I know, I know, planks… *cringe* but you really need to hear me out on this one. I have to tell you that back during the pandemic, I wasn’t in a great state of mind. No one was. Not only was I going through a very recent breakup, but there were family issues, work wasn’t going well, and well, the world was basically ending! I can’t tell you how many times I woke up and my back was killing me. It wasn’t until I got some bad cholesterol lab results that I got back to working out after being off for about a year.
(Isometric) planks
Planks, even though they’re isometric (your body doesn’t move), still strengthen and help develop your core. So here’s something for you to imagine. Imagine that your body between your neck and your hips is a whiskey (or wine barrel). Now imagine attaching that barrel to a wood or other type of post so that it hangs off the ground. Next, fill the barrel. Can you see where this is going? There’s a good amount of weight pulling that barrel forward on the post and the things keeping it together are the vertical wood planks and the horizontal metal bands that go around it.
What we’re trying to do with planks, side planks, and other core exercises is transfer some of the stress off your back (the post) to the muscles (the wood planks and metal bands) so that it all holds together strongly. In my case, after probably 4-6 weeks of regular, consistent core work, my back aches started fading away and becoming less frequent. Now, that doesn’t mean will cure EVERYONE’S back issues, but if you’re physically able and your doctor is okay with it, core work is a great, more preferable, and arguably the less-invasive first approach to taking meds, getting a shot, or worse, having surgery.
Plank Technique
It’s more important to get the technique right than it is to do it for a really long time. If all you can do is 20 seconds, work on making them the best 20 second planks ever. Then, do side planks on each side; I have my clients go for half their plank time. If we use the 20 second plank above, then each side plank will be 10 seconds. Do this 2-3 times a week with a day in between (MoWeFr or TuThSa or similar). You’ll notice better endurance after a few weeks and when that happens, you can increase your time as needed. I set a goal of 90-120 second planks for my clients so your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to get to the level of my clients.
Head to the Contact page or shoot me a DM on Insta and let me know how it’s going!
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