Plank is a simple but effective core training action, it is also many girls’ favorite actions (to reduce belly fat).

For most people, four minutes of planking sounds extreme, but athlete Dana Glowacki and most people are different, her planking duration is a bit longer.

Specifically, it's 4 hours 19 minutes 55 seconds, which is enough to create the first International Plank Training Conference held in Illinois in May 2019, setting a women's 'longest plank hold' world record.

Yoga teacher Glowacki's planking action broke the record held by Maria Kalerima, the new record is nearly an hour faster than 2015's 3 hours 31 minutes.

According to the Guinness World Records website, Glowacki's son found the record in an old Guinness World Record book and told her she could do it. That's when Glowacki started training, including the guidance of George Hood, who won the longest plank hold record in 2014 (at the time).

Her record and the effort she put in are amazing, but it's nothing new.

Today we want to talk about whether maintaining a long plank posture is really beneficial to the body?

First, as long as the body maintains the correct posture and muscles are effectively utilized, planking is safe.

For planking beginners, ‘the right posture’ means that the head and hips are in a straight line with the shoulders, or higher than the shoulders.

The correct planking posture means keeping your core muscles and quadriceps tight, with your hips raised. Your feet and arms should be as wide as your shoulders, and some people also like to keep their feet together.

If you want to reach Glowacki's level, how to train?

It is important to have a progressive training plan (just like Glowacki, she practiced for many years before setting a formal record), starting with short planking, lasting several hours of planking training is safe.

If trained correctly, the body's adaptive ability is amazing.

However, long-term planking, if you don't persevere and specialize in training, we do not recommend it for most people to try. Instead, we suggest creating tension in a short time 'with good posture'. If planking is done well, most people should feel fatigued within 30 to 60 seconds.

Although it's cool to be able to do several hours of planking, persevering for more than a few minutes has little benefit to the body. If you want a core strength stronger than most people, long planking is not the most effective training method, and it’s not the most time-saving.

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Obviously, if you can't do planking correctly, there is a risk of injury, just like any sport. If you feel pain in your neck or lower back while maintaining your posture, it may indicate that your upper and lower spine is weak.

We reiterate that maintaining the correct posture is key.