The name of the Brisbane accountant will go down in history after breaking the world record for the most number of compressions in one hour.
Lucas Helmke, 33, managed to do 3,206 push-ups during his successful attempt to set a world record at a gym in Brisbane, which has been officially recognized by Guinness World Records.
For those who have trouble wrapping your head around that number, that’s an average of 53 per minute.
The previous record of 3,182 was set by another Australian mechanic, Daniel Scully, Adelaide mechanic, in April 2022.
Helmke attempted this record to “inspire” his one-year-old son in an effort to “prove to him that nothing is impossible”.
The Queensland man trained for three years to break the record, with the official attempt taking place at the Iron Underground weightlifting gym, Brisbane.
He did push-ups in 30-second sets, aiming for 26 push-ups per set, though he had already exceeded his goal, averaging 26.7 push-ups per 30-second set.
To qualify for the world record, Helmke had to maintain perfect form for each push-up, or they wouldn’t count towards the total. In all, 34—about 1 percent—of his push-ups were rejected.
In each push-up he had to keep his body straight, no bending of the knees or waist could be visible, and the body had to be lowered until his elbows were at least 90 degrees and then lifted up until straight.
But this is only the beginning of the Brisbane father’s search for world records. He now plans to break at least one record every year from now on.
“It would be the first record I wanted to make for a number of other push records,” Helmke said.
Then on to other physical records.
However, he may have some stiff competition—Florida media recently reported that a man had already surpassed Helmke’s record by 58 more push-ups. However, this effort has not yet been officially recognized.
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