American Greg Wittstock completed 62 reps of a 50Kg bench press at the bottom of a lake in St. Charles, Illinois. The previous best was 42.
Late last year, his attempt was disqualified after he didn’t fully extend his arms. With a spotter and goggles, he had no issues this time around.
“Hey, that was so fun. I got 62 and I got full extension all the way, so no problem,” he said swimming back to the surface.
“No debate. I got it!”
But not satisfied with his most recent feat, Greg took to the Guinness World Records’ video of his attempt, setting himself the challenge of beating his record in four months time.
“This was so fun and goofy!!!,” he wrote.
“Of course I’d never even tried this when I stumbled across a video of a French former swimmer doing 31. I threw a weight bench in my pond at work and belted our 46 reps on my 1st attempt!
He also gave a quick summary of how the exercise feels underwater.
“As you can imagine it’s super weird trying to lift balancing weights underwater AND of course holding your breath! But I’m a life long free diver who loves lifting weights too!” he continued.
“As I mentioned it’s difficult to fully lock out unless you throw the weights which makes your back lift off the bench.
“Anyway, whether or not anybody beats this record (what say you Eddie Hall?!) I had so much fun I’m going to attempt to do it again at Pondemonium this August!
“Thanks Guinness for recognising unusual achievements! We need as many distractions as possible these days!
“Stay safe everyone!”
So…what have you got up to in isolation?
