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Oliver Lee Bateman

Oliver Bateman is a contributing writer to MEL Magazine. He writes about the extreme sides of fitness, the weirder sides of MMA and pro wrestling, and the unorthodox lifestyles of professional athletes. His writing on these topics has appeared in publications such as the Paris Review, the Atlantic, and the New Republic. Ever since he was a little kid, he's been really good at exercising.

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Can We Trust Action Heroes’ Crazy Body Transformation Stories?

We should be asking more questions about actors’ seemingly impossible buffness

In a 17th-Century Castle, the World’s Grandest War Game Comes to Life

‘Europa Universalis IV’ is a world-domination simulator on a massive, almost unthinkable scale. In Poland, its top players met IRL — amid sword-fighting, falconry and musket shooting — for the battle royale

Inside Synthol Nation, Where Fake Swole Is the Goal

Videos of hyper-inflated hulks with limbs filled with oil often go viral on the internet, but what’s really happening here?

I Started An Online Support Group for Men Who Can’t Get Rid of Their T-Shirts

The Very Ballsy Ways Pro Wrestlers Decide What Kind of Trunks to Wear

The Life of a Female Fast Car Hustler

Two Pittsburgh Tough Guys Made MMA Safe for Everyone But Themselves

All Fitness Influencers Are Full of Shit

The NFL’s Shocking Income Inequality

The Flaming Table Is Wrestling’s Greatest Stunt and Most Poignant Metaphor

The Unheard History of Bodybuilding Forums, as Told by the Trolls and Counter-Trolls Who Made Them Huge

My Three Months on Kratom, the ‘Miracle Drug’ for Bodybuilders and Opiate Addicts