Category: New Orleans

  • – from Dry Socket

    I recently had the pleasure of experiencing a workout session at Misty Mountain, and I must say, it exceeded all my expectations. The atmosphere, the trainers, and the overall workout experience left me feeling invigorated and motivated to continue on my fitness journey.
    Title: Dynamic and Engaging Workout Experience at Misty Mountain

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

    I recently joined a workout session at Misty Mountain with a group of 12 participants, and I was thoroughly impressed with the energy and effectiveness of the workout. From the warm-up exercises to the challenging routines, Misty Mountain provided a dynamic and engaging fitness experience.

    The session began with a series of warm-up exercises that set the tone for the workout ahead. We started with side and straddle hops, which got our heart rates up and warmed up our lower body muscles. The arm circles and overhead claps engaged our upper body, preparing us for the upcoming workout. The inclusion of seal claps added a fun and interactive element to the warm-up, creating a positive and enthusiastic atmosphere.

    We started our adventure by running towards Wolfpack Mountain, and the Indian runs along the way added an element of teamwork and camaraderie. The scenic route provided a refreshing backdrop for our run, keeping us motivated as we made our way to the top.

    Once we reached the summit, we delved into a Dora 123 workout that tested our strength and endurance. The combination of 50 lunges, 100 imperial walkers, and 150 Merkins pushed us to our limits, encouraging us to dig deep and push through any fatigue. The trainers’ guidance and encouragement ensured that we maintained proper form and technique throughout the challenging exercises.

    At the top of the mountain, we engaged in a series of core exercises, further targeting our abdominal muscles and strengthening our core. This segment added a dynamic twist to the workout, allowing us to focus on building stability and balance while enjoying the panoramic views from our elevated vantage point.

    The journey continued as we ran back towards the flag, where a series of bench exercises awaited us. Step-ups, power-ups, and dips provided an intense upper body and lower body workout, engaging multiple muscle groups and improving overall strength. The variety of exercises kept the workout exciting and prevented any monotony from setting in.

    After the intense workout, the group rewarded ourselves with a well-deserved treat from La Boulangerie, which served as a delicious post-workout reward. It was a great opportunity to refuel and recharge our bodies before heading to Brown Bags for a dBrief. This time together allowed us to reflect on the workout, share our experiences, and bond as a community.

    In conclusion, my experience at Misty Mountain was nothing short of fantastic. The warm-up exercises, including side and straddle hops, arm circles, overhead claps, and seal claps, effectively prepared us for the workout. The trainers’ guidance, personalized attention, and inclusive approach made the session challenging yet enjoyable. The sense of community and support among the participants added an extra layer of motivation. I highly recommend Misty Mountain to anyone seeking a dynamic, engaging, and results-driven workout.

  • 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

  • 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!

  • 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

  • The First(and Probably Last) F3 Presidential Fitness Test – from French Horn

    Four Score and 7 years ago, the founders of our nation based the core values of our nation on brotherhood, democracy, equality(eventually we got there), and most importantly; athletics. The first presidential fitness test was started by the legendary Dwight D. Eisenhower, the GOAT of World War Generals. The test was discontinued in 2013 because the new generation of liberal snowflakes couldn’t take the sheer dexterity and tenacity required for such a task. I was the last of a dying breed, the last breed of young men who attempted this test, and the impact it left on me is incermountable. As so, I thought there was nothing better to begin my Qing career than this test of sheer manliness.

    It wouldn’t be a Horn Q if YHC was fashionably late. I shot in at a crisp 6:34 as the PAX were deep into a warmup led by Goose, the man with the golden bloodline. Awaiting me in the parking lot is a highly touted FNG Andrew, someone who I warned beforehand how different this is from the weight room; he was hard headed enough to scoff at me, he will see what is to come soon. As disciples of the great marketing professor Yankee Joseph the 2nd, we know a thing or two about highly thought provoking ideas. I thought the PAX would be excited and enthusiastic about this workout when they knew about the prize I had. The F3 world championship belt. Here we go:

    The Thang:
    A good beat down includes a song, and what better song to start a hot muggy summer than some good ole Pearl Jam.
    Song: Alive with air squats through the song until the chorus when therefore we burpee.

    The Test.
    Merkins
    Big Boys
    Coupons Curls
    Shuttle Run
    Augmented Mile Run
    Montana’s Choice(I gave tana man the choice of workout as he was the reason I’m here with you fine gentlemen, and I will be forever grateful for this unit of a human)
    Pull ups
    Mosey Back

    A nice session of mary concluded with Pope becoming the champion and Coyote as 2.0 champion. As I said before, Goose has thoroughbreds as children. Slots from Katy came in 2nd, a performance for the ages, massive respect for him as he came in and out in 110% effort and was a beast for all 60 minutes. I’m also rocking the Katy F3 sticker on ole Bessie as we speak(it’s fire). 3rd place was Dox, you can always expect Dox to compete and show off his grit and wherewithal. FNG Andrew did a little better than I expected, he was a fish out of water without his pre workout and creatine, but it meant a lot to me that my brother from another mother made the trip to come to my VQ, as well as being given maybe the best name in history, Frankenbeanz(already legendary). Special mention to Wet Tap, as the F3 version of Hulk Hogan(always winning brother) suffered a weird off day, which was escpially weird as the ole taking off the shoes trick didn’t go in his favor. The animal recipient was Paradiddle, the first time I saw him at a beat down and I was extremely impressed, T-Claps to my guy. Gigi recipient was Wet Tap, it really essintiates his biceps. All things considered the beast will continue to conquer. Prayer intentions and then Wet Tap with a strong prayer out.

    I wanted to end this blast off by getting a little personal. Growing up I was a chubby kid. I was always athletic and always wanting to be active, but I was always heavyset no matter what I did. When Covid-19 hit, I was encouraged by my friends to start being active again. And so I started running(Forrest Gump voice). By the time 2021 rolled around I was chilling at 190, down from 265 in May, a massive drop. I was encouraged and happy, until I wasn’t. My dad dropped dead offshore from an aortic dissection. It was the darkest point in my life. I started making bad life choices, not having a clear path or clear sight of where life would take me. Down to 165 pounds, I was literally close to my body shutting down from lack of food. Then I had that moment where I realized I had to change. I started going to the gym and bulking up, continuing to try my best to make my dad proud along the way. The last year has still been difficult, as my mom and I’s relationship has been very shaky at best. I really have no guidance or adult prescense in my life at this point, so I was trying my best to stay afloat, at this point worse than before. One day during that roughy time while working at CC’s, I saw the great drug dealer from Napoleonville BJ Antill sipping his cup of hot coffee in visible pain. I asked him what’s up? He replied,”Cinderblocks man.” I was instantly intrigued. Then the sultan of stocks Adrien Maught realized our mutual connection to BJ. It was then they both began recruiting me, and I can say, F3 has been a blessing. It has gotten me involved with a group of amazing guys and i’m in a setting where I can be myself and do things that I love. I love and appreciate all of you gentlemen, and I hope to continue to grow and improve myself as time goes on within F3. Thank you gentlemen for everything.

    French Horn

  • The First(and Probably Last) F3 Presidential Fitness Challenge – from French Horn

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-8zgfUK4szaMrEe3Cm7g8Stc-9dystwj6decwRhL8lY/edit