The world record for body piercings just got tougher! In early May 2009, a new record for body piercings was achieved. Arlington piercer Tyson Turk seems to have the knack for finding enthusiastic subjects. As the man behind the needles of the former record-holding piercing session, he was again the artist doing the piercing. This attempts brave “piercee” was Jeremy Stroud, a diesel mechanic, who until recently had a more conventional amount of piercings, tattoos and gauged ears.

For the attempt, a “test run” was conducted by Turk on Stroud earlier in the year so that Stroud could get an idea of what he would really be in for with the actual record attempt. That piercing session involved 50 piercings, with the duo setting their hoped-for goal at 2,000 body piercings. These were not permanent body piercings but play piercings, done with hypodermic needle tips and not having body jewelry inserted into them.

The previous Guinness World Record for Body Piercings was performed by Turk on a Dallas man named Robert Jesus Rubio. In that attempt, the duo managed to get 900 piercings on Rubio before the sensations and experience became too much for him. In this record-breaking attempt with Stroud, they were planning 2,000 piercing but had to stop at 1,197 because that was as much as Stroud could endure. Emergency medical technicians were standing by during the piercing session and monitored Stroud’s health condition the entire time. Just to give you an idea of how tough it can be to get that many piercings, Stroud’s heart rate reached 130 beat per minute at one point in the process.

In order to achieve a Guinness World Record, a careful documentation process must be followed which includes witnesses, notarized statements, and specific documentation. Overall, it took eight months of preparation to get ready for the attempt and it wasn’t something that could really be practiced to the extent that the piercer or piercee had a clear idea of what to expect once they got going. However, piercer Turk is attempting to get himself listed as “world’s fastest piercer” and one suspects he’ll find a third candidate sometime in the future to make another attempt.