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Why this man said he wanted to set world pushup record

Lucas Helmke performed 3,206 pushups in a single hour, breaking the previous record by 24.

Man performing a pushup
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Lucas Helmke, a 33-year-old Australian, set the world record for number of pushups in one hour by performing 3,206. 

That meant he did about 53 pushups every minute for an hour. The new record broke the previous record set last year by fellow Australian Daniel Scali by 24. 

The new record was authenticated by Guinness World Records. 

Guinness World Records said that Helmke aimed to perform 26 pushups in 30-second sets. He exceeded his goal by averaging 26.7 pushups per 30-second set.

Officials threw out 34 pushups due to improper form. Guinness World Records said it was "impressive" so few were thrown out given the speed he was performing the pushups. 

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Guinness World Records said Helmke attempted the record to "provide inspiration" for his 1-year-old son. He told Guinness World Records that he plans on attempting to break a new record every year. 

"This will be the first record I wish to set of a number of other push up records," he said in a press release.

There are a number of pushup records he could attempt. One that was recently set earlier this year was for most consecutive double high five pushups. The team of Alex Goulding and Jimmy Choi were able to do 50 of this type of pushup in February. 

Harvard University offers tips on its website on how to perform proper pushups.