Member-only story
I started doing F3 Nation workouts — it’s an all-male group that stands for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith — sometime in maybe late August of ’21. I started leading the workouts periodically around December 3, 2021. The workouts commence at 5:30am, and 6:30am on Saturdays; here’s a general list of FAQs if you want to learn more. They exist in multiple regions and multiple countries, and all-in, it’s a good thing. Nay, a great thing.
Briefly in terms of my own involvement with it all, I’ve had a weird life as a dude. I’m currently 41 and .25 years, have no kids (might someday!), and regularly blog about male depression and loneliness. I spent the majority of my 30s drinking to excess a few times per week, often commencing that process by drinking solo to excess. I got divorced at 36. I’m semi-athletic but overweight. It’s easy to look at me and think “Wreck.” You’d often be right.
F3 has helped me with these things, both mentally and physically. When I go to a workout, and/or lead a workout, I’m still often the slowest person on running portions, or bringing up the rear on burpee portions, or something like that. I’m not an alpha dog by any means. And because F3 dudes operate with code names or call signs — mine is Clifford, because I’m big, have red hair, and have a big dog myself — I don’t always even know the real names of the dudes I’m doing this stuff with. Are these people now my best friends? No. But there is a sense of community and connection that it can be hard for guys to find, especially after about 32, and it can make you feel better and more consistent about your existence in the process.
I don’t think I’ll ever be a 5:00 mile or a 20 burpees per minute guy, but one of the beauties of the F3 Nation is that you don’t have to be, and people will still support you, and even if they’re triple-lapping you, 97% of the guys will run past you and say “Great job, Clifford. Keep it up.” This is often at 5:52am. It’s a powerful feeling.
You end a given workout with a call-sign name-o-rama that gets filmed and posted to a Slack channel, then community announcements, prayer requests, and a group prayer. The prayer’s not heavy-handed by any means, so if you’re not super religious, you can still embrace the group. Most F3 groups have side events like happy hours, book clubs, volunteering, larger workout meetups (with multiple locations coming together), etc. There’s a lot of opportunity for connection, even if you just get 15 new acquaintances and not any weekend-to-weekend friends.
So, if it’s near you, check it out. I think you’ll be really happy with the decision as an emergent middle-aged dude. (Oh, and on ages, I think the main ones I attend run about 28 to about 64. And it’s all good in the hood either way.)
C’mon out.
