Planking Challenge

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  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    @b3achy and others: Question for you - Where do you feel this? What muscle/body part is failing you? I started the challenge on July 26th and am just following schedule, therefore I should complete by August 24th. "...said with maniacal laughter..."
    I have made no attempts to see how long I can go. Why? I will surely find out quite soon and like most, I have a feeling that 2 minute mark is going to incite the 'plank hatred' I keep hearing of. Lol. I feel good at 90 seconds, good might be a strong word, I feel ok at 90. I can feel a bit of weakness in my delts (anterior ?) and very slightly in my quads. And sometimes in my toes, I should wear shoes maybe...
    Just curious where you feel it. Making sure I'm normal. :)
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 2,057 Member
    edited August 2016
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    deadchipmunk wrote: »
    @b3achy and others: Question for you - Where do you feel this? What muscle/body part is failing you? I started the challenge on July 26th and am just following schedule, therefore I should complete by August 24th. "...said with maniacal laughter..."
    I have made no attempts to see how long I can go. Why? I will surely find out quite soon and like most, I have a feeling that 2 minute mark is going to incite the 'plank hatred' I keep hearing of. Lol. I feel good at 90 seconds, good might be a strong word, I feel ok at 90. I can feel a bit of weakness in my delts (anterior ?) and very slightly in my quads. And sometimes in my toes, I should wear shoes maybe...
    Just curious where you feel it. Making sure I'm normal. :)

    The primary muscle failing me is my brain...I know, not what you expected, right? But when I was able to 'gut' out a 2 minute plank finally (after quite a few failed attempts), I found it was as much mental as it was physical to get there.

    For me, it's the full body shakes that psyche me out from continuing longer. I have noticed that my shakes don't start until after 20 seconds now (when I started they would start at about 10 seconds). The shakes start in my arms and move down until my whole body is shaking usually by 30-35 seconds.

    I think, I feel it most in my arms (biceps), abs and glutes (I'll double check today when I do them later). But I do straight arm planks. You might have different muscle groups if you are doing the bent arm/elbow ones. I found doing them barefoot was better/hurt less than trying to do them with shoes on.

    I also found that when I tried to push to the 2 minute plank, my form suffered. I was cheating by popping my butt in the air to take a mini-break. So I also have to focus to keep my butt/hips down because I've noticed that as my muscles start to hurt, my butt wants to rise to alleviate the pain. I decided at that point in the challenge to do multiple sets and work on form as much as time.

    I want to say the 90 seconds ones were quite do-able for me also, but I was already starting to see small compromises in form at 90 seconds, which is why I typically do 60 sec sets. However, I'm already starting to feel like the 60 seconds are getting to be 'easier', so might shift to doing more 75 or 90 sec sets to push myself, and more slowly build up to a full/single 2, 3, 4, and 5 minute plank. I am also thinking about re-doing this challenge with bent arms/elbow planks since I find them harder.

    Don't know if any of that helps, but it's just been my observations so far. YMMV.
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    Day 15 completed - 90 seconds
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    @b3achy Interesting. I'm on to the 2 minute planks starting tomorrow. I 'feel' like my form is good, but I am going to have my spouse watch me tomorrow and make sure I'm not sagging OR lifting. Plus knowing I'm being watched will give me incentive to power through that extra 30 seconds... Thanks for your insight!
  • almostanangel21
    almostanangel21 Posts: 143 Member
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    8/1 - 20 sec
    8/2 - 20 sec
    8/3 - 30 sec
    8/4 - 30+ sec
    8/5 - accidental rest day (we were out and I just plain forgot)
    8/6 - 45 sec, 50 sec (making up for accidental rest day)
    8/7 - 60 sec
    8/8 - 70 sec
    8/9 - 60 sec. Really, really hard ones for some reason.
  • RMac0001
    RMac0001 Posts: 125 Member
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    Forgot to post last night. Day 9 - 90 seconds
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    Day 16 completed - 120 seconds

    That was not super enjoyable...
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 2,057 Member
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    Missed doing my planks (and frankly everything) yesterday due to not feeling well. Got back on it tonight. One more day of the challenge to go!

    Day 29 at 270 seconds - Done!
    4 sets - 93 sec, 62 sec, 92 sec, 63 sec = 340 seconds
  • RMac0001
    RMac0001 Posts: 125 Member
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    deadchipmunk wrote: »
    Day 16 completed - 120 seconds

    That was not super enjoyable...

    Not super enjoyable is the understatement of the year.

    Day 10 - 100 second plank done
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    Day 17 completed - 120 seconds
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 2,057 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Challenge complete! (Only took me three months to do a 30 day challenge...lol)
    May continue to try to see how long I can hold a plank to see if I can eventually get up to just 1 plank for the full 5 minutes...
    Correction for total time yesterday - should have been 310 seconds total.

    Day 30 of 300 seconds - Done!
    (3 sets - 124 sec, 93 sec, 94 sec = 311 seconds)
  • Redola
    Redola Posts: 60 Member
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    Day 9- ✔️
  • RMac0001
    RMac0001 Posts: 125 Member
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    Day 11 - 110 second plank
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    @b3achy This is awesome work! This challenge is much more difficult than it appears at first look. For sure. It's been fun "watching" you complete it!
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 2,057 Member
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    deadchipmunk wrote: »
    @b3achy This is awesome work! This challenge is much more difficult than it appears at first look. For sure. It's been fun "watching" you complete it!

    Thanks! And yes, much more challenging that it appears. It starts out pretty easy (and lulls you into a false sense of security), then quickly gets hard in the second half. Now I get to watch y'all and cheer you all on! I'm betting all you still working on the challenge will get it done in much less time than me! You can do it!! :smiley:
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    Day 18 completed - 150 seconds
  • deadchipmunk
    deadchipmunk Posts: 434 Member
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    So I think today (a 150 second plank) will be my last go at it. I'm not sure... Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day and then the next 2 days are supposed to be 150 seconds again before I move up to the 3 minute mark. But I'm just not certain if there's really any benefit (for me) past this point. Other than saying "hey, I did a 3, 4 or 5 minute plank!" My core is actually pretty strong but my shoulders are not strong enough (I don't think) to make it to the end. I realize I could break the plank in sections, but I want to do the whole thing in one sitting so I can be a bad "donkey".
    I suppose we'll see how I feel after my rest day.
  • RMac0001
    RMac0001 Posts: 125 Member
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    Day 12 - 120 seconds done
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 2,057 Member
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    deadchipmunk wrote: »
    So I think today (a 150 second plank) will be my last go at it. I'm not sure... Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day and then the next 2 days are supposed to be 150 seconds again before I move up to the 3 minute mark. But I'm just not certain if there's really any benefit (for me) past this point. Other than saying "hey, I did a 3, 4 or 5 minute plank!" My core is actually pretty strong but my shoulders are not strong enough (I don't think) to make it to the end. I realize I could break the plank in sections, but I want to do the whole thing in one sitting so I can be a bad "donkey".
    I suppose we'll see how I feel after my rest day.

    I'll miss cheering you on, but you have to do what's good for you. It's really a personal challenge. For me, I couldn't completely walk away until it was complete even though I had to do it in sets (although I didn't do much with it for a month, but it was always in the back of my mind to get back to it). But I'm a bit OCD that way. 150 seconds is an amazing feat and something to be proud of for accomplishing.
  • zduraj
    zduraj Posts: 15 Member
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    Day 1 done, 20 second

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