John Sifferman on Elbow Plank VS Pushup-Position Plank

This is good.

In Hillfit I use the pushup plank as a test.  If you cannot hold this position for at least a minute then you have no business doing pushups - your core will fail so that you will not be able to keep the pushups going in proper form.

Another plank....

Brett Contreras on a more difficult version of the plank.....

That Plank World Record....The Video

Yesterday I posted about George Hood breaking the world plank record with a phenomenal time of 1 hour 20 minutes  and 5.01 seconds.... John Sifferman is a connoisseur of the plank and had a good post today of the achievement, which included this inspirational video:





John proposes a challenge: a 5 Minute Plank...

George Hood. That’s the name of the man who will be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records after holding the plank exercise longer than anyone else ever has – obliterating the world record by nearly 30 seconds…wait…I mean minutes – 30 minutes.

Maybe you’ve done a plank before, and maybe you thought you’ve done pretty well. Depending on who you talk to, a three minute plank hold is generally considered the gold standard – and anything beyond that is just gravy. Once you’ve hit 3 minutes and beyond, your core is already plenty strong – or so they say. However, I think a growing number of people have already proven that much of successful planking is all in your head. Mental toughness was certainly a deciding factor with the 5 minute plank challenge I posted last year. And I mean, come on, once you’ve done it for 5 minutes, you’re in the elite club, right?

New world record for the plank

This is absolutely mind blowing.

While browsing around looking for images of the plank for an ebook I am working on, I came across this piece of news: a 54 year old man has just set a world record for the plank.  The staggering thing is the length of time that he held the plank:  1 hour, 20 minutes and 5.01 seconds.

That is almost unbelievable - I think I am doing well when I get 3 minutes!

George Hood broke the Guinness World Record on December 3 for the "Longest time in an abdominal plank position," clocking in at 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 5.01 seconds. The record-breaking took place at Eggsperience Pancakes and Cafe in Naperville, where owner John Sakoufakis created a special venue for Hood.

  The full story is here: George Hood breaks Guinness record for plank

I liked his comment:

“I wanted to raise awareness with regard to the benefits of core strength, for one’s personal fitness and overall health,” said Hood, a personal trainer and former Marine. “I see so many people who are overweight, have bad posture and can’t walk from point A to point B. It all comes back to one’s core, and this particular exercise is the best one out there.”

and also that the work only began after 50 minutes!

“Once I broke the record (at 50 minutes), the work began,” Hood said. “When we got to an hour and 12 (minutes), I was ready to call it, but that crew guided me through one minute at a time. They were the only three people in my head and in my ear.”

  John Sifferman - now it is your turn!