On February 15th, George Hood, former US marine and a DEA Supervisory Special Agent, broke the Guiness world record for longest time holding plank position (male). The 62-year-old broke the previous world record with an 8 hour 15 minute and 15 second plank. 

For the past eight years, Hood has set the record from longest plank a total of six times. In 2011, Hood set the plank world record at 1 hour in 2012. But, when he attempted to break the record again in 2016, Mao Weidong, from China, took Hood’s title with an 8 hour 1 min and 1 second plank. After the defeat, Hood told the Guinness that he was “determined to take his title back.”  

Prior to the world record attempt, the former US Marine completed a 4-month training regimen that included a series of long planks. “It’s 4-5 hours a day in the plank pose,” Hood told CNN,”Then I do 700 pushups a day, 2,000 situps a day in sets of a hundred, 500 leg squats a day. For the upper body and the arms, I do approximately 300 arm curls a day.” For the past 18 months, he had trained for a total of 7 hours a day, he told USA Today. 

Hood’s new record-breaking time was inspired by a gym that was established to address mental illness, Five15 Fitness, who co-sponsored the event. Throughout the attempt, individuals and groups with autism and adult learning difficulties presented to Hood. He claims that planking helps him get rid of negative thoughts and helps him work through relationship issues.

After Guinness World Records adjudicator, Phillip Robertson, confirmed that Hood had indeed broken the record, George indicated that his record-breaking plank days are over. To wrap up the event, Hood performed 75 push ups that supposedly put a record-breaking push up attempt on the horizon.