Lunging isn’t something we usually cover, but when someone decides to lunge 2.14 miles across New York City in an hour that’s pretty much the lunging equivalent of a marathon in our books.
Because that’s exactly what fitness trainer Austin Head put himself through earlier this month to break the Guinness World Record for farthest distance travelled by lunge in one hour.
The really amazing thing, though, was that record was just a training session for another record attempt a few days later, when crowds gathered on the Brooklyn waterfront to watch Head lunge an impressive 2,825 times in 60 minutes, smashing the previous record of 2,358 for most lunges in an hour. (Though in our book the distance record sounds more impressive, to be honest, and certainly has more crowd-pleasing appeal.)
You have to wonder what discipline Head chose on his fitness tracker while training.
Head’s distance record took place on March 10th, while his most-lunges-in-an-hour record took place at the end of last week on March 22nd. Guinness has now ratified both records.
Head, 30, who lives in Brooklyn New York, used the challenge to raise money for the Life Time Foundation, which was established to inspire healthier people, a healthier way of life and a healthier planet. He raised $7,599 (£6,026), with $2,500 (£1,982) of it coming in during his hour-long attempt. The money will fund health and wellness programmes in the New York area.
He also hopes his efforts will encourage people to focus on challenges with a positive mindset.
“I’ve been lunging for years! I do so many lunges in my group fitness classes,” says Head. “I started consistently doing walking lunges during the pandemic. I would do 45 minutes at a time just walking lunges.
“At the start I was over training way too much. What was difficult about my training was that I would be extremely sore from a lunge session and would have to teach a full day of classes - sometimes seven in one day! I teach almost 30 classes a week.”
So how about lunging the Pacific Crest Trail as an encore?
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