To Perform the Basic Plank Exercise:
- Begin by lying on your stomach with your forearms and elbows resting on the floor directly under your shoulders and your feet raised into the air (Figure 1).
- Lift your hips off the mat to bring your thighs in line with your trunk, keeping your knees on the ground. As you do this, you should feel your abdominal muscles contracting, but you should not feel any pain or discomfort in your shoulders or lower back (Figure 2).
- It is important to hold the back perfectly straight to ensure proper form. Do not allow your lower back to dip towards the floor, and not to allow the hips to raise up too high into the air. Many athletes find it helpful to pull their pelvis up towards their sternum by performing a posterior pelvic tilt during this exercise.
- Begin by holding the Basic Plank position for 10 seconds, return to the starting position and rest for 5-10 seconds, then raise up into the Basic Plank position once again. Repeat this process up to six times for a total contraction time of 60 seconds.
- When this becomes too easy, you can make the exercise more challenging by holding the basic plank for 20 seconds and repeating three times, and finally, by performing the exercise for a full 60 seconds.
|
