Average Plank Time by Age: What the Research Actually Shows

The most-cited published plank norms come from a study of 471 college-aged students, where the median hold was 110 seconds for men and 72 seconds for women [1]. A separate study of 120 adults, half aged 20 to 35 and half aged 60 to 79, reported an overall mean of about 145 seconds, with the younger group holding significantly longer than the older group [2]. There is no large, age-stratified plank dataset covering every decade of adult life, which is worth knowing before you compare yourself to a chart. This post covers what the real numbers are, where the popular age tables come from, and how to test your own plank time in a way that means something.

What’s the average plank time?

In the most-cited plank study of average hold times, 471 college-aged students (194 men, 277 women, average age around 20) held a forearm plank to failure. The median hold was 110 seconds for the men and 72 seconds for the women [1]. This study is where most of the numbers you see online ultimately trace back to.

Those are medians, so half of that group held for less. They were also young and at university. Only about a quarter were varsity athletes, but those athletes held significantly longer than the rest (means of 123 seconds against 83 seconds), so athletic background shifts the number more than the headline medians suggest [1].

Average plank time by age

There is no large study that reports average plank hold times decade by decade across adult life. The age tables that circulate on fitness sites are mostly gym conventions, assembled from coaching experience and small samples rather than from normative studies, so can be useful as a rough reference point.

The commonly repeated line that plank endurance falls by 10 to 15 percent per decade after 35 is a good example. Treat it as a rule of thumb, not a scientific finding.

What the research does show is that the plank is a reliable test across the age groups that have been studied. A 2018 study compared 60 adults aged 20 to 35 with 60 aged 60 to 79. Across the whole sample the mean hold was 145.3 seconds, the younger group held significantly longer than the older group, and hold times were positively associated with physical activity levels and negatively associated with body mass index and waist circumference [2]. A 2025 study of 84 adults aged 18 to 62 found the front plank test extremely reliable in both the age groups it tested, although most of its participants were young: 64 were under 34 and only 20 were aged 34 to 62, with a mean age of 28 [3].

What one study found by age and sex

That 2018 study is the closest thing to a published age comparison for the plank. It tested 120 adults, with 30 people in each age-and-sex group, and the younger participants held significantly longer than the older ones [2].

These figures come from one relatively small study and cover only two broad age bands. They are not population-wide norms, and they cannot be stretched into a decade-by-decade chart for people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. That is the whole problem with the tables you find elsewhere: the evidence supports the direction of the effect, not the precision.

Age is part of the picture, but it is not the only factor. Plank time has also been linked to physical activity and body composition, and the findings are not consistent: the 2018 study found a positive association with physical activity, while the 2025 study found none, and instead found moderate negative correlations with body fat percentage [2][3].

A practical way to interpret your plank time

These are not research-based age norms or clinical cut-offs. They are training reference points, and they assume clean form throughout. The clock only counts while your hips are level and your back is flat.

• Under 30 seconds: a starting point, and completely normal if you are new to it
• 30 to 60 seconds: a solid working range to train in
• 60 to 120 seconds: past the point where extra seconds add much
• Over 2 minutes: a signal to progress with harder variations rather than more seconds

If you want the prescriptive version of this question (how long you should be aiming to hold, and why longer is rarely better), that is covered in our guide to how long you should hold a plank. This post is about where your number sits, not what it ought to be.

Why a longer plank is not automatically a healthier back

This is the part the age charts leave out. A 2025 cross-sectional study of 117 adults aged 20 to 61 compared people with and without low back pain, and found that the group reporting low back pain held planks significantly longer than the group without it [4]. The authors discuss several possible explanations, including differences in muscle-recruitment strategies, but say these remain speculative because the study did not collect neuromuscular data.

Two caveats matter. In the same study’s regression analysis, plank duration was not an independent predictor of low back pain, and the sample was young despite its 20 to 61 range, with a mean age of 26 [4]. What it did find, among the 54 participants with back pain who completed an extra test, was that a higher ratio of posterior to anterior endurance was associated with lower reported disability, rather than raw plank endurance on its own [4]. This is one cross-sectional study and it does not tell you what to do about back pain, but it is a useful corrective to the idea that a bigger plank number is always a better one.

The sensible reading: a plank time is a measure of one thing, anterior trunk endurance, and it is most meaningful when compared to your own previous times rather than to a stranger of the same age.

How to test your plank time properly

A plank test is only comparable if you run it the same way each time. Use this protocol:

1. Warm up for a few minutes with light general movement, do not test cold.
2. Set up on your forearms, elbows directly under your shoulders, a straight line from heels to head.
3. Start the clock the moment you are in position, not before.
4. Breathe steadily. Never hold your breath.
5. Stop the clock the moment your hips drop, your lower back arches, or you pike up. That is the end of the test, not the point at which you start negotiating with yourself.
6. Record the time, the date, and how rested you were. Retest every two to four weeks, not every day.

The most common way people inflate their number is by letting the hips sag and carrying on. It makes the time look better and the test mean less.

How to improve your plank time

Train below your maximum rather than repeatedly testing to failure, and let the test take care of itself:

• Work in sets that stop well short of failure, a few times a week
• Add sets before you add seconds, three sets of 40 seconds beats one set of two minutes
• Include side planks and posterior work (glute bridges, bird dogs) so the front is not the only thing you train
• Retest your max every two to four weeks, and only when rested

Harvard Health guidance on planking suggests 10 to 30 seconds across several sets is enough for most people, with one to two minutes as an upper progression rather than a target to push past [5]. Training that way, then testing occasionally, is what actually moves the number.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good plank time for a 40-year-old?

There is no age-specific published norm for 40-year-olds. As a practical reference point, a clean 60-second hold is a reasonable everyday standard, and past two minutes the extra seconds add little. The research that exists compares broad age bands rather than individual decades [2].

Is 1 minute a good plank for a woman?

A clean one-minute plank is a useful reference point, but there is no universal good time. In the most-cited college-aged dataset the median for women was 72 seconds and the 40th percentile was 63 seconds, so a minute sat a little below the middle of that sample [1]. Those participants were young, though, and the study is not an age-specific norm.

Does plank time really decrease with age?

Some decline in muscular endurance with age is expected, and the 2018 study covering adults aged 20 to 35 and 60 to 79 did find the younger group held significantly longer [2]. What does not hold up is the precision: the specific figures quoted online (such as 10 to 15 percent per decade after 35) do not appear to come from a traceable primary source.

Does a longer plank mean a stronger core?

Not necessarily. Plank time measures anterior trunk endurance specifically, not core strength in general, and a 2025 study found people reporting low back pain actually held planks longer than those without, although plank duration was not an independent predictor of back pain in that study [4]. Balance across the trunk looks more informative than one big number.

How often should I test my plank?

Every two to four weeks is plenty. There is little reason to test to failure every day, and day-to-day fatigue makes maximum times harder to compare.

The bottom line

The published plank norms are narrower than the internet suggests: one large study of college-aged students, one smaller study spanning two adult age bands, and a lot of gym convention filling the gaps. Use them as a rough orientation, then stop comparing sideways. The only plank time that reliably tells you anything is your own, measured the same way, over months.

Remembering last month’s time is not always easy. Just Hold times the hold, keeps the history, and quietly puts your times next to your family’s or your friends’, so the comparison that matters (you against last month) is the one you actually see.

This page is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. If you have health concerns or are unsure whether to start exercising, consult your doctor first. Avoid holding your breath or straining during a hold.

1. Strand SL, Hjelm J, Shoepe TC, Fajardo MA. Norms for an Isometric Muscle Endurance Test. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2014;40:93–102. doi: 10.2478/hukin-2014-0011
2. Bohannon RW, Steffl M, Glenney SS, et al. The prone bridge test: Performance, validity, and reliability among older and younger adults. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2018;22(2):385–389.
3. Rodríguez-Perea Á, Aragón-Aragón P, Cuenca-García M, Cruz-León C, Torres-Banduc M, Sánchez-Parente S, Castro-Piñero J. Criterion-Related Validity and Reliability of the Front Plank Test in Adults: The ADULT-FIT Project. Applied Sciences. 2025;15(5):2722.
4. Eimiller K, LeFevre L, Robarge C, et al. The Core of the Issue: Plank Performance and Pain in the Lower Back. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2025;14(11):3926.
5. Harvard Health Publishing. Straight talk on planking. 2019.