November 2019, and your Bird had been a part of F3 just a touch over 2 years. I signed up to play indoor soccer for an F3 team with Jitterbug, PK, Perino and a few others. First game out and I got juked so bad, I heard and felt a, pop, pop, pop. Now, I grew up playing soccer and played all the way through high school and was fortunate enough to have never had any serious injuries so I was unsure of the severity. I was able to walk off the field on my own accord and in the days following the pain seemed to go away so I was hopeful that it was just a bad tweak or a sprain. Fast forward a couple of weeks to Thanksgiving day and a game of burpee football at The County humbled me PDQ. The very first time I went to plant my left foot for a throw, it buckled me to the ground. My fears became a reality and a visit to the ortho confirmed what I hoped wasn’t true. A complete tear of my ACL. Thanks to an introduction from Airplane, the doc was able to squeeze me in for a surgery on 12/23/2019. I was crushed! I was “all in” with F3 and now had the realization that I would be out for an extended period of time. However, as it goes with the men of F3, we pick up our brothers and leave no man where we find them. A true high impact man, Kilo, reached out to me with positivity and says, “no matter what you do, stay engaged!” I took his words to heart and started thinking what it was that I could do if I was unable to even walk, much less make it out to the gloom. I had an old door frame pull up bar collecting dust in my basement and in the vein of Freed to Lead, came up with a plan. It would be the year 2020. What if I get a challenge out there to get a certain amount of pull-ups in a over a period of time? I thought about it, wanted to make it attainable to myself and others and the result would be: Get in 2020 pull-ups over the course of 3 months equating to about 22 a day. Surprising to me (I had never been much of a leader), there was over 20 dudes that signed up to enter into this challenge with me. The result was phenomenal! I made friends, established bonds, and did more pull-ups than I ever had in my entire life. Fast forward once more to that next December. I had figured that the challenge was fun and got me through a dark time but was probably a “one and done.” Digiorno (now one of my good friends through years of having gone through this challenge with me), and a few others reached out to me asking if the challenge was going to be on for a second year. I certainly couldn’t say no to that. Heck, yes my guys! Let’s do it!
We are now into the 6th year of this challenge! 6 years fellas!! I have countless stories from others of wins, successes, realizations, bonds established and dudes opening the door of what they now know they have been capable of all along. Yours is out here waiting for you! Whether this is your 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th year or whether you are still contemplating signing up for your year 1….Say, Aye! Join the channel, solidify your pull-up situation and get to work! Special recognition to Digiorno, DeVitto, Pope & StickUp who have been with me every year since the beginning! Ya’ll my boys!
Here’s how it works: 1) Join the channel: 2025_pull_up_challenge. 2) Get to work on your pull-ups. 3) log in your totals using the Google Sheet. 4) Have fun and see a better you on the other side! That’s it!!
About 24/day will get you to 2025 by the end of March. You can knock them out all at once or throughout the day. There is no minimum or maximum per day that you are required to hit. Every pull-up counts. It’s all about getting better! Pull yourself up using a table, use bands, use a weight vest…whatever. But Bird, what if I’m out of town? Use your hotel gym, find a tree branch, scaffolding, hotel stairwells, etc….it’s amazing what you can find when you’re intentional.
If you have any questions, you will have a ton of support on the channel from repeat offenders. Let’s get after it boys!!!
SYOTPUB!! See you on the Pull-Up Bar!
F3 Louisville 