APPLETON, Wis. — Back in June, we told you about Nate Carroll, a Winneconne man who had just embarked on a goal of 1.5 million push-ups in one year, which is the world record. 

He’s raising money and awareness for fallen first responders and their families. On Tuesday we checked back in with Nate to find he’s still at it.

“I’m averaging over 4,000 push-ups a day, close to 5,000 some days,” said Carroll.

He’d now closing in on 600,000 push-ups since June.

“If I stay healthy, I have a good routine, a good plan of attack, I’m certain I can break that record,” said Carroll.

In 2019 he completed one million push-ups. The father of three is now working to set more records and to help families of the fallen. He will need to average 4,800 push-ups per day the rest of the way to break the world record of 1,500,230 in one year.

“This challenge really has nothing to do with me. It’s about supporting those heroes in our community,” said Carroll.

On Tuesday, Nate was at Fire Station One in Appleton, home of fallen firefighter Mitch Lundgaard who died in the line of duty in 2019. Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen describes Nate’s accomplishments so far as astounding.”

“You have to really reflect on that, whether your body’s capable of doing that. I’ll give you twenty but that’s about it,” said Hansen.

True to his word, Chief Hansen joined Nate for 20 of his 1.5 million push-up goal.

 

 

 

Carroll is trying to push traffic to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers website. He’s trying to raise $1.5 million, one dollar for each push-up, for the group that supports injured or fallen first responders and their families.  

“They’re willing to risk their safety for my life and if I can do a few push ups to support them or God forbid their families if they don’t make it home that night, it’s a small price to pay,” said Carroll.

Tunnel to Towers paid off the mortgage of Mitch Lundgaard’s house after he passed away.

“It gives them financial security but it also allows them to keep the memories that were made in that house. Mitch playing with the boys in the living room, watching a movie, wrestling at night before bedtime or even playing catch in the front yard,”he said. “Those memories cannot be replaced. At least they can have those mental reminders by being in that same house. There’s no price you can put on that.”

This is what motivates Nate to crank out almost 5,000 push-ups a day.

“That’s why I get up every day to continue working, to preserve heroes and their families, just like Mitch’s.”