A 90-year-old grandmother broke a Guinness World Record for being the oldest woman to hold a dead hang.
Ann Crile Esselstyn of Ohio held her body weight for two minutes and 52 seconds last month, beating out the previous title holder, 81-year-old Annie Judis of California, who held it for two minutes and one second.
“I never ever in 90 years imagined that I would be fortunate enough to have the focused training, support, and desire to actually get a Guinness World Records title – [especially] at the age of 90!” Esselstyn, who lives in Pepper Pike, told the record book.
Ann Crile Esselstyn of Ohio broke the Guinness World Record for being the oldest woman to hold a dead hang. Guinness World Records “It was new for me to be going for a record, and to be celebrated in this way, since I have spent my life cheering for our four children and 10 grandchildren in their varied athletic events and achievements.”
Esselstyn, a lifelong athlete who played and coached 10 different sports, began a daily fitness regime last year — which includes either riding her Peloton, doing yoga, running, or lifting weights — before breakfast.
Although she would sometime hang from a bar to work on her posture, it was her son Rip, who started a challenge he dubbed, “Hanging with Rip,” that motivated her to attempt the world record.
“I commented, ‘Oh, I do that sometimes,” Esselstyn recalled of her initial conversation with her son via FaceTime about the dead hanging challenge.
“He asked me to go to the pull up bar and hang for as long as I could. I positioned the phone so he could watch, and hung for one minute and 15 seconds. Rip was flabbergasted!”
As fate would have it, the next day, Rip read about Judis’ record, and phoned his mother, encouraging her to try and dethrone her.
The nonagenarian felt it was within her reach — literally.
“Because I was able to hang for one minute and 15 seconds without much training, it didn’t sound impossible,” she continued.
The nonagenarian’s son motivated her to attempt to break the record. Guinness World Records Esselstyn started training for the record in February, with Rip as her daily virtual coach.
“Believe it or not, as the month went on, I could feel my hands starting to get stronger. The blisters that hurt so much at first turned to calluses; my back was feeling a little better,” she said.
On March 6, a group of timers, photographers, witnesses, a lawyer, a firefighter, neighbors, two personal trainers and all four of her children showed up to her home to watch her attempt the impressive feat.
Her first attempt that day clocked in at two minutes and 41 seconds, but the group asked her to redo it since she kicked her feet and could be disqualified.
“Everyone was quiet until the two-minute mark. At two minutes and 30 seconds the room exploded with cheering. Then I heard that I had gone longer than my first attempt,” she recalled.
“My back and arms hurt, but the hurrahs that I had broken the time of my first attempt and came close to three minutes left me in a state of amazement – and the pain in my back melted away with the joyful excitement around the room.”
When she learned she almost got to three minutes, she was already thinking about beating her own record.
“Maybe if I had known I was so close, I might have held on just a little longer. Another day!”
