Fitness group F3 Birmingham seeks to build community leaders
F3 Nation, founded in 2011 in Charlotte, is a national network of free, peer-led workouts for men at public venues, including parks, schools and churches.
The mission of F3 — the three Fs being fitness, fellowship and faith — is to plant small workout groups that engender what the organization believes is much-needed male community leadership. There are currently affiliate groups in 26 states, according to f3nation.com.
And now F3 Birmingham, with heavy participation from Homewood residents, will celebrate a major milestone.
F3 Birmingham — started in May 2017 — will host a second anniversary convergence workout at Central Park, in conjunction with We Love Homewood Day, on May 4 from 6-7 a.m., according to Stephen Perlis, a Homewood native and the local group leader. Participants will also run in the We Love HomewoodDay 5K.
Like F3 workouts nationally, the Birmingham workouts are free, open to all men regardless of fitness level and held outdoors even in rain or cold. And F3 Birmingham offers more than just exercise, according to Perlis.
“F3 is a brotherhood,” he said. “What starts as showing up to a workout to get in shape ends up turning into so much more for those that stick with it.”
The benefits of the workouts — held at various locations in Hoover, Mountain Brook and Homewood, including Patriot Park and Central Park — go beyond just the participants, according to Perlis.
“Every community needs leaders — those who step up and do the hard thing behind the curtains,” he said.
Jeremy Read, a Charleston transplant who had been part of an F3 group before, started F3 Birmingham, according to Perlis.
F3 Birmingham does “a bootcamp-style workout” five mornings a week and a run group that meets on Fridays, he said. The workouts locally draw an average of about 30 participants — called PAX in F3 lingo — though organizers hope to draw about 100 men to the second anniversary event.
“Of all our locations throughout Birmingham, Homewood probably has the most participants,” Perlis said.
The classic F3 workout requires no equipment other than workout clothes, but the Birmingham group occasionally uses “coupons,” an F3 term for objects such as bricks, concrete blocks or oversized tires, Perlis said.
Regular participants take turns leading the workouts, and no special training or certification is required. “F3 is referred to by some of the PAX as a leadership academy,” Perlis said.
All F3 workouts, in Birmingham and elsewhere, end with a “Circle of Trust.”
“We gather at the end of the workout to do Name-o-Rama — each PAX states their name, age and F3 nickname — share prayer requests, give announcements of upcoming F3 events, then close it out with a prayer,” Perlis said.
And F3 follows the motto, “Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you find him.”
“During the workout, when we leave the Area of Operation, no man gets left behind. We stick together,” Perlis said. “Every PAX of F3 would attest that being a part of this group has changed their lives for the better in some way.”
The F3 Birmingham group has “been instrumental in the development of male community leadership throughout Birmingham, and specifically in Homewood,” Perlis said.
The PAX also lead in the community through the other two Fs of fellowship and faith, according to Perlis. For example, the group has served breakfast to the women and children of First Light shelter, fed the homeless, done coat drives and raised money for The Exceptional Foundation. The men have also held Bible studies, ministry breakfasts and leadership lunches.
The F3 movement also has a sense of humor. For example, the regulars are given nicknames that might poke fun at a career or hobby. Perlis, who sells apartments, was dubbed “Slumlord,” he said.
Those interested in attending the May 4 event can attend as a PAX or as a “friendly new guy,” according to Perlis. And two representatives from F3 Nation — “Goose” and “Italian Job” — will attend and speak to the group, he said.
For times and locations of workouts, go to f3birmingham.com.