World's Slowest Push-Up Record Might Not Carry Much Weight

For martial arts expert John Mirrione, the quickest way into the record books may be to do the world's slowest push-up.

Mirrione, 45, is on a nine-city campaign to stop bullying in schools and feels the biggest way to be a hit is to avoid breaking boards and ripping phone books and, instead, doing a one-armed push-up.

Yep, just one. A very slo-o-o-ow one, lasting at least a minute.

"One extremely slow push-up is harder to do than a series of them, which use momentum," Mirrione told AOL News. "Plus, doing just one promotes the true strength and spirituality of martial arts."

Mirrione will put that idea to the test today when he attempts to set the world record for "world's slowest one-armed push-up" at the Reebok Sports Center in New York.

He will keep his hand straight under him, and, unlike other one-armed push-uppers, he won't have his legs stretched out like a triangle to balance himself.

Once in the position, Mirrione plans to spend at least one minute balancing his 140-pound body on the knuckles of his index and middle fingers. On a stone block, no less.

"I will go down to a 90-degree angle and hold myself there for 20 seconds before going down further and holding myself 20 seconds," Mirrione said. "Then when I go back up, I will hold myself at the 90-degree angle once again."

You'd think that a guy trying to break a record like this would spend the hours leading up to the attempt training and practicing, right?

Wrong.

"I practice it infrequently," he said. "If I do it once, it takes a week to recover. The bone needs time to heal."

Mirrione contends that one slow push-up is a greater demonstration of strength than doing a bunch really quickly, and he gets support from James Sang Lee, the 2010 world champion in self-defense for the International Sports Karate Association.

"This actually is quite a feat of strength, not to mention balance," Lee said. "It is quite impressive!"

But some of Mirrione's peers aren't so quick to credit the attempt.

Josh Churchill, a three-degree black belt in San Diego, admits the feat isn't easy, but says Mirrione has an advantage over others.

"He's 140 pounds," Churchill said. "I'm 200 pounds, so I'm not sure I could do that. I suppose it's a better example of mind-over-matter strength than ripping a phone book."

Mirrione admits that he also had a hard time convincing the folks at Guinness World Records of the significance of his record.

"I went to Guinness, but they want records set on their terms, but it's not certain what they want," he said. "The guys that they allow to do push-up records only do half-push-ups, not the full range."

After Guinness declined to consider the record, Mirrione went to Record Holders Republic, a record-keeping organization that its U.S. president, David Adamovich, says is the Avis to Guinness' Hertz.

"I was a little leery at first," admitted Adamovich, who holds a few world records himself for "fastest knife-throwing speed." "I asked him, 'How is one push-up significant?' More important to me was figuring out what was beatable about this record.

"Well, he's doing it in three different positions and 20 seconds in each one, and he said that anyone who wants to beat the record just has to hold each position longer. That was acceptable to me."

John Graden, founder of the National Association of Professional Martial Artists, says in order to ensure the integrity of the attempt, Mirrione should wear skintight clothes and the attempt should be filmed from a three-quarter angle.

The record may not last for very long. Mirrione is actually scheduled to attempt to break it in September on the "Regis and Kelly" show.

But not if others don't get there first. Graden, for one, is intrigued.


No matter who ends up as the "slowest one-armed push-up champ," some power-lifters wonder if the record actually carries any weight in and of itself. Utah-based weightlifter Ed Kinsey isn't sure. He says there's no doubt Mirrione is strong, but wonders if it's the right kind of strong.

"This is a great demonstration of static/near-static strength, but what is the point of being strong, in an athletic sense, if you have no velocity?" Kinsey asked. "This may be a greater demonstration of strength, but there is no real utility in this particular movement.

"It's like a football player trying to block an opponent in slow motion. Yes, there is a time duration, but it is much more useful to be explosive in that strength."

Kinsey suggests a better test of Mirrione's martial arts strength would be to see how high a block he can hop onto in the one-armed push-up position.

"If he could hop onto a block 12 inches high, he would be demonstrating a high level of explosive strength, or power," Kinsey said.

To be honest, setting any kind of one-armed record is of secondary importance to Mirrione, who is hoping to use his newfound fame to combat schoolyard bullying.

"When I was younger, I was bullied to no end," he said. "I'm successful now, but when I see kids committing suicide, I knew I had to do something."

Part of that plan includes outreach to schools and teaching kids a special technique for combating bullying.

"I believe you can stop bullies by yelling 'Stop!' " he said. "A kid does that and it puts everyone who hears it -- parents, teachers, other students -- all on notice."

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