62-year-old-man George Hood from Illinois broke the Guinness World Record for holding an abdominal posture for a full 8 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
To reach his target, Hood underwent daily 7-hour training for several months, involving 1500 sit-ups.
Hood used to be a law enforcement officer before retiring but then decided to become a personal trainer. His first Guinness World Record was accomplished in 2011 when he again won for holding the plank position for an hour and twenty minutes.
But in 2016, his record was lost to a new significantly higher score one, and, with the help of his three sons, he was motivated to regain it. He managed to win back the 1st position of the Guinness World Record by a mere fourteen minutes.
By achieving his goal, Hood stated that he wanted to raise awareness of mental health. The new record took place on the 15th of February at the 515 Fitness gym, a place that treats mental health conditions through exercise. Niki Perry, the gym's founder, was by Hood's side most of the time. She had also been preparing him daily, focusing on mental toughness by emphasising on the 4C's (consistency, core beliefs, commitment and challenge evaluation).
Even though he is not getting money for this, Hood still wanted to raise awareness to help fellow law enforcement officers who he thinks are not fairing particularly well. Explaining how he managed to remain in the plank position for eight hours, Hood said he envisioned himself being a tree that is firm and well-grounded in the earth, being prepared to face any storm without collapsing.
Hood admitted that this was going to be his last world record on a long-lasting abdominal plank position and that his new goal is to break the record for a maximum number of continuous push-ups in one hour. The current record is at 2.806 push-ups. He encouraged beginners by advising that small steps are all one needs to get started.
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