First-year doctoral physics student David Lloyd George aims to break the world record for the most muscle-ups done in 24 hours on April 13 to raise money for the Gary Sinise Foundation, which assists wounded veterans and their families.
A quantum computing researcher by day and climber at the Triangle Rock Club in Durham by night, Lloyd George began training for this project in July. Known as the “muscle-up man” at the climbing gym, he has completed around 30,000 muscle-ups — essentially a pull-up followed by a push-up on an exercise bar — in preparation, which he said is equivalent in terms of upper-body movement to ascending Mount Everest four-and-a-half times.
Lloyd George has already raised around $8,000, and he hopes to meet his $10,000 goal by his final test next week.
On that date, Lloyd George will begin his muscle-ups at 6 a.m at the Triangle Rock Club, setting out to beat the current record of 1,726 completed in one day. He estimated he will burn around 5,000 calories, roughly 300 per hour, given that he doesn’t expect to use the full 24-hour period. To make up for these calories, Lloyd George will take short rests to replenish his energy, consuming food like bananas, Nutella, bread and chicken tenders.
He noted that breaking the record does not require him to complete consecutive muscle-ups. Instead, it counts the number of repetitions completed within the 24 hour span. Lloyd George aims to complete around 900 muscle-ups in the first five hours, which is around three muscle-ups every minute, then drop to two every minute. He hopes to complete around two-thirds of the total repetitions in the first 12 hours and anticipates taking at least 15 hours total.
“The muscle-up endurance event was something that I felt was really, really fitting … because it's something that really requires discipline. It requires a lot of sacrifice, requires a lot of commitment, and I think those are all things that members of the Armed Forces truly, truly understand,” Lloyd George said.
He began training calisthenics and rock climbing in eighth grade and later participated in cross country and pole vaulting for the track and field team in high school.
After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Lloyd George considered joining the military and aimed to become a Navy Seal, driven by his desire to do challenging tasks.
Instead, he channeled this passion into completing a physics doctorate at Duke while attempting to beat a Guinness World Record.
“This [project] is kind of training me to, in some ways, mentally prepare to do … a full Ph.D.,” Lloyd George said.
He chose the Gary Sinise Foundation, founded by Forrest Gump actor Gary Sinise, because “they’re very efficient” and “they use [donations] properly.” Lloyd George cited the foundation’s Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment program, which helps build smart homes and provide mobility devices and vehicles to severely wounded veterans.
To begin his training, Lloyd George created an approximate training guide that conditioned him to gradually increase his endurance and strength, with the goal of breaking the world record by April. He started by doing 500 muscle-ups a week, experimenting with completing one to five sets per minute until eventually settling on three sets per minute.
“When you're doing something ambitious like that, you want to have a long-term vision, but you need to set small, more achievable goals that allow you to sort of have that sense of achievement [and] accomplishment along the way that keeps you motivated and keeping track of it as well,” Lloyd George said.
Along with handling the physical strain of this project, Lloyd George noted that he has had to consider managing his other commitments, academics and diet.
“If you want to do something that's incredibly ambitious, you … have to cut other things out of your life,” he said. “Being able to truly focus on something oftentimes means saying no to many other things.”
Along with time management, Lloyd George has handled the stringent logistical process of breaking a Guinness World Record, which requires multiple witnesses to count and log each repetition. For him, these witnesses will be fellow doctoral students, many of whom have a background in fitness and can recognize a proper muscle-up. A specialist witness with a background in physical fitness, personal training and physical therapy will also be in attendance to ensure accuracy.
Additionally, Lloyd George will set up a video camera with a counter and timer in sight, and he will be running a livestream of the event.
As for his post-world record plans, Lloyd George aims to continue pursuing his doctoral degree while maintaining fitness in his personal life, noting that he finds exercise “incredibly rewarding.”
“At the end of it, hopefully I will have contributed something very novel,” he said.
Editor's note: This article was updated Monday morning to note that David's last name is Lloyd George, not George.
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Bhavika Verma is a Trinity first-year and a staff reporter for the news department.