Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon have caused destruction and casualties, within a day of a ceasefire extension being agreed upon by the two countries for another 45 days.
Published On 17 May 2026
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New wave of Israeli strikes pound Lebanon despite ceasefire | Israel attacks Lebanon
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Schoolchildren flee Israeli raid in occupied West Bank | Occupied West Bank
Video shows Palestinian children rushing through the streets of Burqa, a village in the Nablus Governorate in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli forces evacuated schools following a raid through the town.
Published On 17 May 2026
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Alex Smalley’s mom is garnering a ton of attention as her son grabs surprise lead at the PGA Championship
Alex Smalley will begin Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship in entirely unfamiliar territory as the 54-hole leader at Aronimink Golf Club. There will, however, be one certainty for the day, that being his “momager” following and tracking his every move.
Smalley’s mom, Maria, has been at Aronimink every step of the way to witness her son grab a two-shot lead heading into Sunday’s action, and hasn’t missed a step since the now 29-year-old’s high school playing days.
According to The Athletic, Maria has been tracking his tournament statistics since his senior year of high school and hasn’t stopped since. It continued through his college career at Duke and from when he turned professional in 2019 all the way up to what could be a life-changing afternoon at the PGA Championship.
Alex Smalley of the United States chips onto the ninth green during the second round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 15, 2026 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images) (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
“I do his business stuff, I do his stats. That’s what I do when I’m texting all the time on the course,” Maria said during the 2023 John Deere Classic, where Smalley finished tied for second. “It helps to keep me focused so my head’s not racing and I’m not just going crazy. Gives me something to do.”
As for the stats she tracks throughout his round, they aren’t basic; they’re as detailed as notes players themselves typically take.
Alex Smalley of the United States hits a tee shot on the eighth hole during the third round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 16, 2026 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images) (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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Maria does not miss an event and does not miss a shot. She takes note of her son’s distance to the pin, what club he hit on the shot, as well as the wind direction he’s facing. Oh, and there are videos, too, thousands in fact, from years past.
“Luckily, I got a new phone back in December,” she told The Athletic. “Because my other one, I was constantly backing up and deleting stuff. Sometimes I go back and delete certain ones, but it’s funny, because his coach asked me, ‘Do you have anything from like, 5 years ago?’ and I’m like, yes, I do!”
In 140 starts on the PGA Tour, Smalley has made 85 cuts while earning 15 Top 10 finishes, including three runner-ups.
Alex Smalley of United States of America hits a drive at the fourteenth hole during the third round of the Truist Championship 2026 at Quail Hollow Country Club on May 09, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Sunday at Aronimink, however, will be an entirely different beast. This week’s PGA Championship marks just the fifth major championship start of his career, with his best finish coming at the 2023 PGA, where he finished in a tie for 23rd.
The story for Smalley throughout the week has been his red-hot putter as he leads the PGA Championship field by a wide margin in strokes gained: putting through 54 holes, and he’ll need the flatstick to continue to be his best friend if he wants to find the winner’s circle on Sunday.
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Pro-Palestine protest held at oldest colonial building in South Africa | Protests
To commemorate the Nakba, protesters in Cape Town staged a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians still enduring Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, at South Africa’s oldest remaining colonial building.
Published On 17 May 2026
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‘Brady Bunch’ cast made almost nothing from reruns, Eve Plumb reveals
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Eve Plumb says America’s favorite TV family wasn’t cashing in behind the scenes.
Despite “The Brady Bunch” becoming a widely popular sitcom after its 1969 to 1974 run, Plumb revealed the cast saw little financial reward from the endless reruns that turned the show into a pop-culture institution.
“A lot of times when you’re an actor, you can see that people are looking at you like you have it all, and you have all the money in the world… I just wanted to set it straight that that’s not necessarily true. That the pay rate was different… the residuals were different and also actors are continually having to fight to be paid, in any way,” Plumb exclusively told Fox News Digital.
‘BRADY BUNCH’ STAR SHARES THE SIMPLE WORD THAT SAVED HER FROM HOLLYWOOD TRAPS
“The Brady Bunch” cast, including Christopher Knight, Barry Williams, Ann B. Davis, Eve Plumb, Florence Henderson, Robert Reed, Maureen McCormick, Susan Olsen, and Mike Lookinland. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images; CBS via Getty Images)
“And there’s some sort of idea that we… should do this for free because it’s fun. It’s work… we’re trained, and we spend a lot of time and money to do the work well. So, we should be paid.”
The actress, best known for playing Jan Brady, debunked one of Hollywood’s biggest myths in her memoir, “Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond” — that classic TV stars automatically became rich from reruns.
WATCH: ‘BRADY BUNCH’ STAR EVE PLUMB SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON TV RESIDUALS
‘BRADY BUNCH’ KIDS REVEAL WHY THE FATE OF CAROL’S FIRST HUSBAND WAS NEVER MENTIONED
“People often think that the six Brady kids now coast through life on our residuals from the hundreds of thousands of times the five seasons of ‘The Brady Bunch’ have been in reruns since 1974,” Plumb wrote in her book, out now. “If only it were so.”
“The Brady Bunch” cast members Susan Olsen, Mike Lookinland, Eve Plumb, Christopher Knight, Maureen McCormick, Barry Williams, Ann B. Davis, Florence Henderson and Robert Reed pose on the stairs in Los Angeles in 1969. (CBS via Getty Images)
“The reality is that we each had a contract that would pay us residuals for the first 10 reruns of each episode only,” she continued. “Obviously, it was never expected that the show would rerun more than three, maybe four, times. Needless to say, that faucet of residuals income ran dry before I even graduated from high school.”
Plumb said the money stopped almost as quickly as the cameras did.
WATCH: ‘BRADY BUNCH’ STAR EVE PLUMB SHARES HOLLYWOOD RULE THAT KEPT HER GROUNDED
JODIE SWEETIN SHARES SHOCKING ‘FULL HOUSE’ RESIDUAL CHECK AMOUNT DESPITE SHOW’S MEGA SUCCESS
“If I had a dime for every rerun episode, I’d pay off the national deficit,” she quipped in the memoir’s introduction before delivering the punchline: “I don’t.”
“Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond” by Eve Plumb and Marcia Wilkie is available now. (Kensington / Citadel Press)
She later doubled down in an interview with “PauseRewind,” saying, “We don’t make residuals.”
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Former co-star Barry Williams has backed up Plumb’s claims for years.
“The Brady Bunch” cast members Susan Olsen, Barry Williams, Eve Plumb, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, and Mike Lookinland appear in a scene from the television series on Sept. 1, 1971. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
‘BRADY BUNCH’ ACTOR ADMITS ROMANCE WITH CO-STAR WAS ‘ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN’ FOR YEARS
In his 1992 memoir, “Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg,” Williams revealed just how modest the cast’s paychecks really were during the show’s peak.
WATCH: ‘BRADY BUNCH’ STAR EVE PLUMB SHARES TOUGHEST PART ABOUT WRITING ‘HAPPINESS INCLUDED’ MEMOIR
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“Salaries for sitcom actors have changed considerably since the ’70s,” Williams wrote, according to Page Six. “In our fifth and final year, the highest salary among us kids was $1,100 a week.”
The top-paid Brady kid earned just over $24,000 for the final 22-episode season — before taxes, agent fees and helping support family members.
“It was enough to indulge in toys, but hardly enough to carry you through the slow periods that inevitably followed,” Williams wrote.
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He also confirmed the cast’s rerun income evaporated fast.
“Payments for subsequent airings of the show dried up shortly after we finished filming,” Williams wrote.
“Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond” is available now.
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‘The real work begins now’: Roma take centre stage as Hungary brings in new government | Roma, Gypsies and Travellers
The clutch of young Roma boys in black bow ties were lined up beneath the ornate arches and royal frescoes of Hungary’s dazzling parliament. Moments after Péter Magyar was sworn in, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, the young musicians launched into the unofficial anthem of Roma in Hungary, leaving many MPs wiping away tears.
It was an extraordinary moment – one that fused the nationwide hope for change with the longstanding aspirations of the country’s most marginalised community. Roma rights campaigners have seized the moment, calling on the new government to ensure that the symbolism of last weekendtranslates into real change.
As Hungary – which is home to one of the continent’s largest proportions of Roma, at about 8% – begins the post-Orbán era, many across Europe are watching closely.
There are encouraging signs, say observers. The new parliament includes a record number of Roma MPs: four in Magyar’s Tisza party and one with the rightwing nationalist opposition, Fidesz. Roma artists featured prominently during the daylong inauguration.
“Never before have Roma been such an integral part of a nation at a state or national event as they were at the ceremonial opening of the new parliament,” wrote Stephan Müller, an adviser on international affairs with the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. “This gives cause for hope that it will not remain merely a matter of symbols, but that real change will indeed take place.”
A recent letter to Magyar, drafted by about 50 Roma professionals from various sectors in Hungary, urged the government to acknowledge the longstanding discrimination against Roma, take action to protect their rights, and ensure they have equal access to opportunities.
“We told them that the regime change can only be successful if they do it hand in hand with the Roma,” said Aladár Horváth, one of Hungary’s most prominent Romany rights campaigners and an architect of the letter.
During the past 16 years, as Orbán and Fidesz sought to conjure fears of an imagined “other”, their targets often included Roma.
“It was a situation of social Darwinism,” said Horváth, a former Liberal politician who in 1990, after the collapse of communism, became the country’s first Romany MP. “A fascist-like social and economic situation prevailed. And Roma were the ones who suffered the most as a result.”
Roma advocacy organisations were dismantled, state protections for the community were eroded, and the laws protecting them were trampled upon. A case in point was Romaversitas, founded by Horváth in 1996, which helps Romany youth acquire vocational skills and post-secondary schooling.
During Orbán’s time in power, the Roma-led group was classified as a threat to national sovereignty, leaving it wrestling with bureaucratic hurdles and contemplating whether it had a future in Hungary, said Ildikó Török, the organisation’s managing director.
“We were unable to secure funding domestically,” she said. “We worked under constant intimidation; it destroyed our mental health.”
Fidesz’s approach to Hungary’s 800,000-strong Roma population was often top-down, said Krisztián Kőszegi, a Roma Tisza MP who – in a first for the community – has become one of the deputy speakers of the national assembly.
Tisza would work to change this approach, he said. “We want to work in collaboration and address the issues facing Roma in every sector, from social policy to healthcare to education, housing and the justice system,” he added. “We are civilians, teachers and healthcare workers who lived the previous system and saw its shortcomings.”
Poignant hints of what could lie ahead were laced through Saturday’s inauguration as Kőszegi and another Roma MP took their oaths in Romany languages and the Roma singer Ibolya Oláh sang Magyarorszag, the patriotic song she had stopped performing years earlier in protest against attacks directed at her by Fidesz supporters and the extreme right.
But it was the Sükösd Roma Child Choir, with a performance of Zöld az erdő, known to many as the unofficial anthem of Roma in Hungary, who stole the show and epitomised the widespread hope that things could be different.
Magyar had met the choir during a visit in November to their village of 3,000 people, a two-hour drive south of Budapest. After one of the young musicians told Magyar that he hoped to visit parliament one day, the leader promised an invitation if Tisza won the election.
After Tisza’s landslide victory, the promise became an invitation to perform. As the country tuned into Saturday’s inauguration, and tens of thousands of people followed along outside parliament, the performance marked a bright spot in what has long been a fraught relationship between Roma and the Hungarian state.
It also, however, laid bare lingering discrimination: the six MPs from the extreme right Our Homeland party walked out of parliament just as the choir began.
Magyar later described the walkout as an “utterly unacceptable act” but the extreme-right party – which has been linked to a vigilante group accused of anti-Roma violence – insisted they had done so in protest at the decision to play the EU anthem in parliament.
For decades, civil society groups have flagged issues with deep discrimination, particularly around the segregation of Roma in schools. In 2024, as the EU announced an investigation into the matter, a spokesperson noted that Roma children were “disproportionately overrepresented” in schools for children with disabilities.
The consequences were wide-reaching and long-lasting, as Đorđe Jovanović, of the European Roma Rights Centre, has pointed out, saying the segregation “denies them the opportunities to succeed and traps yet another generation in deprivation and poverty”.
Anger over the issue has long simmered in the Roma community. But the political tipping point seemingly came earlier this year, when a senior Fidesz politician took aim at Roma when explaining why he did not see migration as a solution to the country’s labour shortage.
János Lázár cited Roma people, using a racist slur to refer to them, saying “someone has to clean the bathrooms on the inter-city trains”.
Roma responded with political force in the election, said Mensur Haliti, the vice-president of the Roma Foundation for Europe. “Roma in Hungary punished those who used them and exploited them, while offering a change to those who are seemingly new,” he said.
After the election, an analysis carried out by the Roma for Democracy Foundation looked at voting patterns in areas with significant Roma populations and found that Roma votes had appeared to play a role in flipping multiple seats from Fidesz to Tisza.
“They gave a chance to Magyar,” said Haliti. ”But this was not because they believe he will carry out miracles. They are very cautious.” How Magyar and his Tisza government respond, he said, “will set a precedent for the treatment of Roma minorities across Europe”.
This view was echoed by Müller, of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. “The real work, beyond the symbols and speeches, begins now, and it is a herculean task,” he said. “But I have hope, like almost everyone in Hungary, that things will get better.”
He added: “One first step that I really liked is that a group of Roma children managed to get fascists to leave the parliament. Keep it up.”
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Polish officials warn NATO’s next war is already unfolding at its border
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This is part two of a series examining the challenges confronting the NATO alliance.
POLAND-BELARUS BORDER — Riding in a military convoy escorted by armored vehicles from Poland’s 18th “Iron Division” along the country’s 521-kilometer border with Belarus, soldiers pointed toward dense forests where they say Europe’s newest form of warfare is unfolding.
Polish officials warn illegal migrants weaponized by Russia and Belarus to destabilize NATO’s eastern flank are also making their way to the United States — part of what Warsaw calls an ongoing war against the Western alliance that has direct implications for American security.
The border was once guarded mainly by Poland’s Border Guard and police. But after years of mounting pressure from illegal crossings, Polish officials say the army was deployed because the situation became too large and too dangerous to handle as a conventional immigration challenge.
TROOPS AT THE BORDER: HOW THE MILITARY’S ROLE IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT HAS EXPLODED UNDER TRUMP
Soldiers from Poland’s 18th “Iron Division” take part in a military exercise at the Poland-Belarus border amid what Polish officials describe as a Russian and Belarusian campaign to weaponize illegal migration against NATO countries. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital.)
Now, the frontier is guarded in layers: soldiers, border guards and rapid-response forces. A temporary barrier built in 2021 has become an electronic fence backed by surveillance systems and military patrols. Polish officials say migrants trying to cross have come from countries including Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan and India.
They describe the crisis as “artificial migration,” saying the illegals are flown into Belarus from the Middle East, Africa and Asia and then transported toward the Polish border by Belarusian authorities in an effort to pressure and destabilize NATO countries.
Military officials at the border said the peak was in 2021, when there were 39,697 illegal crossing attempts. By 2025, it was 29,869, slightly fewer than in 2024. So far in 2026, they have seen a major drop, they say.
For Warsaw, the numbers tell only part of the story.
Polish officials say the border pressure is not spontaneous illegal migration, but a Russian-backed Belarusian operation designed to destabilize NATO from within.
“We are at war,” Ambassador Krzysztof Olendzki of Poland’s Foreign Ministry told Fox News Digital after the border visit.
“Not only Poland, but also all the countries of the eastern flank of NATO, we are in war,” Olendzki said. “We cannot see it as a classical war with soldiers, with tanks and so on, but the war is exercised by our adversaries, by Belarus and Russia, who are using practically migrants as an asymmetric weapon against NATO countries.”
File photo shows mostly male illegal migrants waiting at the closed area prepared by the Belarusian government within the border region after they cleared camps at the Poland-Belarus border, on Nov. 18, 2021, in Grodno region, Belarus. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The crisis dates back to 2021, when Poland, Lithuania and Latvia accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime of encouraging migrants from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere to travel to Belarus and cross illegally into the European Union. Belarus has denied orchestrating the flows, but Poland and the EU have described the campaign as hybrid warfare.
Olendzki said the goal is not only to push people across the border, but to create chaos inside Western societies.
The border visit underscored how far Poland has gone to harden what it views as one of NATO’s most vulnerable frontiers.
Capt. Angelika Korkosz of Poland’s 18th Division described the day-to-day strain on soldiers stationed there.
“Many times soldiers were faced with aggression from illegal groups of immigrants, and they have to act appropriately and calmly in accordance with the law and procedures while protecting themselves,” Korkosz told Fox News Digital.
POLISH GOVERNMENT PLANS MANDATORY MILITARY TRAINING FOR ADULT MEN
A Polish soldier stands watch near the Belarus border, where officials say migration pressure has evolved into a form of hybrid warfare targeting NATO’s eastern flank on May 16, 2026.
Polish officials said migrants have used Molotov cocktails in at least two incidents, sparking fires near the border. Soldiers also spoke of a Polish serviceman who died after being stabbed by an illegal migrant at the frontier.
Korkosz said the challenge is not only violence, but exhaustion.
“A few months ago, we had minus-20-degree winters, so 12-hour duty during these conditions is really demanding,” she said. “Many soldiers are here for a long time, and it is getting more and more difficult, this long separation from their relatives.”
Still, she said the troops are prepared.
“The training includes decision-making under pressure in an ambiguous operational environment,” Korkosz said. “That’s why when we are here at the border, we are really well-prepared for performing our duties.”
Poland says the border defenses are working. Amb. Olendzki said the lower number of crossings this year reflects the physical barrier, the increased effectiveness of the Border Guard and the military presence. But he warned the threat has not disappeared, only shifted.
NATO WARNS RUSSIA AFTER POLAND SHOOTS DOWN ‘HUGE NUMBER’ OF DRONES THAT VIOLATED ITS AIRSPACE
Soldiers from Poland’s 18th Division demonstrate battlefield medical training near the Belarus border after a serviceman from the division was killed in an attack by an illegal migrant. May 16th, 2026. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News)
“Seeing the fact that the Polish-Belarusian border is quite well guarded, our adversaries are just pushing migrants through the borders of our neighboring countries,” he said. “So it hasn’t ended, but it’s changed the direction. The threat still exists, and we must be vigilant.”
That matters to NATO because Poland’s border with Belarus is not only Warsaw’s border. It is also the eastern edge of the European Union and NATO territory.
Belarus is Russia’s closest ally and allowed its territory to be used for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia may be trying to pull Belarus deeper into the war and could use Belarusian territory to threaten Ukraine or even a NATO country.
That fear is central to Poland’s security posture.
During a meeting with reporters in Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told Fox News Digital Russia’s war against Ukraine is, for Poland, “a matter of national safety and existence.”
But Sikorski said the threat to NATO countries is already wider than the battlefield in Ukraine.
“We had on NATO countries’ territories assassinations, numerous drone attacks on airports, on critical infrastructure,” Sikorski said. “We had very serious cyberattacks.”
Polish soldiers stand watch near the Belarus border, where officials say migration pressure has evolved into a form of hybrid warfare targeting NATO’s eastern flank. May 16th, 2026. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)
Sikorski said Poland faced a Russian-instigated cyberattack last December on critical energy infrastructure that Warsaw believes was intended “to black out part of Poland.”
The warning fits a broader pattern of concerns across NATO’s eastern flank. The Associated Press reported earlier this year that balloons from Belarus had crossed into Polish airspace for a third consecutive night, with Polish forces describing the incidents as attempts to test air defense responses.
For Poland, illegal migration, cyberattacks, drones, sabotage and disinformation are not separate problems. They are different pieces of one Russian and Belarusian pressure campaign against NATO.
Olendzki said Poland’s role is to stop the pressure before it moves deeper into Europe or beyond.
“Standing on guard on the eastern flank of NATO, we are providing security not only to Poland, to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, but to entire NATO, also to the United States,” he said.
US Border Patrol agents prepare to transport migrants for asylum claim processing at the US-Mexico border in Campo, California, US, on Friday, April 5, 2024. Last week a federal judge sharply questioned the Biden administration’s position that it bears no responsibility for housing and feeding migrant children while they wait in makeshift camps along the US-Mexico border, reported the AP. (Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
That U.S. connection is a central part of Poland’s message to Washington: The eastern flank is not a distant European problem, but a front line in a broader confrontation with Russia and its allies.
Poland now spends nearly 5% of its GDP on defense, the highest rate in NATO, if based on GPD. Sikorski said Warsaw has long taken defense spending seriously.
“We never went below 2% defense spending,” Sikorski said. “Now we are spending almost 5%. This is real military spending.”
He said the eastern flank has become more influential inside NATO because countries closest to Russia were proven right.
A Polish border guard at the Polish-Belarus border fence near the village of Ozierany Male, Poland, on Friday, Jul. 4, 2025. (Damian Lemanski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The eastern flank is much more powerful than even five years ago,” Sikorski said. “We were right about the nature of Putin’s regime and Russia’s aggressive strategy.”
That view has shaped Poland’s approach to the United States. Warsaw wants American troops to remain in Europe, but Polish officials also acknowledge that Europe must assume more of the defense burden as U.S. attention increasingly shifts toward China and the Indo-Pacific.
Sikorski said Poland understands that “Europe ceased to be angle number one for U.S. foreign policy,” but wants any change in America’s role to be “gradual and well-designed.”
He added that Poland wants the shift in trans-Atlantic security to be “not a divorce, but a new kind of relationship.”
For now, that relationship is being tested along a cold, wooded border where Poland says NATO’s future wars may already be taking shape.
The Polish soldiers patrolling the frontier do not describe their mission in grand geopolitical terms. Korkosz said she joined the military because she wanted to do “something which matters.”
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Members of Poland’s 18th “Iron Division” patrol the Belarus border as Warsaw accuses Belarus and Russia of funneling illegal migrants toward NATO territory. May 16, 2026. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)
But to Polish officials, the mission at the Belarus border is much bigger than immigration enforcement.
It is a warning to the rest of NATO that the alliance’s next war may not begin with tanks crossing a border, but with migrants pushed through forests, cyberattacks on power grids, drones near airports and disinformation campaigns designed to fracture societies from within.
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Fitness influencer @bodybymark hosts pushup, plank competition in New York City
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Fitness influencer and trainer Mark Langowski, known on social media as @bodybymark, hosted a pushup and plank competition in New York City this week, where he urged the public to get up and get moving.
On his platform of nearly two million Instagram followers, Langowski asks fit people to share their workout routines. He was able to meet more in-shape New Yorkers at his Washington Square Park meet-up, in partnership with Oikos yogurt on May 12.
A male and a female winner who achieved the most pushups or held a plank the longest were gifted $500 each.
CAN YOU HOLD A PLANK LONGER THAN OTHERS YOUR AGE? FOX HOSTS TEST THEIR CORE STRENGTH
Besides the cash prize, the inspiration was to get more people moving, Langowski shared during an interview with Fox News Digital.
Fitness influencer and trainer Mark Langowski, known on social media as @bodybymark, hosted a pushup and plank competition in New York City this week, where he urged the public to get up and get moving. (Kelly McGreal/Fox News Digital)
“[It’s] a way to encourage strength and overall fitness in New York City and all around the country,” he said.
“We got together and we’re doing a plank competition, pushup competition. We had a guy just do 111 pushups. We’re just getting people moving.”
FITNESS EXPERT REVEALS SIMPLE RULE TO GET IN SHAPE WITHOUT DREADING THE GYM: ‘JUST MOVE’
Langowski said the attributes of a great competitor include strength, humility and confidence.
“The people who … did the most, they didn’t say they were going to do the most,” he said. “And there were other people who said they could do 150, and they did 70.”
Having a bit of humility helps make a good competitor, the trainer added.
@BodybyMark films the pushup competition’s male winner during a meet-up in Washington Square Park in New York City on May 12, 2026. (Kelly McGreal/Fox News Digital)
Pushups and planks mark a “good general baseline” for measuring fitness level, according to Langowski. Some other basics include pull-ups, squats and endurance challenges, like running a mile — the kind of basics included in an elementary school fitness assessment.
For those who haven’t yet mastered these basics but want to get in better shape, Langowski shared some advice on how to get started.
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“Get with a trainer or someone who knows how to progress you,” he advised. “A lot of people are like, ‘I can’t do a pushup, so I’m never going to do one.’ That’s not the way.”
Langowski recommends starting with pushups on your knees or against a wall, then gradually progressing to standard pushups by moving onto your toes and lowering yourself fully to the ground before pushing back up.
The trainer recommends starting with pushups on your knees or against a wall, then gradually progressing to standard pushups by moving onto your toes and lowering yourself fully to the ground before pushing back up. (Milan Markovic/iStock)
“You’ll be surprised after you do that for a couple weeks, a couple months, a couple years – you’re going to be able to do a lot,” he said. “Nobody was born being able to do 111 pushups. They put in the work and they started somewhere.”
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The trainer noted that in addition to practicing, it’s just as important to give the body rest and to support muscle growth with proper protein intake and an overall healthy diet.
But perhaps the most crucial step toward getting in shape, according to Langowski, is having the motivation to get started
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“I know that’s easy for me to say – I’ve been in fitness and been relatively fit most of my life,” he said. “And I know a lot of people are sitting on the couch and they either feel sorry for themselves or they’re going through a tough time … You’ve just got to get out there.”
The trainer noted that in addition to practicing, it’s just as important to give the body rest and to support muscle growth with proper protein intake and an overall healthy diet. (iStock)
The trainer suggested starting with a simple walk — even just around the block — with no gym equipment required.
“You don’t need an expensive gym membership to get in good shape,” he said. “Most of the people that I stop on the street, they don’t have a gym membership at all. They do it in their living room.”
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“And that’s where you can do the exercises I mentioned – the squats, the lunges, the pushups,” Langowski went on.
“So, I would encourage people just to start, but also to get some friends or get a trainer, someone to support you and do it safely.”
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