Ashrita Furman is a funny one. He was born in 1954 – conveniently the first year that the Guinness Book Of Records was published – and as a child in New York he became fascinated by the annual record books but feared he could never get anywhere near achieving one himself due to his slight frame and lack of athleticism.

Then, in 1974 he decided to enter a 24 hour bicycle race in Central Park, despite not really ever having trained for anything like that. Surprisingly he came third and from then on his quest to break records intensified and by the following year he had his first when he managed to perform 27,000 jumping jacks without a break. Since then, he’s gone on to amass 148 Guinness World Records, which is more than anyone else in the world ever.

Here’s a short documentary about him made by Brian McGuinn in which you learn about his bizarre life and watch him as he prepares to climb up Machu Pichu on stilts to break another one. Hero.

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