ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Donna Jean Wilde is really ambitious.
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DONNA JEAN WILDE: I'm attempting to break the world record for the most pushups in one hour by a female.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The 59-year-old grandmother of 12 set her mind to the challenge earlier this year, after achieving another world record - longest plank held by a woman.
WILDE: I guess it started when I was getting pretty close to doing the planking attempt. I was doing about 500 pushups a day just, like, to get ready for the planking. And when I was preparing for that, I thought, when all this is over, then I'm going to look into the pushups, I guess - 'cause I fell in love with doing pushups, too.
SHAPIRO: And so she pushed herself - literally - working on doing pushups every day, little by little, to improve her endurance.
WILDE: I would just try and do, like, 20 a minute for 30 minutes. And I just tried to increase that time. When it got pretty close, I could do, like, a thousand pushups in a short amount of time, then that's when I applied to Guinness.
WILDE: But the record for the pushup was not automatic. Wilde says Guinness judges were there in person for her hourslong plank. They were not there to witness the 1,575 pushups she did in an hour.
SHAPIRO: So she had to record herself and hire special witnesses to ensure there was a 90-degree bend in her elbow at the bottom of the pushup. She sent in her video and waited. Then an email came.
WILDE: I was so grateful and so excited when I got that email that said, you now hold the record for the most pushups in an hour for a female. I just cried (laughter) happy tears.
KELLY: Wilde says 11 of her grandchildren were with her as she raced the clock for the pushup record.
SHAPIRO: In a video published by Guinness World Records, her grandchildren are counting down as she achieves her milestone.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Three, two, one.
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WILDE: They are my biggest cheerleaders.
KELLY: OK, so Wilde's best advice on the perfect pushup...
WILDE: Well, the best way to do a push up, I would say, is to visualize the perfect pushup, and then do it (laughter).
SHAPIRO: Congratulations, Donna Jean Wilde. Keep pushing on.
(SOUNDBITE OF SALT-N-PEPA SONG, "PUSH IT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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