“How I set a Guinness World Record.” The athlete shared his impressions and training plan

Setting a record is not the easiest task for an athlete. Sergey Skolsky shares his personal experience with the readers of “Championship”.

I, a two-time world champion in powerlifting, will tell you how I set a Guinness record in the category “Maximum number of squats with additional own weight” (my weight was 95 kg, I had to squat with 100 kg).

The very idea to set the Guinness record came in the summer of July 2020. At the height of the pandemic, when practically everything in Russia was closed, I had the idea to try to break someone’s record related to squats, as I have dominant hips. Looking in the Guinness Book of World Records, I found the record “maximum number of squats with additional own weight” that suited me. In it, not only leg strength itself is important, but also a high level of strength endurance. Muscles start to get very acidic when doing multiple repetitions given the limited time.

I applied for the record in September and waited 3.5 months for the application to be processed. In early December, I received an approved response to my attempt to update the record, and I set a goal of setting a new one in early February.

From September I started training smoothly. I scheduled the training cycle for four months, so that I would be in peak shape by February. I started with a 50 kg barbell for 60 reps in one approach, with no time fixation. Gradually increased the weight on the barbell more and more each week and timed it. I also added auxiliary exercises: lunges with a barbell around the gym, isolated exercises for buttocks and hips, and more stretching (15-20 minutes after strength training). This is essential for ligaments and joints – stretching helps muscles to keep elasticity and improves the tone of the whole body, and most importantly, significantly reduces the risk of injury. I realized the value of stretching only after I got a herniated disc in my lumbar spine from previous records in the squat. At that time I did not do much stretching and did not monitor my health so carefully, I thought I was a “demigod” and thought I would not be affected by injuries.

After three months of training, I was already confident of breaking the record. At the training session my best result was 40 reps in 55 seconds. I was very happy with that at the time, but there was one problem. The day after my “record attempt” I started to feel discomfort in both knee joints. I was aware that this could occur at any time. The body wears out over time with this kind of training and gives signals not to overload and get more time to recover. Time, unfortunately, was already short. I had decided on the date from the beginning, I didn’t want to lose track of it.

In the last two weeks before the record, I gave my hips a complete rest and continued to train only the upper body and stretching. I added bathing twice a week: three 15-minute sessions at 90°C. This helped my knees recover. This helped the recovery of my knees and back.

On the day of the record, I felt confident and tried to be calm so as not to put my body under a lot of stress and excitement. Two timekeepers, fitness experts and witnesses were present at the moment of setting the record, there were cameras nearby and a strict timer to clearly record the time. This is all necessary to set a record in the Guinness Book of World Records.

I was able to complete 37 reps, which was three reps more than the previous record holder, India’s Kapil Kumaru. After the attempt, after resting, I was a bit scolding myself for not doing 40+ reps, even though I still had some strength left. I just didn’t have enough time – I did the reps a bit slower, I was very worried about my knees.

Nevertheless, this is how the Guinness record was set, now I will wait for the “certificate from London”, and I wish the readers of “Championship” to achieve their goals and strive to reach them.