Freshman Nicholas Norwitz Crushes DHHS Push-Up Record (With Video)

For many years, no student at Daniel Hand High School has even come close to matching the record of 72 push-ups. And then along comes Freshman Nicholas Norwitz. He didn't just match it. He didn't just beat it. He crushed it.

As his teacher looked on in amazement, and his classmates cheered, Nicholas did 70, then 100, then 200, and then added 40 more for good measure. His physical education teacher Jennifer Amasino believes the new record of 240 will stand for some time.

She attributes Norwitz' accomplishment not only to his training regimen--he does 17 sets of 100 push-ups several times a week, often while listening to audio books his mother checks out from the library--but also his mental toughness, his steady demeanor, and his positive mental attitude. He's not excessively driven, she said, and he's not a perfectionist. He just likes to succeed and likes to see how far he can push himself, she said.

Norwitz says he does train at home, but mainly just to stay in shape. Breaking the record was not a goal in and of itself, but rather a product of seeing how far he could push himself that particular day. He says it helped to have the support of his classmates and friends, who cheered him on.

One of Amasino's favorite sayings is, "the body achieves what the mind believes." She said Norwitz is a great example of that. His accomplishment "just goes to show how powerful the mind is."