Guinness World Record for Plus Fitness Wattle Grove Manager

Two years ago Plus Fitness Wattle Grove Manager, Levi Kissick-Ponga decided that he wanted to raise money for the Cancer Council, WA. It had been 5 years since his Grandfather had passed away from cancer and he was driven to do something in memory of his name, as well as other family members affected by this terrible illness. 

Levi decided to come up with what he classes as a ''bright idea” of completing various types of burpee challenges with an aim to generate a $1 donation per burpee. At the time he recalls thinking "I may only raise around $1000 so it shouldn't be too hard!". 

Levi said that his thought process was that "Burpee's are a physical challenge that no one enjoys, and I knew if I put up my hand to take on this challenge friends, family, and gym members would be more than happy to donate to see me suffer!".

Once his first ‘Burpee for Cancer’ fundraiser was completed Levi had managed to raise over $3000. Feeling good after the event, both physically and mentally Levi decided he wanted to go bigger and better so he created another burpee event with the goal this time being to exceed $3000 and engage the help of as many Plus Fitness members as possible.

Around the same time Levi also realised that with what he had achieved with his first challenge, he actually stood a chance of breaking a Guinness World Record for the most burpees in a 12 hour period.

Levi knew it wasn't going to be easy but after spending years watching his Grandfather, Brother and other family members suffer from cancer he just kept telling himself that 12 hours of Burpee's was nothing compared to what they had gone through.

Once the word was out it was all go! Media attention came in the form of both TV and radio interviews, Levi went into training and the date was set! This is how it went down in Levi's own words;

“It was very hard for me to train I mean who has a spare 12 hours in a day? At the time our girl was only 1 year old so I had to help juggle work, family time and my training so I found myself working out at 4am in the morning or having to do 4-6 hours of burpee's on a Sunday to get a feel for what I was in for

Leading up to the event I had worked out a good steady pace, and managed to keep my heart rate around 70-80% without getting too tired not only that but I was also hitting anywhere between 700-800 burpee's an hour so I was slightly confident walking into this challenge.

On the morning of the event is was a different story, a nightmare in fact. The videographer was running late and they needed to be there for me to submit my record attempt plus I was as nervous as hell! The pressure started to really get to me and I was worried I would let everyone down. 

Throughout the 12 hours I had planned to do 700 burpee's each hour for the first 4 hours, 600 burpee's an hour for the next 4 hours and then cruise for a easy 500 burpee's for the remaining 4 hours to give me a total of 7219 and smash the previous record of 6800 Burpees.

The first hour really didn't go as planned, my heart rate was through the roof at 90%, people started to doubt if I could make it to the 5 hour mark let alone the 12 hour mark. I really struggled, only completing 620 Burpees in my first hour. From there I was chasing my hourly targets and had to really push myself mentally and physically to complete the 12 hours. There were times where I hit a wall and wanted to throw in the towel but I just kept on pushing. I can honestly say I wouldn't have completed it if it wasn't for the awesome support from family, friends and everyone else who turned up to support the cause."

This amazing stories end result was that Levi did succeed and in doing so he completed a staggering 7219 Burpees, breaking the 12 hour Guinness World Record by 419 Burpees plus managed to raise over $12,000 for Cancer Council WA.

Levi now has his mind and heart set on smashing more Guinness World Records including most burpees in 1 hour, 24 hours plus wanting to beat his own 12 hour record. Guinness World Records have recently approved Levi for the 1 hour record attempt which will happen on the 21st of July 2018.  Plus Fitness will be proudly sponsoring Levi as he chases yet another record. We will keep you all posted on his progress!

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