A short blog post today, but a very important one.
Today we’re going to get to the core issue most people miss when it comes to being an efficient, pain free, movement rich human.
…”core” – geddit???
We’re going to get … straight … to the point.
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Planks.
If you can’t hold a technically perfect plank for at least 1 minute, you’ve problems man.
The basic function of your “core” is to maintain spinal stability. If it’s not doing it’s job – something else will. Something will tighten up to preserve the magic column of support that is your back.
That could be your hips, hamstrings, middle back and any other number of areas. So if you’re experiencing any sort of movement restrictions >> get on your elbows.
As human’s we’re designed to have bad ass tree swinging range of motion, but chances are you don’t have that. One of the main reasons why is because your muscles aren’t working in a reflexive manner to stabilize the joints around them.
That means instead of being able to sit into a squat, or do the splits, the muscles and joints at play physically lock up because your body is terrified of what will happen if it goes to these extreme ranges of motion.
So if you want to be better at push ups, improve your squats, suffer from less back pain, enjoy better posture and just be all around “better” – you need to improve your plank.
And you MUST do it while holding good positions.
So…. that’s the “why”. Now how about the “how”.
It’s very straight forwards. You’ve 3 levels to work thru. Once you’ve progressed thru all 3, you’ll have basic sufficient function.
LEVEL 1:
20s of plank, 10s off – repeat 8x
LEVEL 2:
30s of plank, 30s off – repeat 8x
LEVEL 3:
45s of plank, 15s off – repeat 8x
On all levels, you want to work for as much of the time target as possible. That means that if on round 6 of the 20s/10s planks you die after 4 seconds, you’ve still got 16s of time to TRY and get more planks in.
That might mean you do 4 seconds, rest for 12, and complete another 4 seconds. That’s ok.
Once you’ve got all 8 rounds done without missing the time target on a round, you can move on to the next stage.
Once you’re thru all stages, give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve a new challenge to go and tackle….
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