F3 New Orleans

Tag: The Stage

  • Mount Up! – from Goose

    It was a cold one, so YHC had fleeting fantasies of being able to drive back home and crawl into a warm bed, but Enron pulled in, faithful as ever, so YHC pulled up his layers of big boy pants and planted the flag. We wondered if anyone else was gonna show, but thankfully Yankee Joe allowed the challenge of the cold to actually get him out of bed and change his schedule so as not to join the fartsacking crew who would inevitably avoid it this morning. Nicely done.
    YHC combined a few old ideas with some “hair of the dog” to clear out some leftover PTSD from this past weekend and a few Tuesday Tuffs ago. And, we let the holiday, St. Joseph’s Day, give us a reason to push through it.

    After some warmups of the usuals we started a Bonnie Blair mile–10 Bonnie Blairs (2:1) every quarter mile. It’s always nice having quality time with these two, and the cold air made us feel alive as we moved around the loop. The feeling of gratitude made the Bonnie Blairs very doable, though I knew the real test was yet to come.

    The mile represented the trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but now we had to flee to Egypt, then back to Nazareth, then back and forth to Jerusalem every year, including the time he and Mary left to go home but had to go back after a days journey to pick up the child they accidentally left behind in His Father’s house. So, we moseyed over to the stop sign nearest the bumper, and Enron and YJ started to sweat. (I think I heard, “Don’t do it, Dawson. Don’t do it.”–hospital named and everything; the pleading was real.) With only these two with me, I knew it was time to deal with the trauma the only way I know how–get back in it. With a set of 11’s between the two stop signs, we would get a taste of the “hair of the dog” with a few minor changes. Tempo merkins would replace regular merkins, and after squats on the other end, we sprinted back instead of carioca.
    The grass was cut, which helped a little, though nurring after this past weekend was a challenge. Sprinting made things move more quickly, which also helped, but oxygen was in high demand. It definitely provided another opportunity to grow in mental toughness and, as YJ articulated, to just surrender to what the beatdown demands.
    Both YJ and Enron kept the pace, never giving into the body’s demands for a break, and the suffering eventually came to an end with us grateful to be able to put it behind us again (for now).

    Thankfully, the schedule was going as planned, so YHC had time for a couple of songs. The first was reflective of St. Joseph’s devotion to Mary, his wife–“Lady” by Styx, one of YHC’s favorite to belt out in the car (or around a campfire). 6 inch hold and heels to heaven for every “Lady”. Three minutes never felt so long.
    The second was one that came up a few times at the retreat over the weekend, and YHC couldn’t believe I’d never seen the clear connection to F3: “…hit the east side of the LBC.” So, we hit those LBC’s hard to the tune of “Regulate” by Warren G. LBC’s while Warren G is singing/rapping, and gas pumps while Nate Dog is singing. We’ll definitely be using this one again–it’s the first time YHC has completely burned out on LBC’s, probably because of the LBC/gas pump combo and the previous song. It’ll be painful to sneeze tomorrow.

    Monday Murders had come to an end, and after some schedule shuffling and some greatly appreciated vulnerability with prayer intentions, Enron prayed us out. It was such a solid morning with these two HIMs, though I hope the fartsackers who can’t handle sub-40 temperatures will join us tomorrow!

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Catch Me If You Can Handle the Heat: Featuring 21s and Dora 1-2-3 – from Goats in the Machine

    The 5 PAX arrived, ready to take on whatever the Exicon had in store for them. Goose led us through a thorough warm-up to get the blood flowing and muscles loosened up.

    Thang 1: “Catch Me If You Can”
    PAX were partnered and thruppled up in the field between The Stage walking loop and the subdivision entrance. Round 1 consisted of 5 squats while chasing each other via sprint and nerr for 5 laps across the field (edge of the parking lot to the white fence at the front of the subdivision). Round 2 was 6 standing lunges and 3 laps.

    Thang 2: “Global Warming”
    The PAX formed a circle of pain and held the Al Gore position while slowly shuffling in a circle. The music played, and we did 10 merkins and 10 BBSUs on “sun” to Smash Mouth’s “Walking on the Sun.” Then we switched to Johnny Cash’s “Five Feet High and Rising” and did jump squats based on the number called out by the song.

    Thang 3: “Indian Run”
    The PAX formed a single-file line of runners, and the last guy in line ran to the front. We ran around the perimeter of the stage walking loop and pergola for approximately a quarter-mile.

    Thang 4: “21s”
    The PAX did side straddle hops in unison, counting reps 1-5 out loud. Reps 6-21 were all mental, and everyone had to stop together at 21. If anyone stopped early or went over, the YHC had the PAX perform penalty burpees. The PAX performed 3 rounds.

    Thang 5: A modified “Dora 1-2-3”.
    PAX worked in pairs, with one partner doing the exercise while the other sprinted across the lawn. The exercises were 100 bunny hops, 200 LBCs, and 300 squats.

    COT:
    Announcements: Lumin Christi beatdown on Saturday, more details to come in the GroupMe chat.
    Intentions: Lots to be thankful for today and prayers for families.
    Prayer: Smooth prayed us out.

    Moleskin:
    YHC is suffering from a shoulder injury due to a late-night rooster wrangling incident (see the group me for the security camera video). Additionally, Goose is suffering from a sore shoulder as well. His injury and athletic ability are a testament to the fact that age is just a number, but there are consequences for trying to turn back the clock. Therefore the decision was made to modify the beat down to minimize arms and exploit legs, core, and cardio.
    YHC gave the Pax an option between a 1 Thnag beatdown and a 5 Thang beatdown. The Pax opted for some variety. To craft this beatdown YHC used a number gereratoe to randomly select workouts from the Exicon. There are 31 web pages with 25 line items on each page. YHC had the number generator select 2 numbers. The first number select was between 1 and 31 and the second number selected was between 1 and 25… and BOOM! A “Tuesday Tough” BEATDOWN WAS BORN!
    The Pax enjoyed a beatdown that was mor Cardio heavy that usual. According to Enron’s apple watch we ran approx. 2.75 miles.

    AI Generatede Linerick:
    “We started our workout with glee
    Excited for what it might be
    Catch Me If You Can, a race
    Partners pushed each other’s pace

    Global Warming had us in pain
    Jump squats and merkins, sweat like rain
    Indian Run, kept us on track
    21s and Dora, no turning back”

  • PawPaw’s Chainlink Beatdown by Smooth Operator – from Goose

    Alright let’s get started, I have been thinking about my PawPaw ever since I been following the discipline of exodus 90. One of the formation packs Suffering well with Christ struck home with YHC. So I decided to make some exercises that represented some aspects of his life that I found especially interesting.

    YHC showed up at the stage around 0445 this morning and started unloading some props. Enron was the first to show up as I was finishing duck taping a slightly damp cement bag together to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart throughout the work out. Lil cuz showed up next followed by Paradox coming in hot around 0510. After some chitchat we jumped into warms up.

    Warm up
    Side straddle hops
    Grass grabbers
    Windmills
    Arm circles both ways
    Cherry pickers
    Butt kickers
    Self love

    Thang 1 Meat rabbit 7’s

    Alright my PawPaws first attempt at entrepreneurship was raising rabbits to provide meat to the little town of Lucy. It did not take off like he hoped and eventually he tore down his rabbit building and moved it to Vacherie to make his fence shop.

    Meat rabbit 7’s are an adaptation of 11’s due to time. The workout by the stage were burpees which we started with 7 and worked down to one. The mode of transport was bunny hops to the side walk and one legged bunny hops switching at every picnic table on the way back. The sidewalk workout was squats from 1 to 7. This one was a lot harder on us than YHC thought it was going to be. Towards the end the bunny hops started to look like horse gallops, but the PAX got it done.

    Thang 2 The Chainlink Circuit

    After my PawPaw got himself a plant operator job, he still had the entrepreneurI’ll itch to start a business. This business was St. Pierre Fence company. It was his pride and joy right behind his 3 sons.

    Alright from here we dove into the fence material circuit. This involved 4 stations due to the 4 PAX members in attendance. The exercise would start and stop with the PAX that flipped the 6’ double knuckled chain link roll end for end to the 2nd picnic table and back to the stage concrete. He was the timer. From there this PAX would move onto the tire beatdown. He would beat an old tire with a large maul until the next PAX member would return with the chainlink roll back to the starting point. After the tire beatdown the PAX member would move onto the 9’ by 2” schedule 40 galvanized fence post exercise which would change every round. 1st round was power clean, squat, shoulder press. 2nd round was curls, and 3rd round was skull crushers. The last station was the 80 lb. cement bag carry. The PAX member would either fireman carry or strongman carry the cement bag from the 1st picnic table across the field to the sidewalk and back.

    The chainlink circuit went exactly like YHC wanted it to go. The PAX got to experience a simulated version of what it’s like to build a chainlink fence. I think my PawPaw would have been proud seeing this exercise.

    Thang 3 Music tribute

    My PawPaw lived with MS throughout the majority of his life. In 2004 he ended up catching a massive stroke and lost his motor functions and ability to communicate. He lived like this for 9 years and ended up passing in 2013.

    YHC put in a couple songs that reminded me of my PawPaw. The first was Cost of living by Ronnie Dunn. The PAX would be doing mountain climbers or planks for the duration and would be doing merkins when the phrase I got a strong back came up. We would continue to perform merkins until the phrase cost of living is high and going up was sang. There was some chatter going on for this song, but we put in some good work.

    The next song was Small town southern man by Alan Jackson. For this song we would be doing Penguins for duration and do some big boy sit up whenever southern man was sang. YHC was begging to hear anything that even remotely sounded like southern man. Those penguins got pretty tough toward the end.

    From seeing my PawPaw suffer for so many years didn’t help my relationship with God. I couldn’t understand why God would make a good man suffer so much. Towards the end I clan remember praying he would pass just to ease his suffering and the strain it was putting on my dad and grandma. After reading Suffering well with Christ I finally understand a little more of what the Lord was doing with him and I am more at peace with it.

    YHC called the work out at 0600 which was followed by COT and Enron prayed us out. Thank you fellas for showing up and doing this one with me. It was a good one.
    See y’all in the gloom,
    Smooth Operator

    Side note – St. Pierre fence is still running today. My dad bought the business from my grandmother and my little brother is currently in charge of operations. I’m proud of them for kept it going and just wish I had the time and craftsmanship to help them out more.

  • The Big Shamrock’s Birthday Bash – from Lil Cuz

    As I’m sure many of you are aware, today is a very special day. Today we celebrate the birth of Big Shamrock himself. AKA Hobo Master, AKA The Big Banana, AKA The Big Galactus,
    AKA Witness Protection, AKA Manny Shaq-Iaou, AKA MayorMcShaq,or more commonly
    known as Shaquille O’Neal AKA Shaq.

    Typical Warm up with the added blessing of a Cajun recipe shared by Enron that got all Pax riled up wanting to know how to make Fake Turtle Soup. Crowd went wild as he explained the intricacies of such a delicacy that most of the circle couldn’t help but dry heave as he blasted the remnants from last night across everyone’s assaulted nostrils. Mouths were open…

    Thang 1:

    Trivia Questions:
    If Correct – 34 – Freddy Mercs (2:1), or Flutter Kicks (2:1), or LBC’s (1:1)
    If Wrong – 32 Squats (1:1)

    1. What year was Shaquille O’Neal born? Incorrect

    – 1972

    2. What position was Shaq selected in the 1992 NBA Draft? Incorrect

    – Round 1; Pick 1

    3. How many NBA Championships has Shaq won? Incorrect

    – 4

    4. What is Shaq’s rap name? Correct

    – Big Diesel

    5. Name one of Diesel’s 4 album releases: Correct

    – Shaq Diesel
    – Shaq Fu: Da Return
    – You Can’t Stop the Reign
    – Respect

    6. What famous artist featured Diesel on his album titled “HIStory”? Incorrect

    – Michael Jackson

    7. How tall was Shaq by the age of 10? Correct

    – 6’ 4”

    8. What was Shaq’s free throw career percentage? Incorrect

    – 52.7%
    – FUN Fact: He once missed all 11 of his free throw attempts in a game against
    the Seattle SuperSonics on December 8, 2000, which is the current record.

    9. What is Shaq’s 3-pointer career percentage? Incorrect

    – 4.5% or 1 in 22 attempts

    10. Shaq was nominated for 3 Golden Raspberry Awards for his work in film, what was one
    of the categories nominated? Correct
    – Worst New Star
    – Worst Actor
    – Worst Supporting Actor

    Honestly expected going into this portion we would have way more ab type workouts to do and instead we did so many more squats which would prove to be detrimental once we got to Thang 3…more on that later. Enron has got his best CPA co-workers on the calculations as we got reminded this morning math is not his strong suit, and Dox sent his wife to brainstorm with the other doctors as they are all hard at work calculating the exact number of squats performed this morning. We all wait with sore quads in anticipation to know how manly our legs will be tomorrow morning upon waking up. Word is Goose has gone home to study for Kobe Bryant’s birthday to be better prepared come August. Now with our fresh knowledge that will definitely be on the test at the end of the semester, we moved into our training and competition.

    Thang 2: Cone Dribbling Drill
    1. Each Pax on a team must dribble through the cone course and return back to the team then the next pax can go.
    2. While the Pax is dribbling the rest of the team will do various workouts until Dribbling
    Pax is done.

    1. SSH (1:1)
    2. Flutter Kicks (2:1)
    3. Squats (1:1)
    4. LBCs (1:1)
    5. Al Gore (1:1)
    6. 6” Inch hold (1:1)

    Team wins when each team member has dribbled twice through the course. Winning team
    receives nothing but props for being better ball handlers than the other team. Side Note: YHC neglected to mention that this was a race until near the second lap and this probably is the reason Team 2 lost. No excuses though, Team 2 just needs to start dribbling practice for Big Shamrock’s Birthday next year. First practice is Wednesday at 9pm after kids go to bed. See you guys at the Lion’s Den. Team 1, find your own place to practice!

    Thang 3: 11’s
    Burpee (1:1)
    – Mosey with #1’s pointing to Sky to opposite Sidewalk
    Apolo Ohnos (2:1)
    – Nur Back with Hand held up like after just making 1st (and only) Career 3-
    pointer

    This portion was simply put here to make sure all the whoopers could show their strain to the rest of the world. Looking forward to those screen shots fellas. Also, all those incorrect answers and squats really piled on to make this thang increasingly difficult. The ANIMAL himself recognized another ANIMAL in his midst and I believe it was the grit and determination Cardinal showed to complete this monster of strain pushed him over the edge to be gifted the peeled back sweat covered shirt off Smooth and is Monday’s ANIMAL. (Which will be gifted on Thursday due to unforeseen conflicts for a Tuesday Tuff).

    4MOM potlock style with Goose throwing in the crowd favorite Dr. W’s and Dox finishing us
    off with his ever famous Dolphin Hops. Gotta love em! (Cuz we do them so much).

    COT and Paradox prayed us out!
    Great Birthday celebration today fellas, and thanks for putting up with Enron’s fake turtle soup recipe long enough to get through another beatdown.

    SYITG,

    Lil’ Cuz, AKA Cuz Master, AKA The Big CUZ, AKA, Manny Cuz-Iaou, AKA MayerMcCuz,
    or more commonly known as Cuz.

  • Huff, Puff, and Beatdown – from Goats in the Machine

    Warm-O-Rama

    Sub-contracted to goose due to the Q’s tardiness

    THANG 1: Story of the 3 little pigs

    Once upon a time, three little pigs decided to leave their mother’s house and build their own homes. The first little pig built his house out of straw
    • Pig 1 built a house of straw – 4 bodybuilders. Wind sprint to the parking lot

    the second little pig built his house out of sticks
    • Pig 2 built a house of sticks – 8 bodybuilders. Wind sprints to the last picnic table

    and the third little pig built his house out of bricks.
    • Pig 3 built a house of bricks – 12 bodybuilders. Wind sprints to the opposite sidewalk

    One day, a big, bad wolf came and knocked on the door of the first little pig’s straw house. “Little pig, little pig, let me come in!” said the wolf. But the little pig replied, “Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!”
    • 20 LBCs (symbolizing the wolf huffing and puffing at the straw house)

    The wolf huffed, puffed, and blew the straw house down. The little pig ran to his brother’s house made of sticks.
    • PAX to run a loop

    But the wolf followed him and knocked on the door. “Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in!” said the wolf. But the two little pigs replied, “Not by the hair on our chinny chin chins!”
    • 20 LBCs (symbolizing the wolf huffing and puffing at the straw house)
    • 20 reps of merkins (symbolizing the wolf trying to break down the stick house)

    The wolf huffed, puffed, and blew the stick house down. The two little pigs ran to their brother’s house made of bricks.
    • PAX to run a loop

    But the wolf followed them and knocked on the door. “Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in!” said the wolf. But the three little pigs replied, “Not by the hair on our chinny chin chins!”
    The wolf huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the brick house down. So, he climbed onto the roof and tried to come down the chimney. But the clever little pigs had a pot of boiling water waiting for him, and the wolf fell into the pot. The pigs covered the pot with a lid and boiled the wolf alive.
    • 20 LBCs (symbolizing the wolf huffing and puffing at the straw house)
    • 20 reps of merkins (symbolizing the wolf trying to break down the stick house)
    • 20 reps of air squats (symbolizing the wolf climbing the brick house and falling down the chimney)

    From that day on, the three little pigs lived happily ever after in their sturdy brick house, knowing that hard work and determination always pay off in the end.

    THANG 2: a game called “Beat the Wolf”

    The Pax Break into groups of 4. 3 PAX represents each of the pigs. (4 PAX will be pigs for teams of 5). 1 PAX is the Wolf.

    The 3 pigs plank. When the wolf arrives at a pig, the pig then calls an exercise for a 10-rep count. Whoever completes the task the fastest wins and becomes the pig in the plank position. The loser becomes the Wolf and moves on to the next Pig. Rinse and repeat. If a pax is a wolf 3 times in a row, he can do 5 penalty burpees to become a pig or remain the wolf.

    Thang 3
    • Elevens: overhead hand claps & calf raises, transport with bear crawls and walking leg kicks

    Mary
    • Pax Potluck Mary

    • COT • Announcements • Intentions • Smooth Prayed us out

    Moleskin
    YHC was running late, as usual, this morning. T-Claps to Goose for keeping the train on the tracks. YHC is grateful for the PAX transporting themselves to the 19th-century American countryside for a cheese fable-based beatdown. Hopefully, the storyline aided the pax in exerting maximum physical output with a minimal mental load. To be honest, YHC thought it would take longer than it did and wishes we would have taken a victory lap after the last round. In Thang 2 we continued the man-vs-man theme that has been popping up in previous beatdowns. T-claps to Smooth Operator for using a strategy that created an advantage with his short arms and impeccable bear crawling skills. Additionally, Yankee Joe can up with some crazy core-based stuff that exposed YHC’s lack of core strength (again). With this extra time to spare YHC called for Elevens and showed mercy by way of overhead claps and calf raises. Based on the mumble chatter, YHC will not show this type of mercy again.

    Thanks to all for going along with this goofy-themed beatdown and putting up with my tardiness.

  • We Did This to Ourselves – from Yankee Joe

    This past Saturday during Goose’s ‘Ha-quartermile-matata’ beatdown, YHC expected football games and shenanigans in five-yard increments. Instead, he experienced a darkness, nay a hopelessness that hadn’t been seen since Paradox’s “Teamwork Gumbo- Add Burpees to Taste” beatdown back in August.

    Cardinal described the experience perfectly, moving through the range of emotions from hope to confusion to darkness to disgust with Goose to owning the pain. During a similar past experience, Enron had simply asked Goose, “Who hurt you?” Wet Tap provided the pivotal insight we all needed by describing Goose’s rebirth and remaking each spring. The explanation stirs images crossing between that scene in Alien and a large bald bird in the process of molting. In fact, molting simply means shedding old feathers, hair, skin, etc. to make room for growth. I suppose in this case, the hair never grew back.

    It is in this mindset that YHC considered Monday’s beatdown. He was very fortunate to have his cousin, Mullet, DR’ing from The Branch AO in Houston, so of course, the pressure was on. With 60 degrees and nine PAX, we delved into some over-active recovery mixed with some festive tunes to celebrate Mardi Gras and the onset of the Lenten season.

    ————————————–
    Waramarama was normal in both exercises and YHC’s odd struggle with remembering the order of cadence. This only opened a huge, massive, enormous door for Paradox and Enron mumblechatter. Like sharks to blood in the water. No mercy.

    We covered a lot of ground, the most important of which included deep wisdom from Homer. No, not that Homer. Homer HIgh School…Alma Mater of our very own Paradox…home of the mighty Pelicans and the recipients of an impressive Google review of 3.4 out of 5.0 on their website. It’s nice Clark. Real niiice. (I’m not even sure he went there, but who cares, right?)

    We finished with throw me somethin’ mistas and after watching Montana’s shimmying, YHC was forced to accept that the beatdown was already off the rails. The rest of the mernin’ would run in similar fashion. Like a middle school boy, who during the first hour of an 8-hour field trip, tried to be funny and rip ass on one of his friends. However, he got far more than he bargained for. There are no bathrooms to be found on a bluebird school bus. There are no bathrooms to be found at Lake Kissimmee State Park visiting the pioneer cabins. So all a fourth grade Joe can do is walk bowlegged and hope for the best. YHC has never been caught without doo doo pills for any trip longer than 30 minutes since.

    ———————————-
    Warm-up song – Mardi Gras Mambo
    – Shoulder taps for duration of the song
    – Merkin on “Mardi Gras” and “mambo”
    – 49 merkins

    Mumblechatter decreased significantly, but the PAX’ confidence was still a bit too high. Based on some observations from this past Saturday, YHC saw things that he couldn’t unsee. What was so repulsive? GABF or Generally Accepted Burpee Form. We needed to get back to basics, so we deconstructed the burpee mechanics. YHC felt something sting on the back of his neck…was it Cardinal staring daggers?

    Thang 1: Breaking The Pax Down
    Deconstructed burpees (55 squats; 55 groiners; 55 merks, 100 yds bearcrawl)

    – 10 squats
    – 10 groiners
    – 10 merkins
    – Bear crawl to next marker
    (Decrease by 1 each rep until 1 each)
    – Finish with 10 burpees

    ———————————–
    The problem according to Goose – as he told YHC this past Saturday – is that “you’re weak.” Maybe even lazy. The only way to fix this affliction is through our good friend, Dora. To be honest, she’s a bit of a hack. Map and Backpack do all the heavy lifting. And now that I think about it, Swiper reminds me of Paradox. Paradox, stop doctoring. Paradox, stop doctoring. YHC asked if there were any questions. Enron responded with something, it was not fully audible. I don’t think it was a shout out.

    Thang 2: Lazy Doras

    Partner up. Partners perform 200 Merkins, 400 squats, & 600 LBCs as a team. Here’s the catch…no running.

    – P1 starts with 20 Merkins while P2 elbow planks, then switch. Continue switching between Merkins and plank until 100 total Merkins reached.

    – P1 does 40 squats, P2 performs Al Gore until P1 is finished, then switch. Continue switching until all 400 squats are completed.

    – P1 does 60 LBCs while P2 does 6″ leg hold, then switch. Continue switching until 600 total LBCs are completed.

    We barely finished the second round of squats. It is probably for the best. Had the Form Police been at the scene one set of PAX would have been hauled off to jail. In retrospect, based on their Juvenile interpretive dancing, Cardinal, Tana, and Lil’ Cuz almost backed their thangs up into purgatory.

    As you can imagine, YHC had to say something. As you can imagine Lil’ Cuz and Cardinal tore YHC to shreds. It got ugly, but not as ugly as watching Tana’s Al Gore pose from the backside.

    On a brighter note, Paradiddle is a straight up beast. He barely broke a sweat during Goose’s PMS beatdown and this morning, hung out in Al Gore, but the hard way with legs splayed wide and toes pointed out. In some circles, this is called the goddess squat and it makes Al Gore feel like a comfy heated toilet seat.

    YHC called time with five minutes remaining and shifted to our close out song.

    Mary Song – Hey Pocky A-Way (The Meters)

    – Hold elbow plank for duration of song
    – Pickle pounder on every “way” or “hey”
    – 66 pickle pounders

    The chatter subsided and the badassery resumed.

    COT and Lil’ Cuz prayed us out.

    Don’t let the snark fool you. We all love and are exceedingly grateful for the molting process.

  • Cold Hands, Warm Hearts, Can’t Lose! – from Lil Cuz

    The game is over, you’re a Champion! You finally accomplished all that you have been working towards and now what…relief? Excitement? What comes next? The greatest players of all time always answer one thing to this question. “Let’s get back to work.” Most elite level athletes allow themselves the night of the biggest wins of their careers to celebrate, but when the next morning comes, they are back to working just as hard as if they are rookies again walking onto the field for the first time. This is the mindset that needs to be sought after in order to continue growing throughout life. Living in humility and knowing you can take care of business when the call comes.

    We may not be Superbowl winning level athletes, but we can apply this same work ethic in our everyday lives. We relax and enjoy our families on Sunday but Monday rolls around and it’s time to get back to work and continue on this path with our cross on our shoulder. We march on, thankful to God for the reprieve of Sunday and thankful to God for the strength to keep moving and working to better ourselves. So this Monday morning, in the cold and in the dark; We got back to work…

    Thang 1:

    Start by Shovel Flag with 50 SSH’s.
    – Sprint to concrete on opposite side of field.
    – Bear Crawl to halfway point of field.
    – Mosey around track back to Shovel Flag.

    Complete 25 Merkins.
    – Repeat sprint, bear crawl and mosey back to Shovel Flag.

    Complete 15 Burpees.
    – Repeat sprint, bear crawl and mosey back to Shovel Flag.

    Complete 50 LBC’s
    – Repeat sprint, bear crawl and mosey back to Shovel Flag.

    Complete 40 Jump Squats.
    – Repeat sprint, bear crawl and mosey back to Shovel Flag.

    Thang 2:
    Relay race with the Pax split into 2 teams and team members spread out to the four corners of the Stage track. All Pax doing SSH’s while waiting their turn to run. Runner gets to next Pax on his team and calls a workout of which the next Pax to run would do a set of 15 before running to his next teammate. Two laps and winning team would get to relish in their “prize”. We had some real shiners that chose today to showcase their true speed, and a bunch of racers whose competitive spirit really showed through. The relay was neck and neck the whole way through, but Team 1 pulled out the win in the very last section of the race.

    Winning team would get to choose an additional 5 reps of each workout if they wanted to get the extra burn this morning or could take 5 reps away if they would like to relax. This was chosen in silence between the individual Pax and God, not as a team.

    Thang 3: Back to Thang 1 and this time seemed to be done much slower than the first, and each round felt so much sweeter as we got closer and closer to the end.

    Admittedly, YHC thought that thang 1 would take up much more time, but these fellas came to workout this morning and they weren’t having any slow counts in the cold. Relay race was supposed to be a finishing round but ended up as a middler to really see how far our muscles could be pushed. Everyone pushed so hard to finish and we did it with 1 minute to spare. There was dispute as YHC was under the impression we exercised for an hour during the week but YHC was quickly downvoted and told to lay off the Q-drenaline as we only had 1 minute left.

    :30 – :45 of Mary to close which consisted of 6-inch hold for duration.

    COT, name-o-rama, and Dox prayed us out.

    Thanks for the backblast name, Wet Tap! Cold Hands, Warm Hearts, Can’t Lose! This really has described the Thibodaux F3 Pax throughout the winter and I can’t wait for the next one.

    SYITG,
    Lil’ Cuz

  • “No disciple is [allowed to be] above his teacher.” – from Goose

    8 strong for Tuesday Tuff this morning, including a highly touted FNG who both serves Tana his daily brew and is served by Yankee Joe in the classroom. Tana noticed his truck pulling in with his eagle-salesman eyes, and so we did side straddle hops as we waited for him to make a lap around the neighborhood before coming back and pulling into the parking lot. Thankfully, YJ was in the road, prepared to physically stop his truck and move it into a parking space rather than allow him to take another lap.

    Warmup consisted of the usual things YHC needs to avoid old man injuries (all 20-count; can’t risk it) plus some high knees, butt kicks, and mountain climbers to kickstart the cardio system in preparation for an all out Merkin Mile.
    Manscape, the new leader of F3 Lake Charles had called out YHC late last week with a time to beat on the Merkin Mile since YHC introduced to them earlier this month. So, unable to back down from the challenge, and seeing the opportunity to measure growth amongst the PAX, we started the morning with a Merkin Mile for time. We went all out, pushing as hard as we could, and took stock of our time so that we could return to it in the coming weeks to track improvement…and, so YHC could put the bar higher than Manscape could reach, at least for a while. Knowing him, he’ll crush it soon enough, but I’ll ride the glory till then. Or, at least I thought I would…

    YHC got off to a good start, cruising beyond the rest of the PAX to a distance that felt like a comfortable lead. But, as we began the turn up through the alley behind the townhomes, I could hear footsteps getting closer. Was it Enron with his little brother superpowers, able to push beyond normal human limitations to beat whoever’s on top? Or was it Paradox, who is superhumanly motivated by any opportunity to push YHC’s buttons? As it turns out, it had nothing to do with YHC–it was Yankee Joe, the curmudgeonly GroupMe troll who is often heard complaining about how he just can’t seem to make progress the way the rest of us seem to, how he just gets too tired too quickly because he’s so darn old. And, yet, there he went, not only passing YHC, but continually increasing the distance all the way back to the flag. His motivation became clear as FNG Parker passed me not too far behind him and stayed right on his heels for the rest of the mile. His form was impeccable, and YHC should have known something was coming when he strapped on his Ralph Macchio headband pre-run. YJ, who didn’t know he had a second gear, also didn’t know he had a third gear, apparently, and that it would only be revealed when his professorly dignity was at stake. Either that, or he’s got the supernatural capacity to pour himself out for his students and loves to have a front seat to see them at their best; though, that sounds a little dramatic.
    Regardless, YHC was proud to see all the PAX pushing harder than usual this morning, and figured they earned a couple of 10-counts before the next movement:

    Song: “Jump” by Van Halen
    Hold a version of plank for the duration, and perform a groiner to jump up (top half of a burpee) at every “jump”. First verse–high plank. Second verse–elbow/chill-cut plank. Guitar/synth solo–Mission Impossible plank (this lasted about 15 minutes).

    Next, it was on to a classic Dora 1, 2, 3. YHC realized we hadn’t done one of these in a while, whereas they used to be a staple, so it was good to get back into it. Partnered up to split duty on the following (Partner 1 chipped away at the rep totals while Parter 2 ran a lap around the sidewalk track): 100 airplanes (1:1–alternating side plank with arm up in the sky), 200 Freddy Mercurys (2:1), and 300 Apolo Onos (1:1).
    While Yankee Joe focused again on running faster than everyone else, the rest of the PAX hammered diligently away at their reps and tried not to trip each other during the Onos. With about a minute left and most of the PAX done, YHC called it for a final minute of high plank and mumblechatter before recovering for COT.

    We took a nice, long time to come up with a name for the FNG, but “French Horn” eventually took the prize. Though it doesn’t have a great, creative backstory, it sounds like a solid F3 name (random, not super flattering), so YHC couldn’t pass it up. We definitely look forward to seeing more of French Horn!

    Announcements, prayer intentions, and Tana prayed us out. Awesome morning, fellas! Thanks for being part of this amazing brotherhood!

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Mellow Monday w/ Montana – from Wiford Montana

    I often try to use the space of F3 as a place to break down my muscles in order to grow them but today, today was a day to do that but something more. This q was to be real, connect, and hopefully show that thru a group of like minded people coupled with the love, strength, and mercy of our Lord Jesus we can become strong in many facets. Not only that but when we struggle with whatever it is we have a network, a common goal, a place to grow. Mellow Monday with Montana was set to begin.
    Warm-o-Rama:
    3 stretches then we churned out a mile on rich man loop.

    The journey of Pro shop Barry:
    Leaving Vandy I was an atheist looking for only self discovery and meaning of life. Was wondering in my “dessert” discovering, I would be willing to bet I have seen more pounds of weed than every pax combined, but I can say this much like all things of the world, they have their short term gains but no matter how much of a short term pleasure they just fall short.

    1st Song: Simmer Down by Bob Marley Thruster on Simmer Down and random “Goblin Squats” through out.

    2nd Song: Exodus (all present were on the true Exodus) by Bob
    Burpees on Exodus and Movement
    68 in total

    Then YHC passed around picture of Pro shop Barry, he was 2 links of boudin away from hitting 3bills
    “Tana killed proshop Barry, he dead now”
    Picture ripped up and we talked about whatever struggle or addiction you can turn to God anytime, and shared I accepted Jesus Sept. 18 2008 centered around 2Cor. 3:3

    3rd Song: Break every Chain- Jesus Culture
    BBS or V-up on power
    Merkin on Break every chain
    Coupon swing and man makers sprinkled in

    Closed out with a quick mile ish and then COT and Dilly prayed us out

    Appreciate each one of you and great work Pax

  • Stage Record – from Enron

    With anticipation building of what could be a new Stage record for attendance, YHC nervously arrived in the impossible-to-see foggy gloom to a surprise of multiple pairs of headlights awaiting. Tuesdays have not normally been highly attended, but all the stars had finally aligned to have a “hard commit” (no one ever fartsacks a hard commit) of 11 PAX on the GroupMe. Seeing 4 standing and waiting at 5:20, things were looking up for the record, especially with the surprise arrival of Paradox, aka POOX, and Wilford Montana. The types of compromises and promises that were made to their M’s are unknown, but their presence was welcomed. Vehicles continued to appear along with the arrival of Goose with 300 pounds of coupons in the back of his truck. YHC quickly unloaded one of his 2.0’s dry erase board, as well as additional coupons in set up for what was to come. As 5:30 arrived, a new record had been set. 12 PAX at the stage; this moment will go down in F3 Thibodaux history (which is honestly why this backblast is being forced).
    Warmup:
    SSH, AC, Cherry Pickers, grass grabbers (with the clap) Windmills, Self-Love, IW, Mountain Climbers and a large group bumper mosey.
    YHC can honestly say that nerves set it during the warmup as leading a large group comes with more Q-dreniline than expected. Counts may have been quicker than usual; mumble chatter was heard in the background regarding the cadence. Nothing out of the norm for Yankee Joe and Paradox and their shenanigans.
    Thang 1 and only 1: Modified Jerf
    A short synopsis/speech was given to instruct all the newer guys on the history of the “Jerf”. A combination of a Murph and a Bruce Lee with a twist from Yankee Joe. Quickly named the Jerf back in September/October by a group of PAX attempting to complete one per off-beatdown day. YHC had some new modifications and additions for today’s TuesdayTuff©. All were presented on the previously mentioned dry-erase easel. The following were completed in order, AMRAP, throughout the next 35 minutes. Although, one exercise was voted out and erased after each completed round. After 5 exercises were eliminated (5 rounds), YHC started to add one back on each round. Exercises are as follows:
    20 Coupon Curls
    20 Coupon Presses
    10 Yard Bear Crawl (this could not be eliminated along with the Crab walk as this was a mode of transportation)
    10 Merkins (eliminated 3rd)
    30 LBCS
    10 Yard Crab Walk (back to coupons)
    10 Merkins
    50 Freddy Mercury’s (1=1)
    20 Skull Crushers (eliminated 1st and also added back later as 10)
    20 Leg Raises (eliminated 2nd and added back later as 10)
    30 Squats (eliminated 4th)

    COT and Goose prayed us out. It was truly an honor to be able to lead this larger group of men today. Hopefully this is a sign of continued growth in our region.
    SYITG,
    Enron