5 Questions With Kyle Gurkovich – 2 x Pull-Up World Record Breaker

Kyle Gurkovich Using NewGrip Pull Up Gloves

It’s been really amazing getting to know Kyle Gurkovich over the past 9 months.  Kyle is a math teacher based in New Jersey and last year when one of his students Daniel Nols passed away from cancer, Kyle decided he would use his ability as an athlete to try and make a difference, his goal was to raise Cancer Research awareness and money by breaking the record for most Pull-Ups in 24hrs.

We first heard about him breaking the 24 hour Pull-Up record (4182) over the summer of 2104 and were excited to hear that he had used a product that we highly endorse and feature on WeightLiftingGloves.com NewGrip Power Pads to protect his hands.  In the fall of 2014 his original record fell to Cain Eckstien of Australia who completed 4210 Pull Ups in 24 hours.

WeightLiftingGloves.com attended the event held at RetroFitness of Piscataway N.J. on November 11th and were among the hundreds who came out over the course of the day to support Kyle through injuries with words of encouragement, and were happy to help protect his hands through his incredible feat of him reclaiming his record.  We found out this week that Guinness has finally confirmed his record of 4234 Pull Ups which means he is officially the record holder once again!

We interviewed Kyle last week about the experience of breaking the record, what it means to him, and where he finds his motivation.  WeightLiftingGloves.com is proud supporter of athletes like Kyle, who use their ability and persistence to make the world a better place.  If you’d like to donate to the Daniel Nols foundation click here.

1)Given some perspective having done two record attempts what were the common themes through both attempts? What were the differences?
The common themes through both attempts were definitely the training. I was building up to a certain amount of pull ups in each practice session. You don’t want to do too much, but not too little, I started out at 1000 and built my way up to 2,000, and did several weeks of 1500 right up to the week before. Nutrition was key during the weeks and during the actual pull ups themselves. Am I getting enough or too much. It’s all a proper balance.

Big difference was definitely how healthy I was going into each event. The first event I was completely healthy and gained a small injury that didn’t effect me. The second event I got an injury to my left arm a month before (I could barely do one pull up without pain). I went to countless PT, massage, and acupuncture sessions leading up to the event. The injuries I endured during that second event just kept adding on to each other. The biggest battle was mentally just pushing on, one more pull up, one more pull up. As opposed to the first time where I was smiling the whole time and mad when I had to stop at hour 16 to wait until I had more judges at hour 20.

2)There have been several attempts at breaking this record since your initial world record. What do you think it is about the Pull Up record that makes athletes want to try and break it? What attracted you to Pull Ups over another challenge?
Doing anything for 24 hours is grueling, mentally or physically. I saw that record and thought that was bad ass. I had done three Worlds Toughest Mudders already to that point which were all 24 hours long, so I knew I could go for 24 hours. Doing that many pull ups was the cool part. I think pull ups are definitely a test of one’s strength compared to their body. Yes it’s mainly back and arms, but being able to constantly be able to pull your own weight up is a solid test of someone’s strength.

3)How does this record compare to doing Tough Mudder race, or any other kind of extreme long athletic challenge that you’ve done in the past?
My first 24 Hour Tough Mudder race, my partner and I didn’t wear the correct clothing for the obstacles we were facing; just like pretty much everyone else there. Out of the 1000 entries, only 87 were able to make the 24 hours, because of the types of wet/dry suits they had. Most people weren’t prepared for that. Hundreds of people had hypothermia and couldn’t get through one lap. After our first lap, which was at that point the most painful experience of my life due to the cold, we were forced to stop at the medical tents, because I was on my way to getting hypothermia. The first pull up attempt was a test of can I do it and being healthy the whole event helps so much. The second attempt through each injury adding on to each other outweighed my first 24 hour experience. I was in horrific pain on every pull up for the last several hours. That topped my hypothermia experience as the most difficult and painful thing I’ve ever done.

4)Being a math teacher, do your students or colleagues act differently towards you since the record attempts?
They just think I’m crazy. It’s a normal day at work haha. Once it’s over we kind of have a couple days of talking about it and then it’s a normal year. I’m on the cover of the new town’s middle school health book haha. I think it’s more of a testament to going for a goal. Don’t let someone tell you you can’t do something. Just because I am a “math” teacher, doesn’t mean I can’t break the world record in Pull Ups. I don’t need to be a body builder, professional athlete, or a US Navy Seal to accomplish that.

5)Are there any other record attempts on the horizon? What’s the next big challenge?
Biggest challenge ahead of me is to recover; I still have injuries from the last event that I am going to PT for. Once that happens I will start thinking about going for the record again. My goal was to break 5,000 and how I felt after the end of the last one still hasn’t pushed me away from going for it again. June 2016 is my target. I want to give myself more than just 5 months in between events haha. Breaking that type of record twice in half a year is a little much. I love doing these events to help raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer, so I am going to keep doing that. I’ve been thinking about a dip record, but that will have to wait until I go for this one more time.