(CNN) An Australian father has set a new world record for push-ups, completing more than 3,206 in just one hour — that’s 53 a minute, or nearly one a second.
Lucas Helmke battled through the push-ups at his local gym in Brisbane to take the title, set by another Australian just last year – it’s the fourth time in three years that a new record has been set for the feat .
The 33-year-old father, an accountant by trade, told Guinness World Records he wanted to “give inspiration” to his one-year-old son by showing him “nothing is impossible”.
Every push-up had to be flawless to meet the standards required for an official world record.
Helmke had to keep his body straight without bending his knees and waist on the way up, and achieve at least a 90-degree angle at the elbow when coming down.
Australia’s Lucas Helmke needed to maintain perfect form during push-ups at his local gym in Brisbane.
He was undocked 34 push-ups for poor form, and yet he passed record holders who came before him. The previous record was set by Daniel Scali, who performed 3,182 push-ups in April 2022.
Helmke broke the record at the Iron Underground gym in November last year and was recently informed by Guinness World Records that his record was sanctioned. Two previous record holders were also Australians.
Posting the certificate on Facebook last month, he wrote, “This one finally came through.”
Helmke told Guinness World Records it took him two to three years to build up the physical strength to pull off this extraordinary feat.
Given the competition, it’s not clear how long his record will last. Local media in Florida reported in March that American Rob Stirling, 60, had managed 3,264 push-ups late last month – but that claim has yet to be acknowledged by Guinness.
Meanwhile, Helmke already has other records in his sights.
“This will be the first record I’m looking to break from a bunch of other push-up records,” Lucas said. “Then to other physical records.”