advice on Planks

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DERBS21
DERBS21 Posts: 33 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Tried Planks for the first time in over a year!! Held it for 40 seconds...is that good or bad?? What should be my goal starting out? Should I do reps? Any good advice from someone who does these regularly??

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  • dr3wman
    dr3wman Posts: 205
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    Pretty good starting point! Theres no set number thats good or bad, it all comes down to how hard you pushed yourself. Your goal each time should just be to beat your previous time. I think striving for 5 additional seconds every time is realistic
  • DLKeeble
    DLKeeble Posts: 200 Member
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    You just had to up me, didn't you? mwah! Good job. :)
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    40 seconds is great - aim to increase it to over a minute
  • mjnov
    mjnov Posts: 31 Member
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    the more you do them, the easier they will be. so try to add 5-10 seconds every time, but always push yourself those last couple seconds!
  • littlehedgy
    littlehedgy Posts: 192 Member
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    That's pretty dang solid! I ramp up intensity by doing planks on a bosu ball. I get about 30 seconds in before I am quivering. I can hold it for 45, but then I collapse and feel like I cant move my arms haha
  • karensoxfan
    karensoxfan Posts: 902 Member
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    If you get stuck trying to add 5-10 seconds every day you do them, something that helped me increase my plank time is picturing that someone is holding a gun to my head. And that the ground is on fire.

    I'm following a plan that calls for them to be done at 60, 90, and 120 seconds (so far at least - it's NROLFW - New Rules of Lifting for Women, and I'll cry if they get any longer than 120 ;) ), and going from 60-90 gradually worked OK for me, but I was having trouble going to 120, and just got there today using the gun & fire visualizations. The advice in the book is:

    1. Try them on an incline. Instead of resting your elbows on the floor, rest them on a low weight bench until you can hold that for the time you're trying for, then next time try it on the floor again.

    2. Split it up into halves. If you're trying for 60 seconds, hold one for 30 seconds (even though you can do 40 now), then take a 30 second break, then hold another one for 30 seconds. Then next time, see if you can hold for 60 seconds straight. I did this to get to 90 & 120 too.
  • Jackie80taylor
    Jackie80taylor Posts: 76 Member
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    i have just started to do these, and they are hard! i started off at 10 secs and can now hold them for 30... the side ones are near impossible tho!
  • DERBS21
    DERBS21 Posts: 33 Member
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    Yes I did...I kept thinking gotta do 35 like Debbie...once I got there...I just had to...lol
  • DERBS21
    DERBS21 Posts: 33 Member
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    Thanks for the advice. Sounds good!
  • DERBS21
    DERBS21 Posts: 33 Member
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    Thank you Everyone who replied...this helps me a lot.....All Great Advice. Thanks also for the Cheers...I feel good now holding for 40.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    I'd agree that 40 is great.

    I randomly decided to do planks last Saturday and, for whatever reason, did two sets of three holds of 20 seconds with about a 5-10 second break in between each plank and about 45 seconds between the sets. Then I went and did my normal Saturday workout of 60 minutes on the adaptive motion trainer.

    Woke up the next morning for my long training run (13 miles) and my abs hurt like they've never hurt before. Thankfully it wasn't bad during my run, though it did hurt. But when I got to Monday night, my strength training night, and I got to the ab crunch with a 40lb weight I couldn't even do one.

    Heck, even by the time I got to the same thing during last night's strength training, I still had to reduce the number of reps.

    I learned three things from this:
    1. I definitely need more work on my abs/core to get stronger
    2. That planks work my abs more than any other workout I've ever done in my life
    3. I'm not doing any more planks until after my half marathon training schedule is done. lol
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    Also try varying types of planks.. you have the standard front plank, then the jumping jack - where you hold the plank and move your legs out and in... the side plank, side plank with raised foot, or foot to front and foot to back, the oblique plank - where you hold the side plank and bring your top arm under your body so your chest is parallel to the ground but your top arm is not touching the floor;
    there is also the one where you put your hands further out in front of you and you superman it.

    in boxing they'll have us plank for almost 10 mins... front, side,oblique, side, front jack, front superman and then sometimes back again to sides.
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
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    The only reason I do reps is because I suck at them so I have to stop and then try again. But I found with each rep I can last longer.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    I like all the different varieties....except the plank jack. I don't feel I can do it AND hold the plank position properly, so it just feels like a cardio/ squat thrust variant rather than working my abs.

    Walking planks (up and down from elbows to palms) and around the world (out out in in with arms and legs) are my favourites.

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