For the body to stand up straight, it needs a strong centre. Core stabilization exercises are essential for shooters, as they prevent our spine from being overloaded from our forced positions and the weight of our rifles/pistols. You’ve probably guessed it: today we’re going to talk about plank. The easiest way to establish it as a routine is to do it whenever you get home: take off your shoes and get straight down on the floor! Of course, it would be better to include it in your overall workout routine, but hey, sometimes we don’t have time for everything!
In his 1996 research, Paul W. Hodges concluded that a “classic” training of the abdominal muscles (e.g. sit-ups) isn’t enough for a better sports performance. When dealing with lower back pain, it can even work against us. The more superficial the abdominal muscles are, the more they are out of alignment with the deep abdominal muscles and take on their role. The deep abdominal muscles become weaker and cause us even greater back pains.
Plank exercises, on the other hand, focus on the deep abdominal muscles. Plank is one of the most effective and, at the same time, the most challenging exercises for strengthening all of the critical parts of the body: abdomen, glutes, thighs, and arms. If the plank is done correctly, it strengthens the deep trunk stabilizers, superficial abdominal muscles, as well as shoulder girdle.
2 thoughts on “Let’s Plank Our Workout”
I’m still struggling with normal planks, yes because they are boring and because I can’t get into the right position. I recommend everyone who feel back pain in their plank to practice neutral position on their back first! I have scoliosys so that makes my lower back sag down even when I’m really pushing hard. My condition training coach suggested neutral position training. It works the same muscles and it’s not pressuring the back. It goes a little like this: lay on your back, put your arms beside you and push your lower back into the floor as hard as you can, while your legs are extended. Harder variations include extending your arms over your head and lifting both your legs up by a few centimeters. You can even do leg drops while trying to keep your lower back on the floor. Easier variation would be laying on the back and keeping arms extended beside you, but with legs bent at the knee. The goal is to keep your back on the floor and knees as lowered as possible. Eventually you should be strong enough for a plank without pain.
For people with a bad case of scoliosys: keep doing your neutral position. It may help or it may not. The point is still increasing core strength, even if you don’t get to do a plank. I also suggest comparing your left and right side. My left side of lower back can do the normal neutral position, while the right can’t and it’s important to fix that.
I like this page. Great tips overall, keep it up.
Thanks, Jagoda!
Great input – it’s true that we often overlook the fact that some people are unable to hold this position in the first place. The reasons can vary from injury, illness, handicap, or just growing. What a smart reminder that there is almost always a different way of doing things to acheive the same result.
Thank you for reading & keep that back strong!