If You Can Hold This Simple Plank After 50, Your Core Strength Is Elite
A strong core serves as the foundation of essentially everything you do, from bending down to pick up a package to playing pickleball. When your core muscles are weak, this can negatively impact how efficiently your legs and arms function. A stable core promotes better balance, helping prevent falls and injuries as you age. But did you know one simple move can be a stellar indicator of core strength? We learned the plank exercise you need to ace.
“After 50, maintaining core strength becomes essential for stability, posture, and injury prevention,” Karen Ann Canham, CEO and founder of Karen Ann Wellness, stresses. “Muscle mass and joint support naturally decline with age, so a strong core helps protect the spine, improve balance, and make everyday movements like walking, lifting, and even standing easier and safer.”
What Makes Planks a True Test of Core Strength
If you want to maintain or build core strength, performing planks is a great way to achieve that goal. Not only can planks help sculpt an enviable six-pack, but they also protect the spine, prevent workout-related injuries, promote solid posture, and support mood-boosting effects as you make progress.
The plank gives your core an excellent workout—but that’s not all.
“[It’s] one of the most reliable tests of true core strength because it engages the entire body—not just the abs. It’s an isometric hold, meaning you maintain tension without movement, which trains the deep stabilizing muscles we rely on for functional strength,” Canham explains. “Unlike crunches or sit-ups, the plank activates the transverse abdominis, obliques, glutes, shoulder stabilizers, and lower back, along with the pelvic floor and diaphragm. This total-body engagement improves endurance and postural control better than most traditional ab exercises.”
Traditional ab exercises typically miss the deep stabilizing muscles, says Clif Marshall, senior director of coaching and pro training at D1 Training, but a plank gets the job done.
“It activates the transverse abdominis, multifidus, and pelvic floor, which are essential for spinal stability and functional strength,” Marshall explains. “Unlike crunches, which mainly hit the rectus abdominis (also known as the six-pack abs), planks train the body to brace as a unit, a far more practical skill for both athletic performance and everyday movement.”
Holding This Simple Plank Reveals Elite Core Strength
A classic forearm plank serves as the “gold standard,” notes Marshall.
“For someone over 50, holding a proper plank for two minutes or longer demonstrates elite-level core endurance and control. However, quality matters more than duration,” says Marshall. “It’s better to hold a strong, stable plank for 60 seconds with perfect alignment than to compromise form chasing time. As strength builds, aim to gradually extend by 10-15 second increments.”
How To Perform the Test:
- Begin on your forearms and toes with elbows under your shoulders and body straight from head to heels.
- Activate your core and squeeze your glutes.
- Hold your forearm plank without allowing your hips to sag or rise.
- To increase the challenge, perform alternating shoulder taps or incorporate slow toe lifts while holding form.
If you can hold this exercise for 90 seconds while keeping your breath steady and not allowing your hips to drop, this signals “peak functional core strength,” Marshall notes.
