Upgrade the Plank
I recently posted a picture on the PeakFAST Instagram page outlining how we do planks and I got some questions about this technique, so I wanted to make post going into more detail of why we do our planks differently.
The plank is an isometric exercise that targets the anterior abdominal muscles. This exercise gives us a chance to practice the posture we want during strength training exercises like deadlifts, squats, overhead pressing, and generally anything you perform standing. We use the plank to practice breathing in a position that aligns our axial skeleton, not just to hold for as long as possible. If you are performing this plank right, then you won't need to hold it any longer than 2 minutes.
1. Soften the knees and tuck the hips- I'm going to make a broad statement: most people have too much tone in their hip flexors. When we soften the knees, we take slack off the rectus femoris, a muscle that anteriorly rotates the pelvis. When the pelvis is rotated forward it causes a lengthening of the abdominal muscles and a shortening of the erectors (low back muscles). This prevents us from using our abs which is the point of performing planks! Soften the knees and think about tucking the tailbone under you. This tones down the erectors and allows us to activate the abs.
2. Reach long through the elbows- When the pelvis is shifted forward, like explained above, the rib cage will also extend forward, lengthening the obliques and abdominal muscles. Reaching through the elbows, while finding a neutral pelvic position, will cause the serratus and pec muscles to pull the ribs down, back, and in to the abdomen. This will put the abdominal muscles in a better position to activate and assist in breathing. Closing off the front side of our ribs and keeping the abs engaged will allow us to open the upper back for airflow AND tone down the erectors.
3. Squeeze the glutes and thighs- Now that the pelvis and ribcage are in a good position we can start to practice tension throughout the rest of the body. When we posteriorly rotate, or tuck, the pelvis we are shortening the glutes which allows us to really squeeze. It should look like your butt is trying to eat your shorts. The next step is to pull the knee caps up into the thighs by flexing the quads. Be careful when activating the quads that you don't lose the pelvic position that we set up earlier. This is important if you are performing squats or deadlifts because we want to activate all our lower body muscles while maintaining a safe position of the spine.
4. Chin tucked, long back of the neck- There is frequent debate over the position of the neck during training. I am a fan of neutral neck position in the weight room because we want to practice good postural habits under load. Most people are already in extension at the atlanto-occipital joint, so I do not want to further accentuate that position during planking. When you extend the neck, we are also triggering the back erectors which will prevent us from working the anterior core muscles, as described above. Pull the chin to the neck and make the back of the neck long. This will bring the cervical spine back to neutral and will allow us to train the anterior muscles of the neck in their proper position.
5. Exhale fully- now that we have the body aligned in a position we want our posture to reflect, we must breathe! The body is always trying to keep us safe and will prevent us from performing movements that we can't breathe in. Take a fully exhale through the mouth and feel the abs engage and pull the ribs down, back, and into the abdomen. Try to maintain this abdominal tension during the inhale so we can push air the upper back and top of the ribcage.
Try these cues to upgrade your planks during the next workout. These methods will put you in postition to activate your anterior abdominal muscles so that you can align your diaphragm over your pelvis and produce better intra-abdominal pressure. When you can produce better pressure in your abdomnen you will see a major increase in strength during squats, deadlifts, and overhead pressing.