(submitted/Joel Erb)

By northeastNOW Staff

Pull-up record attempt

Melfort man pull-up record attempt comes up short

May 6, 2025 | 2:31 PM

A Melfort man was unsuccessful in his attempt to break the world record for pull-ups in 24 hours, but he’s vowing to try again.

Joel Erb went for the record over the weekend at The Box gym and workout centre.

Erb told northeastNOW he saw the record set a couple of years ago and decided he wanted to give it a shot.

“I thought it would be a fun thing to push towards and I just started training, doing 600, then 700, then 800 pull-ups a day and eventually got up to 1000, 1500 a day,” Erb explained.

The record attempt didn’t go as planned, said Erb.

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“The body kind of quit a lot sooner that I wanted to, so we fell off pace too much so we’re going to have to reset and probably try this again with more training.”

Erb said the inspiration he draws from is his desire to see how far he can push himself and grow. Despite the difficulty, Erb said the challenge was fun and he hopes to try again in the future. Through the process, Erb learned a new sense of thankfulness of those around him, and that he is okay with failure because it is part of the journey.

The current world record holder was serious about his venture – he quit his job and dedicated his time to pursuing his goal of setting the record. Erb said to get to that level it requires more dedication than he was putting into it.

“I think a bit more time allocated; some longer sessions would be needed just to prepare the body for that amount of time on the bar.”

Erb spent over 10 hours on the bar during his record attempt, and he admitted it’s a lot to ask of anyone’s body. He said it will take more training and coaching to approach the world record. Erb trained for a year and a half prior to his attempt.

“I know my body is capable of a lot better performance and it was just an off day,” said Erb.

When Erb began training, the world record stood at 8000 pull-ups in a 24-hour period. That has since been broken and the new record is 10,001. Erb reached 3000 until he decided to stop as he had fallen off the world-record pace. He called the experience “eye opening” and that he went as hard as he could and he had nothing left in the tank toward the end.

“I know my body can do more, and I have done more…in training, so I’ll just have to see.”

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com