ATLANTA (April 7, 2020) – Barbells For Bullies, a 501c3 non-profit that hosts fitness competitions around the U.S., announced an initiative with ABMAT in late February that ran the entire month of March. Dubbed “Sit Ups For Pups” the challenge was an open call to everyone, athletes and non-athletes alike, with the goal of accumulating 1.2 million sit ups as a community. The purpose?
To raise awareness to a sobering statistic: an estimated 1.2 million dogs are euthanized annually in the US due to shelter overpopulation; with at least half of them being “pit bull type” dogs.
“When we started this challenge, I had no idea we’d be here a month later,” Barbells For Bullies’ founder, Alexander Castiglione commented. “We nearly doubled our goal, accumulating 2.3 million plus reps. That’s remarkable. I especially want to thank all the gym owners that, despite the pandemic raging across the globe, created a community that empowered their members to continue this challenge from lockdown.”
“You all emerged as leaders and I saw you logging your reps from home, including sit ups in your home WODs, and doing whatever you could, wherever you could.”
The challenge was an open call to the community, and after 31 days, over 2600 athletes participated across 66+ gyms, with over 100 people from their homes with no affiliation, accumulating over 2,325,000 sit ups. There was no prize money, only a small incentive that the top gym and top three male and female athletes would receive custom, can’t-buy them-anywhere ABMATs; however, many athletes put up over 1000 reps a day!
“I can’t even begin to express how impressed I am with all of you, and wanted to thank you all, truly, on behalf of Barbells For Bullies (as small as we are) and on behalf of the millions of animals that need our help.”
Our emails and socials were flooded with heartfelt stories, dedications, and even a couple adoption stories. We can make this place better than we found it, we can leverage fitness to raise awareness, and we can achieve our mission of fostering a fit community that helps As Many Rescues As Possible. And we couldn’t have done it without you…all of you,” Castiglione remarked. Barbells For Bullies will continue this challenge next year, and continue to come up with novel ways to leverage fitness to raise awareness for social causes and animal rescue. Further information and stats are available by clicking HERE. Search #situpsforpups on Instagram to see athletes of all stripes working to help As Many Rescues As Possible.
Barbells For Bullies® is a 100% volunteer run 501(c)3 non-profit that hosts CrossFit, weightlifting, strongman, and powerlifting events all over the US, and donates all net proceeds from these events to help local animal rescues and advocacy groups. Founded by a husband and wife with a bunch of rescue pups, Barbells for Bullies is on a mission to help As Many Rescues As Possible®.
Write a comment
Read the Facebook Data Policy