How long can you hold a plank? How many sit-ups can you do in an hour?
For the average person, the answer to both questions is a very low number, but Daniel Scali of Australia is not your average person. In 2021, Daniel held a plank for an eye-watering nine hours, 30 minutes, and one second. If you’re like us, your abs are throbbing just thinking about it!
Daniel beat the previous world record by more than an hour! A year later, he decided to tackle another world record: Most push-ups in one hour. To accomplish his goal, he continued to work out in the gym and meet regularly with his Mindset and Performance Coach, Michael Sorgiovanni.
Michael helps Daniel cope with a chronic condition you wouldn’t expect someone so athletic to have. It’s called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, or CRPS. Daniel was diagnosed the condition when he was 12 years old and fell off a trampoline, breaking his arm badly.
“It’s the brain sending wrong messages to my arm, which is the affected area,” he explained. “So anything like soft touch, movement, wind, water, will cause me pain.”
Daniel was in constant pain growing up, and he spent months in the hospital on I.V. anesthesia to ease his agony. Over time, he discovered that physical exertion actually helped him. He started thinking of mind over matter, channeling his pain into results at the gym.
“I had to learn to alter my life to deal with the pain and overcome the mental challenges,” he explained, “This was not easy when you live with a constant ache. If you convince yourself that pain is a fuel to keep you going, you’ll change for the better.”
It took three tries for Daniel to beat the record for most push-ups in one hour (male category). In the end, he wound up doing 3,182 push-ups, busting the previous record by more than 100 push-ups!
“I told myself: ‘This is it, Daniel. We’re not going to fail this time. We’re gonna get it done.’ And I just went for it,” he recalled.
Daniel pushes himself not just to cope with his chronic pain, but also to raise awareness for CRPS. He hopes to inspire others who deal with daily pain not to limit themselves, because he truly believes he can do anything he sets his mind to. After seeing him in action, we have to agree!
Watch Daniel fulfilling his goal of doing most push-ups in an hour below, and be sure to share.
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