Spotify Sundays: Nick Gibbins on Setting a New Burpees World Record
by Nick Gibbins
March 2023
Earlier this month, surgeon and fitness loony Nick Gibbins set out to break the 24hr team relay burpee world record, in the company of five (then) friends. The playlist for the challenge itself was, for obvious reasons, relentlessly upbeat; but here are ten tunes Nick allowed himself a clench-jawed chuckle at, while training.
Setting up the cameras, going through the checklist of all the things that Guinness need to have in place for us to start 24hrs of continuous burpees, it crossed my mind, more than once, that this was… a bit silly.
Six of us lined up, looking vaguely fit after a few months of training, a motley crew of comrades about to bind ourselves together and lean on each other in an attempt to do 10 burpees a minute for 24hrs. Nietzsche ran through my head: ‘nihilism is not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one’s shoulder to the plough’. Was that what we were doing – hastening our own demise??
Give me 24hrs, I’ll let you know.
5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Go!
What Have I Done to Deserve This? – Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield
The feel of the place changed. One minute there was nervous energy in the air, crackling, straining at the leash – and then we were off. The first hour was ridding ourselves of the adrenaline and settling into a rhythm. The DJ arrived, the music thumped, the support was energetic and plentiful. We ate, drank, burped, smiled. Let’s get this done!
People we didn’t know turned up. Messages came in – ‘we’re watching the live stream, you’re looking great!’ The donations to our Just Giving page steadily climbed. We hit £8,000, then £9,000. Amazing. What could possibly go wrong?
All Night Long – Lionel Ritchie
The DJ left, the sun set, the darkness fell, heavy, around us. There is a moment when you look around you, see the true dark, look at the clock and realise there are 8 hours of midnight blue ahead of you. There’s nothing you can do about it, you can’t change it. You can try and exclude the inexorable quiet and knowledge of everyone except you sleeping by playing the music loud and keeping the lights bright, but your body doesn’t care, your circadian rhythms are telling you that you need to be asleep and recovering – and yet you can’t. Your eyes are a bit blurry, your teeth feel furry, and your skin crawls a little. Exercise helps, so let’s do more of that…
People carrying shopping bags wander in off the street to see what’s going on. One man tells me he was having a beer in the local bar and our live stream was being played on the big screen! Terrific support from the local community.
We all had little niggles, but thankfully, 15 hours in, none of us were injured and we were all still knocking out the burpees metronomically. We were now 2.5 hours ahead of the world record pace and looking good. My personal issue is that when I get tired my right knee scuffs the ground as I get up mid-burpee, so the knee strap comes out and is my ever-present support from then on. Jes has been wearing hers from the start and she is hurting. I’m acutely aware that my kneecap is just skin and bone, but now with a pretty healthy amount of inflammatory fluid between the two. Just keep moving.
I’ve been asked a few times whether I had any regrets. If we hadn’t done it, or got injured, exploded, missed the record by 3 reps, then yes, there would have been many, many – many – regrets. However, we were lucky: everything needed to go perfectly, and everything did. To a degree you make your own luck; but the whole team needed perseverance, strength of mind and character, and all of us simply did not want to let anyone down. So even though at that particular minute – 0432hrs – staring at the lines on the ground, I did question a number of my life choices, I am happy to report I now have no regrets.
In memoriam Maxi Jazz – one of the greatest dance tracks ever. ‘It’s black and I’m lonely, Oh, if I could only get some sleep, creaky noises make my skin creep, I need to get some sleep, I can’t get no sleep.’ So let’s do some burpees to pass the time!
There are four people awake at any one time, two doing burpees and two witnesses dutifully logging the number of burpees every minute. Meticulous and essential, and doing it for free. They are worth their weight in gold.
I’m just waiting for the sun. Everything will be ok when the sun comes up.
I Need Coffee – Hurricane Woody
7am, the sun comes out and everything feels right with the world. I realise that I haven’t been out of the gym since 1pm yesterday, and I’ve got 30mins before I’m due back on the burpee floor – so I go for a walk in the cold breeze coming off the docks. When I am physically tired I get cold quickly, so I’m wrapped up in a number of layers and a puffer jacket. The positive is that I’m, if not warm, at least not cold. The negative is that occasionally I move and a pocket of foetid air is released up through my collar and I’m able to smell myself. Holy moly.
On the way back to the gym I spy a coffee shop. There’s a flicker of hope and then I see it’s bloody well closed! Well that’s just marvellous, that is. Now I can’t get coffee out of my head. Dammit!!
Rich, Greg, Jes, Misty, Olivia and Nick (photo from Iben Botha – Misty’s partner)
We are heading onto the home stretch, we are well ahead of WR pace, and we are all still looking good. By the beard of Zeus, we might actually do this!
We’re all now fully awake and starting to push harder. Misty, who owns the gym, takes us past the old WR with four hours still to go. When she finishes her minute, one of the strongest and fittest women I’ve ever met slumps up against the wall, looking shattered. We’re all feeling it now. Let’s get these last four hours done and put this nonsense out of sight.
Not your average Sunday morning coffee-and-flick-through-the-broadsheets – more thumping-dance-music-and-energy-drinks. The crowd starts to pick up, the cumulative energy increases and the light at the end of the tunnel no longer feels quite so much like an oncoming train. We’ve surpassed our £10,000 target for Motor Neurone Disease Research, and are now approaching £11k. The planets have aligned, the swallows are flying low and we have been lucky: we are going to smash it.
I’m a Changed Man (Finally Got Myself Together) – The Impressions
I get to do the final 60-second shift, to complete 1,440 minutes of continuous burpees: a total of 15,293 between us, and a new World Record. £12,000 and counting for MND research and we’re all still in one piece. Emotional scenes at the end, celebratory hugs, photos, a post-mortem beer, and then home with Hayley and the kids, grinning from ear to ear.
I will sleep the sleep of the righteous tonight. What a team, what an epic adventure.
