When Jim Davidson first attended an F3 workout with “The Station” group in Old Town Katy, he did so only to placate a buddy’s persistent pestering.

“I’m going to come out just so I can check this box and I showed up,” recalled Davidson, 45. “I had these pre-existing thoughts that this would be something I wouldn’t enjoy. The way he described it, it sounded extreme, a very macho environment. It sounded like CrossFit.”

What was reaped was more than could have been imagined.

“What I’ve gotten from it over time is the satisfaction of being able to serve others,” Davidson said. “Being able to witness change in men’s lives.”

Before Rocky Blair, 46, attended his first session late last summer, he’d been invited multiple times by Chris Garcia over the previous 18 months. Blair always offered an excuse or reason not to go.

A desire to improve his physical fitness was enough for Blair to finally show up at Katy City Park on a humid morning August 24, 2023, marking the group’s two-year anniversary. But, like Davidson, Blair found more.

“It just let you know there was something for everyone,” Blair said. “I didn’t feel out of place.”

Stories like Davidson and Blair’s are common. It’s why “The Station” is one of the fastest growing regional groups for F3, a national network of workouts led by peers, open to men over the age of 18.

The network started in North Carolina and continues to grow all over the country. Involvement for F3, which is predicated upon fitness, fellowship and faith, is on a volunteer basis and free of charge.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, “The Station,” which has a steady membership of 25-30 men, celebrated its three-year anniversary. More than 100 men, including most from surrounding Katy groups, were expected to show up at Katy City Park at 6:30 a.m. for exercise, coffee, doughnuts, breakfast tacos and bonding.

“What I ended up getting was so much more,” Garcia said of his decision to join in December 2021. “It brought the fellowship part that maybe you get in high school in the locker room or in college with buddies, but as you become an adult, you’ve got your life, family and work, and you can lose some of that (fellowship). This really brought it back and filled a hole that I didn’t know that I had.”

Garcia, a Katy native who graduated from Katy High, is now group leader of “The Station.” Davidson, also a Katy native who attended the inaugural workout of “The Station” in August 2021, preceded him.

“The Station” group meets four times a week. Sessions on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday begin at 5:15 a.m. and last 45 minutes. Saturday’s sessions begin at 6:30 a.m. and last an hour.

Since its inception three years ago, “The Station” has spawned multiple groups in the Katy area, including Cane Island, Firethorne, Elyson, Christ the King and Kingsland Baptist north.

“At an individual level, it’s immeasurable,” said Davidson, now a regional leader for the F3 network. “You better a man’s life, and that’s hard to quantify.”

There are leadership positions within every F3 group, such as a fellowship leader and a fitness leader. The men serving those roles rotate every 8-12 months.

“The development and progression through the whole program is about volunteering to lead,” Blair said. “The confidence-builder is you show up to work out and get in shape, and the next thing you know you’re volunteering for an opportunity to lead a group of men for an exercise workout, and that transpires into your family life and your professional life.”

The peer-led workouts are a mix of calisthenics, body weight exercises and high-intensity training with cardio, focusing on different movements promoting cardiorespiratory endurance and muscle strength.

The youngest member of “The Station” is an 18-year-old recent high school graduate. The oldest is 70 years old.

Blair, who grew up in Humble and recently moved to Katy but has served the community the last eight years as part of Rotary Club of Katy, said his overall physical fitness has “improved tremendously.”

“When I started, it was embarrassing for a former athlete and a veteran,” said Blair, who served in the military for 10 years. “It was hard for me to keep up with all the repetitions or all the movements. My cardiovascular and respiratory fitness were really low. So, now, yeah, I’m definitely not at the front of the pack, but I’m certainly at the middle of the pack.”

The group’s influence goes well beyond getting in shape.

When it recently visited Camp Hope, a housing rehabilitation program for veterans struggling with addiction, veterans expressed how much it meant that the group invested in them with workouts, doughnuts and conversation.

There are multiple testimonies from members of how the group saved marriages.

Earlier this year, when asked how F3 has impacted their lives, some members said they were not sure they’d still be alive if it weren’t for the group.

“Yes, we work out, and the workouts are hard and it’s early,” Davidson said. “But it is a men’s group masquerading as a workout group.”

Garcia said it is a brotherhood.

When some of the members lost fences during the hurricane earlier this year, others did not hesitate to help rebuild them.

“It’s a sense of community that you don’t get, especially in this day and age where everything is so fast-paced and all you see are snippets on social media,” he said. “It’s real, true, raw relationships that are being built.”

When Blair moved to Katy in January, he reached out to fellow members of the group for help. Twelve showed up, and in a two-hour window Blair and his wife were moved from their old house nine miles away to their new one.

“We can call on one another in times of hardship,” Blair said. “Physical fitness can lead to a lot more mental and emotional confidence, but what really drives it here is you’ve got a very mixed group of men from different backgrounds, occupations and age levels that do these workouts, and it’s the challenge of getting through it together.”

“Organically, over time, you start to build camaraderie, strong friendships and a sincere interest in one another,” he said. “It’s very profound.”