Super human planks

Here's what you need to know...

1. A plank should be a very intense, full body contraction that lasts only 8-10 seconds, not some bastardized version of a yoga pose you sustain for 10 minutes.
2. Lifters and athletes who do planks tend to be a lot stronger and move better, plus they have better abs.
3. Some exercises are direct representations of a plank position, so hitting up a plank beforehand is very helpful, such as planks before push-ups and side planks before lunges.

Planks are special. The more you do them, the more they seem to make everything else you do in the gym better. Whether you're trying to smash a PR in a big lift, recover from a back injury, get faster on the field, or simply get better abs, planks can help.
Unfortunately, planks get a bad rap for being a wussy exercise. All you do is hang out there, motionless, until you get bored. No big weights, no mind-numbing intensity, no big sex appeal for any hotties looking your way.

What a Plank Is

A plank is a perfect example of total body tension and co-contractive forces. It's a battle of near-maximal contractile strength from all areas (shoulders, abs, glutes, low back and quads) to produce a steel beam in human form, able to withstand any external forces.

To do a solid plank, lie down on the ground on your stomach and support your upper body with your elbows. Squeeze your shoulders in a kind of reverse shrug, pulling them tight to your ribs. Then, flex your glutes and straighten your knees as hard as possible, and lever up into a position where you feel you have balanced tension everywhere.
Now try to contract everything harder without changing position and focus on forceful inhalation and exhalation for the duration of the plank. Keep your neck neutral (no looking up or letting your head drop below your chest) and keep as tight as humanly possible.

Instructional video for doing the correct plank

One underutilized aspect of the plank is breathing. Deep, forceful breathing plays as big of a role in total core activation as anything else. Martial artists use this principle to their advantage, with forceful grunts, yells, or Bruce Lee like noises during striking. This increases core activation and provides a stronger spine from which to produce power, which allows for stronger strikes.

What a Plank Isn't

Poor plank position stems from poor spinal positioning through the movement, where the individual either excessively rounds his back or excessively sticks his butt out.
When the upper back is rounded, the main focus of the movement is on the neck and shoulders versus the abs. When the butt is sticking up, the main stabilizers are the lumbar erector spinae and hip flexor complex, not necessarily the entire core.

Rounding of the back can increase abdominal activity and prolong the ability to do a plank without increasing the activity of the muscles. That, of course, makes perfect sense.
Most people treat the plank more as a marathon, seeing how long they can hold a position, most of the time topping out at a minute or three, all while exhibiting the same amount of intensity needed to casually flip through a magazine conveniently placed under their nose during the exercise.
If you can do anything other than focus on not blacking out while performing a plank, you're doing them wrong.

Planks for Lifting Big Weights

This increased utilization of core muscles to produce stability is awesome as a parlor trick to allow people to stand on your back, but it can also translate into increased strength and power development.
Using a front plank before heavy deadlifts or back squats as a part of an active warm-up can help increase core muscle activation and activity overall, which can help translate into bigger lifts.
Anecdotally, using this approach with my athletes has resulted in a noticeable increase in weight lifted from one set to the next in a fairly consistent manner. This could be from an increased neural firing rate into the core muscles to help hit higher thresholds during max lifts, increasing awareness of core firing, or simply warming the area up like warming up a car on a cold morning.
To use planks effectively to increase lifting capacity, use the following system:

1. Do your normal warm-up, whether that means cardio, foam rolling, etc.
2. Do progressive warm-ups with the main exercise, where you gradually increase the weight used over multiple sets before getting to your working weight.
3. Between each of these warm-up sets, hit up 3 "reps" of an 8-10 second max effort plank, spending some focus on getting deep forceful inhalation and exhalations.
4. Rest for about 5 seconds between reps and go into the next one.
5. Start your workout

Can you hold a plank for longer? Sure. You can also run farther than a 100-meter sprint, but probably not at the same intensity, and the results will be somewhat different depending on how long you decide to do it. For strength, stability, and force production, keep them short, hard, and repeated.


Get Your Plank On

Strength training is all about increasing your ability to generate force. Using an exercise like a plank before high force exercises can help to warm up the muscles, nervous system, and stabilization system to help you produce more power through your extremities.
Use this system of planking – hard, forceful contractions paired with forceful inhalation and exhalation for reps of 8-10 seconds – and see what happens with your main lifts. It may make all the difference in the world.