F3 Wichita’s free workouts build camaraderie among men

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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Joining a gym can be an expensive endeavor. One Wichita group decided to offer free and unique workouts for local men.

F3 Wichita began with less than 20 men coming together to work out and motivate one another. Four years later, more than 100 men came out to celebrate F3 Wichita’s anniversary early, at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.

“Encourage every single man around you. Lots of chatter. Tell them to push themselves and tell them to crush it,” Johannon Rucker, the East Region president for F3 Wichita, said. “Be the best they can be because people here around you, that you live with, are pouring into you every single morning.”

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F3 Wichita’s workouts are completely free for any man who wants to join, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy

“I remember getting home and telling my wife, like, ‘man, that was really tough. I’ve never done anything that tough before, and I was somehow able to do it because you had guys there for the whole 45 minutes just encouraging you along the way,” Kyle Tucker, the incoming East Region president for F3 Wichita, said.

These men gain a lot more than just a sweaty start to their weekend.

“It’s helping me to be a better person, helping me be better physically. But then, in addition to that, is the friendships you build and relationships you build. You know, you walk with these guys, you walk through the hard times in their lives, you walk through the good times. You get to celebrate,” Ryan Reach, the west region president for F3 Wichita, said.

The group says that the importance of camaraderie is not discussed enough.

“You hear that guys going through the same struggles you are going through, like it’s hard to be a good dad. It’s hard to be a good husband. And having guys that are there as a little network to encourage each other through it. Share wins. Share struggles is really powerful,” Tucker said.

“This morning, there’s going to be 100 guys over there. I probably met 90 of them. This gives me another opportunity to meet more,” Shawn Tyndell, a F3 Wichita member since 2021, said.

He has been attending these workouts since they first started in the 316. He says it’s incredible to see it grow.

“First area we started was the parking lot over here, 12 guys, you know, and it’s always just kept going up. You know, this is our fourth convergence. And every convergence got bigger and bigger. And it’s just amazing,” Tyndell said.

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And it appears they are nowhere close to slowing down.

“Come out here, push yourself and do the hardest thing of your day at the beginning. So the rest of the day is easy. So finally, we reached 100 men, which is a super cool milestone. We’ll get to 150, We’ll get to 200, We’re really excited about it,” Rucker said.

To help illustrate how much this has grown. It started as one group of guys. There are now several workout groups in the area, including those in Newton and Valley Center. Additionally, there are two groups in Wichita, one on the east side and one on the west side.

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