The Plank

smaktardis

I am bamboozled by the popularity of the exercise called 'The Plank' on websites all over the place and by some people i know.

i have been doing it twice a day, 5 or 6 days a week since the start of this year. in general i would hold the pose for 1.5 to 2 minutes while on both hands/elbows and both feet then do 10 to 15 seconds with one leg raised (x2) then 10 to 15 sec with one hand raised (x2) then do 30 sec turned to the side (x2) then do 10 sec one leg one hand (x2).

it does burn a bit during the act but the after effects are surprisingly mute. last year i did a similar amount of time doing stomach exercises twice a day and felt much more solid after a few weeks - and i didnt have to spend half as long staring at the carpet in my room. i was in soft belly condition starting this and am not much different now.

did anyone else reap rewards from it? is it more of an inner core thing hence not visible from the outside?

Hanley

smaktardis wrote: »

I am bamboozled by the popularity of the exercise called 'The Plank' on websites all over the place and by some people i know.

i have been doing it twice a day, 5 or 6 days a week since the start of this year. in general i would hold the pose for 1.5 to 2 minutes while on both hands/elbows and both feet then do 10 to 15 seconds with one leg raised (x2) then 10 to 15 sec with one hand raised (x2) then do 30 sec turned to the side (x2) then do 10 sec one leg one hand (x2).

it does burn a bit during the act but the after effects are surprisingly mute. last year i did a similar amount of time doing stomach exercises twice a day and felt much more solid after a few weeks - and i didnt have to spend half as long staring at the carpet in my room. i was in soft belly condition starting this and am not much different now.

did anyone else reap rewards from it? is it more of an inner core thing hence not visible from the outside?

You get good at what you do - you did lots of planks, so you got better at them and they got easier.

The soft bit on the outside of your stomach isn't muscle, it's fat. So there's no way you can "tone" it thru exercise. You've got to get rid of it thru diet or cardio, or a combination of both.

Pace2008

If you really want to "feel" an ab workout, do hanging leg raise progressions and rollouts on an ab wheel. They won't get rid of the fat on your stomach, though.

You've got to make planks more difficult as you get stronger by altering the leverage, eg. by elevating your feet. What you're doing sounds a bit like benching 30kg for 8 reps every time you go to the gym and feeling disappointed when your chest stops developing.

Edwardius

You can add weight to them also, just put some plates on your ass. I did that for a while but the only things I can directly attribute to them are some funny looks and slight posture changes.

Transform

agreed - mix it up a bit more and hope you are doing more than just core work especially if you want to get rid of some stomach flab.

Direct core work is a really inefficient way of getting fat off your stomach

rubadub

Another one with no need for equipment is L-sits, which are harder than they look, this lad is raising his legs up but just holding in the lower position is difficult

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKMnv7eEsnQ

You can keep doing progressions with no equipment, such as the one below which is extremely difficult, I read they reckon it is out of reach for even many gymnasts, but you can see how difficult you can make things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX4zPm95dAY

SanoVitae

I hate that kid! :mad:

Jambo221

I'll admit that at first I didn't see how you could possibly get any benefit from doing them, until I saw a mate do one for 10 minutes straight. There was a pool of sweat on the floor when he was done, I couldn't believe it.

Hanley

Jambo221 wrote: »

I'll admit that at first I didn't see how you could possibly get any benefit from doing them, until I saw a mate do one for 10 minutes straight. There was a pool of sweat on the floor when he was done, I couldn't believe it.

I could just tell you to run around in a circle flailing your arms wildly and making crazy person noises for 10 minutes straight… You’d work up a sweat and be out of breath. Doesn’t mean you’ve achieved anything.

AntiVirus

Hanley wrote: »

I could just tell you to run around in a circle flailing your arms wildly and making crazy person noises for 10 minutes straight… You’d work up a sweat and be out of breath. Doesn’t mean you’ve achieved anything.

You'd make a pretty good scarecrow.

Transform

Hanley wrote: »

I could just tell you to run around in a circle flailing your arms wildly and making crazy person noises for 10 minutes straight… You’d work up a sweat and be out of breath. Doesn’t mean you’ve achieved anything.

totally agree - there is a point where you just have to move on with planks plus the majority of people just hang on by tightening up the shoudlers and putting a big arch in the lower back.

I second the L-sit, dish and toes to bar - not for beginners though

smaktardis

i suppose y'all make sense. i have lost a bit of motivation for belly bashing exercises for now. i'll take a break and come back to it with gusto.

10 minutes of plank sounds very boring. i suppose you could put a book under your face and double task!

Transform

its not boring its just a waste of time plus doing endless stomach exercises has little to no effect on belly flab as compared to sorting diet out and hitting up SOME core exercises along with plenty of chin ups, squats, press ups etc

in 10mins you could get a ton of work done with body weight movements