planks -- doing them wrong?

I agree, sounds like your bum is sticking out and your back is straining.

I do planks as part of JM's 6 week 6 pack and you REALLY feel the burn on your abs!

Keep your bum tucked in and low to the ground so you are straight and keep your hands firmly planted under your body, keep your neck relaxed.

I am no trainer but I hope this helps!

I always start planks by laying face down on the floor with my elbows at bust level and my forearms flat on the floor, toes on the floor (so your feet are basically perpendicular to your legs). From there, I push my body up off the floor as one straight line so now my weight is on my forearms and toes. You want your body to be one straight line--your butt should NOT be sticking up AT ALL. If you do it correctly, you probably won't be able to hold this position for more than a few seconds at first, although you'll get much better over time!.

with planks its very important that you keep your body as straight as possible. The biggest mistake is keeping your bum up in the air, it has to be low to the ground, making your body a straight line. Keeping your body bent will make the planks much much easier and not give you the same results.

Remember your back is the other side of your abs. You have to keep your lower back strong for your abs. Try laying flat on your back and lifting your legs up to 90 degrees and slowly doen. Just keep your back pressed flat on the floor. Good luck!

I agree, you may be sinking your butt too low/pushing your pelvis too low. Contracting your abs will help, also try shifting your arms back a bit as you may not have proper balance.
I hear you with the breathing thing but just remember, these are two separate body parts. Concentrate on contracting your abs, then breath easily. Practice this while just sitting or standing and you'll get the idea.

P.S. With crunches, make sure you're not pulling your neck up. Concentrate on using your ab muscles to lift your shoulders and head, not your back. For me, it helps to place my hands so that my palms are behind my ears, concentrate on not pulling up the head and make sure I keep my eyes on the ceiling so I'm not tilting my neck.

I was doing planks as part of tonight's Body Combat class. The instructor said "If you feel it in your back, you're too low. If you're not feeling it at all, you're too high"

Sounds like you might be too low!

My trainer says that when you are doing crunches you need less than 3 inches of movements to target the right ab muscles without straining your back. The easiest way for me to make sure I am in the right position without straining my back is to sit on the exercise ball and roll forward so that my feet are against the wall and the small of my back is on the ball than crunch up just a few inches and back down. You will KNOW you are doing them right because it hurts!!! haha He also says to keep your eyes on the corner up toward the roof.

Planks are hard for me. I hurt my back a few weeks ago because I was using my back instead of my abs to hold myself and I didnt' realize it. I had to practice engaging my abs while standing so I could get the feel for it when I was in the plank position. He always tells us that if your back hurts you are probably raising your hips too much. You might get more benefit from doing plank from your elbows instead of your hands.

If you are not feeling challenged and are doing all those things; you probably need to hold the plank longer. In our class we hold the plank for 45 seconds rest for 10-15 and do it again.

Good luck

If you're feeling it in your lower back (like I do), I think it's a matter of changing your hip position. If you do pelvic tilts, this will help you understand how you can rotate your pelvis to get a flatter back. Essentially, you need to think about bringing your front hipbones upwards while sort of 'curling' your butt under, reducing the curve in your lower back. Here's a video sort of showing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VQ5ITSDpaI
Hope this is helpful!

Your photo looks ok as far as it shows your posture. Alignment looks right.

Try this - focus on your hips and tilt your hips toward your belly button - this will engage your lower abdominal section. suck your stomach in toward your spine.

Feel it now?

Variation - bring one knee to the triceps of the same side and repeat on the other side.

Another way to think about engaging your abs is to draw your belly button to your spine. That will help rotate your pelvis forward also. You could practice the feel in a standing position by tucking your bum under and at the same time drawing your belly button in to your spine. Hope that helps!!

Bump