Photo: Vieactivewear.com
If there’s a more overused term in the fitness world than “core stability” I don’t know what it is. But while it can get super annoying to hear every trainer in the known universe ramble on about it, there’s no getting away from the reality that to move effectively and efficiently (not to mention protecting the information superhighway of your spinal cord), you need the ability to create and maintain stiffness in your torso. Failure to do so means that your body starts hanging on other areas and tissues and starts defaulting into funky and potentially damaging positions to provide the stability you need as you move through the world.
That’s why the plank should be a go-to in your workout program. No matter what your sport or activity of choice is, mastering this foundational movement will enable you to engage your abdominals, glutes and the supporting musculature of the trunk and lower back to preserve positioning in many other movements.
If you can’t do a plank right, you have no business banging out burpees on pushing it with your pushups, as errors like sagging hips, unengaged butt muscles and rounded shoulders will cause you to leak force and increase your injury risk even more during dynamic exercises. The key cues for the plank are:
—Place your hands directly under your shoulders, which is further back than many people. This will allow you to align the hands, elbows and shoulders so you’re not creating lines of force at odd angles that can lead to muscle tweaks and too much soft tissue tension.
—Once your hands are placed correctly (in a neutral position with fingers splayed), screw them into the ground – the right hand clockwise and the left counterclockwise. This creates stabilizing external rotation torque that protects your shoulders and keeps them centrated
—Put your feet close together. This makes it easier to engage your glutes (see next tip)
—Squeeze your butt to make sure your lumbar spine and pelvis are aligned correctly
—Contract your abs to hold the position created in tip 4. This will help stop your hips from dropping.
Once you’ve mastered the basic plank and can hold it for two minutes without your form falling apart, try these variations:
Photo: EddieJackman.com
Side Plank
This variation challenges your stability and puts more emphasis on your obliques.
— Lie on your left side with the inside of both feet together
—Make sure you’re aligned by imagining a line running from your left ankle up through your knee, hip and shoulder.
—Prop yourself up on your left forearm. Hold for as long as you can, then rest 30 to 45 seconds and repeat until you’ve collected at least a minute of active time.
—Repeat on the other side. You can make the movement more challenging by instead extending the active arm. Just as with the regular plank, make sure hand, elbow and shoulder line up and screw your hand into the ground.
Photo: Idealshape.com
Weighted Plank
This is a favorite of Olympic lifters, who need to be rock solid in the trunk to maintain positioning while generating big time power in the snatch and clean and jerk.
—Do everything the same as in the normal plank.
—Have a training partner place a weight plate (start with 10 pounds) in the middle of your back.
—Hold the plank until you start to feel your form go, then either slowly lower yourself to the ground or yell for your buddy to remove the plate.
—Too easy? Then slowly increase the duration or weight.
Front to Side Plank
This variation keeps your core musculature under tension for longer than performing the standard plank or side plank alone.
— Hold a plank for as long as you can.
—Once you feel your positioning start to go, switch to a side plank on the left.
—As soon as you start to collapse, switch to a right side plank.
—Then go back to the regular plank. Keep the sequence going for as long as you can while maintaining proper form.
Starfish Plank
This is one of the most challenging variations of the side plank, as it involves moving your inactive arm and leg away from the midline.
—Get into the side plank variation with a straight, active arm.
—Slowly extend your inactive arm until it’s straight and aligned with the active one, as if you were in a crucifix pose.
—If you can hold the step #2 position for 20 to 30 seconds, then ramp up the difficulty level by raising the inactive leg so you’re in a starfish position.
—Hold the finish position as long as you can while keeping everything tight, then switch sides.
