Longest abdominal plank: New world record as Chinese and American strongmen battle in tense showdown By Rachel Swatman, Published 17 May 2016

Two fitness experts who had both previously held the record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position went head to head against each other to find out who should be named the ultimate planking champion, during an event organised by Men's Health in Beijing, China on Saturday. Chinese policeman Mao Weidong (pictured above) took home the Guinness World Records title after maintaining the difficult core strength position for a gruelling 8 hours and 1 minute, significantly beating the previous record of 4 hours 26 minutes which he set in 2014. Mao defeated his worthy competitor, former Marine officer and retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent George Hood (USA), who maintained a plank for 7 hours 40 minutes and 5 seconds, considerably beating his personal best (pictured below).

George was the world’s best back in 2013, with a record time of 3 hours 7 minutes and 15 seconds, before he was succeeded by Mao. Official Guinness World Records adjudicator Dong Cheng attended this weekend’s event in Beijing Shangri-La Hotel to ensure that the planks were executed according to the rules of the exercise. Super-fit Meo Weidong was so excited to have broken the record that he did 15 push ups and hugged his opponent.