'Arrow' Star Stephen Amell Wants On 'American Ninja Warrior' — Here's Why He Would Destroy The Competition

Update: Stephen will appear on American Ninja Warrior on May 25th!

Fans have been encouraging Arrow star Stephen Amell for months to participate in the NBC series American Ninja Warrior, the famed obstacle course game show. But winning American Ninja Warrior isn't a walk in the park. With challenges like the salmon ladder, the vertical limit and the invisible ladder, this series puts contestants (and the occasional streaker) to the ultimate test.

Could Amell prove to have superhero stamina in real life?

Fans have been watching his workout routine for years and believe that the actor can tackle the obstacles with ease. At practically every Q&A Amell attends, he gets asked the question: when are you going to participate in American Ninja Warrior?

Amell may have taken some of the mystery out of when he will compete when he posted this video to his Facebook page on February 10th: "I may have to eventually do this — why don't we say in 2017? The producers on the show don't know this."

But American Ninja Warrior Nation says he's just toying with our emotions, as he's technically backed out before. With the actor's busy schedule, it's reasonable to say that taking part in a competition like this would take away from the little time he is able to spend with his family.

Would Amell's training for Arrow put him ahead of the competition? Take a look at this man's beastly capabilities and decide for yourself.

Though the clips Amell posts are short, there's no doubt he's running through these routines far longer than 90 seconds. Look at the ease with which he does some of these exercises, and if you really want to be shocked, move the clip to the one minute mark. Think he can handle that invisible ladder?

Contestants for American Ninja Warrior are constantly on the move, and Amell's parkour workouts are a perfect representation of that level of activity. Though he makes a couple of missteps here and there, he still surpasses your average jock in the gym. Did you see the salmon ladder at 49 seconds? And transferring from the wall to the bar and back takes quite a bit of upper body strength, which is necessary for the completion of most of the tasks for American Ninja Warrior.

Coach Ben Musholt competed in the Northwest Regional Round of the series, and has said that two types of athletes do well on the course — rock climbers and Parkour practitioners:

"[T]he competition demands an incredibly high degree of upper body strength, as well as balance and coordination. Rock climbers and [Parkour] traceurs excel at both those two skill sets."

Resistance training is one of many ways to improve upper body strength, but it takes more than this to succeed on American Ninja Warriors. Anthony Storm, an executive producer for the show, pinpointed exactly what they are looking for:

"We look for people with big personalities and lots of good energy. Of course we want people with the physical abilities to succeed on the obstacles, but we also want the audience to be drawn to the contestants."

With Amell's five million plus fans on Facebook, his larger than life personality, and the good vibes he puts out into the universe, I'd say he qualifies for this toughest of all obstacle course.

In an article for Bodybuilding.com, Jim Vaglica wrote, "You won't find many ninjas pumping heavy iron. They prefer bodyweight training and calisthenics. There's one exercise in particular ninjas have in common with the average gym trainer: the pull-up."

If you've watched Amell work out, you'll notice he uses his own body rather than weights, so there's no doubt he has the upper body strength.

The first 40 seconds of this video are an incredible display of the shape Amell is in, which is yet another reason why he's the perfect candidate for American Ninja Warrior.

Whether he actually makes it onto the show remains to be seen, but I can only imagine the steep rise in the ratings if he does. There are a lot of fans who want to see this man succeed. If you're interested in more of Amell's workouts, he posts them to his Instagram page regularly.