A U.S. Marine veteran just held an abdominal plank for more than eight hours straight, securing his position as the Guinness World Record holder on Thursday.
At 62-years-old, George Hood held the abdominal plank position for eight hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds. To prepare for his world record attempt, Hood did 674,000 sit-ups, 270,000 push-ups and around 2,100 hours of planking, Guinness World Records reported.
Hood previously held the record at three hours, seven minutes and 15 seconds. Chinese police officer Mao Weidong usurped Hoods record in 2016 with a plank time of eight hours, one minute and one second. Now Hood has regained his title as the Guinness World Record holder for the longest plank.
Hood announced his successful world record attempt last week.
“Its official and I’m so very proud of this one,” Hood wrote.
Hood served as a Marine officer before joining the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and retiring from the agency as a Supervisory Special Agent. According to his personal bio, he has since gone on to join the fitness industry.
Later, Hood wrote, “in Dec 2018, I resigned my Fitness Director position at the YMCA to pursue my vision for giving purpose to the plank pose.”
Hood told the Washington Post he became obsessed with the static exercise when he first learned about it a decade ago.
“I did it every day. I would blow things off to get my planks in. It was like sugar,” he said.
Among his accomplishments, Hood has now set 13 world records. In a June 2018 charity event, Hood set two records first by taking on an unbroken plank hold for 10 hours, 10 minutes, 10 seconds and then by continuing to plank for another eight hours in total to set a record for most time spent in a plank position in a 24 hour period; 18 hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds.
“My plank is my best friend,” he continued, speaking to the Washington Post. “Do I have a social life? No, not one to really speak of, because all I do is train.”
The current women’s record for the abdominal plank position is held by Dana Glowacka of Canada, who held the position for four hours 19 minutes and 55 seconds.
