Group works toward fitness and camaraderie among women

Females in Action (FiA) is a nationwide group of women focused on empowerment and developing female friendships through health and wellness. Now in its second month, FiA participants gather at 5:30 a.m. Thursdays at Jarboe Park in Neptune Beach and 7 a.m. Saturdays at the Oceanfront Park in Jacksonville Beach for a free, 45-minute workout. Each workout closes with a moment of gratitude.
Jen Weber is a fitness enthusiast, triathlete and a life coach for Web.MD, but she was missing a sense of personal connection camaraderie that comes with female friendships. When she heard of the men’s workout group F3, she sprang into action, forming an arm of its sister organization FiA at the Beaches.
“I’ve been teaching group fitness for 13 years now, maybe more," she said. "My friend Brian who is a fellow tri-athlete was telling me about a free workout for men. I asked if there is a women’s one [and] he said no. They have it, they just didn’t have one here in Jacksonville. So, I said you know what? I’m going to start this up. I’ve wanted to do something like this forever just to give back to the community and share my talents as a fitness instructor.”
“It’s for everyone, which is awesome. No matter what your skill level, we will modify the exercises. Just come and move. That’s what it’s all about. Promoting health and well-being is what I do for a living. People are intimidated to go to gyms and join places, so this is a perfect opportunity for them to get their feet wet and not have to pay anything.”
Each new participant is given an FiA name by the group. Weber is known as Dash. Other members include Bionic, Gypsy, Scrappy and Gator Girl. The oceanfront park where they meet is known as “the Booby Trap” in a nod to breast cancer survivors.
“I named it that because I have a really good friend and she had breast cancer so I said I’m going to call it the Booby Trap,” said Weber. “When there’s a new girl, she’s an FNG – Fun New Girl. We go through our Circle of Trust, we all do our real name, our age and our FiA name. If someone is new, we ask them to tell about themselves and what their hobbies are and all that, and we try and come up with a name that suits them. We try not to call each other by our real names.”
When the group launched the first weekend in January, Weber was nervous no one would show up and she even considered canceling the event. Despite less than perfect weather, four women showed up. Three workout leaders, known as “Q’s,” came from other established groups to help set the rhythm for members of FiA Jacksonville. Since then, momentum has continued to build.
“Honestly I almost pulled the plug on this because there’s so much that goes on out here. There’s always an event or race. Everybody’s got their schedule and I’m just going to be an epic fail, but I just said to myself you know what? I’m not a quitter. I can’t. I have to do this. It something I was so excited about and I can’t just get cold feet and let these women down. Because I had a huge response to it initially. I was like just do it. And I did. There were eight women that came the first day. And I was like I did this. It just makes me so happy that it means something to so many people.”
At the end of every workout, once everyone has announced their name, the members link arms and form a circle. The “Q” of the day closes with a non-denominational prayer or intention for the day.
“We just lift each other up and try not to make it centered around faith. It is and it isn’t. Everyone has their own belief system. But we usually have our Circle of Trust at the end where we offer up any intention or prayers that people have and everyone really loves that as well. That’s what it’s all about,” said Weber.
“Just to know there are other likeminded women out there in the community that need a support system from others just to have  a non-judgmental environment for an hour and just be ourselves and uplift each other, it’s something I look forward to doing and I go because I’m excited to see all these new people.”