when you blast the old record by 200+ that’s pretty amazing…183 pounds at that…I would love to be that small again…I would build up more strength per pound muscle gained than I have thus far…maybe I’ll get chemo done for a while like Lance Armstrong (no coicidense) and then build it all back…
This is Jason Armstrong. I’m the one who broke the record you guys are talking about. Sorry for taking so long to reply, but I didn’t know there were posts about me on this site too until a few days ago.
First, thank you all for your interest in this endeavour of mine. There are a few mistakes in the video at abcnews.com I would like to correct before answering your questions.
- As I stated above, my name is Jason, not Joe (but yes it is Armstrong)
- I only performed 2,406 pull ups.
- My record isn’t kept by Guinness, but rather by the Book of Alternative Records.
Answers to your questions and others frequently asked:
My father did hold this record at one point in time, but it has been broken several times since. He is also the creator of the Armstrong Pull-up Program.
I’m not that great a weightlifter. I can probably bench about 280-300, and squat / deadlift about 250 each (who needs legs anyway?) at a bodyweight of around 190.
I was pretty sore the next day, but not sore enough to stop myself from easing back into my workouts. By 6 days after my record attempt, I was doing full workouts again.
Before I started training for this record, I was a serious swimmer and weightlifter, weighing about 195 pounds. I lifted daily and could perform around 40 pull-ups consecutively and about 500 in one day. I ate around 6500 (1800 from protein alone) calories per day, mostly of meat, fish, bagels, and milk. When I began training for this record, however, I went on a strict vegetarian diet and stopped lifting weights so that I could lower my own weight. I got significantly weaker, to the point were I could only do about 15 pull-ups consecutively, but knew that every pound I lost was one pound less on my joints for each of the thousands of repetitions I was going to do. A typical workout during the 6 months or so prior to the event consisted of about 80 warm up pull-ups followed by 300-500 more pull-ups over the course of an hour or two. My usual training pace was about 4 pull-ups per minute in sets of 3-6.
During the event, I did a pretty big front load, performing many more repetitions at the beginning of the 12 hours than at the end. My starting pace, which I held for about 4 hours, was 5.5 every minute in sets of 4 (4 per 45 seconds) and I slowly dropped the pace as time went on, but kept the sets at 3-4. I focused very carefully on each repetition, maintaining a more or less static form in an attempt to prevent injury. I started with a wide grip, to work the larger muscles of the back as much as possible and reduce the necessary range of motion and slowly creeped my hands inward as time went on to increase my leverage advantage so that I would have the power required to maintain sets of 4.
In conclusion, I don’t think this was half the feat anyone says it was. At 74 inches tall and 189 pounds (at the start of the event), I don’t even have the right body type to establish a decent standard for this record, much less enough years of training behind me. My original plan was to do 3,000 in 12 hours, and keep going for another 12 hours to complete 4,000 in the day. In 7 days there is going to be an attempt made on my record by a middle-aged distance runner. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that he will break the 2,000 mark, and possibly continue on to his goal of 3,000. I do hope to break this record again in a few years, hopefully with no less than 4,000, but until then I’ll be training for shorter, less demanding events.
If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to PM me.
umm… dont need legs?
Congratulations Jason. Incredible work.
who needs legs when you’re a bad dude. are you a bad enough dude to do a bizillion pull ups?
First off saying you dont need legs is like every frat boy talking at once. No I cant do what he did nor do I have desire to train for it.
[quote]John S. wrote:
umm… dont need legs?[/quote]
not for pullups
on a side note I bet you got some masive arms jason
I always try to make myself as weak as possible before I do any type of strength event. It only makes good sense.
Yup…he’s 18 years old.
[quote]Edders wrote:
Yup…he’s 18 years old.
;)[/quote]
Mmmm no hes not.
I’m not only impressed by the number of pullups, but by the perspective he brings to the table about how he essentially failed at his own goal and will probably be surpassed in the near future.
Sure, the “no legs” comment clashes with the “BB Think Tank” nature of the site, but it’s not like he came on this site by himself to crow about what he’d done, or claims to be currently an exemplary BBer. He got pointed out by someone else and just showed up to clarify some things. Yes, his squat numbers could be better, but they suggest that his legs aren’t popsicle sticks. As for dropping weight to make his goal happen? Not uncommon.
[quote]SprinterOne wrote:
I wonder how fast he can run.[/quote]
He may or may not run very fast on his legs, but if you turn him upside down . . .
[quote]TShaw wrote:
As for dropping weight to make his goal happen? Not uncommon.[/quote]
I agree with that part.
It’s this part I don’t agree with: [quote]I got significantly weaker, [/quote]
[quote]ska7e wrote:
Edders wrote:
Yup…he’s 18 years old.
Mmmm no hes not.[/quote]
You’re right, he’s 16.
[quote]TShaw wrote:
As for dropping weight to make his goal happen? Not uncommon.
Edders wrote:
I agree with that part.
It’s this part I don’t agree with:
I got significantly weaker,[/quote]
And I would have to say that I, myself, would not want to plan a routine that would weaken me. I will, however, assume there will be some loss of strength when (not if, but when) I reduce calories because I want to reduce BF and see what I’ve got “under the hood.” But I don’t intend to stay in a “weakened state” once I’ve reached my goal; nor would he, I assume. He had a specific goal, and now he’s beyond that and resuming lifting with an eye toward progress.
I also have to say that “I got significantly weaker” is truly a matter of perspective. I mean, he freakin’ did 2000+ pullups in 12 hours! Yeah, when I get so “weak” that I can do that, I’ll post a video! 
[quote]Edders wrote:
I always try to make myself as weak as possible before I do any type of strength event. It only makes good sense.
;)[/quote]
This wasn’t a strength event. I’m willing to bet that Ronnie Coleman has stronger lats than I do but I bet he couldn’t do more than 100 pull-ups in a day, if any.
The strength aspect of pull-ups determines how many one can do consecutively or how much additional weight one can lift while doing a pull-up, not how many submaximal effort sets one can do over a long period of time.
Is name sure suits him correctly! That is shocking. If he is only 16 he will sure try to break the record again. Fucking awesome.
Great work man. Sounds like you got a good 15 minutes of fame out of this, and it’s a pretty stellar accomplishment. Considering I can do about 12 pull ups in a set before I look like a flailing monkey trying to squeeze another one out.
[quote]TShaw wrote:
TShaw wrote:
As for dropping weight to make his goal happen? Not uncommon.
Edders wrote:
I agree with that part.
It’s this part I don’t agree with:
I got significantly weaker,
And I would have to say that I, myself, would not want to plan a routine that would weaken me. I will, however, assume there will be some loss of strength when (not if, but when) I reduce calories because I want to reduce BF and see what I’ve got “under the hood.” But I don’t intend to stay in a “weakened state” once I’ve reached my goal; nor would he, I assume. He had a specific goal, and now he’s beyond that and resuming lifting with an eye toward progress.
I also have to say that “I got significantly weaker” is truly a matter of perspective. I mean, he freakin’ did 2000+ pullups in 12 hours! Yeah, when I get so “weak” that I can do that, I’ll post a video! :-D[/quote]
So you agree getting significantly weaker is never good.
[quote]pullup2406 wrote:
Edders wrote:
I always try to make myself as weak as possible before I do any type of strength event. It only makes good sense.
This wasn’t a strength event. I’m willing to bet that Ronnie Coleman has stronger lats than I do but I bet he couldn’t do more than 100 pull-ups in a day, if any.
The strength aspect of pull-ups determines how many one can do consecutively or how much additional weight one can lift while doing a pull-up, not how many submaximal effort sets one can do over a long period of time.[/quote]
You don’t think Coleman could do about 8 chins per hour for 12 hours? I think you’re wrong on that one.
As far as your argument about max strength. Don’t think for a second that max strength has nothing to do with endurance strength.
And making yourself weaker is never a good idea.
Anyway congrats on your accomplishment, you did good kid.
this is great accomplishment jason and all of this guys asking how much he does this and how much he does that are jelous pencilnecks.keep up the good work.