Did you know that one of the best exercises you can do may only take a minute or two?

It might feel like the longest minute of your life, but spending just 60 seconds doing a plank can pay big dividends.

There’s a lot of debate, however, about how long one should hold a plank. A few seconds? One minute? Two? Five whole minutes? The Guinness World Record for holding a plank is 9 hours, 30 minutes, and 1 second, achieved by Daniel Scali in Australia on August 6, 2021! Is that the kind of planking time we should all be striving for?

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss what a plank is, how long and how often you should plank at our gym in Thornton, Colorado, and the benefits you can enjoy from this grueling exercise.

What Is a Plank?

A plank is an isometric exercise, which means you’ll hold your body in one position with no muscle or joint movement for a specific amount of time. Isometric exercises are designed to build muscular strength and endurance.

To plank, you’ll hold yourself in a push-up position while resting on your forearms. This is known as a forearm plank. It sounds easy, but as a beginner, you’ll notice that holding a plank position for even a few seconds can be excruciating. You’ll sweat, you’ll shake, you’ll breathe hard, and you’ll collapse in relief when it’s over. But this “simple” move is one of the best ways to strengthen your core muscles.

What Muscles Do Planks Target?

The plank is considered a full-body workout that primarily targets your abdominal and lower back muscles. It also recruits other muscles for support, including small stabilizer muscles to keep you steady.

Even though you’re balancing your body weight on your elbows and toes during a plank, most the work being done is by these core muscles:

• The obliques — The internal obliques lie under the external obliques. These muscles run along both sides of your torso from your chest down to your pubic bone. The obliques enable torso rotation, flexing the trunk forward, and bending side-to-side. They also play an important role in protecting your spine, stabilizing your ribcage and pelvis, and resisting excessive rotation.
• The rectus abdominis — This is the top layer of muscles on your stomach. These are the muscles that are visible and create a “six pack” appearance when your body fat is low.
• The transverse abdominis — This deep abdominal muscle layer is known as the “corset” muscle. The transverse abdominis helps stabilize your back muscles and cinch your waist.
• The spinal erectors — These muscles are in your lower back, middle back, and neck. They run parallel to your spine along each side. This group of muscles is often overlooked, but they’re the first line of protection in maintaining a stable spine.

Muscles in your upper body also work hard during a plank, including but not limited to the:

• Trapezius — A kite-shaped muscle that starts at the base of your neck, goes across your shoulders, and extends down to the middle of your back
• Pectorals — Large chest muscles that help move your shoulders
• Deltoids — Shoulder muscles that connect your arms to the trunk of your body
• Serratus anterior — Muscles along the sides of your chest
• Biceps – The large, thick muscles on the front portion of your upper arms
• Triceps — The large, thick muscles on the back portion of your upper arms

And let’s not forget, your lower body muscles also help you hold the plank position, including the:

• Quadriceps – A group of four muscles at the front of your thighs
• Gluteal muscles – A grouping of muscles that make up the buttock area
• Hamstrings – The group of three muscles that run along the back of your thighs from your hips to just below your knee

Why Is it Important to Have a Strong Core?

While the plank engages muscles throughout your body, it’s considered an exercise that mainly strengthens your core muscles. Your core muscles include those in your pelvis, lower back, hips, and stomach (abs).

Core exercises like the plank train the muscles in your core to work together, which leads to better balance, steadiness, and stability. These traits are important for virtually all the movements you do, whether you’re working out at the gym, playing on the field, or doing regular everyday activities. Most sports and other physical activities rely on strong, stable core muscles.

A weak core can lead to many problems like poor posture, neck and shoulder pain, sore knees and hips, and lower back pain. That’s because if your core is weak, surrounding muscles must compensate. Over time, these muscles can be strained, and surrounding joints can also start to suffer damage, leading to chronic pain.

Here are the main benefits of building and maintaining strong core muscles:

• They work together to protect and stabilize your spine and prevent back pain.
• They help keep you injury-free.
• They help you maintain a more upright and erect posture whether you’re sitting at your desk, standing in line at the store, or going for a walk.
• Without a strong core, you’ll likely struggle to complete any strength training exercise with proper form, which can lead to injury.
• They enable you to bend forward and side-to-side, which allows you to pick up things from the ground, roll out of bed, and turn to look behind you.

How Long and How Often Should You Plank at the Gym?

Now the million-dollar question is, how long should you hold a plank to reap its core-crushing benefits? Thankfully, you don’t need to devote hours to planking like a world-record holder.

To figure out how long to hold a plank, it will depend on your current strength level and fitness goals. There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how long to hold a plank, as long as you maintain proper form.

If you’re new to planking, it’s totally fine if you can only hold a plank with correct form for a second or two to start. It takes time to build your way up to a longer hold.

When you begin planking, aim to hold it for a few seconds per day or every other day. As with any type of training, consistent practice will help you improve your skills.

Continue to practice until you advance to 10 seconds.

Once you’re able to hold a plank for 10 seconds, try to hold three sets of 10-second planks with 5-10 second rests in between. Practice multiple short holds like this until you feel confident enough to extend the duration of time and work your way up to 30 seconds or longer.

As you progress, you can extend your plank to 30 seconds, one minute, or even two minutes. Many experts suggest that holding a plank anywhere from 10-30 seconds is plenty. Two minutes is often considered the maximum for those at an intermediate or advanced level, and you won’t get much more benefit after that.

If your planking doesn’t feel challenging enough, ask a personal trainer at AFAC gym for ideas on more advanced plank variations for your 1-2 minute hold.

Frequency and consistency are the most important factors when it comes to building core strength with planks. You can perform a plank every day as your gym warmup or cooldown, on alternate days, or simply as a part of your regular workouts whenever you might have those scheduled. Some people do planks during their workday breaks.

To see results, most trainers recommend incorporating a plank into your routine at least 3-4 times per week at a duration that feels challenging to you.

Form Is More Important Than Duration

Like any other exercise, maintaining good form when you plank is more important than how long you can hold the pose or how many reps you can do. Good form is what helps you get the most benefit from planking.

Here’s how to hold a plank with good form:

• You can use a mat or towel to make this exercise more comfortable.
• Lie face down with your forearms on the floor.
• Your elbows should be beneath your shoulders and your hands should be in front of you.
• Your legs should be extended behind you and your feet should be together.
• Push into your forearms and raise your body so that it forms a straight line from your head and neck to your feet.
• When holding a plank, only your forearms and balls of your feet should be on the floor. The rest of your body should be suspended in a straight line.
• Don’t let your hips rise or sag throughout the duration of the plank.
• Most people only focus on engaging their core, but activating your shoulders, back, glutes, and leg muscles can be very helpful in maintaining the correct form.
• Focus on pressing the ground away from beneath your forearms so that you feel like you’re lifting your body away from the ground to oppose gravity.

Practice Your Planks at AFAC Gym

Sit-ups and crunches are often the go-to core strengtheners, but those exercises only target a portion of the core musculature. Plus, the bending motion of these exercises can strain the neck and lower back.

Planks, on the other hand, stimulate more abdominal and core activity than crunches and sit-ups, and they work the muscles in your back and throughout your body as well. Plus, planks do not require any extra movement that can cause stress or injury. They can be done by almost anyone, regardless of their current fitness level.

The personal trainers at AFAC gym would be happy to assist you with learning how to plank with proper form and also show you some variations of this exercise. At AFAC gym, our team is always here to support your strength training and cardio goals so that you’ll see the results you’re working so hard for. That’s why we’re the best gym in Thornton, Colorado.

If you’re not a member of AFAC gym but would like more information, please stop by and speak to our team. For more information and assistance, you can also contact our gym owner, Susan, at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club.