Jarrad ‘Joey’ Young pushed himself to the limit in August 2018 and broke the Guinness World Record for the most push ups in one hour for a male.
The former Southport Tigers fullback, on Friday, June 19, is aiming to do it again and smash his record of 2806.
"There’s three reasons why I’m doing it again,” Young said.
“They’re starting to chase the existing record and whoever is chasing it, I want to break their hearts. I want a long-standing record. It was just unfinished business for me.”
This feeling of unfinished business is a powerful motivator for the 42-year-old accountant, who feels he has the drive in him to do better.
“When I got to 2806, I knew I had more in me... 3000 is the magic mark,” Young said.
“To me, it’s similar in stature to breaking two hours for the marathon. I’ve got more to give, and I just want to give it my best shot.”
Having broken the record once, Young knows the level of commitment involved.
“The other thing is, you can’t just come along and do it. It takes nearly a lifetime of training to be able to do it,” Young said.
“I started doing push ups regularly when I was 10 and my body just kept improving and now, I just love pushing the limits.
“I’ve broken it down to 50 push ups every minute. When I do it every second is crucial. Breathing is so crucial.
“I’ve been doing yoga, a Vasper program, swimming in the cold water, boxing, the gym. I love it. It gives me purpose.
“Footy blokes will know, when you finish playing footy, you still got that competitive instinct and you’ve just got to chase something.
“You’ve still got that drive in you, it doesn’t go away. I’m not a runner, but I’ve got the strength to do something special here.
“I’m feeling confident. If you can’t visualise it, you won’t get it, so absolutely I am.”
Former Southport teammate Shaun Devine recalls Young’s playing days wearing the black and gold and running around Owen Park.
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but my description of Joey playing fullback for Tigers was ‘Billy Slater without a brain’,” Devine joked.
“The reason I say that he had no brains was because he would just run into a brick wall.
“Returning kicks, if there was a gap there, he’d take it. But if there was a brick wall there, he’d just run into it flat out.
“He was tiny, but he was fast. And courageous.”
For Devine, there is no question Young will be able to achieve his goal, given the effort he’s put in already.
“The 3000 push ups in an hour, that’s not the ridiculous part, the ridiculous part is the training,” Devine said.
“To get the end result, he’s had to do all this training, which is painful in itself. He’s happy to put himself through pain to achieve the end result.
“I don’t think it’s to prove anything to anybody except himself because he’s already proven it.
“We’ve all told him ‘you know mate, you’re already a champion as far as we’re concerned. You were before you did the push-ups’.”
According to Devine, another factor motivating Young is his father Max.
“He obviously inspires Joey. No one I know has got a father / son relationship like those two. It’s pretty special,” Devine said.
“Max is there every step of the way, pushing him, training with him, motivating him.
“Max is his secret weapon really. I reckon if Max wanted to go for a Guinness World Record himself, he would probably smash whatever it is for his age bracket.
“I’m pretty sure he does nearly as much as Joey does training right beside him.”
With a lot of people taking push up challenges on social media during isolation this year, Young said he wanted to break the hearts and minds of anyone who was even contemplating an attempt to break his record.
“The YouTube blokes have been bagging me,” Young said.
“But you’ve just got to ignore those blokes, the knockers.
“These rules I’m abiding by have been set by Guinness. I’ve got the program to break it. I’ve done the prep, and everything is on track.”
Despite already being in the record books, Young’s not happy with just one.
“I’ve got a surprise after this one on Friday. I’ve already got something in mind for my next challenge," Young said.
Young’s will next attempt the record at the Matrix Boxing Gym in Ashmore on the Gold Coast on Friday at 7am.
