Colorado has many impressive athletes, but strongman Mike Aidala produced a standout effort.
This winter, the Ten Thousand athlete became the proud (and probably kind of sore) holder of the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Weight Lifted by Turkish Get-Up in One Hour.
By the numbers, Aidala completed 149 total reps and lifted 13,823 pounds in a single 60-minute-long routine. As you’ll see in the video, he hit those numbers by wielding a 97-pound kettlebell in his right hand for 75 reps and an 88.6-pound kettlebell in his left for 74 reps. His performance destroyed the standing Guinness record of 10,710 pounds and the non-Guinness record of 12,989 pounds.
It may be one of the burliest ways to clinch a record. But if working in the GearJunkie newsroom has taught me anything, it’s that one’s limitations are often determined by the amount of fire in one’s belly. And man, does Aidala have some fire.
This film packs a lot in a short amount of time and hits differently. Sure, it covers his warmup routine and documents his record-smashing attempt. But that’s all secondary to the “why” behind his Turkish get-ups challenge: to raise money and awareness for veteran suicide prevention and mental health foundation Mission 22.
“The Turkish get-up movement symbolizes the struggles of life,” Aidala said. “When life knocks you down, you need to lift yourself back up and stand tall.”
Runtime: 7 minutes
