It began with sibling rivalry. Now he has 181 Guinness World Records.

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Motivational speaker David Rush was looking for a way to share a message about perseverance when he came up with a zany idea: He would teach himself to juggle blindfolded, and go for the Guinness World Record.

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He’d learned to juggle while he was in college, and it seemed like a fun way to draw attention while also making up for the times he’d tried and failed to juggle while jogging, he said.

Rush practiced juggling while blindfolded for weeks at his home in Boise, then in late 2015, he broke the world record with a time of 6 minutes 34 seconds. It was heady stuff.

Soon he decided that winning one Guinness title wasn’t enough. He wanted to break as many records as he could.

His 6½-minute juggling record eventually led to him juggling while blindfolded for more than an hour, and Rush also shattered scores of other Guinness World Records, each one more oddball than the last.

Catch 59 marshmallows in his mouth in less than one minute? No problem. Balance 101 toilet paper rolls on his head? Yes, please.

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Earlier this year, after Rush broke his 180th world record for bursting the most balloons with chopsticks in one minute, he decided to go for the ultimate prize. He wanted to break the record of holding the most concurrent Guinness World Record titles.

Although Guinness no longer monitors who tops the record for most broken records, Rush said he knew that Italian serial record breaker Silvio Sabba had also racked up 180 concurrent world record titles.

On Jan. 30, Rush documented his 181st record of smashing 55 vinyl records in 30 seconds, then submitted the evidence and paperwork to Guinness World Records.

He has gotten his records certified in two ways: Either having an official Guinness representative with him on site, which Rush has done a couple of times. Or the more common method, having volunteer timers and witnesses, then submitting official paperwork, videos and photos to Guinness.

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Sabba, who lives in Milan, holds more than 200 Guinness records, but about 20 of those were later broken by other people, said Rush, 39. He said it’s a common problem among those who seek fame by excelling at stacking bars of soap or catching table tennis balls with shaving foam on their heads.

In early August, Rush said he received certification from Guinness World Records that he’d won the record for smashing vinyl records. That meant he had topped Sabba’s streak, he said.

To celebrate, Rush posted a video on YouTube for his 50,000 subscribers, outlining the hard work that went into achieving his dream.

“I know it’s something I’ll now have to work to hold on to, but I’m up for it,” he said. “It’s a great feeling of accomplishment every time I can add another record to the list.”

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Rush said he developed his competitive streak early on while growing up in Boise.

“I have two older brothers, and we were always competing against each other at foosball, table tennis and swimming,” he said.

“I always came in second or third as a kid, but then one day, I beat my brother Jonathan in a swim race,” Rush said. “I’d grown taller than him, and it was the first time I’d ever beaten him at something. I vividly remember being proud of that.”

He said he was always competitive academically, graduating in 2007 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and working for several years in the tech industry before becoming a motivational speaker.

While promoting the importance of science, technology, engineering and math in public education, he decided that perhaps the Guinness World Records could be something that sets him apart. Where others maybe saw goofy tricks, he saw a collection of worthy challenges.

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Since 2015, Rush has posted all of his Guinness World Record attempts on his website and social media sites, including Instagram and TikTok, where he has 95,000 combined followers.

Employees at Guinness World Records in London took note when Rush showed up at their offices earlier this summer and broke 15 records in one day, including the fastest time to drink a litre of lime juice through a straw. Rush claimed the world title with a time of 13.99 seconds.

“I threw up immediately afterward,” he said.

Guinness World Records spokesperson Kylie Galloway confirmed to The Washington Post that Rush is among the most prolific record breakers of all time.

“We believe that joy comes from discovery, empowerment comes from giving your all and happiness comes from sharing your passions,” Galloway said in an emailed statement.

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Rush said he’s not even close to finished.

“I love the challenge and the training – it helps get me out of bed in the morning,” he said, noting that he runs up to 1,000 miles a year and eats a whole-grain, high-protein diet to keep him in shape for balancing chain saws, taking wet sponge hits to the face and slicing kiwi fruit while standing on a balance board.

“It makes me feel good to keep my body moving and try something new,” he said. “I’ve always loved a challenge.”

His wife, Jennifer Rush, and his three children, Jeremy, 8, Peter, 6, and Felicity, 2, are enthusiastic supporters of his obscure undertakings.

In 2021, Jennifer Rush allowed herself to be wrapped in plastic cling wrap more than a dozen times so her husband could beat his previous world record with a time of one minute, two seconds.

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“We love and support each other in everything, and I couldn’t be more proud of David,” she said. “It’s been a lot of fun, and we’ve acquired a lot of really weird things, but we’ve made lots of memories together.”

Among the items that now take up space in Rush’s basement and garage are: Four unicycles, hundreds of juggling objects, piles of chopsticks, three pogo sticks, a Samurai sword and a water balloon launcher.

“Our house is constantly filled with junk purchased for my latest endeavour,” Rush said. “But it does keep life interesting.”

During the pandemic, he and his family began a quest to visit all 63 national parks in the United States.

“We’ve now been to 62 – everything except the National Park of American Samoa,” Rush said. “But in February we’re planning to go there on a cruise.”

He said his wife and kids are thankful their family adventures are for enjoyment, not for speed.

“I think there’s a record for visiting the most national parks in the shortest time period, but it’s probably best not to go there,” he said.

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