Long Island native Doug ‘Censor’ Martin achieved a new global record for the most pull-ups done in a 24-hour period during an all-nighter at Farmingdale’s 1 More Rep Athletics and Fitness on Sept. 7.
Martin completed 9,250 pull-ups and finished with five hours left on the clock, shattering Kenta Adachi of Japan’s previous record of 8,940 pull-ups, which was set in February of this year.
The entire record was streamed on Twitch and YouTube.
Third-party representatives were present to record the event and submit it to Guinness World Records.
Guinness will review Martin’s footage in the coming weeks to validate his achievement.
Martin is primarily known as a gamer and content creator. He is a former Call of Duty world champion with over 2 million followers.
While he has also posted gym-related content, he kept his 15-month training for the record a secret.
The gamer connected with Jaxon Italiano, a previous record holder with 8,008 pull-ups, who flew in from Australia to coach Martin.
“I really liked his method,” Martin said of Italiano. “I thought if I wanted to be the best, I need to train with the best.”
For the last 15 months, Martin said he’s kept to a strict diet and followed a relentless work-out plan. Martin’s training also included rehab for the 13 injuries he sustained in the lead-up to record day.
“I would say, on average, each day was eight hours of commitment between training and rehab,” he said. “At one point, I had to train with a torn tendon in my finger, so I would use hooks around my wrist, which would push into [them] and cut really deep. So my wrists got really destroyed.”
The process was one of the most brutal challenges Martin had ever faced.
“It was hard to think. It was hard to speak. I didn’t have anything left in me. I was a dead man walking… I had the best trainer every day, the best hand equipment, the best spot to work out and train in, and I still wanted to quit every day of my life.”
But Martin did not quit, and he bested not only the 24-hour record but also the 12-hour record, though he said he would not apply for an official 12-hour record.
Andrew Shapiro, who trained Italiano, currently holds the 12-hour record.
“The idea of taking the record from Andrew was never something I planned to do,” Martin said. “He is the reason I have this knowledge, and Jaxon has this knowledge. It’s respecting that and paying homage to that.”
Martin initially planned a much higher goal for record day of over 10,000 pull-ups. But, he said, an injury made it clear to him that was not going to happen.
“A bicep kink I had was creeping up on me leading up to pull-up day, and I felt it about 5,000, 6,000 pull-ups in. I started to realize that I was slowing down a bit faster than I expected to deal with it,” Martin said.
“I was still really proud that we pushed through the record with about five hours left on the day. If I continued, I probably would have pulled my bicep and had a 6-12 month rehab for it.”
When asked if Martin would ever try to beat his record, he laughed. “I think you’d have to be insane to try this a second time. If you’re able to do this many pull-ups in a day, what else are you trying to prove?”
“You get to a point where you realize it’s just pull-ups,” Martin added. “There’s so much more to life.”
In addition to beating a world record, Martin also raised over $8,500 in donations for Project Purple during the stream. He chose the charity in honor of his grandmother, who passed away from pancreatic cancer when he was a teen.
“It devastated our whole family,” Martin said. “It made me grow up fast and think about life a lot more. If I wanted to strive to be better, I had to work hard.”
Despite not achieving his initial goal, Martin was thrilled that months of training and effort paid off.
“The standard was really high before we even started this, and we knew that we were going to set a new standard. Jaxon and I are both really proud of not only the result but the day itself,” he said.
Martin and his team are currently putting together a documentary of his training, which will be published on his YouTube channel in the coming months. He hopes the footage will inspire others.
“As long as you have people around you during your lowest lows, you can achieve the highest highs,” Martin said.
