Remember when First Lady Michelle Obama was in the news because of her hula hooping campaign that was aimed at promoting children’s health? Well, she took a different approach last Tuesday; this time it is jumping jacks.

Obama planned to break the Guinness World Record for having the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24 hour period. Seem odd to you? Well, it kind of is, but I think we all get her message; she wants people to be active, and this is a source of motivation for them. In order to surpass the current standard of 20,000, she needs to have more than that number of people doing jumping jacks for a minute. What makes it a little bit easier for her, is that the people can be from around the entire world. You did not have to be on the South Lawn on Tuesday in order to be included in the count.

The First Lady was joined by local children in an effort to beat the record. Leading the effort to break the record is National Geographic Kids. The event is going to be reviewed by an official from the Guinnes World Records. It sounds pretty crazy, but I think that it is a cool idea.

I do not know if you have ever done a jumping jack, but they can give you quite a workout. If you are from the UK, you probably know “jumping jacks” as “star jumps;” however, if you have ever been through any army training, you may have referred to them as “side-straddle hops.”

Some other Guinness World records that have to do with jumping jacks are the world record for most jumping jacks in one minute, and the record for the most consecutive number of jumps. Lawrence Bond currently holds the record for the most jumping jacks in one minute – 108.  In 1979, Ashrita Furman earned the record for number of consecutive jumping jacks by completing  27,000 of them.

As you can see, jumping jacks can be pretty intensive workouts.  Did you help Michelle Obama and jump with her last Tuesday? You got a little bit of a workout while being part of a World Record!