Isidro Venegas, 17 years old, is planning on setting a Guinness World Record in the prone leg press. Although the record hasn’t been set yet, Bill Goodrich—Venegas’ coach—believes that once the Guinness team sees that professionals won’t be able to match the feat, it’ll be in the record books.
Venegas, a student at Santa Maria High School, has been training twice a week for eight months.
“I feel excited and confident,” he said with enthusiasm.
The recording of Venegas’ leg pressing 110 pounds over his body weight of 140 pounds will take place on Jan. 28.
Goodrich has been a personal trainer for 35 years, and during his tenure, he’s never seen anyone adapt to the prone leg lift so proficiently—and he’s trained body builders and footballers.
“He’s been training consistently and has been sweating blood,” Goodrich said proudly. “I’m his biggest fan.”
According to Goodrich, the prone leg press works out the quadriceps and the gluteus. The exercise is “a perfect blend of power and endurance” since it meshes together aerobic and anaerobic exercises.
Goodrich applauded Venegas’ dedication to setting this record, and lifts him
up as an example of the hope in the youth of today.
“It’s easy in this world to dismiss teens as misguided hooligans,” Goodrich said. “This man exemplifies the ability to develop a goal and go for it.”
Once Venegas sets the official Guinness World Record, he isn’t going to idly sit around: He’s also set a goal of beating Paddy Doyle’s record for one-armed pushups.
“My plan is to go after the big guy,” Venegas said. “Then the spotlight is on [me].”
The next big guy for Venegas to take out after Doyle would logically be Arnold Schwarzenegger. Maybe he could be the youngest weightlifting governor of California.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 3, 2011.
