MABA: They're watching. They're always watching
Show your 2.0s that the important thing is not that you fell down, it's that you got back up.
Make America Burpee Again (MABA) is a nationwide CSAUP in which each of us is committing to doing 3,100 burpees in 31 days. Fall down. Get back up. Together.
Sign up to join us here. It’s not too late. You can either get caught up or pro-rate your goal. Log your burpees here. Forward this to friends. SYITG.
Send your why, or your inspiration, or the PAX who keeps you going, to Matt Crossman (F3 Ralph) at mcrossman98@gmail.com.
Let them see you fall. Let them see you get back up.
Boston is his real name, not his F3 name. He just turned 2, so he hasn’t posted. YET. But he’s part of MABA nonetheless, because he stars in a video cheering on his dad, CFIT, to do burpees.
Then there’s Flips, the 8-year-old daughter of DD. She plays EMOM basketball with DD—10 burpees on the buzzer, hoops in between. I’ve Qed beatdowns with her in attendance twice, and I feel confident saying this: She can out-burpee every damn one of you.
Our burpee total in St. Louis is already high. Our “burpee total once removed,” as Slow Pitch put it, is even higher because MABA has captivated 2.0s across the region. I’m not sure what it is about falling down and getting back up that fascinates them, but they love it.
We did a 2.0 beatdown a week ago, and 16 2.0s showed up in the freezing cold on a Sunday afternoon. The eight F3 dads in attendance did 150 burpees apiece; the kids did, well, I don’t know how many burpees the kids did, but I do know this: When Roller Skates asked GraveDigger about the highlight of the day when he tucked him into bed that night, GraveDigger said, “burpees.”
That same night, Flips and her sister, Hermione, counted cadence as they picked up their toys.
Men, your kids are listening, watching, absorbing. They are always listening, watching, absorbing. Let them see you fall down. Let them see you get back up.
Patches? We absolutely positively need stinking Patches! (And t-shirts)
MABA patches and shirts will be available soon. They’re beautiful—easily the greatest design commemorating an idiotic attempt to do 3,100 burpees in 31 days I’ve ever seen. Many thanks to Short Circuit for the design.
Why are you doing 3,100 burpees in 31 days?
“Just a short four months ago, I was an ‘angry little sad clown.’ I had zero motivation. Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw a 225-pound pile of meat that was tired. I was tired of the excuses, the shame, the lack of leadership in myself. I was EH’d by my great friend, Frozone. Since then I am down to 194.6 pounds, and I love what F3 has shown me—that I can do anything that is put in front of me. Just because it is hard, doesn't mean it can't be done. I could barely do a 10 pushups in a row! Now, the CSAUP is not just a challenge for me, but a reason that I can do this with other men, because it is hard and there is no other group I would rather do it with! It is not easy, I am sore, but it is the commitment to everyone and myself to say, I CAN DO THIS! 100 a day, up to a total of 3,100, let’s do it! —Rene Cruz, F3 Curds, St. Louis
Hey MABA-boy, how many burpees have I done?
Is a question we are still working on answering. I pasted a breakdown of the top 20 regions at the bottom of this newsletter (totals as of 4:30 p.m. Central time Friday).
I said this in the last MABA newsletter, but it bears repeating: If this devolves into a pissy argument about whether someone’s numbers are legit I’m going to personally travel the country to give an atomic wedgie to every last one of you. As much as I don’t want pissy individual arguments, please feel free to mock regions that are underperforming and laud the ones that are crushing it. I see you, Wheaton and Sun Coast, averaging better than 1,000 burpees per PAX.
Through 4:30 p.m. yesterday, 287 men have submitted 227,326 burpees. I hope that collectively we will hit 1 million burpees. We’re off the pace at the moment, perhaps because our HC number does not align with the number of PAX who have submitted burpees. With more than 370 HCs, we would hit 1 million easily if all y’all live up to your commitments, which, mighty HIMs that you are, won’t be a problem. Right? But MABA is not ultimately about numbers. It’s about attitude. It’s about resilience. Fall down. Get back up. Together.
A few burpees short of 400
We challenge you to send photo/video evidence of yourself doing burpees in a strange place. Whether that’s because you’re a few burpees short of 400 and need to knock them out wherever you happen to be … or because you’re just a weirdo doesn’t matter. Whoever submits proof of himself doing a burpee in the weirdest place wins a MABA t-shirt. It has to be in the course of MABA.
Nominees:
Jalopy did burpees alongside cars he was working on at CarMax. He persuaded a co-worker/soon to be FNG to join him. They looked like they were doing a dance routine.
Redo, a middle school principal, did burpees in his office at lunch under a sign that said, “ultimate challenge.” Highlight: Calmly tucking his tie into his shirt before starting.
Bartles and Jaymes did 127 hydro burpees at a hotel kiddie pool with his 2.0s. He did not submit video evidence, but he gets love here because he apparently invented a new kind of burpee (at the very least, hydro burpees are new to me).
CFIT did 25 burpees at 8 p.m. in a church parking lot on Sunday night (credit where it’s due: He coined “Make America Burpee Again” and “a few burpees short of 400.”) He put his glasses on the hood of his car to do the burpees … and drove off with the glasses still up there. Those were 25 very expensive burpees, and I feel for him. He’s gotta feed Boston!
MABA hits the big time
I sold a series of stories on MABA to Success.com. Look for the first one to drop on Tuesday. I’ll share the link here. I’ve written quite a bit about F3 adventures for them. A sampling here:
On using F3 to fight loneliness here (from a bike trip with five F3 men.)
On setting big goals here (from a Mississippi River kayaking trip with Sheldon.)
On trying to become an average high school athlete at 48 here (a dozen PAX were involved.)
On pacing yourself here (from a 240-mile bike ride with Yodel, Crop Circle and Honey Pot.)
