Man to celebrate 70th birthday by doing 70 pull-ups
CRANBERRY TWP — Mark Bernhard is nervous about an upcoming two minutes on his 70th birthday July 26, but the time he spends doing 70 pull-ups is nothing compared to what people born the same year as him went through when drafted into the military.
Bernhard is taking on the “70 at 70” challenge to complete a personal goal, but also to raise money for a charity, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which aids first responders and military veterans experiencing hardships. Bernhard hoped to raise $10,000 for the charity — a goal he has already surpassed — which he said is important to him because he was not drafted into the military.
“I lucked out, I didn't go; but there were so many of my friends, so many people over the years I have known in the military that have given so much, as well as first responders,“ Bernhard said. ”I wanted to try to do something to give back to them.“
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation was founded by Frank Siller after his younger brother, Stephen Gerard Siller, died when responding to the wreckage of the Twin Towers with Brooklyn’s Squad 1 during 9/11. The foundation provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and builds specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, according to the foundation’s website.
Bernhard said the physical challenge was just one part of his birthday goal, and the charity part of it is just as if not more important. Although he is nervous about pulling off 70 consecutive pull-ups, Bernhard is no stranger to self-imposed physical challenges, having done 100,000 push-ups in a year just a few years ago.
For the past few months, Bernhard has been slowly adding more pull-ups to his workout routine at the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA, trying to get himself comfortably up to 70. On July 3, Bernhard said he could do about 50 pull-ups in one go, a number he has been building up slowly.
“Pull-ups are a weird thing, you don't add them in clumps, you add one or two at a time,” Bernhard said. “The hardest part for me is the grip strength; I just start losing it after a while.”
Bernhard said the charity aspect of his challenge came, in part, from his wife, Joanell Bernhard, who also came up with the “70 at 70” pitch. After they settled on a charity, Mark Bernhard contacted Tunnel to Towers Foundation with his idea, made a fundraising page for his campaign and began raising money.
Joanell Bernhard said she wasn’t surprised about her husband’s idea, but wanted to give it more purpose than his previous challenges.
“He's always kind of done his own thing about fitness,” Joanell Bernhard said. “It's a good cause and I kind of, ‘OK, if you're going to do it, let's do it with reason.’”
Mark Bernhard will take on “70at 70” on July 26 at the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA. He said his fundraising page will continue collecting donations until early August, which he said will be his reward for taking on such a tough physical feat.
“It pales in comparison to what people have done in the military and first responders,” Bernhard said. “It's just a way to give back to them.”
