Basic
| Exercise | Sets | Hold | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plank | 4 | 20 s | 45 s |
To unlock the next level in a single set
- 30 s Plank
Pro program
A 2-minute plank: a 4-level program to hold for longer
Two minutes of plank aren't won by holding until you shake every day, but by banking time in short sets with your form intact. The program splits the road into four levels, from 4 sets of 20 seconds to 3 sets of a full minute, and each level opens when you hold 30, 60, 90 and 120 seconds unbroken.
The 4 levels, exercise by exercise
The mark is time held in one go, not the day's total. And there's a detail here that changes the training: the app's clock only runs while your form holds, so a plank with a sagging hip banks no seconds even though you're still down there.
Medium
| Exercise | Sets | Hold | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plank | 4 | 30 s | 45 s |
To unlock the next level in a single set
- 60 s Plank
High
| Exercise | Sets | Hold | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plank | 4 | 45 s | 1 min |
To unlock the next level in a single set
- 90 s Plank
Advanced
| Exercise | Sets | Hold | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plank | 3 | 60 s | 1 min |
To complete the program in a single set
- 120 s Plank
All four levels are laid out on this page. Inside the app, levels two and up are part of Tatakae Pro.
Why the seconds in this program cost more
In most plank challenges, the clock runs from the moment you get down until the moment you collapse. Not here. The timer only runs while the position holds, so the thirty seconds of the first level are thirty good seconds.
The practical difference is large. Plenty of people who say they hold a minute are holding forty seconds plus twenty with the hips sagging, which is when the exercise stops working the abs and starts loading the lower back. This program doesn’t allow that swap, and that’s why it moves slower than almost everyone expects.
The progression: short sets, banked time
The four levels add up to 80, 120, 180 and 180 seconds per session. Look at the last one: the number of sets drops from four to three, but each one runs a full minute. Volume stops growing and what grows is continuous duration, which is exactly what the final mark measures.
Rests grow too, from 45 seconds to a minute. In an isometric the rest matters more than you’d think: the abs don’t magically recover between sets, and a plank started in fatigue breaks ten seconds in.
The form that makes seconds count
Elbows directly under your shoulders, forearms down and parallel.
A straight line from head to heels. No sagging hips, no raised backside. The high backside is the comfortable cheat: it takes load off the abs and lets the time climb while the exercise stops doing anything.
Abs braced as if you were expecting a punch, glutes on, ribs tucked down. A plank isn’t resting on your skeleton, it’s holding tension.
Eyes on the floor, a hand’s width ahead of your hands, neck in line with your spine.
Breathe. It’s the thing most often forgotten in isometrics: holding your breath makes a minute impossible twenty seconds in.
When to end a set
When your hips start to drop. Not when you collapse.
That distinction is the difference between training the core and banking lower back fatigue. If you feel your back arching, end the set, rest, and do the next one. Four honest sets of twenty seconds are worth far more than one of fifty where the last twenty were a different posture altogether.
Where to put your phone
Side on, on the floor or low down, with your whole body inside the frame from head to feet. The camera needs to see the line of your body from the side, which is exactly what breaks when the hips drop.
This is the exercise in the catalogue where the angle matters most: from the front or from above there’s no way to tell whether the position is holding. A clear background and two or three metres of distance are enough.
What to do once you reach two minutes
Adding time stops paying. What follows is making the plank harder: lift a foot, lift an arm, or move to a plank on an unstable surface. All of them take the exercise back to thirty difficult seconds, which is where the stimulus was in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
How long should you hold a plank?
It depends what for. Thirty seconds with perfect form already trains the core; two minutes is a respectable endurance mark for someone training at home. Beyond that the returns shrink: past two minutes, adding difficulty pays more than adding time.
Is one long plank better than several short ones?
Several short ones, especially at the start. Four sets of twenty seconds with your hips where they belong build more than ninety seconds of agony with a sagging back, because what trains the core is tension held well, not time spent on the floor.
Why does my lower back hurt during planks?
Almost always the hips dropping. When the abs tire, the pelvis tilts, the lumbar curve deepens and the load moves from your abs to your back. That's exactly the moment to end the set, not to grit your teeth.
Can I plank every day?
You can. The plank recovers fast because it causes very little muscle damage. Even so, three or four sessions a week are enough to progress, and rested form holds more seconds, which is what moves the mark.
How does the camera measure a plank?
It reads your body position, on the phone itself, and the clock only runs while the line holds. If your hips sag or pike up, the timer stops. That's why this program's mark is harder than it looks: those are real seconds, not seconds on the floor.
Do planks give you abs?
Planks strengthen the core, but abs become visible when body fat drops, and that's mostly down to what you eat. As strength work it's excellent; as a strategy for definition, on its own it isn't enough.