Born to a single mother in war-torn Ethiopia, Habtamu Franke lived the first two years of his life in poverty.
His mother died shortly after he was born, whereupon he was placed into foster care because his extended family were unable to take him in.
Fortunately, he was adopted by a loving Dutch family, and he has since made the most of his life in the Netherlands, becoming a personal trainer, nutritionist, and mental coach.
He has also recently become a world record holder, with the support of his friend Stan Browney – a YouTuber with three million subscribers – who helped organize Habtamu’s record attempts.
Habtamu broke two world records in one day, first performing the most chest to ground burpees in three minutes (81), surpassing the previous record of 77, then doing the most chest to ground burpees in one hour (1,010), breaking the previous record of 1,002.
Habtamu also attempted the most chest to ground burpees in one minute, however, with a total of 36, he failed to beat the current record of 38, held by Philippe Jouan (Canada).
The reason Habtamu chose to attempt these records is because he finds burpees to be extremely challenging. “Burpees are the hardest fitness exercise that exist,” he said. “When I can do burpees, I can do anything else.”
Chest to ground burpees are a more difficult version of regular burpees, as they involve outstretching the arms to allow the chest to come fully into contact with the ground before doing a push-up, bringing the feet forward, then doing a small jump before returning to the chest-to-ground position.
Habtamu’s confidence was buoyed after he attempted and successfully achieved the three-minute record first. However, he then failed two attempts at beating the one-minute record, after which he says he “felt awful”.
“I was so disappointed in myself, I was so angry, I was so upset.
“I had to focus on my third Guinness World Records attempt that started a few minutes after, so I had to change my feelings from upset and disappointed to confident and happy, and that was very difficult.”
Whilst the first two record attempts were about speed, the one-hour record attempt required calculated pacing and endurance.
Habtamu had previously set this record last year with a total of 986, but it was broken twice afterwards.
He revealed that the first 10 minutes were the hardest: “You know you failed the last Guinness World Records attempt. Your heart rate goes from 0 to 180 in maybe one minute […] I had the feeling that I had to puke.”
Habtamu received a confidence boost when he reached the 30-minute mark and realized that he’d done 549 burpees – more than half the required number.
As he neared the end of the record attempt, Habtamu recalls his body being in “a lot of pain”.
“Every repetition that I did became more awful, more painful,” he said. “In the last 10 reps, I had to give everything.”
Upon completing his record attempt, Habtamu was overjoyed to turn around and see on the screen that he’d done 1,053 burpees. However, Official Adjudicator Jack Brockbank informed him that not every burpee was performed to the required standard, so the footage had to be reviewed in slow motion while Habtamu nervously waited for the verdict.
Luckily, only 43 burpees were deducted from the final total, meaning he’d successfully achieved the record.
I presented the certificate to a tearful Habtamu, who was delighted with his victories. - Adjudicator Jack
Habtamu says he now plans to break the record that eluded him on this occasion.
“I broke two Guinness World Records titles, but I came to break three, so that means in the next year I’m going to break the record for the most chest to ground burpees in one minute.”
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