Planks are good for beginners because it doesn’t require any equipment at all, making them super easy to do.
Planks are a great workout for your core. If you’re just starting with planks or have been doing planks for a long time, check out this beginner’s guide to planks.
Plank Workouts For Beginners
Planks are an excellent way to work on your core strength and stability. They improve posture, build muscle, and burn calories. Plank exercises also help to prevent injury by strengthening muscles in the arms, shoulders, chest, back, and abdominals.
Research shows that they can strengthen the abs more than other ab exercises like sit-ups.
If you want to start working on your plank form at home without any equipment, take a glance at this article.
How Do I Do A Plank?
A plank can be performed in many ways based on what’s more comfortable for you. It will depend upon the position of your arms, legs, etc. You can decide the planks time also.
If you want to plan your planks based on time, here’s how:
Beginners – 1 minute.
Intermediate – 2 minutes.
Advanced – 5 minutes or more.
The beginner’s friendly planks are:
- The Standard Plank
The starting position for this plank is lying face down on the floor with your hands directly under your shoulders and your elbows right underneath your wrists. Then press up so that only the balls of the feet and palms of the hand are touching the floor.
It’s important not to let any part of forearms touch the floor while performing planks especially if they’re on their knees. This will cause lower back pain since there’ll be too much strain in this area which will cause herniated spinal disks.
Keep abs pulled in and stomach tight. Keep your head and neck in a straight line with the rest of the back. You can aim for a 20-30 seconds plank at the beginning time.
- Side Planks
Side planks are just like planks except that you have one hand on top of the other, palm to palm or fist to fist for added resistance. This plank targets the oblique muscles as well as provides a great stretch for your hip flexors.
The starting position is lying on one side propped up by one forearm resting by the ribs and elbow under shoulder height. Stack feet so that ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders are all in even alignment.
Tighten abs and lift your torso off the floor using the forearm, not the hand resting underneath you. If this feels, place a pillow between your body and the floor.
- Planks with a Swiss Ball
Another variation of planks is a plank with a swiss ball or with your feet elevated on top of a bench or chair. These planks work better if you have weak glutes since they better engage the muscles in your bum.
I don’t recommend starting with these variations, however, planks can be done on an unstable surface to make planks more difficult.
Be sure to watch your form when performing planks on an unstable surface as it’s easier to let your form slip into a plank that doesn’t benefit from proper alignment. This can help you to improve your posture.
Do planks are hard to start?
If planks make you feel uncomfortable, it’s ok. You can start by practicing planks on your knees then progress to planks on your toes until you get used to doing planks regularly.
If you are familiar with planks, you can go for advanced planks. For more intense planks, try these variations. When doing regular planks, place weight plates across shoulders or hold weights in both hands. This will increase the difficulty of planks by increasing your workload.
A heavier plan will also engage more muscles, making planks better for targeting core strength and building muscle all at the same time.
Conclusion
The plank hold is one of the best calorie-burning and beneficial exercises. It engages multiple muscles at once, thereby benefiting the core strength of your body.
Not just burning the fat around your abdomen area, they also work by giving you an improved posture, flexibility as well as a tighter tummy.
Planks are worth trying to see if it’s something that can help you improve all aspects of fitness.