General Tips for Your First Q

Principals 

Everyone leads differently. You are encouraged to bring your own style and workout/exercises to the PAX.

The workouts must be:

  • Free of charge
  • Open to all women
  • Be held outdoors, rain or shine, heat or cold
  • Be led by women who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion with no certification or training necessary
  • End with a Circle of Trust (COT)

General Information 

  • Start and end on time.
  • Be prepared for your lead to be more strenuous than you think. Counting in cadence and talking while exercising makes it harder to breathe.
  • Remember you have help. If for any reason you want someone to grab a part of the workout even while you are out there, speak up.
  • When you screw up or fail, keep calm and carry on. It happens, no big deal. Count louder, push forward.
  • No woman left behind. Promote “you versus you” but also keep PAX together. When planning a whole group exercise, offer extra exercises to the frontrunners like burpees, planks, squats, etc. Once everyone is together, carry on.
  • Don’t take unnecessary risks or do stupid stuff. The Pax is looking for leadership and will follow often before thinking if they’re getting a great workout.
  • Don’t add too many new moves at once. It slows the workout down by having to do too much talking and demonstration. Plus, new moves take time to master. One at each workout is great.
  • Focus on form. Focusing on form gives maximum exercise benefit and prevents injury. If you can’t do it. Don’t Q it. Keep your eyes on the Pax. If you are losing more than 10-20 percent, stop the exercise and move on.
  • Q to your strengths. If you like to do cardio, add in some fun cardio moves. If you enjoy running, add in a strong mosey. If you love a good tabata, do that. Just be sure to preblast your plan the day before.
  • Prep in advance for the COT (Circle of Trust). It can be a quote, a short motivating paragraph, a prayer, or words of encouragement. One time, we simply listened to a song and absorbed the lyrics.
  • Have Fun! FiA groups are always supportive of new Q’s. You’ll find that people you don’t normally see will come to the workout to support you. We love to see new people stepping up. Who doesn’t love a new workout?!

Sample Workout Structure 

Disclaimer: At the start of the workout you will need to give the disclaimer. Something like, “I’m not a professional. You are all here on your own free will. Do what you can.” Check the website for the full disclaimer.

Warm-Up: It’s best to start the warm-up by the flags for about 2-5 minutes. This also helps if you will be moving around the AO and someone is running late. Warming up the muscles is important. Think of muscles like taffy - cold, snapping happens easier - warm, nice and smooth.

The Thang (The Workout): Have your plan ready. Look up exercises on the website under Lexicons. Check out other AO’s, FiA regions, or F3 BackBlasts. Don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel. Pull from other workouts and try new ideas.

  • Have more on the schedule than you think is needed. Often times, a workout moves faster than planned. Have some stuff as back up. If you don’t get to it, you already have something planned for next time.
  • Remember to keep it challenging. You want to keep people interested and coming back. If something is too difficult for an individual, they can always cut the reps in half or modify. And! How good did you feel when you had a solid beat down and felt muscles you didn’t know you had the next day?! You wanted more, right?

Mary 

  • Towards the end of the workout, usually about with 5 minutes left, you will need to head back to the flags or the starting point to circle up for Mary. Give yourself an extra minute or two for Mary if you have to name a FNG.
  • Mary=Ab exercises. You can do lots of different things here. Ring of Fire, Potpourri, Focus on a set group - like a series of planks. Again, the Lexicon and BackBlast’s are good resources.

COT (Circle of Trust)

  • Name-O-Rama: Each Pax says their birth name, age and FiA name.
  • Concluding thought by the Q: the quote, paragraph, story, or prayer.
  • Announcements: Upcoming events, shout-outs, reminders.

Remember, we are all in this together. You’re never alone. #bettertogether

Please note, this outline was adapted from an F3 website. Some of the written information may be the same.