Plank.php

Planking is a fun and easy way to train your arms, shoulders, abs, thighs and core muscles. Simply get into a push up starting position (placing both your hands and feet shoulder width apart), and hold for as long as you need or want to. Remember to keep breathing!

Planking variations
Of course there are side plank and reverse plank, but there's more. You can place your hands as far away from your feet as you can, sort of taking on a Superman pose with your hands and feet touching the ground. Or spread your arms wider than shoulder width. Or place your feet on an object like a box or a chair before getting your plank on.

Lose a limb
Or you can do one armed planks, one legged planks or even combine the two and lift your right arm and left leg off the ground (or vice versa). All of this works in reverse plank as well.

Play with your legs
And then you can creative with your legs. You can simply lift one leg off the ground to increase the effectiveness of the plank exercise, but how about bringing your knee towards your chest (or even try to touch it with your forehead)? This will really involve your abs and other core muscles. Or go off to the side, touching one of your elbows with your knee. You can touch your ipsilateral (= same side) elbow, or cross over and go for the contralateral (= other side) elbow.

So many planks
The bottom line is this: if you use one or more hands and one or more feet to support your body weight in a way that allows you to keep your back straight and your core muscles are engaged correctly, it's probably a plank - so go for it!