5.5 months pregnant. 100 burpees. Every day. LEGENDARY.
BabyLot has learned to 'never say I can’t or I shouldn’t or give myself an excuse to not do something, especially if it is hard.'
Halfway done.
I feel awesome until I have to lift my arms over my head.
So it goes every year with MABA—Make America Burpee Again—the annual challenge in which participants do 100 burpees per day in January. Log your burpees at f3maba.com.
I made the dumb mistake this year of getting into a competition with Phil “Zazu” DeJong. He has an advantage because he is 15 years younger than me, way more fit, and has the kind of physique you’d rather not let your wife see.
I have an advantage over him because he is 8 feet tall (approximately), which makes burpees harder.
I know better than to get into a long back-and-forth battle with him. I’m going to anyway, and if all else fails I’ll just delete his account.
Ha! No! Seriously: I know he could bury me if he wants. But that's not really the point. He's pushing me to do more. That’s the point. And I would thank him for it but I don’t want him to get a big head.
We have 1,397 people registered, but only 1,158 have turned in burpees. We’re on pace to match the total from last year (3.08 million), maybe slightly ahead. We’ll need a strong finish to hit 3 million again, stronger still to set a new record. But I know we can do it, based on MABA maniacs like the one featured today. More on her in a second.
Below, see this week’s “Where’s Waldo” submission for the 12-year-old 7th grader who set a new standard for unique places to do burpees, and for an update on Waldo.
Meet the MABA maniac who is 5.5 months pregnant
Name: Mandy Beecher
FiA name: BabyLot
Age: 38
FiA region: FiA Columbus
I’m going to cut right to the chase. By the time people read this you will be 22 weeks pregnant with your fourth kid and you’re on pace to complete MABA. What in the world made you want to do this?
Simply: it is something I have never done before. What FiA (and my hubby) has taught me is to never say I can’t or I shouldn’t or give myself an excuse to not do something, especially if it is hard.
I listened to a podcast last year that explained that when we do hard things (especially things we do not want to do), we literally grow our brains. You physically become stronger. Your mind grows stronger. Not to mention you have a sense of accomplishment when you have done the hard thing, regardless if you succeeded or failed. I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this FOR myself … and maybe encourage a few people to give themselves no excuses and do something hard.
How are you doing it? 10 at a time over the course of a day? 100 in 10 minutes?
Depends on the day. The first few days I was doing 10-20 every hour or two, finishing up by dinner. Now at dinner I think “crap, I have 100 burpees to do!” So then I bust them out by bedtime. The other night I did 150 burpees in an hour.
Other than birthing those first three kids what other hard/physically challenging things have you done?
I went out and rucked around my neighborhood last winter when it was 20 degrees with two feet of snow in shorts and a FiA tank top for 20 minutes. I did have gloves, hat, and snow boots on to help stay warm. My hubby then had to go out and do it, just not in a FiA tank top! It is awesome to have each other to challenge.
What is it like doing burpees when you’re 22 weeks pregnant?
For those who do not do math, that is a little over 5 (out of 9) months pregnant. My belly sticks out pretty good, and I have to work around it. I get winded quicker since my lungs are pushed up—women’s bodies are amazing! I do the burpees a little slower and eliminate the jump at the top. “Modify the workout as needed to avoid injury but not the work!”
What are the challenges?
My belly! I’m thankful this challenge is not done in April; that would suck.
I still would attempt it though!
What do your kids think?
We have three girls (with a BOY on the way … finally!) who think mommy is pretty awesome, or at least I hope they think that! They know all about FiA and F3, and they see both my husband and I get up early to go workout outside even in the cold and snow.
I usually do my burpees in our living room, and they will sometimes join me for a few (even my youngest who is 1 1/2). They think it’s hilarious to flop down on the ground like a fish. Maybe that is what I look like?
What about your mom or, gosh, I’m almost afraid to ask, your mother in law?
My mom passed away from breast cancer when I was 17 years old. She was a strong, hard-working person who was successful while being a single mom. I hope she is looking down, fist-bumping God and the angels and screaming “THAT’S MY GIRL!”
As for my MIL, I am not sure she even knows that I am doing this challenge! She is the mother and encourager that I have needed and wanted, so I am sure her thoughts would be …“Why?”
How’d you get involved with FiA?
My husband started going to F3 in 2021 and when FiA launched where we live in 2023, he encouraged me to go. I had zero interest in getting up at 6:30 to go workout outside. I also was 5 weeks postpartum from having our third child.
If you have had a newborn, you know they do not sleep at night. I posted up on a Saturday after he told me it was just a ruck, so I told myself that would not be hard. He was wrong. It was a full-blown BD.
I almost killed him when I got home.
Yet I kept posting up, week after week.
Read F3’s “Freed to Lead” book.
Q’d.
Q’d again.
Then became Site Q.
Then FiA Nation Gear Q.
If I did not post up that first day, I would not be the woman, wife, and mother I am today. FiA has brought “me” back. And I am forever grateful for all the BDs, CofFiAs, talks, and friendships that FiA has given me.
What a great phrase—FiA has brought “me” back. What do you mean by that?
When I first became a mom in 2018, I was caught up in the whirlwind of being a new parent, both the good and the bad. Becoming a parent is freaking tough! I now had a child who 1,000 percent depended on me and my husband, a business to run, a relationship with my husband to maintain, and oh yeah, take care of myself. I was pushed and pulled in all directions. I had lost myself.
However, I did not realize this until 5 YEARS and 3 CHILDREN LATER.
Back story: I had always been a people pleaser, even as a kid: whatever or however someone wanted, their wish was my command. I never asked questions or voiced my opinion. I went with the flow, like prairie grass blowing this way and that way in the wind. I was happy. I was happy being mediocre. I was happy when everyone else was happy.
SPOILER ALERT: I was definitely not happy.
Then comes along FiA in 2023. Always outdoors? No thanks. Working out with a group of women I did not know? Nah, I am good. Getting up early? Ha! I have three kids, I do not need any less sleep! I do not need FiA…
OK, I will just go this one time. What is up with these nicknames? Man, that workout was hard. I wonder if the next one will be just as hard. Alright, I will try it out one more time.
Wait COT? You mean I can be myself and there is no judgement?
Wow, I like the way I feel after a BD. Holy sh*t, I just Q’d my first workout with these women. I gave my opinion and nothing bad happened?
Wow, I have more joy with my kids and husband. I am less stressed. I am more confident in myself. What the heck is happening??
FiA. FiA happened. FiA allowed me to be me again. Scratch that. FiA allowed me to discover WHO I AM. I am not just mom, business owner, wife, daughter, sister. I am Mandy/BabyLot.
I am still discovering who exactly that is, but I no longer feel like prairie grass. Of course there are other factors at play, but FiA plays a pretty big role.
Your husband is in F3, but I don’t see his name on the MABA roster. Would you like to trash talk him, or should all of us do it?
Haha I told him about this question! To be fair, he has been doing 100 sit ups and 100+ push-ups a day as his own challenge. I guess if he did 1,000+ squat jumps, he would catch up and could do the burpee challenge. I should talk him into it.
As names go, I’ve never liked first and last names starting with the same letter. Name alliteration pretty much guarantees that person will be a burnout, or at least that was true in my high school. So I don’t want to suggest Burpee Beecher. But I think MABA Beecher has a nice ring to it. Thoughts?
MABA Beecher. Love it!
The 1 millionth burpee and a Waldo update
We hit our 1 millionth burpee last Friday. Somehow a challenge arose to do shirtless burpees in the snow. I asked Waldo’s shieldlock (a small accountability group within F3) to combine shirtless burpees in the snow with Waldo’s fondness for walking barefoot in the snow for the ceremonial 1 millionth burpee.
Meanwhile, Tim “Waldo” Johanns, a beloved St. Louis F3 member paralyzed in a construction accident two weeks ago, remains in a St. Louis area hospital, where he will stay until he is ready to be transported to a rehab facility in Chicago.
Waldo’s friends are collecting burpees done in his name (as noted on the F3maba.com message board). To contribute, click here.
We will complete the 10 millionth burpee over the five years of MABA on roughly January 28.Where’s Waldo Competition
Every year MABA runs a competition to see who can submit video or photo proof of themselves doing burpees in the most unusual places. Entries in previous years include whatever you call the rink you play curling on, an operating room, too many beaches, mountains and planes to count, the roof of a house, the cherrypicker of a firetruck and much more.
This year, I am naming it the Where’s Waldo Competition.
Two entries this week.
John “Tugboat” Gina, a 12-year-old 7th grader in the Suncoast region, took time out of his day DURING ORCHESTRA CLASS to not only do burpees, but film himself doing burpees. I love this kid, and this is all I know of him. This video is priceless — the shooing away of the other kid, the surreptitious glance MID-BURPEE!! at the teacher, the sheer audacity of doing it at all.
Pro tip: Raise kids like that.
As the official Q of MABA, I declare that every burpee on this video counts double, and if he got even a whiff of trouble, triple. I also challenge every teacher doing MABA to do burpees during class and provide video proof.
Years from now, when Tugboat is inaugurated as president, I hope he does burpees during his speech.
Adam “Professor” Loretto, who did burpees at an ancient gymnasium in the port city of Ostia Antica near Rome.
