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Sit Up For Pups
Sit Ups for Pups, a free fitness event to raise money and awareness for shelter dogs!
Where:
Have a 5x5 space on the floor? That's all you need (unless youre really tall. Then you might need more)! The purpose of this event is to bring awareness to the harsh reality shelter dogs often face.
When:
March 1, 2025 - March 31, 2025
Why:
Our aim is to raise awareness to the plight of shelter dogs and to also celebrate fitness and community. We're continuing to raise awareness for the roughly 1.2 million dogs that enter shelters each year and don't make it back out. It's also estimated that as many as 1,200 "pit bulls" a day are euthanized (Source). While statistics can be specious, no matter what - both of these numbers are heartbreaking and unacceptable.
How:
We intend to raise awareness by challenging the fitness community to rally together and work to accumulate 1.2 million sit ups in March 2025 collectively. We all know that by working together one rep at a time, we can achieve our goal! To date, we've accumulated over 5 million sit ups!
Any funds raised will be used to disburse grants to dogs in dire need of medical care, pay for pull fees, and pledge money to urgent animals to incentivize local rescues to pull them. Since inception, we were able to raise over $50,000.00! This enabled us to give grants to rescues and spay/neuter initiatives across the country to help homeless animals in need.
Event
Our goal is to collectively do accumulate 1,200,000+ sit ups, representing the unfortunate number of lives lost each year due to shelter overpopulation and to represent the estimated 1.2 million dogs that are euthanized every year due to BSL or shelter overpopulation.
That's the population of Dallas, TX. And it happens every single year.
Shelter overpopulation is a huge concern but we can all make a difference.
Adopt, foster, volunteer, advocate, educate.
This event is all about getting people involved and raising awareness, and costs absolutely nothing to enter.
This is about exemplifying our mission of fostering a fit community that rallies around rescue!
All the details for how to get involved can be found below. If you have any questions, email us at info@barbellsforbullies.org.
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Facts, Stats, and Research
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Shelter overpopulation is a major problem in the US. Over $3B is spent annually to maintain shalters, the majority of which are full or close to capacity at all times. An additional $800M-$1B is spent on animal control alone! Source
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Live outcomes - that is animals that make it out of the shelter alive, vary greatly regionally and locally. Southern states in the US, Texas, and California have the lowest live outcome rates. It's estimated that over 70,000 pit bull type dogs are killed in the LA metro area annually alone! Source
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Of the 3 million cats and dogs that are killed in shelters each year, over 80% of them are healthy and treatable and could have been adopted to loving homes. Read: animals are sometimes killed for space when they could be adopted out. Source
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But you want a purebred, you say? 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred.Source
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Labels are dangerous. Several studies have concluded that not only is it exceptionally difficult to accurately assess a dogs breed just by looking at it, but over 40% of dogs in shelters that were labeled as "pit bulls" were not at all any type of bully breed whatsoever! Source
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Moreover, it's been empirically proven that mislabeling dogs, or labeling dogs as "pit bull mixes" reduce their chances of adoption significantly, presumably due to stereotypes and media bias. Several studies have shown that removing labels increases adoption rates and forces people to consider a dog as an individual - not as a "breed" alone. Source
How To Get Involved
Tell your gym owner, friends, coach, cousin, exes, and anybody else that is into fitness and also into being a good human that helps their community. It costs $0 to enter. MAKE SURE YOU READ AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS SLIDE and note there are two tabs at the bottom - input your reps in the second one! Or download our APP - available on Android and iOS (Note: we just had the app developed and it's not perfect, so let us know how we can make it better and easier to use).
Use the sheet (linked above) or our app to track your reps as an individual, or share with your gym and create a challenge, make it a part of your cash out, of have an ab session on a Saturday. Bonus points if you get a pup to sit and hold your feet! Use #situpsforpups to be featured!
Share on socials! Tell people about the event via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc! The more people involved, the more of an impact we can make, the more awareness we can generate, the more lives we can save!
Please take video if you or your gym are going to do an insane amount of reps so we can corroborate it! While this is based on the honor system, we will ask for proof if a gym suddenly inputs 10,000 reps. You can tag us on socials, or use the #situpsforpups and we can go find it.
Want to do more? You can sign up as a gym/team and raise money WHILE raising awareness, or sign up as an individual. It's free, easy, and intuitive to set up a page. Click HERE then click "I want to fundraise for this." DOWNLOAD THE SUCCESS PACK for social media content to help fundraise!
FAQs
Q: Do I need to be affiliated with a gym?
A: Nope, not at all. You can do this from your own home, just make sure to download the Google Sheet, track your reps and share it with us.
Q: Can I make this my own by doing something like for every $x raised I will do y sit ups or something?
A: Absolutely! We encourage people to make this their own and put their spin on it to keep themselves and their network engaged!
Q: I don't have a dog, can I still participate?
A: Of course. This is all about raising awareness (and funds if you choose). But hey, you can always contact a local rescue and foster.
Q: If I raise money via Facebook or Instagram does that count toward the fundraising total?
A: No, we are requiring people to raise via GiveLively as it gives us more transparency into who raised what amount. It's easy to sign up and only takes a couple clicks.
Q: If I sign up as a team, do I still earn individual incentives?
A: No, you are only eligible for one or the other. If you sign up as an individual, you are eligible for individuals prizes. If you sign up as a team - regardless of what you personally raise, you're only eligible for team prizes.
Q: If my company offers a cybergrant or company match, will that count towards my fundraising total?
A: Yes! We would just need an email and some type of information about the donation confirming what amount they're matching. Many large companies like Merck, Disney, and other Fortune 500s offer this, so it's worth checking into. Once we have confirmation of what they'll be donating, we will manually add that to your total. IE if you raise $2200, but we have an email saying Employer A is donating $300, we will ascribe you $2500 total raised!
Want to gear up for this event?
Head over to AbMat's website to order your own Barbells For Bullies custom ABMAT!
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"The whole point of this endeavor is to exemplify our mission of fostering a fit community that rallies around rescue and utilizes fitness as a method of engagement and awareness. Last year we wanted this to start conversations and engage people, i.e. 'hey, why are we trying to do a million sit ups?' 'Because that's how many dogs are killed every year in shelters.' We're hoping people will hear that and get in the fight, and start to volunteer, advocate, educate, adopt, foster, and do whatever else they can! This year, we want to celebrate the victories as we come up on 7 years of leveraging fitness to help As Many Rescues As Possible."
- Alex Castiglione, Founder, Barbells For Bullies
Don't forget to gear up!
Click HERE to check out our Sit Ups For Pups Designs in our online shop.
ALL PROCEEDS from our merch go to help local rescues
Sit Ups For Pups 2020-2025 Totals
291
GYMS INVOLVED
6,024,551
SIT UPS ACCUMULATED
7,382
ATHLETES PARTICIPATING
AMRAPS: As Many Rescues As Possible
Our goal, as an organization, is to help AMRAP: As Many Rescues As Possible. Whether it's small rescues organizations around the US or rescue pups in need, we're here to help as many as we can. Regardless of breed, age, or location, we exist to fight for the underdog, and want to create a fit and socially conscientious community that rallies around rescue. Whether it involves a barbell or not, if it's about fitness and community, count us in.
We're here to make a difference, and let you know we all can make a difference. One random act of kindness at a time.