How is it possible for a red-blooded human being to hold a plank for 8 HOURS?? Please enlighten me..

[werby]

I was reading this post and it says the world record for planks is 8 hours! It was achieved by a Chinese man who is a police officer.

How is that possible to hold a plank for that long when even the fittest athletes can only hold a plank for 3-5 MINUTES? I have searched on YouTube and that is actually considered an elite-level plank.

Is there something I'm missing? Maybe this world record involves a different form of plank?

 

[godsend11]

@werby You don't gain a lot from holding a plank that long so nobody bothers to train for that.

If you trained to curl a 10lb dumbbell 500 times, it's probably possible, but if you asked a guy who easily curls 50 lbs for reps to do it there's a pretty decent chance he'd wear out before he got there.

 

[caralynem]

@werby Wait till you see consecutive pullup WR

 

[dres]

@caralynem I was thinking of this except that I imagined it was around 120. 651 is insane! I really wanted to get to 20, but I have only ever gotten to 19, and that was while kipping a bit on the last few.

 

[mtwyo]

@dres Can't even do ONE at the moment. :-/

 

[hillaryaya]

@mtwyo If you would like to, start by getting the individual components down before putting it all together. It’s much less discouraging than floundering against full reps.

Start with bar hangs and getcha grip right. Also practice keeping your core right and holding your legs aloft so that by the time you transition to pull ups you aren’t having to divert so much attention to keeping your body steady. Maybe throw in some leg raises, sit ups, or isometric core exercises if you feel your trunk needs the extra training.

Once you can hang—I mean really just hang—for about a minute, add in some back/lat contractions. Think about pulling your shoulders/shoulder blades back and then down, away from your ears. Your body should raise slightly from the contraction and you’ll feel your arms tense, but don’t try to fully contract your biceps just yet, you should mostly feel it in your back and on your upper sides where your shoulders connect.

This is the weak point for a lot of people, as it’s where the initial thrust of your pulling motion comes from. Your arms probably aren’t as far off of being able to do pullups as you think, but these back and lat muscles are less commonly used outside of a fitness context so they tend to be less developed.

Do these hanging contractions for 15 second holds at a time and increase the number of reps as you are able. Once you can do like 20 reps of these 15 second holds in a row, you can start trying to do the full pull-ups. If you still find yourself struggling, continue with these back/lat holds and throw in some curls as well to get those biceps up to spec.

You can also always get a big ol resistance band (one of the few pieces of exercise equipment that aren’t criminally overpriced) to stretch under your knees to help make the transition toward body weight pull-ups. No shame in that whatsoever.

 

[mtwyo]

@hillaryaya Awesome.. Have been doing reverse pull-ups and hangs. Will add the shoulder/back stuff. Thank you.

 

[hillaryaya]

@mtwyo You bet brother! Pull-ups have always been an embarrassing weak point for me, even when I was in peak shape as an athlete. These exercises made all the difference for me. Best of luck!!! And congrats on your efforts to better yourself.

 

[dawn16]

@hillaryaya anything similar for pistol squat?

 

[hillaryaya]

@dawn16 I've always been pretty naturally gifted when it comes to squats so I haven't spent as much time strategizing for them, but I would say the same principles apply: breaking the movement down into it component parts, being present throughout the movement, identifying the limiting factors, and targeting them.

Pistol squats in particular are often limited more by flexibility, balance, and isometric stability than they are strength. The muscle groups involved are some of the largest and most regularly activated in the body and in general shouldn't be too far off from the power capacity to move one's body weight.

So, component supporting exercises I can think of off the dome to help would be:

-Glute bridges/hip thrusts w/ isometric hold. Single leg and/or weighted variants if you can manage. I notice a lot of times the part people really struggle with pistol squats isnt so much the leg extension/locking out, but rather the hip/glute strength and getting out of that lowest part of the squat steadily and safely.

-Good mornings/russian deadlift if you have access to weight. Can be done with a db or kettlebell, or really by holding anything heavy. Single leg varient in particular I think would help with pistol squat. (This is for core stability and lower back support so you're not getting that bend that pistol squats sometimes encourage)

-Lunges, weighted if possible. (For obvious reasons)

-Sumo squats (for hip flexibility and range of motion).

-Standing or hanging leg raises (for keeping that leg straight and stable so you can focus on the squat itself.)

And then lots of stretching so you're not fighting yourself so much. Hamstring stretches, hip flexor stretches, leg raises, lateral hip stretches, etc. I would also recommend some balance-oriented yoga poses or just practicing standing on one foot if that's a big holdup for you.

Another thing you can do to help get the ROM down is to use a prop to set your off-heel on to start to get your body used to maintaining that form without having to fully balance. You can start with a short prop and steadily raise it as your mobility and balance improve.

 

[thepuritanis]

@dres How do you even hold for that long?

 

[dres]

@thepuritanis 1 hour and 27 minutes!!!!

 

[dawn16]

@dres There's no way that was with strict form...

 

[jakemg]

@dawn16 Frankly at 651, I’m so impressed even if it’s kipping, bar to nose level etc….

 

[dawn16]

@jakemg Yeah that's fair, good call

 

[deafry42]

@dawn16 They were.

Besides the fact that it's judged and kipping isn't allowed, kipping wouldn't help. The man had to hang for almost an hour and a half to do it. If he had been kipping, the extra impact on grip alone would have killed their ability just to hang.

 

[thebackyardpreacher]

@dawn16 I dont know if he still holds the record but when David Goggins got his pull up record he did every rep with absolutely perfect form.

 

[dres]

@thebackyardpreacher He broke the most pull-ups in 24 hours record, which lets you get off of the bar. He probably also broke the continuous record just because it was fucking hard. Part of me is really impressed with Goggins because he is like an alchemist turning pain into pride, but also, I don't value pride or physical injuries, so I think of him as being an idiot, like the man that can hold his hand over a flame the longest.

 

[savvaspro]

@caralynem I'd like to see what they call pull ups for that. I doubt there's a single full ROM in there.

 

[dawn16]

@savvaspro They're not terrible though.