Age is just a number, and this grandma has proven it by smashing the record for most push-ups in an hour.
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Now, I don't consider myself to be particularly out of shape. But, if you asked me how many push-ups I could do in an hour, it wouldn't be more than a few hundred. However, this grandma of 12 managed to absolutely obliterate the previous record and completed a total of 1,575 push-ups.
DonnaJean Wilde, 59, took it upon herself to set a new world record and prove her worth. She had previously set the world record for the longest plank held by a woman just a few months before. This, she said, was the perfect warm-up for her latest achievement. She managed an incredible 4 hours 30 minutes and 11 seconds. I can imagine it felt 10 times longer.
In just the first twenty minutes, Grandma Wilde was able to complete a full 620 push-ups. Once she had reached that milestone, she slowed it down to 10 reps per set until she hit the 1,575 mark. Remarkably, she actually broke the record with 17 minutes to spare.
Of course, each of the push-ups had to be complete and to the rules. The adjudicator made sure that each one had "90-degree elbow flexion at the bottom of the push-up, with full extension of the arm when pushing up." Just because she's a grandma, doesn't mean she gets to take it easy with the push-ups.
Grandma Trained Hards To Beat The Push-Ups Record
Even if she wasn't 59, training to do that many push-ups would take some pretty serious conditioning. Even getting the focus for perseverance is a mental battle in itself. According to her interview with Guinness, she said that she learned to love the exercise while practicing for her planking record.
The grandma of 12 said that she performed 500 push-ups a day while getting ready for her previous record. During her hours of lying almost, but not quite, on the ground, she must have had a lot of time to think. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
Speaking to USA Today about her obsessive floor-based exercise, she said "I've always loved sports and running. I love to run and work out. Fitness and health and nutrition was something that was really important in my family growing up." And there you have it. Eat your greens, do a bit of running, and you might break world records as a grandparent.
