75-year-old becomes oldest man to hold a handstand after recovering from hip surgery

New Jerseyan Paul Budline (USA) has defied age - and gravity - to achieve a new Guinness World Records title for the oldest person to perform a handstand (male) at the age of 74 years and 145 days.

Paul has been doing regular handstands since his teenage years and works out almost every day. His training includes aerobics, cycling, lifting weights and of course… handstands!

The only major interruptions to this lifetime dedication towards staying in shape were the Covid-19 lockdowns which caused his local gyms to close and when he underwent hip surgery at the age of 70.

“I totally lost the ability to do a handstand and could barely get my legs to a 45-degree angle. It seemed hopeless at age 70, but I was determined to keep trying every day and eventually got it back.”

He was inspired to remaster the exercise after finding out about this record, which was just over 70 years at that time. The record requires the handstand to be held for 15 seconds, so that gave him a clear goal to work towards.

Eventually after all his hard work in the gym he was able to set the record, beating the previous record by almost four years!

On becoming an official record holder, he told GWR: “The satisfaction is actually immense, partly because I'm 6 ft 2 in and 185 lbs, not exactly ideal dimensions for any sort of gymnastic effort.

"I'll keep doing it for as long as I possibly can and thus far I'm fortunate to have zero shoulder pain or other physical ailments.”