LITTLETON, Colo. — At 90 years old, Marie Carpenter is known for her warm personality and her knack for making new friends at Anytime Fitness in Littleton. Now, a recent feat of strength might make her a well-known name around the world.
For Carpenter's 90th birthday, her family — including her grandson Alex Andrews — surprised her with a challenge to see who could hold a plank the longest in a "grandkids versus grandma" competition.
What Carpenter didn't know was that she wasn't just facing her family; she was going for a Guinness World Record.
"We kind of secretly, behind the scenes, got the witnesses in place and the timekeepers and everything," Andrews said.
"He said, 'Okay, we're going to do this little game, and anybody that wants to do a plank, come on,'" Carpenter said.
As one challenger after another dropped out, Carpenter kept going. On paper, she became the oldest woman in the world to perform a plank for at least three minutes.
"Final time was three minutes, 15 seconds, point zero nine. Three fifteen point zero nine," Andrews said.
"I wasn't having any feeling of stress or pain or discomfort," Carpenter said.
Planking is a regular part of Carpenter's routine on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. At the gym, she has grown stronger and built a circle of friends.
"Marie is a strong willed person," gym friend John Merkert said.
"I'm hoping that she's defining the new 90-year-old woman," another gym friend Ann Sparks said.
"It doesn't surprise me, yeah, that she did what she did," Merkert added.
The family is still waiting for Guinness to make the record official, but odds are looking good for Carpenter.
I stopped by the gym to introduce myself to the "planking grandma" and challenge her to a competition. I was bracing for my ego to be crushed on TV by a sweet grandma, and I ended up dropping before Carpenter at one minute and 58 seconds.
Carpenter tied her world-record performance with three minutes and 15 seconds.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.