What is F3?

The mission of F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership.

 

F3 — our three Fs stand for Fitness, Fellowship and Faith — traces its roots to a free, participant-led boot camp workout held on Saturday mornings at a Charlotte, N.C., park since 2006. The leaders of F3 launched their first Saturday workout on 1/1/11, on the campus of A.G. Middle School in Charlotte.

Our mission is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

Core Principles

F3 workouts …

    • Are free of charge
    • Are open to all men
    • Are held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
    • Are led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary
    • End with a Circle of Trust

 

Visit F3nation.com to find out more!

FITNESS (1ST F) – THE MAGNET

F3 workouts are open to men of all fitness levels.  The workouts are organized to keep the entire group together and designed to push every man to his limits.

One of the core principles is “No man left behind, no man left the same.”

All our workouts are peer-led, meaning that the men of the PAX (a group of F3 guys) take turns leading, or “Q-ing” the workouts.  There are no experts. No professionals with clipboards. Each man in the PAX contributes, and therefore has ownership. This revolving leadership model means new exercises and routines are constantly being introduced.

Because participants are challenged and pushed in new ways every day, they achieve an all-around fitness that helps equip F3 men for all types of endurance challenges, including mud runs, obstacle races, triathlons, marathons, long-distance relays, rucks and all manner of other adventure challenges. Another upside to this model is that it also equips you for the random tasks required of a man in everyday life.

F3 workouts take place at publicly accessible venues, including parks and school campuses.

While the classic F3 workout requires no equipment other than your workout clothes, gravity and the great outdoors, we have also introduced a few specialized workouts.  These include trail running, distance running, triathlon prep, rucking groups, and kettlebell workouts.

And while the vast majority of F3 workouts launch before the Sun is up — largely because that’s the time of day when F3 guys can be most certain of being able to control their schedules — we also offer evening workouts.

Check the F3 Dallas Schedule for the list of workouts in the area.

FELLOWSHIP (2ND F) – THE GLUE

If the 1st F is what brings a guy to F3, it is the 2nd F that is the “glue” that causes them to stay and stick with it.  It’s easy to get someone out for a free workout. But for most of the F3 guys, the reason they keep coming back — setting their alarm for 5:00 AM three, four or five days a week — is the friendships that are built.

It’s not just about getting better. It’s about getting better together.

There’s something special about pushing through a brutal workout with another guy.  “Embracing the suck” (as we call it) of a physically exhausting workout bonds men together in a way few other things can.

We encourage those bonds by closing every workout with what we call the Circle of Trust (COT).  Every guy shares his birth name, his age and his F3 nickname.  Even if you’re brand-new (what we call a Friendly New Guy or “FNG”), you will leave with a new F3 nickname and a new brotherhood to belong to.

We reinforce the Second F through organized participation in physical challenges like obstacle races, mud runs, distance relay races, GORUCK events and other adventures (what we enthusiastically call CSAUP–Completely Stupid And Utterly Pointless–events).  We also have weekly lunches and meet-ups, and even some kid/dad events.

At the heart of F3 is a passion to see men grow physically, mentally, relationally and spiritually.

Growth = Challenge + Consistency + Camaraderie

To experience long-term growth, we need to push ourselves intentionally and routinely with the encouragement and support of others on the same journey.

FAITH (3RD F) – THE DYNAMITE

At F3, we recognize that we are more than just physical beings.  Physical fitness important, but it is a man’s spiritual health that truly determines his impact.  We want to see men grow holistically…mind, body and soul.

Part of how we pursue the Third F together is to close each workout with a Circle of Trust (COT) and Ball of Man (BOM).

The COT is a platform for the man leading the workout, we call this guy the “Q”, to share something that has been stirring him or challenging him to be a better husband, father, friend and neighbor.  This is immediately followed by the BOM, which is a brief prayer or “shout-out” led by the Q or one of the participants the Q designates.

Men are free to pray to their god or to speak from a secular perspective. F3 is open to men of all faiths and no faith, and the closing shout-out is generally the only faith-specific component of a workout. We do it because we are thankful for the opportunity to come together and build ourselves into better men, and because the vocal and corporate expression of that gratitude builds a stronger F3 community.

We have also found that many F3 participants, after getting in the best physical shape of their adult lives and meeting their social needs for the first time as adults, start taking a more serious approach to questions of purpose and significance.

F3 workouts in other regions have spawned Bible studies, attendance at speaker series and other Third F initiatives. We encourage those efforts as complements to the workouts and an important way for F3 participants to grow and exercise leadership in their families and communities.