I have a few questions regarding planks. Due to a lower back injury I have been focusing on increasing core stability, hence the planks. I have worked up to a 90-120 second plank and obviously I need to progress to something new. I want to focus on static holds for the time being cause of the injury.
My first major question is this, how long should I set as a max time before I progress. For example I was thinking 30 seconds, so once I could front plank for 30 sec. I would progress to a harder variation, and so on.
My second question is whats a good progression. I have front planks, then front planks with one leg raised, then I’m not sure where to go after that.
Lastly if anyone has a good core stability circuit that they do I’m all ears. Thanks
Not too sure what the best time is for people, but side plank, weighted plank or wall plank where you get in a plank position and keep you feet off the ground against a wall is a tougher variation.
Well, first I’d make sure you are getting the most out of your planks before moving onto harder progressions. So, make sure you are maximally posteriorly tilting your pelvis/tucking your tailbone, flexing your spine forward, protracting and depressing your scapulae, and “packing your neck” for the entirety of every plank hold (I’d start with the forearm version and then move on to the push-up version). This is often called a “hollow plank”.
120 seconds should definitely give you enough strength to be able to move onto the next progression, but even a few sets of 60 seconds with minimal rest (say 30 seconds at most) should get you there as well. If you are already there then you could try single are planks or planks with feet elevated (an unstable surface will significantly increase difficulty).
Thanks man, I’ve tried to make sure I’m getting the most out of them and I think I’m doing pretty good. I’m in anterior pelvic tilt so posteriorly tilting my pelvis is quite a challenge. Hard to simultaneously focus on that and keeping everything straight and hips low.
[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
My first major question is this, how long should I set as a max time before I progress. For example I was thinking 30 seconds, so once I could front plank for 30 sec. I would progress to a harder variation, and so on. [/quote]
Sounds about right. I’d say 60 seconds is plenty to “get enough” out of the exercise. Like Sentoguy said, you can upgrade/maximize the basic plank by flexing everything super-hard. Bret Contreras talked about this as the RKC Plank on page 2 here: http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_contreras_files_volume_ii
You can change the leverage (hands farther out in front), alter the base of stability (1 leg raised like you said and/or 1-arm raised, feet touching and/or thumbs touching), add movement (alternate touching wrist, elbow, or shoulder and/or alternate feet moving up and down or left and right).
As part of my general warm-up each workout, I’ll do 1x5 “pinky tap” planks (like this but only touching the pinky, not the elbow)
and I’ll do 1x5 “toe tap” planks, basically from plank position alternate moving one foot slightly up and over to touch the heel of the other foot.
[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
Thanks man, I’ve tried to make sure I’m getting the most out of them and I think I’m doing pretty good. I’m in anterior pelvic tilt so posteriorly tilting my pelvis is quite a challenge. Hard to simultaneously focus on that and keeping everything straight and hips low. [/quote]
In that case I’d suggest not worrying about progressing to harder variations until you have truly mastered the one you are on. If you aren’t yet able to do the exercise with the correct body shape for the duration of your holds, then I’d honestly suggest dropping the hold times down and focusing on holding it with perfect form instead of continuing to add more volume with improper shape.
Your ego might not like this, but it’ll ultimately pay greater dividends down the road.
Thanks a ton Chris. And Sento guy, I’m injured and doing the planks in the first place to stabilize and hopefully rehab my lower back injury. So don’t worry my ego is already dead
[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
Thanks a ton Chris. And Sento guy, I’m injured and doing the planks in the first place to stabilize and hopefully rehab my lower back injury. So don’t worry my ego is already dead [/quote]
Especially if you’ve got a back injury, it’s important to make sure to flex your glutes hard while doing a plank. That will help with your pelvic tilt, it will keep your back out of hyperextension, and will actually make the plank harder to hold if you aren’t used to it.
[quote]The_Swede wrote:
Consider lifting opposite leg and hands. Definitely ups the stability requirements.[/quote]
Lifting one hand is great for stability, but I haven’t met or seen too many people who can keep a PPT/hollow body position and lift a leg while in the plank. If the OP can drop into a front split (with the back leg in extension and not rotated externally) without breaking a sweat, then yeah, that might be an option as well, but not many people fall into that category.
