Plank Exercise

The plank is a basic core stabilization exercise that works your abs, back, glutes, and shoulder stabilizer muscles.
Do the easiest version if you have any shoulder discomfort.

Getting set
Lie facedown with your knees bent. Place your elbows under your shoulders. Slide your shoulders down and lengthen the back of your neck so your ears are in line with your shoulders. Gently pull your abdominals inward. See photo A.

The exercise
As you exhale, curl your toes under and push up onto the balls of your feet.
Avoid arching your upper or lower back. Work up to a 30-second hold.

Do’s and don’ts

• DO keep your abdominals pulled in so you feel more tension in your abs and so you don’t overarch your lower back or pop out your ribs.
• DO keep your shoulders down and your neck lengthened. Avoid hunching your shoulders.
• DON’T lift your butt in the air and rest your weight on your legs.

Other options
Plank on knees (easier): Lift up on your knees, keeping your abs and glutes tight and your spine lengthened. Supporting a shorter length is easier for the core stabilizers.
One-legged plank (harder): Keep your torso parallel to the ground. Lift one leg. Work up to a 30-second hold. To make it even more difficult, pick up and extend the opposite arm as you also hold up one leg.

Avoiding Mistakes When Training Your Core

Most of us are weak in the core, so we need to pay particular attention to form and quality of movement.
Keep these tips in mind to get the most out of each of your core exercises:

• Avoid looking like an old donkey. When you forget to tighten your abdominal muscles, particularly the deepest layer (the transversus abdominis), your back sags in the middle. When Shirley was guest teaching at a resort in Jamaica, she saw an old donkey — the perfect example of this curved posture. Now, when she teaches core exercises, she always reminds her students not to look like old donkeys. To avoid donkey posture, draw your abdominals in toward your spine as you exhale and keep your abdominals contracted for the duration of the exercise.
• Don’t pop out your rib cage. Another good way to check whether your deep abdominal muscles are active is to look at the position of your rib cage. Draw your lower ribs in snug toward your spine. If your ribs flare up and out, your deep trunk stabilizers aren’t active. Tighten them up.
• Don’t stick your butt up in the air. When you’re training your abs and back in positions like the plank or a push-up, you need to rely on the strength of your core muscles and not your legs. You can always tell that you are cheating by relying on your leg strength if your butt is sticking up in the air. Make sure that it is no higher than your shoulders.
• When you exhale, always lift your pelvic floor up and pull your abdominals in toward your spine. The best way to activate your deep abdominals and pelvic floor muscles is by exhaling actively as you lift your muscles up and in. Exaggerate your exhalation as you do your core stabilization exercises to make sure that you’re using these muscles.

Getting a Core Workout

To get a great core stabilization workout, you need to focus on keeping your torso solid. Because the objective of core training is to improve muscle endurance, instead of sheer strength, isometrically held exercises such as the plank are effective training methods. In addition, core exercises train your body’s stabilizer muscles to work together. For example, preventing low back pain isn’t simply about strengthening your abs. To provide optimal support for your spine, your abs, back, pelvic floor, and hip muscles all need to work together. Unlike other exercises that isolate and target a specific muscle or muscle group, core stabilization exercises challenge your whole body to work together. Form is critically important. Always stop doing an exercise when you can no longer execute it with perfect form.
Unlike the mover muscles that are closer to the surface of your body, your deep stabilizer muscles are made up of almost 100 percent slow twitch fibers. In other words, these muscles aren’t designed for short bursts of strength and power. Instead, these muscles are meant to be working at all times that you’re in motion. Therefore, unlike strength training exercises that require you to push yourself to fatigue and then rest for at least 48 hours, you can do core stabilization exercises daily. In fact, daily core stabilization exercises remind you to use your postural muscles as you sit, drive, stand, run your errands, or work at the office.
Last, but certainly not least, core exercises improve your sex life. As you tone up your pelvic floor and your deep abdominals, regain mobility in your spine, and improve control over your pelvis, your sex life gets a great boost. Shirley, as a health and wellness educator, assures you that research evidence shows that a healthy sex life is definitely good for your overall well-being. As if we need studies to tell us that.