F3 New Orleans

Tag: Jose 10k

  • Escalating IPC – from Russo

    75 degrees to start this morning, for a split IPC / non-IPC beatdown at the lakefront.

    Warmup – there was one, but Jose had YHC distracted with discussion of soft hands, tailbone skin, and defibrillators.

    Thang

    7 for IPC week 2 (lots of running, modified burpees and merkins) and 5 for non-IPC, including Steve who joined us about halfway through because the 4 of us were basically camped out in front of his house arguing about the merits of Notre Dame’s schedule and the coaching acumen of Brian Kelly.

    Non -IPC was what YHC calls the Escalator: 10 round of 10 exercises. Each exercise gets a rep count from 1 to 10 depending on round. 55 reps for each total. Or, as Chewy succinctly summarized: “So, Soduku?”

    Exercises
    – Partner merkins
    – Jump squats
    – Leg raises
    – Star Jumps
    – Imperial squat walkers (2 is 1)
    – Donkey kicks
    – Big boy sit-ups
    – Wide merkins
    – Kid N Plays (2 is 1)
    – Murder bunnies

    COT, NOR, Annoucements, Prayer. Big thanks for the healthy Cowbell twins, special intentions for Egg Toss’ mom, Steve’s MIL, and JV’s sister.

    Turkey trot is coming, sign up to Q, show up to get beatdown. Step out of your comfort zone and make a weekday beatdown, even if it has to be the A1C.

    I appreciate all of you HIM. SYITG

  • Uranus in Retrograde – from Steve

    Some weird planetary alignment threw us into an alternate universe this morning, and not a good one.

    Cowbell showed up on time (which should’ve been our first sign that things were askew), immediately souring JV’s intention to “live his life gloriously” while Cowbell was away for a week. As the smile dropped from JV’s face, it was immediately picked up by Cowbell who came frolicking (yeah, frolicking) in with a noticeable twinkle in his eye and a pep in his step. You might think this was due to his impending wedding bliss, but no – apparently there’s some sort of college baseball finals going on right now.

    Anyway, a super chatty warmorama caused YHC to abandon cadence counting for the first time in 5 years, before finally just calling it and heading to the stage for the intended circuit routine.

    Now the night before, Bushwacker had texted Jose and me that today – the first official day of summer (yeah, right) – there would be a dazzling planetary alignment: five planets in an arc, with the crescent moon situated somewhere in the middle. So, once in the grassy knoll at the foot of the stage, we looked up. But it was difficult to see anything beyond the thick swarm of bats that had suddenly blotted out the sky. Seriously, it was like Old Testament Egypt out at the amphitheater this morning.

    One grazed JV’s face, which prompted a quick swat and a, “Get outta here.” But when one buzzed Cowbell’s face, mid-jumping rope, he let out a howl and nearly fell off the stage. Not wanting to bring Ebola or SARS down to Key West for his wedding, Cowbell was not happy about these bats. (JV, though, happily added this incident, along with Cowbell’s tire pull efforts, to his list of ammo for those occasions when he needs to defend himself.)

    Oh yeah, and we were doing some exercises out there, too: jumping rope, curls, plank toe taps with resistance bands, freak nasties, flutters, planks, hand release merkins, squat thrusters, etc, with occasional runs hoping the swarm would dissipate.

    But bats were only the first plague that descended on us this morning. The second, and arguably worse, was mosquitos. I guess it didn’t help that we were lying around in the grass complaining instead of doing said exercises, but those suckers were eating us alive. Eventually, we had the sense to move to another area that had fans going.

    All in all, there was a lot of grumbling, and in a weird reversal that must’ve been due to Jupiter’s third moon ascending, it was everyone BUT Jose who was complaining. I’m telling you, bad omens all over the place at Granny’s this morning.

    Some things that we complained about: obviously, bats, mosquitos, proper jump rope technique (double jumps??), Bypass (ok, ok – Jose did contribute a little here), airline security lines, and Richard Simmons being the most important Brother Martin alum.

    YHC nearly went over because, apparently, time flies when you’re being attacked by nature and having a good gripe session. COT, nameorama, and Jose prayed us out, with intentions for Cowbells wedding and everyone’s safe travels down there.

    Reminder, a few CSAUP’s coming up: Goose and Paradox’s St. Vincent 500 in Thibodeaux, Hammer’s yet-to-be-named standing guard at the CPC, and, of course, the fast-approaching Gnarly Nutria. Thanks guys for the entertaining morning, always appreciate getting stronger with you all.

  • F3 Kickball: Chico’s Bail Bonds v Xscissor – from Akbar

    18 men showed in the gloom this morning for a game of F3 Kickball. We are taught to modify as necessary, and learn through trial and error that some things work, and some things don’t. Even the best laid plans go wrong sometimes, and it happened today. Below is the way YHC envisioned it, and then what really happened.

    PAX Hammer, Minnow, Chainsaw, Pickaxe, Gilligan, Moby Dick, Agent Carl, Jose 10k, Zoolander, Grundy, Steve, JV, Shooter, Waterpik, Dangerfield, Maverick, Russo, Akbar

    Warm Up x10 IC – Merkins, IW, Self-Love, Grass Grabbers, SSH, Arm Circles F/B, Toe Touches

    Thang: F3 Kickball
    Count off 1’s and 2’s to form 2 teams. Run to the baseball field in teams, arrive at the field, plank up in teams to pick team names.

    Rules for Kickers

    Kick the ball and mosey around all bases without stopping while kicking team holds plank until the kick is launched. Modes of travel will change in each inning. Modification for runners is always a backwards run. When you score, you get 1 point and lead your team in 5 Wife Pleasers IC while the fielders do Nolan Ryans. Penalty exercises on outs, strikes, and fouls – 10 Australian Mountain Climbers (2=1) OYO while field does Nolan Ryans. No bunting.

    Rules for Fielders

    Ball is not in play until it touches the ground. When the ball hits the ground, fielders must do an exercise before they touch the ball – unless it is a pop fly. If a pop fly is caught, catcher gets to choose kicking team exercises x 5IC or 10 OYO. If ball is dropped on the catch, regular rules apply and exercises must be done before touching the ball. No pegging runners while running with blocks and no forced outs.

    Game
    3 outs or 1x through the lineup, no catcher, winner chooses exercise for losing team at the Flag.

    Pre-Game – The PAX lined up for the National Anthem by Metallica.

    Exercises for Kickers and Fielders
    Inning 1: Farmers Carry, Squat Hold and 30 Air Presses
    Inning 2: Brick Fly Runs, 20 Bobby Hurleys
    Inning 3: Rifle Carry, 20 Big Boy Situps
    Inning 4: Brick Hallelujah Run, 20 Diamond Merkins
    Inning 5: Bear Crawl, Renegade Row Merkins

    What really happened – YHC explained the rules clearly and effectively and it was decided the rules would be explained as we played. The idea is the fielders do exercises to give the runners time to score, assuming that all balls would be kicked in the outfield. That was not the case. By some magic, the balls were kicked into the players at the infield and just sat there. Someone mentioned very early on this would be a low scoring game. In fact, the first inning lasted about 20 minutes. Even the QIC forgot to do exercises sometimes.

    So we went to straight up kickball, regular rules, for the last 10 minutes and a new plan for the next game swirled around in YHC’s head.

    The final score was 9 to 7, Chico’s Bail Bonds took home the pride.

    We got back to the flag a little late, and Shooter prayed us out. Great to have Agent Carl with us, EH’d by Toto, who has been lost somewhere in Oz for the last year. Come back Toto!

    Count, Name, and Shooter prayed us out.

    Thanks for following my lead –
    SYITG, Akbar

  • Almost a Visit to Granny’s – from Akbar

    YHC’s plan was to mosey to Granny’s for the main thang, but a backup plan was made after a peek at the weather last night. Unsure that anyone would arrive – with Pik still camping and JV announcing the fartsack at coffeeteria Saturday – YHC was pleasantly surprised when 3 cars pulled up at 5:14. Arriving to a dude with a flashlight and 2 bikes, with stuff strewn all over the aluminum picnic tables – where the back up beatdown would ensue – the backup plan was initiated and modified. Confirmed by Jose 10k, saying “I hope you don’t plan on going anywhere today.” We stayed at the courts and got down to business.

    PAX: Akbar, Jose 10k, Speedy, Vagabond

    Wu – SSH, Toe Touches, High Knees, Butt Kicks, Arm Circles (F/B), Self-Love, IW, Hillbillies

    7’s pull ups and squats

    11’s Benches: Freak Nasty, karaoke half court, then run – Renegade Row Merkin

    Recovery walk

    7’s Benches: Peter Parker with feet on bench, backward run half court/run, Tuck Jumps (modification jump squat or squat). Modification was taken by all but Speedy, who seemed to be the only one that could get his knees up that high:)

    11’s Stone Mountain, run, Squat

    Mary – LBC’s x 10

    Count Name, and YHC prayed us out.

    Announcements: Zoorich Classic Saturday

    Moleskin:

    Always good to have a backup plan in place. It wasn’t exactly what I pictured, but it worked.

    Wasn’t sure if anyone would actually show, so I brought a cinder block and some dumbells for a secondary workout if I was alone.

    Lots of legs today, and Speedy said his track coach was going to kill him with Districts tomorrow. After which Jose had my back saying how good it was to do other sports complementing track.

  • On Your Mark. Get Set. Go! – from Bird

    Cool morning at the Lakefront with 14 PAX posting. Looked to be a slim crowd at first as QIC was greeted by Moby Dick and Sonny (aka Turbo Dog) after returning from coupon delivery to Milestone Marsh. Welcome to everyone, glad to see Cathy returning following the previous week’s Merkin Madness, now let’s get to it.
    Warmarama consisted of SSH (20 IC), Good Mornings (10 IC), High Knees (20 IC), what’s that exercise called where you touch your elbow to your knees? Oh year, Imperial Walkers, thanks Russo (10 IC). Hillbillies, the alter ego of Imperial Walkers (10IC), Windwills (10IC). QIC directed to plank position to complete Mountain Climbers (10IC), Peter Parkers (10IC), Parker Peters (10IC), Groiners (10IC), and Merkins (10OYO). As PAX would come to find out, we would end the day in similar fashion… Upon completing the warm up, PAX mosied to Noah’s Ark.

    QIC divided PAX into two teams by counting off and groups separated on each side of the neutral ground (do we call it that on the Northshore?). QIC attempted to explain the workout, although some clarification and tweaking was required as we moved through. The theory was for each team to sprint one block (app. 0.1 mile – 200 meters-ish) for the five blocks from Lakeshore to Livingston (five round). As each person arrived, they would immediately commence prescribed exercise doing AMRAP until final member of team arrived. Cumulative reps of the team were counted when all members arrived and the team with the most reps was declared the winner. Losing team was then assigned double the number of reps to complete for a core exercise to be prescribed by winning team. Losing team, in turn, prescribed core exercise to winning team. I know, confusing right, thus the required tweaking.

    On Your Mark. Get Set. Go.

    Round 1. After impressive sprints by all PAX, round 1 exercise was jump squats. Team 1 proved victorious with 48ish cumulative total compared with Team 2 40ish. Team 2 was assigned 96 hello dollies and Team 1 was assigned 40ish American Hammers. “How does this work again, cause that’s a lot of reps!”

    Round 2. One Legged Burpees. Team 1 victorious again. Team 2 assigned double reps of leg raises (don’t remember, but it was a lot of reps – 40-50). Team 1 assigned Crunchy Frogs (Q didn’t feel number of reps was beneath the victorious Team 1 sprinters, so he assigned Crunch Frogs (IC).

    Round 3. Merkins. At this point, the number of reps was getting ridiculous (in the 100s and double that would have crippled the rest of the workout), so QIC audibled and assigned the same exercise to each team (LBCs) with no doubling. Team cumulative reps assigned to opposing teams were retained.

    Round 4. Sister Mary Katherines. Core exercise that now alludes me.

    Round 5. Burpees. 100s
    After first phase of workout complete, PAX recovery walked to Milestone Marsh and removed coupons from back of QIC’s truck. Three rounds of four exercise (10 reps each OYO) consisting of thrusters, kettle bell swings, pullups, and hanging knee raises. QIC directed to hold plank until the six completed each round before beginning the next.
    With three rounds complete, PAX loaded back coupons, short recovery walk, and then mosy (app. 0.5 mile) back to the flag. A few of the PAX held a brief interlude at the seawall to complete 25 freak nasties (IC).

    Back at the flag, QIC demonstrated Absolution as the final exercise of the day, an eight count routine consisting of (from plank), groiner (1, 2), low plank (3, 4), plank jack (5, 6), high plank (7, 8). PAX did five IC and then directed to complete OYO until 0730. With PAX waning, QIC called for five more and then time.

    COT. Announcements (don’t forget the Nehemiah Project – Hammer, Grundy – on starting on March 18th). QIC prayed us out.

  • The Merkin Trap, Episode 4: The Search for Plutonium – from Akbar

    Admiral Gail Akbar of the Mon Calamari returns to the Northshore Mothership once again, to fight another battle against Darth Fartsack and the Sad Clown Empire. His secret mission this trip is to investigate the galactical mystery of Plutonium, reportedly found in the NOLA area by some beast named Hawgcycle. The commander of the Rebel forces knew this human was clever and dangerous – using words like isotopes, casualties, retrospect, and defecate in past correspondence about this discovery. He was at this beatdown before, maybe he would return. Key reinforcements – Baby Yoda, Bushwacker, Pickaxe, Chainsaw, and Shooter were missing. But we had new blood to make up the difference – a burly man named Cathe, with medical-surgical powers specializing in catheters, and a visiting pirate from Cape Fear named Teach. We were pleased with our chances.

    The Admiral received this note before his journey:

    Before night falls on this long winter day,
    A shining sword must find its way
    Into your hands and out of the gloom—
    Or Admiral Akbar shall meet his doom.
    To begin your quest for the Sword of Light,
    Call for the help of another to get right.
    You can always depend on an F3 brother,
    As Iron Sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.

    PAX

    Waterpik, Dangerfield, Freon, Bubba, Moby Dick, Bean, Russo, Jose 10k, Barely Legal, Speedy, Grundy, Bird, Zoolander, Maverick, Akbar, Hammer, Junior Varsity, Cathe (FNG), Teach

    Conditions – 40ish, no wind, a little foggy

    Warm Up – Arm Circles (F/B), Self-Love, Imperial Walkers, Grass Grabbers

    Thang

    Mosey up and down the Lakefront stopping for 2 exercises in each set, one of which would always be Merkins. 12, 8, 5 IC or 24,16,10 OYO. Each set = 50 Merkins, and most were 50 of another exercise except for a couple done Copperhead style.

    1 – Flag SSH, Merkins
    2 – Rips Calf Raises, Wide Merkin
    3 – Parking stripes Lunge walk, 5 Merkins every 2nd stripe
    4 – Noah Wall Tempo Freak Nasties, Dirkin
    5 – Grass Circle Al Gore/Shoulder raise, Wide Merkin
    6 – Wall Copperhead Squats, Irkin
    7 – Grass Circle Scuba Steve, Stone Mountain
    8 – Grass Circle Al Gore/Shoulder raise, Merkin
    9 – Noah Wall Scuba Steve, Diamond Irkin
    10 – Rips Twinkle Toes, Prime Time Merkin
    11 – Flag Little Manny Crunches, Merkin

    Total 550 Merkins

    Mary – x10 IC

    Fire Hydrants, Leg Raises, Hello Dolly, LBC’s, Lay flat on your back for 1 minute, time called

    Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama. Welcome FNG Cathe! Pronounced Cathy

    Announcements

    – Run Cajun Run, log your mileage
    – Hammer, Grundy, Steve, and Tanked Up! have put together a team to support The
    Nehemiah Project. They will run 48 miles over 48 hours on March 18th at Fontainebleau
    State Park. Check Slack for more.
    – Bird has the Q next Saturday

    COT

    YHC prayed us out with thoughts of words like man, father, husband, brother, friend – all verbs – and to take action this week remembering to flex our heart muscle. Don’t forget tomorrow is Valentine’s Day

    Alas, the Admiral did not find Plutonium, or Hawcycle, or the Sword of Light. But what he did find was a group of men who sharpened each other – enjoying camaraderie, food, and a hot cup of coffee for their efforts. Sad, but undaunted, he shall return next year.

    Thanks for letting me lead, and for following.

    SYITG – Admiral Akbar

    NMM

    Of all days to be late, YHC misplaced the keys and had to hall butt to make it there just in time to start.

    Great to have Teach from F3 Cape Fear make the drive from Gulfport while working out of town for a while.

    Bird brought Ian, a FNG who we named Cathe, pronounced Cathy, he works in med devices sales with vascular catheters.

    YHC had to modify pretty quickly after the Dirkins in the 4th set – in which QIC almost face planted from exhaustion. The plan was to go all the way to the playground and work my way back, but time forced a modification. We still got in around 550 Merkins in an hour

    Grundy showed up late, half way through, and owes 250 Merkins.

    I’ve been reading a lot of Jack and Annie books with the kids, and the poem came from a Merlin Mystery novel. I have to admit, these books are great – historical fiction and mystery combined. Kids and adults alike will love them. Sometimes, the book titles become backblast titles.

    The Plutonium reference came from the master backblast writer himself, Hawcycle. Look back and read it, it’s good stuff.

    Coffeeteria was great, this time including more King Cake, breakfast bowls, and my 2.0’s showed up for sugar and hot chocolate.

  • Nashville Grinder – from Akbar

    8 plus YHC in a warm gloom this morning, completely opposite from the first time I experienced this beatdown in Nashville 2 years ago – 17 degrees and snowing. The results were the same, we all got better today.

    Warm up: ICx 10-15 SSH, Self-Love, Imperial Walkers, High Knees, Grass Grabbers, Arm Circles (f/b)

    The Thang went like this:

    6 exercises, 10 reps each. Once completed, run to Beck N Call and back or block carry around the Gipper. Return and add 1 rep each round.

    Squat Press
    Derkins
    1 arm block Row –
    Tricep extensions
    Squrls – Squat + Curl
    Block hold leg raise

    There are advantages and disadvantages on the run or carry. Some stuck with 1 or the other, some mixed it up. Most got 6-7 rounds in, 400+ reps. We went until 6:40, returned the blocks, and it was time for 3MOM.

    Mary: IC x 10-15 Leg raises, Hello Dolly, Rosalita, LBC

    Count, Namorama, Zoolander prayed us out.

    Announcements:

    – Tanked Up has New Year’s Day Lakefront Q, 6:30am
    – Krazy Ivan, Thursday Feb 3rd, 8pm Lakefront
    – Run Cajun Run starts Feb 1
    – Franco’s Ice Man Dip and Dash. 10am at Franco’s

    Was great to Q the Gipper again, thanks for letting me lead,
    Akbar

  • Reindeer Games – from Russo

    Temperature was down to 37 this morning at the Gipper, which was not quite low enough for a winter wonderland (or sleeves for YHC), but cold enough for some reindeer games.

    As a kid, if you asked me what the best part of Christmas was, the easy answer was presents. From Legend of Zelda II: Adventures of Link to a Commodore 64 and its floppy disks, from Castle Grayskull to Optimus Prime, nothing beat the joy of ripping open wrapping paper, fumbling to tear apart boxes, and hoping you wouldn’t have to deal with the nightmare of shrink wrap. I got really, really good at feigning joy when clothes or books were the end result.

    As I got older, the best part of Christmas (besides the whole Jesus in a manger thing) moved from gifts to sleeping late because there was no school for two whole weeks, then to holiday parties, and then again to where it currently resides: eating. And more eating. And then eating some more.

    But because the gifts are a staple of the holidays, YHC was in a giving mood today, serving as the MC for a few rounds of Dirty Santa!

    Warmup (All IC, either 12x or 21x to honor today’s date as a palindrome – 12-22-21)
    – Seal jacks (not plank jacks)
    – SSH
    – Cherry pickers
    – Grass grabbers
    – Imperial walkers

    Thang
    Your basic Dirty Santa / White Elephant. The rules are simple:
    (1) Each HIM picks a number.
    (2) Number 1 picks a random gift/exercise from Santa’s bag (in this case, Santa was slumming it with a quart sized Ziploc) and performs said exercise while the other HIM perform the standard (e.g. merkins).
    (3) Number 2 has a choice: Number 1’s chosen exercise, the standard, or a new “gift”. If he chooses either of the first two options, the one who had their “gift” stolen can steal or select another mystery “gift”.
    (4) Around and around we go, until all HIM have a chance to select.

    The “gifts”:
    -10 merkins
    -20 jump squats
    -30 squats
    -8 Hand release merkins
    -20 hello dollies
    -20 leg lifts
    -30 monkey humpers
    -25 plank jacks
    -4 krakken burpees
    -8 SMCs
    -15 murder bunnies
    -20 bear crawls
    -10 diamond merkins
    -50 high knees
    -24 Apollo ohnos
    -15 scissor kicks
    -12 star jumps
    -20 freak nastys
    -1 burpee
    -2 calf raises
    -20 hip slappers
    -12 hallelujah squats
    -2 gas pumps
    -33 cherry pickers
    -6 donkey kicks

    Between rounds, Pax also moseyed around the courthouse and square to provide for some strategizing.

    A mosey back to home base, COT, name-o-rama, announcements and prayer closed us out.

    T claps to Fletch for also playing Santa and gifting us with his famous hot sauce.

    I don’t often have a chance to make the Gipper because of weekly commitments, so I appreciate you all joining me and letting me lead you all.

    One final note: I had an opportunity to watch The Chosen’s Christmas program, and the theme was “People must know”. People must know about the wonder of the Nativity, and who Jesus is, and how blessed we are with a Savior.

    My goal in the new year is to use that theme of “People must know”, not only regarding the gospel, but also about the benefits of F3. We all know them, and have been EH’ed at some point, and if you’re reading this, it stuck with you. I challenge us to continue the EHs, step out of our comfort zones, and spread the word.

    SYITG

  • A Bonnie Blair By Any Other Name Still Sucks – from Zoolander

    I know it says Zoolander was the Q for this one, but that’s only because YHC’s name isn’t on the dropdown menu yet. And, it was ultimately Zoo’s idea to get the fellas from down the bayou to Q a November Lakefront beatdown, and we couldn’t be more grateful!

    YHC showed up in the Goosemobile with four men and two boys who’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. It’s become very clear to me over the years that God has wired men in such a way that the more we suffer together, the more we come to care deeply about each other’s well being, regardless of differences in background, lifestyle, (number of kids), etc. So, it was easy to jump at the opportunity to travel north and lead a beatdown out of gratitude for the men who have allowed me to suffer with them and who first shared the gift of F3 with me. Now, the cycle is continuing down in Thibodaux with a growing PAX!

    Disclaimer was stated for the benefit of an FNG (Welcome, Crock Pot!). Warmups consisted of IC: SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles, Cherry Pickers, Self Love, High Knees, and Butt Kicks, followed by a mosey to Noah’s Ark.

    YHC revealed an F3 Workout Deck, and three cards were pulled and listed exercises completed with a promise of more random suffering to come. This was followed by partner BLIMPS, but with a bit of a twist. Grundy’s late arrival provided an opportunity to reminisce back to YHC’s first beatown, whcih was Q’d by Grundy. It included Sister Mary Catherine’s in the warmup, which totally burned out my legs before we even got to Noah’s Ark. A fitting memory to share before introducing these BLIMPS:

    Thang 1:
    Partner 1 ran around Noah’s Ark, while Partner 2 huffed and puffed his way through their shared total of:
    50 Bonnie Blairs (another name for SMC’s),
    50 Lunge Jumps (another name for SMC’s),
    50 Iron Mikes (another name for SMC’s),
    50 Merkins,
    50 Plank Jacks,
    50 Sister Mary Catherine’s (SMC’s)

    Thang 2:
    Moseyed once again, stopping to complete exercises from three more cards from the deck, then lining up along the wall for two version of a newly minted “Indian Inchworm Wall Crawl”. The first version consisted of all PAX in dip position on the wall moving to the right and completing a dip with every “step” while the man in the rear of the line crab walked to the front. After a number of traffic jams and Bushwacker grumbles, the last of the PAX had crabbed their way to the front, so it was time to turn around and go the other way. Pax assumed the irkin position on the wall and moved to the right, completing an irkin with every “step”. The rearmost PAX bear crawled their way to the front of the line this time, so things moved a little more quickly.

    Thang 3:
    Another short mosey brought us to a grassy area big enough for the highly anticipated Tunnel of Love. Ironically, Zoolander had just shared his gratitude that YHC hadn’t included this exercise since it was a memorable highlight from my VQ a few years back. So, it was with a special joy that I announced that all PAX would be snuggling up shoulder to shoulder in plank position while the rearmost PAX in the line army crawled through Tunnel of Love. Bushwacker’s encouraging “love whacks” kept the line moving while the plankers’ shoulders burned and threatened to give out.

    Hope then rose in the hearts of many as we lined up for what would be a wildly chaotic Indian run back to the flag with many PAX digging deep, knowing that this would ultimately be the last time they’d have to push. But, YHC knew what lurked amongst the cards in the deck, and after two relatively harmless pulls to fill the small amount of time left before 7:30, a third and final pull was offered to the FNG. It was the new guy, at 7:29, who managed to pull the 400 meter sprint card, arguably the worst card in the deck. So, despite the shared astonishment and disbelief, the beatdown ended with 25 men sprinting toward an inhabited car and then back to the flag, all residual energy and will to live good and drained.

    COT, announcements, and prayer by Enron of F3 Thibodaux.

    Coffeeteria offered time to catch up and enjoy the beautiful weather before the long ride home to Thibodaux. All PAX in the Goosemobile shared their gratitude for the opportunity to experience F3 on that level and for the men who were willing to suffer with us as we continue to strive to get better at doing hard things. It was a great gift to get to spend such high quality time with you guys this morning, and I very much look forward to seeing you in the gloom (wherever that gloom might be)!

  • Fall Back – from Steve

    Talk about a dark warmorama. About the only definable figure I could make out was, well nobody, really, since Shooter wasn’t there. Of course I knew Jose was present from the early morning grumbling, but the rest of the crew were shrouded in mystery. Given such circumstances, YHC delivered a clear disclaimer in case there were any FNGs (turned out there were two), and we got things rolling.

    Started off with the usual – good mornings, windmills, torso twists, arm circles, IW’s, Hillbillies, SSHs, High Knees – mostly at 10x IC, but a 15 and a 30 crept in there. I like to say those instances are “to keep the pax on their toes,” but of course the pax is smarter than that – they know it’s just early morning brain fog.

    We hadn’t moseyed to the playground in a while, so that was on the menu today, stopping at each intersection for a set of 10x deconstructed burpees. Zoolander’s No-Booze-November had hit a snag the night before (a snag by the name of Woodford Reserve), and so my originally planned set of x20 burpees seemed cruel as he had, not but 5 minutes before this point, requested “no burpees, please.” So we deconstructed instead, which would mean 10x squats, 10x groiners, 10x merkins, and 10x jump squats. Knocked those out at the three intersections and then hit a fourth one when we reached the playground.

    Then it was time for one of my lakefront standards, a partner routine where P1 wall sits and performs overhead air presses while P2 hits three stations: 10 t-merkins, 10 jump squats, 10 big boys. Three rounds of that and it was on to neighboring grass patch for a few games.

    That’s right, games. Let it not be said (Toto) that I do not include any fun in my beatdowns! First up was a game called When Animals Attack, which features one pax (it) bear crawling to tag any of the other guys, who are all crab walking. Any one who is tagged then performs 5 burpees and immediately joins in as a bear, to help tag the rest of the crew. I had initially envisioned a rabid, growling Tanked Up tearing through that patch of grass, but alas, when the sun finally rose this morning and it was clear who was standing before me, there was no Tank to be found. Grundy was the next best choice, so he became the first bear. Now, whoever invented this game clearly did not know the Northshore region’s distaste for crab walking because when the game finally began, the crabs all just sat in place waiting to be tagged. Some even moved closer to the bear! It seemed unanimous – the guys would rather do their 5 burpees and half-heartedly attempt to tag others than crab walk five steps. The next round was hardly better than the first, with Zoolander and his stomach of steel as the bear, and so we moved on to another game: Duck Jousting.

    To say duck jousting was more successful might be a stretch, but it was certainly more entertaining. In this game, it’s every man for himself. You get in a low duck walk position with your arms across your chest, and hobble over to the nearest pax to try and topple him without the use of your hands. Once you’ve been knocked over, you start high kneeing until the game ends.

    Though this was totally a Mathlete type of game, a surprise attack by Zoolander knocked him out early on. It came down to Jose, Swole, and Zoo. Swole attempted a Switzerland type of strategy, where he simply sat (or squatted) off to the side and awaited the victor between Jose and Zoo. But this proved faulty when Zoo took him down by surprise. By this point, our two gladiators had entirely abandoned the rule of duck walking (well, let’s be fair, Zoolander was never actually duck walking from the start). Even with an assist from Bird, Zoo was unable to take down Jose, but one final assault sent both men to the ground in a tie.

    Time to head back, so we formed two lines and Bataan Death Marched back to the flag. Once back, we did some single leg squats to the sea wall while Turbo graciously picked up the six. Quick Mary and time for COT. Welcome FNG’s Slater and Woody, and t-claps for hanging in there. Hope to see you guys back out soon. (And a personal thanks to our FNG’s for forcing me to write a backblast after months of negligence.) Hammer prayed us out and off to Book and the Bean for coffeteria. Appreciate the opportunity to lead you men, SYITG.