Guy Schott persists at showing us what we’re capable of.

Guy, a 46-year-old water engineer in Santa Rosa, pushed himself in recent years to set two world records on a pull-up bar. I am in awe of the man and am so grateful that he never asked me how many pull-ups I can do.

It occurred to Guy last year to see how many sit-ups he could perform. He got to 150 before his aching gut refused to do any more. Then he began training, pushing himself to achieve a few more sit-ups every day.

And last Saturday, at the Sonoma County Family YMCA, he took on the self-imposed challenge of setting a new world record for the most sit-ups performed in an hour. How many do you suppose he did?

Try 2,477, a new record. Guy is a humble man who takes on these physical feats just to demonstrate to himself what he can accomplish once he commits himself to a goal.

But the subtext, obviously, is that if he can make himself fit and strong enough to pull off almost 2,500 sit-ups, you and I can, too.