Meet: Guinness World Record holder James Lawrence

Also known as the “Iron Cowboy”, James Lawrence is a coach, a family man, and a Guinness World Record breaker. In short, “redefining impossible” is how he approaches life. He encourages others around the world to do the same.

Completing ‘The Fifty’ 

For many, completing one Ironman triathlon in a lifetime is a major achievement. James set himself the goal of completing 50. Summarized by IMDb as a “mental and physical journey that redefines the limits of what is humanly possible”, James’s experience of completing 50 Ironman triathlons in 50 US states over 50 consecutive days is what he is most well-known for. Each Ironman involves swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 62.2 miles. But James’s personal achievement is about so much more than just physical accomplishment. 

Family life 

James, now aged 44, knows a thing or two about balancing a busy lifestyle. When he’s not working on his business or building his athletic endurance, he can be found spending time with his wife and five – yes, five – children in his hometown, Utah. As a dad, James endeavors to pass his positive and resilient mentality down to his children. His daughter Lucy sums this up perfectly in one of James’s recent YouTube videos, saying:

"The biggest thing that my dad has taught me is there is no goal too big. That’s a line that he always says, and it’s true. He's always pushing us to do harder things. ...It’s like, ‘everything you do, make it big because everything that you do is important’.”

Before he began ‘The Fifty’, James spoke on his YouTube channel about how his children influence the goals that he sets for himself, saying:

“Anything I do, I do for (my children). I try to set examples for them. I try to set big goals and accomplish them.”

Pushing boundaries  

James is no stranger to exploring and pushing his mental and physical limits. After breaking several world records and building a business, James continues to set himself extremely daring goals. To support his body as he approaches his latest aspirations, James has added MitoQ to his routine, saying: “I’m a coach and I preach muscular endurance: MitoQ gives you the best starting point to enhance the recovery aspect of training.”     

James’s next challenge

Having completed ‘The Fifty’, James has set himself a new challenge for 2021: completing 100 Ironman triathlons in 100 days. In an honest video post, he has said:

“I am popping on the inside, and I’m also terrified because I have done ‘The Fifty’ and I know what the compounding effect of an Ironman a day has on the... body. The thing I’m scared about is I know what that fatigue feels like – that is not a good place to be. So, we’re going to do things differently this time. We’re going to be scientific about our approach. We’re going to change the way we train. We’re going to change the way we eat. We’re going to change the way we think. It’s going to be awesome!”