DonnaJean Wilde, a 59-year-old grandmother from Alberta, recently set a new Guinness World Record by holding a plank position for 4 hours, 30 minutes, and 11 seconds. This was about 10 minutes longer than the previous record-holder, Dana Glowacka from Montreal. Wilde expressed her excitement about breaking the record to the record-keeping organization, saying it felt like a dream.
Wilde’s interest in planking began about 10 years ago when she was recovering from a broken wrist that made many of her usual exercises impossible. She mentioned that her family was doing planking challenges of a couple of minutes, and she tried it with her cast on and found she could do it. This became something she could do for the duration of her recovery period.
As a mother of five and grandmother of twelve, Wilde successfully broke the record at a school in Magrath, where students also participated in the attempt. She encouraged others to practice and improve at whatever they are passionate about, whether it is sports, academics, music, arts or anything else. Wilde believes that with practice things become easier and you can even help those around you improve.
