On Saturday, March 6, 2021, Nick Anapolsky performed 879 chest-to-ground burpees in one hour to set a new Guinness World Record® (for a male athlete). He bested the previous record by nine burpees and averaged 14.65 burpees per minute for 60 straight minutes.
The Kitchener, Ontario, CA resident performed the burpees at the CrossFit affiliate he owns, Polsky’s Strength & Conditioning (PSC). The conditions for each burpee required Anapolsky’s chest to touch the ground and his arms to fully extend on the floor on each rep. Additionally, each rep involved a small hop from the standing position, but his arms were allowed to remain by his sides. Finally, Anapolsky’s feet had to travel a distance equivalent to half his height on each rep, which was measured and marked with tape on the floor where his world record attempt was made.
Check out the video of the new burpee world record below courtesy of Anapolsky’s Instagram TV page:
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What a crazy experience. The hour was full of ups and down (literally).
Anapolsky’s game plan coming into the world record attempt was 15 burpees per minute with 10 to 12 seconds of rest each minute. That would amount to 900 total reps — 30 more than the record heading into the event. Anapolsky believed a “sprint-stop more than a straight-through hour” would be a more effective way to secure the record. Even though he did not quite hit his goal, his plan still, ultimately, paid off.
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Team Support
Although the 32-year-old Anapolsky, who has competed in every CrossFit Open since 2015, will be credited alone for the new burpee world record, he did not perform it without his support system in place. Bronwyn Stevens, one of the CrossFit athletes helping Anapolsky keep the pace throughout the hour, said to CTV News, who first covered the story, that they had endured weeks’ worth of practice leading up to the record attempt. She, along with several others, took shifts performing burpees alongside Anapolsky at the pace he was aiming to maintain.
Stevens mentioned that there was a real mental benefit of not going at it alone:
I think, just mentally, having someone else doing it along with you is super helpful.
The “wall of fatigue,” so to speak, for Anapolsky didn’t kick in until the final three minutes, which he admitted were the most difficult for him. During an interview following his successful record attempt, Anapolsky highlighted that “it’s pretty cool” that he has “done the most in the entire world, ever.” Even if the record were to be “broken tomorrow,” Anapolsky is satisfied that his name has found a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records® for good.
Feature image via Nick Anapolsky’s Instagram page: @polsky_1