MABA: 'Getting your ass completely handed to you by Snuggles the teddy bear'
Plus: Fall down. Get back up. Together ... with homothumadon
Sign up and/or log your burpees here. Fall down. Get back up. Together … with homothumadon.
This Week’s Winner in the “I Hope This CSAUP Ends Soon” Text Contest: “My name is Fred and I am a burpee-aholic. It’s been 18 hours since my last burpee.”
I spent the last few days trying to craft a pitch about Make America Burpee Again to send to a variety of publications. But my pitch was missing something. Every draft made MABA sound like a bunch of dopes doing burpees and sending silly texts and sharing their f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s. I mean, that’s not wrong, but it’s not going to sell a story.
I wanted the pitch to show that MABA is about more than dopes doing burpees, it’s about more than silly texts, it’s about more than sharing f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s. It’s about all those things … but, but, but … ugh.
Then I discovered a new-to-me word: homothumadon. It’s a Greek word that appears 14 times in the New Testament. I learned of its existence Friday morning while reading The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson. He’s not normally a writer I’d go to gain insight into MABA. But nothing about MABA 2022 has gone as expected.
The Bible typically translates homothumadon as “of one accord.” Peterson thinks that’s too soft. It emasculates the word’s true force, which comes from thuma, which connotes power and aggression, hints at anger, even. He beefs up the translation: “To become unified with a passionate fierceness and indignation.”
I almost jumped off of my couch. YES! That’s what MABA is about EXACTLY.
We are passionate, fierce, indignant about unifying to fight loneliness. We wouldn't be more than 1 million burpees deep into this thing if we were wishy-washy.
I researched the word more and liked it more. “The image is almost musical,” as one writer put it. “A number of notes are sounded which, while different, harmonize in pitch and tone.”
We’re almost done. Eight days left to sing as one. Make it loud, my friends, make it loud.
Fall down. Get back up. Together … with homothumadon.
‘Compassionately smiling while laying down a really hard workout is my jam’
As of late afternoon on January 22, FIA Low Rider had done 4,818 burpees in MABA, an average of 219 per day that puts her on pace for a whopping 6,789. “That’s insane,” say my shoulders, back, hips and wrist. In the photo above, she’s wearing her burpees “uniform,” necessary for brutally cold St. Louis days. I don’t want to say she’s super serious about burpees, but she tested it out by doing burpees in it in the store before buying it. She agreed to an email interview. (Note: The DD she mentions at the end is a member of her husband’s shieldlock and a major HIM in F3 St. Charles who had done 5,836 burpees as of late Saturday afternoon.)
Burpees: Pro or con, and why?
Pro. I like to be efficient in my workouts so incorporating cardio with strength in one movement is an easy way to maximize your effort. The burpee is the best combination of both.
How has your husband, Kyle, aka Brick, changed since joining F3?
That’s a loaded question. Since joining F3, I would say that Kyle (Brick) is a lot more enjoyable to be around. He has grown quite a bit in his patience, faith, leadership and love. He has developed a deep respect and love for the men that are out there with him and their friendship has really brought a sense of calm to his life.
It really makes me happy to see him experience that. It’s also brought a number of families into our lives, and we really enjoy spending time with other F3 men, their wives and their kids. It’s really neat to have shared interests and, more important, values.
You’re one of the founders of the local FIA, and your reputation is that you lead brutal beatdowns. Brick told me doing your workouts is “like getting your ass completely handed to you by Snuggles the teddy bear.” What can you teach us about fierceness co-existing with gentleness?
First off, compassionately smiling while laying down a really hard workout is my jam. I believe our bodies are made to move in challenging ways while having fun with it. I enjoy encouraging people to do hard things because they are far more capable than what they think they are. So, to me, that is the balance: You have to make things hard because that is how you see results, yet it is the kindness and encouragement that resonates with people. I joke to Kyle that I want to come and co-q a family workout with the F3 guys. He says none of the guys would talk to him again if that happened.
What have you and Brick gotten out of doing MABA together?
I think the biggest thing is that he and I have always enjoyed being physically active together. Before kids, we hiked, ran half marathons, did CrossFit and a whole host of things. Now, MABA has been a way to bring a bit of that element back into our relationship after starting a family.
It’s a fun thing to encourage each other to do. We usually do a set of 100-150 before dinner and we talk and catch up a bit. It’s a good way to wind down from the day and release any frustration either of us have.
Our kids have noticed that Mom and Dad do burpees, and they get in on the fun, too. Nora’s burpees are pretty stout for a four year old—good form and she pops up pretty fast. Owen (a year and half) bends over, slams his hands into the ground, pops up and claps. The look of pure joy on his face is really cute. It’s become a family affair, and it’s really cool to model healthy habits for the kids at a young age.
We’re starting to get a little worn down, but we keep pushing each other. That’s the beauty of MABA. We are there to keep each other going as we fall down and get back up, together. We have a friendly competition going amongst ourselves as to how many we want to log. Also, we have another goal, and that is to get one more burpee than DD.
You’re not going to do a month of burpees and NOT buy a t-shirt, are you? Order your shirt here.
AV of F3 UK has tied his burpees to a charity that uses horses to help people who need healing. AV’s son is a client there. To donate, click here.
We have a winner
The winner of this year’s Do Burpees in Weird Places Contest is Fulton (F3 St. Louis). He did burpees on an airplane and sent video proof. He explains himself:
At roughly 30,000 feet, just before our descent into the Tampa airport, I asked the Southwest flight attendant if I could do a burpee on the plane—a Boeing 737. It was tight, but there was ample room for a very small jump. Normally I wouldn’t ask, but with heightened issues with travel, I didn’t want to ruin our family vacation by being detained by the TSA.
Her response was “what’s a burpee?”
I went on to very briefly explain F3 and MABA and that we were challenging each other to do burpees in odd or unusual places. Her response was, “Let’s do it before we hit turbulence.”
So a single burpee was done at 30,000 feet.
I walked back to my seat. My wife was shaking her head and my kids (9, 6 and 5 years old) were laughing—I’m still a fun dad in their eyes.
I would have never done something like this just a year ago. Thanks F3 and Ralph for teaching me to challenge the status quo.
Mark your calendars: Join us for the MABA finale
At 5:30 a.m. Central time on Monday, January 31, F3 St. Charles will host the MABA finale. It will be broadcast live on Zoom. See future newsletters for details.