Nick Anapolsky achieves burpees record

If you’ve ever participated in a CrossFit class, you may have been subject to the gruelling exercise known as burpees – a combination of a pushup, squat, and jump all into one smooth and challenging motion. 

Now imagine doing 879 of them consecutively for one hour…

Seven-year CrossFit athlete, Nick Anapolsky did just this during his recent title attempt for the most chest to ground burpees in one hour (male) which was held in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada on 6 March. 

The record attempt took place at Nick’s owned gym, Polsky’s Strength & Conditioning, where the event was streamed live through the gym’s official Instagram channel.

Core team takes photo after attempt

Nick spent weeks preparing for the attempt with the support of Bronwyn Stevens and several other CrossFit athletes who took shifts performing burpees alongside Nick at the pace he was aiming to maintain.

Nick during attempt

Coming into the attempt, Nick’s plan was to perform 15 burpees per minute with 10 to 12 seconds of rest each minute. 

This would have amounted to 900 total reps during the hour which would have meant surpassing the previous record of 870 by 30 burpees.

Nick tired after attempt

However, during the hour-long physical fitness attempt, Nick’s form began to decline as it got closer to the one-hour mark, resulting in 19 total deductions as confirmed by Michael Empric, official GWR adjudicator who was present via Zoom to monitor the results in real time.   

Despite the exhaustion, Nick managed to persevere through the attempt until the full hour was up.

Virtual adjudication following attempt

Once the results were confirmed, the adjudicator announced to everyone watching the attempt either in person or virtually that Nick had successfully achieved the record with a total of 879 burpees! 

Cheers and applause sounded throughout the gym upon hearing the exciting news and a pizza party commenced to continue the celebration.

Pizza party after achievement

"I think it's pretty cool to say I have done the most in the entire world, ever," Nick stated. 

"Whether it gets broken tomorrow or not, to have that for one day is pretty cool.”

Nick celebrates achievement post event

Although Nick will be credited alone for his latest burpee record achievement, he noted following the attempt that he couldn’t have done it without his support system in place.

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