What's this all about?
I absolutely love how the internet is allowing creators to supplant the establishment. We are doing it right here on Steemit! The growing popularity of the YouTube channel Strength Wars is an excellent example. They have created a whole new format for watching strength athletes compete and it’s actually NOT super boring!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0ahC64OhIAS11TJX9Ig86A
Strength Wars League is a competition show where strength competitors compete to complete a “parkour” (traversing a series of obstacles as quickly as possible) which consists of a combination of strong man, powerlifting, and bodybuilding exercises.
You could be doing 220kg deadlifts for 10 reps or pulling a huge fire truck. You never know what sort of obstacles you may face, but one thing is for certain this is for beasts not mortals.
What’s great about this show is that is has excellent production quality and sound editing. The best thing, however, is the combination of characters that borrow a page from the WWE. The’ve taken on a bit of old fashioned showmanship to this sport, and even though it seems that some of them are trash talking you always see the competitors supporting everyone in the audience while the competition goes on. You get the impression that it’s a real brotherhood.
You are going to meet characters such as “African Rhino”, “Vegan Badass”, “The Anabolic Horse”, and of course the unstoppable character known as “The Faceless”. All delivered by our excellent host and competitor Tezel “The Dragon Slayer”
CAN YOU FEEL THE INTENSITY!!
Next time you are looking to binge out on some crazy fun entertainment I suggest you give it a shot.
Strength Wars League: Watch Now
Start at #1:
Watch the Finals:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgruvnnqP3JRBOTGhOzknNvw-QAvD_XbA
A short history
The channel originally started as “Bodybuildingrev” and featured an eclectic mix of random weight lifting videos and head to head matchups with titles like “Calisthenics vs Powerbuilding” which were single episodes of Strength Wars where the idea was to characterize the participants as a representation of their discipline.
Eventually certain competitors became repeat players in the drama that began to unfold such as Romano Rengel and The Faceless. The first time they gave a nod to the notion that these weren’t just single battles but there was a title to be held was when the faceless unseated Romano in 2k17 #1, where the victor was claimed the “Strength Wars” champion.
To compete in Strength Wars the athlete’s need to be not only be very strong but need to also have excellent strength to bodyweight ratio due to all the added weight calisthenics movements such as weighted pull-ups and dips. The element of the race means that V02 max will be a factor in the victor. The Parkours are generally less than 10 minutes so picture this as a HIIT intensity workout except you are benching 315 for reps directly from a set of 500 pound deadlifts, all with little to no rest.
Enter Strength Wars League
Strength Wars league is currently in its first season. The league is pretty simple. There are head to head match-ups each week with the winner scoring 1 point for the battle. The League added a new dimension of a time limit as well, only 9 minutes to finish each parkour!
If any competitor completes the Parkour they can get an additional point. There are only a few possible outcomes
- Win the battle but don’t complete the parkour = 1 point
- Win the battle and complete the parkour = 2 points
- Lose the battle and complete the parkour = 1 point
- Lose the battle and don’t complete the parkour = 0 points
Top 8 Competitors going into the Finals
1 - Anabolic Horse
Real Name: Jan Krasinský
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krasinsky/
Description: The Anabolic Horse currently wears the red Strength Wars tank to indicate that he is the points leader of the league. He was the ONLY competitor to finish the strongman parkour. Unfortunately he didn’t go head to head with The Faceless that week. The Faceless came out on his YouTube channel and stated that he had terrible diarrhea the day of the competition and that’s why he wasn’t able to finish the parkour. The anabolic horse has 1 loss to the Faceless where he stated he came out too fast and got burnt out. The Anabolic Horse has been absolutely killing the last several Parkour’s so a Faceless victory is far from certain.
2 - The Faceless
Real Name: Sebastian Kot
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sebastian_kot1985/
Description: Sebastian Kot seems like a pretty nice guy on his own YouTube channel but he certainly hams it up for his character “The Faceless” on Strength Wars. During his signature intro he talks in a voice reminiscent of Darth Vader where he generally claims he will destroy everyone and has even called out “Fake Weights” Brad Castleberry (https://www.instagram.com/bradcastleberry/?hl=en) on recent episodes. The Faceless generally finishes all Parkour’s well ahead of his opponents often finishing several minutes ahead of them. It’s pretty clear that The Faceless is the fan favorite to win the league.
Here is a fun Faceless trivia fact. Even though “The Faceless” is undefeated in Strength Wars there was a one off episode called “Barbell Wars” where he lost in an epic battle.
He actually spent the first 2 rounds making every other competitor look like an absolute joke but when they got to the end game he ended up losing to “Jarda” also from the Czech republic. It’s an epic battle and I would love for this format to become a spin off of Strength Wars, I’m not sure why there was only one. The Faceless’ deadlift performance is worth the price of admission. Sorry for the spoiler!
3 - Thomas Faber
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thomas.faber/
Description Thomas is a Strength Wars OG and anyone who is a long term fan will certainly have seen many of his battles. Thomas is a vegan, but is not the vegan badass, that title belongs to Strongman Patrik Baboumian who was an early favorite in the league. Patrik dropped out for reasons unknown. I speculate that his strongman physique is not optimal for many parkours include pull-ups with added weight, generally around 20KG.
4 - The Dragon Slayer
Real Name: Tetzel Halbgottschmiede
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halbgottschmiede
Description: Tetzel is the host of Strength Wars. “Can you feel the intensity!!!” Tetzel is also an Strength wars OG. Tetzel put it all on the line and said that if he lost his battle against Bodybuilder Tim Budesheim in Strength Wars 2k16 #4 that he would never compete in Strength Wars again. I know I an many other fans were very disappointed to hear this. Apparently there was a mixup with one of the competitors in Strength Wars League and Tetzel had to swallow his pride and become a competitor in Strength Wars league. He started the league a bit deconditioned by managed to snag a top 8 placement improving significantly throughout the season.
“Dragon Slayer Mode is ON!!”
5 - African Rhino AKA Gambia’s Strongest Man
Real Name: John Gomez
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gambia_strongest_man/
Description: John Gomez represents the league all the way from Gambia Africa and as far as I am aware he is the only competitor not from a European nation. You can read more about John Gomez here: http://www.ducorsports.com/gambias-local-architect-becomes-one-of-germanys-strongest-men-the-remarkable-story-of-john-gomez/
6 - Daniele Pauli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulidaniele
Description: Daniele Pauli brings a lot of experience in the strength world to the league. While I don’t feel he can win it all he will certainly place in the top of the league.
7 - Matt
Real Name: Matěj Syrovatka
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matej.syrovatka/
Description: At only 19 y/o Matt is the youngest competitor in the league. I feel he has the largest chance to upset the league. If he doesn’t win it all this year look out for him to be a top competitor in the the future.
8 - The Rottweiler
Real Name: Pascal Rothweiler
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pascalrothweiler/
Description: Pascal is an all around strength athlete who is always “reeeaaaddddddyyyyyy!!”
Pascal brings heart to what he is doing. According to his instagram posts he has sustained injuries so I’m not expecting him to challenge the Anabolic Horse much in the finals, however I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of the Pascal.
What’s next?
My hope for Strength Wars is that it grows significantly in popularity. I’d love to see some american competitors or even YouTube fitness gurus participate in the league. I consider myself an OG having been a fan since the BodybuildingRev days, so I wanted to share this hidden gem with all my new fans here on Steemit. Next time you're binging streaming video give Strength Wars league a shot.
Oops!
Since I started this post and left for my families for the holidays the Strength Wars league had it’s finals and the champion has been crowned! Well that is ok, you can watch all the excitement and not have to anxiously await the next episode to come out.