Peer-reviewed norms from a study in the International Journal of Exercise Science put the median plank hold at 95 seconds for young women and 110 seconds for young men. But leading spine researcher Stuart McGill has long argued that a tidy neutral spine matters more than the clock, and NYU Langone exercise physiologist Heather Milton tells most adults to aim for a shorter, cleaner target.
The forearm plank is one of the most performed core exercises in home workouts and gyms, yet few people ever measure themselves against real data. The numbers below come from research on collegiate athletes and from established clinical protocols, so treat them as reference points, not report cards.
The peer-reviewed benchmark
The clearest sex-stratified figures come from a study of 102 college-aged athletes (18 to 25) published in the International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings. Participants held a standard forearm plank, with elbows at 90 degrees under the shoulders and feet hip-width apart, until form broke.
The median hold was 95 seconds for women and 110 seconds for men, with the middle 50 percent of women landing between 73.5 and 122.5 seconds, and the middle 50 percent of men between 84 and 135 seconds.
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Percentile | Women (seconds) | Men (seconds) |
|---|---|---|
25th Also read: Keto slashed liver fat by two-thirds, far more than the Mediterranean diet | 73.5 | 84 |
50th (median) | 95 Also read: Your daily medication may be reshaping your gut long after you stop taking it | 110 |
75th | 122.5 | 135 Also read: 8 warning signs of lymphoma most people mistake for a common illness |
Those numbers describe fit young adults. Compiled testing data indicates that plank endurance typically drops by roughly 10 to 15 percent per decade after age 35, so a 45-year-old should expect a lower personal best than a 25-year-old with the same training background.
Why McGill says form beats time
Canadian spine biomechanist Stuart McGill spent decades measuring how the trunk resists load. His clinical protocol treats the front plank as an endurance test with a practical ceiling around two minutes. Past that point, the assessment starts to measure discomfort tolerance more than core function.
McGill's torso endurance battery scores the plank on a neutral spine held to fatigue, with the test ending the moment the hips sag or the lower back arches. The lesson is simple. A wobbly three-minute hold reveals less about a healthy spine than a rock-steady 60 seconds.
Harvard Health Publishing offers the same framing for the general public. "Two minutes is often considered the maximum, and you don't get much more benefit after that," physical therapist L'Italien tells the outlet, which recommends beginners work up to holds of no more than 10 to 30 seconds in multiple sets.
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The practical target
For readers who want a concrete goal rather than a percentile, NYU Langone's Heather Milton points to a shorter number. In a Prevention interview, the exercise physiologist recommends adding a few seconds each week until you can hold cleanly for about 40 to 60 seconds.
Milton also tells trainees where the effort should show up. "Push your heels down towards the floor, and also squeeze your quads and your glute muscles. That will allow you to actually activate your core even deeper," she said.
Once the 60-second mark feels solid, she suggests progressing rather than piling on more time. "If you can hold a plank for longer than 60 seconds, you can start to add progressions such as lifting a leg or arm," Milton said.
When to stop the clock
The most useful stop signal is not fatigue in the abs but the first drift out of neutral position: hips dropping, lower back arching, or the head hanging. That is how the clinical tests are scored, and it is the point where a plank stops training the deep stabilizers and starts loading the lumbar spine.
If you want a full self-test library, Welltica has already published age-and-sex norms for push-ups and sit-ups, the two other classic markers of core and upper-body endurance.
For readers with existing low back pain, the Harvard guidance is to modify rather than push through, using a knee plank or a 45-degree wall lean until the neutral position feels comfortable.
This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.