Video: Watch Chinese policeman smash world planking record

Mao Weidong beat the previous record by over an hour with an effort that lasted four hours 26 minutes

Weidong holds plank for over four hours

Gym enthusiasts know the feeling.

Arms and stomach burning as you hold yourself in the plank position while looking up at the nearest clock as it creeps towards the minute and a half mark.

Now imagine doing that for well over four hours.

That is what one Beijing policeman did, as he smashed the world record for the longest time spent in an abdominal plank, holding the position for a staggering four hours and 26 minutes.

Mao Weidong who combats terrorism and organised crime as part of the Beijing police force’s SWAT team during the day, set the record in front of Chinese news cameras at a special event in China’s capital.

Weidong seemed to show no pain as he held the excruciating position that requires ‘plankers’ to lie on their front and hold themselves up by only their elbows, toes and abdominal strength.

Reaching the time of four hours 26 minutes Weidong looked as if he could carry on his amazing feat throughout the night, but decided to eventually stop when the time matched his wife’s April 24 birthday.

Weidong’s effort overhauled the previous world record of three hours 7 minutes and 15 seconds set by American “ultra-athlete” George Hood who set the previous record in 2013.