David McCarthy started doing large quantities of pull-ups around August 2023. Just 18 months later, he now owns the Guinness World Record for the most pull-ups in eight hours.
McCarthy, 26, a Sachem alum from Ronkonkoma, NY, completed the feat at Crunch Fitness in Lake Grove on Saturday, February 22, in front of friends, family, and supporters. He followed the Guinness World Record standards and had independent witnesses and recording devices to confirm the total count. His 5,450 passed the male record 4,949 set by Enrique Zapata in Mexico in 2023.
What started as a way to make his workouts more fun became a challenge after he saw other fitness social influencers doing similar competitions.
“If these guys are doing it, why can’t I?” said McCarthy, who played football and wrestled at Sachem before graduating in 2016. “Initially, it was tough, but I enjoyed it. It started as a couple of times per week, and as I did it more and more, and it became easier.”
Easy for McCarthy is not exactly simple for the common man. In preparation for this record chase, he estimates doing 200,000 pull-ups over the last 18 months and 29,000 just in January 2025.
Besides watching his whole-food diet and training regularly, he also developed a strategy of doing 12 pull-ups per minute over the first four hours. That put him around 2,900 at the halfway mark. Even more granular, he could do sets of eight and four within every 60-second interval.
“The rest all seemed very doable,” he said. “I didn’t know how possible it was going to be. I was confident because I had put the work in. It’s a lot of hours. It gets very boring and daunting. But I did it, and I’m thankful.”
It doesn’t end here for McCarthy, who is a pharmaceutical sales representative by day. After his hands heal and he rests up, his sights are set on the 24-hour record, which is 9,250 by Doug Martin in 2024. Physically, he’s capable and ready. It will come down to strategy and mitigating damage to his hands over an extended period.
“Once I let my hands rest, I’m going to get back on my daily grind and go back at it again,” he said.
Island of Records
McCarthy, a former defensive MVP on the Hobart College football team, is the first Sachem alum to own a Guinness World Record.
There are several people from Long Island, however, who hold records of varying degrees:
*Charles Minthorn “Mile-a-Minute” Murphy became the first person to cycle a mile in under minute when he pedalled between Farmingdale and Babylon in June 1899
*Bellmore’s Peter Lavinger has the most extensive collection of autographed drumsticks (1,500)
*East Patchogue’s Irvin Gordon has the record for most miles driven in one vehicle (3 million in a 1966 Volvo!)
*Hempstead’s Walter Hudson holds the record for the largest waist at 119 inches
*Long Beach’s Elizabeth Fry is the oldest person to swim the Ocean Seven
*Baiting Hollow is home to the world’s largest wooden dome house