Photo By Staff Sgt. Cory Grogan | Oregon Army National Guard Maj. Tommy Vu, 35, assigned to the Oregon National Guard...... read more read more
“You guys are getting 1,000 burpees today. I’ll see you in an hour.” Those were the final words Maj. Tommy Vu, Medical Command, Oregon Army National Guard, Salem, said to his crowd of supporters just moments before he attempted to set a Guinness World Record for the most chest-to-ground burpees in an hour.
As the clock ticked down, Vu found himself hitting a mental and physical wall. “The hour was long,” he said. “I started out really strong and felt good, but right around the 300 mark, it started getting really hard and painful.” However, after hitting 500 and hearing his crowd of over 50 supporters cheering, “I started to feed off that energy,” he added, “and they carried me through.”
When the one-hour buzzer sounded, Vu had surpassed his goal of 1,000, completing 1,003 burpees. Vu attempted the record at Physique Fitness in Keizer on Mar. 27. After reviewing the video of Vu’s record-breaking attempt from a variety of different angles, Guinness officially certified the record on June 30 at 1,002 burpees, beating out the previous record of 990.
Most of his supporters were from his unit and civilian job at Hope Orthopedics, where he works as a Sports Medicine Physician Assistant. However, he said his strongest supporters were his girlfriend, Linda Luu, and his five-year-old son, Liam. Vu said he thought maybe 10 people would show up, so when the crowd far exceeded that to cheer him on, he was very thankful for the tremendous amount of support he received. “Realistically,” he said, “if it had just been me and the cameras that day, it would have been very difficult.” Instead, the entire gym was packed, and “the energy,” he said, “was incredible!”
Vu, who is thirty-five years old, said when he told people he was going to try to break a world record, the first question he normally received was, “Why?” Vu replied that he wanted to inspire fitness and health.
“A lot of people have this misconception that fitness and exercise have to be so complicated,” he said. However, working in sports medicine in orthopedics, he has found it doesn’t have to be complicated. It is just important for people to do something to have an active lifestyle. “The chest-to-ground burpee is a very safe and effective exercise and workout,” he said. “There’s a very low risk of injury.”
After he beat the original record, he said, “I was definitely happy it was over: happy for myself, and happy that I didn’t have to do any burpees for a while!” However, in the days and weeks that followed, he heard multiple stories about children, who saw him compete, telling their parents they now want to go to the gym and exercise, and the parents go with them. He also said his patients, who were very excited for him throughout the whole process, now congratulate him, and he feels as though they are more receptive to his recommendations for diet and exercise.
Though inspiring others toward fitness was one of his motivations for attempting to break the record, the original motivation was his son. “I thought it would be really cool for him to see his dad in the Guinness Book of World Records,” Vu said.
His first attempt at setting the record was on his son’s fifth birthday, Dec. 11, 2022. That time, he only had a small group of supporters in attendance, and he hadn’t even broken 1,000 burpees during training. On the day of the event, he thought he would just feed off the energy and go for it, but, he said, “I failed miserably.” Through that failure, Vu learned to say, “I’m doing this, inspired by my son, but the motivation is internal.”
Vu first made the decision to set a record in 2020 during Covid because all the gyms were closed and work-out equipment was not available, so he had to use his own body for resistance. He initially started with endurance running and competing in ultra-marathons, but then he read a news story about a Canadian who had set the burpee world record. After watching the video of his record attempt, Vu said he was impressed, but thought, “I can beat that… I can do better.”
Starting with only 100 burpees, Vu said he would work out most days of the month by doing a lot of bodyweight resistance exercises to avoid injuries and build up stamina and endurance. He moved up to strict burpee training, at least twice a week, three months prior to his record-breaking attempts. The first time he had ever timed himself for burpees, he did 100 in six minutes, but with persistence, he continued to build speed and endurance. Prior to his second attempt, he made sure he had broken 1,000 burpees three times, “so I wouldn’t embarrass myself,” he said.
Vu said the best way to improve is to be consistent with training. “Don’t just train to look good or go on a diet; train to perform” he said. “Whether that be for your ACFT or a world record, set an attainable goal.”
“In my opinion, I think that for quality of life and just happiness in life, you don’t need to set a world record,” Vu said, “but being active and being able to age appropriately is huge.”
For Vu, the burpee was a very simple movement–just getting off the ground. However, he said, “If I can do an hour work of burpees to achieve a world record, maybe others can go for a five- or ten-minute walk or go take a cycling class…or if they find they are really good at burpees, come for the record!”
However, if someone does beat Vu’s world record, it may not last very long. He is already training for his next attempt right now–the one-hour burpee-pushup Guinness Record. He wants to reach a minimum of 1,000 again and is planning to attempt the record in the next year. Recently learning one of his co-workers was diagnosed with a severe brain tumor, Vu hopes to dedicate the next record to her and use the record-breaking attempt to raise money for her medical bills.
Vu doesn't intend to stop there. “If you have a one-hour world record for burpees or a burpee variation,” he said, “I’m coming for it!”
To view the official record, go to the Guinness World Records website at https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/478573-most-chest-to-ground-burpees-in-one-hour-male.
| Date Taken: | 06.30.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.30.2023 17:18 |
| Story ID: | 448443 |
| Location: | SALEM, OR, US |
| Web Views: | 1,483 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Oregon Army National Guard officer breaks Guinness World Record for chest-to-ground burpees, by SFC Amy Elker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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