GOLDEN, Colo. — The man who can do more pull ups in 24 hours than anyone else alive lives in Golden and teaches woodworking at a local community college.
John Orth is the Guinness World Record holder for completing 7,600 pull-ups over the course of a single day.
“I’m the guy who forgot leg day,” Orth joked.
He set his record in 2016. He recently broke that record, doing 7,670 pull-ups in a 24-hour span in September, which is on hold as the as the new world record pending the official Guinness seal.
He trains several hours a day, cranking out 700 to 800 pull-ups per hour.
“If you can feel the frets you need to rework something,” Orth preached.
From feats to frets, Orth’s day job is teaching students how to build violins and mandolins, part of his job as the head of the fine woodworking department at Red Rocks Community College.
"I live my life in and around music so building them (instruments) helps me relax," he said.
So does his hobby. He has a pull up bar in his office at the college.
“I can still pull out a few hundred per day even while working,” he explained.
And he already has his sights set on his next goal: The world record for most pull-ups completed in one hour. It currently sits at 1,009.
“I think I could push the number to 1,200 with a few months of work,” Orth said.
On top of all that, he prefers to do his pull-ups with his eyes closed.