- April 19, 2024
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Peter DeMarco had a tendency to get in trouble when he was growing up.
Instead of getting punished, though, he would have to do pushups. Lots and lots of pushups. And when he did something even worse, he had to do his pushups with his younger sister on his back, who weighed about 40 pounds at the time.
“I’ve been doing pushups all of my life because I was always in trouble,” said DeMarco, a Palm Coast resident.
What DeMarco didn’t know at the time was that his mischievous ways were training him for later on in life.
Fast forward to Thursday afternoon at Anytime Fitness in Palm Coast. DeMarco, now 27, wasn’t in trouble. But he was about to put his years of training to the test.
About four months ago, DeMarco was flipping through the “Guinness Book of World Records.” He came across a record he thought he could break: Complete more than 61 pushups with 40 pounds on your back in 60 seconds.
“I just tried it for fun, and I was close, so I actually pursued it,” DeMarco said Thursday. “I would beat it in my garage.”
After months of training, Thursday was the day he was going to break the record. Inside one of the workout rooms at Anytime Fitness, DeMarco had official timekeepers, a video camera, a scale and a small audience.
After a finals walk-through, it was go time.
He was cranking out the pushups right out of the gate and eventually got to 60 with about 20 seconds to spare. Winded, he rested on his chest. He had this planned out.
After a few seconds ticked off the clock, he continued.
When 60 seconds were finally reached, DeMarco had successfully completed 74 pushups and was one more oomph away from 75.
He did it.
Now, the video and paperwork, including signed papers from witnesses Sunday Nemec, Anytime Fitness manager, and Nina Paolucci, personal trainer at the gym, will be sent to Guinness, based in London.
It will take time for DeMarco’s feat to be approved, but he did it.
On Thursday afternoon, he walked through the doors of the gym as Peter DeMarco. When he walked out, he was a world-record holder (pending, but still).
“I don’t know,” he said, after a long pause, when asked about what that means. “I don’t know why God has blessed me with the ability to do pushups, but it’s all for his glory.”
Although DeMarco had just finished, he mentioned another record that involves the same task, but you must do the pushups on the back of your hands, instead of your palms.
He may not be done yet.
