• Video
  • Shop
  • Culture
  • Family
  • Wellness
  • Food
  • Living
  • Style
  • Travel
  • News
  • Book Club
  • GMA3: WYNTK
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • Terms of Use
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Contact Us
  • © 2025 ABC News
  • Wellness

Mom does 5,332 burpees in 12 hours to help daughter with rare birth defect

0:46
Mom does 5,332 burpees in 12 hours to help daughter with rare birth defect
Courtesy Gena Laielli
ByKatie Kindelan
January 21, 2020, 9:18 AM

Gena Laielli, a 37-year-old mom of two, completed 5,332 burpees in 12 straight hours.

The number -- a staggering feat for anyone who has tried to do one burpee -- is poised to break a world record.

Editor’s Picks

Mom hears her baby's heart beating in the body of another baby

  • Aug 02, 2019

Formerly homeless amputee makes history at the Ironman World Championship

  • Jan 15, 2020

Mom of 2 donates kidney to single mom of 2 after seeing flyer

  • Jan 31, 2019

The world record will be a nice accolade, but the most important thing to Laielli is that she finished her burpee marathon with her 6-year-old daughter Emma by her side.

Emma was born with omphalocele, a rare birth defect of the abdominal wall in which a baby's organs "stick outside of the belly through the belly button," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Laielli, of New Jersey, found out about Emma's condition when she was around 13 weeks pregnant. She was told by doctors to "hope for the best but expect the worst" with her pregnancy and that she would likely miscarry.

After spending weeks of her pregnancy on bed rest, Laielli gave birth to Emma in June 2013, nearly seven weeks before her due date.

Emma spent the next nine months in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). When she went home, she still had a ventilator, a tracheotomy and required nursing care.

Related Articles

(MORE: This mom's realistic New Year's resolution is to simply 'survive')

When Emma came home from the NICU, Laielli created a home gym in her backyard so that she could exercise -- for the first time in nearly two years -- without being far from Emma.

As Emma healed and grew stronger, Laielli took her on runs and eventually opened up her own gym with her brother.

Six surgeries later, Emma is a kindergarten student who is expected to lead a long, normal and healthy life.

Each January, Emma joins her mom in doing an event at the family's gym to celebrate Omphalocele Awareness Month.

This year, they decided to do a burpee-a-thon at the gym to raise money for omphalocele research and CHOP, where Emma received life-saving care.

"I love burpees. They have always been my love language," said Laielli. "We are known as the 'burpee gym' around here."

In addition to the burpee-a-thon, Laielli decided to take on the challenge of breaking the world record for the most chest to ground push up burpees in 12 hours by a female. The current record, achieved by an Australian woman in 2018, stands at 4,785 burpees.

Laielli completed 5,332 burpees between 7:40 a.m. and 7:40 p.m. on Jan. 11 with a team of six judges required by Guinness Book of World Records watching and recording her every move.

Guinness Book of World Records confirmed to "GMA" that it received Laielli's world record application and is currently reviewing it, a process that could take several weeks.

Related Articles

(MORE: Single mom touches millions by teaching daughter with cerebral palsy how to walk)

Laielli says all 12 hours of the fitness ordeal were worth it to pay back Emma for all the strength she's shown over the years. Emma, who faced an uncertain future at birth, did burpees with her mom for the last 10 minutes of the challenge.

"We just took it hour by hour in the NICU because no one had any answers and there was no light at the end of the tunnel," Laielli said. "I’m glad we gave her that chance because she’s 6 years old and she has a bunch of scars but she’s totally fine."

"To see her doing burpees and knowing all that she went through and she’s busting burpees like it’s nothing, that just made my day," she said of Emma. "She is the strongest person I know."

Related Topics

  • Fitness

Editor’s Picks

Mom hears her baby's heart beating in the body of another baby

  • Aug 02, 2019

Formerly homeless amputee makes history at the Ironman World Championship

  • Jan 15, 2020

Mom of 2 donates kidney to single mom of 2 after seeing flyer

  • Jan 31, 2019

Up Next in Wellness—

Olivia Munn opens up about living with trichotillomania

July 1, 2025

Bacteria levels prompt some beach closures ahead of Fourth of July

July 1, 2025

Uterine cancer projected to rise in US by 2050, Black women likely to be hit hardest

July 1, 2025

Tallulah Willis reveals hair loss amid recovery from 'severe' anorexia

June 30, 2025

Shop GMA Favorites

ABC will receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

Sponsored Content by Taboola

The latest lifestyle and entertainment news and inspiration for how to live your best life - all from Good Morning America.
  • Contests
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Children’s Online Privacy Policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • About Nielsen Measurement
  • Press
  • Feedback
  • Shop FAQs
  • ABC News
  • ABC
  • All Videos
  • All Topics
  • Sitemap

© 2025 ABC News
  • Privacy Policy— 
  • Your US State Privacy Rights— 
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy— 
  • Interest-Based Ads— 
  • Terms of Use— 
  • Do Not Sell My Info— 
  • Contact Us— 

© 2025 ABC News