PUEBLO — Having broken and held multiple Guinness World Records surrounding physical fitness, Frank Sagona is fairly experienced at normalizing the amazing, a goal he's constantly working towards in order to better himself and provide a role model for his kids.
Frank, a Pueblo native, has been intent on physical fitness and shattering records for quite some time and it all started about 15 or so years back when he was expecting his first kid; at that point in his life, Frank explains that he wanted and needed to turn things around.
Earlier in his life, Frank struggled with alcoholism which resulted in him spending some time in the Pueblo county jail.
Years of dedicated effort and physical exertion along with what he describes as, "dropping his ego," have transformed him into a world record breaking machine while also working as a stay-at-home dad.
Sagona credits his wife, Kelly, and their four kids with encouraging him to keep working out and keep trying to improve himself.
"I hope that they see that he has a past," commented Frank's friend Kristin Taylor, "but he rose from that past with his greatest heart and that anyone can change a tough past."
Frank hopes to not only act as a positive role model, but also to normalize the amazing for his kids.
"None of my kids want to do chin ups and push ups," Frank explained, "and I don't push it on them, but if they want to read better than anyone in the world or type more words a minute or be the best scientist in the world, they they're going to know what kind of work it takes to put into that."
Several years back Frank laid claim to both the eight and twelve hour world records (which he still holds) for most chin-ups performed in those time periods, along with shattering the world record for most chin-ups in a 24 hour period.
As time passed, the 24 hour record was claimed by another chin-up enthusiast prompting Frank to once again set his sights on the day-long challenge.
During late October, Frank challenged and overcame the official Guinness record at the time (a whopping 5,340 chin ups), performing 5,549 chin-ups within a ten hour period at the Pueblo zoo.
Unfortunately, another Guinness World Record was made official only recently, a challenger putting up 6,757 chin-ups within 24 hours.
While Frank wishes the record would have been updated before he made his own attempt, this local world record holder explained that he's not at all discouraged and is already planning to take another crack at the record. He also offers his congratulations to the new world record holder.
Frank also hopes to shatter a number of other records in the future and looks forward to continuing to push himself, remaining the challenger for many years to come.
