The Internet’s Newest Turn On Is A Man Holding a Plank Till Failure

If you read the headline and thought that the internet's newfound interest in the plank is just another addition over women’s longtime preference for fit guys, get in line. There’s more to this tale.

To keep you up to date with the news, men are recording themselves holding a plank well beyond their limit. It’s nothing scandalous visually. But watch these men push themselves past their limit, and you'd realise why it’s a good idea to put on your headphones while you watch this video (no seriously, check your phone’s volume before you watch the post):

As the microphone catches the sharp inhales, the multiple groans and exaggerated half-moans, you can’t help but think, “this has to be fake” (the guy isn’t even shaking from the strain, for God’s sake). You expect trolls having a field day in the comment section, but surprise: It’s filled with women actually appreciating the fake exertion. And it’s not like they’re not recognising the overacting; one of the top comments in the reel above calls him out for his “performative whimpering”, but women online are appreciating it either way. So much so that the originator of the trend, a thirty-one year old Miami based doctor going by the username @shyofffline, has since posted four more thirst traps like this on his Instagram page, and is being emulated by many more content creators who have jumped in on the trend. 

So what gives? 

The Rise Of Audio Erotica

With discussions around female pleasure moving out of the shadows, women have been flocking to audio erotica as an alternative to mainstream porn. This includes everything from workout and erotic ASMRs to sensual stories that centre them as a self-insert character. These audios allow women to imagine themselves as the object of intimacy while leaving enough to the imagination to appeal to a wider audience. It’s a booming business really, with apps like Quinn having everyone from Grey's Anatomy's Jesse Williams and Fleabag’s Andrew Scott voice some of the most famous audio stories on the platform.

Quinn is a sound-first platform reshaping digital desireaptoide

The plank till failure challenge is an offshoot of this shift. Women know quite well that these videos are a performance. As the challenge gains popularity, posts criticising the evident overacting in these videos have increased in number too. But the thing is, this kind of content looks at erotica from a female perspective, stripping away expectations about what sex should look like and turning it into an experience solely focussed on female desire. It’s a bit similar to the reason why gay romances have found such a strong footing among straight female audiences.

There’s also another layer. Fitness has always been a socially acceptable way to display the male body. A plank is… respectable. It’s normalised and algorithm friendly. You can share it on your main grid without raising eyebrows. You could come across a shirtless man holding a plank on your social feeds, and it will not strike you as being something very raunchy. That is, as long as you (and especially everyone around you) can’t hear the audio. 

This keeps these videos closer to socially acceptable thirst trap content and maintain a subconscious distance from reddit’s gone wild audio content (because remember female pleasure is still a taboo in many places?). It’s not intense enough as a thirty-minute erotic audio narrated by the Hot Priest from Fleabag, but a small dopamine hit from interacting with a somewhat nsfw video in the most random places. 

But What’s The Takeaway For Men?

Here’s the deal. The plank till failure challenge blew up because it features something men are usually told to suppress: vulnerability.

For years, male desirability online has been tied to restraint. The unbothered stare, the silent intensity, the brooding, the dominance, all coming together into a single nonchalant performance. Even in fitness content, the masculine ideal is controlled aggression. You lift. You push yourself to inhuman levels, you fight against the limits of your body, and you say nothing.
But if a silly plank video can go viral because a guy is audibly losing composure, that tells you something. But women are not universally drawn to silence and emotional lockdown. They respond to expression and vulnerability, too. Women, like men, appreciate audible proof that their partner is feeling good in bed. Many actively enjoy them. 

So maybe next time, don't stop yourself from being more vocal during sex. Women find moans hot, too.