diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 7601ec8..cf76e6c 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 CC      ?= cc
-CFLAGS  += -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic -O2 -MD -MP -std=gnu99
+CFLAGS  += -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic -O3 -MD -MP -std=gnu99
 LDFLAGS +=
 
 SRC = $(shell find src/ -name '*.c')
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index a1a0632..2aecb91 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
 #include <time.h>
 
 #define error(ret, s, ...)                   \
@@ -14,10 +15,6 @@
 
 typedef unsigned long long ull;
 
-/* acquires the random data */
-long rdat(void) {
-	return random();
-}
 
 int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 	// get the current time to set as the seed
@@ -26,8 +23,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 	srandom(ts.tv_nsec);
 
 	// return the result if no input
-	if (argc <= 1) return printf("%s\n", (random() & 1) ? "heads" : "tails");
-
+	if (argc <= 1)
+		return printf("%s\n", (rand() & 1) ? "heads" : "tails");
 
 	// loop through arguments
 	for (unsigned i = 1; i < (unsigned)argc; ++i) {
@@ -35,23 +32,25 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 		errno = 0;
 		ull c = strtoull(argv[i], NULL, 10);
 		if (errno != 0) error(errno, "parse error for string: '%s'\n", argv[i]);
-		if (c < 1 || c > (ULLONG_MAX - 1)) error(1, "count may only be in between 1 and %llu. Received %llu\n", ULLONG_MAX - 1, c);
 
 		// perform for the input count
 		ull headsc = 0; // amount of heads
 		ull tailsc = 0; // amount of tails
 
+		while (c >= 31) {
+			c -= 31;
+			long n = random();                // generate a random number for this batch
+			int cnt = __builtin_popcountl(n); // counts the set bits
+			headsc += cnt;
+			tailsc += 31 - cnt;
+		}
 
-		for (ull j = 0; j < c; ++j) {
-			ull n = rdat();
-
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && __GNUC__ >= 8
-# pragma GCC unroll 31
-#elif defined(__clang__)
-# pragma unroll 31
-#endif
-			for (ull b = 1; b <= INT32_MAX; b <<= 1)
-				(void)((n & b) ? headsc++ : tailsc++); // increment the correct counter
+		if (c > 0) {
+			long n = random();
+			long msk = (1 << c) - 1;
+			int cnt = __builtin_popcountl(n & msk);
+			headsc += cnt;
+			tailsc += c - cnt;
 		}
 
 		// print the results of this cycle