58-year-old grandmother of 12 breaks world planking record after holding position for more than 4.5 hours

There’s a new world record for the longest board ever held by a woman – and it was broken by a grandmother in Canada.

Guinness World Records announced late last month that DonnaJean Wilde, 58, a mother of five and grandmother of 12 in Canada, had broken the women’s world record for longest period in an abdominal plank position after holding it for 4 hours and 30 minutes. and 11 seconds – 10 minutes longer than the previous record set in 2019. She spent that entire duration with her forearms and toes touching the ground and her body remaining lifted and straight.

Wilde, who is now retired, completed the event at the high school where she previously served as assistant principal. She told Guinness that the first two hours were relatively quick, but in the end there was a bit of a struggle.

“My elbows hurt like hell,” Wilde said. “I was so afraid of losing my form and I think that’s why my quads were hurting because I was really tight.”

The last hour “was the hardest,” she said, but by “breathing, staying calm and not shaking,” during the last 30 minutes, she was able to persevere. His main motivation was his dozen grandchildren, all of whom attended the record-breaking event.

But break a world record it doesn’t come easily. Wilde spent three hours snowboarding every day, during which she watched movies and even studied for her master’s degree. In preparation for this attempt, she did this three-hour exercise twice a day.

“I realized I could read and do things when I was skateboarding and I fell in love with it,” she said.

Wilde has been skateboarding for more than a decade, getting into the activity after breaking her wrist 12 years ago and being unable to run or lift weights while in a cast.

And she did all this while taking care of chronic pain in his hands and arms. She has transverse myelitis, a condition in which both sides of a section of the spinal cord become inflamed, sending pain to the areas she relies on to hold a plank. Her husband Randy, however, told Guinness that he thought the pain she regularly felt ended up being more helpful than hurtful when it came to breaking a world record.

“This chronic pain and numbness that she deals with on a daily basis has helped her to be able to overcome the pain,” he said. “…I think the role model for someone who set a world record is officially incredible, but she’s been officially incredible her whole life.”

After all the time spent training and finally breaking the record, Wilde says the only feeling left is “overwhelming.”

“I actually still can’t believe it,” she said. “It feels like a dream.”