plank, how long can you do it?

c2sky
c2sky Posts: 487 Member
edited October 6 in Fitness and Exercise
How long can you hold your plank? (on your elbows with great form) just curious. I heard the world record was recently set by a 71 year old woman at 37 minutes!
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Replies

  • robinaddison
    robinaddison Posts: 232 Member
    37 minutes - holy crap!! The most I've EVER been able to hold was just shy of 2 minutes and it took a good 5 minutes afterwards before I stopped feeling like I was going to pass out. I like doing sets of 45sec - 1 minute. Long enough to work the muscles, not long enough to pass out!
  • c2sky
    c2sky Posts: 487 Member
    I do planks all different ways, like we did today, cutting 30 seconds off each time, filling it in with other core work.

    Somtimes we go the distance with legs on the BOSU. Sometimes I do a 1 minute plank followed by 6 ab exercise like the teaser or 60 100's or something equally taxing. Then we do 50 seconds with 5 of the ab exercises, then 40 seconds followed by 4 of the abs etc. until we get down to 10 seconds of plank and one solid, hard abdominal exercise.

    but I like to test myself or my class at the end of each month, so we tested at 2 minutes today. About 1/2 the class could do it, including women in their 60's. We've been incrementally working on them since September, where we started with testing for 1:30.
  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
    I can do it for about 12 seconds. I might be able to go 20 if I try really hard.

    Someday, if I'm lucky, I will be able to hold it for a minute. Kudos to the lady that held it for 37 minutes!
  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
    I can do 60 seconds but I've never timed it to see if I could go longer...... That woman's a beast!
  • bmqbonnie
    bmqbonnie Posts: 836 Member
    Gonna try now! I have a pretty strong core so I can do it for a good while but I'm not sure exactly how long.

    ETA: Awww, I only made it for 1'5". Thought I could go a lot longer than that. Something to work on I guess!
  • ster81
    ster81 Posts: 249
    After reading this post everyone at the house tried it lol. 5 min 34 seconds!
  • dmg16duke
    dmg16duke Posts: 27 Member
    37 minutes is insane! Way to go for that lady.

    If I was only doing the plank I could probably do it longer. In the middle of my strength workout, I can hold it for 3:00, but now I'm curious. Perhaps that's something for me to do tomorrow morning and test it. Thanks for the challenge!
  • I've completed a full minute or so... but trust me when I tell you that it was spent griping.

    Thirty-seven minutes though? She's a beast tride and true.
  • flausa
    flausa Posts: 534 Member
    Last I tested myself it was a minute 30, but that was months ago, so once I get out of my jimjams today, I'll test myself again. I'll make sure I have some good motivational music on!
  • I can only do about 1 minute for front & max of 45 seconds for side planks.
  • SwindonJogger
    SwindonJogger Posts: 325 Member
    The world plank record is actually held by George Hood (54) at 1hr 22:

    Video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w-uD-uPCBQ
  • hjy319
    hjy319 Posts: 269 Member
    My normal is 45 seconds to 1 min. I can't even begin to think of 5 minutes let alone 37!! :noway:
  • KarmaxKitty
    KarmaxKitty Posts: 901 Member
    One minute and some change. I'm still attempting to balance myself for a side plank. 37? Nonononono. XD
  • gazz777
    gazz777 Posts: 722
    Men, any comments ?

    Me ... I'm in bad form and my physio asks me to do 3 or 4 of 20 seconds.

    For the heck of it I started trying for longer ... 45, 60 seconds, twice over 60 seconds - 80 and 84 seconds.

    Usually I get a wobble happening and the shoulders ache. I think it's due to pretty good abs. They're behind spare tyre lol - just keep that off the floor in a plank lol.

    My next post to hold is a bridge backbend - 20 seconds on my 2nd attempt yesterday.
  • scarletleavy
    scarletleavy Posts: 841 Member
    I can do 5+ minutes, but I usually give up before that due to boredom, not because I can't hold it anymore. I have a seriously short attention span so I try to keep my reps/times for exercises as low as possible.
  • gazz777
    gazz777 Posts: 722
    I can do 5+ minutes, but I usually give up before that due to boredom, not because I can't hold it anymore. I have a seriously short attention span so I try to keep my reps/times for exercises as low as possible.
    I would LOVE an attention span of 5 minutes.

    My Physio wants me to take longer doing my prescribed exercises.

    Sloooooow music sometimes helps. Must ... focus ... on .... thread .... topic.
  • summer827
    summer827 Posts: 516 Member
    I usually go for one minute increments. Whoa!! I feel like I should at least try for 2 minutes now. Going to test myself later though to see how long I can go!
  • imjessly
    imjessly Posts: 140 Member
    Yeah I can exceed 5 minutes (while chanting "happy place, happy plaaaaccee", the more you do it the easier it gets to go for longer... sure does burn. I can't do the side ones for very long though...
  • After reading this post everyone at the house tried it lol. 5 min 34 seconds!

    I won't get close to that world record, but this MFP... Thanks for the challenge. I will be trying this later today..
  • premiumchilenita
    premiumchilenita Posts: 600 Member
    I can do 5+ minutes, but I usually give up before that due to boredom, not because I can't hold it anymore. I have a seriously short attention span so I try to keep my reps/times for exercises as low as possible.
    I would LOVE an attention span of 5 minutes.

    My Physio wants me to take longer doing my prescribed exercises.

    Sloooooow music sometimes helps. Must ... focus ... on .... thread .... topic.

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Cant......stop......laughing

    That's it !!!!! I'm so going to do a minute 2moro. I did 50secs today and then I'll do 2mins!!!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    How long can you hold your plank? (on your elbows with great form) just curious. I heard the world record was recently set by a 71 year old woman at 37 minutes!

    <Randall Graves from Clerks> 37?! In a ROW!? </ Randall Graves from Clerks> :noway:

    I never timed myself beyond one minute. I'm sure I could go longer, but probably not beyond two minutes.
  • Smelerz
    Smelerz Posts: 115 Member
    I can do it for 1min 45sec with nothing against my feet. the lady that did it for 37min was against a wall. Still very impressive.
  • gazz777
    gazz777 Posts: 722
    The gals are winning me thinks !
  • c2sky
    c2sky Posts: 487 Member
    I can do 5+ minutes, but I usually give up before that due to boredom, not because I can't hold it anymore. I have a seriously short attention span so I try to keep my reps/times for exercises as low as possible.
    I would LOVE an attention span of 5 minutes.

    My Physio wants me to take longer doing my prescribed exercises.

    Sloooooow music sometimes helps. Must ... focus ... on .... thread .... topic.

    oh, I just saw you put sLow music. For a moment, I was super excited and thought you put sHow music. So rare to find a guy that likes that!
  • c2sky
    c2sky Posts: 487 Member
    The world plank record is actually held by George Hood (54) at 1hr 22:

    Video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w-uD-uPCBQ

    Well, maybe she held world record for women? I'll have to check. I read it in Runner's World.
  • c2sky
    c2sky Posts: 487 Member
    After reading this post everyone at the house tried it lol. 5 min 34 seconds!

    Am I safe in saying you hold the MFP record? A few others mentioned they can go longer than 5. So let's see who can break the record.

    More importantly I wanna know how many people can reach a goal of a new plank personal record.
  • c2sky
    c2sky Posts: 487 Member
    Oh, and a kid at our high school went 16 minutes...small town, small school. Surely there is someone out there who wants to pursue that?
  • flausa
    flausa Posts: 534 Member
    Well, I finally got around to testing myself today. 4 minutes before I surrendered, and then I immediately thought, why couldn't I push for just a little bit longer. So, you've given me a new fitness goal for 2012.
  • 5 minutes and 40 seconds, so close to that 6 minute mark! I think I'll make that my new fitness goal. Thanks for the inspiration.
  • swillis21
    swillis21 Posts: 251 Member
    1:04
    lol, no record, but I have something to work on!
This discussion has been closed.