Ashford’s Oliver Fin recently completed an outstanding challenge of physical strength and endurance by completing 50,000 bodyweight repetitions in just 48 hours, in the process raising money for mental health charity MIND.
Having raised a staggering £1000, CommunityAd caught up with Ashford’s Oliver Fin who discussed the challenge with us in further detail…
How you were able to complete 50,000 reps in just two days?
I am a personal trainer and I like getting my clients to do a 1,000 REP challenge for a fitness test, record the time it takes then do it again 2 months later to see if they have improved. One evening I was getting one of my exercise classes involved in this but I wasn’t going to join in and a couple of the class attendees were joking about why I wasn’t joining in.
This gave me an idea for a challenge, I didn’t want to do a 24-hour one as it has been done before so I thought why not up it to 48 hours? I worked out I could do a 1,000 REPs in an hour comfortably so thought 48,000 for 48 hours could be done, then I thought why not round it up.
What made you choose the charity MIND for your fundraiser?
The reason I chose MIND was down to having a mental breakdown over Christmas last year, I had gotten injured during weight training and rugby wasn’t on due to COVID so my day-to-day stress was building up because I didn’t have my normal coping activities to help me deal with it.
I didn’t use MIND personally. I was lucky to have my best friends and my other half to help me out when I opened up to them about it.
Even though I didn’t use these services when I looked into which charity to do it for, I really liked what MIND is trying to do, mental health plays a massive part in our life and we can’t battle them alone or at least we shouldn’t.
Can you explain the most difficult moments of your challenge and the most rewarding?
The worst part of the challenge was trying to get moving again after a power nap, during the night. I would get enough REP done, I could have an hour and a half break, this would give me enough time for some food and a sleep. Waking up from an hour’s nap when all my body wanted to do was sleep, my muscles started to lock up and ache, I felt sick because I wasn’t eating enough but then also felt sick at the thought of me eating; it was tough.
The most rewarding part was obviously competing 50,000 in 46.5 hours, that was amazing. However, I would have to say it would be how many people joined in and showed me support, the main reason for the challenge wasn’t to raise money or see if I could do it but was getting people to understand how much a little bit of exercise would go a long way with mental health, it’s what I use to help me out.
You have raised over an incredible £1000 for MIND, were you surprised with how much support you received?
I never would have thought I would raise that amount; the page is still active so if anyone wants to donate, please do, it would be much appreciated.
Away from training, what are your hobbies and interests?
To be honest, my life is about training me or others or rugby or challenges like this but I do like to watch movies, read books and build/make stuff. I am a welder for my day time role so I like to make stuff in my spare time.