BUTTE — A Butte man is kicking off 2025 as a Guinness Book of World Records holder for completing more than 5,000 pounds worth of kettlebell swings in one minute.
"I could probably look around Butte and find a dozen guys who are stronger than me, if not more. I just chose—I chose to work a very specific record and I was successful today," says Ray Hibnes.
By day, Hibnes works in an IT department and by night he has a side gig as a personal trainer for teens who are looking to improve as athletes.
Ray says he was falling into a rut in his own workout routines when he decided to train for the Guinness Book of World Records for the most weight lifted by kettlebell swing in one minute.
"It is kind of surreal that it, with the training, that it's finally done after a minute essentially," says Hibnes.
In order to break the record, Ray gathered a team from a local fitness center led by Melissa Kindt to witness, record, and time the event. He also had several weight options he could use to break the previous record held by a Swiss man.
"He chose his 132-pound kettlebell for, you know he was looking for 38 straight, unbroken swings in that one-minute time. It’s absolutely incredible. That’s the weight of my whole body so I’m just, like, can’t even believe it," says Melissa Kindt, the owner of Kinetic Fitness in Uptown Butte.
Hibness accomplished 39 swings in one minute, lifting a total of 5,148 pounds, crushing the previous record of 4,551 pounds. And Hibnes says he's not done breaking records.
"This is part of a bigger goal that hopefully I can use something that I am relatively good at to work with people who know how to raise money for charitable events and tie that in and hopefully we can do more than just swing a piece of steel around," says Hibnes.
He has already applied for the three-minute kettlebell swing world record that he hopes to break in the New Year.
