Before I Became “P.O.”

A Letter to Bob Cline Before His First F3 Workout

By P.O. (with a little help from ChatGPT)

Hey Bob…yeah you Sad Clown,

You have no idea what you’re about to walk into.

Right now, you think you’re just trying a free workout group because you know you need to get back in shape for about the 32nd time in your life and willing to give anything a shot to see if something sticks.

You’ll tell yourself, “Why not? Worst case, maybe I meet a few guys ...fake my way through workout and never go back again.”

What you don’t realize yet is that this one random early morning workout is about to change a lot more than your fitness.

In a few minutes, you’re going to meet a bunch of guys standing around in a parking lot before sunrise, and honestly, it’s going to seem a little weird at first.

One of them named “Golden Pinky” is leading the workout. You’ll find out later he’s actually the Nantan of the group. Don’t really know what that means yet? Don’t worry…you’ll learn soon enough.

For some odd reason, Golden Pinky thinks combining physical exhaustion with F3 trivia is a great idea.

Spoiler alert…none of these guys know the answers.

To be fair to them, the AO (The Green) had only started a few months prior, but Golden Pinky didn’t care.

Wrong Answer…run.
Wrong Answer…run.
Wrong Answer…run again.

Meanwhile, you’re completely gassed and wondering why grown men willingly do this to themselves at 5:30 in the morning.

But here’s the part you don’t know yet...

You’re going to love it. I mean really love it.

Not because of the burpees. Definitely not because of the burpees.

You’re going to love the energy. The encouragement. The joking around between sets. The way complete strangers immediately make you feel like part of the group.

You’re going to realize pretty quickly that this isn’t really about workouts.

It’s about connection.

It’s about accountability.

It’s about men showing up for each other in a world where a lot of guys quietly go through life carrying stress, isolation, pressure, and responsibilities mostly alone.

And somehow, these early mornings are going to help with that.

You’ll find yourself looking forward to it.

You’ll notice your mindset changing.

You’ll still make it home in time to help get the family going in the mornings and your kids are gonna wanna know what drugs those workout guys are giving you for that extra early morning energy you have now.

Now, I know you’ve never really seen yourself as a leader, but when you find something you truly believe in…you don’t exactly dip your toe in the water, do you?!

Nope, you cannonball straight into the deep end.

And that’s exactly what’s about to happen here.

Instead of easing into F3 like a sane person, you’re going to sign up for your VQ just 23 days after your first workout.

Which, at the time, was apparently borderline insane.

You barely know the exercises. Your cadence will be questionable at best. You’ll probably think every exercise starts with yelling “GO.”

But you’ll do it anyway.

And honestly, that’s kind of the point.

F3 has a funny way of helping men discover more in themselves than they expected.

You think you’re joining a workout group.

What you’re actually finding is friendships, leadership opportunities, confidence, consistency, and a community that’s going to become a meaningful part of your life for years.

So go ahead and show up tomorrow morning, Bob.

You’re tired.
You’re unsure.
You’re probably going to get absolutely smoked…no, you WILL get smoked!!!

But trust me...

It’ll be one of the better decisions you ever make.

Oh and yeah…about that leader you never really saw in yourself? The one that little voice in the back of your head kept whispering about?

How does Nant'an of F3 Austin sound?

Proud of ya, Bob Cline!!

All love man......signed,

P.O.

 

I Am Not Here For Me 

by P.O. (Chat GPT assisted)

I came to F3 for me… but I stayed because it was never about me.

When I first joined F3 Austin, I was looking for something.

Life was good. Great family. Stable work. Nothing was falling apart.

But I was coasting.

I wanted to get fitter. Lose some weight. Feel sharper. If I’m honest, I joined F3 for what I could get out of it.

I posted because it helped me.
I pushed hard because I wanted results.
If I skipped, the only person I felt like I disappointed was myself.

I even grabbed my first Q about a week and a half in. I remember Spike asking if I did that on purpose.

Oh, absolutely.

Give me the mic. Give me the cadence. I’m not exactly shy about being center stage. At the time, even leadership felt like it was still about me.

Then something shifted.

I became ComzQ..... more “voluntold” than called. Suddenly I wasn’t just attending workouts. I was responsible for communication, for connection, for the ecosystem of men showing up.

Around that time, a PAX from F3 Katy named Covenant was playing HALO (yes… the online video game, for those of us of a certain age). He was gaming with a guy named Steve Flores — now affectionately known to us as HammerTime.

HammerTime opened up about struggling in life.

Covenant did what F3 men do....he went searching. He looked up F3 in Austin and sent a message through our Facebook page.

By pure luck, I had taken a break from archiving Slack channels (IYKYN) and happened to check those messages. I was able to point HammerTime to his closest AO Sasquatch.

That one small moment mattered.

HammerTime showed up.

Legend has it he was skeptical. Fair. We all were at first. But he met a group of men at an ungodly hour, got in a workout, and more importantly got heard.

The PAX listened.

He came back.

Slowly, he started becoming the man, the husband, and the father he was meant to be.

I wasn’t there that first day. But I heard enough to know something.

This wasn’t just a workout group.

This could change lives.

And that’s when my mindset flipped.

It stopped being about “What’s in this for me?”

It became, “What’s in this for someone else?”

I made it my mission to keep finding men to show up for  and men I’d want to show up for. Ironically, that probably helped me more than anything else.

But over time, I realized something even bigger.

I’m not just showing up for the guys beside me in the gloom.

I’m showing up for people I may never meet.

HammerTime’s wife later shared in a HIM Highlight that she felt lost  unsure how to help her husband. She credited F3 and the men of this region with helping him shift back into being a better husband and father.

Let that sink in.

This isn’t about me.
It’s not even just about the men I post with.

It’s about the wife praying to get her husband back.
It’s about the kids looking for a father to look up to.

That’s why I show up.

That’s why 4:00am doesn’t suck.

The moment this becomes about more than you about someone else, maybe even someone you’ll never meet  is the moment you start getting more out of it than you ever imagined.

I came to F3 for me.

But I stay because I am not here for me.

 “One Last P.O. Push” by P.O. edited by chatGPT

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to step away from the role of Nantan and if I’m honest, I’m dreading it a little, and I’m sad a little. But I’m also genuinely excited about what comes next for this region and for the man who’ll take the reins. It’s definitely time, and the P.O. Push has just one last shove left in it.
Here’s the funny part..... I never set out to be Nantan. Truth be told, I didn’t even really want to be ComzQ back in the day. I had very little technical skill and zero desire to pretend otherwise. But I guess my not so legendary but lengthy COT announcements got me the gig as I will over communicate the hell out of something coming up!!
And yes, I’d even do The Great SLACK Archive of 2023 all over again. At the time it felt chaotic, but if it hadn’t happened, I might never have wound up at that meeting with Aaaayyyy over a beer. I thought I was about to get my hand slapped… and instead I walked out fired up about building something big and meaningful here. That conversation helped spark a region many of you are part of today.
A lot has happened since then. We’ve grown, stumbled, laughed, learned, argued, apologized, and kept showing up in the gloom together. There have been challenges, and they’ve shaped us. They’ve shaped me. I went into this thinking I was pretty set in my ways, and F3 proved me wrong in the best possible way. I never imagined I’d be leading a group of men in anything like this, much less helping steer a region across greater Austin.
I still think back to Q Summit I. I honestly thought maybe three of us would be there. When more than thirty PAX showed up from across the area, I knew this was going to be something special. Not neat and tidy, not perfect but real, alive, and worth giving myself to.
Being Nantan has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Not because of the title, but because I’ve had a front-row seat to watch men change to see guys climb out of ruts, discover leadership they didn’t think they had, find fellowship they’d been missing, and show up for one another when life got heavy. Watching that happen over and over again is something I’ll never forget.
Which brings me to now.
At Q Summit V, this final P.O. Push reaches the end, and I’ll be handing over the role of Nantan. I would love to see as many PAX there as possible ...not for me, but to support the man who is stepping into this role and to celebrate what this region has become. Your presence matters.....It matters to me, and it will matter to him.
So yes, I’m a little sad to step aside. But I am even more excited about what the next season holds and what the new Nantan will bring. My role going forward is simple: keep showing up, keep encouraging, and keep locking shields with you men.
Thank you for trusting me, challenging me, pushing me, and laughing with me. It’s been a wild run and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Onward, brothers.
P.O.

 

VQ Month...Step Up, Lead, Repeat

We kicked off VQ Month with a bang ...BROgran already ran a VQ at Shootout over in the Badlands. If you’ve been around F3 for more than a minute, you know there’s more going on here than just sweat and burpees. Yeah, workouts get you out of the house.... that’s how we reeled you in but the real work is bigger than showing up a few times to the AO to sweat out last nights meal.  We’re here to develop leaders: in the gloom, at home, at work, and in our communities.

F3’s mission is simple: plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. Notice it doesn’t say “show up, do the workout, go home.” If that’s been your routine ....I get it. I started that way too. It took me a handful of beatdowns before I took a Q. Back then it was less structured, which helped. But once I led my first workout, I realized it was about way more than calling exercises and jokes at the COT.

Leading a Q is where the rubber meets the road. It’s not a performance review. There’s no pay raise and no trophy (unless you count the unearned respect from your brothers). It’s you vs. you. It’s practicing the muscle of service and leadership in front of your peers. Will it make you a little nervous? Probably. Will the guys give you a hard time if you flub it? Absolutely....we’re men. But we’re also a group that shows up for one another.

The best leaders aren’t always the loudest or the guy with the best playlist. The best leaders show up, try to be better, and help others be better too. Q source says it best: leaders are developed, not born. Every one of us has that capability.

For the guy who’s never Q’d (or hasn’t in a while)

• Start small. Pair up with another PAX and co-Q. You don’t have to do it alone.

• Use the templates. We have workout templates and help...use them.

• Ask for feedback. After the workout, ask a couple guys what worked and what didn’t.

• Remember why you’re doing it. It’s not about perfection ...t’s about growth.

• Celebrate it. Your first Q matters. Your second matters more.

If you’re paralyzed by “I don’t know how,” don’t let that stop you. Jump into the deep end,  the PAX are your floaties. Reach out to a buddy, the Area Q, or me. We get jazzed when someone new Qs. It’s a big deal. The only thing bigger than your first VQ is your second, third, fourth… and that one guy who’s somehow on his 67th.

So: VQ Month is live. If you haven’t Q’d yet, challenge yourself. If you’ve Q’d before, mentor someone else to do it. Let’s keep planting leaders...one workout at a time.

AYE. Let’s get after it.

 P.O. | F3 Austin "Your Neighborhood Floatie Co-Q" Nantan

 

The Fart Sack 

by P.O. (w/Chat GPT assist for grammar and little clean up)

This one’s especially for the newer PAX who’ve joined F3 Austin in recent months…

You may have seen a video where I.......your Nantan (which to help out with another word of the week.....basically means I’ve been tasked with leading this crazy crew of leaders here in F3 Austin, not by power or authority....although that would be nice, but simply by encouragement and what little influence I can squeeze out…ha!) was called out for the Word of the Week: Fart Sack.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the quick and unofficial definition: The Fart Sack = intentionally not getting out of bed to post at a beatdown because the snooze button won. It’s one of the funniest, and honestly most impactful, words in the F3 lexicon. Around here, it’s used liberally to discourage PAX from choosing sleep over the gloom.

Now.....I ain’t gonna stand here and say I’ve never Fart Sack’d. (Though one infamous time, I was wrongly accused thanks to a technical issue with my iPhone alarm. A couple jokers decided to pile on by gifting me an old-school alarm clock, complete with detailed setup instructions, an actual fart sack bag, and cherry on top...my very own Fart Sack emoji.)

Pretty funny, I’ll admit…especially since the PAX who spam that emoji the most are also the biggest serial offenders of the Fart Sack. (you know who you are) Their excuse? “Well, I didn’t HC on the preblast…” Sorry fellas, that doesn’t get you off the hook. You, God, and your Nantan know if you were planning on posting and instead chose the sleep life over being out with your F3 brothers!!!

Now, there are exceptions. Don’t confuse the Fart Sack with the Smart Sack.

• Fart Sack = you could’ve been there but chose not to.

• Smart Sack = you intentionally stayed home because of injury, sickness, or you’ve been posting like a madman and need rest. Respect.

So if you’ve posted with us for a while, chances are you’ve either already Fart Sack’d or you will soon....it’s almost a rite of passage. Something to add to your F3 résumé. Well that is unless your name is Disc Jockey or Impact (seriously, do those guys even own pillows?), you’re not immune.

Oh, and before you go calling me out again, take a look at the F3 Austin Stats Page....you’ll see me right up there with the top posters. And I’d like to think only a few of those posts were from coffee Qs. 

So there you go....your crash course in the legend of the Fart Sack, why it’s tied to my name, and why you’ll see that emoji floating around Slack. Laugh at it, use it on your buddies, but don’t let it define you. Get up, get after it, and keep building the bonds that make the gloom worth it.

SYITG,
PO | F3 Austin Occasional Nantan Fart Sacker

 

Rise and Grind: Unpacking the Phenomenal Growth of F3 Austin's Brotherhood

F3 Austin PAX in action during an early morning workout.

I. Introduction: What's Shaking (and Sweating) in Austin's Early Mornings?

Imagine a scene: predawn darkness, not the quiet hum of brewing coffee, but a chorus of shouts, of encouragements echoing across a park. Men, figures illuminated by the faintest glimmer of dawn, pushing themselves through burpees and lunges. These aren't paid professionals; these are your neighbors, your fellow Austinites, united not by a shared profession but by a shared commitment... to something more. Welcome to F3 Austin!

More than a mere workout, F3 – Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith – is a national non-profit with a bold ambition: to cultivate male community leaders. It’s a fascinating experiment in male bonding, a counterpoint to the narratives of isolation that often plague modern masculinity.

But why? Why this pre-dawn pilgrimage to sweat and camaraderie? Because somewhere along the line, many men have lost their tribes, their support systems, that innate sense of connection. F3 aims to fill that void, fostering a space where men can challenge themselves physically and mentally, ultimately becoming better fathers, husbands, and citizens.

Today, we’re diving into the heart of F3 Austin, exploring its meteoric rise, its unique culture, and the whispers – both positive and critical – that surround this intriguing phenomenon.

II. The "Gloom" Unpacked: What Makes F3 Austin Tick?

The magic, if you can call it that, happens in the "gloom" – that liminal space between night and day (dark and light). It's where the three F's converge, creating something truly unique.

• Fitness: These aren't your typical gym workouts. They are free, peer-led, bootcamp-style sessions held outdoors, come rain or shine. The beauty lies in its accessibility. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or just starting your fitness journey, no one is left behind. It's about pushing your personal limits, not competing with others.
• Fellowship: This is the heart of F3. It's about forging genuine friendships, bonds strengthened in the shared crucible of physical exertion. These relationships extend beyond the gloom, nurtured through social gatherings, shared meals (meatdowns), and even endurance challenges. It's a brotherhood built on mutual support and accountability.
• Faith: This isn't about religious dogma. Instead, it’s a call to live a life of purpose, to dedicate oneself to something larger than personal ambition. It's about character, integrity, and striving to be a better version of oneself.

The inner workings of F3 Austin reveal a fascinating structure. Workouts are led by participants ("Qing"), not certified trainers. There is no corporate oversight, just individuals stepping up to guide and motivate. And after each session, the men gather in a "Circle of Trust" (CoT), a moment of heartfelt sharing and camaraderie. A lexicon of their own binds the group together, from "FNG" (Friendly New Guy) to "fartsacking" (sleeping in, A.K.A., iPhonegate). You even get a nickname. The workouts take place across various "Areas of Operation" (AOs), decentralized across Austin, from neighborhood parks to school fields.

III. From a Spark to a Sweaty Surge: F3 Austin's Growth Story

The F3 movement began in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2011, the brainchild of "Dredd" and "OBT." Their vision resonated, and the movement quickly spread across the nation.

Austin's story, while perhaps lacking a precise origin date, is one of organic growth fueled by passionate individuals. 

The trajectory has been impressive. The launch of new AOs, such as "AO The Mill" set launch records, is a testament to the growing demand for what F3 offers. The development of a strong Shared Leadership Team (SLT), focused on nurturing each of the three F's, showcases a dedication to long-term sustainability. Even events like the "Q Summit" have become catalysts for growth and unity.

But the real story lies in the individual transformations. Healthier family lives, invigorated communities, and strengthened relationships, are living proof of F3's impact.

IV. The Good, The Grit, and The "Cult-like" Claims: Public Opinion on F3 Austin

The F3 community, or "PAX", sings praises of the organization. They speak of transformative health improvements, the unwavering support of their brothers, and profound mental and emotional gains. The radical accessibility of F3 – open to all men, regardless of fitness level – is also a major draw.

However, the organization has its share of criticisms.

The unique culture, complete with its own lexicon, nicknames, and "Circle of Trust," has, inevitably, led to accusations of being "cult-like." The emphasis on "Faith," while not explicitly religious, has also raised questions, particularly when some groups incorporate prayer or religiously inclined sharing.

Some have pointed out a lack of diversity within certain F3 groups, an issue that perhaps reflects broader societal challenges. The intensity of the workouts, led by peers rather than certified trainers, has also sparked concerns about potential injuries. 

.

V. The Road Ahead: What's Next for F3 Austin?

The momentum behind F3 Austin seems unstoppable. The core mission – to "plant, grow, and serve" small workout groups of men for the invigoration of male community leadership– inherently implies continued expansion. The F3 Austin Nantan "P.O." is vocal about the ambition to make F3 Austin a household name throughout the greater Austin area, suggesting a future filled with new AOs and wider reach.

Individual members are also driving growth via posts on Social Media, signs, business cards,  F3 shirts and showing up regularly!

VI. Conclusion: More Than Just a Workout, It's a Movement

F3 Austin has blossomed into a powerful force, a unique blend of rigorous workouts, profound male camaraderie, and personal leadership development. It's changing lives, one early morning "beatdown" at a time, strengthening men physically, mentally, and socially.

Is F3 Austin the answer to modern male isolation? Does it offer a unique blend of challenge and connection that outweighs its controversies? Perhaps the answer lies not in definitive pronouncements but in continued observation, in listening to the voices of both its advocates and its critics.

Ready to shed the "fartsack" and find your F3 name? The gloom awaits.

Everest - F3 Story (published by Impact on behalf of Everest)

 My F3 Story – Everest | AO: Sasquatch | F3 Austin

One morning, I was out running on a trail with my wife when a man called out to me: his name is Impact.

“Free men’s workout!”

I stopped and asked, “What days?”

He said, “Monday, Wednesday, Friday—5:30 AM.”

That moment changed everything.

Since that day, I’ve been part of F3 Austin, showing up at Sasquatch with a group of men who challenge, encourage, and sharpen one another.

They gave me the nickname Everest—because I’m from Nepal, home of the highest peak in the world. But the real summit I’ve been climbing is the one inside myself.

F3 has helped me grow stronger—not just physically, but mentally and spiritually.

It gave me structure, brotherhood, and purpose.

It reminded me that I’m not alone.

I’m proud to be Everest.

I’m proud to show up in the gloom with the men of Sasquatch and other AO groups in the region.

And I’m grateful for that one trail run that led me to this life-changing community.

Thank you, F3 Austin.

#F3Austin #SasquatchAO #EverestF3 #HIM #F3Nation #FitnessFellowshipFaith #IronSharpensIron #FreedToLead #OYO