Forget hanging out at the bingo hall—this 90-year-old grandmother just hung on to break the Guinness World Record for the longest dead hang by a female.
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Ann Crile Esselstyn from Ohio held a dead hang for an impressive two minutes and 52 seconds last month. She beat the previous record holder, 81-year-old Annie Judis of California, whose record was 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 told Guinness.
“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.” the Pepper Pike resident added.
So how did she do it? Esselstyn is a lifelong athlete who has played and coached 10 different sports. Last year, she started a daily fitness routine. She rides her Peloton, does yoga, runs, or lifts weights all before breakfast.
While Esselstyn would sometimes hang from a bar to improve her posture, it was her son, Rip, who motivated her to attempt the world record. He started a challenge he dubbed “Hanging with Rip.”
“Oh, I do that sometimes,” Esselstyn recalls telling her son over FaceTime when he first mentioned the dead hang 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!” the grandmother added.
The next day, Rip read about Judis’ record and phoned his mother, encouraging her to try and beat it.
“Because I was able to hang for one minute and 15 seconds without much training, it didn’t sound impossible,” she recalled thinking.
Esselstyn began training for the record in February, with Rip coaching her virtually each day.
“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 explained.
Grandmother Recounts Crushing Longest Dead Hang Record
On March 6, a crowd gathered at her home to watch the record attempt. The group included timers, photographers, witnesses, a lawyer, a firefighter, neighbors, two personal trainers, and all four of her children.
Her first attempt lasted two minutes and 41 seconds. However, she had to redo it because she kicked her feet, which could have led to disqualification.
After a 30-minute break, she tried again.
“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,” Esselstyn recalled.
Even with her back and arms aching, the thrill of almost hitting the three-minute mark had her wondering if she could go for round three. “Maybe if I had known I was so close, I might have held on just a little longer,” she reasoned. “Another day!”
“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,” she gushed.
Even with her back and arms aching, the thrill of almost hitting the three-minute mark had her wondering if she could go for round three.
“Maybe if I had known I was so close, I might have held on just a little longer,” she reasoned. “Another day!”