To Perform the Elite Plank Exercise:
- Begin by lying on your stomach with your forearms and elbows resting on the floor directly underneath your shoulders and your ankles positioned so that the bottom of your toes are in contact with the ground (Figure 1).
- Lift your hips off the ground so your upper and lower body form a straight line. Then lift one leg back into the air as in the Advanced Plank exercise. You should feel both the anterior hip and thigh muscles on your support leg and your abdominal muscles contract harder, and you should feel a contraction in your posterior hip (i.e., in your glute muscle) of the leg you lifted into the air (Figure 2).
- Hold the leg up for a moment, bring the leg back towards the floor, then immediately lift the leg once again. As you bring the leg back down towards the floor do not allow the foot to touch the ground.
- It is important to hold the back perfectly straight. Do not allow your lower back to dip or twist 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.
- For optimal training, perform 10-15 repetitions with one leg, then repeat on the opposite side. Repeat the process as many times as possible with each leg while still maintaining perfect form.
- When the muscles become too fatigued to continue to lift the leg or your form becomes compromised, hold the Intermediate Plank position for an additional 10-30 seconds at the end of this elite exercise.
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