You have probably held a plank at some point. Maybe in a yoga class, maybe at the end of a gym workout. But most people have no idea whether their time compares well to others their age.
Published research gives a clear picture. Core endurance peaks in your 20s and 30s, then drops by roughly 10 to 15 percent per decade after age 35, according to the plank testing resource Topend Sports.
The clearest numbers by age and sex come from a study of 60 younger and 60 older adults, published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies in April 2018. Both groups held a plank until failure.
Group Also read: 8 warning signs of colon cancer that can be mistaken for irritable bowel syndrome | Average plank hold |
|---|---|
Men, age 20-35 | About 177 seconds |
Women, age 20-35 Also read: How drinking kefir every day may change your gut health, immunity and blood pressure | About 152 seconds |
Men, age 60-79 | About 127 seconds |
Women, age 60-79 Also read: One nasal puff may ease treatment-resistant depression for up to eight weeks | About 125 seconds |
Men held the plank longer than women in both groups. The drop from the younger to the older group was about 28 percent for men and 18 percent for women.
A separate study of 102 college athletes aged 18 to 25, published in the International Journal of Exercise Science, found men averaged 118 seconds and women 106 seconds.
Simple age benchmarks you can use
The Topend Sports plank calculator breaks it down by age for everyday fitness. In your 20s, 90 seconds is good and 120 seconds is very good. In your 30s, 75 seconds is good. In your 40s, 60 seconds is good.
Also read: You may be low on this B vitamin and blame it on stress
For adults over 50, the same 10 to 15 percent per decade decline continues. A clean 40 to 50 second plank in your 60s sits comfortably against those numbers.
Why longer is not always better
Not every expert agrees that longer holds matter. Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, has argued that beyond about two minutes there is no additional benefit from holding a plank longer.
According to Women's Health Australia, McGill favors short, repeated 10-second holds for the average person rather than long static holds, because brief repeated contractions build the kind of stiffness that protects the spine during real movement.
What a solid plank actually looks like
Form matters more than the clock. Hips level with the shoulders, a straight line from head to heels, no sagging and no raised backside. If you cannot hold that line, the time ends there, regardless of what the stopwatch shows.
Also read: Common pesticide linked to more than double the risk of Parkinson's disease
A 30 to 60 second plank with clean form beats a two-minute hold that collapses halfway through. Add 5 seconds to your hold each week and recheck against the age benchmark in a month.
This article is made and published by Mie Hermansen, who may have used AI in the preparation.