Lifting has come back in a big was in popular culture, but I’m not talking about the act of going to the gym and working out because that never went away. Lifting has come back in popular culture through Youtube and fitness culture. In the 70s and 80s young men were inspired to go to the gym by seeing Arnold Shwarzenegger. Today young men and women watch fitness youtubers who coach their followers on diet and workout routines. As with everything that comes into prominence in society, there must be someone to make satire of it, and that’s where the character of Dom Mazzetti, the ultimate lifting bro, performed by Mike Tornabene comes in.
Mike took advantage in the lack of comedy in the lifting world when he first started uploading videos in 2013. Dom started off as just a joke to make fun of all the “lifting bros” out there who didn’t follow gym etiquette. This would later just more into general gym comedy videos like “How to skip leg day” or “What is a pump”. He started doing crossover videos with the guys he had started off lampooning such as Bradley Martyn. His videos started going viral through his one liners having now racked up nearly 300 million views on Youtube. So he capitalized on this success by starting a merch brand selling t-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, and stickers. Dubbing himself the “brofessor” he came out with his own pre-workout for his fans called gnar-pump. He released his own guide to being a lifting bro called “The Swoley Bible” an amazon best seller in the fitness category.
Mike was able to then start his passion project called GNARPM, which is a Top-Gearesque Youtube car show. Mike shows off cars from dealerships and does a lot of similar things to what the guys from Top-Gear did. He now participates in off road rally racing and doing racing events promotion in addition to still uploading to Broscience. Tornabene is a good example of finding a niche in the market that is missing and filling it and using that momentum to chase your passions. Broscience is one of the most popular lifting channels despite the fact he doesn’t give “real” advice and shows the power of viral comedy in building a brand.
I know I personally have subscribed to many YouTube channels simply because of the jokes rather than the content. Humor is one of the essential elements of being memorable and creating a desirable brand, whether a personal brand or a corporate one.
A great example of someone who takes what they love doing and is able to turn it into a career. YouTube is gathering such a huge following. In a recent study, I remember seeing that YouTube garners far more attention weekly than all other streaming sites combined.