How Long Should You Hold Your Plank?

Planking is fairly new in workout routines and it came as recent as 2008, but many fitness instructors saw how beneficial it is, so it became a trend ever since. When you do it the right way, then you’ll see that plank workouts essentially enhance your core, shoulder and leg muscles. Planking also helps you build strength and endurance, but you should know that there is a proper way to do plank exercises and if done incorrectly, you’ll get the bad end of the stick of its benefits and risk low back injury.

 

Dr. Stuart McGill author of Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance and Noam Tamir, C.S.C.S. (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist), owner of TS Fitness in New York City gave the definitive answer on how to do plank exercises and the duration of holding a plank.

 

Tamir stated that the forearm plank burns the equivalent amount of calories when doing cardio workouts as it creates the most tension in your muscles. The proper way of doing the forearm plank is as follows:

 

Get down on the floor and prepare to get into the forearm plank position
Adjust your elbows as you position them on the ground and make sure that they are perfectly aligned with your shoulders. Check to see if your feet are also equally apart at the full length of your hips.

Align your head and neck with your back making sure it’s flat
Drive your elbows into the floor, and squeeze your quads, glutes, and core
Plank exercises works best with breathing exercises also, so don’t hold your breath and inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

 

Benefits of Plank Exercises

Did you know that doing planks daily will make your muscles stronger and prevent muscle injuries? Well, both Dr. McGill and CSCS fitness coach, Tamir confirms it, so better take their advice. You’ll have the ability to run fast efficiently, because plank workouts are designed to stabilize your core. On top of that you don’t actually need to use gym equipment to do planking.

 

The Duration of the Plank

I bet that up to now you’re still unsure how long you need to hold your plank, right? You may have heard various opinions on the matter and probably from both fitness experts and just some regular gym buffs. So which is it? Thirty seconds? Two minutes? Or set or break world records? But according to the experts Dr. McGill and CSCS fitness coach, Tamir once again the ideal amount of time is shorter than you might think.

 

Research proves that if you hold a plan for 60 seconds at a time and in intervals for a few reps, it creates a resilient torso. However, you may have to lower that threshold to 10 second increments if you have a history of back pain or injury. We hope you found value in this post – How Long Should You Hold Your Plank, and visit regularly Local NYC for more information, guides, tips, and local news.