How to Get Fit According to 59-Year-Old Who Can Plank for 4.5 Hours

• DonnaJean Wilde, 59, holds the world records for the longest plank and most push-ups by a woman.
• She can plank for 4.5 hours and do 1,575 push-ups in an hour.
• She shared tips on how to get and stay strong at any age.

DonnaJean Wilde started planking in the early 2010s, when her children started doing it in random locations as part of a viral craze. At the time, her wrist was in a cast so she couldn’t run and strength train as she normally would — but she could plank on her forearms.

Wilde, a teacher, started planking for longer and longer amounts of time each day, and by 2020 she was able to plank for hours, planning lessons and reading for her master’s degree while horizontal.

Now retired at age 59, she holds two world records — one for the longest time spent in an abdominal plank position by a woman (four hours, 30 minutes, and 11 seconds), and one for most push-ups (1,575) in one hour by a woman.

Wilde’s feats aren’t just impressive, they require strength and could be helping her to age healthily.

People typically lose muscle mass as they age, but strength training can help to maintain it — and is linked to living longer. A 2022 meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that strength training for an hour a week appeared to lower the risk of dying from any cause by 27%. Resistance training helps to regulate blood pressure and insulin sensitivity, improve lean muscle mass and strength, and reduce belly fat, the authors said.

After she signed up to attempt to break the world record for longest plank, she started training by doing hundreds of push-ups a day — and then decided that would be her next challenge.

“I realized I loved push-ups, too. So, I increased to about a thousand push-ups a day, and tried to shorten the amount of time it took me to do it,” she said. “By the official attempt, I had already broken the push-up record at home a few times.”

While most of us won’t be spending hours planking or doing push-ups, Wilde shared what has helped her to stay fit.

Find an activity you love

“Just go with whatever it is that makes you feel good, and just start,” Wilde said, because loving the exercise you choose to do is key to maintaining it as a habit.

“I still plank because I love it. Whenever I have texts or emails to reply to or something to read, I just go on the floor wherever I am and just plank,” she said.

While it’s important to do a mix of cardio and strength training, Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist and healthy aging researcher previously told Business Insider the best exercise is what you can stick to.

Start small, taking one step at a time

It took Wilde a decade to build up to planking for hours.

“Little by little, it becomes a lot — it’s just that compounding effect. It’s called ‘aggregation of marginal gains,'” she said, referring to the idea that making small changes can add up to significant progress in whatever you do.

But in order to make those gains, you have to “just start,” she said.

Experts concur: Sohee Lee, a personal trainer, previously told BI that the best way to get fit is to ease yourself in with lighter workouts so that you aren’t deterred from continuing.

Think about the benefits

“I love the way planking makes me feel,” Wilde said. “It helps me to stand up straight, and it just helps me feel strong. And I never have any back pain, which I attribute to planking and push-ups.”

She said it also helps her keep up with her grandkids every day and stay mentally healthy.

Exercising has benefits ranging from reducing your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, as well as improving your brain function and memory.