Whether you are an upstart or a seasoned veteran bodybuilder, there is no denying the fitness and health benefits of the planks workout. This exercise can be done just about anywhere whether at home, at work or at your local gym, you can perform planks with ease.
All you need is a bit of space and the willingness to actually perform the exercise. In this brief guide, we will explore five (5) amazing things you will feel by doing planks regularly. However, before we get into these benefits, we will start with an overview of this popular exercise.
What Is and How Do You Execute the Plank?
The plank exercise is basically classified as a core-strength enhancement workout. It involves you getting down on the floor supporting your entire body with your toes and forearms as you maintain a straight posture for your entire body. As you do so, this core strengthening workout will help in enhancing the strength of your glutes, shoulders, lower back, and abs.
To perform a classic plank exercise, you simply need to do the following:
- Get on the floor lying face down.
- Support your entire body weight using your toes and forearms.
- Your forearms should be aligned to be just underneath your shoulders even as you lift your entire body off the ground with just your toes and forearms touching the floor.
- Make sure your entire body from your head down to your heels is kept straight.
- Keep your glutes and core tight as you hold the plank posture for between 20 to 60 seconds.
- The plank exercise will not only strengthen your core muscles and improve your posture, it will also help in reducing pain in your lower back while promoting the stability of your spine.
When executing the plank exercise, you should try to avoid lifting up your hips by arching your lower back. You should keep your spine straight as you hold the posture for a minute or less.
Apart from the plank being easy to execute, you can make the exercise a vital part of your daily workout routine without worrying about overexerting yourself or straining your body in an unhealthy way.
Now, this is the classic or standard plank otherwise called a forearm plank. But you can also try other plank variations, such as;
The High Plank
This plank will help to strengthen your arms, core and shoulders. You perform this exercise by maintaining a push-up posture with your arms extended and straight.
The Side Plank
With the side plank exercise, you will maintain the plank posture while balancing on your side using just the side of a foot and one forearm for support. This plank variation is great for your oblique muscles.
The Reverse Plank
With the reverse plank exercise, you support your body using your heels and hands while facing upwards. The reverse plank variation is helpful in strengthening your lower back, core, and glutes.
The Plank with Shoulder Taps
To execute the plank with shoulder taps workout, you start by maintaining a high plank posture. You then follow-up by tapping one of your shoulders using your opposite hand. The plank with shoulder taps is great for improving both balance and core stability.
Five (5) Amazing Things You Will Experience with Regular Planks
When you make any or all of the plank variations highlighted in this article a regular part of your daily, every-other-day, or weekly workout routine, you are bound to experience significant changes in your fitness and general health.
Here are five (5) of those amazing things you will experience with regular plank exercises.
#1. Visceral Fat Reduction
Belly or visceral body fat can be very stubborn and difficult to get rid of. However, one way that you can gradually reduce belly fat and promote weight loss is by performing planks, as this exercise will help in boosting your metabolic rate as well as strengthening your abdominal muscles with both activities working to burn excess visceral fat to give you a firmer abdomen.
#2. Improved General Fitness
Planks are one of the most revered full-body exercises as it strengthens your core muscles which form part of the large muscle groups in your body. With a strong core, you will have the flexibility, balance and stability needed to execute other exercises including strength training, HIIT, and cardio. In effect, planks are a great exercise to help improve your general fitness and bodybuilding drive.
#3. Enhanced Posture
If you are one that spends a large part of your day sitting either at a desk in your home, your office, or even behind the wheel of your vehicle, you are more than likely to experience a desk-jockey posture. This posture is characterised by your shoulders dropping forward, a rounded upper back, and a titled pelvis region.
Whenever you spend a tremendous amount of time bent forward it can lead to the length-tension correlation of your muscles being adversely affected. While your muscles may be underworked, overworked, contracted, or overstretched, we may inadvertently move into postures that force us to rely on using our skeletal structure (bones) for stability, balance, control, and support rather than our muscles which helps us in maintaining a neutral spine.
Nevertheless, you can significantly improve your posture with the plank exercise as it encourages a neutral spine and an upright posture while at the same time preserving a healthy skeletal structure through the maintenance of a proper alignment of your bones.
#4. Planks Improve Flexibility
Whenever you engage in planks your overall level of flexibility is improved. For example, when you perform a plank, you tend to stretch out your lower leg muscles including your Gastrocnemius (primary calf muscle), Soleus (deeper calf muscle), and Tibialis anterior (front lower leg) muscles.
In addition to this, planks will stretch the posterior muscle groups which are those major and minor muscles located on your backside and include the Trapezius (neck and upper back) muscles, Latissimus dorsi (lower or middle back) muscles, Deltoid (shoulder) muscles, Gluteus maximus (muscles in the buttocks) and Hamstring (back of your thigh) muscles.
#5. Strengthen Your Core
Planks help to strengthen your core and do so by ensuring that your hips,lower back, obliques, and abs are fully activated. When this occurs your body is kept straight and not slouched over when you stand and/or walk.
Ultimately, a strong core will engage your glutes and shoulders as well as enhance your overall stability, balance and control giving a holistic benefit that transcends just your fitness goals.
Conclusion
What makes planks such a go-to exercise for any one is that you do not need any much space or special equipment to perform the exercise. All you need is just your time, patience, commitment and dedication.
What’s more, you can make planks a part of your workout routine regardless of your training program. Whether you are training for cutting, bulking or recomposition, planks are great exercises to help you achieve your fitness target(s).
You can start doing a plank today or if you need more convincing, you could chat with an IFBB PRO and let the expert in on your questions or reservations today.
