‘I’m addicted’: St. Helena Island man breaks his 17th Guinness World Record
Richard Armstrong of St. Helena Island channeled his last name on Saturday: He broke his 17th world record, his first after finishing a yearlong slog to lift 52 million pounds for another record.
Armstrong broke the record for the most decline pushups in a minute with 118. The record was previously held by Jarrad Young of Australia with 101.
On Thursday, Armstrong predicted he could get “118 to 120” pushups in a minute when he made the official attempt at the Wardle Family YMCA, the same place where he lifted 52 million pounds over the course of a year in his last successful world record attempt.
“I don’t want to just break something,” he said. “I want to make it hard for the next person.”
After finishing his yearlong weightlifting attempt in June, Armstrong decided to take a break from working out, worn down after a year of filming himself lifting 1,000 pounds a minute for four hours a day, five days a week.
His break only lasted 10 days.
“I’m addicted,” he said of his record-breaking habit. “I’ve been addicted my whole life.”
Armstrong said he broke his first record when he was 14, eating french fries in a school competition. From there, he broke a string of records, eating 10 pounds of steak in an hour and a half, playing 200 hours of poker and pushing a car five miles in just under two hours, to name a few.
Now 61, Armstrong said he doesn’t want to start going for age-based records just yet. After Saturday, he plans on continuing to break different push-up records, making the most of the 20 pounds he shed for this attempt.
He’s thinking about trying the record for most pushups done between chairs in one minute next, he said, comparing his record-breaking drive to neighbors Barney and Fred from “The Flintstones.”
“My head’s Fred and my body’s Barney,” Armstrong said Thursday. “Fred’s going to say it and Barney’s going to back it up.”
He went to a different pop culture source to talk about his father, who he credits his work ethic and practice methods to. He plans to dedicate Saturday’s attempt to his dad, who he said had died a few years ago.
“He was good at everything,” Armstrong said. “It’s tough when you lose Superman. You don’t know what to do.”
He also credited the community in Beaufort County, which he said inspired him to move here after vacationing in the area.
“Everybody here has just been sweet as s***,” he said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 2:23 PM.