Truett Hanes isn't really a guy who does things halfway. Most people know him as the son of Cameron Hanes—the man who basically made "Keep Hammering" a global fitness religion—but Truett has spent the last few years carving out a legacy that is purely his own. It’s a legacy built on calloused skin, shredded palms, and a level of mental grit that makes most professional athletes look like they’re taking a spa day.
The Truett Hanes pull up record isn't just one number. It’s a saga of heartbreak, immediate loss, and eventually, a five-digit redemption that seemed impossible until he actually did it. On February 1, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Truett did the unthinkable: he completed 10,001 pull-ups in a 24-hour window.
If you’re trying to wrap your head around that math, it’s about seven pull-ups every single minute for 24 hours straight. No sleep. Barely any breaks. Just the bar.
The Heartbreak of the 24-Hour Crown
To understand why hitting 10,001 reps mattered so much, you have to look back at the mess that was 2023. Truett had already trained like a madman to break the existing record. He hit 8,100 reps, which was a monumental feat. He felt on top of the world. He was the king of the bar for exactly... one day.
While Truett was probably still icing his joints, an Australian police officer named Gary Lloyd was halfway across the world, shattering that brand-new record with 8,600 reps. Imagine that. You spend six months training, you do 70,000 practice reps, you break a world record, and before your hands even stop bleeding, someone else takes it from you.
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Truett later described this as an "emotional rollercoaster." It festered. Honestly, it would break most people. But Truett isn't most people. He didn't just want the record back; he wanted to bury it. He knew that to keep the title, he couldn't just beat the record by a few dozen reps. He had to hit a number so high it would discourage anyone else from even trying.
That number was 10,000.
How to Prepare for 10,001 Pull-Ups
You don't just walk up to a bar and do 10,000 pull-ups. If you tried that today, your biceps would likely detach from the bone by rep 500. Truett’s preparation for the 2025 attempt was nothing short of obsessive.
For his first attempt at 8,100, he did about 70,000 reps over six months. For the 10,001 record, he nearly doubled that volume. He clocked in 120,000 reps in the six months leading up to the big day. There were weeks where he was doing 2,000 pull-ups every single day. That's 14,000 a week.
Think about the sheer boredom of that. Forget the pain for a second—the mental monotony of jumping up to a bar 2,000 times a day is enough to make anyone quit. Truett leaned heavily on the "Goggins mentality." David Goggins, who famously held the record once with 4,030 reps, was a massive inspiration. Truett wanted to become a "champion through training." He lived by the mantra: You don't rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your preparation.
The Support System
Truett is quick to point out that he didn't do this alone. His wife, Alicia, was basically his pit crew. She was there in the garage for hours, acting as a nutritionist, a cheerleader, and a stabilizer when things got dark.
And they did get dark.
The Day of the Record: 24 Hours of Hell
The 24-hour clock is a brutal master. Truett started strong, knocking out 5,000 reps in just over eight hours. That sounds great on paper, but it meant he still had 5,001 reps to go with two-thirds of the time left and a body that was already screaming.
By the middle of the night, things were grim. His hands were shredded. If you've ever seen photos of pull-up record attempts, you know the "bloody sponge" look. He used sponges and gymnastic grips to try and save his skin, but at a certain point, there’s no protecting the flesh from that much friction.
He stayed fueled on things like protein oatmeal (he’s a big fan of Kreatures of Habit) and constant hydration. But mostly, he stayed fueled on the fear of losing the record again.
Why the Extra One?
People always ask: "Why 10,001? Why not just 10,000?"
It’s a psychological thing. In the world of ultra-endurance, doing "one more" is the ultimate sign of dominance. It signifies that you didn't just crawl across the finish line—you had enough left in the tank to keep going if you had to. It’s the exclamation point at the end of a very long sentence.
Breaking Down the Numbers
To really grasp the Truett Hanes pull up record, you have to look at the historical context of this specific Guinness World Record. This isn't a stagnant title; it's a battleground.
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- David Goggins (2013): 4,030 reps. This was the mark that started the modern obsession with the 24-hour record.
- Truett Hanes (2023): 8,100 reps.
- Gary Lloyd (2023): 8,600 reps (beating Truett in less than 24 hours).
- Doug "Censor" Martin (2024): 9,250 reps. The YouTuber and Call of Duty pro set a massive bar that many thought would stand for years.
- Truett Hanes (2025): 10,001 reps.
Truett jumped the record by 751 reps. In the world of elite pull-ups, that is a canyon-sized gap.
What This Means for Your Own Training
Look, most of us aren't going to do 10,000 pull-ups. Most of us struggle to do 10 with good form. But the lessons from Truett’s journey are actually pretty practical for the average person hitting the gym.
First, your hands are your weakest link. If you’re going for high-volume calisthenics, you have to take care of your skin. Use chalk, use grips, and for the love of everything, shave your callouses down so they don't tear off in giant chunks.
Second, volume is king. You don't get better at pull-ups by doing "lat pulldowns" or "bicep curls." You get better by doing pull-ups. Truett’s 120,000-rep training cycle is proof that the body can adapt to almost anything if you scale the volume slowly enough.
Finally, the "Why" matters. Truett didn't do this for the Guinness plaque. He did it because he felt he had "festering" unfinished business. If you don't have a deep, almost irrational reason for chasing a goal, you’ll quit when the pain gets "too heavy," as Truett puts it.
Actionable Takeaways from the Hanes Method
If you're inspired by the Truett Hanes pull up record, don't go out and try to do 1,000 reps today. You'll end up in the hospital with rhabdo. Instead, try these steps:
- Test Your Max: Find out what your current "clean" max is. No kipping, no half-reps.
- The "Every Minute on the Minute" (EMOM) Strategy: This is how records are broken. Instead of doing one big set, do 2-3 reps every minute for 20 minutes. It builds volume without frying your nervous system.
- Build Your "Grip" Endurance: Hang from the bar for as long as you can at the end of every workout. Your back can usually handle more than your hands can.
- Track the Total: Stop worrying about how many you can do at once. Start tracking how many you can do in a week. If you do 50 a day, that's 18,250 a year. That’s a massive foundation.
Truett Hanes showed that "super strength" isn't a requirement for greatness. He admits he wasn't born with unique abilities. He was just the guy who refused to stay in second place. Whether you're aiming for 10 reps or 10,000, that mindset is the only thing that actually works.