DonnaJean Wilde wrote a master's degree on her elbows, then planked for five hours in Utah

At 3.03pm on Tuesday 6 October, DonnaJean Wilde lowered herself onto her forearms in St. George, Utah. She came back up at 8.03pm, Mountain Time.

Wilde, 61, a teacher from Magrath, just south of Lethbridge in Alberta, held the plank at the opening ceremonies of the Huntsman World Senior Games. Five hours is half an hour longer than the women’s record she set in March 2024, at 4 hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds. Guinness World Records has received an application and will review the evidence before it confirms a new record, ABC News reported.

The plank began with an injury. About 15 years ago Wilde broke her arm, and a forearm plank turned out to be something she could do in the cast, she told NPR. At first she managed a minute, perhaps a minute and a half. She kept going after the cast came off.

Work done face down

What sets Wilde apart is what she does while she holds the position. She types on a laptop propped in front of her.

“I completed a whole master’s degree while I was planking, wrote all my papers.” — DonnaJean Wilde, to NPR

She has written a book the same way. For this attempt she trained with her three-year-old granddaughter, Rose, lying on her back, ABC News reported. She has 12 grandchildren, and once held a world record for push-ups, with 1,575 in an hour.

The 2024 record was set at a high school in Alberta where she had been vice principal, Guinness World Records reported at the time. She told organisers in Utah about six months before this year’s Games that she wanted to beat it, and the attempt was timed to coincide with the opening ceremonies, KSL reported.

The last half hour

The record she was chasing was her own, and it was where the trouble came.

“When I got to four hours and 30 minutes, I really did hit a wall.” — DonnaJean Wilde, to NPR

With 10 to 15 minutes to go, Kyle Case, the Games’ chief executive, took the microphone and got the crowd cheering, she said. Judges came down to her level to urge her on. “They got me through the last 10 minutes,” she told ABC News. A video of the final moments has been viewed more than four million times.

Why this matters

Few people will want to plank for five hours. The useful part is the method: a hold that needs no kit, works the trunk, and can sit alongside something else you are doing.

The NHS (the UK health service) recommends strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups, including the abdomen and back, on at least two days a week, alongside 150 minutes of moderate activity.

Holds like the plank may do more than that. A 2023 review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, by researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Leicester, pooled 270 trials involving more than 15,000 people. Every type of exercise lowered resting blood pressure, but isometric exercise, which builds strength by holding a position such as a plank or a wall squat, lowered it most, Blood Pressure UK reported.

Build your own plank

• Start where it is easy. A plank against a worktop, or on your forearms and knees, counts. An NHS physiotherapy guide suggests holds of 5 to 10 seconds, repeated 8 to 10 times.
• Keep the line. Shoulders over elbows, hips level, eyes on the floor. When your back sags, the set is over.
• Breathe steadily. Keep breathing through every hold rather than holding your breath.
• Give your hands a job. Wilde reads and types. A book, a podcast or a crossword on the floor makes the clock less important.
• Check first if you need to. If you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, or have not exercised for a while, talk to your GP (family doctor) before starting.

For the case for strength work in general, read our guide on why strength training matters, and how to start at home. For a record that began with physiotherapy, see how Ravi Sood trained for knee surgery and came away with a national powerlifting record.