It was no small feat but for a Marine veteran who pulled through 36-hour raids in Ramadi, Iraq, the pull-up challenge was very reachable.
While the number of pull-ups he did in 24 hours is no doubt impressive — and record shattering by the way– the message behind it was equally or even more impressive.
After leaving the Marine Corps in 2005, veteran Sgt. Guy Valentino said he challenged himself to improve his physical fitness alongside veterans in order to “get that sense of belonging again.”
Now a fitness instructor in Dallas, Valentino is a former infantryman with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. He decided to spend Veterans Day this year beating a sailor’s pull-up record.
On Sept. 27, Navy Air Traffic Controller 1st Class (AW) Mike McCastle set a record by doing 5,804 pull-ups in a day. In order to earn a spot in the annual Guinness Book of World Records, Valentino had to surpass that number in 24 hours.
Even though Valentino is nearly a decade older than McCastle, he “blew through” the sailor’s record — completing 5,862 pull-ups on Nov. 11, according to Marine Corps Times.
Valentino said even some of his old buddies and fellow Marines were surprised he managed to do it. But he says his time in the Marine Corps taught him that nothing is ever “too high to climb out of….you’re stamped Marine for a reason, so finish the fight all the way.”
“I’m getting some posts on social media from people saying, ‘congrats, devil dog, congrats veteran,’ and some people are in utter disbelief,” Valentino said.
