Planking after a Workout
Nysportsred
Posts: 224 Member
A few months back I traded in post workout crunches for planking. I alternate. Sometimes I will do sets that equal up to 5 minutes and others I vary between 6-8 depending on how I feel after each workout.
Basically I do this to try and keep my waist size where it is, if not a little smaller, and the planking is just a minor addition to the actual workout.
I was recently told that this is a "waste of energy" and I was actually increasing the risk of injury planking while fatigued after a 60+ minute workout and it has no benefit at all for my waist size. 5 1/2 years ago when I started MFP I was a 42. I am not a 35.5. The person that told me this is someone I know studying nutrition, but not personal training, so I figured I'd ask here. He said that the reduction in size was all due to my being more aware of my daily calories and the workout itself (2 days a week zumba and 2 days a week elliptical- not much weight training due to a previous neck injury) and has nothing to do with post workout crunches or planks.
There any truth to this? If so anyone have ideas or suggestions as to anything I can do post workout to try and better my chances of keeping the waist size from increasing that is also not a strain on the back.
Basically I do this to try and keep my waist size where it is, if not a little smaller, and the planking is just a minor addition to the actual workout.
I was recently told that this is a "waste of energy" and I was actually increasing the risk of injury planking while fatigued after a 60+ minute workout and it has no benefit at all for my waist size. 5 1/2 years ago when I started MFP I was a 42. I am not a 35.5. The person that told me this is someone I know studying nutrition, but not personal training, so I figured I'd ask here. He said that the reduction in size was all due to my being more aware of my daily calories and the workout itself (2 days a week zumba and 2 days a week elliptical- not much weight training due to a previous neck injury) and has nothing to do with post workout crunches or planks.
There any truth to this? If so anyone have ideas or suggestions as to anything I can do post workout to try and better my chances of keeping the waist size from increasing that is also not a strain on the back.
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Replies
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I'm not the right person to answer your question, but it's possible that you might get more responses to this sort of question in the Exercise & Fitness part of the forums.0
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thank you.0
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Neither planks nor crunches are going to help you maintain/decrease your waist size. They'll help strengthen the abdominal/core muscles, but a decrease in waist size comes from weight/fat loss. Doing abdominal exercises works the muscles, but fat can't be exercised, and targeting the muscles in a certain area doesn't correlate to reducing the fat above/around the muscles you're working.
It's not a "waste of energy" per se, since it can have a beneficial effect upon strengthening your core - but as far as weight/fat loss goes, it's not doing anything beneficial. Fat is lost through a calorie deficit (eating less than you burn).1 -
See my response to you in your other thread in General Discussion.0
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It may have some benefit, but you can't spot reduce.0
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Neither planks nor crunches are going to help you maintain/decrease your waist size. They'll help strengthen the abdominal/core muscles, but a decrease in waist size comes from weight/fat loss. Doing abdominal exercises works the muscles, but fat can't be exercised, and targeting the muscles in a certain area doesn't correlate to reducing the fat above/around the muscles you're working.
It's not a "waste of energy" per se, since it can have a beneficial effect upon strengthening your core - but as far as weight/fat loss goes, it's not doing anything beneficial. Fat is lost through a calorie deficit (eating less than you burn).
^^This.
Don't eat above your daily energy needs (and if you still have weight to lose, eat below). That's how you keep your waist size from increasing.
Having a strong core is good though, and should actually help with your back (a hell of a lot of peoples' back problems stem from having a weak core).0 -
Nysportsred wrote: »
Sorry about that!0 -
Yeah, planking by itself won't do anything for your waist size. The only thing that will do that is overall body fat reduction via calorie deficit.0
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Neither planks nor crunches are going to help you maintain/decrease your waist size. They'll help strengthen the abdominal/core muscles, but a decrease in waist size comes from weight/fat loss. Doing abdominal exercises works the muscles, but fat can't be exercised, and targeting the muscles in a certain area doesn't correlate to reducing the fat above/around the muscles you're working.
It's not a "waste of energy" per se, since it can have a beneficial effect upon strengthening your core - but as far as weight/fat loss goes, it's not doing anything beneficial. Fat is lost through a calorie deficit (eating less than you burn).
This
Although planking is a beginners exercise and once you can hold a plank for a minute there is no greater benefit in continuing to hold one for longer ..that just becomes an exercise in endurance
For planks to continue to be of any use you need to progress through adaptations introducing dynamic movements or instabilities or both1 -
It's just a muscle group - work abs/core into your routine wherever suits you.
Keeping an eye on your calories is how you control your waist size.0 -
Nysportsred wrote: »If so anyone have ideas or suggestions as to anything I can do post workout to try and better my chances of keeping the waist size from increasing that is also not a strain on the back.
Yeah, keep your waist small by not gaining too much body fat. AKA control your calorie intake.
Now, i'm not sure what you're doing as far as your workout plan, but assuming it consists of compound movements in which you're properly bracing your core, separate core work is not necessary. Do i think it's harmful? No, not particularly. Do i think it's necessary? Absolutely not.
I wont say you're "wasting your time", but you certainly aren't achieving a waist-slimming-effect as a result of isolated core work after your workout.0 -
Planking is an interesting exercise.
Which plank are you doing
High plank(AKA front leaning rest AKA top position of pushup)
Low Plank(AKA bottom(90 degree elbow) position of pushup)
Traditional plank(Resting on elbows with hands in a double fist and elbows directly below shoulder blades)
Each has benefits and weaknesses, and all require that core(back/abs/glutes/etc) be engaged but not tensed.
Using a spotter to ensure proper alignment is important at the beginning.0 -
Thanks everyone.0
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Nysportsred wrote: »A few months back I traded in post workout crunches for planking. I alternate. Sometimes I will do sets that equal up to 5 minutes and others I vary between 6-8 depending on how I feel after each workout.
Basically I do this to try and keep my waist size where it is, if not a little smaller, and the planking is just a minor addition to the actual workout.
I was recently told that this is a "waste of energy" and I was actually increasing the risk of injury planking while fatigued after a 60+ minute workout and it has no benefit at all for my waist size. 5 1/2 years ago when I started MFP I was a 42. I am not a 35.5. The person that told me this is someone I know studying nutrition, but not personal training, so I figured I'd ask here. He said that the reduction in size was all due to my being more aware of my daily calories and the workout itself (2 days a week zumba and 2 days a week elliptical- not much weight training due to a previous neck injury) and has nothing to do with post workout crunches or planks.
There any truth to this? If so anyone have ideas or suggestions as to anything I can do post workout to try and better my chances of keeping the waist size from increasing that is also not a strain on the back.
They aren't going to do anything for the size of your waist as you can't spot reduce...your waist size is going to be determined by your eating. They're not a "waste of energy" though and they don't increase the risk of injury...hell, they're just planks.
When and if I do core isolation, I do it at the end of a workout...my programming revolves largely around compound movements for which I'm getting plenty of core work...doing some planks or other direct core/ab work while fatigued is no big deal...it would be a bigger deal the other way around.1 -
Nysportsred wrote: »..... increasing the risk of injury planking while fatigued after a 60+ minute workout ...
This can be true with any and every exercise you ever do. You should always make sure that you are not too fatigued to properly perform an exercise. And planks are one of those things I routinely see terrible form with.0 -
Spot reduction... It's not a dream actually. In Man Health magazine I've read an article. For men interested in reducing their waist, the author sudgests to exercise waist very intence, like plank, then quickly switch to running on the treadmill. You have to do it in very particular way: run sprint for 40sec, then slow jog for 1min, then repeat another 2 times. After first series choose another abs exercise, and get the sprint series again 3 times.
I do it for my own trouble zones, women zone of big thighs. Why not... ? It does not hurt. Now a little of theory...
After intence activation of muscles in your trouble zone, you get adrenaline burning in muliple metahondrias of the muscles of this particular area. The blood flow increases in that particular area. After that, when u jump on the treadmill, the total body blood flow takes away those fatty acids from the trouble zones and circulate them away to burn them during the cardio phaze. It sounds very claver to me. Try this technicue
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Spot reduction... It's not a dream actually. In Man Health magazine I've read an article. For men interested in reducing their waist, the author sudgests to exercise waist very intence, like plank, then quickly switch to running on the treadmill. You have to do it in very particular way: run sprint for 40sec, then slow jog for 1min, then repeat another 2 times. After first series choose another abs exercise, and get the sprint series again 3 times.
I do it for my own trouble zones, women zone of big thighs. Why not... ? It does not hurt. Now a little of theory...
After intence activation of muscles in your trouble zone, you get adrenaline burning in muliple metahondrias of the muscles of this particular area. The blood flow increases in that particular area. After that, when u jump on the treadmill, the total body blood flow takes away those fatty acids from the trouble zones and circulate them away to burn them during the cardio phaze. It sounds very claver to me. Try this technicue
This is why I don't read men's health magazines...bunch of woo nonsense. You can't spot reduce.5 -
Spot reduction... It's not a dream actually. In Man Health magazine I've read an article. For men interested in reducing their waist, the author sudgests to exercise waist very intence, like plank, then quickly switch to running on the treadmill. You have to do it in very particular way: run sprint for 40sec, then slow jog for 1min, then repeat another 2 times. After first series choose another abs exercise, and get the sprint series again 3 times.
I do it for my own trouble zones, women zone of big thighs. Why not... ? It does not hurt. Now a little of theory...
After intence activation of muscles in your trouble zone, you get adrenaline burning in muliple metahondrias of the muscles of this particular area. The blood flow increases in that particular area. After that, when u jump on the treadmill, the total body blood flow takes away those fatty acids from the trouble zones and circulate them away to burn them during the cardio phaze. It sounds very claver to me. Try this technicue
Sounds like a bunch of bro science to me.1 -
That's the most ridiculous superset I've heard yet ...HIIT and plank
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Nysportsred wrote: »There any truth to this? If so anyone have ideas or suggestions as to anything I can do post workout to try and better my chances of keeping the waist size from increasing that is also not a strain on the back.
idk anything about the measurements side of this. but fwiw if i'm doing planks i make them part of a warmup, not a cooldown.
that's because i mostly find them useful as a way of activating core muscles, which tend to get lazy on me. i'd rather have them warmed up by planks and bringing their game face to the heavier work, than let the 'real' workout warm them up just for the sake of 60 seconds while i'm 'cooling down'.0 -
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Spot reduction... It's not a dream actually. In Man Health magazine I've read an article. For men interested in reducing their waist, the author sudgests to exercise waist very intence, like plank, then quickly switch to running on the treadmill. You have to do it in very particular way: run sprint for 40sec, then slow jog for 1min, then repeat another 2 times. After first series choose another abs exercise, and get the sprint series again 3 times.
I do it for my own trouble zones, women zone of big thighs. Why not... ? It does not hurt. Now a little of theory...
After intence activation of muscles in your trouble zone, you get adrenaline burning in muliple metahondrias of the muscles of this particular area. The blood flow increases in that particular area. After that, when u jump on the treadmill, the total body blood flow takes away those fatty acids from the trouble zones and circulate them away to burn them during the cardio phaze. It sounds very claver to me. Try this technicue
More pseudoscience garbage to sell magazines. There is no such thing as spot reduction. Blood flow to muscles has absolutely nothing to do with the fat around them. And what the heck is a "metahondria"?
Now rather than a men's magazine, let's look at actual science:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/218044271 -
I didn't plank either until there were RKC planks in Strong Curves. Oh man.
They are not for wimps. Just for fun, look them up and try one.0 -
Oooops, sory misspelled Mitochondria0
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fat and muscle is like that bedroom community you see on the other side of the freeway fence, when it comes to circulation. just because they're right next to each other doesn't mean traffic actually goes there.
so tons of circulation into the muscle is tons of circulation into the muscle. it's not tons of circulation into the fat condos that your body's built while you weren't paying attention to it.1 -
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I'm a beginner and following the nerd fitness routine for beginners. Planking is part of the set. I've not been injured but neither has it reduced my waist size.
Reading the above comments it looks like it's time for me to move on to something different as I can plank for 60 seconds now with no problem0
This discussion has been closed.
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