I'm Patrick McIntyre, a U.S. Marine with more than 22 years of service, based in North Carolina. I'm also a proud single dad.

The Arm Hang Challenge started the way most good ideas do. I saw someone do something incredible and thought, I have to try that. My inspiration was Raivis Ordway, who runs his own Hanging Bar Challenge up in DC. Watching his legendary hangs got me hooked on grip strength, so I hung up a bar, threw down a simple offer, and let strangers take their shot: $25 to enter, hang for 140 seconds, win $140.

What happened next surprised me. People didn't just come to compete. They came to watch, to cheer, to film their friends failing at something that looks easy and absolutely is not. The challenge became a street event, a crowd, a whole vibe. So I formed Arm Hang Challenge LLC and started taking it on the road: festivals, nightlife strips, fundraisers, anywhere there's a crowd and a bar to hang from.

I'll be straight with you about where the money goes. Every entry helps fund the payouts, because when somebody beats that bar, they get paid on the spot, no games. And as a single dad, this business also helps keep my household running. A tough divorce left me paying significant child support and splitting the retirement and savings I built during my service, so everything I earn here goes right back into the challenge and my family. Arm Hang Challenge LLC is my business, and a portion of the proceeds also goes toward the LCpl Dunn family GoFundMe.

My goal is simple: grow this into something bigger than me. More cities, bigger crowds, bigger payouts. If you've got the grip, come take your shot.