Your core muscles help you do many activities and exercises, from running, lifting weights, and throwing a ball. Without them, dynamic movement would be impossible. If you regularly include planks and variants of abdominal planks as part of your strength routine, you will know how effective they are. They can be done almost anywhere, even in a small hotel room, and require no equipment to complete them. They are also a great exercise for beginners and even advanced athletes. No matter what fitness category you are in, there are numerous benefits that planks offer: strength, stability, and general fitness.
Benefits of doing planks and variants of planks for abs
Planks are one of the most common exercises to increase core strength. And for a compelling reason, as a standard plank works many of the muscles related to the core:
- Rectus abdominus (these are the abdominal muscles).
- Internal and external obliques (the lateral abdomen located on the side of the torso).
- Transverse abdominal (the deepest part of Your abdomen that supports Your spine).
- Hips (essential for mobility and injury prevention for athletes).
- Lumbar (the lower back, is crucial for stability and overall strength).
- Glutes (your butt is important for stability).
As you can see, the core includes many more muscles than just the abs. In fact, the core encompasses almost all the muscles that wrap around your torso and give you the strength and stability for dynamic, athletic movement.
Plank limitations and how to overcome them
Despite all these powerful benefits, planks have a significant limitation: doing standard planks will only allow you to advance up to a point, this is because after a few months of constant training, your progress in your physical condition will reach a plateau and not you will get as much strength with this exercise as you did in the beginning. This normal part of the training process is called supercompensation, and it means that if you push your body beyond a certain threshold, the body learns to adapt to this stress by getting stronger, gaining endurance, and becoming more efficient.
The variations of planks for the abs make you gain more strength
The variants of planks for the abs will allow you to progress more in your workouts reaching more levels of strength. Beginners can start with easier-to-make entry-level planks. But as it strengthens you, you can continue to gradually incorporate different movements and types of planks.
After a few workouts, a standard plank will seem easy to you and you will need to incorporate variations to improve your core strength and generally improve your functional fitness regardless of the sport you practice on a regular basis.
Here are 5 variants of abdominal planks that can replace the classic plank. Each one has a different difficulty level, so you should start with the one that you feel most comfortable with and continue progressing until you reach higher levels.
Plank variants for increased core strength
These plank variations can be included in your regular strength training, or you can do all of them to create a plank routine.
Push-up plank
- In a plank position, support your weight on your hands and toes.
- Keep a straight line from your head to your feet and prepare your abs to maintain a fixed position.
Plank with side lift arm
- In the push-up plank position, raise your left arm to the side of your body so that it is parallel to the ground and perpendicular to your torso.
- Hold the position for two seconds and return to the starting position.
- Repeat with the opposite side.
Plank with alternate leg raises
- In the push-up plank position, lift your left leg 12 to 18 inches off the ground.
- Hold the position for two seconds and return to the starting position.
- Repeat with the opposite side.
- Try to position yourself well by maintaining a firm and neutral position of the spine, activating the glutes to help lift the leg.
One hand and one leg plank
- In the plank position, lift your left leg off the ground while raising your right arm at the same time.
- Your left leg should be 12 to 18 inches off the ground, and your right arm should be parallel to the ground.
- Hold the position for about 2 seconds and then return to the starting position.
- Repeat with the opposite leg and arm.
One Arm One Leg Forearm Plank
- In the forearm plank position, lift your left leg off the ground while raising your right arm at the same time.
- Your left leg should be 12 to 18 inches off the ground, and your right arm should be parallel to the ground.
- Hold the position for about 2 seconds and then return to the starting position.
- Repeat with the opposite leg and arm.
