A 34-year old Tasmanian woman has smashed the world record of most pull ups in 24 hours by a woman. In March, Olivia Vinson did a total of 7,079 pull-ups in 24 hours, almost doubling the previous record of 4,081 set by Poland’s Paula Gorlo in 2021.
Vinson said that she was initially sceptical about accomplishing the challenge, after learning of Gorlo’s record, but that she was encouraged to beat the existing record by her husband and coach.
“I initially, quite literally, laughed… because I thought there was no way,” she said. “After a little while, I did some maths on it and I thought maybe I could.”
The Launceston fitness enthusiast trained for three months before undertaking her first attempt at the record in September 2024. But she was only able to make it halfway before an injury forced her to stop.
“I got about 12 hours in it and I pulled a bicep tendon in my let arm, which meant at that point I couldn’t even do single pull up,” Vinson explained.
Over the next two months, she took time out to ensure her tendon repaired before returning to her training. After months of rigorous training, plus a 12-hour trial run, she set out to accomplish the new record again.
Despite the disciplined plan she’d laid out for herself, she encountered some hurdles along the way.
“19 hours in, I started to feel quite nauseous and I think it was just from being over-tired, and it was something I had to just manage as best as possible,” she said. “My concern was whether my body would hold out.”
And hold out it did — over the 24 hours, Vinson averaged out at roughly five pull ups every sixty seconds.
She told Guinness World Records that smashing the record has altered her attitude to life.
“I’ve achieved a number that I genuinely didn’t think was possible for me when I first came into this,” she said. “I think there is something deeply human about pushing boundaries and I think world records create a very tangible marker for human potential. Moving forward, this literally forces me to question everything that I don’t believe that I can do.”
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