The most memorable conversation I had in 2024 was about pig s--- while shoveling pig s---
Plus meet the first of three men who started MABA in January ... and kept going all dang year!
MABA 2025 starts Wednesday. Sign up here! MABA is Make America Burpee Again, the annual challenge in which participants do 100 burpees every day in January. The theme is Fall down. Get back up. Together. This past January, 1,227 men, women and children did 3.08 million burpees and in the process grew and strengthened relationships. We can top all of that in 2025.
Also: you’re not going to do 100 burpees a day and not buy a t-shirt, are you?
On pig shit and the difference between “get to” and “have to”
In pursuit of stories this year I got covered in slimy cow afterbirth (see photo above, that calf is maybe 10 minutes old), shaved bucking bulls’ horns, carried hay all over hell’s half acre in 100-degree heat and more besides. Those were all part of a new series about work that debuted in the current issue of Cowboys and Indians Magazine.
And it was in pursuit of another story in that series that I had my most memorable conversation of 2024.
I write often about the difference between “have to” and “get to.” And Andrew Wiechman’s summation on the topic, which he told me as we shoveled pig shit together, illuminates the distinction perfectly. I’ll have much more on this later, but on the eve of MABA, it’s worth sharing some of it now.
Wiechman, co-owner of The Hog Yard, a small farm in Nebraska, must have thought I was a little nuts when I contacted him to ask if I could help him shovel pig shit. I think he and his co-owners wanted to make sure I was legit and/or serious, and once I assured them of that, they gave me what I came to think of as the world’s nastiest rake, and I went to work.
Andrew and I talked at length about balance—between working hard and having a family life, between living where you grew up and seeing the world, between running The Hog Yard efficiently and humanely, and between lamenting shoveling pig shit and finding joy in it.
He confesses that in the middle of the winter, when he’s fighting the elements, he would much prefer to work in a climate-controlled confinement barn with thousands of pigs than outside with hundreds. “We have a lot of character-building days on the farm,” Andrew says.
Yes, indeed. But the balance comes when he exults in the sources of that pig shit—most notably piglets so cute I would show up frequently to clean up after them if it meant I got to see them suckling.
“We’ve farrowed I don’t know how many in my life,” Andrew says. “But I still like coming to watch. It’s new life. It’s birth. It’s pretty cool.”
Framed that way, shoveling pit shit sounds like a blessing. He doesn’t have to shovel pig shit. He gets to.
I have thought about that conversation often since we had it, and I thought about it again this week as I worked out in an ice storm as prep for MABA. I believe strongly in taking advantage of crummy weather. If it’s raining or snowing or really cold, and you lead a workout and don’t immerse yourself and the men in your workout in it, you’re doing it wrong. Anyone can enjoy working outside when it’s nice out. You have to practice working out outside when it’s crummy to enjoy it.
Put another way, you will never know the joyful power of being soaking wet and freezing until AFTER you’ve been soaking wet and freezing.
There will be days, say, January 6 through 20, when MABA feels like shoveling pig shit—or like being soaking wet and freezing. (Or you might literally be soaking wet and freezing.) The thrill of the start will be long gone. The joy of the end will be but a rumor. It will feel like a “have to,” a great big dumb, why-am-I-soaking-wet-and-freezing-when-I-don’t-have-to “have to.”
I will have to force myself to remember why I’m doing it, and I won’t have piglets as a visual reminder. But I will remember three things.
The first is I’m doing it because I can. I am physically capable of it. The older I get, the more I want to cram into my life.
The second is because someone — really, many someones — loves me enough to do something horrible with me.
The third thing I’ll tell myself is I’m doing this so I, no, so WE can exult in the joy that results.
That turns MABA from a have to into a get to for me.
I’m curious what does it for you. Share that in the comments or email me.
‘A tendency to amplify already bad ideas’
I heard from three F3 men who completed MABA for the whole year — that is, 36,600 burpees in 2024. Here is the first of their stories with more to come in subsequent issues. I hope they inspire you to get after it.
Real Name: François Hugon (that’s him front left, taking the picture. Honker, whose responses will be in a future issue, is in the center)
Age: 42
F3 Name: Betty Crocker
Occupation: Aerospace Engineer / Program Manager
Married? Yes, almost 19 years to my high school sweetheart
Kids? 12 year old son, 9 year old daughter
1. What’s the matter with you that you did 36,600 burpees in one year?
Sometime near the end of January, a few of us were exceeding the MABA goal, and R-12 said something like "This really isn't that hard, I think we could do it for the full year."
He has a tendency to amplify already bad ideas.
But in typical “choose the harder thing” fashion, most of us said, “I'm in if you're in.” Honker and I are both stubborn and when we commit to something, we generally don't quit. The other guys ... Well they did all finish January at least.
2. What do you know about yourself now that you didn’t at this time last year?
That discipline can absolutely overcome a lack of motivation for me. And that the hardest thing must be done first in the day for me. The mornings that I didn't get my burpees in rarely saw me find the time later in the day.
3. What was the biggest challenge to doing this, and how did you overcome it?
Doing this first thing, before a normal F3 workout most days. On non-F3 days, or when traveling for work, it could be very difficult to get motivated to do this. That's when I had to rely on the discipline over the motivation.
4. What was the reaction among your loved ones as this was going on?
I could sometimes get my kids to do reps with me of pushups or squats. I like the idea of them seeing me set a goal and then work to get it. My wife has learned to accept some of the odd challenges that F3 provides, but she knows how good it is for me and doesn't even roll her eyes anymore!
5. Right now, on this day, what hurts the most?
Left elbow.
6. Throughout the year, what hurt the most?
Left elbow, lower back (that flatlined me in July/August). I had to get intentional about stretching the back before diving into them each day.
7. Did you and Honker ever say to each other, if you quit, I’ll quit, or did you ever want to say that to each other?
Quitting was never discussed. It wasn't a competition, but watching Honker get through these, with texts of his rep count for the day, definitely provided the spark to not let myself fall behind. We each pushed the other at different points throughout the year. I 100% would not have completed it if I was the last man standing solo.
8. What advice do you have to someone starting MABA?
* Make it a daily habit before an F3 workout
* Build margin beyond 100/day. It's OK to fall behind a little when you have margin, but it's mentally brutal to have to catch up once you are really behind pace.
* Make challenges within the challenge. 1,000 in a week, 150 burpees in 15 minutes, ladders up and down for set rep counts where the ladder height gets taller week over week.
Thx! Now I understand that today I "get to" spend the day hunting for new clients. Hooray! 🌈