Top 18 Most Amazing Human Feats

We already know from everything we have ever talked about here on this site that man, when he puts his mind and body to it, is fully capable of amazing things. We have talked about many incredible people who have accomplished great things when it comes to health and fitness.

In this post, we’re adding to that list by mentioning a few more amazing people who have done inspiring feats of human endurance.

1. George Hood and His Hour and a Half Plank Hold

 

George Hood is an ultra athlete and former US Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent. He holds the Guinness World Record for the plank or prone hold. In 2011, he set the world record by doing the plank for 1 hour, 2o minutes, and 5.01 seconds. He was 54 years old at the time. He also previously held the Guinness World Record for static “spin” cycling at 222 hours, 22 minutes and 22 seconds.

 

2. Jack LaLanne Towing 70 Rowboats While Shackled and Handcuffed

 

Jack LaLanne was sometimes called “the first fitness superhero” and “the godfather of fitness.” He was a motiational speaker and fitness, exercise, and nutritional expert. He was a big promoter of health and fitness and was also an accomplished bodybuilder. He was known for several feats like swimming the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge with 140 pounds of weight, swimming from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf while in handcuffs, and doing 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes. He was probably most famous for towing 70 rowboats with passengers from Queen’s Way Bridge to the ship Queen Mary while shackled, handcuffed, and fighting winds and current. He was already 70 at the time.

 

3. William Pruett Running 5 Iron Man Triathlons in 5 Days

 

William Pruett is known for fully completing the entire Kona course on Day 5. The Kona course refers to the EPIC5 Challenge, which is 5 Iron distance triathlons on 5 islands in Hawaii for 5 consecutive days. Pruett completed the full course of the challenge in 2011. He basically swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles for 5 consecutive days on 5 different Hawaiian islands–Kaua’i, Oahu, Moloka’i, Maui, and Big Island.

 

4. William Trubridge a.k.a. The Guy Who Can Freedive 125 Meters Deep

 

William Trubridge is well-known in the world freediving as a champion and double world record holder. He holds the world record in Free Immersion and the Constant Weight without fins.  He is also the first human to break the 100-meter barrier unassisted. In 2012, he attempted to break the world record of 124 meters by diving 125 meters. The feat was not recorded as official because he failed to remove his goggles as part of surface protocol.

 

5. Wim Hof the Iceman and His Hour-long Ice Bath

 

Wim Hof, more known as the Iceman, is a Dutch daredevil, adventurer and world record holder. He is well-known for his ability to withstand extreme cold. He is considered a master of Tummo meditation, a form of yoga, and is the first person to have scientific validity for the practice. He holds 18 world records, one of those a record for the longest ice bath. In 2008, Wim Hof broke his own Guinness World Record when he immersed himself in ice for an hour, 13 minutes and 48 seconds.

 

6. Felix Baumgartner, The Skydiver Who Broke the Sound Barrier

 

Felix Baumgartner is an Austrian basejumper, skydiver and daredevil. He used to be in the Austrian military where he trained in parachute jumping and landing on small target zones. Baumgartner has set several world records in basejumping and skydiving. He set the world record by becoming the first to break the sound barrier without vehicular power. He skydived an estimated 39 kilometres, reached an estimated speed of 1357.64 km per hour, or Mach 1.25.

 

7. Nikolas “Nik” Wallenda Walking Across Niagara Falls on Tightrope

 

Nikolas “Nik” Wallenda described himself as The King of the Wire, and for good reason, too. He is American aerialist, acrobat, daredevil, and high wire artist. He is famous for his high wire performances without a safety net. Nik Wallenda has 6 Guinness World Records for several acrobatic feats, but he is best known as the first person to tightrope over Niagara Falls. This daring feat was years in the making as it took two years for him to get legal approval from Canada and United States. The stunt was broadcast internationally and it was the first time he had to wear a safety harness, which was required of him in order to get approved.

 

8. Dashrath Manjhi a.k.a. Mountain Man Carving a Road Through a Mountain

 

Dashrath Manjhi, the Mountain Man, was not a bodybuilder or daredevil. He was a simple laborer in India. His wife died due to lack of medical treatment since the nearest doctor was 70 km away from his village. He did not want anyone else too suffer the same fate, so he carved a through cut that was 110 meters long, 7.6 meters deep in places and 9.1 meters wide to form a road through the mountain. He worked every day and night for 22 years to do this and reduced the distance between  the Atri and Wazirganj areas of the Gaya district from 75 km to 1 km. He was given national acclaim for his feat.

 

9. Zak Kerkoulas and His 40-Second Iron Cross

 

Zak Kerkoulas is known as the person who performed the iron cross position on the roman rings for 39.23 seconds, the longest duration known for this difficult gymnastic move. A proper iron cross requires the body to be rigid and the arms to be at 90 degrees parallel to the floor. The move is a true test of muscle endurance. Zak Kerkoulas performed this feat in August 2010 at the Field House, Chelsea Piers in New York, USA. The previous world record was 32.84 seconds.

 

10. Manny Pacquiao, 8-Division World Boxing Champion and Ten World Title Holder

 

Manny Pacquio, rated by most as the best pound-for-pound boxer, is a Filipino professional boxer and politician who holds the most boxing world titles in different weight divisions. Manny Pacquiao is the first eight-division world champion, with ten world titles. He is the first to win lineal championship in four weight classes. Pacquiao holds titles in the division WBC Super Welterweight, WBC Flyweight, Super Featherweight and Lightweight divisions, The Ring Featherweight, IBF Super Bantamweight, IBO and The Ring Light Welterweight and WBO Welterweight.

 

11. Alex Honnold Climbing the Yosemite Triple Crown Solo

 

Alexander “Alex” Honnold is an American big wall free solo climber. He has broken several speed records. He is famous for the only known solo climb of the Yosemite Triple Crown, which is an 18-hour 50-minute link up of Mt. Watkins, The Nose (El Capitan), and The Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome–all in Yosemite. Along with fellow climber Hans Florine, he holds the current record for The Nose at 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 51 seconds.

 

12. Dana Kunz, World High Diving Champion and High Dive Record Holder

 

Dana Kunz is an 8-time world high diving champion and 7-time world record holder for the highest dives. He won his first world championships in 1977 and held a seven-year winning streak. He was tied with the world record for highest dive at 172 feet until that record was broken by Randy Dickinson who dived at 174 feet and 8 inches. Dana Kunz currently owns a company that produces high diving shows.

 

13. David Blaine the Endurance Artist and Master

 

David Blaine is probably best known as a street magician and illusionist, but he is also an endurance artist. He has performed high profile feats of endurance and has broken and set several world records. His feats include being entombed in a plastic box for seven days, being encased in a block of ice for over 64 hours, and standing on a 100-foot high pillar for 35 hours. He is also well known for his Above the Below stunt where he was sealed inside a transparent plexiglass case suspended 9 metres in the air next to Potters Fields Park on the south bank of the River Thames in London. David Blaine went for 44 days without food or nutrients and just had 4.5 liters of water per day.

 

14. Johanna Quaas the Oldest Gymnast in the World

 

Johanna Quhaas is a German gymnast who became more well known when YouTube videos of her still training at the age of 86 surfaced all over the internet. She started gymnastics at an early age and entered competitions. Later she became a coach. She resumed her gymnastic training at age 57 and entered more competitions. When her YouTube videos came out, she became the top stories of many local and international newspapers and TV stations. She is said to be written down in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest gymnast.

 

15. Giuliano Stroe, Fastest 10-meter Handwalk

 

This amazing kid is Giuliano Stroe, born in June 2004. Giuliano started training in gymnastics and lifting weights when he was just two-years-old in Italy where he and his family used to live. He set the Guinness World Record in 2009 for fastest ten-meter hand-walk with a weight ball between his legs. Young Giuliano performed the stunt in front of a live audience and became an internet sensation when the clips appeared in YouTube.

 

16. Žydrūnas Savickas, the Most Decorated Modern Strongman

 

Žydrūnas Savickas or Big Z is a professional strongman and powerlifter. Standing at 6 feet 3 and almost 400 pounds, Big Z is the most decorated strongman of all time. He has won every major modern strongman competition. His success includes winning the World’s Strongest Man in 2009, 2010 and 2012; the Arnold Strongman Classic on six consecutive occasions from 2003 to 2008; the IFSA Strongman World Championships in 2005 and 2006; Fortissimus in 2009; the Strongman Champions League overall title in 2008 and 2012; the World Log Lift Championships in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012; and Europe’s Strongest Man twice in 2010 and 2012.

 

17. Ashrita Furman Setting 400 Guinness World Records and Holding 151 World Records At the Same Time

 

 

Ashrita Furman, born Keith Furman, was described as nonathletic when he was young. That changed when he became a spiritual man and became a follower of Sri Chinmoy, well-known Indian spiritual Master. Now, Furman holds the most number of current world records at the same time by an individual. His first world record was in 1979 when he did 27,000 jumping jacks. Since then he has set over 400 Guinness World Records and holds 151 world records to date. He has set world records in over thirty countries in seven continents. His world records include setting the furthest distance juggling while on a pogo stick, the longest duration for underwater juggling, the fastest mile for piggyback running, and the fastest mile for kangaroo ball racing.

 

18. Gary Saavedra, Longest Time Surfing a Single Wave

 

Gary Saavedra is a 13-time national surfing champion from Panama. He is credited for the longest time spent surfing a wave in open water. In 2011, he surfed a wave in the Panama Canal for three hours, 55 minutes and 2 seconds. He also broke the record for the longest distance surfing a wave while he followed a wave-creating boat along the canal. Gary Saavedra was the first to be allowed by the Panama Canal Authority to surf the Panama canal.
These incredible people show us that man can truly be an amazing creature. Even if you are not as athletic as these guys, you can do great things if you put yourself into it.

Are there any other inspiring feats of human endurance that you can add to this list?