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Freed To Lead 2: F3 & The Unshackling of the Modern-day Warrior
Freed to Lead is the story, told by F3's co-founders, of how they unwittingly launched an international movement from a Charlotte, N.C., middle school on New Year's Day 2011. Through anecdote, metaphor, and the occasional "Truth Nugget," Dave "Dredd" Redding and Tim "OBT" Whitmire reveal how the Three Fs they stumbled on - Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith - cure the "Sad Clown Syndrome" that plagues so many men in our culture and offer a solution to our society's male leadership vacuum.
- GenresPhilosophy
202 pages, Paperback
Published December 9, 2021
15 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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March 8, 2023
Freed to Lead
This book could not have come at a better time for me personally and I hope a lot of men who have put off reading Freed to Lead will take the plunge and start reading in hopes that it will be the perfect time for them to get into the founding and culture and leadership principles of F3 Nation.
I was manipulated and tricked into attending my first F3 workout on Veterans Day weekend in 2017. But one workout was all it took and I was hooked. I love going by my F3 Name Rev Sox, as a pastor who is a fan of the New York Yankees. I love being the workout Q or leader, a site Q, few things are more enjoyable than the stupidity of a good CSAUP or naming an FNG or Friendly New Guy at his first workout.
Being the Q of a CSAUP, that is a run that was completely stupid and utterly pointless, where we had two FNG brothers who last name was Heinie and then naming them Left Cheek and Right Cheek is one of my greatest joys in life.
I love F3 NOLA.
But then I broke my ankle in October and I have been on the IL since with news that I might be renamed Michael Thomas for being on the IL for this long. I am chomping at the bit to come back. Two problems. Side straddle hops are still a problem on that healing ankle. And I have stabbing phantom pain in my broken ankle whenever I think of going to a workout because I don’t want to break it again doing something dumb. And I do dumb things at F3.
But Freed To Lead, loved reading the 2nd Edition so much after reading the first edition, I am taking the plunge and going to a beatdown this week even if I can’t do a bunch of the exercises. And if 75% of what I just said so far in this book review doesn’t make sense to you. Allow me to explain.
Freed to lead by David Redding and Tim Whitmire better known by F3 Members as Dredd and OBT, they tell the story of the founding of F3 Nation. F3 is a worldwide men’s exercise community with the three Fs standing for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. Now the workouts can really be almost anything from military style bootcamp workouts, running groups, biking, rucking, and more.
What makes a workout an F3 workout is an adherence to 5 Core Principles – F3 is Free of Charge, we are not paying other men to lead us or rent space, Open to All Men, sorry ladies, this is a men’s club, Held Outdoors, praise the Lord I live in New Orleans and not New York, Peer Led, the men who workout are expected to quickly grasp the concepts of F3 and then are thrown into the deep end of leadership and it is glorious, and Ends with COT, a circle of Trust. This where we confess our birth names, ages, and pray over each other.
Freed to Lead not only tells the story of F3’s founding but it also covers why F3 works.
F3 is spreading across the nation and the world like wildfire because it is solving a problem so many men experience – the Sad Clown Syndrome. The Sad Clown is a man whose purposeless life where are overly burdened with tasks but lacking in real purpose. F3 helps men get back to a life purpose, energy, and joy by inspiring them through the leadership qualities developed in F3 activies.
This was my second read through the book and I think I liked it even more. One because I am on the IL and it helped me get my brain engaged to get back in, so if you are in F3 and watching this while on the IL, start reading Freed to Lead even if you read it before, it might be the jump start you need to get you back in.
I also loved the edition of the testimonies in the new edition from the men in F3. Every man in F3 should want to read it simply for the testimonies. They were great to read. These humorous and inspiring stories help to illustrate just how life changing F3 can be.
This paragraph by Slow Pitch helps to show F3 solves the problem of loneliness that so many men have. A life where men aged 30-60 are surrounded by people but lacking any real friends. Slow pitch wrote about attending his first workout
It felt like arriving at a party full of strangers that’s already underway. While I looked for my brother Bubbles and worried about where I should leave my car keys during the workout, I was greeted by two smiling guys, Waffle House, and Wait Time. My head was spinning, then I saw Bubbles and then my other brother, Tater Tot. With huge grins they came over and gave me a huge hug. Bubbles informed Tater Tot that he was claiming credit for the EH!
That paragraph which is insane to anyone who is outside of F3 illustrates how men are plunged into this community of brotherly love, encouragement, accountability, and support in F3. When you are given your F3 name you are welcomed into a new community of friendship that almost seems impossible for men to find anywhere else.
The testimonies show how F3 brings community and then that community is what inspires men to be more than they ever thought capable from starting new businesses to new non-profits to just simply being there for other men in a way they never thought possible before.
Although the testimonies did bring about my one complaint from the book. They are dominated by stories from F3 members from North Carolina and I get that F3 started there, but I think it makes F3 seem much smaller than it is when all the stories come out of North Carolina as if there aren’t awesome stories from guys all over the nation and now even the world. I think Dredd and OBT would have been better served selecting some stories from a broader geographical area but that’s a relatively minor complaint since the stories in the book were very good.
The insight that this book has on leadership is also priceless. As a pastor, I am so thankful for what I have learned from F3 and two readings of Freed to Lead.
Pastors should read this to learn how to invigorate men in their churches and community. We need to help men find their dolphins and daffodils – those works that bring them joy and fulfillment that they will want to do without being guilted into it by pastors and wives.
And the final section on the importance of the 3rd 500 or the 3rd quarter in life is so crucial and as a man who just turned 40 and entered my 3rd 500 – I want these years to count and the most impact in my life. I want to get more done in 40-60 years then I accomplished in my first 40 and I think F3 will help make it happen.
The best way to know what this F3 craze is about is to go to a workout. If you are a man in need of friends just show up at a beatdown – look up F3 Nation.com and find the workout closest to you. If another men is pestering you to come – tell him you’ll come if he drives over and picks you up in the morning. He’ll do it and it will make you accountable to get out bed while he is sitting in your driveway in the early hours of the morning.
The best way to dive deep into F3 after you have experienced the insanity of an F3 workout – Freed to Lead. And if you are wife of someone in F3 or just talk to men in and want to learn the language we speak, the terms are scattered throughout this book and used in context in the writing so you can grasp our weird language.
But in conclusion, I highly recommend this book and Q Source to every men in F3. Read them. Maybe even read them more than once. And we’ll see if YHC can overcome his fears and test out that ankle injury in the gloom of El Diablo at Pontiff Park this week.
You can watch the video of my review on Rev Reads on YouTube. Just search for Rev Reads F3 on YouTube.
This book could not have come at a better time for me personally and I hope a lot of men who have put off reading Freed to Lead will take the plunge and start reading in hopes that it will be the perfect time for them to get into the founding and culture and leadership principles of F3 Nation.
I was manipulated and tricked into attending my first F3 workout on Veterans Day weekend in 2017. But one workout was all it took and I was hooked. I love going by my F3 Name Rev Sox, as a pastor who is a fan of the New York Yankees. I love being the workout Q or leader, a site Q, few things are more enjoyable than the stupidity of a good CSAUP or naming an FNG or Friendly New Guy at his first workout.
Being the Q of a CSAUP, that is a run that was completely stupid and utterly pointless, where we had two FNG brothers who last name was Heinie and then naming them Left Cheek and Right Cheek is one of my greatest joys in life.
I love F3 NOLA.
But then I broke my ankle in October and I have been on the IL since with news that I might be renamed Michael Thomas for being on the IL for this long. I am chomping at the bit to come back. Two problems. Side straddle hops are still a problem on that healing ankle. And I have stabbing phantom pain in my broken ankle whenever I think of going to a workout because I don’t want to break it again doing something dumb. And I do dumb things at F3.
But Freed To Lead, loved reading the 2nd Edition so much after reading the first edition, I am taking the plunge and going to a beatdown this week even if I can’t do a bunch of the exercises. And if 75% of what I just said so far in this book review doesn’t make sense to you. Allow me to explain.
Freed to lead by David Redding and Tim Whitmire better known by F3 Members as Dredd and OBT, they tell the story of the founding of F3 Nation. F3 is a worldwide men’s exercise community with the three Fs standing for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. Now the workouts can really be almost anything from military style bootcamp workouts, running groups, biking, rucking, and more.
What makes a workout an F3 workout is an adherence to 5 Core Principles – F3 is Free of Charge, we are not paying other men to lead us or rent space, Open to All Men, sorry ladies, this is a men’s club, Held Outdoors, praise the Lord I live in New Orleans and not New York, Peer Led, the men who workout are expected to quickly grasp the concepts of F3 and then are thrown into the deep end of leadership and it is glorious, and Ends with COT, a circle of Trust. This where we confess our birth names, ages, and pray over each other.
Freed to Lead not only tells the story of F3’s founding but it also covers why F3 works.
F3 is spreading across the nation and the world like wildfire because it is solving a problem so many men experience – the Sad Clown Syndrome. The Sad Clown is a man whose purposeless life where are overly burdened with tasks but lacking in real purpose. F3 helps men get back to a life purpose, energy, and joy by inspiring them through the leadership qualities developed in F3 activies.
This was my second read through the book and I think I liked it even more. One because I am on the IL and it helped me get my brain engaged to get back in, so if you are in F3 and watching this while on the IL, start reading Freed to Lead even if you read it before, it might be the jump start you need to get you back in.
I also loved the edition of the testimonies in the new edition from the men in F3. Every man in F3 should want to read it simply for the testimonies. They were great to read. These humorous and inspiring stories help to illustrate just how life changing F3 can be.
This paragraph by Slow Pitch helps to show F3 solves the problem of loneliness that so many men have. A life where men aged 30-60 are surrounded by people but lacking any real friends. Slow pitch wrote about attending his first workout
It felt like arriving at a party full of strangers that’s already underway. While I looked for my brother Bubbles and worried about where I should leave my car keys during the workout, I was greeted by two smiling guys, Waffle House, and Wait Time. My head was spinning, then I saw Bubbles and then my other brother, Tater Tot. With huge grins they came over and gave me a huge hug. Bubbles informed Tater Tot that he was claiming credit for the EH!
That paragraph which is insane to anyone who is outside of F3 illustrates how men are plunged into this community of brotherly love, encouragement, accountability, and support in F3. When you are given your F3 name you are welcomed into a new community of friendship that almost seems impossible for men to find anywhere else.
The testimonies show how F3 brings community and then that community is what inspires men to be more than they ever thought capable from starting new businesses to new non-profits to just simply being there for other men in a way they never thought possible before.
Although the testimonies did bring about my one complaint from the book. They are dominated by stories from F3 members from North Carolina and I get that F3 started there, but I think it makes F3 seem much smaller than it is when all the stories come out of North Carolina as if there aren’t awesome stories from guys all over the nation and now even the world. I think Dredd and OBT would have been better served selecting some stories from a broader geographical area but that’s a relatively minor complaint since the stories in the book were very good.
The insight that this book has on leadership is also priceless. As a pastor, I am so thankful for what I have learned from F3 and two readings of Freed to Lead.
Pastors should read this to learn how to invigorate men in their churches and community. We need to help men find their dolphins and daffodils – those works that bring them joy and fulfillment that they will want to do without being guilted into it by pastors and wives.
And the final section on the importance of the 3rd 500 or the 3rd quarter in life is so crucial and as a man who just turned 40 and entered my 3rd 500 – I want these years to count and the most impact in my life. I want to get more done in 40-60 years then I accomplished in my first 40 and I think F3 will help make it happen.
The best way to know what this F3 craze is about is to go to a workout. If you are a man in need of friends just show up at a beatdown – look up F3 Nation.com and find the workout closest to you. If another men is pestering you to come – tell him you’ll come if he drives over and picks you up in the morning. He’ll do it and it will make you accountable to get out bed while he is sitting in your driveway in the early hours of the morning.
The best way to dive deep into F3 after you have experienced the insanity of an F3 workout – Freed to Lead. And if you are wife of someone in F3 or just talk to men in and want to learn the language we speak, the terms are scattered throughout this book and used in context in the writing so you can grasp our weird language.
But in conclusion, I highly recommend this book and Q Source to every men in F3. Read them. Maybe even read them more than once. And we’ll see if YHC can overcome his fears and test out that ankle injury in the gloom of El Diablo at Pontiff Park this week.
You can watch the video of my review on Rev Reads on YouTube. Just search for Rev Reads F3 on YouTube.
December 23, 2022
Great read if you have started to go to F3 workouts, I suggest holding off on reading until you’ve tasted the community- I think parts of the book made more sense to me because I had started to go to f3 workouts.
Read
July 30, 2024This 2nd edition adds personal essays to the origin story of F3, or Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. F3 is essentially a men's only workout club that is free of charge and takes place at 5:30 AM in public spaces like parking lots. This is the surface-level description, but it means infinitely more to many, if not most, of the men that participate. The added essays do a great job at fleshing out the *why* of F3 -- there are some genuinely affecting stories here and, at least once, I teared up at not only the subject matter but the way in which the story was told. Only one of the stories is overwritten and it comes across as the author showing off. The rest are solid.
As for the origin story of F3, I can say it was certainly interesting, if a bit dragged out. I could have just read the Wikipedia article and got just as much out of that. After a bit, the redundancy slipped in and I was wishing the authors would ***move it along.*** At least the writing is to the point while also retaining a level of creativity so as to keep the reader engaged.
A major component of the book that bears mentioning is the Formula. It breaks down the Problem, the Solution, and includes so many other capitalized nouns that I started to think the writers were German. I understand this helps with clarity, so I'm not knocking it. It actually does help. I find I agree with about 80% of the concepts, and I don't think at all this is a cult anymore. Because I totally thought it was a cult before.
But having Posted to a few AO workouts with the fellow PAX, following the Q while we did SSHs, Manmakers, Caitlyn Jenners, Merkins, and stared deeply into the soul of my (workout) partner while doing Tandem Eyeball Tickle Squats, I totally understand why some people *might* think this is a cult. The thing is, this is AA for some guys, serious therapy for others, and just a fun, varied workout for others. I appreciate the lack of emphasis on Christianity with the groups I've worked out with, and the book clearly states that F3 is for all men, no matter your belief or lack thereof. Which actually brings me to my only confusion with the group.
This isn't a criticism of the book, but the third F, Faith, is oddly defined in the F3 community. From my understanding, faith is the belief in the absence of evidence. It could also mean trusting in someone to do something, like "I have faith she'll get the job done." But here, faith is concern for someone or something outside oneself. This is flatly not the definition of faith, so it creates unnecessary confusion. "F3" is a catchy, memorable name, but it irks the Militant Grammarian in me to see definitions so carelessly swapped around like this for the sake of marketability. Ignore me, though. It's fine. Really.
This was a surprise for me, as I was EH'd (Emotional Headlocked) into going to an F3 workout by my brother-in-law and he also happened to lend me this book. I enjoyed it more than I would have thought and would actually encourage any man interested in what is on offer to just try it.
As for the origin story of F3, I can say it was certainly interesting, if a bit dragged out. I could have just read the Wikipedia article and got just as much out of that. After a bit, the redundancy slipped in and I was wishing the authors would ***move it along.*** At least the writing is to the point while also retaining a level of creativity so as to keep the reader engaged.
A major component of the book that bears mentioning is the Formula. It breaks down the Problem, the Solution, and includes so many other capitalized nouns that I started to think the writers were German. I understand this helps with clarity, so I'm not knocking it. It actually does help. I find I agree with about 80% of the concepts, and I don't think at all this is a cult anymore. Because I totally thought it was a cult before.
But having Posted to a few AO workouts with the fellow PAX, following the Q while we did SSHs, Manmakers, Caitlyn Jenners, Merkins, and stared deeply into the soul of my (workout) partner while doing Tandem Eyeball Tickle Squats, I totally understand why some people *might* think this is a cult. The thing is, this is AA for some guys, serious therapy for others, and just a fun, varied workout for others. I appreciate the lack of emphasis on Christianity with the groups I've worked out with, and the book clearly states that F3 is for all men, no matter your belief or lack thereof. Which actually brings me to my only confusion with the group.
This isn't a criticism of the book, but the third F, Faith, is oddly defined in the F3 community. From my understanding, faith is the belief in the absence of evidence. It could also mean trusting in someone to do something, like "I have faith she'll get the job done." But here, faith is concern for someone or something outside oneself. This is flatly not the definition of faith, so it creates unnecessary confusion. "F3" is a catchy, memorable name, but it irks the Militant Grammarian in me to see definitions so carelessly swapped around like this for the sake of marketability. Ignore me, though. It's fine. Really.
This was a surprise for me, as I was EH'd (Emotional Headlocked) into going to an F3 workout by my brother-in-law and he also happened to lend me this book. I enjoyed it more than I would have thought and would actually encourage any man interested in what is on offer to just try it.
September 11, 2024
This book does an excellent job of describing the crisis of aimlessness and withdrawal among middle-aged middle-class American men. Didnt care as much for the military tone and the endless idiosyncratic jargon that seems unnecessary.
December 21, 2024
Surprisingly robust group with organizational development across F3 nation. They attack sad clown syndrome powerfully. Thankful to be a part of it.
Main takeaway: You are freed to lead. Don’t be a sad clown. Leave no man behind and leave no man where you found him.
Main takeaway: You are freed to lead. Don’t be a sad clown. Leave no man behind and leave no man where you found him.
August 16, 2025
Enjoyed it overall. Definitely much more of a scientific/data guy than the authors so I would’ve appreciated some attempts to dig into some of that rather than the endless anecdotes, but they were upfront about the fact that this book wouldn’t be any sort of science.
June 8, 2023
Been going to F3 for over two years. This is a great read and puts more of the F3 program in context. Highly recommended.
September 12, 2023
F3 is a life changer.
February 4, 2024
So much better than I expected it to be. Great job laying it all out.
F3 Bottle Cap
F3 Bottle Cap
December 9, 2025
F3 is a game changer. Loved the PAX stories in the book and the origin story. There were several nuggets I got out that I'll be taking with me. Passed the book on! - Air Supply, F3 Dallas
January 12, 2026
I'm going to read this again
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews