Planks what do they do

To make this exercise a bit easier, you can perform the movement on your hands rather than your forearms. Plank With Arm Lift. Another way to add variety to the basic plank is to add an arm lift, either by pressing into the opposite forearm or palm.

To perform a plank with an arm lift, follow these steps:. Sets of Shorter Planks. Rather than doing a single plank for 30 seconds or more, some exercise routines say there are good benefits for doing a to second plank, resting for 30 seconds, and doing three to five sets. Your total time spent in the plank in an exercise session should be 60 seconds or less. You should not do planks if you have a shoulder injury. If you feel shoulder pain, end the exercise.

In pregnancy, planks are considered safe for most people though there may be a concern for placing stress on the abdominal wall. It may be best to modify the plank and do a side plank or an incline plank. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist to see if this is an appropriate exercise. The plank exercise works the entire core, especially the rectus abdominis.

It also works the abdominal muscles that run from the pelvis along the spine and up to the shoulder girdle. How many calories burned depends on your weight and how long you hold the plank. Typically, a pound individual will burn about 3 to 4 calories a minute holding a plank. Planks are great for building core strength and stability, which helps improve balance and coordination during everyday activities. A strong core can also support you during other forms of athletic or physical activity and can even help protect your lower back from injury.

Incorporate this move and similar ones into one of these popular workouts:. Get exercise tips to make your workouts less work and more fun. Progression of core stability exercises based on the extent of muscle activity. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. Acute effects of core stability exercises on balance control.

Acta Bioeng Biomech. Bushman B PhD. Complete Guide to Fitness and Health 2nd Edition. American College of Sports Medicine. Human Kinetics. Core training exercise selection during pregnancy. Strength Condition J. Core strength training for patients with chronic low back pain. This also helps to arrange the ligaments in the back properly, which further prevents painful back conditions. Planks help you build up the muscles in your abdomen, which allows further support of your posture.

Strong abdominals take a lot of this stress off your back this is part of the reason that waist-straps are so helpful when carrying heavy backpacks! Having strong abs and sitting or standing up straight prevents several unpleasant things from happening. Planks strengthen a lot of muscle groups, as well as the skeletal system, in ways that allow your body to better compose itself.

The body uses its core muscles to help maintain balance. Many people think that their extremities are responsible for their balance, and they are, in part — but the majority of your stabilization comes from your core. Having a strong core helps you avoid injuries that could be caused to single muscle groups that might be over exerted by trying to maintain balance during aggressive exercise.

For example, snowboarding relies heavily on the calves for balance, and having a strong core can reduce some of this strain. Strengthening your core also teaches you how your body and muscles work together, and can help improve your ability to work as a single unit instead of trying to control a bunch of different muscle groups simultaneously.

Performing endurance feats like planking also carry with them a very trying mental aspect. Many people say that half of a workout is in your mind, and the plank is great proof of this — many people can hold a plank for much longer than they believe that they can, but they give up too soon.

Doing regular plank training, and continuing to motivate yourself to hold a full plank, can have incredible benefits for your focus and concentration. They work a set of core muscles that are responsible for the way your body carries itself — meaning that doing planking enhances your ability to support your own weight.

Doing so improves your ability to move,a nd you will find yourself more nimble, agile, and coordinated if you do planking on the regular. Unlike some exercises that simply improve the strength of your muscles, planks offer a versatile range of benefits — not the least of which is improving your flexibility.

Planks make your posterior muscle groups — not just your glutes, but all of the muscle groups in the back of your body -much more flexible. These include the muscles around your shoulders and your collarbone area, and your shoulder blades themselves.

These muscle areas will grow and stretch with continued planking, which is great because these areas are often neglected during many traditional exercise routines. The plank is an important pose in many yoga routines. Yoga is a great form of exercise for people hoping to build core strength and improve flexibility, the the plank being considered a core element of many yoga training routines indicates just how beneficial it can be not just for your core, but for your flexibility as well.

Side planks, a variation we will discuss later, allow you to stretch out your sides, improving flexibility from the hip area. Different variations of the plank can enhance the flexibility of different areas in more effective manners, and combining the plank with other exercise like yoga, its benefits become more pronounced.

Planking burns more calories , when done every day, than other core exercises like situps. More importantly, planks help strengthen massive muscle groups in your body. If you have good, strong muscles on your body, you will be able to burn calories more effectively and be less at risk for gaining extra weight.

This can be true, but it only becomes a problem if the individual has a bad diet. Having healthy, strong muscles means that your body is constantly burning more energy, and in turn, it becomes less able to store calories in the form of fat. A lot of the groups that planks target are groups of muscles that are frequently strained and knotted, and contribute massively to stress in the human body.

Tension in certain parts of your body, like your legs, can lead to more tension in other parts of your body due to your natural need to compensate — if your legs are tense, you will try to put less weight on them, which could strain your back. All of these worries and stressors can compound into a form of anxiety , or vice-versa — having a lot of stress and worry on your mind can lead to your body undergoing a psychosomatic response a physical response caused by a mental process which could cause your muscles to tense up.

These types of muscle stress are often eliminated with things like massage. Fortunately, planking can eliminate the physical stressors in this case, which can help to ease your state of mind. The reverse plank will help challenge your core and create more body awareness from within. Plank jacks are a combined cardiovascular and strength-building exercise that can help you boost core and upper body strength.

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Share on Pinterest Getty Images. What muscles do planks work? Benefits of the plank. How to do a plank correctly. Common mistakes when doing plank exercises. Variations of the plank exercise. The bottom line. Read this next. The Worthwhile Benefits of Plank Exercises. The 10 Best Running Shorts for Women for