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Plank · Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community · updated October 2026

Average Plank Time by Age (and What's Good)

Among Hong Kong adults aged 20 to 39 in the 2021 to 2022 territory-wide fitness survey, men held a forearm plank for about 109 seconds (1:49) on average and women about 76 seconds (1:16).

The average hold, on the clock

Men

1:49

Women

1:16

Bright bar: the average.

Compare your result

How does your plank time compare?

Hold a forearm plank with a straight line from head to heels, start a timer, and stop it when your hips sag or lift. Enter the time as minutes and seconds.

Sex

Enter your longest forearm plank hold. Type minutes and seconds (1:30) or seconds (90). Calculations run in your browser. We measure usage, including the result band.

Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community · average

Level with the average

The average among Hong Kong men aged 20 to 39 in 2021 to 2022 was 1:49 (Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community, Section 6.2, Plank (sec), Mean, PDF p.14). The source published an average, not percentiles, so this is as fine as the comparison goes. Recruited through workplaces, organisations and public test days; the report gives averages only.

You · 1:49

By age and sex

Plank by age, for men and women

Each table is one source, with who it measured, when, how many and how. Two sources are never blended.

Computed by us from the survey records

US children aged 6 to 15

Sex
US boys, NNYFS 2012 · values in min:sec · n = people tested in each age group
Age10th25thMedian75th90thn
6 to 70:080:260:441:051:34134
8 to 90:130:250:561:202:02109
10 to 110:200:431:051:302:06113
12 to 130:190:441:071:552:14130
14 to 150:591:091:342:032:42117
Who was measured
US children aged 6 to 15
When
2012
How many
1,208 people
One value is
the longest forearm plank hold
What the source gives
Percentiles we computed: the 10th, 25th, median, 75th and 90th
The test
A forearm plank on a mat after one practice try, with the examiner encouraging every 10 seconds. The clock stopped at the second loss of a straight back (one correction allowed), the belly touching the floor, pain, or a request to stop. No time cap. Children who tried but could not hold the position at all count as 0 seconds.
Licence
Public domain: US government survey data, free to reuse.

Cited figures

Single published figures

These sources do not let us reproduce their tables, so we cite single figures, each with its source and page.

  • Average · 2021 to 2022

    1:49

    Hong Kong men aged 20 to 39

    One value is the seconds in a forearm plank. Recruited through workplaces, organisations and public test days; the report gives averages only.

    Source: Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community, Final Summary Report (Leisure and Cultural Services Department, 2023), Section 6.2, Plank (sec), Mean, PDF p.14. Cited as a single figure; the source's table is not reproduced here.

  • Average · 2021 to 2022

    1:16

    Hong Kong women aged 20 to 39

    One value is the seconds in a forearm plank. Recruited through workplaces, organisations and public test days; the report gives averages only.

    Source: Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community, Final Summary Report (Leisure and Cultural Services Department, 2023), Section 6.2, Plank (sec), Mean, PDF p.14. Cited as a single figure; the source's table is not reproduced here.

A percentile is a rank, not a grade. At the 70th percentile you held the plank longer than about 70 in every 100 people of your sex and age in that table, and for less time than the other 30. Read across your own age row; the median column is the person in the middle.

An average is not a rank. Where a source published only an average for an age group (Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community), the tool says whether you are above or below it and nothing finer. Everyone else gets the nearest measured group instead of a guess.

Times are shown as minutes and seconds, so 1:30 is ninety seconds.

The children's table and the adult averages come from different tests on different people, so we never join them into one line.

We never average two sources. Each one tested different people, in different years, with different rules, so each is shown on its own with all of that written beside it. Where they disagree, you see both. The numbers at the top of this page are single figures cited from one source (Hong Kong 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community), not a copy of its table.

By age

The median plank time for children, by age

The median hold by age group in NNYFS 2012 (ages 6 to 15). The adult figures on this page are averages for one age group, so they are not drawn as a line.

0:000:301:001:302:005791113151719
men, medianwomen, medianage in years · min:sec

How the test is done

The protocol behind the numbers

As the sources behind these numbers ran it

  1. 1

    Position

    A forearm plank: forearms and feet on the floor, elbows directly under the shoulders, forearms and fingers pointing straight ahead, and a straight line from head to heel, face down. That is how the Hong Kong survey behind the adult averages ran it.

  2. 2

    Stop rule

    Testers gave a reminder when the body slipped out of line. If the person still could not hold the straight line, the test ended and the time was recorded in seconds.

  3. 3

    Time cap

    The Hong Kong survey's published method states no time limit. Some studies stop the clock at a cap, such as 120 seconds, and their results can't show holds beyond it, so they aren't comparable.

A plank time only means something next to the rules it was held under. Each source here names its own; these are the ones that change the clock most.

Forearms or hands. A forearm plank and a straight-arm plank are different holds, so their times do not compare. Every plank time on this page comes from a forearm plank.

The stop rule. A strict test stops the clock the first time the hips sag or lift, or a knee touches. A lenient one lets you correct your position and carry on. The strict rule gives shorter times.

A time cap. Some tests stop everyone at a set time. When many people reach the cap, the top of the table bunches at that time and the 90th percentile stops telling you much.

Who is watching. Timing yourself against a phone with no one checking your hips is a different test from one where an examiner calls it. Ask someone to watch your line, or film it.

For form cues and common mistakes, see our plank guide.

Claims and measurements

What people say, against what was measured

"You should be able to hold a plank for two minutes."
No study found
Two minutes is a training goal (John Sifferman, citing spine researcher Stuart McGill), not a measured average or a health cut-off. In Hong Kong's 2021 to 2022 survey, adults aged 20 to 39 averaged 109.1 seconds for men and 75.8 seconds for women.
"Longer planks are always better."
No study found
No study we found tested that. In 75 US college track and cross-country athletes, stopping before the 120-second cap carried the same odds of overuse injury as reaching it (odds ratio 1.0, 95% CI 0.4 to 2.6). That is one small, capped study, so it neither proves nor disproves the claim.
"The average man can plank for 124 seconds and the average woman for 83."
Partly
Those are means from 471 volunteer students at two US universities (Strand et al. 2014), not adults in general. The same study's medians were lower: 110 seconds for men and 72 for women.
"The average college man holds a plank for 106 seconds and the average woman for 90."
Partly
Those are medians, the middle result, from 168 college students aged 18 to 25 (Brigham and Chase, Linfield College, 2014). The same sample's means were 116.58 seconds for men and 96.25 for women.

Questions people ask

Plank: questions, answered

What is the average plank time?

Averages depend on who was tested. In Hong Kong's 2021 to 2022 fitness survey, men aged 20 to 39 held a forearm plank for about 109 seconds (1:49) on average and women about 76 seconds (1:16). Children's times from the US youth survey are in the table on this page.

How long should I be able to hold a plank?

We found no measured target time for adults. Hong Kong men aged 20 to 39 averaged about 109 seconds (1:49) and women about 76 seconds (1:16), but that survey published averages only, so it says nothing about how many people held longer. Children have their own percentiles in the US youth table on this page.

What is the average plank time for a 14 year old?

In NNYFS 2012, the median hold for US boys aged 14 to 15 is about 1:34 and for US girls aged 14 to 15 about 1:15. The youth test and the adult tests are run differently, so compare a teenager with the youth table only.

What is the world record plank?

Guinness World Records lists 9 hours 38 minutes 47 seconds for men, by Josef Šálek in Pilsen, Czech Republic, on 20 May 2023, and 4 hours 30 minutes 11 seconds for women, by DonnaJean Wilde in Magrath, Alberta, Canada, on 21 March 2024. Those were the listings when we checked on 1 October 2026.

Sources: Longest time in an abdominal plank position (female) (Guinness World Records) (Guinness World Records) · Longest time in an abdominal plank position (male) (Guinness World Records) (Guinness World Records)

Is a plank a good test of core strength?

It is a test of endurance, not maximal strength. Strand and colleagues built the timed forearm plank as a trunk muscular-endurance test, and in their study people who stopped because of their back or arms held longer than those who stopped because of their abs. A long hold shows you can sustain the position, not how much force your core can produce.

Sources: Norms for an isometric muscle endurance test (Strand et al., Journal of Human Kinetics) (Journal of Human Kinetics, 2014)

What counts as a valid plank?

Forearms and toes on the floor, elbows under the shoulders and the body held rigid in a straight line. In Strand and colleagues' college study the test stopped when you quit, or when two corrective cues in a row failed to fix your form. The Hong Kong survey also stopped the clock once the straight line from head to heel was lost after a reminder.

Sources: Association of 'weekend warrior' and leisure time physical activity patterns with health-related fitness (Hui et al., BMC Public Health) (BMC Public Health, 2025) · Norms for an isometric muscle endurance test (Strand et al., Journal of Human Kinetics) (Journal of Human Kinetics, 2014)

Are forearm and straight-arm plank times comparable?

Not as the same test. Every plank figure on this page comes from a forearm plank: the Hong Kong survey, the US college study and the CDC's youth survey. A straight-arm plank holds the body up on the hands, and we found no validated way to convert its time into a forearm-plank time.

Sources: Strength and body weight in US children and adolescents (Ervin et al., Pediatrics) (Pediatrics, 2014) · Association of 'weekend warrior' and leisure time physical activity patterns with health-related fitness (Hui et al., BMC Public Health) (BMC Public Health, 2025) · Norms for an isometric muscle endurance test (Strand et al., Journal of Human Kinetics) (Journal of Human Kinetics, 2014)

Do men hold planks longer than women?

On average, in the adult groups measured. Hong Kong men aged 20 to 39 averaged 109.1 seconds against 75.8 for women, and US college men had a median of 110 seconds against 72 for women. These are group averages, so they don't decide how any one man and woman compare.

Population: Hong Kong adults aged 20 to 39 (2021 to 2022 survey); US college-student volunteers (Strand et al. 2014).

Sources: 2021 Physical Fitness Survey for the Community: Final Summary Report (Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong) (Community Sports Committee, 2023) · Norms for an isometric muscle endurance test (Strand et al., Journal of Human Kinetics) (Journal of Human Kinetics, 2014)

How we calculate

Where these numbers come from

Updated October 2026. We show the method so you can judge it.

Computed from the survey records. We compute every table on this page from a public survey's own records, using the survey's sample weights so the percentiles describe the population it was drawn to represent, not only the people who were tested.

Cited figures. Some sources do not let us reproduce their tables. From those we quote a few single figures, each with the group it describes and the table and page it comes from, exactly as published.

Percentiles, not levels. Stronger scores lifts on its own six-level scale. There is no such scale for plank, so this page never gives you a level. It ranks your result against people of your sex and age in a named source or says whether you are above or below a named group's average where the source published only an average.

Your result. Where we computed a full curve, we place your result at the nearest whole percentile. Outside the outermost printed or reliable point we say so instead of guessing further. Where a source published only an average, we say whether you are above or below it, and nothing finer. Where no measured group matches your age and sex, the tool says so and shows the nearest groups.

Never averaged. Two sources measure different people with different rules. Averaging them would describe nobody, so each is shown on its own, and each answer in the tool names its source.

Tables on this page

  • NNYFS 2012 · computed by us · main tableUS children aged 6 to 15, 2012, 1,208 people

Sources

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Average among Hong Kong men aged 20 to 39: 1:49. Average among Hong Kong women aged 20 to 39: 1:16.