Every Friday at 6.30am, a group aged from eight to over 70 gather on Sydney’s Manly beach to trade jokes and insults, then race into the surf
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Did you know the idiom for pushing your luck in South Africa is “scratching a lion’s testicle with a short stick”? I discover this fun fact at FFF, which stands interchangeably for Friday Fast Fives and Freshie Fast Fives – a community group on Sydney’s Manly beach where getting something off your chest is built into the early morning bootcamp.
“I love Friday mornings,” declares FFF long-term member Jonathan Schaffer. The 66-year-old, whose repartee involves translating funny Afrikaans sayings into English, is among the welcoming bunch who give me a quick rundown on the multigenerational fitness group. It seems all you need is a nickname and thick skin to get into this un-exclusive club that is also free of charge. Not taking yourself seriously is an unwritten rule and the worst possible thing you can do is wear a wetsuit, which is punishable by push-ups.
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