The singular Yorkshireman set his sixth world record in early April when he lifted 35,925 kilograms in an hour, smashing the previous record by more than 7,000kg. The statistics are mind-boggling. He lifted a 25kg bar-ball 1,437 times during the permitted 60-minute period - or almost four stone every two and a half seconds in old money. But that is piffling compared to what he hopes to achieve in the course of the next year. Among a clutch of other records that he is intent on breaking, he is planning to do the World’s Fittest Athlete Physical Fitness Challenge in September before having a crack at the Deca Ironman Triathlon next March. To discover what those two events comprise is almost frightening.

In addition to his full-time surveying job with Lotus Construction, Simpson also manages to fit in between 15 and 20 hours heavy-duty training each week as well as being a family man par excellence to his wife Lisa (yes, really - Lisa Simpson!) and daughters Leigh (nine) and Evy (seven). Friday evening is the one time of the week when he allows himself to stray a touch from his carefully controlled protein and carbohydrates diet while Saturday is set aside for the family.

Simpson claimed his first world record in June 2007 in the one-hour speed fitness challenge, an event in which he had to do six disciplines for 10 minutes each - and with no rest in between. And the result? He ran 1.59 kilometres on a treadmill, rowed 2.375 kilometres, managed 147 weighted chest presses, cycled 6.16 kilometres, punched pads 2,344 times and climbed 337.7 metres on a stationary climbing simulator with an 18kg backpack attached to him. Phew!

He hopes to add another world record to his burgeoning collection - the most roundhouse kicks in an hour (the record is presently 5,750) - at Seni 08, the International Combat Sports Show, in London in late April. He also holds the world records in the five-hour endurance event, the 10-kilometre speed march while wearing a 40lb backpack, army boots and jeans, and box steps in an hour while carrying a 40lb backpack and a 56lb backpack. Where will it all end?

“I’m just beginning,” says Simpson. “I’m only 30 at the moment, so I reckon I’ve got a good 10 years left in me yet. I am always on the lookout for new records and I want to have a minimum of 15 of them under my belt. As I get closer to the next record - and my training schedule is largely based around whatever my next target is - I am thinking increasingly of the record I want to beat after that one. I want the records I set to get harder and harder every time.”

No kidding. The World’s Fittest Athlete Physical Fitness Challenge - the one he will undertake in September - consists of 11 tests that have to be accomplished in the shortest time possible. And the 11 tests? A 110-mile bike ride, 3,250 sit-ups, a 12-mile walk, 20 miles on the cross-trainer, 300,000lb of weightlifting, 1,250 star jumps, 1,250 press-ups, 1,250 hip flexors, a 12-mile run, a two-mile swim and a 20-mile row. A five-minute break is permitted for each hour that the challenge lasts.

“The current record is 18 hours, 56 minutes and nine seconds,” Simpson confirms in the blink of an eye. “And I will beat that time. I don’t think I could enter such a challenge and think there was a chance I could fail. A couple of people have ended up in hospital with kidney and liver problems after trying to secure the record, due mainly to dehydration. There is a lot of science in beating records. You have to eat foods that don’t upset your stomach and that also allow you to keep running - or whatever you may be doing. With regard to supplements, you find out which ones suit you best on a trial-and-error basis while you are training.

“So, that’s the plan for September. And then I want to do the Deca Ironman Triathlon, hopefully for Sport Relief, in March 2009. I am absolutely certain I can beat that record, which currently stands at 198 hours. The challenge will probably have to be set up just for me, because there are obviously not a lot of people who would be stupid enough to want to do it with me! But I have a lot of friends who would be willing to accompany me on certain sections to help pull me through.” And what precisely would he need to be “pulled through“? Oh, just the small matter of a 24-mile swim, a 1,120-mile bike ride and a 262-mile run.

If you thought that Simpson’s unwavering pursuit of fitness records was a lifelong aspiration, however, you would be wrong.

“I would love to tell you that I harboured such ambitions when I was a young lad, but the truth is rather more straightforward. It actually started because of the sheer boredom I was experiencing in the gym. I have always been competitive since I started playing rugby league at the age of seven. In fact, I later played it semi-professionally for a couple of years. And I also tried my hand at Thai boxing for a few years, managing to remain unbeaten in competitive fights. But the bottom line was that I was bored of power-lifting and body-building in the gym. I needed targets and I wanted to succeed. And that‘s what I like to think I am doing now.”

At the height of his body-building days, five years ago, the 5ft 8in Simpson weighed in at just over 15st. Nowadays, his weight fluctuates between 12st 7lb and 13st, thanks to a strictly monitored diet that consists mainly of chicken, pasta, salmon, rice and baked potatoes. His one escape is on a Friday evening, when he takes out his wife and daughters for a family meal. He rarely touches alcohol these days.

“Friday evening is my time to do as I please, which means that I will eat pretty much what I want,” Simpson says. “And it’s almost always fish and chips. On Saturday, I get it out of my system without doing too much. In fact, I have just started ice-skating lessons with Lisa, Leigh and Evy, which is great fun. Saturday is very much a family day. I also love taking out the kids and our two dogs, a bull mastiff and a German shepherd, for a walk. I chase fitness records because I really, really love the challenge, but Lisa and the girls come first. You only have one life and they mean everything to me.

“As for alcohol, I haven’t had a drop since last Christmas. Don’t get me wrong. I like going out for a few beers with the lads, who always give me loads of banter about my fitness records, by the way. But the following day is a complete waste of time when it comes to training. And the day after that, for that matter.”

Simpson’s assault on the World’s Fittest Athlete Physical Fitness Challenge record in September means that he will temporarily have to cut back his surveying commitments to a part-time basis. He is also a qualified physical education teacher and would love, in due course, to become a professional fitness coach to children in a school environment (“and making it fun for them”) as well as giving motivational talks.

“Everyone is hell-bent these days on telling you what you can and can’t eat,” he concludes. “But I can tell them that I get to eat 6,000 calories a day without carrying any excess weight. It is a question of educating people. Yes, they can have chips or a chocolate bar if they want to, but they have to burn it off.”

Simpson is seeking sponsorship, so that he can mix fitness teaching and motivational talking with his pursuit of a raft of new fitness world records. But supposing, in the meantime, someone has the temerity to eclipse one of his records?

“I would say ‘congratulations’ to them, but I wouldn’t stop until I got the record back. You can be sure of that.”

Oh, and he is also planning to swim the English Channel next year with his two brothers. For the quite extraordinary Robin Simpson, that will probably be equivalent to a splash in the bath. Wish him well in his record-breaking aspirations. He is British and proud of it.

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