skinny Runner” beatdown. So, when 5:15 arrived, and there was no Diddle, the site-Q (YHC) got excited at the opportunity to channel the inner Diddle and combine it with a little Goose-flavor and some IPC prep.

    A long warmup was needed after Smooth’s monster coupon routine yesterday, and this gave YHC some time to put the pieces together. Enron suggested the Deck o’ Death, which put the finishing touch on it, especially since YHC had also just attained some workout dice that were itching for some concrete.

    Warmups: the usual suspects plus Willy Maes Hayes and Toe Touches (bend down, touch toes, then come up and touch waist, then up straight onto toes with hands in the air = 1). Every vehicle that pulled into the neighborhood was taken to be Diddle coming in hot, but the hopes (or fears) never materialized. YHC then led a bumper to Stop sign to flag mosey to get the PAX familiar with the distance, cuz…

    Thang:
    One (or two) exercises followed by a quarter mile run, which happens to be the exact distance of the bumper to stop sign to flag loop. But, this would be a race, and the winner got to pick the next break…er, exercise. The winner could pick an exercise of their choosing or elect to roll the dice (three dice–one with reps/time and two with exercises) or pick two cards.

    Pope won the first one (though Honeysuckle was right behind him) and chose low-slow squats to give the PAX a breather. Smooth made it known that now that he was comfortable with the route, he’d be smoking us all, and though he started strong with a powerful sprint on the next lap (and every one after that), long distances remain his kryptonite.

    YHC won the next, (though Honeysuckle was right behind him) and we rolled the dice landing on 90 seconds of squats and penguins. The three minutes were greatly appreciated, but at this point, it had become clear that any hope of real recovery between laps was unrealistic.

    The next one was won by Honeysuckle (with Pope right behind him) who seemed to be set up to Q the rest of the beatdown, and he chose Freddy’s, which went way too fast.

    Next lap was Pope again (though Honeysuckle was right behind him) and he went with a couple of cards: 16 Bonnies (1:1) and a Joker, which he turned into a 60 second Mission Impossible plank (still better than running).

    Honeysuckle took the next (surprise, surprise) and went for a dice roll in hopes that two exercises would take longer than one (and that burpees wouldn’t come up) and the risk paid off. 30 reps of leg raises and wife pleasers.

    The last lap took off at 5:57, and many of the men must have seen the time, because the performances were impressive. YHC finished first, but Yankee Joe had joined Honeysuckle and Pope right behind him, again revealing that he’s got more gas in the tank than he lets on. PAX planked until the 6 arrived, and it was 6:00.

    All in all, YHC was extremely impressed by this crew’s resilience as they pushed hard each lap. Seriously, though Pope and Honeysuckle put the bar nice and high, the rest of the bunch weren’t too far behind–every time. T-claps to Enron, YJ, and Paradox, for some noticeable pushes, and Smooth for being first off the line every time.

    More T-claps to the impressive level of mumblechatter this morning despite the lung-busting, leg-deadening work. Unfortunately, YHC’s memory has been affected by the post-beatdown brain fog, so the only one that comes to mind was Enron’s comment as we were lining up for lap 4 or 5. YHC’s hand had substantially brushed a particularly sensitive area as we crowded to be first in line, and he immediately came out with, “Man, I goosed AND diddled in one beatdown!” YHC couldn’t breathe, and it almost sabotaged the lap.
    If you remember more gems, please post them in the GroupMe to make up for YHC’s inability to immortalize them here.

    COT and Paradox prayed us out.

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • 1988 National Championship – Again – from Rudy

    YHC decided to start the Birthday Week bonanza with a replay of his very first Q

    1988 National Champions – A Year in Review

    So as 530 struck, 9 PAX set off to the rock pile (it would grow to 12 as late arrivers Heisenberg, Mr Rogers and Wedding Planner joined us during the warm up) while another 5 went off for KoT.

    Circle Up for quick warm up to get blood moving. Grass Grabbers and Don Quixote (what they were called back in 2016, according to my backblast) and then describe the workout. Hand Grenada had the audacity to talk smack about the recency of this national championship. Yet he proudly recalled the 1959 Ole Miss championship year.

    Lets relive the year.

    Game 1: #13 ND 19 – #9 Michigan 17. 5 foot nothing freshman Reggie Ho boots 4 FGs. 19 count IW, SSH and Peter Parkers. False Start as Frac appropriately notified the Q that he was performing Hillbillies. And a 5 burpee penalty applied to Kenna Brah for talking smack.

    Game 2: ND 20 – MSU 3. 20 Merkins in cadence. NOLA football star Michael Stonebreaker returns an INT for a TD.

    Grab a Rock.

    Game 3: As our young QB (Tony Rice) starts showing of his arms, we’ll start working our arms. ND 52 – Purdue 7. Overhead x15, Curl x15, Row x15, Push x7. Drop the rock (Yes, Mayhem – that was 52 total)

    Game 4: ND 42 – Stanford 14. Repeat with x13, then x3 for the Push.

    Game 5: TRAP ALERT! Looking forward to upcoming “Game of the Century”, ND squeaks by. ND 30 – Pitt 20. Repeat with x9, then x3 for the Push

    Mosey to the football field, leave the rock on the baseline as we won’t be needing it for a bit.

    Game 6: Catholics vs Convicts! #4 ND 31 – #1 Miami 30. Hero of the game, Safety Pat Terrel with an interception return, and breaking up the potential game winning 2 pt conversion with 30 seconds remaining. We’ll sprint the 50 yards, 10 Squat Jumps, sprint 50 yards back.

    Games 7 & 8. The Military Academies. ND 41 – Air Force 13, and ND 22 – Navy 7. Suicide Sprints and Burpees. 10/20 then 10 burpees. 10/20/30 then 7 burpees. 10/20/30/41 then 5 burpees. Mr Rogers is FLYING through this.

    Game 9: ND 54 – Rice 11. Rocket takes it to the house! 80 yard sprint. Oh wait, HE DOES IT AGAIN. 80 yard sprint back.

    Grab your rocks, head to the pavillion

    Game 10: ND 21 – PSU 3. Bad weather so the passing game is shelved, leaning on the stable of RBs. Work our quads with Step Ups – x21 each side.

    Game 11: 2nd “Game of the century” of the year. #1 ND 27 – #2 USC 10. Coach Lou Holtz sends 2 starters home for “improprieties”. What integrity! We’ll take a seat in the people’s chair and watch the game with them. 27 seconds, then 10 curls. Repeat.

    Getting late – return rocks, head back to the flag.

    Game 12: #1 ND 34 – #4 WVU 21. Finish up with 34 LBC as we were running behind.

    COT: Count Off, Prayers for Mr Rogers for his surgery this week. He swears he’ll be back for the Friday Birthday Q!!! YHC remains incredibly grateful for this group of men and the accountability and encouragement they bring. Prayers that we all may bring those same skills and abilities to all of our encounters.

  • The 2nd Annual St. Vincent 500 – from Paradox

    THE FELLOWSHIP THANG

    Often times during large events there are pivotal moments that go unnoticed. One minuscule decision where success or failure hinges upon a singular action. Sometimes these remain in the dark. An unsung hero never revealed. Silently knowing the weight of their contribution. But during the 2nd annual St Vincent 500 this very thing occurred and today we shall shed the light.

    Ya see, It was early during the St. Vincent 500 cookout on Friday evening, the music was fine (shoutout Caniacs) and the delicious jambalaya was flowing, courtesy of Headcheese and the Bourgeois Meat Market. Just one small problem,…We …well folks we had a trash issue. In haste YHC had mistakenly grabbed bathroom trash bags to put into 32-gallon trash cans. Ya hate to see it.
    The jambalaya plates were stacking up. The bags stretched thin. Lil Cuz disgusted he could not throw away his plate and immediately eat another and you know how he gets when he’s hungry for JUMBOlaya!
    All seemed lost.

    With the event Teetering on the brink of mass hysteria I heard a low confident voice at my shoulder. A voice molded by years of unheard lectures, it was calm and consoling.
    “Dox, take deep a deep breath, I can fix this”
    I turned and saw it in his eyes, this man was all in.

    “Fly! Fly like the wind Jeaux! You are our only hope!” I yelled as the tires of the douche wagon squealed silently and our knight in the blue Prius faded away on eastbound 308.
    We held our breath ..…

    If you are still with me (and it’s an excused absence if not)
    You may now be asking yourself “What does an eco-friendly sedan and a garbage mishap have to do with the greatest beatdown fundraiser west Lafourche has ever seen?”

    Well…everything

    Duke! Roll that footage it’s time to go racing, and we have a pharmacy in need !!

    26 High impact men assembled at the Stage for the 2nd annual St Vincent 500.
    Our local crew showed up in force early to set the course. Pretty sure Smooth camped out like Woodstock, living on Bourgeois Jambalaya and dat Dawg was STILL hungry for coupon OHPs. Many hands made light work as we counted our pennies and made notes to all our 2.0 investors that their tuppens would be well borrowed. Our brothers from the north and south shores soon arrived. Some early chatter that the noted absences from NOLA were due to late night promo code camp outs for the T-Swift tour. YHC will expect courtesy tickets for …”a friend”

    The Northshore gang rolled in just in time. The legend of Tanked Up had been propelled all year after his awe inspiring performance at the 22 SV. He strolled in trophy in hand with Grundy at his side using the Theragun with precision intimidation to all our pax. Reluctant Yankee and Sandbar came in strong followed by Zoolander with Blue steel good looks even at 6:30a. Just like that it was go time!

    THE FITNESS THANG

    The Stage was set, and Goose was elected as Q for his exemplary public speaking and dashing short shorts. He led us in a thorough race explanation and warmup with side glances at Yankee about to establish a no tolerance policy for shakira shimmy Bonnie Blair’s.

    The race is a 2 man event covering 1 mile with 20 exercise stations interspersed on the course around Richman’s loop. Just a simple fun run ya know.
    You have 1 hour to traverse the course and at each station picking up points as you go.
    There are three levels at each station : gold(25) silver (15) bronze (10) with 500 points available if your dare.

    The stations set by Goose this year and he was in the zoneeee:

    Thrusters: 30, 60, 90
    · Hello Dollys: 50, 100, 150
    · Curls: 50, 150, 250
    · Burpees: 30, 50, 100
    · WWI situps: 40, 100, 150
    · Genuflections: 40, 60, 100
    · Tricep extensions: 50, 150, 250
    · Gas pumps: 40, 80, 120
    · Apolo Onos (2:1): 40, 60, 100
    · Moroccan Night Clubs (2:1): 100, 200, 300
    · Pickle Pounders: 40, 80, 120
    · Monkey humpers (calves to thighs): 40, 100, 200
    · Coupon OHP: 40, 80, 120
    · Leg Raises: 50, 100, 200
    · Bobby Hurleys: 40, 80, 120
    · Chill cut Peter Parkers (2:1): 30, 60, 100
    · Freddy Mercurys (2:1): 50, 150, 250
    · Bonnie Blairs (2:1): 40, 80, 120
    · Partner Dora (bumper)—Suicide, Mission Impossible plank: 2 rounds for each partner (4 rounds total), 4 rounds for each (8 total), 6 rounds for each (12 total); if need to rest on plank, have to tell running partner to pause
    · Partner Dora (grass)—Lunge Walk there, run back; SSH: 200, 300, 400

    We wrapped up the instructions and warmup and there were no more pleasantries to exchange. Time to go racing.
    The horn blew at 7:22a with most functional teams ready to go at their stations and 1-2 dysfunctional relationships lost at sea.

    Team points and observations below (to my best recollection of the points I jotted down and names, if this is incorrect please write your Representative)

    Dox/ Gecko 175
    We came, We saw…We got a lot of pennies.
    Got Gecko on my 1997 Creatine and peanut butter sandwich diet…early favorites for 2033.

    Dumbledore/GIJoe 180
    Classic pairing here of a rookie with untapped potential and the OG of Ogs, veteran GI Joe. Can we talk about Dumbledores first two posts: A Thursday paradiddle followed by the SV500 would make most veterans reconsider their C’s or HC’s but he silently showed up and put in some absolute work! Killer postfolio hes building.
    Also tons of local reports out of 12 Cedars that Joe has ditched the golf clubs and has been black ops prepping on the streets of Thibodaux. Don’t call it a comeback this man is a regular. #GIJOE4LYFE

    Wet Tap/Spec 200
    Unstoppable forces plowing through immovable objects. These men will humbly do goblet squats for weeks before realizing the rest of us were squatting air.
    Team “Don’t Weaken” lived up to the family creed. Great effort.

    Michelin/Percolator 205
    Team shake and bake coming in hot with Percs OG knowledge all the way from BR. Michelin transforming into a coupon OHP machine in front of our eyes. Ya love to see it. Great to catch up with ya Perc!

    Smooth/Suckle 295
    Officially dubbed Thunder and Lightning these men were a true combination of Rottweiler and Greyhound. HS gets to tell all his ultra friends he did a “1 mile fun run” and Smooth lifted a combined 18-wheeler worth of coupons. Well done.

    Safety Valve/ Cardinal 310
    In most prison movies theres a scene where a old inmate teaches a new guy the ropes. Cardinal fell right into his role here teaching valve the “proper” form on coupon avoidance techniques and how to ask extra questions to buy yourself a ten count. Valve continued to display his quiet strength and running prowess.

    Sandbar/Reluctant Yankee 325
    (*this was a ballpark # recorded post-race and if yall had different, chime in)

    Team Southshore, making it look easy! T-claps to you gents for making the drive, especially for RY for making the early haul after taking his 2.0 to college the night before. Southshore was well represented and we always enjoy the Yankee drop-ins during holidays.

    Cuz/Popeye 325
    Nice performance here from Team Yeet ‘Em and Street Em. Popeye already solidified as the comeback performance of the ’23 pax year and even further padding his stats while carrying Cuz. Don’t get me wrong Cuz was putting in the work, just seemed distracted asking YHC why we couldn’t add the Punisher symbol to the SV500 logo. #TundraTough…. It’s a lifestyle.

    Ronnie/YJ 355
    Many high level analyst saying YJ exercised the demons of 2022 with the tremendous ab and leg prep May – August and despite cranking tents and tables all day on Friday both these men laid down game day strains. Ronnie looking jacked Diesel in that tank sonnn.

    Goose/Zoolander 380
    YHC was setup behind the form as impeccable (as expected) but the push to get the next level (silver to gold) was inspiring. Just two great Pax leaders ripping burpees or was it a Calvin Klein commercial.

    Pope/Paradiddle- 425
    For real, For real! When YHC heard earlier in the week this team was pairing up I had them pegged as a dark horse pick. Pope has shown many traits of having dat dawggg this year and its been so awesome watching him grow and having him at weekday beatdowns.
    If you aren’t local and don’t know the maniac formerly known as Diddle let me read you his bio….

    Favorite song: Numb- Linkin Park
    Likes: Cardio
    Dislikes: Ppl who dislike Cardio
    Hometown: Zone 5 and He’s the Mayor

    These men represented the Thib pax to the last rep and YHC couldn’t be prouder. This will be a team to watch for years to come.

    THE CHAMPS….

    When the dust settled we had 3 teams that separated themselves from the pack. In a photo finish Tanked and Grundy retained the SV500 title narrowly escaping the youthful legs of Pope and Paradiddle. Leading the youth division (under 18) Redfish/Coyote with an impressive 500 points. The future is bright for these 2.0 studs.

    Tanked Up/ Grundy 435
    Incredibly impressive, especially with the tweaks Goose built this year. Station 19 and 20 Doras were both physically and psychologically punishing. Tclaps to the gentlemen for continuing to rep the Northshore. See you next year!!!

    After copious amounts of water/ Gatorade and shaking off heat stroke symptoms we wrapped up with COT and Cardinal Prayed us out.

    Coffeeteria with donuts provided by St. Vincent pharmacy staff and volunteers.
    I will pass along the gratitude from the entire St. Vincent pharmacy staff and board in thanking everyone involved in this event and fundraising endeavor. It’s been 2 years since we started discussing ways to help with the pharmacy after the devastation of Hurricane Ida and continued strain from the pandemic and I could have never imagined this level of support from F3 and the community. I’m proud to announce that with our contributions this year ($9517.50) we have raised over $20, 000 in the last 2 years for the pharmacy to continue to provide for people in need of life-saving medications. Looking forward to continuing to find ways to support this great organization.

    Epilogue

    THE FAITH THANG

    The heaping trash continued to tumble out of the micro trash bag and the tension was palpable. No one had seen this much garbage since the Naboo storyline in Episode 1 (RIP Jar Jar). Soon the sheer amount of plastic would overtake our oxygen supply. YHC was grasping at straws. We had to keep our composure. Cardinal was even running diversion tactics by introducing new schisms to the pax. “Hey you guys know how pirogue is pronounced??”
    And just when we had reached our darkest hour there came the return of the silent sedan over the hill like Gandalf into Helms deep. In place of a blazing white staff he proceeded to unveil the largest trash bag ever created on planet earth. We placed the entire events trash inside and it still looked empty. What and why this unit of plastic could be used for, other than oceans of trash, is beyond me. When Jeaux was pressed about it he only mumbled something about his affairs in international waters not being my business. He silently went on about his duty of peddling event t-shirts and correcting form. Not all heroes bring hefty’s.

    So here’s the very thing about the men of F3 Thibodaux. Ask them to grab a trash bag and they bring you TrashZilla Rex, the king of all trash. Need a JUMBolaya pot? Here’s one you can swim in! Need 1-2 ice chests? Ho Hum, here’s 5 Yetis all 30A approved. Ask them to do burpees, why not Kraken Burpees on emom timer. Ask them for stretching and you get a Diddle death march.

    And how about ask them to support a charity pharmacy in 115 heat indices with a back-to-back 2 day event?? One that has been there for so many in need for 2 decades and needed that same support. Well, you already know how that ends. The chips are low, a wolf at the door or a man alone in the darkness and these pax will stand up and serve those less fortunate. I could not be prouder to stand beside them.

    SYITG,

    Paradox

  • 5 year Westbank AO Anniversary – from Slinger

    On 15 Aug, The OG Westbank AO celebrated its 5 year anniversary. The goal was to visit all the favorite beatdown locations at the AO in under 45 minutes. Fortunately, we had a cool breeze and a great turnout of westbank and eastbank PAXs.

    Thighs opened up the beatdown with a warm up and then everyone moseyed to the Amphitheater.

    Thighs led the first Q:
    2 Rounds:
    Running up and down the 4 sets of stairs of the amphitheater.
    Station 1: 15x Hand release Merkins
    Station 2: 15x Bulgarian Split Squats
    Station 3: 15x Hello Dollies
    Station 4: 15x Speed Toe Touches
    Station 5: 15x Diamond Merkins

    After a quick rest countdown, we moseyed to the parking lot.

    Shortbus led the second Q:

    While each PAX chair sat along the wall, the PAX passed a coupon down the line. Once the coupon was passed, the PAX did 10 Merkins and then returned to the wall. When all PAX did their Merkins, the coupon was passed back down the line repeating the workout.

    Then while the PAX were chair sitting along the wall, 3 paxs ran 25 yards to a coupon and did 10 Goblet Squats and returned. Rinse and repeat until all PAX had completed.

    Then the PAX ran across the parking lot and did 50 LBCs and ran back and did 50 Merkins.

    T-Square led the third Q:

    T-Square brought a frisbee to add some levity to the workout. Pax slung the frisbee and ran in it’s direction till it made first contact with the ground. After first touch down the PAX did:

    Round 1 – 2:
    1 Burpee then lunge walk to the frisbee’s final resting spot.

    Round 3-4:
    1 Burpee then Bear Crawl to the frisbee’s final resting spot

    Round 5-6:
    5 Merkins then Burpee Broad Jump to the frisbee’s final resting spot.
    Sprinting had it’s benefits… 😅

    Slinger led the fourth Q:

    The PAX moseyed to the parking garage.
    This set of exercises consisted of running the length of the parking garage and at each new level, we did that # x10 reps of an exercise:

    Level 1: 10x Merkins
    2: 20x Squats
    3: 30x Flutter Kicks
    4: 40x
    5: 50x Freddy Mercurys

    After that, we were at 40 minutes, so we ran back down the stairs and moseyed back to the flag.

    As we got a celebratory sports drink to start cooling off, T-Square led the PAX in 20x Box Cutters and then Thighs led 3 sets of Lazy Boys.

    T-Square led the final countdown, announcements, and prayer.

    Obviously, with all that humidity and heat, it was a tough beatdown. But with all the energy of rotating Qs and supporting PAXs, we had a great celebration of the Anniversary.

    Looking forward to many more!
    The OG

    The OG 5 Yr Photo

  • In Pursuit of Trivialities – from Goose

    YHC was excited about this one–it would be an opportunity to break out one of the best board games ever created, one that combines chance with constantly new challenges. Combining Trivial Pursuit with F3 seemed like a match made in heaven. And, with recent experiences of PAX coming through in superhuman ways any time trivia has been present at a beatdown, YHC knew he could bring the heavy.

    16 strong at The Peltch showed that the crew had caught the excitement; either that, or the high quality GroupMe banter has forged bonds and created some useful FOMO in the hearts of many men. It was great to see Royal Deuce at his first major league beatdown, and the return of G.I. Joe for the third Saturday in a row boosted the morale considerably. Oh, and Yeah-Yeah came with Popeye for the first time since his full-on return, which was a great boost for the 2.0’s. Looking forward to getting to see him grow out there!

    Warmups of the usuals with some extra emphasis on the lower back followed by a mosey to the Thunderdome with the mystery box hidden in a bag for a last moment reveal. Upon arrival YHC unveiled a more modern version of Trivial Pursuit with cards split into colors/categories with questions on each ranging in difficulty from 1-6 depending on the dice roll. YHC also had a list of exercises to match each category in the case of a wrong answer. Another dice roll determined which exercise was chosen.

    The first couple of questions were mowed down easily, and Yankee Joe showed that he’d be a force to be reckoned with today and possibly in some future, post-kids’-bedtime game night. (He’s on my team. I called it.) But, alas, the typical “I said the right answer but I wasn’t sure enough of myself to push the team captain to go with it” dynamic struck, and we lined up for a Bataan Death Crawl, one of the History category exercises. It consisted of the PAX splitting into two lines, Indian Run style, to bear crawl from the Thunderdome to the opposite, third base-line foul pole in the neighboring ballfield and back. The last guy in line did 5 burpees before running to the front of the crawling line. The total distance was about 100 yards. Nice opener. The mood had changed considerably–wrong answers were clearly to be avoided with all seriousness.

    The next series of questions revealed the prowess of G.I. Joe, whose Quiz Bowl champ son had clearly exercised his Trivial Pursuit training upon his father. He came in strong with some logical deduction revealing what all Trivial Pursuit veterans know–the answer is usual revealed in some form in the way they ask the question. Cardinal picked up on this, too, which was to be expected.

    After Royal Deuce saved the PAX with some deep Simpsons knowledge, it was back to the list in the Science and Nature category. A minute and a half Mission Impossible plank in the grass would give us the opportunity to do make some up-close observations of what has recently become a very scary place. For some, it provided a chance to work through some PTSD. For others, it only added fuel to the growing menace. The time was shortened to a minute to save the morale and the fragile mental state of a number of the PAX.

    If YHC’s memory serves him, the streaks of correct answers grew shorter and shorter as time went on, and periods of muscle burnout, sweat, and trash talking grew more frequent. Here are some of the more notable penalty exercises:

    -Field of Dreams (Art and Literature–it was a movie based on the book, “Shoeless Joe”): PAX split into four groups on the baseball field, one group at each base and completed the following exercises AMRAP as they waited for the group at home to complete 15 burpees so they could be relieved and run (for some) to the next base. 1st base: squats. 2nd: merkins. 3rd: LBC’s. 15 burpees is tough, especially after AMRAP merkins, and they take a while. And, thankfully, the Form Police isn’t authorized to give fines; though, that could have been a great way to cover some of the SV500 costs…and pay for next year’s event in full…and purchase an F3 trailer.

    -Geography: Around the World lunges–lunges forward R, L, left side, back L, R, right side = 1. We did 10 of these in cadence, speeding up as we went. It was fun. And, that was the only one we had to do for Geography. Nice work, fellas.

    -We did none of the awesome exercises on the Entertainment list, which means all pink questions were answered correctly. I’m not sure if I should be impressed or depressed.

    -History didn’t get landed on too much, so the Bataan Death Crawl was the only representative.

    -Arts and Literature–there were a few close calls, but Field of Dreams was the only one from this list, too. Surprising, and impressive, especially given the large amount of purple cards drawn.

    -The Science and Nature category required two penalty exercises–the aforementioned observation plank and the Failure to Launch, Blastoff jump squats. YHC counted down from ten as we slowly lowered into a very low squat before jumping up. Did 10 of these.

    -It was the Sports and Leisure category that suprisingly destroyed this crew. Not long after the death crawl, we rolled the Bear Crawl Brawl in which partners pushed against the shoulders of one another to provide resistance as they bear crawled from first base to the opposite outfield pole (about 30-40 yards), flapjacked and returned.
    We also did Bobby Hurleys (30 IC, 2:1), Nolan Ryans (15 IC on each side), and Apolo Ono’s (30 IC, 2:1).

    The hour ended too quickly, but had some fun, worked the ol’ noodle, took some chances, and burned some muscles before heading back to the flag for count off and COT. Animal shirt went to Cardinal for navigating/instigating the “HC” battle on GroupMe, and then lots of strong prayer intentions for F3 brothers in need before a hand-gesture-filled photo shoot. (Oh, and Coyote made the formerly agreed upon transfer of the SV500 trophy to his teammate Redfish for admiration and safe keeping until next they meet.)

    Thanks for playing along, fellas! It was fun to see how each guy’s brain works under stress and what kind of knowledge is stored in which guys’ heads. Till next time!

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • 10 things, 10 times, 10 times – from Kenna Brah

    10 things 10 times, 10 times
    1 is 1 for each movement
    10 reps per exercise
    10 exercise per rd
    10 rnds
    NO WARMUP. Must start on time!!
    IN CADENCE 1 is 1
    I’ll call count, but would love help!
    2.7 sec per movement
    SSH
    TOY SOLDIERS
    IMPERIAL WALKERS
    MERKINS
    PETER PARKER
    FREDDIE MERCS
    LBC
    FLUTTER KICKS
    JUMP SQUATS
    BONNIE BLAIRS

    Completed in 20 min!!

    RND 2:

    With Rocks
    10 Curls
    10 Rows
    10 Sumo Squats
    10 OHP
    10 “DO-ceps” extensions because there is NO TRI only DO!

    Finish with Mary Go Round
    COT

    See ya!!