Want Great Abs – Try the Plank Exercise

For starters, I need to be truthful and just mention that I Despise doing crunches.  They just manage to bore me to and I have simply no patience for the repeated movements.  The forward flexion of ab exercises in addition kills my neck and back (I have got an old injury), so I typically merely forget about them totally, which isn’t very good either.

Ab exercises can be tricky.  It is really easy to do them wrong, as it can be tough for lots of people to properly isolate the abs in this particular position.  I watch a large amount of wrong form, in particular neck tugging and/or the use of momentum, which is ineffective. It’s also possible to train ab muscles in a outward fashion, which makes protruding abs and may increase the size of your waistline-very frustrating considering how awkward and uninspiring the exercise is from the beginning!

Great things about the Plank Exercise

The plank exercise, however, trains you to hold your abs inward, both during the workout and everyday life.  This gives you that slim, small abdominals you seek, together with the wonderful reward of having really apparent abdominal muscle tone …provided your body fat amounts are low enough of course (I’ll save that for an additional post).

An additional plus of the plank exercise is actually that because all motion begins with a person’s core muscles (at least that’s the way it’s should be) you will be able to apply more strength far better form whenever doing other physical exercises.  This will lead to improved neuromuscular development, and also by extension, enhanced over-all tone of muscle.

How to Do the Plank Exercise Accurately – IMPORTANT

When done correctly, the plank exercise is rather difficult. The truth is, whenever many people initially try out the plank, they can only hold it for about 15-30 seconds max. If you can hold it for a longer time with accurate form, fantastic!  But do not feel bad if it appears really, really challenging at first…totally normal.  If it seems very easy, be sure your navel is pulled in toward your spinal column and that your butt is not too high. Make adjustments appropriately.

Plank Routine

Because the plank is really an isometric exercise, you could train them 5-6 times each week or even everyday if you’d like to. If your lower back troubles you throughout the exercise, you can begin by performing the regular plank on your knees, and also the side planks with your lower knee on the floor, top leg extended.

Start with 30 second holds, and build from there.