If you haven’t heard of the National Pro Fitness League (NPFL) yet, chances are you will soon: The new sport is poised to make major headlines this year, and may soon change the way we look at professional athletes forever.
How to Get Involved
So this all sounds great if you want to watch it on TV-but what if you want to participate. Can just anyone try out for the NPFL? Yes and no, says Budding. Like other pro sports, the NPFL will host a combine once a year, where invited athletes can try out for open spots. Prospective participants can submit applications online, which include stats like their age, height, and weight, and their performance numbers-times, weights, or number of reps for specific drills and workouts.
While the majority of us will be taking in the action from the stands (or from in front of our televisions), Budding says that's not all he's got planned for the sport. "We've already had licensing requests to scale the program down to college and high-school levels, and to amateur competitions, as well. We expect to see a lot of gyms and fitness studios using our workouts in their classes, and building their own programs around our methods, as well."
While Budding expects many of NPFL's early fans to be members of weightlifting or CrossFit communities, he's optimistic that the sport's audience will grow quickly. "It's a compelling sport that people can identify with," he says. "Even if you can't physically do a pull-up, you still know what a pull-up is and how to do one. It's the stuff kids grow up doing, the stuff they learn in gym class, and now they'll be watching it on a professional level."
