Those who have never performed this exercise may grin and think that there is nothing special about doing it. However, in reality, setting a plank record is not at all easy, and not everyone can stand in the correct position for even a few minutes. Let's find out which results at the national and world level are considered the most outstanding and figure out who the undisputed champion is in this.
Tom Hall
Third place belongs to Dane Tom Hall, who stood in the plank for 4 hours 28 minutes. He is a 51-year-old fitness trainer who has spent about a year training for sports. Over the past 4 months, he has been intensively taking care of himself: eating right, taking care of his mental and physical health.
3.5 hours after the start of the competition, Tom wanted to quit the race. The only thing that stopped him was the information about how long he had already held out. The decision made helped the athlete stand for another hour and become the best.
How a former military man prepared for sports tests
In recent months, Hood has devoted at least seven hours a day to exercise and all kinds of muscle tests. Moreover, the sports enthusiast himself believes that the result he achieved is not at all fantastic data beyond the bounds of the possible. The human body has unique resources, you just need to discover them. According to George, a healthy lifestyle, strength and cardio training opens the way to a wonderful world of limitless reserves for everyone. And it's not a matter of age restrictions. At sixty, seventy and even eighty years old, you can achieve excellent results if you gain willpower and patience.
Of course, Hood was awarded not only an entry in the famous Book and a certificate confirming his achievement, but also a considerable monetary reward. However, the American champion shared his plans for the future with reporters and admitted that he would donate the entire amount to the needs of a charitable foundation that helps patients with mental disorders.
Mao Weidong
The official world record is recorded in the Guinness Book and belongs to a Chinese man named Mao Weidong. It is interesting that this person has nothing to do with professional sports. He serves in the anti-terrorism police department and trains as part of the physical training necessary to do his job well.
Mao Weidong stood in the plank for 8 hours 1 minute on May 14, 2016 in Beijing, which greatly surprised those around him. Throughout this entire time, he remained calm and smiled.
When the record was recorded, the policeman did push-ups from the floor several times, which indicates his excellent physical shape and endurance.
World Record: High Jump (Women)
A similar situation exists among women athletes. Bulgarian jumper Stefka Kostadinova became the best among women in indoor jumping five times (from 1985 to 1997), and this is also a unique achievement. She first showed the best result in the high jump in 1986, taking the bar at 208 cm, and a year later she improved it by 1 cm, setting the current world record. At the same time, Stefka’s height is 180 cm. Currently, Ms. Kostadinova holds the post of President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.
George Hood
First place rightfully belongs to George Hood, a former Marine Corps employee. In 2020, he stood in the plank for 7 hours and 40 minutes. Thus, the athlete broke his previous record, but lost first place to a Chinese policeman.
Failure did not unsettle George, and soon he made 2 more attempts. The first time the time was 9 hours 11 minutes, the second - 10 hours 10 minutes. Unfortunately, these achievements were not confirmed and were not included in the Guinness Book of Records.
These examples clearly show: not only professional athletes, but also ordinary people stand on the bar. Setting a world record may not be possible, but toning up your body and strengthening your muscles is quite possible.
Children's plank records
In April 2020, nine-year-old Amir Makhmet from Kazakhstan applied for his own entry in the Guinness Book of Records. His record for the elbow plank is 1 hour 2 minutes. This is an absolute children's record, which not every adult can repeat.
After recording the record, the boy said that standing for so long in one position was not particularly difficult for him.
This is not the only record in the boy’s beginning sports biography. Before that, he managed to do 750 push-ups. High sporting achievements do not interfere with Amir’s educational success. He not only shows record results, but also studies with excellent marks.
Advanced plank
Dr. Stuart McGill, a back biomechanics specialist, tells 3 Fitness Tests You Should Be Able to Pass that two minutes is a great goal for a standard forearm plank. If you can hold the correct position for two minutes, then you have a strong core.
A student study of Fitness Norms for the Plank Exercise at Linfield College involving 168 volunteers found that female students could hold the plank for an average of 1 minute 30 seconds, and male students for 1 minute 46 seconds. Based on these data, the researchers concluded that holding out for more than two minutes is an excellent result.
Of course, two minutes is not an absolute record for a trained person.
Once you reach the two-minute mark, you can increase the difficulty of the exercise: stand on one arm and leg, add movements, resistance, weight on the back and much more. You can do it at least every day, so you won’t get tired of the exercise.
Of course, you can stop at the classic bar, increase your time to the maximum and set a new record, if not a world record, then at least a personal one. And so as not to get bored doing this, I suggest taking part in a competition among Lifehacker readers.
You set the bar yourself
Tom Hall is a professional trainer and owner of a fitness center in the Danish town of Frederiksund. To compete with chain gyms, one day he decided to show how much better he was than other trainers. To do this, he did not lift weights, run long distances or test himself for survival - all he needed was gender and his own body.
In 2014, he started with 8 minutes of static exercises lying on his elbows, adding 5 minutes per week. A year later, he was already holding on for three hours. “I chose the plank because over the years the exercise has been gaining monstrous popularity, but you shouldn’t think that such training will benefit everyone,” he says, “in group training we never exceed the time of 3 minutes, and that’s enough.”
Hall is a professional athlete, Danish champion in sports aerobics in 1997. He is sure that it was his sports background that helped him break the world record, however, Hall o.
86-year-old record holder beats young gymnasts
When the German stage of the World Cup in the most difficult sport, gymnastics, took place several years ago, the oldest representative of the art of mastering her own body took part in it. At that time, the German woman Johanna Kaas was eighty-six years old. And she began to practice gymnastics professionally at the age of thirty.
Before the World Cup, a unique grandmother competed with older women. But now she has become a record holder, since she performed on par with the young participants in the competition. And left many of them far behind. The audience rejoiced and the judges were delighted. Of course, the flexible centenarian has broken all records in this sport thanks to her years and excellent results. She conquered the gymnastic apparatus with ease. And even young gymnasts can envy her strength, grace of movements, balance and incredible endurance.
Pole vaulting
Pole vaulting looks no less attractive and dynamic. After all, here the jumper needs to move his body over a horizontal bar with the help of an athletics pole.
This type of jumping among men was included in the Olympic program back in 1896. But women were allowed to participate in this type of competition at the Sydney Olympics only in 2000.
What's next?
Many experts say that new world records in weightlifting, which are set by athletes, are less and less different from those already set. And this is even despite new methods, nutrition and funding for athletes. More and more people associate this with the fact that they have simply already come close to the capabilities of the physical strength of the human body, and therefore there can no longer be large gaps in the records. Whether this is true or not, only time will help figure it out. As they say, “we’ll wait and see.”
If you're just starting out, 30 seconds of planking will be enough. On the first day, do four sets of 30 seconds each and try to add a few seconds to each set.
The shoulders should be located above the hands (above the elbows if you are doing a plank on the forearms), the legs should be straight, and the lower back should not sag. In the plank, you need to maintain strong tension, squeeze your buttocks and twist your pelvis forward, towards your hands.
If after 20 seconds you relax your buttocks and your lower back begins to “sag,” there is no point in holding the plank longer. It's better to rest for a minute and then do the plank again with perfect technique.
Challenge from Lifehacker
I tried to stay in a forearm plank for as long as possible. The result was 3 minutes and 15 seconds. I started shaking after about one and a half to two minutes.
Post your video planks in the comments to the article. I used the WodProof app with an on-screen timer. Let's see who can last the longest.
The plank is a physical static exercise that ensures the development of the abdominal and back muscles, and at the same time the entire condition of the human body. Athletes who practice such exercises in all their varieties receive general strengthening of all muscles of the body.
What is the world record for Planck, how long can you stand?
| date | Plank time | Record |
| May 2016 | 8 hours 1 minute | The most recent world record for standing in the Plank exercise is 8 hours and 1 minute. Mao Weidong, a Chinese policeman, managed to remain in a motionless position for exactly that long. And although the world record holder is not some kind of sports ace, he regularly plays sports at the amateur level, and also serves in a unit that fights terrorism in China. At the same time, our hero, after the record was recorded, to celebrate, to consolidate the success achieved, he also managed to do push-ups from the floor several times. The record was set in May 2020, but has not yet been broken by anyone. |
| 2015, May 30 | 5 hours 15 minutes | The previous world record, which was 5 hours and 15 minutes of continuous stay in a static position, belonged to the American citizen George Hood. This record was set on May 30, 2020. At the time of the exercise, which at that time went down in history, George Hood was 57 years old. A former Marine who has been friends with sports all his adult life and was a fitness trainer at the time of the record. To show such a result, George spent 9 months on preliminary preparations, which included 4 - 6 hours of daily grueling training. To do this, he additionally placed a load weighing 10–20 kg on his back. The record itself was associated with another significant event - on this day, a charity fundraiser was held for military veterans who had become disabled. |
| 2015, May 22 | 4 hours 28 minutes | Next on our list is the record set on May 22, 2015 by Dane Tom Hall. That day, the athlete managed to keep his back straight for a full 4 hours and 28 minutes. It should be noted that at the time the record was recorded, the athlete was 51 years old; he, like his previous sports colleague, worked as a fitness trainer. Preparing for the set world record took about a year, and for the last four months he was actively taking care of himself, monitoring his physical and mental state, and nutrition. Already directly in the process of performing the exercise, Tom, according to him, had already decided to quit the race, but when he was told that he had been in this position for over three and a half hours, he decided to mobilize and bring what he had started to its logical conclusion. As a result, the record was set, although it did not last so long. |
| 2014, September | 4 hours 26 minutes | Before Tom Hall, the current unsurpassed Chinese champion Mao Weidung was considered the record holder for holding the bar. At that time, his result was a time of 4 hours and 26 minutes. The record was recorded in September 2014, when our champion was 43 years old. According to Mao, he was able to achieve such a result thanks to his love for his wife. As we have already described, he is a Chinese police officer of the anti-terrorist operations forces, plays sports for himself and maintains excellent physical shape, as evidenced by the achieved result. |
| 2014, June | 4 hours 1 minute | Moreover, the record holder before this was none other than George Hood, already known to us. Its indicators, which observers were able to record, were 4 hours and 1 minute. The record came to public attention in June 2014, but, as we see, it could not hold out for a long time. By the way, it is worth pointing out that this comprehensively developed person is the owner of another very interesting record - he managed to surprise the world by jumping rope non-stop for 13 hours in a row. |
| 2013 | 3 hours 7 minutes | Regarding earlier records set in 2013, our restless Marine George Hood distinguished himself here again. At that moment, his personal achievement and world record at that time was being in a stationary statistical position for 3 hours 7 minutes. As we can see, over time, the athlete managed to significantly increase this figure, even despite his older age than at the time of setting this record. |
How long should you hold the bar and how to achieve 8 hours 1 minute?
In appearance, the exercise seems quite simple and not difficult, but in fact this is far from the case. The fact is that you don’t need to do anything complicated here, just take the position as before starting push-ups on your hands, and stay in this position for as long as you can stand it. Beginning athletes practice several short approaches of a few minutes each. For those who have never encountered physical exercise before, you can start with 15 seconds, and then increase the time spent in this position to the maximum possible. For an untrained person, standing in a motionless position, performing Plank exercises for 2-3 minutes, is a serious indicator, and if you can stand for more than 10 minutes, this is already a real achievement. It is optimal if each stay in this position is 60 – 90 seconds. The amount of rest should be twice as much time as you spent on the exercise. Regarding the approaches, it is best to start with three and gradually increase them, but no more than 10.
Today there are several varieties of this exercise. The classic plank is holding the body parallel to the surface on the elbows and toes. In this case, the back should be straight all the time. Of the varieties of this exercise, we should highlight the Plank stand on fully extended arms, on the fingers, on one hand, sideways, on retail objects. There can be many varieties, the essence is the same - to hold in a motionless position for as long as possible.
Regarding practical application, the exercise is actively used not only by professional athletes, but also by the military, law enforcement officers, as well as people who want to improve the general physical condition of their body. Ultimately, it affects the general condition of the body, allows you to strengthen the muscular system, normalize blood pressure, and increase the tone of the body. It is important to note that in order to perform this exercise you do not need to have any sports equipment, initial preparation, you do not even need to allocate a separate place in the apartment - just occupy a passage in the room, kitchen, bedroom or hallway for a while. Here it is initially important to monitor the cleanliness of the exercise being performed. You need your body to take the correct shape while performing it. Sacrifice your initial time, but you will get real results in the coming days.
What does Planck affect?
Before deciding whether or not to start doing something, everyone tries to understand what they will get in the end. In this case, simply standing in a motionless position, if there is no positive effect from it, will bring pleasure to few people. You need to understand what will happen at the finish line. Therefore, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with what exactly this exercise affects and what types of muscles are involved here.
- - This is the basis for strengthening your abdominal muscles. In this case, all muscle groups responsible for the formation of sculpted classic abs, which you can see in the pictures when you look at professional athletes, are involved.
- Further, this exercise promotes elasticity, flexibility, strengthens muscle tissue, and makes your body more resistant to various loads. In this case, directly or indirectly, all types of muscles are involved, including those located on your feet.
- Like all other physical exercises, “Plank” helps improve your mood. After you finish your workouts, your whole body receives a charge of vivacity, energy, and relaxation.
- Those people who regularly engage in this sport will very soon feel that their overall coordination of movements when walking, running, and various sudden actions becomes more concentrated, the level of reaction increases, their posture is leveled, and certain painful sensations disappear.
- You will be able to observe all this for yourself personally after the first month of regular classes. Believe me, it is not as difficult as it may seem from the outside, but it is also not entirely easy, as many try to make it seem.
Now that we have become a little familiar with what the Planck exercise is, we can talk about the chronology of the records that have been recorded in the world.
Other world records associated with Planck
Today, the plank is an exercise that is available to anyone. Therefore, it is used by children, women, and elderly people for the general development and strengthening of their body. Therefore, it is not only men who set records, which we invite you to verify.
The world record among children for being in the “Plank” belongs to the Kazakh boy Amir Makhmetov, who was only 9 years old at the time the indicator was recorded. In 2020, this little boy managed to hold his body in a static position motionless for one hour and 2 minutes. This achievement was included in the Guinness World Records. For the boy, in his words, this exercise was not difficult and was not at all boring. By the way, this young man holds another record - he managed to show the result of push-ups from the floor over 500 times at a time!
To new achievements!
Pay attention to the dynamics of world records in various types of sports. An inquisitive mind will immediately notice that over the last hundred years these indicators have been steadily growing and becoming higher, and athletes are becoming stronger and more resilient. What previously seemed an unattainable result is now becoming commonplace. Don't be left on the sidelines of sports history and start training with our website. Perhaps one day we will write an article specifically about your plank record!
And now some videos with world record holders:
Sources:
https://www.fitnessera.ru/nelegkaya-rabota-rekordy-po-planke-v-strane-i-mire.html https://revmatolog.net/training/rekordy-po-planke-v-mire-i -rossii https://planka.su/planka-mirovye-rekordy
