How many sit-ups can you do in one sitting? 50? 100? How about 10,000?

Although 10,000 sit-ups seems impossible, junior Dean Yunghans has proved that he can do that with ease.

On Saturday, Jan. 13, Yunghans performed 10,000 sit-ups within 10 hours to raise money for Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers of Prince William County. Care Net Pregnancy Center is a pro-life cause working to help women who are expecting children. Resource centers help women through the process and encourage healthy living during pregnancy.

Yunghans is very passionate about this cause and jumped at the opportunity to do anything to help.

“I think it is a great cause,” Yunghans said. “I’m glad I could use sit-ups as a way to donate.”

Being able to do 10,000 situps in one sitting takes lots of training, both physical and mental. As this was Yunghan’s first time participating in this fundraiser, he was not quite sure how to prepare.

“I was uncertain of how to prepare,” Yunghans said. “I spent time doing reps of 1,000-4,000 sit-ups as well as praying.”

As time goes by, you might think that it would be hard to focus on something other than the sit-ups and possible pain you might be experiencing while performing this daunting stunt. But Yunghans was aware of this and made sure that he came prepared.

“I had my friends there to cheer me on and distract me,” Yunghans said. “They spent time just talking to me so I didn’t have to focus on any pain.”

Freshman Alec Yunghans, Dean’s brother, was at the fundraiser during the entire process and was very proud to see his brother make such a big accomplishment.

“I can sympathize a lot with him because I run and have been involved in other sports,” Alec said. “I admire his ability to push through that pain and do it for a good cause.”

But, how does someone discover their talent and love for sit-ups?

When Dean was 10-years-old, he and his family were on vacation in Utah. Before they left to go home Yunghans spent the last hour doing sit-ups to see how many he could do.

“I just started to exercise before we had to leave the hotel and I did 1,000 then and there,” Yunghans said.

Completing 10,000 situps in one sitting is understandably a difficult task for most people. Yunghans admits that he began to struggle around 9,000 sit-ups and had doubts that maybe he couldn’t reach his goal.

“When I felt like I couldn’t make it to 10,000, I just thought about the cause,” Yunghans said. “My Christian faith was the main drive in doing this fundraiser for life and reaching my goal.”

Yunghan’s ten hours and 10,000 sit-ups really paid off. Hewas able to raise over $5,000 for the cause. Yunghans plans to do this fundraiser again next year; however, he is still recovering from minor hip injury from the number of sit-ups he performed this year.