By Steph McNicol
Kilmore youngster Nate Long is determined to break a world record during his time in quarantine, aiming to top the most sit-ups completed by a nine-year-old.
Nate kept active before quarantine, playing football at Kilmore Junior Football Club and participating in boxing in Wallan.
With stage three restrictions in place, Nate was unable to continue his physical activities, and instead decided to set himself a new challenge.
His father Matt said as far as he knew, the current world record for the highest number of sit-ups for a nine-year-old was 2200 – a record held by a young girl in California, USA.
“He just started doing sit-ups one day, and he reached 300 and then 500 and then 700, next thing you know he’s at 1500,” Mr Long said.
“I started filming him on my phone because I thought it must be a record, but the battery died just after an hour when he’d reached 1500.”
Mr Long said Nate was averaging close to 20 sit-ups per minute.
“I feel the pain, and it makes me tired just watching him,” he laughed.
“Every time he attempts it, he just punches out more sit-ups, he just says ‘I’ll do it,’ and he’s 100 per cent sure he can.”
Nate said he started doing the sit-ups after advice from his sports coach.
“I just started doing boxing and my coach at Stoush Boxing said start doing push-ups and sit-ups and I went to 300 and just kept going and going to break the world record,” he said.
“I told one friend at school and he didn’t believe me.”
Nate’s family members take it in turns counting 600 sit-ups each as he does them while also timing how long it takes.
While the current record of 2200 is unofficial, Nate and his family plan on contacting the Guinness World Records to officiate his efforts after COVID-19.
