MABA goes international
A heartwarming (and convicting) story from our brothers in F3 UK about "serving the Me next to me"
Sign up and/or log your burpees here. Fall down. Get back up. Together.
The latest winner of the Twice-Weekly MABA Text Competition has me questioning whether I have the best friends in the world or quite possibly the worst: “This is fun. Self torture!! Love love love it!! … I just told (my son) how many burpees I did today (410). His response was epic! ‘Dad that is so uselessly cool!’”
MABA goes international: A heartwarming story from our brothers in F3 UK
(The following is written by Safari, who planted F3 in the UK.)
This story is a great example of how the F3 philosophy transcends international borders and cultures. It highlights an individual pax being impacted by F3 and living proof of how “fit and friended men turn outwards”:
I initiated F3 UK on August 17th, 2021 with three other “redwoods” after being introduced to F3 in Katy, Texas whilst living in the U.S on work secondment. The story of how the special men of F3 Katy changed my heart and how F3 UK was born can be read here: http://southeast.f3uk.net/our-story/.
With F3 in the UK being relatively new, the pax here need acceleration and brotherhood. So I’ve been on the prowl for good 1st/2nd F combo initiatives happening elsewhere in F3 to jump onboard. We know that once fit and friended, pax will turn outward and pour into others (3rd F).
On December 30th, 2021 I was browsing my Twitter feed when I stumbled on Ralph’s video about Make America Burpee Again (MABA). I loved the idea of it as a “light touch” CSAUP / 1st / 2nd F combo accelerator that can be done at home, with daily banter by the pax as they frolic in the discomfort and achievement of hitting their daily target.
However, the name of the burpee initiative was a bit of a sticking point for us in the UK because none of us are American (but we love you guys!), and the acronym treads too close to political association, which was a turn-off for the UK pax. So we came up with a different name, Centurion Burpee Challenge (CBC), whilst maintaining the original spirit and intention of the MABA initiative.
With a plan for how the event might unfold, a chat room was opened on Band – our messaging platform – and pax were invited to participate. Some of the fitter pax were up for it immediately. Less fit pax were unsure about their physical capabilities, so we introduced a stepped modification version involving a weekly step-up in daily burpee quota, from 20 per day arriving at 100 per day by the final week of January.
Eight pax signed up for the full version of 100 burpees per day. Four pax signed up for the modification, but unfortunately one fell behind and dropped out. So we have 11 pax (8 full, 3 modified) participating in CBC 2022.
Shortly into the initiative, one of the participating pax, “AV”, who’s been with F3 for three months, put up his hand and declared that he was dedicating his CBC effort to a horse charity, Mane Chance Sanctuary, that supports his son.
Mane Chance Sanctuary takes in abused, abandoned and old horses who, in turn, provide healing, nourishment and fulfillment to children and adults whose hearts have been broken or just need help for whatever reason.
AV was EH’d into F3 by fellow F3 UK redwood, “Nerd.” AV bought into the F3 philosophy very quickly and made a conscious decision to start putting himself third on a daily basis. Since then, he has demonstrated lightning-speed acceleration, leading from the front; EH’ing FNGs, filling in last minute as the Q, shedding weight, encouraging and motivating others, etc. In short, having a heart transformation by F3, as well as a lot of personal self-improvement work.
AV’s declaration of his dedication of CBC 2022 to Mane Chance Sanctuary and appetite for sponsorship received a muted response from the F3 UK Southeast pax. The response from the UK pax was not negative, but certainly muted (neutral silence!).
--- fast forward 6 days of burpees and burpee-related banter ---
Today (January 6th, 2022) on the 4 a.m. drive into Guildford for the beatdown at The Way, I felt guilty of being a bit of a hypocrite. I recently delivered a word at one of my recent beat downs about “All Good Things Can Become Bad Things.”
In this word I mentioned a very kind invitation by some really special F3 brothers in Katy to do the Boston Marathon with them. I thought the Boston Marathon situation described in the word was an identical situation to the burpee challenge (albeit on a slightly smaller scale), i.e. spontaneous thought to do something physically demanding for no real reason other than men enjoying being together and putting themselves through collective discomfort.
The two paragraphs in the word that triggered me were:
“When certain pursuits in your life become idols, they can become harmful. The mitigation is to have a strong “Why?” and for the answer to that “Why?” question to be “serving the Me next to me”, i.e. others around me.
All good things can become bad. Sharpening and improving oneself should be in order to be a blessing on those around us, not just in and for ourselves.”
The above two paragraphs prompted some real reflection about the burpee challenge. Here’s what I concluded:
Question: Why am I doing this burpee challenge?
· Answer 1: To make myself stronger and fitter (1st F, Fitness)
· Answer 2: To banter and bond over the daily discomfort and achievement of doing my hundred (2nd F, Fellowship)
· Answer 3: … … … I drew a bit of a blank as to how this burpee challenge is serving a bigger purpose outside of myself, i.e. the ‘me next to me’ (3rd F, Faith)
After thinking about it, the “penny dropped.” I felt convicted about the reasons I had opted into the burpee challenge. F3 is about the betterment of ourselves to pour into those around us, not simply to enjoy looking at ourselves more in the mirror or others commenting on how “trim” we’ve become.
Whilst I have no personal connection with Mane Chance Sanctuary, I felt that AV’s decision to support this charity with this burpee challenge was highly honourable. I decided to get behind AV and join him in this burpee challenge effort with a higher purpose; drilling those burpees into the floor for the little boys and girls whose lives are being impacted by the majestic creatures at Mane Chance Sanctuary.
To bring this story to a close, I shared the above-mentioned personal conviction with the rest of the UK pax participating in CBC 2022. I asked them if they don’t have a higher purpose for why they’re doing this burpee challenge, if they would join AV and I in support of the very noble work that Mane Chance Sanctuary is doing. They agreed!
The pax participating in CBC have now found higher purpose in why they are doing this initiative, besides giving themselves a beach body and being able to burpee themselves out of life’s challenges.
We appreciate the inspiration of the January burpee challenge and thank Ralph and the people behind it for the idea. F3 has been a huge blessing in my life and I feel very privileged to be exposing it to other men in the UK and abroad. It’s amazing how the road starts getting built with only 43 feet of visibility and somehow it ends up in an oasis of goodness.
If you feel compelled to support AV’s January burpee challenge, please visit his Go Fund Me page. On this page, you can read how AV credits F3 for instigating his noble effort:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/petes-3100-burpee-challenge-for-mane-chance
Ask yourself the same questions Safari asked. Why are you doing MABA? Send your why, or your inspiration, or the PAX who keeps you going to Matt Crossman (F3 Ralph) at mcrossman98@gmail.com.
Double respect burpees are bad ass enough; Farah and Farah does them WHILE ICE SKATING
Do burpees in weird places, send me proof, and if it’s deemed the weirdest by our esteemed panel of judges, I’ll buy you a MABA shirt. So far we have PAX doing burpees at work and a tattoo parlor and another who convinced strangers to do them at a taco joint. I have a bunch of videos of shorties doing burpees and even one dog doing them.
Above, that’s Farah and Farah doing burpees at an ice rink in Florida, of all places. From his email: “Tbh, I didn’t get much air on my jumps but being in the double-respect age group I don’t get much air when I do them in a normal place. Don’t know how this stacks up nationwide, but here in sunny Florida it’s pretty unusual.”
Deadline for submission is January 20. I have two burpee scenarios I’d like to see: From the altar/front of the church during a service, and in a hospital/doctor’s office while wearing gowns as a patient when you’re there to have work done.
If you’re nervous about doing 100 burpees per day, toggle down. The point is not the burpees. The point is the relationships you build and strengthen with the people you do them with.
