4 min read · Aug 31, 2022
Ever since I started working out, I loved challenging myself. Learning my first pull-up, mastering the muscle-up, or just achieving anything workout related… I’ve always tried to push myself to the limit.
As I got fitter and better at bodyweight movements, I started looking for world records that I could possibly break together with my best friend and workout buddy, Arjen. But we never applied for an official Guinness World Record since it would take too much time and would become too expensive. So even though we broke multiple world records, we never received the famous official certificate.
So this time, when we got challenged to break the world record for “most pull-ups done on a helicopter in one minute”, we decided to take things very seriously and apply for a Guinness World Record. The record was set at 23 pull-ups which meant that we had to start training our pull-ups.
Doing more than 23 pull-ups didn’t seem very challenging, but trying to do it on a helicopter is on a whole other level. The landing bar of a helicopter is much thicker than a normal pull-up bar, which makes it more difficult to hold on to. Also, a helicopter doesn’t hang completely still in the air, so it requires more energy to adjust to the movement. Therefore, to properly train for this, we had to create a pull-up bar that is both thick and has the ability to swing.
We started training different pull-up variations, but in the meantime, we also had to arrange a helicopter. After making a lot of calls and sending a whole bunch of e-mails, we finally found someone who was willing to fly his helicopter for our world record attempt.
Months of training had passed by and we felt ready to finally break the record. We drove to Belgium since we were not allowed to hang on a helicopter in our own country because of safety reasons. At the airfield, we met our official adjudicator from Guinness World Records and he explained the rules for this record one more time.
Rule #1:
Your body must remain straight throughout the attempt, but a very slight bending in the knees is allowed.
Rule #2:
Your chin must raise above the helicopter bar for each pull-up.
Rule #3:
You must perform more than 23 pull-ups in order to become the official record holder
My best friend, Arjen, went first! After his attempt, the official adjudicator had to watch back the footage to see if his chin was over the helicopter bar for each pull-up. Then, he had to rewatch it again to count the number of pull-ups. Our hearts were racing… Did he break the record? Or did he fail?
Arjen broke the official Guinness World Record with 24 pull-ups! We were so happy that at least one of us broke the record today. He immediately received his official certificate and became the new record holder for “Most pull-ups done on a helicopter in one minute”. Now it is my turn…
The helicopter slowly rose up into the air again and I grabbed the bar. To make sure all my reps would count, I pushed myself to the limit and tried to almost get my chest over the bar instead of just my chin. This drained my energy like crazy. When I reached 23 pull-ups, I couldn’t pull myself up anymore. I let go of the bar… And I didn’t break the record…
Luckily, we had three attempts so I still had the chance to share the record or break it. I had learned from my previous attempt and tried not to drain all my energy before having reached 24 reps. When I let go of the bar, we had to rewatch the footage of my second attempt to make sure I stuck to the rules. At last, the adjudicator started to count my reps and I was extremely nervous about the outcome.
22… 23… 24!!!
25 pull-ups! I am now the official record holder for “most pull-ups done on a helicopter in one minute”. I got handed over the beautiful Guinness World Record certificate and I was so happy that we were both able to break a record that day!
Do you think you can beat us?
Watch the video below to see our official Guinness World Record attempts and how we prepared for it.
