47-year old emergency room (ER) physician Chad Gustin (USA) has smashed through the 400-lb. Barrier and recaptured the world record for Men's Two-Arm Max Weight Rolling Thunder® world record.
“Throughout my years of competing in Scottish Highland Games as a professional athlete and then moving to grip sport, my motivation for success has always been my children,” Dr. Gustin told IronMind. “I suppose that is from a deep human desire that most people have to show their kids what they were capable of in their prime that might be lost to time.
“We all have dreams of our children and their families and distant relatives sitting around the hearth fire in the future retelling tales of great accomplishments of ancestors past and our memories lasting for generations. That is all well and good but I was lucky enough to have a father that instilled in me the importance of sports/physicality/competition from a young age in addition to the other two points of the triangle of mental/spiritual.
“My father showed me that a man must have all three attributes of the triangle (mental/physical/spiritual) to be complete and to be able to take care of his family and community. And also that as human beings, none of us are invincible and must give thanks to God for the blessings we have and cherish the time we have with loved ones.
“At 76 years of age my father still competes in playing basketball every week despite 2 knee replacements and chronic back issues and is still my hero! And most importantly he still has never cared if I was the best in something or won all my events/competitions, but always showed up and was there for support and was just concerned if I was happy (and injury free) and could take care of my family.
"All these years I was blessed to have my children see me succeed at times, but also fail countless more times and fall down but keep getting back up because that is how life is and the most important lesson to pass on is to keep moving forward in the face of adversity.
“As a parent (and ER doctor) I want to prepare my kids for all of life's challenges but know there will be things nobody could have expected—when that happens I want my kids to remember John 3:16 ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’”
“I am realizing now how lucky I am to keep being able to pursue a goal despite age and increasing injuries when my daughter was filming me for this new record last week and I kept apologizing to my wife and her about disrupting their day when my teenage daughter said to me, ‘Take your time Dad - I think it is really cool you still do stuff like this!’
“Special thanks to Ben Edwards (Captains of Crush #3 Certification in 2005) for being the referee and also for his training advice and motivation in this event since St. Louis in 2019!
“Thank you also to my very patient and loving wife, Amy, and my two great children Ace and Elle!
“Thank you Ironmind for this opportunity,” Dr. Gustin said.
Here’s a link to Chad Gustin’s official attempt to break the Rolling Thunder men’s world record for maximum weight 2-armed pull-up.
