{"id":346,"date":"2026-07-09T12:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=346"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:11:06","slug":"americas-toughest-workout-isnt-in-a-gym-its-on-the-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Toughest Workout Isn\u2019t in a Gym \u2014 It\u2019s on the Street"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n<\/span>t a community park on Houston\u2019s west side, two bare-chested men are mean-\u00admugging each other hard, their faces just inches apart, as a crowd howls \u201cLet\u2019s eaaaaaat!<\/em>\u201d around them. Any passerby on this overcast March afternoon could be forgiven for thinking a bareknuckle fight was about to go down. But this is a weighted-calisthenics battle, a one-\u00adversus-one competition where athletes grind through a high-volume set of exercises ranging from pullups and dips on a bar to pushups, squats, and muscle-ups \u2014 an advanced move that combines the pullup and dip into one fluid motion. Within minutes, the full-throttle test of strength and stamina will have their hearts damn near bursting out of their chests and their palms torn to shreds.<\/p>\n

Read more Graham Platner Ends Senate Campaign Amid Sexual Assault Allegations<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tStanding between the two competitors, wrapped in Prada Sport sunglasses, all swagger and muscle and testosterone, is Abu Asada, the battle\u2019s host and one of the top pound-for-pound calisthenics athletes in the United States. Since finding Islam and fitness in prison 11 years ago, the 31-year-old has amassed more than 300,000 Instagram followers thanks to a dogged work ethic and showman\u2019s flair. His gritty videos, a mix of underground battles, boot-camp-style street workouts, and provocative, at times sarcastic, diatribes on the sorry state of American health and masculinity have built him a cultlike audience as the popularity of calisthenics surges across the country. Love him or loathe him, among the throng of athlete influencers jostling for attention online, Abu Asada\u2019s words have the unmistakable bite of hard truth, backed by a hair-trigger readiness to prove himself on the bars. \u201cYou don\u2019t gotta like me, but you\u2019re gonna respect me,\u201d he says. \u201cI am<\/em> this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cA lot of people wanna roll with him,\u201d says Carnell \u201cSpeck Nasty\u201d Specks IV, a mainstay of the Houston calisthenics scene who credits the sport for his recovery after a 120-mph motorcycle crash that left him in a coma. Soon after Abu Asada relocated from the Washington, D.C., area last year, Specks linked up with him to host battles and free public workouts. \u201cThe South is new to calisthenics,\u201d and interest \u201cstarted multiplying\u201d since Abu Asada\u2019s arrival, says Specks. \u201cIt\u2019s the intensity that he comes with, his mindset. He just really opened eyes to life-or-death [training]. Like, you wanna give up on something or you gonna really die and fight for what you believe in? Some people might misunderstand what he\u2019s trying to do, but I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn an age of artifice and instant gratification, seasoned practitioners insist that calisthenics is the antidote to a lot of the gym-bro fakery that racks up views online but doesn\u2019t hold up to real-world stress. The bars don\u2019t lie,<\/em> goes the old-school mantra: Weakness will always be revealed. The sport has no barriers to entry, no spendy memberships or equipment. It requires nothing more than a bar and some willpower. And where bodies start to break down lifting heavy weight in rigid planes, calisthenics is a time-tested, scalable way to bulletproof people for the long haul \u2014 one that\u2019s emblematic of a broader fitness trend that prizes functional strength over aesthetics. \u201c\u2009\u2018Show muscles\u2019 don\u2019t translate to movement and mobility,\u201d says Mike Williams, a 41-year-old athlete and Houston-based battle judge who deepened his calisthenics practice after years of weightlifting and boxing. \u201cThis is very compelling to me, especially as I get older, because it\u2019s really you versus you. In calisthenics, the world is your gym, so you can get it in anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWatch the Short Film Below\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a measure of how mainstream calisthenics have become that anyone with a social media account and passing interest in fitness is now probably familiar with the muscle-\u00ad\u00adup. The status-flexing move is integral to competitive calisthenics disciplines that span endurance (high volume of reps), freestyle (high-flying acrobatics and isometric exercises), and streetlifting, an increasingly popular format in which athletes try to lift maximum weight while wearing plates attached to a belt. None, though, is more invigorating than the battles Abu Asada hosts and competes in as part of his promotion, In the Pit. Invoking one of the sport\u2019s venerable athletes and promoters, Sean \u201cDoc\u201d Peterson, he says: \u201cThis is the most physical thing you\u2019re gonna see people do without being violent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThree, two, one \u2014 let\u2019s eaaaaaat!<\/em>\u201d Abu Asada barks into the nearest camera, and the first battle is on. Lightweight Dionte Little of Baltimore goes rep for rep with Houston native C\u2009Lo through a blistering set of pullups, muscle-ups, and dips calibrated beforehand to the men\u2019s size and skill level. They\u2019ve had weeks to prepare for the routine. The pair are running dead even through the first half of the set, but on the second round of weighted dips, Little takes the lead. \u201cDo not sleep on him,\u201d Abu Asada urges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the gap widens, some guys watching start taunting the quality of C\u2009Lo\u2019s reps. \u201cFuck you! My money is clean,\u201d he protests in frustration, calling his opponent a \u201cmidget.\u201d \u201cWhoa \u2014 I knew it was gonna get spicy up in this bitch!\u201d shouts an amped-up spectator, one of about 30 now gathered around whooping with their cellphones out. Little musters a final round of pulls and burpees to hit 182 repetitions in 15 minutes. \u201cIt\u2019s Mister Midget to you,\u201d he claps back, launching into a victory dance that draws peals of laughter.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe battle is lost, but everyone exhorts C\u2009Lo to \u201cfinish your food!\u201d \u2014 or complete the set, a sacrosanct rule of calisthenics, which he does to maintain respect. By the time the next battle is underway, the tension between athletes is gone. \u201cWe come out here, talk some junk, slap each other up, but it\u2019s good,\u201d says 27-year-old Adrian Melo, one of Abu Asada\u2019s top students. \u201cWe need this as men.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tWith the sport still in its nascency and no supreme governing body, the rules and routines to be completed in calisthenics battles vary by competition. Whichever promoter is hosting a given battle devises the specific parameters of each contest based on who\u2019ll be facing off, as Abu Asada did for Little and C\u2009Lo. Sometimes there is prize money at stake, predetermined by an event sponsor or thrown down on the spot (or both), but more frequently, as today in Houston, the battles are just for hard-won pride.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough several women are watching from the sidelines, the vibe at battle events is hypermasculine, unapologetically so. Abu Asada contends that men have become \u201cweak\u201d and \u201cdistracted,\u201d going to the gym to preen and ogle women, driven by vanity and lust rather than self-betterment. While that posture could come off to some like a manosphere caricature, Abu Asada\u2019s growing traction online suggests he\u2019s tapped into a deep-seated yearning for accountability and personal reckoning in a culture that\u2019s bloated from overindulgence. Today, just a small fraction of the general adult population can perform a single strict, unassisted pullup. \u201cThis is why we get feet on soil outside,\u201d he says in one video. \u201cThis is why we go to war on ourselves outside, and when we are done, we\u2019re reborn.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA major challenge of hosting battles is holding competitors to a high technical standard amid the chaos, a tall order that Abu Asada tries to enforce without favor. When his own barber fails to heed a warning about improper muscle-up form, he disqualifies him. When another man tries to jump in as a replacement, auditioning with some muscle-ups, Abu Asada\u2019s critique sends him stalking away in a fury. (\u201cI\u2019m not trying to embarrass you,\u201d he says, \u201cbut you gotta know your place in the pecking order, homes.\u201d) In subsequent battles, dreaded \u201cchicken wing\u201d muscle-ups and other violations result in continuous \u201cno rep\u201d calls \u2014 meaning those reps didn\u2019t count \u2014 that cause some athletes to break down on the bars, now streaked with blood. Abu Asada is unmoved. \u201cWe\u2019ve given you years to get quality reps,\u201d he snaps. \u201cI\u2019m the bad guy \u2019cause I enforce the rules?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch to his relief, the co-main event is a master class of clean technique pitting light-heavyweight Melo against Carlos Espejo, a powerhouse from Harlem who once held the Guinness World Record for most muscle-ups in eight hours. Both are in sterling form, banging out crisp repetitions through a relentless, 135-count set that has them sucking air, weight plates crashing on the ground, until Espejo finally stalls on the barbell burpees, unable to close his hands around the bar. \u201cGame time!\u201d Abu Asada roars, bringing the contest to an official close. \u201cGoddamn, that was a dogfight!\u201d In his post-match summary, he thanks both men for \u201claying it on the line,\u201d before jabbing a finger at the camera and snarling: \u201cNow, you do it! Get out the car, miss. Get off the sideline, tope<\/em>. Get off Instagram Live. Get everybody\u2019s johnson out ya mouth and put in some pain today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the battles done, Abu Asada leads a grueling public workout. He\u2019s due to compete in a month\u2019s time on the undercard of a battle event dubbed \u201cKing of New York,\u201d the mecca of calisthenics, and is locked into an intensive training regimen of muscle-ups and squats to maximize his work capacity.<\/p>\n

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\n\tHe concludes by attempting his \u201cSamson Challenge\u201d: 10 repetitions under 60 seconds of a two-pump burpee Zercher clean squat (where a barbell is pulled up from the ground, tossed up in the air, and caught in the crooks of elbows) with 225 pounds that\u2019s as nasty as it sounds. He cranks out eight reps before dropping the barbell \u2014 a display of raw power that also serves as a middle finger to puritanical rivals he calls \u201cBambi-leg boyz\u201d who say barbell squats don\u2019t belong in calisthenics.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPressure exposes everyone, including myself,\u201d he intones over the clip later posted on his Instagram, which challenges viewers to see how they measure up. \u201cThis is why the top one percent of one percent look calm while everyone else is unraveling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u2018Greatness on Demand\u2019<\/strong> <\/h2>\n

\n\tCalisthenics, or the use of one\u2019s body weight and gravity to build muscle and endurance, dates back as long as people have prepared to fight. The word is derived from the ancient Greek words kallos<\/em> (beauty) and sthenos<\/em> (strength), and the practice originated with the Spartans around 600 B.C. as training for and alongside combat sports. A thousand years later, Shaolin monks in China cultivated the form to defend their temples against looters. In the 1800s, German gymnasts and educators popularized calisthenics in Europe, where it was prescribed as an \u201cacceptable form\u201d of exercise for women. Near the turn of the 20th century, American Herman Koehler published his Manual of Calisthenic Exercises, <\/em>a seminal text that standardized physical training in the U.S. military. Starting in the 1950s, breakout TV star Jack LaLanne promoted daily body-weight exercise to help Americans get into better shape at home.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut for those who know, the calisthenics ethos that paved the way for today\u2019s social media stars was born in the parks of New York City circa the 1990s. Long before smartphones and Instagram, a vanguard of athletes evolved the street workout, experimenting with dynamic movements and building up their endurance by stacking repetitions and sets with commitment to strict form. \u201cIt was quality with everything \u2014 not just the movement and the exercises, but the way that we carry ourselves, our attitude, everything that we put out,\u201d says Zef Zakaveli, 49, considered by many to be the godfather of the culture.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the 2000s, the cream of the calisthenics scene had coalesced around Brooklyn\u2019s Wingate Park, where pioneers I-born, Giant, Make-Tricks, Beast (Lord Vital), Tech, and Calisthenics King set the standard. \u201cIt was like a party atmosphere, more of a family, like a neighborhood thing,\u201d Zakaveli recalls, inclusive yet fiercely competitive. Workout teams like the Bartendaz, Bar-Masterz, Bar-Barians, B-Xtreme, Harlem S.E.A.L.S., Team Wingate, and the Barstarzz competed late into the night and through the winter, pushing the limits of what was possible. Zakaveli invented the clean muscle-up and one-armed pullup to the shoulder (among many other firsts). But it took nearly a decade for the sport to break out nationally, with Hannibal Lanham, better known as Hannibal for King. The improbably ripped Queens native was living in a homeless shelter when a July 2008 YouTube video of his gravity-defying maneuvers on playground bars \u2014 planche dips where his torso remained parallel to the ground, front-lever flutter kicks, and close-grip muscle-ups so effortless he looked like he might take flight \u2014 went viral, setting a precedent for current mega-influencers like Chris Heria, Frank Medrano, RipRight, and Abu Asada.<\/p>\n

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\n\tLow-key by nature, Zakaveli nonetheless has a kind of celebrity status among calisthenics aficionados in Europe, where the level of competition is ahead of the U.S. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame to say it,\u201d he says, \u201cbut [the Europeans] are the strongest guys.\u201d On the endurance side, Italian Sergio Di Pasquale and Spaniard Javi Al\u00e9s are world beaters. In streetlifting, \u00adRussian Mathew Zlat has dipped 195 kg. (430 pounds) and Frenchman Ludo Adamantium recently pulled 125 kg. (276 pounds) in \u00adcompetition \u2014 staggering numbers that keep climbing. I\u2019d assumed this was because they had a head start, that Soviet-style strength training and gymnastics had filtered across the continent. Zakaveli says it\u2019s the other way around.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey learned it from us \u2014 they\u2019re influenced by us!\u201d he exclaims. \u201cIf you go to whoever is strongest now [in Europe], ask him who influenced him, and then who influenced him, <\/em>it all goes back to Bar-Barians.\u201d Indeed, on a 2011 visit to judge a competition in Ukraine, Zakaveli says, the man credited with coining the term \u201cstreetlifting,\u201d Vitaliy Shovkoplyas, told him personally that he\u2019d been first inspired by the New York vanguard. Since then, the Europeans\u2019 obsessive devotion to form and training has kept them at the cutting edge of the sport. Germany-based FinalRep has emerged as streetlifting\u2019s governing body, with codified rules, rankings, and affiliated competitions on four continents; and the annual Calisthenics Cup in Cologne is the leading global event for bodyweight battles. \u201cGuys [in the U.S.] are caught up in clout, like more of a rapper lifestyle,\u201d Zakaveli says.<\/p>\n

\n\tZakaveli is living proof that his calisthenics method works, not a passing fad but a way of life. For his 50th birthday, he plans to complete his infamous G.O.D. (\u201cGreatness on Demand\u201d) set: 50 pullups to 50 straight bar dips, done seamlessly without letting go of the bar. He continues to travel the world, offering Bar-Barian workshops from Italy to Chile. And though he stands by the purity of his foundational \u201creps and sets\u201d blueprint, he respects the next generation of athletes who are putting their own stamp on the sport.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cAbu Asada [is] like the new era of this \u2014 he\u2019s creating his own lane,\u201d says Zakaveli, likening Abu Asada\u2019s hybrid brand of calisthenics and weight training to an offshoot of CrossFit. \u201cHe bridged into the calisthenic world to gain that following. He\u2019s found his niche, and I\u2019ve watched him progress over a couple years. And he\u2019s just scratched the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nTraining the Body for War<\/strong> <\/h2>\n

\n\tLate on a Friday afternoon, Abu Asada is at a warehouse gym somewhere in east Houston\u2019s never-ending sprawl, dripping sweat. He sprints and bear crawls down the center of the training area, then goes straight into a cycle of Zercher barbell walks (holding the weighted bar in the elbow crooks), box jumps, and ring muscle-ups. \u201cThis is a de-load week,\u201d he informs me, meaning lighter than usual. In the flesh, at six feet one, 215 pounds, he\u2019s even more impressive than in his videos. Not the turgid bulk of a juiced-up bodybuilder but the primed, explosive physique of a dangerous man who trains for the worst of days.<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn Anthony Watts to a Black father and a white mother who divorced when he was a child, he grew up in suburban Maryland with a rebellious streak that got him in trouble. He started using drugs as a teenager; at 20, he was locked up for four years for trafficking marijuana and carrying a firearm. While inside, Abu Asada\u2019s best friend died of a fentanyl overdose, and he was stabbed three times. After seeing another inmate bleed out on the ground during a prison gang war, he hit the yard, doing hundreds of burpees, pullups, and sit-ups a day. \u201cFor me, prison was a blessing because it allowed me to train my body for war,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Must Pay E. Jean Carroll $5.8 Million for Sex Abuse and Defamation: Judge<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tOn getting out in 2019, he married a woman he\u2019d known since high school and had a daughter, the first of three. Initially, he worked construction jobs for $12.10 an hour, but continued training whenever he could, determined to help people get in shape to atone for \u201cbreaking people with some of the things I used to sell.\u201d For the next four years, he drove a delivery truck for D.C.-area homeless shelters, coaching clients at a gym in the mornings and evenings, and hand-delivering homemade sea-moss smoothies on the side.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn September 2021, Abu Asada was invited to his first battle, in Brooklyn. He lost: \u201cI just hit the wall.\u201d The volume and density of exercises \u201cshocked my nervous system,\u201d he says, \u201cand turned me into a monster.\u201d Other losses hardened his resolve, as his on-camera persona and habit of stoking controversy started gaining momentum. His first viral video, a June 2022 clip about the chasm between working out and training with purpose, catapulted his follower count from 4,000 to 20,000. On any given day, he might rant about the perils of glorifying street life, eating fast food, or skipping leg day. He\u2019s also known to respond to keyboard warriors in person. In a viral June 2025 video, he pulls up to a hostile Philadelphia park to \u201ccolonize\u201d it, thrashing a neighborhood hero in a battle as locals melt down. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to find anyone within the one-versus-one culture that\u2019s more hated than me,\u201d he says. \u201cSomebody has to be the bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of Abu Asada\u2019s most incendiary themes is \u201cvictim weight\u201d \u2014 that anyone under 200 pounds is liable to get manhandled. He doesn\u2019t mean this literally, of course. Instead, it\u2019s a way of calling on people to intensify their training while fanning the kind of frothy online animus that algorithms reward. \u201cEvery time I throw it out there, it gets hella engagement,\u201d he says. The \u201cpositive controversy,\u201d he adds, is all part of a \u201cfunneling process\u201d to the goods and services he offers. These span personal coaching, merch, and an array of health products, like Himalayan shilajit resin (a supplement said to boost energy and performance), he says earn him six figures a year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor all of his side hustles, Abu Asada is adamant that calisthenics athletes should earn a decent livelihood like any professional. In 2023, he competed in the Urban Fitness League, an extreme calisthenics league that was poised to be the \u201cNBA of calisthenics.\u201d The UFL (later rebranded UFX) struck a multi\u00adyear broadcast deal with Fox Sports, and athletes were paid win or lose ($1,000 per event, plus another grand on top for a victory), traveling the country to compete before live audiences. Although the venture elevated calisthenics athletes to an unprecedented level of national prominence, it foundered after two seasons when the lead investor pulled funding. \u201cYou can\u2019t really rely on someone else to see your vision through,\u201d says Peterson, the league\u2019s director of calisthenics. In hindsight, he says, it was too \u201cvanilla,\u201d divorced from its blacktop roots. \u201cBut the athletes got a real opportunity to know what it\u2019s like to be pros \u2014 and they\u2019ll never go back to a version of that that\u2019s beneath them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tToward that end, Abu Asada maintains a brisk schedule of In the Pit events to keep building the fanbase and showcase top talent. These include members of his own Team Work Horse, one of the strongest rosters in the U.S., several of whom saw their social media profiles soar after battling on Abu Asada\u2019s cards. He\u2019s also one of the top competitors in USA Streetlifting, the premier league of its kind in the country, which makes him a very rare breed: an elite athlete-promoter who embodies both the stamina of endurance battling and the power of streetlifting.<\/p>\n

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\n\tOnce America\u2019s best secure the committed sponsorship they need to stop multitasking and train full-time as pros, he\u2019s convinced they will excel on the global stage \u2014 and he wants to lead the way. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s saving the [Europeans] now, and they know that. But we\u2019re coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u2018Colossal and Thunderous\u2019<\/strong> <\/h2>\n

\n\tI myself started practicing calisthenics in my late twenties to counter the effects of an erratic lifestyle. Reporting on conflicts around the world, as I\u2019ve done for the past two decades, is far from a healthy or predictable existence, and calisthenics helped me stay in shape over lengthy, stressful overseas assignments. From guerrilla camps in the Myanmar jungle to remote desert outposts in Afghanistan, it was just a matter of finding a bar, ledge, or tree branch to get in workouts that have become nonnegotiable for my well-being. Eventually, I installed a pullup bar at home; I improved my muscle-up, and as repetitions multiplied, I started adding weight.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first time I saw one of Abu Asada\u2019s underground battle clips, in 2024, it hit me with the force of a thunderbolt. Men of all shades and sizes testing themselves in a furnace of pain, iron sharpening iron \u2014 a visceral departure from all the slick, generic fodder choking the feed. I missed this. I needed this. And there surfaced a feeling that I hadn\u2019t had since college: the desire to compete.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdmittedly, I stalled for a while. At 45 years old with five kids and a job that had me hopping on airplanes on short notice, there were always excuses to delay. But every time I watched another clip, the call intensified. So I signed up for my first streetlifting competition and hired a Russian pullup master named Dima Vlasov to coach me remotely. A few days later, I caught a flight to Libya to shoot a documentary that had me staking out late-night gyms in Tripoli and Misrata to keep up with my prescribed training. Such circumstances were, in Vlasov\u2019s words, \u201cnot optimal.\u201d In my case, they never would be.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThree weeks later, in mid-April, I flew back to New York to compete in the Empire State Classic, a USA Streetlifting event in the classic format of a one-rep maximum pullup and dip. At a black-box gym in Harlem, I find a convivial sub-tribe of athletes, mostly men but a few women, warming up. During weigh-ins, I meet several first-timers inspired by social media clips. A veteran says the first competition is just about \u201cgetting familiar with the stage,\u201d as I soon learn the hard way.<\/p>\n

\n\tOpening with pullups, I start with 70 kg. (154 pounds) on the belt, a safe number to get on the board. After moving the weight easily and clearing the bar, I\u2019m stunned to hear the announcer say \u201cno rep.\u201d Apparently my knee moved slightly. Shaken, I redo 70 kg. on my second attempt and then jump to 80 kg. (176 pounds) on my third and final pull, but fail to heave my chin above the bar.<\/p>\n

\n\tSevere jet lag is not helping. On my first dip attempt, I walk up to the box wearing headphones and miss the judges\u2019 \u201cgo\u201d call, earning another \u201cno rep.\u201d On my second, I successfully lift 110 kg. (243 pounds) and then go all-in on 120 kg. (265 pounds) on the last. The crowd rallies behind me, and I nearly lock out, revving with adrenaline, before buckling. By the end of the day, two New York state records had fallen. And though far from the debut I\u2019d envisioned, my totals are enough for third place in the light heavyweight -94 kg. division (under 207 pounds); the winner, Dion Lynch, is the defending national champion. On the podium, I\u2019m already thinking ahead to the next competition.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur progress as Americans is skyrocketing right now \u2014 the numbers we saw today for first attempts were all-time records when we started,\u201d says Eugene Jimenez, the founder of USA Streetlifting. The federation, which started in Brooklyn in April 2023 with roughly a dozen participants, has since expanded to seven states and counting. More women are competing. And while, he notes, Europeans are still pulling weights that upper-tier \u00adAmericans are dipping, American athletes are closing the gap. \u00adWomen\u2019s phenom Danae Morgan has locked a 57.25 kg. (126 pounds) chin-up, the current world record. Texan Nicholas Cerean has surpassed a 100 kg. (220 pounds) chin-up and 40 kg. (88 pounds) muscle-up in competition, his sights set on 50 kg. (110 pounds). And last year, Abu Asada became the first American to total 500 kg. (1,102 pounds) across four events \u2014 pullup, dip, squat, muscle-up \u2014 putting him just outside the world top-10 ranking in his weight class. \u201cWe have a lot of strong athletes here,\u201d says Th\u00e9o Lopez Marques, a French-born two-time U.S. national champion. \u201cNow, it\u2019s [time] to have them take streetlifting seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSimilar to well-established competitive fitness formats like CrossFit and Hyrox, major sponsorship will be critical in building out the culture and giving athletes the resources needed to train full time and compete with the world\u2019s best. Nike is already dabbling in Europe, where it has partnered with London-based calisthenics collective PnP to highlight street workouts, including a \u201clast man standing\u201d muscle-up contest. Why not the U.S.? At a time when sports leagues have degenerated into grown men running into each other at full speed (see the creatively named \u201cRun It Straight\u201d) or slapping each other to sleep (Power Slap), calisthenics in its various forms offers all the intensity and edge-seeking athletes and audiences crave \u2014 without the head trauma.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cIs the momentum of streetlifting picking up? Absolutely,\u201d says Cristian Lema, a judge and competitor. \u201cIs it gonna be colossal and thunderous? Absolutely. How long is it gonna take? Shorter than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u2018Welcome to the Dark Side\u2019<\/strong> <\/h2>\n

\n\tAbu Asada also happened to be in New York the weekend of the Empire State Classic, and he came to battle. At a multifloor parkour venue in East Williamsburg, he and Team Work Horse pull up in a late-model sprinter van as crews converge from the five boroughs, in a scene that brings to mind the opening of The Warriors<\/em>. Some start repping out pushups on pipes on the sidewalk. Others warm up on the bars inside with freestyle tricks and flips, to the delight of the gathering crowd. The Calisthenic Prince, a 29-year-old self-\u00addescribed \u201cbar magician\u201d set to battle Xtra Money in the main event, jokes around with his Bushwick pals, cool and confident. \u201c[Xtra Money] not a slouch, but he just not me,\u201d he brags, polishing his smile with a miswak twig. \u201cI\u2019m amazing \u2014 I\u2019m beautiful on the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo of Abu Asada\u2019s Team Work Horse members battle against New Yorkers, winning handily. \u201cIt\u2019s BTA all day: Belt to ass!\u201d says Jeremiah George, 21, of Baltimore. But Abu Asada\u2019s opponent is a no-show. After all of the training and covering a cross-country flight to battle for $2,500, the lack of backbone sets him off. \u201cMy wife about to spit out another baby in three weeks; I\u2019m not supposed to be here \u2014 I gotta put food on the table,\u201d he shouts. Slapping a stack of cash on the deck, he issues an open challenge. \u201cIf you wanna battle, have your money right.\u201d No one wants the smoke. He performs his set anyway, grinding out dozens of muscle-ups and squats with a 100-pound dumbbell to set an example.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlmost three hours after the event\u2019s scheduled start time, Xtra Money arrives in his signature black balaclava. \u201cMain event,\u201d Abu Asada announces. \u201cLet\u2019s pop this shit off.\u201d The crowd, now totaling more than 200 people, closes in as Xtra Money and the Prince square up for the cameras, then launch into a diabolical set that promises pain \u2014 and lots of it \u2014 for $500 and citywide bragging rights: 100 burpees, 50 muscle-ups, 75 dips, and then 75 squats with a 65-pound dumbbell.<\/p>\n

\n
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\n\tThe men are roughly even through the first 100 burpees, dropping and popping like well-oiled pistons. The energy in the room is electric, fans screaming from the rafters to the walls. But it soon becomes clear that the Prince, for all his panache, is not prepared for a dogfight. As Xtra Money extends his lead into muscle-ups that are consistent if imperfect, drawing jeers from some, he gasps for air against the suffocating mob, dazed and dehydrated. After weeks of online hype and trash talk, the bars have exposed weakness. \u201cThat pullup bar can\u2019t save you,\u201d yells Abu Asada.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time Xtra Money is pushing through the final set of squats, his mask is peeled back to breathe. The Prince, meanwhile, struggles to finish his dips and then quits on squats before friends push him back to save face. And it\u2019s not long until the Prince quits for good. \u201cI\u2019m good, I lost,\u201d he says, as taunts erupt from the crowd. It\u2019s a decision that will haunt him. On a live\u00adstream later that night, he\u2019s in tears lamenting that he didn\u2019t finish his food. Scores of social media followers have fled. So-called friends have turned cold. He vows to come back and battle stronger.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis was the most hostile event I\u2019ve ever been a part of,\u201d Abu Asada says afterward. He praises Xtra Money for completing the routine and silencing all the haters. His Workhorses went 2-0 on the day, affirming their reputation as the East Coast team to beat. In the coming months, they would be tested in battle events from Baltimore to Atlanta. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be a cold summer \u2014 the coldest one,\u201d he promises, then signs off with his signature catchphrase, asserting his status: \u201cThe one, never the two. Eaaaaaat!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA few weeks later, I\u2019m back home in Mexico getting ready to train when a new Abu Asada post appears on my Instagram feed titled \u201cMAX PULLUPS 44 Yrs Old.\u201d The man doing the pullups is me. After the Houston battle a month before, some of the competitors held an impromptu contest. Near the end, Abu Asada called me up, and I managed to get 33 in one go. They were not strict repetitions, however, and the post quickly goes hyper-\u00adviral as trolls and supporters spiral into arguments about proper form and what constitutes \u201cmiddle age.\u201d In other words: positive controversy. Last I checked, the video had racked up more than 5 million views.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tA message soon followed from Abu Asada, stamped with a laughing emoji. \u201cWelcome to the dark side my friend!\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more U.S. Resumes Offensive Strikes Against Iran as \u2018Ceasefire\u2019 Collapses<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tContributing editor JASON MOTLAGH has reported from around the globe for Rolling Stone.<\/em> He embedded with \u00advigilantes for his story on Haiti\u2019s gang wars in the January issue.\t<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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