American man bicep curls 40,000 pounds, the weight of a semi truck, in one hour

You might not want to challenge Paul Boland (USA) to an arm-wrestling match.

On 5 May 2024, Paul walked into the Rush Fitness in Williamstown, New Jersey, and laid out a set of dumbbells on the floor to his left. Over the course of the next hour, he completed over 1,550 reps of alternating arm curls with a 25 lbs (11.34 kg) weight, until the buzzer stopped – and Paul lifted a record-winning total of 40,474 lbs (18,358 kg). That’s the record title for most weight lifted by dumbbell curls in one hour, approximately the weight of a semi truck.

Only Paul has a different way of quantifying his incredible achievement.

“It’s a nice round number, and it's the rough weight of 10 yards of unfinished concrete,” he said. 

During the pandemic he bought and fixed up his dilapidated house, and ended up doing the sidewalk and driveway by hand with bagged concrete. The total was roughly 40,000 pounds, so that number holds a special psychological appeal.

“Pro tip – don’t do it like me,” he added, which is especially true if you can’t lift a truck.

Paul clearly has years of experience lifting heavy objects, and weights are no stranger to him. The father, husband, and businessman is a lifelong athlete, and attempted the record once before in December 2023 trying to break Robert Natoli's (USA) previous record of 35,547 lbs. Although he was unsuccessful then, he always admired Natoli’s talents, and continued to use it as motivation for his second attempt.

“I think in my first attempt I struggled with my right arm because I had injured my tendon during an arm-wrestling tournament slightly before that point,” said Paul.

But he improved his workout and diet plan, and reframed his focus in the five months leading up to his second attempt on to training with heavier weights and increasing his reps in his first set. He also ate a lot of protein, creatine, and fortetropin from fertilized egg yolks. And while we don’t want to reveal all his secrets, if you want arms like Paul, just know he would often do a full hour of arm curls on Saturdays, in addition to his biweekly training in reps of 600 or until failure. 

Paul's daughter helped him unwrap his official Guinness World Records title!

On the day before his second attempt, he carb-loaded with ice cream, and ate several soft pretzels before starting his arm curls – anticipating the fact that he burned over 1,200 calories during the challenge!

During the attempt, witnesses helped monitor his time and kept an eye on his form. Although he’s actually right-handed, he says he prefers his left, but would try and even out which side was lifting more weight so he didn’t tire out. Paul would occasionally stop to take breaks, switch hands, or change the size of his weights, but otherwise he was a machine.

By the time the hour buzzer went off, he had broken the record by over 1,000 kg, which was more than he ever dreamed. He celebrated happily with loved ones David Dawson, Brian Eachus, his mother, his wife Erin, and daughter Joy Anne, while sharing his success with fellow gym-heads Joe D'Alessandro and Mark Cirucci who provided his training.

Paul with his family, celebrating after winning his record title

“This was a fantastic learning experience for myself,” said Paul.

“I would just say to anyone trying to break a record - don't get discouraged if you don't succeed the first time, there is no expiration date or time limit on the number of attempts that you can make so just keep at it!”

But yes, his arms were very sore after.