I was busting everything to keep up

[Tinkerbell]

I was busting everything to keep up
??

[albeit]

I was busting everything to keep up
??

I don't know that I've ever heard this idiom using 'everything', Tinker, if indeed it holds the meaning I think it does.

I was busting my butt/my ass to keep up.

It means,

I was working really really hard [to do something].

'to keep up', if you don't already know means to keep pace with a set pace.

I went mountain climbing with some expert climbers and me, a novice. I was busting my butt/my ass to keep up with them.

Do you have more context for this?

[Raymott]

I was busting everything to keep up
??

I was busting my boiler to keep up.

[Tinkerbell]

At the 200 metre mark, Levi hadn’t pulled further ahead,
but he wasn’t slowing either. And I was starting to hurt. My
muscles were screaming at being pushed so fast but I wasn’t
going to ease off for anything. Keep your stroke clean, Jade.
Just stick with the plan . . .

By 400 metres I was busting everything to keep up. It
wasn’t strength or stamina keeping me going now, it was
sheer determination. The only thing keeping my muscles

working was the fact that slowing down wasn’t an option.

[Tinkerbell]

can I say "I was making a superhuman effort" ?

And what is the meaning of this: "All I had to do now was swim my girly guts out."

[albeit]

I was busting my boiler to keep up.

I've never heard that one, Raymott. Thanks.

[albeit]

can I say "I was making a superhuman effort" ?

I think that hat would be pretty much synonymous, Tinker.


And what is the meaning of this: "All I had to do now was swim my girly guts out."

I've never heard that one and given that it uses 'girly', it could have some extra meaning that I'm not aware of.

[Ouisch]

[QUOTE=Tinkerbell;513449][FONT=FournierMT-Regular][SIZE=4][FONT=FournierMT-Regular][SIZE=4]can I say "I was making a superhuman effort" ?

Yes. "Superhuman effort" means about the same thing as "busting my butt" or "busting my hump" or any of the other dozens of variations of this phrase. It basically means to give the effort everything in your power, don't hold back anything. Also, when we "bust our butts" to do something, whether it's winning a race or completing a job on time, it also implies that the effort was exhausting, and maybe there was even some pain and perspiration involved in getting it done.