Because of men, men will never get the type of attention on Instagram that women will.
But if you yearn to establish a fan base for your carefully curated IG exploits and also happen to be male, it’s still possible. You just have to give them a reason to follow, like U.S. Marine, fitness trainer, and American Ninja Warrior competitor Michael Eckert, who went viral on Reddit a few days ago thanks to this GIF.
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While Eckert doesn’t have nearly the following that the aforementioned “treeman” does, we’d still suggest giving his page a look, especially, if you’re into pull-ups. He messes around with those bars quite a bit, and says he holds a world record in pull-up performance:
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Eckert staked his claim that he’s the world record holder when he published a video on YouTube back in January that showed him bust out 50 in one minute.
If you’re wondering how the man manages to do it, he says that his fitness motivation comes from his fellow marines.
“I have the ability to push my limits that people would give anything for,” he said. “You have the Wounded Warrior Regiment with Marines who don’t have the same opportunity as uninjured Marines do, whether they may be missing limbs or may not be in a healthy state of mind because of their experiences.
“I had a slight knee injury once, and I could barely run three miles…and I was devastated after that. I was saying in my head, ‘This is it, my body hurts so bad and I can’t do this.’ I couldn’t do what I enjoy so I knuckled down and went to physical therapy and got to where I needed to be.”
“After I was better, I ran nine miles, and I was literally laughing on the treadmill because I was so happy and it was amazing after having that terrible experience,” he recalled. “If it’s not for competition, do it for the people who can’t do it.”
Assess your personal abilities (and health insurance plans) and concoct your own stunts accordingly. But be cautious, even Eckert isn’t immune to a nasty fail in this arena. He admitted that, during a local American Ninja Warrior competition, he fell from 14 feet up onto concrete below and busted up his wrist.
He’s definitely not the first dude to try some crazy stunts for some brief IG clips. And he’s also not the first to have something go wrong. Decide for yourself if you want (or need) the followers.
This article originally appeared on menshealth.com.
