By Dan McNee, Midwestern Newspapers
LISTOWEL – Aside from being very, very good at doing burpees, Leona Ottens also appreciates the symbolism behind the exercise that average fitness enthusiasts dread.
“There’s a lot of fear in sometimes getting back up. I really like to break through that,” said the 31-year-old Mapleton Township resident and personal trainer.
“There’s that moment on the ground when you have to use all your force to get back up; I really like overcoming my problems through burpees.
“I’m not very good at a lot of other things, but I’m good at that.”
The married mother of four will be looking for world record immortality on Dec. 23, when she aims to establish the Guinness mark for fastest burpee mile at the indoor track of Listowel’s Between The Lines (BTL) Sports Campus.
With no formal record currently established, Ottens will have the benefit of a clean slate when she takes on the daunting undertaking.
The burpee mile entails a burpee being performed, followed by a long jump from the previous position after a full extension.
Ottens estimates it will take approximately 76 burpees/long jumps to complete one lap of the BTL track, for a total of 10 laps.
She hopes to complete the mile and establish the record around the hour-and-a-half mark.
“All that we could find was that basically if you’re a superhuman, you can do it in under two hours. And I said, ‘well I’m a mama,’” Ottens said with a laugh.
She added she appreciates the Reading family and BTL providing her ongoing training space leading up to the big day on Wednesday.
Three years ago, Ottens became fast friends with New U owner Alison Brown, who earlier in 2020 set a new Guinness World Record for most chest-to-ground burpees in an hour.
Ottens joined in on Brown’s New Year’s tradition of performing 1,000 burpees; after successfully doing so two years in a row, for 2020 they set their sights on a new challenge – 2,020 burpees. They trained for and completed that goal together.
Ottens’ husband, Matt, is her biggest supporter and has made all of the arrangements for the Guinness attempt.
“I think that she’s amazingly crazy,” he said. “She’s super strong and I know that she can do it. It’s amazing and inspiring for sure.”
“My Nana used to say she couldn’t dance because her left leg was lazy and her right one was crazy; maybe she was a jumper, too,” Ottens said.
