Training with Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney and captain Aaron McKay helped Damien Rooney break world record

AFTER four failed attempts, Damien Rooney literally kept his chin-up and finally broke the world record last week.

Despite being weighed down by the 20lb jacket he wore, the Newry fitness coach and martial artist managed 499 chin-ups in an hour, a rate of just over eight per minute, to break the existing world record of 495 last week.

Rooney has been training to break the 24-hour chin-up record since 2018. He had four failed attempts and while training for a fifth he changed focus to speed rather than endurance.

“I had to adjust the training to make myself faster in the shorter term as opposed to better in the longer term,” he explained.

“So it was nice to get the first record over the line – we were cutting it fine and I broke it in the last minute. It was a validation of the time and effort I’ve put in, I put in a lot of long, hard sessions for eight years and over those eight years I’d say I’m over the 500,000 chin-ups mark.

“People laughed saying I probably have the record for the most record-attempts at chin-ups so after the four failed attempts it was nice to report that I had broken a legitimate world record. It validates all the work I’ve done that it hasn’t been for nothing.”

Rooney will still chase the elusive 24-hour record and he also hopes to break the record for a one-hour bodyweight chin-up challenge which stands at 1012. A super-fit ball of energy, he also has the eight-hour and 12-hour records in his sights and will attempt both of them in “the one sitting”.

He’s in no rush to begin his next world record attempts because he’s currently in training for next year’s European Ju Jitsu championships. He’s a black belt but hasn’t competed in the sport since he was a white belt because the main focus of his time was on his career as a professional MMA fighter

Rooney fought in Cage Warriors, BAMA and Cage Contender professionally over a 12-year career. He has no plans to return to MMA but says he will train in martial arts for the rest of his life.

“Martial arts are a vocation,” the RITE Fitness coach explains.

“I’ll be a lifelong martial artist because I love the discipline and the fact that you’re always learning. I’ve trained in combat sports for over three decades now and I’ve learned something new every week.

“That’s the vastly-intriguing thing about martial arts and what I love about it, especially Ju Jitsu because it’s more non-contact. It attracts so many people of all ages, backgrounds, disciplines… You can have a young guy in his 20s who’s an aspiring professional fighter and a 50-year-old accountant training in the same class.

“It’s very inclusive and a very friendly atmosphere and something I think all people should explore at some point.”

Rooney has trained with Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney and Orchard skipper Aaron McKay at Newry’s Team Torres Gym.

“They’re very solid athletes and they love martial arts,” he said.

“Loads of people, especially after competitive football days have started to turn to Ju Jitsu because you can still compete after you’ve retired from active competition in football.

“It’s definitely a big appeal for people who still have that fire.”