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Damien Rooney, a former professional mixed martial artist hailing from Burren near Newry, has achieved a new Guinness World Record for the most chin-ups completed in one hour while wearing a 20-pound weight. He accomplished an impressive total of 499 repetitions, surpassing the previous record of 495. With this milestone behind him, Damien is already setting his sights on an even greater challenge: attempting the 24-hour chin-up record, which could demand as many as 10,000 reps. He plans to pursue this goal in April 2027.
Damien provides insight into what constitutes a chin-up, explaining that the exercise is performed with palms facing toward the individual, placing the primary strain on the biceps. This contrasts with a pull-up where the palms face outward, targeting the latissimus dorsi muscles more intensely. His background as a fighter, competing under the nickname “The Rage,” played a significant role in fueling his ambition for a Guinness World Record. Reflecting on his athletic past, he said, “I’ve always been in and around the fitness game and during my fight career I took a full liking to the strength and conditioning element of it.”
In 2018, Damien first aimed for the 24-hour chin-up record but faced setbacks marked by injuries such as torn muscles and heat exhaustion. Despite these challenges, he compares the pain and exhaustion associated with training to the much more extreme and unpredictable nature of his fight career, stating, “It is pretty extreme. The constant overload on the body. But as painful as this is, it’s very localized and very much in your control – but a really rough fight? It doesn’t compare. It’s night and day.” After those initial struggles, he recalibrated his approach, focusing instead on a one-hour weighted chin-up target. He explains that pacing is critical for success: “I think people think you’d just go out and start pumping them out but if you do that the body will fatigue and it will fatigue quickly making recovery hard. So the better way to do it is to go on a cycle where you are maximising your work but maximising your recovery in between.”
Damien broke down his record attempt into intervals of two minutes of exercise followed by 30 seconds of rest, a strategy he describes as effective for managing fatigue over time. Looking forward, he intends to take on the unweighted one-hour chin-up challenge, where the current record stands at roughly 1,010 repetitions—significantly higher without the burden of additional weight. Receiving official confirmation from Guinness took several months, a process Rooney regarded as rigorous. He noted, “I did this on June 1 and they told me in September. It can be up to 20 weeks because they have to go through the tapes and watch it from different angles. They are very stringent to make sure it is authentic.” This accomplishment marks the culmination of a journey that began years earlier, underscoring Rooney’s dedication and resilience
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