Fitness World Records

Jason Faulkner lifted a total of 6,580 pounds with incline dumbbell flies in one minute in St. Joseph, finishing 47 reps with a pair of 70-pound dumbbells. The camera sits just below his bare hands, so every rep shows the two dumbbells swinging together overhead, with the pace slowing over the final seconds. The total counts both dumbbells on every rep (70 x 2 x 47), the same method used for the 6,370-pound mark he set in 2015. RecordSetter watched the full continuous set and counted the reps from the footage.

Emmanuel Frechou curled a single 14.3-kilogram dumbbell for an hour in Antibes, France, moving 22,536.8 kilograms in total. The video opens with the dumbbell weighed on a scale, then shows him working through 197 sets of 8 one-arm curls, setting the dumbbell on the floor and switching arms after every set. The total is the dumbbell weight times 1,576 repetitions, and RecordSetter checked the set and rep count against the continuous, single-camera footage. He finishes red in the face and reaching for a towel.

At a New York gym, 56-year-old Joseph Naggar hung two kettlebells from a dip belt and pulled himself from a dead hang until his chin reached the bar. The bells are cast with 12 kg (26.4 lb) and 36 kg (80 lb), for 106.4 pounds of added weight, roughly 60 percent of his reported 176-pound bodyweight. The rep was verified from one continuous clip, with a separate photo of both kettlebells confirming their markings. Plenty of people half his age can't manage a single pull-up without the extra iron.

Matthew Lawson loaded a 35-degree plate-loaded leg press to 750 kilograms at a gym in Bathurst, Australia, and knocked out eight straight calf raises with it. His legs stay locked straight through the whole continuous set, moving the sled with nothing but his ankles, and he finishes by walking the camera around the sled to show the stacks of 25 kg and 20 kg plates on every horn. That's three-quarters of a tonne, moved by two calves, eight times in a row.

Fourteen-year-old Piyush Rawat sets up in a wide-stance plank on a dirt yard, plants two fingertips of one hand, and tucks his free hand behind his back. He lowers until his chest nearly brushes the ground and presses back to a straight arm seven times without a break. Each rep was counted from his continuous phone video. Seven reps on two fingertips is a serious grip test at any age.

Arthur did 107 muscle-ups without coming off the bar in a 34-minute set at his gym in Christchurch, New Zealand, filmed in one uncut take by a phone on the floor while other members trained around him. A muscle-up takes the body from hanging below a bar to holding it up above the bar, and Arthur swung each one up with a knee tuck, then rested on top between reps, sometimes for close to a minute. His rules banned touching the ground and chicken-wing reps, where one elbow hooks over the bar before the other, and RecordSetter counted every rep on his original phone file. He shares his climb from a single chicken-wing muscle-up to this set on his YouTube channel, Arthur's Fitness.

Abdul Rehman squatted his way through a 30-second countdown on a sunny lawn lined with palm trees in Karachi, Pakistan, arms held out in front of him for balance. The video is one continuous shot with an on-screen timer running down to zero, and his count of 29 matches the steady pace of about one full squat per second. No weights, no props, just a brisk rhythm from start to finish.

Matthew Lawson loaded a 35-degree plate-loaded leg press to 790 kilograms at a gym in Bathurst, Australia, locked his knees and pushed the sled up onto his toes using nothing but his calves. The continuous video shows his legs staying straight as the sled rises, holds at the top and comes back down under control, and he then walks the camera around the machine to show the stacks of bumper plates and 20 kg plates loaded on the sled. That's more than three-quarters of a tonne, lifted by a pair of calves.

Matthew Lawson loaded seven 20 kg plates, 140 kilograms in all, onto one arm of a plate-loaded Viking press at a gym in Bathurst, Australia, and pressed it overhead with his left arm for eight straight reps. A Viking press is a standing shoulder-press machine worked through lever arms with handles at head height; on this one each arm moves on its own, and the continuous video shows the other arm parked while the left handle travels from shoulder height to full lockout eight times in a row, with the seven-plate stack in view the whole way. Seven plates, one arm, eight reps.

Matthew Lawson loaded eight 20 kg plates, 160 kilograms in all, onto one arm of a plate-loaded Viking press at a gym in Bathurst, Australia, and pressed it overhead with the left arm alone. A Viking press is a standing shoulder-press machine worked through lever arms with handles at head height; on this one each arm moves independently, and the continuous video shows the other arm parked while the left handle goes to full lockout seven times in a row. The plate count is clear on camera, and a training partner keeps a hand on the end of the sleeve only to hold the plates on. One arm, eight plates, seven reps.

William Neal Quackenbush pressed 1,502 pounds for five repetitions on a 45-degree plate-loaded leg press in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on the day he turned 62. The sled is stacked with plates out to the ends of both pegs, and the set runs in one continuous take, from unracking the sled through the fifth rep and racking it again. A gym staff member totaled the load at 1,502 pounds on camera in a separate clip. Not a bad way to spend a birthday.

Peter Renfors of Vantaa, Finland completed a standing ab wheel rollout carrying 32.7 kilograms of added weight, every component verified on camera: a plate-loaded vest weighed at 1.7 kilograms on a beam scale, loaded with a 25 kilogram plate, a 5 kilogram plate, and two 0.5 kilogram plates shown individually before the attempt. From a standing start he rolled out to full horizontal extension and returned to standing, using the bent-arm technique of 150-rep consecutive rollout record holder Alexander Lipay. His video documents the full progression, including warm-ups at 10, 20 and 25 kilograms and a completed rollout at 32.2 kilograms before the record weight.

Jason Faulkner lay back on an incline bench at a gym in St. Joseph, Missouri, and took a pair of 100-pound dumbbells through 20 incline flies in one unbroken set. Filmed from beside the bench, the clip shows the bells opening out from above his chest and closing back together on every rep, with the 100 stamp readable on the near dumbbell late in the set. RecordSetter counted the reps in the continuous 41-second video, where one more rep stalls at the bottom and he sets the weights down. Flies hold the whole load out on nearly straight arms, so a hundred pounds a hand is far beyond what most lifters ever try.

Jason Faulkner lay back on an incline bench at a gym in St. Joseph, Missouri, and worked a pair of 90-pound dumbbells through 26 incline flies in one unbroken set. Filmed from beside the bench, the clip shows the dumbbells sweeping apart and closing back together above his chest on every rep, and the 90 stamp on both bells is readable as he finishes. RecordSetter counted the reps in the continuous 48-second video. Flies hang the whole load off nearly straight arms, which is why most lifters use a fraction of this weight.

Michael Joseph Drouin, a 68-year-old Navy veteran, rowed a 75-pound dumbbell for 10 reps with each arm at a gym in Elk Grove, California. Bracing one knee and one hand on a flat bench, he pulls the dumbbell from below the bench up to his chest, then switches sides, all in one continuous video. Drouin trains with spinal hardware from his neck to his lower back and a replaced hip, and his outlook is simple: we were given one life, so live it regardless of age.

William Neal Quackenbush performed five full-range repetitions on an angled leg press loaded to 1,502 pounds in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the day after turning 62. Full range here is his own standard: bend the knees to roughly 90 degrees on every rep, deep enough to load the legs through the whole movement, but stopping short of the joint angles that tend to wreck older knees and hips. The sled carries plates stacked out to the ends of both pegs, and the set was filmed in a single continuous shot, with a separate clip verifying the loaded weight.