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Donna-Jean Wilde, 61, Held A Plank For A Record-Breaking 5 Hours—What’s Her Secret?
When DonnaJean Wilde and her husband walked into the 2026 Huntsman World Senior Games, they were met with a wave of energy. The CEO of the games, Kevin Case, invited Wilde to compete and arranged for her to complete her second world-record-breaking plank during the opening ceremony of this year’s games.
On October 6, Wilde began planking at 3 p.m. She listened to the dancers and musicians performing rehearse for the opening ceremony in the venue and felt the energy build as over 12,000 senior athletes filed into the arena. As the ceremony began at 8 p.m., 61-year-old Wilde completed a mind-boggling 5-hour plank to break her own Guinness World Record (previously 4 hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds).
“You kind of reach a point where it doesn't hurt anymore, and you're kind of in an active state of rest,” Wilde said. “I know this is crazy to say, but hours two and three are just so calm. Get to hour four, I really have to concentrate. But those last few minutes, the crowd just cheered me on.”
Wilde didn’t wake up one morning being able to plank for hours—she has been planking every day for about 15 years, and went through a rigorous eight-week training process before this competition. We chatted with her about her preparation for the World Senior Games and asked for her best tips for staying fit later in life.
Working toward a 5-hour plank
Wilde began planking when she broke her wrist about 15 years ago. She was put in a cast and couldn’t run or lift weights for several weeks, but realized she could still plank in a cast. She began doing it every day, just for a few minutes in the beginning, while reading a short article or video.
“When my cast came off, it was a habit that I loved, and I could plank for a few minutes,” Wilde explained. “I just kept it going, not with any intention of breaking a record.” She kept up the habit for years and was able to plank for longer and longer.
In 2023, her family encouraged her to pursue a Guinness World Record, which she successfully did in March 2024 for the first time. In September of that same year, she broke the World Record for most push-ups completed by a woman in an hour, with 1,575 push-ups (that’s 25 to 27 push-ups per minute!)
Wilde clearly has some serious strength, but she needed to double down on her training regimen before the World Senior Games to ensure she could hit the five-hour mark two years after she broke her first records. In the weeks leading up to the competition, she and her husband shifted their schedule earlier. They would go to bed around 9PM, so Wilde could wake up at 2 a.m. and begin planking. By 6 a.m., she had already planked for four hours.
Perks of planking
One of Wilde’s favorite parts of planking is how easy it is to multitask while doing it. When she started planking, Wilde would read or look at her phone, but as she held the pose longer, she took on bigger challenges.
Wilde graduated with a bachelor’s in education and has worked as a teacher her whole life, but she went back to school and completed a Master’s in education. She was able to pick her own classes, so opted for virtual options that she could complete while planking.
She found herself applying what she was learning to her own life, specifically her planking. “I was completing assignments all about brain and behavior, and how you can train your brain when you repeat things that you love,” she said. “All of this I was doing while I was planking, which actually helped me train my brain for when I reached a certain amount of pain.”
As Wilde entered the public eye after breaking her first record, she began getting media requests about how she accomplished this feat. She was constantly being asked to tell her story, so she wrote a book, From Minutes To Hours: I Wrote This Book While Planking. As the title suggests, she wrote the manuscript and recorded the audiobook while planking.
Staying active as a 61-year-old
Wilde isn’t just a mother of four; she’s also a grandmother of 12. Wilde has always been athletic and competitive, but her grandchildren have helped her bring that spirit into her 50s and 60s. She described a schedule chock-full of sports games for her and her husband to attend.
Many people in Wilde’s stage of life would consider this hustle and bustle enough activity, but Wilde has the opposite mindset.
“I'm a retired teacher, and although I do have things that fill my time, I have more choices than someone who's a little bit younger. And so we do have the time to make those healthy lifestyle choices that will help us as we age,” she says.
Wilde’s tips for staying active
When it comes to actually carving out time and committing to those healthy choices, Wilde has clear advice: set a goal for yourself.
“If you have a goal, then you train,” she says. “That helps motivate you to stay active and stay a little bit competitive so that you can push yourself.”
And your goal doesn’t have to be an hour of planking. “Find an activity that you love. Whatever it is, you’re going to keep repeating it, and then you’re going to want to keep doing it.”
Wilde experienced this love of the game firsthand at the World Senior Games, where she saw thousands of athletes compete across 40 events, ranging from classic events like swimming and cycling to more niche ones like disc golf and square dance. Her husband did some basketball shooting, and she ran a 3000m track event the morning after her record-breaking plank. She saw a 100-year old woman compete in her first-ever track meet, completing the 50m and 400m races.
“When we share our excitement with other people about what we’re doing, and listen to what they are doing, then it just builds that happiness and longevity and excitement for life in general,” she says.
The takeaway
To some, your 50s, 60s, and beyond can feel like a downhill spiral, but Wilde proves this doesn’t have to be the case. “I really feel like we can get stronger and better,” Wilde says.
You may not be planking for hours on end, or running track as a centenarian, but exercise you love, a clear goal, and a supportive community can help you go a long way.