A Quick Look At The Plank Exercise – Tips When Performing It

A Quick Look At The Plank Exercise – Tips When Performing It

The plank is probably one of the most commonly prescribed exercises when it comes to the core in the everyday gym.  Many allied health professionals and trainers might argue that there is little relevance to incorporating the plank into ones training program because it has little relevance to how we function.  Whilst I agree that for the average joe in life, being able to perform a plank is not necessarily a sign of strength of ones core and perhaps has little relevance to their training.  For those individuals who are regularly training and performing movements such as a squat, deadlift and many other exercises, implementing the plank into ones program can help to teach them about bracing and stabilising through the torso and body, something that I would argue is pretty important when it comes to squatting or deadlifting heavy loads.  I would also argue that it incorporating the plank into these individuals programs is not the answer to injury prevention either, there are many other great exercises to incorporate such as the torsonator, pallof press, ab roller exercises.  All exercises that require one to brace whilst moving a load.  More importantly is practicing the lifts that you are looking to be good at bracing for i.e. squat and deadlift is key and looking at the many variations of these movements i.e. box squat, front squat, back squat, good morning, Romanian deadlift etc are a must as they also require suitable bracing strategies.  If one is to perform a plank though, some of the most common issues I see are the bum high position or sagging lower back.  In the image below you will see some examples of these common technique errors.