Planking for Better Core Strength

Abdomen exercises are something that may be incorporated into our living room workouts on a daily basis. This is because many of these exercises do not require any equipment and can be completed when we are listening to music or even watching TV. Therefore, those 30 minutes to an hour that you spend watching TV can also be changed into workout time without having to skip your daily TV viewing.

Plank Exercises

This is one of my favorite abdominal workouts it’s simple and can be modified in a few different fashions to adjust the difficulty and muscles worked. The standard plank requires you to be in a basic push up position.

Once you are in push-up positions bend your elbows 90 degrees so that you are resting on your forearms. Your elbows should be directly below your shoulders and your body should be in a straight line from head to toe.

Now I bet this sounds super easy to you if you’ve never tried this exercise. But believe me try holding this for a couple of minutes and you’ll see that this exercise can be super tough especially if you are just starting to work out your core.

If you find that you can hold this position for 2-3 minutes without a problem then it can be modified to make it even harder. The first step is lifting one leg off the ground. Your body should still be in a straight line. However, lifting your leg will dramatically increase the work your core must complete so that your body does not rotate. A second change instead of lifting your leg is to lift your arm so that you are resting on one arm and two legs. This will create the same effect as lifting one leg off the ground.

If you’ve completed this without a problem then your core is pretty strong and I have a final step for you to complete. This is one of the hardest plank exercises and is a great goal to work towards. This last one you will be on one arm and one leg. Opposite arm and opposite leg so if your left arm is on the ground then you right leg you should be on the ground. This is much harder than only having one arm or one leg off the ground.

In order to work your oblique’s using the plank exercises, the same action is performed except on your side. You will rest on the forearm with your legs extended and stacked on top of each other. You will want to perform the side planks on both your left and right sides. This will work out your inner and out oblique’s as well as the transverse abdominals.

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