An Australian accountant set a new world record for most push-ups in an hour, shattering the previous record by 24 additional reps.
Brisbane native Lucas Helmke, 33 became the new Guinness World Record holder when he completed 3,206 press-ups in a single hour.
He said that his reason for taking on the challenge was to “provide inspiration” for his one-year-old son, in an effort to “show him nothing is impossible.”
Helmke averaged 53 reps a minute, to become the fourth world record holder in the last three years.
The previous record was held by fellow Australian Daniel Scali, who managed to complete 3,182 push-ups in April 2022.
Prior to Scali, Australian gym buff Jarrad Young broke the record in both 2018 and 2021, with 2,806 and 3,054 push-ups respectively.
Helmke trained by breaking down the exercise sequence into 30-second sets, where he aimed to crank out 26 reps.
He decided to attempt the record after managing to hit a 26.7 push-up average, three years into his training.
Helmke undertook the challenge at the Iron Underground gym last November. He was required lower his body so that his elbows reached at least a 90-degree angle every time, and had to keep his body rigid on the way up.
Any improper form, which included bending of the knees or waist, and failing to reach a 90-degree angle, didn’t go towards the count. Helmke only was docked for 34 bad push-ups in the full hour.
He announced the record on his Facebook last month with a post of the certificate, which was captioned: “This one finally came through.”
Helmke has plans to take on more challenges and acquire additional world records for various physical feats.
“This will be the first record I wish to set of a number of other push up records,” he said. “Then onto other physical records.”
There’s no telling how long he’ll hold his previous title, as American Rob Stirling, 60, reportedly eked out 3,264 push-ups in late March, but Guinness has not officially recognized the Floridians’ claim.
