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Honestly if you don't feel like you got anything out of planking you either weren't doing them correctly or you weren't doing them long enough. Try a 5 minute plank with proper form. It'll kick your butt.
I'm doing the 30 day plank challenge. (google it). It starts off with just 20 seconds of planking the first few days and by day 30, you'll be planking five minutes. I'm at 150 seconds (day 18). You will feel it in your lower back and if you need to, you can spend more days at the lower times until you build strength.
I'm recovering from back surgery, so I need to be careful, but I want to be able to work on my core. It sounds like planking may be just what I'm looking for if I start out slow and easy. Thanks everyone, for all the great advice!
Planks are great, I incorporate them into my gym routine a couple times a week.
The thing is, you need to be progressing in them for them to actually pay off, and by progressing I don't necessarily mean length of time. In my opinion, if you can do a 2-minute plank, you're ready to start adding weight on your back....behold weighted planks! I basically have a goal of 45-50 seconds for my planks. So I put a plate and a few 10's on my back and try to achieve that, I'm up to 75 lbs (45 + 3 10's) for about 50 seconds. It's intense.
So like I said, if you can do around 2 minutes, start adding weight slowly (start with a 10lb plate) and have a target time for which to reach. Once you reach it, add more weight and try to reach it again over the next few sessions/weeks.
I'm recovering from back surgery, so I need to be careful, but I want to be able to work on my core. It sounds like planking may be just what I'm looking for if I start out slow and easy. Thanks everyone, for all the great advice!
I had two surgeries on my lower back a couple yrs back. I plank every day. It took a while to get the strength needed to do them. But Ive been able build my core strength up enough to do them several minutes at a time. I like them because they don't involve bending or twisting my back. I can't do leg lifts at all, those are very painful for me, as are sit ups and many other traditonal core exercises. So the plank it is.
Honestly if you don't feel like you got anything out of planking you either weren't doing them correctly or you weren't doing them long enough. Try a 5 minute plank with proper form. It'll kick your butt.
I can do a lot more things which, IMO, are more effective in that 5 minutes.
Usually do planks three times a week in my workouts. Prefer to do a plank complex (start with a side plank, then move to a standard front plank, then do another side plank) and usually aim to do at least 45 seconds per complex. But if have never done planks before, start with the standard plank and maybe add a bird dog plank (tough to explain, but easy to do, look it up on Google).
I had two surgeries on my lower back a couple yrs back. I plank every day. It took a while to get the strength needed to do them. But Ive been able build my core strength up enough to do them several minutes at a time. I like them because they don't involve bending or twisting my back. I can't do leg lifts at all, those are very painful for me, as are sit ups and many other traditonal core exercises. So the plank it is.
Thanks 11thHour! I have not been able to do leg lifts, sit-ups or even crunches for several years because they cause severe back pain. I tried a 'starter' plank yesterday (knees on the floor) but I'm not quite ready for it - need to heal another couple of weeks. But even a few seconds of it made me realize how much it will improve my core strength, and not at the expense of my lower back. I think once I get into it, I'll be planking for the rest of my life.
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