5 Minutes of Planking

5 Minutes of Planking
"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have."
― Teddy Roosevelt

The specs:
Complete 5 rounds of a 40-second Plank followed by 20-seconds of rest.
*Adjust the work/rest ratio as needed to avoid muscle failure and proper form




Simple works. In this modern day of 7-second news cycles and a seemingly infinite amount of information to sort though, digest, and conclude upon it can be easy to overthink. To further complicate matters, there is the never ending spew of diets and fitness fads. I feel it too. With all these latest and greatest methods based upon an un-vetted and over-sensationalized study you can start to feel like if you are not doing these things, you are falling behind. Because of this tendency, I recommend being selective of where you get your health and fitness information. I'd further encourage you to remain skeptical and focus on what works best for you, the individual. That being said, in this week's video we are going back to the basics and training the Plank. I used a 40-second work interval followed by a 20-second rest interval repeated 5 times in a row. The first two sets feel solid but about halfway through set number three the burn in your core becomes real. As always, when doing any prone exercise that involves Planking be sure to remain cognizant of your lumbar spine (aka lower back). By keeping your hips pulled slightly up in a Hollow Body position you keep your abdominal muscles engaged and take pressure off of your spine. If you cannot make the 40/20 work:rest ratio, keep your mind right and change the interval to something that is executable and will allow improvement over time. It's all about the process.

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