As a math professor, Michael Bossé crunches numbers in the classroom.

But in the gym, he crunches his abs.  

When senior marketing major Ross Brigman first met 52-year-old Bossé, he asked Brigman if he had ever seen what 2,000 crunches looks like.

“And he goes and gets down on the ground, and 30 minutes later, he’s done 2,000,” Brigman said. “He makes a lot of 21 and 22-year-olds go, ‘What the heck?’”
Bossé said sometimes students in his class will challenge him, but it’s usually something they only try once.

“The reason I do that, first of all, it humanizes me,” Bossé said. “And for some of them, hopefully, it gets them interested in exercising a little more than they do.”

Bossé said he’s not going to beat students running or weight lifting any more, but this is one of those things that’s “ever so fun.”

“When you get older, [exercise] has to be more a part of your life to maintain your health,” Bossé said.

One morning, Brigman said he saw Bossé do 5,000 crunches, which is the most he’s ever seen him do.

“At that point, I wasn’t surprised any more,” Brigman said.

When Bossé does 5,000 crunches, he said they can alternate from 100 crunches and 100 leg raises, but they are non-stop. In a recent workout, 5,000 crunches took Bossé 90 minutes.

“I even had a witness because no ever believes me,” Bossé said.

The most crunches Bosse has ever done was 7,000. However, he said he could probably do up to 10,000 crunches if he had three to four hours.

Bossé said hundreds of crunches are usually a light workout for him.

Bossé  also walks at least five to seven miles per week, does aerobic exercise for at least four to five hours per week and about five days per week he does some light work with weights.

Story: KELLI STRAKA, News Reporter