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This one was worth the weight.
After lifting a total of 2,492.4 pounds by dumbbell curls in one minute in December, Virginia Beach’s Johnny Miller recently got word that he had officially broken a Guinness World Record.
"It’s still hitting me right now," said Miller, a motivational speaker and Air Force veteran. "I’m excited but I feel so, so humbled by it because I don’t have (a certificate of the record) in the house. I’m not putting one up. But I would like my dad to have one, who I’m planning to dedicate my next record to. I would like to have one up to basically inspire and motivate everybody else and show my appreciation to Onelife Fitness and the entire training staff. I couldn’t have done it without them."
Miller said he’s always been interested in strength training, but with military service and an attempt to make it in the NFL, lifting and exercise became part of his everyday lifestyle. In order to prep for the attempt, which needed to surpass just over 1,300 pounds, he said he worked with various amounts of weights to find a sweet spot in order to get the most reps and set the record as high as possible. After testing out sizes, he opted to go with 40-pound weights.
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In order to prep for the attempt, which needed to surpass just over 1,300 pounds, Johnny Miller said he worked with various amounts of weights to find a sweet spot in order to get the most reps and set the record as high as possible. But all those gains didn’t make breaking the record easy. Miller had recently recovered from an injury.
"I was running a 100-meter sprint, but I had the (120-pound) dumbbells in each hand. So I was basically doing this run with 240 pounds. I didn’t have my arms all the way straight, like you’re supposed to do during performance, and one of my biceps on my right side, it popped. It separated," he said.
Dumbbells rest on a rack on May 13, 2020, in West Islip, New York. Air Force veteran Johnny Miller lifted 2,492.4 pounds in one minute in December, officially breaking the Guinness World Record. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
In order to officially claim the title, Miller said paperwork had to be submitted to Guinness World Records, and proper procedure had to take place during his attempt. He finally recently received the certificate in the mail.
"You got to have the certifications from the steward, which is basically the proctor of the event. You got to have officials that are experts in the field, so the personal trainers have to be training experts and certified," Miller said. "I needed to make sure I provide a copy of their criteria. We had to measure the weights before I got started, so (Guinness World Records) got to see video evidence of us putting the dumbbells on the scale and then they want video footage of me performing those repetitions before the event and through the duration of that exercise. I also had to send them all of the statements of the witnesses, too. All the paperwork had to be in line."
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Miller said the record was set in honor of his late mother and to bring attention to mental health awareness for veterans. He credits the staff at Onelife’s Princess Anne Road location with crucial support to get to Dec. 17, the day he broke the record.
Now, Miller is planning to set at least two more records. One is for the fastest 100-meter dash with 100-pound dumbbells in each hand. Another is the most knuckle pushups in three minutes with 100-pound weights, currently at 90 reps.
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When he’s not breaking records, Miller works with veterans to connect them with resources such as housing and food. He also works with a network of volunteers that help women in abusive relationships receive self-defense training or relocation services.
"Early in the day, I wake up, I pray and I go as hard as I can — concentrating and being thankful at the same time," Miller said. "I feel like that is what is fueling me to hit the next objective, to obliterate these records and set them just to show that, ‘Hey, I’m thankful to be here.’"
