For starters, I must be honest and just say that I HATE doing ab exercises. They just seem to bore me to death and I possess no patience for the repeated motions. The flexion of ab exercises in addition kills my neck and back (I have an old injury), therefore i tend to just simply avoid them entirely, which isn’t beneficial either.
Ab exercises are usually tricky. It is rather easy to do them wrong, as it can be difficult for most individuals to effectively isolate the abdominal muscles within this position. I see a great deal of wrong form, including neck yanking and/or the use of momentum, that is certainly unbeneficial. Additionally, it is possible to train abdominal muscles in an external way, which creates protruding abs and can expand your waistline-very discouraging considering how awkward and dull the particular exercise is to begin with!
Great things about the Plank Exercise
The plank exercise, however, trains you to keep your abdominal muscles inward, both during the exercise and everyday life. This provides you with that thin, small waist you seek, with the nice extra of having quite noticeable abdominal muscle tone …provided your body fat amounts are minimal enough of course (I will save that for another post).
Another advantage of the plank exercise is that since all motion starts with a person’s core muscles (at least that’s the manner in which it’s supposed to be) you will be able to apply far more strength and much better form while performing various other exercises. This will result in improved neuromuscular development, and also by extension, better general tone of muscle.
How to Do the Plank Exercise Properly – IMPORTANT
When done right, the plank exercise can be quite challenging. Actually, whenever most people first try the plank, they are able to only hold it for around 15-30 seconds max. If you’re able to hold it for a longer period with accurate form, awesome! But you should not feel below par when it seems really, really difficult at first…totally normal. If it seems very easy, ensure your belly button is drawn in toward your spinal column and that your bottom is not too high. Make corrections appropriately.
Since plank is really an isometric exercise, it is possible to train them 5-6 times per week or daily if you’d like to. Should your lower back bothers you during the exercise, you probably should start by performing the regular plank on your knees, and also the side planks with your lower knee on the ground, top leg extended.
Begin with 30 second holds, and build after that.